Democrats

Anti-Americanism - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Calumnies: What The Left Is Saying About Wis. Recall Petition Verification Effort

March 1, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Several different left-wing political sites as well as the Democrat Party of Wisconsin are pulling out all their rhetorical tricks to cast aspersions on the recall petition signatures verification effort in an attempt to damage the legitimacy of the campaign in the minds of Wisconsin’s voters. These organizations have launched a campaign of attacking the messenger by turning against True The Vote and its partners in the verification process.

Representatives of True the Vote are being called “thugs,” and every false claim, unproven allegation, and oft-told tale are being presented to readers as truth quite regardless of any verification of the calumnies.

The biggest false claim, one echoed by three separate left-wing sources, is that Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is using True The Vote — called a “bizarre” out-of-state tea party group by Wisconsin Democrat operatives — to do his dirty work. The fact is, though, True The Vote has had no contact at all with Scott Walker’s office and is but following its own self-realized mandate to assist anyone in any state that wishes to get involved in efforts to assure the veracity of the election process. True The Vote has no connection to any officials or political campaigns quite despite the false claims of its opposition.
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Calumnies: What The Left Is Saying About Wis. Recall Petition Verification Effort”

Anti-Americanism - California - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - House of Representatives - Liberals - Warner Todd Huston

Democrat New Tone: Rep. Waters Calls Republicans ‘Demons’

February 28, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you believe the Old Media, only Republicans foster a mean-spirited or “violent” atmosphere in public debate. So, is it shocking that long-time Democrat member of the House of Representatives, Maxine Waters (Calif), recently called Republicans “demons”?

Seriously. That’s what she did. She called Representatives John Boehner and Eric Cantor “demons.”

So much for the Democrat new tone, eh?

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

Gov’t Waste Watch: Former California Treasury Official Slams Prop 29

February 28, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

The opposition to Proposition 29, the nearly billion dollar per year tax hike slated for the June ballot, is growing. A new wrinkle comes from former California Treasury official Mark Paul who hit the nail on the head in an interview with the Los Angeles Times last week.

It seems that another celebrity is barging into politics, this time it is bicycling champ Lance Armstrong who has signed on as the pitchman for Prop 29 the ballot initiative that, if approved by voters, will create a new agency whose task is to undertake research to cure cancer. Never mind that hundreds of other agencies across the country are already doing this, of course, but supporters of Prop 29, the so-called California Cancer Research Act, imagine that billions more taken from California taxpayers will find a cure that others have missed.

Paul is the author of a popular new book on California government, California Crack Up, and for his part he is skeptical over the efficacy of Prop 29, to say the least.
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Gov’t Waste Watch: Former California Treasury Official Slams Prop 29″

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Energy - Ethics - Government - Journalism - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - Oil - President - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Chop Licking: How Obama Uses Falsehoods to Advance His Policies

February 27, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Last week we all got a great lesson in how the left promotes a lie to make Republicans the enemy and this time President Obama was a chief participant.

This is how the game is played: the left-leaning media establishment makes a claim about how rotten Republicans are and Obama then echoes the claim and presents it as the true state of Republican opposition to his policies. The result is that we have a partisan opinion foisted on the public as truth about how mean the GOP is to this poor, well-meaning president. A false media narrative is established by the partisan press, politician adds said meme to a policy speech, presto-chango, a political “fact” is born. But it’s all just a partisan hit job masquerading as fact.

We are talking, of course, about President Obama’s claim that the GOP is “licking their chops” over the bad news of high gas prices. This is the line uttered by the president in his most misleading energy speech delivered in Florida on February 23.

In that speech, President Obama claimed that Republicans were happy that gas prices were hurting Americans. Obama intended to show that Republicans didn’t care that America was hurting, happy they could use it as a political tool to hurt the president and his well-meaning policies.

Here is what he said:

“Some politicians, they see this as a political opportunity. I know you’re shocked by that. Last week the lead story in one newspaper said, ‘Gasoline prices are on the rise and Republicans are licking their chops.’ That’s a quote. That was the lead. Licking their chops. Only in politics do people root for bad news. Do they greet bad news so enthusiastically.”

Note how Obama uses the partisan slam, published in “one newspaper” written by a left-wing writer and presents this as fact about how Republicans feel about rising gas prices. Note that Obama didn’t quote any actual Republican saying rising gas prices is a good thing. He quoted one of his own follower’s partisan claims and then assigned that false narrative to his political enemies.
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Chop Licking: How Obama Uses Falsehoods to Advance His Policies”

Democrats/Leftists - Government - Liberals - Race - Sports - Warner Todd Huston

Ice Creamed: Ben and Jerry’s Apologize for Their Racism

February 27, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Jeremy Lin, the famed nouveau New York Knicks basketball icon, must be about tired of this foolishness at this point. Oh, I am not talking about racism being perpetrated against him, but the claims of almost racism that were accidentally, but not really, perpetrated against him. This time it is the lefty ice cream empire Ben and Jerry’s apologizing for their accidental, not really, sort-a-kinda, racism aimed at Mr. Linsanity himself.

This handwringing over ersatz racism began when an idiot headline editor at ESPN wrote his lamentable “Chick In The Armor” headline after a game where Jeremy Lin, he of Asian heritage, did poorly. The writer got fired for his “racist” comment.

Then came the sort of surreal “journalism guide” published by the Asian American Journalists Association (who’d have thought there was such a thing?).
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Ice Creamed: Ben and Jerry’s Apologize for Their Racism”

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

CTA in Bed with the Occupy Crowd? LOL!

February 27, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

The California Teachers Association is seeking cover in the Occupy Wall Street movement. The OWS crowd doesn’t understand that CTA and other public employee unions are a major part of the problem.

Last week, part of my post concerned itself with the March 5th “Occupy the Capitol” protest being promoted by the California Teachers Association. I wrote,

“Not only is CTA inviting the OWS rabble, they are calling for teachers to attend, even though it is a school day, thus costing taxpayers all over the state untold thousands in costs for subs and robbing children of a productive school day.”

Little did I know, March 5th was just the tip of the iceberg. The CTA website is now touting a “Week of Action” covering the first seven days of March. Many activities are planned and will be led by various “Occupy” groups that have sprung up like weeds. The result is a grand mishmash of radical organizations coming together to vent their spleen over various and sundry issues, and all links to their activities are available through the CTA website.
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CTA in Bed with the Occupy Crowd? LOL!”

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

The Brazen Hypocrisy of the Teachers Unions

February 26, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

When teachers unions wear their duplicity like a bright red bandana, it shows the whole world what they really are about.

Last week, New Jersey Education Association Executive Director Vincent Giordano, who makes over $500,000 a year in salary and assorted perks, shoved his foot in his mouth big time. Appearing on “New Jersey Capitol Report,” he and the host were discussing Governor Chris Christie’s plan to install a voucher system in New Jersey. Such a plan would enable students in the state’s worst performing schools to escape them with a voucher that they could use to attend a private school.

Host: The issue of fairness, I mean this is the argument that a lot of voucher supporters make. People who are well off have options. Somebody who is not well off and whose child is in a failing school, why shouldn’t those parents have the same options to get the kid out of the failing school and into one that works with the help of the state?
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The Brazen Hypocrisy of the Teachers Unions”

Abortion - Democrats/Leftists - Health - Liberals - Planned Parenthood - Virginia - Warner Todd Huston

Ultrasound Cacophony: The Left’s Newest Pro-Abortion Lie

February 23, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the Commonwealth of Virginia the left has a new attack against those that want to regulate abortions. The legislature in the Old Dominion introduced legislation to require ultrasounds to be performed before an abortion could be performed. Idiotically, leftists cried foul claiming the requirement is somehow “like” getting raped. Yet a new study show that the left’s favorite abortion mill, Planned Parenthood, performs ultrasounds before abortions in 99% of its operations.

Talk about making fools of themselves, the left has done it again.

First, let’s look at the left’s claim, though. Speaking for the pro-infanticide set, Dahlia Lithwck at Slate makes the case:
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Ultrasound Cacophony: The Left’s Newest Pro-Abortion Lie”

Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - Scott Walker - Voter ID - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

We Need YOUR Help to Fight Voter Fraud in Wisconsin Recall Elections

February 19, 2012 by

Patriots are fighting to uphold the integrity of the election process in Wisconsin WILL YOU HELP?

Wisconsin is Just the Beginning.

In an effort to oust Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (along with the Lieutenant Governor and 4 Senators) the union backed group United Wisconsin led a massive drive to fill petition pages by any means necessary, flooding Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board with more signatures than anyone ever expected. When the GAB stated they couldn’t process such an influx and planned only to do visual spot checks, True the Vote decided to take action. True the Vote, together with Wisconsin GrandSons of Liberty and We the People of the Republic, launched an effort to engage citizens in an independent, comprehensive audit of recall petition signatures. Why? Because if government can’t or won’t stand up to such Cloward and Piven-esque strategies, then citizens must.

Fellow Patriots, It’s Go Time!

We need your help! All we ask for is 100 minutes. In 100 minutes you can enter data for approximately 100 petition signatures. Nearly 13,000 volunteers from 49 states have signed up to participate in this recall effort – if we all work together this weekend, we can get the job done. This is the real deal – citizens are taking control – let’s stand together!

We Can See the Finish Line

Ours is the only effort with manpower and technology to crowd-source the 152,000+ documents that were meant to drown the GAB and we are 75% of the way done. But WE NEED MORE HELP to get all the signatures entered and THE CLOCK IS TICKING! All challenges in the Walker recall are due on February 27th. We want to post our findings online by February 25th. This timetable requires all signatures to be entered by February 23rd at the latest. Citizens have already found tens of thousands of ineligible names. Here’s an example – Donald Duck signed the petition – and his address is a Starbucks. Signup to help identify this kind of fraud!

If we don’t complete this audit, United Wisconsin wins by default and the clenched fist tactic of recall petition overwhelm will rage across our nation. Wisconsin is just the beginning.

Sign up right here right now

Soon after you signup you’ll receive an email with your password and instructions – then you’ll be ready to go! This audit effort is not about politics – it is about principle. Either we the people are strong enough to stand against union strong-arm tactics or we’re not. Government has already given up. The citizens of this country must hold the line. Invest 100 minutes this weekend, help the citizens of Wisconsin finish strong, and take a stand for election integrity!

And one more request – after you sign up, PLEASE FORWARD this information to your own email lists and ask them to forward it, too.

We can do this, we can do anything, when we stand together.

Onward –

Catherine Engelbrecht
True the Vote
http://www.truethevote.org/

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

Would you trust these people with $1 billion?

February 18, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

If the members of the California State Legislature had to get real jobs, most of them would have been fired by now. Incapable of solving any of the problems that have crippled California, they instead fritter away their time giving perks to special interests and passing endless new regulations that have decimated California’s business community. Then, when voters passed a measure that would withhold their pay if they don’t pass a budget on time, two legislative chieftains turned around and sued the state’s Controller who handles their paychecks.

Imagine the gall of suing the taxpayers for refusing to pay legislators unless they actually perform their jobs and get work done! It’s just further proof that Sacramento is broken and politicians there have only the special interests in mind. Take, for example, the latest special-interest giveaway by the one career politician, former state Sen. Don Perata.

Proposition 29 raises taxes by nearly $1 billion and hands the money to a board including six political appointees who’ll have to power to dole out that cash however they may chose with no accountability. That money is protected under the terms of Proposition 29 for 15 years, meaning that not even the Governor can step in and change things even in cases of waste or abuse. Proposition 29 is literally a case of the fox guarding the hen house.
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Would you trust these people with $1 billion?”

Barack Obama - Climate Change - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Environment - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Media - Media Bias - The Atlantic - The New York Times - Warner Todd Huston

Heartland Institute: The ‘Gate’ Scandal That Never Was

February 17, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Global warmists finally have an email “gate” of their own that they can turn against “deniers” and they are taking full advantage of it. The Warmists are excited that the Heartland Institute, a Chicago-based state policy group, has been “outed” for attempting to undermine the religiously held tenets of global warming. Emails to that effect are claimed to have been leaked from this group and the warmists as well as their handmaidens in the Old Media are touting this scandal as proof of… well, it’s a bit hard to discern what it is proof of. In fact, it isn’t “proof” of much of anything, really.

For one thing the documents are fakes, but even if they weren’t… so what?

For quite some time, for instance, Chicago’s Heartland Institute has been holding events, debates, and seminars on the hoax of global warming. The Heartland Institute has an entire section of its website dedicated to debunking global warming and it has produced books and pamphlets attacking the false “consensus” of man-made global warming. Without question, global warming (a quasi religious belief I personally call globabloney) has been a major focus at Heartland for a long time, to be sure.

That being understood — not only understood but glaringly obvious — leaked emails that purport to show that Heartland has a plan to influence lawmakers, scientists, members of the media, and even schools against global warming is a bit of a “well, duh!” Any ten seconds of time spent on the Institute’s website would tend to make it clear that they are against claims of man-made global warming. At some point, even if the documents were real it should not come as any sort of shocking revelation.
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Heartland Institute: The ‘Gate’ Scandal That Never Was”

Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Huffington Post - Liberals - Media - Race - Warner Todd Huston

Liberal Tactics: Just Lie, No One Will Check!

February 16, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

I have to say, at this point I am convinced that no one on the left really hates racism. In fact, they love it as it is their most important tool with which to control gullible voters. Cry racism and their mind-numbed acolytes dutifully echo the charge whether it is true or not — and it’s usually not. Well, they’ve done it again, cast the race card at conservatives. But this time they fell into a trap laid for them purposefully, set in order to prove their hatemongering, stupidity, cynicism, and lies.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) last weekend a humorous video debuted during the TheTeaParty.net blogger awards hosted by John Hawkins of RightWingNews.com. It was a rap video created by comedian Steven Crowder and his pal Chris Loesch. They called themselves the “Powdered Zombies” and the song was meant to highlight the wrong turn this country has made and how we’ve drifted away from the founder’s ideas.

One line of the song was an obvious satire on the left’s constant cries of racism. Remembering that these rap singers were evoking the founders, the line in question goes: “But I’m back from the dead now bringing back all my knickers.” The next line confirms what the reference meant: “I’m just talking about my short pants.”
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Liberal Tactics: Just Lie, No One Will Check!”

Anti-Americanism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Liberals - Regulation - The Law - Warner Todd Huston

Study: 24 Million Invalid Voter Registrations, 1.8 Million Dead Voters Still Registered on Rolls

February 16, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A new Pew Center on the States study has revealed that approximately 24 million active voter registrations across the United States are either invalid or contain significant inaccuracies. Worse, some 1.8 millions deceased citizens are still legally registered to vote casting into doubt the legitimacy of America’s voter registration rolls and leaving the door wide open for massive voter fraud.

Pew reports that 1 in 8 registrations is either invalid or has major inaccuracies. The study also finds that the United States spends more money on voter registration but gets less accurate results than other countries such as neighboring Canada. Costs in the US are 12 times higher than costs in Canada, Pew found.

Oregon spent $8.8 million on voter registration in 2008, the cost amounting to $4.11 per voter. Yet in Canada, which adopted a digital registration system, spends only 35 cents per voter nationwide.
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Study: 24 Million Invalid Voter Registrations, 1.8 Million Dead Voters Still Registered on Rolls”

Barack Obama - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Liberals - President - Republicans - Texas - Voter ID - Warner Todd Huston

Texas AG Sues Feds Over Voter ID Law

February 12, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

On January 23, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott asked a federal court to clear the way for his state’s voter ID law while he awaits to hear what will happen with his demands that the Department of Justice drop its objections to the Texas law.

Abbott filed an expedited complaint for declaratory judgment (see complaint HERE) based on the fact that several other states have also enacted voter ID laws not to mention that the U.S. Supreme Court has already upheld such laws.
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Texas AG Sues Feds Over Voter ID Law”

Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Government - Liberals - New York - Warner Todd Huston

New Yorkers Were Paid to Commit Vote Fraud

February 11, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A trial has been underway for a week in an upstate New York vote fraud case that has brought to light criminal actions committed by Democrats in city government in Troy, New York that seems to go back decades. Some of the first witnesses are also claiming that they were paid by Democrat officials to commit vote fraud.

The case centers around fraudulent voter registrations and absentee ballots for the Working Families Party, a thinly disguised Democrat Party entity originally created by the disgraced community activist group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now).

Up to eight Troy Democrats are being charged with various offenses such as falsifying business records and forgery.

Jermaine Joseph, the first witness called to the stand in the case, testified that in 2009 he was paid $10 to sign a voter registration card. Joseph, a former Hudson Valley Community College football player, testified that after he signed his form he was paid $10 by someone from City Hall.
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New Yorkers Were Paid to Commit Vote Fraud”

Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Government - Liberals - Public Employees Unions - Teachers Unions - Voter ID - Warner Todd Huston - Wisconsin

Wisc. Voter’s Name Fraudulently Signed Four Times to Same Recall Petition

February 9, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

A self identified Wisconsin watchdog group called Citizens for Responsible Government of Racine reports that a Racine man found his name signed four separate times to the petition to recall Republican State Senator Van Wanggaard, but the voter, Jeff Demet, said had never signed the recall petitions at all. As watchdog blogger Ken Brown says, “this is what vote fraud looks like.”

Blogger Ken Brown found that Jeff wasn’t the only Demet family member that appeared on official records without having put their hand to the petitions. Brown found that several Demet family member’s names appeared on the petitions, some of them several times, some even under different and false addresses.

It seems evident that these fraudulent signatures were added by Jeff’s brother, Mark, who had joined the recall effort and was passing around petitions himself.
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Wisc. Voter’s Name Fraudulently Signed Four Times to Same Recall Petition”

Budget - California - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Larry Sand - Public Employees Unions - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

CTA Sponsored Legislation Could Cripple Charter School Growth

February 8, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

The California Teachers Association can’t realistically unionize all charter schools, so it promotes laws that limit their numbers.

In Golden Missed Opportunity, recently published in City Journal, I examined the options that families in California have if they want to remove their children from failing public schools. The pickings in the Golden State are rather slim, and those options we do have — charter schools, homeschooling and the Parent Trigger — are constantly imperiled by a governor and state legislators who typically do the bidding of the California Teachers Association, the largest state affiliate of the National Education Association.

Charter schools are public schools which aren’t bound by the bloated union contracts that stifle so many traditional public schools. California has over 900 charter schools that currently educate about 400,000 students. To the union’s consternation, only about 15 percent of these schools are unionized. Of course, the union would like to see a 100 percent rate, but accomplishing that would take too much effort and money. Additionally, the flexibility that non-unionization offers is one of the attractions of charter schools for many teachers.

So instead of unionizing, CTA tries to eviscerate current charter laws or get caps on the allowable number of charters. At this time, there are three pieces of CTA sponsored legislation working their way around Sacramento. In fact, just last week the state assembly voted 45-28 to approve one of them, AB 1172. The bill, now in the Senate Rules Committee, was authored by State Assemblyman and former teacher and union activist Tony Mendoza. If AB 1172 becomes law, it would allow a school board to block the creation of a new charter school if it would have a “negative fiscal impact” on the school district. However, “negative fiscal impact” is never really defined, and California charter law already has clearly defined reasons why new petitions can be denied.
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CTA Sponsored Legislation Could Cripple Charter School Growth”

Budget - California - Children - Democrats/Leftists - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Taxes - Teachers Unions

Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins

February 1, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

Children in the Golden State will get a better education when teacher quality becomes a priority

In perhaps the most in-depth study on the subject to date, three Ivy League economists studied how much the quality of individual teachers matters to their students over the long term. The paper, by Raj Chetty and John N. Friedman of Harvard and Jonah E. Rockoff of Columbia, tracked 2.5 million students over 20 years, and using a value added approach, found that teachers who help students raise their standardized test scores have a lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates, greater college matriculation and higher adult earnings. (The authors of the study define “value added” as the average test-score gain for a teacher’s students “…adjusted for differences across classrooms in student characteristics such as prior scores.”)

The only caveat from the authors is that using test scores in teachers’ evaluations could lead to “teaching to the test or cheating.” Nothing new here. Some people, when involved in any kind of competition, will try to gain unfair advantage or cheat outright. Typically, it’s a small part of the population and those who do should lose their jobs and face criminal charges.

The lesson is clear: test scores can give us a great deal of information about who the really good teachers are. But California Governor Jerry Brown, unfazed by the blockbuster study, actually called for less testing in his recent State of the State address.
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Jerry Brown and CTA: Testphobic Twins”

Anti-Americanism - Business - Capitalism - Communism - Crime - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Jobs - Liberals - President - Socialism - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston - Washington D.C.

OCCUPY GENIUSES (The Constitution vs. Southern Occupiers)

January 31, 2012 by

Van Jones promised back in November that the Occupy gang will put up over 2,000 candidates for election in 2012. After AIM’s Ben Johnson did some man-on-the-street pop quizzes in the south this past week, we sure hope they come through on Jones’ promise. Ladies and gentlemen: we present to you the fruits of public school social studies programs.

In the meantime, is the Silliness Coming to an End? Occupy DC gets its eviction notice…

… naturally they are communists and anarchists.

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - EPA - Ethics - Government - Liberals - President - Regulation - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Set to Cost Each of Us Hundreds a Year in Higher Electric Costs

January 31, 2012 by 4 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Barack Obama’s avalanche of needless regulations on coal-fueled power plants are going into effect and the net result will be the closing of hundreds of power plants all across the country just when our need for power is increasing. This will absolutely necessitate the cost of our power to skyrocket. But, this is exactly what he wants. He wants to rape us for our power. He said so from the beginning.

Well, now that he’s had the opportunity to put into place just some of the new rules and regulations he wants — and he’s only pushed through a tiny bit of what he really wants, indeed — we are already seeing the results of his attack on us.

Look to Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Maryland where six coal-fueled power plants are being shut down by FirstEnergy because the retrofitting the power plants will have to undergo to satisfy Obama’s whims is just too expensive to justify.
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Obama Set to Cost Each of Us Hundreds a Year in Higher Electric Costs”

Budget - Business - Democrats/Leftists - Education - Ethics - Jobs - Larry Sand - Liberals - Los Angeles - Public Employees Unions - School Choice - Taxes - Teachers Unions - Unions

Exposing a 40-Year Education Crime: Why California Needs School Choice

January 28, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

Busting LAUSD and every other school district in the state for negligence should help kids, but it’s anyone’s guess as to when. In the meantime, giving families more educational options would be a great help, but don’t hold your breath, California.

With National School Choice Week underway, we see many positive things happening across the country. In states like New Jersey and Louisiana, governors are taking the lead in proposing ways to break the devastating monopoly that government run schools – their educrat leaders, corrupt and/or inept school boards and the powerful teachers unions — have held for far too long.

As an example of Big Education gone bad, I write in City Journal about a crime that has been perpetrated on the children of California for 40 years and the lawsuit that addresses it:
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Exposing a 40-Year Education Crime: Why California Needs School Choice”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Government - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Money - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

VIDEO: ‘Change has come,’ Alright! But How Good Has it Been?

January 20, 2012 by 2 Comments

In 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced that change had come to America. After three years, the results of that change make many Americans ready to change it back.

And here is a great for-instance of how the Old Media establishment is covering for their Obammessiah. Let’s get in the way back machine and recall how the price of gas was used as a sledgehammer with which to beat George W. Bush about the head. Remember how it was front page news on a daily basis? Well now gas has lingered at highs that it never stayed at during the Bush years and now analysts are saying gas will reach to $4 a gallon this year — an all time high.

Where is the media on this story? Why isn’t it as big a deal as it was 5 and 6 years ago? Ah, yes. We have The One in office. Gosh. How could I forget that the Old Media doesn’t want negative stories about their messiah? Silly me.

Courtesy AllAmericanBlogger.com

Anti-Americanism - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Constitution - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Elections - Ethics - GOP - Government - House of Representatives - Indiana - Jobs - Liberals - Mitch Daniels - Public Employees Unions - Republicans - Right To Work - Senate - Teachers Unions - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs

January 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again Indiana Democrats are playing the fleebagger game. Because they don’t have enough votes in the Indiana Statehouse, Hoosier Democrats are abandoning their rightful duties and fleeing the Capitol over Indiana’s right-to-work bill currently under consideration in Indianapolis.

Indiana Senate Bill 269 and House Bill 1001 would make it illegal to require workers in Indiana to join a union as a condition of being allowed to have a job. Allowing workers a choice seems like an inherently American idea, doesn’t it?

After all, how could anyone tell you that you must belong to a union or you’re not allowed to have your job? That sort of forced association seems so contrary to the American character. But forcing people to join unions just so that they can have a job is precisely what Indiana Democrats are fighting to protect.
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Indiana Democrats Fleebagging Again, Abandoning Their Jobs”

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

More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry

January 16, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

How much is that sweet retired teacher who lives down the street draining from your bank account? As the public employee pension mess worsens in California, little Rhode Island shows a way out.

In last week’s post, I focused on “air time,” a little known scheme in California and 20 other states that allows teachers and other public employees to pad their pensions at taxpayers’ expense. Also, not very well known is just how many of Joe and Jill Taxpayer’s tax dollars are going into the pockets of retired teachers.

In California, teachers contribute 8 percent of their pay to their retirement system. Where do the rest of the contributions come from? The current rates include 8.25 percent from the teacher’s employer and 2 percent from the state. But wait a minute. Who is the teacher’s employer? It’s the school district. In Los Angeles, for example, most school district money comes from the state, some from the federal government and the rest is local revenue. Hence, the employer’s contribution is all really the taxpayer’s burden, as the state, city and feds generate no money on their own. So it would be much more honest to say that 10.25 percent comes from the taxpayer.

Let’s look at the taxpayer’s responsibility another way. Sandy, a teacher I know, worked for 24 years in CA and retired at age 61. The amount of money she contributed into the system at retirement (including interest accrued along the way) was about $150,000. Sandy started collecting a pension of about $40,000 year (plus a yearly 2 percent COLA increase) for life. Whatever interest this money accrues over the next few years, Sandy’s contribution will have evaporated in about four years. So, at age 65 she will start living off other people’s money – whatever the “employer” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in, whatever the “government” (i.e. taxpayers) kicked in and whatever is left, the taxpayers will have to fork over.
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More Pension Truths and Why You Should be Very Angry”

Barack Obama - Budget - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Elections - Ethics - Liberals - President - Society/Culture - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Chic: Now Selling Campaign Gear for the One Percent

January 13, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Obama? Why, he’s the middle class warrior, isn’t he? He’s the veritable man of the people, darn it. He has beer summits and he chows down on burgers and fries just like us reg’lar folks. Gone are the arugula days, the million-dollar vacations and secret Hollywood star-studded Halloween parties…. one out of three ain’t bad, anyway. On the other hand, perhaps all those claims of Obama’s middle class appeal are a bit of a show. If Obama’s new high-end, très chic campaign gear is any indication, he’s driving right for the vaunted One Percent.

With such famous haute couture designers as Vera Wang and Diane Von Furstenberg, team Obama is offering designer tote bags at $85, t-shirts with the hefty rice tag of $55, and a “Thakoon-designed silk scarf” that will set you back $95. With all that you’ve hardly got the sort of gear you might wear to a beer summit.

It’s all part of the Democrat Party’s “Runway To Win” campaign to raise cash for the cause.

As to the Republicans, t-shirts on Mitt Romney’s website cost no higher than $30, Newt’s t-shirts are only $20 — or you can get an embroidered polo for $40 — and Ron Paul charges even less offering his Ts for the low, low, dime-store prices of $17 and $18.
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Obama Chic: Now Selling Campaign Gear for the One Percent”

Anti-Americanism - Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Economy/Finances - Ethics - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Liberals - Obamacare - President - Public Employees Unions - Senate - Socialism - Taxes - Unions - Warner Todd Huston

Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare

January 12, 2012 by

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember back in the days of the debate over Obamacare when unions were the biggest voices screaming in support of the legislation? Many labor union bosses said that nationalized healthcare was exactly what they wanted. Further they said it was what was good for the country. Yet now we learn that Obama has given waivers to some 550,000 union members so that they don;t have to suffer under Obamacare.

Paul Connor reports that a classic Friday evening document dump from the White House shows that unions employing up to 543,812 members have received waivers fro the Obama administration.

Fridays are often the one day of the week when government agencies satisfy transparency rules and release documents that show what they’ve been up to. They release them on Friday in the early evening because they understand that reporters are already headed home for the weekend and TV news departments have already programed their evening newscasts. These agencies also understand that news agencies don’t often cover heavy news on weekends. Further, by the time Monday rolls around the document will be “old news” and many of them will simply escape attention.
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Obama Excuses Over 500,000 Union Members From Obamacare”

Barack Obama - Budget - Business - Capitalism - Congress - Democrats/Leftists - Ethics - Government - Health - House of Representatives - Jobs - Liberals - Money - Obamacare - President - Senate - Taxes - Warner Todd Huston

Obama’s Electronic Medical Records Requirements Already Causing Job Loss

January 9, 2012 by 3 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

While the Old Media has been ecstatic over recent job numbers, claiming that some 200,000 jobs have been added to the economy, we should note that while Obama giveth Obama also taketh away. The media may be trying to claim the President has “created or saved” jobs (the latest weasel word is he’s created job opportunity) but his policies have also cost jobs. In particular his policies are costing jobs in the medical field.

Last week, layoffs were announced in Mississippi at the University of Mississippi Medical Center due in part to the 80 million dollars that it will cost to implement a new computer system named EPIC Systems, Obama’s newly mandated electronic medical records system.

Naturally, the system Obama is forcing on an entire nation of medical professionals and hospitals is the same system owned and operated by Judith Faulkner, one of his own big donors. Faulkner is also a big donor to the Democrat Party. Not surprisingly, besides affording her the lucrative, crony capitalist business deal, Obama also put Faulkner in a key role on the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, the committee responsible for implementing the President’s e-records policy. She has become known as Obama’s medical records czar.

As hospitals and doctors are forced to launch their own EPIC Systems portals, the costs are forcing hard choices for administrators. All to implement what many call a flawed system.
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Obama’s Electronic Medical Records Requirements Already Causing Job Loss”

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

State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight

January 7, 2012 by

-By Larry Sand

Teachers and other public employees use “air time” to pick your pocket. The California State Teachers Retirement System tries calming words. David Crane tells the truth and loses yet another job.

Saying that the state teachers’ retirement system is underfunded is the understatement of this or any year and now, CalSTRS is giving us specifics. On December 27th, it said,

“Recent media reports have suggested that to solve the unfunded liability the state will have to increase CalSTRS funding by $3.8 billion a year for 30 years for a total of more than $114 billion. Although this is an accurate statement based on current projections, achieving adequate funding can occur several ways that would be phased in over time. The CalSTRS $56 billion funding shortfall can be managed, but it will require gradual and predictable increases in contributions.”

In fact, saying that the shortfall has to be “managed” is like saying that World War II had to be managed. No, the reality is that there has to be major destruction and rebuilding, no matter how unpopular this will be with the beneficiaries of the theft, their unions and their kick-the-can-down-the-road buddies in Sacramento who are occasionally known as legislators. Tinkering around the edges and “managing” the problem will do little.
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State Sponsored Thievery Continues in Plain Sight”