Cain is Still Able

 The left and their allies in the media are doubling down on the attacks against Cain. This shows you that Cain is the candidate they fear the most. The added benefit, is that they get to distract from Obama scandals such as Solyandra and Project Gun runner.

So let's summarize the case against Bialek:


She has illogical actions at the time of her story
---She was distraught but didn't file sexual assault charge
---She asked him to drive her back instead of just getting out
---She said "stop I have boyfriend" , not "get away from me you pig"
She is money hungry
--- Bankruptcy in 1997
--- Bankruptcy in 2001

---Sued in 2007 for failure to repay loan

--- Tax lien in 2009

--- Sued in 2009 for failure to repay loan



She has a poor employment history
--- She worked at four different companies between 1993-1996.


She has motive
--- She was fired from the NRA in 1997

She has recent actions and evidence that reduce her credibility:
--- She told her 13 year old son the details and he urged her to come forward (but didn't tell her boyfriend at the time)
--- She met and hugged Cain and posed smilingly for a photo with him, which is inconsistent to how real victims of sexual assault act around their attacks
--- She claims she did not know Cain was going to be there. Cain was expected.
--- Lives in the same apartment complex as David Axelrod.

Murky past of Hermain Cain accuser Sharon Bialek starts to emerge
Witness: Cain Accuser Hugged him at Tea Party Event

My Questions for Candidates

While questions at the debates have ranged from social issues to the economy, I haven't heard one on the TSA yet.

1. Are the TSA's use of Backscanner devices and enhanced patdowns on all airline travelers a violation of the criteria for warrantless searches as defined by Terry v. Ohio 392 U.S. 1 (1968)? (The ruiling stated a level of documentable suspicion is required for a warrantless patdown)
2. Would you, as President, stop enhanced pat downs and the use of Backscanner devices at airports unless someone has demonstrated documentable suspicion?

Romney is Obama's Choice for Nomination

 Liberals want to run against Romney, who: 

1. Is white - Obama gets to play the race card 
2. Born rich - Obama gets to continue with the class warfare b.s. 
3. Mormon - Yes, if he is nominated, you'll see Mormon stories in an effort to turn away independents and reduce turnout of Evangelicals.

 

Liberals are deathly afraid of Herman Cain. If Cain is nominated, Obama has no way to attack him.

 

I'm an Occupy Wall Street guy.

I don't want to work. I want you guys to work, and give me money. I'm entitled to the stuff you've worked for. I want to borrow money and not have to pay it back.


My Daddy is rich, that is why I can sit on Wall Street for a month without needing to work.

I went to Columbia. They told me Mao Se Tung and Josef Stalin were a great leaders.

I majored in Parapsychology and now I can't find a job. It's someone else's fault.
 
Communism didn't work the first 38 times it was implemented because it was done wrong. If we do it once more, it'll work this time.

The Skinny on Corporate Taxes

Evil corporations, blah blah blah. Is that all we hear in today's world of class warfare?

Corporations are owned by average people and do two major things with profits. They reinvest it (which will spur job growth) or they give it to owners in the form of dividends. Most owners are average citizens through their 401Ks and mutual fund investments.


Higher taxes will result in less investment, or less dividends. Many senior citizens rely on corporate dividends for income.

Dividends are taxed twice. First the corporation is taxed. Then granny is taxed on the dividend. So if the company makes $100, the government takes $39 in taxes, and gives $61 to granny. The government now takes another $17.

In total, out of $100 that the corporation makes, Granny gets $44 while Obama gets $56.

Who is being unfair? How much would be fair for Obama?

Obama's class warfare

Obama's class warfare is tiring. A few facts and arguments for the memory bank:


1. He makes it seem that the wealthy are weathly at the expense of the poor. In truth, Steve Jobs got rich selling Ipad and Ipods. No one had to spend one dime on his products if they didn't want to.

2. People are stuck in a "class" and can never move. The Forbes 400 (list of wealthiest people) was first published in 1982. Compare the list then to now. See how many names remain.

3. 50% of Americans pay no income tax. Some pay a "negative income tax"... they essentially get welfare.  The top 1% of earners in 2008 brought home 20% of gross income but paid 38.02% of all federal individual income taxes. Who exactly isn't paying their fair share?

Obama's Solution: Let the government forcefully take more money from productive people and give to their cronies, like Solyandra, who squander the money in failed ventures.

Don't Ask... Do Tell!

"Repeal of gay ban causing few waves in military" - not true  The military brass have to comply because its the new law. The soldiers can't say anything publically or they will be disciplined. The media will bring out some backoffice desk clerk to say how wonderful it is. But that person goes home every night and has his own private shower. But, if you listen to what soldiers on the front lines are saying, you'll hear lots of grumbling.
It's going to hurt enlistment which is what liberals want all along. Liberals love the draft. What?? Yes.  Charlie Rangel (D-NY) has proposed a bill to reinstate the draft at least 3 times. It didn't get anywhere because recruitment levels were high. Put in gays, and you will kill recruitment.

During the Vietnam era people were drafted, which liberals used as a rallying cry to gain power. During the Iraq war, their protests were ineffectual, because the people fighting volunteered. Liberals need a strawman to attack.

You might say, well liberals don't like wars. Not necessarily true. Liberals have gotten us into several wars in which we weren't attacked: World War I, Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Bosnia, and Libya.

Liberals also love telling people what to do: what kind of car to drive, what kind of food to eat, what light bulb to use, what sources of electricity you can use, what school you must go to, etc.

Repeal of gay ban causing few waves in military

WASHINGTON (AP) — After years of debate and months of final preparations, the military can no longer prevent gays from serving openly in its ranks.


Repeal of a 1993 law that allowed gays to serve only so long as they kept their sexual orientation private took effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. EDT.

Some in Congress still oppose the change, but top Pentagon leaders have certified that it will not undermine the military's ability to recruit or to fight wars.

The Army was distributing a business-as-usual statement Tuesday saying simply, "The law is repealed," and reminding soldiers to treat each other fairly.

Obama's Job's Speech: More Cowbell!

1. Shovel-ready jobs: I thought he learned there were no such thing. Okay he called the "quick infrastructure projects"

2. Short-term temporary tax cuts / new hire tax breaks: If you want to open a factory, do you think a short-term tax break is going to make a difference whether the factory will be profitable? Crushing regulations like the new EPA mandates, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, and the NLRB union lawsuits are going to still kill your idea

3. More unemployment insurance. If you extend unemployment insurance for the rest of someone's life, it's called welfare. I believe in unemployment insurance, but there is a limit.

Congressional District Changes in Texas

As a result of the 2010 census, and the accompanying growth in population, Texas has gotten four extra Congressional districts (#33-#36).

Here's how Houston is changing:

Old Map

New Map

The Fast and the Furious

Botched sting? No way! No one is so stupid to sell guns to cartels to "track them."

Their goal was to "find the guns later" and then "show how they were getting them from the US." Gun control has little support in Congress. The only way that the leftist Obama regime could take away guns from law abiding citizens was to manufacture a crisis.

Rahm Emmanuel said "never let a crisis go to waste." Holder doubles down an manufactures the crisis to not let go to waste. Of course, it backfired on them and now a border agent is dead.

What did Holder and Napolitano know, and when did they know it?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration announced on Tuesday a major shake-up of the U.S. agency that botched an attempt to track weapons smuggled to drug cartels in Mexico after guns were allowed to flow freely over the border.

Kenneth Melson, who has been acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives since 2009, was reassigned after admitting mistakes in the sting operation meant to try to crack down on weapons reaching violent drug gangs from U.S. gun stores.

In further fallout from the operation, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, has resigned effective immediately after acknowledging mistakes in the operation. The lead prosecutor on the case, Emory Hurley, has also been reassigned, an Obama administration official said.

Another administration official said the shake-up at ATF was a chance for a "fresh start given everything they've gone through lately."
The sting operation, dubbed "Fast and Furious," has spawned congressional and internal Justice Department probes and put the Obama administration on the defensive about whether dangerous weapons were knowingly allowed to cross the border.

Authorities had hoped they would be able to follow the guns to cartel leaders, but ATF agents did not track the weapons after they were transferred from the initial buyer to others who smuggled them across the border. Some agents have testified that they were not allowed to continue the pursuit.

Attorney General Eric Holder and Melson both issued statements but steered clear of any comments about the controversy. Holder has referred the entire matter to the department's inspector general for an investigation.

Beyond Bias

BEYOND BIAS!




The Yahoo headline says "Bachmann: Hurricane is God's message to politicians", but the actual article indicates that she is clearly joking.

Someone reading the headline is not going to see that she is joking, and it portrays her as a "bible thumper".

I used to call this bias, but it is beyond bias. It is actively and intentionally trying to destort what a candidate says in order to harm that candidate. Yahoo should fall under the regulation of FEC, because they are clearly in Obama's pocket.
 
 

S&P Head Out - Timing and Replacement Quite Suspect

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The president of Standard & Poor's is stepping down, an announcement coming only weeks after the rating agency's unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating.

 

The McGraw-Hill Cos., the parent of S&P, said late Monday that Deven Sharma will be replaced by Douglas Peterson, now the chief operating officer of Citibank N.A., Citigroup Inc.'s chief banking arm.

 

Sharma, 55, "was ready for new challenges" after helping S&P separate its data, pricing and analytics business from its ratings business, McGraw-Hill said in a statement. The company unveiled that restructuring at S&P late last year. Peterson, 53, will take over the helm of S&P starting Sept. 12.

 

 

 

Timeline:

• 2009-2011: Citigroup receives $476B in bailout money (the most of any bank)
• Aug 5, 2011: S&P downgrades US debt rating
• Aug 10: Obama investigates S&P (but not Moody's or Fitch)
• Aug 23: Head of S&P stepping down
• Sep 12: VP of Citigroup to be head of S&P

How independent do you think the S&P will be now? Wait for this headline:

• Nov 1, 2012: S&P upgrades US debt rating

Obama's Path to Economic Failure

I'm on the edge of my seat. Obama says he will unveiling a new economic plan.


Obama says his plan will:

1) Increase infrastructure spending
2) Reduce deficit even more than promised
3) Not raise taxes

How will he spend more (another "stimulus") and cut the deficit without raising taxes? Obamath is why we are in this mess.
If the Trillion Dollar stimulus failed the first time, how will it succeed the second time? Do we need to gamble another trillion dollars?


If Obama wants to help the economy, he should reverse everything he's done in the past few years. Obama policies are failures:


1. Obamacare hinders hiring. Companies dont' know what's fully in it, so they hesitate.
2. The National Labor Board will sue you if you open a plant in a right-to-work state (like it is doing to Boeing)
3. The EPA's policies are shutting down manufacturing and preventing new ones from opening due to many burdensome regulations.
4. Dodd-Frank bill hurts small businesses from getting loans.
5. The ban on oil drilling forced thousands out of work.
6. There is tax uncertainty beyond 2012, with Obama saying he wants to raise taxes (which will effect small businesses, not just millionares)
7. The stimulus did nothing but funnel money into slush funds, payback supporters, and hire more bureaucrats, but it left the country with a $1T in more debt to pay.
8. Obama's crony capitalism: government subsidizing certain industries gives those industries an unfair competitve advantage. Companies receiving your taxpayer dollars will funnel some back to Obama's reelection.

The Spin on China's Ugly One-Child Policy

So the one child policy is a "boon for girls", but 43 million girls have "disappeared" in China due to gender-selective abortions? How is massive prevalence of gender-selective abortions result in a news title that describes the policy as a good thing?

Of course, the bad stuff is buried at the bottom of the article, while the puff-piece on the one gender policy is at the top. That way the writer can say she is neutral, but knowing that most people only read the first couple of paragraphs.

To liberals, murder is okay so long as someone gets an IPad. Eugenics is "progress" for the liberals at the AP. This type of warped thinking would be akin to the AP saying in 1944 that Final Solution was great because it was lowering the cost of food due to reduced demand.

BEIJING (AP) — Tsinghua University freshman Mia Wang has confidence to spare.

Asked what her home city of Benxi in China's far northeastern tip is famous for, she flashes a cool smile and says: "Producing excellence. Like me." A Communist Youth League member at one of China's top science universities, she boasts enviable skills in calligraphy, piano, flute and pingpong.

Such gifted young women are increasingly common in China's cities and make up the most educated generation of women in Chinese history. Never have so many been in college or graduate school, and never has their ratio to male students been more balanced.

To thank for this, experts say, is three decades of steady Chinese economic growth, heavy government spending on education and a third, surprising, factor: the one-child policy.

...... (buried at the bottom of the article) ... With the arrival of sonogram technology in the 1980's, some families no longer merely hoped for a boy, they were able to engineer a male heir by terminating pregnancies when the fetus was a girl.

"It is gendercide," said Therese Hesketh, a University College London professor who has studied China's skewed sex ratio. "I don't understand why China doesn't just really penalize people who've had sex-selective abortions and the people who do them. The law exists but nobody enforces it."

To combat the problem, China allows families in rural areas, where son preference is strongest, to have a second child if their first is a girl. The government has also launched education campaigns promoting girls and gives cash subsidies to rural families with daughters.

Still, 43 million girls have "disappeared" in China due to gender-selective abortion as well as neglect and inadequate access to health care and nutrition, the United Nations estimated in a report last year.

Yin Yin Nwe, UNICEF's representative to China, puts it bluntly: The one-child policy brings many benefits for girls "but they have to be born first."

My take on satire: 

Yahoo/AP, 1943 Headline: FINAL SOLUTION BOON TO GERMANY

"Low food prices are abound in Germany thanks to the final solution that has eliminated many Jewish mouths to feed. With reduced demand, lower food prices were enjoyed by all of Germany. Wilhem Huebner has struggled to provide enough food for his family due to high prices. Often, little Heidi Huebner, 4, had gone hungry every night. However, ever since the final solution was implemented, prices have come down due to reduced demand. and little Heidi is hungry no more.........(several paragraphs down)... The decreased food prices come at a cost, says Michael von Faulhaber, and he further states that "several millions Jews have disappeared, never to be seen again. Inquiries into their location have been met with official silence." Still, for Heidi, that full stomach at night is a great feeling."

Scott Walker Leads the Way

Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, led the state to pass some modest reforms of public sector unions. Democrats and unions attacked hard. Walker (and the legislature) didn't back down. Democrats tried recall elections, but the Republicans survived.

This should be a lesson to all weak kneed Republicans who think by placating the left, it will make them more popular. John McCain found out in 2008 how quickly one could go from media darling for his opposition to Bush, to "Bush's Third Term."

WSJ - The larger lesson here is that you can attempt major, meaningful government reform and live to tell about it. Amid the winter brawling, some conservative fainthearts had joined the media in declaring that Mr. Walker had "exceeded his mandate" by taking on the monopoly bargaining power of public unions.


But unions would hardly loathe him any less had he and the GOP aimed lower, or blinked when the opposition got tough. With state government no longer automatically collecting dues for unions, many rank-and-file members will choose not to provide dues for political purposes. Union monopoly power will diminish. Taxpayers will benefit

.

Shooting the Debt Messengers

The Democrats and the media are now conspiring to kill the messengers:


Yesterday, the tea party was to blame
Today, its the S&P

The US won't default as it can always print money. But what good is a dollar if its purchasing power is halved through rapid inflation? If you buy a 10 year T-bill paying 3%, but inflation rises to 5% next year and every year afterwards, you will effectively get a negative return at the end of the 10 years.

Yahoo: Days after Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States' credit rating, a powerful backlash has set in against the move. Washington leaders of both parties, as well as investors, have seemed to shrug off the ratings agency's verdict--and some analysts have even raised questions about S&P's basic competence and credibility.


On Friday, S&P lowered its rating for long-term debt issued by the U.S. Treasury by one notch, from Triple A--its highest rating--to AA+. Explaining the move, it said Washington hadn't done enough to reduce the long-term deficit, and expressed doubt about the ability of political leaders to work together to solve the problem.

Poll Pushing by the Times (shocked!)

Poll BIAS!!




Not mentioned in the article, but the poll overweighted Democrat respondents.

If you go and find the numbers of poll (link), which are not listed in the article.  the poll asked 960 people, of which 247 are Republicans, 321 Democrats, and 392 Indepedents.

Ignoring independents, there are 30% more Democrats asked than Republicans. With that type of polling, of couse the NY Times is getting the answer it wants.


Of course, the article itself is filled with bias. Regarding the underlined below, it is written to influence you to think the tea party is "outside the mainstream." Not mentioned is that spending is at unprecedented levels. The underlined could have also read: "without reining in unsustainable spending levels."
 

Yahoo : ...Not all the anger is necessarily aimed at Washington, however. Public perception of the tea party movement, which many see as the driving force that kept Republicans from voting to raising the debt ceiling without implementing unprecedented spending reductions, is at a record low. In a New York Times/CBS poll released Friday, 40 percent of respondents said they held an "unfavorable" view of the movement, up from 29 percent before the debt negotiations began in April, and higher than any number since pollsters started asking the question last year. One in five respondents said they approved of the tea party, down from 26 percent a few months ago.


Congress, as usual, fared the worst. The legislative branch almost never gets high marks from the public, but never before has it earned this level of disapproval. Eighty-two percent in the poll said they disapprove of how members of Congress are doing their jobs--the highest such rate since 1977, when the poll was first taken.

President Obama, on the other hand, was the only one to really escape the negotiation process without deeply damaging blows to his perception, the poll suggested. Almost half (48 percent) said they approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, a number that has remained stable since late 2009.

 

Government Raising the Cost of Healthcare

This move is designed to further increase the cost of insurance, in order to gain support for a complete government takeover of healthcare. You'll see more of this.

 

The left's plan is:

1. Burden the insurance industry with required coverage of unnecessary items.
2. Continue frivilous lawsuits which increase premiums (legal fees, awards, defensive medicine)
3. Complain about the rising cost of healthcare
4. Blame greedy insurance company executives,
5. Say that a government takeover is the only solution to control costs.

Back to liberals and their false advocacy of choice. (The only time they care about choice is when it comes to abortion). You now CANNOT get a plan that doesn't include birth control pills, but you are paying for it. Why do they want to take away choice from the consumer.

  

 

..WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration says health insurance plans must cover birth control for women with no copays.

 

The requirement, affecting most insurance plans, is part of a broad expansion of women's preventive coverage. Breast pumps for nursing mothers, an annual "well woman" physical, counseling on how to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and other services will also be covered at no cost to the patient.

 

The new benefits won't take effect for at least another year, Jan. 1, 2013, in most cases. Insurers are expected to pass the cost on to their customers through slightly higher premiums.

 

The rules issued Monday by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius include a provision that would allow religious institutions to opt out of offering birth control coverage.

 

 

 

..

Ron Paul on the Debt Debate

Well said:
The Hill: One might think that the recent drama over the debt ceiling involves one side wanting to increase or maintain spending with the other side wanting to drastically cut spending, but that is far from the truth. In spite of the rhetoric being thrown around, the real debate is over how much government spending will increase.
No plan under serious consideration cuts spending in the way you and I think about it. Instead, the "cuts" being discussed are illusory, and are not cuts from current amounts being spent, but cuts in projected spending increases. This is akin to a family "saving" $100,000 in expenses by deciding not to buy a Lamborghini, and instead getting a fully loaded Mercedes, when really their budget dictates that they need to stick with their perfectly serviceable Honda. But this is the type of math Washington uses to mask the incriminating truth about their unrepentant plundering of the American people.
The truth is that frightening rhetoric about default and full faith and credit of the United States is being carelessly thrown around to ram through a bigger budget than ever, in spite of stagnant revenues. If your family's income did not change year over year, would it be wise financial management to accelerate spending so you would feel richer? That is what our government is doing, with one side merely suggesting a different list of purchases than the other.
In reality, bringing our fiscal house into order is not that complicated or excruciatingly painful at all. If we simply kept spending at current levels, by their definition of "cuts" that would save nearly $400 billion in the next few years, versus the $25 billion the Budget Control Act claims to "cut". It would only take us 5 years to "cut" $1 trillion, in Washington math, just by holding the line on spending. That is hardly austere or catastrophic.
A balanced budget is similarly simple and within reach if Washington had just a tiny amount of fiscal common sense. Our revenues currently stand at approximately $2.2 trillion a year and are likely to remain stagnant as the recession continues. Our outlays are $3.7 trillion and projected to grow every year. Yet we only have to go back to 2004 for federal outlays of $2.2 trillion, and the government was far from small that year. If we simply returned to that year's spending levels, which would hardly be austere, we would have a balanced budget right now. If we held the line on spending, and the economy actually did grow as estimated, the budget would balance on its own by 2015 with no cuts whatsoever.
We pay 35 percent more for our military today than we did 10 years ago, for the exact same capabilities. The same could be said for the rest of the government. Why has our budget doubled in 10 years? This country doesn't have double the population, or double the land area, or double anything that would require the federal government to grow by such an obscene amount.
In Washington terms, a simple freeze in spending would be a much bigger "cut" than any plan being discussed. If politicians simply cannot bear to implement actual cuts to actual spending, just freezing the budget would give the economy the best chance to catch its breath, recover and grow.

Ron Paul on the Debt Debate

Great video by Ron Paul.

• "It baffles me that the solution to the debt problem is to add more debt."
• Default isn't going to happen and shouldn't be the worry - it is the potential for inflation which makes your social security checks worthless.

The Media's Re-Elect Obama Strategy

The media's "re-elect Obama" strategy:


1. Discredit Republican minority candidates

--Paint Bachmann as racist (Yahoo front page story today)

--Paint Herman Cain as anti-Muslim (Yahoo front page story yesterday)



2. Let a white guy win the Republican nomination



3. Attack Republicans as anti-black and anti-women

Abortion: The only choice allowed by liberals

Killing the unborn is the only "choice" liberals want you to have. Otherwise they:


1) Tell you want kind of car to drive
2) Tell you want kind of food to eat
3) Tell you how much of your money you need to give to them
4) Tell you what kind of light bulb to use
5) Tell you whether you can smoke outside
6) Tell you what source electricity must come from
7) Tell you who you must hire despite differences in qualifications
8) Tell you what your health insurance plan must cover

It's the Uncertainty, Stupid

Pseudo-intellectuals through the liberal world can't figure out why the economy hasn't recovered. It's the uncertainty, stupid!

 
Taxes:

1. What's the tax rate in 2 years? Obama says he wants it to go higher. The higher taxes are, the fewer business ideas are potential profitable, the less people get hired.

The EPA:

1. Strict EPA requirements will require extra costs which may make a potential factory go from being profitable to unprofitable.
2. The EPA and groups like the Sierra Club may sue to stop the plant from opening. Delays, legal fees, and the uncertianty of completion scare potential investors.  

Obama's Ban on Drilling

1. Imagine if you shut down Apple for 10 months. Everyone gets fired and they go elsewhere (Google, Samsung, etc). Now you allow Apple to operate again, but the people, the capital, and equipment are elsewhere. It won't restart overnight.

 Obamacare:

1.  Employees which are "nice to have" at one price, may get replaced by automation if employee costs rise too much.  (E.g., bag boys at grocery stores are eliminatted and check out clerks are replaced by self-checkout) 

The National Labor Relations Board

1. Obama's team has sued Boeing for opening a plant in South Carolina instead of Washington. South Carolina is a right to work state, meaning unions have little control.

Adventures in Socialized Medicine

Socialized care contians costs by denying care. What good is "health insurance" if you can't get the care?

Daily Mail - The condition can be treated with a £14,000 operation to fit a gastric pacemaker - although this is still considered to be an experimental treatment.


A young woman who is starving to death after being diagnosed with a paralysed stomach has been told that NHS bosses refuse to fund an operation to save her.


Rudi Hargreaves, 22, has shrunk from a healthy 10st to a skeletal 5st 10lb after being diagnosed with the crippling condition last year.
Within weeks of being diagnosed with gastroparesis, Rudi found her size 12 clothes were hanging off her - as her stomach became unable to digest food at a normal rate.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2013434/Help-Im-starving-death-6st-woman-paralysed-stomach-refused-life-saving-operation.html#ixzz1RpmjMCu9

But health chiefs have refused to fund the surgery, saying 'insufficient supporting information' has been provided by her GP.







Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2013434/Help-Im-starving-death-6st-woman-paralysed-stomach-refused-life-saving-operation.html#ixzz1RpmfZJL6

Debt and Deals

In order to increase the debt limit, Republicans want to get future spending under control. Democrats want tax increases, so any deal has progresssed.

I think Republicans are still wary from 1991. George Bush (Sr) agreed to Democrats' demands that spending cuts had to come with tax increases. Then the Democrats turned around and used the tax increases as a campaign tool against him. (Bush famously said in 1988, read my lips no new taxes).


So Democrats are just trying to bait Republicans into agreeing to tax increases, so they can just use it again as a campaign tool in 2012.

If we hit our debt ceiling, the interest payments will still be made. Obama will have to decide what else to cut then, which he doesn't want to do. So many of his voters are takers (get more from the government than they pay in), so cutting anything is going to hurt his reelection. So Obama wants to goad Republicans into making a false move. It was smart of Boehner not to budge.

Much Ado about Nothing

So if Texas executes a convicted murderer and rapist, it will do irreparable harm to relations with Mexico? Americans are kidnapped and killed by Mexican drug cartels in Mexico. Drug cartels kill civilians and state officials daily. Shoudl Mexico be really that hung up about a convicted murderer getting executed? I think not


The Atlantic -

"The case of a Mexican man scheduled to be executed on Thursday in Texas threatens to
disrupt U.S. diplomatic relations abroad and creates a politically volatile dilemma for Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is considering a run for president.


Unless Perry or the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes to stay the execution, Texas plans to execute Humberto
Leal Jr. at 6 p.m. Central Time for the 1994 murder of 16-year-old Adria Sauceda.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 2004 that the United States violated the rights of Leal and more than three dozen other Mexican nationals on death row because law enforcement officials didn't advise them of their right to have consular access to officials from their home country under international law.....


Neither the Obama administration nor the Mexican government contend that Leal is innocent. Rather, they argue that the United States has an obligation to comply with international law. In a 76-page application to the Supreme Court for a stay, the Obama administration argued that the execution "would place the United States in irreparable breach of its international-law obligation." "That breach would have serious repercussions for United States foreign relations, law enforcement and other cooperation with Mexico, and the ability of American citizens traveling abroad to have the benefits of consular assistance in the event of detention," the administration wrote.

Adventures in Socialized Medicine

In the normal world, people and businesses avoid repeating disasters, but not in politics. We constantly seek to take failed ideas from around the world and repeat them.

Everyone know that monopolies are bad when they are run by businesses, but many don't realize that government monopolies will result in the same bad outcome.

These long waiting times are due to the government run nature of  healthcare. Obama complained that we Americans pay much more for healthcare than other countries. But the real question is what do you get for that cost? Is it all for nothing? No. We actually have enough MRI machines to meet demand. There isn't a 6 week wait for an MRI in the US. It's unheard of. But MRI machines aren't free.

What's the downside of waiting? Perhaps the difference between stage one and stage four cancer.

Daily Mail: Thousands more patients are facing lengthy delays for vital tests to diagnose cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.


Nearly 16,000 people a month are now forced to wait more than six weeks for ultrasounds, CT scans and various hospital checks, a four-fold rise compared with this time last year.

Last month’s Department of Health figures show that 15,929 patients were waiting longer than six weeks for one of 15 tests used to diagnose cancer, heart problems, dementia and osteoporosis, compared with 3,495 for the same period in 2010.


The number includes 2,152 who waited more than six weeks for an MRI scan, commonly used to diagnose cancer, strokes, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, compared with 374 the previous year, nearly a six-fold increase...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2011911/Hospital-waiting-times-Scrapping-targets-leaves-16-000-waiting-weeks-key-tests.html#ixzz1RR1d6IgM

The indefagitable, Thomas Sowell

Love reading Thomas Sowell's columns. Some things worth repeating from today's column:

The vocabulary of the political left is fascinating. For example, it is considered to be "materialistic" and "greedy" to want to keep what you have earned. But it is "idealistic" to want to take away what someone else has earned and spend it for your own political benefit or to feel good about yourself.....

When political commentators from the Fox News Channel had books whose sales would normally make the New York Times' non-fiction best-seller list, the New York Times changed the rules for putting books on that list. Thus best-selling political books by Mike Huckabee and Dick Morris appeared last Sunday on a more obscure list of miscellaneous personal advice and how-to books, such as "Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook."....


The Obama administration seems to be following what might be called "the Detroit pattern"-- increasing taxes, harassing businesses, and pandering to unions. In the short run, it got mayors re-elected. In the long-run, it reduced Detroit from a thriving city to an economic disaster area, whose population was cut in half, as its most productive citizens fled.

Ownership of Gun Saves Life

Had they not owned a gun, perhaps we would be hearing about the "tragic murders" in Florida. The media tends to ignore stories where guns save lives.

When a burly ex-convict forced his way into a posh Florida home last week, he had no idea what awaited him -- a 25-year-old beauty queen with a pink .38-caliber handgun.

Meghan Brown, a former Florida pageant queen, shot and killed 42-year-old Albert Franklin Hill during a home invasion March 12 at the 2,732-square-foot house she shares with her fiance in Tierra Verde, Fla.

Hill barged into the home at around 3 a.m. after Brown responded to a knock at the front door, according to a police report. He allegedly grabbed the 110-pound Brown around her nose and mouth and dragged her to an upstairs bedroom.

The woman’s fiance, Robert Planthaber, said in an interview that he was quickly awakened by the altercation and ran to Brown’s side.

"I attacked him and took a severe beating to the head," Planthaber told FoxNews.com. "But I got him off of her long enough for her to scramble to the room where she keeps her pink .38 special.”

Brown, who reigned as the 2009 Miss Tierra Verde, snatched her gun from a nearby bedroom and shot the suspect several times – hitting him in the chest, groin, thigh and back, her fiance said. Hill was pronounced dead at the scene.

Panthaber, a 42-year-old arborist, said he believes he and his fiancee were targeted because of their wealth. He claimed a pizza delivery man and possible accomplice staked out the home for three months before Hill attempted to burglarize it.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/03/22/armed-beauty-queen-fatally-shoots-intruder-florida-home-invasion/#ixzz1HOEHA7ln

Japan and Nukes

While the earthquake and subsequent tsumani has caused tremendous problems at a nuclear power station in Japan, I don't see how these problems should cause the world to panic about existing nuclear facilities.

Germany is rushing to shut down all nukes. I expected better from Merckel.

The appropriate questions should be:

• Are you on a fault line?
• Are you next to the ocean?

If "no", then the whole incident is not applicable.

Obama, DOMA, and Gay Marriage

One word: Laughable!!!

1. Is Obama suddenly against the estate tax? Obama and the Democrats have the big proponents of the estate tax, but now they use the estate tax to justify getting rid of DOMA. No estate tax, no tax bill for Windsor.
2. If Windsor received the money tax free, then died, her heirs would pay the $350,000 tax bill. How is it less of a sob story? 
3. Similarly, if Syper left all her money to her sister, wouldn't liberals attack the sister if she complained about the tax bill?
4. Where's all the talk about "the rich" not paying their fair share? Windsor inherited about $4.5 million! (In 2009, the estate tax deduction was $3.5M + the remainder is taxed at 45%=). In other circumstances, liberals would be outraged that Windsor is complaining over a tax bill.

Yahoo News: The Obama administration announced last week that it will no longer defend in court a part of the Defense of Marriage Act that forbids the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriage.

One widow's story was one of two cases pending in federal courts cited in the announcement of President Obama's decision, Bloomberg reports.

Edith Windsor and Thea Spyer were together for more than 40 years when Spyer died in 2009. Not longer after her partner's death, Windsor received a $363,053 federal tax bill--a liability that she would not have faced had the federal government recognized their union.

The New York couple married in Canada in 2007 in their 70s, after they found out that Spyer's multiple sclerosis was getting worse. Spyer was a psychologist who had become quadriplegic from the disease before her death, and Windsor worked for IBM. They met in the 1960s at a restaurant in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. "We danced so much and so intensely that she danced a hole through her stockings," Spyer said in the New York Times' write up of their wedding.

Windsor is suing for the tax money back from the federal government, and the Obama administration has effectively decided she's right by dropping its defense. The administration will continue to enforce the law unless it is struck down by the courts or Congress.

Euthanasia in Socialized Medicine

A Canadian hospital has given in to demands to send a terminally ill baby home so he can die surrounded by family. But the hospital is still refusing to give thirteen-month-old Joseph Maraachli treatment that his parents believe will prolong - but not save - his life.

The London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario has now beefed up security after the threats in the growing dispute over the rights of Baby Joseph, as he has been dubbed.

Joseph has a fatal neuro-degenerative disease and can only survive with the aid of a ventilator.

His parents Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader want to him to have a tracheotomy, which would allow him to breathe without the respirator and which they believed could prolong his life by up to six months.Then they want to take him home so he can die surrounded by relatives. But doctors are refusing to do the tracheotomy, saying that it would needlessly prolong his life. Instead they wanted to turn off the life support machine and let him die on the ward.

Today the hospital announced it has backed down on its refusal to let the family take Joseph home and let him die there. But officials are standing strong over the tracheotomy, instead insisting that hospital staff take Joseph off the ventilator once he gets home - perhaps only giving him minutes to live.  Joseph has been on life support at the Centre since last October.

Eight years ago, his parents had another child, a daughter named Zina. She had a similar condition, was given a tracheotomy, and managed to survive for six more months after the family took her home....

‘I do my best for my baby. My son is not a criminal . . . to just let him die,’ said Mr Maraachli. ‘I cannot pray like this. I want to cry, I want to feel with my baby and I cannot do this.’ Ms Nader added: ‘When I’m in the hospital, I don’t feel I’m in Canada, I feel I’m in some country with no human rights.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1361593/Canadian-hospital-caves-refusal-send-terminally-ill-baby-Joseph-Maraachli-home.html#ixzz1FJPpWM4V

Let the parents decide instead of some childless bureaucrats!  I'd take my baby for six months over a few days despite the problems. It's a trach - not a heart transplant. These operations are common and inexpensive. Its just that bureaucrats want to decide who lives and dies.

Everyone who screams for "free" healthcare end up transferring all control of their health decisions to the government. If you are of no value to the state, you will be eliminated. A 6 month old will never pay taxes.

God bless the family and I'll be praying for them.

A Series: People kill people

With guns essentially banned in Britian and parts of the US, criminals have turned to knives and other weapons. I want to use this blog post to document news stories of attacks in Britian. A gun is a great equalizer. If a house invander and a little old lady both have guns, the little old lady has a reasonable chance of protecting herself. If they both have knives or baseball bats, the stronger younger attacker will most certainly defeat any resitance.

Febuary 14, 2011:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356807/Manchester-schoolboy-13-stabbed-pet-Rottweiler-slaughtered-knifeman-dogs-clash-park.html

February 13, 2011: Guy kills four with knife
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356536/Maksim-Gelman-said-ex-girlfriend-die-tributes-pour-rampage-victims.html

February 11, 2011: Thug stabs three
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356051/Thug-stabbed-teens-pays-just-300-compensation-walks-free-court.html

February 9, 2011: Home invader kills three with knife,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1354984/Matthew-Hoffmann-Confession-burglar-murdered-3-raped-girl.html

Mapping Stereotypes

A European blogger created Mapping Stereotypes, which I thought was brilliant. An area for addition is to look at the USA by state.

The USA According to New Yorkers:

Bush vs. Obama

Posted elsewhere (not mine), but worth repeating. It certainly highlights the things that the left gives Obama a pass for, whereas they would have hammered Bush:

• If George W. Bush had been the first President to need a TelePrompTer installed to be able to get through a press conference, would you have laughed and said this is more proof of how inept he is on his own and is really controlled by smarter men behind the scenes?
• If George W. Bush had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to take Laura Bush to a play in NYC, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had reduced your retirement plan's holdings of GM stock by 90% and given the unions a majority stake in GM, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had made a joke at the expense of the Special Olympics, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had given Gordon Brown a set of inexpensive and incorrectly formatted DVDs, when Gordon Brown had given him a thoughtful and historically significant gift, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had given the Queen of England an iPod containing videos of his speeches, would you have thought this embarrassingly narcissistic and tacky?
• If George W. Bush had bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia , would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had visited Austria and made reference to the nonexistent "Austrian language," would you have brushed it off as a minor slip?
• If George W. Bush had filled his cabinet and circle of advisers with people who cannot seem to keep current in their income taxes, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had stated that there were 57 states in the United States , would you have said that he is clueless.
• If George W. Bush would have flown all the way to Denmark to make a five minute speech about how the Olympics would benefit him walking out his front door in Texas , would you have thought he was a self important, conceited, egotistical jerk.
• If George W. Bush had been so Spanish illiterate as to refer to "Cinco de Cuatro" in front of the Mexican ambassador when it was the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo), and continued to flub it when he tried again, would you have winced in embarrassment?
• If George W. Bush had misspelled the word "advice" would you have hammered him for it for years like Dan Quayle and potatoes as proof of what a dunce he is?
• If George W. Bush had burned 9,000 gallons of jet fuel to go plant a single tree on Earth Day, would you have concluded he's a hypocrite?
• If George W. Bush's administration had okayed Air Force One flying low over millions of people followed by a jet fighter in downtown Manhattan causing widespread panic, would you have wondered whether they actually get what happened on 9-11?
• If George W. Bush had failed to send relief aid to flood victims throughout the Midwest with more people killed or made homeless than in New Orleans , would you want it made into a major ongoing political issue with claims of racism and incompetence?
•  If George W. Bush had created the position of 32 Czars who report directly to him, bypassing the House and Senate on much of what is happening in America , would you have approved.
• If George W. Bush had ordered the firing of the CEO of a major corporation, even though he had no constitutional authority to do so, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had proposed to double the national debt, which had taken more than two centuries to accumulate, in one year, would you have approved?
• If George W. Bush had then proposed to double the debt again within 10 years, would you have approved?
• So, tell me again, what is it about Obama that makes him so brilliant and impressive? Can't think of anything? Don't worry. He's done all this in two years-- so you'll have two years to come up with an answer.
• I would add this tidbit – If President Bush or any other President refused to provide/prove their valid and official birth certificate, would you approve?

Guns: The Great Equalizers

In light of the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, gun control advocates are frustrated that they can't get much traction for additional gun control.

Guns are the great equalizer. They benefit women, handicapped, and the elderly the most.

Imagine if you are a little old lady. A guy has just broken into your house. You have the same weapon he does. Which weapon would you prefer to both have:

a) brass knuckles
b) a knife
c) a baseball bat
d) a gun

In options a,b, & c the old lady gets killed 99.9% of the time. With option d, she has a much higher chance of survival. Even a warning shot (assuming they are in seperate rooms), is enough to scare him off. Criminals like easy targets. That's why the rob the elderly in the first place.

Guns helped women become independent, because they didn't need to rely on men. Remember the old Westerns were a mother scares off a neer-do-well with her shotgun. Yeah, a gun allowed her to do that.

The best .380 pistol?

Since the beginning of 2008, the amount of compact .380 pistols have exploded. The .380 is considered the smallest adequate round for personal protect. The .380 is actually the same diameter as a 9mm, but has a 17mm length opposed to the 19mm of the 9mm. However, the .380 is smallest enough to allow the pistol be operated on a simple blowback design. (Larger pistols have a locked breach, short recoil operation.) One driver of the increase in .380 guns is the increase in State laws allowing concealed carry have caused the market for compact pistols to explode. I've been able to handle all of these at a gun show and have fired the Ruger LCP and Sig P232.


The first group are very small, DAO (Double Action Only), carry 6+1 rounds,  and look very similar: Kel-Tec P3-AT, Ruger LCP, Taurus 738 TCP, Kahr P380, S&W Bodyguard, Micro desert Eagle, and the North American Arms Guardian.

• The upsides of the group: This group of guns are very concealable and easy to carry. Slips easily into a pocket. (Pocket holsters are more comfortable than inside the waistband).
• The downsides: DAO needs some practice to get a handle on the triggger pull.  Smaller slide and poor size makes shooting  at longer distances impractable. Magazines with an extended grip are need to avoid the dreaded pinky hang. 

The second group are SA/DA. You can pull the trigger in double action for the first shot and the remaining shots are single action. Alternatively, you can cock the hammer for the first shot. These include the Bersa Thunder 380, Walther PPK, and Sig P232. The new Walthers are made by S&W. The Bersa is the cheapest of the bunch and is made in Argentina.

• The differences: The Bersa Thunder can carry 7+1 rounds. The upsides: The longer barrels will result in a higher muzzle velocity. The larger size will also have less recoil. You also will be able to fire the gun at longer distances due to better sights and the longer barrel. Following up shots have a light trigger pull
• The downsides: The larger size makes them not quite as convenient to carry, or more difficult to carry in the summer when you are wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

The last gun is the Sig P238. It is small in size, but slightly larger than the DAO guns. It is based on the Colt Mustang (1986-1997) and is a SAO (Single Action Only), which is similar to the M1911 45 cal pistols. It has an aluminum frame and a stainless steel slide.

• The upsides: Compact, well made. Lighter trigger pull. You don't have to carry it cocked-and-locked, because (with practice) you can pull the hammer back while drawing.
• The downsides: Safety is convenient for only right-handed shooters. Safeties can be something that get in the way if copious amounts of adrenaline are flowing through you. This can be mitigated through lots of practice.

There are other .380 guns on the market. I've excluded models that are so larger they should be 9mm, such as the Walther PK380. I've also excluded models made by a company with a low reputation, such as Hi-Point or Jimenez.

Overall impressions:

• Kel-Tec - seems to be a bit more flimsy that the Ruger LCP or Kahr (all are polymer). There are reports of the slide "biting" when firing
• Ruger LCP - I think this is the best overall of the DAO pistols. It's small, at the lower end of the price range, made in the US, and you can tell its a more quality finish than the Kel-tec. Recoil is manageable: I could shoot it one handed without any concerns. They have a small curved extension at the end of the magazine which helps handling.  The lack of sights makes firing at longer distances slow or inaccurate. I could hit the person target at 50 feet, but it was slower firing. I haven't gotten "bitten" by the slide either. Note: Earlier Rugers were subject to a recall because it could go off if dropped. this has since been fixed.
• Micro Desert Eagle - feels solid and looks nice, but the weight difference over the Ruger is quite noticeable. It may get uncomfortable carrying around in shorts and a t-shirt all day during the summer. It claims to have a gas assisted blowback which would reduce recoil
• S&W Bodyguard - Have integrated laser... and a safety. Safety's aren't needed on DA guns and could get in the way of firing quickly under pressure.
• NAA Guardian - definitely based on the design of the Seecamp 380s. Nice well made gun, but is heavier and more costly. Perhaps the "prettiest" of the group.
• Diamondback 380 - This is the new gun on the market from a new company out of Florida. It looks at feels like a tiny Glock. I'm not a new adopter
• Walther PPK - It's status as "James Bond's gun" is a continuing selling point. Introduced in 1931, it is manufactured in the US by Smith & Wesson.
• Bersa Thunder - Essentially a copy of the PPK. The "Made in Argentina" nature of the gun is a big drawback for me.
• Sig P232 - This is largely similar in design to the PPK, but it lacks the safety. It is a bit lighter, but without feeling any "cheaper". This would be my recommended "winter carry" but the size can be an obstacle to carrying it on a regular basis in the summer. It is much more accurate than the LCP at longer distances.

Manufacturer & Model	Length	Barrell	Width	Height	Weight	Trigger	Muzzle Velocity	Capacity	Cost
Kel-Tec P3AT	5.2"	2.75"	0.77"	3.5"	8.3 oz		819 fps	6+1	$250
Ruger LCP	5.16"	2.75"	0.82"	3.6"	9.4 oz	8 lbs	811 fps	6+1	$300
Taurus 738 TCP	5.25"	2.84"			10.2 oz		802 fps	6+1	$250
Kahr P380	4.9"	2.5"	0.75"	3.9"	10 oz	9 lbs	811 fps	6+1	$525
S&W Bodyguard	5.25"	2.75"			11.9 oz			6+1	$400
Micro Desert Eagle	4.5"	2.22"	0.9"	3.7"	14 oz		785 fps	6+1	$450
NAA Guardian	4.75"	2.5"	0.93"	3.53"	18.7 oz	10 lbs		6+1	$400
Diamondback 380	5.25"	2.79"	0.76"	3.76"	10.1 oz	4.5 lbs		6+1
Sig P232	6.6"	3.6"	1.2"	4.7"	17.6 oz	10/4.5 lbs	893 fps	7+1	$570
Bersa Thunder CC	6"	3.2"	1"	4.5"	16.4 oz			7+1	$280
Walther PPK	6.1"	3.35"	1"	4.3"	22.4 oz			7+1	$520
Sig P238	5.5"	2.7"	1.1"	3.9"	15.2 oz	7 lbs	798 fps	6+1	$550

Muzzle velocity is an estimate based on 95-grain FMJ bullet at 10-12 feet from muzzle. (This is data collected from elsewhere on the internet)
Price is a competitive dealer price for a no-frills version.

The Michelle Bachmann Hit Job

"and popular support for centrist compromise growing" - Really? The writer cites no statistics to back up this claim. The writer infers this support for compromise and then as a result, deems Bachmann a problem.
However, if voters are concerned with Republicans keeping campaign promises, then Bachmann will be a positive force.
Btw, there was never a Yahoo article "The Democrat's Alan Grayson problem" even though he was certifiably insane, and Yahoo has never called Chuck Shumer powered by media attention, although everyone knows that the most dangerous place in the world is to be between Chuck Shumer and a TV camera.
 
 

Slate via Yahoo: Michele Bachmann had a very good 2010, by most measures: She held on to her Minnesota congressional seat by a wide margin, raising more money than any other House Republican candidate along the way. She enjoyed more media attention than ever, beloved as she is by TV bookers for her willingness to be memorably bombastic and serve as a near parody of the far-right. (A recent Huffington Post roundup of Bachmann's "greatest hits" included her comparison of financial reform to fascism, a description of health care reform as enabling a "gangster government," and her conspiracy-minded refusal to fill out the census.) Her savviest move of the year, though, was turning her anti-tax rhetoric into Tea Party stardom and forming the Tea Party Caucus in the House, which made her into the gatekeeper for an important new voting bloc......


If Boehner's gratitude is nowhere to be seen, it is because Bachmann presents a particular headache for the GOP. The Tea Party helped propel Republicans into office by attacking Democrats; now, with the dirty work done and popular support for centrist compromise growing, wild cable TV statements are looking more like a liability. And Bachmann is Exhibit A. But by withholding from her the formal power she believes she has earned, the GOP has probably compounded the problem. As Bachmann's time in the Minnesota state senate made clear, rejection by party elders has a way of energizing her. If things had gone her way, Bachmann might have been tempted to move past Mama Grizzly extremism, but now, she'll be sticking with it. Boehner should have seen this coming.....


 Instead, the steering committee slotted her for the House Intelligence Committee, a rather Machiavellian move: While on paper it's a prestigious assignment, the committee's workings are intrinsically hush-hush. As one observer told Politico, "If you're looking for media and controversy, that's not the committee to be on." That's particularly rough for Bachmann, powered as she is by media attention."