Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Fed Looks to Spur Growth by Buying Government Debt

Bloomberg "Federal Reserve officials decided to reinvest principal payments on mortgage holdings into long-term Treasury securities, making their first attempt to bolster growth since March 2009 to keep the slowing U.S. economy from relapsing into recession."

National Review "...the 2 or 3 percent of the population with so much money they won’t even miss a few thousand bucks. The other 97 or 98 percent will feel no pain, and we’ll be able to call ourselves deficit hawks when all those billions start rolling in.”
"On paper, this strategy may look promising. But a close look at who will pay the tab, where they live, and who represents them on Capitol Hill suggests that this approach has some major political flaws."

The latest bailout for public unions and spendthrift states. "Witness yesterday's 247-161 largely party-line House vote to approve a Senate bill shovelling another $26.1 billion out to state education and Medicaid programs. The White House has promoted the bill as emergency assistance for strained state budgets. But this unique brand of therapy drives states to spend more, not less. The "assistance" is so expensive that several governors were begging for relief even before Mr. Obama signed it into law."

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

The Taliban Must Be Defeated, Not Accommodated

Max Boot "Two incidents in recent days underline the evil of the Taliban and suggest why it is impossible to reach an accommodation with them. First, of course, was the murder of 10 medical workers, including six Americans, who were selflessly providing eye care to indigent Afghans."

Schools Erase America From U.S. History

Phyllis Schlafly "The state of Arizona requires students to take a course in American history in order to graduate, but Ward said the course was actually not about U.S. history at all. He said it focused solely on the history of the Aztec people, which is the group to which Mexican-American activists ascribe their lineage.
"Others who have looked at the books used in these courses say they refer to Americans as "Anglos" or "Euroamericans" rather than as "Americans." The books do not recognize the U.S. as a country, but claim Arizona is part of "Aztlan, Mexico" (even though the Aztecs never lived in what is now the U.S.)."

GOP considers resolution to block lame duck session

Rick Moran  Of course, there is little to no chance of the gambit succeeding. The Democrats still have their 40 seat majority and will easily beat back the resolution. But the GOP is starting to make the case that if they succeed in taking over the House, it would be a slap in the face to voters if dozens of defeated Democratic lawmakers were to vote on issues for which the voters had just soundly rejected them for supporting."

 Republicans Ask ‘What Do I Do Now?’ You know the scene. In the 1972 movie The Candidate, the Redford character, having won the election, turns to his political consultant and asks, “What do I do now?”
"Many Republicans fear they will look as clueless as Redford. They entered this campaign cycle with little hope of winning congressional majorities. Now they have a good chance to do so in the House and an outside chance in the Senate." Michael Barone

JournoList update

Thomas Lifson "The known members of JournoList, a conspiracy to manipulate media coverage to favor leftist positions, now number 151. Which means that about 2/3 of the list remain covert operatives, still functioning without public knowledge of their membership. New additions are:
Amanda Marcotte


Karen Tumulty (often seen on cable news as a commentator)

Kevin Carey

James Fallows"

Iranians digging mass graves for our troops

Blackfive "The nice thing for them is that those will work just fine for their fellas the Israelis take out, in 3...2...1"  They know this video will make the American left quake in their boots. Er, sandals, that is

Teheran defies US Adm. Mike Mullen's contingency strike plan.  The US and Israel have said military force could be used if diplomacy fails to stop what they suspect is an Iranian nuclear weapons program.Jerusalem Post

Obama refuses letter on border security from Rick Perry

Hot Air "Assuming it was a snub, though, then the snubs are going both ways: Perry turned down an invitation for a high-level briefing from the National Security Council about the border because he “doesn’t need to meet with some more down-level staff people.” "

National debt is key 2010 campaign issue

Washington Examiner "...its sheer magnitude. In less than two years in the Oval Office, President Obama and the Democratic Congress led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have so increased federal spending that the national debt has skyrocketed from $9.3 trillion to $13.3 trillion. If the Obama-Reid-Pelosi policies remain in force, the debt will double to $26 trillion in a decade."

Friedman defends capitalism from another limousine liberal (video)

Neal Boortz "...But here's two and one-half minutes with Milton Friedman that didn't help Donahue all that much. Donahue slamming capitalism. Friedman defending. Have a look."

WHERE DO PEOPLE LIKE THIS COME FROM? "...the word "democrat" was an epithet which meant "one who panders to the whims of the masses." The answer to all of these questions will be a resounding "no." Much of the shredding of our constitution has been predicated on the will of the majority. We are quickly becoming a country of mob rule. Our schools could have been a positive source in instilling an appreciation for the concept of the rule of law in our children. Instead our teachers have been stooges of politicians intent on promoting the rule of the mob."

Economics illustrated


Monday, August 9, 2010

Democrats Bite Democrats , Parts one and two by Thomas Sowell

Democrats Bite Democrats "Their op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal dealt with race, and it pulled no punches: "Rather than being a unifier, Mr. Obama has divided America on the basis of race, class and partisanship. Moreover, his cynical approach to governance has encouraged his allies to pursue a similar strategy of racially divisive politics on his behalf.""

Democrats Bite Democrats: Part II "When you take money from the taxpayers and spend it to rescue the jobs of one set of workers-- your union political supporters, in this case-- what does that do to the demand for the jobs of other workers, whose products taxpayers would have bought with the money you took away from them? There is no net economic gain to the country from this, though there may well be political gains for the administration from having rescued their UAW supporters."