HOT
TOPICS |
 SOMETHING'S
GOTTA GIVE --
Arnold Kling on Fiscal
Reality: “Message to the AARP:
if Social Security and Medicare continue
to
be 'untouchable,' then y'all had
better buy guns, because in twenty years
there won't be any money left to pay for
national defense, much less for any 'worthy
causes.” |
| A
NATION AT RISK -- Teachers salaries
continue to grow, class sizes continue
to shrink, but, as George Will explains, education
continues to suffer. |
| “POLITICS
WON'T ALLOW FOR THE TRUTH” --
P.J. O'Rourke discusses fairness,
idealism, and other atrocities. |
 SNOB-AMA -- “They
get bitter, they cling to guns or religion,” sniffs
Obama, “or
antipathy to people who aren’t like
them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade
sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” John
Fund lists some
of Obama's many other bloopers. Macranger
says Obama's
condescension is nothing new. Rasmussen
Poll shows that 56%
of Americans think that Obama shares at
least some of Reverend Wright's views. |
| JUST
WORDS -- Small towns, flag pins,
and the arugula crisis. Here are some of
our favorite Barack
Obama quotes. |
| SUPREME
COURT UPHOLDS VOTER ID LAW -- More
than 20 states require some form of ID
at the polls to combat vote fraud.
Minnesota does not. |
| OOPS! --
A NASA report that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation
has “flipped to its cool phase”,
meaning that for
the next decade or two the planet may cool. |
| INTRUSIVE
GOVERNMENT --
Dad takes a seven-year old to a ballgame.
Dad is a U of Michigan professor who doesn't
watch much TV, buys his son "hard lemonade",
not knowing it has alcohol. Policeman sends
son to hospital and Dad (and his wife)
lose
custody of son for 48 hours. It wasn't
anybody's fault, you see . . . Everybody
was just following “protocol”. |
BUH-BYE --
Northwest Airlines is leaving the state.
Jobs are leaving. Our corporate tax rate
is 10 percent, while Georgia's is 6 percent.
In fact Minnesota's corporate tax is one
of the highest in the WORLD (not just the
United States).
If you owned a business, where would
you consolidate
your
jobs and
headquarters?
Drew Emmer warns Minnesota's high taxes make
it difficult for any business to remain here.
Representative Steve Gottwalt (R-15A) writes: “if
we ease the burden on our job creators, investment
and jobs will flow back to Minnesota”.
|
 CAN'T
EAT ETHANOL -- Food costs are
rising at their fastest rate in 17 years
due in part to the
rising cost of corn. The Boston Globe
explains why
ethanol is not a green alternative.
The UK Telegraph is reporting that global
warming hysteria is leading to growing
world starvation. The NY Times reports
on the global
backlash building against biofuels.
An Indian government official says that
using food for biofuels when people are
starving is “a
crime against humanity.” Even
the U.S. Congress is rethinking
its extreme position on ethanol. Betsy
Newmark says Washington's addiction to
ethanol may go down as “one
of the biggest political blunders of all
time.” |
| THE
DEMOCRATS AND GUN CONTROL -- Don't
believe it when Clinton and Obama assure
you they
support the Second Amendment. |
| MORE
AL FRANKEN BUSINESS WOES -- Al
Franken has finally admitted he failed
to comply with workers comp and disability
benefits laws. Now we learn that a
Franken owned business didn't file taxes
from 2003 to 2007. |
| INDUCED
INFANT LIABILITY ACT --
Letter writer explains how Obama worked to
defeat
legislation to give treatment to babies
that survived late-term abortion. |
| THERE
GOES "EVERYTHING ELSE" --
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
explores "Where
do our tax dollars go?". If there
are no plans to cut Social Security (21%
of the budget) or Medicare/Medicaid (another
21%) or Defense and Security (22%) or "safety
net" spending (9%) and we MUST pay
interest on the national debt (9%) -- and
all of these programs are growing -- then
the remaining 18% ("everything else")
will get squeezed. What is "everything
else": medical research, civil service
benefits, transportation, education, national
parks, and a lot of other things Americans
call "government". |
| THIS
MUST SCARE OUR LIBERAL FRIENDS TO DEATH --
What if force -- military force -- turns
out to be moral and noble? What if American
soldiers are now winning hearts and minds? Read
Michael Yon's eyewitness account (Wall
Street Journal, 4/11). |
| NCLB --
Chester E. ("Checker") Finn, Jr.
tackles five myths about No Child Left Behind, “The
education law everyone loves to hate”. |
| WE
OWE WHAT? -- Stephen Moore writes
a hair-curling account of the unfunded
retirement liabilities many U.S. cities
and towns face. And guess what? The
public-employee unions aren't helping. |
| A
NATION OF DIM BULBS -- Congresswoman
Michele Bachmann discusses her proposal
to un-ban light bulbs. |
| IF
YOU CAN'T DO THE TIME, DON'T DO THE CRIME --
An argument heard quite frequently is that
we have "too many people in jail". Noted
social scientist James Q. Wilson replies. |
 TAX
CREDITS CAN ENCOURAGE LIFELONG LEARNING --
Representative Erik Paulsen favors education
tax credits to encourage workers to set
aside money for college -- not
for their children, but for themselves. |
| MINNESOTA
DFL LOVES ITS PORK -- The House
Republican caucus has put together a huge
interactive website of pork items proposed
by the Minnesota DFL totalling over
$400 million in new government spending.
The next time you gas up, remember you're
helping pay for a Polar Bear exhibit in
Duluth, a $800,000 fish tank for the State
Fair, and a canoe portage in Cold Spring. |
| MORTGAGE
BAILOUT -- Randy Krebs, editor
of the St. Cloud Times, pleads: “Please
don't use my money to pay for your house.” |
| FORCED
HEALTH CARE COSTS JOBS, MONEY --
The Boston Globe reports that Boston area
hospitals are taking heavy financial losses
thanks to the Bay State's new health care
mandate: “Health
provider predicts big loss -- Hospital
alliance cites impact of reform law; Could
cut 300 jobs, suffer $25m shortfall”. |
 NUMBER
ONE MOST LIBERAL -- National
Journal ranked all 100 U.S. Senators and
Democrat frontrunner Barack Obama was rated
the #1
most liberal U.S. Senator of 2007.
So how much is Obama's “change” actually
going to cost you? James Pethokoukis answers: About
a quarter of a trillion bucks a year.
Fred Segal delivers a short, calm, but
effective attack
on the “politics of hope”.
Charles Krauthammer is also unimpressed
in “The
Audacity of Selling Hope”. |
| “DREADFULLY
AWFUL” -- Will Smith on Obama's
plan to turn Social Security in just another
welfare program. |
| BAD
MEDICINE -- So you say you want
to the government to provide health care?
In Great Britain: “Doctors
are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from
patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy
lives.” In Scotland, waiting lists
for medical care are apparently being shortened by
simply kicking people off. Economist
Arnold Kling, trying to help his seriously
ill father, writes, “I no longer
think of Medicare and health care regulation
as inefficient. I
now think of them as pure evil.” Markets
are imperfect, but individuals without
market incentives tend to be even more
so. |
 MCCAIN
ON THE ISSUES -- Here is a side
by side comparison between John
McCain vs. the Democrat candidates for
President. |
| MASS
EXODUS -- Taxpayers are fleeing
Massachusetts. Transit, government
buildings are crumbling. The state has
the highest per capita debt in the country.
Lawmakers are suggesting . . . more
tax hikes (yeah -- that should bring
them back!). Meanwhile universal
healthcare is bankrupting the state. |
| LIBERAL
OR CONSERVATIVE: WHO HAS MORE COMPASSION? --
George Will writes that conservatives
give on average 30% more to charity than
the average liberal household, and
donate more of their time and blood. The
generosity cuts across all economic classes
(ie. rich conservatives give more than
rich liberals, poor conservatives give
more than poor liberals). When ask about
this seemingly hypocritical position liberals
find themselves in Rosie O'Donnel shot
back “That's the governments job
to help the poor”.
|
On
April 19, Republicans gathered to enthusiastically
endorse
Representative Erik Paulsen to succeed
Jim Ramstad
as our
next great Third District Congressman.
Find out how you can contribute or
help Erik’s
campaign at: 
July
7-17
Aug
8-24 Summer Olympics -- Beijing
November
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