Charter Schools Proved to Work by Success

Who knew? Charter schools are the very essence of innovation that will save education in America - but the problems that stand in the way of success is fear of change and teacher's unions. If the general public and the unions want to actually make a difference in public education, they will have to be willing to think outside the box, that is, innovate as well.

Charter Schools: Modern Education at Its Finest
Source: Jonathan Butcher, "Arizona Charter Schools: A Vision for the Next 20 Years," Goldwater Institute, May 22, 2013.
May 31, 2013

Many politicians and political think tanks have been debating back and forth about the merits of school choice, and whether it would benefit U.S. children. In Arizona, charter schools are among the highest-achieving schools in the nation, with their students routinely topping nationwide comparisons. The government should encourage the use of charter schools throughout the nation, says Jonathan Butcher, education director at the Goldwater Institute.

With so many charter schools in operation, however, performance can vary from school to school. The variation has led some researchers to criticize Arizona charter schools. Reports of a decline in Arizona charter school quality have been exaggerated. Key indicators suggest that charter schools remain a powerful tool for improving student achievement:

• Both low-income Arizona charter school students and average charter school students outperform their traditional public school peers on national assessments.
• A higher percentage of charter schools earned A's on their school report cards than did traditional schools in 2011 and 2012, the first two years of Arizona's school report card system.
• Charters represent a disproportionate number of the highest-performing public schools in Arizona.

These results should encourage lawmakers to remove roadblocks that prevent charter schools from serving more students.

• Some districts have vacant or underused facilities that they refuse to make available to charters.
• Arizona School Facilities Board data show that in more than half of the traditional schools (54 percent) in the 10 largest Arizona school districts, at least 1 out of every 4 available seats is empty.
• Lawmakers should make sure vacant public school buildings are sold or leased to the highest bidder, charter school or otherwise.

To prevent widespread stagnation among charter schools, lawmakers must be careful not to impose the same regulations on charters that they impose on traditional schools. These requirements create fewer choices for parents because charters will not be free to use innovative approaches to teaching and learning that are serving students so well today. Encouraging charters to innovate and serve students while holding them accountable for results will create an education environment that prepares students for success.
 

Foreign Aid Money : Not An Answer for Success

I think there is a saying that covers this, 'money can't buy happiness' or prosperity - it takes hard work and dedication to future goals. It takes years, decades or more.

It also seems that the 'lotto' mentality of so many in out society believes that success comes from the amount of money one spends on a fantasy, the mentality of the quick fix.

Why U.S. Foreign Aid Fails
Source: Christopher Coyne, "Why Government Aid Programs Aren't the Best Way to End Poverty," Mercatus Center, May 21, 2013.

May 31, 2013

For upwards of 50 years the U.S. federal government has been sending developmental aid to other countries trying to create vibrant economies. Yet, there have been no recorded monumental successes with the use of developmental aid. Based on the high standard of living enjoyed in the United States, you might think that the U.S. government would know how to replicate that standard of living, but they don't, says Christopher Coyne, F. A. Harper professor of economics at the Mercatus Center.

In the minds of many first world leaders, development of impoverished nations does not come from going through the same long process first world countries did. Instead, it contains a top-down approach that promises great things like ending poverty. However, there are multiple reasons why state-provided aid cannot bring nations out of poverty:

• Policymakers do not have access to the knowledge needed to allocate scarce resources to their best uses. In his critique of socialism in the 1930s and 1940s, Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek made this exact point, noting that even the most qualified and benevolent planners lack the knowledge to produce even the most basic items in a cost-effective manner.
• Aid creates the incentive for already dysfunctional governments to remain ineffective. A cross-country study by Stephen Knack of the World Bank found that foreign aid undermines the quality of political institutions in recipient countries through weakened accountability of political actors, more corruption, greater chances of conflict, and a weakening of the incentive to reform inefficient institutions and policies.
• Government agencies tend to focus on spending money as quickly as possible on observable outputs to signal their importance and the need for more money. In the absence of clear lines of accountability, money is often wasted.

The current operations of aid to foreign countries fail because there is not enough supervision as to where the funds go, or how the funds are spent specifically. The real solution to these problems is the guarantee of person liberty and property for citizens in those impoverished nation. Human nature will do the rest.
 

Boy Scouts of America Cave To On Principle

I wonder just where the 'buck' stops when it comes to principled individuals that are tasked to lead the Boy Scouts to make decisions according to the precepts of the scouts that effect millions of boys.

I don't understand why it seems so important to comply with main stream thinking when the people that are in charge of an organization that believes in God and country to be their foundation and yet move to negate such beliefs to accommodate a minority.

The gay community has indicated they like the decision of the scouts but it's only the beginning. They said they want more.

Churches sever ties with Boy Scouts  (ABC NEWS)

A number of churches that previously sponsored Boy Scout troops have said they plan to sever ties to the organization following its decision to lift a longtime national ban on admitting openly gay Scouts. Openly gay adults will still be barred from leadership roles in the organization.
"I think I can say with pretty strong accuracy that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are very disappointed in the latest change in policy ... deeply disappointed," Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee, told ABCNews.com.

Page said that the Southern Baptist Convention -- the largest Protestant denomination in the United States -- would be holding its national meeting in two weeks, after which it would likely recommend that its 47,000 U.S. churches pull away from the Boy Scouts of America. From there, it is up to each individual church to decide what to do, said Page.

About 70 percent of all local Boy Scout troops are supported by religious groups, according to the Boy Scouts of America, and the Southern Baptist Convention currently sponsors "hundreds of troops, probably thousands," Page said.

"We don't hate people," said Page. "We don't hate anybody, but we just felt like there's got to be some objective standard, and we felt they were maintaining that until recently."
The Mormon church, which sponsors most of the troops, has endorsed allowing gay Scouts. The Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest troop sponsor, has said it was going to use the time before the new policy takes effect on Jan. 1 to think about how and if it would affect the church.
The National Jewish Committee on Scouting, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association and the Metropolitan Community Church all urged full repeal of the longtime ban.

But many other Christian groups continue to protest, citing religious freedom and the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision that gave the Boy Scouts the constitutional right to keep out gay members.
The Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky., which has about 300 families who participate in Scouting, also announced its plan to break its Boy Scout ties.

"Truly, for us it's a logical decision," Tim Hester, the church's executive pastor, told the Courier-Journal newspaper. "We cannot be distracted from the mission God has called us to."
Last week's decision to lift the ban was a "catalyst" in breaking away from the Boy Scouts but was not the church's only reason for doing so, Hester said, citing directional differences between the organization and the church.

"We want everyone, including ourselves, to live by biblical standards," Hester told the newspaper.
Hester did not immediately respond to ABCNews.com's request for comment.
One of the first religious organizations to denounce the Boy Scout's new policy on allowing gay members was the Assemblies of God, the world's largest Pentecostal group, saying in a statement, "We believe that the BSA policy change will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program, as Assemblies of God and many other churches can no longer support groups that are part of an organization allowing members who are openly homosexual."

Page, of the Southern Baptist Convention, echoed that sentiment. "I warned Scouting executives that this would happen, and they supposedly realized it would happen, but they thought they would gain more," Page said. "I assured them that if your goal is to minister to the largest number of youth, those were their words, then changing this is going to be a detriment to your goal."

The Boy Scouts said in a statement that it respected the "deeply held" religious beliefs of its members but encouraged them to read the resolution about the new policy. "We believe this policy is reflective of the beliefs of most of Scouting's major religious chartered organizations and are unaware of any that believe a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation. While people have different opinions about this policy, we can all agree that kids are better off when they are in Scouting."
Gay rights advocates believe the Boy Scouts' new policy may actually attract new organizations and members who may have been put off by its former practices.

"There's a lot of noise around folks that are leaving, and there's probably not going to be as much attention about what new troops may actually start or get sponsored by places that didn't want to be associated with the discriminatory policy before," Ross Murray, director of news and faith initiatives for GLAAD, a gay rights advocacy group, told ABCNews.com.

Boy Scouts to Admit Openly Gay Members Watch Video

Gay Eagle Scout Fights For Policy Change Watch Video      

Gay Boy Scout Ryan Andresen Denied Eagle Scout Award Watch Video      

"My prediction is that there will be a small percentage that leaves, like less than 5 percent, but there will be a lot of noise around them leaving and a lot of words like 'torn apart' will be used to describe this, but, in the end, the organization will probably come back in a stronger place because it's more inclusive," he said.
Additional reporting by ABC News' Susan Donaldson James.

Chinese Cyber Attacks Growing : Time to Fight Back

Given that the Chinese have an undeclared digital war on America, I believe it time we did the same to them.

Organize as many digital experts into attacking the entire Chinese military and economy. Cyber warfare is just a new way to diminish an opponent without the loss of actual warriors.

Do it and do it now or suffer the consequences. Hand wringing won't do the job, having a plan and executing it will.

Union Leadership Opposes ObamaCare? Maybe, Maybe Not

The unions complain about how ObamaCare will effect their members and threaten to oppose the plan in part or all together. In the end though, the union leaders are progressive Democrats and will do what ever it takes to keep themselves in power, which means supporting the progressive socialist liberal Democrat party as usual. They won't be happy about the grumbling of their members as their dues go up to pay for the new medical coverage. 

This is called self preservation, once a loyal Democrat, always a loyal Democrat, the membership be damned.

Will Unions Be the Death of ObamaCare?
Source: Sam Hananel, "Some Unions Now Angry About Health Care Overhaul," Associated Press, May 24, 2013.
May 30, 2013

When the Obama administration pushed through the Affordable Care Act ("ObamaCare"), it counted on labor unions to be the strongest supporters, but some unions leaders have grown frustrated and angry about what they say are unexpected consequences of the new law. These consequences create problems that could jeopardize the health benefits offered to millions of their members, says the Associated Press.

The problem lies in the unique multiemployer health plans that cover unionized workers in retail, construction, transportation and other industries with seasonal or temporary employment.

• Known as Taft-Hartley plans, they are jointly administered by unions and smaller employers that pool resources to offer more than 20 million workers and family members continuous coverage, even during times of unemployment.
• The union plans were already more costly to run than traditional single-employer health plans. The Affordable Care Act has added to that cost -- for the unions' and other plans -- by requiring health plans to cover dependents up to age 26, eliminate annual or lifetime coverage limits, and extend coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
• Workers seeking coverage in the state-based marketplaces, known as exchanges, can qualify for subsidies, determined by a sliding scale based on income. By contrast, the new law does not allow workers in the union plans to receive similar subsidies.

Labor unions have been among the president's closest allies, spending millions of dollars to help him win reelection and help Democrats keep their majority in the Senate. The wrangling over health care comes as unions have continued to see steady declines in membership and attacks on public employee unions in state legislatures around the country. The Obama administration walks a fine line between defending the president's signature legislative achievement and not angering a powerful constituency as it looks ahead to the 2014 elections.

Union officials have been working with the administration for more than a year to try to get a regulatory fix that would allow low-income workers in their plans to receive subsidies. But after months of negotiations, labor leaders say they have been told it won't happen.

The issue could create a political headache next year for Democrats facing reelection if disgruntled union members believe the Obama administration and Congress aren't working to fix the problem. Last month, the union representing roofers issued a statement calling for "repeal or complete reform" of the health care law. This could cause major problems for ObamaCare in the near future.
 

Climate Change Extremes Falling : Extremists Alarmed

To the enviro Fascists the fact that there isn't any man made climate change is of no importance, it's the agenda of fear and ignorance on the part of the indifferent general public that drives them.

The environmental agenda is similar to the terrorist jihad - nothing that one can say or do can convince them they are wrong, it's their religion of power and control.

Sorry Global Warmists, But Extreme Weather Events Are Becoming Less Extreme
Source: James Taylor, "Sorry Global Warmists, But Extreme Weather Events Are Becoming Less Extreme," Forbes, May 8, 2013.

May 30, 2013

Just about every type of extreme weather event is becoming less frequent and less severe in recent years as our planet continues its modest warming in the wake of the Little Ice Age. While global warming activists attempt to spin a narrative of ever-worsening weather, the objective facts tell a completely different story, says James Taylor in Forbes.

Hurricane inactivity is setting all-time records.

• The United States is undergoing its longest stretch in recorded history without a major hurricane strike, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data.
• It has been more than 2,750 days since a major hurricane struck the United States.
• This easily smashes the prior record of less than 2,300 days between major hurricane strikes.

The number of tornadoes is also at an all-time low, even with enhanced detection capability.
Pretty much all other extreme weather events are also becoming less frequent and less severe.

• Soil moisture is in long-term improvement at nearly all sites in the Global Soil Moisture Data Bank.
• Droughts are less frequent and less severe than in prior, colder centuries.
• The number of wildfires is in long-term decline, despite a recent change in wildfire policy that no longer actively suppresses wildfires.

Just about any way you measure it, extreme weather events are becoming quite rare.
 

Muslims Attempt Dry Run On AirTran Flight? What?

This is a little long but something that needs to be understood - given the support that Muslims are getting from the progressive liberal Democrats, Mr Obama and his staff, they have become more emboldened, more aggressive in their demands.

 

This is easily validated to a point someone can at least find out that the original story was indeed not correct as reported. 

 

And with the rise of the Muslims in Europe to the point where they control large parts of major cities and are demanding their Sharia Law to govern them, it appears the Muslims believe it is time to start the take over of America as well, one step at a time. If you are still unconvinced, proceed at your own peril. 

 

(source unknown)

And to think that Fox News was the only channel that reported this. They may be "politically incorrect", but at least they had the "balls" to report it. 

 

In my opinion, the Muslims are all getting very brave now. Read Tedd Petruna's story below. Can you imagine, our own news media now are so politically correct that they are afraid to report that these were all Muslims? 

 

Unbelievable. Thank God for people like Tedd Petruna. 

Tedd Petruna is a diver at the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Lab) facility at NASA Houston . Tedd happened to be on the AirTran Flight 297, from Atlanta to Houston . Here's his report : 

 

"One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers the 18th you may have seen a blurb about where an Air Tran flight was canceled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before take- off.. The story was only on Fox News. That was NOT what really happened. 

 

I was seated in 1st class coming home. Eleven Muslim men got on the plane in full Muslim attire. Two of them sat in 1st class and the rest seated themselves throughout the plane, in coach class, all the way to the back. As the plane taxied out to the runway, the stewardesses gave the safety spiel that we are all so familiar with. 

 

At that time, one of the men in 1st class, got on his cell and called one of his companions back in coach. He proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very, very aggressively. This activity took the 1st stewardess out of action for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at that time. He ignored her as if she were not there. The man, who answered the phone back in the coach section, did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. Further back in the plane, at the same time, two younger Muslims, one in the back on the aisle, and one sitting in front of him by the window, began to show footage of a porno video they had taped the night before. They were very loud about it. 

 

The 3rd stewardess informed the two men that they were not to have any electronic devices on at this time. One of the men said "shut up infidel dog!" 

 

The stewardess attempted to take the camcorder and the Muslim began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all eleven of the men got up and started to walk throughout the cabin. I guess that because of the noise, the flight crew must have decided that there was something amiss and changed the plane's directions to head back to the terminal.

 

The commotion and noise was reaching a feverish pitch, and at this point I had had enough! I got up and started towards the back of 1st class when I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size, say, "I got your back." Then I grabbed the man, who had been on the cell phone, by the arm and said, "You WILL sit down in your seat or you WILL be thrown from this plane!" As I "led" him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed him back to his seat. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, "You WILL do the same!"

 

He protested loudly, but my adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go also. Just as I escorted him forward, the plane stopped, the doors opened and three TSA agents and four police officers entered the cabin. Myself and my new Texas friend were told to cease and desist for they had the situation under control.

 

I was quite happy to oblige, actually. There was still some sort of commotion in the back, but within moments, all eleven Muslim men were escorted off the plane. The TSA agents then had their luggage unloaded. We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happened.

 

Then suddenly, the door opened again and in walked all eleven Muslim men! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic, (the only way I can describe it) and they were reseated. The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw the men, she was having NONE of it! Since I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agents that there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with the Muslim men. The agent told her that they had searched the men and were going through their luggage with a fine tooth comb. However, nothing had been found and that the men were allowed to proceed on to Houston .

 

The captain and co-captain came out of the cockpit and told the agent, "We and our crew will not fly this plane!" After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. Five minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on. Again, this was where I had had enough! I got up and asked the TSA agent,” What the hell is going on?

 

I was told to take my seat. The airlines and TSA were sorry for the delay and we would be home shortly. I said, "I'm getting off this plane". The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. Now I'm really mad! I said, "I am a grown man who bought this ticket, whose time is mine, with a family at home, and I am going through that door, or I'm going through that door with you under my arm, but I AM going through that door!"

 

And then I heard a voice behind me say, "So am I!" Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same thing. Within two minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met by more TSA agents, who asked me to write a statement about the incident. I had five hours to kill at this point waiting for the next flight to Houston , so why the hell not give them my statement. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was canceled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6 PM, but I finally got there at 12:30 AM. If you don't believe this, look up the date and then Flight 297 from Atlanta to Houston .

 

If this wasn't a terrorism dry run, I don't know what is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it. I'm telling this to you because I want you to know. The threat IS real. I saw it with my own eyes."

Tedd Petruna

Clint Eastwood Ties Up Loose Ends

Clint's the man!

 

CLINT EASTWOOD AND A ONE SENTENCE EDITORIAL

 

This one sentence editorial appeared in the Peoria Journal Star . . . . .
"A pen in the hand of this president is far more dangerous than a gun in the hands of 200 million law-abiding citizens."


Then Clint Eastwood added his words . . . . .
"We Americans are so tired of being thought of as dumb asses by the rest of the world that we went to the polls this past November and removed all doubt."

Clint Eastwood

ObamaCare Penalizes Middle Class Citizens

Goodness, the middle and lower classes attacked by ObamaCare? How can this be? We have been told ObamaCare was all things to all people? Who knew?

ObamaCare Discriminates against People without Bank Accounts
Source: Sarah Varney, "How Will The 'Unbanked' Buy Insurance On The Exchanges?" Kaiser Health News, May 20, 2013.
May 29, 2013

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) (" ObamaCare") was passed in March 2010. The ACA creates a universal health care system and requires every American to have health insurance. Most health plans accept a credit card for the first month's premium payment and then require customers to pay monthly with a check or an electronic funds transfer from a checking account. This poses a major problem for insurance companies because a large percentage of Americans do not have a traditional checking or savings account, says Kaiser Health News.

• One in five households in the United States, or about 51 million adults, have only a tenuous relationship with a traditional bank.
• Many instead rely on check-cashing stores and money lenders, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

There is no federal law that requires health insurers to accept all forms of payment, including credit cards or the cash-loaded, pre-paid debit cards that people without bank accounts often rely on.

• Federal health officials issued a letter in April stating that all health plans selling coverage in the federally-run insurance marketplaces in 28 states will have to accept payments in ways that do not discriminate against their customers, but did not prescribe what those payments should be.
• Insurance carriers are in a problematic situation since the transaction fees for credit cards and pre-paid debit cards can run as high as 4 percent. If only one company takes the plunge, its costs are likely to be higher, scaring away customers.
• Massachusetts, several years ahead of the rest of the country on health insurance reform, prohibited credit cards because the fees were too high, says Jon Kingsdale, former executive director of the Massachusetts Health Connector.
• Consumer advocates who want moderate-income families to have easy payment options are themselves wary of credit card late fees and high-interest charges for those who can't pay off their monthly balance.

The consequences could be severe. When a citizen's insurance is canceled, starting next year, they will be breaking federal law and liable for any medical bills. So far, Congress has not provided any solutions to the problem, but if they don't find one by January a lot people could be breaking the law without a good solution.
 

Tax Code Compliance Costs Billions : Fairness the Problem?

The problem of course is too many in Washington are benefiting from the tax code as it is - take away the loop holes, the advantages for those in power, the decision makes, and the problem will probably go away for the most part.

Substantial Hidden Costs in the U.S. Tax Code
Source: Jason J. Fichtner and Jacob Feldman, "The Hidden Costs of Tax Compliance," Mercatus Center, May 20, 2013.
May 29, 2013

The U.S. federal government has a 60,000 page tax code. The purpose of this exorbitantly long document is not only to fund the government, but to instill "fairness" by granting tax advantages to some favored businesses.

 Numerous articles have been published about the obvious time and money wasted from compliance with the tax code, but beyond accounting costs, there are other hidden costs and implications, say Jason J. Fichtner and Jacob Feldman of the Mercatus Center.

Fichtner and Feldman analyze the current economic literature on hidden costs of the U.S. tax system and find that there are other hidden costs and implications of taxation:

• Lobbying to gain and maintain tax advantages.
• Economywide costs as tax incentives alter work, leisure, savings, consumption, production and investments.
• Cost revenues as a result of taxpayer noncompliance.

These hidden costs result in nearly $1 trillion annually in hidden tax-compliance costs, while the Treasury forgoes approximately $450 billion per year in unreported taxes. According to the National Taxpayer Advocate:

• There were 4,428 changes to the Internal Revenue Code between 2001 and 2010.
• The tax code averages more than one change per day. The resulting complexity creates hidden compliance costs between $215 billion and $987 billion annually.
• To put this in perspective, total revenue collected by the federal government in 2012 was $2.5 trillion.

In 2011, there were 173 different tax deductions and credits for individuals and corporations that amounted to around 7 percent of gross domestic product. The economic costs of these tax provisions and marginal rates are estimated between $148 billion and $609 billion, which is a substantial portion of economic capacity that is being removed by the tax code.

The United States can fix these problems by examining history and international reform, and making substantial reductions in tax credits and deductions provided in the tax code.
 

Reverse Mortgages Good and Bad for Seniors

Here again, the free market is the best solution to solve the problem. If the lending organizations were left to shoulder the lose of bad decisions, the problem would go away for the most part.

Also, truth in advertising would be a big help for seniors trying to figure out how to survive in this bad economy.

The Ups and Downs of Reverse Mortgages
Source: Pamela Villarreal, "The Ups and Downs of Reverse Mortgages," National Center for Policy Analysis, May 2013.

May 29, 2013

In post-recession America, seniors are quickly recognizing that they are not as financially equipped as they once thought and are searching for new ways to gain money for retirement. One of the ways presented by television ads to gain that money is reverse mortgages.

Reverse mortgages, formally known as home equity conversion mortgages (HECM), allow seniors to tap into their home equity and receive a lump sum or annuity payment during their retirement years. Television advertisements make reverse mortgages sound appealing, but there are several negative things that can happen if borrowers do not fully understand the terms says Pamela Villarreal, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Although reverse mortgages are limited to seniors, borrowers are applying at earlier ages.

• According to a Met Life survey, the average borrower is 71.5 years old, but one in five borrowers is age 62 to 64.
• Two-thirds of borrowers are using reverse mortgages to pay down debt (including conventional mortgage debt), while only 27 percent use the mortgages to enhance their lifestyle.
• The survey also found that about one-third of homeowners using reverse mortgages have a mortgage balance that is at least half of their home value. This troubling trend will increase as more baby boomers enter retirement with mortgage debt than previous generations.

The FHA insures reverse mortgages, which provides lenders with a strong incentive to issue them because they can claim compensation in the event of a default. But this government support means that taxpayers could foot the bill for any number of defaulted mortgages:

• The FHA's 2012 financial statement reveals about $140 billion in outstanding FHA-insured reverse mortgage loans.
• The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in 2012 that about 9.4 percent of reverse mortgages were at risk of default -- nearly double the default risk for ordinary home mortgages (about 5 percent).
• The Government Accountability Office reported that projected defaults in 2010 alone would require a taxpayer subsidy of $789 million.

With a much higher default rate than traditional mortgages, reverse mortgages and their inherent risks should be left up to the market, not the FHA. If lenders cannot and will not bear the risk, the reverse mortgage market should not exist in the first place.
 

Government Declares The People - Enemies of the State

This is just the tip of the ice berg - the IRS started the ball rolling and now it has gathered the Home Land Security, National Labor Relations Board, the EPA, the Justice Department, and probably every other department in the government.

The people of this country, I believe, still haven't come to grips with the revelation that we the people are under attack by our own government.

Oh wait, I forgot one player that has been identified as attacking the people, and it's very significant in the nightmare of corruption, the FBI.

Hitler Fascination Touches American Icon

This is a little long but very interesting in that it tells a story about how attitudes change while living in a changing world.

One Man's Hitler Fascination
Brent Bozell | May 29, 2013

Here's a story you probably haven't heard, unless you read Drudge or Breitbart. The Independent in the U.K. has published a story (from which I pull freely), as have a couple of Jewish outlets. That's all I can find. You tell me if it qualifies as "news" that the "news " media should be covering.
It involves a young man who would someday become one of the best-known and most powerful men in the world. A new book is out. It explores recently uncovered diaries kept by this young man. The journal entries document his fascination with Adolf Hitler and Nazism.
This young man traveled to Germany three times between 1937 and 1945. Clearly he admired the Germans -- and that includes the racial imperatives of Nazism. The Independent reveals this entry logged after he visited the Rhine in 1937:
"Very beautiful, because there are many castles along the route. The towns are all charming which shows that the Nordic races appear to be definitely superior to their Latin counterparts. The Germans are really too good -- that's why people conspire against them -- they do it to protect themselves."
By today's standards, that sentiment is clearly racist. It glorifies Aryans as "superior" to brown people. (If you doubt me, contact your local La Raza office, read them that passage, and solicit a comment or two.)
This young man wrote as well: "I have come to the conclusion that fascism is right for Germany and Italy. What are the evils of fascism compared to communism?" His travelling companion, Lem Billings, would later state that the young man was "completely consumed by his interest for the Hitler movement."
The young man would return to Germany after the war, in 1945, and after visiting Hitler's famous "Eagle's Nest" mountain-top retreat, would write that, "Anyone who has visited these places can imagine how in a few years, Hitler will emerge from the hate that now surrounds him and come to be regarded as one of the most significant figures that ever lived. There is something mysterious about the way he lived and died and which will outlive him and continue to flourish. He was made of the stuff of legends."
This man was 20 in 1937. It is undeniable that any pro-Nazi sentiments that might have existed in his youth -- his father was a public apologist for Hitler -- evaporated with time. Still, this man was one of the most prominent men of the 20th century. How could this not be of interest to the media?
You can hear the explanations. They are what the press had to say to justify not reporting the late Senator Robert Byrd's membership in the KKK.

It's not news. He was young and naive. This is in some respects true. There is no "hard" news here, but how often do we find news reports about a prominent person's past? George W. Bush for one would find this curious. How many stories -- hundreds? -- were filed about his wild partying days at roughly the same age?
It's not news. These clearly were not his views during his public years. Again, a defensible position. Yet when former Senator Trent Lott said in 2002 that when, as a young man at approximately the same time (1948) he'd supported the segregation agenda of Strom Thurmond, a position he'd come clearly to repudiate, there followed an avalanche of negative press and he was forced to resign in disgrace.
It's speculative. Admiration does not necessarily an endorsement make. I'll buy that one, too. Clearly when this young man evinced his admiration for the "superiority" of the Nordic races, he had no idea that Hitler would make this a justification to slaughter six million Jews. We could state just as emphatically that to declare Hitler would be "one of the most significant figures that ever lived" is, in fact, accurate. He was "the stuff of legends" -- and so was Nero.
But what if this man's name was Ronald Reagan? None of this would apply. Youthful ignorance would be no excuse. A man of his historic importance? Admiring the "superiority" of Nazism? You betchum we're going to cover it!
Taken further, they would argue, Who are we to declare these views had no impact on his thinking? After all, in some circles, his name is synonymous with radical right, even fascistic, leanings.
Most importantly, the news media would tell us, It is precisely because it is speculative that it should be reported. At best, it's a simple curiosity, at worst, a bombshell of Nagasaki proportions. Don't the American people deserve to be told, and shouldn't they be allowed to judge for themselves?
If this young man's name was Ronald Reagan, it is undeniable that this new book would be a top-shelf media story everywhere. But his name wasn't Reagan.
It was John F. Kennedy.

Government Spending Fails The People

How does one spend their way to prosperity? How do families use a credit card to finance expenses while none of the family members are working? It's just that simple, this nation cannot keep borrowing from future generations to pay the bills of the present generation.

At some point in time, someone will have to pay the bill, but the consequences of not taking the responsibility to pay for our current life style as we go will, in the end, destroy us as a free nation. The family that is irresponsible with spending will loose everything just as a nation that chooses to ignore sound financial programs will go bankrupt.

As the saying goes, 'chose with no regret' It's time to stand and deliver or except the consequences of our inaction, a nation with no future and no hope. The people of this country decide the future.

Economic Stimulus Does Not Work
Source: "Government Spending Enthusiasts' Three Sleights of Hand," Economic Policies for the 21st Century, May 6, 2013.
May 28, 2013

Throughout the last 50 years, there has been a clash in Congress between the two most prominent forms of economic thought: Austrian and Keynesian. Austrian economists believe in letting the market fix its problems without government intervention, whereas Keynesian economists believe that increased government intervention and spending in the economy will fix economic problems.

Keynesianism has been triumphing in U.S. congressional policy lately. That belief system is founded upon assumptions that will harm America considerably in the future, says Economic Policies for the 21st Century.

Those who believe more government spending is the antidote to the current economic problems rely on multiple assumptions to defend their position.

• The future costs of servicing debt issued to finance larger deficits don't matter or are trivially small.
• The central bank can control future interest rates, so we need not worry about a spike in future borrowing costs.

Under the first assumption, the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio cannot increase indefinitely because eventually the cost of maintaining public debt would end up draining all national income. Even if one believes a debt-funded stimulus would accelerate economic activity, there is likely to be some point at which compounding deficits will consume too much of future income.
Assuming interest rates of 5 percent, the additional 35 percent of GDP in debt the federal government has accumulated since 2008 would cost future generations 1.75 percent of their gross income.

• Now 1.75 percent doesn't sound like a substantial portion of the U.S. economy, but 1.75 percent is equal to $280 billion of 2013 GDP and the 10-year costs of this interest expense would be $3.5 trillion at a 5 percent nominal GDP growth rate.
• This is nearly three-times as large as the $1.2 trillion in 10-year cuts from sequestration.
• Interest rates today are far from 5 percent. The Treasury can finance itself at a less than 1 percent weighted average rate, but the proponents of larger deficits argue that we need not ever pay the debt back, which could be disastrous.

Under the second assumption, the central bank becomes a hostage of the fiscal authority and "monetary policy." Under these circumstances, the Fed would be forced to choose to either:

• Continue to suppress interest rates and accept the resulting inflation or financial instability.
• Allow rates to find their natural level, which could leave the sovereign insolvent and result in some kind of sovereign restructuring akin to the Greek experience.

 

Afghanistan Engineer Makes Big Money - Humor

This is an old one but still good - -

 

Investment Opportunity

 Thought you might want to consider getting on board early....

 A British Engineer just started his own business in Afghanistan.

 He's making land mines that look like prayer mats.

 It's doing well.

 He says prophets are going through the roof.

SSDI Goes Bankrupt In 2016 : What Then?

Social Security Disability Ins just another program of free stuff made available to the unemployed that can't or won't find work? Is this just another way to build the voter base for progressive socialists by forcing people to become dependent even when they don't want to?

Isn't the agenda of the progressives from the beginning one that builds it's voter base by driving the work force into poverty by continually demanding more programs to support the unemployed and never doing anything to rebuild the economy so jobs can be created?

Isn't the actual agenda of the liberal Democrats designed for Income Redistribution, "fundamentally changing America" by taxing the productive people more and more to support those that have to vote for more of these funds just to survive?

Does this make sense on how to rebuild our country? No, of course not, but the majority sill voted to help the progressives force them into dependence and later poverty. Why would someone do this to themselves?

Social Security Disability Insurance Foundationally Flawed
Source: Richard Burkhauser, "America's Growing Social Security Disability Problem," Real Clear Markets, May 15, 2013.

The U.S. Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program is a payroll tax program that provides income supplements to people who are physically restricted from working because of a disability. Recently, SSDI rolls reached a high of 8.85 million, which is a 21 percent increase since the beginning of the recession in 2007. The increase in SSDI users is not because of a sudden disability epidemic but because of foundational flaws in how the program works, says Richard Burkhauser, the Sarah Gibson Blanding Professor of Policy Analysis at Cornell University and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

• The program's growth has resulted in government SSDI expenditures increasing sevenfold, from $18 billion in 1970 to $128 billion in 2010.
• The Congressional Budget Office says that these increases will result in program insolvency as soon as 2016.

The major flaws in the program stem from the Obama administration making it a long-term unemployment program, instead of a last choice transfer program for those who cannot work because of their health-based impairments. The problem with the program is exacerbated by economic downturns and will continue until economic prosperity returns.

• SSDI's most evident structural flaw is its reliance on flat payroll taxes for funding, which does not rise once a worker leaves a business and starts using SSDI.
• Hence, firms have little incentive to help workers at the most influential point in their recovery, which is right after the worker experiences the health-shock that affects his or her ability to work.
• Worse, the majority of disabled workers using SSDI are non-severe cases, and if they were helped in the beginning there is a higher probability that they could have kept working.
• Instead, these workers are being compensated based on difficult-to-determine mental conditions, musculoskeletal conditions, or have conditions that are accepted based on vocational criteria.

SSDI's flaws harm millions of workers because they are forced to demonstrate disability before they are even able to receive benefits. Instead of focusing on removing those already on the SSDI rolls, Congress should consider more fundamental SSDI reforms that would better incentivize employers to provide workers with alternatives to an SSDI application when their impairment first occurs.

Corporate Tax Rate Driving Corporations Overseas

The highest corporate tax rate in the world and the progressive socialists Democrats still want to believe by attacking the corporations, large and small, for their drive for profits, so they can get more of their money. Why would any CEO bring back his legitimate funds from overseas just so Mr Obama can get them for his own purposes, and you have to believe they don't include the people of this country.

This is insane, but no one every believed the progressives where anything but insane.

Reform the Corporate Income Tax
Source: Arthur B. Laffer "The U.S. Corporate Tax Code: Ripe for Bipartisan Reform," Pacific Research Institute, May 2013.
May 28, 2013

The U.S. tax code is upwards of 60,000 pages long. The tax code is convoluted in nature and is in need of reform. One area in need of drastic reform is the corporate income tax. The U.S. corporate income tax is one of highest in the world. The current corporate tax rate should be replaced with a low-rate flat tax on the broad base of business value added, says economist Arthur B. Laffer.

• The United States has the highest statutory tax rate in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development at 35 percent.
• In turn, you won't be surprised that U.S. federal corporate tax revenue as a share of gross domestic product is one of the lowest in the world at 1.2 percent in 2011.
• U.S. corporate profits held abroad (i.e. not repatriated) add up to over $1.5 trillion and are growing at about $250 billion annually.

In 1986, the Reagan administration implemented tax cuts that dropped the highest corporate income tax rate from 46 percent to 34 percent. This created substantial economic growth and increased revenue for the government. But how could revenue increase for the government while the percentage at which the government taxed decreased? According to the economic theory of the Laffer Curve:

• The higher a tax rate is, the more likely an increase will actually reduce tax revenues.
• Likewise, the narrower the tax base, the more likely an increase in the tax rate applied to that base will reduce, rather than increase, tax revenues.
• When the government lowers taxes at a rate that does not incentivize evasion, it increases revenues because people pay their taxes instead.

A low-rate flat tax on the broad base of business value added, with minimal deductions, exemptions, exclusions or loopholes, would collect baseline revenues while decreasing the economic growth impediment the least. A low tax rate would give businesses little incentive to evade taxes or avoid taxable income.
Source: Arthur B. Laffer "The U.S. Corporate Tax Code: Ripe for Bipartisan Reform," Pacific Research Institute, May 2013.

Medical Treatments Lower Costs In Free Markets

This written in stone and proved by hundreds of years of actual history - free markets work. The biggest problem that the progressive socialist liberal Democrats have with it is, it becomes much harder to steal the citizens money.

What Tummy Tucks Can Teach Us about Health Care Reform
Source: Shawn Tully, "What Tummy Tucks Can Teach Us about Health Care Reform," Fortune Magazine, May 23, 2013. Devon M. Herrick, "The Market for Medical Care Should Work Like Cosmetic Surgery," National Center for Policy Analysis, May 2013.
May 28, 2013

There are many myths downplaying the role the market can play in health care, says Shawn Tully, senior editor-at-large of Fortune Magazine.

• One leading myth is that each patient is so different, and every procedure so tailored, that doctors can't determine the cost, or tell patients the price, in advance. Hence, providing consumers with prices they can compare is totally impractical.
• Another holds that medicine is so sophisticated that consumers are incapable of choosing deals that combine low cost with the promise of excellent outcomes.
• A third is the concept that -- in contrast to every other area of the economy -- new technology inevitably makes everything more expensive.

Those oft-repeated beliefs are wrong. The best evidence is the ultra-competitive field of cosmetic surgery and minimally invasive treatments. A new paper from the National Center for Policy Analysis shows just how the industry's dynamics follow the patterns that prevail everywhere else.

• Over the past two decades, U.S. medical prices -- not total spending -- have been rising at around 5 percent per year, or twice the increase in the consumer price index.
• By contrast, prices for cosmetic surgery are inching forward at just 1.3 percent a year, or a full 1.2 percentage points lower than inflation.

The reason is that patients spend their own money on cosmetic treatments, and in doing so behave just like consumers everywhere else. They shop for the best deals and love doing it. In every other medical field, costs are largely covered by third parties, employers, insurers or Medicare and Medicaid. Consumers pay just 11 cents for every dollar in care they consume. The rewards for seeking the most favorable prices are nil.

It's just the opposite in cosmetic surgery: Whatever you can save on a procedure is money you get to spend on a vacation or your kid's tuition. Doctors compete vigorously to win business using steep discounts. Websites such as Groupon and LivingSocial regularly offer "deals-of-the day" for cosmetic procedures. Indeed, the average cost of Botox dropped from $500 in 2007 to $365.

The market will work in medicine. Rules that lavishly subsidize demand and at the same time shackle supply are not the answer. Follow the lessons from facelifts and tummy tucks: The more consumers spend their own money, the more efficient health care will become.
 

Calaifornia Debates Nurse Practitioners New Duties

With the ObamaCare disaster coming on us like a Kansas tornado, splitting up the duties of doctors will help the work load that is coming from the new 30 to 50 million new health care customers over the next decade.

And with the number of doctors declining each year, I really don't know what else anyone can do. Blaming George Bush won't solve the problem.

California Mulls Expanding Role for Nurse Practitioners
Source: Pauline Bartolone, "California Weighs Expanded Role for Nurse Practitioners," Kaiser Health News, May 9, 2013.
May 16, 2013

As the Affordable Care Act increases the number of Americans seeking treatment in the health care system, there will be a shortage of doctors. California, like 15 other states, is considering whether to allow advanced practice nurses more autonomy and authority. The potential move could address some of the shortage of doctors in the future, says Kaiser Health News.

• Nurse practitioners are advanced practice registered nurses who have complete additional training beyond that of a registered nurse.
• In low-income sections of major cities, like San Francisco's Tenderloin district, nurse practitioners are already providing health care to individuals with reduced access to the health services they need.
• In San Francisco, Glide Health Services, which provides coverage to the Tenderloin district, is run primarily by nurse practitioners, with a physician visiting 12 hours a week to sign forms and consult on difficult cases.

Much of the workload on physicians is for fairly common illnesses with standard treatments that nurse practitioners have had the training to diagnose and treat. The low-income individuals who visit Glide Services have been happy with the health care receive, noting that the nurse practitioners are friendly and compassionate.

• Current California laws require that nurses treat a patient only after consulting a doctor.
• Some lawmakers are attempting to eliminate this requirement, a move that many physicians oppose because they say that nurse practitioners are only one part of the medical team necessary to provide care.
• According the California Medical Association, nurse practitioners do not have as much training or know enough about testing and technology as doctors do.

Physicians also note that the proposed legislation does not stipulate that nurse practitioners practice in underserved or underprivileged areas. The question is whether or not nurse practitioners have enough training to provide basic primary care.

• A California health economist notes that nurse practitioners are actually more likely to practice where there are more Medicaid patients or in rural communities.
• The California bill to allow nurse practitioners to offer treatment without consulting a doctor will go before the Senate appropriates committee next week.

 

Climate Changers : Demands Are Ill Rational and Reprehensible

The climate change nutjobs have on limits on insanity - reality is what ever the insane want it to be.

The Apotheosis of Climate McCarthyism
Powerline -

It is well worth the ten minutes or so it takes to read this American Thinker post by Norman Rogers from a couple of weeks ago that reviews the work of Roy Spencer, John Christy, and others on the question of climate sensitivity, which we have covered here several times in the past.  And while this review of the devastating findings of Spencer and company, and how the climate establishment reacted to try to suppress dissenting views, makes this piece worth a read by itself, the most significant part of Rogers’s post is the news item buried toward then end that Texas A & M University imposes a loyalty oath on faculty in its climate science department:

Texas A&M has a large atmospheric sciences department.  On their website there are 22 tenured and tenure track faculty.  What is really unusual about the department is that all the regular faculty are seemingly required to sign a global warming loyalty oath called the climate change statement.  Every faculty member except one new arrival has signed.  None of the lowly adjunct faculty’s names appear.

Here is the Texas A & M statement: as you can see, the department pledges it troth to the UN’s IPCC.  Having run across a couple of people on the A & M faculty (especially the egregious Andrew Dessler), I don’t think “McCarthyite” (as the left misunderstands that term–but hey, hoist by their own petard and all that)  is too strong a term to describe this despicable enforced conformism.  As Rogers rightly says:

The global warming scientific establishment is starting to look like the final days of the Soviet Union.  On the surface it appears impregnable and the dissidents are a minor problem.  But the huge soviet edifice quickly collapsed when people lost their fear of the system and the functionaries stopped following orders.  There came a point when everyone decided to stop living a lie.  I can’t believe, for example, that every faculty member at Texas A&M is really happy about signing a climate loyalty oath.

Memorial Day Sadness : World Says America A Failure

On this Memorial Day it is sad testimony from some of the world Easterm news outlets that our country is falling into an abyss of failure. This should come as no surprise as the entire world that liked us with George Bush now fears us as we no longer lead the world as the last best chance for freedom. Mr Obama has lead us into weakness and despair by dividing the nation with class warfare.

The only people that hated us when George Bush was president were the terrorists. These are the people that Mr Obama wanted to win over by blaming America and Bush for all of the worlds problems. Remember the world tour of apology?

Little wonder then the nations of the world are starting to attack us for being weak and driven by a progressive socialist agenda. But don't wring your hands, the majority voted for Mr Obama because they believed what he had to say was the truth and what was best for our country, and it was what the main stream media told them to think.

The question that remains now is do any of those that voted for Mr Obama, and the progressive socialist liberal Democrats, understand what they did and how to fix the problem? I fear not.

Saudi voice calls Obama a failure
(WND)
A columnist for a London-based Saudi daily newspaper is calling President Obama a failure and blaming his “hesitant” leadership for the catastrophic situation in Syria, where tens of thousands are dead as a result of the civil war.
The report comes from the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors and reports on media in the Middle East.

 

 

"The problem of U.S. President Barack Obama can be summed up in a single word: hesitation. The man is short-sighted, confused and diffident,” wrote Mashari al-Zaydi, a columnist for the daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

MEMRI reported the column called Obama out as the weakest president in U.S. history and blamed him for allowing the crisis in Syria to escalate. He warned that Obama’s failures in the Middle East have set the foundation for an extremism and sectarian violence that will be greater than al-Qaida.
MEMRI said it’s just the latest in a series of reports from Saudi press members who have attacked America on its Syrian position. The criticism has come since Secretary of State John Kerry met in Moscow with Russians to set a meeting date to talk about the situation in Syria.

For example, the report said, the Saudi government daily Al-Yawm said, “The Syrian opposition did not welcome the outcome of the meetings that U.S. State Secretary John Kerry held in Moscow [on May 6, 2013], because [this outcome] is a clear American retreat towards the position of the Russian-Iranian alliance. Considering the crimes of ethnic cleansing that have been perpetrated by Iran’s and Assad’s killing machine in Baniyas [in early May 2013], the American position is a clear [act of] capitulation to this killing machine at the expense of human rights and America’s claims that it supports the freedom of the peoples…” And Baina Al-Mulhim, a columnist for the government daily Al-Riyadh, asked whether the U.S. had “sold out the Syrian revolution.” Al-Zaydi’s commentary noted that the prevailing assessment of Obama comes not just from his political foes.

It also comes from “proponents of his own school of thought, like the well-known American author David Ignatius, who recently wrote a critique of the Obama administration’s policy that was not confined to foreign [policy] affairs … Summarizing the problematic aspects of Obama’s conduct, he said that the public is more afraid of a weak administration than a strong one!”

Al-Zaydi noted Lebanese-American writer Fuad ‘Ajami slammed Obama for his feebleness, his lack of leadership, and his inability to take bold decisions under difficult circumstances.
“Evidence of Obama’s narrow approach to the Syrian crisis can be found in statements he made to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in their meeting several days ago. [He said that] there was no ‘magic solution’ to the escalating Syrian crisis and that a realistic solution was needed, [namely] a non-ideal political solution,” al-Zaydi wrote.

“[But Obama] is the one who complicated the Syrian problem and caused the wound to grow deeper, the bloodshed [to continue] … the voices to grow louder and the thugs to interfere, from Hassan Nasrallah’s militia … to the young men who come from all over [the world] to fight jihad in [the ranks of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated organization] Jabhat Al-Nusra.”
He continued, “The U.S. is currently living under one of the weakest leaders in its [history] … while Russia has a firm and determined leader. This becomes even sadder when you realize that the U.S. is believed to be supporting the Syrian rebels while Russia [is considered] a supporter of the [Syrian] regime. In this situation, the alliance [between the U.S. and the rebels] is a liability more than an asset. …”

The writer charged that Obama’s “policy of wholesale retreat” ultimately will cause more problems.
“[We must conclude that] this is not a skilled statesman and politician with creative solutions, but an ordinary academic who repeats meaningless slogans and does not possess the political sensitivity to give each factor the weight it deserves, to take bold [action] when necessary and to refrain [from action] when necessary

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/saudi-voice-calls-obama-a-failure/#hzD8CPOWhrwFwHi2.99

Mr Obama Is All Ears But Hears Nothing

This right on the mark in so many ways - good humor is the order of the day.

Obama Predicted Economic Failure As His Agenda? Fundamental Change

" If elected I will cause electric rates to skyrocket as I cap 'green house' gases through 'Cap and Trade' legislation. No matter what I say about coal or natural gas, the higher rates caused by this new legislation will be passed on the consumers". This is something that I found incredible when I first heard it back in 2007. What I found even more in credible was the media didn't care what this man said, no matter how inconsistent it was with true historical American values.

Luckily for us, Cap and Trade failed.

One thing about Mr Obama, he told us what he will do to this country if he got elected back in 2008, and he has been true to his word, " I will fundamentally change this country", and as anyone with half a brain can conclude, he has.

How did this happen in America that one man could do so much damage while the entire population stands by wondering what happened and what will happen next, rather then how to stop him from finally driving the final nail in our collective coffins.

Many among the population see the elections in 2014 as a turning point in our history, just as we saw the same thing in 2008 and again in 2012. The predictions of disaster have proven out but have fallen on deaf ears. But what now?

 If the electorate can wake up and give the Conservatives super majorities in the house and Senate, this country will have a chance to turn itself around. On the other hand, if the Conservative lose the House to the progressives then the "fundamental change" will be complete.

Understand, if this country is lost to progressive socialism, it really won't be Mr Obama fault, it will be because the majority of voters want it that way. Right or wrong, it is what it is.

The Progressive IRS Decides Personal Freedom : Who Gets It & Who Doesn't

Is this the worst abuse of power ever from our progressive liberal Democrat controlled federal government? I really don't know as there seems to be more information coming out every day showing just how deep this atrocity goes.

But the one thing I do know, and it scared me a lot is, a majority of the population has no clue just what is means to them as taxpayers let alone how it impacts their personal freedoms. Worse, of course, they don't care.

Swedish Roits - Youths or Muslim Terrorists?

I'm sure the Swedes are having the same problem that we are and that is identifying just who actually is in the streets and what they are doing. Remember Fort Hood? Work place violence?

When the media and Western governments make an effort to describe Muslim atrocities as violence as a way to solve the problem of terror attacks only encourages more attacks. One has to wonder, and fear, where this all will end, and if and when the world will wake in time to save its self.

The United States can use these riots in Sweden as what is coming here in the near future. The terrorists can easily come to the conclusion we don't have the will to stop such riots given how we identify Muslim jihad, that is terror. Like the Swedes, we choose to ignore reality and go about our way.

But when the fire bombs start landing in our streets, our progressive socialist liberal majority will have some 'strawman' to blame while wringing their collective hands in mock confusion. Behind closed doors, the progressives set back and marvel at how well the plan is working. Chaos. The progressive agenda moves forward.

Youth rioting' in Sweden? It's the Muslims, stupid
Jerome R. Corsi
Sunday, May 26, 2013

(WND News)
The nightly rioting in Stockholm that establishment media ascribes merely to “youths,” is being carried out by Muslim immigrants.
Muslim immigrants in Sweden now total slightly more than 6 percent of the population, providing additional support for the maxim that a Muslim population of 5 percent is a tipping point for political turmoil. In other countries, Muslim immigrants at that point have begun to seek concessions, including, typically, the right to govern themselves by Shariah, or Islamic law.

      

In Sweden, the Muslim population has doubled in the last 14 years, with Muslims now accounting for over 41 percent of Sweden’s total population growth. The growth reflects not only increasing Islamic immigration but also a disproportionately high birth rate in a nation in which the native birth rate is trending toward zero-growth.

According to European Union statistics, an estimated 574,000 Muslims lived in Sweden in 2012, making up 6.05 percent of the population, compared to 1998, when there were 284,000 Muslims, or 3.21 percent of the total population. The EU currently estimates that at current rates of growth, the Muslim population will reach 40 percent of the total population in Sweden by 2030.

While Sweden does not keep welfare statistics specifically for Muslims, experts estimate from available government welfare statistics on the foreign-born that somewhere between 70 and 80 percent of Sweden’s welfare payments go to Muslims, with the percentage on the rise.
In Stockholm, the rioting in recent days has centered on Husby, a low-income suburb of Stockholm with some 12,000 residents. Approximately 80 percent are first- or second-generation Muslim immigrants from Turkey, the Middle East and Somalia.

Swedish police estimated that about 200 Muslim youths were responsible for the violence last week that set hundreds of cars and several buildings on fire with Molotov cocktails, including a parking garage fire that forced the evacuation of residents of an adjacent apartment block.
After setting cars on fire, masked Muslim youths waited to pelt with rocks any police responding to calls.
Husby residents claimed the violence was in retaliation for the police shooting death May 13 of a 69-year-old man. The police claim they were acting in self-defense, shooting the man after he attacked police with a machete when they broke down the door to an apartment where the man had locked himself up with the woman.
Several YouTube videos by amateurs show graphically the violence in Husby beginning May 19.

Reports indicate Megafonen, a “youth activist group” funded by the city, planned the Husby riots. Police in riot gear scuffled with Muslim gangs roaming freely in Husby. Some 200 organized Muslim youth rioters armed with rocks and Molotov cocktails stood near the burning cars awaiting to pelt with rocks and Molotov cocktails police and fire departments responding.

The Muslim riots in the suburbs outside Stockholm bear a strong resemblance to the Muslim riots that began Oct. 27, 2005, in suburbs outside Paris. Several common elements between the rioting in France in 2005, and again in 2012, with the rioting currently occurring in Stockholm:

• Unemployed Muslim youth immigrants from welfare families relocated from Africa to Europe begin the riot in early evening by tossing Molotov cocktails to set parked cars on fire;
• The violence is intensified and spread by mobs of Muslim gangs running wild through the suburb streets, spreading to the area in which cars and buildings are torched;
• When police and fire department units respond, the Muslim rioters lie in wait to pelt them with rocks, sticks and Molotov cocktails.

In February, the Economist reported that in Sweden, only 51 percent of non-Europeans have a job, compared with over 84 percent of native Swedes. “The Nordic countries need to persuade their citizens that they are getting a good return on their taxes,” the Economist noted, “but mass immigration is creating a class of people who are permanently dependent upon the state.”
In Sweden, 26 percent of all prisoners and 50 percent of prisoners serving more than five years are foreigners, the Economist detailed.

Nor is the conflict limited to social-demographic characteristics and economics; it also extends to cultural differences. “Nordics fervently believe in liberal values, especially sexual equality and freedom of speech, but many of the immigrants come from countries where men and women are segregated and criticizing the prophet Muhammad is a serious offense,” the Economist concluded.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/05/youth-rioting-in-sweden-its-the-muslims-stupid/#WKLjC5dMek4uRSck.99