Thursday, April 12, 2012

Daily Links – April 5, 2012

Today is April 5th. On this date in 1792, George Washington cast the very first Presidential veto, on a bill that would have increased the number of Representatives in the House from northern states. In a letter urging the veto, Thomas Jefferson wrote that apportionment should based on “arithmetical operation, about which no two men can ever possibly differ.” Man, Congress sure was different back then. Also on this date, in 1621, the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth on her return voyage to England. The journey took so long that, by the time they docked in England, Plymouth Rock had switched formats and become Plymouth Top 40. On this date in 1869, Daniel F. Bakeman, the last surviving veteran of the Revolutionary war, died at age 109. His wife died 6 years earlier at age 105. They were married for 91 years, the longest American marriage on record. Little known fact: the traditional gift for a 90th wedding anniversary is metamucil. And finally, and most importantly, today is First Contact Day. Open Thread? Make it so.


Fmr Biden Adviser: Green Jobs Oversold | Washington Free Beacon
“The thousands of green energy jobs that President Barack Obama has widely touted after pumping billions into green energy firms rely mostly on short-term construction jobs.”


Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers | Globe and Mail
“‘The study shows that ‘the bear population is not in crisis as people believed,’ said Drikus Gissing, Nunavut’s director of wildlife management. ‘There is no doom and gloom.’”


Twitter gives the experience of Titanic, in real time | Twitchy
“This real time Titanic voyage recounting is a project of @TheHistoryPress, marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.”


Liberal Actor Don Cheadle Slams NBC for Selective Editing of Zimmerman Tape | Newsbusters
“As the Academy Award-winning actor’s Twitter feed shows, he has no use for liberal media outlets distorting the news through selective editing.”


Today’s Word of the Day comes via Merriam-Webster.
cockalorum (kah-kuh-LOR-um): noun 1. a boastful and self-important person 2. boastful talk


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Daily Links – April 10, 2012

Today is April 10th. On this date in 1849, Walter Hunt patented the safety pin. He sold the patent mere hours later for $400. Hunt was a prolific inventor, having received patents for a fountain pen, a sewing machine, and even a pre-Winchester repeating rifle. Coincidentally, it was this date in 1790 that the very first U.S. Patent Office was established. I once invented something too: a chili spaghetti taco. No word from the patent office yet. Also on this date, in 1912, the RMS Titanic set sail on her famous, fateful voyage. If that terrible disaster taught us anything, it’s that Rose will NOT make room for you on her precious debris. And finally, today is International Be Kind To Lawyers Day, for some reason. Activities include not making the joke that if you lined up all the lawyers in the world end to end, 2/3 of them would drown, and synchronized chasing of ambulances. Consider this an Open Thread.

Buffett Rule is Calculated Distraction from Obama’s Failed Leadership | The Foundry
“What do you do when you’re losing a debate? Change the subject. That’s really all you need to know to understand President Obama’s resuscitation of his infamous ‘Buffett Rule’ that would impose a minimum 30 percent effective tax rate on businesses and families earning $1 million.”

Many hybrid-car owners buy once — but not again, Polk study says | LA Times
“While the choice of fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles for sale in the U.S. continues to grow, more buyers than not are deciding against the technology when they go to buy another car.”

Horrific story of the British child bride | Mail Online
“Mrs Shah said she believed she was being dressed for her fifth birthday party on the day of the Islamic ceremony which effectively ended her childhood.”

Totalitarianism marches on | What’s Wrong With The World
“What we can be sure of is that direct regulation of home school content to enforce ‘tolerance’ is a goal of a not-inconsiderable slice of the left-wing intelligentsia and that it will come to the United States as soon as they are able to make it happen.”

Celebs Call For Civil Disobedience Against Rich | Big Hollywood
“So they shot a video extolling the virtues of the Occupy Wall Street movement and detailing plains to train the ’99 percent’ in civil disobedience tactics for 2012 and beyond.”

Today’s Word of the Day comes via Merriam-Webster.
picaresque (pik-uh-RESK): adjective Of or relating to rogues or rascals; also : of, relating to, suggesting, or being a type of fiction dealing with the episodic adventures of a usually roguish protagonist


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Bring Back Mark Davis!

It’s time to stand up for a friend.


For 18 years, Mark Davis has been a talk radio staple in North Texas. Over the last several, he has regularly filled in for Rush Limbaugh and had an ever-widening influence over the conservative movement. Through it all, he has been a faithful friend to conservatives, effectively articulated what we stand for and championed the TEA Party movement from day 1.


As of this week, Mark is off the air at WBAP. Cumulus bought the station and the parties were unable to reach an agreement on a new contract. While most of his listening audience assumes that he’s on vacation (since no formal announcement was made), Mark is left hanging in the wind.


Cumulus has a reputation in the talk-radio community for being cheap when it comes to salaries and they are trying to gut Mark’s now that they own the station. It also appears that station owners think that Americans are tiring of conservative talk radio and specifically of the style that Mark delivers.


I’ve been a loyal listener of Mark’s show for the majority of my life and have kept my dial tuned to WBAP in large part because of his influence. Even when we disagree on issues or candidates, Mark has always been kind, articulate and principled. He’s exactly the kind of man we need on the air, reinforcing conservatives and spreading our message.


Mark has been standing with us for 18 years and it’s time that we stand up and let his station owners know that we want Mark back on the air. I hope that you will sign our petition to get Mark back on the radio at WBAP!


We will be sharing your comments online and forwarding them to the station owners. With your help, I hope we can communicate an idea of the influence that Mark has had over the conservative movement and how badly we want him back on the air.


Visit TXAction.com to sign the petition and you can share our “Bring Back Mark” graphic on Facebook through our page.


Make no mistake, this is an attack on conservative talk radio as a whole. Today it’s Mark Davis. Who knows who it’ll be tomorrow. We need to make a concerted effort to fight for those who so eloquently champion our cause.


Whether you’re in Texas or not, it’s time that we stand up for one of our own!


View the original article here

Left not all that interested in free speech or tolerance

I have worked in or around the Ohio Statehouse for a decade or more.  I have seen a great many protests, counter-protests and events involving all kinds of issues and groups.  But when I stopped by the Statehouse today to check out the Values Bus Tour event put on by Heritage Action and Family Resource Council Action I experienced something I don’t believe I had ever witnessed.  A counter-protest effectively shutting down an event.

As you can se in the video above, a small group of what appeared to be pro-abortion and gay/lesbian protestors had gathered with signs to protest the values groups.  And this is to be expected, and would have been largely uneventful, except for one thing: a couple of the protesters had bullhorns equipped with sirens.  They used these to emit an earsplitting noise that made hearing the speakers nearly impossible and mere rational thought challenging. In person it was much louder and headache inducing than in the video if you can believe it

The video does capture the anger and vitriol of the left quite well in my opinion. But it also points out the hypocrisy of the left. They so often pretend to defend free speech, dialog, tolerance, elevated discourse and a host of other virtues and freedoms. But here is a group hosting an event focused on getting people registered to vote, educating them on the issues and getting them engaged in the political process. Whether you agree with their policies or politics this is democracy, right? This is about free speech and public engagement on the issues that matter to our country.

So what does this group of angry leftists do? Instead of providing an alternative point of view for those attending the event, or even protesting the event from the sidewalk, they basically use sirens and shouts to prevent the speakers from being heard. They were clearly attempting to silence an opposing viewpoint. They were not interested in debate or discussion but loudly and angrily demanding that these peaceful folks leave the state; screeching that these views were not to be tolerated but shouted down and silenced.

We have entered an Orwellian world where views on issues from spending and deficits to abortion and marriage – views held by large swaths of the American electorate – are not opposing viewpoints or different perspectives to be debated and/or refuted but “hate speech” that must be silenced and kept from even having an audience.

Keep this in mind next time the left tries to claim the moral high ground on free speech and tolerance.


View the original article here

The Momentum Finally Shifts, Slightly, To Romney

Photobucket


I’ve previously looked in detail at the breakdown of GOP primary votes here, here and here; for purposes of this series, I’ve broken out the votes in three groups – the five conservative candidates (Santorum, Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann and Cain), the two moderate candidates (Romney and Hunstman) and the libertarian (Paul) – for reasons explained in the first post. In my second post, I detailed the signs to look for to see whether and when Romney would start putting the race away with the voters rather than simply plodding through the accumulation of delegates.


After the March 24 vote in Louisiana and Tuesday’s votes in Wisconsin, Maryland and DC, we can see the signs of that momentum shift, but only slightly, with stubborn resistance to Romney still continuing. Not-unrelatedly, we can see the collapse of Newt Gingrich’s campaign to levels even lower than he was getting in February, the last time he went a month without being on the ballot in any Southern state (recall that Newt was not on the Missouri ballot). Let’s start with the month-by-month running tally:

CandidateJANUARY%FEBRUARY%MARCH%APRIL%Romney1,071,678 40.5%741,495 40.6%2,181,105 37.6%466,928 45.4%Santorum378,995 14.3%692,296 37.9%1,748,498 30.1%358,668 34.9%Gingrich817,770 30.9%160,360 8.8%1,219,154 21.0%72,509 7.0%Paul278,729 10.5%215,023 11.8%578,435 10.0%111,129 10.8%Huntsman50,049 1.9%2,817 0.2%15,387 0.3%6,851 0.7%Perry23,592 0.9%6,293 0.3%23,581 0.4%1,041 0.1%Bachmann10,856 0.4%3,480 0.2%8,688 0.1%6,054 0.6%Cain10,046 0.4%3,555 0.2%39 0.0%– 0.0%Rest4,742 0.2%1,528 0.1%29,142 0.5%5,416 0.5%Conservatives1,241,259 46.9%865,984 47.4%2,999,960 51.7%438,272 42.6%Moderates1,121,727 42.4%744,312 40.7%2,196,492 37.8%473,779 46.1%Libertarians278,729 10.5%215,023 11.8%578,435 10.0%111,129 10.8%TOTAL2,646,457 1,826,847 5,804,029 1,028,596

This looks like a significant shift to Romney after the deterioration of his numbers in March, but as with his rough showing in March, you have to bear in mind the calendar: all three primaries on Tuesday were in blue territory (deep blue in the case of Maryland and DC, plus Santorum wasn’t on the ballot in DC, whereas Wisconsin has been much more favorable lately to Republicans, with Tea Party-backed Republicans Ron Johnson and Scott Walker winning statewide in 2010). The real dynamic remains mostly the same, with Romney’s supporters and opponents just not evenly distributed geographically. Let’s update the red/blue/purple numbers, previously broken out here, again excluding Virginia because none of the conservatives were on the ballot:

Romney1,273,119 30.0%1,399,566 41.8%1,630,401 46.7%Santorum1,270,691 30.0%752,636 22.5%1,155,130 33.1%Gingrich1,260,389 29.7%764,660 22.9%244,744 7.0%Paul357,218 8.4%325,541 9.7%392,965 11.3%Huntsman7,706 0.2%55,362 1.7%12,036 0.3%Perry15,892 0.4%28,595 0.9%10,020 0.3%Bachmann9,959 0.2%10,390 0.3%8,729 0.3%Cain8,677 0.2%3,722 0.1%1,241 0.0%Rest34,938 0.8%4,600 0.1%33,427 1.0%Conservatives2,565,608 60.5%1,560,003 46.6%1,419,864 40.7%Moderates1,280,825 30.2%1,454,928 43.5%1,642,437 47.1%Libertarians357,218 8.4%325,541 9.7%392,965 11.3%TOTAL4,238,589 3,345,072 3,488,693

As you can see, the vote totals for April are actually slightly more favorable to the conservatives in general, and less favorable to Romney, than the overall blue-state numbers. That’s not to say that Romney underperformed, per se; Santorum had been leading him in Wisconsin until the campaign and its related advertising blitz started there in earnest after Louisiana, and while Romney had won narrow primary victories in Michigan and Ohio, Santorum had previously won caucuses in Minnesota and Iowa. So, Wisconsin was far from a natural gimme for Romney, and his win there – while hardly overwhelming, with he and Huntsman still combining for less than 45% of the vote – can’t be ascribed solely to being on blue turf. Sean Trende went in more demographic detail the day before the vote to explain why Wisconsin could be a sign of momentum shift. On the other hand, Romney was unable to muster a majority in deep-blue Maryland, where John McCain won almost 55% of the vote against Mike Huckabee on February 12, 2008; McCain also won almost 55% a week later in Wisconsin. Thus, the break to Romney is happening at the margins, and is not yet the stampede that McCain was enjoying by mid-February in 2008, when a smaller bloc of social conservative voters were holding out for Mike Huckabee (McCain would go on to win majorities in Texas, Ohio, Vermont and Rhode Island on March 4 before Huckabee dropped out). The sense that Romney is winning over the objections of a majority of the party’s voters will not be dispelled any time soon; the best he can hope for is a determined resignation to put the primary slog out of its misery and move on to the general election.


The collapse of the Newt campaign may also be overstated somewhat here (he’s been getting clobbered in the blue states all year), but there really seems to be no life left in Newt’s cash-strapped operation besides protest votes (full disclosure: I cast a vote yesterday for Newt by absentee for New York’s April 24 primary, purely as a protest; I might have voted for Perry if he’d been on the ballot). Amusing, neither-here-nor-there detail: with Perry and Cain not on the ballot, Michele Bachmann actually drew more votes in Wisconsin than she has in any other state, 8 more than she got in Iowa.


Finally, let’s update the state-by-state tally – Virginia and DC are marked with asterisks because of the absence of major candidates from the ballot, Guam and American Samoa are excluded because I couldn’t find popular vote totals:

STATE (Date)CategoryTypeConservativesModeratesLibertariansGA 3/6REDPrimary67.1%26.1%6.6%KS 3/10REDCaucus65.9%21.1%12.6%LA 3/24REDPrimary65.7%26.8%6.1%MS 3/13REDPrimary65.0%30.5%4.4%AL 3/13REDPrimary64.4%29.2%5.0%OK 3/6REDPrimary62.1%28.3%9.6%TN 3/6REDPrimary61.8%28.3%9.0%SC 1/21REDPrimary58.9%28.0%13.0%MO 2/7REDPrimary*57.7%25.8%12.2%MN 2/7BLUECaucus55.7%16.9%27.2%IA 1/3PURPLECaucus53.2%25.1%21.4%CO 2/7PURPLECaucus53.2%34.9%11.8%OH 3/6PURPLEPrimary52.3%38.5%9.2%ND 3/6REDCaucus48.2%23.7%28.1%FL 1/31PURPLEPrimary46.1%46.8%7.0%MI 2/28BLUEPrimary44.9%41.3%11.6%IL 3/20BLUEPrimary43.6%46.7%9.3%WI 4/3BLUEPrimary43.5%44.8%11.2%AK 3/6REDCaucus43.4%32.5%24.1%AZ 2/28REDPrimary43.2%47.3%8.4%MD 4/3BLUEPrimary40.2%49.8%9.5%WY 2/29REDCaucus39.9%39.2%20.9%HI 3/13BLUECaucus36.3%45.4%18.3%WA 3/3BLUECaucus34.1%37.6%24.8%VT 3/6BLUEPrimary32.8%41.7%25.5%NV 2/4PURPLECaucus31.1%50.1%18.8%ME 2/11BLUECaucus24.7%38.0%36.1%ID 3/6REDCaucus20.3%61.6%18.1%NH 1/10PURPLEPrimary19.8%56.1%22.9%MA 3/6BLUEPrimary17.3%73.1%9.6%DC 4/3BLUEPrimary*10.7%77.2%12.0%PR 3/18TerrPrimary10.7%88.0%1.3%USVI 3/10TerrCaucus10.7%26.3%29.2%NMI 3/10TerrCaucus9.6%87.3%3.2%VA 3/6PURPLEPrimary*0.0%59.5%40.5%

It’s nearly three weeks until the next set of primaries on April 24, all in the deep-blue Northeast (New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware) except for blue Northeast/Midwest hybrid Pennsylvania, where Santorum – as the hometown favorite son – looks to make his last stand. Santorum trails badly in the polls in all of them besides Pennsylvania, where the polls are moving against him. The others should be be easy wins for Romney even without a momentum shift, but if Santorum loses Pennsylvania, it should convince Santorum – and Gingrich, who should have already – to throw in the towel and admit that, whether the voters like it or not, Mitt Romney is the 2012 GOP presidential nominee.


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Why Ozzie Matters

Ozzie Guillén, manager of the newly re-minted Miami Marlins, has earned himself a five-game suspension by declaring his affection for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro in Time magazine:

“I love Fidel Castro. You know why? A lot of people have wanted to kill Fidel Castro for the last 60 years, but that son of a bitch is still there.”

Many entities survive through unsavory methods—cockroaches and kudzu vines spring to mind.  But Guillén wasn’t praising some neutral long-lived thing, he was admiring the machismo of the man who has spent more than six decades trampling on the freedoms of his fellow ballplayers.

Sure, Ozzie Guillén is a character, a notorious hot head and loose with his words, but these comments are more than just shooting from the hip as some have suggested.  His apology and confused explanation are at best weak sauce.  As a Venezuelan, Guillén should know better, and it seems sometimes he does, at least when it comes to his own country.  Guillén has been fortunate enough to make a successful career for himself in America, hired as he has been to manage a MLB team in the city with our largest community of Cuban ex-patriots and playing (and winning) baseball this very week in the birthplace our liberty.  He should perhaps think of the less fortunate trapped in Cuba before he exercises his freedom to speak.


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Morning Briefing for April 9, 2012

RedState Morning Briefing
April 9, 2012Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

After Friday’s jobs numbers came out (the economy added 120,000 jobs) Labor Secretary Hilda Solis promptly proclaimed: “That’s a noteworthy achievement.”

In fact, for the man who campaigned on the message of “hope” in 2008, the 120,000 jobs added is much fewer (about half) than expected and the edging down of the unemployment to 8.2% is not from job creation but from hopelessness.

There are now 88 million American who are “Not In Labor Force.”

Please click here for the rest of the post.

And anybody who tells you that you can get money out of politics is either deluded, lying, or possibly both. Exhibit A: the upcoming Democratic convention in Charlotte, NC. The Democrats piously declared that of course no dirty, dirty corporate/lobbyist money would be allowed to be spent on putting the convention together. And everybody cheered… only, it’s now 2012 and there’s potentially a looming shortfall in fundraising. And lo! – here are some lobbyist and corporate donors.

Sure, they can’t contribute… under the old rules. But rules are flexible things, are they not? A corporation can’t contribute directly. But it’s all right for their executives to write large personal checks, or contribute the equivalent in goods and/or services, or launder it through a corporate charity. As for lobbyists… well. The DNC likes to see its friends happy – friends being defined as ‘people who bundle together a lot of personal contributions and/or corporate in-kind donations’ – and if VIP access and nice hotel rooms make friends happy, then that warm, happy feeling would be its own reward, yes?

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Blaming natural phenomena on fracking is this year’s fad, reminiscent of the mood ring, the pet rock or Anthropogenic Global Warming.

Item 1. Vice-President of the United States Joe Biden may not know what hydrofracking is, but he does know that it sounds plenty scary.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Our sister company Regnery Publishing (we’re both owned by Eagle Publishing, Inc.) sent me a new book to read. I am really bad these days about not reading all the books I get in — sometimes up to a dozen a week from various publishers and authors. But this one caught my eye.

Katie Pavlich, Townhall’s News Editor, has a book out entitled Fast And Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up.

I think the media has spent more time doctoring 911 calls in the Trayvon Martin matter than focusing on what has happened along the border with Mexico. There has been some coverage and it probably would not have come to light except for CBS News’s initial reporting, but the scandal — and it is a scandal — has mostly flown under the radar.

In fact, the whole war on our Southern border, the kidnappings and killings spilling over into our country, etc. really have not made major, sustained national news.

Please click here for the rest of the post.


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Good Friday 2012

Crucifixion


And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.  And sitting down they watched him there;  And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.


. . . .


Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour.  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?  Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias.  And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink.


The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.  Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.  And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.


The Gospel of Matthew 27:35-37, 45-53


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BREAKING: Rick Santorum Dropping Out

Multiple news sources confirming the news, with a 2pm press conference in Gettysburg to follow. The news comes on the heels of word that his chronically ill daughter Bella was hospitalized again over the weekend. Santorum has already called Mitt Romney to concede.

In my view, it’s the right time for Santorum to drop out. His family needs him now, the delegate math precluded him from doing anything but dragging the race to a fractious convention, and with Romney preparing a huge ad buy as Santorum fell in the Pennsylvania polls, withdrawing now avoids a potentially embarrassing home state loss on April 24.

CNN has live feed of the press conference.

POSTMORTEM: There were missteps along the way worth learning from, but at the end of the day, each of the four finalists in this race – Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul – met or exceeded any reasonable expectation for what they could have accomplished in this primary, given where they all started in the spring of 2011. Santorum in particular began the campaign – and even entered the last week of 2011 – as a marginal figure discredited by a disastrous 2006 loss, but vaulted himself back into the national conversation as a major leader of the social-conservative wing of the party and won over 3 million votes and 11 states.


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Democratic National Convention to be lobbyist/corporate funded, after all.

Repeat after me: YOU CANNOT GET MONEY OUT OF POLITICS.

And anybody who tells you that you can get money out of politics is either deluded, lying, or possibly both. Exhibit A: the upcoming Democratic convention in Charlotte, NC. The Democrats piously declared that of course no dirty, dirty corporate/lobbyist money would be allowed to be spent on putting the convention together. And everybody cheered… only, it’s now 2012 and there’s potentially a looming shortfall in fundraising. And lo! – here are some lobbyist and corporate donors.


Sure, they can’t contribute… under the old rules. But rules are flexible things, are they not? A corporation can’t contribute directly. But it’s all right for their executives to write large personal checks, or contribute the equivalent in goods and/or services, or launder it through a corporate charity. As for lobbyists… well. The DNC likes to see its friends happy – friends being defined as ‘people who bundle together a lot of personal contributions and/or corporate in-kind donations’ – and if VIP access and nice hotel rooms make friends happy, then that warm, happy feeling would be its own reward, yes?


I’m actually not particularly upset at the idea that the Democrats were dumb enough to take a policy position that would inevitably force them to become hypocrites. Aside from the sheer pleasure of watching them tie themselves in knots like this, there’s also the opportunity to make the whole thing into a teaching experience. To wit: money cannot be gotten out of politics. It never has in the past; it’s certainly not out of politics now; and it won’t be in the future. As soon as one way of injecting money into politics goes away, another one opens up. Because people want to inject money into politics, and they rather outnumber the people who do not.


This fact annoys certain elements of the Left no end. But not as much as the fact that the Right has noted that the standard progressive response to speech that they don’t like is some variant of a lynch mob; which fact is the primary pragmatic reason why we’re not moving towards an environment of greater transparency in donations. I may think that anonymous donations may be a truly regrettable necessity, but that does not mean that I don’t recognize that it is, in fact, a necessity.


None of this excuses the Democrats for their hypocrisy, of course. If you’re going to take the position that a donation is not a form of free speech explicitly protected by the Constitution, then you really should live by the implications of your own belief system. If you cannot, please do not insist that I live by them, either.*


(H/T: Instapundit)


Moe Lane (crosspost)


PS: You cannot get money out of politics.


*Mind you, I may not feel like living by the implications of your belief system even if you can, too.


View the original article here

Daily Links – April 9, 2012

Today is April 9th. On this date in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrendered the Confederacy to General Ulysses S. Grant in Appomattox, Virginia, ending the Civil War. After the terms were agreed upon, a band struck up a celebratory song, but General Grant famously shushed them, saying “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” And since the band was Nickelback, nobody minded. Also on this date, in 1881, Billy The Kid was found guilty of murder after a one-day trial, and was sentenced to death by hanging. He later escaped custody and went on to coach a rag-tag youth hockey team all the way to the championship. On this date in 1991, Georgia voted to secede from the Soviet Union. The economy took a brief hit but eventually came to rely upon their chief export, golden fiddles. And finally, today is National Name Yourself Day, when you pick a different name for the day. Until next time, this is Han McClane “Snake” Reagan McLovin, signing off. Consider this an Open Thread.

Media Matters Dumps M.J. Rosenberg | Washington Free Beacon
“Months of public pressure and outrage from across the pro-Israel spectrum forced Media Matters for America staffer M.J. Rosenberg to tender his resignation Friday from the left-wing media watchdog group.”

Gas Price Hypocrites | The New Editor
Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Rahm Emanuel holding presser in front of gas price sign blaming President Bush for high gas prices that are “burden” on Americans.

Wisconsin recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker now at center stage | WaPo
“But at least for the next two months, the Badger State will be at the epicenter of American politics as voters decide for only the third time in the nation’s history whether to recall a sitting governor.”

Ace, Twitter call out the unbearable whiteness of being Obama’s campaign HQ | Twitchy
Twitter reacts to photos from the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago.

Today’s Word of the Day comes via Dictionary.com.
cumshaw (KUHM-shaw): noun A present; gratuity; tip.


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Right-To-Work Is Right For Ohio* (and Elsewhere)

* See update at bottom.

 As today’s government-union bosses push higher taxes, establish dues schemes to fund their bloated salaries and union-bought politicians, the evidence has become pretty clear: Government unions have become political, parasitic entities injuring taxpayers and the communities they control (see Central Falls and Providence, RI; Detroit, MI; and the once-great State of California for examples).

In the private sector, however, where taxpayers’ pockets are not in endless supply, the parasitic model of today’s unions, far too often, allows unions drain companies and ends up killing their hosts.

In large measure, the power unions have gained to cripple economies and companies comes from the ability to require workers to pay union dues (or have the workers fired from their jobs should they refuse to pay the union tribute).

In the public sector, union bosses have declared war on Wisconsin’s Scott Walker, Ohio’s John Kasich, Florida’s Rick Scott and, to a lesser extent, Arizona’s Jan Brewer, for their threats to union treasuries through collective bargaining reform.

In the private sector, however, while Indiana finally became the 23rd state in the nation to became a Right-to-Work state—which outlaws unions from having workers fired for refusing to pay union dues—other states like, Maine and Ohio are considering the reform, as well.

Source: http://goo.gl/n1B1w

In Ohio, for example, where unions spent in excess of $30 million to crush reforms to the Buckeye State’s antiquated laws governing collective bargaining for government unions, the state is among the worst states in the nation to do business—only topped by California, New Jersey and New York.

In their Pyrrhic victory in beating back reform, Ohio’s union bosses demonstrated they can dominate a state, regardless of the price. This, in part, may explain why Ohio is losing more high-tech jobs than the national average and companies like NCR are moving to more business-friendly climes like Georgia.

In late March, Ohio’s Buckeye Institute released a report entitled: Ohio Right-To-Work: How the Economic Freedom of Workers Enhances Prosperity.

In the report [in PDF], Economist Richard Vedder and his colleagues state that Ohio’s residents would benefit if the Buckeye State enacted a right-to-work law, making Ohio a more attractive place to do business:

The typical Ohioan today would have a higher income and standard of living if the Buckeye State had matched the nation in its rate of economic growth in recent decades. However, it did not, and one reason is that the labor climate in the state is unattractive both to businesses making strategic investments and workers wishing to work.

According to the Hudson Hub Times, Right-to-Work may make it on Ohio’s ballot in 2013:

The report (available online at www.buckeyeinstitute.org) comes as backers of a constitutional amendment to make Ohio a right-to-work state are collecting signatures to place the issue before voters. They don’t expect to gain enough registered voters’ names to qualify for this year’s general election and are eyeing November 2013.

In addition to pointing out that Ohio’s “substandard performance performance with respect to economic growth since the late 1970's would have been eliminated if a right-to-work law had been adopted several decades ago,” Vedder and company estimate that personal income for a family of four would have been $12,000 higher annually if Ohio had a right-to-work law in 1977.

The report provides an excellent analysis on the history of unions’ legal authority to coerce dues from workers, as well as the emergence of states’ ability to enact right-to-work laws in 1947 and the chronology of individual states’ enactment of those laws.

The report also provides a history of Ohio’s failed efforts to enact a right-to-work law in the late 1950s—much of it due to a lack of a clear and cohesive campaign. Like the recent SB5/Issue 2 campaign, where unions outspent and out organized collective bargaining reform proponents, the lack of a united front (right-to-work proponents were besieged with internal divisions in the late-50s) gave unions the upper hand to defeat right-to-work and solidified union power for decades.

Unions and their union dues-funded think tanks, like the Economic Policy Institute, continue to downplay and fight right-to-work laws by claiming right-to-work states have a negative effect on wages.

However, the Buckeye Institute report addresses that issue as well:

A recent study by Robert Reed helps clear some of the ambiguity by demonstrating that when one controls for the economic conditions of a state prior to its adoption of a RTW law, the relationship between RTW and wages is positive and statistically significant. Reed estimates that when “holding constant economic conditions in 1945—average wages in 2000 [were] 6.68 percent higher in RTW states than non-RTW states.”

The Buckeye Institute’s report on Ohio Right-to Work is an excellent read, both for the economic argument behind right-to-work, as well as the history of the effort in Ohio.

As Ohio continues to lag behind the nation due to the continued domination of unions in that state, over time, more may realize the right-to-work is right for Ohio (and elsewhere, as well).

* Update: Following the publication of this post, a reader e-mailed questioning whether my opinion has changed on whether right-to-work should be on the November (2012) ballot. It has not. 2012 is still not the right time for right-to-work in Ohio. However, the more Ohioans learn about the economic benefits of right-to-work, there may be a broader effort made in 2013 or beyond.

_________________________

“Truth isn’t mean. It’s truth.” — Andrew Brietbart (1969-2012)

Cross-posted on LaborUnionReport.com

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A long, drawn-out death rattle for Komen for the Cure?

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

You no doubt remember that controversy: Komen decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood, the Left erupted in rage, Komen backed down. Victory for the liberal feminist movement! …And how does victory look now?

Well…

Reuters: “Komen said it had had problems meeting targets in about half of the five fundraising events it has staged since the blowup. One in Lafayette, Louisiana, raised less than $400,000, below its $500,000 goal, and another, to be held in Fort Worth, Texas, is also struggling.”

News4Jax: “The Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization is failing to meet its fundraising targets after the charity decided to cut and then later restore funding for Planned Parenthood, a leading provider of birth control and sexual health care.*”

NWCN: “Eastern Washington’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is less than three weeks away, but so far, registration and fundraising numbers are down. Organizers think the drop in support is likely related, at least in part, to the national debate between Komen and Planned Parenthood.”

You’ll notice that none of these articles really try to address in any kind of detail why Komen is still having problems with fundraising, despite the fact that according to the established narrative of events Komen should not be still suffering. After all, according to that narrative Komen is now even more on the side of the angels, given that they purged all those horrible, horrible pro-life women from positions of authority; so everything should be fine. And yet, it’s… not. Well, to be marginally sympathetic, the media has a problem here, because there are two explanations, and neither is good for the narrative.

The first explanation is that pro-choice feminists are incredibly nasty, spite-filled, and inherently vicious individuals who think that any infraction against them can only be wiped out by blood; they are thus unlikely to be satisfied until the leadership of Komen goes out and publicly beats to death ten pro-life members of their own family. That’s ten each, of course. The second explanation is that a goodly number of pro-life women also contributed to Komen, and while they may have been able to ignore the PP [connection] before they’ll be blessed if they’ll ignore it now. And – as usual – the Left is not picking up the slack.

Yes, now that you mention it, the two scenarios are not mutually exclusive. But Komen had better hope that it’s one or the other – because if both are true then there’s only way that alienating the Left with your presumption and the Right with your cowardice can end, and that’s with the entire edifice toppling to the ground. Even with only one scenario being true it’s going to be a while before the Right forgives and forgets; possibly too long a while for this particular institution.

Mind you, liberal feminists can prove me wrong by funding Komen to 120% of previous totals… actually, yes, I did type that out with a straight face. But only because – false modesty aside – I’m very good at this sort of thing.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*The executive director for Komen’s North Florida affiliate would like you to know, by the way, that his group never had an affiliation with PP in the first place. Good luck with that, sir.


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It Was Inevitable. Now Bring on President Both Ways

Believe it or not, I’ve only been up for about thirty minutes. I’m under the weather today.

I would still be asleep except my CNN Alerts on my iPad went nuts. Turns out Rick Santorum is out of the race.

It was inevitable.

Mitt Romney’s campaign has used a money advantage to shut out the competition. As I said when he won Ohio, Romney will be the nominee.

The way forward for Romney depends on the economy. For the longest time I did not think he had much of a shot against the President, but as I’ve said several times recently, the economy seems to be struggling, which gives Romney an opening.

Between a struggling economy and a President who wants to have it both ways in rhetoric and in practice wants to side with those hostile to the idea of American exceptionalism, Romney has an opening if he’ll aggressively take it.

If I may be so bold, I think the greatest thing Karl Rove or Reince Priebus or Mitt Romney or any outside group could do right now is introduce the American Public to what I’ve started doing on my radio show: recounting the amazing adventures of President Both Ways.

As Rory Cooper noted on Twitter, on August 26, 2011, President Both Ways claimed the Buffett Rule would “stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade.”

And now? President Both Ways claims, “No one ever suggested that implementing Buffett Rule would contribute in large measure to reducing the deficit.”

President Both Ways strikes again.


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