The Political Hat's
The Political Hat
News of the Week



Election 2012

***************

Republicans: Your Caucus Vote Doesn’t Count
That said, there is much of Dr. Paul’s agenda that I agree with. His fiscal policies would go a long way to addressing many of this Country’s problems. I am also not a fervent Mitt Romney supporter. Being a conservative there is much to be desired in the record of Mitt Romney and the voting record of Paul Ryan.

***************

Todd Akin Rapes Missouri GOP
The only question is whether it was a “legitimate” rape

***************

Easier said than done
If you haven’t heard yet, the committee which is drafting the platform for next week’s US Republican National Convention has announced that they are including a proposal to return to the gold standard. Big news.

****************

Obama’s ground game advantage

****************

Judge strikes down Nevada's 'none of the above' voting option
In a high-stakes election that could help determine the presidency and control of the U.S. Senate, a judge has ruled Nevada's unique "none of these candidates" ballot option is unconstitutional and has to go.

****************

Cook Political Calls Missouri For McCaskill – Declares Akin “Unelectable”


****************

Obama Requests Europe Bail Out His Reelection
Color us unsurprised; but the UK's Independent is reporting that American officials are worried that if the Troika decides Greece has not done enough to meet its deficit targets, it will withhold the money - triggering Greece's exit from the eurozone weeks before the presidential election.

***************

CONVENTION THREAT: OCCUPY GRAFFITI, WEAPONS FOUND IN TAMPA

Echoing tactics terrorists use in the Middle East where areas are marked with graffiti to point to the hidding places of bricks or rocks in piles so the mob can acess them during a protest the Occupy anarchists hid bricks and pipes from a rooftop in Tampa near the RNC convention site.

***************

Todd Akin — a watershed moment for conservatives?
Phillip Klein argues that the reaction by Republicans to the Todd Akin mess seems to signal a new sophistication of the conservative movement

***************

Nevada’s Ron Paul supporters won’t give up the fight
On the national stage, deals are being struck between Republican presidential nominee-to-be Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul to ensure a harmonious national convention next week in Tampa, Fla.

***************

Is Mitt Romney the new James Polk?
According to a reporter at the Huffington Post, as reported by  Politico, Mitt Romney’s campaign manager says that a Romney presidency might resemble the tenure of James K. Polk. What does Team Romney find appealing about our 11th President?

***************

Anarchists Plan to Take Down Emergency Medical Services at RNC
Yesterday, I interviewed my co-worker Brandon Darby as he was traveling toward the Republican National Convention in Florida. The interview focused on strategies used by anarchist protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention and how those strategies will be used once again next week by the Occupy movement.

***************

GOP Platform includes Internet Freedom, language indicates influence of Rand Paul and libertarian-Republicans
Republicans could soon champion the protection of Internet Freedom as an official party issue, The Daily Caller has learned. Language in the final draft of the Internet freedom proposal was obtained exclusively by The Daily Caller.

***************

Romney raising cash from traditionally Dem cities
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who is out-fundraising President Barack Obama by impressive margins, is attracting thousands of donors this summer from traditionally Democratic areas of the United States, collecting millions of dollars in even progressive communities from New York to Los Angeles, according to an analysis by The Associated Press of new campaign data.

***************

Ron Paul Strikes Deal With RNC over Delegates

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul will enter the GOP convention next week with more delegates after a deal was reached avoiding a potentially embarrassing standoff with Mitt Romney.

***************

White House Sets Ground Rules for Local Interviews
The White House is doing something with its local TV interviews that it could not easily get away with in encounters with the White House press corps, which President Obama has been studiously ignoring: choosing the topic about which President Obama and the reporter will talk.

***************


Occupy

***************

***************


Hide The Decline

***************

Obama’s Solar Panel Tariffs Threaten To Destroy An American Business
Keith denies that any of part of his solar fans are produced in China, but he admits he can’t totally prove it. According to Keith, the owner of the Hong Kong company that customizes his solar cells has stated in an affadavit that it buys the cells from the United States, Taiwan and Germany. But Keith worries that testimony won’t be good enough.

***************

Plastic Bag Bans Lead to E-coli Deaths
One green pet cause du jour is the banning or taxing of disposable plastic bags at supermarkets and other grocery stores. These measures, which are designed to encourage shoppers to use their own reusable tote bags, have been spreading widely in recent years, and have already gone into effect in cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

***************

Michael Mann of Climategate infamy is threatening to sue National Review

***************

Federal Court: Obama’s EPA recognizes no legal limits
The Obama administration suffered a major legal defeat today when a federal court threw out the Environmental Protection Agency’s strict new power plant emission regulations.

***************

Eco-Luddites New Target: Air Conditioning
The leftist critique of capitalism and all the improvements in the quality of life that it has brought remains what it has always been: the desire of intellectuals to dictate to the rest of humanity how they may live.

***************


Obamacare

***************

Massachusetts Conscripts the Doctors
In Massachusetts they eventually came to the conclusion that Washington will come to if President Obama is re-elected: that the only way to rein in health costs would be to assert government control over doctors and hospitals. Forget about those greedy health insurance companies. Now, it’s time to place government’s “boot” on the neck of the providers.

***************

Obamacare law designed to unionize 21 million health care workers
In a book set for publication Tuesday, a politics and government professor at The Citadel claims President Obama’s 2009 health care reform law was, in part, a union-driven effort to organize 21 million health care workers.
***************




National

***************

Jesse Jackson leads rally for Chicago basketball star convicted in sex assault

***************

Immigration agents file suit against Napolitano over 'amnesty' program

Ten federal immigration agents have filed suit against Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claiming recent directives are forcing them to break the law and ignore their duties when it comes to deporting illegal immigrants.

***************

UCLA Institute Creates Controversial ‘University’ for Illegal Immigrants
Earlier this month the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, a division of the UCLA Institute for Research and Labor and Employment, and the National Labor College announced their new educational partnership program—National Dream University. National Dream University was created with the goal of inspiring undocumented students to break into the higher education world.

***************

NYPD: 9 shooting bystander victims hit by police gunfire

All nine people wounded during a dramatic confrontation between police and a gunman outside the Empire State Building were struck by bullets fired by the two officers, police said Saturday, citing ballistics evidence.

***************

Would you give the government remote control over your router?
Proposed “emergency switch” would turn private routers into public resource.

***************

Astronaut Neil Armstrong, first man to walk on moon, dies at age 82
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, died Saturday, weeks after heart surgery and days after his 82nd birthday on Aug. 5.

***************

Woman Faked Gruesome Anti-Gay Attack to Spark Change — May Have Even Carved Gay Slurs Into Own Skin

***************

DOJ sues Gallup polling firm
Justice Department officials joined a whistle blower lawsuit and alleged that The Gallup Organization, a major polling firm, intentionally overestimated the amount of time it would take to complete a job for the government and was paid accordingly.

***************

Man With Sword Dead After Dairy Queen Robbery Attempt
A masked man attempting to rob a Dairy Queen with a samurai sword was shot in the chest and killed, according to Metro Police.

***************



Economy & Taxes

***************

Lawyer Koutoulas Tells Rick Santelli: ‘We Plan To Pursue Criminal Charges Against Jon Corzine In All 50 States’

***************

Debt crisis: German finance ministry examines cost of Greek exit
The German government is reportedly calculating the economic cost of a Greek exit from the eurozone, as Chancellor Angela Merkel prepares to meet Greece's prime minister in Berlin for talks on Friday.

***************

FCC eyes tax on Internet service
The Federal Communications Commission is eyeing a proposal to tax broadband Internet service.

***************

German minister rejects more time for Greece
Germany’s economy minister has rejected calls for Greece to get more time to implement economic reforms, saying in an interview Sunday that Athens needs to respect the bailout deal reached with its international creditors.

***************

Big Outflow Trouble In Not So Little China?

***************

Is China's Housing Market Heading Toward a US-Style Crash?
This article aims to determine whether China is heading toward a U.S.-style market crash in its housing market. Rather than attempting to maintain any suspense, I will disclose here that my conclusion is, “Who knows?” China and the United States have dramatically different histories, cultures, governments, economies, and legal systems. Anyone who claims to have a definitive answer to this question is overly confident.

***************


International

***************

Russian court acquits Kasparov regarding rally
A Russian court unexpectedly acquitted opposition leader and chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov on Friday of participating in an unauthorized rally.

***************

New Massacre by Assad’s Forces Outside of Damascus
It’s a new bloodletting by Syrian troops, but the result was virtually the same. The Syrian opposition claims that 320 bodies of men, women, and children were found executed in a suburb outside of Damascus after a sweep through the area by the Syrian army.

***************


Opinion

***************

Crony Chronicles: I Want To Be A Crony

***************

California Dreaming, Chapter 2
It’s been a picture postcard perfect day out here on the central coast of California, with a large pod of humpback whales frolicking out in the ocean right in front of me (video coming shortly), so I’ve neglected the keyboard most of the day.  California enjoys what economists call “exploitable asymmetries,” which means California’s climate and topography mean liberalism can get away with more idiotic stuff than interior states, because people are willing—up to a point—to pay more and tolerate more bad government to live here.  The trouble is, California has long ago left the zone of equilibrium, and is now struggling to see if it can claw its way back.  So far it’s not going very well.

***************

Adam Smith and the Follies of Central Planning

***************








News of the Week Mainpage
Follow me on Twitter: @ThePoliticalHat
Support the Troops


divider