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Worth reading: Strangers in a Stranger Land by Victor Davis Hanson
Excerpt: I need to go to a re-education, or perhaps a re-memorization, camp. What happened to “unpatriotic” presidents running up $4 trillion in debt in eight years, or is trumping that in three then patriotic? Was the presidentially appointed Simpson-Bowles commission the proper bipartisan way to address deficits, or were its findings coopted by the one-percenters? In December 2010, I thought suddenly raising taxes was supposedly the wrong thing to do in tough times. Was it not by March 2011?
White House has diverted $500M to IRS to implement healthcare law
Excerpt: The Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500 million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law. The money is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending, and it is being provided outside the normal appropriations process. The tax agency is responsible for several key provisions of the new law, including the unpopular individual mandate. (Do you think, when there is a Republican president, Democrats are going to be happy with the precedent of power grabbing they have established? ~Bob.)
GOP lawmaker calls for change to how government measures unemployment
Excerpt: A Republican lawmaker is intensifying his push for legislation that would change how the government measures the unemployment rate. Rep. Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.) intends to press GOP leaders to move his bill to include the number of individuals who gave up looking for work in the percentage of jobless claims. Should the government measure unemployment with Hunter's figure, the unemployment rate would be higher than the current rate of approximately 8 percent– a potentially devastating assessment for the White House, especially in an election year.
‘Big’ is bad for politicians this election year as populist sentiment prevails
Excerpt: Put “Big” (the capitalization is key) in front of just about anything these days in politics and you can be certain that voters aren’t going to like it. We are in a populist time when distrust of institutions — banks, Congress — is at an all-time high and the chasm between the haves and the have-nots is growing wider. People believe the system is rigged — and they are angry.
Tax Freedom Day Arrives on April 17
Excerpt: Tax Freedom Day is a vivid, calendar-based illustration of government's cost, and it gives Americans an easy way to gauge the overall tax burden. The model assumes that the American workforce begins working on January 1 and receives the same daily pay throughout the year. When the nation has finally earned enough to pay all the taxes that will be due for that year, Tax Freedom Day has arrived, says William McBride, an economist at the Tax Foundation. Tax Freedom Day for 2012 will arrive later than most of the last 100 fiscal years, but is still not the latest on record. Tax Freedom Day for the 2012 tax year arrives on April 17, four days later than last year due to higher federal income and corporate tax collections.
O'Keefe Voter Fraud Investigation: Young Man Offered Holder's Ballot
Excerpt: In a shocking new video, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas demonstrates to the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, just why he should be concerned about lack of voter ID laws – by walking into Holder’s voting precinct and showing the world that anyone can obtain Eric Holder’s ballot. Literally. The video shows a young man entering a Washington, DC polling place at 3401 Nebraska Avenue, NW, on primary day of this year – April 3, 2012 – and giving Holder’s name and address. The poll worker promptly offers the young man Holder’s ballot to vote.
Hillary Clinton, citing her job, will skip DNC in Charlotte
Excerpt: “Given her current position, she will not be attending, consistent with her not engaging in any political activity whatsoever,” Philippe Reines, spokesman for the Secretary of State, told the Observer in an email Friday. (…) And Clinton isn’t the only Cabinet member expected to skip the Charlotte gathering. Federal statute also precludes the attorney general and the secretary of Defense from attending political gatherings, including national party conventions, Reines said. (Slanting the News 101: This is not some great personal sacrifice by Clinton, it’s required by federal law. --Ron P.)
North Korea planning new nuclear test, South Korean intelligence report says
Excerpt: The intelligence report has come to light as North Korea gets ready to carry out a controversial rocket launch this week, a move that would further strain ties between the reclusive, nuclear-armed state and other countries in the region. The planned rocket launch is scheduled to take place just months after the ascendancy of its new leader. The South Korean intelligence report says it is highly probable that after the long-range rocket launch, North Korea will use the ensuing international condemnation as an excuse to go ahead with the nuclear test in Punggye-ri, the site in the country's northeast where the other two tests were conducted in 2006 and 2009. (No, Virginia, the old sanctions didn't work. With half of the population already starving, who should we impose new sanctions on? The good news, sort of, is we haven’t yet delivered most of the food aid they would have gotten for new talks and refraining from these tests. I’ll bet that really consoles the average North Korean serf. Ron P.)
Sen. Marco Rubio seeks middle ground on immigration as Hispanic voice for GOP
Two years after embracing hard-line immigration positions during his rapid political climb, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio is on a difficult quest for middle ground. He emerged on the issue late last year with calls for less heated rhetoric and is now working on an alternative to the Dream Act. The plan, not yet public, is generating widespread discussion, underscoring Rubio's status and potential as a Hispanic voice for the GOP. It would grant legal status to children of illegal immigrants, but not a path to citizenship, as the Dream Act would.
Black caucus chairman condemns Dem claims GOP is waging 'war on women'
Excerpt: The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), on Sunday condemned the charge by some Democrats that Republicans are engaged in a “war on women.” Cleaver appeared on an Easter Sunday panel on CNN’s “State of the Union” to criticize the claim by some conservatives that the Obama administration is prosecuting a “war on religion” through its policy mandating that employees of religious organizations have access to contraception.
Natural gas glut means drilling boom must slow
Excerpt: The U.S. natural gas market is bursting at the seams. So much natural gas is being produced that soon there may be nowhere left to put the country's swelling surplus. After years of explosive growth, natural gas producers are retrenching.
Union Label Stuck to $137 Billion in Illinois State Debt
This is the Hope and Change public unions hope for in the Wisconsin recall. If they don’t recall Walker, and he gets the state on a sound fiscal footing, WI will suck jobs out of IL like a giant vacuum. ~Bob. Excerpt: Illinois has combined $137 billion in pension and healthcare liabilities on top of $9 billion in current unpaid bills. Yet, Illinois legislators will not even ask 6-figure pensioners to pick up a portion of their health premiums.
Clearing the Way for the Taliban by Rick Moran
Excerpt: The United States has agreed to give control of most special operations to the Afghan army, including the controversial “night-time raids” that have strained relations between the two countries for years. Many observers agree that the night raids have been the most effective weapon against the Taliban during the course of the war. The fact that the US no longer has control over these operations could mean that actionable intelligence would be wasted because of delays brought about by the Afghan army taking too much time to decide on a course of action.
Excerpt: Non-Muslim places of worship are being targeted by still-unidentified individuals. After the attacks perpetrated against the Orthodox church on Avenue Mohamed V, the Russian school located behind the church as well as the Christian cemetery of Montplasir in Tunis have been vandalized. The walls of the school were smeared with fecal matter, as also a fresco of Saint Siberian [sic] located in the back courtyard of the Orthodox church, while the cemetery's crosses were destroyed.
Hamas executes 3 in Gaza, including 'collaborator'
Excerpt: Hamas executed three men on Saturday, hanging two convicted murderers and a Gazan found guilty of collaborating with Israel, the Hamas-run ministry of interior said. … The executions were carried out "in accordance with our religion, rulings of the Palestinian law and in preserving the rights of citizens and achieving the security of the community", the statement said.
Married off at five years old -- in northern England
Excerpt: “There is no Islamic justification for forced marriage," says Samina, and yet there is ample support for child marriage, and how freely can a child really consent to such a thing? "The Prophet wrote the (marriage contract) with 'Aisha while she was six years old and consummated his marriage with her while she was nine years old and she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death)." -- Bukhari 7.62.88 In Islam, Muhammad is the supreme example of conduct (cf. Qur'an 33:21). Thus he is exemplary even in his marriage to a child: Muslims take this seriously and imitate Muhammad in this. Article 1041 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran states that girls can be engaged before the age of nine, and married at nine:
Editorial: Disappearing data doesn't aid union's case
Excerpt: Problem is, those old surveys disappeared from WEAC's website. Representatives from the union did not respond to questions from the State Journal. We think that's the wrong approach. If there are legitimate changes in the surveys which would skew current results, that should be apparent.
It's “Game On” In Chicago
Excerpt: And now that Mitt Romney is the presumptive nominee, the Obama team has flipped the ON switch for its reelection machine.
Don't Show This Chart To The President
Excerpt: Here is today's chart of the day from BofA, which begs one simple question: when will the two time series recouple, because recouple they will, and how will America react to the realization it was lied to for 2% worth of unemployment "improvement"?
Breaking: NBC Fires Producer Who Created False Zimmerman Audio
Excerpt: NBC News has fired the producer it says was responsible for creating the deceptive audio recording of George Zimmerman communicating with a 9-1-1 operator, according to the New York Times.
Excerpt: Simply comparing dollars to dollars is a good place to start. By this yardstick, the average state spent $9,412 of each citizen’ s money for state and local government operations in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. California spent $11,302 per person, or 120 percent of the national average. Meanwhile, Texas spent $7,756 per capita, or 82 percent of the national average.
Gas prices a drag on Obama's numbers
Excerpt: Gas prices are up, and the president's poll numbers are down. Way down. A full 50% of Americans now strongly disapprove of how President Obama is handling the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. That's the highest level of his presidency, and a 9-point jump from the previous month. Another 9% of Americans somewhat disapprove, while only 38% say they approve.
Beating, stripping of Baltimore man caught on video, circulates via social media and helps identify suspect
Excerpt: When a Baltimore man was beaten and stripped naked on the street, several people with cameras or camera phones caught the entire incident. (But would he look like Obama’s son? ~Bob.)
WH Easter Egg Roll B-0Ball Clinic Balls.
With guess whose picture on them? ~Bob.
Satire.
'Hunger Games' Star Jennifer Lawrence: 'Screw PETA'
Excerpt: The 21-year-old beauty gutted a squirrel in the most talked about scene for her role in 2010’s Winter’s Bone, (for which she was nominated). The scene was not faked, she told Rolling Stone magazine: “I should say it wasn’t real, for PETA,” she said. “But screw PETA.”
Issa knocks video of GSA employees singing for Obama http://thehill.com/video/house/220531-rep-issa-releases-new-video-from-costly-gsa-las-vegas-conference
Excerpt: House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a second video from the General Services Administration's (GSA) controversial and ritzy Las Vegas conference Monday in which employees of the federal agency joke that their environmentally friendly initiatives were intended to earn President Obama good press. The clip is the latest in a string of embarrassing moments for the agency, under fire for the event that cost more than $800,000 and led to the resignation of a number of top GSA officials.
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Robert A. Hall
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