President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts [Updated]

Yes, he's historic, alright.

Law and Justice

• First President to Violate the War Powers Act (Unilaterally Executing American Military Operations in Libya Without Informing Congress In the Required Time Period - Source: Huffington Post)

• First President to Triple the Number of Warrantless Wiretaps of U.S. Citizens (Source: ACLU)

• First President to Sign into Law a Bill That Permits the Government to "Hold Anyone Suspected of Being Associated With Terrorism Indefinitely, Without Any Form of Due Process. No Indictment. No Judge or Jury. No Evidence. No Trial. Just an Indefinite Jail Sentence" (NDAA Bill - Source: Business Insider)

• First President to Refuse to Tell the Public What He Did For Eight (8) Hours After Being Informed That a U.S. Ambassador Was Facing Imminent Death During a Terror Attack (Source: Mediate)

• First President to Lie About the Reason For an Ambassador's Death, Blaming it on an Internet Video Rather Than What He Knew to be the Case: the Al Qaeda-linked Terror Group Ansar al-Sharia (Source: House Oversight Committee, et. al.)

• First President to Have an Innocent Filmmaker Thrown in Jail After Lying About the Cause for a Deadly Attack on U.S. Diplomats, Using the Filmmaker as a Scapegoat (Source: CNN)

• First President to Use the IRS to "Unfairly Target Political Enemies" as Well as Jewish Groups (Source: Sen. Ted Cruz)

• First President to Unlawfully Seize Telephone Records of More than 100 Reporters to Intimidate and/or Bully Them (Source: Associated Press)

• First President to Witness a Single Cabinet Secretary Commit Multiple Hatch Act Violations Without Acting, Speaking Out, Disciplining or Firing That Person (Source: New York Times)

• First President to Have His Attorney General Held in Criminal Contempt of Congress For His Efforts to Cover Up Operation Fast and Furious, That Killed Over 300 Individuals (Source: Politico)

• First President to claim Executive Privilege to shield a sitting Attorney General from a Contempt of Congress finding for perjury and withholding evidence from lawful subpoenas (Source: Business Insider)

• First President to Issue Unlawful "Recess-Appointments" Over a Long Weekend -- While the U.S. Senate Remained in Session (against the advice of his own Justice Department - Source: United States Court of Appeals)

• First President to Fire an Inspector General of Americorps for Catching One of His Friends in a Corruption Case (Source: Gawker)

• First President to "Order a Secret Amnesty Program that Stopped the Deportations of Illegal Immigrants Across the U.S., Including Those With Criminal Convictions" (Source: DHS documents uncovered by Judicial Watch)

• First President to Sue States for Enforcing Voter ID Requirements, Which Were Previously Ruled Legal by the U.S. Supreme Court (Source: CNN)

• First President to Encourage Racial Discrimination and Intimidation at Polling Places (the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case, Source: Investors Business Daily)

• First President to Refuse to Comply With a House Oversight Committee Subpoena (Source: Heritage Foundation)

• First President to Arbitrarily Declare an Existing Law Unconstitutional and Refuse to Enforce It (Defense of Marriage Act - Source: ABC News)

• First President to Demand a Company Hand Over $20 Billion to One of His Political Appointees (BP Oil Spill Relief Fund - Source: Fox News)

• First President to Have a Law Signed By an 'Auto-pen' Without Being "Present" (Source: The New York Times)

• First President to Have His Administration Fund an Organization Tied to the Cop-Killing Terrorist Group, the Weather Underground (Source: National Review)

Scandals

• First President to publicly announce an enemies list (consisting of his opponents campaign contributors; and to use the instrumentalities of government to punish those on the list - Source: Heritage Foundation)

• First President to Attempt to Block Legally-Required 60-Day Layoff Notices by Government Contractors Due to His Own Cuts to Defense Spending -- Because The Notices Would Occur Before the Election. (Source: National Journal)

• First President to Intentionally Disable Credit Card Security Measures (in order to allow over-the-limit donations, foreign contributions and other illegal fundraising measures - Source: Power Line)

• First President to send 80 percent of a $16 billion program (green energy) to his campaign bundlers and contributors, leaving only 20% to those who did not contribute. (Source: Washington Examiner)

• First President to Propose an Executive Order Demanding Companies Disclose Their Political Contributions to Bid on Government Contracts (Source: Wall Street Journal)

• First President to issue an Executive Order implementing a "Racial Justice System", a system that tries to achieve "racially equivalent outcomes" for crimes (Source: Daily Caller)

• First President to Leak Confidential IRS Tax Records to Groups Aligned Politically With Him for Partisan Advantage (Source: The Hill Newspaper)

• First President to Use the EPA to Punish Political Enemies and Reward Political Allies (Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute)

• First President to Send Millions in Taxpayer Dollars to His Wife's Former Employer (Source: White House Dossier)

Economy

• First President to Preside Over a Cut to the Credit Rating of the United States Government (Source: Reuters)

• First President to Bypass Congress and Implement the DREAM Act Through Executive Fiat (Source: Christian Science Monitor)

• First President to Move America Past the Dependency Tipping Point, In Which 51% of Households Now Pay No Income Taxes (Source: Center for Individual Freedom)

• First President to Increase Food Stamp Spending By More Than 100% in Less Than Four Years (Source: Sen. Jeff Sessions)

• First President to Spend a Trillion Dollars on 'Shovel-Ready' Jobs -- and Later Admit There Was No Such Thing as Shovel-Ready Jobs (Source: President Obama during an early meeting of his 'Jobs Council')

• First President to Threaten Insurance Companies After They Publicly Spoke out on How Obamacare Helped Cause their Rate Increases (Source: The Hill)

• First President to Abrogate Bankruptcy Law to Turn Over Control of Companies to His Union Supporters (Source: Wall Street Journal)

• First President to Propose Budgets So Unreasonable That Not a Single Representative From Either Party Would Cast a Vote in Favor (Sources: The Hill, Open Market)

• First President Whose Economic Policies Have the Number of Americans on Disability Exceed the Population of New York (Source: CNS News)

• First President to Sign a Law Requiring All Americans to Purchase a Product From a Third Party (Source: Wall Street Journal)

• First President to Sue States For Enforcing Immigration Laws Passed by Congress (Source: The Arizona Republic newspaper)

• First President to See America Lose Its Status as the World's Largest Economy (Source: Peterson Institute)

• First President to redistribute $26.5 billion of the taxpayers' funds to his union supporters in the UAW (Source: Heritage Foundation)

• First President to Threaten an Auto Company (Ford) After It Publicly Mocked Bailouts of GM and Chrysler (Source: Detroit News)

• First President to Attempt to Bully a Major Manufacturing Company Into Not Opening a Factory in a Right-to-Work State (Boeing's facility in South Carolina - Source: Wall Street Journal)

Energy Policy

• First President to Endanger the Stability of the Electric Grid by Shutting Down Hundreds of Coal-Fired Plants Without Adequate Replacement Technologies (Source: National Electric Reliability Corporation - PDF)

• First President to Have His EPA Repudiated by a Federal Judge for "Overstepping Its Powers" When They Attempted to Shut Down Coal Operations in Appalachia (Source: Huffington Post)

• First President to be Held in Contempt of Court for Illegally Obstructing Oil Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (Source: Politico)

National Security and World Affairs

• First President to Lie Repeatedly to the American People About the Murder of a U.S. Ambassador and Three Other Diplomatic Personnel for Purely Political Reasons, Rewriting a "Talking Points" Memo No Fewer Than a Dozen Times to Avoid Referencing a Pre-Planned Terror Attack (Source: ABC News)

• First President to Openly Defy a Congressional Order Not To Share Sensitive Nuclear Defense Secrets With the Russian Government (Sources: ABC News, Rep. Michael Turner)

• First President to Leak Highly Classified Military and Intelligence Secrets to Hollywood In Order to Promote a Movie That Could Help His Reelection Campaign (Source: Judicial Watch)

• First President to Terminate America's Ability to Put a Man into Space (Sources: USA Today, ABC News)

• First President to press for a "treaty giving a U.N. body veto power over the use of our territorial waters and rights to half of all offshore oil revenue" (The Law Of The Sea Treaty, Source: Investors Business Daily)

• First President to send $200 million to a terrorist organization (Hamas) after Congress had explicitly frozen the money for fear it would fund attacks against civilians (Sources: American Thinker, The Independent [UK])

Miscellania

• First President to Insert Himself into White House Biographies of Past Presidents (Source: The New York Times).

• First President to Golf 122 or More Times in His First Four-and-a-half Years in Office (Source: White House Dossier)

But remember: he will not rest until all Americans have jobs, affordable homes, green-energy vehicles, and the environment is repaired, etc., etc., etc.

ANOTHER DEMOCRAT-PUBLIC SECTOR UNION SUCCESS STORY: Crime Gangs Take Over Maryland Jails

Kudos are due Charles Lane of the Washington Post for his candid description of the satanic alliance between Democrats and public sector unions:

Even by the standards of America’s troubled jails and prisons, the scandal at the Baltimore City Detention Center is appalling. 

A gang known as the Black Guerrilla Family took over the center, trafficking in drugs, cellphones and sexual favors with the connivance of at least 13 guards, several of whom are bearing a gang boss’s children, according to a federal indictment.

Among the many lessons from this sorry situation is one that experience elsewhere has already taught many times: Good governance is not necessarily consistent with the demands of government unions, in this case the union representing Maryland’s correctional officers... [But] the mess at the center was not exactly unprecedented. Between April 2009 and August 2010, the Baltimore City Paper published 14 articles detailing gang-related corruption at state correctional institutions. 

And it was during this time that Maryland’s branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) lobbied for legislation known as the “Correctional Officers Bill of Rights” (COBR). 

Advertised as much-needed procedural protection against unfair accusations of brutality, COBR established elaborate rules — including a guaranteed appeal hearing in front of a three-member board of fellow officers — for correctional officers suspected of wrongdoing. The bill says that prison managers can’t even “threaten” prosecution, transfer, dismissal or disciplinary action during questioning. 

It passed the House of Delegates unanimously and the Senate 44 to 2. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed it into law on May 4, 2010.

...But according to an FBI special agent’s affidavit attached to the Baltimore indictment, COBR has all but disarmed managers at the Baltimore jail. Discipline “has proven to be very difficult,” the agent wrote, and “the internal review process set up by COBR is ineffective as a deterrent to [correctional officers] smuggling contraband or getting sexually involved with BGF gang members.” 

...Keeping watch over often-violent offenders is a tough job that most correctional officers do honestly. They deserve a decent wage and fair treatment on the job... But neither they nor any other workers who serve the public deserve special influence over state government. 

That is what they get when their unions accumulate cash through mandatory dues checkoffs — from tax-funded payrolls — and spend it on campaign contributions and lobbying. 

One of the most powerful public-sector unions in the country is the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which used its political might to secure not only expensive pensions and benefits but also passage of a “three strikes and you’re out” law — which created jobs for unionized correctional officers by swelling California’s prison population. 

Maryland’s correctional officers union is not nearly that powerful, but its officials are working on it... “From the beginning, AFSCME Maryland set an aggressive agenda,” the union’s Web site boasts. “Recognizing that state laws and political decisions controlled our work lives, AFSCME Maryland members embarked on a mission to develop political power through legislative action.”

Public sector unions are an abomination. Their reason for existence revolves around fleecing the taxpayer and ensuring that the worst of the worst are protected. The only good news on the horizon is the public sector pension tsunami is going to teach basic arithmetic to union members and taxpayers alike.


Hat tip: Leonard.

A Parent's Prayer for The Children (Not Valid in Illinois)

Guest post by Charlie Fritschner


Imagine that you are a young parent. You’re 28 years old. You have four young children. You didn’t finish high school, but you work hard and provide your family with a stable home and lots of love.

Your children are bright and curious, and you dream of giving them a first-class education. But your neighborhood public school has a dropout rate of 30%. Most kids don’t read on grade level. Almost none attend college. Personal tutors and private schools are far beyond your means.

You have no power to leave. You have no ability to choose. You’re stuck.

Meet Emilia Melendez. A mother of four from Milwaukee.


Meet the Griffins. A family of seven from Merrillville, Ind., about 50 miles southeast of Chicago. Like Emilia, the Griffins were stuck, scared and powerless.


Today, both families send their children to elite private schools. Both families expect their children to attend top universities and go on to successful professional careers.

Their dreams, and the dreams of their children, are becoming reality thanks to Indiana and Milwaukee’s school voucher systems.

I spent several weeks filming the Griffin and Melendez families.

I saw firsthand the empowerment they not only feel, but exercise daily.

For them, education reform isn’t a concept or a nice idea. It isn’t about policy or politics. It’s about giving their children a chance at a better life.

If Emilia or the Griffins lived in Illinois, none of this would be possible.

Illinois politicians have not yet been convinced that parents deserve the ability to choose the school that best suits their child’s needs and goals.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Hundreds of thousands of children in Illinois could have access to a more dynamic education and more fulfilling lives if we gave their parents the power to choose.

For poor and working parents in Wisconsin and Indiana, education and opportunity are no longer the hopeless struggles they once were.

Can we make the dreams of children in Illinois a reality as well?


Charlie Fritschner is a video specialist at the Illinois Policy Institute

ORGANIZED CRIME: Post Office Edition [Quinn]

Guest post by Jim Quinn, The Burning Platform

“One of the things the government can’t do is run anything. The only things our government runs are the post office and the railroads, and both of them are bankrupt.” – Lee Iaccoca

You may have heard that the U.S. Post Office lost $16 BILLION last year. You may also have heard that Congress snuck a requirement into a bill that had nothing to do with the Post Office, mandating that they must deliver on Saturdays, even though eliminating Saturday delivery would save the Post Office $2 BILLION per year. Congress evidently can’t read a financial statement or interpret a chart. I’m sure the trends detailed on this chart will reverse themselves shortly.

While reading an editorial today supporting the Post Office in its efforts to save money by eliminating Saturday delivery I saw another MASSIVE LIE perpetuated by the MSM and the government.

Here is the Orwellian statement:

“The U.S. Postal Service is an independent governmental agency that doesn’t take taxpayer funds.”

This is complete and utter bullshit. This statement also described Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac until 2008. They were just little old independent government agencies helping out the housing market – until the shit hit the fan!!! Then they became albatrosses around the necks of the American taxpayer. You own them now. They have lost $200 billion of your tax dollars, and will lose billions more before all is said and done.

You can access the U.S. Post Office financial statements online. Here is their December 2012 report:

http://about.usps.com/who-we-are/financials/financial-conditions-results-reports/fy2013-q1.pdf [PDF]

The honesty of the people writing this report is refreshing. They essentially admit they are BANKRUPT and unable to meet their financial obligations. In other words, a truly INDEPENDENT entity admitting they can no longer operate. How is this for honesty:

“The Postal Service continues to suffer from a severe lack of liquidity. The Postal Service held total cash of $2.9 billion and $2.3 billion as of December 31, and September 30, 2012, respectively, and had no remaining borrowing capacity on its $15 billion debt facility (See Note 3, Debt, for additional information). The increase in cash balances for the quarter is largely attributable to the seasonal impact of holiday mailings, along with additional revenue resulting from this year’s political campaign and elections. Cash balances generally decline during the remainder of the fiscal year, as revenue is not as strong in the remaining quarters. By the end of this fiscal year, the Postal Service projects it will have a liquidity balance that will be less than its average weekly expenses of $1.3 billion. This low level of available cash means that the Postal Service will be unable to make the $5.6 billion legally-mandated prefunding of retiree health benefits due by September 30, 2013. Further, this level of cash could be insufficient to support operations in the event of another significant downturn in the U.S. economy.

Through the three months ended December 31, 2012, the Postal Service has suffered 5 quarters of consecutive net losses and net losses in 14 of the last 16 quarters. The net loss of $1.3 billion for the first quarter of the year included $1.4 billion of expense accrued for the legally-mandated prefunding payment for retiree health benefits. The requirement of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, Public Law 109-435 (P.L. 109-435) to prefund its retiree health benefit obligations, a requirement not shared by other federal agencies or private sector businesses, plus the precipitous drop in mail volume caused by changes in consumers’ uses of mail, have been the two major factors contributing to Postal Service losses since the recession ended in 2009. Without structural change to the Postal Service’s business model, it will continue to be negatively impacted by these factors and, absent legislative change, it anticipates continuing quarterly losses for the remainder of 2013.”

The politicians that are mismanaging this country use governmental accounting fraud to cover-up the fact that the obligations of this bloated pig of an operation are going to be paid by YOU, the taxpayers of the United States. Today, none of the past, current, or future liabilities of this INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT AGENCY are reflected in the Federal budget projections or the National Debt calculation.

Do YOU want to know how much YOU really owe? Brace yourself.

• In the past six years they have lost $41 BILLION and they have a cumulative deficit of $36 billion. How many INDEPENDENT organizations can run up deficits of $36 billion without going out of business? YOU are on the hook for these accumulated deficits, just like you were on the hook for all of the Fannie and Freddie backed toxic mortgages.
• The Post Office will lose another $10 to $15 billion this fiscal year. You will be on the hook for that too.
• They have $15 billion of debt on their balance sheet, with $9.5 billion payable in the next 9 months. How will this INDEPENDENT government agency that is losing $16 billion per year pay off $9.5 billion? They won’t. The government drones will pass a bill in the middle of the night extending the terms with no cash flow requirements or expectation of repayment. I wonder if I can get a loan like that?
• The really interesting stuff is buried on page 42 of their report. I wonder why it is all the way back there? In addition to their $15 billion of debt, they have another $70.5 BILLION of unfunded future obligations. The two biggest are:
  
  • $33.9 Billion of payments for pension and health benefits for retirees, all due within the next 5 years. It’s not cheap providing gold plated benefits to government workers.
  • $25 billion for workers compensation and sick leave payments. Yikes!!! It must be all that stress, because the mail never stops. It keeps coming and coming. It’s almost enough to make someone go postal, or at least file a stress related workers comp claim.

This really sounds like a promising story. Mail volumes continue to plummet. Someone should tell Congress the internet age has arrived. The Post Office has thousands of money losing, unneeded outlets. It has 637,000 employees when it only needs 300,000. Over 70% of Americans favor ending Saturday delivery, so Congress passes a law making that impossible to implement, ensuring $2 billion more losses per year. That’s par for the course. Over 70% of Americans were against passing TARP too. And according to your leaders in Washington, and parroted by the MSM, you are not on the hook for their losses.

It’s beyond laughable, but so is most of what is going on in this tragedy of a country, disguised as a comedy. The truth is that you are on the hook for the $36 billion of accumulated deficits, the $85 billion of debt and contractual obligations, and the annual $16 billion losses they continue to pile up. But what’s $120 to $150 billion among friends? Bennie can print that out of thin air in a few days. Why run an operation efficiently at a surplus, when you can keep hundreds of thousands of union government drones employed (until they go on workers comp) by sticking it to the working American taxpayer.

I sure hope I don’t get a visit from the Postmaster General because of this article.

 

Cyprus: The Canary in the Coal Mine?

Henry Blodget, for once in his life, may be on to something here:

...Some of Cyprus's banks, like many banks in Europe, are bankrupt... Cyprus went to the eurozone to get a bailout, the same way Ireland, Greece, and other European countries have.

The eurozone powers-that-be (mainly Germany) gave Cyprus a bailout and insisted that the depositors in Cyprus's banks pay part of the tab — a startling condition that has never before been imposed on any major banking system since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008.

The deal did not touch the bondholders. Why the depositors? These are folks who had their money in the banks for safe-keeping.

When Cyprus's banks reopen on Tuesday morning, every depositor will have some of his or her money seized. The current plan is that accounts under 100,000 euros will have 6.75% of the funds seized. Accounts over 100,000 euros will have 9.9% seized. And then the eurozone's emergency lending facility and the International Monetary Fund will inject 10 billion euros into the banks to allow them to keep operating.

...Not surprisingly, news that deposits in Cyprus's banks would be seized triggered an immediate run on the banks... Depositors rushed to ATMs and tried to withdraw their money before it could be seized. But the ATMs weren't working. And the government has now made it impossible to transfer money out of the country.

...ever since the Great Depression wiped out a big percentage of the world's banks, vaporizing the bank depositors' savings in the process, banking system regulators have tried to do everything they can to protect bank depositors... Because the moment depositors think that there is risk to their savings, they rush to banks to yank their money out.

That's called a run on the bank. And since no bank anywhere has enough cash on hand to pay off all its depositors at once, runs on the bank cause banks to go bust.

...now, thanks to the eurozone's bizarre decision in Cyprus, the illusion that depositors don't need to yank their money out of threatened banks because they'll be protected has been shattered... Depositors in Cyprus banks will lose some of their money. They will be furious about this. And they will, rightly, feel that it is grossly unfair — because depositors in the bailed-out banks in Ireland, Greece, etc. didn't lose their money. And they will feel like fools for not having taken their money out.

...Other depositors at weak banks all over Europe, in places like Spain, Italy, and Greece, will rightly wonder whether this is the beginning of a new era of bank bailouts, an era in which bank depositors are going lose some of their money. What do you think those other depositors in Spain, Italy, Greece, etc., are going to feel like doing when they realize that, if their banks ever need a bailout, they might have their deposits seized?

...Well, then, a good portion of Europe might suddenly experience a good old-fashioned bank run. That, to put it mildly, could be a disaster. It could bring the European financial crisis, which has lurched from one flare-up to another for most of the past five years, to a rather sudden head.

Econoblogger Karl Denninger says that Cyprus is a preview of coming attractions for those of us in the United States.

And he asserts that our Cyprus event will occur within two years. Because the laws of mathematics always trump those of politics.


Image hat tips: Zero Hedge (top) and NBC News.

What the Democrat Party Told Me

They told me that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons would turn our streets into rivers of blood.

They told me that taking trillions of dollars from the successful and giving it to those "who truly needed it" would cure poverty.

They told me that giving home loans to those who couldn't afford them would make the American dream achievable for all.

They told me that paying into the Social Security "Trust Fund" would guarantee a comfortable retirement for everyone.

They told me that allowing teachers to unionize in public schools would help inner city students reach for the stars.

They told me that the federal government could run a guaranteed, affordable health care program for seniors forever.

They told me that the new employment paradigm consisted of millions of "green jobs".

They told me that their support for immoral and criminal behavior wouldn't result in the breakdown of the two-parent family.

They told me that spending trillions on Stimulus programs would heal a damaged economy.

They told me that raising taxes on corporations and "the rich" would create more jobs.

They told me that our borders were "as secure as they've ever been".

They told me that intentionally restricting access to our own sources of energy would reduce dependence on foreign oil.

They told me that recklessly spreading unemployment benefits and food stamps would jump-start the economy.

They told me that, in spite of the VA and the Indian Health Service, they could successfully run the entire American health care system.

They told me that their record-breaking borrowing could never result in a downgrade of the United States' AAA credit rating.

They told me that "the Constitution doesn't matter".

They told me that the Constitution has to change with the times.

They told me that I exist to serve the government and not the other way around.

They told me that anyone who opposes their unconstitutional, reckless and failed policies are racists.

Well, I'm here to tell you:

Everything they told me was a lie.

Everything they told me was wrong.

Intentionally, diabolically, criminally wrong.

And if we don't begin to turn back the tide of centralized government, if we don't politically obliterate the Democrat Party, this beautiful Republic, this magnificent country, this bastion of free enterprise and private property rights, this shining city on a hill... well, it will be finished.


Related: Don't cry for me, America.

MUST-READ: Titan CEO Smashes French Communist Unions

Tyler Durden updates us on the developing -- and fascinating -- war of words between an avowed Capitalist and the Marxist French government, which is now in:

...Round 3, following round 1 in which the "Titan CEO Crushes Socialist "Work Ethic", Tells France "You Can Keep Your So-Called Workers" and round 2 in which "Socialist France Responds To Titan CEO, Hilarity Ensues."

...Excerpted from Titan CEO Maurice Taylor's follow up letter in response to Arnaud Montebourg's letter responding to Maurice Taylor.

Your letter shows the extent to which your political class is out of touch with real world problems.

You call me an extremist, but most businessmen would agree that I must be nuts to have the idea to spend millions of US dollars to buy a tyre factory in France paying some of the highest wages in the world.

Your letter did not mention why the French government has not stepped in to rescue this Goodyear tyre factory.

The extremist, Mr Minister, is your government and the lack of knowledge about how to build a business.

Your government let the wackos of the communist union destroy the highest paying jobs.

At no time did Titan ask for lower wages; we asked only if you want seven hours pay, you work at least six.

France does have beautiful women and great wine.

PS: My grandmother named my father after French entertainer Maurice Chevalier, and I inherited the name.

I have visited Normandy with my wife. I know what we did for France.

And down goes Montebourg! Down goes Montebourg!

ANOTHER EXAMPLE: Marxist Indoctrination In Our Schools

Well, this can't come as much of a surprise.

This is a page out of a workbook for your government school student. What school and what schoolbook I can’t tell you … maybe the lady who sent this to me will step forward and let us know.

This is how our government schools – and the liberals who run them – effectively brainwash (though indoctrinate is a much more polite word) our children into accepting the liberal philosophy as basic truth... The headline at the top of the document reads “Distribute the Wealth.” And there you have the picture of the pretty little girl with the cute little pony tail.

She’s holding a bag of money in one hand, and giving away some of that money with the other. Yes! She’s distributing her wealth! But if you study the picture you’ll see there’s an even more subtle message. She’s not handing money away from her wallet or her purse. No! That wouldn’t get the real message across! Why pretty much every little girl has a wallet or a purse. No... this little sweetheart has a BAG of money! Not every little girl has BAGS of money … so this girl must be really RICH! And since she’s rich her money needs to be redistributed! So she’s being a good little rich girl and she’s smiling as she hands her money away.

As Thomas Sowell warns us, America's state-run schools are undermining American society."

I'm soliciting other examples: For those parents with school-age kids, please check out their textbooks and study guides. Email me any snapshots of interest, the age and grade of your youngster, your city and state and whether you wish to remain anonymous (my default assumption is to keep all contributions anonymous).

WE NEED MORE ROLL-FREE ZONES: GM Recalls More than 69,000 SUVs and Trucks Because They May Roll Away

A brake is a terrible thing to waste

General Motors... says more than 69,000 full-size pickup trucks and SUVs distributed globally may be affected by a problem that could cause them to roll away after being parked.

According to safety regulators, certain 2013 model Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles including the Escalade, Sierra and Silverado, may have been built with a cracked park lock cable or a malformed steering column lock actuator gear in the lock module assembly.

In this case, said vehicles may shift from Park with the ignition key removed or in the OFF position, as well as without the application of the brake pedal while the key is off... "Either of these scenarios may cause the vehicle to roll away after the driver has exited the vehicle, resulting in a possible vehicle crash and/or injury," GM said in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

In related good news, the U.S. taxpayer will get hosed for about $20 billion when it sells its GM stock, even though GM has reported roughly $16 billion in profits since President Obama "saved" the company -- using our money.


Hat tip: BadBlue Car News.

UNITED VAN LINES: Workers Fleeing Forced-Unionization States for Right-to-Work States

Dick Trumka hardest hit.

...According to an annual study conducted by the moving company United Van Lines, the top ten states that Americans are fleeing from continue to be those states that do not have Right-to-Work laws...

...In fact, according to UVL’s study, the Top Ten states with the highest outbound traffic are forced-unionism states:

MOVING OUT

The top-five outbound states for 2012 were:

• New Jersey
• Illinois
• West Virginia
• New York
• New Mexico

New Jersey (62 percent) displaced the outbound leader from last year, Illinois (60 percent) reclaiming the top spot for high-outbound migration that it held in 2010.

The Northeast is the most well-represented region on the high-outbound traffic list. In addition to New Jersey, New York (58 percent), Maine (56 percent) and Connecticut (56 percent) are also included.

Michigan (58 percent) and Wisconsin (55 percent) along with Illinois represented the Great Lakes region. Michigan fell to the No. 6 from the No. 4 spot it held in 2011. Previously, it had claimed the top outbound spot every year from 2006-2009.

Kentucky (55 percent) joined West Virginia (58 percent) as the only Southern states to appear on the high outbound list. New Mexico (58 percent) was the only Western state to appear on the list. [Emphasis added.]

The fact that forced-union states have been losing taxpayers shouldn’t come as a surprise... where there are laws giving union bosses the power to force workers to pay unions or be fired, union bosses also have the power to get politicians elected that will raise taxes and enact legislation that make the state unattractive to running a business.

As a result, when businesses find a state hostile to business, they either close or move–leaving fewer jobs in the state.

All of this information will come as no surprise to real Americans, but will stun and shock the typical low-information Democrat voter.


Hat tip: Winterspirit.

OH, MY: Some Chevy Dealers Opting Out of Selling Volts

Eh, perhaps it's because they don't want to expand their carbon footprint, or something.

According to Automotive News, the sales of the Volt at some dealerships does not justify the cost of special tools needed to repair and service the vehicles. Dealers are spending up to $5,000 on tools, including a new item that is needed to drain the vehicle’s battery to send back to GM in case of repairs.


Despite sales of the Volt reaching 20,828 through November, some dealers are unable to sell enough of the range-extended electric cars to make up the cost of the parts. Requiring to sell just five Volts to break-even on the costs of the tools, some dealers are instead opting out of the Volt authorized dealer program...

For those of you wondering, the accompanying photo (as I understand it) depicts the first Volt arriving at a dealership sometime last year.

HOW UNIONS BILK THE RANK-AND-FILE: By the Numbers

Excerpted from Union Facts:

Financial Information

• Annual Dues Paid to Unions: $8,209,113,955
• Total Union Assets: $8,775,962,626
• Total Spending
• Representational Activities: $4,074,510,945
• Political Activities: $582,248,875
• External Contributions: $333,982,197
• Overhead: $3,914,513,501
• Unions that fail to pass Department of Labor audits: 92%

Diversity

• Major Unions with White Presidents: 94%
• Major Unions with Male Presidents: 89%

Union Officials

• Total union officers and staff members: 173,389 people
• Total compensation paid to union officials and officers: $1,152,061,495
• Total compensation paid to union employees: $2,563,981,776

Crime, Corruption, and Violence

• Recorded Incidents of Union Violence and Intimidation since 1975: 9,000+
• Union Racketeering Indictments since 2001: 2,056
• Fines Paid Resulting from DOL Racketeering Investigations since 2001: $670 million

Pensions

• Pension Funds controlled by unions: 7,585
• Average Pension Funding Level: 48%

Just for grins, please note the percentage of Annual Dues Paid to Unions that is devoted to compensating union bosses and their lackeys (Total compensation paid to union employees). And Democrats dare talk about how health insurers are ripping off consumers? How about what unions are doing to the rank-and-file?

UNION SUCCESS STORY #7,407: Only Seven Percent of 8th-graders in Detroit Public Schools Read Proficiently

As they say, someone new is blocking the schoolhouse door.

...In the public schools in Detroit, Mich., according to the U.S. Department of Education, only 7 percent of the eighth graders are grade-level proficient or better in reading.

Some public school teachers in the City of Detroit and around the state of Michigan are reportedly taking a vacation or a sick day today to protest right-to-work legislation likely to be approved by the state legislature. Under current law, Michigan public school teachers must pay dues to the teachers’ union. If the right-to-work law is enacted, Michigan public-school teachers will be free to join the union and pay dues to it if they wish, but they will also be free not to join the union and not to pay it dues.

Detroit public-school eighth graders do even worse in math than they do in reading, according to the Department of Education. While only 7 percent scored highly enough on the department’s National Assessment of Educational Progress test in 2011 to be rated “proficient” or better in reading, only 4 percent scored highly enough to be rated “proficient” or better in math...

I blame Bush. And Sarah Palin.

But certainly not the unholy alliance of the Democrat Party and public sector unions, which exist only to fleece the beleaguered American taxpayer.


Hat tip: BadBlue News Service.

WANTED PHOTOS: The Union Thug Who Tried to Kill Steven Crowder

Fox News contributor Steven Crowder was in Michigan today to record the pro-slavery protests orchestrated by the same union bosses who've economically obliterated Detroit. The death threats and physical violence were just what we've come to expect from the Marxist-aligned Leftists:

...the crowd started tearing down the AFP [Americans For Prosperity] tent that was there. When Crowder attempted to intervene, he was assaulted by multiple protesters with one ... shouting that he would "kill a mother f***er with a gun..."

Do you know this douche? Dana Loesch has a donation page where you can contribute to a reward to find and charge the assailant.


Update: UNION THUG Who Beat Steven Crowder ID’ed – His Name Is Tony Cummings.

UNION SUCCESS STORY #7,308: Chrysler forced to rehire workers caught drinking, getting high during lunch break

And people wonder why the American auto industry required tens of billions in bailouts (most of which will never be repaid)?

In 2010, the American automobile manufacturer Chrysler released several of its employes for negligent behavior after they were caught on camera drinking and possibly smoking marijuana during their lunch break. After many months of a union-backed arbitration process, however, Chrysler was forced to rehire the workers.

“While [Chrysler] does not agree with the ultimate decision of the arbitrator, we respect the grievance procedure process as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement and our relationship with the UAW,” a statement released by the automaker read.

Unfortunately, the company was put in a very difficult position because of the way the story was investigated and ultimately revealed to the public. These employees from Jefferson North have been off work for more than two years. The time has come to put this situation behind us and resume our focus on building quality products that will firmly establish Chrysler Group’s position in the marketplace.

The scandal was uncovered by a Detroit-based Fox affiliate in September, 2010.

At Chrysler, quality is, like, job -- dude! You hungry?

BUT THEY'RE DOING IT FOR THE CHILDREN: Right-to-Work in Michigan Will Cost Union Bosses $100 Million a Year

As the union bosses have admitted, their opposition to right-to-work has nothing to do with kids or education. It's all about the Benjamins.

Two Michigan school districts will close Tuesday after hosts of teachers called out sick, apparently to join protests against efforts to pass right-to-work legislation in the state...

The school district superintendent in Taylor, MI, a Detroit suburb, said the district would not have enough teachers to fill the district’s classrooms, according to local news reports. The Taylor Federation of Teachers is reportedly helping to organize the protests...

Polling shows that almost a quarter of union members would stop paying dues if they could. That would cost Michigan unions $100 million a year (they represent 700,000 Michiganders, and their dues average $600 to $900 a year). Union bosses would much rather workers had no choice.

But many workers feel differently. The most vocal calls for right to work have come from workers upset with their unions. Terry Bowman, a member of UAW Local 898 who works at Ford’s Rawsonville plant, argued for right to work long before Republicans considered taking it up; Bowman believes the government should not force workers like him to support a union they oppose.

I have no problem with unions so long as joining and paying dues are voluntary acts.

Collective bargaining is little more than a polite form of indentured servitude. And, depending upon the union, sometimes not so polite.

TAXING "THE RICH" WORKING OUT SWIMMINGLY IN CALIFORNIA: Revenues to State Fall 10 Percent

Who could have predicted such a phenomenon?

California ... state revenue for the month of November 2012 fell $806.8 million, or 10.8%, below budget.

Democrats thought they could hammer “the rich” by convincing voters to pass Proposition 30 to create the highest state income tax in the nation.

But it now appears that high income earners have already “voted with their feet” by moving themselves and their businesses out of state, resulting in over $1 billion shortfall in corporate and income taxes last month and the beginning of a new financial crisis.

Passage of Proposition 30 set off euphoria and expectations of higher spending for public employees. The California Teachers’ Association (CTA) trumpeted: "California students and working families won a clear victory today as voters clearly demonstrated their willingness to invest in our public schools and colleges and also rejected a deceptive ballot measure aimed at silencing educators, other workers and their unions.”

State bureaucrats immediately ramped up deficit spending far beyond the state's $6 billion annual tax increase, with the Departments of Health Services and Developmental Services increasing this month’s spending by over $1 billion versus last year. The lower tax collection and higher spending drove the State’s deficit after the tax increase to $2.7 billion for the first 5 months of this fiscal year...

Who could have predicted such a phenomenon?

Oh, wait. I did. Just three short weeks ago*.


*See: DELUSIONAL: California Predicts Budget Surplus in 2014 Thanks to Tax Hikes, Anti-Business Regulations.

A Brief, Illustrated History of the Public Sector Unions That, Together With The Democrat Party, Are Waging War on the Taxpayer

Throughout American history -- and as recently as the 1950s -- there were no unions for government workers. Public-sector employees were expected to earn a bit less than their private-sector equivalents. The reasons they did so included an interest in public service, job security and reasonable benefits.

But that changed in the late fifties with New York City Mayor Robert Wagner's cynical appeal to the votes of city workers. He signed an executive order authorizing them to unionize, and soon other local and state Democrat legislators around the country followed his lead.

These efforts culminated in 1962, when President John F. Kennedy granted federal employees the right to collectively bargain. Since then, public sector union membership has skyrocketed while, in the private sector, unions have fallen out of favor.

In 2009, private sector union members were outnumbered for the first time by their public sector counterparts.

The historical basis of unions revolved around workers receiving a reasonable share of a company's profits. But that tenet is nonsensical when applied to public service. Governments don't make profits; they simply assess taxes.

The aims of public sector unions conflict directly with the interests of taxpayers.

And because it has been exceedingly hard to fight public sector unions, the salaries and benefits of public employees have skyrocketed in recent years. Since the election of Barack Obama, the number of federal employees making over $150,000 a year has more than doubled to over 10,000.

In 2009 government salaries jumped 2.4%, approximately twice the increase earned by private sector employees. In fact, the average salary of a federal worker is now $71,000, about $22,000 more than the average private sector employee.

Worst of all, public sector unions have negotiated pension plans that are proving financially untenable. Many allow workers to retire at age 55 at around their full salary in their final years of employment. These pensions often include inflation adjustments as well as lifetime free health care.

These plans are so outrageous that state retirement systems, for example, are currently underfunded by about a trillion dollars.

So how have public sector unions achieved these amazing results? The answer is the hundreds of millions of dollars that unions have donated to federal campaigns since 1990. Almost every single dollar went to Democrats or Democrat causes. In the 2008 election alone, some estimates put public sector union contributions to Democrats at $60 million.

These unions are also astroturfing for Democrats, providing slush funds to help liberal causes. An example is ThePartyIsOver.org, a faux populist website designed to discredit TEA Party activists.

The Democrats' health care bill, the 'Employee Free Choice Act' and the $800+ billion stimulus bill all contained payoffs to public sector unions. In fact, while the private sector has shed 8,000,000 jobs since the recession began, the number of public sector jobs has risen nearly every month -- led by President Obama's various spending programs at the federal level.

Public sector unions are killing our economic system and the American taxpayer. The debt unleashed by their outrageous benefits plans simply cannot be paid. The union bosses have lied to their members about lifetime benefits and they have betrayed the American people. Public sector unions must be disbanded and outlawed before more of our country begins to resemble Greece, Spain and other European countries.

Those countries are teetering on the brink of economic calamity, thanks to unions just like ours. And please observe that the union bosses and the Democrat Party could give a rat's behind about American taxpayers -- 20 percent of whom are currently unemployed or underemployed. They still want theirs.


Based upon: Amy H. Laff, StateBrief. Linked by: Mark Levin, The Washington Examiner, Ace o' Spades and TigerHawk. Thanks!

IT'S 1937 ALL OVER AGAIN: The Ongoing Obama Depression Will Continue Until Further Notice

When George Santayana said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it," he was describing ideologues like Barack Obama.

How else can one explain his desire to replay the Great Depression? Based upon Obama's policies, we're replaying the year 1937, just months after FDR's reelection to a second term. In short, FDR's incessant interference with the private sector and his commitment to the socialist-progressive principles of Stuart Chase turned out to be abject failures.

But Obama is replaying FDR's failed strategies to a tee.

...According to the BLS, real weekly earnings adjusted for inflation for Q3 2012 are the same as Q4 2007. Even worse, seasonally adjusted real weekly earnings for full time workers, all occupations, are at similar levels to the mid 1980's.

Overall, weekly earnings dropped -0.2% in October and since October 2010 have fallen by -1.8%. The above graph means 50% of workers are earning less than $332 per week in real purchasing power, accounting for inflation since 1982-194. Not adjusted for inflation, the median weekly earnings for all occupations was $765 in Q3 2012. Now think about rents of $1500+ a month in many cities and how 50% of all earners are making less than $765 per week, before taxes...

...[Above] is the real hourly wage, or adjusted for inflation since 1980. Again we see in terms of real dollars, workers aren't really getting ahead...

If Obama truly cared about "the middle class", he'd abandon his destructive policies that are literally crushing American families.

Individual taxes must be lowered, especially in the highest brackets, because business owners need the funds to hire more workers. Corporate taxes must be slashed and "double jeopardy" foreign profits taxes eliminated to attract money to our shores. The vast regulatory bureaucracy must be scaled back. And the out-of-control labor unions need to be brought to heel.

And government must spend less. Much, much less.

But the president won't change his disastrous progressive course and will instead continue on the road to economic misery. He is an ideologue who believes he has a "mandate" (51-49, mind you) to continue the Depression that will forever bear his name.


Update: Historian Amity Shlaes agrees: "2013 Looks a Lot Like 1937 in Four Fearsome Ways."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger tries to teach Bill Kristol about conservatism, fails

Kinzinger makes a valiant effort, but explaining conservatism to a Beltway hack like Kristol is akin to teaching calculus to a cow:

Bill,

All this haggling over a tax rate made me realize one thing... We have failed to explain what conservatism really means.

Immigrants who have come here since Reagan have never had a strong spokesman for conservatism, and in a world where the prevailing worldview is through a spectrum of government, this concept is insanely foreign.

I don't care what tax rates are, they are all random number[s] derived from haggling and negotiations. What I want is a small government with a strong and fierce military that can kill our enemies and break their toys, legitimate safety nets that provide food and not a way of life, and some roads and bridges. Put that vision into action and set the tax rates at a percent that covers those costs. And once you have our payment, leave us the hell alone. That my friend, is conservatism.

The musings of a soon to be sophomore congressman.

Adam Kinzinger

Sent from my iPhone

Kristol's shrill cry to raise taxes on the businesses that employ more than half of the private sector proves that he is both an economic illiterate and an intellectual lightweight.

Kristol isn't a conservative: he's an entertainer -- and a piss-poor one at that.