Official White House Photo Shows President Obama's Reaction to News of Sandy Hook School Shooting

For a moment, just envision the president reacting to the news as a horrified parent of school-age children, not as the depraved gun-grabbing child murder exploiter we've had to endure this past few weeks (via Flickr).

RELATED: From Jeff Goldstein, "“Angry at the NRA? That Won’t Reduce Gun Violence”."

Unruly Passenger Duct Taped After In-Flight Meltdown

CNN was reporting earlier that the passenger was monitored after being immobilized, but this just sounds too gnarly.

At London's Daily Mail, "The moment drunken passenger is taped to his seat during flight to New York after 'trying to choke one woman and ranting the plane was going to crash'."

Church of England Rules Homosexual Clergy Allowed to Become Bishops

They're allowed, but only if they're sexually abstinent.

I'm sure that'll work out really well.

At Independent UK, "Gay bishops allowed – but they can’t have sex":

The Church of England reopened the most divisive issue in Anglicanism tonight by unexpectedly announcing that openly gay men could become bishops, providing they are celibate.

The timing of the decision took both supporters and opponents of gay bishops by surprise and threatens to plunge the Anglican Church into renewed infighting over the thorny issue of sexual orientation.

One leading conservative tonight warned that the U-turn would put the debate about women bishops in the shade and “finally divide the Anglican Communion completely”.

Although liberals largely welcomed the announcement they also voiced concerns that gay clergy would still be expected to answer searching questions about the nature of celibacy – something their straight single counterparts are not expected to do.

The consecration of gay clergy as bishops has caused deep divisions within the Church of England ever since Jeffrey John was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the Bishop of Reading in 2003 following an outcry by conservative evangelicals.

Today’s announcement could pave the way for Dr John, who is now Dean of St Albans and one of the few openly gay but celibate clerics, to finally take up a senior position within the Church.

Celibate homosexuals. Is there such at thing? An oxymoron?

Check back here for updates.

The Next Generation of Holocaust Survivors

An amazing story, at the Los Angeles Times, "Youngest Holocaust survivors look to next generation":

She was an orphan, a 14-year-old Jewish girl, when she went to the Berlin train station on a summer day in 1939, leaving behind all that she had ever known.

She had already experienced loss: her parents claimed by illness, her brother taken by the Nazis. Now Dora Gostynski was about to get on a train that would take her and hundreds of other Jewish children to safety — but they had to go without the comfort of their parents.

She remembered the other children's sobs as they embraced their parents, who had made the agonizing decision to give their children a chance at life, even if meant never seeing them again. And she remembered the parents who relented when their child didn't want to leave them. They walked away from the train station, and back into a world of danger.

"There was like an ocean of people and an ocean of tears," she said.

She was escaping Nazi Germany through the rescue mission Kindertransport, which carried about 10,000 youths to Britain and elsewhere for shelter during the Holocaust. Many — more than 60%, according to various estimates — never saw their parents again.

As they grew older, they sought out one another, drawn by a wrenching, shared experience. They founded the Kindertransport Assn., and kinder from around the world have gathered every other year for the last two decades.

The kinder are among the youngest Holocaust survivors, yet even they are now mostly in their 80s, a group thinned by the passing years. With each gathering, there are whispers that it could be the last.

At the most recent gathering, in an Irvine hotel, a much older Dora recalled the train station on that day more than 73 years ago. She recognized one of her classmates, a girl named Fritzy Hacker. Fritzy's mother hugged each of the girls tightly before they boarded the train together. "She said goodbye to the two of us like she was my mother too," she said.

But Dora couldn't stop thinking about her sister, Ida. They had applied for the Kindertransport mission together. But as they waited for word to arrive, her sister had turned 17. She missed being able to qualify by two months.

As the train chugged toward the Dutch border, she and Fritzy told themselves they were going on a field trip. The other passengers wept. She thought of her sister. She didn't know if she would ever see her again.

::

Dora — now Doris Small — is 89, and a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was one of the remaining kinder who had come to share their stories of survival with one another and their children in the hopes that their history isn't forgotten after they are gone.

"My generation is dying off," said Michael Wolff, who at 76 is one of the youngest. He was 2 when his mother handed him over to a teenage girl to carry him to Scotland. When his father visited him months later, he did not recognize him.

The conference in Irvine represented a passing of a torch to the survivors' children and grandchildren to maintain the Kindertransport story. The gathering drew three dozen survivors, and for the first time, the gathering was organized by the second generation — "KT2," as they are called. More than half of those attending were the survivors' children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren.

Continue reading.

'Did you lie when you spoke to me? ...'

Love me some, The Clash:

Birth Tourism: Scores of Companies Operating 'Maternity Hotels' in Southern California

I'm seeing more and more stories like this, with examples from across Southern California.

At the Los Angeles Times, "In suburbs of L.A., a cottage industry of birth tourism":

USA Baby Care's website makes no attempt to hide why the company's clients travel to Southern California from China and Taiwan. It's to give birth to an American baby.

"Congratulations! Arriving in the U.S. means you've already given your child a surefire ticket for winning the race," the site says in Chinese. "We guarantee that each baby can obtain a U.S. passport and related documents."

That passport is just the beginning of a journey that will lead some of the children back to the United States to take advantage of free public schools and low-interest student loans, as the website notes. The whole family may eventually get in on the act, since parents may be able to piggyback on the child's citizenship and apply for a green card when the child turns 21.

Hey, they're working the system. And don't you love that "free" public education.

Amazing. Man are we suckers sometimes.

Used Book Browsing

At the Bookman in Orange yesterday.

It's really cool. I picked up a cheap paperback copy of "The Heart of Darkness."

'Brandy'

The Looking Glass:

More Stephanie Seymour Bikini Pics!

She really takes good care of herself --- and she likes letting everyone know it!

At London's Daily Mail, "Still got it! Stephanie Seymour, 44, is still runway ready as she relaxes by the pool in her bikini in St Barts."

PREVIOUSLY: "Supermodel Stephanie Seymour Looking Great in Bikini at St. Barts."

Welcome to ObamaCare!

Twitchy reports on the shock of customers in Texas at being charged a medical device tax at Cabela's retail outfitters: "Cabela’s cash register ‘glitch’ shines spotlight on new medical device excise tax."

This was apparently a glitch on the checkout registers, but the medical device tax is no glitch. It threatens to hammer whole industrial sectors, like the device manufacturing industry in the O.C. Either way, we'll be seeing more and more examples of this monstrous law throughout the year as ObamaCare kicks in. These retail glitches only bring the reality home to your average mom and dad retail shoppers.

Why Pro-Life Activists Have Been Winning Ever Since Roe v. Wade

At Life News, "Shocking Time Magazine Cover: After 40 Years, Abortion Activists Losing."

And at Time, "Is the Pro-Choice Movement Losing the Fight for Abortion Rights":

In January 1973, the Supreme Court made access to abortion a federally protected right. As I write in this week’s TIME cover story, that seemingly decisive victory 40 years ago kicked off a war that the pro-choice movement has been losing ever since. In many parts of the country today, obtaining an abortion is more difficult than at any point since the 1970s.

There are fewer doctors willing to perform the procedure and fewer abortion clinics open for business. Pro-choice activists have been outflanked by their prolife counterparts, who have successfully lobbied for state-based regulations that limit access. Scores of states now require women to undergo counseling, waiting periods or ultrasounds prior to obtaining abortions. Minors across the country must often get permission from their parents if they want to terminate pregnancies. And pro-life state legislators are passing laws that require clinics to comply with arcane requirements—such as a hallway having to be more than five feet wide— that make it difficult for them to stay open.

The pro-life cause has been winning the abortion war, in part, because it has pursued an organized and well-executed strategy. But public opinion is also increasingly on their side. Thanks to prenatal ultrasound and advanced neonatology, Americans now understand what a fetus looks like and that babies born as early as 24 weeks can now survive. Although three-quarters of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some or all cases, most support state laws regulating the procedure and fewer and fewer are identifying themselves as “pro-choice” in public opinion surveys.

The prochoice establishment has also been hampered by a generational divide within the cause. Young abortion rights activists today complain that the leaders of feminist organizations, who were in their 20s and 30s when Roe was decided, aren’t eager to pass the torch to a new generation whose activism is more nimble and Internet-based. But the most pressing challenge for prochoice activists may simply be that abortion is legal. In a dynamic democracy like America, defending the status quo is always harder than fighting to change it.

Right.

And that takes us back over to Life News, "NARAL President Quitting, Cites Lack of Young Abortion Activists."

Abortion's an abomination, as is the progressive movement as a whole. This story's a reminder that conservative grassroots activism is effective over the long haul. Folks of good standing and decency just have to keep plugging away. We'll take back the country a little at a time. We have to, or we won't have any country left.

Watters' World In Hawaii

This is good.

Hugh Jackman Starved Himself of food AND Water for His Most Gruelling Role Ever

At London's Daily Mail, "Making Les Mis? It was sheer misery!":

Hugh Jackman is part-way through a gruelling, 12-hour working day on the film Les Miserables, which comes hard on the heels of an equally gruelling three-hour stint in the gym that began shortly after dawn.

He has barely eaten for 36 hours and hasn’t drunk anything, not even water, during this period.

Little wonder that the normally bright-eyed and smiling Australian, star of films Wolverine, Real Steel and Van Helsing and an accomplished musical theatre actor, looks gaunt, with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes.

Hugh later apologises to those around him for his grumpiness but feels wholly justified the following morning when he sees the unedited version of the scene he was shooting the previous day. ‘I realised the sacrifices had been worth it, that the headaches, dizziness — and the grumpiness — had been a relatively small price to pay,’ says Hugh, who is cast as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, the £38 million film version of one of the most successful stage musicals of all time.

Continue reading.

E-Reader Sales Down, Signaling a Waning Revolution

I noted earlier how e-reading is growing.

But according to the Wall Street Journal, the e-reader itself is seeing declining sales as tablet devices become more popular. See, "The E-Reader Revolution: Over Just as It Has Begun?":

The e-reader era just arrived, but now it may be ending.

Dedicated devices for reading e-books have been a hot category for the past half-dozen years, but the shrinking sizes and falling prices of full-featured tablet computers are raising questions about the fate of reading-only gadgets like Amazon.com Inc.'s original Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc.'s first Nooks.

Market-researcher IDC recently estimated 2012 global e-reader shipments at 19.9 million units, down 28% from 27.7 million units in 2011. By contrast, IDC's 2012 tablet forecast is 122.3 million units.

IHS iSuppli comes up with different totals, but it sees a similar trend. It estimates that shipments of dedicated e-readers peaked in 2011 and predicts that 2012 shipments slid to 14.9 million units, down 36% from a year earlier. By 2015, it expects unit sales of dedicated e-readers to be just 7.8 million.

One problem is that some users who bought e-readers see no particular urgency to buy another. Julie Curtis, a substance-abuse counselor in Stow, Ohio, says she is devoted to her two-year-old Kindle. "It works fine, I really have no reason to get a new one," she says. "If I did ever want to upgrade, it would probably be to a tablet, like the Kindle Fire," she adds.

E-readers seemed revolutionary when they came into vogue in 2007. They allowed users to store and read hundreds of books on a device that was lighter than many hardcovers and took up much less space. In addition, digital books cost less to buy.

In the intervening years, e-reader designs improved. The devices looked sleeker, they were easier to read, they weighed less, their pages turned faster, and they held more books. Wireless capability allowed users to download novels, magazines and newspapers wherever they were, whenever they wanted, and now the devices allow for reading in the dark.

"The real innovation in e-readers has been giving consumers a convenient way to buy books, wirelessly, without even having to use their computers," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester Research analyst. "Giving consumers a digital storefront right in their hands, that's what really made e-readers a phenomenon."

But tastes and technology have moved on. People haven't stopped reading. They are just increasingly likely to read e-books on tablets rather than e-readers, according to a recent Pew Research Center report. The polling firm found that 23% of Americans said they had read e-books in 2012, compared with 16% in 2011.

'Serious men don't taunt...'

A great commentary from Peggy Noonan, at the Wall Street Journal, "There's No 'I' in 'Kumbaya'":

We're all talking about Republicans on the Hill and their manifold failures. So here are some things President Obama didn't do during the fiscal cliff impasse and some conjecture as to why.

He won but he did not triumph. His victory didn't resolve or ease anything and heralds nothing but more congressional war to come.

He did not unveil, argue for or put on the table the outlines of a grand bargain. That is, he put no force behind solutions to the actual crisis facing our country, which is the hemorrhagic spending that threatens our future. Progress there—even just a little—would have heartened almost everyone. The president won on tax hikes, but that was an emotional, symbolic and ideological victory, not a substantive one. The higher rates will do almost nothing to ease the debt or deficits.

He didn't try to exercise dominance over his party. This is a largely forgotten part of past presidential negotiations: You not only have to bring in the idiots on the other side, you have to corral and control your own idiots.

He didn't deepen any relationships or begin any potential alliances with Republicans, who still, actually, hold the House. The old animosity was aggravated. Some Republicans were mildly hopeful a second term might moderate those presidential attitudes that didn't quite work the first time, such as holding himself aloof from the position and predicaments of those who oppose him, while betraying an air of disdain for their arguments. He is not quick to assume good faith. Some thought his election victory might liberate him, make his approach more expansive. That didn't happen.

The president didn't allow his victory to go unsullied. Right up to the end he taunted the Republicans in Congress: They have a problem saying yes to him, normal folks try to sit down and work it out, not everyone gets everything they want. But he got what he wanted, as surely he knew he would, and Republicans got almost nothing they wanted, which was also in the cards. At Mr. Obama's campfire, he gets to sing "Kumbaya" solo while others nod to the beat.

Serious men don't taunt. And they don't farm the job of negotiating out to the vice president because no one can get anything done with the president. Some Republican said, "He couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag." But—isn't this clear by now?—not negotiating is his way of negotiating. And it kind of worked. So expect more.

Mr. Obama's supporters always give him an out by saying, "But the president can't work with them, they made it clear from the beginning their agenda was to do him in." That's true enough. But it's true with every American president now—the other side is always trying to do him in, or at least the other side's big mouths are always braying they'll take him down. They tried to capsize Bill Clinton, they tried to do in Reagan, they called him an amiable dunce and vowed to defeat his wicked ideology.

We live in a polarized age. We have for a while. One of the odd things about the Obama White House is that they are traumatized by the normal.

A lot of the president's staffers were new to national politics when they came in, and they seem to have concluded that the partisan bitterness they faced was unique to him, and uniquely sinister. It's just politics, or the ugly way we do politics now.

After the past week it seems clear Mr Obama doesn't really want to work well with the other side. He doesn't want big bipartisan victories that let everyone crow a little and move forward and make progress. He wants his opponents in disarray, fighting without and within. He wants them incapable. He wants them confused.

Continue reading.

John Boehner Re-Elected Speaker of the House

At The Hill, "Boehner reelected as Speaker; nine Republicans defect in vote." (At Memeorandum.)

And actually, Boehner's outward emotion never really bothers me, but it makes for a lot of comedy. At Weasel Zippers, with additional video, "Shocker: Boehner Tears Up After Being Re-Elected House Speaker…"

And from Patricia Murphy on Twitter:

Who WOULDN'T cry after being elected Speaker of this Congress?

— Patricia Murphy (@1PatriciaMurphy) January 3, 2013

Far-Left Whack-Job Thom Hartmann Wants to 'Outlaw Billionaires'

Whether or not he's a socialist or a communist, Hartmann's on record here attacking money in politics (and thus capitalism) as a "cancer," and so it's no surprise that his recent comments calling to "outlaw billionaires" are getting a lot of play.

Here's NewsBusters' headline, "Aspiring Bolshevik Thom Hartmann Wants U.S. to 'Outlaw Billionaires'."

This is seriously some f-ked up shit.

And from Greta's show last night:

Socialist, communist, or who knows what?, this guy Hartmann's way out there, a freakin' loon. He's peddling some weird-ass conspiracy theory called "Billionaire-istan," populated by allegedly EEEEE-VIL villains like the Koch brothers. Here's his December 27th RT program calling on the Democrat Party to destroy this vicious billionaire cabal that this psycho claims is destroying the American democracy. For real. This is billionaire trutherism --- and, no surprise, Walter James Casper III is down with it:

S1E100: GOP: The Ruling Party of Billionare-istan via podcast bit.ly/VhL9PK #GetGlue #TheBigPictureWithThomHartmann
— J. Casper (@repsac3) January 1, 2013

Online Pay Models in 2013

I don't care for Andrew Sullivan, obviously, but this piece by Ann Friedman points out why the Daily Dish is a special case: "Journalism is Personal." Very few people will have the kind of personal brand that Sullivan has, and thus very few people will ever be able to establish on online business model that he's initiating. So far he's off to a good start: "Sullivan's new Dish raises $333,000 from over 11K people in first 24 hours." (Via Mediagazer.)

And here's where I cribbed the title above: "The Atlantic Will Experiment With Online Pay Models In 2013."

Time to Tackle Spending

At IBD, "After Fiscal Cliff Tax Hikes, Spending Cuts Finally?":

The fiscal cliff deal raises taxes on the rich, investments and the vast majority of American households, while doing almost nothing to rein in spending.
Now that President Obama and fellow Democrats got their way on hiking taxes on the rich, they have no excuse for not taking on runaway government spending, Republican leaders argue. But some analysts doubt that the GOP itself is ready to take a serious stand.

The New Year's Day fiscal cliff deal hikes taxes by about $700 billion from 2013-22, IBD estimates. But that only will reduce the increase in the national debt by 14% over that period.

The deal does almost nothing to cut spending. It increases spending on jobless benefits by $30 billion. It boosts Medicare spending by $10 billion in 2013 by making yet another one-year "Doc Fix" patch delaying scheduled cuts in payments to doctors.

Continue reading. There's an eye-opening chart at the report.

Occupy Wall Street: Deadbeats, Freeloaders, Scofflaws and Terrorists

Via Maggie's Farm:

#OccupyWallStreet. Just the kinda people of attention-whore Walter James Casper III!

He wants to be a part of it!

"Occupy wherever you are..."!

See: "Harvard Grad, Occupy Wall Street Activist Busted on Bomb-Making and Weapons Possession Charges."

Another day of citing Hate-sac's own words and then watching the progressive dick break down in impotent rage. It's too easy.

Off to a wonderful New Year!

Underage Southeast Asian Hotties at Lawyers, Guns and Money!

This is interesting.

I distinctly remember being accused by the LGM thugs of posting underage bikini babes here at the blog, although the alleged "underage" woman was Courtney Messerschmidt's 21-year-old blog-model Lauren. So for a big, lusty laugh this morning let's play some "accuse the accusers" with the f-king depraved clowns at Robert "Che" Farley's hate-site. It turns out these freaks really go in for some lovely young Southeast Asian jailbait:

Clicking on that link for the "23 year-old" "Yan he" and her teen-swinger friends takes us to iDateAsia.com, with some very busty underage girls popping out at the homepage.

And if you refresh the page at Lovers, Sex-Guns and Money you'll be able to "browse singles now" (even younger singles) at FilipinoCupid.com.

And remember, Robert "Che" Farley's a counterinsurgency expert, so he's no doubt looking to help his fellow (young Asian) experts with some of that "love you long time" progressive mojo. You can't touch that, conservatives!

It Used to Be 'Please Don't Feed the Bears...'

Now it's "Don't Kill the Bears, or Else..."

At the Los Angeles Times, "More bears mean more strife at Lake Tahoe":

HOMEWOOD, Calif. — She was born under a house on the west shore of Lake Tahoe and quickly became a beloved fixture in this rustic community.

She rambled through backyards and climbed into open windows to snack. She swam in the lake's impossibly blue water and sunned herself on the beach as if on an extended vacation.

Residents nicknamed her Sunny. She was one of Lake Tahoe's "celebrity bears" — animals so familiar, so seemingly at ease around humans that they've become de facto residents of this forested idyll where the boundary between wilderness and civilization has all but disappeared.

"She was the epitome of how bears and humans can coexist," said Ann Bryant, an animal rights activist here. "Until she was murdered."

The morning of July 30, Sunny was found dead on the beach, felled by a shotgun blast.

The killing infuriated Lake Tahoe's large and vocal community of bear lovers, who raised $35,000 for a reward leading to the arrest and conviction of Sunny's killer.

Others thought that wasn't enough.

When no arrest was made, the suspected shooter's name and address were posted on a Facebook page established by a bear advocate to shame businesses with unlocked and overflowing dumpsters.

Reaction was swift — and, at times, disturbing:

I hope the person who did this is not only prosecuted to the fullest, but suffers the same fate Sunny did.

Can we have open season on the person who shot the bear??

Burn his cabin down.

Oh, it's "animal rights activists"? Color me unsurprised. And that Facebook "shaming"? It's now the SOP of the radical left, to release public information on people who haven't even been convicted of a crime.

I'm sure it was a nice bear, and I'm sorry it was killed. But it was a bear. These granola goons would kill their next door neighbor before even entertaining an inconvenience from these creatures.

High Earners Face First Major Tax Rise in Years

An excellent summary, at the Wall Street Journal.

RELATED: At Michelle Makin, "Obama’s Tax Evaders of the Year":

Well, it happened last night. The U.S. Senate Democrats and bend-over Republicans delivered a massive tax-hike/puny spending-cut bill in the ratio of 41-to-1 tax hikes to spending cuts. This is the Washington idea of a “balanced approach” to our fiscal woes. The McConnell-Biden love connection screwed us over big time.

But as American families, business owners, and struggling entrepreneurs now brace for their “fair share” punishment, many of Obama’s wealthiest friends are busy evading the tax hikes their candidate spearheaded. Let’s ring in the new year exposing the hypocrites.

And at the Washington Free Beacon, "Gore Pockets Estimated $100M on TV Sale to Oil-Backed Al Jazeera":

According to the New York Times, which first broke the story Wednesday, Gore wanted to complete the sale before Jan. 1, 2013 to avoid getting slammed with higher taxes.

Higher taxes for thee, but not for me...

Obama Continues Terrorist Renditions

If you're a civil liberties advocate, this administration is much worse than the Bush administration. But no one's demonizing President Obama as they did President Bush, because, you know, O's a brother and all that.

At the Washington Post, "Renditions continue under Obama, despite due-process concerns."

Remember progressive hypocrite Kevin Gosztola? All he can muster is a mildly critical retweet:

MT @janehamsher Oh the quaint things we used to care about when Bush was in office & liberals decried rendition: fdl.me/10Ovz1M
— Kevin Gosztola (@kgosztola) January 2, 2013

More at Big Journalism, "Press Mum as Renditions Continue Under Obama."

Who's College Football's No. 1 Team?

More football coverage, at the Wall Street Journal, "Who's No. 1 in College Football Is a Contested Issue: Conflicting Title Claims Abound, Some of Them Written in Stone."

Harvard Grad, Occupy Wall Street Activist Busted on Bomb-Making and Weapons Possession Charges

Hey, "occupy wherever you are..."

At the New York Post, "Greenwich Village couple busted with cache of weapons, bombmaking explosives: sources."

And at American Glob, "Shocker: Occupy Wall Street Denies Link To Couple Busted With Guns And Bombs":

Of course! This is what they always do.

Right. It's what they always do, because we wouldn't want to make any "sweeping generalizations" or anything. Assholes.

More at London's Daily Mail, "Doctor's daughter who had baby in custody after she was arrested for keeping explosives in apartment 'robbed a man after meeting at a bar in February'."

Social Justice and the Constitution

From Douglas Gibbs, at Canada Free Press:

Barack Obama won the election of 2012 with a number of strategies in place, and the one that made the largest impact was his offer of the federal government as the giver of gifts from the treasury, at the expense of the producers in society. In other words, the redistribution of wealth. The liberal left calls this Social Justice. The Founding Fathers called it despotic and unconstitutional. Today’s conservatives call it communism.

Enough voters, however, have bought into the lie that only government must be the guarantor of social justice.

The concept of Social Justice begins with the claim that the government is simply seeking to achieve “fairness.” In this pursuit, the Democrats cry out that those with more must “pay their fair share” in order for the “less fortunate” to achieve equity in our unfair society. Equality and fairness. Sounds good to most. A tool used by the statists to achieve their big government aims, Social Justice is a myriad of entitlement programs we are told were designed to ensure those that are underprivileged are taken care of by government.

Social Justice is argued as being the responsibility of the government for reasons of morality. To not support social justice is to be immoral because that must mean you want the potential recipients of entitlement programs to suffer in their poverty. In reality, the statists are paying the poor to remain poor, not only to buy their votes, but to keep them under the control of the government.

Does the Constitution give the federal government the authority to create and fund programs designed to redistribute the wealth from the taxpayers to those seeking participation in entitlement programs?

The answer is “No,” though folks that oppose a system of self-reliance and personal responsibility will argue otherwise...

Well, to be precise, the Constitution sets forth in the Preamble that we should provide for the "general welfare," although it's a political question as to what that actually means. Should the "general welfare" be defined as promoting greater liberty for the individual to pursue material economic interests to the best of his or her ability, with the aggregate of those interests promoting the public good through increasing social prosperity? Or should the "general welfare" be defined as promoting ever increasing (re)distributive "welfare" programs as defined by the radical left's entitlement ideology? As it stands right now, the latter definition is winning (and liberty is increasingly threatened).

But continue reading.

Speedboat Puts Out Boat Fire

I was watching the news yesterday when this story came on. That's some quick thinking:

More Tax Hikes On the Way

A great O'Reilly Factor segment featuring Charles Krauthammer at the clip.

And from James Pethokoukis, "Why the Obama tax hikes have only just begun":

Total taxes are going up some $220 billion this year, including both the Obama income tax hikes and the Obamacare tax hikes. Even worse, the income tax hikes raise the burden on working, saving, and investing. They make our mess of a tax code even more damaging to growth than what it was before.

Nor is Obama done pushing higher taxes. As he said on New Year’s Eve, concerning the outstanding issues of the sequester and debt ceiling:

I want to make clear that any agreement we have to deal with these automatic spending cuts that are being threatened for next month, those also have to be balanced, because, remember, my principle always has been let’s do things in a balanced, responsible way. And that means the revenues have to be part of the equation in turning off the sequester and eliminating these automatic spending cuts, as well as spending cuts. Now, the same is true for any future deficit agreement. Obviously we’re going to have to do more to reduce our debt and our deficit. I’m willing to do more, but it’s going to have to be balanced. We’re going to have do it in a balanced responsible way.

How much more “balance” does Obama want? ...

Continue reading.

And from Yuval Levin, at National Review, "It’s a Spending Problem" (via Memeorandum).

Bill Plaschke: A Little Boring, But Stanford Brings Back Tradition to the Rose Bowl

Bill Plaschke was grumbling pretty hard on Twitter during yesterday's Rose Bowl game. He gives ground a little in his column today, at the Los Angeles Times, "Stanford's old-school Rose Bowl win a welcome throwback trend":

Who knew the elite Bay Area school had enough old-school fans to fill the Rose Bowl with a roar that even drowned out that Wisconsin beer cheer? Who knew that a longtime second-tier program could lose one of college football's best coaches and quarterbacks in a span of two seasons and not only survive, but triumph? Who knew that, 41 years after an infamous "Thunderchickens" defensive line gave Stanford its last Rose Bowl championship, the academic powerhouse could overcome an NCAA world filled with recruiting cheats and grade scams to return to football's most traditional throne?

From the shadow of USC and Oregon to the glorious winter shadow of the San Gabriel Mountains, Stanford formally arrived Tuesday in a game that fit Cardinal culture perfectly. It was a bit thoughtful, a tad boring, but ultimately a real gas. The Cardinal scored twice in the game's first nine minutes, then spent the rest of the afternoon swarming and scheming and hanging on for history.

PREVIOUSLY: "Rose Bowl: Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14."

New Breed of Republicans Resists Fiscal Deal

The title above almost needs a question mark. A WTF? kinda question mark. That's because to understand this piece at the New York Times you have to understand the paper's agenda. There's never any questioning the idea that government today has to expand, that government must grow. Look at the spin on the fiscal cliff deal. Oh, we saved people thousands of dollars by not going over the cliff. Why isn't that enough for you Republicans? It's been ten years since the Bush tax cuts passed, but for NYT's reporters they're still temporary, so it's the Democrats who should get credit for them, right? For making them permanent. And Republicans should just STFU and get with the program on more spending because Obama decided to let you have your little play toy.

See, "Lines of Resistance on Fiscal Deal":

WASHINGTON — Just a few years ago, the tax deal pushed through Congress on Tuesday would have been a Republican fiscal fantasy, a sweeping bill that locks in virtually all of the Bush-era tax cuts, exempts almost all estates from taxation, and enshrines the former president’s credo that dividends and capital gains should be taxed equally and gently.

But times have changed, President George W. Bush is gone, and before the bill’s final passage late Tuesday, House Republican leaders struggled all day to quell a revolt among caucus members who threatened to blow up a hard-fought compromise that they could have easily framed as a victory. Many House Republicans seemed determined to put themselves in a position to be blamed for sending the nation’s economy into a potential tailspin under the weight of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.

The latest internal party struggle on Capitol Hill surprised even Senate Republicans, who had voted overwhelmingly for a deal largely hashed out by their leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. The bill passed the Senate, 89 to 8, at 2 a.m. on Tuesday, with only 5 of the chamber’s 47 Republicans voting no.

Twenty-one hours later, the same measure was opposed by 151 of the 236 Republicans voting in the House. It was further proof that House Republicans are a new breed, less enamored of tax cuts per se than they are driven to shrink government through steep spending cuts. Protecting nearly 99 percent of the nation’s households from an income tax increase was not enough if taxes rose on some and government spending was untouched.

And that's supposed to be bad? We'll soon be pushing $20 trillion in national debt and these idiots question why Republicans might be worried about a little bit more than voting to keep something first passed ten years ago. You want to hit these numbskulls up side the head. This is Democrat media framing at its finest, courtesy of the newspaper of Walter Duranty.

More at the link.

And then read Erick Erickson, "The McConnell Tax Hike":

The McConnell Tax Hike raises taxes on people making over $400,000.00, but it also raises taxes on the middle class. “More than 80 percent of households with incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 would pay higher taxes.”

Not only does the McConnell Tax Hike stick it to the middle class, it raises taxes $41 for every $1 in spending cuts. Those spending cuts are ephemeral as there is $330 billion in new spending and a $4 trillion price tag over the next ten years.

Both Hollywood and NASCAR get carve outs. So too do wind energy companies.

The Republican Establishment in Washington, DC should be burned to the ground and salt spread on the remains. Republicans who saw Mitch McConnell and John Boehner destroy the last plank of the Republican Party are going to need to look elsewhere for a savior for their party. Boehner and McConnell have declared they will survive. Their party? They don’t really care.

Conservatives must look elsewhere. I do not advocate a third party. I advocate bring fresh blood into the GOP.

And also, "A New Agenda."

Keith Morris Recounts the Origins of the Los Angeles Punk Scene

I'm just clicking around on YouTube looking for a different version of "Nervous Breakdown" and I come across this Keith Morris interview. I start listening thinking I'm just going to check it out for a couple of minutes but Morris sucks you in. There's no one like him. From his accent and mannerisms, to his encyclopedic revelations of the early punk movement, you can't not be riveted to this man talking. At times it seems he's having a brain malfunction, like he's lost his train of thought, only to blast out a fascinating recollection using the most colorful examples and analogies. You gotta love this guy. (And if you're able to stay with it until the end, Morris regales the story of Chuck Berry, during a concert in St. Louis, coming up on stage to jam with the Circle Jerks and then later telling the club manager how much he loved Morris' music.)

House Republicans Refuse Vote on Hurricane Sandy Relief

Chris Christie is pissed. And whatever the justifications in the House, the PR won't be good for the GOP. The Democrat Media Complex will make sure of that.

At the New York Times, "House Ignores Storm Relief, to Fury of Local Republicans."

Also at the Los Angeles Times, "House leaders opt not to act now on Sandy aid."

Rose Bowl: Stanford 20, Wisconsin 14

I was rooting for the Badgers, actually. But they weren't playing well at all.

At the New York Times, "Stanford Wears Out Wisconsin on Ground":

PASADENA, Calif. — The view was a sight to behold, the sun setting on the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance. Down below, the teams looked vintage as the 99th Rose Bowl devolved into something familiar for Barry Alvarez: brawn, bruises and punts. A lot of punts.

But Alvarez’s 16 seasons as Wisconsin’s coach, a College Football Hall of Fame induction, a previously perfect 3-0 Rose Bowl record, his vintage red sweater vest and his timeless sunglasses did not count for much on Tuesday. Not against Stanford, a program that flexed its staying power, slowly wearing out the Badgers, 20-14.

It was Stanford’s first Rose Bowl win since 1972 and Wisconsin’s third Rose Bowl loss in three years.

In his final game, Wisconsin’s Montee Ball, the N.C.A.A. record-holder for career touchdowns (83), rushed for 100 yards on 24 carries and scored on an 11-yard run.

The second half was a tug of war between Ball and his Stanford counterpart Stepfan Taylor. Back and forth Ball and Taylor went, disappearing in a mosh pit of red and white bodies, out of sight to gain their yards. Taylor gained 88 yards on 20 carries and scored on a 3-yard run that gave Stanford a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

Trailing, 20-14, Wisconsin mounted a final drive, but quarterback Curt Phillips’s pass was tipped and intercepted by Usua Amanam near midfield with 2 minutes 3 seconds remaining.

Wisconsin seniors had pleaded for Alvarez, the athletic director, to step in for Bret Bielema, who had left for Arkansas. Alvarez hired the Utah State coach Gary Andersen, but decided to take Bielema’s place in the Rose Bowl. Six assistants who will have new jobs stayed to assist Alvarez.

Stanford (12-2), ranked eighth, opened the game with two touchdown drives, balanced and impressive, as it had looked with Andrew Luck at quarterback a year ago. Taylor pushed forward and wiggled for extra yards. Kevin Hogan, who is often likened to Luck, looked as if this were not his fifth career start, marching the Cardinal 80 and 79 yards.

Bill Plaschke wasn't thrilled:

At this point, I can think of, oh, 98 Rose Bowls that were more exciting than this one...somebody please do something besides punt..
— Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) January 2, 2013

Well, Stanford's sure excited.