Egads.
Remember the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) law within
Obamacare requiring all food chain restaurants with 20 or more locations
to post calorie information on menus and menu boards? The FDA now
wants to extend this law to grocers, convenience stores and even
customizable food chains like Domino’s.
Domino’s [restaurants will be required to] post calorie information for its 34 million different pizza and other menu combinations?
OMB estimates 15 million man-hours' work will be required to meet FDA's Busybody reg. That may be just for Domino's. Then there's MickeyD's, BurgerWhopper, KFC.....
Thursday, December 20, 2012
The SCOAMF in Lights
Really...this yutz is POTUS? Kermit the Frog would be better.
President Obama’s initial offer [...] consisted of “at least $4 of tax increases to $1 of spending cuts.”
Non-starter. So what's his Plan B?
...He is now offering a new threshold of $400,000 and lowering his 10-year tax revenue goals from the $1.6 trillion he had argued for a few weeks ago.--quoting USAToday
But that's not the whole story:
...he is now asking for a new debt limit that would last two years, putting its renewal beyond the politics of a 2014 midterm election...
That timing is just co-incidence, of course.
His spending is larger than that of FDR during WWII in constant dollars. If he actually has a plan, then there's only one conclusion to be drawn: he wants to BK the country.
That creates a crisis, and as they say, 'never let a crisis go to waste.'
President Obama’s initial offer [...] consisted of “at least $4 of tax increases to $1 of spending cuts.”
Non-starter. So what's his Plan B?
...He is now offering a new threshold of $400,000 and lowering his 10-year tax revenue goals from the $1.6 trillion he had argued for a few weeks ago.--quoting USAToday
But that's not the whole story:
...he is now asking for a new debt limit that would last two years, putting its renewal beyond the politics of a 2014 midterm election...
That timing is just co-incidence, of course.
His spending is larger than that of FDR during WWII in constant dollars. If he actually has a plan, then there's only one conclusion to be drawn: he wants to BK the country.
That creates a crisis, and as they say, 'never let a crisis go to waste.'
Buy. More. Ammo.
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Don't Like Being Lisa Jackson? No Problem!!
Seems like the Big Kahoona of EPA prefers to go anonymous when emailing.
...the head of one of the most active and heavy-handed regulatory agencies in the federal government does a bunch of her business with colleagues on an e-mail address, that while it’s a .gov address, has no obvious connection to the EPA administrator herself.
She's "Richard Windsor" in her alternate life.
...Chris Horner, author of “The Liberal War on Transparency,” who discovered the alias e-mail, said the government acknowledged last week there are 12,000 “Richard Windsor” e-mails addressing the war on coal, cap-and-trade issues, global warming regulation and other issues of public import. Competitive Enterprise Institute sued for access to the e-mails, and the administration will have to release them, several thousand per month, starting in January, Horner said.
Prolific little anonymous, eh?
...the head of one of the most active and heavy-handed regulatory agencies in the federal government does a bunch of her business with colleagues on an e-mail address, that while it’s a .gov address, has no obvious connection to the EPA administrator herself.
She's "Richard Windsor" in her alternate life.
...Chris Horner, author of “The Liberal War on Transparency,” who discovered the alias e-mail, said the government acknowledged last week there are 12,000 “Richard Windsor” e-mails addressing the war on coal, cap-and-trade issues, global warming regulation and other issues of public import. Competitive Enterprise Institute sued for access to the e-mails, and the administration will have to release them, several thousand per month, starting in January, Horner said.
Prolific little anonymous, eh?
Did Charlie Sykes.....??
Sorry--I only heard his lead-in to the segment.
But during the lead-in he said that .223 rounds were 'high-powered' (they are not) and that 'multiple-round magazines' should be banned.
The .223 is called a "mouse gun" by many members of the US military.
He also said something to the effect that military-pattern rifles are not 'hunting weapons.' Umnhhhh...really?
Rifles patterned on the M-1 and its descendant, the M-14, are commonly used as hunting weapons, as are AK-pattern rifles. They have smaller magazines than the AR/M-16/M-4, true. And I'll agree that a hunting rifle does not need a 100-round magazine.
But then, the 2A is not about hunting, is it?
But as we learn below, ARs are not "assault weapons" as defined by the US military.
So please correct me if I'm wrong. If Charlie merely was doing a setup--so as to knock down the straw-men--well, good on him.
If he was not, is he serious?
But during the lead-in he said that .223 rounds were 'high-powered' (they are not) and that 'multiple-round magazines' should be banned.
The .223 is called a "mouse gun" by many members of the US military.
He also said something to the effect that military-pattern rifles are not 'hunting weapons.' Umnhhhh...really?
Rifles patterned on the M-1 and its descendant, the M-14, are commonly used as hunting weapons, as are AK-pattern rifles. They have smaller magazines than the AR/M-16/M-4, true. And I'll agree that a hunting rifle does not need a 100-round magazine.
But then, the 2A is not about hunting, is it?
But as we learn below, ARs are not "assault weapons" as defined by the US military.
So please correct me if I'm wrong. If Charlie merely was doing a setup--so as to knock down the straw-men--well, good on him.
If he was not, is he serious?
DC Circuit Slaps Up Obozo/Sibelius
Well, this is pretty clear.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cannot enforce the Obamacare contraception mandate as it is written, but must follow through on a promise to rewrite the rule to accommodate religious liberty, a federal appeals court ordered.
... “There will, the government said, be a different rule for entities like the appellants . . . We take the government at its word and will hold it to it,” the judges wrote. They ruled that the Obama administration must rewrite the regulation by August 2013 and provide updates to the court every 60 days.
Reminds everyone of the District Court's words:
...“There is no, ‘Trust us, changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution,” Judge Brian Cogan wrote in his ruling in favor of the Archdiocese of New York two weeks ago. “To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction.”...
A skepticism which significantly underestimated the craven powerlust of the current Statist-in-Chief.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius cannot enforce the Obamacare contraception mandate as it is written, but must follow through on a promise to rewrite the rule to accommodate religious liberty, a federal appeals court ordered.
... “There will, the government said, be a different rule for entities like the appellants . . . We take the government at its word and will hold it to it,” the judges wrote. They ruled that the Obama administration must rewrite the regulation by August 2013 and provide updates to the court every 60 days.
Reminds everyone of the District Court's words:
...“There is no, ‘Trust us, changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution,” Judge Brian Cogan wrote in his ruling in favor of the Archdiocese of New York two weeks ago. “To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction.”...
A skepticism which significantly underestimated the craven powerlust of the current Statist-in-Chief.
Defining "Assault Rifle"
Let's use the US military's definition.
Assault rifles are short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachinegun and rifle cartridges … Assault rifles have mild recoil characteristics and, because of this, are capable of delivering effective full-automatic fire at ranges up to 300 meters.
Now, for those of you who are challenged by such complex words and sentences, a breakdown.
...assault rifles have at least three characteristics: (1) capable of selective fire (which includes fully automatic fire), (2) fire an intermediate cartridge, and (3) mild recoil.
So. If we were to purchase an AR in .308 (e.g.), even that "mild recoil" condition would go away.
The .223 cartridge is not too popular with US troops in Afghanistan because it is simply not powerful enough to take down enemies at 300++ yards--something that the AK-pattern rifle can do with its .308-equivalent chambering. For that matter, the AK is not exactly "short."
Note carefully that the military description does not include any reference to the number of rounds in a magazine.
HT: Captain
Assault rifles are short, compact, selective-fire weapons that fire a cartridge intermediate in power between submachinegun and rifle cartridges … Assault rifles have mild recoil characteristics and, because of this, are capable of delivering effective full-automatic fire at ranges up to 300 meters.
Now, for those of you who are challenged by such complex words and sentences, a breakdown.
...assault rifles have at least three characteristics: (1) capable of selective fire (which includes fully automatic fire), (2) fire an intermediate cartridge, and (3) mild recoil.
So. If we were to purchase an AR in .308 (e.g.), even that "mild recoil" condition would go away.
The .223 cartridge is not too popular with US troops in Afghanistan because it is simply not powerful enough to take down enemies at 300++ yards--something that the AK-pattern rifle can do with its .308-equivalent chambering. For that matter, the AK is not exactly "short."
Note carefully that the military description does not include any reference to the number of rounds in a magazine.
HT: Captain
State Department Playing Patty-Cake, Yup
It took three grafs before the Slimes quoted the text:
"Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the panel said.
This is not exactly News. And--by the way--no one will get their ass fired over this, either.
...the board determined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action. But it also said poor performance by senior managers should be grounds for disciplinary recommendations in the future.
After all, what's a few dead Americans when we have Patty-Cake games, high tea, and dinners to attend?
"Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place," the panel said.
This is not exactly News. And--by the way--no one will get their ass fired over this, either.
...the board determined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action. But it also said poor performance by senior managers should be grounds for disciplinary recommendations in the future.
After all, what's a few dead Americans when we have Patty-Cake games, high tea, and dinners to attend?
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Fairy Tales
A very good definition.
The essence of fairy-stories is that they satisfy our heart's deepest desire: to know a world other than our own, a world that has not been flattened and shrunk and emptied of mystery. To enter this other world, the fairy tale resorts to fantasy in the literal sense. It deals with phantasms or representations of things not generally believed to exist in our primary world: elves (the older word for faires), hobbits, wizards, dwarves, Ringwraiths, wargs, orcs, and the like. Far from being unreal or fantastic in the popular sense, these creatures embody the invisible qualities of the eternal world -- love and death, courage and cowardice, terror and hope -- that always impinge on our own visible universe. Fairy-stories "open as door on Other Time" Tolkien writes, "and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, perhaps." Hence Tolkien's insistence that all fantasy-creations must have the mythic character of the supernatural world as well as the historical consistency of the natural world. The question to be posed for fantasy as also for many of the biblical narratives is not, therefore, "Did these things literally happen?" but "Does their happening reveal the truth?"
--Vox quoting his combox contributor
Compare GKChesterton: "Fairy tales are more than true--not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
Or compare this commentary on GKC's thoughts on fairy tales:
There are thousands of years of the fairy tale tradition, but the folks who have the most to say about it are those who defended it through the period we now call modernity (very roughly, from the Enlightenment until the 1960s) — the rise of scientific fatalism. The fairy tale is a protest against the Enlightenment, for the writers and defenders of fairy tales like Chesterton (and C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Madeleine L’Engle after him) were writing worlds of magical refuge in the midst of modernity. Without the magic of the fairy tale, the magic of life disappears in a morass of strictly rational, naturalistic facts, theories, propositions, experiments, and arguments. The fairy tale frees us from the law-based, unchangeable world of the scientific fatalist, where explanations are everywhere but wonder is lost.
Indeed.
The essence of fairy-stories is that they satisfy our heart's deepest desire: to know a world other than our own, a world that has not been flattened and shrunk and emptied of mystery. To enter this other world, the fairy tale resorts to fantasy in the literal sense. It deals with phantasms or representations of things not generally believed to exist in our primary world: elves (the older word for faires), hobbits, wizards, dwarves, Ringwraiths, wargs, orcs, and the like. Far from being unreal or fantastic in the popular sense, these creatures embody the invisible qualities of the eternal world -- love and death, courage and cowardice, terror and hope -- that always impinge on our own visible universe. Fairy-stories "open as door on Other Time" Tolkien writes, "and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, perhaps." Hence Tolkien's insistence that all fantasy-creations must have the mythic character of the supernatural world as well as the historical consistency of the natural world. The question to be posed for fantasy as also for many of the biblical narratives is not, therefore, "Did these things literally happen?" but "Does their happening reveal the truth?"
--Vox quoting his combox contributor
Compare GKChesterton: "Fairy tales are more than true--not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."
Or compare this commentary on GKC's thoughts on fairy tales:
There are thousands of years of the fairy tale tradition, but the folks who have the most to say about it are those who defended it through the period we now call modernity (very roughly, from the Enlightenment until the 1960s) — the rise of scientific fatalism. The fairy tale is a protest against the Enlightenment, for the writers and defenders of fairy tales like Chesterton (and C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Madeleine L’Engle after him) were writing worlds of magical refuge in the midst of modernity. Without the magic of the fairy tale, the magic of life disappears in a morass of strictly rational, naturalistic facts, theories, propositions, experiments, and arguments. The fairy tale frees us from the law-based, unchangeable world of the scientific fatalist, where explanations are everywhere but wonder is lost.
Indeed.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Obama Paints Irony in Blood Red
The most vicious abortion-pusher in the US:
...we come to realize that we bear responsibility for every child, because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours, that we’re all parents, that they are all our children.
This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.
And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations?
Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?
[...]
Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
How about just a chance to live, Mr. President?
...we come to realize that we bear responsibility for every child, because we’re counting on everybody else to help look after ours, that we’re all parents, that they are all our children.
This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged.
And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we’re meeting our obligations?
Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?
[...]
Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives in happiness and with purpose?
How about just a chance to live, Mr. President?
Sunday, December 16, 2012
And Here It Comes!
As more details emerge, it becomes clear that the Connecticut shooter was mentally ill. All of us have offered prayers for the parents, the faculty and staff, and their survivors.
But some have to offer more.
...A bill to restrict the use and sale of weapons like the high-powered Bushmaster .223 that coroners said had killed many of the children at Sandy Hook, would be introduced in the next session of the US Congress, promised senior Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein “It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets,” she told NBC News, adding that she expected Mr Obama to support the bill....
There is no logic to Feinstein's offer, of course. She would like us to forget that the Democrat Party was responsible for the "liberating" of the mentally ill a couple of dozen years ago, which allowed this deranged killer to do what he did. And the MSM laps up the terminology: "high-powered" is a laugh when one compares the .223 to common hunting rounds like the .308 and .30-06 or any of the "magnum" offerings in almost any cartridge.
(There are instances where derangement is obvious, and there are instances where the individual is simply a murderer. Let's leave that for another discussion. Having read a lot about the CT. killer, it seems clear that he is a genuine mental-illness type.)
A business associate who is a hunter went into a rant about 'multiple-bullet magazines' following this tragedy. So I asked him why his 4-round semi-auto .30-06 was acceptable whereas a 10-round semi-auto .223 (AR-15) was not, and he told me--in effect--that more-than-4-round magazines should be banned.
As if killing only 4 kids instead of 20 was ......I dunno.....more civilized?
Sorry. That doesn't pass the logic test any more than does Feinstein's proposal. So now we'll have to endure another 6-12 months of asinine argumentation--all because the Democrats shut down the asylums.
But some have to offer more.
...A bill to restrict the use and sale of weapons like the high-powered Bushmaster .223 that coroners said had killed many of the children at Sandy Hook, would be introduced in the next session of the US Congress, promised senior Democrat Senator Dianne Feinstein “It will ban the sale, the transfer, the importation and the possession. Not retroactively but prospectively. And it will ban the same for big clips, drums or strips of more than 10 bullets,” she told NBC News, adding that she expected Mr Obama to support the bill....
There is no logic to Feinstein's offer, of course. She would like us to forget that the Democrat Party was responsible for the "liberating" of the mentally ill a couple of dozen years ago, which allowed this deranged killer to do what he did. And the MSM laps up the terminology: "high-powered" is a laugh when one compares the .223 to common hunting rounds like the .308 and .30-06 or any of the "magnum" offerings in almost any cartridge.
(There are instances where derangement is obvious, and there are instances where the individual is simply a murderer. Let's leave that for another discussion. Having read a lot about the CT. killer, it seems clear that he is a genuine mental-illness type.)
A business associate who is a hunter went into a rant about 'multiple-bullet magazines' following this tragedy. So I asked him why his 4-round semi-auto .30-06 was acceptable whereas a 10-round semi-auto .223 (AR-15) was not, and he told me--in effect--that more-than-4-round magazines should be banned.
As if killing only 4 kids instead of 20 was ......I dunno.....more civilized?
Sorry. That doesn't pass the logic test any more than does Feinstein's proposal. So now we'll have to endure another 6-12 months of asinine argumentation--all because the Democrats shut down the asylums.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Single-Payer Health, Single-Lender Biz Loans?
The medium-term objective of ObozoCare is to eliminate health insurance companies and self-insured plans. Won't be too hard to do, and when it's done, the only "insurer" remaining will be the FedGov.
Hey, if you like the Post Office....
Anyhoo, that's not the only game of Monopoly being played by the Obozo Cabal.
President Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Board, led by a ‘recess appointee’ installed when the Senate was actually in session, has blocked 150,000 jobs and made it difficult for lower-income Americans to access credit, according to a new House report.
... “Already, according to estimates, the CFPB has increased the cost of consumer credit by a total of $17 billion and depressed job creation by about 150,000 jobs.”
The report explains that Dodd-Frank rules, which the CFBP develops and implements, are making it difficult for small business owners to borrow money needed for their companies.
“Access to traditional credit sources has become increasingly strained for many small businesses owners,” the report explains. “[A]s a result of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the Card Act),20 which the CFPB is in charge of implementing, interest rate spreads for credit card loans have increased, making it more difficult for eligible borrowers to access the capital they need for their businesses.”...
Well, financing a biz on your MasterCard isn't the best idea anyway. But wait, there's more!!
...mortgage lending has dropped and new regulations are causing small banks and lenders to close. “In addition, small lenders and community bankers are especially overwhelmed by the onslaught of ‘red tape,’” according to the Committee. “As the regulatory requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act continue to be implemented, more and more small banks are closing or being sold to large competitors.”
Pretty soon the only remaining small-biz lender will be the SBA.
*Shock*
Hey, if you like the Post Office....
Anyhoo, that's not the only game of Monopoly being played by the Obozo Cabal.
President Obama’s Consumer Financial Protection Board, led by a ‘recess appointee’ installed when the Senate was actually in session, has blocked 150,000 jobs and made it difficult for lower-income Americans to access credit, according to a new House report.
... “Already, according to estimates, the CFPB has increased the cost of consumer credit by a total of $17 billion and depressed job creation by about 150,000 jobs.”
The report explains that Dodd-Frank rules, which the CFBP develops and implements, are making it difficult for small business owners to borrow money needed for their companies.
“Access to traditional credit sources has become increasingly strained for many small businesses owners,” the report explains. “[A]s a result of the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (the Card Act),20 which the CFPB is in charge of implementing, interest rate spreads for credit card loans have increased, making it more difficult for eligible borrowers to access the capital they need for their businesses.”...
Well, financing a biz on your MasterCard isn't the best idea anyway. But wait, there's more!!
...mortgage lending has dropped and new regulations are causing small banks and lenders to close. “In addition, small lenders and community bankers are especially overwhelmed by the onslaught of ‘red tape,’” according to the Committee. “As the regulatory requirements of the Dodd-Frank Act continue to be implemented, more and more small banks are closing or being sold to large competitors.”
Pretty soon the only remaining small-biz lender will be the SBA.
*Shock*
A Tax-Evasion Kerfuffle for SEIU?
You all recall that an SEIU organizer allegedly voted illegally in Wisconsin.
*Shock*
But there's a bit more to the story which is also quite serious.
....prosecutors appear to be investigating a tax discrepancy revealed by Haynes’ bank records. According to the SEIU, Clarence Haynes’ last day of work was May 5, 2011. He received two large payments in the weeks after May 5, totaling just over $75,000 as part of what prosecutors believe to be a severance package. But from January to May 2011, subpoenaed Bank of America records reveal Haynes received regular wages “of about $1,800 to $1,900 from SEIU directly deposited into his account.” At issue is the fact that Clarence Haynes’ 2011 W2 tax form subpoenaed from the SEIU shows $0 in wages earned by Haynes, perhaps suggesting that Haynes did not report the $75,000 payment or regular wages as taxable income.
It's more than that. If SEIU paid the guy and did not report the payment on the W-2, that means that SEIU has some 'splainin' to do. Especially when you consider the next line in the story:
...according to U.S. Department of Labor documents, Clarence S. Haynes earned a total package of $142,444.00 from the SEIU in 2011 as a Senior Organizer...
I'd love to hear the SEIU's story on this one.
*Shock*
But there's a bit more to the story which is also quite serious.
....prosecutors appear to be investigating a tax discrepancy revealed by Haynes’ bank records. According to the SEIU, Clarence Haynes’ last day of work was May 5, 2011. He received two large payments in the weeks after May 5, totaling just over $75,000 as part of what prosecutors believe to be a severance package. But from January to May 2011, subpoenaed Bank of America records reveal Haynes received regular wages “of about $1,800 to $1,900 from SEIU directly deposited into his account.” At issue is the fact that Clarence Haynes’ 2011 W2 tax form subpoenaed from the SEIU shows $0 in wages earned by Haynes, perhaps suggesting that Haynes did not report the $75,000 payment or regular wages as taxable income.
It's more than that. If SEIU paid the guy and did not report the payment on the W-2, that means that SEIU has some 'splainin' to do. Especially when you consider the next line in the story:
...according to U.S. Department of Labor documents, Clarence S. Haynes earned a total package of $142,444.00 from the SEIU in 2011 as a Senior Organizer...
I'd love to hear the SEIU's story on this one.
Friday, December 14, 2012
The Ten "Cannots"
Interesting history to these bullet-point "Cannots". You can read the story here, but I'll post the "Cannots":
It's also why John Boehner is NOT a Conservative.
- You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
- You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
- You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
- You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
- You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
- You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
- You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
- You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
- You cannot build character and courage by destroying men’s initiative and independence.
- And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.
It's also why John Boehner is NOT a Conservative.
The Great Choo-Choo Fail
In the fairyland of Leftism, Choo-Choos create wealth, not to mention beautiful unicorns and happy marriages, strictly above-average children, strong women, and handsome men. Besides that, 'the rain may never fall 'till after sundown.....'
In reality?
...An estimated $8.7 million would help pay off a $9.6 million debt, an amount that includes interest, from the tax district used to help pay for the renovated downtown Intermodal Station, 433 W. St. Paul Ave.
The Common Council and Barrett approved that district in 2005, with the city providing $6 million for the $15.8 million project. The station is owned by the state of Wisconsin, which leases it to Los Angeles-based Wilton Partners. Wilton subleases space to Amtrak and Greyhound Bus Lines.
The station's value has declined dramatically, from $14.8 million in 2009 to $4.6 million in 2012. Most of its office and retail space remains vacant, according to a Department of City Development report. Also, expected housing developments near the station failed to happen, the report says. As a result, the financing district is generating a lot less tax revenue than expected.
Gee. What went wrong?
In reality?
...An estimated $8.7 million would help pay off a $9.6 million debt, an amount that includes interest, from the tax district used to help pay for the renovated downtown Intermodal Station, 433 W. St. Paul Ave.
The Common Council and Barrett approved that district in 2005, with the city providing $6 million for the $15.8 million project. The station is owned by the state of Wisconsin, which leases it to Los Angeles-based Wilton Partners. Wilton subleases space to Amtrak and Greyhound Bus Lines.
The station's value has declined dramatically, from $14.8 million in 2009 to $4.6 million in 2012. Most of its office and retail space remains vacant, according to a Department of City Development report. Also, expected housing developments near the station failed to happen, the report says. As a result, the financing district is generating a lot less tax revenue than expected.
Gee. What went wrong?
What Really Killed the Closed Shop?
As usual, PJBuchanan presents a provocative populist case. What killed the closed shop was not just Union intransigence. Not by a long shot.
Too bad that Buchanan didn't go far enough in his analysis--but it's worth looking at.
...Who are the collective killers? Like the murder on the Orient Express, just about everyone on the train.
First came automation.
... A second blow came with the postwar rise of Germany and Japan. Their plants and equipment were all newer than ours. Their wages were far lower, as they did not carry the burden of defending the Free World. Under our defense umbrella, they began to invade and capture our markets.
And Uncle Sam let them do it.
... A third blow to Big Labor, concentrated in the Frost Belt, came from the Sun Belt.
... But the mortal blow to American unions came from globalization.
If they could move factories out of the U.S.A., they would be free of union demands, wage-and-hour laws, occupational health and safety laws, environmental laws and civil rights law. By outsourcing, they could produce for a fraction of the cost of doing so in the U.S.A.
Buchanan doesn't even mention the tax rate differentials, which are very significant. And he doesn't mention that post-George Meany, much of the regulatory burden was imposed with Union encouragement (or at their demand.)
...The corporate establishment and political establishment shook hands, the deed was done, and the fate of U.S. industrial unions sealed. So came NAFTA, GATT, the World Trade Organization, MFN for China, free trade with all.
And with globalization came trade deficits unlike any the world had ever seen, a loss of one-third of U.S. manufacturing jobs in the last decade, a U.S. dependence on foreign-made goods almost as great as in colonial days, the enrichment of our corporate and financial elites beyond the dreams of avarice, and the decline and fall of the house of labor.
Unions are dying because, in America, economic patriotism is dead.
What is Buchanan missing?
Pat could have mentioned that the Greed Factor--or Materialism--was shared by all the parties, unions, management, and Governments. The national interest is rarely best-served by spending-and-debt, as we are learning. Even Keynes knew that.
But we resist the wisdom of Ben Franklin's "penny" quote, and will resist it until we become Greece.
Then what?
Too bad that Buchanan didn't go far enough in his analysis--but it's worth looking at.
...Who are the collective killers? Like the murder on the Orient Express, just about everyone on the train.
First came automation.
... A second blow came with the postwar rise of Germany and Japan. Their plants and equipment were all newer than ours. Their wages were far lower, as they did not carry the burden of defending the Free World. Under our defense umbrella, they began to invade and capture our markets.
And Uncle Sam let them do it.
... A third blow to Big Labor, concentrated in the Frost Belt, came from the Sun Belt.
... But the mortal blow to American unions came from globalization.
If they could move factories out of the U.S.A., they would be free of union demands, wage-and-hour laws, occupational health and safety laws, environmental laws and civil rights law. By outsourcing, they could produce for a fraction of the cost of doing so in the U.S.A.
Buchanan doesn't even mention the tax rate differentials, which are very significant. And he doesn't mention that post-George Meany, much of the regulatory burden was imposed with Union encouragement (or at their demand.)
...The corporate establishment and political establishment shook hands, the deed was done, and the fate of U.S. industrial unions sealed. So came NAFTA, GATT, the World Trade Organization, MFN for China, free trade with all.
And with globalization came trade deficits unlike any the world had ever seen, a loss of one-third of U.S. manufacturing jobs in the last decade, a U.S. dependence on foreign-made goods almost as great as in colonial days, the enrichment of our corporate and financial elites beyond the dreams of avarice, and the decline and fall of the house of labor.
Unions are dying because, in America, economic patriotism is dead.
What is Buchanan missing?
Pat could have mentioned that the Greed Factor--or Materialism--was shared by all the parties, unions, management, and Governments. The national interest is rarely best-served by spending-and-debt, as we are learning. Even Keynes knew that.
But we resist the wisdom of Ben Franklin's "penny" quote, and will resist it until we become Greece.
Then what?
Wisconsin Crony Capitalist Makes the News
You'll recall the name here. She's a vicious partisan Lefty who purchased her influence, and used the influence to further her own interests through specification-elimination techniques: that is, her firm just happened to have what ObozoCare requires. Coincidence, I'm sure.
(By the way, you won't find a Union label on her products, either. There's a reason for that: she runs a 'churn and burn' sweatshop.)
...Buried in the trillion-dollar stimulus law of 2009 was an electronic medical records "incentive" program. Like most of President Obama's health care rules, this top-down electronic record-sharing scheme is a big fat bust.
...The program was originally sold as a cost-saving measure. In theory, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, and many private health care providers have already made the change. But as with many government "incentive" programs, the EMR bribe is a tax-subsidized, one-size-fits-all mandate.
...$4 billion has already gone out to 82,535 professionals and 1,474 hospitals, and a total of $6 billion will be doled out by 2016. But the feds' reckless profligacy, neglect and favoritism have done more harm than good.
...No one is actually verifying whether the transition from paper to electronic is improving patient outcomes and health services. No one is actually guarding against GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). No one is checking whether recipients of the EMR incentives are receiving money redundantly (e.g., raking in payments when they've already converted to electronic records). No one is actually protecting private data from fraud, abuse or exploitation.
...You know who is benefiting from the initiative? Put on your shocked faces: Obama donors and cronies.
Billionaire Judith Faulkner, Obama's medical information czar and a major Democratic contributor, just happens to be the founder and CEO of Epic Systems — a medical software company that stores nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population's health data.
Yup. The crony (or just crone) who forced her general contractor to quit his Wisconsin Manufacturer's and Commerce Board position, and who spent a gazillion on Diamond Jim Doyle.
Oh, there's another outfit which also happens to be a Favored One: a U of Chicago bunch (read: Moochie and Jarrett.)
(By the way, you won't find a Union label on her products, either. There's a reason for that: she runs a 'churn and burn' sweatshop.)
...Buried in the trillion-dollar stimulus law of 2009 was an electronic medical records "incentive" program. Like most of President Obama's health care rules, this top-down electronic record-sharing scheme is a big fat bust.
...The program was originally sold as a cost-saving measure. In theory, modernizing record-collection is a good idea, and many private health care providers have already made the change. But as with many government "incentive" programs, the EMR bribe is a tax-subsidized, one-size-fits-all mandate.
...$4 billion has already gone out to 82,535 professionals and 1,474 hospitals, and a total of $6 billion will be doled out by 2016. But the feds' reckless profligacy, neglect and favoritism have done more harm than good.
...No one is actually verifying whether the transition from paper to electronic is improving patient outcomes and health services. No one is actually guarding against GIGO (garbage in, garbage out). No one is checking whether recipients of the EMR incentives are receiving money redundantly (e.g., raking in payments when they've already converted to electronic records). No one is actually protecting private data from fraud, abuse or exploitation.
...You know who is benefiting from the initiative? Put on your shocked faces: Obama donors and cronies.
Billionaire Judith Faulkner, Obama's medical information czar and a major Democratic contributor, just happens to be the founder and CEO of Epic Systems — a medical software company that stores nearly 40 percent of the U.S. population's health data.
Yup. The crony (or just crone) who forced her general contractor to quit his Wisconsin Manufacturer's and Commerce Board position, and who spent a gazillion on Diamond Jim Doyle.
Oh, there's another outfit which also happens to be a Favored One: a U of Chicago bunch (read: Moochie and Jarrett.)
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Down the Tubes WIth Boehner
Oh, yah. The very, very, very tanned Boehner leads the charge!
...CNSNews.com reported that there is little difference between proposals laid out by Boehner and the White House, according to a report from the Committee for a Responsible Budget.
Obama’s proposal outlines $1.6 trillion in tax hikes with $50 billion more in government spending, which will put the debt at 73 percent of GDP by 2022.
Boehner’s plan of $800 billion in tax increases and approximately $1 trillion in spending cuts will place debt at 72 percent of GDP.
Evidently Boehner has given up on defending the national interest.
The real game happens when the House votes on the Boehner suicide pact. Will Sensenbrenner be allowed to vote "nay" to preserve his hide? Who else?
Will Paul Ryan?
...CNSNews.com reported that there is little difference between proposals laid out by Boehner and the White House, according to a report from the Committee for a Responsible Budget.
Obama’s proposal outlines $1.6 trillion in tax hikes with $50 billion more in government spending, which will put the debt at 73 percent of GDP by 2022.
Boehner’s plan of $800 billion in tax increases and approximately $1 trillion in spending cuts will place debt at 72 percent of GDP.
Evidently Boehner has given up on defending the national interest.
The real game happens when the House votes on the Boehner suicide pact. Will Sensenbrenner be allowed to vote "nay" to preserve his hide? Who else?
Will Paul Ryan?
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Buffett, Senile?
Warren Buffett may be ultra-rich. But he's also ultra-confused.
...Buffett was a signatory of an open letter released Tuesday that called for a lower starting point for the tax and a higher taxation rate, beginning at 45 percent.
"We believe it is right to have a significant tax on large estates when they are passed on to the next generation. We believe it is right morally and economically, and that an estate tax promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power," the 33 signers wrote in the letter released by the campaign, United for a Fair Economy.
Of course, "democracy" has nothing to do with wealth or poverty. And the USA is not a "democracy," it's a republic, because the Founders weren't fool enough to establish a "democracy."
Seems like Category Errors is a required course for Socialists.
...Buffett was a signatory of an open letter released Tuesday that called for a lower starting point for the tax and a higher taxation rate, beginning at 45 percent.
"We believe it is right to have a significant tax on large estates when they are passed on to the next generation. We believe it is right morally and economically, and that an estate tax promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power," the 33 signers wrote in the letter released by the campaign, United for a Fair Economy.
Of course, "democracy" has nothing to do with wealth or poverty. And the USA is not a "democracy," it's a republic, because the Founders weren't fool enough to establish a "democracy."
Seems like Category Errors is a required course for Socialists.
Worried About Revolution?
Interesting take on the gun-grabber crowd.
...gun control zealots panic over the number of American purchasing firearms. These sad individuals seem utterly terrified that the 200+ million firearms and untold billions (if not trillions) of rounds of ammunition in civilian hands will be used against an increasingly invasive and lawbreaking government.
Ladd Everitt, communications director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) in particular freaked out last night when he sarcastically asked if the Obama Administration was guilty of tyranny, and I provided a dictionary definition, of the word, which is “the arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power,” and then pointed out the undeniable fact that the Obama Administration arbitrarly ignores written law as a matter of policy, which fits that definition precisely.
A hysterical Everitt then called me a “traitor” and “insurrectionist pro-gun activist” for providing that dictionary definition, and pointing out dozens of news articles by news organizations that prove that definition fits.
These men and those like them seem desperately worried that a massive armed uprising against the federal government could be imminent, and have put a considerable amount of time into thinking about (and no doubt losing sleep over) the possibility of that happening.
What we have here is a case of projection. Ask Steve Crowder about violence in the cause of tyranny.
...gun control zealots panic over the number of American purchasing firearms. These sad individuals seem utterly terrified that the 200+ million firearms and untold billions (if not trillions) of rounds of ammunition in civilian hands will be used against an increasingly invasive and lawbreaking government.
Ladd Everitt, communications director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) in particular freaked out last night when he sarcastically asked if the Obama Administration was guilty of tyranny, and I provided a dictionary definition, of the word, which is “the arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power,” and then pointed out the undeniable fact that the Obama Administration arbitrarly ignores written law as a matter of policy, which fits that definition precisely.
A hysterical Everitt then called me a “traitor” and “insurrectionist pro-gun activist” for providing that dictionary definition, and pointing out dozens of news articles by news organizations that prove that definition fits.
These men and those like them seem desperately worried that a massive armed uprising against the federal government could be imminent, and have put a considerable amount of time into thinking about (and no doubt losing sleep over) the possibility of that happening.
What we have here is a case of projection. Ask Steve Crowder about violence in the cause of tyranny.
Too Big To Be Prosecuted
Long story short, HSBC's criminal executives and managers will not be prosecuted for openly, blatantly, and willingly assisting drug cartels in laundering money. Nor will the bank be prosecuted for criminal activity.
However, HSBC shareholders will pay a billion-dollar fine.
After all, if HSBC gets hit with a criminal conviction, it will no longer be licensed to operate in the US, and that simply would be awful. Or something.
Some animals are more equal than others.
However, HSBC shareholders will pay a billion-dollar fine.
After all, if HSBC gets hit with a criminal conviction, it will no longer be licensed to operate in the US, and that simply would be awful. Or something.
Some animals are more equal than others.
The "CRA Did It" Question
Barry Ritholtz has always been a reasonably reliable left-oriented guy and he's paid a lot of attention to the "CRA" noise.
Here he tells us about new research into the question.
In brief:
1) CRA lending did NOT cause more bank losses, nor did it have significantly more defaults/foreclosures.
2) Mortgage losses (defaults/foreclosures) were generated by third-party brokers, not banks.
When CRA was passed, the Banks fretted--but you cannot find evidence that CRA was the cause of bank failures in the 1976-1985 timeframe, folks. It ain't there. You CAN find evidence that large-scale real-estate developments were the cause of many bank failures, particularly after the tax-reform acts of the mid-eighties. But those were not loans to homeowners.
The problems leading to the '08 bust were almost exclusively generated by mortgage-broker firms (which, admittedly, were often subsidiaries of banks and S&L's.)
Here he tells us about new research into the question.
In brief:
1) CRA lending did NOT cause more bank losses, nor did it have significantly more defaults/foreclosures.
2) Mortgage losses (defaults/foreclosures) were generated by third-party brokers, not banks.
When CRA was passed, the Banks fretted--but you cannot find evidence that CRA was the cause of bank failures in the 1976-1985 timeframe, folks. It ain't there. You CAN find evidence that large-scale real-estate developments were the cause of many bank failures, particularly after the tax-reform acts of the mid-eighties. But those were not loans to homeowners.
The problems leading to the '08 bust were almost exclusively generated by mortgage-broker firms (which, admittedly, were often subsidiaries of banks and S&L's.)
"We Were Stupid"-- (D) Senators
'Whaddya mean, 'were' stupid?" --US taxpayers
...now the health-care-industry lobbies that supported this subsidy-and-mandate-laden bill are lobbying to kill the cost-controls that offset the costs of its subsidies. All sorts of providers are lobbying to kill the Independent Payment Advisory Board. And the medical-device industry has convinced two Democratic Obamacare-backing Senators to try to kill the medical device tax...
Those would be Klobuchar and Franken, the comedy team from Minnesota, who suddenly realized that Medtronics is a Minnesota company.
...now the health-care-industry lobbies that supported this subsidy-and-mandate-laden bill are lobbying to kill the cost-controls that offset the costs of its subsidies. All sorts of providers are lobbying to kill the Independent Payment Advisory Board. And the medical-device industry has convinced two Democratic Obamacare-backing Senators to try to kill the medical device tax...
Those would be Klobuchar and Franken, the comedy team from Minnesota, who suddenly realized that Medtronics is a Minnesota company.
Immelt's Heroes
Immelt, Crony Capitalist Friend-of-Obozo, admires the ChiComs because, after all, Statism 'works.'
Yup.
...The mayor of the Chens’ village, Zhang Jian, who was responsible for Chen Guangcheng’s imprisonment, was reportedly enraged by the escape and sent a nighttime search party to raid the home of Chen’s brother, Chen Guangfu. When Zhang’s men arrived, they began savagely beating the Chen family and ransacking the home.
...Chen Kegui was convicted and sentenced on Nov. 30 by the Yinan County People’s Court in Shandong province. The Court found him guilty in a hastily-arranged afternoon trial from which his family was barred. The trial was held without notifying Chen Kegui’s attorneys, who said they found out about it only after they started receiving calls about it from the media, according to Ding Xikui, one of Chen’s lawyers.
Of course, the guy could have created an anti-Muslim internet film that nobody watched.
Yup.
...The mayor of the Chens’ village, Zhang Jian, who was responsible for Chen Guangcheng’s imprisonment, was reportedly enraged by the escape and sent a nighttime search party to raid the home of Chen’s brother, Chen Guangfu. When Zhang’s men arrived, they began savagely beating the Chen family and ransacking the home.
...Chen Kegui was convicted and sentenced on Nov. 30 by the Yinan County People’s Court in Shandong province. The Court found him guilty in a hastily-arranged afternoon trial from which his family was barred. The trial was held without notifying Chen Kegui’s attorneys, who said they found out about it only after they started receiving calls about it from the media, according to Ding Xikui, one of Chen’s lawyers.
Of course, the guy could have created an anti-Muslim internet film that nobody watched.
Think the Ethanol Scam Is Bad? Read On!
Yes, the ethanol mandate is crony capitalism. But that's not the end of the bidding war for farmers' re-election contributions.
...Ironically, in the same deal where both parties plan to raise taxes on those who pay the most taxes, they want to renew and augment farm subsidies to rich farmers. Democrats in the Senate are pushing for a new shallow loss program, which extends the coverage of crop insurance from catastrophic benefits to a guarantee of 90% of the farmer’s annual revenue. The idea that the government could guarantee members of a specific profession 90% of their income, especially when food prices are so high...
Large farms --corporate farming-- are squeezing out the '40 acres and a cow' gang by a variety of taxpayer-funded programs. Crop insurance is only one of the fraud-laden schemes by which you support these guys.
...Ironically, in the same deal where both parties plan to raise taxes on those who pay the most taxes, they want to renew and augment farm subsidies to rich farmers. Democrats in the Senate are pushing for a new shallow loss program, which extends the coverage of crop insurance from catastrophic benefits to a guarantee of 90% of the farmer’s annual revenue. The idea that the government could guarantee members of a specific profession 90% of their income, especially when food prices are so high...
Large farms --corporate farming-- are squeezing out the '40 acres and a cow' gang by a variety of taxpayer-funded programs. Crop insurance is only one of the fraud-laden schemes by which you support these guys.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
The Utterly Crass Immelt
The man's middle name is "Monetize." And to hold him as a Hero of Capitalism is to hold Goebbels as a Hero of Socialism.
"China is changing," said CBS host Charlie Rose. "It may be being stabilized as we speak. What does that mean for China and what does it mean for the United States? Should it change expectations?"
"It is good for China," said Immelt. "To a certain extent, Charlie, 11 percent is unsustainable. You end up getting too much stimulus or a misallocation of resources. They are much better off working on a more consumer-based economy, less dependent on exports. The one thing that actually works, state run communism a bit– may not be your cup of tea, but their government works." --quoted at Weekly Standard
Yes, especially inliquidating dealing with "extra" human lives.
If the Left-O-Wacky critics of eeeeeeeeeeeeevil Capitalism have a licit complaint, it is underlined and made operative by Immelt's execrable materialist remark. The man should be forced to resign.
"China is changing," said CBS host Charlie Rose. "It may be being stabilized as we speak. What does that mean for China and what does it mean for the United States? Should it change expectations?"
"It is good for China," said Immelt. "To a certain extent, Charlie, 11 percent is unsustainable. You end up getting too much stimulus or a misallocation of resources. They are much better off working on a more consumer-based economy, less dependent on exports. The one thing that actually works, state run communism a bit– may not be your cup of tea, but their government works." --quoted at Weekly Standard
Yes, especially in
If the Left-O-Wacky critics of eeeeeeeeeeeeevil Capitalism have a licit complaint, it is underlined and made operative by Immelt's execrable materialist remark. The man should be forced to resign.
Union Guy Is Right
From a story about a Racine union-guy who's unhappy about Free Association rights in Michigan:
...we learned that just getting together and doing laps around the Capitol isn’t going to stop committed politicians from doing what they want to do.”...
No s*&^, Sherlock.
Ever hear of ObozoCare?
...we learned that just getting together and doing laps around the Capitol isn’t going to stop committed politicians from doing what they want to do.”...
No s*&^, Sherlock.
Ever hear of ObozoCare?
Monday, December 10, 2012
Your Dictatorship Shows Its Teeth
Have I reminded you to buy more ammo lately? Christmas is coming, after all.
It turns out that ObamaCare makes an essential part of its regulatory scheme—an $800 billion bailout of private health insurance companies—conditional upon state governments creating the health insurance “exchanges” envisioned in the law.
This was no “drafting error.” During congressional consideration of the bill, its lead author, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), acknowledged that he intentionally and purposefully made that bailout conditional on states implementing their own Exchanges.
Now that it appears that as many as 30 states will not create Exchanges, the law is in peril. When states refuse to establish an Exchange, they are blocking not only that bailout, but also the $2,000 per worker tax ObamaCare imposes on employers. If enough states refuse to establish an Exchange, they can effectively force Congress to repeal much or all of the law.
That might explain why the IRS is literally rewriting the statute. On May 24, the IRS finalized a regulation that says the law’s $800 billion insurance-industry bailout will not be conditional on states creating Exchanges. With the stroke of pen, the IRS (1) stripped states of the power Congress gave them to shield employers from that $2,000 per-worker tax, (2) imposed that illegal tax on employers whom Congress exempted, and (3) issued up to $800 billion of tax credits and direct subsidies to private health insurance companies—without any congressional authorization whatsoever.
TurboTimmy is no stranger to lawbreaking, of course. But now he gets to do it to the citizens, not to the Gummint.
HT: Ticker
It turns out that ObamaCare makes an essential part of its regulatory scheme—an $800 billion bailout of private health insurance companies—conditional upon state governments creating the health insurance “exchanges” envisioned in the law.
This was no “drafting error.” During congressional consideration of the bill, its lead author, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), acknowledged that he intentionally and purposefully made that bailout conditional on states implementing their own Exchanges.
Now that it appears that as many as 30 states will not create Exchanges, the law is in peril. When states refuse to establish an Exchange, they are blocking not only that bailout, but also the $2,000 per worker tax ObamaCare imposes on employers. If enough states refuse to establish an Exchange, they can effectively force Congress to repeal much or all of the law.
That might explain why the IRS is literally rewriting the statute. On May 24, the IRS finalized a regulation that says the law’s $800 billion insurance-industry bailout will not be conditional on states creating Exchanges. With the stroke of pen, the IRS (1) stripped states of the power Congress gave them to shield employers from that $2,000 per-worker tax, (2) imposed that illegal tax on employers whom Congress exempted, and (3) issued up to $800 billion of tax credits and direct subsidies to private health insurance companies—without any congressional authorization whatsoever.
TurboTimmy is no stranger to lawbreaking, of course. But now he gets to do it to the citizens, not to the Gummint.
HT: Ticker
The Problem With Ayn
There was a good reason that Bill Buckley tossed Ayn Rand from the Conservative movement.
Smoke, Fire, More Taxes
Looks like SCOAMF is preparing to evade Congress, again.
("We don't NEEEEEEEEED your steeeenkin' Constitution.")
. Several recent signs:
This will slam residents of those States which heat their homes and it will slam farmers. It will also slam those who use their cars to commute to work.
("We don't NEEEEEEEEED your steeeenkin' Constitution.")
. Several recent signs:
- In 2010, the Treasury Department commissioned a National Academy of Science study of the best ways to “green” the tax code. The report was originally due in September, but an extension has been granted until early 2013.
- International banking and financial services giant HSBC Holdings Plc expects the Obama Administration to implement a $20/ton carbon tax (plus 6% per year increase) in its second term, to serve as “revenue enhancement” and as a replacement for the ill-fated Cap-and-Trade scheme.
- The Treasury Department’s Office of Environment and Energy has given the Heisman treatment to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Competitive Enterprise Institute for its emails and economic analysis relative to carbon tax proposals. CEI has filed suit in an effort to compel disclosure.
This will slam residents of those States which heat their homes and it will slam farmers. It will also slam those who use their cars to commute to work.
Sunday, December 09, 2012
The Old Testament on Our pResident
Leave it to Fr. Rutler to find the appropriate quotation.
...Our culture is enduring a severe test of itself. If Christ does not govern minds and hearts, mere humans will volunteer to do it, and they will do it badly. When the Judges of Israel could think only about their own existence with reference to how other people existed apart from divine regimen, they wanted a human king. Samuel warned them: “He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his officials…. He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become slaves” (1 Samuel 8:14, 17). These days, he will take a lot more than ten per cent....
Umnnnhhhh, yah.
Actually, the essay is about Advent, widely ignored by all, including most Catholics.
...Our culture is enduring a severe test of itself. If Christ does not govern minds and hearts, mere humans will volunteer to do it, and they will do it badly. When the Judges of Israel could think only about their own existence with reference to how other people existed apart from divine regimen, they wanted a human king. Samuel warned them: “He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his officials…. He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become slaves” (1 Samuel 8:14, 17). These days, he will take a lot more than ten per cent....
Umnnnhhhh, yah.
Actually, the essay is about Advent, widely ignored by all, including most Catholics.
When Regulators Meet (Armed) Resistance
SCOAMF and his cabal understand the difference between citizens and serfs.
Citizens are armed.
Because SCOAMF knows that Congress won't give him what he wants in the 'gun' area, he intends to re-write the regulations through BATFE.
It will be very interesting indeed to see how BATFE intends to enforce their new reg, no?
Citizens are armed.
Because SCOAMF knows that Congress won't give him what he wants in the 'gun' area, he intends to re-write the regulations through BATFE.
It will be very interesting indeed to see how BATFE intends to enforce their new reg, no?
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Well, Yah!! Go Over the "Cliff"
As Barry 'splains, it's really not a big deal, except to the MFM and a number of bloodsucking politicians (principally SCOAMF and his cabal.)
...The term refers to the deal that Congress made in late 2011 to temporarily resolve the debt ceiling debate. The “sequestration,” as it is known, calls for three elements: tax increases, spending cuts and an increase to the payroll tax (FICA). The Washington Post’s Wonkblog has run the numbers and finds “$180 billion from income tax hikes, $120 billion in revenue from the payroll tax, $110 billion from the sequester’s automatic spending cuts and $160 billion from expiring tax breaks and other programs.”
That is a not-insignificant amount of money, but it is hardly the end of the world. To put this into context, it is a little less than the TARP bailout for Wall Street in 2009 and somewhat less than the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama’s stimulus package. An educated guess puts this at about $600 billion to $700 billion out of a $15 trillion U.S. economy. I’d ballpark that at about 4 percent of the GDP, or 0.50 percent of the forecasted GDP growth of 2 percent for calendar year 2013.
The term “fiscal cliff,” popularized by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, is really a misnomer. As several analysts have correctly observed, the effects of sequestration are not a Jan. 1, 2013, event. The impact of the spending cuts and tax hikes would be phased in over time. A fiscal slope is more accurate. Additionally, as students of history have learned, single-variable analysis for complex financial issues is invariably wrong. Because of the inherent complexity of economies and markets, we cannot adequately explain or predict their behavior by merely looking at just one variable.
Meh. Taxes go up. Shock!!
Gummint expenditures go down? Nope. It's all smoke-and-mirrors; the "down" is from the ever-increasing 'baseline.' So Gummint expenditures will NOT go down.
Shock!!
...The term refers to the deal that Congress made in late 2011 to temporarily resolve the debt ceiling debate. The “sequestration,” as it is known, calls for three elements: tax increases, spending cuts and an increase to the payroll tax (FICA). The Washington Post’s Wonkblog has run the numbers and finds “$180 billion from income tax hikes, $120 billion in revenue from the payroll tax, $110 billion from the sequester’s automatic spending cuts and $160 billion from expiring tax breaks and other programs.”
That is a not-insignificant amount of money, but it is hardly the end of the world. To put this into context, it is a little less than the TARP bailout for Wall Street in 2009 and somewhat less than the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama’s stimulus package. An educated guess puts this at about $600 billion to $700 billion out of a $15 trillion U.S. economy. I’d ballpark that at about 4 percent of the GDP, or 0.50 percent of the forecasted GDP growth of 2 percent for calendar year 2013.
The term “fiscal cliff,” popularized by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, is really a misnomer. As several analysts have correctly observed, the effects of sequestration are not a Jan. 1, 2013, event. The impact of the spending cuts and tax hikes would be phased in over time. A fiscal slope is more accurate. Additionally, as students of history have learned, single-variable analysis for complex financial issues is invariably wrong. Because of the inherent complexity of economies and markets, we cannot adequately explain or predict their behavior by merely looking at just one variable.
Meh. Taxes go up. Shock!!
Gummint expenditures go down? Nope. It's all smoke-and-mirrors; the "down" is from the ever-increasing 'baseline.' So Gummint expenditures will NOT go down.
Shock!!
It's Called "Tax Avoidance"
The headline here:
Evil Corporation Manipulates System to Steal Money From Benevolent Government to Further Enrich Its Bloodsucking Shareholders
...is correct, if you ascribe to the ObozoCommie point of view.
Too bad it's his BFFs at the WaPo, eh?
Evil Corporation Manipulates System to Steal Money From Benevolent Government to Further Enrich Its Bloodsucking Shareholders
...is correct, if you ascribe to the ObozoCommie point of view.
Too bad it's his BFFs at the WaPo, eh?
Your Friendly Local Banker/Scammer
Huh. Here's a little-known part of TARP which (again) leaves the taxpayer on the hook.
...a part of TARP was the so called TAG program. What it did was remove the cap on insured deposits without limit as long as there was no interest being paid on the account. Now tell me who is paying interest bearing checking anymore? So in other words, TAG now makes the federal taxpayers liable for another 1.4 trillion dollars in deposits. Like TARP, it was supposed to be a temporary measure to calm bank depositors, but it was extended in Dodd Frank and now the bankers (who love it of course) are racing to get it extended....--FreedomLine quoting a source
Even if your bank DOES pay interest on your account (look closely, it's hard to find), it is common for banks to require commercial borrowers to maintain X% of their line-of-credit in a non-interest-bearing account.
You're insuring all those against a bank failure--which lowers the cost of doing business for banks. And they most certainly need less "costs", right?
...a part of TARP was the so called TAG program. What it did was remove the cap on insured deposits without limit as long as there was no interest being paid on the account. Now tell me who is paying interest bearing checking anymore? So in other words, TAG now makes the federal taxpayers liable for another 1.4 trillion dollars in deposits. Like TARP, it was supposed to be a temporary measure to calm bank depositors, but it was extended in Dodd Frank and now the bankers (who love it of course) are racing to get it extended....--FreedomLine quoting a source
Even if your bank DOES pay interest on your account (look closely, it's hard to find), it is common for banks to require commercial borrowers to maintain X% of their line-of-credit in a non-interest-bearing account.
You're insuring all those against a bank failure--which lowers the cost of doing business for banks. And they most certainly need less "costs", right?
LEO's Gone Very Bad
Two lengthy items, both at McDaniel.
First, the DA's malfeasance in the Zimmerman case.
Second, the Las Vegas cop-shop coverup of the murder of Erik Scott.
There's no reason to think that other LEO's aren't capable of this; think the Feds at Ruby Ridge.
First, the DA's malfeasance in the Zimmerman case.
Second, the Las Vegas cop-shop coverup of the murder of Erik Scott.
There's no reason to think that other LEO's aren't capable of this; think the Feds at Ruby Ridge.
Terrorist? No Problem!! You Can Live Here!
Someone could talk about "output" of Gummint employees. Here's a sample:
An Arizona congressman is asking federal officials why the man suspected of detonating a bomb outside the Arizona Social Security Administration office in Casa Grande was allowed to live in Arizona despite being classified a person who had engaged in “terrorism-related activity.”
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-AZ, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Wednesday with specific questions about the status of 47-year-old Abdullatif Ali Aldosary.
Aldosary on Tuesday was ordered held in jail pending a preliminary hearing. Investigators said instructions on how to construct an explosive device, bomb-making materials and chemicals were found in his Coolidge home after a small explosion outside the building in downtown Casa Grande on Friday morning.
DHS' "output" includes the "work product" of TSA, known for Granny-grabbing and harassing tourists who bring Disney memorabilia home for grandchildren.
Evidently it does NOT include tossing mad bombers with Muslim monikers out on their ass.
An Arizona congressman is asking federal officials why the man suspected of detonating a bomb outside the Arizona Social Security Administration office in Casa Grande was allowed to live in Arizona despite being classified a person who had engaged in “terrorism-related activity.”
Rep. Paul Gosar, R-AZ, sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services on Wednesday with specific questions about the status of 47-year-old Abdullatif Ali Aldosary.
Aldosary on Tuesday was ordered held in jail pending a preliminary hearing. Investigators said instructions on how to construct an explosive device, bomb-making materials and chemicals were found in his Coolidge home after a small explosion outside the building in downtown Casa Grande on Friday morning.
DHS' "output" includes the "work product" of TSA, known for Granny-grabbing and harassing tourists who bring Disney memorabilia home for grandchildren.
Evidently it does NOT include tossing mad bombers with Muslim monikers out on their ass.
On the Other Hand....
Unemployment in the private sector is somewhere around 7.7% and the number of working-age Americans who are working continues to shrink.
But there's a bright spot!!!
The unemployment rate for civilian government workers plunged from 4.2 percent in October to 3.8 percent in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as government added 35,000 to its taxpayer-funded payrolls during the month.
So. There are 143 million people who have jobs. 20 million are Gummint workers (assuming that they actually do something and that whatever they do is useful to the Republic.) Sustainable? You'll find out.
But there's a bright spot!!!
The unemployment rate for civilian government workers plunged from 4.2 percent in October to 3.8 percent in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as government added 35,000 to its taxpayer-funded payrolls during the month.
So. There are 143 million people who have jobs. 20 million are Gummint workers (assuming that they actually do something and that whatever they do is useful to the Republic.) Sustainable? You'll find out.
Friday, December 07, 2012
The Unemployment Report: It's Worse Than That
As usual, Ticker finds a problem.
The working-age population went from 243,983 to 244,174 (thousands), an increase of 191,000 working-age people. But the total number of employed people fell from 144,039 (thousands) to 143,549, a loss of 490,000 actual employed people!
The spread is even worse, of course -- closer to 3/4 of a million workers, because you must account for the population increase as well.
Not to mention the 'disappeareds' from the workforce--the ones who just gave up.
The working-age population went from 243,983 to 244,174 (thousands), an increase of 191,000 working-age people. But the total number of employed people fell from 144,039 (thousands) to 143,549, a loss of 490,000 actual employed people!
The spread is even worse, of course -- closer to 3/4 of a million workers, because you must account for the population increase as well.
Not to mention the 'disappeareds' from the workforce--the ones who just gave up.
"No Cost" ObozoPlan. Unicorns, Too!!
We've mentioned that the stench is beginning to emerge from the ObozoCare sewer. Here's a bit more.
President Obama’s health care overhaul contains a tax that will drive up premiums for individuals, families, and even Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, according to a new study released by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
Obamacare “imposes a new sales tax on health insurance that starts at $8 billion in 2014, increase to $14.3 billion in 2018, and will continue to increase each year,”...
...individuals buying insurance outside a company policy will pay an extra $2,171 over 10 years, or $5,140 over ten years if they buy a family plan. Employees at small businesses that do not self-insure will see their premiums rise $2,794 for individual plans and $6,883 for family policies....
And of course, Obozo smacks the elderly around, too!!
...AHIP expects Medicare Advantage premiums to rise by $3,604 over ten years. Why? “[F]or each dollar paid in taxes, an additional $1.54 in premiums must be collected,” the study suggests.
Remember when the SockPuppet brigade told you that 'because everyone is forced to participate, the prices will go down'?
They were idiots then. Now they're idiots with a lot less money, too.
President Obama’s health care overhaul contains a tax that will drive up premiums for individuals, families, and even Medicare Advantage beneficiaries, according to a new study released by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP).
Obamacare “imposes a new sales tax on health insurance that starts at $8 billion in 2014, increase to $14.3 billion in 2018, and will continue to increase each year,”...
...individuals buying insurance outside a company policy will pay an extra $2,171 over 10 years, or $5,140 over ten years if they buy a family plan. Employees at small businesses that do not self-insure will see their premiums rise $2,794 for individual plans and $6,883 for family policies....
And of course, Obozo smacks the elderly around, too!!
...AHIP expects Medicare Advantage premiums to rise by $3,604 over ten years. Why? “[F]or each dollar paid in taxes, an additional $1.54 in premiums must be collected,” the study suggests.
Remember when the SockPuppet brigade told you that 'because everyone is forced to participate, the prices will go down'?
They were idiots then. Now they're idiots with a lot less money, too.
NY Fed District Judge: "No 'Trust Gummint' in Constitution"
The suit shall proceed.
...After announcing the mandate in February, the Obama administration had announced a “safe harbor” that would prevent the mandate from applying to certain religious employers until August 2013.
However, Judge Brian Cogan slapped down the “safe harbor” argument, saying, “the First Amendment does not require citizens to accept assurances from the government that, if the government later determines it has made a misstep, it will take ameliorative action.”
“There is no, ‘Trust us, changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution,” said the judge. “To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction.”
Umnnhhhh, yah. For a leading example of double-dealing/untrustworthiness, see Boehner, John.
...After announcing the mandate in February, the Obama administration had announced a “safe harbor” that would prevent the mandate from applying to certain religious employers until August 2013.
However, Judge Brian Cogan slapped down the “safe harbor” argument, saying, “the First Amendment does not require citizens to accept assurances from the government that, if the government later determines it has made a misstep, it will take ameliorative action.”
“There is no, ‘Trust us, changes are coming’ clause in the Constitution,” said the judge. “To the contrary, the Bill of Rights itself, and the First Amendment in particular, reflect a degree of skepticism towards governmental self-restraint and self-correction.”
Umnnhhhh, yah. For a leading example of double-dealing/untrustworthiness, see Boehner, John.
Unemployment Down, Dropouts Up
The headline rate is 7.7%.
The dropouts? 540,000, making a total of 88 million++ who have given up looking for work.
Ergo, the participation rate is now back down to 63.6%.
Welcome to the No Future Obozo Economy!!
The dropouts? 540,000, making a total of 88 million++ who have given up looking for work.
Ergo, the participation rate is now back down to 63.6%.
Welcome to the No Future Obozo Economy!!
Wow. Michigan Goes Right-to-Work
Both houses of the Michigan (!!!!!) legislature passed right-to-work bills yesterday; the Governor of the State has indicated he'd sign them.
There was violence in the state capitol; the cops arrested 8 of the Usual Suspects.
One of the two bills is specific to public employees; the other covers 'anyone else.'
(Obozo "remains opposed" to the right to work, of course, but the Pantywaist pResident couldn't take time from his golf schedule to help the UAW, SEIU, and AFSCME defeat the legislation. Tells ya something, no?)
Can Wisconsin be far behind?
There was violence in the state capitol; the cops arrested 8 of the Usual Suspects.
One of the two bills is specific to public employees; the other covers 'anyone else.'
(Obozo "remains opposed" to the right to work, of course, but the Pantywaist pResident couldn't take time from his golf schedule to help the UAW, SEIU, and AFSCME defeat the legislation. Tells ya something, no?)
Can Wisconsin be far behind?
Wednesday, December 05, 2012
St. John Cardinal Newman on Liturgy
The whole sermon is necessary reading, but this excerpt is a gem:
...In these times especially, we should be on our guard against those who hope, by inducing us to lay aside our forms, at length to make us lay aside our Christian hope altogether. This is why the Church itself is attacked, because it is the living form, the visible body of religion; and shrewd men know that when it goes, religion will go too. This is why they rail at so many usages as superstitious; or propose alterations and changes, a measure especially calculated to shake the faith of the multitude. Recollect, then, that things indifferent in themselves become important to us when we are used to them. The services and ordinances of the Church are the outward form in which religion has been for ages represented to the world, and has ever been known to us. Places consecrated to God's honour, clergy carefully set apart for His service, the Lord's-day piously observed, the public forms of prayer, the decencies of worship, these things, viewed as a whole, are sacred relatively to us, even if they were not, as they are, divinely sanctioned. Rites which the Church has {78} appointed, and with reason,—for the Church's authority is from Christ,—being long used, cannot be disused without harm to our souls. Confirmation, for instance, may be argued against, and undervalued; but surely no one who in the common run of men wilfully resists the Ordinance, but will thereby be visibly a worse Christian than he otherwise would have been. He will find (or rather others will find for him, for he will scarcely know it himself), that he has declined in faith, humility, devotional feeling, reverence, and sobriety. And so in the case of all other forms, even the least binding in themselves, it continually happens that a speculative improvement is a practical folly, and the wise are taken in their own craftiness.
Therefore, when profane persons scoff at our forms, let us argue with ourselves thus—and it is an argument which all men, learned or unlearned, can enter into: "These forms, even were they of mere human origin (which learned men say is not the case, but even if they were), are at least of as spiritual and edifying a character as the rites of Judaism. Yet Christ and His Apostles did not even suffer these latter to be irreverently treated or suddenly discarded. Much less may we suffer it in the case of our own; lest, stripping off from us the badges of our profession, we forget there is a faith for us to maintain, and a world of sinners to be eschewed."
Tell us again how rock'n'roll fits into his vision.
...In these times especially, we should be on our guard against those who hope, by inducing us to lay aside our forms, at length to make us lay aside our Christian hope altogether. This is why the Church itself is attacked, because it is the living form, the visible body of religion; and shrewd men know that when it goes, religion will go too. This is why they rail at so many usages as superstitious; or propose alterations and changes, a measure especially calculated to shake the faith of the multitude. Recollect, then, that things indifferent in themselves become important to us when we are used to them. The services and ordinances of the Church are the outward form in which religion has been for ages represented to the world, and has ever been known to us. Places consecrated to God's honour, clergy carefully set apart for His service, the Lord's-day piously observed, the public forms of prayer, the decencies of worship, these things, viewed as a whole, are sacred relatively to us, even if they were not, as they are, divinely sanctioned. Rites which the Church has {78} appointed, and with reason,—for the Church's authority is from Christ,—being long used, cannot be disused without harm to our souls. Confirmation, for instance, may be argued against, and undervalued; but surely no one who in the common run of men wilfully resists the Ordinance, but will thereby be visibly a worse Christian than he otherwise would have been. He will find (or rather others will find for him, for he will scarcely know it himself), that he has declined in faith, humility, devotional feeling, reverence, and sobriety. And so in the case of all other forms, even the least binding in themselves, it continually happens that a speculative improvement is a practical folly, and the wise are taken in their own craftiness.
Therefore, when profane persons scoff at our forms, let us argue with ourselves thus—and it is an argument which all men, learned or unlearned, can enter into: "These forms, even were they of mere human origin (which learned men say is not the case, but even if they were), are at least of as spiritual and edifying a character as the rites of Judaism. Yet Christ and His Apostles did not even suffer these latter to be irreverently treated or suddenly discarded. Much less may we suffer it in the case of our own; lest, stripping off from us the badges of our profession, we forget there is a faith for us to maintain, and a world of sinners to be eschewed."
Tell us again how rock'n'roll fits into his vision.
This Is NOT a Problem in Madison
St. John Cardinal Newman:
“. . . I fear we lack . . . firmness, manliness, godly severity. I fear it must be confessed, that our kindness, instead of being directed and braced by principle, too often becomes languid and unmeaning; that it is exerted on improper objects, and out of season, and thereby is uncharitable in two ways, indulging those who should be chastised, and preferring their comfort to those who are really deserving. We are over-tender in dealing with sin and sinners. We are deficient in jealous custody of revealed Truths which Christ has left us. We allow men to speak against the Church, its ordinances, or its teaching, without remonstrating with them. We do not separate from heretics, nay, we object to the word as if uncharitable; and when such texts are brought against us as St. John’s command, not to show hospitality toward them, we are not slow to answer that they do not apply to us.”
The Bishop of Madison, WI (preceded in kind by the Bishop of Lincoln, NE), does not have the problems that Newman describes.
Were there another 430 US Bishops who were like them!
“. . . I fear we lack . . . firmness, manliness, godly severity. I fear it must be confessed, that our kindness, instead of being directed and braced by principle, too often becomes languid and unmeaning; that it is exerted on improper objects, and out of season, and thereby is uncharitable in two ways, indulging those who should be chastised, and preferring their comfort to those who are really deserving. We are over-tender in dealing with sin and sinners. We are deficient in jealous custody of revealed Truths which Christ has left us. We allow men to speak against the Church, its ordinances, or its teaching, without remonstrating with them. We do not separate from heretics, nay, we object to the word as if uncharitable; and when such texts are brought against us as St. John’s command, not to show hospitality toward them, we are not slow to answer that they do not apply to us.”
The Bishop of Madison, WI (preceded in kind by the Bishop of Lincoln, NE), does not have the problems that Newman describes.
Were there another 430 US Bishops who were like them!
How About Straight-Up Cash Welfare?
An interesting idea.
...Some have ruefully remarked that it would be far more efficient to hand out the entirety of the government dole as cash money, reducing (but of course not eliminating) the vast government welfare bureaucracy in favor of simple, direct wealth transfer via monthly check. There are all sorts of reasons that’s not going to happen. The government welfare bureaucracy does not want to be reduced; the public would react with outrage at the size of those monthly checks, since Food Stamp Nation’s benefits are often worth more than a middle-class salary; the power of government to control its dependents would be dissipated; and the architects of Food Stamp Nation do not trust their dependents to spend cash money wisely. --ColdFury quoting Hayward
There are other reasons. The phone companies who are the REAL beneficiaries of ObozoPhones, and the debit-card processors who are the REAL beneficiaries of the 'non-cash' benefit payment systems have hired very expensive lobbyists and the finest legislators money can buy (yes, I know that pond-scum is not usually expensive, but...)
Carney oughta spend a day with Hayward. It could be dynamite.
...Some have ruefully remarked that it would be far more efficient to hand out the entirety of the government dole as cash money, reducing (but of course not eliminating) the vast government welfare bureaucracy in favor of simple, direct wealth transfer via monthly check. There are all sorts of reasons that’s not going to happen. The government welfare bureaucracy does not want to be reduced; the public would react with outrage at the size of those monthly checks, since Food Stamp Nation’s benefits are often worth more than a middle-class salary; the power of government to control its dependents would be dissipated; and the architects of Food Stamp Nation do not trust their dependents to spend cash money wisely. --ColdFury quoting Hayward
There are other reasons. The phone companies who are the REAL beneficiaries of ObozoPhones, and the debit-card processors who are the REAL beneficiaries of the 'non-cash' benefit payment systems have hired very expensive lobbyists and the finest legislators money can buy (yes, I know that pond-scum is not usually expensive, but...)
Carney oughta spend a day with Hayward. It could be dynamite.
The Suntan Defined
Other McCain:
...let me posit that John Boehner is NOT a sellout, a tool, a double agent, a doddering buffoon, a sad little throne-sniffer, a spineless sycophant, a Ruling Class meat puppet, and an obsequious piece of work.
It's what he said, but definitely NOT what he meant.
...let me posit that John Boehner is NOT a sellout, a tool, a double agent, a doddering buffoon, a sad little throne-sniffer, a spineless sycophant, a Ruling Class meat puppet, and an obsequious piece of work.
It's what he said, but definitely NOT what he meant.
You WILL Pay that Student Loan!
The sophisticated racketeering system between colleges and the Feds, which has given a Gold AmEx card to the colleges, is now entering Phase 3.
...In an attempt to streamline the whole process, a soon-to-be-introduced bill would replace the current system of debt collection with automatic payroll deductions tied to the borrower’s income....
Well, it'll certainly increase the number of 1099 employees, until such status is outlawed.
HT: Vox
...In an attempt to streamline the whole process, a soon-to-be-introduced bill would replace the current system of debt collection with automatic payroll deductions tied to the borrower’s income....
Well, it'll certainly increase the number of 1099 employees, until such status is outlawed.
HT: Vox
Esenberg's Right
The Perfessor puts it correctly. To Obozo, this is NOT about "the 1%". It's about everybody else paying a helluvalot more.
...the President has an aggressively ambitious view of what the state can do. It can reorder industries and engage in more substantial redistribution of income that it does today.
But you can't have that kind of state without substantial tax increases on the middle class. No European state does it. We can't either...
...Thus comes the beauty part of the "fiscal cliff." The Democrats can help themselves to a substantial tax increase by doing nothing. To be sure, they'll have to live with sequestration for a while...
The Plan is to make everyone dependent on the Gummint. And it's working!!
...the President has an aggressively ambitious view of what the state can do. It can reorder industries and engage in more substantial redistribution of income that it does today.
But you can't have that kind of state without substantial tax increases on the middle class. No European state does it. We can't either...
...Thus comes the beauty part of the "fiscal cliff." The Democrats can help themselves to a substantial tax increase by doing nothing. To be sure, they'll have to live with sequestration for a while...
The Plan is to make everyone dependent on the Gummint. And it's working!!
Yup. Gummint Workers Don't Really Work Too Much
In line with the post below (see especially the link to the RoJo proposals), we have documented and verifiable evidence that taxpayers are being hosed for about $100 Bn/year++ in Gummint payrolls.
ONE HUNDRED BILLION++ per YEAR.
...What we found was that during a typical workweek, private-sector employees work about 41.4 hours. Federal workers, by contrast, put in 38.7 hours, and state and local government employees work 38.1 hours. In a calendar year, private-sector employees work the equivalent of 3.8 more 40-hour workweeks than federal employees and 4.7 more weeks than state and local government workers. Put another way, private employees spend around an extra month working each year compared with public employees. If the public sector worked that additional month, governments could theoretically save around $130 billion in annual labor costs without reducing services.
Of course, that would require actual "management" and "oversight." Given what we know about Congress and the State Legislature, no Gummint employee is at risk.
ONE HUNDRED BILLION++ per YEAR.
...What we found was that during a typical workweek, private-sector employees work about 41.4 hours. Federal workers, by contrast, put in 38.7 hours, and state and local government employees work 38.1 hours. In a calendar year, private-sector employees work the equivalent of 3.8 more 40-hour workweeks than federal employees and 4.7 more weeks than state and local government workers. Put another way, private employees spend around an extra month working each year compared with public employees. If the public sector worked that additional month, governments could theoretically save around $130 billion in annual labor costs without reducing services.
Of course, that would require actual "management" and "oversight." Given what we know about Congress and the State Legislature, no Gummint employee is at risk.
How to Win the Spending War
The Tanned One and his sockpuppet New Jersey hack-pal will not read, (nor likely understand) this essay. Too bad. Quin Hillyer and Senator RoJo have already done the homework.
...Fiscal conservatives should cherry-pick all the least defensible spending items and package them with a great big (figurative) ribbon, with a full-court public relations press [...]. For the first set of savings, it ought to be relatively easy to find items whose elimination (or serious reduction) would not only cause no public backlash, but would actually be celebrated by clear majorities. Tens of billions of dollars of domestic discretionary spending probably meets this criterion.
Examples include: ...Rain forest laboratories in the Farm Belt. Experiments involving shooting cats in the head to re-prove medical findings first announced in the 19th Century. All sorts of narrow-interest museums in decidedly odd places.
By the way, have you noticed that the Stupid Party keeps referring to "entitlement cuts"? Please underline Stupid.
Why not start with "Indefensible Spending", or "Stupid Government Tricks"? We all know that entitlement reforms are necessary, but not enjoyable.
However, the entire US population would RELISH a 100% cut in "Bridge to Nowhere" spending, and--for that matter--over-compensation of over-hired, unnecessary, redundant, Gummint employees.
...Fiscal conservatives should cherry-pick all the least defensible spending items and package them with a great big (figurative) ribbon, with a full-court public relations press [...]. For the first set of savings, it ought to be relatively easy to find items whose elimination (or serious reduction) would not only cause no public backlash, but would actually be celebrated by clear majorities. Tens of billions of dollars of domestic discretionary spending probably meets this criterion.
Examples include: ...Rain forest laboratories in the Farm Belt. Experiments involving shooting cats in the head to re-prove medical findings first announced in the 19th Century. All sorts of narrow-interest museums in decidedly odd places.
By the way, have you noticed that the Stupid Party keeps referring to "entitlement cuts"? Please underline Stupid.
Why not start with "Indefensible Spending", or "Stupid Government Tricks"? We all know that entitlement reforms are necessary, but not enjoyable.
However, the entire US population would RELISH a 100% cut in "Bridge to Nowhere" spending, and--for that matter--over-compensation of over-hired, unnecessary, redundant, Gummint employees.
About the Costas Flap
Two questions:
1) Who really gave a damn about a Cowboys football game? and...
2) Among that group, who really, really, watched the halftime crap? For that matter, who watches the halftime crap during a Packers game? Don't you have bladders?? Hungries??
Be honest, now.
1) Who really gave a damn about a Cowboys football game? and...
2) Among that group, who really, really, watched the halftime crap? For that matter, who watches the halftime crap during a Packers game? Don't you have bladders?? Hungries??
Be honest, now.
The Long List of Crony Capitalism Criminals
Carney's been on this for years, and he conveniently published a list of Crony Capitalism Criminals at the bottom of his article.
Mattel, Phillip Morris, GE, Nike, American Bankers Ass'n, the American Transport Ass'n (Big Trucking)...
And of course, the cab companies--joined by the brick-and-mortar stores who are demanding that online consumers pay more taxes.
Mattel, Phillip Morris, GE, Nike, American Bankers Ass'n, the American Transport Ass'n (Big Trucking)...
And of course, the cab companies--joined by the brick-and-mortar stores who are demanding that online consumers pay more taxes.
Another Effect of Citizens United
One must admit that the sympathy factor will be near zero.
...In what could be the biggest threat to their livelihood, Washington’s lobbyists are about to be challenged by the very same Super PACs that flooded millions of dollars into the 2016 presidential and Senate campaigns.
... Rules-constrained lobbyists, limited on how much they can spend on entertainment and campaign contributions, will soon face competition from Super PACs that can spend freely to lobby. Several are eyeing big-dollar, media-heavy campaigns on issues like taxes and spending to move public opinion, threatening K Street’s traditional approach of dispatching lobbyists to woo individual lawmakers with persuasion and donations....--AmSpec quoting Paul Bedard
That's why the K Street gang was so all-fired hot to void Citizens United.
Having said that, the problem is Federalization of every damn thing in the country. Lobbyists are a natural result of Federalization.
...In what could be the biggest threat to their livelihood, Washington’s lobbyists are about to be challenged by the very same Super PACs that flooded millions of dollars into the 2016 presidential and Senate campaigns.
... Rules-constrained lobbyists, limited on how much they can spend on entertainment and campaign contributions, will soon face competition from Super PACs that can spend freely to lobby. Several are eyeing big-dollar, media-heavy campaigns on issues like taxes and spending to move public opinion, threatening K Street’s traditional approach of dispatching lobbyists to woo individual lawmakers with persuasion and donations....--AmSpec quoting Paul Bedard
That's why the K Street gang was so all-fired hot to void Citizens United.
Having said that, the problem is Federalization of every damn thing in the country. Lobbyists are a natural result of Federalization.
Ryan Knows Funny Lines
Paul Ryan spoke last night at a the [Jack] Kemp Foundation award dinner; Rubio received the award.
...congratulations to Senator Rubio on receiving this well-deserved honor.
You’re joining an elite group of past recipients – so far, it’s just me and you. I’ll see you at the reunion dinner – table for two. Know any good diners in Iowa or New Hampshire?
I’m sure the press won’t read too much into that.
And then another one:
...[I met Kemp] at Empower America, where I was lucky enough to work with Jack and Bill Bennett, another mentor of mine. Jack and I both served in the House of Representatives, and over the years we both took our share of tough hits – Jack from playing quarterback in the NFL, and me from accidentally knocking into Bill Bennett.
And finally:
...Jack and I share something else in common: We both used to be the next vice president of the United States....
Ryan re-iterated his theme of 'subsidiarity'--which is excellent.
...congratulations to Senator Rubio on receiving this well-deserved honor.
You’re joining an elite group of past recipients – so far, it’s just me and you. I’ll see you at the reunion dinner – table for two. Know any good diners in Iowa or New Hampshire?
I’m sure the press won’t read too much into that.
And then another one:
...[I met Kemp] at Empower America, where I was lucky enough to work with Jack and Bill Bennett, another mentor of mine. Jack and I both served in the House of Representatives, and over the years we both took our share of tough hits – Jack from playing quarterback in the NFL, and me from accidentally knocking into Bill Bennett.
And finally:
...Jack and I share something else in common: We both used to be the next vice president of the United States....
Ryan re-iterated his theme of 'subsidiarity'--which is excellent.
Should Sensenbrenner Be Primaried?
Sensenbrenner sent out his "STFU" letter, just like Suntan Boehner told him.
...Instead, Republicans have suggested broad-based tax reform. Reform can actually encourage growth, and with it, more tax revenue. This reform also means finding new revenue through capped deductions and closed loopholes....
No word about chopping the allocations to Energy, Education, EPA? Not one word?
...We all agree that we must avert the fiscal cliff. The stakes are too high, and we cannot allow this responsibility to our citizens to go unmet. ...
Really, Jim? There's no "cliff." There are horrific tax increases (you voted for this, remember??) and there are some very mild reductions in future spending plans. Did I say you voted for this? Defense "cuts" are smaller than those following any other war in the last century--they're pish-posh.
...we should not accept a rash deal that will cripple our economy with higher taxes and prolong our debt crisis by excluding credible spending reform....
You've had plenty of time to do that, Jim--during the Bush 1 and Bush 2 regimes. Frankly, you didn't do a good job.
Now tell me, Jim: did Boehner at least give you a kiss before he made you write this drivel?
...Instead, Republicans have suggested broad-based tax reform. Reform can actually encourage growth, and with it, more tax revenue. This reform also means finding new revenue through capped deductions and closed loopholes....
No word about chopping the allocations to Energy, Education, EPA? Not one word?
...We all agree that we must avert the fiscal cliff. The stakes are too high, and we cannot allow this responsibility to our citizens to go unmet. ...
Really, Jim? There's no "cliff." There are horrific tax increases (you voted for this, remember??) and there are some very mild reductions in future spending plans. Did I say you voted for this? Defense "cuts" are smaller than those following any other war in the last century--they're pish-posh.
...we should not accept a rash deal that will cripple our economy with higher taxes and prolong our debt crisis by excluding credible spending reform....
You've had plenty of time to do that, Jim--during the Bush 1 and Bush 2 regimes. Frankly, you didn't do a good job.
Now tell me, Jim: did Boehner at least give you a kiss before he made you write this drivel?
Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Monday, December 03, 2012
Even More ObozoCare Costs!!
Eventually, the costs of ObozoCare will outrun any other single expenditure in the history of the Universe.
And "eventually" could be next week.
This week's chapter:
The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government.
The cost of these “user fees” can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. --Hot Air quoting NYSlimes
This line is a scream:
...Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said that fees charged by the federal government would be “sufficient to cover the majority of costs related to the operation of federally facilitated exchanges.” She did not say how the remainder of the money would be raised....
Well, a "majority" begins at 51%. So what IS the operating cost of FFE's?
Don't ask NumbskullNancy. She hasn't read the law yet.
HT: Grim
And "eventually" could be next week.
This week's chapter:
The Obama administration said Friday that it would charge insurance companies for the privilege of selling health insurance to millions of Americans in new online markets run by the federal government.
The cost of these “user fees” can be passed on to consumers. The proposed fees could add 3.5 percent to premiums for private health plans sold in insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. --Hot Air quoting NYSlimes
This line is a scream:
...Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said that fees charged by the federal government would be “sufficient to cover the majority of costs related to the operation of federally facilitated exchanges.” She did not say how the remainder of the money would be raised....
Well, a "majority" begins at 51%. So what IS the operating cost of FFE's?
Don't ask NumbskullNancy. She hasn't read the law yet.
HT: Grim
May I Have Another Gummint Spending, Please??
Not news, if you're paying attention. Not even text. Just the graph.
Yup. Inflation-adjusted, the school administrations and teachers have done very well, indeed.
Who cares about the kids, anyway??
Who cares about the kids, anyway??
Sunday, December 02, 2012
"FEAR the .22 Long Rifle!!!"
On a par with TurboTimmy's "unlimited Presidential national-debt authority" proposal, we find another Obozoite whose youthful indiscretions with mind-altering substances now produces the predictable results.
Rifles, even .22 caliber models many young people receive as their first gun, are “among the greatest threats to the reliability of the nation’s power system,” U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff claimed at a Tuesday Bloomberg Government Breakfast, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Citing “inadequately protected” transformers as easy targets, Wellinghoff told the group that terrorists in "coordinated" actions committed to destroying them “could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out.”
That's what he said. You can look it up.
HT: The Captain
Rifles, even .22 caliber models many young people receive as their first gun, are “among the greatest threats to the reliability of the nation’s power system,” U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Jon Wellinghoff claimed at a Tuesday Bloomberg Government Breakfast, Bloomberg News reported yesterday.
Citing “inadequately protected” transformers as easy targets, Wellinghoff told the group that terrorists in "coordinated" actions committed to destroying them “could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out.”
That's what he said. You can look it up.
HT: The Captain
The Next Kirk?
This is a medium-length interview with a number of juicy one-liners about the (D)/Meliorists.
Unfortunately, the Professor's outlook for America is a bit dim. But, like Kirk, Babbitt, Madison, (et al), he understands "why"--something the (D) chipmunks cannot do.
...[Leo] Strauss had studied ancient Greek texts, which emphasized among other things that "within democracy there is good and bad, free and slave," and that "democracy can produce a slavish mind and a slavish country." [Belloc's Servile State, e.g.] The political task before every generation, Mr. Mansfield understood, is to "defend the good kind of democracy. And to do that you have to be aware of human differences and inequalities, especially intellectual inequalities."
American elites today prefer to dismiss the "unchangeable, undemocratic facts" about human inequality, he says. Progressives go further: "They think that the main use of liberty is to create more equality. They don't see that there is such a thing as too much equality. They don't see limits to democratic equalizing"—how, say, wealth redistribution can not only bankrupt the public fisc but corrupt the national soul....
Stop to think about this next statement:
..."The Republicans should want to recover the notion of the common good," Mr. Mansfield says.
Ummnnhhhh, ya' think? Now--to be clear--Prof. Mansfield defines "common good" in a different way than I might--but it is also a useful, if utilitarian, tool, and certainly should be part of the toolbox.
He does get the Big Things right:
..."Democrats have their cultural argument, which is the attack on the rich and the uncaring," Mr. Mansfield says. "So Republicans need their cultural arguments to oppose the Democrats', to say that goodness or justice in our country is not merely the transfer of resources to the poor and vulnerable. We have to take measures to teach the poor and vulnerable to become a little more independent and to prize independence, and not just live for a government check. That means self-government within each self, and where are you going to get that except with morality, responsibility and religion?"
Where, indeed?
Unfortunately, the Professor's outlook for America is a bit dim. But, like Kirk, Babbitt, Madison, (et al), he understands "why"--something the (D) chipmunks cannot do.
...[Leo] Strauss had studied ancient Greek texts, which emphasized among other things that "within democracy there is good and bad, free and slave," and that "democracy can produce a slavish mind and a slavish country." [Belloc's Servile State, e.g.] The political task before every generation, Mr. Mansfield understood, is to "defend the good kind of democracy. And to do that you have to be aware of human differences and inequalities, especially intellectual inequalities."
American elites today prefer to dismiss the "unchangeable, undemocratic facts" about human inequality, he says. Progressives go further: "They think that the main use of liberty is to create more equality. They don't see that there is such a thing as too much equality. They don't see limits to democratic equalizing"—how, say, wealth redistribution can not only bankrupt the public fisc but corrupt the national soul....
Stop to think about this next statement:
..."The Republicans should want to recover the notion of the common good," Mr. Mansfield says.
Ummnnhhhh, ya' think? Now--to be clear--Prof. Mansfield defines "common good" in a different way than I might--but it is also a useful, if utilitarian, tool, and certainly should be part of the toolbox.
He does get the Big Things right:
..."Democrats have their cultural argument, which is the attack on the rich and the uncaring," Mr. Mansfield says. "So Republicans need their cultural arguments to oppose the Democrats', to say that goodness or justice in our country is not merely the transfer of resources to the poor and vulnerable. We have to take measures to teach the poor and vulnerable to become a little more independent and to prize independence, and not just live for a government check. That means self-government within each self, and where are you going to get that except with morality, responsibility and religion?"
Where, indeed?
The Extremely Generous Rep. Rogers
I think Mr. Rogers (R-MI) is being far too kind in his assessment.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday there was "gross negligence" in the handling of security for the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
..."What went wrong was that the policy and decision makers at the Department of State did not make the right security call, and I argue it's gross negligence."
First off, if the term "criminal negligence" means anything, it should be applied here.
Secondly, we notice that Mr. Rogers does not address the second "negligence": the C-in-C's decision NOT to issue cross-border authority to the SF team which was (reportedly) already over Libya--and which team had to return to Sicily as a result, while 4 Americans were slaughtered defending US territory.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday there was "gross negligence" in the handling of security for the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
..."What went wrong was that the policy and decision makers at the Department of State did not make the right security call, and I argue it's gross negligence."
First off, if the term "criminal negligence" means anything, it should be applied here.
Secondly, we notice that Mr. Rogers does not address the second "negligence": the C-in-C's decision NOT to issue cross-border authority to the SF team which was (reportedly) already over Libya--and which team had to return to Sicily as a result, while 4 Americans were slaughtered defending US territory.
ObozoCare Now Approaching Fetid
....ain't exactly what anybody knew, especially Obozo and Numbskull Nancy.
...The Obama administration’s congressional allies
botched the drafting of this aspect of the health care overhaul, as the
plain language of Obamacare doesn’t empower federal exchanges to
distribute taxpayer-funded subsidies to individuals; it empowers only
state-based exchanges to distribute the subsidies. (The administration
pretends otherwise.) Moreover, the Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) is lagging behind in developing the federal exchanges.
"We don't NEEEEED your steeeeenkin' laws...."
You've heard of "crony capitalism," right? Read on for a bit of education on the topic!!
It gets worse. HHS has contracted with a subsidiary
of a private health care company to help build and police the very
exchanges in which that company will be competing for business. The
person who ran the government entity that awarded that contract has
since accepted a position with a different subsidiary of that same
company. An insurance industry insider (speaking on the condition of
anonymity) says that HHS, in an attempt to hide this unseemly contract
from public view until after the election, encouraged the company to
hide the transaction from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Which is OK, b/c SEC personnel are too busy watching porn on taxpayer dollars, anyway....
... and Guess Who is the company which purchased the prime contractor??
...QSSI, apparently realizing what a valuable asset it had in the contract,
started shopping itself around. Meanwhile, Larsen left the CCIIO [the Feds overseeing ObozoCare] and
took a highly paid position with Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth
Group, in June. Sometime this summer, UnitedHealth Group bought QSSI.
....therefore,....
...UnitedHealth Group, through QSSI, would be able to police the same field in which it would be a competitor.
HT: Hot Air
"But When a Long Train of Abuses...."
Grim points to this essay.
Is the train long enough yet? Or do we have to wait for the boxcars filled with Catholic Bishops?
Is the train long enough yet? Or do we have to wait for the boxcars filled with Catholic Bishops?
Saturday, December 01, 2012
More About "The Box of Chocolates ObozoCare"
Think you've seen all the crap that ObozoCare will make you eat in your sandwich?
You haven't even begun.
About that "free" annual exam, e.g.:
...An annual exam is one specific code; you can not mix this with another code, say, for rectal bleeding. This annual visit covers the exam and “discussion about the status of previously diagnosed stable conditions.” That’s the exact wording under that code — insurance will not cover any new ailment under that code.
If you are here for that annual exam, you will not be covered if you want to discuss any new ailment or unstable condition. I cannot bait and switch to another code — that’s illegal. We, the physicians, are audited all the time and can lose our license for insurance fraud....
Oh, yes, there's more!!
...On top of all of that, doctors will be obligated — that’s right, obligated — to talk to you about things you may have no interest or need to talk about.
You may just want to have a pap smear or check your cholesterol. However, I am now mandated by the government to talk to you about your weight, exercise, family life, smoking, sexual abuse(!), and even to ask if you wear seat belts. And I am mandated to record your answers.
I am a physician. But I need to tell you to wear a seat belt and then record your answer.
(Quoted at Belvedere's place)
If you think that your doc really, really, really wants to be an unpaid agent of Big Brother, you're wrong.
But that's what your doc will become, under penalty of law.
You haven't even begun.
About that "free" annual exam, e.g.:
...An annual exam is one specific code; you can not mix this with another code, say, for rectal bleeding. This annual visit covers the exam and “discussion about the status of previously diagnosed stable conditions.” That’s the exact wording under that code — insurance will not cover any new ailment under that code.
If you are here for that annual exam, you will not be covered if you want to discuss any new ailment or unstable condition. I cannot bait and switch to another code — that’s illegal. We, the physicians, are audited all the time and can lose our license for insurance fraud....
Oh, yes, there's more!!
...On top of all of that, doctors will be obligated — that’s right, obligated — to talk to you about things you may have no interest or need to talk about.
You may just want to have a pap smear or check your cholesterol. However, I am now mandated by the government to talk to you about your weight, exercise, family life, smoking, sexual abuse(!), and even to ask if you wear seat belts. And I am mandated to record your answers.
I am a physician. But I need to tell you to wear a seat belt and then record your answer.
(Quoted at Belvedere's place)
If you think that your doc really, really, really wants to be an unpaid agent of Big Brother, you're wrong.
But that's what your doc will become, under penalty of law.
The Recession, Graphed
Barry has a nice little graph here, telling you that since Obozo's election, things have gone VERY badly for household income.
I expect the usual idiots to tell us that it's all Bush's fault, too.
I expect the usual idiots to tell us that it's all Bush's fault, too.
Schooling the Moderates, Again
Jeff Lord smacks a neo-con around the block with history.
...No conservative in his right mind goes onto a notoriously liberal television show of a notoriously liberal network, sits next to John Podesta and promptly turns on his own team. Which is exactly what you did when you went on Meet the Press and slammed Rush Limbaugh....Your previous attacks on South Carolina's Senator Jim DeMint and Governor Sarah Palin are typical of how moderate Republicans play this game....
...this is the kind of nonsense that was preached all the way back in 1950 by New York Governor Tom Dewey in his Princeton lectures. Dewey, as you recall, lectured Republicans about the "vociferous few" and the "impractical theorists" -- meaning the Reaganesque-Rush Limbaugh-style conservatives of the day -- in the GOP who were intent on driving out all the GOP moderates and liberals and into the arms of Democrats. Concluded Dewey: "The results would be neatly arranged, too. The Republicans would lose every election and the Democrats would win." Dewey said all of this, of course, following his own two defeats against FDR and Truman. In both of which elections he ran as the Great Moderate Hope -- and got clobbered.
...When you note in your Time piece that "we still design campaigns to prevail in the America of 25 years ago" you are incorrect. Every single campaign beginning with the Bush 41 re-election campaign of 1992 - 20 years ago - has run head-long from Ronald Reagan and conservatism. And the results are, accordingly, dismal. Say again, dismal....
And a warning to the rest of the (R) Quislings (or Benedict Arnolds, if you prefer that):
...saying, in essence, that Republicans should campaign for the dissolution of marriage and get on with supporting the legalization of polygamy, polyamory, bigamy etc. (the inevitable legal consequences of gay marriage, as Justice Scalia has noted) is only the modern version of Dewey or Ford saying conservatives of the day were too extreme and out of touch.
Once again, we wish to thank the Farrow-Moderates for handing Tammy Baldwin the Senate seat. /sarcasm
...No conservative in his right mind goes onto a notoriously liberal television show of a notoriously liberal network, sits next to John Podesta and promptly turns on his own team. Which is exactly what you did when you went on Meet the Press and slammed Rush Limbaugh....Your previous attacks on South Carolina's Senator Jim DeMint and Governor Sarah Palin are typical of how moderate Republicans play this game....
...this is the kind of nonsense that was preached all the way back in 1950 by New York Governor Tom Dewey in his Princeton lectures. Dewey, as you recall, lectured Republicans about the "vociferous few" and the "impractical theorists" -- meaning the Reaganesque-Rush Limbaugh-style conservatives of the day -- in the GOP who were intent on driving out all the GOP moderates and liberals and into the arms of Democrats. Concluded Dewey: "The results would be neatly arranged, too. The Republicans would lose every election and the Democrats would win." Dewey said all of this, of course, following his own two defeats against FDR and Truman. In both of which elections he ran as the Great Moderate Hope -- and got clobbered.
...When you note in your Time piece that "we still design campaigns to prevail in the America of 25 years ago" you are incorrect. Every single campaign beginning with the Bush 41 re-election campaign of 1992 - 20 years ago - has run head-long from Ronald Reagan and conservatism. And the results are, accordingly, dismal. Say again, dismal....
And a warning to the rest of the (R) Quislings (or Benedict Arnolds, if you prefer that):
...saying, in essence, that Republicans should campaign for the dissolution of marriage and get on with supporting the legalization of polygamy, polyamory, bigamy etc. (the inevitable legal consequences of gay marriage, as Justice Scalia has noted) is only the modern version of Dewey or Ford saying conservatives of the day were too extreme and out of touch.
Once again, we wish to thank the Farrow-Moderates for handing Tammy Baldwin the Senate seat. /sarcasm
Jury Trials Are Still Bi-Partisan
The odious NDAA, signed by GWBush and injected with steroids by the current tyrant, has been modified to preserve the jury trial.
Thursday night, the Senate passed an amendment, authored by Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Mike Lee (R-UT), which altered the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect citizens from warrant-less arrest and preserve the right to jury trial. The amendment passed 67-29.
This is not the first slap at the "Unitary Executive" theory (and practice), and I expect that the (D) folks are going to deliver a few more in the next year or so.
Not because they disagree with the current tyrant on most issues.
It's because they prefer that they share in the tyranny. That's called "comity."
However, Obozo doesn't like sharing--so you can look forward to another Big Batch of EO's.
Thursday night, the Senate passed an amendment, authored by Senators Diane Feinstein (D-CA) and Mike Lee (R-UT), which altered the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to protect citizens from warrant-less arrest and preserve the right to jury trial. The amendment passed 67-29.
This is not the first slap at the "Unitary Executive" theory (and practice), and I expect that the (D) folks are going to deliver a few more in the next year or so.
Not because they disagree with the current tyrant on most issues.
It's because they prefer that they share in the tyranny. That's called "comity."
However, Obozo doesn't like sharing--so you can look forward to another Big Batch of EO's.
Heads Will Explode in Baby-Killer Camp
Suddenly, the Baby-Killer Camp will turn all "states' rights". Just you watch.
Republican Senator Rand Paul says he wants to pass a Life at Conception Act to “end abortion on demand once and for all.”
Senator Paul, R-KY, recently recorded a message for the National Pro-Life Alliance (NPLA), talking about the legislation, which would declare unborn babies legal persons from the moment of conception and give them Constitutional protections.
The senator says Congress can legislatively overturn the Supreme Court‘s Roe v. Wade decision by passing a “personhood” law called the Life at Conception Act.
But the Baby-Killers will conveniently forget SCOTUS' asininity.
Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in the 1973 ruling that if a fetus can be defined as a person, the “right” to abortion “collapses, for the fetus’s right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”
Blackmun was a hack, but he opened the door.
Now there's a Senator with the courage to do what is right. Far more than we can say for the alleged "conservatives" in the (R)-controlled House, eh?
Republican Senator Rand Paul says he wants to pass a Life at Conception Act to “end abortion on demand once and for all.”
Senator Paul, R-KY, recently recorded a message for the National Pro-Life Alliance (NPLA), talking about the legislation, which would declare unborn babies legal persons from the moment of conception and give them Constitutional protections.
The senator says Congress can legislatively overturn the Supreme Court‘s Roe v. Wade decision by passing a “personhood” law called the Life at Conception Act.
But the Baby-Killers will conveniently forget SCOTUS' asininity.
Justice Harry Blackmun wrote in the 1973 ruling that if a fetus can be defined as a person, the “right” to abortion “collapses, for the fetus’s right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] Amendment.”
Blackmun was a hack, but he opened the door.
Now there's a Senator with the courage to do what is right. Far more than we can say for the alleged "conservatives" in the (R)-controlled House, eh?
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