Seems that some Wisconsin bigwigs are not concerned about the DOMA ruling.
Wisconsin conservatives, though, say the rulings leave states free to
address gay marriage as they see fit and the decisions don’t change
things here.
``Our marriage protection amendment in this state is
still valid and will continue to be,’’ said Julaine Appling, president
of the conservative group Wisconsin Family Action. ``Wisconsin voters
adopted it. Nothing in (the rulings) said we can’t do that.’’
And this:
...Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington, said he interpreted the
rulings to mean states can set whatever policy they want on gay marriage
and he doubted Wisconsin’s ban would change ``any time soon.’’
Republican
Gov. Scott Walker’s spokesman said in an email to The Associated Press
the rulings don’t appear to affect Wisconsin law...
Good luck with that. In the very same article, we see this:
...Wisconsin ACLU Executive Director Chris Ahmuty said the chapter is
focused on defending the partner registry and isn’t considering any
lawsuits challenging the ban, at least not yet. He said challenges to
gay marriage prohibitions elsewhere in the country might eventually draw
a broader decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that would settle the
issue....
Ahmuty knows that the Wisconsin amendment barring gay "marriage" is dead meat walking. This is not "if." It's "when."
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
What the Feds Need: THE Database
This should complement the NSA's domestic spying handsomely.
According to a recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the bureau is looking to buy a “massive online data repository system” for its Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information (OSII). The system is intended to operate for at least five years, and be able to process automated searches of individuals, and “find connection points between two or more individuals” by linking together “structured and unstructured data.”
Primarily, the ATF states it wants the database to speed-up criminal investigations. Instead of requiring an analyst to manually search around for your personal information, the database should “obtain exact matches from partial source data searches” such as social security numbers (or even just a fragment of one), vehicle serial codes, age range, “phonetic name spelling,” or a general area where your address is located. Input that data, and out comes your identity, while the computer automatically establishes connections you have with others.
Many other specific requirements are also to be expected for a federal law enforcement agency: searching names, phone numbers, “nationwide utility data” and reverse phone searches. The data will then be collected to help out during investigations and provide “relevant information and intelligence products.”...
If nothing else, the NSA ought to bid on the project. It has a good head start, ya'know?
HT:: Arms/Law
According to a recent solicitation from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the bureau is looking to buy a “massive online data repository system” for its Office of Strategic Intelligence and Information (OSII). The system is intended to operate for at least five years, and be able to process automated searches of individuals, and “find connection points between two or more individuals” by linking together “structured and unstructured data.”
Primarily, the ATF states it wants the database to speed-up criminal investigations. Instead of requiring an analyst to manually search around for your personal information, the database should “obtain exact matches from partial source data searches” such as social security numbers (or even just a fragment of one), vehicle serial codes, age range, “phonetic name spelling,” or a general area where your address is located. Input that data, and out comes your identity, while the computer automatically establishes connections you have with others.
Many other specific requirements are also to be expected for a federal law enforcement agency: searching names, phone numbers, “nationwide utility data” and reverse phone searches. The data will then be collected to help out during investigations and provide “relevant information and intelligence products.”...
If nothing else, the NSA ought to bid on the project. It has a good head start, ya'know?
HT:: Arms/Law
Tolkien and Benedict
What Tolkien observed:
Like many Englishmen, Tolkien feared a world divided in two, in which the smaller peoples would be swallowed whole by the bigger powers. While he saw evil in 1916, he also saw it in 1969. “The spirit of wickedness in high places is now so powerful and so many-headed in its incarnations,” Tolkien wrote, “that there seems nothing more to do than personally to refuse to worship any of the hydras’ heads.” The world, he thought, seemed little better than a new Tower of Babel, “all noise and confusion.”
....is the 'dictatorship of relativism' which Benedict XVI railed against.
Like many Englishmen, Tolkien feared a world divided in two, in which the smaller peoples would be swallowed whole by the bigger powers. While he saw evil in 1916, he also saw it in 1969. “The spirit of wickedness in high places is now so powerful and so many-headed in its incarnations,” Tolkien wrote, “that there seems nothing more to do than personally to refuse to worship any of the hydras’ heads.” The world, he thought, seemed little better than a new Tower of Babel, “all noise and confusion.”
....is the 'dictatorship of relativism' which Benedict XVI railed against.
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
SCOTUS: It's Not Bad; It's Worse
Arkes, who was quoted by Levin.
...Justice Kennedy sought to pretend, and Chief Justice Roberts pretended to believe him, that his judgment applied only to Section 3 of DOMA, in which the Congress declared that, in federal law, “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Section 2 of DOMA sought to support the authority of a state to refuse to credit a same-sex marriage brought in from another state. It sought to prevent one state from indirectly nationalizing homosexual marriage, with the aid of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution. Justice Kennedy insists that the decision on Section 3 does not touch Section 2: It does not compel any State to recognize same-sex marriage. But as Justice Scalia quipped in dissent, that claim falls into the list of “bald, unreasoned disclaimer[s].” Kennedy’s opinion will be hauled out in the cases to come to argue that the State has no justified ground for refusing to accept same-sex marriage in its own laws, or crediting the same marriages coming in from other states....
And the Prop8 decision is likely the worst since Roe.
...In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Court refused to recognize the standing of the backers of Proposition 8 to defend that constitutional amendment in the courts. Once the governor of the state refused to defend the amendment, the backers of the amendment could claim no personal injury at stake in the litigation. When a federal district court struck down Proposition 8, the backers of the amendment had no standing to take the case into a higher, appellate court, and that court, in any event, turned out simply to confirm the holding of the district court....
...The legislature will take Justice Kennedy’s language in the DOMA case to call into question the standing of Proposition 8 as a constitutional amendment in California. And they may proceed then to legislate again to establish and promote same-sex marriage....
Contra the somewhat optimistic take given by Esenberg/Sykes this morning, the two rulings combine to slap Nature (and Nature's God) right in the face.
...Justice Kennedy sought to pretend, and Chief Justice Roberts pretended to believe him, that his judgment applied only to Section 3 of DOMA, in which the Congress declared that, in federal law, “the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.” Section 2 of DOMA sought to support the authority of a state to refuse to credit a same-sex marriage brought in from another state. It sought to prevent one state from indirectly nationalizing homosexual marriage, with the aid of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution. Justice Kennedy insists that the decision on Section 3 does not touch Section 2: It does not compel any State to recognize same-sex marriage. But as Justice Scalia quipped in dissent, that claim falls into the list of “bald, unreasoned disclaimer[s].” Kennedy’s opinion will be hauled out in the cases to come to argue that the State has no justified ground for refusing to accept same-sex marriage in its own laws, or crediting the same marriages coming in from other states....
And the Prop8 decision is likely the worst since Roe.
...In Hollingsworth v. Perry, the Court refused to recognize the standing of the backers of Proposition 8 to defend that constitutional amendment in the courts. Once the governor of the state refused to defend the amendment, the backers of the amendment could claim no personal injury at stake in the litigation. When a federal district court struck down Proposition 8, the backers of the amendment had no standing to take the case into a higher, appellate court, and that court, in any event, turned out simply to confirm the holding of the district court....
...The legislature will take Justice Kennedy’s language in the DOMA case to call into question the standing of Proposition 8 as a constitutional amendment in California. And they may proceed then to legislate again to establish and promote same-sex marriage....
Contra the somewhat optimistic take given by Esenberg/Sykes this morning, the two rulings combine to slap Nature (and Nature's God) right in the face.
Ryan's Not Good at Double-Talk, But He Tries
One is reminded of Prof. Harold Hill's "Think Method" when watching Ryan stumble around trying to make 2+2=7.
Sad to see a guy with so much potential blow himself up, eh?
Sad to see a guy with so much potential blow himself up, eh?
Right Solution, Wrong Administration
A former partner of the KGB suggests a path forward in the 'War on Terror.' But there's a problem.
...I strongly suggest our current administration and Congress take a serious look at President Truman’s National Security Council Report 68 (NSC 68/1950), which set forth the strategy of containment and became our main weapon in the Cold War.
...“The issues that face us are momentous,” the document states, “involving the fulfillment or destruction not only of this Republic but of civilization itself.” Therefore, it prescribed a two-pronged political strategy: 1) superior military power, and 2) a “Campaign of Truth,” defined as “a struggle, above all else, for the minds of men.”
Truman argued that the propaganda used by the “forces of imperialistic communism” could be overcome only by the “plain, simple, unvarnished truth.” The Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberation (soon to become Radio Liberty) became part of Truman’s “Campaign of Truth.”
This same two-pronged strategy – total military superiority and a robust campaign of utter truth – enabled America to prevail against communism, and is equally essential if we are to get the upper hand in a world threatening the unthinkable of nuclear terrorism....
Neither Obozo, nor any of his cabal, is capable of telling the truth. (For that matter, Rubio's down the toilet, too, along with about 500 of the 535 other leeches-in-Congress.)
So this will have to be outsourced. Palin? Mark Steyn? PJBuchanan?
...I strongly suggest our current administration and Congress take a serious look at President Truman’s National Security Council Report 68 (NSC 68/1950), which set forth the strategy of containment and became our main weapon in the Cold War.
...“The issues that face us are momentous,” the document states, “involving the fulfillment or destruction not only of this Republic but of civilization itself.” Therefore, it prescribed a two-pronged political strategy: 1) superior military power, and 2) a “Campaign of Truth,” defined as “a struggle, above all else, for the minds of men.”
Truman argued that the propaganda used by the “forces of imperialistic communism” could be overcome only by the “plain, simple, unvarnished truth.” The Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberation (soon to become Radio Liberty) became part of Truman’s “Campaign of Truth.”
This same two-pronged strategy – total military superiority and a robust campaign of utter truth – enabled America to prevail against communism, and is equally essential if we are to get the upper hand in a world threatening the unthinkable of nuclear terrorism....
Neither Obozo, nor any of his cabal, is capable of telling the truth. (For that matter, Rubio's down the toilet, too, along with about 500 of the 535 other leeches-in-Congress.)
So this will have to be outsourced. Palin? Mark Steyn? PJBuchanan?
Lights Out
Here we have a Harvard grad:
”The one thing the President really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”
That bozo also happens to be an "energy advisor" to our current President.
Given what "shutting down the...coal plants" will do to Wisconsin residents--without the benefit of Vaseline, mind you--I wonder if the Harvard grad would like to visit here when the lights go out.
Not likely. He doesn't have the balls.
”The one thing the President really needs to do now is to begin the process of shutting down the conventional coal plants. Politically, the White House is hesitant to say they’re having a war on coal. On the other hand, a war on coal is exactly what’s needed.”
That bozo also happens to be an "energy advisor" to our current President.
Given what "shutting down the...coal plants" will do to Wisconsin residents--without the benefit of Vaseline, mind you--I wonder if the Harvard grad would like to visit here when the lights go out.
Not likely. He doesn't have the balls.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Will Paul Ryan Follow Rubio?
PowerLine is usually very restrained.
Not about Rubio.
...Is there a conservative talk show host with whom Rubio has truly leveled about the Schumer-Rubio legislation? He lied to Mark Levin. He dissembled to Sean Hannity...Now it seems that Rubio lied to Chris Crane, head of the organization that represents the brave men and women who fight, against the odds, to enforce our immigration laws...
Paul Ryan has stated that 'the House bill will require border security.'
Let's see how that actually plays out.
By the way, Ryan is the Chair/Budget in the House. Did his last budget fund a border fence?
Not about Rubio.
...Is there a conservative talk show host with whom Rubio has truly leveled about the Schumer-Rubio legislation? He lied to Mark Levin. He dissembled to Sean Hannity...Now it seems that Rubio lied to Chris Crane, head of the organization that represents the brave men and women who fight, against the odds, to enforce our immigration laws...
Paul Ryan has stated that 'the House bill will require border security.'
Let's see how that actually plays out.
By the way, Ryan is the Chair/Budget in the House. Did his last budget fund a border fence?
"Trust Us. We're National Security!"
So.
The NSA, which is by charter and definition the nation's security watchdog, managed to:
1) Hire a guy whose resume was......ahhh.......enhanced;
2) Put the guy in a position to "steal secrets" and load them into a laptop computer (or several of them) and allowed him to walk away with them;
3) Stand watching as the guy, his laptops, and "secrets" successfully flies to Hong Kong;
4) Fail to capture the "spy" in Hong Kong; and
5) Fail to prevent his flight to Moscow;
5) Lose track of the guy, totally, while he's in Moscow--(or maybe he's NOT in Moscow.)
Uh-huh.
Not to worry, however. The NSA has a record of every cellphone call you've ever made or received, along with every email you've ever sent or received, and every pixel you've ever posted on the 'net.
Because that makes us "secure."
Right?
Another (similar) look at the same Incompetentos.
The NSA, which is by charter and definition the nation's security watchdog, managed to:
1) Hire a guy whose resume was......ahhh.......enhanced;
2) Put the guy in a position to "steal secrets" and load them into a laptop computer (or several of them) and allowed him to walk away with them;
3) Stand watching as the guy, his laptops, and "secrets" successfully flies to Hong Kong;
4) Fail to capture the "spy" in Hong Kong; and
5) Fail to prevent his flight to Moscow;
5) Lose track of the guy, totally, while he's in Moscow--(or maybe he's NOT in Moscow.)
Uh-huh.
Not to worry, however. The NSA has a record of every cellphone call you've ever made or received, along with every email you've ever sent or received, and every pixel you've ever posted on the 'net.
Because that makes us "secure."
Right?
Another (similar) look at the same Incompetentos.
One Graf Synopsis of the Obozo/Congressional State
Belvedere spotted this and I'll steal it.
Look at the immigration bill. Look at the one in 1986. Look at Napolitano’s declaration that the border is secure, and that agencies like hers have the right to determine which laws shall and shall not be enforced. Look at Benghazi. Look at Fast and Furious. Look at ObamaCare, and how it was rammed through, and all its promises, and behind those Obama’s 2008 campaign rhetoric about the individual mandate, and keeping your doctor, and bending the cost curve. Look at the IRS, and the story about low-level employees, and the audit that wasn’t an investigation, and the preliminary results that weren’t communicated to the congressmen who asked for them, and the FBI’s lack of follow-up. Behold Pigford, with the DoJ coordinating with trial lawyers and community activists to trawl for fraud in black churches. Behold DoJ lawsuits designed to prevent states from ensuring that the rolls are clean, or that voters are who they claim to be, or that addresses given for registration are valid. Hurry, hurry, step right up and see Catherine Engelbrecht, the woman targeted by multiple federal agencies at the behest of low-level IRS employees who were just a little overzealous about doing their jobs. Watch in amazement as the IRS head approves $70 million in bonuses for a job well done, despite the sequester, while VA employees are furloughed. Feast your eyes on the spectacle of ICE agents suing the government for the right to do their jobs, and fulfill their oaths of office. Be dazzled at the EPA creating its own laws, at the DHS and lobbyists writing health care regulations, at ideologues deciding on the basis of campaign donations who will and who won’t be permitted to continue to deal GM vehicles, giving preferred stock interest to unions who helped their boss become Chief Executive of the country, creating massive subsidies for Chevy Volts. See the State Department squelch its internal investigations and persecute those who inform on Ambassadors trolling in public parks for sex with underaged girls, security agents frequenting prostitutes, abusers of female staff, under the direction of Hillary Clinton, who would like to be the first female President, because it sends the right message. Watch as Smart Power reshapes the Middle East, and leads to a general jihad of Sunni against Shiite. See the Jews and Christians evicted and murdered, watch their synagogues and churches burn at the hands of adherents of the Religion of Peace. Marvel at the lack of coverage in the MSM. Get a front-row seat to watch as military functionaries institute anti-Christian policies on behalf of Muslim extremists. Watch them all lie, lie, lie, and get away with it.
A fellow of my acquaintance is an ex-DEA agent. He's a pleasant, bright, hard-working guy who manages people very well. But that DEA background impels him to toss the 'paranoia' label carelessly.
Too bad he hasn't read the above, eh?
Look at the immigration bill. Look at the one in 1986. Look at Napolitano’s declaration that the border is secure, and that agencies like hers have the right to determine which laws shall and shall not be enforced. Look at Benghazi. Look at Fast and Furious. Look at ObamaCare, and how it was rammed through, and all its promises, and behind those Obama’s 2008 campaign rhetoric about the individual mandate, and keeping your doctor, and bending the cost curve. Look at the IRS, and the story about low-level employees, and the audit that wasn’t an investigation, and the preliminary results that weren’t communicated to the congressmen who asked for them, and the FBI’s lack of follow-up. Behold Pigford, with the DoJ coordinating with trial lawyers and community activists to trawl for fraud in black churches. Behold DoJ lawsuits designed to prevent states from ensuring that the rolls are clean, or that voters are who they claim to be, or that addresses given for registration are valid. Hurry, hurry, step right up and see Catherine Engelbrecht, the woman targeted by multiple federal agencies at the behest of low-level IRS employees who were just a little overzealous about doing their jobs. Watch in amazement as the IRS head approves $70 million in bonuses for a job well done, despite the sequester, while VA employees are furloughed. Feast your eyes on the spectacle of ICE agents suing the government for the right to do their jobs, and fulfill their oaths of office. Be dazzled at the EPA creating its own laws, at the DHS and lobbyists writing health care regulations, at ideologues deciding on the basis of campaign donations who will and who won’t be permitted to continue to deal GM vehicles, giving preferred stock interest to unions who helped their boss become Chief Executive of the country, creating massive subsidies for Chevy Volts. See the State Department squelch its internal investigations and persecute those who inform on Ambassadors trolling in public parks for sex with underaged girls, security agents frequenting prostitutes, abusers of female staff, under the direction of Hillary Clinton, who would like to be the first female President, because it sends the right message. Watch as Smart Power reshapes the Middle East, and leads to a general jihad of Sunni against Shiite. See the Jews and Christians evicted and murdered, watch their synagogues and churches burn at the hands of adherents of the Religion of Peace. Marvel at the lack of coverage in the MSM. Get a front-row seat to watch as military functionaries institute anti-Christian policies on behalf of Muslim extremists. Watch them all lie, lie, lie, and get away with it.
A fellow of my acquaintance is an ex-DEA agent. He's a pleasant, bright, hard-working guy who manages people very well. But that DEA background impels him to toss the 'paranoia' label carelessly.
Too bad he hasn't read the above, eh?
Monday, June 24, 2013
Rubio's False Choice
Here's the last graf from Marco Rubio's essay on why the immigration bill should be passed:
I understand the American people’s frustration. I know that these promises have been made in the past. But here’s the reality of it: the choice before us is to try to fix this, or leave it way it is and risk an even bigger problem due to Washington’s inaction. What we have today is a disaster of epic proportions. Eleven million human beings living among us, and we don’t know who they are. They are working but not paying taxes. There are criminals among them. That has to be solved. We need to fix this, and this is our chance to fix it.
Those are not the only choices. He knows it, and we know it.
There's another choice: fund, implement, and enforce the existing laws, or clean out D.C.
I like my suggestion better.
I understand the American people’s frustration. I know that these promises have been made in the past. But here’s the reality of it: the choice before us is to try to fix this, or leave it way it is and risk an even bigger problem due to Washington’s inaction. What we have today is a disaster of epic proportions. Eleven million human beings living among us, and we don’t know who they are. They are working but not paying taxes. There are criminals among them. That has to be solved. We need to fix this, and this is our chance to fix it.
Those are not the only choices. He knows it, and we know it.
There's another choice: fund, implement, and enforce the existing laws, or clean out D.C.
I like my suggestion better.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
How Congress Works
Found at PowerLine:
It’s true, we have a two-party system in America: The Evil Party, and the Stupid Party. And every once and a while the Evil Party and the Stupid Party get together to pass something really evil and stupid. That’s called “bipartisanship.” --M Stanton Evans
That sums it up.
It’s true, we have a two-party system in America: The Evil Party, and the Stupid Party. And every once and a while the Evil Party and the Stupid Party get together to pass something really evil and stupid. That’s called “bipartisanship.” --M Stanton Evans
That sums it up.
NSA "Secrets". Really?
Chapman says here what a lot of other people are saying (myself included): what Snowden exposed are not "secrets."
The first [claim] is that these programs were vital in stopping terrorists. The second is that by revealing their mere existence, Snowden did grave damage to national security.
On the first claim, NSA Director Keith Alexander and others have gone into great detail, crediting the programs for foiling some 50 plots. But on the second one, they have been curiously reticent.
Now, it's hard to believe it would come as a great surprise to al-Qaida that American spies might be examining their phone records. Nor is it likely that hardened militants were slapping their foreheads to learn that someone in Washington may have been reading their email or listening in on their Skype chats.
What Chapman didn't mention is that those "50 plots" were largely targeted OUTSIDE the US.
And Chapman doesn't mention that the British are also monitoring phones and emails, and slipping NSA the data they get. That's significant because the British Gummint does not have to observe 4A rights of US citizens, whether terrorists or not. Gee--the NSA chief didn't mention that, either!
"Lightbulb" Rogers (R-MI) is going wonzo over the leaks.
Stick your flourescent up your ass, Rep. Rogers.
The first [claim] is that these programs were vital in stopping terrorists. The second is that by revealing their mere existence, Snowden did grave damage to national security.
On the first claim, NSA Director Keith Alexander and others have gone into great detail, crediting the programs for foiling some 50 plots. But on the second one, they have been curiously reticent.
Now, it's hard to believe it would come as a great surprise to al-Qaida that American spies might be examining their phone records. Nor is it likely that hardened militants were slapping their foreheads to learn that someone in Washington may have been reading their email or listening in on their Skype chats.
What Chapman didn't mention is that those "50 plots" were largely targeted OUTSIDE the US.
And Chapman doesn't mention that the British are also monitoring phones and emails, and slipping NSA the data they get. That's significant because the British Gummint does not have to observe 4A rights of US citizens, whether terrorists or not. Gee--the NSA chief didn't mention that, either!
"Lightbulb" Rogers (R-MI) is going wonzo over the leaks.
Stick your flourescent up your ass, Rep. Rogers.
Schadenfreude
Remember all those AFSCME/public employee robots screeching for Big Gummint?
Yah, well, they got their Big Gummint, and something else, too.
...local governments across the country have been quietly doing exactly the same thing — cutting part-time hours specifically so they can skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate, while complaining about the law in some of the harshest terms anyone has uttered in public. The result is that part-time government workers — many of them low-income — face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits...
...Dearborn, Mich.: "If we had to provide health care and other benefits to all of our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous," said Mayor John O'Reilly, explaining why the city is cutting its more than 700 part-time and seasonal workers down to 28 hours a week...
...Long Beach, Calif.... is going to cut hours for 200 part-time workers so it doesn't have to pay $2 million to provide health benefits...
...Virginia: ... is requiring that about 7,000 part-time government workers put in no more than 29 hours a week.
There will be more. Lots more. And while schadenfreude feels good for a few moments, it's really an avoidance reaction to the tragedy that's unfolding for thousands of little Gummint gerbils that swallowed, whole, the lies of the Progressive Statists they so ardently supported.
Yah, well, they got their Big Gummint, and something else, too.
...local governments across the country have been quietly doing exactly the same thing — cutting part-time hours specifically so they can skirt ObamaCare's costly employer mandate, while complaining about the law in some of the harshest terms anyone has uttered in public. The result is that part-time government workers — many of them low-income — face pay cuts that can top $3,000 a year, and yet will still be left without employer-provided benefits...
...Dearborn, Mich.: "If we had to provide health care and other benefits to all of our employees, the burden on the city would be tremendous," said Mayor John O'Reilly, explaining why the city is cutting its more than 700 part-time and seasonal workers down to 28 hours a week...
...Long Beach, Calif.... is going to cut hours for 200 part-time workers so it doesn't have to pay $2 million to provide health benefits...
...Virginia: ... is requiring that about 7,000 part-time government workers put in no more than 29 hours a week.
There will be more. Lots more. And while schadenfreude feels good for a few moments, it's really an avoidance reaction to the tragedy that's unfolding for thousands of little Gummint gerbils that swallowed, whole, the lies of the Progressive Statists they so ardently supported.
Saturday, June 22, 2013
Wisconsin and Lake Woebegone
The Wisconsin DPI, under Tony Evers' Most Beneficial Leadership, describes Wisconsin's public education establishment in terms which would make Lake Woebegone blush:
For much of Evers’ tenure at DPI the media lapped up claims about Wisconsin’s public schools being among the best in the nation. This occurred despite an earlier Education Sector report — in 2006 — listing Wisconsin as Number One in the nation in over-hyping the test scores of its students....
..."The Pangloss Index ranks Wisconsin as the most optimistic state in the nation…[A]ccording to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the state is a modern-day educational utopia where a large majority of students meet academic standards, high school graduation rates are high, every school is safe and nearly all teachers are highly qualified.
For much of Evers’ tenure at DPI the media lapped up claims about Wisconsin’s public schools being among the best in the nation. This occurred despite an earlier Education Sector report — in 2006 — listing Wisconsin as Number One in the nation in over-hyping the test scores of its students....
..."The Pangloss Index ranks Wisconsin as the most optimistic state in the nation…[A]ccording to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, the state is a modern-day educational utopia where a large majority of students meet academic standards, high school graduation rates are high, every school is safe and nearly all teachers are highly qualified.
"[While] school districts around the nation are struggling to make
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), the primary standard of school and
district success under NCLB…99.8 percent of Wisconsin districts—425 out
of 426—made AYP in 2004–05."...
Maybe Keillor's imaginary hometown isn't the correct analogy; at least Keillor's Camelot is deliberately ironic.
On the other hand, Evers' Camelot is not deliberately ironic. It's fraud.
...the Education Sector reported that under Evers and his boss, Elizabeth Burmaster, Wisconsin basically cooked the books. Wisconsin used a "proficiency" standard that was so low it enabled all but one district — Milwaukee — to pass muster....
The solution is simple: more money!!
Ryan and Sensenbrenner: Conservative Again?
We've mentioned Sensenbrenner's and Ryan's Left-leaning votes a few times, so in the interest of being fair and balanced, here's a glimmer of light:
U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan of Janesville and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls were among 62 Republicans to oppose the farm bill as the House defeated the measure this afternoon.
We'll see how this plays out later on, eh?
U.S. Reps. Paul Ryan of Janesville and Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls were among 62 Republicans to oppose the farm bill as the House defeated the measure this afternoon.
We'll see how this plays out later on, eh?
Obozo's IRS: Hates TEA, Loves Illegals
We all know that Obozo's IRS has a mission to harass folks that oppose Obozo's agenda.
But Obozo's IRS has another mission, too: facilitate illegals' life in the US. If that happens to cost REAL US taxpayers several billion dollars, tough s*&t.
Since 1996, the IRS has issued what it calls Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to two classes of persons: 1) non-resident aliens who have a tax liability in the United States, and 2) aliens living in the United States who are “not authorized to work in the United States.”
The IRS has long known it was giving these numbers to illegal aliens, and thus facilitating their ability to work illegally in the United States....
So there was an audit in 2012. Guess what?
“TIGTA’s audit found that IRS management has not established adequate internal controls to detect and prevent the assignment of an ITIN to individuals submitting questionable applications,” said Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. “Even more troubling, TIGTA found an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications.”
Oh, yes, it gets worse.
The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011...The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth....Other locations on the IG’s Top Ten list for singular addresses that were theoretically used simultaneously by thousands of unauthorized alien workers, included an address in Oxnard, Calif, where the IRS sent 2,507 refunds worth $10,395,874; an address in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the IRS sent 2,408 refunds worth $7,284,212; an address in Phoenix, Ariz., where the IRS sent 2,047 refunds worth $5,558,608; an address in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the IRS sent 1,972 refunds worth $2,256,302; an address in San Jose, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877...
I have to admit that those illegals are frugal. 24,000 people sharing one lower flat in Atlanta!
Here's an idea: have Lois Lerner's sorry lying ass assigned to Atlanta where she will be required to meet, photograph, and fingerprint every single one of those ITIN holders before she can return to a management slot in D.C. And no refunds will be issued to any of those ITIN's until Lois submits their documentation.
But Obozo's IRS has another mission, too: facilitate illegals' life in the US. If that happens to cost REAL US taxpayers several billion dollars, tough s*&t.
Since 1996, the IRS has issued what it calls Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to two classes of persons: 1) non-resident aliens who have a tax liability in the United States, and 2) aliens living in the United States who are “not authorized to work in the United States.”
The IRS has long known it was giving these numbers to illegal aliens, and thus facilitating their ability to work illegally in the United States....
So there was an audit in 2012. Guess what?
“TIGTA’s audit found that IRS management has not established adequate internal controls to detect and prevent the assignment of an ITIN to individuals submitting questionable applications,” said Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George. “Even more troubling, TIGTA found an environment which discourages employees from detecting fraudulent applications.”
Oh, yes, it gets worse.
The Internal Revenue Service sent 23,994 tax refunds worth a combined $46,378,040 to “unauthorized” alien workers who all used the same address in Atlanta, Ga., in 2011...The IRS sent 11,284 refunds worth a combined $2,164,976 to unauthorized alien workers at a second Atlanta address; 3,608 worth $2,691,448 to a third; and 2,386 worth $1,232,943 to a fourth....Other locations on the IG’s Top Ten list for singular addresses that were theoretically used simultaneously by thousands of unauthorized alien workers, included an address in Oxnard, Calif, where the IRS sent 2,507 refunds worth $10,395,874; an address in Raleigh, North Carolina, where the IRS sent 2,408 refunds worth $7,284,212; an address in Phoenix, Ariz., where the IRS sent 2,047 refunds worth $5,558,608; an address in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where the IRS sent 1,972 refunds worth $2,256,302; an address in San Jose, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,942 refunds worth $5,091,027; and an address in Arvin, Calif., where the IRS sent 1,846 refunds worth $3,298,877...
I have to admit that those illegals are frugal. 24,000 people sharing one lower flat in Atlanta!
Here's an idea: have Lois Lerner's sorry lying ass assigned to Atlanta where she will be required to meet, photograph, and fingerprint every single one of those ITIN holders before she can return to a management slot in D.C. And no refunds will be issued to any of those ITIN's until Lois submits their documentation.
Friday, June 21, 2013
More Jackassery in DC
As an aside to the main argument over the Farm Bill, this factoid emerges.
...Pursuant to a silly 1949 act of Congress, every time we fail to renew expiring farm programs, the government must begin imposing Soviet-style price controls on milk by decreasing supplies through massive purchases of milk, butter, cheese, and other dairy products. Under permanent law, the USDA would begin purchasing dairy products at a rate of $38.54 per hundredweight, more than double the current price ($18 per hundredweight). This market manipulation could double the price of milk, dairy products, and everything else up the food chain.
But instead of avoiding the deleterious effects of the Agriculture Act of 1949 by growing government, why don’t we just repeal the dang law?
In a sane world, both houses of Congress would convene and repeal this inane and outdated law within a few minutes by unanimous consent. That way we could debate a long-term farm bill without having the sword of the 1949 law brandished over our necks and forcing Congress to rush through bad legislation.
Silly man. "Both houses of Congress" and "sane" in the same sentence?
...Pursuant to a silly 1949 act of Congress, every time we fail to renew expiring farm programs, the government must begin imposing Soviet-style price controls on milk by decreasing supplies through massive purchases of milk, butter, cheese, and other dairy products. Under permanent law, the USDA would begin purchasing dairy products at a rate of $38.54 per hundredweight, more than double the current price ($18 per hundredweight). This market manipulation could double the price of milk, dairy products, and everything else up the food chain.
But instead of avoiding the deleterious effects of the Agriculture Act of 1949 by growing government, why don’t we just repeal the dang law?
In a sane world, both houses of Congress would convene and repeal this inane and outdated law within a few minutes by unanimous consent. That way we could debate a long-term farm bill without having the sword of the 1949 law brandished over our necks and forcing Congress to rush through bad legislation.
Silly man. "Both houses of Congress" and "sane" in the same sentence?
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Bipartisan Totalitarianism
Yah, we know that Obozo's collection of phone calls, emails, and internet traffic is...ummmnnnhhhh....Obozo's. He's a totalitarian and has his enforcers: Holder and the IRS (not to mention DHS and the upcoming ObozoCare/HHS regime).
Recall, though, that Jim Sensenbrenner WROTE the Patriot Act which "authorized" all this stuff; and sure enough, another Totalitarian emerges creeps forth from the (R) sub-basement:
...Within a few hours, King [R-NY] provided an illustration of precisely what the Examiner editors fear. Responding to a question by Fox News' Bill Hemmer about why the government needs everyone's phone numbers and not just suspects', King said, "Because if you don't have all of them, the system is incomplete."
Pressed further by Hemmer as to why the government needs his phone records, King expanded: "Because you can't distinguish one number from the other as to which one could potentially in the next five years be involved in a terror case. You need to have the full array of numbers so that any time in the next five years, if a number comes up, they can then drill in and find out who in this country spoke to it. It's very hard to decide who to include and who not to include."
(Aside from his implication that EVERYONE is a suspect, there's another fact which King the Totalitarian forgets: phone numbers actually change owners!!)
Oh, well. There's still the Second Amendment.
Recall, though, that Jim Sensenbrenner WROTE the Patriot Act which "authorized" all this stuff; and sure enough, another Totalitarian emerges creeps forth from the (R) sub-basement:
...Within a few hours, King [R-NY] provided an illustration of precisely what the Examiner editors fear. Responding to a question by Fox News' Bill Hemmer about why the government needs everyone's phone numbers and not just suspects', King said, "Because if you don't have all of them, the system is incomplete."
Pressed further by Hemmer as to why the government needs his phone records, King expanded: "Because you can't distinguish one number from the other as to which one could potentially in the next five years be involved in a terror case. You need to have the full array of numbers so that any time in the next five years, if a number comes up, they can then drill in and find out who in this country spoke to it. It's very hard to decide who to include and who not to include."
(Aside from his implication that EVERYONE is a suspect, there's another fact which King the Totalitarian forgets: phone numbers actually change owners!!)
Oh, well. There's still the Second Amendment.
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