Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Current Events - November 27, 2012
Black Friday: Treasury Borrowed $211.69 Per U.S. Household on Day After Thanksgiving
The U.S. Treasury increased the net debt of the United States $24,327,048,384.38 on the day after Thanksgiving, which equals approximately $211.69 for each of the nation’s 114,916,000 households.At the close of business last Wednesday, according to the Treasury, the national debt was $16,283,161,895,179.85. On Thanksgiving, the Treasury took the day off and did no borrowing. But on Friday, the Treasury increased the debt of the United States to $16,307,488,943,564.23. That was a one-day increase of $24,327,048,384.38.
When President Barack Obama first took office on Jan. 20, 2009, the national debt stood at $10,626,877,048,913.08. Since then, it has increased by $5,680,611,894,651.15.
That means that since Obama has been president, the national debt has increased by about $49,432.73 per household.
"If you took every single penny that Warren Buffett
has, it'd pay for 4-1/2 days of the US government. This tax-the-rich
won't work. The problem here is the government is way bigger than even the
capacity of the rich to sustain it. The Buffett Rule would raise $3.2 billion a
year, and take 514 years just to pay off Obama's 2011 budget deficit."
-Mark Steyn
"They say there's nowhere to cut to avert the fiscal
cliff. Really? The cost of flying, staffing and entertaining Barack Obama is
more than every European royal house combined. This isn't even a partisan
thing. When you're broke, the guy in charge should cut back. Why does Obama
have full-time movie projectionist on staff around the clock? Is it in case he
wakes up at 2 a.m. and wants to watch 'The Ice Follies of 1939'?" -Mark
Steyn
Did Obama Cut a Faustian Deal with
Morsi?
What did Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi get in return for supporting the cease fire? The idea that Morsi, a strong supporter of Hamas, just went along with the Obama program out of conviction that the Obama team had the compelling case strikes me as naïve. There had to be bargain of some sort. Obama wants something from Morsi and Morsi gets nothing in return? I see one possible alternative that Morsi agreed to support Obama's current policy in return for Obama's support of Morsi's future policy in Egypt, and back Egypt as a power broker in the Middle East.
What did Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi get in return for supporting the cease fire? The idea that Morsi, a strong supporter of Hamas, just went along with the Obama program out of conviction that the Obama team had the compelling case strikes me as naïve. There had to be bargain of some sort. Obama wants something from Morsi and Morsi gets nothing in return? I see one possible alternative that Morsi agreed to support Obama's current policy in return for Obama's support of Morsi's future policy in Egypt, and back Egypt as a power broker in the Middle East.
The crux of a
Faustian deal is bargaining away the future for present gain - selling one's
soul (the future) for worldly (present) success. For the Obama administration
this became support our policy now in the conflict between Israel and
Hamas and we'll support ($$) your policy in the future?
Here is Secretary of
State Clinton last Wednesday at a Cairo press
conference praising
the first part of the deal, "I want to thank President Morsi for
his personal leadership to de-escalate the situation in Gaza and end the violence."
Is Morsi now following up
on the second part of the deal by ramping up his bid for total power -
dictatorship - in Egypt?
Moreover, the Obama administration and its apologists seem red-faced over the
Faustian deal.
State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said Morsi's actions go against the "the aspirations of
the revolution" in 2011 that led to the ouster of longtime President Hosni
Mubarak. Compared to the Egyptian street which has exploded in protests and
charges that Morsi is trying to set himself up as a new "Pharaoh,"
this is mild criticism indeed.
Even Obama apologist and
New York Times foreign policy analyst, Tom Friedman, is lamenting
the Faustian deal, "President Obama has to be careful not to sell out
Egyptian democracy for quiet between Israel
and Egypt
and Hamas. We tried that under Mubarak. It didn't end well."
The Obama administration
and its apologists can protest and lament all day and try to save face but how
can the Obama administration back out of such a deal? Morsi could cut the leash
on Hamas.
There may be another
explanation for the timing of Morsi's power grab. If so, I'd like to hear it.
Hungarian MP calls for Jewish ‘threat’ list
A call by a far-right
Hungarian MP for a list to be drawn up of Jewish politicians and government
members who pose a “threat to national security” has caused outrage among both
Hungary’s estimated 80,000-strong Jewish community and liberal politicians.
Marton Gyongyosi, a
leading MP of Jobbik, Hungary’s
radical rightwing party, called for the list in the Budapest parliament on Monday, saying that it
was justified by the increased tensions following the latest conflict between Gaza and Israel.
“Jobbik MPs have made anti-Semitic and
anti-Roma statements in parliament before, but nobody has ever called for a
list. This is totally unacceptable in a democracy,” Timea Szabo, an MP for the
liberal-green LMP party and deputy chairperson of parliament’s human rights
committee, said.
“I am a Holocaust
survivor,” Gusztav Zoltai, executive director of the Hungarian Jewish
Congregations’ Association, told Reuters. “For people such as me this generates
raw fear, even though it is clear that this only serves political ends. This is
the shame of Europe, the shame of the world.”
Up to 600,000 Jews from Hungarian
territories died in the Holocaust, the majority after mass deportations
began in the last year of the war.
Mr Gyongyosi appeared to
back track on Tuesday, saying he was referring to citizens with dual
Israeli-Hungarian citizenship. “I apologise to my Jewish compatriots for my
statements that could be misunderstood,” he said on Jobbik’s website.
Jobbik, which holds 44 of
386 seats in parliament, making it the third-strongest party in Hungary, has
been accused of stoking anti-Semitic and anti-Roma feelings and of supporting
the Hungarian Garda, a uniformed militia which has made frequent appearances in
rural areas with Roma populations, despite being banned by law.
Jobbik denies any
anti-Semitic or anti-Roma sentiment, saying that it only wants to protect Hungary from
the dangers of international capital and citizens from petty theft and
lawlessness.
Liberal and left-wing
politicians also accuse Viktor Orbán, the prime minister, and his governing
Fidesz party of being soft on Jobbik and pandering to radical policies in order
to win voters from the far-right camp.
“Fidesz definitely has
double standards. When something happens like this [Gyongyosi statement], they
always denounce it but otherwise their actions and policies show otherwise,” Ms
Szabo says.
In a short statement on
its website, the Hungarian government on Tuesday said it condemned Mr
Gyongyosi’s statement “to the greatest possible degree”, adding that it took
the “strictest possible action against every form of racism and anti-Semitic
behaviour”.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/65793d06-38c6-11e2-981c-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2DSycVvaS
The Coming Fall and Eventual
Rebirth of America
By Frank Ryan
The hope that many of us had that the nightmare of the Obama presidency would end faded into the night on November 6th. In reality though, "hope" was not very much of a plan.
In the experiences that I
have had assisting companies and organizations avoid bankruptcy, there is a very predictable pattern that
organizations face when they are dealing with serious financial problems.
The pattern involves
economic growth and prosperity followed by overspending. From overspending and
excess comes a period of denial that anything must change to solve the problem.
From denial comes failure. If the failure is accepted and dealt with growth is
restored and the cycle begins again. If failure is not accepted, the organization
will cease to exist.
The sheer disappointment
and almost melancholy reactions to the Obama reelection made me realize that
the American people are no different in their reactions than the employees and
managers of the companies that I am attempting to save.
In any plan to resurrect
an economy, as Mitt Romney proposed in his five point plan, a majority of
people must first come to grips with the reality of the difficulties that they
face. While the difficulties may have been obvious to those of us who describe
ourselves as fiscal conservatives, the election results convinced me that the
American people have not yet reached that same conclusion.
Typically in most bankruptcies, there is a
catastrophic event which convinces the vast majority of people that they are
really in trouble financially. We apparently are not at that stage yet in the United States.
Equally as problematic
for a financial rescue of our economy was that 13 million fewer people voted in
2012 compared to 2008.
The significance of that
apparent apathy is that apathy typically precedes a collapse in an economy.
Apathy can actually accelerate financial problems because problems are ignored
until collapse occurs. In financial turnarounds, the apathy is the "calm
before the storm"
The transition from
apathy to a cataclysmic event occurs because the disaster is
"allowed" to occur thanks to the fact that so many people
are apathetic. Problems quite simply are not dealt with.
In the United States,
the analogy would be a transition from engagement of our people searching for
hope in the 2008 election of Obama to the apathy in the 2012 election.
The false sense of
security that all will be well or that things are not as bad as they expected
them to be was prevalent in 2012. The preponderance of support Obama had from
blacks, single women, and Hispanics may well reflect the paralysis of these
groups due to fear of the uncertainty that exists in the economy.
When the apathy and fear
reaches a crisis point in the next few years, probably during our next election
in 2016, we will deal with the unmitigated disaster of the irresponsible fiscal
spending this nation has been engaged in for decades.
Once this cataclysmic
event occurs, the transition will begin. After the crisis starts, most people
willingly accept the difficult solutions that were unfathomable only months
earlier.
In the case of the U. S. economy,
the change that will take place will be the recognition that only by accepting
personal responsibility and accountability will our economy ever right itself.
If personal responsibility is not accepted, collapse of our nation, as we know
it, is inevitable.
The process that I
describe above is precisely what happened during the collapse of the Soviet Union. I also experienced the same process in Poland, Romania,
Bulgaria, Slovenia, and Belarus in the 1990's. Some of
these nations have fared well and some have not depending upon the strength of
their leaders to solve the problems.
The nations that fared
well have had leaders who understood that simple, quick fixes provide only
temporary "solutions" and that serious solutions require systemic
changes to society.
A restoration of a free
enterprise system with the right of self-determination is essential to survive
after the collapse. Free enterprise provides the fuel to the economic engine.
The basic framework of
free enterprise once existed in United
States and it is a principle which our
people typically understand and embrace.
In the United States,
we have bountiful natural resources. We generally have a well-educated
workforce. We have many baby boomers who are preparing to retire which will create job opportunities for the younger generation.
The self-correction will
require that we combine these tremendous assets to counter the negative effects
of structural problems in our economy such as public-service unions, unfunded
pensions, immigration, and other issues that we have pushed off to another
day to solve.
In Alan Greenspan's book,
The
Age of Turbulence he describes the continued volatility of the world's
economies in the 20th Century. In virtually every instance, the countries went
through a period of growth, then excess, then denial, then failure, and finally
some semblance of rebirth.
For us, Gov. Romney was a
great candidate but at the wrong time. Unfortunately for the majority of
voters, the message of how serious of a predicament we are in was lost to them.
We are going into a full stage period of denial. Gov. Romney was just four
years too early.
I am very optimistic of
the long term for our country, for as happened with our Founding Fathers, we,
too, will have a renewal and rebirth of America and the American dream
early in the 21st-century.
We are a creative and
vibrant people who believe in Life, Liberty
and the Pursuit of Happiness. Those three magical ingredients will fuel our
rebirth. It is sad, though, that we need a rebirth when death was avoidable.
Col. Frank Ryan, CPA,
USMCR (Ret.) and served in Iraq
and briefly in Afghanistan
and specializes in corporate restructuring and lectures on ethics for the state
CPA societies. He has served on numerous boards of publicly traded and
non-profit organizations.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Mondays. Brings out the worst in everyone
I'm currently starting KILLING KENNEDY: The End of Camelot by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. Here is a description:
Recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath. In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Alan Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody. The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader. This may well be the most talked about book of the year.
It was published October 2012 and has 336 pages. This is a 14-day library book.
I also started last night THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO THE DEPRESSION AND THE NEW DEAL by Robert P Murphy. That is very interesting. No really. This is history as it SHOULD be taught not the Progressive re-write.
I went to the library today at my lunch to pick up this book and found a couple others. I'm hoping the new Michael Connelly is released soon. The library ... is my happy place.
Tonight I have The Voice to watch; I'm thinking of having chili for dinner. Steve will have SOS and watch his gun shows or football. Then I'll do some reading.
Ah. Monday. (raspberry)
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Like
I have a hold at the library to pick up tomorrow: KILLING KENNEDY by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard. I read their previous book, KILLING LINCOLN. The books have lots of facts in them but written very simplistically. I'm not a fan of the Kennedy myth which is why I'm getting it from the library but if I learn something more of the politics of the time, that will be beneficial.
It snowed today. I walked the boys around 7:20 this morning. It was just turning from rain, to snow pellets, to big snowflakes while we were out. I think it has eased off now. I believe it is supposed to be back in the 40s later this week.
We're having turkey for dinner tonight. Sort of a Thanksgiving dinner repeat. Cozy and filling. We have The Walking Dead to watch on TV and then I might go upstairs to watch PBS -- it appears to be a special about Downton Abbey.
I need to go change the laundry and make the bed. It has been a not-bad weekend. Relaxing in the extreme.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
Current Events - November 25, 2012
GOP Doomed if Establishment Prevails
Like
Martin Luther, conservatives' first step is to nail their equivalent
of the 95 Theses to the door of the Republican National Committee
-- and then to the door of the White House... and then to the doors of colleges
and universities and to every mainstream media outlet around.
The
time has come for conservatives to proclaim, confidently, truthfully, and
fearlessly. Dire times call to conservatives to do so; it falls to
conservatives to be the instigators of a great American renaissance.
If
not conservatives, then who?
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/gop_doomed_if_establishment_prevails.html
Democrats Vote The Mentally Disabled
I was not prepared for a conversation I had at Thanksgiving dinner today with my brother-in-law, Henry, who has lived most of his life in a home for the mentally disabled, and though now in his forties has the intelligence level of a six-year-old.
“Obama saved me,” he said to me out of the blue.
“What do you mean?”
“I voted for him for president and now he’s saving me.”
I
was taken aback by these words, since Henry had no idea who Obama was,
or what a president might be, and would be unable to fill out a
registration form let alone get to the polling place by himself. So I
asked him how he knew that and how he had registered and cast his vote.
In halting, impeded speech he told me that the people who take care of
him at the home filled out “the papers” to register him to vote, told
him how Obama cared for him, even taught him the Obama chants, and then
took him to the polling place to vote. They did the same for all of the
mentally disabled patients in their care, approximately sixty in all.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/25/Democrats-vote-the-mentally-disabled
Young America! Stop Letting Boomers Feed Off You
Good morning, Young America! And by “young,” I mean Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials, many of whom just had the honor, or for some reason bypassed the honor, of voting in a national election. If the media is correct, you are really happy and enthusiastic about what you have seen. They told you to be happy. Yet you should be frightfully pissed off.
You see, Young Americans, you’ve been royally screwed. By your parents, no less. For the last twenty-odd years, since they gained power across the board, the Baby Boomers have sold your generations down the river — and they got you all to help seal your own fate. Ingenious? Insidious? However you wish to describe it, you’re going to need to legalize marijuana in a lot more states to dull the pain of what is yet to come.
The Boomers at MTV told you to get involved, to focus on the social issues, vote for change. But what were they really doing? With marketing far more effective than anything Don Draper ever imagined, they were selling you a massive bill of goods, making sure you look the other way while they continue to move the loot out the back door. And we can get political here — both parties were and are culpable, Republican and Democrat, acting with such brazen self-interest as could be expected of the Me generation members in control. More debt, more spending, more consumption — that was their American way.
Not only did you buy it, you continue to buy it. So one is left to conclude: either a) you are a willing accomplice, selling out your own futures to make sure that your parents — who gave you so much — can continue to enjoy more than you ever will; or b) you are bloody ignorant. It makes no sense for anybody to seek a worse life than they enjoyed as kids, so draw your own conclusion.
Since the Clinton era, the Boomers, your parents, have been in charge of industry, Washington, Hollywood, and Wall Street — which is the problem. With such absolute power, the old cliché applies: they are greedy, corrupt, and self-interested. And they won’t give up such status easily. In business, they are in their prime earning years, and are going to stay in their high-earning positions long enough to endure any downturn and to make sure they are set for their own retirement (what does that mean for you, coming up the ladder?).
Politically, they are going to give huge sums of money to their peers running for office (it doesn’t matter the party — $2 billion dollars in negative advertising during a recession? Really?) so that they can hold onto the power which protects policies which benefit … them. You’ll hear rhetoric of change, and they’ll try to sell it to you as good for the future, but when it comes to tough choices you’ll hear outcries of fairness. Wait a minute: is it fair to steal from their kids to maintain their own lifestyles, as they have already bought the house, made the money, and run the country?
Fear, Everywhere, Fear
By Alan Caruba
If my emails and the headlines I am reading indicate anything, there is widespread fear among Americans that something terrible has occurred with the reelection of President Obama. Not all Americans, though. Those who voted for Obama appear to remain oblivious despite the threat of a “fiscal cliff” or the new taxes in Obamacare that will kick in on January 2nd.
We have a Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy, Geithner, calling for an end to debt ceilings, apparently believing that America can continue to borrow money to pay for the interest on its escalating debt, now pegged at $16 trillion and growing daily. The U.S. borrows $4 billion a day. Anyone with a credit card knows that their payments increase as they struggle to deal with their personal debt. Eventually they either declare bankruptcy or turn to companies that negotiate a payment to release them.
If America was to default on its debt, the dollar, already in free fall, would be worth nothing. We would be bartering shiny beads and anything else to buy food and other necessaries. We would become Zimbabwe where you need a million of their dollars to buy a loaf of bread.
Writing recently on her Fox Business blog, Gerri Willis spelled out the huge rise in taxes Americans are facing. “All told, next year, total taxes will go to almost 50% for the middle class; the very group that the president says he wants to protect. That means 50 cents out of every dollar earned has to go to the government. Half of everything will go to an entity that didn't earn that money, and shouldn't be entitled to all that dough.”
What kind of madness is it that the Teamsters union would impose such senseless rules that it would weaken Hostess to the point of bankruptcy, preferring to let the company die rather than to protect the jobs of 18,500 bakers? Other unions are engaged in attacks on a weakened economy. What kind of nation is it that its government employees are lobbying Congress to not only increase their pay, but to exempt them from the impact of the spending cuts scheduled to kick in?
There is a full-scale attack on the privacy Americans have taken for granted, protected by the fourth Amendment that says “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated…”
On November 14th, the Heritage Foundation asked “Do you trust the government with your computer?” The government has had “13 breaches and failures of its own cybersecurity just in the last six months.” Even so, “the President and his allies in the Senate are pushing forward to regulate America’s cyber-doings, without any clues about how much this will cost or how it will work.”
“It has become the norm with this President—if Congress fails to accomplish his objectives, he goes around it with executive orders and federal regulations. He’s doing it again. Congress did not pass the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 before the election, so the President has issued a draft of an executive order to put much of that legislation in place without lawmakers voting.”
This is the very essence of tyranny and the President has had four years to perfect it. Are conservative think tanks the only ones paying any attention? It would appear so.
A new proposed law in the Senate would strip Americans of any privacy as they communicate with one another by email. A vote for the law would allow warrantless access to American’s email and is scheduled for a vote shortly. It would allow 22 federal agencies as well as state and local law enforcement to access one’s emails with nothing more than a subpoena. This is totally unconstitutional.
Already $16 trillion in debt, the government is looking for ways to take over the $3 trillion that is held in private retirement plans such as 401(k) plans and IRA’s. A recent hearing by the Treasury and Labor Departments addressed the nationalization of the nation’s pension system. The director of the National Senior’s Council, Robert Crone, warns “It is clear that this is the first step towards a government takeover. It feels just like the beginning of the debate over health care and we all know how that ended up.”
As we move closer to an Electoral College vote confirming Obama’s reelection, whistleblowers are coming forth in Ohio, Florida and elsewhere to reveal that significant voter fraud was a contributing factor, but it receives little or no media coverage. One must ask how 99% of votes in Philadelphia districts went to Obama and ask why nothing is being done to investigate this and other offenses such as the 141.1% of the vote recorded in Florida’s St. Lucie County. That is statistically impossible, but it robbed Rep. Allen West (R) of his seat in Congress.
This isn’t government. It is gangsterism. It is “the Chicago way.”
The monster Homeland Security Agency just graduated its first class of FEMA Corps, kids aged 18-24, recruited from the President’s Americorps volunteers, that will become a full time, paid standing army. Fears of FEMA camps abound and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, people seeking shelter and food were herded into one that resembled a concentration camp of the Nazi regime and told not to use various means of communication to contact the media or outside community. They went from hurricane victims to prisoners of the government.
In so many ways, the freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution are in danger of disappearing along with the separation of powers it requires.
Little wonder that citizen’s petitions from a growing number of states are called for secession. Or that governors are refusing to set up the Obamacare exchanges required by a law that has taken control of twenty percent of the nation’s economy; their budgets held hostage to Medicaid.
On an individual level, people who have jobs are fearful of losing them. College graduates are fearful of the huge debt they carry for the loans they received. People wonder if they can afford to get married. Married couples fear the cost of having another child. Homeowners fear not being able to pay their mortgages. Seniors fear that their savings won’t last as they live longer.
There is ample reason to fear not only the collapse of the nation’s economy, but the loss of liberty in America.
http://www.rightsidenews.info/2012112417455/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/fear-everywhere-fear.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=5653fc042a-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
Don't Give Up
The difference between victory and defeat often comes down to morale. You've seen it in baseball games and wars. It's that faint sense of air leaking out of the balloon. A weariness and malaise that kicks in when one side decides it can't win and doesn't want to be here anymore.
November 2012 was not a defeat. It was a loss in a close election
that rattled the Democrats by showing just how much of the country had
turned on their savior. It was a rebuke to Obama's mismanagement of the
country and the economy over the last four years.
Or it would have been if the Republican Party had not reacted to its loss by screaming and wailing in despair after their hopes were ludicrously inflated by establishment posters. Followed by running around like a chicken without a head because we fell 400,000 votes short of winning key states. And this defeatist behavior has helped the media create the myth of a second-term mandate.
The country did not repudiate us. The majority of Americans did not pledge allegiance to some rotten post-American country. The majority stayed home. And that is damning, but it's also comforting because these are the people we have to win over. They don't believe in Obama, but they don't believe in us either. They don't believe in politics because it isn't relevant to their lives.
The more Republicans treat the election as a renunciation of everything that they stand for or a reason to give up on the country, the more Democrats posture as having won a tremendous ideological and cultural victory, instead of a limited strategic victory. Our reaction legitimizes theirs.
Republican consultants and pollsters fed the dream of an easy victory and that vision of an inevitable victory made the actual defeat much more shocking and devastating. It made people despair thinking that if we couldn't win an election this "easy", then it's completely hopeless. But this was never going to be an easy ride. Not against the first black man in the White House with a money advantage and the media in his pocket. Not against opponents running a coordinated smear campaign while rigging the economy in their favor.
Obama may have Carter's policies times ten, but he also has the image and the ruthless political machine of JFK. And even Reagan had to work hard to beat Carter. It wasn't the easy ride that some Republicans like to remember it as. Even though the economy was a disaster, the hostages were in Iran and Carter's performance had been so bad that he had a high profile Democratic challenger in the form of Ted Kennedy who took the fight to the Convention; Reagan did not break out until the debate. Now imagine Reagan running against JFK. The man in the cowboy hat might have won, but let's not pretend that it would have been any easier than it was for Romney.
Beating Obama was possible and for a brief shining moment the window was open, when Romney had one good debate performance, but then it closed again as the storm blew in and the polls filled up with the handpicked demographics of the welfare state. And we lost, but we also won.
Win or lose, elections send a message and the message for this election to Obama was not, "We like what you've been doing the last four years. Great job!"
Obama lost his mandate. To win, he had to run a divisive campaign dependent on minority groups. And that locks him in a box outside the mainstream. Forget any of that nonsense about bringing the country together again. That is over and done with. The transformation of Obama from mainstream leader to bellicose mouthpiece for the left was completed at his first post-election press-conference.
Republicans might understand what this means if they weren't busy with an opportunistic internal civil war. And if sizable chunks of the rank and file weren't busy proclaiming that no election can ever be won again because the demographics of the country had changed so dramatically and everyone is so addicted to free stuff.
Neither one is true.
The demographics have not made it impossible for Republicans to win, not unless Republicans make that a self-fulfilling prophecy by jumping on the amnesty express. And you can beat Santa Claus, because our fat red man is a redistributor and does not give or take equally from all.But doing that requires spending more time making a case on the specific individual economic impact , rather than endlessly singing the wonders of free enterprise and depending on enough people to align with your economic philosophy to carry you over the top.
Romney was great when it came to talking about the impact of the economy on large businesses. He was much poorer at connecting to the concerns of ordinary people. He wasn't Reagan and Obama is a much better campaigner than Carter and there was no significant split in his party to tie him down. His victory was not inevitable, though he came close. A better candidate might have won. Even Romney might have won if he had tackled a wider range of issues and done a better job of connecting with the frustrations and anxieties of ordinary people.
In a period of prosperity or hope, he might have even been the perfect candidate. And it's not hard to imagine the electorate choosing someone like him to preside over growth and prosperity. But Mitt was running for the wrong job at the wrong time. He was running for the presidency of a bankrupt company and the shareholders were no longer at the point where they wanted someone competent and professional to run the company. They wanted someone who shared their anger or would protect them from the worst of the company's collapse.
And that may be the larger reason why Romney lost.
This was a loss and there are lessons to be learned from it, but it was not a repudiation of conservative values, the end of America or any of the other things that some people keep insisting it is.
The country isn't lost and acting like it is will just make it easier for the Democrats to win. Right now the establishment is trying to sell out the base and the base is abandoning ship. That is a truly toxic combination which could very well accomplish what this defeat did not. It can bring down both the Republican Party and the Conservative movement.
On the one hand we have Liberal Republicans who want to realign their party as a less extreme version of the Democratic Party. On the other hand we have Paleoconservatives who view the country as a hostile cultural territory that they are no longer interested in fighting for, but a liberal Sodom and Gomorrah that they would be happy to see burn. Some expect a better America to emerge out of the ashes. Most do not. They just want to see America destroyed to prove their point.
Pulling out of the political process is no answer. It's comfort food before the apocalypse. There isn't any room in this country for private enclaves, cultural or otherwise. Not when the left gets through with it. There will be as much room for a real or virtual conservative enclave in 2035 as there was for one in the USSR in 1932 or as there is for one today in Cuba. If the left consolidates its control, then the only place to go will be underground, alive or dead. History bears ample witness to that.
Right now we can still fight and win, but the window is closing on that. If we accept the premise that change is no longer possible, then it really will be all over.
The left has not won. It is doing what it always does, acting as if its victory is inevitable. And that is the sum of its ideology. The left believes that its movement is the inevitable progress of history. It believes that it must win, it's only a matter of time. That sense of inevitability can be a powerful thing. And its opposite number, the thing that the left tries to instil in its opponents, the sense that they are doomed fossils, dinosaurs watching the comet, is equally powerful in killing hope and urging on the false wisdom of bowing to the inevitable.
Amnesty, why not? It's inevitable.
Defeat is a teacher. How we behave in defeat shows what we are made of. It shows whether we have what it takes to win. If we fail the tests of defeat, then we shall never be worthy of victory.
Kipling said it best in his famous poem, "If". "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster/And treat those two impostors just the same/If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken/Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools/Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken/And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools."
The question is can we do that? Will we bend down and do that?
http://www.rightsidenews.info/2012112517456/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/dont-give-up.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=5653fc042a-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
Saturday, November 24, 2012
My point exactly
This has been a really strange Saturday. Really not much done today. It was that dark kind of day that you don't realize that time is passing because the light doesn't change at all from morning until finally dark.
I took a Zyrtec this morning after walking the dogs; I was on the computer then was overcome by sleepiness. Slept a big chunk of the morning away. And because of the half day off yesterday, I had to keep reminding myself what day it was today.
I finished both books last night, the nonfiction and the Finch so now I'm on the search for what's next. I hope I don't waste too much time finding out what it is. Otherwise today I've been reading news and cleaning up emails.
Tonight, I'm not sure. We may watch the DVD Brave or we may not. [shrug] Tomorrow, I have to do some more of the weekend chores; stuff I didn't do today.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
Current Events - November 24, 2012
New Beginnings
By Lee A. Heilig
Envelope stuffing, phone bank calling, and precinct walking during election seasons are no longer enough. The other side does that too, and they are effective. Passive citizenship can be no longer be tolerated from the remnant that cherishes their liberty. A professional ruling class with its nanny-state dependents is seeing to it that this nation truly is "fundamentally transformed" into something the Founding Fathers would never recognize. Earning a living, caring for your families, and voting every two years alone cannot preserve our Republic. We must engage the opposition on the turf we ceded to them years ago. If we are not home schooling or providing private educations for our children, we must attend and lead the local PTA meetings. We must examine the curricula in the schools and demand that Americanism and free market economics are taught. We must hold teachers accountable, not only for failing to pull children kicking and screaming onto some arbitrary level of competency in math and reading, but for their complicit indoctrination of our youth in the apostasy of statism. Young and old alike must be reintroduced to the foundational principles of our unique heritage. Individual liberty is universal in its appeal and knows no demographical division. We must attend our city council meetings and demand accountability from those who would appropriate and spend our money on local matters, every bit as much as we scrutinize federal budgets. Citizenship in a free republic is hard. It demands self-education, time, and much effort. It requires us to sacrifice our leisure in the conduct of "eternal vigilance." The national election is over. There is little we can do about the outcome, no matter how righteous our claims of fraud and corruption against the opposition. What we can do is begin anew. Form neighborhood groups. Begin home-based associations with like-minded individuals. Involve yourselves like never before in the genesis of a new class of leaders dedicated to the advancement of liberty that will supplant the statists of today. Take the responsibility of teaching your children what it really means to be inheritors of the greatest nation ever established among men.
Do not awaken one day to realize that through your inaction you have been complicit in, as Ronald Reagan forewarned, sentencing your children to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/new_beginnings.html
Just What is a “Real American?”
There are people in this country who call themselves “American” who either don’t know the Constitution or don’t care about it because they want the ‘government’ to hand them benefits from other peoples’ labors. I do not believe these people are “real Americans” and I am not afraid to say so. I would politely call them “pretenders,” but the situation has now gotten much more dire than that would imply. The situation we are facing today is sinister.
The first thing you need to know is that the only thing that is “American” is the U.S. Constitution. That document is the one thing that makes us “American.” All of the other claims to be the “American” way by politicians, who are passing this bill or that bill to micro-manage our personal lives, are bogus. Forced diversity is not American. Affirmative Action is not American. Social Security is not American. Medicare and Medicaid are not American. Being American means believing in the U.S. Constitution as the one and only manual for our government. All we need to do is stick to it.
The problem we have over Obamacare, as well as, Cap and Tax proposals, and even things like the Cash for Clunkers bill, is that not one of these ideas fit into the U.S. Constitution. The bailouts of the banks, the TARP, the Stimulus Bill, all are completely unConstitutional. No Child Left Behind, and the Prescription Drug Bill were also completely unConstitutional. The Federal Reserve is unConstitutional. The government of the United States is full of people who are doing things for their own selfish purposes and not adhering to their oath to support and uphold the Constitution. That, in itself, recalls the oath of defending the Constitution from enemies “both foreign and domestic.” How does that oath hold up when those who take that oath are undermining the Constitution themselves? That oath has become a joke in our current government.
In the history of civilization, tragically, there have always been poor people. What is different about being “American” is that the U.S. Constitution created a larger middle class and millions of people who have had the opportunity to rise out of that poverty. From a world perspective, America has been more successful at giving the poor opportunities that do not exist in other government structures. And while that is due in part to capitalism, it is due mostly to the Constitution that insures individual property rights, the rights to own the fruit of your own labors, and the pursuit of happiness. The most important rights included in the Constitution guarantee that you own your own person and the gains of your hard work. That is the key to the success of America.
No one can doubt that the Democrat Party has become more socialistic. They have taken power with chips on their shoulders. They have become social engineers who, evidently, aren’t satisfied with opportunity for all. They don’t want opportunity. They say they want egalitarian results for each life. That in itself is completely antithetical to being “American.” It is also an unachievable myth. What they really want is the game rigged in favor of government officials, so that individuals lose their Constitutional rights of owning themselves and are forced into giving away their opportunities, their ownership rights, their wages, and literally their own person-hoods to everyone else. Communes anyone? In their utopian schemes, the individual owes the government (the collective) his or her life. There is nothing “American” about this.
So the next time you hear some politician proclaim they are proposing something “American,” I suggest you make them pass the Constitutional test. When they say things like, “America must do this because we look bad to the rest of the world if we don’t” or “My way is the American way,” when in fact it isn’t at all, ask yourself if the proposal is consistent with the rights guaranteed in the Constitution or is it some convenient hand-out to buy off either special interests or votes? Our country was not built on “collectivism.”
Our country was not created to “take from the rich and give to the poor.” Our country was created to give everyone the opportunity to reach their own potential. If one person’s potential is “X” and another person’s potential is “Y,” that is O.K. Rigging the system with government intervention is exactly what has been wrecking the system, taking “X” and “Y” down with it. Why would anyone want more of that? But that is what this last election brought us, more expanded unConstitutional government intervention brought to you by special interests and politicians who are rigging the system.
If you believe in and support the U.S. Constitution, you are a “real American.” If you don’t, then stop the meaningless proclamations. You are making liars of yourselves.
http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/just-what-is-a-real-american/
Beyond Venture Socialism
By R. Clayton Strang
There is, in fact, a government owned company in Washington State called Correctional Industries wherein prisoners are allowed to work making various products. According to RCW (Revised Code of Washington) 72.09.00, Correctional Industries was set up in an attempt to "offset tax & public support costs" of running the prisons in the State. When one continues reading the RCW's and WAC's (Washington Administrative Code) concerning Correctional Industries, several disturbing facts come to light.
In order to ensure that this program was successful, the clientele for Correctional Industries was legislated into existence. Institutions of higher education are required, by law, to "develop a plan to build higher education business with Correctional Industries to increase higher education purchases of correctional industries products" and even set a minimum percentage of said institution's total goods and services that must be purchased from Correctional Industries. The legislators also mandated in RCW 72.60.160 that any product made by Correctional Industries be given preference by state agencies over similar products made by any other company. One might assume that these laws would guarantee business for this venture, but, unfortunately for bureaucrats, the blundering ham-hand of government coercion offers no competition to the deftness of Smith's "Invisible hand". For in a separate law, all government agencies and offices are not simply required to give preference to CI products, but told that they "shall" purchase any products offered by CI, even going so far as to state, "These goods and services shall not be purchased from any other source" They then backed that law up with a regulation stating the same thing, just to drive the point home.
This is not an issue unique to Washington State. Other states, and even the United States Government, are involved in similar rackets. Federal Prison Industries, run by the federal government, makes uniforms for the United States Armed Forces. Recently, when budget cuts were announced, the various private companies that made and supplied military uniforms were told that their services would no longer be required, as those needs would be taken care of by FPI.
You may be thinking to yourself at this point, "Yes, but the government must be saving taxpayer's money by doing these things, right?" But remember Julia's chair! Looking at the products offered by Correctional Industries in Washington State and the prices charged, only a politician running for re-election could claim that any money is saved. A run of the mill office chair at an office supply store might cost roughly $150.00, whereas, a similar chair from CI will cost between $300.00 and $450.00.
Now, if this program is really designed to "offset tax & public support costs," they're going about this in a typically governmental fashion. It appears as though the government is merely moving the taxpayer's money from one government agency to another, saving nothing, all while pretending that the cost of running prisons is offset by the program. In fact, since products comparable to those produced by inmates can be purchased from the private sector at a lower cost, our government is spending more money than is necessary. On top of the inflated cost of the goods made by inmates, the inmates are then paid an industry standard wage, further inflating the cost to the taxpayers. To add insult to injury, money that would enter the private sector is being withheld in favor of government expansion.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/beyond_venture_socialism.html
Obama Admin Uses 'Green Energy' Loans to 'Recycle' Money Back to Donors
Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, said President Barack Obama had a "recycling" program that used crony capitalism to reward its campaign contributors, who would then funnel money back to the Obama campaign.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/23/Peter-Schweizer-Obama-Admin-Uses-Green-Energy-Loans-To-Recycle-Money-Back-To-Donors
Looking Ahead to 2016: A Prediction
By Marshall Frank
People like Barack Obama are not really interested in doing for others. Rather, they are obsessed with power. And power-hungry people who obtain power, become more obsessed with retaining power.
If one seriously studies Barack Obama’s history, it’s easy to see the persons he helped the most in life were those that could help his rise to power. There had been no evidence of major accomplishments prior to his presidency (other than winning elections). There was no evidence of significant charity.
But there is evidence that he assembled a power base with the help of people like Frank Marshall Davis, William Ayres, Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Khaladi, khalid Mansour, Valerie Jarrett, and more, including union leaders, socialists and Islamist organizations, from which he became known as a “community organizer,” whatever that is. That term was easier to accept by mainstream America than admitting that he and his minions spent years building a voting base from which to build a political machine for one purpose: Rise to power.
So, now Mr. Obama has four more years to put forth his agendas. What then? He will be only 55 years of age. Does anyone really think he’ll give up power that easily?
Should he remain alive and well during this time, and free of impeachment, there are two courses of action likely:
1) He and the Democratic Party will strive for a dominant political base in the 2014 election from which an attempt will be made to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which limits the president to two terms. If accomplished, Obama will run for a third term, even a fourth, as his political base widens among unions and entitlement voters, especially if he continues to enjoy the love affair from mainstream media.
2) Here’s the alternative. Prior to the 2014 election, we will begin seeing more of Michelle Obama.
Much like Hillary, she will be assigned more involvement in affairs of state, appointed to committees and public appearances of a political nature will become more frequent, not to speak of a barrage of friendly television repartee on shows like The View, late night talk, and more. In essence, the grooming will begin. Her image will rise to the level of a Hillary Clinton. And, like Hillary, they both possess law degrees from Ivy League colleges. Without a repeal of the 22nd amendment, Barack Obama will essentially retain the presidency by proxy if Mrs. Obama becomes the elected president.
It’s been done before. In 1966, George Wallace was Governor of Alabama. State law prevented Wallace from running for another term as governor, so he offered his wife, Lurleen, as a surrogate candidate, thereby side-stepping the rule of term limits. She won and technically became governor, only to die of cancer shortly thereafter.
In 2008, Bill Clinton tried returning to the White House via Hillary, and failed.
At the moment, Michelle Obama is adoringly portrayed in media circles. Her frequent travel jaunts around the globe and lavish expenditures, despite the struggles of average Americans in a poor economy, have been ignored and excused by media. While many of us still bristle at her infamous public comment during the campaign of 2008, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” it has been dismissed as unimportant and misunderstood. Naturally she had a change of heart, being catapulted to the cusp of the most celebrated woman in the world – thanks to American voters
So, watch closely, folks. The grooming will begin soon. Preparations for 2016 will be under way long before the 2014 election. It’s all a part of the power machine. And if he manages to skate through the abominable actions and inactions of the Benghazi affair, we may have Barack Obama’s ideology running America for longer than you can imagine.
Say it: President Michelle Obama. It’s not impossible.
http://www.rightsidenews.info/2012112317452/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/looking-ahead-to-2016-a-prediction.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=f8cba94312-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
By Lee A. Heilig
Envelope stuffing, phone bank calling, and precinct walking during election seasons are no longer enough. The other side does that too, and they are effective. Passive citizenship can be no longer be tolerated from the remnant that cherishes their liberty. A professional ruling class with its nanny-state dependents is seeing to it that this nation truly is "fundamentally transformed" into something the Founding Fathers would never recognize. Earning a living, caring for your families, and voting every two years alone cannot preserve our Republic. We must engage the opposition on the turf we ceded to them years ago. If we are not home schooling or providing private educations for our children, we must attend and lead the local PTA meetings. We must examine the curricula in the schools and demand that Americanism and free market economics are taught. We must hold teachers accountable, not only for failing to pull children kicking and screaming onto some arbitrary level of competency in math and reading, but for their complicit indoctrination of our youth in the apostasy of statism. Young and old alike must be reintroduced to the foundational principles of our unique heritage. Individual liberty is universal in its appeal and knows no demographical division. We must attend our city council meetings and demand accountability from those who would appropriate and spend our money on local matters, every bit as much as we scrutinize federal budgets. Citizenship in a free republic is hard. It demands self-education, time, and much effort. It requires us to sacrifice our leisure in the conduct of "eternal vigilance." The national election is over. There is little we can do about the outcome, no matter how righteous our claims of fraud and corruption against the opposition. What we can do is begin anew. Form neighborhood groups. Begin home-based associations with like-minded individuals. Involve yourselves like never before in the genesis of a new class of leaders dedicated to the advancement of liberty that will supplant the statists of today. Take the responsibility of teaching your children what it really means to be inheritors of the greatest nation ever established among men.
Do not awaken one day to realize that through your inaction you have been complicit in, as Ronald Reagan forewarned, sentencing your children to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/new_beginnings.html
Just What is a “Real American?”
There are people in this country who call themselves “American” who either don’t know the Constitution or don’t care about it because they want the ‘government’ to hand them benefits from other peoples’ labors. I do not believe these people are “real Americans” and I am not afraid to say so. I would politely call them “pretenders,” but the situation has now gotten much more dire than that would imply. The situation we are facing today is sinister.
The first thing you need to know is that the only thing that is “American” is the U.S. Constitution. That document is the one thing that makes us “American.” All of the other claims to be the “American” way by politicians, who are passing this bill or that bill to micro-manage our personal lives, are bogus. Forced diversity is not American. Affirmative Action is not American. Social Security is not American. Medicare and Medicaid are not American. Being American means believing in the U.S. Constitution as the one and only manual for our government. All we need to do is stick to it.
The problem we have over Obamacare, as well as, Cap and Tax proposals, and even things like the Cash for Clunkers bill, is that not one of these ideas fit into the U.S. Constitution. The bailouts of the banks, the TARP, the Stimulus Bill, all are completely unConstitutional. No Child Left Behind, and the Prescription Drug Bill were also completely unConstitutional. The Federal Reserve is unConstitutional. The government of the United States is full of people who are doing things for their own selfish purposes and not adhering to their oath to support and uphold the Constitution. That, in itself, recalls the oath of defending the Constitution from enemies “both foreign and domestic.” How does that oath hold up when those who take that oath are undermining the Constitution themselves? That oath has become a joke in our current government.
In the history of civilization, tragically, there have always been poor people. What is different about being “American” is that the U.S. Constitution created a larger middle class and millions of people who have had the opportunity to rise out of that poverty. From a world perspective, America has been more successful at giving the poor opportunities that do not exist in other government structures. And while that is due in part to capitalism, it is due mostly to the Constitution that insures individual property rights, the rights to own the fruit of your own labors, and the pursuit of happiness. The most important rights included in the Constitution guarantee that you own your own person and the gains of your hard work. That is the key to the success of America.
No one can doubt that the Democrat Party has become more socialistic. They have taken power with chips on their shoulders. They have become social engineers who, evidently, aren’t satisfied with opportunity for all. They don’t want opportunity. They say they want egalitarian results for each life. That in itself is completely antithetical to being “American.” It is also an unachievable myth. What they really want is the game rigged in favor of government officials, so that individuals lose their Constitutional rights of owning themselves and are forced into giving away their opportunities, their ownership rights, their wages, and literally their own person-hoods to everyone else. Communes anyone? In their utopian schemes, the individual owes the government (the collective) his or her life. There is nothing “American” about this.
So the next time you hear some politician proclaim they are proposing something “American,” I suggest you make them pass the Constitutional test. When they say things like, “America must do this because we look bad to the rest of the world if we don’t” or “My way is the American way,” when in fact it isn’t at all, ask yourself if the proposal is consistent with the rights guaranteed in the Constitution or is it some convenient hand-out to buy off either special interests or votes? Our country was not built on “collectivism.”
Our country was not created to “take from the rich and give to the poor.” Our country was created to give everyone the opportunity to reach their own potential. If one person’s potential is “X” and another person’s potential is “Y,” that is O.K. Rigging the system with government intervention is exactly what has been wrecking the system, taking “X” and “Y” down with it. Why would anyone want more of that? But that is what this last election brought us, more expanded unConstitutional government intervention brought to you by special interests and politicians who are rigging the system.
If you believe in and support the U.S. Constitution, you are a “real American.” If you don’t, then stop the meaningless proclamations. You are making liars of yourselves.
http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/just-what-is-a-real-american/
Beyond Venture Socialism
By R. Clayton Strang
There is, in fact, a government owned company in Washington State called Correctional Industries wherein prisoners are allowed to work making various products. According to RCW (Revised Code of Washington) 72.09.00, Correctional Industries was set up in an attempt to "offset tax & public support costs" of running the prisons in the State. When one continues reading the RCW's and WAC's (Washington Administrative Code) concerning Correctional Industries, several disturbing facts come to light.
In order to ensure that this program was successful, the clientele for Correctional Industries was legislated into existence. Institutions of higher education are required, by law, to "develop a plan to build higher education business with Correctional Industries to increase higher education purchases of correctional industries products" and even set a minimum percentage of said institution's total goods and services that must be purchased from Correctional Industries. The legislators also mandated in RCW 72.60.160 that any product made by Correctional Industries be given preference by state agencies over similar products made by any other company. One might assume that these laws would guarantee business for this venture, but, unfortunately for bureaucrats, the blundering ham-hand of government coercion offers no competition to the deftness of Smith's "Invisible hand". For in a separate law, all government agencies and offices are not simply required to give preference to CI products, but told that they "shall" purchase any products offered by CI, even going so far as to state, "These goods and services shall not be purchased from any other source" They then backed that law up with a regulation stating the same thing, just to drive the point home.
This is not an issue unique to Washington State. Other states, and even the United States Government, are involved in similar rackets. Federal Prison Industries, run by the federal government, makes uniforms for the United States Armed Forces. Recently, when budget cuts were announced, the various private companies that made and supplied military uniforms were told that their services would no longer be required, as those needs would be taken care of by FPI.
You may be thinking to yourself at this point, "Yes, but the government must be saving taxpayer's money by doing these things, right?" But remember Julia's chair! Looking at the products offered by Correctional Industries in Washington State and the prices charged, only a politician running for re-election could claim that any money is saved. A run of the mill office chair at an office supply store might cost roughly $150.00, whereas, a similar chair from CI will cost between $300.00 and $450.00.
Now, if this program is really designed to "offset tax & public support costs," they're going about this in a typically governmental fashion. It appears as though the government is merely moving the taxpayer's money from one government agency to another, saving nothing, all while pretending that the cost of running prisons is offset by the program. In fact, since products comparable to those produced by inmates can be purchased from the private sector at a lower cost, our government is spending more money than is necessary. On top of the inflated cost of the goods made by inmates, the inmates are then paid an industry standard wage, further inflating the cost to the taxpayers. To add insult to injury, money that would enter the private sector is being withheld in favor of government expansion.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/beyond_venture_socialism.html
Obama Admin Uses 'Green Energy' Loans to 'Recycle' Money Back to Donors
Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, said President Barack Obama had a "recycling" program that used crony capitalism to reward its campaign contributors, who would then funnel money back to the Obama campaign.
Appearing on Fox News's one-hour special on Thursday about the "District of Corruption" movie, Schweizer said crony capitalism was so rampant in the Obama administration that Obama campaign bundlers received more than $21,000 on average in government-backed loans and grants for every dollar they contributed to the Obama campaign.
Schweizer said the Obama administration treated taxpayer dollars as "gift bags" to give to its top donors, which he called "the Obama recycling program."
Schweizer said the Obama administration treated taxpayer dollars as "gift bags" to give to its top donors, which he called "the Obama recycling program."
In many instances, Schweizer said top Obama administration bundlers and influential Democrats -- like California Senator Dianne Feinstein and former Vice President Al Gore-- invested in companies before those companies received government-backed loans and grants, and then saw their investments flourish.
Schweizer said Americans mistakenly have the impression that these green energy loans given to companies like Solyndra were made by and “won by engineers and scientists” when the “reality is that the political appointees are making these decisions with our money ... to their benefit.”
“Crony capitalism is welfare for the well-off,” Schweizer said, noting that he was "skeptical of human nature" and that is why government had no business being involved in these rackets.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/11/23/Peter-Schweizer-Obama-Admin-Uses-Green-Energy-Loans-To-Recycle-Money-Back-To-Donors
Looking Ahead to 2016: A Prediction
By Marshall Frank
People like Barack Obama are not really interested in doing for others. Rather, they are obsessed with power. And power-hungry people who obtain power, become more obsessed with retaining power.
If one seriously studies Barack Obama’s history, it’s easy to see the persons he helped the most in life were those that could help his rise to power. There had been no evidence of major accomplishments prior to his presidency (other than winning elections). There was no evidence of significant charity.
But there is evidence that he assembled a power base with the help of people like Frank Marshall Davis, William Ayres, Jeremiah Wright, Rashid Khaladi, khalid Mansour, Valerie Jarrett, and more, including union leaders, socialists and Islamist organizations, from which he became known as a “community organizer,” whatever that is. That term was easier to accept by mainstream America than admitting that he and his minions spent years building a voting base from which to build a political machine for one purpose: Rise to power.
So, now Mr. Obama has four more years to put forth his agendas. What then? He will be only 55 years of age. Does anyone really think he’ll give up power that easily?
Should he remain alive and well during this time, and free of impeachment, there are two courses of action likely:
1) He and the Democratic Party will strive for a dominant political base in the 2014 election from which an attempt will be made to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which limits the president to two terms. If accomplished, Obama will run for a third term, even a fourth, as his political base widens among unions and entitlement voters, especially if he continues to enjoy the love affair from mainstream media.
2) Here’s the alternative. Prior to the 2014 election, we will begin seeing more of Michelle Obama.
Much like Hillary, she will be assigned more involvement in affairs of state, appointed to committees and public appearances of a political nature will become more frequent, not to speak of a barrage of friendly television repartee on shows like The View, late night talk, and more. In essence, the grooming will begin. Her image will rise to the level of a Hillary Clinton. And, like Hillary, they both possess law degrees from Ivy League colleges. Without a repeal of the 22nd amendment, Barack Obama will essentially retain the presidency by proxy if Mrs. Obama becomes the elected president.
It’s been done before. In 1966, George Wallace was Governor of Alabama. State law prevented Wallace from running for another term as governor, so he offered his wife, Lurleen, as a surrogate candidate, thereby side-stepping the rule of term limits. She won and technically became governor, only to die of cancer shortly thereafter.
In 2008, Bill Clinton tried returning to the White House via Hillary, and failed.
At the moment, Michelle Obama is adoringly portrayed in media circles. Her frequent travel jaunts around the globe and lavish expenditures, despite the struggles of average Americans in a poor economy, have been ignored and excused by media. While many of us still bristle at her infamous public comment during the campaign of 2008, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” it has been dismissed as unimportant and misunderstood. Naturally she had a change of heart, being catapulted to the cusp of the most celebrated woman in the world – thanks to American voters
So, watch closely, folks. The grooming will begin soon. Preparations for 2016 will be under way long before the 2014 election. It’s all a part of the power machine. And if he manages to skate through the abominable actions and inactions of the Benghazi affair, we may have Barack Obama’s ideology running America for longer than you can imagine.
Say it: President Michelle Obama. It’s not impossible.
http://www.rightsidenews.info/2012112317452/editorial/us-opinion-and-editorial/looking-ahead-to-2016-a-prediction.html?utm_source=Right+Side+News&utm_campaign=f8cba94312-daily-rss-newsletter&utm_medium=email
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