The Sunday 'Report;' 07/24/2011

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Warren Buffett’s Worst Investment
July 8, 2011
By Kevin D. Williamson
Barack Obama must be the worst investment Warren Buffett has ever made.
    The billionaire investor famously supported Barack Obama, who in turn used Buffett as his amulet of normalcy: What, me radical? Tell it to this rich white guy from Omaha. One of the lamest things I can remember having seen in politics transpired in 2008 when Obama was challenged on his radical associations and used Buffett to change the subject. His phrasing was memorably odd: “Let me tell you who I associate with. On economic policy, I associate with Warren Buffett and former Fed chairman Paul Volcker. If I’m interested in figuring out my foreign policy, [Editorial aside: “If”?] I associate myself with my running mate, Joe Biden, or with Dick Lugar, the Republican ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations.”   So, here’s the wisdom of Associate Buffett [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271397/warren-buffett-s-worst-investment-kevin-d-williamson

Arkansas town attacking citizen’s First Amendment rights
by The Right Scoop
Jul 16, 2011
    This story sounds like something you would hear out of China, not the United States. In Gould, Arkansas the city council is planning to pass an ordinance that forbids any group from forming or gathering that will discuss city matters without first getting city council approval – a clear violation of the First Amendment.  They mayor is [....]
http://www.therightscoop.com/arkansas-town-attacking-citizens-first-amendment-rights/

CHART OF THE DAY: WAIT, Is August 10 The Real Debt Ceiling Deadline?
by Joe Weisenthal
Jul. 22, 2011
This might get some buzz in the next few days.
    A report from Barclays (via FT Alphaville) suggests that based on slightly higher-than-expected tax receipts, Geithner might have another week before he slams into the ceiling. He might have as long as August 10.  This would be a double-edge sword since A) it buys the Treasury more time while B) convincing more Congressmen that all deadlines are phony. [....]
http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-august-10-debt-ceiling-deadline-2011-7?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Money%20Game%20Chart%20Of%20The%20Day&utm_campaign=Moneygame_COTD_072211

Facebook Grants Law Enforcement Detailed Access To User Accounts
July 15, 2011
by Marcy Bonebright
    Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at an advertising event in 2007. It was recently revealed that Facebook is increasingly granting law enforcement officials detailed access to accounts, without the users’ knowledge or consent.Facebook users beware: Law enforcement officials have been increasingly serving warrants to the social network giant, often gaining access to profiles without the users’ knowledge.
    Reuters reported Tuesday that its review of the Westlaw legal database revealed “that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals’ Facebook accounts. Many of the warrants requested a laundry list of personal data such as messages, status updates, links to videos and photographs, calendars of future and past events, ‘Wall postings’ and ‘rejected Friend requests.’”  The warrants reportedly often [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/news/facebook-grants-law-enforcement-detailed-access-to-user-accounts-28407/?eiid=&rmid=2011_07_15b_PLA_[P11368526]&rrid=387432349

GOP-leaning group targets House Democrats with ads
HENRY C. JACKSON, Associated Press
July 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative group linked with Republican strategist Karl Rove has launched an ad campaign targeting 10 vulnerable House Democrats up for reelection in 2012.  Crossroads GPS will run ads for the next two weeks targeting Reps. Mike Ross of Arkansas, Jim Matheson of Utah, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Heath Shuler of North Carolina, Bill Owens and Tim Bishop of New York, Ben Chandler of Kentucky, Leonard Boswell of Iowa, Jerry Costello of Illinois and Lois Capps of California.  The ads target lawmakers on tax and spending issues and for their support of President Barack Obama's policies, including [....]
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/GOP-leaning-group-targets-House-Democrats-with-ads-1470233.php

Hollywood stars open wallets for owe-bama
Big-name movie stars are among the donors to Ruler's 2012 reelection bid.
Reuters by MACKENZIE WEINGER
7/17/11
[Blogger Note:  An 'A List' of performers I've suddenly found "not-so-entertaining;" thus not on my 'viewing list!']
"Clown Prince" owe-bama’s latest fundraising report resembles an A-list of Hollywood stars, with donations from some of the top celebrities in the entertainment industry.  Among the more than 550,000 donors to the "Clown Prince's" 2012 reelection bid were big-name movie stars including actors George Clooney, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks (Sad loss; I've enjoyed ALL Hanks' offerings) and his wife Rita Wilson. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, also gave to the 2012 campaign, according to the latest Federal Election Commission report. Jennifer Garner and Gwyneth Paltrow both contributed under their married names —Affleck and Martin, respectively.  “30 Rock” actor Alec Baldwin (NO loss, here!) [....]
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59184.html#ixzz1SQ5GCRJE

Very Local Data-Rochester, N.Y., 14606
Your source for local information.
States • Counties • Cities • Zips
14606 Local Data
Social • Economic • Housing • Media • Discussion
Nearby Cities:  Rochester • North Chili • Spencerport • MoreNearby [....]
http://verylocaldata.com/14606

MILLOY: Show us the bodies, EPA
Green agency uses phony death statistics to justify job-killing rules
By Steve Milloy
The Washington Times
July 20, 2011
    The House will soon vote to (slightly) rein in the Obama Environmental Protection Agency. But this much-needed baby step by Congress will only happen if Republicans have the knowledge and muster the courage to withstand a final bare-knuckles assault by EPA’s enviro allies.  The House Appropriations Committee passed last week the fiscal 2012 EPA budget that would cut the agency’s budget by $1.7 billion - 18 percent - and delay for one year several of its new and/or planned regulatory programs targeting coal-fired electric utilities. It’s hardly landmark legislation but it’s a start.
Troubled by the agency’s high-cost-for-imaginary benefit programs covering emissions of greenhouse gases, mercury, sulfur dioxide and nitrous oxides, the committee’s bill calls for a timeout on the EPA’s rules pending a study [....]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/20/show-us-the-bodies-epa/

The Left Baits A Trap for Us

by Chip Wood
July 22, 2011
    We don’t need a balanced budget amendment.  A lot of good people have fallen for a very bad idea. I’m referring to the notion that a balanced budget amendment will somehow help solve the fiscal disaster our country faces. 
    I just got a promotion from Regnery Publishing, one of my all-time favorite book-publishing companies. I can’t count the number of truly important titles it has issued, from Witness to the whole “politically incorrect guidelines” series. My shelves are filled with things it has done, including numerous best-sellers.  But the most recent email I got from Regnery stopped me short. The subject line read, “Amending the Constitution Is Our Only Hope.”  Our only hope to save our Republic? I hope Regnery doesn’t mean it. Because the amendment process is long, arduous and often unsuccessful. (And frankly, even when it’s successful, it could turn out to be a mistake.)  The subhead continued, “Washington [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/the-left-baits-a-trap-for-us/

Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox:
What is Poverty in the United States Today?
July 18, 2011
by Robert Rector and Rachel Sheffield
Abstract: For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in “poverty,” but the bureau’s definition of poverty differs widely from that held by most Americans. In fact, other government surveys show that most of the persons whom the government defines as “in poverty” are not poor in any ordinary sense of the term. The overwhelming majority of the poor have air conditioning, cable TV, and a host of other modern amenities. They are well housed, have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food, and have met their other basic needs, including medical care. Some poor Americans do experience significant hardships, including temporary food shortages or inadequate housing, but these individuals are a minority within the overall poverty population. Poverty remains an issue of  [....]
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/07/What-is-Poverty?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Texas Rep. Gohmert: Obama's Tactics Are 'Unconscionable'
by SBYnews
July 18, 2011 

    GOP leaders simply need to look at history to realize why they must reject Democratic pleas for tax hikes and focus on spending cuts to reduce the deficit, Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.  Both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were hoodwinked with similar plans that amounted to nothing, he said.  President Barack Obama wants a deal that will not include any spending cuts at all until after the next election. And that means they will never happen, Gohmert said.  Gohmert, whose district covers an area on the Louisiana border, refuted Obama’s claims that many Republicans favor [....]
http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2011/07/texas-rep-gohmert-obamas-tactics-are.html

The Global Fairness Madness

The more we have, the more we begrudge others who have more.
by Victor Davis Hanson
July 18,2011    Whether in the fights over the U.S. debt limit or the rioting in Athens, the common global theme is not poverty in absolute terms, but more often fairness — as in having about the same amount of things as others do.  Here in America, the months-long impasse over the national-debt ceiling continues. President Bush borrowed nearly $5 trillion in eight years. But President Obama easily trumped even that staggering figure with his plan to borrow over $6 trillion in his first four years in office. The architects of his economic policy — Austan Goolsbee, Peter Orszag, Christina Romer, and Larry Summers — have all resigned, and are now either back in tenured academia, making lots of money in the much-criticized revolving door, or writing op-eds about why the president’s plan isn’t working — or all three.  Now Obama is demanding higher taxes [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272093/global-fairness-madness-victor-davis-hanson

The Half-Trillion Plan
by Charles Krauthammer
July 22, 2011 
The House should dare the president to veto this eminently reasonable proposal.
    The debt ceiling looms. Confusion reigns. Schemes abound. We are deep in a hole with, as of now, only three ways out: the McConnell plan, the G6 plan, and the Half-Trillion plan.
● The McConnell essentially punts the issue till after Election Day 2012. A good last resort if nothing else works.
● The G6, proposed by the bipartisan Gang of Six senators, reduces ten-year debt by roughly $4 trillion. It has some advantages, even larger flaws.
● The Half-Trillion raises the debt ceiling by that amount in return for an equal amount of spending cuts. At the current obscene rate of deficit spending — about $100 billion a month — it yields about five months respite before the debt ceiling is reached again.
    In my view, the Half-Trillion is [....]
 http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272463/half-trillion-plan-charles-krauthammer
 
Two More Obama Lies

July 15, 2011
by Chip Wood
    In a single sentence, President Barack Obama told two lies.  Before I get into the main topic today, let me say by way of introduction: I hope every single representative who votes to raise the U.S. debt ceiling has to find a new job next November.  I don’t care what kind of pressure he or she faces; I don’t care how many more lies the Administration and its henchmen tell; I don’t care how spineless and weak-kneed the Republican leadership becomes.
    For this November’s elections, I propose the simplest test in U.S. history: If you vote to burden my children and my children’s children with more debt, then I want you out of office. Period.  I’ve written before about all the bluff, bluster and baloney that politicians and the press have been ladling out on this issue. There’s been enough BS to fertilize every grain crop in the country. (And with the subsidies for ethanol, folks, that’s a lot of fertilizer.)  The latest one to raise my ire came from our Obfuscator in Chief, Barack Obama. I’ve mentioned before how careless our President can be about getting his facts straight. Earlier this year, he told [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/two-more-obama-lies/?eiid=&rmid=2011_07_15b_PLA_[P11368526]&rrid=387432349

Whether The Government Wants Us To Or Not!

July 15, 2011
by Michael Boldin
    Being a Tenther means believing the Federal government is authorized to exercise only those powers that we the people delegated to it in the constitution -- and nothing more.We don’t need no stinkin’ permission to exercise our rights. We need to exercise our rights whether the government wants us to or not.  I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my views with readers of the Personal Liberty Digest™, and am looking forward to doing so as often as possible. So I figured we should start out with a quick introduction.
I’m a proud Tenther.
Rachel Maddow and her ilk would have you believe that this is dangerous. But, I’ll leave that up to you to decide. To me, being a Tenther means I believe the Federal government is authorized to exercise only those powers that we the people delegated to it in the constitution — and nothing more.
Unfortunately, though, for a long time, things have been completely opposite. It’s gotten so bad in recent decades that I believe there’s very little the Federal government does that actually is authorized by the Constitution.
What Do We Do About It?
Do we march on D.C. and demand that the Federal politicians limit their own power?
Do we sue them in court in the hopes that the Federal judges will limit Federal power?
Do we “vote the bums out” and hope that the new bums will reject all that power left to them on a silver platter?
Power, And Some Warnings
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison both warned us that if [....]
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/liberty/whether-the-government-wants-us-to-or-not/?eiid=&rmid=2011_07_15b_PLA_[P11368526]&rrid=387432349

Green, Shovel-Ready Stimulus — 100 Years Ago
There was a time when our nation was capable of large, visionary construction projects.
by Victor Davis Hanson
July 21, 2011
Huntington Lake, Calif. — Our politicians love soaring platitudes followed by little, if any, action. The more Americans are promised shovel-ready stimulus projects, new sources of power, and other fantasies, the more we accept that bureaucracy, regulations, lawsuits, and impact statements will prevent much from ever being done.
    The president himself, after demanding nearly a trillion dollars in borrowed money for his budget, confessed that his “shovel-ready” projects had proved not so shovel-ready after all. Much of the vast sum of borrowed money instead went to subsidize nearly insolvent pension funds, entitlements, and bloated state budgets. Unemployment is still at 9.2 percent, with nearly 50 million people on government-subsidized food stamps — even as American infrastructure is crumbling, the private sector is moribund, and national timidity prevents any new large, visionary construction. Prior generations gave us space projects; ours ends them. Boeing once ruled the skies; now the government sues to stop Boeing from opening a new plant.
    For the way things used to be, consider the Big Creek hydroelectric project, begun here in the central Sierra Nevada mountains of California 100 years ago. It was the nation’s first [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/272325/green-shovel-ready-stimulus-100-years-ago-victor-davis-hanson

Most Voters Fear Debt Deal Will Raise Taxes Too Much, Cut Spending Too Little
Friday, July 22, 2011
    While Washington wrangles over how to avoid defaulting on the government’s massive debt load, voters are worried the final deal will raise taxes too much but won't cut spending enough.  The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters are worried more that Congress and President Obama will [....]
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/july_2011/most_voters_ fear_debt_deal_will_raise_taxes_too_much_cut_spending_too_little

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

By Nathan Barry
July 22, 2009
    There are some things in this world that will never be forgotten, this week’s 40th anniversary of the moon landing for one. But Moore’s Law and our ever-increasing quest for simpler, smaller, faster and better widgets and thingamabobs will always ensure that some of the technology we grew up with will not be passed down the line to the next generation of geeks.  That is, of course, unless we tell them all about the good old days of modems and typewriters, slide rules and encyclopedias …
Audio-Visual Entertainment
1.Inserting a VHS tape into a VCR to watch a movie or to record something.
2.Super-8 movies and cine film of all kinds.
3.Playing music on an audio tape using a personal stereo. See what happens when you give a Walkman to today’s teenager.
4.The number of TV channels being a single digit. I remember it being a massive event when Britain got its fourth channel.
5.Standard-definition, CRT TVs filling up half your living room.
6.Rotary dial televisions with no remote control. You know, the ones where the kids were the remote control.
7.High-speed dubbing.
8.8-track cartridges.
9.Vinyl records. Even today’s DJs are going laptop or CD.
10.Betamax tapes.
11.MiniDisc.
12.Laserdisc: the LP of DVD.
13.Scanning the radio dial and hearing static between stations. (Digital tuners + HD radio b0rk this concept.)
14.Shortwave radio.
15.3-D movies meaning red-and-green glasses.
16.Watching TV when the networks say you should. Tivo and Sky+ are slowing killing this one.
17.That there was a time before ‘reality TV.’
Computers and Videogaming
18.Wires. OK, so they’re not gone yet, but it won’t be long
19.The scream [....]
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-things-your-kids-may-never-know-about/
Va. union drive puts IKEA's global image to a test

Union drive at IKEA plant in US takes aim at Swedish furniture giant's worker-friendly rep
Steve Szkotak, Associated Press
July 23, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- The union attempting to represent workers at IKEA's only U.S. plant is challenging the Swedish furniture giant's vaunted corporate ethos, accusing the retailer of paying its American workers low wages and tolerating unsafe working conditions.  Approximately 320 workers at IKEA's Swedwood Danville plant will vote Wednesday whether to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.  The machinists union has put IKEA's reputation as a labor- and environment-friendly Swedish employer at the forefront of its organizing drive as it attempts to organize workers at the company's subsidiary, Swedwood. They assemble the sleek, low-cost bookshelves and coffee tables that the big-box retailer sells in its distinctive, cheery, blue-and-yellow stores.  IKEA's corporate conduct is guided by its so-called IWAY Standard, which outlines environmental, social and working rules -- an 18-page document governing everything from drinking water supplied to workers to lighting levels to a ban on child labor. The company says [....]
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Va-union-drive-puts-IKEAs-apf-3499864215.html?x=0
Until Next Sunday....