By John Hayward
Every true “independent” voter in the United States should be
clamoring for the full and immediate repeal of ObamaCare after watching a
few days of Barack Obama’s Shutdown Theater. Do you really think the
man who vandalized the World War II Memorial with barricades to make
elderly veterans suffer will hesitate a microsecond to use your
health care as leverage against you, the next time you defy his
commands? You’re not “independent” in any meaningful sense whatsoever
if you’re comfortable with what’s going on here.
This was always a top goal of ObamaCare. Dependency is control. The
Ruling Class does not fear people who rely upon it for food and
medicine.
By Michael Barone
In the early republic, it was widely assumed that presidents could veto
legislation only it was deemed unconstitutional. Disagreeing with
policy was not enough.
That changed after Andrew Jackson vetoed the recharter of the Second
Bank of the United States in 1832 and was promptly reelected. Jackson
claimed to act on constitutional grounds, but it came to be understood
that presidents could veto laws they disagreed with.
By Charles Krauthammer
The Obamacare/shutdown battle has spawned myriad myths. The most
egregious concern the substance of the fight, the identity of the
perpetrators and the origins of the current eruption.
By Thomas Sowell
Since we cannot read minds, we cannot say who -- if anybody -- "wants
to shut down the government." But we do know who had the option to keep
the government running and chose not to. The money voted by the House of
Representatives covered everything that the government does, except for
ObamaCare.
The Senate chose not to vote to authorize that money to be spent,
because it did not include money for ObamaCare. Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid says that he wants a "clean" bill from the House of
Representatives, and some in the media keep repeating the word "clean"
like a mantra. But what is unclean about not giving Harry Reid
everything he wants?
The Budget Fight and Obama’s Vindictive Streak
By Jonah Goldberg
The president thinks negotiating with his “ideological” opponents on the budget is beneath him.
By Kevin Hassett & Abby McCloskey
According to the Congressional Research Service, Congress voted 53 times
from 1978 to 2013 to change the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling has
increased to about $16 trillion from $752 billion. Of these 53 votes, 29
occurred in a Congress run by Democrats, 17 in a split Congress, and
seven in a Republican-controlled Congress.... Of the 53 increases in the debt limit, 26 were "clean"—that is,
stand-alone, no strings-attached statutes. The remaining debt-limit
increases were part of an omnibus package of other legislative bills or a
continuing resolution. Other times, the limit was paired with reforms,
only some of which were related to the budget.
As the finger pointing begins, it is important to keep this history in
mind. All told, congressional Democrats have been responsible for 60% of
the "dirty" increases when the debt limit was raised alongside other
legislative items. Republicans were responsible for 15%. The remaining
25% occurred during divided Congresses.... Of the Democratic dirties, six occurred when Democrats also
controlled the White House, and 10 occurred when a Republican controlled
the White House. For Republicans, all four occurred while a Democrat
held the presidency.
By Arthur C Brooks - LA Times
A vast scholarly literature spanning more than six decades exists on the
subject of leadership. The characteristics of effective leaders have
been pored over, cataloged and debated. Among them, one trait stands out
as axiomatic: Effective leaders take responsibility for problems around
them; they do not shift blame to others. As Winston Churchill put it,
"The price of greatness is responsibility." ...Ultimately, though, responsibility falls to the boss. So what is the
likelihood Obama will step up at this crucial moment as a responsible
chief executive? We probably got the answer from his senior adviser Dan
Pfeiffer, who told CNN on Sept. 26 that "we're not for … negotiating
with people with a bomb strapped to their chest." Sadly, he was talking
about his Republican colleagues, not the actual terrorists who aim to
kill us.
The Democrats’ Artillery
By Mona Charen
...The Republicans’ blunder is to risk so much in a short-term
public-relations battle fought mainly through a medium that Democrats
control — the press. With a few exceptions, the American press is the
Democrats’ artillery in any battle with Republicans...
...
Barack Obama is the first president in living memory who has
attempted to spook the financial markets in a transparent attempt to win
a partisan advantage. He is also the first in recent memory flatly to
decline to negotiate with the other party. When he invited congressional
leaders to the White House on Wednesday evening, his spokesman, Jay
Carney, was careful to explain that “there was nothing to negotiate.”
This is the battle Obama wanted because his cannons are arrayed on the high ground, controlled by his press.
By Rick Moran
The
whole point of governing is making choices, you ninny. It's up to you
and your colleagues to figure out "what part is more important than the next."
That's your job. It's exactly the reason we have a $17 trillion debt, a
$800 billion deficit, and an entitlement system that is on the way to
bankrupting us.
Republcans
aren't much better, but at least they acknowledge that making choices
is part of the job. In this case, Democrats have chosen to make war on
vets, sick children, and others simply to spite Republicans.
This, then, is the party of "compassion?"
By John McCormack
Why won't Senate Democrats and President Obama agree now to any more stopgap funding bills?
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York told THE WEEKLY
STANDARD following a noon press conference Thursday that in 1995 "it was
a different world." Why is that? "Because we have a Tea Party," Schumer
said without elaborating as he walked away.
By Rick Moran
...That's
because we are living in the midst of a default. America defaulted on
the dollar in the first decade of the 21st century, and we have been
seeing what a default looks like ever since. On the day that President
George W. Bush was sworn in as president, the value of the dollar stood
at a 265th of an ounce of gold. Then, in the years of war that
followed September 11, 2001, America defaulted. It allowed the value of
the dollar it issues as its unit of account to collapse to less than,
at the moment, a 1,300th of an ounce of gold and, at one point, to
below a 1,800th of an ounce of gold...
...Default or no, the Fed needs reforming - and sunshine laws. At least that way, we may be able to stave off a total meltdown.
By Patrick Jakeway
Military
funding was appropriated by a bill passed by Congress and signed by the
President before the government shutdown so I am exempting that $39
billion/month from these calculations. $52.8 billion/month of federal
budget expenditures are U.S. interest payments
this year (bonds/Treasuries). Check. This has been the subject of the
most hysterical, sky is falling, fear mongering on the part of the media
and the Left. Right there, no more discussion is needed whether a lack
of funds may cause the U.S. government to default on U.S. debt to its
bondholders worldwide. $73.5 billion/month is the tally for Social Security in 2013. Check. Grandmothers across the nation don't need to starve. The 2014 Veteran's Affairs budget includes $86.1 billion in mandatory spending
or $7.17 billion/month for veterans' pensions. Check. Our war heroes
can be paid. You cannot possibly characterize the entire Health and
Human Services budget as "pensions"; but, for argument's sake, since the
Democrats are demagoguing that children will die because the National
Institute of Health's funding is supposedly drying up (even though the
Republicans offered to fund it), let's throw the entire HHS budget in,
too. $78.3 billion/month make up the Medicare/ Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance program.
$52.8 + $73.5 + $7.17 + $78.3 = $211.7 billion/month or $26.3
billion/month less than the $238 billion/month average 2013 tax receipts
from Jan.-July...
...So
here is to those Republicans making a stand in Congress against the
President's unilateral and unconstitutionally-issued exemptions and
selective delays of Obamacare which ensure preferential treatment for
the well-connected elites in government and among Obama's donors and
union cronies while sticking it to the rest of us. May these brave men
and women be stern in their resolve, resolute in their determination and
have the courage of their convictions. We must all let them know that
we stand behind them and exhort them to stay strong in the face of
Democratic demagoguery.
...The corollary to that, of course, is that the more the public suffers
from the government being closed, the more the White House “wins.”
That’s the essence of shutdown theater. Crazy theory: Maybe the reason
the White House isn’t factoring public hardship into its strategic
thinking is because, for all its blather, it doesn’t believe that there
is much hardship. Furloughed workers will get back pay; people who can’t
visit national parks are inconvenienced, but not so much so that
Democrats will give up their opportunity to “win” politically because of
it. And what about the cases of real, life-or-death hardship that need
to be addressed urgently? You already got your answer on that.
By Hugh Hewitt
10. There will be no "clean CR" and a "straight debt limit hike."
Period. That's what the president is demanding and that won't happen.
The president is trying to scare markets and they should be scared
because if he truly intends to bring about economic panic he is doing a
fine job by demanding that the House abdicate its Constitutional role.
We won't do that. The Constitution is more important than the CR, or the
debt limit. The president is trying to reshape the Constitution at this
moment of economic peril, using the media as his hammer, and threats
and bullying as his saws. But it won't happen. And if the president does
not change his rhetoric and his approach, the crisis that follows will
be 100% on his head, and the American people will know it, and history
will record it.
By John Ransom
...According to Bloomberg, the consulting firm IHS
says that the shutdown will reduce the government’s contribution to the
economy by $300 million per day. That seems like a lot until one
realizes that it costs $10.5 BILLION to keep the government running
every day.
That’s a cut of around 2.8 percent in government spending.
That’s a cut that could remain permanently without affecting the
country; that’s a cut that would restore the tax cut that Obama took
away from all working families this year.
Hardly catastrophic, even if not very funny for the people affected.
By Ed Morrissey
Allahpundit told the story yesterday about how our intrepid national media searched high and low in this nation of 330 million people to find someone, anyone
who could figure out how to actually buy coverage through the ObamaCare
exchanges. After putting out an SOS, the Washington Post finally found
Chad Henderson, and so did the Wall Street Journal, Chattanooga
Times/Free Press, the Huffington Post, and even “POLITICO!“, as Henderson himself announced later yesterday. That had Mediaite’s Noah Rothman a little suspicious
The shift comes as grassroots activists have re-framed the GOP's old
"pro-business" stance into a "pro-free markets" positioning that eschews
the kinds of corporate welfare and taxpayer-funded crony capitalism
found in big government giveaways to industries that make hefty
political contributions.
Conservatism
means treating Americans equally without special concessions for race
or gender. It offers individuals dignity and self-respect by teaching
them to catch their own fish. It offers freedom and independence.
Utopia
for liberals/Democrats is having all Americans totally dependent on
government for their sustenance, standing in long lines for rations from
the Government Free Fish Exchange.
Conservatism vs. liberalism. Which one is ultimately harmful and mean? You decide.
By Frances Martell
Some illegal immigrants were already allowed
to apply for driver's licenses had they arrived in the state as
children; that distinction will end, as per this bill, in 2015. Whether
the licenses would count as government identification for the purposes
of other social services remained unclear at the bill's signing, though
the law provides the licenses must be distinguished by label and will
not count as valid federal identification.
By Wayne Allyn Root
...It doesn’t take a psychology degree to
figure out Obama’s fragile mindset as a young man. He spent his youth
living a fantasy, wanting desperately to be foreign-born and exotic,
instead of just a normal American kid from a struggling single parent
household. As a black teen with no dad, Obama undoubtedly faced racism
and tough times. With help from mentors (like Frank Marshall, a
communist and Bill Ayers, a terrorist) he learned to despise his country
of birth (America). As a dreamer and loner he started to believe his
own story of exotic birth, then used that fantasy (aka fraud) to gain
admittance to both Occidental and Columbia....In too deep, he had no way out. Ironically, Obama, himself is the birther. He’s the one who created the foreign-born storyline....
...
No, I’m not a birther. I believe Obama
is 100 percent American born. While never questioning his birth, I’ve
been in the media nonstop for five years questioning his allegiance to
America, American exceptionalism, and Judeo-Christian values. And I’ve
exposed his plan (created by husband-wife professors Cloward and Piven
at Columbia) to destroy capitalism by overwhelming the system with
spending, debt, and entitlements. That purposeful plan is proven by
facts – please see record spending, record debt, and record entitlements
under Obama. This is all about a plan to destroy America carried out by
an American posing as a foreigner.
No, Obama isn’t a foreigner. But we have a fraud in the White House.
By Christine Rousselle
Quick! What’s 15-7?
While obviously the answer is eight, new Common Core textbooks have a rather confusing
way of getting there. According to the textbook, students should employ
“subtraction sequences” based off of 10 in order to find the answer.
Turkey has since the summer been publicly flirting with a $3.4
billion deal that would see Ankara purchase missile defense assets from
the China Precision Machinery Import and Export Corp (CPMIEC), a company
that among other things is currently under U.S. sanctions for
violations of the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act.
Reaction from Turkey’s NATO allies has been harsh, with a NATO senior diplomat declared that the deal “would certainly leave many of us speechless” and the U.S. expressing “serious concerns.” Domestic reaction has not been much better, and this week the Turkish opposition blasted the government for risking a “rupture” with NATO by pursuing the contract.
By Brent Bozell
...CNN declined to comment on this pressure campaign. Ferguson said he
believed that Clinton aides tried to stonewall his attempts to persuade
people to talk on camera. "They knew this wasn't a whitewash," he said.
"And my very strong impression was that anything other than a whitewash
is something they don't want to support."
Such is the power the Clintons wield over the national media.
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