Paleocon Strikes!

Well, Nero allegedly fiddled while Rome burned. Why shouldn't Obama croon while the American economy collapses?

2012-01-27T03:47:00.001-06:00

2012-01-26T01:23:00.000-06:00

This news story is definitely at variance with President Barack Obama's

State of the Union Lies ... er ... I mean speech on Tuesday.

Fed Signals That a Full Recovery Is "Years Away"

By BINYAMIN APPELBAUM

Published: January 25, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve, declaring that the economy would need help for years to come, said Wednesday it would extend by 18 months the period that it plans to hold down interest rates in an effort to spur growth.
The Fed said that it now planned to keep short-term interest rates near zero until late 2014, continuing the transformation of a policy that began as shock therapy in the winter of 2008 into a six-year campaign to increase spending by rewarding borrowers and punishing savers.

The economy expanded “moderately” in recent weeks, the Fed said in a statement released after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee, but jobs were still scarce, the housing sector remained deeply depressed and Europe’s flirtation with crisis could undermine the nascent domestic recovery.
The Fed forecast growth of up to 2.7 percent this year, up to 3.2 percent next year and up to 4 percent in 2014, but at the end of that period, the central bank projected that the recovery would still be incomplete. Workers would still be looking for jobs, and businesses would still be looking for customers.

Truth in Taxation: Why 46 percent of American households will pay no federal individual income tax for fiscal year 2011

2012-01-25T23:10:00.000-06:00

‎"About 46 percent of American households will pay no federal individual income tax in 2011, roughly half of them because of structural features of the income tax that provide basic exemptions for subsistence level income and for dependents. The other half are nontaxable because tax expenditures— special provisions of the tax code that benefit selected taxpayers or activities—wipe out tax liabilities and, in the case of refundable credits, result in net payments from the government.
Most important of those tax expenditures are provisions that benefit senior citizens and low-income working families with children. While those factors particularly affect lower-income households, different provisions eliminate taxes for other households. Itemized deductions and credits for children and education are more important for middle-income households, while the relatively few high-income nontaxable households benefit most from above-the-line and itemized deductions and reduced tax rates on capital gains and dividends."

~ 'Why Some Units Pay No Income Tax," abstract, Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, available at http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/1001547-Why-No-Income-Tax.pdf

2012-01-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

Warren Buffet's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 and $500,000/Year
by Paul Roderick Gregory, forbes.com contributor

Insofar as Buffet (like Mitt Romney) earns income primarily from capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent (and according to Obama need to be raised for reasons of fairness), we need to determine how much income a taxpayer like Bosanek must earn in order to pay an average tax rate above fifteen percent. This is easy to do.

The IRS publishes detailed tax tables by income level. The latest results are for 2009. They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between$100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffet’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffet must pay Debbie Bosanke a salary above two hundred thousand.

....................................................................................................

I have nothing against Debbie Bosanke earning a half million or even more. Buffet is a major player in the world economy. His secretary deserves good compensation. At her income, however, she is scarcely the symbol of injustice that Obama wishes her to project. [More]

Sheesh! Obama can't even come up with NEW lies!

2012-01-25T13:27:00.000-06:00

The Truth vs Obama's State of the Union Lies

2012-01-24T22:43:00.002-06:00

“The President’s grand experiment in trickle-down government has held back rather than sped economic recovery. He seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars. In fact, it works the other way: a government as big and bossy as this one is maintained on the backs of the middle class, and those who hope to join it.

“Those punished most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight, and those so discouraged that they have abandoned the search for work altogether. And no one has been more tragically harmed than the young people of this country, the first generation in memory to face a future less promising than their parents did."

~ Governor Mitch Daniels (R-I) in the Republican response to the president's State of the Union Speech, excerpt

The Nerve of This Man

2012-01-12T21:59:00.002-06:00

Obama Asks Congress for Debt Limit Hike

President Obama formally notified Congress on Thursday of his intent to raise the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.2 trillion, two weeks after he hadpostponed the request to give lawmakers more time to consider the action.

Congress will have had 15 days to say no before the nation’s debt ceiling automatically is raised from $15.2 trillion to $16.4 trillion.
In a letter to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), Obama wrote that ”further borrowing is required to meet existing commitments.”

In other words, we overspent and need to borrow another cool TRILLION dollars from our Chinese masters to cover the difference. Is this what it's going to be form now on? Borrowing a trillion dollars every year "to meet existing commitments?" What commitments are those anyway? More money for bankrupt "green energy" companies that happened to be owned by Obama's campaign bundlers?

Welcome to Barack Hussein Obama's AMERIKA!

2012-01-11T22:41:00.002-06:00

Homeland Security Watches Twitter, Social Media

A "privacy compliance review" issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" which involves regular monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards."

Alarmed yet? You should be.

Hope and Lies

2012-01-11T22:25:00.003-06:00

Guantanamo Closure Hopes Fade as Prison Turns 10

Open for 10 years on Wednesday, the prison seems more established than ever. The deadline set by President Obama to close Guantanamo came and went two years ago. No detainee has left in a year because of restrictions on transfers, and indefinite military detention is now enshrined in U.S. law.

Gotta have a place to indefinitely imprison all those American citizens who are arrested without charge or trial, don't you know.

Maybe if she weren't so ... well ... angry.

2012-01-11T22:05:00.003-06:00

Michelle Obama Says People Have Inaccurately Cast Her As An "Angry Black Woman"

(AP) (AP/CBS News) WASHINGTON -- First lady Michelle Obama is challenging assertions she's forcefully imposed her will on White House aides and says people have inaccurately tried to portray her as "some kind of angry black woman."

Mrs. Obama tells CBS News she hasn't read New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor's new book that characterizes her as a behind-the-scenes force in the Executive Mansion, whose strong views often draw her into conflict with President Barack Obama's top advisers.

It's damage control time and a willing sycophant corporate media is eager to give Angry Black Woman in Chief Michelle Obama a venue for rebuttal of every damning information about her angry and confrontational behavior revealed in Kantor's book "The Obamas."

0bama in His Own Lying Words

2012-01-06T13:05:00.000-06:00

Defend Your Freedoms!

2012-01-03T17:59:00.003-06:00

Senator Rand Paul Defends American Citizens Against Indefinite Detention

2012-01-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

2012-01-02T21:58:00.001-06:00

Obama’s Signing Statement on NDAA: I have the power to detain Americans… but I won’t

2012-01-02T21:47:00.002-06:00

0bama's Imperial Presidency

"As Americans look upon the treacherous legislation passed under NDAA 2012, it it should first be remembered that the very bill President Obama threatened to veto was controversial due to the language the Obama White House itself pressured Congress to add to the bill, according to Sen. Carl Levin.
"Second, signing statements are not law, and are not a Constitutional power granted to the executive branch; any reassuring (or troubling) language within has no binding status– though it may shed light on the intent/character of the chief executive. However, the statement itself does not indicate any deviation of intent from the law as written and signed."

Didn't 0bama use to criticize Bush for "signing statements?" What a hypocrite! Besides, 0bama doesn't guarantee our constitutional rights. He can't say out of one side of his lying mouth that he has the power to indefinitely detain American citizens without evidence, charges or a trial while saying out of the other side of his lying mouth that he won't.

American Citizens off to Guantanamo

2012-01-02T21:38:00.004-06:00

President Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law

“Any hope that the Obama administration would roll back the constitutional excesses of George Bush in the war on terror was extinguished today. Thankfully, we have three branches of government, and the final word belongs to the Supreme Court, which has yet to rule on the scope of detention authority. But Congress and the president also have a role to play in cleaning up the mess they have created because no American citizen or anyone else should live in fear of this or any future president misusing the NDAA’s detention authority.”

~ Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director, on 0bama's signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDDA)

Inquiring Minds Want to Know ...

2012-01-02T21:35:00.001-06:00

The Slaves

2012-01-02T21:32:00.001-06:00

Praxagora: "I want all to have a share of everything and all property to be in common; there will no longer be either rich or poor; [...] I shall begin by making land, money, everything that is private property, common to all. [...]"

Blepyrus: "But who will till the soil?"

Praxagora: "The slaves."

Aristophanes
(tr. O'Neill 1938, Perseus)
Ecclesiazusae, line 590-591 & 597-598 & 651

The Controversy Heats Up: Is Barack Obama a Keynesian?

2011-09-11T02:49:00.001-05:00

Barack Obama: Aiding, Abbeting, Comforting and Fighting Alongside America's Enemies

2011-03-27T23:12:00.003-05:00

Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links

By Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan Gardham
5:00PM GMT
25 Mar 2011

In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya".
Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader".
His revelations came even as Idriss Deby Itno, Chad's president, said al-Qaeda had managed to pillage military arsenals in the Libyan rebel zone and acquired arms, "including surface-to-air missiles, which were then smuggled into their sanctuaries".
Mr al-Hasidi admitted he had earlier fought against "the foreign invasion" in Afghanistan, before being "captured in 2002 in Peshwar, in Pakistan". He was later handed over to the US, and then held in Libya before being released in 2008.
US and British government sources said Mr al-Hasidi was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, which killed dozens of Libyan troops in guerrilla attacks around Derna and Benghazi in 1995 and 1996.

Somehow I am not comforted to know America's firepower is being used to help al-Qaida "patriots" and "good Muslims" achieve political and military control of Libya.

Furst's Fits I

2011-03-25T22:01:00.005-05:00

It would appear that the Rochester Post-Bulletin's managing editor's full time occupation after hours is to sniff around for me in cyberspace.

Censors are nothing if intellectual cowards. Old school journalists are on their way out and not a moment too soon. They refuse to see that their medium is dying but their devotion to the dead tree format of news is more ardent than ever. Their intolerance for views that differ from their own is patently obvious. The only ones they are deceiving regarding their self-proclaimed "fairness" and "civility" are themselves.

Barack "Tomahawk" Obama's True Self

2011-03-25T22:00:00.004-05:00

Andrew Klavan: Lies! Deceit! Treachery! You Too Can Be a Mainstream Medi...

2011-02-09T14:06:00.000-06:00

2011-02-09T14:04:00.000-06:00

Tax "Cut" for The Rich Lies of the Left Exposed.

2010-12-13T21:35:00.000-06:00

The DREAM Act is a nightmare for Americans

2010-12-09T13:17:00.001-06:00

PASS THIS ON:...."Illegals are using a toll free number to call the senate to ask them to vote for the dream act and we can use it to ask them not to. And at the same time we will be blocking their calls. The number to call is 1-866-996-5161. This will be more effective then calling the senator office."

Don't allow Barack Obama, Democrats and illegal immigrants to hijack America. Fight back!

GROPE and Change

2010-11-23T13:12:00.000-06:00

Get America Back on Her Feet: Vote!

2010-11-01T17:02:00.003-05:00

A man gets on his knees next to a car carrying U.S. President Barack Obama as he pulls away from Valois restaurant in Chicago, October 31, 2010.

REUTERS/Larry Downing

Paleocon's 2010 Electoral Picks

2010-10-31T23:07:00.002-05:00

Minnesota Governor: Tom Emmer

First Congressional District: Randy Demmer

House District 28B: Steve Drazkowski

House District 30B: Mike Benson

House District 30A: Charlie O'Connell

Senate District 29: Dave Senjem

Senate District 30: Carla Nelson

House District 29B: Mike Rolih

House District 29A: Duane Quam

Rochester School Board Seat 2: Gary Smith

Rochester School Board Seat 4: Susan Nee

Rochester School Board Seat 5: Terry Throndson

Rochester School Board Seat 6: Anne Becker

Olmsted County Sheriff: Dave Mueller

Olmsted County Board: Mark Stadtherr

Rochester Mayor: Pat Carr, my only protest vote

Rochester City Council Ward 3: Dean Rich

Rochester City Council Ward 5: Shaun Palmer

Are Conservatives "Extremists?"

2010-10-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

Four Weeks! The Writing in on the Wall

2010-10-06T21:08:00.002-05:00

The Omen

2010-10-06T21:00:00.000-05:00

Eco Nazism: "No Pressure"

2010-10-04T12:32:00.004-05:00

"No Pressure," a "10:10" global warming ad campaign partially funded by the British government, was scrubbed almost immediately after its release. It has been taken offline as its producers issued an apology.

CAUTION: GRAPHIC. The ad depicts people getting blown up for not agreeing to abide by a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint even though the pledge was supposedly voluntary and there would be "no pressure" for them to do so. If you are uncomfortable with the sight of cinematic reproductions of blood and gore, please refrain from watching this video.

Obamacare in Action: Told You So

2010-09-28T16:50:00.004-05:00

The Anatomy of a Hostile Government Takeover
Obamacare at six months
by James C. Capretta
National Review Online

During the long national debate over the future of American health care, President Obama frequently chastised his opponents for launching exaggerated attacks on his plan for “reform.” He took particular exception to the criticism that the changes he was pushing amounted to a government takeover of the whole health sector. He knew full well that this kind of criticism might derail the entire effort in Congress, because most Americans recoil at the thought of a distant and bureaucratic federal government running the health-care system for everyone. So Obama vigorously denied that his program would lead to any such thing. In his Aug. 8, 2009, radio address, he described the “takeover” accusation as “outlandish” and characterized his approach as a mainstream and moderate attempt simply to reform the nation’s private health-insurance system.
It’s now been six months since Congress passed Obamacare — not a long time given the sweeping nature of the legislation and the long phase-in schedule for its most significant provisions. Even so, it is already abundantly clear that Obamacare’s critics were dead right: The new health law has set in motion a government takeover of American health care, and a very hostile one at that. The Obama administration’s clumsy and overbearing behavior since its passage proves the point. [More]

REBEL or be marched into the Obamacare gulag!

For the Bug Boy

2010-09-28T16:50:00.001-05:00

Mark Dayton's Wealthy Hypocrisy

2010-09-09T16:52:00.001-05:00

THE LIE: "Class Warrior"

THE TRUTH: "Wealthy Trust Fund Baby"

The Choice: "Unfit for Office"

And Now, Words from a REAL President ... II

2010-09-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

I've had my share of victories in the Congress, but what few people noticed is that I never won anything you didn't win for me. They never saw my troops; they never saw Reagan's Regiments, the American people. You won every battle with every call you made and letter you wrote demanding action.

Well, action is still needed. If we're to finish the job, Reagan's Regiments will have to become the Bush Brigades. Soon he'll be the chief, and he'll need you every bit as much as I did.

Finally, there is a great tradition of warnings in presidential farewells, and I've got one that's been on my mind for some time.But oddly enough it starts with one of the things I'm proudest of the past eight years: the resurgence of national pride that I called "the new patriotism." This national feeling is good, but it won't count for much, and it won't last unless it's grounded in thoughtfulness and knowledge.

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world?

Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American, and we absorbed almost in the air a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that too through the mid-'60s.

But now we're about to enter the '90s, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer in style.

Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise--and freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.

We've got to teach history based not on what's in fashion but what's important: Why the pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant. You know, four years ago, on the 40th anniversary of D-Day, I read a letter from a young woman writing to her late father, who'd fought on Omaha Beach. Her name is Lisa Zanatta Henn, and she said, we will always remember, we will never forget what the boys of Normandy did. Well, let's help her keep her word.

If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I am warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit.

Let's start with some basics--more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual. And let me offer lesson No. 1 about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So tomorrow night in the kitchen I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

~ Ronald Wilson Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, Farewell Address, January 12, 1989

FAIL!

2010-09-07T16:45:00.001-05:00

Congress Republicans wary of Obama economy plan
Tue Sep 7, 2010 2:33pm EDT
* Obama under pressure to create jobs
* To lay out plan on Wednesday
* Control of Congress in play at election
By Thomas Ferraro and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Republicans in the U.S. Congress showed little willingness to help President Barack Obama approve $350 billion worth of measures to boost the economy with midterm elections less than two months away.
Obama's plans for billions of dollars in tax breaks for businesses are policies that Republicans typically embrace, but the party has little motivation to give the Democratic White House a win with polls showing them gaining seats in Congress -- possibly winning both houses.
Obama will announce his plans to stimulate the sagging U.S. economy -- including the tax breaks and new spending on transportation projects -- in a speech on Wednesday in Cleveland.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday there was little appetite for new economic proposals from Obama, arguing that the $814 billion stimulus that the president already pushed through Congress in early 2009 has not had the desired effect.
"After the administration pledged that a trillion dollars in borrowed stimulus money would create 4 million jobs and keep the unemployment rate under 8 percent, their latest plan for another stimulus should be met with justifiable skepticism," he said.
Obama needs support from the Republicans, who are far outnumbered by Democrats in Congress but are nonetheless able to block legislation. [More]

Obama Goes Berserk Over "Birthers" and Beck

2010-08-30T22:23:00.001-05:00

"Network of Misinformation": the New "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" Returns

2010-08-30T14:30:00.006-05:00

Flash back:

Flash forward:

Obama blasts "lies," "disinformation"

By GLENN THRUSH 8/29/10 7:11 PM EDT
Updated: 8/30/10 9:22 AM EDT

President Barack Obama dismissed a recent poll showing that a third of Americans don’t know he’s a Christian – and blamed an online campaign of misinformation by his conservative enemies for perpetuating the myth that he’s a Muslim.

Obama, speaking with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday afternoon, was equally dismissive of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck – saying he didn’t watch the Fox host’s Saturday rally in Washington but wasn’t surprised that Beck was able to “stir up” people during uncertain economic times.
Continue Reading“I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” quipped Obama, who took a deep breath to gather his thoughts when asked if the poll reflected his inability to communicate with voters.“The facts are the facts. We went through some of this during the campaign — there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” said a visibly annoyed Obama, referring to “birthers,” who have waged a guerrilla campaign questioning either the existence or the validity of his Hawaiian birth certificate.

Former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton must be beaming with pride.

Flash back:

Will Nancy Pelosi "Drain the Swamp?"

2010-08-30T14:20:00.005-05:00

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson violated rules, steered scholarships to relatives
By TODD J. GILLMAN and CHRISTY HOPPE

The Dallas Morning News
tgillman@dallasnews.com
choppe@dallasnews.com
Longtime Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson has awarded thousands of dollars in college scholarships to four relatives and a top aide's two children since 2005, using foundation funds set aside for black lawmakers' causes.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)
The recipients were ineligible under anti-nepotism rules of the Congressional Black CaucusFoundation, which provided the money. And all of the awards violated a foundation requirement that scholarship winners live or study in a caucus member's district.
Johnson, a Democrat, denied any favoritism when asked about the scholarships last week. Two days later, she acknowledged in a statement released by her office that she had violated the rules but said she had done so "unknowingly" and would work with the foundation to "rectify the financial situation."
Initially, she said, "I recognized the names when I saw them. And I knew that they had a need just like any other kid that would apply for one." Had there been more "very worthy applicants in my district," she added, "then I probably wouldn't have given it" to the relatives.
.........................................................................................................................................................
Johnson awarded nine to 11 scholarships a year from 2005 to 2008, the most recent years for which information was available. Each of those years, three or four winners were related to her or her district director, Rod Givens. Johnson said she divided the available funds equally among recipients, and every qualified applicant got a scholarship.
The foundation asks applicants to certify that they aren't related to those associated with the caucus or the foundation, but it does not specify which relationships that includes.
Scholarships have gone to two of the congresswoman's grandsons,Kirk and David Johnson; to two of her great-nephews, Gregory and Preston Moore; and to Givens' son and daughter. Givens did not respond to requests for comment, and none of the scholarship recipients could be reached.
[More]

Let's hear it for Democrat "culture of corruption."

To be fair, Speaker Pelosi vowed to fight the "Republican" culture of corruption.

Sarah Palin's Keynote Speech at Glenn Beck's "Restore Honor" rally in Washington, D.C. today

2010-08-28T12:24:00.001-05:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Krugman Admits Obama, Biden, Bernanke are Lying About Economic Recovery

2010-08-27T00:30:00.007-05:00

OK, so Paul Krugman, in his most recent snow job poorly disguised as an op-ed column in the NY Times, neglects to mention that both President Obama and Vice President Biden have not missed an opportunity to tout "The Summer of Recovery" for months now. Krugman, a one time cheerleader of the Obama administration before he realized that they aren't quite as radical for his Bolshevik tastes, is downright frustrated:

[W]e can safely predict what [Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke] and other officials will say about where we are right now: that the economy is continuing to recover, albeit more slowly than they would like. Unfortunately, that’s not true: this isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters.

Krugman decries the fact that Obama's initial "stimuls," which opponents have dubbed "porkulus," was not quite big enough (GASP!). The NY Times chief Obama economics apologist has a couple of suggestions for the administration. Hold for laughter.

[The Obama administration] can use Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored lenders, to engineer mortgage refinancing that puts money in the hands of American families

Excuse me, but aren't Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac responsible for the mess we are in to begin with? There is nothing to "revamp." "Engineer mortgage refinancing?" Didn't they already engineer a scheme that brought the housing market to its knees and precipitated the current economic crisis? Lending money to people who can't possibly pay it back is stupid. Keep doing it and it's criminal.

[The Obama administration] can finally get serious about confronting China over its currency manipulation: how many times do the Chinese have to promise to change their policies, then renege, before the administration decides that it’s time to act?

What moral authority does Obama have to confront China about anything, much less monetary policy? We are indebted to the Chinese up to our eyeballs, Paul!

Krugman is telling us that there is no recovery. Perhaps it's time he realizes his remedies are what's killing the patient, in this case, the American economy. How many more times does the Keynesian lunacy have to fail before Krugman gives up on it?

I Have Been a "Runaway Slave" for Years and Didn't Know It

2010-08-26T17:46:00.000-05:00

The Smell of Liberal Fear in the Air

2010-08-26T16:54:00.001-05:00

Primary election results across the country have Democrats shaking in their collectivist boots. The NY Times, a propaganda tool of the Obama administration masquerading as a news organization, is throwing down the gauntlet:

Much of the G.O.P’s fervid populist energy has been churned up by playing on some people’s fears of Hispanics and Muslims, by painting the president as a dangerous radical, by distorting the truth about the causes of the recession. Far too many Republican leaders have eagerly fed that destructive anger.

And where are the Democrats in all of this? Last time we checked, they were fleeing solid accomplishments on health care, financial reform and the economy. President Obama and his party have little time left to gin up enthusiasm and a lot more committed voters. [More]

What's "angry" about dissenting from the party line? If Democrats have had such "solid accomplishments," 10% unemployment, revolving bailouts, deepening debt and skyrocketing deficits among them, why are they "fleeing?"

Be Careful What You Wish For ...

2010-08-26T16:49:00.000-05:00

The voices in Mark Dayton's head have been telling him to denounce Republican trackers for disrupting his events and limiting or blocking the access of voters to him even though it has not happened. The DFL candidate for Minnesota Governor has suggested that the trackers wear shirts that identify them as such and they have happily complied.

Real Men Detest Barack Obama

2010-08-24T18:43:00.004-05:00

Obama's Approval Hits All-Time Low of 39 Percent Among Men, Says Gallup

Tuesday, August 24, 2010
By Terence P. Jeffrey, Editor-in-Chief

(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama’s job approval rating among American men has fallen to a record low, hitting 39 percent in the week of Aug. 16-22, according to the Gallup Poll.

The week of Aug. 16-22 also marked the first time Obama’s average weekly approval rating dropped below 40 percent for either gender. His approval rating among American women was 46 percent for the week.

When Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, his job approval rating was 64 percent among men and 69 percent among women, according to Gallup. That was the highest his approval ever hit with men. [More]

This is Who Olmsted County DFLers Are

2010-08-24T17:45:00.007-05:00

My second grader came to my wife this afternoon to inform her, in an alarmed voice, that someone had written the "F-word" on the Tom Emmer for Governor sign we have in our yard. Here's the coward's handiwork:

After I took these pictures, my second grader asked me if I was mad. It became an opportunity to teach an important lesson. "No, I'm not mad," I said. "This only confirms what I have known and told you about these people all along."

DFLers are desperate and they are vulgar. Whoever has defaced our sign would never have the courage to knock on my door or the intelligence to articulate a reasoned position against Tom's candidacy. It's easier to stick a sharpie in his pocket, wait until no one is around and scribble profanities on a lawn sign for elementary school children to read than take the high road, be tolerant of other people's point of view and respect their property.

And Now, Words from a REAL President ...

2010-08-18T12:46:00.000-05:00

Out-of-touch Obama: "Social Security is Not in Crisis"

2010-08-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

Social Security has become a campaign issue this August, as Democrats have hit their Republican opponents for supporting privatization, and as Congressman Paul Ryan, the GOP's current fiscal idea man has suggested we privatize Social Security and make some drastic changes to Medicare.

It's undeniable that Social Security faces some big challenges, with baby boomers retiring and with fewer workers paying into the system to support them. But President Obama reassured a small crowd in Columbus, Ohio today that the situation isn't so dire.

"Here's the thing," Obama said when asked about privatizing Social Security by a woman in the audience. "Social Security is not in crisis."

Obama has opposed privatizing Social Security, and he told the crows that privatization is not on the table. "Social Security should not be privatized, and it will not be privatized as long as I'm president," he said.

"We're going to need to make some modest adjustments to strengthen it. There are some fairly modest changes that can be made without resorting to any newfangled schemes that would continue Social Security for another 75 years," Obama told the crowd. [More]

I love this bit:

"What we've done is we've created a fiscal commission" to propose deficit-reduction measures, some of which could include adjustments to Social Security, Obama said. The commission is being headed by former Republican House Whip Alan Simpson and Clinton White House aide Erskine Bowles. It will issue policy proposals in December; if the commission can agree on legislative language, Congress could take it up for a vote.

IF the commission agrees on legislative language? Congress COULD take it up for a vote? Like more bureaucracy would really fill the Social Security bottomless hole.

Keep Talking, Joe!

2010-06-28T17:07:00.000-05:00

More "Sham" Than "Wow"

2010-06-16T17:04:00.000-05:00

2010-06-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

Obama's MSNBC lamestream media cronies are disappointed in their master's oil spill address from the Oval Office last night.

Obama's @$$-kicking Song

2010-06-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

So, Who's LYING? Sestak or The White House?

2010-05-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama's Environmental Incompetence Evident Even to Liberals

2010-05-26T13:15:00.000-05:00

Greece, anyone?

2010-05-20T23:52:00.003-05:00

Padded Pensions Add to New York Fiscal Woes
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH and AMY SCHOENFELD

In Yonkers, more than 100 retired police officers and firefighters are collecting pensions greater than their pay when they were working. One of the youngest, Hugo Tassone, retired at 44 with a base pay of about $74,000 a year. His pension is now $101,333 a year.

It’s what the system promised, said Mr. Tassone, now 47, adding that he did nothing wrong by adding lots of overtime to his base pay shortly before retiring. “I don’t understand how the working guy that held up their end of the bargain became the problem,” he said.

Despite a pension investigation by the New York attorney general, an audit concluding that some police officers in the city broke overtime rules to increase their payouts and the mayor’s statements that future pensions should be based on regular pay, not overtime, these practices persist in Yonkers.

The city has even arranged for its police to put in overtime as flagmen on Consolidated Edison construction sites. Though a company is paying the bill, the city is actually reporting the work as city overtime to the New York State pension fund, padding future payouts — an arrangement at odds with the spirit of public employment, if not the law.

The Yonkers experience shows how errors, misunderstandings and wishful thinking are piling hidden new costs onto New York’s public pension system every year, worsening the state’s current fiscal crisis. And the problem is not just in New York. Public pension costs are ballooning everywhere, throwing budgets out of whack and raising the question of whether venerable state pension systems are viable.

In fact, the cost of public pensions has been systemically underestimated nationwide for more than two decades, say some analysts. By these estimates, state and local officials have promised $5 trillion worth of benefits while thinking they were committing taxpayers to roughly half that amount.[More]

Does anyone think that this practice is sustainable? There aren't enough "rich" people to pay for government corruption, abuse and excess.

Editor-in-Chief

2010-04-22T12:25:00.001-05:00

Bailouts = Payola

2010-04-20T22:09:00.005-05:00

Goldman Employees Donated $1 MILLION to Obama Campaign

By John McCormick - Apr 20, 2010
U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias pushed his Republican opponent in Illinois to give back donations from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. without saying whether President Barack Obama should return almost $1 million that bank employees contributed to his White House bid.

Obama, a political mentor and basketball buddy to Giannoulias, received the money from employees and their family members, making Goldman Sachs second only to the University of California as his biggest single source for donors in 2007 and 2008, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Mark Kirk, the congressman competing against Giannoulias for the seat once held by Obama, ranks sixth for donations from Goldman employees, the center’s data shows. The top five are Democratic Congressman Michael McMahon of New York, Republican Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, and three other New York Democrats: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Representative Scott Murphy and Senator Charles Schumer.[More]

Crooks all. Republicans and Democrats alike. Give back the money NOW and keep your grubby hands out of the financial market. Whatever legislation they pass will do absolutely NOTHING to keep them from getting their hands greased again and again.

To Sir: Where is the Love?

2010-04-12T22:40:00.003-05:00

Rochester, MN, Willow Creek Middle School EBD Teacher Scott McDonald has no love for the Tea Party Movement. Last Friday he sent the following email to all of his fellow Independent School District 535 instructors:

From: MACDONALD, SCOTT
Sent: Fri 4/9/2010 12:06 PM
To: *ELEMENTARY TCHRS; *MIDDLE SCHOOL TCHRS; *HIGH SCHOOL TCHRS
Subject: Protest

If you are interested in combating the lies and ignorance of the Tea Party Movement, they have scheduled a rally April 15th at 5:30 pm at Soldier’s Field of all places. I will have an air horn and a few extra signs to spare but feel free to bring your own. Hope to see you there.

Problem is, McDonald used the school district's email system to disseminate his politically charged message. The Rochester P-B reports that Superintendent Romain Dallemand "plans to investigate the matter." We'll see. This is further evidence of the power of the Tea Party Movement and how unhinged the opposition has become.

Parenthetically, I think it's funny that McDonald would have "a few extra signs to spare." Astroturf, anyone?

We're NOT Democrats: Steele Must Go!

2010-04-08T13:24:00.002-05:00

Republican National Committe Chairman Michael Steele's silence and inaction over illegitimate, inappropriate and immoral reimbursements on the RNC's dime followed by his cowardly insinuation that criticism of him is at least partially based on racism have no room in the fiscally conservative, family values party.

Mike Benson: An Adult for House District 30B

2010-04-06T21:37:00.004-05:00

Take Back the 20!

2010-03-29T17:42:00.000-05:00

We're "The Party of Hell, No"

2010-03-27T21:41:00.000-05:00

Barack Obama and their media minions are doing their darn worst to falsely characterize recent acts of vandalism and threatening messages as acts coordinated by Republicans and the Tea Party Movement, particularly former Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Far from being intimidated, Palin has come out swinging as she paraphrased Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's description of the Republicans not as the "Party of No" but the "Party of HELL NO!"

The administration and media attempts to shame and smear conservatives is blowing up in their faces. The more they smear principled Americans who dissent from Barack Obama's and Congressional Democrats' abuses, the more their ranks swell.

Meet Jim Engstrand

2010-03-24T21:53:00.003-05:00

Jim Engstrand is a veteran who has served in combat areas and wants to serve First District with the same honor and distinction with which he served the country in uniform.

Jim Engstrand is a 22-year Armed Forces veteran who is seeking the nomination for First District Congress. He has reserved space at Whistle Binkies North and South for a meet and greet with delegates and potential supporters on Thursday, March 25 at the following times and locations:

South Binkies 5:30– 7pm

247 Woodlake Dr. SE

Rochester, MN 55904

507-424-1227

North Binkies 7:30– 9pm

3120 Wellner Drive NE

Rochester, MN 55906

Their website is http://www.whistlebinkiespub.com/

Bend Over, America!

2010-03-24T16:58:00.003-05:00

Stupak Payola

2010-03-23T18:02:00.002-05:00

Obama Administration Awarded Hundreds of Thousands in Airport Grants to Stupak’s District Two Days Before Vote

Was this Yet Another Backroom Deal to Force Obama’s Bill Down the American People’s Throats?

Three airports in the district of infamous fence-sitting and ultimately kowtowing Democrat Bart Stupak were awarded $726,409 in grants by the Obama Administration just two days before a vote on Obama and Pelosi’s government takeover of healthcare.

Did Stupak compromise his supposed principled stand against taxpayer funding of abortion in exchange for taxpayer dollars for pet projects?

See the list of payola projects here. For all of Stupak's self-righteous posturing about being a "pro-life" Democrat, as if such an animal existed outside the realm of his delusional fantasy world, before Sunday's vote, his mind was made up for him two days prior to the health care showdown.

Washington was corrupt enough before Obama but now his "Chicago Way" has brought a new brand of rot and moral decay to the nation's capital.

Doctor Obama Will See You Now

2010-03-23T17:57:00.003-05:00

"This is What Corruption Looks Like"

2010-03-22T21:17:00.000-05:00

Judas Stupakariot

2010-03-21T20:49:00.009-05:00

In his most shameful quid pro quo yet, Barack Obama bought off the votes of Rep. Bart Stupak and his supposedly pro-life Democrat coalition with the promise of issuing an executive order barring the use of federal funds for abortions once the socialist health care distortion bill is approved by the House of Representatives.

Barack Obama has done something that even Bill Clinton, the most shameless president in American history until up to a little over a year ago, never dared to do: he threw Planned Parenthood and the abortion obsessed base of the Democrat Party under the bus.

Democrat Candor: "If you don't tie our hands, we'll keep stealing."

2010-03-19T22:34:00.001-05:00

Obama's Health Care Lies

2010-03-17T21:27:00.004-05:00

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about what the procedural rules are in the House or Senate. What I can tell you is that the vote that's taken in the House will be a vote for health care reform. And if people vote yes, whatever form that takes, that is going to be a vote for health care reform. And I don't think we should pretend otherwise. And if they don't, if they vote against it, then they're going to be voting against health care reform and they're going to be voting in favor of the status quo."

~ Barack, The Liar

The pretense comes from Obama and his minions in Congress. The truth is altogether different from what the president claims. The procedural rules that would circumvent the Constitution have Obama's stamp of approval on them. Moreover, if Obama and Pelosi have their way, the House won't vote on the bill at all. If the "Slaughter Solution" is approved, the senate version of the Democrat's healthscare bill would go to Obama for signature without a single vote taken in the House.

Notice how Obama tries to dodge the question as to whether crooked deals like the "Louisiana Purchase," the "Cornhusker Kickback" and the "Gator Aid" are part of the final bill.

Kudos to FNC's Bret Baier for not allowing Obama to filibuster answers.

Obamacare's "Final Solution": Slaughter the Constitution

2010-03-15T22:13:00.009-05:00

Louise Slaughters the Constitution

House aid confirms Slaughter Solution never used before; Still, 'they are moving down that road'

By: Mark Tapsc

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have never before been asked to pass legislation by "deeming" it approved under a House rule instead of following the process required by the U.S. Constitution in which they actually vote on the proposal itself, according to a senior aide to House Republicans.

The procedure - dubbed by critics as the "Slaughter Solution" - is the brain-child of House Rules Committee Chairman Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-NY, who, at the request of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, is trying to fashion a rule that would allow the House to move toward passage of a health care reform bill without a recorded vote on the Senate version.[More]

Meanwhile, the Constitution, that ever-evolving document in the socialist's feeble mind, states the following:

U.S Constitution, Article I, Section VII, Clause II. Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by Yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively...

What the "Slaughter Solution" essentially means is an end run on the Constitution of the United States of America for the sake of Big Brotha's shameful legacy. The Chicago Way has infected Washington under the auspices of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

Tea Party Power!

2010-03-11T21:23:00.003-06:00

First District Republican candidate Jim Engstrand

1,046 Days to Go: Hang in There, America!

2010-03-11T13:30:00.000-06:00

Dan Rather Wouldn't Buy Watermelons From This Man

2010-03-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

Barack Obama's War on Jobs: Mission Accomplished

2010-03-05T12:48:00.000-06:00

Payrolls fall by 36,000; U.S. jobless rate steady at 9.7%

By Rex Nutting, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. nonfarm payrolls declined for the 25th time in the past 26 months, falling by 36,000 in February to a seasonally adjusted 129.5 million, the Labor Department estimated Friday.
The nation's jobless rate was steady at 9.7% as the number of people employed rose by 308,000, according to the household survey.
Severe snowstorms during the survey week may have depressed the payroll count, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics said it could not quantify the impact. Read the full report on the Labor Department website.
Ahead of the report, economists cautioned against reading too much into the data, in light of the likely impact of the storms. It'll take until April before a clean count can be given. [More]

Wait until April and they will revise the unemployment rate upwards more likely. Blaming the weather for the 9.7% unemployment number is voodo. There is absolutely no way they can blame one factor on the disappointing report.

We are being lied to. Again. And for the sake of propaganda.

How's the president's "focus" on jobs working for America?

Obama is the reverse Midas. Everything he touches turns to crap.

"No Fingers Left to Wag": Corrupt Democrats and Their Hypocrite Leadership Exposed

2010-03-05T12:45:00.007-06:00

Democrats Mired in Swamp They Vowed to Drain
Thursday, 04 Mar 2010 06:35 PM

A rash of ethics lapses has given Democrats an election-year headache: how to convince skeptical voters that they're any cleaner than Republicans they accused of fostering a "culture of corruption" in 2006.

From the conduct of governors in Illinois and New York to backroom deals over President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, Democrats are drawing their own criticism when it comes to the ethics of public officials.

The party that pledged to "drain the swamp" if given control of Congress finds itself sinking in the muck nine months from Election Day, when every member of the House and 36 Senate seats will be chosen.

The sword of sanctimony cuts both ways, warns a Republican felled by his own scandal in the weeks before the 2006 elections, as then-Rep. Nancy Pelosi led the campaign cry to end "the culture of corruption that has thrived under this Republican Congress."

"If you claim that you are going to hold a group accountable, as she professed, then it requires you to really be serious about that and not make excuses when members of their own party don't meet those same standards," former Rep. Mark Foley, who resigned weeks before the 2006 election because of allegations he pursued former House pages, told The Associated Press.

Anyone who believed Speaker of the House self-righteous pronouncements that she and the Democratic Party majority were going to change the Republican "culture of corruption" in Congress are either woefully or wilfully ignorant of the morally bankrupt recent history of the the socialist party itself.

While peddling a crusade against "The Culture of Corruption," Pelosi managed to secure "A Monopoly on Corruption" for her party and administration. From Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's tax evasion to Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd's sweet mortgage deal from Countrywide, corruption and wrongdoing have been the hallmark of Pelosi's tenure and Obama's presidency.

And now, Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, is forced to "temporarily" give up the chairmanship of the tax-writing arm of the United State Congress because he has cheated on his taxes. You can't make that up, folks.

2010-03-04T13:30:00.000-06:00

Obama's audience for health care: House Democrats

A group of health care professionals watched President Obama's speech yesterday at the White House; cable television networks also tuned in.

But neither the live crowd nor the television viewers appeared to be his primary audience. Instead, Obama seemed to speaking to wavering House Democrats -- particularly the more conservative Democrats -- who hold the keys to the "up-or-down" health care vote that the president demanded.

It won't be easy. For example, Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., told ABC's Good Morning America, he will oppose the president unless anti-abortion language is included in a final bill.

One of the arguments Obama presented in order to convince "wavering" Dems that they should pass his health care abomination bill is that "government can work." Notice he didn't say that it does, only that it "can." Sounds like even he admits it hasn't yet.

Dems are not "wavering." They are scared spitiless and won't fall on their swords for Obama.

Obamacare 2.139

2010-03-03T21:58:00.004-06:00

Time to act on health care, Obama declares

Mar 3 02:59 PM US/Eastern

By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama urged Congress Wednesday to vote "up or down" on sweeping health care legislation in the next few weeks, endorsing a plan that denies Senate Republicans the right to kill the bill by stalling with a filibuster.
"I don't see how another year of negotiations would help. Moreover, the insurance companies aren't starting over," Obama said, rejecting Republican calls to begin anew on an effort to remake the health care system.
The president made his appeal as Democratic leaders in Congress surveyed their rank and file for the votes needed to pass legislation by majority vote—invoking rules that deny Senate Republicans the right to block it through endless stalling debate. Obama specifically endorsed that approach
GOP leaders were unmoved, despite Obama's declaration that he had incorporated a few of their proposals into his revised legislation.
The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said a decision by Democrats to invoke rules that bar filibusters would be "met with outrage" by the public, and he said Obama was pushing a sweeping bill that voters don't want.
"They've had enough of this yearlong effort to get a win for the Democratic Party at any price to the American people," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
At its core, Obama's proposal would extend health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans while cracking down on insurance company practices such as denying coverage on the basis of a pre-existing medical condition.
With his remarks, delivered at the White House, Obama took the lead in a bid by congressional Democrats to mount a party-line rescue mission for the health care legislation that appeared on the cusp of passage late last year, only to be derailed when Republicans won a Massachusetts Senate seat that gave them the ability to block it.
There is still no certainty about the outcome—or even that Democrats will agree to the series of changes that Obama said represented Republican contributions.[More]

It's the totalitarian way. Al Gore said the same thing about "global warming" when he unilaterally declared that "the debate is over." Obama has declared that everything that needs to be said about health care reform has been said and that he will be the final arbitrer. The man's arrogance has no limits.

Obama's challenge continues to be his own corrupt party's inability to coalesce around a single bill. December elections are weighing heavier on Democrats' minds than Obama's legacy.

Democrat Culture of Corruption

2010-03-03T21:24:00.006-06:00

“In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work.”

~ Self-serving congressman Charlie Rangel (D-NY) on the deep ethical doodoo he is in.

Rangel Steps Aside from Post During Ethics Inquiry

By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York announced on Wednesday that he would temporarily step down from his powerful post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in an attempt to avert a politically bruising fight over permanently stripping the gavel from his hands.
But Republicans on Wednesday afternoon said they had received a ruling from the presiding officer of the House that Mr. Rangel’s decision had indeed permanently removed him from the helm of the committee, which exerts enormous legislative influence in the House as it controls legislation involving taxes and revenues.
The events set in motion intense jockeying for advantage just as the House and Senate Democrats try to accelerate action on health care legislation.
“In order to avoid my colleagues having to defend me during their elections, I have this morning sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence until such time as the ethics committee completes its work” on a number of accusations against him, the congressman said in a hurriedly scheduled meeting with reporters.
The ethics committee admonished Mr. Rangel last week for violating Congressional gift rules by accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.[More]

Ironically, later in the NY Times piece, we read the following:

"Mr. Rangel’s announcement came as Republicans were pressing for a vote calling for his ouster, while several Democrats had already made clear that they would no longer support Mr. Rangel."

Democrats were not going to defend Mr. Rangel during the next election. They would rather throw him under the proverbial bus sooner rather than later, i.e. during the thick of the midterm elections. And don't even get me going on the sham of "temporarily stepping down" from the powerful chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee," the tax writing arm of Congress. Rangel is a crook and a cheat.

Wasn't Pelosi going to deal with the "culture of corruption" in Congress? Instead, she's become an enabler.

Annie, Get Your Gun: It's Open Season on RINOs

2010-03-02T22:51:00.010-06:00

“I think the message is pretty clear: conservatism has never been stronger than it is today, and we are taking our country back.”

~ Texas Governor Rick Perry, during his gubernatorial primary victory speech after defeating RINO senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the Republican nomination.

Hutchison Concedes Texas G.O.P. Primary to Perry
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr. and CLIFFORD KRAUSS

HOUSTON — A year ago, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison had all the advantages when she laid her plans to run for governor: a high popularity rating, a party shaken by President Obama's victory, a big bankroll and, most important, the backing of influential Republicans, who felt the incumbent governor, Rick Perry , was too divisive and too conservative.
But by the time Republican voters went to the polls here in a primary on Tuesday, the political ground had shifted under Senator Hutchison, who lost in a three-way race to Mr. Perry.
Early on, he had courted the Tea Party movement and had wooed social conservatives worried about abortion and right-wing Republicans fed up with Congress. Throughout the campaign, Mr. Perry had run against Washington, portraying Ms. Hutchison as a spendthrift who had supported pork barrel projects and the bailout for the banks.
Speaking to supporters on Tuesday night in Driftwood, Tex., the governor said the election had proven the conservative movement in America was alive and well despite the Obama presidency.
“I think the message is pretty clear: conservatism has never been stronger than it is today, and we are taking our country back,” Mr. Perry said.
So strong was the anti-Washington sentiment here that a political neophyte from the far-right wing of the Republican Party, Debra Medina, came in third in the race with a respectable showing, despite having only a fraction of the money of Mr. Perry and Ms. Hutchison.
The senator called the governor and conceded defeat at 9:30 p.m. Central time, when the returns showed she was losing 31 percent to 52 percent, putting Mr. Perry over the mark he needed to avoid a run-off. She thanked her supporters, including former President George Bush, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Vice President Dick Cheney .
“It has been a long road and a hard-fought campaign, but tonight we fell short,” she said, calling on the party to unite behind the governor.
Mr. Perry will face Bill White, the former mayor of Houston, in the general election. Mr. White cruised to an easy victory over six other Democrats.
“You have got to give Rick Perry and his team a great deal of credit for being the longest-serving governor in Texas history and still running a campaign as an outsider,” said Mark Sanders, a Republican consultant. “Outsiders are what people want right now.”
The Republican primary in Texas reflects the grass-roots rebellion among conservatives against moderate Republicans and Democrats that has shaken up politics across the country, beginning with the defeat of the Democratic candidate for Senate in Massachusetts by Scott Brown, a Republican.

RINOs and Democrats beware! The American people are coming for you.

Parenthetically, Perry knows that the Tea Party Movement is instrumental in restoring fiscal and political sanity to the government.

Update: The NY York Times update the headline for the story above. It now reads, "'Yes for Governor Is 'No" to Washington." I guess they figure the story was about Perry's victory, not Hutchison's defeat. There may be hope for the lamestream media yet.

Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Forum at the Ramada Inn, Rochester, Minnesota

2010-02-26T19:18:00.007-06:00

Over 100 people attended tonight's Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Forum featuring leanding contenders Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Delano) and Marty Seifert (R-Marshall). The forum was moderated by the indefaticable author, historian and political commentator Tom Ostrom.

Keynote speaker and former First District Congressman Gil Gutknencht exorted those in attendance not to be overconfident in the face of the Obama admnistration's recent failings and weaknesses, reminding them that the purpose of a political party is to offer superior ideas. He also asked three very pointed questions for reflection:

"Are Republicans prepared to win the seats Democrats are expected to lose?"

"How long can Minnesota continue to export wealth and import dependence?"

"Are we consigning future generations to a lower standard of living?"

And following Minnesota Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton's rousing speech regarding the unique electoral opportunities before Republican candidates this fall, the forum began with a series of questions:

GMAC: What do you know about it?

Seifert: Voted to deconstruct the program and move the beneficiaries to other programs. GAMC is growing above and beyond capacity to pay for itself.

Emmer: The wrong idea at the wrong time. $400 million dollars every two years for 40,000 people. You can not continue to make deals on things that do not work.

Pull government out of those programs. It's time to negotiate outcomes that are based on less government. More government is not the solution.

Q: How would you prioritize the state budget and balance the books?

Emmer: Tax cuts alone are not the answer but you have to attack the structural size of government. Redefine priorities and redesign government. Create an economy that attracts business to Minnesota. Attract new horses to pull the wagon of Minnesota.

Seifert: Reduce taxes, paperwork and costly mandates that keeps business away from Minnesota. Cut government. This state is spending $2-$3 million dollars more a day than it takes in. Prioritize people over bureaucracy.

Q: How would you have approached the bonding bill that the governor vetoed?

Seifert: Minnesota government is broke. When it comes to these projects, the bonding bill costs $1 billion plus $400,000 in debt services.

Not just line item; stop the spending.

Emmer: We should have taken this opportunity to address the structure of government. After six years in office, I have yet to see a bonding bill that prioritizes the needs of Minnesota.

Q: Should the state of Minnesota mandate that a certain amount of energy be produced by renewable sources?

Emmer: Cap and trade is already here. I offered a bill to repeal it. We want to be good stewards of the environment but not at the expense of our children's future.

Seifert: I voted for the bill in 2005 but would veto it if it came to my desk. I voted for the bill but it's the wrong priority. My plan is to lift the nuclear ban, import clean coal and promote market based energy policies.

Q: What is your plan to keep Minnesota competitive in the job market and how would you change state law to make it happen?

Emmer: Redesign a smaller government, bring taxes down, eliminate licensing and costly mandates and requirements for businesses and health care. The 68 mandates in health care raise the cost for every one of us. You must have tort reform for contractors: loser pays. Workers compensation reform to bring costs down.

Seifert: We need to downsize, right size and economize state government. Worker compensation reform. Reduction of fees that make Minnesota less competitive. Tax, fees, licenses have to be reformed and sometimes done away with.

Q: Would you oppose the implementation of President Barack Obama's health care reform and how?

Seifert: The best health care provides in the country are in Minnesota and the federal government wants to screw that. We need to say "no" to Obamacare and exercise our 10th Amendment rights. We need to push back because it is the right thing for the people of Minnesota.

Emmer: I have been doing that already. I offered a bill that provides government cannot pass a law that interferes with an individual's ability to chose one's doctor. Make sure we maintain the best care and drive the cost down ourselves. Deduct cost of their health care insurance, reduce mandates and encourage competition.

Q: What is your voting record on tort reform?

Emmer: We need comprehensive tort reform, not pick and choose who it applies to. Caps are part of the answer. Tort reform based on best practices.

Seifert: 100% in favor of reform. Voted for every tort reform bill that has come across the legislature. Caps on attorneys fees are a good idea. Judges should not be allowed to go above what the compensation is.

Q: Will you honor the endorsement process and ensure a unified party?

Seifert: Yes, I will abide by the endorsement. I believe very firmly that we have to be united as a party. I have no backup plan. I feel very confident that I will be the candidate.

Emmer: Yes. It's about leadership and decisions that affect people's lives.

Closing Statement:

Emmer: Jackie and I have been blessed with 7 children, 6 boys and one beautiful girl. I have been in the legislature for 5 years. Jackie and I were dumb enough to believe this was a part time job. What we did in the early 70s was to make this an every other year proposition. It has become a career. Decisions are now made based on what is going to be best for the next election. It is no longer community service.

People are fed up with the growth of governemtn and career politicians. We need to put up authentic people who do what they say they are going to do.

Seifert: An opportunity to right size, downsize and economize government. They believe now that they are the boss and the people are servants. Elected officials feel entitled to teach teachers how to teach, farmers how to farm and business owners how to conduct their business. I don't want us to become a colder and smaller California, where people leave at a rate of 1,000 people a day. 1,000 people a month move to Minnesota for welfare purposes.

As Republicans, we must prioritize. When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. It's not about limiting government but cutting it. Repealing laws, not creating more.

Questions from the audience:

Q: How do we deal with the situation with education?

Seifert: The federal government to stay out of local education. Children should be treated equally despite of where they live. Children spend less time in school today than they have ever had before even though we spend more money on education than ever before.

Emmer: Adress funding disparities. Tie the funding to the child. Parents are the ones who need to make the best educational decision for their children. The future in this state is moving to a public charter school model. Reward good teachers and let the poor ones go.

Q: Would you work to make voter ID a reality?

Emmer: Yes! WE should have voter ID.

Seifert: You need a photo ID to get a library card, a credit card, etc. It must be included as a reform item.

Q: If you could take back one vote, what would it be?

Seifert: The energy vote was the one in which the governor of my party cleaned it up but it wasn't the best of both worlds. An error is not a mistake until you refuse to correct it.

Emmer: There isn't one. I read everything before I vote. I base my decisions based on life, liberty and property. I have been applying those principles from day one.

Tea Party Patriots: More Diverse Than MSNBC

2010-02-24T23:02:00.001-06:00

Stupid Does as Stupid Is

2010-02-11T22:43:00.003-06:00

With Absolute Power, Team Obama Grows Stupid

By Michael Barone
February 11, 2010

How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration.

The same people who directed the campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls, has left the Democratic Party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50 years of closely following politics.

The 2008 campaign was an impressive achievement. So, in a negative way, is the 2009 legislative program that has left the Democrats in such woeful shape in 2010. [More]

The Obamanoids came in declaring they were intellectually superior to every previous administration. What they have done, however, proves what many of us knew from the start: they were stupid to beging with. Their actions prove their stupidity regardless of what they said and continue to say.

Joe Biden: Barack Obama's "Effin' Retard" VP

2010-02-11T21:46:00.006-06:00

Joe Biden update: Iraq One of Obama's "Great Achievements"

Who knew?

Thank goodness, Vice President Joe Biden went on CNN to chat with Larry King Wednesday night. So many think things are not going so well for the Democrat administration, as The Ticket chronicled here.

Many Americans recall the ex-Sen. Biden's Democratic primary plans to give in to Iraq's fractious factions and carve the country into three territories. And even more probably recall Biden's boss' plan to halt the Iraq war years ago. As long as it got started anyway without the permission of the then state senator. [More]

Just when Barack thought it was safe to let him out of the White House alone, Joe "Stand up, Chuck! Let 'em see you" Biden goes off script again.

Biden, who built a second career out of criticizing the Iraq war and the surge in troops that followed it, now wants to take credit for the relative stability in that Middle Eastern country and count it as one of Obama's nonexistent "great accomplishments."

Can't necessarily blame Biden on this one. Obama has had a year of failures. From health care to the economy to unemployment, Barack's many failings and inadequacies for the office of President of the United States of America are self-evident. What's left other than taking credit for a policy of the administration that he does nothing but vilify. Pathetic.

Here are some of Biden's shining moments. What a moron.

Stand Up, Chuck!:

Biden's "Iraq Plan":

Biden: "Break up Iraq!"

Go, Sarah!

2010-02-07T03:24:00.000-06:00

Sally Jo Sorensen: Tim Walz's Flunky Blogger from the 7TH (!) District

2010-02-06T09:26:00.004-06:00

You know Tim Walz, Nancy Pelosi's favorite Congressman, is in serious trouble when his 7th congressional district toadie blogger goes on her smear rampages. Sally Jo Sorensen, of Bluestem Prairie infamy is at it again. This time she is firing in all directions as the number of worthy Walz's challengers grows.

"Ollie Ox," her appropriately bovine pen name, is busy these days besmirching the character of better men than her beloved and embattled First District Congressman. As I research the causes of her newfound fears, please enjoy the following video clips. They will shed light on who Sally Jo Sorensen is (the short answer is, "Nobody!") and why her posts are so despicably full of lies (hint: Do the words "low self esteem" ring a bell?).

Here's Sally Joe, Tim Walz's "Overzealous Flunky":

Congressman Walz Uses Blogger to Attack Constituents. - The best free videos are right here

And here's the guy for whom she is going to bat. Birds of a feather flocking together?

Tim Walz: D.U.I. - More amazing video clips are a click away

Tim Walz is on a script and won't answer any questions that will deviate him from it.

Congressman Tim Walz Dodges Question of Constituent!! - Watch more amazing videos here

Truth to Abusive Power: Rep. Michele Bachmann in Rochester

2010-02-02T13:24:00.000-06:00

Birds of a Feather?

2010-01-29T13:45:00.006-06:00

Osama bin Laden joins Al Gore in fighting manmade climate change

Former Vice President and Nobel Laureate Al Gore found an unlikely ally in his mission to save the world from the ravages of global warming – Osama bin Laden. In a new audiotape released by Al Jazeera, the terrorist warns that it is industrialized nations that are to blame and urged “drastic solutions" to solve the climate change crisis.

Bin Laden echoes many who believe the manmade climate change theory saying, "Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury - the phenomenon is an actual fact." The comments are akin to the oft-repeated ‘the science is settled’ argument.

It is the industrialized world and of course primarily the United States that is to blame for global warming. “All industrial nations, mainly the big ones, are responsible for the crisis of global warming," he says on the tape.

According to bin Laden, it is the rejection of the Kyoto Protocol by the United States that has caused global warming to impact the world. He said, "Bush the son, and the [US] Congress before him, rejected this agreement only to satisfy the big companies." [More]

Bin Laden's rhetoric is indistinguishable from Al Gore's and global warming alarmists of his ilk. Watch them scramble to set themselves apart from the Big Daddy of Terrorism.

Parenthetically, notice that bin Laden also does a "blame Bush" routine, which echoes Barack Obama's mantra whenever his ongoing failures and blatant inadequacies become evident.

Chris Matthews, "Seduced" by Barack Obama, Forgets that the President is Black

2010-01-29T13:34:00.000-06:00

Justice Alito to Obama's SCOTUS Criticism: "Not True"

2010-01-28T17:46:00.000-06:00

It would appear that former Constitutional Law professor and now President Barack Obama is unfamiliar with the concept of "trias politica" or "separation of powers." Criticizing the Supreme Court of the United States in the presence of its members is a new low even for Barack Obama.

The Obama Presidency: A Deficit of Trust

2010-01-27T20:22:00.000-06:00

NO Quarter Given

2010-01-22T21:42:00.003-06:00

Dodd: Dems Might Need a Month Off from Reform

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd said today that Democrats may need to take more than a month off from the health care debate to regroup, saying it is up to President Obama to lead the way.
Dodd is the first congressional Democratic leader to suggest such an extended break, signaling that Democrats’ may be much further from a workable endgame strategy than they have suggested in the days since Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat and ended the Democrats’ 60-vote majority.
The comments are sure to raise questions about whether Democrats are giving up on reform. A month-long break would almost certainly kill any momentum health reform has left, making it that much harder to pass.
"Maybe we do need to take this time — look, it didn't work, this process — and say ‘Look, I want all of us to take a month,’” Dodd said. “It isn't as if you'll have nothing to do around here. There's a lot of other issues that could fill up the time of the Congress while we sat down and see if there wasn't some way to resolve these differences and come up with a health care bill."

No time out. No break. No respite. No truce. No compromise. Democrats can't be trusted. They want to scurry back to their socialist hole in order to fight another day.

And, Dodd said, it’s going to take presidential leadership to get it
done.

Good luck with that, Countrywide.

Kiss of Death

2010-01-21T12:47:00.001-06:00

Obama Plans Campaign Stop for Reid in Nevada
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
The White House is about to make another big gesture demonstrating its support for Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader under fire for remarks he made about President Obama’s race.

In February, Mr. Obama will head to Nevada to appear with Mr. Reid, who is facing a tough reelection battle there, aides said today.

The decision by the president to fly to Nevada for the majority leader comes as the Reid operation has made an all-out effort to rally Democrats and African-Americans around Mr. Reid, and to head off a crisis that
has grown amid crucial health care negotiations and his own campaign. Several Republican officials – including the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele – called on Mr. Reid to resign.

Mr. Reid made clear he would not.

In an interview for a new book, Mr. Reid said that Mr. Obama would be able to become the first African-American president, because he was “light-skinned” and because he did not speak with a “Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” Mr. Reid’s aides said he thought he was in a private conversation when he made the remarks to John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, for their book, “Game Change.”

Obama is such a great campaigner. I'm sure his appearance on Reid's behalf in Nevada will put the Senate Majority Leader over the top. Just ask Martha Coakley.

The People's Seat!

2010-01-20T12:38:00.001-06:00

Boston Tea Party II: The End of the Beginning of the Obama Administration

2010-01-19T20:35:00.004-06:00

GOP's Brown Wins Massachusetts Senate Seat in Epic Upset

Glen Johnson And Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writers

BOSTON – In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.

The loss by the once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.

"I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts," said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient."

Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation and the rest of his agenda. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters.

One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, Wall Street bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care. [More]

It's "pants on the ground" for Obama and Congressional Dems.

BTW, Happy First Anniversary, President Barack Obama!

On MLK Day: Obama Fails on Race Relations

2010-01-18T22:26:00.002-06:00

Fewer Think Obama Advanced Race Relations

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Fewer Americans now say they think President Obama has advanced race relations than a year ago, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released Monday indicates.

In poll, about four in 10 people said they thought Obama, as the first black president, advanced race relations, compared to last year's poll in which nearly six in 10 people said they thought Obama would improve racial ties.

The falloff was notable among African Americans, pollsters said. In January 2009, about 75 percent of blacks said they expected Obama's presidency to help race relations. In the latest poll, 51 percent of African Americans say he has helped.

Three in 10 African Americans said Obama's election didn't represent broader change, the Post said. About two-thirds of respondents said they Obama's election was indicative of progress for all blacks in the United States, unchanged from last year, the Post said. About half say his time in office hadn't made much difference in race relations, while one in eight respondents said it hurt. [More]

One more check mark on Obama's "fail" column.

R.I.P?

2010-01-18T21:49:00.003-06:00

It's so bad, but so bad, for Democrat Senate Candidate Martha Coakley in Massachusetts that not even Ted Kennedy is going to vote for her.

Socialists Beware: America is Rising!

2010-01-18T21:34:00.001-06:00