In 1790, George Washington exchanged letters with Moses Seixas, the warden of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I. Seixas praised the newly formed United States for "affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of citizenship." People who knew all too well what it meant to be deprived of the "invaluable rights of free Citizens" held religious liberty and freedom of conscience most dear.

In reply, Washington wrote that U.S. citizens had a "right to applaud themselves" for setting an example of "an enlarged and liberal policy" that enshrined freedom of conscience. He added that the ability of members of one faith to seek the benefit of all Americans is the foundation of America's civic strength. Donald Wuerl, Charles Colson and Meir Y. Soloverichik writing for the Wall Street Journal. - Click To Read More...

Cardinal Wuerl is the archbishop of Washington, D.C. Mr. Colson is the founder of Prison Fellowship and the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Rabbi Soloveichik is director of the Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought at Yeshiva University and associate rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan

Wether it's TSA, the mandate in the Affordable Care Act or requiring employers to pay for abortion-inducing drugs, sterilization and contraception, your rights under the Constitution are being taken away. You do not have to be Jewish, Catholic or Protestant to be outraged.

The Obama administration is forcing you as a citizen of this country to take a stand. If you do not you loose. If you do not consider the basic tenant of liberty for all, you are lost to a runaway government that will continue to force your hand. - DSMW

I have been watching over the years as non-profit foundations enormously have increased their assets and sway over the political and cultural life of America (essentially on our dime) with no real oversight or controls.  In many cases these outfits were begun by rich men and women who have  died and whose feckless heirs let the institutions fall into the control of those with views directly antithetical to the founders'. In other cases, particularly institutions like universities or those organized around a particular activity -- like providing abortions or supporting cancer research -- they depend largely on private contributions alone or in combination with government grants.

To give you an idea of the immense fortune, un taxed , and outside of any of the normal controls on government or private funds , here is a list of the known assets of the top 100  Foundations. Clarice Feldman - American Thinker - Click To Read More...

If you think your donation is for breast cancer think again. - DSMW

Think about greed and racial discrimination. In 1947, when the Brooklyn Dodgers hired Jackie Robinson, why did racial discrimination by major league teams begin to drop like a hot potato? It wasn't feelings of guilt by white owners, affirmative action or anti-discrimination laws. It turned out that there was a huge pool of black baseball talent in the Negro leagues. It became too costly for teams to allow the Dodgers to gain a monopoly on this talent. Black players won the National League's Most Valuable Player award for seven consecutive seasons. Had other teams not stepped in to hire black players, allowing the Dodgers to hire them, it might have given the Dodgers a virtual monopoly on world championships. Walter E. Williams - Townhall.com - Click To Read More...

 "All those handsome, perfectly controlled, wealthy, teetotalers with their gorgeous wives—I wanted to vomit. There was something unearthly about it. Like some weird superior race on the planet Krypton." Michael Medved speaking of the "Mitt Romney Syndrome." Why people are intimidated at the displays of intimidating perfection when seeing evangelicals like the Romney clan and Tim Tebow.

Michael Medved might be on to something here. When we look at Tebow and Romney we just might feel the pain of our limitations and imperfections. It's easy to root for the hero to stumble. - DSMW

The Heritage Foundation 1-15-12

This week brings the nationwide release of The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Streep referred to the challenge of portraying Lady Thatcher as "daunting and exciting," and as requiring "as much zeal, fervour and attention to detail as the real Lady Thatcher possesses." Her performance has already been widely praised by critics, but for those who respect Lady Thatcher, not all the omens are positive.

In an interview with The New York Times, Streep comparedLady Thatcher to King Lear and commented that what interested her about the role "was the part of someone who does monstrous things maybe, or misguided things. Where do they come from?" That doesn't sound good.

Conservatives are used to unfair treatment from Hollywood--in fact, we've come to expect it]]>http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/rss-comments-entry-14553397.xmlDSMW EditorThu, 12 Jan 2012 18:48:58 +0000http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/2012/1/12/the-affirmative-action-president.html346052:3670982:14553096Years from now, historians may regard the 2008 election of Barack Obama as an inscrutable and disturbing phenomenon, a baffling breed of mass hysteria akin perhaps to the witch craze of the Middle Ages. How, they will wonder, did a man so devoid of professional accomplishment beguile so many into thinking he could manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job? 
 
Imagine a future historian examining Obama's pre-presidential life: ushered into and through the Ivy League despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way; a cushy non-job as a "community organizer"; a brief career as a state legislator devoid of legislative achievement (and in fact nearly devoid of his attention, so often did he vote "present") ; and finally an unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate, the entirety of which was devoted to his presidential ambitions. He left no academic legacy in academia, authored no signature legislation as a legislator.
 
And then there is the matter of his troubling associations: Matt Patterson - Washington Post - Click to Read More...

“There’s so much focus on the rhetoric in a debate and who says what to who. It would be very refreshing to hear somebody say, ‘There are so many different issues that our politicians have to tackle. There are so many stories you all have to cover and nobody can be an expert on every single thing. And, so, to me, I’m always kind of wondering, well, who will you be listening to on these different issues, not necessarily this strange thing we have where we just expect one man is going to step forward — or woman — who is going to have the absolute answer to every single thing. That doesn’t actually make sense that that’s possible. That doesn’t seem rounded. I’d like to know who they will be leaning on for a very full, group discussion to get a very thorough debate going to be able to come to a final result.”. . . Angelia Jolie's take on the presidential run told to POLITICO  in an interview Tuesday.

The conventional wisdom (which is always conventional but much less often wise) remains that Mitt Romney will outlast all his opponents and will, with minimum esprit de corps, be nominated in August in Tampa. 

Lots of fine Americans live in both Iowa and New Hampshire, I want to make clear. But these are small states, very much unlike the nation at large, with some quirky voting rules. In a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal, a Michael Barone analysis of how untypical the Iowa caucuses are to what follows carries one of those headlines that are so good it makes it almost unnecessary to read the story. To wit, "As Iowa Goes, So Goes Iowa." Just so. If you don't think so, ask President Huckabee. Larry Thornberry - The American Spectator - Click To Read More...

Not as far as 2011 was concerned. The year began with a tea-powered Republican caucus taking control of the House of Representatives and pledging to rein in spendaholic government. It ended with President Obama making a pro forma request for a mere $1.2 trillion increase in the debt ceiling. This will raise government debt to $16.4 trillion — a new world record! If only until he demands the next debt-ceiling increase in three months' time.

At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial. Tens of millions of Americans remain unaware that this nation is broke — broker than any nation has ever been.

A few days before Christmas, we sailed across the psychological Rubicon and joined the club of nations whose government debt now exceeds their total GDP. It barely raised a murmur — and those who took the trouble to address the issue noted complacently that our 100% debt-to-GDP ratio is a mere two-thirds of Greece's. Mark Steyn - Investors.com - Click To Read More...

The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether ObamaCare is constitutional, granting certiorari in a case brought by 26 states shortly after that law was enacted in March of last year. In so doing, it will be ruling upon the very nature of our federal union.

The Constitution limits federal power by granting Congress authority in certain defined areas, such as the regulation of interstate and foreign commerce. Those powers not specifically vested in the federal government by the Constitution or, as stated in the 10th Amendment, "prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people." The court will now determine whether those words still have meaning. David B. Rivkin, Jr. - Wall Street Journal - Click To Read More...

Spotify’s Daniel Ek created a free, Facebook-enabled platform that could save the recording industry from piracy–and iTunes.

It’s a typically damp, dark November afternoon in Stockholm, and Daniel Ek is ill. Over the past month the 28-year-old chief executive of Spotify has worn himself down jetting from his Swedish base to San Francisco, New York, Denmark, the Netherlands and France to visit his expanding sales force and launch his music service in one or another of the dozen countries it now operates in.

But there’s no rest for the weary. Next week he’s scheduled to return to New York to unveil Spotify’s new platform in front of his first-ever press conference. Steven Bertoni - Forbes - Click To Read More...

They were economic. Right back in 1990, Mrs Thatcher foresaw with painful clarity the devastation it was bound to cause. Her autobiography records how she warned John Major, her euro-friendly chancellor of the exchequer, that the single currency could not accommodate both industrial powerhouses such as Germany and smaller countries such as Greece. Germany, forecast Thatcher, would be phobic about inflation, while the euro would prove fatal to the poorer countries because it would “devastate their inefficient economies” Peter Oborne - The Telegraph - Click To Read More...

"Now, we know how an entitlement society works. Those in government control the resources and they make the rules. And while the rest of us stand still, they make sure that their friends get ahead. I will take a very different path."  Mr. Romney said in a speech in Davenport this week. 

Mitt Romney is beginning to say the right words in a campaign that will prove that contrary to the sad Jared Laugher - Gifford's affair, words really do matter. In his closing arguments before the Iowa caucuses, Romney is beginning to focus on his vision for this country. Barack Obama wants a entitlement society and he (Romney) wants and "opportunity society."

In a country where nearly half the population receives some form of government benefits and pays no federal taxes, Romney's opportunity society could have a hollow ring. It all boils down to words and this is something the liberal establishment is wonderful at. Want something really heinous passed, just name it something really nice and appealing. No problem.

The former Massachusetts governor's strategy now is to present himself as the best possible candidate to win the 2012 election. Staying focused, he is bearing down on the words and side stepping the personal attacks of the rest of the GOP candidates; a very smart thing to do.

It matters too that Romney looks presidential. More and more, words and appearance are coming into play. He is beginning to project a certain stability that the other candidates lack. Especially apparent in Iowa, his conservative message is beginning to take on a broad high road appeal that he really can change this country for the better.

"Mr. Obama will resort to politics of envy and divisiveness and demonizing of business and business people that will shock voters. A campaign of envy and class warfare, I think will ultimately be unsuccessful, whether in the primary or in the general election. I can surely tell you that Republicans will not warm to a campaign that is attacking success. Mitt Romney ginning up his attacks on Obama in Hanover New Hampshire.

Increasingly, we have let our elected officials abridge our own economic freedoms through the annual passage of thousands of laws and their associated regulations. We see human tragedy and we demand a regulation to prevent it. We see a criminal fraud and we demand more laws. We see an industry dying and we demand it be saved. Each time, we demand "Do something . . . anything."

We either can go down the road we are on, a road where the individual is allowed to succeed only so much before being punished with ruinous taxation, where commerce ignores government action at its own peril, and where the state decides how a massive share of the economy's resources should be spent.

Or we can return to the road we once knew and which has served us well: Jeb Bush - Wall Street Journal

True leadership often comes from the most unlikely places. Think for example on the recent death of Czech playwright turned dissident and politician Vaclav Havel and the Velvet Revolution. On the world stage and at home true leadership is vanishing. Character, poise and political insight are rare these days. This is exactly why you must read this stunning opinion piece by Jeb Bush for the Wall Street Journal.

Jeb Bush will not be content to play the role of the elder statesman. After a wildly successful career as governor of Florida, Jeb will not be content to simply sideline a brilliant mind and passion for the political arena to op-ed pieces and work in the private sector. His work for this country is not done. - DSMW

What we need are Leaders that can deliver that hope we were promised four years ago.

Would a farmer who put out a trough of slop be surprised if it attracted a bunch of pigs? Yet activists who promote ­enlarging the size and scope of government always seem to be shocked when one program after another is hijacked by corporations that find it easier to seek favors in Washington than ­customers in the marketplace. And, ­despite knowing that such corruption is inevitable, mainstream media consistently dismiss those who advocate ­curtailing government powers as ­cor­po­rate stooges.

What leads anyone to believe that unconstrained power can be channeled in ways that don’t favor the politically connected? Bill Frezza -  Forbs - Click To Read More...

"They shake us up so we don't forget who is boss on our planet. The West spends hundreds of millions of dollars to influence Russia's election system. We need to end that." Viadimer Putin grousing on National T.V. blaming U.S. Secretary Hillary Clinton for the street protests against his rule and the recent elections results in Russia.

Meanwhile, thousands of protesters are signing up on Facebook for a mass rally to be held Saturday to protest and demand the recount of the Dec. vote which favored Putin's party. The rally is to be the largest since the fall of the Soviet Union.

They are saying we might be beaten up or arrested, that something bad may happen," "But today is a defeat for the government because this meeting will happen anyway. said Boris Nemtsov, who was a deputy prime minister in the 1990s and is now a frequent Kremlin critic.

Outrage over widespread vote fraud has united Muscovites who have taken to wearing white ribbons to demonstrate their support for clean elections.

Donald Pleasants

It is informative to compare how the Republicans and Democrats deal with the basic moral issue of honesty and dishonesty.   When Herman Cain appears to have covered up the truth Republican support for his candidacy waned and he was voted off the island.   When Bill Clinton was forced to admit his outright whoppers and cover-up the Democrats celebrated his ability to mislead and made him into an elder statesman.    Joan Rivers had it right:  no matter how cynical you get, you can’t keep up.

            A more recent example of Democrats disregard for truth is Vice President Biden’s recent assertion that, due to local government budget cuts “the result…has been…murder rates are up, robberies are up, rapes are up,” Even the Washington Post calls this statement “absurd.”   The facts are quite the opposite of Biden’s claim.  Violent crime has actually fallen by 47% since 1992.    In the early 1990s the nation’s crime rate reached new highs at 758 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans.   After 1992 and continuing on through 2008, the Department of Justice Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies reports that stated and local governments actually increased the numbers of law enforcement personnel by one-third to more than 1.1 million.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, (not a man, not an administration) with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government... Herman Cain quoting the Declaration of Independence

This was the best part of Herman Cain's speeches. He always started them this way and the crowds went wild. Like he was quoting something new, giving permission in a way to a ballroom full of humanity thirsting for the consent of the governed, knowing in their hearts that their government has become destructive.

Standing there listening to Cain recite the Declaration I was reminded of these forgotten words and it was thrilling. I somehow felt I was breaking some law, listening and thinking about the possibility of standing up for my rights. To hear the words that Governments are instuted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed was something I had forgotten. To know that I could, along with everyone at the Hyatt, alter or abolish the government if it became destructive of my liberty. This was a secret power I wanted to think about and turn over in my mind. It was empowering. It was a way out.

Herman Cain reminded me that the current administration, the EPA, the Czars, TSA, the courts, did not have the final say about my freedom and liberty, I did. It was mine and I could change it I if it became destructive of these ends.

No matter what happens to Herman Cain he will be a hard act to follow, just ask Rick Santorum. When he had to follow one of Cain's Declaration speeches in Orlando he quipped he was going to fire his campaign manager. Cain's message that day will not be forgotten. It rang loud and clear. You have the final say as a country. You are in charge.

Hey, Newt Gingrich could actually win the nomination!

But he probably won't.

A healthy dose of modesty is called for in all prognostications. We're entering the period of predictable unpredictability in the campaign cycle, the point in the calendar when in years past people such as Bill Clinton were left for dead and people such as Patrick Buchanan looked like serious contenders. Gerald F. Seib - Wall Street Journal

"That's the fear. As he gets more confident and more self-assured, he'll say something really stupid or do something really stupid or we'll find out about something really  stupid or do something really stupid or we'll find out about something really stupid, and that will doom his candidacy and doom the Republican Party." Former Rep. George Nethercutt, R., Washington. 

The rank and file Republicans who have worked with Gingrich in the past now give pause when faced with the reality of Newt and the presidency.

"It's not really personal, but I don't think he has the temperament, intellectual discipline or ego control to be either a successful nominee or president. Basically, Newt can't control himself." Peter King, R. New York.

Knowing of the allegations and settlements in his past, he should have been out in front them, rather than reacting like an bewildered and shifty amatuer. Knowing of his unorthodox relationship with Ms. White he should have realized the scrutiny would become more intense. Guilty or not, the man should have better assesed how these issues would affect his viability as a candidate. This leads to several sad conclusions: He either lied (through ommission or overtly) to his advisors. He doesn't have advisors. Or he didn't anticipate a problem.

What ever the answer, there can be no denial that he and or his campain severely damaged his credibility with the "crisis management" that was to follow. It was painful to watch. From failing to respond to Politico.com, who gave the campaign ten days to privately respond, to Mr. Cain's denials, shifting stories and further revelations, it was a trainwreck that he appeared to be engineering.

Yet the most dellusional aspect of Cain's run is it's woeful lack of substance and understanding. A slogan, charisma and an indistinct idea only go so far. 9-9-9 sounds great. "Big government bad."  "Fewer and less taxes good." But he has never satifactorly explained it. Not once. If the truth be known, Mr. Cain probably isn't very sure of the particulars either. Yet he appears to believe in it, however vague it may be. Just as he believes that his attributes qualified him to run for an office he vaguely understands:

In a press conference this evening, the president referred in stumbling fashion to the “English Embassy” in Iran instead of the British Embassy. One can only imagine the kind of howls of derision that would greet any presidential contender if that kind of basic error were made before, say, the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. - Nile Gardiner - The Heritage Foundation - Click To Read More...

In that primary, Mr. Obama never did connect. On St. Patrick's Day, he showed up in Scranton wearing no green until someone asked him why and he borrowed a green tie from a staffer. It didn't help that a few weeks before the vote, he explained his inability to gain traction in Pennsylvania by accusing its small-town citizens of being "bitter" and clinging "to guns or religion."

Mrs. Clinton, by contrast, played the homecoming queen. - William McGurn - Wall Street Journal - Click To Read More...

"More, More, More

How do you like it?

How do you like it?

More, More, More

How do you like it?

How do you like it?"

In honor of Andrea's passing, I have asked my congressman to propose the adoption of this song as the U.S. national anthem. True, Miss True wrote the number as an autobiographical reflection on her days as a porn movie actress but, consciously or not, it accurately distills the essence of American governmental philosophy in the ear. - Mark Steyn - Click To Read More...

Limbaugh goes on to say Obama is making no apologies for dividing the country in the New York Times article titled "The Future Of The Obama Coalition"- DSMW

Across-the-board cuts are clearly inferior to rationally setting priorities, but they are not debilitating. While a sequester would not be the end of the world. When Congress passed the Budget Control Act setting up the sequester process, it also repealed the expiration dates in Gramm-Rudman, bringing back to life provisions enabling the president and Congress to propose alternatives after the sequester is ordered.

The resulting empowerment of these actions for a new Republican Congress and president would be profound. Rather than having to first adopt a budget, delaying real action until the summer or fall of 2013, a new Republican Congress could de-fund ObamaCare immediately and begin to reform entitlements for a year during which they could adopt a budget and use reconciliation to make these and other reforms permanent with a simple majority vote.

In his effort to put off the difficult decisions of governing until after the election, President Obama has made it possible for a new Republican Congress and a new Republican president, not tied to the mistakes of the past, to begin the repeal of ObamaCare and restore fiscal sanity the moment the new president's hand comes off the Bible on Jan. 20, 2013.

Calling America "lazy" last weekend was only the latest and broadest insult from President Obama. America has become accustomed to Obama's lashing out at entire groups of people.  What has been all too little appreciated is his seeming delight in bullying, if not demeaning, individuals face-to-face.  He is protected from angry responses not just by the Secret Service, but by the reverence his victims have for the office he holds.

This is a level of respect for the institution of the presidency that Obama does not share or hold dear.  For him, the bully pulpit has taken an entirely different -- and disgraceful -- meaning from the one given to it by Teddy Roosevelt.  What does it say about Barack Obama that he indulges in personal insults? What does this mean for America? Ed Lasky - American Thinker - Click To Read More...