Free PDF Copy of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
Excerpt: The U.S. Senate, by a vote of 51-45, has blocked consideration of the Buffett Rule, a key initiative by President Obama to require millionaires to pay a minimum tax rate of 30 percent. Republicans kept the measure from receiving the 60 votes necessary to allow the Senate to open debate. (A victory for Obama and just what he wanted. He gets to campaign on the issue of “fairness” [whatever that is} and against the rich with economically-ignorant voters, without the bad effects on the fragile economy the tax would have created. The amount raised would have taken 250 years to pay for one years of his deficits, so a symbolic issue. ~Bob.)
Worth Reading
Excerpt: But as Americans pay their taxes by today’s deadline, we might note that trying to get more money from upper-income taxpayers is like playing whack-a-mole. So long as tax rates are high, rich people will figure out ways to protect their income. It doesn’t take a tax genius; any rich person can make a phone call or hit a few computer keys and shift his or her investments to tax-free municipal bonds.
GSA official Neely pleads the Fifth
Excerpt: The General Services Administration official at the center of a scandal over lavish government spending declined to answer questions at a congressional hearing on Monday, invoking the Fifth Amendment. "Mr. Chairman, on the advice of my counsel I respectfully decline to answer based upon my Fifth Amendment constitutionally privilege," Jeff Neely, the GSA official, said repeatedly in response to a string of questions from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. (I have some sympathy for the GSA employees. When the President can send his 13-year-old kid, 12 friends, 25 Secret Service agents and two jets to Mexico
GSA corruption more far reaching than suspected, says lawmaker, watchdog group
Excerpt: The scandal of the General Services Administration (GSA) and its Las Vegas
Harry Reid Pushed to Allow Government Conferences in Vegas
Excerpt: In 2009, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) urged the White House and individual federal agencies to lift government travel bans on “cities known as resort towns” like Las Vegas — the site of a controversial $823,000 General Services Administration conference in 2010.
Panetta said he regretted cost to taxpayers for trips home to California
Excerpt: Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Monday that he regrets that his frequent flights home to California Washington
Why the presidential race is going to be closer than you think
Excerpt: The dominant narrative since the beginning of 2012 has been that President Obama has regained his footing after a rocky 2011 and is trending upward. Ask 10 political types who will win in November, and eight of them (or so) will say Obama. (I still think the race will be decided by economic, political and/or international events yet to happen. ~Bob.)
How Conservatives Can Erase the Gender Gap By John C. Goodman
Excerpt: The most important economic and sociological change in our society in the past 60 years has been the entry of women into the labor market. Despite this, tax law, labor law and a host of other institutions are still built top-to-bottom on the assumption that men will be full time in the labor market, while women will stay in the home. Consider that: When a wife enters the labor market, she is taxed at her husband’s tax rate, even if she earns only the minimum wage. When all taxes and all costs are considered, a second-earner wife in a middle-income family can expect to keep only about 35 cents out of each dollar she earns. If the woman’s husband dies prematurely, Social Security will provide a modest benefit as long as she stays home and takes care of children. But if she works, the combined effect of direct taxes plus loss of benefits will create a marginal tax rate of 75 percent — leaving her with only 25 cents out of each extra dollar she earns.
Cost of aging rising faster than expected: IMF
Excerpt: People worldwide are living three years longer than expected on average, pushing up the costs of aging by 50 percent, and governments and pension funds are ill prepared, the International Monetary Fund said. … "If everyone in 2050 lived just three years longer than now expected, in line with the average underestimation of longevity in the past, society would need extra resources equal to 1 to 2 percent of GDP per year," it said in a study to be released in its World Economic Outlook next week. (I’m 66 and already have pulmonary fibrosis, an eventually terminal illness, so I’m doing my part. The rest of you old slackers better get with the program! ~Bob.)
Worth Reading
Also worth sending to your Congress Critter. ~Bob. Excerpt: The federal and state governments are each entertaining numerous plans to close substantial budget gaps. Many of these plans involve necessary spending cuts, but others also employ fundamental changes to the way government entities tax citizens. In regard to this second strategy, it is enlightening to better understand the foundational principles of taxation that determine its aggregate effect and economic impact. To this end, the American Legislative Exchange Council has published 10 "golden rules" of taxation that should guide policy in this sphere.
Media Matters’ targets revealed: business, wealth, Christianity By Vince Coglianese http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/16/media-matters-targets-revealed-business-wealth-christianity/#ixzz1sHswPU9z
Excerpt: David Brock applied for tax-exempt status for Media Matters for America, he told the IRS exactly who his group would be fighting against: businesses, wealthy Americans and conservative Christians…”Media Matters has made no secret of its adherence to progressive principles, but flagging Christianity as having undue influence in media is the latest revelation about the group’s treatment of religion.
NC Democratic party Executive Director Jay Parmley resigns, blames right-wing bloggers…
Excerpt: To refresh people’s memories: allegations came out last week that NC Democratic party Executive Director Jay Parmley had sexually harassed a male staffer (the Daily Caller noted yesterday that local reports are saying that said staffer was also allegedly fired after making a complaint; if that’s true, then there’s a bigggggggggg problem going on in North Carolina right now for the Democratic party*). Anyway, Parmley has decided to leave his job – and is he bitter about it? Well, perhaps a little:…”
Obama’s Falklands Gaffe Could Start A War
Excerpt: The island chain 300 miles off the coast of Argentina United Kingdom , which controls them as a protectorate, and the rest of the world call those islands the Falklands . Argentina Argentina UK UK has controlled the Falklands since 1830, and fought a war over them against Argentina
Rev. Al Sharpton: The Race Hustler as Kingmaker by Ron Radosh
Excerpt: Imagine if David Duke were now a Republican Party kingmaker, and Mitt Romney and other presumptive candidates had to go to his organization’s events, seek his endorsement, and stand by his side — just as he was presiding over rallies seeking mainstream support for George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin’s shooter. Yes, everyone knew Duke was once a Ku Klux Klan leader and had only slightly cleaned up his racist act, but now he came on as a non-partisan fighter for justice on behalf of aggrieved white males, and when he spoke, wore pinstripe suits, especially when presiding over his own TV talk show…..All but forgotten is Sharpton’s past.
Wasserman Schultz bails on fundraiser with bundler who helped criminals get tax breaks. By Matthew Boyle
Excerpt: Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz canceled a U.S. Virgin Islands fundraiser she planned to attend with a high-dollar bundler for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign amid revelations the bundler helped convicted and alleged financial criminals get tax breaks… (Birds of a feather…~Bob.)
Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future by Wynton Hall
Excerpt: In their new book, Debacle: Obama's War on Jobs and Growth and What We Can Do Now to Regain Our Future, Grover Norquist and John Lott, Jr. explain just how bloated the pay and benefits of government workers have become. According to Norquist and Lott, the average private sector worker in America
Hillary Clinton parties in Colombia
Excerpt: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cut loose during her trip to the Summit of the Americas in Colombia Clinton arrived at Cartagena
What Tax Day Could Feel Like in 2013
Excerpt: In addition to today being Tax Day, it's also, coincidentally, "Tax Freedom Day" -- meaning that it has taken from January 1 until now for Americans to earn enough money to pay this year's federal, state, and local tax bill -- 29.2% of all our income. In other words, for the first 111 days of the year, everything you earned went straight to Uncle Sam. Compare that to back in 1900, when Americans paid only 5.9% of their income in taxes and Tax Freedom Day came on January 22.
Excerpt: Army Generals will have the public believe that the Red Cross is a morale booster for our troops. That load of bull is too heavy even for a Blackhawk helicopter sling load. During my about three years with combat troops downrange, I've never heard the slightest inkling of "morale boost" from troops who see a Red Cross. The Red Cross boosts enemy morale. It alerts the Taliban that they have caused casualties.
Barak says Israel never ruled out attacking Iran
Excerpt: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday his country has never promised the United States it would hold off from attacking Iran
Kerry Kennedy writes of her terrifying trip to Mexico
Excerpt: Gov. Cuomo’s 14-year-old daughter and his ex-wife endured a frightening Easter experience when they were detained and interrogated by heavily armed Mexican soldiers. Kerry Kennedy, Cuomo’s ex — who is the daughter of the late U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy — wrote in an op-ed article that she and her daughter, Michaela, were traveling to Acapulco Mexico
Sledge Hammer, Porn Star, Dies After Being Tasered By Police
Excerpt: When they arrived, Anderson 's girlfriend told the officers that Anderson Anderson
Zimmerman's lawyer: I want a new judge
Excerpt: In another case development Monday, media attorneys asked that the case file be unsealed. O'Mara and attorneys for the state last week agreed that they wanted paperwork in the file kept secret. That also includes all the evidence that the state will, in the next few days and weeks, provide Zimmerman's attorney. (As if this case didn’t already have enough twists. The original judge’s spouse is a paid consultant to CNN News; she offered to recuse herself last week. The real issue in this article is that the lawyers—on both sides—have asked for all the court files to be sealed until the trial. Of course, the blood-thirsty media is filing for immediate release of everything so they can find (or make up) more raw meat to throw to an already inflamed public. The media has no interest in whether or not a fair trial occurs; I hope the courts do. If the courts sanction the release of these files, it is tantamount to providing a coil of rope to a lynch mob. Even if Zimmerman is eventually found “not guilty,” he’ll never be able to freely walk the streets without fear for his life. And, if he needs it, he won’t be able to claim help from the state to provide for his personal or family’s security. If found not guilty, he would revert to being “just another ordinary citizen” in the eyes of the law (I don’t even know if he will be able to deduct his huge legal expenses on his taxes). No matter how this ends up, his life is trashed. Or worse. Ron P.)
We Are All George Zimmerman
Excerpt: Andy Warhol predicted that in the future everyone would be world-famous for 15 minutes. What he neglected to mention was that they were just as likely to be infamous.
Poll: Voters Doubt Romney Can Beat Obama
Excerpt: A new CNN/ORC International poll released Monday underscored the skepticism an overwhelming majority of voters feel about the putative GOP nominee's chances against the president. Sixty-one percent of respondents, when asked who they think will win in the fall regardless of which candidate they support, picked the current White House occupant. Only 35 percent thought Romney would claim victory. (In a way, this poll result may be good for us, IF it motivates every voter who hopes to reverse the rush to bigger government to work harder for Romney. Like most of us, Romney wasn’t my first choice, but he’ll be my last and get my support and vote. On the other hand, if we hide our heads in the sand, we’ll lose by default. I don’t know if Bob made it up or was quoting, but in another context, he once told me “The only causes worth fighting and dying for seem to be the lost ones.” My own observations over a long and borderline evil lifetime are that the worst beatings I’ve ever seen anyone take have almost all been self-inflicted by someone—often me—who incorrectly judged the strength of his own position. I think we can win, if we’re willing to work hard enough to deserve it. Ron P.)
Mixing and Matching by Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: Apparently the soaring national debt and the threat of a nuclear Iran are not enough to occupy the government's time, because the Obama administration is pushing to force Westchester County , N.Y.
Excerpt: Barney has it pretty much correct here. There could have been health care reform if Obama started with points of agreement, accepted small gains, and worked with Republicans. Instead, Obama flush with victory in 2008 and nursing a massive ego and misplaced sense of history, took an “I won” attitude just like on the Stimulus Plan. Except that on Obamacare, he couldn’t even pick up the Republican stragglers he picked up on Stimulus (Arelen Specter defected shortly after Stimulus). It was a trap of Obama’s and the Democrat’s own making.
Coburn’s book criticizes both parties on debt woes
Excerpt: Sen. Tom Coburn is leaving virtually no one unscathed in a blistering new book in which he accuses both parties of hypocrisy and failed leadership in dealing with the country’s mounting debt problems.
Excerpt: President Cristina Kirchner, in a move that marks a watershed in expanding the state's grip on the economy, said she will send a bill to Congress to nationalize Argentina Madrid
Why Your Highway Has Potholes: Americans don't want to live in Ray LaHood's car-free utopia. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577333631864470566.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
Excerpt: Nothing shows off the worst of Congress like a highway bill. And this year's scramble for cash is worse than ever because the 18.4 cent a gallon gasoline tax will raise $70 billion less than the $263 billion Congress wants to spend over the next five years. Let the mayhem ensue.
What an alliance between Los Zetas and MS-13 really means
Excerpt: Mara Salvatrucha or MS-13 has been described by many as the most dangerous gang in America , while Los Zetas is arguably the most violent of Mexico ’s drug cartels...Now, there is evidence that these two powerful and ruthless organizations have struck a deal which makes both groups even more dangerous to the United States
The Next ‘Next Solyndra’ - Another electric-car disaster looms. By Robert Bryce
Excerpt: Get ready for the next Solyndra. Sure, you’ve heard those words before. Over the past few months, several companies that had federal backing — Beacon Power, Range Fuels, and Ener1 — all failed. And another one is almost surely on the way. Here’s my prediction: Within 18 months, A123 Systems, the battery maker that got a $249 million grant from the Department of Energy, will be bankrupt.
Excerpt: First Solar, a solar energy company that received a $1.46 billion loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, announced today that it will layoff 2,000 workers in the United States
Random Border Patrol deployment might aid enforcement, study says
Excerpt: A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and his dog patrol vehicles waiting to enter the U.S.
Tom Barrett Supports Taxpayer-Funding for Elective Abortions Under Medicaid
Excerpt: Top Wisconsin Democrats acknowledge that labor issues are not "moving" voters in the state, so a major part of the Democratic recall campaign against Scott Walker will involve an effort to portray him as a belligerent in the so-called "war on women." But it's not at all clear that this is a battle the Democrats can win. The two leading Democratic candidates, Milwaukee
Excerpt: Washington
Afghan schoolgirls poisoned in anti-education attack
Didn’t get the memo. Nice people. ~Bob. Excerpt: About 150 Afghan schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday after drinking contaminated water at a high school in the country's north, officials said, blaming it on conservative radicals opposed to female education. Since the 2001 toppling of the Taliban, which banned education for women and girls, females have returned to schools, especially in Kabul
Government payments have exploded as politicians keep expanding the definition of the disabled to include millions of Americans. By Howard Rich
Excerpt: One entitlement program that highlights the progression of this disease is the Social Security Disability Insurance fund. In August 2010 a report from the Government Accountability Office revealed that hundreds of federal employees were receiving millions in fraudulently obtained disability benefits from this fund.
Obama Seeks To Confront Oil Market Manipulation
Excerpt: Obama wants Congress to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, increase penalties for market manipulation and empower regulators to increase the amount of money energy traders are required to put behind their transactions. (…) The plan is more likely to draw sharp election-year distinctions with Republicans than have an immediate effect on prices at the pump. The measures seek to boost spending for Wall Street enforcement at a time when congressional Republicans are seeking to limit the reach of federal financial regulations. (The President tries for a two-fer: Obama’s core supporters all resent Wall Street and cannot conceive of an unnecessary government regulation. Everyone else should be appalled by the lack of common sense this shows. I wonder if it has ever occurred to anyone advising the President that without Wall Street, there wouldn't BE any oil companies. Or, maybe that's the plan. --Ron P.)
Excerpt: Crude oil prices have risen over a dollar today, despite President Obama's promise to "crackdown" on Wall Street "speculators" that he believes are driving up the price of oil. Crude oil opened at $102.66 per barrel. It cost $104.04 per barrel at 8:58 am (one minute after the White House Fact Sheet on "cracking down on manipulation in oil markets" hit my inbox). By 9:32 am, the price had risen to $104.94 per barrel. The price has been as high as $105.07 today, according to Yahoo Finance and Reuters. (Obama’s energy policy: Pound the Poor at the Pumps. ~Bob.)
The Hard Working American vs. The Government Parasite
Excerpt: Which lifestyle choice produces better results – being a hard working American or being a government parasite? Actually, when you look at the cold, hard numbers they may just surprise you. In America
Cleric Abu Qatada can be deported, says Theresa May
Excerpt: Radical cleric Abu Qatada can be deported to Jordan UK
The 'Likable' Barack Obama: In 1980, Ronald Reagan zeroed in on the incompetence of Jimmy Carter, a good and decent man. That should be Mitt Romney's strategy in 2012.
Excerpt: Many Republicans, and especially conservatives, can find these numbers hard to credit. Some note that the poll sampling favors Democrats and thus artificially inflates the president's numbers. Still others have come to dislike President Obama so much that it makes them suspicious when they read numbers indicating they are in the minority.
Low Wage America
Excerpt: Low wage America and the working poor – US has one of the highest number of employees working in low wage jobs of high paying industrialized nations. 1 out of 4 Americans employed work in jobs that pay less than $10 per hour.
WEAC, Walker at odds over surveys' release
Excerpt: At issue is a statewide survey of superintendents conducted by the Department of Public Instruction and the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators in the fall of 2011. That survey produced results making the state of schools appear better now than in years past, at least in comparison to results of anonymous surveys the union collected from superintendents before Walker
A Wisconsin Vindication: Property tax bills fall as Scott Walker's reforms start to kick in.
Excerpt: The public employee unions and other liberals are confident that Wisconsin voters will turn out Governor Scott Walker in a recall election later this year, but not so fast. That may turn out to be as wrong as some of their other predictions as Badger State
Occupy Wall Street Anti-Semitism At DC’s “Emancipation Day” Protest…
Excerpt: A European Union oil embargo on Iran Iran
Obama Stimulus Dollars Funded Soros Empire, in Scandal that Dwarfs ACORN and GSA, Says New Report
Excerpt: Newly recently released tax documents, examined and analyzed by Tina Trent ofsorosfiles.com, reveal how billionaire “philanthropist” George Soros expanded his U.S.-based empire by using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the Obama stimulus. Soros and Obama worked hand-in-glove through the stimulus, which has been called the largest single partisan wealth transfer in American history.
Mann -vs- ATI case–unsettled
Excerpt: When the lawyer for renowned climate scientist Michael Mann said that the FOIA request for his e-mails by Rep. Robert Marshall (R-Prince William) and the American Tradition Institute was calculated to annoy and harass Mann, Sheridan Sheridan
Overthrowing Environmentalism
Excerpt: The selling of worthless “indulgences” as a means to wipe one’s sins clean was the final straw. Environmentalism has become a modern religion and its “cap and trade” scheme to sell worthless permission slips for the emission of so-called “greenhouse gases”—based on United Nations Kyoto Protocol calling for a reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth’s atmosphere—is being rejected by many nations .
Misquotations
Interesting list. ~Bob.
Facts about the “Forecast the Facts” campaign
Excerpt: I’ve talked about the slimy “Forecast the Facts” campaign before, where they are attempting to label your local TV weatherperson/meteorologist as a “denier” and pressure TV station management into making that person “toe the line” by having a bunch of fake form letters sent by “local viewers”. It is simply paid astroturfing. For example, look how they label KOAA-TV’s Brad Sowder for not even wanting to take a position because it is a “political issue”: (Just imagine the screaming and finger-pointing from the media if this was a Republican or Tea Party group. Ron P.)
Good Economists
Excerpt: It's difficult to be a good economist and simultaneously be perceived as compassionate. To be a good economist, one has to deal with reality. To appear compassionate, often one has to avoid unpleasant questions, use "caring" terminology and view reality as optional. Affordable housing and health care costs are terms with considerable emotional appeal that politicians exploit but have absolutely no useful meaning or analytical worth. For example, can anyone tell me in actual dollars and cents the price of an affordable car, house or myomectomy? (King Log is preferable to King Stork (see Aesop’s Fables written down about 600BCE), but no king at all is probably better than either. Yes, this is an argument for smaller, less intrusive government Ron P.)
Obama Failed Buffett Rule Test.
Excerpt: The loudest rhetoric coming from President Obama lately has been about the Buffett Rule that millionaires should pay 30% of their income in taxes. But now it comes out that he and Michelle only pay 20.2% of their income of about $800,000 in taxes! The flunk their own standard by ten points! How many brains does it take to get the whole country stirred up demanding that the rich pay 30% in taxes and then fail to do that yourself?
Important: Senate GOP will join legal challenge against Obama's recess appointments
Excerpt: Senate Republicans will join a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama's recess appointments to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Miguel Estrada, a one-time GOP nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Excerpt: Remember in the fall of 2009 when thousands turned out in Michigan New York City Michigan
Excerpt: This past Saturday marked a change for the now-annual Wisconsin Tax Day Tea Party in Madison, Wisc. While thousands turned out — an organizer said it was 6,300 — it wasn’t the masses that had showed up in the pouring rain last year to see Andrew Breitbart and Sarah Palin cheer them on. The tone among the attendees was markedly different–more tempered and positive compared to the battle cries of last year.
Target: Ann Romney: When can a president’s, or a candidate’s, spouse be fairly attacked? By Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: The answer to the question of how to treat a first lady or potential first lady depends on the degree to which she interjects herself into politics in ways that transcend just supporting her husband.
How States Can Protect Themselves From Financial Collapse by Brandon Smith
Excerpt: The States of America are, truly, children of the Constitution. The legal framework that is the foundation of State sovereignty and internal administration was unprecedented when the United States
Prosecutors: Dixon CFO embezzled $30M
Excerpt: The chief finance officer of the small town of Dixon embezzled more than $30 million over the last six years and used the money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included horse stables in Illinois and Wisconsin
EVERSOLE: Military votes don’t count: Obama Justice Department excuses failure to deliver ballots to troops
The problem for Obama is they are citizens with IDs. ~Bob. Excerpt: Military voters must feel like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day. Election after election, certain state and local election officials fail to meet the deadline for sending absentee ballots. The outcome is often the same - thousands of ballots are received too close to the election to be returned or, if they are returned, the ballots arrive after the deadline to be counted. In either case, the military voter is disenfranchised. (If soldiers can skype from Pashtunistan, their votes should be counted no matter where they are stationed.
Here is a political issue that is neutral for you, that as a military officer you could work on (when your colonels lay off their "projects").. Cordially, Larry Greenberg)
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