Did 'The Great Society' Ruin Society?

"I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair, I'll fix it."

Thus did Mitt Romney supposedly commit the gaffe of the month -- for we are not to speak of the poor without unctuous empathy.

Yet, as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation reports in "Understanding Poverty in the United States: Surprising Facts About America's Poor," Mitt was more right about America's magnanimity than those who bewail her alleged indifference.

First, who are the poor?

To qualify, a family of four in 2010 needed to earn less than $22,314. Some 46 million Americans, 15 percent of the population, qualified.

And in what squalor were America's poor forced to live?

Well, 99 percent had a refrigerator and stove, two-thirds had a plasma TV, a DVD player and access to cable or satellite, 43 percent were on the Internet, half had a video game system like PlayStation or Xbox.

Three-fourths of the poor had a car or truck, nine in 10 a microwave, 80 percent had air conditioning. In 1970, only 36 percent of the U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

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The $4 Billion Obamacare Slush Fund for Progressives

If you like how the Obama administration's multibillion-dollar "investments" in bankrupt solar companies have turned out, you'll love the latest federal loan program to nowhere. It's the Obamacare loyalty rewards program for progressives.

To appease liberal Democrats pushing for the so-called "public option" (the full frontal government takeover of our health care system), the White House settled for the creation of a $6 billion network of nonprofit "CO-OPs" that will "compete" with private insurers. It's socialized medicine through the side door. House Republicans sliced about $2 billion from the slush fund in last spring's budget deal and proclaimed the program dead. Hardly.

On Wednesday, the White House trumpeted the release of nearly $700 million in taxpayer-funded low-interest loans for seven CO-OPs in eight states. Administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the fund will pour more money into CO-OP plans nationwide throughout the next year. In 2014, according to Washington bureaucrats, the plans will be offered on the federally approved and federally monitored state health exchange "marketplace."  read more

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The Left's War on Legal Immigration and Voter Integrity
On Oct. 14, a federal judge blocked key portions of Alabama's new immigration law after several groups, including the Obama Justice Department and the ACLU, asked for an injunction.

The Justice Department claims that states that assist in enforcing federal immigration laws are violating the Constitutional separation of powers.

Really? If that's so, I wonder if state police in Alabama are barred from arresting someone trying to pass counterfeit $100 bills, since it's federal currency. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power "to provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States." It doesn't say anything about state troopers.

Likewise, Article I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution authorizes Congress "to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." State police arresting illegal aliens has nothing to do with deciding who can be naturalized.

"Does it really cause harm to the United States when a state informs the federal government of persons who are in violation of federal law, and then leaves it to the federal government to decide whether to initiate deportation proceedings?" Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange wrote in the state's response.

via The Left's War on Legal Immigration and Voter Integrity | The American Civil Rights Union.

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Judge Mark Martin Scolds Victim Who Insulted Islam

PA Magistrate Mark Martin, instead of serving justice scolds a crime victim for insulting Islam and blames him for negative perceptions held by people in other countries. For a judge, Mark Martin has very poor judgement.

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Buried within President Barack Obama’s 2013 budget is a proposal to triple the tax rate on corporate dividends which now stands at 15 percent, a move that would have a severe effect on retirees, The Wall Street Journal notes in an editorial.

Obama is proposing to raise the dividend tax rate to the higher personal income tax rate of 39.6 percent, according to the Journal. The rate jumps to 41 percent with the planned phase-out of deductions and exemptions and then hits 44.8 percent with the 3.8 percent investment tax surcharge in Obamacare.

“Of course, the White House wants everyone to know that this new rate would apply only to those filthy rich individuals who make $200,000 a year, or $250,000 if you're a greedy couple. We're all supposed to believe that no one would be hurt other than rich folks who can afford it,” the Journal wrote.

“The truth is that the plan gives new meaning to the term collateral damage, because shareholders of all incomes will share the pain. Here's why. Historical experience indicates that corporate dividend payouts are highly sensitive to the dividend tax. Dividends fell out of favor in the 1990s when the dividend tax rate was roughly twice the rate of capital gains.”

via Obama Dividend Tax Would Devastate Retirees.

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The Russians and American Progressives: Together Again
The Russia Today (RT) Moscow-funded propaganda channel, which is backing the murderous regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, aired a special program on Tuesday night on how progressives in the U.S. can “Take Back the American Dream” by defeating Republicans. The propaganda effort was broadcast throughout the United States and produced in collaboration with major liberal groups such as the Campaign for America’s Future, MoveOn.org  and Demos, all of them Soros-funded.

The host was Thom Hartmann, who regards himself as the nation’s number one progressive radio talk-show host.

The “National Teach-In to Take Back the American Dream” featured Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor; Heather McGhee of Demos; Leo Hindrey, a businessman and self-styled “Patriotic Millionaire;” Natalie Foster, the co-founder of Rebuild the Dream; and Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future.

Nobody on the program, which also aired on DISH Network, DirectTV and the Free Speech TV Network, demonstrated any concern about appearing on a Moscow-funded channel to promote the “American dream.”

The Russian regime, which has a habit of murdering journalists and political opponents, has a covert and overt program of manipulation of the Western media, similar to what the old Soviet KGB used to specialize in. Interestingly, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has just posted a blog on The Huffington Post, one of RT’s official “partners” in the media business.  read more

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Megauproar: 'ACTA targets & harms legal users'

The EU has suspended the ratification of a controversial anti computer piracy agreement, questioning its legality.

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Obama's War on Coal

When you look at the facts it is undeniable that the Obama Administration has declared war on the coal industry. This is an industry that is based on our Nation’s most abundant natural resource for energy; America is the “OPEC of coal”. In addition to providing the country almost half of its power, the coal industry also provides our country with 1.5 million stable, long term and much needed jobs. The Obama administration has chosen and deployed its weapons for the attack; including the EPA, the Bureau of Land Management, national and local environmental groups of activists and attorneys all of which serve to “shock and awe” the coal industry.  These government and environmental groups allied with the President are staging protests and filing lawsuits with local Governments where coal companies have requested permits to build coal export facilities or new coal mines. The Federal Government indirectly pays for many of these legal bills through reimbursements to the activist organizations of legal expenses.  Despite this formidable multiple wave attack on coal, the industry that appears to be fighting for its survival in the United States, has a bright and profitable future.  

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          credit: ProgressOhio)

Morning Bell: Obama’s Crony Capitalist Trap Door

The Obama White House says it hates tax “loopholes,” and the American people abhor them with good reason. They’re the ultimate in unfairness, allowing those in the know to wiggle their way out of playing by the same rules that apply to the rest of us. That’s why, at first glance, the Obama Administration’s latest “framework” to cut the corporate tax rate while closing corporate tax loopholes might sound like a good twofer.

Before you give the President a gold star for good governance, take a step back, turn up the lights, look around the room, and you’ll see that President Obama has replaced some of those tax loopholes with a giant trap door that’s just the right size for all of his political cronies to slip through.

Here are the details of Obama’s latest crony capitalist ploy. Yesterday, the President proposed reducing the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 28 percent. That’s certainly a landmark moment – a liberal President calling for a lower corporate tax rate is a Nixon goes to China moment. It’s also long overdue, considering that the U.S. corporate tax rate is the second highest in the world, making it nearly impossible for American companies to compete in the global economy. But here’s where the trouble begins.  read more

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In 2007, while still a member of the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama said, “I am absolutely convinced that culture warsare just so ‘90s. Their days are growing dark.”

Until recently, I’ve been inclined to agree with Mr. Obama. The culture wars are over. We lost.

We’re no longer fighting to uphold traditional social values. Now we’re fighti

ng a battle over the very definition of what it means to be an American, and what America means to the world.

But it turns out the president himself has reignited the culture wars he so smugly declared were passe.

Like most leftists, Mr. Obama assumed his values and opinions had become the norm (think, “The science is settled” and other pronouncements of opinion as fact).

When, two weeks ago, he arrogantly announced the Health and Human Services directive requiring all employers (or their insurers) to provide free contraception, sterilization and abortifacient drugs as mandatory provisions of health care coverage, Mr. Obama must have quite naturally assumed his edict would go unchallenged.  read more

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Save the Planet: Lie, Cheat and Steal!

A prominent global warming scientist, Peter Gleick, who was chairman of the ethics committee at the American Geophysical Union, admitted that he recently stole some documents- and he may have forged others- from the conservative think-tank the Heartland Institute. But that’s all in a day’s work for a work-a-day climate warrior. The important thing isn’t the quest for the truth in global climate research, but, as Charlie Sheen would say, winning. With winning comes cash.

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AFDI/SIOA Pro-Freedom Anti-Sharia Billboards and Radio in Kansas City

AFDI/SIOA Pro-Freedom Anti-Sharia Billboards an..., posted with vodpod

WILD BILL FOR AMERICA: "Attack of the Community Organizer"

Words of wisdom

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