Holder’s DOJ Says, “You’re Grounded!”

The American Airlines/US Airways merger hits a big bump.

This week, a prospective merger between American Airlines and U.S. Airways stalled, when the United States Department of Justice and six states’ attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit. If the merger succeeds, it would create the largest air carrier in the world. The DOJ cited numerous concerns over the effects that a newly merged airline company would mean for consumers.

In a refreshing change, it seems the DOJ is suddenly oriented toward thrift, and consumer protections. It is the government you have always wanted – they are looking out for you. It sounds great, right?

Read the rest on Conservative Daily News.

The Nonsense Nobel Winner

Paul Krugman

I found Friday’s Op-Ed column in the New York Times, by Nobel Prize winner in economics, Paul Krugman, both misleading and trite. While I do not know how much he might be paid for this column, he makes the case this week that he is overpaid, no matter the amount. He has used his personal soap box in this column, repeatedly to attack what he believes are Mitt Romney’s beliefs, impugns the GOP’s belief in small business creators and owners, and repeats the progressives’ favorite lie, that the GOP just does not care about the common-man, the middle class in America.

Krugman mentions the newly released video of Mitt Romney, where Romney says that 47 percent of the country is now “unreachable”. Romney says he is not interested even trying to reach 47 percent of voters, not because they are middle-class working stiffs, as Krugman would have you believe, but because that 47 percent have already decided who they are voting for. There are 47 percent of people who buy into the Obama message of dependence and victim-hood. To Romney, it would be a matter of wasting time and resources, going after a demographic that simply is not interested in Romney’s philosophy. Perhaps that is a novel concept – getting a good return on an investment – for progressives, having seen the past three years of waste after waste perpetrated on the American people by Democrats, while they swear that any time now the economy will sputter to life once again.

Krugman goes on to say the GOP should think better of the 47 percent, setting up a false dichotomy – that either the GOP should love them, as the left does, or that the GOP hates them. To Krugman, there are no other options. I find it funny, though, that the left’s love for them means giving them healthcare bill that saddles them with a crippling new tax, and that will necessarily raise their insurance premiums by allowing their children to remain on the parents’ policies until age 26. The left are also the ones that think a lifetime dependent on the government is a wonderful thing. That is a warped type of love…

Krugman goes on to bemoan a tweet by House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor, on Labor Day. Krugman’s issue is that Cantor praised people who took chances to build their own businesses, and did not quite give organized labor the due deference Krugman thought it should receive on “its day”. The horrendous tweet Krugman named?

“Today, we celebrate those who have taken a risk, worked hard, built a business and earned their own success.”

— Eric Cantor (@GOPLeader) September 3, 2012

That is pretty terrible. Eric Cantor had the gall to compliment people who have worked hard, and built their own businesses — and he did it on Labor Day, too! Doing far more damage was Krugman’s pointing it out, and then warping what Cantor meant, to fit into Krugman’s own purpose. Krugman found fault with Romney’s RNC speech too – the mortal sin? Romney never once said the word, “worker”! Obama, in contrast, said “worker” many times, Krugman tells us – and apparently that, and not the actual effects of policy mean something to Krugman.

Krugman also took Romney to task for his opinion about immigrants. Romney said in his remarks that immigrants have come to America “…in pursuit of ‘freedom to build a business’.” Krugman criticizes Romney for not mentioning the workers again. So, according to Krugman, unless Romney mentions them, he cannot stand them – again, another false dichotomy.

Eventually, Krugman stumbles onto a decent point, but then he becomes guilty of drawing a false conclusion from it. He blames big money for the Republican’s “disdain for workers”. He claims that the big money has “bought” the entire right-wing, and are now running it as they please. Krugman goes on to blame also Ayn Rand and adherents to her philosophy. It is the owners and operators of businesses, Krugman tells us, who are all responsible for economic activity.

While Krugman spews forth many points, and many things that he considers self-evident “facts”, he is off base most of the time, and even when he approaches what might be considered a cogent point, he seems to swerve suddenly back into the left-wing weeds. He does little more than attack Mitt Romney with false issues (citing Romney’s lack of mentioning a group as some sort of failing or sign that he hates the unsaid group). At other times, Krugman projects the actions of the left onto the right (big money buying sway? I wonder if Krugman’s ever heard of George Soros?) Finally, Krugman tries to tie the whole column together with the hackneyed point that the entire right-wing has become a party of wealthy, non-thinking, idiotic, drones – if that is not projection, I do not know what is.

The inane Op-ed column can be read here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/opinion/krugman-disdain-for-workers.html

It’s Those Darned Kids Again!

The recent comments of Hilary Rosen have both inflamed millions of stay-at-home-mothers, and ruined any Democratic battle plans for a spring and summer-long “War On Women” that might have been used against the GOP to bolster Barack Obama’s election efforts. The incendiary language she chose was quickly used against her by members of her own party, as they speedily scrambled to put space between she and they. My reaction, was at first, complete amusement (as I am bound to find myself whenever I see the left cannibalizing itself). Then, I stopped laughing for a moment, and began to consider the validity of the whole “War on Women” the left claims it is helping to fight. I realized that there were two things wrong with the left’s premise though: while there may be some attacks aimed at women (and it has been my experience that those attacks come from the left, not so much that they are decried by the left), and more importantly, there is a much longer, ongoing “War On” occurring few may realize – a “War on Children.” Thinking through the newly realized war, I think that there is much more information and support available to prove it.

You'd be crying too...

The left has long supported “on-demand” abortions. Walk into your nearest clinic, tell them you have an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy, and that is it. It is simple and straightforward. The clinics would rather not know any more than they must. Is the mother-to-be, underage? Is she a victim of abuse? The clinics do not seem to care so long as they can provide abortions to “fix problems.” This seems like  a massive over looking of the welfare of a young girl who may find herself pregnant, but surely the snuffing out of the unborn life is an attack as well? It is a double attack on young people. Quoting the president himself, he infamously said that he did not, “…want them [his daughters] punished with a baby.” A baby can be a blessing, a surprise even, but a “punishment”? That is disgusting.

The First Lady has criticized both home nutrition and school lunch programs, and we have seen some schools go so far as to ban lunches students bring from home. Americans have been given a nice new, easier to understand, color-coded plate, “thing” to use as a nutritional guide so we eat more healthy meals. (I am unsure how exactly the healthier eating habits are being measure, but the government has its best intentions at heart). In Los Angeles, a massive school-lunch overhaul, costing millions of dollars, ended with rejection by the students, who were throwing away unopened food and uneaten entrees – but at least there was one good lesson learned from that fiasco. The school children created a de facto black market for junk food, probably learning more about economics at lunch than in the classrooms all year. The school’s economic lesson – well, they increased spending ten-fold from 2006 to 2010, on fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of serving canned.

Continuing on schools, and the mess they have become – how about the left and their cozy relationship with teachers’ unions? The teachers work hard, pay dues to their unions, and then see those dues used for things like election recalls in Wisconsin. Reports came to light at protests in Wisconsin of the union members and teachers getting bogus sick notes to join the crowds, and there were even reports of teachers bringing their confused students to the mess (YouTube video here – listen closely at :08). So teachers take days off from school, under the guise of sickness, leaving the students with substitute teachers, while they chant and protest the governor’s request that they pay a small portion of their own retirement or healthcare plans. So it seems, some teachers’ greed comes before the welfare students that they claim to want to protect.
I would be interested to hear more from school reformers, who have run into brick walls while trying to fix schools. Union and special interests target people like Michelle Rhee, while she tried to fix Washington D.C.’s schools (and was actually seeing some good results after actually firing some 200 teachers). Despite her resignation, the left continues to push back against voucher programs and school choice.

Although these are just three major efforts to affect the children, there are plenty more, easily identifiable progressive tactics and plans in action in the “War on Children.” Things like trying to prevent McDonald’s from adding toys to Happy Meals and forcing McDonald’s to offer approved food items, attacking Newt Gingrich’s suggestion that children who are a certain age be allowed to do menial labor in their own schools (and earn a paycheck to help their families), and continuously pushing their brand of learned dependency – it all has the terrible effect of turning a bright, able, capable generation, into a needy, dependent one, unable to even think for itself. The fact is, the left does not think too highly of children, or else they would treat them with a modicum of respect.

The left’s style really seems crimped by the mere existence of children, and if the left had its way, kids would just kowtow to the left as the left would love to have them do, then everything would be copacetic. But, like so many on the right, kids aren’t stupid, and they know BS when they see it. So, once again, it seems like the left has met its match.

The Man Of a Million Double Standards (part 1)

The Obamas

This week, the news brought us the usual reports of violence, danger, and other assorted evils beyond our southern border. To hear the number of times news anchors frighten American listeners with the tales of Mexican citizens and government officials’ beheadings and murders, you could be forgiven for wondering if the anchors are mixing up stories of the Middle East violence with that of Mexican drug cartels. Violence may never have been as elevated as it is in northern Mexico at this moment, partially thanks due to lackadaisical administration starting with Janet Napolitano and stretching to Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. From officials like these, we are told the border with Mexico has never been safer — the same border through which thousands of guns were: purchased in the United States, given to Mexican drug traffickers, transported haphazardly, and promptly lost in Mexico. Of course, the repercussions of that entire fiasco are still being felt – thousands of Mexican citizens are being threatened and killed, and travel advisories are issued for Americans to steer clear of entire Mexican towns. They simply aren’t safe, we are told. Unless, you are a 13 year old member of the Obama family, with  dozens of Secret Service agents on a spring break jaunt. Then, you might be ok. Showing what can only be described as a “Rosie O’Donnell-esque” double standard when it comes to firearms (they’re fine if they are protecting someone near and dear to them, but you dumb Americans really are not to be trusted with such things…)

Now, I have no issue with the First Daughter having a vacation, and even taking friends along (and I certainly do not wish them to travel without adequate safety precautions) – what I do take issue with, is a president who tells the American people, with a straight face, that we need to engage in “shared sacrifice”, and get this country back to work. A president who, after ordering that, sends his family on an international trip for fun.

So this is not just a Democratic understanding; this is an understanding that I think the American people hold that we should not be asking sacrifices from middle-class folks who are working hard every day, from the most vulnerable in our society — we should not be asking them to make sacrifices if we’re not asking the most fortunate in our society to make some sacrifices as well.
(via democrats.org)

Is there a dearth of culture here domestically, Mr. President? Is spending dollars here at home (and stimulating the American economy) not needed any longer? There are plenty of Americans still feeling the sting of your inability to reinvigorate the economy, and Harry Reid’s continuous Senatorial budget failings. You could have actually followed your own advice, and even earned some kudos from some Americans, but instead, you have apparently decided, like so many other Americans, that your onerous advice and rules should not apply to you and your family. The average American cannot afford to send their junior high school family member on international spring break trip, and they surely could not pay for the required security detail necessary (I doubt you could either – am I wrong to assume it is taxpayer-funded?)