Charles Krauthammer: Free-lunch egalitarianism

Charles Krauthammer  "As an approach to our mountain of debt, the Buffett Rule is a farce. And yet Obama repeated the ridiculous claim again this week. “It will help us close our deficit.” Does he really think we’re that stupid?"
...."Clever politics, but in terms of economics, it’s worse than useless. It’s counterproductive. The reason Buffett and Mitt Romney pay roughly 15 percent in taxes is that their income is principally capital gains. The Buffett Rule is, in fact, a disguised tax hike on capital gains. But Obama prefers to present it as just an alternative minimum tax because 50 years of economic history show that raising the capital gains tax backfires: It reduces federal revenue, while lowering the tax raises revenue."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/04/13/98261

Latest posts on Zimmerman-Martin-Sharpton

Boortz: Prosecutor seemed to really be into this 15-minutes of fame thing.  "I’ve heard from people who know them that that Treyvon’s mom and dad are really good people.  But that image of Al Sharpton standing next to them last night was, to say the least, disgusting.  Al Sharpton is drenched in the blood of Crown Heights and Freddy’s Fashion Mart.  He is a vile, disgusting race hustler.  A question for you:  Have you ever seen Sharpton standing glumly next to the mother of a young black man killed by another young black man?  That happens, you know, but have you ever seen Al Sharpton in that picture? " 

The New Black Panthers’ Unpunished Threats   "This is the same Al Sharpton who has led several rallies against Zimmerman, in which he called for civil disobedience and an “occupation” of Sanford, Fla., where the shooting occurred, if an arrest wasn’t made."

"It is exceedingly strange for Holder to praise the likes of Al Sharpton and bring him greetings from President Obama. But it is even stranger that Holder should pledge to the Sharpton activists that he will take appropriate federal action against any civil-rights crime, while he appears completely uninterested in the ugly forces calling for violence against George Zimmerman."

Affidavit: Zimmerman did not use racial slur  "It is not clear what effect the affidavit's conclusion will have on the federal investigation. Martin was black. Zimmerman's father is white and his mother is Hispanic."

CNS News: D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Praises Al Sharpton for ‘Making Social Justice a Reality’

“And we certainly did not have the likes of Reverend Al, whose megaphone with a television attached to it has been able to bring finally the beginnings of justice for Trayvon Martin,” she said.

The Rosen-Romney kerfuffle goes viral (Updated)

Let's see, what is out there today on this?
American Thinker:
Damage already done: Too late for Obama to distance himself from Rosen   "I've said before that if the conversation on election day is about contraception, abortion, or GOP "extremists," Obama wins.
"But if the conversation is about the economy, Obama loses - and may lose big. Rosen's remarks have turned the conversation away from Obama's distractions and squarely back in the economic sphere."

The Class War The Hilary Rosens Are Waging is Far from 'Faux'  "Thus many American women are asking Debbie Wassserman-Shultz and the Obama election team to address real women's concerns and spare us the Piqued on Parade trying to drum up a class war."

Stay at home moms not all 'rich': US Census


Hilary Rosen's and NOW's Karma Ate Their Dogma  "One of the last callers to Rush Limbaugh's show yesterday was a woman who asked a great question: If the Democrats can criticize Mrs. Romney for not working outside the home (and Ann Romney has MS and is a cancer survivor as well), then why don't the Democrats criticize women on welfare for not working outside the home?"  (Emphasis added)
Let me repeat that last, only this time in bold red:

"...why don't the Democrats criticize women on welfare for not working outside the home?"

Reviving the Mommy Wars  "What was it both Barbara Bush and Jacqueline Kennedy said?  If you fail at being a mother to your children, nothing else matters."


Conservative Black Chick : It’s Time for Women to Reject Feminism and Kiss Peter Pan Goodbye  "The time has come for women who believe in traditional gender roles to give Peter Pan the heave hoe and tell him don’t come knocking again until you’re wearing your man shoes and pants."


Hot Air:  NOW president: Ann Romney lacks “life experience” and “imagination” to relate to most Americans   " NOW President Terry O’Neill ignores the First Rule of Holes (stop digging!) and provides another cycle for Republicans to defend Ann Romney and stay-at-home moms."

"Stick around to the end to see Rep. Maxine Waters keep it classy by calling the presumptive Republican nominee “Mitt Rot-ney,” but O’Neill is the real show here.  Once again, we get to see the professional Left’s utter disdain for women who chose to stay home with their children rather than work in the workplace. "

Jennifer Rubin:  Hilary Rosen on ‘Meet the Press’? Seriously.  "Going on “Meet the Press” is, to say the least, a risky move for the president and Rosen’s reputation. It will also be an interesting test for “Meet the Press” host David Gregory. Will he grill Rosen or ease her way in managing her damage control? Will her ask her how many times she visited the White House and on what matters she advised the president? We’ll have to watch and find out." Bear in mind that this will be NBC; keep expectations low.


Big Government: Questions arise over Rosen's role in the furor surrounding the Sandra Fluke incident.  Via Lucianne.


Don Surber : It is that she is Missus Romney  "Liberals want to transform marriage into something that is not marriage. Liberals want to transform American society and they have done so by replacing every American institution." Daily Mail

National Review Online
Gender Hysteria/ If Romney wins the argument over the economy, he wins the election.
"If Romney’s vision for the country’s future is compelling enough, the women’s vote will take care of itself." Rich Lowry

Ann Romney

Michelle Malkin:  Real Moms of the GOP  "President Obama never met a payroll in his life, but that hasn’t stopped him from dictating what business owners across the country should and shouldn’t be doing. But I digress."



Who Is Hilary Rosen? Crass? Gilded? Stern?   "The AP reported that her meetings were primarily about promoting Obama’s health-care-reform plan, suggesting that she can take a share of the credit for the popularity and public trust that the Obamacare law enjoys today"


The Economics of Ann Romney "The Romneys, who are notably charitable people, have given away far more money than Mrs. Romney probably would have earned in a career that would be considered by most of us wildly successful and highly paid."

http://www.tobytoons.com/td/

Update: Obama Mega-Donor Bill Maher Attacks Ann Romney: “She Has Never Gotten Her A** Out Of The House To Work At 7AM”…

This and more Maher opinions here.


Debbie Wasserman Schultz on appearing with Maher on his show:

Does the left and their media not understand economics at all?

 President of the Twilight Zone ; Obama’s rhetoric on the budget deficit is not grounded in reality.

"And, of course, what presidential speech would be complete without a denunciation of Ryan for wanting to “end Medicare as we know it.” The president’s rhetoric raises the specter of seniors being wheeled out of their hospital beds tomorrow morning. But Ryan has not proposed any changes to the program for current recipients. It is true, of course, that Ryan would restructure Medicare for those under age 55 to give recipients a choice between the traditional program and a voucher that would allow them to purchase private insurance. But, his plan, drafted together with Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, hardly slashed Medicare spending — in 2022, it would spend just $21 billion less than the president’s budget. 

"The president manages to leave out his own proposal for Medicare, which is to have an unelected 15-member board further reduce payments to physicians. Even Medicare’s own actuaries warn that those cutbacks could lead to hospital closures and reductions in access to care or the quality of care."

...."In reality, his proposed tax increases fall on families and small businesses earning as little as $250,000 per year. In fact, according to economists Kevin Hassett and Alan Viard, “fully 48% of the net income of sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations” would be subject to the president’s tax hike.”   (Emphasis added)

http://terrellaftermath.com/

Catholic bishops issue 'call to action' on religious freedom

The Hill   ""We need … to speak frankly with each other when our freedoms are threatened. Now is such a time," the document says. "As Catholic bishops and American citizens, we address an urgent summons to our fellow Catholics and fellow Americans to be on guard, for religious liberty is under attack, both at home and abroad.""....
"The church leadership's relationship with the Obama administration hit new lows after the administration announced in January that employers would have to offer birth control without co-pays under President Obama's healthcare reform law.
But the ACLU takes issue on this and this is their position:
"....we do not believe that any religious institution has the right to use religion as an excuse to discriminate or deny services to the public, and certainly should not expect to receive government funds to do so," the ACLU said in a statement."
So anything, anything at all the government says must be provided MUST be provided or you will be accused of denying it. Yet contraceptives are not being denied; they are easily available over the drug store counter.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/04/13/98217

Mona Charen: You Pay for Warren Buffett’s Medicare   "....Democrats nearly always argue that the pre-Obamacare health system was a “free market” system that failed.

"On the contrary, the pre-Obamacare health system was already badly distorted by government. The open-ended Medicare entitlement, which pays for every medical expense incurred by the elderly without regard to income, is an invitation to overuse. Consumers have no incentive to shop for value, and thus have no idea what the care they receive costs. Medicaid is even worse."   Via NRO

Alan Caruba: Karl Marx Preached "Fairness" Too

Warning Signs   "By framing the tax debate in terms of fairness and attacking Mitt Romney’s wealth, President Obama is pandering to his greatest constituency—the stupid among us. He was elected on the basis of a lot of gauzy, vague promises of hope and change, and with the adoring support of the mainstream media."
....
 "The federal government is broke. The states are broke. And with the advent of $4 and $5 gas pump prices—thanks to Obama’s anti-energy policies—the rest of us are getting more broke. 
"President Obama’s blather about “fairness” is straight out of Karl Marx’s “Das Kapital” and the Communist Manifesto with their emphasis the redistribution of wealth and the end of private property."

Democrats on the attack

Democratic operative criticizes Ann Romney for having 'never worked a day in her life' (updated)    " And Ann Romney raised five boys to boot, while dealing with her own serious physical ailments. 

"So who is Hilary Rosen, besides being a professional partisan who rendered her judgment on the absence of work in the life of all stay-at-home moms while being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on a partisan "news" network, CNN?"

"Rosen does know a little about raising children. She, and her partner, Elizabeth Birch, did, for a while, jointly parent twins - a boy and a girl.  But then they separated in 2006.  (BTW, Birch "chaired the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force from 1992-1994."

• More here: Hilary Rosen, Ann Romney in TV faceoff
• Rosen a frequent visitor to the White House
• Liberal civility: Libs attack Ann Romney as ‘c**t,’ ‘b***h,’ ‘w***e’  "The left is consumed with hatred."   Is America governable by the right?
• Yep, Attack on Ann Romney Likely Orchestrated From White House

Barack Obama Flashback: “Lay Off My Wife!” 

"But, of course, it’s OK for his close advisers to attack conservative women.
…Especially when they’re stay at home mothers."

Karl Rove: Obama's Campaign Will Take the Low Road  "Among Mr. Obama's more appealing 2008 campaign lines were his pledge not "to pit Red America against Blue America" and his promise to "resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

"Mr. Obama gave into that temptation the moment he was inaugurated. His harsh attacks, angry misrepresentations and outright falsehoods are light years away from the message of unity and post-partisanship that propelled him into the Oval Office."

Maine Democrat Says Dick Cheney Should Be Executed… "“Cheney deserves same final end he gave Saddam. Hope there are cell cams,” a reference to technology that would allow Kruger to watch the proposed execution of the former Vice President of the United States."
Please refer to my letter of resignation from the Democrat Party in the sidebar on the right.
I can no longer see how decent people of conscience can continue to affiliate with this party and it's advocacy of violence, personal attacks and race-baiting in order to stay in power. TD

Networks Obsessed with Labeling Romney Mormon  "The May 2011, Pew poll said 64 percent of white evangelicals viewed a candidate's Mormonism as inconsequential or even as a positive. The truth is, the only ones who believe Romney’s religion worth discussion are liberal reporters themselves."


More on the Ann Romney brouhaha

Legal Insurrection has these tweets and comments from conservatives:

These are all very good Professor Jacobson, but Vodkapundit found the best one of the day:
The woman who “never worked a day in her life” just won a media war with a career political communication “expert.”
http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/04/obama-framing-fail-attacking-ann-romney.html

 I think Michelle Malkin has it right: The attack on Ann Romney helped push doubting conservatives into his camp.

Pundit and Pundette: Hilary Rosen's failed attack on Ann Romney

OBAMA WON'T QUESTION HIS OPPONENT'S PATRIOTISM LIKE HE DID MCCAIN'S   "The claim stands in stark contrast to Obama's questioning of John McCain, who spent years in a Hanoi POW camp, for, in Obama's view, McCain's lack of patriotism."

Twitter lynch mob predicts riot if Zimmerman is acquitted (Updated)

Twitchy  One tweet from 


@itsJuiceeBitch reads:

So who's ready for a riot when Zimmerman is found not guilty?! #looters unite!

 http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/04/media-justice/

The Buffet Rule and the Obamanomony in pictures

Liberal Columnist: Yeah, the Buffett Rule is Kind of a Joke  "That headline isn't exactly a bulletin to Townhall denizens, of course, but it's nice to see the liberal "fairness" crack-up continuing apace.  The latest dissenter is Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who isn't especially impressed with the White House's shameless "gimmickry" on an issue that will accomplish virtually nothing -- in the best case scenario:"

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/michaelramirez

American Thinker: Buffett Rule   "If Buffett and President Obama were serious about realizing  significant increases in tax revenue  from the rich he would advocate eliminating tax free income above predetermined income levels. How do you think that would be received in municipal city halls or state capitols?" ....

A big factor in the November election: race hustlers and anger

How will America ever heal itself of the damage done to our society by this demagogue in the White House and his minions across the country? We can vote him out, but the scars he leaves will last. TD


Walter E. Williams:  Media Dishonesty and Race Hustlers  "Have we heard Obama make a statement about this carnage or that most homicide victims are black and that their murderers are black? No, and we won't, because black-on-black crime, like black-on-white crime, does not fit the liberal narrative of the continuing problem of white racism."


Star Parker: Republican Challenge With Blacks and Hispanics  "Seventy two percent of black babies and 53 percent of Hispanic babies are now born out of wedlock. Yet both blacks and Hispanics attend church more frequently than the national average.
"Efforts must be expended to reach black and Hispanic clergy and community leaders to raise awareness how big government and moral relativism six days a week overwhelms the message heard from the pulpit on Sunday.

"Single parent homes are a ticket to poverty. This is a message that can save our country."

Black Quill and Ink posts this:   Al Sharpton: Appointed To Keep Black Voters Angry and Ill-informed.

Although many blacks are jumping ship on Obama, too many continue to support this tragic presidency. Why?  Because so called black leaders continue to prop Obama up by stirring racial and social hatred; continuing their appeal to the victim status for blacks. No one does it better, today, than the good ole Rev. Al Sharpton. If Obama should win re-election he will have Al and poorly informed blacks to thank. The irony of it all is that if Obama gains re-election, blacks will then and perhaps only then, discover how they’ve been used and abused by this administration and its minions like Sharpton.

After giving us the above introduction to Sharpton, BQI includes these words from Lloyd Marcus:  

 Arrogantly usurping authority to speak on behalf of black America, the left has yelled, Give us Al Sharpton! Why has MSNBC, the mainstream media and president Obama appointed this despicable man spokesperson for black America? There are numerous honorable blacks in the national arena.Sharpton was selected by the left as black America’s mouthpiece because his political agenda is in solidarity with their hate America Progressive movement....

Victor Davis Hanson: Campaigning on Grievances  "If Obama can cobble together disaffected young people, greens, women, minorities, and the poor — who all believe some nefarious “they” have crushed their dreams — then massive debt and deficits, high unemployment, sluggish growth, and spiraling gas prices won’t decide the election.

"Lots of presidential candidates have run by identifying such enemies of the people, rather than debating the general state of the nation — sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

"But the problem with an us/them strategy is not just winning an election, but trying to put back together what was torn asunder."

(Emphasis added.)

George Zimmerman charged

If you saw the smiling face on special prosecutor Angela Corey as she announced Zimmerman's being charged, you would not hold out much hope for him. She appeared positively gleeful, I suppose because she has pleased those who made the most violent threats about revenge in the streets. I'm sure Rodney King came to her mind. TD

Photo from sodahead

Thomas Lifson: George Zimmerman to be charged with second degree murder  "The case now will become another "trial of the century" in the media, but will ultimastely be decided by a jury based on the evidence. If, that is, the jury pool has not already been poisoned by media malpractice."


Hot Air: Zimmerman arrested, charged with 2nd-degree murder "Manslaughter would have been another option, so it’s interesting that she went with murder two.  I assume that this means the prosecution believes they can prove that Zimmerman pursued Martin and shot him, but we’ll know more when the preliminary hearing comes."


Legal Insurrection: Special Prosecutor Press Conference   ""I saw on Twitter that the Martin family held a press conference with Al Sharpton by their side, but I didn’t get to see it.  Although Zimmerman now is charged, and the case is in the courts, I expect the Martin family attorneys, Sharpton, and others continue to work the case in the media from a racial angle and to inflame passions in the community as a means of tainting the jury pool.
"For the prosecutor to embrace the Martin family attorneys with thanks at the press conference, and for AG Eric Holder verbally to praise Sharpton today, tells me that a case which should be about facts of who did what to whom is going to turn into an even bigger racial narrative for a variety of purposes which have nothing to do with the guilt or innocence of the accused.""


RACE WAR! Democrat La Raza President: Blacks, Hispanics Should Team Up ‘To Attack Common Enemies’  "Al Sharpton Show Promotes Race War– La Raza President Janet Murguia used Wednesday’s Al Sharpton radio show to spew the latest round of racial hatred. Murgola called on blacks and Hispanics to team up against the common enemy (whitey).
It’s more of that hope-and-change we were promised."

From the comments to the above post:

From LaRaza’s perspective, the enemy would be all non-socialists and non-communists. LaRaza is like NOW — they will only defend Far Left folk. Their absence in the Zimmerman case clearly demonstrates this.

From Sweetness and Light: Democrats ‘Celebrate’ Zimmerman Charges   "Lest we forget, Mr. Rush was the ‘Secretary Of Defense’ for the first Black Panthers. Who, in fact, regularly killed people because of the color of their skin."


Black Quill and Ink looks at one of the roots of the reaction to Zimmerman.

Meanwhile, those whom the prosecutor is so happy to have pleased hold others in terror: Elderly Couple In Fear Over Spike Lee Tweet.

Ann Coulter: Fighting the last war

Ann Coulter  "For the first time, the last cycle's conservative has been rebranded a "liberal" by right-wingers eager to resume their battle against liberal Republicans. This year's actual liberal Republican, much admired by the Non-Fox Media, was Jon Huntsman. But he dropped out after the New Hampshire primary. 
"Mitt Romney isn't a liberal. He isn't even a moderate. And he certainly isn't liked by the Times." 
....
"John McCain was worshipped by the liberal media, was the author of the unconstitutional campaign finance law and a global warming bill, adamantly supported amnesty for illegal aliens, opposed the Bush tax cuts as "tax cuts for the rich," wanted to shut down Guantanamo, called waterboarding "torture" and viciously attacked Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance" (and then immediately faxed that speech to The New York Times). 
"And he was from a conservative state! Where were you people four years ago when we were running him?"