The
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
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Former administration insider skewers Obama national
security team
By James Rosen
An administration driven
with infighting. A commander-in-chief given to "dithering" on
critical wartime decisions. A suspicious and devious White House staff erecting
a "Berlin Wall" around a secluded and standoffish president,
shielding him from those advisers -- particularly at the Department of State --
willing to convey unpleasant truths. It all
sounds rather like the sensational literature that proliferated in the
mid-to-late 1970s to chronicle the collapsed presidency of Richard Nixon --
including the description of a White House "Berlin Wall," originally
applied, with great fanfare, to those much-maligned (and eventually imprisoned)
Nixon aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman. Instead, it is President Obama's turn to watch as former aides and
journalists rush into print -- with a warp speed that eluded the insider
memoirists of the 1970s -- their detailed and dishy accounts of the first Obama
term. A forthcoming book by former foreign policy aide Vali Nasr paints the above portrait, describing a
president whose decisions "from start to finish were guided by
politics." "Those in Obama's inner circle, veterans of his
election campaign, were suspicious of Clinton," Nasr writes in an excerpt
published on ForeignPolicy.com. "Even after Clinton proved she was a team
player, they remained concerned about her popularity and feared that she could
overshadow the president. ... Had it not been for Clinton's tenacity and the
respect she commanded, the State Department would have had no influence on policymaking
whatsoever." The president had a truly disturbing habit," Nasr
writes, "of funneling major foreign-policy decisions through a small cabal
of relatively inexperienced White House advisers whose turf was strictly
politics. ... His actions from start to finish were guided by politics. ... It
was no surprise that our AfPak policy took one step forward and two steps
back."
~~~~~~
Record 18.7 Million
Students in FY 2012 Got ‘Free’ Lunch By Terence P.
Jeffrey
It is an old saying
that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but a record 18.7 million American
schoolchildren would not have learned that lesson when they attended school in
fiscal year 2012. That is because U.S. taxpayers—via the U.S. Department of
Agriculture—were picking up the tab for their lunch. According to new data from the USDA,
during the average school month in fiscal year 2012, 18.7 million students in
U.S. high schools and grammar schools were given completely free lunches,
courtesy of the department’s National School Lunch Program. That was up from
the record of 18.4 million that was set in fiscal 2011. Back in 1969, the average monthly number of schoolchildren getting free
lunches was only 2.9 million. As recently as 1990, it was only 9.8 million. In addition to giving away
completely free lunches, the National School lunch program also gives away
partially subsidized lunches—or what it calls “reduced-price lunches” and “paid
lunches.” When a student buys a “paid lunch” at a participating school, federal
taxpayers are required to subsidize that lunch by $0.27, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture. When a student buys a “reduced-price lunch,”
taxpayers are made to pay $2.46. When a student takes a “free lunch,” taxpayers
are made to pay $2.86 cents. The payments are made in the form of
“reimbursements” for each and every meal that the U.S.D.A. sends to the
participating schools. In fiscal 2012,
in addition to the record 18.7 million students who took completely free
lunches, there were also 2.7 million who took “reduced-price” lunches, and 10.2
million who took “paid” lunches. All in all, in the average school month in fiscal 2012, 31.6 million high school and grammar
school students got federally subsidized lunches. The total cost to the
taxpayers for the school lunch program in 2012 was $10,410,100,000.00. And that does not count free breakfasts. I don't think
anyone would dissagree with feeding truly needy, hungry children. However, there is SOMETHING wrong here. There are simply too many receiving tax
subsidized food. That and this does not
include the work being done to send children home on weekends with a back pack
full of food. Couple the above with the
record amount of people of food stamps.
One cannot tell me we do not have waste and fraud in the system.
~~~~~~~
Sen. Ron Johnson on Benghazi: “The Admin Was Lying to the
American Public.”
During the Benghazi
trials, instead of praising Hillary Clinton Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson
caused her to say the infamous words, “What difference does it make?”
Sen. Johnson speaks very candidly with PolitiChick Ann-Marie Murrell from
the West Coast David Horowitz Freedom Center event. Watch
~~~~~~~
Obama Has Blocked Oil Production
Empty Boast: As we
have noted before in our Issues & Insights pages, President Obama has taken
credit for an energy boom he had nothing to do with. A government agency now
confirms what many have known to be true.
The Congressional Research Service has released a report, “U.S. Crude
Oil and Natural Gas Production in Federal and Non-Federal Areas,” that
corroborates what we’ve said. “All of the increase (in oil and natural gas
production) from FY2007 to FY2012 took place on non-federal lands, and the
federal share of total U.S. crude oil production fell by about seven percentage
points,” writes Marc Humphries, the government specialist in energy policy who
authored the report. During this period, oil production on
federal land fell from nearly 1.7 million barrels a day to 1.6 million. At the
same time, the share of overall production on federal lands shriveled from 33%
to 26%
~~~~~~
Pelosi on Sequester: ‘Millions of Americans have already
died and don’t even know it!’’ By Nick Taxia
The following is
satire. by
Michael Madshack
As the nation
plunged further into the financial abyss commonly known as sequestration
Tuesday, House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi added her say to the mainly
Democrat–dominated drumbeat of sequestration opponents. Sounding further alarm bells on the damage
automatic federal budget cuts could leave in their wake, Pelosi (D–CA), spoke on the Capitol steps Tuesday afternoon, saying
that regardless how long sequestration may last, the damage is already worse
than could be possibly imagined and that “billions” of Americans have or are
going to be affected in the worst way. Said Pelosi, “This (sequestration) my
Republican colleagues have allowed to happen has left unprecedented damage to
so many people. Millions of Americans have already died and don’t even know
it.” When asked by Capitol reporters of any statistics or official reports of
“millions of the billions” of the nation’s estimated 310 million residents
dying at the hands of Republican-lead budget cuts, Pelosi responded hotly,
“Just ask those four billion Americans now who are dead, who have died in open
sewers, jobless, starving, with no hope. And are dead. Go out and ask those
three to four million dead people themselves if you want proof. They’re
everywhere.”
Other Democrat
colleagues are echoing Pelosi’s fears and claims, but remain not as extreme in
their predictions. Steering away from Pelosi’s claims that billions, if not
just four million Americans, have already died, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer
told reporters that his main fear now that sequestration is taking effect is
the Earth’s ability to defend itself against menacing inbound asteroids. Hoyer (D-MD) said that while the federal
government, along with NASA and other space agencies, are “scrambling
desperately” to find new ways of deflecting asteroids now that Republicans have
allowed funds for the nation’s famed Planetary Asteroid Diversion Interceptor
to dry up, Hoyer said he has other concerns of equal severity.
Lamented Hoyer to
Capitol reporters, “And the asteroid
threat is just the tip of the danger Republicans have put us in. Just think of
all the lawnmowers that will be spontaneously lurching out of their owners’
hands this summer and plow their way over kittens, or run over baby rabbits or
helpless puppies. There’s also the zombie threat no one is talking about.
That’s where the GOP’s adherence to this draconian belief in less taxes and
government spending has left us.”
Pelosi just may be
positioning herself to regain the Speakership of the House as the overall
climate in Washington turns from marveling at President Obama’s second term to
the 2014 mid-term elections. Without a formidable Democrat retake of the House
and maintaining their grip on the Senate, analysts say President Obama stands
to have only 90-percent of his agenda passed in his second term (a humiliating
defeat by Obama’s standards). Consequently Pelosi’s dire observations of
millions of Americans already dead and dying due to sequestration’s $85 billion
in federal budget cuts may be just that —dire posturing— according to
Congressman Eric Cantor (R-VA).
“I’m sorry, but I
haven’t seen one dead body or scenes of genocide yet because of sequestration,”
Cantor said to Duh Progressive Tuesday. “Now I did see a dead squirrel in the
road as I came into work today. But it had been run over, flat as a pancake.” But
Cantor’s dead squirrel serves only as even further proof that sequestration is
worse than expected, according to
Pelosi, costing not only the lives of “millions of the billions of Americans,”
but has grown into a major threat against animal life on the planet as well. Said
a flustered Pelosi as she slapped her palm to her head, “See? See?! What more
proof do you want? Millions of Americans
are dead without knowing it, and this poor squirrel Mr. Cantor so callously
calls a ‘pancake’ was so upset (over sequestration) that it threw itself under
a car. …How much more carnage can America take?”
~~~~~~
Obamacare Draft Application Is Online with 60-Pages of
Description!
Obamacare is now 20,000 pages long
and they’re still writing rules! Sequestration won’t slow any of
this down – aren’t we lucky? Unsurprisingly, the application for Obamacare is a
bureaucratic mess. The draft
version of the Obamacare application and the 60-page description appeared
online without any warning. They can be found here.
It is 15 pages with 21 steps, some steps having additional questions. Three
government agencies including the IRS will scrutinize the application for
identity, finances, and citizenship. If approved, you then have to pick a
health plan. In order to pick a health plan, you have to be familiar with
healthcare jargon. We can’t ask people to get photo ID’s to
vote because it’s too confusing and difficult, but we can make them fill out
confusing bureaucratic paperwork before they can even pick a health plan.
Picking a health plan is also confusing.
~~~~~~
Obama In Wide-Ranging Interview With ABC: ‘We Don’t Have
An Immediate Crisis In Terms Of Debt
On Wednesday, Good Morning America
aired more of George Stephanopoulos‘ interview with President Obama
— during which they talked addressed topics ranging from a budget deal and GOP
opposition to North Korea and the cancelled White House tours. Some Republicans
will want to see significant entitlement reform, Stephanopoulos noted, asking
whether raising the Medicare age is back on the table. Obama argued that many
people don’t actually know what he’s proposed, but Stephanopoulos added that
even those who have seen his plan say it’s not enough. “Which is why, at some
point, I think I take myself out of this,” Obama replied. “Right now, what I’m
trying to do is create an atmosphere where Democrats and Republicans can go
ahead, get together, and try to get something done. But ultimately, it may be
that the differences are just too wide.” “And,
so, we don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt,” he
told Stephanopoulos — a point he reiterated elsewhere in the interview.
“In fact, for the next ten years, it’s
gonna be in a sustainable place.”
~~~~~~~
A Liberal’s Worst Fear: God and Country
“The enemies of freedom ram socialism down
our throats, time to ram “God and Country” down theirs!” Watch
~~~~~~~
Ancient Mars could have supported primitive life, NASA
says By Mike Wall
It's official: Primitive life could have
lived on ancient Mars, NASA says.
A sample of Mars drilled from a rock by
NASA's Curiosity rover and then studied by onboard
instruments "shows ancient Mars
could have supported living microbes," NASA officials announced
Tuesday in a statement and press conference. 'A fundamental question for this
mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment. From what
we know now, the answer is yes.' Michael
Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program The discovery comes
just seven months after the Curiosity rover landed on Mars to spend at least
two years determining if the planet could have ever supported primitive life. "A fundamental question for this
mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment,"
said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the
agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is
yes." Maybe now, they will stop wasting tax payer
money trying to prove there is life on other planets in order to prove the
Bible wrong!
~~~~~~~
Al Gore Calls the NRA a ‘Complete Fraud,’ But Al Jazeera
Is ‘High Quality, Honest-To-Goodness News’
Austin, Texas is playing host to stars in the
worlds of film, music, technology and politics as the annual South By Southwest
Conferences (SXSW) kicked
off this weekend. In the well attended session, Gore actually stayed true to
his recycling mantra and actually revisited a theme from 2012′s keynote
session with Sean Parker. In that
session, Gore was talking about the risks to American democracy and told Parker
and the crowd, “Our democracy has been hijacked.” Fast forward to Saturday
afternoon, March 8, 2013. Gore and
Mossberg on the stage in front of a full house at the Austin Convention Center.
Mr. Gore told the crowd, “Our country is in very serious trouble. But
that does not mean I am optimistic.” Then the former Vice President shifted
focused to the topic of money and politics and trotted out last year’s
catchphrase, “Our democracy has been hijacked.” Gore continued;
“American
democracy has never been perfect, but more often than not, the will of the
people did drive policy. Congress today is utterly incapable of passing any
reform of any significance unless they get permission from special interests.”
Mr. Gore went on to say “The NRA is a complete fraud because it is financed by the gun
manufacturers.” Gore’s belief is that the NRA is in league with the gun
manufacturers as opposed to actually defending the Second Amendment rights of
the people. Walter Mossberg also saw an opportunity to question Gore on the
sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera. In a rambling explanation, Mr. Gore justified the sale. “I did
extensive diligence and found some pretty remarkable things, it has won major
awards around the world for integrity in journalism I felt it was the most interest and
disruptive move on the chessboard.”
~~~~~~
Why Celebrities’ Response to Sandyhook Shooting is a Scam
Watch
~~~~~~
The World’s Greatest Living Economist
by Gary North
. . . . is Thomas Sowell.
I first encountered his name in 1967, when I
was writing the chapter on Marx’s economics in my first book, Marx’s
Religion of Revolution (1968). Sowell
had written an article for the American Economic Review in 1960. I did
not know at the time that he had written it while he was in graduate school,
which is unheard of for any author of an AER article. He received his
Ph.D. in 1968, the year my book was published. I also did not know that Sowell
was a Marxist. In 1960, the year the article was published, he got a job as a
summer intern in a federal bureaucracy. He began to abandon his Marxism. I was
not overly impressed by the article. I cited it in a footnote: “Thomas Sowell,
“Marx’s ‘Increasing Misery Doctrine’,” American Economic Review, L
(1960), pp. 111-20. Sowell argues that Marx did hold to the absolute increasing
misery doctrine before 1850 or so, but in the context of this chapter, I have
tried to indicate that he also wrote in terms of it after 1850.” Little did I
suspect what was to come. There is no
Sowell theorem in economic theory. There is no Sowell movement. Nobody has
publicly identified himself as a Sowellist. Then why do I regard him as the
greatest living economist?
This:
1. He applies simple but fundamental concepts
of economics to real-world problems, which are often problems that are not
widely perceived as being heavily influenced by economic categories.2. He
relies exclusively on verbal communications, not graphs or equations, to
explain these concepts and their applications. This keeps his expositions
firmly within the realm of historical cause and effect.
3. He never begins his economic analyses with
this phrase: “Let us assume. . . .” The only time he ever uses “let us assume,”
is when it is followed by “for the sake of argument,” which is in preparation
for a lambasting of some conventional political assumption.
4. He writes in well-honed English that is
the product of over 30 years of writing newspaper columns: clear, precise, and
rhetorically persuasive — in short, efficient.
5. He is the most creative economist in our
era — or perhaps in any era — in implementing the division of labor in his
writing. He hires astoundingly productive research assistants, and then he
incorporates their remarkable but diverse discoveries into a single coherent
narrative.
6. He is a better historian than he is an
economist. Other economists have made observations similar to his. But no other
historian matches him in his chosen specialty: economic motivations that have prompted
the international migration and subsequent economic successes of modern racial,
national, and religious groups.
~~~~~~~
"A
Constitution is not the act of a Government, but of a people constituting a
government, and a government without a constitution is a power without
right."
--Thomas
Paine, Rights of Man, 1791
"If the
representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no
resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which
is paramount to all positives forms of government, and which against the
usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better
prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual
state."
--Alexander
Hamilton, Federalist No. 28, 1787
~~~~~~~~~~~~
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