Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Law, Sports | Tags: Public Swimming Pools, The Justice Department
The Justice Department promised on Thursday to be “flexible” in enforcing the new rules that force public pools to buy and install lifts or ramps for the disabled, Pool operators has said this was an invitation to a flood of lawsuits against small business.
This marked a possible retreat for the department which earlier had ruled that under the Americans With Disabilities Act, all pools open to the public would have to invest in elevators, ramps or lifts to accommodate the disabled. Members of Congress threatened action, and earlier this month Justice extended the stay into next year. On Thursday, the department went further, saying the rules apply chiefly to new pools, while existing pools will only need to comply if it’s easy and cheap to do so.
“Readily achievable means that it is easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense” the department said. “This is a flexible, case-by-case analysis, with the goal of ensuring that ADA requirements are not unduly burdensome, including to small business.”
The reprieve comes just before the Memorial Day weekend, which marks the traditional opening day for many outdoor pools. So they can cross their fingers and open?
“It is obvious that the Obama administration is quickly backtracking after giving little thought to the real-world impact of this one-size-fits-all mandate,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) who had tried to pass legislation halting the mandate.
There is as yet no amendment removing the language, which means it is still an active part of the bill. As usual, people with good intentions make silly regulations, because they cannot allow free people to make their own business decisions.
Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Minority Whip burbled: “For many Americans with disabilities, swimming pools are an important source of physical activity and emotional comfort.” Rolling back the rules, he said”would constitute a serious setback to American with disabilities, including many of our veterans —and I want you to think about this— many of our veterans were wounded while serving our nation overseas.”
And just think about it, many public pools have no disabled people among their customers, nor in their districts. It is a characteristic of the left that they believe themselves so clever that they can make wise rules for a huge country of some 330,000,000 people. Their intentions are so good, and the results of their hubris make such a mess of things.
Filed under: Domestic Policy, News of the Weird, Politics, Statism | Tags: Credit Card Companies, Moms Need Co-signers, Regulation and Red Tape
Oh dear, those wise elites in government really don’t think the ordinary folk who pay their salaries are very bright. They are so anxious to protect us from ourselves. Lawmakers apparently believe that Visa, Mastercard and Discover and might not have the incentive to properly manage their own credit risk. If not aided by new regulations from Congress, people might run up more debt than they could repay — like the elected officials who have run up the national tab by$1.2 trillion just this year.
The Federal Reserve Board has issued the specific regulations called for in the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act (CARD). I love the way the acronym comes first, then they figure out the name. The name is a little odd for a regulation that prohibits private companies from acting independently.
Federal Reserve Governor Elizabeth Duke declared the new rules to be a milestone in the effort to ensure that consumers who rely on credit cards are treated fairly.
It’s that old bugaboo “consequences.” The law is widely interpreted as prohibiting millions of stay-at-home-moms, and stay-at-home-dads from obtaining credit cards of their own. The “ability to pay” regulation requires credit card applicants to have an independent source of income to open an account or else find a co-signer.
(a) General rule. (1)(i) Consideration of ability to pay. A card issuer must not open a credit card account for a consumer…unless the card issuer considers the ability of the consumer to make the required minimum periodic payments under the terms of the account based on the consumer’s income or assets and current obligations.
(ii) Reasonable policies and procedures. Card issuers must establish and maintain reasonable written policies and procedures to consider a consumer’s income or assets and current obligations…It would be unreasonable for a card issuer to…issue a credit card to a consumer who does not have any income.
Homemakers actually do most of the household purchases, and over 45,000 of them have signed a petition of protest that has gone to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s really special being regarded as incompetent.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Election 2012, Politics | Tags: He Can't Stop, President Obama's Whopper, The Spending Binge
“Since I’ve been President, federal spending has risen at the lowest pace in nearly sixty years. Think about that. This other side, I don’t know how they’ve been bamboozling folks into thinking that they’re the responsible fiscally disciplined party. They run up these wild debts , and then when we take over we’ve gotta clean it up.”
The President of the United States actually said that. Is this what Valerie Jarrett advised? Is he so unfamiliar with the real numbers that he thinks he can get away with such a whopper? Did he read the Rex Nutting of MarketWatch attempt to portray the president as being downright stingy “Obama Spending Binge Never Happened?” and being unfamiliar with what the numbers actually were — believed it?
Right at the beginning of Obama’s term in office, Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, set up a daily economics briefing with his Council of Economic Advisers. We have been told that Obama found it boring and shortly eliminated the meeting. He clearly believes in the part of Keynesian economics that says to pump money into the economy to promote growth, because he is endlessly trying to stimulate the dead economy with more jolts of taxpayer money. Unfortunately, Keynesian stimulus has no record of success.
Mr Nutting uses a typical D.C. trick, often used by Congress. He speaks of annualized growth of federal spending. The trick is — where’s the starting point? Is it zero, or is it just the previous number? You have perhaps heard the frequent plaintive cry from Republicans about zero-based budgeting. Let’s say the Orwell Agency’s budget last year was 1 billion. Congress wants to give them another 20 million. Instead of correctly indicating that the agency budget is now $1 billion, 20 million, they speak of the “annualized growth of the agency is $20 million, That much smaller number sounds ever so much better. That’s the trick Rex Nutting is using.
Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. Usually, the previous president will have signed a budget for the coming year into law around the end of the fiscal year. However, in 2008, Congress refused to pass the budget while George W. Bush was still in office (he might have vetoed?) and they sent to budget to Obama when he took office, and he signed it. But Mr. Nutting gives the whole 2009 budget to George W. Bush. It has TARP, the Auto Bailout, the Stimulus, Cars for Clunkers all Obama’s spending in it, but it doesn’t count under Mr. Nutting’s analysis. Then that number becomes the new base from which Obama’s spending is counted.
Until Barack Obama took office in 2009, the United States had never spent more than 23.5% of GDP, with the exception of the World War II years of 1942-1946. Here’s Obama’s spending record.
— 25.2% of GDP in 2009
— 24.1% of GDP in 2010
— 24.1% of GDP in 2011
—24.3% of GDP (estimates by White House) in 2012
If Obama wins another term spending, according to his own budget would never drop below 22.3% of GDP. He established 2009 as the “new baseline,” and turned a one-off surge in spending due to the Great Recession into the new normal through 2016 and beyond.
Or to put it differently — From the Treasury Department — spending per day: President Reagan– $2.5 Billion. President Clinton–$4.1 Billion. President Bush–$6.8 Billion. President Obama– $9.7 Billion.
President Barack Obama is spinning a fable. His record on the economy is dreadful. He has spent more than all the previous presidents put together, and he is fully responsible for that.
Filed under: Capitalism, Domestic Policy, Economy, Freedom | Tags: Governor Sott Walker, Political Courage, Wisconsin
The recall vote in Wisconsin is just days away. A new study shows that the reforms passed by Governor Scott Walker and Republican lawmakers has saved the state one billion dollars.
Act 10, which curbed (not eliminated) collective bargaining for most unionized public employees has reduced the state’s $3.6 billion budget shortfall. Unions are furious. Instead of having free healthcare and not having to contribute to their retirement benefits, the now have to make contributions to their benefits — not anywhere nearly as much as most people do, but it was a heavy burden on Wisconsin taxpayers. The reforms saved hundreds of jobs as well. So he had the temerity to do just what he said he would do when he was elected. He more than fulfilled his promises.
You have undoubtedly seen the rioting union people, the teachers’ unions, the union members bussed in from out-of-state. And remember how the Democrats in the legislature ran away to Illinois to avoid having to vote. The governor and his family have had death threats and wild accusations thrown at them for months. The Governor holds a six point lead in the latest Marquette poll. And last weekend the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, hardly a conservative paper, endorsed him in the governor’s race. If you believe in real political courage, and want to support Gov. Walker, his website is here.
Filed under: Art, History | Tags: The West 150 Years Ago, Timothy O'Sullivan, Utah Colorado Arizona Idaho
Pah-Ute (Paiute) Indian group, near Cedar, Utah in 1872
The Atlantic has done another of their wonderful photo essays: in the 1860s and 70s, photographer Timothy O’Sullivan created some of the best-known images in American History. He covered the U.S. Civil War, and afterwards joined a number of expeditions organized by the federal government to help document the new frontiers in the American West. The teams were comprised of soldiers, scientists, artists and photographers. Their task was to discover the best ways to take advantage of the untapped resources of the region. O’Sullivan had an outstanding eye, and strong work ethic, and returned with beautiful photographs that captured the vastness and beauty of the American West in a way that would later influence Ansel Adams and thousands of photographers who admired O’Sullivan’s work.
Like this:
Filed under: Capitalism, Economy, Election 2012, Politics | Tags: Anything to Distract, Hypocrisy, Lily Ledbetter?
About the “War on Women” — “A group of Democratic female senators on Wednesday declared war on the so-called ‘gender pay gap’”, and urged their colleagues to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act when Congress returns from recess next month. But it turns out that there is a substantial gender pay gap in their own offices according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis of Senate salary data.
Of the five senators in the Wednesday press conference: Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) — three pay their female staff members significantly less than male staffers.
Patty Murray, “who has repeatedly accused Republicans of waging a “war on women” is one of the worst offenders. Female members of Murray’s staff made about $21,000 less per year than male staffers in 2011, a difference of 35.2 percent” — way more than the the 23 percent Democrats claim as a nationwide difference.
The other offenders were Feinstein and Boxer. Of the 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus, 37 senators paid their female staffers less than male staffers. Women working for Senate Democrats in 2011 pulled in an average salary of $60,877. Men made about $6.500 more.
Golly darn, that just makes their “War on Women” even sillier, doesn’t it.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Politics, The United States | Tags: Death of Hope, Election 2012, Obama's Economy
Filed under: Capitalism, Environment, Global Warming, Junk Science, Politics, Religion, United Nations | Tags: Conference on Sustainable Development, Hold Back Human Progress, World Wildlife Fund
Are you familiar with the World Wildlife Fund? Huge, wealthy worldwide organization, preserving wildlife, caring for the environment, doing good environmental works. If you visit their website and look at their board of directors, it’s an impressive list of the prominent and very well-to-do.
The other face of the World Wildlife Fund is as an extremist green campaigning group. In their just-issued Living Planet Report for 2012, they state that economic growth should be abandoned, that citizens of the world’s wealthy nations should prepare for poverty and that all the human race’s energy should be produced as renewable electricity within 38 years from now.
The hard greens demand that the enormous numbers of wind farms, tidal barriers and solar arrays required under their plans should be built while at the same time severely rationing supplies of concrete, steel, copper and glass. The document is endorsed by the European Space Agency (ESA) an organization which would cease to exist were the document’s recommendations to be fully carried out. They’re important. Nobody said they had to make sense.
Ben Pile, the convenor of the Oxford Salon, said simply: “The real enemy is humanity itself.”
At Rio+20 next month, the world’s elites will meet in Brazil with the aim of holding back human progress.
Forty years ago, two ideas about humanity’s relationship with the natural world caught the imagination of the richest and most influential people. The first was that the demands of a growing population were taking more from the planet than could be replaced by natural processes. The second, related idea was that there exist natural ‘limits to growth’. These two reinventions of Malthusianism became the basis of a new form of global politics, which has sought to contain human industrial and economic development ever since.
Organizations like the WWF draw their supporters for emotional reasons. Love of baby animals, love of large and noble species like African elephants, pandas, rhinoceros, giraffes; beautiful photography can be very moving.
Fears of out-of-control population growth led Malthus and then Paul Erlich, author of the 1968 prophecy The Population Bomb to fear that we would run out of food, and humanity would starve. Fortunately Norman Borlaug came along with the Green Revolution, and put that worry aside.
The Club of Rome, a talk-shop for diplomats, noted politicians and researchers fostered the development of all sorts of organizations and conferences and commissions designed to save the world. An entire ecosystem of global, national, governmental and non-governmental organizations has emerged to advocate closer integration of human productive life with environmental care and to observe “the limits to growth.” Most notable is the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which seeks a global agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Well, all the predictions of doom didn’t happen. Average life-expectancy has increased by 10 years, the number of infants dying before the age of five has fallen from 134 per thousand to 58 per thousand. Human population has nearly doubled, and we are healthier, wealthier (even in spite of the recent downturns) and global GDP has risen threefold. We’ve learned to grow more food on less land, cured diseases, and made amazing progress, but those who joined the church of the doomed have established “sustainable development’ as an imperative of global politics. The first ‘Earth Summit’ was held in Rio leading to Agenda 21 and ‘the blueprint for a sustainable planet.’
If you are perpetually worried about very big things, with other, um, planetary leaders, you are moving in rarefied circles.The conferences are held in the world’s finest resorts, the finest people attend, the finest food and drink is served, and you discuss the finest subjects. It seems quite proper to be discussing surrendering national autonomy, solving the problem of world poverty, solving the problems on inequality.
What if you think we do pretty well with progress, that an emphasis on sustainability is not particularly useful, and that in general the planet is in pretty good shape? Doesn’t matter. These NGOs, world leaders, celebrities, and environmentalists have moved to a higher level where no such dissent is allowed. These meetings are already far beyond democratic control. The slogan is “global problems need global solutions.”
It is simply another political drive for power, this time on running the world. The participants, drunk on the association with the most important people and the most important ideas, think big thoughts. Easy. All the real dangers are caused by human intervention in natural processes, and the real enemy is humanity itself.
Filed under: Election 2012, Humor, Politics, Progressivism | Tags: campaign ad, Caption Contest, Obama, Straw Men
I decided it’d be brilliant to mock Obama’s incessant use of straw men in the form of a campaign ad; unfortunately the brilliant punchline escapes me. So, I turn to our brilliant readers.
Ideally, I’d love to mock an actual Obama quote, campaign slogan, or soundbite — like this one — but it doesn’t have to; blurt out whatever comes to mind! It’s a brainstorm, not a test.
The best caption will win absolutely nothing of course — except credit, thanks, and a tiny modicum of eternal glory!
Have at it in the comments!…
Addendum: Someone on Twitter asked me what I meant by ‘straw men’. Good question! A ‘straw man’ is a type of fallacious argument that Obama uses very frequently. A ‘straw man’ argument misrepresents or outright lies about an opponent’s position (setting up the straw man), so that the person (Obama in this case) can easily knock it down. (Here’s the Wiki explanation).
Example: “My opponents want to make the poor and needy fend for themselves, but I think we can do better! My plan would make it possible for everyone to get affordable health care.” Obama sets up his straw man (a blatant lie about the Republican position), so that he can knock the straw man down. He does it virtually every day.
My only thoughts for captions so far were: “My opponents say…” (with Obama’s signature and the two pictured straw men). Or simply: ‘Setting ‘em up & knocking ‘em down”.
Hope that helps!
Like this:
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Election 2012, Health Care, Law, Politics | Tags: Chief Justice John Roberts, Senator Pat Leahy, Threats to the Supreme Court
The Obama administration has just signed a deal with Public Relations firm Porter Novelli to promote ObamaCare. The Democrats were just sure that everybody would love it once it passed and they “found out what’s in it.” The people did find out what’s in it, and want no part of it. So naturally we must be made to change our minds. It’s an election year, and another $20 million should buy some more votes for Obama.
According to the news accounts, the multimedia campaign is a way to educate the public about how to stay healthy and prevent illnesses. No thank you. A HHS official told Roll Call that the PR effort is meant “to inform the American people about the many preventive benefits now available …as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
Wasted effort. The administration has been trying to sell it to the public relentlessly since the day it was passed. HHS pushed Congress to quadruple its public affairs budget. HHS spent $1.4 million for an online search ad campaign designed to drive traffic to the ObamaCare website.
More than two-thirds of the public, including half of the Democrats surveyed — want the Supreme Court to kill at least the individual mandate, according to a recent IBD/TIPP poll.
The bill is a disaster. It was written with a complete lack of understanding of the American people. Americans don’t much believe in their lives being run by experts in Washington. We don’t believe in their experts, nor do we believe that they are experts. We’re an independent lot. We want to talk over our own health concerns with our own doctor. We don’t believe that our doctor should be told what treatment we can have by some faceless know-nothing bureaucrat in Washington.
Obama has been sending messages to the Supreme Court to let them know that it is not acceptable for them to rule ObamaCare unconstitutional. After all, it’s an election year. The left is trying to intimidate the Supreme Court.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy recently took the extraordinary step of publicly lobbying the Chief Justice after oral argument but before its ruling. “I trust that he will be a Chief Justice for all of us and that he has a strong institutional sense of the proper role of the judicial branch” the far left Democrat declared on the Senate floor. “The conservative activism of recent years has not been good for the Court.” The Senator does not seem to have a strong institutional sense of the proper role of a senator in regard to the Supreme Court.
He added that “Given the ideological challenge to the Affordable Care Act and the extensive, supportive precedent, it would be extraordinary for the Supreme Court not to defer to Congress in this matter that so clearly affects interstate commerce.” That one doesn’t pass the laugh test. How embarrassing, and how disgusting that a Chairman of the Justice Committee should forget his place and the fact that the Supreme Court is an equal branch, not subject to the partisan bullying of an old-time liberal hack.
They are threatening John Roberts with being portrayed a radical who wants to repeal the New Deal and a century of precedent. Such attacks on the court and the Chief Justice are really appalling.
Filed under: Capitalism, Democrat Corruption, Economy, Energy, Junk Science, News the Media Doesn't Want You to Hear | Tags: "Clean" Energy, And Other Fantasies, Green Jobs
Obama hasn’t a lot to brag about in the way of economic recovery, so he’s trying his best to distract from the economy and turn your attention elsewhere. There is the War on Women, elevated from a matter of taxpayers not feeling that it is necessary for them to pay for women’s birth-control pills ($9. a month or less) into a vast right-wing conspiracy depriving all women of voting age of all rights to everything. The Saga of Julia was just another attempt to make the ‘war’ more believable, but that didn’t work either. How about all his ‘investments’ in clean energy?
Can President Obama name one clean energy success? In an ad campaign from President Obama, a man claims his job was saved by President Obama’s meddling in the auto industry. The man works for Johnson Controls, a company that received $299 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies from the stimulus and promised to build two factories in the United States. They built one in this country and will build the other one in Hungary. They will also be laying off workers in coming months.
A Congressional hearing on May 16 exposed more Obama Cronyism. BrightSource Energy received an even bigger loan guarantee from DOE than Solyndra did. They received $1.6 billion in April last year. Their CEO claimed that the Ivanpah project would create 1,400 jobs, which would amount to $1,43 million per job. The BrightSource chairman was nominated to be Commerce Secretary, and the company has become known as “politically connected.”
First Solar received $1.46 billion in loan guarantees, but announced last month that it will lay off another 2,000 employees. On May 7, they reported lst quarter losses of 8 cents a share, a 12% revenue decline. They are expected to join Solyndra in bankruptcy soon.
Willard & Kelsey Solar Group has gone bankrupt, but claimed they only received money from Ohio taxpayers, but they actually got $6 million from Obama’s green energy loan program as well.
A123 Systems, an electric car battery maker who shipped faulty batteries to Fisker Automotive, has seen its stock fall to $1 and is filing for bankruptcy. They got $279 million from taxpayers
Solar Trust for America declared bankruptcy on Monday after receiving a conditional commitment of $2.3 billion in loan guarantees from the Dept. of Energy. Secretary Chu hailed it as “the largest amount ever offered to a solar project.” But they never got the money.
Abound Solar announced on 2/29/12 that they were laying off 280 workers, a 70% reduction in their workforce. They received 400 million from DOE’s loan program.
Ener1, a lithium-ion battery maker filed for bankruptcy. Ener1 owns EnerDel which received $118.5 million from Obama’s “green” energy stimulus plan.
Amonix, a solar company touted by President Obama in 2010 has laid off 200 of its 300 employees. They got $5.9 million.
These energy companies were supported by Obama’s energy stimulus, and are failing or have already filed for bankruptcy. There are lots more stories , and more will come out over time. It will probably be buried on the back pages of compliant media, who hope you won’t notice.
- Evergreen Solar
- SpectraWatt
- Solyndra (received $535 million)
- Beacon Power (received $43 million)
- AES’ subsidiary Eastern Energy
- Nevada Geothermal (received $98.5 million)
- SunPower (received $1.5 billion)
- First Solar (received $1.46 billion)
- Babcock & Brown (an Australian company which received $178 million)
- Ener1 (subsidiary EnerDel received $118.5 million)
- Amonix (received 5.9 million)
- The National Renewable Energy Lab
- Fisker Automotive
- Abound Solar (received $400 million)
- Chevy Volt (taxpayers basically own GM)
- Solar Trust of America
- A123 Systems (received $279 million)
- Willard & Kelsey Solar Group (received $6 million)
- Johnson Controls (received $299 million)
There are also loans to foreign clean energy companies. It is estimated that 80% of these loans went to President Obama’s campaign donors. The President claims that he has created 2.7 million clean energy jobs. But it looks as if a remarkable number of those were considerably more temporary than expected.
ADDENDUM: More of Obama’s unfortunate “investments.”
- Raser Technologies ($33 million grant) bankrupt.
- ECOTotality $126.2 million for electric car chargers ($45 million in losses) insider trading investigation.
According to Peter Schweizer, 71% of Obama Energy Department grants and loans went to “individuals who were bundlers, members of Obama’s National Finance Committee, or large donors to the Democrat party. Collectively, they raised $457,834 for the Obama Campaign, and were in turn approved for grants or loans of nearly $11.35 Billion.” The Energy Department’s Inspector General has launched more than 100 criminal investigations” according to Politico, related to the department’s green energy programs.
Filed under: Entertainment, Humor, Pop Culture | Tags: Creative Commercials, Imagination & Terror, Root Beer
OK, this is just silly, but I thought you might need a good laugh.
