News of the Week
Election 2012 *************** Tunnel at the end of the light As the best thinkers begin to peer into the abyss that is our future, if we stay on the current path, some things are crystallizing. ************** Pew Study Points to Obama’s Growing Youth Problem Economy: President Obama surfed into office on a wave of support from the nation's youth. And what did those young voters get in return? Sky-high unemployment, lower wages, fewer prospects and a student debt crisis. ************** DeMint Thinks GOP Race Could Go to Convention; Perry May Run Again What did we learn walking around CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual Woodstock for the right, held in Washington, D.C.? ************** This Time Next US Presidential Campaign: $24.1 Trillion In Debt, 138.9% Debt/GDP While Obama may or may not be on the way to winning his reelection, courtesy of a GOP field that is, to say the least, limited, and where the only worthy candidate is more ostracized by the right than even anyone on the left, the bottom line is that whoever wins the presidency, it will matter precisely didley squat. ************** Romney's losses turn spotlight on Maine When Mitt Romney holds a town hall meeting in Maine tomorrow night, the center of the political universe will suddenly shift to a tiny state that has been holding GOP caucuses for the past week. ************** CHAMBER LAUNCHES EARLY AD BLITZ - Per Chamber official: “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is launching a television ad and grassroots blitz in 12 House and 8 Senate races today. This is the earliest and most aggressive the [Chamber] has ever raised its voice in an election year. Behind the theme ‘advance and protect’ - advance pro-business gains in Senate, protect pro-business lawmakers in House - we are hitting key Senate races in Ohio, Missouri, Montana, and Hawaii (!!), as well as House races in Michigan (Upton), Utah (Matheson) and Nevada (Heck), among others. ************** Santorum Is A Conservative By Reputation, But Not By Deed ************** Santorum claims momentum with wins in three states Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum claimed a surge of momentum and fundraising on Wednesday, a day after his shocking sweep of nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri that dealt a blow to front-runner Mitt Romney. Occupy Wall Street *************** At Last! The Occupy Wall Street Poetry Anthology ************** Obama’s #Occupy Movement Will Win the Election…for the GOP For everyone out there supporting the #Occupy Movement, who calls themselves part of “the 99%”, identifies with their alleged struggle, and supports their strategies and tactics, you may want to think twice. History has taught that when the Left uncorks the radical movement, change comes swiftly…to the Right. ************** Occupy protesters, conservatives clash at CPAC conference A brief altercation broke out between Occupy Wall Street protesters and conservative activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. ************** The #Occupy Chronicles Obamacare ************** Catholic League Poised To Go To War With Obama Over Mandatory Birth Control Payments Donohue Says 70 Million Of His Voters Ready To Alter Presidential Election "Hide The Decline" *************** The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows Meltwater from Asia's peaks is much less than previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern ************** The Galileo of Global Warming I have written before about how the left loves to invoke the example of Galileo in order to present themselves as the great defenders of science against all of those knuckle-dragging religious bigots who don't believe in global warming. But these same people don't understand science very well themselves (remember amateur neurologist Janeane Garofalo lecturing us about the "limbic brain"?), so they end up using Galileo, a man who defied the "consensus" of his day, as a propaganda talking point to enforce the consensus of today. ************** The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows Meltwater from Asia's peaks is much less than previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern War & Terror *************** Majorities of liberal Democrats now support drone strikes, keeping Gitmo open ************** The Very Last World War I Veteran Has Died A British woman who served with the Royal Air Force for the last two months of World War I was the last known veteran of the war when she died in her sleep Saturday night. Florence Green joined the RAF at the age of 17 and died just before her 111th birthday, which would have been Feb. 19. She had been a mess steward with the air force, the BBC reported, serving in two U.K. air bases after she joined up on Sept. 13 1918 ************** Homeland Security Lexicon: You’re All ‘Militia Extremists’ Now A recently published “lexicon” distributed to thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) targets citizens concerned about their Second Amendment rights and the steady encroachment of the federal government, categorizing such as “militia extremists.” National *************** CA Court: Owning an ‘Assault Weapon’ Immoral In California (and a few other backwater states) owning a so-called “scary looking gun” “assault weapon” is illegal. Now, the Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles has turned that into a morality play. ************** Member of Education Establishment: Parents Don’t Know What’s Best for Their Children LANSING, Mich. – During a legislative hearing at Michigan’s state capitol last week, a member of the education establishment made a stunning admission about how parents are viewed by the “experts.” ************** Reid's Rhetoric: Claims GOP Wants To Put 'Arsenic And Mercury In The Water' ************** Full Speech: Paul Ryan at CPAC 2012 ************** Anti Government = Mental Illness: Study ************** Free Speech Off Campus Must Be Protected Hard cases, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes cautioned in a 1904 Supreme Court opinion, make bad law. What Holmes meant is that cases with distasteful facts and unlikeable parties tempt judges to back into the desired outcome without regard for the broader legal principles at stake. When that happens, future parties with more sympathetic cases become collateral damage. *************** Poll: Minnesota voters support right to work referendum … 55/24 When Indiana passed its right-to-work law to become the 23rd state to adopt that position, Minnesota legislators passed a referendum for a constitutional amendment that would do the same in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. *************** Your 3rd-Grader's Social Studies Text Book, a Cornucopia of Left-Wing Crackpottery Wondering whether elementary school students are truly indoctrinated in the left wing agenda? Well, wonder no more. They are; and it's worse -- far worse -- than you can possibly imagine. *************** LA Beaches Ban Footballs, Frisbees and Digging in the Sand? Why didn’t they ban sunbathing, swimming, and eating while they were at it? *************** Obama declares himself dictator of education President Obama granted 10 states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Tennessee) waivers from the federal government's No Child Left Behind law today. The action will temporarily prevent schools in each states from suffering federal sanctions for not meeting reading and math standards by 2014. ************** LA County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches LOS ANGELES (CBS) — When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to leave the pigskin at home. ************** The American Beer Revival ************** Obama Indoctrination of Elementary School Kids on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2012 ************** GAB Decides to Ignore All Independently-Provided Evidence of Recall Petition Fraud Citizens not affiliated with either the recall organizations or the office holders targeted for recall this spring have found scores of problems with the petitions, but Wisconsin’s elections watchdogs have decided they will not consider any of their evidence. ************** Slavery protections for animals? Judge to decide A federal judge for the first time in U.S. history heard arguments Monday in a case that could determine whether animals enjoy the same constitutional protection against slavery as human beings. ************** Administration names official advocate for illegal immigrants The Obama administration on Tuesday announced a new "public advocate" charged with listening to immigrants' concerns about its law enforcement policies — but Republicans said the position amounts to an official mouthpiece for illegal immigrants being deported. ************** Suspect recall signing could result in felony charges RACINE — What started with a man noticing his friend’s signature four times on recall petitions could result in felony charges. ************** Osama + Zombies = Osombie If zombie teen romance isn’t your bag, you’ll be happy to know that zombies are easily shoehorned into any premise that needs a few more exploding meat buckets (also the name of my indie band/mother’s maiden name), including one in which we kill Osama again. That’s the premise of Osombie ************** Federal Appeals Court Rules Prop. 8 Ban On Gay Marriage Unconstitutional SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages, is unconstitutional. ************** Ninth Circuit to 7 Million California Voters: You Are Irrational Bigots In a breathtaking exercise in ill-natured illogic, a divided Ninth Circuit ruled 2–1 that because Prop 8 does not take away civil-union benefits for same-sex couples, it’s an unconstitutional exercise in irrational animus towards gay people. Economy
& Taxes *************** Credit Card Fueled Binges No Longer Bring A Smile To US Consumers' Faces To be happy is to be confident. And at least until the recent past, in America to be confident, meant to have purchasing power, which pretty much always, at least for the bulk of the population, meant to lever up, i.e., to take on debt and to spend it on worthless crap. ************** Fiscal reckoning: Not if, but when Let's think about the kind of mess that we're in. Federal 2010 Medicare and Medicaid expenditures totaled $800 billion. The projected annual growth of both programs is about 7 percent. Social Security expenditures are more than $700 billion a year. According to the 2009 Social Security and Medicare trustees reports, by 2030, 49 percent of federal revenues will go for Social Security and Medicare payments. The unfunded liability of both programs is already $106 trillion. ************** Obama Revises CBO Deficit Forecast, Predicts 110% Debt-To-GDP By End Of 2013, Worse Deficit In 2012 Than 2011 While we have excoriated the unemployable, C-grade, goalseeking, manipulative excel hacks at the CBO on more than one occasion by now (see here, here and here), it appears this time it is the administration itself which has shown that when it comes to predicting the future, only "pledging" Greece is potentially worse than the CBO. ************** Washington Footing the Cell Phone Bill for Millions of Low Income Americans Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. ************** Is A Greek Uncontrollable Default Inevitable? It seems our discussions on sovereign litigation 'arbitrage' and blocking stakes among foreign-law Greek bondholders is gathering some consensus among the smarter sell-side research shops. ************** The Burden Of Federal Rules: Our Other Trillion-Dollar Debt ************** U.S., Banks Agree on Foreclosure Pact Deal, Totaling as Much as $26 Billion With 5 Banks, Would Settle Federal, State Probes of Lenders ************** A Closer Look at the Jan. Jobless Numbers: Are They ‘Being Made Up?’ You may recall that major media outlets rejoiced and the markets jumped last Friday when the January jobs report was released. ************** China’s Achilles’ Heel With little in the way of force projection, China’s dependence on natural resources in unstable parts of the world could undercut its economic ambitions. There are limits to freeriding. ************** Foreclosure Deal to Spur U.S. Home Seizures The $25 billion settlement with banks over foreclosure abuses may trigger a wave of home seizures, inflicting short-term pain on delinquent U.S. borrowers while making a long-term housing recovery more likely. ************** Why Obama’s economic thesis is wrong. Demand is not the problem Barack Obama thinks the sickly economy needs more demand. And if more demand can’t come from cash-strapped consumers, then government should provide more demand by borrowing money at extremely low interest rates and spending it. ************** On the horrors of getting approval for an ice-cream parlour in San Francisco The NYT's Scott James recounts the insane red-tape endured by Juliet Pries, an entrepreneur who decided to open an ice-cream parlour in San Francisco's Cole Valley. ************** Itchy Investors Ramp Up the Risk With Rates Staying Low, Returns on Conservative Investments Don't Cut It Anymore for Some ************** Greek PM Demands Report On Default, Eurozone Exit Consequences Ok, we get the hint. End the foreplay already and file finally. From Bloomberg: "Greece’s Prime Minister Lucas Papademos requested the country’s Finance Ministry to prepare a document on the implications of a Greek default, Panos Beglitis, spokesman for the socialist Pasok Party said. ************** Shipping Rates Go... Negative Following the endless collapse in the Baltic Dry, it was only a matter of time before the shipping industry one-upped the Chairsatan, and was the first to introduce, dum dum dum, negative rates. That's right: you are now paid to hire a ship. ************** A Nation of Government Dependents? 49% of U.S. Population Lives in Households Receiving Government Benefits *************** International *************** Hello Kitty to Become a Hooters Girl For Valentine's Day Nothing says Valentine's Day like gigantic ice cream sundaes and Hello Kitty in a Hooters uniform, right? Sure, why not. ************** Zoo to 'marry' sheep and deer A Chinese zoo is to mark Valentine's Day with a 'cross species wedding' between a sheep and a deer. *************** Clashes in Tripoli, Lebanon, over Syria unrest At least two people have been killed in the Lebanese city of Tripoli in clashes between supporters and opponents of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, security officials say. *************** Assad forces mull use of chemical weapons in Homs, opposition says Opposition figures claim government stockpiling chemical weapons and distributing gas masks to soldiers near Homs; 130 people reportedly killed on Thursday as government intensifies crackdown. ************** The EU is Considering Using Drones to Police Farm Subsidies, Enforce Environmental Rules When European farmers turn their eyes skyward, they soon may have more than the weather to worry about. The more progressive aviation framework in Europe means that government monitors potentially have a new weapon in their arsenals--unmanned aerial drones--to enforce regulations, and they’re starting with agriculture. EU regulators are exploring potential aerial systems that can help them spot farm subsidy cheats and violators of Common Agricultural Policy rules. ************** Cuban blogger riles with her weapon of words Yoani Sánchez is Cuba’s best-known blogger and, for many outside the island, also its opposition’s most important voice. She is also, however, a philologist whose refusal to mangle the Spanish language is matched only by her love of 140-character tweets. ************** Yet more riots in Greece ************** Turning up the Heat in Gibraltar With British-Argentine tensions escalating in the South Atlantic over the barren Falkland Islands, many observers, Via Meadia included, have predicted a similar confrontation over Gibraltar, Britain’s other controversial possession. Now this very scenario appears to be playing out, as Gibraltar’s new Chief Minister had scarcely ascended to his chair when Spain intensified its claim to the tiny peninsula—which, like the Falklands, happens to be full of people happy to remain British citizens. ************** Syria: The Alternatives Narrow What should the United States do when a vicious enemy is on the ropes, defended only by a core of murderous loyalists plus regimes that are themselves hostile to the United States? ************** Ayaan Hirsi Ali:The Global War on Christians in the Muslim World We hear so often about Muslims as victims of abuse in the West and combatants in the Arab Spring’s fight against tyranny. But, in fact, a wholly different kind of war is underway—an unrecognized battle costing thousands of lives. Christians are being killed in the Islamic world because of their religion. It is a rising genocide that ought to provoke global alarm. ************** Feminist Punk Band Become Unlikely Putin Foil ST. PETERSBURG — Pussy Riot, a feminist punk collective from Moscow, protests through its dissident songs and unsanctioned performances, including a brief unauthorized concert in late January on Red Square. ************** Mexico conservatives back woman presidential candidate Voters from Mexico's ruling conservative party selected their first woman presidential candidate on Sunday, choosing a former education minister to battle the opposition's nominee, who has a big lead in the polls. ************** Syria's most senior defector: Assad's army is close to collapse Bashar al-Assad's army is close to a collapse that could plunge the Middle East into a "nuclear reaction", its most senior defector has told The Sunday Telegraph. *************** Opinion *************** The Producers The decline of marriage and male wages is a problem of equality, not inequality. ************** Obama: Five Years Later ************** Epistle of Obama 1:10 (Formerly Ephesians) ************** A Post-American World? In a scathing denunciation of Mitt Romney last week, Fareed Zakaria praised Barack Obama for his nuanced understanding of what Zakaria has called the “Post-American World” ************** The Constitutional Right to Free Stuff Last night Brian Ward and I taped the latest episode of the Hinderaker-Ward Experience, which will be available for download later in the day. One of our Loon of the Week candidates was Barbara Boxer, talking about the Obama administration’s decree that all employers, including religious institutions, must provide health insurance benefits that include contraception and certain abortion services, for free. ************** Are You ‘Them!’? Until the appearance of Barack Obama on the national scene, I knew of “them” only from an old sci-fi movie in which huge ants (“Them!”) ate people. But there are new monsters in America, and I am starting to wonder whether I am to be considered among them: those of the uninvolved and uninformed lives, the bar-raisers, the downright mean ones, the never deserving of respect ones, the Vegas junketeers, the Super Bowl jet setters, the tuition stealers, the faux-Christians who do not pay higher taxes, the too much income makers, the tormenters of autistic children, the polluters, the enemies deserving of punishment, the targets to bring a gun against, the faces to get in front of, the limb-loppers, the tonsil pullers, the fat cats, the corporate jet owners, the one-percenters, the stupidly acting, the not paying their fair sharers, the discriminators on the “way you look”, the alligator raisers and moat builders, the vote deniers, the clingers, the typical something persons, the hunters of kids at ice cream parlors, the stereotypers and profilers, the cowards, the lazy and soft, the non-spreaders of money, the not my people people, the Tea party racists, the not been perfect and mistake makers, the disengaged and the dictating, the not the time to profiteers, the ones who did not know when to quit making money, and on and on. My God, man, how did Barack Obama & Co. conjure up so many demons? *************** |
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