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From Heritage, an infographic that talks about the poor in America.  And it really doesn’t describe the stereotype of what LBJ presented: that of real abject poverty in Appalachia.  We still have that in our minds when we hear about the poor.  And if you are in a location or socioeconomic strata in which you have no contact with the welfare class, that may be your “reality”.

And it is wrong – as we spend over $934 BILLION in transfer payments (taking from one to give to another):

“Today, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual report on poverty. This report is noteworthy because this year marks the 50^th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson’s launch of the War on Poverty. Liberals claim that the War on Poverty has failed because we didn’t spend enough money. Their answer is just to spend more. But the facts show otherwise.”

“…But today the Census will almost certainly proclaim that around 14 percent of Americans are still poor. The present poverty rate is almost exactly the same as it was in 1967 a few years after the War on Poverty started. Census data actually shows that poverty has gotten worse over the last 40 years.

How is this possible? How can the taxpayers spend $22 trillion on welfare while poverty gets worse?

The answer is it isn’t possible.  Census counts a family as poor if its income falls below specified thresholds. But in counting family “income,” Census ignores nearly the entire $943 billion welfare state.”

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Which is thoughtfully, carefully, and soberly make the hard decisions to set real priorities into reality by actually doing their jobs in setting budgets.  So, in celebration of doing nothing except to flip on the Federal Government financial auto-pilot once again, they congratulate themselves.

Sad, really sad – this is worse than almost any entertainment “congratulate ME!” awards show – with us paying their freight for, in effect FAILING TO DO THEIR JOBS!

Breaking news: The White House and congressional Republicans actually agree on something.

The Obama administration officially backed Wednesday a continuing resolution to keep the government funded this fall.

“The administration appreciates the strong bipartisan effort that produced the amendment that provides authorities that are essential in equipping the administration with the tools necessary to provide a comprehensive and sustained counterterrorism strategy to address the growing threat from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant,” said the Office of Management and Budget.

That’s right – wrap the failure up in 

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So how much money flowed out of NH simply for the Feds to take their take in order to return it back?

Tree Group Getting $140,000 Grant to Teach Landscaping Safety

A New Hampshire group is receiving nearly $140,000 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to help provide training in the landscaping and tree care industries in electrical hazards and aerial lift safety.  The Tree Care Industry Association will be assisting workers and employers.  A total of 78 nonprofit organizations are receiving over $10 million in funds through the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program, including community- and faith-based groups, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor-management associations, and colleges and universities.

The programs educate workers and employers in industries with high injury, illness and fatality rates; underserved youth; limited English proficiency and other vulnerable workers; and small businesses.

Being a Free Market guy, I keep wondering:

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Why is it that many of these anti-Freedom / anti-Constitutional moneybags think that what is good for we all is irrelevant for them?  That which they would prevent us from doing or having has nothing to do with their ability TO do or TO have?  That according to Peter Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and mega-billionaire, I can’t have an AR-15 but HE can buy a $2.5 Million  Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. H ??  From the post:

The tank in question, a Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf. H, commonly referred to as a Panzer IV, was allegedly sold in July for $2.5 million to a foundation tied to Allen. However, attention over the deal, which is now tied up in a lawsuit over non-delivery, has now earned Allen the scorn of gun rights groups when compared to the tech pioneer’s half-million dollar donation to help push gun control ballot initiative I-594.

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[Adam] Smith’s chief concern was not so much with what man might occasionally achieve when he was at his best but that he should have as little opportunity as possible to do harm when he was at his worst.  It would scarcely be too much to claim that the main merit of individualism which he and his contemporaries advocated is that it is a system under which bad men can do least harm.  It is a social system which does not depend for its functioning on our finding good men for running it, or on all men becoming better than they now are, but which makes use of men in all their given variety and complexity, sometimes good and sometimes bad, sometimes intelligent and more often stupid.

– F.A. Hayek (economist, author, Professor)

The Founders were similar in their…

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And it all stems from Obama’s worldview and where America fits into it; the problem of ISIS brings it into focus again:

The Obama personal hesitation stems, unfortunately, from reasons unrelated to the military and political issues. Part of his problem is that he cannot bring himself to acknowledge that he was wrong to oppose the Iraqi surge in 2006, and wrong to pull out American troops from Iraq as President. A strong president learns from his past mistakes, but Obama does not.

One reason for his dogged persistence lies in his flawed world view, which deep down, regards the United States (and Israel) as akin to colonial powers, whose actions should always be examined under a presumption of distrust.

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When Pres Obama says I hv pen and ph if Congress won't I will he's like the Roosevelts he considers Constitution a nuisance

— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) September 15, 2014

And the Roosevelts and Obama are not the only ones; from my Progressives and the Proper Role of Government post, let me remind you that we can see the disdain for it rolling down their chins:

• NH State Rep. Debra DeSimone (R): “The Constitution is a guideline”
• NH State Rep. Sandra Keans (R, now D): “I don’t try to justify anything by the Constitution, it’s not my job and I don’t want to do it”.

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Yes, I will be casting a vote for NH Governor and for the US Senator from NH in the General Election.  More later on whom.  It is very important that you all come to the polls and vote.  Given how the value of our American Citizenship has declined these last 6 years, our Vote is one of the last (and I contend) most valuable artifacts that accrue to we citizens (and even that is under attack, with California and New York rushing along the track that would allow illegal aliens to vote in elections in those states).  And when you vote, I urge you to consider the philosophy of NOT voting from the top down (e.g., Federal candidates, then State candidates, etc.) but, rather, bottom up.  It seems in many ways that our control of our Government may be slipping away (from we ordinary folks to the folks referred to as the Ruling Class); thus, raise the importance of your local races over those higher up: town, county and then onto the “higher level” races.  After all, you can hold the local folks FAR more accountable than you can those in Concord or DC.

And often, they make decisions that affect you faster and deeper than those further away.  And another thing…

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Read carefully and slowly

One year ago, our dedicated military and civilian personnel at the Washington Navy Yard were targeted in an unspeakable act of violence that took the lives of 12 American patriots. As we remember men and women taken from us so senselessly, we keep close their family and friends, stand with the survivors who continue to heal and pay tribute to the first responders who acted with skill and bravery. At the same time, we continue to improve security at our country’s bases and installations to protect our military and civilian personnel who help keep us safe. One year ago, 12 Americans went to work to protect and strengthen the country they loved. Today, we must do the same – rejecting atrocities like these as the new normal and renewing our call for common-sense reforms that respect our traditions while reducing the gun violence that shatters too many American families every day.

Did you catch what I did?

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So true, so true:

Along with the above story, there’s this from Powerline digging into the lies the watermelon environmentalists tell themselves in order to keep working to impoverish everyone….except themselves.

There’s an old line that environmentalists are “watermelons”–green on the outside, red on the inside. A lot of environmentalists will take great offense if you say this: No no! We like economic growth and capitalism just fine! We just want it to be “sustainable,” whatever that means. And don’t ask for specificity about what “sustainability” means in detail, unless you have a lot of time and a full bottle of hootch handy. Before long you’ll figure out that “sustainable” is just a code word for green things we like, and that it has no rigor whatsoever aside from old-fashioned factor-efficiency, which economists figured out over a century ago at least.

But anyway, environmentalists resist being called socialists.

Yet that is exactly what many of them are. They’ve just donned camouflage by using the environment as an excuse to institute socialism by a different means

WP is a mandatory

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“Today’s guest is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who will be interviewed by our panel of Jim VandeHei of Politico, Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post, and…Rush Limbaugh.”

That was a line from a post that really kinds was smacking MTP’s new host, Chuck Todd, for effectively living up to Won’s notion that he has to be the center of attraction even as pre-taking over the show, the NBC News head said it shouldn’t be:

“…new vision for “Meet the Press” includes adding a regular panel of journalists who will question guests, something of a return to the venerable show’s original format. “The show needs more edge,” she said. “It needs to be consequential. I think the show had become a talking shop that raked over the cold embers of what had gone on the previous week. The one-on-one conversation belongs to a decade ago.”

Gosh, a better brand of TV opinion journalism?  They’d actually be

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