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The Innate Immorality of Liberalism

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In my last column, I briefly addressed the issue of morality — or rather the lack of morality — that animates modern-day liberalism. Understand that I also consider the "compassionate conservatism" of the Bush administration to be equally liberal and equally immoral.

If your father went into his grandson's room, found his wallet and took all the money in it, what would you call it? I know what I'd call it.

It's exactly what I'd call a twelve trillion dollar IOU run up by the Baby Boomers who will be long retired — and sucking even more money out of the system — when the true measure of such a monstrous lack of morality gets realized.

It's called stealing, and I can't think of a single moral code on the planet which condones it.

[Except certain political parties that consider it just 'spreading around' other people's money.]

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Animal You?

Subject: txt 1st lbrty 2010 - animals you?
Sarah Palin's church suffered an arson attack. A shot was fired at Republican Eric Cantor's Richmond, VA office. A pollster made Rahm Emmanuel angry so Rahm sent him a dead fish. That is a Sicilian death threat.

That is left-wing extremism.

Right-wing extremism is a peaceful protest for lower taxes.

How dare people want to march in favor of lower taxes! What kind of animals want lower taxes and personal freedom?

You hopefully.

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Obama's Iran Policy Collapses to the Accompaniment Of Mockery Around The Globe

[HT:GS] Subject: txt gwot iran -
Obama assured us that his "engagement" would make it easier to enlist other countries to stop Iran. The result is the opposite: Virtually every country Obama approached has rebuffed him.

Appeasing Syria Provokes Mockery from Assad and Ahmadinejad*

Rebuffed by Lebanon, Brazil and Turkey*

Ankara Decries America's "Lack of Strategic Vision"*

Without a credible threat of force, it is now clear that "engagement" has no chance to stop Iran's military nuclear program. It is indisputable that Iranian possession of nuclear weapons would destabilize the Mideast and gravely threaten world peace.

There were reports at week's end that the administration would retreat to seeking diminished sanctions that exempt China and other permanent members of the Security Council from compliance. This would confirm the complete collapse of "engagement."

One might call it "diss-engagement," warranting the mockery of Obama's policies echoing from Damascus, Beirut, Brasilia, and even Ankara.

[* = specifics within - complete debacle which is setting the stage for the next middle eastern war.]

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Islamist Gülen Movement Runs U.S. Charter Schools

Subject: txt islm edu -
A secretive foreign network of Islamic radicals now operates dozens of charter schools -- which receive government money but are not required to adopt a state-approved curriculum -- on U.S. soil.

The inspirer of this conspiratorial effort is Fethullah Gülen, who directs a major Islamist movement in Turkey and the Turkish Diaspora but lives in the United States.

He is number thirteen among the world's "50 most influential Muslims," ...

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Your Pennies at Work: UNICEF Funds Hate TV for Palestinian Kids

Subject: txt intl islm owg -
Palestine Media Watch, the non-profit group that monitors Palestinian culture, has brought to light UNICEF’s sponsorship of a Palestinian hate ad. UNICEF has funded PYALARA, the Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation, since 2000.

An ad that bears the UNICEF logo promotes a PYALARA program on Palestinian Authority TV that is devoted to promoting a boycott of Israel. The ad depicts an axe smashing a Star of David, which has on its side not only additional Jewish stars but also the stars and stripes of the United States. Interestingly, the ad acknowledges that a PA program that advocates such a boycott is a blatant violation of the peace accords that the Palestinians have signed with Israel.

PYALARA is, in fact, an NGO closely associated with the moderate peace-loving PA government of Mahmoud Abbas. Its weekly two-hour "children’s" program “Speak Up,” which promotes anti-Israel propaganda, is supported by UNICEF...


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Marine's dad ordered to pay protesters' court fees

Subject: txt heroes bdd vals bbro -
BALTIMORE — The father of a Marine killed in Iraq and whose funeral was picketed by anti-gay protesters was ordered to pay the protesters' appeal costs, his lawyers said Monday.

On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps. Phelps is the leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006.

The two-page decision supplied by attorneys for Albert Snyder of York, Pa., offered no details on how the court came to its decision.

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Bond Markets Reflect the True Cost of Obamacare

Subject: txt hcare mny sclm - intl -
Not many people noticed amid the Democrats' struggle to jam their health care bill through the House, but in recent weeks U.S. Treasury bonds have lost their status as the world's safest investment.

The numbers are pretty clear. In February, Bloomberg News reports, Berkshire Hathaway sold two-year bonds with an interest rate lower than that on two-year Treasuries. A company run by a 79-year-old investor is a better credit risk, the markets are telling us, than the U.S. government.

Buffett's firm isn't the only one. Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson and Lowe's have been borrowing money at cheaper rates than Uncle Sam.

Democrats wary of voting for the health care bill may have been soothed by the Congressional Budget Office's report that it would reduce federal deficits over the next 10 years. But bond buyers know that the Democrats gamed the CBO system to get a good score.

The realities, as former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin pointed out in The New York Times, are different. The real cost is disguised by the fact that the bill includes 10 years of revenue but only six years of spending. It includes $70 billion in premiums for long-term care that will have to be paid out later. It excludes $114 billion in discretionary spending needed to run the program. It includes nearly half a trillion dollars in unrealistic Medicare savings.

Holtz-Eakins's bottom line: The bill will not lower deficits, but will raise them by $562 billion over 10 years. Treasury will have to borrow that money -- and probably pay much higher interest than it's paying now.

Moreover, once the bill is fully in effect, the Cato Institute's Alan Reynolds points out, its expenses are likely to grow at least 7 percent a year -- significantly faster than revenues. At that rate, spending doubles every 10 years.

No wonder that Moody's declared last week that the [Untied States] Treasury is "substantially" closer to losing its AAA bond rating...

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Reality Check Re: Lying About Bush's Tax Cuts

Subject: txt mny hstry libs msm -

The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 broadly lowered income, capital gains, dividends, and estate taxes. Fanning the lie that only the rich benefited, liberal economists Peter Orszag and William Gale described the Bush tax cuts as reverse-government redistribution of wealth,

"[shifting] the burden of taxation away from upper-income, capital-owning households and toward the wage-earning households of the lower and middle classes."

This criticism stuck so well that it is difficult to find a liberal today who doesn't believe that these tax relief measures were anything more than "tax cuts for the rich."

But the data does not support this conclusion. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Bush tax cuts actually shifted the total tax burden farther toward the rich so that in 2000-2004, total income tax paid by the top 40% of income-earners grew by 4.6% - to 99.1% of the total.

The second major misconception spread by the left about the Bush tax cuts is that the lower tax rates caused the federal deficit woes we face today. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) quipped in a news conference on January 8 of this year:

"Let me just say that the tax cuts at the high end ... have been the biggest contributor to the budget deficit."

In fact, the Bush tax cuts actually increased government revenue. According to economist Brian Reidl the Laffer Curve (upon which much of the supply-side theory is based) merely formalizes the common sense observations that

Raising tax rates discourages the taxed behavior and therefore shrinks the tax base, offsetting the revenue gains, and

Lowering tax rates encourages the taxed behavior and expands the tax base, offsetting the revenue loss.

Consider: Policymakers expect cigarette taxes to discourage smoking - so how can they not know that high investment taxes will discourage investment and income taxes will discourage work?

So what was the effect of the Bush tax cuts? The data reveals that tax revenues in 2006 were actually $47 billion above the levels projected by the Congressional budget office before the 2003 tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts were intended to increase market incentives to work, save, and invest and thus create jobs and increase economic growth. An analysis of the six quarters before and after the 2003 tax cuts shows that this is exactly what happened.

The bottom line is that tax policy has far-reaching effects, and for decades, liberals have refused to acknowledge them. The dire consequences of higher tax burdens in times of economic weakness were made most clear when FDR raised taxes in 1937, causing a double-dip in GDP that prolonged the Great Depression.

If the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, recovery from the current recession will be prolonged, and we will have no one to blame but ourselves for not observing the lessons of history...

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MILWAUKEE'S VOUCHER GRADUATES

Subject: txt edu gdd -
Milwaukee's voucher system is an example of what works in education, say observers...

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget calls for a 9 percent increase in federal education spending, and he has famously said that the money should go to "what works" in education. So he ought to take another look at Milwaukee, where the nation's oldest and largest publicly funded school voucher program is showing academic gains.

A report released last week by School Choice Wisconsin finds that between 2003 and 2008, students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program had a significantly higher graduation rate than students in Milwaukee Public Schools:

• In 2008, the graduation rate for voucher students was 77 percent, versus 65 percent for the non-voucher students.
• This is despite the fact that non-voucher students receives $14,000 per pupil in taxpayer support, or more than double the $6,400 per pupil that voucher students receive in public funding.
• The Milwaukee voucher program serves more than 21,000 children in 111 private schools, so nearly 20 percent more graduates mean a lot fewer kids destined for failure without the credential of a high school diploma.

The finding is all the more significant because students who receive vouchers must, by law, come from low-income families, while their counterparts in public schools come from a broader range of economic backgrounds.

Vouchers are of course taboo among most Democrats, and President Obama has done nothing to stop Congress from killing the small but successful voucher program for poor families in Washington, D.C.

The Milwaukee program has survived for 20 years despite ferocious political opposition, and it would have died long ago if parents didn't believe their children were better off for it...

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'Immigration Reform' Rally Gets Major Diss from TV Networks

Subject: txt immig msm -
Left-wing protests for "immigration reform" (amnesty) used to be a huge TV-news story. MRC's 2006 special report Election in the Streets counted 309 stories in little more than two months. So it's a little surprising that Sunday's "pro-immigrant" protest received just a few seconds of attention.

It's better measured with a word count than a story count. ABC, CBS, and NBC combined gave it 239 words (or less than 80 words per network). NBC had 34 words, ABC 84, and CBS 141 (half a story).

This is 239 words more than the 2010 March for Life. Obviously, the timing was terrible, with the final vote on health "reform" scheduled. But you would think it would draw more than this. Perhaps the plugged-in Democrats like Stephanopoulos got a signal that focus on this issue wasn't helpful when voters are already angry with Democrats about health care...

[Don't be fooled: with the amazing goal-line-stand of the 07 bill blockage by the people, we could very well be in for a stealth approach this time around.]

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Phobia in the News: Gun Dealer Denied Little-League Team, Unlike 'Cluck-U Chicken'

Cam Edwards at NRANews.com passed along a New Jersey Star-Ledger story showing how gun dealers are held in low esteem. Matt Carmel of Maplewood, New Jersey was rejected when he applied to sponsor a little-league baseball team:

Carmel, a licensed gun dealer, applied to sponsor a team in the local Babe Ruth/Cal Ripken baseball league, using the name of his business — Constitution Arms.

He was rebuffed.

"Arbitrary, capricious and unfair," Carmel said of the perceived slight. "I don’t like being pigeonholed."

But what really makes the story maddening (and worth wider attention and commentary) are the sponsors that have been allowed...

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Bill: No penalty for concealed gun

PHOENIX - State senators voted Tuesday to let anyone who can legally have a weapon carry it under a jacket, in a purse or otherwise hidden. SB 1108 would eliminate all penalties for having a concealed weapon without first getting a state permit, which requires attending a training class on handling a weapon and the law, and a background check. The bill requires a final roll-call vote before going to the House.

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The shocking truth about a fundamental right being denied to 55% of citizens

There is a fundamental right being denied 55% of all Americans. This denial costs over 16,000 lives per year, meaning more than 44 of our fellow Americans will die every day that we delay. What should be done in light of these shocking figures?

Using the example set by President Obama and the Congressional Democrats, there is only one answer: Universal Gun Care for every American. Surely a right outlined in the Bill of Rights (2d Amendment) is just as important as a right NOT found the Constitution (Health Care).

Bonus, it should be easier to implement. After all, gun dealers and manufacturers are ready and willing to help solve the problem. Unlike the evil insurance companies, gun dealers don't want to take your weapon away from you when you most need it. Nor will they deny selling you a weapon simply because you haven't purchased one in the past (i.e. a pre-existing condition).

• Conventional estimates state that 45% of all US households own a firearm. This leaves at least 55% of all Americans "uncovered."
• In 2008 there were 16,272 murders in the USA. How many of those could have been prevented if the victims had been able to protect themselves?

My proposal is a modest one:

• Mandate for every American to purchase a gun or be provided one by their employer (children under the age of 26 can share a weapon with their parents)
• Tax credits to offset the cost of purchase (for those making less than $250,000 per year and everyone in Nebraska)
• For those that can't afford it, a grant or subsidy to purchase a weapon (union members can get two weapons subsidized before 2018)
• Funding for a series of community based gun dealers/clinics and firing ranges (especially in under-served urban and rural areas)
• Monthly ammunition benefit so that no one has to choose between feeding their kids, paying the rent, or buying a box of .38 special cartridges

Contact your representative today. The time to act is now...

;^)

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