Oh Yeah, Dems, That'll Work

Barack Obama is the first presidential candidate in history to run against free market capitalism. Actually, he ran against capitalism in 2008, but too many Americans were hypnotized by his "hope and change" BS to notice. Now, however, with the Obama Economy ground into the dirt, more people are paying attention to his words----which can now be matched to three and half years of anti-capitalist policies and actions.

Team Obama has made attacks on Mitt Romney's leadership at Bain Capital the spearhead of its anti-free market strategy. Here is the essence of their attack: Capitalism evil, therefore private equity evil, therefore Bain Capital evil, therefore Mitt Romney evil, therefore don't vote for Mitt Romney.

Quite compelling logic, no? Of course, with the massive economic destruction wrought by them, they can't run on their record, so they must demonize and tear down and lie. In other words, just another day at the office for the leftists.

Here is the Senior Senator from NJ, Frank Lautenberg, aka "Methuselah," trying out some hip-hop style rhymes in bashing Bain:

"I'm one of those who believes that Bain deserves our aim," Lautenberg said, smiling.

And later: "They're trying to shame us off Bain."

Then he added: "There's a Bain-ia about this."

The state of NJ must be so proud.

None of this is working with voters who care deeply about the lack of jobs and economic growth, unprecedented spending, record-breaking deficits and debt, and socialized medicine, all inflicted on us by Obama, Methuselah, and crew. Lautenberg can try to "rap" all he wants, and Obama can lie like a dog all day long, but the American people see through the BS.

And by the way, Barry and Frank: we love free market capitalism. Really.

Help Ted Cruz Get Across The Finish Line

The Texas GOP primary was held yesterday, and in the race for the GOP Senate nomination, no candidate got a majority, so there will be a runoff election on July 31 between the top two vote-getters. Lt. Gov. and establishment guy David Dewhurst and former state Solicitor General---and conservative superstar---Ted Cruz will face off.

This race must mobilize every conservative across America. Dewhurst will be yet another go-along-to-get-along establishment Republican in Washington---of the very kind that helped to get us into our current fiscal mess. He's a wealthy guy and will be spending a lot of his own resources to win.

This is why we need to get behind Ted Cruz NOW. He is a principled conservative who has ALWAYS fought for limited government, individual freedom, and economic liberty. He will give real conservatives like Jim DeMint, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey and Marco Rubio some true conservative backup in the Senate...and help to put some backbone in the Republicans already there.

We need Ted Cruz in the Senate if we're going to stand any chance of taking this country back.

Please visit www.TedCruz.org and support him however you can.

Memorial Day, 2012

On this Memorial Day, we remember and honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to this great nation. They gave their lives so that we may be free. They fought America's enemies and died for us, for the Constitution, for the extraordinary ideals for which the United States stands. Our debt of gratitude to them is boundless. May God bless them, their families, and the United States of America.

Bureau of Womanhood Conformity

The Susan B. Anthony List (www.SBA-List.org) created this short (<2 mins) YouTube video called "Womanhood." It's an Orwellian portrait of Team Obama's real war on women, including a haunting depiction of the "Bureau of Womanhood Conformity."

It's powerful stuff. Please check it out here:

http://youtu.be/CbeZFDyHC30 .

The Real Debt Story

You think that annual deficits of between $1.3 and $1.5 trillion are horrendous? Try an annual deficit of $5 trillion.

That's what a major story in USA Today suggests. The only reason the deficit is as "low" as $1.3 trillion is because of the bizarro accounting tricks used by Washington.

Here's part of the USA Today story:

"The big difference between the official deficit and standard accounting: Congress exempts itself from including the cost of promised retirement benefits. Yet companies, states and local governments must include retirement commitments in financial statements, as required by federal law and private boards that set accounting rules.

"The deficit was $5 trillion last year under those rules. The official number was $1.3 trillion. Liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and other retirement programs rose by $3.7 trillion in 2011, according to government actuaries, but the amount was not registered on the government's books.

"Key findings:

".Social Security had the biggest financial slide. The government would need $22.2 trillion today, set aside and earning interest, to cover benefits promised to current workers and retirees beyond what taxes will cover. That's $9.5 trillion more than was needed in 2004.

".Deficits from 2004 to 2011 would be six times the official total of $5.6 trillion reported.

".Federal debt and retiree commitments equal $561,254 per household. By contrast, an average household owes a combined $116,057 for mortgages, car loans and other debts.

""By law, the federal government can't tell the truth," says accountant Sheila Weinberg of the Chicago-based Institute for Truth in Accounting."

In other words, the debt crisis in this country is worse---much worse---than any of us have been led to believe. And the Obama-Reid-Pelosi spending blowout has tipped us into the red zone so far that many of us wonder if we can ever recover.

One thing is certain: if we don't cut spending, rein in government, and reform the biggest budget monsters of the entitlement programs, America will cease to exist in any recognizably free form.

Conservative Nation

Because the leftist media hold a near-monopoly on news coverage and opinion, we get a warped view of where the rest of the country stands and what most Americans believe.

The most recent polling shows that 42 percent of Americans describe themselves as "conservative," while just 21 percent call themselves "liberal."

Then there's this interesting finding on abortion views from a Gallup poll released today:

A record-low 41 percent now identify themselves as "pro-choice," down from 47 percent last July and 1 point down from the previous record low of 42 percent, set in May 2009. As recently as 2006, 51 percent of Americans described themselves as "pro-choice."

Meanwhile, 50 percent of Americans now consider themselves "pro-life," one point below Gallup's record high on the issue. (See the full poll here:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/154838/Pro-Choice-Americans-Record-Low.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=syndication&utm_content=morelink&utm_term=All%20Gallup%20Headlines%20-%20Politics )

America remains a center-right nation. Actually, it appears that it's growing more "right" than "center."

And yet, Obama, his henchmen on Capitol Hill, and his wingmen in the leftist media keep trying to convince us of the superiority and wisdom of their extremist, destructive views while force-feeding their policies down our throats. As the polling shows, we aren't fooled, we aren't stupid, and we aren't on the Far Left with them.

Optimistic about America? Oh hell, yeah!

What EXACTLY Obama is "Creating"

In all of the hoopla around Newark mayor Cory Booker's comments about Team Obama's attacks on Romney via attacks on Bain Capital and private equite ("nauseating," he called them) and his subsequent backtrack after the White House came down on him like a brick house----something bigger and more profound was overlooked.

In an interview with MSNBC, Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, criticized Booker: "In this particular instance, he was just wrong." Not a surprise, given that Axelrod was probably the one who came down on Booker like a brick house. But then he said this: "There were specific instances here that speak to an economic theory that isn't the right theory for the country."

There it is. This is precisely how the Extreme Left---Obama, Axelrod, everyone else in this nightmarish administration---views the free market. Economic liberty is merely a "theory." And one that hasn't worked. As Obama himself has said, "It hasn't worked. It's never worked."

To the Extreme Left, economic freedom is a discredited theory that needs to be disgarded and replaced with their vision of government-enforced redistributionism.

Later in the day yesterday, Obama gave a press conference, and said this: "This is part of the debate that we're going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody, from top to bottom, folks on Wall Street and folks on Main street have a shot at success."

This is all redistrubutionist rhetoric he's used before. But pay closer attention to his phrase: "how do we CREATE an economy...." That is the key to everything he has done. He doesn't believe in the free market, or in individuals pursuing their economic interests and their dreams. He believes in a redistributive socialist state enforced through government coercion. THAT is the kind of economy he is trying to CREATE. Pay close attention to what he says because he's telling you what he's doing and where he's taking the country, if only your ears and eyes are open enough to hear and see it.

That's the kind of economy he's CREATING. And of course, he is the one in charge, controlling it all. Not you. Not small business owners. Not market forces. Him.

The Catholic Church Strikes Back

Team Obama has always acted like the Chicago mafia operation that it is: they intimidate, arm-twist, threaten, and punish just like an organized crime syndicate. When it comes to rolling like gangsters, the Clintons were pikers compared to Team Obama.

A few months ago, they bullied the Catholic Church and other religious organizations by mandating that they provide insurance coverage for birth control, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs---in violation of their most deeply held beliefs and of religious freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

Team Obama told them to take a flying leap. Which is what most people, groups, and institutions do when faced with the wrath of Gangland Obama.

This time, however, they may have met their match. Like the 28 states that sued the administration over the constitutionality of ObamaCare, various Catholic organizations are now doing the same thing over the mandate.

According to CNSNews.com, "The Archdiocese of New York, headed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., headed by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the University of Notre Dame, and 40 other Catholic dioceses and organizations around the country announced on Monday that they are suing the Obama administration for violating their freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

"The dioceses and organizations, in different combinations, are filing 12 different lawsuits filed in federal courts around the country.

"The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has established a special website--preservereligiousfreedom.org--to explain its lawsuit and present news and developments concerning it.

""This lawsuit is about an unprecedented attack by the federal government on one of America's most cherished freedoms: the freedom to practice one's religion without government interference," the archdiocese says on the website. "It is not about whether people have access to certain services; it is about whether the government may force religious institutions and individuals to facilitate and fund services which violate their religious beliefs.""

I suspect Team Obama didn't anticipate this. I think they expected the Church to just roll over and take government coercion, the way they expected everyone in America to lie back and take ObamaCare.

To this tyrannical steamroll, some of the most powerful leaders of the Catholic Church are saying, "You know what, Mr. President? No, we can't, and no, we won't." This time, the Chicago mafia may have picked on the wrong opponent. The Church is strong, powerful, wealthy, and influential with a lot of voters. And now, it's defending not just itself but the Constitution. Catholic or not, we should all be cheering on the Church. And you know what, Mr. President? Yes, we can.

Facebook Capitalist Fiesta!

Despite President Obama's best efforts to kill capitalism, it's alive and well---at least today with the widely hyped Facebook IPO.

Facebook is a rather lyrical story of economic liberty: a college kid at Harvard with extra time on his hands creates a basic social networking program so other college kids can talk to each other and share stuff online. As the program grows exponentially, the college kid refines it, graduates, and turns it into a real business. Soon, there are hundreds of thousands of users of his program; then there are millions; now there is close to one billion worldwide.

If you build it, they will come. The college kid built it, and boy, did they come. And today, the investors come. So does the real money. Billions of dollars' worth.

All investments carry inherent risk, and nobody really knows how the Facebook IPO is going to shake out, or what the future holds for the product and the company. But it's all part of the creative destruction and production of capitalism: ideas come, risks get taken, things get created, investments transpire, failures occur, so does wild success. It's all part of the wonderfully messy choreography of the free market.

The IPO is expected to raise Facebook about $16 billion in proceeds and value it at more than $100 billion. If it goes as anticipated, over 1000 people will become millionaires today, and a few new billionaires, including that college kid, Mark Zuckerberg, will be created too.

Regardless of what you think of Facebook or if you're buying some of its shares today or not or whether you even know what Facebook is, you should celebrate what it represents: American ingenuity, creativity, and innovation.

And oh yeah: capitalism. Viva economic liberty!

Another Set of Golden Pipes Silenced

Today we learned the sad news of the death of Donna Summer at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer. She was known as the Queen of Disco, an artist who, along with the Bee Gees, led the vanguard of disco music and style in the mid to late 1970s. She had one hit after another, from "Heaven Knows," MacArthur Park," and "Bad Girls," to "On the Radio," "Hot Stuff," and my personal favorite, "Last Dance." All of those tunes---and so many other Donna Summer classics---are on my iPod.

If Donna Summer helped to define my youth with her huge vocal range and danceable beats, Whitney Houston helped to define my teenage years in much the same way. When artists whose work influences and entertains you and defines entire eras of your life pass away, it tends to inspire some self-reflection.

I never met them, but Donna Summer and Whitney Houston contributed in a significant way to the soundtrack of my life. And they will, still.

Rest in peace to the two women who had been blessed with extraordinary talent and shared it with us for too short a time.