Your Daley Gator IRS Scandal Roundup For Wednesday

IRS Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Theft Of 60 Million Medical Records – Healthcare IT News

The Internal Revenue Service is now facing a class action lawsuit over allegations that it improperly accessed and stole the health records of some 10 million Americans, including medical records of all California state judges.

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According to a report by Courthousenews.com, an unnamed HIPAA-covered entity in California is suing the IRS, alleging that some 60 million medical records from 10 million patients were stolen by 15 IRS agents. The personal health information seized on March 11, 2011, included psychological counseling, gynecological counseling, sexual/drug treatment and other medical treatment data.

“This is an action involving the corruption and abuse of power by several Internal Revenue Service agents,” the complaint reads. “No search warrant authorized the seizure of these records; no subpoena authorized the seizure of these records; none of the 10,000,000 Americans were under any kind of known criminal or civil investigation and their medical records had no relevance whatsoever to the IRS search. IT personnel at the scene, a HIPPA facility warning on the building and the IT portion of the searched premises, and the company executives each warned the IRS agents of these privileged records,” it continued.

According to the case, the IRS agents had a search warrant for financial data pertaining to a former employee of the John Doe company, however, “it did not authorize any seizure of any healthcare or medical record of any persons, least of all third parties completely unrelated to the matter,” the complaint read.

The class action lawsuit against the IRS seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages “per violation per individual” in addition to punitive damages for constitutional violations. Thus, compensatory damages could start at a minimum of $250 billion.

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IRS Told Pro-Life Group It Must Promote Abortion – Gateway Pundit

It’s an Obama world…

The IRS told a pro-life group that it had to promote abortion or they wouldn’t qualify for nonprofit status.

World Net Daily reported:

The Internal Revenue Service already has confessed to targeting and trying to injure tea party, Constitution and patriot organizations, by demanding answers to arbitrary questions and delaying their applications for a tax status so they could operate.

Now WND has learned that the IRS also put an organization in its bull’s-eye that wanted to do nothing more than share its pro-life message with churches.

Cherish Life Ministries was created to be a non-profit under the IRS 501(c)3 provision so that churches would feel comfortable working together…

…Shinn said the IRS contacted him regarding his application for nonprofit status, and was told he didn’t qualify.

“The representative was telling me I had to provide information on all aspects of abortion, I couldn’t just educate the church from the pro-life perspective,” he said. “Every time I pressed her on this issue and asked her to clarify her position, she would state that it wasn’t what she was saying, and then, she would repeat it almost the same way.”

The IRS agent did not respond to a WND request for comment on the ministry’s position.

But Shinn said he was accused of setting up a political organization.

“I asked her why she said we were political organization and she said it was because we had said in our application that we did less than 5 percent political activity. I explained to her that this was what was stated in the application and all we were doing was acknowledging that we were doing less than 5 percent political activity,” he said.

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Document: IRS Ordered Conservative Educational Group To Turn Over A List Of High School And College Students It Trained – Daily Mail

When a Tennessee lawyer asked the IRS for tax-exempt status for a mentoring group that trained high school and college students about conservative political philosophy, the agency responded with a list of 95 questions in 31 parts, including an ultimatum for a list of everyone the group had trained, or planned to train.

‘Provide details regarding all training you have provided or will provide,’ the IRS demanded. ‘Indicate who has received or will receive the training and submit copies of the training material.’

That question was part of the tax collection agency’s February 14, 2012 letter to Kevin Kookogey. founder of the group Linchpins of Liberty. He had submitted his application 13 months earlier.

‘Can you imagine my responsibility to parents if I disclosed the names of their children to the IRS?’ he asked MailOnline.

It’s ‘an impossible question to answer fully and truthfully,’ he said, ‘without disclosing the names of anyone I ever taught, or would ever teach, including students.’

Like the leaders of many tea party-affiliated groups whose tax-exemption applications have become the subject of angry complaints, Kookogey called the IRS’s inquisition an overreach, ‘especially considering that my organization mentors high school and college students.’

It ‘should send chills through your spine,’ he told MailOnline, ‘that the government would ask me to identify those I teach, and to provide details of what I teach them.’

The 13-month delay, while burdensome, was far shorter than those some other groups endured. According to a report released late Tuesday by the IRS’s Office of Inspector General, the average delay at one point was 574 days.

But Kookogey said a $30,000 grant was canceled as a result of the IRS’s months-long radio silence, when he couldn’t tell his donor that Linchpins had earned its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status.

That money would have made a significant difference to the group, judging from its public filings in Tennessee. In 2011, Linchpins of Liberty reported collecting just $3,460 in contributions, and spending $7,328 on its programs.

The group’s online materials refer to it as ‘an American leadership development enterprise.’ Its stated purpose is to mentor high school and college students, placing an emphasis on Western civilization and an old-style core curriculum – what previous generations called the ‘great books.’

‘Our ideas are opposed to the Obama administration, but we’re not tea party,’ Kookogey told The Tennessean.

It’s that lack of a tea party connection, he said, that makes his predicament so maddening.

He told MailOnline that nothing about his group – ‘not our name or our description or our website, or anything’ – should have placed it among the organizations the IRS chose to scrutinize closely by using key words like ‘tea party,’ ’9/12,’ and ‘patriots’ as qualifiers.

‘I’m not a Tea Party group. I’m not a Patriot group by name’ he told NewsChannel 5 in Nashville.

‘We mentor high school and college students in conservative political philosophy. It’s a one on one relationship.’

Kookogey summed it up in an interview with MailOnline as ‘unethical, unconstitutional, and unfair,’ later asserting in an email that ‘[w]e were targeted by the IRS based on our political beliefs and the content of our speech.’

The American Center for Law and Justice, which represents 27 conservative groups including Linchpins of Liberty, is planning to file suit against the IRS.

Jay Sekulow, that organization’s chief counsel, wrote on Tuesday that ‘the IRS abuse is ongoing.’

‘Even though the IRS admitted wrongdoing,’ Sekulow wrote in an essay for FoxNews.com, even though the Inspector General’s report indicates that wrongdoing was widespread, the IRS still hasn’t withdrawn its overbroad and unconstitutional questions, and it still hasn’t granted the exemptions it should grant, despite the fact that some applications have been pending for more than two years.’

The Inspector General’s report includes a list of ‘the seven questions’ the IRS asked right-wing groups that were later ‘identified as being unnecessary.’

Its request for the list of students trained by Linchpins of Liberty was not among them.

The report also largely exonerates political appointees in the Treasury Department and at the top of the IRS, instead blaming mid-level bureaucrats for providing ‘ineffective management’ and using ‘inappropriate criteria’ to red-flag conservative groups.

It makes no mention of anyone in the White House directing the IRS to play political favorites. But The Washington Post has reported that ‘senior IRS officials’ in Washington, D.C. were notified of the practice in 2011.

In December of that year, Kookogey says, he called the IRS’s nonprofit evaluation arm in Cincinnati, Ohio, to find out why his group’s application had taken so long.

The agent on the other end of the line, he said, told him, ‘We are waiting on guidance from our superiors as to your organization and similar organizations.’

Attorney General Eric Holder has said that he ordered the FBI to initiate a criminal probe on Friday, when he learned about the IRS’s practices.

The IRS’s actions, he said, were, ‘certainly outrageous and unacceptable, but we are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations.’

Holder is expected to testify in a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday in Washington. On Friday the House Ways and Means Committee will hear testimony from acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George.

Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has called for Miller to lose his job.

‘At a bare minimum, those involved with this deeply offensive use of government power have committed a violation of the public trust that has already had a profoundly chilling effect on free speech,’ Rubio wrote Monday in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. ‘Such behavior cannot be excused with a simple apology.’

‘It is clear the IRS cannot operate with even a shred of the American people’s confidence under the current leadership,’ Rubio continued. ‘Therefore, I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner’s resignation, effective immediately.’

On Friday, Sekulow demanded that the IRS immediately approve the tax-exempt status applications of his organization’s 10 legal clients, including Linchpins of Liberty, that are still waiting. He issued the agency an ultimatum: Grant the requests by noon on May 17, or prepare to fight in court.

‘We are demanding that the IRS grant our remaining clients tax-exempt status immediately,’ Sekulow said in a statement. ‘If that does not occur by Friday, we will advise our clients of their right to sue the IRS for the redress of their grievances.’

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IRS Executive In Charge Of Unit That Targeted Conservatives Received Over $42K In Bonuses Since 2009 – Weasel Zippers

By all accounts she did a splendid job targeting anti-Obama groups.

Via Beltway Confidential:

Lois Lerner, the senior executive in charge of the IRS tax exemption department and the person at the center of the exploding scandal over the IRS targeting conservative, evangelical and pro-Israel non-profits, has been given $42,531 in bonuses since 2009.

That figure was included in data provided by the IRS in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by The Washington Examiner. Lerner is director of the IRS exempt organizations division, which processes and approves or denies applications from groups seeking tax-exempt status.

Lerner received $17,220 for 2009, $24,691 for 2010 and $10,620 for 2011, the most recent year for which the I(RS said data was available.

Keep reading…

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10 Of 12 IRS Offices Implicated In Scandal Are In Washington – Washington Examiner

The Treasury Inspector General’s damaging report on the IRS-Tea Party scandal has destroyed the administration’s claim that low-level workers in a Cincinnati, Ohio office are to blame, revealing that 10 of 12 agency offices referenced in the affair are in Washington.

The report repeatedly references actions taken by the Washington-based Exempt Organizations unit and guidance specialists also in Washington. What’s more, the report was researched in the Exempt Organizations offices and the Cincinnati-based Determinations Units, which has received the blame for targeting Tea Party groups.

The audit, for example, probes into how the Cincinnati-based Determinations Unit developed its plan to pay attention to groups with the words “Tea Party,” “Patriot,” and other phrases used by anti-Obama groups during the 2010 election.

Washington-based offices denied involvement, but did change the “criteria” for groups to target in July 2011. Instead of looking for “Tea Party” groups seeking tax exempt status to investigate, the criteria was broadened to “political, lobbying or [general] advocacy.”

However, “the team of specialists subsequently changed the criteria in January 2012″ back, apparently without telling their bosses. “Specialists” are both Washington- and Ohio- based.

Popular talk radio host Mark Levin, one of the first to post the IG report online, suggested that the House committees investigating the scandal use the IG’s “High-Level Organization Chart of Offices Referenced in this Report” on page 29 in picking who should testify. He suggested that the heads of all 12 be called to testify.

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‘Very Frightening’: Prominent Catholic Prof. Claims IRS Audited Her After Speaking Out Against Obama And Demanded To Know Who Was Paying Her – The Blaze

In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS’s targets.

According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her and “what their politics were.”

It all started with a phone call she received at her home in May of that year – a call during which Hendershott was told she would be audited. A letter that followed on May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS’s request to meet her in person two months later in July. While IRS investigations are certainly not uncommon occurrences, the professor believes that the situation surrounding hers was more-than-curious.

“The IRS calls my house and says… ‘I just wanted to let you know that we’re going to be auditing your business’ and I said ‘My businesses?’ and he said, ‘You know the expenses you take off for writing,” the academic recalls.

Hendershott was surprised she was being audited on business grounds considering she does not operate an entrepreneurial endeavor in the traditional sense. In addition to her academic work, she told TheBlaze that she occasionally freelances for Catholic outlets and for the Wall Street Journal. But can this really be considered “business” activity?

“I don’t make a lot of money from writing. In fact most years I don’t show a profit,” she told TheBlaze.

Hendershott said some of the outlets and organizations she has written for haven’t paid her a cent.

But the circumstances surrounding the irregular nature of the experience don’t end there. Hendershott noted it was particularly surprising that she, alone, was audited. Her husband, who brings in the vast majority of the family’s income, was not included in the IRS’s inquiry – even though the Hendershotts always files jointly.

So when the agent explained that she would need to come alone and in person to discuss her “business” activity in July of 2010, the professor was perplexed.

“[The IRS agent] didn’t even let me decide when it would be good for me… He didn’t want my husband to come,” she said of the meeting, which was held at an IRS office in New Haven, Connecticut.

The process was a grueling one, including many questions that Hendershott felt were political in nature. Numerous records were requested before the in-person meeting, as well as during and after.

“Every question had to do with bank deposits we made. Every single question,” she said. “What is this money? And I didn’t know a lot of it. We had to go to our bank and get deposits back. We had to get records showing where the money came from.”

While asking about the deposits, the agent wanted to know if the monies came from groups and, if so, what the organizations’ politics were.

The mention of groups, Hendershott notes, is particularly interesting, as she had been writing for numerous Catholic outlets and organizations at the time. In addition to Catholic World Report and the Catholic Advocate, she also penned op-eds for the Wall Street Journal. Many of these writings were critical of President Barack Obama and his policies.

And the plot thickens. Among the organizations she targeted in her writings were progressive groups highly supportive of Democratic causes, including: Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics United, and Catholic Democrats.

At the time, one of the founders of Catholics United, Chris Korzen, had become a target of her work, as she exposed, in her view, his true leftist agenda and some of the complicated theological stances the left-of-center organizations he associated with were taking. Plus, there were alleged financial ties with billionaire liberal George Soros. Here’s just two paragraphs from an article she wrote in March 2010, just months before her meeting with IRS officials:

On its website, Catholics United describes itself as a 501(c) (4) non-profit organization – eligible to accept donations. But, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good emerged in 2005 as a kind of sister organization to Catholics United. A 501(c) (3) organization, donors can claim a deduction against personal income tax when they donate money to Catholics in Alliance. Reviewing the 2007 IRS 990 forms for both Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United raises some questions, because Chris Korzen is listed as having received $84,821 in compensation for 40 hours per week from Catholics in Alliance on the group’s 990 Form – even though the Catholics United website claimed he was the director there during the same time period. [...]

Despite their inability to engage in extensive lobbying, Catholics in Alliance has been extremely successful in attracting large donors. Never a friend to the Catholic Church, George Soros, one of the earliest donors, contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2005 and another $100,000 in 2006 through his Open Society Institute. Likewise, Smith Bagley, a major Democratic donor and fundraiser, whose wife, Elizabeth Frawley Bagley, is Chairman of the Board of Catholics in Alliance, came close to matching Soros with grants from his family’s Arca Foundation. With a long history of supporting progressive organizations like ACORN, the Gamaliel Foundation, People for the American Way, and Planned Parenthood, Arca contributed $50,000 to Catholics in Alliance in 2007 and another $75,000 in 2008.

Hendershott can’t help but wonder if her writings against progressive groups played a role in her audit. It’s obvious that before she was notified by the IRS she was commenting regularly about matters of faith and politics and, in particular, Obamacare. While she doesn’t have proof that the IRS investigation was political in nature, she has strong suspicions that it was.

“I started writing articles like crazy saying these are fake Catholic groups,” she said of the aforementioned organizations, noting that Korzen would often target her work and rail against her assertions.

Hendershott noted that the progressive leader once called into a radio show she appeared on to challenge her contention that he had accepted Soros money.

“I had the tax return in front of me and read off the amounts that Chris Korzen was getting paid from Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good – a Soros supported fake Catholic group,” she told TheBlaze, noting that, through Catholics in Alliance, he had received $85,000.

While Korzen denied this on the air, Hendershott read from the 990 form in an effort to prove he wasn’t telling the truth. This, she believes, may have sparked – or played a role – in spawning the IRS audit.

“He was getting paid by one organization and working for another,” the professor said of Korzen. ”The IRS should have gone after them.”

Her writings for the Catholic Advocate soon ceased because, Hendershott admits, the IRS audit silenced her. If her suspicions are true, this may have been its chilling intention.

“I haven’t written for them since the audit, because I was so scared,” she said (records show her last article for the organization was on July 10, 2010 – the same month the IRS audit unfolded).

So far, she has only shared her story with friends and those close to her, but in light of the recent IRS scandal, she has decided to speak out.

“It was clear they didn’t like me criticizing the people who helped pass Obamacare,” she said of the audit,” later adding, ”The IRS is very frightening.”

In addition to creating stress and fear, Hendershott said that the experience came at a great emotional and financial expense for the family, noting that even after the audit the government sought more information from her.

“It was like they just couldn’t find what they wanted because they wanted more and more and more,” she said.

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Flashback 2012: Democrat Senators Demand IRS Scrutinize Tea Party Groups – Gateway Pundit

In March of 2012 Democratic Senators sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service demanding that Tea Party groups get extra scrutiny (harassment). The Democrats even threatened legislative action if the IRS did not act.

From Sen. Chuck Schumer’s website:

A group of seven Senate Democrats urged the Internal Revenue Service on Monday to impose a strict cap on the amount of political spending by tax-exempt, nonprofit groups.

The senators said the lack of clarity in the IRS rules has allowed political groups to improperly claim 501(c)4 status and may even be allowing donors to these groups to wrongly claim tax deductions for their contributions. The senators promised legislation if the IRS failed to act to fix these problems.

“We urge the IRS to take these steps immediately to prevent abuse of the tax code by political groups focused on federal election activities. But if the IRS is unable to issue administrative guidance in this area then we plan to introduce legislation to accomplish these important changes,” the senators wrote.

The letter was signed by Senators Charles E. Schumer, Michael Bennet, Sheldon Whitehouse, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Jeanne Shaheen and Al Franken. It follows an earlier letter, sent to the IRS by the same of group of senators last month, that also urged the IRS to better enforce rules pertaining to 501(c)4 organizations.

A copy of the letter is here.

This week Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana vowed congressional hearings and called the IRS actions “an outrageous abuse of power.” But, over the last three years, Democratic senators repeatedly and publicly pressured the IRS to engage in the very activities that they are only now condemning today.

UPDATE: Inspector General: The IRS targeted EVERY group with Tea Party in its name.

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Team Obama launches “Smear the Whistle Blowers Campaign”

Reaganite republican has a breakdown of the depravity

• The head-of-the-snake Obama Administration engaged in an utterly shameful vengeance campaign: Operation Smear the Witnesses.

• Servile Obammunist lackeys in Congress attempted to blame the Benghazi debacle on Sequestration.

• Outside of Fox and Cheryl Atkins of CBS, televised MSM media all but ignoredyesterday’s SIX HOUR Benghazigate hearing while some milked details of the Cleveland sex-dungeon story as a handy-dandy smokescreen.

• As thanks for her principled journalism, Atkins is already being treated like an unprofessional pariah 
  by her own network.

• Predictably, goofy lib bloggers are flailing-away with puerile ’arguments’ and attempts at mockery of the hearings, and will continue to do so until those wackadoodle Republicans drop all this unpleasantness and join them in a chorus of 
  ‘What Difference Does It Make’.

So is that it? Hardly- there’s now a rising call that a Select Committee on Benghazi be convened- but like most things we need to get done these days, that’s going to require 
some prodding of Speaker John Boehner: I encourage all to
do just that today.

 

If Obamacare is soooooo great……

….then why are Democrats seeking exemptions for their aides

Republicans and Democrats are meeting right now in discussions to exempt staffers from this horrible law.
The Politico reported:

Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said.

The talks — which involve Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the Obama administration and other top lawmakers — are extraordinarily sensitive, with both sides acutely aware of the potential for political fallout from giving carve-outs from the hugely controversial law to 535 lawmakers and thousands of their aides. Discussions have stretched out for months, sources said.

A source close to the talks says: “Everyone has to hold hands on this and jump, or nothing is going to get done.”

Yet if Capitol Hill leaders move forward with the plan, they risk being dubbed hypocrites by their political rivals and the American public. By removing themselves from a key Obamacare component, lawmakers and aides would be held to a different standard than the people who put them in office.

Any Republican who does not stand against this deserves to be voted OUT of office!

 

 

Something about the Obama budget you need to focus on

Yes, the huge tax hikes are there, you knew they would be. Yes, the massive increases in spending, leading to more debt are there too. But one bit of info that struck me was the plan to invent yet another right, and further indoctrinate our kids at the same time. $100,000,000,000 for universal pre-K

“The taxes figure is the $600 billion in tax hikes admitted to by the President in today’s leaks, plus the $100 billion from the CPI change noted on the WH website, and $100 billion for tobacco taxes to pay for universal pre-K.  We don’t know what the President’s exact proposal will be, but we know those taxes can be set to hit whatever number the President needs to pay for his pre-K policy.  The media today reports that the president will raise tobacco taxes to pay for universal pre-K.  We know from earlier reporting  that the President’s pre-K plan could cost between $10 and $25 billion, so $100 billion over 10 years is a reasonable number for the first 10 year cost of the program, and the new taxes needed to pay for it.

Reasonable you say? More spending, more taxes all to what? Have 2-4 year-olds in preschool? This is now a “right” somehow? No, of course it isn’t. It is a way to further dumb down our kids, and turn them into good little Leftists. I mean add this to the “right” to go to college, which is also the “right” to accumulate massive student loan debt, and what do you have? Twenty years, at least, to fill the children’s minds with Liberal talking points and propaganda.

Imagine how much anti-gun, anti-individualism, anti-capitalist crap they can sling at a child in 20 years.

Remember when I said Chris Christie would be a Democrat in five years?

Well, here is another sign of his “evolution” that Chris Wysocki noted

Who’s side is Chris Christie on? Because the Democrats will surely turn his tirade against John Boehner and the GOP into must-see-TV in the run-up to the 2014 midterm elections.

Gov. Chris Christie ripped into House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) today for delaying a vote on billions in federal aid for recovery from Hurricane Sandy.

“There’s only one group to blame for the continued suffering of these innocent victims: The House majority and their speaker, John Boehner,” said Christie at a press conference this afternoon.

Christie, who gave the keynote address at the Republican National Convention last summer, said Congress traditionally puts politics aside for disaster relief but that House Republican leadership had put politics “before our oaths to serve our citizens.”

“For me it was disappointing and disgusting to watch,” said Christie, who praised New Jersey’s own House delegation. “Last night the House of Representatives failed that most basic test of public service and they did so with callous indifference to the suffering of the people of my state.”

Wow.

Hmmmm, Charlie Crist, Chris Christie, similar names……, similar political paths? Maybe we should just automatically distrust any Republican with the name Crist, or Christie, or anything similar no? Remember Christine Todd Whitman?

RINO Douchebag Re-Elected Speaker Of The House

John Boehner Re-Elected Speaker Of The House – The Blaze

John Boehner was re-elected to another two-year term as speaker of the House on Thursday, capping a turbulent period that saw the failure of his “Plan B” to avert the so-called fiscal cliff and open hostility from fellow Republicans over not holding a vote for Hurricane Sandy aid.

The Ohio Republican received 220 votes, losing just a handful of votes from his party. House Democrats nominated Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who received 192 votes.

A visibly emotional Boehner used his post-election remarks to decry the rising national debt and said Congress must be “willing, truly willing, to make this problem right.”

“The American dream is in peril so long as its namesake is weighed down by this anchor of debt,” Boehner said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) received three Republican votes. Republican Reps. Justin Amash (Mich.), Jim Jordan (Ohio) and Raul Labrador (Idaho) each received one vote. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) received two votes and Reps. John Dingell (D-Mich.) and John Lewis (D-Ga.) each received one.

The Constitution does not require the speaker to be a member of the House, which welcomed two votes for former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) from Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and even one vote for former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

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Boehner out as Speaker?

Via Fox News

John Boehner could be in for a fight Thursday when the newly seated House votes for the next speaker, with conservatives grumbling about his leadership and a report surfacing about a supposed plan to challenge him. 

The 11-term congressman, who’s endured his share of political turbulence, presumably enters the election with the upper hand. So far, a single viable Republican challenger has not emerged and the rules of the vote tend to work in Boehner’s favor. 

But Boehner’s potential troubles were compounded by a late-night flare up with outraged northeast lawmakers over a decision by the speaker to postpone a vote on an aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims. 

I am not sure if Boehner is out, or if the next Republican will be better, but I do not have much faith in the GOP to get it right if Boehner is replaced. Meanwhile, stories like this make me wonder if this country is even capable of righting the ship.

The fiscal deal cemented Tuesday night includes a one-year extension of tax credits for the wind-energy industry that will cost taxpayers an estimated $12.1 billion.

The extension was part of a tax-extender package that the Senate Finance Committee approved in August and was included in the final package that Congress approved before sending it to the president.

Congressional Republicans and other fiscal conservatives opposed the extension, arguing the deal between Congress and the White House was supposed to include cuts to federal spending, not additional subsidies for alternative-energy programs.

Prior to the vote, Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander cited several reasons to end the tax credit – including the cost to taxpayers, putting coal and nuclear energy at an economic disadvantage and wind companies producing just 3 percent of U.S. electricity despite receiving billions in subsidies over the past 20 years.

 “A better idea is to reduce the debt and increase research for solar, batteries, carbon capture from coal plants, more energy-efficient buildings, advanced biofuels and the disposal of nuclear waste,” Alexander wrote in The National Journal. “Then let the marketplace decide which fuels can produce enough clean, cheap reliable energy.”

The Production Tax Credit was created in 1992 and has been extended for wind companies several times over the past several years at an estimated cost of $16 billion to taxpayers.

Using taxes to reward certain behaviors, or to punish others or using taxes to favor one business over another is a dreadful mistake. It goes against the founding principles of America, and against common sense. If an industry cannot survive on its own, let it die. Propping it up with tax dollars hurts everyone eventually. Not to mention that these types of subsidies are SPECIFICALLY what we out to be eliminating to cut spending. Seriously, folks, our fiscal troubles are bad, and getting worse because Congress has no ability to stop spending.

 

The rise of the Leftist lynch mob mentality

The Left has become quite angry, bitter, and seemingly violent of late. It seems that their seething anger, and calls for destroying the Constitution, and lynching, yes, lynching Republicans, especially Republican gun owners, is a fire out of control. To be honest, some of these nutty bastards make me wonder if we are Germany about 80 years ago or so. And yes, I just went THERE because when people start threatening me, and the Constitution that IS America, I tend to take them as a serious threat. Now, before you say I am just over reacting here, head over to American Power and read this from Donald Douglas

I clearly remember, back in the late-1990s, how the murder-by-dragging (lynching) death of James Byrd, in Beaumont, Texas, became a left-wing rallying cry against the purported “Jim Crow” racism the so-called “radical right.” So I’ll be waiting with bated breath for the progressive fever swamps to rise up in outrage at gun control extremist Donald Kaul’s exhortaton that the Republican House Speaker and Senate Minority Leader to be dragged to their deaths. See, “Nation needs a new agenda on guns.” After a long rant in which he confesses his “anger” at the Newtown massacre, here’s Kaul’s conclusion (viaMemeorandum):

Then I would tie Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, our esteemed Republican leaders, to the back of a Chevy pickup truck and drag them around a parking lot until they saw the light on gun control.

And if that didn’t work, I’d adopt radical measures. None of that is going to happen, of course. But I’ll bet gun sales will rise.

Interesting how Kaul calls for truly “radical” measures after that, which no doubt would be to simply kill all Republicans, kind of like how the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews in the 1930′s and 1940′s. 

Of course, Kaul will just say he is venting, or making some nuanced point that Conservative knuckledraggers are too stupid to comprehend, but in reality, he is just allowing his inner Fascist to show through. Leftists do that when they lose control of their emotions, which are usually on hyper drive anyway. So, no excuses Mr. Kaul, you are a hateful old man who cannot stand anyone who is not “like you”!

Donald Douglas also links to Nice Deb who warns us that the Fascists are coming!

Yes, of course, we are living through fascist times.

A political regime, usually totalitarian……ideologically based on centralized government……government control of business……repression of criticism or opposition……a leader cult……and exalting the state…above individual rights.

Sound familiar?

I no longer wonder how so many people who lived during Hitler’s evil reign of terror could have gone along with the unimaginable inhumanity of Naziism. I used to wonder about it. Not anymore.

I see horrifyingly evil “opinions” expressed by fellow Americans every day on Twitter, and in comment sections of  blogs. They don’t just disagree with conservatives – they want us to shut up, lose our jobs,  be financially ruined,  or to drop dead. They actually root for Republicans to die, and when they do die, the ghouls celebrate their deaths.  Not just one or two weirdos engage in this behavior – huge packs of them do.

Folks, you can choose to believe many things in life. You can delude yourself into believing that this is not the true face of Leftism, but you had better wake up, this IS who the Left is! Saberpoint pulls no punches

Since I was about 12, I have known that the communist left was dedicated to replacing America with a collectivist tyranny.  I remember Khrushchev pounding his shoe on the table at the United Nations and threatening “We will bury you!”  I became a news junkie at 13, scouring the San Jose Mercury News each morning for the latest Cold War developments.

I never could understand it.  How could anyone believe in a totalitarian tyranny that destroys freedom, starves millions and executes millions more?  Apparently, a lot of people do — or at least, believe in their version of it.  The long march through the institutions was completed some time ago, and both academia and media have a near monopoly on the transmission of biased news, cultural demolition and the ability to affect public attitudes.  The “closing of the American mind” is just about complete.  Moonbattery blog has an article today called “Brainwashing Works.”  The author, Dave Blount, points to a sign in NYC’s Penn Station where a graffiti artist has penned “Kill All Republicans!”  This sentiment is not an isolated occurrence.  Twitchy.com reports daily the most vile bile from the left, the unhinged hatred, the desire for violence against Republicans and conservatives.   The Democrat Media Complex has created a vast swath of human botnets, which can be set off in mass to launch denial-of-liberty attacks on any and all who oppose the New Progressive Order.  Like computer botnets, the human variety is programmed and programmable and act in concert, unhindered by scruples or actual thought.

Lately swarms of human maggots on Twitter have tweeted their joy at the death of General Norman Schwarzkopf yesterday, expressing hope that he died painfully and is now burning in Hell.  They have said similar things about former President George H.W. Bush, who is in the hospital with a serious illness, hoping that he dies “in agony.”  I do not recognize this leftist human scum as fellow citizens, but as traitors, agents of hostile foreign powers and ideologies.  With the election of one of their own to the presidency, they are now emboldened to finish off the Republic, and as Blount notes at Moonbattery, are now in a rush to disarm us.  A generation ago, Diane Feinstein’s proposed gun control bill (to photograph and fingerprint all gun owners) would have resulted in widespread outcry and alarm.  A day or so after its announcement, there is hardly a peep from the populace.

The leadership of the Left bares much responsibility for this new “civility”. They have lied, and smeared anyone opposing their political agenda for decades now. They have sown the seeds of hatred, division, and they have done so with a campaign of vicious lies that have engendered hatred and bitterness in the minds of many Americans. Their goal is clear, they will use any means to achieve their ends. And yes, the ends they seek are evil. Both Fascism and Communism are antithetical to human rights. If you do not believe that, consider the hundreds of millions tortured and butchered by Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, Pol Pot, Lennin, Che,and other Leftist dictators like them.

The rhetoric of the Left is rising, and becoming more menacing as their masks slip off. And make no mistake, they are at war with us, and have been making war on our Constitution for a long time. The only difference now, as William Jacobson points out, is that they are no longer seeking to hide their agenda

An Op-Ed in The New York Times from Georgetown Law Professor Louis Michael Seidman, Let’s Give Up on the Constitution:

AS the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions….

Our obsession with the Constitution has saddled us with a dysfunctional political system, kept us from debating the merits of divisive issues and inflamed our public discourse. Instead of arguing about what is to be done, we argue about what James Madison might have wanted done 225 years ago.

As someone who has taught constitutional law for almost 40 years, I am ashamed it took me so long to see how bizarre all this is…. Constitutional disobedience may seem radical, but it is as old as the Republic….

No one can predict in detail what our system of government would look like if we freed ourselves from the shackles of constitutional obligation, and I harbor no illusions that any of this will happen soon. But even if we can’t kick our constitutional-law addiction, we can soften the habit.

If we acknowledged what should be obvious — that much constitutional language is broad enough to encompass an almost infinitely wide range of positions — we might have a very different attitude about the obligation to obey.

These miscreants have feasted on our apathy for too long. They are dead set on turning America into a Leftist utopia. And we know, by history what those Leftist utopias always devolve into. And do not forget that there are some Liberals who are smart enough to see the war on our Constitution for what it is.

 

Has Boehner finally located his testicles?

Or will he back down to President My Way or the Highway?

House Speaker John Boehner declared Wednesday that his chamber will approve a so-called “Plan B” to avert a crush of tax hikes just 13 days away, despite President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid vowing to oppose it. 

The move came as talks between Boehner and Obama suddenly hit a standstill.  Boehner’s decision on Tuesday to put forward the “Plan B” — which would raise taxes only on those making over $1 million, and preserve current rates for everyone else — angered the White House. On Wednesday morning, the White House issued a formal veto threat, as the president urged Republicans during a press conference to “peel off the partisan war paint.” 

In response to the president’s criticism and resistance, Boehner called a press conference — which lasted less than one minute — to declare the House was moving forward and put the onus on the president to get Democrats on board. 

“Tomorrow, the House will pass legislation to make permanent tax relief for nearly every American,” Boehner said. “Then the president will have a decision to make. He can call on the Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he can be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history.”

This is the best move I suppose. Pass a bill, send it the Senate, and let Democrats deal with the blame game. Pound the message home that the president has refused to address spending, and had played the role of a partisan hack, as has Harry Reid. Let Obama explain his inaction. If the president really wants to reach across the aisle for a balanced approach, let him do it, for once! Of course, we know what the president is going to try to use this to cripple the GOP. He thinks he can convince the people that this is all the GOP’s fault. This is also why the GOP better get busy and communicate their message properly. he fact is this, the president wants tax hikes, hikes that will do squat to fix the deficit, and promises, for “balance”, spending cuts, some day, cuts that will never ever happen.

Fiscal Cliff update! Speaker Beohner offers up tax hikes on millionaires

Point one. Boehner ought to know better, Obama is seeking to use this issue to cripple the GOP. 

Point two. This added revenue will do nothing to reign in the deficit, because it does nothing to reign in the real  problem SPENDING!

Point three. No matter what Boehner and the party do, the Democrats and media will still blame them for everything.

Point four. Once you abandon your principles the game is over.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Signaling new movement in “fiscal cliff” talks, House Speaker John Boehner has proposed raising the top rate for earners making more than $1 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said. President Barack Obama, who wants higher top rates for households earning more than $250,000, has not accepted the offer, this person said.

The proposal, however, indicated progress in talks that had appeared stalled. The person would only discuss the plan on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

As part of a broader budget deal, Boehner is still seeking more spending cuts than Obama has proposed, particularly in mandatory health care spending. Boehner has asked for a long-term increase in eligibility age for Medicare and for lower costs-of-living adjustments for Social Security.

Point five. Who wants to bet that those spending cuts never happen? Who wants to bet the Democrats are calling for more spending by next Summer?

 

Sarah Palin to GOP: Stand Up Damn it!

Or, words to that affect. Via The Other McCain

C’mon Now, GOP, Don’t Go Wobbly on Us
by Sarah Palin on Tuesday, December 4, 2012 at 12:10pm
Please read and pass along this article. We send good conservatives to D.C. to fulfill the promises they made to the electorate, and yet when they stay true to their wordthe permanent political class in their own partypunishes them. This won’t be forgotten come 2014. Right now the GOP establishment is more concerned about the opinion of the media and the Georgetown cocktail circuit than they are “we the people” who hired them. For all this new talk of how the GOP needs a “populist movement,” it would do them good to remember they already have one; it’s called the Tea Party movement, and it won for them the majority they now enjoy in the House.

- Sarah Palin

A related Twitter hash.

Just for the sake of argument, let me posit that John Boehner is NOT a sellout, a tool, a double agent, a doddering buffoon, a sad little throne-sniffer, a spineless sycophant, a Ruling Class meat puppet, and an obsequious piece of work.

Instead, let us assert that there is some sort of method to his madness, with some plan forthcoming:

When that fullness

waxeth timely, friend,

why, then, fancy

whispering the formulation?

One more thing to be thankful for

Are these five magical words that The Other McCain shares with us. Former Congressman Jesse Jackson, Junior:

Rep. Jesse Jackson resigned from Congress Wednesday, saying in a letter that he is cooperating with a federal investigation “into my activities” but blaming his health problems for his decision to step down just two weeks after his re-election. . . .
Despite his admission of “my share of mistakes,” Jackson said his deteriorating health was the reason he was quitting. He has been on medical leave since June while receiving treatment for bipolar depression. . . .
Jackson, 47, won election this month while being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. . . .

But, as McCain points out, the voters in that district will just replace Jackson with another corrupt Democrat!

 

Nancy Pelosi (D)eranged. No deal on fiscal cliff without tax rate increases

Oh but of course

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s hopeful lawmakers can come to a deal to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff” but any agreement has to include tax rate increases for the wealthy.

She tells ABC’s “This Week” that she can’t accept a deal that caps deductions and closes some loopholes but does not alter current tax rates for the wealthy.

The California Democrat says “just to close loopholes is far too little money” and other ideas have to be considered. Republicans have suggested they are open to finding more revenues.

Just so we all understand here, raising rates without reducing deductions and loopholes will not raise much “revenue” at all. What Democrats want is to keep a complicated tax code, so they can play political games with their class warfare rhetoric. If they were to simplify the tax codes, that might actually be a workable and effective solution. And, the ones that will be hurt by raising rates will not be big business, it will be smaller businesses.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence should really change their name, for the sake of accuarcy

Jeff Goldstein notes that the masks are coming off, and the faces we are seeing are power hungry Leftists

Why is the Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence attacking Republicans’ efforts to obtain documents regarding the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal?

In a statement issued yesterday, Brady Campaign President Dan Gross ridiculed the vote to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide documents regarding the government’s botched gunrunning operation. Two guns from the operation were at the scene where murdered U.S. border agent Brian Terry was found.

Gross calls Republicans’ efforts to obtain documents regarding the gunning operation “ridiculous political theater” and an effort to “do the bidding of the NRA” (emphasis added):

“As House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa and Speaker John Boehner lead the ridiculous political theater of a contempt of Congress vote for the first time against a U.S. attorney general, American and Mexican lives remain at risk because of the out-of-control Mexican gun violence fueled by guns trafficked from American gun shops. As Issa and Boehner do the bidding of the NRA, innocent people are dying, including Americans.”

And, on June 18, Brady Campaign Vice President For Law and Policy Dennis Henigan attacked the House probe in a piece titled “How About If We Hold Congress in Contempt?”

Henigan characterizes Attorney General Holder’s refusal to provide the documents to Congress as “alleged.” He says that Republicans are waging “war against the Obama Administration” (emphasis added):

“The contempt vote will be the Republican leadership’s latest escalation of the war against the Obama Administration over “Fast and Furious,”in which about 2,000 guns purchased from border state gun shops were allowed to “walk” into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels in a misguided effort to get at the higher-ups in the cartels’ gun trafficking operations. A month ago, in a precursor to the contempt strategy, the House Republican leadership, led by Speaker John Boehner, sent a letter to Attorney General Holder decrying the Justice Department’s alleged “lack of full cooperation” in responding to a document subpoena from Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee. Even apart from the silence of Republican leaders about the Bush Justice Department’s use of similarly flawed “gun walking” tactics, the letter wreaks of hypocrisy.”

Ah, hypocrisy, from so-called gun control advocates. They care about “control” of you, and me, but if a Liberal administration ALLOWS guns to be bought, and delivered to ultra-violent cartels? Well, move along, nothing to see here. If the Brady nut cases were at all interested in actually preventing gun violence, they would be demanding Holder comply and come clean. But, they are not interested in anything but their Neo-Marxist ideology.

Just think how much better Congress would be if they just kept walking?

Dear CBC: Please don’t go away mad, just go away

Let’s face it. They don’t give a damn about who killed border agent Brian Terry.
The Hill reported:

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) plan to stage a walkout during Thursday’s vote on whether to place Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

The CBC is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. on Thursday to discuss the details of the walkout and is planning to circulate a letter to House Democrats requesting that they join them on the Capitol steps for a press conference during the contempt vote.

The move comes less than 24 hours before the House plans to vote for the first time in history to hold a sitting attorney general in contempt of Congress for not complying with a congressional subpoena. Holder is the first black attorney general in U.S. history.

The walkout is reminiscent of a similar move made by Republicans in 2008 during a Democratic-led vote on whether to hold two senior staffers in President George W. Bush’s administration in contempt of Congress.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) — then the minority leader — led the walkout with Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) following closely behind him. Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is the sponsor of the contempt resolution against Holder.

“The House floor is the scene of a partisan, political stunt,” said Boehner at the time. House Democrats have been expressing similar comments about the Holder contempt measure.

CBC Chairman Cleaver released this statement on the Fast and Furious investigation this week.

“During this critical moment in our nation’s history, the attention of our country’s chief law enforcement officer should be focused on addressing ongoing law enforcement challenges and championing real issues, instead of being distracted by manufactured, partisan political ones. This is an extremely low moment in our body politic. The cause for civility has been met by an unnecessary and unfortunate partisanship.”

These miscreant racists bottom feeders are a disgrace

RINO House Speaker Sides With Congressional Leftists Over Ex-Patriot Act (Video)

Boehner On Facebook Co-Founder Citizenship Renouncement To Dodge Taxes: ‘Outrageous’ – Daily Caller

When Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounced his citizenship and moved to Singapore to avoid potentially paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes on gains he made from Facebook’s initial public offering last week, some on the right suggested it is time to take a closer look at the country’s system of taxation. And some on the left have suggested it is time to look at a way to impose taxes on people like Saverin.

[Daley Gator note: Brazillian-born Eduardo Saverin has lived in Singapore since 2009 and renounced his U.S. citizenship last year.]

New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey last week unveiled the so-called Ex-PATRIOT ACT (Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy) to prevent this situation from happening again. It would impose a mandatory 30-percent tax on the capital gains of individuals who renounce their citizenship to evade taxes, and would bar them from reentering the country.

On Sunday’s broadcast of ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner seemed to endorse that idea.

“There’s already a law on the books, George,” Boehner said. “But this is outrageous. This is absolutely outrageous – that somebody would renounce their citizenship to avoid paying taxes. And yes, it’s already against the law.”

Boehner said he would support Schumer and Casey’s legislation, if it were deemed necessary.

“I’m not sure it’s necessary,” Boehner said. “But if it is necessary – sure I would support it.”

.
Boehner’s remarks on this subject begin just after the 5 minute mark.

[Daley Gator note: Apparently, Speaker Boehner thinks it's better to punish people with taxes who are being driven out of the U.S. - due to punitive tax rates and crippling regulations - instead of simply LOWERING their taxes and REDUCING their regulatory burdens, which would incentivize them to stay here and help grow the economy.

Unfortunately, faux-conservatives like Boehner aren't bright enough to understand that it would be far more beneficial to the U.S. if billionaires actually wanted to stay here and create more wealth instead of moving away. In the long run, they'd pay a lot more in taxes over the course of years than they would with a one-time parting tax imposed by the very people whose policies forced them to leave in the first place.]

Click HERE For Rest Of Story
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Boehner to Obamna: Not so fast there buddy!

Thank you Mr. Speaker

Speaker of the House John Boehner has requested that President Obama delay his September 7 speech before a joint session of Congress, which the president plans to use to unveil his new jobs plan, by one day.

The time that the president requested for the joint session, announced Wednesday, would have directly conflicted with a long-scheduled debate between GOP presidential contenders at the Reagan Library in California. In his letter, Boehner did not mention the debate but instead cited the time-crunch that would result from a September 7 joint session.

Something the Republicans can use next November

Image via Wikipedia

Now that S&P has downgraded America’s credit rating, Robert looks at what might have prevented this.

One last thought. IS it possible that Boehner is a masterful chess player? The first bill the HOUSE sent to the senate would have resulted in NO DOWNGRADE. The second bill was weaker, the third one was the signed bill and the weakest of all.. The POTUS signed it.

SO to recap, Boehner had a bi-partisan bill sent to the senate that was CC&B that never got a vote. Who is to blame for that? Just sayin.

Soooooo, isn’t this special? The Democrats, if they had compromised, and cared about this country more than politics could have prevented this. The GOP better use this is campaign ads.

Allen West has already got the right idea. Happy Birthday Mr. President!

“Happy 50th Birthday Mr. President! While surprises are for birthdays, it is no surprise to the American people that your failed economic policies –- from TARP to your health care bill–- have resulted in disaster for our economy. Since taking office, unemployment has remained at or near 9 percent for 28 months, America has added $3.4 trillion in debt in 29 months — the equivalent of about $4 billion per day — we have an anemic housing market with record foreclosures, and an average price of nearly $4 for a gallon of gas. Even your budget did not receive one single vote in the United States Senate — and the icing on the cake –- a stock market slide of nearly 800 points in the last 5 days.

While it may be hard to hear the American people’s frustration over the pop of the champagne corks and R&B bands at your $30,000/person birthday party, the citizens of this nation are suffering under your failed leadership. The best present you can give the American people will be for you and your failed economic policies to be defeated in November of 2012.” Thanks to Fox Nation

UPDATE!! Bachman and Cain weigh in and Stacy “causing consternation in Iowa” McCain has the scoop

Bachman is dead on target of course, Geithner is a national disgrace and has to go. Herman Cain had similar sentiments

On Tuesday, April 19, 2011, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner promised that America faced “no risk” of a credit downgrading. Less than four months later, he is proven shamefully wrong. As I have feared for months, the S&P has chosen to downgrade America’s credit rating from AAA, which we have always enjoyed, to AA+.

Perhaps this is because the Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats never once demonstrated a willingness to propose its own ideas for meaningful spending cuts, something credit agencies signaled were necessary to redeem America’s financial standing in the world.

As a corporate executive, I’ve rescued companies from the brink of bankruptcy and returned them to profitability. That involved balancing budgets or even creating them in the first place, something that the Democratic leadership in Congress hasn’t done for 828 days. If I couldn’t run companies without budgets, how can the government?

I also had to make tough budgetary cuts to save companies. Leadership is about doing what’s right, even when it’s difficult. But somehow, that sort of idea was never floated among those within the Obama Administration.

Now, Americans are fearful for their retirements and for their children’s educational savings. This is a country known for dreamers and innovators, for thinkers and doers. And now, we are a nation living in fear.

This is a sad day for America. Such a rating is unfitting of the greatest and most prosperous nation the world has ever known. And such a weak leader is, as well.

Remember Hope? and Change? Remember those? What a joke, that was. America fell for a cheap, transparent gimmick, and now we are suffering the consequences for our gullibility!

The Left fears the Tea Party

Silver Fiddle lays it out very well, all that hatred the Left is spewing? It is panic!

Why the irresponsible, angry and hateful rhetoric from the left? Because we are winning! 

Why is the poisonous progressive vituperation aimed primarily at the tea party? Because it is The Threat, the biggest gun in the pro-liberty arsenal, steadily pounding away at the walls of the statist citadels.

Gallup confirms that conservatives are consolidating gains, with an incredible 41% of Americans now self-identifying as conservative, and even greater number than the 36% who call themselves moderate. The ragged, saggy ranks of liberals continues to droop, now at 21%.

We’re Killing The Beast

I still can’t believe it, but I think we are actually killing the progressive beast. It’s a long way from its final death throes, but we are slowly choking it, and it is now writhing violently, horned head, spiky tail and taloned limbs flailing mindlessly, lashing out at its tormenters. A wounded animal is dangerous. These are perilous times.

Amen! Go read it all

What an excellent question

The Real Revo asks a great question

Well, if you aren’t going to trust Thomas Sowell…

Now, I consider Sowell a very wise man, and I tend to trust his judgement so, what does he say about the Boehner Plan?

He seems to be on board with the Boehner legislation.

Now that the Republicans seem to have gotten the Democrats off their higher taxes kick, the question is whether a minority of the House Republicans will refuse to pass the Boehner legislation that could lead to a deal that will spare the country a major economic disruption and spare the Republicans from losing the 2012 elections by being blamed — rightly or wrongly — for the disruptions.

Is the Boehner legislation the best legislation possible? Of course not! You don’t get your heart’s desire when you control only one house of Congress and face a presidential veto.

The most basic fact of life is that we can make our choices only among the alternatives actually available. It is not idealism to ignore the limits of one’s power. Nor is it selling out one’s principles to recognize those limits at a given time and place, and get the best deal possible under those conditions.

That still leaves the option of working toward getting a better deal later, when the odds are more in your favor.

Frankly, I cannot argue with that logic. There does come a time when you take what you can get, and plan to fight another day.