op ed review 10/2

THIS WEEK’S NEWS

The tea party has emerged as a potent force in American politics and a center of gravity within the Republican Party, with a large majority of Republicans showing an affinity for the movement that has repeatedly bucked the GOP leadership this year, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found. In the survey, 71% of Republicans described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea- party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703882404575520252928390046.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

Republican Rob Portman, a senior official under former President George W. Bush, has opened a commanding 13-point lead over his Democratic rival in a Senate race in Ohio,

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68D3VQ20100928

Top GOP pollster predicts: “The Midwest is going to be a killing field for Democrats this year from western [Pennsylvania] through to the Plains.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42713.html#ixzz10k4nVOP9

However, “…a new poll suggests Democrats may turn out in higher numbers than expected.” (Time to get involved!!!)

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cr_20101002_4174.php

And this: Despite a finding by the Federal Election Commission’s general counsel that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) violated election law when it required local affiliates to contribute to its political action fund, the FEC’s full board nonetheless quietly voted to overrule its staff attorney and dismissed the original complaint -- clearing the way for the union to squeeze its locals to amass a $9 million war chest for the next election.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/09/seiu-dues-money-federal-elections-commission-case-money-launderingappealnational/

Overall, 14 African-Americans across the country are running as GOP nominees for Congress. As the Frederick Douglass Foundation has pointed out, if just three of them win, it would mark the first time since Reconstruction that more than two African-Americans from the Republican Party have served in Congress. In addition, six Republican women are running for U.S. Senate seats, and 128 Republican women filed and ran in primaries for the House, with 47 winning and moving on to the general election.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/10/01/gop-is-fielding-more-minorities-as-well-as-women-for-office/

McDonald's warned federal regulators it could drop its health-insurance plan for nearly 30,000 restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new requirement of Obamacare.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704789404575524502131067836.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5

Now that Dino Rossi has been running some attack ads, Rassmussen has him up by 1 point over Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/washington/election_2010_washington_senate

Under cover of media darkness, Mexico has been building a wall on its southern border with Guatemala, ostensibly to stop the flow of drugs. Yet Mexican Superintendent of Tax Administration Raul Diaz admits the wall will also prevent the free passage of illegal aliens. Some 500,000 illegals sneak into Mexico annually.

http://patricksperry.wordpress.com/

With an eye to the example of Arizona, Utah, which may have upwards of 110,000 undocumented aliens, may be taking the issue of illegal-immigration into its own hands.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2022734,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo

And a Texas poll shows that more than half of the registered voters surveyed support legislation similar to a new Arizona law that cracks down on illegal immigrants.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/Most-Texas-Voters-Favor-Immigration-Crackdown-Poll-103839294.html?dr

The Obama administration gave no indication of when the offshore drilling ban would be lifted. Instead, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised the industry would face a "dynamic regulatory environment.”.

http://spectator.org/blog/2010/09/30/the-gulfbetween-obama-and-the

What do mariachi classes, wine studies and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have in common? They were all funded by federal Department of Education earmarks, according to an extensive new report released Thursday by Sen. Tom Coburn.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/09/30/coburn-report-shows-billions-spent-education-budget-pork/

Nearly one in five gay men in 21 major U.S. cities are infected with HIV, and nearly half of them do not know it, according to the Center for Disease Control.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idCNN2315623720100923?rpc=44

Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said. A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315964/One-extinct-animals-turn-again.html

A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/28/survey-americans-know-little-religion/

The UK Daily Mail: “Bill Gates has thrown his support behind a proposal to tax the rich in his home state of Washington…..Ganging up against the plan are three of America’s other wealthiest men – current Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and department store mogul John Nordstrom.”

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315676/Bill-Gates-backs-rich-tax-home-town-state.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN

Ann Coulter 9/29/10

No liberal has standing to call any Republican stupid as long as Patty Murray remains in the U.S. Senate.

Soon after being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, Murray went on a radio show and said: "When I was growing up, the big fear in my life was the nuclear war. I remember second- and third-grade teachers giving us skills to deal with it, if that big alarm goes off, which was 'Hide under your desk.' Would that do any good? I don't know. But as a child, that gives you a feeling there's something to do beyond panic. Today the biggest fear our kids live with is whether ... the kid beside them has a gun. We have to give them skills so they feel confident to deal with it."

The woman is not sure if ducking under a school desk would help in a nuclear attack. Not only that, but she wants to do something similarly pointless to help children "deal with" school shootings. Maybe imaginary bullet-proof vests!

With amazing understatement, one of Murray's Democratic colleagues in the state senate told The Seattle Times in 1992: "She just doesn't strike you as somebody who's been reading The New York Times every day for the past five years." I wonder when Katie Couric is going to ask Murray what newspapers she reads.

After Murray was elected to the U.S. Senate, the Democrats tried to keep her locked in her office to prevent her from saying anything that might end up in a newspaper. But in the confusion after the 9/11 attack, the leadership must have lost the keys and Murray escaped to say this about Osama bin Laden: "He's been out in these countries for decades, building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. He's made their lives better."

Yes, Osama was out building "day-care facilities" -- and probably sponsoring "Bring Your Daughter to Work" days! I defy anyone to produce something stupider ever uttered by a homo sapiens. Not Barbara Boxer, Joe Biden or even John Edwards can hold their dimly lit candles to her.

Murray, whose college major was "recreation," got her start in politics fighting to save her own useless government job. The laughably apocryphal story she tells is that she was told by some crusty old male politician, still unnamed decades later: "You're just a mom in tennis shoes -- you can't make a difference!" (You know how politicians love gratuitously insulting their constituents.) This stuck in Murray's craw and so, filled with righteous anger, she ran for state office and won as a "mom in tennis shoes." The real story is that Murray was teaching a "parenting" class at a community college, which no one was taking, so the state decided to cut it. Murray's reaction was, "Wait -- I'm a public employee! You have no right to fire me!"

She wasn't a parent upset that her child's school was dropping an art history class. She was a deadbeat public employee who didn't want her job cut. No one was taking her course, but she thought taxpayers should be required to pay her salary anyway. Fighting to keep your own cushy job isn't a point of principle; it's evidence of a narcissistic personality disorder.

But you have to do a lot of research to find out that the class being eliminated was Murray's own. This deliberate policy on the part of the press to hide Murray's utterly self-serving motive for saving the class proves they know this is a problem for her.

The media's admiration for Murray's tenacious political start is like applauding the pluck of a stalker: "That guy sure has moxie and determination!" You're not supposed to be canonized for fighting to keep your own job. Murray is the equivalent of a Wall Street fat-cat saying, "I'm going to fight for my $50 million severance package because it's the right thing to do!"

This remarkably unimpressive woman has tried to turn being a flat-footed dork into an advantage by selling herself as a tribune of regular folks. Yes, like most regular folk, she listed no religious affiliation whatsoever in the first few additions of the Congressional Almanac. (She probably couldn't remember she was supposed to say "Catholic.")

Soon after being elected to the Senate in 1992, Murray fought for a federal government jobs program by saying, "The highest-paying job I had before coming to Washington, D.C., paid $23,000 a year. ... I know what it's like to tell my kids they can't buy everything they want." Is that what Murray thinks a senator should be doing? Ensuring that parents can tell their children they can buy everything they want?

True, Murray is a mom. You could also describe Hitler as a "war veteran and painter," but I think the more salient fact is that he was a German dictator. Similarly, Murray's relevant characteristic is that she is a lifelong public-sector union zealot. Again, Murray's class was on "parenting" -- the very definition of a pointless government program. Imagine going back in a time machine and trying to explain to someone from 1950 why the government was paying for classes on "parenting." How about classes on "waking up" or "getting dressed"?

Democrats have completely infantilized the populace in order to create jobs for useless social workers like Murray -- and then people wonder why states are going bankrupt under crushing debt burdens. But I guess we have to fund these idiotic programs in order not to be outshone by Osama's "Partnership with Working Mothers Initiative" in Peshawar.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=39211

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FROM OTHER COLUMNS

"Progressives want to raise taxes on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year because they say it's wrong for the rich to be 'given' more money. Sunday's New York Times carries a cartoon showing Uncle Sam handing money to a fat cat. They just don't get it. As I've said before, a tax cut is not a handout. It simply means government steals less. What progressives want to do is take money from some -- by force -- and spend it on others. It sounds less noble when plainly stated."

-John Stossel

"What optimistic Americans used to call a rising tide that lifts all boats is now once again derided as trickle-down economics. In other words, a newly peasant-minded America is willing to become collectively poorer so that some will not become wealthier."

-Victor Davis Hanson

"[The tea party movement] is about electing people who are going to get the Federal government to stop pressing the handle that has been flushing America's wealth, ingenuity, and capacity for hard work down the toilet bowl of history by promising more and more to people who have produced less and less until no one has anything."

-Rich Galen

"The Social Security Trust Fund is misnamed. It cannot be trusted, and it is not funded."

-Former US Comptroller General David Walker

"President Obama signaled a change in U.S. policy toward the Third World Thursday in a U.N. speech. He said he intends to promote commerce and free trade with poor nations rather than just give them money. If it works there, he's going to try it here."

-Argus Hamilton

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LEFTIST WATCH

A coalition of liberal and leftist groups marched Saturday on the Lincoln Memorial and pledged to support Democrats struggling to keep power on Capitol Hill. But Saturday's crowds were less dense and didn't reach as far to the edges as they did during Glenn Beck's rally.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5icsuVv08fYW2-G7Ql3ysjyh4CkTgD9IJOTI81?docId=D9IJOTI81

More than a dozen peace activists in the Midwest will face a federal grand jury in Chicago in the next few weeks, in an investigation related to terrorism. The FBI searched the activists' homes last week, confiscating computers, photographs and other materials that the search warrants suggest could be evidence of "material support" of terrorist organizations.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130274688

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is calling for the left to take control over private industry. “We need to fundamentally restructure our economy and re-establish popular control over the private corporations.” (Can we call them “socialists” yet?)

http://biggovernment.com/jhoft/2010/09/27/afl-cio-prez-trumka-we-need-tore-establish-popular-control-over-private-corporations/#more-173725

The FBI and the U.S. Labor Department are investigating the former president of the Service Employees International Union “….officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about a six-figure book contract that Stern landed in 2006 and his role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who allegedly performed no work.”

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100928/D9IGVB000.html

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ISLAM

Nation of Islam leader minister Louis Farrakhan was among more than 100 American Muslim leaders to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week in New York, according to the organization's publication.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/2756918,CST-NWS-farrakhan29.article

An Iranian court sentenced the founder of one of the first Farsi-language blogs, credited with sparking the boom in Iranian reform bloggers, to more than 19 years in prison for his writings.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/28/AR2010092801521_pf.html

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BOOKS, FILES

“Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders” by Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy. “Make no mistake: Congressmen Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, and Kevin McCarthy are proud Republicans. But they believe the party had lost sight of the ideals it believes in, like economic freedom, limited government, the sanctity of life, and putting families first. This isn’t your grandfather’s Republican party….”

http://www.amazon.com/Young-Guns-Generation-Conservative-Leaders/dp/1451607342/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286068503&sr=1-1

“DUPES: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century” by Paul Kengor. In this startling, intensively researched book, bestselling historian Paul Kengor shines light on a deeply troubling aspect of American history: the prominent role of the “dupe.” From the Bolshevik Revolution through the Cold War and right up to the present, many progressives have unwittingly aided some of America’s most dangerous opponents.

http://www.amazon.com/DUPES-Americas-Adversaries-Manipulated-Progressives/dp/1935191756/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286068237&sr=8-1

“Pinheads and Patriots: Where You Stand in the Age of Obama” by Bill O'Reilly. “Regular viewers of "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox Television will be thrilled with this volume. As with his previous books it is easy reading, fair and balanced, and includes lots of Bill's famous, dry humor.”

http://www.amazon.com/Pinheads-Patriots-Where-Stand-Obama/dp/0061950718/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286068354&sr=1-1

A new line at HarperCollins, called Broadside Books, is dedicated to publishing titles of a conservative bent. It used to be that Regnery Publishing, based in Washington, practically had the conservative book market to itself. But even some of the biggest trade publishers decided years ago that it was foolish to overlook authors on the right, who have huge followings and regularly claim spots on the best-seller lists

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/harpercollins-to-start-conservative-imprint-broadside-books/?scp=6&sq=julie%20bosman&st=Search

Heritage Foundation presents: “We still hold these truths” If you want to get involved in the battle to restore constitutional government in the United States, an excellent step is to organize a reading group for the book “We Still Hold These Truths.”

http://www.insideronline.org/blogarchive.cfm?month=9&year=2010&blogid=54667A8F-9960-A6B3-A9A7F999EA314EDC

“It’s the film the teachers unions don’t want you to see. The revelatory documentary “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” opened Friday to parents’ cheers — and union howls. The film follows five families trying desperately to escape failing traditional public schools in favor of charter schools — and it profiles education reformers rebuilding a national school system that’s in ruins. It exposes how unions drag kids down into the swamp, spotlighting how bad teachers are passed from school to school and how all-but-automatic tenure allows even the worst teachers to stay on the job.”

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/superman_strikes_rOjgz9lxSQDQSo2hWpQiMI

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ACTIVISM

Kirby Wilbur: “Our November is Coming campaign plans on distributing voter education material in a number of legislative districts around the state by door dropping key precincts and calling voters. We cannot achieve success and change the destructive policies of Congress and the state legislature without you. It’s time to stop the talk and do the walk! Please, contact us today at afpwa2010@gmail.com and volunteer to help educate voters in these districts. This is the most important election in our lifetimes. Wake up the morning of Wednesday, November 3rd, knowing you made a difference.”

Bill Clinton traveled to Minnesota to campaign against Michelle Bachmann, calling her and the tea party “stupid”.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/103128109.html?elr=KArks:DCiUec7PaP3E77K_0c::D3aDhUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Help Michelle defend herself against Bill Clinton, make a contribution here:

https://www.bachmannforcongress.com/secure/donation1/?initiativekey=AL96AWNW0TFV

The Tea Party Express revealed details of its final bus tour for 2010, setting the stage for some of the final political battles ahead of midterm elections. The "Liberty at the Ballot Box." tour will begin Monday, October 18, making stops in 28 cities over 15 days. The bus tour will wrap up in Concord, New Hampshire, on Monday, November 1 -- one day before the midterm elections.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/09/28/tea.party.tour/index.html?section=cnn_latest

The anniversary of Che Guevara’s death is coming up. It’s October 9, a day that many celebrate the guerrilla fighter who helped Fidel Castro come to power and crusaded to bring communism to the other nations of Latin America. They forget that along the way Che Guevara murdered thousands of people. You can help remind them by celebrating October 9 as “No More Che Day,” a concept that the Young America’s Foundation is promoting to students on campus around the country. YAF has downloadable posters that will help remind people of Che’s victims.

http://www.yaf.org/eventdetails.aspx?id=4713

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GLOBALONEY

Most House Republicans envision killing Nancy Pelosi’s special global warming committee if they claw their way back into the majority this November. But one senior GOP lawmaker has another idea in mind: sweet revenge. Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner wants to keep the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming alive so it can investigate climate science and police President Barack Obama’s green policies.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42795.html

Al Gore heckled in Florida: “You are a fraud!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGe3yUtyJww

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ARTICLES

On Feb. 7, 2009, the cover of Newsweek magazine proclaimed, "We Are All Socialists Now." Since then, much has transpired, including the sale of Newsweek (the business entity) to the highest bidder for $1. Now, 1 1/2 years later, a more poignant cover story might be "We Are All Tea Partiers Now." The Tea Party is the leading edge of a "Great Awakening" in America…… The Tea Party movement represents a resounding declaration of the end of big, overreaching government.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/sep/30/we-are-all-tea-partiers-now/print/

Here's an exercise for some evening when you're curious about big nationwide trends in this year's elections. Get an outline map showing the 50 states and take a look at the latest poll averages in pollster.com in each race for senator and governor. Color in the percentage (rounded off; no need for tenths) by which either the Republican or Democratic candidate is leading in each state. The results are revealing, even breathtaking. The map of the Senate races shows Republicans leading over almost all the landmass of America.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Dems-retreat-to-coasts-as-GOP-rules-vast-interior-1034594-103959178.html#ixzz10sslA5cz

CATO’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2010. Four governors were awarded an "A" in this report card — Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Seven governors were awarded an "F" — Ted Kulongoski of Oregon, David Paterson of New York, Jodi Rell of Connecticut, Pat Quinn of Illinois, Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Bill Ritter of Colorado, and Chris Gregoire of Washington.

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=12173

“Well, it’s official: President Obama has destroyed my health plan and those of two dozen of my employees. Several media outlets are reporting this morning that Principal Financial, which sells health plans to the John Locke Foundation and nearly a million Americans, will exit the health-insurance marketplace. The company is responding to the new costs and incentives created by Obamacare…”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/248467/gee-thanks-mr-president-john-hood

The District of Columbia public school system spent almost $1.3 billion educating 45,858 students for the 2008-2009 school year. That works out to spending of $28,169 per student, slightly less than tuition at Harvard University. In 2007, 8 percent of DC eighth graders were able to do math at the eighth grade level. Clearly what’s needed is more money!

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/247989/liberalisms-greatest-failure-jonah-goldberg

A terrorist group bombs a police funeral? It must be some "patriots" upset about health care reform and our black president, or something. That, at least, is what some viewers took away from the season premiere of CBS's hit show "CSI

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/lachlan-markay/2010/09/28/cbs-justin-bieber-teaming-paint-tea-party-domestic-terrorists

A generation after Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made mastering neodymium and 16 other elements known as rare earths a priority, China now dominates the market. Just how far U.S. manufacturing has waned is apparent at a factory in Valparaiso, Indiana, where dogs skitter across a bare concrete shop floor, their nails clicking. This brick plant on Elm Street once made 80 percent of the rare-earth magnets in laser-guided U.S. smart bombs. In 2003, the plant’s owner shifted work to China, costing 230 jobs. Now the plant houses Coco’s Canine Cabana, a doggy day care.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-29/pentagon-losing-control-of-afghanistan-bombs-to-china-s-neodymium-monopoly.html

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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES

This photo will come back to haunt Hillary:

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//100916/ids_photos_wl/r2799749475.jpg/

The Heritage Foundation has issued its Solutions for America blueprint. “..identifies the nature and scope of our most pressing problems in 23 discrete policy areas, and recommends 128 specific policy prescriptions for Congress to consider.”

http://www.heritage.org/research/projects/solutions-for-america

Interesting maps that show the racial breakdown of America’s biggest cities

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315078/Race-maps-America.html#ixzz10k7cFBrp

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LATE NITE

Jay Leno: They now say the titanic sank because the captain had a big problem when he tried to turn way to the left. To which Obama said, “Tell me about it.”…..President Obama said he plans on training 10,000 new math and science teachers. How about teaching math to that economic team of his?.....Forbes has come out with its list of the richest 400 people in America. No. 1 was Bill Gates. No. 2 was Tiger Woods' wife.

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WISE WORDS

"We demand entire freedom of action and then expect the government in some miraculous way to save us from the consequences of our own acts.... Self-government means self-reliance."

-Calvin Coolidge

"There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him."

-Robert A. Heinlein

"Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people."

-Thomas Jefferson

"The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall."

- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 55 B.C.