The Best- and Worst-Run States in America

Yahoo Finance   "To determine how well the states are run, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed hundreds of data sets from dozens of sources. We looked at each state’s debt, revenue, expenditure and deficit to determine how well it is managed fiscally. We reviewed taxes, exports, and GDP growth, including a breakdown by sector, to identify how each state is managing its resources. We looked at poverty, income, unemployment, high school graduation, violent crime and foreclosure rates to measure if residents are prospering.

"The best-run states have certain characteristics in common, as do the worst run. The high-ranking states all have well-managed budgets. Each of the top ten has a perfect, or near-perfect, credit rating from Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s, or both. Of the ten worst-ranked, only three received top scores from one agency, and none from both. California is currently the only state rated A- by S&P, the lowest score given to any state. These poor-ranked states have high debt relative to both income and expenditure.

"There is a strong correlation between well-educated populations and generally well-managed states. Of the ten best-scoring states on our list, nine have among the highest percentages of adults with high school diplomas."

Number one among the best-run states:  1. North Dakota  "For the first time, North Dakota ranks as the best run state in the country. In recent years, North Dakota’s oil boom has transformed its economy. Last year, crude oil production rose 35%. As of August, 2012, it was the second-largest oil producer in the country. This was due to the use of hydraulic fracturing* in the state’s Bakken shale formation. The oil and gas boom brought jobs to North Dakota, which had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate in 2011 at 3.5%, and economic growth."   *Fracking

And coming in at number 50 is...wait for it... California

"California is 24/7 Wall St.’s “Worst Run State” for the second year in a row. Due to high levels of debt, the state’s S&P credit rating is the worst of all states, while its Moody’s credit rating is the second-worst. Much of California’s fiscal woes involve the economic downturn. Home prices plunged by 33.6% between 2006 and 2011, worse than all states except for three. The state’s foreclosure rate and unemployment rate were the third- and second-highest in the country, respectively. But efforts to get finances on track are moving forward. State voters passed a ballot initiative to raise sales taxes as well as income taxes for people who make at least $250,000 a year. While median income is the 10th-highest in the country, the state also has one of the highest tax burdens on income. According to the Tax Foundation, the state also has the third-worst business tax climate in the country.

 

Hat tip to Jeff Hayden; Plano, TX

Obama will lead America to solvency

Just as Jerry Brown will lead California:

Time's "Person of the Year"

Neal Boortz  "So now we’re starting to get speculation as to who the Time Magazine “Person of the Year” is going to be. Believe it or not, but our society and our country have declined to the point that some people are suggesting Sandra Fluke. Yeah .. that’s right. A rather ordinary woman who needs $3000 a year worth of condoms as the Person of the Year? Sure! Works for me!

"My suggestion? Nobody has had a greater influence – and not for good – on this country and, therefore, on the world than the moocher; the parasite who believes that they’re owed pretty much everything by government. The reelection of this hack president of ours was a turning point – a turning point leading to an accelerated decline of freedom and liberty in America. This was all made possible by the moocher and the moocher vote. There, Time Magazine, is your “Person of the Year.” "

North Carolina Students Told They Can’t Sell “Christmas Trees” For Charity, Must Be Called “Holiday Trees”…

Weasel Zippers, which refers to this story as "mind-numbing". What on earth is happening in this country anyway when we must - MUST - honor Muslim holidays, but dare not speak the 'C' word? This nation gets less free as time goes on.

This report from Fox News Radio

A North Carolina community college has been accused of violating the First Amendment rights of students after they told a club they could not use the word “Christmas” to promote a Christmas tree sale.
“It’s ridiculous that anyone would have to think twice about using the word ‘Christmas’ as part of a Christmas tree sale,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney with Alliance Defending Freedom.
ADF sent a letter to officials at Western Piedmont Community College urging them to either reconsider their decision to censor the word “Christmas” – or else face a possible lawsuit.
College officials did not return multiple phone calls and email messages seeking comment.
The student club, called the BEST Society, was planning to sell the Christmas trees to raise money for Angel Tree, an organization that provides Christmas presents to children.
Club members followed college protocol and submitted forms to promote the sale. The proposed text read, “The BEST Society will be selling Christmas Trees…”
But when the announcement appeared on the college’s website and in other venues – it had been altered. Ever reference to “Christmas Trees” had been replaced with “holiday trees.”

American Thinker carried this back in 2009: It's that Silly, Politically Correct Holiday Season
"It happens every year at this time: the battles of political correctness. When a community puts up a Christmas tree, one of two things happens. Either there is a battle to take it down totally, or someone fights to get a Chanukkiyah (that's the real name, not Menorah), Kwanzaa candles, or a symbol of some other religion's holiday placed right next to it. Then Fox News follows by running stories about the latest battle in the "war against Christmas," and the ACLU starts suing any town whose mayor ever went to a church, mosque, and/or synagogue. Hey, ACLU: Give it up. America is a Christian country."

Pastor Dale's Blog

Empty Embrace… Hurricane Sandy Victim Upset After Being Played By Obama

Gateway Pundit  "Obama used her as a photo-op and promised to get her assistance after her business was wiped out by Hurricane Sandy. But it was all a show.

"From the White House website:"


 "Donna Vanzant still hasn’t received any help and she’s upset.

I was very excited and felt warm by the embrace thinking this is really going to happen. I’m going to get the help I need because he promised that. I’ve gotten no help. I’ve gotten nothing but ‘No, you’re not covered for this. No, you’re not covered for that.”

NLRB ... Obama's "Thank You" Weapon

Neal Boortz  "Just last week I warned you that the Obama administration will be using his (illegally appointed) National Labor Relations Board in order to thank the unions for their work in getting him re-elected. I told you about one promise already coming down the pipeline which is to allow unions to access personal employee information including email addresses, phone numbers and work schedules of employees. This, of course, helps union goons access and intimidate workers into supporting or joining a union.

"This next “thank you” hits close to home. "....

Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie

U.S. Soldier’s Letter Starkly Details Nazi’s Actions Toward Jews, Others

Debbie Schlussel
That was then...

...."And I recently saw this letter, listed by a seller who often sells the old letters of U.S. soldiers who served in the Civil War, World Wars I & II, Korea, and Vietnam. The letter, by U.S. Army Sgt. Charles Duvall to his wife back home, is chilling in its details of what he saw when they liberated a Nazi concentration camp, the inmates of which were Jews. "

This is now...

        

...."I’m sure the Holocaust-deniers will claim the letter–and hundreds of thousands of others like it, many of which are lost to history and long ago sent to trash bins–are fakes or forgeries, their usual dismissal of the evidence. But we know they are not. We know this is real.

"I wonder, if 70 years from now, we will come upon letters from soldiers who saw the atrocities of our current, more resistant strain of Nazis: Muslims who are fomenting conflict and perpetrating terrorism around the world."

Peaceful Coexistence with Radical Islamists is Impossible

American Thinker  "Arafat also said, "Peace for us means the destruction of Israel. We are preparing for an all-out war, a war which will last for generations. Since January 1965, when Fatah was born, we have become the most dangerous enemy that Israel has....We shall not rest until the day when we return to our home, and until we destroy Israel." (El Mundo, Caracas, Venezuela, February 11, 1980)....

Do they make these bumper stickers in Arabic?

"Applying the same substitutions to this quote lends additional credence to the hypothesis that Arafat is the originator of the global Islamist movement's strategy. Whatever the case may be, though, this much is certain: peaceful coexistence with radical Islamists is impossible. Based on all of the available evidence, any other conclusion is a manic delusion."

Islamic Jew Hatred: **GRAPHIC** Muslim Massacre Jewish family of Five, Three Year Old Stabbed in the Heart, Baby's Throat Slashed  (Atlas Shrugs)

A Palestinian man offers sweets to a woman in the southern

Gaza Strip town of Rafah on March 12, 2011 to celebrate

 an attack which killed five Israelis 

More photos of Gazans in Rafah celebrating deadly terrorist attack in Itamar
The contrast above of John Lennon with the murderous Arabs is a pleasant one; however we must picture this same John Lennon opposing all efforts by Israelis to find and rid themselves of the terrorists and their storehouses of rockets.

Still trying to figure how this petulant juvenile could have been reelected.

The GOP's Marketing Problem: Why Aren't People Buying What Republicans Are Selling?

"Do Republicans have the right product, but the wrong marketing plan? Find out on this Trifecta."(Video)

'Shut Up, Grandpa'  "Collectivists of the Washington establishment, representing both major parties, have analyzed the 2012 election results and come to a lovely conclusion: old white men are the problem. The only difference of opinion between the two factions regards how one ought to handle it. ...Republican experts, as the reluctant stewards of these cantankerous fogies, are more circumspect: they merely want to leave Grandpa ranting in the corner with his talk radio shows "

Walmart vs. the Thugs; The retail giant has powerful adversaries.

Michelle Malkin  "Black Friday always brings out the worst: long lines, short tempers, and random outbreaks of shoppers’ rage. This year, Big Labor will ratchet up the Strikesgiving tension with professional grievance-mongers and workers picketing at 1,000 Walmart stores nationwide.

"Attention, Walmart directors: Appeasement of a mob never works. Walmart has tried repeatedly to stave off union thuggery through political “partnerships” and capitulation. It has failed and failed and failed."

http://www.valuesvoternews.com/2011/02/cartoon-difference-between-public.html

Obama's Soviet Mistake/ Obama elected by an illiterate society

Pravda  "Putin in 2009 outlined his strategy for economic success. Alas, poor Obama did the opposite but nevertheless was re-elected. Bye, bye Miss American Pie. The Communists have won in America with Obama but failed miserably in Russia with Zyuganov who only received 17% of the vote. Vladimir Putin was re-elected as President keeping the NWO order out of Russia while America continues to repeat the Soviet mistake."
....

Here Pravda makes a point which I can agree with except for their old Soviet outlook- that Obama is a warmonger. I do not think Obama is capable of standing firmly against aggressors who may make him pay a price for it.
"Recently, Obama has been re-elected for a 2nd term by an illiterate society and he is ready to continue his lies of less taxes while he raises them. He gives speeches of peace and love in the world while he promotes wars as he did in Egypt, Libya and Syria. He plans his next war is with Iran as he fires or demotes his generals who get in the way."