Democrats Fear Obama May Lose
Democrats Fear Obama May Lose
WASHINGTON (AP) — In growing numbers, once-confident Democrats now say President Barack Obama could lose the November election.
The hand-wringing reflects real worries among Democrats about Obama's ability to beat Republican rival Mitt Romney, who has proven to be a stronger candidate than many expected. But it's also a political strategy aimed at rallying major donors who may have become complacent.
The Coming DNC Disaster
The Coming DNC Disaster
There aren't Greek columns tall or wide enough to camouflage Barack Obama's impending North Carolina catastrophe. In September, the campaigner-in-chief will travel to Charlotte for his party's presidential nominating convention. For once, the incurable jetsetter may wish he had stayed home.Obama's stage managers envision a triumphant, unifying coronation reminiscent of their 2008 DNC production in Denver. But the southern swing state is turning into a Democratic disaster zone.
Obama in Denial
Obama in Denial
WASHINGTON
-- One would think, given so much practice, that the Obama White House
would have been better prepared for last week's wretched jobs report.
Instead, we witnessed the five stages of bad public relations. Delusion: It was a "step in the right direction." Dismissiveness: Don't "read too much into any one monthly report." Grudging acceptance: "It's still tough out there." Cliché: "There are no quick fixes." Self-pity: "I suspect that most people in Cincinnati would acknowledge that I've tried real hard."
Instead, we witnessed the five stages of bad public relations. Delusion: It was a "step in the right direction." Dismissiveness: Don't "read too much into any one monthly report." Grudging acceptance: "It's still tough out there." Cliché: "There are no quick fixes." Self-pity: "I suspect that most people in Cincinnati would acknowledge that I've tried real hard."
Are the Dems Doomed?
Are the Dems Doomed?
Is it time to start talking about the inevitable demise of the Democratic Party?Since the 1990s there's been a thriving cottage industry of doomsaying about the Republican Party. The gold standard of the genre is undoubtedly 2002's "The Emerging Democratic Majority" by Ruy Teixeira and John Judis, which argued that the Democrats were destined to become a majority party because demographic and cultural trends were on their side. The increasing cultural liberalism of professionals, the dramatic growth of Latinos and the increasingly liberal attitudes of (single) women were celebrated by Teixeira and Judis as proof that time was on the Democrats' side.
Jobs Versus Net Jobs
Jobs Versus Net Jobs
One
of the reasons for the popularity of political rhetoric is that
everybody can be right, in terms of their own rhetoric, no matter how
much the rhetoric of one side contradicts the rhetoric of the other
side.
President Obama constantly repeats how many millions of jobs have been created during his administration, while his critics constantly repeat how many millions of jobs have been lost during his administration. How can both of them be right -- or, at least, how can they both get away with what they are saying?
President Obama constantly repeats how many millions of jobs have been created during his administration, while his critics constantly repeat how many millions of jobs have been lost during his administration. How can both of them be right -- or, at least, how can they both get away with what they are saying?
Transparent hypocrisy
Hypocrisy, thy name is David Axelrod.
President Obama’s
senior campaign adviser last week called Mitt Romney “the most secretive
candidate we’ve seen probably since Richard Nixon,” citing Romney
having assets in offshore accounts.
Amazingly, Axelrod said this just two weeks after his client invoked executive privilege — a term practically synonymous with Nixon and Watergate — to block the release of subpoenaed documents in the “Fast and Furious” scandal.
This is especially ironic considering Obama’s vow, immediately after the 2008 election, to lead the “most open and transparent [government] in history.”
Has that actually happened? Hardly.
Across the board, this White House is arguably the most secretive since, well, since you-know-who.
* The administration has used the 1917 Espionage Act six times to prosecute federal whistleblowers who leaked information to the media — twice the number brought in the entire previous 95 years.
Amazingly, Axelrod said this just two weeks after his client invoked executive privilege — a term practically synonymous with Nixon and Watergate — to block the release of subpoenaed documents in the “Fast and Furious” scandal.
This is especially ironic considering Obama’s vow, immediately after the 2008 election, to lead the “most open and transparent [government] in history.”
Getty Images
Across the board, this White House is arguably the most secretive since, well, since you-know-who.
* The administration has used the 1917 Espionage Act six times to prosecute federal whistleblowers who leaked information to the media — twice the number brought in the entire previous 95 years.
Faber: ‘Massive Wealth Destruction’ Coming, Well-to-Do ‘May Lose 50%’
Faber: ‘Massive Wealth Destruction’ Coming, Well-to-Do ‘May Lose 50%’
Why ‘angry money’ beats ‘smart money’
Michael Barone
There has been a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth as, in
the spring, it appeared that forces supporting Mitt Romney would be able
to raise about as much money as those supporting Barack Obama. There’s
even more now that it seems likely that the pro-Romney side will raise
and spend more money than the pro-Obama side.
Four years ago, the Obama forces heavily outspent those supporting John McCain. That made the Democrats spoiled. The prospect that the other side would have as much money as they do struck them as a cosmic injustice. The prospect that it would have more — heaven forfend!
They like to blame this situation on the Supreme Court’s 2010
Citizens United decision, which allows corporations and unions to spend
money on political speech. They did so even after their defeat in the
Wisconsin recall, in which Citizens United had no effect because
fund-raising was governed by state law.
What’s really interesting is that, if current projections are right, this will be the third election in a row in which the party holding the White House will be outspent by the opposition.
Four years ago, the Obama forces heavily outspent those supporting John McCain. That made the Democrats spoiled. The prospect that the other side would have as much money as they do struck them as a cosmic injustice. The prospect that it would have more — heaven forfend!
AP
What’s really interesting is that, if current projections are right, this will be the third election in a row in which the party holding the White House will be outspent by the opposition.
A pathetic ‘tax cut’
O’s sad gambit
John Podhoretz
Up is down. 2+2 = 5. Leave a tax rate intact and it’s the same as cutting taxes. No wonder the White House believed not buying a health-care policy should be considered an economic activity to be taxed and penalized.
Tuning Out a President
Tuned-out Presidents
Somewhere around early 2006, the nation tuned out George W. Bush for a variety of reasons, some warranted, but many not. Most thought the Katrina aftermath catastrophe was due to state and local officials (do you recall the utterly incompetent loudmouth Mayor [“chocolate city”] Nagan, or the clueless FEMA director Michael [“Brownie”] Brown?), while the president’s culpability was largely political: he flew high over, rather than waded into, the muck on the first day of the recovery.
No matter: either the media or his opponents succeeded in confirming the narrative of an out-of-touch president at best, and at worst one indifferent to the plight of African-American poor in particular. The more the president talked of help and rescue, the more we heard absurdities from a malicious Nagan and inanities from an incompetent Brownie.
Steps in the double-talk direction
Steps in the double-talk direction
Charles Gasparino
Speaking after last Friday’s jobs report, President Obama said the economy is taking a “step in the right direction.” Really?
Economic growth as measured by gross domestic product is falling; it’s now less than 2 percent. The Friday report showed that 80,000 jobs were created last month, vs. 77,000 the month before. So, yes, there was an increase — but, earlier in the year, the economy created an average of 226,000 jobs a month. The trend line is actually falling — i.e., we’re headed in the wrong direction.
AP
Mitt Romney's Secret Weapon - If He Can Bring Himself to Use It. by Jim Powell
By upholding Obamacare, Chief Justice John Roberts has
given Mitt Romney a significant opportunity in the election campaign.
But he could blow it if he doesn’t use a “secret weapon.”
The Supreme Court decision assures that Obamacare will be among the
top campaign issues, and polls continue to suggest that a majority of
voters don’t like it.Roberts offered what might become known as trans-gender justice (first it’s one thing, then it’s another) that seems to have outraged many independents as well as Republicans who want to uphold the Constitution, not sanction arbitrary power. Roberts’ decision could spur a higher turnout among voters critical of Obamacare.
US Sails into Dangerous Waters. by Ted Galen Carpenter
For several years the United States has pursued
rapprochement with Vietnam, its bitter adversary during the Cold War.
Although the establishment of cordial relations should be beneficial not
only for both countries but all of East Asia, basing that new
relationship on military cooperation threatens to pervert the process
and produce greater tensions in the region. Instead, US officials should
build a closer relationship with Hanoi primarily on economic,
diplomatic, and cultural ties. That approach would not only improve
bilateral relations, but more extensive economic links in particular
would help draw Vietnam further into the global economy. Such a
development would be all to the good.
Rise of the Global Tax Collectors. by Richard W. Rahn
The Constitution gives Congress the exclusive right to
tax Americans at the federal level. Yet Congress continues to give away
this most fundamental responsibility to international organizations, the
most dangerous of which is the Paris-based Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Most Americans probably would not approve of their tax dollars being
used to support an international organization that undermines their
fundamental liberties and promotes giving their hard-earned money to
other governments, often run by corrupt or dictatorial regimes. This is
precisely what the OECD is doing, with the blessing of the majority
members of Congress.Why Long-Term Unemployment Has Doubled under President Obama. by Jim Powell
The media has focused on prolonged unemployment over 8
percent, while generally downplaying a shocker: the soaring number of
people unemployed for more than 6 months.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, back in January 2009
when Barack Obama was sworn in, there were 2.6 million people unemployed
for more than 6 months. By June 2012, the ranks of the long-term
jobless soared more than 100 percent to 5.3 million.President Obama has promoted long-term unemployment by adopting policies that make it harder and more expensive for employers to hire people. He has relentlessly pushed for higher taxes, higher energy costs, compulsory unionism and, of course, Obamacare. One doesn't need a Harvard degree to figure out that when government makes hiring more difficult and expensive, there's likely to be less of it.
Obama's Accomplishments. by David Boaz
As he runs for re-election, President Obama wants to
point to his accomplishments in office. Trouble is, he's having trouble
identifying them.
He killed Osama bin Laden, for sure. But after that...He'd like to say that the economy is getting better, but the slow recovery is hampering his ability to sell that idea to the public. He likes to say that he saved General Motors and Chrysler; his critics argue that he really spent $23 billion of taxpayers' money to force the companies into bankruptcy and save the United Auto Workers Union. The president also has tried to claim that federal spending was increasing more slowly on his watch than in any presidency in 60 years, but the data don't bear out that narrative.
Political Capital Matters in the Case for Fiscal Reform. by Alberto Mingardi
Though the concern is that governments may not manage
their fiscaI burdens with only a limited mutualisation of debt, I see
the issue quite differently. My fear is that, with a deep mutualisation
of debt, the reform process in member states will stop in its tracks.We
know that successful federations feature regional bonds without bailout
guarantees, as in the US, for example. The current crisis has its roots
in irresponsible behaviour by European member states. The inordinate
growth of public spending left some with too much public debt. Cutting
spending is difficult in modern democracies but not impossible. Northern
social democracies such as Finland and Sweden succeeded; Canada (now
considered a country relatively resilient to the global crisis) did it
in the 1990s; and Latvia and Estonia tightened their belts more
recently.
Friday, July 6, 2012
The John Roberts Doctrine: Stopping at Red Lights is Optional
The John Roberts Doctrine: Stopping at Red Lights is Optional
Are you required to stop your car at a red light?In his opinion declaring Obamacare's individual mandate constitutional, Chief Justice John Roberts constructed an absurd doctrine of legal interpretation that, if consistently applied, would hold you are not.
The Roberts Doctrine of Lawlessness can be summarized as follows: You need not stop at a red light as long as you can afford to pay the penalty for running it. Red lights merely give motorists a "choice" of whether to stop or keep moving and pay the fine the government imposes for not stopping.
Let's see how our chief justice applied his doctrine to Obamacare:
Constitutional;' Romneycare Was a 'Penalty,' And It's Constitutional, Too
(CNSNews.com) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney told CBS's "This Morning" on Thursday that the Supreme Court has
ruled that Obamacare is a tax, "so it's a tax," while the health care
mandate he signed into law as governor of Massachusetts is a "penalty."
Romney said both Obamacare and Romneycare should now be considered constitutional.
"The Supreme Court has the final word, and their final word is that
Obamacare is a tax. So it's a tax. They decided it was constitutional,
so it's a tax and it's constitutional. That's the final word. That's
what it is," Romney said."Now, I agree with the dissent--I would have taken a different course, but the dissent wasn't in the majority. The majority has ruled, and their rule is final," he said.
Army Manual Outlines Plan To Kill Rioters, Demonstrators In America
Army Manual Outlines Plan To Kill Rioters, Demonstrators In America
A newly leaked US Army Military Police training manual
for “Civil Disturbance Operations” outlines how military assets are to
be used domestically to quell riots, confiscate firearms and even kill
Americans on U.S. soil during mass civil unrest.
The document (PDF),
which is dated 2006 and was used for a self-learning course at the U.S.
Army Military Police School at Fort McClellan, makes it clear that the
operations described in the manual apply to both “CONUS and OCONUS,”
meaning inside the Continental United States and outside the Continental
United States.
The document outlines how military assets will be used
to “help local and state authorities to restore and maintain law and
order” in the event of mass riots, civil unrest or a declaration of
martial law.
The primary function of military assets will be focused
around, “breaking up unauthorized gatherings and by patrolling the
disturbance area to prevent the commission of lawless acts,” states the
document, adding, “during operations to restore order, military forces
may present a show of force, establish roadblocks, break up crowds,
employ crowd control agents, patrol, serve as security forces or
reserves, and perform other operations as required.”
Thursday, July 5, 2012
U.S. Exit Risks Afghan Economy as Cash Pumped Into Dubai
By Eltaf Najafizada -
Afghan central bank inspector Fahim Satari stands in Kabul airport in front of a local businessman headed for Dubai, counting by hand the stack of $100 bills that police found the passenger carrying to the gate.
Satari declares the cash to be under the $20,000 limit imposed to stem the flood of money leaving through the terminal, which swelled to $4.6 billion in the year to March and equals almost one-fourth of the economy. While Satari’s team has slowed the airborne outflow, Kabul brokers who arrange informal transfers say business has jumped. In a country where only 7 percent of the population has a bank account and 15 percent of the economy depends on opium, cash is fleeing Afghanistan.
A Big Deal: Canada and Mexico Join the Pacific Trade Pact
Accounts of the G-20 summit in Mexico largely miss the most significant development.
The most significant development during the G-20 summit
in Mexico occurred on the sidelines and was largely buried in media
reports: The decision to invite Canada and Mexico to join negotiations
for the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP). Adding Mexico and
Canada to the current nine-member TPP will result—if negotiations are
successful—in a free trade area covering some 658 million people and
about $20.5 trillion in economic activity.A nation of dog walkers: Where the jobs are — and are not
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The Costliest Regulation You’ve Never Heard Of
A proposed regulation could cost
the U.S. banking system hundreds of billions of dollars, in turn
costing our economy billions of dollars, and achieving no discernible
benefits for banks, depositors, taxpayers, or the U.S. economy.
One of the costliest regulations to come down the pike
of late has nearly managed to escape detection. Earlier this year, the
Treasury Department published its “Guidance on Reporting Interest Paid to Nonresident Aliens,”
which would require banks to report to the Internal Revenue Service the
amount of interest they pay to non-resident aliens with a U.S. bank
account. While the Treasury and the regulatory apparatus insist that the
cost and inconvenience of adhering to this law are next to nothing, the
reality is that this rule could cost the U.S. banking system hundreds
of billions of dollars in lost deposits. In turn, this will cost our
overall economy billions of dollars, while achieving no discernible
benefits for banks, depositors, taxpayers, or the U.S. economy.The Healthcare Myths We Must Confront
As debate about whether
ObamaCare is a good idea continues, rejecting four major misconceptions
about healthcare is crucial to any chance of our eventually emerging
with a better system.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ObamaCare decision,
we must refocus. The Court’s decision was never about whether ObamaCare
was a good idea, only about whether it was constitutional. The Court
found a convoluted way to uphold the law.That’s done, but the debate on whether ObamaCare’s provisions are good ideas will continue. To date, this debate has been unable to shake off a lot of mythology—things believed about healthcare and our healthcare system in general, or ObamaCare specifically—that simply are not so.
ObamaCare may be constitutional but it isn’t the answer. A refundable tax credit is.
The Supreme Court has just told us that ObamaCare’s
mandate to buy health insurance is constitutional under the government’s
taxing authority, but this decision will not settle the debate.
Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace ObamaCare—and if Mitt
Romney wins the presidency, they just might succeed. But Republicans
have been vague about the replacement. Here’s a suggestion: Replace
ObamaCare with a refundable tax credit funded by taxing
employer-provided health insurance.Chávez’s Dangerous Liaisons with Tehran
U.S. diplomats have been silent
on these growing alliances. However, fresh revelations about Chávez’s
alliance with Iran demonstrate what he is capable of doing when he is
not provoked.
Hugo Chávez admitted on June 13 that Venezuela is
manufacturing Iranian drones and that Iran has built several explosives
and chemical facilities in his country. However, Chávez is trying to
throw international observers off his scent by acknowledging an unmanned
aerial vehicle program for “peaceful purposes.” What he did not
disclose are the many other troubling aspects of the extensive military
cooperation between the two rabidly anti-U.S. regimes—not the least of
which is that Venezuela secretly shipped an F-16 to Iran in 2006 that
could be used today to test the air defenses around Teheran’s illicit
nuclear facilities.The Ghost of Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes Gets a Second Chance
The parallels between these New
Deal laws, particularly the National Industrial Recovery Act, and
ObamaCare practically write themselves.
Few commenters on the Supreme Court’s decision on
ObamaCare accept that a legal thinker as sophisticated as Chief Justice
John Roberts could really believe that the law should be upheld under
Congress’s taxing power. In any case, if the Court was going to go
baying off down the taxing power track, the issues needed much more
analysis than the throw-away treatment they got in the course of the
litigation.So the question is, what was Roberts up to?
Scalia’s Wise Dissent
Critics of Justice Scalia’s
dissent have lambasted him for his reference to Obama and have mocked
his admission that his mind was ‘boggled’ by the government’s arguments.
Yet none has addressed the heart of his quite powerful argument.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Arizona’s
immigration law, I came across several liberal commentators who treated
Justice Scalia’s dissent as if it were the ravings of an unhinged
lunatic. Naturally, I expected a bit of bias on their part, and decided
to look over Scalia’s dissent for myself. As I glanced over it, I was
struck by the names of two long-dead European thinkers whom Justice
Scalia cited, Samuel von Pufendorf and Emer de Vattel. This grabbed my
attention. Why Vattel and Pufendorf, I wondered. Was Justice Scalia
simply showing off his erudition or had his hatred of Obama driven him
to find solace in musty old volumes of antiquated philosophical musings?
At any rate, I was intrigued, and promptly began to examine Scalia’s
argument, along with Justice Kennedy’s opinions and the dissents of
Justice Thomas and Justice Alito. Eventually, after some reflection, I
began to see what Justice Scalia was up to.Wednesday, July 4, 2012
17 Reasons To Be EXTREMELY Concerned About The Second Half Of 2012
What
is the second half of 2012 going to bring? Are things going to get
even worse than they are right now? Unfortunately, that appears more
likely with each passing day. I will admit that I am extremely
concerned about the second half of 2012. Historically, a financial
crisis is much more likely to begin in the fall than during any other
season of the year. Just think about it. The stock market crash of
1929 happened in the fall. "Black Monday" happened on October 19th,
1987. The financial crisis of 2008 started in the fall. There just
seems to be something about the fall that brings out the worst in the
financial markets. But of course there is not a stock market crash
every year. So are there specific reasons why we should be extremely
concerned about what is coming this year? Yes, there are. The
ingredients for a "perfect storm" are slowly coming together, and in the
months ahead we could very well see the next wave of the economic
collapse strike. Sadly, we have never even come close to recovering
from the last recession, and this next crisis might end up being even
more painful than the last one.
The following are 17 reasons to be extremely concerned about the second half of 2012....
The following are 17 reasons to be extremely concerned about the second half of 2012....
Kicking The Can Down The Road
Has
Europe finally been saved this time? Has this latest "breakthrough"
solved the European debt crisis? Of course not, and you should know
better by now. European leaders have held 18 summits since the
beginning of the debt crisis. After most of the preceding summits,
global financial markets responded with joy because European leaders had
reached "a deal" which would supposedly solve the crisis. But a few
weeks after each summit it would become clear that nothing had been
solved and that the financial crisis had actually gotten even worse than
before. How many times do they expect us to fall for the same sorry
routine? Nothing in Europe has been solved. You can't solve a debt
problem with more debt. European leaders are just kicking the can down
the road. More debt will relieve some of the short-term pressure, but
in a few weeks it will be apparent that the underlying problems in
Europe continue to grow. Unfortunately, there is not an unlimited
amount of EU bailout money, so once all of these "financial bullets"
have been fired European leaders are going to find that kicking the can
down the road will not be so easy anymore. The truth is that the
financial crisis in Europe has not been cancelled - it has just been put
off for a few weeks or a few months.
Are You A Slave Of The System?
If
you went out and took a poll of the American people on July 4th
(Independence Day) and asked them if they are free, what would the
results look like? Of course the results would be overwhelmingly
lopsided. Most Americans believe that they live in "the land of the
free" and that they are not enslaved to anyone. But is that really the
case? Slavery does not always have to involve whips and shackles. There
are many other forms of slavery. One dictionary definition
of a slave is "one that is completely subservient to a dominating
influence". I really like that definition. Today, millions of
Americans are slaves of the system and they don't even realize it. Debt
is a form of slavery, and millions of Americans having become deeply
enslaved to our debt-based financial system. When someone enslaves
someone else, the goal of the master is to reap a benefit out of the
slave. You don't want the slave to just sit there and collect dust.
Today, most Americans have willingly shackled themselves to a system
that systematically drains their wealth and transfers it to the very
wealthy. Most of them don't even realize that they have been enslaved
even as the system sucks them dry.
Is Wal-Mart Destroying America? 20 Facts About Wal-Mart That Will Absolutely Shock You
America
absolutely loves Wal-Mart. 100 million customers visit Wal-Mart every
single week in this country. But is Wal-Mart good for America? That is
a question that most people never stop and ask. Most of us love
shopping in big, clean stores that are packed with super cheap
merchandise, but the truth is that Wal-Mart is destroying America in a
lot of ways. As you will see below, Wal-Mart has destroyed tens of
thousands of small businesses and countless manufacturing jobs over the
past couple of decades. Wal-Mart has become a gigantic retail behemoth
that sells five times more stuff than any other retailer in the United
States. Unfortunately, about 85 percent of all the stuff sold at
Wal-Mart is made overseas. What that is costing the U.S. economy in
terms of lost jobs and lost revenue is incalculable. But Wal-Mart is a
perfect example of where our economic system is headed. Our economy is
becoming completely and totally dominated by highly centralized
monolithic predator corporations that ruthlessly crush all competition
and that will stoop to just about anything in order to cut costs. In
the future, will we all be working for gigantic communal entities that
funnel all of the wealth and economic rewards to a very tiny elite?
That sounds very much like how communist China works, and red-blooded
Americans should want no part of that. America is supposed to be about
free enterprise and competition and working together to build up this
country, and Wal-Mart is destroying all of that.
Calvin Coolidge's '150 Anniversary of the Declaration of Indepedence' Speech
by
Wynton Hall
Calvin Coolidge is the only president in U.S. history to have been born on Independence Day. He is also one of the few who understood the Declaration of Independence’s spiritual moorings. “Silent Cal,” as he was called, was thought to be a quiet introvert in interpersonal communication. And this was largely true. Once, Coolidge was at a dinner party and a woman informed him that she and a friend made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words to her. Coolidge turned to her and said, “You lose.”
Still, once on the rostrum, Coolidge could deliver powerful truths marked by crystal clear language. When President Ronald Reagan was asked which presidents influenced him most, Reagan named Calvin Coolidge.
Coolidge delivered the speech excerpted below on July 5, 1926, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In it, he celebrates the 150th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by demonstrating the inherently spiritual nature of the American spirit, as well as the conservative essence of one nation, not under government, but under God.
Read it. You'll be glad you did.
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