Two Californias

Victor Davis Hanson  "Abandoned farms, Third World living conditions, pervasive public assistance -- welcome to the once-thriving Central Valley." 
"The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption."

Feds Take Over School Bake Sales

Judicial Watch  "The far-reaching tentacles of the bloated U.S. government will control a cherished public school fundraiser—the bake sale—under Michelle Obama’s precious new law to combat childhood obesity."

Thug Alert… Harry Reid: “We’re Not Through – Congress Ends on January 4″ (Video) Updated

Gateway Pundit  "“In the waning few days of the 111th Congress, the Democrats seem obsessed with forcing – just as they forced Obamacare down our unwilling throats – one monstrosity after another upon us… Permit me to state the obvious: These congressional leaders have nothing but contempt for you, for the Constitution and for common sense." Emphasis in the original.

Dems dump 2,000 page omnibus spending bill on Congress10 days before Christmas "Actually, Reid knows exactly what he's doing. He's flushing out the opposition, seeing how far they will go:..."  Rick Moran

Omnibus double whammy: The Dems’ lame-duck land grabs  "In a last-ditch lame duck push, eco-lobbyists have been furiously pressuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to pass a monstrous 327-page omnibus government lands bill crammed with more than 120 separate measures to lock up vast swaths of wilderness areas. Despite the time crunch, Senate Democrats in search of 60 votes are working behind the scenes to buy off green Republicans. House Democrats would then need a two-thirds majority to fast-track the bill to the White House before the GOP takes over on Jan. 5." Michelle Malkin

When the going gets tough...the tough get a stand in?

American Thinker  "To cede the Presidential podium to a stand-in while trying to feign concern over the pending tax legislation bill that had been proposed is cowardly. To walk away from that podium - to escape from that moment using the little woman as an excuse is abominable! We were given a front row seat to a President who felt his Christmas party with the Mrs. was more important than the potential tax increases that would face 100% of all Americans on January 1st."

Two Views on Afghanistan: Intel Agencies vs. the Military

Max Boot  "Just a day ahead of the official release of the administration’s Afghanistan review, someone has leaked the intelligence community’s assessment of the situation — which apparently is less optimistic than the military’s view. As the New York Times notes, part of the discrepancy is due to “the longstanding cultural differences between intelligence analysts, whose job is to warn of potential bad news, and military commanders, who are trained to promote ‘can do’ optimism.”"

Charles Krauthammer: Sarah Palin Must Expand Policy Knowledge

Mediaite  "Krauthammer compared Palin’s problem to Hillary Clinton’s in the late 1990s – strong support from her core base, virulent opposition from most others. O’Reilly asked if the level of opposition to Palin is the media’s fault, and while Krauthammer said they’ve “contributed enormously” and that “the animus to her is unprecedented,” he also allowed that “she is not practiced in policy” and that the infamous Katie Couric interview was “not a ‘gotcha’ interview.” According to Krauthammer, Palin’s growth in mastering policy issues will shape her fate:

I think if you want to expand your base, you have to get into policy even though it sounds dull.

School District Decides Christmas Tree Must Include Muslim & Jewish Symbols

Gateway Pundit  "District officials have implemented new holiday guidelines this year, after a controversy erupted at Bellview Elementary School last December over Principal Michelle Zundel’s removal of a holiday tree, because a family complained that it was a religious symbol. After dozens of parents and students protested the decision, Zundel replaced the tree, adding other winter decorations and allowing students to decorate the tree with symbols from their own religions. Emphasis added.

Like Dogs to Vomit, Media Matters Cleans Up Liberal Media Messes

Big Journalism  "The latest example of Media Matters’ vomit fetish is their defense of the attempted smear of Sarah Palin during her humanitarian trip to Haiti last weekend by the Associated Press and others as a hair-obsessed diva. The former Alaska governor, accompanied by her husband Todd and their eldest daughter Bristol, was a guest of the Rev. Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse."

Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich Actually Had The Rich Paying More Taxes

SayAnythingBlog  "In 2000, for instance, the top 1 percent of income earners paid 37.42 percent of all income taxes collected.
"In 2008, they paid 38.02 percent.
"That’s down a bit from the peak of 2007 and reflects the recession hitting.
"The bottom 50 percent of filers saw their share of the income tax burden fall from 3.91 percent to 2.7 percent.
"Two groups in the upper half of the income distribution made out, it seems: Folks coming in between between 10 percent and 25 percent of income and those between 25 percent and 50 percent. Each saw their share of total tax collected decline a bit (like the share of taxes paid, this reflects the recession)."
From Neal Boortz

Economic Academics



Angiecomics  "The Left is playing mathematical semantics. The argument is hiking tax rates versus maintaining them. There is no tax cut. No one is giving money to the rich. Forget class warfare. Take a person who can barely make ends meet every month. Come the new year, hike his taxes and he cannot make ends meet at all. This is bad. But keep his taxes the same and he continues to barely make ends meet. His situation does not improve. It is sustained.

If Congress does nothing, taxes go up. If Congress acts, taxes are maintained. Nothing changes, but hopefully things won't get worse. However to actually cut taxes by lowering current rates, would free up money. That person who barely makes ends meet every month can now meet his ends and perhaps pay off a loan, go on vacation or buy a Wii for everyone on his Christmas list. Cut taxes and the economy may improve.

President Obama is doing something very clever. By calling sustaining of the present tax rate a cut, he positions himself so when nothing improves he can say, "You see? I told you cutting taxes won't work! It makes things worse!" Just remember… there are no tax cuts."

International Scandal Revealed: Bristol Palin Fixes Strand of Sarah Palin’s Hair

Patterico's Pontifications  "If the media was unfair to Sarah Palin, it must show that Sarah Palin was being a big huge jerk to the media. Because, why else would the media be unfair to Sarah Palin??
"Here’s the problem. The sleuths at Free Republic figured out, based on clothing, that the “hairdresser” was Sarah’s daughter Bristol."....

"...That’s right: Bristol Palin was the hairdresser, simply fixing an out of place strand of hair on her mom’s head.

Which, of course, the photographer would have known. But deliberately chose not to reveal.

What media bias?"

The Ethanol Idiocy that Will Not Die

National Review  "In his wisdom, the Goracle recently acknowledged what almost all disinterested observers concluded long ago: Ethanol is a fraud. It has no environmental benefits, and harmful side effects. The subsidies that support its use are an object lesson in the incorrigibility of Washington’s gross special-interest politics. It is the monster that ate America’s corn crop."....
"But who cares about the facts? Once we have fired up a vast machine that from cornfield to distilleries produces 38 million gallons of ethanol a day, it will be nearly impossible to turn it off. Too many people will have a vested interest in continuing the scam, and its supporters — like Harkin and Grassley now — will always argue that any change is too disruptive. We’ll still be mandating ethanol long after the internal-combustion engine is obsolete"