Afghanistan: Where Empires go to Die

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." – John Adams (1814)

Libertarian and liberty-minded quotes always get my attention for their blunt analysis of the problems with big government. This one reminds me of something that Dmitry Orlov said Afghanistan, that it was where empires went to die. He was referring to the point at which Russia, then Britain, and now America have all attempted to invade and control the region, with the first two collapsing to a mere shadow of their former might and capacity...

Further reading...

The Bill of Rights, or Privileges?

Despite the fact that the numerous arguments about whether the Second Amendment applies to We the People are invalid, since the other nine Amendments to the Bill of Rights are applied to the People, not the militia, the state, or any other organization or level of government. The Bill of Rights was intended to instill in the population a sense of the necessity for complete and outright freedom from government tyranny, the sort that America today criticizes of foreign nations, but hypocritically ignores at home. We overthrow foreign dictators at the cost of the lives of those we profess to liberate, unconcerned with the loss of foreign lives. We tout humanitarian aid, but promote a culture of oppression foreign and domestic.

right/rīt/

Adjective:	Morally good, justified, or acceptable.
Adverb:	To the furthest or most complete extent or degree: "the car spun right off the track".
Noun:	That which is morally correct, just, or honorable: "the difference between right and wrong".
Verb:	Restore to a normal or upright position.
Exclamation:	Used to indicate one's agreement with a suggestion or to acknowledge a statement or order.
Synonyms:	adjective.  correct - proper - just - true - straight - fit - fair adverb.  straight - directly - just - rightly - exactly noun.  justice - law - title verb.  straighten - redress - rectify - correct

This brings me to another point of contention; whether the Second Amendment is a right or a privilege. Back to the core or the issue with rights entitled to all free men by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the attacks on those rights, chipping away at them over time, I've begun to ponder on what those rights become if we allow them to be whittled away.

priv·i·lege/ˈpriv(ə)lij/

Noun:	A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to one person or group of people.
Verb:	Grant a privilege or privileges to: "English inheritance law privileged the eldest son".
Synonyms:	noun.  prerogative - privelege - charter - franchise - right verb.  privelege

When we become complacent and allow our rights to be restricted, infringed up, reduced, or otherwise compromised, they no longer are our rights, but privileges, subject to denial by an extremist, socialist, totalitarian state which no longer serves the will of the People, no longer is the means to the protection of our rights, but the method by which we become victimized, rights stripped away. The Second Amendment, and the Bill of Rights at a higher level, entitled all free men, all citizens of the United States, to the protection from persecution, the rights to live unencumbered by government intrusion and burden.

When a right becomes subject to licensing and regulation, it becomes a privilege, further subject to outright denial.

How is that liberty?

Will you remain silent?

Furious George: The Rhetorical Might That Mitt Is Missing

Romney's father dubbed business leaders "political eunuchs" and railed against giant cars and corporations in a spate of bold speeches in the '50s and '60s.

DETROIT -- "I never saw myself being like my Dad," Mitt Romney told The New Republic's Jonathan Cohn in 2007. "Now that I'm older, I see a tape of myself giving a speech, I say, 'Holy cow, I'm turning in to my Dad.' I look like him a lot. I talk like him a lot. The things I value are very much the things he valued."

It's a nice sentiment for a son to have.

Described by a reporter for Detroit magazine in 1968 as "a man who says in private what he says in public -- and in much the same way," George Romney's pronouncements were as memorable as his son's are forgettable, a fact dramatized by a sampling of some of the old man's early speeches, housed in the National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library.

In the 1950s and 1960s, at the very height of American automobile dominance, and at a moment when when his American Motors Corporation teetered on the edge of insolvency, Romney was calling out the Big Three automakers for a lack of engineering innovation -- "most present-day automobiles are the lineal descendents of the ox-cart," he said -- and for pandering to consumers' egos.

"Cars 19 feet long, weighing two tons, are used to run a 118-pound housewife three blocks to the drug store for a two-ounce package of bobby pins and lipstick," Romney told the Motor City Traffic Club of Detroit in a 1955 speech titled, "The Dinosaur In the Driveway."

George sounds more like statesman potential than Mitt ever will, always pandering and being puppeted about. 

More: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/GPy68MzqRMY/story01.htm

Afghanistan - Where Empires go to Die

Britain and Russia have both made efforts to take Afghanistan for their empire, but has also market the end of those empires. Now the United States feels it can succeed where those empires failed.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. The US has also failed, and will likely bleed out as it withdraws from the region just as its predecessors have.

The US military is doing nothing different than previous empires, but like a moth to the flame, empires have no ability to resist this region, to their own collapse.

Paul Leads Obama in New Rasmussen Poll

While much of the "mainstream" media continues to either ignore Texas Congressman Ron Paul altogether or speak dismissively of his Republican presidential campaign, a Rasmussen poll released Monday shows Paul leading President Barack Obama in a hypothetical match-up of the two candidates. Paul would be the choice of 43 percent of the voters, with 41 percent choosing the incumbent. Paul's narrow lead marks the first time he has come out ahead of the President in the Rasmussen Report's daily tracking poll. 

Mitt Romney also enjoys a slim lead over Obama in the daily polling for the first time since December of last year. Rasmussen's survey shows the former Massachusetts Governor with a 45-43 lead over the President. Rick Santorum, Romney's main rival in Tuesday's Michigan and Arizona contests, has the opposite result, with a 45-43 percent lead for Obama over the former Pennsylvania Senator. Results have fluctuated in recent months, with Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former candidates Rick Perry and Herman Cain each having pulled ahead of Obama at various times. Only Romney has held the lead twice.

The Rasmussen report shows a virtual tie in Tuesday's Michigan primary, with Romney clinging to a 38-36 percent lead. The primary is considered a "must win" for Romney, a Michigan native and the son of the late George Romney, a former Michigan Governor who was himself a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968. The February 26 polling of 750 Michigan voters likely to vote in the Republican primary showed candidates Gingrich and Paul far behind, with 11 percent choosing Gingrich and 10 percent for Paul. A Public Policy Polling report, released on the eve of Tuesday's Arizona primary, shows Romney pulling away from Santorum in the Grand Canyon State with a 43 to 26 percent lead. The same poll shows Gingrich at 18 percent, with 11 percent for Paul.

Despite some signs of economic recovery in February's Bureau of Labor Statistics report and a slim majority believing the nation is winning the War on Terror, Obama's approval rating dropped to its lowest point in more than a month, according to the Rasmussen survey, with 26 percent saying they  "strongly approve" of the President's job performance and 42 percent saying they "strongly disapprove." Obama fares better among less certain voters, with the overall numbers showing 45 percent of voters at least "somewhat approve "of his performance, though a majority (53 percent) at least "somewhat" disapprove. The 51 percent who believe America is winning the War on Terror is the highest percentage since last May's killing of Osama bin Laden, Rasmussen reports.

Romney, frequently identified as the frontrunner in the GOP nominating contest, has shared top billing with Santorum since the former Pennsylvania Senator emerged triumphant in three states — Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri — on February 7. But Gingrich, winner of the South Carolina primary, and Paul remain in the race and in the debates. Despite his 10 percent showing in Rasmussen's Michigan poll, Paul drew large crowds and a rousing welcome in appearances in the Great Lakes State over the past weekend. 

"Hundreds of people lined up for hours to hear the maverick U.S. representative from Texas, and some were turned away," the Detroit News said Monday in reporting on a rally at the Pinnacle Center in the Grand Rapids suburb of Hudsonville, where the candidate's nearly hour-long speech was punctuated with chants of "Ron Paul!" and "End the Fed!" Paul began his Michigan tour on Saturday before a packed house of cheering supporters at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, where students lined the sidewalks long before the event as they waited to see the 76-year-old candidate who typically draws the largest, most enthusiastic crowds from among college students.

Yet much of the national media continues to regard Paul as the man who isn't there. On the Fox News "O'Reilly Factor" last Thursday, host Bill O'Reilly took exception when professor of politics Larry Saboto of the University of Virginia offered his observation that Romney had won the previous night's debate "by default."

"What does that mean, 'by default'?" O'Reilly asked. "All three of them were there." O'Reilly is presumably capable of counting past three, though not, apparently, when Ron Paul is part of a foursome.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/11021-paul-leads-obama-in-new-rasmussen-poll

Wisconsin Governor Will Not Challenge Recall Signatures

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will not challenge any of the more than one million signatures gathered by opponents to force a vote to recall the controversial Republican, saying his campaign did not have enough time to review them. Walker faced a deadline Monday to file challenges after a Dane County judge granted him a 20-day extension beyond the 10 days allotted under state law. Walker also sought an additional two weeks but was turned down. "We faced an impossible timeline," Walker spokeswoman Ciara Matthews told wispolitics.com. Walker has been in office only a year but he angered Democrats and union members by pushing through the state legislature a law stripping public sector unions of many of their powers. Republicans said the law was necessary to improve the condition of state finances but Democrats accuse him of "union busting." Tens of thousands of people marched on the state capital to protest last winter.

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Original Page: http://www.sott.net/articles/show/242182-Wisconsin-Governor-Will-Not-Challenge-Recall-Signatures

Romney's High Government Spending Record in MA

Libertarian Party Executive Director Carla Howell is quoted in the current issue of the New American which suggests that many Tea Party members remain unaware of Republican Mitt Romney's voting record (as well as that of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich) - all Big Government:

Carla Howell pointed out, "The Massachusetts state budget was $22.7 billion a year when (Romney) took office in January of 2003. When he left office four years later, it was over $25.7 billion — plus another $2.2 billion in spending that the legislature took 'off budget.' (Romney never reminds us of this fact.) The net effect of budgets proposed and signed into law by Mitt Romney? An additional $5.2 billion in state spending — and a similar increase in new taxes. Every year.”

2012 Libertarian candidates for federal office, and especially the eventual Libertarian presidential nominee, have a huge opportunity to inform voters of how Republicans and Democrats are equally guilty of reckless, dangerous high government spending.

Libertarian candidates will offer Tea Party enthusiasts and voters everywhere a real choice for much lower government spending, lower taxes and a more stable dollar - all conditions that promote private sector job growth.

Romney sounds more and more like Obama every day...

New American magazine quotes LP Executive Director attacking Mitt Romney's High Government Spending record in Massachusetts | Libertarian Party

MA Premium Growth Declined After Passage Of Romneycare

Fred Bauer has poured over the new health care data in John F. Cogan's, R. Glenn Hubbard's, and Daniel P. Kessler's "The Effect of Massachusetts' Health Reform on Employer-Sponsored Insurance Premiums" report and points out that health care premiums in the Bay State have grown at a lower rate since the passage of Massachusetts' signature health care law in 2006.

Relying on data "for average health-insurance premiums from the federally sponsored Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), this report suggested that, up until 2008, these reforms led to a relative increase in health-insurance premiums." But new numbers through 2010 shows that "Massachusetts' health-insurance premium growth declined relative to the nation as a whole in the years since Romneycare has been enacted":

Increase in employer-sponsored family premiums 2002-2006: MA: 40%; US: 34.50%
Increase in employer-sponsored family premiums 2006-2010: MA: 19%; US: 22%

Increase in individual premiums 2002-2006: MA: 32.70%; US: 29.10%
Increase in individual premiums 2006-2010: MA: 21.70%; US: 20%

Look:

While it's difficult to know how much of the decrease can be attributed to the Massachusetts law — which focused on expanding access rather than controlling costs — (versus decline in utilization as a result of the recession and other factors), the very fact that the law did not meet the doomsday scenario of critics and cause premiums to skyrocket is significant. (In fact, Massachusetts had the third-lowest average family premiums in New England by 2010, Bauer notes).

Ezra Klein notes that we may already be seeing a very similar trend with the Affordable Care Act, which grew out of the Massachusetts experience. The latest spending projections found a "$275 billion (5.6 percent) reduction [in health care spending] for 2020, compared with pre-reform estimates. Moreover, that projection represents a cumulative reduction of $1.7 trillion over the 10 years from 2011 to 2020." The numbers suggest that providers may be becoming more efficient in preparation for the ACA's reductions in Medicare reimbursements and updates.

Romney says he knows how Obama thinks, an that he is the best person to replace Obama in the next election. That's because they are so much alike, though Romney has more actual experience in government. 

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Original Page: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/02/27/432820/report-massachusetts-premium-growth-declined-after-passage-of-romneycare/

Obamateurism of the Day - Jobs

Manufacturing has always been the height of political fashion, and so it's never a surprise when politicians talk about their commitment to expanding the manufacturing sector.  Usually, though, they manage to do it in an area where their actions haven't strangled it.  Barack Obama tried out that strategy when he bragged about Boeing's ability to build 787 Dreamliners in places like Everett, Washington, and … South Carolina:

"So this company is a great example of what American manufacturing can do in a way that nobody else in the world can do it," Obama told the assembled workers this afternoon at the Everett, Wash., Boeing plant.   "And the impact of your success, as I said, goes beyond the walls of this plant.  Every Dreamliner that rolls off the assembly line here in Everett supports thousands of jobs in different industries all across the country. Parts of the fuselage are manufactured in South Carolina and Kansas," Obama also noted before mentioning factories in other states.

Boeing does build airplanes in South Carolina, but it's despite Obama and his NLRB, as Joel Gehrke reminds us:

The NLRB tried to close that South Carolina plant, though, after union workers in Washington argued that Boeing had built the new factory in South Carolina — which is a right to work state — in retaliation against the Machinist Union strikes that had slowed production in Washington state. The NLRB dropped the complaint in December after Boeing signed a new contract with the machinists.

Yeah, as soon as Obama forced Boeing to knuckle under to the union, they let the company operate its South Carolina plant.  Obama offered this piece of advice at the event, which reads curiously like a warning:

"What's happening here in Everett can happen in other industries," Obama added today during his discussion of American manufacturing.

If we let Obama have another term, I'll bet that will be absolutely true.

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Original Page: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/23/obamateurism-of-the-day-690/

It's easy for weak minds to get caught up in the crowd mentality and buy into the optimistic rhetoric. It's also easy to see how there is little substance to the vacant words. Obama is just a figurehead, no different than Bush or Clinton.  

Obama: ‘We Can’t Wait’ to grow your government

In keeping with his "We Can't Wait" initiative, President Barack Obama has once again asserted that if Congress does not enact his policies in the future, he will continue to forge ahead on his own.

So, the constitutional separation of powers between the branches mean nothing to this administration?

"When Congress refuses to act, Joe and I are going to act," Obama said on Tuesday, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side. "In the months to come, wherever we have an opportunity, we're going to take steps on our own to keep this economy moving."

The administration has also been instrumental in stifling the economy through manipulation of currency (inflation and devaluation) and increasing government spending despite reduced revenue as a result of fewer employed taxpayers. 

Obama, speaking at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House, praised Congress for voting to extend the payroll tax cut. He said this helps the middle class, adding that he will fight for middle class voters regardless of what Congress does.

Yeah, sure he will...

http://conservativebyte.com/2012/02/obama-we-cant-wait-to-grow-your-government/

Poll: Texans split on another term for Perry

Saying Texans are split on more Perry is one heck of an understatement...

If he really wants to run for another term as governor - as he told the Texas Tribune on Tuesday - a Rick Perry has some work ahead of him.

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Original Page: http://www.topix.com/us-governors/rick-perry/2012/02/poll-texans-split-on-another-term-for-perry?fromrss=1

Unemployment Stimulates The Economy?

Another Obama crony telling the weak-minded that those unemployment checks stimulate the economy…

"Even though we had a terrible economic crisis three years ago, throughout our country many people were suffering before the last three years, particularly in the black community," Jarrett said. "And so we need to make sure that we continue to support that important safety net. It not only is good for the family, but it's good for the economy. People who receive that unemployment check go out and spend it and help stimulate the economy, so that's healthy as well."

Wait. Unemployment is a form of economic stimulus? How does that work?

We still have an economic crisis and it's much worse than it was three years ago due to Obama and his policies. Jarrett also leaves out the fact that unemployment is higher, today, in the black community than it was three years ago. As a matter of fact, it is at Depression-era levels. But the ones she is speaking to will vote for Obama based on skin color alone. Nothing but the same ol' "Blame Bush" bullshit from Obama's kiss-ass cronies who continue to lie to the weak-minded who can't see the truth.

I'm at a loss for words this time. Reality must be checked at the door to believe this for fact. 

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Original Page: http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/02/22/25684/

Refusing To Settle: Gary Johnson For President

I simply can't put the square peg in the circle hole. I am firmly committed to defeating Barack Obama and turning back his disastrous policies, and I wanted to believe that I could support whomever the Republican Party nominated. Unfortunately, I cannot in good conscience do that.

We need to have not only statesmen step up to truly represent the people of this nation in government, but to have them populace embrace this deeper involvement in a nation that we benefit from an contribute to. 

Partisan political affiliations are far less important to me than principle. I don't consider myself a Republican first, I consider myself a limited-government conservative first; the party label comes in a distant second. I won't simply blindly support a Republican nominee just because he has an R beside his name. The truth is political parties don't believe in anything — well, anything except winning — and believing in something is exactly why I got involved in politics in the first place.

When it comes to selecting a candidate for president, I don't want to settle on the lesser of two evils or support the nominee just to be a good "team player." I want to believe in that candidate.

[...] 

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Original Page: http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/refusing-to-settle-gary-johnson-for-president

Stimulus and Failure to Recognize Failure

Common refrains from people who say it didn't work:

• But Obama promised that unemployment would be less than 8%. Horseshit on a stick. First, he didn't "promise" a damn thing, if everything an incoming president says is turned into a "promise", well then there has been a whole lot of promise breaking going on in our history. Second, the cautious prediction made during the transition was based on the numbers that the outgoing Bush administration was feeding the Obama team. They were flat out wrong and completely underestimated what was going on in our economy. Hey media, that's called context. Buy some at the local C-store.

The state media seem fine with the transition to a new dictator. 

• But soooo many people are still out of work. Yes, and that totally sucks. But that does not mean that the over 3 million people who did get jobs are insignificant or don't matter. They do. If the measure for whether the stimulus worked is full employment, then those people will be waiting till the end of time — we've never had anything close to full employment. And you can damn well bet that those people still looking for work are encouraged by the fact that others are starting to find jobs, which of course increases the number of people looking and drives up the unemployment rate.

Those with jobs are simply lucky at this point. The real unelployment numbers are jorth of where they were during the Great Depression, but Obama's state media wont report that. Obama has been constantly promoting himself as the savior for the economy, yet has done little himself. He is no more than a figurehead, just as we're his predecessors. 

• But the stock market has been falling…..oh, wait, it's going like gangbusters. Nevermind.

The stock market is failing, miserably. It's amazing how good the bottom line looks when businesses cut jobs to raise profits. 

• But Fox News says we are still in a recession, the numbers are being cooked. The only thing cooking at Fox New is the meth that the anchors must be smoking during commercial breaks.

It's funny how Fox News is the object of ridicule, yet the other lamestream media outlets are cut from the same cloth, incapable of journalistic integrity, government criticism, or honest reporting. 

• But, but, but….let's just all say it together, the stimulus worked. And yes, we have more to do, but don't let the Republicans and the compliant media make you think that cutting taxes for the rich would have been much better, that is a big part of what got us into this freakin mess.

Things will get worse before they get worse. Bush's stimulus didn't work, neither did Obama's. What they have done is to inflate and devalue the currency in circulation through the Federal Reserve. Want to know what's wrong? Follow the money. 

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Original Page: http://extremeliberal.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/yo-the-stimulus-worked-thank-you-president-obama

VA GOP primary: Romney 53%, Paul 23%

Romney would likely take all 46 delegates with a 50-percent showing

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If state media admit Ron Paul is at 23%, I expect he has twice that support in reality. Since we don't have national media capable of presenting a balanced, unbiased view on anything, we may never know the real numbers. 

Original Page: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/20/va-gop-primary-poll-romney-at-53-percent-paul-at-23-percent/

Religious Leaders | Contraception Mandate | Letter to Obama

More than 2,500 evangelical and ministry leaders from a range of denominations have signed a letter to President Obama voicing their opposition to the administration's new mandate requiring that all health insurance plans contain contraceptive coverage.

The socially conservative Family Research Council unveiled the letter Monday afternoon.

FRC President Tony Perkins explained to The Daily Caller that the contraception mandate is not a Catholic issue or a contraception issue, but rather an issue of religious freedom.

I still remember Rick Perry pushing Gardasil on Texans through mandate rather than by the approval of the people. I hope this works out just as well for Obama. 

"[The undersigned] see this, are very alarmed by this and are asking for the president to rescind this attack on religious freedom," Perkins said in an interview with The Daily Caller.

The letter lays out the leaders' opposition to the administration's contraception mandate, writing that it violates the consciences of those whose religion prohibits certain methods of birth control.

Our elected leaders are showing their true colors much faster these days, abandoning campaign promises, reason, and even the constitution. 

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/20/more-than-2500-religious-leaders-to-obama-contraception-mandate-a-severe-blow-to-our-religious-liberty/#ixzz1mzO2YMfT

Who Wants to Kick Rick in the Jimmy?

Retired Air Force Col. Martha McSally is a war hero of sorts. She is the first American woman to fly in combat. She's tough. And now she's running for retired Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's Congressional seat. But how tough is McSally? Well, on "Fox & Friends" Friday morning, she said she wanted to kick Rick Santorum in the crotch.

That's not hyperbole. That's really what McSally — a Republican — admitted.

Because her position as a female military member, Fox's Steve Doocey played audio of Santorum talking about woman in combat and the "emotions" associated with that. (Click here to see what Santorum really meant by those remarks.) When asked for a reaction, McSally didn't hold back.

"You know I agree with many of the things that Rick Santorum says, but when I heard this I really just wanted to go kick him in the jimmy."

http://patriotupdate.com/18648/who-wants-to-kick-rick-in-the-jimmy

WaPo finds nearly $4 billion in green-tech stimulus funds went to WH-connected firms

During the 2008 campaign, Barack Obama pledged to flush lobbyists out of the halls of power and bring "hope and change" to Washington.  Obama also pledged not to hire lobbyists in his administration, signed an executive order to that effect, and then issued dozens of waivers to his own rule.  Not only did Obama start [...]

Read this post »

Obama’s Ohio Attack Dogs

I'm relieved Obama for America is pushing every class warfare chip to the middle of the table. If Americans get a better look at Progressivism's ugly mug and still vote Democrat in November, the country deserves to go bankrupt!

To simplify mockery of their candidate for those of us with apolitical day jobs, Obama for America has assembled "Truth Teams" – Attack Watch in more sheepish clothing – in a handful of swing states. At the Ohio Truth Team announcement, it was suggested that crashing GOP events may be on the Obama cheerleaders' agenda.

It's ruff defending a failed president!

Leveraging deranged protestors for the Progressive brand of populism is nothing new for Ohio Democrats, so The Columbus Dispatch tried to confirm the insinuation:

"We'll do it in an appropriate, mindful way, recognizing the importance of the conversation," said Ohio Democratic chairman Chris Redfern, also a truth team member. "The truth team, we envision, will be more of a rapid response, taking a message directly at locations where those individuals who align with super PACs or organizations in support" of GOP presidential hopefuls are present.

Emphasis mine. Given his history, Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern is a hilarious addition to an Obama group allegedly aiming for mature conversations. In the waning days of the 2010 campaign:

[...] the camera was rolling as Redfern leveled the expletive at critics in the Tea Party, who, in his words, believe health care is a privilege, not a right.

"If your kids are going to graduate from college, now he or she gets health care, your heath care, while he or she looks for a new job," Redfern said. "It's in the very base terms we win these arguments. Every time one of these (expletive deleted) says, excuse my language…"

The deleted expletive rhymed with "truckers," and unless you count his perfunctory "excuse my language" as he remembered a news crew was in the union hall Chris Redfern never apologized. Instead, the Ohio Democratic Party used his rage-filled outburst as a fundraising opportunity:

In the e-mail, Redfern then asks for a $10 donation to his "swear jar" to "help the Ohio Democratic Party and its candidates get our message out and stick it to our opponents."

He wrote, "I have been amazed by the outpouring of support the Ohio Democratic Party has received after I spoke out forcefully and unapologetically on behalf of working families."

What a mindful, appropriate brush for Chris Redfern to paint his political opponents with! Now that the Super Obama Truth Squad has recruited the hateful creep who called the enemies of Obama's totalitarian health insurance plan F-ers at a 2010 union event, they're armed to the teeth with truth!

Tell us, Ohio Obama Truth Ninjas: How many of the 2.2 million Ohioans who voted to block Obamacare's key mandate last November are F-ers? If it's true that Ohio voters who oppose your preferred statist policies are F-ers, what is it we're guilty of effing?

[...] 

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigGovernment/~3/evOW515PiE0/

Obama Mandate

Obama's "compromise" on insurance and contraception is nothing of the sort. The ObamaCare mandate still stands for religious institutions to provide health insurance that covers contraceptives (including abortifacients), but they don't have to pay for that part -- the insurance companies do. Either he's not smart or he thinks we're not, because that isn't how things work in the real world. That's why the Catholic Church and others have rightly rejected his attempt to pull a fast one.

Plus the GOP race, federal employees' generous compensation, thoughtful reader comments and much more.

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Original Page: http://patriotpost.us/edition/2012/02/13/brief/

Rep. Nita Lowey’s Husband Invests $350,000 in Fund Founded by Insider Trading Suspect

Sweet irony...

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) support for a bill banning members of Congress from using insider information to enrich themselves is being overshadowed by a report by the Wall Street Journal that the congresswoman's husband, Stephen Lowey, invested $350,000 in a fund co-founded by Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs board member facing criminal insider-trading charges.

Rep. Lowey's husband says his decision to invest $350,000 since 2008 in a fund run by New Silk Route Growth Capital should not reflect negatively on his wife:

Neither Mrs. Lowey nor I know Mr. Gupta, have ever met him or have had any dealings with him at all. It's not her [Rep. Nita Lowe's] investment. She had nothing to do with it.

Between 2006 and 2011, one of New Silk Route's co-founders, Parag Saxena, contributed more than $8,000 to Rep. Lowey's congressional campaign funds.  According to the Wall Street Journal's report:

Mr. Lowey, a lawyer, said he committed $500,000 in 2008 to New Silk Route, which focuses on investments in India, because he and his wife had a relationship with another New Silk Route co-founder, Parag Saxena, whom he called "a neighbor and a friend" in Westchester County. Mr. Lowey has made several payments building toward that commitment but has not yet met it, he said….

Mr. Lowey made contributions to New Silk Route in 2010, including one after The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mr. Gupta was involved in the federal insider-trading investigation.

Mr. Lowey said all his investments in New Silk Route since 2008 have stemmed from requests for more capital by the fund. He said his investment was down by roughly $30,000 at the end of 2010 but was unsure of its current value. "If there were any smoke here, that's one thing," Mr. Lowey said. "But there's nothing here."

Last Thursday, Rep. Nita Lowey joined 416 other members of the House of Representatives in passing the STOCK (Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge) Act to ban members of Congress from using their positions of power to enrich themselves.

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Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BigGovernment/~3/4rMaInYawiw/

Def: Instanity

Stupid and ignorant people are Running America

Former presidential candidate Herman Cain triumphantly took the stage at CPAC this afternoon in front of a friendly crowd to explain something many attendees already believe: that their ideological opponents on the left aren't "misguided" (as Sen. Rand Paul later offered) but downright stupid.

Many, just like Cain, are just as misguided and ignorant on the Right as well. 

"We must outsmart the liberals," Cain said. "We must outsmart the people who are trying to ruin this country." But, he said, it wasn't just the stupid people who were ruining the country: "Stupid and ignorant people are ruining America," Cain posited — and running it.

The attendees at CPAC needed to understand that Cain didn't leave the race because he was one of the "stupid" people. Rather, Cain said, he left for two reasons: "gutter politics" and because he "chose to put family first." Cain's remarks about the political process likely have more resonance now than they did in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against Cain, given that the GOP primary has turned more negative in the last few weeks.

Cain then turned to attack the newly-positive employment numbers. Despite the fact that the underemployment rate has been calculated as an alternate measure of unemployment since long before the economic crisis began, conservatives have begun to call for the always-higher rate to be used as the standard measure rather than the unemployment calculation that has been in use for decades. Cain, for his part, called using the standard unemployment rate a "manipulation" of the Obama administration.

[...]

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Original Page: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/09/herman-cain-stupid-people-and-ignorant-people-are-ruining-america/

Day after losses, Romney says he’s better tea party candidate than GOP rivals

ATLANTA — Mitt Romney says he's a better tea party candidate than his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.

A true Tea Party candidate would be for less government and restoring liberty to all. Mitt Romney is not that person. 

The former Massachusetts governor lashed out at Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum on Wednesday, the day after losing contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado.

Romney says his opponents are members of a Republican Party that had lost its way. He says spending on lawmakers' pet projects doubled under Gingrich, a former House speaker. He says Santorum, a former senator, was a major proponent of that type of spending.

Romney says the tea party movement was created to fight Washington insiders who spend too much and that Santorum and Gingrich "are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats."

te trouble is that the Tea Party has mostly been hijacked by the Right, leaving those who follow that set of ideals without a true national representative. 

[...]

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Original Page: http://www.reteaparty.com/2012/02/09/day-after-losses-romney-says-he%e2%80%99s-better-tea-party-candidate-than-gop-rivals/

Shit Mitt Says

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Original Page: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/OuHDF_5lKXg/-Open-thread-Sh-t-Mitt-says

Obama Signs Executive Order On Iran | COLLAPSENET

On February 5, 2012, President Obama invoked the NDAA, which authorizes the use of military force, and issues an executive order declaring the "threat" of Iran a National Emergency. The video below shows this issuance of President Obama executive order which declares Iran's threat to cut off oil supplies a national emergency.

The executive order directs all government agencies to respond immediately to the threat. It further invokes the authority of the 2012 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) which gives the President the power to launch military action against any nation without the approval of Congress. Ironically, the State of Emergency order also accuses the Iranian central bank of deceptive banking practices.

http://www.collapsenet.com/free-resources/collapsenet-public-access/must-see-videos/item/6378-obama-signs-executive-order-on-iran

Gay Bar - Blair and Bush

Gay Bar - Blair and Bush - YouTube

President Obama: 'I deserve a second term'

President Obama in a pre-Super Bowl interview aired on Sunday said that despite being unable to completely turn the economy around in three years, he still deserves to be re-elected. "I deserve a second term but we're not done," Obama told NBC's Matt Lauer in an interview broadcast from the White House. Lauer noted that in a pre-Super Bowl interview three years ago, Obama had said "If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition." Obama said that three years ago the economy was losing 750,000 jobs a month and the latest unemployment data from Friday shows. "Now we are creating 250,000," he said. Obama said that more needs to be done to boost manufacturing and improve worker skills. "The key right now is just making sure we aren't turning in a new direction that could throw that progress off," he said. In the NBC interview, Obama reiterated that at this stage military options are not off the table in dealing with Iran's possible quest for a nuclear weapon. Obama said that diplomacy is preferred because of the risks of military action.  "Obviously any additional military activity in the Gulf is disruptive and has a big effect on us," he said, noting "it could have a big effect on oil prices." Obama said that he doesn't think Israel has decided whether it would attack Iran, but indicated his belief the U.S. would not be blind-sided.  "We have closer military and intelligence consultations than we ever had," he said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/208741-obama-i-deserve-a-second-term

I want to trade in president Obama for candidate Obama. The older model had much more appeal...

Withholding Consent from the Khan

People all over the world — in the United States, the eurozone, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and everywhere in between — are now inescapably facing the consequences of a century of unmitigated fiat-currency expansion. In response, a global movement has risen to search for solutions to the central-bank-engineered deterioration of standards of living, purchasing power, employment prospects, and economic health in general.

In the United States, this pursuit is embodied by two superficially different — though both hopelessly naive and economically underinformed — political movements: the numerous Occupy groups and the so-called Tea Party. But both factions ultimately kowtow before the state, worshiping either its welfare or warfare.

The sad reality is that both groups were born of the frustrations and dissent of the populace, but have been hijacked for political use from either side. There still exists the core values they were born with, but are driven by ties to the status quo of political pandering. 

Is activism that appeals directly to the political class and central bankers — the individuals who are directly responsible for the current economic morass — a logical course of action? A review of history reveals some alternatives; what follows is one of them.

The 99% have found themselves positioned as pawns for the 1% they show such contempt for. How is the elite Left that much different from the elite Right? 

[...]

http://mises.org/daily/5886/Withholding-Consent-from-the-Khan

Obama Brags on Saving Detroit--But Auto Industry Bailout Came on the Backs of Working People

To make the deal that saved the auto industry, Treasury demanded concessions from workers and a ban on strikes. Now Obama's bragging that he saved workers.

[...]

Someone has a Jesus complex...

Original Page: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/29103027/0/alternet~Obama-Brags-on-Saving-DetroitBut-Auto-Industry-Bailout-Came-on-the-Backs-of-Working-People

Left and Right are both Wrong

Our system of governance and economics is set up for the benefit of the those in power, not for the populace they falsely purport to represent, but also borrows from methods piloted by the Romans; divide et impera, or divide and rule. By pitting those leaning to one side or the other against each other, the government, financial, and business leaders are free to do as they wish, for the populace is too busy arguing amongst itself over minor details to direct enough attention to resolve those issues of excessive government that allow a small minority to pervert and capitalize on the efforts of the many.

As long as we focus more on restricting the rights of those with differing views from our own through legislation than on strengthening the collective liberties of all, we are doomed to suffer together and indifferent under that mechanism of governance which denies those individual liberties it was intended to promote.

Left and Right are both wrong.

Roseanne Barr Running for President?

Eh, okay?

The TV comedian Roseanne Barr announced Thursday she's seeking the Green Party's presidential nomination. "I will barnstorm American living rooms," she said in a candidate questionnaire. "Mainstream media will be unable to ignore me, but more importantly they will be unable to overlook the needs of average Americans in the run-up to the 2012 election."

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Original Page: http://feeds.drudge.com/~r/retort/~3/7cM_K7HfT5o/roseanne-barr-running-president

SaneVax Writes Open Letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health: Rescind approval of Gardasil® due to lack of efficacy during post-licensure monitoring

According to a recently published, industry-sponsored study conducted on 12,852 young women, HPV vaccination was found to reduce HPV-16 infections a mere 0.6% in vaccinated women versus unvaccinated women. At the same time, other high-risk (carcinogenic) HPV infections were diagnosed in vaccinated women 2.6% to 6.2% more frequently than in the unvaccinated women. The increased rate of infections caused by carcinogenic HPV types other than those targeted by Gardasil^® in vaccinated women is 4 to 10 times higher than the reduction in HPV 16/18 infections.^[1]

These statistics are not exactly encouraging when it comes to demonstrating efficacy for Gardasil^®. In fact, quite the opposite – these figures seem to indicate that women who receive Gardasil^® may indeed increase their risk of developing cervical cancer from high-risk HPV types that are not targeted by the vaccine.

Medical consumers cannot afford to take the chance of increasing their risk of contracting a disease that has been virtually eradicated by good gynecological care in the United States (cervical cancer) by taking a series of HPV vaccines and hoping they will find out decades later the vaccine worked. It is certainly not a risk children should have to take.

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More: http://www.sovereignindependent.com/?p=34403

Trump Endorsement: Did I Say Newt? I Meant Romney

Again, I say, who cares?

LAS VEGAS (AP) – In a surprise twist, Donald Trump planned to endorse Mitt Romney—not Newt Gingrich—for the Republican presidential nomination Thursday, three Republican officials told The Associated Press. Gingrich's camp had been so confident of winning the endorsement that it had leaked that Trump would support the former House speaker.

Trump was set to make the announcement in Las Vegas at the luxury hotel bearing his name, with Romney in attendance. Nevada holds its presidential caucuses on Saturday.

The GOP officials requested anonymity to speak ahead of Trump's announcement.

Gingrich's camp was so confident of Trump's endorsement that those close to the former House speaker confirmed it Wednesday night for news organizations, including the AP. One of those officials said Trump had "sent signals" to Gingrich that he would support him. That individual declined Thursday to elaborate on what those signals were.

On a tour of a Las Vegas manufacturing facility Thursday, Gingrich made clear he wasn't getting Trump's backing.

"No," the former House speaker replied when asked if he was expecting Trump's endorsement. He added that he was amazed at the attention Trump was getting.

The real estate mogul and reality TV show host is known for being unpredictable and the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the planned endorsement almost seemed designed to gin up interest in the event.

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Original Page: http://biggovernment.com/publius/2012/02/02/trump-endorsement-did-i-say-newt-i-meant-romney/

AG Holder, Issa square off over documents

Attorney General Eric Holder and a House chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, have squared off over the Justice Department's flawed gun-smuggling probe.

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/2/ag-holder-issa-square-over-documents/

Donald Trump to Endorse Newt Gingrich Tomorrow- because he knows he'll lose

Donald Trump's reportedly going to endorse Newt Gingrich in Nevada tomorrow:

An advisor to Donald Trump says he will make a major announcement in Las Vegas tomorrow. Sources tell the 8 News NOW I-Team Trump will endorse Newt Gingrich.

I guess there really is an "I" in team...

According to Trump advisor Michael Cohen, "Donald J. Trump will be making a major announcement tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at Trump International Hotel & Tower, Las Vegas, Nevada... The announcement will pertain to the Presidential race."

Wait, who still cares?

Why Gingrich? This blogger's got the right idea: Because it leaves the possibility open for the mercurial and always self-promoting Donald Trump to run for president as an independent after Newt Gingrich crashes and burns. Trump's endorsement just shows how sure he is that Gingrich isn't going to win.

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Original Page: http://www.humblelibertarian.com/2012/02/donald-trump-to-endorse-newt-gingrich.html