Political Digest for September 21, 2011

Charities I support

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2011/09/charities-i-support.html

Blog Removed Again This Morning
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Important: FACT CHECK: Are rich taxed less than secretaries?

http://news.yahoo.com/fact-check-rich-taxed-less-secretaries-070642868.html

Excerpt - President Barack Obama makes it sound as if there are millionaires all over America paying taxes at lower rates than their secretaries. "Middle-class families shouldn't pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires," Obama said Monday. "That's pretty straightforward. It's hard to argue against that." The data tell a different story. On average, the wealthiest people in America pay a lot more taxes than the middle class or the poor, according to private and government data. They pay at a higher rate, and as a group, they contribute a much larger share of the overall taxes collected by the federal government. (There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damn Lies and Obama Lies. ~Bob.)

Important: 30 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is About To Go Into The Toilet

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/30-signs-that-the-u-s-economy-is-about-to-go-into-the-toilet

This guy makes me the optimist in the room. ~Bob. Excerpt: If you think the U.S. economy is bad now, just wait for a few months. Things are about to become absolutely nightmarish. None of the long-term economic trends that are hollowing out our economy have been addressed and more bad economic news seems to come out virtually every single day. Now there is constant talk of the "next recession" in the mainstream media. But did the last recession ever truly end? The number of good jobs continues to decline, more stores are closing, incomes continue to go down, credit card debt and student loan debt are soaring, the housing market resembles a corpse, the number of Americans living in poverty continues to rise and government debt is at unprecedented levels. We are losing blood fast, and almost all of our leaders are either too corrupt or too incompetent to be able to do anything about it. The U.S. economy really and truly is about to go into the toilet, and if something is not done very quickly we are going to experience a complete and total economic disaster in this nation. Americans have been promised over and over that this economic downturn is just "temporary" and that things will return to normal soon. During this upcoming election cycle, the Democrats will swear that they have all the answers and that if we just elect them everything will be okay. The Republicans will also swear that they have all the answers and that if we just elect them everything will be okay. Well, both sides are lying. The economic plans of both major political parties are a joke. Neither of them can restore economic prosperity to this nation.

Worth Reading: The 'Ponzi' Sound Bite by Thomas Sowell

http://patriotpost.us/opinion/thomas-sowell/2011/09/20/the-ponzi-sound-bite/

Excerpt: Many in the media and in politics have gone ballistic over the fact that Texas Governor Rick Perry called Social Security "a Ponzi scheme." Although many act shocked, shocked, as if Rick Perry had said something unthinkable, Governor Perry is not even among the first thousand people to call Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Not only conservatives, but even some liberals, have been calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme for decades. Moreover, neither the media nor the politicians who are carrying on over the use of the words "Ponzi scheme" show the slightest interest in any hard facts that would tell us whether Social Security is or is not a Ponzi scheme. It is a "gotcha" moment, and that is apparently what some people live for. What makes this nonsense become fraud is the insinuation that calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme means advocating that people who are depending on Social Security be abandoned and left with nothing to live on in their retirement years. That is the big scare -- and the big lie. People getting Social Security checks are going to keep on getting those checks. Nobody has advocated anything else, or would dare to cut off a financial lifeline for millions of people. … The fundamental problem of Social Security is that the irresponsible way its finances are set up, and the changing demographics of the country, mean that there is simply not going to be enough money in its trust fund to pay today's young people what they are legally entitled to, when time comes for them to retire.

During Solyndra probe, Energy Dept. has to move billions in loans

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/during-solyndra-probe-energy-dept-has-to-move-billions-in-loans/2011/09/16/gIQARIxXYK_story.html

Excerpt: The Energy Department, under fire over its management of a program that offers loan guarantees to clean-technology companies, has been finalizing additional multimillion-dollar loan guarantees in the program at a rate of more than one a week since the beginning of August. It now has just two weeks left to commit the program’s remaining $9.3 billion. The push to finalize deals for the lucrative federal financing before the program expires at the end of the fiscal year is drawing fire from Republicans and government watchdogs. They say haste led to costly mistakes in the decision to back Solyndra, a solar-panel maker that collapsed two weeks ago, leaving taxpayers liable for a half-billion-dollar federal loan. (If they’ll give me $5M, I’ll start a green program that will keep 90% of Americans’ carbon footprints small than Al Gores. I guarantee it. And I’ll give $5,000 to the Obama campaign, a better ratio than the Solyndra guy. ~Bob.)

Submariner who killed colleagues gets 25 years in jail

http://www.scotsman.com/news/Submariner-who-killed-colleagues-.6839273.jp?articlepage=1

Excerpt - A SAILOR who shot at two colleagues on board a nuclear submarine before turning his gun to murder an officer who tried to tackle him has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years. Able Seaman Ryan Samuel Donovan, 23, admitted murdering father-of-four Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, 36, with an SA80 rifle while Faslane-based HMS Astute was docked in Southampton on 8 April.

A future for drones: Automated killing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/a-future-for-drones-automated-killing/2011/09/15/gIQAVy9mgK_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

Excerpt: One afternoon last fall at Fort Benning, Ga., two model-size planes took off, climbed to 800 and 1,000 feet, and began criss-crossing the military base in search of an orange, green and blue tarp. The automated, unpiloted planes worked on their own, with no human guidance, no hand on any control. After 20 minutes, one of the aircraft, carrying a computer that processed images from an onboard camera, zeroed in on the tarp and contacted the second plane, which flew nearby and used its own sensors to examine the colorful object. Then one of the aircraft signaled to an unmanned car on the ground so it could take a final, close-up look. Target confirmed. This successful exercise in autonomous robotics could presage the future of the American way of war: a day when drones hunt, identify and kill the enemy based on calculations made by software, not decisions made by humans.

The Palestinian Statehood: The U.S. should respond by cutting funds for the U.N.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904265504576568842038912296.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

Excerpt: Are Palestinians entitled to a state? Before certain readers erupt at the mere suggestion that Palestinians may not be so entitled, we'd note that the Kurds—one of the oldest ethnic groups in the world—don't have a state. Neither do the Tamils of Sri Lanka, the Uighurs and Tibetans of China, the Basques of Spain, the Chechens of Russia or the Flemish of Belgium. The list of peoples with plausible claims to statehood is as long as the current number of U.N. member states, if not longer. Yet when the United Nations holds its annual meeting in New York this week, the session will be dominated by the efforts of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to declare statehood. First the PA will apply to the Security Council for full membership in the U.N., which the Obama Administration has promised to veto. Then the General Assembly will hold a vote on whether to give the Palestinians "observer state" status on a par with the Vatican. This is almost certain to pass by a two-thirds, 129-nation majority. A vote at the U.N. won't create a Palestinian state and will likely retard the creation of one, perhaps for years. It won't remove any Israeli settlements from the West Bank and might well give Jerusalem reason to accelerate the pace of construction. It could also lead Israel to take various punitive measures against the Palestinians, including freezing tax transfers worth about $100 million a month. The U.S. Congress might follow by cutting off the $600 million in annual aid to the Palestinians.

The Corporate Bank Run Has Started: Siemens Pulls €500 Million From A French Bank, Redeposits Direct With ECB

http://beforeitsnews.com/story/1118/394/The_Corporate_Bank_Run_Has_Started:_Siemens_Pulls_500_Million_From_A_French_Bank,_Redeposits_Direct_With_ECB.html

Excerpt: In a shocking representation of just how bad things are in Europe, the FT reports that major European industrial concern Siemens, pulled €500 million form a large French bank, which is not BNP and leaves just [SocGen|Credit Agricole] and deposited the money straight to the ECB. The implications of this are quite stunning, as it means that even European companies now refuse to work directly with their own banks, and somehow the ECB

Would More Infrastructure Spending Stimulate the Economy?

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21106&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: Four years into the deepest recession since World War II, the U.S. economy expanded at a rate of only 0.7 percent in the first half of 2011. This means that the economy is growing at a slower pace than the population and that capita output continues to fall, say Veronique de Rugy, a senior research fellow, and Matthew Mitchell, a research fellow, at the Mercatus Center. In response, the president has announced a plan for yet more deficit-financed stimulus spending. Like the two previous stimulus bills, this one focuses on infrastructure spending. The president's plan is rooted in the belief that stimulus spending and deeper deficits will give the economy the lift it needs to create more jobs. The hope is that, eventually, the economy will grow fast enough to allow the government to begin to pay down the national debt. There are three problems with this approach. First, despite the claims of stimulus proponents, the evidence is not at all clear that more stimulus would be helpful right now. Second, even if one adheres to the idea that more government spending can jolt the economy, spending -- particularly infrastructure spending -- cannot be implemented in the way Keynesians say it ought to be, greatly undermining its stimulative effect. Third, while no one disputes the value of good infrastructure, this type of spending typically suffers from massive cost overruns, waste, fraud and abuse, making it a particularly bad vehicle for stimulus. In sum, further stimulus would be a risky short-term gamble with near-certain negative consequences in the long term.

U.S. Corporations Suffer High Effective Tax Rates by International Standards

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=21107&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Excerpt: The United States currently lays claim to the second-highest statutory corporate income tax rate in the developed world. At 39.2 percent, the rate is only 0.35 percentage points behind Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-leading Japan. Since 1997, 30 of the OECD's 34 member nations have lowered their statutory rates in an effort to retain and attract investment while the United States has sat idle. In the process, the average statutory corporate tax rate for OECD nations has dropped from 36.5 percent to the current 25.1 percent. While this shift has been noted as reason for a com­petitive rate reduction, skeptics accurately note that statutory rates do not reflect the effective rates that corporations actually experience, says Philip Dittmer, an adjunct scholar at the Tax Foundation. Key findings from Dittmer's study include: Despite anecdotes regarding a few companies that exploit the dubious carve-outs in the tax code to minimize their tax liabilities, the results of 13 unique studies of the effective tax rate on corporate investment across the globe show that the average U.S. effective corporate tax rate, like the statutory rate, is nearly the highest in the world. The most recent studies show that the average effective corporate tax rate for corporations headquartered in the United States is roughly 27 percent, while the average of other nations is about 20 percent. The effective average rate for new investment in the United States is roughly 29.8 percent, 7.4 point above worldwide competition. The U.S. effective corporate tax rate consistently ranks among the five highest of nations considered. The only nation with a higher effective tax rate in each study is Japan, which not by coincidence is the only developed nation with a higher statu­tory rate than the United States. The literature shows that high corporate taxes and high effective tax rates are detrimental to attracting investment, and subsequently detrimental to economic growth.

Important: The Myth of Middle-Class Stagnation

http://www.american.com/archive/2011/september/middle-class

Excerpt: Conventional wisdom says that the middle class hasn’t caught a break for at least a decade and that incomes have stagnated or declined. But new research corrects a misconception regarding middle-class income, and therefore should come as a pleasant surprise—not just to members of the middle class, but also to pundits, journalists, and of course, politicians. … No. In the seven years from 2001-2007 (inclusive), not only did the middle class get at least its fair share of overall income growth, the income gap between the rich and the middle class actually got smaller. In an apparent paradox, the same Census Bureau database that told us that median household income was essentially unchanged in 2007 versus 2000 also tells us that the middle class enjoyed a higher income growth rate than did either the overall economy or the rich—and therefore that their income gap versus the rich had actually decreased. How is that possible? How could the same official database—the March Supplement to the Current Population Survey—lead us to the following two, seemingly polar-opposite, conclusions: (a) median household income “flatlined,” underperforming the overall economy; and (b) middle-class income growth outperformed that for the overall economy as well as that for the rich. Although it seems impossible, both statements are true. The key lies in the difference between the “median household” versus the “middle class.” The median household is a single theoretical household exactly in the middle of the entire income-ranked list of U.S. households. Conversely, the “middle class” has no official definition, but it is certainly tens of millions of households in size and presumably centered around the median household. (Politicians who depend on “kill Ivan’s goat” class envy will not welcome facts like this. As long as they can make me envious of Warren Buffet’s wealth, it doesn’t matter how well off I am, only that the “rich” are better off and must be punished.” ~Bob.

A Teachable Moment Courtesy Of Solyndra

http://www.forbes.com/sites/powerlunch/2011/09/13/a-teachable-moment-courtesy-of-solyndra/

Excerpt: Unfortunately, the bigger issues surrounding Solyndra and the president’s green jobs campaign are not getting the attention they deserve. And those issues go to the heart of why the president’s green jobs program is almost certainly doomed to fail no matter what one thinks of green energy or green jobs. The fact that federal loan guarantees were even necessary for Solyndra tells us that few, if any, lenders thought that giving the firm money was a very good idea. Given the fact that lenders who bet “right” on companies with strong prospects but insufficient capital are lenders who will make money, we can rest assured that hundreds if not thousands of bank loan officers took a long, hard look at Solyandra and said … no thanks. Are we to believe that President Obama knows more than all of these profit-hungry capitalists about Solyndra’s real prospects in global solar energy markets? That President Obama has even stronger incentives than private investors to ensure that money parked in this company or that is money well spent? To ask these questions is to answer them. There are three standard rejoinders. First, we’re told that the feds are right to stock up on a portfolio of high-risk high-reward investments because those are precisely the kind of investments that the market is likely to pass by. Perhaps. But there’s a good reason they are passed by; the odds are that they will all fail. We elect the president to be commander in chief, not lender in chief.

Issa to investigate government loan programs

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/182553-issa-to-investigate-government-loan-programs

Excerpt: Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that his committee plans to investigate government loan programs to private corporations in light of allegations of improper dealings between the White House and failed energy company Solyndra and wireless startup LightSquared. "I want to see when the president and his cronies are picking winners and losers… it wasn't because there were large contributions given to them," the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Tuesday morning on CSPAN. 

Who Is Deceiving Whom

http://www.nationalreview.com/david-pryce-jones/277479/who-deceiving-whom

Excerpt: Muslims in France take over whole streets and hold open-air prayers in them. This began some years back when Muslims gathered at the spot where Princess Diana died in the car accident, and prayed there as though at a shrine. If you happen to live in such a street and want to leave or enter your house, or if you need to drive a car there, bad luck, the weight of numbers makes it impossible. Muslims in this way are asserting that they already have a space of their own and the local French can do nothing about it. Marine Le Pen, daughter of the founder of the National Front, has a chance of doing well in next year’s presidential elections, and she called the street prayers an “occupation.” The word recalls the Nazis taking over the country after 1940.

$1.5 Trillion in New Taxes

http://blog.heritage.org/2011/09/20/morning-bell-1-5-trillion-in-new-taxes/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell

Excerpt: Two years ago, as the United States was coming out of the last recession, President Obama was asked how raising taxes on anyone would help with the economy. The President's answer? "Normally you don't raise taxes in a recession, which is why we haven't, and why we've instead cut taxes." Fast forward to today, as America is struggling with zero job growth and a stagnant economy, and the President has dramatically changed his rhetoric, proposing $1.5 trillion in new taxes on the American people and the country's job creators. Those massive tax increases come as part of the President's plan to reduce the nation's out-of-control debt, but rather than address the underlying spending problem, it will further deepen America's economic quagmire and only serves to stall the real reform American needs in order to get on a path of fiscal sanity, as Heritage's Alison Fraser explains: Obama is demanding a 'balanced' approach as though somehow hiking taxes is both fair and necessary. But this notion that he is pushing -- half tax hikes and half spending cuts -- is beyond the class warfare message it sends. It is a tactic. A tactic to stall the real reforms that our leaders in Washington must undertake now in order to avert a fiscal, economic and moral crisis.

White House’s Testimony ‘Guidance’

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/19/lightsquared-second-witness-rejects-white-house-testimony-guidance.html

Excerpt: First it was a four-star general, and now a federal agency official says the White House sought changes to his testimony on a wireless project tied to a prominent Democratic donor. Eli Lake reports. Philip Falcone, the billionaire political donor whose hedge fund owns a majority financial stake in the satellite-wireless company LightSquared, says he told anyone in the federal government willing to listen that testing his company’s signal for GPS interference on commercial and military equipment “should not take that long.” “Everything is already set up, the labs are set up. All we need are the list of devices that need to be tested. We have been telling the people who are asking for the testing of this for months now,” he said in an interview Monday. Not all the bureaucrats who deal with GPS for the military and the federal government agreed. Still, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget urged federal officials testifying before two House oversight hearings in the last month to say they hoped testing for GPS and LightSquared interference would take only 90 days, according to interviews. The Daily Beast obtained the paragraph the OMB asked government witnesses to insert into their recent congressional testimony, which says in part, “We hope that testing can be complete within 90 days.” (This is from liberal Daily Beast that still blames almost everything on GWB. I believe they broke the story of the attempt to influence Gen. Shelton's testimony. Notice their angry tone. It’s as if they’ve suddenly discovered unethical behavior might be part of the

Chicago Way

. Of course, they don’t quite say corruption might be involved…. Ron P.)

Court Tosses Out al-Qaida Plotter's Sentence

http://www.investigativeproject.org/3189/court-tosses-out-al-qaida-plotter-sentence

Excerpt: A federal appeals court ruling threw out a 17-year prison sentence for al-Qaida plotter Jose Padilla Monday, suggesting the prison term imposed by a Miami federal judge was too lenient. The ruling ordered a new sentencing for Padilla. A federal jury convicted Padilla, Adham Hassoun and Kifah Jayyousi in April 2007 on terrorism-related charges that that included financial support and recruitment for al-Qaida and other Islamist terror groups. Padilla was sentenced to 17 years, Hassoun to 15 years and Jayyousi to 12 years. Padilla, a former Chicago gang member and convert to Islam, was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in 2002 on suspicion of plotting to bomb apartment buildings and detonate a "dirty bomb" in the United States. He was held for three years without charge as an enemy combatant until he was moved to a civilian prison and charged in a Miami federal court. The "dirty bomb" allegations were not part of his indictment. (I’m happy to volunteer for the firing squad if that’s the new sentence. ~Bob.)

Congressman Mike Quigely to Islamic Conference: I Apologize on Behalf of America’

http://biggovernment.com/rebelpundit/2011/09/19/congressman-mike-quigley-to-islam-conference-i-apologize-on-behalf-of-america/

Excerpt: On Saturday morning, Illinois Democrat Congressman Mike Quigely made a surprise appearance at the American Islamic College Conference in Chicago. The unaccredited college is the first of its kind in the United States. Quigley gave remarks to the primarily muslim audience. He rambled on about the typical racism and discrimination that the liberal left is so convinced America is rampantly infected with. As you can see in the video below, he proceeded in his congressional capacity to apologize on behalf of the country for discrimination against muslims’ faith. (The voters in his district should apologize to America. ~Bob.)

Key Afghan peacemaker Rabbani killed in Kabul bombing

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/key-afghan-peacemaker-rabbani-killed-in-kabul-bombing/2011/09/20/gIQAxlF9hK_story.html?wpisrc=al_national

Talking peace with members of the Religion of Peace is a tad risky, even for fellow Muslims. ~Bob. Excerpt: Excerpt: Former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was appointed last year to head a commission trying to broker a peace deal with the Taliban, was killed inside his Kabul home Tuesday afternoon in a suicide bombing, Afghan officials said. The assassination of the influential political leader is a blow to the Afghan government's embattled effort to bring insurgents into the political fold. The United States and other Western leaders have backed the so-far fruitless effort, seeing it as the best opportunity to bring the war to an end after a decade of fighting.

Liberals vow to challenge Obama in Democratic primaries

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/19/liberals-vow-challenge-obama-democratic-primaries/

Excerpt: Worried the liberal voice is being drowned out in the presidential campaign, progressive leaders said Monday they want to field a slate of candidates against President Obama in the Democratic primaries to make him stake out liberal stances as he seeks re-election. Ralph Nader warns that without an intraparty challenge the liberal agenda “will be muted and ignored,” the one-man primary will kill voter enthusiasm and voters won’t get a chance to reflect on the real differences that divide the Democratic and Republican parties. “What we are looking at now is the dullest presidential campaign since Walter Mondale — and that’s saying something, believe me,” Mr. Nader told The Washington Times. The group’s call has been endorsed by more than 45 other liberal leaders. They want to recruit six candidates who bring expertise ranging from poverty to the military. Mr. Nader said the intent is not to defeat Mr. Obama but to make him focus on issues that might get lost in a purely Obama-versus-GOP discussion. (Dear Liberals. Obama is from Chicago. It’s not about policy. It’s about power, rewarding friends and punishing opponents. ~Bob.)

From ‘Scandal-Free’ to Near Scandal Fatigue in Three Weeks

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/from-scandal-free-to-near-scandal-fatigue-in-three-weeks/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: Concerning the latter definition, Lichtman’s own ignorance demonstrated that he was probably right about his scandal key at the end of August, despite at least the following unreported or underreported items listed here which have arguably met the former. Then came Solyndra, LightSquared, and Gunwalker. Solyndra’s collapse contains so many disgraceful elements that the press can’t get away with totally ignoring it (though, as seen here and here, they’re still trying mightily, and distorting things whenever they can). The amount of taxpayer loss involved, at over $500 million for just one deal, is huge. The quid pro quo of campaign contributions and the lobbying for favorable treatment could hardly be more obvious. Reelection-related considerations clearly intruded to override dire warnings that the company couldn’t possibly succeed. Finally, as Andy McCarthy noted at National Review on September 17, the Department of Energy’s agreement to allow private investors repayment priority ahead of the government clearly broke the law. (I certainly don’t agree with scandal-free, except the media has tried to shield Obama from things like Gunwalker and the DOJ stuff. ~Bob.)

Patriot Post Humor

http://media.patriotpost.us/humor/2011/09-20.html

Funny stuff this week. I love the plantation poster. ~Bob.

Solyndra Obama's Enron

http://patriotpost.us/commentary/2011/09/19/solyndra-obamas-enron/

Excerpt: Remember Enron? When this huge company went belly up because of mismanagement, misrepresentation and criminal intent the Bush administration was put through years of screaming headlines, congressional investigations and dubious investigative specials on the wall-to-wall talking heads of the cable news channels. In the end there was no connection found between the Bush administration and the leaders at Enron who broke the law. Today unlike Enron who played fast and loose with private money we have Solyndra which received $535 million in federal loans filing for bankruptcy protection leaving American tax payers on the hook for the cash. The Obama administration not only disbursed the money to their friends and campaign contributors at Solyndra they did so even after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) said in emails they felt as if they were being rushed to make a decision without adequate time to assess the financial risk to taxpayers. Why did the White House force this decision on the first loan approved under their Stimulus Bill?

Obama v. Perry: Justice Department Challenges Texas Redistricting Map

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/obama-v-perry-justice-department-challenges-texas-redistricting-map-20110919

Excerpt: The Obama administration is issuing its first civil-rights challenge to a redistricting plan against Texas, the state that will gain the most congressional seats from the once-a-decade redrawing of the nation's political map. It marks the first challenge by the Justice Department to a redistricting plan this year and it has major political implications: The fight could determine which party stands a better shot of winning Texas's four new House seats, and it potentially represents the opening round of a political fight between the president and the Lone Star State governor who is vying to unseat him, Republican Rick Perry. (Illinois redistricting was the most political yet—but was by Democrats to get rid of new Republicans. Bet they don’t challenge that. ~Bob.)

The Great Obama Catharsis

http://pajamasmedia.com/victordavishanson/the-great-obama-catharsis/?singlepage=true

Excerpt: Barack Obama has done the United States a great, though unforeseen, favor. He has brought to light, as no one else could, many of the pernicious assumptions of our culture from the last half-century. He turned theory and “what ifs” into fact for all America to see, experience, and, yes, suffer through. (Just this once, I think Hanson is much too optimistic. IF we can retire Obama in 2012, the remaining leftists in government—probably a clear majority in the bureaucratic jobs at all governmental levels and often supported by “organized labor”—will fight to delay, derail, and destroy every effort to roll back the “progress.” In many cases, the courts will back them up; after all, people are entitled…. No, it’s going to be a long, difficult, and probably dangerous road back from our flirtation with socialism. We may not succeed. But, we have to try. Ron P.)

French Parliament: blind to the bigger energy picture

http://www.europeanenergyreview.eu/site/pagina.php?id=3221

Excerpt from comment in the EER editor’s email: Surely this is what many professionals in the energy sector are wrestling with at the moment: to get the Big Energy Picture. After all it is only if you get the Big Picture right that you will be able to take the right smaller decisions along the way.  One of those 'small matters' that policymakers are confronted with is shale gas. The US embraced it and got a gas boom - but at what price, is not clear yet. France went the other way and completely nipped shale gas exploitation and even exploration in the bud.  The law prohibiting shale gas activities that was adopted by the French parliament on 13 July did seem to leave some loopholes, as we reported earlier. However, as Boris Martor and Raphaël Chétrit of the Parisian law firm Eversheds write in today's main article on EER, there are now two new bills pending in parliament that threaten to kill off all shale gas activities in France for the foreseeable future.  These proposals, based not on scientific arguments but on 'ideological blindness', they argue, will have very detrimental results in terms of the Big Energy Picture. They will make France and the EU extremely dependent on gas imports (i.e. on Russia) in future. You can read their lucid but alarming analysis by clicking here. (It seems the USA isn’t the only country plagued with ideological “environmentalists.” Ron P.)

Dick Durbin and the Fierce Moral Urgency of … Next Month

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/19/dick-durbin-and-the-fierce-moral-urgency-of-next-month/

Excerpt: Barack Obama went to Congress eleven days ago and demanded that they pass his jobs bill immediately … seventeen times, in fact, during his speech to the joint session. The White House insists it won’t negotiate on its terms, either. Congress has had Obama’s jobs plan for a week now. So where does it stand? Understandably, the Republican House isn’t terribly excited about getting around to Obama’s retread of the 2009 stimulus. As Dick Durbin explained yesterday to CNN’s Candy Crowley, the Democratic Senate doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get to it, either: … Why won’t the Democratic Senate rush the bill to a floor vote? Frankly speaking, Reid doesn’t have enough Democrats supporting it to pass. He has a 53-47 majority, which means he can only lose three Democrats and then ask Joe Biden to cast a tiebreaker. On Friday, five Democrats in the Senate went on the record opposing the bill as written — Mark Begich, Jim Webb, Mary Landrieu, and Barbara Mikulski — and that was after a White House rally session. After that story broke, a fifth Democrat publicly announced his opposition to Obama’s bill as presented, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, who echoed John Boehner in suggesting that the proposal get broken up into its component pieces for separate floor votes instead. Over the weekend, Joe Manchin became Senate Democrat #6 to announce that he wouldn’t back the package. Manchin specifically objected to a rerun of earlier failed policies as a new approach to job creation:

Iowahawkblog Tweet

Moral of the Obama story: if you want something transformative and uplifting, buy a WonderBra.

Chicago looks at windshield​s as moneymaker​s --Consider​s selling ads to put on required ‘wheel tax’ stickers

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/sep/19/chicago-looks-at-windshields-as-moneymakers/?page=2

Excerpt: The Windy City is turning to motorists to drive up revenue. The cash-strapped metropolis plans to raise money by selling corporate ads on vehicle windshield stickers that drivers and passengers will see every time they go for a ride. “This is an opportunity to potentially bring in millions of dollars in new revenue to the city,” City Clerk Susana Mendoza said when she introduced the idea during her campaign earlier this year. “At this time, it’s important to be thinking of new ways to bring in revenue to the city and more ways the city can partner with our corporate community.” Chicago isn’t the first city to get creative with car advertisements. Last summer, California tried, but failed, to introduce electronic license plates that could display advertisements and warn of dangerous road conditions or Amber Alerts.

‘Groundhog Day’ Bam is spinning his wheels

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/groundhog_day_bam_is_spinning_his_TkFGIicE1mHOQiEppLQeXN#ixzz1YUdY5EVm

Excerpt: We’re not just in the economic doldrums; we’re not just possibly in or on the way to a recession. As President Obama’s remarks yesterday indicated, everyone in this country is trapped inside the movie “Groundhog Day.” We’re all Bill Murray, and we’re all waking up every morning to the same conditions, the same lack of any real chance of improvement -- and the same Obama speech we heard yesterday and the day before and the day before that. What we don’t know is if we’ll make something positive out of this repetitive eternity, as Murray eventually does, or whether this country is on track to fulfill the “winter prediction” Murray’s character issues in the depth of his despair: “It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be gray and it’s gonna last you for the rest of your life.” We were told the president was going to release the details of a new deficit-reduction plan yesterday. He said he’d do so in the speech he gave on jobs before a joint session of Congress 12 days ago. But the details were released in a document. Yesterday’s speech turned out to be almost exactly the same one he gave before Congress. The new policy prescriptions, it turned out, were the same as the ones he outlined on Sept. 8. Again, he said all his new spending in his proposed jobs bill was “fully paid for,” though it isn’t, so I have to figure he thinks saying it over and over again will hypnotize people into believing it is.

The Legal Case Against Palestinian Statehood

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904106704576578423114178378.html?mod=djemITP_h

Excerpt: Later this week Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to seek recognition of a Palestinian state from the United Nations. The move is opposed by the Obama administration, which has rightly called it a "distraction." Nevertheless, the PA's effort has wide support among the U.N. membership, including Security Council members Russia, China and Britain, as well as other important regional states such as Turkey. These powers should think again because putting the U.N.—and particularly the General Assembly—in the business of state recognition is inconsistent with international law and the U.N. Charter, and it is manifestly not in their interests. The U.N.—General Assembly or Security Council—has no power to create states or to grant all-important formal "recognition" to state aspirants. The right to recognize statehood is a fundamental attribute of sovereignty and the United Nations is not a sovereign.

Obama Faces Questions about his investment​s

http://www.usatoday.com/news/elections/2007-03-08-2531343349_x.htm

Most presidents use a blind trust to avoid conflicts. ~Bob. Excerpt: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday he was not aware he had invested in two companies backed by some of his top donors and said he had done nothing to aid their business with the government. The Illinois senator faced questions about more than $50,000 in investments he made right after taking office in 2005 in two speculative companies, AVI Biopharma and Skyterra Communications. Obama set up a trust that gave his broker authority to trade stocks on his behalf without his input, according to 16 pages of documents he released Wednesday. "At no point did I know what stocks were held, and at no point did I direct how those stocks were invested," Obama told reporters at the end of a news conference called to trumpet an unrelated immigration bill. "What I wanted to make sure is that I didn't want to invest in companies that potentially would create conflicts with my work here," said Obama, who has campaigned on the need for stronger congressional ethics rules. "Obviously, the thing didn't work the way I wanted it to." Obama purchased $5,000 in shares for AVI, which was developing a drug to treat avian flu. Two weeks after buying the stock, as the disease was spreading in Asia, Obama pushed for more federal funding to fight the disease, but he said he did not discuss the matter with any company officials. Obama also had more than $50,000 in shares of Skyterra, a company that had just received federal permission to create a nationwide wireless network that combined satellite and land-based communications systems.

Anger: Mexico slams U.S. lawmaker for truthful statements

http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/mexico-slams-u-s-lawmaker-for-truthful-statements

Excerpt: Violent and murderous drug cartels are "undermining the Mexican state,” according to U.S. Representative Connie Mack (R-FL), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee for the Western Hemisphere. Mack stated during the subcommittee hearing what most Americans already know, but it didn't stop vitriolic criticism of the lawmaker by officials in Mexico. Mexican politicians and media commentators were also outraged over Rep. Mack’s assertion that the Merida Initiative, which began during the Bush Administration, has been a waste of upwards of $1.5 billion in U.S. aid. While Mexican authorities fear the U.S. will renege on providing assistance, Congressman Mack merely suggested switching to a “counterinsurgency plan” that targets hotbeds of drug cartel activity. He also claims he wants a better planned strategy that coordinates the activities of several U.S. federal agencies. (Better to have spent that $1.5B securing the border. ~Bob.)

Obama Plagued by Democrats' Ingratitude

http://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2011/09/20/obama_plagued_by_democrats_ingratitude

Democrats are the Entitlement Party. Folks handicapped with a sense of entitlement are never grateful, because they always feel entitled to more. ~Bob. Excerpt: Meanwhile, the president's approval ratings are hitting new lows, with his job approval rating bouncing around the high 30s to the low 40s in recent Gallup polls. The numbers are even worse -- about 70 percent disapproval -- for Obama's handling of the economy. Independent voters, the key to the president's election in 2008, have abandoned him right and left. Given all that, it's no surprise that many Democrats are running away from Obama. But here's the problem: He did what Democrats wanted him to do. Health care, stimulus, taxes, you name it -- Obama did what his party wanted. Not what the public at large wanted, but what many Democrats wanted. And now, as the negative electoral consequences of their own priorities stare them in the face, those Democrats are blaming the president. And, by the way, the Democrats who are most unhappy with Obama are the ones who wanted him to do more of the things that have made him unpopular.

How To Fix Our Illegal Immigration Problem In 5 Steps

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2011/09/20/how_to_fix_our_illegal_immigration_problem_in_5_steps

Excerpt: Illegal immigration has become a heads-we-win / tails-you-lose proposition in this country. If the supporters of amnesty and open borders could get that codified into law, they would. Since they can't, they support comprehensive illegal immigration reform, with the idea being that the amnesty will occur, but they'll stall and slow-walk the security measures into oblivion. Since the people are onto that ploy and have demanded security first, the latest tactic is just to refuse to enforce the law. We can pass a bill that says we're putting a fence on our southern border, but we can't get the fence built. We can catch illegal aliens, but then ICE just releases them. Meanwhile, both parties talk about how important securing the border is, even as they deliberately take steps to make sure it never gets secured.

If Israel Disappears

http://townhall.com/columnists/calthomas/2011/09/20/if_israel_disappears

Excerpt: The world -- or at least the large part of it that hates Israel and wishes it would go away -- moves a step nearer that goal this week when the United Nations votes on whether to recognize a Palestinian state. The vote violates the Declaration of Principles signed by the PLO in 1993, which committed the terrorist group and precursor to the Palestinian Authority to direct negotiations with Israel over a future state. This violation is further evidence the Palestinian side cannot be trusted to live up to signed agreements and promises. Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick rightly calls the prospective UN vote "diplomatic aggression." Israel -- like the Jewish people for centuries -- has become the fall guy for people who prefer their anti-Semitism cloaked in diplomatic niceties. The Palestinians could have peace any time they wish and probably a state, too, if they acknowledged Israel's right to exist and practiced verbal, religious and military disarmament. One has a right to question the veracity of a people who claim they want peace, while remaining active in ideological, theological and military warfare aimed at its publicly stated objective: the eradication of the Jewish state.

Diplomacy of September

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/gaffney092011.php3

Excerpt: In her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Guns of August," Barbara Tuchman chronicles how a cascading series of seemingly minor developments led inexorably to World War I and the worst carnage known to man up to that time. In the future, historians may point to the present "Diplomacy of September" as the catalyst for the next horrific conflict now in the offing in the Middle East, and potentially beyond. … Lest anyone think that Shariah blasphemy laws cannot come to the United States even if Mrs. Clinton wants them to, consider the case of Fred Grandy. Mr. Grandy, a former Republican congressman from Iowa and past president of the billion-dollar charity Goodwill Industries, was the host of the top-rated morning drive talk show in Washington - until, allegedly, he ran afoul of Shariah activists who were "offended" by the reporting about that doctrine that he and his wife, Catherine (aka "Mrs. Fred"), provided each week. Not content with denying Mr. Grandy gainful employment, proponents of Shariah have enlisted the leadership of the Democratic Party in Maryland's legislature and Montgomery County to denounce him publicly as a "divisive" figure and to object to him addressing a private meeting of Republicans in the Washington suburbs. Such conduct by people who have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States is a scandal. It should be strenuously denounced by their fellow Democrats, as well as by Americans of every other stripe.

Couple Wins $4.5 Million in ‘Wrongful Birth’ Lawsuit After Claiming They Would Have Aborted Disabled Son

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/couple-wins-4-5-million-in-wrongful-birth-lawsuit-after-claiming-they-would-have-aborted-disabled-son/

Excerpt: In West Palm Beach, Florida, a couple sued a doctor and an ultrasound technician for negligence. The two claimed that they would have aborted their son, who was born with no arms and only one leg, had they known about his disabilities beforehand. PalmBeachPost.com’s Jane Musgrave writes: [The parents] claimed they would have never have brought Bryan into the world had they known about his horrific disabilities. Had Morel and technicians at OB/GYN Specialists of the Palm Beaches and Perinatal Specialists of the Palm Beaches properly administered two ultrasounds and seen he was missing three limbs, the West Palm Beach couple said they would have terminated the pregnancy. (So what is the objection to infanticide or, as they might call it, “full birth abortion.”? What will he think when he becomes an adult and reads this? Hopefully, he will read of the Marine who lost all four limbs to an IED and just passed his driver’s test. ~bob.)

Taxing Life-Saving Medical Devices

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/20/taxing-life-saving-medical-devices/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=21b1778bbe-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Problem: healthcare costs too high. Obama Solution: Tax healthcare. ~Bob. Excerpt: According to a September 2011 paper for the Manhattan Institute, the effects of a new excise tax on the medical device industry will be disastrous. The study deals with a provision of the president’s massive health care overhaul law that levies an excise tax on the medical device industry. The tax will take effect at the start of 2013. This tax, the study finds, will shrink employment in the industry by cutting demand for medical devices and by “encouraging American firms to shift production overseas.” In effect a double whammy to the Obama administration’s goal of creating more jobs and keeping employment from moving to other countries.

New peer reviewed paper: clouds have large negative cooling effect on Earth’s radiation budget

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/20/new-peer-reviewed-paper-clouds-have-large-negative-feedback-cooling-effect-on-earths-radiation-budget/#more-47761

Excerpt: After all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Spencer and Braswell paper in Remote Sensing, and the stunt pulled by its former editor who resigned saying the peer review process failed, another paper was published last week in the journal Meteorological Applications that agrees well with Spencer and Braswell. This new paper by Richard P. Allan of the University of Reading discovers via a combination of satellite observations and models that the cooling effect of clouds far outweighs the long-wave or “greenhouse” warming effect. While Dessler and Trenberth (among others) claim clouds have an overall positive feedback warming effect upon climate due to the long-wave back-radiation, this new paper shows that clouds have a large net cooling effect by blocking incoming solar radiation and increasing radiative cooling outside the tropics. This is key, because since clouds offer a negative feedback as shown by this paper and Spencer and Braswell plus Lindzen and Choi, it throws a huge monkey wrench in climate model machinery that predict catastrophic levels of positive feedback enhanced global warming due to increased CO2. (The prevailing AGW theories continue to fall apart, the science truly ISN’T settled. There are now THREE peer-reviewed published papers confirming that, yes, clouds cool the Earth. And in fact, cool it MORE than AGW—if it exists—can warm it. At absolute minimum, this means EVERY climate computer model currently existing is useless. Quick! Someone tell the EPA and the administration! Don’t waste your time telling Al Gore or the other High Priests, though; for them it’s a matter of dogma, not of facts. Ron P.)

Let’s Party Like It’s 1917

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/09/20/lets-party-like-its-1917/

Excerpt: The DNC’s logo for the 2012 convention struck me, when it first came out, as “Soviet chic”, a trendy style that’s been making its way around leftist protests from Wisconsin to Washington. With Barack Obama’s class warfare speech yesterday, it seems the President’s 2012 campaign theme will be to party like its 1917. In a speech right out of a European socialist’s playbook, Barack Obama kept referring to basic fairness when demanding job creators pay more in taxes. Consider Obama’s online mouthpiece, Think Progress, rushing to his defense by, in essence, saying Obama’s plan isn’t class warfare because it does not go as far as the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1929. You actually should read the Think Progress post because actually what the writer claims is “strikingly different from a modern progressive agenda” is actually pretty darn similar, including an income tax to confiscate capital income — something Obama’s Buffett tax seems to do. In any event, what Barack Obama nor any other leftist can answer is one simple question — when the top 1% generate 20% of the income and pay 40% of the taxes in this country, what exactly is their fair share? But now it gets even worse. Yesterday I told you Obama wants to use General Motors as a distraction from Solyndra. Today it appears he is using Warren Buffett to distract us from raiding banks to line General Motors’ pockets, or at least the government’s because of the GM bailout.

Saudi Arabia beheads Sudanese “sorcerer”

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=313122

Excerpt: Saudi Arabia beheaded a Sudanese man by sword in the western city of Medina on Monday after he was convicted of practicing sorcery, the Interior Ministry announced. Abdul Hamid al-Fakki "practiced witchcraft and sorcery," which are illegal under Saudi Arabia's Islamic sharia law, said a ministry statement carried by state news agency SPA. In October last year, Amnesty International said it had appealed to King Abdullah in a letter to commute Fakki's death sentence. His execution brings to 42 the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia this year, according to an AFP tally based on official and human rights group reports. (Well, Sorcery is illegal under Shari’a Law—which the NYT thinks we should incorporate here—and leftists say all cultures are equally valid, so if you are a Wiccan, you might be a tad worried. After they kill all the Jews and make all the Christians into dhimmi, you’re next! ~Bob.)

Abu Shadi: The Muslim Caliphate is Coming; Christians Must Choose Between Jizya, Conversion, or War

http://www.copticsolidarity.org/en/news/240-abu-shadi-the-muslim-caliphate-is-coming-christians-must-choose-between-jizya-conversion-or-war

Didn’t get the “Islam is a Religion of Peace” memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: He called upon the Islamic movements to carefully distinguish between believers and infidels. The leading Salafi explains: "We do not transgress against the Nassara [or “Nazarenes,” the Quranic appellation for Christians], but they must either pay jizya [tribute, and assume inferior status], convert to Islam, or war. He adds: [Samuel] Huntington said the truth even though he was a liar, for the coming struggle is the clash of civilizations, and Islam will be victorious and rule the world with an "Islamic caliphate"... Abu Shady belittles the symbols of secularism in the "lands of Muslims," describing them as few [in number], and points out that there is confusion among the people regarding "the fact that they are infidels.” He threatened that a statement will be shortly published by the Salafis, revealing the truth about them [the secularists], which "will make the masses beat them with shoes, for we must fight them because they are in the trench of infidelity,” according to the Salafi leader.

Sweden: Government will spend $620,000 on protecting Jews

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/09/sweden-government-will-spend-620000-on-protecting-jews.html

Excerpt: Earlier this year, Hollywood cancelled making a movie in Sweden about Jews, because they estimated that "Sweden [is] a VERY unsafe place for the Jewish community due to the large and increasingly hostile community of Muslims.” During the 2nd World War, Sweden was a safe haven for Jews. Now Jews have to flee Sweden because of Muslim immigrants' hateful and violent anti-Semitism. Finally, the Swedish government takes action. Not by limiting immigration of Islamic supremacists, but by spending a (ridiculously small) amount of money on the "protection of Jews":

It’s all about ’Bam

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/it_all_about_bam_XIUn3PpWH3N89mn6gxB5WJ

Excerpt: ‘Damn the economy -- I need to be reelected!” That, basically, was President Obama’s message to the nation in yesterday’s Rose Garden speech ostensibly addressing DC’s runaway deficits. Obama knew full well that the GOP-run House won’t back tax hikes while the nation flirts with double-dip recession. (Somebody has to be the adult.) Yet he insisted on them anyway (some $1.5 trillion, in fact), claiming they merely ask “the most fortunate among us” -- that is, the most productive -- “to pay their fair share.”

In other words, Obama told Americans bluntly he’s itching for another standoff. Then, you see, he can blame Republicans, painting them as defenders of “unfair” advantages for the “wealthy” who don’t care about the middle class.

SEIU’s Stephen Lerner at Progressive Summit Tells Unions, Community Organizers and Students They Need to Escalate Protests, Break Laws, Occupy Abandoned Houses and Spread the Crisis All Over U.S.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/we-are-heroes-who-need-to-create-a-crisis-seiu-stephen-lerner-at-progressive-summit-tells-unions-community-organizers-and-students-they-need-to-escalate-protests-break-laws-occupy-abandon-houses/

Video. Obama’s head-breakers are coming—are you prepared? ~Bob.

Can We Really Call Climate Science A Science?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2011/09/18/can-we-really-call-climate-science-a-science/2/

Excerpt: First, Ivar Giaever, the 1973 winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, resigned from the American Physical Society over his disagreement with its statement that “the evidence (on warming alarmism) is incontrovertible.” Instead, he writes that the evidence suggests that “the temperature has been amazingly stable, and both human health and happiness have definitely improved in this ‘warming’ period.” Second, the editor of Remote Sensing resigned and disassociated himself from a skeptical paper co-authored by University of Alabama Climate Scientist Roy Spencer after an avalanche of criticism by “warmists.” His resignation brings to mind Phil Jones’ threat to “get rid of troublesome editors” (cited above). Third, the New York Times and other major media are ridiculing Texas Governor Rick Perry for saying that global warming is “not proven.” Their message: Anyone who does not sign on to global warming alarmism is an ignorant hayseed and clearly not presidential material. What lessons do I, as an economist, draw from these three events? (The first page of this very well-reasoned piece from Forbes is mostly quotes from historical persons; the real article begins on page 2. Unusually, in addition to the link to the original in Forbes, I am also including a link to additional coverage and commentary at Watts Up With That very deserving of your attention. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/09/19/forbes-can-we-really-call-climate-science-a-science/#more-47668 Ron P.)

Time to end the Keynesian pretense about fiscal stimulus

http://blogs.reuters.com/christopher-whalen/2011/09/19/time-to-end-the-keynesian-pretense-about-fiscal-stimulus/#nourielroubini

Excerpt: Government intervention is the root cause of the financial crisis and the maladies identified by Roubini. Many of his proposals, such as debt restructuring and maintaining liquidity to solvent borrowers, are common sense initiatives that ought to be followed immediately. But the proposals by Roubini and others that governments should borrow and print even more fiat currency to fuel further fiscal stimulus are badly considered. Economists from Paul Krugman in the US to Adam Posen in the UK all call for more stimuli. They are all wrong. First, when Roubini, Posen et al call for additional fiscal stimulus, we need to ask them why. The vast fiscal stimulus already attempted in the US failed miserably in terms of creating permanent jobs. More fiscal stimulus funded with debt will not generate real growth. Remember the idea of public deficits “crowding out” private investment? Huge public deficits actually kill private investment and increase inflation, but you will never hear the neo-Keynesians admit to it. (On Reuters. Huh. ~Bob.)

Corruption Squared

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/585241/201109191819/Corruption-Squared.aspx

It’s not really “Crony Capitalism.” More, “Crony Socialism.” ~Bob. Excerpt: Gen. Shelton wasn't expecting a "rock band" in a quiet neighborhood of low-energy competitors, but then came the White House pressure. AP View Enlarged ImageScandal: The Air Force's Space Command chief was pressured to alter testimony about the danger of a wireless project developed by a Democratic donor's company. Are lives as well as money being put at risk? Crony capitalism, which has been rampant in President Obama's push for green energy, is one thing. Rewarding donors with stimulus dollars is merely the "Chicago Way" brought to Washington, D.C. But when ideology combines with cronyism to place American lives and the nation's security at risk, it's quite another thing.

China solar panel factory shut after protests

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14968605

It ain’t easy being green. ~Bob. Excerpt: Riot police were brought in to remove protesters from outside the solar panel factory in Haining City. A solar panel factory in eastern China has been shut down after protests by local residents over pollution fears. Some 500 villagers staged a three-day protest following the death of large numbers of fish in a local river. Some demonstrators broke into the plant in Zhejiang province, destroying offices and overturning company cars before being dispersed by riot police. Tests on water samples showed high levels of fluoride, which can be toxic in high doses, officials said. The BBC's Juliana Liu in Shanghai says the Chinese villagers see the plant's closure as a victory. They accuse Jinko Solar, a Chinese company making solar panels for sale overseas, of dumping hazardous chemicals into the water supply, our correspondent says. "We feel that it is socially responsible to close the factory first and to take corrective measures," company spokesman Thomas Jing told the BBC.

U.S. Republicans submit resolution supporting Israel's right to annex West

Bank

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/u-s-republicans-submit-resolution-supporting-israel-s-right-to-annex-west-bank-1.385394

Excerpt: U.S. Representative Joe Walsh (R-IL), introduced on Monday a resolution (with 30 co-sponsors) to support Israel’s right to annex the West Bank in the event that the Palestinian Authority continues to push for vote at the United Nations.

Secret recordings raise new questions in ATF 'Gunwalker​' operation

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20108240-10391695.html

Excerpt: CBS News has obtained secretly recorded conversations that raise questions as to whether some evidence is being withheld in the murder of a Border Patrol agent. The tapes were recorded approximately mid-March 2011 by the primary gun dealer cooperating with ATF in its "Fast and Furious" operation: Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Arizona. He's talking with the lead case ATF case agent Hope MacAllister. The tapes have been turned over to Congressional investigators and the Inspector General. As CBS News first reported last February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to "walk" onto the streets without interdiction into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in its operation "Fast and Furious."

Center Calls on Presidential Candidates to Endorse the ‘Peace through Strength’ Platform

http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/p18819.xml?genre_id=4

Excerpt: The Center for Security Policy announced that it has invited nine major current 2012 Presidential contenders to endorse the 12-point Peace Through Strength Platform, in advance of the next Presidential Republican primary debate on September 7th. The candidates are: eight Republican primary candidates, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum, and the current Democratic candidate, President Barack Obama.

Why Young Americans Can’t Think Morally

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277693/why-young-americans-can-t-think-morally-dennis-prager

Excerpt: This latest study cited by David Brooks confirms what conservatives have known for a generation: Moral standards have been replaced by feelings. Of course, those on the left only believe this when an “eminent sociologist” is cited by a writer at a major liberal newspaper. What is disconcerting about Brooks’s piece is that nowhere in what is an important column does he mention the reason for this disturbing trend: namely, secularism. The intellectual class and the Left still believe that secularism is an unalloyed blessing. They are wrong. Secularism is good for government. But it is terrible for society (though still preferable to bad religion) and for the individual.

Know the facts: Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data

http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html

Excerpt: As the data below show, incomes reported by tax returns at the high end of the income spectrum plummeted from 2007 to 2008, as did their share of the nation's income and income taxes paid. In 2008, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 38.0 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 20.0 percent of adjusted gross income, compared to 2007 when those figures were 40.4 percent and 22.8 percent, respectively. Both of those figures—share of income and share of taxes paid—were their lowest since 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) and paid 36.9 percent of federal individual income taxes. Each year from 2005 to 2007, the top 1 percent's constantly growing share of income earned and taxes paid set a record. That trend reversed in 2008. In fact, the income share for the top 1 percent of tax returns was lower in 2008 than in 2000, largely due to differences in capital gains. Another indicator of this reversal in the income and tax shares of the top 1 percent is that during 2007, the top 1 percent had actually paid more in federal income tax than the bottom 95 percent, a comparison that was much remarked on a year ago. But the diminished income of the top 1 percent in 2008 means that the comparison no longer holds. During 2008, the bottom 95 percent (AGI under $159,619) paid 41.3 percent of the total collected, a larger share than the 38.0 percent paid by the top 1 percent (AGI over $380,354). The top-earning 5 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $159,619), however, still paid far more than the bottom 95 percent. The top 5 percent earned 34.7 percent of the nation's adjusted gross income, but paid approximately 58.7 percent of federal individual income taxes.

The Department Of Sharia

http://www.steynonline.com/4449/the-department-of-sharia#.TnjZRK3qBCI.twitter

Excerpt: Suppose, for the sake of argument, you share the goal of Osama bin Laden and his surviving lieutenants: In other words, you desire to see the world dominated by a new caliphate. Is it really that helpful to have the livelier lads flying planes into skyscrapers? As we saw a decade ago, even the most somnolent superpower will feel obliged to respond, and your great warrior sheikh will find himself scuttling over the mountains to hole up in a succession of cramped malodorous "safe houses" with too many child brides, unable to place a phone call or do anything except issue periodic cassette monologues of warmed-over Michael Moore talking points. And one day, eventually, however long it takes, you're watching infidel porn on your grainy 14" TV and the door gets kicked in and Seal Team Six are ready for your close-up before you've had a chance to dunk your beard in knock-off Grecian Formula. That sort of counter-jihad America does well. On every other front, it does incredibly badly.

Barack Obama, Home Alone: In his jobs bill and his budget speech, Obama demonstrates his reckless immaturity.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/277708/barack-obama-home-alone-rich-lowry

Excerpt: In his new book on the Obama economic team, Ron Suskind quotes former administration official Larry Summers complaining: “We’re home alone. There’s no adult in charge. Clinton would never have made these mistakes.” Put aside the misbegotten nostalgia for Bill Clinton, whose new status as an elder statesman wipes from memory his bouts of reckless immaturity. The Summers comment (subsequently denied, of course) stands as the best summation of the current occupant of the White House, who constantly congratulates himself on his high-minded leadership without exercising any.

Green Jobs: Laid Off Solyndra Employees Applying for Federal Re-Training Funds

http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/09/19/green-jobs-laid-off-solyndra-employees-applying-for-federal-re-training-funds/

I thought this was a joke when I clicked on it. ~Bob. Excerpt: The company cost at least half a billion dollars, and employed 1,100, meaning each job cost the American taxpayers nearly half a million dollars. The company wasn’t viable, is bankrupt and under investigation, and now the workers need re-training for jobs in the non-green economy. And guess who they want to pay for it: Ex-employees of the failed solar panel company Solyndra have applied for aid under the federal government’s Trade Adjustment Assistance program, the Labor Department has confirmed. If approved, the employees of what was once touted as a leading exemplar of the White House’s green jobs program will be eligible for more federal funds to enable them to be retrained for other jobs.

President Obama Rejects President Obama’s Job-Crushing Tax Hike Proposal

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?postid=260724

Excerpt: In remarks at the White House yesterday, President Obama said “it’s hard to argue against” his plan for a $1.5 trillion tax hike on American families and small businesses – but he sure did a pretty good job of it in the past! Less than a year ago, President Obama warned that – if Congress failed to prevent tax hikes – Americans would “see it in smaller paychecks” and “fewer jobs.” At that time, President Obama was “absolutely convinced” that preventing tax hikes would “strengthen our entire economy” – a striking contrast to the tax hike touting he did yesterday. Here’s a quick refresher for President Obama on the devastating impact tax hikes will have on jobs and the economy, courtesy of President Obama: