konane's Blog

"Open-Borders DOJ vs. America

"Open-Borders DOJ vs. America
MICHELLE MALKIN |  Source Townhall.com 

"The Obama administration's lawsuit against Arizona, officially unveiled on Tuesday, is an affront to all law-abiding Americans. It is a threatening salvo aimed at all local, county or state governments that dare to take control of the immigration chaos in their own backyards. And it is being driven by open-borders extremists who have dedicated their political careers to subverting homeland security policies in the name of compassion and diversity.

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, headed by Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez, took the lead in prepping the legal brief against Arizona. The son of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Perez is a far-left lawyer and activist who worked for the late mass illegal alien amnesty champion Ted Kennedy and served in the Clinton administration DOJ. While holding down a key government position there in which he was entrusted to abide by the rule of law, Perez volunteered for CASA de Maryland -- a notorious illegal alien advocacy group funded through a combination of taxpayer-subsidized grants and radical liberal philanthropy, including billionaire George Soros' Open Society Institute (not to mention more than $1 million showered on the group by Venezuelan thug Hugo Chavez's regime-owned oil company, CITGO).

Perez rose from CASA de Maryland volunteer to president of the group's board of directors. Under the guise of enhancing the "multicultural" experience, he crusaded for an ever-expanding set of illegal alien benefits ranging from in-state tuition discounts for illegal alien students to driver's licenses. CASA de Maryland opposes enforcement of deportation orders, has protested post-9/11 coordination of local, state and national criminal databases, and produced a "know your rights" propaganda pamphlet for illegal aliens depicting federal immigration agents as armed bullies making babies cry.

In 2006, CASA de Maryland threatened to protest at the schools of children whose parents belonged to the pro-immigration enforcement group Minuteman Project -- and then headed into the Montgomery County, Md., public schools to recruit junior amnesty protesters who were offered school credits for traveling with CASA de Maryland to march on Washington.

As a former Maryland resident, I got to see Perez's militant friends and colleagues in action. I watched CASA de Maryland President Gustavo Torres (who met with President Obama last week) complain that motor vehicle administration officials have "absolutely no right to ask for people's Social Security number or immigration status to get a driver's license." I stood among CASA de Maryland grievance-mongers who shouted, "No license, no justice! No justice, no peace!" while playing the race card against naturalized Americans and legal immigrants who opposed the illegal alien welfare state.

Perez himself derided secure-borders citizen activists as "xenophobes," but denied painting the grassroots immigration enforcement movement as racist. Questioned by GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions during his Obama DOJ confirmation hearing last year about the illegal alien rights guide produced by CASA de Maryland, Perez grudgingly stated that "the Civil Rights Division must not act in contravention to valid enforcement actions of our federal immigration laws." But "act(ing) in contravention" is exactly what the Civil Rights Division is doing in spearheading the challenge to Arizona's valid enforcement actions of our federal immigration law.

Perez, Attorney General Eric Holder and the rest of the open-borders DOJ team have invoked a "preemption" doctrine based on the U.S. Constitution's supremacy clause to attack Arizona's anti-illegal immigration measure and oppose local and state enforcement of federal immigration laws. Never mind that the Arizona law was drafted scrupulously to comply with all federal statutes and the Constitution.

You gotta love Obama's fair-weather friends of the Constitution. When a state acts to do the job the feds won't do, Obama's legal eagles run to the Founding Fathers for protection. When, on the other hand, left-wing cities across the country pass illegal alien sanctuary policies that flagrantly defy national immigration laws and hamper cross-jurisdiction enforcement, the newfound federal preemption advocates are nowhere in sight."

http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/07/07/open-borders_doj_vs_america

Entry #2,006

"The Cost of the BP Cleanup, in Corn

So here's how it works folks if we thought Obama got one over on an oil company.

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"The Cost of the BP Cleanup, in Corn   
Kevin D. Williamson
Source NationalReview Online
"A little perspective:

BP's oil-spill cleanup bill, so far: $3.2 billion

Money BP is setting aside for the total bill: $20 billion

Annual cost of U.S. ethanol subsidies: $5 billion

Ethanol subsidies going to BP this year: $600 million

Conclusions: Every four years, U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the energy firms by an amount equal to the maximum that BP expects to spend on the cleanup. BP specifically will collect an equivalent amount every 33 years. This year's BP ethanol subsidy by itself will offset about 20 percent of what BP has spent on the cleanup so far.

And that's just one subsidy program.

Tell me again why this "green economy" stuff is not a scam.

The banks paid back their TARP money, and the nation remains scandalized by that bailout. What are the chances the energy industry is going to pay back a penny of the billions we're pouring on them through green energy subsidies?"

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTczNmVmZjA1MzAzODM2NDFmNThkNzJhOWUxYmU3Yjk=

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TAXES

"Ethanol Credits Have A Major Beneficiary In Big Oil Firms

Friday, July 2, 2010 Source CongressDaily

"BP could stand to reap federal tax credits approaching $600 million this year for blending gasoline with corn-based ethanol, making the British oil and gas giant one of the largest beneficiaries of the 45 cents-per-gallon ethanol incentive.

The credit expires Dec. 31, and the House Ways and Means Committee is preparing as early as next month to debate a "green jobs" bill eyed as a vehicle for an extension. Environmentalists are seizing on the generally low esteem the public holds for BP at the moment, with the future of the roughly $5 billion-a-year ethanol credit in the balance.

"Generally, we feel that after 30 years, it's finally time for ethanol to stand on its own," said Dusty Horwitt, senior counsel at the Environmental Working Group. "These massive handouts flow to oil companies like BP and only cement our dependence on environmentally damaging sources of energy ... the other issue here, with BP, is that Congress has created this $5 billion-a-year energy program and taxpayers have little idea who's getting the money."

Ethanol backers say the BP argument is a straw man. "I don't think that has any legs," said House Agriculture Chairman Collin Peterson. He said the credit keeps ethanol competitive with oil until it can be marketed on a level playing field, including special blenders' pumps at gas stations and boosting the limit on how much ethanol can be blended with gasoline.

"It's all my environmental friends standing in the way of us getting complete access to the marketplace, because they really don't like ethanol. If they had their way, we'd all walk," Peterson said. "We're willing to compete; we're willing to phase out this ethanol tax credit, when we get equal access to the market."

The credit is claimed by the gasoline supplier for each gallon of ethanol blended in. The ethanol industry benefits from the incentive for refiners to buy their product -- although critics say incentives aren't needed because ethanol production is mandated under federal law. And under contracts between producers and refiners, some pricing benefit can be built in based on the credit, so a supplier may pay a little extra to the producer knowing they will get 45 cents a gallon back at the pump.

Still, a common misconception is that it's the ethanol producer receiving the direct benefit, when it's really the oil companies. "That's the guy behind the curtain," said one energy lobbyist. He said BP might be the largest ethanol credit beneficiary by virtue of a heavy Midwest presence, and noted BP was among the first companies to support the ethanol mandate. "You know who gets more money than anyone else from the credit?" the official said. "Are you sitting down?"

A spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol lobby group, said the environmental agenda is actually serving the oil industry's interests. "Environmental groups should be more concerned with what BP is doing to the Gulf than attacking American ethanol," said RFA spokesman Matt Hartwig. "There is but one outcome of the delay game environmental groups are playing with ethanol: more oil use. As we clearly see today, that comes at a terrible price."

Exact figures on how much BP has gotten in ethanol credits are unknown because the IRS has turned down the Environmental Working Group's Freedom Of Information Act requests. A BP press officer said that information was not immediately available. But some back-of-the-envelope math can be instructive.

On BP's website, the firm states: "As one of the largest blenders and marketers of biofuels in the nation, we blended over 1 billion gallons of ethanol with gasoline in 2008 alone." Extrapolating from Energy Information Administration data on 2009 refining capacity, BP is estimated to have produced about 11.5 billion gallons of gasoline. If the company blended up to the 10 percent limit under current law, about 1.15 billion gallons would have been blended, translating to a $518 million tax benefit.

In 2008, federally mandated ethanol production was 9 billion, and this year that figure rises to 12 billion. If BP's blending rises proportionally, that could put the company at about 1.3 billion gallons this year, for a tax benefit worth $585 million. Some of that might be passed on to consumers at the pump, as well as shared with ethanol producers under their contracts, said Nathanael Greene, director of renewable energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "But the simple math is indisputable: BP is getting the direct tax benefit," he said.

Based on 2009 EIA data, BP would have been the fourth-largest U.S. ethanol blender, after Valero Energy Corp., ConocoPhillips Co. and ExxonMobil Corp.

Ways and Means Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said the credit needs to be re-examined. "Is it actually promoting the environment's health? Is the subsidy making a difference, and for whom?" he asked. "Here we are anguishing over hard votes because of the tradeoff between the economy now and the long-term deficit. This needs to be part of the discussion, and I think it will be."

Blumenauer and Ways and Means Democrats like Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas, another critic, may have to battle the political winds. Endangered House Democrats throughout the Midwest, such as Rep. Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, also on Ways and Means, are anxious to see it extended.

And there is no question ethanol enjoys powerful political backing in the Senate. "It supports hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States. If the United States is to continue reducing its dependence on imported oil, and oil in general, ethanol is a critical part of the solution," said Senate Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley, whose home state of Iowa is the largest ethanol producer.

As for the oil industry, it is clearly in a bind given the short-term tax benefit contrasted with the long-term competitive threat posed by ethanol, sources on both sides of the debate said. An American Petroleum Institute spokesman said the group had no position on the ethanol credit.

by Peter Cohn  " 

http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/eea_20100702_2355.php

Entry #2,005

"US government sues Arizona over anti-immigration law

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Holder says     "Arizona, the Justice Department said, "crossed a constitutional line."................."

How about Obama and his regime have crossed a constitutional line by REFUSING TO SECURING THE BORDERS.

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From Townhall.com by Michael Ramirez

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"Mexican Gangs Maintain Permanent Lookout Bases in Hills of Arizona

By Adam Housley    Published June 22, 2010| FOXNews.com

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/22/mexican-gangs-permanent-lookouts-parkland/

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"US government sues Arizona over anti-immigration law

Source Yahoo News
"....... A Justice Department statement said it was challenging the new state law in the courts because it hampered the authority of the administration of President Barack Obama to enforce national immigration policy.
 
It also placed significant "burdens" on federal agencies and law enforcement, the department argued.

Federal laws do not permit the development of a "patchwork of state and local immigration policies," it said.

"Setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility," US Attorney General Eric Holder said in the statement.

Arizona, the Justice Department said, "crossed a constitutional line."................."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100706/pl_afp/usimmigrationpoliticsarizona_20100706202001

Entry #2,004

"TSA Reverses "Controversial Opinion" Web Policy

July 6, 2010 8:10 PM

"TSA Reverses "Controversial Opinion" Web Policy

Posted by Pia Malbran
Source CBS News

"The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reversed itself today, announcing that it will no longer block TSA employees, using work computers, from accessing websites that contain a "controversial opinion."

As CBS News first reported, the TSA on Friday informed its employees that five categories of websites would be off-limits because they were deemed "inappropriate for government access."

Those categories were: "Chat/Messaging," "Criminal activity," "Extreme violence (including cartoon violence) and gruesome content," "Gaming," and any websites that contained a "Controversial Opinion."

Sources who spoke with CBS News were puzzled as to why the federal agency would block websites that contain controversial opinions and questioned whether the move would violate First Amendment rights and the freedom to access information.

At about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, the TSA sent out another memo to its employees explaining that the category of "controversial opinion" was "an IT software catch-all phrase used to describe sites that may violate TSA's acceptable use policy, such as sites that promote destructive behavior to one's self or others."

The memo went on to say that "after further review, TSA determined this category may contain some sites that do not violate TSA's policy and therefore has concluded that the category is no longer being considered for implementation." The TSA also emphasized that it encourages the "sharing [of] ideas and opinions."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20009804-10391695.html

Entry #2,003

"Levi Johnston Apologizes to Palin Family for 'Youthful Indiscretion'

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Awesome to set the record straight on this one.  Knew he being used as a tool which is tabloid journalism at its finest.

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"Levi's Mea Culpa

Source Powerlinebog.com

July 6, 2010 Posted by John at 9:51 PM

"Levi Johnston was an Alaska teenager pursuing the same ends as pretty much every other teenage boy, when he was unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight at the worst possible moment. We can all sympathize with that, if not with what followed, as, after the election, Johnston fell in with liberals who used him as a tool to attack Sarah Palin. Now Johnston, apparently sadder and wiser, has admitted that much of what he told the liberal media about the Palin family was untrue:

"Last year, after Bristol and I broke up, I was unhappy and a little angry. Unfortunately, against my better judgment, I publicly said things about the Palins that were not completely true," he tells PEOPLE exclusively. "I have already privately apologized to Todd and Sarah. Since my statements were public, I owe it to the Palins to publicly apologize."

Bristol added her own statement Tuesday saying, "Part of co-parenting is creating healthy and honest relationships between the parents. Tripp one day needs to know the truth and needs to know that even if a mistake is made the honorable thing to do is to own up to it." ...

"So to the Palin family in general and to Sarah Palin in particular, please accept my regrets and forgive my youthful indiscretion," Johnston says in the statement. "I hope one day to restore your trust."

Most of us, of course, never were hanging on Levi Johnston's latest bulletins about the Palin family, but one wonders about the handful of gutter journalists who built their careers, in part, on Johnston's lies. Like, specifically, Andrew Sullivan, the once-respected journalist who went completely nuts over the maternity of Sarah Palin's youngest child.

We all make mistakes, but there are levels of insanity from which it is impossible to come back. Andrew plumbed the depths with his fevered speculations about the Palin family, based in part on Levi's tales, as the linked web site search shows. There are a great many reporters and editors who owe Sarah Palin an apology, but first on the list is the repugnant Andrew Sullivan. It will be interesting to see whether he faces up to the inevitable."

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/07/026698.php

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"Levi Johnston Apologizes to Palin Family for 'Youthful Indiscretion'

By Eunice Oh and Sandra Sobieraj Westfall
Tuesday July 06, 2010 05:00 PM EDT

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20399773,00.html

Entry #2,002

"Six Months to Go Until The Largest Tax Hikes in History

Found this link in my last blog post.  Had enough "Hope Hype and Change" yet????

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"Six Months to Go Until
The Largest Tax Hikes in History

FromRyan Ellis on Thursday, July 1, 2010 4:15 PM
Source Americans For Tax Reform 

"In just six months, thelargest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.  They will hitfamilies and small businesses in three great waves on January 1,2011:

First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 TaxRelief

In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cutsfor investors, small business owners, and families.  These will all expire onJanuary 1, 2011:

Personal income tax rates will rise. The top income tax rate will rise from 35 to 39.6 percent (this is also the rateat which two-thirds of small business profits are taxed).  The lowest rate willrise from 10 to 15 percent.  All the rates in between will also rise.  Itemizeddeductions and personal exemptions will again phase out, which has the samemathematical effect as higher marginal tax rates.  The full list of marginalrate hikes is below:

- The 10% bracket rises to an expanded 15%
- The25% bracket rises to 28%
- The 28% bracket rises to 31%
- The 33% bracketrises to 36%
- The 35% bracket rises to 39.6%

Higher taxes onmarriage and family.  The “marriage penalty” (narrower tax brackets formarried couples) will return from the first dollar of income.  The child taxcredit will be cut in half from $1000 to $500 per child.  The standard deductionwill no longer be doubled for married couples relative to the single level.  Thedependent care and adoption tax credits will be cut.

The returnof the Death Tax.  This year, there is no death tax.  For those dyingon or after January 1 2011, there is a 55 percent top death tax rate on estatesover $1 million.  A person leaving behind two homes and a retirement accountcould easily pass along a death tax bill to their lovedones.

Higher tax rates on savers and investors.  Thecapital gains tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 20 percent in 2011. The dividends tax will rise from 15 percent this year to 39.6 percent in 2011. These rates will rise another 3.8 percent in 2013.

Second Wave:Obamacare

There are over twenty new or highertaxes in Obamacare.  Several will first go into effect on January 1, 2011. They include:

The “Medicine Cabinet Tax”  Thanks toObamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA),flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollarsto purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (exceptinsulin).

The “Special Needs Kids Tax”  This provisionof Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500(Currently, there is no federal government limit).  There is one group of FSAowners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents ofspecial needs children.  There are thousands of families with special needschildren in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for specialneeds education.  Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needschildren in Washington, D.C. (NationalChild Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year.  Under tax rules,FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. 

The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike.  This provision ofObamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from anHSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and othertax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.

Third Wave: TheAlternative Minimum Tax and Employer Tax Hikes

When Americansprepare to file their tax returns in January of 2011, they’ll be in for a nastysurprise—the AMT won’t be held harmless, and many tax relief provisions willhave expired.  The major items include:

The AMT will ensnare over28 million families, up from 4 million last year.  According to theleft-leaning TaxPolicy Center, Congress’ failure to index the AMT will lead to an explosionof AMT taxpaying families—rising from 4 million last year to 28.5 million. These families will have to calculate their tax burdens twice, and pay taxes atthe higher level.  The AMT was created in 1969 to ensnare a handful oftaxpayers.

Small business expensing will be slashed and 50%expensing will disappear.  Small businesses can normally expense(rather than slowly-deduct, or “depreciate”) equipment purchases up to$250,000.  This will be cut all the way down to $25,000.  Larger businesses canexpense half of their purchases of equipment.  In January of 2011, all of itwill have to be “depreciated.”

Taxes will be raised on all typesof businesses.  There are literally scores of tax hikes on businessthat will take place.  The biggest is the loss of the “research andexperimentation tax credit,” but there aremany, many others.  Combining high marginal tax rates with the loss of thistax relief will cost jobs.

Tax Benefits for Education andTeaching Reduced.  The deduction for tuition and fees will not beavailable.  Tax credits for education will be limited.  Teachers will no longerbe able to deduct classroom expenses.  Coverdell Education Savings Accounts willbe cut.  Employer-provided educational assistance is curtailed.  The studentloan interest deduction will be disallowed for hundreds of thousands offamilies.

Charitable Contributions from IRAs no longerallowed.  Under current law, a retired person with an IRA cancontribute up to $100,000 per year directly to a charity from their IRA.  Thiscontribution also counts toward an annual “required minimum distribution.”  Thisability will no longer be there. "

PDFVersion

http://www.atr.org/sixmonths.html?content=5171

Entry #2,000

"Had Enough "Hope and Change"?

"Had Enough "Hope and Change"?

Source Powerlineblog.com

July 5, 2010 Posted by John at 7:30 PM

"One of my daughters drove up north with some friends to stay overnight at a lake cabin earlier this weekend. Somewhere northeast of Minneapolis they passed a billboard that said, "Had enough 'HOPE AND CHANGE'?" The billboard depicted a pair of hands feeding the Constitution into a shredder.

The rebellion against Washington Democrats is spreading and building in intensity. The point of the spear, so to speak, is the Tea Party movement. The Gallup Poll has some interesting data on Tea Partiers:

Self-described Tea Party supporters differ from those neutral or opposed to the movement on the issues they perceive as threats to the future of the United States, most notably federal government debt and the size and power of the federal government. They are essentially indistinguishable from those who do not support the Tea Party in their perceptions of unemployment and racial discrimination as future threats to the country.

No surprise there; and no support, of course, for the demagogues who try to associate the Tea Party with race. Here are some of the basic numbers; click to enlarge:  http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/07/026689.php

Basically, Tea Partiers are people who have a more sophisticated understanding of current events than those who describe themselves as anti-Tea Party. Anyone who doesn't realize that the exploding federal debt represents a serious threat to our future either is a fool, or doesn't have children. (That, actually, would make for an interesting survey.)

The responses on terrorism are interesting, too: there is evidently a common thread between obliviousness to the dangers of debts we can't pay and to the dangers of Islamic terrorism, but it is hard to see what that common thread might be, other than blind, stupid loyalty to the Democratic Party.

As the economic news continues to worsen, voters are appropriately growing more surly. That is reflected, I think, in this Rasmussen survey finding that 60% of likely voters--a figure that matches the all-time high--want Obamacare repealed. Maybe that is due to recent news reports about the effects of the government takeover bill, perhaps in part due to a general lack of confidence in the administration's economic competence.

Disillusion with the Obama administration, which can hardly be disentangled from disgust with the Reid/Pelosi regime in Congress, is reaching dangerous levels--dangerous, anyway, if you're a Democratic office-holder. In the Washington Post, Chris Cillizza points out that President Obama's approval rating among whites is almost exactly the same as President Bush's was two years ago. (I had forgotten, actually, that in 2008 Obama lost the white vote by 12 points. This was, however, a significant improvement on John Kerry's performance.) It took President Bush seven and a half years to fall to that level; Obama, just 18 months.

For the Democrats, the ticking time bomb is the Gulf oil spill. We are now on, what, day 73? Something like that. The federal government has yet to figure out an effective response to the spill, and as time goes by, more and more information leaks out about the incompetence of the administration's performance. We have written about that topic repeatedly and will continue to do so, but the fact is that the damage to Democrats will result much more from the brute fact of the spill's persistence and ongoing environmental damage than from revelations about the administration's bungling.

It may not be fair, but the President is viewed largely as a good-luck symbol, and he is held responsible, justly or not, when things go badly. Obama can hardly complain; he is President today mostly because, by sheer chance, the international debt crisis struck in late 2008, the last months of the Bush administration, rather than in early 2009.

Today tar balls began washing up on Texas beaches. They are expected in the Everglades and, up the east coast, in Miami before long. The oil spill will generate headlines and bleed enthusiasm for Democratic rule until November and beyond.

One more thing: the biggest tax increase in American history is scheduled for January 1, 2011, less than two months after the election. The Democrats apparently have decided to defer any discussion of next year's tax rates in Congress until after the election, on the theory that if voters focus on the huge tax increases the Democrats have in store for them, their members will be tarred and feathered rather than just defeated in the midterm elections. I find it hard to believe, however, that the Dems will be able to keep the topic of tax increases off the table until the first Wednesday after the first Monday in November. If you need a reminder as to how, exactly, the Democrats intend to assault your bank account, go here. Read it and weep.

Put it all together, and there is reason to believe that the Democrats will face a tsunami of voter anger in November. Let's hope so; as an email correspondent likes to say, it is November or never."

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/07/026689.php

Entry #1,999

"Santa and Frank

July 6, 2010

"Santa and Frank

By Thomas Sowell
Source  http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |

"People who remember the old comic strip "Peanuts" will recall an often repeated situation where Lucy offers to hold a football for Charlie Brown to kick. Then, as Charlie coming running up to kick it, Lucy snatches away the ball and Charlie Brown loses his balance and goes crashing on his backside.

The reason this same scene remained funny, despite how often it was repeated, is that in the later repetitions Charlie Brown would express suspicion at Lucy, recalling how she had tricked him before. She would then come up with some claim that she wasn't going to do that any more— and of course she did.

There is a similar routine that has been repeated many times in Washington, over the years, with the Democrats playing Lucy and Republicans playing Charlie Brown.

It goes like this: Democrats start spending money wildly, handing out goodies to a wide range of people who they want to vote for them, while Republicans complain about deficits and the national debt. Then, when the public becomes alarmed about the debts that are piling up, the Democrats get the Republicans to vote for higher taxes to deal with the debt crisis, in the name of "fiscal responsibility."

Sometimes the deal is sweetened by the Democrats promising to make spending cuts if the Republicans vote for higher taxes, so that there can be one of those "bipartisan" solutions so beloved by the media. But, after the Republicans vote for the tax increases, and come running up to find the spending cuts, the Democrats snatch away the spending cuts and the Republicans fall right on their backsides, just like Charlie Brown.

This old trick is now being unveiled by the Obama administration, like so many other old political tricks used in this "change" administration.

In one of President Obama's many prissy little sermonettes, complete with finger wagging, he has declared: "Next year when I start presenting some very difficult choices to the country, I hope some of these folks who are hollering about deficits step up. Because I'm calling their bluff."

There is already a bipartisan commission set to provide political cover for the Democrats' wild spending that has increased the national debt from 63 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product in 2004 to 83 percent in 2009— and official estimates of more than 90 percent this year, with more increases in sight.


Why Republicans join such transparent attempts to rescue the Democrats from the political consequences of their own actions is one of the many unsolved mysteries of human nature in general and the Republican Party in particular.

What this political game boils down to is that Democrats get all the political benefits of playing Santa Claus to all sorts of groups and special interests, while Republicans who vote to raise taxes to pay for all this are cast in the role of Frank Nitti, the enforcer for the mob.

Many elections have confirmed that Santa Claus is more popular than Frank Nitti, surprising as that may be to some people.

Republicans are not the only suckers in this game. The voting public's willingness to believe fancy rhetoric and ignore hard facts is a crucial part of this scam.

When the Obama administration said that it could provide health insurance to millions of additional people without increasing the national debt, shouldn't common sense have told you that somebody was just insulting your intelligence?

When the two thousand page bill was rushed through Congress too fast for anybody to read it, shouldn't that have made you realize that you were being played for a sucker?

When this bill that was passed with lightning speed was scheduled to take effect only after the 2012 election, didn't that suggest that they didn't want you to find out how it works in practice in time to turn against Obama when he is up for reelection?

Recent polls show that a lot of people are against ObamaCare. But there are still a lot of other people, though not as many, who are for it.

Even more amazingly, there are still Republicans lured by the siren song of "bipartisanship" and apparently unaware of the difference in popularity between Santa Claus and Frank Nitti."

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell070610.php3

Entry #1,998

"Congresswoman Raises Red Flag on Hezbollah-Cartel Nexus on U.S. Border

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One more time listen ....  YouTube - Senator Kyl Says: Border Will Not Secured Unless In Conjunction With Amnesty

 

"Congresswoman Raises Red Flag on Hezbollah-Cartel Nexus on U.S. Border

Published June 25, 2010

| FOXNews.com

Iran-tied terror group Hezbollah may be colluding with drug cartels along the U.S.-Mexico border, a Republican congresswoman warned, calling on Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to establish a special task force to figure out how to "clamp down" on this "national security" threat.

The Lebanon-based group has long-standing and documented ties to South America and its drug gangs, but reports have recently surfaced that it may be expanding its influence to Mexico and the U.S. border.

In her letter to Napolitano, Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., called on Homeland Security to find out and report more on the extent of the problem. She cited several troubling developments that would point to Hezbollah creeping closer to and inside the United States, with the help of Mexican drug gangs.

"It is vital we know what is happening on our border, especially as crime and violence continue to rise there and as terrorist plots and threats are increasing inside the U.S.," she wrote.

Myrick outlined a complex set of potential threats and evidence of their existence. She said "Iranian agents and members of Hezbollah" are thought to be learning Spanish in Hugo Chavez-run Venezuela before trying to obtain false documents to enter the United States as purported Mexicans. She said Hezbollah, known for its tunnel-digging skill, could be receiving drug money from cartel operations in exchange for help forging better tunnels across the U.S. border for trafficking.

She said gang members in prisons in the American southwest are starting to show up with tattoos in Farsi, implying a "Persian influence that can likely be traced back to Iran and its proxy army, Hezbollah."

FoxNews.com has reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on the numerous claims.

Myrick cited the opinions and findings of former intelligence officials and others in her detailed letter. One of them was a "high-ranking Mexican Army officer" whom she said believes Hezbollah could be training Mexican drug cartels to make bombs.

"This might lead to Israel-like car bombings of Mexican/USA border personnel or National Guard units," she wrote.

At a minimum, Hezbollah has a foothold in South America, according to official reports.

Anthony Placido, assistant administrator for intelligence at the Drug Enforcement Administration, told a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee in March that the "drug and terrorism nexus" is strongest in the region where the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. He said drugs from this region, which are cheaper than in other hot spots, "can be resold in other countries for large profits desired by those seeking funds to further terrorist activity such as Hezbollah."

He said some drug traffickers in the region have ties to the Lebanese terror group and have since the late 1980s or early 1990s.

"There are numerous reports of cocaine proceeds entering the coffers of Islamic Radical Groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas," he said, calling it "easy revenue" that can be used for terror attacks.

An April Congressional Research Service report on drug trafficking in Latin America cited that testimony.

A 2006 House Homeland Security Committee report further noted that Hezbollah members have already been caught entering the United States via Mexico, suggesting expanded activity. The report cited as one example the case of Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, the brother of a Hezbollah chief, who in 2005 pleaded guilty to providing material support to Hezbollah after being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border and settling in Dearborn, Mich.

The report raised red flags about the "dangerous intersection between traditional transnational criminal activities ... and more ominous threats to national security."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/06/25/congresswoman-raises-red-flag-hezbollah-cartel-nexus-border/

Entry #1,997

"Mexico's drug war heats up near Arizona border

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All the more reason to seal the border with armed drones.  It's not as if we don't have the technology or ability to seal it completely.
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"Mexico's drug war heats up near Arizona border
By ELLIOT SPAGAT (AP) – 1 day ago
Source Google.com

ALTAR, Mexico — Very few residents dare to drive on one of the roads out of this watering-hole for migrants, fearing they will be stopped at gunpoint. They worry they will be told to turn around after their gas tanks are drained or, worse, be kidnapped or killed.

A shootout that left 21 people dead and six wounded on the road last week is the most gruesome sign that a relatively tranquil pocket of northern Mexico is quickly turning into a hotbed of drug-fueled violence on Arizona's doorstep. The violence in recent months is grist for supporters of the state's tough new law against illegal immigration, who are eager to portray the border as a lawless battlefield of smugglers both of drugs and humans. ..........."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iyGO_T1a-T91oWvCuQSSG-qS71jwD9GOQHJG0

Entry #1,995

Which side of the fence?

Came in email, pretty accurate in my opinion.  However believe in the current leftist-lurching political climate you could substitute Conservative for Republican, Leftist for Democrat.

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Which side of the fence?

If you ever wondered which side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a Republican doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.

If a Democrat doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.   

If a Republican is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.

If a Democrat is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.   

If a Republican is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.

If a Democrat is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.   

If a Republican is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.

A Democrat wonders who is going to take care of him.   

If a Republican doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.

Democrats demand that those they don't like be shut down.   

If a Republican is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.

A Democrat non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a Republican decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.

A Democrat demands that the rest of us pay for his.   

If a Republican reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.

A Democrat will delete it because he's "offended".

Entry #1,994

"Barack Obama: The great jobs killer


"WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: Barack Obama: The great jobs killer

WAYNE ALLYN ROOT
Source Las Vegas Review Journal, ReviewJournal.com

"As former President Ronald Reagan might have said, "Obama, there you go again."

The current occupant of the White House claims to know how to create jobs. He claims jobs have been created. But so far the score is Great Obama Depression 2.2 million lost jobs, Obama 0 -- a blowout.
 
Obama is as hopeless, helpless, clueless and bankrupt of good ideas as the manager of the Chicago Cubs in late September. This "community organizer" knows as much about private-sector jobs as Pamela Anderson knows about nuclear physics.

It's time to call Obama what he is: The Great Jobs Killer. With his massive spending and tax hikes -- rewarding big government and big unions, while punishing taxpayers and business owners -- Obama has killed jobs, he has killed motivation to create new jobs, he has killed the motivation to invest in new businesses, or expand old ones. With all this killing, Obama should be given the top spot on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Meanwhile, he has kept the union workers of GM and Chrysler employed (with taxpayer money). He has made sure that most government employee union members got their annual raises for sleeping on the job (with taxpayer money). He made sure that his voters got handouts mislabeled as "tax cuts" even though they never paid taxes (with taxpayer money). And he made sure that major campaign contributors collected billions off government stimulus (with taxpayer money).

As far as the taxpayers -- the people who actually take risks with our own money to create small businesses and jobs and pay most of the taxes -- we require protection under the Endangered Species Act.

You won't find proof of the damage Obama is doing on Wall Street, but rather on Main Street. My friends are all part of the economic engine of America: Small business. Small business creates 75 percent of new jobs (and a majority of all jobs). I called one friend who was a wealthy restaurant owner. He says business is off by 60 percent. He's drowning in debt. He won't last much longer. His wealth is gone.

I called another friend in the business of home improvement. He says business is off 90 percent from two years ago. My contractor just filed personal bankruptcy. She won't be building any more homes. The hair salon where I've had my hair cut for years closed earlier this year. Bankrupt. But here's the clincher -- ESPN Zone just closed all their restaurants across the country. If they can't make it selling cheap food and overpriced beer with 100 big screens blaring every sporting event on the planet to a sports-crazed society, we are all in deep, deep trouble.

I've polled all my friends who own small businesses -- many of them in the Internet and high-tech fields. They all agree that in this new Obama world of high business taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, and workers compensation taxes, the key to success is to avoid employees. The only way to survive as a business owner today is by keeping the payroll very low and by hiring only independent contractors or part-time employees provided by temp agencies.

The days of jobs in the private sector with big salaries, full benefits, and pensions are over. We've all seen where those kinds of jobs get you as a business owner -- in Bankruptcy Court or surviving on government welfare like GM and Chrysler. Or in the case of government itself -- completely insolvent, but surviving by ripping off taxpayers and fraudulently running printing presses at the Fed all day and night to print money by the trillions.

Unfortunately, small businesses don't have the power to impose taxes or print money. So unlike government, we'll just have to cut employees and run lean and mean.

It has now become clear that, outside of the burgeoning field of Census takers, there will be no major increase in new jobs for years to come. Outside government, Obama has created a wasteland of economic ruin and depression that looks much like the landscape of Mel Gibson's first movie "Mad Max." Without a printing press in Obama's world, you're just plain out of luck.

The days of believing the Obama propaganda about a jobs recovery are over. The trillion-dollar corporate handouts (neatly named "stimulus") may have kept big business in the money for the past 18 months, and artificially propped up the stock market, but small business is the real canary in the coal mine.

My small business-owning friends aren't creating one job. Not one. They are shedding jobs. They are learning to do more with fewer employees. They are creating high-tech businesses that don't need employees. And many business owners are making plans to leave the country. In a high-tech world where businesses can be run from anywhere, Obama has a problem. His one-trick pony -- raise taxes, raise taxes, raising taxes -- is chasing away the business owners he desperately needs to pay his bills.

So who is going to pay Obama's taxes? Not his voters. They want government to pay them. Who is going to create Obama's jobs? Not his voters -- they've never created a job in their lives.

So what is Obama going to do? Maybe he can get Pamela Anderson on the line."

Wayne Allyn Root, a former vice presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party, writes from Henderson. His column appears every other week."

http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/barack-obama--the-great-jobs-killer-97758294.html

Entry #1,993