Friday, May 7, 2010

Trenchent Brendan

Wow. This Spiked piece is so good - The message of the polls: ‘We don’t agree with Nick’ - that I am copying it in full into this post. Should be required reading for anyone interested in politics because I believe this analysis of Britain's election could very easily describe the US mood as well.

There were lots of losers in yesterday’s General Election: Esther Rantzen, Lembit Opik, Labour. But probably the biggest losers – those who stand most exposed this morning as having utterly failed to convince ordinary punters of their case – are Britain’s cultural, liberal elites, those political campaigners, academics and opinion-formers who invested all their hopes in Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats, but who failed to carry the voting public with them. This is turning out to be the story of the election: the creeping inability of the cultural elite to influence everyday public opinion.

Normally, ‘Lib Dems come third’ would not be a shocking headline. But in the wake of ‘Cleggmania’, when there was a widespread (and wild) discussion of Clegg as a new Obama who would take us into a new dawn and transform British politics forever, the fact that the Lib Dems not only didn’t make any gains, but actually seem to have lost seats, takes on a new dimension. It exposes, not only the well-known fact that the Lib Dems are the perennial third party, but also something more profound: that there is a chasm between the cultural elite and the public today, and the electorate is understandably not enamoured by the argument for a ‘new politics’ that lacks any substance.

The Lib Dems had a particularly miserable night. Some had predicted that they would win more votes than Labour to become Britain’s second-largest party, possibly securing over 100 seats. Back on Planet Earth, according to projections, they appear to have won 61 seats, which would be one less than they got in 2005. Far from taking off into the political stratosphere, their overall vote appears to have risen by a measly 0.9 per cent. At a time of widespread disillusionment with Labour and doubts that David Cameron will really lead Britain into a bright new future (as captured even on the Sun’s front page: ‘Cameron: Our Only Hope), the Lib Dems’ failure to gain ground is extraordinary.

Added to this is the fact that some of Britain’s most influential thinkers and writers backed the Lib Dems – loudly, frequently and passionately – yet they seem to have made little to no dent in the public’s consciousness. Key figures in the cultural elite rallied behind Clegg. They wrote multi-signed letters to newspapers describing this as an ‘extraordinary political moment’, an election that had been ‘seized by the voters and turned into a democratic contest over the shape of our democracy itself’. They called on others to ‘pin their colours to the Liberal Democrat mast’. They compared themselves to John Stuart Mill. They claimed that their ‘liberal surge’ had ‘shaken the establishment to its foundations’.

The Guardian published a long editorial backing the Lib Dems under the headline ‘The liberal moment has come’. Most strikingly, it declared that the Lib Dems ‘reflect and lead an overwhelming national mood for real change’. Really? The national mood has rejected Clegg. The voters were not seized by Cleggmania, which, as spiked argued, pretty much alone, was an entirely media elite-driven phenomenon. ‘I don’t agree with Nick’ is the overwhelming message of this election. It is not only Clegg who needs to have a serious word with himself this morning. So too do his intellectual and political backers who so spectacularly failed to read the national mood or to influence it in any meaningful way. This was more than a mere misjudgement – it signifies a rupture between the influential intellectual wing of the elite and the public.

Not surprisingly, the cultural elite is mightily annoyed with the electorate. Last night’s TV election coverage featured various editors and other bigwigs saying ‘I thought this was supposed to be the election that moved us beyond tribal politics?’ and ‘Whatever happened to doing things in a new way?’. In other words, why are you voters such tribalistic tossers? But it is not accurate to depict this election as simply the ‘old politics’ on the march once more. Rather, yesterday’s vote also confirmed the public’s dislocation from the two big parties. Labour’s vote plummeted – they’ve lost 86 seats so far – and while the Conservatives’ vote has risen (by 92 seats at the time of writing), they have not been given anything like a clear mandate to take over the reins of power. The lack of anything like mass enthusiasm for the two old parties coupled with the rejection of elite Cleggmania suggests the electorate is both alienated from the old and spectacularly unimpressed by the new.

The problem, of course, is not the electorate. It is the lack of an alternative. The big idea offered by the Cleggomaniac cultural elite, which would apparently shake the foundations of the establishment and seize the voters, was electoral reform. Not any economic solutions, promise of liberty or galvanising vision for Britain, but constitutional tweaking. Such promises of reform were a crutch for an actual political alternative. In the absence of any meaningful political ideas, the cultural elite myopically focused on technical changes to the electoral system instead. The public, clearly, has better things to think about.

Now that the cultural elites have effectively been routed, left shockingly exposed, so the anti-masses, debate-avoiding nature of their campaign for reform has become more explicit. They presented it before the election as a great opportunity to ‘re-democratise’ Britain, but now they are talking feverishly about cobbling together a Labour-Lib Dem coalition in order to force through their desired reforms (are two unpopular parties really any better than Cameron’s kind-of popular party?) and claim that last night’s results show the urgent need for reform. It is only the lack of proportional representation, they argue, that makes people vote for the two big parties – if we had PR, people would take a risk and vote Lib Dem or Green or whatever. But it’s not the absence of PR that is the problem – it’s the absence of inspiring alternative visions. It is becoming clear this morning that the cultural elite wants to change the electoral system primarily to guard against the fickleness of the electorate.

More than anything, this election has confirmed that there is an enormous disconnect between the public and the two big parties and an even bigger one between the public and the cultural elite. Voters did not behave irrationally last night. Far from it. Their ability to make clear choices was hampered by the lack of serious political debate, but nonetheless they seem fairly clearly to have rejected both the illiberal Labour government and the condescending cultural elite. That is not such a bad result. It shows that people are not slates on to which flimsy new ideas can be projected, and that there is a new openness for pushing forward some proper, true and convincing political arguments into the public realm.

Two Quick News Items

I'm "tired and emotional" and don't feel like blogging too much after last night's British election debacle so just two quick news items.

How come environmentalists don't pick on Beavers for "re-engineering the landscape"? They pick on humans for doing it all the time. World's biggest beaver dam discovered in northern Canada

And.

This sucks big time! Meet the Unemployable Man
The betting is that the Labor Department's Friday snapshot of the job market will show that employers added workers in April, perhaps even that the unemployment rate fell.

That would be good news, but not good enough. It's hard to exaggerate how bad the job market is. Here's one arresting fact: One of every five men 25 to 54 isn't working.

Even more alarming, the jobs that many of these men, or those like them, once had in construction, factories and offices aren't coming back. "A good guess…is that when the economy recovers five years from now, one in six men who are 25 to 54 will not be working," Lawrence Summers, the president's economic adviser, said the other day.

This is not one of the many things that can be blamed on subprime lending, inept regulators or Goldman Sachs. "The Great Recession has reinforced prevailing labor market trends that were under way long before the recession," David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist, observed in a recent paper commissioned by two Democratic-leaning think tanks, the Center for American Progress and the Hamilton Project.
Men get a raw deal these days from feminists to commercials and TV shows depicting them as clods and now this. Ugh!

Now tack on this - Jobs up 290,000; jobless rate rises to 9.9 pct.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Sharpton Wrong on Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King

Sharpton: MLK's Dream Was 'To Make Everything Equal in Everybody’s House' Balony.

Dr. Martin Luther King wanted all humans to be treated with respect and dignity but not everything "equal".

I keep a list of his quotes by my desk and one of them is "If a man is called to be a streetsweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great streetsweeper who did his job well." The great man was saying take pride in what you do. We are all needed to make a whole and complete society.

And to my personal thinking as much as I love the arts, the health of my family depends far more on the good job done by our garbage collectors than on any athlete, artist or musician.

We are born with Free Will, but not necessarily equal willpower. It is our choices in our freedoms that make us, not some faux equality via wealth redistribution. Having money does not make you better than having Character.

Daily Round-Up 05-06



My husband's post on NRO - No Matter Who You Vote For, the Government Always Gets In

A Legal Immigrant's Take on Arizona's Immigration Law. As the wife of a legal immigrant, I whole heartedly concur.

Experts: Ariz. Immigration Law Will Pass Legal Muster

A Thousand Year Flood Our prayers are with you all.



GENERAL BAD BEHAVIOR

Ex-CIA lawyer: Gitmo IDs graver than Plame leak

A Public Religious Display In New York

Is Osama Bin Laden Enjoying a Safe Haven in Iran? There is a tantalizing body of circumstantial evidence that the world's number one terrorist is being sheltered by the Islamic regime.

SEIU announces Arizona boycott

Principal Under Fire for 'Blacks Only' Field Trip

Is Wearing a Mexican Flag on the 4th of July Illegal?


JUNK SCIENCE

Climategate: Sensenbrenner Report Challenges EPA Greenhouse Finding. Rep. James Sensenbrenner today releases a report calling the science behind the EPA's endangerment finding for carbon dioxide into question.

BP spill may kill hopes for climate deal

Loser Alert - Actor and Activist Adrian Grenier: ‘We May Starve To Death,’ ‘Something May Get Us Before Climate Change’

World needs 'bailout plan' for species loss: IUCN

The Kerry-BP ‘Energy Refund’ Bill


MEDIA BIAS

Sarah Palin Confronts Press at Time Gala

CNN’s Don Lemon Describes UVA Lacrosse Murder Suspect’s Connection To Duke “Sex Scandal”

VDH - News beneath the news

Eric Cantor: Not Jewish Enough for Matt Yglesias

First They Blamed the Tea Partiers...

Truth is the First Casualty of Kos

Could Time Be Right for CNN, CBS News to Partner?

Who Knew the ‘MS’ in MSNBC Stood For ‘Morally Superior’? Some might have a hard time living down a moment such as Contessa Brewer's Kinsley-style gaffe this week. But not in her circle.

The Myth of the Menacing Militias. Think the Hutaree are the leading edge of a vast new paramilitary threat? Think again.

How much for Newsweek?


OBAMACARE

Medicare Report Shows ObamaCare’s Harmful Budgetary Impact

‘Brace’ Yourself: Wall Street Regulation Bill Snares Dentists, Doctors & Patients

What Health Law Didn't Fix: Medicare Doctor Pay


FIGHTING CORRUPTION

Soldier-Citizens to the Rescue?

God Bless Them. PJTV VIDEO (AfterBurner) - A Tale of Two Americas

Black Hopefuls Pick This Year in G.O.P. Races

Boehner chokes up over Henry Hyde and getting a pro-life award

Stay Excited!

In Economic Woes 05-06


FCC Caves to Liberal Special Interests, Moves to Reclassify Broadband

Fight the power! The FCC Goes for the Nuclear Option. If FCC Chairman Genachowski announces his intention to reclassify the Internet as a telephone system, he will be reversing 30 years of precedent



TRAC Accuses Treasury Department of Ignoring FOIA

Rifts emerge among Dems over federal powers on consumer financial regs

Taxing the Banks Costing the consumer



Freddie's Dead

Hell NO - Freddie Mac asks for fresh 10.6 billion dollar bailout

WSJ’s Must-Read on Fannie, Freddie reform



WSJ: Criminal Tax Lawyers Accuse IRS of 'Double-Cross' in Prosecuting Taxpayers Who Voluntarily Disclosed Overseas Accounts

New Weekly Jobless Claims drop 7,000 to 444,000

Why? Why, why, why? U.S. Taxpayers Fund $6.8 Billion Of Greek Bailout

Bad Politicians Bad 05-06


President Obama Job Approval

Barack Obama Doesn’t Care About Southern People

PJTV VIDEO (Trifecta) - With Rep. Obey Forced Out, Can Republican Tim Burns Take Murtha’s Former Seat Too?

Mad Ducks?

Prosecution's Star Witness in SEAL Case Discredited

Blame Obama. Why Not? Your Uncle Sam has spent 100 years turning himself into Jabba the Hut.

Rep. Andre Carson: Protesters Are ‘One of the Largest Threats to our Internal Security’

The President and the Politics of Civility



WSJ: Criminal Tax Lawyers Accuse IRS of 'Double-Cross' in Prosecuting Taxpayers Who Voluntarily Disclosed Overseas Accounts

Open Season on Democrats: Schauer Comes Up Short

Obama's Democrats dash hopes, resist change

Whitewater II

'Ex-PLO Terrorist' Turned Israeli Sympathizer: Obama is Culturally a Muslim


Putting al-Qaeda Ahead of the CIA?

Reid says expect late night in the Senate on Wall Street reform bill

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Recovering For Celebrating Round-Up

Apparently the lump they removed from under my arm isn't cancer - Hooray!

However, celebrating too "vigorously" does not make you feel better the next day - Boo!

Every day I learn something. Sometimes it's a lesson I have to learn over and over and over.

Anyways, here's today's attempt at a round-up....



President Obama Job Approval

Obama biggest recipient of BP cash
BP and its employees have given more than $3.5 million to federal candidates over the past 20 years, with the largest chunk of their money going to Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Donations come from a mix of employees and the company’s political action committees — $2.89 million flowed to campaigns from BP-related PACs and about $638,000 came from individuals.
And yet, I doubt the liberals are gonna start screaming No Seagulls For Oil at Obama anytime soon.

Boot the Boot Metaphor
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar didn't have to be told the new political facts of life. He jumped right in with this little gem: "Our job basically is to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum to carry out the responsibilities they have both under the law and contractually to move forward and stop this spill."
Makes you wonder if this administration wants to put its boots on other "necks" as well.

U.S. exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study

Case Study In The Fallacy Of Obama’s Ethics Pledge

Obama's election year plan suddenly scrambled. Ummm, GOOD!

Video - Exposing Obama's Radical Past



Is President Obama Using Executive Powers To Organize Angry Anti-Capitalist Protests On The Streets Of America?

Those are some real class-acts you got there, Mr. Obama - Rahm: ‘Take Your F***ing Tampon Out’

Why would she go? Rahm Emanuel’s right-hand woman leaves White House for Bloomberg

Well, it takes one to know one - Stossel: Obama Is an Arrogant Interventionist VIDEO plus...
John Stossel: I’d call Obama is an interventionist. An arrogant interventionist. He wants government control over health care, banking, energy, education, and the auto industry. He has “lawyers’ disease.” Law school misleads lawyers into thinking that smart bureaucrats can successfully micromanage life with paper and procedure. He wants to increase regulation everywhere. Those are terrible ideas.



She Wasn’t Even in the Room

Retracto, The Corrections Alpaca Makes New Demand

I think this quote from Clueless on Immigration reveals an inherent problem with democrat immigration policies -
Obama has a poor record on immigration. As a senator, he joined Democratic leader Harry Reid in trying to kill an immigration reform bill with poison pill amendments -- all to please organized labor, which preferred no bill to one with guest workers.

Obama has also been more than willing to play politics with the immigration issue for short-term gain. My theory is that Obama falls into the part of the liberal spectrum that is leery of immigration reform because of concerns that immigrant labor hurts blue-collar workers, especially African-Americans.
Amnesty hurts American workers but democrats want to court hispanic voters? But why? Demographically speaking, hispanics have resisted the American melting pot in favor of barrios and entitlements. If democrats openly support this demographic, they risk allientating the millions of Americans who believe in self-reliance, rule-of-law, and jobs for Americans first.

Call Them What They Are: Illegal Aliens


My husband's post on NRO - Red Tape Holds the Nation Together!


Ten Thousand Commandments. An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State

The Importance of Free Markets

Retro Obamanomics Fails to Spur Growth

Creepy Pennsylvania Tax Agency Ad Goes Big Brother. A threatening TV commercial appearing in Pennsylvania has residents of the state spooked by its "Orwellian" overtones, and critics are calling it a government attempt to scare delinquent citizens into paying back taxes.

A dollar says it will include the word "unexpectedly" - Predictions on April Job Reports to Be Released This Week

Rockefeller, Waxman to FCC: Consider reclassification for net neutrality

Economist: Eliminate Checking Accounts to End Bank Risks

General Motors Deceptive Advertising Challenged by Watchdog Group in FTC Filing

When Other People's Money runs out. Its culture of self-sufficiency, always at risk in a welfare state, broke down. In the U.S., too much credit and too little regulation revealed the flaws of our form of capitalism.

Bank bill could help feds snoop, GOP warns

Senate Nears Vote on Massive Bank Reorganization as GOP Remains Defiant

The 'No Good Options' Era: We're all Greek now


Obama’s Spanish disaster

FDA Salt Statement Leaves a “Mistaken Impression”

VIDEO - Krister Evertson, a Victim of Overcriminalization, tells his story in "One Nationa Under Arrest"


Time for some oil spill perspective

Greens (heart) oil spills

Myths Associated with the ‘Smart’ Electrical Grid. There is no national "grid." And a "smart" grid will not "vastly improve" electric power generation or efficiency.

They may have voted for Scott Brown but they didn't get any smarter - Town Bans Bottled Water Sales



Environmental group says supporting electric vehicles purchases is a waste of government money

In New York, More Evidence the Tobacco Tax Has Everything to do with Big Government


PJTV Video (National Security) - The Bomb Failed, the System Failed, and DC Fails to See Our Enemy (But a Suspect Is In Custody)

Beyond Schadenfreude: What George Will’s Crucifixion of Bill Maher Really Means

Dems use deficit commission to push for amnesty

Video of SWAT Raid on Missouri Family. Killed the family pets in front of a 7 year old boy.

On inclusiveness, GOP just can't win

And yet - Black Hopefuls Pick This Year in G.O.P. Races. I think there might be a TEA Party connection here. Also check out The Frederick Douglass Foundation AND Project 21.

Black Americans and Liberty

Like Sheep Led To Slaughter

Blame the white man Leftist racial profiling was thwarted again by reality

The Progressive Preversion of Liberty



Sinking Ship: Approp Chair Obey (D-WI) to Retire

Democrats' Worst Fear Is About To Come True

Maybe their fears are justified - Joe the Plumber is Elected to Party Office in Ohio

Jerry Brown is a tool - Investigations=Campaign Stops

Now why would they do that? Mowing Down the Grassroots. Complicated lobbying laws at the state level threaten to put a damper on political activism.



ObamaCare's High Risk Pools Put State Budgets At Risk

US Taxpayers Pay for Germany’s Socialized Medicine – and Other Terrible News


Questions Only Bloomberg Is Asking Are the Pakistani Taliban upset about ObamaCare?

NY nurse forced to participate in abortion files additional suit against Mt. Sinai Hospital

How utterly moving! The Elephant in the Room: Two years worth every tear. The columnist's daughter has lived despite every dire prediction.



WaPo Cherry-picks Poll to Portray Tea Parties as on Defensive About Racism Charges

Washington Post Co. looking to sell Newsweek

Washington Post shifts leftward online. Because going left has paid off as a business model for so many media outlets (MSNBC, Air America, etc.)

Networks Fail to Distinguish Between Xenophobia and Law Enforcement

WaPo Distorts Its Own Poll On Perceptions of Tea Party Racism

WH Lays Into Fox News Reporter Over Former FEMA Director’s Comments


The global war on ... well, something



HuffPo, Krugman, and Too Good to Check

AUDIO: Chicago Chicago Affiliate Won’t Cover GOP Senate Candidate if He Continues to Hammer Dem Opponent on Bank Scandal



Is the Media Finally Telling the Truth about Race and Tea Parties?

Ignoring Their Betters. How dare we!

The Sky is Blue; The List is Black


Supreme Court Rules: A Light Set on a Hill Cannot Be Hidden

Reason.tv: 3 Reasons YouTube Shouldn’t Censor Downfall Parodies


Teachers’ Unions Exposed in The Cartel. A brave new documentary reveals the corruption, waste, and stupidity of education spending in New Jersey.

‘Emergency Education Jobs Bill’ is Really a Union Dues Bailout Bill

Why would someone block school reform in Illinois?

Why Beverly Hills Gave Students the Boot

Ann Arbor elementary school bans white students from field trip, principal defends discrimination

Why Charter Schools Fail the Test

Sorry Big Labor: Teaching Kids Union History Propaganda Won’t Make Us More Competitive Against China and India I don't know, indoctrination helped China subjugate an entire nation.

A Day In The Life Of The Over-Regulated



Brought to you by the same people who turned my husband into a "Hannibal Lector" in The Silence of the Regulated (below)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Daily Round-Up 05-04



I like what I am reading - Where the Contract with American Failed, the Freshmen 5o Will Succeed
We are citizen-candidates united on a platform of six simple and realistic reforms for our government:
Apply the Law Equally: All laws that apply to all citizens also apply to Congress
Term Limits: Limit terms in Congress to no more than 12 years in the House and Senate, respectively
Enforce Congressional Ethics: Yearly tax and expense audits, former Congressmen and their staff cannot be lobbyists, allow the ethics committee to do their job
Read the Bill: Prior to final vote, the entire bill must be read out loud on the floor of the House; if a representative is not present for the entire reading, he cannot vote
Tax Reform: Repeal our current tax code in favor of one that taxes only once, at one rate, and require a 2/3-majority vote for any new tax
Balance the Budget: Amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget


British Hero (and Gold Bar for our American Heroes) - Super Sniper Kills Taliban 1.5 Miles Away I love the first comment.



GENERAL BAD BEHAVIOR

The Santa Cruz Riot The president warns of violence from "extreme elements," and an example quickly materializes.

“Cuba Si!—Arizona No! “ Says Mexican President Felipe Calderon (Among Many Others)

Initial Analysis Of The Times Square Bombing Attempt AND Cellphone led FBI to Times Square car bomb suspect arrest

Thomas Sowell - Race and Resentment

The Changing Tide: America Less Tolerant of Religious Liberty

Ahmadinejad Calling Obama’s Bluff. Today at the UN, Iran's president showed why he's a better strategist than his American counterpart. Why was this sack even allowed into our country?

Michelle Obama didn't wear her wedding ring to the WH Correspondents Dinner, could this National Enquirer report be why?


MEDIA BIAS

Unintentional Comedy at the Daily Kos

Verbal Diarrhea



JUNK SCIENCE

Wind, solar would generate ... even higher electric bills

"Limited Federal Government = No Government" (or something like that)

Environmental groups condemn ocean drilling in climate bill as ‘unacceptable’

The Government and the Food Safety Modernization Act


ACORN/BIG UNION/LEFTIE GROUPS

Bank Bailout Bill: Is This Why Andy Stern Left SEIU?

And You Thought Wall Street Was Fudging the Numbers

My daughter is a Girl Scout and if I see any hint of this trickling down to her troop then she is outta there! - Girls Scouts Under Fire for Planned Parenthood Sex Guide

ACLU Splits, and Abandons Principle

BP's Slick Greenwashing


OBAMACARE

18 states refuse to run insurance pools for those with preexisting conditions

Obama Offers Businesses $5 Billion for Retiree Health



FIGHTING CORRUPTION


Nicely Done - A tale of two groups

Christie starts swinging big axe at NJ judiciary

Enforcing immigration law would be a bargain

In Economic Woes 05-04


Beware, the Value-Added Tax. So what is the VAT anyway? Will it really resolve the deficit?

GOP poll confirms that lots of people don’t like the Value-Added Tax

The Capital Gains Tax

Big Government vs. Small Business

President Obama Should Be Repealing the Capital Gains Tax, not Making It More Burdensome


The Real Economy: A Whiff of Irrational Exuberance

Treasury, meet Treasury on whether GM repaid its government loan 'in full'

Why Our Current Budget Situation Is a Crisis

Government Project Costs: On Paper vs. Reality

Two-thirds oppose tax hikes to close federal deficit

The New Oligarchs

Congressional Hypocrites Were Betting Against Stocks As Country Collapsed

How Goldman Sachs Helped Paulson and Company Short Housing in Smart Growth States

Permanent Bailouts Not Enough, Banks Fight For Even More Advantages

Bad Politicians Bad 05-04


President Obama Job Approval

How Goldman Sachs Helped Paulson and Company Short Housing in Smart Growth States

Democrats at Ramming Speed The White House wants to pass as much legislation as possible before losing its big majorities, no matter how unpopular its proposals are.

President Obama: GOP Opposition to Stimulus 'Helped to Create the Tea-Baggers'

Report: Congress makes too many vague laws

VIDEO: More Lies Exposed in ‘Phantom N-Word Tale’


Puerto Rico and the Recurring Plebiscite. Congress quietly passed HR 2499, the Puerto Rico Democracy Act. But why? And does anyone understand what's in it?

Reid warns senators' work could eat into August recess Maybe you should take a break.

20 Examples of How the World Would Look if Big Government Worked

Mowing Down the Grassroots. Complicated lobbying laws at the state level threaten to put a damper on political activism.

Obama's Planned Remarks at Quincy Just as Telling

Congressional Hypocrites Were Betting Against Stocks As Country Collapsed

Post ‘Conservative’ Staffer Apologizes for Calling Traditional Marriage Proponents ‘Bigots’

Obama Should Heed His Own Advice

Government Project Costs: On Paper vs. Reality

Monday, May 3, 2010

Media Bias 05-03


If Obama cheated, the Enquirer should be transparent about itself

PJTV Video (Kruiser Control) - A Tale of Two Protests: Video Destroys the MSM Narrative

How come you don't read about this in the news? Big Paydays for the Chiefs in the Media Seriously, with the exception of Fox, nearly all MSM (print & broadcast) is in the toilet and these guys get a raise?

The Fire and Brimstone World of Texas School Propaganda

VIDEO - Breitbart CBN Interview: ‘The Cold War is now a New Media war’

Standing in the Shadows of ManBearMo. Ed Driscoll talks with Brian Anderson on Comedy Central censoring TV's South Park, James Lileks wonders if Charlie Crist and the UK's Gordon Brown should have self-censored before self-immolating. Plus Glenn Reynolds, Mark Tapscott, Joe Hicks, and Christopher Horner. Hosted by the Vodkapundit, Stephen Green

PJTV Video (Klavan on The Culture) - The New York Times Answer Man

http://kaus.sitebuilder.completecampaigns.com/news/newsitem.php?section=PRS&id=8407&showcat=2&seq=1

Double standard on Obama's dissing

Re: Slate's Doohickey & Epistemic Whatyamacallit

Teasing From The Captain

Daily Round-Up 05-03



Hedge funds donate big to Democrats

American Oligarchy. Don’t expect real reform from the Wall Street Democrats.

Shame on Apple - THE APPLE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

PJTV Video (Afterburner with (the ever-excellent) Bill Whittle) - A Tale of Two Americas



GENERAL BAD BEHAVIOR

Founding Amateurs?

Foreign Connections Sought in Times Square Plot

Did Philly gov’t pressure a teen to get an abortion?

Why Haven’t There Been more Car Bombings?



JUNK SCIENCE

(Desperately) Looking for Arctic warming

PJTV Video (Sonja Schmidt!) - Betrayed By Climategate, Shattered Warmers Become Global Mourners



The truth behind green jobs

Ken Blackwell - Is the Climate Bill Frozen?


OBAMACARE

Why Obamacare Doesn’t Work



How's that government planning working for ya? U.S. has 71 million unused flu vaccine doses

PJTV Video (Medically Incorrect) - Under ObamaCare, A Doctor’s Life For Fewer And Fewer

State Private-Market Health Insurance Reform: Lessons on Health Insurance Exchanges, Progress, and Next Steps

CRS Says Parts of Obamacare May Be Unconstitutional

Obamacare Will Kill Medical Technology

Federalism Under Attack: How Obamacare Turns Citizens into Government Minions



ACORN/BIG UNION/LEFTIE GROUPS

It's O'Sullivan's Law over and over again - Mission Creep Causes Amnesty International to Lose Focus. Charities have bureaucratic imperatives to grow, and they do so by moral imperialism. Amnesty is no exception

The NAACP and Abortion Politics

Uniformity and regimentalism of thought on the rise. It was one of the things that pushed me out of the liberal circle, the inability to accept different opinions, especially if that disagreeing opinion came from a minority who had the temerity to step off the liberal reservation.

Blasphemy in the Land of the Magna Carta

More Proof Big Labor's Unionizations Costs Jobs

Blaming the citizen Left fuels backlash on illegals


FIGHTING CORRUPTION


Behind the Scenes of the Pennsylvania Patriot Revolution

The Eyes of the Movement Are On Ohio

Another Tea Party Victory. Senator Harry Reid suddenly decides to focus on addressing immigration instead of cap-and-trade

Cincinnati Tea Partiers and 912ers hold ‘Read the Bill Marathon’

Illegal Immigrantion Round-Up 05-03



PJTV Video (Afterburner with (the ever-excellent) Bill Whittle) - A Tale of Two Americas

Central Americans complain about abuse by the Colossus (to their) North–Or: “You DON’T wanna be illegal in Mexico!”

Apparently there is lots of work Americans are willing to do - Hundreds seek to fill vacant positions at Pro's Ranch Market

Despite Ariz. Law, Illegals Vow to Keep Coming. Illegal migrants targeted by a tough new Arizona law dismiss it as just another obstacle that pales in comparison to the extortion, arrests and kidnappings they already risk to reach U.S. soil.

Poll: Majority Backs Arizona Immigration Bill

The Perfect Is the Enemy of the Good

How Does Reasonable Suspicion Work

When They Call You a Nazi, You’ve Won the Immigration Argument. Point/Counterpoint: In the right corner of the ring, the LAPD's Jack Dunphy favors Arizona's new immigration law: "But while the new AZ law's opponents are revealed as hysterics, it will still be uncomfortable for those police officers who must now go out and enforce it in an atmosphere of intense media scrutiny."

How Obama Could Lose Arizona Immigration Battle

At least 18 Santa Cruz businesses suffered damage during May Day riot

Immigrants' Rights March in California Ends in Vandalism, Arrests

Founding Amateurs?

PJTV Video (Kruiser Control) - A Tale of Two Protests: Video Destroys the MSM Narrative

Uniformity and regimentalism of thought on the rise. It was one of the things that pushed me out of the liberal circle, the inability to accept different opinions, especially if that disagreeing opinion came from a minority who had the temerity to step off the liberal reservation.

Blaming the citizen Left fuels backlash on illegals

Another Tea Party Victory. Senator Harry Reid suddenly decides to focus on addressing immigration instead of cap-and-trade

In Economic Woes 05-03



Hedge funds donate big to Democrats

American Oligarchy. Don’t expect real reform from the Wall Street Democrats.

Geithner and GM tell a whopper UPDATED!

Clock Ticking For Finance Reform Bill

How to Avoid a 'Bailout Bill' A new bankruptcy process is the right way to deal with failing financial institutions.

Why does the Wall Street regulation overhaul give FTC authority over the Internet?



No Guarantees at the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Exactly who ‘makes enough money’ in Obama’s eyes?



Apparently there is lots of work Americans are willing to do - Hundreds seek to fill vacant positions at Pro's Ranch Market

America's lead weight. Unions have benefited the country, but changes in the economy have made mainstream unionism itself an impediment to growth

Obama and Democrats struggle with details of proposed tax on banks

Debate on the other debt crisis Our view: Ugly truth about state pensions begins to emerge

Six Reasons Why the Capital Gains Tax Should Be Abolished


The Global Reform Dodge

Dodd, the banks and the 'idiot tiger keeper'

Social Security's Straightforward Math

Public Service Recognition Week – Fact 1

Bad Politicians Bad 05-03

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President Obama Job Approval

State of the Union

Hedge funds donate big to Democrats

American Oligarchy. Don’t expect real reform from the Wall Street Democrats.



Debate on the other debt crisis Our view: Ugly truth about state pensions begins to emerge

Are public sector employees the Democrats' achilles heel?

America’s Socialists Bully China’s. Why is now the time to push China on trade and monetary policy? Easy: Because the Dems need money. And because they can

Gulf oil spill becoming Obama's Katrina: A timeline of presidential delay



Video shows federal officials knew quickly of potential for massive oil flow in Gulf spill

NYT editorial: Obama should have acted sooner on the oil spill

Did Obama administration tell GM to lie about its TARP repayment?

Know Your Place: Britain’s Joe the Plumber Moment. Gordon Brown reminds us that there is no snob like a leftist snob.

Pelosi makes history, and enemies, as an effective House speaker



Let the Republicans drink the Tea Party's brew. Progressives shouldn't wish for the equivalent.

Teasing From The Captain

Democrats Are Manipulating the Marchers

Does Obama Bear Some Responsibility for Intimidation of Comedy Central? Former Justice official John Yoo tells PJM: “President Obama’s speech in Cairo projected a vision of American weakness where people think they can make violent threats and get away with it."

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Random Round-Up 05-02


President Obama Job Approval

From InstaPundit - "THE NATIONAL ENQUIRER is pushing an Obama cheating scandal story. Bah. When was the last time they got one of these things right? . . . ."

NYT: GM, Treasury lied about bailout repayment

Thousands join May Day protests in Europe

How The Hell Did GM Pay Back Its Loans "in Full And Ahead of Schedule"? Well, It Didn't.


Top 10 dumbest things said about the Arizona immigration law

Obama and Sowell: who can tell when people have made enough money?

LAPD estimate crowd at immigrant rights rally is about half of what was expected [Updated]

Tea Party movement likely to have unglamorous but effective future

Republicans in Utah direct anger at former party favorite Bennett

John Mearsheimer’s speech on Jews: Echoes of the 1930s

What Arizona Must Live With

AZ Immigration Facts and the Left’s New Hate of Affirmative Action. Actually what I like about this is the screengrab with the scary headline: "Law makes it a crime to be an illegal immigrant." And the MSM wonders why it is going out of business.

Feminists and Franklin Graham

Has Al Gore given up on global warming? (UPDATED)

From the Sanctimonious to the Ridiculous

Big Labor’s Prodigal Son

The dangers of embedded journalism, in war and politics

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac should disappear

You Can Feed the Crocodile...

Close Call But Court Will Find Individual Mandate Unconstitutional

General Election 2010: Poll blow for Nick Clegg as voters think twice