-By Warner Todd Huston
Reports are emerging that Mexican authorities have discovered in the home of an “enforcer” for the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, guns that were illegally sold by Obama’s Fast and Furious program.
These are just some of the thousands of weapons that Obama’s BATF sold to straw purchasers who then transported them into the hands of Mexican narco-terrorists. And this one was a particularly dangerous man…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Warner Todd Huston
Phil Kerpen has a warning for you, America. He wants to alert you to the fact that Barack Obama is using his powers to create regulations to undermine Congress, ignore voters, and “radically transform America.” But Kerpen also has some good news. There’s a way to stop this left-wing assault on our country. You can find out what that something is in his new book, Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America — and How to Stop Him.
For this book — his first if I am not mistaken — Kerpen, the Vice President for Policy at Americans for Prosperity, has decided no less than to save the Republic. Of course, it’s an uphill battle to beat back the war that has been launched against America for sure.
Why is it an uphill battle? Because the way our country is being torn down is happening in the most subtle way possible. Worse, it is all being done with such ersatz legality, a legitimacy so seemingly ironclad, that most Americans are completely unaware of what is happening. And when they are aware of it they imagine there is nothing wrong with it all.
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How Obama Is Bypassing Democracy, Congress and YOU”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Recently Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, Illinois 9th District), whose husband has been convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion, was interviewed by the far left website truthout.
You’ll remember truthout for its scoop back in 2009. It was truthout that was the first to report the big news that Karl Rove had been indicted. Unfortunately for this “news” site, Karl Rove was never indicted. That was a spot of bother, indeed, going to impugn the site’s veracity just a bit. You may also know that original editor, Marc Ash, was ousted from the site by a coup from within when it was discovered he was making $140,000 a year off the donors and left-wing foundations supporting the site. But he’s all for the downtrodden masses, ya know?
Now that we have established the forum upon which Schakowsky appeared, let’s look at some of the extreme things she said, shall we?
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Rep. Jan Schakowsky Thinks Gov’t ‘Creates Jobs’”
-By Larry Sand
Education schools are nothing more than dumbed down, politically correct fad factories supported by the teachers unions.
If you ever wanted to have a complete file of Diane Ravitch’s inane union apologist utterances all in one place – here it is. As Part of NBC’s Education Nation, she and Harlem Children’s Zone’s President Geoffrey Canada duked it out for a half hour. (As I watched this, I recalled Steven Brill’s comment in Class Warfare, that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten should become the next New York City Chancellor of Education because she’s “smart” and could fix public education by making the rank and file perform better. I would add that in the highly unlikely case of this happening, Ravitch could easily replace Weingarten as AFT president.)
Needless to say, Ravitch vehemently disagreed with Canada on just about everything. However, they did agree that we needed to train our teachers better. This, of course, is like agreeing that snow is white.
The schools of education in the U.S. are by and large an abomination. Richard Vedder, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, pretty well nails it in a recent article he wrote for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He says that:
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The Tragedy and Farce of American Schools of Education”
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Illinois 6th District)…
Next week, the House will vote on the long-stalled Colombia, Panama, and Korea Free Trade Agreements (FTA).These no-cost job-creating pacts will make it easier for American manufacturers to sell our products abroad and in turn create more jobs here. Note: If passed, these Agreements are expected to become law.
BY THE NUMBERS: What do these FTAs mean for Illinois? More American exports, more economic growth, more jobs
ILLINOIS COMPANIES SPEAK OUT: These Agreements Will Help Local Companies Grow and Create Private-Sector Jobs
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ILLINOIS IMPACT ALERT: How the Trade Agreements Will Affect Illinois’ Economy”
From the office of Rep. Randy Hultgren (R, Illinois 14th District)…
Geneva, IL – U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren (IL-14) today released the following statement regarding the September unemployment report released by the U.S. Department of Labor.
“With this disappointing report the unemployment rate has been at or above 8 percent for 32 straight months, a level that President Obama said unemployment would never reach if the ‘stimulus’ was approved,” said Hultgren. “Even more discouraging is that only two out of the last 30 months have seen unemployment below 9 percent. This is a clear failure of the Administration’s deficit-spending, tax-hiking policies.
“I’ve heard over and over again from our small business owners that uncertainty, the threat of higher taxes, and more ‘stimulus’ proposals are not going to restore the confidence they need to start hiring and expanding again. To restore that confidence, House Republicans are focused on a pro-jobs agenda to eliminate onerous government regulations, cut government spending, and remove the threat of higher taxes. We invite President Obama and the do-nothing Senate to join us as we work to turn our economy around and get Americans working again.”
From the office of Rep. Robert Dold (Ill., 10th District)…
WASHINGTON, DC –U.S. Congressman Robert J. Dold (IL-10) released a video on the pending free trade agreements with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea that President Obama sent to Congress for approval. Rep. Dold spoke about the positive implications these agreements will have on Illinois’ 10th District.
Dold also released this statement…
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Rep. Dold on the Pending Free Trade Agreements”
Hilarious, but with a message…
As the Occupy Wall Street movement spreads like a, well, financial contagion through global markets, intergalactic Internet sensation Remy and Reason.tv give the movement its anthem.
Written and performed by Remy and produced by Meredith Bragg from Reason.tv.
-By Warner Todd Huston
After the controversy over his recent legal troubles, Steve Stevlic of the Chicago Tea Party resigned from his post as head of that organization on Friday, Oct. 7.
On the Chicago Tea Party website, Stevlic thanked supporters and apologized for any trouble he may have caused the movement.
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Head of Chicago Tea Party Resigns”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Andrew Thomason of the Illinois Statehouse News agency has a pair of stores on the criminal syndicate that is unions in the Land of Lincoln this week that have to be seen to be believed. In fact, these stories and the ones like them we’ve seen for the past several months in Illinois are proof positive that unions should be illegal for government employees.
In one story, Thomason reports the tale of Michael Johnson, a corrupt teacher out to milk the taxpayers dry by collecting $209,379.43 in pension benefits while at the same time also collected $324,785 from a separate Illinois pension fund. And so far this crook has already collected $1.1 million of our tax dollars on top of the $198,105 a year he makes for “part-time work” for the school district.
This is called double dipping. Johnson was able to do this because he worked at one job in Illinois education, “retired” from it, then took a second job in the same field. This means he gets two pensions to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, likely totaling up to millions by the time he dies. All paid for by the taxpayers of Illinois.
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Abuse: Union Leaders Pull Down Millions in Public Pensions in Illinois”
-By Rev Michael Bresciani
Headlines are heralding Apple’s, Steve Jobs as someone who impacted and changed our lives. At the same time demonstrations and riots in Chile, South Korea and America make it apparent that the change had nothing to do with the development of character or the ability to discern the nature of economics, politics and honesty.
In Chile youth are battling with police in protests for completely free education for everyone. In South Korea the method of demonstration is as corny as it get and includes, pants dropping, flag eating, throwing excrement and some gruesome shows of animal abuse.
On Wall Street the mood is far different. A clear direction or purpose seems to be lacking and there are as many reasons given for the demonstration as there are disgruntled whiners. It is hard not to see the Wall Streeter’s as Saturday Night Lives’ Doug and Wendy Whiner remade with a cast of thousands.
One complaint among the whiners that is almost universal is; that the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor. (Relative terms here in the U.S.) The Robin Hood mentality of the Obama administration seems to have taken root in the psyche of most demonstrators. Not only has the Obama thrust of wealth redistribution failed but reality shows must have tanked as well because, the Occupy Wall St. crowd is far removed from any known reality.
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Hey Kids – Let’s Meet on Wall St. for Weeks Long Whining Fest”
-By Doug Ibendahl
In 2010 there were a total of 6,705 precincts in Illinois. (That’s across the state’s 101 counties other than Cook County. Cook has a unique legal structure and neither political party elects Precinct Committeemen there as explained below.)
Of those 6,705 precincts: 3,440 had no one running for Republican Precinct Committeeman in 2010. That’s a 51% statewide vacancy rate.
It also represents a major lost opportunity for thousands of Republicans and our entire Party. It’s unacceptable, and it’s a big reason why good Republican candidates are losing winnable races to the Democrats in Illinois.
The Illinois GOP is not coming close to matching the ground troops the Democrats field every election.
The goal of the Republican Precinct Project is to reduce the vacancy rate from 51% to below 20% next year. In 2014 our goal is to have it down to below 5%.
Every Precinct Committeeman spot is up for election in the March Primary. It’s an all-volunteer position with a two-year term. And since this is a party office as opposed to a public office, the March Primary is the election. The Democrats elect their own Precinct Committeemen in March…
Read the rest at RepublicanNewsWatch.com.
From the office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, Illinois 6th District)…
WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL), Chief Deputy Whip, issued the following statement after the Department of Labor released their September jobs report showing the national unemployment rate remains over 9 percent:
“This is yet another disappointing example that the White House’s policies need to change direction. It’s been over two and a half years since the stimulus first passed, yet trillions in debt later, unemployment is 9.1% – well above the 8% peak promised by this Administration.
“Republicans stand ready and willing to work with Democrats on commonsense solutions that remove barriers to private-sector job creation. We’ve recently passed numerous bills reforming excessive Washington-imposed regulatory practices that would kill jobs — though the Senate has yet to act on these job-saving measures or any of the dozen job-creating bills we’ve passed this year.
“It is a positive step forward that the White House sent the long-stalled pro-export trade agreements to Congress. I urge them to work with us on places where we agree, like the trade agreements, and eschew the tired playbook of proposing increasing taxes, regulatory madness, and more ‘stimulus.’”
From the office of Rep. Bob Dold (Ill., 10th District)…
WASHINGTON, DC – In yesterday’s Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises, five bills that will empower small businesses advanced through the subcommittee. U.S. Congressman Robert Dold (IL-10) has co-sponsored each of these bills as they make it easier for small businesses to gain access to capital so they can expand and create new jobs.
“Small business is the backbone of our economy,” said Rep. Dold. “Two thirds of all net new jobs are created by small businesses. In order to help bring our economy back on solid footing, we need to create an environment in which small businesses can grow.
“Yesterday, five bills advanced through the Financial Services Committee that will help to do just that. These bills assist small business capital formation which has been restricted both by general economic conditions and by excessively restrictive, outdated, and burdensome regulations. Furthermore, this legislation is bipartisan and aligns with President Obama’s goal to cut the red tape that prevents small businesses from raising capital and going public.
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Five Small Business Bills Supported by Rep. Dold Advance Through the Financial Services Subcommittee”
From the Friedman for State Senate campaign…
A www.FriedmanForSenate.com, by calling 847/220-7337, or by sending a check and reservation request to Friedman for Senate, P.O. Box 831, Northbrook, IL 60065.
Arie Friedman is seeking the Republican nomination for the seat opened by the retirement this summer of State Sen. Susan Garrett (D). The newly drawn district takes in southeast Lake County and, in northern Cook County, parts of Glencoe, Northbrook, Palatine and several communities in Wheeling Township.
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Friedman for State Senate Fundraiser Announced”
-By Warner Todd Huston
This guy is the perfect example of what is wrong with these purported protesters in the Occupy-This “movement”?
Do you want disjointed, gobbledegook all wrapped up in pseudo intellectual rhetorical nonsense? Do you want talking points, catch phrases, and empty blather? Do you want a visual feast of the worst of the left?
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Warner Todd Huston
This is the funniest thing I have ever…
This is the funniest thing I’ve ever….
Seen in my life.
Seen in my life.
A bunch of child-like protesters in Atlanta, Georgia refused left-wing Congressman John Lewis — a civil rights icon to many — to be allowed to address the crowd this weekend. The whole scene is reminiscent of the worst, hackneyed, new agie-styled preschool program devised for 5-year-olds by one of the most idiotic leftists imaginable. But it makes for hilarious video entertainment.
Apparently these people decided that their “assembly” would employ pure democracy. But if there was ever a more annoying way to do it, I’ve never seen it.
A scraggly, bearded, hippie wannabe playing the part of the crowd’s conscience spoke to those gathered over a megaphone system. He would say a few words and the crowd would, like five-year-olds in a preschool class, repeat his words verbatim.
It went something like this:
Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “We have someone here…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “We have someone here…”
Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy: “Who would like to address the assembly…”
Dirty, Ground-Sitting Hippie Crowd in Unison: “Who would like to address the assembly…”
So, Anorexic Hippie Megaphone Guy explains to the crowd that they don’t “use clapping” in their “assembly” because clapping can “prevent someone else who is addressing the assembly from being heard.” So, to “signal approval” the crowd is instructed to raise their hands and wiggle their fingers. I swear I saw this on Barney the Dinosaur show.
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Finger-Waving, Child-Like Protestors Refuse to Allow Left-Wing Congressman to Address Crowd”
-By Warner Todd Huston
So…. do we believe all the things Mitt Romney said then or do we believe that today he is suddenly Mt. Conservative?
This is why I cannot support Romney in this primary. I didn’t support him in the last one, for that matter.
This video was made by The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama, but it also has targeted
The Hill had more info on that group recently:
The Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama will launch a major ad campaign in Iowa accusing Mitt Romney for being a flip-flopping liberal in disguise.
The group has a long version of the ad, titled “Liberal Mitt’s greatest hits,” with clips of Romney taking positions that are anathema to many conservatives today.
Spokesman Ryan Gill described the initial video as a “roadmap” for the ads that will be aired, and said the group will run a six-figure ad buy in Iowa on cable and broadcast television to knock down Romney’s numbers there and damage his “inevitability argument.”…
Video: Mitt Flops”
-By Warner Todd Huston
House Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline (R, Minn.) is tired of sitting around doing nothing while Obama ramps up his extremely anti-business, anti-jobs regulatory regime. So Kline has introduced a new bill to roll back some of these harsh rules.
Since he became president Obama has been using his power to create regulations to push his pro-big labor, anti-business ideology. Obama knows he cannot get Congress to implement these anti-jobs regulations, so he has been quietly changing rules using his Dept. of Labor, the NLRB, and the EPA to hamper business and increasingly institute big government control over all our lives.
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New Bill Introduced to Roll Back Obama’s Anti-Business NLRB Rules”
-By Alan Caruba
The notion that the Environmental Protection Agency uses “science” to justify their regulations is false, just like most of the claims they issue on various aspects of the nation’s environment. Their favorite scam is to estimate the number of deaths they will prevent with some new draconian regulation.
The EPA is the American equivalent of the Gestapo, a ruthless enforcement agency with a very Green agenda that is opposed to the use of many beneficial chemicals, every form of energy, and the right of people to be left alone.
At the top of its list of priorities is the destruction of the nation’s economy with special attention to all forms of energy production. Manufacturing anything comes next, followed by afflicting the nation’s vast agricultural sector. The EPA insists that dust is a pollutant. You can’t farm without generating DUST.
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The EPA Gets Caught in a Big Fat Lie”
From the office of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R, Ill. 11th District)…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11), a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, applauded the House passage of H.R. 2681, the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act of 2011. Kinzinger is an original co-sponsor and says the bill would protect domestic cement manufacturing and tens of thousands of American jobs.
Watch Congressman Kinzinger’s remarks on the House floor in support of H.R. 2681:
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Kinzinger Applauds House Passage of Bipartisan Legislation to Prevent U.S. Cement Plant Closings and Save Jobs”
From the Illinois Policy Institute…
Chicago high schools have long held a tragic reputation. Now, a new group of schools is telling a different story: Students citywide can compete academically when given the chance and a choice.
The Institute’s newest report on education shows that when it comes to ACT scores, nine out of 10 of the top-scoring, open enrollment high schools in Chicago are charter schools. Many of these schools are posting ACT scores previously unheard of for high poverty high schools in Chicago.
And there’s reason to be even more optimistic about these encouraging trends. That’s because this July, Gov. Quinn signed a piece of legislation that will open the door to numerous additional charter schools in Chicago, as well as downstate.
This shows once again that charter schools – by giving parents and students more options in their education – improve the quality of education for everyone in the state of Illinois.
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Ill. Policy Institute: 9 of the Top 10 are Charter Schools”
Dr. Arie Friedman for Illinois State Senate (29th District)…
“Many Cook County property taxpayers received unwelcome news in the mail early this week, news of a tax hike,” said Dr. Arie Friedman, Republican State Senate candidate in the 29th District, “delivered in the form of their second installment real estate tax bills.”
Friedman noted the mailing from the Cook County treasurer included “a catchy little insert called ‘Want to Know Why Your Taxes Are So High?’ It offers an interesting argument – that the hikes in taxes for the various local governments were caused by ‘mounting debts,’ but that approach goes only so far,” he said.
“More fundamentally, why are local governments facing ‘mounting debts?’” asked Friedman. “And why the dramatic increase all at once?”
Friedman encouraged taxpayers to examine the spending and labor relations practices of their local units of government and school districts. “But look, too,” he said, “to the actions of your legislators in Springfield.”
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Taxpayers Receive Unwelcome News”
From the office of Rep. Bob Dold (Ill., 10th District)…
During today’s Financial Services Subcommittee Hearing on Housing and Community Opportunity, U.S. Congressman Robert J. Dold spoke about the serious housing crisis in the nation and the need to find cost-effective solutions that take into account all of the potential consequences and risks.
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the worst Obama scandals continues to grow…
Courtesy Rep. Darrell Issa, House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform.
And as Mark Stein wondered today, why isn’t the media interested in the deaths of over 200 Mexicans killed by Obama’s gun running program?
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Holder vs White House: Who Is Accountable?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The dregs of humanity have been infesting Wall Street for days, now. But what do they want? They don’t really know.
This is really a sad, sad end to the extremist left-wing movement in America. It started with a bang in the 1960s where, rabble or no, they at least knew what they wanted. It is ending with a whimper as pampered halfwits shuffle around in a perpetual state of agitation with no actual cause to support…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
http://www.rickperry.org/join-today/
OK, I have to say something here. It is a pretty good ad, such as it is, but it is time that Perry stopped talking about the other candidates and spent more time defining himself.
-By Warner Todd Huston
During the latest campaign appearance disguised as a presidential press conference, President Obama uttered one straight out lie that stands out above the rest of them. To help sell his “jobs bill,” Obama claimed to have met a Boston-based teacher named Robert Baroz and intimated that Baroz had no job despite his excellent teaching credentials. The problem is, neither claim is true. Obama simply lied. So, where is the national Old Media to pin Obama to the wall over this out right lie?
During his presser, Obama introduced teacher Baroz into the national discussion of his “jobs bill.” Obama claimed to have met Mr. Baroz and lamented that Baroz was out of work.
I had a chance to meet a young man named Robert Baroz. He’s got two decades of teaching experience. He’s got a master’s degree. He’s got an outstanding track record of helping his students make huge gains in reading and writing. In the last few years, he’s received three pink slips because of budget cuts. Why wouldn’t we want to pass a bill that puts somebody like Robert back in the classroom teaching our kids?
The problem with this little tale of woe? Firstly President Obama did not meet teacher Baroz. Robert Baroz did attend a Rose Garden press conference last September with a few other teachers, but the closest he ever got to the president was Baroz’ front row seat during the event. The two never came face to face, never shook hands, never actually met. Baroz saw Obama up at the lectern and Obama may have noticed Baroz sitting in the audience. That hardly makes for a meeting.
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Why Isn’t Obama’s Teacher Lie National News?”
America has heard a lot of talk about the “Buffett Rule” — President Barack Obama’s plan to make the tax code more “fair” by permanently raising taxes by $1.5 trillion over 10 years, with most of the burden falling on families and businesses earning more than $250,000 per year. But if he wants to talk about “fairness,” he should look at how much top income earners already pay in taxes, as the chart below shows:
In a new paper, Heritage’s Curtis Dubay explains that the supposed “fairness” of the new rule is anything but fair:
To President Obama, it is “fair” to raise taxes on families and businesses earning more than $250,000 a year by raising their income tax rates and limiting their deductions. That must also mean he believes that they currently pay too little in taxes.
Yet the data show the highest-earning families and businesses already pay the lion’s share of the federal income tax burden. According to the IRS, the top 1 percent of income earners—those earning more than $380,000 in 2008—paid more than 38 percent of all federal income taxes while earning 20 percent of all income. The top 10 percent ($114,000 and above) earned 45 percent of income and paid 70 percent of all taxes. At the same time, the bottom 50 percent of income earners—those earning less than $33,000—earned 13 percent of all income and paid less than 3 percent of federal income taxes.
Read more of Dubay’s paper, “The Buffett Rule: Fair to No One,” at Heritage.org.
-By Warner Todd Huston
Last cycle this website did not support Mr. Morrison for the first district seat on the Cook County Board of Review. There was a big reason for this. Morrison was a heavy supporter, donor and voter for Democrats prior to suddenly launching his campaign as a Republican.
Morrison gave a lot of money to Democrats, voted as a Democrat, and supported them where he lived in Chicago’s 19th Ward (See Morrison’s campaign donation and voting history here). This made me very, very wary that he was merely a Democrat plant attempting to steal away a GOP seat. It looked like a typical, left-wing, dirty trick that we are so used to seeing from unprincipled Democrats.
Morrison, however, denies he is a Democrat. He says he supported Democrats and voted Democrat in the 19th Ward because there weren’t any viable Republicans in his area to help support his business interests.
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A Note About Morrison’s Bid for Cook County Board of Review”