Townhall... The Bullied Gene,
By Mike Adams
7/29/2011 - Yesterday, when I was arguing with a liberal he told me I
was entirely too harsh in my assessment of today’s youth. He told me
specifically that I needed to be aware of the fact that in 21st Century
America one out of five boys gets bullied in school on a “regular
basis.” I don’t know where he got that statistic but it really made me
ashamed of my country. We need to do better. When I was a kid back in
20th... read
more
|
Townhall... Signs, Signs,
Everywhere a Sign, By Kathryn Lopez
7/30/2011 - Sometimes, the yelling stops long enough to remember that
there are real people involved in abortions. And not just the youngest
one, who doesn’t get a say in the decision. I read the other day a
piece about the “safe and successful” telemedicine abortions, getting
“high grades” in Iowa. That’s an abortion where a doctor doesn’t even
have to be present. The clinical efficiency with which the... read
more
|
Townhall...
When the Plot Is
Runny, By Brent Bozell
7/29/2011 - They say the movie theaters make more money on popcorn,
candy and soft drinks than they do on the movie tickets. If that’s
true, theater owners really ought to reconsider the previews they’re
airing. They can make you sick to your stomach. I don’t know why
Hollywood moviemakers are so fascinated with flatulence and excrement.
It’s become almost an obsession, a formality of sorts in the “humor”
oeuvre. Watching a recent preview of the forthcoming movie “The
Change-Up... read
more
|
Townhall...
More Than Lives Lost
In Camp Massacre, By Diana West
7/28/2011 - On Tuesday, I read a New York Times online report about a
press conference held by Geir Lippestad, the defense lawyer for
admitted Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik. I found one of
Lippestad’s statements of interest, and saved it for future reference.
Little did I know it would apparently disappear from the news website.
The statement was: “Asked if the rampage was aimed at the Labor Party
or at Muslim immigrants, Mr. Lippestad said: ‘This was an attack... read
more
|
Redstate...
The 22 Who Held the
Line, Posted by Erick Erickson
Saturday, July 30th - Here are the 22 heros who defied their House
leaders and opposed the Boehner plan. Note that the South Carolina
delegation comes out on tops. Its two senators, Jim DeMint and Lindsey
Graham, also opposed it. It’s something that South Carolina has more
testicular fortitude than Texas. Amash (MI), Huelskamp (KS), Jordan
(OH)... read
more
|
Verities & Balderdash... Six
political tidbits to tickle your funny bone, By Bob
Robinson
As the world we’ve grown to know and love begins crashing around us, it
behooves us to be positive and optimistic. We are, after all,
inheritors of the greatest nation ever to exist on the face of the
earth. While we face the challenges of keeping it that way, maybe it’s
time to take a brief “time out” and look at the lighter side of things.
One of the great things about the American people is their ability
to... read
more
|
Redstate... Not Playing the Fool,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Monday, August 1st - There are a lot of Republicans tonight willing to
play the fool for the GOP in this debt ceiling plan. They say, for
example, that there will be no tax increases from this super committee.
Never mind that the Democrats are saying otherwise. I can prove to you
right now that there will be tax increases. The Congressional Budget
Office (CBO) expects the Bush tax cuts to expire. So all the... read
more
|
Reason...
McDonald’s to Kids:
Apple Slices For All, Whether or Not You Want Them
By Katherine Mangu-Ward - July 26, 2011 - McDonald’s nudges kids to eat
more fruit, fewer fries after being given a good shove by regulators -
Every Happy Meal shall henceforth contain apple slices, according to a
decree from McDonald’s HQ today, which boasts that the change is part
of “a comprehensive plan [that] aims to help customers—especially
families and children—make nutrition-minded choices whether visiting
McDonald’s or eating elsewhere.”... read
more
|
Townhall...
Big Labor: The Real
Hostage Takers, By Brett McMahon
7/30/2011 - It took an amazing amount of gall, guile, or both for a
former Ted Kennedy political staffer to decry supposed Tea Party
“terrorist tactics” in seeking to rein in the debt drowning our nation.
“It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House
‘hostage takers,’” William Yeomans wrote. “But they have now become
full-blown terrorists.” Forget, for a moment, the lack of
violence—verbal or physical—coming from Tea Partiers, which would
constitute terrorism... read
more
|
Reason...
Does Your Body Belong
to You? By A. Barton Hinkle
July 29, 2011 - Food nannies want the government to control your diet.
“Perhaps you’ve noticed the trend among certain people these days,”
wrote Neil Genzlinger in The New York Times the other day, “to decide
that certain other people are not living acceptable lives and must be
reformed.” Yes. There certainly is a lot of that going around. You can
see it in the comments from Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus—who says
homosexuals are “barbarians” who need to... read
more
|
Human Events... Obama Depression
Update: Economy Slows Again, by John Hayward
07/29/2011 - Minimal growth, flat consumer spending. The new Commerce
Department report is out today. There was some hope that it might
reveal glimmers of growth, but instead, its numbers are all either
stagnant or decaying. It’s a mausoleum for the American economy.
Economists had been lowering expectations in advance of the report,
which led some to speculate they were trying to make a... read
more
|
Dems will win debt
debate; Repubs will win election, By Dick Morris &
Eileen McGann
Published on DickMorris.com on July 30, 2011 - In the parlance of
Washington, the Democrats are going to get the upper hand in the final
round of the debt debate. Republicans will succeed in making a
vast cut in federal spending, unimaginable before the 2010 election and
will block any tax increases. Democrats will get an extension of
the debt limit until after the election so as to avoid... read
more
|
Townhall...
Heretical Thought:
The System Is Working, by Paul Greenberg
7/30/2011 - Walking by the bank of television sets out in the
old-fashioned, wide-open, sunlit newsroom here in Little Rock, I just
had to stop for a minute to see what the panel of distinguished
commentators were saying about the latest capital-C Crisis. That's how
it is in Teeveeland. No broadcast out of Washington or anywhere else is
complete without a Crisis of the day, maybe hour. The talking heads
were wearing expressions even more solemn than usual. When I turned up
the... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... Satellite
Data Blows Hole in Gobal Warming, By Mike Shedlock
7/30/11 - Forbes Magazine reports New NASA Data Blow Gaping Hole In
Global Warming Alarmism - NASA satellite data from the years 2000
through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to
be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted,
reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote
Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur
than United Nations computer models have predicted, and... read
more
|
Townhall...
Castro Regime
Furious with Townhall, By Humberto Fontova
7/29/2011 - “The terms scoundrel and traitor should precede every
mention of Humberto Fontova!” raves the Castro regime’s captive
(literally!) press. “Fontova’s books and columns are nothing but
scandalous libels against our Revolution’s founders, Fidel and Che! Now
he has another editorial outlet for his rants and libels against our
leaders. Townhall has put him on their payroll of ranters against
Obama, where he cuddles close to tacky and scummy blonds and
brunettes.” (Ahora... read
more
|
Townhall... The Myth of
Bi-Partisan, By Rich Galen
7/29/2011 - While waiting for the debt limit vote … The entire near
solar system is begging and pleading for Washington to exercise a
concept known as “bipartisanship.” By “bipartisan” they mean, of course
“non-partisan” as in “without regard to political party.” The two-party
system is mentioned nowhere in the U.S. Constitution, but there is
absolutely nothing non-partisan about our form of government... read
more
|
Townhall... The Limit To
Foolishness on Television, By Hugh Hewitt
7/29/2011 - The atmosphere in the green room at the Sean Hannity Show
was amped up. On ordinary days I will banter with Beckel and talk radio
shop with Sean as we both tell Levin stories, a friend of both of ours
for years. But Thursday night was tense. Juan Williams and Ann Coulter
weren’t yucking it up, but were watching the House maneuvers on Boehner
2.0. Once on set Coulter pushed for passage over... read
more
|
Obama is desperate to
avoid another debt limit battle before election, By Dick
Morris & Eileen McGann
Published on DickMorris.com on July 29, 2011 - Don’t believe a word of
it. Obama really just wants to avoid having to go through another
battle before Election Day. His rejection of the Boehner Plan has
nothing to do with the markets or the economy. It is purely political.
He’s desperate to avoid having to face this issue again. He’s lost ten
points in job approval over the battle so far and he wants to get out
of town before he loses more. So the Republican message to Harry
Reid... read
more
|
Redstate...
Message to RSC
Members: Get in or Get Out, Posted by Russ Vought
Wednesday, July 27th - Rep. Jim Jordan, the Chairman of the Republican
Study Committee (RSC), is taking massive heat from many of his own
colleagues within the RSC for his public opposition to the Boehner debt
deal. RSC staff is being called out by name for doing their job
effectively. Calls are coming from all Leadershipistas to fire the RSC
staff. These members—such as Rep. Renee Ellmers (NC)—don’t like the
fact that they are perceived on the wrong side of where the... read
more
|
Redstate...
What is the End Game
for Big Government? Posted by Daniel Horowitz
Wednesday, July 27th - Is the Republican infighting really about
strategy, or is it about ideology? Those Republicans, such as the Wall
Street Journal editors and the Weekly Standard writers, who criticize
Tea Party opposition to Boehner’s plan, would have you believe that
they are just as ideologically committed to downsizing
government. They are just advocating smarter and more politically
savvy ways of achieving that goal; one that is supposedly less
tendentious to... read
more
|
Townhall... Ideals Versus
Realities, By Thomas Sowell
7/29/2011 - Many of us never thought that the Republicans would hold
tough long enough to get President Obama and the Democrats to agree to
a budget deal that does not include raising income tax rates. But they
did -- and Speaker of the House John Boehner no doubt desires much of
the credit for that. Despite the widespread notion that raising tax
rates automatically means collecting more revenue for... read
more
|
Townhall... In Praise of Tabloids,
By Suzanne Fields
7/29/2011 - What would a world without tabloids look like? Not as much
fun, for sure, if the tattletales and snoopers and others of irreverent
ilk lost their voices on the printed page. Who would supply headlines
such as, “Headless Body Found in Topless Bar” (New York Post), “Ford to
City: Drop Dead” (New York Daily News), or perhaps the pithiest of them
all, the show biz tab Variety on the stock-market... read
more
|
Wall
Street Journal... The GOP’s
Reality Test
7/29/11 - Republicans who oppose Boehner’s debt deal are playing into
Obama’s hands. The debt-limit debate is heading toward a culmination,
with President Obama reduced to pleading for the public to support a
tax increase and Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid releasing competing plans that are the next-to-last realistic
options. The question now is whether House Republicans are going to
help Mr. Boehner achieve significant progress, or, in the... read
more
|
Libertarians say ‘no’
to raising debt limit
WASHINGTON - As Republicans and Democrats in Washington continue
chewing the scenery in their ‘Debt Limit Theater,’ Libertarian Party
Chair Mark Hinkle released the following statement today: “Everything
I’ve heard from Washington politicians about the debt limit is
nonsense. I propose the simplest option: Do nothing. Don’t raise the
debt limit, period. “None of the deals I’ve heard would do anything to
cut federal spending. Some reduce the rate of growth a little bit, but
I’m... read
more
|
Townhall...
Is the President in
Recovery, By Victor Davis Hanson
7/28/2011 - President Obama does not care much about deficits -- other
than worrying that big debt might matter in his re-election campaign.
In his first three budgets, Obama borrowed nearly $5 trillion.
Currently, the government is borrowing about 45 percent of everything
that it spends. Obama’s projected 10-year plan would add nearly $10
trillion to existing U.S. debt. This spring he proposed the largest
annual deficit in U.S. peacetime history, which is why his $3.7
trillion... read
more
|
Weekly
Standard... A Time for
Choosing, By William Kristol
7/27/11 - To govern is to choose. To vote is to choose. To vote against
John Boehner on the House floor this week in the biggest showdown of
the current Congress is to choose to vote with Nancy Pelosi. To vote
against Boehner is to choose to support Barack Obama. It is to choose
to increase the chances that worse legislation than Boehner’s passes.
And it is to choose to increase the chances that Obama emerges from
this showdown politically stronger. So when the Heritage... read
more
|
Redstate... It’s All Too Odd,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Wednesday, July 27th - Consider that John Boehner and Harry Reid named
their different legislation to raise the debt ceiling by the identical
name. Consider also that John Boehner and Harry Reid’s legislation are
virtually mirror images to each other — a fact that the rhetoric has
obscured, but is in reality accurate. Consider, in fact, that Boehner
and Reid use the same language in various portions of their... read
more
|
Townhall... Democrat ‘Budget
Plan’: Attack the Tea Party and Misquote Reagan, By Larry
Elder
7/28/2011 - To hear Democrats tell it, two things cripple the chance
for a budget deal: the dastardly tea party, and the GOP’s failure to
understand that its beloved Ronald Reagan was actually militantly
pro-tax.
Gag me. The same we-won-the-election-and-elections-have-consequences
lefties now cry out for “bipartisanship.” Those who cheered the bulldog
way that ObamaCare... read
more
|
Redstate...
The Speaker’s Plan
Is A Bad Bargain, Posted by streiff
Tuesday, July 26th - Unlike several of my colleagues, I find there is a
lot to like in the plan put forward yesterday by Speaker Boehner. I
like the idea of a smaller increase in the debt ceiling to give time
and a sense of urgency to work out some very difficult problems that
can’t be solved in the short term. I like the idea of this debate
taking place again during the course of the 2012 election campaign as a
way to put our candidates at all levels on the record in favor of
fiscal sanity... read
more
|
Wall
Street Journal... A
Leadership Default
The President blames House Republicans for everything. The Obama
Presidency has been unprecedented in many ways, and last night we saw
another startling illustration: A President using a national TV address
from the White House to call out his political opposition as
unreasonable and radical and blame them as the sole reason for the
“stalemate” over spending and the national debt. We’ve watched dozens
of these speeches over the years, and this was more like a DNC... read
more
|
Townhall...
Why Getting Our Debt
under Control is So Important, By Mike Needham
7/25/2011 - America is at a crossroads. Will we embrace American
exceptionalism or will accept a slow, managed decline? The outcome of
the 2010 elections signaled that our nation’s founding principles still
resonate with Americans of all stripes. The current struggle over
whether and how to raise our nation’s debt ceiling is another battle in
the long war over what sort of country we leave our children and
grandchildren. The debate has all but consumed Washington and
Americans... read
more
|
Redstate... The Great Divide,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Wednesday, July 27th - This morning took an interesting turn of events.
First the Wall Street Journal called us hobbits. Then Bill Kristol
proclaimed us “pro-Obama.” Then John Boehner told his members to get
their “asses in line.” And then a handful of Republican members of
congress started attacking me, this site, conservative members of
congress, conservative staffers in congress, and conservative... read
more
|
Townhall... Obama’s ‘Balanced’
Approach, By Thomas Sowell
7/28/2011 - Barack Obama’s political genius is his ability to say
things that will sound good to people who have not followed the issues
in any detail -- regardless of how obviously fraudulent what he says
may be to those who have. Shameless effrontery can be a huge political
asset, especially if uninformed voters outnumber those who are
informed. President Obama’s big pitch in his Monday night televised
talk was... read
more
|
| Townhall
Finance... How Obama
Saves/Creates Jobs: Replace High-Paying Energy Jobs with Low-Paying
Housekeeping Jobs,
By Lincoln Brown - 7/25/11 - I suppose I should jump for joy and shout
to the rafters. After all Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has
decided to bless us with a brand new pile of cash (freshly minted no
doubt) to increase conservation and tourism on our public lands. Thank
God! Were it not for the good graces of the DOI, the people in my part
of the country would be consigned to real jobs with benefits! But lo!
Here he comes descending on... read
more
|
Redstate...
House Republicans
Should Not Rely on Democrats For Votes on the Debt Ceiling
Posted by Erick Erickson - Friday, July 22nd - I think conservatives
need to draw one more line in the sand on the debt ceiling. There is a
growing worry that John Boehner and Eric Cantor will come up with a
deal with the White House that will require Democrat votes to get
through the House of Representatives. This would be a replay of the
continuing resolution fiasco that cut little and cost much. If
Republican leaders come up with a debt ceiling deal that requires
Democrats to vote for... read
more
|
Townhall...
Responsibility
Movement Grows, By John Andrews
7/24/2011 - Will Barack Obama go the way of Jimmy Carter, and lose
reelection after demonstrating weak leadership in a troubled economy? A
leading purple-state Democrat with a keen nose for the political wind
signaled last week that he thinks it might happen. Colorado Governor
John Hickenlooper told a reporter that despite his nine-point walkover
in 2008, the president would “have a hard time” winning here right now,
because “there’s such dissatisfaction over people who have been... read
more
|
Townhall... Allen West’s
Gentlemanly Behavior, By Star Parker
7/25/2011 - Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), also
Democratic National Committee chair, suggested that the nasty email she
got from Congressman Allen West (R-FL), responding to her attack on him
in the House, resulted from him being “under pressure.” Of course,
Allen West is under pressure. As is every freedom loving American, as
we watch our great country sink... read
more
|
An “Entitlement???”
Verities & Balderdash By Bob Robinson
I didn’t write this (I seldom do with the V&B’s I post). I got it
as one of dozens, if not hundreds, of emails saying pretty much the
same thing. People are ANGRY!!! Lousy approval ratings for the
president. Lousier approval ratings for Congress. They can’t get
together on anything, much less a budget. Big Brother wants more and
more of less and less available dollars from the taxpayer. We hurt, but
our government... read
more
|
Redstate...
The Unanswered
Questions for GOP Leaders from Freshmen, Posted by Daniel
Horowitz
Sunday, July 24th - What about Paul Ryan’s budget? Forget the tax issue
or the timetable for a moment; any proposed “spending cut” deal that
fails to slash funding for discretionary spending and welfare programs
to pre-Obama levels, as proposed in Paul Ryan’s budget, is
worthless. As Congressman Dennis Ross (R-FL) tweeted earlier
today, “debt “deals” that count on 10 years worth of spending cuts are
the Mr Snuffleupagus of budget tricks. No one sees them... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... How We Pay for
Obama Failures, By John Ransom
7/25/11 - Things are going great in Washington DC. Here are a few fun
facts that taxpayers, voters and homeowners need to know while they
think about the budget and debt ceiling debate: Median sales prices of
homes are going up in the DC metro area. Year over year prices are up
7.3 percent for June. Pending sales jumped nearly 30 percent in
June as well. Inventories are down and prices are up. “Buyers and
sellers signed 5,124 contracts in June, the most for that month... read
more
|
Redstate...
God and Oslo,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Saturday, July 23rd - Yesterday, I filled in for Neal Boortz on his
syndicated show and was live on air as the news was breaking from the
horror in Oslo, Norway. With Al Jazeera, international news networks,
and domestic networks all raising the link to an Islamic radical Norway
was deporting, I put on twitter that the odds were it wasn’t an angry
Lutheran doing the bombing and shooting and noted on the radio the
possible links to Islamic radicals... read
more
|
Townhall... To Get a Mandate,
GOP Must Win Another Election, By Michael Barone
7/25/2011 - Those who consider themselves constitutional conservatives
should take care to consider not only the powers that the Constitution
confers on the different branches of government and reserves to the
states and the people, but also the schedule that the Constitution sets
up for sharp changes and reversals of public policy. The entire House
of Representatives is elected every two years. The voters in... read
more
|
Townhall... Cut Someone Else,
By Rich Galen
7/20/2011 - Well, let’s see . . . The Timothy Geithner-imposed deadline
of August 2 to increase the debt limit is one day closer and the
Republican-controlled House passed a debt reduction bill that (a) the
Senate won’t pass and, even if it did, (b) the President wouldn’t sign.
If there are 308 million people in America, count me among the
307,999,993 who don’t understand why this is so hard. I assume there
are seven... read
more
|
Daily
Events... Fridays with
Erick Erickson
House Republicans, joined by 5 Democrats, passed Cut, Cap, and Balance
(CCB) only to see the Senate, on a party line vote, table it 51-46
earlier today. In other words, the House passed the Ryan Plan and CCB.
The Senate has passed no plans, and rejected Barack Obama’s budget
97-0. Republicans have a plan. And not only do they have a plan, they
have a plan supported by 66% of the American public. The House
Republicans do not now need to negotiate. They do not now... read
more
|
Redstate...
White House and
Congressional Leaders Resort to Fearmongering, Posted by
Erick Erickson
Thursday, July 21st - If you’ve seen the recent Harry Potter or watched
any of a host of exorcism movies, you know that right before the demon
dies, he lashes out most brutally and fearfully to try to get you to
give up. We’re seeing the demon of out of control government lashing
out in spectacular fashion now before House Republicans kill it. In one
last spectacular bout, the White House and Congressional leaders are
summoning Standards & Poor to Congress to scare the beejezus... read
more
|
Redstate...
The obvious response
to this would be to outlaw the American flag, Posted by
Bill S
Thursday, July 21st - Or at least that would be the response I would
expect from the Left. Yesterday the journal Psychological Science
published a paper (abstract here, original here*) that demonstrates:
the mere sight of the American flag can subtly shift their political
views… towards Republicanism. It’s an effect that holds in both
Democrats and Republicans, it affects actual votes, and it lasts for at
least 8 months. This is a fascinating finding in and of itself, but
even more so... read
more
|
Human
Events... Spenditol:
Recommended By Concerned Women Everywhere, by John
Hayward
07/21/2011 - For that bloated, wasteful sensation. Concerned Women for
America is rolling out an exciting new product with a big TV ad
campaign. It’s just the thing for those annoying muscle aches
that come from getting crushed against the debt ceiling. Warning:
Contact your doctor if you use this product for over 70 years without
achieving the promised results. Excessive doses are extremely
unhealthy, but also very likely. If you experience feelings of
nausea, dizziness... read
more
|
|
Human Events... Guess What? The
Majority of Americans DO Want A “Balanced” Approach to the Deficit...
Cut, Cap, and Balance, that is. By John Hayward - 07/22/2011 - During
his last press conference on the budget crisis, President Obama
invented a fraudulent statistic that “80% of the American people
support a ‘balanced’ approach,” which he defined as “an approach that
includes revenues and includes cuts.” In other words, the same
old tax increases now plus “spending cuts” that never come... read
more
|
Checkmating Obama,
By Dick Morris
Published on TheHill.com on July 19, 2011 - The House Republicans can
checkmate President Obama by passing two one-house bills in the coming
week: 1) Allow a conditional increase in the debt limit of up to $200
billion for use only to avoid default. The money could be borrowed only
if the Treasury secretary certifies that the funds will be used only
for debt service and that there... read
more
|
Personal
Liberty Digest... You’ve
Come a Long Way, Baby, by Ben Crystal
July 21, 2011 - Bill Maher recently called Sarah Palin and Michele
Bachmann “boobs.” Sometime after June Cleaver turned in her apron and
retired to guest spots on “The Love Boat,” the feminist movement took
center stage in what some called “the gender wars.” I wasn’t around
during the nascent years of feminism, but I’ve always thought that the
boys lost to the girls right about the same time we started pretending
we liked movies with Sally Field — and without the Trans-Am... read
more
|
Toledo
Blade... Kasich’s jobs
budget
7/21/11 - Lucas County’s Workforce Development Agency sent pink slips
to four employees last week. They are just the tip of an iceberg
created at the end of June when Gov. John Kasich signed a two-year
budget that was balanced largely on the backs of schools, local
governments, libraries, nursing homes, and social-service programs. Mr.
Kasich has dismissed the idea that the $55.8 billion budget approved by
the Republican-controlled General Assembly created a problem... read
more
|
FoxNews.com...
If I Were
President, I’d Create the ‘Elimination Commission’ By
Patrick Dorinson
Published July 22, 2011 - “It costs ten times more to govern us than it
used to, and we are not governed one-tenth as good” -- Will Rogers -
Over the last few weeks and months the President and Congress have been
arguing about the need to raise the debt ceiling before August 2, so
the country won’t default on its financial obligations and have its
American Excess card canceled. Both are blaming each other over who
drove the country into the ditch. It doesn’t matter who drove it... read
more
|
FoxNews.com...
Washington, It’s
Time to Put On Your Big Boy Pants, By Penny Young Nance
Published July 22, 2011 - Many families in this great country have been
forced to look at their monthly budgets and see where they can make
cuts. Maybe they can spend a little less on food, eating more
vegetables than meat one week or maybe they need to cancel cable or
forgo their summer vacations. Maybe they even need to look at the
future and cut back on contributing to their retirements or their kid’s
college savings account. Some folks sadly have to dig even deeper
and... read
more
|
Townhall... It Should All Be Free,
By Mona Charen
7/22/2011 - Free medicine! That’s what Obamacare has brought you -- or
should bring you, at least according to CNN. The story’s opening
sentence set the tone: “Contraceptives, sterilization and reproductive
education should be covered by health insurance plans with no cost to
patients under the health reform law, a new report recommends.” In a
tone that can only be called cheerleading, CNN tells its... read
more
|
Townhall... The Beltway Industry
Full-Time Employment Act, By Michelle Malkin
7/22/2011 - Dodd-Frank, the 2,300-page financial “reform” monstrosity
spearheaded by Capitol Hill corruptocrats, turned 1 this week. It made
too-big banks bigger. It made too-risky incentives riskier. It made a
lousy economy lousier. Billed as a “consumer protection” act,
Dodd-Frank has succeeded phenomenally -- in protecting and stimulating
the business-stifling business of government. Dodd-Frank is... read
more
|
Townhall.com’s
Washington Beat, By Katie Pavlich
July 19, 2011 - In this edition of the Washington Beat, Townhall’s Guy
Benson sits down with Rep. Paul Ryan to discuss the continuing debt
ceiling debate in Washington. DEBT CEILING DEBATE STILL STUCK GOING
NOWHERE - This week, the House of Representatives, after gridlocked
talks between Congressional Leaders and President Obama, will vote to
pass Cut, Cap, and Balance while rumors swirl that the Senates’ “Gang
of Six” have reached a deal. Problem is... read
more
|
Akron
Beacon Journal... Lost in
the exchange
July 18, 2011 - Listen to Gov. John Kasich and his lieutenant, Mary
Taylor, on Ohio’s direction with health care, and you will appreciate
the confusion when rigid ideology trumps sound policy. Last week, the
governor visited Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He was so impressed
with the research and collaboration among children’s hospitals, he
pledged $2 million (source unidentified) to promote a care coordination
program by pediatric hospitals. A key element of Medicaid reform... read
more
|
| Friday,
June 24th, 2011 in a radio interview... Josh Mandel says Sen. Sherrod Brown rates
as the most liberal in the United States - Half-True
- 7/21/11 - When a Republican calls someone a liberal, it’s not meant
as a compliment. Add the modifier “most liberal member of the U.S.
Senate,” and you’ve got red meat, especially in a middle-of-the-road
state like Ohio. You’ve also got, as you may have guessed, the rap
against Sherrod Brown. Josh Mandel, the Ohio treasurer who’s been
raising money to run as the Republican nominee against Brown, laid out
that accusation... read
more
|
Akron
Beacon Journal... Extreme
measure
July 18, 2011 - China, one of this country’s largest creditors, has
voiced concern about the contentious budget discussions in Washington.
So have the International Monetary Fund and other global players in
finance. Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has warned
about a “huge financial calamity” if President Obama and Republicans in
Congress fail to reach a timely agreement on raising the debt ceiling.
How has the Republican majority in the House... read
more
|
Townhall... The Real Effects of
Gambling, By Steve Chapman
7/21/2011 - Gambling has proliferated in America in recent years, and
it’s not about to stop. The Illinois legislature has approved a bill
authorizing more casinos as well as slot machines at race tracks. Ohio
has four new casinos in the pipeline. Maine voters approved a new one
last year. Massachusetts lawmakers plan to consider a gambling
expansion this fall. To critics, this spells trouble: more gambling,
more... read
more
|
Townhall... The New Battleground
of Child Custody Reform: Shared Parenting
By Rachel Alexander - 7/19/2011 - Child custody and support laws have
become more onerous over the last 50 years due to fewer parents staying
together and women becoming equally as capable as men at earning a
living outside the home. Instead of reflecting these changes, the laws
have lagged behind, continuing to favor mothers over fathers. The laws
generally award primary custody to the parent who... read
more
|
Foxnews...
Gang of Six Plan
Brings Hope Washington Can Still Rescue America, By
Douglas E. Schoen
Published July 20, 2011 - It is hard not to be excited by the news of
the Gang of Six’s resurrection. Their $3.7 trillion plan to reduce the
budget deficit over 10 years coupled with lowering tax rates,
eliminating loopholes, and ultimately raising $1 trillion in new
revenue meets the broad outlines of the Bowles-Simpson Plan that was
unveiled last December, and addresses most, if not all, the central
concerns of centrist Democrats like myself. By linking the debt ceiling
increase to a... read
more
|
Redstate...
Thirty Problems with
the “Gang of Six” Proposal, Posted by Michael Hammond
Wednesday, July 20th - Analyzing the six-page “Gang of Six” proposal
for rewriting the federal budget is like measuring a bucket of water by
holding the water in your hands. Having said this, it looks like
Coburn, Crapo, and Chambliss got their clocks cleaned. TAXES - First,
by crafting the tax increases in the Senate Finance Committee, the Gang
of Six proposal allows Democrats (plus Olympia Snowe) to determine
their parameters. And, incidentally, Democrats’ notions... read
more
|
Columbus
Dispatch... Editorial:
Fine choice
Tuesday, July 19, 2011 - Cordray’s practical leadership would set new
agency on right path - Making the new federal Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau a success will require the skills of a fair-minded
pragmatist who commands wide respect, and that makes former Ohio
Attorney General Richard Cordray an excellent pick to run it. President
Barack Obama announced Cordray’s appointment yesterday to the new post;
he will need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate... read
more
|
Redstate... Now House
Republicans Must Fight The Gang of 6's Gangrene Plan
Posted by Erick Erickson - Wednesday, July 20th - Think of the Senate
“Gang of 6″ Plan as the “Gangrene Plan.” It will slowly, but surely,
rot away the nation. It was presented yesterday with a few claims: (1)
It was not designed to play a role in the debt ceiling debate; (2) It
was not meant to undercut the House Republicans’ “Cut, Cap, and
Balance” plan; and, (3) It would not be a tax increase... read
more
|
Townhall... Will College Bubble
Burst From Public Subsidies? By Michael Barone
7/21/2011 - When governments want to encourage what they believe is
beneficial behavior, they subsidize it. Sounds like good public policy.
But there can be problems. Behavior that is beneficial for most people
may not be so for everybody. And government subsidies can go too far.
Subsidies create incentives for what economists call rent-seeking
behavior. Providers of supposedly beneficial goods or... read
more
|
Townhall...
Ten Ways Progressive
Policies Harm Society’s Moral Character, By Dennis Prager
7/19/2011 - While liberals are certain about the moral superiority of
liberal policies, the truth is that those policies actually diminish a
society’s moral character. Many individual liberals are fine people,
but the policies they advocate tend to make a people worse. Here are 10
reasons: 1. The bigger the government, the less the citizens do for one
another. If the state will take care of me and my neighbors, why should
I? This is why Western Europeans, people who have lived in welfare
states... read
more
|
Townhall...
5 American Economic
Statistics That Will Blow Your Mind, By John Hawkins
7/19/2011 - “Space is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely,
mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down
the road to the drug store, but that’s just peanuts to space.” --
Douglas Adams - Like Douglas Adams’ description of space, the economic
issues in this country have become quite big. In fact, most people are,
in a very real way, unable to comprehend how “vastly, hugely,
mind-bogglingly big” our problems have become. It’s all “trillions”
this, default that... read
more
|
Townhall...
California’s Costly
Attack on the Internet, By Meredith Turney
7/18/2011 - When it comes to Internet entrepreneurship, California is
the place to be for aspiring Mark Zuckerbergs. Silicon Valley is known
around the world as the technology mecca. The explosion of new
technology in the last two decades has helped drive California’s
economy and made it the center of the Internet-based business world.
But California’s reputation as the home of innovative Internet
technology is about to end—all because of the state government’s... read
more
|
Townhall... A Surprising
President, By Rich Galen
7/18/2011 - Barack Obama may be the most surprising President in the
history of the Republic. In his two-and-a-half years in office, no
matter what has happened, it seems to have come as a surprise to him.
Shovel-ready projects? Unexpectedly, they didn’t exist. The only
shoveling that went on was shoveling about $700 billion of our tax
dollars into projects that didn’t help jump-start the economy way... read
more
|
Townhall... Time for some pain
in the debt talks, By Armstrong Williams
7/18/2011 - Well folks, if you didn’t think it was crunch time for
lawmakers in Washington, it’s clear now. Talk is cheap. That’s not me
saying it. That’s the world’s three credit agencies, Moody’s, Finch and
now Standard & Poor’s, which all have threatened that the U.S.
risks losing its top-notch credit rating if it cannot fix the debt
mess. Some Democrats would see this month’s announcements as proof
positive that... read
more
|
Townhall... Zinging a New Song
of a Culture Gone Wrong, By Marybeth Hicks
7/20/2011 - I’m working the refreshment tent this week at the music
festival in my hometown, putting in my volunteer hours for our
children’s school, when I realize I am not shocked by the
tattoo-covered, fifty-something woman walking toward me in Daisy Duke
shorts and midriff-baring bustier. Her stiletto sandals, black nail
polish, pigtails and pierced, red lips don¹t faze me in the least. I
turn to her without... read
more
|
FoxNews...
Were the First Ten
Years of the 21st Century Really the Worst In American History?
By Martin Sieff - Published July 17, 2011 - The first decade of the
21st century was the worst in American history: Did you know that?
That’s what Thomas Friedman of the New York Times told a packed,
applauding worshipful audience at the annual Aspen Festival of Ideas in
Colorado in late June. Well – the past decade was certainly no great
shakes – ongoing low level wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 3,000 innocent
Americans killed on 9/11 and a very bad but least not terminal... read
more
|
Redstate...
Seven Reasons Why
August 2 Isn’t the End of the World, by Dean Clancy
Monday, July 18th - Washington is currently borrowing about 43 cents
out of every dollar it spends, and is close to maxing out its credit
limit. Current law says Uncle Sam cannot borrow more than $14.3
trillion. A few months back, the Obama Administration demanded that
Congress increase the national credit line by $2.5 trillion by May 16,
or else, it warned, the United States would default on its debts,
causing an “economic Armageddon.” ($2.5 trillion is just enough
to... read
more
|
Redstate...
Palin Again,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Monday, July 18th - CNN did a brilliant job covering the launch of the
Sarah Palin documentary, “The Undefeated.” As CNN notes, The film’s
distributor, ARC Entertainment, said the film averaged $5,000 per
screen Friday and Saturday night, with sold-out screenings at several
locations. ARC Entertainment said in a statement “… with the strong
initial showing, the film is going to a wider release footprint later
this month.” In fact, the Palin film is dazzling people by just how
well a... read
more
|
Townhall... Doing More By Doing
Less, By Ed Feulner
7/15/2011 - Each month, the federal government releases its
unemployment report. As measurements of economic health go, you can’t
get more basic than how many jobs we’re adding. And the simple fact is,
we aren’t. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent, the highest this
year. Some 445,000 Americans became jobless. The economy added 18,000
jobs -- a paltry number in a country of more than 300 million... read
more
|
Townhall... What Democrats Must
Ignore or Deny, By Mona Charen
7/19/2011 - To be a Democrat means to live in denial. Consider all of
the things you must ignore or explain away. The PIGS. Not the
chauvinist pigs whose transgressions preoccupied 1970s feminists, but
PIGS as in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain -- nations facing
sovereign debt crises because they pursued exactly the sort of policies
Democrats favor for this country. The PIGS share bloated... read
more
|
Townhall...
The Marilyn Monroe
Doctrine, By Cliff May
7/14/2011 - In 1957, Marilyn Monroe starred in “The Prince and the
Showgirl.” In the movie’s most memorable scene, Monroe (as Elsie
Marina, an understudy in The Coconut Girl in 1911 London who is soon
hobnobbing with the royals) overhears a telephone conversation (in
German – but Elsie is from Milwaukee so she’s bilingual as well as
gorgeous) about a plot against the Prince Regent of Carpathia, played
by Laurence Olivier. “It is most unfortunate that you should have... read
more
|
FoxNews.com...
President Obama
Doesn’t Know the First Thing About Economics, By Iain
Murray
Published July 16, 2011 - As the Oscar buzz surrounding actress Meryl
Streep keeps growing -- thanks to her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher,
it’s worth remembering one of the real Iron Lady’s most famous
observations: that any housewife could manage the British economy.
President Obama should heed that advice, and realize that economy
begins at home. Unfortunately, his recent statements on the economy
give little reason for hope on that front. The president’s press... read
more
|
Washington
Post... Rob Portman,
the boring Midwesterner who could bring sanity to the debt debate
By Dana Milbank - Published: July 15 - Seems just about everybody in
this town has gone mad. President Obama and congressional leaders storm
out of meetings and exchange taunts. As the nation nears a calamitous
default on the national debt, Senate Democrats waste much of a week
debating a symbolic resolution about taxing millionaires. Republicans
opt for a fight on the House floor over light bulbs. But one man, Sen.
Rob Portman, continues to do the... read
more
|
Townhall... Who’s Irresponsible?
By Mona Charen
7/15/2011 - Count on it: In the coming days and weeks, Republicans will
be accused -- not just by Democrats, but by the chattering class that
includes some self-styled conservatives -- of wild irresponsibility
regarding the nation’s fiscal health. It isn’t that Republicans are
models of rectitude on the subject -- see the Bush deficits. And it’s
true that some Republicans, like Americans for Tax Reform’s... read
more
|
Human Events... The Expanding
Catalogue of Obamacare Fables, by Michelle Malkin
07/15/2011 - Is there a health insurance horror story disseminated by
the White House and its allies that ever turned out to be true?
Obamacare advocates have exercised more artistic license than a
convention of Photoshoppers. Now, a prominent sob story shilled by
President Obama himself about his own mother is in doubt. It’s high
past time to call their bluffs. The tall-tale-teller-in... read
more
|
Townhall... America’s Financial
Restoration vs. Obama’s Ideology, By David Limbaugh
7/19/2011 - There is an overarching reason we can’t move toward a
balanced budget, which underscores why we face ongoing stalemates over
debt ceilings and continuing resolutions: President Obama doesn’t want
to balance the budget. I don’t say this out of extremism or to be
gratuitously controversial or even provocative. It’s just that his
words and actions lead to the inescapable conclusion that he is... read
more
|
Townhall...
Take a Stand Against
Rand, By Marvin Olasky
7/15/2011 - For nearly a decade Democrats have sought a religious wedge
issue that could separate big chunks of white evangelical voters from
their Republican home. Now they’ve found it, and are thrusting at the
Social Darwinist/Ayn Rand underbelly of American conservatism. First, a
bit of recent history: Democrats have not gained much white evangelical
support on healthcare and environmentalism. In 2008 they successfully
used guilt over segregation to elect the first... read
more
|
Townhall...
Republican
Show-and-Tell, By Jonah Goldberg
7/15/2011 - A lot of conservatives are having fun at President Obama’s
expense after his latest gaffe. In the midst of testy debt-limit
negotiations, Obama told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, “Don’t call
my bluff.” The first rule in bluffing is to keep it a secret that
you’re bluffing. So, technically speaking, that’s like a con man
saying, “Don’t give any weight to the fact that I’m lying.” And while I
do think Obama is not telling the truth about a great number of things,
conservatives... read
more
|
Redstate...
The EPA Must Be
Stopped, and I’m Not Talking About Light Bulbs, Posted by
Ben Howe
Thursday, July 14th - There’s been a lot of talk these days about light
bulbs. The Hill is reporting on how it’s shedding light on the
“new Republican party,” one that is so “out of touch with the
mainstream” because it only listens to it’s “extremist elements.”
The New York Times has declared victory for the green movement, while
some in the blogosphere have taken to referring to the bulb issue as a
“fatal conceit,” referring to the White House’s fulfillment of Hayek’s
description... read
more
|
Human Events... Harry Reid
Threatens To Close Schools, by John Hayward
07/15/2011 - Debt ceiling hysteria reaches new lows. Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid threatened to shut down the nation’s schools via
Twitter on Thursday, if his Party’s demands for higher taxes are not
met: This man is, quite simply, deranged. As Philip Klein of the
Washington Examiner pointed out, “federal funding pays for only 8.5
percent of the cost of the nation’s elementary and secondary schools,”
and... read
more
|
Townhall... New Reality Emerging
on Illegal Immigration, By Michael Barone
7/14/2011 - The United States is a country that has been peopled
largely by vast surges of migration -- from the British Isles in the
18th century, from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century, from
Eastern and Southern Europe in the early 20th century, and from Latin
America and Asia in the last three decades. Going back in history,
almost no one predicted that these surges of migration would begin --
and almost... read
more
|
Townhall... Character Development,
By Jackie Gingrich Cushman
7/14/2011 - I’m not sure how it started, but at some point over the
past year, when my children begin to relate some hardship in their
lives -- tough tests, tough teacher or coach -- I began responding that
they should think of the obstacle as “character development” rather
than as an insurmountable challenge. “Character development.” I must
have been using this phrase more than I realized, and of course it has
come... read
more
|
The
Columbus Dispatch... Editorial:
Ohio’s ‘Lost Decade’
Monday, July 11, 2011 - Need for ‘jobs budget’ is vividly illustrated
by economic analysis - An economic report prepared for U.S. mayors
makes a strong case for why Ohio urgently needs Gov. John Kasich’s
“jobs budget.” It predicts seven of Ohio’s big cities face another
“lost decade” before employment fully recovers - if ever. These
formerly bustling communities are among 37 in the nation not expected
to return to prerecession peak employment for another decade.
Mainstay... read
more
|
Redstate...
The American People
Are Fast Becoming More Furious, Posted by Repair_Man_Jack
Thursday, July 14th - USG Property - Last Seen Somewhere in Tijuana -
“Can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same FfL and at
one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter
on long gun multiple sales. Thanks Mark R. Chait Assistant Director
Field Operations.” - Townhall.com - The ATF went statistic-shopping in
support of a proposed rule to limit the freedoms of firearm owners and
dealers. Operation Fast and Furious was an effort to create... read
more
|
Reason... Reason.tv: 3 Reasons
Why The Debt-Ceiling Debate is Full of Malarkey
By Nick Gillespie & Meredith Bragg - July 15, 2011 - All anybody in
Washington can talk about these days is the debt limit or debt ceiling
– the total amount of money the federal government is authorized to
borrow at any given time. After a decade in which spending increased by
more than 60 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars and the debt limit
was raised no fewer than 10 times, the government is about to max
out... read
more
|
Townhall... Public school
systems cheating nation’s youth, By Marybeth Hicks
7/13/2011 - Benjamin Franklin said, “Sin is not hurtful because it is
forbidden, it is forbidden because it is hurtful.” Someone ought to
hang that quote in every doorway of every school and office of the
Atlanta Public Schools system. Last week’s release by GeorgiaGov.
Nathan Deal of an investigative report on widespread cheating within
APS on the state’s standardized curriculum tests raises... read
more
|
Townhall... One President Left
Behind: McConnell Schools Obama on Debt
By Ann Coulter - 7/13/2011 - Democrats don’t want to cut any government
spending programs, not now, not ever. The country is on a high-speed
bullet train to bankruptcy (the only kind of bullets liberals approve
of), and the Democrats’ motto is: Spend! Spend! Spend! Democrats are at
an advantage in the “should the U.S. go bankrupt or not?” debate
because, based on their economic policies so... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... The One
Becomes The Jerk, By John Ransom
7/14/11 - Obama finally solved the budget crisis the White House really
cares about yesterday when he announced that he hauled in $86 million
in campaign contributions for the three months ended June 30th. The
budget crisis facing the rest of us? Obama’s really mad at the rest of
us because we are all acting very immaturely by withholding a blank
check for the bills he’s run up. The White House reacted to the
breakdown in budget talks at the White House yesterday in
characteristically... read
more
|
Townhall...
Republicans Must
Vote Against Raising Debt Ceiling or Face Political Annihilation
By Matt Towery - 7/13/2011 - The Republicans surged to majority status
in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2010 thanks in large
part to the support of many independent voters who shifted their
allegiance to the GOP. But the party’s candidates risk losing that
support, and also losing the voter intensity and enthusiasm they would
otherwise likely enjoy in November 2012, if congressional Republicans
sign on to any legislative scheme that raises the federal debt
ceiling... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... Obama Out on
Called Third Strike, By Bill Tatro
7/14/11 - They say that things of consequence occur in groups of three,
usually with very bad results. A prime example is three deaths in a
row, or three strikes and you’re out. Let’s give this phenomenon
further examination from an economic and financial standpoint.
Back in the 1980’s, President Ronald Reagan was influenced to believe
that if he would only renege just a little on his tax cut pledge,
Congress would decrease spending. He was told a combination of
increased... read
more
|
Townhall... One Way To Make a
Conservative, By Mona Charen
7/8/2011 - It’s impossible to read Ying Ma’s fascinating memoir,
“Chinese Girl in the Ghetto,” without wincing. She was born in
Guangzhou, China’s third largest city. Throughout her mostly carefree
early childhood years, she kept her family’s secret: that her parents
repeatedly sought permission to emigrate to the United States.
Her family was not poor, at least not by Chinese standards of the
late... read
more
|
Townhall... Shaping Citizens,
Saving Souls, By Suzanne Fields
7/8/2011 - A neighbor of mine, age 15, left the picnic on the Fourth of
July expecting to set off fireworks in the family. He had a declaration
of his own: “I’m off to play one of those violent video games the
Supreme Court says are protected by my First Amendment rights.” He got
a groan or two (probably less than he had hoped for), but one of the
grown-ups expressed the hopeful view: “Well, at least the... read
more
|
Redstate...
Our Petulant Child
President, Posted by streiff
Wednesday, July 13th - From AFP... WASHINGTON — US President Barack
Obama stormed out of tense debt-limit talks Wednesday with his top
Republican foes after declaring he was ready to stake his reelection on
the outcome, a Republican aide said. After Republican House Majority
Leader Eric Cantor proposed to raise the US debt ceiling in more than
one catch-all vote, Obama got “heated” and insisted on one
comprehensive deal, said the aide, who requested... read
more
|
Foxnews...
America Is Too Dumb
to Know Obama Is Always Right, By Michael Goodwin
Published July 13, 2011 - When President Obama started talking at his
news conference Monday, I listened intently for 15 minutes or so. Then
I got fidgety as his half-truths about the debt grew into full-blown
whoppers. As he droned on, I did something I never did before during an
Obama appearance: I turned off the TV. Enough. He is the Man Who Won’t
Listen to Anybody, so why should anybody listen to him? Tuning out and
turning off the president does not fill me with... read
more
|
Townhall...
5 Signs Of American
Decadence, By John Hawkins
7/12/2011 - “In a free society, government reflects the soul of its
people. If people want change at the top, they will have to live in
different ways. Our major social problems are not the cause of our
decadence. They are a reflection of it.” -- Cal Thomas
You’ve undoubtedly heard the old wives’ tale about frogs and boiling
water. If you toss a frog into boiling water, he’ll immediately jump
out -- but supposedly, if you increase the temperature just a bit at a
time, the frog will sit... read
more
|
Townhall... Ten Reasons Why Even
American Liberals Should Root for the GOP
By Larry Elder - 7/14/2011 1) Incredibly weak recovery: President
Barack Obama’s tax/spend/regulation policy -- “stimulus”; continuation
of TARP; bank, insurance company and auto industry bailouts;
“quantitative easing” (aka the printing of money); cash for clunkers;
minimum wage hikes; new regulatory rules on businesses; tripling of the
deficit; addition of $4 trillion to the debt -- failed miserably to... read
more
|
Redstate... Dear Mr. Speaker,
Posted by Erick Erickson
Thursday, July 14th - Last night the President engaged in off Broadway
theatrics trying to scare the Republicans into folding on debt ceiling
negotiations. Playing the role of Hollywood President, not the real
President, the President said he didn’t care if this brought down his
Presidency and he would not yield. He then dared Eric Cantor to call
his bluff. Mr. Speaker, this is a man giving away the game... read
more
|
Rebuttal to Riding a
Dead Horse, By Bob Rhoades
You have obviously overlooked a couple of key points in your assessment
of the dead horse problem which I will take a moment to point out. 1.
Buying a stronger whip. Fallacy with this is the amount of time
it will take to write a lesson plan on whip operation as well as the
overtime needed to bring all employees and supervisors up to speed on
whip operation. 2. Changing riders. Once again it’s not that... read
more
|
Columbus
Dispatch... Teachers
across region acknowledge that hard times require sacrifice
Saturday, July 2, 2011 - The recent wave of central Ohio teachers
unions agreeing to pay freezes or smaller increases will help school
districts and students cope with the financial impact of a battered
economy that still hasn’t gotten its legs under it. Forgoing pay raises
is necessary if strapped school districts are to offer students the
best education possible. Salaries and benefits make up the vast
majority of any school district’s operating budget. So holding the line
on pay and benefits... read
more
|
Townhall...
Jobless Presidencies
Should Result in Jobless Presidents, by Jon Sanders
7/11/2011 - In the religious ecstasy of early 2009, when Barack Obama
was yet in mid-ascension operating the “Office of the President-Elect”
(complete with custom-made seal), he was campaigning hard for his
stimulus plan. On January 10 of that year, the Obama
“administration-in-waiting” released a report by its chief economists
Christina Romer and Jared Bernstein titled “The Job Impact of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.” The thrust of the report was
to... read
more
|
Townhall...
Obama Makes Us Eat
Our Peas, by Bill Murchison
7/12/2011 - “This is part of the problem with a political process where
folks are rewarded for saying irresponsible things to win elections.”
No! Couldn’t be! Saying things like “hope and change”? And now -- so as
to strike the pose of adult calm amid riotous kids -- “Pull off the
Band-Aid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it.” President Obama’s
inability to rise above the silly and superficial -- in tribute perhaps
to the silliness and superficiality he apparently attributes... read
more
|
Townhall Finance... Remember: It
Could Have Been Pelosi, By Bob Beauprez
7/12/11 - As the political tug-of-war wears on in Washington over a
deal on reducing the deficit as part of a compromise to raise the debt
limit, some conservatives are beginning to fret about the possibility
of the GOP “caving” (there’s a plethora of definitions of what “caving”
would be). And, today the media’s attention is focused on differences –
perceived or genuine – within the GOP Leadership.
... read
more
|
Dead Horses and Live
Husbands...Verities & Balderdash, By Bob Robinson
One of the positives of the computer age is the unceasing flow of humor
and creative anecdotes you see when people have you on their email
lists. One of the negatives of the computer age is our growing
dependence on it. One of the negatives of a representative government
is its absolute ineptitude in so many areas, especially regarding
strategies for the future (note the current deadlock in... read
more
|
Townhall... The President’s
Excess Income, and Ours, By Mona Charen
7/12/2011 - It is becoming a verbal tic -- the tendency on the part of
the president to tell wealthy Americans (“people like me” he’s always
careful to add) that they have made more than enough money and will
have to cough up more of it for the government. Speaking for himself on
July 11, the president offered that he had “hundreds of thousands of
dollars that I don’t need.” The president is of... read
more
|
Editor’s
Note: This is a Must Read - Townhall Finance... Stuck On “Stupid Liberal” Mode,
By Mark Baisley
7/11/11 - BLACK MARKET TOILETS - My dad builds custom homes in
California and the regulators at all levels routinely give him new,
maddening impediments to practicality. The example that I
remember most had to do with toilets. In response to the apparent
public outcry about excessive tank capacity, sales of toilets that
exceed 1.6 gallons per flush have been banned throughout America.
United States Senator Rand Paul recently told a senior bureaucrat at a
Senate hearing... read
more
|
Townhall...
Watch Out for the
Gimmicks and Promises, By Michael A. Needham
7/11/2011 - With just 1 in 5 Americans having a favorable opinion of
Congress, selling the details of any debt deal struck with an upside
down President will be hard work for Republican and Democrat leaders
alike. The American people understand our nation is on an
unsustainable path, but they are not willing to accept a
gimmick-riddled deal cloaked in bipartisan rhetoric and feel-good
promises. President Obama must have an eye on 2012 as he tries to craft
a major deal on the... read
more
|
Columbus
Dispatch... Budget
remarkable; hurdles remain
Sunday, July 3, 2011 - Gov. John Kasich’s $55.8 billion state budget -
which the General Assembly sent him Wednesday - is: • Remarkably good,
to the governor’s fellow Republicans. • Remarkably bad, to Statehouse
Democrats, especially those elected from city districts. • Just plain
remarkable, compared with typical Ohio budgets. Until now, every two
years, when Ohio wrote budgets, it’s been “same old, same old.” But
“same old, same old” - a tweak here, a tweak... read
more
|
Townhall... In Obamaland, the
Past is Irrelevant, By Guy Benson
7/11/2011 - President Obama inhabits a very special world. It’s a
world in which his entire slate of previous statements, policy
preferences, and actions is apparently wiped clean every time he
delivers a new speech or press statement. As my friend Mary
Katharine Ham likes to quip, what Obama said -- or did -- last week,
last month, or last year is regarded as irrelevant, so long as he’s
making... read
more
|
Townhall... Agency Girl Goes Wild,
By Katie Kieffer
7/11/2011 - Elizabeth Warren has literally gone wild. No, she did not
strip off her matronly suit on a Girls Gone Wild spring break tour bus.
Rather, she appears to be on a mission to strip Congress, small
businesses and individual Americans of authority by instituting her own
rules for how to play the financial game on both Wall Street and Main
Street. Liberals in the media hail Warren as the “protector... read
more
|
Townhall... Step by Step,
By Rich Galen
7/11/2011 - It is important to remember that these sorts of things are
a process. Just as most of us can’t go up a flight of stairs in one
step from the bottom to the top, a major undertaking like this has to
go one - or maybe two - steps at a time. While the process of going
from one step to the next is going on, it is useful to remember the
goal: Get to the top. The three major players are the President of the
United States... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... O’Bummer:
The Tax Scam Faileth, By John Ransom
7/11/11 - Obama’s into big stuff, says chief of staff Bill Daley on
ABC’s This Week. “I do firmly believe that one of the wet blankets on
this economy and on companies, on the system right now is a question as
to whether or not our political system, whether the leaders can get
together, whether they can solve big problems,” Daley said. So let’s
define the “big, wet blanket problem” in which Obama and his Chicago
friends now find themselves... read
more
|
Redstate...
Operation: Chaos,
Posted by Ben Howe
Sunday, July 10th - One might recall a recent contentious special
election which took place in NY-26 in which an otherwise favored to
lose candidate Jack Davis, pretended to be a tea party candidate and
disrupted the otherwise bellwether election. In fact, the
trickery in this election went so far as to create entire fake websites
dedicated to spreading misinformation to the voters in the hopes of
confusing them and getting them to vote the “right” way... read
more
|
Townhall...
Beached economists,
By Paul Jacob
7/10/2011 - In a Wall Street Journal profile of Michele Bachmann, last
month, the Minnesota congresswoman claimed to adore economist Ludwig
von Mises. She said she liked nothing better than to take a Mises book
with her to the beach. Ah, glorious summer reading! As when former
President George W. Bush claimed to be reading Albert Camus’s The
Stranger, Bachmann’s confession was widely seen primarily as a
political one. Could Camus upgrade Bush’s... read
more
|
Townhall... Entitlement Abuse -
Here, There, and Everywhere, By Lurita Doan
7/11/2011 - President Obama and other Democrat leaders in Washington
are spending their time trying to figure out ways to continue expanding
entitlement benefits. They tell us that these benefits are needed
to provide a myriad of services to an ever-growing percentage of the
population that could not make it on their own. Republicans,
correctly, point out that the nation can no longer afford... read
more
|
Townhall... Home and Away,
By Mike Adams
7/11/2011 - Sending your children to college has become an increasingly
unwise investment. Parents save all of their lives in order to send
their children to institutions bent on turning them against their
parents and, more specifically, their parent’s values. Those who think
the indoctrination begins during the first semester of college are
incorrect. It begins the summer before the first semester of college...
read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... Green
Projects Are Hogging Resources, By Bob Beauprez
7/10/11 - The environmental left has been relentless with their efforts
to shape public policy and opinion in favor of renewable energy sources
while waging all out war on the oil, natural gas, and coal
industries. Over the last several decades, the radical left has
convinced politicians as well as the voters to support vast amounts of
taxpayer funded research, direct subsidies of green technology, and
more recently mandated use of green energy sources... read
more
|
Townhall...
Oops I Forgot To
Create Jobs: A Review Of Obamanomics, By Austin Hill
7/10/2011 - How seriously are we to take President Obama on economic
matters? Is anybody still expecting him to “create jobs?” Since the
early days of his presidential bid in 2007, many have marveled at
Barack Obama’s dulcet-toned voice and charming demeanor, while
applauding at every word he utters – including what he says about the
economy and employment. Now, roughly two and a half years into his
presidency, it is painfully apparent that mere charisma and smooth
talk... read
more
|
Townhall...
Lack of Jobs Could
Cost Obama His, By Salena Zito
7/10/2011 - Where are the jobs? Not the stimulus signs, not the
rhetoric about “shovel-ready” economic voodoo, not the propping-up of
an anemic manufacturing sector, but real jobs? Polls showed at the
beginning of July that President Obama is in an increasingly hazardous
position with voters when it comes to jobs and the economy. The
McClatchy-Marist poll put his economic-approval favorable rating at
just 37 percent of registered voters, and a Gallup poll found U.S.
economic... read
more
|
Townhall... Let the Good Times
Commence, By Kathryn Lopez
7/9/2011 - Want a little wisdom? Given we’re a culture that tends to be
self-help hungry, odds are that you and I aren’t hostile to a little
good advice. Who would be? Well, May and June were months populated by
commencement addresses. Some were memorable; some were political; some
were self-indulgent. Some need to be reread now that the parties are
over, internships are being settled into... read
more
|
Townhall... Beware of Dr. Jihad,
By Michelle Malkin
7/8/2011 - Splendid news: Our homeland security officials have sent
fresh warnings to foreign governments that “human bombs” may try to
board planes with surgically implanted explosives. The ticking
terrorists are reportedly getting help from murder-minded Arab Muslim
physicians trained in the West. Infidels beware: Dr. Jihad’s version of
the health care oath omits the “no” in “Do no harm.” The death docs... read
more
|
Townhall...
It’s... Back! The
Misery Index Rises Again, By Paul Greenberg
7/7/2011 - Remember the Misery Index? It tends to reappear whenever the
economy
exhibits a couple of unwelcome trends in unusual tandem: not just a
high unemployment rate but more inflation, too. Talk about a double
whammy. Add those two figures together and you get the Misery Index. So
if you
combine the current 9.1 unemployment rate with the 3.6 inflation rate,
the rate of misery in the American economy is 12.7. The country hasn’t
seen that kind of number in almost... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... In God We
Trust; All Others Pay Cash, By Bill Tatro
7/8/11 - Traveling through the countryside recently, I had the
opportunity to stop and fill-up for gas at an old fashioned country
store. I meandered inside to pay my bill because the gas pump did
not have a credit card slot. No problem, it was a hot summer day, time
for some ice cream. I noticed a sign in front of the store that
contained a message I had seen once before as a youth traveling south
with my family. The sign read: IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL OTHERS PAY
CASH... read
more
|
Townhall...
Brighter Days Still
Ahead for the United States, By Rich Tucker
7/1/2011 - With the country mired in debt ($14.3 trillion and
counting), entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security
running out of money and unemployment seemingly stuck above 9 percent,
some wonder if it’s twilight time for the United States. “I know why
America is falling into a cataclysm of debt and can’t get out,” wrote
Henry Allen, a former Pulitzer Prize winner, in The Washington Post on
June 17. He blames, “a squalor of doom and debt that prompts the best
sort of... read
more
|
Townhall Finance... Obama’s
Stimulus Waste: $7 million per House on Internet Access
By Bob Beauprez - 7/8/11 - In our blog post of July 5, 2011 we cited
analysis of the recently release quarterly summary report of Barack
Obama’s Stimulus that concluded the Administration spent $278,000 per
job they claimed to have “saved or created” with the $666 billion the
White House has spent thus far of the more than $800 billion authorized
by the legislation approved in 2009. The Administration used... read
more
|
Townhall... An Establishment in
Panic, By Pat Buchanan
7/8/2011 - By refusing to accept tax increases in a deal to raise the
debt ceiling, Republicans are behaving like “fanatics,” writes David
Brooks of The New York Times. Anti-tax Republicans “have no sense of
moral decency,” he adds. They are “willing to stain their nation’s
honor” to “worship their idol.” If this “deal of the century” goes
down, as he calls the Barack Obama offer... read
more
|
Townhall...
Just One More Thing,
By Paul Greenberg
6/29/2011 - Editor’s Note: A tribute to Lt. Columbo for all the fans
who miss him. Thomas Friedman was right. The world is flat, or at least
it seemed so last week when the news came that Peter Falk, aka Columbo,
had died at 83. For 30 of those years, he had regularly delighted
television audiences as a not-as-dumb-as-he-looks detective. Every
third week, he invariably caught the killer, who of course was depicted
as the very soul of sophistication, and at the end of the show wound...
read
more
|
Ohio.com...
Success in budgeting
July 7, 2011 - Making changes in the Medicaid program always is a
delicate juggling act involving costs and the widely different needs of
beneficiary groups and providers of health-care services. Reformers
face the test that they not create new problems while trying to fix
existing ones. It is a big credit to Gov. John Kasich, his Office of
Health Transformation and the Republican-controlled legislature that
the new state budget launches reforms that promise to improve the
structure and... read
more
|
Townhall... Goodbye, Washington,
By Linda Chavez
7/8/2011 - After nearly 40 years in Washington, I’m leaving the
nation’s capital pretty much as I found it when I arrived. The players
have changed, but the problems haven’t. Richard Nixon occupied the
White House then, and the United States was involved in a long and
unpopular war and faced economic problems at home. In 1971, to combat
nearly 6 percent inflation, and a trade and balance-of-payments
deficit... read
more
|
Townhall Finance... Retirement
Without Work, By Carrie Schwab Pomerantz
7/5/11 - Dear Carrie: Can you put money in an IRA or a Roth IRA if you
don’t have wage income? -- A Reader - Dear Reader: Individual
Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were introduced in the mid-70s to help
employees save for retirement and reduce their taxable income. So, it
stands to reason that to make a contribution -- and get the tax benefit
-- you’d need to have income from a job. And in fact, contributions to
both... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... Competition
for Resources Between Young and Old, By Mike Shedlock
7/7/11 - America is beginning to show its age as the baby boom
generation advances toward full-fledged senior-hood. But the pace of
this aging will vary widely across the national landscape due to
noticeable geographic shifts in the younger population, with
implications for health care, transportation, and housing, and possible
impacts upon our ability to forge societal consensus. An analysis of
data from the 1990, 2000, and 2010 decennial censuses reveals that... read
more
|
From
Gov. Kasich... Wall Street
Journal Editorial: The Buckeye Budget Lesson
Ohio cuts spending and taxes—and still balances the books. The
reform-minded GOP Governors across the upper Midwest have sustained a
lot of political damage lately, but at least they’re delivering on
their campaign promises and will be judged on the results. The latest
is Ohio’s John Kasich, who signed an ambitious budget late last week
that will help the Buckeye State’s economy and finances. Mr. Kasich
took office this year facing the largest deficit in Ohio history... read
more
|
Human Events... A New Day in
Politics, by John Stossel
06/29/2011 - Most Americans used to call themselves Republican or
Democrat. These days, more call themselves independent. What does that
mean for American politics? A lot. “Independents are everywhere, and
they’re becoming the largest single voting bloc in the country,” Reason
magazine Editor Matt Welch says. “ (T)hey can determine every national
election and every ... election for state... read
more
|
Daily Events… Thursdays with John Hayward... Government is force
06.30.11 - England is dealing with a massive public union strike today,
“the first in what unions say will be a wave of action against steps by
the British government that will cut the value of public sector
pensions,” according to a Reuters report. Thousands of strikers
have clogged busy intersections, while 85 percent of British schools
will be fully or partially shut down. The same thing is happening in
Greece, but... read
more
|
Townhall...
Federal Court
affirms “human physical life” begins at conception, By
Steven Aden
6/30/2011 - On Friday, June 24, a federal court temporarily suspended
portions of Indiana’s House Bill 1210, which contained a provision
aimed at defunding abortionist organizations, like Planned Parenthood,
within the state. And although this suspension was disappointing, other
aspects of the court’s decision were a boon for pro-life groups in
Indiana and the whole nation. The reason is because the court upheld a
key portion of the bill that requires women seeking abortions to be... read
more
|
Townhall...
Will the Kingdom
Have a Candidate? By Lincoln Brown
7/7/11 - “A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!” - Richard The
Third Act 5, scene 4 - Okay, so my kingdom is about an acre in size.
And I live in the west, so chances are, I could find a horse if I
really needed one. Hell out here people ride ‘em to the 7-11. In fact I
can look out the window of my study and see several right now.
And my neighbors are nice people, so if I needed to borrow a horse I’m
sure they would accommodate me. But we don’t need a horse. We need a
candidate... read
more
|
Townhall
Finance... American
Farmers Still Deliver Bumper Crop, By Mike Shedlock
7/7/11 - Grain futures are sharply lower across the board as traders
had positioned themselves for shortages because of Midwest flooding and
increasing demand from emerging markets and China. Instead, corn stocks
were 11 percent bigger than analysts expected and a bumper crop could
be on the way according to the report. Please consider Grain markets
plunge on US acres, stocks... read
more
|
Townhall... President Nixon, er,
Obama, By Mona Charen
7/1/201 - How many times have we heard awestruck references to Barack
Obama’s history as a law professor? Many came from the man himself, as
when he told a crowd at a 2007 fundraiser, “I was a constitutional law
professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect
the Constitution.” Does he? At his press conference on June 29, the
president was asked whether he thought the War... read
more
|
Townhall... Is Democracy Viable?
By Thomas Sowell
6/29/2011 - The media have recently been so preoccupied with a
Congressman’s photograph of himself in his underwear that there has
been scant attention paid to the fact that Iran continues advancing
toward creating a nuclear bomb, and nobody is doing anything that is
likely to stop them. Nuclear weapons in the hands of the world’s
leading sponsor of international terrorism might seem to be
something... read
more
|
Townhall...
Bureaucratic
Deception Vs. Economic Reality on Regulation, By Raymond
J. Keating
6/29/2011 - President Obama recently touted his credentials as a job
creator, highlighting the 49% increase in foreign investment
experienced by the U.S. in 2010. Unfortunately, the $194 billion
invested in the country by foreigners falls substantially short of the
$328 billion figure seen in 2008. While a slight rebound in the economy
has led to some increased investment, an uncertain business atmosphere
continues to divert needed capital from the U.S. or simply keep it
on... read
more
|
Columbus
Dispatch Editorial: Extreme
demand
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 - No survey needed to show that health-care
law will worsen doctor shortage - The United States faces a daunting
shortage of doctors, a problem that President Barack Obama’s
health-care overhaul would critically exacerbate as it seeks to provide
32 million additional people with health insurance. That total includes
16 million expected to sign up for Medicaid, the federal health-care
program for the poor. Officials are recruiting “mystery shoppers” to...
read
more
|
Cleveland
Plain Dealer... Josh
Mandel gets another national endorsement for U.S. Senate,
By Stephen Koff
Tuesday, June 28, 2011 - WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel
looks, acts and raises money like a Republican young-gun-style national
candidate. Never mind that he said again last week that he is still
deciding whether to run for the U.S. Senate. He put another notch in
his candidate’s belt today with an endorsement from the Club for Growth
PAC, the electioneering unit of an influential conservative policy
group in Washington. Like Jim DeMint’s Senate... read
more
|
Townhall… Democrats Need a
12-Step Recovery Program on Taxes
By Larry Kudlow - 7/5/11 - Here’s a question: Why is repealing the Bush
tax cuts such a constant obsession for the Democratic Party? Especially
the top rates for the most successful earners and small business
entrepreneurs? It seems this is the Democratic answer for every single
issue, every problem, every debate. This, of course, saddens me
enormously. And so, always ready to help... read
more
|
|
To see Archives for the Previous
Month's Blogs...
click
here
|
