The Right Lane update 4.15.13

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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Progressive Millionaire Barack Obama Pays Only 18.4% Tax Rate

America’s progressive millionaire president Barack Obama is a class warrior par excellence. But like 99% of progressives, his wealth redistribution ideas are for thee and not for me. Take his taxes, for instance.  The Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Obama paid an effective tax rate of 18.4% on family income of $608,611 in 2012. The $112,214 he shelled out to Uncle Sam this year is less than the $162,074 he spent last year financing his progressive ideas, when he made $789,674 in adjusted gross income. It’s not that progressives are hypocrites, it’s that their ideas don’t comport with human nature or reality more broadly. While America is getting an increasingly progressive tax code, if one factors in corporate taxes and estate taxes, billionaire companies like Google and Facebook, and multi-millionaire investors in non-profits and trusts, like George Soros and Bill Gates, are cut all the tax breaks in the world. While such legislation in 2013 as raising the long-term capital gains rate from 15% to 20% does affect the super-rich, President Obama is largely able to avoid such hits to his wealth. Here’s a glimpse of recent changes to our absurdly byzantine tax code, which is three times longer than War & Peace:

• The maximum tax rate on ordinary income jumps from 35% to 39.6% — and the maximum tax rate on long-term capital gains and dividends from 15% to 20% — on taxable income in excess of $450,000 (for married taxpayers, $400,000 if single).
• Similarly, when AGI exceeds $300,000 (if married, $250,000 if single) taxpayers will begin to lose their personal exemptions.
• Under Obamacare, taxpayers with wages or self-employment income in excess of $250,000 ($200,000 if single) will pay a new 0.9% payroll tax on the excess.

If you understood all that, you might be a certified actuary, or a progressive millionaire like Barack Obama. It’s no wonder the majority of Democrats like the American tax code: they either don’t make enough to pay federal income tax (like 46.4% of Americans) or are uber-wealthy enough to hire a tax attorney to run the rat maze for them. It’s the small-business and property owning middle class that gets hit and not the progressive architects of the tax labyrinth who force others to run the gamut each year. By the way, Tax Freedom Day this year is April 18th — late like Obama’s budget. But hey, at least he got his taxes in on time.

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Atheists Bully School to Remove “You Shall Not Murder” from School by Gary DeMar

The Freedom From Religion Foundation pressured Kentucky’s Breathitt County School District to remove a copy of the Ten Commandments that had been posted in the school for years. The FFRF said it had received complaints about the displays. This complaint thing seems to work only one way. What if a group of parents complained that their children were being taught that they are the product of millions of years of years of evolution through the process of the survival of the fittest, “nature, red in tooth and claw”? What if the students put two and two together and reasoned that if evolution is true, then there are no moral absolutes? That would include murder, the sixth of the Ten Commandments. Consider the following from H. L. Mencken (1880–1956), a prominent supporter of evolutionary theory:

“[T]he struggle for existence went on among the lions in the jungle and the protozoa in the sea ooze, and . . . the law of natural selection ruled all of animated nature—mind and matter—alike.”^[1]

In fact, they might reason that killing a fellow student or group of students could not be called murder given evolutionary assumptions since “murder” assumes that human beings are created in the image of God: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). In what way is an evolved entity afforded protection from a “fitter” evolutionary “survivor”?

The Kentucky Board of Education released a statement explaining its rationale for agreeing to remove the display:

“The display of religious materials, such as a painting of a religious figure or a copy of the Ten Commandments, in a public school violates the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on the establishment or endorsement of religion by a public agency. A school or district that displays copies of the Ten Commandments without the inclusion of other historical documents and not as part of a historical/comparative display is in violation of the U.S. Constitution.”

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Grand Jury: Abortionist Murdered ‘Hundreds’ of Children; M.E.: Adam Lanza Murdered 20

Two recent cases of mass murder–one gaining a great deal of national media attention, the other very little–both specifically targeted children. In Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 14, 20-year-old Adam Lanza broke into the Sandy Hook Elementary School and, according to the Connecticut Medical Examiner, murdered 20 6- and 7-year-old first graders. He also murdered six adult staff at the school and shot his mother four times in the head as she slept in the home he shared with her.

In Philadelphia, Pa., over a course of decades, according to a Pennsylvania grand jury, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a wealthy abortionist who specialized in terminating the lives of babies late in pregnancy, murdered “hundreds” of born babies by either suctioning out their brains or slitting the backs of their necks to sever their spinal cords. Gosnell also deputized assistants to kill born babies for him. Gosnell is now standing trial in Philadelphia for seven counts of murder for killing babies who survived his abortions. But the grand jury that charged him with these murders lamented that the Pennsylvania statute-of-limitations law prohibits someone from being charged with infanticide if the alleged killing of an infant occurred two or more years ago. They also lamented that Gosnell was able to destroy records that could have documented multitudinous acts of homicide his staff described in sworn testimony. The grand jury concluded that the statute-of-limitations on infant-killing was helping Gosnell get away with killing hundreds of born babies.

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Darwinism Is an Ancient Religious Idea by Jerry Bergman, PhD

A common, but erroneous, conclusion is that the basic idea of biological evolution was conceived by Charles Darwin as a secular, non-theistic solution to the problem of origins (Bowden, 1982, p. 1). It is also frequently implied by Darwinists that the theory of biological macroevolution is a modern idea that could have developed only in our advanced scientific age. Conversely, critics often claim that the creation worldview is a product of our less informed ancestors, and that such a belief system is now a disproven religious relic. Actually, organic evolution is a very ancient idea that was first taught at least as early as the seventh century B.C., perhaps much earlier. As Morris (1997, p. 364) concluded “evolution is not in any way a modern ‘scientific’ discovery, but rather a modern revival of the primeval anti-God world religion.”

Mayans and Native Americans

The Mayan culture, which began about 600 B.C., developed a streamlined evolutionary view that taught that the rain-god created humans by both adding to, and in other ways modifying, his previous creations. This rain-god first made rivers, then fish, next serpents, and lastly, humans.

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Californians Sign Petition to Ban and Confiscate Firearms

Media critic and social analyst Mark Dice shows how people are literally in a trance as he gets trendy liberals in California to sign a petition banning their birthrights. The public’s zombie-like mental state is what will allow Obama to get his gun ban through. However, some of these people were not just in a trance and nodded their head as they expressed vehement support for repealing the Second Amendment and enacting door to door gun confiscation. The following clip is a stark reminder of how our liberties are in peril and how many Americans are part of a cult of authoritarians masquerading as liberals. Watch

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Obama’s United Nations Backdoor to Gun Control

Even before his most ambitious gun-control proposals were falling by the wayside, President Obama was turning for help to the United Nations. On April 2, the United States led 154 nations to approve the Arms Trade Treaty in the U.N. General Assembly. While much of the treaty governs the international sale of conventional weapons, its regulation of small arms would provide American gun-control advocates with a new tool for restricting rights. Yet because the Constitution requires that two-thirds of the Senate give its advice and consent to any treaty, Second Amendment supporters still have a political route to stop the administration. Like many international schemes, this treaty has seemingly benign motives. It seeks to “eradicate the illicit trade in conventional arms and to prevent their diversion to the illicit market,” where they are used in civil wars and human-rights disasters. The treaty calls for rigorous export controls on heavy conventional weapons, such as tanks, missiles, artillery, helicopters and warships.

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Medicare hike could hit some in middle class

Retired as a city worker, Sheila Pugach lives in a modest home on a quiet street in Albuquerque, N.M., and drives an 18-year-old Subaru. Pugach doesn’t see herself as upper-income by any stretch, but President Barack Obama’s budget would raise her Medicare premiums and those of other comfortably retired seniors, adding to a surcharge that already costs some 2 million beneficiaries hundreds of dollars a year each.  More importantly, due to the creeping effects of inflation, 20 million Medicare beneficiaries would end up paying higher “income related” premiums for their outpatient and prescription coverage over time.

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I Went to Bed a Christian and Woke Up a … Terrorist? By Doug Giles

According to the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security, evangelical Christians are now a national security threat. I’m talkin’ at the top of the list folks. As Gomer Pyle used to say, “Surprise, Surprise, Surprise” eh, Christians? Under the New Rules enacted by these agencies under this administration’s tutelage the following acts are now to cause red flags of “terrorism” to fly, alerting cops and military personnel to a new group[s] which could start blowing crap up like the other group that we can no longer speak the truth about. So, herewith, I guess, are some of the characteristics of the “newfangled” terrorists in the United States of Statism:

· If you enjoy singing How Great Thou Art and Amazing Grace – you might be a terrorist. · If you say “bless their heart” after you hear that someone did something really, really stupid – you might be a terrorist.
· If you believe Jeremiah was a prophet and not a bullfrog – you might be a terrorist.
· If you feel obligated to say you’ll pray for someone after you’ve gossiped about them – you might be a terrorist.
· If you watched The Bible on the History Channel and thought it was badass – you might be a terrorist.
· If you believe it’s wrong and ungodly to hijack airplanes and jam them into skyscrapers full of innocent people – then you might be a terrorist.
· If you think Billy Graham has been a great gift to our nation – you might be a terrorist.
· If you celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter – you might be a terrorist.
· If you made the day you got saved your birthday on your Facebook page verses the day you actually popped out of your mama’s bottom – you might be a terrorist.
· If you give money towards the preaching of the gospel and to works of charity – you might be a terrorist.
· If you love your neighbor as yourself – you might be a terrorist.
· If you recognize, appreciate and wish to pass on to the next generation America’s godly heritage – you might be a terrorist.
· If you like the Declaration of Independence, our Constitution and the Bill of Rights – you might be terrorist.
· If you have Jesus Take the Wheel on your iPod – you might be a terrorist.
· If as a single man, you have told a homely single lady that, “all you’re looking for is a godly woman and that you don’t care that she’s not attractive.” – you might be a terrorist.

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As We Lose Our Fortitude, A Swede Finds The Testicular Kind By Audrey Russo

“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism.” ~ Alexander Hamilton

The desire for liberty resides in man’s DNA. It cries out from the depths of every heart, placed there by the Creator of liberty. Lovers of liberty know this as they know each breath. The peril begins when generations born in liberty lose a sense of its worth … and foolishly become Esau selling this incomparable gift for a pot of stew … like acceptance. Sadly, the West has been doing this for decades. A practice of intellectual laziness which led them to a fool’s table to feast upon a daily fare of false guilt, and slowly but surely they have allowed those of pernicious ideologies to cause them to shrink from truth and all that is good, for fear of being unpleasantly labeled. And so we find ourselves in untenable positions globally. Europe is in the vanguard of this moral decline … led by poser parliamentarians of the people … all the way down the road to a tripling of the immigrant population of those following a deviant ideology cloaked in religion. A “religion” that demands, by its bloodthirsty draconian fist, that ALL governments and peoples adhere to its precepts.  That ideology, which birthed in 610 AD, is Islam. And it has among its fruit: Bigotry; misogyny, slavery, torture, murder … just to name a few…

Sweden, a country who’s Muslim population has doubled since 2008, has been experiencing the harvest of the misnomered “religion of peace’” Violent Muslim rape gangs (Oslo, Norway, Muslim immigrants were involved in two out of three rape charges in 2001, in Denmark the same, and even higher in the city of Copenhagen with 3 out of 4 rape charges), and arsonists are some of the assorted horrors Swedes have to contend with. Malmo, Sweden … where the Muslim population is now 25% … Jewish families are fleeing due to the threat of Muslim violence against them. Anyone who is a kafir (infidel or unbeliever in Islam) and even SPEAKS about Islam or their faux prophet, is subject to the harsh judgment of Muhammed’s minions … which usually means death. Few in the West have shown the mettle to confront these maniacal Mohammedans. But among the few in Europe, one intrepid artist deserves to be on display… Many are aware of the controversy that arose in 2007 of the Muhammed cartoons. The artist is Lars Vilks. An intrepid Swede who holds a Ph.D. in art history from Lund University, and has worked at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Vilks was also a professor in art theory at the Bergen National Academy of the Arts. Though Vilks is an academically trained art theorist, he’s a self-taught artist. In 2007, he made a series of drawings depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad as a roundabout dog. The drawings were initially intended to be shown at a local art exhibition at Tällerud in Värmland, Sweden in July 2007 but were removed from the exhibition by the organizers, expressing security concerns and fear of violence from Muslims (hmm … I thought Islam was a religion of peace). Several other venues refused the work, also citing the same concerns. The controversy picked up internationally following the publishing of one of the drawings by the Örebro-based regional newspaper Nerikes Allehanda to illustrate an editorial on self-censorship and freedom of religion. This publication led to protests from Muslim organizations in Sweden as well as condemnations from several foreign governments including Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, and Jordan, in addition to the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which also called for the Swedish government to take “punitive actions” against Vilks (and they weren’t referring to a time-out).

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The Times Wins Four Pulitzer Prizes By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Another reason the Pulitzer has lost its integrity and reputation! The New York Times won four Pulitzer Prizes on Monday, including two awards for its reporting on the actions of companies like Apple and Wal-Mart overseas, and another for an examination of the hidden wealth of the Chinese premier’s family.

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Wealth tax to pay for EU bail-outs

Wealthy households would face new taxes on property and other assets under German plans to prop up the struggling eurozone. By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Senior advisers to Chancellor Angela Merkel are pushing for better-off households to pay towards the cost of any future bail-outs for the weaker members of the single currency. The proposals, from members of Germany’s council of economic experts, raise the prospect of taxes being imposed on property in a country like Spain if its government was forced to seek a bail-out. The council, known as the “Five Wise Men”, is often used to test new policies that are later adopted officially. The German suggestion is the latest sign that Berlin is intent on imposing even tougher rules on weaker southern euro members in exchange for using its economic might to support their finances. As well as inflaming tensions between Germany and its smaller southern partners, the suggestion could also mean that Britons with holiday homes are dragged deeper into the eurozone crisis. When will the "idiots" realize that there is only so much wealth in a Nation State.  Confiscation of wealth to fund bloated corrupt governments will bring down the world economy!

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