Graham goes nuclear on Obama over stimulus
The Congressional Budget Office or CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing. CBOs basic assumption is that, in the long run, each dollar of additional debt crowds out about a third of a dollars worth of private domestic capital, CBO said in its letter.

Obama Admits 'Mistake' in Handling of Daschle Nomination
President Obama admitted he made a "mistake" in his handling of Tom Daschle's Cabinet nomination, telling FOX News on Tuesday that he takes full responsibility for a process that ended in Daschle withdrawing his name amid tax problems.

Labor Secretary Pick's Husband Had 16 Years Unpaid Taxes
Labor Secretary nominee Hilda Solis became the latest Cabinet nominee to face questions about unpaid taxes Thursday as a Senate panel abruptly postponed a scheduled vote on her confirmation. The postponement came after revelations that Solis' husband settled tax liens on his California auto repair business this week that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years.

Our national Ponzi scheme
A Ponzi scheme does not generate any wealth whatsoever; that is why it ultimately collapses. As Circuit Judge Anderson said in the 1922 Lowell v. Brown case, the Ponzi scheme was "simply the old fraud of paying the earlier comers out of the contributions of the later comers." So long as the number of late comers you might call them suckers grows, the fraudulent scheme has life. We have a national Ponzi scheme where Congress collects about $785 billion in Social Security taxes from about 163 million workers to send out $585 billion to 50 million Social Security recipients.

Obama’s CIA Nominee Panetta Received $700,000 in Fees
The White House's nominee for Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, has earned more than $700,000 in speaking and consulting fees since the beginning of 2008, with some of the payments coming from troubled financial firms and from a firm that invests in contractors for federal national security agencies, according to financial disclosures released Wednesday.

United Nations' threat: No more parental rights
A United Nations human rights treaty that could prohibit children from being spanked or homeschooled, and forbid parents from deciding their families' religion is on America's doorstep, a legal expert warns.

RFK Jr.: Hog farmers bigger threat than Osama
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today turned a congressional subcommittee hearing into a diatribe on the dangers faced by the United States, affirming that hog producers are a far greater threat to the nation's future than Osama bin Laden and his terror network.

President Obama’s Perks All Tax Free
But they aren't alone in living this lavish lifestyle -- the president of United States gets all these perks and more. And unlike some of his Cabinet appointments, he doesn't have to pay taxes on these benefits. It might be a bit of a stretch to compare today's corporate titans with the commander in chief, but some Wall Street bloggers clearly upset with President Obama's attempts to rein in executive pay are doing just that. "Some accountability needs to be put in place. We won't have them kicking sand in the face of taxpayers any longer," said one private equity worker. The president's salary and perks have come under the spotlight since Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., introduced a bill that would cap annual executive pay at companies receiving government bailout money at $400,000.

Obama’s Choice for Deputy AG is ‘Pro-Obscenity,’ ‘Pro-Abortion’ and ‘Pro-Gay'
Conservative pro-family groups and attorneys are calling on senators to oppose the confirmation of President Obama’s pick for the second-in-command position at the Justice Department. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing Thursday morning for David W. Ogden, who served as a top assistant under Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration and has held high legal posts with the Defense Department and at one of Washington, D.C.’s top law firms. This is a guy who has lobbied in the court system for just about every anti-family issue you could think of – everything from child pornography to children’s rights when it comes to abortion, to lobbying for gays in the military.

Tapper humiliates White House spokesman over transparency
Transparency apparently is not going to be the law of the land in the Obama White House. Watch National Review’s Jake Tapper go head to head with Obama Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. Tapper shoots and scores big time!

AFL-CIO Pres can’t explain the need to get rid of secret ballots
John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, was asked a couple of questions about the Employee Free Choice Act at a rally for the Card Check legislation yesterday, as well as another union official. The rally talked endlessly about how Card Check would protect workers and allow employees to form unions, but Ed never got an explanation of how the secret ballot manifests itself as an unfair labor practice. He didn’t get any clarification from his interviews, either.

Here we go again: Weapons Ban in Liberal Congress
This Act may be cited as the `Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007. The reinstatement for 10 years of repealed criminal provisions relating to assault weapons and large capacity ammunition feeding devices.

Abortion Outrage: Baby Born Alive Then Murdered!
Eighteen and pregnant, Sycloria Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy. Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated to dilate her cervix and otherwise get her ready for the procedure. Only Renelique didn't arrive in time. According to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labor and delivered a live baby girl. What Williams and the Health Department say happened next has shocked people on both sides of the abortion debate: One of the clinic's owners, who has no medical license, cut the infant's umbilical cord. Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic biohazard bag and threw it out. Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips.

Obama’s FEMA has failed to act in Missouri Storm
About 20,000 residents and businesses are still without electricity in southern Missouri, more than a week after the region was battered by an ice storm. The State Emergency Management Agency and FEMA says rebuilding power lines in some rural counties could take weeks. Spokeswoman Susie Stonner says many residents are toughing it out in their homes, visiting shelters long enough to get water and hot food and to warm up. She says some residents have wood-burning fireplaces or generators, while others do not. During the Bush administration the media attacked President Bush for the lack of FEMA response to natural disasters.

Human trafficking charges filed against Kansans in child-sex cases
Federal human trafficking charges have been filed against three Kansas men accused of trying to pay for sex with children. U.S. Attorney John Wood said Wednesday that the charge targets those who create demand for child sex trafficking. Previously, federal prosecutors had focused on people who sold children as prostitutes. Steven Mikoloyck of Overland Park, Ryan Doerr of Silver Lake and Jimmy S. Johnson of Olathe made their initial court appearances Wednesday and were released on $10,000 bond each. The men were charged with using the Internet or a telephone to induce a child to engage in prostitution.

Hallmark to move some operations to Asia
Hallmark Cards Inc. is moving part of its manufacturing operations from its Topeka plant to Asia, the company said Thursday. The move is expected to result in a temporary workload reduction for about 55 employees.

Real Leadership: Sebelius, arts panel name new poet laureate
As government spending soars and economic conditions in Kansas continue to slide Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Kansas Arts Commission have announced the appointment of Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, of Lawrence, as the next Poet Laureate of Kansas. Her term will begin July 1 and will end June 30, 2011. Thanks for taking on the tough challenges Kat!

EPA sues Westar over air
A lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court accuses Westar Energy Inc. of failing to meet requirements of the Clean Air Act for more than a decade at a coal-fired power plant in St. Marys. Westar made major modifications to the Jeffrey Energy Center plant without updating the plant's pollution control equipment, the U.S. Justice Department said in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

House passes budget cutback
The Republican majority in the House held rank Wednesday against a Democratic onslaught to produce a deficit-reduction bill making $305 million in adjustments to the current state budget. Time after time, GOP members rebuffed amendments by Democrats to spare social programs, education and corrections from the full brunt of spending adjustments required to bring the 2009 budget into balance. The most spirited commentary was reserved for proposed cuts to K-12 public education

"Large-scale hog producers are a greater threat to the United States and U.S. democracy than Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network."
– Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Environmental Wacko

From Proverbs 15:24
“The path of life leads the prudent man upward, that he may avoid the nether world below.”

Gospel according to Mark 6:7-13

7 And he called the twelve; and began to send them two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.
8 And he commanded them that they should take nothing for the way, but a staff only; no scrip, no bread, nor money in their purse,
9 But to be shod with sandals, and that they should not put on two coats.
10 And he said to them: Wheresoever you shall enter into an house, there abide till you depart from that place.
11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you; going forth from thence, shake off the dust from your feet for a testimony to them.
12 And going forth they preached men should do penance:
13 And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.

Public-private partnerships focus on most-needed infrastructure, unlike pork that is baked into government spending

Recently, Thomas Frank of the Wall Street Journal manages to get just about everything wrong in his column attacking public-private partnership toll roads.

First, he writes as if this phenomenon is solely about leasing existing tollways, such as the Indiana Toll Road, the Kansas Turnpike Authority, and the Chicago Skyway (all great political as well as economic successes, by the way), when by far the larger potential is in providing much-needed new capacity such as the $1.3 billion SH 130 toll road in Texas and the $1.4 billion HOT lanes being added to the gridlocked Capital Beltway outside Washington, DC.

Second, he assumes that today's credit market crunch means such projects will be "melting away," when $180 billion of equity capital has been assembled in infrastructure investment funds, and good projects continue to be financed, both here and overseas.

Third, he ignores the degree to which pork is "baked in" to the current federal highway and transit funding formulas, in contrast with the stringent return-on-investment filter through which public-private partnership toll projects must pass in order to get financed.

Fourth, he seems unaware that everyone involved appreciates that unlimited toll rates might divert too much traffic to non-tolled roads, which is why nearly all long-term lease agreements control either the toll rates or the allowable return on investment.

In short, Frank's piece is an ideological attack on what has become a mainstream, bipartisan practice not only in late-adopter America, but in most of Europe, Australia, Canada, Chile, Brazil, and more recently China and India. Now, public-private partnerships are being turned over to government only and we all know how efficient and economical that is!