State controller releases more local government payroll numbers

◼ Several Humboldt agencies on noncompliance list due to agency size
The state controller's office has rolled out its latest numbers from government payroll reports and named several Humboldt County agencies that the office said have not filed reports or have incomplete reports... California Controller John Chiang's office released the numbers for special districts Thursday, the second phase of his plan to make local government payroll numbers accessible to the public on his website... about a dozen small special districts on the North Coast have ended up on the noncompliance list, which means they didn't file the report by the Jan. 14 deadline or they filed an incomplete report.... Roper said there have been a number of issues with agencies -- some details include a missing cover letter, or not filling out benefits contributions -- and he encouraged agencies to call the controller's officer to sort them out.
According to the controller's office, compensation information for employees of special districts is being collected and posted on the website in four phases. The site is expected to be completed by June.... ◼ To search the Local Government Compensation Reporting site, go to www.sco.ca.gov/compensation_search.html

Majority of American students flunk civics test

◼ “Nobody got above a D+” - Barbara Hollingsworth at The Washington Examiner
A groundbreaking multi-year survey of 28,000 students attending 85 U.S. colleges and universities by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (www.isi.org) found that American institutions of higher learning are not providing students even basic instruction on American history, economics and government -- probably not even enough for them to make informed decisions at the ballot box.

Even Ivy Leaguers could not pass a multiple-choice test on America’s foundational principles. Students at Harvard scored highest nationwide, but only managed an average score of 69 percent on the 60-question test – compared to 54 percent on average for seniors and 51 percent for college freshmen.

“Nobody got above a D+,” political scientist Richard Brake, co-chair of ISI’s Civic Literacy (or more accurately, Illiteracy) Board, told The Examiner. “Less than half knew about federalism, judicial review, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, and NATO. And this was a multiple-choice test, with the answers staring them right in the face....”

“Our study clearly shows that college has absolutely zero positive influence. The Number One factor that encourages them to do more than vote is civic self education,” Dr. Brake said. “The better they did on our test, the more likely that they said ‘yes’ to writing letters to the editor, contributing to a political candidate, or volunteering.”

But Dr. Brake says he’s encouraged by Tea Party members, who have made it a point to read the U.S. Constitution. “I think it’s a great thing that Tea Party members are making it a priority to educate themselves. You can’t read the Constitution with all its ‘Congress shall nots…’ without coming to the conclusion that the Constitution limits government.”

Could you pass? ◼ Free US Citizenship Sample Tests

Some Very Bad American Habits

◼ Some Very Bad American Habits - Victor Davis Hanson
The wealthier and more leisured American society has become, the more it has developed some terrible habits that will have to end if we are going to return to fiscal sobriety and a unified culture....

we live in a medieval age of politically correct penance — as the brilliant Al Gore grasped when he made millions hawking carbon footprint offsets — in which loud abstractions can mask concrete incompetence....

A novice no more, Romney focuses on Obama, economy

◼ A novice no more, Romney focuses on Obama, economy

This time, Mitt Romney has a clear pitch: I'm the strongest Republican to challenge President Barack Obama on the country's single biggest issue — the economy.

"He created a deeper recession, and delayed the recovery," Romney said Saturday, previewing his campaign message before Republicans in this influential early nominating state.

"The consequence is soaring numbers of Americans enduring unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. This is the Obama Misery Index, and it is at a record high...."

He's the closest thing to a front-runner in a GOP field that lacks one.

◼ No Apology: The Case for American Greatness - Amazon
"Here is an accomplished executive in the private and public sectors who has done his homework. If he runs again for president in 2012, most of his agenda is on the record from the start."--The Washington Times on Romney's book.

Bill Gates On States' Accounting:

◼ TED 2011 - Bill Gates: How state budgets are breaking US schools (TED)
◼ Bill Gates On States' Accounting: 'The Guys At Enron Never Would Have Done This' - Huffington Post

$105 billion in appropriations hidden in the bill

What is collective bargaining?

◼ What’s collective bargaining, and why are they saying those things about it? - neoneocon discusses this Wall Street Journal article.
Unions vs. the Right to Work - Collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.

Eric Cantor Statement on February Jobs Report

◼ House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) today issued the following statement on the February jobs report:

“Today’s jobs report showing 192,000 new jobs is an encouraging sign that businesses are beginning to hire and people are getting back to work. However, an unemployment rate of 8.9% is still too high and we need to continue our efforts to make sure private sector employers have sure footing to invest in new employees and expand their businesses.

“House Republicans are taking decisive action to foster a pro-growth environment in this country. Our Committee Chairmen are engaged in a top to bottom review of job-destroying federal regulations and working on important pro-growth policies like tax reform and trade agreements. This week, we passed a bill to keep the government running while cutting spending by $4 billion. We also repealed the onerous 1099 provision from the ObamaCare law so that businesses aren’t bogged down in paperwork by a needless tax mandate. Interestingly enough, both of these items were passed with significant support from our Democrat colleagues. Hopefully this means they will join us in supporting further measures to fund our government responsibly and ensure that Washington begins to live within its means, but I remain concerned that their only proposals to date have been more status-quo, stimulus-style spending.

“Republicans are responding to voters’ calls in the last election to change the culture in Washington. To put it simply: less government spending equals more private sector jobs. We will continue our efforts to cut spending, overreaching regulations and government waste so that businesses have certainty to grow and create jobs and more people can get back to work.”

You can also check in on the progress of ◼ YouCut - remember, YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project - is designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows you to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House enact. Each week that the House is in session, they will take the winning item and offer it to the full House for an up-or-down vote, so that you can see where your representative stands on your priorities.

◼ On the table this week:
Terminate the Neighborhood Stabilization Program?
Approximate $1 billion in savings - Created in 2008, this program provides funding to state and local government to buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes. Congress has appropriated $7 billion for the program, including $2 billion in the Obama Administration’s stimulus bill. This program encourages government purchase of private homes and some critics have argued that it does not benefit at-risk homeowners facing foreclosure, and may instead create perverse incentives for banks and other lenders to foreclose on troubled borrowers – arguably worsening the housing crisis. This proposal would terminate the last installment of funding which was included in the financial regulation bill in the last Congress, savings taxpayers up to $1 billion.

Terminate the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP)?

The Obama Administration’s signature anti-foreclosure effort, the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), has failed to help a sufficient number of distressed homeowners to justify the program’s cost. According to the Administration, HAMP was supposed to help 4 million homeowners. Instead, only 521,630 loans have been permanently modified under this program and the re-default rate is high. Far from helping at-risk homeowners, HAMP has actually made many worse off, according to the non-partisan Inspector General’s report. The Inspector General also concluded that the program “"continues to fall dramatically short of any meaningful standard of success."

To date, the Administration has spent approximately $840 million of the $29 billion earmarked for HAMP from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). This proposal would prohibit the government from incurring any additional obligations under this program, thus generating significant savings for taxpayers.

Terminate the Emergency Mortgage Relief Program?

Last year, Congress reauthorized the long-expired Emergency Homeowners’ Relief Act of 1975 and provided $1 billion to authorize the Department of Housing and Urban Development to make emergency mortgage relief payments to homeowners facing foreclosure for up to 12 months, with a possible extension of another 12 months. These loans will serve to increase the amount of the borrower’s indebtedness, so a borrower who is unable to pay back either the original amount of principal or the additional loans made under the program will be worse off in the long run. This proposal would terminate this program generating savings for taxpayers.

Weigh in.

Progress report: 112th Congress YouCut Votes - a list of winning items from the 111th Congress.
◼ Week One: End Duplicative Government Printing
◼ Week Two: End the Presidential Election Fund ($520 Million Savings)
◼ Week Three: Obtain Refund of U.N. Tax Equalization Fund ($180 Million Savings)
◼ House Republicans have passed a Continuing Resolution that will reduce spending by at least $100 billion in the next seven months – a historic effort to get our fiscal house in order and restore certainty to the economy.

Delay of WI Bill PLANNED by Madison Mayor and Unions?

Bankruptcy is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

◼ Bankruptcy, Don’t Go There - CA - The Flash Report

Bankruptcy is not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But to read some of the advocacy in behalf of allowing states to go bankrupt you might think so. Want to break a labor contract why then go bankrupt. Want to reduce pension benefits why then go bankrupt....

For those who honor the federal Constitution there is a big reason that states do not file for bankruptcy. They are sovereign entities who cannot cede their sovereignty to the Federal government. It is disappointing to hear so many conservatives ignoring the consequences of a state submitting its powers to a federal judge. If states are admitted under federal bankruptcy laws then America becomes a united state and no longer is the United States. ...

Greenspan Says Surge in Government `Activism' Is Hampering U.S. Recovery

◼ Greenspan Says Surge in Government `Activism' Is Hampering U.S. Recovery - bloomberg

...At least half of the shortfall in companies’ capital spending “can be explained by the shock of vastly greater government- created uncertainties embedded in the competitive, regulatory and financial environments...”

Seals and Crofts / Unborn Child / 1974 California Jam

◼ Video of the day at legalinsurrection Lyrics HERE

Ohio state Senate passes bill to curtail collective bargaining

◼ Ohio state Senate passes bill to curtail collective bargaining
(CNN) -- The Ohio state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would curb the collective bargaining rights of public workers and strip away their power to strike.
Lawmakers approved the measure by a count of 17 to 16, with six Republicans voting in opposition.
The bill, known as Senate Bill 5, is supported by Republican Governor John Kasich. It would curb a 1983 Ohio state law that affords collective bargaining rights to public employees....

Modifications include new measures to settle workplace arbitration, limits on worker vacation and an end to their ability to negotiate health care and automatic pay raises based on seniority.
The amended legislation would also restore collective bargaining rights on wages but ban strikes by all public-sector workers, imposing fines and terminating employment contracts for those who defy the ban.
Democratic lawmakers described the proposal as union-busting. Their GOP counterparts argued that it's needed to tackle an overreach of union influence they regard as an impediment to fiscal reform....

The bill now moves onto the Republican-controlled House where lawmakers are expected to take up the measure on March 10.

Resolution Passed To Fine 'Wisconsin 14'

◼ Resolution Passed To Fine 'Wisconsin 14' - 620wtmj.com

MADISON - The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days.

Republicans remaining in the Senate approved the daily fine on Wednesday morning with none of the Democrats present.

The Democrats left Wisconsin in order to delay indefinitely a Republican-backed bill taking away collective bargaining rights from public employees.

The resolution passed on Wednesday also requires the missing Democrats to reimburse the Senate for any costs incurred during attempts to force them to return. Their salary and other per diem payments can be withheld until they pay back the penalties and costs.

RIP Jane Russell

◼ One of the Hollywood icons... Jane Russell, has died at 89.

Russell was by all reports that rarity in the movie world: down-to-earth, level-headed, Republican, and religious. - neoneocon has more

Transcript: Gov. Scott Walker's budget address as prepared for delivery

Gov. Scott Walker's budget address, given Tuesday at the State Capitol.
Part 1: Opening (shown here) | Part 2: Deficit | Part 3: Local revenue | Part 4: K-12 education | Part 5: Higher education | Part 6: Public safety | Part 7: Jobs | Part 8: Closing

◼ madison.com

Speaker Fitzgerald, Speaker Pro Tem Kramer, President Ellis, Majority Leader Fitzgerald, Minority Leader Barca, Supreme Court Justices, Constitutional Officers, tribal leaders, members of the Cabinet, distinguished guests, members of the Legislature, and most importantly, fellow citizens of Wisconsin.

Each and every one of us gathered in the chamber today hold a diverse set of beliefs — beliefs that we are passionate about sharing — and that serve to guide our actions. Each of us has a vision for a better tomorrow in Wisconsin.

Unverified, Twitter: BREAKING: Dem Senator Timothy Cullen has just returned to #WI tonight.

◼ @Liberty_Chick
Mandy Nagy
BREAKING: Dem Senator Timothy Cullen has just returned to #WI tonight. WI-14 is now WI-13 #teaparty #wiunion #tcot
1 hour ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply
◼ Unverified Report: Dem Senator Headed Back to Wisconsin; UPDATE: Sounds Solid To Me at Patterico
◼ Mob rule video: Unhinged crowd corners Wisconsin GOP senator shouting “F**k you,” “Shame!”; Update: A Fleebagger returns? - Michelle Malkin picks it up... still unverified.

◼ Meanwhile, from Althouse: "This afternoon, at the Wisconsin State Capitol, I witnessed what at times appeared to be the greatest governor in the history of this or any other state..."
"... showered with affection as he announced a bold new plan to rescue Wisconsin from the brink of otherwise certain economic ruin."

◼ "There's six, seven, eight, nine of them that are starting to say, ‘Listen, we're starting to look like we're out of touch with what's going on in Madison, and it's time to get back.'" - Althouse, where the real reporting is coming from.

Senate Dems agree to GOP bill to cut spending

◼ House nears passage of GOP spending bill to avert gov't shutdown; Senate Dems will go along - yahoofinance
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican-controlled House is on course to pass legislation cutting federal spending by $4 billion and averting a government shutdown for two weeks. And Senate Democrats say they will go along.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters he expects the bill to go to President Barack Obama for his signature in the next 48 hours.

The House is acting first, with a vote expected this afternoon.

Passage of the measure will set a two-week time frame for negotiations on a bill to keep the government running through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year...

Republicans want to slash more than $60 billion from agency budgets over the coming months as a down payment on larger reductions later in the year, but are settling for just $4 billion in especially easy cuts as the price for the two-week stopgap bill...

The $4 billion would hit some programs that Obama has sought to terminate and others that have billions of dollars set aside for pet projects sought by lawmakers. That money's not needed since Republicans have banned earmarks for at least two years.

Carney also said Obama made a call to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, to discuss the stopgap legislation.

Earlier on Tuesday, Boehner rebuffed suggestions by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for a month-long measure.

"If there had been a conversation about this 10 days ago or two days ago, we might have had something to talk about." Boehner said. "But the fact is we were forced to move on our own."

The Illinois attorney general says state police must release the name of everyone in the state who is authorized to own a gun.

◼ Atty. general: Ill. should release FOID card list - chicagotribune.com
The Associated Press had requested the list of FOID cardholders but state police said that would violate the privacy of gun owners. The attorney general's office ruled that argument invalid...State police officials have not said whether they will comply with the ruling.

There are Republican-sponsored bills in the Illinois House and Senate that would prohibit disclosure of the information.

Soap Operas Are Not Documentaries (and ‘Feminism’ Is a Word With a Definition)

◼ Soap Operas Are Not Documentaries (and ‘Feminism’ Is a Word With a Definition) - The other McCain

A thought-provoking piece, with lots of links to other equally thought-provoking links.