Blogs For Victory

From AFP:

The US budget deficit shot up 15.7 percent in the first six months of fiscal 2011, the Treasury Department said Wednesday as political knives were being sharpened for a new budget battle.

The Treasury reported a deficit of $829 billion for the October-March period, compared with $717 billion a year earlier, as revenue rose a sluggish 6.9 percent as the economic recovery slowly gained pace…

The government argues that this is a reflection of this, that or the other special circumstance which weren’t foreseen when budget projections were made. Yeah, no kidding. Which is why one has to be very careful when reading projections – the only thing which is consistent about government is that, on the whole, more will be spent than projected and revenues won’t grow as fast as expected. The reason for this is that the government likes to lie to us about this. It is much easier, you see, to get the people to swallow another Big Government pill if you say it will only cost so much – when the real bill comes in, its too late…the money is already spent. As for revenues, government always presumes that the economy is a Magic Money Tree and will provide whatever is necessary – and revenue projections never take in to consideration the negative aspect of increased taxes on economic activity (and they also never take in to consideration the positive aspects of reduced taxes).

Ultimately, only a Balanced Budget Amendment will get this permanently under control. But not just any, old amendment – it will have to be carefully crafted it to “idiot-proof” it from Congressional action. In my view, an amendment should have the following provisions:

1. Set total federal spending as a percentage of GDP in the previous fiscal year. So, if we set it at 20% of GDP and last year’s GDP was $14 trillion, then Uncle Sam cannot spend more than $2.8 trillion dollars. The only way federal spending can go up is if GDP goes up.

2. Remove government spending from calculations of GDP – no fair raising government spending to raise the GDP numbers so you can raise government spending some more.

3. Require a 2/3 vote in Congress for raising the debt ceiling.

4. Forbid the sale of US debt to foreign persons, groups or governments; if you can’t borrow it from Americans, it can’t be borrowed.

5. Set statutory limits on the total dollar value of US currency in circulation at any given time. Someone will have to crunch the numbers, but figure it out and then don’t let the Federal Reserve go on a money-printing spree (and, really, this would just be a first step towards returning to the gold standard for currency).

Do that, and Congress will forever lose the power to bankrupt us. There is still gigantic flexibility in there on what to spend money on – there just won’t be the ability to pretend there is an endless supply of money. Congress will have to set priorities. There is still bags of money to spend ($2.8 trillion isn’t chump change, after all) but not enough for what every dimwit in Congress would like to spend it on.

If we don’t do something along these lines, then we’ll just risk being driven in to bankruptcy at some later date, even if we dodge the bullet this time. The genius of America is to put all sorts of limits on what government may do. Our Constitution had many wise provisions to prevent recklessness on the part of government but over 200 years, ways were found around those provisions. This sort of a Balanced Budget Amendment would take what we’ve learned and apply it to government – it will allow we, the people, to once again be one step ahead of the government.

From Judicial Watch via PJ Tatler:

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from the Obama Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) detailing the agency’s massive taxpayer-funded multimedia campaign designed to promote the Affordable Health Care Act (also known as Obamacare) and other HHS policy initiatives. According to the records obtained by Judicial Watch pursuant to a March 23, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 11-608)), the total cost of the campaign, which targets Obama’s electoral coalition, could reach as much as $200 million.

You can be certain that this is going to be defended an expenditure for “public education” or some such nonsense – but the fact of the matter is that government has no business using taxpayer dollars to try to convince any taxpayer of the merits of a program. If Obama wants this done, he should raise campaign funds for it and clearly identify the effort as a partisan attempt to increase support for his signature issue. Doing it this way turns HHS in to an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth” trying to hammer in to the public mind the party line.

And this is precisely the sort of thing we should demand stop, even at the cost of a government shut-down. We have to teach these liberals that government doesn’t belong to them – that they don’t have the right to try and change people’s mind using public money. And this is also the sort of thing we have to remember – and when we get a new President on January 20th, 2013, investigations should be launched in to the Obama Administration to find out just what money was spent on and whether any of it violated federal law.

Glenn Reynolds says we should:

‘If you get shot at, you can have a shot.” That’s the rationale behind Alaska State Representative—and Vietnam veteran—Bob Lynn’s effort to establish a drinking age of 18 for active-duty service members.

It’s an idea that has gotten consideration in other states, and it makes sense. Unfortunately, Mr. Lynn’s proposal would violate the 1984 Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act, costing Alaska federal highway money. This is a battle that Republicans—and fair-minded Democrats—in Congress should join…

That “Uniform Drinking Act” came about because of the efforts of MADD – Mothers Against Drunk Driving (side note, my mother considered herself a charter member of DAMM – Drunks Against Mad Mothers). This was (and is) a national busy-body group which is dedicated to the principal that if even one person is irresponsible, all other people must pay the price. It was all part and parcel with that on-going demand on the part of some that life be made risk-free – and that means freedom-free; we daren’t risk allowing you, 19 year old, to have a drink because if you do you might drink to much and then you might get behind the wheel and then you might hurt yourself or others. The method of enforcement of this law – which could not constitutionally be forced upon the States – was to say that if a State didn’t knuckle under, they’d lose their federal highway funds. Faced with a choice of standing on principal or getting federal swag, State politicians swiftly fell in line.

But it is absurd that an 18 year old can vote in our elections and fight in our wars, but can’t have a drink. Once you are a legal adult you should be able to do all things a legal adult may do – if you can’t, then you are being treated unjustly. Our choices are to either lower the drinking age to 18, or raise the age of adulthood to 21. Either way would be logical and just; pick one or the other, but don’t go for halves.

My view is that to take away the vote from someone who already has it is not really tenable, so might as well make 18 the all-around legal age for everything. Aside from being a simple act of justice, it would also be a blow against all of those who propose to use the heavy club of government to control our behavior. The same logic behind a national 21 law is behind laws trying to limit how much fat we can have in our foods, or whether or not the kids can have a coke at school. If there is one thing I despise it is the sort of person who feels he has to stick his nose in – who proposes to save me from myself. I have a Savior, thanks very much, and don’t need another.

Time for a revival of liberty – including, as necessary, the freedom to be a fool:

The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog. – GK Chesterton

From Gallup:

Americans’ optimism about the future direction of the U.S. economy plunged in March for the second month in a row, as the percentage of Americans saying the economy is “getting better” fell to 33% — down from 41% in January. It is also down three points from the 36% of March 2010…

Didn’t everyone get the memo? Obama says we’ve turned the corner and are moving in the right direction. Bernanke says he’s got it all under control and there is still no inflation. CNN says that no matter what happens, hiring will continue to increase. For crying out loud, the economy is just going great…so why are you people so negative?

I guess it could be the fact that our home values continue to drop, wages are still flat, food and fuel prices continue to rise and there are a record number of us on food stamps…that could be playing a role in this silly and unreasonable bout of Depression. Snap out of it, folks; Obama is on the job (‘cept when he’s golfing or on vacation…but don’t mention that, you racist!) and all is well.

HAT TIP: Mish’s

It went as far as it could. Two stories:

From Reuters:

The sentencing of a blogger to jail for criticizing Egypt’s army has drawn a chorus of objections from rights groups, who say the country’s ruling military council is drawing red lines around free speech.

Maikel Nabil, 26, was taken from his home in Cairo by five military officers early on March 28 and charged with insulting the military establishment and “spreading false information,” New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

Nabil’s lawyers were told the judge would rule on Tuesday but discovered he had already been sentenced in their absence on Sunday, HRW cited defense lawyer Adel Ramadan as saying…

From AFP:

Syrian security forces in at least two towns prevented medics from reaching wounded protesters when clashes erupted at anti-government demonstrations last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

The New York based rights group said the “inhumane” and “illegal” blocking of access to medical treatment occurred in the southern town of Daraa, the centre of a wave of protests against President Bashar al-Assad, and Harasta near Damascus…

So, what we’ve got is the end of free speech in Egypt coupled with the successful suppression of rebellion in Syria. Add in the stalemate in Libya and iron fist coming down in places like Bahrain and you have an end to it all. The people, frustrated by years of oppression and general misrule, rose up. The powers that be were forced back on their heels but then managed to gather their forces and counter-attack…now it is becoming clear that the rebels are being forced in to a box and will soon all be suppressed (or, in the case of places like Syria, dead). What happened?

An abject failure on the part of the United States to immediately cut loose from the tyrannical regimes and pledge our support to any genuinely democratic successor regimes. We dithered back and forth and made high-sounding statements and went 1/3 to war in Libya and then quit after a couple weeks. Now, other than Obama incompetence, why did we do this?

Back on March 16th I wrote that I was starting to smell a rat in Libya – a rat called “stability”; I think that rat is pretty much out in the open, now. The leadership of the world stood back appalled at what they saw…regular people demanding to rule themselves; and the leadership of the world became determined that this should not happen. After all, much easier to deal with tyrants. I don’t really blame Obama for this – he lacks any knowledge or experience of foreign affairs and thus was almost certainly led in to this by the bureaucracy at State and Defense. These are two organizations dedicated to preserving the global status quo for no other reason than they don’t like the messy business of people running their own affairs (do keep in mind that including Defense in the mix doesn’t imply a slur on our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines…they are ok with messy business….but the bureaucrats – some of whom do have stars on their shoulders – don’t like it).

Maybe I’m wrong – perhaps the rebellion will re-ignite (and as food and fuel costs continue to rise this year, they might). But it seems pretty clear to me that neither the American nor any other government has any interest or desire to see a fundamental change. Curiously enough, in recent American history there have only been two men in charge of affairs who have wanted to shake things up – Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Both were slandered relentlessly and called morons and cowboys for their efforts…Reagan has long been proved right; in the fullness of time, Bush will, be proven right, too.

And you bet he does – because now he’s on the opposite side and would prefer we all forget what he said back then about raising the debt ceiling. Fortunately, his words back then are not as hard to find as his birth certificate is today – from NRO’s The Corner:

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can’t pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government’s reckless fiscal policies. … Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that ‘the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.

Mr. President, you betcha! In fact, I couldn’t have said it better, myself. Now, we know you were just saying that because a Republican was President at the time. We know, further, that you were just kidding – how on earth could a liberal Democrat ever be against shoving us further in to debt? We know, ultimately, that you are a dishonest man who’s only goal in life is to advance himself by whatever means necessary. But, that doesn’t change the fact that raising the debt ceiling is, indeed, a failure of leadership – and that America deserves better.

The real pity is that we don’t know if our GOP leadership is really up to this fight – this is the perfect opportunity, vastly better than the recent budget fight, to really force some change. Essentially, we’ve got Big Government over a barrel. We should firmly hold to the principal that we refuse an increase until structural changes are made to the budget. The best such change would be a balanced budget amendment which requires, as necessary, the shut-down of all government departments save Defense, Veterans, Justice, State and Social Security/Medicare any time the budget is out of balance – and they stay shut down until it is. And if we don’t get it, we just refuse to raise the limit and let Obama try to figure out how to keep things moving without the ability to pile on more debt.

We can finesse this issue to the point where we’re the one’s fighting for fiscal sanity without any risk to those things most vital to America and to American citizens. Let the Democrats go to the mat trying to defend the Departments of Commerce and Labor…let the Democrats, in short, try to prove to the American people that all the nonsense in Big Government is so important that we must go ever further in to debt to fund it. That is a battle I’d love to have. But, will the GOP leadership do it? So far, some firm noises are being made…time will tell if that is all just talk, or real courage.

Its a good announcement – positive, hopeful…but no specifics; no plans for what he would do. While the “vision thing” is important, if Romney really wants to get the GOP nomination, he’s going to have to lay out a specific plan of action; what he intends to do. And it had better be chock full of TEA Party principals or he’ll never get the sort of broad-based, enthusiastic backing he’ll need first to win the nomination, and then to beat Obama.

From the AP:

Japan’s nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, citing the amount of radiation released in the accident.

The regulators said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on an international scale overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency. However, there was no sign of any significant change at the tsunami-stricken Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant…

I think we’ve been getting a lot of “remain calm, all is well” out of the Japanese government and I think we should stop buying that line. Clearly, this is a major problem which will have wide and deep consequences – for the health of the Japanese, most importantly, but also for the Japanese and global economy. Nothing more foolish than a government trying to down play an issue…it always comes back to bite. Hopefully, now they’ll be completely forthright and give everyone the worst so that realistic plans can be made.

Going to ever new levels of absurdity – from My Northwest.com:

…Jessica, 16, told KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Show that a week before spring break, the students commit to a week-long community service project. She decided to volunteer in a third grade class at a public school, which she would like to remain nameless.

“At the end of the week I had an idea to fill little plastic eggs with treats and jelly beans and other candy, but I was kind of unsure how the teacher would feel about that,” Jessica said.

She was concerned how the teacher might react to the eggs after of a meeting earlier in the week where she learned about “their abstract behavior rules.”

“I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay,” Jessica explained. “She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat ‘spring spheres.’ I couldn’t call them Easter eggs.”…

You know, guys, the only reason anyone takes off or does anything special is because of Easter. If it wasn’t for the fact that Our Lord rose from dead, there wouldn’t be anything to note this time of year. So, either celebrate that or don’t celebrate anything, at all. Just pack it in – no “Spring break” and no “Spring spheres”. Either use “Easter break” and “Easter eggs”, or don’t even bother. Stop trying to de-Christianize western civilization…it won’t work; if you did manage it, you’d just kill the civilization, completely.

And, no, I don’t care if someone gets offended. Anyone who gets offended at the use of the word “Easter” is either a complete ass, or a monumentally wicked person. Anyone who complains about it should be ignored or, if that proves impossible, laughed at. If you’re going to be stupidly absurd, then you should be willing to deal with the normal reaction to such action.

For crying out loud, enough already!

HAT TIP: American Thinker

From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows that 19% of the nation’s voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Thirty-nine percent (39%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20.

Today’s numbers reflect the lowest level of Strong Approval yet recorded for this president. There has been a sharp decline in enthusiasm among liberal voters…

Liberals don’t like it when their leaders cut spending, even a little bit. So, why agree to a cut? Very likely because polling also showed that a government shut down would be even more destructive of Obama/Democrat approval. We really do have them on the ropes – all we need do is keep pressing them on the spending issue, come up with some new ideas on how to attack and then just carry it on in to 2012.