Serfdom for dummies

Serfdom is making a big comeback these days.  It never really went out of style, of course, but it’s remarkable how many people are now willing to submit to government authority without question, or without much in the way of expectations.  Shoddy performance, from fiscal insolvency to a moribund economy, is no cause for outrage among the modern serfs.  They accept the “New Normal” without question, believing they live in the best of all possible worlds, because it’s now about five years removed from the worst.
That’s an important principle for the serf to accept: Success is measured by the suffering of your enemies.  It doesn’t matter if your taxes go up, provided some hated rich guy’s taxes go up more.  It doesn’t matter if the economy is weak, provided “income inequality” is under attack.  Daily life is a means toward the end of elections.  Any dissatisfaction you might feel with your political leadership is easily re-directed against their opponents.  This keeps the bar set nice and low for the leadership of your team.  Who cares if you’re hurting, as long as bad people are hurting worse?

http://www.redstate.com/2013/05/21/serfdom-for-dummies/ 

Well, I Guess I Was Wrong

Given their past failures to investigate and report on newsworthy items such as the spate of scandals now plaguing the White House, I thought that the mainstream media might come to recognize their history of extraordinarily biased reporting.  Well, it looks as if I was wrong.  Instead, many in the media seem to be doubling down on cover ups, biased reporting and defence of an Administration they so love.  Truth/facts be damned - telling the public what they want us to hear/read/think is their mission.  Presenting unfiltered news, unbiased reporting and honesty are apparently concepts they don't understand.   George Burns

http://www.mrc.org/articles/23-liberal-media-outlets-including-msnbc-defend-irs-tea-party-probe

Media Won’t Let Benghazi Become Watergate

There are at the moment a number of exaggerated, even breathless comparisons between President Obama's Benghazi/IRS/Associated Press controversies and President Nixon's Watergate scandal in 1973.
Part of that narrative is driven by the fact that the media like to associate controversies with anniversaries. Part is driven by partisan politics. And part is driven by overreach, presidential politics, incompetence, targeted "justice," and a seeming cover-up by certain people within our government. Will these controversies rise to the level of Watergate with regard to media interest and the media vilification of a White House and a president? Not even close.

http://townhall.com/columnists/douglasmackinnon/2013/05/22/media-wont-let-benghazi-become-watergate-n1602986/page/full 

The Debt Problem Hasn't Vanished

President Obama has raised the national debt by nearly $6.2 trillion, the equivalent of $78,385 per family of four. It is true that projected deficits recently have been reduced. April tax filings increased 28% from 2012, but much of this was thanks to a one-time rush at the end of 2012 to report income before rates rose in January. The second largest reduction in the deficit came from Fannie Mae FNMA +11.04% taking a one-time accounting adjustment.
But unless the economy soars, or a significant budget agreement is reached, the most lasting legacy of the Obama presidency will be a $10 trillion increase in the national debt—a burden that bodes ill for the nation's future.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324787004578494864042754582.html 

America’s cry for help lost in the White Noise

Back in the salad days of President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, the first sign of the coming soft tyranny against We the People should have been the roughly 2000 car dealerships forced out of business by the anti-free enterprise cabal squatting on the White House.
“It was Obama’s auto task force that pressed General Motors and Chrysler to close scores of dealerships without adequately considering the jobs that would be lost or having a firm idea of the cost savings that would be achieved, an audit of the process has concluded.” (The New York Times, July 18, 2010).
This was the first visible social engineering adventure of the Obama regime and tens of thousands of jobs were lost as a result.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/55345

3 More Reasons to Fear the IRS

So the IRS has admitted to sitting on applications for tax-exempt status by Tea Party groups for political reasons.
According to the government’s own investigation, applications containing terms such as Tea Party and Patriot were singled out for delays and holds even as groups with liberal-sounding names like "Bus for Progress" and "Progress Florida" sailed through the process.
President Obama said “the report's findings are intolerable and inexcusable” and even fired the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service.

http://reason.com/reasontv/2013/05/21/3-reasons-to-fear-the-irs 

The Justice Department and Fox News’s Phone Records

The Obama Justice Department has seized the phone records of numbers that are associated with White House staffers and, apparently, with Fox News reporters, according to a document filed in the case of Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, on October 13, 2011. Kim is a former State Department contractor accused of violating the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking classified information to James Rosen, a Fox News reporter. Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who is prosecuting the case, has seized records associated with two phone numbers at the White House, at least five numbers associated with Fox News, and one that has the same area code and exchange as Rosen’s personal-cell-phone number (the last four numbers are redacted).
In all, Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has seized records associated with over thirty different phone numbers. In the filing that included the new information, the last four digits of each telephone line targeted by the Obama Administration are redacted. Two of the numbers begin with area code 202 and the exchange 456, which, according to current and former Administration officials, are used exclusively by the White House. (The phone number for the White House switchboard is (202) 456-1414.)

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/the-justice-department-and-fox-newss-phone-records.html?mobify=0