Showing posts with label Reid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reid. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 01, 2010

When Leftist Drones Attack!

Apparently, asking a question about an unusual display of military medals and ribbons on civilian attire has raised the hackles of the hard left Democrats. In this case, a thread on Free Republic mentioned the magically expanding ribbon rack of one Connie Pillich, an Ohio Democrat legislator and hard-core tax-and-spend liberal in the mold of Nancy Pelosi.

Many veterans pointed out the display of medals and ribbons on civilian attire appeared, well, a bit tacky. But one extremely brave commenter named Anonymous ripped this august journal for even discussing the topic.

The last time someone made fun of a veteran was when Mean Jean Schmidt made her infamous comment that became a Saturday Night Live legend.

Be careful who you piss-off. Veterans don't like to see criticism of one of their own, especially when neither you nor Wilson have done anything to serve your county.

Representative Pillich has served her country.

Questioning her medals was one area you never should have touched, especially as a front for Wilson.

You have discredited yourself and your blog.

I think you can call her Representative Schmidt, nut-rack. As for myself and Wilson, you have no idea who we are or what we've done, crap-clown.

Oh. Yes. I'm sure our proud vets and their families really appreciate the Democrat Party's support:

• John 'Our Soldiers are terrorizing women and children' Kerry: "I am confident it will not work... I am confident it will. Not. Work."

• Nancy 'Stretch' Pelosi: "The surge has failed."

• Little Dick Durbin: "The administration's policy in Iraq has failed."

• Diane 'Franken' Feinstein: "Today a majority of the Senate sees that the Surge is not working!"

• Patrick 'Traitor' Leahy: "We know that the President's Surge policy has not worked."

• Harry 'The Body Odor' Reid: "The war is lost. The surge is not working."

• Barack Obama: "20,000 troops is [sic] not going to make a difference."

Yes, I'm sure all of our veterans, the families of our veterans, our heroes, appreciate this despicable behavior by a political party that openly roots for our troops' failure -- for partisan gain -- while they are on the field of battle!

But don't question their patriotism!

Now get the hell off my blog, you Marxist loser. Never sully the pages of my blog again! And don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out.


Nicknames: Mark Levin's Top 50 Nicknames

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Bank of America's Jeffrey Rosenberg: Smell the Change, As Expiration of Bush Tax Cuts Will Kill 1.3% of America's Entire Economic Output

Prepare for the powerful thrusts of the Obama recovery.

As our economics team has highlighted, the policy implication of most pressing concern is the expiration of Bush tax cuts. They estimate an impact of 2% annualized reduction in household income worth about 1.3% of GDP, and that such an increase if not reversed could trigger a double-dip recession.

...The political shifts affect that outcome with one school of thought that a divided congress raises the odds of no legislation (and hence a default scenario of expiration). In the face of increasing evidence of a slowing economy, a compromise to avoid a fiscal tightening that could exacerbate the risks of a double dip likely rises, in our view. The question will be one of timing – can a compromise be reached ahead of the election (in our view, unlikely), in a lame duck session (again unlikely).

...In our view, that leaves a retroactive extension passed in January as the most likely compromise. But the damage to confidence in the intervening period may already be done under such a potential scenario. A further deceleration in the data may yet change that assessment, but in the intervening period, political uncertainty will not positively contribute to the economic outlook already diminished by a successive wave of negative data.

I can summarize this in one sentence: Democrats are economic illiterates.

By the way, you can also thank John McCain for the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. 'Cause he's a 'maverick'.


The Obama Crime Wave of 2020

Caution: this is not a snarky post. Zero-percent snark. I want to connect a few dots for you. Additional caution: you may want to sit down.

* * * * * * * * *

 1  USA Today headline: Record number in government anti-poverty programs

Government anti-poverty programs... now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand... More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor...

...More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years...

...Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — "the highest numbers on record," says Christine Riordan of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers.

More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession...

In February 2009 Robert Rector, quoted in the London Sunday Times, predicted that the Obama Democrats' expansion of welfare, food stamps and unemployment would be disastrous.

One of the few undisputed triumphs of American government of the past 20 years – the sweeping welfare reform programme that sent millions of dole claimants back to work – has been plunged into jeopardy by billions of dollars in state handouts included in the president’s controversial economic stimulus package...

...Robert Rector, a prominent welfare researcher who was one of the architects of Clinton's 1996 reform bill, warned last week that Obama’s stimulus plan was a “welfare spendathon” that would amount to the largest one-year increase in government handouts in American history... Despite dire warnings that reduced benefits for single mothers and deadlines on entitlement would create a social calamity – one liberal senator warned at the time that children would be “sleeping on grates” – the 1996 reforms cut welfare rolls from more than 5m families in 1995 to below 2m a decade later without a discernible increase in hardship.

In other words, the Obama 'Stimulus' program was intended to massively expand the welfare state. But wait! There's more!

* * * * * * * * *

 2  Increasing welfare and food stamps leads to more kids born to unwed mothers

The statistical link between the availability of welfare and out-of-wedlock births is conclusive. There have been dozens of studies that link the availability of welfare benefits to out-of-wedlock births.

One study found that a 50 percent increase in the value of AFDC and foodstamp payments led to a 43 percent increase in the number of out-of-wedlock births.

A 1996 paper describes the correlation in ominous terms.

...Out-of-wedlock births are strongly related to welfare dependency. A 1 percent increase in the welfare dependent population in a state increases the number of births to single mothers by about 0.5 percent...

...Welfare dependency reduces employment. A 1 percent increase in the dependent population increases the number who are not employed by about 0.1 percent... An increase in welfare benefits reduces employment by increasing the number of welfare dependents. An increase in AFDC benefits by 1 percent of average income increases the number who are not employed by about 0.5.

In other words, if you ratchet up welfare benefits, you get reduced employment and more single-parent families.

Now, why am I telling you this?

* * * * * * * * *

 3  Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates

In 1995, Dr. Patrick Fagan wrote a seminal summary of the situation: "Over the past thirty years, the rise in violent crime parallels the rise in families abandoned by fathers... High-crime neighborhoods are characterized by high concentrations of families abandoned by fathers... The rate of violent teenage crime corresponds with the number of families abandoned by fathers...

"Neighborhoods with a high degree of religious practice are not high-crime neighborhoods... Even in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods, well over 90 percent of children from safe, stable homes do not become delinquents. By contrast only 10 percent of children from unsafe, unstable homes in these neighborhoods avoid crime... Criminals capable of sustaining marriage gradually move away from a life of crime after they get married."

Of 23 peer-reviewed U.S. studies since 2000, 20 found that family structure directly affects crime and/or delinquency.

"[R]esearch strongly suggests both that young adults and teens raised in single-parent homes are more likely to commit crimes, and that communities with high rates of family fragmentation (especially unwed childbearing) suffer higher crime rates as a result."

For example, a 23-year study found that nearly 90% of the change in violent crime rates can be attributed to the change in percentages of out-of-wedlock births (divorce rates, on the other hand, had no relationship with crime).

In The Atlantic Monthly, Barbara Dafoe Whitehead noted that the "relationship [between single-parent families and crime] is so strong that controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime. This conclusion shows up time and again in the literature. The nation's mayors, as well as police officers, social workers, probation officers, and court officials, consistently point to family break up as the most important source of rising rates of crime."

Let me repeat the most important statement -- "controlling for family configuration erases the relationship between race and crime and between low income and crime."

Single-parent families generally lead to increased levels of crime; and there are no significant differences between blacks, whites, or any other race when it comes to this simple fact.

* * * * * * * * *

 4  Recap:

• Fact: There are a record number of Americans dependent upon government anti-poverty programs thanks to the Obama Democrats
• Fact: Expanded access to welfare and food stamps greatly increases the number of children born to unwed mothers
• Fact: Single-parent families correlate to higher crime rates
Conclusion: with the unprecedented increase in welfare, food stamps and unemployment, we will also see an unparalleled increase in violent crime within the next dozen or so years.

Obama and his Democrats sycophants in Congress will have created hundreds of thousands of single-parent families. These kids, born out-of-wedlock, will find themselves trapped in lives of criminality at far higher rates than kids from two-parent families.

Fast forward a dozen years, give or take a couple, and we will see a true Obama Crime Wave. I predict that we will see an unprecedented increase in crime. In fact, you could call it historic.

And the question is not whether it will happen. The question is whether the Obama Left is doing it on purpose.


Monday, August 30, 2010

World's Dumbest Blogger Sowing Fear and Panic in Democrat Ranks By Referring To... ... ...(drumroll)... ... ... 'Speaker Boehner'

At this point, I'd take an old tuna can over what we have now in the Speaker's seat. Gallup says voter sentiment has tilted (at least for the moment) to a, well, historic gap.

Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress.

...Republicans usually turn out in higher numbers in midterm elections than do Democrats, and Gallup's likely voter modeling in the final weeks of an election typically reflects a larger GOP advantage than is evident among registered voters. The wide enthusiasm gaps in the GOP's favor so far this year certainly suggest that this scenario may well play itself out again this November....

One cautionary note: Democrats moved ahead in Gallup's generic ballot for several weeks earlier this summer, showing that change is possible between now and Election Day.

Oh noes, someone call Al "I Have a Scheme" Sharpton! We could have a Speaker Boehner!

Excuse, me sir -- can you tell me who blogs here?


What say you, SEIU, AFL-CIO and AFSCME members? Do you want a check for $1,000? Or more of your money wasted on Democrat losers?

CFIF notes that two of the nation's largest unions -- Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) -- will spend about $100 million supporting Democrats in the 2010 midterms. In addition, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) will donate an additional $50 million to the Democrat cause.

Not only do they think you're stupid, they think their members are even dumber. After all, that money could be spent on member benefits. Like a $1,000 check for 150,000 members. Or putting some money into the dramatically underfunded pensions.

...let’s put that combined $150 million in perspective.


With that money, these three powerhouse unions could make 150 of their members instant millionaires. Or, if they preferred to “spread the wealth around” in accord with the President they did so much to elect in 2008, they could give $10,000 to 15,000 suffering members, or give 150,000 members $1,000 apiece.

How might those 150,000 members vote if asked whether they’d prefer to see $1,000 directed toward their savings accounts versus spendthrift political candidates?

Moreover, the $150 million described above comes from just three unions. According to the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), nine of the top ten political action committees contributing to Democratic candidates are operated by labor unions. Additionally, four of the top five organizations donating to 527 groups are labor unions, according to AWF.

Consider as well that Democrats and union bosses have been consistently underfunding members' pensions for decades. That's not me saying that, Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, which is not exactly a mouthpiece for right-wing propaganda.


For decades, union bosses have directed millions and millions of dollars to their own generous pay packages and their Democrat cronies, while leaving rank-and-file members' retirements at risk.

Nor do union bosses seem to care any more about American taxpayers’ plight than they do about members’ hardships when it comes to their partisan political goals. To illustrate, they’re now pushing federal legislation to dump grossly underfunded union pension plans into the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PGBC).

In other words, labor leaders want a bailout for union pensions...

Dump union benefit obligations onto taxpayers. That way, union leaders could continue to fight declining membership with promises of unsustainable pay and benefits, while shifting pension responsibility to others. Otherwise, according to a Wall Street Journal reference to a legal group formed on labor organizations’ behalf, unions would face “increased pressure at the bargaining table to decrease contributions and cut benefits.”

Yes, the union bosses and their Democrat sycophants are conspiring to rob taxpayers yet again. Ignore their puerile propaganda and vote every Democrat out of office in 2010. Every one. We can't afford any more of their destructive policies. And our children and grandchildren can't afford them either.


Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

What's America's biggest national security threat? According to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: It's the Democrats' Spending

The national debt has grown 60% since Nancy Pelosi and her cadre of far left Democrats took control of Congress and the nation's budget. For this reason, Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called out the calamitous, wildly undisciplined spending as the nation's number one security threat.

The national debt is the single biggest threat to national security, according to Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Tax payers will be paying around $600 billion in interest on the national debt by 2012, the chairman told students and local leaders in Detroit.

“That’s one year’s worth of defense budget,” he said, adding that the Pentagon needs to cut back on spending... “We’re going to have to do that if it’s going to survive at all,” Mullen said, “and do it in a way that is predictable.”

Perhaps we can arrange an MMA fight between Mullen and the Times' most sanity-challenged columnist, Paul Krugman, whose policy positions change with the party of the office-holder.

[Krugman's] attitude, which seems to be shared by the Democratic leadership in D.C., is that America can spend an unlimited amount of money with no serious consequences, that we should do so in order to pump up the economy, and then at some undefined later point, somebody else will have to restrain spending. Incidentally, this was not Paul Krugman's attitude early on in the Bush Administration. The Paul Krugman from back then sounded a great deal more concerned about fiscal conservatism than the Paul Krugman of today does.

Setting aside the fact that the evidence government spending can drive economic growth in this country is sparse indeed -- and that the debt crisis in Europe that's already hitting Greece and could easily hit us in a few years -- at what point do we say we simply admit that we don't have the money to pursue this liberal economic pipedream any more? Put another way, America has spent far too much, for far too long, and because of that, even if Krugman's desire to borrow and spend our way to prosperity worked (which it doesn't), we're so deep in the red that the cure would be worse than the disease.

Recall as well that, for the first time in modern history, Democrats did not even pass a federal budget this year. Instead, they 'deemed as passed' a non-existent budget that allows them to, well, spend like drunken progressives.

Last night, as part of a procedural vote on the emergency war supplemental bill, House Democrats attached a document that "deemed as passed" a non-existent $1.12 trillion budget. The execution of the "deeming" document allows Democrats to start spending money for Fiscal Year 2011 without the pesky constraints of a budget... The procedural vote passed 215-210 with no Republicans voting in favor and 38 Democrats crossing the aisle to vote against deeming the faux budget resolution passed.

Never before -- since the creation of the Congressional budget process -- has the House failed to pass a budget, failed to propose a budget then deemed the non-existent budget as passed as a means to avoid a direct, recorded vote on a budget, but still allow Congress to spend taxpayer money.

This is but one of many reasons that erstwhile Obama supporter and US News & World Report economist Mort Zuckerman calls the Obama Democrats "The Most Fiscally Irresponsible Government in U.S. History."

Obama, Pelosi and Reid will be long gone when the entire system collapses, thanks to their malevolent treatment of the U.S. taxpayer. Like I always say: it's November or never.


Friday, August 27, 2010

Car Bombs -- With Texas License Plates -- Detonating in Mexico; White House Reaction? More Open Borders!

Runner-up headline: How's that Obama-Holder open borders strategy working out?

Stratfor Research reports that improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are becoming commonplace in Mexico (subscription required). Interestingly, CNN International also reported this story a few moments ago, but its mother network (CNN USA) is thus far mum.

At least two car bombs exploded Friday near the television studios of Televisa in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas state in northeastern Mexico, authorities said...

...The car that exploded in front of the television studio was a red Chevrolet Corsica with Texas license plates, the attorney general's office said in a news release. The car in front of the transit office was a white Mazda, also with Texas license plates...

Tamaulipas is the state where authorities discovered 72 bodies this week on a ranch believed to be used by narcotraffickers. Authorities are investigating whether the 58 men and 14 women, who were migrants from Central and South America, were killed by the Zetas cartel.

Car bombings are a relatively new phenomena in Mexico.

But, as Big Peace's Frank Gaffney reports, these kinds of attacks shouldn't come as a surprise.

...Mexican authorities arrested a senior operative of the Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, named Jameel Nasr... [Mexico] "foil[ed] an attempt by Hezbollah to establish a network in South America."

...Iran’s most dangerous terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, is operating with impunity in Latin America. The capture of Nasr comes as the President tells Senator Jon Kyl that the border must remain insecure until he gets a deal from congressional opponents of an amnesty for the many millions of illegal aliens already in this country.

The Nasr arrest also was revealed at the very moment the Department of Justice announced that the federal government was going to sue to prevent Arizona from enforcing federal laws on immigration.

Of course, this makes President Obama's open-borders policy all the more... eh... exciting.

But we already knew that, didn't we?


Anyone know of a good outplacement service for Harry Reid?

Professor Jacobson is understandably concerned with outplacement services for soon-to-be-ex-Senator Harry Reid.

The latest Mason-Dixon Poll released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows Reid up 1 point, 45-44... [but] Reid still is only polling at 45%, an abysmal number this late in the game for a multi-term incumbent [and d]espite two months of pummelling Angle, Reid still has higher negative numbers...

...Reid is in trouble, and his team knows it.  Expect even more over-the-top attacks on Angle, but it will not help.  Reid is a fully known quantity, and people know they don't like him.  That will not change. 

...[Also,] the NRA will not be endorsing Reid, with Reid's support of Elena Kagan as one of the motivation factors.

I don't think Nevadan voters will be fooled by Reid's hyperbole. Since he and his liberal colleagues have taken control of the Senate, they have given us:

• Three straight years of job losses with an unemployment rate that has more than doubled to nearly 10%;

• A national debt that has ballooned to over $13 trillion, an astronomic increase of 60%;

• A $787 billion pork- and boondoggle-laden "stimulus" bill in 2009, which did no stimulating of the economy and has only prolonged economic recovery;

• Record high home foreclosures that the American taxpayer is on the hook for because of misguided economic policies;

• Another "jobs bill" that cost taxpayers $18 billion, yet created no "jobs";

• The $700 billion TARP bill to bailout banks that couldn't balance their books; and

• The 2,000+ page health care takeover bill, which leaves the American taxpayer on the hook for another $2.6 trillion to pay for this new "entitlement."

Stimulus. TARP. ObamaCare. These three words will be written into the political obituaries of politicians who voted for these programs – and should definitely be branded onto the political epitaph of Harry Reid.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin and Gates of Vienna. Thanks!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

So It Begins: DHS implements 'Backdoor Amnesty' and other startling immigration stories our beloved legacy media forgot to report

At the intersection of incompetence and ideology lies a crossroads called Legacy Media.

Feds moving to dismiss some deportation cases


Critics assail the plan as a bid to create a kind of backdoor 'amnesty'

The Department of Homeland Security is systematically reviewing thousands of pending immigration cases and moving to dismiss those filed against suspected illegal immigrants who have no serious criminal records... Critics assailed the plan as another sign that the Obama administration is trying to create a kind of backdoor "amnesty" program...

"They've made clear that they have no interest in enforcing immigration laws against people who are not convicted criminals," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for strict controls.

"This situation is just another side effect of President Obama's failure to deliver on his campaign promise to make immigration reform a priority in his first year," said U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. "Until he does, state and local authorities are left with no choice but to pick up the slack for prosecuting and detaining criminal aliens."

...Tre Rebsock, the ICE union representative in Houston, said even if the efforts involve only a fraction of the pending immigration cases, "that's going to make our officers feel even more powerless to enforce the laws."

Myrick: 'Homegrown' terrorists are working within U.S.


Republican U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick warned a Huntersville audience Tuesday about the dangers of "homegrown terrorism" and new Iranian inroads into the Americas... [it was] when she was asked, "What keeps Sue Myrick up at night?" that her voice rose... "I'm extremely concerned about Iran and the situation in the Middle East," she said. "People don't want to face the fact that we have terrorist organizations operating in this hemisphere and this country."

Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said she's disturbed by reported activities in this hemisphere by the Lebanese-based Islamic group Hezbollah, seen by many as an Iranian proxy... Myrick repeated what she wrote in a June 23 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano: that Hezbollah has increased its cooperation with Central American drug cartels and poses a threat to security on the southern U.S. border.

Myrick said she worries about Iranians learning Spanish and slipping through the border.

But Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said Tuesday that, "At this time, DHS does not have any credible information on terrorist groups operating along the Southwest Border."

Myrick also expressed her frustration with the case of Samir Khan. He was the former Central Piedmont Community College student who ran a radical blog from his parents' Charlotte home... Intelligence sources said last month that they believe Khan is the top editor of "Inspire," an online magazine designed as a recruiting tool for the group al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula... The first issue contained elaborate graphics and articles titled, "What to Expect in Jihad" and "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.

Mexican Military Finds 72 Bodies Near U.S. Border



Mexican marines found the dumped bodies of 72 people at a rural location in northern Mexico following a shootout with suspected drug cartel gunmen that left one marine and three suspects dead, the Navy reported late Tuesday.

The cadavers of 58 men and 14 women were found at a spot near the Gulf coast south of the border city of Matamoros. It appears to be the largest drug-cartel body dumping ground found in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug trafficking in late 2006...

...The area has been wracked by bloody turf battles between the Gulf drug cartel and their one-time allies, the Zetas drug gang.

In May, authorities discovered 55 bodies in an abandoned mine near Taxco, a colonial-era city south of Mexico City that is popular with international tourists... In July, investigators found 51 corpses in two days of digging in a field near a trash dump outside the northern city of Monterrey. Many of those found were believed to have been rival traffickers. But cartels often dispose of the bodies of kidnap victims in such dumping grounds.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in violence tied to Mexico's drug war since the offensive began.

Perhaps one day, we'll open up our local newspaper to see all of these stories reported fully and accurately.

But, then, I'm a dreamer.


Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Photos: Today's 'Stop the 9/11 Victory Mosque' Protest in Lower Manhattan

Thanks to Shankbone's Flickr feed, we have a view into today's protest -- organized by StopThe911Mosque.com -- against the Ground Zero Victory Mosque* in lower Manhattan.









Click on any of the photos to see the complete album.

Update: FireAndreaMitchell has additional photos spotted on Twitter.


* Complete list of alternate names for the Ground Zero Victory Mosque here.

Please! Someone call 9-1-1! Eugene Robinson Just O.D.'ed on Stupid Pills!

Something is very wrong with the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson. The proof is in the pudding or, in this case, the bowl full of stupid served up by Gene on Friday. His column, entitled "President Obama's winning streak", describes the under-appreciated management skills of #44.

This is a radical break from journalistic convention, I realize, but today I'd like to give credit where it's due -- specifically, to President Obama. Quiet as it's kept, he's on a genuine winning streak... look at what he's accomplished in just the past few weeks. Let me highlight four recent headlines:

"Last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq" ... [Without thanking Bush 43 for the surge he opposed]

"General Motors to launch stock offering" ... [Another union payoff]

"Gulf oil spill contained" ... [With 23,000 unnecessary job losses]

"President wades into mosque controversy" ... [On the wrong side, as usual]

He still hasn't walked on water, though. What's wrong with the man?

Back in the little land we like to call "Reality", Americans are suffering. In the nearly four years that the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Democrats have held Congress, the private sector has disappeared faster than a sack of Chips Ahoy in front of Rosie O'Donnell.

The Democrats have given us:

* Three straight years of job losses, an unemployment rate that has more than doubled to nearly 10%, and a true (U-6) underemployment rate of nearly 18%;

* A national debt that has ballooned to over $13 trillion, a catastrophic increase of 60%;

* A $787 (now $860) billion pork-, bribe- and boondoggle-laden "stimulus" bill, which not only failed to stimulate the economy, but helped bankrupt the country;

* Record high home foreclosures that the American taxpayer is on the hook for thanks to the Democrats' favorite job shops: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;

* Another "jobs bill" that cost taxpayers $18 billion, yet created no "jobs"... along with a $26 billion "teachers' jobs bill" that simply kicks the fiscal responsibility can down the road and rewards the AFT and NEA teachers' unions;

* The $700 billion TARP bill to bailout banks that couldn't balance their books; and...

* The 2,000+ page health care takeover bill, which leaves the American taxpayer on the hook for another $2.6 trillion to pay for this new "entitlement."

Yes, Americans are grateful for the work of the Obama Democrats. Stimulus. TARP. ObamaCare. $200 million in Stimulus propaganda construction signs. And union payoffs and political bribes -- used to pass this mess -- as far as the eye can see.

Eugene Robinson's latest excretion does prove one point:

WaPo's management team needs to start random drug-testing.


Saturday, August 21, 2010

Good News: Obama Summer of Recovery Continues as Insurance Companies Begin Mass Layoffs Thanks to DemCare

Remember: you'll get to keep your plan if you like it. And your costs won't go up. In fact, they'll go down. Or something.

Assurant health cutting jobs ahead of health reform implementation: "Milwaukee-based Insurer Assurant Inc. is cutting its workforce in various locations around America ahead of health care reform implementation."

NC's largest health insurer to cut jobs: "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina will contract with Dallas-based Sourcecorp for some data entry work... The company wants to cut its total operating costs by 20 percent, or $200 million, by 2014. That's when much of the federal health care law takes effect."

WakeMed begins $87M cost-cutting effort: "Wake County's largest hospital system plans to slash annual operating costs by as much as $87 million as it makes changes recommended by an outside consulting firm... efforts likely will include eliminating jobs in some departments... The hospital also may phase out some services where it's not the market leader, such as providing chemotherapy and other cancer treatment."

Houston Employers chop 17,000 jobs in area: "Finance and health care companies are holding back on hiring because of uncertainties about recent federal regulations, he said. The moratorium on deep-water drilling has also caused energy companies to be more cautious about domestic expansion."

Latest round of layoffs under way at Addison Gilbert: "CEO warns this week's actions 'only the beginning'... A second round of layoffs began yesterday at Northeast Hospital Corp., as the health care organization looks to eliminate up to 100 full-time positions."

Unhealthy time for insurance brokers: "Health insurance brokers that serve small businesses and individuals are concerned that new federal regulations due next year could reduce their sales commissions, forcing some out of business and others to lay off employees... Some health insurers that serve Southeast Michigan, including Priority Health, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, already have informed agents of commission cuts, partially because of changes stemming from the recently approved health care reform bill."

A.M. Best Maintains Negative Outlook for Health Insurers: "A.M. Best Co. is maintaining a negative outlook for health insurance companies. The driving factors are the struggles to grow revenue and the near-term impact from the implementation of health care reform... With the phased-in implementation of health care reform beginning in 2010 and full implementation in 2014, A.M. Best does expect to see some changes. One of the most significant changes in the near term is the minimum medical loss ratio requirement for individual, small and large group segments beginning in 2011. Although the definition of what is included in the medical loss ratio is not yet available, A.M. Best does expect to see margin compression as companies comply. Additionally, A.M. Best anticipates health insurers will try to lower administrative expenses [Ed: i.e., layoff workers] to help offset the increase in the medical loss ratio."

The passage of ObamaCare had nothing at all to do with either health or care. Its intent was to plump the membership of the SEIU as more and more people are forced into government-run health care options like Medicaid, SCHIP and Medicare. More SEIU members translates to more union dues. With more dues comes increased campaign contributions for Democrats. It's a vicious cycle in which average, taxpaying Americans are used as pawns in order to fund Democrat campaign coffers.

Remember in November.


Friday, August 20, 2010

Incredible New Voter Sentiment Index: Counting Comments at "The Hill"

I have arrived at the best scientific assessment of voter sentiment since, well, Fred Zogby's historic 1965 prediction that Al Gore would invent the Internet. At TheHill.com -- not exactly the center of right-wing thought -- I tallied the ratio of pro-Obama to anti-Obama comments.

By the time I tired of the exercise, the score (for this article) read:

35 anti-Obama to 3 pro-Obama to 3 neutral

After 41 comments, I'll be honest -- I gave up.

Do with this data what you will. No matter what: vote in November.


Thursday, August 19, 2010

The Naked Harry Reid

Harry Reid likes to paint his opponent in this year's Senate race -- conservative Republican Sharron Angle -- as some sort of extremist because she believes in the Constitution. But Sharron Angle didn't nationalize the health care system against the will of the people. She didn't put America on a trajectory of economic ruin with unprecedented "Stimulus" spending. She doesn't favor open borders like Reid. And, best I can tell, Sharron Angle isn't involved in the shady, sleazy deals that Reid's been entangled with for decades.

From 2002 to 2005, Senator Reid was exceedingly generous with Christmas gifts for service workers at his luxury condo. He gave away $3,000 in gifts and gratuities for elevator and cleaning personnel. Unfortunately, the money came from campaign contributions and not his own bank account. It was only after the Associated Press' John Solomon discovered the sleazy behavior that Reid claimed it was a clerical issue and a Republican smear campaign.

In 2004, for example, after Reid made a profit of $1.1 million on a real estate deal, he failed to fully disclose the details as required by the Senate. And his partner was reported to have extremely odd ties to the casino business and reportedly surfaced in investigations into organized crime and bribery.

In 2005, Sen. Reid sponsored an $18 million earmark to build a bridge over the Colorado River. Coincidentally, a few miles from the bridge's location is a 160-acre parcel of land owned by one Senator Harry Reid. So, yes, Reid's own earmark greatly increases the value of his huge swath of land.

Curiously, Reid had received 60 of the acres from an oil magnate friend -- the owner of Haycock Petroleum -- for a total of $10,000 in 2002, though its assessed value was $120,000. And Reid continues to underreport the value of the land, though nearby sales put its real value at nearly half a million.

Harry Reid's three sons and his son-in-law are also concerned with serving the people. All have served as lobbyists and have blurred the line between family connections and special interests. In fact, his son-in-law helped increase lobbying fees at DC's Holland & Hart from $100K to $2 million in only one year. A series of LA Times investigative reports suggested that Reid had introduced legislation and pressured regulators to unblock a huge real estate deal fronted a heavy Reid contributor who also happened to be the employer of Reid's son Leif.

At the same time, Reid was vice-chair of the Senate Ethics Committee. When asked specifically about conflicts of interest involving family member-slash-lobbyists, he insisted there were none. Yet the Senate's rules have since changed to prohibit lobbying by family members, but I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

The Times' story found that mining companies paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobbying firms, and the payments just happened to follow around Reid's son-in-law from firm to firm. Rory Reid's services were also sought out by mining firm Placer Dome, according to the Times.

Reid's son-in-law was also engaged by the American Gaming Association, a helicopter tour company fighting restrictions near the Grand Canyon, chemical companies seeking deals in Nevada and the Hughes Corporation as it looked for land near Vegas. Sen. Reid helpfully advanced all of their agendas -- purely for altruistic reasons -- and even helped a partner in the law firm that employed all of Reid's sons get a right-of-way moved off his property.

"Reid never told his Senate colleagues or the public that the provisions he authored, some of which were technically and not apparently beneficial to anyone, were, in fact, introduced on behalf of clients who paid his sons and son-in-law over $2 million."

But Harry Reid's public service wasn't yet complete. In running the Senate, Harry's "spread the wealth" -- using the taxpayers' money to jam through socialized medicine with various bribes, payoffs and "incentives".

When Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana was undecided about DemCare, Reid ensured she received a $300 million "bonus" for her state. Chris Dodd received a $100 million medical facility in Connecticut (any guess as to what it might be called?).

In short, Harry Reid is a menace to this country. His opponent, Sharron Angle, is not.

Remember in November.


Based upon: ELECTION YEAR: Defeating Harry Reid, an excerpt of the new book 2010: Take Back America: A Battle Plan  


Civil War Breaking Out in Failed Narco-State; President Obama Welcomes Combatants Into Arizona

23,000 people have died in Mexico as a result of its ongoing civil war. It's gotten so bad that business executives in the once-safe capital of Monterrey have taken out full-page newspaper ads pleading for help.

The growing violence in Monterrey, long one of Mexico's most modern and safe cities, is a sign that the country's war against drug gangs is spreading ever further from poorer battlegrounds along the border and into the country's wealthiest enclaves.

...Residents opened their newspapers Wednesday morning to find the ads taken out by Mexican business leaders, begging the government to send more military into the city. "Enough already," said the notice that ran in national and local papers, criticizing what it said was a slow response of police against "criminal bands that in every act look to establish a new boundary of terror."

Later that day, the body of Edelmiro Cavazos, mayor of the Monterrey suburb of Santiago, was found beside a highway. Mr. Cavazos had been abducted Sunday night, the latest in a string of attacks against politicians in Mexico's north.

His killing is another incident in a terrifying spell for Monterrey residents that began Saturday when armed gangs set up more than a dozen roadblocks on key boulevards of the city, paralyzing traffic for hours...

...The next day, a grenade was lobbed at the offices of an important television broadcaster. On Tuesday night, grenades were also hurled at several small businesses on the city's outskirts...

...The brutality of the conflict is escalating. Alleged gang hit men broke into the home of a Chihuahua state policeman this week and strangled to death his 4-year-old brother, authorities said...

...Across the country, mutilated and decapitated bodies turn up virtually every day, sometimes hanging from bridges.

It wasn't always this way in Monterrey. Mexicans know the city of 2 million as "The Sultan of the North," a nickname stemming from its wealth, generated by corporations such as Mexico's beverage titan Femsa S.A.B. de C.V. and U.S. businesses such as Whirlpool Corp. and General Electric Co., which have large offices in Monterrey. International architects built the city's skyline, which is framed by dramatic mountains.

As the civil war inside Mexico's failed narco-state spreads, border security will become an increasing concern.

The violence, drugs and refugees spreading into our country would tax even an economically healthy United States. And, thanks to the Obama Democrats, our country is anything but.

That is why the Democrats' failure to enforce immigration law is doubly insane.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

$200M In Stimulus Construction Signs Were Encouraged by White House as 'Symbols of President Obama's Commitment to American People'

If this doesn't remind you of the old Soviet Union, you probably grew up after 1989. They have a word for this in other societies: Propaganda.

Federal contractors receiving money for projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—the $862 billion economic stimulus law President Barack Obama signed in February 2009—have been encouraged and, in some cases, required by the administration to post signs that say their work is funded by that specific act.

...The Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended one model sign that included these words: “Funded By: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act/ Barack Obama, President.”

..."Projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will bear a newly-designed emblem," said the OMB directive. "The emblem is a symbol of President Obama’s commitment to the American People to invest their tax dollars wisely to put Americans back to work."

“All projects which are funded by the ARRA should display signage that features the Primary Emblem throughout the construction phase,” said the directive. “The signage should be displayed in a prominent location on site. Some exclusions may apply. The Primary Emblem can also be displayed on signs at events or conferences associated with the ARRA or the individual projects funded by the ARRA. The Primary Emblem should not be displayed at a size less than 6 inches in diameter."

...the Department of Housing and Urban Development even suggested a model sign that gives Barack Obama personal credit as president for funding the project.

...“It’s blatant propaganda on the part of the Obama administration to take credit for the spending of public dollars,” said Schock, who has investigated the matter as a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “It’s propaganda that will be worthless in a matter of years. To think that we can spend $200 million on a bunch of sheet metal signs that will end up in a landfill somewhere is a poor use of public funds at a time when our nation is facing mounting deficits.”

...“I’m less concerned about the perceptions of the policy makers than I am of the grant recipients,” Schock said. “I’ve spoken with recipients in my district who thought that if they did not participate in the promotional signs, recovery money would be less likely." ...He added, “Without a requirement, most units of government would choose to spend that money putting people to work.”

...The HUD e-mail, cited in the IG report, included an attachment with two templates for a sign. One included a blank white space where the details of the specific project could be inserted over the words, “Funded By: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act; Barack Obama, President.”

...The White House did not respond to requests from CNSNews.com for comment by phone and e-mail... How many of President Obama’s signs have been posted at highway projects around the country? “That’s a question for the states,” a Federal Highway Administration spokesman told CNSNews.com. “It would be like asking how many stop signs are out there. We don’t know.” But the spokesman did confirm that the signs themselves are paid for by Recovery Act dollars.

Welcome to Moscow, circa 1963.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.