12/14/09

Chuck Muth’s News & Views – December 14, 2009

By: Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach

THE DAVID CASSIDY OF POLITICS

“There’s nothing wrong with a boring politician. But Obama isn’t becoming boring in a stolid, dependable Angela Merkel kind of way. He’s not boring like a mannerly George H. W. Bush or a thoughtful Bill Bradley. He’s boring like yesterday’s celebrity. He’s the teen heartthrob who’s grown a little too old.”

National Review editor Rich Lowry

SOME TAXPAYERS ARE CREATED MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS

“At a time when the White House is projecting the largest deficit in the nation’s history, Uncle Sam is trying to recover billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from its own employees. Federal workers owe more than $3 billion in income taxes they failed to pay in 2008. According to Internal Revenue Service documents, 276,300 federal employees and retirees owe $3,042,200,000. . . . The agency with the most tax scofflaws is the U.S. Postal Service, with 28,913 employees who owe $297,933,756.”

WTOP.com, 12/14/09

DO AS WE SAY, NOT AS WE DO

“For critics of the Democrats’ $849 billion health care bill, this may be the ultimate irony: millions of dollars set aside so the government can help teach citizens how to handle their own money better. . . . The nation’s borrowing is about to surpass the statutory limit of $12.1 trillion, and Congress will have to increase that limit, probably well beyond $13 trillion, to ensure the country meets its obligations to creditors overseas.”

Manu Raju of Politico, 12/14/09

IT’S ON A NEED-TO-KNOW BASIS, AND YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW

“Although Democratic senators expressed confidence that the (health care reform) bill will pass, they professed to know few details about the public-option deal, kept under wraps by (Sen. Harry) Reid while the CBO analyzes the cost.”

Washington Post, 12/10/09

WHAT COMES AFTER 59 AGAIN?

“Majority Leader Harry Reid is having a difficult time piecing together a health-reform bill that will get 60 votes in the Senate because of his overreach in trying to create a health-care ‘system’ that would be run out of Washington.”

Grace Marie-Turner of the Galen Institute

JUST SAY NO

“Harry Reid is really getting desperate to pass his health-care legislation. In a gambit that has confounded both liberal and conservative groups, the majority leader is using the health-care bill to restore funding for abstinence-only sex education programs that liberals – such as Mr. Reid himself – have spent the past three years trying to zero out. . . . Come to think of it, a period of abstinence might be the best solution to Mr. Reid’s increasingly reckless attempts to get a health care bill through the senate.”

Allysia Finley in Political Diary, 12/14/09

HARRY REID IS NO PIED PIPER

“There’s trouble in paradise, or rather there would be if the U.S. Senate’s Democratic Caucus were paradise. Last week we heard that Majority Leader Harry Reid had struck a compromise deal on ObamaCare. But, characteristically for the Senate, the leader is having trouble finding followers.”

James Taranto, Best of the Web, 12/14/09

CLIMATE CHANGE SUPER-HYPOCRITES

“(Limousine company manager) Majken Friss Jorgensen reckons that between her and her rivals the total number of limos in Copenhagen next week (for the climate change conference) has already broken the 1,200 barrier. The French alone rang up on Thursday and ordered another 42. ‘We haven’t got enough limos in the country to fulfill the demand,’ she says. ‘We’re having to drive them in hundreds of miles from Germany and Sweden.’ And the total number of electric cars or hybrids among that number? ‘Five,’ says Ms Jorgensen.”

London Telegraph, 12/5/09

SURVEY SAYS!

Is global warming a real threat, normal atmospheric change, or an environmentalist hoax?

  • The sky really is falling!
  • Don’t worry. Be happy.
  • Martians have landed on Earth!

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

RAH-RAH-RHEE!

“The Washington, D.C., public school system, with its high dropout rates and low test scores, has long been a national embarrassment. But things seem to be improving under maverick Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. So it’s curious that the White House hasn’t done more to support her reform efforts, especially since they track so closely with the Obama Administration’s own stated education goals.

“…Before Ms. Rhee’s arrival, the nation’s capital went through six superintendents in 10 years. Since taking over as Chancellor in 2007, Ms. Rhee has replaced ineffective principals, laid off instructors based on “quality, not by seniority” and shuttered failing schools. These actions have angered teacher unions to the point of bringing (unsuccessful) lawsuits, yet academic outcomes are clearly improving.”

Review & Outlook, Wall Street Journal, 12/14/09

SMACKDOWN IN CONNECTICUT

“Even when matched up against the newest Republican candidate on the block, Linda McMahon, ex-CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, (Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd) trails by six points. . . . Ms. McMahon, who spent more than $2 million in the first two weeks of her campaign, has said that she’s willing to spend a total of $30 million of her own money on the race.”

Allysia Finley of Political Diary, 12/14/09

MUTH’S TRUTHS

“Eyebrow threading is a booming industry in Texas because it’s cheaper, faster and less painful than waxing,” our friends at the Institute for Justice inform us today. “Plus, it doesn’t involve any chemicals, dyes or sharp objects and is healthy for the skin. It’s creating lots of jobs in Texas, especially for immigrants.”

So this is a good thing, right? Um, not so fast.

“Now threaders are being forced to pay $20,000 to obtain up to 1,500 hours of instruction in a school that does not even teach their trade,” the IJ reports. “They are also being forced to pass exams that don’t test for threading. Inspectors have already begun handing out $2,000 fines. This scheme protects cosmetology companies from honest competition, but does nothing to help consumers.”

Eight of the threaders are now suing, with IJ’s help, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR). Learn more in THIS brief two-and-a-half minute video.

ADDITIONAL READING

John McCain, Arizona senator and failed presidential candidate (twice), is up for re-election next year. J.D. Hayworth, former conservative congressman and current Phoenix talk-show host, is mulling a challenge to McCain for Barry Goldwater’s seat in the GOP primary next year. So the McCainiacs have been out doing an underhanded “push-poll” to tar Hayworth. Read all about it HERE

FED-EXCESS

There’s a scene in John Wayne’s True Grit where the character Mattie Ross stomps off after once again threatening to have her lawyer, J. Noble Dagget, sue somebody. To which the character played by actor Glen Campbell says to Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn, “Lawyer Daggett – she draws him like a gun!”

That scene always comes to mind whenever I read new propaganda from FedEx complaining about “labor unions” in their fight against a proposed change in federal law which would place their express delivery drivers under the same law as every other express delivery driver in the country. Read the latest HERE

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

“Once created, federal programs are nearly impossible to eliminate.”

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas)

12/14/09

Tea Party Express Tour Calendar

When I heard Rick Santelli on the CNBC business network have his rant and call for a tea party to protest the Obama bailout bill, I knew it was time to get organized and fight against a President who was determined to take care of the big corporations and his liberal friends instead of mainstream Americans who do the productive and volunteer work that makes our country so great.

That led our political action committee, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, to start the Tea Party Express as a vehicle to get Americans involved in protesting the efforts by our new President and liberal Congress to grow the federal government to intrude further in our lives.

We kept our goals straight-forward and consistent with a majority of Americans:

  • End the Bailouts
  • Reduce the Size and Intrusiveness of Government
  • Stop the Out of Control Spending
  • No Government Run Heathcare
  • Stop Raising our Taxes

We have now done two national bus tours and the huge rally in Washington DC with over a million people participating. And, we already are planning on two more tours in 2010 – the first one beginning in Searchlight, Nevada on March 27th and travelling across country to Washington, DC for another big protest rally on April 15th Tax Day.

One of the great things about these tours is getting to meet so many wonderful Americans who share our concern over the direction of our country. People have turned out by the thousands, many with hand-made signs.

That sparked an idea that others who couldn’t join our tour rallies would enjoy seeing some of the people and signs that were displayed at our events. So we put together this fabulous 2010 calendar with over 100 color photographs from each of the rally locations on Tea Party Express II.

It will make a great stocking stuffer for Christmas. And, you will thoroughly enjoy looking at the pictures all year long of your fellow Americans turning out to take our country back.

If you order your calendars before Tuesday, the post office is guaranteeing they will be delivered before Christmas.

Click here so you can enjoy the calendar too.

I hope I see you along the route this year because Election Day 2010 will be a critical date in our nation’s history. We have to “Just Vote Them Out!” and return our country to the principles and policies that made us “the shining city on a hill,” as my old boss Ronald Reagan use to say.

Best wishes for a happy holiday season where the joy of Christmas and Hanukkah can bring us all together for a successful and prosperous 2010.

Sincerely,

Sal Russo
Chief Strategist
Tea Party Express

12/14/09

Nevada News & Views – December 14, 2009

By: Chuck Muth
Nevada News and Views

TODAY’S NN&V HEADLINES

  • Tea Partiers Claim Success in Capturing Nevada GOP (JB Williams) – Nevada has become the proving ground for the precinct committeemen initiative and the success in Nevada is very likely to transform the GOP and RNC in the coming election cycle.
  • Whole Foods Republicans: GOP needs voters who embrace a progressive lifestyle but not progressive politics (Michael J. Petrilli) – The Republican Party is resurgent—or so goes the conventional wisdom. With its gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey, an energized “tea party” base, and an administration overreaching on health care, climate change and spending, 2010 could shape up to be 1994 all over again.
  • Krolicki’s Vindication (Jim Clark) – “Something’s rotten in Denmark” – Hamlet. I have researched the filing of and dismissal of the criminal case against Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki and have concluded that Hamlet would say the same thing about Nevada.
  • Reid Makes His Case (Mike Chamberlain) – Senator Harry Reid takes to the pages of the Review-Journal to defend his health care, I mean, health insurance reform bill. He claims “[t]his bill will save lives, save money and save Medicare.” But this bill will definitely not do the first two and is unlikely to accomplish the third.
  • Universal Healthcare: The Great Bait and Switch Con Job (Wayne Allyn Root) –For months I’ve predicted on TV and radio appearances exactly how universal healthcare would be proposed, debated, negotiated and passed – against the wishes of the American people.

Click here to read these stories at the Nevada News & Views site!

SURVEY SAYS!

Is global warming a real threat, normal atmospheric change, or an environmentalist hoax?

  • The sky really is falling!
  • Don’t worry. Be happy.
  • Martians have landed on Earth!

To cast your vote in today’s online survey, click here!

MUTHS TRUTHS

  • Emily Richmond of the Las Vegas Sun reports today that the Clark County school district has reduced overtime costs for its employees from $13 million in 2008 to around $5 million through November of this year, which again buttresses the no-new-taxes position. If you FORCE the government to cut costs by drying up its money, it will. However, if you DON’T force the government to cut costs, it won’t. Starving the beast works.
  • A Department of Energy memo surfaced last month which clearly and unambiguously stated that “All license defense activities (for Yucca Mountain) will be terminated in December 2009.” Ding-dong, Yucca’s dead, right? Wrong. The LVRJ reports today that “Department of Energy lawyers are forging ahead with their defense of a license application to build the nation’s nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.” Um, Harry?
  • A story in the Las Vegas Sun this morning highlights an old friend of ours, Bob Bailey, who has a new book out. As reporter Steven Kanigher reports, the soft-spoken Bailey is a “longtime jazz singer, television and radio personality, civil rights leader and advocate for minority-owned businesses.” But what Mr. Kanigher failed to mention is that Bob is also a longtime GOP activist and supporter. Interesting that Bob being a black Republican somehow didn’t make it into the story, huh?

AS THE TARKANIAN TURNS

Following up on yesterday’s story about that deceptive fundraising email distributed by Republican U.S. Senate candidate Danny Tarkanian’s campaign on Saturday, everyone should understand that it wasn’t that the campaign sent out the misleading email that led to yesterday’s story. It was the campaign’s belligerent response and effort to cover-up and rationalize what the campaign did that was the real transgression.

Indeed, a few hours after publication of our story yesterday morning, Tarkanian Media sent out another press release complaining that I had attacked “Danny Tarkanian’s email because it included the Human Events article that sourced it.”

Bull. That’s another deception.

I didn’t criticize the Tarkanian fundraising email because it included excerpts from the Human Events article; I criticized the Tarkanian fundraising email for not properly crediting the article to columnist John Gizzi, whose name was NEVER mentioned in the email, which led some readers to think the column was actually written by Danny Tarkanian.

The fact is, Tark’s communications staffers did NOT properly source the article. Period.

In addition, some of the details from the GIZZI article which were critical of Tarkanian opponent Sue Lowden, originally published last October, have since been denied and refuted by both Lowden and Gizzi. Yet the Tarkanian campaign continues to use the old article for fundraising purposes over a week after the clarifications.

While I guess all is fair in love and politics, the tactic of using old and partial information from a third-party source, without even crediting the third-party source, is still deceptive and not very ethical.

I mean, it’s almost like being falsely accused of “setting up telemarketing companies that were later found to be running scams” and “turning ‘state’s evidence’ against the telemarketers to avoid being prosecuted.” And no one would want that done to them, would they?

In an email yesterday afternoon, Danny advised me that he was unaware of the dust-up between me and his campaign team over the deceptive email fundraising appeal and will take it up with his “peeps” when he gets back to Las Vegas tomorrow.

Let’s hope he takes the bull by the horns, takes those campaign staffers to the woodshed, and raises his campaign against fellow Republican Sue Lowden back up to street level.

TUBE TIPS

  • Dr. William “Bob” Bailey goes Face to Face with Jon Ralston tonight. The program airs on Las Vegas ONE on Cox Channel 19 at 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm. http://www.lasvegassun.com/videos/face-face/
  • Sam Shad’s guest today on the Nevada Newsmakers program: Marybel Batjer, Vice President, Harrah’s Entertainment. The program airs on KRNV-TV Channel 4 at 12:30 pm in Reno and on Cox Cable Channel 123 at 4:30 pm and 11:35 pm in Las Vegas. http://www.nevadanewsmakers.com/

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

  • “I have no problems with Northland GOPers aiming to recall 2,253 year old State Sen Bill Raggio for not doing what they elected him to do. I wish my Dems would recall a few of our dead weight!” – Nevada Democrat blogger Mike Zahara
  • “Senator Reid’s earmark-filled spending bill this year represents a 10 percent INCREASE over last year’s spending levels. This, while Nevada’s unemployment has increased by nearly 40 percent since (the) nearly trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ bill earlier this year.” – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sue Lowden
  • “As the Nevada Democrat struggles to persuade voters in his home state to give him a fifth term next year, his reelection fight has become a dominant theme in the Capitol and throughout the federal government. To borrow a Reid metaphor, you might even say it’s enslaving the Democrats.” – Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank
  • “Finally, I am struck how much Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) ballot test numbers resemble those of former Sens. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and John Sununu (R-N.H.), as well as soon-to-be-former New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D). All three, of course, lost re-election bids.” – Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call today
12/14/09

Why we fight – and why we can’t lose

This weekend the staff of the Our Country Deserves Better Committee has been working on Tea Party Express III. We’ll be dedicating ourselves to this effort each day between now and the launch on March 27, 2009 – except for taking a break around Christmas.

I helped launch the Our Country Deserves Better Committee last year in an effort to defeat Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, and I helped organize the first two Tea Party Expresses.

The reason is easy. As a child of the Reagan years, I grew up with the belief that the individual should be empowered to pursue free freedom and opportunity. We take this for granted in America, but as someone of Polish heritage, I know all to well how much we take for granted here in the United States, and how so many people around the world wish they could enjoy the liberties and freedoms provided to us Americans thanks to our Constitution and the wisdom of our Founding Fathers.

Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid seem to embrace a very different view about America. Their policies during the entirety of their political careers demonstrates a belief that the government knows best, and that the liberal elite have a more enlightened view of the world than the ‘common people.’

We know they are wrong, and it’s up to us to fight back – to fight for the future of our country.

The polls suggest that we are finally winning – the American people are expressing doubt and reservations about the “change” that Obama-Pelosi-Reid have in store for America.

We have precious little time before the next critical elections in 2010. We have much work to do, and that is why we announced the Tea Party Express III: Just Vote Them Out Tour.

We here at the Tea Party Express don’t believe in being subtle. The threat to America from the policies of Obama-Pelosi-Reid is profound. So we must speak out, fight back – and do so aggressively.

And that is why with this Tea Party Express III we will be working to defeat some of the worst liberal offenders in Congress. If some in the media or the political establishment have a problem with this, than that’s too bad – that’s their problem. We understand the stakes and we know we must fight to win.

So I now ask for your support for the Tea Party Express III tour. This isn’t just a tour with tea party rallies – though we’ll have those too. This will be a giant, high-profile effort to call out the worst offenders in Congress and vote them out of office. We will be launching campaigns against dozens of the worst offenders in Congress and it will be very expensive.

Here’s the most important point of my message to you: you know that Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will raise a ton of money to fight to preserve liberal control of Congress. The question is this: will we have the money to fight back on our side?

So we need your support. If you want to rely solely on the Republican Party to fight for our beliefs, you are free to do so, but I think we’ve all seen they need people like us to keep them honest, lest they too sell out their principles like so many other politicians.

So we are asking for your support in the form of a contribution to the Tea Party Express III effort. You can contribute any amount from $5 to the maximum allowed $5,000, but we’re going to make an offer for one week only.

For anyone who contributes $100 or more between Thursday, December 10th and Friday, December 18th, we will provide you with a complimentary copy of the Tea Party Express 2010 calendar. And for anyone who contributes $500 or more during this time period, we will provide you with a copy of the calendar autographed by leaders of the Tea Party Express I and II tours.

And if you make your donation by Friday, December 18th at 3:00 PM (Pacific) we will have the calendar sent to you in time for Christmas.

Again, you can make a contribution of any amount from $5 up to the maximum allowed $5,000 online – HERE. We need to raise over $500,000 by the time of the tour launch so we can make a significant impact on the upcoming 2010 elections.

The principal national sponsor of the Tea Party Express, the Our Country Deserves Better Committee, has already raised the first $75,000 towards our $500,000 goal to target liberal members of Congress and ensure their defeat in 2010.

If you prefer, you can contribute by mailing in a contribution to our finance headquarters:

Our Country Deserves Better Committee
ATTN: Tea Party Express Project
770 L Street #1020
Sacramento, CA 95814

12/14/09

Financial News Update – 12/14/09

Here we go again: Desperate Demcare peddlers play the Murder Card

Demcare crunch time: Kill the bill and start over

People in “fat cat”-infested houses shouldn’t throw stones

Valuing Teachers Unions over Educating Kids … Again

Must Read: Daily Mail Digests ClimateGate (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D, IL-09), insurance industry profiteer. (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Lieberman, Nelson Both Say They’ll Vote Against Reid’s “Medicare Option” Version of ObamaCare (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Senate Health Care Bill Unconstitutional (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Greenspan: Census will save Obamonomics (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

GREENSPAN: TEMPORARY CENSUS JOBS WILL LOWER SPRING UNEMPLOYMENT (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Who owns the sovereign debt of the United States? (Part II) (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

A sneaky thing I would do if I were the “pay czar” (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

The Pathology of the Rich Socialist (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Obama Administration Duet: ‘Everybody agrees the recession is over’; ‘Recession not Over’

Sen. Lieberman’s Decision to ‘Cause Deaths of Hundreds of Thousands’

Medicare ‘buy-in’: A bargain or burden?

Developing countries end boycott at climate talks

Senate Passes Spending Bill Amid Debate on Raising Debt Limit

Senators skeptical that health care deal is near

Live At Copenhagen: Left Out In the Cold

Video: Congress Maxes-Out Credit Card, Then Raises Its Limit

Employment Discrimination in the Senate Health Care Bill

Guest Blogger: Rep. Lamborn on Copenhagen’s Threat to US Sovereignty

Morning Bell: The Battle Over Obamacare’s Obituary Has Begun

Barack Obama Gives Himself a B+ For Tripling Deficit & Nearly Doubling Unemployment in One Year

Leftist Socialized Medicine Expert Says Lieberman Is Willing to Cause ‘Deaths of Hundreds of Thousands’ By Opposing Obamacare

Dems against Dems in Health Care fight

HARRY CAN’T FIND 60

UPDATE: Democrats plan nearly $2 trillion debt limit hike

NY Gov. says he will hold back cash

Top Economic Adviser: ‘Recession is Over’; Jobs By Spring

Top Economic Adviser: ‘Of Course’ Recession Isn’t Over

D.C. hands out $15M in bonuses despite recession, budget

Federal Employees Owe Uncle Sam $3 Billion in Unpaid Taxes

Postal Service Employees Owed $300M in Taxes, IRS Data Shows

Not So Private Property?

Obama to Banks: We Helped You — Now Help Us

Citigroup to Repay $20 Billion in Bailout Money

SurvivalBlog:

What in the World Is Going On?

Globe “Overdue for a Currency Crisis”; Why Jim Rogers is Buying Dollars

The Coming Wave of Debt Defaults

Sovereign Debt Defaults the Next Shoe to Drop?

House Passes Massive Overhaul of Wall Street’s Regulations

US Foreclosures to Reach Record 3.9 Million in 2009

North Korean Won Plunges 96% after Gov’t Reevaluation

Venezuela Debt Holders Rush For Exits As Banks’ Woes Surface

12/14/09

Links to Visit – 12/14/09

“King Obama demands a simple offering of Earth and Water.”

Ace of Spades – Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and Mugabe Will Address Delegates at Copenhagen (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Gateway Pundit – Fistgate VII: Explosive… After Years of Silence Massachusetts Teacher Speaks Out About What She Saw at Fistgate (Audio)

Gateway Pundit – FOX News: Chapter & Perverse? Safe School’s Czar Hit For Promoting Sex-Explicit Books

Gateway Pundit – Media Matters Stands By Jennings & His Organization’s Teen Fisting Conference

American Digest – December 31, 2010: Defused Lethal Poem Released by Government. “Safe but Still Sucks” says President (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

The Radio Patriot – AT ARLINGTON – A FIELD OF DREAMS

Atlas Shrugs – Five American Muslims Arrested in Pakistan Were Planning “Big Attack”

The Anchoress – Who do you trust?

WorldNetDaily – ‘Witch hunt’ expected under new U.S. ‘hate crimes’ law

Gateway Pundit – Protesters Greet Attorney General Eric Holder at Long Island Speech

Gates of Vienna – Keep Our People Safe(r) at Home (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Ace of Spades – Obama: I’m so awesome, I’ll just grade myself. Hey look, I got a B+ (Hat Tip: Larwyn)

Michelle Malkin – New Yorkers won’t let Eric Holder forget; Plus: Supreme Court rejects ex-Gitmo detainees’ torture suit

Gateway Pundit – North Korea Caught Smuggling Weapons Again

Gateway Pundit – Meltdown in Copenhagen — Climate Talks Suspended

Gateway Pundit – UN-backed Troops Accused of Killing & Raping Civilians

Gateway Pundit – Ruh-Roh… Blago’s Lawyers Want FBI to Give Up Details on Obama, Rahmbo and Jarret Interviews

Weekly Standard – Obama’s Ambassador to El Salvador ‘Cohabitated’ With Cuban Spy

The Washington Times – Dems may lose Senate seats once held by Obama, Biden

Times Online – Secret document exposes Iran’s nuclear trigger

Big Hollywood – The Increasingly Left ‘Law and Order’