Daily Digest
February 23, 2015
THE FOUNDATION"The fore horse of this frightful team is public debt. Taxation follow that, and in its turn wretchedness and oppression." --Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Samuel Kerchival, 1816TOP 5 RIGHT HOOKSObama Administration Fights Judge's Immigration InjunctionThe Obama administration does not recognize the lawful check on its power brought about by a Republican Congress, a federal judge in Texas and 26 states. Last week, Barack Obama's November executive amnesty was blocked with an injunction, but the administration responded by undermining the judge's order. On Friday, Obama's spokesman Josh Earnest announced the Justice Department would file for a stay. Meanwhile, the commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, Gil Kerlikowske, emailed agents, telling them to ignore the judge's order because the court "did not enjoin the Secretary's overall prioritization of DHS enforcement resources or the existing 2012 DACA policy." Meanwhile, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson insisted congressional Democrats are not blocking debate on a bill that would fund DHS, sans funds for Obama's immigration actions. "We should have the debate about immigration reform," Johnson said. "But you should not tie that to the funding for the third largest department of our government, 240,000 people." In other words, Democrats are open to debate, once Obama's orders are the de facto law of the land.Comment | Share CNN: 'Right-Wing Extremists' Bigger Threat Than ISILObama administration officials will do whatever it takes to divert attention from Islamic terrorists and the threat posed by jihadis, and so too will their lemmings in the Leftmedia. Every day, the Islamic State one-ups itself with inhumane depravity, which has more Americans wondering what it will take for a proper U.S. response and how long until terrorists organize another attack here at home. The threat is real, and public opinion is clearly shifting on what to do about it. CNN is concerned about other things, though -- like "right-wing extremists." During Friday's telecast, anchor Carol Costello worried that "ISIS isn't the only threat for Americans." She elaborated, "According to an intelligence report by the Department of Homeland Security, authorities are also concerned about right-wing citizen extremists right here in the United States. That may be, in some cases, more dangerous than foreign Islamic terror groups." CNN didn't come right out and say it, but substitute "right-wing citizen extremists" with "Tea Party terrorists" and you'll understand what they were getting at. More...Comment | Share 800,000 Wrong ObamaCare Tax Forms SentThe ObamaCare rollout began with mandate waivers, a busted website and canceled plans nationwide. This year, millions of Americans face some unwelcome subsidy news when they file their taxes -- not to mention if the Supreme Court nullifies federal subsidies per the language of the law itself. And now this from the Associated Press: "About 800,000 HealthCare.gov customers got the wrong tax information from the government, the Obama administration said Friday, and officials are asking those affected to delay filing their 2014 returns." The messed up forms mean all those taxpayers must wait to file, and the 50,000 who already have filed now need to re-file. For those awaiting refunds, that's going to hurt, but for the numerous filers who are going to be blindsided by ObamaCare's taxes it's perhaps a blessing in disguise. Go figure. No wonder the Obama administration just announced a new, second enrollment period.Comment | Share Obama Repeats Low Gas Prices BoastOnce again, Barack Obama happily takes credit for cheaper prices at the gas pump. "As Democrats, we believe in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and protecting our planet," Obama said Friday. "Today, America is number one in oil; number one in gas; number one in wind power. Every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in the entire year of 2008. And thanks to lower gas prices and higher fuel standards, the typical family should save about 750 bucks at the pump." As we have said every time he repeats this empty boast, Obama has nothing to do with lower oil prices, unless "despite his efforts" counts. According to The Daily Caller, "The U.S. went from producing 5 million barrels per day in 2008 to nearly 7.5 million barrels per day in 2013 -- a huge increase, but one that almost exclusively took place on private and state lands. Obama has little to no control over private and state lands. He does, however, have control over federal lands where oil production has been faltering. ... From 2009 to 2013, crude oil production [on federal lands] fell from 1.8 million barrels per day to 1.7 million barrels per day, according to the Congressional Research Service." Obama knows low gas prices benefit everyone -- especially the middle class he's so fond of these days -- but if it were really up to him we'd all be driving Chevy Volts and paying $10 a gallon. More...Comment | Share Before Roe v. Wade, There Was Jack Willke
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RIGHT ANALYSISFruit According to the Seeds
First, let's state the obvious: The Leftmedia is an extension of the Democratic National Committee. Most mainstream journalists ascribe to the philosophy of the Left and serve to camouflage reality -- earning, for the purpose of this text, the distinction "presstitutes." Once upon a time, professional journalists reported news and conveyed facts. Today's crop, however, is invested in protecting the incompetence and lies of Barack Obama. In part, that's due to their own failure to do the job exposing the anti-American and racially divisive orchard in which America's 44th president was grown. Does Barack Obama love America? If you love something, or even like something, you typically say nice things and demonstrate your affections toward that person or thing by your words and your actions. But Obama has never been one to convey a sense of patriotism. If Obama loves or even likes our nation, why did he pronounce to a rabid crowd of supporters on Oct. 30, 2008, "We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America"? If the Obamas love or even like America, why would Michelle Obama declare more than once as she traveled on the Obama campaign trail, "For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country"? Mrs. Obama likewise plainly demonstrated her husband's opinion of America on May 14, 2008: "We are going to have to change our conversation. We're going to have to change our traditions, our history. We're going to have to move into a different place as a nation." All that change was based on the hope that American exceptionalism, individual success and equal opportunity would be destroyed and replaced by socialism in the form of wealth redistribution and a mammoth growth of the government. As early as June 2009, Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation complied a list of 10 apologies Obama made in his six-month tenure as "Leader of the Free World." These apologies covered American "arrogance," "dictates," our having gone "off course," and the "darker periods in our history." The presstitutes vociferously denied that Obama had gone on an "Apology Tour." The evidence proves otherwise. Back to the present, Giuliani said what many Americans were already thinking: "I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America." He has since clarified, elaborated on and defended those remarks. The presstitutes of the Left soiled themselves in dismay, while the invertebrates on the Right echoed the Left's defense of Obama. But Giuliani's remarks follow six years of Obama's degradation of America. He has re-engineered vast swaths of our economy, nearly doubled the debt and undermined our national security in a vain attempt to appease and patronize our enemies. And no president has been more cravenly political. Just five months ago, Obama stood at the United Nations and failed to praise America. Instead, he declared, "America has plenty of problems within its borders ... our own racial and ethnic tensions." It was an obvious attempt to morally equate the ginned up racial tension fueled by Al Sharpton and Eric Holder to the hotbed of terror driven by Islamic radicals. And for the elected leader of America to denigrate his own country before that disgraceful body of socialists, thugs and dictators is shameful. At the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama attempted to justify his refusal to state the truth about radical Islamic ideology by equating 21st century beheadings and live burnings of Christians by Islamist radicals with the Crusades fought against warring Muslims in the 12th century. In short, Obama proves he learned well during the 20 years he spent as a disciple of hate in the pews of Jeremiah "God d--- America" Wright's "church," where Black Liberation Theology is gospel and fiery hatred serves as the weekly sermon. (And Wright was only one of Obama's numerous anti-American friends and mentors.) The apple, the tree and the orchard are all of the same blame-America-first species. And as Jesus once said, "You will recognize them by their fruits." Comment | Share Nice Work if You Can Get It
An employee with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who confessed to downloading more than 7,000 files of pornography to a government computer and watching them two to six hours a day remained on the government payroll at least through September -- despite having his "work habit" revealed at a congressional hearing last May. Enraged, lawmakers wondered why the employee hadn't been terminated, since he admitted he'd been watching porn since 2010. EPA second-in-command Bob Perciasepe gave them a weak response: "We need to wait for the inspector general's report. I don't know if they're going to send him a criminal notice." Fast forward to September, and the inertia becomes apparent. "This employee continues to be investigated by the [Office of the Inspector General] and U.S. Attorney's Office, and we are working with these offices to obtain information necessary to move forward with administrative action," said EPA spokeswoman Liz Purchia. It remains unclear whether the individual still remains employed today, a full nine months after the initial discovery -- and despite confessing to the allegation. Adding insult to injury, the employee, who was placed on administrative leave, not only continued to collect his salary of approximately $120,000 per year, he was actually given "performance rewards" for working hard. Such levels of remuneration should surprise no one. A 2014 report released by the Cato Institute reveals that, in 2013, the average compensation for federal civilian workers, including wages and benefits, was $115,524. Private sector workers? Only $66,357, or a whopping 74% less. And our EPA porn-watcher isn't alone. A Treasury Department employee viewed approximately 13,000 porn images in a six-week period, and a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) worker watched pornography for up to eight hours per week, because he was "bored" due to a lack of work. The Washington Times reveals that the lack-of-work excuse "has emerged time and again in federal investigations." The paper also revealed the crux of the problem after illuminating another case where paralegals working for U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board watched TV, shopped online, exercised and played around on their tablet computers, accounting for about $4 million of getting paid for not working. They insisted the reason they wasted the time was because their supervisors didn't give any assignments. Why not? "Some supervisors were reluctant to give paralegals special projects out of fear that the assignments could antagonize the labor union," the Times explained. Leftist icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt was wise to that problem back in 1937. "All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service," he wrote. Unfortunately, another liberal icon, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, failed to heed that warning. On Jan. 17, 1962, he signed Executive Order 10988 granting collective bargaining rights to federal workers. And while pay and benefits are set by Congress, workers can still bargain regarding conditions of employment. Conditions which apparently include making it next to impossible to fire miscreants who watch hours of pornography on the taxpayers' dime. And while abuse like that is relatively inconsequential, it is worth remembering that in other arenas it can literally be deadly. Last Tuesday, the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) was forced to back away from assertions by VA Secretary Bob McDonald that 60 employees who falsified patient data -- falsifications that resulted in vets dying while waiting to be seen -- had been fired since he took over last July. As Military.com more accurately reports, "10 employees were fired, four were permitted to resign or retire in lieu of being terminated, four had their probationary employment terminated, three were demoted, eight suspended for periods ranging from less than two weeks to 50 days, a dozen given admonishments and five were reprimanded." Why were some officials permitted to resign in lieu of termination? The Wall Street Journal spells it out: "The VA retirees follow the example set by Lois Lerner, who retired from the IRS before she could be dismissed for her role in targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. They will all presumably suffer no reduction in federal retirement benefits." And let's not forget bonuses. During congressional hearings on the VA scandal held last June, the agency admitted that approximately 65% of senior VA executives were paid a total of $2.7 million in bonuses in 2013, a number that doesn't include tens of millions of additional bonuses awarded to doctors and other VA medical providers. Lerner collected $42,531 in bonuses between 2009 and 2011, and according to the National Taxpayers Union her pension could be as much as $102,600 per year. And so, as far as deadbeat porno-watching federal workers go, it's going to take an actual law to codify even the most basic standards of decorum and professionalism -- assuming it passes. "There is absolutely no excuse for federal employees to be viewing and downloading pornographic materials on the taxpayers' dime," said Meadows. Oh yes there is. People who are virtually impossible to fire, who don't have enough work to do, and who are often rewarded for their incompetence -- even when it's deadly -- might just assume they're invincible. And as long as federal workers remain unionized, they might be right. Comment | Share For more, visit Right Analysis.
TOP 5 RIGHT OPINION COLUMNS
 OPINION IN BRIEFThe Gipper: "[T]here is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest."Columnists Ken Blackwell & Bob Morrison: "[T]he very liberal Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack Hussein Obama are radically different -- and it is not their race. FDR's son Elliott told Winston Churchill at the first summit meeting ever held 'my father is a very religious man.' That was in August 1941. Churchill already knew that. That's why he chose Christian hymns for an emotional joint worship service on board the battle-scarred HMS Prince of Wales. As newsreel cameras showed both leaders singing 'Onward Christian Soldiers' among thousands of U.S. and Royal Navy sailors, Justice Felix Frankfurter called it one of the most moving experiences of his life. ... FDR's administration published war posters showing a Nazi dagger stabbing into the Christian Bible. 'Our Enemy' was the caption. President Roosevelt's personal message and signature was included in hundreds of thousands of Bibles -- New Testament and Hebrew Psalms -- distributed to our troops. The Obama administration fawns before jihadists abroad, invites their apologists into the White House, and persecutes Christians in the military. He complains of Jews housing Jews in Jerusalem and shuns the Israeli Prime Minster. Is it any wonder that FDR won World War II in four years and, after six years of desultory action this most anti-Israel, most anti-Christian administration in U.S. history is still groping for answers?" Comment | Share Columnist John C. Goodman: "If the health insurers followed the lead of the casualty insurers, their ads would focus on what could go wrong and how good they are at treating the problems. ... But in fact, this is what you never see in a health insurance commercial in Washington, DC. ... Instead, what you see are pictures of young healthy families. The implicit message is: if you look like the people in these photos, we want you. What explains the difference between the health insurance and casualty insurance markets? In the latter people pay real prices that reflect real risks. In the former, no one is paying a premium that reflects the expected cost of his care. The healthy are being overcharged so that the sick can be undercharged. So insurers try to attract the healthy and avoid the sick. But the perverse incentives don't end after enrollment. The incentive then is to under-provide to the sick (to encourage their exodus and avoid attracting more of them) and over-provide to the healthy (to keep the ones they have and attract even more). ... There is no reason why the health insurance marketplace cannot work just as well as the market for homeowners insurance and auto liability insurance." Comment | Share Comedian Jimmy Kimmel: "Gallup, the polling company, released its annual well-being index where they rank the health and happiness of residents of each of the 50 states. Alaska finished first and Hawaii was No. 2. It's interesting that the top two happiest states are the ones that are farthest away from the rest of us." Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis! Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform -- Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- standing in harm's way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. |
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