Friday, April 12, 2013

Fear Government greed! Obama Wants Americans’ Hard-Earned Retirement Savings

We the People  "Obama’s plan won’t raise much revenue — just $9 billion over 10 years. It’s simply more of the Obama fairness campaign. The White House made this clear when it said last week that under current law “some wealthy individuals” can amass “substantially more than is needed to fund reasonable levels of retirement saving.”
"Think about that statement for a moment, for it reveals a corrupt mind-set. The administration is saying that America has a government that believes it has the moral authority to decide just what a “reasonable” level of retirement savings is. That’s an alarming statement.
"Of course the White House and its allies will pitch the plan as a reasonable means to bring down deficits."
....
 "If it becomes law, Democrats will take the next step, putting a stranglehold on the trillions Americans now hold in their retirement accounts."
Government Greed
Shall We Look at the Differences between Corporate Greed and Government Greed?  " "Corporate greed" rhetoric must be put into perspective. The American people are not told that there are two kinds of social domination: 1) class domination, due to the fact that some people are wealthier than others, and 2) political domination, due to the fact that some people gain political office and government jobs1. These are the political elites. Media and the Democrats tell us only about the first "class warfare" kind of domination, and never the second kind -- i.e., exploitation by those in public office."

President Obama's Weirdest New Taxes  "As laid out this week by the Treasury Department in its "green book," a massive spiral-bound document that explains tax changes in the White House budget proposal - it is pale green, and 246 pages - here are some quirky maneuvers the president suggests to offset spending and keep the deficit just a bit lower:"....

Master at the sleight-of-hand

Gazing through the window at our celebrity-in-chief

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Liberal Group Who Made Racist Comments About Mitch McConnell’s Wife Responsible For Secretly Recording Oppo Meeting On Ashley Judd…

Weasel Zippers
First off, the group "Progress Kentucky" attacked McConnell's wife, Elaine Chao:
Progressive Group Mounts Racist Attack Against Mitch McConnell’s Wife
Recently, the group turned its attention to McConnell’s wife, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, with a focus on her race.
In a Feb. 14 Twitter message, Progress says: “This woman has the ear of (Sen. McConnell)—she’s his wife. May explain why your job moved to China!”

Progress Kentucky Behind Mitch McConnell Campaign Recording
"“Apparently the gentlemen overheard the conversation and decided to record it with a phone or recording device they had in their pocket. Could've been an iPhone, could've been a Flip camera or something like that,” Conway say.
Sources tell WFPL the portion of the meeting that was recorded came at the end of the strategy session.
"It's unclear why Reilly and Morrison held onto the tape for so long. Kentucky law says it is a felony “to overhear, record amplify or transmit any part of a wire or oral communication of others without the consent of at least one party thereto by means of any electric, mechanical or other device."
"But if the conversation was audible from a hallway, it's disputable whether recording qualifies as eavesdropping."

Rush Limbaugh today commented 
"....You just now heard this Democrat super PAC executive committee activist Conway characterize McConnell's conversations as tacky and tasteless and offensive. All they did was read from articles and her book. It was not things they made up. I feel like an idiot having to explain, 'cause you all understand it. You all know exactly what happened. James Taranto at the Best of the Web at the Wall Street Journal has a piece from yesterday: "Slinging Mud at Ashley Judd -- A leftist magazine exposes a Hollywood actress as troubled and strange. Back in December a reader sent along a headline from a Kentucky paper describing Judd as 'Still Mum' on a prospective candidacy." And a bunch of leftist magazines have published some of the oddball things that she has said.

....Rush concludes with this:  "If we had an active Republican Party, this is what they would be doing, push-back! Insist that Eric Holder appoint a special prosecutor. Chase this thing down to the ends of the earth. I'm sure the media would agree with that, ahem. But that's what happened to Scooter Libby. This is gonna be repositioned so that McConnell's ending up as the criminal."

Obama Administration Hears from Thousands Against Its Mandate

Heritage Culture Watch  "On Monday, hundreds of thousands of public comments flooded the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as individuals and groups expressed concern with the Obama Administration’s continued trampling on a fundamental freedom."
....
"Instead of upholding its duty to protect the fundamental freedoms of all Americans, the Administration persists in bureaucratic tinkering with a mandate that is deeply flawed and currently threatening the faith, work, and livelihoods of countless businesses, individuals, and organizations.
"The Obama Administration should heed the recommendations of many Americans to rescind its offensive, coercive mandate. To truly protect Americans’ liberty, however, Congress must repeal Obamacare."

Professor Calls Republicans Stupid & Racist

Todd Starnes  "Tyler Talgo was fed up.
"For two years the University of Southern California student had listened to the classroom ranting of liberal professors. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when Darry Sragow, his political science professor, launched into an anti-Republican tirade on the first day of class.
"“I knew that this was going to be a professor that was very left-wing, very biased,” Talgo told Fox News. “I knew this would be one of those classes where the professor would be biased all the time.”
"So Talgo decided to fight back.
....

“On the first day of class he talked about how Republicans prevent blacks from voting,” Talgo said. “He also said that he used to work for Democratic candidates and it was his job to kill Republicans.”

Florist fights lawsuit for refusing gay wedding

Tell me again about American freedom.
World Magazine     "“When it came to doing his wedding, I said, ‘I could not do it because of my relationship with Jesus Christ.’ He thanked me and said he respected my opinion. We talked and gave each other a hug and he left,” Stutzman wrote on her Facebook page.

"Stutzman said she believes biblically that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"The lawsuit, filed as a consumer protection action against the business by the state’s attorney general, seeks $2,000 in fines for each infringement and an injunction forcing the shop to comply with Washington’s consumer protection laws, which ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.""
....
"Stutzman is not the first business owner to face a legal challenge over refusing to perform services for a gay wedding. Earlier this year, a gay couple filed a discrimination complaint against a bakery in Portland, Ore., for refusing to make their wedding cake. A retreat house in New Jersey is facing a discrimination lawsuit for refusing to host a same-sex civil union ceremony. And in New Mexico, a photographer is facing thousands of dollars in fines for refusing to photograph a same-sex ceremony. She has taken her case to the state Supreme Court. "

What on earth is the "chained CPI"?

The ins and outs of ‘chained CPI’ explained  " Here’s the bottom line: Using chained CPI instead of CPI-W means the rate at which those benefits tick up would be slower, because the former reflects substitutions consumers would make in response to rising prices of certain items.Therein lies the “chained” part of the name. The metric utilizes a basket of goods and services that are measured changes from month to month; much like a daisy chain. If the cost of a certain form of transportation goes up, for example, people might switch to another kind. This kind of “substitution” is part of what is factored into chained CPI."
So if the price of riding a bus goes up, they now figure you would ride a bike instead, as I understand it.
Some say this is a miniscule concession in order to get Republicans to agree on tax hikes, or Obama will attack them.
Politico gives their explanation  ...."Moving to a chained CPI would make Social Security benefits increase by less each year. Since 1999, the chained CPI has increased by about .3 percent each year, less than the current CPI. With the same trend, people would overall receive a smaller increase in their benefits each year.
"Switching to the chained CPI would also serve as a tax increase, making more people qualify for certain tax levels or exempt for certain tax reductions."

Krauthammer’s Take: If We’re Stuck at Chained CPI, ‘We’re Going to End Up Like Cyprus’  So this is the most that Obama will do?
"Charles Krauthammer said on [Wednesday's] edition of Special Report that President Obama’s proposal to adopt chained CPI is a minimal concession, one recommended by virtually every expert and commission that has studied the matter."
 
Mr. Krauthammer does not even try to conceal his contempt for Obama in most of his commentary.

5 Things to Know About the Obama Budget plus a more in-depth assessment of it

The Obama Budget: Heritage Experts’ Analysis  "First, this budget is more than 60 days late (a whopping new record). The President had a statutory responsibility to deliver a budget proposal to the Congress on February 4. He did not do that, launching instead his “charm offensive.” The President’s budget is supposed to open the budget policy debates, giving the House and Senate his vision and agenda for them to consider as they develop their own budget plans. Not this year." Much more in depth in the article.  Massive New Government Preschool Initiative is discussed as is the "chained CPI".

The Foundry gives this concise summary of their objections to the Obama budget:   "President Obama finally released his budget yesterday—more than two months late.
"Heritage experts immediately went to work analyzing the mounds of new spending on education, manufacturing, “clean energy,” infrastructure, and small business.
"But the President didn’t stop at more of the same failed stimulus and Solyndra-type policies. He also piled on the tax increases—including on seniors, the poor, and the middle class.
"Five key things to know about President Obama’s budget:" Excerpts below:

1. It hikes taxes by $1.1 trillion....
...“There was little doubt that President Obama would propose a huge tax hike in his budget. It is a bit surprising, however, that the total tax increase he proposes is almost double what he claims it to be.”..
2. It underfunds defense....
...“While boosting domestic spending, the President remains indifferent to national security needs...
3. It doubles down on Obamacare....
The Obama budget actually expands parts of Obamacare and even includes new changes to Medicare that create two sneaky new “taxes” on seniors
4. It doesn’t balance and never will. ...
...“Because the budget never balances—it doesn’t even try—debt remains at dangerously elevated levels.”...
5. It’s irrelevant....
...The House and Senate have already passed their own budgets, and the next step is for the two chambers to come together to see if they can hash out a budget that both chambers can pass. At this point, why is the President bothering?

Stephen F. Hayes: Obama's Budget to Contradict 'Consensus Among People Who Know the Economy Best'  "How will raising taxes boost the economy? It won’t.
"In fact, Obama not long ago argued that raising taxes in a fragile economy would dampen growth, hurt business and create unemployment."
The economy that Obama worried about in early 2010 was coming off of a fourth quarter growth rate of 5.6 percent. Three years later the economy is growing at .4 percent. If Obama thought it was unwise to raise taxes with the economy growing at 5.6, why is it imperative to do so with the economy growing at .4 percent?

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

The Tragedy of the SS St Louis in 1939

In 1939 a shipload of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany reached the US but were turned away, eventually returning to Europe where many died at the hands of the Nazis. This is an account of that of that odyssey.

From the Holocaust Museum comes this account  "The passengers did not return to Germany, however. Jewish organizations (particularly the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee) negotiated with four European governments to secure entry visas for the passengers: Great Britain took 288 passengers; the Netherlands admitted 181 passengers, Belgium took in 214 passengers; and 224 passengers found at least temporary refuge in France. Of the 288 passengers admitted by Great Britain, all survived World War II save one, who was killed during an air raid in 1940. Of the 620 passengers who returned to continent, 87 (14%) managed to emigrate before the German invasion of Western Europe in May 1940. 532 St. Louis passengers were trapped when Germany conquered Western Europe. Just over half, 278 survived the Holocaust. 254 died: 84 who had been in Belgium; 84 who had found refuge in Holland, and 86 who had been admitted to France.

Jewish Virtual Library  
S.S. St. Louis surrounded by smaller vessels in the port of Havana
After Kristallnacht in November 1938, many Jews within Germany decided that it was time to leave. Though many German Jews had emigrated in the preceding years, the Jews who remained had a more difficult time leaving the country because emigration policies had been toughened. By 1939, not only were visas needed to be able to enter another country but money was also needed to leave Germany. Since many countries, especially the United States, had immigration quotas, visas were near impossible to acquire within the short time spans in which they were needed. For many, the visas were acquired after it was too late.
"The opportunity that the S.S. St. Louis presented seemed like a last hope to escape. "

The “secretary of the treasury” mentioned in the article was Henry Morgenthau, Jr. Morgenthau, a Jew, contacted both the coast guard captain and Long, and when he complained to the latter concerning the decision to turn back the ship, Long shot back: “Exactly whose side are you on – the Jews or the United States of America?”
The odyssey of the SS St Louis, Part 1        Part 2, the mock trial of FDR

The Man Obama Fears the Most

Newsmax  " If the White House’s actions toward Fox News are any clue, it’s Roger Ailes."
 
...."Among these stories is the dramatic struggle that has been taking place between Fox News and Obama.

"To say that the president hates Fox News may be an understatement. Early in his first term Obama actually sought to ban Fox News from the White House press corps, ripping away its press credential. Even liberal media were aghast at the president’s authoritarian move. The Obama administration backed down and Fox kept its White House seat."
....
"Some of Chafets’ many surprising revelations include:...."  Read more.

Coulter: Liberals Go Crazy for the Mentally Ill


Ann Coulter  "The one clear thread that unites all the mass murders currently being exploited by the Democrats is that they were committed by visibly crazy people who were unaccountably not institutionalized. But Democrats refuse to do anything about crazy people. Apparently, the views of families with relatives murdered by severely disturbed individuals are no longer relevant when it comes to institutionalizing the mentally ill.
"If liberals had a decent argument for taking guns away from the law-abiding while doing nothing to prevent schizophrenics from getting guns, they’d make it. Manifestly, they don’t, so they send out victims to make the argument for them, knowing no one will argue with a person whose child has just been murdered.
"This allows liberals to act as if Republicans’ only counter-argument to their idiotic gun control proposals is: We don’t mind dead children."
....

"Warning: Read the bill. You will find nothing in any of the Democrats’ “gun safety” proposals that will make it easier to commit a crazy person or to prevent him from buying a gun."