An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for December 2011
Green Dream Fraud
A Bad Year for Obama’s Green Dream
The Foundry
For President Barack Obama, 2011 began with a bang — a bold pronouncement that his green dream for America would bring forth a jobs explosion and a new economy fueled by alternative energy, a vision he likened to President John F. Kennedy’s “moon shot” in the 1960s. Much to Obama’s chagrin, the year has ended in a whimper with his green energy “sun shot” sputtering to the ground before it even took off.
The President set the bar awfully high in his State of the Union Address last January, hailing alternative clean energy as “our generation’s Sputnik moment” and claiming that it would be ”an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people.” The President said, “Already, we’re seeing the promise of renewable energy.” Unfortunately, what the President predicted is much different than what the rest of the country experienced in the ensuing year. The jobs that the President promised didn’t materialize, and his green energy investments are careening into the ground, not shooting to the moon.
“Religion of Peace”?
As if further proof were needed of the fecklessness of Western civilization when confronting savagery, consider the destruction of the Institut d’Egypte in Cairo this month. Once again, the world watched helplessly while a horde of Muslim rioters wantonly annihilated a piece of history, and thus served warning that its cultural jihad against the West will advance until we stop it.
The Institut was founded by Napoleon in 1798 during his campaign in Egypt and Syria. Its ranks have included scholars from all walks of life, dedicated to researching Egyptian culture from antiquity to the present. The building, near Tahrir Square — the center of the protests that have marked the Arab Spring in Egypt — was filled with some 200,000 rare books and manuscripts. Gone now, burned in a fire, set off by a mob, that raged for more than 12 hours.
Isn’t past time that the West wake up to one blatantly OBVIOUS FACT? Islam is NOT a ‘religion of peace’! There is only ‘peace’ if you agree with their 7th century way of life, and even then, the violence against women and children are just all part of the whole Islamic way of life! No ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is neither a ‘religion’ nor ‘peaceful’ by any stretch of the imagination! It is, to put it quite bluntly, a cult of evil. Evil destroys, and that’s exactly what Islam does. It destroys! How much knowledge has been destroyed because of these animals, we’ll never know. It’s been lost forever! How much beautiful art has been burned, blown up, defaced due their ignorance? Again, no one can be sure. We did see the destruction of the Buddhist statues first hand though, didn’t we, and this is how they have pushed their way into every corner of the earth, with death and destruction!
Does anyone actually believe our founding documents would be safe with a take over of these pigs? Do you think the Lincoln or Jefferson monuments would be safe from the explosives? How about the Library of Congress, and the Archives? Would they survive the Caliphate? Don’t be on it! It would be just more knowledge lost to future generations because we have done nothing to stop in slow invasion of Islamonazis. We allow terrorist supporting organizations like CAIR to dictate what we can and cannot do. Offend a Muslim? Get sued, or have your life threatened! Or even die.
The media fails to report a great deal to the public, and in their lack of facts, are complicit with the government of the U.S. Fourteen human beings were slaughtered, and 30 injured by a radical Muslim, shouting allah hu akbar, and they call it “work place violence“. A man murders his family, dressed as Santa, and it’s domestic violence, and he was having problems. Gee, ya think? Problem is, the media failed to mention that Santa was a Muslim and his daughter was dating a non Muslim. And what about the ‘lone wolf’ type? Unfortunately, they aren’t really alone. They have their Qu’ran giving them orders to murder non Muslims. The list of offenses of Muslims against non Muslims increases daily, yet, we do nothing to stop it. Why? Instead of stopping the influx of these oh so peaceful people, we actually bring more and more into the country. Yet do nothing to help the Christians who are being persecuted in Egypt, Iraq, and Nigeria, just to name a few.
Oh, there may be some Muslims who would prefer to live peacefully, but the numbers are few, and rarely do they speak out against the actions of their fellow Muslims. When they do, they are threatened, and typically live in fear for their lives. There is nothing peaceful about Islam, and it is not a religion. It is a cult of death, that happily sacrifices it’s children to promote more death. Moloch frequently comes to mind. It is a political system, that controls every aspect of life, and none are given free will, started by a raving lunatic, and murderous pedophile. How much more evidence do people need before waking up to the reality? These are NOT our friends! And we should do everything possible to rid ourselves of such a cult of thugs creeping onto our shores.
Our 1st Amendment gives us freedom OF religion. Muslims have taken that phrase, and turned it into a weapon to use against us. We have been MORE than tolerant of these interlopers. It’s a shame the same can’t be said of them. Time to shut the door, lock it, and take up arms against those who would murder our children to appease their god.
Three Years Under Obama
6 days old, but still relevant, and will be until Obama is tossed out on his keister!
Ann on 2012
Looking at this ‘voter guide’, as well as this one, I am really starting to question Ann’s sanity. I know she is quite conservative, or at least, she was. What has changed? And what the blazes does “mixed” mean?
by Ann Coulter
In the upcoming presidential election, two issues are more important than any others: repealing Obamacare and halting illegal immigration. If we fail at either one, the country will be changed permanently.
Taxes can be raised and lowered. Regulations can be removed (though they rarely are). Attorneys general and Cabinet members can be fired. Laws can be repealed. Even Supreme Court justices eventually die.
But capitulate on illegal immigration, and the entire country will have the electorate of California. There will be no turning back.
Similarly, if Obamacare isn’t repealed in the next few years, it never will be.
America will begin its ineluctable descent into becoming a worthless Western European country, with rotten health care, no money for defense and ever-increasing federal taxes to support the nanny state.
So let’s consider which of the Republican candidates are most likely to succeed at these objectives.
Visit The Pyramids! NOT!
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Welcomes Tourists
According to a Muslim Brotherhood official, the political party wants to boost tourism numbers to Egypt and will not take steps that would harm the industry.
The strong showing by Islamists in Egypt’s staggered parliamentary poll has aroused fears among liberals and others in Egypt that it could lead to rules that would ban alcohol sales and outlaw mixed bathing in popular resorts.
Tourism is Egypt’s top foreign currency earner, accounting for more than a tenth of gross domestic product and employing an estimated one in eight of the workforce.
Essam el-Erian, deputy head of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said accusations that the Islamists rise to power would harm tourism were “rumours” circulated by remnants of the party of deposed President Hosni Mubarak to influence voters.
Perhaps the folks of Egypt should have considered the tourist industry before they went nuts for the Islamists? I don’t know about you, but Egypt is the one of the LAST places on earth I would go right now. I guess we should have gone when we were in the area back in 2008. I just don’t trust those people! For very obvious reasons. Obvious, that is, if you’ve been paying close attention to the happenings in the region.
“No citizen who makes a living from this field should be concerned,” Erian said in statements carried by the party’s website while addressing voters in Sinai ahead of the third stage of the election in January.
He said the party wanted to draw in 20 million tourists a year to Egypt, compared to the more than 12 million that visited before the uprising against Mubarak and subsequent political upheaval that sent tourists packing.
Yeah, I’ve no doubt Mubarak needed to be sent packing, but the direction they are heading may end up being 10 times worse than that dictator handed them. Not to mention the danger these thugs have put the Copts in on a daily basis. Apparently, these people think that 8 million more tourist will be glad to come to their country? Seems to be, all they have done is swap one dictator for another, even more oppressive one. Conrats D’Bama for encouraging the insanity. 
Erian said laws regarding alcohol would not be changed and the party would not support legislation that might harm the industry. Alcohol is sold at hotels across Egypt and can also be bought at specialised shops and some licensed restaurants.
But he hinted the Brotherhood would seek to curb some aspects of public consumption, but only based on existing laws.
“The current law has punishments in this regard (to alcohol). We won’t add to it nor modify it but drinking alcohol won’t be in the streets,” he said, without giving details.
Under Egyptian law, anyone caught drunk in a public place can be imprisoned for up to six months, but the law is only sporadically enforced.
I kind of get the feeling they don’t want Americans in the country, spending their dollars on tourism. And they especially don’t want folks from Wisconsin. (heh) Seriously, I’m not a drinker, so such rules wouldn’t apply to me anyway, but who is to say they won’t make crap up, accusing people of doing something that is against their laws just because that person if from a certain country, or is not a Muslim? The idea of charging and sentencing tourists, and then demanding money for said tourist’s release wouldn’t be completely out of the norm for Islamist. Nope….don’t trust them at all! I’d much rather go back to Israel, where I felt completely safe. Well, except for in the Muslim territories.
Erian suggested there was broad agreement among Egypt’s political forces to keep, without modification, the first four articles of the constitution, including the one saying “the principles of Islamic (Shariah) law are the principle source of legislation”.
And, there ya go! “The principles of Islamic (Shariah) law” is about as oppressive as they come. American tourists and Shariah don’t mix. Respecting the laws of the country you are visiting is a really good idea, however, when said country’s law is contrary to everything a person believes in, such as FREEDOM, then there is definitely a conflict. Just sayin’.
It’s not a phobia if they really want to kill you!
“…Abridging The Freedom of Speech…”
Abridge – deprive, diminish
The Unintended Consequences of Internet Regulation
The Foundry
Would you be outraged if the Department of Justice shut down The Foundry without any warning and blocked access for more than a year?
That’s exactly what happened to a hip-hop blog called Dajaz1.com, which was falsely accused of criminal copyright infringement. The blog posted music from artists promoting their work. But federal authorities viewed it differently. They seized the domain name, then shared virtually no information with its owner for more than year. Only recently did they quietly drop the case.
The government’s handling of this hip-hop blog is fueling fears about legislation moving quickly through Congress that addresses copyright infringement and online piracy.
The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA as it’s known in the House, and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act would give the U.S. attorney general the power and authority to block criminal enterprises from trafficking in illegal products online.
Their cause is a noble one. Business incur significant losses when Americans buy counterfeit items. Consumers must also be increasingly vigilant about purchases they make online. Federal authorities shut down more than 150 websites just last month for pirated goods.
State Champions
Pee In The Cup
Drug testing for workers’ comp, welfare sparks worries
Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey expects Tennessee will put in place a law that requires drug tests for people drawing government assistance or workers’ compensation. Other high-ranking Republicans aren’t so sure.
What’s not to be sure about?
The House speaker and the governor have voiced concerns about the cost and whether federal rules that govern the programs, including food stamps and welfare, give the state enough flexibility to start drug-testing programs that can survive a legal challenge.
Well, what you do, see, is take the cost out of whatever monetary benefits said testee will be getting. Yup. Charge them for the test. If they pass, fine. If they fail, just think how much money the state would save by not paying said benefits for the flunker. Our hard earned money should not be supporting someone’s drug habit. So, what’s the problem?
Ramsey, R-Blountville, recently told the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce that a similar proposal last legislative session carried a $12 million price tag but did not take into account the savings the state or employers will see from cutting off benefits to drug users.
See? It really would come out to our benefit. And, like I said, make the testee pay for the test. If they want state and federal benefits, then while they are looking for employment, they should be stone cold sober, right? Not to mention the test should be given on a monthly basis, with the cost being deducted from any compensation they’d receive.
“This is your money that we’re trying to protect here,” Ramsey told the business group. “Folks, we don’t need to give any support to that lifestyle.”
Ramsey said he’s confident that lawmakers will be able to make a strong case based on other states’ experience that the proposal would be revenue neutral.
Why, oh why, isn’t Ron Ramsey our governor instead the RINO we got? sigh….
House Speaker Beth Harwell said that while she agreed with the aim of the drug-testing proposal, addressing the state’s financial picture is a bigger priority.
“With the budgetary constraints that we face in this state, we want to make sure that those who are receiving assistance from the state are qualified and are doing everything they personally can do to take care and provide for themselves,” said Harwell, a Nashville Republican. “I think there will be a thorough discussion, but I think it’s too early to predict whether it will pass.”
If our state legislators don’t give a damn about spending OUR money on junkies and drunks, then I really don’t think they should be sitting in Nashville with the power to take from us, and give to them, do you? How about we use some common sense once in a while? The state’s financial picture includes giving benefits to people who don’t deserve them. I’d say that’s a pretty big priority as well, and it would end up saving US in the long run.
Gov. Bill Haslam said recently that he hasn’t seen specifics of the proposal but that there are still a series of questions that need to be addressed.
“We need to see what sort of federal leeway we have there, and I haven’t gotten that data back yet,” he said. “And No. 2, who would implement that and how would it be implemented?”
Ya know, Haslam is pretty nice guy, but I’m not all that impressed with him in a leadership role. Those questions that need to be addressed includes how much will this save the state of Tennessee in the long run. I’d say, quite a bit. And honestly, has anyone looked at the 10th Amendment lately? Stop handing over power that belongs to the state to the feckless…I mean federal government. Sheesh!
Florida became the first state to enact drug testing for welfare applicants since Michigan tried and failed more than a decade ago. Michigan’s random drug-testing program for welfare recipients lasted five weeks in 1999 before it was halted by a judge, kicking off a four-year legal battle that ended with an appeals court ruling it unconstitutional.
How is it unconstitutional? If that’s the case, then no company should be allowed to drug test either. If I own a company, I’m going to make sure I don’t have people who are high working in my business. It’s BAD for the business, and there are major safety concerns. The same should apply for those getting “free stuff”. It shouldn’t be free to them. Drug use is a crime. Why reward criminal behavior? They should earn the benefits! I’m kind of fed up with judges making decisions contrary to the will of the people. This is one area where Newt is right. These libtards bozos have no business changing the laws to suit THEIR political agenda. They do NOT have that power, however, they have taken it away from the people. Oklahoma is a good example.
H/T: Rod Williams via Facebook
Not Just NO, But HELL NO!
The White House plans to ask Congress by the end of the week for an increase in the government’s debt ceiling to allow the United States to pay its bills on time, according to a senior Treasury Department official on Tuesday.
The approval is expected to go through without a challenge, given that Congress is in recess until later in January and the request is in line with an agreement to keep the U.S. government funded into 2013.
Uh…no Bubba…what you NEED is your sorry ass kicked to the curb, and as soon as is humanly possible! And anyone who allows you to suck any more money from our pockets needs to be in the gutter with you!!
Payroll Tax Cut Spin
I know I can’t be the only one who KNOWS a full year, also known as 12 months, of the payroll tax cut is BETTER than a miniscule 2 months.
A Whole Generation Of Ingrates!
Fellow blogger, Peter, linked this article from the 15th yesterday on Facebook. To say I’m dumbstruck is an understatement!
It is part of the sweet Christmas tradition for children across the country, penning a festive wish list to Santa, hoping they are not on the naughty list.
While most youngsters do everything to keep on Santa’s good side, one schoolgirl has torn up tradition and used her festive wish list to issue Father Christmas with an ultimatum: gifts or he gets it.
Demanding Mekeeda Austin, 13, warned Father Christmas that he will be ‘killed’ if he fails to deliver at least two of her long list of lavish gifts.
Ya know, it’s pretty bad when there are kids who have the mentality they are owed, and deserve, every damn thing they want, or will threaten violence if they don’t get it. But what’s even worse than the little ingrates? The parents of said useless child!
But her mother Tracey, 40, is not punishing her for the letter and has vowed to meet her daughter’s demands saying: ‘You don’t want to get on the wrong side of Mekeeda.’
She said: ‘When I first found the letter I thought it was funny, now I think I better get her what she wants, the last thing I want is for her to kill Santa.
Seriously? Woman, you have bigger problems on your hands than you realize!
‘I know it sounds like she is spoilt but I like to get my daughter what she wants also you don’t want to get on the wrong side of her.’
And Mekeeda doesn’t seem to have any problem with being put on Father Christmas’ naughty list.
The Year Nine pupil said: ‘I was angry because I thought I wasn’t going to get all the presents I wanted this year. Even though my mum found the note I still think I will get most of the things I want.
‘I don’t see any problem with the letter, I want all of these things and I don’t see why I shouldn’t get them.’
And neither the parent, nor the rotten little….girl….sees a problem here? First off, the little……girl….should be served that ‘letter to Santa’ for dinner. With ‘chips’! Second, she needs to be turned over mum’s knee, and have a serious hide tanning!
And stay-at-home mother Tracey says she will endeavour to deliver all the presents, even though she suspects Mekeeda will lose the Blackberry.
She said: ‘I would fly over Austin Mahone and Justin Bieber, but I guess they will be busy with their own families on Xmas day.
‘She loses phones constantly, so I know the Blackberry won’t be in her possession for long, but she will be furious if she doesn’t get one.
‘So I’ll probably be getting her a phone and some money. She is a lovely girl but can be very demanding.
Lovely girl? Woman, are you freakin’ serious? She’s a spoiled rotten little b*tch, and deserves NOTHING! Present are NOT what Christmas is about and YOU are the reason she’s ‘demanding’.
The Good, Bad, & Ugly of Education
Top 10 Education Stories of 2011
The Foundry
There was no lack of education news in 2011. From an explosion in school choice options to the Obama Administration’s executive overreach, the top stories included the high and low lights when it came to issues affecting America’s schools.
10. Obama Administration orchestrates for-profit university witch hunt. On June 2, the Department of Education issued restrictive new regulations targeting “for-profit” higher education institutions. The new “gainful employment” regulation restricts access to student loans for students attending for-profit institutions (like Capella University or the University of Phoenix, for instance) if the school’s average debt-to-earnings ratio exceeds 12 percent of a graduate’s income. The net result? De-facto government price controls on a sector meeting the needs of students historically underserved by traditional universities.
9. Obama forgives student loans. In November, President Obama traveled to the University of Colorado-Boulder to announce his plan to forgive federal student loans — a demand made, notably, by the Occupy Wall Street crowd. Students cannot be required to pay more than 10 percent of their discretionary income on loan payments, all of which will be forgiven after 20 years. Sadly, this executive overreach shifts the burden of paying for college from the students who are directly benefiting from having attended college, to the nearly three-quarters of Americans who did not graduate from college.
Money Nuts
Harry Reid and Rainbow Farting Unicorns
Sen. Harry Reid’s Unicorns: Fact Checking a Whopper
Tax policy should be serious business carried out by serious politicians using real facts and figures. This is why we have the Library of Congress and the Congressional Budget Office, among other expert institutions.
How can we take Congress seriously when the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, makes patently inaccurate, outrageous and bizarre claims on an important tax-policy issue without any heads being turned? I guess this is what we have come to expect of Congress. No wonder citizens with favorable opinions of Congress are as rare as unicorns, to borrow a phrase.
Congress’ ratings suck because Congress sucks. It’s pretty much that simple. We have no trust in a body of arrogant back stabbers who are suppose to be working for US, not against us at every turn.
Harry Reid’s statement on December 6 on his proposed 1.9 percent surtax on million-dollar incomes has kicked up some dust. Here is his statement:
“Millionaire job creators are like unicorns. They’re impossible to find, and they don’t exist… Only a tiny fraction of people making more than a million dollars, probably less than 1 percent, are small business owners. And only a tiny fraction of that tiny fraction are traditional job creators…Most of these businesses are hedge fund managers or wealthy lawyers. They don’t do much hiring and they don’t need tax breaks.”
I’m tellin’ ya….this guy needs to be put out to pasture! Millionaire’s don’t create jobs? Really? What has Bill Gates been doing? How about Steve Jobs? I guess they had their own unicorn’s farting rainbows filled with pots of gold, eh? The dud shows all the signs of being either in early onset of Alzheimers or he is just flat out insane, and in need of a heavy dose of thorazine!
Taking their cue, National Public Radio launched a search for one millionaire job creator. They triumphantly announced:
“NPR requested help from numerous Republican congressional offices, including House and Senate leadership. They were unable to produce a single millionaire job creator for us to interview.”
Really? Ya know, I find it absolutely amazing that no matter what we say, we are still funding NPR. What a bunch of useless libtards. And they still beg for more from clueless listeners. I seriously doubt they could survive in the real world where the market actually dictated the need for their, uh….non-services.
Were it not for Google, I would have accepted Harry Reid’s unicorn story and NPR’s confirmation. Unlike Harry Reid’s office, I went to the IRS’s Table 1.4 “Sources of income, adjustments, and tax size of adjusted gross income, 2009” to check things out. (I summarize my sources in a separate blog posting). Here is what I found:
There are 236,883 tax filers with incomes of a million dollars or more. By Harry Reid’s count, only one percent, or 2,361 of them, are business owners, and a tiny fraction of them create jobs. I do not know what Harry means when he says “a tiny fraction of a tiny fraction.” If we let 5 percent represent Harry’s “tiny fraction,” we are left with 118 businesses owners who earn a million or more and create jobs. Yes, they are only slightly less rare than unicorns, if Harry is to be believed.
This leaves 236,765 million-dollar-plus tax payers, most of whom are “hedge fund managers and wealthy lawyers” who “don’t create jobs and don’t need tax breaks.”
I would have to say that Reid’s staff is totally incompetent. But then, so is Reid, so I guess they’re all a good match. Heed the words Mr Reid: Google is your friend. Or if you prefer, Bing will also aid you in your search for a fact or two.
My Google search for Harry Reid’s quarter million hedge fund managers and wealthy lawyers came up empty handed. I could identify at most sixteen thousand “wealthy lawyers and hedge fund managers,” not Harry Reid’s quarter million.
Well, Harry Reid’s numbers leave much to be desired, but maybe he is right that millionaire business owners do not create jobs.
What does the IRS have to say about this? Millionaire tax filers earn a total taxable income of $623 billion, on which they pay the highest average rate (30 percent) of any tax bracket. (Either Warren Buffet’s secretary has an incompetent tax accountant or Buffet has some pretty juicy tax breaks. I think the latter is more likely). A 1.9 percent tax surcharge on million-dollar-earners would yield $11 billion, assuming those shifty millionaires take no evasive action to avoid the tax.
I’m more inclined to say that Warren Buffet has lost what little sense he has, and will soon be sharing a rubber room with Harry Reid. While there are many people who are totally clueless, and will not do any investigation for themselves, there are just as many who WILL. This leaves people like Buffet, Reid, Pelosi, and D’Bama with a dilemma. What to do about the folks who aren’t as stupid as they believe? Well, they are doing their darnedest to silence any dissent from their rainbows and unicorn scenario, of course!
Millionaire tax filers earn $221 billion – almost a quarter of a trillion — from business and professions, partnerships, and S-corporations. This is puzzling: If Harry Reid’s figure is correct (2,361 millionaire businesses), then the average millionaire-owned business earns almost a hundred million dollars, and all, except 118 of them, do this without hiring anyone. These super heroes do their own typing, selling, drafting. public relations, building, and manufacturing. They do not need employees. Remarkable!
I wonder, since Harry Reid has become quite rich off the backs of the taxpayers, does he actually create any private sector jobs? Hmmm… Evidently, all those real business folks have managed to become quite wealthy (good on them) without doing a thing. How can I get into that racket? Not that I care about being rich or anything, but I’d really like to learn how these folks manage it without producing any products that the public wants, or without hiring hundreds or even thousands to not produce anything.
To summarize:
Millionaire tax filers earn almost a quarter trillion dollars from their businesses. They must hire hundreds of thousands of employees to do so.
There are a trivial number of millionaire hedge-fund managers and wealthy lawyers (who, according to Harry, do not hire anyone and don’t need tax breaks). The millionaire tax surcharge is not aimed at them, but at the tens of thousands of millionaire business owners.
To put it in ol’ broad terms…. Harry Reid is full of caca de toro!
“Habits of the Heart”
Faith in America
The Foundry
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time,” Thomas Jefferson once wrote. “The hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them.” Among the American Founders, there was a profound sense that faith and freedom were deeply intertwined.
Nowadays, we are often told that religion is divisive and ought to kept away from politics for the sake of liberty. Religion somehow is opposed to liberty, and so liberty requires a diminution of religion in the public square.
The view long consistent with our historical practice, though, is that of America’s Founders, who advanced religious liberty so as to strengthen religious faith and its influence on American self-government. All had a natural right to worship God as they chose, according to the dictates of their consciences. At the same time, the Founders upheld religion and morality–to paraphrase Washington’s Farewell Address–as indispensable supports of good habits, the firmest props of the duties of citizens, and the great pillars of human happiness.
Religious liberty neither settles nor dismisses the claims of reason and revelation to teach the most important things for human beings to know. But it does create a practical solution–after thousands of years of failed attempts–at the level of politics and political morality. It established a form of government that is sanctioned by human nature and open to moral reasoning, the legitimacy of which does not depend on the truth of any particular religious denomination.
