The truth about the sequester....

Facts:

1. The cut, effective March 1, 2012 is $85 over 2 years.  That is $44.5 billion per year.
2. 1/2 the cuts are for in domestic spending, 1/2 in defense spending.
3. The federal budget for FY 2013 (actually, it is not a budget it is projected spending , as the U.S. Senate has not passed a budget since FY 2009) is $.8 trillion.
4. $3.8 trillion is $3,800 billion
5. So, the math looks something like this:

                  $85/2 = $44.5 billion  (we are already 1/2 way through FY 2013)

        

                  $44.5/2=$22.25 billion in domestic spending and $22.25 in defense spending

        

                  $3,800/$44.5 = 1.17% cut in spending  (or .585% in domestic, .585% defense)

Except:  The U.S. projected spending (remember, there is no budget, as the Senate has not passed one in 4 years) is expected to grow at the following rates (from the OMB-President Obama's 2013 Budget-Summary Table S4 and S5):

                 Annual rates of increase in major spending categories budgeted for the 2012-2022 period were:

• Defense: 1.8%
• Non-defense discretionary: 1.6%
• Social Security: 5.8%
• Medicare: 6.6%
• Medicaid: 8.5%
• Net interest: 14.2%
• Total spending: 5.0%

The Result: Spending will actually not decrease at all.  It will simply not increase as quickly (at least for the next 2 years).

Let's put this in perspective:

1.17% x $10,000.00 = $117.00           $117.00/2 =   $58.50   (remember 1/2 in domestic, 1/2 in defense) 

1.17% x $25,000.00 = $292.50           $292.50/2 = $146.25

1.17% x $50,000.00 = $585.00           $585.00/2 = $292.50

Oh, yeah.  Don't forget we also spent $50 billion for hurricane Sandy relief.  

And let us not forget Obama's promise:

"Already, some in Congress are trying to undo these automatic spending cuts. My message to them is simple: No. I will veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts to domestic and defense spending.  There will be no easy off ramps on this one.  We need to keep the pressure up to compromise -- not turn
off the pressure." - POTUS, Barack Hussein Obama  November 21, 2011

The video is here.  This quote comes at the 3:25 mark.  For some unknown reason I was not allowed to embed the video.  Silly, right?

"Liberty"

I've long held that the founding fathers were some of the most brilliant men to have ever walked on earth.  Here is but one more example of their prescience:

"Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything, which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confusion for want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good."

--Oliver Ellsworth, A Landholder, No. III, 1787

Obama "Smack Down" by Dr. Benjamin Carson...

... at the National Prayer Breakfast February 7, 2013.

Here is the full video.  Pay special attention to BHO's face.  It is clear he is intimidated by the good Dr.  BHO gets pretty uncomfortable around 17:00.  He gets really uncomfortable about 19:20.  He is seething by 20:25.  It is all BHO can do to not take a swing at the the good Dr. by 21:14 (BHO cannot even look at him when he is discussing healthcare.)



You can also watch Hannity's interview with Dr. Carson:

Imagine the outcry if Bush were POTUS....

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." - 2nd Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America  [emphasis added]

The irony.  BHO & his buddy Eric Holder want to limit U.S. citizen's right to arm themselves, yet retain the power to kill the same U.S. citizen's via drone attacks.  How long will it be before they are shooting off drones inside the U.S.?  

Justice Department memo reveals legal case for drone strikes on Americans

See the memo here.

A confidential Justice Department memo concludes that the U.S. government can order the killing of American citizens if they are believed to be “senior operational leaders” of al-Qaida or “an associated force” -- even if there is no intelligence indicating they are engaged in an active plot to attack the U.S.

The 16-page memo, a copy of which was obtained by NBC News, provides new details about the legal reasoning behind one of the Obama administration’s most secretive and controversial polices: its dramatically increased use of drone strikes against al-Qaida suspects abroad, including those aimed at American citizens, such as the  September 2011 strike in Yemen that killed alleged al-Qaida operatives Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan. Both were U.S. citizens who had never been indicted by the U.S. government nor charged with any crimes.  

It goes on to quote Attorney General, Eric Holder:

In one passage in Holder’s speech at Northwestern in March,  he alluded – without spelling out—that there might be circumstances where the president might order attacks against American citizens without specific knowledge of when or where an attack against the U.S. might take place.

“The Constitution does not  require the president to delay action until some theoretical end-stage of planning, when the precise time, place and manner of an attack become clear,”  he said. 

What will Algore do?

Say it ain't so:  The Global Warming Hucksters exposed?  By their own brethren at the U.N., no less.  I'd say keep Algore away from sharp objects, but I've seen him lately.  I'll have to be more clear and say, keep Algore away from long sharp objects, lest he commit Hari-kari.

Report shows UN admitting solar activity may play significant role in global warming

A leaked report by a United Nations’ group dedicated to climate studies says that heat from the sun may play a larger role than previously thought. [Who could have seen it coming.  Really.  Who?]

“[Results] do suggest the possibility of a much larger impact of solar variations on the stratosphere than previously thought, and some studies have suggested that this may lead to significant regional impacts on climate,” reads a draft copy of a major, upcoming report from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Here is the leaked U.N. report.

Follow-up question:  Who in the MSM will pick up this story first?  

Answer: none.

I've been AWOL.

Ok.  So I took a season off.  And, oh, what a season.  In my absence we reelected a Marxist/Black Nationalist, watched as the MSM focused on all things shiny (i.e., Te'o, Beyonce lipsync-gate, etc..) instead of investigating the death of a U.S. Ambassador and 3 others, permitted the tragic assassination of innocent young children by a madman be politicized to incite further erosion of the 2nd amendment, and allowed a documented traitor to be appointed Secretary of State.

I apologize for not being a stronger voice of opposition, but as some point I need to earn a living in order to pay taxes so others can sit home collecting their welfare check (oh, now even easier since BHO's Executive Order eliminating the work provision).

This does not mean I have given up the fight or changed my belief system.  Now more than ever we need to make our voices heard.  We need to begin the reeducation of a generation of low information voters.  Having said that, I doubt even my amazing persuasive powers of debate are enough.  We need to get our message out through media (I know.  Sounds impossible, right?)

We have got to make conservatism cool again through the culture of media to attract the low information voter.  Andrew Breitbart and Breitbart News is the vanguard of this philosophy.  They alone cannot complete the task.  This will take people on the inside in Hollywood to make more movies like Zero Dark Thirty .  It will take companies like Comcast who with the purchase of NBC Universal & it's affiliates now dominate the content found on televisions and control broadband access to the internet.  Companies like this have got to be infiltrated with Patriots who will begin the pendulum swing back to the right.

We have got to put forth musical artists like Madison Raising who promote traditional values through rock-n-roll.  And we need to promote conservative artists who promote traditional values through their artwork.

Having said all of this, I commit that I will once again begin to provide content to my blog. It is up to you to take action with what you learn.....  Go forth and conquer the culture!!!

I love this guy....!!! Paul Ryan's VP in 2020?

Milton Friedman School's Donahue on "Greed"

A 'Twilight Zone-like' paradox....

There where two interesting headlines on Drudge Report today.  The first:

Rahm welcomes help from Farrakahn, ignores anti-Semitic remarks [sic]

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com July 25, 2012 4:56PM

The crux of the article is that Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago (and a Jew), has invited Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam Army into Chicago's worst neighborhood's to try to stop the 40% increase in homicides Chicago has experienced this year....

Here's a piece:

For the last two Mondays, black men in dress suits and bow ties fanned out across violence-plagued Chicago neighborhoods — first Auburn-Gresham, then South Shore — to form a human wall of protection against any sudden outbreak of gunfire.

The army of men, know as the Fruit of Islam, were led by Farrakhan, who ordered the show of force in response to last month’s brutal murder of seven-year-old Heaven Sutton. 

Emanuel’s decision to steer clear of Farrakhan’s history of anti-Semitic remarks is a far cry from the 1994 controversy that followed former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s private meeting with Farrkakhan. [sic]

During the meeting, Daley prodded Farrakhan to work out his differences with Jewish leaders in talks arranged by the Commission on Human Relations. Daley even hinted that if those conversations did not take place, the Nation of Islam would have trouble winning the city approval needed for its planned development along the 79th Street commercial strip. (emphasis added) 

So, if I understand correctly the Nation of Islam, the same Nation of Islam whose leader is know for his anti-Semitic rhetoric is being allowed to patrol the streets of Chicago in the stead of the Chicago Police Department.  


Aside from the internal paradox of a Jewish mayor allowing the Army of the Nation of Islam to patrol city streets, there is this little gem...


The Nation of Islam did win city approval for its planned development along the 79th street commercial strip.


Which leads to the next headline:

Emanuel goes after Chick-fil-A for boss’ anti-gay views

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com July 25, 2012 11:12AM

From the article:

On Wednesday, the tag team of Emanuel and Moreno joined the chorus, citing Cathy’s anti-gay views. The only question is whether they have a legal leg to stand on.

“Absolutely not,” said former Ald. William Banks (36th), the longtime chairman of the City Council’s Zoning Committee who presided over a massive re-write of the city’s 1957 zoning ordinance.

“Any alderman can hold a development issue for virtually any purpose. But if he’s doing it for the wrong reasons — if he’s citing a gay rights issue — there’s nothing illegal about that.” 

Moreno said he has an ace in his back pocket if he runs into legal trouble: traffic and congestion issues caused by the store that have been the subject of behind-the-scenes negotiations for the last nine months.

Hmmmm.... The Nation of Islam, a know group of anti-Semitic racists, can be approved for commercial development and even patrol the streets of Chicago instead of the Chicago Police Department, but Chick-fil-A cannot open a restaurant in Chicago because they support traditional family values.


WTF?  (Winning the Future?)


Dat ain't right....

More Proof of Obama's Economic Ignorance...

You really can't make this stuff up....

Obama: Romney not necessarily qualifies to think about "economy as a whole"

CBS THIS MORNING

July 13, 2012 7:05 AM

Here is the quote that proves once and for all that Obama is the least qualified person to even discuss the economy, much less try to lead it:

"When some people question why I would challenge his Bain record, the point I've made there in the past is, if you're a head of a large private equity firm or hedge fund, your job is to make money. It's not to create jobs. It's not even to create a successful business - it's to make sure that you're maximizing returns for your investor. Now that's appropriate. That's part of the American way. That's part of the system. But that doesn't necessarily make you qualified to think about the economy as a whole, because as president, my job is to think about the workers. My job is to think about communities, where jobs have been outsourced.  [Emphasis added]

Yes, the President of the United States of America believes that:

1. A by-product of successful businesses is not jobs, but profit.
2. He doesn't need to think about creating a positive business climate, he needs to creates jobs.

Let's look at these statements:

 It's not to create jobs. It's not even to create a successful business - it's to make sure that you're maximizing returns for your investor. 


So your goal as a private equity firm is not to create a successful business?  While I agree, in principle, that a PE firm's main goal is to make a profit, I think BHO believes they make money by buying companies, closing them and selling their assets.  Certainly, Bain did not do this.  They bought companies and turned them around [or in some cases, funded start-ups] and eventually sold them for huge profits.  


BHO clearly does not understand that successful companies hire employees (or in his Marxist terminolgy "workers").  BHO has never run a business.  Aside from Valerie Jarrett, who parlayed her position as Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Development under the Daley administration into the CEO of The Habitat Company [to the tune of $800,000 per year) none of his close advisers have had a job in the private sector, much less had to turn a profit.  


... my job is to think about the workers.


Really?  I thought his job, at least as outlined in the constitution was to be the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."  He doesn't seem to understand how his policies have business leaders frozen in their tracks.  It is his policies that are setting the foundation of this economy.  History will show that under BHO, the government intrusion into the affairs of business through the regulatory agencies (EPA, OSHA, DOT, EEOC, HHS, etc...), the implementation of the largest tax increase in the history of the world with the Obamatax, and his continued bashing of the free enterprise system is undermining the U.S. economy.  

He's Baaaack...

Alan Grayson for Congress (?)

This Alan Grayson?

Yes, that Alan Grayson....

According to ActBlue.com, a Democrat fundraising website and opensecrets.org, he's raking in the money....


Of course, he is getting big time backers.  Like Anthony Weiner:





"One fry short of a happy meal" response:





I doubt he was the dumbest man in congress, but he is certainly the dumbest man in this race:





Alan is clearly in denial...





The truth (mostly):

Big Government Logic............

Vilsack sets aid for livestock producers, but holds firm on ethanol

By Rita Jane Gabbett on 7/11/2012

Meatingplace.com

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced programs to aid farmers and ranchers hit by this year’s drought and urged Congress to work faster on the farm bill to free more disaster aid tools, but he held firm on the need to continue making corn-based ethanol. 

Asked by Meatingplace on a conference call if USDA would support easing the Renewable Fuel Standard if the corn crop continues to deteriorate, Vilsack said, “We are not at that point. Certainly the renewable fuels program is an extraordinarily important aspect of our efforts to rebuild and revitalize the rural economy. The reality is, we are still looking at the third largest corn crop on record and we are still looking at a very large soybean crop … . So, at this point, we have no plan to adjust the Renewable Fuels Standard.”

USDA earlier today cut its corn crop estimate by 1.8 billion bushels to 12.97 billion bushels and lifted its average farm price forecast for corn by $1.40 per bushel at the top end to a range of $5.40 to $6.40. Corn futures for July delivery traded around $7.34 per bushel at midday on the Chicago Board of Trade. ....

 [Emphasis added ]

First, I didn't know that the renewable fuel program was designed to "rebuild & revitalize the rural economy".  I thought we needed to use ethanol for all the reasons the greenies have said, "Lower our dependence on foreign oil, lower green house gases, etc...."


But, my point in posting this is to point out that the USDA on one hand reduces the corn crop estimate by 1.8 billion bushels and on the other hand the USDA says they are not going to reduce the Renewable Fuels Standard.  Which means there will be 1.8 Billion fewer bushels of corn available for our food supply.  The "Smartest People in the Room" at the Department of Agriculture are choosing to feed our cars rather than feed our people  with corn.  


Which leads to the obvious question, "Why don't we pump actual oil from the ground for our cars and eat the corn?"

A Short History of Congress's Power to Tax

The Supreme Court has long distinguished the regulatory from the taxing power.

By PAUL MORENO

I find it amazing that until the early 1900's (nearly half the country's history) there were no federal taxes aside from tariff's on foreign goods.  It's astonishing that even until the 1930's there were relatively few federal taxes.  It seem that it was the left's 20th century hero (not to be confused with BHO, the left's 21st century hero), FDR was the one who got the ball rolling.  I suppose that should come as no big surprise.  Another great read is, The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes

What's wrong with Democrats?

Example #1:




Typical Democrat thinking.  No accountability, just put in your time and you'll be rewarded.  It sounds like a union...

The New Media Model

How does a Podunk like me get to interact with people so much smarter than myself?


Easy, you email them.

So last night I was watching Hannity interview Dick Morris.  As per usual, Morris ignored Hannity's final question and commandeered his last minute on the show to highlight something, he wrote about in his book, "Screwed".  He mentioned how Hillary Clinton is about to sign an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) on July 27th, 2012 and how it will effect our 2nd amendment rights here in the U.S.  

I got a little spooked about my right to bear arms, so I Google 'Arms Trade Treaty' and I see that The Heritage Foundation has a released a background report called The  U.N. Arms Trade Treaty's Criteria for the Transfer Pose Problems for the U.S. the same day Dick Morris is talking about it.  So Dick's comments must have some validity, right?

I read the report and did not see any mention of the 2nd Amendment issues Dick Morris discussed.  So, I did what any curious citizen would do.  I emailed the author, Ted R. Bromund, Ph.D.  I mean, he is only a Senior Research Fellow in Anglo-American Relations with The Margret Thatcher Center for Freedom, a Heritage Department.

I sent the following (cryptic) message at 9:28 PM EDT, July 9, 2012:

Dr. Bromund, 

I saw Dick Morris state on Hannity tonight, July 9, 2012, that U.N. Arms Trade Treaty could be used as a “back door gun regulation”.  

I did not reach that conclusion when I read your report. 

Do you have an opinion?  Back door gun regulation or not?

I figured I would get the obligatory, "We have received your correspondence and will get back to you shortly" auto-response.  

Well, much to my surprise, at 9:37 AM EDT, July 10, 2012, I received the following:

Dear Mr. Xxxxxx, 

Thanks for your note. I'm answering from my personal account, as I'm at the UN ATT conference now and Blackberry is a tedious way to type a reply. 

I've addressed this question in a number of pieces: 

1. The U.N. Arms Trade Treaty’s Criteria for Transfers Pose Problems for the U.S.2. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/12/effects-of-the-un-arms-trade-treaty-on-the-us 

And will be writing a blog about it later today (if UN work allows). 

In short, I would say that my view is that the foreign policy reason for opposing the ATT are more salient than those related to the 2nd Amendment. But there are reasons to be concerned about the treaty's domestic impact. That is sometimes framed as a sort of 'black helicopter' issue, which is ridiculous. The much more realistic concern is 'death by a thousand cuts': that the ATT will require or facilitate administrative restrictions, or be used as a legal source by judges of a transnationalist bent, in ways that will restrict the effective use of 2nd Amendment rights, without being 'gun confiscation.'

I didn't see Dick Morris's appearance, but I hear [sic] about it.  In my view, exaggerated concern about the domestic effects of the ATT is self-defeating, in that it is too easily dismissed as silly, and because it detracts from the foreign policy issues.

 Best, Dr. Bromund

I have to say, I LOVE technology.  The internet is the great equalizer.  Just as the printing press contributed to to England's hold over the colonies, so will the internet free us from the political class.

Here I am writing to one of the foremost experts in International Security Studies from the comfort of my living room and I get an authoritative answer some 12 hrs later.  Amazing.

In addition, I would say you should go sign the petition on Dick Morris' website, as the ATT is a horrible deal for the U.S., but one would expect that when our current regime believes it is 'managing the decline of the U.S.", not building up the U.S. as has been our policy for most of the last 236 years.

How to ensure permanent 8-9% unemployment...

The following is from:

Atlas Still Shrugging . . . By Victor Davis Hanson July 6, 2012 11:45 A.M.

If one wanted to ensure permanent 8 percent to 9 percent unemployment, one might try the following:

1. Run up serial $1 trillion deficits

2. Add $5 trillion to the national debt in three and a half years

3. Impose a 2,400-page, trillion-dollar new federal takeover of health care, with layers of new taxation, much of it falling on the middle class and employers, even as favored concerns are given mass exemptions.

4. Scare employers with constant us/them class warfare rhetoric about a demonized one-percenter class and its undeserved profits; constantly talk about raising new taxes and imposing regulations, ensuring uncertainty and convincing employers of unpredictability in regulation and taxes. You cannot convince a country to go into permanent near-recession, but President Obama is doing his best to try.

5. Appoint a bipartisan committee to study the fiscal crisis and then neglect all its recommendations.

6. Subsidize failed green companies, while denigrating successful gas and oil concerns, as well as putting rich oil-and-gas federal leases off limits.

7. Vastly increase unemployment insurance, disability, and food-stamp constituencies, while promising all sorts of mortgage, credit-card, and student-loan bailouts.

8. Borrow hundreds of billions for stimulus programs that are not shovel ready, but are rather aimed to bail out state budgets, pensions, and unions.

9. Federalize elements of non-profitable private companies, while threatening to shut down profitable plants for supposed union or environmental incorrect behavior.

10. Do not address changing the above policies, but rather blame others for such self-induced stagnation.

Why are the Chinese building ghost towns in foreign countries?

There's been a lot written about ghost towns in China. 

Now, state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) has built a town in Angola. And it's fairly empty.

Just outside Angola's capital city of Luanda is Nova Cidade de Kilamba a residential development of 750 eight-story apartment buildings, a dozen schools, and more than 100 retail units, reports the BBC's Louise Redvers.

Here is the story
Here are the pictures.

Weird.  Suspicious.  Evil?

Obama Too Smart for Voters?

Very piercing piece... Too bad no U.S. newspaper has the cojones to publish this.....

Could Barack's Religious Beliefs be Any More Anti-Christian or Un-American?

Obama’s Sinister “Religion”—Racist Marxism Under a Faux Biblical Veneer

The author's conclusion:

We must conclude that Obama’s religion is simply a virulently racist Marxism hiding under the banner of Christianity, not unlike Vodun or Santaria. Further, such syncretism cannot be labeled as mere Christianity. Instead, as Comte and Nietzsche proved, to scheme to kill God and elevate mankind to His throne is a crazy task that will drive such plotters insane.

I believe this is also the ideology of the Attorney General of the U.S., Eric Holder.  This can be further confirmed in J. Christian Adam's book, "Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department".  

This graph confirms that Reaganomics works 

and Obamanomics does not.  

Source: www.zerohedge.com

From zerohedge.com:

"It is just getting sad now. In April the number of people not in the labor force rose by a whopping 522,000 from 87,897,000 to 88,419,000.  This is the highest on record. 

The flip side, and the reason why the unemployment dropped to 8.1% is that the labor force participation rate just dipped to a new 30 year low of 64.3%."