Sunday, September 30, 2012

Symbol of Failure

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiE0SkKj_kA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Stories from the Obama Economy

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih6I0zsyIw0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A Better Day

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR6JM6eUOvw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Big Promises, Big Failures

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8t1uGozqSw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Bump in the Road

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP2GsRzROF8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Believe in America

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3a7FC0Jkv8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Introducing www.MittRomney.com/BuiltByUs

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lifCb7z7x18&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Promise of America

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBxPv8C58dg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Political Payoffs And Middle Class Layoffs

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIajeW6xPnI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

It Worked

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0etEmiCL8M&feature=youtube_gdata_player

A Better Future: Iowa - Overregulation

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3XWNApnr8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Give Me A Break

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21wrrmpxzE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Another Broken Promise

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aboUHApz4TE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Too Many Americans

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky45CrITPFc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Obama failed to deliver promises

http://www.reflector.com/opinion/letters/letter-obama-failed-deliver-promises-1238611

Five reasons to not vote for President Obama | Washington Times Communities

http://c.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/lower-9th-ward-conservative/2012/sep/12/five-reasons-not-vote-president-obama/

Funding Restored to Groups That Perform Abortions, Other Care

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/23/AR2009012302814.html

ChicagoNow

http://www.chicagonow.com/your-doubting-thomas/2012/09/federal-debt-reaches-16-trillion-one-excellent-reason-to-vote-against-president-obama/

Woman cites 'Obamaphones' as reason to vote for Obama

http://m.digitaljournal.com/article/333803

Hugo Chavez says he'd vote for Obama - News - Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2012/president/candidates/obama/2012/09/30/hugo-chavez-says-vote-for-obama/w218ROTatoLJ3PWHKWW14K/story.html

Why young voters should and probably will vote against Obama « The Greenroom

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2012/09/27/why-young-voters-should-and-probably-will-vote-against-obama/

"Wake The F*** Up" Video: Samuel L Jackson Ad Tells You All the Right Reasons to Vote Obama

http://www.policymic.com/articles/15445/wake-the-f-ck-up-video-samuel-l-jackson-ad-tells-you-all-the-right-reasons-to-vote-obama

Sixteen Trillion Reasons to Vote Against Obama | The American Catholic

http://the-american-catholic.com/2012/09/10/sixteen-trillion-reasons-to-vote-against-obama/

Kingman Letter: Reasons to vote against Obama - Kingman Daily Miner - Kingman, Arizona

http://www.kingmandailyminer.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubsectionID=73&ArticleID=52645

Blog: If you need a reason to vote against Obama...

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/09/m-if_you_need_a_reason_to_vote_against_obama.html



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1001 Reasons to Vote Against Barack Obama: Complete Edition

  1. Candidate Barack Obama publicly promises to go "line by line" through legislation to remove wasteful earmarks.
  2. Obama stimulus gave $200,000 to teach Siberian lawmakers how to engage Russian policy makers in Moscow.
  3. Stimulus funding of $250,000 went to bug storage for an insect museum at North Carolina State University that gets 44 visitors a year.
  4. Gave $500,000 to put microchips in recycling bins to check up on the recycling efforts of senior citizens.
  5. $5 million to create a geothermal energy system for the Oak Ridge City Center shopping mall in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
  6. $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades.
  7. Provided $712,000 spent on a project by researchers at Northwestern University to develop "machine-generated humor."
  8. Buses in Winter Haven, Florida that average two riders per hour got $2.4 million so that the two riders per hour would have brand new buses to ride on.
  9. A Georgia Tech assistant music professor got $760,000 so he could jam with "world renowned musicians" to "create satisfying works of art."
  10. The California Academy of Sciences got $2 million dollars to send people to the Indian Ocean to photograph ants.  "Everyone has run into ants … now we need to listen to them," one ant photographer said.
  11. The University of North Carolina received $762,000 to create a YouTube dance application.
  12. $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri.
  13. $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York.
  14. $3.4 million to create an underground turtle tunnel, or eco-passage, in Lake Jackson, Florida.
  15. About a half-million dollars to give smartphones to people trying to quit smoking so they could "contact their quitting support groups by text message or phone calls to prevent relapses."
  16. Almost $300,000 to study how Yoga might reduce menopausal hot flashes.
  17. $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths.
  18. $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles.
  19. $700,000 to Oregon crab fishermen to help recover lost crab pots.
  20. $1.5 billion for a Carbon Capturing Contest.
  21. $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
  22. SUNY Buffalo received $390,000 to study young adults who drink malt liquor and smoke marijuana.
  23. Montana received $2.2 million to install skylights in their state-run liquor warehouse.
  24. $800,000 given to John Murtha Airport to repave a back runway used by about 20 passengers a day. This was in addition to millions given to this airport over the decades.
  25. $1 million was given to a Chicago dinner cruise company to "combat terrorism."
  26. $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies.
  27. The Coast Guard gets $572 million to create 1,235 new jobs. This comes to $460,000 per job.
  28. $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway.
  29. $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Oklahoma.
  30. $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased.
  31. $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minnesota.
  32. Millions spent on signs advertising the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act."
  33. Barack Obama carries out much of the $700 billion TARP program. Obama forces banks to take money, and evenrefuses to accept repayment in some cases to wield control over them.
http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/06/1001-reasons-to-vote-against-barack-obama-complete-edition/


1001 Reasons to Vote Against Barack Obama Independent Journal Review

In Dreams from My Father, Obama makes known that he "chose his friends carefully" and deliberately sought out "Marxist Professors," "structural feminists," and discussed with his friends the socialist, anti-colonialist revolutionary Franz Fanon.




John Stossel: Myths We Live By

http://jewishworldreview.com/0812/stossel080112.php3

John Stossel: Budget Insanity

http://jewishworldreview.com/0712/stossel071112.php3

Thomas Sowell: An Economic 'Plan'?

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell091112.php3

Thomas Sowell: Obama's Dreams

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell090412.php3

Countdown to Obama’s Defeat | The Moral Liberal

The same kind of idiots that loudly booed the Democratic Party plank reinstating God andJerusalem as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa agonized through three votes until he decided "in the opinion of the chair" that the yeas were shouting just a tad louder than the nays. It would have more accurate if he had said "in the opinion of the chair, the Marxists have lost."

Then there is the popular video going around in which DNC delegates were asked if it was a bad idea for corporations and other businesses to make a profit and most of them said—wait for it—yes. This is Obama's base.

Over the years I have grown less confident of polls taken in the run-up to Election Day. This is especially true when they suggest that only a few points separate one candidate from another. A successful incumbent President should have a recognizable margin of approval and, if he doesn't, that's usually a sign he's in trouble.

http://www.themoralliberal.com/2012/09/13/countdown-to-obamas-defeat/


Thomas Sowell: An Economic 'Plan'?

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell091112.php3

George Will: The war on free advice

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/will092712.php3

Quick and easy rebuttals to Obama's false narratives | The Daily Caller

Second Rebuttal: The financial crisis was caused by the housing bubble, which was fueled by government pressure on banks to lend to the less creditworthy. No president was more responsible for the housing bubble than Bill Clinton. Investor's Business Daily calls Clinton "the architect of the financial crisis," and likened him to a "housing arsonist" now trying to pass himself off as a "heroic firefighter." Obama likes to blame the financial crisis on deregulation. But the deregulation legislation in question was signed into law by Clinton, who also refused to regulate the complex financial instruments that helped transform the housing crisis into a financial crisis. 

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/10/quick-and-easy-rebuttals-to-obamas-false-narratives/



31 REASONS NOT TO VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA-Kenneth Del Vecchio- Garden State Journal

http://www.gardenstatejournal.com/content/31-reasons-not-to-vote-for-barack-obama-3807.html

Walter Williams: The Rich Don't Pay Enough?

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns082912.php3

Thomas Sowell: A Powerful Movie

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell082212.php3

Thomas Sowell: Obama Versus Obama: Part III

The role of a confidence man is not to convince skeptics, but to help
the gullible believe what they want to believe. Most of what Barack
Obama says sounds very persuasive if you don't know the facts — and
often sounds like sheer nonsense if you do. But he is not trying to
convince skeptics, nor worried about looking ridiculous to informed
people who won't vote for him anyway.

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell092712.php3

Fact Check: Is Romney's tax rate really lower than yours? | Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/25/fact-check-is-romney-tax-rate-really-lower-than-yours/#ixzz27ZSphHft

Thomas Sowell: Can Republicans Talk?

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell092112.php3

Thomas Sowell: The Fallacy of Redistribution

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell092012.php3

Thomas Sowell: The Great Tax Divide

http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell091912.php3

Debate Expectations Are Being Set -- With a Wink | RealClearPolitics

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/28/debate_expectations_are_being_set_--_with_a_wink_115601.html

President Obama Says We "must" Condemn "those who slander the prophet of Islam," Among Others - Hit & Run : Reason.com

http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/25/president-obama-says-we-must-condemn-tho

StarTribune.com Mobile | News, weather, sports

http://m.startribune.com/?id=171986121

Five reasons to not vote for President Obama | Washington Times Communities

http://c.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/lower-9th-ward-conservative/2012/sep/12/five-reasons-not-vote-president-obama/

Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon -A most dysfunctional alliance

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=440491



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Washington Post

http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-do-human-rights-groups-ignore-palestinians-war-of-words/2011/09/26/gIQAWU5y2K_story.html

The Weekend Interview with Steven Law: How to Beat President Obama - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443792604577575252699842664.html

Monday, September 24, 2012

Fwd: tax

From: larry.r.trout

'According to calculations by FOX News analysts James Farrell and Mitch Kweit, taxing millionaires at 100% would now run the federal government for two and a half to three months.

 

Specifically, the analysts took a crack at this question: "If you took all the adjusted gross income of all millionaires, how many months of federal spending would this pay for?"

 

Here's what Farrell and Kweit found, based on IRS tax return and Treasury Department data:

 

* 2009: For calendar year 2009, taking all the adjusted gross income of filers making $1 million or higher would have paid for 20.67% of all federal spending during calendar year 2009 – approximately 75 ½ days, or 2 ½ months. 

 

* 2010: For calendar year 2010, taking all the adjusted gross income of filers making $1 million or higher would have paid for 24.11% of all federal spending during calendar year 2010 – approximately 88 days, or nearly three months. 

     

Year     Total federal outlays     Total AGI of all millionaires

2009     $3.52 trillion                   $726.91 billion

2010     $3.48 trillion                   $839.58 billion '

 

 

http://www.foxbusiness.com/government/2012/09/24/taxing-millionaires-at-100-wouldnt-be-enough-to-keep-us-running/

 


The figures seem a bit deceptive, because being a millionaire is not limited to making a million per year.  I am actually surprised that there are enough people making a million per year to run the government for 88 days. 

Re: Deficit

I would settle for any cut that would benefit the economy by reducing wasteful spending.   I would much prefer a freeze on overall spending. 

larry.r.trout wrote:

'Mitt Romney says he would balance the federal budget by the end of his second term…

 

Recently, Romney said that on his first day in office he would cut non-security discretionary spending by 5%. Doing so he estimates would reduce spending by $500 billion a year by the end of his first term.'

 

http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/24/news/economy/romney-balanced-budget/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

 

Sounds good. Unfortunately he probably will not win, and if he does win, he can't cut spending immediately by 5%. He would have to sign legislation passed by congress to cut it, unless he threatened to veto any budget that did not cut by 5%

 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Fwd: Refugees

From: larry.r.trout

'The tragic fate of Palestinian Arab refugees has always loomed over the Middle East conflict. The descendants of those who fled the territory of the newborn state of Israel in 1948 have been kept stateless and dependent on United Nations charity rather than being absorbed into other Arab countries so as to perpetuate the war to extinguish the Jewish state. The refugees and those who purport to advocate for their interests have consistently sought to veto any peace plans that might end the struggle between Israelis and Palestinians. They have refused to accept any outcome that did not involve their "return" to what is now Israel, an idea that is tantamount to the destruction of Israel. The Palestinian have gotten away with this irresponsible behavior because they retained the sympathy of a world that saw them as the sole victims of Israel's War of Independence. But the historical truth is far more complex.

 

Far from 1948 being a case of a one-sided population flight in which Palestinians left what is now Israel (something that most did voluntarily as they sought to escape the war or because they feared what would happen to them in a Jewish majority state), what actually occurred was a population exchange. At the same time that hundreds of thousands of Arabs left the Palestine Mandate, hundreds of thousands of Jews living in the Arab and Muslim world began to be pushed out of their homes. The story of the Jewish refugees has rarely been told in international forums or the mainstream media but it got a boost today when the first United Nations Conference on Jews expelled from Arab Countries was held at the world body's New York headquarters. While Palestinian refugees deserve sympathy and perhaps some compensation in any agreement that would finally end the conflict, so, too, do the descendants of the Jews who lost their homes. As Danny Ayalon, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister rightly said today:

 

    We will not arrive at peace without solving the refugee problem – but that includes the Jewish refugees. Justice does not lie on just one side and equal measures must be applied to both.

 

The truth about the Jewish refugees is something that foreign cheerleaders for the Palestinians as well as the Arab nations who took part in the expulsion have never acknowledged, let alone refuted. As Ron Prosor, Israel's UN ambassador pointed out in his speech at the conference, what occurred after Israel's birth was nothing less than a campaign aimed at eliminating ancient Jewish communities. Arab leaders "launched a war of terror, incitement, and expulsion to decimate and destroy their Jewish communities. Their effort was systematic. It was deliberate. It was planned."

 

Indeed, not only did Jews lose billions of dollars in property but were deprived of property that amounts to a land mass that is five times the size of the state of Israel'

 

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/09/21/no-peace-without-justice-for-jewish-refugees-israel-palestinian-conflict/

 

Fwd: China

From: larry.r.trout

'In 1910 the British journalist Norman Angell published a book called "The Great Illusion". It's thesis was that the integration of the European economy, and by implication the global economy too, had become so all-embracing and irreversible that future wars were all but impossible. The book perfectly captured the zeitgeist of its time and fast became a best seller.

 

In some respects, the early 20th century was a period much like our own – one of previously unparalleled global trade and exchange between nations. Human beings appeared largely to have outgrown their propensity to mass slaughter, and everyone could look forward to to a world of ever increasing prosperity. War, Angell compellingly argued, was economically harmful to all, victors and defeated alike. Self interest alone could be expected to prevent it happening again.

 

Young men read the book in their thousands, mostly agreed with it, and then willingly marched to the fields of Flanders to take part in the most destructive conflict the world had ever known. When the First World War failed to resolve matters, they did it all over again in a second one.

 

So when people argue, as they often do, that globalisation makes the great regional conflicts of the past unimaginable in today's world, think of Norman Angell and his Great Illusion. Free trade, it seems, is no guarantor of worldly peace. None the less, it plainly helps, which is one of the reasons why the present outbreak of protectionist posturing and backdoor trade restrictions so desperately needs to be countered…

 

The historical parallels should not be stretched too far, of course, but the sabre-rattling from China over the disputed Senkaku islands contains some worryingly familiar themes. Sabre-rattling is hopefully all it will amount to. With the Chinese economy slowing fast, and a difficult leadership transition still to navigate, the frenzy of anti-Japanese feeling very much fits Beijing's domestic purposes. In a land without state-sponsored religion, nationalism is the new opium of the people.

 

Even so, territorial disputes such as these have a nasty habit of spinning out of control. We've already seen some extreme positions adopted by both sides. In a number of Chinese regions, the military has been put on "combat readiness", while the Chinese Academy of International Trade has been vocal in calling for economic retaliation. The Chinese government says a breakdown in trade between the two countries would do Japan a lot more harm, adding that Japan relies on China to keep its economy afloat and to counter "irreversible" decline.

 

As it happens, it's far from clear that the Chinese are right about this. The fall off in global industrial production that took place in the wake of the Japanese tsunami is powerful evidence of just how vital to the global supply chain Japan still is. Much of the Chinese electricals and automotive industry would grind to a halt without access to Japanese components.'

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9555708/We-mustnt-fall-for-The-Great-Illusion-again.html

 


... and Mitt Romney keeps saying that he wants to stand up to China on trade. 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Global Public Square

What we don't understand about them, I think, is that this does affect a kind of core sense of their dignity and it affects their sense of whether or not we respect them.

But I think at the end of the day, the West is in the right here. The United States is in the right. It is entirely inappropriate under any circumstances to use violence as a response to freedom of speech.

The way you counter bad speech is with good speech. Let them make a great movie about Prophet Mohammed. That's the way you do it, not by killing people, not by burning people.



Weekly Jobless Claims Rise More Than Expected

http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/2012/09/13/weekly-jobless-claims-rise-more-than-expected/

Grain & Hay Claims GM causes liver disease rejected

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/09/12/537541_grain-and-hay.html

GM crops a solution for improving crop yield: Experts - The Times of India on Mobile

http://m.timesofindia.com/home/environment/the-good-earth/GM-crops-a-solution-for-improving-crop-yield-Experts/articleshow/16420272.cms

Science Left Behind: France Bans GMOs Again

http://www.science20.com/cool-links/science_left_behind_france_bans_gmos_again-94101

Interesting political YouTube videos.

Evil Monopolies Are Fairy Tales In Free Markets


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Obama

I see two basic problems here:

 

1.        The assumption that Republicans want single mothers with children to starve.  This is not true. We have dozens of programs to help the poor and it is never a choice between abandoning these programs and keeping them.  At the moment they aren’t even on the table.  Maybe someday we can come up with a better system.

2.       The fact that Obama is super-Keynesian.   He believes that government spending drives the economy.  He scolded Europpe for not spending enough while the French of all people scolded us for spending too much.

a.       Essentially the financial collapse was stopped by the Bush bailout.   I would have done nothing.

b.      Obama decided to add to this with two stimulus packages.  This is where I have a problem.  He chose to add several hundreds of billions of dollars to our debt twice.  He chose to spend this money on public works and private companies including buying GM.   He spent this money in a way to most benefit public employees, Unions and corporate campaign contributors giving him an appearance of being corrupt.

 

If you consider that the Community Reinvestment Act and two Government Sponsored Entities created the financial collapse then  you really could say that over-regulation caused the financial collapse.  It was government meddling with the financial markets that caused this collapse.

 

Re: good read

The appalling thing about this is that the Democrats stand for wasteful spending, sloth, and cronyism for a combination of Unions, teachers, corporate contributors, and Wall Street.

 

The article reads like this:    Here is my really boring life story  and by the way I left the Republicans because I think that they are heartless.  This seems to be a deliberate election year conspiracy to propagate liberal myths about Republicans which is that they don't care about anybody and want to end all forms of public assistance.  Neither of these are true.

 

It has been proven over and over again that GDP growth is inversely proportional to the level of government spending.    We need GDP growth to get out of our current financial mess, which will make everybody better off.   The people on the left, including Obama, have made it clear that their agenda is spend spend spend.  Many of these people have said that the reason we have experienced pitiful growth is because the government hasn't spent enough.

 

However, we are long past broke and Keynesian economics has never really worked.

 


On Tuesday, September 11, 2012, wrote:

This is a good read, but it's rather lengthy.

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-215_162-57509863/confessions-of-a-former-republican/

 

 

David Wendel



--
Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Bob Woodward: 'Gaps' in Obama's Leadership Contributed to Debt Deal Collapse - ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=17183930

Trying (and failing) to Etch A Sketch on health care - The Maddow Blog

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/10/13780468-trying-and-failing-to-etch-a-sketch-on-health-care?lite

Monday, September 10, 2012

9 states where the race will be won - POLITICO.com Print View

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=7FF7255E-86B0-40CF-B4E3-65C88ED3A24D

Charles G. Koch: Corporate Cronyism Harms America - WSJ.com

So why isn't economic freedom the "default setting" for our economy? What upsets this productive state of affairs? Trouble begins whenever businesses take their eyes off the needs and wants of consumers—and instead cast longing glances on government and the favors it can bestow. When currying favor with Washington is seen as a much easier way to make money, businesses inevitably begin to compete with rivals in securing government largess, rather than in winning customers.





Is Obama cruising to re-election? He seems to think so - baltimoresun.com

The president's apparent willingness to stand pat and not offer any
striking new initiatives suggests that his chief strategists believe
that, despite tight polling numbers nationally, he is on a course to
re-election in November.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-witcover-obama-20120909,0,2741093.story

Nuclear Mullahs - NYTimes.com

The prevailing view now is that a nuclear Iran cannot be safely contained. On this point bothPresident Obama and Mitt Romneyagree. They can hardly say otherwise; to even hint that a nuclear Iran is acceptable would undermine the efforts aimed at preventing that outcome. But I tend to think they mean it.

However, there are serious,thoughtful people who are willing to contemplate a nuclear Iran, kept in check by the time-tested assurance of retaliatory destruction. If the U.S. arsenal deterred the Soviet Union for decades of cold war and now keeps North Korea's nukes in their silos, if India and Pakistan have kept each other in a nuclear stalemate, why would Iran not be similarly deterred by the certainty that using nuclear weapons would bring a hellish reprisal?



The Obamacare Fallacy: Bigger is better | The Daily Caller

http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/06/the-obamacare-fallacy-bigger-is-better/

Stephen Moore: Northeastern Republicans Show (More) Signs of Life - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444273704577637093417843500.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion

RealClearMarkets - New Jobs Figures Are Bad News for Obama

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/2012/09/09/new_jobs_figures_are_bad_news_for_obama_131285.html

Democratic convention hoopla over, Obama now faces a reality check - CSMonitor.com

http://m.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/President/2012/0907/Democratic-convention-hoopla-over-Obama-now-faces-a-reality-check

RealClearMarkets - Bernanke Revives "We're All Keynesians Now"

http://www.realclearmarkets.com/2012/09/09/bernanke_revives_quotwe039re_all_keynesians_nowquot_131266.html

The Public Is Frustrated & Pessimistic | RealClearPolitics

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/10/the_public_is_frustrated__pessimistic.html

Swampland

http://swampland.time.com/2012/09/10/obama-and-the-economy-the-president-asks-voters-to-go-on-faith/

A Failed Governor Talks Up a Failed President - Hit & Run : Reason.com

http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/07/a-failed-governor-talks-up-a-failed-pres

Rush Limbaugh: Obama speech channeled Jimmy Carter - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80930.html

News: Ask the Experts: Analyzing Obama's Speech || Bucknell University

http://www.bucknell.edu/x78967.xml?utm_source=TopStory&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=Homepage

Brian Calle: Not Clinton's party anymore The Orange County Register

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/obama-370759-clinton-president.html

The New Republic: Obama “Close to Carter Territory” | Via Meadia

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2012/09/09/the-new-republic-obama-close-to-carter-territory/

RealClearPolitics - Obama vs. Romney Compared to Obama vs. McCain

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/obama_vs_romney_compared_to_obama_vs_mccain.html

Gallery: Democratic Convention cartoons The Orange County Register

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/democratic-370805-economy-election.html?pic=1

Mark Landsbaum: Do we all belong to the government? The Orange County Register

http://m.ocregister.com/articles/government-370764-four-years.html

What would Obama's second term look like? | Mobile Washington Examiner

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/what-would-obamas-second-term-look-like/article/2507358

Denialist Democrats - Reason.com

http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/05/denialist-democrats

The American Spectator - Today's Headlines

http://m.spectator.org/169477/show/1a16a9b8b9a3e5953790030b4ddfd522/?

Bob Woodward Book: Debt Deal Collapse Led to 'Pure Fury' From President Obama - ABC News

http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=17104635



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Playing Now - Hail to Us Chiefs - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/dowd-playing-now-hail-to-us-chiefs.html

Scandals Show California Is Broken, Not Broke- Bloomberg

http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-06/scandals-show-california-is-broken-not-broke.html

How Obama's speech played - POLITICO.com

http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/09/how-obamas-speech-played-134900.html

President Obama’s agenda: A return to political normalcy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/06/president-obamas-promise-a-return-to-political-normalcy/



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Fact-checking President Obama's speech - SFGate

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Fact-checking-President-Obama-s-speech-3849125.php

IPhone 5 Sales Could Offer Big Boost to GDP - Real Time Economics - WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/09/10/iphone-5-sales-could-offer-big-boost-to-gdp/

Dem pollsters: Obama thrill is gone, turnout jeopardized | Mobile Washington Examiner

http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/dem-pollsters-obama-thrill-is-gone-turnout-jeopardized/article/2507329

Obama's Unemployment Reality vs. Obama's Unemployment Predictions - Hit & Run : Reason.com

http://reason.com/blog/2012/09/10/obamas-unemployment-reality-vs-obamas-un

Two More Months | The Weekly Standard

 Although Obama has expanded the government more than any president since Lyndon Johnson, and arguably since Franklin Roosevelt, none of the prime-time speakers at the Republican convention labeled him "liberal."

That's odd.




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TIME Ideas

http://ideas.time.com/2012/09/10/the-truth-about-mitt/

Chicago Bled Dry by Striking Teachers’ Unions - By John Fund - The Corner - National Review Online

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/316395/chicago-bled-dry-striking-teachers-unions-john-fund#

The Democrats’ GM Fiction - Article - National Review Online

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316379/democrats-gm-fiction-editors

Soft on Wall Street - m.NYPOST.com

http://m.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/soft_on_wall_street_hLRbrpn9LH6QULzx47UcaI

Are Democrats Really the "Pro-Science" Party? | RealClearPolitics

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2012/09/10/are_democrats_really_the_pro-science_party_115367.html

Cutting the Deficit, Compassionately - Economic View - NYTimes.com

A crude rule of thumb is that every $100 billion of deficit reduction will cost close to a million jobs in the near term. If that isn't a reason to move gradually, what is? But if you need another, just look at Europe.






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Activist Scientists Forfeit Their Credibility | RealClearScience

http://www.realclearscience.com/2012/09/10/activist_scientists_forfeit_their_credibility_248926.html?utm_medium=widget&utm_campaign=rss



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Forget four years ago: We're worse off than in 2011 - The Term Sheet: Fortune's deals blog Term Sheet

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012n/09/07/worse-off-in-2011/?iid=HP_LN

Why is Putin stockpiling gold? - MarketWatch

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-is-putin-stockpiling-gold-2012-09-05



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Schulz's Wager: Great Stagnation or Leap Forward? Place Your Bets - Forbes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nickschulz/2012/09/06/schulzs-wager-great-stagnation-or-leap-forward-place-your-bets/



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Huntley: Here’s a goal — trade Obama’s excuses for Romney’s results - Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/news/huntley/14984208-452/huntley-heres-a-goal-trade-obamas-excuses-for-romneys-results.html

New Rules - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/friedman-new-rules.html

Romney Campaign to Republicans: Don’t Panic | Power Line

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/09/romney-campaign-to-republicans-dont-panic.php

Fwd: one-term proposition

From: larry.r.trout

"You know, a year from now, I think people are going to see that we're starting to make some progress but there is still going to be some pain out there. If I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/08/obamas-one-term-comments-seen-in-new-light/1#.UEwUuix4vrM

 

"No one could have repaired all the damage he found in just four years,"

 

http://durangoherald.com/article/20120906/NEWS01/120909935/Clinton:-4-years-not-enough-to-fix-mess

 

 

Fwd: Euro

From: larry.r.trout

'The ESM is not only patently in breach of the German constitution, it also violates every relevant provision of the EU treaties. Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) – which replaced the EC treaty – forbids the use of the printing press to bankroll governments and public authorities, makes it unlawful for them to borrow from the ECB or the national central banks, and expressly prohibits the sale of government bonds to the ECB.

 

The ESM would create a parallel "bad bank", which would be allowed to do everything the ECB is ostensibly prevented from doing under the treaties: to buy government bonds directly, to lend to national government, to grant such loans without any prescribed limit, and to rescue insolvent banks. Once the ESM runs out of money, it can borrow directly from the ECB – which will print the funds needed.

 

Moreover, the ECB president, Mario Draghi, has already indicated that he would take bond buys by the ESM as a green light that the ECB is no longer bound by the restrictions of article 123. At present the ECB has about €220bn in sub-standard Greek and other southern European government bonds on its balance sheet, in addition to much a higher sum of "shaky" government debt instruments deposited by banks as "securities" for ECB loans. Draghi refuses to disclose the breakdown of government debt on the ECB's books or their credit rating. The ESM treaty effectively provides for the mutualisation of national debt within the EU with no upper limit. Save for eurobonds, there could be no more flagrant violation of the "no bail" clause of article 125…

 

Yet, despite the ESM breaching German law and EU treaties, few observers expect Germany's constitutional court to say so, although many think it may ask for minor changes.

 

If implemented, the ESM will reverse the greatest 19th-century political achievement in Europe: the transfer of the power to determine taxation and expenditure from unaccountable monarchical governments to formally accountable parliaments. The eurocratic transformation will have taken place through systematic disregard by the EU institutions and its member states of practically all legal and constitutional safeguards put in place to prevent precisely the disaster that has befallen the eurozone now.'

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/09/germany-serfdom-save-euro-court

 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Fwd: Spending

From: larry.r.trout

'Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley summed up this worldview succinctly, in a question to Republican nominees Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan: "How much less, do you really think, would be good for our country? How much less education would be good for our children?" When you are unbounded by spending restraints, government budgets can be boiled down to a simple question: How much, at long last, do you care?

 

What makes last night's fiscal denialism even more appalling was that many of the speakers themselves have had to fight tooth and nail with public sector unions over compensation and work rules. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel outraged police and fire unions by tackling pension reform and pointing out that "city government is not an employment agency." Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former labor leader, has called teachers unions an "unwavering roadblock to reform." Newark Mayor Cory Booker has been there as well. Needless to say, such talk was absent from the podium last night.'

 

http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/05/denialist-democrats

 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Re: Obama plays to win

We have two very different visions about the proper role of government and how to deal with the current financial downturn.  (Obama said this.  I am saying it too.)  

Obama is for sure the better debater.  I think that Obama will win the debate.  However, I think that the country is shifting back toward conservative ideas.  Polls show this.  Obama was the most liberal senator in the senate.   The country still leans slightly conservative.  I think the only way Obama could have gotten elected was because of a Bush backlash that was partially deserved, but also partially due to widespread misconceptions and a press that cooperated for years to bash Bush.  Also, McCain was not a real strong candidate.  There were other factors like a strong minority vote and strong student support, neither of which are currently as strong for Obama.

For these reasons, Romney does not have to win the debate to win the election.  He only needs a close 2nd place and he also needs to show that he is not some sort of crackpot.

BTW, the election should be about the policies that the candidates want to implement.  Instead, Obama has done a remarkable job of attacking Romney for who his is, which is a rich businessman.  This has a lot of traction and might actually work, but I don't know if it will last till election day.  It might.

One final thought:  I am pretty sure that Romney will get attacked because of his religion.  Although I don't agree with his religion,  I am around Mormons all the time and they have given me no reason to be biased against them. 

Best wishes,

John Coffey


Collin Nuss wrote:

I can't wait for the debate, even though Mitt Romney will have a lot of advantages ; I think it will be a hard one for both of them because Obama is good at debates. 

From: John Coffey
Subject: Obama plays to win

Fwd: Another rare creature


Fwd: Plumber

From: larry.r.trout

White house Plumbers?

I hope Obama doesn't have to say " I am not a crook"

 

'The Secret Service said Wednesday it is investigating the reported theft of copies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's federal tax records during a break-in at an accounting office in Franklin. Someone claiming responsibility demanded $1 million not to make them public.

 

An anonymous letter sent to Romney's accounting firm and political offices in Tennessee and published online sought $1 million in hard-to-trace Internet currency to prevent the disclosure of his tax filings, which have emerged as a key focus during the 2012 presidential race…

 

The data theft was claimed in letters left with political party offices in Franklin and disclosed in several Tennessee-area newspapers. Jean Barwick, the executive director of the Williamson County Republic Party, said employees in the GOP office found a small package on Friday with a hand-written address. The package contained a letter and a computer flash drive, she said.

 

An anonymous posting on a file-sharing website said the returns were stolen Aug. 25 from the accounting firm's office. After "all available 1040 tax forms for Romney were copied," the posting said, flash drives containing encrypted copies of his pre-2010 tax records were sent to the firm and to Republican and Democratic party offices.'

 

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-05/secret-service-probing-theft-of-romney-tax-records

 

 

Step Into the Office-Less Company - WSJ.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390443571904577631750172652114.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

NJ.com : Letter: Traditional Medicare is worth saving

http://mobile.nj.com/advnj/pm_115597/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=4qFijCt0

Rolling Stone Mobile - Politics - Politics: Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital

http://m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829

Coulter: Matthews a few race cards short of a full deck - Conservative News

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/09/05/coulter-matthews-a-few-race-cards-short-of-a-full-deck/

Obama Foresees a Warmer Inauguration Day - Washington Wire - WSJ

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/09/02/obama-foresees-a-warmer-inauguration-day/

New Evidence That 2008 Was A Major Aberration For Democrats | The New Republic

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/106729/new-evidence-2008-was-major-aberration-democrats

Obama plays to win

The Competitor in Chief

Fwd: Changing polls

From: <larry.r.trout>

'According to the poll, Romney gained 7 points in favorability among women voters in the week following the GOP convention. Mr. Obama, by contrast, has seen his favorability rating among women fall by 11 points since April.'

 

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/Decoder-Wire/2012/0905/Is-Mitt-Romney-really-gaining-ground-among-women


Fwd: Euro


'European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's bond-buying proposal involves unlimited purchases of government debt that will be sterilized to assuage concerns about printing money, two central bank officials briefed on the plan said.

 

Under the blueprint, which may be called "Monetary Outright Transactions," the ECB would refrain from setting a public cap on yields, according to the people, and a third official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The plan will only focus on government bonds rather than a broader range of assets and will target short-dated maturities of up to about three years, two of the people said…

 

Draghi told the European Parliament this week that the ECB needs to intervene in bond markets to wrest back control of interest rates in the fragmented euro-area economy and ensure the survival of the common currency. Policy makers will start deliberating on the plan later today and Draghi will announce whether it has been agreed to at a press conference tomorrow.'

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-05/ecb-plan-said-to-pledge-unlimited-sterilized-bond-buying.html

 



Fwd: Euro



'After working six years as a senior executive for a multinational payroll-processing company in Barcelona, Spain, Mr. Vildosola is cutting his professional and financial ties with his troubled homeland. He has moved his family to a village near Cambridge, England, where he will take the reins at a small software company, and he has transferred his savings from Spanish banks to British banks.

 

"The macro situation in Spain is getting worse and worse," Mr. Vildosola, 38, said last week just hours before boarding a plane to London with his wife and two small children. "There is just too much risk. Spain is going to be next after Greece, and I just don't want to end up holding devalued pesetas."

 

Mr. Vildosola is among many who worry that Spain's economic tailspin could eventually force the country's withdrawal from the euro and a return to its former currency, the peseta. That dire outcome is still considered a long shot, even if Spain might eventually require a Greek-style bailout. But there is no doubt that many of those in a position to do so are taking their money — and in some cases themselves — out of Spain.

 

In July, Spaniards withdrew a record 75 billion euros, or $94 billion, from their banks — an amount equal to 7 percent of the country's overall economic output — as doubts grew about the durability of Spain's financial system.

 

The deposit outflow in Spain reflects a broader capital flight problem that is by far the most serious in the euro zone. According to a recent research note from Nomura, capital departing the country equaled a startling 50 percent of gross domestic product over the past three months — driven largely by foreigners unloading stocks and bonds but also by Spaniards transferring their savings to foreign banks.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/business/global/money-and-people-leave-spain-as-economic-gloom-deepens.html?pagewanted=all