Alabama Right News: Dec 3, 2010

Friday, December 3, 2010

Chase Forces Texas Bank Branch To Remove Donated Christmas Tree Because It Could be ‘Offensive’

from Red White Blue News by ThePundit

Chase Forces Texas Bank Branch To Remove Donated Christmas Tree Because It Could be ‘Offensive’: "

RWB News: When will these fools learn this type of ‘Political Correctness’ is bad business? IT’s A Christmas Tree…At Christmas Time You Tools. Chase is ‘Offending’ more people than they are protecting with this stupid decision .

Reported By Star-Telegram

SOUTHLAKE — Chase Bank told a businessman to remove the Christmas tree he donated to a local branch because it could offend people.

Antonio Morales, owner of Bellagio Day Spa in Southlake, had assembled and decorated a 9-foot-tall tree in the lobby of the Chase Bank branch at 1700 E. Southlake Boulevard as a favor to the branch manager, who is one of his clients.

The tree remained in the lobby from the Monday before Thanksgiving until Tuesday. Morales said his friend called him Wednesday to tell him the tree had to go. She later showed him an e-mail from JPMorgan Chase saying that the tree had to be removed because some people were offended by it.

The bank referred questions to corporate offices.

Greg Hassell, a JPMorgan Chase spokesman, said that the company’s policy isn’t anti-Christmas. “People wish their customers merry Christmas when it’s appropriate,” he said.

However, to ensure that everyone who visits Chase branches feels welcome and comfortable, the bank’s policy is to use only decorations supplied by the company.

“We appreciate the thoughtful gesture from Mr. Morales,” Hassell said. “Unfortunately, we’re unable to keep it [the tree] on display for the remainder of the holiday season.” JPMorgan Chase ensures that decorations are “something everyone is comfortable with, regardless of how they celebrate the season,” Hassell said.

But others see the tree as a symbol of the season.

swenbwr

Old meme: Earth has a fever. New meme: "Are we freezing because of global warming?"

from theblogprof by The blogprof

Old meme: Earth has a fever. New meme: "Are we freezing because of global warming?": "Old meme, ala Al Gore:

New meme, appropriately via memeorandum: Are we freezing because of global warming?

For six years, a team at Southampton University has been using instruments, strung across the Atlantic from the Bahamas to north Africa, to monitor the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. This is the massive system of currents, including the Gulf Stream, that carries a mind-boggling 1.3 petawatts of heat – that's 1,300,000,000,000,000 watts – northwards in its warm upper waters.

The Gulf Stream relies on the fact that as the water loses its heat in the north Atlantic, it cools, sinks and flows back to the south. The fear has been that, as the planet warms, melting Arctic ice will weaken these currents, plunging Europe into the cooler.

You get the feeling that these guys have watched The Day After Tomorrow far too many times.

More from YID With LID and Right Wing News. Want to know what the next meme will be? Global warming caused by... racism. It already causes obesity among black women, so what the heck?

UPDATE: More alarmism: Sea Level Could Rise in South, Fall in North. That's right folks, global warming is causing the Earth to lose it's shape! Once a sphere, now an ellipsoid, and someday a spaghetti noodle. All due to racism.

BREAKING: Claire McCaskill Calls For Violence If Dems Don’t Get Their Historic Tax Hikes: “It Really Is Time For Americans To Take Up Pitchforks” (Video)

from The Gateway Pundit by Jim Hoft

BREAKING: Claire McCaskill Calls For Violence If Dems Don’t Get Their Historic Tax Hikes: “It Really Is Time For Americans To Take Up Pitchforks” (Video): "

They really, really want to raise taxes–

Obama lackey Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and her democratic colleagues held a press conference today. The liberal senator called for violence if democrats don’t get their historic tax hikes.

McCaskill told the press that if democrats were not allowed to raise taxes on the rich,

“It really is time for Americans to take up pitchforks.“

Claire promotes violence:

McCaskill posted this call for violence on her YouTube Channel.

Since you mentioned deficits, Claire… We know you don’t want people to see this but your democratic colleagues tripled the national deficit two years ago and then nearly matched it last year.

(Captain’s Comments)

Rising Oil Prices Fuels Debate Over Offshore Drilling

Rising Oil Prices Fuels Debate Over Offshore Drilling: "As oil prices climb near highs for the year above $88 a barrel, energy analysts predict oil could rise to $120 a barrel before the end of 2012 — adding even more fuel to the offshore drilling debate in the same week Obama announces he will not allow drilling in certain areas for at least seven more years.

Government Electric's secret bailout

Hold the brownies! Bill could limit bake sales

Nothing Changed This Week-The FCC Still Has No Authority to Regulate the Internet

from - Big Government by Seton Motley

Nothing Changed This Week-The FCC Still Has No Authority to Regulate the Internet: "

The news to be culled from this latest Federal Communications Commission (FCC) attempt to usurp Internet regulatory authority and impose Network Neutrality is – there really is no news. At least in the broadest – and most important – sense.

What was true before FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s Tuesday midnight run to grab power over the Web remains true today – the FCC does not have the authority to do what they have just announced they will do on December 21^st.

Unless and until the Congress enacts law making it so, the FCC doesn’t have the authority to do anything. December’s vote to commandeer control of the Internet is no more legitimate than – and just as capricious as – if they were to vote themselves masters of all the nation’s pizza joints.

The FCC – no government agency – can just decide they want to regulate an industry – and then vote themselves power over it. That’s not constitutional, representative, limited government – that’s Hugo Chavez-style expropriative despotism.

And it’s not as if The Chairman has been suffering from a dearth of people pointing out his lack of authority. We have repeatedly pointed it out. And it hasn’t just been us.

In April, the D.C. Circuit Court said so, unanimously ruling the obvious – that the Commission does not have the authority to do anything to the Internet.

Then 302 members of Congress said the same – a large bipartisan majority. So then did more than 150 organizations, state legislators and bloggers , seventeen minority groups (that are usually almost always in Democrat lockstep) and many additional normally Democrat paragons including several large unions, several racial grievance groups and at least one anti-free market environmentalist group.

And then The Chairman officially announced his intent to usurp authority.

His Republican FCC colleagues – Commissioners Meredith Atwell-Baker and Robert McDowell – did not mince words. Commissioner Baker said it is a “mistake,” and rightly reasserted the evident: “We do not have authority to act.”

Commissioner McDowell pointed out one of the uglier aspects of this utterly ugly power grab: “Pushing a small group of hand-picked industry players toward a ‘choice’ between a bad option (Title I Internet regulation) or a worse option (regulating the Internet like a monopoly phone company under Title II) smacks more of coercion than consensus or compromise.”

All four potential Republican House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman – the FCC-relevant House Committee – lambasted the move and vowed to undo it as soon as any one of them are sworn in as the new Majority in January. Notable here is that they plan to undo it legislatively, which is again the only proper way this should be done in the first place.

Tennessee Republican Representative Marsh Blackburn – an Energy and Commerce Committee member – said that The Chairman’s authoritarian decision indicated – that the FCC needed a new Chairman.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, the Ranking Member of the FCC-relevant Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, was also just as displeased, and pointed out yet another unattractive feature of this lawless process – the attempt to slide this by the American people in lame duck fashion under cover of Christmas.

“I am especially troubled that this action would occur without Congressional input and before the new members of Congress have been sworn in. The American people clearly repudiated this type of government expansion on November 2^nd.”

Which raises an additional question or two. When The Chairman was sworn in, he practically declared himself Captain Transparency. He was going to fundamentally transform the way the FCC did business – a newly designed website to be used to openly share with the American people how the FCC does what it does.

Why then isn’t this new order – which will dramatically alter how the FCC conducts its business – posted online for the American people to read? And why wouldn’t this fundamentally transformational order be subject to a public comment period – to allow the American people to weigh in? Why instead is this being shoved through in absolute last minute, lame duck, end of year, under cover of Christmas fashion?

Back to Senator Hutchison:

“I have not seen any evidence to date that would justify this regulatory overreach. In fact, the Internet has developed and thrived precisely because it has not been weighed down with burdensome government regulations.”

Reminding us yet again that Network Neutrality is a solution running around looking for a problem. There are currently ZERO legitimate charges of Net Neutrality violations against anyone anywhere in the United States.

(The recent Level3 charge against Comcast is completely bogus, and is NOT a Net Neutrality violation. This did not stop the FCC from deciding to take a look at it – in a by-any-means-necessary attempt to provide cover for their looming usurpation of Internet authority.)

And in fact, the vast majority of Americans like the Internet just the way it is. And as Senator Hutchison points out, it is precisely the lack of oppressive government regulation that has led to the Internet being so likable.

So if it ain’t broke, why is The Chairman planning to execute a HUGE, overreaching Christmas power grab to “fix” it?

How’s that Stimulus Working, Mr. President?

from - Big Government by Dan Mitchell

How’s that Stimulus Working, Mr. President?: "

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced this morning that the unemployment rate jumped to 9.8 percent last month. As you can see from the chart, the White House claimed that if we enacted the so-called stimulus, the unemployment rate today would be about 7 percent.

It’s never wise to over-interpret the meaning on a single month’s data, and it’s also a mistake to credit or blame any one policy for the economy’s performance, but it certainly does seem that the combination of bigger government and more intervention is not a recipe for growth.

Maybe the President should reverse course and try free markets and smaller government.

Here’s a helpful six-minute tutorial.

GOP Rolls Out Strategy of Confrontation

from American Power by Donald Douglas

GOP Rolls Out Strategy of Confrontation: "At LAT, 'GOP Resolve Dominates the Agenda in Congress':

Republicans rolled out a confrontational, no-compromise strategy this week that may carry long-term risks, but has put them in position to dominate the lame-duck session of Congress and marginalize President Obama's agenda.

Among congressional Republicans, confidence levels are so high that they are barreling over what might be considered standard political traps. As they fight to preserve tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers, for instance, they are prepared to let unemployment insurance benefits run out for 2 million jobless Americans unless offsetting spending cuts can be found.

Republican Senate leaders on Wednesday threatened to derail a bill that had previously received bipartisan backing — a food-safety measure — on the grounds that nothing should move until a deal on tax cuts is reached.

The White House and congressional Democrats have been largely reduced to symbolic responses, such as House passage Thursday of an extension of middle-class tax cuts. Republicans in the Senate have vowed to block it because it did not include an extension for the wealthy.

The Democratic bill was greeted scornfully by Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R- Ohio), who described the exercise as 'chicken crap.'

Yeah. And progressive heads exploded at that.

More later.

Meanwhile follow developments at Memeorandum and The Other McCain.

Another Bank Sues Ground Zero Mosque Thug Sharif El-Gamal

from Atlas Shrugs by Pamela Geller

Another Bank Sues Ground Zero Mosque Thug Sharif El-Gamal: "

Photo: 911 Protest against the Ground Zero Mosque

Join us on December 14th here and at CPAC February 11th

The GZM crook the mayor quivers before, the thug with a rap sheet, the gangster who thinks that beating people up is a great "stress reliever" -- the Muslim who threatens non-Muslims who think that the triumphal mosque is offensive, the grifter whom the mayor invites to dine at Gracie Mansion, the tax cheat who owes a quarter of a million in taxes, the hustler who was evicted from his offices...... was sued by another bank for 100k.

NBC Person of the Year ..........

Bank Sues Mosque Man NY Post

"The developer of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero was slapped with a suit for defaulting on nearly $100,000 in business loans.

Citibank filed the Manhattan Supreme Court papers last week, claiming that Sharif El-Gamal and his company, Soho Properties, owe them $99,489. It's the second such suit against El-Gamal since October, when Valley National Bank filed a claim against him over an unpaid $95,778 loan.

Gamal said defaulting on his debts made good business sense because current interest rates are so low."

No, no, Sharif, you so low. And interest rates were always "so low." This is who the Mayor is fighting for?

How morally inverted is our fair Mayor Gloomberg? How's this? He excoriates our Islamophiliac President for not pushing the Ground Zero mega mosque hard enough. This putz called the President out yesterday for not being supportive enough of the victory mosque:

“If you’re going to stand up for the mosque Friday night, you don't walk away from it Saturday morning,” said Bloomberg, (more here)

Insult, meet injury. And he stands up for crooked Islamic supremacists who are ripping our hearts out and ripping us off.

Wait. It gets better.

Gamal not only beats people up and threatens Muslims who speak out against the mosque, but he is also a tax cheat, owing a quarter of a million in taxes.

And this deadbeat has applied for 5.5 million for from the taxpayer 911 fund to rebuild lower Manhattan. Check out this video.

Julie Menin, the chairwoman of the Lower Manhattan Development Committee who decides who gets and who doesn't get our dough, said:

The vetting process, she said, includes site visits and assessments of financial track records or, in the case of new organizations, the group’s financial viability.

Clearly based on just this lawsuit alone, these grifters are ineligible.

Mr. Gamal is counting on the center’s eventually having about 4,330 paying members, about half of them paying $2,700 a year for the most expensive family plan, which would include use of a planned fitness center and pool.

Most of that core group, Mr. Gamal expects, would be non-Muslim neighborhood residents and commuters.

Muslims from around the region would make up a larger but less frequently visiting group — what he calls the “dinner and a date” crowd — many of them choosing the cheapest $375 family membership for cultural programs.

Non-Muslims will pay the exorbitant jizya of $2,700 for the privilege of membership in the Cordoba house, while Muslims will pay the nominal fee of $375 per year.

But that's not all. Financing to build this victory mosque will not only come from the American taxpayer but from the sharia -- Islamic bonds, aka sukuk: (more here)

Most of the financing, Mr. Gamal said on Wednesday, would come through religiously sanctioned bondlike investments known as sukuk, devised in Muslim nations to allow religious Muslims to take part in the global economy and increasingly explored by American banks. Sukuk and other Islamic banking instruments are tracked on the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index.

In sukuk construction projects, the investors own the real estate asset, and the developers lease it back; the investors’ profit on the rent is analogous to the yield on a bond. Some Islamic scholars do not accept the system, but it is widely used in places like Malaysia and Dubai.

Mr. Gamal, a broker and property manager with Soho Properties, uses conventional mortgages on other deals, but said using sukuk would attract a broader range of Muslim investors.

I bet he won't default on the ummah.

Something needs pointing out here. The El-Gamal cabal is saying that most of the people in the area of the center will be non-muslim? Wait a minute. We were told that the Muslim community in lower Manhattan was bursting at the seams and had to have this huge place, right? But according Anne Barnard in a recent NY Times piece, most of the people living or working near the center and wanting to use the facilities are not Muslim.

Morphing mosque morphs, yet again.

Helen Thomas: Proud Racist and Annihilationist

from Atlas Shrugs by Pamela Geller

Helen Thomas: Proud Racist and Annihilationist: "

You can take the antisemite out of the newsroom, but you can't take the antisemitism out of the newswoman. If anything, it liberates these closet nazis. You find out what they were really thinking all those years they were bringing you "unbiased" news.

How many Helen Thomases are in elite media? More than you know. More than you will ever know. What is telling is that in a moral world, the likes of human filth like Thomas would/should hide their debased proclivities. But in the modern era of the barbarian, she is a keynote speaker who commands $15,000 to $20,000 a speech.

15th Anniversary Banquet & Fundraiser
with keynote speaker Helen Thomas, $100 per ticket; $800 for a table of 10

Helen Thomas is At it Again-Says Those Rich Jews Control America Yid with Lid

Proving once again that you can't teach an old dog new tricks, former White House Correspondent Helen Thomas told an anti-Arab-Bias workshop in Dearborn Michigan that she absolutely stands by her ugly comments about Jews made earlier this year, that they should return to Germany and Poland and went even further, even adding the anti-Semitic meme that Zionists control U.S. foreign policy and other American institutions.

The Detroit Free Press which report about Thomas' speech in Dearborn characterized the comments that got her fired as something "which critics have said were anti-Israel," perpetuating the myth that Thomas was fired for being critical of the Jewish State. Note to the Freep, no one gets fired for being critical of Israel, not even in Israel. Thomas' comments back in June were anti-Semitic, she told Israeli Jews to go back to Germany and Poland [where they faced the horrors of the Holocaust]

During her anti-bias appearance yesterday, thomas was asked her about her comments:

"I paid the price for that," said Thomas, a longtime White House correspondent. "But it was worth it, to speak the truth. The Zionists have to understand that's their country, too. Palestinians were there long before any European Zionists."

Thomas claimed that "You can not say anything (critical) about Israel in this country."

That was the nicest thing Thomas said all night. In her speech about about discrimination against Arabs she launched into an anti-Semitic tirade about how those rich Jews control America

In a speech that drew a standing ovation, Thomas talked about "the whole question of money involved in politics."

"We are owned by propagandists against the Arabs. There's no question about that. Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists. No question in my opinion. They put their money where there mouth is…We're being pushed into a wrong direction in every way.

It was almost as if Thomas was reading directly from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, at an anti-Bias conference!!!
During her interview and speech, Thomas often used the term "Zionists" negatively, saying that Dennis Ross, President Obama's adviser to the Middle East, was a Zionist.

"Obama, he puts in charge for the Arab world a Zionist like Dennis Ross…You don't put a Zionist in charge of the Muslim world in the White House."

The Press Slept As Fed Spent

from Big Journalism by Dan Riehl

The Press Slept As Fed Spent: "

Texas Representative Ron Paul is routinely painted as fringe, or a lunatic, at least in part for his long-standing call to audit the Federal Reserve. As the financial crisis of 2008 – 2009 played out, a compliant liberal mainstream media was all too happy to carry the Democrat’s water, making the seemingly Bush-aligned Goldman Sachs a major villain as the crisis unfolded, putting their name, as well as others, in the headlines everyday. It’s only now, due to new legislation, that Americans are just beginning to get a glimpse inside the high-stakes poker game in which America’s fortune and future was and is routinely being gambled, or spent. It turns out that far more of it than ever thought was being sent abroad.

Yet, even now, one has to turn to the Financial Times for one of the more candid assessments of what really went on and how much remains unknown.

Sunlight shows cracks in crisis rescue story

It took two years, a hard-fought lawsuit, and an act of Congress, but finally on Wednesday, the Federal Reserve disclosed the details of its financial crisis lending programmes. The initial reactions were shock at the breadth of lending, particularly to foreign firms. But the details paint a bleaker, earlier, and even more disturbing picture. They also highlight new tensions over high-tech transparency, echoing the controversy of the WikiLeaks cables, unveiled just days earlier.

When it comes to state secrets during war, or in the pursuit and detention of terrorists, outlets such as the New York Times routinely demonstrate no end of curiosity, or lack of belief in American’s right to know; however, when it comes to the life’s blood of capitalism and, in effect, our American democracy, it somewhat appears as if they have little interest in all the facts being known. One is hard pressed to find calls for even greater transparency in the American press, the sort of transparency the Financial Times points out as critical to fully understanding what’s at stake - and perhaps still at risk behind the veil shrouded world of American high finance.

Almost immediately analysts and bloggers sifting through the data honed in on Fed lending to non-US banks, particularly multibillion-dollar loans in October 2008 to Barclays of the UK, UBS of Switzerland, Dexia of Belgium, and several German banks. It didn’t take long to spot the $11.5bn loan to Royal Bank of Scotland, on October 9, 2008. It was the largest to date. Then the loans got even bigger.

Even now, on any given day, one is more likely to read about Ben Bernanke’s efforts to limit transparency, refusing to acknowledge the American taxpayer’s right to know, while what has already been revealed suggests Bernanke himself may have been less than candid, most likely including in testimony before Congress. Given that so many Americans continue to feel the pinch of their government’s past economic transgressions, spurring much of this calamity through now dubious housing legislation, it would be a positive development for the American media to demonstrate just half the curiosity they’ve demonstrated when it comes to where every captured terrorist in the world my have been held, or treated, over time.

Fed officials have claimed they did not know of the need for large-scale intervention in the financial markets until autumn 2008. Ben Bernanke, Fed chair, also testified that “The only way we could have saved Lehman would have been by breaking the law.” Yet the Fed’s new spreadsheets belie these claims. The data show the Fed was lending prolifically abroad in 2007, and then domestically, to investment banks – including Lehman – in early 2008.

This has been a big week for transparency. But whereas the WikiLeaks cables may have revealed too much, the Fed’s new data have revealed too little. We know now the Fed acted earlier, and with wider scope, than was previously understood. But without more detail about collateral, the case for its actions can still not be properly judged. Nevertheless, even these incomplete disclosures suggest that perhaps, during the next crisis, Fed officials will think more carefully about making loans they know will see the light of day. As US supreme court justice Louis Brandeis noted, sunlight is the best of disinfectants.

Congressional Muslim Staffers website disappears after outed hosting terrorists on Capitol Hill

from Creeping Sharia by creeping

Congressional Muslim Staffers website disappears after outed hosting terrorists on Capitol Hill: "We covered the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association many times, even noting their propensity for inviting terror-linked individuals and groups to the Capitol building. The Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, (D-Islam), sponsored group appears to have deleted their entire website after Fox News published an article identifying numerous terrorists and terror-linked individuals that CMSA invited to [...]"

Video Smackdown of Keynesian Economics

from David Limbaugh by David Limbaugh

Video Smackdown of Keynesian Economics: "

This is an excellent video smackdown of Keynesian economics produced by the Center for Freedom and Prosperity and delivered by Hiwa Alaghebandian at the American Enterprise Institute. The link was posted on Richochet.com (where I've been blogging.) This is just excellent.

Obama makes US even more dependent on foreign oil [Reader Post]

from Flopping Aces by DrJohn

Obama makes US even more dependent on foreign oil [Reader Post]: "

A search for “Obama reneges” yields 15,800 hits in Google.

And once again Barack Obama reneges, this time on offshore oil drilling and in so doing makes the United States even more dependent on foreign oil. This is the first step in Obama’s bypassing Congress to rule by Executive Order.

The Obama administration instituted what was supposed to be a six month moratorium on “deepwater”drilling following the Deep Horizon spill. A Federal judge struck it down, but Obama just instituted another one. On October12, the Obama administration announced that it would lift the deepwater drilling moratorium but has issued no new permits.

The issuance of new permits was promised to be a slow process

President Obama lifted his moratorium on deepwater oil drilling nearly a month ago, but the government still hasn’t issued any new permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

And most analysts say permits will be slow in coming through 2011.

Really, really slow, as it turns out.

On Wednesday, the Interior Department said it would not propose oil exploration off the Atlantic and Pacific coastlines or the eastern Gulf of Mexico for at least seven years.

As is Obama’s usual policy, he called for bipartisan support while acting in a strictly partisan manner.

But unlike the late March announcement when President Barack Obama took to the podium to embrace domestic energy production and call for bipartisan support in Congress, Wednesday’s declaration came with little fanfare — a press release and a phone call with reporters by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Democrats continued to make painfully clear how stupid they are:

March’s proposal brought instant opposition from two key Atlantic Coast Democratic senators — Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Bill Nelson of Florida — who were thrilled Wednesday with the administration’s reversal.

“I regret that it took the spill in the Gulf to have them come to that conclusion that there is no such thing as absolutely safe drilling,” Menendez told reporters.

I don’t know anyone who would ever assert that oil drilling is absolutely safe. Driving a car is not “absolutely safe.” Crossing the street is not “absolutely safe.” Menendez’s statement is “absolutely” idiotic.

Oil prices continue to rise as strong continued demand is forecast.

“The momentum in global economic growth remains strong,” it said. “Overall, the latest U.S. data remain consistent with our view of continued steady demand increases ahead.”

Gasoline prices where I live have risen 25 cents in the last three weeks.

The next domestic oil production confrontation is expected to take place over Alaska.

The next flash point will come in the Arctic, where Shell is trying to get Interior to approve its proposed drilling project in the Beaufort Sea. That operation is at most 200 feet deep, as opposed to the 5,000-foot Macondo well that ruptured and sparked the three-month oil spill that was plugged this summer.

In the Arctic, Salazar said Interior will “proceed with upmost caution,” leaving open the question of whether the agency will greenlight plans by Shell to drill in shallow waters off the coast of Alaska.

The prediction here is that no approvals will be granted. Instead, Obama will push the United States into continued and growing dependency on foreign oil and greater oil costs. It will then be asserted that increased energy costs affect the poor unfairly and look for a supplemental tax to “spread around” the greater energy cost burden.

Don’t bother looking to Congress for that, though. Look for the Executive Order via the EPA. Obama promised this would happen and the time is here.

Meanwhile, unemployment rose “unexpectedly” once again to 9.8%. Apparently we don’t need those jobs in the Gulf or Alaska.

It does make you wonder whose side Obama is on.

'Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are Owned by the Zionists'

from JammieWearingFool by JammieWearingFool

'Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are Owned by the Zionists': "Boy, those evil Zionists really have long tentacles.Helen Thomas said Thursday that she stands by her comments about Israel she made earlier this year that led to her resignation as a national columnist.And she went further, saying that Zionists control U.S. foreign policy and other institutions. The local Jewish community condemned her remarks.In an interview, Thomas, 90, said that criticizing"

'If Beck Isn't Stopped, I Think We'll Have Another Oklahoma City [bombing] in This Country'

from JammieWearingFool by JammieWearingFool

'If Beck Isn't Stopped, I Think We'll Have Another Oklahoma City [bombing] in This Country': "The Washington Post plants a sloppy wet kiss on the goons at Media Matters, who apparently have decided it's time to "stop" Glenn Beck. How they plan to "stop" Beck isn't made clear. Seems maybe they hope someone offs him.In recent weeks, Media Matters has gone from simply publicizing what it deems to be Fox's misinformation to actively campaigning against the network. The organization has posted"

Following the Money on FDA Food Safety Modernization Act

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing

Following the Money on FDA Food Safety Modernization Act: "

The so-called FDA Food Safety Modernization Act isn't just about Big Government taking a page out of Stalin's playbook by consolidating control over the food supply. It's also about federal politics as usual — that is, corrupt bureauweenies voting to favor those who stand to gain from intrusive legislation in return for cash payoffs. Maplight.org publishes the stats:

If small farms fail to survive this latest wave of oppressive regulations, we can take solace that at least apparatchiks like Barbara Boxer and Al Franken made a tidy profit.

On a tip from Conan.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Calls for Government Control of News

from Moonbattery by Van Helsing

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps Calls for Government Control of News: "

To learn what our bureaucrat rulers really think, listen in as they sound off in Britain, where they feel themselves to be among fellow socialists. Here's FCC Commissioner Michael Copps calling for more government control of the news:

Partial transcript via The Right Scoop:

We are not producing the body of news and information that democracy needs to conduct its civic dialogue. We are not producing as much news as we did 5 years, 10 years, 15 years ago. We have to reverse that trend or I think we are going to be pretty close to be denying our citizens the essential news and information that they need to have in order to make intelligent decisions about the future direction of their country.

In light of the rise of Fox News, talk radio, and the Internet, it is absurd to say we have less news. Once there were only a handful of news sources; now the sources are countless. Copps's concern is that there is too much news that is not firmly controlled by those sharing his statist ideology.

Micromanagement of the dissemination of information by doubletalking sanctimonious control freaks like this damp rag of a man is not even remotely consistent with the principles are country was founded on.

On a tip from J.

The Future of Health Care: Paul Ryan and the Critics of His Roadmap

The Future of Health Care: Paul Ryan and the Critics of His Roadmap: "The future of health care in America looks grim—but it does not have to be. Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) has proposed “A Roadmap for America’s Future”—the only comprehensive plan in Washington that deals with the looming fiscal and economic crisis, driven by ever-increasing government spending on health care. Ryan’s Roadmap would reduce the deficit, allow Medicare to become truly sustainable, establish equity and efficiency in the federal tax treatment of health insurance, and improve access to health care for middle-class and low-income families. Congressman Ryan’s critics have accused him of trying to destroy the Medicare system and claim that the Roadmap will increase the deficit. While they may have honed the harshness of their rhetoric, they have not offered a comparable alternative. Heritage Foundation health policy experts explain how the Ryan Roadmap would really work, and how it would benefit Americans."

The Obama Debt Commission: Too Much Taxes, Not Enough Cuts

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Conn Carroll

The Obama Debt Commission: Too Much Taxes, Not Enough Cuts: "

President Barack Obama’s 18 member National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (commission) just voted 11-7 in support of the commission’s official report. This is three votes short of the 14-vote mark President Obama said would be needed before the report could be sent to Congress.

While the commission deserves credit for addressing this problem, the report contains far too many tax hikes, and far too little spending cuts to be a workable solution. The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl critique of the report mirrors the one made by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the video at right. Riedl writes:

Expanding spending—not declining revenues—drives America’s long-term deficits. Even if all tax cuts are extended, revenues will soon slightly exceed their historical average of 18 percent of the economy. Federal spending—rising from its historical average of 20 percent of the economy to a projected 26 percent by the end of the decade—is the moving variable.

…

Overall, the fiscal commission would raise taxes by $3.3 trillion over the decade. Yet it recommends only minor tweaks to a broken health care system, fails to repeal Obamacare, and focuses Social Security reform too far on the tax side. Discretionary spending is the only source of significant first-decade spending restraint.

Surely larger entitlement savings are expected in future decades, yet much more can be done sooner. Lawmakers examining the commission report should demand stronger entitlement reform—particularly in health care, with a plan by Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) and economist Alice Rivlin as the model[6]—and not settle for a plan that leaves the highest sustained tax burden in American history.

Obama’s November Jobs Deficit One More Reason to Extend Bush Tax Cuts

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by J.D. Foster, Ph.D.

Obama’s November Jobs Deficit One More Reason to Extend Bush Tax Cuts: "

“You are what your record says you are.” So says Bill Parcells, three-time Super Bowl–winning coach. Professional sports, athletes, coaches, and commentators can spin the numbers with the best of politicians, but in the end you are what your record says you are. The record on the first two years of President Obama’s economic policies is pretty dismal: publicly issued national debt up $2.9 trillion, unemployment rate jumping to 9.8 percent, and Obama’s personal metric—the Obama jobs deficit—a lofty 7.3 million workers.

The Obama Jobs Deficit

President Obama promised during the 2008 campaign (and after) that under his policies the economy would create millions of new jobs by the end of 2010. Well, we’ve reached the end of 2010. He also insisted that he be held accountable for these results. The Obama jobs deficit, which stands at 7.3 million jobs, measures the extent to which he has failed to deliver on his promised job creation. And as we saw in the midterm elections, his allies in Congress, governors’ mansions, and state legislations across the country were held accountable, paying a heavy price for Obama’s failure to perform.

The President’s original target for jobs creation set during the campaign in the fall of 2008 was 2.5 million jobs. But as employment fell at the end of 2008, he increased the employment target by 1 million to 3.5 million jobs. At the time, employment stood at about 135.1 million, according to the Department of Labor’s most commonly used measure. This establishes the current Obama jobs target at 138.6 million. According to the latest jobs report, total U.S. employment stood at 130.5 million in November, which means that the cumulative Obama jobs deficit—the difference between the end target and the current employment level—stands at 7.3 million. (The actual figure is 7.58 million—138.58 million in December 2010 minus 131 million in November 2009.)

Obama Tax Hike Weakening Job Creation

Despite a succession of costly failures masquerading as economic stimulus, the economy is finally showing tepid signs of sustained recovery. Today’s jobs report’s job growth of a paltry 39,000 is the latest evidence. The report is even weaker than it first appears, because all of the increase in net employment can be traced to an increase in temporary help services. An increase in temporary help service employment is of course welcome for those who have these jobs, and it is a natural early step in the recovery process, but it also reinforces that the recovery remains very weak.

As we have seen yet again, the federal government cannot stimulate the economy in the short term by increased borrowing and reshuffling total demand through wasteful deficit spending. But government can stimulate the economy by improving incentives and the general economic environment. The massive tax hike President Obama has proposed—and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) is threatening to unleash on the economy by allowing the 2001/2003 tax relief to expire at the end of this year—goes in the diametrically opposite direction and is already draining the vitality from the economy and job creation.

Nor is this just any tax hike. Seemingly bent on perpetuating joblessness, Obama and his allies are seeking to raise some of the most damaging taxes possible. They seek to raise tax rates on the investors who are needed to provide seed corn for new businesses and on small businesses that use this seed corn to spur innovation and job growth. Foolish in the best of times, raising these economically punishing taxes in the face of high unemployment is indefensible.

Churchill Saw It Coming

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Julia Shaw

Churchill Saw It Coming: "

World War Two. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill viewing the Alemein position during his visit to the Western desert in the Middle East August 1942.

One hundred and thirty six years ago this week, Winston Churchill—arguably the leading statesman of the twentieth century—was born. The son of a British father and an American mother, Churchill is often remembered for his formidable oratory skills and his love of fine cigars. Yet Churchill was also a great friend to America whose warnings about the empty promises of the nascent welfare state have come to fruition.

A great admirer of America, Churchill especially praised our founding document: “The Declaration is not only an American document. It follows on the Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights as the third great title deed on which the liberties of the English-speaking peoples are founded.” Though Britain and America were two separate nations with different forms of governments, they were united in principle: “I believe that our differences are more apparent than real, and are the result of geographical and other physical conditions rather than any true division of principle.” As Justin Lyons explains in “Winston Churchill’s Constitutionalism: A Critique of Socialism in America,” Churchill’s ideas about individual liberty, constitutionalism, and limited government “stemmed from his explicit agreement with the crucial statements of these principles by the American Founders.”

When Churchill saw America’s principles of liberty, constitutionalism, and limited government, threatened with the rise of the welfare state, he admonished America to resist this soft despotism. In “Roosevelt from Afar,” Churchill admits that the American economy was suffering when FDR took office, but FDR used this crisis as an opportunity to centralize his political authority rather than to bolster the free market through decentralized alternatives. Churchill commends Roosevelt’s desire to improve the economic well-being for poorer Americans, but he critiques Roosevelt’s policies toward trade unionism and attacks on wealthy Americans as harmful to the free enterprise system. Drawing on Britain’s experience with trade unions, Churchill understood that unions can cripple an economy: “when one sees an attempt made within the space of a few months to lift American trade unionism by great heaves and bounds [to equal that of Great Britain],” one worries that result could be “a general crippling of that enterprise and flexibility upon which not only the wealth, but the happiness of modern communities depends.” Similarly, redistribution of wealth through penalties on the rich harms the economy: “far from depriving ordinary people of their earnings, [the millionaire] launches enterprise and carries it through, raises values, and he expands that credit without which on a vast scale no fuller economic life can be opened to the millions. To hunt wealth is not to capture commonwealth.” Ultimately, attacks on the wealthy only serve as a distraction from other economic issues.

We can readily recall Churchill’s foresight in foreign affairs—his warnings about appeasing Hitler and the rise of the Soviet Union—but we forget his warnings about America’s welfare state. Unlike the progressives in America and abroad, Churchill recognized that tyranny is still possible—even with a well-intentioned welfare state. Political change does not necessarily mean change for the better. Throughout the nineteenth century, political progress was assumed to be boundless and perpetual. After “terrible wars shattering great empires, laying nations low, sweeping away old institutions and ideas with a scourge of molten steel,” it became evident that the twentieth century would not live up to the nineteenth century’s promise of progress. Democratic regimes—even in America—would not be immune from destruction and degradation.

Years later, Churchill’s warnings about trade unionism and redistribution have proven accurate. Though our current economic situation seems bleak, we must also remember (as Churchill reminds us) that politics is not a mere victim of history. Just as progress is not inevitable in politics, neither is decline. Isn’t it time we looked to our old friend Winston Churchill?

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Putin and Medvedev Threaten a Renewed Arms Race

from The Foundry: Conservative Policy News. by Ariel Cohen

Putin and Medvedev Threaten a Renewed Arms Race: "

putin_medvedev090303

In his annual address Tuesday to both houses of parliament, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev warned that a new arms race would erupt if Moscow and the West cannot agree on a joint European missile defense program. Medvedev gave the following ultimatum: “Either we reach agreement on missile defense and create a full joint cooperation mechanism, or, if we don’t go into a constructive agreement, a new phase of the arms race will begin. And we will have to make a decision on deploying new means of attack.”

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reiterated the threat of a renewed arms race in an interview with Larry King on Wednesday. He threatened a renewed arms race if the Senate does not ratify New START. This challenge comes in the midst of Moscow denying reports that it moved its nuclear weapons closer to NATO borders because of the threat it perceives from U.S. and NATO missile defense plans.

Threats—and bluff—are bad policy. Russia today has severe difficulties to build enough nuclear systems to meet the ceiling of New START, and in the future its military–industrial capacity may further deteriorate. Moreover, these threats demonstrate the shallowness of President Obama’s “reset” policies. If a new strategic partnership was near, the Kremlin wouldn’t resort to Cold War rhetoric.

An arms race would be counterproductive for Moscow, since the U.S., with its almost $14 trillion economy, has the economic power and capacity to build more modern nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defenses than Russia does. Russian GDP is $1.2–1.8 trillion, depending on the price of oil that day. In addition, an arms race would create insecurity throughout the world, bringing more challenges to Russia as its neighbors in Asia, the Middle East, and the West would be likely to respond in kind.

However, Medvedev declared that his government will combine space, anti-air and anti-missile forces in order to strengthen its security and indicated that Russia takes future nuclear confrontations seriously. Moscow’s main concern with regards to U.S. missile defense is that it would offset Russia’s strategic nuclear deterrent. This concern is unwarranted. In fact, missile defenses would serve to stabilize relations in the region.

The Heritage Foundation conducted a gaming exercise to evaluate the effects that missile defenses had on arms control. This exercise produced two critical conclusions: First, having the option to field missile defenses gave the U.S. broader options for pursuing an arms control policy to limit or reduce nuclear arms. Second, pursuing arms control through a “protect and defend” strategy—in other words, fielding missile defenses and maintaining a smaller, modernized, credible nuclear deterrent—appears to be the best option for pursuing arms control and nonproliferation policy while limiting the potential for conflict.

In a deja-vu moment from the Cold War, the Putin–Medvedev’s ultimatum serves as warning to U.S. Senators to ratify New START—or else. It is also a hook to lure NATO into a missile defense relationship, which would enable Russia to control NATO defenses and thus dilute the security of the alliance. While cooperation on missile defenses between Russia and the West may have an upside, it should not provide Russia a veto power on development, deployment, and use of missile defense systems.

Missile defense has also been a major concern among U.S. Senators. New START may ultimately limit U.S. missile defenses on the European continent. Russia has already been successful in pressing the U.S. to cancel plans for missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic. Building on this success, Moscow has sought to limit missile defense through New START and the NATO cooperation agreement. However, because of Russian fears that New START may not be ratified by the Senate, it appears likely that the leadership in Moscow is searching for alternative ways to curb U.S. missile defenses—e.g., through NATO.

The alliance should not be pressured into cooperating just for the sake of cooperation. Instead, NATO must get missile defense right. Moscow should understand that NATO has an inherent right to self-defense and that such a defense is not a threat to Russia. Both the alliance and Russia face similar threats from Iran and North Korea. Working together on missile defense to ensure security will be vital to thwarting these threats. However, cooperation should not come at the expense of NATO security. Both sides’ deployments should be complimentary. While exchanging information and undertaking computer exercises is a good way to start, Moscow should not be able to decide which threats to NATO members to address (and which not to) or exercise veto on NATO missile defense deployments.

The Decline in Economic Freedom

from USACTION NEWS by Editor

The Decline in Economic Freedom: "

We are now in the midst of a great debate between the proponents of limited government and open markets on the one hand and those favoring more collectivism and political direction of the economy on the other. The outcome of this debate will determine the future of both economic freedom and the prosperity of Americans and others throughout the world.

James D. Gwartney, Joshua C. Hall and Robert A. Lawson at The Freeman

EXCERPTS:

From 1980 to 2007 there was a gradual but steady movement toward economic freedom. (The graph includes only the countries that have been in the index since 1980.) However, as the world confronted financial instability and economic decline in 2008, the average economic freedom rating fell for the first time in several decades.

The rating of the United States is down from 8.45 in 2000 to 7.93 in 2008, which has sent the accompanying ranking down to sixth from third in 2000. The rating reduction in the United States was primarily the result of lower ratings in the area of “Legal Structure and Security of Property Rights,” but the huge recent increase in government borrowing was also a contributing factor. The increased government expenditures, larger deficits, and increased regulations of the past two years are sure to push the U.S. economic freedom rating even lower in the years immediately ahead.

The world now faces a situation similar to that of the Great Depression. During the 1930s perverse economic policies transformed a cyclical downturn into a decade of hardship and suffering. The length and severity of the Great Depression were the result of a sharp monetary contraction, imposition of trade restrictions, higher taxes, increases in government spending financed with debt, price controls, and uncertainty created by constant policy changes that were supposed to hasten the end of the crisis. This is ironic since perverse policies caused the Great Depression in the first place.

The policy response to the crisis has also been similar to that of the Great Depression: more regulation, growth of government spending financed by debt, and constant policy changes that have created uncertainty and undermined private-sector activity.

It is important to distinguish between market entrepreneurs and crony capitalists. Market entrepreneurs succeed by providing customers with better products, more reliable service, and lower prices than are available elsewhere. They succeed by creating wealth—by producing goods and services that are worth more than the value of the resources required for their production. Crony capitalists are different: They get ahead through subsidies, special tax breaks, regulatory favors, and other forms of political favoritism. Rather than providing consumers with better products at attractive prices, crony capitalists form an alliance with politicians. The crony capitalists provide the politicians with contributions, other political resources, and, in some cases, bribes in exchange for subsidies and regulations that give them an advantage relative to other firms. Rather than create wealth, crony capitalists form a coalition with political officials to plunder wealth from taxpayers and other citizens.

FULL ARTICLE

REINing in the Regulatory State

from USACTION NEWS by Editor

REINing in the Regulatory State: "

Representative Goeff Davis (R-KY) talks about his REINS Act, a proposal that would finally subject economically significant regulation (Internet regs, EPA rules, etc.) to Congressional oversight.

This is a bold proposal, one that would bring badly needed accountability to executive rule-making. There’s no good reason it shouldn’t receive bipartisan support. All of the media oxygen of late has been on the Bush tax cuts and the deficit commission plans, but this is a significant piece of legislation that would fundamentally transform how Washington conducts its affairs. It deserves serious attention. – By Nick Schulz at The Enterprise blog

The Senate’s Secret Scrooge Agenda

from USACTION NEWS by Editor

The Senate’s Secret Scrooge Agenda: "

The U.S. economy added an anemic 39,000 jobs this month and the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent. That marks the 19th month in a row that the unemployment has been over 9 percent, a post–World War II record.

From The Heritage Foundation

Today the Labor Department released its monthly jobs report, which showed that the U.S. economy added an anemic 39,000 jobs this month and that the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent. That marks the 19th month in a row that the unemployment has been over 9 percent, a post–World War II record.

So how is this lame duck Congress, a Congress that was thoroughly rejected at the polls just last month, greeting this news? By raising taxes on the American people by $700 billion. Is this what the American people want? Not at all. According to Gallup, only 31 percent of Americans believe the best approach for dealing with the economy is raising taxes. The vast majority of Americans (62 percent) believe that the best way to fix the economy is either through deficit reduction (39 percent) or lower taxes (23 percent). But neither of those items is on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D–NV) agenda.

So what legislative gifts is Reid planning on giving the American people this Christmas? No one knows for sure, but Reid’s wish list is long.

New START. Just this week we learned not only that Russia has moved tactical nuclear weapons closer to our NATO European allies but also that the State Department has been negotiating with Russia on missile defense “cooperation.” This after claiming for months that New START in no way limited our missile defense options. But before the ink was even dry on the treaty, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov insisted that “linkage to missile defense is clearly spelled out in the accord and is legally binding.” The Heritage Foundation has identified at least five sections of the treaty that limit missile defense. If the Administration has nothing to hide on this issue, then it should have no problem releasing the treaty negotiation records to confirm what U.S. negotiators were saying about missile defense.

Higher Spending. Last night the Senate approved a continuing resolution (CR) that will keep the government running through December 18. The Senate could easily pass a CR that would fund the government at current levels through early next year, but that is not want the left wants. A short CR would allow the next Congress to reduce discretionary spending to 2008 levels, thus saving the American taxpayers $100 billion in new debt. But the left wants an omnibus spending bill that will allow them to increase discretionary spending and deliver earmarks to their constituents.

Higher Taxes. Lost in the debate over personal income tax rates are the slew of other taxes set to rise on January 1. Taxes on dividends, capital gains, and estates are just some of the higher tax rates Americans will face under President Obama’s tax plan. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis has estimated the impacts of the Obama tax hikes and found they would (1) decrease inflation-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) by $1.1 trillion by 2020; (2) decrease business investment by $33 billion a year; (3) decrease personal savings by $38 billion in 2011 alone; (4) decrease consumer spending by $706 billion through 2020; and (5) kill an average of 693,000 jobs a year through 2020.

Higher Energy Prices. The left is still desperate to appease its environmentalist base, so Reid has also promised a vote on nationwide renewable electricity standards (RES), too. Mandated renewable electricity necessarily costs more than traditional electricity, because otherwise a mandate would not be necessary to force people to use it. And what would these higher energy prices do to the economy? A Heritage Foundation analysis of 22.5 percent RES by 2025 found that (1) household electricity prices would jump 36 percent; (2) industry prices would rise by 60 percent; (3) national income (GDP) would be cut by $5.2 trillion between 2012 and 2035; and most importantly (4) RES would kill more than 1 million jobs.

Amnesty. No leftist wish list would be complete without legislation providing amnesty to illegal immigrants. This week Reid introduced yet another version of the DREAM Act, which would provide amnesty to any illegal alien who attended any college for just two years. None of these amnesty proposals has been reviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, and none of them has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. Reid is clearly a firm believer in the Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) maxim: You have to vote for the bill to find out what is in it.

This would be an ambitious leftist wish list any time of the year, but cramming it all into four weeks—just one month after the American people thoroughly rejected the left’s agenda at the polls—is particularly audacious. The only way Reid can get all this done before the next Congress is sworn in is to repeat the exact same backroom deals he used to get Obamacare passed last Christmas Eve. The American people can expect to see more Cornhusker Kickbacks, Louisiana Purchases, Gator Aids, and Cash for Clotures.

Reid should stop playing Santa now and listen to his colleague from Nebraska, Sen. Ben Nelson: “Most of the [legislation] being dealt with right now should be held over until 2011, because we should be focused on jobs, taxes, and debt reduction. … I think we can hold off on START; I don’t want it to crowd out taxes, debt reduction, and jobs.” With unemployment at 9.8% the American people have received enough surprise gifts from this Democratic Congress.

Senators warn Clinton against helping poor countries fight climate change

from USACTION NEWS by Editor

Senators warn Clinton against helping poor countries fight climate change: "

Four Senate Republicans are urging the State Department to freeze new funding for international climate change programs, saying the spending should cease to help rein in the deficit.

Talk about throwing money away! Continuing revelations show that the whole climate warming theory is an unsubstantiated scam. The real question is why only four senators have the guts to sign this letter.

The Hill reports that Sens. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), David Vitter (R-La.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) signed the letter which states:

“We do not believe that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars should be transferred to developing countries through unaccountable multilateral or bilateral channels for adaptation, deforestation and other international climate finance programs,”

As if there might be some other good reason that “billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars should be transferred to developing countries”?

We commend these senators for at least trying to stem the flood of funds being wasted to the climate hoax but until they are willing to do a little research and stand up to the propaganda by calling this sham science what it really is don’t expect much progress.

Not only is there little or no real scientific evidence of man caused global warming, but there is growing evidence to the contrary. The only people continuing to push this false theory are either making money from it or using it to push a political agenda.

Here are just a few articles that show how utterly ridiculous these climate claims are.

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