The Eternal Short-Sightedness of Our Politicians

Retiring (thank goodness!) senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has a great idea,  "Let's raise the federal gas tax!"  What could go wrong?

Voinovich points out that receipts from the federal gas tax has been falling and therefore, the funding for projects supported by the gas tax have fallen as well.  Fair enough, but why have the receipts fallen?  Because unemployed people have little reason, or money, to purchase gas.  The immediate effect of raising the gas tax would be to make it more expensive for those of us who do still have jobs to get to work.  Further, by paying more at the pump, consumers are left with less money to purchase other goods and services.  This is before factoring in the rise in price for goods caused by increasing transportation costs associated with the increased tax.

Voinovich sells his idea as a "jobs creator".  Perhaps, but the lag time between when the gas taxes would kick in and when the infrastructure jobs (mainly union jobs, btw) kick in would have working people seeing their purchasing power crumble further with no noticeable benefit.  Where is the upside?

Better, get government out the way and create an environment where the private sector feels confident enough to expand and create more the jobs.  Once people get back to work the receipts from the federal gas tax will increase without the need for tax increases.

For our eternally short-sighted politicians the call to raise taxes is a reflexive answer to all problems.  More money is not the solution, growth is.  We need people in DC who understand this.

Cross posted at Potluck

How are Those "Two Americas" Working Out?

Looks like it is working out pretty well if you are one of our ruling elite.  Victor David Hanson writing in The Corner:

After presidential calls for sacrifice in our rough days of recession — and coming on the heels of the Gatsby-like Clinton wedding, the H.M.S. Kerry, the Gore getaway in Montecito, and “John’s Room” — the enormous movable feast of Michelle Obama’s from Marbella to Martha’s Vineyard does not go well with “two nations,” “raise the bar,” downright mean country,” and all the other progressive complaints. What was that about one selfish America living one way and another less fortunate America living quite another? More mundanely, who says a life in government doesn’t pay?

Never forget, they "feel our pain."

Graham Goes Cheap

Republican Senator: Jesus’s ‘Golden Rule’ Inspired His Vote For Pro-Abortion Kagan

(CNSNews.com) - Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that Jesus’s Golden Rule inspired him to vote to confirm Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court and suggested it would be a good thing for his Senate colleagues to also ponder Jesus’s words as they prepared to vote on Kagan.

“It is divine in its orientation, and it is probably something that would serve us all well if we thought about it at moments such as this,” Sen. Graham said on the Senate floor, as he pointed his colleagues to the Golden Rule and counseled them to look to the wisdom of “somebody far wiser than I am” as they cast their votes on Kagan.

The Golden Rule is a commandment to treat others with respect and honesty.  It is not a commandment to set aside one's principals or beliefs.  For Graham to use the Golden Rule as cover for his despicable vote is beyond slimy.

Christianity isn't something to be trotted out as a shield for one's behavior.  In invoking our Lord's words in such  a manner, Graham, cheapened the words and himself.  It was not the act of an honorable man.

What was Graham's purpose for using the Golden Rule is this manner?  He knew his vote would be unpopular so he thought that by using the words of Jesus as an explanation that he would soften the anger.  If that isn't the very definition of cowardly, I don't know what is.

Ding! Ding! Ding! We Have a Winner!

Time for "Quote of the Day."  From a man with a keen eye for character (so long as there are no contractors involved, of course):

“If a poll was to come out tomorrow and say that Floridians would see you in a better light if you hug a palm tree for 30 minutes a day, he would be out there for an hour hugging a palm tree. It’s the way he operates.” — Rep. Kendrick Meek, knocking Gov. Charlie Crist for being politically expedient.

Does Keeping the Money You Have Earned Make You a "Sinner"?

40 billionaires pledge to give away half of wealth

Good for them!  I think that Bill Gates, Wareen Buffett and others are doing a wonderful thing.  But please note that they are voluntarily giving half their fortune away, not having their wealth forcibly taken from them.  Further, none of these forty will end up living on on the street due to their genorousity.  It doesn't diminish their gift in anyway but their lives will not be changed one bit by giving away half of their money.  So it is all good, right?  No.  Here is the "bugged me" line:

"We contacted between 70 and 80 people to get the 40. A few were unavailable. We don’t give up on them. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. We’ll keep on working," Buffett said.

Is it a sin to keep what you have earned?  I don't believe so.  The people who have not signed the pledge have every right to refuse.  Maybe they are keeping their money because they would prefer to give it away privately and without fanfare.  Maybe they are flat out cheap.  So what?

None of this would matter except that the same people who are so generous with their own money are also so generous with mine.  And that is a sin.

Taxpayers: The Bottomless Money Pit

Pay up, Sucker!  I just heard on the news that SIXTY rooms have been reserved at a primo resort for Michelle and Sasha's mother/daughter jaunt to Spain.  Does anybody think that might be just a bit excessive? 

I don't begrudge the First Lady a vacation, though it does seem that there has been no shortage of those, but I do begrudge elected officials and their families behaving like royalty.  Too many in this country don't know where the next meal is going to come from while Michelle is channeling Marie Antoinette. 

A little bit of decorum from the First Family would be greatly appreciated.  A little bit of recognition of, and respect for, the struggles of American families is in order.   And while we're at it, the Obama's need to quit using the taxpayers as their personal bottomless money pit.

Is the Stimulus Giving You the Summertime Blues?

Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) and John McCain (R-AZ) have released their latest report on that monumental waste of taxpayer's money known as "The Stimulus".  Here is a little peek of where your money went (with my personal favorites in bold):

• $554,763 for the Forest Service to replace windows in a closed visitor center at Mount St. Helens


• $762,372 to create “Dance Draw” interactive dance software

• $62 million for a tunnel to nowhere in Pittsburgh, PA that even Governor, Ed Rendell called “a tragic mistake”

• $1.9 million for international ant research

• $1.8 million for a road project that is threatening a pastor’s home

• $308 million for a joint clean energy venture with…BP

• $89,298 to replace a new sidewalk that leads to a ditch in Boynton, OK

• $3.8 million for a “streetscaping” project that has reduced traffic and caused a business to fire two employees

• $16 million to help Boeing to clean up an environmental mess it created in 2007

• $200,000 to help Siberian communities lobby Russian policy makers

• $39.7 million to upgrade the statehouse and political offices in Topeka, Kansas

• $760,000 to Georgia Tech to study improvised music

• $700,000 to study why monkeys respond negatively to inequity

• $193,956 to study voter perceptions of the economic stimulus

• $363,760 to help NIH promote the positive impacts of stimulus projects

• $456,663 to study the circulation of Neptune’s atmosphere

• $529,648 to study the effects of local populations on the environment…in the Himalayas

If they would have just asked I would told them what voter perceptions of the economic stimulus are.  Most of us think it sucks.  But beyond that, none of the above projects even appear to be designed to stimulate the economy or create jobs.  The Dems in Congress could have done just as much good had they thrown the cash down from the top of the Empire State Building.
 
I'm going to keep this list handy.  One or two of them will be on the sign I'll be carrying at my next Tea Party event.  I'm going to email them to my soon to be ex-Rep Kathy Castor and ask her for an explanation.  I'd like to hear from her why she thinks I should vote for someone who has been so careless with my money.
 
The Dems have shown that they can not be trusted.  Remember that, and this list, in November.

Dearie me, the hayseeds are at it AGAIN!

Poor Prof. Bainbridge!  It seems the hayseeds and what nots keep expressing themselves and it is all so embarrassing!  What can an upperclassman do?  (I was going to insert a T. Coddington Van Voorhees VII reference here but I was beaten to the punch)

DaTechguy does an incredible job of answering Bainbridge's 10 point lament leaving me free to simply vent.

I have little patience for those who believe that participation in the democratic process should be reserved for the elite.  Typically, the process has been left for the "betters" and we see how that has worked out.  No more.

So dear Professor, when you hear the words "Mama grizzlies" does it sound like finger nails on a blackboard?  Good.  Get used the sound because it is going to get louder.  If you are embarrassed then do run along and hunker down with Chuckles, Andy and Kathleen.  Oh, and don't let the barn door hit you on the ass.

Read also:

Left Coast Rebel

Legal Insurrection

American Power

Poor Thing! All That Botox Has Seeped into Her Brain

From Danie Foster at The Corner: 

From ABC’s The Week:

AMANPOUR: “Are you nervous about November?”

PELOSI: “No, I’m not nervous at all — ”

AMANPOUR: “Not at all?”

PELOSI: “No.”

Oh come on, Nancy!  Unless she was heavily medicated during the interview or she is just plain delusional there is no way she isn't just a tad bit sh*tin' in her britches.  Maybe she is counting heavily on voter fraud.  Maybe she is hoping for an alien invasion.  The Dems in the House are so desperate they have resorted to cheap tricks to ensure that they lose votes that they could have easily won just to score political points.  Who does she think she is kidding with the "not worried" crap?

Need Cancer Treatment, Sot off! Oh, You Need to be Re-Virginated-That's Different.

Seems the British people just can't handle the truth, at least not when the truth is told by a Jew.  Chris at Wyblog:

Shimon Peres is right, England does pander to Muslims

Israeli President Shimon Peres ignited a firestorm when he dared to speak the truth. England does pander to Muslims.

And among the countless examples of their pandering the actions of their NHS (National Health Service) are some of the most egregious. Donald Douglas has the shocking and heartbreaking story of a dying women denied life-saving cancer treatment because it was deemed "too costly" by the NHS.

But NHS routinely funds "virginity repairs" (hymen replacement surgery) so that sexually active Muslim women can enter into Sharia-compliant marriages. Over the past 4 years NHS has seen a 3-fold increase in the number of Muslim women having the operation done privately - fearful that a future husband might discover they were not a virgin on their wedding night.

Does anybody know, do as many British women die from honor killings in Great Britain as do from breast cancer?  Because if not, that would like a pretty could indication of pandering.  Not convinced?  How about this:

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Governmentbacked study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

There is also resistance to tackling the 11th century Crusades - where Christians fought Muslim armies for control of Jerusalem - because lessons often contradict what is taught in local mosques.

The findings have prompted claims that some schools are using history 'as a vehicle for promoting political correctness'.

The study, funded by the Department for Education and Skills, looked into 'emotive and controversial' history teaching in primary and secondary schools.

It found some teachers are dropping courses covering the Holocaust at the earliest opportunity over fears Muslim pupils might express anti-Semitic and anti-Israel reactions in class.

The researchers gave the example of a secondary school in an unnamed northern city, which dropped the Holocaust as a subject for GCSE coursework.

The report said teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'.

By "teachers feared confronting 'anti-Semitic sentiment and Holocaust denial among some Muslim pupils'." the are actually saying is that teachers fear that teaching the Holocaust might get them beheaded.  But gee, why would they worry about that?

Yes, dear Great Britain, you have become a nation of panderers right from your dhimmi Prince Charles on down.  And you know, it is going to be hard as hell to find a decent pub once that sharia thing is in full swing.  Pity, but you have noone to blame but yourselves.

Jeff Greene: Self Made Putz

Jeff Greene is a self-made man.  Should be good enough for me, right?  Not hardly.  From the St. Pete Times:

...But behind the bio soundbites and chipper TV ads lies a man widely disparaged by current and former employees, former tenants and political consultants as a self-absorbed cheapskate. A lawsuit accuses him of being cruel and verbally abusive to his former chef. A deckhand shocked on Greene's Summerwind yacht had to fight eight months to get his medical bills paid after Greene denied knowing him....

..."If he plans on running his country like his yacht, we're all going to be sinking," said John Walenczyk, a Summerwind deckhand....

The buzz among Greene employees is that if the Asian or European markets have done poorly overnight, it's going to be a rough morning because Greene, a screamer, is up all hours monitoring his vast portfolio.

James Battles, Greene's former personal chef, sued him last year. The suit alleges Greene demanded round-the-clock attention and would berate and humiliate Battles when he sought reimbursement for food paid for out of his own pocket.

Battles said Greene fired him after he was hospitalized for exhaustion before one of Greene's parties. The settlement is confidential and Greene declined to discuss the case.

Former and current employees tell similar stories, though most fear talking publicly.

Adam Lambert worked as captain of Greene's 145-foot yacht, Summerwind, earlier this year.

"He has total disregard for anybody else,'' chuckled Lambert, who said he was Greene's 20th and 22nd Summerwind captain (No. 21 quit after a few hours with Greene).

"I don't think I ever once had an actual conversation with him. It was always, 'I should just get rid of you, what f------ good are you? You're just a f------ boat driver. You're the third-highest paid employee in my corporation and I should just get rid of you,' '' Lambert, 43, recalled by phone from a yacht in Croatia. "It didn't bother me. I just felt sorry for the man. He doesn't seem very happy."

Harlan Hoffman, 37, was in a Fort Lauderdale yachting apparel store in 2007 when he saw a help wanted ad for Summerwind.

"There were two people from Australia there who said, 'Oh, good luck with that one. . . . We're still waiting to get paid by Summerwind.' I should have listened," Hoffman said.

The deckhand was shocked while buffing Greene's yacht and wound up hospitalized.


A boat's owner is supposed to take care of on-the-job medical costs, but Hoffman said Greene — whom he never met — told the insurance company he had never heard of Hoffman and that he didn't work on Summerwind. It took eight months and legal action that included affidavits from other crew members vouching for Hoffman and trashing Greene to get his bills paid.

"This guy Jeff Greene threw tons of money into new diving gear, but the crew's basic equipment — food and supplies — he didn't want to spend any money on. Summerwind has a terrible reputation,'' Hoffman said. "Mr. Greene's yacht is known to be a party yacht. When it went to Cuba, everybody talked about the vomit caked all over the sides from all the partying going on."

Hoffman couldn't believe it a few weeks back he saw Greene's campaign ads on TV.

"He has this act on TV talking about what a good guy he is, and he's anything but. He treats his own employees like s---,'' he said. "If he can't even treat his employees good, I don't see how he's going to do good for the American people."

John Walenczyk, the Summerwind deckhand, was aboard that notorious trip to Cuba.

"He didn't want to put a dollar into anything, but expected miracles from the crew. He doesn't care about anybody but himself — a real peach,'' said Walenczyk.

Jeff Greene made his money by praying every day that someone would lose their home.  He treats his employees like indentured servants and if you can judge a man by the company he keeps, and I think you can, Greene likes to pal around with George Soros, Paris Hilton, Mike Tyson (who served as best man at Greene's wedding) and Heidi Fleiss.  Fleiss, hooker to the well heeled, lived with Greene after her little stint in prison.

Greene is a self made man with a self made reputation for being a first class jerk.  Thanks to another unprincipled jerk, Charlie Crist, Greene could be the next senator from Florida.  If that isn't reason enough for any remaining fence sitters to jump down and back Marco Rubio, I don't know what is. 

Does a Bear Sh...

That pretty much sums up my reaction to learning that Howard Zinn was a card carrying Commie.  Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States could have just as easily been titled America is the Most Evil, Corrupt Country that Ever Was or Ever Will Be.  Stacy McCain has poured through the recently released FBI documents on Zinn and offers this keen observation:

Read the rest of that. What is important to note here is that Zinn evidently joined the Kremlin-controlled CPUSA not during the “Popular Front” era of the 1930s — when many idealists were seduced — but after the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in which Stalin cruelly and cynically sacrificed Poland to the Nazis. Zinn was a card-carrying Commie who advocated Marxism-Leninism after the Red Army’s ”Iron Curtain” occupation of Eastern Europe, after the treachery of the Rosenbergs and Alger Hiss had been revealed, and even during the height of Stalin’s anti-Semitic “Doctors’ Plot” purge!

UPDATE: Going through the PDFs and — wow! — Zinn’s file from the 1940s and ’50s makes for fascinating reading to anyone familiar with Communist Party history. Any innocent liberal might have unwittingly joined a CPUSA front group or two. But only a card-carrying Commie would have joined every front group that came along, as Zinn evidently did:

“ZINN came to Washington, D.C., on March 25 [1948], and helped picket the White House on March 26, 1948, in connection with the picketing sponsored by the American Committee to Protect the Jewish State and the United Nations. ZINN indicated that he is a member of the Communist Party and that he attends Party meetings five nights a week in Brooklyn.”

Had Zinn's influence peaked in the 40's and 50's and then quietly faded away the FBI files would be nothing more than an interesting read.  However, Zinn didn't fade away and thanks to lefty Hollywood, he was able to spread his anti-American bile right up to his death and beyond.

Above is the cast from The People Speak, Zinn's Hollywood adored piss on America.  A partial list of the of the actors shown above, Jasmine Guy going all "power the people" in the second row, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, Rosario Dawson, Matt Damon and Zinn's number one fan and propagandist, Viggo Mortensen.  Zinn specialized in telling history that somehow avoided ever being told before but when all the witnesses are long dead and many of events are unrecorded that isn't really such a difficult task.

Zinn would have liked to have affected the Republic but he never did.  He was a Commie crank who had little influence outside of his own disaffected social circle.  The average person simply isn't interested in listening to people who have benefited enormously from capitalism like say, Matt Damon or Viggo Mortensen, lecturing to them on the virtues of Communism. 

Read Stacy's entire post.  

More at:

American Power

Pundit & Pundette

DaTechguy's Blog

Help a Friend

Stacy McCain has put an SOS for conservative blogger Stogie.  Sadly, Stogie's plight is all too common these days.  He is in his fifties and college educated.  He has worked his entire life but now his job is gone.  He has gone through his savings and tapped out all his resources and now he is facing the loss of his home. 

I don't talk about my job in detail but here goes.  I work for a credit union whose membership is only open to members of trade unions-IBEW, Operating Engineers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, etc.  Unemployment in my county (Hillsborough, FL) is at twelve percent.  Obviously the membership and I are not politically on the same page.  None the less, I love my members and their families. 

Unemployment among our membership is rampant.  In the last few months I have seen and heard it all.  Because of our mission and our leadership, my credit union works with people when any other financial institution would have taken their home or their car.  As depressing as my job can be, I feel proud to be part of a team who helps individuals in need.  Which brings me back to Stogie.

Stogie needs help.  He has done all the right things in his life and through no fault of his own is facing the loss of everything.  I can't help everyone and neither can you, but I did visit Stogie's site and I did hit his tip jar. Please do the same.

A little musical inspiration:



I saw the play Hair in London when I was fifteen years old.  Almost four decades later I still love that song.

Caution: Hissy Fit Approaching!

Rep. Anthony Weiner doesn't want his fellow Congressmen to debate or study, or presumably even read bills prior to voting on them and passing the cost on to the taxpayers.  As far as he's concerned everything is "yes" or "no".  If it is a good "idea", vote yes.  Well, congress comes up with all kinds of good "ideas" now doesn't it?  Unfortunately, they have a bad habit of slipping a whole lot of crap through the cracks and attaching the crap to good "ideas".  That is why Weiner & Co. wants everything done in a hurry. 

What is it about Democrats that makes them believe that hissy fits = discourse? 

Save the World, Kill a Kid

So, I was roaming around the 'net earlier and I decided to stop by Surbers to see what was going on.  Talk about news you can use!  Foam car:

From Fox News: “Would you drive a car made out of foam? What if it got 100 miles to the gallon and could save lives? It’s called the Spira4u, and it’s one of the more curious vehicles that have been competing for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a competition to see who can design the best 100-miles-per-gallon car.”

Now, as someone who totals out a car every few years my interest was peaked.  Afterall, I'm not getting any younger and it might be best if I didn't break my back-again.  Foam might just be the ticket.  I clicked on the link to their website, the Spira4u Web site, and then went to "order".  Here's what I found:

To reserve a Spira we ask that you make a minimum $100 US (75 € Euro or equivalent) donation to any environmental charity of your choice to receive a reservation #.

Lon Ballard suggest Planned Parenthood as overcrowding is the root cause of global warming, wars, starvation, crimes, traffic, crowded schools, etc.

Planned Parenthood is an "environmental charity".  Who knew?

Admittedly I feel a little foolish.  I had no idea that "overcrowding is the root cause of global warming"-I had thought that the root cause was the sun.  Well, Planned Parenthood certainly is good at solving that overcrowding problem.  Heck, why are we even bothering with that Cap & Trade thing when we can simply abort our way to a cleaner environment?

On further consideration, I don't think I'll be buying a Spira.  Something about a company soliciting donations for abortion under the guise of doing "good works" just doesn't sit well with me.

Cross posted at Potluck

November is Just Around the Corner

Applying truly weird logic, Judge Susan Bolton handed the Obama administration a victory on Arizona's SB 1070.  Or did she?  No doubt that Obama, along with various drug lords and human smugglers, is dancing the happy dance tonight.  Americans have died and will continue to die because Obama cares not what happens to them.  But clearly, Obama has a blind spot when it comes to the will of the people.  People support Arizona and will not soon forget that it was Obama who favored illegals over citizens.  November is right around the corner.

Judge Bolton ruled that it is just too gosh darn hard for the Obama administration to enforce federal immigration law and that is unfair for those big meanies in Arizona to try to force them to.  She accepted the argument that this administration is just too incompetent to do their job.  Well, so be it.  In the real world, where we little taxpayers live, incompetence is dealt with swiftly and decisively.  November is right around the corner.

Note to Republicans:  all indications are that you will be given another opportunity to prove your competence this November.  How you handle the opportunity will be graded on a pass or fail basis.  There will be no grading "on the curve".  You will be given one chance to do the people's business.  Don't forget, November is always just around the corner.

Other reaction:

Predictably, Judge Blocks Common-Sense Law Favored by 70% of Arizona Voters

Judge: Public Has No Idea What Its Interests Are

Breaking: Judge blocks parts of AZ immigration law; Update: Pre-emption wins, for now

The good news and the bad news about today’s AZ immig. law ruling

Daily Benefactor News – Leftist Judge Blocks Parts Of Arizona Illegal Alien Law – More Articles

Why Attend a Jamboree When a Lovefest is Available?

So what if its the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts?  So what if as President of the United States Barry is also honorary chairman of the Boy Scouts?  Barry has been invited to go on The View and by golly that is what he is going to do.  Dignity be damned!  We're talking slobbering sycophants and Barry knows what Barry likes.

Now even Democratic Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania is suggesting that maybe being seen on The View is a bit low brow for a sitting president.  Ya think?  From Don Surber:

Via Matt Lewis and the News, Democratic Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania: “I think there are some shows… I wouldn’t put him on ‘Jerry Springer’ either, right?… It is different, a little bit. But look, I think the president of the United States has to go on serious shows. And ‘The View’ is — you can make a case that ‘The View’ is a serious show — but also rocks and rolls a little bit. I’m not sure he has to go on ‘The View’ to be open to questions."

Actually Barack and Michelle Obama on Jerry Springer would be cool. That last segment where audience members riddle and ridicule the participants would be a hoot.

Audience member: Jerry, I’d like to ask that big armed lady why she keeps buying her dresses in the drapery section at Sears. You know, you don’t have to wear purple and orange all the time.

Don, shhhh!  Some of us have gotten a lot of mileage out of Michelle's fondness for tacky togs.

Prof. Ryan Schools Little Chrissy Tingles

Rep. Paul Ryan appeared to be having a ball with Chris Matthews and why not?  Matthews tried to play a game of gottcha with Ryan and ended up getting his tushy tanned.  Matthews clearly needs to brush up on his math skills.  Note, from the transcript available at Newsbusters:

RYAN: This year, Congress isn`t even doing a budget, but, last year, when we did a budget, I brought a budget to the floor that specifically cut $4.8 trillion of spending out of the budget and paid for all of these tax cuts and debt reduction. Two months ago, we put out $1.3 trillion in very specifically listed and enumerated spending cuts. So, I can go on with you on cuts. I can show you all the kinds of cuts.

Good answer, right? Here was Matthews' astonishingly addle-minded response:

MATTHEWS: But that`s one-three hundredth (ph) of the deficit. That`s 0.3 of 1 percent you`ve talked about.

One-three hundredth of the deficit? $1.3 TRILLION?

The lesson continued:

RYAN: Four-point-eight trillion dollars is not .3 of 1 percent of the deficit.

MATTHEWS: OK, 4.8 trillion. OK.

Question of the day:  How much self-control did Ryan employ to keep from yelling out, "DUMBASS!"?  Let's watch:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I don't think we will be see Ryan back on Hardball anytime soon. 

Do You Know What Really Scares Mexico?

They are afraid that they will get their own people back.  From Don Surber:

Odd that Mexico doen’t want our illegal aliens — many of them Mexicans — in their country.

From the article: “The Mexican government has also made changes to its own immigration laws after some rights groups, such as Amnesty International, claimed it was mistreating illegal immigrants in its country. This month, Mexico increased the punishment for migrant smugglers from a maximum of 12 years in prison to 16 years. And the Mexican Interior Ministry said it will step up efforts to protect migrants here in response to a report by the United Nations that accused Mexico police of robbing migrants and extorting bribes from them. However, Mexico retains Article 67, a law that requires local Mexican authorities to check the immigration papers of all foreigners who come to them for help.”

H Y P O C R I T E S.

Each year Mexicans in the US, legally and illegally, send tens of billions of dollars back to Mexico.  The government of Mexico doesn't want to see anything happen to that cash cow.  On the other hand, Mexico has no problem enforcing laws that it objects to in the United States.  So, yes, Surber is right, they are hypocrites.  But more importantly, they are hypocrites being aided and abetted by Barack Obama and the most corrupt DOJ this country has ever seen.

The Wussification of the White House

Tanking in the polls, our president is taking the bull by the horns and going on The View.  Jeez o Pete, how girlie can he get?  Decorum, Barry.  Decorum.