No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

January 16, 2011

MLK spoke like a conservative

by @ 18:23. Filed under Miscellaneous.

The following is an entry I posted on MLK Day 2008 on my blog at FranklinNOW.com:

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

Martin Luther King Jr. in his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963.

On more than one occasion on Channel 10’s InterCHANGE, I’ve surmised that if alive today, King would oppose affirmative action. He would denounce racial quotas.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

That sounds to me like a perfect conservative value.

Character- conservative candidates say it matters, and conservative voters look for it in various candidates.

On this Martin Luther King Day, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial page editor Paul Greenberg says:

“Martin Luther King Jr. meets the very definition of an American conservative, that is, someone dedicated to preserving the gains of a liberal revolution.

After he was gone, a new black intelligentsia arose that knew not Martin. His would not be the name embroidered on the baseball caps of another generation. The legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. would give way to the frustrations of a Malcolm X, the demagoguery of a Louis Farrakhan, and the general hucksterism of the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons.

You can tell a lot about an age by the heroes it chooses. While the Malcolms and Farrakhans come and go in favor, Martin Luther King Jr. remains the standard by which all other leaders are measured, and not just black leaders. That’s a hopeful sign.”
—Kevin Fischer blog, 1/21/08

Given King’s famous remarks, it makes one wonder why so many liberals today relish playing the race card. Wouldn’t King find that offensive and insulting to minorities?

Recommended Reading (01/16/11)

by @ 18:17. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend:

Liberals seek a ban on metaphors in wake of Arizona shooting

“Every time liberals produce an example of military lingo from a Republican – ‘we’re going to target this district’ — Republicans produce five more from the Democrats.

President ‘whose asses to kick’ Obama predicted ‘hand-to-hand combat’ with his political opponents and has made such remarks as ‘if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun’ — making Obama the first American president to advocate gun fights since Andrew Jackson.

These are figures of speech known as ‘metaphors.’ (Do liberals know where we got the word ‘campaign’?)

By blaming a mass killing on figures of speech, liberals sound as crazy as Loughner with his complaints about people’s grammar. Maybe in lieu of dropping all metaphors, liberals should demand we ban metonyms so that tragedies like this will never happen again.”

The progressive “climate of hate:” An illustrated primer, 2000-2010

“The Tucson massacre ghouls who are now trying to criminalize conservatism have forced our hand. They want to play tu quo que in the middle of a national tragedy? They asked for it. They got it.”

The hateful left

“‘The Left’s sudden talk about incendiary political rhetoric in the wake of the Arizona shooting isn’t really about political rhetoric at all. It’s about the real-world failure of leftist policies everywhere—the bankrupting of nations and states by greedy unions and unfundable social programs, the destruction of inner cities by identity politics, and the appeasement of Muslim extremists in the face of worldwide jihad, not to mention the frequently fatal effects of delirious environmentalism.”

Jared Loughner was a Tea Partier (and I’m am Atheist River Dancer Who Hates Hunting)

“I bet you Lefties in D.C. and in the Blame Stream Media really sucked at playing connect the dots in first grade, didn’t you?”

The 11 most ludricous free passes given to the Obamas

“What burns conservatives most of all is the refusal of the journalistic community to do its job where Obama is involved. Historically, the American press tends to be hard on a sitting president and the American people expect it. This keeps everybody honest. Never have we witnessed the media so willing to forgo its purpose for the advancement of one man”

Let’s break out the chainsaws

“I want to give Speaker John Boehner the benefit of the doubt. Really, I do. But it’s hard when he fumbles the gimmes like he did in an interview with Brian Williams of NBC News.

Dude. You’re on national television and you can’t name one useless government program? Tell me again why we elected you Speaker?

I’m no career politician but I can come up with 5 things to cut without breaking a sweat.”

Eek! A male!

“Last week, the lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, Timothy Murray, noticed smoke coming out of a minivan in his hometown of Worcester. He raced over and pulled out two small children, moments before the van’s tire exploded into flames. At which point, according to the AP account, the kids’ grandmother, who had been driving, nearly punched our hero in the face.

Why?

Mr. Murray said she told him she thought he might be a kidnapper.”

January 14, 2011

Friday Hot Read – Michelle Malkin’s “Blame Righty: A condensed history”

by @ 9:20. Filed under Politics - National.

In her column today, Michelle Malkin outlined nine different episodes of violence from either leftists or non-partisan nuts originally blamed by the presstitutes, liberal activists (though we repeat ourselves), and Democrat politicians on the right. Read the column, and remember the close to the expanded introduction she includes on her blog:

The solution isn’t to “tone it down” and turn the other cheek, but to confront them forcefully with the facts — and to fight back unapologetically against insidious efforts to diminish the law-abiding, constitutionally-protected, peaceful, vigorous political speech and activism of the Right in the name of repressive “civility”.

January 13, 2011

The “New Tone”, Wisconsin edition

by @ 7:56. Filed under Compassionate Lieberals, Politics - Wisconsin.

You probably heard that, after five days of smearing former Alaska governor Sarah Palin with the mass shooting at a Rep. Gabrielle Giffords constituent event, death threats against Palin are at an all time high. The “kill the Republicans” theme has hit Wisconsin, as WTMJ-TV reports several Republican officials, from Governor Scott Walker to Senator Ron Johnson to state Senator Alberta Darling, were the targets of a threat posted on Craigslist earlier this week by someone blaming them for the mass shooting.

I’m sure it’s completely unrelated to the first version of a Democratic Party of Wisconsin bumper sticker featuring a bullet train driving into Walker’s head, complete with spurting-blood graphics.

January 12, 2011

Social Security “Trust Fund” – 2010 in review

by @ 17:28. Filed under Social Security crater.

I know, it’s been too long since I did a wrap-up of the Social Security “Trust Funds”. However, we have final numbers from the Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary through November, and preliminary numbers from the Treasury Department for December, so it’s high time to do this.

Both the Disability Insurance (DI) “Trust Fund” and the Old-Age and Survivors (OASI) “Trust Fund” lost money on a primary (cash) basis in 2010. The OASI fund had a $15.9 billion primary deficit on $569.0 billion in tax revenue and $585.0 billion in total expenses, while the DI fund had a $32.9 billion primary deficit on $94.7 billion in tax revenue and $127.7 billion in expenses (note; the numbers will appear to be off due to rounding). Of note, before the Social Security Trustees admitted that the OASI fund would run a primary deficit in the 2010 Trustees Report, they did not anticipate in their “intermediate” estimations that it would run a primary deficit this early in any Trustees Report from at least 1997 onwards.

Once one adds in the $108.2 billion in interest “earned” by the OASI fund and the $9.3 billion in interest “earned” by the DI fund, the OASI fund had an increase in theoretical value to $2,429.1 billion (or $92.3 billion), while the DI fund had a decrease in theoretical value to $179.9 billion (or $23.66 billion).

How does that compare to the “intermediate” estimations in the last two Trustees Reports? In 2009, the Trustees estimated that the OASI fund would see a primary surplus of $42.1 billion and a fund value increase of $152.7 billion (to $2,502.2 billion from an estimated $2,349.6 billion in 2009 and an actual $2,202.9 billion in 2008) on taxes of $623.3 billion, interest of $110.6 billion, and total expenses of $581.2 billion. In 2010, that estimate changed to a primary deficit of $8.9 billion and a fund value increase of $99.9 billion (to $2,436.7 billion from an actual $2,336.8 billion in 2009) on taxes of $577.3 billion, interest of $108.9 billion, and total expenses of $586.2 billion.

For the DI fund, the Trustees estimated in 2009 that it would see a primary deficit of $23.7 billion and a fund value decrease of $14.3 billion (to $191.7 billion from an estimated $206.0 billion in 2009 and an actual $215.8 billion in 2008) on taxes of $104.4 billion, interest of $9.5 billion, and total expenses of $128.1 billion. In 2010, that estimate changed to a primary deficit of $32.4 billion and a fund value decrese of $23.2 billion (to $180.3 billion from an actual $203.5 billion in 2009) on taxes of $96.0 billion, interest of $9.3 billion, and expenses of $128.4 billion.

While costs have gone up a bit faster than expected, the primary driver of the earlier/faster collapse of Social Security has been the collapse of tax revenues, specifically payroll taxes, in the second year of the full-on POR (Pelosi-Reid-Obama) Economy. Since the full calendar-year 2010 numbers are not available from the Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary yet, and it is nigh impossible to accurately estimate the breakdown between payroll taxes and taxes on benefits using the Treasury’s Monthly Treasury Statement, I’m using the Fiscal Year numbers (which run from October 1 of the prior year to September 30 of the current year) from Social Security. In FY2008, Social Security took in $671.8 billion in payroll taxes and $17.8 billion in taxes on benefits for a total tax take of $689.6 billion. In FY2009, while the total tax take of $689.0 billion was hardly changed, the mix of payroll taxes and taxes on benefits radically changed, with payroll taxes dropping to $668.2 billion and taxes on benefits increasing to $20.8 billion. In FY2010, a further increase in taxes on benefits to $22.8 billion was overwhelmed by a drop in payroll taxes to $646.6 billion, as total taxes dropped to $669.4 billion.

For those who weren’t paying attention, FY2008 and much of FY2009 was declared to be in a “recession” period, while the end of FY2009 and the entirety of FY2010 was declared to be in a “post-recession” period of “recovery”.

Revisions/extensions (6:07 pm 1/12/2011) – I read off the wrong columns in my spreadsheet for the 2010 DI fund primary deficit and 2010 DI total expenses. The figures have been corrected.

January 11, 2011

If it’s the second Tuesday, New Year’s Edition

by @ 15:50. Tags:
Filed under Miscellaneous.

If you missed the Christmas Party Drinking Right, brush the snow off your car and make your way to Papa’s Social Club (7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee) at 7 pm tonight and drink. Hell, if you made it two Sundays ago, come on down anyway.

The Ame…er, Holloway House of Happy Hacks is now open

by @ 12:29. Filed under Politics - Milwaukee County.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported yesterday that acting Milwaukee County Executive Lee Holloway has appointed Renee Booker, who ran the county’s child welfare division so ineptly that the state shut it down and took it over in 2001, and who was fired from his “make-work job” at the House of Corrections once Scott Walker got settled into office, as the head of the Department of Administrative Services. Booker, who overspent the child welfare division funds to the tune of $6 million, is now responsible for, among other things, purchases the county makes and contracts the county enters.

County Board Supervisor Lynne DeBruin, an opponent of the move and one of those who pushed for Booker’s firing back in 2001, noted that when then-County Board Chair Karen Ordinans and interim County Executive Janine Geske served as temporary County Executives after Tom Ament resigned in disgrace, neither person made any major appointments.

I wonder if it was the crookedness of Booker or his common skin tone with Holloway that attracted Holloway to Booker. Given Holloway’s nature, I’d have to guess both played major roles.

Video of the day – In the Crosshairs – In the Crosshairs

by @ 9:20. Filed under Politics - National.

Uncle Jimbo unloaded on the oh-so-“tolerant” Left with the latest In the Crosshairs (yes, there is a language warning – deal with it):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsu-HQtGRrI[/youtube]

New course offering from the network that gave you “Fake but accurate”

by @ 7:36. Filed under Presstitute Follies.

Over at Ace of Spades HQ, Genghis ran with the latest bout of outright lying from CBS, the originator of Yellow Telejournalism with their almost-completely-successful smear of Audi. This time, “Professor” Couric introduces us for the very first time to Judy Clarke, defense attorney for Timothy McVeigh. Never mind that no other source has ever found that connection; it is an essential part of the Bullshit Constant.

January 10, 2011

Can’t We Do With One Less?

by @ 20:22. Filed under Politics - National.

I think it goes without saying that the events of this weekend were tragic.  Steve and Kevin have done a good job of laying out some of the double speak and self service that some on the left have used the events of this weekend for.  There is however, one reactive action that NRE hasn’t covered.

Rep. Bob Brady (D-PA) has introduced a bill that would criminalize the use of “threatening imagery” against lawmakers and judges. Rep. Brady is reacting to Sarah Palin’s website that had a cross hair shown over certain jurisdictions which had incumbent Democrat representatives that could be targeted for defeat.

Certainly, it is easy to agree that no one cares to see physical harm come to any elected official, regardless of their party affiliation. However, a move to ban “threatening imagery,” especially against politicians seems to allow entirely too much latitude for courts to interpret. After all, as you may have heard in last week’s reading of the Constitution, the First Amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech…

A couple of things to note about that amendment. First, the free speech issue was not geared towards our day to day speech as to whether we liked or disliked Oprah’s latest guest. The free speech reference was geared specifically towards political free speech. The Founder’s wanted the public to be able to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their government. The latter was particularly important as one of the checks against a run away, out of touch, political elite.

The second thing to note is that the amendment doesn’t say “Congress can make some laws…” or “Congress can’t completely eliminate free speech.” No, it says “Congress shall make no laws.” Zero, zilch, nada, none.

Imagery, especially political imagery, should be jealously guarded. Like hate crime legislation, treading into what imagery is “right” or “wrong” requires the enforcer to know the mind of the “artist” and that just isn’t possible.

“War,” “Battle” and “Target” wording and imagery have been a part of political campaigns and imagery since before the nation was founded. If enacted, which of these images would the legislation limit?

The first known US political editorial cartoon?

This editorial at the start of the Civil War?

Or this editorial of President Bush?

I guess when you consider all the amendments we have to the Constitution we should be able to get by with at least one, or part of one less!

Monday Hot Read – Glenn Reynolds’ “The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel”

by @ 8:43. Filed under Politics - National.

After a nearly-full weekend of leftist attempts to try to tie the shooter of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords/murderer of 6 people and everybody right of center while ignoring the planks in their eye (ably chronicled below by Kevin Fischer) , Glenn Reynolds unloads in today’s Wall Street Journal. I’ll cut to the quick:

To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (a) asserting a connection between the “rhetoric” and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?

understand the desperation that Democrats must feel after taking a historic beating in the midterm elections and seeing the popularity of ObamaCare plummet while voters flee the party in droves. But those who purport to care about the health of our political community demonstrate precious little actual concern for America’s political well-being when they seize on any pretext, however flimsy, to call their political opponents accomplices to murder.

Where is the decency in that?

January 9, 2011

Yes, lefties, let’s tone down the rhetoric

by @ 20:12. Filed under Politics - National.

The hateful left is attempting to blame conservatives, specifically Sarah Palin for the Arizona shootings Saturday. Their outrageous claim is that the right has engaged in rhetoric that could instigate violence.

Of course, the left never uses such volatile language.

A comment left on the web site Big Government:

** Obama: “They Bring a Knife…We Bring a Gun”
** Obama to His Followers: “Get in Their Faces!”
** Obama on ACORN Mobs: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”
** Obama to His Mercenary Army: “Hit Back Twice As Hard”
** Obama on the private sector: “We talk to these folks… so I know whose ass to kick.“
** Obama to voters: Republican victory would mean “hand to hand combat”
** Obama to lib supporters: “It’s time to Fight for it.”
** Obama to Latino supporters: “Punish your enemies.”
** Obama to democrats: “I’m itching for a fight.”

Oh, there’s plenty more.

Revisions/extensions (8:37 am 1/10/2011, steveegg) – A couple more compilations of Lefty intolerance from Michelle Malkin and Charlie Sykes. Side note; I added the Politics-National category.

Recommended Reading (01/09/11)

by @ 17:56. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Here are, in my view, interesting, noteworthy columns and articles from the past week that I highly recommend:

White Flight

“The new data show that white voters not only strongly preferred Republican House and Senate candidates but also registered deep disappointment with President Obama’s performance, hostility toward the cornerstones of the current Democratic agenda, and widespread skepticism about the expansive role for Washington embedded in the party’s priorities. On each of those questions, minority voters expressed almost exactly the opposite view from whites.”

Two Californias

“The last three weeks I have traveled about, taking the pulse of the more forgotten areas of central California. I wanted to witness, even if superficially, what is happening to a state that has the highest sales and income taxes, the most lavish entitlements, the near-worst public schools (based on federal test scores), and the largest number of illegal aliens in the nation, along with an overregulated private sector, a stagnant and shrinking manufacturing base, and an elite environmental ethos that restricts commerce and productivity without curbing consumption.”

Are we still the home of the brave?

“Sadly, this risk-averse/avoid-pain mindset is overtaking America. Anything that entails risk is to be avoided and, when possible, banned.”

The ten most under-reported stories of 2010

“You won’t see the stories below in the pages of the NYT or on the screens of NBC. You won’t hear them discussed at the water cooler. They’re the stories that show without any doubt the cards held by those who wish to enslave the masses to the god of government. A theocracy, to be sure, but one that holds up the state above all else. These stories are what progressives are trying desperately to erase from the annals of history, an effort that the new penny press, new media, refuses to allow.”

Top Ten Political Lies of 2010

“Here, in no particular order, are the top 10 political lies of 2010.

1. Ninety-five percent of ‘working families’ received a tax cut.”

While teachers are laid off, fortunes spent on….

“Teachers have been getting laid off right and left in Florida’s Broward School District. Despite all the taxes, the money just isn’t there to pay them. This gives an idea of where it went.”

MTV abortion special: Happy for the kill

“Now we get to ‘No Easy Decision,’ which follows one of the teen moms from ’16 and Pregnant.’ Markai finds out eight months after having her daughter that she is pregnant again and decides this time to abort.

Announcing the special, Entertainment Weekly wrote, ‘MTV sources say the documentary will tackle all sides of the issue. …’

So I expected the pro-life position to be fairly represented alongside the pro-abortion position – by educating on the documented harm of abortion to women, describing fetal development at the age of the baby being aborted and offering a counseling session at a pregnancy care center as well as an abortion clinic. I was resigned that Markai would move ahead with her abortion but thought her decision would be fully informed.

None of this came to pass.”

January 8, 2011

Sorry about the outage

by @ 13:48. Filed under The Blog.

If you’re seeing this post, you have found the new IP address this place is on. For a couple of reasons, I have shifted from a “shared IP” to a “dedicated IP” at BlueHost. It’s not quite a dedicated host, but I’m hoping things speed up slightly.

January 6, 2011

Must-See TV – The Heritage Foundation’s “The Debt Limit: Made Simple”

by @ 17:28. Filed under Politics - National.

My friends at The Heritage Foundation put together a short cartoon to help even the fiscally-illiterate understand the looming request to increase the debt limit by somewhere north of $1 trillion (or if you prefer percentages, 7.14%). They did forget to mention this latest increase won’t even last a whole year because the federal government is adding debt to the tune of roughly $1.5 trillion each year.

Of course, they’re a bit Pollyannish in the end for United Estates. We’re more likely to end up like Greece or France, where the “youths” and unions riot over even the smallest of changes made for the countries to survive another couple years.

January 5, 2011

Wednesday Hot Read – Michelle Malkin’s “Day One, 112th Congress: 10 Simple Rules for the GOP”

by @ 7:36. Filed under Politics - National.

Michelle Malkin has 10 rules for the House freshman class, and the returning Congresscritters. A couple of them might not quite apply to the freshly-seated Wisconsin Legislature, but most of them are just as appropriate to them (just a couple of those reposted here):

1. Manage expectations.

2. Serve the people, not the press.

6. Never forget: Government does not “create jobs.” Politicians don’t create jobs. You are there to stop government from killing jobs in the name of “reform,” the “children,” “emergencies,” global warming, hope, change, etc., etc., etc.

9. Show, don’t tell: Transparency. Accountability. Integrity. When you fail, you’ll be called out. The “R” after your name doesn’t give you immunity. Ever.

Read them and take them to heart.

Was That a Tingle I Just Felt?

by @ 7:05. Filed under Health Care Reform, Politics - National.

On Monday, Harry Reid and some of his bestest Senate comrades, sent a letter to new House Speaker John Boehner.  In it, they warned him against proceeding with any action that would attempt to repeal Placebocare.  Shortly thereafter, it was announced that the House will vote January 12th, on a bill to repeal Placebocare in its entirety.

An aside:

I have had strong reservations about Boehner.  What I have seen from him in the past has me concerned that he talks a tough game but that in the end, he works the “let’s all get along” deals that move this country on a continual path left.  That said, while I live in Kentucky now, call me from Missouri.  I’m willing to give Boehner the benefit of the doubt and see where his actions lead.  Along with “from Missouri”, I guess you could say I’ll be “doing the Reagan” as I trust but verify.

Yesterday, in response to Harry Reid’s letter to him, Boehner sent the following response:

Senators Reid, Durbin, Schumer, Murray and Stabenow:

Thank you for reminding us – and the American people – of the backroom deal that you struck behind closed doors with ‘Big Pharma,’ resulting in bigger profits for the drug companies, and higher prescription drug costs for 33 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Part D, at a cost to the taxpayers of $42.6 billion.

The House is going to pass legislation to repeal that now. You’re welcome.

– Speaker-Designate John Boehner’s Press Office

I’m not the type that has physical responses to events but, I could have sworn I just had a tingle run up my leg!

NRE 2010 Awards – Person of the Year

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2010 Awards.

Welcome to the 5th and final day of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we name our people of the year. As a review, here is the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, 1/3
– News Story of the Year, yesterday

And the nominees are…

The TEA Party (from realdebate) – Obama tried to ignore it, leftwing radicals like Wisconsin Dem Chair Mike Tate and the NAALCP threw out insults and false accusations of racism. Every time the left tried to impugn the TEA party activists it only served to strengthen their resolve. Grass roots activists, many of them active in politics for the first time in their lives, rose up against the astroturfed organized left wing radicals and threw the left to the curb.

Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama (Shoebox) – Oh, I could have said the Tea Party but when I thought about it, the Tea Party was the response not the impetus.  There were many times during the year that the Tea Party could have fizzled out and we would have had just another spin of the Merry-Go-Round of the Elite for the November election.  Fortunately, at every opportunity for the Tea Party flame to die down, one of the above would do or say something so overwhelmingly arrogant, stupid or brash that it fed new fuel into the Tea Party.  Watching these three during 2010 was more predictable and tiring than seeing Rob Schneider showing up in an Adam Sandler movie.

Scott Brown (from Phineas): By winning the Senate seat once held by the late and contemptible Edward Kennedy, Brown put an exclamation point on the growing populist reaction against liberal statism, particularly ObamaCare. His election had a tremendous effect on the Senate, providing the 41st vote to end the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority and forcing Harry Reid to resort to such sleazy parliamentary tactics (and outright bribery) to pass ObamaCare. That public display of ethical corruption, in turn, fueled the public outrage that burst forth last November. For being the key domino that set all the others tumbling, Senator Scott Brown should be Person of the Year.

Aisha (from Kevin Fischer) – In July 2010, TIME magazine wrote:

The Taliban pounded on the door just before midnight, demanding that Aisha, 18, be punished for running away from her husband’s house. They dragged her to a mountain clearing near her village in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, ignoring her protests that her in-laws had been abusive, that she had no choice but to escape. Shivering in the cold air and blinded by the flashlights trained on her by her husband’s family, she faced her spouse and accuser. Her in-laws treated her like a slave, Aisha pleaded. They beat her. If she hadn’t run away, she would have died. Her judge, a local Taliban commander, was unmoved. Later, he would tell Aisha’s uncle that she had to be made an example of lest other girls in the village try to do the same thing. The commander gave his verdict, and men moved in to deliver the punishment. Aisha’s brother-in-law held her down while her husband pulled out a knife. First he sliced off her ears. Then he started on her nose. Aisha passed out from the pain but awoke soon after, choking on her own blood. The men had left her on the mountainside to die.

Aisha posed for a controversial TIME magazine cover. Her willingness to be photographed in such a manner told the world of the evil of the Taliban and why American soldiers are at war in Afghanistan.

The Daily Mail headline says it all.

Ron Johnson and Sean Duffy (from steveegg) – If you told me this time last year that the two liberal lions of the Wisconsin Congressional delegation would be ex-elected officials today, I would have called you nuts. Yes, there were some rumblings that Russ Feingold might be vulnerable to a certain candidate because of the spectacular failure of his 2009 “non-hearing” tour, but the first poll that showed that vulnerability had yet to show up. Indeed, that first poll, and the several after, showed that it wasn’t the announced candidates that could give Feingold fits, but the biggest name in Wisconsin politics, former governor Tommy Thompson. Then, Thompson decided not to run on April 15, Ron Johnson used an incredible 6-week run-up from an unofficial launch of his campaign then (and an official launch at the beginning of May) to the RPW convention at the end of May to become that “certain candidate”. With some of the best help Wisconsin GOP politics could come up with (and notably the researcing ability of friend-of-the-blog Kevin Binversie), a willingness to use his personal fortune, and an ability to raise money unseen in a GOP Senate candidate in 12 years, Johnson overcame the new liberal lion of the Senate.

Meanwhile, Dave Obey was riding high as chairman of the Appropriations Committee. In the past year, he had steered through Porkulus and the two largest budgets in the history of the country. Yes, Sean Duffy had entered the race in 2009, but he was still considered a serious underdog, with the 2010 run merely an attempt to get his name and face out to the voters of the 7th so he would be well-positioned when Obey would retire. Nobody knew that would be in May when, apparently after an internal poll that showed Duffy at a minimum too close for comfort for someone who hasn’t had to seriously campaign for as long as I’ve been able to legally drink, Obey pulled the plug. How insurmountable had Duffy become in a district that historically votes for Democrats by double-digit margins? The sitting state Senate Majority Leader, Russ Decker, was ordered to try to (and ultimately fail to) hang onto his seat rather than pursue his decades-long dream of succeeding Obey, and the only major Democrat candidate was a state Senator who didn’t have to give up her seat to run what turned out to be a lackluster campaign. The ultimate margin of victory for Duffy was 7 1/2 points.

January 4, 2011

My Old Kentucky Home – No More!

by @ 21:10. Filed under Immigration, Politics - Kentucky.

As many of you know, after spending my entire life in Minnesota, (except for the year that all Minnesotans are required to spend in Iowa for penance) Mrs. Shoe, the Things and I loaded up the Beverly Hillbillies truck and moved to Kentucky.  As attuned to Minnesota politics as I had become, I am nearly as untuned to the political scene in Kentucky.

Reading a few web news stories I came across this from my own new backyard:

Ky. Republicans file immigration bill as promised

Kentucky Republicans are attempting to pass an immigration enforcement law ala Arizona. The Kentucky version would allow law enforcement to arrest illegal immigrants for trespassing if they are found on
“any public or private land in this state.” As the article notes, that should cover all property in Kentucky. Even though the Democrats here tend to be of the blue dog variety, I’m not placing a lot of money on the final passage of this bill given the Senate (where the bill was introduced) is controlled by the Republicans and the House is controlled by the Democrats.

Regardless of whether the bill passes, I find some of the comments and arguments against the bill illuminating.

The local representative of the Catholic Church, similar to how this issue is handled everywhere by the Catholic Church says this about the bill:

“It’s much broader and much more harmful than the Arizona law,” said the Rev. Patrick Delahanty, head of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, which is opposing the bill. “This bill does nothing but turn people who are generally hard-working and law-abiding into criminals and drains resources from local governments and police departments that ought to be put into protecting citizens from serious criminals.”

(emphasis mine)

Um, Rev. Patrick, doesn’t the fact that they broke they law to get here and continue to break the law to stay here, fly in the face of your assertion that they are “generally…law-abiding?” Haven’t they turned themselves into criminals but not following our immigration laws?

The good Reverend goes on to display his ignorance of all things not theological with his follow up statement:

Delahanty said Republicans are trying to solve a problem with illegal immigrants that doesn’t exist in Kentucky. The Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center estimated last year that Kentucky has about 30,000 illegal immigrants.

I wonder at what level Reverend Delahanty believes the law should be enforced. Should one person speeding be OK but two not? How about drunk drivers? Vandalism; how much should be OK?

More and more I see Catholics at least talking about (I can’t say I’ve actually heard that Pelosi and others have been denied Communion) not conveying Communion to a Communicant who lives in unrepentant sin. I can only assume that Reverend Delahnty follows the Catholic Church in this regard. Isn’t it ironic that when dealing with issues of eternal life the Reverend likely believes that unrepentant sin has consequences but in our momentary, earthly life it shouldn’t?

Budget Chop – Oil and Gas Management

by @ 20:10. Filed under Budget Chop, Energy, Politics - National.

I’ve already highlighted the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for the need of a budget reduction.  My argument at the time was that if they didn’t want to issue any permits for drilling, there wasn’t need for more than one person to be able to answer the phone and say “NO!”

In one of the first acts of the new year, the Obama administration announced that they would now allow 13 companies to resume their deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.  While this doesn’t mean that they will be issuing new permits, I take this as a sign that the Administration is concerned that my suggestions are sure to be implemented.

It’s becoming clearer and clearer that despite Obama’s rhetoric about job creation, there is no desire to create jobs in the oil and gas industry.  The Energy Information Administration now projects that offshore energy production will be nearly 20% below what they had predicted for the year.  That shortfall translates into thousands of lost jobs and the wages associated with them.  Not only does the Administration’s war on fossil fuels cause lost jobs, it also causes lost revenues.

According to this spreadsheet (I’ve verified them to the reported revenue) in FY 2008, the Federal Treasury received over $22 Billion in revenue from all oil and gas leasing activity.  in FY 2009, that number dropped to to under $9 Billion and in FY 2010 it was about $8 Billion. Now admittedly, there was approximately $10 Billion of “bonuses” received in 2008 which inflates that number a bit. However, even when adjusting for that, revenue to the treasury for oil and gas leasing has dropped by 33% in just two years.

Let’s recap:  No new leasing, more drilling area restrictions, lost jobs and wages….Oh, that’s not so bad…..

Former executive predicts gas to hit $5 by 2012

NRE 2010 Awards – News Story of the Year

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2010 Awards.

Welcome to Day 4 of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we focus on the biggest news story of the past year. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, 1/2
– Dumbest Thing Said, yesterday
– Person of the Year, tomorrow

And the nominees are…

The November election (from realdebate) – Never in my lifetime have I seen such a dramatic shift. The country saw real liberalism in action and rejected it soundly. Major kudos to Wisconsin which had the biggest turn around of any state in the nation: 2 Congresscritters, The Governor’s Office, the State Assembly & Senate and of course a US Senate seat. The left still doesn’t understand it, they just think people who don’t agree with their world view are stoopid.

Passage of Placebocare (Shoebox) – I don’t think there’s any question that the passage of this bill crystalized the anti Obama, anti Democrat, anti incumbent and anti Rino movement that culminated in the elections of 2010.  Sure, people were upset about the stimulus bill, sure, people were upset about the finance bill and numerous other efforts by Democrats to make us less free and more beholden to our D.C. masters.  However, passage of Placebocare, in spite of overwhelming public sentiment against it, showed even those in the electorate middle that we could no longer tolerate the arrogance of the D.C. meritocrisy mentality.  I hope the sleeping giant of the silent majority has finally been awakened….we’ll find out as 2011 plays out.

Chilean mine rescue (from Kevin Fischer) – Trapped in a Chilean mine for 69 days, how did Edison Pena and the other 33 workers survive? With help from the King. Appearing on the David Letterman Show, Pena said the miners found comfort in listening to Elvis on a specially-delivered MP3 player sent into the mine. Without publicity, Elvis Presley Enterprises sent whatever material could fit into a tube: DVDs, CDs, Elvis sunglasses. The men entertained themselves in sing-a-longs to lift their spirits while they waited for help. The Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote this headline: “Elvis to the rescue-The King’s music soothed Chilean miners.”

President Barack Obama becomes President George W. Bush. (From Phineas) This is really more of a theme over several stories, but it also is a story in itself. Riding a wave of Bush-bashing into office and promising to be anything but Bush, Obama found himself time and again mugged by reality and force to continue Bush’s policies: tax rates, military commissions for terrorists, Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan… One can almost hear Obama speak with a Texas twang. The irony is laughable.

The national debt tops $14 trillion (from steveegg) – Up until very late last night, I was going to pretty much repeat last year’s choice of the Tea Party Movement getting vocal (and this time, power), while those in government doubled (this time tripled with both halves of the bipartisan Party-In-Government taking part) down on stupid. However, I’ll get ahead of the fiscal curve and explain why a specific element of that, the debt hitting 95% of the Gross Domestic Product, is going to be THE STORY. Yes, we’ve been in that territory before. However, there are three big differences between 1946 and 2011:

  1. There isn’t 16 years of pent-up demand just beginning to be met to drive the GDP up to a point where the debt load becomes manageable.
  2. On a related note, we’re not the sole source of goods like we were after World War II.
  3. The nature of the debt is far different – rather than the debt being almost exclusively past obligations that, once met, don’t recur, a significant portion is on future obligations that are only increasing.

Sooner or later, the house of cards is going to get a “major makeover”, and another 2-year delay in a serious attempt at a crash diet means it’s more likely that “major makeover” will be a collapse.

Number of the day – $14,025,215,218,708.52

by @ 0:34. Filed under Economy Held Hostage, Politics - National.

That number is the total amount of federal government debt outstanding as of 12/31/2010. Of that, $9,390,476,088,043.35 (plus about $10 million, or if you prefer, $0.00001 trillion in what is termed “guaranteed debt of government agencies” that is somehow not part of the public debt but is part of the “debt subject to limit”), and $4,585,749,068,174.55 in “intragovernmental debt” (that would be, for the most part, the various “Trust Funds”). To put it in a bit of text perspective, the Gross Domestic Product was $14.119 trillion in 2009, and if projections can be believed, will come in at just over $14.7 trillion in 2010. That makes the public debt just under 64% of GDP and total debt over 95% of GDP.

That dry text doesn’t, however, do it justice. I decided to go through 40 years’s worth (or, give or take a few shakes of a lamb’s tail, about the length of time I’ve been walking the Earth) of calendar-year-ending Monthly Statements of the Public Debt, grab the GDP for each of those years (estimated for 2010), and whip up a “little” frightening chart for you:


Click for the full-size chart

The short version of that chart:

  • Between 1970 and 1981, total debt remained right around the 37% of GDP, and publicly-held/guaranteed debt remained right around 27% of GDP.
  • Publicly-held debt plateaued right about 40% of GDP between 1986 and 1989, but because of changes to Social Security, the increasing intragovernmental debt, which crossed the 10% of GDP threshhold in 1988, caused total debt to continue to increase at an unchanged rate.
  • Sticking with intragovernmental debt briefly, it steadily increased to a high of nearly 32% of GDP in 2009 before multiple “trust funds” began running deficits, both primary (cash) and gross, helping to increase the publicly-held debt as said “trust funds” get monetized through borrowing while there is exactly $0.00 set aside or otherwise available for the purpose.
  • Back to the publicly-held debt, it again plateaued at 50% of GDP between 1992 and 1996, with total debt plateauing around 68% of GDP, before “unified budget surpluses” and a gangbusters economy allowed them to go down as a function of GDP.
  • By 2000, total debt dropped to about 57% of GDP, with publicly-held debt hitting its post-1981 low of 33% of GDP in 2001. While publicly-held debt remained about 37% of GDP through 2007, the increasing reliance on “trust fund” surpluses caused total debt to increase to about 66% of GDP in 2007.
  • The muzzle came off the debt monster in 2008, with publicly-held debt increasing to about 64% of GDP and total debt increasing to about 95% of GDP by the end of 2010.

Several of those in my bloated feed reader, like Dad29, Zip, Allahpundit Stephan Tawney, and ultimately NRO’s Corner crew, found yet another utterance from Barack Obama that has reached its expiration date – one from a 2006 debate in which he opposed raising the debt limit as Senator, an act which his economic advisor now calls “insanity”:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

The publicly-held debt was 37.3% of GDP at the end of 2005 and 36.6% of GDP at the end of 2006, while total debt was 64.6% of GDP at the end of 2006 and 64.4% of GDP at the end of 2006.

Revisions/extensions (7:02 am 1/4/2011) – The Emperor links, and provides a further link to Aaron Worthing at Patterico’s Pontifications and the full Obama remarks that were walked back. The relevant extension:

Over the past 5 years, our federal debt has increased by $3.5 trillion to $8.6 trillion. That is “trillion” with a “T.” That is money that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, borrowed from China and Japan, borrowed from American taxpayers. And over the next 5 years, between now and 2011, the President’s budget will increase the debt by almost another $3.5 trillion.

For those who can’t do the math, Obama was complaining about a potential $12.1 trillion total debt by the end of 2011. Well, we’re at just over $14 trillion before we got to the beginning of Calendar Year 2011 (or if you prefer, a quarter of the way through Fiscal Year 2011). The kicker – had Pelosi taken up Obama’s proposed budget, the total debt would be $15.1 trillion at the end of FY2011.

R&E part 2 (7:45 am 1/4/2011) – Dan Spencer points out just how much the debt has gone up under Nancy Pelosi’s now-expired Speakership – $44,662 for every man, woman and child who make up the 310,574,015 U.S. populace.

A minor point of order – the first 9 months of 2008 were largely budgeted by the prior Congress, while the last 3 were budgeted solely by Pelosi and Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid. That explains why the deficit, at least as a percentage of GDP, didn’t increase all that much in 2007.

I might redo the chart to reflect fiscal years instead of calendar ones, but it is a bear to get the numbers.

January 3, 2011

The Budget Chop – Federal Headcount

by @ 10:36. Filed under Budget Chop, Politics - National.

I have a riddle for you:

Q.  What do Russia and Cuba have that the United States doesn’t?

No, it’s not a massive federal deficit; they each have that.

No, it’s not a hard core leftist as the leader;they each have that.

Nope, it’s not a government that is more interested in itself than it’s citizens; they each have that.

The correct answer is: Federal employment that is being reduced.

After announcing earlier that they would be reducing the size of their federal government employment, Russian President Medvedev signed a decree  that will reduce the number of people employed by the Russian government by 20% over the next few years.

The civilian federal employment jumped over 10% from 2008 to 2010 and that is after subtracting the temporary census workers.  2011 is slated to grow that number by another 3.5%.  So federal employment has grown by double digit percentages will private employment has decreased by millions.

An area for the new GOP House to focus on for balancing the budget is the number of people employed by the federal government. 

Senator Orrin Hatch introduced a bill last year, that would have reduced federal employment to 2008 levels.  According to Hatch, this would be a reduction of 20% although I don’t think his math is quite right as he’s including the temporary census workers.  Not surprisingly, Senator Hatch’s bill went no where. 

Fewer federal employees would be good for at least three reasons:

1.  Fewer employees means fewer dollars spent today.

2.  Fewer employees should be coupled with privatizing more of the things that the federal government does but doesn’t need to do.

3.  Fewer employees means fewer dollars spent tomorrow in the way of pensions and other retirement benefits.

The next few weeks will be interesting to watch.  By the end of January, we should know whether the message of reducing spending, has been received by Congress.  I know the message hasn’t been received by President Obama but we’ll cross one bridge at a time.

It’s time to play, “Name That Religion”, WSJ edition

by @ 9:51. Filed under Presstitute Follies, War on Terror.

Sean Gardiner of The Wall Street Journal reported on a draft study from the New York State Intelligence Center on 32 terrorism cases against the US. Despite noting that the report included, as two of its 25 variables, religion and affiliations, that the study began with Richard Reid’s attempted shoe-bombing and ended with Faisal Shahzad’s attempted Times Square bombing (both of whose ties to Islam and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups were omitted from the article), and quoting the draft report’s finding that 82% of the 90 persons-of-interest were between 18 and 33 years old as “suggesting ‘that younger persons are less established, more impressionable, and therefore more susceptible to radicalization,'” there was no mention of the religious or other affiliations of those 90.

Gardiner, however, noted several other demographic trends, from a majority of the persons-of-interest being US citizens to a significant portion of those whose criminal histories could be established having prior records involving marijuana to a majority having at least some college education.

Who here thinks they found a bunch of Pentecostals and Alcoholics Anonymous members rather than Islamokazis and various left-wing/anarchist whackos? Anyone? Bueller?

NRE 2010 Awards – Dumbest Thing Said

by @ 5:00. Filed under NRE 2010 Awards.

Welcome to Day 3 of the NRE 2010 Awards. Today, we focus on the dumbest thing unleashed into the public consciousness. As a review/preview, here’s the rest of the schedule:

– Jackass of the Year, 1/1
– Thank You for Existing, yesterday
– News Story of the Year, tomorrow
– Person of the Year, 1/5

And the nominees are…

“It (unemployment insurance) creates jobs faster than any other initiative you can name,” Nancy Pelosi while pleading for an extension of unemployment benefits (fron steveegg) – No, you twit, it lengthens a lack of employment (I can’t properly call it unemployment because on the federal level, one can drop off the unemployment rate while on unemployment) right up to just a couple of weeks before it actually ends. As for the extended quote (courtesy Breitbart), I don’t see (or at least I didn’t used to see) too many people on unemployment picking up ribeye steaks and Dom Perignon (which carry a rather healthy profit margin) to survive, much less the new Chevrolets, Fords, Toyotas, Arctic Cat snowmobiles and hand-crafted furniture that allow jobs to be created.

“Are you serious?”, Nancy Pelosi, in response to a question about the constitutionality of Obamacare (from realdebate) – Yes Nancy we were serious, and correct. Enjoy your new status in the minority!

“We have to pass the bill so you can see what’s in it,” Nancy Peolosi regarding Placebocare (from Shoebox) – Not since Alfred E. Neuman’s infamous “What, me worry,” has a single phrase conveyed the level of conivary and deceit as this utterance from Pelosi.

“If this was Texas, which is a state that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this saying that they had a major issue with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would have to look twice at this. But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border,” Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West during debate on a resolution condemning Arizona for passing a immigrant status-verification law (from silent E and Kevin Fischer – yes, they both submitted the same quote)

“I don’t worry about the Constitution.” (from Phineas) Said by (now former) Congressman Phil Hare (D-IL), when asked last April  by St. Louis Tea Party members about the constitutionality of ObamaCare. I guess the “support and defend the Constitution of the United States” part of his oath of office is something he doesn’t worry about, either. Oddly, his constituents elected his opponent last November.

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