Monthly Archives: December 2011

Rubbing Salt In An Open Wound

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I am sure it’s not what he meant to do, but did it occur to Harry Reid what the following statement sounded like to most Americans? The Huffington Post reported yesterday:

The Senate and President Obama will not go on their Christmas vacations until Congress extends the expiring payroll tax cut, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowed Wednesday, outlining an attempt to shame the GOP into backing a middle-class tax break.

Generally Congress would begin its Christmas break next week. How many other adults get three weeks off at Christmas? In today’s economy, how many of us can afford to spend three weeks in Hawaii?

The Hill posted a story yesterday stating:

“We’re going to keep pushing Congress to make this happen,” Obama said Friday. “Now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. Right now, it’s time to step on the gas. We need to get this done. And I expect that it’s going to get done before Congress leaves. Otherwise, Congress may not be leaving, and we can all spend Christmas here together.”

I’m sorry–I’m just not impressed.

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The Smoking Gun In Operation Fast And Furious

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The Corner at National Review Online posted a story yesterday about some recent information that has come to light about Operation Fast and Furious. It seems that a lot of the testimony given to Congress disagrees with the documents given to Congress. National Review commented on the latest example.

The following email shows from ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait in July 2010 to Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.” 

This email and other information was posted at CBS News yesterday.

The article at The Corner shows that Mark Chait attended a meeting about Operation Fast and Furious in January 2010 and was probably briefed on the Operation before that. So what is the point of all this?

The Corner reports:

According to an August 2011 press release from Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democratic member of the House Oversight Committee, in testimony Chait “stated that [he] did not learn about the tactics used in [Fast and Furious] or about the specific concerns of the line agents until earlier this year.”

Mr. Chait’s memory (at least according to the information given) is off by a year.

The CBS News article concludes:

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, is investigating Fast and Furious, as well as the alleged use of the case to advance gun regulations. “There’s plenty of evidence showing that this administration planned to use the tragedies of Fast and Furious as rationale to further their goals of a long gun reporting requirement. But, we’ve learned from our investigation that reporting multiple long gun sales would do nothing to stop the flow of firearms to known straw purchasers because many Federal Firearms Dealers are already voluntarily reporting suspicious transactions. It’s pretty clear that the problem isn’t lack of burdensome reporting requirements.”

 On July 12, 2011, Sen. Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., wrote Attorney General Eric Holder, whose Justice Department oversees ATF. They asked Holder whether officials in his agency discussed how “Fast and Furious could be used to justify additional regulatory authorities.” So far, they have not received a response. CBS News asked the Justice Department for comment and context on ATF emails about Fast and Furious and Demand Letter 3, but officials declined to speak with us.

 “In light of the evidence, the Justice Department’s refusal to answer questions about the role Operation Fast and Furious was supposed to play in advancing new firearms regulations is simply unacceptable,” Rep. Issa told CBS News.

Has anyone really thought through what limits on who can own guns would accomplish? Has it occurred to the government bureaucrats that even if guns were totally illegal criminals would still find a way to get them. That would leave criminals armed and innocent people unarmed. Do we really want to do that?

The guns that were sold in Operation Fast and Furious were sold because of the intervention of the ATF. The article at CBS News cites gun dealers who were uncomfortable with being asked to sell the guns, but were told by the ATF to continue to sell them. Frankly, I think the gun dealers were more conscientious than the government in attempting to protect American citizens.

 

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Possible Good News For Boeing

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Fox News reported yesterday that Boeing’s machinist union will vote today on a four-year contract extension. Workers are expected to ratify the contract, which includes dropping the complaint to the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing for opening a non-union plant in South Carolina.

The article reports:

Crucially for the union, it would ensure that jobs for Boeing’s updated 737 line — the 737 Max — stay in the Puget Sound region. Boeing said in July it was studying other locations for the new 737.

Industry analyst Wayne Plucker, of the San Antonio, Texas, research firm Frost and Sullivan, said the agreement is good for both sides. Considering the looming Defense Department budget cuts that threaten defense contracts across the industry, Boeing is going to need solid performance from its commercial airplanes division, Plucker said.

It sounds as if both sides got some good things in the agreement. It is just unfortunate that the union used a government agency to bully the company. Government interference in a company’s decision as to where to locate their facilities is one of the things that inhibits economic growth. Industry in America is currently overregulated, and until the government loosens its grip, the American economy will not grow at the rate needed to bring down the current unemployment numbers.

 

 

 

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Remembering Pearl Harbor

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English: A navy photographer snapped this phot...

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Many of the heroes of World War II are no longer with us. Take a minute today to remember their courage and the sacrifices they made in order to keep America free. Today is the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Remember those who have served and thank those who are serving.

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Losing Our Moral Perspective

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CNSNews reported today on the latest effort of the Obama administration to gain worldwide acceptance of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender) Agenda. This is not a human rights issue–this is a moral issue. Now before you jump to a few wrong conclusions, let me explain. I do not support discrimination against anyone for any reason. I do not support the way that LGBT people are treated in countries with Sharia Law (they are killed). But I think the rights of religious people have to be respected as well as the rights of LGBT people. I also think it is a little ridiculous to be focused on LGBT rights while Syria is gunning down its citizens to protect the current tyrant. It seems as if some of the priorities are a bit upside down.

The article reports:

“Promoting special rights for gays in foreign countries is not in America’s interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers’ money,” Perry said in a statement, adding that the policy was “just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith in this country.”

“Obviously the administration is promoting their particular agenda in this country, and now they feel its their obligation to promote those values not just in the military, not just in our society, but now around the world with taxpayer dollars,” CNN quoted Santorum as telling reporters in Iowa.

Again, I don’t support discrimination of LGBT people, but I don’t support special protections for them either. In a truly free society, what someone did in their personal life would not be the basis for any sort of discrimination or any sort of favor.

Like it or not, the two-parent family (husband and wife) is the basis of society. If the family is destroyed or weakened, the basic fabric of society is weakened. LGBT people should not be discriminated against, but they should not be granted special legal status either.

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Exactly What Did Jesus Stand For ?

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that Jesus would be part of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. That is an amazing statement to me.

Poverty is not anything new, nor is it the responsibility of or the result of the policies of either political party.

Jesus said:

The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want.  Mark 14:7

The Apostle Paul said:

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Please understand–I am not opposed to charity, but when the government took over the role of the church in the area of charity, things went downhill fast. The welfare system in America and Britain supports a bureaucracy that has no incentive to remove people from welfare roles–in fact their jobs depend on people staying on welfare. The Bible teaches personal responsibility–it does not teach taking out a loan (creating a personal obligation) and then expecting someone else to pay for it. It teaches:

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Galatians 6:9

That applies to spiritual things as well as practical things. Had Jesus encountered the OWS crowd, he would have told them to respect other people’s property, live up to their obligations, and work if they were able. Jesus loved all people. He preached personal responsibility and charity. I don’t think the OWS movement represents either one of those traits.

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Is Fairness Really The Issue ?

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Investors.com posted an article yesterday about President Obama’s speech declaring that his policies would bring ‘fairness’ to America. Unfortunately, all President Obama’s policies have brought is shared misery.

The article reports:

But by Obama’s own measure, the country has gotten more “fair.” The richest 1% now pays almost 40% of all federal income taxes, up from 25% two decades ago, while the bottom half pays only 2%, down from 6%. The federal regulatory state has never been as big, and government spending as a share of the economy is at record levels.

What’s unfair is what these policies have produced — a woeful economic recovery that’s hurt the middle class the most.

In fact, as IBD reported recently, the only winners since Obama took office have been corporations (profits are up 68%) and Wall Street investors (the Dow’s up more than 45%). The rest of the country has gotten the shaft.

The article further reminds us that since President Obama took office, unemployment is higher, house prices are lower, and inflation is beginning to rise. Since the recession supposedly ended in June 2009, household income has dropped almost 7 percent.

The article also reminds us that:

And income inequality — which was flat during the Bush years — has started to rise.

What we have now is crony capitalism. Solyndra and other ‘green’ companies staffed by President Obama’s fundraisers have received large amounts of money from the government in the past year, as have many Wall Street firms. Meanwhile the rest of us are struggling to keep up.

The only economic fairness President Obama has brought us is shared misery. We need to remember this in 2012–regardless of who the Republican candidate is.

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The Most Dangerous Position For An American Right Now Is To Be The Frontrunner In The Republican Race For The Presidency

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Yesterday The Hill posted a story about a recent statement by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Ms. Pelosi told Talking Points Memo:

“One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich. When the time is right. … I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

Well, Newt responded quickly:

Gingrich reacted to Pelosi’s comments by thanking her for an “early Christmas gift.” 

He also said Pelosi would be violating House rules and abusing the ethics process if she disclosed anything from the ethics investigation.

“That is a fundamental violation of the rules of the House,” Gingrich said in New York following a meeting with Donald Trump. “She’s now prepared to totally abuse the ethics process.”

Releasing the material would show the “tainted ethics process the House was engaged in,” Gingrich said.

Ms. Pelosi then had to backtrack–her spokesman stated:

Responding to Gingrich’s comments, a spokesman for Pelosi said the former Speaker was “clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware.” 

A spokesman for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment on “current rules in the context of allegations concerning past conduct, or hypothetical future conduct governed by past rules.”

I don’t have a favorite among the current top three in the Republican primaries, but this incident indicates how much we need a candidate who not only knows and understands the law, but it willing to respond strongly when smeared. We all know that Newt has baggage. We also know that he was cleared on all but one of the charges brought against him. We also know that the whole ethics controversy was about politics-not eithics.

The other candidates need to take notes on how Newt handled this attack–they may need those notes for future reference.

 

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A Waste Of Time And Money Sponsored By The United Nations

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Yesterday the Washington Examiner reported on some of the plans of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The group is currently meeting in Durban, South Africa.

The article reports: 

Negotiators at the conference are considering “a new tax on every foreign currency transaction in the world,” according to the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). “Every time you travel abroad, you’ll have to pay a climate tax,” explains CFACT, the group that released the “Climategate” emails. “More importantly, every time we import goods, every time we export our fine products (think jobs) we will do so with a climate tax skimming off the top.”

The article states that President Obama is open to the idea, which will place most of the burden on Americans–Europeans will not have to pay the tax within the Eurozone and thus will avoid most of the expense.

The article concludes: 

CFACT suggests that Obama is open to implementing this tax and similar policies in the absence of a full climate treaty, which would require congressional approval.  “We have learned that while many have discounted this conference, knowing that a full climate treaty is difficult to achieve especially with a U.S. Senate that will not vote to ratify,” CFACT says. “Obama and his fellow climate travelers are working around the Senate and planning to stick America with the bill.”

Some perspective on this can be found at wattsupwiththat.com, where Anthony Watts posted a commentary by Christopher Monckton of Brenchley. Lord Monckton concludes his article by stating:

As President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic pointed out at a recent climate conference in Cambridge, if we leave less wealth to our successors because we have wasted trillions on the non-problem of global warming, we harm future generations by denying them the full inheritance they would otherwise have received.

But don’t expect any of the delegates here to get the point. They are making far too much money out of the climate scam –at taxpayers’ expense – to want to do anything other than recite that The Science Is Settled. As the West goes bust, drowned under the sheer cost of the ever-expanding State, the UN, the IPCC, the UNFCCC, the UNEP and the WMO are luxuries we can no longer afford and will no longer pay for. Time to shut them all down and make their self-serving, rent-seeking bureaucrats go out into the real world and do a proper job.

This is one more reason for America to get out of the United Nations. If this is a conference of United Nations delegates, how much of a carbon footprint did they leave by meeting in Durban instead of closer to the United Nations headquarters in New York City?

 

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Sorting Out The Numbers In The Class Envy Promotion

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It has already become obvious that one of the issues in the 2012 elections will be the evil rich who keep getting richer. Just in case you were wondering, I am not in any danger of entering that class. Anyway, we recently heard that as the rest of us are eating out less often and keeping our cars longer, the evil rich are prospering at a fantastic rate. Well, not so fast.

An article slated for tomorrow’s Wall Street Journal takes apart the numbers and reveals what has really happened to the rich under the Obama administration.

The article reports:

A recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CB0) says, “The share of income received by the top 1% grew from about 8% in 1979 to over 17% in 2007.”

I’m not positive, but I suspect either Barack Obama or Joe Biden has referenced those numbers in recent days. If not, I am sure you can find them in sound bites from other Democrat leaders. Do you wonder why the numbers stop at 2007? There is a reason.

The article further reports:

The CBO didn’t say, although its report briefly acknowledged—in a footnote—that “high income taxpayers had especially large declines in adjusted gross income between 2007 and 2009.”

No kidding. Once these two years are brought into the picture, the share of after-tax income of the top 1% by my estimate fell to 11.3% in 2009 from the 17.3% that the CBO reported for 2007.

The article explains the different types of income the rich receive and how they are taxed. It also explains the impact of changing tax rates in various areas. Please read the entire article to understand how the Obama administration is twisting the facts in order to stir up class warfare.

The article concludes:

If Congress raises top individual tax rates much above the corporate rate, many billions in business income would rapidly vanish from the individual tax returns the CBO uses to measure the income of the top 1%. Small businesses and professionals would revert to reporting most income on corporate tax returns as they did in 1979.

If Congress raises top tax rates on capital gains and dividends, the highest income earners would report less income from capital gains and dividends and hold more tax-exempt bonds. Such tax policies would reduce the share of reported income of the top earners almost as effectively as the recession the policies would likely provoke. The top 1% would then pay a much smaller portion of federal income taxes, just as they did in 1979. And the other 99% would pay more. As the CBO found, “the federal income tax was notably more progressive in 2007 than in 1979.”

We need to cut government spending. Until we get spending under control (back to below 20 percent of the GDP as it was before President Obama took office), we will never be able to raise taxes enough to pay the cost of government. Even if we confiscated all the money and property from everyone who made more than $100,000 a year, we would still not pay off our debt or be able to stop borrowing one out of every four dollars we spend. It’s the spending, stupid.

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The Fast And Furious Document Dump

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Yesterday Michael A. Walsh posted an article at the New York Post about the White House’s Friday night 1,400-page document dump concerning Operation Fast and Furious.

Basically, the documents released contradict the Obama’s administration’s claim that Eric Holder and President Obama were totally unaware of what was going on with Operation Fast and Furious. This is an interesting claim considering that the administration has recently sealed all records relating to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed using a gun that was traced back to Operation Fast and Furious.

The evidence is growing that the charges made by Senator Chuck Grassley and Representative Darrell Issa about Operation Fast and Furious are, in fact, true. The Obama administration did allow about 2,000 high-powered weapons to be sold to Mexican drug cartel agents and then taken across the border and into the Mexican drug wars. There has been speculation that this was done so that a case could be made to place tighter gun laws on Americans. At this time I would like to mention that the problem with gun laws is that only law-abiding citizens pay attention to them. Generally, all that gun laws accomplish is to disarm an innocent public while arming criminals. Eventually this leads to more gun crimes–not less.

The article concludes:

It’s time for the months of lies to end — but don’t hold your breath. The administration recently sealed the court records relating to agent Terry’s murder and — a year later — the one man arrested hasn’t been tried.

So far, three presidential candidates, a couple of senators and more than 50 congressmen have called for Holder to resign. If he can’t answer the one question that matters — why — that number ought to include his boss.

Keep in mind that had the Democrat Party maintained control of the House of Representatives, we would not be hearing about Operation Fast and Furious. It would have been buried. We need to elect Congressmen in 2012 who will put the good of the country above the good of their individual party.

 

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The Numbers In The Egyptian Election

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The Egyptian Gazette reported today on the results of the recent elections in Egypt. The party of the Muslim Brotherhood (the Freedom and Justice Party) won 36.62 percent of the vote. The Salafist Al-Nur party (which advocates an Islamist government similar to Saudi Arabia) won 24.36 percent of the vote.

Both of these political parties have as their aim the establishment of an Islamist caliphate in the Middle East. Although the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) markets itself as moderate–it’s goals are not.

This election is the first step of a three-step process.

The article reports:

Voting on Monday and Tuesday was only the opening phase of an election for a new lower house of parliament that is taking place in three stages, but the returns reveal the main political trends now shaping Egypt.

Only one third of districts have voted. The rest of the country will go the polls in a further two stages later this month and in January.  
 
Voters were required to pass three votes: two for individual candidates and one for a party or coalition.
 
The military took over the government when Mubarak stepped down and are currently in control of the interim government. It is expected that there will be a power struggle between the current military government and the political parties that won victories in this election.
 
The article reports:
 
The first test will be over the formation of a new caretaker government, with the Brotherhood insisting on the right to form a cabinet.
 
The second struggle with be over a new constitution next year and the relative powers given to parliament, a new president to be elected by next June, and the army.
 
The military helped maintain Egypt as a secular country. If their power is diminished as the new government forms, there is a strong possibility that Egypt will become more like Saudi Arabia. There have been a significant number of attacks on Egypt’s Coptic Christians since the revolution in Egypt, and there will be less freedom of religion in Egypt as the Salafist Al-Nur party and the Freedom and Justice Party consolidate their power. This is not good news either for Israel (both parties are strongly anti-Israel) or for freedom of religion around the world.
 
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The Free Market Eventually Triumphs

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Today’s Daily Caller posted a story about a change in the research and use of stem cells.

The article reported:

Geron Corp., the world’s leading embryo research company, announced it was closing down its much-touted stem cell program, despite the guarantee of more government aid from Democratic-affiliated sources.

The article explained that most stem cells used in hospitals and medical facilities today are adult stem cells taken from the patient’s own body.

The article concludes:

Those “adult stem cells” can be stimulated to regenerate damaged hearts and other organs. In one peer reviewed study published on Nov. 16, more than a dozen heart-failure patients gained an average 12 percent improvement in heart function from their own stimulated stem cells.

This uncontroversial adult cell technology was pioneered by hospitals, not drug companies. It is sufficiently reliable that insurance companies green-light its use for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, lupus and many other ailments, and it is cheered by social conservatives and religious groups because it improves medical treatments without killing human embryos.

When a technology works well, it will be used more, without having to rely on the government to pay for it.

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Our State Department Is Focused On The Wrong People

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Boston.com posted a story today about some recent remarks about Israel by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton stated that she was worried about the future of Israel’s democracy and the rights of women in that country.

These are amazing statements. Israel is one of two functioning democracies in the Middle East–the other one is Turkey, which is in danger of becoming an Islamic state where women will have very few rights. The ‘Arab Spring’ supposedly brought democracy to a number of countries in the Middle East, but we are now watching those countries turn into Islamic states with Sharia law, which gives very few rights to women.

Israel does practice segregation of the sexes on buses that serve the Ultra Orthodox Jewish community on routes to religious neighborhoods in Israel.That is not limiting women’s rights–it is respecting Orthodox Jewish tradition. However, I have never heard Mrs. Clinton address the fact that women in Saudi Arabia are not allowed to drive.

I just don’t think Israel is the problem in the Middle East with regard to women’s rights.

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The Dog Ate My Homework

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In the Friday night document dump by the Obama administration this week, you will find all sorts of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.

Late last night, Big Government reported on the document dump. The letters are supposed to show how the Department of Justice accidentally gave Senator Grassley on the Senate Judiciary Committee inaccurate information on Operation Fast and Furious.

The article reports:

In a letter last February to Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had not sanctioned the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that the agency makes every effort to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally. In Operation Fast and Furious, both statements turned out to be incorrect.

 

The Justice Department letter was responding to Grassley’s statements that the Senate Judiciary Committee had received allegations the ATF had sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers. Grassley also said there were allegations that two of the assault weapons had been used in a shootout that killed customs agent Brian Terry.

When asked about the weapon used to kill Brian Terry, former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke stated in an email that the weapon was purchased in a Phoenix gun shop before Operation Fast and Furious began. That was later shown to be false.

Please follow the link to Big Government to read the entire article. Also keep in mind that had Operation Fast and Furious not been uncovered and made public, the Obama administration would have used ‘the amount of American guns used in crimes in Mexico’ as an excuse to take away the rights of law-abiding gun owners. It wasn’t the gun owners who broke the law in Operation Fast and Furious–it was the federal government.

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Northborough On December 12

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 Free Seminar

U.N. Agenda 21 …

A Threat to Our Constitutional Rights

 Monday, December 12, 2011, 7 pm

Northborough Free Library

____________________________________________________

 Subversion of property rights

Restructuring the family unit

Redistribution of wealth

Hand-cuffing industry

____________________________________________________

   ~ Sponsored by the Northborough Tea Party ~

  Public Welcome ~ Free Admission

 Information: John O’Mara, 508.393.2044

www.northboroughteaparty.com

           

                “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil  

             is for good men to do nothing” – Edmund Burke

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Class Warfare Is More Important Than Actual Numbers

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Yesterday John Hinderaker at Power Line posted a story on the Democrats’ recent efforts to pay for a continuation of the payroll tax by imposing a tax on the rich. (Actually, the Democrats solution to any given problem at any given time is to impose a tax on the rich). Anyway, a Power Line reader ran the numbers to see how much impact the proposed tax on the rich would have. This is what the reader found:

The taxes on the highest incomes are never enough for any of their schemes. The Dems’ proposal is a fraud, which the MSM helps to perpetrate by never estimating the revenues from upper income tax increases.

Politico reports that the cost of the Democrats’ payroll tax reduction is $265 billion. Will that really be paid for by a 3.25 percent surtax on adjusted gross incomes over $1 million?

According to the Tax Policy Center at the Urban Institute/Brookings Institute, approximately 388,000 households have income above $1 million in any given year; the average income of such households is about $2.7 million. The surtax would be levied on the increment above $1 million. So the arithmetic is simple on a static analysis: 388,000 * $1.7 million * 3.25% = $21.437 billion.

So the “millionaires and billionaires” surtax doesn’t come even remotely close to the reduction in payroll tax. It’s a complete fraud–gratuitous class warfare for revenues that, in the overall scheme of things, are trivial.

The problem with the budget is not the lack of tax revenue–it is the increase in spending. The Obama administration has increased government spending to approximately 24 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). It had previously been between 18 and 20 percent. The average tax revenue collected by the government in a year is about 18 percent of the GDP. Therein lies the problem. Even when taxes on the rich are increased, the amount collected hovers around 18 percent because the ‘rich’ have accountants that help them pay as little taxes as possible. When you tax the rich you only wind up taxing the middle class more and moving closer to the elimination of the middle class. That is not a good idea.

 

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Looking Behind The Unemployment Numbers

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Bloomberg.com posted a story today on the unemployment numbers released today. The unemployment rate has dropped to 8.6 percent from 9 percent. That sounds good until you realize that in order to create that unemployment number, the American labor force had to be reduced considerably.

The article reports:

The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to hold at 9 percent. The decrease in the jobless rate reflected a 278,000 gain in employment at the same time 315,000 Americans left the labor force.

“You’d like to see the unemployment rate coming down when people are coming into the job market, not disappearing,” James Glassman, senior economist at JP Morgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene.

So 278,000 people got jobs, 315,000 people gave up on finding jobs, and the unemployment rate went down. Somehow I don’t think that is the way you are supposed to lower unemployment. I don’t know if all administrations cook the numbers this way, but obviously this one does. I strongly suggest that whoever the Republican presidential candidate is, we elect him. Maybe then we will get honest numbers.

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Highland Park And New Brunswick Were Targeted By Anti-Semites On Tuesday Night

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Arutz Sheva today that at least five Jewish-owned businesses in Highland Park, New Jersey, were attacked on Tuesday night.

The article reports:

Vandals hurled bricks through the plate glass windows of a kosher restaurant, a kosher pizza shop, two Judaica stores, and a Jewish-owned hardware store.

At least three other Jewish-owned business in nearby New Brunswich were also targeted. Tuesday was the anniversary of the 1947 United Nations Partition Vote to create the Jewish state of Israel.

Local police issued the following statement:

“We would also like to briefly address the fear that these are acts motivated by anti-Semitism or that these are bias crimes,” the statement said. “The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office has been notified, but it is too soon to reach a conclusion.

“All of our officers are aware of the sensitivity of this situation and we will make every effort with patrols and surveillance to keep everyone safe. We would like to encourage you to communicate with your congregants and urge them to avoid speculation which could lead to unnecessary anxiety.”

Anyone care to guess if that statement would have been made had the victims been anything other than Jewish?

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The World Of Incredible Coincidence

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The Washington Times posted an editorial yesterday about the strange explosions that have recently occurred at some of Iran’s nuclear sites.

The article reports a recent event:

The blast came two weeks after Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Gen. Hasan Tehrani Moghaddam and 20 other IRGC members were killed in a massive explosion at a base near the village of Bidganeh, southwest of Tehran. The base was a test site for Iran’s ballistic missile program. Official sources said the blast was the result of an accident while munitions were being moved, but the general’s brother, Mohammad Tehrani Moghaddam, said it happened during a missile test. “It was related to an intercontinental ballistic missile,” he was quoted in the Iranian official press, “It was a completely high-tech, confidential process.” These comments were later scrubbed from the website where they first appeared.

No one is in a hurry to explain exactly what the cause of the recent explosions is.

The editorial lists recent events surrounding Iran’s nuclear program:

The two explosions join a growing list of unusual and deadly events related to Iran’s secret weapons programs. In late June 2011, five Russian nuclear scientists who had been assisting Iran’s nuclear program died in a plane crash outside the northern Russian city of Petrozavodsk. In November 2010, Iranian nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari was killed in Tehran when a motorcyclist placed a bomb on the window of his car and sped away before it detonated. Another scientist, Fereydoun Abbasi, was wounded in an identical attack the same day. In August 2010, Reza Baruni, the mastermind of Iran’s top-secret military drone project, was killed when three explosions destroyed his house. The official version blamed a gas leak. The same day that Baruni died, three unmanned aerial vehicles launched from an unknown location smashed into the dome of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear reactor, killing five. Tehran later claimed this incident was part of a readiness test.

There has been some speculation that Israel is the force behind these events. Even if they are, I doubt that we will ever know. However, it’s good to know that someone is watching Iran’s nuclear program.

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Should Religion Influence Our Society ?

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CNS News is reporting today on former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s recent comments about CatholicBishops:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) on Thursday described America’s Roman Catholic bishops as “lobbyists in Washington, D.C.” in their efforts to persuade the Department of Health and Human Service to rescind a proposed regulation under the new health-care law that would require all health care plans to cover sterilizations and all-FDA approved contraceptives, including abortifacients.

This statement shows a total lack of understanding of the role the clergy has played in American history and the role of the church as a positive influence on the culture and on the government. The American church was a major force in the ending of slavery. The church in America has a history of voicing its opinion on social and more issues.

The article reports that Obamacare would not continue the current religious exemption granted to Catholic hospitals and Catholic charities regarding birth control and abortion–the hospitals and charities would have to provide both. That means that these organizations would have to either drop health insurance for their workers or provide services that are against their faith.

The article reports:

At an Oct. 4 fundraiser in St. Louis, Obama bragged about the new regulation that will require all health plans to cover contraceptives without any co-pay.

“No longer can insurance companies discriminate against women just because you guys are the ones who have to give birth,” Obama said.

An audience member than called out: “Darn right!”

Obama answered in turn: “Darin tooting,” he said.  “They have to cover things like mammograms and contraception as preventive care, no more out-of-pocket costs.”

Unless the administration rescinds the proposed regulation, it will go into affect on Aug. 1, 2012.

Catholic Bishops are not lobbyists–they are religious leaders concerned about the moral condition of the culture. They need to be respected and listened to when they speak about laws that go against their religious beliefs.

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