Out and About on a Thursday Morning

That stolen War Memorial Cross in the Mojave Desert – seems there may be a definite political point to it.

Richard Nixon’s grandson seeks elective office. Meanwhile, Jimmy Carter’s grandson obtains elective office. In a lot of ways, lets hope the acorn has fallen far from the tree.

Los Angeles boycotts Arizona. I’m going to boycott Los Angeles. Hope everyone else will, too – and I was actually planning on going out there soon. Not a chance I will, now – until this idiotic ordinance is repealed, not another dime for Los Angeles.

April 2010 deficit four times higher than April 2009 deficit. And keep in mind that most of the time, the government runs a surplus in April. Meaning: there is no recovery. Not even slightly. If there were, revenues would at least be stable. We’re being sold a line of fiscal and economic bull by the banksters and bureaucrats – hoping that (a) we’ll go on another debt-induced spending binge (fat chance) and (b) that we’ll forgive Obama and his Democrats by November (fat chance II).

Raquel Welch: Welch opens her column by noting that, after Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger opened America’s first “family-planning clinic” in 1916,” “nothing would be the same again.”…says the former Playboy covergirl: “I’m ashamed to admit that I myself have been married four times, and yet I still feel that it is the cornerstone of civilization, an essential institution that stabilizes society, provides a sanctuary for children and saves us from anarchy. Smart and beautiful is a formidable combination.

Study: Adult stem cells work. Embryonic stem cells don’t. We already know this, of course. Why, then, do some insist upon butchering unborn children for “research”? Because the Culture of Death likes a high body count. No, there is no other reason.

YouCut

Cool idea from Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA):

Today, we are launching YouCut – a first-of-its-kind project designed to defeat the permissive culture of runaway spending in Congress. It allows YOU to vote, both online and on your cell phone, on spending cuts that you want to see the House – YOUR HOUSE – enact. That’s right, instead of Washington telling YOU how THEY will spend YOUR money, YOU can tell THEM how to save it. After several days of voting, on Monday, May 17th, we will announce the first winner and later that week House Republicans will call for an up-or-down vote on the spending cut. We will repeat this cycle every week for the rest of the year.

You go here to see the menu of possible cuts and cast your vote. I like this. This is a useful tool to engage people in thinking about what can be cut – and allowing what we hope will be much more powerful GOP caucus in January to know where we, the people stand.

As for me, I cast my first vote for eliminating taxpayer subsidized union activities. Public sector unions are bankrupting our States and cities, and I see no reason for them to get a dime of federal money.

Have at it – and lets keep it up week after week.

Now, if we could just get our liberals to be a bit honest and put out a “YouWaste” website so that liberals can vote on what they want money spent on, we’d get a nice contrast for the Fall.

Home Mortgage Applications Drop Like a Rock

The entirely predicted news:

As the end of the home buyer tax credit neared last month, we all argued whether or not the increase in sales and the relative price stabilization could survive on their own.

The first clues indicate the answer is: No.

One full week after the tax credit’s expiration, mortgage applications fell 9.5 percent; this as mortgage interest rates dropped below 5 percent.

We done told ya and we done told ya – all you liberals were doing was advancing the purchase dates of people who were already looking for houses. There was no organic growth in housing demand – and now that we’ve hustled everyone in to purchases early in the year, the rest of the year will be a real dud. Real Estate agents who become unemployed starting in June should send their complaints to DC.

With the massive “shadow inventory” of foreclosures and short sales and this dip in demand caused by government incompetence, we are set for yet another harsh decline in home prices. I’ve already started to see it out here in Las Vegas – new homes which were recently listed for $170,000.00 are now listed for $140,000.00. All we did with all this phony government actions was make it seem like things were happening – they weren’t.

Not in the housing market, nor elsewhere in the economy. The fact that our federal deficit in April was four times the level of last year shows that there is no recovery – if there were, then we would have at least matched April, 2009 in tax receipts.

Smoke and mirrors recovery. Massive additional debt. Banksters sitting pretty on taxpayer dollars. This is Obamunism.

How does it taste, liberals?

Obama and The Democrats Quadruple Deficit In A Year

Holy moly.

The United States posted an $82.69 billion deficit in April, nearly four times the $20.91 billion shortfall registered in April 2009 and the largest on record for that month, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

It was more than twice the $40-billion deficit that Wall Street economists surveyed by Reuters had forecast and was striking since April marks the filing deadline for individual income taxes that are the main source of government revenue.

Department officials said that in prior years, there was a surplus during April in 43 out of the past 56 years.

The government has now posted 19 consecutive monthly budget deficits, the longest string of shortfalls on record.

This is hardly a record to be proud of. You know, Republicans were booted out of power in 2006 in part because Democrats attacked their high spending. Here we are today, and Democrats have made the Republicans’ spending look frugal.

Sorry libs, you can’t blame Bush for this. This is the Democrats doing… Obama is the drunkest of drunken sailors.

About That Mollohan Defeat

From NRO’s The Corner:

No one else seems to have noticed yet, but Alan Mollohan (D., W. Va.), who twice voted no on a federal marriage amendment and earned a 63 percent approval rating from Human Rights Campaign, was just ousted by a man (Michael Oliverio) who strongly endorses “traditional” marriage.

Conservatism is surging, it would seem – even in some quarters of the Democrat party.

People are furious with government – tired, that is, of government officials routinely ignoring the clearly expressed, popular will. Mollohan fell afoul of this. So did Bennett in Utah – I’ll bet that Specter does in Pennsylvania, and its 50/50 that McCain will survive his challenge in Arizona.

Throw away all the books about politics – get ready for a very wild ride in 2010.

RNC '12 to be Held in Tampa

The news:

The Republican National Committee’s Site Selection Committee is recommending the party hold its presidential nominating convention in Tampa-St.Petersburg in 2012, the RNC announced this afternoon.

Tampa beat out Phoenix and Salt Lake City for the event. Minneapolis-St. Paul hosted the 2008 event.

I was hoping for Phoenix just to really stick it to the left – but Tampa will be fine because we’re going to mop the floor with Obama in that State in 2012.

More Bankruptcy Via Liberalism

Illinois, destroyed:

Illinois lawmakers were in disarray Thursday as they groped for stopgap measures to address a $13 billion deficit equaling nearly half of the state’s general-fund revenue.

The state faces one of the nation’s worst budget crises, spilled over in part from the broader national economic crunch, and its current bond ratings lag only California’s. But the confusion in the legislature indicates that serious steps to fix state finances won’t be taken until after the November elections—if then…

…Any hopes that the national economic recovery would help the budget discussions were dashed this week when Illinois disclosed that revenue for April —when most citizens pay taxes—fell more than 15% from the same month a year ago, or $501 million, in part because of a $345 million drop in federal aid. Gross personal income-tax receipts, a major revenue source, dropped $103 million, or 8.1%.

And that last bit, by the way, puts to rest any notion that we are in a recovery. If we were recovering, then State tax revenues would at least be stabilizing, but they are still falling. They might not be falling as precipitously as they were last year, but they are still falling. Which means that less people are working; working people are earning less; people are spending less…the economy is contracting.

Illinois – like California, New York and New Jersey – just illustrate in the most stark terms where liberalism brings you: to bankruptcy. Liberals have just spent and spent and when revenues didn’t keep up with political promises, they borrowed. And now the bill has come due – and there simply isn’t enough money to pay for liberalism.

Naturally, liberals are refusing to face reality. New Jersey has proven lucky in getting Chris Christie as governor – the governor has the power (and Christie has the guts) to do do what is necessary to bring things under control. Elsewhere, it will actually take the votes of liberals to undue the damage of liberalism. And so it isn’t happening – as you can see, in Illinois they are just trying to find some sort of stop gap to keep things going for a little while…until after the elections, when either the GOP will be saddled with the problem, or re-elected Democrats will feel safe in hammering the Illinois taxpayer.

The States are in acute crisis because they can’t print money. The United States appears to be a going financial concern because the Federal Reserve can print money – and by printing a couple trillion over the past year, the Federal Reserve has made it seem like a recovery is ongoing. But, it isn’t – and, in fact, all the fake money has just made things worse (we’ve taken the bad debts of stupid bankers and turned them in to the bad debts of an electorate which elected Obama). But even with the magic of Federal Reserve, there is a limit – and we’re very fast approaching it (maybe by as soon as 2013).

We hit that wall, and complete collapse will greet us, just as it is greeting the great State of Illinois – not enough money to pay all the promises. We can still avert if, if we elect a Republican Congress in November – but it will be a close run thing. We might not have enough time to avert the worst sort of crash (there will be a crash – what remains to be determined is how bad it will be).

HAT TIP: Mish’s

Report: Kagan Did Not Urge Clinton to Back Late-Term Abortion Ban

The news:

To hear mainstream media outlets like the Associated Press and Washington Post tell the story, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan once urged President Bill Clinton to back a ban on partial-birth or late-term abortions. The take from the stories is that Kagan’s rock solid pro-abortion views aren’t that strong.

Nothing could be further from the truth…

As it turned out, what Kagan had advised was for Clinton to back the Daschle bill on late-term abortions – an alternative which the pro-abortion groups were trying to slip through. It would have “banned” late term abortions except where the “health” of the mother was concerned. With “health” being undefined (and, indeed, undefinable) it wouldn’t have banned a single late-term abortion. Kagan was just trying to find a means for Clinton to please both sides while still advancing a radical, pro-abortion agenda.

Ultimately, this just indicates what was already suspected: that Kagan is a pro-abortion fanatic and that is the prime reason she was selected by Obama. Abortion is the be-all and end-all of existence on the left – it doesn’t matter if Kagan eventually comes down in favor of gun rights, free speech or a host of other issues…as long as she’s safe on abortion, that is all the left cares about. Given this, the one thing everyone involved would make sure of is that no matter what case comes before the Court, Kagan will vote in favor of abortion.

Which, of course, doesn’t change the complexion of the Court, at all. Justice Stevens has proven to be a pro-abortion fanatic, and he’s to be replaced by same. But don’t let anyone try to sell you on the notion that Kagan is other than what she is – an ultra-leftist, judicial activist.

Marco Rubio: A Wake Up Call From Greece

Our Senate candidate in Florida nails it:

The meltdown in Greece should be a wake-up call for those who wish to turn America into a high-spending, high-tax welfare state. The fact is, the global boom masked what was in fact an unsustainable situation, not only in Greece but in countries like Italy and Spain…Entire countries have become profligate, unproductive, and uncompetitive. Unfortunately, the road ahead in these countries is going to be extremely difficult.

The question Americans should be asking is, Why do President Obama and the Democrats in Congress want to take America down this path?

Why, indeed?

Because they simply don’t know what else to do. Locked in to rigid ideology, our liberal and socialist leaders simply can’t conceive of any solution which doesn’t entail more government spending and more government control. Even their response to the supposed rapacity of Wall Street is to bail out the very people they claim are causing the problem – spending is all they know.

But the spending must stop. We are now so far in debt that just a bit more will tip us over in to complete national bankruptcy. We have a small window of opportunity to avoid Greece’s fate – but while Democrats are in charge, nothing will be done to change course.

And so we simply must win in November – only by putting in an opposition Congress can we prevent Obama and his Democrats from taking us down the path of destruction.

87% Want English as Official Language

From Rasmussen:

Americans continue to overwhelmingly believe that English should be the official language of the United States and reject by sizable margins the idea that such a move is racist or a violation of free speech.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 87% of Adults favor making English the nation’s official language…

Me: I disagree with making English the official language. But I also see this for what it is: the people are tired of multi-culturalism and all the rest of the PC claptrap the liberals have been foisting on us for a generation.

The left in America had better start to tread with care – the people are fed up. Press just a bit more, and the backlash will be astounding. I’m not just talking about a good GOP year in 2010, but majorities being elected capable of amending the Constitution. The line has been drawn – the people are determined to keep their freedom, and keep their country.