Rand Paul Speaks the Truth About "Spending Cuts"

On CNN’s “State of the Union” this Sunday (Nov 20,2011), Rand Paul demonstrates again that he is one of the very few sane members in the sea of insanity known as the US Senate.

“Automatic cuts (sequestration) are sort of like telling your children that, you know, if you don't clean up your mess, or else,” Paul said. “Maybe we need the ‘or else’ because Congress isn't behaving the way they should be behaving. Maybe sequestration is our only way we will get any kind of cuts”.

Paul said the major cuts to budget of the Department of Defense wouldn’t actually amount to spending cuts, only cuts in proposed expenditures. “I think we need to be honest about it,” Paul said. “The interesting thing is there will be no cuts in military spending. This may surprise some people, but there will be no cuts in military spending because we're only cutting proposed increases. If we do nothing, military spending goes up 23% over 10 years. If we sequester the money, it will still go up 16%. So spending is still rising under any of these plans. In fact, if you look at both alternatives, spending is still going up. We're only cutting proposed increases in spending.”  
Note: For a primer on the statists' sleight of hand know as baseline budgeting, see Rush Limbaugh’s succinct explanation.

Last week, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta sent a letter to lawmakers describing the potential cuts as “devastating,” saying the impact would be substantial upon the armed services.

“These changes would break faith with those who maintain our military and seriously damage readiness,” Panetta wrote.

On Sunday, Paul downplayed Panetta’s forecast.

“That's an interpretation,” Paul said. “But what I can tell you … is that defense spending will go up $100 billion over 10 years even if we sequester $600 billion, because the curve of spending in our country is going up at about 7.5% a year. All spending goes up.”
Another consequence of not reaching a deficit reduction deal is the expiration of unemployment benefits by the end of the year. Paul said he couldn’t support extended those benefits unless they’re funded.
“If you want to extend unemployment benefits, they have to be paid for,” Paul said. “We have an unemployment program. We have a tax for it. It's paid for for 26 weeks. So the question is, do we want to borrow money from China to pay people not to work?”

Paul Ryan: Intellectual Giant Among Dwarfs in Congress

FA Hayek in his Road to Serfdom described how the worst among us choose to become politicians. Paul Ryan is a rare exception to this rule. That Ryan is the intellectual leader of the Congress is evident in this speech on "The American Idea" at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Why have we extended an endless supply of taxpayer credit to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, instead of demanding that their government guarantee be wound down and their taxpayer subsidies ended?" Why are tax dollars being wasted on bankrupt, politically connected solar energy firms like Solyndra? "Why is Washington wasting your money on entrenched agribusiness?"

Rather than raise taxes on individuals, we should "lower the amount of government spending the wealthy now receive." The "true sources of inequity in this country," he continued, are "corporate welfare that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless." The real class warfare that threatens us is "a class of bureaucrats and connected crony capitalists trying to rise above the rest of us, call the shots, rig the rules, and preserve their place atop society.

Milton Friedman Schools Progressive on Greed

The Occupy Wall Street mob is probably best known for its attack on greed and capitalism.  Yet the arguments used by those few in the OWS movement coherent enough to articulate them, amount to nothing more than ideological fantasy. Uber-liberals, whether they take the form of Marxist indoctrinated students, union leaders, Democratic politicians, Journalists, or professional victims groups, live in an ideological bubble divorced from reality. In this 2-minute clip from the 1970s, pop media progressive, Phil Donahue, spouts the very same anti-free enterprise rant that we hear across the nation today. Donahue pleads about the plight of the poor, the many “have nots” versus the few “haves”, and income disparity. But Milton Friedman has a succinct response to the leftist rhetoric that seems to leave Donohue speechless, as if he has never before heard a critique of Liberalism.

Free & Slave States in 21st Century America

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has recently published a fascinating study that ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. This study updates, expands, and improves upon the inaugural 2009 Freedom in the 50 States study.



For this new edition, the Mercatus Center has added more policy variables (such as bans on trans fats and the audio recording of police, Massachusetts’s individual health-insurance mandate, and mandated family leave), improved existing measures (such as those for fiscal policies, workers’ compensation regulations, and asset-forfeiture rules), and developed specific policy prescriptions for each of the 50 states. With a consistent time series, they are also able to discover for the first time which states have improved and worsened in regard to freedom recently.

>> Read the full report here.

Economic Freedom in US Plummets

The Fraser Institute recently released its 2011 report on the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW). This annual report collects data on 42 variables in various areas of economic life to measure the economic freedom in 141 nations.



Unfortunately, the report shows the United States falling in its economic freedom ranking to #10 worldwide —far from its peak at #3 in 2001. As its authors state,

The world’s largest economy, the United States, has suffered one of the largest declines in economic freedom over the last 10 years, pushing it into tenth place. Much of this decline is a result of higher government spending and borrowing and lower scores for the legal structure and property rights components. Over the longer term, the summary chain- linked ratings of Venezuela, Zimbabwe, United States, and Malaysia fell by eight-tenths of a point or more between 1990 and 2009, causing their rankings to slip.

The full report is available for download on the Fraser Institute’s website here.

What is Economic Freedom?

Economic freedom is the key to greater opportunity and an improved quality of life. It’s the freedom to choose how to produce, sell, and use your own resources, while respecting others’ rights to do the same. While a simple concept, economic freedom is an engine that drives prosperity in the world and is the difference between why some societies thrive while others do not.

>> More on Economic Freedom here

Steve Jobs--the Miracle of Freedom

Behold the power of freedom evident in this commencement speech by Steve Jobs in 2005. Very few societies empower individuals with the kind of opportunities for miracles like Jobs emerge. Like a piece of grass that sprouts between the pavement cracks, individual greatness arises spontaneously but is easily snuffed out as we pave over all that is unique. How many Steve Jobs' have been snuffed out by the societies plagued with poverty, or by totalitarian states, or by socialist states that encourage individuals not to follow their dreams, but to follow the "collective" dreams of others? 

"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." 

You can read the full text of the here.

Zakaria & Krugman Demonstrate Economic Illiteracy

In the following 1-minute clip, ruling class favorites, Fareed Zakaria and Paul Krugman demonstrate their economic illiteracy, Nobel prizes and Ivy league degrees notwithstanding.  Zakaria cites leftist hero Keynes as justification for any government spending.

"Wouldn’t John Maynard Keynes say that if you can employ people to dig a ditch and then fill it up again,  that’s fine—they’re being productively employed, they pay taxes, so maybe Boston’s ‘Big Dig’ was just fine after all."

So, according to Fareed Zakaria, digging holes and filling them is ‘productive’ work.

Rather than correct Zakaria false claim, Krugman actually ups the idiocy ante by saying that during WWII, we had ‘negative social product spending’ which nonetheless brought us out of recession.

Note to Fareed and Krugman: Digging and filling holes, is not ‘productive’ work. It may appear productive relative to the ‘work’ done by public unions and Federal Bureaucracies. But productive work requires creation of a product that others are willing to pay for.

Rush Explains the Deception of Baseline Budgeting

On their road to economic destruction, politicians have built automatic increases into their already inflated levels of public spending. The Congressional Budget Offfice (CBO) refers to these automatic increases as the BASELINE. There is a presumption built into the baseline that every single budget item, from Social Security, to Food Stamps, to Ethanol or ACORN subsidies, will increase every single year between 3 and 7 percent. So, if we increase one of the many forms of redistribution by say, 6% instead of 7%, the CBO deceitfully scores this as a decrease of 1% instead of an actual dollar increase of 6%. Such political sleight of hand, blessed, of course, by the media, is how we move closer to Greece on a daily basis, despite all of the trillions of dollars in ‘spending cuts’ we hear about.

Rush provides this case-in-point to explain the sham of baseline budgeting: If we actually froze all federal spending at current levels, the CBO would score this as a $9.5 trillion cut. That’s because there is $9.5 trillion of increases already baked in our baseline over the next 10 years. What Obama and the Democrats (and the media and some Republicans) call a 'freeze' is actually a $9.5 trillion increase.

What they call 'deep cuts' of $2.5 trillion is actually piling on another $7 trillion to our already sky-high debt burden.

Marco Rubio Sets the Record Straight About Obama’s 'Absurd' Budget

Marco Rubio provides a rare bit of straight talk from the Senate. From noting the outright negligence of Senate Democrats for not producing a budget in over two years, to the Obama’s ridiculous and embarrassing budget that failed in an unprecedented 97-0 vote against a sitting President, Senator Rubio sets the record straight about the absurdity of the Democratic position on the debt ceiling and the budget.

“So I think it’s important to remind people what we’re debating because although it is a difficult and important issue, it is not a complicated one to understand. It’s pretty straight forward. And here’s the way I would describe it the United States of America more or less — these are rough numbers but they’re accurate – spends about $300 billion a month. It has $180 billion a month that comes to the federal government through taxes and other sources of revenue and that means that in order to meet its bills at the end of every month it needs to borrow $120 billion.

Now, for much of the history of this country, there have been increases in the debt limit and the ability to borrow money. But what has happened over the last few years is that it’s no longer a routine vote because the people who give us our credit rating are saying too much of the money that you spend every month is borrowed and we want you to show us how over the next ten years you are going to borrow less as a percentage of what you spend.

And so that’s why, for years, where the debt limit was routine vote, it no longer can be. It’s not something that was made up in some conservative think tank. But the reality that we cannot continue to borrow 40% to 41% of every penny that the government spends has brought us to this point.”

Economic Myths: Gov Spending Helps the Economy

Milton Friedman explains the silliness of one of the most persistent economic fallacies of the left; that government spending is good simply because those who get paid by government, then spend their earnings in the economy. As Friedman explains, real production has not changed; we have only reallocated it. And real production is what matters in an economy. Consumption is simply a way to allocate real production.

Correcting Liberal Myths: America Is Not a Democracy

One of the left's most pernicious (and widely believed) myths, is that America is a democracy. It’s not. America is a Constitutional Republic. In fact, America’s founders did everything they could to keep us from having a democracy. In the Federalist Papers (number 10), James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, wrote.

“Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

This powerful, 10-minute video clearly demonstrates the difference between what the Democratic party and its elites and special interests champion—Democratic Rule—and what the founding fathers bestowed and the Tea Party movement is fighting for—a Constitutional Republic.



An excellent podcast that expands on the destructive myth of American Democracy can be found at the BasicsProject.org.

Christie Disarms David Gregory

Chris Christie's appearance on Meet the Press provides yet another reason to love NJ's Governor. Is there another Republican politician in the country able to handle the liberal media like Christie? David Gregory regularly gets his point of view across and scores points against inarticulate and defensive Republicans with questions like…

“Do tax increases need to be on the table?”

“Is the Tea Party going too far?”

“If we are too aggressive in cutting spending, are we going to hurt the recovery and restoration of jobs.”

See how easily Christie disarms the enemy.

Alan Binder Hearts Government Spending

I rarely subject myself to liberal opinion articles but occasionally glance at Alan Binder’s column since he is one of the few liberals to grace the venerable opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal.  Princeton Professor, Alan Binder is the quintessential, arrogant, ruling class elite, with a venomous dislike of all things private and a blind love of all things public. He’s never met a redistribution program he did not endorse, nor a spending cut he did not mock.

Binder’s latest hit piece attacks the GOP for wanting to reduce government spending. In particular, he argues that the evil GOP perpetuates a false notion that government overspending is bad for jobs. First of all, Binder makes the laughably unprovable assumption that the Obama stimulus created “1.3 million net new jobs”.  Even if we take the professor at his word (I know it’s a stretch but bear with me), these 1.3 million fantasy jobs come at a cost of $600 billion (his figure). THAT’S $460K PER JOB—think State Motor Vehicle Bureau employee or perhaps one of those SEIU jobs where they get paid to protest against the GOP Governors we elect. Sounds like a good deal to me, professor.

Binder makes no distinction between public and private sector jobs, as if the Federal Government could solve our economic ills merely by employing 20 million Americans to dig holes in their backyards and refill them. Does the professor really believe that government jobs are on par with value creating private sector jobs?  In fact, the entire notion of value creation seems missing from Binder’s repertoire. Value—or wealth—is created when production and trade take place voluntarily so both parties gain. With Government spending, once we depart from the necessary (and constitutional) spending that benefits all Americans and enter the Binder’s dream world of redistribution, we leave behind the notion of voluntary transactions and cannot in any real sense say that value is created. But far be it from me to point out a basic fact of micro-economics to the learned professor Binder.

It’s as if Binder is a kind of idiot savant, skilled in rhetoric and armed only with the largely debunked theories of his hero, John Maynard Keynes, but utterly ignorant and always wrong about public policies that he constantly blathers on about. Back in July of 2008, he wrote adoringly this about the famously disastrous Cash for Clunkers program

"Economists and members of Congress are now on the prowl for new ways to stimulate spending in our dreary economy. Here's my humble suggestion: 'Cash for Clunkers,' the best stimulus idea you've never heard of….If done successfully, it holds the promise of performing a remarkable public policy trifecta — stimulating the economy, improving the environment and reducing income inequality all at the same time."

And when (not if, but when) his prescriptions fail wildly, as was the case with Cash for Clunkers, Binder always finds new collectivist schemes to promote. The professor is a big fan of the Obamacare and of the Carbon Tax—remember, he’s never met a redistribution program he did not endorse, nor a spending cut he did not mock. In January of 2011, long after the failure of his Cash for Clunkers idea, Binder writes about the “Miracle Cure of a Carbon Tax”.

"Everyone knows that CO2 emissions are the major cause of global climate change, that climate change poses a clear and present danger to our planet, and that the U.S. contributes a huge share of global emissions. Up to now, our country has done approximately nothing to curb CO2 emissions. A stiff tax would make a world of difference." (emphasis mine)

Everyone knows this?  I guess the professor is correct if by everyone, he means ruling class elites of government, academia, media, and Hollywood, together with the state controlled companies that stood to make tens of billions off the plot. Yep, the professor has determined that the science is settled. Who are we to object to another stiff tax; this time a multi-trillion global redistribution scheme? And even if the professor is wrong, what’s a few trillion dollars taken from some and given to others in the name of social justice?

I do not claim to be an expert in economics but I have enough real world experience and have read enough economics to know that Hayek was both an intellectual and moral superior to Keynes. Hayek recognized the power and the sanctity of the individual and the folly and immorality of taking control away from the individual and giving it to the elites in the name of the collective good.

Yet Binder always plays the moral superiority card when pushing for his hair brained, collectivist policies. The professor, along with his comrade Paul Krugman and so many other socialist elites, are utterly ignorant as to the moral dimension of redistribution. By what authority do they propose the looting of some to pay for their own notions of social justice? Perhaps the professor would have done better studying a bit more Adam Smith and Hayek and a bit less Keynes and Marx.

Binder treats the world as if it were a SimCity game. All we need to do to make things better is to take a little from these folks and give it to these guys. Move decision making from individuals to the elites…a stiff tax here…some confiscation there…then sit back and watch the collective grow. And if that doesn’t work, no worries. There are so many other ways to play God with the rest of us.

78 RINOS Vote for PIGFORD SCAM

Here are the 78 RINOS that voted--along with every Democrat in the US Congress--against Congressman Steven King's ammendment that would have prevented a billion dollar payout for the scam know as Pigford.

Yes, these are the 78 RINOS that held hands with the likes of Barney Frank, Nancy Pelosi, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maxine Waters in perpetuating this multi-billion dollar loot of the American taxpayer. I called Darrell Issa's office (202-225-3906) but they had no information or explanation about Issa's vote.

Note to RINOS -- you will be held accountable! 

1	Aderholt	40	Landry
2	Alexander	41	LaTourette
3	Amash	42	Lewis (CA)
4	Austria	43	Long
5	Bachus	44	Lungren, Daniel E.
6	Barletta	45	Marino
7	Bonner	46	McKeon
8	Boustany	47	McMorris Rodgers
9	Buchanan	48	Meehan
10	Bucshon	49	Murphy (PA)
11	Calvert	50	Noem
12	Capito	51	Nunes
13	Cassidy	52	Pearce
14	Chabot	53	Poe (TX)
15	Cole	54	Rehberg
16	Cravaack	55	Renacci
17	Crawford	56	Rigell
18	Diaz-Balart	57	Rivera
19	Dold	58	Roby
20	Dreier	59	Rogers (AL)
21	Emerson	60	Rooney
22	Forbes	61	Ros-Lehtinen
23	Fortenberry	62	Runyan
24	Gallegly	63	Scott, Austin
25	Gibson	64	Shimkus
26	Griffin (AR)	65	Simpson
27	Guthrie	66	Terry
28	Harper	67	Tiberi
29	Hayworth	68	Turner
30	Heck	69	West
31	Herrera Beutler	70	Whitfield
32	Huizenga (MI)	71	Wilson (SC)
33	Issa	72	Wittman
34	Johnson (OH)	73	Woodall
35	Johnson, Sam	74	Yoder
36	Jones	75	Young (IN)
37	Kinzinger (IL)	76	Thompson (PA)
38	Kline	77	Bass (NH)
39	Lance	78	Biggert

Crony Capitalist Level 3 Nets $13.8 Million Payback from Obama

It’s a pretty simple arrangement. Help elect a mega spending progressive to the White House, and reap the regime’s plunder of the private sector. Politico carries an excellent exposition of how Obama's rich friends trade fund raising activity for cash, jobs, and influence. The story is written by iWatch News.org, a website of the Center for Public Integrity, a Washington-based nonprofit focused on investigative journalism.

Known as “bundlers”, Obama’s mega-funders raised at least $50,000 and sometimes more than $500,000 in campaign donations for Obama’s campaign. Many of those in the “Class of 2008” are now being asked to bundle contributions for Obama’s re-election, an effort that could cost $1 billion.

From the Politico Story...

...Few stories illustrate more vividly how friendship, fundraising, business and politics can intertwine at the White House than that of Gips, Obama’s choice for ambassador to South Africa.

In the 1990s, he wrote a report that later formed a blueprint for AmeriCorps. In 1998, Gips left government, where he had supervised wireless spectrum issues for the FCC and served as Vice President Al Gore’s chief domestic policy adviser. He joined Level 3, a budding telecom company that has received more than $100 million in federal contracts in the past decade.
There, at a 2004 fundraiser, he met Obama, who was then running for the Senate in Illinois. The two grew close: Obama asked Gips to help edit his campaign book, “The Audacity of Hope.”

Gips collected more than $500,000 for Obama. James Crowe, chairman of the Level 3 board, was an Obama bundler, too, raising at least $100,000. The firm’s vice chairman, Charles Miller III, bundled more than $50,000.

At the White House, Gips was a powerful force to decide who got coveted jobs. Obama appointed Crowe in October 2010 to chair the presidential advisory committee on telecommunications and wireless issues.

And Level 3 was awarded some $13.8 million in federal stimulus contracts, to extend broadband connections in rural areas of states where it had networks.

[Read the full story here...]

Weiner Gets Real Down and Dirty with Lisa Weiss

Bill Maher and Jane Lynch perform a dramatic reading from Congressman Anthony Weiner's actual Facebook messages with blackjack dealer Lisa Weiss. Weiner's strident stand against Republicans appears to be a real aphrodisiac for Ms. Weiss.



Hmmm. Wonder if the therapy will work for Tony. Forget about the libido and the impluse control issues. Can they cure arrogance or liberalism?

>>  see real-time odds of Weiner's survival

Weiner Resignation Prospects Soar

Odds of a resignation by Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner have soared in prediction markets overnight. Each number on the price scale represents the market based odds of the event occuring (in this case, that Weiner will resign on or before September 11, 2011.)

Don't trust the main-stream media or political strategists operatives to give you the straight story. Go to http://www.2012presidentialprospects.com/ for market-based political data.

>> See REAL TIME MARKET FOR WEINER'S RESIGNATION here

Why We Despise Weiner

With the Weinergate scandal in full bloom, it's useful to reflect on why we despise Weiner, hero of the left, hater of free enterprise, and defender of ever bigger, more imposing government.

In the video below Weiner does the usual liberal blather about tax cuts for "millionaires & billionaires" as the cause of our deficits, and blames Bush for all things wrong with the country. Bachmann sets the record straight, noting that the top 1% of incomer earners bring in 40% of income tax revenues.



On a personal level, Weiner displays his arrogance and condescention in full force.

Advice for über-Liberal Weiners

Anthony Weiner is the quintessential arrogant, pompous, free enterprise hating, über-liberal, elite and we could not be happier for what looks to be a spectacular downfall. Career politician and protégé of fellow Statist Charles Schumer, Weiner never met a (non military) government program he did not support nor a redistribution scam he did not pimp for.

Here is some excellent advice for would-be Weiners in pursuit of extra curricula fun.

UK’s Malicious Ban on Savage Upheld

Imagine a country where extreme progressives like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi had perpetual control, where the opposition were merely alternative ruling class elites—"progressives lite” if you will—where no Tea Party existed, where bureaucrats had absolute power over their subjects, and where the political correctness of college campuses became the cultural norm for society. Imagine no longer. That country is Great Britain.

Massively popular radio talk show host Michael Savage (rated among the top five by Talkers magazine) was banned from the UK in 2009 and that ban was upheld yesterday by “Conservative”-Party-led government of Prime Minister David Cameron. The affirmation of this ban on hugely popular Savage reveals the stark contrast between the freedoms we still cling to here in America with those never fully experienced by the people of Great Britain.

Below you can hear Savage's initial reaction to the ban in May 2009.




You can read more about this disturbing injustice in WND and some analysis by Jonathan Turley.

Shakedown Artist Al Pires Proudly Plunders the Taxpayer

Rarely do hard left architects of public plunder subject themselves to interviews by the opposition. Usually, they operate strictly out of public view. When interviewed, it’s typically by socialist sycophants likes MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, or by mainstream know-nothings, like Brian Williams or Matt Lauer—which is to say, they aren’t interviewed at all—just fawned over.


Image only. See Video Below.

But in this video, shake-down artist and mastermind of the multibillion dollar Pigford scam, Al Pires, subjects himself to two of the journalism’s leading warriors against public corruption; Andrew Breitbart and John Stossel.

Pires claims that Stossel is a “typical white guy who just doesn’t understand” (he also claims he lost money in the Pigford case after admitting previously that he made millions). Breitbart points out that, although Pires sued the American taxpayer on behalf of 94,000 alleged black farmers, there were only 2 to 3 thousand black farmers who actually had farm loans. Instead of responding to Breitbart, the scammer uses Alinsky tactics to launch a personal and slanderous attack on Breitbart.
Perhap’s Pires is so used to the ineptitude of the MSM that he was taken surprise by Breitbart and Stossel. Perhaps, like other hard core leftists, he is so used to simply railroading others, that he seems not even to make an attempt to respond to the legitimate charges the he is the ultimate shake-down artist.
Pathetic display from the radical left.

 [You can read Andrew Breitbart's full account of the interview here]... 

Pelosi Makes Mockery of Bin Laden’s Death

It's not news that most politicians are as morally bankrupt as they are shameless in their partisanship. Even so, rarely do we get such a explicit display of moral illiteracy and depravity, as in Nancy Pelosi’s nauseating double standard when dealing with an issue of such national significance as the death of Bin Laden.

John Hinderaker of Power Line lays it all out.

Nancy Pelosi, press conference, September 7, 2006:

Even if Osama bin Laden is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done ... is done. And even to capture him now I don't think makes us any safer.

Nancy Pelosi, May 2, 2011:

The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. ... I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. ... The death of Osama bin Laden is historic....

Is it any wonder that Pelosi had a favorability rating of only 11% during the apex of her political power?

ANSWER Coalition Pushes Socialism in Schools

The Stalinist, Workers-of-the-World-Unite, A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition is once again coming out of the woodwork. This time the goal is to recruit Junior High School students to defeat capitalism and join the workers paradise.

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition began in 2001 under the leadership of comrade Ramsey Clark, the former Carter Administration Attorney General (big surprise there). Whether promoting world communism, defending North Korea, standing firm with the unions in Wisconsin, or boycotting Israel, when the cause is nefarious, there’s a good chance that A.N.S.W.E.R. will be involved.

In this video, A.N.S.W.E.R. is once again on stage, this time standing tall with Democratic North Carolina Senator Kay Hagan as she crows about her support for the institutionalized theft of the American taxpayer, known as Pigford. For those not familiar, Pigford is a multibillion dollar settlement by the Department of Agriculture, predicated on the baseless claims of racism.

It seems inconceivable, but Senator Kay Hagan's campaign is actually promoting this on YouTube! (We’ll let you know when they decide to take it down).

Citizen Videos Check Power of Rogue Police

In his latest show on FoxBusiness, John Stossel refutes the absurd claim that police have an inherent right to privacy while at work. In a number of some states, including California, Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts, it's a crime to make a video of a policeman making an arrest. But as Stossel points out, police work for the public, they're paid with tax money, and they have enormous power—lethal power.

Those of us who comprehend Lord Acton’s statement--"power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely"--understand that the potential for abuse among police is great.



The Stossel video (7:50 minutes) is worth watching in full.  Reason Magazine Senior Editor, Radley Balko, demonstrates a new video technology that stores live video on a secure server, so even if a policeman confiscates the camera, the video survives.

As we have seen throughout the rise of the Tea Party movement, citizen videos are an indispensable tool in combating power of the state.

The Tax & Spend Machine Takes Over

At least two years after most sentient Americans have known what the ruling class has been perpetrating upon us, S&P has declared that the spending gig is over. But has the machine taken over? Has the devil’s pact between the redistribution demagogues, the elites of academia, Hollywood, and the media who spread the propaganda, the crony capitalists who collude with the state, and the takers of society who re-elect their benefactors—overwhelmed us?

Like Hal in this haunting scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey, perhaps the machine cannot be turned off.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001 espouses a fear of technology, a common theme in Hollywood. Yet America’s greatest threat turns out not to be technology, but man’s nature. Control disguised as altruism. Envy & greed disguised as fairness. We knew that self government—a constitutional Republic—was an experiment; even a long shot.

Can America’s only hope, the media-vilified Tea Party, beat the machine? Real working families—not the union bums cheered for by Obama and ordered by Trumka to wreak havoc—but working men and women who pull their own weight under the crushing burden of the machine, have woken up and ordered Hal to stop. Ordered the machine to stop spending.

“I’m sorry Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that…this mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it”.

Will we be able to pull the plug on spending?

This article also appears today on BIG GOVERNMENT.

Feminists' Equal Pay Charade

Today is Equal Pay Day, so named by the National Committee for Pay Equity, which represents feminist groups like NOW and the National Council of Women's Organizations. According to Marxist-feminist logic, women have to work through April 12 before they earn what men already earned the year before.  Carrie Lukas, Executive Director of the Independent Women's Forum, debunks this charade in full here.  Women actually earn more, but in a sense, that is beside the point. 

As is predictable, progressives of all stripes mistakenly attribute the unknown (and often unknowable) reasons for differences in individual and group performances and outcomes to discrimination.

Feminists, like Unions, and the NAACP are an outdated notion. Each may have had had a noble origin, but as Eric Hoffer (The True Believers) said, "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and then a racket."  Feminisim has been a racket for some time.

In the 70s it was reported that women owned about 60% of the wealth of the country, controlled 90% of the purchasing power and lived 10 years longer than men. And they wanted equality?

This is What Democracy Looks Like!

Will JoAnne Kloppenburg take back her victory speech now that her razor thin lead of 204 votes has turned to an insurmountable deficit of more than 7,500 votes? Since this is beyond the margin required for a mandatory recount, the unions better up their dues...this will be expensive.

A Great Victory for Wisconsin and America!

Krugman: American Racism Thwarts Socialist Utopia

Collectivist and hero of the left, Paul Krugman, ponders why America is not the European socialist utopia he yearns for. The Professor's Nobel prize worthy answer: Racism  

Is there any doubt that Krugman belongs on the New Axis of Evil list?

The New Axis of Evil Revisited

In November of 2010, I wrote about the New Axis of Evil. Upon reflection, I think it’s a pretty good list.

Here's my original list.

1. Old Media (ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, NPR, NY Times)
2. Engorged Public Unions (SEIU, NEA, AFSCME)
3. Global Socialist Elites (Robert McChesney, Andy Stern, George Soros)
4. Liberal “Think” Tanks (Media Matters, Center for American Progress, ThinkProgress)
5. America Hating Academics (Noam Chomsky, Paul Krugman )
6. Professional Victims Groups (La Raza, CAIR, NAACP, NOW)
7. Community Disorganizers & Activists (ACORN, Code Pink, ACLU)
8. Environmental Redistributionists (Greenpeace, EDF)
9. Social Justice Preachers (Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Jim Wallis)
10. Progressive Hollywood Elites (Oliver Stone, Sean Penn)
11. Bloated Federal Bureaucracy (DOE, DOA, TSA)
12. Public/Private Colluders (AARP, Government Motors, Goldman Sachs)

Not sure about the Goldman Sachs example, though. I included Goldman after learning how much they donated to Obama and the Democrats in 2008 and because of all of those Democratic Goldman Alumni in positions of power lording over us—former NJ Governor Jon Corzine being a prime example.

Liberals generally hate to use the word evil (except when talking about George Bush or the Tea Party). I discuss why the term evil is most apt in describing these leftists in my original article…

“Perhaps the most perverse characteristic of the new axis of evil is its disdain for the individual. Without exception, they seek to usurp power traditionally reserved for individuals in order to empower the state, which, of course, funds their mischief. This, I believe, gets us closer to why this band of misfits is not merely wrong, but evil. The Greek philosopher Plotinus described evil as the negation of the good. When individuals’ are allowed the freedom to make the crucial decisions that affect their own lives, and held responsible for these decisions, they have control over their own destiny, and this is the primary ingredient in living happy,  satisfying, and meaningful lives.”   [Read the full story here…]

Creative Genius of Dave Brubeck

Lest we forget, freedom is not just the mother of productivity and wealth, but also of creativity. Jazz is truly one of the uniquely American forms of art, and the greatness of those who created it wasn't borne out of grants from the NEA. Jazz emerged from the creative spark in the hearts of its performers and their love for their art, and we're the better for it. So, in honor of April being Jazz Appreciation Month…here is Brubeck’s classic, Take Five.

Happy listening!

Economic Illiterate Springsteen Criticizes Christie

Does anyone really care that the Boss doesn’t agree with Chris Christie on much? To give credence to the economically illiterate Springsteen in areas of public policy would be like…paying to see me perform at Giant Stadium.

Springsteen voiced his support for a hard left critique of Chris Christie's policies, by Michael Symons in the Asbury Park Press. Symons’ piece has every liberal cliché in the book, from lambasting millionaires for not paying their “fair share” to racism as the motivation behind the cuts in government services.

NJ was very nearly bankrupted by the trifecta of a Democratic legislature, an uber leftist Judiciary and union puppet, Democratic Governor (Jon Corzine). Never mind that the very policies the Boss supports are the cause of NJ's demise and of the State's need to drastically cut government services.

Chris Christie is the best thing to happen to NJ in decades. Unless, of course, you are a Teacher, Policeman, Firefighter, or someone else feeding at the public trough…or just an out-of-touch, leftist like Springsteen.

AARP Sells Out Members for a Billion Dollar ObamaCare Kickback

AARP has taken the art of wealth redistribution to a new level. Take from the old, as in $500 billion in Medicare cuts that AARP pushed for in its stalwart support of Obamacare, and give to—you guessed it—AARP, in the form of a cool billion dollars it stands to gain from the legislation.

But in this age of increased awareness of government corruption, where the old media no longer controls the narrative, the sheer audacity of AARP’s appalling behavior is not going unnoticed. Mike Flynn of BIG GOVERNMENT writes all about it here and you can read the report released today by the House Ways and Means Committee.

The extent to which AARP has been aligned with Obamacare—in direct opposition to the interests of its members—has shamed the organization, done irreparable damage to its once strong brand, and has even raised legal questions as to its tax exempt status.

AARP Tax-Exempt Status Questioned by GOP

AP Press writes...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- AARP lobbied for the new health care law and now it stands to profit, Republican lawmakers charged Wednesday as they called for the IRS to investigate whether the powerful interest group representing millions of older Americans should be stripped of its federal tax exemption.

Three veteran GOP representatives released a report that estimates the seniors lobby could make an additional $1 billion over 10 years on health insurance plans whose sales are expected to pick up under the new law. They also questioned seven-figure compensation for some AARP executives. [Read the full story here...]

Womens’ Sham Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart to be Heard by the Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has decided to hear what appears to be a typically frivolous lawsuit brought by a group of shameful and greedy women and their shyster lawyers to extract grand sums from their employer—Wal-Mart, whose primary guilt is that of success.

CBS puts its usual liberal spin on the story with a headline disgracefully titled "Wal-Mart 'too big' to be sued?". 

Adam Sparks provides a more accurate description of the frivolous womens suit on BigGovernment.com…

Walmart is getting sued by 6 women for sex discrimination; this despite the fact that most of the employees are women. The ambulance-chasing shysters fomenting this case succeeded in getting “class” status for their few plaintiffs from the notorious 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. One of the primary tests for certifying a lawsuit as a “class” is for the court to determine whether the named plaintiffs are sufficiently representative of the class. Additionally, the court must determine if actual discrimination occurred and that this discrimination was likely to be widespread and effect a large class; in this case, a half of million female employees. [Read the full story here…]

“Green Energy” Scam Help Bring GE Taxes to Zero

The NY Times Reports...

General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010. The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E.  [Read the full story here…]

Statist Anthony Weiner Weasels for Obamacare Exemption

Michelle Malkin writes on Weiner's Weasel Excemption...

"New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner toasted the one-year anniversary of Obamacare this week -- and accidentally spilled his champagne glass all over the disastrous, one-size-fits-all mandate. Ostensibly one of the federal health care law's staunchest defenders, Weiner exposed its ultimate folly by pushing for a special cost-saving regulatory exemption for New York City. "

[Read the full story here...]

Government Motors -- a Failed Intervention

From BIGGOVERNMENT.COM
The Obama Administration has proclaimed TARP and the subsequent bailout for General Motors a great success. US Treasury Deputy Timothy Massad recently said, “Where we are today shows that the program, by any reasonably objective measure, was a success.” But is GM, now much derided as “Government Motors” the success that Obama says it is? Facts don’t argue in Obama’s favor.

First of all, we must dispense with the whole idea that a benevolent Obama played sugar daddy to “save” GM and did so without too much meddling with the company. Despite the claims that it is “back” and back in private hands, We The People still own 33% of GM. But government ownership is deeper than the a mere calculated percentage. You see, GM’s Board and its CEO were all placed in their positions by Obama, his czars and advisers. Worse, none of them have any experience at all in the auto industry.
[Read the full story here]