Budget

Anti-Americanism - Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - Government - Law - Liberals - Los Angeles - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Dangers of the Ballot Initiative

May 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

At first blush, the idea of having ballot initiatives on election day seems like such a great, democratic idea. Unfortunately, all too often, all they are is a way to enlarge government, chip away at freedom, and cost the taxpayers money without returning the benefits promised. California is the perfect example of these troubles.

The problem, of course, is not that it’s too much democracy, but that few of these ballot measures are true grassroots uprisings meant to make the lives of Californians better. Instead they are moneyed special interests using their deep pockets to buy the petition process in order to get their own narrow needs favored in Sacramento.

Even as far back as 2004, the L.A. Times had soured on ballot measures. In an editorial scoffing at the whole system, the Times ended saying, “Ballot-box legislating — often swayed by false or misleading advertising — is no way to run a state of 36 million people and such diverse needs.”

That same year in San Jose, for instance, a ballot measure appear that was supposed to go to funding of libraries. The measure was supposed to raise the budget for libraries to $48 million per year but despite that good natured taxpayers approved the budget measure the city ended up cutting the library expenditures down to $32 million annually. This is a typical case where tax hikes approved by voters never ended up going where voters thought they were going to go. This year, new ballot measures meant to correct the library budget deficiency are being proposed but these measures are likely to make matters worse.
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Dangers of the Ballot Initiative”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Stand Up To Bullying Day

May 11, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

The NEA says that May 4th should be devoted to anti-bullying. Okay, and to be fair, I suggest that we start with the biggest organized bullies in the country – the teachers unions themselves.

The National Education Association celebrated “Stand Up To Bullying Day” on May 4th. Its website is full of advice about how to deal with what it calls “everyone’s problem.” With a solemnity ordinarily reserved for a Sunday morning sermon, NEA has created a pledge –

I agree to be identified as a caring adult who pledges to help bullied students. I will listen carefully to all students who seek my help and act on their behalf to put an immediate stop to the bullying. I will work with other caring adults to create a safe learning environment for all the students in my school.

Please note, the union talks only about children bullying other children; there is nothing about adults bullying other adults.
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Stand Up To Bullying Day”

Blogging - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Computers - Crony Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Inernet - Jobs - Net Neutrality - New Media - Scott Cleland - Technology

‘Leaf’ Vision & Broadband Usage Caps

May 10, 2012 by

-By Scott Cleland

Near hysterical opponents of broadband data usage caps need to breathe slowly, drop their magnifying glass, look up and take in the big world all around them. They are not just missing the forest for the trees, they are missing the leaves, stems, branches, trees, forest and sky, because they can’t take their magnifying glass off of the leaf with which they are myopically obsessed.

Broadband data usage caps are a very small, normal, and essential part of a healthy and economically-sustainable Internet ecosystem. Pricing is the central mechanism for any marketplace to balance supply and demand and to create economic incentives and disincentives for behavior that can drive costs. There is nothing wrong with pricing caps, tiers, and other pricing mechanisms that are used to manage networks, avoid network congestion, achieve a return on investment, manage a business model, differentiate a business, and/or earn a profit.

Does an average consumer get indignant when an all-you-can-eat buffet limits them from: piling food on a tray and not a plate; sharing their food with someone who hasn’t paid; or putting it in a bag to take home? No. Does an average consumer expect to be able to run their AC at max 24-7 during a heat wave when the system is at peak usage? No. Does an average consumer imagine that they can pay a flat rate for water, electricity, or gasoline, and then consume it without any usage limit or extra payment for high-usage? No. Most all American consumers understand the most basic economic principle, that if one uses more of a good or a service, one can expect to pay more for it. Only the small but very vocal group of Internet commons radicals that are currently indignant over broadband data usage caps imagine that broadband communications should somehow be a public unlimited free good.
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‘Leaf’ Vision & Broadband Usage Caps”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Coal - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Electric - Energy - EPA - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - West Virginia

WV Dems Not Thrilled About Anti-US Energy Obama, Voted for Felon Instead

May 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

President Obama had an opponent in the West Virginia Democrat Primary and the fella did pretty well, too. Democrat Keith Judd was Obama’s primary opponent for the Democrat nomination for President on Tuesday and he garnered 40% of the cote, too. I’d say that’s pretty good for a convicted felon that is still serving time in a Texas jail, wouldn’t you?

Oh, I am not pulling your leg, dear reader. Make all the jokes you want (the first one that comes to mid is that all Democrats are criminals) but it really happened. Mr. Judd ran against Obama and got 40% of the vote.

Judd, who is serving a 210-month sentence in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999, ran his campaign from jail. Amusingly, since he got over 15% of the vote, he qualifies to get a delegate to the Democrat National Convention — though no one has filed to be a Judd delegate.
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WV Dems Not Thrilled About Anti-US Energy Obama, Voted for Felon Instead”

Budget - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

The Second American Revolution

May 6, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

If education reformers stick to principle and don’t back down, all other obstacles to victory can be overcome.

Recently, Andrew Rotherham wrote a short piece in The Atlantic in which he describes “The 3 Main Obstacles in the Way of Education Reform.” The first obstacle he mentions is that currently “We buy reform.”

Or at least we try to. Some politicians really think that throwing money at the problem will help and the less principled ones do it because they are trying to pay back certain political allies. The result is that untold billions are taken from taxpayers to support giant bureaucracies on the federal and state levels and to prop up programs that do little or nothing to help the students who desperately need it. Rotherham writes:
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The Second American Revolution”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Stimulus - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Lies About Ohio Bridge Repairs For a Second Time

May 4, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Apparently Obama and his administration operate under that old, underhanded adage that if you tell a lie long enough and loud enough it becomes “truth” because Obama has done it again by lying about how his jobs bill was to have been instrumental in the repairs of bridges that span the Ohio River.

Back in September President Obama had another one of his campaign rallies disguised as a press conference in downtown Cincinnati in front of the Brent Spence Bridge, a span that connects Ohio and Kentucky. At that time he claimed that his jobs bill and stimulus money was to pay for much needed repairs on the bridge. Afterward, newspaper fact-checkers in Cincy as well as Washington DC noted that Obama’s claims were simply untrue, no stimulus money was going to any of the bridges over the Ohio river, much less the Brent Spence.

The scolding of the media doesn’t seem to have deterred Obama, however, for this week he’s done it again. Lied about how his stimulus money and jobs bill cash was to go to repair bridges across the river.
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Obama Lies About Ohio Bridge Repairs For a Second Time”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Capitalism - Crony Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Jobs - Liberals - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Our ‘Cool’ President is Killing US!

May 3, 2012 by

After four years of a celebrity president, is your life any better?

Obama is the “cool president,” we are told. Obama slow jams with Jimmy Fallon and calls Kanye West a “jackass.” He goes on late-night TV every other week. He plays basketball and spends more time on vacations and golf courses than he does in the White House. He also owns an economy where 50% of recent college grads are unemployed or underemployed, and 85% have to move in with their parents.

Has four years of a pop culture POTUS made anyone’s life any better?

1st Amendment - Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Hollywood - Liberals - Movies - Republicans - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Jon Lovitz: Another Hollywierder Mugged by Reality

May 2, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week comedian Jon Lovitz appeared on a podcast to talk about his years on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. The conversation, though, veered toward politics and to many left-wingers it veered too to the right! On the pocast, Mr. Lovitz went on a tirade about what he feels are the tax lies Obama is unleashing on America causing Lovitz’ fair weather fans to take to their Twitter accounts in merciless attack on the funnyman.

We can call this episode a case of being mugged by reality. In fact a double dose of it, yeah, that’s the ticket.

Lovitz lambasted Obama as a “jackass” for constantly saying that the “rich” in America don’t pay their fair share. He also noted that despite what the liberals say, “the rich” don’t pay low tax rates. In fact, he feels they pay at least 50% of their income in taxes when all taxes of all sorts are added up. He also pointed out that he considers himself a liberal and he voted for Obama. Of course, as most comedians do today, Lovitz went for the blue language, but his rant was extremely heartfelt and passionate and it became the rant heard ’round the Internet — well, at least the rant du jour of last week, anyway.

Still, it is quite an event when a self-described liberal launches into such a discussion and carves out for himself an opinion from what most would imagine is right-wing territory. But there you have it. Lovitz was mugged by reality.
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Jon Lovitz: Another Hollywierder Mugged by Reality”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Coal - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Oil - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Costs of Energy Killing Small Businesses

May 2, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Maria Tworek owns and runs the Brass Monkey Sports Bar in Omaha, Nebraska. It takes a lot of electricity to keep her business going, a commodity whose price just seems to rise. With a greater reliance on coal for electricity, America can keep prices affordable for people like Maria. Clean Coal. Now Is The Time.

Of course, we should always remember that this is exactly what Obama wanted. He said so himself when he was running for president the first time.
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Costs of Energy Killing Small Businesses”

Americans For Prosperity - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Liberals - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

AFP: Obama’s Wasteful Spending Ad

April 29, 2012 by

AFP’s “Wasteful Spending” ad holds President Obama accountable for sending billions of taxpayer dollars to “green energy” companies overseas, even while Americans suffer with rising energy prices and a lack of jobs.

Learn more: www.americansforprosperity.org

Budget - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

NEA Greed Machine is in Overdrive

April 29, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

Tax Freedom Day is April 17th. Freedom from teacher union extortion? To be announced.

The National Education Association has thrown itself full force into the “corporate loophole” demagoguery campaign. According to the NEA, children are being victimized by avaricious corporate types who don’t pay their fair share of taxes. The NEA exhorts the American people to “stand up for the middle class and support closing corporate tax loopholes at the federal and state level, so that additional resources can be invested in public education and other services that build our communities.” In a message oozing with class warfare, we learn that “Corporate tax loopholes are costing our schools and communities resources that would help the next generation achieve the American Dream.” (Cue the violins.)

They then post a list of programs that would thrive if the greedy corporate bastards would just pay their fair share – Title 1, Pre-K education, etc. NEA of course fails to mention that these programs, though popular, are essentially federal boondoggles. They don’t really do what they purport to do. They do make work for unionized adults, however, which if you haven’t been paying attention, is all NEA really cares about. But I digress….

Using Citizens for Tax Justice as their source, NEA claims that closing the seven largest corporate tax loopholes would provide an estimated $1.487 trillion in additional revenues over the next ten years. Coincidentally, CTJ just happens to be the union founded and funded lobbying wing of something called the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
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NEA Greed Machine is in Overdrive”

Barack Obama - Budget - Daniel Clark - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Health - Liberals - Obamacare - Taxes

Extended Terms: Libs Stretch the Letter of the Law

April 28, 2012 by

-By Daniel Clark

One of the reasons why liberals think they’re so much smarter than the rest of us is their use of big words. Not big words like “sesquipedalian,” but more ordinary words that liberals have inflated in such a way as to make them include meanings that were never intended.

A favorite Democrat talking point about the pending Supreme Court decision on Obamacare is that, because health care represents one sixth of our nation’s economy, the Commerce Clause must apply. This conclusion rests on their equating “commerce” with “economy,” when in reality, the definition of the former is far narrower than that. “Commerce” is the large-scale trading of commodities, or material goods. It is not just anything that directly or indirectly affects the way a dollar changes hands.

The amendment process is very long and difficult by design. Besides, it relies on the actions of elected representatives, whose constituents may not share the liberals’ utopian ideals. Why not circumvent those obstacles, and simply change the Constitution by expanding the definitions of its terms?
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Extended Terms: Libs Stretch the Letter of the Law”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Frank Hyland - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Stimulus - Taxes

It Didn’t Work

April 26, 2012 by

-By Frank Hyland

A number of times, you’ve entered an antique store or another type of store that carries items that need to be handled tenderly if at all. The sign says, “You break it, you bought it.” In the neighborhood in which I was raised, the operative saying was, “There are talkers and there are doers.” In another neighborhood, you’d hear, “You can’t just talk the talk; you’ve got to walk the walk.” In Texas, the saying is, referring to a loud-mouthed Cattleman-wanna-be, “He’s all hat and no cattle.” We’ve been cautioned for centuries that, “People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.” These sayings are all variations on the Words-Deeds dichotomy. This week, which the White House and the DNC are referring to as “This weak,” saw an attempt to throw a major stone at the Romney camp, followed by a series of denials, U-Turns, and “Oops-ies.”

In the context of “You break it, you bought it,” and living in a glass house, the last thing that the Obamanation should have done is take on Ann Romney by name by accusing her of never having worked a day in her life. First of all, Ann Romney is not – I repeat, NOT – running for office. Secondly, if you’ve decided that it is time for your life to end, head over to the nearest preschool or playground where exhausted Moms take their youngsters to expend a bit of energy while they chat with their counterparts. Once there, begin shouting at the Moms that they don’t “work.” That should do the trick – Rest in peace. Typically, the Lame Stream Media has devoted a good deal of time and space to the misstep. And typically, the coverage has been hardly worth your time reading/watching/listening, which explains why you are now tuned in here. That the initial DNC attack is a sign of desperation – with less than six months left until the election – is not being discussed. In addition, that the attack is a symptom of organizational ineptitude and sheer stupidity has received even less coverage. The attacker, DNC staffer Hilary Rosen, is a self-described “pundit.” Among other definitions of the word, pundits are described as being a “learned person” and an “expert.” Leaving aside for a moment how incorrect it is to say that mothers don’t work, there obviously is either no editorial review process at the DNC or the Editors’ seats are filled with others as brain-dead as Hilary Rosen.
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It Didn’t Work”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Communism - Congress - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - George W. Bush - GOP - Government - Health - Liberals - Nanny State - Obamacare - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Michael Mukasey’s Excellent Argument Against Obamacare

April 25, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

On April 20, Michael Mukasey appeared before the Republican Lawyers Association’s National Policy Conference and C-SPAN cameras were there to record his discussion of the conference theme: Restoring a Government of Laws: The Obama Administration v. The Constitution.

Mukasey, the former Bush Administration Attorney General, headlined a half hour discussion — which included a Q&A session — and offered one of the more cogent explanations I’ve seen of why Obamacare is so wildly unconstitutional.

The whole presentation is worth watching but one of his answers during the Q&A segment was particularly important.

One of the attendees asked if Mukasey regale tell them with his hypothetical argument in support of Obamacare. Mukasey joked that his supporting argument would be “an extraordinarily short opinion,” but his more detailed answer actually presented a concise argument to the opposite; why Obamacare is simply unconstitutional. (At about 25 minutes into the segment)
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Michael Mukasey’s Excellent Argument Against Obamacare”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Bankrupting America Launches Online Advocacy Campaign Urging Senate to Vote on a Budget

April 25, 2012 by

From Bankrupting America…

ARLINGTON, VA – Bankrupting America, a project of Public Notice, today announced a multipronged online educational advocacy campaign leading up to the three-year anniversary since the last time Congress passed a budget. The campaign includes a web video, online advertising, a Twitter hashtag campaign and a grassroots call to action urging the Senate to pass a budget.

Congress last passed a budget on April 29, 2009, almost three years ago. Since then, Members of Congress from both parties have failed to work together to perform one of the federal government’s most basic functions.

Gretchen Hamel, executive director of Public Notice, issued the following statement announcing the campaign:
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Bankrupting America Launches Online Advocacy Campaign Urging Senate to Vote on a Budget”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Constitution - Democracy - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - President - Taxes - The New York Times - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Loves America… When It Agrees With Him

April 24, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama is an autocrat. Were we a South American nation he’d be our Hugo Chavez. He is not interested in democracy, our republican form of government, or listening to other’s opinions. And he most certainly is not interested in allowing the American people to see their will reflected in their duly elected officials. It’s his way or the highway. Period.

All this is the subject of a recent New York Times piece that, even as it notes Obama’s wild grabs for personal power, tries its best to give cover to a president that has decided that he has no need to work with Congress and intends to bypass both the courts and our elected representatives to put his radical agenda into place.

With its typical, hypocritical partisanship on full display, the Times, the same paper that repeatedly called George W. Bush an imperial president, is now bending over backwards to excuse even more egregious behavior from its Obammessiah.

In fact, the first paragraphs of the two stories liked above are telling in how the Times regards the two presidents and in how the actual issue of executive overreach is a but a device in stories meant to sell readers on a picture of the man, not the issue.

Let’s take the first paragraph of the 2006 piece on Bush (my bold):
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Obama Loves America… When It Agrees With Him”

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - Michigan - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Wealthy Michigan Teacher Upset She Can’t Retire at 47

April 20, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s just unfair, isn’t it? I mean, if an $80,000-per-year, union protected, unfireable, teacher can’t retire at the extremely young age of 47 while the rest of us have to work into our 70s, well, what kind of world are we living in? That’s how teachers in Michigan feel, anyway.

Just ask the haughty Terri List, a Michigan public school teacher from Saginaw Township. She’s entirely disgusted with all those ignorant taxpayers — who vote in evil Republicans — that won’t let her retire at 70% of her salary at a sprightly 47-years-of-age. She’s so upset that she’s telling anyone that will listen that being a teacher isn’t worth the effort.

On the government union site run by the Michigan Education Association, Mz List is seen carping that waiting to retire at 60 is a travesty for the teaching profession. In what rotten world do people have to wait until they are 60 to retire, anyway!?

… only the rest of us, Mz List, only the rest of us. You know the “us” I’m speaking of Mz List? Yeah, the “us” that are with our taxes forced to pay your exorbitant salary, your overly generous benefits, and your retirement in your middle age.
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Wealthy Michigan Teacher Upset She Can’t Retire at 47″

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Budget - Climate Change - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Energy - Environment - Ethics - Liberals - Socialism - Taxes

Genocidal Green Quotes

April 20, 2012 by

-By Alan Caruba

As Earth Day 2012 occurs on Sunday, April 22, I offer a selection of quotes from leading figures in the environmental movement that are worth reading so that you can draw your own conclusions.

In 1970, the first Earth Day generated the following quotes:

“Civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.” – George Wald, Harvard Biologist

“We are in an environmental crisis which threatens the survival of this nation, and of the world as a suitable place of human habitation.” – Barry Commoner, Washington University biologist

“Man must stop pollution and conserve his resources, not merely to enhance existence but to save the race from intolerable deterioration and possible extinction.” – New York Times editorial, the day after the first Earth Day
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Genocidal Green Quotes”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Media Misleads on California Prop 29

April 19, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Californians are being asked once again to fund a government boondoggle with a ballot initiative which will levy more taxes on an already over taxed state. This time it is Proposition 29, intended to fund the California Cancer Research Act, a measure that appeals nicely to emotions but will likely be just another black hole for tax dollars when all is said and done — just like many other successful California ballot measures have been.

Naturally, many members of the media are in love with yet another new tax not to mention its chimerical promise of “cancer research.” Take Dan Morain of the Sacramento Bee, for instance, who recently pumped out the false dichotomy of having to choose between the wonderfulness of “cancer research” and those evil, rotten cigarette companies.

Here is how Morain characterizes the debate:
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Media Misleads on California Prop 29″

Budget - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Larry Sand - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Perverts Prevail in Public Schools

April 19, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

With teacher union enabling, child abuse goes on unabated.

A male business owner joking about life for homosexuals in prison, forced a junior accountant to bend over a desk, lined up behind him to simulate a sex act, then quipped, “I’ll show you what’s gay.”

An insurance company middle manager who had been warned about touching secretaries brushed his lower body against a new employee, coming so close that she told company investigators she could feel his genitals through his pants.

A corporate vice-president sent text messages to and called one of his female underlings nearly 50 times in a four-week period and, over the winter holidays, parked himself near her home.
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Perverts Prevail in Public Schools”

Alaska - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Electric - Energy - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - Oil - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

ANWR: It’s Been ’10 Years,’ We Could Have Been Reaping Rewards Now

April 18, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Ten years ago this month the Democrats defeated the bill that would have allowed us to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Preserve (ANWR). So it’s happy anniversary to the loss of our energy independence once again.

It turns out that the tenth anniversary is known as the “tin” anniversary in that wonderful list of gifts one gives to celebrate such things. Tin is the perfect alloy when one notes the “tin ear” represented by the constant refrain the left always trumpets whenever we talk about drilling for oil, namely that it is pointless to do because we won’t realize any benefits for up to 10 years.

To that point, Democrat Representative Maria Cantwell disgorged that very talking point during that 2002 debate:

I believe there is no way to justify drilling in ANWR in the name of national security. Oil extracted from the wildlife refuge would not reach refineries for 7 to 10 years and would never satisfy more than 2 percent of our Nation’s oil demands at any one time.

Well, it’s ten years, folks, and because the Democrats continually defeat new efforts to drill or explore for oil on American soil we are once again out of luck for exploiting our own sources of energy. Thanks to Obama and his party we stay dependent on foreign sources of energy.
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ANWR: It’s Been ’10 Years,’ We Could Have Been Reaping Rewards Now”

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Environment - Taxes

Overthrowing Environmentalism

April 17, 2012 by

-By Alan Caruba

In 1517 Martin Luther set off the Protestant revolution against the Catholic Church that led to the spread of the then-new movement as a response to the corruption of the Church. It took time for it to establish itself as an alternative and was greatly aided by the invention of printing and spread of literacy, but mostly because ordinary people had grown weary of the Church’s extravagance, poor governance, and resistance to change.

The selling of worthless “indulgences” as a means to wipe one’s sins clean was the final straw.

Environmentalism has become a modern religion and its “cap and trade” scheme to sell worthless permission slips for the emission of so-called “greenhouse gases”—based on United Nations Kyoto Protocol calling for a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere—is being rejected by many nations .

As it has become common knowledge that CO2 is vital to all life on Earth and plays no role in affecting the climate, ordinary people have concluded that global warming in particular and environmentalism in general is a giant fraud.
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Overthrowing Environmentalism”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Founders - Government - Health - History - House of Representatives - John Adams - Journalism - Liberals - Media Bias - Nanny State - Obamacare - President - Regulation - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

No, Left-Wingers, the ‘Founders’ Did NOT Approve of Mandates or Obamacare

April 16, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Every few weeks leftist supporters of Obamacare will float the “fact” that our founders passed the first “national healthcare law” claiming that this supports Obamacare. The truth is, though, the history they claim supports them doesn’t in any way prove that the founders would approve of mandates in general or Obamacare in particular.

This failed historical analogy is once again seen this month in the prattling of one Einer Elhauge, a fellow who claims himself the title of a professor at Harvard Law School. If his recent article in The New Republic is any indication of the level of history he teaches students, we have yet another example of our failed state of higher education.

Elhauge makes two failed analogies to history in his support of Obamacare. One is the 1792 law that required men to own a firearm. This law passed by many members of our founding generation — with only four opposing the mandate — proves, Elhauge claims, that mandates were not something the founders would oppose.

Elhauge’s claim is facile, of course. After all, we had no standing army at the time (in fact the founders were vehemently against a standing army) and the whole of the people in the form of the militia were the army.

So, requiring people to own firearms was, at the time, observing the Constitutional mandate to protect the nation. Helthacre is not something in the Constitution and cannot be construed as such, so Elhauge’s extrapolating military matters to Obamacare is absurd o its face.

Then there is the sailor relief act that lefties have been harping on for several years now claiming that it supports Obamacare. This, too, is a facile comparison cynically and illicitly used to explain away Obamacare.
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No, Left-Wingers, the ‘Founders’ Did NOT Approve of Mandates or Obamacare”

Alan Caruba - Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Jobs - Liberals - President - Taxes

How (and Why) Obama has Impeded Recovery

April 16, 2012 by

-By Alan Caruba

During and after his 2008 campaign, Barack Obama was hailed as the second coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt. History records that Roosevelt presided over the Great Depression, begun in the previous administration of Herbert Hoover who got most of the blame. Roosevelt’s policies extended it well beyond the normal recovery from a recession.

In his book, “Dupes”, historian Paul Kengor, wrote “Roosevelt won in a landslide in November 1932. To liberals and traditional Democrats everywhere, he was more than just a new face at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He was a kind of political savior at the most desperate time in their lives.”

Roosevelt was immediately assailed by the Communist Party USA as he launched his New Deal stew of programs intended to reverse the effects of the economic crisis. As Kengor notes, “No president had ever moved so far to the left, and so quickly, but it was not enough for the comrades.” They portrayed Roosevelt “as a warmonger bent on wreaking havoc on the poor USSR (Soviet Russia)” because they feared the U.S. might go to war against it.
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How (and Why) Obama has Impeded Recovery”

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Nanny State - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Arrogant Democrats Think They Have Role to ‘Protect’ Titanic Wreck Site

April 15, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

The Titanic sunk 100 years ago this year. The great ship went down in international waters as a vessel of British registry. When it went down the United States was barely a presence on the international stage. Yet now, 100 years later, American Democrats imagine they have the duty and power to control what will happen at the final resting place of over 1,500 passengers.

In their arrogance and led by the haughty and self-referential Senator John Kerry (D, Mass.), American Democrats are pushing Congress to pass legislation to make the wreck site of the Titanic off limits to further exploration.

Supporters of the Kerry arrogance claim that the Titanic’s final resting place should be afforded the same legal standing as a cemetery and James P. Delgado, director of maritime heritage at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that he believes “there are people inside” the unexplored sections of the ship.

Few experts agree with this assessment, though. The Times notes that Hollywoodite James Cameron, who has been through the wreckage more than just about anyone, says he’s never once seen any evidence of bones or human remains.
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Arrogant Democrats Think They Have Role to ‘Protect’ Titanic Wreck Site”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Britain - Budget - Communism - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Health - Liberals - Obamacare - President - Regulation - Socialism - Taxes - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Healthcare Death Panels Are Inevitable

April 12, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Much was made of Governor Sarah Palin’s use of the term “government death panels” to lambaste Obamacare. Left-wingers and Democrats everywhere scoffed at the term and accused Palin of demagogy and even lying. But the fact is, government death panels of all sorts are inevitable once government takes over healthcare. In fact, once government takes over healthcare, all sorts of unscientific, non-health related nonsense creeps into your healthcare whether you like it or not and none of these decisions are made with your doctor’s advice or consent.

To understand this we have but to look to countries that already have government provided healthcare to see many incidents of the foolishness that is government control of medicine. Arbitrary decisions are made, people are told they are too old to bother with and treatments are too late to save the patient because of long wait times.

Worse, are the cases where government lackeys use non-medical criteria to replace medical considerations such as a recent case in Britain where a woman was told she can no longer get her healthcare because her travel distance makes her “carbon footprint” too big.
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Healthcare Death Panels Are Inevitable”

Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Frank Hyland - Government - Liberals - Taxes

Who Pays?

April 11, 2012 by

-By Frank Hyland

Effective the 1st of April, your nation achieved Number One status, but in a category that won’t make you pleased or proud: The U.S. now has the highest corporate income tax rate in the entire world as of that date. You’ve been hearing in the news recently a number of different views on this development. As I’ve watched the news, though, I first became more and more curious and then angrier and angrier. I may have missed it, but nowhere in the media, across the full political spectrum of Left to Right, have I heard or seen an explanation of the tax. The government has steered clear of an explanation. Some of them may believe that everyone already knows the details. Others, I really believe, hope that you don’t know the truth and never figure it out.

The key question, neither asked nor answered that I know of, is, “Who pays the corporate income tax?” Under U.S. law, a corporation is a “person.” Corporations realize income, have expenses, and pay taxes just as individual people do. But wait a second — although GE, Exxon-Mobil, Apple, and Safeway food stores take in the income and have expenses — who actually pays the taxes? Do you think the corporations do? While some, including the administration, probably hope you think that Exxon-Mobil pays the tax every time you fill up at the gas pump, give it just a moment’s thought and pardon my methodical approach – The gas pump, itself, doesn’t pay taxes; the gas station owner pays individual income taxes just like you do; the Exxon-Mobil Corporation forwards money to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as corporate income taxes. Where do they get those funds? They get them from you and from me, to put it simply. On many gas pumps nowadays, you’ll see a listing of the portions that make up the per-gallon price of gasoline. That listing came about in response to complaints about the amount of money in each gallon that goes to which recipient, including counties, states, and the federal government. That information is useful to you, too, but it’s a different issue. Nowhere on the pump does it tell you who actually pays the corporate income tax; nor does it tell you that you, in fact, pay them.
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Who Pays?”

Budget - Business - Capitalism - Chicago - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Occupy Wall Street - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Petulant, Occupy Chicago Protesters Want Everything ‘Free’

April 10, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the sort of thing that makes these idiotic Occupy whatevers… well, idiots.

Via Marathon Pundit, a cadre of comrades in the Occupy Chicago “movement” decided it would be a cool idea to have a “fare strike” and crash Chicago’s mass transit system in order to ride for free.

When Ruberry asked the gaudily masked nut what a fare strike was, he said that it means we pay “zero” to ride the bus and/or the train.

“It’s when a lot of people show up and say this is what we’re willing to pay for this public service,” he explained. “Today it was exactly zero.”

So, here’s a random question… how, exactly, do these morons think we can even have a mass transit system if no one even pays any fare to use them?
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Petulant, Occupy Chicago Protesters Want Everything ‘Free’”