The laughs never stop.
Story here.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
DC Circuit Court Rules Naked Body Scans Do Not Violate Fourth Amendment
Because they're optional.
As in you can either get photographed naked, or groped, without which you are not "free to fly about the country."
Some option. Papers will be next. And then every form of transportation you take will make you subject to unreasonable search and seizure.
Just roll over and take it, bitch. You'll enjoy it.
Story here.
'If Obama Cuts Medicare or Social Security, I'll Vote Communist'
Chicagoan Mary Ellen . . . Croteau was asked if she would still vote for Obama, "No I won't . . .. Not if he cuts Medicare and Social Security. I'm 61. I'm looking at retirement in a few years."
". . . I will vote for someone. Whether it's a Green candidate, whether it's a Communist, I don't care. Somebody who's going to stand up for people. This is disgusting. [Obama] has given away everything he pledged to stand for."
Read the full entry here.
Dr. Obama Prescribes The Same Old Medicine Of The Miserable
"I always have hope. Don't you remember my campaign? [laughter] Even after being here for two and a half years, I continue to have hope. You know why I have hope? It's because of the American people."
Video here.
The miserable have no other medicine,
But only Hope:
I've hope to live, and am prepar'd to die.
-- Claudio, William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, Act III, Scene I
Rasmussen Poll, Like Gallup, Shows Low Support For New Taxes at 34 Percent
Again, as part of a debt limit increase measure. While Gallup has 50 percent wanting spending cuts as the primary feature of the legislation, Rasmussen shows that at 55 percent.
The poll results are here.
Obama Says 80 Percent Want Balanced Approach, Gallup Says 32 Percent
Only 11 percent want a predominantly tax approach, while 50 percent want a predominantly spending cuts approach.
Is Tim Pawlenty "The Unnatural"?
There's a certain metaphysical quality to the guy. And we're not talking Platonic philosophy.
The New Republic tries to explain, here.
Ann Althouse Calls Obama A Liar
Well, yeah. And you thought reading was fundamental.
"Obama lied about a central fact about his own life which he used — powerfully — to push health care reform."
I wonder if he ever lied to his own mother.
"Obama lied about a central fact about his own life which he used — powerfully — to push health care reform."
I wonder if he ever lied to his own mother.
Democrats Under Obama Were The First Since 1974 Not To Pass A Budget
So Mona Charen, here:
Unlike Republicans under President Bush, Democrats were in full control of the federal government from January 2009 until January of 2011. Despite a 77-seat majority in the House, an 18-seat majority in the Senate and a Democrat in the White House, the Democratic Party became the first since budget rules were enacted in 1974 to fail to pass a budget. Budgets are clarifying. So is the failure to produce one.
Democrat Rick Perry Once Voted For Texas Size Tax and Salary Increases
. . . Back in the 80s, when now Republican Governor of Texas Rick Perry also worked for Al Gore.
The New York Times is happy to tell you, here.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
For Mockery of Fiscal Conservatism, You Can't Beat MarketWatch
As here.
Being a commie must be a line item check-off on the job application.
When the counter-revolution comes, those guys better watch out.
The Atlantic Doesn't Really Care What Kind of Nut Michele Bachmann Is
Just that you know she's a nut.
Joshua Green here thinks she's a Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran anti-Catholic nut, even though she's formally separated herself from the group after many years.
The reason surely has to do with theological views she has which are errors according to these Lutherans. Green would like Bachmann to be all about the Lutheran position that the pope is the Antichrist, a position Bachmann has gone on record disavowing.
You'd think Green would dig a little deeper because of that, say at Salon here or especially Mother Jones here, to gain a little wider appreciation for Bachmann's interest in an apocalyptic timetable at the center of which is the state of Israel, and the dispensationalism and millennialism which goes with it, all of which are eschewed by Lutheran interpretation.
Lutheranism is amillennial, and Pauline in its insistence that the Church is the Israel of God, and has replaced it in the world. For Lutherans, the state of Israel is theologically irrelevant. And therefore it is impossible for them that one's relationship to the state of Israel could be talismanic in any way, as Bachmann appears to believe.
For end times enthusiasts like the Congresswoman, the Antichrist is an historical personage who is revealed before the end of the world, not a spirit of error who perennially inhabits the seat of Roman Catholic false doctrine, as the Lutherans believe.
I don't find it surprising at all that Bachmann has parted ways with Lutheranism in the light of these facts. What is surprising is that it took her so long.
She may herself be still quite confused about much of this. Lots of Christians are, and spend inordinate amounts of time trying to figure it all out. But who can really say, except Bachmann herself? About that Green is correct.
The political ramifications for Bachmann's presidential run are not inconsiderable, since many of the people on all sides of these issues in the churches are her potential base of support. For fervent believers as many of them are, positions taken on these issues can be fundamentally alienating.
It's fascinating in a way . . . kind of like a train wreck.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Social Security Tax Cut For 2011 Adds To Stress In A Government Shutdown
The revenue lost to Social Security, about $120 billion in 2011 due to the temporary tax cut, will be reimbursed to the Trust Fund from income tax withholding, over two years, not one. That means that with annual deficit spending already at $1.5 trillion, in a shut down there's even less cash flow to count on if $5 billion in funds are being siphoned off for this purpose monthly.
TheHill.com explains here:
The tax cut will put roughly $120 billion into workers’ pockets. Perhaps $90 billion of this, or three quarters, will be spent. This could provide enough of a boost to GDP to create more than 300,000 jobs.
Also, the Social Security trust fund will be reimbursed for the lost revenue. Under the deal that President Obama worked out with the Republican leadership, funds from general revenue will replace the lost tax revenue for the next two years. This means that the tax break will have no effect on the long-term solvency of Social Security.
Doh!
Treasury's Own Figures Show It Has Plenty of Cash Flow To Pay Seniors
[A]ccording to the Daily Treasury Statements published by the U.S. Treasury Department, the ongoing flow of federal tax revenue since the Treasury declared that it had hit the debt limit on May 16 has been more than sufficient to cover the combined costs of federal spending on interest payments, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Veterans Affairs department and federal workers wages and insurance benefits (including wages and insurance benefits for military personnel).
All the figures follow at the link here.
In 2009 Only 10.5 Million Americans Still Got Paper Checks From Social Security
Tens of millions use direct deposit instead:
[A]bout 10.5 million Americans still receive their Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments by paper check each month.
Read the full story here.
Obama Would Be Breaking The Law If He Stopped Social Security Checks
Obama must issue Social Security checks. They're mandatory, not discretionary.
The authority to issue Social Security checks is outside the scope of the president's decision-making authority.
He would be in violation of the law if he ordered them stopped. So would The Treasury Department.
The Social Security trust fund receives regular infusions from income specially withheld from paychecks for the purpose. Its income is presently in equilibrium with its outflow.
Neither the president nor the Congress can lawfully interfere with this process.
The president is a scoundrel for terrorizing Social Security recipients with his idle threats.
Don't believe it?
'Uncle Sam Would Not Qualify For A Home Mortgage'
So says Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government here:
Currently, the U.S. is paying about 3 percent interest on the $14.3 trillion debt, or $430 billion of gross interest payments every year. If we had to repay everything over the next 30 years, principal and interest owed would amount to $908 billion out of revenue every year. That’s 41.7 percent of this year’s $2.174 trillion projected tax collections.
Is that affordable? Would repayment even be possible today? Perhaps just barely. The benchmark total debt service ratio for mortgage lenders is 40 percent. Anything above that, and a prospective borrower would not qualify for a loan. So even today, Uncle Sam would not qualify for a home mortgage.
I think the situation is much worse than that.
I remember that way back in 1990 the debt service ratio for a residential mortgage loan was much lower than 40 percent. Your mortgage payment had to be no more than 28 percent of income, and all your debt payments combined, adding in automobile and credit card debt, could not exceed 36 percent of income. Higher than that and you didn't get the loan.
By that standard, the US government today isn't even close at 41.7 percent, and would be laughed out of the bank.
The over-spending must stop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)