By Larry Thornberry

The Sequester is turning out worse than losing tenure. It’s always a knee-slapper when American university professors and administrators, representatives of one of the most extravagantly funded and unaccountable industries in the history of the world, complain they are being underfunded and that the world will suffer as a result. And you thought politicians were good at conflating their personal interests with those of the cosmos.

The sequester hustle out of the White House was such a transparent fraud, and such an intellectual flim-flam, it’s no surprise that the deep thinkers in faculty lounges have fallen for it. And have attempted to turn it to their advantage.

An Associated Press story over the weekend quotes poobahs from some of the nation’s better-known universities — MIT, Johns Hopkins, USC, UMass-Amherst, et al.) whining that the recent trifling cut in the rate at which the federal government metastasizes will bring the growth of knowledge in America to a standstill. Scientifically talented students will flee to other countries where intellectual opportunities are better (Venezuela perhaps? Guatemala?), they threaten. This could lead to a “brain drain,” they warn.

But would banning ice cream sales result in a reduction in the number of rapes? Almost certainly not. Why? Because the correlation does not demonstrate the causation. Looked at another way, they have a shared cause, but there is no correlation. The cause in both cases is hotter temperatures. That is, rape is more likely to occur in warmer months, just as ice cream sales shoot up during the hot summer season. Banning the sale of ice cream to reduce rape makes about as much sense as banning guns to reduce violence.

We get bombarded with stats, figures and polling data every day. Much of this, particularly the polling data, is next to useless. But it doesn’t stop the media from fixating on often-times meaningless numbers to tell a story Chris Ingram - Irreverent View - Click To Read More...

WASHINGTON, February 26--At a Budget Committee hearing today, Ranking Member Sessions announced the results of a new Government Accountability Office report on the long-term deficit impact of the President's health law. The results are shocking: over the next 75 years, the law will add $6.2 trillion to the deficit in present value terms—not including the interest costs associated with the additional borrowing. This proves that President Obama's claim that he would "not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits—either now or in the future" were false.

This comes as no suprise. The question is what are we going to do about it?

Federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from detention centers around the country in recent days in a highly unusual effort to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday.

“It’s abhorrent that President Obama is releasing criminals into our communities to promote his political agenda on sequestration. By releasing criminal immigrants onto the streets, the administration is needlessly endangering American lives.”  said Mr. Goodlatte, chairman of the Judiciary Committee running the House hearings on immigration reform. New York Times - Click To Read Here...

In view Obama is the only one that has the ability to actually direct where these cuts can be made makes his decision to release criminals first an insult and threat to the American people.

The Sequester cuts can either be made intelligently, or in In Obama's universe done brashly as payback for not getting his way. This petulance will soon become more apparent. - DSMW

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said he would strive to be like Lyndon Johnson, the Democrat famous for expanding the U.S. welfare state through the "Great Society," if he were elected president.

According to the Miami Herald, Bush made those comments Wednesday night in San Antonio, Florida at Saint Leo University, while speaking about education, immigration, and energy policy.

Bush did not address Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs, about which Ronald Reagan once famously quipped, "We had a war on poverty, and poverty won. Breitbart - Click To Read More...

You actually CAN hear it here. Check Jeb out and you judge what he actually ment when he speaks of Lyndon Johnson term as president and how he feels about it. - DSMW

Jeb Bush spoke at Saint Leo University's 4th Annual International Business Conference a couple of nights ago. He detailed his vision of how to grow and revitalize the economy through education and immigration reform. The former Governor demonstrated to the audience why he is always mentioned as a potential Presidential candidate. He was able to articulate a sensible, partisan-free message in an almost conversational manner that no other "relevant" politician can today.

We apologize for the shakiness of the video.

Here's what has to be understood. It's all about him.

A State of the Union speech normally is about relating a president's public policies to conditions in the country. An Obama State of the Union speech is about one thing: the Obama project.

It would be unfair to say that everything and everyone else in a complex world are irrelevant. But let's be clear about the priorities: Congress, the Cabinet of courtiers, the press, the people and indeed the national problems described in that State of the Union speech—it's all brick and mortar in the future Obama monument. Daniel Henninger - Click To Read More...

After attending an address by Jeb Bush at Saint leo College last night, I was reminded of Henniger's remarks. Jeb spoke at some length, to a mixed crowd, about leadership in general and especially leadership in government and what it really is. His example was Lyndon Johnson. Johnson knew a thing or two about hard work, difficult miserable situations and yet still being able to move the ball forward to get what he wanted. His secret and the modus orperandi of politicians and presidents before him was earning the respect of the men and women you are asking the favors from. It worked well for the country and in spades for him. History might look on Obama more kindly if he learned this valuable lesson. - DSMW

President Barack Obama laid out an ambitious agenda last night. Here are some highlights of our experts’ analysis of his claims, his plans, and his promises. The Heritage Foundation - Click to Read More...

The Heritage Foundation has and will continue to be your go-to source for conservative information on relevant events. Don't continue to accept information on face value when your gut is saying otherwise. Critical thinking is more important than ever in the next 18 months and the Heritage Foundation is the best think tank there is for you and your friends.  Whether it's gun control, immigration, Obamacare or what's happening to your paycheck, the folks at Heritage will plug you in. - DSMW

If it’s widely known, it’s either wrong or will have little impact on stocks. Fear of Europe? We’ve fretted over it for three years while stocks rose. Another Obama term—fully four years of fretting under our belts! The debt crisis—we will be fretting about that forever. Ken Fisher - Forbes - Click to read more...

Fisher dislikes Obama, Bush, Bush 43 and Bernanke, but says the market is doing well. Personally, I like the idea of putting some money in Amazon. Ticket symbol AMZN. - DSMW

For many years, the American left has combed the past for history lessons that will aid their effort to move the United States toward European-style social democracy, if not a full-fledged socialist utopia. The most successful leftist intellectual in that enterprise was the late Howard Zinn, whose books—such as "A People's History of the United States," first published in 1980—have sold millions of copies and are still used by high schools and colleges nationwide. Zinn believed that by emphasizing the struggles of working people, women and people of color against their supposed oppressors, his work could mobilize a new generation to carry on the fight of yesterday's radical heroes.

That search for a usable past has been taken up in a new form by filmmaker Oliver Stone. Ronald Radosh - Wall Street Journal - Click To Read More...

It continues to amaze me the disregard of historical facts to press an agenda as unworkable and dangerous as leftist ideologies of all kinds.

Hollywood does it in the name of entertainment. It's more than a new twist on an old story for them. It dovetails nicely into what is being belched out of our University systems left vacant by real facts. ( You can thank the teacher's unions for this reality. ) It's like the cool Che Guevara tee shirt your high school daughter wears knowing nothing of the facts of his real mission in life. For her it's edgy and the graphics are good, not to mention the appeal of being counter culture. 

Leftist ideologies destabilize the hopes and dreams of countries all over the world. They erase whole years of historical continuity in places like Russia and Cambodia and leave in their paths what? In the case of Russia, millions and millions of unaccounted for deaths. Families there today are still looking for mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles brutilty murdered and dumped in unmarked graves around Moscow. Somehow this fact does not translate well into the front of wearing apparel.

Marxist philosophies and the like are the venus fly trap for the uneducated. Beware. - DSMW

Even Democrats in Congress aren’t huge fans any more. It seems after passing the law and finding out what’s in it, the allure has faded—so much so that Congress actually repealed part of Obamacare in the fiscal cliff deal last week.

That’s right—part of Obamacare has been completely undone. It was the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, essentially a new entitlement program for long-term care. But this new government program for people who end up needing assisted living or other long-term services was poorly designed and bound to fail,  as Heritage’s Alyene Senger explains. Amy Payne - The Hertigage Foundation - Click To Read More...

There is a fixed amount of good things. Life is a pizza. If some people have too many slices, other people have to eat the pizza box. You had no answer to Mitt Romney's argument for more pizza parlors baking more pizzas. The solution to our problems, you said, is redistribution of the pizzas we've got—with low-cost, government-subsidized pepperoni somehow materializing as the result of higher taxes on pizza-parlor owners.

In this zero-sum universe there is only so much happiness. The idea is that if we wipe the smile off the faces of people with prosperous businesses and successful careers, that will make the rest of us grin.

There is only so much money. The people who have money are hogging it. The way for the rest of us to get money is to turn the hogs into bacon. P. J. O'Rourke - Wall Street Journal - Click To Read More...

At his narcissistic best, Obama mentions himself 63 times in a speech at the funeral for the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

He begins with a slight of hand about democracy and then goes into great detail about a small boy growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia. The president takes the occasion in the eulogy to touch several times on his platform, his views and goes to great lengths to personalize Inouye's moment for himself.

The words "I", "me" continue for a staggering 63 times only mentioning Inouye in passing at the end of this very short (for Obama) speech. The camera pans to the dignitaries and stoic, unhappy military who are seated in the church for the service. A short camera shot takes in President Clinton who is shaking his head possibly in disbelief.

If Obama does the euogly for your special service, be sure to set the ground rules first.

Rule #1. It's not about him.

There were 18 random shootings in 1980, 54 in 1990 and 87 in 2000.

Has the rate of random mass shootings in the United States increased? Over the past 30 years, the answer is definitely yes. It is also true that the total U.S. homicide rate has fallen by over half since 1980, and the gun homicide rate has fallen along with it. Today, Americans are safer from violent crime, including gun homicide, than they have been at any time since the mid-1960s.

Mass shootings, defined as four or more fatalities, fluctuate from year to year, but over the past 30 years there has been no long-term increase or decrease. But "random" mass shootings, such as the horrific crimes last Friday in Newtown, Conn., have increased.

Alan Lankford of the University of Alabama analyzed data from a recent New York Police Department study of "active shooters"—criminals who attempted to murder people in a confined area, where there are lots of people, and who chose at least some victims randomly. Counting only the incidents with at least two casualties, there were 179 such crimes between 1966 and 2010. In the 1980s, there were 18. In the 1990s, there were 54. In the 2000s, there were 87.

If you count only such crimes in which five or more victims were killed, there were six in the 1980s and 19 in the 2000s.

Why the increase?]]>http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/rss-comments-entry-32082903.xmlDSMW EditorMon, 17 Dec 2012 14:50:08 +0000http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/2012/12/17/will-the-violence-ever-end.html346052:3670982:32063475The anti-gun propaganda campaign begun by the Democrat-media complex seems to be having an impact, as liberals on Twitter called for the murder of NRA members and a repeal of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, Freedom Outpost reported Saturday.

"Murder every NRA member," one person tweeted. The message was deleted, but not before being captured by Freedom Outpost.

"Can we now shoot the #NRA and everyone who defends them?" asked "John Cobarruvias."

"Someone should shoot this m*****f****r NRA President David Keene," added "Michael Mayer."

Once again we are faced with the horror of a maladjusted young man with access to guns. It's been a long journey since August 1, 1966 when Charles Whitman, in the first mass killing, undertook his shooting spree in Austin Texas.

Armed with a rifle Whitman climbed the campus bell tower and for 96 minutes took aim and murdered 13 people, an unborn child and wounded 32 others as they walked to class. He was a flawed engineering student and former Marine  who, the night before, fought with his father after coming home drunk. The rest is history.

Our expectations about life are now gone. Shattered.]]>http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/rss-comments-entry-32063475.xmlDSMW EditorFri, 14 Dec 2012 00:49:06 +0000http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/2012/12/13/does-rice-victory-signal-cliff-defeat.html346052:3670982:32029007I guess we're kind of looking a gift horse in the mouth, but doesn't Susan Rice's withdrawl seem kind of easy and convenient? It was almost callous the way that the President was more than willing to put her on the battlements in the face of full McCain assault. He stood behind her so tenaciously. But what many saw as loyalty, now has been shown for the political cunning it was.

From the moment of the Rice - Benghazi fumble, Susan Rice was done and the administration knew it. But as our good friend Rahm knows, you never let a good crisis go to waste. 

So the President dangles Rice, like a piñata, in front of McCain. He allows the Republicans to fantasize about picking her carcass clean during an arduous confirmation process. And just as we appear to be plummeting over the fiscal cliff for lack of compromise, Ms. Rice bows out. It is no coincidence.

This is the canary in the dealmaking coal mine. Obama caved on Rice. What will the GOP have to cave on and by how much?

Loyal elves in the media wing of the Democratic Party establishment -- aka the mainstream media -- hyperventilate when Barack Obama is identified as a socialist, or the Democratic Party is accused of promoting socialist policies. "Vile and unfair accusations," they wail, before retiring to their fainting couches. Larry Thornberry - American Spectator - Click To Read More...

Larry Thornberry writes for the American Specator, The Washington Times and numerous other publications. You can find his full articles, reviews at Amazon, as well as his blog at American Specator.

P

Last year, our plucky heroine, the wholesome apple-cheeked American republic, was trapped in an express elevator hurtling out of control toward the debt ceiling. Would she crash into it? Or would she make some miraculous escape?

Yes! At the very last minute of her white-knuckle thrill ride to her rendezvous with destiny, she was rescued by Congress’s decision to set up . . . a Super Committee! Those who can, do. Those who can’t, form a committee. Those who really can’t, form a Super Committee — and then put John Kerry on it for good measure. The bipartisan Super Committee of Super Friends was supposed to find $1.2 trillion dollars of deficit reduction by last Thanksgiving, or plucky little America would wind up trussed like a turkey and carved up by “automatic sequestration.” Mark Steyn - NRO - Click To Read More...

Once again our favorite conservative writer points out we can not have American sized taxes and European size government.

But we do think he is on to something and it's more than sharing our fondness for zombies. It's obvious that if you confiscated every penny the Forbes 400 have, it would be enough to cover just over one year’s federal deficit. Since this is the case why not raise taxes on everyone. Taxing the rich is a mind numbing futile exercise not worthy of our elected officials. We voters deserve better. If we care about the solvency of our country really change how this game is played and get serious.

Forget taxing the rich, it will never be enough. Tax everyone. The 47 percents need, as our friend Sheila Blair said, some skin in the game. They live here too. - DSMW

"A Rising tide lifts all boats' John Kennedy replied when asked about his tax cuts for the economy.

If everyone in America had read Stephen Moore’s new book, Who’s the Fairest of Them All?, Barack Obama would have lost the election in a landslide.

The point here is not to say, “Where was Stephen Moore when we needed him?” A more apt question might be, “Where was the whole economics profession when we needed them?” Where were the media? For that matter, where were the Republicans?

Since Who’s the Fairest of Them All? was published in October, there was little chance that it would affect this year’s election. But this little gem of a book exposes, in plain language and with easily understood facts, the whole house of cards of assumptions, fallacies, and falsehoods that constitute the liberal vision of the economy. Thomas Sowell - NRO - Click To Read More...

"The enemy knows nothing but the language of force," said Mohammed Badie, senior leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. He goes on "Be aware of the game of grand deception with which they depict peace accords,"

The Muslim Brotherhood doesn't recognize Israel. Its members refuse to hold direct talks with Israeli officials. Because of this, Mohammad  Morsi seems a strange choice to be tapped by President Obama to broker a Palestine, Israel peace agreement.

Morsi has said he will abide by the terms of Egypt's 1979 treaty with Israel, and many members of the Muslim Brotherhood say they are in little hurry to enter into armed conflict with the Jewish state.

Here in the U.S. Mohammad Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood  and Egypt's role in brokering the peace accord is hailed has a corner stone in Hilary Clinton's tenure as Secretary Of State. To our view it's a bit like asking your mafia cousin Vinnie to watch the restaurant. - DSMW

In a post election world where Melissa Raycroft, the underdog favorite, wins Dancing With The Stars All Stars and the arrest of Lisa Robin Kelly, who starred as Topher Grace's sister on" That 70s Show" floods the spotlight, it's hard to get serious about anything. ( I have to admit Kelly is a looker and a second round of being busted and jailed is well, noteworthy... )

Maybe this is what Obama had in mind when he spent so much time in Hollywood and on The View. It wasn't because it was Michele's favorite show but rather he realized early on that it's all entertainment. It no longer matters if your'e right or wrong ( He has spent four years showing the American public this is the case. ) but something more. It's about production. It's all about the show.

B

Attention, Walmart directors: Appeasement of a mob never works. Walmart has tried repeatedly to stave off union thuggery through political “partnerships” and capitulation. It has failed and failed and failed. Michelle Malkin NRO - Click To Read More...

One thing about the results of the 2012 elections will be the enabling of the Unions. To fight or not to fight the ACLU; just ask the makers of Twinkies? Some times bankruptcy looks more appealing - DSMW

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

If you guessed the American healthcare system, then you've been paying attention while everyone else has been sleeping through class. US healthcare is a $2.8 trillion dollar behemoth. And according to many studies and personal anecdotes, it ranks far from the top in both quality and outcome. Sadly, however, you have no choice but to buy it. This has been the case for years, long before Obamacare became a thing. We've had to pay, will have to pay, no matter what it's called.

What? Obamacare is not responsible for all of our healthcare woes? Sadly, no. If you had to point at any single cause of the sorry state of things, Warren Buffett would be a good place to start. You thought we were going to get our anti-attorney /anti rant on rather than fingering Uncle Warren. Attorneys are just the symptom of the problem. A vile ridiculous festering symptom, but not the cause.

George Neumayer - American Spectator

"I do not know, but I am their leader, so I must follow them."  replied the 19th-century French politician Alexandre Ledru-Rollin when asked where the people were headed.

"A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul," said the English writer George Bernard Shaw. Mitt Romney would agree. His post-election analysis of Obama's success at bribing voters ran along the same lines. "What the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote," Romney told disappointed donors last week.

Desperate to appear piously contrite and malleable in the eyes of voters, Republicans pounced on Romney's remark, calling it "insulting" and "stupid." The same Republicans who backed Romney on "electability" grounds now treat him as a hopelessly impolitic embarrassment to the party.

But in working themselves up into a lather over his remark, they didn't refute it. Their truth-defying pandering is far more troubling than Romney's comment. Obama obviously did collect votes by promising free contraceptives, forgiven loans, food stamps, and so on.]]>http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/rss-comments-entry-31101249.xmlDSMW EditorSun, 18 Nov 2012 22:27:07 +0000http://www.dontspreadmywealth.com/daily/2012/11/18/engadget-gizmodo-and-the-liberal-tech-agenda.html346052:3670982:30989252The overwhelming amout of traffic generated by our "stupid" Android vs. iPhone article demonstrated that the relationship between tech and politics bears further discussion. We're constantly amazed by two things when reading reader comments on sites like Gizmodo and Engadget. 

Overwhemingly, the authors (we use that term loosely when referring to Gizmodo) tend to skew liberal in the language and references used in the content. It is only when you read the comments sections do you get anything resembling a conservative viewpoint. It's also the only place, on Gizmodo, where spelling and grammar are paid much credence.

Yes, Jesus and Sam, we get it. You have to sling a little bit of that Gawker snark around working for Mr. Denton. But could you spend a little less time pontificating about who's a sucky person and just show us the shiny goodies? Leave the questionable social judgement and shaky political analysis to us.

Engadget is miles ahead of Gizmodo when it comes to using a spellchecker (and generally calibre of writing), but still their content almost always leans left. Search thier story tags for "Republican Party" to see what we mean. Though, on ocassion, they have presented politically related stories free of commentary. 

It's not that surprising that tech blogs skew liberal. A constant barrage of new whigmaleerie is a young man's game. And by default, younger people are more liberal, for fear of being thought unkind:

If you are young and not liberal, then you have no heart; but if you are old and not conservative, then you have no brain.

-Benjamin Disraeli 

But as the election demonstrated, there is a huge demographic out there do not share the same social agenda. Why risk alienating almost half of your audience by being smug and judgemental? The response to our article has taught us that technology itself is politically agnostic. It's time for our tech blogs to be as well.

Joshua Topolsky has nothing but our respect. That man knows how to wear a suit.

Twinkies and Ding Dongs have been the brunt of jokes on TV all week. On the Daily show they are pointing out that Twinkies will be around for years due to their long shelf life. I't all very clever and urbane but the real untold story is the demise of this 82 year old american icon and their battle with the Teamsters Union.

Hostess announced Friday that it is asking a federal bankruptcy court for permission to close its operations, blaming a strike by bakers protesting a new contract imposed on them. Hostess owns 33 bakeries and 565 distribution centers nationwide, as well as 570 outlet stores. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union represents about 5,000 Hostess employees. 

"Worse," Huston wrote, "this particular faux victim video is a well-known fake."

"Breitbart News already posted about this 'Pallywood' theatrical extravaganza," he added.

On Thursday, Breitbart reported that "the locals are hard at work playing the victim for the world’s press." Joe Newby - The Examiner - Click To Read More...

Whether it's Breaking Dawn - Part 2 or CNN staging fake casualties for a very serious Israeli war, the American public in in for a serious Wag The Dog moment."

In a country that is increasing unable to tell fantasy from reality ( and believe me I have zero problem with this ) the most hit on part of the print media this year was the Fact Checkers. The 2012 election could not have survived without this handy tool, although, I have to admit, at times I felt the Fact Checkers were out of touch with reality.

Yesterday I had a surreal moment when the local Dj for the radio station here in Louisville  Terry Minor started talking about who was going to play Petraeus in the movie Obama is going to put out sometime next year. ( A subject we had been tweeting about all morning. ) His conclusion was of course Daniel Craig.

We've all read the finger pointing as to who was responsible for losing the election for Republicans. It's everywhere. But if you want to read the single greatest summation, then go read Eric Garland's fantastic Letter to a future Republican strategist regarding white people 

Here is but just a small sample:

We are really quite unimpressed with Congressional representatives such as Todd Akin and Paul Broun who actually serve on the House science committee and who believe, respectively, that rape does not cause pregnancy and that evolution and astrophysics are lies straight from Satan’s butt cheeks. These are, sadly, only two of innumerable assaults that the Republican Party has made against hard science – with nothing to say of logic in general. 

Anyone that isn't blinded by extremism and dogma should take time to read this.

Thank you Mr. Garland.

Article and comments submitted by Libertarian Publisher to DSMW

Then if this is not enough, Christopher Kubasik long time CEO of Lockheed Martin, largest defense contractor in the world and supplier to Libya, suddenly steps down, failed by a sketchy affair with a co-worker the very same day as, you guessed it, head CIA Director David Petraeus. Petraeus, who also knows a thing or two about Libya and especially Benghazi turned in his time sheet to the Prez over an affair with his biographer Paula Bradwell. ( A spokesman for the Obama administration later commented the president did not like messy affairs.