{"id":247903,"date":"2010-01-29T18:08:36","date_gmt":"2010-01-29T23:08:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/?p=30611"},"modified":"2010-01-29T18:08:36","modified_gmt":"2010-01-29T23:08:36","slug":"obamas-sotu-speech-shows-he-suffers-from-add-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/247903","title":{"rendered":"Obamas SOTU Speech Shows he Suffers From ADD* + More"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='snap_preview'><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_30612\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 220px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/mtbudget-2010-01-29.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30612 \" title=\"MtBudget-2010-01-29\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/mtbudget-2010-01-29.jpg?w=210&#038;h=287\" alt=\"\" width=\"210\" height=\"287\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">&quot;Look how much spending I froze!&quot;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong><a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/\" >The Patriot Post<\/a><\/strong> <span style=\"font-size:small;\"><strong>Digest<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n<h2>The Foundation<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the  name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.&#8221; &#8211;Thomas  Jefferson<\/p>\n<h2>Government &amp; Politics<\/h2>\n<h3>It&#8217;s the Deficit, Stupid<\/h3>\n<div>* Barack Obama apparently suffers from his own brand of ADD &#8212;  Addiction-to-Deficit Disorder &#8212; as demonstrated by his recently  unveiled proposal to freeze one tiny portion of government spending at  current levels for three years, which by the way wouldn&#8217;t begin until  2011. He highlighted the proposal again Wednesday night in his <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/01\/27\/2010-state-of-the-union\/\" >State  of the Union<\/a> address.<\/div>\n<p>At first blush, the idea sounds like something conservatives would  cheer. In fact, other than Democrats, who <em>isn&#8217;t<\/em> for stopping  the spending juggernaut? But as a spokesman for House Minority Leader  John Boehner (R-OH) quipped, &#8220;Given Washington Democrats&#8217; unprecedented  spending binge, this is like announcing you&#8217;re going on a diet after  winning a pie-eating contest.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A closer look at this diet reveals that the freeze would apply to a  budget that enjoyed a 20 percent increase in 2009, courtesy of the  Democrats&#8217; largesse.\u00a0\u00a0 &#8230;\u00a0\u00a0 <span id=\"more-30611\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Under the guise of &#8220;tacking to the center&#8221; in the  wake of his trip to the woodshed in the Massachusetts election, the  president&#8217;s proposal would actually lock in a sizable spending <em>increase<\/em> during those years, as opposed to a real freeze. (No wonder Republicans  burst out laughing during the SOTU.)<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, while the plan claims savings of roughly $250 billion  over the next decade, the freeze applies only to non-defense-related  discretionary spending, or roughly 17 percent of the total federal  budget. Even at that, however, the cap is by no means across the board.  Education and job creation initiatives would receive increases, because  everyone knows government creates jobs, and education &#8230; well, as long  as we keep throwing more money at it, it&#8217;ll get better, right?<\/p>\n<p>Other items exempted from the proposal are even more revealing. This  includes entitlement programs (about two-thirds of the federal budget),  virtually all legislation &#8212; past or future &#8212; with the term &#8220;stimulus&#8221;  in it, including the unspent cash from the latest stimulus legislation,  and the yet-another-stimulus-package proposal from The Chosen One&#8217;s  SOTU. Health care spending would also get a pass.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, Lala-land) rushed to offer  up defense spending as a sacrificial lamb to further the cause (so much  for the &#8220;non-defense-related&#8221; caveat). Pelosi&#8217;s suggestion was  immediately lauded by Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,  Kim Jong-Il and a host of other despots.<\/p>\n<p>For perspective, we would add that these hypothetical savings pale in  comparison to the $1.4 trillion actual deficit in 2009 alone, and that  the Congressional Budget Office &#8212; a virtual shill for Democrats, no  less &#8212; forecast just this week that the deficit for 2010 likely will be  at least as large. All told, in fact, the government will hit its  current $12.4 trillion authorized debt ceiling by the end of February.<\/p>\n<p>So given the president&#8217;s call for fiscal &#8220;responsibility,&#8221; one might  assume Democrats would jump on the bandwagon. Not so. Every Senate  Democrat &#8212; <em>every Democrat<\/em> &#8212; <a href=\"http:\/\/senate.gov\/legislative\/LIS\/roll_call_lists\/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&amp;session=2&amp;vote=00013\" >voted  Thursday to raise the debt ceiling<\/a> to $14.3 trillion. <em>That&#8217;s  $45,000 of debt for every American man, woman and child<\/em>. But as  Obama so succinctly (and ridiculously) put it in the SOTU, &#8220;That&#8217;s how  budgeting works.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>(On a related note, Democrats needed 60 votes to pass this increase  and Sen. Paul Kirk (D-MA) provided one of those votes, despite Senate  rules and Massachusetts law saying his term expired last Tuesday. So <a href=\"http:\/\/biggovernment.com\/2010\/01\/28\/why-is-senator-kirk-still-voting-on-legislation\/\" >why  did he vote?<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Columnist Charles Krauthammer wryly captured the true significance of  the disingenuous spending freeze subterfuge, noting that it&#8217;s &#8220;a $15  billion reduction in a year, 2011, in which the CBO has just announced  we are going to have a deficit of $1.35 trillion &#8212; it&#8217;s a rounding  error. &#8230; It&#8217;s not a hatchet. It&#8217;s not a scalpel. It&#8217;s a Q-tip. It&#8217;s a  fraud.&#8221; As is any claim of fiscal responsibility originating near the  Potomac.<\/p>\n<h3>This Week&#8217;s &#8216;Braying Jenny&#8217; Award<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;In [the president&#8217;s] budget, which we passed 100 days after his  swearing-in, he had a blueprint for how we go into the future, create  jobs, stabilize the economy [and] do so as we reduce the deficit &#8212;  [it&#8217;s] very central to everything we do &#8212; reduce the deficit.&#8221; &#8211;House  Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who contributed to nearly <em>quadrupling the  deficit<\/em> in Obama&#8217;s first year<\/p>\n<div><a href=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/deathbyspending-2010-01-29-cartoon.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-30613\" title=\"DeathBySpending-2010-01-29-cartoon\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/deathbyspending-2010-01-29-cartoon.jpg?w=475&#038;h=313\" alt=\"Death By Spending\" width=\"475\" height=\"313\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<h3>From the &#8216;Non Compos Mentis&#8217; File<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;You know, I was trying to think about who [Barack Obama] was  tonight, and it&#8217;s interesting: He is post-racial by all appearances. You  know, I forgot he was black tonight for an hour.&#8221; &#8211;MSNBC host <a href=\"http:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2010\/01\/27\/msnbcs_matthews_on_obama_i_forgot_he_was_black_tonight.html\" >Chris  &#8220;thrill up my leg&#8221; Matthews<\/a>, with a slobbering sycophantic (and  genuinely racist) analysis of the SOTU<\/p>\n<h3>Election Preview: Democrats<\/h3>\n<p>Democrats have experienced a nearly unprecedented reversal of fortune  lately, and the bad news just keeps on coming. Arkansas Representative  Marion Berry became the sixth Democrat to announce his retirement, and  his district is expected to go Republican in November. He told the  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that he urged the White House not to repeat  the mistakes of 1994, when congressional Democrats were defeated  resoundingly at the polls. He said Obama fired back, &#8220;Well, the big  difference here and in &#8216;94 was, you&#8217;ve got me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The arrogance necessary to make that kind of comment suggests that  Obama has been tapping the keg of his own Kool-Aid. Given the disastrous  results of his efforts on behalf of gubernatorial candidates in  Virginia and New Jersey, and on behalf of Ted Kennedy&#8217;s senatorial heir  apparent in deep-blue Massachusetts, he&#8217;s vastly overestimating his  marquee value. His much-vaunted health care plan is all but dead, and  now House and Senate Democrat leaders will be lucky to keep more members  from retiring early. So maybe the &#8220;big difference&#8221; Obama was referring  to is the loss of even <em>more<\/em> than 54 seats in the House.<\/p>\n<p>Even Vice President Joe Biden&#8217;s son Beau has seen the writing on the  wall. He announced this week that he would not run for the Senate seat  vacated when his father became VP. Beau, who is Delaware&#8217;s Attorney  General, indicated that he&#8217;s just too busy with a controversial child  abuse case to focus on a statewide race. Yeah, right. If the Democrats  in Massachusetts can&#8217;t keep the &#8220;Kennedy Senate seat&#8221; that they held for  half a century, what chance does the vice president&#8217;s son have in  Delaware? Republican candidate Mike Castle, a popular congressman and  former governor, raised almost $2 million in campaign cash and has run  virtually unopposed while Biden was still making up his mind about  whether to run.<\/p>\n<h3>Election Preview: Republicans<\/h3>\n<p>The political landscape indeed favors Republicans, which also means  tight races at the primary level. The contest for Florida&#8217;s Senate seat  has turned into a statistical dead heat between Gov. Charlie Crist and  former state House Speaker Marco Rubio. The moderate Crist&#8217;s comfortable  lead has faded away in recent weeks, as he continues to take heat for  Florida&#8217;s economic difficulties. The state has double-digit unemployment  and was the hardest hit by the housing collapse. Crist&#8217;s popularity is  dropping and Rubio, a solid conservative, is now closing the gap in the  polls and in the cash department. Both candidates are comfortably ahead  of Democrat Kendrick Meek.<\/p>\n<p>In Arizona, erstwhile presidential candidate John McCain is facing a  challenge for his Senate seat. Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth  announced his candidacy, claiming he was motivated to take on McCain  because the latter was an &#8220;enabler&#8221; of Obama&#8217;s fiscal policies. McCain  certainly is not as conservative as he or the Leftmedia fancy. To name  but a few examples, he co-sponsored the McCain-Feingold campaign finance  debacle that the Supreme Court partly struck down last week; the  McCain-Edwards-Kennedy Patient&#8217;s Bill of Rights  imposing a new set of  onerous mandates on the insurance industry; the McCain-Lieberman Climate  Stewardship cap-and-trade bill; and the McCain-Kennedy Amnesty and Open  Borders Act legalizing dozens of millions of illegal aliens. And that&#8217;s  not to mention his opposition to the Bush tax cuts; his vicious attacks  and vendettas against South Carolina Christians in the 2000  presidential primary, as well as the Swift Boat Veterans and Club for  Growth; and his vote (one of six Republicans) against drilling for oil  in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Hayworth&#8217;s voting record in Congress is nothing worth  bragging about, either. He voted for the hefty farm and highway spending  bills and also had a penchant for earmarks before he was ousted in  2006. Barry Goldwater, call your office.<\/p>\n<h3>News From the Swamp: Bernanke Wins Reappointment<\/h3>\n<p>Talk about a case of bad timing. The economic outlook is anything but  certain and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke&#8217;s term was just about  to expire. A growing number of senators were less than thrilled with  Bernanke&#8217;s handling of the economy over the last two years and  threatened to deny him confirmation for another term. Sen. John McCain  (R-AZ) said that Bernanke &#8220;must be held accountable for many of the  decisions that contributed to our financial meltdown.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, on Thursday, the Senate voted 70-30 to reappoint  Bernanke for a second four-year term. The Senate has never rejected a  Fed chairman nominee, though Bernanke received a record-low vote total.  Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said, &#8220;To vote against confirmation could  unnerve investors and exacerbate economic uncertainty in the  marketplace, which is exactly what we do not need at this time.&#8221; He was  probably correct, though we also think McCain has a point. It was  Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who, along with  Democrats in Congress, were largely responsible for steering the economy  into a ditch. Yet sacking Bernanke likely would have destabilized the  market &#8212; much like Barack Obama&#8217;s populist posturing about bank  punishment did last week.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, if it&#8217;s not Bernanke, then who? There&#8217;s little chance  Obama would have chosen someone satisfactory to succeed him. The one  name that surfaced was former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence  Summers. In the end, the Senate simply went with the known quantity.<\/p>\n<p><!-- [ADV|Pants] --><\/p>\n<h3>Also at PatriotPost.US This Week: O&#8217;Keefe Arrested<\/h3>\n<p>Investigative journalist James O&#8217;Keefe, of ACORN video fame, was  arrested in Louisiana this week for activities at Democrat Sen. Mary  Landrieu&#8217;s office. Read more <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/01\/29\/acorn-slaying-okeefe-arrested\/\" >here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>National Security<\/h2>\n<h3>Warfront With Jihadistan: Marines to Leave Iraq<\/h3>\n<p>While news from Iraq has been noticeably lacking recently &#8212;  definitely a good sign of progress and stabilization &#8212; the country was  back in the media this week. On Monday, triple suicide blasts ripped  through Baghdad, killing at least 41 people. An al-Qa&#8217;ida front group,  the Islamic State of Iraq, claimed responsibility. Iraqi authorities  have faced increasing criticism over security lapses, and this attack  will certainly increase the pressure on the Shiite-led government before  Iraq&#8217;s March 7 national elections.<\/p>\n<p>In Baghdad, Vice President Joe Biden met with Iraqi leaders to  discuss their plans to ban candidates suspected of being a part of  Saddam Hussein&#8217;s regime. The administration believes that any candidate  bans could undermine the credibility of the election results, which the  U.S. views as important for continuing the U.S. troop pullout, as well  as helping to break Iraqi government stalemates over issues such as the  sharing of oil revenue.<\/p>\n<p>Concerning the U.S. troop pullout, on Saturday, the Marine Corps  wrapped up almost seven years in Iraq and handed its duties over  entirely to the U.S. Army. This marked the start of an accelerated  withdrawal of American troops, as the U.S. turns away from a quieter  Iraq and toward Afghanistan. The Marines formally handed control of  Iraq&#8217;s largest province, the Sunni-dominated Anbar region, to the Army  during a ceremony in Ramadi, where some of the fiercest battles of the  Iraq war were fought.<\/p>\n<p>If everything remains on schedule, these last remaining Marines will  be followed out of Iraq by tens of thousands of U.S. Army soldiers over  the coming months. President Obama ordered all but 50,000 troops out of  Iraq by August of this year, with the largest group scheduled to leave  after the March elections. The remaining troops will leave by the end of  2011. After a job well done by U.S. forces, here&#8217;s hoping the Iraqi  armed forces are ready to fully secure their country and their hard-won  security.<\/p>\n<p><!-- [ADV|CommemorativeCollectionCategory] --><\/p>\n<h3>Administration Considers Moving KSM Trial<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;Facing mounting pressure from New York politicians concerned about  costs and security, the Obama administration on Thursday began  considering moving the trial of the chief organizer of the Sept. 11  terrorist attacks out of Manhattan,&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/29\/us\/29terror.html?hp\" >The New  York Times<\/a> reports. Of course, the commander in chief still wants to  treat Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) as a criminal rather than an enemy  combatant, saying he believes a civilian trial can be conducted  &#8220;successfully and securely in the United States.&#8221; However, Obama left  the location up to the Justice Department. The move is in response to  growing protests, led by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  Republicans still promise to block funding for a civilian trial, seeking  to force a trial before a military commission either at Guantanamo Bay  or a military base.<\/p>\n<h3>Profiles of Valor: U.S. Marine Corps MGySgt Peter Proietto<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_30621\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 124px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30621\" title=\"Proietto_10-01-29-digest-valor\" src=\"http:\/\/papundits.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/01\/proietto_10-01-29-digest-valor.jpg?w=114&#038;h=160\" alt=\"\" width=\"114\" height=\"160\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proietto<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>United States Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sergeant Peter Proietto was  serving in Afghanistan when, on March 12, 2003, his patrol was ambushed  by Taliban fighters. As the other Marines in the forward element of the  patrol sought cover, Proietto stayed in position &#8212; exposed to enemy  fire though he was &#8212; in order to provide suppressive fire for the  protection of his comrades.<\/p>\n<p>As the firefight continued, Proietto bravely stayed at the machine  gun atop his unarmored vehicle on an open road. The Team Sergeant  advised him to leave that position for cover, but he stayed and fired on  the enemy for almost an hour until he ran out of ammunition. When the  ammunition was gone, he grabbed his M4 carbine and continued to engage  the enemy. Soon, the Taliban were pushed from their positions. For his  actions, Proietto received the Bronze Star with combat &#8220;V&#8221; for valor.  His citation says he &#8220;displayed himself in a courageous professional  manner and his heroic and immediate response to enemy fire and  willingness to jeopardize his own safety to provide supporting fire for  the rest of the team demonstrated a level of dedication to the mission  and his fellow soldiers, which is rarely surpassed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For more Profiles of Valor, see our <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/\" >Perspective section<\/a> each Sunday.<\/p>\n<h2>Business &amp; Economy<\/h2>\n<h3>Income Redistribution: Tax Cut Games<\/h3>\n<p>Still reeling from last week&#8217;s Democrat loss in Massachusetts, Barack  Obama is proposing a series of middle-class tax breaks to &#8220;reverse the  overall erosion in middle-class security.&#8221; Undoubtedly, he also hopes  the breaks will reverse growing disenchantment among middle-class  voters. Under the proposal, childcare tax credits would nearly double;  student federal loan repayments would be limited to 10 percent of income  beyond a &#8220;basic living allowance&#8221;; and employers would be required to  let employees enroll in direct deposit IRAs. Additionally, $1.6 billion  in new funding would flow to childcare and $102.5 million to  family-provided elder care.<\/p>\n<p>These tax cuts will undoubtedly be welcomed by those who receive  them, but in reality the proposals are little more than smokescreens and  sound bites. &#8220;Americans are asking, &#8216;Where are the jobs?&#8217;&#8221; said House  Republican Leader John Boehner. &#8220;[N]one of the proposals outlined by the  White House &#8230; would, in fact, create jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This latest scheme reiterates that Obama&#8217;s philosophy is not one of  systemic tax relief, which views wealth as created <em>by<\/em> the  people and belonging <em>to<\/em> the people, but of wealth  redistribution, which selects &#8220;worthy&#8221; recipients of taxpayer dollars  and reallocates those dollars accordingly.<\/p>\n<h3>This Week&#8217;s &#8216;Alpha Jackass&#8217; Award<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;We also had some good news for the first time in approximately two  years. The projection of revenues has stabilized, not decreased. That is  a very good sign because it is a sign that people are in fact making  money and will be in a position, because they&#8217;re making money, to pay a  portion of that in revenues to the federal government.&#8221; &#8211;House Majority  Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD)<\/p>\n<h3>Hope &#8216;n&#8217; Change: How Many Jobs?<\/h3>\n<p>Barack Obama spent a good deal of time in his <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/01\/27\/2010-state-of-the-union\/\" >State  of the Union<\/a> address telling us how he was going to create jobs,  mostly by giving various tax breaks to different constituencies, paid  for by other constituencies. Friday, he announced a <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20100129\/ap_on_bi_ge\/us_obama_jobs\" >$33  billion incentive package<\/a> for small businesses for hiring and wage  increases &#8212; again, more acts of &#8220;benevolence&#8221; rather than just getting  out of the way.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, it was a game of multiple-choice statistics on Sunday&#8217;s  talk shows, as three of Obama&#8217;s top advisors graced three different  networks, spouting three different job numbers. On CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the  Union,&#8221; Senior Adviser David Axelrod picked Door #1: &#8220;[T]he Recovery Act  the president passed has created &#8230; or saved more than 2 million  jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On &#8220;Fox News Sunday,&#8221; White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs chose  Door #2: &#8220;[T]he recovery plan &#8230; saved or created 1.5 million jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Door #3 was left for Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett on NBC&#8217;s &#8220;Meet  the Press&#8221;: &#8220;The Recovery Act saved thousands and thousands of jobs.&#8221;  Unfortunately, none of the president&#8217;s sages had the correct answer:  None of the above.<\/p>\n<p>Is this messaging <em>faux pas<\/em> a sign of trouble in the Obama  ranks? Looks that way. Indeed, following Democrats&#8217; recent electoral  nosedives, an internal shakeup may be on the horizon. On last week&#8217;s  McLaughlin Group, five of five panelists think that White House Chief of  Staff Rahm Emanuel&#8217;s days are numbered. The hard-nosed strategist may  soon find his nose in the classifieds. And as Obama re-hires former  campaign manager David Plouffe in a post-Massachusetts (and Virginia,  and New Jersey) attempt to salvage his agenda, one can only wonder how  many other senior advisers will soon add &#8220;former&#8221; to their titles.<\/p>\n<h3>Around the Nation: Oregon Voters Approve Tax Hike<\/h3>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not often that citizens vote for higher taxes, but 54% of  Oregonians have done precisely that,&#8221; notes <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748704094304575029311983339590.html\" >The  Wall Street Journal<\/a>. &#8220;In a rolling month-long referendum by mail  that ended Tuesday, they approved some $700 million in tax hikes on  business and wealthy residents.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The vote pushes the highest state income tax rate from 9 percent to  11 percent, nearly the highest in the nation. Not only that, but the  retroactive (to January 2009) tax is a gross-receipts tax, not a  net-profit tax. How, in a time of voter anger over taxes and spending,  did this happen?<\/p>\n<p>Both national and local public employee unions spent $6.5 million in  support of the hike, which helped build support in the crucial precincts  in and around Portland. Naturally, the union label placed the burden on  &#8220;someone else.&#8221; Only Wall Street bankers, out-of-state credit card  companies and the rich would pay the tax. But as the WSJ points out,  &#8220;Two-thirds of those hit with the new 11% tax rate are small and  medium-sized business owners.&#8221; Besides, tax hikes at the top tend to  have that dastardly trickle-down effect.<\/p>\n<p>Public unions succeeded in using tax dollars from dues paid through  salaries to lobby and win more tax dollars for even better wages and  benefits. The average Oregon state worker receives $83,402 in pay and  benefits, which is 30 percent higher than private workers get. Nice work  if you can get it. With voters electing to add to their deficit  problems rather than solving them, it&#8217;s no wonder Phil Knight of Nike  (in Oregon) called it the state&#8217;s &#8220;assisted suicide&#8221; for business.<\/p>\n<p><!-- [ADV|GooGooTin] --><\/p>\n<h3>Ford, Sans Bailout Cash, Posts Profit<\/h3>\n<p>Ford Motor Company this week announced its first annual profit since  2005 &#8212; all without bailout cash from taxpayers. The automaker recorded  $2.7 billion profit for 2009 versus a $14.8 billion loss in 2008, and  Ford has $25.5 billion in cash reserves, up from $13.4 billion at the  beginning of the year. Ford also increased its U.S. market share for the  first time since 1995. One of the primary reasons why the company saw  success last year was its refusal to take federal bailout money &#8212;  unlike rivals GM and Chrysler, which are still losing money &#8212; and auto  buyers are rewarding them for their stand.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government should have avoided meddling in the market as  it did. Big government proponents incessantly argue that they &#8220;brought  the automakers back from the brink,&#8221; but if the free market had been  allowed to work in the first place, GM and Chrysler would have either  failed appropriately or, more likely, avoided the brink in the first  place.<\/p>\n<h2>Culture &amp; Policy<\/h2>\n<h3>Climate Change This Week: NASA Measures More &#8216;Warming&#8217;<\/h3>\n<p>A new NASA study has declared this past decade to be the warmest  since the recording of temperature began in 1880. Dr. James Hansen,  director of NASA&#8217;s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and one of the  world&#8217;s best-known envirofascists, even broke it down by year. According  to him, 2009 was a real scorcher, second only to 2005.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2010\/01\/22\/science\/earth\/22warming.html?hpw\" >The  New York Times<\/a> reports that the scientist has been &#8220;attacked&#8221; by  climate change skeptics, though perhaps a better word is &#8220;exposed.&#8221; If  Hansen is being challenged openly, it&#8217;s because scientists who had been  silenced for years are now debunking the junk science of climate change.  Yet the Times won&#8217;t mention that; in fact, it even attempted to gloss  over &#8220;ClimateGate&#8221; by focusing on the fact that the e-mails had been  released without permission.<\/p>\n<p>Arguably, the Times has good reason to be testy, for it recently  received the not-so-shocking news that China and India will not be  signing the Copenhagen Accord after all. India had been on the verge of  signing the agreement because it would look good diplomatically and  obligate them to do absolutely nothing, but Prime Minister Singh changed  his mind after being hounded by the United Nations. He responded by  issuing a letter to UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon asking the  organization to elaborate on several aspects of the accord.<\/p>\n<p>Singh&#8217;s letter &#8212; plus the fact that of the nearly 200 countries  which attended the conference only Australia, Canada, Papua New Guinea  and the Maldives have signed &#8212; prompted the UN to postpone indefinitely  its Jan. 31 deadline. Another key factor was the election of Republican  Scott Brown to Ted Kennedy&#8217;s senate seat. &#8220;With the Democrats losing in  one of their strongholds,&#8221; an anonymous official said, &#8220;the chances of  the climate bill going through the U.S. Senate have receded  dramatically.&#8221; Still, the Obama administration formally <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/nm\/20100128\/pl_nm\/us_climate_usa_copenhagen\" >notified  the UN Thursday<\/a> that it will support the Accord.<\/p>\n<h3>Faith and Family: McCains Support NoH8<\/h3>\n<p>Much ado is being made of Arizonan Cindy McCain&#8217;s participation in  the NoH8 campaign to overturn California&#8217;s Proposition 8, which bans  same-sex marriage. Mrs. McCain joined her daughter Meghan in the fight  for marriage &#8220;equality&#8221; when she appeared in a commercial with duct tape  over her mouth, supposedly symbolizing the silence being forced on  homosexuals.<\/p>\n<p>As so often is the case, however, the real problem is not in front of  the TV cameras, but lurking below the surface. The issue isn&#8217;t just  whether the government should allow same-sex marriage, or whether a  politician&#8217;s spouse should publicly take a different stance on a  hot-button issue (such as when Barbara Bush announced that she is  pro-choice), but whether all Americans are allowed to speak their minds,  even when their views are not popular in Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p>The people of California have rejected same-sex marriage twice. As  blogger <a href=\"http:\/\/michellemalkin.com\/2010\/01\/25\/dear-cindy-meghan-lets-talk-about-whos-really-being-silenced-over-prop-8\/\" >Michelle  Malkin<\/a> notes, &#8220;Prop. 8 supporters and donors have been hounded,  threatened, blacklisted, beaten, and forced to resign from their jobs  for exercising their political free speech.&#8221; In fighting against their  own perceived discrimination, perhaps those in favor of same-sex  marriage should examine how they are trampling the rights of others.<\/p>\n<h3>Also at PatriotPost.US This Week: An Anti-American Ad?<\/h3>\n<p>Focus on the Family is featuring Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback  Tim Tebow in a pro-life Super Bowl ad because, against all odds, his  mother chose life. The &#8220;pro-choice&#8221; crowd is not pleased. Read more <a href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/perspective\/2010\/01\/27\/an-anti-american-ad\/\" >here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>To Keep and Bear Arms<\/h3>\n<p>Mark and Rodney Bowens were thrown out of a Charlotte, North  Carolina, nightclub earlier this month, only to return armed with at  least one pistol. They opened fire, and 67-year-old bar owner Roosevelt  Hinton responded by grabbing his handgun and returning fire. Mark Bowens  was reportedly struck in the head and abdomen, though he survived. He  went outside where police later found him on the pavement. Two bar  patrons also were injured in the shootout. Rodney Bowens fled the scene.  This also wasn&#8217;t Mark Bowens&#8217; first encounter with trouble. He had  already spent four separate occasions in jail, one of those for a  second-degree murder conviction in 1991. Fortunately, Hinton was ready  for trouble.<\/p>\n<p><!-- [ADV|ReaganMug] --><\/p>\n<h3>And Last&#8230;<\/h3>\n<p>Given recent events and the plummeting popularity of Barack Obama,  Republicans are salivating at the chance to retake Congress in November  and even the White House in 2012. Of course, polling is the new national  sport, and a recent Newsmax\/Zogby poll poses an interesting problem for  Obama. Newly elected Republican Sen. Scott Brown is within the margin  of error from the president in a hypothetical match up &#8212; Obama leads by  only 46.5 to 44.6 percent. Now don&#8217;t get us wrong; a year is an  eternity in politics (see Obama&#8217;s popularity as Exhibit A), let alone  three years. And as Wall Street Journal columnist <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424052748704094304575029252983171116.html\" >James  Taranto<\/a> writes, &#8220;C&#8217;mon, <em>Scott Brown<\/em>? His victory last week  was undoubtedly impressive, but let&#8217;s put things in perspective. Brown  is merely a state senator, and by the time of the next presidential  election, he will have served less than a full term in the U.S. Senate.  What could possibly give anyone the idea that he&#8217;s experienced enough to  go to the White House?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read more excellent articles at <a rel=\"tag\" href=\"http:\/\/patriotpost.us\/\" >The Patriot Post<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Filed under: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/111th-congress\/'>111th Congress<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/barry-soetoro-aka-barack-hussein-obama\/'>Barry Soetoro (aka Barack Hussein Obama)<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/conniving-politicians\/'>Conniving Politicians<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/demo-gogues-democrats-politics\/'>Demo-gogues<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/'>Democrats<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/democrats\/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi\/'>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/liberals\/'>Liberals<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/marxists\/'>Marxists<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/news-and-views\/'>News and Views<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/political-prostitutes\/'>Political Prostitutes<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/category\/politics\/politicians-for-the-destruction-of-america\/'>Politicians for the Destruction of America<\/a> Tagged: <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/annie\/'>Annie<\/a>, <a href='http:\/\/papundits.wordpress.com\/tag\/the-patriot-post\/'>The Patriot Post<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gocomments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/comments\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godelicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/delicious\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/gostumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/stumble\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/godigg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/digg\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\" \/><\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/goreddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.wordpress.com\/1.0\/reddit\/papundits.wordpress.com\/30611\/\" \/><\/a> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/stats.wordpress.com\/b.gif?host=papundits.wordpress.com&#038;blog=174708&#038;post=30611&#038;subd=papundits&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&quot;Look how much spending I froze!&quot; The Patriot Post Digest The Foundation &#8220;The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.&#8221; &#8211;Thomas Jefferson Government &amp; Politics It&#8217;s the Deficit, Stupid * Barack Obama apparently suffers from his own brand of ADD [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4200"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}