Data Points – Presidential Executive Orders

Update: I stand corrected: William Tucker (in Comments) is correct; the proper value for Executive Orders issued by President Obama is not 923.  I looked it up at the NationalArchive – the proper number is 135.  It is still, however far higher than all of his predecessors combined.  Also changed were Bush II (from 62), … Read more

Some observations on affirmative action…

Affirmative action vs color-blindnessOnce again during this Presidential season, we see the three main weapons of Progressivism on display: gender, class, and race.  Take those three away, and they don’t have much, do they?  Anyways, the last of those three is under attack in the Supreme Court as the University of Texas use of affirmative action in admissions and whether it still fulfills a “compelling” reason for the State to force “color-blindness” or continue skin color discrimination.  That is the question – in the quest for a color-blind nation, at what time do we really start to do as we preach?  In my lifetime (and the grey hairs are becoming more prevalent such that they are the majority color now), much wrong has been seen, many many of those wrongs have been righted, and attitudes have been changed for the better.  Yes, there is still more to be done, but I ask, in a tangental fashion: other than the usual race baiting suspects (e.g., the Al Sharptons and David Dukes of the world), are we close to closing down affirmative action?  Or are we doomed forever to have the spector of race overhang much of society (e.g., when does color-blindness actually disappear – when those that  profit from race-baiting can no longer do so?)?  When do we really go more than skin-deep?

Anyways, here are some thoughts from Roger Clegg at The Corner (reformated) listing why affirmative action (with around 60 years of having affirmative action):

How, then, can they possibly be “compelling” (which is what the law requires them to be), especially when they must be weighed against the many and undeniable costs of racial discrimination:

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Democrats Screw Most Vulnerable Again

A question that has long ago been answered is can government lift people up?   The answer is no.  It can only hold them down.  When it holds them all down the Liberals call this equality and history has yet to provide one example where the kind of planned economy Democrats favor ever did any better … Read more

Impressive. Most Impressive.

You don’t have to be into Marching Bands to like this palate cleanser.   This is the Ohio State marching band and their tribute to video-games.  Pay particular attention to the six minute mark.  It is very much worth the wait. H/T Hot Air

Obamacare and the IRS – such a cute couple

So much for Democrats wanting to protect your privacy – I guess, like all of the anti-war protesters when Bush was President, the privacy advocates have all gone silent in support of The Won.  It just goes to show that for almost all Progressives, it’s all for show – if they truly believed in what they have told us, they’d be marching on DC.  Much time and energy has been spent on the Individual Mandate and the IPAB (aka “the death panels”).  Well, here’s a part that I didn’t know – or realize:

The IRS will also determine who is eligible for taxpayer-financed subsidies to purchase health care on the exchanges that will be set up in every state. Anytime anyone’s situation changes — a raise, a new job, a move to another state — that person will be required to report it to the IRS for the purpose of recalculating their eligibility.

Got that??  Generally when you have a serious change in life, and you have to report that event to…Mom.  Or Dad.  Or some other loved one or friends.

So, what have the Democrats wrought here?  That’s right – just ONE MORE STEP in having Government be your family (like it or not).  So, how’s that gonna feel – literally having a brand new Big Brother (again, brought to you by Democrats as not one Republican voted for this Liberty crushing, 2700 page fiasco.  Why is it beginning to feel like it should be called not Obamacare but ObamaBigBrother or ObamaJail ?  How’s it feel to now know that the IRS is now an intimate member of your family?  Now that you’ve gone “all growed up”, Democrats like President Obama and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)  and (at the time of Obamacare passage) Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and Hodes(D-NH) decided that you STILL needed a set of parents – and they thought it just a dandy idea that it be the folks that “touch” you every April 15th (there has to be a Democrat joke in there somewhere…)

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Public Unions – “Why yes, we do use union dues to buy politicians”

From a press release from James O’Keefe and Project Veritas via RedState:

“This is significant because labor unions are some of the biggest beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded jobs,” says O’Keefe. “If they’re intentionally propping up paper jobs, then they’re complicit in the fleecing of taxpayers.”

The latest video from Project Veritas captures Newark SEIU President Rahaman Muhammad laying out in explicit terms the nature of the relationship between his union and lawmakers like Democrat Senator Robert Menendez.

Project Veritas: “So that means you’re going to get the union dues…”

SEIU: “Exactly!”

Project Veritas: “…to your campaign.”

SEIU: “Exactly! It benefits them.”

So, why do I think that this is no different than the announcement (Laconia Daily Sun, (10/4, page 15)that the Gilford firefighters union endorsing the Democrats in all of the races that touch my hamlet (e.g., NH House, NH Senate),

Er, I don’t.

The latest James O’Keefe video is after the jump

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From ‘Grok friend Chan at WeekendPundit: Use the backup site!

WeekendPundit is in a slow fail.  He uses Moveable Type (newer than what failed us, but still MT).  No new posts possible, so go to his backup site at WeekendPundit.blogspot.com.  As a favor to an old blogging friend, this will stay at the top of the front page for a few days.

Data Point – annual Presidential deficits since 2000

What is startling is viewing this from the promise that Obama made that he would reduce the annual deficit by half. He didn’t.  Not even close.  And ask yourself – how much credence do you now give the Obama Administration’s guesses? (H/T: Instapundit)

Quotes worthy of note: The spiritual dimension of life…

“I am a man, but not only a man. Sentiment is not sentimentality, common sense is not common ignorance, and intuition is not superstition. Living with a recognition of the spiritual dimension of the world not only ensures a happier life but also a more honest intellectual life than if we allow no room for … Read more

Obama.com – ‘Made In China’

No one is (or should be) all that surprised that the Obama campaign has again removed security protocols that would prevent illegal credit card donations from outside the US, (about the same time he has a record setting month for donations *cough-cough*).   But would you be surprised to learn that the Outsourcer in Chief’s … Read more

Quotes worthy of note: Government dependency…

“Volumes of research have shown that Great Society welfare policies—such as public housing and aid to families with dependent children—fuel family dissolution, community fragmentation, generational joblessness, and government dependency….The Obama administration [is] more adroit at excuse-making and blame-shifting that creating opportunity, and seems ideologically incapable of pursuing the policies that fulfill the moral promise of … Read more

This 2012 Nobel Prize For Science Might Piss Democrats Off

Adult Stem cell research creates all the curesDemocrats and their Abortion advocates keep saying they are the party of science, and that Republicans will ban abortion (stay with me, they are related).  First, Republicans do not believe in the kind of monarchical government where that is even possible, and just for the record (again), even if Roe v. Wade was overturned, all 50 states abortion laws would remain in tact and in force until such time as each state and its citizens wanted them changed.

So yeah, Democrats are just making stuff up to scare people.   You know what else they’ve been scaring people with – Science and Stem cells.

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Obama Admits to “Performance Issues.”

Did you hear this one?  Barack Obama, speaking to Hollywood’s 1% at yet another fundraiser, in explanation for failing to show up for the first of only 3 debates he will have with Romney in front of America, said he can’t perform flawlessly night after night. Performance issues Mr. President? A few observations… Some of … Read more

ObamaFone Funnels Your Money To Big Obama Donors

tracfone- provider and benefactor of the Obama PhoneThe now infamous Obama supporter who got herself an ObamaPhone, very likely got it from TracFone.  Guess who runs TracFone?

A wireless company profiting from the so-called “Obama phone” giveaway program is run by a prominent Democratic donor whose wife has raised more than $1.5 million for the president since 2007.

Not surprised?  I’m not surprised that you are not surprised.

More on this Crony Capitalism?

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Skip, Freedom Is The Symptom, The People The Cause

Skip, true. It is about freedom, but there’s more to it than that. I would suggest that state encroachment on individual liberties is a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself.  It’s about the people. It’s about people willing to cede their liberty and freedom to a faceless bureaucrat in exchange for the illusion of safety, for a handout, or both. It’s the values that people hold that they place themselves as a pet of the state; they willingly devolve themselves into the Burkean “flies of a summer”.

We’ve raised generations steeped in state dependency, and now we see the result of this societal mistake when there’s a problem. When there’s a problem or a challenge, the first reaction of too many people is to call in the Department of Personal Responsibility Absolution to handle it. They believe that they themselves are uncapable of handling the problem, that it’s somebody else’s responsibility.  If there are poor people, the government should handle it.  If there are sick people, government should handle it. Elderly, the government should care for them.

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Ask New Hampshire Democrats About Fines For The Most Vulnerable

Effective October 1st, 2012 (that means it started last week folks)… Hospitals who re-admit patients within 30 days after they were discharged will now have to, under an Obamacare provision, pay fines as of October 1, 2012, which could force hospitals to slash programs that help the elderly, the poor, and the chronically ill. According … Read more

“Mostly Free” and “Here to shut you down”: Scott & Mike have an economic point to make….but it really isn’t about economics!

It’s about Freedom, plain and simple. Scott has the simple example – a childhood lemonade stand; Mike has the ramifications – do we have Economic Freedom anymore?  If a child can’t even open a side-walk-side homemade drink stand that almost ALL of us have tried at one time or another (or if not personally, someone who has, or has bought such from the same), ask yourself – have we gone overboard?  Have we the type of society that has become all that insistent that every tittle and jot of a bureaucratic rule making insane asylum?

We have prided ourselves, as a country, as being the Land of Opportunity.  What does is say when our children are denied that opportunity at the get-go?  What does it say when adults masquerading has “our protectors” can’t see the difference between a commercial venture and a kiddy stand (who most often, get shamed into backing down)?

Even worse, that these “inspectors” have the chutzpah to believe that they NEED to be there in that child’s face saying “YOU didn’t follow the rules!”.  And lots of rules are being generated quickly, ruthlessly, and without a view to the cost (reformated, emphasis mine):

Last week, 1,571 new pages of regulations were published in the 2012 Federal Register, bringing the total for this year to more than 55,300 pages, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.  In those pages, 76 new final rules were approved, up from 51 final rules during the shortened Labor Day holiday week. That figure is equivalent to a new regulation being published every two hours and 13 minutes, 24 hours a day and seven days a week.  Those new rules bring the total number of pages of regulation to 55,324, with the government set to have 79,463 pages of regulations at its current pace.  Thirty-six economically significant rules published this year have combined compliance costs of more than $17.4 billion, though CEI estimates the true costs are actually higher.

And then we wonder why the US is now only 18th in the world for Economic Freedom.  Those of us who believe in entrepreneurial activities, and that it starts early.  No, it doesn’t mean that the lemonade stand then goes to to something bigger (although a boyhood friend of mine turned his into a little hut that then began to sell candy, then added hot dogs and soda, then ice cream treats….you get the idea.  He now owns several restaurants).

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