2011: The Year of the Labour Union Strike?

Europe and the world teeters on the brink of a massive and decades long economic depression, and what do labour union leaders do? They threaten massive strikes if they do not get what they want!

Senior union leaders today predicted a surge in strike action for 2011 on a scale not seen since the campaign to abolish the poll tax.

Mark Serwotka, the leader of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said strikes in the spring were "inevitable"....The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, said it was going to be a "horrible" year, with cuts in benefits and public services and an increase in unemployment.

And RMT general secretary, Bob Crow, said the "fightback" against cuts would see public and private sector workers take to the picket lines.

Serwotka told the Times: "Strikes are inevitable. We are looking at the spring. The more of us that stand together against the cuts, the more problems we can create. Unless you look like you want a fight, they won't negotiate. The government has to see we are serious."

...The TUC regularly brings together public sector unions – in the civil service, health, education and local government sectors – to discuss ongoing issues."

In his new year message, Crow said: "2010 saw the initial skirmishes in the fightback against the ConDem cuts, led by a magnificent and resurgent students' movement – 2011 will see those protests escalate into a popular movement that will match the success of the anti-poll tax campaign and RMT members will once again be right in the front line. _Guardian

At a time when most people should be grateful to have jobs with pension benefits, labour unions are threatening to topple governments unless they keep getting more...more...more!

Nations from Greece to Spain to France to the UK to several US state governments, are on the edge of bankruptcy, default, and possible dissolution. Public sector union greed, political clout, and latent violence casts a dark shadow over the effort of a few honest government officials' efforts to save their jurisdictions.

It sounds as if the unions are striking the drums in a call for war against the general public and taxpayers. How should the people respond?

US Employment, Housing, Point to Stagnant Economy

The images on US employment below come from Mish's Global Economic Analysis Blog.

Due to the growing budget crunch, local governments are being forced to lay off a large number of workers.

State governments, on the other hand, continue hiring blithely, as if there were no budget crisis whatsoever. They are no doubt expecting the federal government to bail them out.

Manufacturing continues to be outsourced overseas, with minimal startup activity under the Obama regime of energy starvation and economic strangulation.

The graph for total nonfarm employment over 10 years points to the ongoing stagnation following an aborted recovery.

The housing picture follows the employment picture, as you would expect.

The prices of homes, like any other asset, commodity or security, he added, are dictated by the laws of supply and demand.

“Here we are … three to four years after the initial detonation and we’re still left with this gargantuan inventory and that’s going to put an ongoing downward pressure on residential real estate prices,” he stated.

Even worse, he noted, despite the sharp declines in mortgage rates, home sales and demand remain tepid.

“We have excess supply, home prices can go down even more dramatically,” he said.

Housing is the quintessential leading indicator of economic activity, Rosenberg asserted

“As long as housing is in the doldrums and home prices keep going down and putting people in negative net equity position, the government will have to find… creative ways to keep the [economic expansion] going,” he added.

Indeed, he noted, many investors don’t seem to realize that the U.S. economy and markets are still operating on “steroids” (namely, government stimulus and quantitative easing). _IntBusTimes

Perhaps many of the institutional investors understand the precarious nature of the US economy under Obama, but the individuals involved may believe that they can get out safely before the next bubble bursts.

The stock market and commodities are presenting a false picture of economic resurgence to a gullible public. Journalists are too stupid to know better, and those who do know better are generally keeping quiet so as not to annoy Obama and his zombie army.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Will We See These Faces on Wanted Posters?

Every month, more US citizens wake up to the fact that their own government is killing them slowly, through regulations, taxes, and business-strangulating policy. All agencies of the Obama regime have gone all out to damage the US private sector economy, but the environmental agencies are particularly destructive.

Who's doing the most to hobble the productive power of the U.S. economy, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson or Department of the Interior Secretary Ken Salazar? President Obama's top two Cabinet appointees on environmental issues are running neck and neck in their race to see who can issue the most job-killing, growth-suffocating bureaucratic edicts. Regardless of who "wins" their contest, of course, the losers will be the rest of us. We will have to endure long-term double-digit unemployment, skyrocketing energy and utility costs, and the loss of individual freedom that inevitably accompanies the growth of government regulation.

Jackson temporarily nosed ahead early last week when she got a green light from the White House to move forward with new regulations to combat greenhouse gases. Jackson threatened to issue these regulations last year if Congress failed to approve "cap-and-trade" legislation sought by Obama. Cap and trade was decisively defeated by a bipartisan coalition in Congress earlier this year, and now Jackson is making good on her threat. Her move elicited a chorus of pre-Christmas squeals of delight from the legions of Big Green activists angered over congressional rejection of cap and trade. She promises to issue a draft rule next year and a final rule in 2012 that will establish new "performance standards" for power plants and refineries. These standards will drive up the cost of energy, especially the electricity that lights our homes and powers our computers and the gas that keeps our cars and trucks running.

Not to be outdone, Salazar countered toward the end of the week with an audacious end-around play of his own. The Constitution gives Congress exclusive authority to manage U.S. public lands. Thus, the wilderness areas, national parks system and other public lands are overseen by Interior only because Congress authorized the executive branch department to do so. Big Green environmentalists went nuts in 2003 when Gail Norton, Salazar's predecessor in the Bush administration, liberalized Interior's public lands management process to enable more energy development. So Salazar has invented out of whole cloth a "Wild Lands" designation that entirely circumvents the congressionally sanctioned process. _Examiner

Carol Browner, climate czar, is equally destructive to the private sector, working behind the scenes from her White House office to subjugate US industry and business to international climate law.

Until Obama, the US has never had a presidential administration that actively worked to diminish the US in as many ways as possible. As conditions grow worse for average Americans, it is an open question as to when American resentment will grow strong enough for ordinary persons to begin striking back against a government that is increasingly seen as the enemy.

The best form of resolving the problem is through the ballot box, and through revocation of the destructive legislation and regulatory landmines that Obama's people have so carefully and maliciously laid across the landscape. Hope that such a peaceful approach will be enough.

Obama Gains Weight, Explains Net Neutrality Laws

Obama Explains Net Neutrality
A newly rotund President Obama sat down recently to answer questions about his new "Net Neutrality" laws governing the internet. Significant opposition to the new rules exists among the grassroots.

In response to a draft of the Order, net neutrality advocate Free Press joined about 80 other grassroots organizations in signing an open letter to the FCC calling for what it termed “real net neutrality.” _ImpactLab

More about the new law:

The new law expands 2004 restrictions on content in radio, television and print media. In an unprecedented move, it now also includes content from the Internet and electronic subscription services, making webpage managers “responsible for the information and content” published on their websites.”

It is meant to crack down on media content that “makes an apology of crime,” “promotes unrest in the population” or “challenges legally established authorities.” Webpage managers must now “establish mechanisms to restrict, without delay, the diffusion of messages… that are included in the ban.” The measure increases fines imposed on media violations to “10 percent of the previous year’s gross income,” in addition to “72 hours of continuous suspension of services.” _ImpactLab

Mr. Obama appeared surprised to learn about the grassroots opposition to his new internet control laws. But he assured everyone at the press conference that with enough hope and change, anything is possible. "The grownups are now in charge," Mr. Obama declared. "There will be a lot of changes made. We will be watching."

Programme for International Student Assessment Scores

These graphs were compiled by Steve Sailer and published at VDare. The top graph illustrates US PISA scores by ethnicity. The graph below provides the 2009 PISA reading score by various geographical (and sometimes ethnic) groups.

VDare
PISA scores provide a fair but imperfect proxy for IQ scores.

Steve Sailer explains in the VDare article how difficult it is to obtain scores from US educational authorities which are broken down by race. Political correctness prohibits looking at population scores with a clear head or unbiased eye.

Perhaps that will not always be the case.

H/T Half Sigma

US States Living on Borrowed Time

It goes without saying that spend-easy US states are living on borrowed money, like most European nations. But how long before the bond market kicks their prodigal butts back into the gutter where the politicoes and bureaucrats actually belong?

The people who have sucked the states dry -- like their federal and county level counterparts -- are what are generally considered low life scum of the Earth.

In an Idiocracy, however, most of the citizenry is too fat, blind, and stupid to know any better, or to imagine how things might be done differently.

With the ongoing third worldification of the US and Europe, there is no end to the Idiocracy.

President Threatens Unions: Downsize or "Over the Cliff!!!"

Sorry, did you get the impression that US President Obama had grown the cojones to tell public sector unions to stop destroying the US economy at all levels -- federal, state, and local? Ha! The president in question is Socialist Cuba's President Raul Castro. Whatever his faults, Castro, at least, has the wits and the testosterone to lay out the cold facts to public sector unions, and to make the hard decisions.

Cuban President Raul Castro told unionists to accept layoffs and reforms that open the way for private enterprise as necessary for the survival of socialism...“To defend and explain these measures, the working class must learn and be convinced of their importance for the survival of the revolution,” Castro said in an address to the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba, the only union recognized by the Communist Party. “Otherwise we will fall off the cliff.”

Castro’s speech was published in the party newspaper Granma as Cuba prepares to dismiss 500,000 state workers by March, affecting 10% of the workforce.

The dismissed workers are being encouraged to go into business for themselves, and Granma said the central bank may offer micro-credits to new entrepreneurs as the island faces its worst economic slump since the former Soviet Union ended support in the 1990s. _MP

As for Obama, he considers Tuesday's election results to be a mandate for him to push his agenda for radical change even further and faster than he did when he had a sycophantic Nancy Pelosi as his private house maid, for doing his scutwork. Obama is taking a small vacation -- at a cost of $200 million a day -- to visit India in grand style. No -- Obama is not paying $200 million a day for his diverting vacation -- you are!

Somehow the new Republican House of Representatives leadership sees the recent election results a bit differently, than does Obama. It is possible that this slight disagreement may lead to a trifle of unpleasantness in Washington DC, from time to time. Wait and see.

If Republicans actually do try to press a "Tea Party" style agenda on the US federal government, they are likely to feel some "push-back" from public sector unions. Certainly the heavy Republican gains at the state government level -- with the majority of state governor's races won by Republican candidates -- presages some epic government vs. public sector union battles at the state level. Darrell Issa, Republican Representative from California, said this:

"The American people have sent a clear and direct message to Washington that they want less spending, limited government and more accountability," Issa said Tuesday night. "The mandate is clear: Advance an agenda that will create real jobs, not government jobs, but real jobs to get our economy moving again. Reduce the footprint of government in our lives, get government to live within its means and make government more transparent and accountable." _Govexec

To union bosses and enforcers, those sound like fighting words. Particularly when you think about what New Jersey Governor Christie has been doing in his state.

Expect some very interesting times ahead, with two diametrically different visions for the future -- one backed up by billionaire George Soros, public sector unions, leftists in academia, billion dollar lobbyists and hangers-on, etc, and the other mainly led by a grass-roots Tea Party movement that did not exist two years ago.

Previously published at Al Fin Central

Ground Zero for the Coming Anarchy

In many parts of the world, corruption is how things get done. In fact that is how the human world has functioned, on average, for many thousands of years. The modern western world of affluence, human rights, and the rule of law, is something of a glaring exception to the general flow of human history. As long as most people have ways to acquire money for bribes, the bad impact of corruption can be somewhat muted, and the good effects (things getting done) can be attributed to something else.

ImageSource

Regions of the world where the people are generally impoverished are hardest hit by corruption -- since impoverished people cannot pay the bribe. 19 out of 20 of the most impoverished nations on Earth are either SubSaharan African nations, or an offshoot of SubSaharan Africa -- Haiti. Instead of their situations improving, as has been assumed by most well-meaning observers, things are actually getting worse.

The sub-Sahara is not simply an epicenter of economic failure; it is also the epicenter of a pervasive failure in what might be called human development. Poorer countries, of course, tend to suffer from poor health and education as well, and sub-Saharan Africa is by far the poorest region of the planet today. But it is not just that Africa’s health and educational profiles are much worse than for any other major region of the world; they are also markedly worse than would be predicted on the basis of the region’s woeful economic performance alone. _Source

ImageSource

Besides widespread poverty, corruption, and poor infrastructure, SubSaharan African nations must also deal with a low average IQ as well as rampant tribalism. The map of African "micro-nations" reveals the problem of lack of cultural and linguistic cohesion -- which is always threatening to erupt into tribal and micro-national warfare.

And so we see the present and future unraveling of SubSaharan Africa -- ground zero for the Coming Anarchy. The reasons for this continuing unraveling are many and deep. It is a genuine "dark ages" in the making, a violent illustration of why politically correct multiculturalism is such a destructive deception, wherever practised.

Facing Africa's central problem of low average population IQ would demonstrate that problem-solvers were serious about helping Africa and its people. But that is unlikely to happen where political correctness holds sway. Those who claim to help end up hurting them the most.

Boxer: Pathetic in 1992, Still Pathetic in 2010

California is an economic basket case, but it was a demographic basket case long before it began electing an idiocracy into the state assembly, and to the national congress. Boxer is but a symptom of the California idiocracy. Unfortunately, she has helped President Obama to create a pan-American idiocracy which threatens to de-stabilise much of the advanced world. It would be best if Barbara took a long vacation from government work.

European Austerity Measures: But a Knee-Jerk Reaction?

There is no doubt that several European governments are attempting to back-pedal on their overly-generous -- but ultimately ruinous -- welfare states. From Greece to Ireland to France to the UK, European governments are attempting to stave off disaster by down-sizing government benefits and workforces, through a variety of means.

...across Europe, where the threat of a double-dip recession remains palpable, what is most surprising is not simply that governments from Germany to Greece are slashing public outlays but that the debate hinges more on how fast to do so rather than whether such substantial cuts are the right thing to do under the current circumstances. _Mish

What you don't hear from the American left these days is much acknowledgment that the Europeans are backpedaling as fast as they can. There is a reason that transportation and oil-refinery unions have been striking in France and government workers are rioting again in Greece. When Greece nearly defaulted on its national debt last year, governments got a glimpse of what would happen when the money ran out, and they began enacting some of the toughest austerity measures of the post-World War II era.

While France and Greece have grabbed the headlines - protesters setting things on fire makes a visual the media can't resist - the most important case study in austerity economics may be the United Kingdom. Taking out the carving knife, the newly elected Conservative Party government is dissecting government with a vigor not seen since Margaret Thatcher's heyday. _WaTimes

Leftism always fails, sooner or later. Any political economy that presses citizens into dependency on government for basic needs will fail, since such economies clash with basic human nature. Leftist economies are all about redistribution and government spending, but they have no clues how to generate wealth to begin with.

A look back at the perilous -- and ultimately failed -- economic transition in Russia may be helpful. Many courageous Russians attempted to create a thriving market economy out of the remains of the USSR command economy. But they were thwarted by the corrupt power-mongers who seized control of Russia's wealth. These corrupt thugs killed Russia's nascent renaissance in its nursery crib.

Once a nation's people surrenders to a thugocracy -- of whatever stripe -- it becomes very difficult to throw off the chains in order to create a market economy which creates sustainable wealth.

As for Europe, it is not clear that her leaders have learned the true lessons behind the ongoing collapse of nanny-state economies. The deep truths of human nature as they relate to economics are quite unpalatable to most politicians and would be dictators.

Obama's War Against Private Sector Jobs

As the economy suffers this employment migraine, its causes come into sharper focus. Instead of providing relief, President Obama and his party have aggravated an already grim employment picture. _WS

Obama's personal character has not developed at all since he was a young radical, sitting at his mother's knee. As long as he is allowed to strut and prance upon the public stage, posturing like a brain-dead peacock, he will continue to do so. He will learn nothing from his failures, as he has learned less than nothing from his successes. His zombie followers have found their perfect role model.

Americans want a president that brings the country together, a leader who tries to unify, not divide. But, instead, Obama serves up fiery, campaign-like speeches fingering business leaders as boardroom bogeymen, not job creators. _WS

On the Road to George Soros' America: 42 million and Rising

Source

About 42 million Americans now subsist on food stamps, with a continued substantial rise as the Obama Pelosi regime continues to pursue its Soros-backed agenda. But Ms. Pelosi tells us that food stamps are a sign of prosperity. Should we believe her?

At a press conference in her home town of San Francisco, Pelosi explained that the program’s multiplier effect –the amount of money generated in the local economy as the result of the subsidy– far exceeds the nearly $60 billion spent this year by the federal government and is a sure-fire way to stimulate the economy. For every dollar a person receives in food stamps, Pelosi said that $1.79 is put back into the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cites an even higher figure of $1.84.

“It is the biggest bang for the buck when you do food stamps and unemployment insurance. The biggest bang for the buck,” she said.

New Obama/Pelosi plan for our economy: Put EVERYONE on food stamps and unemployment and watch the multiplier effect turn this thing around.

Let’s have the government spend $2 trillion on food stamps and we’ll get back $3.68 trillion. We’ll all be rich. Why haven’t we been doing this all along? _BigGovernment

It is a strange sort of logic that drives these fools in their quest toward universal government dependency -- for the little people, that is. A queer type of entitlement mentality pervades the ruling classes, the ones who know what is best for you.

If Americans ever do get involved in politics again -- as was intended by the founding fathers -- a lot of the members of the ruling class will have a lot of 'splainin' to do.

Unrest In Europe as Pampered Pets Demand Treats

The people of Europe -- particularly public employees -- are accustomed to being kept by the state -- rather like pampered pets. But times are changing. The population of European taxpayers is shrinking. Crime is rising as third world immigrants with no love for Europe are filling the schools, the birthing wards, and the prisons. For Europeans to riot in response the government austerity measures -- at a time like this -- is like a pampered poodle pooping on the furniture to get its way. Very bad form.

In 35 countries for which data exists, nearly 40 per cent of jobseekers have been without work for more than one year, running risks of demoralisation and mental health problems, and young people were disproportionately hit by unemployment.

It noted that social unrest related to the crisis has been reported in at least 25 countries, including some recovering emerging economies.

This week riot police were on the streets as protesters in Spain, Belgium, Italy and Greece demonstrated against tough austerity measures. _Telegraph

Just wait until half or more of Europe's cities are populated by third world immigrants and their progeny. Europeans will then learn what rioting is all about.

Obama's Nasty Pet Pigs Pollute Nation's Capital

The great gathering of socialist pigs came to Washington for a group whine, and when they left, piles of their trash remained behind -- dropped and scattered everywhere. This is in contrast with a recent rally by anti-Obama groups, who left the DC mall in pristine condition. Some political animals are humans, others -- Obama's -- are pigs. I understand bedbugs are making a comeback in government offices and residencies in DC as well.

There appeared to be just one person cleaning up when TheDC was there Sunday. In the southeast corner by the National World War II Memorial, he was shoving trash into a long-handled dustpan with a single broom.

He said he was a subcontractor for the city and while the gentleman didn’t wish to be named, he probably wouldn’t mind being called ‘Hercules.’ When approached by TheDC, Hercules was immediately and noticeably grumpy.

Hercules said he had been cleaning up the area around the Memorial since 6 a.m. and expected to be there for “at least” 12 hours.

“They should have planned more,” he said. “There should have been a clean-up crew.”

Hercules said he also helped clean-up after Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally and as a result he was in good position to judge the cleanliness of the respective rally protesters. Not only was the “Restoring Honor” rally tidier, according to Hercules, but the “One Nation” rally downright dirty.

“I was at the other one too,” he said. “So I’ve seen both. I know the difference.”

“This group” just didn’t get it, he continued. “Let’s just say: I’m in a bad mood.”

On a visit to Washington with her daughter, California resident Pam Hewitt didn’t think much of the protestors who left their droppings all over the Mall.

“People … have the freedom of the speech and to assemble and all that, but to leave this much trash behind is just disrespectful,” she said.

Neither Flo McAfee nor Andrea Alford, representatives of the “One Nation” rally, were available for comment on Sunday — despite numerous attempts. The environmentally-friendly Sierra Club, one of the sponsors of the rally, could not be reached for comment either. _DailyCaller

All of this is not really surprising, since we have seen the same contrast between the aftermath of duelling rallies before. Something about Obama that simply attracts pigs.

Castro to Obama: "How Do You Like Me Now?"

Fidel Castro has finally come out and admitted that his revolution was a failure. And his brother Raul follows up on that admission by announcing the downsizing of the top-heavy communist government of Cuba by 500,000 government jobs! It is a sad day for Latin communism, and for the heroic revolution that failed.

Consider this comment from a knowledgeable Cuban critic who was asked if the country's brand of socialism, created by Fidel Castro after his 1959 revolution, could be of use in other countries: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore." That remark would have gotten him in trouble with authorities, if his name were not Fidel Castro.

There may yet be admirers of Cuban communism in certain precincts of Berkeley or Cambridge, but it's hard to find them in Havana. The 84-year-old Fidel (who later said he didn't mean to say that) has turned control over to brother Raul, whose faith in the shining power of Marxism-Leninism has also dried up.

This week, the regime said it will dismiss 500,000 people from government jobs, which account for 84 percent of the work force. Reflecting ruefully on the perils of sheltered bureaucracy, Raul Castro declared recently, "We have to erase forever the notion that Cuba is the only country in the world where one can live without working."

...Roger Noriega, a researcher at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington, notes that before communism arrived, Cuba "was one of the most prosperous and egalitarian societies of the Americas." His colleague Nicholas Eberstadt has documented that pre-Castro Cuba had a high rate of literacy and a life expectancy surpassing that in Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

Instead of accelerating development, Castro has hindered it. In 1980, living standards in Chile were double those in Cuba. Thanks to bold free-market reforms implemented in Chile but not Cuba, the average Chilean's income now appears to be four times higher than the average Cuban's.

...But even economic failures and political tyranny have been not enough to deprive Castro of Western admirers. On a 2000 visit to Havana, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan asserted, "Castro's regime has set an example we can all learn from." His lieutenant Che Guevara has been endlessly romanticized. Movie director Oliver Stone once marveled of Fidel, "I'm totally awed by his ability to survive and maintain a strong moral presence."

Cubans may differ. About 1.5 million of them have fled since Castro arrived, many in rickety boats that put their lives in peril. And the government, for some reason, doesn't let ordinary citizens decide if it remains in power.

That's the grisly fate of modern Cubans. Communism is dead, and they're shackled to the corpse. _ReasonMag

Norteamericanos may feel the same way about Obama. His brain is dead, but they are shackled to his corpse.

Don't Cry for Me, Obamanistas!

An Argentinian Photo Album

When the leader of the world's superpower consciously embarks on a mission to destroy the integrity of his nation's economic and political infrastructure, one should understand the perversely tragic aspects of the situation. Mr. Obama's dreams of conquest over the evils of the colonial western world are near their climax. It is unfortunate that he lacks the insight into his own motivations, and that he fails to see the parallels between his own suicidally quixotic quest, and the many similar futile quests of leftist justice over the past century and more.

20 years after the collapse of Soviet Eastern Europe, and as Chavez' Venezuela falters and Castro is acknowledging the failure of his own revolution, Mr. Obama has just begun to institute his own revolution of destruction against the Great Satan of the Islamists, and the bane of leftists around the world.

Although it is still the world's superpower military hegemon and the economic anchor of the world's economy, the steep upward trajectory of the US government's debt was already a cause of concern even before Mr. Obama was elected. But Obama has increased the acceleration of economic doom by an order of magnitude -- and in so many ways that it is impossible not to suspect that it is an intentional agenda of destruction. The Obama Pelosi regime has made sure that there is no political way out of the quagmire, despite the worst the Tea Party may try to achieve to restore constitutional government.

Obama's plan does amount to an elaborate revolution and bloodless coup against the constitutional political and economic protections put in place over 2 centuries ago. The energy starvation aspects of the Obama Pelosi regime alone are enough to destroy the private sector eventually, but the hidden malignant aspects of Obamacare and the Dodd-Frank act -- among many other new regulations, provisions, and laws -- will accelerate the destruction beyond the comprehension of those who think in simple political and economic terms. And so it goes without end -- an ambitious coup against the "negative aspects" of the US Constitution. Because Mr. Obama's genius cannot be constrained by such an ancient document of restraint.

And so it comes down to insurrection. But a bloodless coup does not require a bloody insurrection to counter it. In fact, Americans should not even want the America that existed before Obama's election -- although Obama Pelosi has made many Americans look back with nostalgia to pre-OP times.

What kind of insurrection will it take to bring about a constitutional government with equal protections under the law and abundant opportunities for expanding the economy?

A comment on a previous article -- which mentioned voluntary alteration of tax compliance by citizens -- contains the beginning of an idea which needs to be expanded and transformed. But governments cannot go on indefinitely spending more than they receive. The government printing press contains the ink of its own destruction, as the Perons of Argentina and other tyrannical populists throughout history have learned to their regret.

More on the peaceful insurrection later.

Previously published at Al Fin

Tea Party in St. Louis

The US Tea Party movement is a coalition of citizen's groups from across the nation. The main common thread running through the different organisations is the desire to see a smaller, less grasping, less dictatorial government -- running on a much smaller budget.

Not coincidentally, that is the type of government that the founding fathers attempted to set up in the beginning of the nation.

Leftist political groups can see the deep groundswell of support behind these movements, and working through the national media cartel have attempted to distort and caricature the image of the Tea Party groups.

We will know in November how well they succeeded, or how badly they have failed.

Motorcycle Plus Guns? Taliban as Young Man's Fantasy

Source H/T ReverseSpins

If you join the Taliban you can ride motorcycles, shoot guns, and if you get killed you go straight to paradise to be served in every way by 72 pure virgins of your Koran-fevered dreams. If you are a young man growing up in dirt-poor, war-ravaged Afghanistan, looking for adventure -- what are you going to do? The Taliban effort is well funded by outside Islamic funding agencies. Iran is an important provider of resources.

KABUL -- At least five Iranian companies in Afghanistan's capital are using their offices covertly to finance Taliban militants in provinces near Kabul, according to a Sunday Times investigation.

Afghan intelligence and Taliban sources have told the newspaper that the firms, set up in the past six months, provide cash for a network of district Taliban treasurers to pay battlefield expenses and bonuses for killing the enemy and destroying their vehicles.

The Iranian companies win contracts to supply materials and logistics to Afghans involved in reconstruction. The money often comes in the form of aid from foreign donors.

Profits are transferred through poorly regulated Afghan banks — including Kabul Bank, which is partly owned by President Hamid Karzai’s brother Mahmood — to Tehran and Dubai.

From these countries, the money returns to Afghanistan through the informal Islamic banking system known as hawala to be dispersed to the Taliban. _Source

Source

The huge "youth bulge" seen in the population pyramid of Afghanistan -- and several other dirt-poor Islamic and third world countries -- suggests that the Islamic wars of Asia and Africa will be "forever wars", at least through most of this century. Demography is destiny in many ways.

What Will It Take to Get the US Economy Going Again?

We are deep in the death-throes of a dead cat economy. It will bounce when dropped hard, but gravity always wins. Here are 10 reasons why this "dead cat" recovery of sorts is not sustainable:

1. Although the jobs report beat expectations, job growth is nowhere near the level we need to maintain employment; let alone fuel real job growth.
2. Furthermore, the U6 unemployment is 16.7%; the highest since April. In addition, the direction of job growth is down. July had private sector jobs added was 107,000; August had only 67,000 jobs added.
3. The direction of GDP is also down from over 5% in Q42009 to 3.7% in Q12010 to 1.6% in Q42010
4. The projected job growth in 2011 keeps coming down as well. Latest consensus is 1.8% from 2.3%
5. Health care premiums charged to workers are going up as result of Obamacare, and will start to be deducted out of worker’s paychecks. This is hardly a good thing for consumer spending or confidence
6. The capital of Pennsylvania just missed a bond payment and is considering bankruptcy. The last thing the economy needs is turmoil in the municipal bond market
7. The Mariner rig fire will likely prevent any quick end to the administration’s job killing drilling moratorium in the Gulf. Having highly paid oil workers sit idle is hardly what the Gulf economy needs right now
8. Retailers continue to have to resort to discounting to move merchandise according to the recent retail sales report. This is not good for margins, and a poor indicator of consumer confidence
9. The peak of Federal stimulus spending has now passed and its contribution to anemic GDP growth will lessen in the quarters ahead
10. Potential crises overseas continue to roil just below the surface
a. The overheated property sector bubble in China could very well pop by the end of the year
b. Ireland is a disaster and could be next European country to need help from the ECB
c. The financial system in Afghanistan is on verge of collapse due to a massive fraud and a run on its third largest bank. _SeekingAlpha

Wealth comes from healthy trade and growth within the private sector. If your government is intent to murder the private sector, it is also murdering the future wealth of your nation. That is where the US stands, 19 months after electing the Obama Pelosi regime.

Distilled Demographics: Birth Rate

PRB
This video will explain why the nurseries, kindergartens, and schools of the affluent world are becoming a bit under-populated.

In Europe you may find most nursery cribs occupied by children of third world immigrants. This wave of immigrant children will pass through the schools, and into the prison population almost before you know it. So even though crime rates in Europe are bound to soar -- relatively speaking -- the social welfare programs and skilled occupations will suffer for the lack of highly intelligent and well trained workers in the workforce.

In the US these low-performing, high crime rate immigrants are coming largely from Mexico and Central America. Canada is experiencing somewhat less of an effect due to the buffer of the US between Canada and Latin America. Even so, Canada is becoming far more diverse over time, demographically, due to immigration from East and South Asia, as well as the third world -- and Europe. But a higher proportion of Canada's immigrants are well-educated and well into their middle adult years, and less prolific at child-bearing.

The US was the beneficiary of immigration from high-IQ countries in Europe and East Asia during its 19th and early 20th century expansion. But since the radicalisation of US immigration policy -- encouraging immigration from low IQ countries -- the US is beginning to experience the negative side of immigration.

Distilled Demographics: The Population Pyramid

PRB
The populations of some countries are shrinking at the same time that the populations of others are shooting into the stratosphere.

Watch the video for some elementary concepts in population change. You should begin to get an idea of why Japan and Europe are shrinking so quickly, while much of the third world is exploding out of all containment.

The shrinking countries are becoming a burgeoning crisis, mainly because the countries which are shrinking the most quickly are some of the most affluent and generous -- in terms of foreign aid and international peacekeeping.

Very few will miss the belligerence of Russia when the Russians are gone, of course, but Europeans have been an important part of the glue that has held the world community together. Without Europe, much of the third world could easily explode into perpetual violence.

Debt and Demography as Destiny: Emerging Markets Not Immune

Image Source

Many analysts are predicting that the emerging markets (BRICs etc) will own the 21st century, due to a superior budget balance, with far less debt than the more developed nations. But these analysts may be omitting some of the most important elements in their analyses.

Already in the decade before the 2008–2009 economic crisis, a number of factors favored considerably faster economic growth in the emerging market economies than in the industrialized countries. In contrast to the slow-growing and aging populations in the industrialized countries, emerging market economies are characterized by younger and faster growing populations. At the same time, savings rates in non-Japan Asia have considerably exceeded those in the G-7, while the emerging market economies are taking full advantage of the potential to grow rapidly through simply catching up technologically to the industrialized countries.

In the years immediately ahead, one must expect that the emerging market economies will retain many of the advantages that have favored their rapid growth in the recent past. There is now every reason to expect that these advantages will be amplified by the sounder public finances that characterize the emerging market economies. And there is also every reason to expect that, as they become even more important in the global economy, the emerging markets will become increasingly more vocal in pressing their case for their representation in international economic organizations like the International Monetary Fund to more fairly reflect their relative importance. _American

The author above rightly contrasts the prospects of "slow-growing and aging populations" with those of "younger and faster growing populations." And yet he forgets to look at another aspect of demography: intelligence. If the population average IQ is below 90, the long-term prospects for that country are not good -- unless it possesses a high-IQ market dominant minority.

So, looking at the author's "circle of favour" above, one would have to cross off South Africa. One would also have to cast a jaundiced eye at Mexico, Indonesia, Brazil, and Turkey -- all with average population IQs below 90. The future of those nations depends in large part upon how they choose to treat their market-dominant minorities, and how they deal with internal violence and corruption.

Although it is immensely wealthy in terms of minerals and energy, Russia, also, must be ejected from the "circle of favour," due to its collapsing demographics combined with its ominous trends back toward a Soviet-style centralisation of power, and reversion to tyranny.

China's economic miracle has been based almost entirely upon exports to Europe and North America. As those export markets have cooled, China has attempted to create internal markets out of nothing, building huge empty cities, apartment complexes, and shopping malls. As all of that wasted wealth (on top of the wasteful and corrupt state-owned enterprises) takes its toll on the nation's economy, economic stresses will likely lead to additional catastrophic decision-making by central planners.

South Korea and Taiwan score well economically, and on average population IQ. Both nations are, however, sitting under significant military threats from close neighbors. In addition, both nations are prone to the same demographic shrinkage that most affluent nations are prone to.

The US is being stripped for salvage by its ruling class. Only a significant re-revolution and return to constitutional ideals -- and a savage disciplining and down-sizing of governments at all levels -- can save the US from its designed dismantling. The US is likely to be dismantled, in other words.

After it becomes clear to the rest of the world that the US under Obama Pelosi is truly becoming a "paper tiger", significant shifting of alliances may well occur. But stability is not likely, until the human technological infrastructure evolves.

Thomas Sowell on His New Book "Dismantling America"

Sowell is one of the most incisive observers of the decay and decline of the American experiment. It is crucial for ordinary Americans to understand the dynamic process of intentional dismantling and decay of 230 year old constitutional protections.

The ideas behind the constitution were ingenious compromises between libertarianism and authoritarianism, but for those ideas to survive they require a substrate of knowledgeable and wise humans of basic competency. Unfortunately, that substrate has declined. It is declined to the point that a government of the size of the modern day US cannot be maintained, and will necessarily self-destruct.

US Government Debt: Going Up?

Image Source
What is responsible for the disastrous buildup of US government debt? In a word, corruption. Everyone wants a piece of the wealth. But these criminals are stealing from unborn generations, as you can clearly see from the graphic above.

There will be a huge price to be paid for the foolish whimsy of American voters in 2006 and 2008. Elections have consequences.

Notice how the defense budget has been going down.

So what has been driving up the deficit and the debt? Fixed entitlements, plus financial bailouts to special interests, piled on top of more financial bailouts to special interests.

If you think the end of this story will be fine and happy, you may want to take up skydiving without a parachute, or deep sea diving using cyanide gas breathing apparatus.

Will Obama Be Forever Known as the Unemployment President?

Unemployment numbers have risen to their highest level in almost a year.

But America is full of government and government workers. And even if government incompetence destroys the private sector and all its jobs, the government will still be there to help you.

There are 90,000 governments within the US! While not all of them can print money, the one that does print money is standing behind the other governments -- as long as their workers are unionised!

Mr. Obama has been good for unionised government workers. Of course, the public sector unions donated to Obama's campaign and participated in "get out the vote" efforts for Obama. What's a little corruption between friends?

If the governments of the US are not prepared to cut wages for government workers -- unionised or not -- there is not a chance in hell that they will survive the long run.

You need to start finding places to safeguard your assets where none of the governments can find them.

Liberals vs Conservatives: Psychology's Modern Morality

video via Who is John Galt
This TED talk is from Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor and morality researcher at the University of Virginia. It is useful as a type of "out of the mind" view of human morality, and how human minds may be innately attracted to one pole or another, and how a mind might be primed toward one strange attractor or another.

Your blog host has traveled a path that has wound its way through conservative, liberal, libertarian, socialist, eastern philosophy of detachment, pacifist anarchist, and several other moral and quasi-moral perspectives on reality.

Freedom of beliefs and religion is paramount, as long as the religion focuses on the spiritual and does not delve into political or economic control too much.

A religion that attempts to enforce morality, politics, economics, and the rest of existence for everyone in the world, is not truly a religion, but is a totalitarian philosophy -- a system of enslavement of body and mind.

But a system of morality that is incapable of providing individuals and societies with the will to defend themselves against an onslaught of hostile outsiders, is useless or worse.

As to the middle ground, that is often determined by the stage of history that a society is passing through at the moment. Get back to me on that.

Gimme You' Money!

Obamanomics has Failed

Obama's Economic Quagmire

As Goes California, so Goes America

The world does not work the way politicians, journalists, ivy league professors, and university textbooks think it does. To understand the real world, the tenured clowns would need to ditch tenure and get out in the thick of things and experience reality.

Like that's gonna happen.

Obama Pelosi Train Wreck On Schedule to Demolish Grand Central Station Along With the Rest of the Economic System

The following article was published by US Congressman Paul Ryan in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. It discusses some topics which put the finger of blame for the ongoing economic disaster within the US and the western world where it belongs -- on the statists in control.

Despite watching European welfare states collapse under the weight of their own debt, those running Washington are leading us down precisely the same path. With the debt surpassing $13 trillion, we can no longer avoid having a serious discussion about how to address the unsustainable growth of government.

Unfortunately, rather than make meaningful contributions to this conversation and bring solutions to the table, Democrats have attempted to win this debate by default. Relying on demagoguery and distortion, the left would prefer that entitlements - often labeled the "third rail" of American politics - remain untouchable, and the column by Paul Krugman of The New York Times is indicative of the partisan attacks leveled against the plan I've offered, a "Roadmap for America's Future."

When I introduced the "Roadmap," my hope was that it would spur an open and honest discussion about how our nation can address its fiscal challenges. If we are truly committed to developing real solutions, this discussion must be free of the inflammatory rhetoric that has derailed past reform efforts. In keeping with this spirit, it is necessary to clarify some of the inaccurate claims and distortions made recently regarding the "Roadmap."

The assertion by Krugman and others that the revenue assumptions in the "Roadmap" are overly optimistic and that my staff directed the Congressional Budget Office not to analyze the tax elements of the "Roadmap" is a deliberate attempt to misinform and mislead.

I asked the CBO to analyze the long-term revenue impact of the "Roadmap," but officials declined to do so because revenue estimates are the jurisdiction of the Joint Tax Committee. The Joint Tax Committee does not produce revenue estimates beyond the 10-year window, and so I worked with Treasury Department tax officials in setting the tax reform rates to keep revenues consistent with their historical average.

What critics such as Krugman fail to understand is that our looming debt crisis is driven by the explosive growth of government spending - not from a lack of tax revenue.

Krugman also recycles the disingenuous claim that the "Roadmap" - the only proposal certified to make our entitlement programs solvent - would "end Medicare as we know it."

Ironically, doing nothing, as Democrats would prefer, is certain to end entitlement programs as we know them, and in the process, beneficiaries would face painful cuts to these programs. Conversely, the "Roadmap" would pre-empt these cuts in a way that prevents unnecessary disruptions for current beneficiaries.

It reforms Medicare and Social Security so those in and near retirement (55 and older) will see no change in their benefits while preserving these programs for future generations of Americans. We do not have a choice on whether Medicare and Social Security will change from their current structure - the true debate is if and how these programs will be made solvent.

Far from the "radical" label that critics have tried to pin on it, the Medicare reforms in the "Roadmap" are based on suggestions made by the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare, chaired by Sen. John Breaux (D-La.). That commission recommended in 1999 "modeling a system on the one members of Congress use to obtain health care coverage for themselves and their families." With respect to Medicare and Social Security, the "Roadmap" puts in place systems similar to those members of Congress have. There has been support across the political spectrum for these types of reforms.

By dismissing credible proposals as "flimflam," critics such as Krugman contribute nothing to the debate. Standing on the sidelines shouting "boo" amounts to condemning our people to a future of managed decline. Absent serious reform, spending on entitlement programs and interest on government debt will consume more and more of the federal budget, resulting in falling standards of living and higher taxes as we try to sustain an ever larger social welfare state.

The American people deserve a serious and civil discussion about how to reduce our exploding debt and deficit. By relying on ad-hominem attacks and discredited claims, Krugman and others are missing an opportunity to contribute to this discussion and are only polarizing and paralyzing attempts to solve our nation's fiscal problems.

I reject the notion that these problems are too big or too difficult to tackle or that it is acceptable to leave future generations of Americans an inferior standard of living than we enjoy. The "Roadmap" shows that a European-style social welfare state is not inevitable, that it is not too late for our nation to choose a different path and that we can do so in a way that preserves our freedoms and traditions.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) represents the 1st Congressional District. _MJS

Black Tea Party Members Attacked by Hostile Media

The media in America is biased against anything that is not of a radical leftist, redistributionist, hyper-statist nature.

For that reason, American media must be diced, sliced, sifted, stirred, sauteed, baked, boiled, broiled, pounded, flamed, and deep-fried until the foul stench and taste of statist slaveholder-elitism is eradicated. We have a long, long way to go.

Europe Fills With Unassimilable Third World Malcontents

France is gearing up for another summer of violent protest originating within the growing ghettos of third world immigrants -- overflowing with malcontented youth.

You probably didn’t hear about it, but Muslim youths rioted in Grenoble, France, on July 16, sparking some of the worst instability the country has faced since the 2005 riots. Now, like then, most of the media declined to mention the religious or ethnic background of the rioters, instead painting them as unruly youngsters and covering the eyes of the public to the slow dissolution of France as we know it.

The violence began soon after a Muslim robbed a casino and opened fire as he tried to flee the police, who then shot and killed him. This apparently raised the ire of major elements of the mostly Muslim urban communities who live in poor neighborhoods unassimilated into the greater society. The shooting was seen as an attack on Muslims, rather than an act of justice. Shortly following a speech by an Islamic cleric at a ceremony for the robber, the match was struck. As of now, there are no media reports revealing what the cleric said, if anything, to stoke the flame.

...This is France today. Police must fear that any use of force against a criminal with a Muslim background could be interpreted as an act of brutality and racism that must be responded to with violence.

The country was first forced to recognize the problem in 2005 when riots broke out in 300 towns for three weeks following the deaths of two Muslim teenagers who were electrocuted when they hid in a power station believing they were being chased by police. Fires were set to over 300 buildings and over 9,000 cars. A state of emergency was declared and nearly 3,000 rioters were arrested and 126 police officers were injured. Schools, gyms, stores, churches, and police stations were attacked as the rioters clashed with police. Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal would later boast that he convinced Rupert Murdoch to order Fox News to stop describing the rioters as Muslims.

It didn’t take long for the disgruntled Muslim urbanites to go for a second round. In May 2006, about 100 youths with baseball bats fought with police on the same battlefields from the previous year. The mayor had to flee his home when it was stoned, homemade explosives were tossed at the town hall building, trash cans were in flames, and four cars were blown up. It is not clear what exactly sparked the violence, but two arrests for separate incidents did precede the upheaval.

Then in November 2007, a police officer arrived at a traffic accident involving a police vehicle and motorcycle that killed two teenagers. The officer’s car was set on fire before he could escape. He ended up in the hospital with several broken ribs and a punctured lung from being beaten with baseball bats and iron bars. Clashes with police continued for two days as gang members, armed with shotguns, fired at police as they committed acts of looting and arson. About 130 police officers were injured, 70 cars were burned, and various buildings were attacked including a library and two schools. One police officer described the scene as an “open rebellion” by “urban guerillas.”

These hubs of impoverished, mostly Muslim immigrant communities exist because the French government has designated them as “sensitive urban zones.” These are areas where the police do not have control, effectively making them “no-go zones,” as Dr. Daniel Pipes describes them. Almost five million people live in these areas which are left to themselves, allowing gangs and hostility to authority to breed. _PJM

Since police are reluctant to enter these decaying fortified bulwarks of third world primitivism and violence, these ghettos are developing under the harsh rules of Darwinian evolution. And since these violent-prone zones are overloaded with unassimilable youth, high birth rates bringing ever more of the same is the likely expectation for the future.

Meanwhile, the French and other Europeans are not keeping up in the demographics department, with the violence-prone youths of the primitive third world in their midst.

Debt and demographics. The death of the European subcontinent, by leftist suicide.

Tragedy in Gaza: Evils of Zionism Exposed to World

The mall is not representative of Gaza as a whole, but even in the malls you see traces of religious hatred and fanaticism. It is no less tragic for the reality that they are doing it to themselves. The reason to escape Gaza is to get away from Gazans.

Gaza is a microcosm of hatred, brutality, and mindless self-defeatism. The perversion of the human spirit that one sees in places such as Gaza and south Lebanon is a clear throwback to the tribal hatreds of long-extinct false starts toward civilisation. The nightmare descent into bloody negativity, which is a way of life passed down from parent and grandparent to children, is almost impossible to reverse.

When a society becomes so immersed in hatred, suicide takes on overtones of escape, in addition to the payback and religious redemption motivations.

Does Obama Have Blood on His Hands? More Than You Know

US President Obama refuses to secure the US border with Mexico until he can arrange for a quasi-amnesty immigration policy to be passed. Meanwhile, a lot of people are dying on both sides of the border as a result of Obama Pelosi policies of malignant neglect.

At least 17 young people were killed at a private birthday party early Sunday morning in the city of Torreon in northern Coahuila state. It was one of the worst single attacks of its kind since Mexican President Felipe Calderón began cracking down on drug cartels upon taking office in Dec. 2006.

...In late January, more than a dozen teens were shot and killed at a party in a modest neighborhood at the edge of Ciudad Juarez, the troubled industrial city that sits across from El Paso, Texas.

The first – and, to date, only – public attack at a mass gathering in Mexico, came in September 2008, when a grenade was tossed into a plaza in Morelia in Michoacan state during independence celebrations. Since then, political aspirants have been killed, as were employees associated with the US consulate in Ciudad Juarez. Hitmen have fired on drug-rehabilitation centers and killed Mexicans fleeing checkpoints on the road.

Just last week, perpetrators feigning car trouble detonated 22 pounds of explosives with a cellphone in Ciudad Juarez, killing first responders at the scene. _CSMonitor

The lawlessness and murder in Mexico is reflected by gang violence and random violence and lawlessness of illegals inside the US. President Obama wants to reward this bloody violence because he sees a political advantage for himself and his associates. He wants to make illegals into voting citizens of the US.

Obama feels that if he continues to make it easier for illegals to enter the country en masse, that when the time comes for a legislative settlement, the amnesty-seekers will have a better hand to play.

Unfortunately, Obama's "leaky borders" policy allows violent drug gangs in Mexico to continue growing wealthier and stronger. As the Mexican gangs get more violent, Obama's hands continue to get bloodier, from his part in the tragedy. In the meantime, everyone pretends not to notice.

"Pink Shirted (?) Union Thugs": How Far Would These Goon Faced Tough Guys Go If There Were No Cameras?

Organised labour, organised crime, and the US Democratic Party. Three legs of the troika of doom. Eventually Americans will decide they have had enough, or they will let their constitution shrivel the rest of the way to non-existence.

Once the rule of law is gone, you are left with the rule of thugs.

Better Prepare for the US as a Third World Country

As the US descends into government-made debt and demographic disaster, the rest of the world which had come to subconsciously depend on the US is in for a shock. US residents are in for something of a shock themselves, as the rule of law gives way to the rules of the Chicago Way of lawyer, mob, union, and general thuggishness.

When an individual goes bankrupt in the United States, it’s usually a Chapter 7. When a business goes under, it’s Chapter 11. Farmers have a Chapter 12, and there is a more complex individual option known as Chapter 13.

But what do you call it when a U.S. state goes under? There’s no official “chapter” for that. But it’s looking more and more like there should be. Your humble editor proposes “Chapter 66,” in honor of a famed stretch of interstate.

...“People think we’re becoming a third world country,” says Arnella Sims, a Los Angeles County court reporter. “We are on the verge of system failure,” warns the executive director of the California Budget Project.

“California’s fiscal hole is now so large,” The Globe and Mail further adds, “that the state would have to liberate 168,000 prison inmates and permanently shutter 240 university and community college campuses to balance its budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1… Mass layoffs, slashed health and welfare services, closed parks, crumbling superhighways and ever-larger public school class sizes are all part of the new normal.”

...#50) In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined.

#49) It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars in 2010.

#44) U.S. corporate income tax receipts were down 55% (to $138 billion) for the year ending September 30th, 2009.

#43) There are now 8 counties in the state of California that have unemployment rates of over 20 percent.

#42) In the area around Sacramento, California there is one closed business for every six that are still open.

#41) In February, there were 5.5 unemployed Americans for every job opening.

#40) According to a Pew Research Center study, approximately 37% of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 have either been unemployed or underemployed at some point during the recession.

... _DirectorBlue_with links, graphs, and images

In a short time span, Obama has set the federal government on a course of rapid failure, and helped accomodate the collapse of state governments and the private sector.

Find a state and local jurisdiction that is in solid condition and burrow down. And you'd better stock up on food, water, vital medicines, fuel, and necessary items of personal and family defense.

Obama is pouring the distillate of devastation across the land, and Pelosi's Congress is lighting the match. Be prepared.

The Joke is On Minnesota -- and the USA

A group of political watchdogs in Minnesota has proven that Al Franken was elected US Senator on the basis of illegal votes. Franken was declared a 312 vote winner of an election recount, when at least 341 convicted felons have been shown to have voted.

...at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.

The final recount vote in the race, determined six months after Election Day, showed Franken beat Coleman by 312 votes -- fewer votes than the number of felons whose illegal ballots were counted, according to Minnesota Majority's newly released study, which matched publicly available conviction lists with voting records.

Furthermore, the report charges that efforts to get state and federal authorities to act on its findings have been "stonewalled."

"We aren't trying to change the result of the last election. That legally can't be done," said Dan McGrath, Minnesota Majority's executive director. "We are just trying to make sure the integrity of the next election isn't compromised." _FN

It was obvious at the time that Democratic Party officials in charge of the recount were not serious about disqualifying illegal votes for Franken. And the same attitude is found in Democratic Party voting officials around the country. In other words, this time it was Minnesota, tomorrow it may be your state.

The US Democratic Party is joined at the hip and the head to the US labour movement. But the US labour movement is joined at the lips and the anus to organised crime in the US and elsewhere. In other words, it is not just an embarrassing coincidence that Democratic Party officials and elected representatives in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Detroit, and elsewhere have proven ties to organised crime. It is simply how things are done when you are a Democrat.

Not that Al Fin has any fondness for Republicans or the Republican Party. The GOP has its own faults and crooked kinks. Just not the type that is likely to get you beaten up and sent to sleep with the fishes.

ACORN, the New Black Panther Party, violent elements of the Nation of Islam, various hispanic separatist movements and pro-illegal immigration movements, pro-jihad Islamic organisations, etc. may as well be thrown into the mix -- at least for this particular administration. If it has a violent history, it is probably in bed with the One, and his buddy Sen. Franken.

Obama Pelosi Destroying US Economy on Basis of Hoax

The Obama Pelosi cap and tax climate bill will explode energy prices throughout the US. It could be the coup de grace for the struggling private sector, already overburdened by Obama Pelosi ham-handed incompetence. Here is more on the climate hoax:

When I was at Cambridge in the 1960s, everyone knew that climate was cyclical and was driven largely by astronomical cycles. And there is good evidence that recent decades have also seen warming on Mars and elsewhere in the solar system - pointing to a solar cause.

But the Warmists have the bizarre idea that only CO2 matters. Certainly CO2 is a greenhouse gas, but it's not even the most important one. That's water vapor, and there's nothing we can do about it (as long as the wind blows over the ocean).

I'm horrified that the Environmental Protection Agency has declared CO2 a pollutant. They might as well declare oxygen a pollutant. We are a carbon-based life form, and CO2 is vital to the whole biosphere. Higher levels of atmospheric CO2 drive increased bio-mass formation and improved crop yields.

Al Gore is excited by a correlation between mean temperatures and CO2 levels over the past 600,000 years. He's right about the correlation, but he doesn't mention that the temperature graph leads the CO2 graph by several hundred years. The inescapable conclusion is that temperature drives CO2 - not vice versa.

Over the longer term, the correlation breaks down entirely. Current atmospheric CO2 levels are quite low in geo-historical terms. They have been 10 times as high in the past - and that was during an ice age. There is no tipping point. There is no runaway global warming.

Our efforts to control climate by reducing emissions are doomed to failure. Bjorn Lomborg, author of "The Skeptical Environmentalist" (Cambridge University Press, 2001), has studied the economics of climate change and estimates that the European Union's 20 percent emissions-reduction target will cost around $250 billion a year. Yet the impact by 2100 on global temperatures is likely to be only 0.05 a degree Centigrade - almost too small to measure.

The EU's "Cap 'n' Trade" scheme has been a disaster. It has imposed high costs on industry, achieved little or nothing and introduced very severe distortions into the market. As a conservative, I hate new taxes, but if we had to disincentivize CO2 emissions, a straight carbon tax would be a vast improvement (especially if offset against other taxes to be revenue neutral). It would be fair, inclusive and predictable, and avoid the distortions of Cap 'n' Trade.

They argue that Cap 'n' Trade is "a market-based solution." But it's a wholly artificial market, trading in a virtual commodity, and subject always to the whims of bureaucrats and legislators. The carbon price in the EU has been extremely volatile, and often close to zero. I appeal to America: Look at the European experience before you go down that route.

Don't believe the nonsense about "green jobs." President Obama likes to cite the Spanish experience. But recent reports from Spain show that most of the green jobs created were ephemeral, while high costs meant that each new green job cost two or more jobs in the real economy. They talk about the economic opportunities presented by green industries. But how can you achieve economic growth by doubling the cost of electricity? _Examiner

The clowns in charge of the US legislative and congressional branches are intent on making permanent and irrevocable changes to the root structure of US society.

Concerned that the radical Pelosi Congress may lose control in November elections, Obama Pelosi is determined to ram as many radical changes through the perverse system as possible. Then let the devil take the hindmost.