Archive for July, 2011

by David McElroy

Do people on the political left really want to help folks? Or do they just want to make sure everyone suffers equally?

–SNIP– While explaining information about the campus dorms at this very liberal school, the tour guide said:

“The two new dormitories have air conditioning, but it’s not used in any of them, because the administration doesn’t think it’s fair for some dormitories to have air conditioning while the rest don’t.”

You just can’t make things like this up.

Read more at http://www.davidmcelroy.org/?p=1669

WACO - For many in rural Central Texas, it’s one of their most enduring memories of childhood: Their first time behind the wheel of the family tractor.

The time-honored initiation into working the family farm could one day be a thing of the past, with discussions underway in Washington to require operators of farm equipment to have a commercial driver’s license, or CDL.

–SNIP– Concerned with the amount of farm equipment making short hops between fields and down public roadways, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is considering whether or not to classify agricultural machines like tractors as “commercial vehicles,” requiring a CDL to operate.

The requirements would subject farmers to the same rules governing truck drivers, requiring them to keep logs and limit their hours.

Farmers also fear the prospect of replacing family help with expensive professional drivers, something that could end up costing everyone — if it doesn’t break the bank.

by Mark Wiggins, kxxv.com, 7/27/2011

Read more at http://www.kxxv.com/story/15160248/new-rules-could-mean-less-help-higher-costs-for-family-farm

When: Sat, July 30, 2pm – 4pm
Where: Hoyt Park, Picnic Area #2, Menomonee River Pkwy, Wauwatosa

Join fellow conservatives, neighbors and friends as we celebrate summer!

Enjoy great conversation and some outstanding custard & assorted toppings!

Custard compliments of Gilles Frozen Custard. “Serving the community over 70 years”

Meet your state and local legislators. Bring your friends & neighbors.

No RSVP required. $5 adults, $2 children (should be accompanied by an adult).

Questions? Call Becky at 414-241-4116

Download the flyer for this event at http://milwaukee.wisgop.info/files/2011/07/wauwatosa_ice-cream-social-2011.pdf

A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that U.S. taxpayer money has been indirectly funneled to the Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the United States has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses.

July 26, 2011 by Marcy Bonebright, personalliberty.com, 7/26/2011

U.S. Army soldiers from the Bravo Battery of the Automatic Battalion, 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment fire at suspected enemy movements in Afghanistan’s Zabul province on July 20.

An unreleased, military-led investigation found that United States funds, provided in part to promote Afghan businesses, were actually directed to the Taliban. The funds were provided under a $2.16 billion transportation contract.

“Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll,” read an article for The Washington Post,

Read more at http://www.personalliberty.com/news/investigation-reveals-us-taxpayer-money-went-to-taliban-29050

washingtonsblog.com, 7/25/2011

Much of the tens of trillions in bailout money and “easy” money from quantitative easing went to foreign banks (and see this, this and this).

Indeed, Ron Paul noted recently that one-third of all fed bailout loans - and essentially 100% of loans from the New York Fed - went to foreign banks.

The New York Fed is the most important Fed bank. As Bloomberg pointed out in 2009:

The New York Fed is one of 12 regional Federal Reserve banks and the one charged with monitoring capital markets. It is also managing $1.7 trillion [now up to at least $1.9 trillion] of emergency lending programs [and accepting collateral from the banks in return].

However, the country’s most powerful “agency” - the Federal Reserve - is actually no more federal than Federal Express. The Fed itself admitted (via Bloomberg):

While the Fed’s Washington-based Board of Governors is a federal agency subject to the Freedom of Information Act and other government rules, the New York Fed and other regional banks maintain they are separate institutions, owned by their member banks, and not subject to federal restrictions.

Read more at http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/07/federal-reserve-admits-that-its-12.html

Also see
Federal Reserve Attorneys: Fed Banks Are “Not Agencies” But “Independent Corporations” With “Private Boards of Directors”
Read more at http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/07/federal-reserve-attorneys-admit-that.html

(Reuters) - State attorneys general are negotiating to give major banks wide immunity over irregularities in handling foreclosures, even as evidence has emerged that banks are continuing to file questionable documents.

by Scot J. Paltrow, reuters.com, 7/20/2011

A coalition of all 50 states’ attorneys general has been negotiating settlements with five of the biggest U.S. banks that would include payment of up to $25 billion in penalties and commitments to follow new rules. In exchange, the banks would get immunity from civil lawsuits by the states, as well as similar guarantees by the Justice Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development, which have participated in the talks.

State and federal officials declined to say if any form of immunity from criminal prosecution also is under discussion. The banks involved in the talks are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase and Ally Financial.

Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/us-foreclosure-banks-immunity-idUSTRE76J7J820110720

‘Super Congress’: Debt Ceiling Negotiators Aim To Create New Legislative Body

by Ryan Grim, huffingtonpost.com, 7/23/2011

WASHINGTON — Debt ceiling negotiators think they’ve hit on a solution to address the debt ceiling impasse and the public’s unwillingness to let go of benefits such as Medicare and Social Security that have been earned over a lifetime of work: Create a new Congress.

This “Super Congress,” composed of members of both chambers and both parties, isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, but would be granted extraordinary new powers. Under a plan put forth by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his counterpart Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation to lift the debt ceiling would be accompanied by the creation of a 12-member panel made up of 12 lawmakers — six from each chamber and six from each party.

Legislation approved by the Super Congress — which some on Capitol Hill are calling the “super committee” — would then be fast-tracked through both chambers, where it couldn’t be amended by simple, regular lawmakers, who’d have the ability only to cast an up or down vote. With the weight of both leaderships behind it, a product originated by the Super Congress would have a strong chance of moving through the little Congress and quickly becoming law. A Super Congress would be less accountable than the system that exists today, and would find it easier to strip the public of popular benefits.

Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/23/super-congress-debt-ceiling_n_907887.html

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the ATF’s “Fast and Furious” or “Gunwalker” scandal, which appears to reach the highest levels of the Justice Department. Read the whole magazine article here, but the short version is that the Justice Department knowingly allowed thousands of weapons to fall in the hands of criminals in Mexico that were then used to kill U.S. law enforcement agents.

Well, today a bombshell dropped. It’s not just the Justice Department that looks culpable — it looks like the White House was briefed on the operation as well:

By Mark Hemingway, weeklystandard.com, 7/27/2011

Read more at http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/bombshell-white-house-new-about-atf-gunrunning-scandal_577666.html

Debate over the debt ceiling has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, with each side trying to outdo the other in a game of political chicken. If you believe some of the things that are being written, the world will come to an end if the U.S. defaults on even the tiniest portion of its debt.

by Ron Paul, bloomberg.com, 7/22/2011

In strict terms, the default being discussed will occur if the U.S. fails to meet its debt obligations, through failure to pay either interest or principal due a bondholder. Proponents of raising the debt ceiling claim that a default on Aug. 2 is unprecedented and will result in calamity (never mind that this is simply an arbitrary date, easily changed, marking a congressional recess). My expectations of such a scenario are more sanguine.

The U.S. government defaulted at least three times on its obligations during the 20th century.

Read more at http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-22/default-now-or-suffer-a-more-expensive-crisis-later-ron-paul.html

Last week the state Department of Workforce Development announced that Wisconsin’s private sector added nearly 13,000 jobs in June, which is more than half of what was added nationwide.

This report is an encouraging sign that our state economy is beginning to recover as a result of the pro-growth measures we’ve passed this year. More importantly, the new jobs mean that more families in Wisconsin will be getting a paycheck.

The report further indicates that 39,300 jobs have been created in Wisconsin since January, including 14,100 manufacturing jobs.

The economic progress in Wisconsin is in stark contrast with the rest of the country. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, just 18,000 jobs were added across America in June, and the federal unemployment rate remains high at 9.2 percent. Meanwhile in Wisconsin, the addition of 9,500 new jobs, including 12,900 private sector jobs, accounts for the largest one-month gain since September 2003.

My number one priority this session remains on getting Wisconsinites working again, and these numbers are an indication that our state is on the right track. I am not content to stop here, as I look forward to continuing to work this session to make Wisconsin the best state in the nation to do business.

State Representative Mark Honadel
State Capitol, Room 113 West
P.O. Box 8952, Madison, WI 53708-8952
District Office: 414-764-9921 / Madison Office: 608-266-0610
Toll Free: 888-534-0021
~ Keeping in touch with the People of the 21st Assembly District ~

After nearly 20 years of debate, Milwaukee aldermen voted 10-5 Tuesday to build a modern streetcar line downtown.

By Larry Sandler of the Journal Sentinel, 7/26/2011

They stopped short of final approval, however. In response to concerns raised by Comptroller W. Martin “Wally” Morics, the Common Council agreed to limit spending to engineering expenses for now, and to seek a review by the comptroller before releasing money for construction.

Still ahead in the next year are key decisions about how to run the line, how to pay its operating costs and how to resolve concerns raised by utility companies about moving their underground lines out of the way of the streetcar tracks.

The measure now heads to Mayor Tom Barrett, the plan’s chief advocate, for signing.

Read more at http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/126181478.html

Isn’t the City of Milwaukee short of money?
Sure its federal money, but isn’t the federal government broke also?
Who will pay for the maintenance, the upkeep?
Will we now have empty streetcars running next to empty buses?
How do these clowns get into office?

The Obama administration sought to intimidate witnesses into not testifying to Congress on Tuesday about whether ATF knowingly allowed weapons, including assault rifles, to be “walked” into Mexico, the chairman of a House committee investigating the program said in an interview Monday.

By Stephen Dinan and Chuck Neubauer, The Washington Times, 7/26/2011

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, said at least two scheduled witnesses expected to be asked about a controversial weapons investigation known as “Fast and Furious”received warning letters from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to limit their testimony.

Mr. Issa’s committee is set to hear testimony from six current or former ATF employees, including agents and attaches assigned to the bureau’s offices in Mexico, about the operation — in which, federal agents say, they were told to stand down and watch as guns flowed from U.S. dealers in Arizona to violent criminals and drug cartels in Mexico.

Read more at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/26/issa-atf-warns-witnesses-to-limit-testimony/

Five MSNBC anchors claimed that Ronald Reagan spoke in favor of a tax hike remedy to the nation’s deficit problems.

by Ben Crystal, personalliberty.com, 7/26/2011

Last week, the liberal stars once again aligned, as a Democratic effort to tie the increasingly irrelevant President Barack Obama to the dearly departed President Ronald Reagan was swallowed up by the black hole of liberal ignorance. The starship MSNBC, staffed as always by the crew of misfit liberal sock puppets, went down first.

Citing 1987 comments by Reagan, five of MSNBC’s primetime inmates claimed that Reagan spoke in favor of a tax hike remedy to the nation’s deficit problems. To bolster their Democratic masters’ case, each showed a video clip which seemed to support their party’s talking points:

Read more at http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/lose-one-with-the-gipper

WHEN: Tue July 26 from 5:30pm to 8:00pm

WHERE: Polish Center of Wisconsin, 6941 So. 68th Street, Franklin, WI 53132

Invited guests include: Senators Alberta Darling, Mary Lazich and Leah Vukmir. Representatives Jeff Stone, Mark Honadel, Dale Kooyenga and Jim Ott. County Supervisors Joe SanFellippo and Joe Rice.

$15 per person in advance, $20 at the door. Please make your reservation by Saturday, July 23rd
Cash bar * Light supper served * Casual attire

RSVP to SWS branch, 5121 W. Russell Ct. West, Greendale, WI 53129
or to swsrepublicanclub@yahoo.com
or call 414-421-9337

Make checks payable to RPMC
Early registration discount checks must be received by July 25

By Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com, 7/19/11

In April, 14 of the nation’s biggest banks promised federal regulators they would stop robo-signing documents to foreclose on homes. This was part of a settlement to clean up the foreclosure mess caused by wild lending of the banks. Nearly 8 months ago, the banks were caught red handed fraudulently creating fake documents because they lost track of the originals in the haze of creating mortgaged-backed securities. Why is this still going on? More importantly, why are not bank executives going to jail instead of letting them off the hook? Many have called this outright organized crime!!! The implications of this, to me, say the mortgage industry and bankers are panicked and desperate. It also signals the real estate market will not recover for many years.

Read more at http://usawatchdog.com/robo-signing-fraud-continues-surprise/

Also read AP reports practice of mortgage ‘robo-signing’ continues