Brandon

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Disconnect: Cities Which Have Strictest Gun Laws Have Fewest Federal Prosectutions for Violations

And these cities are all ruled by liberals!

What good does it make to pass new federal laws restricting guns if the criminals in cities with the worst gun violence are less likely to be prosecuted?

Reminds me of the fact that the Obama Administration constantly whined about Wall Street criminals yet not only did they not match the Bush record for prosecuting Wall Street fraud, the number of Obama Admin Wall Street prosecutions is at a 20 year low.

It makes you wonder if gun criminals are also big campaign contributors like Obama's Wall Street buddies!

Will Democrats Be Held Accountable for ObamaCare's Broken Promises?

Or will they just demand more and more taxpayer money to clean up the mess they made?

ObamaCare turned three years old this week. By now, we were repeatedly told that it would transform the way Americans get health care. Well, perhaps it has transformed health care...for the worse!

Millions of Americans are discovering that the health plans they are now required to buy cost much more than what they previously were able to afford. Employers are dropping health care insurance that doesn't meet the new higher requirements for coverage in favor of paying a small fine that leaves employees without coverage. Some employers are cutting back on full time workers to avoid the threshold requiring coverage which again leaves more workers without coverage. Because of the new law millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage. And that's just the beginning.

Dr. Milton R. Wolf, a radiologist, writes an op-ed in the Washington Times in which he chronicles the lies of ObamaCare:
  •  Obamacare Lie: “[N]o matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period.”
  • Obamacare Lie: “If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what.”
  • Obamacare Lie: Obamacare will “cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.”
  • Obamacare Lie: “I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital-gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
  • Obamacare Lie: Obamacare “will create 4 million jobs — 400,000 almost immediately.”
Dr. Wolf goes on to debunk each lie but the one I want to focus on is the promise that the typical family would see premiums drop by $2500. What was called the "Affordable Care Act" (aka ObamaCare) is turning out to be anything but.

Let's remind ourselves of the promises Obama made about his health plan saving money for the average family:


Again and again and again Obama promised ObamaCare would lower premiums.

We've already seen how the cost of insurance of those who already have health insurance has risen by an average of 30% (1,2). Now, a new study by the Society of Actuaries, the professional association of insurance analysts, informs us that the news for those entering the insurance market is no better:

Do you suppose the voters in those states seeing a huge spike in health insurance costs might have preferred to learn about the cost BEFORE last November's presidential election? Oh well, the joke's on them! Obama's campaign preferred to keep voter's focused on Romney's dog or "women in binders."

Now, back to Dr. Wolf:
Imagine a world where politicians were forced to tell the truth and forced to put their money where their mouths are. Don’t laugh. What if we simply included politicians’ promises about the laws they propose right into the laws themselves? These would serve as measurable conditions for the law’s survival. If the promises prove to be empty, the law would automatically expire.
If ObamaCare or the politicians who lied about it were held accountable the politicians would be turned out of office and the law repealed. But we all know that accountability is something that only applies to Republicans. And as the sad facts of the law's broken promises continue to bite Americans there will only be calls from the same deceitful politicians calling for more, more and more of the same!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

30 Years After Reagan's SDI Speech, Missile Defense is Real

So, why does the left still seek to eliminate defense against nuclear attack?

Thirty years ago on March 23, 1983 President Ronald Reagan stunned the world with a dramatic vision for a new kind of defense that would largely eliminate the threat of nuclear war. He was decades ahead of his time but perhaps he foresaw a day when rogue states like Iran and North Korea would threaten the peace with the advance of missile technology.



Until Reagan spoke the only plan to prevent nuclear catastrophe was to threaten nuclear catastrophe if the other side dared to strike first. The plan was known as Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD and liberals hated it. They fretted over the prospect of a nuclear winter and stories of school children fearing death in a nuclear attack were common. The irony is that when Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative which would make nuclear war obsolete the anti-nuclear peaceniks attacked Reagan. It was "Star Wars" and would lead to a weapons race in space. None of that happened of course but then, liberal scare stories are always just that, stories!

Over the decades there has been slow and steady progress on achieving Reagan's goals. During the Bush years the first deployments of systems designed to intercept incoming missiles (a bullet to hit a bullet) were deployed. Then along came Obama and missile defense slowed to a crawl. It's no surprise that a President who once said “I don’t agree with a missile defense system,” ended up slashing budgets that technology. Also, Obama undid difficult negotiations with our European allies who had agreed to host missile defense in their countries.

That was before North Korea began it's latest round of nuclear and missile tests combined with bellicose propaganda about waging a nuclear attack on the United States. So much for Obama's "can't we all get along" diplomacy. Now, the Obama Administration has been forced to restore some advanced missile interceptor funding but only in Alaska to defend the U.S. Apparently, doing so in Europe for our allies would upset the Russians who still wish to intimidate their neighbors. Did we learn nothing in Munich in 1939?

Had Bush's original deployment plan been followed it's possible that both Iran and North Korea would have realized their effort to threaten others was futile! Russia might also have been kept on the leash. The world would be a much more peaceful place had  U.S.  strength been demonstrated instead of weakness.

As the technology of missile defense progresses, it's looking as if the best long term solution will be with lasers instead of more costly interceptors. Lasers are more expensive to develop but much cheaper to deploy and are less likely to be overwhelmed by an enemy using multiple warheads or dummy decoys. The Daily Mail has an excellent article describing this development. Last fall, a Navy chief revealed that we are only two years away from a workable system. That is, if Obama will permit it to be built.

For more reading on this important topic I recommend an article by Larry Bell in Forbes. Also, Fox and Orman at MissileThreat.com.

O the Corruption of ObamaCare: Including Voter Registration in Application

Don't say we didn't warn you!

It's bad enough the application form for ObamaCare runs over 60 pages. That will make a visit to the Dept. of Motor Vehicles seem like a vacation by comparison. But what's worse, is that hidden among the bureaucratic nightmare is a question asking whether applicants would like to register to vote.

This raises a whole host of questions. First, there is no legal authority under ObamaCare to register voters. But what's worse, who gets to see the information provided by applicants? Do the so-called "Navigators" or private groups who have allied themselves with ObamaCare also get to use this information for partisan politics? Will applicants be pressured by left wing groups into registering to vote and perhaps even allowing unlawful vote fraud by giving access to their ballot? It's all happened before.

 Rep. Charles Boustany Jr., (R-LA) chair of the House Ways and Means Oversight subcommittee points out that the "Paperwork Reduction Act requires that federal agencies seek only information needed to do their job." Surely voter registration is not relevant. What a shame the Paperwork Reduction Act" isn't enforced when it comes to liberal programs like ObamaCare. Rep. Boustany's   is investigating. Good luck with that. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has been rather imperious in defying ANY congressional oversight. Hopefully, this will be that one step too far!


Monday, March 25, 2013

Obama: No Money for White House Tours but $500 Million for Palestinians

And $250 million for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt!

Thousands of young school children have been shut out of long anticipated White House tours because of the so-called Sequester. The tours cost $74,000 a week in agent time for the Secret Service, even though those agents would be on duty anyway.

But apparently the Sequester does not impact Obama's giveaway program to undeserving foreign entities like the Palestinians or the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Iowa School Children blocked from long planned White House visit
by Obama's spending priorities! The group showed up but were unable to get inside.
$500 million for the Palestinians, who hate America, but no money for White House tours for school children. That's how messed up Obama's priorities are!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Obama More Despised in Middle East Than Bush at His Lowest

Not even the Muslims are buying hoax and cheat anymore!

Oh how far we have come from those early days in 2009. Obama gives a long winded apology speech in Cairo proclaiming "A New Beginning" with the Muslim world and gets the Nobel Peace Prize. It was even thought that his very name, Barack Hussein Obama would help.

And who can forget his famous boast in 2007:
The day I’m inaugurated, not only the country looks at itself differently, but the world looks at America differently … If I’m reaching out to the Muslim world they understand that I’ve lived in a Muslim country and I may be a Christian, but I also understand their point of view … My sister is half-Indonesian. I traveled there all the way through my college years. And so I’m intimately concerned with what happens in these countries and the cultures and perspective these folks have. And those are powerful tools for us to be able to reach out to the world … then I think the world will have confidence that I am listening to them and that our future and our security is tied up with our ability to work with other countries in the world that will ultimately makes us safer.
Oh well, that was then, this is now....

From USA Today:
According to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, confidence in Obama in Muslim countries dropped from 33% to 24% in his first term. Approval of Obama's policies declined even further, from 34% to 15%. And support for the United States in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Pakistan is lower today than it was in 2008 in the closing year of George W. Bush's administration.
And yes, this dislike by Arabs is personally directed at Obama:

Obama as Pinocchio in Jordan. Have they heard about his Sequester lies?
 
NObama in Ramallah West Bank. "Most Palestinians hate Obama."
 
Four years ago Palestinians in Gaza were making illegal campaign contributions to Obama's campaign. Now, he's reviled. Four years of Obama's empty promises and the complete lack of leadership needed to get ANY progress in this difficult region have taken their toll. Here Obama's failed promise is on display and it's consequences can be measured in blood.

File this under lessons learned the hard way: next time some charlatan comes along making promises that sound too good to be true BEWARE!

Historic Photo: Two Popes, One Pew

Here's something you've never seen before and may never again!

Pope Francis kneels to pray with ex-Pope Benedict. More photos at the Daily Mail.

And now for something completely different!

In Nova Scotia, Canada, photographer Nancy Rose puts peanuts on her porch for the squirrels. She place them among sets she's created then takes the photo of the furry creatures as they come to collect their treats. It's all real. No Photoshop!


Make sure to see the rest, including the squirrel taking clothes from the dryer, pushing a baby carriage and stepping out of a boat.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Environmentalists Seek to Block Solar Power Projects

It isn't just carbon energy they hate. It's energy. Period!

With the Obama Administration doing it's best to block all carbon energy development and boost so-called green energy alternatives you would think that environmentalists would be cheering. Not so. Now they are trying to block development of solar power projects. This is on top of opposition to nuclear power and wind farms.

Tough question: name one form of energy that environmentalists actually approve of?

Good luck with that.

UPDATE: Good article in Forbes detailing the lengths the environmental movement goes to stalling even renewable energy projects.

PETA Killed 90% of Animals at Virginia Shelter

The group that lectures the rest of us on animal rights doesn't practice what it preaches. Is anyone surprised?

Run little dog. Run as fast as you can!

In Middle East Obama Allows Himself to be Used in Pro-Arafat Propaganda

A picture speaks a thousand words and this photo tells Jews in Israel that Obama isn't neutral when it comes to creating peace in the troubled region!

Obama appears in Ramallah, West Bank beneath a large image of Yasser Arafat
who is also known as the "father of modern terrorism." 

What signal does this send to our allies in Israel?

B-Ball Brackets Before Budgets AGAIN!

Will Obama ever take his responsibility to govern seriously?

I guess we all know the answer to that question. It's a giant NO! After all, why let a little something like a statutory budget deadline get in the way of golf trips, vacations and parties. Or, the important work of picking winners in Basketball!

Here's a short video that illustrates the problem:


More important to pick Basketball winners than do his job!

The president’s history of submitting NCAA brackets:
2009 – On Time
2010 – On Time
2011 – On Time
2012 – On Time
2013    ??

President Obama’s history of submitting budgets:
2009 – Late
2010 – On Time
2011 – Late
2012 – Late
2013 – Late

If this was an unusual example it wouldn't mean much. But sadly, Obama's poor performance when it comes to actually doing his job is all too common. Did voters last year re-elect a Partier in chief or a President? I'll let the readers answer that one!

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Messed Up Media: The Strange Emphasis on Dem Candidate in Special Congressional Election

Lead in Associated Press story gives one sentence to SC's next Congressman and 9 paragraphs to celebrity related Dem who has zero chance of winning!

Here in the SC Lowcountry we voted on Tuesday in a primary to select the replacement for Tim Scott (R-SC) who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the remainder of the term of left vacant by Jim DeMint who resigned to become President of the Heritage Foundation.

As expected, former SC Governor Mark Sanford, who resigned in disgrace several years ago after admitting an affair with a woman from Argentina, did well and after the runoff (there were 16 names on the GOP primary ballot) will face Democrat opponent Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of political satirist Stephen Colbert who has a program on Comedy Central. Sanford will win in a landslide in this heavily conservative district.

So, when I read the news of the election in an Associated Press story by Bruce Smith I was struck by the fact that there was one sentence about Sanford followed by nine paragraphs about Colbert Busch. Included were the reminiscences of Colbert Busch's childhood dream to be active in politics.

Next to nothing was said about the other potential candidate in the runoff with Sanford (second place is still being determined) but it's a safe bet that person has a greater chance to win than Colbert Busch.

Just another in a long line of examples of not so subtle media bias. A clear effort to shower the Dem hopeful with positive, though irrelevant, coverage. To this reporter, even the childhood dreams of a no chance candidate is more newsworthy than giving people the information they need to make a decision in the upcoming runoff!

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/03/19/3925422/sanford-votes-says-its-a-treat.html#storylink=cpy

Sunday, March 17, 2013

New Chart Shows Global Warming Fanatics Were WRONG

But will they admit it and stop the fraud that is taking $trillions away from worthier causes?

Well, you know the answer to that one. A big fat "NO!" Global warming fanatics are in the business of scaring people and when I say business, I mean billions for them and the politicians that support their fraud.

And now, the data. The following chart from The Daily Mail:

Computer models on which global warming theory is based have NOT been proven by observations!
Global warming theory is based on the idea that rising levels of carbon dioxide from manmade sources would raise the earth's temperature causing drastic climate change. Al Gore made a fortune scaring people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina by insisting that such storms were the result and would now be common. Instead, we are at 30 year low for large storms. The same goes for much of the rest of the scaremongers litany of doom and gloom.

What happened? The models on which these dire predictions were based were wrong. They failed to take into account something as simple as the Sun's role in heating and cooling. German news magazine Der Spiegel broke the latest news on the sun's role in warming and cooling in an article  titled "I Feel Duped on Climate Change." An excerpt:
For the IPCC and the politicians it influences, CO2 is practically the only factor. The importance of the sun for the climate is systematically underestimated, and the importance of CO2 is systematically overestimated. As a result, all climate predictions are based on the wrong underlying facts.
The idea that CO2 alone is the primary driver of climate change is either simplistic and misguided at best or fraudulent at worst. The link is easily disproven from a chart I included in a post I did last year "Three Charts Debunk the Manmade Global Warming Myth:"
CO2 is going up but not the temperature. So why limit CO2? MONEY!

Ooops! Sorry about the doom and gloom!

And what about the doomsayers? They cashed in big on the scare and some will try and cash in on the debunking. Here's what James Lovelock, hailed by Time Magazine as one of the global 13 "Heroes of the Environment," had to say in a book in 2006:
"Before this century is over billions of us will die and the few breeding pairs of people that survive will be in the Arctic where the climate remains tolerable."
Now, Lovelock has a new book in which he admits "I made a mistake." In an interview with MSNBC, Lovelock admits that he had been “extrapolating too far....The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing." Lovelock makes money either way.

Other scientists who haven't been so out front on the doom and gloom are also recalibrating. Here's a sample from the Daily Mail article:


Time to end the climate scam

It's obvious that there are abundant reasons not to proceed with the radical plans to decrease carbon. Such efforts are already driving up the cost of energy impacting the poor and lower income workers hardest. Yet not one advocate of carbon control can point to any specific anti carbon program and say that it's expensive implementation will do one thing to slow any warming even if carbon were the problem.

To quote the Daily Mail: "So will eco-funded [politicians] stop waging a green crusade with your money? Well... what do YOU think?" Nope. There's too much green at stake to those who are willing to play the game. And it's the rest of us who pay without the slightest benefit for ourselves or the planet. Imagine all the good that could be done to alleviate REAL human problems with all the money wasted on this green scam!

UPDATE: Al Gore calls for carbon tax. Which wouldn't do one thing to stop climate change even if CO2 was the culprit!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Shockingly Ignorant Voters!

No wonder Obama gets away with what he does!

You need proof of just how ignorant many Americans are on the key political issues of the day? Watch this video from the Jimmy Kimmel Show where they send someone out to ask what people on the street think of Obama pardoning the Sequester and sending it to Portugal:


"Sequester what? I don't know. I just voted for him [Obama] because he's black!"

Put aside for a moment the ready admission of racism on the part of the black woman who admitted only voting for Obama because he's black. We've come to expect that. What's even more disturbing is the fact that no one seemed to even know what the Sequester is. This should frighten those of us who know that for democracy to function it depends on an informed electorate.

I'd be willing to bet that those same people could tell you every bit of gossip about the latest celebrity scandal. Our culture has become so dumbed down that the people are no longer able to exercise their political judgment effectively. Who can we thank for that? Democrats who control the levers of education and entertainment.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Can Obama Change His Spots or Was Last Week's Charm Offensive Just for Show?

Alternately, does Obama know how to do anything but attack?

In his Weekly Radio Address Obama said something unusual. He referred to Republican Congressional leaders as "principled people" with whom it was possible to have an "honest disagreement," even in a "contentious debate" on issues like the Sequester. That's a big change from previous statements where he blamed the GOP for anything bad that might happen as a result of the Sequester or past attacks where he suggested Republicans want "Dirtier air, dirtier water" or "children with autism" to "fend for themselves.

Obama's Saturday remarks came after several days of visibly reaching out to GOP leaders. He had a dinner with Senate leaders on Wednesday and on Thursday had lunch with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) Mitt Romney's former running mate and current Chairman of the House Budget Committee. These meetings are noteworthy because they are so rare. Almost unprecedented. Congressman Ryan pointed out that this is the first time he's actually had a serious conversation with Obama yet Ryan is the key point man for passing a budget in the House of Representatives.

Peggy Noonan reports that the dinner with Senators had mixed reviews from attendees. When Obama was pressed to follow up this outreach with a program to continue work to find a solution to the  seemingly never ending Washington crisis du jour he pulled back. Whoa there! I guess this might just be another PR stunt after all!

That's how I see it. We've four years of experience of Obama in the White House and precious little evidence he's willing to do the hard work of providing presidential leadership to work toward real solutions. He's much more interested in short term political advantage and it's well known he's out to defeat House Republicans in 2014 mid term elections so he can proceed with his liberal agenda unhindered in the last two years of his presidency.

But he overplayed his hand with the Sequester scare stories and many of his usual accomplices in the mainstream media refused to cover up the lies that Obama and friends were telling about the Sequester. So, here we are with the unusual public display of Obama being seen to reach out to Republicans.

The test of his sincerity will come when he's asked to compromise and accept the validity of Republican ideas without a return to the hyper partisan attack rhetoric which has been the hallmark of his first Administration. My bet is that the leopard can't change his spots and neither can Obama. Once a Chicago politician, always a Chicago politician. A dinner and a lunch won't change that!

UPDATE: Obama back to attack on Ryan Budget

In an interview for ABC News on Tuesday Obama went back to partisan attack rhetoric when the subject of Rep. Paul Ryan's balanced budget plan came up. Remember that this is the same Paul Ryan that Obama had invited to lunch just days ago. Obama said he didn't favor a "balanced budget just for the sake of balance" even though balance is one of his favorite words. He went on to say:
If we controlled spending and we have a smart entitlement package, then potentially what you have is balance- but it is not balance to on the backs of the poor, the elderly, students who need student loans, families that have disabled kids
Whatever happened to that honest debate Obama wanted?

Obama's Campaign Organization "Not Partisan"

On a not unrelated note, an op-ed by the Executive Director of Organizing for Action, the former Obama campaign organization, in which he claims it's not a partisan political organization. Maybe the people who voted for Obama are dumb enough to believe that but really! I wonder just how many Republicans this organization will be supporting in 2014?

Friday, March 08, 2013

Is This What Obama Calls Good Economic News?

The Stock Market may be up and unemployment down slightly, but to the millions who lost their jobs since Obama became President and remain unemployed, the news is hardly cheering!

Obama's rich Wall Street friends may have something to cheer about with the Dow Jones at record highs (the higher it goes the further it crashes). But what about the Middle Class? The February Jobs Report is slightly better but what does that really mean? Not much.

 at the American Enterprise Institute reminds us of how bad the news remains for millions of Americans with two charts:

Unemployment: What Obama's economic plan promised and what it delivered
If the unemployment numbers counted the millions who have
given up looking for work  the true figure would be double digits.
 
Millions fewer working means less economic output, lower tax revenues and higher government costs for social services. If this is what Obama calls economic recovery we need to try something different!
 

Millions of "Non-Essential" Govt. Workers on Snow Day But Obama Insists Any Cut is Catastrophic?

Turns out the only "essential" workers in DC are bartenders and waiters!

Earlier this week Washington, DC had another big snow scare. The storm was named "Snowquester" since it shut down the federal government with employees labeled "non-essential" getting a paid day off. The big snow never materialized in the city with most accumulation falling to the west.

The snow scare raised another issue. In these times where Obama insists that the slightest reduction in the rate of growth of federal spending brings dire consequences how can most of the federal workforce be considered non-essential?

The Washington Post sent a reporter out into the non-blizzard to look into the issue of essential workers. The only truly essential workers they managed to find were food delivery personnel and the waiters and bartenders supplying the needs of workers taking the day off.


One young woman with a 2 year old child admitted she was a "non essential" employee of the U.S. Department of Labor. As her child began to cry she remarked “At least my kid finds me essential.”

Doesn't it make you wonder whether we could get by with fewer federal workers without causing the world to end? And what about other "non essential" federal spending? Why not cut the billions in wasteful spending that populate annual lists such as one from the Heritage Foundation? Do we really need to spend $200 million on a reality show in India? Or grants to study pig poop in China? Or a RoboSquirrel?

And what about those fancy conferences "non essential" federal employees take complete with wine tastings and "special guest chefs?"

Instead of cutting back on that, Obama insists he must close White House tours to school kids. I guess civic education and history lessons for the young are less essential than all that other non-essential essential spending!

Thursday, March 07, 2013

Rand Paul's Filibuster May Mark Moment Conservatives Got Their Mojo Back

Paul showed you can take on Obama without fear of a media backlash amidst the cheers from your fellow conservatives!

Want proof that Sen. Rand Paul's (R-KY) filibuster was a success? Look no further than Senator John McCain's (R-AZ) strong disapproval. I had my own run in with Senator McCain on the matter of filibusters in 2007 so I know how strongly he feels about the issue.  But McCain was wrong then and he's wrong now. You don't win by  being on defense or so afraid of being criticized for speaking out on important issues that you mute your disagreement with the Obama Administration.

In one step Rand Paul took the fight to Obama in a way that the media cannot ignore or misinterpret. And for standing on principle he got the thanks of conservatives as well as libertarians and at least one Hollywood liberal. All of whom are concerned about the erosion of civil rights which is occurring during the Obama regime.

Once Sen. Paul began his filibuster other senate GOP fighters rallied to his cause:
Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah did the most to help, with Mr. Cruz at one point holding the floor for a single question that lasted 50 minutes. [Also supporting Rand Paul on the Senate floor were:] Marco Rubio of Florida, John Cornyn of Texas, John Barrasso of Wyoming, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tim Scott of South Carolina, Jeff Flake of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakota and Mitch McConnell, the GOP floor leader.
Buzzfeed reports:
"There was a hell of a lot of team play tonight," a senior GOP leadership aide said Thursday morning, acknowledging that Paul's filibuster had given the GOP a much needed jolt of energy. "Everybody's in a three-point stance, helmets on and ready to fight," the aide said.
Phillip Klein, Senior Editorial Writer at the Washington Examiner said: "Paul’s filibuster is probably the most galvanizing moment for conservatives since the election." I'll go along with that.  It makes you think that if GOP leaders actually got together and spoke with one voice more often they might break through the media firewall that protects Obama.

Most of all, what Sen. Paul showed is that there is no need to fear taking a principled stand in opposition to Obama Administration policies. What John McCain and establishment GOP insiders have forgotten is that a defensive strategy is not a winner. You only win on offense!

UPDATE: Politico has the inside story of how Rand Paul managed his filibuster.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Good Riddance Hugo Chavez

He destroyed his country with utopian dreams of social justice. Sound familiar?

The pupil and his master in 2009
One down, so many to go. That's the way I look at the passing of Hugo Chavez. He's been nothing but bad news for decades and the people of Venezuela will be better off with him gone. The Miami Herald records his passing this way:
Dead at 58, Hugo Chávez leaves behind a country in far worse condition than it was when he became president, its future clouded by rivals for succession in a constitutional crisis of his Bolivarian party’s making and an economy in chaos.

A former paratrooper, Mr. Chávez had a radical vision for “21st Century Socialism,” which was never fully explained. His skillful rhetoric, which filled supporters with utopian dreams, was used to justify the methodical destruction of Venezuela’s democratic institutions and the free market.

Shortly after coming to office, he rewrote the constitution to his liking and aggressively set out to rig elections and stifle adversaries in the legislative branch and the courts. Unable to brook criticism, he turned his fire on the independent news media, eventually silencing most voices of opposition by bully tactics and economic intimidation.

His Bolivarian regime rewarded supporters and punished opponents, giving rise to enormous corruption and the creation of a new class of greedy oligarchs with political connections. Unfortunately for Venezuela and for all his political skills, the president was both an incompetent executive and a worse economist.

In an energy-rich country that once knew no blackouts, electrical shortages are frequent, the result of Mr. Chávez’s plundering of the country’s public oil company. In a country that once enjoyed a thriving free market, prices are controlled and food items often scarce.
Sound familiar?

At the Daily Beast Michael Moynihan had this to say:
His was a poisonous influence on the region, one rah-rahed by radical fools who desired to see a thumb jammed in America’s eye, while not caring a lick for its effect on ordinary Venezuelans. In his terrific new book (fortuitously timed to publish this week) Comandante: Hugo Chávez's Venezuela, The Guardian’s Rory Carroll summed up the legacy of Chávez’s Venezuela as “a land of power cuts, broken escalators, shortages, queues, insecurity, bureaucracy, unreturned calls, unfilled holes, uncollected garbage.” One could add to that list grinding poverty, massive corruption, censorship, and intimidation.

This was Chávez’s reign and his legacy; extralegal, vindictive, and interested in the short-term gesture rather than the more difficult, long-term solution. From his revolutionary comrades in Cuba, he borrowed the slogan “patria, socialismo o muerte”—fatherland, socialism or death. The fatherland is a shambles, Bolivarian socialism has failed, and Comandante Chávez is dead. May the “revolution” die with him.
Chavez was a friend of every vile thug on the planet. From Saddam Hussein to Muammar Gaddafi, Robert Mugabe,  Bashar al-Assad and Iran. The bottom line? If they hate the West Chavez loved them. No wonder he was such a darling for self loathing left wingers in the United States!

Moynihan described Chavez's handpicked replacement as having all the charm of East Germany's former leader Erich Honecker. With Chavez out of the way there is every hope that the last vestige of his corrupt and incompetent regime will die with him and restore hope to the Venezuelan people.

One day the American people will go through the process of de-Obamafication. Perhaps Venezuela will show us the way!

The Pinocchio President: Obama Lies About Sequester and Hopes for the Worst for Political Gain

UPDATE: DC CBS Station says "White House ‘Cries Wolf’ 3 Times Over Past 10 Days About Sequester Cuts." If Obama will lie so blatantly about the sequester, what else will he lie about?
Meanwhile, his Administration continues to spend big bucks on non-essential items!

On August 2, 2011 Obama signed the Budget Control Act containing what is commonly called the sequester, the minor cutback in the rate of growth for federal spending. It amounts to $44 billion in this fiscal year. Contrast that with Obama borrowing $253.5 billion in February alone. 19 months have passed since Obama signed the bill and yet he did nothing to prepare the government or negotiate a permanent fix with congress. He was too busy campaigning.

Even after his re-election last fall, instead of governing and providing the leadership to move forward on key issues Obama has continued to campaign. It's gotten to the point where even a journalist like former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw has noticed. Others feel Obama has become a "roadshow President," a "perpetual candidate" with a "permanent campaign shimmy" in which the problems are never solved, merely trotted out for political gain.

Four Pinocchio's for Obama's Sequester Lies
Washington Post Fact Check finds Obama has pants on fire for telling whoppers!
So, here we are 19 months after the sequester bill was signed into law and what does Obama do? Try to scare everyone with a pack of lies about the consequences of the sequester. We're told airports would grind to a halt but they haven't. Obama said that the sequester meant that janitors who clean the U.S. Capitol would have their pay cut. The Washington Post printed letters to Capitol employees from management making it clear that this was "NOT TRUE." The Post Fact Check gave Obama the worst rating of Four Pinocchio's for that whopper.

The Post also gave Four Pinocchio's for Education Secretary Arne Duncan's claim that teachers were getting pink slips because of the sequester.

Joe Scarborough on MSNBC presents a great montage of Obama's sequester lies and the truth. It's gotten SO BAD that reliable Obama apologist columnist Eugene Robinson couldn't take it.

Obama's Big Spending Plans Go Ahead Despite Sequester

If $44 billion in cuts creates such a dire situation then why did the Obama Administration just hand over $250 million to the Muslim Brotherhood that is turning Egypt into another Iran? If the risk of furloughing federal workers is so great why did the government post hundreds of notices for new job hires on the first full day after the sequester took effect? If we are about to hamstring air travel by laying off TSA workers why are we spending $50 million for new uniforms. That's $1,000 per worker. And if food safety is endangered by the layoff of inspectors, why is the Dept. of Agriculture going ahead with lavish conferences featuring "special guest chefs?"

Perhaps the most obvious example that we are in a phony crisis engineered by Obama is the news that the White House will suspend tours of the Executive Mansion due to the sequester. Thousands of school children and tourists will be disappointed. Yet Obama won't be cutting back on golf outings, parties, vacations or his perpetual campaign travel.

Obama WANTS Sequester Pain

To alleviate the concern caused by Obama's hype of sequester dangers Republicans offered to pass a bill which would give Obama the authority to prioritize cuts instead of the automatic across the board cuts mandated by current law. Obama refused and threatened to veto such a bill.

His Administration has even instructed various agencies to adhere to strict rules regarding the sequester, no matter how easily these cuts could be managed.

It's no secret that Obama's main political aim is to take over the House of Representatives so he can resume with his radical plans to reshape the U.S. into another failing European style socialist state. It's obvious he has no intention on working with Republicans to solve problems. He intends to continue his perpetual campaign and blame game hoping the public won't notice that it's he and his party who are making the mess on purpose.

One final note that can't be overlooked is the fact that federal spending has doubled since the last year of the Clinton Administration at the same time the population of the United States has increased by only 12%. Were the 280 million alive at the end of the Clinton years living in such degraded conditions? According to many Democrats it was a golden age. And if doubling federal spending has left us vulnerable to disaster if even the tiniest fraction of it is reduced, what kind of security have we purchased for ourselves. If such massive spending increases are so absolutely essential to our way of life what will we do when the money finally runs out?

Friday, March 01, 2013

Reporters Discover the White House Attack Machine

UPDATE: Administration officials called young female reporter the c word!

Woodward's revelation unleashed the floodgates. We are now learning of even more examples of abusive and threatening behavior towards journalists by Obama Administration officials. Maureen Callahan in the NY Post has the story. The worst of these was the abuse directed at one young female reporter. The Obama Administration launched it's War on Women claim when Rush Limbaugh called contraception activist Sandra Fluke a prostitute but the abuse directed at this woman is far worse and it's being done by a powerful government official, not a talk show personality! Obama waged a national campaign to rebuke Rush Limbaugh but no action was taken to punish this offense.

Just further proof that when Obama talks about civility, or treating women with respect, it's nothing but empty words!

It isn't just Bob Woodward who spoke truth to power and got abusive or threatening treatment!


On occasion Obama likes to strut around and tell people he's a lot like Reagan. But after four years of Obama thuggery, he's more like Nixon. And not the competent Nixon who reached out to China and ended the Vietnam War. More like the paranoid Nixon who kept an enemies list and actively sought to punish his foes. Pat Caddell, Jimmy Carter's former pollster says  "Obama is the closest thing to Nixon we've seen in 40 years."

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/02/28/obama-is-closest-thing-to-nixon-weve-seen-in-40-years/#ixzz2MJM8yCTV

The man who probably knows more about these parallels than most is veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. In his book The Price of Politics Woodward lays out Obama's unwillingness to be an honest negotiator with Congress. He also describes how the Sequester, which is just the latest in a loooonnnggg line of manufactured financial crises was Obama's idea. Not only did Woodward write that in his book but he has repeated it in interviews and subsequent news columns.

The White House jumped all over him with one high official abusing him with language that could not be printed. In a later email in which he toned down the language the White House official still managed to make what some view as a threat when he said "you will regret staking out that claim."

If this was one White House official behaving in this way we might overlook it. But apparently, it's standard practice to abuse and threaten reporters who stray from the pack of journalists who generally do not question what the White House tells them. Perhaps it explains why many reporters show little curiosity regarding Benghazi, or Fast and Furious or Solyndra.

More examples follow below:

From Hope to Pope?

Why not make Obama the next Pope? Or would that be a comedown for someone who already thinks he's God?


Not to offend my Catholic friends but why not make Obama the next Pope? Clearly Obama's not qualified. He's not even Catholic. But that's never stopped him before. He was elected President without a shred of experience qualifying him for the job. Next, he got the Nobel Peace Prize for doing absolutely nothing then turned around and became the biggest drone bomber of all time so why not Pope?

Besides, Obama's liberal friends already think he's the Second Coming of Christ, so that's got to count for something. While we're at it let's make V.P. Joe Biden a Cardinal and get him out of our hair too.


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