First the headline (with a link to the original story)…

GOP moves toward slashing, nixing states’ income tax

…Now the story

OKLAHOMA CITY — A year after Republicans swept into office across the country, many have trained their sights on what has long been a fiscal conservative’s dream: the steep reduction or elimination of state income taxes. [So far so good]

The idea has circulated among academics and think-tank researchers for years [The illusion that this is some academic exercise, a wet dream of conservatives, a no so realistic or reasonable idea.]. But it’s moving quietly into mainstream political discourse, despite the fact that such changes would almost certainly mean a rewiring of tax systems at a time when most states are struggling in the aftermath of the recession. [Here is the Democrat and hence the mainstream media stance that it is unrealistic to make changes in tax codes when states are struggling.]

“I think there’s going to be more action that way,” especially as Republican governors release their budget plans, said Kim Rueben, an expert on state taxation at the Brookings Urban Tax Policy Center. [BTW the Brookings folks are a liberal think tank – you’ll notice later that the American Enterprise Institute is labeled a “Washington-based conservative think tank – no bias here]

Last year, GOP lawmakers in many states quickly went to work on a conservative agenda: restricting abortion, cracking down on illegal immigration, expanding gun rights and taking aim at public-employee unions. [Much as Democrats in power look to increase abortions, promoting illegal immigration, restricting our 2nd Amendment gun rights, and pumping more money and power into public-employee unions. Most Americans are pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-ILLEGAL immigration, and concerned about our tax dollars being laundered through public sector unions and given to Democrats for their campaigns. Perhaps rather than call them a “conservative agenda” it would be more appropriate to call them and American agenda.]

Emboldened by that success, the party has started income tax efforts in Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and South Carolina. But it’s not clear how those states would make up for the lost revenue, and Rueben said she’s not aware of any state in modern history that has eliminated an income tax. [lest we forget these efforts were actually started by the Americans that voted these folks into office and tossed the others out. That is an important factor to consider. These are the types of efforts that the taxpayers demand and expect. Many progressives fear the loss of income tax since most citizens are so used to withholding that they really never think about how much is being taken from them.]

Nine states get by without an income tax, mostly by tapping other sources of revenue. Nevada and Florida rely on sales taxes that target the tourism industry. Alaska has taxes on natural resources, and Texas imposes substantial property taxes. The other five states are: New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington and Wyoming. [Nine states is a good start. I happen to work for a state agency and rather than my salary be paid by general funds, my salary could be easily paid by those folks who are required to use our services. Those who require my services should bear the cost rather than everybody. It would be fairly simple as long as fees are adjusted frequently based on the market and demand.]

But in the rest of the country, income taxes pay for bedrock government services, including roads, bridges, schools and prison systems. [This is some more bias. They did not include major social programs like welfare and other expensive entitlement programs. They also failed to mention that a great deal of the money for roads and bridges come from another tax – your gasoline tax.]

In Oklahoma, Republican Gov. Mary Fallin says gradually cutting the top income-tax rate of 5.25 percent will make the state more attractive to businesses, help spur economic growth and ensure Oklahoma is competitive against neighboring states such as Texas. Although the personal income tax does not apply to corporate earnings, supporters say company executives and employees will prefer to live in a state that doesn’t tax personal income. [As companies find it easier and better to relocate the competition will be fierce between states. Companies care about their employees and attracting good ones to states without income taxes is a selling point.]

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich’s 2010 campaign included a pledge to phase out the state’s personal income tax, though without a timetable for doing so. Thus far, the state’s fiscal situation has stymied the governor’s efforts to achieve his goal, other than implementing a previously scheduled income tax cut. [No the Democrats have stymied Kasich’s efforts.]

Without creating an alternative funding system, “it’s clearly irresponsible to propose taking action against the income tax,” said Alan Viard, an economist with the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based conservative think tank. [I wonder what the whole quote was since the AP writer had to cut it so creatively.]

“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.”

– Benjamin Franklin

I am not lamenting the existence of safety nets, but they should be temporary. I know a guy who works at a local fast food restaurant drive thru that I also ran into working at WalMart. We started talking and I found that he had lost his well-paying job and had to get two jobs to meet his obligations. He is probably sixty years old and exemplifies how one should behave in a free society.

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

– Ayn Rand – Atlas Shrugged

Besides the life-long entitlement dependents we all have heard stories of how easy it is to scam the system and we all feel the same anger when we see how government control over the use of our tax dollars is so lax. Every once in a while someone is made to be an example of strict oversight, but many of these are probably just a little “meat” to satisfy our desire for justice. I read an Associated Press story yesterday that I expected to be the same.

The story was about “food stamp trafficking” where retailers give recipients lesser amounts of cash for their food stamp benefits. The retailers obviously get reimbursed by Uncle Sam for the higher dollar amounts and the recipients get cash to spend without the controls over what they can buy. It’s a win-win for them…not so much for us. You might be heartened to note that the USDA is cracking down on the retailers and last year 931 stores of the 234,000 authorized were dismissed from the program and 907 “sanctioned.” We all like when fraud is stopped, but the article did not expand on what “sanctioned” means and I wonder if there are lesser amounts of fraud that do not get you banned from the system.

When I finished the AP article I was a little confused be what some might describe as the “elephant in the room” that seemed to be ignored. I skimmed the piece and then reread it to make sure that I didn’t miss anything and looked at again as I write this. The Associated Press did not mention banishment or sanctions for those recipients who also defrauded the government.

It does take two to tango after all. Some individual sold their benefits for cash and they should also be dismissed from the program. Perhaps the oversight was just poor reporting by the AP (no surprise there), but I suspect that the reason for the article was more PR for Obama. The last paragraph gleefully stated,

“Even though food stamp spending has ballooned from $22.7 billion to $64.7 billion since 1995, the misuse of benefits has dropped from four cents to a penny on every dollar spent”

That sounds great, but that is still $647 million dollars of fraud. I prefer to call the “misuse” fraud as that is what it is. I also love how the AP went back to 1995 (Bill Clinton was president) for their beginning point of the “ballooning” spending.  It is very disingenuous to spread the “ballooning” over such a long period when it clearly distorts the fact that under Obama spending has skyrocketed, nearly doubling under Obama’s two years in office.  The data isn’t that hard to find so the only reason for the AP to do it is to cover for Obama.

A front page story in my local paper headlined that “Ex-N.J. governor leaves MF Global” which probably doesn’t say too much to entice you to read the story.  This AP story is about Democrat ex-governor Jon Corzine who was defeated by Republican Chris Christie in the heavily Democrat state of New Jersey.  That has nothing to do with the story although you would have had to read through to the seventeenth paragraph (and after the article was “continued on A6″) to find out that Corzine is a Democrat.  Again, being a Democrat is not all that germane to the story about the collapse of Corzine’s MF Global and the missing 6oo million dollars, but had it been a Republican the headline probably would have been more like this,

Ex-N.J. DEMOCRAT governor is forced to resign from MF Global, $600 million missing

That would clearly be a better and more accurate headline, but since he was a Democrat that part was pushed later.  There were

also a number of other pertinent facts mysteriously left out of the AP story that were widely reported by other news organizations…

“MF Global recently made a bond sale with an unusual clause, saying the interest rate on the bonds would rise 1 percent if Corzine ended up being appointed to a post in the Obama administration. There has been speculation that he could be in line for Treasury secretary if the president is reelected.”

As it turns out Mr. Corzine is available unless he goes to jail unless he choses to use his “get out of jail free” card…

“The bankrupt financial company MF Global, now under federal investigation for possibly misusing clients’ money, is one of the top sources of contributions for President Obama’s reelection, complicating the campaign’s effort to turn public anger at Wall Street into a political advantage.  Employees of the company have given $108,650 to Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to federal records. MF Global’s chairman and chief executive, former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, has raised at least $500,000 for the campaign and the DNC as a “bundler,” or volunteer fundraiser.”

These were rather routine facts that almost all articles that I have read on the subject have mentioned.  Why didn’t the AP?  You have got to love the term “bundler” as this may be how Barack Obama goes down in history.  The amount of money (i.e. our tax dollars) he has given to his “bundlers” is astounding.  Pay to play…Chicago style.  Perhaps the AP can do a story about bundlers and how they reap what they sow from the Obama Administration.  They may actually do such a thing if they can also point to George Bush doing the same/similar thing even if they have to distort the truth.

Another AP story in today’s paper noted that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ husband has written a book about her and the tragedy.  First off why does everyone feel like they need to write a book?  The AP listed some of the books’ highlights with one being that Giffords was disappointed that Sarah Palin did not call since here web site “targeted” Giffords district,

“Kelly [Giffords' husband] thought Sarah Palin might call to offer condolences because of a map the former Alaskan governor had posted with crosshairs, but Palin never did.”

Again this is the Democrat narrative that Palin somehow was culpable because some fruitcake snapped and shot Giffords and many others.  That narrative was disproved almost as long ago as the “Gore won Florida” myth yet it was apparently mentioned in the book and of course repeated by the AP.  

Here are some stories that I would like the AP to delve deeply into:

1. I mentioned the “bundler” issue above.  It doesn’t matter to me if they go after Republicans too, but this “bundler” thing sounds a whole lot like “lobbying” in return for favors.  Each contribution is smaller, but when bundled it is a nice chunk of money that probably has strings.
2. Obamacare one year later…its costs…its ups…its downs…how much have we learned about what’s in it now that it is passed (maybe Nancy Pelosi know now too)
3. Solyndra – the whole story.
4. Jon Corzine – what did he know and when did he know it.
5. Fast and Furious – how can the media ignore this MAJOR scandal of the Obama Administration where at least one U.S. Border Agent was killed with weapons that the Obama Justice Department allowed to go across the Mexican border?  Was stimulus money used to buy guns and send them to Mexican drug cartels.
6. Why did Obama want to kill Quaddafi (Libya) and not Assad (Syria). 
7. How did Obama send troops into a sovereign country (Pakistan) to carry out an operation (killing bin Laden)?  What will the long-term implications be for Pakistan’s cooperation in the future?  It actually probably could be worse.
8. Now that we’ve killed Quaddafi why do Libyans still hate us?
9. An in-depth look at the anti-Semetic undercurrents in the Occupy Wall Street movement. 
10. The Obama-Rezko connection. 

So I had some fun trying to find a different name for the AP while allowing them to keep the “AP.”

• Adulterated Press
• Associated PublicRelations (it’s not APR if you jam them together)
• Asinine Press
• Asinine Progressives
• Absolute Progressives
• Absent Proof
• Adoring Press

I look forward to any of your ideas…

George W. Bush achieved a similar price drop by rescinding a presidential order (his father’s) to open up drilling which eased market fears about events in the Middle East and reduced price speculation. Bush’s action was a supply side action as consumers and investors felt that there would not be any significant interruption of the supply of oil. Obama, being the most brilliant man ever elected president, did Bush one better. He and his czars have actually been constructing road blocks to traditional energy exploration and production in the United States in favor of “renewable” sources. Obama’s action has caused a change in the demand.

You may ask whether folks have just gone out and bought Government Motor’s Chevy Volt, or started walking to work, or maybe just properly inflated their tires. If you thought that you’d be wrong. It seems that the demand has been reduced because the economy is so bad. Here is the AP’s unbelievable headline:

The upside of economic worries: Lower gas prices

The following excerpt is the article’s third paragraph:

“Economist Philip Verleger equates it to ‘a stimulus program for consumers,’ leaving them more money for clothes, dinners out and movies. Over a year, a 50 cents-per-gallon drop in gasoline prices would add roughly $70 billion to the U.S. economy.”

I guess it is a stimulus for those of us fortunate enough to still have jobs. I would rather, however, not benefit from the destruction of others and to their benefit the AP did acknowledge this later in the story. Perhaps I expect too much from media; no I don’t expect too much I hope for better and am always disappointed. This would have been a great opportunity to provide readers some information about economics and contrast the Bush versus Obama lowering of gasoline prices. Instead the AP filled the article with vacuous quotes from people who, surprise surprise, offered how lower gas prices will benefit them.

Can a Pulitzer Prize be far away for these writers?

Or a Nobel Prize in economics…they seem to give those away to just about anybody.

John Galt [Ayn Rand] summed up my position on the issue;

“I swear, by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”

The irony may be that the dead tree media may have gotten their man into the Oval Office at the expense of their own survival.  I find that there are a lot of people like me who will never rely on any reports that they produce.  Alternative sites like I Hate The Media, NewsBusters, and Breitbart have carved a strong niche as purveyors of news and filling the role of watchdogs of the Obama-mania-media.  Perhaps the biggest scandal for Obama is a program called “Operation Fast and Furious” where the feds were initially, under Bush, trying to trace the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico.  Sounds like a decent idea and in today’s paper an Associated Press article discussed the Operation,

“Under the policy, federal firearms licensees in Texas, California, Arizona and New Mexico must report purchases of two or more of some types of rifles by the same person in a five-day span. The requirement applies to purchases of semi-automatic rifles that have detachable magazines and a caliber of greater than .22…Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the reporting measure will improve the ATF’s ability to disrupt illegal weapons trafficking networks that funnel firearms to criminal organizations.  Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the policy “is exactly what ATF agents on the ground told Congress — that reporting multiple sales of military-grade assault weapons is a crucial tool to identify and disrupt Mexican drug cartels engaged in gun trafficking.”

The unbelieveable part is that Eric Holder’s Justice Department just made an annoucement about the Operation which prompted the story.  That’s typical.  The horrible part is that the story COMPLETELY IGNORES the fact that this operation has been under intense congressional scrutiny since several ATF officers have put their careers at risk to expose Operation Fast and Furious.  The Operation was put on steriods under Holder/Obama and gun shop owners were “encouraged” to break the law and sell weapons to straw buyers that were then allowed to go to Mexico where the ATF allegedly would track them.  The first part worked well, but the second part failed miserably and at least two border control agents and hundreds of Mexican citizens were killed using these weapons.  It gets better as recent indications are that millions of dollars in Stimulus money were given to this Operation. 

The investigation is being led by Republican Representative Darrell Issa.  The AP puff piece comes on the heel of news reported  by Powerline SIX DAYS AGO that embattled ATF head Kenneth Melson, ”and the Obama administration’s intended fall guy in the scandal, broke ranks with his superiors. Without their knowledge, he gave an interview to Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, accompanied only by his personal attorney. While a transcript of that interview is not yet public, it is clear that he blew the whistle on senior officials in the Justice Department.”  How corrupt, inept, partisan, lazy does AP have to be to completely ignore the scandal rocking the Obama Administration and his Attorney General Eric Holder?  The Powerline article and Issa’s letter to the Justice Department are quite startling.

This should be Obama’s “Watergate,” but “news” outlets like the AP will do their best to shield him.  Since ATF head Melson is not going quietly another, higher head may have to roll to save Barack.  From daily conference calls between ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, to the Journolist liberal media group, to Rathergate there is clear and convincing evidence of media bias toward liberals and Obama.

Part 1: The latest example is regarding Michelle Obama’s foray into the business of public school lunch programs. I am not sure where in the Constitution that the federal government has the authority to tell some local school district what to do about school lunches, but according to the way the Associated Press tells it,

“House Republicans are pushing back against Obama administration efforts to promote healthier lunches…Republicans say the rules are too costly.”

I am not sure where to start. First of all the way I understand the situation is that school districts are complaining to everybody that the new rules will be too costly. Republicans are responding to constituents’ complaints. Secondly, if your school takes money from the federal government for lunch programs tough luck to you and you’ll have to do whatever big brother tells you when you take his money. Thirdly, have you ever heard the saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink?” There have been numerous studies that show many students will simply throw away the healthier foods if they don’t want to eat it. Can brown bag inspectors be far down the road? Finally, perhaps the main Republican points are that Obama is spending too much money and expansively increasing the size of the federal government at the expense of local authority as preferred by out founders.

Part 2: There has been much ballyhoo about raising the debt limit so that Obama can keep spending our money, sorry “investing in our future” at a record pace. Regardless of the situation with the debt ceiling, the party in power always is in favor of raising the ceiling while the party out of power is against it. Even a current proponent of raising the debt ceiling argued persuasively against it when Bush called for it during his second term. Yep Obama was against it before he was for it.

It is now interesting in that neither party has full power (funny how that “balance of power” really works) do they both need each other yet still want to pin the problems on each other. The Democrats are fretting that should we not raise the ceiling all that is America will come crashing down. The Republicans want to bundle raising of the ceiling with substantial cuts in spending. The Democrats wanted a simple vote to raise the debt ceiling while the GOP wanted spending cuts attached. When the GOP finally gave in to the vote as requested by Obama and the Democrats and it was soundly defeated the Associated Press reported,

“Vote staged by GOP as part of push for more spending cuts…House Republicans dealt defeat to their own proposal for a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation’s debt limit.” [emphasis added]

This story casts little doubt that Obama and the Democrats and Republicans watch the poll numbers closely. Three months ago the Republicans would never have brought this to a vote, but the polls are showing that more and more Americans are angry at the out-of-control spending in Washington. There is no doubt in my mind that the GOP wanted to get on record who wants real government reform and the measure overwhelmingly was defeated as Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against the measure. I guess that this was “staged” to some extent, but this was the vote that Obama and the Democrats wanted. Even the Community-Organizer-In-Chief kept a safe distance to “avoid taking sides” in the debate. It’s funny how often he sits on the fence. If only we could have seen some indication of that from his actions earlier in his political career!

As is typical of this kind of reporting, the real facts are found closer to the end of the article.

Even the Associated Press has had to actually get off of the Obama-train to actually report this story.  This AP article was buried on page six of my local, more conservative, hometown newspaper.  It seems that the “BP Claims Czar,” Ken Feinberg is actually working on behalf of BP and not the residents affected by the oil spill. The AP reports that “Feinberg was appointed in June by BP and the White House to oversee the claims fund.” The fund is estimated to be worth $20 billion and Feinberg’s law firm has been paid $850,000 per month.

BP’s dollars have been well spent on Feinberg as his fund administration has built in protection for the oil giant as reported in Business Week,

“Victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill won’t be able to sue any of the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster once they accept a final payment from BP Plc’s $20 billion compensation fund.  Kenneth Feinberg, the Washington attorney administering the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, released an outline today of how such final claims will be judged. The guidelines extend the liability waiver beyond BP to companies such as Transocean Ltd., which owned the rig that exploded in April, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and MOEX Offshore 2007 LLC, part owners of the well that ruptured.”

Here I thought trail lawyers were FOO (Friends of Obama) and here is one of Obama’s Czars taking food out of their mouths.  It is hard not to suspect duplicity if you factor the cozy relationship between Obama and British Petroleum prior to the Gulf Coast spill and the high-paid czar. Perhaps some news agency can find out whether Mr. Feinberg is also being compensated in any way (including expenses) with American taxpayer’s money. If so that might be what they mean by double-dip?

You can read the original post through this link.

“Don’t touch my junk is the anthem of the modern man, the Tea Party patriot, the late-life libertarian, the midterm election voter. Don’t touch my junk, Obamacare – get out of my doctor’s examining room, I’m wearing a paper-thin gown slit down the back. Don’t touch my junk, Google – Street View is cool, but get off my street. Don’t touch my junk, you airport security goon – my package belongs to no one but me, and do you really think I’m a Nigerian nut job preparing for my 72-virgin orgy by blowing my johnson to kingdom come?”

This list of horror stories grows longer every day;

• A woman with artificial knees obviously set off the metal detectors.  Told that a body scanner was not available as she requested she was required to endure a body ”pat down.”  She later described the experience as a sexual assault.
• Another woman described her experience with her search, “The female officer ran her hand up the inside of my leg to my groin and she did it so hard and so rough she lifted me off my heels,” she says. “I think I yelped. I was in pain for about an hour afterwards. It just felt excessive and unnecessary.”
• A breast cancer-surviving flight attendant was forced to remove and show her prosthetic breast to TSA personnel.
• You have probably already seen the video of the three-year-old girls screaming for the TSA employee to stop touching her. 
• In perhaps one of the stupidest statements by a politician, Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), referred to the searches as “love pats.”   We shouldn’t be surprised at a career politician not understanding our frustrations we should just be surprised that it wasn’t Joe Biden.

Travelers do have the choice of a full body scan that can show EVERY nook and cranny of your body.  Don’t worry as the photos are destroyed except for the ones that weren’t and found their way on to the Internet.  If radiation is your concern you shouldn’t worry as the we’ve been assured that the dose is not harmful.  I can imagine the sleazy lawyer commercials in ten years trawling for clients, “If you have cancer and had TSA full body scans you may be eligible for a settlement.  You don’t have to pay unless we get money for you (or more likely your estate).”  Many small regional airports don’t even have the scanners so it’s pat downs for one and all. 

It’s hard to argue against the need for airport security as the Islamic terrorists have shown a deep desire to blow up planes.  Bis Sis (Homeland Security chief Janey Napolitano) has adopted a screw all passengers approach rather than focusing on the most likely profile of a terrorist.  Grope a nun or a three-year-old, but let the Yemeni student slide by.  In order to adhere to political correctness we subject everybody to invasive procedures.  The Council on American-Islamic Relations advised Muslim women to resist searches and report any incidents so they can claim racism.  That’s not the way they worded their advice.

The pundits have come out of the woodwork with their solutions;

• Use the same procedures as the Israelis since they have what is considered the best security.  The problems is scale.  They don’t have anywhere near the number of flights that we have so it may not be practical.
• John Stossel and Bill O’Reilly recently discussed privatizing the tasks figuring that a private company would be more efficient.  That’s true, but Stossel added that there would need to be government oversight.  So much for efficiency as government would make things just as difficult but would be able to blame big business.
• Make the airlines responsible for their own security as they have a rather large stake in preventing their planes and customers from being blown to bits.  I am all for the free market solution, but my guess is that Big Sis would impose her will on the process.
• Profiling.  It is hte most sensible, but the government seems unwilling to face logic and use the obvious tools. 

My proposal would be a stepped approach using all of the above in sequence;

1. Contract with El Al security to develop and train American airport screeners.
2. Make airports responsible for security.  Provide minimal government interference recognizing a strong market incentive to provide safe flights.
3. Tickets would have to be purchased a month (or some other reasonable time) in advance.  This would give airlines time to vet passengers before the flight.  Remember that the underwear bomber was on a “no fly” list yet was allowed on the plane.
4. Anyone on a no fly list who attempts to board a plane gets arrested.
5. If you buy your ticket less than a month from the flight an additional fee will be imposed to facilitate a rushed investigation.
6. No cash purchases of tickets.
7. Last minute purchases will require those passengers and their luggage to be subject to full search and body scans.  Lack of planning on their part does not constitute and emergency on the airline’s part.
8. Any changes to the tickets or the passengers would be subject the the above mentioned time-frames.
9. All checked bags are screened.  Any suspicious items (batteries with wires, etc.) will require detainment of passenger for further investigation. 
10. All cargo on passenger planes receive same screening as passenger items.
11. Photographic identification
12. Thorough background checks of all airline personnel and biometric security for all allowed to enter security zone using retinal scans.
13. Strong security presence including dogs trained to sniff (explosives or fear).
14. Armed guards on all flights.
15. Since I don’t travel by plane very often these won’t bother me.  Frequent fliers would probably be able to opt for a security clearance to make their travel less intrusive.  Private firms could charge a fee for the service and would have to update their profile.  I think biometric security would be appropriate.

This will come to a head after this weekend as more travelers experience junk touching or naked picture taking.  The Associated Press reports that Florida Congressman John Mica has suggested that airports opt out of TSA screeners in favor of private companies.  They have this option under federal law.

The first volley seems to be the Food Safety Modernization Act prompted by the egg recall this past summer.  There are a lot of stories, myths, talking points about this legislation from regulating your home garden to safe food everywhere for everyone.  The truth lies somewhere in between.  What the act will do is grow government with no provision for how to pay for it.  It’s as if they cannot waste a crisis to get things passed.  Me feeling that this Act is just the framework for burdensome government regulations to follow and more POWER to the Food and Drug Administration.  

Also on the legislative clipboard:

1. Repeal of Bill Clinton’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military.  I don’t have a strong feeling either way on this issue, but most military people feel that having openly gay people serving in the military would cause problems.  I am talking about real military people, not those who work directly for this White House.  Since these citizens put their lives on the line to protect our freedom we should heed to their will. 
2. Both Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid are reportedly ready to bring the DREAM Act up for a vote.  It’s not your or my dreams, but the dreams of illegal immigrants as it will allow illegal immigrants to move to the front of the line if they came here illegally before the age of 16 and have managed to remain “in the shadows” or uncaught for five years.  They would become citizens and presumably Democrat voters if they attend college for two years (which I guess that we’ll pay for) or join the military.  Why on earth would we accept illegal immigrants into our military?
3. Not one to be left behind, Michelle Obama is pushing The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act aimed at improving nutrition for all kids.  Who could be against that?  It seems to have broad support but it looks like more government intervention, more costs, and more nanny-state entitlements.  My predictions is that schools will end up providing three square meals per day to students further removing their parents responsibilities.  My daughter packs her lunch every day and will they “protect” her by searching her brown bag?  I would rather support The Parents Are Responsible For Their Kids Act.  Though no such act is actually been proposed.
4. The White House also want to push through the ratification of START (nuclear arms reduction treaty) that Obama signed with Russia.  Obama is in quite a hurry to ratify since it is not likely to pass once the new class of conservative senators is sworn in.  The Associated Press reports that Obama is dangling lots of money in front of Senator Kyle (R-AZ) to get his support.  My question is if it is such a good treaty, why does the White House have to bribe Senators to ratify it. 
5. If you love the web you’ll be unhappy to know that the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an internet censorship bill named The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act.  It was described by Wired magazine as “the most draconian laws ever considered to combat digital piracy, and contains what some have called the “nuclear option,” which would essentially allow the Attorney General to turn suspected websites “off.”  Hey let’s give partisan Attorney General Eric Holder unfettered power over the Internet.
6. Is there any doubt that Democrats want to repay the hundreds of millions of dollars donated to their campaigns by labor unions?  Expect to see Card Check to brought forward as it is likely to die once the new Congress begins in January.  My guess is that union leadership is in panic mode at this point.
7. In a related payback to labor unions Senator Tom Harkins (D-Iowa) is pushing measures to bail out union pensions and create a government run Guaranteed Retirement Account.  Of course you will be required to give up your private pension, give the government your IRA, and pay some specified percentage of your income to more “fairly” distribute retirement funds.  That sounds a lot like the Social Security ponzi scheme that is expected to go in the red as soon as next year.  Do they really think that we’ll fall for that again?
8. The American Spectator reports that Congress is hoping to pass a plethora of land bills before this session of Congress closes.  Actually they called it a “lame duck land grab” and in rather strong words said, ”Immediately upon taking office, President Obama rushed to seal off our domestic energy supplies from public access. In a frenzied offensive, he intensified the long-running, multi-front campaign by his allies seeking to block production and use of the abundant coal lying beneath the ground. Obama vowed new policies to “bankrupt” coal and cause energy prices to “necessarily skyrocket.” America’s ability to supply oil and gas was already dangerously threatened by inane measures severely limiting domestic production.”  For some reason this White House wants to limit our ability to provide reasonably-priced energy for ourselves.
9. I don’t know if this is really on the progressive agenda or just liberals pushing their “holiday list” (they don’t like using the whole Christmas theme), but scientists are pushing The Stem Cell Advancement Research Act.  Remember that there are no restrictions on stem cell research.  George Bush didn’t stop stem cell research, he just wouldn’t authorize tax dollars be used to fund destroying human embryos for research.  The “advancement” is just a fancy way to say give us lots and lots of Obamamoney to pay our salaries.
10. They’d also like to push Cap n’ Trade
11. No word on whether they’ll push a little know measure to count every Democrat vote as two for every Republican vote.  [You just know that they'd love that, but don't quite have the "nerve" to propose it just yet]

This has been mind-numbing to realize how much damage that they can wreak with very little to lose.  They actually have taken comfort in the fact that the far left of the Democrat party fared well in the recent elections and that moderates were dumped.  It is an interesting, though frightful, evaluation of the historic wins by Republicans.

Brief 1:  Finally some decent news for those of us men on the higher end of the weight scale.  We cannot really wear tight Lycra bike shorts, Speedo swim briefs (no one except for competitive swimmers should anyway), or vertical stripes, but it seems that heavier men actually have heavier paychecks than their skinnier counterparts.  Of course the thinner guys get more women since they don’t care about how much a man makes.  The news is not so good for women whose paychecks are inversely proportional to their weight.

Brief 2:  What does “FBI” stand for?

• Federal Bureau of Investigation (check)
• Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity (check – that is the FBI’s motto)
• Fraud, Besmerch, and Intrigue (??)

It seems that some FBI agents were caught cheating recently on some tests.  I just don’t know what to say.  At least the CIA would have shot the whistleblower, made it look like a suicide and never leave a fingerprint. 

Obama indicates how close he was to the teleprompter that fell.

Brief 3:    I lamented a while back that we are seeing far too much Obama for my taste.  That was over 18 months ago and if anything we are seeing even more of him.  I am not sure how he gets his “work” done between the travel, the golf, and his vacations.  One show that I have enjoyed over the years has been MythBusters and now Obama is going to ruin that.  He is slated to appear on one of their upcoming episodes.  No word on whether they’ll attack the myth that he will change the culture in Washington or actually live up to some of his centrist promises.  Or the myth about the falling teleprompter causing a fire and ruining his speech.  First Michele ruins the FoodNetwork for me and now this.  What’s next…will he appear on O’Reilly or Hannity; maybe Glenn Beck’s show.  We’d bust some myths then.Brief 4:  The Associated Press reported recently that “almost 3,000 millionaires collected jobless benefits. 

A number of things jump out at me regarding this article including the timing since it was release a month before an important mid-term election and the Democrats are hastily trying to jin up some class warfare as usual.  I feel comfortable saying that since the data referred to was from 2008.  Why is something that happened in 2008 important in 2010?  The thing that struck me initially was that it is called “unemployment insurance” and either we pay it or our employers pay it.  They paid the insurance so they are eligible for the benefit.  It’s that simple.

 Brief 4:  As more evidence of our military demise because of INSANE rules of engagement the Washington Examiner reported “that watch towers surrounding the base [Afghanistan] were going to be dismantled because Afghan village elders, some sympathetic to the Taliban, complained they were invading their village privacy.”  What’s next?  How about we remove the fences and gates so that we don’t restrict them…and what about those nasty bullets our soldiers are sometimes allowed to use.  They must hurt when propelled into an enemy’s flesh.  You just have to sigh, scream, or pray.

Brief 5:  Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to grow up.  This is a lesson that Martin Sheen seems to have forgotten to give little Charlie.  News reports that a naked, drunk Sheen was found with an escort in New York’s Plaza Hotel.  Oh and he trashed his room.  I have to confess that I had erroneously assumed that the “half” in the title of his show Two and a Half Men referred to the child actor.  Wrong!  I need to find a job that pays me millions to be myself, though I don’t drink enough and was never particularly successful with women and while my Dad was great, he was not famous.