op ed review 5/30

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

Americans are dissatisfied with both major political parties, but the public's approval of the Democratic Party is at its lowest level ever, a new CBS News poll shows. Favorable views of the Democratic Party dropped 20 points in the past year to 37 percent, according to the poll.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20005961-503544.html?tag=latest

GOP wins House seat in Obama's home district.. First time in 20 years.

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100523_Djou_wins_US_House_seat.html

Another: For the first time in 20 years, Hawaii's First District Congressional seat goes to a Republican. “Hawaii Republican Djou heads for Congress: 67% reject Inouye”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/hawaii_republican_djou_heads_f.html

President Obama will skip the Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery this weekend. But he will hurry home in time to make a White House tribute to Paul McCartney on Wednesday evening. “Somehow, wanting the president to appropriately honor the troops who paid the ultimate price is chalked up as “political ammo.”

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/26/president-obamas-memorial-day-vacation/

Pres. Obama gave a commencement speech at the United States Military Academy at West Point, which in effect told the thousand or so soon-to-be second lieutenants that, if he has his way, they’ll soon be out of a job.

http://article.nationalreview.com/434778/obama-at-west-point-lessons-unlearned/arthur-herman

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Tuesday that the House Republican leadership is “committed to repealing the health care law” if Republicans win a majority in the House in the November elections.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/66614

Dino Rossi is in the race against Sen. Murray.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/05/28/1452896/rossis-senate-bid-gives-voters.html

Another GOP candidate, Clint Didier, wins Sarah Palin's endorsement.

http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/05/27/clint_didier_tea_party_dino_rossi_palin

Senate Democrats united to pass a financial regulatory bill that allows the government to collect data on any person operating in financial markets at any level, including the collection of personal transaction records from local banks, including customers’ addresses and ATM receipts.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/66439

Democrats in the Senate have defeated a move by Sen. John McCain to send an additional 6,000 National Guard troops to the U.S-Mexico border.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FV86NG4&show_article=1

Creeping socialism advances. Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year. At the same time, government-provided benefits rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010. “….a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs.”

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-05-24-income-shifts-from-private-sector_N.htm

Democrats in Congress have added $173 billion in new spending to the federal deficit in just three months. They will try this week to add an additional $197 billion in aid to the unemployed and Medicaid funding for states.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/25/democrats-set-to-consider-197-billion-in-emergency-spending-that-will-add-to-the-debt/

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of union pension funds. If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2010/05/24/lawmaker-introduces-b-union-pension-bailout/

At first, it was Rush Limbaugh who tagged the gusher in the Gulf "Obama's Katrina" — but now two lions of the left are warning the White House that the administration's handing of the environmental catastrophe is inflicting long-term political damage

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37632.html

A worker hired by Census 2010 told The Post that she was hired and fired a number of times by Census. Each time she was hired back, it seems, Census was able to report the creation of a new job to the Labor Department.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/two_more_census_workers_blow_the_OqY80N3DBTvL17VmxKKR0O

Mark this date on the calendar and call your senators. The Senate is slated to vote June 10 on Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) resolution that strips EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. Murkowski has 40 co-sponsors – including centrist Democrats Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) – for the plan.

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/99669-senate-showdown-over-epa-climate-rules-may-happen-june-10

Unions have made no bones about their upcoming involvement in the midterm elections of 2010. In short, unions are scared to death that they will lose their grip on their control of the House and the Senate unless they spend tens of millions of dollars and force their members to campaign for Democratic incumbents.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/05/25/bradley-blakeman-unions-pelosi-reid-obama-democrats/

“Arizonan Frog Scolds Obama Officials for Not Reading Immigration Law”

http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=6280

Investigators have learned that an illegal immigrant accused of raping a woman in Edmonds WA has been deported nine times.

http://www.king5.com/news/local/Investigators-Edmonds-rape-suspect-deported-nine-times-94637479.html

In a remarkable display of self-degradation, some New York State judges are considering joining the United Federation of Teachers, a highly politicized, big bucks political donor, in an effort to raise their pay.

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/05/which_side_are_you_on_ny_judge.html

______________________________________________________________________________________

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Slaves to the government dole

Washington Examiner 5/26/10

Throughout our history, politicians and pundits have often said "America is at a crossroads." Sometimes it was true, as in the final convulsive years leading up to the Civil War when we decided to end slavery. New data on personal income, taxes and dependency makes clear that the country is again at a historic crossroad and another form of slavery is the central issue. There are no iron chains involved this time, but dependence on government for economic sustenance is no less an enslavement.

Based on Bureau of Economic Analysis data, USA Today reported Tuesday that the portion of personal income received from private sector paychecks declined to 41.9 percent, its lowest point ever, during the first quarter of 2010. The figure was 44.6 percent in December 2007 at the outset of the current recession and 47.6 percent in the first quarter of 2000. By contrast, the personal income received from government programs climbed to 17.9 percent. Add another 9.8 percent for government employee compensation and 27.7 percent of all personal income is derived from government sources. (The remaining 30.1 percent of personal income results from small-business proprietor profits, farm profits, privately funded pensions, investment sales and dividends, and insurance annuities.)

The problem is that government only redistributes income to dependent individuals after taking it from productive individuals, a process that is reflected in tax returns. As the Tax Foundation recently pointed out, 36 percent of all individual returns in 2008, the most recent year for which data is available, showed no net tax liability. That is the highest level of non-paying tax filers in American history. As recently as 1990, only 21 percent of tax filers paid no levies. The result of this trend is that millions more Americans today pay nothing for the benefits they receive, which are paid for by productive taxpayers.

It's no surprise then that measures like the Heritage Foundation's Index of Dependency are curving steeply upward. Preliminary figures from Heritage's Center for Data Analysis show a 13.9 percent increase for 2009, the biggest single-year increase since 1962. The massive one-year jump in dependency -- indexed according to changes in government spending on housing, retirement, health and welfare, etc. -- was mainly caused by President Obama's unprecedented expansion of federal deficit spending and national debt through corporate bailouts and the economic stimulus program. But what happens when productive taxpayers can no longer pay enough taxes to support benefits promised by "progressive" politicians to dependent America? With European welfare states like Greece teetering on this threshold of collapse, our crossroad is whether to continue down the same road or to return to the path that once made us the freest and most prosperous country the world has ever seen.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Slaves-to-the-government-dole-94877134.html#ixzz0p3z4PmWq

_______________________________________________________________________________

FROM OTHER COLUMNS

“Mr. Calderon's claim that 80 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes come from the United States is completely false. Most weapons seized in Mexico have traceable serial numbers that show they come from countries other than the United States. The 80 percent number reflects how many guns sent to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing end up being from America. Most weapons seized in Mexico aren't transferred to U.S. authorities, so that figure is meaningless for calculating overall totals. It is offensive for Mr. Calderon to come here as our guest and make up facts to blame America for Mexico's many problems. But it was more frightening to witness Democratic House and Senate members jump up and give a standing ovation when the foreigner called for renewing the Assault Weapons Ban. That's a warning all American gun owners should heed."

-The Washington Times

"Memo to Republican National Committee: this is the branding opportunity of a lifetime. Mr. Calderon whacking decent Americans and being cheered by leftist Democrats is an election-year dream come true. What could be better than a thirty-second commercial showing the power center of a bankrupt political party taking the side of a shamelessly hypocritical foreigner over their fellow Americans? One could even envision a voice-over announcer asking the ultimate brand-reinforcing question: Are Democrats the political party you want representing American interests in Washington, D.C. after the November election?"

-Arnold Ahlert

"The fact is, Mexico has two big exports: Oil, and their second biggest export is poverty to the United States -- from which, in remittances sent back to Mexico, they get $21 billion a year. Mr. Calderon has a stake in illegal immigration to our country."

-George Will

"The bottom line is that Obama, the Justice Department, and the entire executive branch are on Mexico's side in this dispute. On the other hand, the majority of the American people are with Arizona."

-Byron York

"Attorney General Eric Holder was grilled in Congress ... about Arizona's new immigration law. He's denounced the Arizona law as unconstitutional while admitting he hasn't read it. He's read the law, it's the Constitution he's never seen."

-Argus Hamilton

_____________________________________________________________________________________

BOOKS

In a new biography on sale Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh calls fellow conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly a “Ted Baxter” — after the fictional character on the “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” who was portrayed as a vain, shallow, buffoonish TV newsman. “Sorry but somebody’s gotta say it,” Limbaugh is quoted as saying in “Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One” by Zev Chafets.

http://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/99609-rush-limbaugh-mocks-bill-oreilly-in-new-book

____________________________________________________________________________________

LEFTIST WATCH

President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services -- a strong supporter of the government-run health care system in Britain -- said in a 2009 interview about Comparative Effectiveness Research, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care – the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/66465

Think about this: “We see [health care reform as] a bill that says to someone, if you want to be creative and be a musician or whatever, you can leave your work, focus on your talent, your skill, your passion, your aspirations because you will have health care. You won’t have to be job-locked.” —Nancy Pelosi, speaking to musicians and artists in Washington, D.C., May 15, 2010

http://weeklystandard.com/articles/marx-keynes-pelosi

__________________________________________________________________________________

NEWS FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD

It was a scene Saudi women ’s rights activists have dreamt of for years. When a Saudi religious policeman sauntered about an amusement park in the eastern Saudi Arabian city of Al-Mubarraz looking for unmarried couples illegally socializing, he probably wasn’t expecting much opposition. But when he approached a young, 20-something couple meandering through the park together, he received an unprecedented whooping. “For unknown reasons, the young man collapsed upon being questioned by the cop…the woman then allegedly laid into the religious policeman, punching him repeatedly, and leaving him to be taken to the hospital with bruises across his body and face.”

http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=175779

__________________________________________________________________________________

GLOBALONEY

Global warming downgraded? UN now says case for saving species 'more powerful than climate change'...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/21/un-biodiversity-economic-report

This year’s snowpack in the Sierras is 167 percent of normal.

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/05/24/2771679/persistent-cold-wet-weather-stunts.html#ixzz0oxCUGSLF

A record low of 32 at Spokane International Airport.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/may/24/highs-creeping-back-low-60s-today/

The latest spring snow ever recorded at Salt Lake City International Airport.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=10895240

Climate Fears Turn to Doubts Among Britons

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/science/earth/25climate.html

__________________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVISM

America, House Republicans want your help. In an effort to shed its image as a "party of no" with few original ideas to challenge the Democrat-controlled Congress and White House, House Republicans on Tuesday will begin a campaign to ask the general public for input in drafting their next agenda.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/24/gop-begins-seeking-ideas-from-public/

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ARTICLES

This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns, gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle between two competing visions of the country's future. In one, America will continue to be an exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise -- limited government, a reliance on entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces. In the other, America will move toward European-style statism grounded in expanding bureaucracies, a managed economy and large-scale income redistribution. These visions are not reconcilable. We must choose.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/21/AR2010052101854.html

Rush: “Mexican President Felipe Calderon's speech to a joint session of Congress beating up on the Arizona law, criticizing the Arizona law and blaming us for all the guns in Mexico. And the Democrats were standing up and applauding, giving him a standing ovation for this. This is unprecedented. We have never before had an ally come to the United States, make a speech before a joint session of Congress, rip our country, rip our states, and have the Democrat Party stand up and applaud.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_052010/content/01125106.guest.html

“Over the past week we witnessed presidential and congressional disloyalty without precedent in American history, events that should be indelibly imprinted on the American electorate's collective memory. For the first time (at least to this writer's knowledge), a foreign head of state who is promoting an ongoing, aggressive, illegal, and often violent invasion of America came to our country, met with our president, and, from the White House itself, received our president's implicit but obvious public support for that invasion..”

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/is_this_just_a_nightmare_or_di.html

But in Mexico, illegal immigrants receive terrible treatment from corrupt Mexican authorities, say people involved in the system. And Mexico has a law that is no different from Arizona's that empowers local police to check the immigration documents of people suspected of not being in the country legally.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2010-05-25-mexico-migrants_N.htm

Thanks in large part to Governor Jan Brewer's bold action in signing SB 1070, immigration is shaping up as the issue of the 2010 election….illegal immigration has become the arena in which the upcoming election will be fought. The left cannot win that match. Illegal immigration violates too many fundamental precepts involving security, economics, and questions of national identity. Polling reveals an overwhelming public aversion to illegal immigration, with opposition reaching up to 70%. The Democrats might be better-advised to run on a platform calling for more child abuse. They may not be able to win the debate, but they can fix it so they don't lose either, at the expense of the country as a whole. As for conservatives, we are often only too willing to stumble into the elephant trap laid out for us, losing public arguments you would think it impossible to fumble (see Paul, Rand). So what are the proper tactics for debating the illegals question?........

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/illegals_and_the_election_1.html

One oddity about the Arizona illegals controversy is how little fallout, positive or negative, has touched the politician who set it off, Governor Jan Brewer. As women have moved into the forefront of conservative politics, they have become targets for serious assaults from the left. The treatment they receive is far worse than that given male politicians of the same order, as we have clearly seen with Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann. (Snip) And yet Governor Brewer -- much to her own relief, I'm sure -- has not yet become a target in the same way as Palin and Bachmann.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/the_remarkable_rise_of_jan_bre.html

When Sarah Palin speaks, liberal feminists go wild. The woman is like a stilettoed catalyst for backlash from the professional political sisterhood. Much of the bitterness that gushes forth from the lefty sisterhood has very little to do with Palin herself. It’s about the things she represents. She’s a seemingly happy mom, surrounded by her husband and a big family. Pro-life, religious, conservative. Political powerhouse. Depending on who you are and what your gripe or wound is, you can add to and subtract from this list.

http://article.nationalreview.com/434723/sarah-palin-a-feminist-in-the-pro-life-tradition/kathryn-jean-lopez

_______________________________________________________________________________________

NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

Must see. “Obama at the bat”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tcahn7PwQU

The U.S. national debt has passed the $13 trillion mark, according to USDebtClock.org, an independent website that tracks the real-time growth of U.S. revenues and spending. That is $43,000 for each and every American.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/national-debt-soars-past-13-trillion/story?id=10748382

The “Feel good moment of the day”

http://gimundo.com/videos/view/humming-puppies/

_________________________________________________________________________________________

LATE NITE

Jay Leno: President Obama is becoming frustrated about the oil spill and he reportedly said, “Plug the damn hole.” That’s the same thing he says whenever Joe Biden starts talking……The market had such a bad day that over at Merrill Lynch, they tried to lynch Merrill……At the Shanghai World Expo, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton passed out teddy bears to Chinese children. The children politely accepted the bears — even though they made them…….A judge has ordered Lindsay Lohan to wear an alcohol detector. She said, “Great. This will help me find alcohol?”……Mexican President Felipe Calderon lashed out at Arizona over their immigration law. He said that Mexicans should boycott sneaking into this country until that law is repealed.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

WISE WORDS

"A judicial activist is a judge who interprets the Constitution to mean what it would have said if he, instead of the Founding Fathers, had written it."

Sen. Sam Ervin

"There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness."

-George Washington

"It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement."

-Estienne de la Boétie