Democrats threaten to target cuts in GOP legislators' districts

◼ "That is shameless extortion," (Butte County Supervisor Larry Wahl) said. "He's trying to get me to call (Assemblyman Dan) Logue and (state Sen.) Doug LaMalfa and say 'Raise our taxes.' I'm not going to do that." - Sacramento Bee

"Quite frankly, it sounds like an April Fool's joke," said former Assemblyman Roger Niello, a Fair Oaks Republican who served as vice chair of the Assembly Budget Committee. "I have no idea how they would do this even if they're serious about it."

Republican Sen. Bob Huff of Diamond Bar, the vice chair of the Senate Budget Committee, called the tactic "just nuts."

◼ California Democrats and Chicago mobsters … - Protein Wisdom

A NATO missile struck a house in Tripoli where Moammar Gadhafi and his wife were staying on Saturday, missing the Libyan leader but killing his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government spokesman said.

◼ Ibrahim said the airstrike was an attempt to “assassinate the leader of this country,” which he said violated international law. - Washington Post
◼ BREAKING: Libya Spokesman Says NATO Strike Killed 3 of Qaddafi’s Grandsons UPDATE: Attack Also Reportedly Kills Qaddafi’s Youngest Son, Saif al-Arab, 29 - The Other McCain

RSM has links to Al Jazeera, Reuters, BBC, AP and more...

◼ Libya disabled children school hit in NATO strike - Alertnet

The biggest head-turner was Sarah Palin, who attended the party with Fox News' s Greta Van Susteren. Palin was also accompanied by her husband, Todd, and daughter Bristol.

◼ at Politico
◼ Palin Raises Profile; 2012 Plans Unclear - ABC via Lucianne

Herman Cain: 2012 Presidential Forum in Manchester, New Hampshire

◼ Herman Cain Wins 2012 Presidential Forum in Manchester, New Hampshire - The Other McCain
◼ Herman Cain Dominates – 62% in New Hampshire Poll - citizens4cain.com
◼ BC and AD - Straw Poll Surprise at the Concord Tea Party - granitegrok
◼ AFP FULL VIDEO Presidential Forum From New Hampshire - 2012presidentialelectionnews.com

The event took place on April 29th, 2011. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) and conservative talk radio host Herman Cain all attended the event and spoke.

SF CHRONICLE: WHITE HOUSE LYING

◼ Update: Chronicle responds after Obama Administration punishes reporter for using multimedia, then claims they didn't - SF Gate - Bronstein at Large

Update: In a pants-on-fire moment, the White House press office today denied anyone there had issued threats to remove Carla Marinucci and possibly other Hearst reporters from the press pool covering the President in the Bay Area.

Chronicle editor Ward Bushee called the press office on its fib:

Sadly, we expected the White House to respond in this manner based on our experiences yesterday. It is not a truthful response. It follows a day of off-the-record exchanges with key people in the White House communications office who told us they would remove our reporter, then threatened retaliation to Chronicle and Hearst reporters if we reported on the ban, and then recanted to say our reporter might not be removed after all.

The Chronicle's report is accurate.

◼ White House, newspaper clash over protest video - Yahoo! News
◼ The Obama administration is pushing back against accusations of intimidation in a tussle with the San Francisco Chronicle after a high-dollar fundraiser in the city last week. - Politico

CARNEY: Paper 'violated the coverage rules'

◼ THE VIDEO THAT STARTED IT ALL...
◼ SF Chronicle: The White House is lying about banning our reporter - HotAir
◼ In China you are not allowed to videotape the leadership without permission - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion
◼ Pass the Popcorn, Nahanni: Left Wing San Francisco Chronicle In All Out P.R. War With Most Transparent Administration Ever - Doug Ross

Americans Favor GOP on Budget: Poll

◼ Americans say Republicans in Congress would do a better job than Democrats in dealing with the U.S. budget, according to a poll released Friday that shows President Barack Obama's party at a disadvantage as lawmakers near another showdown over federal spending. - CNBC

The USA Today/Gallup survey of 1,013 U.S. adults looked at whether Americans expressed more confidence in the ability of Republicans or Democrats in Congress to deal with six major issues facing the country.

The federal budget was the only issue in which respondents clearly preferred one party over the other, with 48 percent favoring Republicans and 36 percent Democrats.

Before the assault, Ms. Logan said, she did not know about the levels of harassment and abuse that women in Egypt and other countries regularly experienced. “I would have paid more attention to it if I had had any sense of it,” she said.

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

Lara Logan, a CBS News reporter, was sexually assaulted while working in Cairo on Feb. 11.

◼ “When women are harassed and subjected to this in society, they’re denied an equal place in that society.

Ms. Logan, who returned to work this month, is expected to speak at length about the assault on the CBS News program “60 Minutes” on Sunday night.

◼ “I would have paid more attention to it if I had had any sense of it;” Lara Logan Breaks Her Silence - Patterico
◼ “I would kill her. I really mean that;” Religious Bigotry and the Fight for Freedom of Expression Comes to the Playboy Mansion

- also at Patterico

Atlas Shrugged at Broadway Theater in Eureka!

ATLAS SHRUGGED: PART 1
(PG13), 1 hr. 42 min.

Fri (4/29): 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Sat (4/30): 10:45 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Sun (5/01): 10:45 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Mon (5/02): 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Tue (5/03): 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Wed (5/04): 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50
Thu (5/05): 1:15 3:50 6:20 8:50

◼ www.catheatres.com

The big day

◼ Kiss me Kate... and AGAIN! Double thrill for the crowds as William embraces his bride on Palace balcony after a fairytale wedding

Alert from Legislative Issues Chair - Northern Division CFRW

Good morning,
Please read the article below from ◼ the Heritage Foundation for an in depth review of Leon Panetta and his appointment as Secretary of Defense. I recommend that Republican Senators be contacted, especially those on the Armed Services Committee.

John McCain AZ.,
James Inhofe OK.,
Jeff Sessions AL.,
Saxby Chambliss GA.,
Roger Wicker MS.,
Scott Brown MA.,
Rob Portman OH.,
Kelly Ayote NH.,
Susan Collins (ME) (202) 224-2523
Lindsey Graham SC.,
John Cornyn TX., and
David Vitter LA.,

There needs to be a tough confirmation hearing instead of a love fest. Keep the Republican Senators feet to the fire.

Thanks for all you do.
Edelweiss Geary
Legislative Issues Chair
Northern Division - CFRW
◼ www.cfrwnd.org
********

Will Leon Panetta Ensure That America Is Defended?

Amid a continuing war in Afghanistan, a new operation in Libya, ongoing military efforts in Iraq and a failing foreign policy doctrine, President Barack Obama has proposed cutting the already overstretched U.S. military by $400 billion. And today, he is expected to nominate CIA Director Leon Panetta to serve as Secretary of Defense, replacing the retiring Robert Gates. As Panetta stands for confirmation, the Senate must ask whether Panetta is the right man for the job of helping to provide for America’s defense.

The Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano, Ph.D., writes that there are five main questions the Senate should pose to Panetta to determine whether he will honestly assess what the U.S. military needs to ensure a common defense or merely go along with the president:

1. Defense budget: President Obama has repudiated his own defense review (the Quadrennial Defense Review), which he delivered in 2010 and which by law is supposed to provide an honest assessment of project needs. Now, his recent decision to pick an arbitrary goal of $400 billion in defense cuts over the next decade—and then ask for a review to justify it—will be your first job in office. Why should we trust you to do anything but rubber-stamp his demands?

2. Vital priorities: Do you agree that instead of cutting defense, the next Secretary of Defense should be focused on helping the U.S. military win in Afghanistan, identifying a clear plan for the United States with and in Iraq beyond December, avoiding mission creep in Libya while actually helping create a coherent strategy for the Arab “Spring,” and crafting a clear, more effective policy toward Iran to prevent it from becoming a nuclear power?

3. China: We need a rational, credible plan to counter the People’s Republic of China’s large-scale military modernization program. Can you deliver on a plan that will ensure that the U.S. remains a capable stabilizing military force in Asia—one that never has to fear intimidation from China?

4. Missile defense: Since entering office, President Obama has negotiated the New START nuclear agreement with Russia that has diminished U.S. stature as a nuclear power. He has cut back U.S. missile defense posture to what he believes is just-enough, just-in-time missile defense, rather than building robust defenses that would answer potential threats. Do you think that was smart? Would it not have been wiser to do everything within his power to ensure that the U.S. and its allies have the most robust defenses possible against threats from Iran and North Korea?

5. Homeland protection: The U.S. must be better prepared for protecting the homeland. Despite all its rhetoric, this Administration actually cut the number of specially trained and equipped military forces that would respond to a weapons of mass destruction incident. That seems wrongheaded. Will you do more to ensure the homeland is adequately protected, including for emerging threats like cyber attacks?

These questions are vitally important in light of what the Panetta pick could mean for the military. The Hill reports:

Shifting Panetta to DOD “probably means bigger cuts to the defense budget,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

“Secretary Gates was strongly committed to maintaining a robust defense posture, but Panetta will be more interested in getting along with the White House, which must find ways of cutting the deficit,” Thompson said. …

“Putting Panetta in as defense secretary means Obama now has an ally at the Pentagon,” said one senior GOP congressional aide. “He will be more inclined to agree with the president on a number of issues where Gates might have pushed back or disagreed with the president.”

Making arbitrary cuts to the military and walking in lock-step with the president is not what America needs from the person responsible for directing our armed forces, defending our homeland, and ensuring that our military has all that it needs to execute its mission around the world. It needs a strong leader who can help turn around the Administration’s sad record on foreign policy and national security while also pushing back against dangerous cuts to defense. The Senate must now determine whether Leon Panetta is up to the task.

The 67 percent income tax rate increase Quinn and fellow Democrats approved in a January lame-duck session will bring in about $2.8 billion until the end of the budget year on June 30, but there’s “simply not enough money to go around,” according to the budget office.

◼ Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka today said the state will end the budget year $8 billion "in the red” unless changes are made.

“The prescription for our financial recovery is simple: stop spending more than we bring in,” said Topinka, a Republican. “But sadly, that still has not occurred.”

White House officials have banished one of the best political reporters in the country from the approved pool of journalists covering presidential visits to the Bay Area for using now-standard multimedia tools to gather the news

◼ Obama Administration punishes reporter for using multimedia - SFgate/Bronstein at Large
The Chronicle's Carla Marinucci - who, like many contemporary reporters, has a phone with video capabilities on her at all times - pulled out a small video camera last week and shot some protesters interrupting an Obama fundraiser at the St. Regis Hotel....

Just the day before Carla's Stone Age infraction, Mr. Obama was at Facebook seated next to its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, and may as well have been wearing an "I'm With Mark" t-shirt for all the mutual admiration going back and forth.

"The main reason we wanted to do this is," Obama said of his appearance, "first of all, because more and more people, especially young people, are getting their information through different media. And historically, part of what makes for a healthy democracy, what is good politics, is when you've got citizens who are informed, who are engaged."

Informed, in other words, through social and other digital media where videos of news are posted.

The President and his staffers deftly used social media like Twitter and Facebook in his election campaign and continue to extol the virtues and value. Except, apparently, when it comes to the press....

Tornado victims: How to help

◼ Tornado victims: How to help; Update: Obama to Alabama - Michelle Malkin
◼ ABC News lists ways to help tornado survivors:
◼ You can call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text “REDCROSS” to 90999 to make a $10 donation.
◼ You can call 1-800-SAL-ARMY and donors can text “GIVE” to 80888 to make a $10 donation. Checks can be made out to the Salvation Army Disaster Relief, P.O. Box 100339, Atlanta, Ga., 30384-0339.
◼ Alabama’s governor also has a relief fund donation page here.
◼ Alabama GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions will be touring affected areas today and also has a relief page here.

◼ Click here for Image source
◼ Southern storms: 'I don't know how anyone survived'

WaL-MART: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'

◼ Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday. - Money/CNN
◼ GDP: 1.8%... - CNBC, via Drudge

U.S. economic growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter as higher food and gasoline prices dampened consumer spending, and sent a broad measure of inflation rising at its fastest pace in 2-1/2 years.... But...

◼ JOBLESS CLAIMS 429,000... - Finance/Yahoo
◼ Dollar sell-off intensifies... - Wall Street Journal
◼ BERNANKE: Here comes the inflation... - CNBC
◼ Dollar Drops to Lowest Since 2008... Stocks Fall, Dollar Weakens on GDP, Jobs Reports; Gold Advances - Bloomberg

Tammy Bruce: Gov. Sarah Palin as a policy wonk

◼ http://tammybruce.com/
◼ Why Sarah Palin will win in 2012 - Cynthia Yockey
◼ Sarah Palin for the Fed? - NY Sun Editorial

how in the world did Mrs. Palin, who is supposed to be so thick, manage to figure all this out so far ahead of the New York Times and all the economists it talked to?

She did this back in November in a speech at Phoenix, which the Wall Street Journal, in a laudatory editorial at the time, characterized as zeroing in on the connection between a weak dollar and rising prices for oil and food. “We don’t want temporary, artificial economic growth brought at the expense of permanently higher inflation which will erode the value of our incomes and our savings,” the Journal quoted Mrs. Palin as saying. “We want a stable dollar combined with real economic reform. It's the only way we can get our economy back on the right track.” Now here is the New York Times quoting a raft of economists who have reached the conclusion that Mrs. Palin’s warning was right down the line.

California Descends Deeper Into Self-Destruction

◼ California Descends Deeper Into Self-Destruction - Ron Ross for The American Spectator
California -- it's the best place to live and it's the worst place to live. The physical climate is almost ideal and the political climate, if you're a conservative, is surreal. Through their politicians and bureaucrats Californians seem hell bent on destroying the state's vast potential. It's a painful sight to witness....
***
Humboldt County note: Ron Ross Ph.D. is an economist who lives in Arcata, California. He is the author of The Unbeatable Market. Reach him at rossecon@gmail.com.

Palinhate: gossip as news

◼ The sheer scope and breadth and the relentless nature of the assault has no precedent in public life, as far as I can tell, and that includes anything launched against President Bush or his predecessor (see this). The attacks on Palin began almost immediately after her nomination, have continued unabated to this day, and have taken a huge toll on her reputation, which is the goal. - neoneocon

How Health Reform Punishes Work

◼ The subsidies to buyers of 'qualifying' insurance policies will induce sharp reductions in the supply of labor. - Wall Street Journal

...Consider a wife in a family with $90,000 in income. If she were to earn an additional $3,700, her family would lose the insurance subsidy and be more than $10,000 poorer. In addition, she would also pay more in income and Social Security taxes. Taken together, these policies impose a substantial punishment on work effort....

◼ Getting to know the HCR bill - neoneocon

Another state legislature passes labor union reform.

◼ This time it is Massachusetts - RedState

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says White House should be dealing with more important issues.

◼ Cantor "Surprised" By Obama Birth Certificate Release

White House Releases Obama's Long-Form Birth Certificate

◼ at HotAir
◼ The birth certificate circus - Michelle Malkin
◼ VIDEO: Obama Sermonizes About This Silly Distraction From His Incompetence - The Other McCain
◼ The White House provided the correspondence between Obama, his private lawyer, and Hawaii Director of Health Loretta J. Fuddy.
◼ President Obama's Long Form Birth Certificate - The White House Blog

Call it “Attack of the Impassioned Yet Empty Rhetoric.” But this version was even more unsettling than the earlier versions, in which the president delivered great speeches then failed to back up his words with the promised action. In this sequel, his words turned to broken promises as soon as they passed his lips.

◼ Arianna Huffington Develops Case of Obama Disillusionment Syndrome - HotAir

"Donald Trump says he's President Obama's worst nightmare," Jay Leno said last night. "No. Having to make a decision is President Obama's worst nightmare."

◼ Maybe Obama's Just Not That Good At Politics, Part II - Ace of Spades (content note: Ace is one of the best political blogs, and has some of the best and most irreverent commenters on the web, though they're not for everyone)

◼ The increasingly odd political optics of Barack Obama - LA Times

It's one thing to urge Americans to vacation on the troubled Gulf coast last summer, while your wife flies off to Spain with a planeload of pals.

It's another to spend much of Earth Day in a 747 jumbo jet flying 2,300 miles cross-country back from a slew of multimillion-dollar West Coast fundraisers, as Obama did last week.

It's one thing to launch a war against Libya while packing up your wife, daughters, mother-in-law and her friend to tour South America.

It's another to wait nine whole days to bother explaining the unexpected combat to a puzzled nation. Or nearly two months to arrange an Oval Office address on the country's worst environmental disaster ever.

By perpetuating a failed welfare state, we aren’t doing our children any favors either financially or morally. No matter how cute they are as preschoolers, healthy adult children who are dependent upon government just aren’t that cute.

◼ Perennial preschoolers not that cute - www.mothersagainstdebt.com
...Our welfare state has reduced our kids to perennial preschoolers, dependent upon either us or government. It’s a sick co-dependency where we need our children to be hard working taxpayers so they can pay for the welfare state we created, but at the same time we make them active participants. And, sadly, they cheer....

Sarah Palin to Obama: Please make up your mind, Mr. President.

◼ Palin Launches Blistering Attack on Obama's 'Leadership' - FOX

◼ America Deserves Libya Explanation Sarah Palin on Facebook

...It’s unbelievable to me that you spent last week in campaign mode, gallivanting around the country to start raising the billion dollars for your reelection bid that is still 19 months away “while Rome burns.” Our economy is in the tank; jobs are as scarce as ever; you’re asking Congress to let you incur even more unsustainable, immoral, freedom-stealing government debt; and many of our brave men and women in uniform are shaking their heads in disbelief over your befuddled military directions. Yet instead of working with Congress and a wise multitude of advisers to fix some problems, you choose all this campaigning, already? As was recently asked: When do you ever just “roll up your sleeves, unplug the teleprompter” and do the job of governing and administrating for which voters hired you?...

It’s got to be quite a comedown from “This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal,” to being told less than three years later by CNN that there's nothing he can do

◼ CNN Neuters Obama - Ed Driscoll

CNN, on Sunday:
Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama confronted two political realities this week:
– Rising gas prices are bad for a politician’s poll numbers
– There is almost nothing a politician can do about it, at least in the short run.

Second computer worm 'hits Iran'

◼ Second computer worm 'hits Iran' - BREITBART

Iran has been hit with new malicious software as part of cyber attacks against the country, a military officer told Mehr news agency on Monday without specifying the target.
"Certain characteristics about the 'Stars' virus have been identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system," Gholam Reza Jalali, commander of the Iranian civil defence organisation, told the agency.

"In the initial stage, the damage is low and it is likely to be mistaken for governmental executable files," Jalali said, adding that Iranian experts were still investigating the full scope of the malware's abilities.

It’s Time to Go Galt: THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 29 AT THE BROADWAY THEATER

◼ It’s Time to Go Galt: Atlas Shrugged Movie is a Winner - newsrealblog

Finally a movie comes along that sticks it to the ruling class that is deliberately and maliciously driving America into the ground. The message of the movie adaptation of Ayn Rand’s 1,200-page opus, Atlas Shrugged, is that the productive should be able to go about their business without being hindered by the nonproductive and the anti-productive mischief makers of government. It is a celebration of the many virtues of capitalism...

◼ OFFICIAL SITE


JOIN US!

NYT/CBS poll finds plurality supports Ryan's Medicare proposal

◼ Despite a media narrative that House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal is being rejected by the American people, a new New York Times/CBS poll finds that by a plurality of 47 percent to 41 percent, Americans actually approve of it. - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner

◼ GOP Sen. Susan Collins says she opposes Ryan budget, "but at least he had the courage to put forward a plan to significantly reduce the debt..." - Philip Klein/Washington Examiner

◼ Ryan and Obama: Mr. Fix It and Mr. Nix It - Big Government

Revolutionary Socialist Group Planing to Recruit Children in JR High School

Here’s What $80 Billion Bought us: 9 of the 11 “Worst Cars” are Made by Government Motors

◼ GM, Chrysler dominate 'worst cars' list. Oh, and the UAW wants to thank you for bailing them out. - Washington Examiner

GM and Chrysler account for nine of the cars among the bottom eleven. IN other news, the UAW is grateful for your generosity in keeping their union from disappearing. It appears you've achieved little else with your donation.

◼ In Pictures: The Worst Cars On The Road - Forbes
◼ Here’s What $80 Billion Bought us: 9 of the 11 “Worst Cars” are Made by Government-Owned GM and Chrysler… - Weasel Zippers

“Three Cups of Tea,” author's fall from grace ripples through Sonoma and Lake counties

◼ A man whose book instilled hope and inspired thousands of children to donate their pennies to a cause was accused of falsifying stories and misusing funds...

"A perfunctory speech, a lackluster response...and noticeable grumblings and lack of enthusiasm from his base."

◼ Obama fails to fill the house....in SF Zombietime, cross posted at ◼ Pajamas Media "Obama Visits the S(lush) F(und) Bay Area"

...the reports of Obama's speech eliciting several standing ovations were arguably only true in the balcony if you included us getting up to leave. A perfunctory speech, a lackluster response...and noticeable grumblings and lack of enthusiasm from his base. The press reports made it seem otherwise, but if last night was any indication of where things are going, then Team Obama is in deep trouble....

Happy Easter.

Tax Hikes on Top Earners? Bloomberg Says Now Is Not the Time

◼ Tax Hikes on Top Earners? Bloomberg Says Now Is Not the Time - FOX
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that a rating agency's decision to downgrade the U.S. debt outlook sends a "warning" about the need to balance the budget. But he said tax hikes on upper-income Americans are not the way to do it....

Bloomberg said Standard & Poor's decision last week to lower the U.S. debt outlook to "negative" from "stable" should send a message that it's time to get serious about the deficit. The agency upheld the country's credit rating, but cautioned that if political deadlock prevents a deficit-reduction plan from being approved, that credit rating could be in danger.
"I don't know that we're in big trouble, but we certainly could be very easily. I think this is a warning," Bloomberg said. "We cannot continue to spend money we don't have. Deficits do matter."