Today a triple-play from Townhall:
Rachel Alexander — Fifty Percent Welfare Nation
Michael Prell — Occupy Wall Street: a Declaration of Dependence
Steven Aden — Penn State and Planned Parenthood
Pat Buchanan, Townhall — The Equality Racket
Not someone I usually quote, but he’s spot-on here.
Doug Powers, MichelleMalkin.com — Obama Supporter’s Company Wins $433 Million No-Bid Contract for Experimental Smallpox Drug
Another gem from the Backtracker-in-Chief. Opening money quote:
“I will finally end the abuse of no-bid contracts once and for all. The days of sweetheart deals for Halliburton and the like will be over when I’m in the White House.” – Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, October 2, 2008
Hot Air — Video: Gingrich schools Pelley on “rule of law” on terrorists
Beautiful riposte.
In a recent Wall Street Journal Op-Ed piece, Richard Stearns—the head of World Vision, a charity I personally support financially—makes some good points in a compelling argument for American aid to other countries…but not for government aid.
He states that,
Yes, individuals and churches play a vital role in aid and development. But governments play a unique and vital role that private organizations cannot.
But he fails to provide a single example of such a government role. Christian aid organizations have smaller budgets but are much more efficient than the government, with a significantly higher portion of their funds going to aid rather than to bureaucracy. Further, our federal aid far too often props up governments which not only oppress Christians (and adherents to other locally minority religions) but bear little resemblance to anything we would recognize as democracy—one of his (correctly) stated goals of foreign aid.
Stearns is also confused about the meaning of the word “dependence”:
And at a time when more than a billion people do not have enough food to eat, President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative provides nutrition assistance and helps 21 South American, African and Asian countries feed themselves, without dependence on aid.
The sentence is self-contradictory. If these countries don’t depend on our aid, then why are we providing it?
He is also perplexed by Christians—who quite rightly should be concerned with the plight of the poor throughout the world—supporting large cuts to our federal foreign aid. As the leader of a Christian aid organization, this shouldn’t be such a puzzle to him. Government aid is strictly secular in nature. Christians, in particular, should prefer that our foreign assistance be accompanied by evangelism—something that can only be done by Christian groups.
Christians do care about the less fortunate among us, both at home and abroad. We are also concerned that our tax dollars are so frequently spent in ways we believe to be contrary to both America’s interests and to the primary calling of the church—to reach the lost for Christ—which the government cannot do.
WSJ — Europe’s Entitlement Reckoning
Will we learn from them? Remains to be seen.
Jonah Goldberg, Townhall — “Right to Riot” Cemented in Campus Culture
Detroit Free Press — Stryker to cut 5% of workforce
Remember when opponents of Obamacare predicted it would cause an increase in unemployment as medical device manufacturers would lay off workers to offset the increased taxes imposed on them by the law? They were scoffed at.
Fox News — Study Tying Conservative Views to Personality Disorders Met With Skepticism
So that explains why OWS has been so peaceful and non-destructive while the Tea Party events were violent and dangerous. Oh, wait…
Kudos to the NYT for printing this piece, as it flies in the face of most of what they print in their op-ed pages.
When you add up all the money made by all the people who earn more than $1 million a year, it amounts to around $700 billion. But since the millionaires already pay close to $200 billion in taxes, the government would have to increase rates to nearly 100 percent — which is about the worst idea ever — for it to have any real impact.
At least the author gets it half right: even taxing the top bracket at 100% won’t solve our budget and debt problems. But hiking taxes on the middle class isn’t going to help, either. To put a significant dent in just our budget gap—let alone federal debt—taxes would have to be raised enough that we’d face more foreclosures and the economy would falter as the middle class stopped spending on anything but necessities. The problem isn’t federal revenue—it’s federal spending.
CBS Atlanta — Investigator: Herman Cain innocent of sexual advances
Funny…the mainstream media aren’t picking up this story.
Brent Bozell, Townhall — Thanking an Old Friend
Ooooh, those evil, greedy 1%-ers.
WSJ — Generation Jobless: Students Pick Easier Majors Despite Less Pay
That’s fine, but then you really can’t complain when my math degrees earn a better salary, and don’t even have the nerve to expect me to bail you out when you have trouble paying off your student loans after you chose a useless major. Be an adult and take responsibility for your choices.
BBC — Repeat offenders appear to have worse health in middle-age
You’re kidding, right? You actually wasted time and money on this?
The reasons for this poorer health are not clear. High-risk behaviour and lifestyle might increase the chances of accidents and injury, leading to hospitalisation and disability.
Really? Do you think? Just when I thought my level of respect for academia couldn’t possibly sink any lower…
Fox News — Judge: School Can Ban American Flag Shirts
This is nothing short of outrageous. So-called “protestors” can burn the American flag, but patriotic kids can’t wear it because it might upset Hispanics on Cinco de Mayo? We’re losing our country, folks.
Investor’s Business Daily — Still Factory Champs
American manufacturing in decline? Don’t believe the hype.
A triple play from Investor’s Business Daily:
1. Ann Coulter — David Axelrod’s Pattern of Sexual Misbehavior
In a rare Coulter piece—in that it’s devoid of her usual scathing humor—Ann raises some very interesting points re the accusations against Cain who, as a black conservative, may have been the biggest ideological threat to Obama and his party.
2. Thomas Sowell — Ultimate Prize in Cain Smear: The Black Vote
3. Larry Elder — No-Fly Zone Over Clinton, JFK Sexcapades
AP — Cain accuser complained in next job
No real surprise, but the media have already done their job. Cain’s campaign has been irreparably harmed by their eagerness to push any story which damages a conservative regardless of its merit and without performing the least bit of investigative journalism.
Michelle Malkin — The Great Stonewall of Obama
Clearly the most transparent administration ever.
WSJ — Public School Teachers Aren’t Underpaid
…the evidence shows that public school teachers’ total compensation amounts to roughly $1.50 for every $1 that their skills could garner in a private sector job.
[…]
A salary comparison that controls only for years spent in school makes no distinction between degrees in education and those in biology, mathematics, history or other demanding fields.
Education is widely regarded by researchers and college students alike as one of the easiest fields of study, and one that features substantially higher average grades than most other college majors. On objective tests of cognitive ability such as the SAT, ACT, GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and Armed Forces Qualification Test, teachers score only around the 40th percentile of college graduates. If we compare teachers and non-teachers with similar AFQT scores, the teacher salary penalty disappears.
Ouch.
Walter E. Williams, Townhall — Ignorance Exploited
A good explanation of tax incidence.
Fox News — Court Likely to Overturn California Law on Livestock
Chief Justice John Roberts said state laws cannot say downed animals can’t be sold as meat when federal law says that they can.
I usually agree with Roberts, but his statement points out a glaring inconsistency in both our courts’ rulings and federal enforcement. Federal regulations already cover vehicle emissions, but California is allowed to say a car sold in neighboring Oregon can’t be sold in CA. Federal laws specify penalties for being in the country illegally and for hiring illegals, but cities are allowed to declare themselves sanctuaries. Until there’s consistency in the application of jurisdiction it will be hard to take our court system seriously.
Dr. Fred Singer, WSJ — Why I Remain a Global-Warming Skeptic
The debate’s far from over, as the science isn’t settled.
Rich Lowry, Real Clear Politics — The Lawless Heart of OWS
Going to get uglier I’m afraid.
John Podhoretz, Commentary Magazine — The Case for Optimism
A long read, but worth the time.
USA Today — Economists: GOP jobs plan better than Obama’s
Give the author credit for at least covering the story, but in the end he just help himself:
Those surveyed by Boehner include economists from Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, Carnegie Mellon University, American Enterprise Institute and the Manhattan Institute—fairly conservative institutions.
Yes, as well as Ohio, Iowa, Boston College, Central Michigan, Columbia, Arizona State, etc.—not exactly hotbeds of conservatism.
Independent analysts—including Moody’s Analytics and Macroeconomic Advisers — estimate that Obama’s jobs act would create up to 1.9 million jobs while the House Republican would have little immediate impact on creating jobs.
As if those analysts are any more “independent” than the economists on Boehner’s list.
NY Times — Holder Urges Lawmakers to Support Efforts to Stop Gun Trafficking
Surprised? Feds break existing laws, encouraging illegal gun sales, then Holder uses their failure to push for more gun control. Never let a crisis go to waste.
BBC — NHS: Elderly care dossier shows ‘shameful attitudes’
But, hey, everyone has government-paid healthcare, right?
Fox News — Massachusetts School District Marks Muslim Holiday
And the ACLU, et al, remain silent.
New York Post — It’s media love—not bias
Thomas Sowell lays out the reality behind the recent media hype over “income disparity.”
It is easier and cheaper to collect statistics about income brackets than it is to follow actual flesh and blood people as they move massively from one income bracket to another over the years. […]
The Internal Revenue Service can follow individual people over the years because they can identify individuals from their Social Security numbers. During recent years, when “the top one percent” as an income category has been getting a growing share of the nation’s income, IRS data show that actual flesh and blood people who were in the top one percent in 1996 had their incomes go down — repeat, DOWN — by a whopping 26 percent by 2005.
How can both sets of statistics be true at the same time? Because most people who are in the top one percent in a given year do not stay in that bracket over the years.
If we are being serious — as distinguished from being political — then our concern should be with what is happening to actual flesh and blood human beings, not what is happening to abstract income brackets.
But if we did that, we’d have to have honest dialog about class mobility and the rewards of hard work, patience, and fiscal responsibility. Can’t have that, now can we?
Thomas Sowell, Townhall — Payday Loans
WSJ — Occupying vs. Tea Partying
George F. Will, Washington Post — Conformity for diversity’s sake