…besides his ego.

After the Senate passed that $600 million Border Security Bill yesterday, President Obama issued a statement asserting that securing the southwest border has been “a top priority” since he took office.
But if you think Mr. Obama can have but a single “top priority,” you’d be wrong. He’s got a load of them.

In an Address to the Nation two months ago, Mr. Obama declared “our top priority is to recover and rebuild from a recession that has touched the lives of nearly every American.”

More than any other issue, he has used the phrase “top priority” about digging the economy out of the recession and creating jobs. And on this issue, he drew a distinction between “a” top priority and “the” top priority.

And they go through a whole bunch of examples. It’s all bull, if you think about it. Obama spends a lot of energy pretending to care about this or that, without any real attempt of being engaged. The gulf oil spill being a prime example. Obama talks the talk, but time and time again doesn’t walk the walk. I have never believed a word he said ever, but I wonder how much people who did vote for him believe him anymore.

I at least can say I never believed that Obama would close Gitmo or get us out of Iraq. But a lot of people who voted for him did. How many are gonna fall for his lies again in 2012? Not nearly as many.

ABC news writes up the “class war” brewing between government employees and their employers – ie, you and me, dear taxpayer. While the report does cover some useful ground, it is an MSM report and thus does give plenty of space for the defenders of the status quo. The most absurd thing is a quote from a liberal pressure group and the AFSCME union stating that, on average, a public sector employee only gets $20,000 per year in pension benefits.

This is supposed to make us feel bad about the poor, little government employees. But as I recall, my dad was only getting about $14,000 per year from Social Security – and he only started getting that at 65. Public sector employees can start collecting their pension at 50, and keep collecting it until death, with regular cost of living increases, even if the cost of living doesn’t go up (say a person lives to 75 and retires at 55, even if its only 20k per year, that is $400,000.00…dad got about $238,000…and he paid for the guys getting 400k!). Additionally, public employee contributions to the plan are minimal…far less than, say, the SS taxes a private sector worker pays.

Additionally, I’ll bet dollars to donuts the figure is far higher than 20k. But aside from that, there are these two stark facts:

1. Public sector pensions are higher than the private sector pensions.

2. Public sector workers can retire much earlier than private sector workers.

That is the unfairness of it – the employees are getting more than the employers. If I hire someone to work for me, he gets paid less than me, period. It is absurd that someone I hire makes more than me – on average, public sector wages should be lower than private sector wages. Adjusted for State and local conditions, of course, but still lower on average.

Secondly, why does a public sector employee get to retire so young? I’ve got to slog it out until I’m 67 before I get my full social security benefits (supposing there even are such by 2031) – why doesn’t my public sector counter-part have to do the same? Heck, even on my employers pension plan, I don’t get it until I hit retirement age…even if I quit tomorrow.

Simple fairness requires a major reduction in public sector pay, as well as an end to early retirement. You can quit your public sector job after 20 or 30 years and keep your pension – but you don’t get it until you reach normal retirement age. No more 50 year old “retirees” living off the public dime or, as if often the case, taking new government employment while keeping the first pension (and thus building up a “double dip” pension in addition to the first).

We’re all supposed to be in this together – and it should be that public sector pay only rises after private sector pay, thus providing an incentive to government workers to increase the wealth of the private economy. To do otherwise is unjust, plain and simple.

Pat Toomey lays out the case for the GOP in 2010:

There seems to be serious consideration having Ted’s widow run for his old seat:

Nearly one year after Edward M. Kennedy’s death, prominent Democrats in Washington and Massachusetts are promoting his widow as the party’s best shot at winning back the Senate seat he held for nearly five decades.

Though she has seemed to bat down the idea of challenging Sen. Scott Brown (R) in 2012, Victoria Reggie Kennedy has been in some ways acting the part of a candidate. She has raised her public profile by campaigning for other politicians and appearing at events across the country…

A party so bereft of ideas and candidates that they can’t think of anything else in Massachusetts than to drag out another Kennedy is a party on its way down.

Good morning everyone – it is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, today…for all you non-Catholics out there, this means its the day we celebrate Mary’s assumption in to Heaven. As Mary counted her blessings, it is a good day for all of us to count ours, and show some gratitude for them.

In Connecticut, the wrestling lady, Linda McMahon, has a decent shot at winning – which was unthinkable even a month ago in that heavily Democrat State.

Home equity lines of credit are becoming un-collectable. An odd phenomena, to be sure…but the most important part of it is how it indicates another raft of bad debt on banks’ books without an acknowledgment.

Palin leads among stoner-Republicans. Which might not be as helpful as our libertarian friends think…we don’t have nearly as many people stoned in our party as the Democrats do, at least if we take statements in the media as an indication.

Black and Right asks You Tube to ban the racism in comments.

Tired of the red/blue divide in America? Then perhaps we can change it to the “Free America” and “Sissy America” divide? Works for me.

Geesh:

TVNewser has learned the human resources department of TBS Inc. has sent out an email this afternoon alerting staffers of a bed bug problem in their New York City offices at Time Warner Center — home to CNN, CNNMoney.com and other Time Warner entities.

The Time Warner Center Facilities Department advises that bed bugs have been detected in Time Warner Center. This determination was made after testing was conducted on several floors of the building.

A CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser, “the building management is addressing the issue and is taking immediate action.”

How Third World are we going to get before we really start taking things seriously? A bit of DDT would cure TBS’ problem, but DDT was banned because a lady once wrote a book blaming it for killing cute, little birdies…too bad, CNN…scratch away and, before you come visit, be sure to take a shower.

Cassy Fiano has an excellent – though depressing – article which discusses the dismay some feminist women have over the fact that their daughters, raised according to feminist ideology, are turning out to be sexually submissive to the wishes of men (in olden days, we would say they were being sluts, but we try to be polite). The feminist mothers are shocked and angered – they really don’t understand how this could happen.

To which all of us who are not feminists – and, more broadly, not liberals – answer: Ummm…they’re just doing what you told them to do. In a world where there is no censorship of what is broadcast on radio and television; in a world where sexual overtones in advertisement to children is pervasive; in a world where kids at ever younger ages are taught the mechanics of the most absurd sexual practices, this is what you’re going to get…kids just having sex without much concern. As is the case of all children rising to adulthood, they are what we made them.

Now, once in to adulthood, things might change – at least some of these poor girls will wake up to what has been done to them and change their lives. But as they go from about 12 to 20, they are really just whatever we tell them to be. If the daughters of feminism are sluts, it is because their mothers and society as a whole instructed them that being a slut is the right thing to do. We taught them that their bodies and their urges were the most important things in their lives – we have enslaved them to their physical bodies and their lusts.

And now, like good little slaves, they put out to their Master whatever is demanded. That some boys and men are taking advantage of this is no surprise – because they, too, have been enslaved. It just works out to the greater advantage (in the very short term sense) for men because it allows them to sample a wide variety of sexual experiences without having to commit to anything. What Hefner dreamed in the 50’s has become a reality today.

If the truth shall set you free (and it shall) then it is, naturally, the lie which will enslave you. A lie was broadcast – starting very early in the 20th century but not really catching on until the late 50’s – that sex was just a thing to do; a physical act of no particular moral importance. This lie was embroidered endlessly – that a healthy person needed a regular dose of sexual activity; that sexual fantasies were mentally healthy; that any sort of sexual release was as licit as any other; that masturbation is not just acceptable, but commendable; etc, etc, etc. The lie has become fastened tightly upon us – to the point, now, where even the barriers against sexual activity for children are being taken down (and I mean children – like 12 year olds, and you can bet that it’ll soon be even younger).

We have to recover the truth – because only by truth can we be freed from slavery. Our bodies are not our most important possession. Sexual activity is not necessary for a healthy, happy life. Sex must be confined only to the bonds of matrimony. Children must not engage in sexual activity – these a host of other truths about sex must be restored, because if we don’t then we will destroy ourselves. A riot of sexuality leads inevitably to social decay – we can already see it around us in divorce rates, illegitimacy rates, rampant pornography, declining birth rates, etc. We keep on this path, and we’ll just die out.

Needless to say, the riot of sexuality will have to fall to the restoration of Judeo-Christian truth about matters sexual. The Christian conception of sex as a sacred union; the concept that women are to be held in awed respect as mothers of children (as opposed to mere conveniences for male sexual appetites); the understanding that love is not best expressed in sexual activity but in faithful devotion. The lie has enslaved us, the truth will set us free – but have we the courage to both see the truth and act upon it? Or has the rot gone so far that we’re now afraid to even fight against slavery?

Time will tell – but I am hopeful, as always.

UPDATE: The over-sexualization of our culture as a by-product of feminism. And, yes, once again the feminists are all shocked and sad about this.

A former bank regulator – William Black – makes the accusation; from Mish’s:

AAron Task: Should we be surprise there are not more bank failures?

William Black: Not Surprised,we should be upset there are not more bank failures. The industry has used its political muscle to get Congress to extort the financial accounting standards board to gimmick the accounting rules so that banks do not have to recognize their losses.

Aarron Task: In practical terms, what does the gutting of that rule mean for the banks?

William Black: Capital is defined as assets minus liabilities. If I get to keep my assets at inflated bubble values that have nothing to do with their real value, then my reported capital will be greatly inflated. When I am insolvent I still report that I have lots of capital.

Aaron Task: You are saying the FDIC is intentionally keeping foreclosures down because it knows it does not have enough money to pay off depositors who are insured by the FDIC?

William Black: That is correct and that is going to make ultimate losses grow. It also means we are following a Japanese type strategy of hiding the losses and we know what that produces – a lost decade, which is now two lost decades. Your listeners and viewers if they are stock types, look at the Nikkei. It lost 75% in nominal terms and has stayed that way for 20 years. I real terms it lost 85% of its value. This is a really stupid strategy. And it’s ours…

This is what I’ve suspected all along – but even so, there is no actual proof of it. But 109 banks have failed in 2010 and we’re on track for many more failures than we had in 2009. Furthermore, it is known that FDIC is out of money.

This “extend and pretend” tactic allows FDIC to not go running to Congress for a bail out, which would be politically horrific just in front of the mid-terms. It also lulls less informed investors in to thinking that our financial system is sound, thus helping to keep stock prices up. Finally, it allows Barack Obama and his Democrats to pretend we’re not in a Depression.

But it can’t be sustained – eventually, the books do have to balance. Tomorrow; next week, next month; next year…one of these days, the complete collapse will arrive and it will be far worse than it had to be because we allowed banksters, bureaucrats and grafting politicians to pull this nonsense.

http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/main.swf

UPDATE: Reviewing the video, I have this to add – Albion does not need to reinvent itself; it needs to start making the things it used to make. Whatever it was which caused the factories to shut down needs to be undone. I don’t like the idea of a town or region trying to be something it didn’t organically become – it smacks too much of grafting politicians who want to turn hard working down town areas in to gentrified, yuppie enclaves…all with kickbacks from the developers who, of course, are given the property of poor people to build on.

What we need to do is get back to work – and to do that, we need to get rid of all the things we’ve placed in the way of doing just that.

From Fox News:

While a majority of American voters think the Muslim group that wants to put a mosque near ground zero has the right to build it there, most think it would be wrong to do so.

A Fox News poll released Friday found that 61 percent of voters think the Muslim group has the right to build a mosque in lower Manhattan.

However, 64 percent think it would be wrong to put a mosque there…

Which is exactly correct in both instances – under our system of government, you don’t just stop someone from building a house of worship “just because”…but in this case, the place should not be built just because it is being built by Moslems.

This is, in a very real sense, unfair – not all Moslems are terrorists and most people who will do business in the mosque will be inoffensive people. But while it is unfair to single out Islam like this, it must be singled out and denied the ability to build the Mosque.

The reason for holding this view is merely from an understanding of why it is being built in that particular spot – denials aside, the purpose of building it is to celebrate the 19 Moslems who murdered 3,000 Americans. It is to celebrate the great Islamist victory over the United States. It is to plant the flag of Islam and have New York City forever more considered by the Islamists as part of the Moslem world. If 9/11 was a gigantic slap in America’s face, this mosque is an act of spitting in it.

At some future date, once Islam becomes fully civilized and allows a Christian Church to be built in Mecca, we can revisit this issue and be far less concerned about where a mosque is to be built. Until that happy, future time, however, we must be stern – Islam is a conquering, intolerant and uncivilized religion and our treatment of it cannot necessarily track with our normal treatment of religion. An exception must be made – the mosque must not be built.

There are mechanisms in the US Constitution which can ensure that this mosque does not get built – perhaps by framing a law where a new house of worship cannot be built within two miles or so of a national monument (it would be sufficient to just measure out how far this mosque will be from the 9/11 memorial and then add an inch to the exclusion zone). However we do it, it must be done – until Islam changes, we have to deal with it as it is, not as we might wish it to be.

UPDATE: Obama was lauded for backing the Mosque…now someone in the political shop has pointed out that this is akin to being in favor of clubbing baby seals to death: might appeal to a narrow constituency, doesn’t play well with most people. So, Obama is now backtracking.