op ed review 4/15
THIS WEEK’S NEWS
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum suspended his campaign on Tuesday, clearing Mitt Romney’s path to the Republican presidential nomination.
The real race begins now. “The millions of dollars that were used to undermine Santorum can now be transferred to what really matters: fighting Barack Obama. The Obama-Romney fight opens with the president enjoying a reasonable – if not commanding – lead in the opinion polls. The latest Real Clear Politics polling average has Obama on 48.5pc, while Romney follows on 43.2pc. This is based on national polling of likely voters in November. This is important, but nowhere near as important as the specific polls that focus on the dozen or so battleground states where the election will be decided. Their names have a familiar ring: Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, to name a few.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/mikesmithson/100149840/the-real-race-begins-romney-v-obama/
In a Fox News Poll, Republican Mitt Romney holds a slim edge over President Obama in a head-to-head matchup. In addition, the poll finds the president’s job rating has dropped to its lowest point of the year.
During an interview in St Louis, “Obama Hammered for 'Jetting Around,' Taking Vacations While Americans Suffer”
How democrats view women: Democratic strategist and DNC adviser insults Ann Romney, suggesting that the 64-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 16 “never worked a day in her life.” After the blowback, democrats are doing damage control.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/debuts-on-twitter-to-counter-dnc-advisors-insult/
“As the smoking wreckage of the Democrats’ dumb “War on Women” narrative tumbles from the sky, we can at least enjoy some of the goofier attempts by the terrified White House to distance itself from close advisor and frequent visitor Hilary Rosen, who just became one of America’s most toxic political consultants.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50812
“The U.S. tax code is insane and out of control. It's tripled in a decade. It now runs to 3.8 million words. To put that in context, William Shakespeare only needed 900,000 words to say everything he had to say.”
http://www.smartmoney.com/taxes/income/10-things-i-hate-about-tax-day-1334094821191/#printMode
Your tax bill this year is a lie. You're only seeing about two-thirds of the full cost of government services. Really. Taxes are $2.3 trillion. Government spending is $3.6 trillion. The rest is being put on the national credit card. …..Deficits are just future taxes. According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, "Tax Freedom Day" falls on April 17 this year -- but "Deficit Day," which includes the full bill, won't come for another month.
http://www.smartmoney.com/taxes/income/10-things-i-hate-about-tax-day-1334094821191/#printMode
Gov. Chris Christie warned an audience of national Republicans that the country is in danger of becoming a "paternalistic entitlement society" where people sit on the couch, "waiting for the next government check."
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/04/gov_christie_nation_is_becomin.html
Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that President Obama is creating a “government-centered society” that will lead to the “decline” of America unless the federal government changes its current fiscal policy.
Obama Administration: “Tax Cuts Work in China, Just Not in the U.S”
The government spent $205,075 in 2010 to “translocate” a single bush in San Francisco that stood in the path of a $1.045-billion “shovel ready” stimulus project. The bush—a Franciscan manzanita—was a specimen of a commercially cultivated species of shrub that can be purchased from nurseries for as little as $15.98 per plant.
This week, the Obama administration quietly released $1.5 billion in foreign aid to the new Egyptian government, now dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood. Administration officials have absurdly portrayed the Brothers as “secular” and “moderate,” although the organization, from its founding in the 1920s, has never retreated an inch from its professed mission to establish Islam’s global hegemony.
http://lonelyconservative.com/2012/04/obama-gives-1-5-billion-to-egypt-and-the-muslim-brotherhood/
“A photo of Obama’s reelection “army” reveals a stunning lack of diversity……the “army of twenty-somethings” campaign manager Jim Messina has assembled in the president’s hometown is almost uniformly white..”
http://freebeacon.com/minority-report/
President Obama is coming to Detroit for a $1 million pizza party being thrown for him compliments of Denise Ilitch, daughter of Little Caesars’ founders Mike and Marian Ilitch. The price of admission isn’t for those on a budget. $40,000 buys access to the cocktail reception, formal photo with Obama and dinner.
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/04/09/president-obamas-1-million-pizza-party-in-detroit/
What world does she live in? According to veteran journalist Barbara Walters, the American public doesn't know whether "most" reporters are "Republicans or Democrats." The unbelievable claim came during a View segment on the passing of 60 Minutes journalist Mike Wallace. Walters, who once recoiled at the prospect of the "scary" Sarah Palin becoming President, insisted, "But, most of us...you don't know whether we're Republicans or Democrats or exhibitionists." (Exhibitionists?)
The Supermax prison in Colorado where the most dangerous criminals in America are incarcerated provides prisoners with more generous services and activities than do most prisons in Europe, admits the European Court of Human Rights, to their surprise.
Mike Huckabee faces off against Rush Limbaugh on the airwaves. Huckabee’s three-hour show will debut on nearly 200 stations, lining up right alongside Limbaugh on the 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. time slot from Monday to Friday.
“So anxious is the federal government to give away money to lower income people (up to $49k!) that it is buying expensive full page advertising in magazines like Sports Illustrated urging people to take advantage of the "Earned Income Tax Credit" (EITC) program. In the ad reproduced below, the fed show pennies raining down from heaven (get it? pennies from heaven), so that poor people merely need to put out a vessel of some sort to catch the money.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/04/yippee_free_government_money_come_and_get_it.html
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Henry Olsen 4/6
The Pew Research Center released a study in December showing that more Americans age 18 to 29 have a favorable view of socialism over capitalism. In fact, this demographic has a net positive view of socialism (49 percent positive to 43 percent negative) and net negative view of capitalism (46 percent positive and 47 percent negative). When Pew released an earlier version of the same study two years ago, this demographic’s views on socialism were exactly the opposite (43 percent positive and 49 percent negative).
Clearly, more than one’s college education goes into one’s opinions on economic systems. But just as clearly, few would deny that a college graduate’s opinions are shaped during his or her four years at college - that’s why they’re called the formative years. So when we engage in a spirited debate about the liberal dominance of college, let’s also remember that there are real-world consequences to this imbalance within academia.
For the 18-to-29-year-olds who have a favorable opinion of socialism, what else does that tell us about them? Can one view socialism favorably and still believe in America’s democratic free-market system? Would these young adults be able to articulate why the social democratic states of Europe and around the world failed to keep pace with the United States in the latter half of the 20th century?
This is the dilemma that confronts a nation whose youths don’t understand or appreciate what underlies our prosperity. The recent Occupy Wall Street protests presented the perfect irony of this generation and its confusion. While decrying the evils of capitalism, the protesters organized their marches via social networks and mobile devices that were the products of capitalism. No government agency or grant created Twitter or the iPhone.
Without a firm background in the benefits of the free market, these same Americans will grow up not only ignorant of much of what makes America great, but supportive of policies that will undermine our greatness. This is not a partisan issue. A generation that is unaware of its nation’s founding principles - freedom, limited government and the free market - is a generation that could lose them.
Despite decades of calling out the problem, conservatives have yet to make a serious dent in the left’s dominance of academia. This likely won’t change anytime soon. Which means this summer, when students are home for summer break, it’s up to parents to arm them not only with the knowledge of what awaits them on campus, but also with the intellectual curiosity to seek answers elsewhere. Otherwise, parents might learn firsthand what Mr. Santorum meant about “indoctrination mills.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/6/dangers-of-academias-indoctrination-mills/
Another good read: “Who is this guy pretending to be president?”
“Has anyone seen Barack Obama recently? You know, the optimistic hopeful fellow with the charming smile who promised so many positive things four and five years ago, how he was going to change the harsh, partisan tone of our nation's capital and bring the country together as its first African American president…Where did that Obama go? Have you listened recently to this Chicago Doppelganger who's replaced him? This 2012 Obama is strident and mean, even deceitful, divisive, telling half-truths after half-truths. He's using Air Force One as his personal Brinks truck with wings to collect cash all over the country, disguising the trips as official. He tries to intimidate the Supreme Court, an equal branch of government, when its thinking might stray from his….He chastises House Republicans for their draconian budget when his Senate Democrats haven't written a single one in three years; so, the fiscal drift abides….Obama claims credit for the bottom half of a pipeline he had nothing to do with, when he killed the top half. He brags that domestic oil drilling is up when the part he's responsible for is down. He says no one should ever go to Las Vegas on the taxpayer's dime. Then his wife, daughters and entourage do just that. This year's Obama talks of the importance of windmills, algae and green energy, but he takes a 17-SUV motorcade to a photo op with an electric car. He lambasts oil companies for getting the same legal tax incentives (he calls them "subsidies") that other companies receive, hoping to aim anger at them so voters won't notice that gas prices have doubled since his inauguration……But without real presidential leadership, Obama's hand-picked harpie atop the Democratic National Committee feels empowered to assign a hired gun to dismiss his opponent's wife, the cancer-surviving mother of five sons, as someone who's never worked a day in her life. Are they that scared already? Obama is the guy who said his own wife was off limits politically…..But a woman who stays at home with her kids at no public expense can be trashed because of her party?....We were never exactly fond of the Original Obama. But we'd take him any day over the twilight character that inhabits the Oval Office now.”
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FROM OTHER COLUMNS
"Sixty-one percent of debt issued by the Treasury is bought by the Federal Reserve -- which is to say the left hand of the U.S. Government is lending money to the right hand of the US Government. ... Nonetheless, in a land where every mewling babe in the American nursery is born with a debt burden of just under $200,000, the president brags that only his party is 'compassionate' to have no plan whatsoever even to attempt to do anything about this, no way, no how, not now, not ever."
-Mark Steyn
"I am instinctively skeptical whenever self-proclaimed environmentalists start pontificating. In part, this is because everyone has an incentive to exaggerate. The business community will always say that a new regulation imposes astronomically high costs, while environmentalists will claim minimal costs and say that thousands of premature deaths will be averted. Since exaggeration is omnipresent in Washington, that's not what really bothers me. My main problem with environmentalists is that they want to use so-called green issues to give government more power. And if you oppose them, you're an evil person."
-Daniel J. Mitchell
"Last week, President Obama warned that if the Supreme Court stops Congress from forcing Americans to buy government-approved health insurance, it will be imposing restrictions on federal power of a sort not seen since the early 1930s, the late 1920s, 1905 or 1789. ... The main point is that Republicans, who want the court to overturn the health insurance mandate, are trying to undo the New Deal. Obama made a similar claim regarding the House Budget Committee's recently unveiled fiscal plan, which he called 'thinly veiled social Darwinism,' 'an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country' and 'antithetical to our entire history.' In truth, however, neither the constitutional constraints nor the budgetary tinkering advocated by the Republicans would make the federal government any smaller than it is now. I wish they were half as radical as the president portrays them."
-Jacob Sullum
"In 1996 Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act by huge bipartisan votes -- 342 to 67 in the House and 85 to 14 in the Senate. President Bill Clinton signed the measure into law. Now, the Obama administration says DOMA, which permits states to refuse to recognize gay marriages from other states and also creates a federal definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, is unconstitutional. ... 'I'm confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,' Obama said Monday about the arguments over Obamacare before the nation's highest court. The danger presented in the health care case, the president continued, is that 'an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law.' ... If the president was so concerned about a court overturning a duly constituted law passed by a democratically elected Congress, why was he urging a small group of unelected judges to strike down DOMA, a measure that won passage by a far greater margin than Obamacare? The answer is, of course, that the administration is making a political argument for its positions, not a legal one. ... [T]he timing of the arguments over Obamacare and DOMA has revealed the flexibility of the administration's arguments over constitutionality. And the flap over Obama's remarks is just a preview of what is coming when the court issues its decision on Obamacare this June."
-Byron York
"One of the highly developed talents of President Barack Obama is the ability to say things that are demonstrably false, and make them sound not only plausible but inspiring. ... Now there are different kinds of liars. If we must have lying Presidents of the United States, I prefer that they be like Richard Nixon. You could just look at him and tell that he was lying. But Obama is much smoother. On this and on many other issues, you would have to know what the facts are to know that he is lying. He is obviously counting on the fact that, in this era of dumbed-down education, many people have no clue as to what the facts are. He is also counting on something else -- namely, that the pro-Obama media will not expose his lies. One of the many ways of lying smoothly is to simply redefine words. Barack Obama is a master at that as well. ... It would be hard to become nostalgic about Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign in disgrace. But at least you could tell when he was lying. Obama's lies are just as big but not as visible, and the media that exposed Nixon is covering for Obama."
-Thomas Sowell
"There's a real war on women.... And it's been going on for decades. Our friend Steven Mosher first discovered this war on women in China three decades ago. Steven was a Stanford University Ph.D. student doing graduate research in rural China. ... What he discovered was that Chinese women got no choice. If they had a second child -- an 'illegal' child -- these women could be rounded up, thrown in the back of a two-ton truck, and carted off to the local infirmary. There, they could even be held down and forcibly aborted. ... With such brutal policies in effect limiting Chinese couples to only one child, the rural Chinese felt further pressure to make sure that child was a boy. That's because sons are the only social 'safety net' for hundreds of millions of Chinese. ... President Obama would have us believe that there is some kind of war on women, just in time for his re-election effort. But he is the one who made sure that China's monstrous population effort would be fully supported by the UN Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA). Two days after assuming power, President Obama revoked the Reagan-era Mexico City policy of the previous administration. He forces us to fund international Planned Barrenhood. That means that the world-wide war on baby girls will go forward, with U.S. taxpayers footing part of the bill."
-Ken Blackwell & Bob Morrison
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LEFTIST WATCH
George Clooney is hosting a $40,000 a plate fundraiser for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
http://www.etonline.com/news/120685_Exclusive_George_Clooney_to_Host_Obama_Fundraiser/index.html
On Tuesday, Rep. Allen West spoke at a town hall in Florida. During his appearance, he told the crowd he’s “heard” that up to 80 House Democrats are members of the Communist Party. This started quite a debate on some news blogs, everything from “only 80?” to “this makes us look like extremists”.
http://lucianne.com/thread/?artnum=675134
He probably should have said socialists: “Simply Google "Democratic Socialists + US Congress" and you'll come up with an 'old' list from Aug.10 2008 that lists 70 Members of the US Congress.”
He may have been referring to members of the House Progressive Caucus, which number about 80..
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GLOBALONEY
In an unprecedented slap at NASA’s endorsement of global warming science, nearly 50 former astronauts and scientists--including the ex-boss of the Johnson Space Center--claim the agency is on the wrong side of science and must change course or ruin the reputation of the world’s top space agency. Challenging statements from NASA that man is causing climate change, the former NASA executives demanded in a letter to Administrator Charles Bolden that he and the agency “refrain from including unproven remarks” supporting global warming in the media. “We feel that NASA’s advocacy of an extreme position, prior to a thorough study of the possible overwhelming impact of natural climate drivers is inappropriate,” they wrote. “At risk is damage to the exemplary reputation of NASA, NASA’s current or former scientists and employees, and even the reputation of science itself.” The letter was signed by seven Apollo astronauts, a deputy associate administrator, several scientists, and even the deputy director of the space shuttle program. NASA had no immediate comment.
Not yet two years after the Department of Energy awarded $43 million in loan guarantees for Beacon Power’s energy storage plant, government attorneys are calling the bankrupt solar company and its affiliates little more than “empty shells” benefiting lawyers and other bankruptcy professionals.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/9/feds-call-bankrupt-solar-firm-an-empty-shell/
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THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Ann Coulter “fighting the last war” “Liberal Republicans always lose. Because he is not a liberal, Romney stands a good chance of beating Obama this fall. But if the fantasist posers keep turning this presidential race into their personal "Dungeons and Dragons" battle against "moderates," Romney's victory will go into the "Liberal Wins" column, when it is anything but.”
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50786
Conservatives shouldn’t fret about the politics of their nearly-presumptive nominee. Mitt Romney will most certainly govern as one of them. He’s guaranteed to — for the exact reason they think he won’t. If Romney really is the political animal his detractors on the right suspect him to be, he’ll shape his presidency with a single goal: Winning a second term. To do that, he will need to make sure there is no running room on his right for someone to launch a primary challenge.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75012.html
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ARTICLES
“Is Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate a forgery? Definitely yes, for those of us who have spent a lifetime writing and producing technical documents, and who remember how they were produced in pre-computer days, and who have the technical expertise today to produce them using computers. For us, it's been an "open secret" that the document image released by the White House on April 27, 2011 is a complete fake.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/oblivious_to_the_obvious.html
In a new video provided to Breitbart.com, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas demonstrates why AG Eric Holder should stop attacking voter ID laws--by walking into Holder’s voting precinct and showing the world that anyone can obtain Eric Holder’s primary ballot. Literally. The video shows a young man entering a Washington, DC polling place at 3401 Nebraska Avenue, NW, on primary day of this year--April 3, 2012--and giving Holder’s name and address. The poll worker promptly offers the young man Holder’s ballot to vote. The young man then suggests that he should show his ID; the poll worker, in compliance with DC law, states: “You don’t need it. It’s all right. As long as you’re in here, you’re on our list, and that’s who you say you are, you’re okay.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/08/DC-Polling-Place-Holder-Ballot
The mainstream media narrative on Zimmerman - Martin: “Once upon a time, a nice young man set off from his dad's fiancée's home before the NBA All-Star game to buy some Skittles and Arizona Tea for his stepbrother. Although the lad was seventeen, he looked like a cute twelve-year-old. Along came a burly ex-con racist vigilante who didn't like the idea of a young African-American male walking around his gated community at night. The cop-wannabe stalked the frightened boy, cornered him, and then shot him. But the racist police didn't arrest the murderer. The conscience of the nation was stirred. Protests erupted from coast to coast. The gunning down of young, unarmed black males by white Rambos -- and the occasional "white Hispanic" -- is an all-too-common occurrence in the US of A….”
“Obama has Forrest Gumped his way through his presidency, except without the success, charm, and endearing sweetness of the original. He has given America three and a half years of farce, even if no one is laughing…… In less than four years, he has reduced America to the laughingstock of the world. We are threatened by Iran with nuclear Armageddon, while he lines up a putt and tells us what his imaginary son would look like.”
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/04/obama_as_farce.html#ixzz1rl4B4bK2
“It appears I struck a nerve a couple of weeks ago with “Texas vs. California: Why so many people are moving from the Golden State to the Lone Star State.” My point was simple: California is often a trendsetter in the realm of left-wing policymaking, while Texas legislators keep their government small. The results speak for themselves…”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/295422/texas-vs-california-revisited-chuck-devore
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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
The Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee will release this chart later today, clearly showing that America's debt is greater than the combined debt of the entire Eurozone and the U.K.:
10 Things I Hate About Tax Day
http://www.smartmoney.com/taxes/income/10-things-i-hate-about-tax-day-1334094821191/#printMode
7 Devastating Facts About the Obama Economy
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/04/09/7-devastating-facts-about-the-obama-economy
The RNC is out with a new video this morning called “From ‘Hope’ to Hypocrisy.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvwBBjZo87g
New Breitbart posters:
http://iamandrewbreitbart.spreadshirt.com/shop/designs
Don’t tease the frog:
http://www.youtube.com/v/WlEzvdlYRes
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LATE NITE:
Leno: Best Buy announced they will close 50 stores in the United States while opening 50 new stores in China at the same time. Remember the old days when we just sent the jobs overseas? Now we're sending the whole store.
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WISE WORDS
"One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results."
-Milton Friedman
"I have no respect for the passion of equality, which seems to me merely idealizing envy -- I don't disparage envy but I don't accept it as legitimately my master."
-Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
-Benjamin Franklin
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