Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
And They Say There is No Media Bias
Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks to the Democrats.
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: Washington Examiner
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: Washington Examiner
Friday, August 27, 2010
Drowning Democrats Lash Out in Desperation
Someone earlier on the comment page asked me to document a claim I made that Democrats were planning to demonize individual candidates. At the time, I was too busy to answer, but brace yourself. When you don't have anything going for you, attack.
Leftest tailspin
Leftest tailspin
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thieves Stole Vote No Signs All Over the County
The signs asking people to vote against having their taxes raised, were placed by citizens acting in good faith. The pieces of slime who stole them aren’t worthy to be in America. Note also that the signs for the other side are all still in place. That is because some people are just higher class than some others.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
ASU Students Pay for Abortion Coverage They Don’t Want
Students in the University of North Carolina system will now be required to buy a campus health insurance plan that includes abortion coverage if they don’t have a private insurance plan.
Administrators have agreed to allow students on the 16 campuses of UNC to opt out of the abortion coverage of the campus plan if they choose to — but students who do opt out will pay the same premiums as students who do not.
Under the plan, a $500 benefit and 80 percent Preferred Provider Organization coverage is available for “Elective Abortion.” The healthcare coverage costs $744 a year, or $375 a semester, and the premium will automatically appear on a tuition bill unless the student submits proof of private coverage.
Students for Life of America, a pro-life organization with chapters at campuses around the country, has expressed concern that students without private coverage who oppose abortion on moral grounds must nevertheless pay into an insurance pool that subsidizes abortion coverage.
Sarah Hardin, President of North Carolina State University’s Students for Life group, said, “As a pro-life student at N.C. State, I am dismayed that my classmates will not only be forced to purchase health insurance, but will also be forced to pay into a pool that will go to aborting the children of other North Carolina students.”
The university’s policy raises another issue, Students for Life notes on its website: “Federal grant money is directed to universities from taxpayers through the Federal Student Aid Program. Student eligibility for federal grants is determined by the difference in the student’s ability to pay and the total ‘cost of attendance’ for the school.
Newsmax.com 08/22/2010
Administrators have agreed to allow students on the 16 campuses of UNC to opt out of the abortion coverage of the campus plan if they choose to — but students who do opt out will pay the same premiums as students who do not.
Under the plan, a $500 benefit and 80 percent Preferred Provider Organization coverage is available for “Elective Abortion.” The healthcare coverage costs $744 a year, or $375 a semester, and the premium will automatically appear on a tuition bill unless the student submits proof of private coverage.
Students for Life of America, a pro-life organization with chapters at campuses around the country, has expressed concern that students without private coverage who oppose abortion on moral grounds must nevertheless pay into an insurance pool that subsidizes abortion coverage.
Sarah Hardin, President of North Carolina State University’s Students for Life group, said, “As a pro-life student at N.C. State, I am dismayed that my classmates will not only be forced to purchase health insurance, but will also be forced to pay into a pool that will go to aborting the children of other North Carolina students.”
The university’s policy raises another issue, Students for Life notes on its website: “Federal grant money is directed to universities from taxpayers through the Federal Student Aid Program. Student eligibility for federal grants is determined by the difference in the student’s ability to pay and the total ‘cost of attendance’ for the school.
Newsmax.com 08/22/2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Identifying the Enemy in the Clash of Civilizations
"Moderate Muslims denounce terror that's committed in the name of Islam but they deny that religion has anything to do with it. By contrast, reform-minded Muslims denounce terror that's committed in the name of Islam and acknowledge that our religion is used to inspire it."
It is vital that we understand the second writer Ayaan Hirsi. Quoting Samuel Huntington of Harvard, Hirsi explains : “The essential building block of the post-Cold War world, are seven or eight historical civilizations of which the Western, the Muslim and the Confucian are the most important.
The balance of power among these civilizations, is shifting. The West is declining in relative power, Islam is exploding demographically, and Asian civilizations—especially China—are economically ascendant. Huntington also said that a civilization-based world order is emerging in which states that share cultural affinities will cooperate with each other and group themselves around the leading states of their civilization.
The West's universalist pretensions are increasingly bringing it into conflict with the other civilizations, most seriously with Islam and China. Thus the survival of the West depends on Americans, Europeans and other Westerners reaffirming their shared civilization as unique—and uniting to defend it against challenges from non-Western civilizations.”
“The greatest advantage of Huntington's civilizational model of international relations is that it reflects the world as it is—not as we wish it to be. It allows us to distinguish friends from enemies.”
Obviously, Obama does not get it, and as this administration allows the West to slip into decline, we can only hope that a leader emerges for the Western World in time.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
DeLay(ed) Justice
I skipped this for a couple of days but then realized probably more people read this blog than read page A18 of the New York Times. Tom DeLay was an effective leader (as was Trent Lott) that's why he was falsy accused and destroyed. Now, six years later, his vindication comes too late. Mission accomplished Democrats.
What about Obama's ties to Abramoff?
What about Obama's ties to Abramoff?
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Whooee! We Republicans Are On a Roll
Generic Congressional Ballot
Generic Ballot: Republican 48%, Democrat 36%
Monday, August 16, 2010
Republican candidates have jumped out to a record-setting 12-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 15, 2010. This is the biggest lead the GOP has held in over a decade of Rasmussen Reports surveying, See: RASMUSSEN REPORTS
Generic Ballot: Republican 48%, Democrat 36%
Monday, August 16, 2010
Republican candidates have jumped out to a record-setting 12-point lead over Democrats on the Generic Congressional Ballot for the week ending Sunday, August 15, 2010. This is the biggest lead the GOP has held in over a decade of Rasmussen Reports surveying, See: RASMUSSEN REPORTS
Sunday, August 15, 2010
All The Evidence You Need
To show Obama's policies are unpopular or have failed.
With November rapidly approaching it's interesting to note the strategery of the Democrats. The people handed the Presidency, the Senate and House to the Democrats in 2008. Liberal Utopia. Yet, the "people" are less than thrilled. If the record was worthy of running on then they would run on it. How many Democrats do you hear saying, "Vote for me because I voted for Obamacare"? Or, "Vote for me because I voted for Financial Reform"? Or, "Vote for me because I support Obama's handling of the oil spill"? Or suing Arizona, supporting the Ground Zero Mosque, the stimulus plan, Iran, the Taliban, Gitmo... get the picture?
What about Colorado? The candidate Bill Clinton endorsed lost to the candidate Obama endorsed. The media giddily trumpets the victory for the President. You would think Michael Bennet wants Obama to campaign for him in the general but not so much.
The Democrats are left with demonizing all opposition as well as beating up and blaming their favorite punching bag, GWB. The problem with that is the economy always influences elections. This is Obama's economy and if the real numbers and actual record mean anything (they do) then Bush's perfomance with the economy wins in a knockout.
With November rapidly approaching it's interesting to note the strategery of the Democrats. The people handed the Presidency, the Senate and House to the Democrats in 2008. Liberal Utopia. Yet, the "people" are less than thrilled. If the record was worthy of running on then they would run on it. How many Democrats do you hear saying, "Vote for me because I voted for Obamacare"? Or, "Vote for me because I voted for Financial Reform"? Or, "Vote for me because I support Obama's handling of the oil spill"? Or suing Arizona, supporting the Ground Zero Mosque, the stimulus plan, Iran, the Taliban, Gitmo... get the picture?
What about Colorado? The candidate Bill Clinton endorsed lost to the candidate Obama endorsed. The media giddily trumpets the victory for the President. You would think Michael Bennet wants Obama to campaign for him in the general but not so much.
The Democrats are left with demonizing all opposition as well as beating up and blaming their favorite punching bag, GWB. The problem with that is the economy always influences elections. This is Obama's economy and if the real numbers and actual record mean anything (they do) then Bush's perfomance with the economy wins in a knockout.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Watauga Republicans Gather for $100 Plate Dinner
These and other illustrations were given by Bernie Goldberg, best-selling author of “A Slobbering Love Affair” between the press and Obama. Speaking to the 359 members of the audience, who had each donated $100 to the Watauga Republican Party last night at the Broyhill Inn, Goldberg joked that hearing all the sweet syrupy Obama unction of the press was enough to give one Diabetes.
He explained to us just how all this Obama mania by the media had come about. Just before the 2008 election, polls revealed that a big majority of Americans realized the media had climbed in bed with Obama–90% Republicans, but even 62% Democrats and 62%, agreed.
Goldberg said that what happened was that a media that was constitutionally tilted left, began to believe that the election of Obama was a moment in history. SO, INSTEAD OF COVERING HIS VICTORY, THEY DECIDED TO BE A PART OF MAKING IT HAPPEN!
“They became then, highly invested. They have remained so.”
Serious problems resulted. First, they did Obama no favors. They hyped him beyond the believable. He could not walk on water. Now he is sinking.
A second problem is that the bias of the media so disturbed Americans they began to turn away from what was once a respectable main line media. Whereas once earning money was the goal of the press, now ideology was trumping profits. Big liberal newspapers began to go under. Cable news stations like MSNBC (called at times Obama headquarters) is hemorrhaging at a breathtaking rate. Goldberg observed the once news leader CNN now “has fewer listeners than are in this room.” Only Fox is growing, he says. That is because even though people know it is biased, for the majority of Americans, it is their bias.
And finally, the most serious problem of all is the following: Our founders created a system in which a free press would be a check against big government. Jefferson, and the others did not even like the press, but they knew they were crucial to a democracy. Goldberg says this serious decline in respect for a media that lacks credibility, sets the stage for a demagogue to attack them.
The press will likely turn against Obama if he hits around a 35% approval level. Goldberg cautions though in 2012, they will be back. And again they will be in bed with him. They have too much of a need to be proven right.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Someone said Never! Never! Never! vote to tax yourselves. Make them do it! Vote no on Sales Tax
EARLY VOTING
When: 8/12--8/27/2010
Time: 8 am to 5 pm
When: Saturday 8/28/2010
Time: 8 am to 1 pm
Where: Board of Elections
Lower Level of Courthouse
GENERAL ELECTION
When: 8/31/2010
Where: All Precincts
Time: 6:30 am to 7:30 pm
EARLY VOTING
When: 8/12--8/27/2010
Time: 8 am to 5 pm
When: Saturday 8/28/2010
Time: 8 am to 1 pm
Where: Board of Elections
Lower Level of Courthouse
GENERAL ELECTION
When: 8/31/2010
Where: All Precincts
Time: 6:30 am to 7:30 pm
WALK RALLY THURSDAY, AUG. 12 VOTE NO ON TAX
2009 Conservative Woodstock
2009 Conservative Gathering Note the creative grass roots signs. Compare them to the mass printed ones of the labor unions when they protest.
AND THERE ARE A LOT MORE OF US COME NOVEMBER!
AND THERE ARE A LOT MORE OF US COME NOVEMBER!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The "Tolerance" Lie
As with a previous post, "Prominent Muslims Denounce Violence", We will continue to highlight the decent and brave Muslims that speak out for peace. Ms. Raza exposes the lie behind the "tolerance" argument.
Here is another example.
I don't want to make excuses for the good Muslims that don't speak out but it's important to remember they risk death by doing so. I guess that is an excuse. I'll never forget Ayan Hirsi Ali's response when asked about criticisms of Bush during the Iraq war. She said it's easy to criticize Bush, after all he won't send his thugs to cut off your head if you do.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Even Europe Gets It
Thanks to Cinncinatus for this most excellent article.
Climategate showed us that the European press was far more responsible than our own. This is another example and MSM in America should be ashamed that they are being ridiculed by the British press.
Climategate showed us that the European press was far more responsible than our own. This is another example and MSM in America should be ashamed that they are being ridiculed by the British press.
Rich Irony
I support Greg Gutfeld's intentions 100%. Given the left's stated veiws on "tolerance" how can anyone object? I'm giddy.
The Results Of Doing Nothing About Entitlements
Let's continue with the theme of the last two threads: "Obama, Selective Perception or Lying" and "Honest Debate". For the first time Social Security will pay out more than it takes in. We all knew it would happen and it has... six years earlier than predicted. This is the result of doing nothing. Medicare is not far behind and Obamacare cuts it by $500 billion. Newt Gingrich tried to address these problems and was raked over the coals with dishonest debate. Ditto George W. Bush. Paul Ryan has a plan on the table and a yapping Paul Krugman is biting at his ankles. John Boehner and Mike Pence have suggested raising the retirement age.
We have liberals on this blog obsessed with asking for solutions no matter how many have been presented. So this question goes out to those liberals, you know who you are: What is Obama's solution to Social Security? Where is the proposal from any Democrat (since Patrick Moynihan) to address the problem?
This thread is not about the merits of any proposals so libs save us the belly-aching over why our proposed solutions won't work. I purposely have not googled around looking for Democrat proposals. I have left myself vulnerable to be proven wrong. President Obama has laughably accused Republicans of having no plans and the sycophants parrot the party line religiously. I am making the same claim about Democrats and will happily stand corrected. Liberals, your task is simple: Find a Democrat proposal to save Social Security and post it.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Obama, Selective Perception or Lying
This post raises the question about Obama’s charges that Republicans have no proposals. (We can extend the question even to Liberal POV who comments here.)
A terrible aberration happened to me when HD published the picture of the woman whose nose had been mutilated by the Taliban. Because I was busy, I scrolled past the photo several times without finding time to read the article. Readers will find this hard to believe, but each time I just saw an attractive Afghan woman and wondered to myself why HD had posted.
Later, when I began to see her face all over television, I asked my wife what the story was all about. “Don’t you see how they disfigured her?” she exclaimed. Then and only then did the horrific scene jump out at me!
For those who are not aware, what happened to me is what psychologists call selective perception. Presented with something so horrible, the mind can actually keep you from seeing it. On a more benign level selective perception can happen in less intense situations. People can block out, not even hearing words spoken, speech that contradicts strong ideologies, or material they were not expecting to hear or just being presented with something they did not want to hear.
There are many examples of selective perception but because this post is really about Obama (and POV), I cannot go into the subject in depth. In one classic study viewers watched a filmstrip of a particularly violent Princeton-Dartmouth football game. Princeton viewers reported seeing nearly twice as many rule infractions committed by the Dartmouth team than did Dartmouth viewers. One Dartmouth alumnus did not even see any infractions committed by his Dartmouth side and erroneously assumed he had been sent only part of the film, sending word requesting the rest! (From Wikepedia)
From that short introduction I want to segue into Obama’s (and POV’s) charges that Republicans have no proposals. As far back as February, after the bipartisan meeting, Republicans handed Obama an entire document of proposals. The president even commented it was a thoughtful document.
Since then, over and over, every proposal of the Republicans has been shot down. (Sometimes little parts were taken out of bills to mollify them.) The rest of the time Obama and Democrats have said, “Our way or the highway.”
The question: Is the president so embedded into his ideology that he actually does not see nor hear the words? In other words, does he (and reader POV) suffer selective perception? Or is Obama just a lying politician?
selective perception
A terrible aberration happened to me when HD published the picture of the woman whose nose had been mutilated by the Taliban. Because I was busy, I scrolled past the photo several times without finding time to read the article. Readers will find this hard to believe, but each time I just saw an attractive Afghan woman and wondered to myself why HD had posted.
Later, when I began to see her face all over television, I asked my wife what the story was all about. “Don’t you see how they disfigured her?” she exclaimed. Then and only then did the horrific scene jump out at me!
For those who are not aware, what happened to me is what psychologists call selective perception. Presented with something so horrible, the mind can actually keep you from seeing it. On a more benign level selective perception can happen in less intense situations. People can block out, not even hearing words spoken, speech that contradicts strong ideologies, or material they were not expecting to hear or just being presented with something they did not want to hear.
There are many examples of selective perception but because this post is really about Obama (and POV), I cannot go into the subject in depth. In one classic study viewers watched a filmstrip of a particularly violent Princeton-Dartmouth football game. Princeton viewers reported seeing nearly twice as many rule infractions committed by the Dartmouth team than did Dartmouth viewers. One Dartmouth alumnus did not even see any infractions committed by his Dartmouth side and erroneously assumed he had been sent only part of the film, sending word requesting the rest! (From Wikepedia)
From that short introduction I want to segue into Obama’s (and POV’s) charges that Republicans have no proposals. As far back as February, after the bipartisan meeting, Republicans handed Obama an entire document of proposals. The president even commented it was a thoughtful document.
Since then, over and over, every proposal of the Republicans has been shot down. (Sometimes little parts were taken out of bills to mollify them.) The rest of the time Obama and Democrats have said, “Our way or the highway.”
The question: Is the president so embedded into his ideology that he actually does not see nor hear the words? In other words, does he (and reader POV) suffer selective perception? Or is Obama just a lying politician?
selective perception
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Honest Debate
To the best of my knowledge, Paul Ryan (R-WI) is the only elected official to propose a serious detailed solution to the fiscal problems that face us. He tackles head on spending, taxes and entitlements (the third rail) with the "Roadmap for America's Future". Not since Newt Gingrich, who was vilified relentlessly for his effort, has anyone suggested a real solution to entitlements. President Bush tried and was vilified as well but he did not press the issue. Partisanship always gets in the way. Right on cue the partisan howling started, most notable with Paul Krugman's recent article in the New York Times. Paul Ryan has responded. Ryan is absolutely right about Krugman who is a reflection of the problem: The debate has not been honest. Is it too much to ask that partisanship and political gain take a back seat to honest debate? I don't think so.
Unexpected Benefits Moving From Liberal to Conservative
Beatrice Kaufman said “I have been rich and I have been poor. Rich is better.” Paraphrasing her, I can say “I have been liberal and I have been conservative. Conservative is better.” With the benefit of hindsight, this post includes some personal observations of the unexpected positive benefits I received when I moved from liberalism to conservatism.
I BECAME MORE PSYCHOLOGICALLY ON TARGET DEVELOPMENTALLY
The first benefit was a psychological development which is a better fit. Psychologists say we remain healthy when we move appropriately through developmental stages. They call my stage the Generative Stage. That is when many of life’s struggles lie behind and you can now turn to giving back to your community.
LIBERALS NOT AT HOME IN THEIR COMMUNITY AND I LONGED TO BE
I can now see though as a liberal, I had no community. The genuine folks of America’s communities are put off by the attacks on their cherished values by intellectual condescenders. Morever, their own more straightforward way of approaching events gives them exquisite crap detectors. So as a liberal, I had marginalized myself.
Gradually, however I began to discover myself a member of my community. I began to hang out with a man who worked with his hands, was an itinerant mountain preacher, and a former bootlegger. His friends became mine. I knew my phoniness was gone when one old preacher said “We have a real man of God in our midst.” That was not said casually.
LIBERALS IRRITATION ARISES FROM UNCERTAINTY
Meanwhile, I had left behind the secular humanists at the university and their dogmas of political correctness and normative relativism. It was refreshing to be away from the cultural dogmatists that make up the university; who are scandalized if someone reveals he not only knows there are moral and spiritual certainties, but also can even harbor politically incorrect attitudes.
I will give you two personal examples of why I had to put some distance between myself and liberals. As I have mentioned before, a Damascus Road experience gave me total certainty about a lot of things in life. When my two best friends asked me what had happened and I shared it with them, they immediately went on the attack.
The first friend, who was always ruthlessly honest with herself, realized her irritation was not rational. However, she could never explain to herself her strange reaction.
My friendship with the other person had been built on more than 50 years of total honesty between us. When I confronted him with the pain his attack had caused me, his surprising response was “What about the pain you were causing me! You claimed you had found something. That made me feel you were judging me as if I had not.” Of course, I had done nothing of the sort and he knew it. But that was a wake up call for me. Certainty threatens liberals.
The rigid doctrines of how one finds truth never gets liberals to the kind of certainty I had been looking for. I knew from my own experience as a liberal that what gnaws at you is the question: “Suppose that other person has discovered something? I can never prove he has not.” And, a problem that comes to all intellectuals if they are honest is “But, if I must question everything, eventually I will have to question questioning everything.” That is when the ground goes out beneath you.
Thus, many liberals have much to be angry about. And anyone who goes to their blogs, sees the rage. One person observed after attending the left wing bloggers’ conference recently held in California that he had never heard so much profanity in his life.
When you get comfortable with your knowledge, there is no more need to cuss.
I BECAME MORE PSYCHOLOGICALLY ON TARGET DEVELOPMENTALLY
The first benefit was a psychological development which is a better fit. Psychologists say we remain healthy when we move appropriately through developmental stages. They call my stage the Generative Stage. That is when many of life’s struggles lie behind and you can now turn to giving back to your community.
LIBERALS NOT AT HOME IN THEIR COMMUNITY AND I LONGED TO BE
I can now see though as a liberal, I had no community. The genuine folks of America’s communities are put off by the attacks on their cherished values by intellectual condescenders. Morever, their own more straightforward way of approaching events gives them exquisite crap detectors. So as a liberal, I had marginalized myself.
Gradually, however I began to discover myself a member of my community. I began to hang out with a man who worked with his hands, was an itinerant mountain preacher, and a former bootlegger. His friends became mine. I knew my phoniness was gone when one old preacher said “We have a real man of God in our midst.” That was not said casually.
LIBERALS IRRITATION ARISES FROM UNCERTAINTY
Meanwhile, I had left behind the secular humanists at the university and their dogmas of political correctness and normative relativism. It was refreshing to be away from the cultural dogmatists that make up the university; who are scandalized if someone reveals he not only knows there are moral and spiritual certainties, but also can even harbor politically incorrect attitudes.
I will give you two personal examples of why I had to put some distance between myself and liberals. As I have mentioned before, a Damascus Road experience gave me total certainty about a lot of things in life. When my two best friends asked me what had happened and I shared it with them, they immediately went on the attack.
The first friend, who was always ruthlessly honest with herself, realized her irritation was not rational. However, she could never explain to herself her strange reaction.
My friendship with the other person had been built on more than 50 years of total honesty between us. When I confronted him with the pain his attack had caused me, his surprising response was “What about the pain you were causing me! You claimed you had found something. That made me feel you were judging me as if I had not.” Of course, I had done nothing of the sort and he knew it. But that was a wake up call for me. Certainty threatens liberals.
The rigid doctrines of how one finds truth never gets liberals to the kind of certainty I had been looking for. I knew from my own experience as a liberal that what gnaws at you is the question: “Suppose that other person has discovered something? I can never prove he has not.” And, a problem that comes to all intellectuals if they are honest is “But, if I must question everything, eventually I will have to question questioning everything.” That is when the ground goes out beneath you.
Thus, many liberals have much to be angry about. And anyone who goes to their blogs, sees the rage. One person observed after attending the left wing bloggers’ conference recently held in California that he had never heard so much profanity in his life.
When you get comfortable with your knowledge, there is no more need to cuss.
Is Michele a Pinanta?
 |
| Jackie Kennedy had 1 personal assistant. Hillary Clinton had 3 personal assistants. Barbara Bush had 1 personal assistant. Michele Obama has 20 personal assistants. and they still let her get dressed like that! |
Friday, August 6, 2010
Will We Never Be Able to Get Rid of this Obama Royalty?
Whether or not the taxpaying American will be paying for meals, they will definitely be footing the bill for the First Lady's68-strong security detail, her personal staff - and the use of presidential jet Air Force Two.
The per diems for the secret service team runs at around £172 each, which amounts to nearly £60,000 for the length of the summer break.
Use of Air Force Two, the Air Force version of a 757, comes in at £91,900 for the round trip. This does not include time on the ground.
Mrs Obama's personal staff, of which there are an unknown amount and who might cost considerably more per day, also have to be taken into account.
The American public will also cover the cost of the only official part of the holiday, a visit to the Spanish royal family on the island of Majorca.
This will involve transport there and back for the entourage - as well as travel, accommodation, food and expenses for all while on the island.
Conservative estimates already put the total cost at £150,000. With Majorca to come, the bill will be more like £250,000.
Back in the U.S., anger was mounting - especially as it has emerged the First Lady will have enjoyed eight holidays by the end of the summer.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1300852/Spanish-police-close-public-beach-Michelle-Obamas-250k-Spanish-holiday.html#ixzz0vsAbJ800
The per diems for the secret service team runs at around £172 each, which amounts to nearly £60,000 for the length of the summer break.
Use of Air Force Two, the Air Force version of a 757, comes in at £91,900 for the round trip. This does not include time on the ground.
Mrs Obama's personal staff, of which there are an unknown amount and who might cost considerably more per day, also have to be taken into account.
The American public will also cover the cost of the only official part of the holiday, a visit to the Spanish royal family on the island of Majorca.
This will involve transport there and back for the entourage - as well as travel, accommodation, food and expenses for all while on the island.
Conservative estimates already put the total cost at £150,000. With Majorca to come, the bill will be more like £250,000.
Back in the U.S., anger was mounting - especially as it has emerged the First Lady will have enjoyed eight holidays by the end of the summer.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1300852/Spanish-police-close-public-beach-Michelle-Obamas-250k-Spanish-holiday.html#ixzz0vsAbJ800
Thursday, August 5, 2010
State Bailout Next by Obama
The following is from: Dick Morris
Questions Republicans will be asking as they come to power:
Why should taxpayers from states that have cut their budgets and observed spending restraint, pay for the extravagances of the other states? Why should forty-seven states have to pay for California, New York, and Michigan?
The Republican solution to state financial distress should be simple: The Party should insist on a change in the federal bankruptcy law providing for a procedure for state bankruptcy (none now exists). This process must call for abrogation of all state and local public employee union contracts as is usually done in private sector bankruptcies. By freeing states and local governments (including school boards) of their union obligations on wages, work rules, staffing, and pensions, they have a chance to survive and, indeed, to prosper. But merely subsidizing these massive expenditures just prolongs the misery of the states in question.
Questions Republicans will be asking as they come to power:
Why should taxpayers from states that have cut their budgets and observed spending restraint, pay for the extravagances of the other states? Why should forty-seven states have to pay for California, New York, and Michigan?
The Republican solution to state financial distress should be simple: The Party should insist on a change in the federal bankruptcy law providing for a procedure for state bankruptcy (none now exists). This process must call for abrogation of all state and local public employee union contracts as is usually done in private sector bankruptcies. By freeing states and local governments (including school boards) of their union obligations on wages, work rules, staffing, and pensions, they have a chance to survive and, indeed, to prosper. But merely subsidizing these massive expenditures just prolongs the misery of the states in question.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Independents Win This Next Election
Unaffiliated will make or break this election. Having voted for Obama, polls now reveal they feel they were had. What are they looking for this time?
The following is from: Weekly Standard First of all the writer reminds us that independents belong to no one. “This bloc are on loan, not a given.” They had expected Obama would clean up Washington. They got worse.
They expected a balanced budget. They got everything but.
They did not really vote for health care, but if Obama wanted it, they expected cost control. They got massive expansion of coverage. They at least wanted some flexibility and additional choices. They got instead, mandated fixed and elaborate labels.
They wanted transparency. In Obamacare, they got unsavory bribes and deals (such as 300 million to Landrieu of Louisiana, and pay offs to the Senators Nelson) behind locked doors.
Independents hate political bickering. They got the most polarizing president in history.
Democrats said the public would like the bill once it had passed (they didn’t); that the process by which it was passed wouldn’t matter (it did); they would get a boost in the polls for being “able to govern” (they didn’t); and Obama’s approval ratings would go up on his strong show of leadership (they went the other way).
They went for Obama and the Democrats by a 52% to 44% margin. Independents now prefer Republican candidate to Democrat by an average of 45% to 35%.
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The following is from: Weekly Standard First of all the writer reminds us that independents belong to no one. “This bloc are on loan, not a given.” They had expected Obama would clean up Washington. They got worse.
They expected a balanced budget. They got everything but.
They did not really vote for health care, but if Obama wanted it, they expected cost control. They got massive expansion of coverage. They at least wanted some flexibility and additional choices. They got instead, mandated fixed and elaborate labels.
They wanted transparency. In Obamacare, they got unsavory bribes and deals (such as 300 million to Landrieu of Louisiana, and pay offs to the Senators Nelson) behind locked doors.
Independents hate political bickering. They got the most polarizing president in history.
Democrats said the public would like the bill once it had passed (they didn’t); that the process by which it was passed wouldn’t matter (it did); they would get a boost in the polls for being “able to govern” (they didn’t); and Obama’s approval ratings would go up on his strong show of leadership (they went the other way).
They went for Obama and the Democrats by a 52% to 44% margin. Independents now prefer Republican candidate to Democrat by an average of 45% to 35%.
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Fox In Front Row
Fox News gets a front row seat. The vote was unanimous which means the media finally did something right. Fox beat out NPR and that can only mean that in their hearts the MSM knows that Fox deserves it more than NPR. "Fair and balanced" is not a bad model.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Republican Burr Still Ahead in Senate Race,
Polling Data Real Clear Politics
Poll Date Sample Burr (R) Marshall (D) Spread
RCP Average 6/26 - 7/21 -- 45.0 35.8 Burr +9.2
Real Clear Politics have some interesting polls. One of them for example NC 8 had the Democrat ahead 16 points in January and is now calling it as leaning Republican. So far they are not calling any NC Republican House seats at risk.
But don't let up. Anyone who wants to find a good place to work in this election to save our country can drop by the Republican Headquarters and volunteer some time. Volunteering time at headquarters allows you to meet and greet people who want information. You also help people either get registered or change their registration from other districts.
Poll Date Sample Burr (R) Marshall (D) Spread
RCP Average 6/26 - 7/21 -- 45.0 35.8 Burr +9.2
Real Clear Politics have some interesting polls. One of them for example NC 8 had the Democrat ahead 16 points in January and is now calling it as leaning Republican. So far they are not calling any NC Republican House seats at risk.
But don't let up. Anyone who wants to find a good place to work in this election to save our country can drop by the Republican Headquarters and volunteer some time. Volunteering time at headquarters allows you to meet and greet people who want information. You also help people either get registered or change their registration from other districts.
Prominent Muslims Denounce Violence
We need to see more of this. Kudos to these brave and noble Muslims.
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