This'n'That; May Thirty-First #2; NY Stupidity Redux

Now It's Thruway Tolls On Heavy Trucks!
    Earlier today we talked about how the (less-than-great) State of New York is on a path to screw the trucker to the proverbial wall:
http://justincase505.blogspot.com/2012/05/thisnthat-may-thirty-first-1-new-york.html
Now, the (less-than-great) New York Senate is proposing to further screw the truck driver by raising the thruway tolls by a whoopin' 45% on heavy trucks (those with three axles or more).  What most non-truckers don't know: the trucking industry is already being screwed by the New York State Thruway Aughority!  There are essentially two common sizes of trailers; 48 feet and 53 feet.  Those using the 48 foot trailer pay the standard heavy truck rate.  Those using 53 foot trailers PAY DOUBLE; they get two toll tickets upon entry onto the thruway!!  Does that make sense?!?  Double the charge for an extra 5 feet, even though the maximum gross weight of both vehicles is exactly the same: 80,000 pounds.
    The net affect of this toll increase will be to force the heavy trucks onto the east-west 'skinny roads:' NY-5, NY-104, US-20, I-86/NY-17, etc, which--so far--the state has not erected toll booths on.  As was discovered by the State of Ohio earlier this century; not only is the truck driving community a thrifty one, they have some of the hardest heads on the planet!!  When Ohio raised the tolls on I-80, a large percentage of trucks chose to run the 'skinny roads,' to the point that the Ohio tolling authority made concessions to the transportation industry.
   Some of we New Yorkers (in my case, a TEMPORARY New Yorker) may not realize that New York's state senators don't give "two-hoots-in-hell" about your financial circumstances, your struggles to make-ends-meet!!  All these increases--be they toll, taxes, regulations--will be reflected in your cash register tab at the Walmart, the Wegman's, the RiteAid, etc.  The retailer has no choice but to add these additional increases to the sales prices of every thing in the store.  Do you think this hits the state senator, the state assemblyman as hard as it will hit you?!?
Why don'cha make a call and express your support or lack thereof for this proposal?!?
Til Nex'Time....
http://www.tollroadsnews.com/

This'n'That; May Thirty-First #1; New York Stupidity

New York Legislature, In It's Infinite Wisdom...
    ....and in retaliation for the release of damaging information, is attacking yet another segment of New York taxpayers.  A couple of days ago, The Tax Foundation released some information gleaned from IRS public information as well as the latest census activity.
    Between 2000 and 2010 3.4 million persons left the State of New York.  During the same period, 2.1 million persons foolishly migrated INTO the state making a net population loss of 1.3 million lucky persons.  The departing citizens took $45.5 billion in earnings with them!  With the State of New York being Number Two on the 'states with the highest state and local tax burden' list, the departures mean a hell'uva bite in the expected revenue to the state treasury. 
    Given said loss in tax revenue over the 2000-'10 decade, the New York legislature has found a solution:  find another taxpayer segment and tax THEM out-of-existence!!  They've decided on independent contractors in the state's trucking industry.  With enactment of
"The New York State Commercial Goods Transportation Industry Fair Play Act," the state's legislative miscreants will essentially force the state's segment of the trucking industry companies to bear costs originally the responsibility of the independent contractors (also known as 'owner-operators).  The so-called 'Fair Play Act' is anything but fair!!  It makes said independents trucking company employees, to be organized and ruled by that evil Teamsters Union.  And adding unmanagable expenses to the individual trucking companies.
    I know from whence I speak.  I was an over-the-road truck driver for almost eleven years (7 years of that as an owner-operator) until an insane federal law forced me out of the tractor I owned.
A bit of definition:  Those independent contractors were different than myself, in that they relied on 'load-boards' to find loads.  I leased my tractor to Crete Carrier Corporation who offered me loads, rather than me having to find them on my own through said 'load-boards'.
Various manufacturers--actually, anyone with frieght to have hauled--list on  load-boards from time-to-time for unexpected freight movements.  Independents consult these boards, contact the shipper and negotiate various aspects of 'the deal.'
    The 'arschlocher' in the New York legislature are grasping at straws to continue to fund:
one of the best--worst, if you're a taxpayer--welfare benefit systems in the country;
one of the best state employee union retirement systems in the country;
one of the best state employee union medical benefit systems in the country;
one of the best legislator financial perquisite systems in the country, et al.
The way to continue the lavish career of a state politician must not be partially on the backs of the state's trucking industry.  These guys--and gals--'fight-tooth-and-nail' every day just to make ends meet in the caree they love.
Every arschloch that votes to enact this legislation must be resoundingly kicked out on their collective asses at the next election!!
Blogger sidebar:  I thoroughly enjoyed my eleven years 'on the road.' Even better were the seven of those years as an owner-operator.  Without the federal interference I'd still be out there, discovering something new each-and-every-day!  Anyone who's nomadic by nature would bode well to check out the trucking industry for his--or her--next career endeavor.
    I've met retired doctors, dentists, nurses, accountants, corporate executives, among us 'commoners'' who call ourselves truck drivers.  There are handicapped drivers, one of which was a wheel-chair bound driver I met in a truckstop, somewhere!! Truck driving as a career--while it looks cool--is not for the fainthearted; the stress levels can be hellish!!  With an open mind, the rewards can far outweigh the negatives.
Til Nex'Time....
http://tax.d7.qorvisdev.com/tax-topics/state-tax-and-spending-policy
http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=76188
http://www.cretecarrier.com/
http://www.nysenate.gov/senators
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?sh=search

This'n'That; May Thritieth #3; Death Camps

MORE Boob-isms From Incompetent Boob!
    As is expected daily, the "Clown Prince" yet again displayed his incompetent ineptness during a May 29th blather opportunity in barackingham Palace.  This latest example of inept incompetence has "Clown Prince" owe-bama citing "Polish Death Camps" while awarding a polish professor--Jan Karski--one of his freeby 'Medal of Freedom' trinkets.  Everyone OUTSIDE barackingham Palace knows the Polish neither have nor had 'death camps!' Adolf Hitler operated NAZI Death Camps inside Poland during WWII.  I'm sure the apologists will suggest that "Clown Prince" owe-bama was confused by the similar political mindset between then-German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and 'his-own-self.'
    The latest example of "Clown Prince" owe-bama's blusterful incompetence went to the top of the Polish national hierarchy as evidenced by this twit from Foreign Minister Sikorski, referring to Prime Minister Donald Tusk:

"The White House will apologize for this outrageous error.  Tusk will make a statement in the morning.  It's a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence." 

    In accordance with the 'Palace policy'--of someone, anyone apologizing for all owe-bama committed boob-isms--the boy-mouthpiece--Mister Claire Shipman was trotted out to make the 'Polish Death Camps' go away!!
    I--for one--certainly hope that President Mitt Romney hires a better class of speechwriter!!  We've heard enough from owe-bama's "blow-back" buddies-turned-speechwriters!!
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; May Thirtieth #2; Competition!

Fair Competition Benefits The Consumer
    As with owe-bamaKare, the federal government should not be in the "student-loan" business, either!  Both situations could well benefit the general public; the taxpayers, if the federal government just bowed out of any area where the private sector could do a better job.  And that would be every budget item excepting the Department of Defense!
    Why do you think there is more than Walmart; more than Home Depot?!?  For competition, of course!!  Without the "Target Stores" of the world; without the "Lowes Companies" and the "Menards"  of the world, you--my friends--would be forced to pay ANYTHING Walmart or Home Depot wanted to charge you.  The aforementioned programs--as with many others--could be bettered with competition. 
For instance:  owe-bamaKare is found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.  So it goes away and the federal government is no longer in the healthcare, health insurance businesses.  The health insurance companies return to their previous levels of sales-of-coverage.  AND, a new federal law requires states to allow any-and-all vetted and approved health insurance programs to be marketed in their states.  With competition, health insurance premiums become fairer, relative to the benefits purchased.
For instance:  the federal government is forced out of the "student-loan" business as a cost-cutting measure.  The banks, credit unions, various investment avenues are now allowed to issue student-loans.  With One-Trillion-Dollars in student-loans currently outstanding, this is clearly a huge segment of the loan, funding industries!  Again, with competition comes reduced 'prices!'
Til Nex'Time....

This'n'That; May Thirtieth #1; How Conservative?!?

Is The "Tea Party" Congressional Class Of 2010 Really Conservative?!?
    Remember when the conservative taxpayers put their collective foot down concerning RINO incumbents in 2010?  This action put 87 new republicRATic House members to work after a thorough vetting by individual "Tea Party" Movement groups, nationwide.  Those "Tea Party" conservatives are up for re-election--as is the entire House of Representatives--this fall.
    In my district--NY-25--Ann Marie Buerkle will be challenged by Dan Maffei, the miscreant she defeated in 2010.  Mr Maffei made it painfully obvious during his tenure he had learned absolutely nothing in his Master of Public Policy course work at Harvard. He was little more than a mouthpiece and yes-man for the nancy PORKlosi House.  So, given this information, I was really curious how conservative Ms Buerkle actually is or isn't.
    The 'Club For Growth' folks did a highly informative study on just that subject, studying all the "Tea Party"-supported Congressmen.  In the study, Ms Buerkle scored 92% while three scored 100% (Justin Amash, Mi-3; Tim Huelskamp, Ks-1; Raul Labrador, Id-1).  The  two worst in scoring--tied at a dismal 42%!--are Bob Dold, Il-10; Patrick Meehan, Pa-7!!  Another surprise for me was the scores for those NY-vetted freshmen aside from the aforementioned Ms Buerkle's 92%:
Chris Gibson (NY-20), 44%;
Michael Grimm (NY-13), 46%;
Richard Hanna, (NY-24), 44%;
Nan Hayworth, (NY-19), 56%;
Tom Reed, (NY-29), 68%.    Excepting Ann Marie Buerkle, the New York contingent of miscreants certainly can't match their campaign rhetoric to their post-election voting records.  Every dam' one of them must be resoundingly 'thumped' by a TRUE "Tea Party" candidate in the upcoming fall elections!!  If one can not support "Tea Party-esque" legislation at least nine-times out of ten, he-or-she doesn't belong in the federal government.  Remember:
Nothing will change without a smaller government;
Nothing will change without adherence to the United States Constitution,
Nothing will change without reduced, conservative spending.
So in the aggregate, nothing will change without further "Tea Party" vetted candidates to replace said miscreants as well as a clear majority of the remaining owe-bamacRATic socio-fascists.
Til Nex'Time....
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/freshman-republicans-switch-from-tea-to-kool-aid/
http://www.clubforgrowth.org/freshmanvotestudy/?state=

This'n'That; May Twenty-Seventh #2; Spending 'Hoax!'

The owe-bama Spending Hoax Revealed
    By now everyone on the planet--excepting maybe, a couple of folks in Appalachia who don't really give a crap--has read or at least heard of, the Rex Nutting fictional piece on the owe-bama spending phenomenon:
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-05-22/commentary/31802270_1_spending-federal-budget-drunken-sailor
'PolitiFact'--using the same flawed methodology--agrees with the Nutting piece:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/may/23/facebook-posts/viral-facebook-post-says-barack-obama-has-lowest-s/
The 'politicalmath' guy is highly adept at explaining all things 'numbers,' and as such exposes the flawed methodology for what it is, a thinly-veiled attempting at putting a 'smiley-face' on the owe-bama out-of-control socio-fascist, economy-destroying spending:
http://www.politicalmathblog.com/?p=1786
    After reading all three articles, one thing continues to be blatantly clear:  the national pamphleteers' clear and unrelenting bias is all-the-more evident!  Not only does the next president--former Governor Mitt Romney-- have to battle the sitting ruler, he must contend with and counteract owe-bama's in-the-tank national pamphleteers.
Til Nex'Time....
www.marketwatch.com
www.politifact.com
www.politicalmathblog.com

This'n'That; May Twenty-Seventh #1; Roadtrip!

Courtesy Of Dana Perino and "The Five"
    Most of the "The Five" shows I see are DVR'd so I kinda lose track of what day's show I'm watching.  I normally do have a pad and pen at hand for notes on important political topics.  One of the two shows I watched Friday evening had Dana Perino talking about a 'debt-and-deficit-roadtrip.'  So I giggled it and found this URL:
www.bermanpost.com
On the 'Berman' site, I found the video to which Ms Perino referred:
http://politicalmath.wordpress.com/2009/05/15/the-national-debt-road-trip/
Not only is said video/audio well made, most informative, it seems to be factually correct.  Although originally produced in May of 2009, it uses the "Clown Prince's" own budget projections as well as factual spending numbers.
The 'politicalmath' URL has a written narrative for those who are audio-ically challenged!!
    I thank Dana Perino and those producers on "The Five" who found this video and brought it to a 'second-life.'
Til Nex'Time....
[Closed circuit to Mitt Romney:]  Governor, this video should be incorporated into your next '"Clown Prince" owe-bama versus republicRATics spending' video ads.

The Sunday 'Report;' 05/27/2012

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
Political Cartoon of the Week

Stupidity Laws Could Have Stopped Obama

by John Ransom
townhall.com
May 22, 2012    Democrats have been crying for the last few weeks because the official bank of the Obama administration, JPMorgan Chase, lost $2 billion dollars in a hedging strategy that will likely get a few more folks fired from the firm. Democrats have used their deepest Vox Populi to decry loose bank regulations that allowed this outrage to happen. Their argument would be especially good if the bank regulations they are criticizing weren’t the result of large Democrat majorities and signed into law by President Occupy Wall Street himself just as the Democrat majorities unwound.
    As Reuters notes “The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law was enacted in response to the financial crisis includes the Volcker rule, which bans banks from making speculative bets with company money. But it includes an exemption for trades done to hedge risk.” Nice loophole there guys; must have raised a ton on money for Democrat campaigns on that exemption. House Republicans meanwhile are taking a more pragmatic and ultimately correct position that these losses are best left to shareholders and board of directors to figure out. "There's no law against stupidity. No law against stupid trades," said House Speak John Boehner. Because here’s where Democrat logic really falls apart: If [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/johnransom/2012/05/22/stupidity_laws_could_have_stopped_obama/page/full/

Stopping the Largest Tax Hike in History

by Mike Brownfield
heritage.org
May 11, 2012
    The largest tax hike in history is due to strike the United States on January 1, 2013. Known as “Taxmageddon,” it would impose $494 billion in higher taxes on the American people in the first year. So terrible would be its impact that yesterday Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Senate Democrats that the country is headed toward a “fiscal cliff” and that Congress must deal with the impending tax nightmare.
    On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that his chamber will take up the issue before the November election. Knowing Washington’s general reluctance to do anything of substance in an election year, Boehner’s announcement [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/11/morning-bell-stopping-the-largest-tax-hike-in-history/?roi=echo3-11978926764-8633409-a68bace65fe881ccad39210c2a8d7c5c&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Obama’s Sneaky Treaties

by Dick Morris
dickmorris.com
February 8, 2012
    President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are entering negotiations over — or seeking ratification of — five treaties that could radically limit our national sovereignty and the reach of our democratic institutions. Particularly scary is that the treaties, once signed and ratified, have the same status as constitutional law and cannot be altered or eclipsed by Congress or state legislatures. And their provisions must be enforced by U.S. courts. Those who wish to preserve our sovereignty and democratic control over our future must rally to block these treaties, either by pressing Obama and Clinton not to sign them or by blocking their ratification.
• International Criminal Court — Clinton has reversed George W. Bush’s policy and entered into negotiations over U.S. participation in the court. Specifically, the leftists who are sponsoring the court wish to create a new crime of “aggression,” which is essentially going to war without the approval of the United Nations. If we submit to the court’s jurisdiction, our [....]
http://www.dickmorris.com/obamas-sneaky-treaties/
 
Morning Bell: President Me

by Rory Cooper
heritage.org
May 16, 2012
    Reflecting on his two terms in office, President George W. Bush said in 2010, “You realize you’re not it. You’re a part of something bigger than yourself.”
This is a sentiment President Barack Obama did not inherit from his predecessor. Over the past month we have witnessed several displays of arrogant power emanating from our White House, emphasizing fealty to a person over the integrity of an American institution. Some are more serious than others.
    First, this week it was discovered that White House staff had edited the biographies of many past presidents on whitehouse.gov to include a bullet point or two inserting President Obama into each historical narrative. For example, while President Calvin Coolidge had been the first president to make a public radio address, President Obama is on LinkedIn; and while Social Security was introduced by President Roosevelt, under President Obama it still exists. But in a far more egregious example [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/16/morning-bell-president-me/?roi=echo3-12019615294-8669340-1e6e15bd305a806ef7b5497e4fa74a02&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell


Hopeless Change: Young Americans getting the worst of Obama's Economy

by Bob Beauprez
townhall.com
May 17, 2012
    In 2008, Obama inspired legions of young Americans who bought into his "Change you can believe in" campaign message. According to the Pew Research Center, voters under the age of 30 supported Obama over John McCain 66:31 – by far the largest disparity between young voters and other age groups in any presidential election since exit polling began in 1972. In addition to the critical vote totals, Obama attracted thousands of high energy campaign volunteers that brought unbridled enthusiasm to his campaign of Hope-and-Change.
    Sadly, three years later, it is more like Hopeless Change that millions of young Americans face. In exchange for that 2:1 vote of confidence they gave Obama in 2008, the 18-29 year-olds are feeling the brunt of the economic stagnation – often by twice the degree of all other age groups. According to the Wall Street Journal, "The U.S. labor market is in a malaise, but young adults are in crisis."
Maybe you hadn't noticed, but the recession supposedly ended [....]
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/bobbeauprez/2012/05/17/hopeless_change_young_americans_getting_the_worst_of_obamas_economy/page/full/

Hornell's Bill Pullman again a president in new NBC comedy

‘1600 Penn’ joins lineup in 2013
by Andy Thompson
The Evening Tribune
May 24, 2012
Hornell, N.Y. — Once a president, it seems, always a president. But this time Bill Pullman won’t have pesky aliens bent on world destruction to worry about. Turning from the dramatic to situation comedy, Pullman has been cast as the nation’s leader in the new NBC comedy “1600 Penn,” titled for the address of the real-life White House.
    Pullman, a Hornell native who returns often to visit family and his farm in Hartsville, plays the head of a somewhat dysfunctional family that includes first lady Jenna Elfman, who is also step-mother to his children, Martha MacIsaac as his college graduate daughter, and Josh Gad as his trouble-prone son. Producing is co-creator John Lovett, who once had job writing for a real president, Barack Obama. It’s a long [....]
http://www.eveningtribune.com/newsnow/x1832943469/Hornells-Bill-Pullman-again-a-president-in-new-NBC-comedy?zc_p=0

Big Lies in Politics

by Dr Thomas Sowell
townhall.com
May 22, 2012
    The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy them, and only in the short run. The current outbreaks of riots in Europe show what happens when the truth catches up with both the politicians and the people in the long run. Among the biggest lies of the welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic is the notion that the government can supply the people with things they want but cannot afford. Since the government gets its resources from the people, if the people as a whole cannot afford something, neither can the government.
    There is, of course, the perennial fallacy that the government can simply raise taxes on "the rich" and use that additional revenue to pay for things that most people cannot afford. What is amazing is the implicit assumption that "the rich" are all such complete fools that they will do nothing to prevent their money from being taxed away. History shows otherwise. After the Constitution of the United States was amended to permit a federal income tax, in 1916, the number of people reporting taxable incomes of $300,000 a year or more fell from well over a thousand to fewer than three hundred by 1921. Were the rich all getting poorer? Not at all. They were [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2012/05/22/big_lies_in_politics/page/full/

Americans with Disabilities Act covers ‘bashful bladder syndrome,’ could cost employers billions
by Taylor Bigler, Entertainment Editor
The Daily Caller
May 10, 2012
    It could cost U.S. employers between $2 billion and $4 billion to comply with an obscure Americans with Disabilities Act regulation meant to protect workers who are gun-shy in public restrooms. According to an informal discussion letter the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued in August 2011, “paruresis” — more commonly known as “shy bladder syndrome” — qualifies as a disability under the amended Americans with Disabilities Act.
    The International Paruresis Association defines the odd affliction as the “inability to urinate with others present.” The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the gold-standard of psychiatrists, categorizes it as a social phobia that affects roughly seven percent of the population — approximately 17 million Americans. The Association alleges that thousands of people who are afflicted by paruresis have been unfairly fired because of their inability to urinate in a public restroom during random drug screening tests. And while the EEOC suggests that providing alternative drug-testing methods is one way to accommodate these sufferers, the next frontier could be the claim that they are entitled to pee in privacy during the normal course of daily work. If every employer large enough to be subject to the ADA were to [....]
http://dailycaller.com/2012/05/10/americans-with-disabilities-act-covers-bashful-bladder-syndrome-could-cost-employers-billions/

The 2012 Tax Policy Two-Step: Taxmageddon, Then Tax Reform
by J.D. Foster, Ph.D.

heritage.org
May 9, 2012
    The nation faces an unprecedented tidal wave of tax hikes on January 1, 2013. Aptly called “Taxmageddon,” at nearly $500 billion the tax hike is so massive that it has accomplished what many regarded as impossible: consensus.[1] There is broad agreement that at least most of this tax hike must be prevented. The debate is really only about how much and when. At the same time, there is a growing consensus in favor of tax reform. Both President Obama and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have called for reducing corporate income tax rates substantially.[2] With such an obvious need, many Members of Congress, echoing their constituents’ views, are frustrated with the lack of progress on tax reform. Many also express a reluctance to prevent Taxmageddon without tax reform, suggesting that doing so smacks of once again “kicking the can down the road.” While these frustrations are understandable, nevertheless as matters stand, the correct two-step sequencing Members should embrace is to prevent all tax hikes now while working on and for tax reform in 2013.
Step One: Preventing Taxmageddon
On January 1, 2013, among other unfortunate tax consequences: [....]
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/05/2012-tax-policy-two-step-taxmageddon-then-tax-reform?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=BudgetSense


43 Organizations Sue over HHS Mandate

by Sarah Torre
heritage.org
May 21, 2012
    Twelve separate lawsuits were filed today in district courts around the country on behalf of 43 separate religious organizations against the Obamacare anti-conscience mandate. The complaints demand relief from the mandate that will force almost all employers to provide and pay for coverage of abortion-inducing drugs, contraception, and sterilization regardless of the employers’ moral or religious objections.
    The lawsuits span from the dioceses of Washington, D.C., and Joilet, Illinois, to Catholic Charities of Jackson, Mississippi, and the Michigan Catholic Conference. The range of the 43 institutions that have joined the dozen suits highlights the variety of Good Samaritan groups harmed by the mandate. These ministries serve inner-city children, the elderly, deaf, developmentally disabled, HIV/AIDS patients, and homeless—among many others. Catholic outreach, like many other religious groups in America, seeks to serve those most in need. As Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, explained this morning: [....]
http://blog.heritage.org/2012/05/21/can-you-hear-us-now-43-organizations-sue-over-hhs-mandate/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet

5 Ways Obama Is A Dictator

Staff Report,
exposeobama.com
May 10, 2012
    When power is placed in the hands of a usurper like Barack Obama,all thought of accepting authority from the other branches of government as delegated by the Constitution is rejected. Three years in office,we have seen Obama use the various agencies of the executive branch to break countless federal statutes,rob states of their legislative prerogatives,and flout the authority of Congress and the courts.
    Obama’s Department of Justice has actively prevented South Carolina,Arizona,Texas,and other states from implementing voter ID laws designed to prevent the widespread incidents of fraud so instrumental to the success of the Democrat Party in elections for the past 50 years. The Department has filed suit in federal court to prevent implementation of those state laws in spite of a 2008 Supreme Court ruling which found Constitutional an Indiana voter ID law whose various requirements were mirrored in the Texas and Arizona legislation.
    The EPA imposed water quality rules in Florida which would have led to “…billions of dollars in compliance costs,significant spikes in utility bills and the loss of thousands of jobs.” In February,the Florida Attorney General prevailed in a lawsuit against the EPA in which the presiding judge found “…the EPA’s rules were not based on sound science…” Moreover,the judge declared the EPA had even failed to prove its scheme would prevent any harm to the environment.
    Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) threatened suit against South Carolina “for guaranteeing a secret ballot in union elections.” The NLRB eventually backed down,but then turned its attention to the Boeing Company,telling Boeing it could not relocate its plants. Once again,the Board backed down “but only after the company and the union worked through an agreement.”
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) demanded [....]
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/05/10/5-ways-obama-is-a-dictator/

Barack Obama: The Spending King

by Rush Limbaugh (on 'The Rush Limbaugh Show')www.rushlimbaugh.com
May 24, 2012
BEGIN TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: I had that story yesterday. In fact, I saw that stupid story yesterday and I sent it to everybody I know. And I said, "We're gonna have to deal with this. This has come out of left field. It's come out of the blue. We're gonna have to deal with this." And then I didn't get to it yesterday. I put it so far down in the Stack. It's this story about how Obama's not really spending all that much money. Obama's probably the most fiscally responsible president we've had in 25 or 30 administrations. I mean, that's the story. Some guy named Nutting at MarketWatch. I thought MarketWatch used to be CBS. Now it's Wall Street Journal. This guy Nutting goes back and forth. He's got this big story out there that it's a myth that Obama's a big spender.
    The way he does it is to say that all the spending in 2009, which would include the stimulus, was Bush's because the budget for 2009 was Bush's, done in September of 2008. So Obama's first year is actually Bush's last budget. But Bush didn't budget the Porkulus. Bush didn't budget the second Porkulus. It's a trillion dollars of spending that this guy Nutting lops on to Bush and doesn't give to Obama. But that doesn't even cover what's going on here. I sent it around to everybody, I said, "You better look out for this." And what's happened now, Obama has taken the bait on this. Obama's running around like everybody else [....]
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/05/24/barack_obama_the_spending_king

The False Obama Spending Math
by Yossi Gestetner,
The American Thinker
May 23, 2012
    Columnist Rex Nutting over at Market Watch has a story with the headline "Obama spending binge never happened." In it he argues "of all the falsehoods told about President Barack Obama, the biggest whopper is the one about his reckless spending spree."
Nutting notes that Federal Spending from Fiscal Year 2008 to FY 2009 (Bush's last official budget) rose by 17% to $3.52 trillion, yet the 2013 Obama budget is only 1.4% larger than 2009; the smallest increase in sixty years. The reason, he claims, why people have it "wrong" about Obama's budgets is because they don't know that a budget in a President's first year gets shaped by the Congress and previous president months before the election. Therefore, almost all of the 2009 spending is Bush's increase.
    Here is why his headline and actual story is [....]
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/the_false_obama_spending_math_by_market_watch.html

Why It Doesn’t Pay To Cooperate With Police

by Bob Livingston,
Personal Liberty Digest
May 21, 2012
    Keep your car free from clutter and conceal everything that you want to keep private.Police officers are trained manipulators. They take classes to learn how to read people’s body language and how to ask open-ended and innocent-sounding questions in order to surreptitiously obtain information they can use against you.  They also have a knowledge of the laws that you don’t possess — and laws differ from State to State, and even from one jurisdiction in a State to another. Police have also been known to invent “laws,” place “evidence” that can be linked to you and twist your words into meaning something you did not intend. For that reason you should never consent to a police search of your vehicle and never volunteer information when being questioned. Of course, not consenting doesn’t mean you won’t be subjected to an unConstitutional and illegal search, as Nancy Genovese learned.
    But two recent cases drive home the point of why it doesn’t pay to cooperate with police: that of Army Lt. Augustine Kim and that of Diane Avera. Before being deployed to Afghanistan, Kim left his gun collection with his parents in New Jersey. In the summer of 2010, Kim was back in the United States after being injured in a vehicle crash in Afghanistan. He had a medical appointment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and decided to work a trip from his South Carolina home to his parent’s New Jersey home around the medical center appointment. He loaded his guns plus some spare parts in the trunk of his Honda Civic and headed to his medical appointment. He [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/05/21/why-it-doesnt-pay-to-cooperate-with-police/?eiid=


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

Staff Report,
rasmussenreports.com
May 26, 2012
    The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer for many Americans, and it’s a good time to take stock of where the nation’s at. First, there’s the size of government. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Likely U.S. Voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes over one with more services and higher taxes. That's consistent with findings in regular surveys for years. Just 25% prefer a government with more services and higher taxes. Most voters also continue to believe tax cuts are good for the economy and that more government spending has a negative impact. In spite of these core beliefs, [....]
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/weekly_updates/what_they_told_us_reviewing_last_week_s_key_polls

Western Sharia

Muslim supremacists partner with the Lawyer Left.
by Andrew C. McCarthy,
nationalreview.com
May 12, 2012 
    Ismail Belghar, a 36-year-old Muslim man living in Australia, assaulted, abducted, and nearly killed his sister-in-law. The victim, a 25-year-old Moroccan named Canan Kokden, had dared to take her older sister, Mrs. B, to the beach without Belghar’s permission. This heinous effrontery was amplified, Belghar later recounted for police, when Mrs. B thereupon “displayed her body,” sustaining the shoulder sunburn that tipped him off.
    To Australians, this may have been, well, just a day at the beach. For Belghar, though, it was an “abhorrent” offense against sharia, Islam’s legal code and comprehensive societal framework. The telltale burn is also starting to show on the West’s shoulders, our courts of law. Australia has not changed Belghar, but the Belghars are changing Australia. Innately, Islam is not moderate — just ask Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s prime minister, who rejects as “ugly and offensive” the very term “moderate Islam.” Instead, Islam can be moderated, but only by a culture that is self-confident and self-assertive. Alas, that is no longer Western culture. So, the more Muslims immigrate, the less the West is moderating Islam. It is Islam that leaves its mark.
    In the usual endearing family way, [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/299782/western-sharia-andrew-c-mccarthy#
Venture Deals:
Understanding the Venture Capital Industry

By Eric Anderson
smallbiztrends.com
March 25, 2012
    Everything that an entrepreneur wanted to know about venture capital but was afraid to ask. Or maybe you are so lost, you don’t even know what questions to ask. Term sheets? Accelerators? Convertible debt? When do you use a venture capital firm? All of these were topics completely foreign to me, until I picked up a copy of Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist at the local library.
    All entrepreneurs need money to start and grow their business. But how are you going to get it? Bank? Friends? Begging on the street? I first learned about Venture Deals during a panel discussion on micro-VC efforts. The presenter said this would be a good starting point, and he was right. The authors are a former lawyer (Jason Mendelson) and entrepreneur Brad Feld (@bfeld). The best part about the book is that the terms and practices are explained in a way that is easy to understand by people who have never raised money using VC firms. Most paragraphs are summarized with “The Entrepreneur’s Perspective” – a simple explanation of what was just read and how it pertains to the entrepreneur.
    The book opens with an overview of venture capital: who’s involved and how to raise money. These chapters do a good job of asking entrepreneurs questions they may not have thought of before:
•How much money are you going to need?
•How do you find the right VC?
•Who’s involved in raising money?
Then the deep dive begins: the term sheet. The term sheet is the first critical element of venture capital. For clarification and understanding, the authors divide it into four sections: [....]
http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/03/venture-deals-book-review.html

Understanding Venture Capital

by Mark Suster, an "Entrepreneur Turned VC"
bothsidesofthetable.com
(Undated)    I’m starting a new series called “Understanding VC’s” in which I’ll try to give you a better understanding of the way venture capital firms work to give you a better understanding of what you’ll be dealing with when you need to raise money. Here are some of the topics I’ll cover (if they’re not linked I haven’t written the post yet):
1. A VC has shown me interest and taken several meetings. Am I likely to get to closure? – If you’re talking with a good VC firm and partner they’re likely talking to many companies at once. So even if they “show you the love” they probably have other deals that they’re also very interested in. In fact, most VC firms are like airports, they have a limited number of landing slots and a crowded sky of airplanes all at different points of distance and all hoping to land. Your firm may be very interesting but may still get diverted to another airport or asked to come back when weather conditions have cleared.
2. Does the size of VC fund matter? Knowing the size of the current fund, year raised, number of deals left to do and where the VC is in the stage of raising another fund all matters. Read the post to find out why.
3. Understanding the risks of VC signaling – When a VC invests in your company [....]
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/understanding-vcs/

The Power of Cool

From Barack Obama to Mark Zuckerberg, cool buys exemption.
by Victor Davis Hanson,
nationalreview.com
May 23, 2012
    When Barack Obama two years ago joked at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that potential suitors of his two daughters might have to deal with Predator drones (“But boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: Predator drones. You will never see it coming.”), the liberal crowd roared. That failed macabre joke would have earned George W. Bush a week of headline condemnation from the New York Times and the Washington Post.
    Obama, in fact, has increased those judge/jury/executioner targeted assassinations tenfold during his tenure. But apparently, the combination of Obama’s postracial “cool” and the video-game nature of such airborne death — no CNN clips of charred torsos and smoldering legs, no prisoners with their ACLU lawyers in Guantanamo, no Seymour Hersh exposé on a Waziristan granny who was vaporized for being too near her terrorist-suspect grandson, no American losses for Code Pink and Moveon.org to demonstrate against — earned general exemption for that new liberal way of war. What bothered us about the Predator strikes in 2006–2008 was not the kills per se but the uncool nature of twangy Texan George Bush, who ordered them.
    Last week 28-year-old, $17 billion–rich, jeans-clad Mark Zuckerberg took Wall Street for a multibillion-dollar ride, making his original buddies instant billionaires and his loyal larger circle millionaires. Note that there is no Occupy Wall Street protest at Facebook headquarters. Just as there are [....]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/300700/power-cool-victor-davis-hanson
The Lies You’re Told

by Bob Livingston,
Personal Liberty Digest
May 14, 2012
    Very intelligent people buy into lies and myths the same as the general population.The elites are masters of propaganda. They have at their beck and call an army of “journalists” who never stray from the official state line for fear of being ostracized. They eagerly and happily spread lies and half-truths in order to gain and then keep their seats near the halls of power. Those who stray from the party line (Helen Thomas) are harshly dealt with. They have learned that the more lies they tell, the more lies we believe. And the more lies we believe, the more dependent we become. Conversely, the fewer myths, lies and deceptions we succumb to, the less dependent — and, therefore, the freer — we are.
    Propaganda is the science of persuasion and mind control. Its purpose is to forge allegiance to a political order or to ensure acceptance — and, therefore, consumption — of a particular product whether it is needed or beneficial. Propaganda victimizes the public by changing and controlling its belief system to the benefit of the political establishment or for the monetary gain of corporate interests and the medical establishment. I have learned the power of propaganda. I have watched as otherwise intelligent and thoughtful people have had their minds manipulated so that they acted against their own best interests as a result of propaganda. It seems that [....]
http://personalliberty.com/2012/05/14/the-lies-youre-told/?eiid=

Terrorism and the Not-So-Exceptional Individual
by Scott Stewart,
STRATfor.com
May 24, 2012
    In last week's Security Weekly, we used a thwarted underwear bomb plot, as well as the U.S. government's easing the rules of engagement for unmanned aerial vehicle strikes in Yemen, as an opportunity to examine the role of exceptional individuals in militant groups that conduct terrorist attacks. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's (AQAP's) innovative bombmaker, Ibrahim al-Asiri, is one such individual.
    Reported by AP on May 7, the news of the thwarted underwear plot overshadowed another event in Yemen that occurred May 6: a U.S. airstrike in Shabwa province that killed Fahd al-Quso, a Yemeni militant wanted for his involvement in the attack against the USS Cole in October 2000. Al-Quso appeared in a video released by AQAP's al-Malahim Media in May 2010, during which he threatened attacks against the continental United States, its embassy in Yemen and warships in the waters surrounding Yemen.
    The media and the U.S. government frequently mention al-Quso's involvement in the USS Cole bombing, but they rarely discuss his precise duty the day of the attack. Al-Quso had been tasked to record the attack from [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/terrorism-and-not-so-exceptional-individual?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120524&utm_term=sweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=677445f867524574887a83bec9dde614

Skip the dorm, buy your kid a condo
by Bill Bischoff,
marketwatch.com
May 14, 2012    Prices in many real-estate markets may be close to bottoming out. We hope. So the old adage about buying low may be something to consider if you have a kid who will soon be heading off to college. The idea is to buy a condo for the kid to live in while attending school. That way, you’ll avoid paying through the nose for a dorm room or apartment with no hope of any profit. And if you buy a condo that has some extra space, you can rent it out to your kid’s friends and offset some of the ownership cost.
    Lots of parents have made good money by following this strategy for the four or five or, God forbid, six years their kids spent in college and then selling the condo after graduation. Of course, the longer you can hold onto the property, the better the odds of cashing out for a profit. The other key factor to consider is the tax benefits. Here’s what you need to know.
Deducting college condo ownership expenses
The tax rules generally prevent you from deducting losses incurred from owning and renting out a residence that’s used more than a little bit by you or a member of your immediate family. However, a favorable exception applies when you rent at market rates to a family member who uses the property as his or her principal home. In this case, you can deduct tax losses from the rental activity (subject to the passive loss rules, which I’ll explain later). This beneficial loophole is open for you if you buy a condo and rent it out to your college-going child (and roomies, if any) at market rates. You can deduct [....]
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/skip-the-dorm-buy-your-kid-a-condo-2012-05-14?siteid=nwhpf

Republicans doubling down on debt-limit showdown strategy

By Lisa Mascaro,
chicagotribune.com
May 20, 2012
WASHINGTON — Republicans in Congress are heading into summer much the way they did last year — instigating a showdown with the White House by demanding massive federal budget cuts in exchange for what used to be the routine task of raising the nation's debt limit to pay the government's bills.
    House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is doubling down on the strategy that ended in mixed results last year after the country came to the brink of a federal default before a deal was struck with President Obama. In that go-round, both sides saw their approval ratings with voters plummet and the nation's credit was downgraded. But Republicans are calculating [....]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/republicans-doubling-down,0,6924071.story?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet
Until Next Sunday....

"Clown Prince" Weekly Blather; May 26th

A Patriotic Response To The "Clown Prince;" 06/26/2012
[Surprisingly enough, obama kept his Memorial Day, weekend blather centered on America's veterans and active-duty military members.  That being said, I shall go to my front porch and add my 'Air Force' and 'Army' flags to the U.S. Flag that flies 24/7.  Everyone have a good weekend and holiday; please take a 'pause for the cause' and honor a veteran, a military member in your family, in your neighborhood, in your town or city!]
barackingham Palace,
District of Corruption
May 26, 2012
    This weekend, folks across the country are opening up the pool, firing up the grill, and taking a well-earned moment to relax. But Memorial Day is more than a three-day weekend. In town squares and national cemeteries, in public services and moments of quiet reflection, we will honor those who loved their country enough to sacrifice their own lives for it.  This Memorial Day, Michelle and I will join Gold Star families, veterans, and their families at Arlington National Cemetery. We’ll pay tribute to patriots of every generation who gave the last full measure of devotion, from Lexington and Concord to Iraq and Afghanistan.
    Later that day, we’ll join Vietnam veterans and their families at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial—the Wall. We’ll begin to mark the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. It’s another chance to honor those we lost at places like Hue, Khe Sanh, Danang and Hamburger Hill. And we’ll be calling on you—the American people—to join us in thanking our Vietnam veterans in your communities. Even as we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we reaffirm our commitment to care for those who served alongside them—the veterans who came home. This includes our newest generation of veterans, from Iraq and Afghanistan. We have to serve them and their families as well as they have served us: By making sure that they get the healthcare and benefits they need; by caring for our wounded warriors and supporting our military families; and by giving veterans the chance to go to college, find a good job, and enjoy the freedom that they risked everything to protect. Our men and women in uniform took an oath to defend our country at all costs, and today, as members of the finest military the world has ever known, they uphold that oath with dignity and courage. As President, I have no higher honor than serving as their Commander-in-Chief. But with that honor comes a solemn responsibility – one that gets driven home every time I sign a condolence letter, or meet a family member whose life has been turned upside down.
    No words can ever bring back a loved one who has been lost. No ceremony can do justice to their memory. No honor will ever fill their absence. But on Memorial Day, we come together as Americans to let these families and veterans know that they are not alone. We give thanks for those who sacrificed everything so that we could be free. And we commit ourselves to upholding the ideals for which so many patriots have fought and died.

This'n'That; May Twenty-Fifth #1; "Clown" Quotes

With No Accomplishments....
    ...."Clown Prince" owe-bama is running around the country vilifying 'anything, Romney!'  Today, let's examine some of his "clownisms" and try to extract some modicum of truth from each of them, if that's even possible!
    Here are some quotes from the "Clown Prince" blather opportunity (May 23rd) at the Hyatt Regency-Denver, Denver, Colorado:
    Do these quotes sound as disingenuous to you as they do to me?!?  Just more-of-the-same; more class-warfare.  It's us (even though the "Clown Prince" is a 1%er) against them.  Of course, owe-bama isn't going to mention that President George W. Bush gave 'ruler-elect' owe-bama control and management of the remaining TARP bailout funds in December, 2008, PRIOR TO his immaculation.  The "Clown Prince" then proceeded to line up payments to his supporters and donors!

"....a shrinking number of Americans were doing fantastically well, while the vast majority, a growning number were struggling to get by.  Falling incomes, rising costs, the slowest job growth in a half a century--that's what we were confronting." 
"....And it was all a house of cards that collapsed in the most destructive crisis since the Great Depression.  And just to give people a sense of perspective--in the last six months of 2008, even while we were campaigning, nearly 3 million of our neighbors lost their jobs; 800,000 lost their jobs the month I was sworn into office."

     One might think that the "Clown Prince" really has compassion for those suffering--many at their own hand--during the owe-bama Depression.  The teleprompter programmers are taking some editorial license regarding the statics owe-bama cites; normally they use the figure of 6 million jobs lost, always forgetting to mention that owe-bamanomics has only returned 4 million jobs to the economy.  The irony is not lost that the "Clown Prince" is in California, blathering on about his devistating economic inexperience; California is more bankrupt than the United States, if that's possible.
   During his next opportunity, the "Clown Prince" blathered at the likes of Don Cheatle, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Susan Wojcicki (a Google VP),  and many others of the same ilk; one-percenters, all!!  Here are some quotes from the May 24th blather opportunity, held at the Goldman family residence, Atherton, Ca.:

"....we had lost 8 million [jobs] before our economic policies had a chance to take effect.  And we've still got a long way to go here in California and all across the country.  There are a lot of folks who are hurting, people out of work or underemployed, people whose homes are $100,000 underwater and hove no sense of how they'll ever get out from under the debts that they've accumulated.  There are an awful lot of young people here who are extraordinarily talented, but don't see a path or a vision for the future...."

    With the current regime providing a hammock rather than a safety net, the country's miscreants feel a right to abuse the system, knowing owe-bama will absolve them of all personal responsibility.  I hate to keep linking 'the Bilderbergers' to the owe-bama Depression, there's no way--until a history of this era is written--to confirm their complicity.  George Soros readily confirms his!!  While owe-bama feigns sorrow and concern for the economic woes of both the nation and whatever state he's in, the devistation is going exactly as planned.  Just as Adolf Hitler did in the 1930s German Republic: after bringing the country to it's economic knees, rebuild it in any socialist-fascist form the ruler prefers!
    Just an hour-and-a-half later, his handlers assembled more donors at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City for the "Clown Prince" to blather at.  All three donor events used the same unremarkable remarks with few alterations: 

"....we watched a record surplus that was squandered on tax cuts for folks who didn't need them and weren't asking for them.  We saw two wars being waged on a credit card.  We saw speculation  in the financial sector, reaping huge profits for a few folks who were making bets with other people's money, but it was a flimsy kind of success.  Manufacturing left our shores."

     Let's break up the 'unremarkables' into more managable segments:
'We saw two wars being waged on a credit card-'  What--exactly--has the "Clown Prince" done to correct that?!? Zero-point-shit!!  Everything the current regimes does--it does on China's "American Express" card!
'....speculation in the financial sector.... huge profits.... making bets with other people's money....'  Where's the illegality, here?!?  These 'speculators' were contracted by their investors to turn the largest profit possible.
'Manufacturing left our shores.'  Of course it did.  Those companies were following the money trail; the owe-bama money trail that GAVE $3Billion to Brazil to develop THEIR off-shore drilling and production at the expense of domestic oil production in the United States, so we can be--to quote owe-bama again--"their largest customer."
    For the life of me, I can not fathom how "Clown Prince" owe-bama can stand in front of any crowd--even his supporters--and spout this bullshit with a straight face!  Such blatant lies as to make Pinocchio blush!!
'Splain to me again why YOU elected this Arschloch!?!
Til Nex'Time....

The Mid-Week 'Report;' 05/24/2012

What The National Pamphleteers Don't Report:
[Note:  At times I find too many IMPORTANT news articles to include in just one Sunday blog entry.  So, when warranted, I'll do a 'mid-week' report as well.]
‘Family Guy’ Cartoon Bashes Tea Party In Episode Using Anti-Semitism & Neo-Nazis

by Billy Hallowell,
theblaze.com
May 14, 2012
    On Sunday evening, the animated Fox television show, “Family Guy,” took aim at a familiar Hollywood target: conservatives and, in particular, the Tea Party. The episode, Newsbusters’ Noel Sheppard claims, “depicted the conservative movement as a bunch of racist anarchists destined to destroy America.”
Sheppard provides a recap of the episode:
The premise of the episode was that after City Hall in his town threatened to shut down his illegal business, main character Peter is thinking of joining the Tea Party because he was fed up with government.
He attended a Tea Party rally filled with exclusively white people mispronouncing words such as “taco” and “tortilla.”
Worse still, the movement was depicted as anarchists looking for absolutely no government as opposed to the real Tea Party which advocates fiscally responsible government living within its means.
Regardless, Peter liked what he heard, and proceeded to join.
Not surprisingly, with all government services eliminated, the town began to totally fall apart.
Of course, the episode goes on to depict all of the absurd societal problems that would allegedly result from a lack of government [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/family-guy-cartoon-bashes-tea-party-in-episode-using-anti-semitism-neo-nazis/

3 Warning Signs Of An Imminent Dividend Cut

by 'Dividends4Life,'
seekingalpha.com
May 15, 2012
    One important lesson we learned from the 2008-2009 financial crisis was that it didn't matter how long a company had increased its dividend, tough economic times could push it to cut its dividend. In most cases the companies' investors were not surprised because they saw the early warning signs that indicated a dividend cut was imminent. Here are three signs that a company is heading toward a dividend cut:
I. Change In Business Conditions
An abrupt or permanent shift in a company's business model as a result of business conditions could lead to a dividend cut. During the financial crisis, virtually all businesses experienced an adverse change in business conditions. However, the pertinent question is to what degree? Consider these two examples: [....]
http://seekingalpha.com/article/589561-3-warning-signs-of-an-imminent-dividend-cut?source=email_investing_income&ifp=0

America's Best Days

64% Prefer a Government With Fewer Services and Lower Taxes
by Scott Rasmussen,
rasmussenreports.com
May 20, 2012
    Most voters continue to prefer a more hands-off government in return for lower taxes.  A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 64% of Likely U.S. Voters prefer a government with fewer services and lower taxes over one with more services and higher taxes. That's unchanged from last month and consistent with findings in regular surveys since late 2006. Just 25% prefer a government with more services. Eleven percent (11%) are [....]
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/america_s_best_days

Australia's Strategy
by George Friedman,
STRATfor.com
May 22, 2012
    Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, ranked in the top 10 in gross domestic product per capita. It is one of the most isolated major countries in the world; it occupies an entire united continent, is difficult to invade and rarely is threatened. Normally, we would not expect a relatively well-off and isolated country to have been involved in many wars. This has not been the case for Australia and, more interesting, it has persistently not been the case, even under a variety of governments. Ideology does not explain the phenomenon in this instance.
    Since 1900, Australia has engaged in several wars and other military or security interventions (including the Boer War, World War I, World War II and the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq) lasting about 40 years total. Put another way, Australia has been at war for more than one-third of the time since the Commonwealth of Australia was established in 1901. In only one of these wars, World War II, was its national security directly threatened, and even then a great deal of its fighting was done in places such as Greece and North Africa rather than in direct defense of Australia. This leaves us to wonder why a country as wealthy and seemingly secure as Australia would have participated in so many conflicts.
Importance of Sea-Lanes
    To understand Australia, we must begin by noting that its isolation does not necessarily make it secure. Exports, particularly of primary commodities, have been essential to Australia. From wool exported to Britain in 1901 to iron ore exported to China today, Australia has had to export commodities to finance the import of industrial products and services in excess of what its population could produce for itself. Without this trade, Australia could [....]
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/australias-strategy?utm_source=freelist-f&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120522&utm_term=gweekly&utm_content=readmore&elq=a8d1c9fe3c734e57a6c0223eaa5d2cad.

Court strikes down NLRB rule to speed up union elections
by Kevin Bogardus
thehill.com
May 14, 2012
    A federal judge ruled Monday that a contentious union election rule proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is “invalid.”  In an 18-page memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg struck the regulation down, saying the labor board only had two members when it voted on the final rule in December 2011. Boasberg said the agency needed at least three members to have a quorum for action on the rule.
“According to Woody Allen, 80 percent of life is just showing up. When it comes to satisfying a quorum requirement, though, showing up is even more important than that. Indeed, it is the only thing that matters — even when the quorum is constituted electronically. In this case, because no quorum ever existed for the pivotal vote in question, the Court must hold that the challenged rule is invalid,” Boasberg wrote.
    The NLRB rule would speed up union elections and has been criticized by Republican lawmakers and business groups.  Two NLRB members — Chairman Mark Pearce and then-Member Craig Becker, both Democrats — participated in adopting the rule. The labor board’s third member at the time, Republican Brian Hayes, did not participate. 
“Two members of the Board participated in the decision to adopt the final rule, and two is simply not enough. Member Hayes cannot [....]
http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/227327-federal-court-strikes-down-nlrbs-union-election-rule?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet

De Pasquale’s Dozen with Joe the Plumber

by Lisa De Pasquale,
townhall.com
May 21, 2012
    During the 2008 election, then-Senator Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Ohio. While shaking hands and talking to residents, one man stepped forward and asked him about his tax policy for small businesses. Sen. Obama’s response included the telling phrase "when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."  Not only did the question remind Americans of the Left’s philosophy and goals, but it shed light on what Democrats and the media would do to private citizens who disagree with their mission to elect Obama. Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher was among the first to feel the wrath of the campaign and Obama-friendly media. They dug into his background, work history and personal life. The director of Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services ordered one of her employees to use state computers to research Wurzelbacher. Additionally, a former contractor for the Association of the Ohio Chiefs of Police was also found to be looking up confidential information on Wurzelbacher. A law barring this invasion of privacy using state resources was later passed and signed by the Ohio governor.
    As the 2012 election heats up, the Obama campaign is using the same playbook [....]
http://townhall.com/columnists/lisadepasquale/2012/05/21/de_pasquales_dozen_with_joe_the_plumber/page/full/

FEULNER: Budget plan that adds up

Senate’s Lee offers proposal that would save the American Dream
by Ed Feulner,
The Washington Times
May 14, 2012
    It has been more than three years (1,112 days, to be precise) since the U.S. Senate last passed a budget. The last time Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fulfilled his legal responsibility, Conan O'Brien was still on NBC, Tea Parties hadn’t come together, and the iPad hadn’t yet been introduced.
There is no excuse for this. The Senate needs only 51 votes to pass a budget. Democrats have had well over that for President Obama’s entire term, yet they refuse to even offer a plan.  The Senate must pass a budget if we are going to halt Washington’s disastrous habit of overspending, overborrowing and overtaxing our fragile economy. While liberals sit on the sidelines [....]
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/14/budget-plan-that-adds-up/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Heritage%2BHotsheet

Part One: The Fiction and Non-Fiction of Obama

by Tiffany Gabbay,
theblaze.com
May 12, 2012
    It could be argued that if then-presidential candidate John McCain had truly assailed his rival Barack Obama over his exhaustive collection of dubious dealings and less-than-scrupulous friends (think: Davis, Khalidi, Pflager, Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Said, etc.), he just might have taken the election. Instead, McCain chose to “keep above the fray” — although few are clear as to why bringing up substantive and valid concerns over the first-term senator’s past constituted otherwise to the Maverick-camp. Now, President Obama is three years into his first term as president, and his campaign for reelection has officially kicked off with a record-setting $15 million celebrity-fundraiser hosted by devotee George Clooney.
    If the president’s true history continues to be replaced by the alternate narrative he has constructed for himself; if his fact, rather than fiction-based life is swept under the carpet again, he will likely retake the Oval Office.  With this in mind, [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/part-one-the-fiction-and-non-fiction-of-obama/

Part Two: The Fiction and Non-Fiction of Obama

by Tiffany Gabbay,
theblaze.com
May 13, 2012
    In Part I of this report, we examined President Obama’s earliest role models and the influence each likely had on him as he shaped his worldview. With an anti-colonialist father, a mother who rejected Western society, a communist mentor, a domestic-terrorist benefactor, and an anti-Semitic preacher, the reasons behind Obama’s past and present actions come more sharply into focus. Below, we navigate through just some of the president’s questionable political positions. “Brave” enough to order the killing Osama bin Laden…but had a back-up memo to blame the military in case it went wrong?
    The entire Obama administration along with the American left has heaped praise on the president for his “daring” and “brave” decision to send a Navy SEAL team into an Abottobbad compound to assassinate 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. In fact, Obama has even used the accomplishment as the crux of his latest campaign ad — a move even liberal mediaite Arianna Huffington deemed despicable. Yet in April it was revealed that then-CIA Director Leon Panetta drafted a memo that included an escape clause for the president should the operation go awry [emphasis added]: “The timing, operational decision making and control are in Admiral McRaven’s hands. The approval [....]
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/part-two-the-fiction-and-non-fiction-of-obama/

Hawaii responds to Bennett's Obama birth records request
by Andrew Michalscheck,
azfamily.com

May 20, 2012
    PHOENIX -- The state of Hawaii has responded to Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett’s request for proof that President Barack Obama was in fact born in the Aloha State.  The Hawaii attorney general’s office has reportedly told Bennett that there are steps he needs to take [....]
http://www.azfamily.com/news/Hawaii-responds-to-Bennetts--152213005.html

Hey, Obama, Didn’t Hitler Also Want The Military To Pledge Allegiance To Him?

Staff Report,
exposeobama.com
May 12, 2012
    In August of 1934, members the Wehrmacht were required to recite a Reichswehreid,an oath of personal allegiance to Adolf Hitler. This oath ignored God and country but swore an oath to a man, Adolf Hitler. The soldiers were to fight and die on the behalf of the dear leader. Such loyalty oaths originated in ancient Rome and have been repeated throughout history and to different tyrants.
Obama
    It is a rumor that Obama wishes the members of the American military would swear an oath to him over God and the Constitution. But in his narcissist mindset,he truly believes the military serves at his whim. In an ABC interview concerning his flip-flop on Gay marriage he said “when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained,even now that ‘don’t ask,don’t tell’ is gone,”
Oh Really?
    Members of the US Armed Forces swear an oath to the Constitution and not to a man. They are required to follow the orders of the President and Officers according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice,but they act to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. Even orders from the President must be lawful [....]
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/05/12/hey-obama-didnt-hitler-also-want-the-military-to-pledge-allegiance-to-him/
Until Next Sunday....