Autocrat-lite POTUS To Unilaterally Raise Minimum Wage For Federal Contractors

By William Teach January 28, 2014 – 8:52 am

I’m sure Team Obama gave long, careful thought to this, weighing the pros and cons, considering the costs….or, really, sat around in a bull session which included political wonks, none with any experience in the private market, saying “how can we pump up he moonbat base”?

(NY Times) President Obama plans to sign an executive order requiring that janitors, construction workers and others working for federal contractors be paid at least $10.10 an hour, using his own power to enact a more limited version of a policy that he has yet to push through Congress.

The order, which Mr. Obama will highlight in his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday night, is meant to underscore an increasing willingness by the president to bypass Congress if lawmakers continue to resist his agenda, aides said. After a year in which most of his legislative priorities went nowhere, Mr. Obama is seeking ways to make progress without cooperation on Capitol Hill.

The Times unintentional includes what could happen

But the minimum wage order will also illustrate the limits of that approach. If Congress increased the federal minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.25 as Mr. Obama has sought, 21 million employees would eventually get a raise unless their jobs were eliminated, according to estimates by a liberal research organization. Mr. Obama’s order at most is likely to affect several hundred thousand workers.

Who will pay for this bump in pay? You the taxpayer. Federal contractors will simply pass on the costs to the Government. Some jobs will also be lost. We could see what’s called “Increased productivity”, meaning fewer workers making up the work, along with increased technological solutions. Think ATMs. We certainly won’t see all the negative effects for these companies that one sees for companies that do not survive at the teet of the federal government, but there is a question in terms of a president unilaterally requiring that anyone who does business with the federal government to pay a minimum of $10.10 an hour. Remember, there is that pesky Constitution to consider, which requires equal protection under the law. Many of these companies do business with the private sector, and will be at a disadvantage with competitors, those who do not deal with Los Federales.

This is simply a populist move based on patronizing the Democrat base, with no bearing on economics or reality. If Republicans were smart they’d point out that the last minimum wage hike was passed by Republicans, with most Dems voting against it. The last one was part of an Iraq spending  bill. That may not be fair, but, hey, life isn’t fair.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Autocrat-lite POTUS To Unilaterally Raise Minimum Wage For Federal Contractors »

Posted in Barry Obama, Economy | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Bummer: Too Cold For A Polar Bear Plunge

By William Teach January 27, 2014 – 3:54 pm

On the bright side, at least they weren’t doing it to highlight “climate change”

(NBC Washington) Apparently, it can be too cold even for people who, for some reason, enjoy running into icy water, over and over again.

The 18th annual Maryland State Police Polar Bear Plunge at Sandy Point State Park in Maryland was canceled Saturday morning due to bitter cold and winds that whipped drifts of snow and ice onto the shoreline.

Saturday’s plunge was expected to have as many as 7,000 participants. It also features so-called Super Plungers, who dip into the water repeatedly over 24 hours. All the Super Plungers had raised at least $10,000 for charity.

One set of Super Plungers hit the water at 10 a.m. Friday. About 500 law enforcement officers — including some from Prince George’s County — took a dip at noon to raise money for the Special Olympics.

But even those devoted souls said the conditions were challenging. There was ice in the water, which complicated the start of the plunge.

“There’s no running today, because there’s ice in the water and the ice will cut your legs,” one participant said.

It was just too darned cold to do it Saturday. Brutal winds and temperatures. Shame, because they were raising money for the Special Olympics. How is this possible in the era of “climate change”?

Read: Bummer: Too Cold For A Polar Bear Plunge »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 27, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…is horrible greenhouse gas caused snow and cold, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is The People’s Cube, with an idea on how to reduce mall shootings.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Two Gun Companies Bid California Adieu

By William Teach January 27, 2014 – 11:12 am

Fortunately, Californians can still get Joe Biden approved shotguns, as well as using forceful language against gang bangers and criminal illegal aliens

(Fox News) A new gun law proponents say helps law enforcement has driven Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger out of California, and affirmed the suspicions of firearms rights advocates that the measure is really about making handguns obsolete.

The two companies have announced they will stop selling their wares in the nation’s most populous state rather than try to comply with a law that requires some handguns to have technology that imprints a tiny stamp on the bullet so it can be traced back to the gun. The companies, and many gun enthusiasts, say so-called “microstamping” technology is unworkable in its present form and can actually impair a gun’s performance.

“Smith & Wesson does not and will not include microstamping in its firearms,” the Springfield, Mass.,-based manufacturer said in a statement. “A number of studies have indicated that microstamping is unreliable, serves no safety purpose, is cost prohibitive and, most importantly, is not proven to aid in preventing or solving crimes.”

Part of the problem is that the technology isn’t viable yet, but the legislative requirement is being enforced. Don’t be surprised if other gun makers stop selling their products in CA. Which is probably the point.

Read: Two Gun Companies Bid California Adieu »

Posted in 2nd Amendment | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Are You Ready For Another Massive Polar Plunge?

By William Teach January 27, 2014 – 7:11 am

Is this what Warmists mean when they yammer on about the dangers of “climate change”

(Accuweather) The next blast of brutal cold will grip most of the eastern two-thirds of the United States early this week and could yield the lowest temperatures so far this winter in many communities.

While harsh cold is returning to the Midwest and Northeast this weekend, it will pale in comparison to what will follow for Monday through Wednesday.

The impending polar plunge will rival the frigid days from earlier this January for the coldest daytime highs and nighttime lows so far this winter. This does not include South Florida.

The arctic air first plunged into the Upper Midwest, northern Plains and northern Rockies on Sunday and is expected to continue pressing to the south and east through Tuesday.

There is a big concern about frozen pipes, outdoor pets and livestock, and frostbite. And there will be plenty of snow in places

While Detroit already set a January snow record, the clipper may cause other Midwestern cities to follow suit. Once the cold takes up residence, the lake-effect snow machine will be cranked up across the Great Lakes.

Wasn’t snow supposed to be a thing of the past? Chicago has seen its snowiest January on record, and more snow than normal for winter. Indianapolis is looking at the same boat, as are many, many Midwest towns and states.

Here in Raleigh, it is supposed to be 29 on Tuesday. If so, it will only be the 4th time since 1950 where January had 4 days of sub 30F highs. Of course, the Warmists will trot out the talking points about greenhouse gases “causing more extremes. Hotter in the summer and colder in the winter”. Which only makes sense once we realize this has nothing to do with science and everything to do with politics. Oh, and that Warmists are non-thinking anti-science fools who’ll buy any-old snake oil.

Read: Are You Ready For Another Massive Polar Plunge? »

Posted in Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 36 Comments | Trackback URL

WH: Obama Will Look To Work With Congress, Except When He Won’t

By William Teach January 27, 2014 – 6:54 am

What’s the over/under on the number of times Mr. Obama will say “if Congress won’t act, I will”, adding the silly “I’ve got a pen and a phone”?

(Politico) President Barack Obama will deliver an “optimistic” State of the Union address Tuesday prodding Congress to address economic mobility and income inequality — or risk an end-run by the White House.

In an email to supporters Saturday, senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote that Obama “will lay out a set of real, concrete, practical proposals to grow the economy, strengthen the middle class, and empower all who hope to join it.”

No one can possibly believe Obama will do anything other than offer the same hopey-changey generic policy prescriptions, do they?

Obama will then take his message on the road Wednesday for a two-day trip through Prince George’s County in Maryland, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Nashville. When he returns to the White House, Obama will outline new efforts to help the long-term unemployed, Pfeiffer wrote.

So, campaign mode. And it contradicts what second paragraph in the excerpt says in terms of offering concrete proposals during the SOTU. Yet, it wouldn’t matter, because they won’t be any different. Team Obama ran out of ideas sometime in 2009.

“In this year of action, the president will seek out as many opportunities as possible to work with Congress in a bipartisan way,” Pfeiffer wrote. “But when American jobs and livelihoods depend on getting something done, he will not wait for Congress.

We call that “soft tyranny”. He doesn’t seem to grasp that he’s the POTUS, not president of Venezuela or some other dictatorial country.

“President Obama has a pen and he has a phone, and he will use them to take executive action and enlist every American — business owners and workers, mayors and state legislators, young people, veterans, and folks in communities from across the country — in the project to restore opportunity for all,” he said. “It will be an optimistic speech. Thanks to the grit and determination of citizens like you, America has a hard-earned right to that optimism.”

Yes, he has a pen. Congratulations. How’s that working out? He wrote “It’s. The. Law.” regarding Obamacare, then proceeded to change and delay numerous parts. The phone? He barely calls anyone in his own Party in Congress. And he seems to want to do what he always does: put the work on other people, rather than himself.

As for optimism, they can say it, but it won’t be optimistic, not by a longshot. Expect to hear lots of talking points pre-speech and for the rest of the week from Admin. peeps and Democrat wonks about it being so optimistic. It’ll be petulant, angry, pie-in-the-sky, and hardcore Progressive, with lots of blame and demonizing.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: WH: Obama Will Look To Work With Congress, Except When He Won’t »

Posted in Barry Obama | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Climate Change “Could” Melt The Olympics

By William Teach January 26, 2014 – 3:44 pm

And people who take fossil fueled flights and automotive rides all over the world are like, super concerned. Here’s Time’s resident climahysteric, Bryan Walsh

Climate Change Could Melt the Winter Olympics

Among the other worries about the upcoming Winter Games in Sochi—terrorism, empty seats, Shaun White’s new haircut—is something even the czar himself, Russian President Vladimir Putin, can’t control: the weather.

The seaside city of Sochi is actually subtropical, with daily high temperatures around 50 F (10 C), and even though the Alpine events will be held on mountains dozens of miles away from Sochi, organizers are worried that rain and high temperatures will wash out the Games—just as they did in Vancouver during the unseasonably warm winter of 2010. Organizers will do their best to counter the climate with hundreds of snow guns and 710,000 cu m (25.85 million cu ft) of snow stashed from the year before, but Sochi could make for a soggy Games.

It likely won’t be the last. A report (PDF) from the University of Waterloo in Canada and Management Center Innsbruck in Austria found that only six of the previous 19 Winter Olympic cities will remain cold enough to reliably host the Games by the end of the century should the most dire predictions of global warming come true. Even by mid-century, close to half of the previous host cities would likely be too warm for outdoor sports like Alpine skiing and snowboarding. That includes cities like Squaw Valley in California (1960), Chamonix in France (1924) and Vancouver (2010). “Fewer and fewer traditional winter sports will be able to host an Olympic Winter Games in a warmer world,” said Daniel Scott, the Canada Research Chair in Global Tourism at Waterloo and the lead author of the report, in a statement.

Walsh notes that it doesn’t help that many of the Winter Olympics are held in places that aren’t necessarily conductive to holding a Winter Olympics, like Sochi. Anyhow, two points. First, none of this proves anthropogenic causation. It’s just part of a mostly natural cycle during the Holocene of a warm periods between cool periods. Second, if they’re relying on their computer models, well, the vast majority have already failed.

In April 75 Olympic medallists in skiing and snowboarding sent a letter to President Obama, urging him to take stronger action on climate change. “Without a doubt,” they wrote, “winter is in trouble.” And if climate change is bad as we fear, so are the Games.

Can we assume that these 75 medalists will refuse to take fossil fueled travel to compete/attend the Olympics? Or to travel around skiing and snowboarding?

Read: Climate Change “Could” Melt The Olympics »

Posted in AGW Scaremongering, Global Warming | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach January 26, 2014 – 1:00 pm

…are flowers that will soon grow in the Arctic because Someone Else refuses to turn the heat down to 60 during cold snaps, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Atlas Shrugs, with a post on the NY Times and global jihad.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 2 Comments | Trackback URL

Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

By William Teach January 26, 2014 – 9:45 am

Happy Sunday! Another gorgeous day in the Once And Future Nation of America. This pinup is by Earl Moran with a wee bit of help.

What is happening in Ye Olde Blogosphere? The Fine 15

  1. Michelle Obama’s Mirror discusses “Cheese Day”
  2. Jihad Watch notices all that lovely tolerance from the ROP
  3. Raised On Hoecakes brings the best in Olympic Curling outfits
  4. Public Secrets isn’t impressed by Schumer calling for the use of the IRS to target enemies of Democrats
  5. Sister Toldjah explains why Wendy Davis is being attacked
  6. The Camp Of The Saints attempts to explain the Left and feminism
  7. The Jawa Report wonders about supporting that more “moderate al Qaeda”
  8. The Last Tradition notes Marco Rubio getting some foreign policy cred
  9. The Lonely Conservative has the latest from the People’s Insanity of San Francisco
  10. The People’s Cube explains global warming-cooling
  11. This ain’t Hell... has a feel good story
  12. Victory Girls Blog notes that this really isn’t our country anymore
  13. America Glob features Norwegian “food”
  14. Fire Andrea Mitchell says Joe Biden has blood on his hands
  15. And last, but not least, Lady Liberty 1885 notes Al Jazeera’s interest in NC
  16. And one to grow on: Watts Up With That? discusses when global warming began

As always, the full set of pinups can be seen in the Patriotic Pinup category, or over at my Gallery page. While we are on pinups, since it is that time of year, have you gotten your “Pinups for Vets” calendar yet? And don’t forget to check out what I declare to be our War on Women Rule 5 and linky luv posts

Anyone else have a link or hotty-fest going on? Let me know so I can add you to the list. (BTW, since someone asked, the reason I leave links for the previous week up (or you might see a *) is because they are place holders for later in the day or for next weeks. Easier than rewriting all the time. Also, the listing order has to do with how they are added over time, not how good a post is. I just copy and paste from the previous week, then edit. If you see one of the *’s, go ahead and check out the blog anyhow, see if there is an update. I cannot update with my Android during the day.

Read: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup »

Posted in Patriotic Pinup | 1 Comment | Trackback URL

Introspection Fail: WH Document Recommends Obama Distance Himself From Congress After Fail Year

By William Teach January 26, 2014 – 8:13 am

The Washington Post doesn’t have a “Humor” section, so I guess they had to put this article in “Politics”

Obama’s rough 2013 prompts a new blueprint

An internal White House assessment concludes that President Obama must distance himself from a recalcitrant Congress after being badly damaged last year by legislative failures, a government shutdown and his own missteps.

Obama has said that his fraught relationship with Congress, especially after Republicans won the House in 2010, complicated his ability to promote his agenda. But for the first time, following what many allies view as a lost year, the White House is reorganizing itself to support a more executive-focused presidency and inviting the rest of the government to help.

The new approach comes after weeks of internal White House debate over a single question: What went wrong in 2013? The answers will help determine the outline of the State of the Union address Obama will deliver Tuesday evening, as well as how he pursues a meaningful legacy in the remainder of his term.

Is it possible for Obama to distance himself any further from Congress? He barely talks with Congress Critters, even those of his own party. On those few occasions when he deigns to step down off the mountain, he tends to speak at them, not with them. When he gets involved with any sort of negotiations he tends to sour them. He constantly demonizes Congressional Republicans to the point where he insults Americans who voted Republican. His main contact choice is vinegar over honey. He can’t possibly get further away from Congress, except by physical proximity.

As for pushing his agenda, that’s why Republicans won the House in 2010 in a historic blowout. To stop the crazy agenda of Obama and the Democrats, especially Obamacare and the insane levels of spending, like with the failed Stimulus.

It’s nothing new that Mr. Obama wants to use the executive action route: he’s always been an authoritarian at heart. Don’t expect the agenda to change, it will be the same old Progressive playbook for 2014.

Among its conclusions is that Obama, a former state legislator and U.S. senator, too often governed more like a prime minister than a president. In a parliamentary system, a prime minister is elected by lawmakers and thus beholden to them in ways a president is not.

As a result, Washington veterans have been brought into the West Wing to emphasize an executive style of governing that aims to sidestep Congress more often. A central ambition of Obama’s presidency — to change the way Washington works — has effectively been discarded as a distraction in a time of hardening partisanship.

Except, that’s the way it works in a dictatorial government, not a Federal Republic. And, really, Obama had virtually no connections to anyone in Congress. He wasn’t there long enough (breaking his promise of serving in full his first term before running for President), he offered almost no legislation, he didn’t network. Even a benevolent dictator is still a dictator.

The White House postmortem also concluded that the administration suffered from a lack of focus in a year without an election.

Well, gee, having solved all of America’s problems, I guess there was nothing else to really focus on. Obama’s at his best when campaigning. He is a master at it, in all fairness. Actually doing the President thing? Not so much.

It’s no wonder so much of his agenda failed in 2013: he’s a distant, rather uninvolved President who still doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s abusive, abrasive, and condescending. He’s hyper-partisan, and can’t find it in himself to play nicely with those who disagree with him politically. He’s the ultimate narcissist. And he doesn’t seem to put in the necessary work. He was barely involved with the rollout of his signature legislation, the “Affordable” Care Act. He thinks spying on American’s is great. He created an atmosphere where the IRS thought targeting Conservative groups was A-OK. His Syria policy was a mess, he looked the fool when he didn’t back up his “red lines”, and Putin completely owned Obama. He has no real political friendships around the world, and few, if any, world leaders fear or respect him.

But, hey, distance from Congress or something.

Crossed at Right Wing News.

Read: Introspection Fail: WH Document Recommends Obama Distance Himself From Congress After Fail Year »

Posted in Barry Obama, Beyond Moonbat | 1 Comment | Trackback URL
Pirate's Cove