miltonwolf.com

Wolf Pack Roundup: What could possibly go wrong with this?

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 01:57:00 +0000

SINGER: If Economy's Improving, Why Is Dependency Growing? Your must-read piece of the day.

At the end of 2007, Heritage conservatively estimates there were 59.4 million Americans significantly dependent on the government.

By the end of 2010, this number had risen to 67.3 million, an increase of nearly 8 million. It is likely that another two or three million were added in 2011, for a net increase of 10 million to 11 million over the past four years.

It is not a coincidence that the number of people participating in the labor force has comparably declined over the same period.

Legal Insurrection: The sweater vest is dry clean only, last night it was put in the wash.

Santorum’s biggest blunder on this front came in how he described his vote for Bush’s expansion of the federal role in education, saying “It was against the principles I believed in. But when you’re part of a team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader.” This gets at the heart of the problem with Santorum..."

WZ: MSNBC: “Persistent Racism Fuels” Opposition To Obama… Yeah, if you're opposed to authoritarian regimes, $15 trillion debt, dismantling the U.S. nuclear defense system, socialized medicine, crony kickbacks, phony "green jobs," and a historic American credit downgrade, then you must be racist.

JWF: Great News: Maryland College to Hold Occupy Class for High Schoolers. And this: Nevada HS “Educator” Gives Class Credits for Helping Obama Campaign. But don't call this indoctrination.

Gateway: Corrupt Media Hyped Rising Gas Prices 4 Times More for Bush, Than Obama. But don't call this bias.

It's almost like the government thinks it can takeover companies and then mandate individuals to do things. Doug Ross: It's a crony capitalism trifecta! GE 'forcing' employees into Chevy Volts.

(Not so) settled science: The myth of the eight-hour sleep. Like eight glasses of water a day or man-made global warming.

iOTW: What do electric cars and bricks have in common? "Bricks maneuver better without a battery!" Heh.

AoS: Obama To Hispanics: Hey, I Only Have So Much I Can Do Every Term, And In The First Term, I Was Busy Paying Off Unions and Trees.

HotAir: Poll: Majority of Americans say border control is more important to immigration reform. Easy: Build the fence and then we'll discuss immigration reform.

DaleyGator: 18 Economic Facts Foil Obama’s Fantasy. #3 "There are 1.2 million fewer jobs in America today than there were when Barack Obama was inaugurated." I blame Bush.

WizBang: Ultrasound Cacophony: The Left’s Newest Pro-Abortion Lie. "...leftists cried foul claiming the requirement is somehow 'like' getting raped. Yet a new study show that the left’s favorite abortion mill, Planned Parenthood, performs ultrasounds before abortions in 99% of its operations." First, these ultrasound studies can be performed transabdominally. And second, even if they couldn't, a vaginal exam before vaginal surgery is entirely appropriate (and hardly an unusual governmental intrusion in medicine). I'm not particularly fond of these laws though because I believe your doctor should determine your care, not the politicians.

And finally, what could possibly go wrong?

News flash: Drudge hearts Romney

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:27:00 +0000

It's nothing new that The Drudge Report has Romney's back and it's certainly their right to support any candidate they choose. Free speech should indeed be free. But as a fan of The Drudge Report -- it's my homepage -- I don't have to like it, particularly when the GOP Arizona debate underscored Romney's and Santorum's weaknesses. This is hardly the image that captures the essence of the night.

United States of Greece: American per person government debt worse than Greece

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Hope and change...

Remember when President Bush was "irresponsible" and "unpatriotic" for driving the debt up to $30,000 for each man, woman and child? Pot, meet kettle.

UPDATE: Mountains of Debt.

15 Questions The Mainstream Media Would Ask Barack Obama If He Were A Republican

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:07:00 +0000

Want to take a walk in fantasy land? Try to imagine that America had journalists who aspired to expose the truth rather than simply serve as the mouthpiece for one party.

I know, stop laughing.

Read through Jeff Carter's 15 Questions The Mainstream Media Would Ask Barack Obama If He Were A Republican and tell me which one you (a) have heard the MSM ask our president, or (b) believe is an unfair question.

A couple favorites:

7) How do you decide which foreign leaders to submissively bow towards and why do you think that’s appropriate for an American President?

And...

14) Your stimulus bill cost more in real dollars than the moon landing and the interstate highway system combined. Many prominent economists have concluded the stimulus plan was a total failure. What do we have to show for all of that money spent?

Read the rest and let us all know if any of these are unfair.

UPDATE: Welcome iOwnTheWorlders, be sure to check out the latest Wolf Pack Roundup: What could possibly go wrong with this?

Arizona Debate: Tweet of the Night

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 03:43:00 +0000

UPDATE: My reply to Dan...

Come find me (and Dan) on Twitter. And be sure to check out my final score on the Arizona Debate.

GOP Arizona Debate ... who's winning? Update: My final score

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 01:42:00 +0000

[Photo via Callista Gingrich on Facebook]

First segment: Awkward introductions: Ron Paul twisting in his chair, Mitt Romney stepping on his own applause line and then strangely citing (actually, I believe making up) a George Costanza quote. Santorum clobbered by Paul (No Child Left Behind, foreign aid) while Romney and Gingrich provide strong answers on debt reduction. Winner: Gingrich. The others talk a good game (and may in fact act accordingly) but as Speaker he balanced the federal budget. Romney says a "severe" conservative is a strict one, like he was in Massachusetts (when he described himself as progressive, so go figure). Newt going after Obama on taxes, border, energy. Romney clobbers Santorum on Bridge to Nowhere but gets flustered trying defend his own request of earmarks. Newt cuts through earmark issue in context of Barack Obama and clobbers (and mocks) Romney in the process. Bush/Obama auto bailouts. Romney strong by citing his op-ed at the time against bailouts and for bankruptcy reorganization. Santorum says he against helping specific industries in principle (but his tax code does just that for manufacturing). Newt, again wisely goes after Obama, and BO's attack on GM bondholders.

Second segment: CNN leads off with birth control and Newt Gingrich makes John King pay by attacking Barack Obama for infanticide and the media's refusal to even ask him about partial-birth abortion. Vintage Newt. Homerun. Newt, better than any other candidate, goes back to the first principles of freedom. Santorum suffering from crowd booing. Romney (correctly) tags Santorum with supporting the turncoat Senator Specter (over Pat Toomey) who was the 60th vote for ObamaCare. Ron Paul wants to shift attention from Afghanistan-Pakistan border to our southern border. Newt wants to build the double fence and block bureaucrats attempt to stop it. Puts illegal immigration in historic context and (again wisely) goes after Obama.

Less fireworks (except the RomneyCare - Arlen Specter exchange which was a draw). Winner: Newt, in the first 60 seconds and last 60 seconds.

Third segment: Newt doubles down on calling Barack Obama a dangerous president and puts current world threats in historic context. Newt also reminds us the long game is to open U.S. drilling to end our dependency on the Middle East (I wish he would have pointed out the dismal failure of Obama's "green" strategy too). Santorum (rightly and humorously) says Joe Biden has been wrong on every foreign policy issue. Newt, Mitt & Rick would prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. Ron Paul defends Iran desire to get nuclear weapons as a rational response to America. Said (roughly): 'The Iranians can't possibly attack anybody.' Wow! At least he rightly demands that wars must have official declaration. More vintage Newt on education: take that entire explanation and turn it into a commercial. It was brilliant. Santorum against federal involvement in education. Ron Paul reminds him he voted for No Bureaucrat Left Behind.

Winner: Newt on Middle East and education. Ron Paul reminded everyone of his own fecklessness on a nuclear Iran and reminded everyone that Rick Santorum is one person when he runs for office and different person once in office. Even Santorum himself nodded his head in agreement at one point with that assessment.

Fourth segment: Closing statements. Boilerplate. A strange moment when Romney got caught dodging a question and, well, admitted he was dodging the question.

FINAL SCORE

Rick Santorum: Frankly he didn't have a great night, not even close enough to meet the demands of a front-runner. OK, lets be honest, it was just bad. Flustered at times, even booed. He was targeted by all three opponents and, even though he had some strong moments, overall he did not help himself tonight. Look for his numbers to drop. The Santorum boom is looking like the boomlet.

Mitt Romney: Like Santorum, he didn't have a great night. Unlike Santorum, he probably didn't need to. He's steady and a solid debater but don't look for breakout moments. His number will probably improve but only thanks to Santorum's bad night.

Newt Gingrich: Two words: He's back. When Newt is at his best, there's no one in either party who can beat him in a debate. He's a statesman and a historian. He's a big thinker and bold. And he's a phenomenal communicator. The question that matters though: At this point in the campaign is this enough? Look for his numbers to improve. Super Tuesday looms large.

Ron Paul: What can I say? I'll go the Yogi Berra route: If you like this sort of thing, you'll probably like this. Strong on liberty; weak on defense. This one statement looms large: 'The Iranians can't possibly attack anybody.' My $0.02: I love, love, love that he defends our Constitution; I just wish he realized that Iran is at least as big a threat to our Constitution as is the Department of Education. (Shutter them both.) Regardless, this debate won't move his standing.

That's just how we rolled: Early bathroom mirror phone selfies

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:13:00 +0000

OK, that's not quite right but we were still pretty cool back in the day...

What Barack giveth, Barack taketh away: $6 gas wipes out the $40 tax cut he just gave you

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

Florida Drivers Shelling Out Nearly $6 A Gallon At Some Gas Stations

TAMPA (CBS Tampa) - Talk about pain at the pump! Some Florida drivers are spending nearly $6 a gallon to fill up their gas tanks.

According to GasBuddy.com, motorists are shelling out $5.89 for a gallon of regular gas at a Shell station in Lake Buena Vista, topping out at $5.99 a gallon for premium. It doesn’t get better at a Suncoast Energy station in Orlando, where drivers are paying $5.79 for a gallon of regular.

I've said this over and over again but it's worth repeating: The payroll tax cut gives approximately $40 back in each paycheck. Meanwhile, the average family's gasoline bill has increased by over $1,000 per year since Barack took office ($1.84/gallon to $3.52/gallon). And that's just the pain at the pump. Health insurance premiums have increased even more ... even though ObamaCare was promised to reduce them. And groceries prices are rising too.

In case you missed my Daily Caller video, here's what I think Barack can do with his 40 dollars...

Here's Rick Santorum's problem...

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 01:48:00 +0000

To be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, it helps if you're, you know, convincingly conservative*.

It's interesting to see that there is an undeniable de facto (if not intentional) cooperation between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul. But why? I can only speculate but... If Mitt Romney gets the nomination, Rand Paul would be a brilliant choice for running mate.

As a side note, if I ever run for office, I want to hire Ron Paul's production company. His ads are just great.

*I know I'll get grief from my Santorophile friends but before you send hate mail, watch this cringe-worthy ad by Rick Santorum himself boasting of working with Barbara Boxer and Hillary Clinton. Don't let him spin that he was trounced in 2006 because he heroically held fast to conservative principles.

More of Hillary's 'Smart' Diplomacy [Pics]

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:56:00 +0000

First, she wanted to "push the reset button" with Russia and embarrassingly overlooked one small detail....

“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said, to Clinton’s clear surprise. Instead of "reset," he said the word on the box ["peregruzka'] meant “overcharge.”

Oops. But Bush was the dumb one, right?. Maybe this explains the Russian newscaster who's not exactly a fan of Barack Obama....

Now there's this from the "smart" Hillary Clinton...

Here's a little rule of thumb: When someone has to tell you they're smart, it's because they're not.

Manbearpig update: More global warming fraud exposed

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 17:16:00 +0000

[Image via Under the Radar Media]

Remember when the science was "settled" and if you dared to doubt the apocalyptic warnings from the high priests of the church of ~~global warming~~, er, climate change, you were called a "denier"?

The outright collapse of the Global Warmists continues unabated. First came ClimateGate. Then ClimateGate 2.0. Now Michelle Malkin exposes Eco-fraud: Global warming crusader admits lying, stealing, smearing:

It was all For The Planet, of course.

Global warming zealot Peter Gleick, in the name of defending “rational debate,” committed flabbergasting fraud to try and bring down the free-market Heartland Institute.

He’s finally ‘fessed up. But the Heartland Institute is going to fight for its reputation and for justice — in court.

In Gleick's confession, he claims he committed fraud because "a rational public debate is desperately needed." Really? I thought the global warming science was settled.

You see, I'm just old enough to remember when some of these same alarmist climatologists were warning us of global cooling, the coming "Little Ice Age." Either way, global warming or global cooling, their solutions are always the same: higher taxes and more government regulations over private enterprise.

And once again Manbearpig is unavailable for comment.

My Sarah Palin Radio guest debut [Bumped]

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:02:00 +0000

In case you missed it...

My thanks to LaDonna Hale Curzon, fellow Kansas Jayhawk and host at Sarah Palin Radio. We discuss the Republican presidential primary and how conservatives can win in 2012.

Listen to internet radio with LaDonna Hale Curzon on Blog Talk Radio

Why is Santorum rising?

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 00:53:00 +0000

The Republican primary season has made fools of the most seasoned prognosticators. We've seen fortunes rise and fall and we've seen a GOP establishment steadily losing its grip on the rank-and-file.

In the lull between Florida and the Super Tuesday, we see Rick Santorum rising. Michael Patrick Leahy is not ready to dismiss the Santorum's Hamiltonion embrace of big government but offers a reasonable explanation of why the former Pennsylvania Senator is rising.

Santorum’s tax proposals, however, are so bad that the respected Tax Foundation gave him a D+. Instead of simplifying the tax code, Santorum would maintain its present complexity. Worse yet, he favors the Hamiltonian strategy of picking winners and losers through the tax code, providing a variety of incentives to favored industry. Manufacturing, which struggles in his native Pennsylvania, gets special tax benefits.

Comparing Santorum’s policies to those of his two main competitors–Gingrich and Romney, Santorum is only slightly less Hamiltonian. Santorum distinguishes himself from these two in one key regard — he opposed the TARP bank bailouts of October, 2008.

Why, then, does Santorum enjoy more than a 2 to 1 advantage over both Gingrich and Romney among Republican primary voters who consider themselves tea party supporters?

There are three reasons:

1. Santorum is authentic and consistent in his views.

2. He is likable and approachable.

3. He genuinely engages with local tea parties around the country.
Romney, for reasons that continue to remain a mystery to me, appears to be following a strategy of actively avoiding the Tea Party movement. To my knowledge, he has never addressed an actual tea party rally or local tea party group. In December, he spoke on the phone at a tea party tele-town hall with other Presidential candidates, but that appears to be the extent of his direct communication with the Tea Party movement.

This remoteness–an odd strategy to keep Romney in a “bubble” away from potential supporters–seems to permeate his campaign. In Ohio last week, for instance, Attorney General Mike DeWine withdrew his endorsement of Romney and endorsed Santorum. “He doesn’t write, he doesn’t call,” DeWine said of Romney.

Mitt Romney has not yet demonstrated that he can win without outspending his opponents (5-to-1 against Newt in Florida) and without driving down voter turnout (down 14% in Florida compared to 2008). Romney ran an astonishing 65-to-1 commercials against Newt and 92% of those were attack ads. He will not have the opportunity to outspend President Obama and he certainly will not win with a turnout worse than what John McCain could muster.

In 2010 I personally reached out to Mitt Romney to humbly offer my help with his two Achilles heels: Tea Party relations and health care. I would have advised Mitt to attend Tea Party rallies and meetings across the country. Speaking to them would be fine but better yet, just go there and listen. And as for health care, offer an unambiguous mea culpa for RomneyCare. Instead he embraced the laughable Ann Coulter notion that RomneyCare is a "massive triumph for conservative free-market principles" and has tanked since.

I didn't expect Romney to take my advice, much less ask for my help. But for the life of me I'll never understand why he turns his back on the one bloc of voters that can get him to the White House. As Mike DeWine says, "He doesn't write, he doesn't call."

Meanwhile, Rick Santorum will be the featured speaker at the Third Anniversary Celebration of the Tea Party movement to be held in Chattanooga Tennessee. Smart. I'd like to see Newt Gingrich do the same.

Are you still paying income taxes, sucker?

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Obamanomics is the art of convincing everyone that someone else will pay their bills.

Here's Heritage's Chart of the Week: Nearly Half of All Americans Don’t Pay Income Taxes. Of course, according to Democrats, the people who are already paying everyone else's bills still aren't paying their fair share.

America has become a train with too many cabooses and not enough engines precisely because our government incentivizes people to live off other people's labor. The reason our Founders limited voting rights to property holders was because they knew if others had the right, they would simply vote the property away from the rightful owners.

No, I don't believe we should return to that system, but I do believe we should actually do what Democrats only say we should do: have everyone pay their fair share. Everyone needs skin in the game, even if it's a small amount.

We are on a dangerous precipice here. Once the majority of Americans have abandoned any concerns for actually paying the bills, the spending will accelerate and the people who were paying everyone else's bills will simply flee. It's not an exaggeration to say that at that point our republic will collapse.

Federal food police strike again; confiscate another 4-year-old girl's homemade lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:45:00 +0000

Like taking candy from a baby.

This is Barack Obama's authoritarian state. Little by little, nothing is out of their reach. Not even your kid's school lunch.

Exclusive: 2nd N.C. Mother Says Daughter’s School Lunch Replaced for Not Being Healthy Enough

North Carolina officials have said there was a misunderstanding when a preschooler’s homemade lunch was sent home for not meeting certain nutritional requirements, but now a second mother from the same school has come forward exclusively to The Blaze to say the same thing happened to her daughter.

Diane Zambrano says her 4-year-old daughter, Jazlyn, is in the same West Hoke Elementary School class as the little girl whose lunch gained national attention earlier this week. When Zambrano picked Jazlyn up from school late last month, she was told by Jazlyn’s teacher that the lunch she had packed that day did not meet the necessary guidelines and that Jazlyn had been sent to the cafeteria.

Once again, the lunch that a mother packed for her daughter sounds even more nutritious than the FDA-approved lunch the food police replaced it with. And again, I could care less. Don't fall into the trap that this mother has any obligation to please the all-powerful federal food police.

In America, if a mother wants to serve her daughter pizza and pudding with Twinkies and Twizzlers then it is her right to do so and our federal government has absolutely no constitutional authority to say otherwise.

It's critical that you understand how we Americans have been fooled into sacrificing our freedom time and time again. First, the government promises funding for schools, highways, hospitals or whatever else they know you want funded. If you oppose this, they call you heartless. Even a drug dealer knows to give away the first few hits for free. Once addicted, the government begins imposing its will on you.

The next thing you know, the federal government is choosing your light bulbs, your car, your doctor, your thermostat, heck, even how much methane gas your cows can expel.

To break this cycle we have to finally realize that government freebies aren't free. We must dramatically cut the federal government's addictive and deadly drug supply: spending.

UPDATE:

More evidence that I'm a nerd: I love Grammar Girl's website. Here's her take on the 'could care less vs. 'couldn't care less' debate. I see I'm in the minority, but we're growing! For speaking purposes, I'm sure by force of habit alone I'll stick with the ironic 'could care less' form. In written form, I don't know.

Hey Barack, I've got your $40 right here...

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:53:00 +0000

Not all tax cuts are created equally. The social security payroll tax cut failed to revive the economy when Bush tried it and it failed when Obama tried it. So what does Washington do? Try it again, of course.

If the government would like to stimulate job creation, it's simple: remove the barriers to job creation (corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, and suffocating regulations) that they created. Payroll tax cuts are the modern day equivalent of Caesar placating the impoverished masses by throwing them loaves of bread.

The payroll tax cut gives approximately $40 back in each paycheck. Meanwhile, the average family's gasoline bill has increased by over $1,000 per year since Barack took office ($1.84/gallon to $3.52/gallon). And that's just the pain at the pump. Health insurance premiums have increased even more ... even though ObamaCare was promised to reduce them. And groceries prices are rising too.

Obama's $40 election-year ploy is simply shameful. He's swiping dollars out of one of your pockets and putting pennies back in the other and he thinks you're too dumb to know the difference.

Hey Barack, I've got your $40 right here...

Dumb & Dumber and the case of the (not so) free lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Jonah Goldberg has this excellent piece today in The Washington Times...

The price of free health care
Loss of freedom is too costly a sum

“It’s not about contraception,” thundered GOP presidential contender Rick Santorum. “It’s about economic liberty. It’s about freedom of speech. It’s about freedom of religion. It’s about government control of your lives. And it’s got to stop!”

He was talking, of course, about the Obama administration’s recent decisions first to force large religious employers to pay for birth control and “preventive services” (including sterilization and abortifacient drugs) and its subsequent decision to demand that the relevant insurance companies provide them for “free” instead.

It's a must-read read piece but I want to highlight this thought of Jonah's in particular because it's one I've made over and over again...

It’s really this simple: A government empowered to steamroll the people with rosaries has the same power to trample the ones with ovaries. If you’re afraid of Rick Santorum, you should be afraid of Obamacare.

If you're a fan of Barack Obama and think George W. Bush is the reincarnation of Hitler himself, then consider this, sooner or later another George W. Bush will get into the Oval Office. Whatever powers you grant to Barack will be taken up by the next Dubya. And vice versa.

It doesn't matter your opinion of who's who of Dumb & Dumber. Eventually Dumber will occupy the Oval Office.

If Democrats would only support laws that they'd trust George W. Bush to execute and if Republicans would only support laws that they'd trust Barack Obama to execute, then we'd all become libertarians overnight.

America today: School officials confiscate a 4-year-old's homemade lunch to follow federal government guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Nanny state report: NC school officials confiscate preschooler’s homemade lunch

A North Carolina elementary school forced a preschool student to eat cafeteria chicken nuggets for lunch on Jan. 30 after officials reportedly determined that her homemade meal wasn’t up to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s standards for healthfulness, according to a report from the Carolina Journal.

The newspaper reported that the four-year-old girl brought a turkey and cheese sandwich, a banana, potato chips and apple juice in her packed lunch from home. That meal didn’t meet with approval from the government agent who was on site inspecting kids’ lunches that day.

There is simply no part of your life that statists don't want to control. Your light bulbs, your car, your doctor, your thermostat, heck, even how much methane gas your cows can expel.

UPDATE: I just remembered this from last year: Control Freak Society: Government To Monitor School Lunches With Cameras. Why? Because the republic's very survival demands that the federal food inspectors monitor your child's eating habits. You can't make this stuff up.

Cameras videotape the eating habits of school children: MyFoxBOSTON.com

BaconHeart: When wimpy Hallmark Valentines just won't do

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:20:00 +0000

Via CafeExpress via the missus

What's your 90-day goal? My favorites... [PHOTOS]

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:30:00 +0000

Lifetime Fitness invited members to anonymously declare their goals on posters like this around the gym. Below are a few of my favorites.

Flannel keeps Victoria's secrets very secret...

Maybe they should try a better snack ... they're low in carbs...

I hope this one was a joke...

To the point...

And finally, I don't know who Kelli is but this is still the best one of all...

Barack Obama, meet George Orwell

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Obama To Unleash “Truth Teams” To Counter Negative Coverage

The Obama campaign is to “educate” and deploy what it describes as “truth teams” to ensure that any attacks on the president’s record are feverishly countered in the run up to the general election.

I guess "Propdep" was already taken.

Wolf Pack Roundup: The steam-powered Chevy Volt (comes with a free haircut)

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 03:28:00 +0000

FEULNER: A nation of takers. Government policy is making welfare more profitable than work.

Start with the most basic facts: More than 67.3 million Americans rely on assistance from Washington for everything from food, shelter and clothing to college tuition and health care. These benefits cost federal taxpayers roughly $2.5 trillion annually.

About those taxpayers: Even as the number of Americans receiving federal aid rises, the number of federal taxpayers continues to drop: Nearly half of all Americans - 49.5 percent - don’t pay any federal income taxes. If that strikes you as an equation that will spell trouble down the road, you have a better grasp of the problem than many politicians have right now.

WZ: White House Underestimated 2012 Deficit By 138% – $557.4 Billion Versus Actual $1.32 Trillion… Juuust a bit outside.

TheDC: Did CNN misreport Obama budget by at least $2.5 trillion? And another... juuust a bit outside.

White House Economic Adviser: 'We Need a Global Minimum Tax' Remember when America used to spread democracy throughout the world?

Justice Breyer robbed by machete-wielding intruder at West Indies vacation home. I'm relieved to hear he's OK. But maybe his neighborhood would be safer if Pfizer could find a better "public use" for it.

Command Economy: Obama hikes subsidy from $7,500 to $10,000 to wealthy electric car buyers. When is the last time anyone needed to be bribed to buy an iPhone or a Ford truck?

Doug Ross: J. Wellington Obama's Official Budget. Barack will gladly pay you Tuesday.

Peter Ferrara: Coulter Care. "Sorry, Ann. I have adored you as a commentator, as you know, and appreciate your kind words about me in the past. But in discussing the individual mandate in your piece last week, 'Three Cheers for RomneyCare,' you honestly don't know what you are talking about."

Face meet palm: Would-Be President Rick Santorum: It's Critically Important We "Talk About" The Great Moral Hazards of Contraception and Non-Procreative Sex. Yes, because nothing exemplifies limited government better than politicians advising us on non-procreative sex.

TheDC: Inside Media Matters: Sources, memos reveal erratic behavior, close coordination with White House and news organizations. Hmm. It's almost like MMFA is just a bunch of lefty hacks.

KUHNER: End of the Constitution.

And finally, the steam-powered Chevy Volt (comes with a free haircut)...

Krauthammer: The president knows that we are heading over a cliff

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 01:38:00 +0000

My Washington Times latest: Time for a Romneycare mea culpa [Bumped]

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 23:55:00 +0000

Three cheers for conservative voters!

[Illustration by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times]

Time for a Romneycare mea culpa
Victory requires Mitt to complete his conversion

Witness columnist Ann Coulter, who until recently was an unapologetic voice for the conservative principles of limited government and the free-enterprise system. There’s a conservative case to be made for Mr. Romney, at least for his recent conversion to conservatism, but Ms. Coulter instead chooses to undercut conservatism to benefit her candidate. She claims that Romneycare, the blueprint for Obamacare, the most dramatic lunge toward socialism in our lifetime, is “a massive triumph for conservative free-market principles.”

Does she have any idea the damage she does to the conservative cause with those words? Shielded by the Coulter seal of approval for government-run universal health care, liberals will have little problem labeling as “conservative” any of their statist agenda - from food stamps to free mortgages.

Fortunately, voters in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado were not willing to toss aside their conservative principles quite so easily. They understand that if Ann Coulter’s (and Mitt Romney‘s) notion, that government-run health care can somehow be considered conservative,is allowed to stand, then conservatism as we know it is dead. We might as well change our name to the European States of America and get in line for government cheese and four-day workweeks.

This is not to say there are no differences between Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama. There are, and they are substantial. Mr. Romney can be moved toward America’s founding conservative principles and Mr. Obama cannot. Of course, if Ms. Coulter or anyone else convinces Mr. Romney that he’s already a conservative and Romneycare proves it, then we’re in deep trouble.

In my last column, Obamacare is worth getting angry about, I highlighted a few inconvenient results from Mitt's “massive triumph for conservative free-market principles.”

Romneycare has increased private health care costs for patients and has created longer wait times to see a doctor. Fewer doctors in Massachusetts are willing to accept Medicare or even see new patients. Medicare and Medicaid costs also have increased, sticking taxpayers nationwide with the bill. Government regulations have further eroded the doctor-patient relationship. More than 18,000 jobs have been lost, and disposable income has suffered. The state has lost more than $25 million in private-sector investments. So much for “nothing changes for them.”

Swing by The Washington Times and read it all. Leave a comment; let me know what you think. And as always, thanks for sharing it on your blog, Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else the cool kids hang out.

UPDATE: A reader's comment: "Wolf article is one of the most bias piece of garbage, Please Mr. Wolfman, you sound like Obama." Heh.

The (not so) surprising victims of racially-biased medical school admissions

noreply@blogger.com (Milton Wolf) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Economist Mark Perry asks the question: Do Medical School Acceptance Rates Reflect Preferences for Preferred Minority Groups? Glenn Reynolds answers: Yes. Next Question?

Here are Perry's findings:

1. For those students applying to medical school with average GPAs (3.40 to 3.59) and average MCAT scores (27-29), black applicants were almost three times more likely to be admitted than their Asian counterparts (85.9% vs. 30%), and 2.4 times more likely than their white counterparts (85.9% vs. 35.9%). Likewise, Hispanic students with average GPAs and average MCAT scores were about twice as likely to be accepted as white applicants (68.7% vs. 35.9%), and more than twice as likely as Asian applicants (68.7% vs. 30%).

2. For students applying to medical school with slightly below average GPAs of 3.20-3.39 and slightly below average MCAT scores of 24-26 (first column in the table), black applicants were more than 8 times as likely to be admitted as Asians (67.3% vs. 7.7%), and more than 5 times as likely as whites.

At my medical school, it was not just common, it was codified. If a minority student was not admitted, they could apply again through a post-baccalaureate program where they were virtually guaranteed acceptance the following year. They took courses on the college campus that exempted them from the toughest first-year med school classes the next year (anatomy and physiology) thereby giving them a significant advantage over their classmates who took the full, customary course load. Their acceptance was guaranteed if they could score at the 50th percentile on the MCAT ... for their ethnic group. On top of that, they were actually paid a stipend for the year.

Sadly, like liberalism often does, the supposed beneficiaries often become victims. I'm not aware of statistical measures and I doubt the numbers are high but I saw some of these medical students simply drop out due to the clinical demands in the 3rd and 4th years, once the didactic affirmative action favoritism could no longer protect them from real-world demands. Some could not find residencies. And some were fired from residency. They were left with enormous, usually six-figure, debts and no means to repay them.

Other victims included the better-qualified but still rejected med school applicants, black med students who earned their positions by merit alone but were viewed with suspicion by a system that had seen too many who hadn't, and -- worst of all -- patients who deserve the best medical care no matter who provides it.