Washington Post: “Hey, Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Plan Is Rather Disingenuous, Eh?”

By William Teach December 5, 2012 – 8:09 am

Late yesterday, the Washington Post editorial board determined that the “Opening bids on ‘fiscal cliff’ talks are too small“. After spending most of the opening part of the editorial attacking John Boehner’s opening bid (surprising, eh?), we learn

What’s worrisome, though, is that the two sides are slipping into a kind of tacit agreement to scale back the size of an ultimate debt-reduction package. The president billed his plan as $4.4 trillion worth of debt reduction over 10 years. But $2.4 trillion of that comes from lower interest payments, alleged savings from winding down overseas wars Mr. Obama never planned to fight and discretionary cuts that were legislated a year ago. Mr. Boehner’s letter similarly identifies only $2.2 trillion of new revenues and cuts.

Well, I’m glad they finally told us that Obama’s plan, which he has been playing with for over a year now (and which he formalized once the presidential debates were over with) is a load of mule fritters chalk full of imaginary savings and cuts already planned. The rest of Obama’s plan pretty much comes from tax increases, from raising the marginal rate on “the rich” (which starts with the upper middle class), taxes through Obama(not)Care (which will also hit the middle and lower classes), raising capital gains, and many others. We’ll supposedly get a whopping $2 trillion in debt/deficit reduction out of it over 10 years. Which we all know will never be used for that purpose. Boehner’s is not much better, but at least the plan actually reduced the debt/deficit.

It will take more than that to dent the debt. A new report from a Bipartisan Policy Center task force headed by former senator Pete Domenici, a Republican, and former budget director Alice Rivlin, a Democrat, suggests that it would take $2.8 trillion in fresh cuts and revenue to stabilize the debt at 69 percent of gross domestic product by 2022 — above historical levels but sustainable. It would appear that Republicans and Democrats must not only come together but also raise their sights.

What we have is a spending problem, not a revenue problem. The government spends too darned much, and wastes it. Government is inherently wasteful. They fail to treat the money as their own and spend it wisely. The whole system is foolish. Yet, if we want to increase revenue, the best way is to get the economy roaring, to get people working, and to get those “evil rich” people to spend their money, which would mean more money ending up in governmental coffers after it has flowed through the private economy.

Read: Washington Post: “Hey, Obama’s Fiscal Cliff Plan Is Rather Disingenuous, Eh?” »

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Think Progress: “Know What’s Really Behind The War On Christmas? Hotcoldwetdry”

By William Teach December 5, 2012 – 7:42 am

It’s that time of the year when Warmists start trotting out their stories linking Christmas and globull warming. Perhaps George Soros funded Think Progress should ask the Obama’s, who have 54 Christmas trees

Global Warming Is Behind The Real War On Christmas

It’s that time of year when Fox News and other conservative media outlets revive their imaginary “War on Christmas.” But the actual threat to one Christmas tradition comes from something more insidious than Fox’s perceived attacks: Extreme drought, fueled by climate change, has hit the Christmas tree market.

2012′s relentless drought will likely last through the rest of the winter, at least in the midwest, as areas under severe drought expanded in November. Right now, 63 percent of the lower 48 states are experiencing drought conditions: (snip)

One study after another shows that the U.S. will only face increasingly severe, frequent droughts, with global warming as the culprit.

I’ll give Rebecca Leber some props for using the phrase “global warming” a few times, though she used climate change a bit, as well. What she forgot to do was provide definitive proof that Mankind’s actions are behind the rise in temperatures that occurred since the end of the Little Ice Age, particularly since the 1930’s were warmer than today, and the drought was considerably worse. The previous warm periods were likewise warmer. There has been no increase in global temperatures in 16 years, despite rising CO2 levels. This has all been a primarily natural swing in temperatures, with much of the apparent increase being due to land use and the Urban Heat Island Effect.

Furthermore, AGW believers always fail to tell us what changes they’ve introduced into their own lives to reduce their own “carbon footprint.” I’ll believe it’s a crisis when they act like it’s a crisis. They should all run out and get rid of their minivans and big SUVs and purchase Chevy Volt’s, for starters.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Think Progress: “Know What’s Really Behind The War On Christmas? Hotcoldwetdry” »

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Owning A Gun Is Like Being A KKK Member

By William Teach December 4, 2012 – 4:12 pm

Especially if you’re a member of the NRA (via Hot Air)

(Daily Caller) “Sports gets so much attention, and people tune out the real world, that I try to take advantage of the opportunity to talk about the real world when sports lends itself to that and try to open people’s eyes,” Whitlock said.

“You know, I did not go as far as I’d like to go because my thoughts on the NRA and America’s gun culture — I believe the NRA is the new KKK. And that the arming of so many black youths, uh, and loading up our community with drugs, and then just having an open shooting gallery, is the work of people who obviously don’t have our best interests [at heart].”

The problem is, of course, that most of these “black youths” (and Latino and even whites) are not obtaining the guns in the inner city communities legally. Quite a few of them are gang members who care little for the law (just watch Gangland on Spike TV on Friday’s). Perhaps Roland Martin should concern himself more with just why so many “black youths” turn to crime and drugs. It’s not because of guns. Perhaps he should wonder why this is tolerated by Liberals, who tut tut and refuse to get tough.

And what Liberals like Martin want is to take guns out of the hands of law abiding citizens who usually have guns for protecting from criminals. Make sure to read this open letter to Costas at Doubleplusundead.

Oh, and Bob Costas stands by his remarks.

Read: Owning A Gun Is Like Being A KKK Member »

Posted in 2nd Amendment, Unhinged Tools | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach December 4, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is an ocean that will rise up 200 feet and cause islands to tip over, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Ice Age Now, with a post on how Russian drivers are dealing with globull warming. Though Robert’s headline should probably have been something like “Russian schoolkids won’t know what getting home looks like”

Read: If All You See… »

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Bummer: EV Infrastructure Lagging In Brokeifornia

By William Teach December 4, 2012 – 10:25 am

While I support the concept of electric vehicles, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels which isn’t particularly clean and environmentally friendly (again, I’m not referring to CO2 output), this is absurd

(Grist) About a third of the electric cars in the U.S. are spinning on California roads, but the state still has much work to do to build the charging infrastructure to support them.

…..But building up the infrastructure isn’t simple, as KQED reports:

Still, a multitude of challenges face NRG and other charging companies, like Bay Area-based ChargePoint andEcotality. Fast chargers produce very high voltage. They require complicated permitting. And they cost upward of $40,000 each.

Right now, the financials don’t add up says NRG’s Terry O’Day.

“The public charging infrastructure is extraordinarily expensive and there aren’t enough cars right now so there isn’t an effective business model to make the investment work,” he says.

OK, so what we’re looking at is not only a monumentally expensive proposition (hey, which income class benefits most from these expensive EV’s?) but Warmists expect the taxpaying public to fully subsidize the build-out. Notice in the first excerpted paragraph, the mention of “the state”. That means “The Government” has to do it. And the people will also subsidize the use of the charging stations, ie, “the public charging infrastructure.”

Still, what the state might lack in competence in makes up for in enthusiasm….

In Liberal World, it is all about intentions, not results.

Read: Bummer: EV Infrastructure Lagging In Brokeifornia »

Posted in Energy, Global Warming | 6 Comments | Trackback URL

Obama, Dems Quietly Look To Nail Those Evil Producers With Even Higher Marginal Rates

By William Teach December 4, 2012 – 8:16 am

Because success should be punished, comrades!

(Politico) Tax rate increases aren’t the only way in which Democrats are aiming to collect more tax dollars from the rich — they’re also looking to resurrect a dormant pair of oddly named laws that targeted the wealthy for decades.

Some call them gimmicks, some call them a step toward a more progressive tax system — and now Democrats want to use them to solve $12 billion worth of the looming fiscal cliff.

Known as PEP and Pease, they’re a little bit like the original “Buffett rule.”

The Personal Exemption Phase-out, or PEP, and the “Pease” deduction cap — named for the late Rep. Don Pease (D-Ohio) — were introduced in the 1990s to try to help balance the budget by getting the rich to chip in more. PEP reduced the value of exemptions for high-income earners by as much as 2 percent for every $2,500 earned over a set amount. Pease limited itemized deductions for the wealthy.

Seriously, Team Obama and The Donkeys can’t find a measly $12 billion in cuts somewhere? Is there anything that they are willing to cut? Well, the military, of course. Not programs that involve drone strikes: Obama really seems to like the ability to personally pick which Islamist will get a wake up call from one.

The two provisions were a persistent thorn in the side of doctors, lawyers and upper middle-class families of all stripes until they were gradually put out to pasture as part of the 2001 Bush-era tax cuts.

Wait, wait, “upper middle class”? So, all this talk of starting at $200k/$250k means that middle class people are going to get a tax hike? And this notion of reinstating PEP and Pease will hurt them more? And doctors will get nailed? Wow, great plan!

Democrats say the plan would allow taxpayers to ease into the new restrictions and increase revenue without the rate-raising that Republicans vehemently oppose. Viewed as a way to increase taxes on the wealthy that could achieve similar goals with less opposition, the two programs are becoming a more frequent part of the number-crunching going on behind the scenes on the Hill.

What we see is that the entire “fiscal cliff” plan from Obama and the Democrats is focused solely on “new revenue”, ie, taxes, and spending it. There seems to be virtually no debt/deficit reduction involved. The GOP made a $2.2 trillion debt reduction offer Monday, which Obama dismissed out of hand. Obama has no plan (take that with both meanings) to reduce the debt or the deficit. Any new revenue will be spent. The debt will continue to balloon. The brokeyest broke nation in history will continue to get broker. And the economy will continue to stagnate.

Read: Obama, Dems Quietly Look To Nail Those Evil Producers With Even Higher Marginal Rates »

Posted in Barry Obama, Democrats, Taxation | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

Hamas Pushes To Get Themselves Removed As A Terrorist Organization

By William Teach December 4, 2012 – 7:37 am

This is a group that has launched numerous attacks specifically on civilians, including over 1,500 rockets launched towards Israel during the recent violence. A group whose stated goal is the destruction of Israel, and calls for jihad against all Jews. And their talking points sound remarkably just like the those of Progressives

(The Blaze) Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Sunday to a European delegation that Hamas is a “national liberation movement” seeking only to defend itself against Israeli “aggression,” the Jerusalem Post reports.

“It is no exaggeration to say that the occupation is committing war crimes, given the cruelty and hardship our people faced in these eight days of war,” he added, saying Hamas eventually aims for “a Palestinian state with complete sovereignty, with Jerusalem as its capital, and the return of the refugees to the lands they owned in 1948.”

They had been recently willing to go back to 1967 borders (wink wink). Now they want 1948 borders? And all of Jerusalem? This would essentially destroy the state if Israel, leaving a good chunk of the Israeli people to live under hardcore Islamist rule. And, again, the talking points sound eerily similar to what progresses and Israel haters say.

“We have no problem with Jews worldwide, and we don’t oppose Jews because of their Jewish identity,” Channel 10 reportedly quoted him saying.  “We have a problem with the occupation that controls our land.”

Except, their Charter “calls for the fulfillment of the Qur’anic scripture which reads: “The prophet [Mohammad] said: The time will not come until Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!”

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Hamas Pushes To Get Themselves Removed As A Terrorist Organization »

Posted in Israel, RoP, War On Terrorism | 4 Comments | Trackback URL

Weird: We’re Climate Building Around The World Instead Of Here At Home

By William Teach December 3, 2012 – 3:11 pm

One of Obama’s constant refrains (besides blamestorming) is that we should be nation building here at home. So why are we wasting money elsewhere?

(Washington Post) The mapping technology is part of a collaboration by the space agency and the U.S. Agency for International Development that helps cash-strapped nations deal with the challenges of a changing climate. Over the past three years, the United States has ratcheted up support for foreign countries to cope with global warming, spending nearly $1.4 billion. A small slice of the total, $18 million, has transformed the satellite-based mapping program, called SERVIR, from a modest effort targeting seven countries in Central America to one serving 32 countries worldwide.

Sure, it’s not a lot of money in terms of government outlays, but imagine how many Americans could be fed. How many roads and bridges could be fixed. Instead, we waste it on tracking the weather which has always changed and always will.

Read: Weird: We’re Climate Building Around The World Instead Of Here At Home »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Global Warming | 16 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach December 3, 2012 – 1:00 pm

…is a world flooded because someone charged their iPhone, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Theodore’s World, with a post on Dems loving socialism.

BTW, someone asked me what the women bloggers I link to in these posts think. I have no idea. None have said anything negative. Yet. But, it just so happens that there are quite a few women bloggers on my blogroll. Who write very good things. So I end up linking them.

Read: If All You See… »

Posted in If All You See | 7 Comments | Trackback URL

Taiwanese Artist Takes Unnecessary Fossil Fueled Trip To Showcase “Animal Delegates”

By William Teach December 3, 2012 – 11:40 am

Another day, another climate hypocrite spreading awareness while living a big CO2 lifestyle

(Focus Taiwan) A Taiwanese artist is displaying his latest project “Animal Delegates,” which highlights global warming issues, at an exhibition being held alongside a U.N. climate summit in Qatar.

Invited to be a member of Tuvalu’s delegation to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, Vincent J.F. Huang is using the project, which features some of the creatures that could be the first victims of global warming, to highlight the environmental crisis in the South Pacific island country.

He’s also taken several fossil fueled flights to showcase his art in the island nation of Tuvalu, which some say is destined for DOOOOOOOOOM from hotcoldwetdry, but no one seems to mention that these types of islands were created when the seas were much much higher, being made of coral. Which lives under the sea.

The animals are likely to be among the first victims of global warming, said Huang, who has been involved in eco art for about 10 years, with a focus on global warming.

How about Warmists start living the carbon neutral lifestyle, instead of simply spreading awareness? Act like it’s a crisis, and I’ll believe it’s a crisis.

Read: Taiwanese Artist Takes Unnecessary Fossil Fueled Trip To Showcase “Animal Delegates” »

Posted in Climahypocrites, Global Warming | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
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