The Worst Economic Recovery Since The Great Depression

◼ The record of President Obama’s first three years in office is in, and nothing that happens now can go back and change that. - Peter Ferrara/Forbes

What that record shows is that President Obama, with his throwback, old-fashioned, 1970s Keynesian economics, has put America through the worst recovery from a recession since the Great Depression....

Supposedly a forward looking progressive, Obama proved to be America’s first backward looking regressive. His first act was to increase federal borrowing, the national debt and the deficit by nearly a trillion dollars to finance a supposed “stimulus” package, based on the discredited Keynesian theory left for dead 30 years ago holding that increased government spending, deficits and debt are what promote economic growth and recovery. That theory arose in the 1930s as the answer to the Great Depression, which, of course, never worked.

That was the beginning of President Obama’s Rip Van Winkle act, pretending not to know anything that happened over the previous 30 years proving the dramatic, historic success of the new, more modern, supply side economics, which holds that incentives for increased production are what promote economic growth and recovery. Indeed, that Rip Van Winklism pretended not to remember the 1970s either, when double digit inflation and double digit unemployment proved Keynesian economics grievously wrong.

In praise of profit

◼ Profit is the ultimate destination of effort among free men. - John Hayward/Human Events

Americans have so completely accepted the demonization of the profit motive that we reflexively accept the reverse proposition: those who claim there will be no personal profit for their actions are automatically assumed to be virtuous. Politicians depend very heavily on this concept when they slake their thirst for political power. For example, President Obama loves to claim that he’s acting against his own self-interest when he insists on tax increases for millionaires, because he is a millionaire. You aren’t supposed to think about the value of the power he wants to amass, compared to whatever increased tax bill he might face at the end of the year. The billions of dollars he would harvest from others are meant to be invisible.

It is no coincidence that even as our economy has become more politicized, and more money is seized and directed by the federal and state governments, we have been made to believe that power has no dollar value, and therefore the quest for power is not “greed.” This is the crucial paradox that enables those who would dominate to pretend they are noble, because the only real sin is the pursuit of profit. If you would have economic liberty, you must have the courage to reject that argument in its entirety.

Rick Perry Ad

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Rick Perry

Romney opens 21-point lead in South Carolina: Reuters/Ipsos poll

◼ Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened a wide lead over his rivals in the South Carolina primary election race, trouncing Newt Gingrich and gaining momentum in his march toward the party's nomination - Reuters

The poll showed 37 percent of South Carolina Republican voters back Romney. Congressman Ron Paul and former Senator Rick Santorum tied for second place with 16 percent support.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, has fallen far back after holding a strong lead in South Carolina in December. He was in fourth place at 12 percent in the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

"In primary races things can change quickly but it does look like Romney is in position to win South Carolina, and if he wins ... that's sort of the end of the road for most of his challengers," Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson said.

Kids 'boo' Michelle Obama over healthy lunches

◼ "Booo," cried the students who heard Mrs. Obama report that "my husband and the Congress passed a legislation to make sure we could put more nutritious foods into the schools. - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner

First Lady Michelle Obama seemed to delight middle schoolers in Virginia when she attended a special screening of her appearance on a Nickelodeon show, but the audience showed some displeasure, booing when she told them about the healthy food initiative that changes their school lunch menu.

"Booo," cried the students who heard Mrs. Obama report that "my husband and the Congress passed a legislation to make sure we could put more nutritious foods into the schools. So you should be seeing more vegetables, more fruit, more healthy foods," she explained, according to the event transcript.

White House got heads up on Solyndra’s pending layoff announcements

◼ Senior White House officials were warned that solar-panel-maker Solyndra planned to announce layoffs just before the hotly contested November 2010 midterm elections, newly released e-mails show. - Washington Post

The White House also got advance notice that the company had agreed to postpone delivering the politically damaging news, according to the e-mails provided Friday by a government source. Energy Department officials persuaded the company to delay the announcement until after Election Day.

The newly released e-mails show the White House fretting about the bad news that was coming and discussing how to handle media questions about a company the Obama administration had made a showcase of in its effort to use taxpayer funds to create clean-energy jobs.

Are you ready for the Huckabee South Carolina presidential forum?

◼ 8 p.m. ET on Fox News. (5:00 PT) - HotAir
◼ Heads Up – Newt Gingrich Booed at Fox Huckabee Forum – Footage to air this evening. - Ulsterman
◼ SC Republicans Boo Newt Gingrich Over Romney Attacks - ABC News

UPDATE:

◼ SC Republicans Boo Newt Gingrich
Over Romney Attacks - ABC News report ...discussion at Lucianne

From comments: "I was there and the audience wasn't full of undecided voters. Every political junkie in Charleston was there. Newt made a reference to Romney and got booed by Romney supporters. Don't pay attention to the media."

"Liar, liar.....there was no booing and all the candidates came across very well. This article is typical of the press, since my people just read headlines and not the article. And, certainly they generally don't go and watch the very show of which was written. Again, there was no no no booing."

"They're touting the boos on network radio news as well. I just watched it, and I thought the barely audible boos and gasps were because Newt violated the 'no names' rule of the forum. I don't like Newt's recent skew from the left, but there is no doubt he is being targeted. If they keep attacking Newt like this he may win me back over."

"Breibart has the video and I heard no booing: ◼ http://www.breitbart.tv/newt-booed-by-south-carolina-crowd-for-bain-attacks/"

If you thought 2008 was bad, just you wait for this type of stuff to be spread:

◼ Saturday Night Card Game (How nasty will the general election race card get? This nasty) - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

The video has been condemned by Democrats in Utah, and although it purports to be posted by someone supporting Jon Huntsman (who is Mormon), his campaign has disavowed any involvement.

Think this is not mainstream? Do you recognize the voices in the video? One of them is Lawrence O’Donnell from MSNBC:

I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist

◼ 545 vs. 300,000,000 People - Charley Reese(Orlando Sentinel)/Godfather Politics

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them....

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army and Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan …

If they do not receive Social Security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Costa Concordia cruise ship runs aground

The GOP: Back in the Money Game

◼ The Republican National Committee under chairman Reince Priebus is once again raising substantial sums, especially from big donors. - Kimberley A. Strassel/Wall Street Journal

One year into his chairmanship of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Priebus will soon be announcing the fruits of his 2011 labors, and the news is that the GOP is (finally) back in the money game. The party may not have a nominee, but what it does have is an organization that looks ever more able to support one.

A source confides that the RNC landed $27 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its year-end fund-raising total to a sizable $87 million. Nearly $12 million was collected in December alone, the largest monthly sum in a non-election year since the early George W. Bush days. This also marks four out of the past five months that the RNC has beat its Democratic counterpart—despite President Obama's formidable fund-raising powers...

These figures suggest Republicans are regaining confidence in the RNC, and with that, a new enthusiasm for committing money to beat Mr. Obama. Heads of Super PACs report similar findings. Donors, they say, are less insistent than in 2010 on supporting only purist, tea-party candidates. The past two years have been sobering, and they are increasingly focused on the end prize of the White House and the Senate. They are writing checks, and big ones.

"Imagine Obama calling a press conference in the morning and going "I have decided that this year I am returning all the money I've received from Wall Street and I'm not taking one dime from Wall Street in this election right now."

◼ Michael Moore Warns Obama: "There Are Enough Pissed Off People That Will Go Somewhere Else" - Real Clear Politics

◼ Major evangelical leader endorses Newt Gingrich - Tony Lee/Human Events Tim LaHaye urges South Carolina’s religious leaders to unite “behind a proven conservative who has the best chance of replacing the present occupant of the White House with a man with a proven record of appointing conservatives to office who can return this country to the constitutional principles that God has chosen to bless [us with] for over two hundred years.” LaHaye writes that he has known Gingrich for thirty years and acknowledges thaTim LaHaye, an influential evangelical leader and author of the best-selling Christian book series, Left Behind, and his wife Beverly, the founder of Concerned Women of America, endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and LaHaye wrote a letter to pastors and evangelical leaders in South Carolina asking them to unify behind Gingrich.t though Gingrich “is not perfect, none of us is," and notes that despite Gingrich’s past, which has made some religious voters hesitant, Gingrich can be trusted on issues that are important to social conservatives.

◼ Major evangelical leader endorses Newt Gingrich - Tony Lee/Human Events

Tim LaHaye urges South Carolina’s religious leaders to unite “behind a proven conservative who has the best chance of replacing the present occupant of the White House with a man with a proven record of appointing conservatives to office who can return this country to the constitutional principles that God has chosen to bless [us with] for over two hundred years.”

LaHaye writes that he has known Gingrich for thirty years and acknowledges thaTim LaHaye, an influential evangelical leader and author of the best-selling Christian book series, Left Behind, and his wife Beverly, the founder of Concerned Women of America, endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and LaHaye wrote a letter to pastors and evangelical leaders in South Carolina asking them to unify behind Gingrich.t though Gingrich “is not perfect, none of us is," and notes that despite Gingrich’s past, which has made some religious voters hesitant, Gingrich can be trusted on issues that are important to social conservatives.

Americans, Independents, Republicans are becoming more 'conservative'

◼ (A)ccording to a new survey done by Gallup, Americans, Independents, and Republicans are becoming more “conservative.” - Tony Lee/Human Events

The Gallup survey found that, in 2011, 40 percent of Americans “described their views as conservative, 35 percent as moderate, and 21 percent as liberal,” and it marked the “third straight year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates, after more than a decade in which moderates mainly tied or outnumbered conservatives.”

Further, Gallup found that “the percentage of Americans calling themselves ‘moderate’ has gradually diminished in the U.S. since it was 43 percent in 1992.” During that period, Americans have increasingly described their views as being more conservative than liberal.

The majority of Republicans, according to the 2011 survey, said they are “either very conservative or conservative” and the total proportion of conservatives increased by 10 percentage points between 2002 and 2012. According to Gallup, 72 percent of Republicans now say they are conservative, as opposed to 62 percent in 2002.

In addition, Gallup found that Independents have increasingly described their views as conservative. In 2008, 30 percent of Independents said they were conservative. In 2011, 35 percent said so.

Because the GOP field does not have a conservative standard bearer, the enthusiasm on the Republican side has been lacking.

◼ Two polls that signal the United States is still a center-right nation - HotAir

Firstly, ◼ Gallup yesterday released a poll that shows conservatives remain the largest ideological group in the U.S.

Secondly, ◼ Gallup today released a poll that shows Americans remain relatively unconcerned about income inequality, suggesting that most still buy into the American idea that all human beings deserve equal opportunity but not necessarily equal results.

Mitt Romney: Bright Future

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Mitt Romney

Brown to welfare clients: work, or else

◼ Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing the most far-reaching changes to welfare since former President Bill Clinton and Congress overhauled the program 15 years ago. - healthycal.org

Brown wants to cut $1 billion from the program — nearly one-third of its general fund budget — by shortening the amount of time recipients can remain on aid and focusing the state’s cash assistance and child care subsidies on people who are moving from welfare to work.

His plan has won initial praise from the state’s independent budget analyst. But advocates for the poor say it would further marginalize the state’s already struggling underclass. And Democratic leaders in the Legislature have said they will delay any action on the proposal until after the governor’s March 1 deadline, in the hopes that state tax revenues will come in higher than Brown anticipates.

...Welfare advocates and others say that the cuts will backfire, leaving more children in poverty and leading to social problems that will cost the state far more than the cuts would save in the long run. But Brown says he has no other choice than to propose changes that Democrats would have at one time would have considered cruel.

“We can’t spend what we don’t have,” he said when he released his budget proposal in early January. “It’s not nice. We don’t like it. But the economy and the tax statutes of California make only so much money available. We have to spend it and make tough choices.”

If Romney wins count on Obama to dig up Bain

◼ Perhaps the most striking thing about the current fight over Mitt Romney's career in private equity is how little we know about it. Romney has based his campaign on his experience in private business -- he talks about it much more than his time as governor of Massachusetts -- and yet, unlike his governorship, Romney's business experience has not been the topic of long and detailed public examination and debate. - Byron York/Washington Examiner

Normally, when a candidate runs a high-profile campaign, as Romney did in the 2008 Republican presidential race, everything in his background comes out in the form of opposition research done by rival candidates. But it appears that in 2007-2008, the John McCain campaign, which delved into Romney's every flip-flop, did not delve deeply into the Bain years. McCain's aides simply could not conceive that the ins-and-outs of Romney's business career would become an issue for generally pro-business GOP voters.

◼ Conservative Leaders Condemn Attacks on Romney, Bain Capital - PJM

David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, told PJ Media:

Interestingly enough, they may be making free-marketers more sympathetic to Mitt Romney, who is not their favorite candidate.

Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, told PJ Media the attacks on Romney for making money were “bizarre” and “destructive.” He said all three candidates ought to apologize to Romney:

In the heat of passion, in a campaign, people say and do things that they regret. I hope the people who have engaged in this will apologize for it and move on.

Haley’s Picking Romney Shocks Tea Party

◼ South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is betting her future on Mitt Romney’s, exhausting the support that Tea Partyers once supplied her. - Bloomberg

Haley, 39, was elected in 2010 as a champion of the movement that pushed states’ rights and fiscal rectitude. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she was an adversary of the Legislature’s good-old-boy network and became the first woman to run the state that ranks 50th in female representation, said Karen Kedrowski, political science chairwoman for Rock Hill’s Winthrop University.

That such a politician would endorse Romney, whom Newt Gingrich has called someone trying to “pretend he’s a conservative,” was jaw-dropping, Haley’s Tea Party and Libertarian supporters said in interviews this week.

Since 1976, the Republican candidate who leads the field nationally after the New Hampshire primary has gone on to win the nomination.

◼ Gallup: Mitt Romney has widest lead to date in GOP race - LA Times

If history is any guide, Mitt Romney is a sure thing to win his party's nomination for president.

Romney has opened up the widest advantage to date over his Republican rivals in a nationwide Gallup survey, and for the first time has the support of more than a third of GOP voters.

Romney leads Rick Santorum 34-15%, with Newt Gingrich at 14% and Ron Paul at 13% in the survey, conducted from Jan. 7-11 among a nationwide sample of 1,188 Republican registered voters.

We’re meeting at Baywood this month Jan. 19

JOIN US FOR LUNCH!
11:30 a.m. Lunch & Socializing; Meeting 12:00 - 1:00 pm
◼ BAYWOOD GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB; 3600 Buttermilk Lane Arcata, CA ◼ MAP
Lunch & Speaker $16.50 (Tax and tip included)
Your choice: Beverage & Speaker $4.00 Payable to HRWF

THIS MONTH - Please RSVP by phone to Laura 839-5538
or by email to Margaret: tom-marg @ suddenlink.net


EARLY RSVP LUNCH RESERVATIONS NEEDED and to be honored.
This allows us to give the caterers an idea how much food to prepare and a good showing allows us to meet at these wonderful venues. Thank you for understanding.

Allen West on the Marines Incident: 'Shut Your Mouth, War Is Hell'

◼ Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), a former Army lieutenant colonel, sends THE WEEKLY STANDARD an email commenting on the Marines' video, and has given us permission to publish it. - Weekly Standard

“I have sat back and assessed the incident with the video of our Marines urinating on Taliban corpses. I do not recall any self-righteous indignation when our Delta snipers Shugart and Gordon had their bodies dragged through Mogadishu. Neither do I recall media outrage and condemnation of our Blackwater security contractors being killed, their bodies burned, and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

“All these over-emotional pundits and armchair quarterbacks need to chill. Does anyone remember the two Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who were beheaded and gutted in Iraq?

“The Marines were wrong. Give them a maximum punishment under field grade level Article 15 (non-judicial punishment), place a General Officer level letter of reprimand in their personnel file, and have them in full dress uniform stand before their Battalion, each personally apologize to God, Country, and Corps videotaped and conclude by singing the full US Marine Corps Hymn without a teleprompter.

“As for everyone else, unless you have been shot at by the Taliban, shut your mouth, war is hell.”

Judge denies lawsuit, Rick Perry, others remain off Virginia Republican primary ballot

◼ Federal District Court Judge John Gibney ruled against Texas Governor Rick Perry and other Republican presidential candidates who sued in an effort to appear on the ballot for the Virginia Republican primary in March. - WTVR

"In essense, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair," wrote Judge Gibney in his opinion released Friday afternoon in Richmond, Virginia.

Twelve More Solyndras

◼ Crony capitalism and coercive ideology march blindly onward. - John Hayward at Human Events

Well, great news! CBS News found a dozen more Solyndras – “green energy” companies pumped full of your money in defiance of all business sense:

Take Beacon Power -- a green energy storage company. We were surprised to learn exactly what the Energy Department knew before committing $43 million of your tax dollars.

Documents obtained by CBS News show Standard and Poor's had confidentially given the project a dismal outlook of "CCC-plus."

Asked whether he'd put his personal money into Beacon, economist Peter Morici replied, "Not on purpose."

"It's, it is a junk bond," Morici said. "But it's not even a good junk bond. It's well below investment grade."

Was the Energy Department investing tax dollars in something that's not even a good junk bond? Morici says yes.

"This level of bond has about a 70 percent chance of failing in the long term," he said.

You read that right, folks: Beacon Power had a CCC-plus toxic rating from S&P before investment genius Barack Obama poured $43 million of your money into it. They did indeed go bankrupt, two months ago. No, you probably aren’t getting your money back.

But wait, there’s more!

CBS News counted 12 clean energy companies that are having trouble after collectively being approved for more than $6.5 billion in federal assistance. Five have filed for bankruptcy: The junk bond-rated Beacon, Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt, AES' subsidiary Eastern Energy and Solyndra.

Others are also struggling with potential problems. Nevada Geothermal -- a home state project personally endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid -- warns of multiple potential defaults in new SEC filings reviewed by CBS News. It was already having trouble paying the bills when it received $98.5 million in Energy Department loan guarantees. ...read the rest.

FAIR IMMIGRATION REFORM MOVEMENT (FIRM)

◼ The open-borders arm of the Center for Community Change - Discover The Networks

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) was established in 2000 as a project of the Center for Community Change (CCC), whose Immigrant Organizing Committee (IOC) functions as the governing body of FIRM and is itself composed of some 30 organizations, including: the Gamaliel Foundation, the New York Immigration Coalition, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and Casa de Maryland.

FIRM describes itself as “a national coalition of grassroots organizations fighting for immigrant rights at the local, state and federal level.” "Deeply committed to long-term social change," FIRM aims to diminish "the crushing impact that America’s broken immigration system has on immigrant families."

...Following the Saul Alinsky model of social-change activism championed by CCC luminaries like Heather Booth, FIRM funnels a large portion of its financial resources into activist training programs. Many of its top trainers are prominent figures serving in prestigious and powerful positions. Three of them -- Marshall Ganz, Michele Rudy, and Jake Waxman -- work at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. Another FIRM trainer, Joy Cushman, serves as the Organizing Director at the New Organizing Institute. She also worked as a coordinator for the Obama Organizing Fellows Program, and as a trainer and Deputy Field Director in several states during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign. ...read the rest.

Al Gore Said North Pole Would Be Completely Melted This Year… Guess Not, Huh?

◼ Junk scientist Al Gore predicted in 2009 that the North Polar Ice Cap would be completely ice free in five years. - Gateway Pundit

Give the administration kudos, they just stole the GOP’s thunder by dangling a carrot (and key precedent for future Presidents) that will be a game changer in the election

◼ Obama Proposes Excellent Idea To Shrink Government - Doug Ross
◼ Now he wants smaller government? Obama wants export agency, closing of Commerce Department - Chicago Tribune via Drudge
◼ Moves to grab more power...APNewsBreak: Obama seeks power to merge agencies - AP
◼ 'With Or Without Congress'... - Real Clear Politics
◼ Obama blames Nixon for NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) - Politico

Pro forma confusion at White House

◼ The White House seemed confused over which chamber it is dealing with when it comes to the controversial recess appointments President Obama made last week. - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

Twice on Thursday — in a Twitter message and again in the daily press briefing — officials pointed to the House being out of session.

"I believe on the House majority leader’s website today it said the House was not in recess — I mean, not in session," said Jay Carney, the press secretary.

The only problem with that is that the House is irrelevant to recess appointments. The only question that matters is whether the Senate is in session.

Obama on Pace to Borrow $6.2T in One Term—More Than All Presidents from Washington Through Clinton Combined

◼ President Barack Obama has been increasing the national debt during his presidency by an average of $4.24 billion per day ($4,240,506,004.34) putting him on a pace to increase the national debt by $6.2 trillion ($6,195,379,272,340.74) by the end of his term on Jan. 20, 2013, according to the debt figures published by the U.S. Treasury. - CNS News

In fact, the U.S. national debt did not eclipse the $6.195 trillion level—the amount Obama is on pace to increase it in one term—until August 19, 2002, during President George W. Bush’s second year of office.

The national debt was $10.6 trillion ($10,626,877,048,913.08) on Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama was inaugurated. As of the close of business on Jan. 11, 2012, it was $15.2 trillion ($15,236,307,075,631.58.) In Obama’s first 1,087 days in office, the debt increased $4.6 trillion ($4,609,430,026,718.50)—or an increase of $4.24 billion ($4,240,506,004.34) per day.

At that daily rate, the debt would increase a total of $6.2 trillion ($6,195,379,272,340.74) over the entire 1,461 days of Obama’s four year term.

POLL: Paul Surges, Santorum Plunges in South Carolina...

◼ Mitt Romney leads the South Carolina Republican presidential primary with 29%. Newt Gingrich is in second place with 25% and Ron Paul is in third place with 20%. - American Research Group, Inc

Paul has gained the most and Rick Santorum has lost the most since the last American Research Group survey on January 4-5. In that survey, Paul was at 9% and Santorum was at 24%.

Gov. Nikki Haley says South Carolina has the right to uphold the integrity of its voting system

◼ Haley, SC to Sue Feds Over Voter ID - MountPleasantPatch

S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson on Tuesday said the state will file suit against the U.S. Department of Justice, which last month rejected the state's new Voter ID law requiring all voters to show a valid state-approved photo ID in order to cast a ballot.

Wilson said his office planned to file suit within the next 10 days in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, as Patch first reported last week.

"Our intent is to ensure … that no voter is suppressed in their right to vote and that the integrity of the electoral process is protected," said Wilson, who appeared with S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, state House Speaker Bobby Harrell, state Sen. Kevin Bright, and several state lawmakers at a noon press conference at the Statehouse....

"The will of the people was that we want to protect the integrity of the voting process," Haley said. "And if you have to show a picture ID to buy Sudafed, if you have to show a picture ID to get on a plane -- you should have to show an ID to do that one thing that is so important to us, which is that right to vote.

"The House passed it, the Senate passed it, and I signed it," she added. "What we saw was the continued war on South Carolina that continues to happen -- like Boeing, like illegal immigration, and now we're seeing it with Voter ID. This has got to stop, and you will see us fight -- and you will see us fight hard."

GONNA NEED ANOTHER TRILLION...

◼ Obama asks Congress for debt limit hike - Washington Post

Mark Lovelace announces re-election bid; third district supervisor announces candidacy at Arcata Plaza

◼ Third District Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace announced Thursday that he's running for re-election and said he looks forward to another four years of working on important projects. - Megan Hansen/Times-Standard

The 3rd District covers the areas of Arcata, Freshwater, Kneeland and Manila. Bayside resident and former state Assembly candidate Karen Brooks has already announced that she is running for the seat.

Fun Coincidence: Obama's State of the Union Speech Will Mark 1,000 Days Without Democrats Passing a Budget

◼ For three years -- including two years with super-majority control of both houses of Congress -- Democrats have avoided passing a budget. - Doug Ross

When President Obama blames a "do nothing" Congress, perhaps he should lean over and wink at Harry Reid, who has intentionally avoided passage of a budget for three consecutive years, an act of fiscal irresponsibility without parallel in modern American history.

◼ Ramirez at IBD

Book Depicts Cranky Obama On Baghdad Visit

◼ The then-candidate “didn't want to take pictures with any more soldiers. - Buzzfeed

Excerpt from Michael Hastings' new book, ◼ The Operators:

...After the talk, out of earshot from the soldiers and diplomats, he starts to complain. He starts to act very un-Obamalike, according to a U.S. embassy official who helped organize the trip in Baghdad.

He’s asked to go out to take a few more pictures with soldiers and embassy staffers. He’s asked to sign copies of his book. “He didn’t want to take pictures with any more soldiers; he was complaining about it,” a State Department official tells me. “Look, I was excited to meet him. I wanted to like him. Let’s just say the scales fell from my eyes after I did. These are people over here who’ve been fighting the war, or working every day for the war effort, and he didn’t want to take fucking pictures with them?..."

Reservation Deadline: CFRW Leadership Seminar

2012 Leadership Seminar
Sacramento Marriott
11211 Point East Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA

Featuring specialized break-out sessions for presidents and vice presidents, secretaries and treasurers, per capita preparers, newsletter editors, and those interested in the new electronic media. We will also spend some time together to review CFRW and NFRW programs.

◼ Register online

Perry Trumps Gingrich, Santorum as Top Conservative Standing

◼ On net, Gov. Rick Perry seems the best of the bunch on both spending and taxes. Finally, a compelling reason for him to stay in the race.. - Nancy Pfotenhauer/U.S. News and World Report

◼ Rick Perry's Long March - Hugh Hewitt/TownHall

◼ Perry: "Don't quit on my campaign" - Rebecca Kaplan/CBS

Mitt Romney’s done defending his Bain Capital record. He’s going on offense

◼ Mitt Romney readies Bain Capital counterattack - Politico

The former Massachusetts governor arrived here Wednesday fresh off his New Hampshire primary win armed with a new plan for a multi-pronged response to the Republican rivals who’ve been bashing his private equity past. Campaign advisers are polishing new messaging, tailored to rebut Republican and Democratic attacks separately. They’re cueing up new commercials.

And they’re rolling out a more aggressive approach from the candidate himself, even as the candidates who’d been waging the Bain battle appeared to be retreating from the rhetoric on Wednesday.

The change comes following three days of stumbling responses from Romney and campaign aides, who admit they were caught unprepared for the explosion of Bain as the dominant topic of the Republican race — “out of nowhere,” one adviser said. And it comes as Romney is aiming to turn his polling lead into a primary win — an early-state hat trick they hope will quickly establish him as the presumptive GOP nominee.

PBS documentary looks at Bill Clinton's career

◼ (A) new, four-hour documentary portrays the arc of his career as one littered with sexual dalliances and foibles

That’s doubly surprising when you consider the source: Not a conservative production company, but PBS.

“Clinton” is the latest installment in PBS’s “American Experience” series and is set to air in February. A half-hour sneak peak is being previewed Thursday evening at the National Press Club.

The film covers Clinton’s life in its entirety — from his childhood in Arkansas to his first runs for office to his election as governor of Arkansas to his presidency — but almost a full hour of the documentary ends up focusing on Clinton’s personal struggles with fidelity, coupled with harsh, blunt language from many of his colleagues and chroniclers. (In fact, the film’s introduction, a quick summary of the entire documentary, opens with the Monica Lewinsky scandal).

Eight minutes in, the topic of Gennifer Flowers surfaces.

Poll: Gingrich Surging in South Carolina

◼ The InsiderAdvantage poll of South Carolina likely Republican primary voters shows Newt Gingrich surging, coming within a statistical tie of Mitt Romney. - Newsmax

The poll of 726 registered voters was completed Wednesday night and offered the following results:

Romney -- 23 percent
Gingrich -- 21 percent
Santorum -- 14 percent
Paul -- 13 percent
Huntsman -- 7 percent
Perry -- 5 percent

◼ PPP North Carolina primary poll: Three way tie with NC Republicans – Gingrich 25%, Santorum 24%, Romney 22%

John Bolton endorses Romney

◼ Bolton is going with…Team Romney. - Michelle Malkin

Planned Parenthood Starts “Women are Watching” 2012 Campaign

◼ The Planned Parenthood abortion business has rolled out its 2012 election campaign with the theme “Women are Watching” – although the only thing the women of Planned Parenthood will watch is how much or little candidates promote abortion. - Lifenews.com

Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said the goal is to “let politicians know that the nearly six million supporters of Planned Parenthood are watching what they’re doing” and for the abortion business to “encourage [women] to pay attention to what politicians are saying, to be informed voters next November, and to protect women’s health and to expand access to women’s care” — i.e. abortion.

Richards told Cosmopolitan, the pro-abortion women’s magazine, that the goal is also to move away from the issue of abortion — a losing one now that polls consistently show a majority of Americans are pro-life, oppose abortions in most instances and believe abortions destroy a human life.

“It used to be either you were pro-choice or anti-choice,” she said. “Now we’ve shifted away from that. The conversation is going far beyond pro-choice and it’s becoming much broader. It’s about access to birth control, family planning, and preventative care.”

The new web site bashes pro-life candidates like Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and Iowa congressman Steve King, one of the pro-life leaders in the House.

The pro-life women’s political group Susan B. Anthony List criticized Planned Parenthood and the presumption that their “Women are Watching” campaign speaks for women in the political process.

West Wing events typically are carefully planned and staged, and this one seemed more staged for the media than the guests who ostensibly were invited to discuss with the president ways to create more jobs in the United States.

◼ (W)hat many couldn’t see in press coverage of the event — held with roughly 120 executives to discuss bringing jobs back to America from overseas — were the dozens of empty seats in the audience. - Donovan Slack/Politico

Dozens of journalists packed into the East Room at the White House today for the president’s remarks on “in-sourcing,” at least 60 of them lining the press risers and walls....

At one point during Obama’s speech, Vice President Joe Biden strolled to the empty section and sat in a row by himself, listening.

A White House spokeswoman, asked about the 49 empty chairs, said some invitees didn’t show up.

SC DMV: 900 Dead People May Have Voted

◼ The director of South Carolina's Department of Motor Vehicles has told the State Law Enforcement Division that more than 900 people who were recorded as having voted were actually dead. - WLTX, Columbia, SC

"Director Shwedo's research has revealed evidence that over nine hundred deceased people appear to have 'voted' in recent elections in South Carolina," said Wilson in a statement. "This is an alarming number, and clearly necessitates an investigation into potential criminal activity. I have asked SLED Chief Keel to review Director Shwedo's research."

Shwedo analyzed more than 230,000 records on people without state driver's licenses or identification cards. He found state Election Commission data included 30,000 dead people. He said the records involving 900 dead people were turned over to SLED to investigate.

Shwedo said the records also included more than 91,000 people who now appear to live in other states.

When asked, Shwedo did not have the specific dates of the elections the records included.

He says his agency attempted to give the information to the state's Election Commission, and he later passed it on to the Attorney General's office.

South Carolina's voter ID law was signed into law last year, and was to have taken effect January 1st. However, last month, the U.S. Justice Department said the law was unconstitutional as currently written.

Dead People Receive Ballots in NH Primary

◼ PROJECT VERITAS VIDEO: NH poll workers shown handing out ballots in dead peoples’ names - Daily Caller

Gov. Brown's cap-and-trade spending plan angers businesses

◼ He aims to spend $1 billion from the auction of greenhouse gas emission credits to help shrink the budget shortfall. Industry groups call that a back-door tax hike. - Marc Lifsher/LA Times

Gov. Jerry Brown has found a new pot of money to help him fill a $9-billion hole in his proposed budget: $1 billion from auctioning credits to allow California companies to emit greenhouse gases.

But business groups are already denouncing Brown's plan as a back-door tax increase that they intend to challenge in court if the proposal is approved as part of the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

"At a time when the public is concerned about jobs and the economy, the budget proposes a new tax on California businesses for climate change activities," said Dorothy Rothrock, vice president of the California Manufacturers and Technology Assn. "The anticipated $1 billion is not windfall revenue. The funds will be paid by California employers suffering the worst recession since the Great Depression."

The so called cap-and-trade system is a critical piece of AB 32...

Condoleezza Rice makes stop in Sacramento

◼ Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in town tonight as part of the Sacramento Speakers Series. - Sacramento Bee

To get a taste of what Rice might explore at her talk, click here to read her recent conversation with The Bee's David Siders. She told him, for instance, that the California Republican Party needs "better policies on immigration" in order to regain some of its voter registration losses in the state.

Her talk starts at 8 p.m. at the Community Center Theater, 1301 L St. Attendance will set you back. It requires buying prorated subscriptions for the remaining speakers in the series, priced at $155, $200, $260 and $280. ◼ Click here for more information.

Can California Voters Recoup Excessive Pay, Benefits and Pensions from Current Public Employees?

◼ California is broke. Every year we spend about $20 billion more than we take in, despite a constitutional requirement of balanced budgets. - John Eastman/Fox & Hounds

Our elected officials have tried every trick in the books to make it appear that they have not been acting unconstitutionally. They’ve “borrowed” from local governments and schools with phony promises to repay next year, much as Wimpy used to promise Popeye that he’d pay on Tuesday for a hamburger today. Total outstanding tab on these gimmicks – about $40 billion and counting. They’ve bond-funded current operating expenses as well as everything else they can think of, from school buildings to stem cell research. Current tab – more than $77 billion, the second-highest per capita general obligation debt load in the country.

But by far the largest part of our bankruptcy-inducing debt is unfunded pension and health care benefits promised to public employees, extracted over the years from public employee union bosses who practically own the legislature in Sacramento. Even in the best scenario of investment returns that match the average rate over the past century, the unfunded liability is a quarter of a trillion dollars.

Up next, South Carolina a make-or-break state

◼ Even before Mitt Romney clinched the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, most of the Republican candidates already had turned their eye to the next state in line, South Carolina, which is shaping up to be the key make-or-break test in the party’s presidential nomination marathon. - Stephen Dinan/Washington Times

South Carolina is also looming in importance because, as the primary season extends, some of the candidates have failed to get on the primary ballot in states that will vote in the weeks and months ahead.

Ron Paul to all the other non-Romneys: Drop out

◼ After Ron Paul finished a distant second in the New Hampshire primaries last night, his campaign released a statement that calls for all the other candidates except Mitt Romney to drop out of the race. - HotAir

(F)or all that Mitt Romney has so far received little credit from the media for his doubleheader of victories and for all that Republican strategists routinely dismiss Ron Paul as a viable alternative to Romney, the two both proved a remarkable ability to attract support from Republicans of all ideological stripes. According to the exit polls, 42 percent of Republicans who consider themselves conservative on most policy matters voted for Romney and an additional 19 percent of Republicans who consider themselves conservative voted for Paul. In other words, they numbered one and two among conservative Republicans no less than among moderate-to-liberal Republicans.

The good residents of New Hampshire, uninspired by the candidates, seemed less interested in attending candidate rallies than in years past. The result was that traveling mobs of journalists routinely outnumbered the “real people.”

◼ Journalists’ campaign trail secrets revealed - Dana Milbank/Washington Post

Ron Paul's Speech After New Hampshire Primary

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Ron Paul

GOP Timidity Is a Path to Defeat

◼ The American people in general, and the Republican rank and file in particular, are fed up, angry, worried, and supremely frustrated. Yet they are being told, once again, that we'd better not nominate anyone who is very conservative, or that person will get clobbered in the press and repel independents. - Joseph M. Koenig/American Thinker

This may come as a surprise to those timid folks in the Republican elite, but the candidate who can win is the candidate who can not only excite, but also harness and focus the immense dissatisfaction and frustration felt not just among Republicans, but also among voters across the political spectrum. As kooky as Ron Paul is on many issues, when it comes to spending and debt, he harnesses that dissatisfaction. If the Republican establishment cannot see how Romney simply doesn't manage the same feat, then we're in for another dismal election result in 2012....

The Republican party cannot continue to walk on eggshells out of fear of being portrayed badly in the press. By choosing a candidate in an effort to appease the liberal media, the right will once again push a candidate who excites few, has no appreciable mandate, and amounts to little more than a Democrat-lite. Once elected, this type of candidate may slow the progression of the country to the left, but he will do little to create the kind of change the American people are ready to fight vociferously for, if they only had a leader they believed might actually fight with them and follow through on his promises.

Leftist Mob Mobilizes Against the GOP

◼ The Obama-backed “Occupy” movement has been working nonstop in New Hampshire bullying, intimidating, harassing, and provoking the Republican Party’s presidential candidates. - Front Page Magazine

It is the kind of unseemly, Latin American-style political activism that threatens to become a permanent feature of American politics if President Obama wins a second term.

It’s also the classic Saul Alinsky “inside/outside” strategy. Ensconced in the White House Obama appears to remain above the fray while his loyal minions on the outside of officialdom do their best to irritate and embarrass his Republican adversaries....

The activists attend the candidates’ campaign events, shouting and carrying on in an attempt to prevent Republicans from speaking. They’re not interested in honest discussion or debate: their only goal is to silence the opposition. The Occupiers’ tactics are the kind one might expect to see from the Italian squadristi or the German Sturmabteilung, both of which used physical coercion and intimidation to halt the democratic process.

Unions Get Waivers Bought With Political Cash

◼ In a telltale Friday-night document dump, the White House released records showing the latest lucky recipients of Obama-Care cost waivers. By the wildest of coincidences, 87% of them belong to Big Labor unions. - Investor's Business Daily Editorial

Interesting, since Big Labor pulled out all the stops to get the president's signature on health care reform passed in March 2010. But as the waivers came, it's clear they never had any expectation of paying for it.

From the very start they carved out special exemptions for themselves, showing all the earmarks of political favors in exchange for campaign contributions. The actual skyrocketing costs, reduced choices and lousy service were shoved on the rest of us.

The Myth of Bad Republican Candidates

◼ Repeat a big Democrat talking point often enough, and it becomes the truth. - Selwyn Duke/American Thinker

There is a certain liberal narrative that has recently filtered down to many independents and even some conservatives: the idea that the current crop of Republican candidates is weak, wanting, and worrisome....

Many repeat the statist talking point about the GOP contenders' alleged ineptitude simply because of media spin and the branding iron of repetition. Yet others do, in fact, have unrealistic expectations. They have in mind an ideal, a utopia of a politician -- a person who agrees with them on every major issue, possesses eloquence and decent looks, and has never strayed from ideological purity. And when this imaginary figure doesn't appear, they ask, "Is this the best our political class has to offer?!"
Yet to what are we comparing these candidates? And are we being mindful of Bismarck's sage observation that "[p]olitics is the art of the possible"? For even insofar as a true traditionalist's ideal candidate does exist -- and this is important to understand -- he could not win election given the current state of our culture....

The current GOP hopefuls are the best group of presidential contenders we've had in a very long time.

Yes, you read that right.

One reason why the media want to portray the GOP hopefuls as inept and insane is obvious: the myth of Obama as Superman long ago was shattered. Thus, there's only so much they can build the president up -- they also must tear his opposition down. Read the rest.

Rick Santorum crashes back to earth

◼ A week after his magical finish at the Iowa caucuses, Santorum crashed back to earth Tuesday night with a fifth-place finish in New Hampshire on Tuesday, raising questions about his staying power heading into South Carolina. - David Cantanese/Politico

South Carolina GOP strategist Wes Donehue, who advised Michele Bachmann’s campaign, put it more emphatically: Santorum miscalculated by spending a week in New Hampshire.
“He wasted time in a state he couldn’t win instead of coming to a state where he could absolutely could place first, second or third,” Donehue said.
With just 11 days until South Carolina votes, Santorum has a small window to bulk up staff, raise money and flood the zone.

Newt Gingrich's New Hampshire Primary Speech

- PBS
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Newt Gingrich

Rick Perry Responds to Romney Win in NH

◼ Texas Governor Rick Perry, who didn't make much of an effort to compete in New Hampshire this election season, views Romney's big win in the Granite State not as a victory for the former Massachusetts governor, but as an opportunity to present a conservative alternative. - Katie Pavlich/Townhall

"Tonight's results in New Hampshire show the race for 'conservative alternative' to Mitt Romney remains wide open. I skipped New Hampshire and aimed my campaign right at conservative South Carolina, where we've been campaigning hard and receiving an enthusiastic welcome. I believe being the only non-establishment outsider in the race, the proven fiscal and social conservative and proven job creator will win the day in South Carolina.

"South Carolina is the next stop. I have a head start here, and it's friendly territory for a Texas governor and veteran with solid outsider credentials, the nation's best record of job creation, and solid fiscal, social and Tea Party conservatism."
__________________
Rick Perry

-18: Country Sick of Obama 'Job Act' Acting Job

◼ That’s what happens when a community organizer wars with the president of the United States, wholly in the person of himself. - John Ransom/Townhall

He wasn’t ready to be a US Senator and he wasn’t ready to be president either.

And because some Americans put White Guilt above common sense and thereby elected the most unready of candidates to the office of President of the United States, our economy is at a standstill....

“Congress needs to pass the rest of my American Jobs Act,” said Obama, after Dems and the GOP passed modest legislation aimed at making it easier to hire veterans, “so that we can create jobs and put money in the pockets of the middle class.”

But Obama’s words belie the real trouble with him: He doesn’t really have a Jobs Act. He doesn’t have a budget, a foreign policy, an energy policy, an immigration policy. Instead he only acts like he has some of these.

Court to Decide if Gingrich, Huntsman, Santorum, Perry Will Be on Virginia’s Primary Ballot

◼ Yesterday, Judge Gibney ordered the Virginia State Board of Elections to notify all local county electoral boards that they are barred “from ordering any ballots” or “from mailing out any absentee ballots” until after the judge holds a hearing on the case on January 13. - Heritage.org

Judge John Gibney just filed a five-page order in which he states that

...there is a strong likelihood that the Court will find the residency requirement for petition circulators to be unconstitutional. The authorities make clear that circulating petitions for candidates is a form of protected speech, and that the Commonwealth has a heavy burden to justify the restriction on speech by showing not only that the limitation achieves a valid state interest but also that the limitation is no broader in scope than necessary to achieve that purpose. As in all strict scrutiny cases, the state has a difficult task to demonstrate the propriety of its limitation on protected speech. For this reason, the Court believes that the plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of succeeding on the merits, at least on the issue of the validity of the residency requirement....

Ron Paul campaign press release:

◼ Ron Paul national campaign chairman Jesse Benton: "The race is becoming more clearly a two-man race between establishment candidate Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, the candidate of authentic change.

That means there is only one true conservative choice."
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Ron Paul

Mitt Romney’s Victory Speech

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Mitt Romney

96% of Negative Super PAC Spending Since Iowa Has Targeted Gingrich

◼ In total, anti-Gingrich super PAC Restore Our Future disclosed $89,962 in expenditures opposing Mr. Gingrich’s candidacy since the Jan. 3 caucuses in Iowa, where he came in fourth. - Jeremy Singer-Vine/Wall St. Journal

That’s 96% of all negative spending in the past week by super PACs, the newest and most controversial form of political action committee, which can raise unlimited sums of money but aren’t permitted to coordinate with the campaigns.

Youth Misery Index At All-Time High

◼ Young America's Foundation (YAF) spoke at Heritage's Bloggers Briefing today about their initiative on the Youth Misery Index. - Alexashrugged

The Youth Misery Index adds together youth unemployment, average graduating student debt (in thousands), and national debt per capita (in thousands).

Youth unemployment is at 17.4 percent—one of the highest levels since World War II. Average graduating student debt has reached a record-breaking $26,300. National debt per capita is $46,900—the highest ever. Add it up, and the Youth Misery Index comes out to 90.6 (17.4 + 26.3 + 46.9 = 90.6).

...In other youth misery news, George Scoville points out that the Obama Administration has reversed its position on unpaid internships at for-profit companies. Now Obama has unveiled a new "We Can't Wait" summer jobs program. The problem? Most of the positions will be "unpaid training opportunities." I guess internships are fine since Obama hasn't figured out how to create jobs. Obama's message to young people: We CAN wait for real jobs, we CAN'T wait for empty gestures designed to win back the youth vote in 2012.

New Hampshire GOP primary night: Nets call the race for Romney

◼ New Hampshire GOP primary night: Open thread; Nets call the race for Romney - Michelle Malkin
With 14 percent of precincts reporting, it’s:
Romney 36%
Paul 24%
Huntsman 18%
Gingrich 10%
Santorum 10%
Perry 1%
◼ Listening to the results of the New Hampshire primary.... - Althouse
◼ New Hampshire primary results - Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

51% of Huntsman voters are satisfied with Obama, presumably independents crossing over or an “Operation Chaos”
Only 48% of voters in primary consider themselves “Republican”

◼ Romney the projected NH winner - neoneocon

New Hampshire Primary TODAY

◼ Dixville Notch, Hart's Location Voters To Cast First Ballots: Voters Cast Ballots At Midnight Tuesday - WMUR

Voters in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location will be the first to cast their ballots in Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.

Nine residents of Dixville Notch will cast their ballots just after midnight Tuesday. Two of those voters are registered Democrats, three are registered Republicans and four are undecided.
The ballots will only take a couple of minutes to count.

GOP war of all against all?

◼ There still exists a possibility that, come Jan. 20, 2013, we could have a Republican Senate and House, and a Republican president. - Patrick J. Buchanan/Human Events

But there is also a possibility that a Goldwater-Rockefeller-type family bloodletting could sunder the party and kick it all away.

America is bored with Barack Obama. The young and the minorities are still with him but exhibit none of the excitement or enthusiasm of 2008.

Moreover, we have been through three years of 23-25 million unemployed or underemployed. Our national debt is now larger than the national economy, approaching Italian proportions. The class warfare rhetoric is beginning to grate. A huge majority believes the nation is on the wrong course.

Who wants four more years of this?

Democratic hopes for 2012 hence hinge on that party's ability to portray the Republican alternative as unacceptable if not intolerable. And the Republicans have begun to play into that script.

The GOP field of candidates suddenly seems headed to a finale that will call to mind the last scene of Hamlet, the dead and dying everywhere, but no Fortinbras to restore order in the house.

◼ Complacent Conservatism Is Allowing America To Slide Into The Abyss - John Hawkins/TownHall

Conservatism is more relevant than ever to American life, but much of the conservative movement has grown complacent, lazy, rigid, and out-of-touch. Too many conservatives went to D.C. to make a difference and hung around to make a few bucks. Too many conservatives have given up on moving America to the right and are now content to just hold the line so we don't move any further backwards. That's one of the dirty little secrets on the Right; real grassroots Tea Party conservatism FRIGHTENS a lot of conservatives, especially the ones in D.C. It's not so much because they disagree with the sentiment, but because they've become so demoralized that they instinctively recoil from any meaningful effort to move the country to the right, rather than just stopping the movement to the left.

Supreme Court Turns Down Foreign Donors

◼ Campaign finance reform advocates breathed a sign of relief today as the Supreme Court closed the door on foreign nationals hoping to influence American elections through contributions. - Roll Call

And the third part – it was restricted party for the elite

◼ The only known photos from the White House’s 2009 “Alice in Wonderland” party - ZOMBIE at PJ Media

Homeland Security monitors journalists and "anyone who may use 'traditional and/or social media in real time'"

◼ Freedom of speech might allow journalists to get away with a lot in America, but the Department of Homeland Security is on the ready to make sure that the government is keeping dibs on who is saying what. - rt.com via Drudge

Under the National Operations Center (NOC)’s Media Monitoring Initiative that came out of DHS headquarters in November, Washington has the written permission to retain data on users of social media and online networking platforms.

Specifically, the DHS announced the NCO and its Office of Operations Coordination and Planning (OPS) can collect personal information from news anchors, journalists, reporters or anyone who may use “traditional and/or social media in real time to keep their audience situationally aware and informed.”

Union “Dues for Dems” Facing Supreme Court Challenge

◼ Though not receiving nearly as much attention as other impending Supreme Court rulings, there is now a case before the court that may prove debilitating to the long-enjoyed election funds bounty given to the Democratic Party from its Big Labor supporters. - The Ulsterman Report

◼ Supreme Court Hears Union Fees Lawsuit

Supreme Court justices indicated Wednesday they are inclined to uphold a Washington state law restricting unions from using workers' fees for political activities.

The case involves a few thousand teachers and other education employees who are in the bargaining unit and thus represented by the more than 70,000-member Washington Education Association _ but who have chosen not to join the union.

Workers can't be forced to join or pay for the union's political activism, the court has ruled, but they can be charged a fee for labor negotiations that affect them....

The narrow issue before the justices is whether, as Washington law prescribed, employees must opt in, or affirmatively consent, to having some of their money used in election campaigns.

The president warned that Republicans threaten the "very core of what this country stands for."

◼ Obama Plays the Race Card - White House Dossier

At a Washington fundraiser Monday night, President Obama subtly played the race card, suggesting that Republican presidential candidates would deny people opportunity based on the color of their skin.

◼ (POTUS Obama said) "The very core of what this country stands for is on the line -- the basic promise that no matter what you look like, no matter where you come from, this is a place where you could make it if you try. The notion that we're all in this together, that we look out for one another -- that's at stake in this election. Don't take my word for it. Watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire. " - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

At a campaign event... at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., President Obama indicated that he had successfully brought about "change"--an ambiguous 2008 campaign promise--by killing terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.... Supporters of President Obama's reelection effort paid at least $100 for tickets to attend (the) event. A reported 700 folks were in attendance.

◼ Forget the $3 lunch, Obama charges $45,000 per head in no-press-allowed fundraiser... - White House Dossier

President Obama Monday evening collected a startling $45,000 per head at a Washington fundraiser to benefit his campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and Democratic state election efforts.

The press was barred from the event, a “roundtable discussion” at the luxurious Jefferson Hotel, but invited to cover the more egalitarian fundraiser later in the evening, which featured tickets starting at $100 and a performance by singer Sara Bareilles.

◼ Obama Raises $1.2M, Promises More ‘Change’ in Primary Eve Stump - ABC
__________________
It takes money to fight against Obama's gigantic warchest.
Take a minute, and donate - to your preferred candidate, to your local Republican Central Committee, to the State or National Republican Committee. Links in the sidebar.

Ron Paul - Predictions speech from April 24, 2002

“Indiana Senate committee passes Right-to-Work bill; Unions protest while Democrats boycott”

◼ After nearly six hours of testimony and debate, the Indiana state Senate Pensions and Labor Committee approved Senate Bill 269 by a 6-to-4 vote. Commonly referred to as a “right-to-work” law, SB 269 would make it a Class A misdemeanor to require an individual to join or remain in a union or to pay any dues, fees or other charges to that same labor organization. - Watchdog.org

The bill now goes to the full state Senate, despite the continued absence of a House quorum in the intended joint committee meeting between the House Employment, Labor and Pensions Committee and the Senate Pensions and Labor Committee.

Obama’s naked thuggery

◼ Whether it is staining our Constitution, killing U.S. citizens with his beloved drones, or drowning us in taxes and Orwellian health regulations, Barack Obama has become our homegrown enemy. - Charles Hurt/Washington Times

After all these years it took a great constitutional scholar who had spent a life cloistered in academia and street work to utterly rape our most cherished Constitution.

This business of bypassing the Senate to pick “recess” appointments to positions most Americans have never heard of may seem trivial. It is anything but. What Barack Obama has done has been to disembowel the U.S. Senate and shred the most carefully worded document in the history of civilized society....

He shreds the Constitution with the unflinching calmness of a suicide bomber, uncaring that he is destroying the only system on Earth that could have given him the life and success he has enjoyed, thinking only of the martyrdom that will come through his annihilation of what is most important to others.

So, where are the so-called liberal voices of outrage? Are they so high on the elixir of power that they no longer care for the minority or the only refuge on Earth where they are protected? Or have their principled souls been lost in partisan blood thirst?

◼ Obama Breeds Mistrust By Skirting The Constitution - Tom Boyd/Investors Business Daily

It’s mathematically possible for another candidate to enter the race as late as early February and still win enough delegates to take the nomination

◼ 58% of Republicans want more candidates to choose from - HotAir
◼ 58% of Republicans want more presidential choices - CBS

Primary eve was fierce on the campaign trail. It all comes to an end on Tuesday, when an estimated 325,000 Granite Staters are expected to go to the polls, with 250,000 of them expected to vote on the Republican side

◼ Granite Status: Romney under attack as he tries to nail down primary win - John Distaso

If Romney wins the primary by a substantial margin, he will be in a strong position going into the key South Carolina primary on Jan. 21. And if he wins there, he could be well on his way to the GOP presidential nomination, especially if he also wins in Florida on Jan. 31.

If the results shape up the way the current polls indicate, with libertarian-leaning Ron Paul in second place and with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum splitting the traditional conservative vote, there will be no clear traditional conservative alternative candidate to Romney emerging from New Hampshire and heading to South Carolina.

Of course, New Hampshire voters have long been known for their unpredictability and their ability to prove political pundits dead wrong.

Washington, D.C., pushes bid to become New Columbia, the 51st state

◼ Washington's lack of a vote in Congress has been a long-standing gripe.
LA Times

The district's 600,000 residents pay federal taxes and can vote for president but have a nonvoting delegate in the House and no representation in the Senate.

New Hampshire House Speaker Bill O'Brien Endorses Newt Gingrich

◼ In the video above, New Hampshire Speaker Bill O'Brien explains why Newt has the right knowledge and experience to change Washington, which he also wrote about in today's Union Leader. "Newt Gingrich is the right man at the right time for the presidency. We need to support him in delivering the leadership America so desperately needs today. - Bill O'Brien, New Hampshire House Speaker"
◼ Bill O'Brien: Why it has to be Newt - NH Union Leader

Lack of trust poisons Sacramento

◼ The biggest challenge for California Republicans this year will be trusting Democrats. - SF Gate

There's a lot of loose talk making its way around the halls of the state Capitol these days about Republican irrelevance. Gov. Jerry Brown has made it clear that he is going to bypass the Legislature, where some Republican votes would be needed to increase taxes, and instead push for more taxes via ballot measure.

This strategy follows on the heels of Senate President Pro Tem Darrel Steinberg's declaration last summer that Democrats will be working without Republicans to increase job growth in California. This is a particularly risky course for Democrats...

By declaring Republican legislators to be irrelevant, they are assuming full responsibility for fixing the state government's fiscal health and California's high unemployment rate, itself the result of the accumulation of decades of Democratic-dominated regulatory and fiscal policies....

The smart move for Democrats will be to try to bring Republicans back into the mix. Why? First, voters like bipartisanship - even if it's just for show - and second, Republicans make excellent whipping boys for Democrats. How can you kick around Republicans if they haven't even been invited to the game?

So will Republicans want to play ball? Why would they? Read the rest.

Poll: Americans, 2-1, Fear Obama's Reelection

◼ When it comes to how Americans view President Obama going into the new year, there appears to be very little spirit of Auld Lang Syne. Instead, according to the new Washington Whispers poll, many voters aren't forgetting what they dislike about Obama and want him out office. - Paul Bedard/US News and World Report

In our New Year's poll, when asked what news event they fear most about 2012, Americans by a margin of two-to-one said Obama's reelection. Only 16 percent said they fear the Democrat won't win a second term, while 33 percent said they fear four more years.

Legislative Analyst: Jerry Brown tax raises only $4.8 billion, not 6.9 billion

◼ The state's top fiscal analyst says Gov. Jerry Brown's tax hike would raise $2.1 billion less than he is banking on to balance his new budget, requiring deeper cuts than the governor proposed or more revenues if lawmakers use that estimate. - Sacramento Bee

The Democratic governor is counting on a voter-approved tax increase on sales and the wealthy to generate $6.9 billion for the 2012-13 budget. But the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office says Brown's plan would raise only $4.8 billion in the first budget cycle.

The Bee obtained a copy of the analysis of Brown's plan, contained in a January 11 letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris that is required for ballot preparation. Though signed jointly by the Legislative Analyst's Office and Department of Finance, it contains different projections for Brown's tax proposal.

Obama's chief of staff William Daley steps down

◼ William Daley is stepping down as White House chief of staff and budget director Jack Lew is taking over the President Obama’s team as it heads into a tough election year, senior administration officials say. - LA Times

Daley gave his letter of resignation to the president in a private meeting in the Oval Office last week, recounting the administration's successes of his one year on the job and saying it was time for him to return to his hometown of Chicago.

President Obama made the news official this afternoon in a brief appearance in the state dining room of the White House, where he told reporters in somber tones that he is sorry to see Daley leave.

BYE BYE...
◼ White House Chief of Staff William Daley resigns; budget chief Jacob Lew fills post - David Nakamura/Washington Post (image source)
◼ FLASHBACK: Daley planned to leave AFTER 2012 election - Jennifer Epstein and Glenn Thrush/Politico
◼ Michelle distressed about power of 'white Irish Catholic' - Chicago Sun Times via Drudge
◼ New Obama Chief of Staff: Former Hedge Fund Exec at CITI, Made Money off Mortgage Defaults - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

Obama is winning the Republican primary

◼ Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucuses, and Romney is expected to do well tomorrow in the New Hampshire primary. But the presidential candidate who’s faring best so far in the Republican campaign is Barack Obama. - Gary Bauer/Human Events

Unfortunately, most of the media coverage about the meeting has focused on whether and which social conservatives want to stop Romney’s nomination, and what it will mean for the campaign.

So as the Obama White House declares war on congressional Republicans and the Constitution, and while the Obama reelection team launches its campaign against the Republican presidential field, the news is filled with stories of Republicans sniping at one another.

All this comes at what might be the President’s political low point. According to Gallup, more Americans disapprove than approve of Obama’s job performance, and by a 52 percent to 40 percent margin, voters prefer “pro-growth” policies to Obama’s “pro-equality” policies. Gallup also finds that just 17 percent of the public is “satisfied with the way things are going.”

Republicans are up against what may be the most vulnerable incumbent President in a generation, a President you’d think they would be lining up to attack.

If Republicans keep ignoring Obama and destroying one another, the Obama reelection campaign will realize what must be its greatest wish for the general election: a damaged Republican nominee and a fractured and demoralized Republican Party unable to compete in what will likely be the most vicious and expensive campaign in history.

January 2012 Redwood Alert

January 2012 HRWF Redwood Alert

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Todd Palin Endorses Newt Gingrich

◼ Sarah Palin’s husband is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, Todd Palin told ABC News today. - ABC

Palin said he has not spoken to Gingrich or anyone from the former House speaker’s campaign. But he said he respects Gingrich for what he went through in the 1990s and compared that scrutiny in public life to what Sarah Palin went through during her run for the vice presidency.
Todd Palin said he believes that being in the political trenches and experiencing the highs and lows help prepare a candidate for the future and the job of president.
He did not criticize any of the other candidates and said his “hat is off to everyone” in the Republican race.

U.S. Monetary Policy in 2012 (Rep. Ron Paul)

U.S. Rep. Ron Paul has been a critic of American monetary policy. He argues that the days of the "dollar reserve" are over and the United States should quickly move to sound money and dramatically smaller federal budgets. Rep. Paul spoke at the Cato Institute's 29th Annual Monetary Conference held November 16, 2011. (Time: 20:15)

Mitt Romney: Tomorrow. Earn It.

__________________
Mitt Romney

Google and Others Embrace Vile Attack on Santorum

◼ When Rick Santorum essentially tied in Iowa, he gave his campaign new life. He also guaranteed America would finally learn just how disgusting, vile and despicable the left is in this country. - Dan Gainor/FOX

Santorum is the victim of what Reuters partner The Wrap and many other organizations call a “Google problem.” That’s quite the understatement. He was attacked with a Google bomb from Dan Savage, a gay advocate and sex columnist who hates straight people who don’t agree with him. He also thinks they should be silenced, bullied and blackmailed. That’s exactly how he’s treated Santorum.

U.S. debt is now equal to economy

◼ The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It's now as big as the entire U.S. economy. - Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.

That's roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.

"The 100% mark means that your entire debt is as big as everything you're producing in your country," says Steve Bell of the Bipartisan Policy Center, which has proposed cutting nearly $6 trillion in red ink over 10 years. "Clearly, that can't continue."

Dan Rather: Obama would lose if election was today

◼ "I think he's the underdog, not the underdog by much." - Charlie Spiering/Washington Examiner

"If the election were held today, depending on who the Republicans nominate, of course, I think he might very well lose in a close election."

Johnny Depp-Gate: What Did the Mainstream Media Know and When Did They Know It?

◼ Frequently, I refer to the mainstream media as Obama’s Palace Guards. - John Nolte/Breitbart's Big Journalism (image source)

It is possible that in 2009, the White House told the their MSM friends about the lavish party but, for obvious reasons, asked them not to report on it, and in order to protect Obama, the complicit MSM agreed. It is also possible that the White House, in order to protect itself, is throwing the MSM under the bus by informing the public that the MSM did, in fact, know about the party and chose not to report it. And now, in order to protect Obama, the MSM is not going to tell us what they knew and when they knew it.

◼ The only known photos from the White House’s 2009 “Alice in Wonderland” party - ZOMBIE at PJ Media