One Union Spends $87 Million on Democrats

Former George W. Bush campaign adviser Mark McKinnon, writing at The Daily Beast, Oct. 24, 2010:

"A record $87.5 million has been spent by one union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, to elect Democrats. Paid not by voluntary contributions from its members, but by forced union dues from workers—who are paid by taxpayers. . . .

Contrary to what Obama and the Democrats would have us believe, the Tea Party is largely fueled by small- dollar donations from American citizens in amounts of $200 or less. Beyond being untrue and unproven, the Obama money charges against Republicans are completely hypocritical. The guy who promised to "change Washington" completely reversed his promise during the campaign to abide by the limits of public financing. The Obama campaign spent almost $1 billion—and $400 million was spent by outside groups on his behalf, most of which did not disclose their donors. Now we discover unions are the largest outside spenders in this election, not the Chamber [of Commerce] or groups tied to Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie."

Obama Faces Ungrateful Electorate

See Washington Post Friday, October 22, 2010 column by Charles Krauthammer "Obama Underappreciation Syndrome" at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102104856.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

It includes:
"Obama has spent two years bestowing upon the peasantry the "New Foundation" of a more regulated, socially engineered and therefore more humane society, and they repay him with recalcitrance and outright opposition. Here he gave them Obamacare, the stimulus, financial regulation and a shot at cap-and-trade -- and the electorate remains not just unmoved but ungrateful."

Who's Against Disclosure? Supreme Court Unanimous Ruling NAACP v. Alabama (1958)

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958), was an important civil rights case brought before the United States Supreme Court.
Alabama sought to prevent the NAACP from conducting further business in the state. After the circuit court issued a restraining order, the state issued a subpoena for various records, including the NAACP's membership lists. The Supreme Court ruled that Alabama's demand for the lists had violated the right of due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
See http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=357&invol=449 "Petitioner has a right to assert on behalf of its members a claim that they are entitled under the Federal Constitution to be protected from being compelled by the State to disclose their affiliation with the Association. Pp. 458-460. [357 U.S. 449, 450]"

■ Alabama wanted to know who was supporting and financing the NAACP
■ In 1958, Supreme Court ruled unanimously that was unconstitutional
■ "they are entitled under the Federal Constitution to be protected from being compelled by the State to disclose their affiliation with the Association"
■ Barack Obama is the worst constitutional lecturer in history

Kyoto Fraud Revealed

See http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/10/14/kyoto-fraud-revealed/ and October 14, 2010 article by Walter Russell Mead. It includes:
■ "When the idiotic Kyoto Protocol was put before the US Senate, 95 senators voted against this confused and destructive initiative on the grounds that, as designed, the measure would simply ship American jobs to China and other countries without reducing greenhouse gasses."
■ "For years, green activists have mourned and bemoaned the shortsightedness of the US. How could we sit out from something so noble, so planet saving, so wise as the sacred Kyoto Protocol?"
■ " The EU ratified Kyoto, and Americans were then treated to years of vainglorious Euro-puffery about the nobility, the wisdom and the self-sacrificial idealism of the cutting edge eco-warriors of the Green Continent."
■ "But a couple of recent studies now seem to show that Kyoto was as big a fraud as the most militant enviro-skeptics ever suspected. The much heralded Protocol was a singularly stupid piece of counterproductive social engineering that encouraged the migration of good jobs to China and other low wage countries — without helping the environment at all."
■ "while the EU’s emission of CO2 declined by 17% between 1990 and 2010, this apparent progress was bogus. If you add up the CO2 released by the goods and services Europeans consumed, as opposed to the CO2 thrown off by the goods and services they produced, the EU was responsible for 40% more CO2 in 2010 than in 1990. The EU, as the Guardian puts it, has been outsourcing pollution — and jobs — rather than cutting back on greenhouse gasses."

Tax System Explained in Beer

Tax System explained in beer….
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.
So the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $ 5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the
restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
'I only got a dollar out of the $ 20,'declared the sixth man.
He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!'
'Yeah, that's right,' exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a Dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more
than I!'
'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the
breaks!'
'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay thehighest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Radical U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron Take Power from Central Government and Give to the People

U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron Oct 6, 2010 speech. What a speech, see http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/conference/2010/10/government-work-society-money

In it he said: "We are the radicals now, breaking apart the old system with a massive transfer for power, from the state to citizens." "Not about a bit more power for you and a bit less power for central government - it's a revolution."

Cameron also said:
• "An emergency budget to balance the books in five years.
• For our new entrepreneurs - employees' tax reduced.
• when more and more countries have or want nuclear weapons, we will always keep our ultimate insurance policy, we will renew our nuclear deterrent based on the Trident missile system.
• the man responsible for the Lockerbie bombing, the biggest mass murderer in British history, set free to get a hero's welcome in Tripoli. No. It was wrong, it undermined our standing in the world, and nothing like that must ever happen again.
• Labour [party] left us with massive debts, the highest deficit, overstretched armed forces, demoralised public services, endless ridiculous rules and regulations and quangos and bureaucracy and nonsense.
• The old way of doing things: the high-spending, all-controlling, heavy-handed state, those ideas were defeated. Statism lost ... society won. That's what happened at the last election and that's the change we're leading.
• It's about government helping to build a nation of doers and go-getters, where people step forward not sit back, where people come together to make life better.
• Yes you, Labour. You want us to spend more money on ourselves, today, to keep racking up the bills, today and leave it to our children - the ones who had nothing to do with all this - to pay our debts tomorrow? That is selfish and irresponsible.
• Many government departments will have their budgets cut by, on average, 25% over four years. That's a cut each year of around 7%.
• make sure kids from the poorest homes go to the best schools not the worst, recognise marriage in the tax system and, most of all, make sure that work really pays for every single person in our country
• Taking more money from the man who goes out to work long hours each day so the family next door can go on living a life on benefits without working - is that fair?
• if you can work, but refuse to work, we will not let you live off the hard work of others.
• a new enterprise allowance that gives money and support to unemployed people who want to start their own business.
• We're going to start by taking power away from central government and giving it to people.
• More freedom for local councils to keep more of the money when they attract business to their area, to finance big new infrastructure projects and to run new services.
• More power for neighbourhoods to keep local pubs open, stop post offices from closing, to run local parks, to plan the look, shape and feel of their area.
• This is not about a bit more power for you and a bit less power for central government - it's a revolution.
• if anyone tells you that all we need to improve our hospitals and schools or keep our streets safe is more money, tell them, been there, done that and it didn't work.
• Saying to the people who work in our public services - set up as a co-operative, be your own boss, do things your way.
• Saying to business, faith groups, charities, social enterprises - come in and provide a great service.
• There is such an appetite out there for people to play their part. Our job is to help them, encourage them, break down the barriers that stop them.
• A government that believes in people, that trusts people, that knows its ultimate role is not to take from people but to give, to give power, to give control, to give everyone the chance to make the most of their own life and make better the lives of others."

'94 Again - Republicans to Gain 100 House Seats - 1894!

See Michael Barone October 4, 2010 column "Gallup’s astonishing numbers and the Lake Superior congressional districts"
Gallup came out with new numbers on the generic ballot question—which party’s candidates would you vote for in the election for House of Representatives?
House of Representatives, Gallup polls
"Under its 'low turnout model' Republicans lead 56%-38%"

In 1894, Republicans picked up 130 seats

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/gallups-astonishing-numbers-and-the-lake-superior-congressional-districts-104321583.html#ixzz11c23oKU6

Back from the dead: One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again

See Daily Mail Sept 29, 2010 article at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315964/One-extinct-animals-turn-again.html by David Derbyshire Environment Editor
• “Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.”
• “A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.”