Keynes vs. Hayek Round Two

 You loved part one. Savor the monster mustachioed mash-up of part two's Fight of the Century!



Check out Hayek's book The Road to Serfdom". Prescient.

Wichita Eagle Editorial Blog Bemoans New Kansas Voter ID Law

Their post is titled "Tough luck if you want to vote in Kansas," impying the draconians have disenfranchised any and all from the voting booth. What a bunch o crap. Kansas' new law simply states that a birth certificate is required to register and a photo ID is required to vote - provided at tax payer expense, if you're indigent.

The Wichita Eagle blog references a NY Times editorial.

To wit: “Tough luck if you don’t happen to have one (birth certificate) in your pocket when you’re at the county fair and you pass the voter registration booth,” the editorial said.”

Yup. Because generations have fought and died for the easy entitlement of random and spontaneous voter registration.

But only if one can be bothered long enough to set down their brawt and beer.

Krykee doodle.

What a bunch of sissyfied spoiled brats we’ve bred.

God save the Republic.

TY MDP

Chile's Private Social Security System Turns 30

From Investors Business Daily:

"What he designed has succeeded beyond all expectations. Yet Congress remains reluctant to adopt anything like it, despite efforts by Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to partially privatize an American system.

Instead of paying a 12.4% Social Security tax as we do here, Chilean workers must pay in 10% of their wages (they can send up to 20%) to one of several conservatively managed and regulated pension funds. From the accumulated savings, they get a life annuity or make programmed withdrawals (inheriting any funds left over).

Over the last three decades these accounts have averaged annual returns of 9.23% above inflation. By contrast, U.S. Social Security pays a 1% to 2% (theoretical) return, and even less for new workers.

Long-Term Boom

History shows that pension funds prudently invested in a diversified portfolio appreciate significantly over long periods of consistent saving. In 1981, the Dow industrials stood at 900; today, despite three market crashes, it's nearly 13,000.

In 2005, New York Times reporter John Tierney worked out his own Social Security contributions on the Chilean model and found that his privatized pension would have been $53,000 a year plus a one-time payout of $223,000. The same contributions paid into Social Security would have paid him $18,000.

The system is doable here, but does require citizen education and political resolve."

Ah. There's the rub: "Citizen education and political resolve."

Until the revisionist warehouses which are unionist controlled gub'mint schools, and the neo-marxists with their Alinsky-ite tactics are marginalized, social security in the US will be nothing more than a slush fund for the power and prestige of corrupt congress critters.

TY L

This Just In...

"If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you're not a racist,
you'll have to vote for someone else in 2012 to prove you're not an idiot."

Unless, of course, you truly are an idiot.

Friday Night Hoopla

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien - Son of a Preacher Man

You and I simply knew her as Dusty Springfield.



From Wikipedia:

"Son of a Preacher Man" is a song recorded by Dusty Springfield in September 1968 and featured on the album, Dusty in Memphis. It was written by John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins. The rights to cover "Son of a Preacher Man" were originally offered to Aretha Franklin, who turned it down. It was only upon hearing Springfield's version that Franklin reconsidered and recorded the song herself. By that time, however, Springfield's version had already become a hit..."

And how's this for a twist? She was influential in getting Lead Zeppelin signed to their first record contract.

Dusty died of cancer on March 2, 1999.

It's Close Enough for Gub'mint Work, too

The difference, of course, is private business has to pay for its mistakes.

Sycophant Obamanation

Half the respect of Fox News, put together.

Gas Price Hypocrisy

High gasoline prices under the hated boooshitler: Horrid torture.

High gasoline prices under an anointed light being with a Pulitzer: count your blessings.



The mendacious propaganda from these media & political sycophants is nauseating.





TY IP

Wall Street Spurns Democrats; Opens Wallet for Republicans Instead

From the WSJ:

"Mr. Loeb is part of a shift in political allegiance within the world of hedge funds that also includes such big names as Steven Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors and Kenneth Griffin's Citadel Investment Group. Managers and employees of hedge funds directed a majority of their contributions to the GOP in the 2009-2010 election season, a pattern not seen since 1996, when the industry was much smaller.

Managers of hedge funds—private investment partnerships that cater to institutions and wealthy people—are reacting to what some criticize as Mr. Obama's populist attacks on Wall Street, as well as to Democrat-led efforts to raise their tax bills. They had hoped to be protected from such a tax move by their relationships with prominent Democratic members of Congress.

"Hedge funds bankrolled the Democrats in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and the very people they helped put in power turned around and screwed them," said Sam Geduldig, a former Republican congressional staffer who is a Wall Street lobbyist."

"The very people they helped put in power turned around and screwed them."

Indeed. As did the scorpion when it came to the frog. Neo-bolsheviks just can't help themselves.

But money is politics mother's milk. These neo-bolsheviks can't outright kill the cow. So they talk out of both sides of their mouth to entice the cash cow to siphon off much of it's bounty in exchange for a dubious promise that the butcher's knife will spare at least three of the cow's legs.

But Wall Street, like many other corporations, are fools who've quickly regretted their folly. They cannot  afford the massive hemorrhage of money to a neo-marxist ruling class so eager to amputate at least one other leg from their cash cow.

"The shift started near the end of the 2008 campaign, when Mr. Obama began blaming hedge funds for some of the country's economic problems.

In April 2009, when talks about saving Chrysler through a bankruptcy filing bogged down, the president faulted bond-holding hedge funds for the delay. "They were hoping that everybody else would make sacrifices, and they would have to make none." Mr. Obama said. "I don't stand with them."

That amounted to "bullying," one prominent fund manager, Cliff Asness of AQR Capital Management, wrote on his personal web page."

And we all know how Pres. Obama feels about bullying.

Silver, Gold Reach Record High; Dollar Falls

Over 40 years ago, my father starting hording silver coins and buying gold. Being a child of the Great Depression, he had a deep seated mistrust of banks and the Fed. My Father thought it wise to buffer his family against the certain upheavals in a free market system; a system increasingly manipulated and handicapped by pandering politicians addicted to their own power and prestige. 

Many chided him for his miserly ways, teased him as an economic 'chicken little,' and some even thought him crazy. Me included.

Look whose laughing now:

"April 25 (Bloomberg) -- Silver climbed to an all-time high as investors sought to protect their wealth against accelerating inflation and a weaker dollar. Gold also rose to a record.

Immediate-delivery silver jumped as much as 5.4 percent to $49.79 an ounce, beating the previous peak of $49.45 in 1980, according to research company GFMS Ltd. Gold futures in New York climbed to a record for a sixth consecutive session

Precious metals have rallied on investor speculation that central-bank programs to revive economic growth with low interest rates and increased supply of money will ignite inflation and devalue currencies including the dollar. Silver is the best performer over the past year on the Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities, ahead of cotton, coffee and sugar.

 And gold continues its record rise:

"Gold for immediate delivery climbed as much as 0.8 percent to $1,518.32 an ounce. Gold for June delivery jumped as much as $15.40, or 1 percent, to $1,519.20 an ounce on the Comex. Spot silver has more than doubled in the past year, outpacing gains in gold and copper.

The dollar dropped against the euro on speculation that the Federal Reserve will keep borrowing costs near zero while European Central Bank officials signal further rate increases. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke will hold a media conference after the Federal Open Market Committee statement on April 27 after a two-day meeting in Washington."

In other words, more hot air from slavish sycophants and pandering politicians addicted to their own power and prestige.

Any Econ 101 student should've learned that paper money, in and of itself,  has no intrinsic value. It's simply a marker. An indicator of faith in the system that prints it. Land, durable goods, government stability, machine tools, raw materials, consumer products - plus gold and silver - are the real valuables in a society.

Obviously, with its gargantuan debt load, coupled with a crippled economy, and the current administration's eagerness to exacerbate both situations, faith in the current govt. and economy of the U.S. of A. is not worth much to the rest of the world. Some say this is by design.

Anybody seen Geo. Soros?

But I digress.

I wonder how well diamonds and platinum are doing?

TY L

Update: added new chart

Archeologists Find Obituary for Jesus of Nazareth

Of course it's not a photoshop...

He IS Risen!

 "This weekend marks the celebration of Easter this year, the holiday that observes the cornerstone of the Christian faith -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We join together with family and friends on this day to celebrate and reflect on this holy event. This is a time to rejoice in the glory of Jesus Christ's resurrection and focus on the joy of that blessed event."

This Just In...

Happy Earth Day

 Join a dozen or so other self-loathing, deluded fascists who worship a planetary object, and get an autographed carbon credit from jet setting High Priest, Al Gore. Free tree spikes! Capitalist pig shooting gallery. Eugenics tattoos! Eco-terror DVDs. Fun for the whole commune! Now, at The People's Cube.

Related: Doug Powers reminds us that a co-founder of earth day sits in a very eco-friendly prison cell. What was his crime? He murdered his girlfriend in 1977 and stored her rotting corpse in his closet.

Respect the multi-culturalism.

Update: Gargantuan carbon footprint hypocrisy:

"President Obama declared today's 41st annual Earth Day proof of America's ecological and conservation spirit—then completed a three-day campaign-style trip logging 10,666 miles on Air Force One, eating up some 53,300 gallons at a cost of about $180,000. And that doesn't include the fuel consumption of his helicopter, limo, or the 29 other vehicles that travel with that car."

And let's not forget this lil tone deaf gem from last month: Obama Flies Personal Trainer from Chicago to White House.

Updated update: Shallow? Who said that feminists are shallow? Or obtuse?

Neo-Marxist Shrugged

 "From each according to his dirty diaper..."

Atlas Shrugged: the Movie

I have not seen the movie, yet, and not sure I will.

 I wasn’t that impressed with “Atlas” when I first read it in high school, and less so when I re-read about 15 years ago.

Rand was a ‘individualist’, not a conservative, and a rabid atheist. For me “Atlas” was too spartan, and self-serving; totally devoid of Faith, compassion or altruism. It seemed to be a pantheon to Darwinism, set entirely upon an economic stage as a gauge of success or failure in life.

And whoa to them who cannot be John Galt.

No thanks.



In a bit of irony, the weekend box office says that this incarnation of “atlas” is not fit to survive, coming in 14th, right behind such towering celluloid screeds as ‘dairy of a wimpy kid,’ ‘the Lincoln Lawyer,’ and ‘Your Highness.”


EM over at HA has seen the movie, and  liked it. JA over at Libertas simply said, "Atlas Shrugged, Part I is easily one of the worst narrative feature films I have ever seen in my life. We will waste no further time with the film on this website."

Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.

Mission Creep Obamanation

He Is Risen! Handel's Hallelujah Chorus

(this is a repost from last year)

I've long said that Easter is far more important to the Christian than the now indulgent holiday of Christmas. After all, if Christ never rose from the dead, there would be no Gospel to preach.

Handel's Hallelujah Chorus is more fitting for Easter, IMHO.



The Apostles’ Creed: (from approx. 140 A.D. )

“I believe in God the Father Almighty. And in Jesus Christ His only (begotten) Son our Lord, who was born of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary; crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father, from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. And in the Holy Ghost; the holy Church; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and life everlasting.”

Happy Palm Sunday!

(why aren't you in church?)

Friday Night Hoopla

REO Speedwagon - "Roll With The Changes"

At 45rpm??



Thank technology for digital!

18,500 Dead People on Ohio Voter rolls

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

"(Secretary of State Jon Husted) is asking county elections boards to purge those who are deceased from the statewide voter database.

Husted said in a statement Tuesday that the integrity of voter data is critical from a cost, quality and confidence standpoint."

The city of Chicago is rumored to be sending out invites to the deceased.

On This Aborted Fetus, Democrats Plant Their Flag

Some budget battle insight from the lovely and talented Ann Coulter:

"Apparently, that depends on the meaning of "services it provides." If taking 30 seconds to write a prescription for birth control pills is considered the equivalent of a two-hour, multiple-visit $450 abortion, then perhaps abortion does constitute only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's work.

But according to Planned Parenthood itself, when it comes to services for pregnant women, abortion constituted 97.6 percent of the services Planned Parenthood provided in 2009. Only 2.4 percent of the organization's services for pregnant women involved prenatal care or adoption referrals.

Again, according to its own reports, Planned Parenthood performed 332,278 abortions in 2009 -- or more than a quarter of all abortions in the entire country. It receives about 37 percent of its total revenue from performing abortions.

Reid and Colbert must be getting a lot of cholesterol tests at Planned Parenthood if abortion constitutes only 3 percent of its services. (Contrary to Sen. Reid's claim that Planned Parenthood administers important cancer screening tests, none of its affiliates even offer mammograms.)

In any event, the Democrats didn't suddenly agree to $40 billion in budget cuts to save Planned Parenthood's cholesterol screening."

Trickle Down Obamanation

The President's deficit 'reduction' speech

I tried to listen. Truly I did.

But half way through I could not listen to his neo-bolshevik, revisionist hyperbole that just droned on and on.

It's like this guy believes he's totally removed from the massive tripling of the deficit he's cultivated while in office, and that he just dropped down from the mother ship to survey the damage and offer some advice....

"Greetings, lesser non-light beings.

I come from the galaxy Soetoro. Let me be clear: that big eared clown you've seen running through your 'just down right mean' town that used to be respected by other towns, and throwing rocks through all the plate glass windows, wasn't me.

My brilliant plan to correct the damage in your 'just down right mean' town that used to be respected by other towns is to purchase new plate glass, at exorbitant cost, and pay lesser non-light beings inflated public union wages to install it.

All costs, of course, will be born by rich people; Eeebil, mean rich people who desire that all windows remain broken so granny, her dog, and working families will be plagued by hunger and pestilence. Also Nazis.

Because that's what eeebil rich people do. All day. They wish for that.

Let me be clear. I will not let this happen. Because that big eared clown you've seen running through your 'just down right mean' town that used to be respected by other towns, and throwing rocks through all the plate glass windows, wasn't me.

As proof, here's some near beer and Kobe beef. Paid for with other people's money. And you're racist if you don't like it. Read the new civility memo.

I will now return to galaxy Soetoro, and let lesser non light beings figure out the details."

Blog Notes

I have been absent, and my faithful audience (thanx, mom!) is forlorn.

But, since it's that noxious time of year when 1099s, inventory reports, P/L statements, and 1040s (coupled with its basterd children, which are schedules), and the voluminous tombs of ever metastasizing dept. of revenue instructions come home to roost, a wildly successful and vastly influential (read: eeebil & greedy conservative) small business owner like moi, shall be otherwise occupied completing my obligations to pour money down the rat hole which is gub'mint.

Clear as mud, right? Kinda like our tax code.

Good thing I don't run my business like the feds, or I'd be out of business, under investigation for fraud, and facing possible jail time.

But, since they are politicians, they get re-elected. Go figure.

The Right to Offend, By Mark Steyn

"He all but literally wraps himself in the flag, and, once you pry him out of the folds of Old Glory, what you’re left with is a member of the governing class far too comfortable with the idea that he and his colleagues should determine the bounds of public discourse.

I’m sick of that. I’m sick of it in Canada, sick of it in Britain, in Australia, in Europe, and I’m now sick of it in America — in part because, as Senator Graham has demonstrated in his fatuous defense, guys like him aren’t smart enough to set the rules for what the rest of us are allowed to think."

TY L

Update: related:

Man With Anti-Obama Sign Attacked In San Francisco

Hope. Change. New civility!

Uh, never mind.

"SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/ BCN) — A man who set up a table with political literature and a sign opposing President Barack Obama was attacked in San Francisco’s North Panhandle neighborhood, police and witnesses said Tuesday.

Initial police accounts had indicated that the man had a sign supporting Obama, but witnesses later said it was an anti-Obama sign with a Hitler mustache drawn over the president’s face. "

Perfectly understandable.  I can't tell if Obama has a Hitler mustache, or not, either.

Just kidding!

"The attack happened around 11:30 a.m. Monday in the 1200 block of Fell Street, where the victim, a 29-year-old Daly City man, had set up his table, said Capt. Denis O’Leary of the SFPD’s Park Station.

A man and woman approached the victim, tore the sign and shook the table, causing the political literature to fall to the ground.

The attackers also kicked the man in the hand, O’Leary said."

Quick! Someone blame those eeebil teabaggers!

Lee's Summit R-7 School Board Election Results for April 5th

Courtesy the LS Tribune

Total: 13530
51 OF 51 PRECINCTS
JACK WILEY*                      3331     24.62%
TERRI HARMON                3130     23.13%
CHRISTOPHER STORMS 3083      22.79%
JON R. PLAAS                       2091     15.45%
MICHAEL SMITH                 1835      13.56%

So much for my recommendations.

Five GOP Freshmen 'Targeted' by Pro-Abortion Outfit

Dang. Can't anyone read that 'new civility' memo?

From The Hill:

"The Democratic group EMILY's List launched its first wave of 2012 politicking on Tuesday, serving "notice" against five GOP freshmen that they would be targeted for reelection.

EMILY's List, a group dedicated to supporting Democratic women candidates who support abortion rights, selected a set of five Republicans, each from different states, and each of whom have a major, Democratic woman candidate to have entered the race.

Reps. Charlie Bass (N.H.), Chip Cravaack (Minn.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Joe Heck (Nev.) and Allen West (Fla.) were the five GOP lawmakers put "on notice."

It appears the climate of hate against unborn babies spurs this 'emily's list' outfit to use such violent imagery in its political rhetoric.

Where's the outrage, CNN?

One Pie Chart to Rule Them All

 

From Big Government: Rep. Paul Ryan Unveils Budget with $6.2 Trillion in Spending Cut. 

From the NY Times: Budget Stances Harden as Deadline Nears for Shutdown.

Heh: "if an Obama government shuts down, could anyone tell the difference?" (VIDEO)

Everybody and their dog talks about it here.

Violent Rhetoric from AFL-CIO Union Rally in Boston

"And to the Republican party of Massachusetts, if you think this is gonna happen here, it is going to be over thousands of dead people’s bodies. If you think Wisconsin was anything, we need to stop these guys in their tracks now and kill their bills at the State house."

More knuckle dragging, mouth breathers who can't read that 'new civility' memo.(VIDEO)

It's Time for Obama to Apologize to Bush / Cheney

The nation awaits your apology to your predecessor, Mr. President, and an invitation to that 'near beer' summit in the Rose Garden.

Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and his four alleged co-conspirators will be tried in a military commission at Gitmo.

From CBS News:

"Last month, Mr. Obama approved the resumption of military trials for detainees at the Guantanamo prison, ending a two-year ban. The move illustrated Mr. Obama's acknowledgment that he will not be able to fulfill his promise to close the prison any time soon -- Mr. Obama said on the 2008 campaign trail that he would close Guantanamo within his first year in office. Still, Mr. Obama said last month that he remained committed to trying terror suspects in federal courts.

"I strongly believe that the American system of justice is a key part of our arsenal in the war against al Qaeda and its affiliates, and we will continue to draw on all aspects of our justice system - including Article III Courts - to ensure that our security and our values are strengthened," Mr. Obama said in a statement announcing the resumption of Guantanamo trials."

This slow-motion flip-flop by Obama has been a long time coming, and was predicted by none other than Dick Cheney.

The Washington Post lamented just last month that Obama's new Gitmo policy is a lot like Bush's old policy.

"He began his presidency with a pledge to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year. Within months, he realized that was impossible. And now he has essentially formalized George W. Bush's detention policy.

With Monday's announcement that the Obama administration will resume military tribunals at Gitmo, conservatives rushed out triumphant I-told-you-sos. Liberal supporters were again feeling betrayed. Administration officials had some 'splainin' to do."

The WaPo then went on to play Capt. Obvious exclaiming, "In a sense, Monday's announcement was a formal acknowledgment that Obama had set expectations unrealistically high during his campaign and early in his term."

And back in January, Salon's Glenn Greenwald played the jilted suitor as he begrudgingly wrote of The vindication of Dick Cheney:

"If Obama has indeed changed his mind over the last two years as a result of all the Secret Scary Things he's seen as President, then I genuinely believe that he and the Democratic Party owe a heartfelt, public apology to Bush, Cheney and the GOP for all the harsh insults they spewed about them for years based on policies that they are now themselves aggressively continuing.

Obama has won the War on Terror debate -- for the American Right.  And as Dick Cheney's interview last night demonstrates, they're every bit as appreciative as they should be."

FOX News puts video to all the words:



It's time for you to apologize your predecessor, President Obama.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder continues to play the incompetent, arrogant twit ,and wag his middle finger at Congress, the CIA and the American people.

TY L

Still More of That 'New Civility'

Bloody Pig's Foot Sent to Rep. Peter King.

From CBS News:

"Authorities intercepted a parcel this morning addressed to Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) containing a bloody pig's foot and a derogatory message, a source has confirmed to CBS News.

The parcel was intercepted at the Congressional mail facility in Landover, Maryland, where mail sent to lawmakers is screened for security risks"

NBC reports that the 'derogatory message' was an anti-semetic screed.

A commenter at WZ says, "It was most likely a leftist. An Islamist would have sent a bomb."

The CBS story then turns into a total tool and complains that "CAIR is a target of King's hearings."

Then there's this:

FEC Approves Use of Campaign Funds for Congressman Terry’s Home Security.

From The Hill:

"The Federal Election Commission has approved the use of up to $5,000 in campaign funds to bolster security at the home of Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) following a recommendation from Capitol Police....

Efforts to strengthen lawmaker security have been stepped up in the months following the January shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). Capitol Police have briefed members on how they can add additional layers of protection, including being in closer contact with local law enforcement. "

The exact nature of the threats against Congressman Terry were not disclosed.

Strange days, indeed.

SCOTUS Votes 5-4 to Uphold Arizona School Choice Tax Credits

Woo Hoo!!

The High Court's ruling reversed a decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court, which found the law unconstitutional on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

The majority included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas, James Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito. Justice Anthony Kennedy illuminated the heart of the matter in writing for the majority, "Private bank accounts cannot be equated with the Arizona State Treasury."

The lawsuit was originally filed by some Arizona taxpayers to challenge a 14 year old Arizona law which allowed tax credits for citizen contributions to school tuition organizations (STOs). These citizens received a state tax credit of $500 per individual; $1000 per couple for their contributions. The STOs use the contributions to provide scholarships to students attending religious and non-religious K-12 private schools.

Some Arizona taxpayers sought to eliminate those tax credits. SCOTUS said differently.

From the Cato Institute:

"Respondents alleged that cutting a person's taxes is equivalent to spending government money -- and since taxpayers are receiving credits for donations to religious organizations, that was ostensibly equivalent to the government giving to those organizations. The Court answered, quite simply: "That is incorrect." Elaborating, the Court ruled that:

...tax credits and governmental expenditures do not both implicate individual taxpayers in sectarian activities. A dissenter whose tax dollars are “extracted and spent” knows that he has in some small measure been made to contribute to an establishment in violation of conscience.... [By contrast,] awarding some citizens a tax credit allows other citizens to retain control over their own funds in accordance with their own consciences."

The usual suspects - Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer voted against the decision, and opined that the ruling "devastates taxpayer standing in Establishment Clause cases."

This, of course, is specious argument. As illustrated earlier, allowing tax payers to keep and spend their money as they choose, without being compelled by tax laws to pay into a system that violates their conscience is, well, very conscionable. And those citizens opposed to the funding of these private school via STOs are not compelled to fund them.

Additionally, tax deductions for charitable causes, including churches and religious organizations are ingrained into our in tax code, as are the liberal use of tax credits - rightly or wrongly - for all kinds of activities the government wants to encourage. In this case, it's the government of Arizona.

But that's not what seriously concerns the Progressives. The real concern is their opposition to school choice and the alarm at the lessening of their strangle hold to compel tax payers to keep the coffers of  the teacher's union full of tax dollars. For the children, they implore. 

Needless to say, the American Federation for Children today praised the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that maintains the constitutionality of a long-running Arizona scholarship tax credit program.

Recommendations for Lee's Summit R-7 School Board Election April 5th

I recommend YES for:

incumbent Vice President Jack Wiley
incumbent member John Plaas
newbie Mike Smith

The ballot can be found here.

I wonder if any of these gentlemen will make an effort to reimburse the tax payers for the unwarranted property tax ballot which was a mere 8 weeks prior to tomorrow's election?

Rhetorical question.

More of that 'New Civility'

I wonder if your tax dollars are subsidizing this.

 

From comments: "I'm constantly surprised at the high tolerance level of the left toward their own extreme hate and desire for others to die."

I'm not. It's seems to be central to Progressive Fascism.

Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder(R) Bills Tax Payers for 'Official'Travel Expenses

That might as well be the headline for this Post-Dispatch story. In essence, the PD expends 2,650 words to indirectly tell us that Sen. McCaskill's (D-MO) crap still stinks way worse than Kinder's.

"Since 2006, Kinder has billed the state for an average of more than two months per year at hotels in the St. Louis area.

Even with a discounted government rate, Kinder has charged taxpayers a total of $35,050 for at least 329 nights at hotels in St. Louis and St. Louis County during that time period. That includes 236 nights at the Chase and 42 nights at the downtown Four Seasons, his most frequented hotels.

The price tag doesn't include the cost of meals on those trips or the hotel and meal cost for dozens of trips elsewhere in the state that Kinder has taken at taxpayer expense."

A break down of expenses is listed here.

Near as I can gather from this plodding piece is that Kinder combines official business with glad handing, face time, and fund raising activities.

"The lieutenant governor, with a salary of about $86,600, is the lowest paid of Missouri's statewide elected officials and has the smallest staff. That has led some previous inhabitants of the office to treat the job as a part-time post.

Kinder, who is single, has embraced a full-time role, raising his profile enough that he has wide backing among the GOP to challenge (incumbent Missouri Governor Jay) Nixon(D) in 2012.

Along the way, Kinder has become a regular in St. Louis, sometimes mingling with campaign contributors during his taxpayer-funded visits."

In other words, typical politician sheenannigans. Does it look untoward? Yes. Should a fiscal conservative be more circumspect? Absolutely. But he files transparent accounts and audits have returned clean reports - unlike Sen. McCaskill's (D-MO) recent $360,000+ tax & expense account troubles.

A List of Campaign Contributions from Former KCUMB President Karen Pletz

From Open Secrets.

Search Criteria:
Donor name: Pletz
Donor State: MO
Cycle(s) selected: All

Total: $14,950.00

No big deal. Lots of people make political campaign contributions, and there is no evidence of any impropriety. But with civic leader and former Kansas City University of Medicine and Bio-sciences president Karen Pletz in the news for a 24-count federal indictment alleging she embezzled more than $1.5 million from the university, made false statements on her tax returns and engaged in money laundering, I thought it was an interesting bit of trivia.

There's no significant pattern other than Pletz exclusively donated to Missouri Republicans when she was associated with Central Bank,  and frequently donated to Democrats in her various positions as a university president. The biggest beneficiary from either group was Sen. Chris "i love earmarks" Bond (R).

"Pletz, 63, made her initial appearance at 10 a.m. before a federal magistrate. Her lawyer, Charles German, entered not-guilty pleas on her behalf to all the charges."

Why Veena Malik’s smackdown of a mullah was a seminal moment for feminism

From Susannah Fleetwood at the MRB:

"[This week], Allahpundit picked up the story of gorgeous Pakistani actress, Veena Malik, courageously going off on an Egyptian Mullah who accused her of “immorality” because he didn’t approve of her appearance, or the fact that that she appeared on an Indian equivalent of the television show Big Brother. Jonah Goldberg was the first major blogger to report on this story, and it has been all over the right-wing blogosphere ever since. So, what makes this a possible seminal moment for feminism instead of just another viral video? Well…several things."

Not surprisingly, Malik is receiving death threats from some adherents to the religion of perpetual outrage.

An excellent read. Click on over.

This Just In...

Army group says there ARE atheists in foxholes.

"People are increasingly much more likely to identify themselves with no particular religion, although that doesn't mean they're atheists. About half the nonreligious are still believers," Zuckerman said.

The Pentagon is studying religious diversity in part to make sure tensions in society at large don't become problems in the military."

Uh. That didn't really help too much in the case of Maj. Nidal Hasan.

Protests Over Koran Burning Kills 21, Scores more Wounded by Gun Fire

At least seven United Nations staff were murdered - two by beheading.

From the NY Times:

"Nine people were killed and 81 wounded in the disturbances, all from bullet wounds, said Abdul Qayoum Pakhla, head of the provincial health department. Kandahar has long been the heartland of the Taliban insurgency but has been relatively quiet in recent months since a surge of additional American troops arrived here.

The protests here came a day after a mob overran the headquarters of the United Nations in Mazar-i-Sharif, killing 12 people, 7 of them international staff members. The top United Nations official in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, blamed Taliban infiltrators for the killings, saying the victims were deliberately murdered rather than killed by an out-of-control mob. The mob gathered after three mullahs at Friday Prayer urged action in response to the Koran burning by a pastor, Terry Jones, in Florida on March 20.

In Kandahar, several thousand young men, shouting slogans calling for death to Americans and to the government of President Hamid Karzai, were still rioting after several hours on Saturday, setting tires on fire throughout the city, burning cars and attacking journalists trying to cover the disorder. Shops and businesses were closed, and most people stayed off the street. Many of the protesters were waving the white flag of the Taliban.

The police said that some of the protesters were armed, and Afghan authorities used live ammunition on occasion to quell the disturbances, which continued all day. Of the 16 arrested, 7 were armed, officials said."

The religion of perpetual outrage strikes again.

And not because this nut ball pastor in Florida is an angry attention whore, no better than those Westboro nutjobs, or religious bigots like Bill Maher, or hate mongering 'artists' who immerse a crucifix in urine. No, killers kill because they are killers, devoted to some misguided ideology of hate and violence.

Apparently, any excuse will do.

I wonder if Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), or useful idiots like CAIR, will be as vociferous in their denouncement of this murderous violence as they are of  Rep. Peter King's (R-N.Y.) timely hearings on the threat of the radicalization of American Muslims?

Rhetorical question.

Senior Vatican Delegation Reaffirms "Chosen" status of the Jews

 Papal political correctness.

"The Catholic delegation, led by Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejìa, “took the opportunity to reiterate the historic teaching of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate (No. 4) regarding the Divine Covenant with the Jewish People that “the Jews still remain most dear to God because of their Fathers, for He does not repent of the gifts He makes, nor of the calls He issues (cf. Romans 11:28- 29),” the commission’s joint statement said.

At the end of the Vatican Synod on the Middle East in October, Melkite Catholic Archbishop Cyril Salim Bustros, who headed the commission that drafted the synod’s final statement, raised a storm when he said that “we Christians cannot speak about the promised land for the Jewish people. There is no longer a chosen people.”

Jewish groups called on the Vatican to denounce that statement, and Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi played down Bustros’s remarks, which were not the official written message approved by the synod."

These pointy hat guys seriously need to re-read their Bible.

Matthew 22 and the Parable of the Wedding Feast, or Colossians 3, or Galatians 5, or Romans 3 lays it our pretty plain that the Jews were once ordained to be a blessing to the whole world, but since they reveled in their own wickedness, and would not repent (see Malachi), GOD bestowed that blessing upon all (gentiles) who have Faith in Christ.

It’s why it’s all called The New Covenant.

Krykee doodle. Keep them pointy hats away from me!

The Heart of Man is Evil

James 4

1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

Friday Night Hoopla

Counting Crows - Round Here

This is dedicated to all those GOP-ers in state houses and Congress.

"'Round here, we talk like lions, but we sacrifice like lambs..."



And that 's exactly what's gonna happen this time 'round, if all don't grow some great big Paul Bunyon cojones and beat the crap out of those entitlement nanny staters enslaving our grand kids to the Chi Coms!

You listening, John Andrew Boehner??

Is Obama Sr. Really Junior's Daddy?

Shame and embarrassment might be the sole reason for Obama's million dollar secret.

I like Donald Trump. He's good entertainment. I wouldn't vote for him as President, but he is a man who likes to poke alligators with sticks. This particular alligator is named 'birther.' It's getting long in the tooth, and ain't very productive, but it's still worth a bag of popcorn.

Yesterday on MSNBC, Mr. Trump announced that he's 'embracing' the birther issue.

"Trump, who is mulling a 2012 presidential bid, has been arguing it's possible President Obama wasn't born in the United States and therefore isn't eligible to be president (a claim by the so-called "birthers").

After getting little traction the last couple of years, except from tin-foil-hat fringe of the political spectrum, the 'show us the birth certificate' issue apparently is the thing that just won't die. The issue even knocked on the door of SCOTUS earlier this year with Hollister v. Soetoro, only to have the Court refuse to hear the matter.

It's estimated Obama has spent nearly a million dollars to keep the birth certificate sealed away from prying eyes. As a small concession to the 'birther' demands, Obama did release a 'Certificate of Live Birth' issued by the Honolulu hospital where he was born. That, however, is distinct and separate from an official Hawaiian birth certificate. His defenders insist that ends the matter.

 Trump stirred the 'birther' pot anew by appearing last week on ABC's wretched cluck fest, The View.

"I really believe there's a birth certificate," said Trump. "Why doesn't he show his birth certificate? And you know what? I wish he would. Because I think it's a terrible pail [sic] that's hanging over him. He should show his birth certificate."(VIDEO)

Predictably, Woopy Goldberg's knee jerked violently as she threw a race card Donald's way. He ducked. Trump also went on Good Morning America, the Laura Ingraham Show,  and Fox News' O'Reilly Factor to trumpet Obama as an 'impostor', and the lack of a public birth certificate as the 'greatest scam.'

All this has anti-birther, Obama supporters messing their diapers over Trump's aggressive media campaign about the thing that just won't die, with their own campaign to question Trump's character and intelligence.

Yet, in brilliant turn about, Trump lured these Lefty hyenas into a pile of their own squeeze when he released his 'certificate of live birth' issued by Jamaica hospital in Queens, NY, only to have the Lefties savage Trump for 'only' releasing the hospital certificate and not the actual official birth certificate! The very next day, Trump released his official N.Y. birth certificate. 'You've just proved my point' quickly silenced the hyenas.

I think Obama's sooper seekrit birth certificate has a very simple explanation which has nothing to do with whether or not he is a natural born American citizen (he is), or a closet Muslim allied with the forces of jihad (he's not), or a ringer with a bogus social security number and sealed collegiate records engaged in a tryst with zombie Karl Marx... (ok. maybe that's plausible).

I think the mystery surrounding his birth certificate has everything to do with Obama Jr.'s questionable parentage, and the fact that Barack Obama Sr. might not be his real father.

Author Jack Cashill lays out eveidence to unpack the mystery with four speculations concerning junior's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, with her 'shadow' marriage, and the quicky birth of her only son:

1)Ann Dunham and unknown Seattle male.

"Although this theory would make sense of the family’s abrupt move to Hawaii and Ann’s seemingly sudden departure to Seattle after Obama’s birth, it introduces too many variables I was unable to substantiate."

2)Barack Sr. and Ann Dunham

"A couple marries in a different county like Maui to keep the notification out of the local news. No one attended the wedding, not Abercrombie, not Ann’s parents. In fact, no one in Barack Sr.’s clique seemed to know there was a relationship, let alone a wedding. 

Neil Abercrombie’s brother, Hal, never saw Ann and Barack Sr. together. Another clique member, Pake Zane, who had distinct memories of the outsized Barack Sr., could not recall Ann at all. If the young couple were making its home on Kalanianole Hwy. as the newspaper announcements claim, some friend should have at least remembered"

3)Stanley Dunham (ann's father) and unknown black woman

"This theory makes sense of the secret marriage in Maui, Stanley’s enduring fondness for Barack Sr., the powerful resemblance between Stanley Dunham and Obama, and the Dunhams’ apparent willingness to subsidize mother and baby in Seattle." 

4)Ann Dunham and Frank Marshall Davis

"Were the married Davis the father, and had Dunham introduced his daughter to him, it may explain what Obama has described as "the complicated, unspoken transaction between the two men."  In this scenario, both would have had a vested interest in finding someone else to take the paternity rap. By keeping the marriage secret, they would have allowed Barack Sr. to continue living the life of a single man."

So why does Pres. Obama spend a million dollars to keep his birth records sealed to this day? Could it be that our President simply wants to shield the memory of his beloved mother from the shame and embarrassment of her flagrante delicto promiscuity? But in today's uber-liberal cultural wasteland of America, does anyone really care about a promiscuous mother and her bastard child? What other reason could there be to have a million dollar secret?

Jack Cashill explores the mystery that is Barack Hussein Obama at length in his new book "Deconstructing Obama."

Roger Aronoff at Accuracy in Media interviews Mr. Cashill about his new book here.

Colorado Secretary of State Finds 5,000 Non-citizens Voted in Colorado in 2010

From The Hill:

"Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler, a Republican, told the panel that his department’s study identified nearly 12,000 people who were not citizens but were still registered to vote in Colorado. Of those non-citizen registered voters, nearly 5,000 took part in the 2010 general election in which Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet narrowly defeated Republican John Buck.

Colorado conducted the study by comparing the state’s voter registration database with driver’s license records. “We know we have a problem here. We don’t know the size of it,” Gessler said in testimony to Administration’s Elections subcommittee. 

He told Harper that Colorado would look to create a registration system that would allow his department to ask that some people provide proof of their citizenship in writing."

From D.R. at DB: "Spokesmen for ACORN, La Raza, MEChA and the SEIU could not be reached for comment at press time."

Related: Kansas House sends voter ID bill to governor.

"Topeka — Kansas is expected to start requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls next year after a bill imposing the new rule won final approval Tuesday from the state Legislature.

The House voted 111-11 to accept the Senate’s version of legislation proposed by Secretary of State Kris Kobach as a way to fight potential election fraud. The measure goes next to Gov. Sam Brownback, who is expected to sign it.

The measure also includes Kobach’s proposal to require people who register for the first time to vote in Kansas to provide a birth certificate, passport or other proof of U.S. citizenship to election officials. But the bill delays that requirement until 2013, a year later than Kobach wanted."

Other states which either have voter photo ID or are strengthening existing ID laws are North Carolina, Missouri, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Ohio, Georgia, Indiana.

Illegal aliens and non-citizens, who mainly vote democrat, hardest hit.

Of course, the usual race pimp, democrat lackeys are calling 'foul', claiming Republicans hate old people, minorities and dogs, and that such ID requirements will disenfranchise their illegal voting blocs.

50 Easy April Fool’s Day Pranks

How about just a 'top ten list?" You can click over for the other forty.

10. Pour vegetable oil on the exhaust of someone’s car so it will smoke when started up.

9. Hide an alarm clock in someone’s bedroom and set it for 3:00 a.m.

8. Remove the shower head and place a Lifesavers candy in it, then put the head back on.

7. Remove the shower head and place a chicken bouillon cube in it, then put the head back on.

6. Rearrange somebody’s drawers or file cabinets in a different order.

5. Tape magnets to the bottom of a cup, put it on the roof of your car and drive around.

4. Put food coloring in the hand soap dispenser.

3. Put an ad in the paper for a garage sale at someone’s house beginning at 6 a.m.

2. Buy some underwear, write a co-worker’s name in them, leave them in the office bathroom.

1. Install the Blue Screen of Death screen-saver on someone’s computer.