Saturday, April 16, 2011

McDonald's Mask Hiring of Illegals; Rep. Alan West Threatened; Sleeping Air Traffic Controllers; Facebook Page of Safe Schools Chief Promotes Homosexuality; Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered Must be Included in School Social Studies Lessons; CA Teachers Plan Activities; Labor Union Contributions One-Sided; Collective Bargaining Not a Basic Human Right; Head of Dept. of Labor Supports Unions, Not All American Workers

My Fox Phoenix reports: Two McDonald's Corp. restaurant managers in Savannah, Ga., were charged Wednesday with selling identities stolen from US citizens to prospective workers -- a case that federal authorities said shows the risks employers are increasingly taking to mask the hiring of illegal immigrants.  http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpps/news/mcdonalds-managers-charged-with-selling-stolen-ids-dpgonc-20110413-kh_12755014
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Rep. Allen West, [an impressive and  rising Conservative] who received a derogatory letter with mysterious white powder in it last week, has some stern words for his menacing critics.
[In an email letter to constituents] West wrote, “This incident, is just another in several incidents that have occurred over the last couple of years and, have put me in quite a bad mood.”
He offered the example of a “liberal blogger publicly stating that he wanted to ‘skin me alive,’ ” and a protest outside his office led by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) “castigating me as a ‘misogynist.’ “
“I find it interesting that in all of these instances, the media simply dismissed the incidents,” West said. “One might wonder — is it open season on a principled black conservative?”
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Las Vegas Review-Journal reports: Federal transportation officials are moving to add air traffic controllers in Reno and at 26 other towers nationwide after an air ambulance carrying a critically ill patient was forced to land without guidance from a sleeping air traffic controller at Reno-Tahoe International Airport early Wednesday.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he is "totally outraged by these incidents. This is absolutely unacceptable. 

"Only in the federal government would you double up on workers, averaging $161,000 per year in salary and benefits, that aren't doing their job," Mica said. "This increase in staffing, when there is little to no traffic, also misdirects our resources and focus away from congested air traffic control facilities." http://www.lvrj.com/news/air-ambulance-lands-at-reno-airport-while-air-traffic-controller-sleeps-119778219.html
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World Net Daily reveals: A Facebook page set up to promote homosexuality to children through the "Day of Silence" organized by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network – which was founded by President Obama's Office of Safe Schools chief Kevin Jennings – has scrubbed its site of links to pornography after several Web-savvy organizations revealed the offending offerings.
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Yahoo News writes: SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people would be added to the lengthy list of social and ethnic groups that public schools must include in social studies lessons under a landmark bill passed Thursday by the California Senate.
If the bill is adopted by the state Assembly and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, California would become the first state to require the teaching of gay history. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110414/ap_on_re_us/us_gay_history_calif_schools
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The Blaze writes: How do the CA Teachers Association members plan to pressure California lawmakers on the tax extensions? With an allegedly $1 million budget and a 10-page action plan. You can read the organization’s full list of possible activities, but we present to you this snapshot (hat tip Hot Air):
* Target the businesses of legislators in their home districts.
* Circle the offices of “problem legislators.” Target them with various actions.
* Picket/rally in front of legislators’ offices/homes.
* Follow targeted legislators for the entire day.
* Have students and parents do informational picketing for one hour outside their school site.
* Have parents and students camp in front of schools all night.
* Have teachers being laid off contact parents and other CTA members.
* Make phone calls on Parents’ Day. Call parents to tell them how their child is doing and then talk about the budget cuts and invite them to attend the rallies.
* Turn fire/earthquake drill into crisis response drill to the budget cuts (involve students and the community)
* Attempt to close a major artery into town/cities
* Have celebrities involved in the demonstrations
* Statewide “A Day with No Teachers”
Fiscal decisions aren’t made in the Capitol. Decisions on spending and taxation are made by formulas, laws and constitutional amendments that were long ago approved — mostly by voters themselves. [Not only do the teachers unions want to put their message out there, which is fine, they are quite willing to actively involve our impressionable children in their cause. I wouldn't be surprised to learn the students get extra credit for their efforts.]  http://www.theblaze.com/stories/calif-teachers-union-gives-shocking-protest-instructions-harass-legislators-shut-down-roads-co-opt-fire-drills/
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[Since 1990, labor unions have contributed around 90% of their collected campaign dollars to Democrats.] American Institute for Economic Research reports:   Unions have contributed $6.5 million to the 2010 elections, and $6 million [went] to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C.
In the $787 billion stimulus spending bill passed in February, $90 billion has been earmarked to help cover the tax shortfalls in state and local government budgets due to the economic recession. Most of this money will be used to maintain or increase jobs at these levels of government, since those in political office are apparently unwilling to reduce expenditures and cut public payrolls in the face of decreased tax revenues.

 Public sector unions as a whole have given around $160 million to Democratic candidates between 1990 and 2008, with donations of $6 million in 2008.  [If you have the time, scan the list below. I question how the SEIU International would be allowed to contribute to an American Presidential election...  Reading the list will help in understanding just why the unions and our President are so invested in supporting unions at all costs.]

Leading Union Political Campaign Contributors
1990-2010
DemocratsRepublicans
American Fed. of State, County, Municipal Employees$40,281,900$547,700
Intel Brotherhood of Electrical Workers29,705,600679,000
National Education Association27,679,3002,005,200
Service Employees International Union26,368,47098,700
Communication Workers of America26,305,500125,300
Service Employees International Union26,252,0001,086,200
Laborers Union25,734,0002,138,000
American Federation of Teachers25,682,800200,000
United Auto Workers25,082,200182,700
Teamsters Union24,926,4001,822,000
Carpenters and Joiners Union24,094,1002,658,000
Machinists & Aerospace Workers Union23,875,600226,300
United Food and Commercial Workers Union23,182,000334,200
AFL-CIO17,124,300713,500
Sheet Metal Workers Union16,347,200342,800
Plumbers & Pipefitters Union14,790,000818,500
Operating Engineers Union13,840,0002,309,500
Airline Pilots Association12,806,6002,398,300
International Association of Firefighters12,421,7002,685,400
United Transportation Workers11,807,0001,459,300
Ironworkers Union11,638,900936,000
American Postal Workers Union11,633,100544,300
Nat'l Active & Retired Fed. Employees Association8,135,4002,294,600
Seafarers International Union6,726,8001,281,300
Source: Center for Responsive Politics, Washington, D.C.
http://www.aier.org/research/briefs/1550-obama-thanks-his-friends-government-spending-and-union-support
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CNS News writes: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who waged a tough political battle with government union employees in his state earlier this year, told CNSNews.com that collective bargaining is not a basic human right.  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/gov-scott-walker-collective-bargaining-n
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Free Republic reports on the bias of our Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis: [she] has taken her gloves off in the ongoing war within the states. And her supporters are aching for more. In a speech before a partisan audience at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C. last Saturday, Solis proclaimed solidarity with Wisconsin public-sector unions and their supporters who have all but shut down the state legislature in protest of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to curb public spending.
Speaking before the closing session of the Democratic National Committee winter meeting, she urged her troops: "The fight is on. We work together. We help those embattled states right now where public employees are under assault." Such comments won her standing ovations. But they also underscored the extent to which the current administration views "labor" and "organized labor" as interchangeable.
Solis wasted little time justifying her supporters' hopes. During the first few months in 2009, she rolled back expanded financial reporting requirements for financial reporting forms LM-2 and LM-30, drawn up and finalized during the Bush administration. These requirements came about because her immediate predecessor, Elaine Chao, saw a real need to combat widespread union corruption. With the help of another radical Obama appointment, Solicitor Trisha Smith, Solis also created a program to hire union members and allied volunteers to monitor potential private-sector wage and hour violations. And she's launched a new DOL program, "We Can Help," that seeks to stop private-sector workplace exploitation, but which, as Solis herself hastened to announce, covers all workers regardless of immigration status.  "Admittedly, I am a little biased," she told the audience. "I come from a union household." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2682606/posts              
The UAW agrees:  www.uaw.org/node/3134
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Friday, April 15, 2011

Supreme Court Deciding Today If They Will Take Obamacare Case Now; Some of 15 New Obama Taxes; Obama's Flame-Throwing, Violence-inducing Rhetoric; JP Morgan Downgrades Economic Growth Prospects; Obama Cuts Medicare, Not Ryan; Cloward & Piven by Barack Obama;


American Spectator reports:  Occasionally Supreme Court justices receive a "petition for certiorari before judgment" asking them to consider the decision of some District Court before it has been reviewed by a Court of Appeals. Friday's conference schedule includes consideration of one such petition, filed pursuant to Commonwealth of Virginia v. Sebelius.
The Virginia case was, of course, the first legal challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in which the Department of Justice (DOJ) received a major defeat.
Ironically, the DOJ's brief actually  concedes that the constitutionality of the individual mandate "is undoubtedly an issue of great public importance."
If they decide to grant Virginia's petition, it will not be the first time this very exclusive club has produced raised eyebrows and sharp intakes of breath.  http://spectator.org/archives/2011/04/14/supreme-court-to-consider-obam
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Business Insider reports: Here are some of the 15 new Obama taxes identified by Americans for Tax Reform:

  • Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%
  • Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million.  This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike
  • Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate.  This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses.  A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more.  This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike
  • Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years
  • Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years
  • A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement.  This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years                 Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tax-hikes-obama-budget-2011-2#ixzz1JX8h3uGm
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Floyd Reports writes: Obama is a born again deficit cutter. To achieve this miraculous goal [of reducing our deficit] he has a top secret weapon. It is called the “tax expenditure.”
But everyone knows tax increases are bad, so Obama and his team must be thinking that if they changed the name the voters wouldn’t notice. There is a deeper philosophical reason for the changing language, and it has to do with the fundamental difference between his vision and the Republicans’ vision for the future.
If you assume that all money belongs to the government and the people are privileged to get back some of the product of their labor, then the money doled out to the pockets of Americans must be expenditures.  http://floydreports.com/change-you-can-believe-in-tax-hikes-are-now-tax-expenditures/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=99621a9a8d-EO_04_14_20114_14_2011&utm_medium=email
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The Wall Street Journal opines: Mr. Obama did not deign to propose an alternative to rival Mr. Ryan's plan, even as he categorically rejected all its reform ideas, repeatedly vilifying them as essentially un-American. "Their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America," he said, supposedly pitting "children with autism or Down's syndrome" against "every millionaire and billionaire in our society." Mr. Obama then packaged his poison in the rhetoric of bipartisanship—which "starts," he said, "by being honest about what's causing our deficit." The speech he chose to deliver was dishonest even by modern political standards.
All Medicare decisions will be turned over to and routed through an unelected commission created by ObamaCare—which will supposedly ferret out "unnecessary spending." Is that the same as "waste and abuse"?
Mr. Obama ludicrously claimed that Mr. Ryan favors "a fundamentally different America than the one we've known throughout most of our history." Nothing is likelier to bring that future about than the President's political indifference in the midst of a fiscal crisis.  http://online.wsj.com/public/page/news-opinion-commentary.html
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Commentary Magazine writes: As Barack Obama was delivering his speech on the nation’s long-term debt crisis, word came that JP Morgan has radically downgraded its projection of the nation’s short-term prospects for economic growth. Morgan now thinks the economy will grow at an annual rate of 1.4 percent this year. This comes hard on the heels of Macroeconomic Advisers lowering its growth projection for 2011 from 4 percent at the beginning of the year to 1.7 percent today. These aren’t just horrible numbers for the U.S. economy. They are a potential death knell for Barack Obama’s presidency.  http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/04/13/longterm-debt-how-about-shortterm-implosion/
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The NY Post opines: Incoming party chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz complains of Ryan's treatment of Medicare: "This plan would literally be a death trap for seniors." Funny: "Death trap for seniors" applies a whole lot more to the ObamaCare law that Democrats muscled through last year -- which uses Medicare as a piggybank to fund their new entitlement program.
It's Obama who cut Medicare: The Congressional Budget Office reports that, from 2012 to 2021, the Democrats' health-care overhaul will take a colossal $797 billion out of Medicare and related federal health programs to spend on ObamaCare.
In contrast, Ryan's budget keeps Medicare savings in Medicare, using them to extend the program's life.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/the_real_death_trap_is_obamacare_E5NOBQd05dtW4V48o6KM3H#ixzz1JV6qKkwr
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Floyd Reports: What was not highlighted in the glow of the administration’s back slapping is that there is another statistic that goes back even further than 1984. Today, just 65 percent of men aged 16-to-64 (and just 67 percent of all men) are working, a huge drop from the 85 percent who were typically employed in the 1950s.
Obama is destroying America’s men and setting the stage for all men in our society to live as so many minority men now live.... instead of lifting the minorities up to a higher status. Obama’s oppressive policies are forcing Americans, especially men, to become tax cheats like so many of the officials in the Obama administration. On the path Obama is pushing men onto, they will work odd jobs “off the books” and find it more profitable to hide their relationship to their families in order maximize eligibility for government handouts. Obama is injecting the “inner city” mentality into America’s suburban middle class in hopes of making the whole country dependent on government largesse. [This is the Cloward and Piven strategy I've talked about.  With the thuggish actions now by unions, Community Organizing and Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals are also in play, to America's great peril.  http://floydreports.com/one-third-of-men-are-out-of-work-and-obamas-thrilled/?utm_source=Expose+Obama&utm_campaign=99621a9a8d-EO_04_14_20114_14_2011&utm_medium=email
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CNS News reports: For the week of April 4-10, Obama’s approval rating was 48 percent among those making $2,000 or less per month, and 46 percent among those in each of the three higher income brackets.
While Republicans were never skilled at articulating how free markets offer the best jobs and cheapest products to the poor, Obama is the master.  Even the most naive voter intuitively knows that Obama has impounded our natural resources and printed fake money.  No matter how many welfare programs he tries to create, poor people will not take kindly to the pain they experience at the gas pump and in the supermarket.  If Republicans would do a better job articulating the regressive effects of ethanol and farm subsidies and food commodities, Obama’s lowest approval rating would be among the poor.  http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/gallup-obama-s-approval-drops-below-50-p
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Redstate reports: Here is the latest report from the Wisconsin Farm Bureau regarding inflation on some of the most basic needs in Wisconsin:
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Thursday, April 14, 2011

The Great Debate over Unions Continues; Tenured Teachers Teach Bullying; April is National Sexual Abuse Awareness Month - Beware this article!

Following is my latest column in the Boyne City Gazette: 

My beliefs have been questioned in a recent Letter to the Editor by Mr. Reed, who is entitled to his own opinion, but is not entitled to speak for my beliefs.


Though I am a precinct delegate, the opinions I offer are mine alone, and in no way speak for the entire Republican party, with whom I never discuss positions or staregy.  Following 20 years of daily research, I have written my news service for over two years because it had become increasingly clear to me that mainstream media covers one perspective only, the liberal one.  A voice from the right should be allowed to be heard.


I do not hate union members.  Only 7.2% of private-sector workers were union members at the last count, the lowest percentage since 1900, demonstrating how well the free market system can work to retain good employeres.  Union membership grew to 37.4% among government workders whose salaries we pay, and total just 12% of all American workers.  Should 12% of America demand contract terms from the 88% who are not in a union?  This fight is about the overreaching poewer of union bosses and the dues they collect.


I do question the motives and methods of some union leaders, as I have been witness to written and circulated death threats to someone I know.  These methods, and what unions are fighting for, are becoming known to all Americans because of events in Wisconsin and many other states.  Wisconsin legislators received many death threats.  Wisconsin businesses were offered signs to put in their windows declaring "unity with workers' rights."  Owners were then threatened with boycotts if they failed to post the signs.


It is hard to accept that unions without Congressional approval were allowed to exist in order to "bring in more highly educated and competent teachers" when incompetent ones are rarely fired.  The National Education association's top lawyer, Bob Chanin, has stated; "It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child.  NEA and its affiliates are effecicve advocates because we have power".


I believe public unions should be a right, and not a requisite in order to work. Dues automatically taken and/or given to any political party shouldn't be allowed.  Contrary to Reed's statement, I want more for good teachers, who should receive pay raises according to merit, not according to union schedules.  Tenure should not be a reason to retain bad teachers.  If larger raises go to great teachers, more talented students will seek education degrees, as the reward for diligence and excellence will be theirs.  Current policy rewards slackers and fails to encourage teachers to be all they can be, harming education outcomes.  The free market encourages excellence. 


Public unions have expected taxpayers to not only pay their members' salaries, but to provide free health care and guaranteed pensions for life, with taxpayers expected to make bankrupt pensions whole.  Where is their vaunted "fairness" in that?  Non-unionized Americans must fund their own programs, or they don't have one.  If the value of their retirement funds goes down, it is they who must suffer the consequences.  


Already sharing the pain of the budget are seniors, who have had no cost-of-living increase in two years, but must also pay an increase in Medicare premiums.  The "rich" pay Medicare taxes on every dollar earned, and pay income tax on up to 85% of their Medicare and SS benefits.  The "richest" 5% of Americans pay 50% of all income taxes.  Fully 41% of Americans pay no income taxes at all, and 30 million actually get paid by us because they didn't earn enough to pay taxes.  What percentage would he consider to be a "fair" portion of taxes from those who actully develop businesses, take risks and provide jobs?  Taxation has always been selective, and union are just the latest to be "targeted".


Unions are proving daily what they are willing to do to have their way, providing Americans with more information about unions than they have ever had.
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WARNING!  The following stories are graphic and disturbing, but we have a need to be informed.
[I see several things about the following incidents in Illinois and Kentucky: tenure and protection from firing is not productive, and the actions below are actually teaching school children to bully.  Where is the President in condemning not only this bullying, but the active instruction and forced participation in bullying which is displayed?  I do wonder what "ousting" means - perhaps fully paid administrative leave?   We simply cannot be passive parents of our school children any longer.]
The St. Louis CBS reports: A southwestern Illinois special-education teacher has been ousted after allegedly ordering students to remove their underwear to determine which child soiled his pants.  http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/04/13/collinsville-teacher-ousted-for-ordering-students-to-remove-underwear/ 
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Knox News reports: A Roane County kindergarten teacher who reportedly told students to encircle a classmate, call him a pig and make pig noises because the boy is messy, received a one-day unpaid suspension and had a letter of reprimand placed in her file. The incident involved Debbie Hayes, an educator at Bowers Elementary School who has taught kindergarten in Roane County for 38 years.
Dr. Toni H. McGriff, director of Roane County Schools, called the March 16 incident "simply unbelievable."
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/13/teacher-has-kids-oink-at-student/
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The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) in the U.S.
I recall years ago being enraged over a case in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania wherein the school system forced 11 year old girls to undergo genital exams in the principals office to detect signs of sexual abuse.  This in itself was extreme sexual abuse in my view, and girls who tried to jump out the windows and cried that they wanted their mommies were actually held down for the exam.  I know you must think I am making this us, but here is the full story, as reported in the Washington Times in 1996: http://home.earthlink.net/~ynot/strouds.html]     I am certain I would have ended up in jail if this had happened to my child.] 

As reported by Eagle Forum: On March 19, 59 6th-grade girls at J.T. Lambert Intermediate School received physicals that included genital examinations. On May 10, the Rutherford Institute filed suit on behalf of the family of one of the girls. Additional families are expected to join the lawsuit.
The Pennsylvania branch of the National Education Association (NEA) supports the actions of Dr. Vahanvaty, the supervising school nurses, and the requirement of an in-school genital exam. Teachers wore blue ribbons to demonstrate their support of the exam. The district and state police agreed with Dr. Vahanvaty's statement that she acted within professional and state guidelines.
The East Stroudsburg School Board approved of the examination. A motion to give children the right to refuse examinations below the waist was defeated 8 to 1. http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/1996/june96/exam.html
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Marshall Fritz, described as "classically liberal", investigated this incident and wrote:  Now wait, you say. Maybe the school district apologized and assured the parents it would never happen again! Not hardly. Teachers wore blue ribbons in support of the district. The local physicians and the paper stood behind the inspection. The state police and local district attorney investigations said no Pennsylvania law had been broken. Rather than hearing a mea culpa from the system, what the parents received was more like a spanking.  How many East Stroudsburgs must occur before parents realize that no government entitlement is worth the loss of self-respect that comes from powerlessness to protect their own children? http://www.sepschool.org/edlib/v3n4/violated.php
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Rutherford.org wrote in 2000: And in Tulsa, Oklahoma:  The strangers who entered the elementary schools were LPN nurses assigned to the schools to take blood samples and perform genital exams on behalf of the Head Start program that is associated with the schools. The great majority of the children were of African-American or Hispanic descent. Ostensibly, the nurses were looking for signs of child abuse or other health problems among the youngsters. http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=76
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Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Backward Legacy of Progressivism;


Icicles form on a lake during ice-out season
[Following is what happens when the 20% of Americans who are liberals control all Americans, from the AP]: The historic $38 billion in budget cuts resulting from at-times hostile bargaining between Congress and the Obama White House were accomplished in large part by pruning money left over from previous years, using accounting sleight of hand and going after programs President Barack Obama had targeted anyway.
Such moves permitted Obama to save favorite programs - Pell grants for poor college students, health research and "Race to the Top" aid for public schools, among others - from Republican knives, according to new details of the legislation released Tuesday morning.
And big holes in foreign aid and Environmental Protection Agency accounts were patched in large part. Republicans also gave up politically treacherous cuts to the Agriculture Department's food inspection program.
As a result of the legerdemain, Obama was able to reverse many of the cuts passed by House Republicans in February when the chamber approved a bill slashing this year's budget by more than $60 billion.  Instead, the cuts that actually will make it into law are far tamer, including cuts to earmarks, unspent census money, leftover federal construction funding, and $2.5 billion from the most recent renewal of highway programs that can't be spent because of restrictions set by other legislation. Another $3.5 billion comes from unused spending authority from a program providing health care to children of lower-income families.  http://apnews.myway.com/article/20110412/D9MI4KNG1.html

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Google writes: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) talks about how he enjoys hearing the pledge of allegiance at the beginning of the Senate session, however does not say "under God." Instead, he says "one nation, indivisible." 
The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.  http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5il-7COiRQUJ9kbLkZ3gg4nrlac5Q?docId=CNG.dcd81b51497966fd4c6461748e63e3ee.921
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From Politico: The language in the short-term budget agreement seeks to put four of President Barack Obama's policy czars out of jobs — those appointed to assist the president on health care, climate change, autos and manufacturing, and urban affairs.
The catch: At least three of those four czars have already moved out of the czar jobs.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53001.html#ixzz1JLmowqPt
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The Week reports, from the Wall Street Journal:  "Progressive government is obsolete," said NYC Deputy Mayor.  A century ago, progressives created a system of rigid civil-service rules to block "the cronyism and corruption" in city and state governments.  The goal was to protect "the least fortunate members of society" from the abuses of the rich and powerful.  While that was necessary then, "the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction," and now civil-service rules and public unions are the enemy of the public and the poor.  In NYC seniority rules force us to base any  layoffs on when a public worker was hired, not on whether he or she does a good job.  This make dismissing bad apples int he Big Apple all but impossible - including bad teachers dragging down public schools.  The city must pour $8.4 billion from its operating expenses budget to fill a hole in employee pension obligations.  The result?  Less money for hospital care, homeless shelters and cops for crime-ridden neighborhoods.
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Has it occurred to those who want to raise the tax rates for the working "rich" who earn all of $250,0000 that they are the rising from lower tax brackets workers?  The truly "rich" live off their dividends, not their salaries, and their wealth is hidden away from the tax man, some of them not even working for a salary.  They will not be affected, but the up and comer "rich" will be. 
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Fox News reports: A J.Crew ad that shows a top designer painting her young son’s toenails neon pink has some parents and doctors seeing red.
This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity,” psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow wrote in a FoxNews.com Health column about the ad.  Media Research Center’s Erin Brown agreed, calling the ad “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.”  [Who was it who just a few weeks ago ran an ad for the sale of push-up bras for 8 yrs. old.  You can make this stuff up!  Beware the culture degraders!]
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Judicial Watch according to the Examiner has just posted the bounty from their latest Freedom of Information request, this time targeting,  the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “education” campaign for Obamacare: The documents include a Acquisition Plan entitled, “Independent Government Cost Estimate,” that sets a $200 million spending limit for televisions, radio, print and online communications.

The Ogilvy Group appears to be a big winner of HHS directed tax dollars collecting $4 million just for the creation of Healthcare.gov and its sister Spanish language site. A “Statement of Work” in the documents reads:

 Attitudes, feelings, values, needs, desires, behaviors and beliefs all play a part in the individual’s decision to accept information and make a behavioral change. It is by understanding the importance of these characteristics that health and program-related messages can be targeted to the beneficiary in effective ways.
“Health and program-related message” designed to “make a behavioral change” in individuals. If this isn’t taxpayer paid for propaganda, what is?  [So against our strong objections, using bribes to get their one-party votes, Obamacare was passsed.  And now we taxpayers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to be brainwashed by the same government to want a NULL and VOID law.  Sounds about right.]
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/obamacare-s-200-million-propaganda-campaign-reveled#ixzz1JOsx4RHk
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Fox News reports: Owe thousands in back taxes and need to get out of the country? No problem. Under current law, the State Department can't withhold a passport over unpaid taxes. But that could change, if lawmakers decide to run with the findings of a new government report that suggests Uncle Sam could recoup billions by blocking delinquent Americans from getting passports until they settle their debts to the IRS. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/12/study-suggests-feds-recoup-billions-unpaid-taxes-withholding-passports/?test=latestnews
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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Consequences of Bankruptcy for America; TSA Special Program is a Failure; White House Withholding Evidence on Fort Hood Jihad; Union "Rallies"; BO Regrets Vote; AZ Law Still Blocked; 16 Targeted for Recall in Wisconsin; Az Councilman Threated by AFSCME union

Five things that might happen if America goes bankrupt, according to Redstate:
1) Your life savings could be reduced to nothing almost overnight. Inflation is a fact of life. As Thomas Sowell has noted, "As of 1998, a $100 bill would not buy as much as a $20 bill would buy in the 1960's." That's under normal circumstances.
2) Your taxes will skyrocket. We've been conned into thinking that we can fund a massive government on the backs of the rich. We cannot tax the rich enough to pay off our debt or even enough to keep the government going long-term. Even if we could, the rich have the resources to flee the country for greener pastures if they're being taxed into oblivion. The middle class? Not so much.
3) Your life could be in danger. If the government goes bankrupt, you'll have an extremely angry, confused, and frustrated populace that has little faith in its leaders -- combined with a horrific economy and a reduced ability of the government to keep order. Under those circumstances, widespread rioting and violent crime seem entirely plausible.
4) Your payments from the government will dramatically decrease or stop altogether.
5) You will have a dramatically reduced standard of living. http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/04/12/5_things_that_will_happen_to_you_when_america_goes_bankrupt/page/full/ 
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Examiner.com writes: On Thursday, U.S. Congress members on the Homeland Security Committee led by Rep. Peter King (R-NY) obtained an important report from the Government Accountability Office on aviation security and it proved to be a disturbing document.  The Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program to identify persons who may pose a risk to aviation security.
"Years after implementing a costly passenger screening program, the Homeland Security agency responsible for protecting the nation’s transportation system failed to detect terrorists at U.S. airports on nearly two dozen occasions," according to Tom Fitton, President of Judicial Watch.  In 2010 SPOT cost taxpayers nearly $212 million and the Obama Administration wants $232 million for it this year. 
It gets better. Most of the airports where terrorists boarded planes rank among the top 10 highest risk on the TSA’s Airport Threat Assessment list.  “the TSA deployed its behavior detection program nationwide before first determining whether there was a scientifically valid basis for the program.” http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/airport-snafu-terror-suspects-compromise-security
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American Thinker opines: We have been hearing for years that the White House is withholding evidence on the Fort Hood jihadi, Major Nidal Malik Hasan.  Now comes direct confirmation of this from Hasan's own lawyer On March 30, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the outgoing commanding general at Fort Hood, granted a request from John Galligan, Hasan's lawyer, to delay the trial until late April.  Galligan, however, disclaims responsibility for all the delays, blaming them on none other than Barack Hussein Obama.  
Even worse, in October 2010, a soldier at Fort Hood who caught Hasan's jihad murders in two videos on his cell phone camera was ordered by his commanding officer to delete both videos.
This is unacceptable.  An army officer ordered the destruction of evidence in a jihadist attack on American soldiers?  The officer should be on trial for obstruction of justice. 
Yet Obama has continued to withhold evidence in the Fort Hood jihadist attack and, as Galligan has just revealed, continues to shield the Muslim terroristArmy Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. in the bloody aftermath of the Fort Hood jihad was that "speculation could potentially heighten backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers and what happened at Fort Hood was a tragedy, but I believe it would be an even greater tragedy if our diversity becomes a casualty here." http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/obamas_fort_hood_jihadist.html
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Redstate opines: Last year, Barack Obama formed a Deficit Reduction Commission. The Commission’s report came out and Barack Obama promptly treated it like it was an illegitimate child worthy of being shunned.
The White House did not mention it. During Obama’s State of the Union address he glossed over and ignored the panel. He punted on every significant issue.
Fast forward to last week. Congressman Paul Ryan introduced his “Path to Prosperity.” Even Democrats were calling Paul Ryan “courageous” for his willingness to step out there. The chairmen of the Deficit Commission, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, praised Ryan’s leadership. Many people noted Barack Obama’s absence from the debate.
Saxby Chambliss gave away the game in an interview with the Atlanta Journal. He said, in part, “[Y]ou’ve got to have enough money to run the government, and then you’ve got to have excess money to start paying down on that debt.”
What we know of the Chambliss-Warner plan is that while entitlements will be reformed and the tax code simplified, restructuring programs, entitlements, and taxes will involve keeping Washington at the center of all reforms.  http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/04/12/its-what-happens-when-the-stupid-party-and-evil-party-get-together/
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Redstate, on union thugs: Over the weekend, thousands of union workers crowded in Chicago’s Daley Plaza to show their solidarity(!) with their union comrades in Wisconsin.
According to the Chicago Sun Times
Laborers, carpenters, electricians, machinists, sheet metal workers, police officers, firefighters, teachers, actors, writers and pharmacists from Illinois and surrounding states marched from corners of the Loop, waving pro-union banners and chanting “We are one.”
What? No mention of the Communists there to rally with their union brothers?
We have noticed an alarming message, prevalent at every single left wing protest we have attended this year in Chicago and the Midwest. While each protest has an official message of a seemingly less alarming cause, such as; Anti-War, Anti-Deportation or “We Are One” with “Union Solidarity”, there is also an extremely disturbing trend of blatant and obvious promotion of a revolutionary transformation of America into a new socialist or communist type of economic system.
What was even more disturbing to us, was the amount of young children brought to the protest with their parents, holding signs which prominently advocate for a new alternative economic system in America, and being taught what we believe is a very “un-American” message, by the reoccurring theme these Chicago protests contain. Communist protesters at this rally even claim they are very patriotic for their advocacy to end capitalism in America.  http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2011/04/11/we-are-one-unions-and-communists-rally-in-chicago/
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Yahoo news reports: The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama regrets his vote as a senator in 2006 against raising the debt limit — the same kind of increase he's now pressuring Congress to approve.
Obama "thinks it was a mistake," presidential spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. "He realizes now that raising the debt ceiling is so important to the health of this economy and the global economy that it is not a vote that, even when you are protesting an administration's policies, you can play around with."  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110411/ap_on_re_us/us_obama_debt_limit
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ABC News reports: A federal appeals court today blocked the enforcement of key provisions of Arizona's immigration law, considered one of the toughest in the nation. A central provision of the law requires police officers to ask for immigration papers if they have a reasonable suspicion that the person they have stopped, detained or arrested is in the country illegally. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/arizona-immigration-law-enforcement-blocked-circuit-court/story?id=13350124
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The Washington Times reports: Sixteen state senators — eight Republicans and eight Democrats — have been targeted by recall committees stemming from the contentious budget-reform debate in March. That’s half of the 33-member Senate, and it might have been more but for a state law that prohibits recalls against first-year legislators.
Their crimes? The Republicans voted in favor of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget, which scaled back collective bargaining for state workers. The Democrats tried to block the vote by fleeing to neighboring Illinois. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/11/campaigns-recall-wisconsin-senators-unprecedented/
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Az Central reports: As state lawmakers prepare this week to consider a bill that could threaten city jobs, the Phoenix councilman who penned the legislation has found himself in the middle of political and personal attacks.
City Councilman Sal DiCiccio said he has been receiving threatening messages from a fax number tied to a public-employee union.
Another shows a silhouette of DiCiccio's head in the middle of a dartboard with the words "Aiming for you" written underneath.
Transmission information on the faxes shows the messages were sent from AFSCME 2960's number and accompanied by cover sheets bearing the union's official letterhead.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/04/12/20110412phoenix-councilman-sal-diciccio-bills.html#ixzz1JJGAltum
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Monday, April 11, 2011

Obama's Libyan Mission; The Debate Has Changed; George Soros' Agenda; National Labor Relations Board Places Union-promoting Ad on Google; Royal Wedding & Olynpics Targeted by Terrorists; Obama Decries Loss of Anonymity; Judicial Watch Victory in AZ; Donald Trump Worries White House; Our Planned Parenthood Dollars;

The Washington Times writes about the coming ground war in Libya: The administration’s real “mission accomplished” was making sure Mr. Obama abandoned his global leadership role as quickly as possible. America’s rush to the door is the root of the current problem. Mr. Obama’s original concept for intervention was little more than a bumper-sticker slogan, “protect Libyan civilians.” There was no evident strategic concept and no obvious planning for second- and third-order consequences once force was employed. Coalition military forces did what they were ordered to do, but this also created the current stalemate on the ground. Since Mr. Obama emphasized his lack of interest in leading the effort beyond a few days, it may well be that the White House considered such planning unnecessary. Those phases of the conflict would be someone else’s problem.
Oil prices are soaring, and domestic gasoline prices have risen every day since coalition military intervention began - spiking 6 percent in 19 days. Mr. Obama’s response, a snarky comment about Americans trading in their current cars for higher-gas-mileage models, was not his finest moment.
On top of all this, the humanitarian situation in Libya may become worse than it was before the intervention began.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/apr/8/americas-coming-ground-war-in-libya/
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Yahoo reports: Republican conservatives were the chief winners in the budget deal that forced Democrats to accept historic spending cuts they strongly opposed. Emboldened by last fall's election victories, fiscal conservatives have changed the debate in Washington. The question no longer is whether to cut spending, but how deeply. Rarely mentioned is the idea of higher taxes to lower the deficit. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110410/ap_on_re_us/us_spending_fights_analysis;_ylt=AuerEYemN5Pb1ofAM7CR61Gs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTN2ODhlM2dsBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNDEwL3VzX3NwZW5kaW5nX2ZpZ2h0c
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The Washington Examiner opines: Up in New Hampshire this weekend at Bretton Woods, the Institute for New Economic Thinking is convening a very important conference, "CRISIS and RENEWAL: International Political Economy at the Crossroads."
George Soros, by the way, is funding this initiative to the tune of $50 million whereby 200 academic, business and government policy leaders focus on "establishing new international rules" and "reform the currency system."
Maybe that's why President Obama is cool as a cucumber -- spending nearly a billion to invade Libya without breaking a sweat despite the fact we are broke, and skipping town to campaign for his 2012 re-election in the middle of tense budget negotiations. 
At the peak of the crisis during the record surge in October 2008, 70 percent of the $110.7 billion borrowed went to foreign banks.
These disclosures - contained in Fed documents released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request - will surely prompt a re-examination of the risks U.S. taxpayers bear because of the Fed's role in global financial markets.

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Big Government opines: There is no escaping the pro-union tone included as part of some of the advertising material President Obama’s labor attorneys have placed on Google. That should be a no go for anyone serving on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which is responsible for investigating allegations of unfair labor practices. However, it has been evident for some time the NLRB is out to do the bidding of union bosses who are now working to reshape public policy without congressional consent.
The National Right to Work Legal Foundation attorneys have expressed concern that the NLRB’s ad buys publicized information about workers’ rights to organize or join a union without providing equally important information about the rights of employees to refrain from union membership or eject unwanted unions from their workplaces.
“We’ve raised persistent questions about the impartiality of the NLRB that have yet to be addressed.
Craig Becker, a recess appointee to the Board, previously served as an attorney to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). He has also argued that the Board has the authority to implement major policy changes without congressional approval. http://biggovernment.com/kmooney/2011/04/09/national-labor-relations-board-hit-with-foia-requests-over-google-ads/
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Patriot Update reports: Anjem Choudary, the British Muslim imam who advocates Sharia law for Britain and calls British soldiers murderers, says the royal wedding in London April 29 is a likely target for a terrorist attack.
Quoting Choudary, London’s Daily Mail reports that the forthcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton might well be a target, and Choudary won’t likely bat an eye if it happens. Choudary, an orthodox Muslim, has repeatedly and publicly justified Koran injunctions that “infidels,” meaning anyone who is not a Muslim, must die.
Choudary was nothing if not candid about what the royals can expect, the Daily Mail reported:
All Muslims should stay away from the public gatherings like the Royal wedding and the Olympics because there is a very high likelihood of an attack.  http://patriotupdate.com/5343/imam-choudary-royals-may-be-attacked-at-wedding
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The Columbus Dispatch writes: President Barack Obama wants you to know that he is not a golf addict. 
He spends so much time unwinding on the links because security restrictions mean he can't go out for long walks or go to the carwash or the grocery store.

The president said he loves his life in the White House but doesn't enjoy some of the ways of Washington, such as the "kabuki dance" among political partisans before serious policy discussions begin. He also regrets his loss of personal privacy.
"I just miss - I miss being anonymous," he said at the meeting in the White House. "I miss Saturday morning, rolling out of bed, not shaving, getting into my car with my girls, driving to the supermarket, squeezing the fruit, getting my car washed, taking walks. I can't take a walk." http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2011/04/09/presidential-dream-long-walk-in-the-park.html?sid=101
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Right Side News reports: This week, let’s start with a big Judicial Watch victory.
On Wednesday, April 5, our client, the Arizona State Legislature, was granted permission to intervene as a defendant in the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit against SB 1070, Arizona’s get-tough illegal immigration law. Judge Susan Bolton granted Judicial Watch’s motion over the objections of the Obama DOJ.  We also filed an “Answer in Intervention” with the court on behalf of the Arizona State Legislature. And here are our main arguments:
  • “[The Arizona Legislature] has a right to protect its citizens.”
  • “Arizona has a right to self defense under the Constitution, particularly when the federal government fails to protect it.”
  • “[The Arizona Legislature] complied with all relevant federal, state, and local laws, including the Arizona Constitution and the [U.S.] Constitution” in crafting SB 1070.
  • “SB 1070 is not preempted by federal law or the Constitution. SB 1070 does not conflict with federal law, does not constitute an improper regulation of immigration, and Congress has not fully occupied the field.” http://www.rightsidenews.com/2011040913232/us/politics-and-economics/t.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=807fb85a22-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
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The NY Daily News reports: The White House stopped just short of dismissing Donald Trump as a clown Sunday - calling him a "sideshow" act with "zero chance" of becoming president.
Trump countered that he represents Obama's biggest nightmare in the 2012 race and that the White house is running scared.
"They are very concerned because I am challenging him as to whether or not he was born in this country where there is a real doubt."
"He should focus on properly dealing with the Chinese, the Saudis and all of the other nations that are ripping off the United States instead of making up quotes about Donald Trump," the "Apprentice" host blustered on. "Barack Obama has done a terrible job as president." [Don't mess with the Donald.]
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/04/10/2011-04-10_trumps_birther_antics_means_he_has_zero_chance_to_be_president_plouffe
html#ixzz1JDPrxl6F
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Human Event reports: Your tax dollars at work... Funding abortions and democrat campaigns. Planned Parenthood spent more than a million dollars last year to get democrats elected. 
In Human Event's words, not mine: In 2010, Planned Parenthood and a California affiliate together spent more than $700,000 on federal lobbying efforts, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal lobbying records finds.  
Planned Parenthood's political influence efforts hardly stop at lobbying. The organization's political action committee, for example, donated more than $148,000 to federal candidates -- almost all Democrats -- during the 2010 election cycle. The PAC spent more than $443,000 overall.
Republicans voted to strip the abortion group from receiving $363 million in taxpayer funds but senate democrats put it back in the budget, after all, it's money for their reelection.  [At the very least, can we not subtract monies spent on lobbying, protesting, and campaign donations from what they are getting from we the taxpayers?  They are using our money to go against our will.]  http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=42854
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