Vocal Minority

Schmuck Republican: KS House Speaker Mike O'Neal

From the Examiner:

Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal is under fire after asking Republican House members to pray for President Barack Obama’s death. O’Neal made the request via an email he forwarded to GOP colleagues in the House. In an email sent in December, O’Neal asked his fellow Republicans to pray Psalm 109, which contains the following lines:

    Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
    Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.

 The email has become the subject of a mini-media frenzy. Numerous major news outlets began reporting the details surrounding the disturbing prayer request on Friday.

Now, I can't wait for Obama and his henchmen to get as far away from the White House as possible. But I don't want him dead, for goodness sake! This is just uncalled for and reprehensible. 

White House/DOJ Working with ACORN, Massive Voter Registration Fraud

White House/DOJ Working with ACORN, Massive Voter Registration Fraud.

Then & Now: Chuck Schumer on the Economy

Then:

The average American is not looking at the newspaper and saying: Gee, the economy is great. They are sitting down at the dinner table Friday night and tearing out their hair about how they are going to pay their bills.

-- Senator Chucky "Schmucky" Schumer (D-NY), May 5, 2004

For the Administration to be out there saying things are great shows just how out of touch they are with the average American. 
-- Senator Chucky "Schmucky" Schumer (D-NY), January 23, 2006

No one needs to remind the Senator that at those times, the economy was excellent. In 2004 the unemployment rate was a respectable 5.5%. In January, 2006, unemployment rate was 4.9%, 400,000 new jobs created in the two months prior, the GDP increased 4% in 3Q 2005 (during which, for whatever it's worth, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita occurred), and there had been a 3.5% annual productivity growth since George W. Bush took office. In other words, the economy was by all standards fantastic.

Now:

After three years of Obama's America, the unemployment rate has been higher than 8% for over two years. The GDP increased 3% over all of 2010 and only 1.7% in 2011. But what does Schmucky say:

The Republican speaker last night, Mitch Daniels, talked about Americans must talk about the state of the union as grave. So, we think we are in great shape. We are in good shape.

Gee, what a difference a president makes.

I'm certainly not the only one to notice the ludicrousness of Schumer's statement. An editorial at the Arkansas Republican Assembly website sums up the response to Schumer pretty well:

Currently, over 13 million Americans are unemployed. There are fewer jobs in America than when President Obama took office in 2009, and the unemployment rate is still more than 8%. And Sen. Schumer thinks “we are in great shape”?

Yesterday, the AP reported, “Fewer people bought new homes in December. The decline made 2011 the worst year for new -homes sales on records dating back nearly half a century. The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell 2.2 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy. About 302,000 new homes were sold last year. That's less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making last year's sales the worst on records dating back to 1963. And it coincides with a report last week that said 2011 was the weakest year for single-family home construction on record.” In December, Standard & Poor’s announced, “The Fourth Quarter Starts with Broad-based Declines in Home Prices”. And there have been 7.7 million foreclosure filings since President Obama took office. But Sen. Schumer thinks “we are in great shape”?

Today, National Journal writes, “Real Gross Domestic Product rose by just 1.7 percent in 2011, the Commerce Department reported on Friday. That's not great news for President Obama, who oversaw 3 percent GDP growth in 2010 and cannot use the latest GDP data to support a narrative of economic turnaround.” The AP notes, “The Commerce Department said Friday that the economy grew just 1.7 percent last year, roughly half of the growth in 2010 and the worst since the recession.” And University of Pennsylvania economist Justin Wolfers tells The New York Times, “At this rate, we’ll never reduce unemployment. . . . The recovery has been postponed, again.” But Sen. Schumer says “we are in great shape”?

But we know Schmucky really doesn't believe his own lie. But why does he lie to begin with? And why, when the Bush economy was excellent, did he lie then? Easy: Because Schumer is a bitter partisan hack, that's why.

Not too long ago President Hope&Change waxed eloquent for the umpteenth time about howRepublicans need to stop putting party and ideology over the welfare of the country. He ought to look in the mirror. And when he's done, he should give his own warning to Schumer.

Quote of Note: Marco Rubio Takes Down Obama

President Obama has a year left in the White House. So what are his plans now to make things better? What does he plan to do now, that he didn't do before? Well we got our answer Tuesday night. He plans to divide us against each other. To pit Americans against other Americans in the hopes of generating enough votes to get re-elected. 

He tells Americans worried about their jobs that the way to help them is to raise their bosses' taxes.

He tells those who are hurting that the only way they can be better off, is for others to be worse off.

He tells all of us that the only way for some of us to climb up the economic ladder is for others to be pulled down.

This divisive rhetoric, this effort to gain political support by convincing some that they will be better off if we punish others, this stuff has never worked anywhere it's been tried.

People end up fleeing countries who adopt economic policies based on these flawed principles. And more often than not, they come here.

They come here because this is not who we are. 

- Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), January 28, 2012

Listen & Learn: El Rushbo Destroys Obama's SOTU STFU Speech (1/25/12)

"This was a mass of confusion, hypocrisies, lies, and distortions, and a failed attempt by a failed president to attach himself to America's greatness when he wouldn't recognize it if it slapped him upside the head!"

That pretty much sums up Rush's analysis of President Hope&Change's SOTU STFU speech on Tuesday:

[Edited for long silences, commercial breaks, and extraneous talking]

(Download clip here)

(Download clip here)

Bernard Goldberg: They See Racists Everywhere . . .

The latest observations of an ever-declining media by Bernard Goldberg.

You're right Mr. President, We Need More 'Fairness'

From Michael Bargo, Jr. at AT.

End the Occupation: National Center for Socialist Propaganda Science Education

Are you one of those intelligent people who actually refuse to fall for the flawed theory of catastrophic man-made global warming climate change? Do you have a child attending a public school? No problem. A non-profit group called National Center for Science Education has created a program to help science teachers take on you neanderthals.

Meteorotologist, radio host, and author Brian Sussman has the story today at Human Events.

This month, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), a nonprofit group that denounces intelligent design and supports evolution-only curricula in the classroom, is expanding its mission. The organization is determined to silence global warming deniers, and is unfurling an aggressive effort to teach America’s schoolchildren that climate change is real and is being caused by human activity. ...

As a prime example of what the NCSE intends, the University of California at Berkeley operates the website GlobalWarmingKids.net.  On the site, instructors can order “Global Warming for Young Minds,” a handbook aimed at 6- to 10-year-olds. It also offers “Let’s Stop Climate Change” DVDs, in which Simon the hippopotamus encourages children to take action against the dangers presented by global warming.

In the class projects section of a similar website, HotStuffChillOut.org, school kids are told, “We all know about climate change. We all know what to expect. Now we must act.”

The tragic aspect of all such eco-brainwashing is that the scientific method is being bastardized as our students are being told what to think, not how to think.  ...

END THE OCCUPATION. LIBERALS OUT OF THE SCHOOLS NOW!!!

Occupy AIPAC Next Step for Leftist Group

Occupy AIPAC Next Step for Leftist Group.

pMany Jewish liberals have been in denial about the anti-Israel and often anti-Semitic tone of much of the Occupy Wall Street movement since its inception. As our colleague Jonathan Neumann wrote in the January issue of COMMENTARY, the leftist hatred for Israel is thoroughly integrated into the Occupy worldview even though some mainstream sympathizers with [...]/p

The Great One's Latest Book Is Here! [UPDATED]

Mark Levin's much-anticipated book "Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America" came out yesterday.

Quite frustratingly, it was not easy to find at our local "big name" book store. You had to walk a good 2/3 the way in to find it hiding among others at the "new non-fiction" table. But that's all right; it's already #1 on Amazon as of this writing and is sure to be at the top of the NY Times bestseller list.

After laying out the historical and philosophical foundations of "utopianism," Mark argues how, using utopianism as their model, our current  government has brought us to a post-constitutional America. This dovetails nicely with the observation by William McGunn in yesterday's WSJ that more and more regular Americans are becoming interested in the Constitution. He writes:

Yes, in the Bush years the air was also thick with accusations that the Constitution was being "shredded." We now know that the professed concern for the Constitution was fake. We know it was fake because the same Bush claims of executive authority in war that provoked such apoplexy in our pundits, professors and politicos have for the most part been embraced by Mr. Obama—all to the distinct sound of silence.

Today we have a wholly different order of constitutional complaint. Where the accusations against Mr. Bush were led by prestigious law faculties and law firms, those against Mr. Obama reflect a more popular hue. Where the indictments of Mr. Bush were largely limited to war policy, those against Mr. Obama's extend broadly to all areas of policy: foreign, economic and social. And where critics of Mr. Bush were obsessed with outcome, the discontent with Mr. Obama has been magnified by the uneasy sense that he is changing the fundamental rules of the game.

This awakening started with the tumultuous legislative path to Mr. Obama's health-care victory. Along the way, Americans watching were given an education in words like "cloture" and "filibuster," and saw the leaders of the Democratic House and Senate consider a maneuver whereby the House would "deem" the Senate version of the health-care bill to have passed without having to vote on it. That left a bad taste.

It proved only the beginning. Since then, Mr. Obama's aggressive disregard for any constitutional limit on what he wants to do has come to define his approach across the board. ...

Here's Terry Jeffrey at CNSnews.com interviewing Mark about the book, which, based on what I've read so far, I completely recommend! 

And here's an article on it by Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator.

UPDATE: I've read the first couple of chapters already and admit skimming some of it, not because of Mark's writing, but because the subject matter is, IMO, a little dry. Don't get me wrong -- I don't underestimate the importance of understanding Plato's Republic and Mark does do a good job of providing a "conservative cliff's notes" of it. It's just not the most interesting stuff in the world; I'm expecting the second section of the book, the section that focuses on the U.S. and current politics, will be markedly more exciting.

Oh yeah: Here's yet another interview Mark gave to Jason Mattera at Human Events: Part I  Part II

Homeless Long Island Teenager Is Intel Competition Semifinalist

CBS's NYC affiliate reports:

Samantha Garvey has good reason to be the recipient of high fives and congratulations from the faculty and students in the hallways at Brentwood High School.

The 17-year-old senior says she cannot believe that she is one of the semifinalists in the highly prestigious Intel Science Competition, in part because she lives in a Bay Shore homeless shelter with her parents, brother, and twin sisters.

“I am currently homeless. Like I’ve said, this motivates me to do better. I do well and I pursue my passion because it’s what I have and it’s a way out, you know, and it’ll lead to better things,” Garvey told WCBS 880 reporter Sophia Hall.

That last paragraph is the key. The young lady and her family are clearly going through rough times, but there’s no bitterness, resentment, envy, or sense of entitlement in her face or words.

The real tragedy is that country doesn’t seem to have enough Samantha Garveys.

 

 

Liberal Media Bias: PBS Caught Cutting Belafonte's Criticism of Obama

The ever-vigilant Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer noticed that PBS curiously cut Harry Belafonte's anti-Obama rant from last Saturday's re-feed of the Smiley and West Show (Why a taxpayer-funded station has a show featuring two left-wingers ideologically pleasuring each other in their cozy little echo chamber is beyond me, but ...). 

Melanie Morganstern at the Blaze has the story:

Legendary singer Harry Belafonte hasn’t been one to hold back his political opinions: He’s attacked the Tea Party, then-GOP presidential candidate Herman Cainand in July even voiced his dissatisfaction with President Barack Obama, saying Obama lacked courage and vision.

Interviewed recently on the “Smiley & West” radio program — co-hosted by PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton University professor Cornel West — Belafonte came down on Obama again, saying the president lacks a “moral compass.”

But as Brian Maloney of the Radio Equalizer pointed out, Belafonte’s comments about Obama, available in full on the “Smiley & West” website, appear to have been edited out when the program was broadcast to its public radio affiliates around the country.

When trying to get an explanation ...

Joe Zefran, the producer of “Smiley & West,” said in a phone interview with The Blaze that the show was edited for time, not to try to cover up Belafonte’s remarks.

There are always two versions of the show, he said: A broadcast version that goes out to affiliate stations that’s limited to 59 minutes, and the longer, unedited version that is posted online and in podcast form.

But, as Morganstern notes, PBS omits Belafonte's offending words in the online transcript of the show. That's certainly not a time constraint issue!

But why cut that segment specifically?

“It was the least interesting part to be honest,” he said. “A lot of people have been saying that [about Obama], Fox News says that every night.”

Ah, that's right, Zefran. Try to deflect by going to Fox News! Nice try. But it's not going to work. Taxpayer-funded PBS is as much an Obama love fest as it ever was. For that reason, a black ultra-liberal criticizing him is very interesting, and your leaving that segment on the cutting-room floor is very suspect.

Listen & Learn: Mark Levin Schools Stephanopoulous on the "Right to Privacy" (1/9/12)

The past weekend was quite busy for the GOP candidates. One debate Saturday night, facilitated by lib/Dem-hack-posing-as-a-journalist George Stephanopoulous and another one Sunday morning with lib/Dem-hack-posing-as-a-journalist David Gregory.

Each debate had its key moments, but the one that made the most news was when Stephanopoulous posed to Mitt Romney the hypothetical question whether a state has the Constitutional right to ban contraception, citing the landmark Griswold vs. Connecticut case from 1965. It was a completely irrevalent but extremely loaded "gotcha" question that was clearly posed to paint Romney and any other candidate who took the bait as some sort of privacy-hating sex-obsessed turn-back-the-clock neanderthal.

Fortunately neither Romney nor anyone else took the bait and in the end it was Stephanopoulous who looked like the fool.

Here's the Great One discussing this truly embarrassing moment and delivering an exegesis on the Griswold case and the heralded "Right to Privacy". This is truly a listen and learn clip so sit down and take it all in:

[Edited for commercials, long pauses, and other extraneous content]

Download clip here

Download clip here

The Left's Rights Scam

By Steve McCann at AT.

The United States will never solve its fiscal or societal dilemmas until its citizens, led by principled leaders unafraid to tell the truth, understand what "rights" are and that life is inherently inequitable and difficult.  Government, which is made up of fallible human beings, cannot make life fair and guarantee equal outcomes; it can only provide a framework to enable the individual to pursue those goal.  The history of mankind has shown that to do otherwise condemns that nation to an inevitable collapse in which all its people pay the ultimate price.

The Insult of Leftist Lies

The Insult of Leftist Lies.

The Dirty Little Secret of "Income Inequality"

From John Hayward at Human Events.

As with so many other statistics, numbers that “prove” income inequality can be made to dance on the head of a pin.  It’s especially easy when not even the word “income” has a clearly understood meaning anymore.  The more compensation is routed through the government, the less aware of it an employee becomes.  That’s the whole idea behind paycheck withholding: grab those taxes before people even realize the money is gone.  Very few of us have a clear idea of just how much of our money is “going,” or where it goes.

Environmentalists are bad for the environment

By Matt Patterson at the Washington Examiner.

Liberal Ignorance, Hate, and Intolerance: Your "Friendly" Co-Worker

Boy, did I step in it today.

Late this past fall, during a workplace interaction that turned briefly to politics -- sparked, if I recall correctly, by a GOP debate the previous night -- it was made apparent that I was the conservative/Republican in the room. This revelation did not please one of my co-workers, a presumably pleasant, professional, and mild-mannered lady in her mid-to-late fifties. Not the first time experiencing such unpleasantness, I watched this person transform before my very eyes into a bitter, enraged, wild-eyed, finger-waving, aging hippie.

Being both a tease and a glutton for punishment, I vowed to tweak this emotionally fragile hyper-liberal whenever the opportunity arose.

Such an opportunity arose this morning: I jokingly asked this co-worker if she was going to watch the Iowa caucuses tonight. That was enough to set her off on a tirade enumerating everything wrong and/or evil that several GOP candidates have done. (Did Rick Santorum actually say he would repeal the Civil Rights Act? That's what she told me but I can't seem to find it on the web. Hmmm.)

But here's the kicker: Trying to civilly end the debate, I told her that even though we disagree on politics, "I love ya anyway."

And she smugly refused to return the sentiment!

When I called her on it, she said she couldn't like someone whose positions and whose candidates would "destroy the country."

Citing her hero Obama as exhibit A, I suggested that the two of us had different ideas on what constitutes "destroying the country," but followed up by saying, "But I guess I'm the one showing tolerance and acceptance because I still like you even though we disagree."

Again, she let me know in no uncertain terms that, my feelings toward her notwithstanding, she did not like me.

A Reform-ish Jew living in this blue Northeast area of NJ/NY/PA, etc., I've known plenty of people whom I've disagreed politically. But this is the first time I can remember someone actually saying they don't like me once she found out my politics.

Luckily, I only see this person once a week. How should I interact with her from now on? Am I wrong to have taken this so personally?

End the Occupation! Class Credit for OWS Participation

At Columbia. No big surprise there. How proud these students' parents must be.

New Class At Columbia Focuses On Occupy Wall Street

End the Occupation! Liberals Out of the Schools NOW!

Liberal Hypocrisy: OWS-Supporter Kanye West Does It Again

Jammie at JWF calls him “the world's most expensive douchebag” and that he “wouldn’t pay a dollar to see this loser perform.”

I'd have to agree with him.

Here's why ...

After refusing to settle for less than $1 million to perform at a New Year’s Eve party, Kanye West went back on a hunt to land a gig two days before the ball drops. “He doesn’t want to get on a stage for less than a mil,” a source said. The “Watch the Throne” rapper is considering heading west to Vegas to DJ at an Eve bash — but at a much lower rate. West tweeted Tuesday, “I kinda wanna DJ somewhere this New Years,” and then, perhaps to boost business, tweeted again Wednesday, “My New Years DJ name is gone be YEEZY WORLD PEACE! If you book me you have to put YEEZY WORLD PEACE on the E-vite. Or I ain’t spinning.”

Gee, I wonder how many 99%-ers know what it's like to refuse a job unless you get paid at least $1 million. But Kanye showed up at Occupy Wall Street back in October wearing gold chains, gold teeth, and $355 Givenchy threads.  Yeah, there's a real man of the people.

Kanye West has made countless millions peddling profane, hate-filled, misogynistic crap. He's millions of times worse than any banker or financial CEO. He's what wrong with America, not Wall Street.