"Don't hurt people and don't take their stuff" - Matt Kibbe

8/31/12

Obama Supporter Interviews Herself

Okay, here's a really funny anti-Obama video. I know our liberal Democrat readers will hate it (and me) for running it. Both of them.

But since I think we really need a sense of humor to get through these bad times and into the next bad times, I run the ones I think are funny. Regular readers know I'm no fan of Mitt Romney's vision for more big government "solutions" to societal problems so I'm looking for funny anti-Mitt videos too in order to be an equal opportunity basher. If come across any (or you send me some) and I laugh out loud at them, I'll run them too.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of an aging Clint Eastwood interviewing an empty chair (representing an empty suit in the White House) at the recent GOP self congratulation and coronation convention, here is a pretend Obama supporter interviewing herself in a YouTube video.

It's pretty funny until you realize that it's pretty close to the truth about how a lot of people feel concerning their vote for BHO four years ago. It's even more entertaining when you realize that it absolutely drives the hard core liberals insane while they watch it. I can visualize their veins bulging out, and that's a neat visual.



Hat tip to Fitz for sending the link.

PS.. There is an anti-Mitt video on the sidebar for your entertainment, just to be fair 'ya know. Because it's all about fairness.

8/29/12

A Heavyweight Country Shouldn't Have a Lightweight Leader

A hard working member of our crack research team has unearthed this excellent video while combing the internet in search of the educational material our readers have come to expect. It's important to find out what news media in other countries (this time Denmark) are covering while our own news media is covering up.

So we have a presentation for you which makes the point that some jobs go unfilled even while the country languishes in the depths of (real) unemployment in the 15% range. The job of course is: speech-writer for an amateurish White House who can't even be bothered to scribble a few different words to say about different countries when they come here for state visits.

These countries may be "punching above their weight classes" in world affairs but it probably feels like a punch in the gut when they realize how truly unimportant they are to the US after going to the trouble of visiting one of their "closest allies."

A heavyweight country shouldn't have a lightweight leader. There is a fifty/fifty chance that the American electorate will punch his "return home" ticket in November while they search for a replacement in a higher weight class.


Hat tip to Capt. McCann

8/24/12

Obama and the Malfunctioning Home Teleprompter

I don't care what political team you are rooting for or what your tribal affiliation is, Red teamers and Blue teamers who don't think this video from The Onion is humorous might need a check-up on their funny bone.
(Check first to see if the visit is covered under Obamacare.)

8/16/12

Teaming Up With Heartland

By Grant Davies

Yesterday I received a request from Jim Lakely, who is the Director of Communications for the Heartland Institute. Many of you know about Heartland because they have been featured here on numerous occasions. Many more of you knew about them long before this blog even appeared on the net.

It's a terrific organization, right here in Chicago, that has advanced the cause of rational analysis of important issues and a common sense approach to regaining our liberties. They have been doing so for decades. It takes guts and cunning to battle big government nonsense and corruption right in the backyard of the city that made those two things synonymous with its name.

The career bureaucrats at this initially well-meaning government agency (EPA) are truly out of control and it's our responsibility as citizens to make our concerns known to the US Congress.

Having made that intro, I decided to post the email right here as it arrived in my mailbox. Whatever I might say won't convince you to sign the petition more convincingly than Jim's sincere entreaty for our help.

Grant,
I want to share with you (see below) a new push by The Heartland Institute to get Congress to do its duty and cut the out-of-control, economy-crushing EPA down to size. I hope you can help us spread the word about this petition on your site, as well as through social media, and to more than 10,000 signatures – after which we’ll take the petitions to Washington and put the pressure on Congress. We’re half way there already.

Here’s the petition page, which lays out why we’re doing this – and why the public needs to put the EPA back in its place. Let me know if you have any questions, and how Heartland can help promote what you’re working on from its own blog and social sites.

Best, 
Jim Lakely
Director of Communications
The Heartland Institute

One South Wacker Drive #2740
Chicago, IL 60606
office:             312.377.4000      
Twitter: @jlakely

Thousands Sign Heartland Institute Petition
to Rein in the EPA

More than 5,000 people have signed a petition crafted by The Heartland Institute demanding that Congress “rein in the Environmental Protection Agency” through deep cuts in the size, power, and cost of the agency.
According to the Citizen’s Petition to Rein in the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA has “lost its war to scare America into giving [it] legislation that would allow [it] to seize control of virtually all energy production and use, [and is] perverting the Clean Air law to give [itself] unprecedented powers to regulate American society.”
Heartland says it will publicly present the petitions to Congress once the drive hits 10,000 signatures.
Joseph Bast, president of The Heartland Institute, says that in the name of fighting global warming, EPA has become a “rogue agency,” spending $9 billion in 2012 alone to shackle individuals and businesses with expensive and wasteful compliance orders and mandates without the consent of Congress. According to Bast:
“The toll EPA is now taking on our country is staggering, putting hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work at a time when millions of people are out of work and our reliance on foreign sources of energy threatens to compromise the nation’s security. The solution is to rein in EPA through deep cuts in the size, power, and cost of the agency. This can be done by Congress, through its control over the government’s purse, or by a president willing to put sound science and a strong economy ahead of the demands of environmental extremists.”

Read the petition and background essay by The Heartland Institute here.
 For more comments or to book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Tammy Nash at tnash@heartland.org and 312/377-4000. After regular business hours, contact Jim Lakely at jlakely@heartland.org and  312/731-9364.

The Heartland Institute is a 28-year-old national nonprofit organization headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Its mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. For more information, visit our Web site or call  312/377-4000.

8/13/12

Who Buys the Keynesian Snake Oil?

By Grant Davies

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity Foundation is a smart organization. They know that if you use pretty girls to get your message out more people will see the message. Even other women are more attentive when pleasant looking females are talking. It doesn't hurt if the girls themselves happen to be smart as well.

Many of you know about my love for the art and science of economics. So it won't be surprising for you to read that I think Obamanomics is as nonsensical as the Keynesian notion (upon which it is based) that you can raise the level of a swimming pool by taking the water from the deep end and pouring it in the shallow end.

This video won't change a lot of minds because a large part of supporting Obama and his ilk is the practice of closing one's mind to logical discourse in favor of hero worship, tribal affiliation, and a general feeling of moral superiority over others who support anyone else.

Having said that, this video is worth watching for rational thinkers so they can keep the outrage over the scandals alive until November when the country will decide for the second time whether it wants freedom or slavery.

The real scandal is how many people buy the Keynesian snake oil even though it has never worked anywhere it's been tried. It's a scandal of mis-education purchased at a high price.

Enjoy, and be sure to circulate the video widely so you can remind those of your friends who think logically while driving your liberal friends crazy. It's great sport.




Hat tip to International Liberty.

8/12/12

Does The Ryan Choice Impact the Election?




By Dan Mitchell

The honest answer is that it probably means nothing. I don’t think there’s been an election in my lifetime that was impacted by the second person on a presidential ticket.

And a quick look at Intrade.com shows that Ryan’s selection hasn’t (at least yet) moved the needle. Obama is still in the high 50s.

Moreover, the person who becomes Vice President usually plays only a minor role in Administration policy.

With those caveats out of the way, the Ryan pick is mostly good news.

Here are the reasons why I’m happy.

  • I think Ryan genuinely believes in small government, low tax rates, and free markets. Heck, he’s even read Ayn Rand, and is willing to admit that he likes her writings.
  • Ryan put together a good budget and got the Republican Party to rally around the plan – a remarkable achievement considering that the same GOPers had just spent 8 years supporting the irresponsible fiscal policies of the Bush Administration.
  • He understands that not all entitlement reform is created equal. Instead of supporting means-testing (which produces implicit higher marginal tax rates) and unsustainable price controls, Ryan got his colleagues to support Medicaid block grants and premium support (or vouchers) for Medicare.
  • Ryan is a proponent of the flat tax and can competently discuss not only the importance of low tax rates, but also why double taxation is misguided and why it’s wrong to use the tax code to pick winners and losers.

Here are two reasons why I’m worried.

  • Both Romney and Ryan are somewhat sympathetic to a value-added tax. My worst-case scenario is they win the election, but then can’t get a good budget approved because of some squishy Republican senators who put self interest above national interest. Romney and Ryan then decide that this European-style national sales tax is the only way – on paper – of making the budget balance. In reality, of course, we’ll suffer the same fate as Europe since the VAT revenues will be used to finance ever-larger government.
  • Ryan has some very bad votes in his past, including support for TARP, the auto bailout, the no-bureaucrat-left-behind education legislation, and the reckless Medicare prescription drug entitlement. Everyone says to ignore those votes because Ryan knew he was voting the wrong way, but if he’s already made some deliberately bad decisions for political reasons, what’s to stop him from making more deliberately bad decisions for political reasons?

But as I said above, don’t read too much into Ryan’s selection. if Republicans win, Romney will be the one calling the shots.

Though this does give Ryan a big advantage the next time there’s an open contest for the GOP nomination – either 2016 or 2020.

P.S. I suspect putting Ryan on the ticket will shift Wisconsin into the GOP column. Based on my last prediction, that would be enough to defeat Obama. But I’ll have to contemplate whether the pick hurts Romney’s chances in another state. You’ll have to wait until September 6 for my updated election prediction.

P.P.S. For those who care about politics, some are saying that selecting Ryan was risky because it gives Obama and his allies an opportunity to demagogue the GOP ticket about entitlement reform. I disagree. Even if Romney picked Nancy Pelosi, that demagoguery was going to happen. Heck, they’ve already accused Romney of causing a woman’s death, so I hardly think they’ll be bashful about throwing around other accusations.

Dan Mitchell is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. He blogs at International Liberty and this post is republished here with his express permission.