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Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,
its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. – Winston Churchill

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“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” —Thomas Jefferson


featured articleFEATURED ARTICLEfeatured article

Obama's Latest Monstrosity
John Berlau
Rather than wait for Congress's own Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to issue its report in December to examine the role of the GSEs and other causes, Congress passed a bill that will not prevent future bubbles and imposes untold costs that will put the country in danger of slipping back into a recession.

Obama, The Nation Killer
Alan Caruba
The unemployment rate keeps climbing and the polling results for the President and Congress keep falling. Conservatives are well aware that the Obama administration has relentlessly pursued legislation harmful to the economy, but just how bad it is and how bad it will become in 2011 may not have sunk in fully for the public in general.

MORE ARTICLES


Meet Paul Ryan
Meet Paul Ryan
Extensive coverage of the GOP's hot, young gun.

With all the clamor over the government taking over or, further controlling the nation's
health care industry, let us not forget the primary issue that propelled Barack Obama to
the presidency — the financial crisis of 2008.
Lest we forget, here is a 4-minute video worth watching!

www.usa.govContact your congresscritters here!
 
Also see the TYSK Dept. FREE SPEECH
 
www.govtrack.usA civic project to
track Congress

 
Go To - Open Congress.orgOpen-source, not-for-profit, and non-partisan resource

VIDEO: Obama's Cap-n-Tax plan

You Vote for Federal spending cuts
You Vote every
week for cuts in
Federal spending.

Track your Rep's vote
Stop the Government Takeover of the Internet
Help stop the government takeover
of the Internet

Americans for Prosperity (AFP)
Go to Contract from America
Go to Contract from America
Nearly a half billion voices created the Contract
Click to go to Roadmap for America's Future
GOP Solutions presented by
Rep. Paul Ryan

The Dodd-Frank Financial Overall Bill
The final bill.
2319 page PDF

 
U.S. National Debt Clock
A Million Seconds=12 days   —   A Billion Seconds=31 years   —   A Trillion Seconds=31,688 years

Week ending 25 July 2010

Exposed: Secret Plans by NHS Bureaucrats to Impose Extreme Cuts;
Hundreds of Cuts Buried in Details of Obscure Regulations

Some of the most common operations – including hip replacements and cataract surgery – will be rationed as part of attempts to save billions of pounds, despite government promises that front-line services would be protected. Patients’ groups have described the measures as “astonishingly brutal”.
The axe falls on Britain's
NHS
services
Dingy Harry Insists to Nutroots:
“We're Going To Have a Public Option”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, seeking to console liberal activists who were disappointed by the final version of the national health care law, assured them that there would eventually be a public option. "We're going to have a public option," Reid said. "It's just a question of when."
Harry Reid
Obamacare Mandate Much Worse than a Tax
Ken Klukowski and Ken Blackwell.
Obamacare’s mandate is not a tax. A tax is where government raises money by taking your money and spending it. The mandate, by contrast, is the government commanding you to give your own money to someone else. It’s the first time in American history that the government is claiming the power to tell you how to spend your own money.
Obamacare Compliance Based on Rewards and Penalties
The incentive program is the system of bonus payments the government will make to health care providers that implement EHRs by 2014. However, there is a penalty system that diminishes a health-care provider's already low Medicare and Medicaid payments if it does not comply with the EHR mandate by 2014.
ObamaClypse Now: Some Insurers End New Coverage for Kids
Ed Carson
In an "unintended," but absolutely predictable consequence of ObamaCare, some insurers have stopped writing certain policies for children, state officials said Friday: Florida Insurance Commissioner Kevin McCarty said in his state, UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross Blue Shield have stopped issuing new policies that cover children individually.
JournoList – Hijacking Their Employers for “The Cause”
James DeLong
For anyone who has been in a cave, JournoList was an invitation-only email discussion group among “progressive” journalists and academics on which they exchanged candid views on the state of the nation and discussed the themes that should be pushed or suppressed as dictated by the needs of the movement.

Liberal Journalists Colluded to Paint Tea Party Protesters as Nazis
theblogprof
Last August, US House dim bulb Nancy Pelosi came out accusing tea party protesters of carrying around swastikas. It turns out now that that may not have been a meme that Pelosi created, but rather one that liberal journalists created out of whole cloth and fed to their Democrat puppets.

A Trip Through the Archives: What kind of Obama stories did the media publish in 2008 immediately after the Journolist conspiracy?
Doug Ross
Journolist, Ezra Klein's private mailing list, provided the venue for journalists from Time, Politico, the Puffington Toast, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon, the New Republic, and other outlets to orchestrate a rescue operation on several noteworthy fronts.
Soros-funded Group Wants Feds to Probe Talk Radio
Aaron Klein
The founder of Free Press, Robert W. McChesney, is an avowed Marxist who has recommended capitalism be dismantled. "In the end, there is no real answer but to remove brick-by-brick the capitalist system itself, rebuilding the entire society on socialist principles,'" wrote McChesney in a column.
Now The Media Demands Context When It Comes to Race
– Are You Kidding Me?

Ron Futrell
Lemme get this straight: the media is talking about context. They want context! They've never cared about context in the past. When a person talked like a racist there were no excuses, no context, no explanation, no recovery allowed or given. Any conservative who's been wrongly accused of being a racist knows exactly what I'm talking about.
New EPA Rules Carry Nearly $3B Annual Cost to Power Users
The agency estimated that annual direct costs to the power sector complying with the proposal-that is, the cost of installing and operating advanced pollution control equipment or switching fuels-is $2.8 billion.
TARP Audit Questions Rush to Close Auto Dealers
“It is not at all clear that the greatly accelerated pace of the dealership closings during one of the most severe economic downturns in our Nation’s history was either necessary for the sake of the companies’ economic survival or prudent for the sake of the Nation’s economic recovery,” the audit stated.
Decision to Close Dealerships Based on Race, Gender, Politics?
Meredith Jessup
If I was someone who worked at a dealership that was forced to close while others weren't simply because they were owned by a minority or a woman, I'd be pretty ticked right about now.
Bowles and Gregg Call for $26.7 Trillion Tax Hike: Yes, Trillion!
Americans for Tax Reform
Erskine Bowles wants $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. Gregg agrees with this ratio.  If that sounds familiar, it should – it's the same ratio that President Reagan was snookered into in 1982's famous TEFRA deal.  Reagan reportedly called that fake spending cuts/real tax hikes "deal" the biggest mistake of his presidency.
It's OUR Money! Dammit!
The Tax Tsunami On The Horizon
Investor's Business Daily
Many voters are looking forward to 2011, hoping a new Congress will put the country back on the right track. But unless something's done soon, the new year will also come with a raft of tax hikes – including a return of the death tax – that will be real killers.
Coming Soon: The Biggest Tax Increase Ever
John Hinderaker
The Democrats' legislative program has proved unpopular with voters, but we haven't yet gotten to the really  unpopular part: the most massive tax increase in American history, scheduled to occur on January 1. Congressional Democrats have mostly avoided talking about it in hopes that voters won't notice that their taxes are about to shoot up.
A Slow Slog Ahead for U.S. Nuclear Power
One rarely hears the words “nuclear renaissance” anymore. When the phrase appears, it is often with an ironic twist. Gone is the heady optimism of the first few years after a Republican Congress passed and a Republican president signed the 2005 Energy Policy Act.
Document: Obama WH Backed Release of Lockerbie Bomber
The document, acquired by a well-placed US source, threatens to undermine U.S. President Barack Obama's claim last week that all Americans were "surprised, disappointed and angry" to learn of Megrahi's release. The intervention, which has angered U.S. relatives of those who died in the attack, was made by Richard LeBaron, deputy head of the U.S. embassy in London.

President Barack Obama claimed to be "surprised" by Release
Last week, President Barack Obama told a White House press conference that the U.S. had been ''surprised, disappointed and angry'' about Megrahi being released.
Scots
claim no
contact
with
BP
Howard Dean Calls Fox News Racist,
Chris Wallace Strikes Back

“I know facts are inconvenient things, but let's try to deal with the facts. The fact is that the Obama administration fired or forced Shirley Sherrod to quit before her name had ever been mentioned on Fox News Channel. Did you know that, sir?” –Chris Wallace
FOX News Channel
Obama Dept. of Interior Under Investigation for
False Claims Regarding Offshore Oil Drilling Moritorium

In response to a request from Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee, the Department of Interior's acting Inspector General, Mary Kendall, announced she is opening an investigation into whether a Department of Interior report recommending an offshore drilling ban was manipulated to appear as if the ban was endorsed by seven experts from the National Academy of Engineers.
Drilling Ban Opponents Should Have to File New Suit,
U.S. Says in Appeal

U.S. regulators, seeking to overturn a judge’s ruling throwing out a moratorium on deep-water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, said opponents of the ban should be required to file a new lawsuit to pursue their claims.
U.S. Condemns Release of Documents on Afghan War
Over 90,000 classified documents were posted online by Wikileaks. The left-leaning NY Times, UK Guardian and Germany's Der Spiegel all published articles based on the leaked documents. National Security Adviser James Jones said the release of the information was "irresponsible" and put American lives at risk.
Gun Control Advocates Make up Facts about
Concealed Handgun Laws

John R. Lott, Jr.
Over the past three years, the number of active permit holders in the United States has gone from about 5 million  to more than 6.2 million today. The numbers issued by the state regulatory agencies show time after time that these permit holders abide by the law.
Those Sweet Bell, CA. Retirements May Cost You Too
Steve Lopez
A pension reform activist says that since Bell is pooled with 140 similar-size California towns and public entities, their taxes will help support the three high-priced officials who have resigned.
What's this all about?!
Race-Card Fraud – There is not now, nor has there ever been, anything post-racial about Barack Obama
Thomas Sowell
Among people who voted for Barack Obama in 2008, those who are likely to be most disappointed are those who thought that they were voting for a new post-racial era. There was absolutely nothing in Obama’s past to lead to any such expectation, and much to suggest the exact opposite.
America Moves Beyond Race; Will President?
Victor Davis Hanson
In just 18 months of the Obama administration, racial discord is growing and relations seem to have been set back a generation. Black voters are galvanizing behind Obama at a time of rapidly falling support. White independents, in contrast, are leaving Obama in droves.
President Haters
J.R. Dunn
Obama is hated for a good reason – for causing suffering to no purpose. A president must cause grief and pain; in this fallen world, he has no choice. But the suffering generated by the reign of Obama is unnecessary and uncalled for, as any short examination will reveal.

Week ending 18 July 2010

Business Knows More than Obama
Lawrence Kudlow
Uncertainty over the regulatory-and-tax rules of the road is exactly what has buffaloed business and stifled the animal spirits that are so necessary for investment and job creation. The clash between business and the administration has become the high-drama news story of the summer.
AP: Bill's Passage “only the beginning”;
for Wall Street – “continuing uncertainty”

The far-reaching new banking and consumer protection bill that President Barack Obama intends to sign on Wednesday now shifts from the politicians to the technocrats.  Harvard professor likely to be named to head Consumer Protection Board.
The Stock Market Will Suffer Dizzy Spells Until the
Fog of Monetary Policy Uncertainty is Lifted

Andy Kessler
The Fed's zero policy is wreaking havoc in the real world, not just on Wall Street. In most companies, projects are funded when expected returns are higher than the risk-free rate of return, i.e., investing in T-bills. But the risk-free rate today is a big fat zero!
Federal Reserve Predicts Weak Growth and High Unemployment
The Fed's new forecast made only minor changes to its outlook for growth, unemployment and inflation...The factors the Fed cited were household and business uncertainty, weak real estate markets, a tough job market, waning fiscal stimulus and still-tight lending by banks.
New Regs for Electronic Health Records Announced;
A person's "obesity rating" now a required "meaningful use"

The regulations issued on Tuesday by HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health IT, define the "meaningful use" of electronic records. Under the stimulus law, health care providers – including doctors and hospitals – must establish "meaningful use" of EHRs by 2014 in order to qualify for federal subsidies.
Democrats Have Paid for Unemployment Benefits Before,
Why Won’t They Do It Again?

For Democrats to offset unemployment benefits with stimulus dollars would undermine their claim that the stimulus will continue to create and save jobs. It’s to Democrats’ advantage, then, for the party that controls both houses of Congress to let 2.1 million people go without their unemployment benefits in order to cast Republicans as heartless monsters.
No Pony Under the Tree After All
Michael Walsh
You know things are really starting to go south for the Obama administration when its journalistic functionaries and spear-carriers on the left are starting to openly fret and worry as they begin to feel November's chill wind blowing. The visions of historic change, social justice and a plum government job are gradually being replaced by nightmares not just of defeat but repudiation. The racket has been exposed by its own audacity.
Republicans Should Embrace Paul Ryan's Road Map
Fred Barnes
For Republicans, the road map authored by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is the most important proposal in domestic policy since Ronald Reagan embraced supply-side economics in the 1980 presidential campaign. It's not only the freshest, boldest, and most comprehensive Republican thinking, it's also the most relevant.
GOP Road Map
One Job Forward, Two Jobs Back
Another Triumph of Obamanomics

Andrew B. Wilson
If no one in the private sector is beating a path to the door of either one of these small and unheralded companies – to buy their products or invest in their technologies – what makes Obama and the Department of Energy so sure it's wise to put $2 billion of the taxpayers' money at risk on their behalf?
We Should Be Covering The Black Panther Story
Washington Post Ombudsman
Thursday's Post reported about a growing controversy over the Justice Department's decision to scale down a voter-intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party. The story succinctly summarized the issues but left many readers with a question: What took you so long?
To Justify Its Own Existence, NAACP Condemns Tea Party for 'Racism'
Patriot Post Editorial
It's a telling dichotomy that ABC emphasizes polls diminishing the Tea Party movement's impact yet continues to treat the movement as a significant threat. If the Tea Parties were so impotent, one would think the media would ignore them.
I Condemn the NAACP:
Robin Martin   Deneen Borelli   Kevin L. Martin
St. Louis Tea Party Challenges NAACP's "bigoted" Resolution;
Urges IRS to Reconsider Tax-exempt Status

The NAACP adopted a resolution Tuesday condemning "racist elements" in the Tea Party movement and calling on the movement's leaders to repudiate bigotry, despite claims from Tea Partiers that the measure is just a political ploy.
It's Really About Controlling Our Lives
Paul Driessen
Within days, Majority Leader Harry Reid intends to bring sweeping energy and climate legislation to the Senate floor. He won't call it cap-and-trade or cap-tax-and-trade, and certainly not a carbon tax. “Those words are not in my vocabulary,” he says. “We’re going to work on pollution.”
Cap and Ban
Heritage Foundation
The front page of USA Today claims: "President Obama's attempt to use the Gulf of Mexico oil spill to help propel comprehensive energy legislation has failed." Don't believe it for a second. On Monday the Obama administration reissued a ban on offshore oil drilling in the gulf after federal courts twice invalidated the first ban, calling it "arbitrary and capricious."
Rasmussen: 70% in Texas Favor Offshore Oil Drilling;
66% Support Deepwater Drilling

One-out-of-three (66%) voters in the state feel deepwater oil drilling should be allowed.  Nationally, 49% of Americans feel that way about such drilling.  Twenty percent (20%) say deepwater drilling should not be permitted, and 14% are undecided.
Ridding Ourselves of Obama
Alan Caruba
The problem is an ancient one. How to remove from office a king or, in a republic, an elected leader who has broken the law and/or is perceived to be a threat to both the present and future of the nation?
Obama Must be Impeached:
He’s Either Incompetent, or Purposely Failing

Kelly O'Connell
No democratic country knowingly elects leaders to debase their country, give away power, bankrupt the treasury, incorporate socialism, dissolve constitutional rights, cripple capitalism, and menace every citizen with reckless policies. That would be ridiculous and anti-American.
“Silent Raids” Will Not Halt Effects of Illegal Immigration
Charles Krauthammer
In the old days when the feds did an immigration raid, they came in screaming, knocking down doors, flashing the badges, and brandishing the weapons. And now they do what's called a silent raid.
The Kenya Connection
Obama Administration Efforts In Africa May Violate Federal Law

Washington Times editorial
The Kenyan president wants a new constitution, one that opens the door to abortion on demand. President Obama is willing to use U.S. taxpayer dollars to persuade voters to approve the updated governing document, which would loosen regulations designed to protect the unborn, establish Muslim family courts and create a right to homosexual marriage.
Canadians Outraged as Muslim Mother Walks Free
After Killing Her Daughter

A Calgary mother won’t spend a day in jail for killing her teenage daughter with a head scarf – a decision that has prompted outrage. “It sends a massively huge message to the rest of the country and the world that her daughter’s life was valueless,” said Joe Wamback.
New Yorkers Campaign for Muslim School Holidays
More than 150 Muslim students, parents and supporters rallied outside New York’s City Hall this week as part of their campaign to persuade the mayor to include the Eid al Adha and Eid al Fitr holidays in the public school calendar.
Muslim Terror Magazine “Inspire” in English
Doug Hagmann
What do detailed bomb making instructions, global climate change, Arizona’s immigration law and the American dollar as a reserve currency have in common? They are all mentioned in the first edition of the Yemen-based English language version of Inspire, a magazine published by the Muslim terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Arlen Specter Wants to Continue Feeding at Public Trough;
Seeks Job in Obama Administration

After 2010 elections sources tell ABC News that Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pennsylvania, has informed the White House that he would like to consider remaining in public service after his Senate term ends at the end of this session, and White House officials are keeping an open mind about possible job openings for him.
Candidates Rubio, Coats, and Buck Sign the “Contract from America”
The Contract from America Foundation announced today that Senate Candidates Marco Rubio (R-FL), Dan Coats (R-IN), and Ken Buck (R-CO) have joined over 130 Senate and Congressional candidates nationwide by listening to the wishes of their constituents and signing the “Contract from America,” a Main Street grassroots legislative blueprint for 2010 and beyond.
Why Google Loves Democrats So Much
Matthew Sheffield
As it continues its exponential expansion to cellphones, mobile advertising, television sets and book publishing internet giant Google has been simultaneously expanding its presence in the U.S. political scene, adding lobbyists, DC-based employees, and ramping up its campaign donations.

Week ending 11 July 2010

The Rout of Obamanomics
Peter Ferrara
The comprehensive Obama tax rate increases scheduled for next year stand poised to pour napalm on this developing bonfire. For all the talk of how uncertainty is hurting the economy, the certainty of those tax rate increases once they become effective will be far worse.
The Elite Turn Against Obama
Lloyd Grove
“If you’re asking if the United States is about to become a socialist state, I’d say it’s actually about to become a European state, with the expansiveness of the welfare system and the progressive tax system like what we’ve already experienced in Western Europe,” Harvard business and history professor Niall Ferguson declared.
Businesses Step Up Criticism of Obama's Agenda
Obama's Agenda has "nothing in it" for the Business Community

The Chamber of Commerce is to lay out its concerns with Obama's policies at a "jobs for America" summit Wednesday in Washington. Chamber CEO Tom Donohue is to issue an open letter to Obama  and Congress that will urge "immediate action to address the new regulatory stranglehold placed on America's job creators."
Financial Overhaul Bill [Dodd-Frank] to Promote Racial Quotas;
Over 20 Diversity 'Czars' Will Monitor Compliance

In the financial overhaul bill that is on the cusp of becoming law, House Democrats have included a largely overlooked provision that would create diversity czars to promote racial and gender hiring in federal agencies – a move that has sparked concerns about racial quotas, government waste and charges that Democrats are attempting to politicize the Federal Reserve.
Racial, Gender Quotas in the Financial Bill
Diana Furchtgott-Roth
I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives. What did I find but Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government.
Politicizing the Fed
Wall Street Journal
socialist Maxine WatersThis is especially pernicious at the Fed regional banks, which have long operated independently of political intrusion. Federal Reserve bank presidents aren't appointed by the President precisely to avoid Treasury and White House control. They are appointed by their regional bank boards.
Maxine Waters reveals
herself

(2m video)
The Obama-Pelosi Lame Duck Strategy;
Union 'card-check,' cap and trade, and so much more

John Fund
The rush to recess gives Democrats little time to pass any major laws. That's why there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December they don't want to defend before November.
New Obamacare IRS Rules Fall Heavily on Small Business
With a new mandate looming that will require business owners to file millions more tax forms, the Internal Revenue Service has begun the daunting process of figuring out how to turn the law's sweeping demands into actual rules for taxpayers.
Expanded 1099 Requirements Have People Worried
The Form 1099 reporting requirements, included as a “payfor” in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will require the tracking of payments for goods as well as services, and for payments to corporations as well as individuals.
Financial Reg Bill [Dodd-Frank]
Gives Feds Sweeping Subpoena Powers

The final version of President Barack Obama’s financial regulatory bill, hammered out in negotiations between House and Senate Democrats, contains a provision that grants the federal government the power to subpoena any financial information it wants from any financial institution without showing probable cause that a crime has been committed.
Ten Reasons to Oppose Dodd-Frank 
A message for Sen. Scott Brown

National Review
We harbored no illusions that every vote you cast would please conservatives. But we noted at the time that on issues such as uncontrolled deficits, constitutional rights for terrorists, and a proposed bank tax, you successfully campaigned against the Democrats' position and won.
Is Obama Spurring Growth, or Knocking It Down?
Amity Shlaes
[I]n reality the government isn't a spur... It's a competitor. And when such a big player jumps into a market, it tends to squeeze others out. Even promising industries – the Internet sector, for example – can be hurt.
Lawlessness at the DOJ:
It's not just the New Black Panther case

J. Christian Adams
It is one thing to silently adopt a lawless policy of refusing to enforce a provision of federal law designed to bring integrity to elections. It is quite another to announce the lawlessness to a room full of people who have sworn an oath to fairly enforce the law.
Megyn Kelly: ‘Racist Media Satan’
Kevin McCullough
I don't know the politics of Megyn Kelly. But after a few years of seeing her operate, and occasionally running into her in the hallways at Fox News, I think I've learned a tiny bit about her as a person. For instance, I know that Megyn is a kind person, and someone who demonstrates gratitude for those who have done her kindness.
Obama Appointee's Prescription for Socialism
Washington Times editorial
Barack Obama promised the most open and transparent administration in history. His vow didn't convince him to extend senators the courtesy of listening to their advice and consent on the nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
WH Refuses to Respond to Questions Regarding
Recess Appointee Donald Berwick's Socialist Remarks

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs has evaded answering the question of whether President Barack Obama agrees with Dr. Donald Berwick, his newly appointed administrator of Medicare and Medicaid, who has insisted that health-care systems must redistribute wealth.

Meanwhile: 55 Percent of Likely Voters Find ‘Socialist’
an Accurate Label of Obama

The latest poll by Democracy Corps, the firm of James Carville and Stan Greenberg, has Republicans leading on the generic ballot among likely voters, 48 percent to 42 percent.
Unions Violating Disclosure Rules
Warner Todd Huston
Of course unions have no fear of the federal government. No one there cares if unions act criminally or not. After all, these pols are getting millions in donations from these same unions that are lying on their disclosure forms. Apparently getting campaign contributions is far more important than holding these unions to the law.
Report: NJ Should Begin Massive Privatization
Dan Cirucci
If New Jersey's state government can save a quarter of a billion dollars by privatization some state services. why shouldn't it follow that course? And if it doesn't privatize, then how will state government cut its costs? That's a question that may have to be answered sooner rather than later.
Learning from Christie and Brewer How to Confront the Problem
Daniel Greenfield
The most important lessons for the Republican party aren’t coming from any of the retired politicians doing their speaking tours right now. They come from two sitting governors, Governor Christie of New Jersey and Governor Brewer of Arizona, and what they’re doing is very simple. They’re confronting the problem.
Cashless Pennsylvania Will Borrow Up to $600 Million
to Pay for Pet Building Projects

The new $28 billion state budget was part of a deal that would boost state borrowing by as much as $600 million to pay for construction projects such as new public buildings to be named after U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and late U.S. Rep. John Murtha.
— MEANWHILE —
75% Blame State Budget Problems on
Politicians' Unwillingness to Cut Spending

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Adults shows 75% say the unwillingness of politicians to reduce government spending is more to blame for current state budget crises than the unwillingness of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.
Obama Plays the Race Card
Alan Caruba
Obama has benefited from the robotic, ninety-plus percent support of blacks in the Democrat Party. Even so, there are signs of discontent, not just among whites, but among blacks particularly in light of the disproportionate numbers who are unemployed.
Power Co. wants over $6M in Rate Increases to Cover "green" Costs
If the request is approved, the typical residential customer using 1,000 kWh per month would see an increase of about 10.1 percent, or $10.88. For business customers, the average increase would range from about 7.7 percent to 10.3 percent.
EPA: Clean-air Rule Would Overturn Bush-Era Plan
The rule would cost nearly $3 billion a year and those costs are likely to be passed along to consumers, although the rule's effect on specific companies and on consumers was not clear... But industry groups said it will boost power prices and force many older coal-fired power plants to be closed.
The Cost of Renewable Energy
Charles Steele
While some energy consumers may be able to afford the additional costs of mandated renewable energy, the majority will not. Since low-income consumers already spend 1/5 or more of their after-tax incomes on energy costs, they will suffer when their energy bills rise. When you add a heat wave, or other severe weather like a snowstorm, to the mix, energy costs will become unbearable for these consumers.
$2 billion for 1600 Jobs: Let The Sunshine In
Dr. John via Flopping Aces
Shinning some sunlight on the Obama administration's $2B expenditure to just two companies. What the real costs are and what the real effect on jobs will be. What the toxic environmental impact will be from the materials necessary for solar power.
Climategate Investigations Are Arrogant Insults
Dr. Tim Ball
There were two British investigations into the behavior of scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA) exposed in leaked emails. Both reports provide no answers, no explanations and are only telling for what they did not ask or do and how they were manipulated.
SEIU, La Raza, AFL-CIO, NAACP Along With 166 Other Left-Wing Groups Uniting to Form Tea Party Knock-Off Group, “One Nation”
In an effort to replicate the tea party’s success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement’s political energy and influence. They promise to “counter the tea party narrative” and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of floundering.
Australian Vegetables Poisoned as Police Probe Sabotage
Police in Australia are investigating the poisoning of seven million vegetable seedlings, including tomatoes, aubergines and melons. Detectives believe a herbicide was injected into the irrigation system at a nursery in northern Queensland.

Week ending 4 July 2010

The New New Deal
Charles R. Kesler
As President Obama hinted in his Berlin speech during the campaign, he really thinks of himself as a multiculturalist, as a citizen of the world, first, and only incidentally as an American. To put it differently, he regards patriotism as morally and intellectually inferior to cosmopolitanism.
The Beholden State
How public-sector unions broke California

Steven Malanga
The story starts half a century ago, when California public workers won bargaining rights and quickly learned how to elect their own bosses – that is, sympathetic politicians who would grant them outsize pay and benefits in exchange for their support.
Six Months to Go Until the Largest Tax Hikes in History
The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rate at which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).  The lowest rate will rise from 10 to 15 percent.  All the rates in between will also rise.
Big Government=Big Taxes
Davidowitz: U.S. Economy “Is a Complete Disaster”
People will be making and spending less money and the nation as a whole will be dealing with the consequences of the deficit, he says. “We are in a struggle, day by day it's ugly. At the core, when we look at our debt, we are going to have to deal with it.”
The
REAL
jobs rate
Fannie-Freddie Bailout Could Cost Taxpayers $1 Trillion
For American taxpayers, now on the hook for some $145 billion in housing losses connected to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans, that amount could be just the tip of the iceberg. According to the CBO, the losses could balloon to $400 billion. And if housing prices fall further, the cost to the taxpayer could hit as much as $1 trillion.
CBO Tells Obama Deficit Panel that Forecast Remains Bleak
In its latest long-term forecast, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that the national debt, which has surged to nearly 60 percent of annual economic output in the wake of the recession, would continue rising in the coming decades despite cost-containment measures in the health overhaul Obama signed this spring.
Obamacare sends your taxdollars down the crapper $5 Billion Isn't Enough!
Obamacare Risks Turning Away Sick

Healthcare experts of all stripes warned during the healthcare debate that $5 billion would likely not last until 2014. Republicans continued to hammer that point on Thursday, asking HHS officials to brief them about the program.
AP: Obamacare May Mean Longer ER Waits, Crowding
Emergency rooms, the only choice for patients who can't find care elsewhere, may grow even more crowded with longer wait times under the nation's new health law. That might come as a surprise to those who thought getting 32 million more people covered by health insurance would ease ER crowding.
7.9 Million Jobs Lost, Many Forever
"The job losses during the Great Recession were so off the chart, that even though we've gained about 600,000 private sector jobs back, we've got nearly 8 million jobs to go," said Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of Economic Cycle Research Institute.
Obama, Activists, Unions to Push On Immigration Reform
The strategy was discussed during a meeting Monday by a range of prominent labor leaders and activist groups. Participants said Obama reiterated his support for immigration legislation but noted the political realities that have stalled it in Congress.
The Cost of Unions
Here is interesting some data

Veronique de Rugy
Unionized public sector workers have much higher average wages and benefits than non-unionized public sector workers. Bureau of Labor Statistics data in Table 2 show that union members have a 31-percent advantage in wages and a 68-percent advantage in benefits.
Is Barack Obama the Ultimate Sleeper Agent?
Alan Caruba
Beyond the issue of whether he is a natural born citizen eligible to hold the office, most of the paper trail concerning his education at Occidental College in Los Angeles, followed by Columbia University and Harvard, and the funding for his tuition, his travel to Pakistan as a youth, and other factors normally made public during a campaign are still kept secret.
The Obama Formula
Impotence abroad, Omnipotence at home

Irwin M. Stelzer
There is something strange going on in American politics. Call it the belated triumph of George McGovern's "Come home, America" campaign. While the secretary of defense works on plans to reduce spending on the military, his boss concocts plan after plan to increase spending on social programs.
Top 3 Reasons SCOTUS Nominee Elena Kagan Must Be Filibustered
Doug Ross
Banning books. Rejecting our God-given right to self-defense. Authorizing the federal government to mandate what you can eat. If our nation's founders could see how close this woman is to a lifetime role on the Supreme Court, they would weep.
Action
Alert
What to do!
Climate Legislation Aims To Reduce Pollution,
but May Also Shrink Your Wallet

Leslie Hansen and Jessica Moody
On Tuesday, Obama and 23 senators met to discuss climate legislation originally proposed in 2007. As a result of the bipartisan meeting, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) offered to weaken the bill by toying with different versions of cap-and-trade.
Disgraced Fannie Mae Deep In Carbon Scheme
With the Obama administration pushing for cap-and-trade legislation, former Clinton and Obama adviser Franklin Raines has positioned the government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae to make millions by selling carbon credits from American homes.
Obama Declares War on Oil as EPA Pulls Refinery Permits
The chairman of the Texas state agency, said. “EPA is not able to demonstrate how our program is less protective of the environment than the bureaucratic federal approach. EPA's philosophy of more bureaucracy by federalizing state permits will not lead to cleaner air but will drive up energy costs and kill job creation at a time when people can least afford it.”
Americans for Prosperity Slams FCC’s Internet Takeover Attempt
“Despite the outcry from nearly 300 Democrats and Republicans, President Obama’s FCC is determined to regulate. We therefore urge Congress to step in immediately to stop the Commission’s dangerous efforts to get regulatory control of the Internet,” said Phil Kerpen.
New Black Panther Case Dismissal Needs Explanation
For more than a year, Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to adequately explain why his Justice Department dropped a slam-dunk voter-intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. Now, one lawyer is speaking up – and making damning allegations against the Justice Department.
Where Did the Tea-Party Anger Come From?
Victor Davis Hanson
There is a growing sense that government is what I would call a new sort of Versailles – a vast cadre of royal state and federal workers that apparently assumes immunity from the laws of economics that affect everyone else.
Calls Multiply for Michael Steele's Resignation from GOP
More influential conservatives and Republicans have publicly condemned comments by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele suggesting that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable.
A Letter to Michael Steele
William Kristol
At a time when Gen. Petraeus has just taken over command, when Republicans in Congress are pushing for a clean war funding resolution, when Republicans around the country are doing their best to rally their fellow citizens behind the mission, your comment is more than an embarrassment.
Hamas Founder's Son Decries Islamic ‘God of Hate’
Speaking on Wednesday night to the Endowment for Middle East Truth, a pro-Israel organization that focuses on radical Islam in education and media, Mosab Hassan Yousef said, "The god of Islam is the god of hate." Mr. Yousef's father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, is a leading imam within Hamas, a group that seeks to impose Islamic law throughout the territory it considers Palestine.
‘Muslims-Only’ Enclave Thrives in Philadelphia
Paul Williams, PhD
Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, an Islamic enclave is being carved out of the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. And how generous have you been with your tax dollars? You just gave $1.6 billion for the privilege of turning over all this cash to the Islamic community.
Sharia Law Rules: Muslim pupils taken out of music lessons
‘because Islam forbids playing an instrument’

Schools are allowing Muslim families to withdraw their children from music lessons because learning an instrument is forbidden according to some Islamic beliefs. Hundreds of pupils are thought to have been removed from state school music classes despite the subject forming part of the statutory National Curriculum.
Sharia Law Rules: Muslim Police to Sue Magazine Over Pig on Cover
Indonesian police will sue a news magazine over a story on corruption because the cover depicted an officer with piggy banks, and pigs are considered dirty in Islam. The threat of legal action against the publishers of Tempo magazine, a respected Indonesian and English-language weekly.
Chicago Gun Control: The Sequel
Steve Chapman
The reality that goes un-publicized by the mayor is that the weekend before the Supreme Court decision, at least 26 people in Chicago were shot, three fatally. The previous weekend, the victims numbered more than 50, with at least eight dying. Daley downplays the obvious fact that his ban hasn't spared the city from "the full scope of gun violence in America.

Week ending 27 June 2010

The Keynesian Dead End
Spending our way to prosperity is going out of style

Wall Street Journal editorial
Now the political and fiscal bills are coming due even as the U.S. and European economies are merely muddling along. The Europeans have had enough and want to swear off the sauce, while the Obama Administration wants to keep running a bar tab. So this would seem to be a good time to examine recent policy history and assess the results.
Business's Buyer's Remorse
Kimberley A. Strassel
[The Business Roundtable] had "worked closely with policy makers" – they'd even pushed ObamaCare. And yet! "We see a host of laws, regulations and policies being enacted that impose a government prescription" on private actors. Truth was, Washington had created a downright "hostile environment" for job creation!
Avertible Catastrophe
Lawrence Solomon
Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway.
Dem House Leader Hints at Middle-class Tax Hikes
Tax cuts that benefit the middle class should not be "totally sacrosanct" as policymakers try to plug the nation's yawning budget gap, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday, acknowledging that it would be difficult to reduce long-term deficits without breaking President Obama's pledge to protect families earning less than $250,000 a year.
Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
Thomas Sowell
When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics..."Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Barack Obama: A Bill of Indictment
Alan Caruba
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! All those with business before the court of public opinion will draw near. A bill of indictment has been issued for Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States of America.
Obama is in Over His Head
Hugh Hewitt
Democrats expect voters not to notice, or care if they do notice, that legislators have not passed a budget for next year's federal spending. The Pelosi-Reid "leadership" team have "gone off the grid" of congressional practice and not even pretended to care about spending targets and deficit projections.
Rahm Emanuel Flat Wrong about Bush Team's GM "Bailout"
Keith Hennessey
Mr. Emanuel's claim that the Bush Administration "wrote a check without asking for any conditions of change" is provably incorrect.  The Bush-era loans were conditioned on restructuring to become financially viable, with a precise definition of viability, specific restructuring goals, and quantitative targets.
The Drilling Ban is Soros' Bonanza
Investor's Business Daily
A recent study by Science Applications International Corp. shows that failure to exploit our domestic and offshore resources translates into some $2.3 trillion in lost opportunity costs for the U.S. economy over the next two decades. If the moratorium stands and energy prices rise, the only ones to profit will be foreign-owned companies such as Petrobras and investors such as George Soros, who has an investment in the oil giant in the neighborhood of $900 million.
Mika Admits:
I'm 'Working With White House' On Oil Spill Talking Points

Give her high marks for candor: on today's show, Mika Brzezinski admitted that she has been "working with the White House" on oil spill talking points.  But that still leaves the issue of the journalistic propriety of someone in Brzezinski's position serving as such a blatant shill for the president.
Doctors Limit New Medicare Patients
The number of doctors refusing new Medicare patients because of low government payment rates is setting a new high, just six months before millions of Baby Boomers begin enrolling in the government health care program.
Why seniors
hate
Obamacare
Canadians Brace for the HST
[Will Team Obama get Inspiration north of the Border?]

Jonathan Chevreau, Financial Post
On July 1, government will introduce a tax on retirement products. Even as Ottawa seeks ways to help under-saving Canadians put away more for retirement, the shortfall will only be exacerbated when the Harmonized Sales Tax comes into effect next week in Ontario and British Columbia.
Irvine Community and Jewish Groups React to
Muslim Student Union Suspension

Reut Cohen
The organization, more than any other campus group, is known for its seditious rhetoric and hostile, militant activities. Several students and faculty have reported feeling intimidated or even frightened in the presence of MSU members... As a result of its members' belligerent and sometimes violent behavior, Irvine's MSU has rendered itself among the most severely hostile Muslim student organizations in North America.
Canada Joins UK in Banning Radical Muslim Cleric
Dr. Zakir Naik, who has said "every Muslim should be a terrorist" and that Jews are "our staunchest enemy," was to headline next month's Journey of Faith Conference – which is billed as one of North America's largest Islamic conferences and is expected to attract upward of 10,000 people.
House Floats “back-door” Bank-Tax Plan
Lobbyists for the banking industry charge that the proposal from House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D., Mass.) amounts to a “back-door” way to implement a controversial bank tax proposed by the Obama administration.
Of course, consumers will ultimately pay the tax!
1,300 Inmates Get $9M in Homebuyer Credit;
67 Claims for Credit Applied to ONE Home!

In all, more than 14,100 taxpayers wrongly received at least $26.7 million in tax credits that were meant to boost the nation's slumping housing markets, said the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax administration.
‘Smart Grid’ gets Set Back as Proposal Denied for
Baltimore Gas & Electric

The Maryland Public Service commission said the proposal, in its current form, asked BG&E’s ratepayers to "take significant financial and technological risks and adapt to categorical changes in rate design, all in exchange for savings that are largely indirect, highly contingent and a long way off."
8 Senators Challenge Pres. Obama on Rumors of
Executive Order Amnesty

Several Senators have learned of a possible plan by the Obama Administration that would provide a mass Amnesty for the nation's 11-18 million illegal aliens. Eight Senators addressed a letter to the President asking for answers to questions about a plan that would allow DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to provide an amnesty if they can't secure enough votes for a bill in the Senate.
Mexican Gangs Maintain Permanent Lookout Bases in Hills of Arizona
Mexican drug cartels have set up shop on American soil, maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona from which their scouts can monitor every move made by law enforcement officials, federal agents tell Fox News.
Why Isn't the Obama Administration Suing 'Sanctuary Cities'?
Peyton R. Miller
U.S. law prohibits public universities from providing in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrant students, yet ten states currently allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition.  Numerous "sanctuary cities" deliberately subvert federal immigration policy by preventing local law enforcement and other officials from inquiring as to the immigration status of residents.
Arizona Democrats Urge Obama Not To Sue
Over Controversial Immigration Law

"I believe your administration's time, efforts and resources would be much better spent securing the border and fixing our broken immigration system," said Rep. Harry Mitchell (D-Ariz.). "Arizonans are tired of the grandstanding, and tired of waiting for help from Washington."
Teen Killed by Border Patrol Agent was a "Most Wanted";
Frequently Arrested – Never Charged by Feds

The records show Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereca had been arrested at least four times since 2008 and twice in the same week in February 2009 on suspicion of smuggling illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border. Hernandez was repeatedly arrested along the U.S. side of the border near downtown El Paso.
Obama Pick for ICE was Critic of Local Immigration Enforcement
Harold Hurtt, a former police chief in Houston and Phoenix, has been hired as the director for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Office of State and Local Coordination. Starting July 6, Hurtt will supervise outreach and communication between ICE, local law enforcement agencies, tribal leaders and representatives from non-governmental organizations.
Card-Check Lives: ‘A lot of things can happen in a lame-duck session’
David Freddoso
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, is so determined to reward Democrats' labor union donors that he is now openly discussing the possibility of passing pro-union legislation after voters have already rendered a verdict on the union-friendly 111th Congress. “A lot of things can happen in a lame-duck session,” he told The Hill today.
Union Thugs Injure 2, Smash Vehicles at
Suburban Philadelphia Construction Site

Doug Ross
I, for one, feel comforted that Democrats financially support these kinds of gentle tactics with various carve-outs and payoffs – from health care, to nationalizing the auto companies, to financial "reform" and state bail-outs. Worthy bunch of blokes, eh?
State Pension Gimmicks
Veronique de Rugy
Corporations are required to measure their pension obligations at fair value when they report their numbers to the Securities and Exchange Commission. But not state and local governments. That's because they have no desire to be transparent about how in the red their pension systems are.
Sources of American Federalism:
Founders, Reformers & Ancient Hebrews

Kelly O'Connell
Federalism, as understood today, began in America, intuited by James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and other Founders. Yet, despite its spectacular success, the development of federal political theory is not widely understood. Its growth from covenant and federal theology traces an unbroken line from the Reformation, then back to ancient Jewish federal covenant systems.
The Plan ‘bonkers’ and ‘absolute madness’
EU to Ban Selling Eggs by The Dozen

British shoppers are to be banned from buying eggs by the dozen under new regulations approved by the European Parliament. For the first time, eggs and other products such as oranges and bread rolls will be sold by weight instead of by the number contained in a packet.
Obama Replaced Bust of Winston Churchill with
Magazine Cover Showing Him Walking on Water

Ever since the Obama White House got rid of that colonial era bust of Sir Winston Churchill on-loan from Great Britain, they've been on the lookout for new less offensive art. Now we learn, thanks to Howard Kurtz on CNN, that Obama adviser David Axelrod made a call to the editor of the New Yorker magazine requesting a copy of the Feb. 1 cover of the magazine showing No. 44 walking on water.

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