PrairiePundit

<br>&nbsp; Big government got the story.  These people are poorly educated about the real world and economics in particular.  Many of them were apparently educated by the teachers who went on strike.

From Outside the Beltway: Wisconsin Democrat To Republican Colleague: “You Are F***ing Dead.” It is the return of the potty mouth Democrats we heard so much from in the Bush administration.

Image via Wikipedia Telegraph: There is no place in British law for Christian beliefs , despite this country’s long history of religious observance and the traditions of the established Church, two High Court judges said on Monday. Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson made the remarks when ruling on the case of a Christian couple who were told that they could not be foster carers because of their view that homosexuality is wrong. The judges underlined that, in the case of fostering arrangements at least, the right of homosexuals to equality “should take precedence” over the right of Christians to manifest their beliefs and moral values. ... It is a disgraceful opinion that clearly shows a lack of tolerance for Christian beliefs by the court. There should be nothing wrong with being supportive of heterosexual beliefs in the context of a Christian home.  I suppose it is only a coincidence that the UK Supreme Court resides in Middlesex Guildhall , pictured above. Rel

Image via Wikipedia Independent: The bodies were in dark green shrouds lying on the concrete floor of the morgue, 10 prisoners shot and then set on fire as the security forces of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi unleashed a last round of vengeful violence before being forced to flee. The dead men are said to have been soldiers who had refused to open fire on those marching against the regime. They had been disarmed and beaten up by their comrades before being incarcerated in an underground cell in al-Katiba, the main military encampment in Benghazi. The account of the last days of the inmates came from a Libyan army officer who subsequently surrendered to the rebels and changed sides. He was able to provide names of some of those killed, all local men, but bereaved relations had not been able to identify the charred remains. ... There is more. The story gives the details of those who did not share the Gaddafi streak of brutality. Related articles Rebel Libyan army in east ready to

Image via Wikipedia Guardian: The playboy son of one of Africa's most notorious dictators commissioned plans for a luxury superyacht costing $380m (£234m) – nearly three times his country's combined health and education budgets, according to a corruption watchdog. Teodorin Obiang, eldest son of Teodoro Obiang , the president of Equatorial Guinea , wanted to build the world's second most expensive yacht after the Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich's $1.2bn Eclipse , the campaign group Global Witness said. It condemned the plan as "outrageous extravagance" in a country where, despite vast oil wealth, 20% of children die before their fifth birthday and few people live beyond 50. The government of the tiny west African country confirmed that Obiang junior had ordered the yacht design, but said he had decided against going ahead with it. ... Well, what is health and education when you can be yachting? A yacht the size described would probably require

Image via Wikipedia Niles Gardiner: The débacle of Washington’s handling of the Libya issue is symbolic of a wider problem at the heart of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. The fact that it took ten days and at least a thousand dead on the streets of Libya’s cities before President Obama finally mustered the courage to call for Muammar “mad dog” Gaddafi to step down is highly embarrassing for the world’s only superpower, and emblematic of a deer-in-the-headlights approach to world leadership. Washington seems incapable of decisive decision-making on foreign policy at the moment, a far cry from the days when it swept entire regimes from power, and defeated America’s enemies with deep-seated conviction and an unshakeable drive for victory. Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Now Washington app

From The Hill: Hatch: Health law a 'dumb-ass' program He went on to say its "an awful piece of crap." It is hard to argue with that kind of eloquence, but I am sure some Democrats will. Related articles Hatch: Health care law is 'an awful piece of crap' (firstread.msnbc.msn.com)

Image via Wikipedia IBD: Alaska's governor attacks President Obama's hostility to oil states and warns that ever-higher oil prices will doom economic recovery. The polar bears are doing fine. The American economy is not. He didn't say "drill, baby, drill" in so many words, but the point made by Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell , Sarah Palin 's successor, in a speech at the National Press Club was the same. "This is the moment our government must re-examine its 'no new wells' policy when it comes to oil exploration and development here at home," Parnell said in a speech in which he declared the Obama administration "openly hostile" to oil-producing states. As we have noted, the administration's mindless pursuit of green energy at all costs is coupled with an unwillingness to put downward pressure on oil prices by increasing domestic supply, leaving the U.S. perilously dependent on Iran, Libya, Venezuela and the rest. ... I to f

Image via Wikipedia NOLA: The government's top offshore drilling regulator today approved the first deepwater permit since BP's well blowout last year. It's a permit for Noble Energy to bypass a well it had already begun about 70 miles southeast of Venice, not far from BP's Macondo well that blew out last April. But regulators are confident that the new well won't have the same dangerous pressure problems that doomed BP's project last April. Top offshore regulator Michael Bromwich -- director of the Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement -- said the approval is a milestone, even though it's to resume work on a previously approved well and to drill around an obstacle. ... This looks like a permit to try to satisfy the judge who could be finding the administration in contempt for its refusal to issue new permits. I would not be giving them a pass for a permit that is barely a new well. Relat

Image by LaDawna's pics via Flickr Washington Times: Wading back into the battle between Republican governors and public employee unions, President Obama on Monday told governors gathered at the White House that balancing state budgets will require shared sacrifice and that it doesn’t do “any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified.” Mr. Obama used the shot, which seemed to be a veiled jab at Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and other state executives trying to curb public union rights, to defend public workers, whom he said have already agreed to sacrifice additional benefits to help close budget shortfalls. “Everybody should be prepared to give up something in order to solve our budget challenges,” Mr. Obama told members of the National Governors Association . “Many public employees in your respective states have already agreed to cuts … I don’t think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified, or their rights are infringed upon.”

Image via Wikipedia NY Times: Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces struck back on three fronts on Monday, using fighter jets, special forces units and regular army troops in an escalation of hostilities that brought Libya closer to civil war. The attacks by the colonel’s troops on an oil refinery in central Libya and on cities on either side of the country unsettled rebel leaders — who earlier had claimed they were close to liberating the country — and showed that despite defections by the military, the government still possessed powerful assets, including fighter pilots willing to bomb Libyan cities. An international campaign to force Colonel Qaddafi from power gathered pace on Monday as the Obama administration announced it had seized $30 billion in Libyan assets and the European Union adopted an arms embargo and other sanctions. As the Pentagon began repositioning Navy warships to support a possible military intervention, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly told t

Image via Wikipedia ABC2News: A coalition of 34,000 black churches is blasting President Barack Obama's decision to stop defending the federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage. The Rev. Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative, says Obama "has violated the Christian faith" by failing to uphold Jesus' teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. ... I thought this might happen. Obama still probably takes their support for granted. It will be interesting to see if this effects his polling in the black community. Related articles U.S. Drops Defense of Law Banning Gay Marriage (blogs.wsj.com) If Obama won’t defend gay marriage ban, US House will, Boehner says (theglobeandmail.com) Analysis: Obama shifts stance on gay marriage - Washington Post (news.google.com)

Image via Wikipedia BBC: Government support for the renewable sector in Scotland is costing more jobs than it creates, a report has claimed. A study by consultants Verso Economics found there was a negative impact from the policy to promote the industry. It said 3.7 jobs were lost for every one created in the UK as a whole and that political leaders needed to engage in "honest debate" about the issue. ... A study in Spain found similar job killing results from the inefficient green energy business. In this country, Obama is doing everything he can to kill real energy jobs while promoting inefficient green energy. Related articles Cuts threaten green energy growth, says Ernst & Young (guardian.co.uk)

Image via CrunchBase Jazz Shaw at Hot Air takes on the recent NY Times report suggesting waste water from fracking was going to harm people.  There appears to be some real problems with the fact checking process on this story. The real concern for liberals is that abundant cheap natural gas makes it tougher from them to sell alternative energy. Related articles Buffalo bans hydraulic fracturing (scientificamerican.com)

Image via Wikipedia BBC: Mexican authorities have arrested two alleged leaders of the Zetas drug gang in connection with the murder of a US immigration official. The suspected local head of the Zetas drugs gang in the northern state of Coahuila, Sergio "El Toto" Mora, was arrested by marines in Saltillo . Federal police meanwhile detained Luis Miguel Rojo in San Luis Potosi, where the attack took place. Another suspected gang member has been accused of killing Agent Jaime Zapata . Julian Zapata Espinoza, who was arrested last week, told soldiers he and other gunmen opened fire on the agent's car, thinking it belonged to a rival gang, officials said. Another US Immigrations and Customs (ICE) official, Victor Avila, was injured in the ambush outside the city of San Luis Potosi. Mr Mora is suspected of running the Zetas' operations in San Luis Potosi. Mr Rojo is alleged to be responsible for handling the gang's finances in the region. ... The killi

Rasmussen Reports: 58% Favor Government Shutdown Until Spending Cuts Are Agreed Upon This suggest a Democrat miscalculation in opposing GOP cuts. The Hill also reports: THE HILL POLL: On shutdown, more voters would blame Dems Related articles Poll: Dems get slightly more blame than GOP in gov't shutdown (hotair.com) What's a Government Shutdown Look Like? (abcnews.go.com)

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Reuters: The massive U.S. budget deficit is the gravest threat facing the economy, topping high unemployment and the risk of inflation or deflation, according to a survey of forecasters released on Monday. The National Association for Business Economics said its 47-member panel of forecasters increased its estimate for the 2011 federal deficit to $1.4 trillion from $1.1 trillion in its previous survey in November. "Panelists continue to characterize excessive federal indebtedness as their single greatest concern," with state and local government debt the second-biggest worry, the survey said. It was conducted between January 25 and February 9. The panel's deficit forecast is lower than the Obama administration projection of a record $1.65 trillion this fiscal year, or 10.9 percent of U.S. gross domestic product. Although the White House budget proposes $1.1 trillion in deficit reductions over 10 years, Republicans in the Hous

Image by Kevin H. via Flickr From National Geographic: “ Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years .” Related articles Phew! Just When I Began To Think That Global Warming Might Kill People (iowntheworld.com) Sean McBride: Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years (commondreams.org)

It is a well done video.  He looks like a good candidate.

Image via Wikipedia ABC News: ... What we found was normal traffic in the streets, people walking, or at cafes and restaurants. At just about every bank we saw, there were long lines of men and women waiting for the cash handouts that Col. Moammar Gadhafi had just announced. The leader was giving each family 500 dinars, the equivalent of about $450. For most people here, that covers salary for a month or two. As we walked up with our cameras to talk to them, many burst into pro-Gadhafi chants once they realized we were visiting journalists. They were friendly, although some complained to the government minder with us that they had been waiting in line for hours and still had not received their handouts. There were also lines at local bakeries. We went to Green Square, the site of Gadhafi's most recent speech atop the ramparts of the old city. That's when he accused anti-government protestors of having taken hallucinogenic pills. One woman we talked to at the Square

Image via Wikipedia Robert Samuelson: What we are witnessing in Wisconsin and elsewhere is the death knell of Big Labor. Once upon a time, most Americans could identify the head of the AFL-CIO. He was George Meany, the cigar-chomping ex-plumber who ran the union federation from 1955 to 1979. He was one of the nation's great power brokers, much quoted and wooed by presidents. It's doubtful that as many Americans can name Meany's present successor. (Answer: Richard Trumka , ex-head of the mine workers' union.) The American labor movement has been in eclipse for decades, but public- sector unions were one of its few remaining bastions. Now, their power too is waning. States and localities face long-term budget squeezes. Labor costs represent roughly half of their spending, notes the Cato Institute 's Chris Edwards. Pension and retiree health benefits are underfunded. Teachers' unions are being pressed to weed out poor performers. All these unions are on the def

Image via CrunchBase Timothy Carney: President Obama's green energy push is rapidly proving to be a crooked racket. It works like this: Revolving-door political hires rev up subsidy programs that enrich their former employers. Then they cash out themselves, pocketing taxpayer loot while turning out energy products that range from inefficient technologies to total failures. Faster than the turbine on a subsidized wind mill, the "clean-tech" revolving door spins out green bandits who get rich off the subsidies they helped craft. Cathy Zoi, an Al Gore acolyte, has left her job as assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy to go to work for a new fund that invests in green energy. It was started by Democratic donor George Soros. Her former "special assistant," Peter Roehrig, joined DOE's renewable energy office from the U.S. Renewable Energy Group. The latter is a company founded by lobbyists who saw they could pocket taxpayer dollar

Liberals and the politics of fraud is on display in a film nominated for an Academy Award.  Steve Maley has more on the scam.

Image via Wikipedia Michael Barone: It's a question that puzzles most liberals and bothers some conservatives. Why are so many modest-income white voters rejecting the Obama Democrats' policies of economic redistribution and embracing the small-government policies of the Tea Party movement ? ... Liberals are puzzled by this. Thomas Frank's book "What's the Matter with Kansas?" argued that modest-income whites were bamboozled by the moneyed elite to vote on cultural issues rather than in their direct economic interest. But that's no more plausible than the notion that rich liberals from Park Avenue to Beverly Hills have been bamboozled to vote the opposite way on similar issues rather than for those who would extend the Bush tax cuts. People are entitled to base their vote on the things they think important. They don't always vote just to maximize their short-term income. In any case the cultural issues seemed to be eclipsed by economic issu

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Red States: Perhaps it’s just a coincidence. Then again, perhaps not. However, at the same time AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka went to New Jersey on Friday for a “solidarity” rally , a group of unionized bus drivers who transport developmentally disabled and critically ill patients decided to abandon their duties and stage a sick out . ... There is much more. The unionhs are showing their ugly side in this labor fight and the public should take notice. The incivility of their attacks on opponents has also shown them to be more insult artist than thinking opponents of change. They are desperately clinging to a status quo that is hurting the rest of the country. Related articles "AFL-CIO Top THUG Boss Richard Trumka Says Raising Taxes Best Way to Create Jobs" and related posts (theodoresworld.net) AFL-CIO chief blesses Obama's handling of Wisconsin labor battle (thehill.com) Trumka: All we need is to raise taxes to creat

Image by sneakerdog via Flickr Washington Examiner Editorial: It's conventional wisdom in liberal Democratic precincts that gas prices in America are going up because of revolutionary uprisings throughout the Middle East. That's a convenient myth that obscures the truth about why Americans are and will be paying more at the pump and in their utility bills in the months ahead -- energy prices are going up because President Obama thinks that's a good thing. He was absolutely candid on this point during a discussion with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle during the 2008 presidential campaign. Not only would "utility rates necessarily skyrocket," Obama said paying more for energy would be a good thing because "if you can't persuade the American people that yes, there is going to be some increase in electricity rates on the front end, but that over the long term, because of combinations of more efficient energy usage, changing lightbulbs, a

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Moe Lane: ... $165,000,000 divided 14 ways works out to just over $14.78 million per AWOL state Senator: personally, I say that they should have their paychecks garnished for it.  Forever .  And then send the remainder of the bill to the Wisconsin Democratic party, since they’re so happy to spend other people’s money on their own petulant political gestures… They should have to pay a political price for this as should the unions who have been pushing them to avoid their jobs. Related articles ON WISCONSIN, IN THE DETROIT NEWS: AWOL Dems defy ballot box. It's part of a disturbing trend by... (pajamasmedia.com) Stop Direct Deposits and Recall the AWOL (redstate.com) Time to Recall AWOL Lawmakers aka Cowards and Donkeys (pumabydesign001.wordpress.com) 67% Disapprove of Wisconsin Legislator Fleebaggers Going AWOL to Avoid Vote (scaredmonkeys.com) Wisconsin Dems Still on the Lam, Republicans Pass Collective Bargaining Bill (s

Image via Wikipedia James Carafano: ... When it comes to the next fight, the "enemy gets a vote," and our enemies will always do their best to make the most of our weaknesses. When they start the fight, we will find ourselves two steps behind if our military is not ably trained, equipped and ready for action -- before the fight. That said, what really wins on the battlefield is heart, soul, and brains -- men and women who figure out how to overcome the obstacles the enemy throws up once the shooting starts. And that's what makes another proposal for curbing military spending -- shrinking the force -- so terrifying. America today has the most combat-experienced army in our history. It is more warrior-savvy than any major military in the world. Proposals to cut the military's most valuable asset -- trained, well-educated and experienced volunteer forces -- do not pass the common sense test. It would be like Apple cutting costs by eliminating the iPhone and iP

Image by Getty Images via @daylife Roger L. Simon: In an interview today on the Al Arabyia news network, an informed source within the Revolutionary Guards Corps revealed that Iran has several military bases in Libya. The source, who requested anonymity due to his sensitive position within the Guards, elaborated further that the Iranian military bases are located mostly along Libya’s borders with the African countries of Chad and Niger. From there, he said, the Guards actively smuggle arms and supply logistical assistance to rebellious groups in the African countries. According to this source, Guards enter Libya under the guise of oil company employees. Most of these companies are under the control of the Revolutionary Guards. The source, who is a colonel in the Guards, added that Gaddafi and his government are quite aware of these activities and have even signed joint contracts with those Iranian oil companies so that the the Guards can enter Libya without any trouble. ...

Telegraph: Crowded into an empty classroom which was stinking of unwashed bodies and reeking of fear, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's defeated mercenary killers awaited their fate. A week earlier the men – Libyan loyalists of the dictator and black African recruits – had been landed at airports throughout eastern Libya and sent out into the streets to shoot protesters in a murderous rampage. They killed dozens before they were overwhelmed by anti-Gaddafi militias. The survivors were exhausted, filthy, far from home, and fearful of execution, even though they had been assured of good treatment. Fifty of them lay on mattresses on the floor in one classroom alone, with nearly 100 more in the same school building which was being used as a temporary prison. Most looked dazed. Some were virtually children. "A man at the bus station in Sabha offered me a job and said I would get a free flight to Tripoli," said Mohammed, a boy of about 16 who said he had arrived looking for wor