If You Don't Believe Me, How About the Washington Post?

President Obama's budget kicks the hard choices further down the road: "THE PRESIDENT PUNTED. Having been given the chance, the cover and the push by the fiscal commission he created to take bold steps to raise revenue and curb entitlement spending, President Obama, in his fiscal 2012 budget proposal, chose instead to duck. To duck, and to mask some of the ducking with the sort of budgetary gimmicks he once derided."

A Fraud

Review & Outlook: The Cee Lo Green Budget - WSJ.com: "How unserious is this budget? Although the White House trumpets $2.18 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, those savings are so far off in the magical 'out years' that you can barely see them from here. More than 95% of the savings would happen after Mr. Obama's first term in the White House is over, and almost two-thirds of the promised deficit reduction would arrive after 2016. Pretending to cut deficits by pushing all real cuts into the future is Budget Flimflam 101."

And of course even those savings are based on ridiculous assumptions about economic growth.

This President has decided to abdicate his responsibilities as LEADER of the United States, hang back while the benighted Republicans try to bring the budget under control, and demagogue the hell out of them in his reelection campaign. How's that hope and change working out for you?

Thank Goodness We Have An Obama "Science-Based" Federal Government Now

Chris Tucker: EPA is a no-show in Texas fracking case | Chris Tucker | Op Eds | Washington Examiner: "Your task: Pin the presence of methane on Range Resources by trying to prove its wells in the Barnett represent the source of the natural gas in the water wells.

On Dec. 7, 2010, that’s precisely the argument that EPA put forth in issuing an unprecedented “emergency order” -- demanding, among other things, that Range plug up its wells and go home.

Just one problem: The isotopic analysis EPA used as the basis for its order doesn’t include a word about nitrogen; EPA never ran those tests.

Fortunately, experts from Weatherford Labs in Texas did. And at a hearing of the Texas Railroad Commission in Austin this week, those experts testified that the methane found in those private water wells in question came from the Strawn, not the Barnett.

What that means in practical geological terms is that Range isn’t (and in fact couldn’t be) responsible for the occurrence of methane in those wells – it has no wells in the Strawn."

Just another example, like the gulf spill commission, of how the Obama administration ignores science to serve the interests of the enviro-fascists that bankroll the Democrat party (oh, was that uncivil?). Meanwhile, the cost of energy in this country marches ever upward, and a resurgence in jobs is nowhere to be seen.  The Barnett shale formation in north Texas, and others like it across the country, represent a marvelous new source of clean domestic energy, and good jobs to go with it.  The EPA has become the Anti-Domestic-Energy Department.

Good news for panda-lovers (bad news for the rest of us) | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment

Good news for panda-lovers (bad news for the rest of us) | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "Wow, what a coup. J.P. Freire calls this wonderful feat of diplomacy “Obamagotation,” and adds, “So China gets to continue copyright infringement and manipulating their currency. We get two pandas.” Hey, at least it’s not three."

From one of the wittier sites on the web - the Daily Trawler. Check it out.

Worried About Income Inequality - Protect the Border!

Obama and Income Inequality: No New Brazils! - Newsweek

I'd argue Obama's main effort on immigration would, in fact, have made the
inequality problem at the bottom worse. A "comprehensive" bill would almost
certainly have attracted new illegals, but the efforts to stop them at the
border might well have failed, as they failed after a similar 1986 bill. The
result of that failure has been a looser labor market at the bottom. Lower
unskilled wages. Even the emergence of favela-like shantytowns in California. You want
Brazil? Obama's 2009-2010 immigration plan would bring us Brazil. Obama was
putting coalition politics--pleasing Latino voters, and especially Latino
politicians--over economics, at least egalitarian economics.

Exposes the hollowness of the President's concerns about income inequality. Very thoughtful and well written. Mr. Kaus, by the way, is a Democrat.

Time For a Doctrine of Pre-Emption in DOMESTIC Affairs - Ricochet.com

Time For a Doctrine of Pre-Emption in DOMESTIC Affairs - Ricochet.com: "One of the arguments for Bush's Afghanistan and Iraq policies was that we needed to take our our adversaries where they lived so we wouldn't be forced to live at home in a constant defensive crouch.

Well, that's how we conservatives have been forced to live in the world of domestic politics. Even after delivering the President an historic 'shellacking,' we have spent the month of December with our hearts in our throats, fighting off trillion dollar omnibus spending bills, and to achieve tax rate status quo, having to swallow a tax bill larded with Keynesian 'stimulus' that, like the last trillion dollar pork-a-thon will leave us no better off and another trillion deeper in debt."

Follow the link to Ricochet.com for the rest...

A Mind-Blowing Fact You Need to Memorize and Share

EDITORIAL: Obama's mourning in America - Washington Times: "China currently owns $1 trillion in U.S. debt in the form of Treasury bonds and notes. While this certainly is a large sum, it's not even a third of the staggering $3,211,613,265,584.56 in red ink added to the nation's ledgers under Mr. Obama's watch."

From a great editorial that enumerates the ways in which the President's rhetoric and demeanor are fostering "malaise." The recent poll in which Americans mistakenly opined that the China had surpassed the US in economic might is just one example. If they think China owns us now, just wait and see where we'll be if the Democrats' runaway federal spending isn't reined in by the Republicans.

Scary!

Biden Takes On More Influential Role for Obama - NYTimes.com

You know things are desperate when Biden becomes the Oracle of the Potomac. Talk about the one-eyed man in the land of the blind!

Global Warming's Done - Stick a Fork In It

Global warming has halted: That's what happened to 'warmest year on record' | Mail Online: "Actually, with the exception of 1998 - a 'blip' year when temperatures spiked because of a strong 'El Nino' effect (the cyclical warming of the southern Pacific that affects weather around the world) - the data on the Met Office's and CRU's own websites show that global temperatures have been flat, not for ten, but for the past 15 years."

Another leftist fraud exposed and put to rest. RIP Kyoto Treaty. RIP Cap and Trade. RIP AlGore.

Simple Question for the GM Cheerleaders in the MSM

GM selling at a loss should tell you something | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "If the federal government wanted to recoup its investment in GM, then the GM stock price should be much higher than the $33 initial price. In order to break even, as the Deal Journal reports, the stock price would have to rise to around $50 per share. So why is the Treasury Department selling off the company at a loss?"

Yes, how is this $33 IPO in the taxpayer's best interest if GM is such a successful turnaround story? Don't tell me the answer is that the government wants to allow GM to return expeditiously to private control. Post-IPO, GM is still the statists' automotive hobby horse.

Good Crises Make For Good Shake-downs

Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: Meet the New-Old GM - WSJ.com: "What would the pre-crash GM have been worth if relieved of $80 billion in IOUs? Assume a 5% yield on GM debt and nine-to-one price-earnings ratio on the stock. The answer (for sake of argument) is $61 billion. This shouldn't be surprising. GM's progress on labor costs, quality and new models were all in the pipeline before its Chapter 11 filing. The main achievement of bankruptcy was a redistribution of rights from GM's creditors to a worrisome and conflicted new set of equity owners, namely the U.S. and Canadian governments and the United Auto Workers."

This shouldn't be surprising. GM's progress on labor costs, quality and new models were all in the pipeline before its Chapter 11 filing. The main achievement of bankruptcy was a redistribution of rights from GM's creditors to a worrisome and conflicted new set of equity owners, namely the U.S. and Canadian governments and the United Auto Workers

.

Great article. Explains how, at the end of the day, the GM bailout, via government-orchestrated bankruptcy, had only one distinguishing feature from a traditional bankruptcy - it allowed the Dems to steal billions of dollars in equity from private parties and hand it to the UAW. Crony capitalism. Kleptocracy. Did I mention that the orchestrator, Rattner, has pled no contest and agreed to pay a multi-million dollar fine related to an influence peddling charge from the SEC?

This Scandal Will Be Investigated

Findings from the Inspector General (IG) inquiry into the administration's handling of the Gulf oil drilling ban:

Review & Outlook: Science and the Drilling Ban - WSJ.com: "The IG findings include no evidence the decision to shut down an entire industry—at a huge cost to jobs and long-term drilling safety—was done with input from engineers, scientists, economists or anyone with day-to-day oversight of U.S. drilling. S. Elizabeth Birnbaum, former head of the Minerals Management Service, which oversees offshore drilling, said she learned about the ban from a deputy, and only after the fact. Preparation for the Interior drilling report was tasked to Steve Black, a lawyer who is officially the Counselor to Mr. Salazar. Yet Mr. Black told the IG the ban was 'a policy decision made by Secretary Salazar and President Obama.' Though Mr. Salazar issued the report, the IG says final edits to the summary were done by Ms. Browner's office."

Callous, reckless, ideological, indefensible. Injurious to our energy security. But who cares? The area impacted didn't vote for Obama. Browner is going to finally have to answer some questions when the new Congress is in session.

Obama's Singular Focus - Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Offshore drilling still on hold - Nov. 12, 2010: "NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- President Obama lifted his moratorium on deepwater oil drilling nearly a month ago, but the government still hasn't issued any new permits in the Gulf of Mexico.

And most analysts say permits will be slow in coming through 2011."

Thank goodness the "special interests" aren't getting in the way of employment and energy security in the Gulf!

This Is An Ingenious Plan

Jenkins, Jr.: The GOP Can Outsmart ObamaCare - WSJ.com

I think this plan really has promise for "infecting" Obamacare with free market innovations. Read it. Send it to your representatives with your endorsement.

In battle for Senate control, could GOP win by losing? - Washington Times

In battle for Senate control, could GOP win by losing? - Washington Times

This is exactly what I have been saying. "winning" the Senate by a one vote margin buys you virtually nothing, except expectations that are impossible to meet.

Obama the Thinker? - WSJ.com

Obama the Thinker? - WSJ.com: "Occam's razor suggests that Obama is a mere conformist--someone who absorbed every left-wing platitude he encountered in college and never seems to have seriously questioned any of them. Kloppenberg characterizes Obama as a skeptic, not a true believer. We're not sure he has an active enough mind to be either one."

Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’ | CNSnews.com

Debt Has Increased $5 Trillion Since Speaker Pelosi Vowed, ‘No New Deficit Spending’ | CNSnews.com

'Nuff said.

One Year After Obama Wins Nobel, World Looks for Signs of Peace - ABC News

One Year After Obama Wins Nobel, World Looks for Signs of Peace - ABC News: "One year after the Nobel prize jury made its controversial decision to award President Obama the prize for world peace, a larger jury is still waiting for the president to live up to those lofty expectations. 

Even some of Obama's allies -- like former Nobel laureates Al Gore and Jimmy Carter -- declined to assess his performance in fulfilling what the peace prize citation said was his 'vision' of world harmony.

The one year anniversary of Obama's prize comes as fighting is escalating in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq continues to smolder and Obama struggles to keep fledgling Middle East peace talks from collapsing. Drones are firing missiles in unprecedened numbers and confrontations with Iran and North Korea are hotter than ever.

In addition, wars rage in Somalia, Africa, Asia and South America, fueled by religion, tribal hatreds, poverty and piracy."

'nuff said

The Pot Calls the Kettle Black

Obama backs off charge that foreign money is funding Chamber ads | The Daily Caller - Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: "President Obama on Sunday stepped back from categorical charges he made earlier this week that foreign money was funding conservative TV campaign ads, telling a rally in Philadelphia only that such a scenario was possible.

The softening of Obama’s language reflects the impact of a Saturday report on the issue by the New York Times, which concluded that charges originally made by a blog run by a Democratic-aligned think tank were baseless."

While Obama's charges were baseless, it is a fact that the Obama campaign made no effort to identify or exclude illegal foreign contributions during the 2008 campaign. More Alinksy-style "accuse your opponents of your own transgressions" propaganda.

Enviro-Hysteria? Unheard of...

One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again | Mail Online: "Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.

A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well."