The Last Chance Of Freedom

It's becoming increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction, and unfortunately the media has a strong bias. They spin stories to make conservatives look bad and will go to great lengths to avoid reporting on the good that comes from conservative policies. There are a few shining lights in the media landscape-brave conservative outlets that report the truth and offer a different perspective. We must support conservative outlets like this one and ensure that our voices are heard.

Monday, July 29, 2013

Treasury Employees Union launches campaign to help IRS goons elude PPACA exchanges.

Among the most offensive features of the ironically titled “Affordable Care Act” is its designation of the Internal Revenue Service as the main enforcer of the law’s many mandates, taxes, penalties, and reporting requirements. It exponentially increases the power of a group of bureaucrats notorious for repeatedly abusing their authority. Now, highlighting the growing gulf between the government and the governed that has become the hallmark of the Obama era, these IRS enforcers are asking their congressional representatives to spare them the indignity of enrolling in Obamacare’s insurance exchanges.
The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), whose members include most IRS employees, has launched a letter-writing campaign whose goal is to prevent Congress from passing legislation that would require all federal employees to enroll in the exchanges. And the NTEU is not only encouraging its members to write to their representatives expressing deep concern that they might be treated like mere private sector serfs, it is relieving them of the intellectual pressure of composing their own missives to Congress. Its website provides a fill-in-the-blank template with which to express their angst.

http://spectator.org/archives/2013/07/29/irs-obamacare-for-thee-but-not

Divided We Fall

The question that incessantly tugs at my gut is," when will we say 'enough'?" I have the good fortune to interact with physicians across our nation. What is stunning is the commonality of our experiences, frustrations, and fears. Nearly everyone echoes the same sentiments. We are downtrodden by the yoke of our loss of social and economic standing combined with an overdose of unnecessary and crippling logistical constraints.
Regarding the former, doctors have been subjected to an apparently intentional diminution of stature. Most obviously we are no longer "doctors"; instead, we are a mere segment of the blurred gamut called "healthcare practitioners". Within this array, physicians represent an oftentimes indistinguishable part. What happened to the time-honored concept of the doctor as the "general" with others in the medical field occupying the lower ranks along the hierarchy of expertise and concomitant responsibility? This militaristic construct was not born of abuse or cruelty to those below; it was a system created to guarantee that ultimate accountability lay in the hands of those most capable. And it ensured that physician extenders such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants -- excellent and integral deliverers of healthcare -- would always have the guidance and support of physicians, people with greater training and clinical expertise. More subtly, but equally disturbing, has been an erosion of hierarchy among doctors themselves. We have been commoditized. Our insurance-driven economic equalization has led to the notion that one cardiologist is as good as the next and every surgeon is equal to another. Of course we all know such a belief is absurd. Some surgeons tie knots around their colleagues; and superior cardiologists hear even the faintest of murmurs; while a few can barely hear anything at all.

The Real J. Edgar Hoover?

Edward S. Miller, a lifetime FBI man of high rank and stature, recently passed away at the age of 89. A good man and good American, Miller, who was also a veteran of World War II (Okinawa), faithfully served his family, country, and God. He also faithfully served the agency that hired him in 1950, as well as the longtime head of that agency, J. Edgar Hoover.
I was fortunate to spend a long Saturday afternoon with Ed Miller back in March, at long last meeting him after previously only corresponding with him. (He was an alumnus of Grove City College, where I teach.) It was a time I won't forget, and Miller had some things he wanted me not to forget -- and to share with the public. Foremost among them was his take on J. Edgar Hoover. He wanted the world to know what he insisted was the real J. Edgar Hoover -- a man totally contrary to the hysterical left-wing Hollywood portrayal that frames the FBI director as a mix between lunatic anti-communist, power-hungry Napoleonic authoritarian, and closet homosexual and cross-dresser. According to Ed Miller, none of it was true.

Empress Hillary, 2016

Hillary has already ordered the diamond tiara and gold scepter for her 2016 coronation, and a whole village of enslaved Chinese orphans is weaving her red carpet right now.
Sooner than you can say "Obama who?" Hillary will ascend to her rightful position of World Empress. The optics will dazzle us. Adorned in a floor length cape made from the dead cats of Bill's mistresses, she will bless us all from her 20-foot- platinum throne, gifted by our dear friends in Saudi Arabia.
True, she'll be a bit long in the tooth, but a federal edict, upheld by the Supreme Court, will force us all to wear Google Glass. Hillary's face, devised by Hollywood courtiers, will appear as a clever blend of her own features, circa 1983, and Scarlett Johansson's. A subtle halo will hover at all times.

China orders audit of government debt

China has ordered a nationwide audit of all government debt, underlining fears that the recent slowdown in its economy may impact the financial sector.

Local governments in China borrowed heavily after the global financial crisis to try to sustain growth rates.
The last audit, published in 2011, showed they had debt of 10.7tn yuan ($1.7tn; £1.1tn) by the end of 2010.
Debt may threaten China's growth, and there are growing fears that local governments may not be able repay.
"In line with a request of the State Council, the National Audit Office (NAO) will organize auditing agencies across the country to carry out an audit of government debt," the national auditor said in a statement on its website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23486466

How the Obama campaign won the race for voter data

Engineers and developers work at President Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago in December 2011.
From the moment Barack Obama took the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2009, and every day thereafter, his team was always preparing for the 2012 campaign. Everyone said Obama’s 2008 operation had rewritten the book on organizing. But that was just a beginning, a small first step toward what the team envisioned when it began planning the reelection campaign.
In one of their first conversations about 2012, campaign manager Jim Messina said he told the president that they could not rerun 2008. Obama seemed puzzled. “You know we won that one,” Obama said. Messina said too much had changed. For one thing, Obama was now an incumbent with a record. But technology had also leapfrogged forward, with new devices, new platforms and vastly more opportunities to exploit social media. The whole campaign would have to be different.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-the-obama-campaign-won-the-race-for-voter-data/2013/07/28/ad32c7b4-ee4e-11e2-a1f9-ea873b7e0424_print.html

Beijing takes steps to curtail lavish municipal spending

Beijing is taking drastic steps to curtail excessive, wasteful spending by local-level officials and bureaucracies, but the effectiveness of the new course remains to be seen.
Last week, China's leadership - namely, the offices of the State Council and the central committee of the ruling Communist party - jointly issued a directive banning the construction of government buildings for a five-year period.
It is not the first move made by Chinese President Xi Jinping to limit extravagant spending by municipallevel governments. Soon after he took office late last year, he moved to outlaw lavish banquets, receptions, travel junkets and other excessive spending habits of government officials.

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