Saturday, February 23, 2013
“I always thought it was the Archie Bunkers of the world, the right wingers of world, who were more resistant and more closed-minded about hearing the other side”
◼ Juan Williams: Liberal media will ‘shut you down, stab you, kill you, fire you’ if you disagree [VIDEO] - Grae Stafford/Daily Caller
“I always thought it was the Archie Bunkers of the world, the right wingers of world, who were more resistant and more closed-minded about hearing the other side,” he said. “In fact, what I have learned is, in a very painful way — and I can open this shirt and show you the scars and the knife wounds — is that it is big media institutions who are identifiably more liberal to left-leaning who will shut you down, stab you and kill you, fire you, if they perceive that you are not telling the story in the way that they want it told.”
◼ That new Senator had a secret list in hand (but it wasn’t Ted Cruz) - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
"In the military they have $5.2 million they spent on goldfish — studying goldfish to see how democratic they were..."
◼ Dead baby mice to be dropped, one by one, by hand, from U.S. military helicopters in Guam. - Althouse
To keep the mice bait from dropping all the way to the ground, where it could be eaten by other animals or attract insects as they rot, researchers have developed a flotation device with streamers designed to catch in the branches of the forest foliage, where the [brown tree] snakes live and feed.So, they spent more than a decade... doing what? Designing parachutes for dead mice? (Paging Senator Paul.)
From the comments: Gahrie said, Remember, at least 40 cents of every dollar spent on this we borrowed from the Chinese, and obligated our children to repay......
No Free Speech in Egypt, Bangladesh
The “Harlem Shake” has taken the world by storm in a unique way — unlike other YouTube sensations, where people watch and play the video millions of times, the dance apparently inspires others to make their own creations.
But when some Egyptians decided to join in on the fun, they were apparently arrested.
◼ #MYJIHAD IN BANGLADESH: MUSLIMS DEMAND EXECUTION OF BLOGGERS, FOUR KILLED IN 'BLASPHEMOUS BLOGGERS' RIOT - Atlas Shrugs
Tensions have risen in the Muslim-majority nation over allegedly anti-Islamic blog posts by Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was hacked to death last week near his home in Dhaka.... The killing of Haider was the second attack in Dhaka in less than a month against a blogger critical of Islamist groups.
Bob Woodward: Why is Obama still misleading everyone on the sequester?
As he reported in his book The Price of Politics more than a year ago from on-the-record interviews with the players involved, the sequester was proposed by then-Chief of Staff Jack Lew and personally approved by President Barack Obama, before Harry Reid presented it to Republicans as a take-it-or-leave-it option to end the summer 2011 budget standoff:
My extensive reporting for my book “The Price of Politics” shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors — probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.Why lie about this? Woodward explains that shifting blame is a necessary part of moving the goal posts the actual issue at hand in August 2011.
Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.
Nabors has told others that they checked with the president before going to see Reid. A mandatory sequester was the only action-forcing mechanism they could devise. Nabors has said, “We didn’t actually think it would be that hard to convince them” — Reid and the Republicans — to adopt the sequester. “It really was the only thing we had. There was not a lot of other options left on the table.”
A majority of Republicans did vote for the Budget Control Act that summer, which included the sequester. Key Republican staffers said they didn’t even initially know what a sequester was — because the concept stemmed from the budget wars of the 1980s, when they were not in government.
◼ Obama’s sequester deal-changer - Bob Woodward/Washington Post
Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.◼ Obama: Sequester is Congress' fault, not mine - Andrew Malcolm/IBD
◼ On the sequester, the American people ‘moved the goalposts’ - I don’t agree with my colleague Bob Woodward, who says the Obama administration is “moving the goalposts” when they insist on a sequester replacement that includes revenues. - Ezra Klein/Wonkblog/Washington Post
◼ The sequester: Bob Woodward say Obama’s a liar - neoneocon
No, he doesn’t use the l-word. But he says it nonetheless, and in the WaPo.
Of course, the days when Bob Woodward could make presidents shake in their shoes are long gone. Not sure anybody cares now.... Of course, there’s blame to go around on both sides. But the funny thing (and not funny-ha-ha) is that the public blames the Republicans and trusts Obama. Go figure.
◼ Which #SequestrationThreat has you most terrified? Twitter laughs in face of ‘massive cuts’ - Twitchy
#SequestrationThreat Obamaphones no longer preloaded with Angry Birds
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 23, 2013
The Hollywood Tax Story They Won't Tell at the Oscars
With the 85th annual Academy Awards coming up Sunday, Hollywood has every right to feel good about itself. Last year marked the first rise in ticket sales since 2009, which accounted for a record take of $10.8 billion.
Ticket buyers aren’t the only ones forking money over to the film industry.
Glenn Reynolds’ column in the Wall Street Journal outlines the overwhelming number of states providing tax incentives to moviemakers as a way of attracting them to their neck of the woods to make their latest masterpiece.
◼ It's easy to demand higher levies on the 'rich' when your own industry gets $1.5 billion in government handouts. - Glenn Reynolds/Wall St. Journal (Instapundit)
With campaign season over, you're not likely to hear stars bringing up taxes at this weekend's Academy Awards show. But the tax man ought to come out and take a bow anyway. Of the nine "Best Picture" nominees in 2012, for example, five were filmed on location in states where the production company received financial incentives, including "The Help" (in Mississippi) and "Moneyball" (in California). Virginia gave $3.5 million to this year's Oscar-nominated "Lincoln."
Such state incentives are widespread, and often substantial, but they don't do much to attract jobs. About $1.5 billion in tax credits and exemptions, grants, waived fees and other financial inducements went to the film industry in 2010, according to data analyzed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Politicians like to offer this largess because they get photo-ops with celebrities, but the economic payoff is minuscule. George Mason University's Adam Thierer has called this "a growing cronyism fiasco" and noted that the number of states involved skyrocketed to 45 in 2009 from five in 2002.
"Progressive" NC group urges hiring private investigators to go after Republicans
A strategy memo circulated recently among liberal-leaning groups prescribes "crippling" legislative leaders and Gov. Pat McCrory with bad press and pressure tactics.
The memo, which was first reported by The Charlotte Observer, details communications strategy, political tactics and polling data that progressive groups can use to push the policy agenda in Raleigh, where Republicans control both the governor's mansion and the legislature.
According to documents included with the memo and interviews, the strategy outline was produced by Myers Research and Strategic Services for Project New America. It was originally provided to Progress North Carolina, a liberal nonprofit that has aggressively attacked McCrory during the 2012 campaign and his early term in office. Progress North Carolina shared the memo with Blueprint NC, a nonprofit that coordinates the activities of liberal-leaning nonprofits. In turn, Blueprint NC distributed it to its member organizations.
An electronic version of the memo appears to contain at least three separate documents. One is an email from outgoing Blueprint NC Communications Director Stephanie Bass describing the material and emphasizing that it is "CONFIDENTIAL to Blueprint, so please be careful – share with your boards and appropriate staff, but not the whole world."
..."The most effective way to mitigate the worst legislation is to weaken our opponents' ability to govern by crippling their leaders (McCrory, Tillis, Berger, etc...)" the memo reads, referring to the governor, House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
The memo goes on to describe a "potential two-year vision" during which the groups would "eviscerate the leadership and weaken their ability to govern."
...The memo indicates there are close ties between the liberal groups and the Democratic Party itself.
For example, a response to McCrory's State of the State address earlier this week delivered by Rep. Larry Hall, D-Durham, tracked closely with slides from the poll shared by the liberal groups.
Hall's prepared remarks included this sentence: "Cutting funding for public education is wrong because it hurts our children's ability to succeed and compete for the jobs of the future." A slide from the polling memo includes the phrase, "Cutting funding for public education is wrong because it hurts our children's ability to succeed and compete for the jobs of the future."
Hall could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.
Friday, February 22, 2013
CFRW Capitol Update
Today is the last day for the legislature to introduce bills this session. At press time, the total number of bills introduced is 1503, 924 from the Assembly and 579 from the Senate. Many of these bills are “spot bills,” bills that are introduced as a place holder on the legislative calendar for the author to insert language into the bill later in the process. Also many of these bills will be subjected to a “gut and amend,” in which a bill that has already been approved by several committees is stripped and entirely new bill language replaces it. Both “spot bills” and “gut and amend” are commonplace in the legislature. Last session Republicans in both the Assembly and the Senate cried foul to these practices, stating it wasn’t fair to Californians who don’t have time to read the bills and participate in their government. These topics will come up again this session, and we intend to stay on top of them!
CRP Convention
Next weekend is the California Republican Party convention in Sacramento. There we will be electing a new party chair, vice chair, secretary and treasurer. If you are a delegate to the party and will not be attending the convention, please send the CFRW your proxy ASAP! Be sure to fill it out and send it to:
CFRW
1029 J St., #340
Sacramento, CA 95616
We will also be having our CFRW caucus meeting on Saturday, March 2nd, from 2-4 in room 205 at the Convention Center. Be sure to attend!
ADVOCACY WORKSHOP!
The Calls to Advocacy are in the mail and available ONLINE HERE! Be sure to reserve your hotel room at the Sheraton Sacramento for our 38th Annual Advocacy Workshop, April 8-9. We have an exciting program lined up, with our keynote speaker Katy Grimes of CalWatchDog! The theme for our high school students is ACTIVISM. We want them leaving the workshop engaged in the political process and excited to get involved! For more information or further questions, email our Advocate at advocate@cfrw.org.
President’s Message
Dear CFRW Members,
Working together we can accomplish much. IF you are a delegate for the California Republican Party, and not attending the convention, please give your proxy to a member of the Federation. We will also be having a caucus meeting on Saturday, check in at the CFRW Exhibition Booth for the correct time and location. Also, for those staying overnight, we will have a suite. We will leave the suite number at the Exhibition Suite, in case you want to stop by to visit or crash for a few minutes during the day.
As CFRW members we truly hope to have a good showing at the convention, as we vote for new leadership, and give lots of good wishes to our outgoing leaders. We are the strong, positive, heart and of soul of this party, locally and nationally. Let us show our strength by wearing your CFRW ribbons at this event. You guessed it – ribbons are at the Exhibition Booth.
We need you to mark your calendars for October 25-27, 2013, for our CFRW Convention. YES, we had to change the date again. It is important you make arrangements to be in attendance, as you will be voting for the 2014-15 CFRW Leadership.
We are asking to attend your respective division meetings, as each division will be electing delegates for their respective Nomination Committees and the CFRW Nomination Committee. Be involved and make a difference. We cannot be angry with the populace for not voting, IF we do not show by example. MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD. We hope to see you at your meetings.
NEVER, EVER FORGET
YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST
ONE TEAM, ONE PURPOSE, ONE GOAL
Have a fantastic weekend.
Carol Hadley
CFRW President
Rand Paul on Sequester Fearmongering: 'Balderdash' - 'President Is Making Stuff Up'
◼ Appearing on Fox News's Happening Now, Paul said, "The president is making stuff up" - Noel Sheppard/Newsbusters
I would say balderdash. It’s untrue, unfair, dishonest, disingenuous. The president is making stuff up. He puts law enforcement, he puts firemen and policemen, who 98 percent of them are being paid for with your local taxes, and says you’re going to lose your local policeman because of this. It’s not true. The sequester is a slowdown in the rate of growth of government. It’s the least we can do. Our country is drowning in a sea of debt, borrowing $50,000 a second. We have to slow down spending. And for the president to use this histrionics is really I think beneath the office of the presidency.
NEW: Misery Index about to soar in CA, US
Anything above 10 points is considered a tough time for the economy.... With inflation about to force the Fed to raise rates, the Misery Index is about to soar well above 10 points. And it will be even higher in high-unemployment California.
◼ California's high taxes bring low - Dan Walters/Sacramento Bee
One of the annoying anomalies about government services in California is that while we carry one of the nation's highest state and local tax burdens – over 10 percent of personal income – we consistently rank very low in what those many billions of tax dollars provide.
That disconnect is very evident in public education, the single biggest consumer of tax dollars as well as the most popular thing that governments do.
Despite our high taxes, California consistently ranks in the lower quadrant of per-pupil spending and much of that money has been diverted into an almost impenetrable thicket of specialized pots.
Meanwhile, the outcomes, as measured by academic tests and high school graduation rates, range from poor to mediocre.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
S.E. Cupp and the Freezing of the Conservative Mind
◼ Grow Up, S. E. Cupp - J. Robert Smith/American Thinker
I would add to Lord's remarks that Cupp's career largely hinges on celebrity -- celebrity, a totem of the modern age. People who make their livings off celebrity have a need to stay current, stay in the public eye. Picking a fight with Limbaugh, the dean of conservative talkers, particularly in a New York Times interview, is a nice little publicity gambit for a reputed young conservative. The liberal media eats up apostasy on the right.◼ Can the Republicans Be Saved From Obsolescence? - Robert Draper/NYT
CFRW PRESIDENT'S UPDATE
I hope all of you who attended our 2013 Leadership Workshop went home feeling much more informed and ready to get to work to continue to build your clubs and create an even a great presence in your communities. We are the messengers in our communities and knowledge is power.
We are very excited with the plans for our 2013 Spring Conference on April 27 in Redding so plan to come up and join us! Kerry Criss and the clubs of North Region are doing an awesome job of planning a conference with great speakers, an opportunity to network & share ideas and the chance to learn more about the most northern part of our state and the one of the last rural frontiers of our country. There will be some Friday workshops, and the Honorable Lynne Leach will host her outstanding Campaign School on Friday, April 26.
This is the year to INCREASE OUR MEMBERSHIP! We have to build up our numbers because we have another shot at electing more Republicans in 2014 . We need to have even more Republican women with boots on the ground so we can turn Sacramento around, keep the House and win back more seats in the Senate. We must put a stop to Mr. Obama’s out of control spending! We can do it but we need to get a lot more women involved!
CFRW: Call to Action Re: Hagel Nomination
Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma may filibuster the nomination. Of course, some Republicans will not back him. If the Democrats are united on this vote, and they probably are, the Republicans do not have the votes to stop Hagel’s confirmation. However, it is very important for the Republicans to unite behind a no vote so that a clear message is sent to the Democrats.
Here are the numbers for the leadership. Susan Collins of Maine is one Senator who plans to vote for Hagel. After making a big fuss about Hagel and saying that he is not qualified, John McCain says he will vote for confirmation.
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
(202) 224-2541 (202) 224-2499
John Cornyn, Texas
202) 224-2934 (202) 228-2856
John Thune, South Dakota
(202) 224-2321 (202) 228-5429
John Barasso, Wyoming
(202) 224-6441 (202) 224-1724
Ray Blunt, Missouri
(202) 224-5721 (202) 225-0148
Kelly Ayotte, New Hampshire
(202) 224-3324 (202) 224-4952
Jerry Moran, Kansas
(202) 224-6521 (202) 228-6966
John McCain, Arizona
(202) 224-2235 (202) 228-2862
I believe it is important for Republican Women to hold elected Republicans to an ethical standard that is often missing in Washington.
Thank you for all you do.
Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
Northern Division - CFRW
www.cfrwnd.org
Capital Connection: NFRW News for the Week of February 21, 2013
Congratulations to Diana Waterman of Maryland who was recently named the interim chairman of the Maryland Republican Party. Prior to assuming this position with the state party, Waterman served on the NFRW Membership Committee.
Campaign Management School to be Held
NFRW, along with the Virginia Federation of Republican Women, will be hosting a campaign management school in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday, February 23rd. We are pleased to have Holly Robichaud teaching the seminar. Holly has worked on the Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She has also been named as member of Aristotle's National Republican Dream Team and has repeatedly helped Republican candidates in the Northeast overcome the odds and get elected.
The campaign management school will be held at the Embassy Suites in Richmond, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and registrations are still open.
Confirmed Speakers for the Annual Spring Board Meeting
NFRW is pleased to announce that Congressman Todd Rokita will be speaking about the importance of voter ID laws on Friday morning, March 8, and Jennifer Korn will be speaking about diversity outreach on Saturday morning, March 9.
Congressman Rokita represents Indiana's 4th congressional district, having been elected in 2010. Before serving in the House of Representatives, Rokita was the Secretary of State of Indiana from 2002-2010 and served on the federal executive board of the Election Assistance Commission. He was a defendant in two cases concerning Indiana's photo voter ID law that went to the Supreme Court in 2008: Crawford v. Marion County Election Board and Indiana Democratic Party v. Rokita. The Supreme Court upheld Indiana's voter ID law.
Jennifer Korn is the Executive Director of the American Action Network, located in Washington, D.C., where she focuses special attention on their Hispanic Leadership Network. She was Director of Hispanic and Womens Affairs in the Bush Administration and then was Director of Government Affairs at the Department of Justice. In the 2004 presidential campaign season, Jennifer served as the National Director for VIVA BUSH! President Bush won an impressive 44 percent of the nation wide Hispanic vote in 2004.
Scott Walker calls for Wisconsin income tax cut
"Our focus is simple -- more prosperity, better performance and true independence," Walker said in his 40-minute speech. "Our middle class tax cut is a down payment on my goal of reducing the tax burden in our state every year I'm in office. I want to cut taxes over and over and over again until we are leading the country in economic recovery."
◼ Scott Walker proposes expanding the school voucher program beyond Milwaukee and Racine... to 9 new districts, including — gasp! — Madison. - Althouse
LIMBAUGH: FOR FIRST TIME I'M ASHAMED OF MY COUNTRY...
◼ It is the same threats. It's the same danger. It's the same crisis.
Everything gets repeated. The cycle, the claims, the threats, the crisis, Armageddon, it's the same. And we're talking $22 billion. It's not as though we're not gonna spend anything. If the sequester happens, the first year is $44 billion. Half of that's defense. We're still going to spend $3.5 trillion or $3.3 trillion, even if we don't spend the $22 billion. Then there's this guy who draws an analogy to the Oklahoma City bombing....
Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my country. To be watching all of this, to be treated like this, to have our common sense and intelligence insulted the way it's being insulted? It just makes me ashamed. Seriously, man. Here we get worked up over $44 billion. That's the total amount of money that will not be spent that was scheduled to be spent this year. In truth, we're gonna spend more this year than we spent last year.
We're just not gonna spend as much as was projected. It's all baseline budgeting. There is no real cut below a baseline of zero. There just isn't. Yet here they come, sucking us in, roping us in. Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection, no cops, no teachers, no firefighters, no air traffic control. I'm sorry, my days of getting roped into all this are over. We have the media playing along with all this. The ruling class of both parties play along with all this. It's insulting. I don't know how else to describe it....
What's happening here, folks, is we are being played for fools and being suckered -- suckered into supporting the never-ending expansion of government, the wholesale destruction of the private economy. Everybody who joins in this debate under the premise that Obama puts forth, as well as debating the politics of this nonsense, is just being used to cover up what's actually going on. Now, what's going on is no great conspiracy. It's no mystery. We're spending much more money than we have.
The government is getting inexorably larger.
It's less and less efficient at accomplishing anything. We're creating more and more dependents. We're robbing people of their dignity and humanity and of their opportunity to realize their dreams as they turn their lives over to the government. It's like a never-ending cycle. The government makes the private sector smaller. There are fewer job opportunities. There's less money in the private sector, less opportunity to accrue wealth. Income taxes and others threaten to go higher; they do go higher.
Obama’s Response to 2% Cut: Let Criminals Free, End Food Safety Inspections
Here’s the 3 by 5 index card version of what the GOP’s message on sequestration ought to be:
Our current level of spending is unsustainable. Spending must go down. Period.
This is a 2 percent cut.
Sure, if we in the Republican Party had complete control of the government, we would be implementing the cuts differently. But we don’t.
Congress can only appropriate funds; it doesn’t run the departments and agencies that spend the money. That’s the power and responsibility of the executive branch.
If the Obama administration’s response to a 2 percent cut is really to let all the criminals out of the jails and end food safety inspections, then it is no longer disputable that he’s a Stuttering Cluster-you-know-what of a Miserable Failure.(SCOAMF)
Krauthammer: Sequester "Most Ridiculously Hyped Armageddon Since The Mayan Calendar"
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: This is the ridiculously hyped armageddon since the Mayan calendar. In fact, it looks worse than the Mayan disaster. Look, this, as you say, can be solved in a day, in an hour by allowing a transfer of funds. It's incredibly soluble, easily soluble. And the president is the one who ought to propose it. He won't, of course, because he is looking for a fight and not a solution. But secondly, look at this in perspective.
In terms of the gross domestic product of our economy this is .003, it's a third of 1% of our domestic economy. On the domestic side, overall, it's 2.5 cents on the dollar. And overall, on the non-defense side, it's a penny-and-a-half on the dollar of reductions. Here we are with a debt of $16 trillion and the argument today is if we cut a penny-and-a-half on non-defense spending in one year it's the end of the world. If so, we are hopelessly in debt and we're going to end up like Greece. (Special Report, February 20, 2013)
‘Whose Side Are You On?’ Columbine Survivor Blasts Obama
...Todd points out that assault weapons bans have little effect on crime, and in particular he notes that the original federal weapons ban did nothing to protect him from being shot in 1999.
“It was during this time that I personally witnessed two fellow students murder twelve of my classmates and one teacher. The assault weapons ban did not deter these two murderers, nor did the other thirty-something laws that they broke,” Todd wrote....
"Whatever one wants to call this, "journalism" is the wrong label."
I wonder: does someone who goes from being an Obama White House spokesman and Obama campaign official to being an MSNBC contributor even notice that they changed jobs?
...But whatever one wants to call this, "journalism" is the wrong label. Even ideologically-friendly media outlets which claim that mantle should be devoted to accountability and treating those who wield power adversarially, not flattering the preexisting beliefs of their audience and relentlessly glorifying political leaders. Presidents have actual press secretaries and Party spokespeople for that.
◼ Wrong Headline, Professor - The Other McCain
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Ah. The important things.
Ah. The important things. RT @whpresscorps: Press finally gets question to Obama after golf weekend: ‘Did you beat Tiger?’
— Shlomo Himmel (@ShlomoHimmel) February 19, 2013
HAVE ANY MORE GUN MAKERS STOPPED SELLING TO ANTI-GUN STATES? (HINT: YEAH, LOTS MORE)
Since that report, the initial list (seen below) has changed. However, none of the “big three” (Glock, Sig Sauer, Smith & Wesson) providers to law enforcement have stepped up and joined the companies who have chosen to take a public stand on the issue. In less than two weeks, at least 18 companies have made the decision to stop selling to law enforcement in states that limit a private citizen’s right to own a gun.
Olympic Arms, IncThere is one arms maker that has gotten attention for publicly stating that they will not be pressured into stopping sales to law enforcement. That company is ArmaLite.
La Rue Tactical
EFI, LLC – Extreme Firepower
York Arms
Templar Custom
Cheaper Than Dirt
Joining the expanding group are:
Bullwater Enterprises
Westfork Armory
Smith Enterprise
Alex Arms
Spike’s Tactical
Quality Arms
Liberty Suppressors
Doublestar Corp
American Spirit Arms
Trident Armory
Head Down Products
J&G Sales
The NRA has a great video that goes beyond gun rights and hones in an individual liberty
◼ NRA’s powerful new ad, “We Are America.” - Bookworm Room
◼ WHO’S RULING WHOM? - John Hinderaker/Powerline
Every day, in a myriad of ways, the Obama administration is striving to make the state bigger and more powerful, and the individual smaller and weaker. The NRA’s motto in the current controversy is “Stand and Fight.” That exhortation applies to a great deal more than the debate over gun control.
John Boehner: The President Is Raging Against a Budget Crisis He Created
A week from now, a dramatic new federal policy is set to go into effect that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more. In a bit of irony, President Obama stood Tuesday with first responders who could lose their jobs if the policy goes into effect. Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester. What they might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that it is a product of the president's own failed leadership.
The sequester is a wave of deep spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will occur this year, with another $1.1 trillion coming over the next decade. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much—we should be cutting even more—but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it.... read the rest at the link.
◼ President Obama ramps up scare over looming budget cuts - Brian Hughes/Washington Examiner @BrianHughesDC
Analysts said the White House push to raise public fears over the budget cuts may leave many Americans feeling like they've heard it all before, that it's just one more dire warning from a president who regularly takes his case to the public to pressure Congress to act.
"It's like the boy who cried wolf," Mitchell McKinney, a political communication professor at the University of Missouri, said of Obama's message. "It loses its impact because we've heard it all before. We've had the [debt] ceiling, the [fiscal] cliff -- the ire from the public isn't there."
White House officials said Obama will step up his travels promoting his package of short-term spending cuts and tax increases, hoping to raise awareness of a largely esoteric issue.
◼ The GOP’s astonishingly bad message on sequester cuts - Byron York/Washington Examiner @ByronYork
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner describes the upcoming sequester as a policy “that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more.”
Which leads to the question: Why would Republicans support a measure that threatens national security and thousands of jobs? Boehner and the GOP are determined to allow the $1.2 trillion sequester go into effect unless President Obama and Democrats agree to replacement cuts, of an equal amount, that target entitlement spending. If that doesn’t happen — and it seems entirely unlikely — the sequester goes into effect, with the GOP’s blessing.
In addition, Boehner calls the cuts “deep,” when most conservatives emphasize that for the next year they amount to about $85 billion out of a $3,600 billion budget. Which leads to another question: Why would Boehner adopt the Democratic description of the cuts as “deep” when they would touch such a relatively small part of federal spending?
The effect of Boehner’s argument is to make Obama seem reasonable in comparison....
Could the GOP message on the sequester be any more self-defeating? Boehner could argue that the sequester cuts are necessary as a first — and somewhat modest — step toward controlling the deficits that threaten the economy. Instead, he describes them as a threat to national security and jobs that he nevertheless supports. It’s not an argument that is likely to persuade millions of Americans.
Wednesday morning, when Boehner’s op-ed appeared, I sent questions along these lines to Boehner’s office. Spokesman Michael Steel replied, “We support replacing the indiscriminate cuts in the sequester with smarter cuts and reforms (of an equal amount). That’s what we did with the sequester replacement bills written by Chairman Ryan that we passed last year.” Another spokesman, Brendan Buck, added that “it is not the amount of the cuts…it’s where they fall — disproportionately on accounts important to our national security.”
None of which addresses the Republican problem on the sequester. If the problem is one of substance — that is, if GOP leaders truly believe the cuts threaten national security but are nevertheless supporting them — then Republicans have put themselves into an untenable situation.
◼ Boehner, WSJ Lash Out at Obama over Sequester - Lisa Barron/Newsmax
in a scathing Wall Street Journal op-ed, Boehner pointed the finger firmly at the president as being responsible for getting the country “in this mess.”
“During the summer of 2011, as Washington worked toward a plan to reduce the deficit to allow for an increase in the federal debt limit, President Obama and I very nearly came to a historic agreement,” writes Boehner. “Unfortunately, our deal fell apart at the last minute when the president demanded an extra $400 billion in new tax revenue —50% more than we had shaken hands on just days before. “
Boehner says that despite the “disappointing decision” by the president, the speaker immediately got together with Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell to forge a bipartisan plan calling for immediate caps on discretionary spending and the creation of a special “super committee” to find an additional $1.2 trillion in savings.
“The deal also included a simple but powerful mechanism to ensure that the committee met its deficit-reduction target. If it didn’t, the debt limit would not be increased again in a few months,” he adds.
“But President Obama was determined not to face another debt-limit increase before his re-election campaign. Having just blow up one deal, the president scuttled this bipartisan, bicameral agreement. His solution? A sequester.”
The sequester was initially proposed as a deal so bad that Republicans and Democrats would have to come up with something better. But as deadlines have passed, neither side has provided an alternative that is acceptable to the other.
Boehner says that with a deadline looming, both parties in Congress “reluctantly accept the president’s demand for the sequester” and a revised version of the bipartisan plan.
◼ Sequestration Depression - Matt Purple/American Spectator
◼ Hate the Sequester? Then Pass Entitlement Reform. - Jim Geraghty/National Review via Conservative Byte
Michelle Malkin: My column today: The Anti-Choice Left’s Disarming of the American Woman. I'll be talking about this tonight on Fox. Tune in!
Time to fight back like a girl, as one of my favorite female Second Amendment advocates Sarah Palin likes to say.
...The presumptuous paternalism of gun-grabbing male Democrats is not confined to the political arena. On college campuses across the country, the literal disarming of women is standard operating procedure. At the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, officials advise women that “passive resistance may be your best defense.” The school’s recommendation to girls: “Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating.”
If that fails, it’s time to deploy other assault bodily fluids! No joke. UCCS seriously advises potential victims: “Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone.”
In a quick survey of campus tips for women, Twitchy.com editor Jenn Taylor notes that at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, women are also told that “passive resistance (vomiting, urinating, telling the attacker you’re diseased or menstruating) may be your best defense.” The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh tells girls to “(c)ry or create a scene of emotional or mental instability.” Instead of a Glock, the school prefers students take a page from “Glee.” Yes, ladies, when you fear for your lives, it’s time to engage in theatrics by faking a “faint” or “seizure.” And at Oregon State, female students are advised to tell sexual predators they are “sick or pregnant,” because guns and knives are banned on campus....
The idea that women can’t be trusted to know when they are at risk takes direct aim at their very sovereignty and security.
It’s anti-self-determination. It’s anti-freedom. It’s anti-choice.
Obama, the puppet master
◼ Delusional Politico Journalists: Obama is Our Puppet Master - Rush
Yeah, the guys at The Politico say, "Obama's so good, we can't resist. We know when we're being puppetized; we know when we're being used! We know when we're being manipulated, but we're so susceptible and he's so powerful at it, that we can't resist," and they make the point in like the second paragraph. Here: "President Obama is a master at limiting, shaping, and manipulating media coverage of himself and the White House." Now, to show you how on the defensive they are, their second paragraph says, "But not for the reason that conservatives suspect...◼ ‘OBAMA IS A MASTER AT LIMITING, SHAPING AND MANIPULATING MEDIA COVERAGE’: THE 10 MOST SCATHING REMARKS FROM POLITICO’S ANTI-OBAMA MEDIA COLUMN - The Blaze
4. Conservatives assume a cozy relationship between this White House and the reporters who cover it. Wrong. Many reporters find Obama himself strangely fearful of talking with them and often aloof and cocky when he does. They find his staff needlessly stingy with information and thin-skinned about any tough coverage. He gets more-favorable-than-not coverage because many staffers are fearful of talking to reporters, even anonymously, and some reporters inevitably worry access or the chance of a presidential interview will decrease if they get in the face of this White House.◼ Liberal Bias Central to Obama Media Edge - Jonathan S. Tobin/Commentary
◼ "Those being played are willing accomplices." This will be true until someday it won't be. - Discussion at Lucianne
◼ President Obama holds off-record meeting with top White House reporters, POLITICO has learned. - Dylan Byers/Politico
POLITICO was not invited to the meeting, though it has been invited to similar off-the-record meetings in the past.... or, according to Drudge headline: POLITICO FROZEN OUT AFTER 'PUPPET MASTER' COLUMN...
Texas' biggest problem these days is finding enough office space to accommodate all the newcomers
Perry's state is an undisputed economic success story and has been a magnet for businesses from all over the U.S. for several years now.
With no income tax, a legislature that balances its budget and a bureaucracy that seems conditioned to ask businesses "How can I help you?", Texas' biggest problem these days is finding enough office space to accommodate all the newcomers.
For that reason, it was grimly fascinating to see Perry visit California — which has just got done hiking taxes from 10.3% to 13.3% on top earners — attracting interest from more than 200 firms, which seem to be raring for what a Forbes columnist called a "reverse gold rush."
"Gov. Brown may call it poaching," said Perry, responding to Brown's sour comparison of the visit to flatulence. "I just call it giving people an option of where they can locate their business and be able to keep more of their money." That's called reality.
Fact is, California is punishing businesses and individuals with higher state taxes, while Texas is getting inundated with California companies seeking to move to the Lone Star State, regardless of whether Perry visits.
And that seems to be behind a growing no-holds-barred effort by the media hive and its left-wing allies to claim that Perry's visit somehow was the failure....
The major media, meanwhile, cited various "studies" stating that because most businesses don't move, the movement at the margins somehow doesn't matter — specious logic by economic standards since the essence of economics is to watch activity at the margins. The New York Times and Washington Post each ran a piece in this vein, as if on cue from JournoList.
But tax actions have consequences. The left's hysteria in trying to debunk basic economic truths is just proof that Perry's trip was the right thing to do.
It Takes a B.A. to Find a Job as a File Clerk
This up-credentialing is pushing the less educated even further down the food chain, and it helps explain why the unemployment rate for workers with no more than a high school diploma is more than twice that for workers with a bachelor’s degree: 8.1 percent versus 3.7 percent.
Some jobs, like those in supply chain management and logistics, have become more technical, and so require more advanced skills today than they did in the past. But more broadly, because so many people are going to college now, those who do not graduate are often assumed to be unambitious or less capable.
Plus, it’s a buyer’s market for employers.
“When you get 800 résumés for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow...”
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
OBAMACARE’S UNLOVED EXCHANGES
This option of refusal is not a rebellion; it was presented to governors by the Affordable Care Act. It was assumed that most of them would voluntarily create these exchanges in their states, but in the end, 26 states did not. This is a big problem for ObamaCare, whose absurdly rosy budget predictions assumed the states would cover these costs. The exchanges are Big Government’s inefficient, expensive, hyper-regulatory substitute for a health insurance market. Instead of competing with advertising in the free market, insurance companies and customers will find each other through government-managed “portals.”
But a potentially even bigger problem is highlighted by Forbes magazine, which notes that insurance companies don’t appear eager to participate in the exchanges, either...
Humboldt County makes The Blaze
◼ UNBELIEVABLE HOARD OF GUNS, DRUGS, CASH AND A TRACTOR FOUND IN MAN’S ‘PIRATE CAVE’ — SEE THE PICS OF THE HAUL
Humboldt County Sheriff Department’s Public Information Officer Lt. Steve Knight told the Huffington Post the bounty found with a search warrant on property in Garberville, Calif., was “one of the largest hauls that we’ve ever seen.”
Souder, Betances and Associates has received over $3 million from the government for its services
This is big money, serious money. It may not be billions of dollars, but it's still enough to raise some eyebrows. Moreover, there are some serious questions that need to be answered about the company receiving all of this money. Most of it was awarded without competition. Why?
◼ JW Releases Confidential USDA Videos Revealing “Cultural Sensitivity Training” Program: Whistleblower Reveals Indoctrination Program Requiring USDA Staffers to Bang on Tables, Chant, “The pilgrims were illegal aliens” - Judicial Watch
“This USDA diversity training video depicts out-of-control political correctness,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch. “Can someone please explain how any of this helps USDA employees to better serve the American taxpayer? This video further confirms that politically-correct diversity training programs are both offensive and a waste of taxpayer money. No wonder it took over half a year to obtain this video from the Obama administration.”
As reported by Fox News in October, 2012, Judicial Watch first broke the news of the USDA compulsory sensitivity training program based upon information it obtained in response to a FOIA request. That request was prompted by a tip provided to the organization by a USDA whistleblower.
California govt: So, that budget surplus we mentioned? That may have been a fluke
◼ California's budget windfall could end soon, officials say - LA Times
The administration was expecting that money to arrive in April. Now, officials are saying it won't, and that just as January's receipts soared, they'll be offset by a spring plunge.
Video: Obama Angrily Denounces His Own Idea
And who, pray tell, is primarily responsible for these "not smart , not fair," job-destroying, chaos-creating cuts? Over to you, liberal reporter Bob Woodward:
◼ Obama: Criminals will be let go if sequester cuts go through - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner @charlesspiering
◼ Obama: We must avoid these dangerous spending cuts that I signed into law - Allahpundit/HotAir
After Obama's sequester event, one of the first responders on stage told me that he "felt like a potted plant."
— Brian Hughes (@BrianHughesDC) February 19, 2013
@brianhughesdc And aif he stood there and listened while Obama lies through his teeth and said nothing, then he is a Potted Plant.
— Mike B. Martisko (@NatSovParty) February 19, 2013
◼ HOSTAGES TO SEQUESTRATION - John Hayward/Human Events
There’s nothing really new about Barack Obama’s anti-sequestration crusade, as summarized by Fox News:
The president spoke Tuesday at the White House, urging Congress to come up with a short-term fix to cancel sweeping cuts to defense and other programs set to hit March 1.
“These cuts are not smart. They are not fair. They will hurt our economy. They will add hundreds of thousands of Americans to the unemployment rolls,” Obama said. “This is not an abstraction — people will lose their jobs.”
The president ticked off a host of expected repercussions should the $85 billion in cuts for this year take effect. He said Border Patrol, emergency responders, FBI agents, airport controllers and others would all face cutbacks. He said teachers would be laid off by the thousands and America’s military would be degraded.
This is the same thing he always does. It really should be a fixture in late-night comedy routines by now. Propose a single dollar of spending cuts, and suddenly Obama has a row of firefighters lined up to receive their pink slips – as if more than a small fraction of his bloated spending has anything to do with the vital services a limited government should provide. You might recall that during the 2011 debt ceiling crisis, Obama was openly threatening to stop Social Security checks if he wasn’t allowed to rack up more debt.
This President often lapses into the rhetoric of terrorist “hostage-taking” to whine about his opponents, but it’s the most massive case of psychological “projection” in the world. Spending cuts are never about food stamp cards pulling millions in cash from ATMs at strip clubs, or billions of dollars in “free” cell-phone fraud, or federally-funded robot squirrels, or green energy giveaways. It’s always cops, firemen, and teachers marched onto the trap door, the instant Obama is told he has to stop spending money.
The American people should be sick to death of this.
◼ Oh, please, Mr. Obama: please save us from the Sequester that you created! - Doug Ross
The man who invented the budget sequester now claims it will destroy America. Put simply, if America's had a more dishonest president than #44, I've yet to read about him.
“Do you care, David? Do you care, David?”
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
◼ "I'm asking you, do you care whether four Americans died? The reasons for that?" - Ed Morrissey/HotAirThe answers we have received haven’t exactly cleared things up, either. Leon Panetta testified that no one in the White House, from the President down, bothered to keep in touch with him on the night of the attack after an initial briefing at its start. Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Martin Dempsey knew of the warnings from murdered Ambassador Chris Stevens about the vulnerability of the consulate, and pronounced himself surprised that Hillary Clinton was unaware of them. The White House hasn’t even offered to make the survivors available for the intelligence committees to get answers.
All of this sounds like a stonewall operation to cover up massive incompetence, which usually would tend to interest journalists. David Gregory, on the other hand, doesn’t see an issue. Take that for what it’s worth.
President finally shows his face after $1m golfing weekend with Tiger Woods that White House didn't want world to see
DRUDGE HEADLINES:
◼ Obama Golf Outing Risks Muddling Messsage - Daily Mail
◼ Obama played at exclusive Florida course on Sunday with Tiger Woods◼ Historians warn against 'overconfidence' - LA Times
◼ President refused to say if he had been beaten by the champion golfer
◼ Cost of Air Force One trips to and from Florida, along with hotel rooms, greens fees and exclusive golf lessons comes to $989,207
◼ Tried to mend fraught relationship with traveling press corps by 'hanging out' with them for 10 minutes on the flight back
◼ Returns to DC with Reggie Love - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard
◼ POLITICO: WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS REBEL - Politico
Obama boasted Thursday during a Google+ Hangout from the White House: “This is the most transparent administration in history.” The people who cover him day to day see it very differently.◼ GO ON RECORD TO CALL ACCESS 'DISGRACE' - Politico
“The way the president’s availability to the press has shrunk in the last two years is a disgrace,” said ABC News White House reporter Ann Compton, who has covered every president back to Gerald R. Ford. “The president’s day-to-day policy development — on immigration, on guns — is almost totally opaque to the reporters trying to do a responsible job of covering it. There are no readouts from big meetings he has with people from the outside, and many of them aren’t even on his schedule. This is different from every president I covered. This White House goes to extreme lengths to keep the press away.”
◼ Press finally gets question, asks 'Did you beat Tiger?' - Daily Caller
◼ Michelle's ski trip (separate vacation) shuts down Aspen air space - NY Post
◼ Politico tries to expunge media bias by playing victim of Obama manipulation - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
...It certainly is true that Obama is good at manipulating the media, but I’m taking Obama’s side on this one. The media has proven itself willing subjects, with tingles and oohs and ahhs running wild since before Obama was elected the first time.
Obama didn’t force the media to run wild for days against Romney over Benghazi while covering up the cover up. Obama didn’t force the media to collude at Romney’s Benghazi press conference to make sure an appropriate gotcha question was asked. Obama didn’t force the media to proclaim Paul Ryan a liar, or to perpetuate the falsehood that Republicans are racist. Obama didn’t force Politico to turn practically its entire home page over to going after Herman Cain.
Don’t blame Obama for your own failings.
Look in the mirror and ask why you are such a bunch of hypocritical sycophants who abandoned all pretense of journalistic integrity in order to get Obama elected twice.
Yes, you are puppets. At least you got that right.
Angry Media foxnews.com/politics/2013/… … over lack of #TRANSPARENCY on OB game with TW. How #CRIMINAL! To Country Club, #BENGHAZI be damned!
— Rhondal Burns (@rhondalburns) February 18, 2013
◼ Obama’s obedient lap dog - Michael Goodwin/NY Post
It’s hubris wrapped in a lie, but it serves to distract from a far more important angle than the dispute over mere access. Too many news organizations are shockingly uncurious about Obama’s second- term agenda. They apparently don’t want to know, and certainly don’t think the public does, either.◼ Discussion at Lucianne
Traveling press clearly furious because they couldn't ask, "What's Reggie Love doing here?" and "Why
are you playing golf with a certified horndog?" Right?
Monday, February 18, 2013
Colorado morons want to leave women defenseless: “Vomiting or urinating” better than carrying a gun
First, Colorado lawmakers claim ballpoint pens will save us from violent attacks. Now, it's vomiting, bare feet, and Aunt Flo. #fail
— Whitney Neal (@WhitneyNeal) February 19, 2013
◼ Two items for you that will make your blood boil, especially the womenfolk out there: - Michelle Malkin
Two items for you that will make your blood boil, especially the womenfolk out there:
1) The first via Jesse Byrnes here in Colorado…here’s what the University of Colorado- Colorado Springs advises innocent victims to do when they fall prey to attackers:
What To Do If You Are Attacked
These tips are designed to help you protect yourself on campus, in town, at your home, or while you travel. These are preventative tips and are designed to instruct you in crime prevention tactics.
Be realistic about your ability to protect yourself.2) Via ◼ Dana Loesch and ◼ Revealing Politics, Colorado state rep. John Salazar doesn’t think women need a gun to protect them from rapists. Instead, they should be happy with rape whistles. Click the links for video.
Your instinct may be to scream, go ahead! It may startle your attacker and give you an opportunity to run away.
Kick off your shoes if you have time and can’t run in them.
Don’t take time to look back; just get away.
If your life is in danger, passive resistance may be your best defense.
Tell your attacker that you have a disease or are menstruating.
Vomiting or urinating may also convince the attacker to leave you alone.
Yelling, hitting or biting may give you a chance to escape, do it!
Understand that some actions on your part might lead to more harm.
Remember, every emergency situation is different. Only you can decide which action is most appropriate.
“Passive resistance” is what the gun-grabbers want to impose on all of us.
Time to fight like a girl.
Contact Colorado Democrat Rep. Joe Salazar…
JOSEPH SALAZAR
State Representative – District 31
Office Location: 200 East Colfax
Denver, CO 80203
Capitol Phone: 303-866-2918
E-Mail: joseph.salazar.house@state.co.us
◼ Colorado Democrat: Women Don’t Need Guns If They ‘Feel Like They’re Going To Be Raped’ *UPDATED - Dana Loesch/Red State
◼ FEEL LIKE YOU’RE GONNA BE RAPED? MAYBE YOU WON’T - Revealing Politics
Salazar: “It’s why we have call boxes, it’s why we have safe zones, it’s why we have the whistles. Because you just don’t know who you’re gonna be shooting at,” Salazar remarked in debate late Friday night. “And you don’t know if you feel like you’re gonna be raped, or if you feel like someone’s been following you around or if you feel like you’re in trouble when you may actually not be, that you pop out that gun and you pop … pop around at somebody.◼ Who needs a gun? University advises women to whistle, vomit, fake a disease to avoid rape - Twitchy
◼ Chill, women, says Colorado Democrat Rep. Joe Salazar. While arguing for the disarmament of college students, Salazar says that even if women feel like they’re going to be raped, they may not, so who needs a firearm for protection? - Dana Loesch/Dana Radio
This is the real “war on women” I’ve talked about: the progressive insistence that women disarm. Women, according to Rep. Salazar, are hysterical things which shoot indiscriminately at any and everything.
◼ Democrats Have A Full-Blown Akin On Their Hands - FOX
I heard a rumor that the government bought a million hollow point Rape Whistles.
— Matt Dawson (@SaintRPh) February 19, 2013
State considers law requiring police to inspect homes of gun owners...
Forget police drones flying over your house. How about police coming inside, once a year, to have a look around?
As Orwellian as that sounds, it isn’t hypothetical. The notion of police home inspections was introduced in a bill last week in Olympia....
I spoke to two of the sponsors. One, Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, a lawyer who typically is hyper-attuned to civil-liberties issues, said he did not know the bill authorized police searches because he had not read it closely before signing on.
“I made a mistake,” Kline said. “I frankly should have vetted this more closely.”
That lawmakers sponsor bills they haven’t read is common. Still, it’s disappointing on one of this political magnitude. Not counting a long table, it’s only an eight-page bill.
◼ Sheriffs can inspect homes for safe gun storage in Washington state under Democratic weapon bill - Cheryl K. Chumley/The Washington Times
◼ Chicago Police Chief: 2nd Amendment Danger to Public Safety... - Red State
◼ 'Homeland Security' Advances Plan For 'Public Safety' Drones... - Infowars
Two Awful Anniversaries: Income Tax and Federal Reserve
...Research by Art Laffer and other economists has demonstrated that over time states that have no income tax perform better than states with high income taxes. New Jersey, for instance, traditionally outperformed the national economy. Then it not only enacted a state income tax but also subsequently raised it to nosebleed levels. Today New Jersey’s economy is a shadow of its former self and lags the nation. The same thing has happened in Connecticut.
Before the enactment of the 16th Amendment, which permitted Washington to impose an income tax, states were in the vanguard of putting taxes on income. Today they are doing just the opposite. Governor Sam Brownback of Kansas has been unrelenting in pushing for lower income tax levies. When certain members of his own party balked, he supported their challengers in the primaries. Brownback triumphed and is now putting Kansas on the path to eliminating this exaction altogether. Governor Dave Heineman of Nebraska wants to do the same thing, as does Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Other governors are pushing to reduce rates sharply, including Governors Pat McCrory of North Carolina, Mary Fallin of Oklahoma and John Kasich of Ohio.
And look at what’s happening in Massachusetts: Governor Deval Patrick, taking cues from his close friend Barack Obama, proposed raising Massachusetts’ 5.25% income tax to 6.25%, as well as boosting other levies. Despite virtually no Republican representation in the state legislature–Democrats have 36 of 40 seats in the Senate and 129 of 160 in the House–Patrick’s scheme looks to be crashing and burning. White House fantasies to the contrary, most people are in no mood to pay more to Big Government....
Happy President's Day. (President's Week)
- George Washington
With all the attention the media have given to guns in the months following this tragic incident, there's been precious little to the violent video games our youth are exposed to
Post facto question: Why has it taken over two months for this information to come out?
If they had found a book by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Ann Coulter, or Glenn Beck, I bet we would have heard about it weeks ago with it making headline news across the fruited plain.
But the presence of thousands of dollars of graphically violent video games?
The New York Post filed a report on December 19 titled "Killer’s Basement His Eerie Lair of Violent Video Games." But the source was an unnamed "person familiar with the layout" of Lanza's home.
It took two months for some news outlet to confirm this with the police?
◼ POLICE: Sandy Hook killer copied massacre scene from one of the hundreds of violent video-games he played relentlessly - Doug Ross
◼ No Russian - Bob Owens
◼ Did Media Coverage of Breivik Lead to Newtown Massacre? - Daniel Greenfield/Frontpage
The current claims bylaw enforcement sources are that Lanza was treating mass murder as a video game score that he felt compelled to beat Breivik at. Breivik had his own gaming obsessions and seemed to be living in an imaginary world where he was the leader of an army of crusader knights.
Crazy people are basically crazy. Still it would appear from this that Lanza knew entirely what he was doing and that the obsessive publicity that the media gave to the Breivik case may have inspired the Newtown massacre.
Naturally we won’t be calling for a video game ban or a media ban, because attacking the First Amendment because of a madman’s actions is wrong. But somehow attacking the Second Amendment isn’t.
◼ Newtown shooter motivated by Norway massacre, sources say - CBS
Evidence shows that his mind, sources say, Lanza was also likely acting out the fantasies of a video game as he killed 20 first graders and six adults at the school. For Lanza, the deaths apparently amounted to some kind of "score."
But Lanza ended his killing spree sooner than he intended. Unlike Breivik, who surrendered, Lanza killed himself as police closed in. Just before his suicide, Lanza fired some shots at police in the school's parking lot.
Officials have not publicly revealed what led them to the motive, but sources say investigators have found evidence Lanza was obsessed with Breivik.
They've also recovered what they called a "trove" of video games from the basement of Lanza's home. Sources say Lanza spent countless hours there alone, in a private gaming room with the windows blacked out, honing his computer shooting skills.
No bluff: Ammo mag company Magpul, other firms will leave if Colorado gun-grabber bills pass
This is an abuse of legislative power and a backdoor ban on many non-bolt action rifle platforms. Or, to put it another way, it promotes SNIPER-STYLE rifles while creating an effective ban, going forward, on rifles that contain modern-convenience features, like an adjustable stock or a pistol grip.
And yet these Democrat legislators drape themselves in the language of the Declaration and Constitution to pretend that they are acting on behalf of the “common defense” — as if it is law-abiding citizens with high capacity assault rifles who are committing crimes.
The numbers show something entirely other. History shows us that gun-free-zones are the single most common factor in mass shootings...
◼ Colorado ammo magazine maker promises to leave state if bill passes - Public Secrets
Here’s another development in the slowly growing manufacturers’ backlash against states that pass repressive bills that violate the Second Amendment. If the Democrat-controlled state government in Denver follows New York’s lead, ammunition magazine-maker Magpul has promised to take its jobs and tax revenues elsewhere...
◼ No bluff: Ammo mag company Magpul, other firms will leave if Colorado gun-grabber bills pass - Michelle Malkin
Arrogant Democrats here in Colorado have fooled themselves into thinking that companies like Magpul are bluffing. The company fired back last night on Facebook:
We’re hearing some rumors that the Gov and the Dem caucus think we are bluffing. Just to clarify for them, then…we’re not a political company. We don[']t play political games. We’ve made our position very clear, very publicly. We would not survive lying to our customer base, nor would we ever consider it. If you pass this, we will leave, and you will own it. We’ve already got plans in place to get PMAG manufacturing moved rapidly, and the rest of the company will follow. We will make sure to at least have a small remain-behind operation through the 2014 elections so that we can remind folks why we are gone.
In other news to be filed under Gun Control Hysteria Has Consequences, a number of gun makers are now refusing to sell arms to police in gun-grabbing New York state...
◼ Magpul's departure could crack plastics industry, manufacturer says - Denver Post
If Magpul Industries follows through on its threat to leave Colorado, it could harm more than a dozen Front Range firms specializing in plastic injection molding and reduce the region’s capacity in that manufacturing process.
…As much as possible, the company tries to contract with Colorado vendors, who represent about 90 percent of its supply chain, he said. Those suppliers received about $46 million last year from Magpul, with the company projecting that number to reach $85 million for 2013, Liptak said.
◼ Gun maker bans sales to New York - RT
An American firearms manufacturer says they are the banning the sale of their merchandise to law enforcement and government agencies in New York State in protest of a new gun law signed this week by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
The management at Washington State-based Olympic Arms, Inc. issued a statement this week affirming that the half-century-old gun maker will no longer be in business with any government-affiliated parties operating in New York, where just this Tuesday Gov. Cuomo signed the first new state-wide firearm regulations in the country since the tragic Newton, Connecticut massacre last December.
McCain charges 'massive cover-up' on Benghazi
◼ “IT is not going too far to say that American foreign policy has become completely subservient to tactical domestic political considerations.” - Roger Cohen/NYT
...From that vantage point, and later as a close observer, (Vali) Nasr was led to the reluctant conclusion that the principal aim of Obama’s policies “is not to make strategic decisions but to satisfy public opinion.”
In this sense the first-term Obama foreign policy was successful: He was re-elected. Americans wanted extrication from the big wars and a smaller global footprint: Obama, with some back and forth, delivered. But the price was high and opportunities lost.
“The Dispensable Nation” constitutes important reading as John Kerry moves into his new job as secretary of state. It nails the drift away from the art of diplomacy — with its painful give-and-take — toward a U.S. foreign policy driven by the Pentagon, intelligence agencies and short-term political calculus. It holds the president to account for his zigzags from Kabul to Jerusalem.
It demonstrates the emasculation of the State Department: Vasr quotes Admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, telling him of Hillary Clinton that, “It is incredible how little support she got from the White House. They want to control everything.” And it paints a persuasive picture of an American decline driven not so much by the inevitable rise of other powers as by “inconsistency” that has “cast doubt on our leadership.”...
◼ “The Dispensable Nation” is a brave book. Its core message is: Diplomacy is tough and carries a price, but the price is higher when it is abandoned.
Nixon’s Three-Day Gift
This is Richard Nixon’s centennial year. Partisans still have strong emotions about him: the Left, which finally triumphed over him with Watergate; his own supporters who recently filled Washington’s Hotel Mayflower ballroom with a celebratory centennial dinner in his honor.
There are two non-partisan groups who should be always grateful to the 37th president, for he gave them a priceless gift: a reason for an annual three-day sale—the Presidents’ Day weekend. The groups are used car and mattress salesmen.
In 1970, Nixon did a pre-Obama pre-emption. Instead of asking Congress to convert the George Washington’s Birthday weekend (still its official name), he simply issued a Presidential Proclamation urging all Americans to celebrate all of the nation’s presidents. Hence, “Presidents’ Day.” Calendar publishers, non-nosy news media (that is, most of them) and the aforementioned sales-happy merchants swallowed the suggestion without so much as a “What’s this?”
To date there have been 43 presidents (44 presidencies, because Grover Cleveland’s two terms were not consecutive). Washington’s Birthday has long been a nationwide holiday. Originally a stand-alone, it became part of the three-day system created by Congress with the 1968 Monday Holiday Act. For years, school children had given Washington recitations prior to the day. Newspapers and magazines ran features extolling his career and accomplishments. Historian James Flexner once described him as “the indispensable man,” for without him it is unlikely the fledgling republic could have survived its early years. All that seems to have fallen away.
Now, thanks to Richard Nixon, we have a three-day weekend the purpose of which no one remembers, only that is called the Presidents’ Day Weekend.
Nixon, in issuing his proclamation wanted his fellow Americans to honor all presidents. It is doubtful he thought through that idea, for to honor all means to honor none. Would he have wanted us to honor, say, Franklin Pierce, William Henry Harrison, and Andrew Johnson with the same reverence that we might show George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Even allowing for the probability that all presidents did the best they could, their contributions to the nation have hardly been equal.
Why was George Washington frozen out of recognition on what is still, officially, his special weekend? There is more than one cause. Many schools no longer focus on leaders when teaching American history. They (and textbook authors and more than a few present-day historians) hold the view that history is a bottoms-up process and that leaders gradually emerge, rather than seizing the reins and pulling the people along. The truth comes, in part, from both the push and pull processes.
A definite contributor to the decline of Washington in the minds of the public is visual imagery. He came from a period long past, when men wore powdered wigs and women wore hoop skirts. In Lincoln’s time, clothing styles, particularly for men, looked much more recognizable than silver-buckled shoes and long waistcoats.
The folks at Mount Vernon, Washington’s estate on the Potomac River, do an energetic job of working with history teachers and creating readable Washington material and traveling exhibits to restore the Father of the Country at the head of the presidential pantheon. Still, it is a constant effort.
As for Nixon, he doesn’t even get credit for his gift from the retail salesmen who are indebted to him. Most today are too young to remember that it was he who bestowed on them their wonderful three-day-sale weekend.