The New American Elite

February 6, 2012 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Americanism, Book Reviews, Budget, Business, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Liberals, President, Republicans, Socialism, Taxes, WWII | No Comments

-By Alan Caruba

The only constant in the life of individuals and nations is change. Since the beginning of the last century, the process or rate of change has accelerated with the invention and availability of a myriad of machines, technologies that have altered the lifestyle of Americans as well as of millions around the world.

Let me put it in personal terms. When I was born in the late 1930s, my Mother washed the family laundry by hand and hung it out to dry on sunny days or in the basement of our home if it was raining. We were not poor. We were middle class. My Father was a Certified Public Accountant and we lived in a spacious suburban home in an upscale New Jersey community. Mass produced washers and dryers would arrive after the end of World War Two.

The differences between lower economic classes, the middle class, and upper classes were well defined back then. All, however, generally held the same values regarding societal institutions such as marriage, religion, national pride. Those values have eroded since the 1960s and Charles Murray, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, whose new book, “Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010” ($27.00, Crown Forum) tells you how and why.
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Sen. Roy Blunt— A Champion of the People

January 5, 2012 | Filed Under Congress, Democracy, Government, Missouri, Paleo-Skeptic, Republicans, Society/Culture | 1 Comment

by Paleo-Skeptic

First of all, a bit of disclosure:

I used to live in Tom Delay’s district.

And people there loved that man— loved him— and for good reason.

Anyone there could call Delay’s office concerning any matter of unresolveable conflict; and in most cases, with one phone call from that office, the matter would be taken care of.

I never contacted him myself— I had no need to. But I’ve known a number of others who have. These are real life instances:

• A woman caring for her elderly mother was concerned that the apartment complex where she lived was maintaining unsafe conditions. One call to Delay, and the matter was taken care of.

• A man borrowed money from his parents to have a new transmission put in his car, so that he could make it to work, and the new transmission went out. He felt the mechanic cheated him. One call to Delay’s office, and the matter was taken care of.

Now, I don’t know the details of those contacts or what arrangements were made; but from what I understand, all it took was, “I just got a complaint from one of my constituents about this. Is this true? … I don’t want to hear another complaint from any of my constituents about this, or I’m going to have to look into it further.”

And that was all it took.

No matter how high he rose in the Congressional leadership, Tom Delay always remained accessible to his people back home.

And they knew that, with a confidence.

And they loved him for it.

Rightfully so.

CAIR Insists That Candidates Answer 11 Questions on Muslim Interests

December 21, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, CAIR, Congress, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Jihad, Koran, Liberals, PCism, Religion, Society/Culture, Terrorism, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued it’s new candidate questionnaire for the 2012 election season. CAIR is insisting that candidates answer to them before getting that jihadi stamp of approval, apparently.

CAIR has devised 11 questions for the candidates so that they can “empower American Muslims by increasing their political capacity and presence.” Because, you know, it is working so well for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, after all.

Not surprisingly, the very first question is a misconstruction of the truth. Question one states (my bold):
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New York: Occupy Wall Street Hypocrites Cause 91 Workers to Lose Jobs

December 18, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Jobs, Liberals, RightPundits.com, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Occupy Whatevers claimed they were all about “the little people.” They were about small businesses that stand against corporate giants. They were for the local shops that employ the middle and lower classes. And now the OWSers are responsible for the loss of almost 100 jobs for the very people they claimed they were trying to help.

Last June a small lunch spot was opened called the Milk Street Cafe. It was quickly becoming a favorite little eatery in the financial district — that is until the Occupy destroyers arrived to wreck the small start-up’s business.

A few weeks ago, struggling to survive the destruction wrecked upon it by the OWSers, the cafe laid off 21 people. Owner Marc Epstein had hoped that it would be enough to keep his little cafe afloat but to no avail. This week he has announced that he’s laid off his other 70 workers and is closing his business. That’s 91 workers that have lost their jobs thanks to the OWSers.
…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

OWS: Powerless Childishness Nearing Its End

November 28, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, RightPundits.com, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Just before Thanksgiving several of the nation’s big city mayors began the process of ousting the Occupy-Whatevers from their squatting perches on public and private property. This week the evictions continue. So, with the so-called movement winding down (at least for this season), what was the result? Nothing but sound a fury signifying nothing.

The Old Media has been puffing up the empty OWSers as having brought serious attention to pay inequality, corporate greed, banking failures, and the evils of capitalism. But last week’s Black Friday shopping day seems to prove that no one was paying attention to the OWSers at all.

In fact, in many cities the OWSers tried to protest the monumental shopping day by sit-ins, protests, and attempting to cajole shoppers to go home and observe an organized “no shopping day.” But with sales at a new high, it is plain no one cared much for what the left-wing, communist-inspired OWSers were selling.

In a recent piece in the Fiscal Times, for instance, Ed Morrissey notes that OWS is “overhyped and impotent” due to the enthusiasm with which Americans hit the malls and stores on Friday…

Read the rest at RightPundits.com.

What Is Constitutional Conservatism?

November 27, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Federalism, Founders, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, President, Republicans, Senate, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Yuval Levin, National Review

(ED: I don’t usually repost an entire article from another site but this article is too important to just excerpt. I apologize to Mr. Levin in advance, but his essay is one of the best definitions of what American conservatism truly is that I’ve seen for a long time. It is also a good explanation on why modern liberalism is as wrong as can be and anti-American to boot. It is a must read for anyone that wants a hint of the character of American conservatism and a good guide on how to think about what conservatives advocate. I just had to post it in it’s entirety, just had to have this chronicled on my site.)

This fall, liberals from the president on down have begun to grasp the scope of the political and intellectual disaster that the past three years have been for the Left. Their various responses to the calamity have tended to have one thing in common: immense frustration. But the different expressions of that frustration have been deeply revealing. They should help Americans better understand this complicated moment in our politics, and, in particular, help conservatives frame their responses.

Liberal frustration has fallen into two general categories that seem at first to flatly contradict each other: denunciations of democracy and appeals to populism. In September, Peter Orszag, President Obama’s former budget director, wrote an essay in The New Republic arguing that “we need less democracy.” To address our country’s daunting problems, Orszag suggested, we need to take some power away from Congress and give it to “automatic policies and depoliticized commissions” that will be shielded from public pressure. “Radical as it sounds, we need to counter the gridlock of our political institutions by making them a bit less democratic.” Two weeks later, North Carolina’s Democratic governor, Beverly Perdue, made a less sophisticated stab at the same general point, proposing to suspend congressional elections for a few years so members of Congress could make the difficult decisions necessary to get our country out of its deep problems.

Orszag and Perdue both seemed to channel a long and deeply held view of the Left — that the complexity of modern life and the intensity of modern politics should lead us to put more power in the hands of technical experts who have the knowledge to make objective, rational choices on our behalf. Leaving things to the political process will result only in delay and disorder. President Obama has frequently expressed this view himself — wistfully complaining to his aides earlier this year, for instance, that things would sure be easier if he were president of China.
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There Isn’t More Political ‘Polarization,’ There’s More Government

November 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Nanny State, President, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ron Fournier of the National Journal has committed the same mistake in political analysis that far too many others on both sides of the aisle make. He thinks, like many do, that there is somehow more “polarization” in Washington today than ever. Like all the others, he’s wrong. There isn’t any more than there’s ever been.

He then leaps to the claim that the political system is “broken.” It really isn’t.

Fournier goes on to make an even more egregious mistake assuming that this “polarization” will cause the rise of a third party.

All of this, he and others seem to think, is a result of the increased distance between Republicans and Democrats which, in turn, has caused out system to go off track. It is the extremist theory of the American political system, the idea that the far left and the far right (and by that people in the Old Media like Fournier only mean the far right) have caused Washington to self-destruct.
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Democrats, Sen. Schumer Shut Down Citizen’s Forum

November 22, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Chuck Schumer, Congress, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Republicans, Rights, Senate, Taxes, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

You know, it is unfortunate that the Democrat Party’s name has the word “democracy” as it root because the modern Democrat Party is 100% opposed to both democracy and our system of government. Senator Chuck “Hitman” Schumer just proved this to be true once again.

Last week Senator Mike Lee (R, Utah) had reserved a room in the Senate and invited a retinue of Tea Party representatives and the folks of Freedom Works to discuss the Tea Party Budget proposal drawn up by Freedom Works.

A 2012 World View: What is the End Game?

November 11, 2011 | Filed Under Constitution, Democracy, Elections, Ethics, Founders, Government, Corruption, Nancy Salvato | Comments Off

-By Nancy Salvato

Having a world view and understanding how that perception influences our choices is important to knowing ourselves, being able to take or defend a position, and set goals and work to meet them. Sharing perspective helps us to understand and communicate with those who do not share the same belief systems but allows us to get along if we can find some commonalities or on what we can agree to disagree. When people holding a world view do not have the awareness to understand why they hold their position or are unable to comprehend that different experiences allow for a different outlook, this is when conflict can occur. This holds relevance for the 2012 election cycle.

Conflict is not confined between strangers. It can arise within family units; it can happen in the workplace, on the playing field, or even at a party. On such a smaller scale, it might be considered a personality conflict. A person can even be conflicted inside one’s own head. It is how potential conflict is addressed that makes all the difference in the world.

Within our own country, the Founders and Framers understood that there has to be a balance between individual rights and the rights of the community. They were under no illusions that in a country this large that everyone could hold the same beliefs and goals. They wanted to create a place where to the largest extent possible, people could be free without imposing on others. You could say their end goal was freedom. In creating the U.S. Constitution, they created a document that would maximize freedom and minimize conflict. For example, rather than elevate one religion over others by sponsoring it by the state, they included the First Amendment, which reads:
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Business Roundtable: Regulations Are Killing Business

October 28, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Banks, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, EPA, Ethics, Financial Reform, Free Trade, Freedom, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Government, Ill. County, House of Representatives, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Jobs, Liberals, Policy, President, Public Employees Unions, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, The Law, Unemployment, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Friday I attended an informative business roundtable meeting of Chicago-area small businessmen who came together to discuss how government intervention and its avalanche of regulations are killing jobs and businesses not only in Illinois, but nation wide. Some of the stories were chilling, to say the least. These trials go to show how anti-business the most famously capitalist country in the world has become. No wonder we can’t get out of this second great depression!

The event was held at the headquarters of The Rabine Group in Schaumburg, Illinois. The Rabine Group is a group of nationwide companies that specializes in driveway paving, roofing, and other contracting work. The company is headed by owner and CEO Gary Rabine.

Filling out the panel was Moderator, Brian Kelly of Bulk Lift International; Gary Rabine, The Rabine Group; Garrett Patten, Patten Industries; Randy Truckenbrodt, Randall Industries, Inc, and Former State Senator Steve Rauschenberger, Rauschenberger Partners.

The panel began with some of the regulatory horror stories experienced by the panel. Each story illustrated how government stands in the way of job creation, small business, and expansion, and how government is not working hand-in-hand with small business but actually fosters an inimical relationship. The panel showed how the oppressiveness of these regulations actually tempts business to break laws just to be able to carry on with business.
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Why Democracy Is Dangerous for the ‘Arab Spring’

October 26, 2011 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Africa, Democracy, Egypt, Foreign Countries, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestinians, Saudi Arabia | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

There is a concerted movement that began in earnest with the Progressive Era to identify the United States of America as a Democracy. To be sure, this movement has made great strides in convincing the American citizenry of just that. This movement has been so successful in delivering this message that Democrats, Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives have, throughout history – and even up to and including today, have identified our American form of government as that of being a Democracy. There is even an initiative promoted by our federal government to export “Democracy” throughout the world. Today we see this initiative playing out in the Middle East and North Africa. There is only one thing wrong with all of the above and the problem exists at the root: The United States of America is not a Democracy; it never has been and, God willing, it never will be.

Democracy has always, throughout history, served as a gateway to despotism. This is primarily because Democracy is tantamount to “mob rule,” or government by the majority. In a government ruled by the will of the majority – a Democracy, the rights of the minority are not guaranteed and are often neglected or even ignored by those who hold power, most often in pursuit of keeping or maintaining that power.

Additionally, in a Democracy, because it is essentially government by the will of the majority, government has no constraints. If fifty-one percent of the people – or a plurality of the people – can be persuaded to believe a particular avenue of thinking; convinced that a certain law is “necessary,” it becomes the policy of the government or the law of the land, regardless of whether or not the minority’s rights have been usurped or protected.
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Finger-Waving, Child-Like Protestors Refuse to Allow Left-Wing Congressman to Address Crowd

October 8, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Children, Civil Rights Act, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Georgia, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 5 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the funniest thing I have ever…

This is the funniest thing I’ve ever….

Seen in my life.

A bunch of child-like protesters in Atlanta, Georgia refused left-wing Congressman John Lewis — a civil rights icon to many — to be allowed to address the crowd this weekend. The whole scene is reminiscent of the worst, hackneyed, new agie-styled preschool program devised for 5-year-olds by one of the most idiotic leftists imaginable. But it makes for hilarious video entertainment.

Apparently these people decided that their “assembly” would employ pure democracy. But if there was ever a more annoying way to do it, I’ve never seen it.

A scraggly, bearded, hippie wannabe playing the part of the crowd’s conscience spoke to those gathered over a megaphone system. He would say a few words and the crowd would, like five-year-olds in a preschool class, repeat his words verbatim.

It went something like this:

Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “We have someone here…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “We have someone here…”
Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “Who would like to address the assembly…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “Who would like to address the assembly…”

So, Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy explains to the crowd that they don’t “use clapping” in their “assembly” because clapping can “prevent someone else who is addressing the assembly from being heard.” So, to “signal approval” the crowd is instructed to raise their hands and wiggle their fingers. I swear I saw this on Barney the Dinosaur show.
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The ‘Solar Decathalon’ That Needed a Gas Generator for Cloudy Days

September 27, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Democracy, Economy/Finances, Energy, Environment, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Solar, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

What happens when the sun refuses to shine on a PR event for solar power…

Yeah, look to the right under the sign. Yep, that’s a gas generator powering the “solar” sign.

Brett Jacobson was alerted to this hilarious example of the unviable nature of solar power as a reliable source of energy.

It was too deliciously funny to ignore.
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Obama Hypocrisy: From ‘Talking to Each Other in a Way That Heals,’ to Dismissing ‘Kabuki Theater’

September 8, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama is nothing less than a hypocrite on his admonitions over public discourse and the latest example of this truth lies in his refusal to condemn the violence-tinged language of Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa not to mention his similar silence on the obscene rhetoric of many of the leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

While Obama has tsk tsked folks on the right like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin and told the nation that we need to start “talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds,” he has turned a blind eye to his own vice president calling political opponents “terrorists,” members of Congress saying that Republicans and Tea Partiers can “go straight to hell,” and just this week walked on stage grinning like a Cheshire Cat immediately after Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa told a Detroit crowd that they intended to “take those sons a bitches out.”

Obama loves to sound as if he’s somehow above old fashioned, boilerplate rhetoric or the mudslinging that is associated with down-and-dirty politics. He not only claims to avoid such rhetoric himself but acts the national scold and wags fingers at others that do indulge such tactics. Well, he does if it happens to be his political opponents indulging that sort of rhetoric, that is. When his side does it, the scold in chief is suddenly silent.
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Israel’s Terrible Choices

September 8, 2011 | Filed Under Alan Caruba, Anti-Semitism, Children, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Government, Corruption, Israel, Liberals | Comments Off

-By Alan Caruba

I was eleven years old when Israel declared its independence and sovereignty in 1948 with the blessing of the United Nations. World War Two and the Holocaust were over barely three years and many of Europe’s Jews needed a state of their own to rebuild their lives. Jews from throughout the Middle East were forced to flee nations in which they had lived for centuries. Over time Israel would absorb Russian Jews and others from around the world.

Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon attacked Israel days after its formal establishment. They were defeated. They would attack again in 1967 and 1973. In the course of these wars, the Arabs that had been living in Palestine, as Israel was known due to the post World War One British mandate, fled or were displaced.

They would become the world’s oldest refugee group and the only one to which a UN agency would be solely devoted, absorbing U.S. and other funding to maintain their status as opposed to helping them assimilate into neighboring Arab nations.
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Illinois GOP State Central Committee Meeting: Sound and Fury Signifying No Changes

September 6, 2011 | Filed Under Conservatives, Democracy, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Illinois State Government, Mitt Romney, Pat Brady, President, Republicans, Rick Perry, State Central Committee, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In one of the most well attended yet contentious State Central Committee meetings for some time, the movers and shakers of the Illinois GOP met on Tuesday evening to attempt to decide if the system for certifying delegates for GOP presidential candidates should be changed. The short answer is that there was a lot of sound and fury from party members lower on the food chain, much debate from those on top, and questions all around all of which resulted in a failure of the proposal to make the change. In the end a resolution was passed to keep it all the same as it was in 2008.

Beginning at 5 PM the meeting at the Boilingbrook Country Club was well attended by both SCC members, concerned party members, a few county party chairs, committeemen, and Tea Party activists. House leader Tom Cross made an appearance as did long-time conservative activist Jack Roeser. Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford was also there, like many of the others, to speak about the proposed rules change.

I should note that one reason this rules change was contemplated is that the national Republican Party is trying to get every state to change their system into one of proportional representation of delegates to the convention. The RNC gave Illinois the leeway to change its process and several activists took this opportunity to propose a major change to the system, a change that meets the law as well as state and national party rules.

Certainly the change being contemplated was extensive. Currently, the presidential candidates are awarded delegates via the ballot box, a method only three other states favor. Campaigns come to Illinois, build their Illinois machine, and solicit for delegates. These delegates then have to stand for election on the primary ballot. To do so they must each get 600 signatures of voters in their district so that they, the delegates, can get on the election ballot. Then, those elected are considered official delegates to the GOP nomination convention.
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Infant Tyro: Obama’s One-Upmanship of GOP Debates Clearly a Power Play

August 31, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Harry Reid, House of Representatives, Jobs, John Boehner, Liberals, President, Republicans, Senate, Taxes, Unemployment, Warner Todd Huston | 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama wants to give us his jobs plan. Yeah, three years after he got elected saying he was all about jobs. It isn’t the speech that is important, here, though — he won’t say anything new or important in it. It is the fact that he’s trying to bury the GOP debate that is being held on the same night he suddenly wants to issue his speech. This is childish, one-upmanship of the highest order.

Worse, when his press mouth, White House Press Sec. Jay Carney, was asked about the date question, Carny haughtily told the GOP to go ahead and change the timing of the debate they had scheduled months ago.

Obama suddenly announced today that he wants to appear at a joint session of congress so that he can present his jobs plan. He then announced, without fully confirming the date with congress, that the date of the speech would be September. Sept. 7, of course, is the date that the next GOP debate had been scheduled for, a date that had been announced many months ago.
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Union Astroturf Pretends Like Tea Partiers to Attack GOP

August 21, 2011 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, AFL-CIO, Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Congress, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jobs, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Nanny State, Newspapers, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, SEIU, Senate, Socialism, Taxes, Unions, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Hill has an interesting, if not a bit slanted, report about the faux grassroots efforts of unions and left-wing advocates to pretend they are somehow just like the Tea Party by attacking the town hall meetings of various GOP congressman across the country this Summer.

The Hill dutifully reports without complaint the union’s claims that they are organizing just like the Tea Partiers and forcing GOP congressmen to face “angry protests at home” this month in a “replication” of the Tea Party backlash that “bit” Democrats in 2009.

“Liberal groups have been planning these protests for months,” trumpets The Hill, “One organizer told The Hill in February that the campaign would ‘build to a crescendo’ in August.”

These protests have been organized by Obama’s supporters in government unions like the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO as well as far left NGOs such as MoveOn.org, Campaign for America’s Future and others.
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Top Ten Richest Members of Congress: Only 3 Are Republicans?

August 20, 2011 | Filed Under Congress, Democracy, GOP, Government, Liberals, Money, Republicans, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

OK, what’s the deal, here? I thought all the rich folk was s’possed to be Republican? But in Roll Call’s list of the richest members of congress we find that the top ten is stuffed mostly with fatcat Democrats. Only three Republicans made the top ten richest list.

Gosh, what happened to the left’s meme?

Democrat Senator John Kerry has in the past been the richest fellow in congress, but he’s slipped to third place these days. The top two richest now happen to be Republicans, though. Texas Rep. Michael McCaul and California Rep. Darrell Issa take spots one and two respectively. But the next Republican doesn’t show up again until the tenth spot. All the rest of the top ten are Democrats.
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Obamas Travel Like South American Dictators

August 20, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Communism, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Socialism, South America, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | 2 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Presidente Obama es muy importante. He must be. He travels like a South American Dictator instead of a president of a democratic nation. Sacrifice is so for the little people, ya know?

Let’s take his latest of his many, many vacations. His loverly wife, Michelle, had the government fly her via helicopter and a government jet to their rented vacation estate at Martha’s Vineyard ahead of time so that she could luxuriate for a little longer. Bad enough, of course, as she could have just waited until hubby Barack was ready to go.

But el Presidente Obama upped her by taking TWO helicopters AND Air Force One to make the 500 mile journey.
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Court: Obama White House MUST Make Visitor Logs Public (Who Yelled About Bush’s ‘Secrets’)

August 19, 2011 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Regulation, Transparency, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

After running on the claim that he’d make presidential records more available and after criticizing George W. Bush and Vice President Cheney for “secret meetings” in the White House because visitor logs were kept from public view, the Obama administration continued the Bush era practice of keeping White House visitor logs secret. Now a court has ordered that Obama release those logs.

A federal judge in Washington D.C. ruled on August 17 that the White House visitor logs maintained by the Secret Service should be open to public access. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell found that the visitor logs are Secret Service records and therefore do not fall under the president’s privilege. Therefore, the records are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests (FOIA).

Interestingly, Judge Howell was appointed to the bench by Obama but still ruled against his attempts to keep his White House visitors a secret. Good for her for actually adjudicating on the law and not on politics for a change.
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Unions Lose BIG In Wisconsin Recall Efforts

August 10, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Children, Conservatives, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Elections, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, Jobs, Liberals, Public Employees Unions, Republicans, Scott Walker, SEIU, Senate, Taxes, Teachers Unions, Unions, Warner Todd Huston, Wisconsin | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oh, the union thugs in Wisconsin will certainly try to act as if winning a mere two of the six recall elections of the Republican State Senators in the Cheese State was a big win… but it wasn’t. In fact, this recall nonsense shows that the union issues were a huge failure. After all, they even shied from using the union issues to push the recall efforts after they got going because they were looking like a losing issue.

In fact, the two Republicans that lost their effort to beat the recall were the two that were a bit odd as it is, so beating them doesn’t seem to be such a great triumph. And even at that the margins of defeat were not great. David Fredosso of the Washington Examiner puts it well:

In the end, the union-backed Democrats picked up only two state Senate seats in Wisconsin last night, at a staggering cost in time, effort, and of course money. One of the seats was solidly Democratic, held by a Republican due to an apparent fluke of nature. The other was held by an alleged adulterer who had moved outside his district to live with his young mistress, and whose wife was supporting his recall.

A Pyrrhic victory, there, for sure.

Unions and left-wing Democrat operative told us that the people of Wisconsin were furious at Governor Scott Walker and his GOP partners. We were told that “the people” would swarm to the recall election polls and throw the rascals out. But aside from the two problem children above, none of the elections were even close.
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New Health Care Law Requirements Ignore Obama’s Executive Order: Violates Conscience Rights of Millions of Americans

July 31, 2011 | Filed Under Abortion, Barack Obama, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

From Lake County Right to Life…

(Grayslake, IL — July 27, 2011) By August 1 the federal government is likely to accept a medical panel’s advice that new health plans must fully cover all contraception, including sterilization and pills designed to cause abortions. Conscience protections previously promised in President Obama’s 2010 Executive Order have been omitted. Individuals and providers will be forced to pay for services they object to on moral, ethical or religious grounds.

President Obama’s Executive Order 13535 states that existing conscience protections, particularly regarding abortion, will apply to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The panel’s recommendations also violate current conscience laws, the Church Amendment and the Hyde-Weldon Amendment.

The new health care law requires 100% coverage for standard preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies. The panel’s idea to classify contraception as “preventive medicine,” causes all related drugs having FDA approval, such as abortion pills Ella, Plan B and RU486, to be included.
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A New Declaration of Independence for a New Revolution

July 5, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Elections, Ethics, Federalism, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, President, Republicans, Senate, Socialism, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

America is fast coming to a crossroads from which there will be no return if we take the wrong path. Do we take the road that leads away from America and toward a Euro-esque way of governing? Do we cast aside our American character and bury our great nation in a grave of socialist-styled authority? Do we damn our progeny to a failed superstate that violate every tenet of our original ideals?

I say we do not. I say we reject the Democrat’s Euro-esque ideas and refocus ourselves on American exceptionalism. Our federal system has strayed far from our founding ideals and we may soon find that its time for a new Declaration of Independence from a tyrannical government that has usurped power from proper authority.

Since it was just Independence Day over weekend (and I waited until it was over on purpose so as not to obviate from that celebration), I offer this new Declaration as a rallying cry to all those willing to return to our true American character…
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The Strategic Debate We Need To Have

June 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Foreign Policy, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Jeff Lukens, Liberals, Patriot Act, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, Senate, State Department, Taxes | 1 Comment

- By Jeff Lukens

The U.S. federal debt is our nation’s greatest strategic weakness. As the debt continues to grow, our military posture around the globe is threatened. Defense cuts are coming, and with that reduction must come a reduced mission. In this environment, what our nation’s strategic mission should be, and what the corresponding defense funding should be to meet that need, are open questions. They are questions that need to be openly explored by politicians and the American people alike.

In a recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Defense Secretary Robert Gates said, “A smaller military, no matter how superb, will be able to go fewer places and do fewer things.” Ever the public servant, Gates seeks to kindle a debate the country seems reluctant, but needs, to have. It would be an invitation to disaster if we kept the same mission with reduced funding, or a reduced force. By bringing the issue to the public forum, Gates apparently seeks to avoid that calamity.

The core Pentagon budget is now about $530 billion, and accounts for roughly 20 percent of federal spending, and roughly half of discretionary spending. Defense cuts are coming, that much we know for sure, and the easiest of them have already been made. Gates acknowledged that over the past two years, “more than 30 programs (weapon systems, etc.) were canceled, capped, or ended that, if pursued to completion, would have cost more than $300 billion.”
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America’s Version of the Ouroboros — Deliver Us from Stupidity

June 18, 2011 | Filed Under Christianity, Democracy, Economy/Finances, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Michael Bresciani‏, Religion | Comments Off

-By Rev Michael Bresciani‏

The most read article I have ever written is only made it to my own website after being circulated around the internet for over five years. It has been published to over fifty other sites and read by about 350,000 people. It is entitled “7 Sure Fire Ways To Overcome Stage Fright When Speaking Or Performing” it was written and published back in 2005. Within that article I advise my readers a bit on how to look at a crowd of people with the following advice.

“See the Crowd as Only One Person: No science is available to prove how or why this little tool works, but be assured it will never fail. Always speak to the audience as if you were talking to only one single person. It makes them feel that you are being very personal with each individual, they can feel the difference. It shrinks the crowd on a perceptional level for you. Remember that perception is often the better part of reality. It moves the entire matter to a, one on one. Who wouldn’t admit that they are more comfortable talking to their neighbor or some stranger but not a whole crowd? Approach your performance or address as if you were doing just that and you will succeed.”

When writing, this rule also applies but what are missing are the eye contact and the verbal and emotional responses of the crowd. Yet, even for that, the statistics of an article, the feedback and the demographics of the readership says a lot. So what exactly does it say?
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More Arts Funding Boondoggles in Age of Obama Economic Meltdown

June 11, 2011 | Filed Under Art, Budget, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Taxes, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

Yes, it’s time for another tale of millions of your tax dollars wasted by the NEA on “art” in America.

Supporters of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) like to puff themselves up as saviors of high “art” in lowbrow America. They love to imagine that without their advocacy for spending millions of our tax dollars to support dubious art projects, why, “art” in America would vanish. After all, you people are all uncultured, Neanderthals, you know?

Bruce E. Walker recently alerted us of the newest boondoggle to come out of the NEA. This time the NEA is sponsoring hundreds of thousands of dollars to go to video game makers.

Yes, video games. Apparently the NEA thinks we have a dearth of video games in America and they need to rescue this important and neglected “art” from somehow disappearing.
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Texas: More Atheists Lies Get Court Backing

June 6, 2011 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Christianity, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Religion, Rights, Texas, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off

-By Warner Todd Huston

In another strike against freedom, democracy, and American traditions a Texas court has decided that a Texas High School cannot have a prayer during its upcoming graduation ceremonies. Not only that, but according to this judge speakers are even barred from saying the words “join in prayer,” “bow their heads,” “amen,” and “prayer.” So now, according to these anti-democratic courts, mere words are illegal!

Naturally this decision was once again a result of a lawsuit filed by some radical, anti-American atheists. These prevaricators claimed that hearing a prayer would cause them “irreparable harm.” What tosh…

Red the rest at http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=8725 .

The Mistake of Global Democratization

June 2, 2011 | Filed Under 9/11, Afghanistan, al Qaeda, Barack Obama, Christianity, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Egypt, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Government, Government, Corruption, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islam, Islamofascism, Israel, Jews, Lebanon, Liberals, Libya, Osama bin Ladden, Pakistan, Palestinians, President, Saudi Arabia, Society/Culture, Taliban, Terrorism, War on Terror, Western Civilization | Comments Off

-By Frank Salvato

We are hearing a great deal about a budding “Democracy movement” spreading throughout the Middle East. Many are calling it an “Arab Spring.” The belief is that after centuries of totalitarian oppression, the Arab street is suddenly pining for more freedom; rebelling against the elitist ruling class of kings, emirs, despots and tyrants. This is most likely true for a great number of those filling the streets of Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Bahrain and myriad other Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim nations. But there is a less than honorable component amongst the rebellion that simply waits for the “right” to a democratic vote. Contrary to how the idea of a move to Democracy presents, in the volatile Middle East there are elements in play that could make it a move in the wrong direction.

Each and every day we hear the misnomer that the United States of America is a Democracy. We hear it from the average man on the street, the mainstream media and even from those we have elected to office. But the fact of the matter is this: we are not a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. A thorough and convincing exhibit of the facts surrounding this reality is presented in Notes on Democracy: And the Republic for Which It Stands. The fact that this issue is even in need of address is a scathing commentary on the constitutional illiteracy of the American electorate and serves as a sobering reminder that, often times, what sounds good – what “feels good” – isn’t always as it presents.

The distinction – between the benefits of a Democracy and a Constitutional Republic – is incredibly important, and while some describe our nation as a Democracy in an error of ignorance, others – some with schemes of political opportunism – do so with a nefarious purpose and bad intentions.
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Notes on Democracy: And to the Republic, for Which It Stands

May 31, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Elections, Ethics, Foreign Policy, Founders, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, House of Representatives, Liberals, Nancy Salvato, Republicans, Security/Safety, Taxes | Comments Off

-By Nancy Salvato

I’m fairly certain that everyone from my generation knows the words to The Pledge of Allegiance by heart.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.”

When reciting the pledge, we should focus on the meaning attached to these words, most of which were written by Francis Bellamy, commemorating our history in honor of the 400th anniversary of Columbus Day at Chicago’s World’s Fair. I say “most” because the original pledge, as written by Bellamy, was altered. Nevertheless, each word in this final version provides our citizenry an appropriate lens through which we may view our world.
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