Rent-seeking is generally companies sucking up to Govt; what do you call it when our Govt goes rent-seeking to OTHER countries’ Govts?

"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."            – President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09   I know that lots of companies use their … Read more

Is our society that close of losing the idea of self-responsible “internal governor” for the Progressive “external governor”?

“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters. ”

– Ben Franklin, Constitutional Congress

 "No controlling legal authority."

– Al Gore,  1996 Presidential campaign

The country is all a Twitter by Uber-Progressive Congressman Weiner (D-NY) acting as a sales dude for "tidy whities" and working out at the gym all the time – but for someone other than his new bride. I’m not going to post the pic – our main blogging rule is "Adult themes but kid friendly", and in this, I have no intention of putting up one that would cause a "Hey Mom, what is this?" moment.

Rather, I’d rather (as you can tell from the top quotes) bring up the idea of the differences (again) between a society that is made up of people with internal governors (self-responsible and self-governing) and one that has to have external governors (laws and regulations) surrounding its people.  In essence, either we can literally control ourselves ("virtuous") by internal rules (our hearts, our minds, our moral compasses) or we are forced to be controlled by external rules (decrees from others).  Which camp do you think Anthony Weiner falls into?  More importantly, which camp do you think our country is falling into?

As to the first – Hint: "I have…

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Vulnerable Teenage Girls

The Nashua Telegraph, in reprinting (as a guest editorial) the left wing blathering of the Concord Monitor, has just reassured sexual predators who want to abuse young girls in the state of New Hampshire, that their secret is probably safe.

Didn’t they learn the first time?

From Townhall (emphasis mine):

One of the administration’s programs helps distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure by providing permanent loan modifications.

Yeah, this is going to work out well.  Doesn’t the Administration remember Rick Santelli’s rant on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade where he and the traders railed against the idea that they (and us) should be responsible for paying other peoples’ mortgages?  The TEA Party movement it helped to spawn has become the biggest political movement in recent history – and no friend of the ever-expanding-government policies of Obama!

Another program, now ramping up, gives states that have been the hardest hit by falling home prices funding to help reduce the principal of a borrower’s loan, among other things.

Heck, why can’t *I* get my principal reduced?  After all, I’m current on my loan – why should I be discriminated against?  I’ve played by the rules – not buying more house than I could afford (in fact, bought far less), haven’t remortgaged a whole bunch of times, and blown the cash on toys and vacations, or redone the house well above my pay grade.  Heck, who WOULDN’T want to chop off 10%, 20%, or even more from their mortgage?  Hey, MY house has fallen in market price too (and selling is about 196 days in my town to boot!).

"I think those will make a big difference in terms of the problems of unemployed homeowners and falling house prices," said Massad. But he added the process was tricky.

"There are issues of how you do it, making sure it’s fair, making sure you don’t create the wrong incentives," Massad said.

Fair?  Are you kidding? NOTHING about taking taxpayer monies and just giving it…

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Notable Quote – Walter Russell Mead

One way to summarize the kind of change we need. During the farm era the focus of American domestic policy was to create the most favorable possible environment for millions of ordinary Americans to launch flourishing small businesses. Rather that focusing on home ownership, American social policy should probably be looking at small business formation … Read more

FYI – GrokTALK!s Gone Fishin’ (Figuratively)

Even Bloggers need a vacation, even if it is just from the part that’s not blogging. So no new GrokTALK! Podcast this week. But help yourself to leftovers. We’ve got plenty of interviews that you may have missed to keep you going until next time.

The lamestream media makes a fool of itself again over Palin

Remember all the media jeering about how Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from her doorstep? She didn’t. What she DID say was you can see mainland Russia from Alaska…which you can, from one of the Aleutian Islands. Media stupid and wrong; Palin, smart and right.

How about the media jeering about how Palin referred to "the Boston Tea Party in 1773"? The ignoramuses in the media thought it happened in 1776! Media, stupid and wrong; Palin, smart and right.

Here’s another good one:

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Can Romney Do It?

Romney_lesko_small.jpg

“If you can’t convince them, confuse them.”   -President Harry S. Truman 33rd American President.

 Mitt Romney came to New Hampshire Thursday and formally announced he will seek to unseat President Obama in 2012.  Despite his formal announcement being overshadowed by Governor Sarah Palin’s visit, it’s official: Romney is in for 2012.

Can Romney win the nomination? The former Governor of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts has a very well-documented laundry list of problems. Romney supporters cringe at similarities between the Bay State’s health care program and Obamacare. Romney has shown himself to be a clear and unadulterated flip-flopper on the hot-button issues such as abortion, gun control, immigration, and gay rights.

In his 1994 bid for Senate, Romney said, “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I believe since Roe v. Wade has been the law in this country for 20 years, we should sustain and support it. I sustain that law and the right of a woman to make that choice…” Romney would ultimately go on to proclaim himself to be “pro-life.” The late Senator Edward Moore Kennedy, when campaigning against Romney in 1994, quipped, “(My opponent isn’t pro-choice or anti-choice, he’s multiple choice.”

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Maybe the House Got the Message

Perhaps the House of Representatives did get the message from last November‘s election and from polls indicating that Americans are serious about cutting deficit spending.  On Tuesday, in a bi-partisan vote (82 Democrats,  236 Republicans) the House overwhelmingly rejected President Obama’s request to unconditionally increase the debt ceiling.  Only 97 Democrats voted to continue reckless spending.  

Despite alarmist claims about not raising the debt ceiling, the Secretary of the Treasury can dispense its approximately $2 trillion revenues on a priority basis.  Our country need not default on our debt or fail to pay the military, seniors, the poor, or other critical obligations UNLESS OBAMA’s administration CHOOSES NOT TO MAKE THOSE PAYMENTS. 

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Not even “leadership from behind”, but leadership from behind the curtain

Caroline Glick is Deputy Managing Editor of the Jerusalem Post and had this to  say about Obama after his takedown by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: …Obama’s leadership model is the model of subversive leadership. Subversive leaders in democracies do not tell their citizens where they wish to lead their societies. They hide their goals from … Read more

Given no honest men – “what do we do?”

Well, that was quick!  Maggie responded via a comment here: Skip – thanks for picking up on this…it’s much appreciated! I wanted to follow up on your question, "could we find a group of people equal to the task?" Unfortunately, if such a group were to be created, there would be maneuvering and posturing and … Read more

Is there an honest man – even one?

My Samsphere friend and blogger Maggie Thurber was ruminating on whether or not we could actually create the Constitution again (assuming that it did not exist).  Given the current political scene, how far we have strayed from it, her outlook is rather pessimistic (given that the second idea for the title of her post was … Read more

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