Some Notes On Wisconsin

Yesterday Power Line posted a summary of the Budget Repair Bill Governor Walker of Wisconsin in proposing.

According to the article, the bill will:

– Ask government workers to pay half the cost of their pensions – still less than private employees pay for their pensions

– Ask government workers to pay 12% of their own health insurance premiums – the national average for the private sector is over 20%

– End collective bargaining for government unions for pensions and benefits. Allow bargaining only for raises that are less than inflation.

– End forced union dues, collected by the state. Union dues would become voluntary.

– Union members get to vote yearly on whether to keep their union.

In the eyes of the unions there are three major problems with this law–none of which have to do with workers benefits.  The end of forced union dues might put a serious crimp in the money the unions collect that gets used for political purposes.  Voting yearly to keep the union might force the unions to be more concerned about their members and less concerned about Democrat politics.  The end of collective bargaining would take a lot of power away from the unions–they do not want to give up their power.

None of these changes are earthshaking to the teachers–they are earthshaking to the unions.

Today the American Spectator posted the following at its “Prowler” site:

“The White House has been watching the Wisconsin state employee labor fight with a degree of alarm, says a White House aide: “I think all of us recognize what this could mean for us in the re-election fight,” says the aide. “Without well financed labor, we’re screwed.””

That statement tells us everything we need to know about what is happening in Wisconsin.

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted this statement by Lindsey Graham on Meet The Press yesterday:

“Despite the nonsense on union placards in Madison, the budget-repair bill wasn’t some diktat from an entrenched governor; Scott Walker won the election less than four months ago with this specific plan on the agenda.  Not only did Republicans win the top spot by putting this proposal in front of voters, the GOP won control of both chambers of the legislature as well.  Elections have consequences, which everyone but the unions seem to acknowledge.”

Mob rule should not overturn the results of an election.

The United Nations, The United States, And Israel

Today’s Daily Caller posted an article about events at the United Nations last week regarding Israeli settlements.  The United States had suggested a resolution rebuking Israeli settlements as illegitimate.  This was done as a compromise instead of the resolution calling the settlements illegal and an obstacle to peace (which the United States vetoed). 

The article at the Daily Caller cites three major problems with our actions at the United Nations.

1.   The President’s willingness to take sides against Israel at the very anti-Israel United Nations is a major shift in American foreign policy.  The United Nations has been taken over by the Arab League.  We need to withdraw our membership and ask the UN to relocate to an Arab country.  It is not good public relations for the world to see America turn her back on her friends.

2.  This is another example of the Obama Administration’s policy of kissing up to our enemies at the expense of our friends.  Recently we gave away British nuclear secrets in order to secure to START Treaty.  (see rightwinggranny.com February 5). 

The article at the Daily Caller reports:

“At the same time, despite showing a willingness to side with the Israel’s enemies to attack Israel at the U.N. and despite delivering a harsh diatribe against Israel at the Security Council meeting, the U.S. still didn’t win any points with Arab regimes or the Arab street because it was ultimately seen as publicly vetoing the resolution.”

Not only did we mistreat our friends–we gained nothing in doing it–that’s not diplomacy!

3.  At the time when President Obama was playing games at the United Nations, the Middle East was in turmoil.  Where was his focus? 

The foreign policy errors in this administration in the past two years are frightening and damaging to our country.  I am fearful that in the next two years President Obama will continue to do serious damage to American interests across the globe.

The 2010 Election May Have Been The Start Of Something Big

Today’s New Orleans Times Picayune reported that Republican state Rep. Jonathan Perry has narrowly defeated Democrat Nathan Granger in a special election held to fill a vacant State Senate seat.  If the results of the election are certified, this will be the first time Republicans have had control of the State Senate since Reconstruction.  The results of the election can be contested up until February 28, and must be certified to be official. 

Before the election, there were 19 Republicans in the Senate and 19 Democrats.  When the results of the election are certified, Louisiana will have both a Republican governor and a Republican Senate.

The Drive To Prevent Energy Independence

As the Mildde East goes through some serious growing and realignment pains, I think it is a good time to get serious about energy independence.  Evidently, not everyone agrees.

Yesterday Hot Air posted an article about a movie called “Gasland.”  The movie is directed by Josh Fox and is designed to make sure no one is endangered by America’s development of its natural gas resources. 

The author of the article describes the movie as “nine parts fantasy with a few sprinkles of propaganda on top.”  The author then describes the measures energy companies take to ensure that their drilling procedures are safe for people and for the environment.  Please read the article–you will be impressed by what is being done by the energy companies to protect the environment.

America is economically carbon-based.  As our allies in the Middle East may not be our allies in the future, it would be a good idea to develop fully our own carbon-based energy resources.  Energy independence is a necessary part of prosperity in our current world economy.

Part Of The Story In Wisconsin That Isn’t Always Told

Yesterday the Weekly Standlard blog reported the comments a Wisconsin political insider made on a Milwaukee radio station.

He stated that the Senators and their staffs had been asked to clear the Capitol because the administration could not guarantee their safety.  They were informed that the new protesters who would be coming in “aren’t afraid to be arrested.” 

Thursday, the legislators returned to their offices and were advised to lock the doors. 

The article reports:

“Mobs roamed the halls, banging on the glass of the doors, pounding on the walls. No one could move in the halls or enter or leave the building. The glass of the Supreme Court’s entrance was broken. Legislators were genuinely afraid. Our elected representatives were afraid. In our Capitol.”

This is not protest–this is an attempt at mob rule.  This behavior is unacceptable regardless of who is doing it.  During the 2010 congressional campaign, I saw unon thugs use the same kind of tactics on the campaign trail.  I think it is time those members of the unions who feel that this sort of behavior is acceptable be held accountable for thier behavior.  This sort of thuggery is not part of constructive political debate.  

What Is America’s Foreign Policy In The Middle East ?

Here is a collection of recent articles on various events relating to the Middle East.

Yesterday the Jerusalem Post reported that the United States had vetoed a United Nations resolution calling for a halt to all settlement building in Israel. 

The article reported:

“Republican and Democratic House leaders took a rare bipartisan stand of unity praising the administration for its veto.

“”Moving forward, we must continue to make it clear that peace cannot be imposed; it must be negotiated directly between Israelis and Palestinians,” said House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer in a statement released after the vote. “It is high time that the Palestinians return to the negotiating table, rather than skirt the peace process by bringing biased, unproductive resolutions to the United Nations.”

“Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also lauded the decision, but took issue with the Obama administration for considering backing a presidential statement that would have reprimanded Israel over settlements and not clearly staging in the days leading up to the vote that it would veto the resolution.”

However, the vote did not necessarily agree with all the voices in the Obama Administration. 

According to ABC News, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the Israeli settlements illegitimate shortly before the United States vetoed the United Nations resolution. 

Friday’s Chicago Sun Times posted the speech Susan Rice, the U. S. Representative to the U. N. made to explain the veto.  Ms. Rice stated:

“Our opposition to the resolution before this Council today should therefore not be misunderstood to mean we support settlement activity. On the contrary, we reject in the strongest terms the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity. For more than four decades, Israeli settlement activity in territories occupied in 1967 has undermined Israel’s security and corroded hopes for peace and stability in the region. Continued settlement activity violates Israel’s international commitments, devastates trust between the parties, and threatens the prospects for peace.”

How come no one ever mentions the rockets that rain down on Israeli civilians on a regular basis as a threat to peace?

Meanwhile, Niall Ferguson, a Harvard Professor and Newsweek columnist, was interviewed by Morning Joe and had some rather harsh words for President Obama’s foreign pollicy.  He stated very clearly that he felt the Obama Administration had totally missed the boat on the Egyptian protests.

Professor Ferguson also stated:

With his guns-blazing anti-Obama assessment, Ferguson concluded “the President regards making touchy-feely speeches as a substitute for having a strategy” and if he does have any strategy, it only is “I’m not George W. Bush – love me.” By the end, Scarborough seemed somewhat convinced that Ferguson did reflect Obama’s foreign policy, however Brzezinski was still optimistic about the situation in Egypt despite Ferguson’s warning that “most revolutions lead not to happy clappy democracies.””

Please follow the above link to hear the entire interview.  It has some rather amazing comments from a Harvard professor.

Does It Seem As If When You Are Trying To Make Ends Meet, Someone Moved The Ends ?

Last Tuesday, a site called EscapeTyranny.com posted actual figures on the current inflation rate. 

The article states:

“We keep hearing that inflation remains relatively low.

“But a look at this Commodity Price Index chart indicates that the real inflation rate was over 20 percent for the past 12 months, more than 30 percent for food — even higher for commodities we really need to live.”

The article shows a chart of the inflation rate of major commodities in the past month and in the past year.  For example, the Commodity Food Price Index is up 30 percent; the Commodity Fuel Price Index is up 20 percent; cotton is up 132 percent (look for an increase in clothing this spring); and oil is up 21 percent.  Please follow the link above to see the entire chart.  It is surprising.

One of the reasons for the climbing inflation is the falling value of the United States dollar.  The United States dollar is the benchmark currency for the world, but there is currently talk of changing that.  Be prepared.  If the change away from the dollar is made, prices of everything in America will rapidly increase.  The solution to this problem is to bring sanity into government spending.  If that does not happen, America will cease to be the economic force in the world that it currently is.

Spending Cuts In The House Of Representatives

The Hill reported today that the Republicans in the House of Representatives have voted to cut more than $60 billion from federal spending for the remainder of the year.

According to the article:

“At 4:40 a.m., lawmakers voted 235-189 to send the so-called continuing resolution to the Senate. Not one Democrat voted for the bill that would cut at least $61 billion, from 2010 levels in spending for federal programs and agencies.”

On Thursday, Hot Air reported that the Republicans in the House had voted to defund President Obama’s czars. 

The article at Hot Air reports:

“The amendment, offered by Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), specifically targets Obama’s “climate czar” by blocking funding for the assistant to the president for energy and climate change, the position’s official title. The amendment would block funding for the ‘czars’ through the end of the fiscal year, when the spending bill would run out. The underlying bill also includes a provision to block funding for the position.”

“…The amendment would also prohibit funding for the director of the White House Office of Health Reform; the State Department’s special envoy for climate change; the special adviser for green jobs, enterprise and innovation at the Council on Environmental Quality; the senior adviser to the secretary of the treasury assigned to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and senior counselor for manufacturing policy; the White House director of urban affairs; the special envoy to oversee the closure of Guantanamo Bay; the special master for TARP executive compensation at the Department of the Treasury; and the associate general counsel and chief diversity officer at the Federal Communications Commission.”

This is a wonderful idea that will probably get squashed very quickly in the Senate. 

USA Today reported yesterday that the House of Representatives has voted to block the funding of Obamacare. 

The article states:

Specifically, the House voted to prohibit any funds be used by the Internal Revenue Service to carry out the law’s mandate that Americans buy health insurance. The individual mandate, one of the law’s key tenets, has been struck down by federal courts.”

Since the courts are not yet in agreement as to whether or not Obamacare is constitutional, it seems like a good idea not to fund it.  This is another wonderful idea that will probably get squashed very quickly in the Senate.

Politico reported yesterday that the House of Representatives has voted to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. 

The article reports:

“(Representative Mike) Pense took his fight against Planned Parenthood to the next level after the release of a series of videos by the group Live Action–videos that they say show Planned Parenthood employees advising actors posing as pimps on information on how to get abortions, STD testing and birth control for their underage prostitutes.”

This is another wonderful idea that will probably get squashed very quickly in the Senate. 

So what is the point of all this effort?  It’s actually very simple.  Some of the cuts that passed the House of Representatives may actually become law.  If the effort had not been made, the spending would continue to spiral out of control.  There is also the election aspect.  What do the American people want to see in a budget?  Do they care?  Does the Tea Party make a difference in the level of caring? 

The Republicans are really rotten at public relations and making their case.  This time the health of the nation’s economy depends of their being able to explain the need for budget cuts.  Let’s hope they are up to the task.  If the Republicans successfully make a case for budget cuts, one of two things will happen–either the budget cuts will get through the Senate and past the President or those opposing the budget cuts will be voted out of office in 2012.  It is going to be an interesting fight.

What Are The Protests In Wisconsin Really About ???

Power Line today posted pictures of a pro-Democracy rally that took place at the Wisconsin Capitol this afternoon.  Please follow the link to see the pictures.  My favorite is a picture of a child crying with the caption, “What, I have to pay for some of my own insurance and retirement?”

The article at Power Line also comments on the activities by some doctors at the rallies protesting the changes in teachers’ benefits:

“It was widely reported that doctors were handing out false notes to pro-union demonstrators, saying they were sick. How childish! Breitbart says that he has video of himself getting such a note, which he will post on Breitbart TV.

Ann Althouse spent the afternoon at the protest and counter-protest, and has lots of photos and video.

“FURTHER UPDATE: This young doctor cheerfully admits that she is writing fraudulent medical reports to help union members violate their duties as public employees. She doesn’t seem to have even considered that there is anything wrong with this sort of fraud. Why wouldn’t this cause a doctor to lose her license?”

Politico reported on Thursday that Organizing for America (part of the Democratic National Committee) is playing an active role in organizing the protests against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempts to balance the budget by bringing teacher’s benefits into line with the public sector.  I would like to note here that Governor Walker laid out his financial plans for Wisconsin during his campaign.  It was posted on the internet–the legislation passed was not news to the Democrats.  The unions heavily campaigned against his election and lost.  Now they are campaigning against the plans that got him elected. 

The Wisconsin State Journal reports:

“Walker’s plan calls for nearly all state, local and school employees to pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care premiums. That would save $30 million by June 30 and $300 million over the next two years, the governor has said.

“The measure also would prohibit most unionized public employees, except local police and fire fighters and the State Patrol, from bargaining on issues besides wages. Wage hikes could be negotiated only if they don’t exceed the consumer price index.”

The Tampa Tribune reminds us today:

“…In a little-known letter he wrote to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937, (Franklin) Roosevelt reasoned:

“… Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials … to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives…”

The unions have become the robber barrons they originally fought.  It it time to get them out of the federal and state governments.

Some Recent Consequences Of The Egyptian Revolution

The DEBKA File posted a report today on some of the consequences of the end of the Mubarak regime in Egypt and what that will mean for Israel.  There is no good news here.

For starters, two Iranians warships are going to pass through the Suez Canal.  One, the Iranian cruiser Kharg, is reported by DEBKA to be carrying long-range missiles for Hizballah which it plans to unload at a Syrian port or Beirut harbor. 

The article reports:

“US State Department spokesman P.J Crowley said he was “highly skeptical” of the Syrian claim that the two ships’ visit was for training. “If the ships move through the canal, we will evaluate what they actually do. It’s not really about the ships. It’s about what the ships are carrying, what’s their destination, what’s the cargo on board, where’s it going, to whom and for what benefit,” Crowley told a news conference.

“He was responding to questions in the wake of debkafile‘s disclosure that the Karg was carrying missiles for Hizballah and indicating that the US and all other UN members were authorized by UN sanctions against Iran to board and search Iranian ships suspected of carrying illegal weapons.”

The article reports that now the Suez Canal can be used to bring weapons to Syria and Lebanon.  This will break Israel’s naval blockade on the Gaza Strip and bring Hamas the weapons that were too big to smuggle through the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.

The article lists Iran’s plans for the Suez Canal:

1. To cut off, even partially, the US military and naval Persian Gulf forces from their main route for supplies and reinforcements;
2. To establish an Iranian military-naval grip on the Suez Canal, through which 40 percent of the world’s maritime freights pass every day:
3. To bring an Iranian military presence close enough to menace the Egyptian heartland of Cairo and the Nile Delta and squeeze it into joining the radical Iranian-Syrian-Iraqi-Turkish alliance;
4. To thread a contiguous Iranian military-naval line from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Gaza Strip and up to the ports of Lebanon, where Hizballah has already seized power and toppled the pro-West government.
5. To eventually sever the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, annex it to the Gaza Strip and establish a large Hamas-ruled Palestinian state athwart the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.
By comparison, a Fatah-led Palestinian state on the West Bank within the American orbit be politically and strategically inferior.
6. To tighten the naval and military siege on Israel.

Please read the entire article to understand the consequences of the fall of Mubarak and the fallout of the way President Obama handled the situation. 

 

Sometimes The News Is Not What Is Reported–It’s What Is Not Reported

During the protests in Egypt, there were a number of western reporters who were beaten or mistreated in various ways.  Some of their stories were reported, some were not.  One of the reporters, 60 Minutes correspondent Lara Logan, was sexually assaulted during the protests.

Michael Graham posted a story at the Boston Herald yesterday about how CBS handled the story of that assault.  CBS did not run the story until five days after the assault.  In the meantime, they praised President Obama for his handling of the Egyptian crisis. 

Mr. Graham comments:

“”The sexual assault of a woman in the middle of a public square is a story  . . .  particularly because the crowd in Tahrir Square was almost invariably characterized as friendly and out for nothing but democracy,” Cohen wrote.

“Watching the same complicit media we all saw, Cohen notes most journalists covered the mobs “as if they were reporting from Times Square on New Year’s Eve, stopping only at putting on a party hat.”

“Even CBS’s own statement said Logan was “covering the jubilation” and was attacked “amidst the celebration.”

“Having 200 “good guys” gang assault a female reporter while screaming “Jew! Jew!” doesn’t fit the narrative. Is that why CBS sat on the story?”

There was definitely a side of the protests that the media was reluctant to show.  Does anyone remember that after the war in Iraq, CNN admitted that it had not reported a lot of the human rights abuses going on in Iraq before the war because they were afraid of being asked to leave the country?  Does anyone remember ‘Baghdad Bob?’ 

Speaking of the Islamic culture, Mr. Graham further points out:

“I would point her (Slate.com’s Rachel Larimore) to the 2008 broadcast on the Al-Aribiya network of a female (!) lawyer arguing that it’s OK for Muslim men to sexually assault Israeli women, because the Jews have “raped the land.” Or this week’s story of Hena, the 14-year-old Bangladeshi girl raped by a family member, then sentenced to 100 lashes by Muslim authorities for having sex out of wedlock. After 80 lashes, Hena died.”

Ms. Larimore pointed out at Slate.com that she wondered if the incident with Ms. Logan was an isolated incident or the result of men being raised in a culture that treats women as second-class citizens.

The bottom line here is that all cultures are not created equally and all revolutions are not equal.  The protests in the Middle East may not bring freedom and equality to the people who are asking to be free.  We can’t assume that everyone in the world has the same concept of freedom that western cultures embrace.

This Showed Up In My Email This Morning

An easy guide to keeping political news in perspective:

 

 1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

 2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

 3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country, and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

 4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don’t really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

 5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn’t mind running the country, if they could find the time — and if they didn’t have to leave Southern California to do it.

 6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country.

 7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren’t too sure who’s running the country and don’t really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

 8. The New York Post is read by people who don’t care who is running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

 9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country, but need the baseball scores.

 10. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren’t sure if there is a country or that anyone is running it; but if so, they oppose all that they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped, minority, feminist, atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from any other country or galaxy, provided of course, that they are not Republicans.

 11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

 12. The Seattle Times is read by people who have recently caught a fish and need something to wrap it in.

As The Unrest Continues In The Middle East…

As the unrest continues in the Middle East, the United States prepares to rebuke its only reliable ally in that region–the one stable democracy that supports freedom.

On Wednesday, ForeignPolicy.com reported that the United States was planning to support a United Nations Security Council statement rebuking Israel for ‘continued settlement activity.’  The purpose of the U. S. supporting this resolution is that it avoids the U. S. having to veto a stronger resolution put forth by the Palestinians calling the settlements illegal.  I’m not impressed.

The article reports:

“But the Palestinians rejected the American offer following a meeting late Wednesday of Arab representatives and said it is planning to press for a vote on its resolution on Friday, according to officials familar with the issue. The decision to reject the American offer raised the prospect that the Obama adminstration will cast its first ever veto in the U.N. Security Council. 

“Still, the U.S. offer signaled a renewed willingness to seek a way out of the current impasse, even if it requires breaking with Israel and joining others in the council in sending a strong message to its key ally to stop its construction of new settlements. U.S. officials were not available for comment, but two Security Council diplomats confirmed the proposal.”

The fact that the United States is being forced into a position where it finds it necessary to cast its first veto since the United Nations was founded in 1945 is an indication of the direction the United Nations has taken in recent years.

The Wall Street Journal also posted an article about the coming vote on Israeli settlements. 

 The Wall Street Journal points out:

“Many Arab diplomats argue the uprisings that toppled the governments of Egypt and Tunisia in recent weeks heightened the need for a quick resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Many Middle East analysts believe a new government in Cairo could be less committed to Egypt’s peace agreement with Israel.”

The uprisings in the Middle East have nothing to do with the Arab-Israeli conflict.  The uprisings have been stirred up mainly in countries that lean pro-western in order to allow the Muslim Brotherhood to take over these countries.  At some point in the future, we will see Iran’s fingerprints on these uprisings.

Israel is taking defensive measures in case its treaty with Egypt is ended by a new government in Egypt.  Israel will tighten border security with Egypt if Egypt fails to enforce the border.

It is definitely time to stop funding the United Nations and ask it to leave New York City.

Some General Information On The Budget Debate

There is a lot of discussion going on right now about cutting the budget, the dangers of deficits, and the projected deficits as we go into the future.  There are a few things I would like to point out about some of the numbers currently being thrown around.  One of the things to remember as the discussion goes forward is that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculates its numbers based on the information it is given–it does not evaluate the information in any way.  We need to keep this in mind as we hear various numbers.

On January 8th, the Wall Street Journal posted an article about the interest rate on our debt.  The numbers given to the CBO assume an interest rate over the next decade of 3 percent. 

According to the article:

“Low interest rates, however, won’t last forever — assuming the U.S. economy doesn’t succumb to long-term, Japanese-style stagnation. The CBO estimates that interest rates on 3-month bills and 10-year notes will reach 5.0% and 5.9%, respectively, by 2020. That, together with a rapidly rising debt load, would cause annual net interest payments to more than double by 2020 — to $778 billion, or a record 3.4% of GDP. That’s closer to what the government spends every year on national defense.”

No one who follows financial matters believes that the interest rate on the 10-year note will remain at 3 percent over the next ten years. 

On February 7, Rich Lowry posted an article at the New York Post about what it would actually take to cut federal spending and bring down the deficit.  Paul Ryan is suggesting that we reduce the level of federal spending to the levels of 2008.  President Obama has asked for a budget this year that would increase spending by 12 percent (that budget was never enacted–spending is currently being done through continuing resolutions),  Paul Ryan is suggesting that this budget be reduced by 9 percent.

The article in the New York Post reports:

“Returning to 2008 can be “draconian” only if the last two years were extravagant. According to Congressional Budget Office numbers, the Department of Education saw an 11 percent increase in its budget from 2008 to 2010, and a 181 percent increase when the stimulus is included; the Department of Energy saw a 10 percent and a 171 percent increase, respectively; the EPA a 36 percent and a 130 percent increase. Washington has been on a binge of Charlie Sheen-like proportions.”

 

Bringing the budget back to 2008 is a beginning.  It is time to take serious action to rein in government spending.

Why The Mainstream Media Has Become Obsolete

Newsmax.com reported today that “MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell Wednesday accused Rep. Jason Chaffetz of being a “tax criminal” because he sleeps in his office several days a week, and does not declare the Longworth House Office Building his residence on his IRS returns.”

This is about the dumbest thing I have read in a long time, only it gets worse. 

The article reports:

“Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group, last week asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether congressmen who sleep in their offices are violating tax law by failing to report lodging as a taxable fringe benefit.

“Congressmen from both parties who sleep in their offices have also been accused of costing taxpayers money, by using extra electricity and water.”

The current salary (2011) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.  That sounds like an awful lot of money until you begin to consider the cost of maintaining two households (consider Washington rental costs) and traveling back and forth between Washington and your district on a regular basis.

Mr. O’Donnell stated that in his opinion Representative Chaffetz was illegally living in a federal building.  He also stated that Representative Chaffetz should declare what he saves by sleeping in his office as income.  Didn’t he already declare it as income when he was paid it as salary?

As federal budget deficits spiral out of control, why in the world is the mainstream media worrying about whether or not a congressman sleeps in his office?

President Obama’s Plan For High Speed Rail Has Been Rejected By Florida

Today the Daily Caller reported that Governor Rick Scott is canceling the federally proposed high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa.  The Governor stated that even with the federal subsidies, the rail line would cost Florida $3 billion, which the state could not afford.  The Governor also pointed out that there was no guarantee that anyone would use the rail line if it were to be completed, meaning that the rail line would continue to cost the state money.

Congratulations to Governor Scott for being willing to take a stand against runaway government spending. 

What Causes The Creation Of Wealth ?

Walter Williams recently posted an article at Creators.com about the causes of prosperity in a nation.  Mr. Williams is a professor of economics at George Mason University.

Mr. Williams points out that when people from countries where a majority of the population is living in poverty come to the United States, many of these people are very successful in America.  What makes the difference?

Why do Egyptians do well in America, but not well in Egypt?  Why is this also true for citizens of many other countries with the exception of Taiwan and Hong Kong? 

Mr. Williams points out:

Much of Egypt’s economic problems are directly related to government interference and control that have resulted in weak institutions vital to prosperity. Hernando De Soto, president of Peru’s Institute for Liberty and Democracy (www.ild.org.pe), laid out much of Egypt’s problem in his Wall Street Journal article (Feb. 3, 2011), “Egypt’s Economic Apartheid.” More than 90 percent of Egyptians hold their property without legal title.

De Soto says, “Without clear legal title to their assets and real estate, in short, these entrepreneurs own what I have called ‘dead capital’ — property that cannot be leveraged as collateral for loans, to obtain investment capital, or as security for long-term contractual deals. And so the majority of these Egyptian enterprises remain small and relatively poor.”

There are some things we can learn from these observations.  When people have more economic freedom and less government regulations, they are free to create wealth.  Mr. Williams concludes the article by stating that liberty is a necessary ingredient for prosperity.  This is something we need to keep in mind as government regulations spiral out of control.  Unless the government is reined in quickly and its current direction reversed, America will join the ranks of third world countries with impoverished populations.

 

A Very Interesting Story You Might Not Have Heard In The News

The Pigford affair has not been widely reported in the press.  It may get a little more publicity now that Shirley Sherrod has sued Andrew Breitbart, Larry O’Connor and “John Doe” for defamation.  It was reported in Power Line yesterday that Ms. Sherrod has retained the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis to bring her case against Andrew Breitbart.  The lawsuit will be venued in Washington, D.C. 

The article reports:

“Finally, I was surprised to see that Sherrod claims damages for her firing by the Department of Agriculture. This opens up a broad scope of discovery for the defendants. They will be entitled to investigate the factors that went into Sherrod’s firing by, for example, taking the deposition of Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and subpoenaing all emails, voicemail recordings and other documents in the possession of the Department of Agriculture and the White House that relate to her termination. I cannot imagine that the Obama administration would welcome this scrutiny, and one wonders whether the administration will pressure Sherrod to drop her case.”

The Agriculture Department might not want scutiny right now because of the Pigford affair.  Pigford is the case dealing with settlements made to black farmers who were discriminated against by the Agriculture Department in the past.  However, there are a few problems with the program.

In December of last year, BigGovernment.com reported:

I started to research Pigford and the more we looked into it, the more I realized that this was not a story that could be researched and told quickly. In fact, it was still unfolding. And even now, it still is.

This coming Wednesday, President Obama is slated to sign the Pigford II settlement.

But that will not be the end of the story. The American people deserve a full investigation and accounting.

Today, we’re releasing a report called “The Pigford Shakedown: How the Black Farmers’ Cause Was Hijacked by Politicians, Trial Lawyers & Community Organizers — Leaving Us With a Billion Dollar Tab.”

What have we discovered about Pigford so far?

Treasure troves of information from Lexis and Google. USDA whistleblowers. A former FBI agent who was on the verge of indictments. One of the originally discriminated-against black farmers with the goods. All these people paint a very clear picture of widespread fraud, and can testify to a complex web of bad players, including politicians, trial attorneys and community organizers.

I stumbled on the Pigford story in my defense of the Tea Party, so it’s a sweet irony that the Pigford story is exactly the kind of mess that makes the Tea Party so necessary. Politicians and trial attorneys bonded together to rip off the taxpayer, and even those farmers that were discriminated against were royally screwed.

Let me be clear, our investigation convincingly leads us to believe the USDA practiced discrimination against black farmers. Those wrongs must be rectified. But Pigford is wrought with a grotesque amount of fraud, while the truly aggrieved were mostly left high and dry.

The Pigford tale is about government run amok. It is also an indictment of the American media that is so blinded by ideology that it missed the big story yet again because taking out a political enemy was far more expedient. And furthermore it is why the American people need the Tea Party and new media as a checks and balances on corrupt politicians and their corrupt journalist counterparts.

Last week at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), Andrew Breitbart introduced his evidence of fraud in the Pigford settlement.   More information can be found at the website of the Ventura County Tea Party.  If Ms. Sherrod’s lawsuit goes forward, the discovery process is going to be very revealing.

 

Good News About Getting Truthful Information From Afghanistan

The U. S. Report posted an article today stating that Michael Yon will be returning to Afghanistan in February. 

The article at U. S. Report states:

“Yon said he’s returned to Afghanistan to about six provinces since McChrystal’s crew “mysteriously” ended his embed. Yon confronted criticism for calling things as he saw them in Afghanistan during his last embed. He singled out both Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard (Canada) and Gen. Stanley McChrystal.  Canada replaced Menard in June, 2010, and McChrystal resigned that month as well.”

Michael Yon is one of my favorite sources of information on what is happening in Afghanistan.  He reports honestly and depends on his own research rather than news releases he is given.

The article concludes:

“Asked whether his readers will be glad to see him return, Yon said many of them are happy about it. Yon has more than 42,000 supporters on his Facebook page. “Gen. [David] Petraeus has personally welcomed me, so I think it’s time to get back,” he added. “I respect Gen. Petraeus immensely for his wisdom and his honesty.”

“Yon seems to be positive about a good outcome in Afghanistan. “With Gen. Petraeus,” he said, “we have a solid chance at some form of success. How that success will look is like trying to guess next month’s weather.””

I am looking forward to his reports when he returns to Afghanistan.

More Notes On The Budget Debate

Heritage.org posted an analysis of President Obama’s budget yesterday. 

The article at Heritage.org reports:

“Under the President’s budget, the deficit in 2011 will hit a new record of $1.645 trillion, and the national debt held by the public over the next 10 years would nearly double, rising by nearly $7.2 trillion.  This measure of debt refers to debt held by the public net of financial assets.”

The article lists the changes in tax policy listed in the budget proposed by President Obama (note that the scoring of these proposals is very creative):

  • He proposes to raise the top tax rate on capital gains and dividends to 20 percent from 15 percent and lists this as a tax cut that reduces revenues by $124 billion over 10 years.
  • He proposes to extend the Bush tax cuts for low- and middle-income families and correctly includes this extension in the revenue baseline. But then, breaking with past practice, he leaves the tax relief for upper-income individuals and small businesses out of the baseline and thus conveniently has no reporting of the resulting tax hike.
  • He proposes to prevent the Alternative Minimum Tax from rising in 2013, and then in classic Washington style proposes $321 billion in new tax hikes to offset the cost of not raising taxes.

Debt. Under the President’s budget, despite the proposed tax hikes, publicly held debt (net of financial assets) rises from $9.5 trillion in the current year to $16.7 trillion by 2021.

The recommendations of the Deficit Reduction Commission were totally ignored.  Although I did not totally agree with the Commission’s conclusions, their suggestions would have made a good place for the debate to begin.  Unfortunately, the President’s budget does not even engage in the debate–he ignores the current discussion and continues down the road that brought us to the budget crisis we are currently experiencing.

The article concludes:

“The American system of government is intended to compel opposing forces to struggle, for in the struggle is refinement, improvement, and a crude but effective system of checks and balances. However, this system generally cannot function to solve difficult problems when the President thoroughly abdicates his leadership role. With this budget, the President has done just that, and now Congress must find its own way to regain control of the nation’s finances.”

This is a time in the history of our country when we desperately need leadership.  Hopefully Congress can provide it at this time.

The Coming Battle For The Budget

Before all of us go into panic mode because the Republican budget cuts programs that aid the poor, we need to remember something–these programs grew exponentially during the past five years.  Most of the cuts suggested will simply bring us back to 2008 levels. 

Power Line posted this chart yesterday:

This shows the rate of growth of federal spending in the past thirteen years through the next nine years.  Does your household income chart look like this?  Has your income grown at this rate?  What shape would your household finances be in if your spending curve over this period followed this chart?

More analysis to follow…

 

The British Newspapers Know More About National Security In America Than The American Newspapers

Yesterday the U.K. Daily Mail reported that a United States customs officer had stated that weapons of mass destruction have been found inside the United States.

The article reported:

“In the interview screened by San Diego’s 10News, Al Hallor, assistant San Diego port director, said ‘weapons of mass effect’ had been found, although he did not specify exactly where or what they were.

“Reporter Mitch Blacher asked Mr Hallor: ‘Do you ever find things that are dangerous like a chemical agent or a weaponised device?’

“‘At the airport, seaport, at our port of entry we have not this past fiscal year, but our partner agencies have found those things,’ the customs official replied.”

I guess the good news is that whatever the weapons were, they were found by authorities before anyone had a chance to use them.

Please follow the above link to the article.  It provides some interesting insight into what the American government is attempting to do to keep us safe without creating panic.

A Strange Idea In A Time Of Needed Budget Cuts

Today’s Washington Post posted a story about the Obama Administration’s suggested plan for a national high-speed rail system.  The program will spend $53 billion over six years.  Even if you could build a high-speed rail system that would make money (which is not likely), this is not the time to be spending money that is not absolutely necessary to spend. 

The article reminds us of the lessons of Amtrak:

“Passenger rail service inspires wishful thinking. In 1970, when Congress created Amtrak to preserve intercity passenger trains, the idea was that the system would become profitable and self-sustaining after an initial infusion of federal money. This never happened. Amtrak has swallowed $35 billion in subsidies, and they’re increasing by more than $1 billion annually.”

The article points out that in order to make money, a high speed rail line would have to charge high fares.  If the rail charged low fares, the amount of money received from the government would need to increase.  There is no way this makes sense.

The article concludes:

“Governing ought to be about making wise choices. What’s disheartening about the Obama administration’s embrace of high-speed rail is that it ignores history, evidence and logic. The case against it is overwhelming. The case in favor rests on fashionable platitudes. High-speed rail is not an “investment in the future”; it’s mostly a waste of money. Good government can’t solve all our problems, but it can at least not make them worse.”

Now is not the time to build a high-speed rail system.

Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

This is the link to the Rockets Into Roses website.  This is an amazing concept that is totally new to me.

None of us can imagine what it is to live in fear of neighborhood rocket attacks that happen on a regular basis.  The town of Sderot in Israel has built a bomb shelter in the form of a tunnel in its children’s playground so that the children can run into it when the rocket attacks start.  Again, I can’t imagine what it would be like to raise a family in a place where rocket attacks are a normal occurrence. 

Yaron Bob, in the town of Ashkelon, Israel, takes the spent Kassam rockets and uses them to create beautiful metal roses.  A portion of the profit from the sale of each rose will be donated to Operation Lifeshield (to build bomb shelters in Ashkelon).

This is what the website says about the roses:

“The sculpture’s base is a map of Israel with the rose growing out of the border with Gaza. The stem is mounted on a base in the shape of Israel, with each rose “growing” from the region where most of the have rockets landed.

“Although the rose, stem and base are made of Kassam remains, there is no sign the flower comes from rocket metal.

“The larger more detailed roses can take significantly longer to create, especially the bouquets.

“The premium and ultimate rose have a rounder shape flower. They also have drooping greenery below the flower. The petals are finer, thinner and more elegant than the standard and long-stemmed rose. There is significantly more work, craftsmanship and attention to detail involved.”

It is unfortunate that the world chooses to look the other way while these rockets fall on innocent Israeli civilians every day. 

On January 4, 1919, His Royal Highness the Emir Feisal ibn-Hussein, representing and acting on behalf of the Arab Kingdom of Hedjaz, signed an agreement to abandon all claims of his father to (Western) Palestine if he secured Iraq and Eastern Palestine as Arab territories.  Later that year, 75 percent of the land promised to Israel was given to the Hashemites (that land was known as Transjordan).  The tribe of Ibn Saud and the Wahabi Muslims had driven the Hashemite Tribe out of Mecca and Medina, where they had been custodians of the two cities for centuries, and the British gave the Hashemites Transjordan (carved out of the land the British had promised Israel).

My point in the above history lesson is that if anyone has a right to be angry about the distribution of land in the Middle East, it is the Jews–not the Arabs.  Meanwhile, until the Arabs agree to accept the existence of the State of Israel, we will not have peace in the region.

I Hope Our Intelligence People Are Paying Attention, Despite Some Of the Really Dumb Statements They Have Recently Made

On Friday, Scott Johnson posted an article at Power Line about the recent Congressional testimony of James R. Clapper.  Mr. Clapper replaced Dennis Blair as the Director of National Intelligence. 

The article reports on some of the process that put Mr. Clapper in his position:

“(Representative Pete) Hoekstra was the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee and a serious man. Politico reported that Hoekstra had related the existence of “bipartisan opposition” to Clapper’s nomination, and complained that Clapper failed to brief Congress on “an extraordinarily sensitive program.”

“Politico’s report also suggested that several more prominent candidates for the position declined it. They apparently prefer not to play second banana to the CIA in the bureaucratic turf wars that the position entails. The CIA was happy with Clapper. Politico pointed out that CIA Director Leon Panetta, who clashed with Blair, praised Claper’s nomination, calling Clapper “a highly qualified intelligence professional” who “[t]he men and women of the CIA look forward to working closely with … to strengthen America’s national security.””

Well, the events of last week called into question the abilitiess of both Mr. Clapper and Mr. Panetta. 

These two events were reported in the article at Power Line:

“Yesterday Panetta announced that Hosni Mubarak would likely be leaving office later in the day. By the end of the day, Mubarak was still there. Our Egyptian intelligence is obviously not all that it might be. What compelled Panetta to open his trap and prove it?

“And yesterday Clapper told a House Intelligence Committee hearing that the Egyptian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — which seeks to render Egypt an Islamic state ruled by sharia law — is “a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam.””

Wow.  The boy scouts have taken over the Muslim Brotherhood.  I don’t think so. 

The article reports:

“The current Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Muhammad Badi’, gave a sermon in September 2010 stating that Muslims today “need to understand that the improvement and change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained through jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death, just as the enemies pursue life.” In short, the Muslim Brotherhood remains committed to supporting militant activities in order to advance its political aims. From looking at the biographies of its most prominent graduates, one can immediately understand the organization’s long-term commitment to jihadism.”

I hope America finds its Winston Churchill soon.  Our government does not seem to see the growing threat.