-By Warner Todd Huston
Looks like GOP candidate for president Jon Hunstman has decided that he won’t bother with the Iowa Caucus during this primary season. Huntsman claims he’s skipping Iowa because he refuses to support ethanol subsidies.
At a stop in New Hampshire, Huntsman RightPundits.com.
-By Beth Shaw
Will a Lloyd Dobler economy save us? That’s the question being asked around the internet today and we can surely expect more of that sort of question as we are seeing more and more headlines of looming economic disaster, both nationally and globally.
What is getting in the way of the United States creating, building, producing and hiring?
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Will a Lloyd Dobler Economy Save Us?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the things that the left has lighted upon to explain away the behavior of Democrat Congressman Anthony Weiner with his Weinergate Twitter mess is typical of the way leftists try to misdirect a debate away from the failings of their own side. Instead of keeping focus on the failures of Weiner to put an end to this controversy, leftists are trying to blame conservative Internet mogul Andrew Breitbart for it all, as if it is all Breitbart’s fault and not Weiner’s. Worse, these same leftists are saying Breitbart, not Weiner, is the “liar” here.
Many on the left, from the DailyKos, to many left-wingers on Twitter are claiming that Breitbart made up this whole Weinergate story and is the one behind it all. Some even on my own blog have chimed in to claim the story was invented by Breitbart. But any fair review of the timeline and the various folks involved shows this not to be true. In fact, even Mediaite says that Breitbart is blameless in the whole Weinergate story.
Certainly Breitbart has launched into this story with gusto and his various “Big” sites have been chock-a-block full of Weinergate stories. But none of these posts have been invented by an evil Breitbartian cabal. They have simply been a discussion of the evidence as the story has progressed. Period.
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Even Lefty Website Mediaite Says Breitbart Did Not Lie about Wienergate”
From Lake County Right to Life…
(Grayslake, IL – June 2, 2011) Illinois’ Civil Unions law went into effect June 1, and even State Sen. David Koehler, sponsor of the bill in the senate, is frustrated with its repercussions to religious freedom. Koehler made it clear that the law, ironically named “The Religious Freedom Protection Act and Civil Union Act,” was intended to protect the rights of social service organizations, including adoption agencies, to carry out their duties according to their faith.
But months ago, activists began challenging the ability of religious childcare agencies to prohibit the placement of children with same-sex couples, so Sen. Koehler proposed a religious exemption amendment to protect the rights of these agencies. Despite lobbying by Catholic Charities and other organizations, the amendment was defeated in the Senate Executive Committee.
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New Civil Unions Law Already Infringing on Religious Freedom”
From the Illinois Policy Institute…
The General Assembly has adjourned for the summer. A budget was passed that contained real cuts, but it was still too big. Significant school reform sits on the governor’s desk. Illinois government will be more transparent. And yet so much more remains to be done.
Here are the highlights of the spring 2011 legislative session in Illinois. Over the next few weeks, we will roll out a thorough analysis of all the legislative items, large and small, that were on the Institute’s watch list this year. Stay tuned.
Thank you,
Collin Hitt
Senior Director of Government Affairs
Illinois Policy Institute
We Don’t Want It; You Can’t Afford It
The Institute’s open letter to Congress implores lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to just say NO to any federal bailouts of spendthrift states. Voters in Arkansas, Florida, Nevada, Maine, Colorado and elsewhere shouldn’t be forced to pony up for Illinois’s self-made mess.
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Ill. Budget Cuts: Not Far Enough”
-By Daniel Clark
Our federal Department of Education has got a lot to worry about, if it chooses to do so. American students now rank only 48th in math and science, according to the latest survey by the World Economic Forum. History textbooks are riddled with factual errors. Language skills, already suffering from decades of rot under “whole language” theory, must now contend with the corrosive influences of text messaging and social media.
High school education has grown so insufficient that remedial courses are now taught at many universities. Public schools are often unsafe, as well as ineffective, prompting parents to try to help their children escape with the help of school vouchers. Home schooling has become an attractive option to more and more people, who have generally produced superior academic performances to those of the government schools.
So what’s a man like Education Secretary Arne Duncan to do? Why, initiate a “Green Ribbon Schools” project “to recognize schools that are creating healthy and sustainable learning environments and teaching environmental literacy,” of course.
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Tying One On: ‘Green Ribbon Schools’ Defy Sobriety”
-By Warner Todd Huston
The Atlantic’s Yoni Appelbaum has a troubled little mind. He seems to be an excitable sort, too. I say this because during this 150th anniversary of the American Civil War he strangely sees evil Confederate, German, Nazi, racists at Civil War events. He might want to see a therapist about this. Either that or he’s just another left-wing writer that is striving so hard to find something, anything, to write about that he’s put aside common sense and instead decided to illicitly impute any manner of absurd motivations to Germany’s Civil War reenactors. You know, because he wants to be considered the thoughtful type, because this sort of tripe is what passes for intellectualism in journalism.
Appelbaum’s article on Germans that reenact the American Civil War is entirely absurd, of course. He imputes all sorts of motives, dark and evil, to a mere hobby. He sees shadows of low and dangerous undercurrents to this pastime and desperately tries to tie a plethora of evils into the harmless fun of dressing up as a soldier from some 150 years ago.
Appelbaum finds that many Germans reenact the American Civil War in Germany as Confederate soldiers and this troubles him. He notes that Germans that reenact the American Civil War as Confederates are play-acting contrary to their own pre-WWII cultural history because few Germans fought for the South in the conflict. In this he is correct. But after getting one thing right, Appelbaum launches off into paroxysms of agonized fantasy. One gets the feeling he is not writing to explore truths but is writing to get the knowing and concerned nods of other wacky leftists like himself.
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Evil Confederate, German, Nazi, Racists Invades Mind of The Atlantic Writer”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Tim Rutten is a left-wing, hack writer from L.A. He is always good for contemporary left wing trope but the other day we discovered that he is also good for the sort of uninformed blathering that leftists of his ilk pretend is American history. Chiefly that of America’s religious history and the so-called “wall of separation between church and state.”
In a June 1 piece about Mitt Romney, Rutten regaled us with his “reading” of Mitt’s current political reality. Rutten proposed that any question about Mitt’s Mormonism was somehow a threat to the United States.
Before I get to Rutten’s warped take on U.S. history, let’s take this business about the attacks on Mitt’s Mormonism.
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L.A. Times Tim Rutten, Historical Idiot”
-By Warner Todd Huston
At a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday, it was revealed that federal employees spent nearly 3 million hours of official, taxpayer paid time on union activities in 2009. This cost the treasury $129 million, an increase of $8 million over the expenditures in 2008.
The report that fueled the hearing (see .pdf) was prepared by the Office of Personnel Management and prompted a stern comment from House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce Chairman Dennis Ross, (R, Fla).
At at time when our economy is in a recession and budget deficits are at staggering record levels, efficiency is imperative. Taxpayers should not have to continue footing the bill for union welfare, particularly when little evidence exists that official time is improving government productivity.
Of course, I spoke of this nonsensical situation, one where the American people are paying workers not to do any useful work, back in April.
Then I wrote…
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Your Taxes Paying Government Union Members NOT to Work, Part Two”
As we wrapped up the regular spring legislative session this week, Illinois House Republicans drove the General Assembly to a balanced budget by only allowing the Governor to spend money that we estimate we will receive in revenues next year. That number is $33.2 billion—any dime we receive above that number will go to pay down our backlog of bills.
Our spending level is $2 billion less than what Governor Quinn wanted to spend and $1 billion less than what the Illinois Senate originally wanted to spend.
In fact, in a last ditch effort to spend more money, the Illinois Senate sent us legislation that would have tacked on more than $400 million. We rejected that.
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Holding the Line on Spending, Driving Cuts”
From the office of Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R, ILL)…
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), along with his colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Congressman Mike Ross (D-AR), introduced the Nuclear Regulatory Commission Continuation Act, H.R. 2068 (download .pdf). This bipartisan legislation would permit a Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to continue to serve on the Commission until a successor is confirmed or until the end of the Congress.
Currently, NRC Commissioners serve five-year terms, or are appointed to serve out the remainder term of a Commissioner who resigns or is no longer able to complete their term of service. Upon termination of a Commissioner’s term, they must leave the Commission immediately, which creates a vacancy until a new or re-appointed Commissioner is named.
The Kinzinger-Ross bill permits a Commissioner to continue to serve on the Commission until the date on which the Commissioner’s successor has been appointed and confirmed; or the beginning of the first new Congress after the date on which the Commissioner’s term expires.
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Reps. Kinzinger and Ross Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Create More Stable and Efficient Nuclear Regulatory Commission”
-By Frank Hyland
You take your car to the local auto dealership because it just isn’t running right, like it used to run. For the third time, you tell the Service Manager what the symptoms are and what you think the cause is. You’ve had this car for two and a half years, and plenty of other cars before this one, so you’re a pretty good judge of how an auto should operate. Your gas mileage is declining, there’s a persistent odor as you drive, ominous-sounding noises have crept in and are now getting louder and louder, neither the brake nor the accelerator pedal seems responsive. You return to the dealership, pay them, and drive away. Right away you notice that it is still sluggish and still smells, and the noises you reported yesterday are even louder.
Will you return to that dealership again? Will you give them more of your money in return for what they claim is the best service around? Will you accept their word that they “guarantee” their work? They’ve sent you back out into traffic in a vehicle that doesn’t run well and that has problems in both stopping and accelerating. It’s very likely that you won’t return to them. Even if they were the only dealership in your town, you would find a way to get the car to the nearest town with another dealership, one that doesn’t ignore you or make you false promises on which it cannot and/or will not deliver.
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It Begs the Question: How Many Times Will You Let Them Fool You?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Today I listened live to and live Tweeted Mitt Romney’s announcement for his next run for the GOP nomination to become president of the United States…
Read the rest at RightPundits.com.
-By Kevin Roeten
According to a UN 2009 revised population forecast, world population will peak at around 7 billion in 2030, and begin to fall. How can that be? In 1980, world population was forecast to be significantly higher by 2030.
Many plagues and Epidemics have culled population from the earliest times. The worst were the Plague of Justinian(Byzantine Empire/541–542 AD), Black Death(1347), Great Plague(1665), oriental Bubonic Plague(1894), Spanish Flu(1918), and HIV/AIDS(1985—).
But the worst population killer is the epidemic that will not be controlled. We have done this to ourselves. It is chemical/artificial fertility control.
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By 2030 Population to Start Dropping Like a Rock”
Citizens United asks, “Who Buys Our Debt?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
From the “figures lie, but liars figure” department we find that left-leaning cable newser MSNBC reported that the main reason Obama’s job stats are tumbling and unemployment is so high is because of the harsh tornado season and other natural disasters we have been experiencing over the first half of 2011. Yet, hypocritically, if we take a peak back to the unemployment rates reported by MSNBC in 2004, during Bush’s era, his jump in hiring was called false because of — you guessed it — hurricanes and other natural disasters.
That’s right, folks, MSNBC is using natural disasters to explain away Obama’s high unemployment rates when they used the very same excuse, natural disasters, to say that Bush’s rise in employment was false.
Talk about tailoring the “news” to fit the ideological objective that MSNBC wants to push, eh?
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MSNBC: Obama’s Job Loss Blamed on Natural Disasters, Bush’s Job Growth ‘False’ Because of… Natural Disasters?”
Not long ago the City of Grand Rapids, Michigan was called a “dying city” by Newsweek. The folks living there took exception to that characterization.
So, a couple of 5,000 citizens or so decided to get together and make a music video to show their civic pride…
Read the story of the making of this fun video.
-By Frank Salvato
We are hearing a great deal about a budding “Democracy movement” spreading throughout the Middle East. Many are calling it an “Arab Spring.” The belief is that after centuries of totalitarian oppression, the Arab street is suddenly pining for more freedom; rebelling against the elitist ruling class of kings, emirs, despots and tyrants. This is most likely true for a great number of those filling the streets of Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Bahrain and myriad other Middle Eastern, predominantly Muslim nations. But there is a less than honorable component amongst the rebellion that simply waits for the “right” to a democratic vote. Contrary to how the idea of a move to Democracy presents, in the volatile Middle East there are elements in play that could make it a move in the wrong direction.
Each and every day we hear the misnomer that the United States of America is a Democracy. We hear it from the average man on the street, the mainstream media and even from those we have elected to office. But the fact of the matter is this: we are not a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. A thorough and convincing exhibit of the facts surrounding this reality is presented in Notes on Democracy: And the Republic for Which It Stands. The fact that this issue is even in need of address is a scathing commentary on the constitutional illiteracy of the American electorate and serves as a sobering reminder that, often times, what sounds good – what “feels good” – isn’t always as it presents.
The distinction – between the benefits of a Democracy and a Constitutional Republic – is incredibly important, and while some describe our nation as a Democracy in an error of ignorance, others – some with schemes of political opportunism – do so with a nefarious purpose and bad intentions.
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The Mistake of Global Democratization”
-By Warner Todd Huston
This story about Democrat New York Congressman Anthony Weiner sending a photo of his… uh… weiner… to some barely-out-of-her-teens student in Washington State is as ridiculous as it can get. But the leave it to the Old Media to make it more ridiculous yet. Leave it to the venerable newswire service Reuters to turn a Democrat Weiner into a Republican weiner. Because a sex scandal couldn’t possibly be a Democrat’s, right?
In a hot story posted this afternoon, Reuters screams out a headline that says: “Republican Weiner Uncertain Whether Lewd Photo Was of Him,” ‘cuz, you know, them there lewd Republicans see so many lewd photos that they can’t recognize their own package when they see it… right?
I mean, this sex scandal is a Republican type of story, right? Reuters must not be able to conceive of the possibility that a Democrat could be involved. After all, we have a congressman that won’t answer questions about a sex scandal, a guy that’s rude to the media, and a guy that seems to be wholly ignorant of Internet applications. MUST be a Republican Reuters must imagine!
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Now Media Trying to Turn Weiner Tweeter Into a Republican?”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Apparently, when anyone dares question an Illinois Democrat he gets violent… even if he’s a state senator and he’s right on the floor of the senate itself.
51st District Senator Kyle McCarter (R- Lebanon) objected during the debate today about the ComEd utility legislation the Democrats were pushing. His fellow Senator, the 36th District’s Senator Mike Jacobs (D, Moline), was pushing a vote on the bill without telling everyone present that his father, former senator Denny Jacobs, was a lobbyist for ComEd, the company that would benefit most from the bill.
Sen. McCarter rose to his feet and calmly alerted the house to the fact that not only was Senator Jacobs’ father a lobbyist for ComEd but that the Democrat Party was the largest recipient of ComEd’s campaign cash.
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Ill. Democrat Assaults Fellow Senator On Floor of Senate!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Late on Tuesday the GOP led House of Representatives defeated a vote to raise the debt ceiling. This is not a surprising vote, to be sure, but the odd part of this deal is that some Democrats voted with Republicans even after sending a letter to Obama only a month ago saying they supported raising it.
In mid April, 114 Democrats sent a letter to President Obama pledging their support for a “clean extension of the debt ceiling.”
These 114 Democrats agreed with Obama that the debt ceiling needed to be raised without adding spending cuts to the bill and that anyone that wants to force spending cuts to be added to the bill would be “willfully risking the full faith and credit of the United States of America.” It was an emergency, they claimed.
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Debt Ceiling Debate: Democrats Won’t Even Vote For Their Own Ideas!”
-By Warner Todd Huston
There is no doubt that our election laws are in serious disarray. So many laws and rules have been written and added to the plethora of rules and regulations that already exist that confusion is more likely the case than clarification. As several recall petitions in Wisconsin wing their way to a polling place near you (if you’re a Badger Stater), a case in point is a stupid Wisconsin rule that equates to the disenfranchisement of individual voters should things get dicey at the polling place.
Tucked away in chapter seven of the election officials duties publication from the State of Wisconsin is a rule that would essentially take away the legal vote of some undetermined number of voters if the polling place discovers that its vote count is higher than its number of registered voters in the poll book.
The idea is that if there are too many votes then the poll judges will “draw… by chance the number of ballots equal to the excess number” and put these votes aside. These votes will not count, either. That means that supposedly by random, some citizens will lose their vote because somehow or another the ballot box was stuffed with too many illicit votes!
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Election Laws Need an Overhaul, Wisc. Case in Point”
-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the worst aspects of American politics is the often blatantly partisan process of redistricting and Illinois has just clocked in with one of the worst examples in recent memory. Illinois Democrats just finished their effort to redistrict the state and have proven that the will of the voters is meaningless to them with their proposal. The map just yesterday passed by the General Assembly in Springfield is now headed for Gov. Quinn’s signature.
Naturally, the new map is a partisan slap in the face to thousands of Illinois voters. As it happens the results of the 2010 midterm election sent five new Republicans to Washington from the Land of Lincoln. Many of these were GOP upsets where freshman Republicans replaced a Democrat. But despite that the will of the voter tended toward Republicans in these five districts, the new map created by Democrats undermines nearly every GOP district and dilutes the voter’s will by adding to them portions of other districts that vote against Republicans.
Certainly the districts must be redrawn, of that there is no question. According to population stats, Illinois does not rate as many representatives as it had before and one representative was going to be lost for certain. You see, Illinois is failing, losing citizens and struggling thanks to decisions by Democrats but since the Democrats control the state, it was assumed that at least one of those Republicans might lose his district. This goes without saying and, in my opinion, seems assumed — if not a bit annoying.
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Redistricting: Democrat Infested Ill. LegisSLAYture Kills Will of the Voter”
-By Warner Todd Huston
With the latest three votes, the Illinois GOP has shown itself to be little else but Democrat lite and has shown that even planks in its own platform are meaningless when it comes to voting time.
The last Illinois Republican Party platform was produced and approved in 2008 (See .pdf here) and there hasn’t been another one since.
Lets start our scolding with the recent vote to wildly expand gambling in Illinois, a bill that 21 Republicans voted for, shall we?
SB744 passed this weekend with a 65-60 vote in the Illinois House. 21 Republicans voted “yea” on this despite what their own party platform say. That platform says…
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Illinois GOP Betray Own Platform”
-By Larry Sand
The very creepy sexualization of young children, a part of the teachers unions’ progressive agenda, goes on unabated.
In the past few years, teachers unions in the United States have gotten into the perverse business of sexualizing children. I first wrote about this phenomenon several years ago. In 2004, the National Education Association gave its prestigious Human Rights Award to Kevin Jennings, the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the man who eventually became President Obama’s school safety czar. GLSEN is the group that presided over the infamous “Fistgate” conference held at Tufts University in Massachusetts in March 2000, where state employees gave explicit instructions about “fisting” and other forms of gay sexual activity to children as young as 12. The conference was secretly recorded and can be heard here. (Warning: The contents are extraordinarily vile.)
Then this past March, I dug up a story about an NEA “trainer of trainers” who at a U.N. conference claimed that oral sex, masturbation, and orgasms should to be “taught in education” to children as young as 11.
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CTA, Transgender Clownfish and Our Children”
From the office of Republican Adam Kinzinger (11th District)…
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) today issued the following statement on his vote against H.R. 1954, legislation that would increase the government’s ability to borrow by $2.4 trillion without implementing any spending cuts or budgetary reforms:
“Last November, the American people sent a clear message to Washington — cut spending. I came to Washington to do exactly that.
“Unfortunately, the President’s Administration along with more than 100 congressional Democrats did not get that message and insisted that Congress vote on a ‘clean’ extension of the debt ceiling without any spending cuts.
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Kinzinger Statement on Vote Against Raising the Debt Ceiling”
-By Warner Todd Huston
Fox Business Network is leaping head first into full time coverage right in the thick of it all at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange with a new CME-based studio booth on the next level up from trading floor itself. Interestingly, this marks as the very first time a financial network will have its own, branded booth so close to the floor.
Thursday afternoon I spoke to Fox Business Network correspondent Jeff Flock about the grand opening of the CME booth and asked him what made the Network make this move. “Since both exchanges were consolidated there that makes that floor the center for futures trading in the country and now Fox Business will have a permanent presence where all the traders can see us.”
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Fox Business Network Opens New Studio Overlooking Floor of Chicago Mercantile Exchange”
From the mail bag:
Dear President Obama:
I am writing today with a somewhat unusual request. First and foremost, I am asking that you return America to its August 20th, 1959 borders so that Hawaii is no longer a state and you are no longer a citizen.
Signed:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
(H/T my friend at Blue Collar Muse)
-By Warner Todd Huston
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a Democrat Congresswoman from Florida and is currently the head of the Democrat National Committee. She is also one of the most vitriolic, off base, half informed demagogues of the far left in America today. There are tons of examples of her lies and calumnies out there — it’s an almost daily occurrence now that she is DNC head — but today we have a new one. This time DWS is lamenting how Republicans want to make illegal immigration, well, illegal.
Yes, Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not bright enough to catch the “illegal” part in the phrase “illegal immigrant.” Apparently the question, “what part of illegal don’t you get,” is one she doesn’t get.
Naked Emperor has the video of Wasserman Schultz from May 26 of this year.
Transcript:
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Dem. Party Chair Mad that GOP wants to Make Being an Illegal Alien… er… Illegal”