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Heavy-Handed Politics

"€œGod willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world
without the United States and Zionism."€ -- Iran President Ahmadi-Nejad

Saturday, July 04, 2009

New data indicate recovery not near

9.5 percent jobless

The end of the longest recession in recent history got pushed further off last month as employers eliminated nearly a half-million more jobs, unemployment rose to its highest level in 26 years and wage growth came to a standstill. Read more.

Friday, July 03, 2009

ARE THEY IDIOTS, OR DO THEY HAVE ANOTHER AGENDA?

By Richard Rahn

Why did a bare majority (219-212) of the members of the U.S. Congress vote for the largest tax increase in American history this past Friday, under the claim it was a vote to save the climate?

There is no consensus in the scientific community about how much climate change, other than the normal cycles, is taking place, nor how severe it will be, and how much man-made CO2 is responsible.

It is known that the legislation will have a negligible effect on global CO2 emissions, particularly since the big polluters, such as China and India, are not playing ball. It is also known that the "cap and trade" system that the legislation calls for has been a failure in Europe.

In sum, serious people understand the legislation will hurt the U.S. economy, reduce the standard of living and yet not accomplish its claimed intent; therefore, why were so many members of Congress willing to vote for it?

Are they idiots, or do they have another agenda?

"In Honduras, Mr. Obama is intervening on the wrong side. But if you take him at his word (a dangerous thing to do), the wonder is that he is intervening at all. This is the guy, you'll remember, who was so concerned about being perceived as "meddling" in Iran's internal affairs that he, alone among Western leaders, refused to denounce the blatantly stolen election in Iran, or to express support for those who protested the theft.

"Mr. Obama is now doing with regard to what he has refused to do with regard to Iran: organizing an international coalition to pressure the country to reverse course.

There is a disturbing consistency to Mr. Obama's apparent inconsistency on Honduras and Iran. In both the case where he has intervened, and in the case where he hasn't, he has taken the side of anti-American dictators (in Mr. Zelaya's case, a wannabe dictator) over the vast majority of their people."

-- Jack Kelly, columnist

It’s the Benefits, Stupid!



By Robert Ringer

"Sadly, most professed conservatives today are to the left of FDR."
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"Liberty is man’s natural state, tyranny his natural enemy"

As the poll numbers for the Duplicitous Despot have finally begun to slip a bit, conservative smiles are cautiously surfacing. Could it be that the walking dead (read, “centrists”) are starting to realize that 2 + 2 actually equals 5, not 4?

Not so fast. Optimism is a good thing, but realism is even better. There are a number of obstacles that still have to be overcome before liberty lovers can begin celebrating a return to our once-cherished state of semi-freedom.

Obstacle No. 1: The straight-faced deviousness of the Duplicitous Despot. Most.....

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Dick Cheney: Troop Pullout May Waste U.S. Sacrifices in Iraq

Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday expressed concern that the pending pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq's cities could reverse the military progress made by American and Iraqi forces there since the George W. Bush administration's 2007 surge.

"I hope the Iraqis can deal with it," Mr. Cheney told The Washington Times' "America's Morning News" radio show. "At some point, they have to stand on their own, but I would not want to see the U.S. waste all the tremendous sacrifice that has gotten us to this point."


Rasmussen Poll: Obama's Popularity Plunging
The latest Rasmussen daily tracking poll shows that President Barack Obama for the first time has a negative approval index — more Americans disapprove of his job performance than approve


Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Who Railroaded the Amtrak Inspector General?
By Michelle Malkin

Watchdogs are an endangered species in the Age of Obama. The latest government ombudsman to get the muzzle: Amtrak Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. The longtime veteran employee was abruptly “retired” this month—just as the government-subsidized rail service faces mounting complaints about its meddling in financial audits and probes. It’s another case of watchdog out – Obama lapdog in.

Obama’s One-World, America-Last Government
By Ben Shapiro

Barack Obama views the world through the lens of his own leadership—if he can simply co-opt the leadership of every ideological group on the map, then he can avoid all conflict. How can he cultivate followers among America’s enemies? By siding against America, of course. Take the case of Honduras…

Justice Department: U.S. Border ‘Underprotected,’ ‘Easily Breached’
By Terence P. Jeffrey

Our president and congressional leaders now seek to control Earth’s climate by capping carbon emissions in the United States—even as they fail to perform their constitutional duty by capping the flow of contraband crossing our border from Mexico.

Federal agents hunt for guns one house at a time
Chronicle | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
In front of a run-down shack in north Houston, federal agents step from a government sedan into 102-degree heat and face a critical question: How can the woman living here buy four high-end handguns in one day?

The house is worth $35,000. A screen dangles by a wall-unit air conditioner. Porch swing slats are smashed, the smattering of grass is flattened by cars and burned yellow by sun


 Arizona Senate OKs Immigration Enforcement Bill
CNSNews.com
Phoenix (AP) - Arizona has moved a step closer to becoming the only state to criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants through an expansion of its trespassing law.

A 16-11 vote by the Arizona Senate early Wednesday would criminalize the presence of illegal immigrants in the state. The measure must still be approved in the House and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer.


ICE and ATF to Share Intelligence to Stem Flow of Guns and Drugs Between U.S. and Mexico
(CNSNews.com) - A top official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) admits that drug cartels have “gatekeepers” who control part of the U.S.-Mexico border, and that securing the southwest border to stem the flow of illegal activities is something that ICE is devoting “time and effort” thinking about.


Democrats’ Cap-and-Trade Bill Creates ‘Retrofit’ Policy for Homes and Businesses
(CNSNews.com) – The 1,400-page cap-and-trade legislation pushed through by House Democrats contains a new federal policy that residential, commercial, and government buildings be retrofitted to increase energy efficiency, leaving it up to the states to figure out exactly how to do that.


Obama Administration Not Ruling Out Tax on Health Care Benefits
(CNSNews.com) – Critics of President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan believe that he is backtracking on his campaign pledge not to tax health benefits. The administration, meanwhile, is not giving a strong reassurance to the contrary.


GOP: STAND YOUR GROUND By DICK MORRIS

Only the Senate and House Republicans can save Obama now by compromising and lending his extremist legislation the veneer of bipartisanship in order to remove it as a political issue.

If the likes of GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and others refuse to go along with Obama on healthcare and on cap-and-trade, they will force him to pass both programs as one-party bills. Not only is it possible that as public support runs out on these measures he will fail even to get 50 votes to pass them, but it is likely that even if they go through, they doom his administration to perpetual unpopularity.

Obama is, quite simply, stuck with these programs as a result of his campaign promises. But they will become larger and larger burdens to carry as their unpopularity increases. Read more.

EA: The Return of Classical Greek Terrorism | STRATFOR
Periodic attacks by anarchists and left-wing militant groups in Greece date back to 1975, when the emerging N-17 shot and killed CIA Station Chief Richard Welch in Athens. In 2009, however, militant attacks have become more frequent and lethal. There have been 16 attacks so far in 2009, compared to 10 in 2008 and 4 in 2007,


Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood leaders suspected of having ties to Hamas
CAIRO — Egypt has cracked down on its Islamic opposition said to be linked to Hamas.

Egyptian police have targeted the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood. On June 28, three leading members, including a senior union official, were arrested in the Cairo area.


Lebanon reports Israeli buildup along border
NICOSIA — The Israeli military is conducting an air and ground force buildup along the border with Lebanon, according to Lebanese security sources.


Obama's obsolete Iran policy: From 'audacity of hope' to 'People of Iran, be well'

World Tribune — Daily Brief
Wall Street Journal

From left, White House Seniors Advisers David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, take their seat before the start of President Barack Obama's news conference at the White House, on June 23. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

The audacity of hope gives way to the timidity of realism.


Congress moves to restore missile defense aid to Israel cut by administration
WASHINGTON — Congress has ordered a reversal of cuts in U.S. military aid ordered by President Barack Obama.


The overlooked geopolitics in U.S. news coverage about Honduras
By Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media

The so-called “military coup” in Honduras was a successful effort by Honduran patriots to preserve their constitutional system of government from an international alliance of communists and socialists backed by Iran. Not surprisingly, America’s Marxist President has come down on the anti-American side.


Obama-backed plan volunteers Americans to pay global taxes
By Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy in Media

The United Nations is proceeding, with President Obama’s acquiescence, to implement a global plan to create a new international socialist order financed by global taxes on the American people.


Monday, June 29, 2009

ON ACHIEVEMENT

"Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution -- or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement." --novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

ON OBAMA-CARE

"Why do we need President Obama's big-bang health-care reform at all? What's the real agenda here? If it's really to cover the truly uninsured, a much cheaper, targeted, small-ball approach would do the trick. But on the other hand, maybe the real goal is a larger, ultra-liberal plan aimed at a government takeover of the U.S. health system. ... According to the U.S. Census Bureau, we don't have 47 million folks who are truly uninsured. When you take out college kids plus those earning $75,000 or more who choose not to sign up for a health-care plan, roughly 20 million people are removed from the list of uninsured. After that, you can remove the 10 million who are not U.S. citizens and the 11 million who are eligible for SCHIP and Medicaid but for some reason have not signed up for those programs. So that leaves only 10 million to 15 million people among the long-term uninsured. Yes, they need help. And yes, they should get it. But not with mandatory universal coverage, or new government-backed insurance plans, or massive tax increases. And certainly not with the Canadian-European-style nationalization that has always been the true goal of the Obama administration and congressional Democrats. Instead, we can give the truly uninsured vouchers or debit cards that will allow for choice and coverage, and even health savings accounts for retirement wealth. ... Knocking down profits and telling people what to do because government planners know best, right? Wrong. Absolutely wrong." --economist Lawrence Kudlow

ON GOVERNMENT, ENVIRONMENT, AND CAP & TRADE

"The Heritage Foundation's senior policy analyst for energy and environment, Ben Lieberman, has produced a stellar paper on [the cap and trade bill]... Based on available evidence and analysis, Lieberman concludes 'that both the seriousness and imminence of anthropogenic global warming has been overstated.' But even if we assume the problem is as bad as the hysterics claim, the proposed bill 'would have a trivial impact on future concentrations of greenhouse gases. ...[It] would reduce the earth's future temperature by 0.1 to 0.2 degree C by 2100, an amount too small to even notice.' The bill would bind only the U.S., not other nations, many of which, like China, are 'polluting' at a record pace. Also note that many European nations that have already imposed similar emissions restrictions have seen their emissions rise. But what would the costs be for this quixotic legislative paean to earth goddess Gaia? Contrary to the flawed analyses being advanced by the bill's proponents, Heritage estimates that the direct costs would be an average of $829 per year for a household of four, totaling $20,000 between 2012 and 2035. But when considering the total cost as reflected in the cost of allocations and offsets, the average cost to that family unit would be $2,979 annually from 2012 to 2035. Adding insult and hypocrisy to injury, the bill would hurt the poor the worst because they would bear a disproportionate burden of the higher energy costs the bill would trigger. Now here's the kicker. The bill is also projected to harm the manufacturing sector and cause estimated 'net' job losses, averaging about 1.15 million between 2012 and 2030. The overall gross domestic product losses would average $393 billion per year from 2012 to 2035, and the cumulative loss in gross domestic product would be $9.4 trillion by 2035. The national debt for a family of four would increase by $115,000 by 2035. Enough already. Throw the bums out." --columnist David Limbaugh

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"The EPA is now considering designating CO2 a dangerous pollutant. The regulation of essential elements of life by our government scares me. It should scare us all. I am devastated by the notion that our own government founded on freedom would regulate and control the most fundamental aspects of life on earth. Regulation on life's important things is certainly tyranny.... If we regulate carbon dioxide or water, we will all be subject to the regulations because we cannot avoid producing both and releasing them into the environment. Me and my children, and yours too, will become polluters as we simply live and respire. I cannot comprehend it. ...[C]arbon dioxide is the basis of the energy cycle for life. Without sufficient carbon dioxide plants stop photosynthesis. Without plants, the whole chain breaks down, and we all die. ... Government stepping beyond its basic essentials always harms more than it helps. Government can never be efficient. It is not in its nature. The scorpion stings because it is a scorpion. Government oppresses because it is the governing power. Our founding fathers tried to control the beast, and it can probably not be done better, so do not thwart the controls. The controls are to be on the government, not we the people. Reduce the EPA, not carbon dioxide. In the end, that will save our children." --columnist Lonnie Schubert