Tuesday, July 31, 2012

This'n'That; July Thirty-First #1; Great for Mediocre

The Liars Bury Hatchet (Sort'a!)
    Although presumably hearburn still exists between them, "Clown Prince" obama and "Slick-Willie" seem to have--at least partially, temporarily--buried the hatchet.  "Slick's" been invited to be the most blusterful blatherer at a predicted 'less-than-packed-house,'in New Black Panther Stadium, Charlotte, N.C.
    With the "Clown Prince" squandering all--albeit, few--opportunities to suck up to his voter base, "Der Slickmeister" is coming to the rescue after some disparaging remarks on the quality of the obama governance.  This is little more than substituting a mediocre professional liar with a really effective professional liar!!  Compare the two:
 
a)  "Clown Prince" obama couldn't convince American entrepreneurs and small business owners, founders--for that matter, even his own socio-fascists--that
"....if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own."
b)  "Clown Prince" obama couldn't convince the American taxpayer, voter, citizen that pissing away tax dollars on unsustainable green energy factories, businesses and jobs (read: Solyndra!) was in the country's best interests and not just political pay-offs to supporters.
c)  "Clown Prince" obama couldn't convince the American taxpayer, voter, citizen that 'killing' parts of the Keystone XL pipeline project was in the country's best interests.
d)  "Slick-Willie" Clinton had the entire country convinced that he didn't 'boink' Monica Lewinsky in the Ovary ...oops, Oval.... Office, right up until the appearance of 'the stain' on the blue dress, to wit:
"....Let me say it again, I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinsky...."
e)  During a March 3, 1995, press conference, "Slick-Willie" told the American people that his administration supported--and budgeted for--an additional 100,000 new police officers in quite convincing fashion.  There never were, never would be, never budgeted for, 100,000 new police officers!
We could go on practically forever with the Clinton 'slick-isms' but it's not necessary, the American people get it!! The American People Get Them!!obamapresentfront


The "Clown Prince" obama record of governance is such an unmitigated failure, there's nothing else on which he can 'hang-his-hat.'  For his first two years as the exalted ruler of America, the "Clown Prince" had a socio-fascist majority in both houses of Congress, and still couldn't get anything passed without complete obfuscation and political pay-offs.  
Anyone remember the 'Cornhusker Kickback?!?' 
landrieuwhore

Anyone remember the $300 Million promised to 'whore-out' Senator Mary Landreau for her vote in support of obamaKare?!?
Is it any wonder there has to be a 'liar substitution' for the "Clown Prince" to continue his 'Reign of Dependency?!?"
Til Nex'Time....
(Images: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41200056@N02/)

allvoices

allvoices

Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Sunday 'Report;' 07/29/2012 (Part #2)

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Tidal wave Obama and USS America
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/tidal-wave-obama-and-uss-america
obama’s Enemies Listhttp://blog.heritage.org/2012/04/20/president-obamas-enemies-list/ Obama’s Enemies List

by Rory Cooper,
herigate.org
April 20, 2012
    In 1971, America was introduced to President Richard Nixon’s “Enemies List.” The President had instructed staff to keep a list of political opponents, and as then-White House Counsel John Dean described it, they would “use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.”  On the list were notable figures such as Paul Newman (actor), Charles Dyson (businessman), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), NPR newsman Daniel Schorr, Morton Halperin, a foreign policy expert and father to political journalist Mark Halperin, and others. This secret list was the subject of justifiable scorn in the midst of the Watergate scandal.
    In 2012, President Obama’s campaign has managed to make Nixon’s list look quaint, legitimate and even routine. This week, on the president’s ominous “Truth Team“ campaign website, his staff listed the names of eight of his likely opponent’s donors. They were listed in this way:
“A closer look at…donors reveals a group of wealthy individuals with less-than-reputable records. Quite a few have been on the wrong side of the law, others have made profits at the expense of so many Americans…”
After each name, the campaign lists deeds that they find objectionable or “less-than-reputable” that mostly boil down to business transactions that included alleged outsourcing or layoffs and involvement in the oil energy industry.
For example: “They also control the … investment firm which bragged about buying automotive accessories manufacturing company in Kansas in 1997 and moving production to Mexico. In 2002, the … group’s Mexico operation decided to outsource to China because China was ‘offering incentives and making it easy to open operations there.’”
Each name was then tweeted out by the @TruthTeam2012 twitter handle with similar charges.
This follows a multi-year effort by the ongoing Obama campaign to vilify specific donors to competing philosophical causes and demands that organizations release lawfully protected donor lists or donors reveal lawfully private and personal financial information. In each of these instances, President Obama has relied on a vast grassroots network to coerce, bully, boycott and vilify individuals lawfully [....]



[Related Content:]
IRS, Labor Department Audit Businessman on

by Rob Bluey,
heritage.org
July 21, 2012
    Frank VanderSloot grew up a poor kid in rural Idaho. His father made $300 a month. His clothes came from the Salvation Army. Yet through determination and hard work — and with the help of America’s free-enterprise system — today he’s the successful CEO of a global supplier of wellness products. VanderSloot’s rags-to-riches story is not unlike other American tales of individuals who have benefited from the free market. In VanderSloot’s case, however, that success came with a price — but only when he decided a write a check to a super PAC that supports Mitt Romney.
    On April 20, President Obama’s campaign named VanderSloot to the first presidential “enemies list” since the Nixon era. Eight private citizens were singled out for their donations to Romney. They committed no crimes, sought no attention, and yet they became the subject of Obama’s scorn. VanderSloot is now facing persecution from the federal government. Kimberly Strassel reveals in The Wall Street Journal that two federal agencies — the Internal Revenue Service and Labor Department — both launched investigations of VanderSloot after his name appeared on Obama’s enemies list.
In a letter dated June 21, he was informed that his tax records had been “selected for examination” by the Internal Revenue Service. The audit also encompasses Mr. VanderSloot’s wife, and not one, but two years of past filings (2008 and 2009).
Mr. VanderSloot, who is 63 and has been working since his teens, says neither he nor his accountants recall his being subject to a federal tax audit before. He was once required to send documents on a line item inquiry into his charitable donations, which resulted in no changes to his taxes. But nothing more—that is until now, shortly after he wrote a big check to a Romney-supporting Super PAC.
Two weeks after receiving the IRS letter, Mr. VanderSloot received another—this one from the Department of Labor. He was informed it would be doing an audit of workers he employs on his Idaho-based cattle ranch under the federal visa program for temporary agriculture workers.
The H-2A program allows tens of thousands of temporary workers in the U.S.; Mr. VanderSloot employs precisely three. All are from Mexico and have worked on the VanderSloot ranch—which employs about 20 people—for five years. Two are brothers. Mr. VanderSloot has never been audited for this, though two years ago his workers’ ranch homes were inspected. (The ranch was fined $8,400, mainly for too many “flies” and for “grease build-up” on the stove. God forbid a cattle ranch home has flies.)
Coincidence?
Strassel acknowledges the investigations could [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/21/irs-labor-department-audit-businessman-on-obamas-enemies-list/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet


Profile of the American Worker: A Work in Progress

Changing demographics, services economy highlight our labor force
by Marc Bastow,
investorplace.com
July 26, 2012

    The funny thing about numbers: Sometimes they show you exactly what you can see with your own eyes. A look at figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the American work force is made of vast and diverse peoples — just like America itself. Of course, while it’s difficult to paint a perfectly representative picture with stats, you still can get a pretty good idea of what you’re looking at.
Here are three charts breaking down the American work force by gender, race/ethnicity and occupation:
[Includes a lott'a charts and graphs][....]
http://www.investorplace.com/2012/07/profile-of-the-american-worker-a-work-in-progress/

SAF delighted with Judge’s ruling in Maryland case

by Second Amendment Foundation,
canadafreepress.com
July 25, 2012
BELLEVUE, WA - The Second Amendment Foundation is delighted that the judge in a Maryland case that challenges the constitutionality of that state’s handgun permitting scheme is ready to lift a stay on his original order for the state to process carry permits without a citizen having to provide a “good and substantial reason.’
U.S District Judge Benson Everett Legg will lift the stay on his original order in two weeks because, in his opinion, the stay “is not warranted.”
“There is no good reason for the state to continue violating the constitutional rights of its citizens just to maintain this burdensome and arbitrary system,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “As Judge Legg originally observed, the Second Amendment’s protections extend beyond the home.”
    While it is possible that the state may file a motion with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to impose a stay of Judge Legg’s order, the trial court precedent is an important one. It established that the Second Amendment right to bear arms does not stop at the door of one’s home.
“No citizen should be required to give a good and substantial’ reason in order to exercise a constitutionally-protected civil right,” Gottlieb observed. “In his order today, Judge Legg noted that the state has pointed to little in the way of truly irreparable injury that is likely to result should their request for a stay be denied’.”
The judge also noted [....]
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/48331


What Taxmageddon Really Means for Families

by Romina Boccia,
heritage.org
July 19, 2012
    Taxmageddon is approaching closer by the day. Much of the focus has been on the impact Taxmageddon will have on the economy. But just how will this massive tax hike impact America’s most fundamental unit of society? Families will see their taxes go up by more than $4,100—just in 2013—because of Taxmageddon. How will families pay for this huge tax hike, on top of all the other taxes they already pay, and still make ends meet?
    The chart below illustrates the size of Taxmageddon’s burden on families in comparison to what families spend on some of life’s basic necessities. This tax hike is nearly as big as a family’s annual grocery bill, the amount families pay to maintain a car, or the amount families spend on utilities each year. What will families have to cut [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/19/what-taxmageddon-really-means-for-families/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=BudgetSense


Wreck-It Barack

Unscripted Moments Damage Obama’s Carefully Built Image
by Matthew Continetti,
freebeacon.com
July 27, 2012
    One cannot help noticing the struggle between Barack Obama’s natural instincts and the serene and benevolent persona he projects to the world. Beneath the visage of a cosmetically populist, post-racial, post-partisan reformer who wants to “perfect” America and to have “millionaires and billionaires” “pay their fair share” is just another condescending, self-important, sarcastic, academic liberal Democrat, who believes in false consciousness and in scholastic theories that success in life can be attributed to birth or luck or community but not to individual effort and grit. Obama may be talented at self-fashioning, but he cannot maintain his public face constantly. The mask sometimes slips.
    The real Obama emerges. He lets loose in the self-consciously ironic and pretentiously omniscient argot of the American ruling class, lecturing audiences in what he, Elizabeth Warren, and the segment producers at MSNBC treat as the new catechism. The reaction to these gaffes is always the same. His remarks spark justified criticism. There is a frenetic effort to paper over his comments and restore the impression that he is just another dad who wants to take [....]
http://freebeacon.com/wreck-it-barack/

Elizabeth Warren criticized by liberal supporter for almost all-white campaign HQ photo

by William A. Jacobson,
legalinsurrection.com
July 26, 2012
    Obama came under criticism and mockery from the left and right when a photo of his Chicago campaign operation staff had barely a non-white face among them. All the talk about diversity was not practiced at his HQ.  Elizabeth Warren has a similar problem, and has come under criticism from a liberal supporter when she posted a photo on her Facebook page of her campaign volunteers and interns during [the comments are as telling as the article] [....]

http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/07/elizabeth-warren-criticized-by-liberal-supporter-for-almost-all-white-campaign-hq-photo/

[Related Content:]
Cherokees launch website targeting Elizabeth Warren over Native American heritage claims
by Robert Rizzuto,
The Republican
masslive.com
May 30, 2012

    The latest wave in the ocean of controversy over Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren's heritage claims involves a group of Cherokees who have launched a website and Facebook group calling the Harvard Law School professor's claims of Native American lineage "harmful and offensive." For several weeks, Warren, who is fighting for the Democratic nod to take on U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., in November, has faced questions about whether she is actually Cherokee as she claimed she learned through family lore and whether she used her heritage to boost herself as an affirmative action hire.  Although Warren has repeatedly [....]
http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/05/cherokees_start_website_target.html

Athletes Yes, Business Owners No

by Austin Hill,
townhall.com 
July 29, 2012
Why is it okay to be a successful athlete, but not a successful business owner?
    It’s been nearly two weeks since President Obama delivered his now famous “Roanoke rant,” wherein he noted to entrepreneurs that, among other things, “if you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” Apparently the president’s spiteand vitriol for business owners isn’t playing so well with voters. By the middle of last week, the Obama campaign was doing damage control with a new video advertisement explaining that the President had just been “taken out of context,” and he actually loves business owners. But watch the “full context” of the Roanoke speech, and it becomes even clearer that the President was once again speaking the language of collectivist economics. While assuming the absolute worst about the motives of business owners, President Obama was again suggesting that wealth creation and material success are neither to be attributed to, nor enjoyed by individuals – only the collective masses can take credit for such successes, and we should all collectively share in the blessings of one-another’s wealth.
    Call it socialism, call it Marxism, call it what you like. The president has made it clear throughout his professional life that he loathes the economic success of individual companies and business owners (unless, of course, such business owners are donating to his campaign), and regards their financial achievements as ill-gotten gain. But would you ever expect the President of the United States – even President Barack Obama – to apply this kind of thinking to athletes? And after the U.S. Olympic Athletes return home from London, will the President invite them to the White House and lecture them on how “somebody else made it happen?” It’s unlikely that President Obama would treat the Olympic competitors with the disdain that he shows to business owners. And if his recent treatment of a certain women’s college basketball team is any indication, then the U.S. Olympic athletes may be in for a real treat.
    Two days after his “you didn’t do that” speech about business owners, the Baylor University women’s basketball team [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/austinhill/2012/07/29/athletes_yes_business_owners_no/page/full/

Legistorm Database Update
Website update,
legistorm.com
    The congressional trips in our database were funded by private organizations. By searching our data you can learn details of each trip taken by a member of Congress or their staff, and who paid for the travel. Read more about Congressional Travel.

Features
Congressional Trip Statistics by Year
Most-Traveled Members
Most-Traveled Staffers
Most-Active Sponsors
Most-Expensive Trips
Most-Popular Countries
2008 Presidential Candidates
Trip Cost Over Time [....] 
http://www.legistorm.com/trip.html
 
Frackin' B.S.

by Marita Noon,
townhall.com
July 29, 2012
    "Even a broken clock is right twice a day” is an adage we’ve all heard dozens of times. Today, it applies to the EPA as even it gets things right now and then. The EPA is well known for its attacks on virtually every kind of industry that might result in economic development—hitting the energy sector particularly hard. Despite the agency's best efforts, it has not been able to match up the science with its desired claims of water contamination from natural gas extraction using hydraulic fracturing—which has been in use in America for more than 60 years.
    In early December 2011, the New York Times ran a story declaring: “Chemicals used to hydraulically fracture rocks in drilling for natural gas in a remote valley in central Wyoming are the likely cause of contaminated local water supplies.” Environmental groups jumped all over the announcement. Amy Mall, a fracking opponent with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the report “underscores the urgent need to get federal rules and safeguards on the books to help protect all Americans from the dangers of fracking.” An NPR story on the EPA’s draft study released on December 8, 2011, stated: “The gas industry and other experts have long contended that fracking doesn't contaminate drinking water. The EPA's findings provide the first official confirmation to the contrary.”
    However, just three months later, on March 8, it was announced that the EPA had to backtrack as frequent attacks forced the agency to acknowledge that it had rushed to judgment. The chemicals supposedly found in the drinking water of Pavilion, Wyoming, were chemicals that could have come from a variety of sources—including the plastic piping. The EPA released the data and findings outside of the purview of two “working groups” made up of state and EPA officials, which had been examining the Pavillion pollution for the better part of a year. Following accusations that the EPA rushed the release of the report without peer review, the EPA backed down and agreed to retest. Now, the EPA and Wyoming, as well as U.S. Geological Survey and two American Indian tribes, are working together on further study of the Pavillion groundwater.
    On April 1, a lawsuit the EPA had filed earlier this year against a Texas energy company, Range Resources, accusing it of contaminating water through hydraulic [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/maritanoon/2012/07/29/frackin_bs/page/full/


LegiStorm users can now download lists of congressional staff contact information

by LegiStorm Staff,
legistorm.com
July 25, 2012
    LegiStorm is proud to introduce a powerful new tool for people to be able to communicate with Congress. With the launch of our new congressional contact list building and download capability, subscribers and non-subscribers alike have the power to find the people in Congress they need based on any number of useful criteria. Powered by LegiStorm's congressional staff database with industry-leading accuracy and timeliness, the list-building capability brings users an affordable new solution for finding just the right decision makers to reach out to in Congress.
    Newcomers to the site without a LegiStorm Pro subscription can build and download simple lists based on staffing within an office or a state delegation or those who cover a specific role or legislative issue within an office. Users are charged per downloaded contact. Annual subscribers to LegiStorm Pro are treated to a whole new level of list-building capability, as well as 2000 free download credits. Subscribers can build lists based on multiple criteria, including more advanced options such as where the person went to college. The lists are highly configurable, with users being able to add or subtract anyone from the list as needed. All Pro subscribers can build and browse as many lists as they want for free - only downloading the contact information requires an extra fee, and then at a low rate.
    Downloads are in highly portable .csv format, with each record containing a staffer's name, title, office, key role served, legislative issues covered and all the contact information including email, phone, fax and office address. The uses for such new functionality are many. Some examples: [....]
http://www.legistorm.com/blog/legistorm-users-can-now-download-lists-of-congressional-staff-contact-information.html

Obama Didn’t Do That Alone…

by "Coach,"
exposeobama.com
July 25, 2012
Somewhere along the way,a teacher helped.
Yes,with a contract guaranteeing her a job for life,short of actually killing a student.
    I believe every day they taught my NYC Public School classes,all my teachers were paid through the taxes collected from my parents and others. Just as my Catholic School teachers were paid by my parents when I transferred. Except the Public School teachers were paid to fulfill a contract to which my parents were never a negotiating party. They certainly never received the kickbacks the Democrats received for rubber stamping those contracts,contracts paid not with their money but with tax dollars forcibly extorted by a never thankful,corrupt government.
A road was built in front of my business?
Yes,and I’ll give 10 to one odds in any big city it was the result of a corrupt union deal that overcharged the taxpayers and lined the pockets of the union thugs and the Democrat Party. I owe the road worker and builders a great big attaboy for doing their jobs,paid for with taxpayer monies,that they were overpaid to do. Not a damn thing more from a successful business I may have run. I owe my teachers a great big attaboy for going into teaching. Not a damn thing more from a successful business I may have run.
    Where were all those helpers while my attempts to start a business failed? Why aren’t they responsible for the bankruptcies throughout the economy,because if they had been doing their jobs,wouldn’t we all be successful? Or,better yet,Comrade Obama,if the secrets of success lie not inside the personal enthusiasm of ownership and rugged individualism that makes an American risk all,but outside in the streets and government buildings put there out of the pure compassion for us by you and your ilk,I ask you a question:Why don’t all businesses succeed?
    You denigrate those [....]
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/07/25/obama-didnt-do-that-alone/

Obama's Little Red Phrase

by John Ransom,
townhall.com
July 29,2012 
Steve of CA wrote: Personally I do not own a gun and would not feel safer if I had one, but I do not have a problem with law abiding people buying guns. That being the case, I have to ask of Mr. Ransom and others here, what controls, if any, do you favor over the purchase and use of weapons, including semi-automatic weapons such as the one used by the killer in Aurora? Or do you think we have too much gun control with the laws we have now? - The American Solution: Reach for the Guns
Dear Steve,
The 2nd Amendment allows no restrictions on a citizen’s right to arm themselves, although various Supreme Court decisions- which I disagree with- have allowed the government to restrict the right to bear arms through permitting and sale restrictions. Proponents of gun-control argue that the phrase “well regulated militia” means that the founders only intended that the right to bear arms would apply to a militia. But the history of the term and the history of the right to bear arms would argue against that conclusion. Instead, it is clear that a plain reading of the 2nd Amendment considers a well regulated militia as an outgrowth of the individual’s right to arm themselves:
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
In other words, in order to have a well regulated militia, sufficient to ensure the security of a free state, you must first allow no infringement on the right of people to keep and bear arms. The 2nd Amendment is not the right to a militia, nor the right a free state; it is instead a blanket denial of the government’s ability to infringe on the right of the individual to arm themselves to protect their freedoms.
Ericynot wrote: Here's an idea I recently learned. Keep your car keys near your bed and press the Panic Button if someone tries to break in. My old Chrsyler can make enough noise to wake the whole neighborhood. Any intruder not run off by that racket is so crazy you're probably not going to beat them with or without a gun. - The American Solution: Reach for the Guns
Dear Comrade Eric,
Yes, and maybe if you throw your keys at the intruder hard enough you will blind him accidentally. Then he can sue you under laws passed by permissive liberals and get a fat settlement that includes an RV and a boat. All he’ll need then is the Democrat nomination to Congress from, say, California, to be the perfect liberal success story. I take it then you will allow just anyone to go ahead and buy a car? Yet automobiles account for 3 times as many deaths every year as guns do?
    Why in the world would yet let people have access to such a dangerous device as an automobile when they cause more deaths than guns do? And to think it takes less time to purchase a car than it does to buy a gun. Actually, you’ll probably want to initiate background checks on car buyers now.
Liberals always come up with [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/07/29/obamas_little_red_phrase/page/full/

Obscurity: No Crueler Punishment!

by Ann Coulter,
townhall.com
July 25, 2012
    I feel awful about what happened in Colorado, but can we stop the hugging and the teddy bears? Just as society can become inured to violence, it can also become inured to sentiment. There is nothing so hackneyed in the world of photojournalism as pictures of the hugging and the shrines with candles and teddy bears after a tragedy, with a piano softly trilling in the background. This accomplishes nothing. If you want to do something, please write a check to a good charity, a family financially harmed by the shooting, or send flowers to a specific person. It is also not helpful to have politicians and television personalities pledging not to discuss the alleged shooter. Unlike most news, that information serves an actual purpose, such has helping us recognize warning signs in other potential mass murderers in the future.
    Only people who are themselves obsessed with being famous could imagine that any kind of fame -- even infamy -- is some kind of a reward. Thus, President Barack Obama and MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell, among others, have vowed to punish the suspect by not mentioning his name. If only we had thought of that with Adolf Hitler! Apparently, it wasn't Hitler's twisted Darwinian "master race" philosophy that led to the Holocaust. He just wanted to get his name in the paper. Say anything you want about how much I hate Jews -- just spell my name right!
This is the apotheosis of the "Jersey Shore" mentality.
Similarly, why is it assumed [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/anncoulter/2012/07/25/obscurity_no_crueler_punishment/page/full/

Public Pensions Fail Simple Math

by John Ransom,
townhall.com
July 26, 2012

    There is a dirty secret about state entitlements that liberals don’t want you to know. The collection of a state pension increases the chances that a pensioner will live in poverty. That’s because money put aside for state-guaranteed benefits can not be safely invested at rates that provide for more than a modest retirement unless the state subsidizes retirement benefits through taxes or if retirement savings are invested in riskier, higher yielding investments. Since governments are loath to raise taxes to subsidize a riskless retirement, benefits are eventually reduced. It works that way in London and Moscow as well as Madison and Sacramento.
    In Moscow, public pensions and social programs helped bankrupt the Soviet Union in the 1980s while “transfer to pension status greatly increase[d] the likelihood of poverty,” according to Mervyn Matthews’ Poverty in the Soviet Union (Cambridge Press, 1986). In London, the former Labour Minister John Hutton’s Independent Public Services Pension Commission has recommended changes that would calculate pension benefits on lifetime earnings rather than current salary, in line with recommendations for pension reform from the Office for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Trade unions in U.K. say that such changes will lead to “increased pensioner poverty.” In Madison, WI public retirement applications have risen 73 percent according to the Wall Street Journal as workers try to lock in higher retirement benefits that will likely shrink for those public employees retiring in the future.
    Increasingly state governments in the US are facing budget shortfalls over entitlements paid to public servants and those on the public dole. And like the Social Security program, the shortfalls have been wholly predictable as government makes bigger and bigger promises to a select number of citizens who then take up a bigger share of the public pie. Behind the rhetoric and the rants [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/07/26/public_pensions_fail_simple_math/page/full/

The Ride Of A Lifetime

by Ben Crystal,
Personal Liberty Digest
July 26, 2012    Sally Ride died Monday.You’ll have to pardon my digression. Far more pressing concerns dominate our national consciousness, as well they should. Tragedy, war and economic chaos are indeed worthy of most of the coverage they receive in the headlines. And I will indubitably rejoin the parade of political punditry posthaste. Nonetheless, something grabbed my attention Tuesday morning; and while it might pale in apparent importance when compared the rest of the events of that and every other day recently, it meant something to me.
    Sally Ride passed away Monday at the relatively young age of 61. Ride, who exemplified American exceptionalism as much as anyone ever did, was a rare breed even among her spectacularly intelligent peers in the world of astrophysicists. Yes, she was a rocket scientist; but she was hardly the lab coat-wearing, bespectacled wallflower of cliché. Ride wasn’t merely a rocket scientist; Ride was a rocket driver. In June of 1983, Ride boarded the Space Shuttle Challenger to become the first American woman in space. She wasn’t the first of her gender to visit the heavens; two Russian women had already made the trip. But she was the first woman to visit space about whom I knew more than her name. At the time of her mission, I was a 12-year-old kid who had abandoned the standard childhood dreams of action-adventure-style spacefaring in favor of more reasonable stuff — like playing center for the New York Rangers. Ride’s beyond-stratospheric jaunt reignited my imagination. I didn’t particularly care about her gender; I just happened to be teetering on the edge of adolescent apathy at the exact moment Americans rediscovered a fascination with space flight, and I went along for the ride.
    Even a preteen lad who was starting to notice girls were far less awful than he had previously thought was swept up in space fever. “Star Wars” was finishing up the part of the trilogy that should have been made. “ET” had just phoned home. The Voyager probes had delivered images of Jupiter and Saturn that far surpassed anything we had imagined. And then, Ride and her four fellow astronauts on STS-7 reminded me that science was even cooler than science fiction. Six months after Ride’s ride, a serious miscalculation on my part regarding the speed at which a Flexible Flyer becomes unstable while attempting to negotiate a very large stand of pine trees put an end to any chance I would ever have to slip “the surly bonds of earth” or even enjoy the privilege of serving in the military. I should note that the accident didn’t really change my potential astronaut status. The people who make it aboard American spacecraft [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/07/26/the-ride-of-a-lifetime/?eiid=


What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls

Most Investors Have Lost Money Over Past Year
Generic Congressional Ballot: Republicans 43%, Democrats 40%
30% Say U.S. Heading in Right Direction
by Scott Rasmussen,
rasmussenreports
July 28, 2012
    During this past week, Mitt Romney opened his biggest lead in over a month over President Obama. During the same week, consumer confidence fell to the lowest level of 2012. It’s no coincidence that they happened during the same week.  Long-term optimism about the U.S. Economy Fell to a new low this month. Just 40% believe the economy will be stronger in FIVE years. That’s down from 46% a year ago, 50% two years ago and 58% three years ago. Most Americans (56%) believe the Housing market will take more than three years to fully recover.
    As Scott Rasmussen noted in his weekly newspaper column, “Declining Views of the Economy Put Obama's Reelection at Risk.” He added that, for Obama to win, “he will need to improve his own job approval rating between now and Election Day. For that to happen, perceptions of the economy will have to reverse their current downward trend.” Voters don’t have a lot of confidence [....]
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/weekly_updates/what_they_told_us_reviewing_last_week_s_key_polls

Where Were You in '62?

by Bill O'Reilly,
townhall.com
Jul 28, 2012
    Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1962, America was a far different place from what it is today. President John Kennedy was presiding over Camelot, and despite fouling up the invasion of Cuba, his approval rating hovered at around 80 percent. Unemployment was 5.2 percent with the average family income at $6,000 a year. Most Americans did not have much money but made do. Millions bought Elvis Presley's record "Return to Sender" and went to see "Lawrence of Arabia" in movie theaters. At home, "Wagon Train" was the top TV show.
    Years later, the film "American Graffiti" featured the ad campaign "Where were you in '62?" Well, I was on Long Island, hanging around. During the day, we swam at the Levittown pool and played stickball in the street, and in August, my father took us to a lake in Vermont. Also, we went to Jones Beach and baked in the sun without block while secondhand cigarette smoke engulfed us on the blanket.
My folks had little disposable income, certainly not enough for air conditioning or a color television set. But again, there was little whining in my working-class neighborhood. We had fun with what was available. Most everybody worked. Nobody was on welfare.
    In fact, just 6 percent of Americans received welfare payments in 1962. Now that number is 35 percent. More than 100 million of us are getting money from the government, and that does not count Social Security and Medicare, programs workers pay into. This is a profound change in the American tradition. Also, we now have close to nine million workers collecting federal disability checks. In 2001, that number was about five million. Here's my question: Is the workplace that much more hazardous than it was 11 years ago? Is our health that much worse?

    The answer is no. What we are seeing is the rise of the Nanny State. Self-reliance and ambition made the United States the most powerful nation on Earth. But that ethic is now [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/billoreilly/2012/07/28/where_were_you_in_62/page/full/ 

Why Are Obama, Democrats Economically Illiterate?

by Wayne Allyn Root,
Personal Liberty Digest
July 26, 2012

    My commentary today is about the economic ignorance gap between conservatives, capitalists and the dunces on the left. Good old John Edwards was actually right about one thing. He said there were two Americas. Under Obama, the John Edwards fantasy has come true. The first America is represented by those who work in the government sector (who almost always support Obama and vote Democrat) and who think the private sector is doing just fine. The second America is represented by private-sector entrepreneurs, small-business owners and job creators (who almost always support conservative candidates and causes) who know the terrible truth: The economy is in horrible shape. The difference is due to economic ignorance. To save America, we must ignore those in the government sector and start listening to those in the private sector who are living at “ground zero.” They are the experts. They have “boots on the ground.” They understand firsthand what Obama’s policies have created: complete economic collapse.
    The dirty secret rarely discussed or explained by the media is this gap between what Americans on the right think of the economy versus what those on the left think. See the polls. Democrats think the economy is in recovery with a bright future. Republicans think the economy is in horrible shape and worsening. How could two groups look at the same economy and see things so differently? Why don’t the media discuss this disparity? The simple truth is the media don’t like the answer. The truth is Democrats who so want to support their President are either delusional or, more likely, ignorant [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/07/26/why-are-obama-democrats-economically-illiterate/?eiid=

Yes, Guns Kill, But How Often Are They Used in Self-Defense?

by Larry Elder,
townhall.com
Jul 26, 2012
    About the tragedy in Aurora, Colo., rapper/actor Ice-T made more sense -- and has a better understanding of the Second Amendment -- than gun-control proponents. Asked by a London news anchor about America's gun culture,
Ice-T said: "Well, I'd give up my gun when everybody does. Doesn't that make sense? ... If there were guns here, would you want to be the only person without one?"
Anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Channel 4 News: "So do you carry guns routinely at home?"
Ice-T: "Yeah, it's legal in the United States. It's part of our Constitution. You know, the right to bear arms is because that's the last form of defense against tyranny. Not to hunt. It's to protect yourself from the police."
Anchor: "And do you see any link between that and these sorts of (Aurora-type) incidents?"
Ice-T: "No. Nah. Not really. You know what I'm saying, if somebody wants to kill people, you know, they don't need a gun to do it."
Anchor: "It makes it easier, though, doesn't it?"
Ice-T: "Not really. You can strap explosives on your body. They do that all the time."
Anchor: "So when there's the inevitable backlash of the anti-gun lobby, as a result of this instance, as there always is--"
Ice-T: "Well, that's not going to change anything. ... The United States is based on guns."
    Security experts say a determined killer, willing to give up his own life, cannot be stopped. The odds, however, can be shifted in favor of the victims and would-be victims. How?
In Pearl, Miss., a gunman who killed two students and wounded seven at a high school was stopped by an assistant principal, who rushed to his car and got his gun. The assistant principal, running back with his .45, spotted the rifle-carrying shooter in the parking lot. Ordering the teen to stop, the vice principal held his gun to the shooter's neck until police arrived.
In Salt Lake City, a man purchased a knife in a grocery store, walked outside and stabbed and critically injured two men. He was threatening others, when a store patron with a concealed weapons permit drew his gun, forced the attacker to the ground and held him until police arrived.
In Grundy, Va., a disgruntled student on the verge of his second suspension at Appalachian School of Law shot and killed the dean, a professor and a fellow student. Two students, both off-duty peace officers, ran to their cars, retrieved their guns and used them to halt the attack.
    No one knows whether Aurora would have turned out differently had there been [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2012/07/26/yes_guns_kill_but_how_often_are_they_used_in_selfdefense/page/full/


http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/obamacare-mandate-or-tax
Until Next Sunday....

allvoices

allvoices

The Sunday 'Report;' 07/29/2012 (Part #1)

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Political Cartoons by Robert Ariail
http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

32 Consecutive Dividend Increases Offers Blue Chip Income

by Todd Johnson,
seekingalpha.com
July 25, 2012

    Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) is the largest publicly traded energy partnership. The company has provided consistent results since their initial public offering (IPO) in 1998. The partnership provides midstream enterprise services in North America. Midstream operations are less prone to commodity price swings. A successful 14 year track record suggests this is a blue chip income stock to buy and hold. An investor has received an annual return of 22.08%, on average, with dividends reinvested since 1998. As the company has 32 quarters of consecutive increases, I address 3 key reasons why [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/745761-32-consecutive-dividend-increases-offers-blue-chip-income?source=email_investing_income&ifp=0


72% Believe Small Business Owners Primarily Responsible for Their Own Success
57% Say Venture Capital Firms Better Job Creators Than Government Programs
70% Prefer Free Market to Government-Managed Economy
69% Think Competition Between Health Insurers Better for Consumers Than More Government Regulation
60% Trust Business Leaders More Than Government To Create Jobs
Staff Reports,
rasmussenreports.com 
July 23, 2012
    Most Americans believe entrepreneurs who start businesses do more to create jobs and economic growth than big businesses or government. They also believe overwhelmingly that small business owners work harder than other Americans and are primarily responsible for [....]
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/general_business/july_2012/72_believe_small_business_owners_primarily_responsible_for_their_own_success


ABC News president to staff: Our coverage was excellent except for that whole Brian Ross tea party thing
by 'Allahpundit,'
hotair.com
July 24, 2012

    It’s now day five of Rossgate and we continue to inch ever so slowly towards meaningful action. Consider this post the official launch of the Hot Air pool on when disciplinary measures will be announced. Put me down for five bucks on seventeen days from now.
Ed calls this “ABC’s version of ‘Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?’”
ABC News president Ben Sherwood told staff today that last Friday’s incorrect report by Brian Ross detracts from the network’s otherwise excellent coverage of the Colarado theater shooting, network sources tell POLITICO.
    Sherwood’s remarks, made on the network’s daily editorial conference call, came the morning after Ross’s report was picked up by late night comedians John Stewart and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central, both of whom used Ross’s erroneous suggestion of a Tea Party link to the Colorado theater shooting as fodder for their Monday night routines. On Monday’s conference call, ABC News SVP James Goldston also commended the staff for its work, noted the incorrect report, and said that the network was taking steps to ensure it did not happen again, sources told POLITICO yesterday. Right-wing blog indignation could be safely ignored but once the media’s patron saint gave the official thumbs down, Sherwood and Goldston had no choice [....]
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/07/24/abc-news-president-to-staff-our-coverage-was-excellent-except-for-that-whole-brian-ross-tea-party-thing/


The Buerkle Bulletin
by Ann Marie Buerkle,
MoC, NY-25
July 23, 2012

    The 25th District is home to a vibrant business community that works closely with the Department of Defense in the mission to keep our nation secure. In 2011, our community received 2,182 contracts from the Department of Defense totally over $600 million. The Defense industry employs 5,000 people and provides some of our area’s highest quality jobs. Last week the house took up legislation regarding the process of sequestration. This legislation would result in cuts of almost 10% to America’s defense budget over the next ten years. I remain opposed to sequestration, and I continue to urge our government to prevent such potentially catastrophic cuts.
    Undoubtedly, there are examples of budget mismanagement within the Defense Department; however, I believe the steps we take to amend such abuses should be carefully considered and made with [....]
http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=bc665dd1f1ce36f223317fadc&id=02a43a73b3&e=870f009a33

Consequences of the Fall of the Syrian Regime
by George Friedman,
STRATfor.com
July 24, 2012

    We have entered the endgame in Syria. That doesn't mean that we have reached the end by any means, but it does mean that the precondition has been met for the fall of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad. We have argued that so long as the military and security apparatus remain intact and effective, the regime could endure. Although they continue to function, neither appears intact any longer; their control of key areas such as Damascus and Aleppo is in doubt, and the reliability of their personnel, given defections, is no longer certain. We had thought that there was a reasonable chance of the al Assad regime surviving completely. That is no longer the case. At a certain point -- in our view, after the defection of a Syrian pilot June 21 and then the defection of the Tlass clan -- key members of the regime began to recalculate the probability of survival and their interests. The regime has not unraveled, but it is unraveling.
    The speculation over al Assad's whereabouts and heavy fighting in Damascus is simply part of the regime's problems. Rumors, whether true or not, create uncertainty that the regime cannot afford right now. The outcome is unclear. On the one hand, a new regime might emerge that could exercise control. On the other hand, Syria could collapse into a Lebanon situation in which it disintegrates into regions held by various factions, with no effective central government.
The Russian and Chinese Strategy
The geopolitical picture is somewhat clearer than the internal political picture. Whatever else happens, it is unlikely that al Assad will be able to return to unchallenged rule. The United States, France and other European countries have opposed his regime. Russia, China and Iran have supported it, each for different reasons. The Russians opposed the West's calls to intervene, which were grounded on human rights concerns, fearing that the proposed intervention was simply subterfuge meant to extend Western power and that it would be used against them. The Chinese also supported the Syrians, in part for these same reasons. Both Moscow and Beijing hoped to avoid legitimizing Western pressure based on human rights considerations -- something they had each faced at one time or another. In addition, Russia and China wanted the United States in particular focused on the Middle East rather than on them. They would not [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/consequences-fall-syrian-regime?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120724&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=title&elq=9d25b851cd5f421c89d101957be09300

How Can We Spur Organizational Innovation to Fix US Health Care?
by Stuart Butler, PhD,
The JAMA Forum
July 18, 2012
    The American health system is among the most innovative in the world. We are at the leading edge in developing breakthrough drugs, inventing effective and less invasive surgeries, and tackling cancer. But we seem to fall down flat in one area—achieving the kind of organizational innovation in the health care industry that we take for granted in virtually every other field. Why is it so hard to improve the delivery system or to reform the outdated structure of Medicare?
    In large part it’s because of the way we have chosen to solve the challenge of getting a vibrant private-sector market to achieve social goals, such as providing insurance for many essentially uninsurable people or delivering a basic package of care to people who don’t have the money to pay for it. To address this challenge, we’ve primarily been using a central planning strategy. And it is fundamentally flawed. By “central planning,” I mean the approach of managing or manipulating a market to try to get it to operate in the way that you think is best to achieve an objective. It was the philosophy behind Bill Clinton bringing in 400 or so health and systems experts back in 1993 in an effort to redesign our health system. Or the sweeping insurance rules in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Or, for that matter, the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation—smart people who are supposed to figure out better ways to organize care for the elderly and the poor and then propose new regulations or financial inducements to make it happen.
The Issue of Scale
But there are good reasons why this approach is [....]
http://newsatjama.jama.com/2012/07/18/jama-forum-how-can-we-spur-organizational-innovation-to-fix-us-health-care/

Justice Department investigating Pa. voter ID law
by Leigh Ann Caldwell,
cbsnews.com
July 24, 2012
    The Justice Department has asked the state of Pennsylvania to hand over information and databases important to determining if the state's new voter photo ID requirement is discriminatory. Pennsylvania is one of a dozen states that have passed new laws requiring photo identification to cast a vote. The Justice Department is requiring the state to prove that the law does not violate Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting requirements that would disproportionately impact minorities.
    In a letter sent Monday to Carol Aichele, acting secretary of the Commonwealth, the Justice Department asked the state to hand over the complete voter registration list, including voter history and race of registered voters and the current Pennsylvania driver license and ID list. The Justice Department is also [....]
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57478605-503544/justice-department-investigating-pa-voter-id-law/?roi=echo3-12651219418-9241495-927218f10343e6d277a17cc4f70f0096&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Obamacare Falls Short of Promises to Uninsured
Staff Report,
heritage.org
July 25, 2012

    Two new reports out yesterday continue to knock down President Obama's promises about Obamacare: his "If you like your plan, you can keep it," and the promise to significantly shrink the ranks of the uninsured. According to a new study from consulting firm Deloitte, almost one of out of 10 employers said they are going to drop coverage for their employees because of Obamacare, while another 10 percent said they "remain unsure" about what they are going to do. As the vast majority of Americans have health insurance through their workplaces, this is a huge blow. Yesterday the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) dealt another blow with its updated outlook on the health care law, as it attempted to integrate the Supreme Court's ruling into its projections.
    Although Obamacare spends more than $1 trillion to get people covered, CBO predicts it will still leave 30 million Americans uninsured, falling far short of what was promised. CBO's announcement said that Obamacare [....]
http://links.heritage.org/hostedemail/email.htm?CID=12651219418&ch=87F88A119EC25C31F0BBBA583B3C3348&h=2ed07cbda78f5d667ff6b1d01219b121&ei=snluQ48Ne

Obama’s False Attacks
Team Romney,
mittromney.com 
June 12, 2012
OBAMA MYTH: Destroying companies
REALITY: Governor Romney’s private sector record is one of success and turnaround, despite many investments in companies that were failing at the time.
Eighty percent of the companies Bain Capital has invested in from its founding to today have grown revenues. When companies grow, they are able to hire more workers and our economy grows.
Bain Capital pursued an investment strategy that often included targeting companies in decline and trying to turn them around. In most cases, it held the companies for many years and invested a significant amount of human and financial capital into improving operations to help revive these struggling companies.
When President Obama attacks Governor Romney’s record in the private sector, he’s also attacking our country’s greatest engine for job creation: the free enterprise system.
OBAMA MYTH: Rich businessmen profited most from the firm’s investments.
REALITY: The major investment beneficiaries of Mitt Romney’s work in private equity – and private equity in general – are the investors in the fund. The investors include [....]
http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/06/obamas-false-attacks

Remaining Opportunities In REITs
by Dane Bowler,
seekingalpha.com
July 24, 2012 

    The historically low interest rates of late have been heavenly for REITs providing two direct benefits:
1) Lower interest rates translate to better financing options, directly increasing the profitability of the business model for most REITs.
2) Low bond yields send yield seekers into the REIT market, which has previously been overlooked.
    Consequently, REITs are swelling with greater internal revenues and a plethora of fresh investors. Today (7/20/12), the MSCI US REIT Index (RMZ) hit 902.81, a gain of 12.41% since the start of the year. As the REIT market continues to rise, it becomes increasingly difficult to find stocks that are still value buys. Yet in the face of such market prosperity, some [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/742481-remaining-opportunities-in-reits?source=email_investing_income&ifp=0

Soros: Republic Enemy #1
by Jim O'Neill,
canadafreepress.com
September 15, 2009
“The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.”
—George Soros
“George Soros is an evil man. He’s anti-God, anti-family, anti-American, and anti-good.”
 —Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson
    Is it possible to lay the global financial meltdown, the radicalizing of the Democratic Party, and America’s moral decline, at the feet of one man?
It is indeed possible.
If George Soros isn’t the world’s preeminent “malignant messianic narcissist,” he’ll do until the real thing comes along. Move over, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot. There’s a new kid on the block. What we have in Soros, is a multi-billionaire atheist, with skewed moral values, and a sociopath’s lack of conscience. He considers himself to be a world class philosopher, despises capitalism, and just loves social engineering.
Uh oh. Can you say “trouble,” boys and girls?
Soros is a real life version of Dr. Evil—with Obama in the role of Mini-Me. Which is not as humorous as it might at first sound. In fact, it’s [....]
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/14700

The Dog Days Of Global Warming

by John Myers,
Personal Liberty Digest
July 25, 2012

    Scientists and Federal officials say climate change is ultimately to blame for recent forest fires.There have been massive forest fires and record temperatures across North America this summer. With this heat wave impacting so many millions of people, it must be definitive proof of global warming — or so the Big Green Machine would like us to believe. I will admit that it has gotten so hot where I live that I had to go buy a couple of fans.
    On July 1, even The Washington Post declared that Colorado’s destructive wildfires are global warming’s “smoking” gun: “Lightning and suspected arson ignited them four weeks ago, but scientists and federal officials say the table was set by a culprit that will probably contribute to bigger and more frequent wildfires for years to come: climate change.”
Remember The Coming Ice Age?
It all sounds familiar and for good reason. In January 1971, my father decided my brothers and me were going to help him build a big reservoir that he could stock with fish. It was a natural gully filled with brush and trees. The spring runoff would provide the water after dirt was hauled in and one end was dammed. I remember how cold that winter was. Between New Year’s Day and the end of February the thermometer rose above 0 degrees Fahrenheit only one day. It had to be climate change right? That’s what the mainstream media were saying. Magazines like Time and Newsweek ran cover stories on the coming Ice Age, and climate experts predicted that humanity was on the brink of an environmental crisis. The Big Chill was coming, said the scientists. It just so happened that it was a movie by that same title and it was released a decade later.
And Then Came Ozone
    That was followed up in the 80s and 90s by fear over the depletion of the ozone layer. The ozone layer, scientists said, protects all DNA of all surface-dwelling life by absorbing Ultraviolet B from our sun. Environmental scientists stated that the Earth’s future depended on people not using a certain version of Freon because it was eating away the lifesaving ozone layer. They made such a big deal about it that the Federal government got involved and forced all of us to pay more to replace the Freon in our cars and refrigerators. This pushed prices higher, plus the consumer had to pay for disposal fees.
These environmental idiots said they had proof that these things were damaging the environment — scientific proof.
Who Decided Scientists Know It All?
    We all give so much credence to these experts that it [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/07/25/the-dog-days-of-global-warming/?eiid=

Updating Obamacare’s Damage Estimates

by Robert Moffit,
nationalreview.com
July 13, 2012
    Following the Supreme Court’s Obamacare ruling, the Heritage Foundation’s Health Policy Director Nina Owcharenko says that Washington policymakers must revisit their cost, coverage, and spending projections. Coincidentally, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced their updated analysis is to be released the week of July 23. Get ready. First, forget CBO’s initial ten-year estimate of 32 million newly insured, with new Medicaid enrollment accounting for roughly half of the coverage. Because Congress enacted a mandatory Medicaid expansion that the Court declared unconstitutional, that number will shrink. The only question is by how much. Congressional liberals did not design seamless coverage based on personal choice of plans. Poor people get Medicaid under the law, whether they like it or not; and now some of them won’t get coverage at all. So, we have a new “donut hole.”
    Second, forget CBOs initial estimates on compliance with the individual mandate. At first, CBO said just 4 million a year would pay the “penalty.” But Chief Justice Roberts’s bold rewrite of the mandate as a “tax” introduces a very different dynamic: “Imposition of a tax . . . leaves an individual with a choice to do or not do a certain act, so long as he is willing to pay a tax levied on that choice.” And while persons might be fearful of incurring a “penalty” for unlawful behavior, even without criminal sanctions, they may respond differently to an optional “tax.” They simply decide whether they want the government- approved insurance and its taxpayer subsidies or whether they would rather pay the “tax.”
Urban Institute analysts estimate [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/critical-condition/309404/updating-obamacare-s-damage-estimates-robert-moffit

Using tax code to modify behavior is a boon for big business, lawyers, lobbyists

by Timothy McCarthy,
The Washington Examiner
July 23, 2012

    The hip new bipartisan way for government to try to steer the economy and subsidize favored industries or companies is through tax deductions and credits. As with most government meddling in the economy, the benefit accrues disproportionately to large, politically connected businesses. Today’s Wall Street Journal has a great piece [behind a paywall, alas] on this. The crux, with my emphases added:
[E]xecutives, particularly at small and medium-size companies, complain that many of the tax deductions are either too cumbersome or too confusing. In some cases, the cost of obtaining the tax benefit is greater than the benefit itself….
“I usually avoid these targeted tax incentives, because it costs so much just to be compliant that it’s not worth messing with,” says John Raine, CEO of Raine Inc….
    Both sides agree the code’s complexity is unfair: While small and medium-size companies such as Raine forgo the headaches and the tax savings, bigger companies can more easily afford the specialized accountants and lawyers needed to claim the best breaks and gain a cost advantage. Raine Inc isn’t going to jump through the IRS’s hoops (hoops that may be very necessary in order to avoid fraud), but General [....]
http://washingtonexaminer.com/using-tax-code-to-modify-behavior-is-a-boon-for-big-business-lawyers-lobbyists/article/2502915

Australian Work Visas
Australian Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189)

The Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) is a permanent work visa for individuals who have the qualifications and skills required to fill Australia's skill shortages.
Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) applicants are required to obtain a minimum of 60 points on a point assessment. The assessment is such that applicants are required to be under 50 years of age and be able demonstrate that they have a qualification and/or skills in an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List (SOL). Applicants for the Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) do not require sponsorship.
Employers seeking to sponsor or hire foreign workers can sign up for Australian Corporate Immigration Services.
Australian Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189) Basic Requirements
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) has set specific basic requirements that all applicants must meet in order to apply for a visa in the General Skilled Migration program. To qualify for a Skilled visa, applicants (or their partner) must be able to satisfy the basic visa requirements related to age, English language ability, occupation, skills, qualification, health and character. In addition, applicants for a Skilled visa must also pass a points test. Points can be claimed in areas related to age, English language ability, specific work experience, spouse skills and other bonus categories.
The current pass mark for the Skilled Independent visa (Subclass 189) is 60 points.
On 1 July 2012, the skilled migration program switched to a new online system called "SkillSelect" which will require prospective skilled migrants to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). Once an EOI is submitted, these details can be viewed by Australian employers, state and territory governments and by the Australian Government who have the ability to extend an invitation to lodge a visa application.
There is no guarantee that submitting an EOI will result in an invitation to apply for a visa. If an invitation is received, there will be a prescribed timeframe within which the visa application must then be formally lodged with DIAC.
Australian Skilled Independent Visa (Subclass 189) Entitlements
Successful applicants and holders of [....]
http://www.migrationexpert.com.au/work_visa/skilled_independent_visa/


America, the Law-crazed

by John Stossel,
townhall.com
Jul 25, 2012
    Over the past few decades, America has locked up more and more people. Our prison population has tripled. Now we jail a higher percentage of people than even the most repressive countries: China locks up 121 out of every 100,000 people; Russia 511.
In America? 730.
"Never in the civilized world have so many been locked up for so little," The Economist says.
Yet we keep adding more laws and longer jail terms.
    Lavrentiy Beria, head of Joseph Stalin's secret police in the old Soviet Union, supposedly said, "Show me the man, and I'll show you the crime." Stalin executed anyone he considered a threat, and it didn't take much to be considered a threat. Beria could always find some law the targeted [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2012/07/25/america_the_lawcrazed/page/full/

The Culture Of Vultures

by Ben Crystal,
Personal Liberty Digest
July 24, 2012

    The suspect in the massacre at this movie theater in Aurora, Colo., was not associated with the Tea Party.Join me, if you will, on a journey back in time. Let’s visit those heady days of yore when the corporate media delivered unbiased accounts of important events, America met tragedy with sincerely respectful grief and former Bill Clinton Administration cabin boy George Stephanopoulos was revered as an icon of journalistic integrity. Just reading that sentence aloud ought to confirm one thing: I really need to lay off the sauce when I’m working.
    Kidding aside, I can’t hearken back to those days for the same reason you can’t. Outside the fevered imaginations of left-wing sycophants and Stephanopoulos himself, those days never existed. So no one should have been surprised when, while covering the unfolding tragedy in Aurora, Colo., Stephanopolous and ABC News correspondent Brian Ross won the race to be the first liberal media to connect the suspect, James Holmes, to the Tea Party. It took Stephanopolous, Ross and the ABC/Democratic Party mouthpieces a few hours to find a “Jim Holmes” who belonged to the Tea Party and then erroneously associate him with the Aurora massacre. It took the same bunch of self-described “journalists” two years to notice President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder were trying to keep a lid on the Operation Fast and Furious debacle. Granted, Ross did retract the report later in the day; but he couldn’t unring the bell. I expect that was the point.
    But forget about Stephanopolous, Ross and ABC News. I have a feeling they’re going to be a mite busy for the foreseeable future. Something about a Tea Party member named Jim Holmes who didn’t shoot anyone being miffed that the aforementioned liberals gave him the “Spike Lee” treatment. Ross, help Stephanopoulos down from his booster seat. It’s time for remedial ethics training at the Richard Jewell School for Excessively Garrulous Sock Puppets.
    Of course the left was [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/07/24/the-culture-of-vultures/?eiid=

8 Reasons You Didn't Get the Job

by Marissa Brassfield,
payscale.com
July 17, 2012

    Dave Fecak, the founder and president of the Philadelphia Area Java Users' Group, recently penned a column for Job Tips for Geeks in which he outlined eight reasons job candidates don't end up getting the job besides a fundamental skill mismatch. While his blog centers on the software industry, the reasons he provides apply for jobseekers in all industries.
Lack of depth in talent. While a diverse, "jack-of-all-trades" approach may work for some positions, hiring managers expect to see deeper skills in at least a few key proficiencies.
Sense of entitlement. Companies are looking for team players, not candidates with a superiority complex. Individuals who express that they are only interested in doing specific tasks might similarly set off red flags.
Lack of passion. "If a candidate has no passion for the business, the technology or the people, chances are the interview is a waste of time," writes Fecak.
Talking too much about coworkers' accomplishments. You may think you're being humble, but at best, this move indicates that you're incapable of describing your own responsibilities and achievements at work. At worst, it sends a message that you may not be the most productive of your team.
Lack of information. Hiring managers want [....]
http://blogs.payscale.com/salary_report_kris_cowan/2012/07/8-reasons-you-didnt-get-the-job.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=ExactTarget&utm_campaign=2012-07+Salary+News&utm_term=8+Reasons+You+Didn%27t+Get+the+Job&cm_mmc=Email-_-2012-07+Salary+News-_-NA-_-8+Reasons+You+Didn%27t+Get+the+Job

A Sick Brain and a Great Naval Disaster

by Dr. Gifford Jones,
canadafreepress.com
July 1, 2012
    It was June 27, 1942, during World War II and Russia was in desperate need of tanks, planes, ammunition, food and other war necessities. The Soviet army was involved in a fearsome battle against Hitler’s panzer divisions that were advancing deeper and deeper into Russian territory and winning on all fronts. It appeared that without supplies the future course of World War II in the east was in doubt. And no one knew that a dreadful naval decision was about to be made to further the conquests of Nazi Germany. To aid the Russian army, allied commanders decided to assemble a huge convoy of British and American ships with the final destination, Archangel, in northern Russia. It was a perilous journey under the best of conditions. The strategy was to have this heavy naval escort meet merchant ships carrying supplies north of Iceland. They were then to proceed through frigid enemy waters controlled by German submarines and torpedo-bombers based in northern Norway.
    But a strange thing happened while in these treacherous waters. The escorting naval ships received an order telling them to leave the convoy at high speed. In addition, the puzzled captains of the merchant ships were told to scatter and proceed to Archangel. These murderous signals sent from 2,000 miles away resulted in a frightful disaster. For U-Boat commanders and torpedo-bombers it became a shooting gallery. Just 11 of the 34 ships reached their destination. Winston Churchill called convoy PQ 17 one of the most melancholy episodes of the whole war. But who sent this infamous signal against all naval advice? It was The First Lord of the British Admiralty, Sir Dudley Pound. Members of his staff had noticed for some time that he was suffering from exhaustion and fell asleep when meeting with President Roosevelt and at other high level meetings. They also questioned whether his symptoms might be due to serious disease. But because Churchill held him in high esteem, as did other admirals, no one suggested that he should seek medical attention.
    When Pound issued this infamous order he was actually suffering the symptoms of a glioma, a type of brain tumour, and died a few months later. Dr. Bengt Ljunggren, a Swedish neurosurgeon and historian, outlines [....]
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/articles-health/47758


CBO: Obamacare to Cost $1.930 Trillion, Leave 30 Million Uninsured

by Jeffrey H. Anderson,
weeklystandard.com
July 27, 2012

    The latest CBO scoring of Obamacare, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision upholding the overhaul’s individual mandate as an allowable (although seemingly unprecedented) tax on inactivity, shows that President Obama’s centerpiece legislation would cost about $2 trillion over its real first decade (2014 through 2023). The CBO also says that — despite its colossal cost and its unprecedented expansion of power and control over Americans’ lives — Obamacare would, as of a decade from now, leave 30 million people uninsured.
    At the time of Obamacare’s passage, Democrats touted the fact that the CBO had then said that the gross cost of Obamacare’s insurance coverage provisions would be “only” $938 billion. But that was for 2010 through 2019, while Obamacare wouldn’t really even go into effect until 2014. Now, the CBO says that the gross cost of Obamacare’s insurance coverage provisions over the 9-year span from 2014 through 2022 would be $1.674 trillion. Even if one were to assume that Obamacare’s annual costs, which the CBO says would rise by between 3.6 and 9.5 percent during each of the final five years of its scoring, would suddenly stop rising altogether in 2023 and would remain at $256 billion — the cost for 2022 — the tally for Obamacare’s real first decade (2014-23) would be $1.930 trillion.
    Really, it would be much higher. That’s because this tally, as the CBO notes, merely reflects the cost of Obamacare’s “insurance coverage provisions,” not the cost of Obamacare as a whole. Based on [....]
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cbo-obamacare-cost-1930-trillion-leave-30-million-uninsured_649066.html


CYS Investments: 14% Dividend Yield And Continued Solid Performance

by Saibus Research,
seekingalpha.com
July 24, 2012

    We published our research on CYS Investments (Cypress Sharpridge Investments, Inc: CYS) after it went ex-dividend. We were surprised that the company issued a secondary public offering of stock recently due to the fact that it has a small estimated market premium to book value, especially in relationship to two of our favorite mREITs (American Mortgage Capital: MTGE, and American Mortgage Agency: AGNC). Our firm took advantage of the 2.7% decline in CYS's stock price on July 11th to add to our position in CYS's common stock. We believe that the market received this offering as well as we did because not only did CYS increase it from 30M to 40M, CYS's stock price recovered to the July 10th pre-secondary closing price of $14.14 on July 17th. CYS's stock price dealt with volatility when AGNC issued a secondary offering of its own, but has only shed $.02 net from the close of July 17th to the close of July 20th.
    CYS Investments pays a $.50 per share quarterly dividend, which represents $2/share annually and a 14.2% dividend yield. Yield-hungry investors who invest in mREITs need to make sure that the company is able to maintain the dividend because what good is a 17% dividend if you end up losing 100% of your seed capital. We know people invested in Anthracite and Thornburg who can attest to getting burned with those mREITs. Looking at CYS's Net Interest Income Per share, we can see that the company generated $.513 in Q1 2012 and $.49165 in Q2 2012. While 100% net interest income to dividend may seem high at first glance, we also noticed the high [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/742091-cys-investments-14-dividend-yield-and-continued-solid-performance?source=email_investing_income&ifp=0

Federal Government's Debt Jumps More Than $1T for 5th Straight Fiscal Year

by Terence P. Jeffrey,
cbsnews.com
July 23, 2012
(CNSNews.com) - By the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, the new debt accumulated in this fiscal year by the federal government had already exceeded $1 trillion, making this fiscal year the fifth straight in which the federal government has increased its debt by more than a trillion dollars, according to official debt numbers published by the U.S. Treasury.
Tim Geithner, Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke
The Three Happy "MUCKateers!"
    Prior to fiscal 2008, the federal government had never increased its debt by as much as $1 trillion in a single fiscal year. From fiscal 2008 onward, however, the federal government has increased its debt by at least $1 trillion each and every fiscal year. The federal fiscal year begins on Oct. 1 and ends on Sept. 30. At the close of business on Sept. 30, 2011—the last day of fiscal 2011—the total debt of the federal government was $14,790,340,328,557.15. By June 29, the last business day of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, that debt had grown to $15,856,367,214,324.44—an increase for this fiscal year of $1,066,026,885,767.29.
    In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, the federal debt has continued to accumulate [....]
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/federal-governments-debt-jumps-more-1t-5th-straight-fiscal-year?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet

The Green Graveyard of Taxpayer-Funded Failures

by Amy Payne,
heritage.org
July 24, 2012
    Solar-cell manufacturer Solyndra became a household name when it collapsed, taking $627 million in American taxpayer dollars with it. It’s the poster company for the government picking winners and losers—or really, just losers—in the energy market. But there are 12 more “green energy” losers that have declared bankruptcy despite attempts to prop them up with taxpayer money—and the list is growing. There’s a reason why these companies could not rely solely on private financing and needed help from the government. They couldn’t make it on their own; they couldn’t even make it with extra taxpayer help.
    These green government “investments” take from one (by taxing or borrowing) and give to another, but they merely move money around. They do not create jobs. They send labor and resources to areas of the economy where they are wasted. Proponents of special financing and tax credits for solar companies claim that these benefits will pay for themselves down the line—but when the companies receiving them are going bankrupt, that is highly unlikely. Kate Adams, a member of Heritage’s Young Leaders Program, and Heritage’s Rachael Slobodien compiled a list of the 12 members of the Green Graveyard—companies that received taxpayer money for green initiatives yet have filed for bankruptcy.
Abound Solar (Loveland, Colorado), manufacturer of thin film photovoltaic modules.
Beacon Power (Tyngsborough, Massachusetts), designed and developed advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation.
Ener1 (Indianapolis, Indiana), built compact lithium-ion-powered battery solutions for hybrid and electric cars.
Energy Conversion Devices (Rochester Hills, Michigan/Auburn Hills, Michigan), manufacturer of flexible thin film photovoltaic (PV) technology and a producer of batteries and other renewable energy-related products.
Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Marlborough, Massachusetts), manufactured and installed solar panels.
Mountain Plaza, Inc. (Dandridge, Tennessee), designed and implemented “truck-stop electrification” technology.
Olsen’s Crop Service and Olsens Mills Acquisition Co. (Berlin, Wisconsin), a private company producing ethanol.
Range Fuels (Soperton, Georgia), tried to develop a technology that converted biomass into ethanol without the use of enzymes.
Raser Technologies (Provo, Utah), geothermal power plants and technology licensing.
Solyndra (Fremont, California), manufacturer of cylindrical panels of thin-film solar cells.
Spectrawatt (Hopewell, New York), solar cell manufacturer.
Thompson River Power LLC (Wayzata, Minnesota), designed and developed advanced products and services to support stable, reliable and efficient electricity grid operation.
Some lawmakers are looking [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/07/24/morning-bell-the-green-graveyard-of-taxpayer-funded-failures/?roi=echo3-12637201555-9231616-19f1bab4b13f227672b96caebb9a3333&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Gutting Welfare Reform: Ending Welfare as We Know It

Heritage Foundation Fact Sheet #109
heritage.org
July 23, 2012
Ends Work Requirements
Waives Centerpiece of Reform: On July 12, the Obama Administration issued a directive from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that guts the successful welfare reform act of 1996. Obama’s new policy allows states to waive the federal work requirement, the foundation of the reform law.
Sidestepping the Law: Federal law does not allow HHS to waive the work requirements. When the welfare reform law was enacted in 1996, Congress specifically limited the HHS Secretary’s discretion to waiving certain state reporting requirements, which is not the heart of the reform law. The Obama Administration’s insistence that Congress actually authorized the Secretary to waive the principal reform is not credible, nor is it a fair reading of the statute.
The End of Work Requirements: Work requirements have been watered down over the years, as liberals in Congress refused to reauthorize the law and states found loopholes to get around the requirements. The Obama Administration’s directive aims to weaken work requirements much further—to the point that they are essentially meaningless.
Americans Favor Work Requirements: The most recent polling data show that the vast majority—83 percent—of Americans favor work requirements be included in welfare.
Successes of Welfare Reform
1996 Reform Effort: In 1996, Congress reformed the largest federal cash assistance program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The new law instituted work requirements for the first time and renamed the program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). As a result of the changes, welfare rolls decreased dramatically, as did child poverty rates.
Recipients Leave Welfare for Work: Prior to welfare reform, the welfare caseload had not declined significantly at any time since World War II. After welfare reform, the [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/factsheets/2012/07/gutting-welfare-reform-ending-welfare-as-we-know-it?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/categories/C171
Part two to follow!

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