The Joy Of Fanaticism

The Comforting Life of Ideological Fanatics « Commentary Magazine

Unfortunately, all humans fall into this trap from time to time, but in the face of massive debt, deficits, an economy stuck in neutral, and "The One" now increasingly llooking like "Carter II", the left is nearly humorous in it's indulgence.

What else are they to do?? Their reality has to be really depressing.

The Middle of Nowhere

The Diminished President - NYTimes.com

Well put ... midway between BO and Romney is "The Middle of Nowhere" !!!

To Hell with You People

To Hell with You People - By Jonah Goldberg - The Corner - National Review Online

Jonah seems to have forgotten that Consistency is NOT an Issue!!! for the left. It is the RIGHT that needs to be careful of the use of military metaphor. The left? Well, of course not!!! Their hearts are in the right places!!! Or actually, from their POV, they HAVE hearts!!!

Big ones, that allow them to be generous with other folks money as well as other folks future money!!

End Of the Old Order

RealClearPolitics - The Crisis of the Old Order

The sub-prime bubble and the rise of BO accelerated the trend, but as Samuelson points out, the seeds of the demise were sown because the assumptions of the post WWII order were just wrong:

1) The Welfare State
2) Government controlled economic growth
3) Benefits of International trade

Now all three are in real trouble. Samuelson covers why -- and after his analysis, all but the committed lefty ideologues can see that "Real Change Is Here".

No 2036

Mark Steyn: Obama the man without a plan | austerity, plan, debt - Opinion - The Orange County Register:

Very sobering but very necessary. To even propose something for 2036 is a profound admission that BO has slipped the surly bonds long ago. We may not make 2012. If he is re-elected, nothing that anyone would recognize as America will be around in 2016.

"If that's the best offer, there isn't going to be a 2036, not for America. As the Europeans are beginning to grasp, eventually 'political reality' collides with real reality. The message from a delusional Washington these last weeks is that it won't be a gentle bump."

BO At His Worst

Charles Krauthammer: Obama At His Most Sanctimonious | RealClearPolitics

I suspect he will get worse yet before it is all over, but we have established a new baseline.

One thing I'd add, apparently, much like Dayton in MN, being a Democrat "leader" doesn't require you to be able to deliver a SINGLE vote from your own party to support what you bargain for. Dayton got zero Democrat votes in MN, BO got zero votes for his "budget" this spring (97-0 in the Senate), and now one of the reasons for the talks breaking off is that he is unable to promise any Democrat votes to cover a "deal".

Boehner is constantly castigated as "lacking leadership" by the left for failing to deliver up virtually all of the Tea Party votes. Yet BO is not required to deliver a single token Democrat.

Drowning In BO

Reality Time by Andrew Klavan - City Journal

It may, on the one hand, be the tactic of second-rung celebrities desperate for more attention, but it may at the same time represent the dismay of yet another generation of leftists waking from yet another utopian daydream to find themselves in a disaster of their own making.

I remember their weird realization on Jimmy Carter, and their weirder hope that "Senator drown your sorrows"  (Teddy) would come to the rescue. Rescue!?  The cruelty of associating the murderer of Mary Joe Kopechne with "rescue" exceeds only the stupidity of same.

The left currently likes the analogy of "Republicans wanting a government so small you could drown it in a bathtub". Thinking that Teddy -- or BO are your "saviour" must mean you want a government so lost it might call it's own bluff, drive off a bridge, and drown itself. It would be OK if we weren't all along for the ride.

This time, the lefties just seem to be getting angrier and angrier at reality and reality based politics.

90 Years of Misunderstanding

How Even Scholars Misread 90 Years Of Tax-Cut History - Investors.com

Like many by Sowell, EXCELLENT!

The real effect of tax-rate reductions is to make the future prospects of profit look more favorable, leading to more current investments that generate more current economic activity and more jobs.

Every time that I see Sowell's super intelligent writing and proud black face, I think; God is truly good and great! Anyone that denies freedom of thought for all is the worst kind of racist possible.

70% Marginal Tax Rate

Michael Boskin: Get Ready for a 70% Marginal Tax Rate - WSJ.com

Interesting little column on how tax rates are actually a bit higher than one is led to believe!

MANDATORY READ!: Rights vs Goods

A Fling with the Welfare State | The Weekly Standard:

A bit long, but if you are alive and intend to be for the next few years, THIS is the dragon that must be vanquished!! I think it is seriously and very well put -- good intentions are well, good intentions, right up to the point at which you realize that your good intentions are killing the country.

"Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt linked “freedom from want” to “freedom of speech” and “freedom of worship,” the left has been talking of everything that it thinks would be nice to have in terms of an utter and absolute right: a right to a job and a right to an income, a right to retire in comfort in Florida, a right to the most advanced health care without paying much for it, and a right to have your children taken care of while you work all day at your job. The problem is that these are all goods and services, though of varying importance, and goods and rights are not the same things. People tend to concur upon rights (except for the speech rights of those who oppose them), and they do not depend upon others to supply and pay for their rights. With goods, there is always a political argument: about the value of the good, who is to get it and who is to pay. And all this comes down to the question of “fairness,” about which there is no end of disputation and grief. "

The closer ... because I know some will not read the whole thing, even though you REALLY should!

"It was not wrong to have a fling with the welfare state sixty-five years ago, when it was a noble experiment that had not yet been attempted. It is wrong to ignore the evidence that in some ways it is failing, that the model set up has become unsustainable, and that renovations are needed if its critical functions are to survive. Goods are not rights. Pensions and access to health care remain social goods that a decent society will try to provide to its -people. But goods are not rights, and the old model, which claimed that they are, is broken. We need a new one, which provides sustainable ways to convey social goods to those who most need them. Good intentions are fine, but without means they are useless. They are the things with which the road to Gehenna is paved."

Barack Obluffer

Mark Steyn: No bargaining with Barack Obluffer - Page 2 - Orange County Register:

Worth a read, it would be more funny if our situation wasn't so sorry. "Don't call my bluff" ... sounds like a campaign commercial to me.

"For the Most Gifted Orator in Human History, the president these days speaks largely in clichés, most of which he doesn't seem to be quite on top of. 'Eric, don't call my bluff,' he sternly reprimanded the GOP's Eric Cantor. Usually, if you're bluffing, the trick is not to announce it upfront. But, in fact, in his threat to have Granny eating dog food by Labor Day, Obama was calling his own bluff. The giant bluff against the future that is government spending."

Make BO's Day

Regime Change May Be Needed To Cut Deficit - Investors.com

$500 in ceiling, $500 in cuts, take it or leave it. See you in '12 ... BTW, your anti-perspirant ain't cutting it.


Good column, worth the read. I hope the Republicans in the house are taking it to heart.

BO Lies About Mother?

Book Challenges Obama on Mother’s Health Care Fight - NYTimes.com

I certainly hope that I'm never the family member of a major Democrat candidate -- they seem to be completely unable to avoid making use of family members for maudlin stories. Gore was a master -- his son, his sister, probably the gerbil he had as a kid for all I know. Edwards could almost make you sorry you didn't feel sorry for him or his kid, wife, etc -- of course it never made him sorry enough to stop boffing some staffer after his teary theatric performance.

I know, I know ... if you are using someone as a stage prop, it is a tiny step to just making it up out of whole cloth. But your mother? on her death bed? If you are willing to lie about that, it is really really hard to imagine where you would draw the line.

I guess nowhere ... and maybe, just maybe that is even enough to give the NYTs just tiny pause to have the supposed "leader" (pouter?) of the free world making up self serving stories about his own mother on her death bed?

Nah, Pinch must have just been drunk and let it slip through -- I really can't believe that the NYT has a conscience at this late date.

"Change" Now "Crazy"

The Republican Crazy Is Not An Act | The New Republic

What a difference 3 years makes. In '08, "Change" was a brilliant mantra. Well, we got that change -- which BTW I and a lot of conserviatives thought was "crazy". What did we get? Long-term 9%+ unemployment after we spent a Trillion dollars we were told would prevent unemployment from rising above 8%. BOcare which is a giant tax increase on top of waves of uncertainly that kills especially small business. Less and less oil production and not surprisingly  rising gas prices, plus general inflation starting with food. Home prices that continue in decline. A new undeclared war -- only this time, with a violation of the war powers act. At least we didn't get much of the change that BO actually promised -- Gitmo is still open, the Patriot Act is still in force, and Terrorists are being tried by military tribunals. It is just that those things are OK with the liberals and media now that their guy is doing them.

Trying to balance a budget though? "CRAZY!!!!". How in the heck are we still talking about "Bush Era Tax Cuts" after the Democrats held both houses of congress for 4 years and the WH for two of those?? Do you remember any sort of budget battle in '07 over raising taxes when the the Democrats were in charge of both houses and Bush was in the WH? Neither do I. In 2009, they owned all three branches -- they could have passed any tax policy they wanted -- Nada. In 2010, still owning both houses, they failed to pass a budget at all.

Now? The Republicans are CRAZY!! The world is all so simple when you are out in space to the left of it. 

 

Hurricane BOnomics

Hurricane Obamanomics | Power Line

Somehow I suspect that if all it took to have a great economy was to spend future generations money, Portugal, Itally, Greece and Spain would have great economies ... instead, they have economies like we are heading for under BO. Maybe a successful economy just takes a wee bit more than massive deficits??? I wonder if Nancy, Harry and BO will ever be able to fathom that??

The Fair Is In August

Not Taking Other People’s Money | The Weekly Standard

Great article, just read it. A teaser:

If our system is not yet “fair,” what will make it so? If the top 5 percent paid 75 percent of the total? Or 95 percent? If they could, would it be ideal for the top 1 percent to carry all the rest of us so we could finally have a tax code that is “fair and balanced”?

The point of the "levelers" is that our system would not be "fair" until there was some arbitrarity tiny difference between the top and the bottom -- even if that was achieved by bringing the average down to essentially zero. It would be fine with them -- "fair is fair".

 

Hawaii, Oregon, MN

Top earners cool to paying more | StarTribune.com

Wow, and article in the Strib with actual information.

Currently, only seven states have a higher top income tax bracket than Minnesota, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Adding the governor's proposed 2 percent increase on the 7.85 percent top rate would rank Minnesota third, behind Hawaii and Oregon, both at 11 percent.

We are currently 7th highest, Governor Shutdown wants to make us 3rd.

PROOF Government Must be Smaller!!

If other governors can be responsible, why can't ours? | StarTribune.com

Good article. Republicans voted a 6% budget increase, Dayton wants 11%. Maybe we could just let everyone send in the % raise they got this year. Anything over 10 is a vote for the Dayton approach. Anything less is a vote for the Republican approach.

But on to my title. Dayton shut down Canerbury and the Lottery. Those PRODUCE Revenue!! Doesn't anyone else see that this is INSANE!!! No corporation or non-profit would EVER do anything this stupid!! Why shut down things that bring in revenue?? There are really only two possible explanations:

1). You are stupid beyond belief

2). You are such a rank partisan power hack that you will cut off the states nose to spite it's face and don't care one whit for your constituents -- You ONLY care about raw political power and believe that your best shot at "winning" is to inflict as much pain as possible.

Given Mark Dayton, I'd be tempted to go with #1, but I strongly suspect that the Democrats in the state decided on #2 -- and they realize that Dayton meets criteria #1, so he went along with them.

There is no question anymore -- government has grown beyond any sense of reality, it MUST be reduced ... Republicans ought to submit him a new budget that is a Billion lower and just keep at it on a weekly basis until he signs.

Salting the Warmist Slugs

There has been no global warming since 1998 – Telegraph Blogs:

No news here to anyone that has gone outside rather than staring at a computer model the last decade. "The Map Is Not The Territory" has been known for a very long time, but computer models are really colorful, interactive, and run on really cool computers.

The "fix" to at least the MODELS "global warming" is to have the Chinese burn more coal. Fine with me, but I doubt it will really be fine with the climate nerds after they get over their joy in having their computer model "right" -- meaning it may have a passing correlation to existing data. NOT that it is PREDICTIVE. The warmists really ought to pay more attention to that practical philosopher Yogi Berra -- "Predictions are hard to make, especially about the future".

Physicists do a great job of creating models that are VERY predictive at least within their scope, Even better, they tend to be aware of the bounds of that scope. Other sciences -- not so much, and even worse, they tend to totally not understand that other very important philosopher, Josie Wales ("Outlaw Josie Wales, Clint Eastwood): "A man's got to know his limitations".

So rank speculation based on computer models becomes "settled science" and anyone who disagrees with your model is beyond the pale. "Progressivism" constantly pushes to politicize all aspects of life -- family, death, birth, the weather, how much water you flush in your toilet, EVERYTHING ... even the weather. It used to be that "sports and the weather" were nice safe conversations. Thanks to the progressives, they totally did the weather topic in -- they keep trying to get sports as well with Indian names and such.

Dear God, please do something to free us from the progressives!! 

Never EVER Trust A Democrat!!

Say No To the Dems’ July Surprise | Power Line

Will the Republicans get snookered again as they did just a few short months ago in the BO Christmas massacre?? I really hope not, but I'm not confident at all. With the MSM braying that the Government will "default" before it prioritizes interest and debt payments higher than other spending, the temptation to blink will be large.

How may times do Republicans have to be fooled before they wise up??

BO To Fly Coach?

Obama targets private jets, 'Big Oil' - The Oval: Tracking the Obama presidency

BO flys around in the grandest of private jets, but others should not. He got into that in his 2nd book ... he seems to really have "thing" against private jets as a business tool.

So he takes solid aim at .03% of the deficit with some hard hitting rhetoric on private jets -- and even USA Today notices that this is a complete counterproductive waste of time!!

Is BO more hampered by his Ideology or his Incompetence? It gets hard to judge sometimes. 

WI Bargaining Limits Go Into Effect: Sky Falls

Union curbs rescue a Wisconsin school district | Byron York | Politics | Washington Examiner

Oh, it didn't? It is having a POSITIVE effect on school systems in the state already? Now THERE is a story that really doesn't deserve any media coverage!!

350% Debt

The number that's killing the economy - CNN.com

Total US private and public debt to GDP ... 350%. 3.5x amount of debt as GDP ... the last 3 years, even though the government hasn't helped any, we lowered it from 370% to 350%

Prior to the great depression? 300% ... 3x.

Prior to 1870's depression? 166%

When you as a people, corporation or government take on too much debt, you have to keep working hard to create wealth and use a good deal of it to pay down your debt. There really isn't any other good alternative.

Note to folks that want to keep spending. 1st rule of holes. When you are in a hole, STOP DIGGING!!!

Facts, Deficit, Default

RealClearPolitics - If Budget Talks Fail, U.S. Does Not Have to Default on National Debt

Nice and short and very clear. Last Bush / Republican budget WITH those horrible tax cuts and two wars ended up with a $161 BILLION deficit, not a $1.6 TRILLION monstrosity like BO and the Democrats.

Why? Less spending and better growth numbers. We MUST get back to those kind of numbers RIGHT NOW and quit braying about "default" if the Democrats can't get some fresh taxes so they can spend 5x whatever they would take in!!!

When Will We STAND UP!!!

TSA stands by officers after pat-down of elderly woman in Florida - CNN.com

If we want government "by and for the people", eventually we have to stand up and be heard!!!! Political Correctness and no profiling have ALWAYS been completely ridiculous and antithetical to a free people. Are some terms offensive? Sure, but not as offensive as making them "hate speech". Can profiling run amuck? Sure, but obviously so can NOT profiling!!! The only difference is that not profiling makes everyone subject to the idiotic whims of the state and it's jackbooted thugs.

90 year old women and 6 year old kids. Old America had the right idea ... tar and feather these TSA thugs and run them out of town on a rail! or put them in stocks in the center of town and leave them stand for a few days and see how smart they look.

When We The People allow INSANITY to become the order of the day, it means that we no longer have the capacity to govern ourselves. BO, the size of the deficits, not drilling but opening the strategic reserve for political purposes, the head of the ATF running guns to Mexico, TSA Abuses ... the list just goes on forever.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

BO For All Seasons

RealClearPolitics - Like Chauncey Gardiner, Obama Is Profoundly Aloof

One looks at our current situation and wonders if anyone is actually awake in the WH? Barone does a good job, but he leaves out a few ... the gun running ATF head? The weird Afgan election strategy against his generals? War Powers Act? ... it just goes on and on. Very well done article "first we have the spring and the summer" ...

TX to the Rescue?

George F. Will: Another Texas governor ponders a run for the White House | Full Comment | National Post

Good column. More jobs created in TX from 2001 - June 2010 than in the other 49 states COMBINED!! Since June '09, TX has created 37% of the US net new jobs.

Wow, the previous governor must have done a great job too -- I wonder who HE was?

People, what WORKS, and what FAILS??? Why oh why do we continue to ignore what works and keep doing what FAILS???

My Ex-Gay Friend - NYTimes.com

My Ex-Gay Friend - NYTimes.com:

Very interesting read, kudos to the NYTs for publishing.  Can Gay's change? Pretty interesting that we would like to think that pretty much any other human behavior is potentially changeable through willpower, faith, psychology, training, rewards/sanctions, motivation, etc, etc ... why not same sex attraction? Can a serial womanizer ever reform? Could Tiger, Bill Clinton, Arnold or Weiner ever reform and settle down?

Which sounds like the more natural evolutionary development? A strong attraction to the opposite sex or a strong attraction to the same sex. Evolutionary experts tell us that "the selfish gene" ONLY cares about being passed on through offspring ... meaning that same sex attraction would be???

America used to be the land that believed in starting over, self-creation, redemption, the new world and the new life ... Gatsby was a model, you could become whomever you wanted in America.

Maybe it is remotely possible you could lose interest in the same sex??

A Dirty BO Secret

Obama’s Illegal War in Libya - NYTimes.com

Even the NYTs quietly agrees that the war Libya is illegal under the War Powers Act??? Wow, how quiet can they be? Remember when waterboarding (that we do to our own special forced troops) was declared "torture" by the media and the Justice Dept lawyers (John Yoo, etc) had ruled WITH then President Bush???  Well, this time, the Justice Dept lawyers ruled AGAINST BO and he had to have a WH lawyer provide the ruling, and the WH lawyer promptly resigned. Another "Winning The Future" (WTF) moment!!

FICA Insanity

Raise, Don’t Save, Social Security - NYTimes.com:

OK, FICA is broke, so we ought to RAISE the amount paid under FICA!!  Insanity truly knows no bounds!!!

Beck Viewers Better Informed than Stewart Viewers?

Is Jon Stewart Correct that Fox News Viewers Are "the most consistently misinformed media viewers"? - Hit & Run : Reason Magazine

Who knows ... but it appears that the data isn't exactly what at least Stewart would have you believe. The video at the end is really worth a view -- apparently sanity wasn't a 100% phenomenon at the "Rally to Restore Sanity". Hmmm ...

TX vs CA

RealClearPolitics - The Texas vs. California Example

Just read it. This comparison is so obvious and easy that the mind numbs at what it is that liberals are clinging to in their ideology. It seems they are completely willing to take the country to bankruptcy rather than simply admit the extremely obvious truth that their policies don't work!!!

Freedom to Work!

Power Line - Boeing Heats Up

The MSM has pretty much stayed away from the BO administrations vendetta to dictate to Boeing what states it may or may not build multi billion dollar plants in. This is really nothing more than an edict to US business saying "do it the BO way or get the hell out of the country".

I'd rather keep the business and get rid of BO ... and ASAP!!! We need Boeing and others like them MUCH more than we need BO!!

Palin Derangement Syndrome

American Way: Sarah Palin email frenzy backfires on her media antagonists – Telegraph Blogs

Gee, Sarah appears to be a hands on governor and mom, struggling to balance work and family, with strong religious convictions. Who would have thought?

Denigrating Palin has become the replacement for denigration of Bush up till say '10. All the supposedly smart and "in the know" people would throw out some barb from time to time expecting instant approval from all around them. It would just be embarrassing for anyone to admit that they were SO STUPID to defend Bush or now Palin!!!

Well, maybe for some I guess. I always rather enjoyed not going with "the in crowd".

My only criteria for President next year is "ABBO" (Anybody But BO) ... if it is Palin, then I could support her 100%. At least we've established a new low bar for the Presidency with BO.

Republican Tendencies

E-mails show GOP circling Palin in late 2008 - CNN.com:

The MSM is panting and salivating like a starved dog in a butcher shop over the release of Palin e-mails. Let's just review a bit here:

• When Wikileaks brought out the State Department e-mails / memos showing the "real views" on various world leaders, how did they like that? They tried to arrest the guy.
• When hackers got the real climate data records that showed that a lot of Global Warming was a hoax, how did they like that? They tried to arrest the hackers. 
• What was their attitude on getting BO's birth certificate? Columbia or other school records? Information about his time at ACORN? Maybe his e-mails of early Chicago politics would be interesting? Guess not -- I could imagine the Press being curious, but curiosity this selective makes them essentially a palace guard for Democrats. 
• What is the normal position on "invasion of privacy"? 

It is easy to understand of course. They HATE Sarah Palin, and want her out of their sight anyway they can make that happen.

 I always wonder though, if people are born with "Republican tendencies"? Even though all their teachers and classmates are liberal, they somehow see things differently.  They see how Republicans are treated in the media, and the first few times they make comments in maybe history or government class about "personal responsibility", or potentially "how do we KNOW what is really "progress"", the strong disapproval let's them know they are "different"?

I guess it must be true though that being a Republican is a choice --  some day in maybe HS or College Sarah woke up, knowing the way things ought to be and "went Rogue" -- she willfully chose evil over good and thus began on the path of enmity with the American media and elites.

There is hope of redemption though. Look at Arianna Huffington. She had a short stint as a conservative commentator in the early '90s during which she was seen as a complete air headed idiot by the left. She subsequently "went left", and is now viewed as one of the most brilliant women in the world, taking in $315 Million on the sale of her Huffington Post far left web site.

So while some things about humans are innate, others can be put on and off like fashions. It is a good thing we have the liberal elites to tell us which are which!

Liberal "Fact" On Deficits

Tim Pawlenty’s Economic Plan: Lies and Lunacy - The Daily Beast:

Last month, the CBO released a little-noted document, which I first encountered via Bruce Bartlett, breaking down the debt this country has accumulated since 2001. The grand total of debt is $11.8 trillion. Of that, more than half, or $6.2 trillion, was added because of lost revenue, while $5.6 trillion was added because of spending. Now you may look at those numbers and say, well, spending is almost half. And yes, it is. But what’s interesting in this chart is that the lost revenue figure matches exactly the actual current deficit.

For those who reside in the world of fact, it’s beyond question that the decrease in tax revenue because of the Bush tax cuts and the economic meltdown that resulted from conservative deregulatory policies has done more than spending to create the crisis. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world of fact. We live, instead, in a world of right-wing ideological lunacy. And so we get things like Tim Pawlenty’s jaw-dropping economic plan, which ignores completely our revenue reality.

Here is a link to the "little noted document":
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12187/ChangesBaselineProjections.pdf

In the liberal world, you willfully declare the sub-prime meltdown to be a "Republican problem due to de-regulation", completely ignoring the fact that the whole creation of the sub-prime market was a Democrat program to give folks without good enough credit a "deal" on homes. That is exactly like creating crack cocaine and blaming lack of drug laws / enforcement for there being problems caused by it. Was sub-prime abused? Helllllooo ... what else would you expect!!! Government programs are ALWAYS abused, they create a false and unsustainable reality, just like cocaine ... that is why a smaller government is MUCH safer!!

Then you make up numbers:

• The hated "Bush tax cuts" were supposedly responsible for $1,186 of the $6,220 ... you do all you can to make it sound like those were the culprit, they were 1/6th of the problem 
• "Tax Act of 2010" $354 Billion, ... Democrats in control of all 3 branches ... 1/4 the size of those horrid tax cuts. Bush??? Hate to say it, he left office in Jan '09!!
• ARRA = TARP ... 2009, $253 Billion, BO, 60 votes in Senate, big house majority. Bush? I don't think so.
• Note 2007, last year of Republicans in control of house/senate. Total deficit $161 Billion. One of the best kept secrets in the American media!
• Total deficits 2008-2011 after Democrats took over House / Senate followed by WH in 2009 $4,565

There you have it. Your own party is hugely ('08) and TOTALLY ('09 -'11) responsible for the numbers (unless of course you want to give Bush / Republicans credit for the surplus in 2001, they did have both houses from '94-2006), but who is it that is a "lunatic and a liar"??? The folks responsible for $1,635 B out of $6,200 B ... SIMPLE!!!!

Does anyone really need any more to understand why this country is over the cliff and falling like a rock??? Vast sections of the media and electorate have a willful disregard of fact.

"Change" in Perspective

The Factory of Selective Moral Outrage - Page 1 - Victor Davis Hanson - Townhall Conservative

Good summary of a few of the selective outrages on various topics, financial meltdown, Patriot Act, the wars, etc. a lot of media outlets, entertainers and people have shifted 180 degrees on exactly the same issues now that their ideology is in the WH.

As it says at the end; General "Betray Us" is now up for head of the CIA and the left is just fine with that!

Debt Ceiling Sanity

Our Salutary Debt-Ceiling Scare - Charles Krauthammer - National Review Online: "and"

Charles nails it, nothing to add, a worthy column.

Can America See Through BO?

RealClearPolitics - Seductive Beliefs: Part II

Good column by Sowell.

Obama is politically savvy enough to know how to get his point across without blowing his cover.

The fate of the United States of America may depend on how savvy we the people are in seeing what he is doing-- and how soon, before the situation becomes irretrievable.

Finding the Weiner Hacker

iowahawk: Help Me Bring the Weiner Hacker to Justice

This story would of course bring down any Republican congressman in 24 hours, but for a liberal congressman, "stuff happens".

Well done (and funny) coverage by IOWAHAWK in the link. I think that Congressman Weiner ought to contact OJ on the search for Nichole's killer. Like the Weiner Hacker, I'm sure he is still "at large" so to speak ... perhaps Rep Weiner looking in a mirror would aid in the search.

Liberal Alchemy, Opinion to "Fact"

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2013/05/28/study-finds-fact-checkers-biased-against-republicans

I've noted a new MSM device that seems to be designed to turn conservative statements into "lies" and liberal opinions into "facts". Much like lead into gold, it doesn't work if you have a brain you use for something beyond keeping your head from collapsing, but it explains why a lot of the left finds these "fact checkers" to very "factual".

After all, it fits their biases, so it MUST be TRUE! But, perhaps the left ought consider the old saw that "if it conforms to your biases, you ought to strongly consider that it is FALSE".

The fact that, as the Lichter study shows, "A majority of Democratic statements (54 percent) were rated as mostly or entirely true, compared to only 18 percent of Republican statements," probably has more to do with how the statements were picked and the subjective bias of the fact checker involved than anything remotely empirical. Likewise, the fact that "a majority of Republican statements (52 percent) were rated as mostly or entirely false, compared to only 24 percent of Democratic statements" probably has more to do with spinning stories than it does with evaluating statements.

A lot of what goes on in politics, economics, society, etc is a LONG way from "fact". The modern world is loaded with "statistical science" which is pretty much an oxymoron. How good is the economy? Like a lot of such things "it depends" -- what you use to measure it, which parts you give the most focus, how you deal with government vs private, young vs old, etc.

If you can get some "Fact Check Site" to take your cherished position as the "true way" to view the glass (half empty, half full, twice as big as it needs to be, etc) and call the other side liars. The advantage as always goes to the dominant culture -- millions of people that only listen to one side of the news get another way to have their biases confirmed and continue to live a comfortable life in the the thrall of "The Party".

BO Grounds NASA

Column: Is Obama grounding JFK's space legacy? - USATODAY.com

Not a particularly well written article, but the authors are guys that I have enough respect for to read independently of their writing skills.

The fact is that America has lost it's way in so many ways, and NASA is just a small example. We need new leadership, we need a vision beyond the transfer of existing wealth from one pocket to another and general decline.

Space was once a REAL "Final Frontier". I guess I really am getting old -- I'm looking back at the space program of the 60's as "the good old days". Damn ... how did Ronald Reagan manage to remain optimistic and positive out into his 80's? Oh wait, he was Reagan -- he WAS the hope, and he still had the illusion of thinking that Carter was the worst president we would ever have!

The Mythology of BO

Shelby Steele: Obama's Unspoken Re-Election Edge - WSJ.com

Very Very well written and solid analysis. Read it!

Maybe Herman Cain is our only hope?

BO Attacks Boeing

Battling over Boeing: Jobs in Texas threatened | Viewpoints, Outlook | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "growth"

The unions have definitely got their moneys worth out of BO. The real message here is that America is increasingly anti-Business. Less jobs, less wealth, less revenue -- say hello to Chicago style corrupt managed national decline!!

Block Maintainence

Seniors, Guns and Money - NYTimes.com

Here we have Krugman, alledgedly an economist and columnist for the "Paper of Record", the New York Times. Assured to be "unbiased" by NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, CNN, etc. The Wall Street Journal and Fox news are "biased". The real answer? ALL are biased, but falling into the trap of thinking that your biases are "truth" tends to deepen and widen the unacknowledged bias.

Here is a little quote from USA today before we begin -- http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-05-20-cover-generation-wealth_N.htm

Tungare is part of the wealthiest generation in American history — a group of 67 million people 55 and older who are so affluent that the gap between them and younger people increasingly is making the USA a nation of haves and haves-much-less.

Got that? One great way to divide the haves and have nots is by age. Seniors are richer. Way richer.

Much attention has focused on the multimillion-dollar paychecks of corporate chief executives and hedge fund managers, who've enjoyed windfalls at a time when the wages of ordinary workers have stagnated. But the graying of wealth and income may be the most important twist in the new inequality.

Now let's hear what the ever-helpful Mr Krugman has to say about the issue:

Anyway, the truth is that older Americans really should fear Republican budget ideas — and not just because of that plan to dismantle Medicare. Given the realities of the federal budget, a party insisting that tax increases of any kind are off the table — as John Boehner, the speaker of the House, says they are — is, necessarily, a party demanding savage cuts in programs that serve older Americans.

No Paul, the TRUTH is that older richer Americans need to look hard at taking benefits from poorer, younger and unborn Americans. The core of the Ryan plan is to turn Social Security and Medicare from a Ponzi scheme where everyone believes they can get more out than they put in, to a serious safety net program for the NEEDY ELDERLY. Because if the country goes bankrupt, the truly needy will be the ones hurt the worst. It is pretty hard to go back to work when you are sitting in a nursing home with no remaining living relatives.

Eventually, reality will force us to be honest. FICA and Medicare were Democratic programs to buy votes by making promises that it was known could not be kept and would bankrupt the nation. Krugman knows this, the Democrat elite knows that, but to them this isn't about anything but raw political power. They could care less about the fact that their path will hurt the neediest Americans the most of all, just as they care nothing about the fact that their poverty programs have destroyed the lives of millions of their supposed beneficiaries through broken families, addiction, and the loss of the cultural impetus to personal responsibility and work.

If Krugman DID want to do something about "the wealthy", he would do something like what Ryan and the Republicans are trying to do -- admit that the jig is up on vote buying programs, and it is time for those who have been responsible in life and saved for their golden years to pay. While I'm a little short of those actual golden years, I'd consider myself in that group. I'm one of the people that will pay for the Republican approach. What is up? Have I turned benevolent rather than evil as we all know conservatives are at their core?

Actually not. The Democrats programs are nearly guaranteed to give us hyperinflation, while I'm hedged to a degree, there is no way that is good news for my portfolio, let along my children's future. I've still got money in the market, and also money that I would like to see in bonds drawing interest. A bankrupt US is not going to make for great market conditions going forward. I'm getting older and will nearly certainly need more health care. Since someone has to pay for that and I'm certain it won't be the Democrats mythological super-rich, it is MUCH better if we can ratchet down the giveaways to those of us that have put away assets, broaden those that are paying down to say "$50K income",  and focus assistance on the truly needy. That kind of approach is best able to give us some sanity.

While we are speaking of sanity, let those that can afford to pay for treatments that cost $100s of K in their 50's or 60's pay for them and have them -- just like they have their million dollar motorhomes  to arrive in, or multimillion dollar planes. God bless them -- they can be the paying guinea pigs for the advanced stuff that can be available to the rest of us later. 

When Is 80% Not Broad Support?

Minnesota Poll: Big show of support for voter photo ID | StarTribune.com

That party split was reflected in the poll: A whopping 94 percent of Republicans supported photo ID, compared to 64 percent of Democrats.

Any election reform -- so called -- needs to pass with broad bipartisan support," Dayton said last Friday. "So far that proposal has not met that test." In the Legislature, only two Democrats supported the bill.

Got that? Doesn't matter than 60% of your own party supports it, nor that 80% of the population does. No matter, Dayton knows better!

Democrats really need to change their name to PoS (Party of State) -- because that is what they are. They are Statists -- one party rule, and even in that one party, only the very elite rule. Note that their "elite" doesn't have to have much on the ball, with Dayton being a great example. He came by his money the old fashioned way -- he inherited it!

Weekend At Bernie Bin Ladin's

Althouse: "Do you remember how the news media warned Bush how they would go after him if he even dared to mention 9/11 in any of his campaign speeches or ads?"

Ann is a law professor and Madison, brilliant and conservative -- and a cute blond to boot. Just the kind of woman that liberals really, really, really hate!!!

Yes, I DO remember how HORRIBLE it was for W to use anything about his handling of 9-11 in 2004 campaign. I'm CERTAIN the press is going to use exactly the same standard with BO!!!

Earth To Liberal Reality

RealClearPolitics - Boehner's Unreality Check: "philosophy"

This column points up how hard it is for communication to happen when people have vastly different models. As they look across the isle, both sides tend to be absolutely convinced that the the other side is completely out to lunch, "lying", saying things for only political purposes, etc. -- they simply can't imagine a reality that much different from theirs existing.

Reasonable economists can disagree about the effectiveness of the stimulus spending and whether it was worth the drag of the additional debt, but no reasonable economist argues that it hurt the economy in the short term.

Well that pretty much dismisses any potential for "reasonable disagreement"! Let's say that you are an alcoholic and someone gives you a massive amount of alcohol. There is NO WAY you could see that as harmful -- in your model it would be GREAT! If you are addicted to massive government spending, the reaction is quite similar. A business person or an investor looks at a Trillion here and a Trillion there of short term borrowing and goes "uh oh" -- and decides that gold, cash or inflation protected bonds might be a better investment than the stock market, or investing in a new business, or starting a new project, or hiring more people.

So, therefore, "unreasonable" -- it is impossible for the author of this column to imagine a world where the government is a 1/3 part of a 10+ Trillion dollar economy, so when the other 2/3s of the economy see the government being run by an insane clown posse, they reduce their investments in growth on the assumption that "there has to be something coming in the future for the business climate than BO, Nancy and Harry. But then, it is simply "unreasonable" to think like that.

During the early 1980s, taxes were cut and public debt ballooned, from 26 percent of GDP in 1980 to 40 percent by 1986. In 1993, taxes were increased (and spending cut); debt as a share of the economy fell, from 49 percent to 33 percent. In 2001 and 2003, taxes were cut. By the time President Obama took office, debt had climbed to 40 percent of GDP.

Some taxes were cut and others were raised. Revenue went UP -- but so did spending, by a lot more. The cause of ALL our deficits since at least '80 has been SPENDING!! Our revenue as a percentage of GDP has been flat. The government is a drunk to end all drunks -- a drunk can only drink so much, the government can spend an UNLIMITED amount of money, and that is what it keeps doing and is projected to do forever. Only it won't -- because while how much liberals want to spend is without limit, the capacity of the nation to carry pending and debt IS LIMITED.

Listening to Boehner, I began to think the country suffers from two deficits: the gap between spending and revenue, and the one between reality and ideology. The first cannot be solved unless we find some way of at least narrowing the second.

Yes, there is A LOT of "ideology" around. I'm reminded of the Reagan quote; "The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant; It is that they know so much that isn't so". One might add that they are always absolutely certain they the right answer as well -- MORE, MORE, MORE .... MORE GOVERNMENT!!!

Men Not At Work

Your link text here.

Good little column -- we have lost our dynamism. 

The result is this: There are probably more idle men now than at any time since the Great Depression, and this time the problem is mostly structural, not cyclical. These men will find it hard to attract spouses. Many will pick up habits that have a corrosive cultural influence on those around them. The country will not benefit from their potential abilities.

Exceptionally Weird WaPo

The myth of American exceptionalism - The Washington Post

So those arrogant uncompromising Republicans were at it even back in 1856! To think that we could have had a nice tidy compromise on slavery with those more sophisticated Democrats! Could a Republican even get away with writing something like this? The Democrats were the party of slavery, Jim Crow, and a "nothing special America". Religion? I don't think so -- LIMITED GOVERNMENT !!! That is what made America exceptional -- and the loss of that is what has been killing America.

The huge role of religion in American politics is nothing new but always a matter for concern nonetheless. In the years preceding the Civil War, both sides of the slavery issue claimed the endorsement of God. The 1856 Republican convention concluded with a song that ended like this: “We’ve truth on our side/ We’ve God for our guide.” Within five years, Americans were slaughtering one another on the battlefield.

Therein lies the danger of American exceptionalism. It discourages compromise, for what God has made exceptional, man must not alter. And yet clearly America must change fundamentally or continue to decline. It could begin by junking a phase that reeks of arrogance and discourages compromise. American exceptionalism ought to be called American narcissism. We look perfect only to ourselves.