Dismantling America: Part II

Many years ago, at a certain academic institution, there was an experimental program that the faculty had to vote on as to whether or not it should be made permanent. I rose at the faculty meeting to say that I knew practically nothing about whether the program was good or bad, and that the information that had been supplied to us was too vague for us to have any basis for voting, one way or the other. My suggestion was that we get more concrete information before having a vote. The director of that program rose immediately and responded indignantly and sarcastically to what I had just said– and the faculty gave him a standing ovation. After the faculty meeting was over, I told a colleague that I was stunned and baffled by the faculty’s fierce response to my simply saying that we needed more information before voting. “Tom, you don’t understand,” he said. “Those people need to believe in that man. They have invested so much hope and trust in him that they cannot let you stir up any doubts.” [Thomas Sowell gives us part two of his must read, Dismantling America…ed]

Democrats Ask New Jersey Secretary of State to Ignore Mismatched Signatures on Absentee-Ballot Requests

This year, New Jersey’s registered voters can request a mail-in ballot for any reason. (Before 2005, voters needed to provide a reason for why they needed an absentee ballot.) The state received about 150,000 absentee-ballot applications this year. On about 2,300 of those applications so far, the signature on the request form does not match the signature on the voter’s registration forms with the state. In a development that is depressingly predictable, the New Jersey Democratic party is asking the state to provide provisional ballots for all these voters. Those ballots could, presumably, be used to overcome any narrow lead by Republican Chris Christie over Democrat Jon Corzine on Election Day. A mass distribution of provisional ballots, at the request of a political party, would represent a significant change from established law. Currently, when a county clerk rejects an absentee-ballot request, the clerk tries to contact the voter — through mail, by phone, and in some cases, by attempting to contact the voter in person. And a person who has spoken to some of New Jersey’s county clerks says they’re granting wide latitude on signature styles; for them to reject a ballot request because of the signature, it has to be dramatically different from the one on file. [Damn, the Democrats aren’t even trying to hide the fact they plan on trying to steal the election in New Jersey!…ed]

Nervous W.H. intervened in N.J. race; top Obama adviser now in charge

One of President Barack Obama’s key political advisers has become the central strategist in New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s bruising campaign for re-election, a race the White House desperately wants to win to avert the consequences for its own agenda of a Republican winning in a traditionally Democratic state. The White House was so concerned about Corzine’s chances during the summer that Corzine’s aides feared the first-term governor was being pressured to step aside for a stronger candidate. Those fears turned out to be groundless, but were part of the reason Corzine hired Joel Benenson, who has helped impose discipline on a struggling campaign and crystallize Corzine’s aggressive attacks on the character of his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie. [Between phony absentee ballots and an Obama hack on board Corzine should pretty much have this lost election sown up!…ed]

Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands

An early progress report on President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports. The government’s first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts. The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced. [I find it hard to believe that the figures coming out of the Obama administration concerning the Democrat Party slush fund for the 2010 elections (better known as the “stimulus program”) are inaccurate when it comes to their ridiculous claims of the number of GOVERNMENT jobs created or saved. NOT!…ed]

White House Blasts AP for Story Alleging Gov’t Overstated Stimulus Jobs ‘by Thousands’

The Obama administration on Thursday slammed a report from The Associated Press alleging the government had overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under President Obama’s $787 billion recovery program. The White House seized on an initial report from a government oversight board weeks ago that claimed federal contracts awarded to businesses under the recovery plan already had helped pay for more than 30,000 jobs. The administration said the number was evidence that the stimulus program had exceeded early expectations toward reaching the president’s promise of creating or saving 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year. But the 30,000 figure is overstated by thousands — at the very least by nearly 5,000, or one in six, based on AP’s limited review of some of the contracts — because some federal agencies and recipients of the money provided incorrect job counts. [Gee, I wonder if these federal agencies that “mistakenly” provided inaccurate job numbers were actually instructed on how many GOVERNMENT jobs were “saved or created” by someone within the Obama White House? Nawww, that would never happen would it?…ed]

Jobless claims little changed

The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance were little changed last week, the government said Thursday, with a total figure that missed analysts’ expectations. There were 530,000 initial job claims filed in the week ended Oct. 24, down 1,000 from an unrevised 531,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said in a weekly report. A consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected 525,000 new claims. The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 526,250, down 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 532,250. “I think this will be viewed as a positive report, though not strongly positive,” said Robert Dye, senior economist at PNC. [Over half a million people a week are losing their jobs and this Robert Dye guy calls this a positive report? What the hell is the matter with these people? Remember pre Obama when unemployment was at 5.5% and the lamestream media was HAMMERING George W. Bush?…ed]

Clunkers: Taxpayers paid $24,000 per car

A total of 690,000 new vehicles were sold under the Cash for Clunkers program last summer, but only 125,000 of those were vehicles that would not have been sold anyway, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the automotive Web site Edmunds.com. Still, auto sales contributed heavily to the economy’s expansion in the third quarter, adding 1.7 percentage points to the nation’s gross domestic product growth. The Cash for Clunkers program gave car buyers rebates of up to $4,500 if they traded in less fuel-efficient vehicles for new vehicles that met certain fuel economy requirements. A total of $3 billion was allotted for those rebates. [Obama and the Democrats claim a government run healthcare program will reduce the cost of care for all Americans. LOL!…ed]

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Dismantling America

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many “czars” appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent? Did you think that another “czar” would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers– that is, to create a situation where some newspapers’ survival would depend on the government liking what they publish? [Thomas Sowell gives us a must read of the day…ed]

Narcissistic Rage in the White House

The term “narcissistic rage” gets 26,000 citations in Google Scholar. It is a common feature of extreme or pathological narcissism. While psychiatrists often say they can’t do long-distance diagnosis, it really isn’t that hard if you have a lot of information about a person and can watch how he operates from day to day. Intelligence agencies around the world have psychiatric staffs for exactly that purpose. While most people are pretty hard to predict, extreme narcissists are comparatively simple. They constantly hunger for ego gratification, they are immature, constantly need to demonstrate their own superiority, often need endless sexual conquests (like Bill Clinton), are manipulative, constant liars, are completely cold about the human beings they harm (like John Edwards), and they deal with frustration by uncontrollable fits of rage. [The Americanthinker.com post of the day…ed]

Constitutionality of health overhaul questioned

On top of all the other obstacles facing President Obama in his quest to pass health reform is this one: Does the U.S. Constitution allow the government to require uninsured Americans to buy medical insurance or impose a tax penalty if they refuse? Congress has never before required citizens to purchase any good or service, but that is what both House and Senate health bills would mandate. While this debate has been overshadowed by other issues involving the plan’s nearly $1 trillion cost and its government-run option, the constitutional argument strikes at a pivotal part of the health care plan’s finances. To make a government-run health care plan work, the nation’s largely uninsured young adults would need to be covered to help subsidize medical care for older and typically less-healthy Americans, legislators say. [The leftists have done a fabulous job of ensuring students in America have no idea what is contained within their Constitution and that it was intended by our founders as a means to RESTRICT the power of the government. In fact I wonder how many public officials and politicians even know what the Bill of Rights are and have the ability to recite the first ten amendments to our Constitution when they take an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic? How can you swear an oath to the Constitution if you don’t even know what it says, or in Obama’s and most of the people who work in his administrations’ case, despise it?…ed]

Obama’s Safe Schools Czar Advocated ‘Queering Elementary Education’

President Barack Obama’s safe schools czar wrote a foreword to a book in 1999 that called for elementary school children to explore their sexual identities, for teachers to incorporate homosexual themes in grades K-5, for discarding a “hetero-normative” approach to education and for “acknowledging children as sexual beings.” Kevin Jennings, now the assistant deputy secretary for education who heads the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, began the foreword to Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling (Rowan & Littlefield Publishers) by writing about the Columbine school shooting in Colorado and comparing it to the beating-death of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming and, from there, to the issue of intolerance in schools. [Isn’t it grand that Obama has brought a sick twisted clown like this into his administration? No wonder private and home schooling has taken off like a rocket over the last decade or so…ed]

A GOP health plan

Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate have spent the spring, summer and fall grappling with how to fix the health care system. They’re still trying to craft a bill they can sell to Americans — or even explain in plain English. And the Republicans? Well, as the minority party, they’re mainly on the sidelines. They’ve become the party of “no,” sniping at every Democratic health care reform idea without promoting any of their own. Right? Not entirely. Over the summer and fall, Republicans in the House and Senate have introduced six — yes, six — health care reform proposals. You didn’t hear? Well, those plans didn’t produce much of a ripple because Democrats dominate the Congress. [Ever heard of H.R. 3400? Probably not because Obama and the Congressional Democrats, with lotsa help from their buddies in the media, don’t want you to know that the Republicans, shut out by the same Obama and Democrats in Congress, HAVE BEEN working on fixes for the issues we have within our healthcare system. The problems for Democrat leaders getting something done with healthcare have nothing to do with Republicans, the difficulties in getting anything accomplished are coming from within their own party…ed]

Moveon.org Issues Warning to Democrats Opposed to ‘Public Option’

Moveon.org issued a warning Tuesday to any Democrat who might join Republicans to filibuster a government-run insurance option — if you oppose the government option you will lose support from the organization’s 5 million members. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Monday that the Senate’s version of a health care reform bill will include a so-called public option. Moveon.org issued its e-mail to its supporters threatening revolt one day later. [George Soros, who pretty much owns the Democrat party, officially comes out and threatens elected officials who may be thinking of not going along with his program…ed]

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SEC and Homeland Security need Web backup, GAO says

Securities exchanges have a sound network back-up if a severe pandemic keeps people home and clogging the Internet, but the Homeland Security Department has done little planning, Congressional investigators said on Monday. The department does not even have a plan to start work on the issue, the General Accountability Office said. But the Homeland Security Department accused the GAO of having unrealistic expectations of how the Internet could be managed if millions began to telework from home at the same time as bored or sick schoolchildren were playing online, sucking up valuable bandwidth. (SNIP) Private Internet providers might need government authorization to block popular websites, it said, or to reduce residential transmission speeds to make way for commerce. [So now the “flu pandemic” is gonna jam up the big honkin’ internets giving the government the ability to “authorize” the blockage of “certain websites” huh? Oh that’s right! Back in August Senate Democrats gave Obama the power to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. Coinkydink? I think not…ed]

Americans In No Rush for Flu Shots Despite Swine Flu Outbreak

President Obama may have declared swine flu a national emergency, but the number of Americans who plan to get a flu shot is virtually unchanged from a year ago. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 53% of adults plan to get a flu shot this year, compared to 54% in 2008, despite the much-publicized outbreak of swine flu. Forty percent (40%) do not intend to get a flu shot. In October of last year, 44% said they weren’t getting one. In similar surveys in 2006 and 2007, Americans were more evenly divided when asked whether they intended to get a flu shot or not. Just 25% say they are more likely to get a flu shot this year because of the outbreak of swine flu, but 21% say that outbreak makes them less likely to do so. Most adults (51%) say swine flu has no impact on their decision whether to get a shot. [Could it be that the American public is just not buying this hyped up pig flu alarmism from this particular administration?…ed]

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan. A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed. But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency. [Someone in the Obama administration with some principles throws in the towel over the handling of the war in Afghanistan. Will this resignation become the first domino to fall with many more to follow?…ed]

8 US troops die; new deadliest month in Afghan war

Eight American troops were killed in two separate insurgent attacks Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban. In one of the insurgent assaults, seven Americans were killed while patrolling in armored vehicles, U.S. forces spokesman Lt. Col. Todd Vician said. He said an Afghan civilian died in the same attack. The eighth American was killed in a separate attack elsewhere in the south, also while patrolling in a military vehicle, he said. The military issued a statement saying the deaths occurred during “multiple, complex” bomb strikes. It said several troops were wounded and evacuated to a nearby medical facility, but gave no other details. [Meanwhile the state run media is all aflutter over the ditherer in chief Obama playing golf with some woman Sunday…ed]

Ratings for Fox New up 10% since attacks by Obama

The news that Fox ratings are up only deepens the mystery; why did the White House want to take on Fox News?

To say they wanted to “stifle dissent” doesn’t cut it. To do that, they would have to pull the network’s FCC license and even the lapdogs in the media would scream “Nixon” at a move like that. It can’t be because they want to reduce their viewership. They might not have anticipated such a big jump but they certainly didn’t believe that Fox News ratings would go down. Nor could they have thought that they would lessen the influence of the network. Those who are already influenced certainly wouldn’t stop listening because the White House told them to. What we are left with is personal pique – the president doesn’t like to be criticized. No grand strategy, no ulterior motive. It’s just Obama being annoyed at a network that doesn’t think much of him. [Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals gameplan surely didn’t work out too well for Obama against Fox NEWS now did it?…ed]

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 29% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. The President’s Approval Index rating is -4 among women and -17 among men. [Fox NEWS is up 10% and Obama is sitting at -11. The last time Obama was in positive numbers on Rasmussen’s Daily Prez Tracking Poll was JUNE 30TH, FOUR MONTHS AGO!!…ed]

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S.F. to ease up on unlicensed drivers

Call it sanctuary on wheels: San Francisco is about to give a big break to people, many of them illegal immigrants, who are caught driving without a license. Beginning Sunday, cops will no longer impound cars the first time drivers are pulled over without a license. The reason: Many such drivers are in the United States illegally – and thus unable to get a license – and the officials pushing the change think that impounding their cars is an unfair hardship. Instead, unlicensed drivers will be given 20 minutes to phone a relative or other acquaintance with a valid license and insurance to pick up the car. If the driver doesn’t have a cell phone, police will help him contact someone. If no one shows up, then the cop is to call a supervisor to approve the tow. [This is the kind of crap the people who live and pay taxes in San Fransisco want out of their elected representatives? By the way the mayor of this once great city plans on running for governor. I shudder at the thought…ed]

U.S. eyes reining in ‘too big to fail’ institutions

Congress and the Obama administration are about to take up one of the most fundamental issues stemming from the near collapse of the financial system last year — how to deal with institutions that are so big that the government has no choice but to rescue them when they get in trouble. A senior administration official said on Sunday that after extensive consultations with Treasury Department officials, Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, would introduce legislation as early as this week. The measure would make it easier for the government to seize control of troubled financial institutions, throw out management, wipe out the shareholders and change the terms of existing loans held by the institution. [The same government asshats who CAUSED our financial mess are scheming to go even further than they already have and take over even more private businesses under the guise of saving them from “impending collapse.” They will then install their own flunkies into management positions and implement new rules enabling them to rape these banks by handing out thousands more ACORN type loans and paying off political supporters. Spreadin’ the wealth indeed…ed]

Pelosi: Health care ‘public option’ needs new name

A government-sponsored “public option” for health care lives, though it may be more attractive to skeptics if it goes by a different moniker, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday. In an appearance at a Florida senior center, the Democratic leader referred to the so-called public option as “the consumer option.” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., appeared by Pelosi’s side and used the term “competitive option.” Both suggested new terminology might get them past any lingering doubts among the public—or consumers or competitors. [What’s that old saying again? Doesn’t it go something like, “You can put lipstick on Pelosi but she still looks like a pig?”…ed]

CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks

CNN, which invented the cable news network more than two decades ago, will hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth – and last – among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising. The official monthly numbers will be finalized at 4 p.m. Monday and will include results from Friday. CNN executives conceded that will not change the competitive standing for the month. CNN will still be last in prime time. That means CNN’s programs were behind not only Fox News and MSNBC, but even its own sister network HLN (formerly Headline News.) That was the first time CNN had finished that poorly with its prime-time shows. [Want to know why CNN is dead last in the ratings? Read the next article…ed]

Obama, smack those playground bullies

In the schoolyard of American politics, President Obama is the big, smart kid with all of the test answers who’s being bullied by a bunch of Neanderthal ankle-biters from all sides. Meanwhile, all the teachers are wondering, “Why does he take this crap? He’s bigger and smarter than all the other kids.” It’s no surprise the Glenn Becks of the world have been attacking Obama since the moment he stepped into the Oval Office. Beck and his blathering buddies on the right — you know, the stinky kids in the coatroom who eat their own boogers. Always pick on the kids least likely to fight back. That being said — we did elect President Obama to change things, and so far the only thing he seems to be changing are his faux-patriotic lapel pins … and his mind. [I would like for anyone to point out to me a conservative working for Fox News who talks about liberals the way this unfunny blisteringly stupid woman speaks about those opposed to the radical leftist occupying our White House. No wonder CNN is swirling the toilet bowl awaiting that final flush…ed]

Conservatives Maintain Edge as Top Ideological Group

Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group. The 2009 data are based on 16 separate Gallup surveys conducted from January through September, encompassing more than 5,000 national adults per quarter. Conservatives have been the dominant ideological group each quarter, with between 39% and 41% of Americans identifying themselves as either “very conservative” or “conservative.” Between 35% and 37% of Americans call themselves “moderate,” while the percentage calling themselves “very liberal” or “liberal” has consistently registered between 20% and 21% — making liberals the smallest of the three groups. [Suck this Joy Behar. This is NOT a left leaning country and certainly won’t become one into the foreseeable future. This is why we have so much outrage at the direction this administration has taken in the small amount of time they have been running the show and this outrage has nothing to do with the fact Obama is a half black guy, it’s his radical leftists policies pissing millions of Americans off…ed]

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Obamadrama

Don’t be deceived by the honeyed baritone voice and big smile. Bluffs, bully plays, and head fakes are the means by which President Obama tries to get his way. He learned the technique from Saul Alinsky. The best answer is to use Alinsky against them. We know their rule book, and we can use their rules just as well as they can. The aggressor sets the rules. Obama constantly uses Alinsky’s principle of head-faking: “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.” For Obama, “the enemy” is us, the American people. We have to understand — that’s the way they use the language. Read Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals if you don’t believe it. We are the enemy. [A most excellent Americanthinker.com post of the day…ed]

FACT CHECK: Health insurer profits not so fat

Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They’re all more profitable than the health insurance industry. In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making “immoral” and “obscene” returns while “the bodies pile up.” Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That’s anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones. Profits barely exceeded 2 percent of revenues in the latest annual measure. This partly explains why the credit ratings of some of the largest insurers were downgraded to negative from stable heading into this year, as investors were warned of a stagnant if not shrinking market for private plans. [Rule number 12 from Saul Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals, “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” When it comes to the liberals facts mean nothing, it’s all about hammering the false message home until the braindead among us begin to believe the lies…ed]

H1N1 vaccine in short supply

As President Barack Obama declared swine flu a national emergency Saturday, thousands of Chicagoans waited in line for hours for the vaccine and many others were turned away after the city’s limited supply ran out. The scene at Chicago’s first day of public clinics mirrors the situation playing out across the country as Americans scramble to find H1N1 vaccine. It’s in short supply and largely unavailable at most doctors’ offices, health departments and other medical facilities. [While America is running short on these vaccinations for those who want it the Obama administration is GIVING AWAY the swine flu jab to OTHER COUNTRIES!…ed]

First Daughters Not Vaccinated Against H1N1

President Obama’s school age daughters have not been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says the vaccine is not available to them based on their risk. The Centers for Disease Control recommend that children ages 6 months through 18 years of age receive a vaccination against the H1N1 flu virus. At this time only children with chronic medical conditions are receiving the vaccination because their immune system is not strong enough to fight off the strain. The CDC also says a regular seasonal flu shot does not protect against the virus. [Interesting that Mr. and Mrs. Michelle Obama have made sure THEIR kids DIDN’T get this particular vaccine even though he has declared the swine flu a national emergency and is encouraging everyone else to get the jab. Hmmmmm….ed]

Doctors May ‘Fire’ Parents Who Don’t Vaccinate Children

When Cathlene Echan walked into her pediatrician’s office two weeks after giving birth, she was nervous about discussing her recent decision not to vaccinate her second baby. But Echan, of Orange County, Calif., did not expect to be asked to leave. “The doctor said it was too much of a liability to have us as patients,” said Echan, a 28-year-old stay at home mom. Echan’s oldest child, Josiah, now 5, had just been diagnosed with autism around the same time her second son Torren, now 2, was born. [Uh-oh. I wonder if anyone has informed Mr. and Mrs. Michelle Obama about this?…ed]

Harry Reid’s Train Wreck

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive,” wrote Sir Walter Scott in his 1808 poem, “Marmion.” I doubt Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has read “Marmion.” But he now has a pretty good idea of what Sir Walter Scott meant. Democrats have been tying themselves into knots in their efforts to conceal from the public the true cost of Obamacare. Last Wednesday, their schemes came crashing down around Harry Reid’s ears. (SNIP) Mr. Baucus achieved his apparent savings partly by omitting the “public option” dear to liberal hearts, partly by not covering all of the currently uninsured. But he achieved them mostly by front-loading tax increases and cuts in Medicare and Medicaid, but delaying most spending increases for two and a half years. Once the spending increases went into effect, they rapidly would overwhelm the “savings.” By the 11th year, the Baucus bill would add massively to the deficit. [The American public has awoken from their Obamamania hangover and the Democrat shenanigans are now being exposed almost as quickly as they try to pull them…ed]

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