In pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, free markets and individual liberty
"There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
59%
Think Tax Hikes on Millionaires Not Enough
The latest Rasmussen Reports national
telephone survey finds that 62% of Likely U.S. Voters favor House Speaker John
Boehner’s “Plan B” to extend the Bush administration tax cuts for everyone who
makes less than a million annually. Just 24% are opposed, with 14% more
undecided
~~~~~~
Obama’s Real Plan:
Soak the Middle Class
The opportunity here to get confused in this
debt deal and the fiscal cliff is huge. There’s something
that I think needs to be stated and understood. There
is not a single tax cut being proposed as we speak. There is nobody, no
Republican, no Democrat that is talking about tax cuts. There aren’t any.
The reason I’m making a big deal out of this is that Jay Carney and his sound
bite from the White House just now, rejecting John Boehner’s latest proposal,
is filled with lies about how the Republicans are cutting taxes for the rich.
I want you to understand, there are no tax cuts. There are no tax cuts
contemplated. There are no tax cuts scheduled. We have current tax rates. They have been the
same since 2003. These tax rates were put into place by an agreement that
Congress made with George Bush. They are to this day called the Bush tax
cuts, but they are not tax cuts. They were at the moment they were passed
because the new rates were smaller than what existed in 2003. But they have
been the effective tax rates since 2003. There are no tax cuts, my friends. So
when you hear Jay Carney or anybody in the media, or anybody on a cable TV show
talking about the Bush tax cuts, there aren’t any tax cuts. And nobody has
proposed a tax cut. What is going to happen on January
1st is that the current tax rates are going up. The question is, on
who? If we go over the fiscal cliff, everybody’s income tax rates are going
up. The capital gains tax rate is going up. There is a 1% — actually .9% —
there is a 1% income tax surcharge on everybody for Obamacare, everybody, no
matter what else happens. There is a 3.8% surcharge on capital gains,
independent of whatever the tax rate is on capital gains, and that’s an
Obamacare tax. So if nobody does anything, everybody’s taxes are going up
potentially 4.8%. A 1% income surcharge on everybody for Obamacare, and a
3.8% surcharge on any capital gains. If you sell your house at a profit, if
you sell a stock at a profit, in addition to whatever the capital gains rate
is, add 3.8% to it. It’s an Obamacare tax.
Both of these are. It
is political doublespeak. It exists by continuing to call the current rates the
Bush tax cuts and then claiming that people who will not see a tax increase are
getting a tax cut, when they aren’t. Their rates are going to stay the same. There is no tax cut anywhere for anybody any time on the
table.
~~~~~~
Time to Reduce
Poverty by David Rothstein New America
Foundation
Rothstein is saying
the same old thing [read full
article here] and trying to be louder and more credible by throwing out a
number of data points. However, these
figures simply demonstrate how "large" the transfer payments are to
those that are on the government plantation. He
failed to use any facts that demonstrate how ineffective these types of
spending programs are in lifting millions FROM poverty and eliminate the need to feed off others. His "ideology" is well intended,
but fails to make fundamental changes in the demographics of "poor". We can and must do better for the poor. Ther was an article published below his that
was a stark contrast to Mr. Rothstein's rhetoric. Get the government out of the way and
allow the wealthy with the means to directly fund the organizations on the
ground that know how to make a difference, by choices. Leave the government to the more narrow path
of temporary roles of a "safety net", not running a plantation for
the poor. One can easily educate themselves to all the statistics on the many
programs that have failed while increasing the numbers dependent on tax payers. Simply go to many of the governments own
websites to view the rate of growth of the poor and NOT just the rate of
spending. He says:
"Solutions to avoid the fiscal cliff must not deepen poverty or
punish children. Refundable tax credits are critical to working families and
ingrained in our local economy. We should let high income tax cuts expire,
preserve spending that matters, and retain solutions that help people enter and
stay in the middle class. A bad deal will hurt our next generation and
impoverish our future. Policy makers need to get it right."
His lament that we
cannot punish the children ignores the fact his
ideologically driven policies have done that very thing that accomplishes what
he claims to avoid!
~~~~~~
Obama Uses Shooting
to Press ‘Cliff’ Compromise
As I've said
before, the big gun-control push isn’t really about gun control. Obama knows he
has no chance of getting anything but the most modest new regulations through
the House, and even that’s unlikely. This is about maximizing his leverage
against Republicans on other issues by framing Republicans as usual, as
people who just don’t care enough about Americans generally and children in
particular.
So here he is at
today’s presser announcing the latest bureaucratic bulwark against gun
violence, casually wondering how the GOP can be so obstinate and narrow-minded
as to stick to their principles At A Time Like This. OBAMA: There is no doubt
that, you know, the speaker has challenges in his caucus, and I recognize that.
I’m often reminded when I speak to the Republican leadership that the
majority of their caucus’s membership come from districts that I lost. And
so, sometimes they may not see an incentive in cooperating with me in
part because they’re more concerned about challenges from a tea party candidate
or challenges from the right. And, you know, cooperating with me may make
them vulnerable. And so says the serpent!
~~~~~~
Democrats Facing
Sticker Shock for Obamacare
As politicians, the Democratic members of the
Wilmington, Del., City Council were early and enthusiastic supporters of
Obamacare. As employers, they are suffering from sticker
shock after learning Obamacare for one employee could cost as much as $17,500
per year. They say they do not want to pay it. The Affordable Care Act
requires employers with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance for
anyone who works more than 30 hours a week. Some city employees who work more
than 30 hours a week are considered part-time and do not receive benefits such
as health insurance.
Now that city
leaders have read the Obamacare bill and know what is in it, that could change.
“We could potentially add 40 to 50 employees to the city’s health care
plan,” said Samuel D. Pratcher, head of the city’s human resources department.
“At a cost of $300,000 to $700,000 a year.” That ranges from $7,500 to $17,500
per employee per year. That is not an option for this city of 70,000, officials
said.
~~~~~~~
Reid on the Fiscal
Cliff: “We’re Not Going to Do Anything”
Raise your hand if you’re the least bit
surprised. Harry Reid’s Senate has perfected the art of doing nothing; from not
passing budgets to not taking up President Obama’s various proposals. They also do quite a bit of not debating or voting on legislation
— due to a record number of Republican filibusters, triggered by Reid’s
historic abuse of shutting down the amendment process. So with America
on the precipice of devastating across-the-board tax hikes, Harry Reid is
promising to do precisely nothing unless President Obama gets everything he
wants. Two quotes from today’s press conference:
(1) “We are not taking up anything they are working on over [in the
House].”
(2) “We are not going
to do anything.”
Senate Republicans
have culled a list of choice quotes from Reid over the last three weeks,
demanding that the House act to protect the middle class while “compromising”
on rates for the “richest of the rich”
~~~~~~
Conference of
Mayors: Hunger and Homelessness Continue to Surge Under Obama By: REUTERS
Across the United
States, the number of hungry and homeless people is growing, and budget fights
at the federal level are threatening the aid many need to survive, the U.S.
Conference of Mayors said on Thursday. Amidst
the holiday season of family feasts and corporate dinners, the mayors
released a report that found requests for emergency food assistance rose in 21
out of the 25 cities it surveyed in 2012 and remained at the same level in
three. More than half the cities said homelessness increased. The 25 cities
are of varying size and wealth in all regions of the country. They included
Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Nashville,
Tennessee. Among those seeking emergency food, 51 percent were in families and
37 percent were employed. Nearly 1 in 6 - 17 percent - were elderly and 8.5
percent were homeless, according to the survey.
The impending fiscal cliff has people with
lower and middle incomes worried government funds for safety net programs will
drop just as emergency unemployment benefits end. President Barack Obama and
Republican leaders in the U.S. Congress are negotiating on how to avert tax
increases and spending cuts due to take effect at the beginning of 2013. The 2007-2009 recession pushed up poverty and unemployment, while
enrollment for food stamps, which help cover grocery costs, soared. As
economic recovery takes hold, the unemployment rate has fallen to 7.7 percent
from a peak of 10 percent. Still, the country's poverty rate remains at 15
percent and a record 47.7 million people use food stamps. The hunger problem is likely to get worse next
year. Three-fourths of the cities expect the need for food to rise. No city
expects a decrease. Sixty percent of the cities surveyed expect an increase in
the number of families without shelter and 56 percent anticipate a rise in
homeless individuals. More than half the cities say there will not be enough
shelters available. All of this while the
President spent four years ignoring jobs while sideling potential employers with
huge cost of business expenses through Obamacare taxes. Now the President wants to pretend the
"Crisis" is recent and the doing of Republicans. So, the serpent says.
~~~~~~
46% Think America
Overtaxed, 42% Disagree
Fewer voters than
ever think the United States is overtaxed. A new Rasmussen Reports national
telephone survey finds that 46% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe the nation is
overtaxed. But nearly as many (42%) disagree. Twelve percent (12%) are not
sure.
~~~~~~
Gallup: Quality
Jobs Harder to Come By, More Americans Say By Melanie Hunter
Fewer Americans
believe now is a good time to find a quality job, compared to last month, a new
Gallup
poll found. The number of Americans saying the time is right to find a
quality job fell sharply in December to 19 percent – down from 24 percent in
November. Three in four Americans, or 76 percent, say this is a bad time to
find a quality job. In January 2007, 48 percent said it was a good time to
finds a quality job – the record high for this measure. The availability of
quality jobs is considered a key to economic growth.
~~~~~~
DHS Errors Let 800k
Deported Illegal Aliens Stay In US, Some Receiving Welfare Benefits
The federal
government’s system of tracking immigrants’ status is so broken that it
gives a green light to one in eight aliens who have been ordered deported,
according to an audit Tuesday that found the government has gone on to approve
some of those who slip through for work in sensitive areas of airports and
granted them benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps. Some of those aliens
who should have been kicked out had serious criminal records, including for
assault and extortion, according to the audit by the Homeland Security
Department’s inspector general. All told, some 800,000 immigrants are
living in the U.S. who already have been ordered deported but have not yet left
— or been removed by the government — from the country. The Homeland
Security Department is supposed to maintain an up-to-date list of those
deportable aliens so that other government agencies are aware of their status
and know they should be denied benefits. The system is known as the
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program, or SAVE. Another failing government agency!
~~~~~~
Congress Limps Out
of Town with a Fractured Budget Process
No devastating
collapse hit Washington on December 21st, despite ominous warnings about
partisanship and polarization. Agencies kept running, Social Security checks
got mailed, the government didn’t default on its debts. Still, as 2012 draws to
a close, the departing 112th Congress has left a nagging sense of unease about
the condition of Washington policymaking. The erosion of governing goes on.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the
state of the budget. The federal government will likely produce its fifth
straight trillion-dollar-plus deficit in fiscal year 2013. Publicly held debt
exceeds three-fourths of the economy’s total resources, and is on course to be
double the size of the entire economy in 25 years.
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
D.C. has to cancel
Living Nativity
Washington D.C. had to cancel plans for a
living Nativity even before the ACLU could jump in. They were unable to find any wise men.
~~~~~~
Flashback: Clinton
Requests $60 Million to Put Cops in Schools
Today,
the same elite media who no doubt send their own kids to private schools that
employ armed security, just can't stop howling ridicule at the NRA's idea to
give every student in America those same protections. Because the NRA's idea is
so appealing, as I write this, the media's going overboard, mocking it as
bizarre, crazy, and out of touch. This is how the media works to silence and vilify the
opposition and to ensure that only their ideas control The Narrative. The media
doesn't care about securing our schools; they only care about coming after our
guns and handing Obama another political win. The media also doesn’t care how wildly hypocritical they look. In their zeal to rampage this left-wing
agenda, the media has apparently
forgotten that back in 2000, on the one-year anniversary of the Columbine
shooting (which occurred with an assault weapons ban in place), President
Clinton requested
$60 million in federal money to fund a fifth round of funding for a program
called "COPS in School," a program that does exactly what the NRA
is proposing and the media is currently in overdrive mocking.
~~~~~
Poll:
Majority Agree with NRA Plan to ‘Increase Police Presence at Schools’
Lost
in our objective, unbiased, and non-partisan media’s zeal to mock the National
Rifle Association’s proposal to guard our public schools is the fact that, in a
Gallup poll taken Wednesday, a majority
of 53% of Americans expressed their support for doing exactly what the NRA’s
proposing – increasing police presence at schools. Only 42% support an assault
weapons ban. Almost as many people
(34%) thought that at least one school official in every school should carry a
gun as those who favored banning the sale of assault and semi-automatic guns,
while 27% felt that the news media should not print or read the names of the
shooter. The news blackout of the
shooter drew the highest percentage of those who thought it would be
ineffective, at 40%, but the gun ban was a close second in the
ineffectiveness rating at 36%. What also becomes clear from the poll is the
public’s perception that all of the solutions offered would be fruitless, as
53% was the highest positive rating of any of the remedies.
~~~~~~~
The News from Low-Information America
Santa
Claus is distributing needles and comes in the Bronx in a health clinic video. “That’s
right, Mr. Limbaugh, and that is a sign of a compassionate society. This is the
kind of public community service program that we all need, Mr. Limbaugh. You
are mocking them, and you are prepared to make fun of ‘em, but this is exactly
what the American people need.” I don’t doubt it. I mean, there’s
obviously a demand for this. Santa Claus, clean needles, and condoms.
~~~~~~
Obama Could Be Facing Impeachment by Giacomo
There
are rising concerns on Capitol Hill that President Obama is considering sending
US troops into Syria. The military has already taken steps to increase
its presence in the area and has been supplying Patriot missiles to Turkey. At
a recent press conference, Rep
Walter Jones (R-NC) explained his resolution before the House (H.Con. Res.
107), saying:
“The sense of
Congress that the use of offensive military force by a president without prior
and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high
crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.” The US Constitution states that only Congress has the power
to maintain an army, navy and to declare war. None of these fall under
the constitutional duties of the president. Article I, Section 8 of says: “The Congress
shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises,
to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the
United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout
the United States;…” “To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and
make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;” “To raise and support
Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term
than two Years;” “To provide and maintain a Navy;”
In
a surprise move, one noted Democratic congressman has sided with Jones. Charles
Rangel (D-NY) explained that the proper constitutional procedure for sending
troops to war is for the president to go to Congress with the request
first. Having Congressional approval is viewed as meeting the will of the
people, although that can be questioned in today’s politics. Others that have
expressed support of Jones’ actions are Michael Michaud (D-ME); Ron Paul
(R-TX), Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Justin Amash (R-MI). Jones and his supporters sent
a letter
to President Obama which read in part:
“Outside of an actual
or imminent attack on America, the only precursor to war can be the
authorization of Congress. We call on you to abide by our Constitution, and
rely on our country’s representatives to decide when war is necessary.”
When asked what he would do if Obama
does carry out his intentions of sending troops to Syria without congressional
approval, Jones said he would have no choice but to bring impeachment charges
against the president.
~~~~~~
NRA's Wayne LaPierre: Put Armed Guards at Every School
· "The
only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, chief
executive of the National Rifle Association, noting that banks and airports are
patrolled by armed guards, while schools typically are not.
· His
remarks - in which he charged that the news
media and violent video games shared blame for the second-deadliest school
shooting in U.S. history
· "Out of respect for the
families and until the facts are known, the NRA has refrained from
comment," LaPierre said. "While
some have tried to exploit tragedy for political gain, we have remained
respectively silent."
· The next Adam Lanza [the killer in
Newtown], he said, is already "planning his attack. How many more copycats are waiting in the wings for
their moment of fame from a national
media machine that rewards them?" he asked.
· LaPierre noteed there is no "active national database of the mentally ill."
· LaPierre also asked why the news media doesn't do more to call attention to an
industry that "sells and sows violence against its own people" — the
manufacturers of "vicious, violent video games."
So, what about these comments are
crazed radical statements? Maybe you can
ask one of your liberal friends to take them apart and come up with better
ideas OTHER than corrupt a constitutional amendment.
~~~~~~
"Laws that forbid the carrying
of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit
crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the
assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an
unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
--Cesare
Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishment, quoted by Thomas Jefferson in Commonplace
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