New Plastic Bag Tax Coming to a Store Near You

photo: ricketyclick.com

Heritage  "This is just the latest effort by the radical environmental left to punish their fellow citizens who are merely trying to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis. In D.C., residents and visitors have been dealing with a careless and unnecessary nickel tax on bags for two years now imposed by the City Councilman Tommy Wells (D)* and the leftist Anacostia Watershed Society.

* Emphasis added

Gates Outlines ‘Don’t Ask’ Repeal Process

GlobalSecurity.org  "At a Pentagon news conference with Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gates updated reporters on the department’s plan for implementing repeal of the so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, which has been in effect since 1993 and remains in effect until the process is complete.
"“Our goal here is to move as quickly, but as responsibly, as possible,” Gates said. “I see this as a three-step process. The first is to finalize changes in regulations [and] policies [and] get clearer definition on benefits.”"
One could be somewhat more comfortable with this if the movement did not have as it's main support those who "loathe the military" (to quote Bill Clinton).

Gardening Grandma Arrested for Failure to Prune

Overcriminalized.com  "On April 3, 2002, Kay Leibrand* surrendered to the police. She was fingerprinted. They took her mug shots. The 61-year old grandmother and software engineer was told that she had broken the law. She might go to jail or perhaps she would get off with just a fine. On May 30, 2002, she was arraigned. Her crime was allowing street-side xylosma bushes to grow more than two feet high."
Palo Alto; Pelosi/Democrat country.

etsy.com game pieces

*Kay Leibrand's website;  "In the last few years it has become increasingly common for schools to institute a "zero tolerance" policy against students possessing weapons, real or replicas, at school. It is a reasonable attempt to ensure the safety and the perceived safety of school staff and students. Often the penalty for a student who is found to have a weapon is suspension or expulsion. One particular case was in the national news. A student was found carrying a piece from the game Clue. It was a gun! The principal acted quickly and following the weapon policy to the letter, sent the student home."
Clue game pieces pictured; see the gun?

Mike Luckovich on Mark Twain

http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/

Issa to business: Tell me what to fix

Politico ""Is there something that we can do to try to ease that [regulatory] burden and stimulate job creation?" he added. "Is there a pattern emerging? Is there a consistent practice or regulation that hurts jobs? Until you have all the facts, you really can't make a lot of determinations and judgments."

"At the same time, Issa is getting his cue from and a voice to a chorus of largely disgruntled industry groups and companies that have collectively groaned about regulations in the pipeline and on the books."

Obamacare Waivers Go To Allies

Judicial Watch  "In the latest of many scandals to rock the administration that promised change and a new level of transparency, a disproportionately high number of Obamacare waivers are being granted to the president’s allies in a secretive process."

ObamaCare Rewards Friends, Punishes Enemies "In a speech at the University of Iowa last March, the president heralded health-care reform as "a new set of rules that treats everybody honestly and treats everybody fairly." Determining whether that is true will be another task for House Republicans. They have an obligation to look into this matter, and Mr. Obama can hardly object. It was former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, whom the president frequently quotes, who wrote in 1913 that sunlight "is the best of disinfectants."" Karl Rove

Repeal Doesn’t Increase the Deficit

Heritage  "Only someone so out of touch with reality that they could claim that “deficit reduction” has been their “highest priority” while simultaneously adding more than $1 trillion a year to the debt could possibly claim that repealing Obamacare would add to the debt. But that is exactly what Pelosi wants us to believe. Also on Tuesday she claimed that repealing Obamacare would do “very serious violence to the national debt and deficit.” Nothing could be further from the truth."

OBAMACARE AND THE DEFICIT .. WHO IS RIGHT?? 

Democrats and the CBO's ObamaCare numbers  "The crucial thing to understand is that the CBO is just a calculator: It only adds and subtracts the numbers Congress gives it. For example, a bill -- to be called ObamaCare -- that has $857 billion in expenses over the first ten years; approximately $500 billion in tax increases, in addition to approximately $500 billion in Medicare cuts over the same period, will give you a savings of $143 billion. This is what the CBO tells you. However, the CBO will not be there to make sure that the planned Medicare cuts indeed take place or that the tax increases will be enacted."

The Bill of Rights and the reading of the Constitution

Archives.gov via Constituting America  "Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Here, in exalted and unforgettable phrases, Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people. The political philosophy of the Declaration was not new; its ideals of individual liberty had already been expressed by John Locke and the Continental philosophers. What Jefferson did was to summarize this philosophy in "self-evident truths" and set forth a list of grievances against the King in order to justify before the world the breaking of ties between the colonies and the mother country."

Slate’s Shot At Constitutionalists Misses The Mark … Again  "With typical hyperbole of which liberals are so adept at accusing  conservatives, Ms. Lithwick goes on to label the interest in the document around which the framework of this entire nation was constructed as a “fetish.” "



The Mohammed Cartoon Dust Has Not Settled

STRATFOR  "Every year STRATFOR publishes a forecast of the jihadist movement for the coming year. As we were working on that project for this year, we were struck by the number of plots in 2010 that involved the cartoon controversy — and by the number of those plots that had transnational dimensions, rather than plots that involved only local grassroots operatives."

Jihadism in 2010: The Threat Continues   "The al Qaeda core is comprised of Osama bin Laden and his small circle of close, trusted associates, such as Ayman al-Zawahiri. Due to intense pressure by the U.S. government and its allies, this core group has been reduced in size since 9/11 and remains relatively small because of operational security concerns. This insular group is laying low in Pakistan near the Afghan border and comprises only a small portion of the larger jihadist universe."

Mike Luckovich on Boehner, Obama

http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/

PASSING OF THE GAVEL

Nealz Nuze  "These versions are so much better."

http://terrellaftermath.com/

http://townhall.com/cartoons/michaelramirez

Don't stop me now, I'm on a roll here:



Gary Varvel, Newsbusters

 

Why Our Best Officers Are Leaving

The Atlantic  "Why is the military so bad at retaining these people? It’s convenient to believe that top officers simply have more- lucrative opportunities in the private sector, and that their departures are inevitable. But the reason overwhelmingly cited by veterans and active-duty officers alike is that the military personnel system—every aspect of it—is nearly blind to merit."

"Performance evaluations emphasize a zero-defect mentality, meaning that risk-avoidance trickles down the chain of command. Promotions can be anticipated almost to the day— regardless of an officer’s competence—so that there is essentially no difference in rank among officers the same age, even after 15 years of service. Job assignments are managed by a faceless, centralized bureaucracy that keeps everyone guessing where they might be shipped next."