Illinois House Rep Mike Bost (R, Murphysboro) came to his wits end over the last second introduction of a pension reform bill by House Speaker Michael Madigan (D). The bill was introduced only minutes before Madigan wanted to force the House to vote on the bill. As the bill was introduced, Bost went nuts on the floor screaming and throwing papers in a rage.

“These damn bills that come out here all the damn time, come out here at the last second!” Bost yelled. “I’ve got to figure out how to vote for my people!”

Bost’s biggest complaint is the fact that for years only one man has had total control over the entire state. That one person would be Democrat House Speaker Mike Madigan.

But he is also 100% right that the way this state runs (and is being run down the drain) is not the way democracy should work. How is it that Madigan and his Democrats have the gall to introduce an extensive “reform” bill one minute and then expects everyone to vote for it the next minute?

How is it that Democrats have the stones to constantly force elected officials to vote on bills that they have no way to have read and not enough time to understand? Rubber stamping bills by token votes made in fealty to an autocratic ruler is NOT democracy but that is how Illinois works.

It just shows how Illinois is the worst state in the country in nearly every category.

(Telegraph) The Daily Telegraph has learnt that government officials have begun private discussions with the motoring industry and drivers’ groups about an overhaul of the Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rules.

The talks come as ministers try to prevent a fall in tax revenues as more motorists choose smaller, cleaner cars that incur a lower rate of duty. Labour has accused the Coalition of planning a “stealth tax” on drivers, effectively punishing them for going green.

Ministers say that while they have not finalised their plans, changes may be necessary to ensure the “sustainability of the public finances”.

One option being considered would replace the annual tax on cars with a one-off up-front charge on new vehicles when they are sold.

It’s not just gas tax fees that are dropping

Annual road tax for cars ranges from zero for those with the lowest CO2 emissions — which include electric and hybrid cars — to more than £200 for those with larger and less efficient petrol and diesel engines.

VED raises almost £6 billion a year for the Treasury, but official forecasts show that the revenue from the tax will fall as more people chose to drive low-emission cars.

So, they put in place these “carbon” taxes expecting to nail the citizens and put more money into the government coffers along with making people change their behavior, and are upset when people change their behavior resulting in less taxes.

To make up the shortfall would cost every British motorist about £20 a year ($30US). Not a whole lot. But, these taxes would seem to be aimed at those with more fuel efficient vehicles. One of the ideas is to simply add a large fee on to the price of purchasing a vehicle. No good deed goes unpunished. And it’s hilarious when government decrees designed to change behavior cause government to freak out over having less money because people actually change their behavior.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

Republicans are hammering Democrats for stammering — a bit of election-year bullying that the recipients think is a little, well, uh, childish.

In a series of emails to reporters over the last couple of days, the Republican National Committee has hit White House spokesman Jay Carney and Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter for their delivery as much as their substance on questions involving Solyndra and Bain Capital.

Asked on Tuesday how the president’s view of Solyndra — that some investments pan out and others don’t — differs from Mitt Romney’s defense of his time as the chief of Bain, Carney said: “Look … there, there, there is the … the … difference in that, your overall view of what … huh, your responsibilities are as president and what your view of the economic future is,” according to a transcript sent out by the RNC.

Cutter, asked a similar question Wednesday by Chuck Todd on MSNBC’s “Morning Rundown,” gave what the RNC termed an “agonizing 104 second answer” that prompted Republicans to send around both a video link and a full transcript of her response.

Republicans labeled both Carney and Cutter “tongue-tied.”

Well, I’m sure the Democrats are annoyed. As the story points out, those kinds of stammers are usually removed in ads and such, but not in this case. But, are the email wrong? No.

And both Democrats and Republicans have had their share of political figures whose raw utterances would appear off-kilter on the printed page. Barrels of ink were spilled on George W. Bush’s linguistic lapses.

Interestingly, the MSM has failed to do the same to Obama. His stuttering as he attempts to speak without a teleprompter is legendary. He makes plenty of gaffes. Heck, he makes gaffes when speaking with the teleprompter. Poland is still waiting for an apology over the “Polish death camps” comment.

For months, Democrats have been trying to fend off Republican efforts to hang Solyndra around the president’s ankle as a counter to the Obama team’s Bain attacks.

How sad is it that The Politico changed what is a common place saying simply because Obama is half-black? I think people would have understood there was no racism involved if they had wrote “neck.”

“Um, silly ah, nonsense um … I would think, um, that the RNC can do better … or um, ah maybe they can’t,” said Chris Kofinis, a Democratic strategist who worked for presidential candidates Wes Clark and John Edwards. “It’s not effective. Voters don’t care, and it’s a waste of time. It’s about playing the press and it’s about playing mind games with staff.”

In other words, it’s working.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

Many of you are aware of the recall election being held in Wisconsin. There, leftists and union thugs throughout the state are trying to oust the only recently elected Republican Governor, Scott Walker. But something many don’t realize is that Walker’s Lt. Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch, is also under recall in this needless and expensive re-do of the 2010 elections.

Kleefisch is the Republican Lt. Gov that entered office alongside Gov. Walker and she, too, is a target of these leftists. She hasn’t gotten the same publicity nation wide as Walker, of course, but she is just as deserving of our support and help. After all, the program that Walker and Kleefisch instituted has already saved Wisconsin $1 billion! Seems like a duo worth saving to me.

Despite what the pair have saved the state in budget dollars, estimates have varied on what this foolish recall election will cost, a recall effort that even liberal newspapers in Wisconsin oppose, but some are saying it will cost the donating mood, click on the image below and help Kleefisch out with the expenses that these liberals are forcing upon her, won’t you?

Recently Lt. Gov. Kleefisch was in Chicago and spoke a few words at the Tax Day Tea Party. (Video captured by MarathonPundit)

(Washington Post) The time has come for Mitt Romney to prove it once and for all: Is he or is he not a unicorn?

Let me stipulate that I have no proof that Romney is a unicorn, and indeed I want to believe that he is not. But I have not seen proof of this because he has not released the original copy of his long-form birth certificate.

Actually, Mitt did release his BC, Dana Milbank. But, Dana wrote posted this on the 29th, so, we’ll give him a pass. With Obama, it took forever to release his, which is why so many folks were wondering just what in the heck was on it. Perhaps Obama thought he would distract folks on the Right. Alas, we are capable of paying attention to more than one thing.

There are many others who feel as I do — 18,000 people to be precise. I first began to consider the possibility that Romney might be a unicorn when I heard that LeftAction, an online petition operation created by Democratic PR guy John Hlinko, was campaigning to get the Arizona secretary of state to certify that the presumptive Republican nominee is not a mythical beast before allowing his name to be on the presidential ballot.

“There has never been a conclusive DNA test proving that Mitt Romney is not a unicorn,” the group wrote last week. “And if Mitt Romney is or may be a unicorn, he is not Constitutionally qualified to be president.”

The mittromneyisaunicorn­.com campaign came about because Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, citing allegations that the birth certificate President Obama released is a fraud, threatened to take the incumbent off the ballot.

Cute. And funny. As for Romney, he needs to either to Donald Trump to STFU or GTFO when it comes to Birtherism. The Donald is not helping. Of course, let’s not forget that a good chunk of Obama’s base are 9/11 Truthers, a far more serious and deranged conspiracy theory, one which blames Bush, the US government, and sometimes the Israeli’s for killing 3,000 of our friends, neighbors, and loved ones.

So, please, Birthers, stop it. It was fun to “just wonder” why Obama wouldn’t release the BC (versus the Certificate of Live Birth), much like the media was always “just wondering” about Republicans (such as when they were “just wondering” whether John McCain had an affair). The time has ended. Move on. If you don’t have rock solid proof, you won’t find it. He was born in Hawaii to an American born mother. That’s all that is needed to be considered a natural born citizen. Find something else to focus on, like why Obama is turning America into the same type of Marxist state as we see in Greece.

BTW, what do these people have against unicorns? As long as the unicorn is natural born and of at least 35 years of age, the unicorn would be eligible. Nothing in the Constitution says the president can’t be a unicorn.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

(ABC News) Poles and Polish-Americans expressed outrage today at President Obama’s reference earlier to “a Polish death camp” — as opposed to a Nazi death camp in German-occupied Poland.

“The White House will apologize for this outrageous error,” Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski tweeted. Sikorski said that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk “will make a statement in the morning. It’s a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence.”

The president had been trying to honor a famous Pole, awarding a Presidential Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter who sneaked behind enemy lines to bear witness to the atrocities being committed against Jews. President Obama referred to him being smuggled “into the Warsaw ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself.”

Sikorski also tonight tweeted a link to an Economist story noting that “few things annoy Poles more than being blamed for the crimes committed by the Nazi occupiers of their homeland. For many years, Polish media, diplomats and politicians have tried to persuade outsiders to stop using the phrase ‘Polish death camps’ as a shorthand description of Auschwitz and other exemplars of Nazi brutality and mass murder. Unfortunately this seems to have escaped BaracK Obama’s staff seem not to have noticed this.”

Instead of just saying “sorry, we should not have put it that way”, the Smartest Administration Ever! decided to equivocate

(CBS News) National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: “The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny.”

Anxious to quell the controversy, the White House also noted that the president had visited the Warsaw Ghetto Memorial while in Poland and that he has repeatedly discussed the bravery of Poles during World War II.

How about just saying “whoops, we goofed, and we apologize”? Would that be so difficult? Instead, Obama can’t even admit he was wrong, and instead attempts to say “but, hey, I’ve spoken nicely about Poles once or twice.” And let’s not forget he hit Poland with his extra-large (made in Canada) bus over missile shield defense before.

Yes, we all know what Obama meant, but, words have meaning, and it is sometimes not what you say, but how you say it.

Buzzfeed features lots of leading Polish politicians expressing outrage, including

Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, a longtime pro-American voice, tweeted: “The White House will apologize for this outrageous error. [Prime Minister Donald] Tusk will make a statement in the morning. It’s a pity that this important ceremony was upstaged by ignorance and incompetence.”

We’re used to it, FM Sikorski. We’re sorry you had to be pulled into our world.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

For such a blue state, Illinois has some rather good Republicans in Congress, but on one issue many of them consistently fail. That is in their unfortunate support for Big Labor. The issue of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) is a perfect example of this penchant to support issues dear to the hearts of Big Labor.

Unions love PLAs because the rule forces government construction projects to be conducted under union rules, to pay union pay scales to workers as well as pension payments to the union plans, and requires all work to be controlled by union bosses even if the companies hired to do the work are non-union. With PLAs unions feel they have the best of both worlds because they can still benefit from free government money even when they aren’t hired to do the work. In short, PLAs are a sop to unions.

The main problem with PLAs is that they drive up the costs of government building contracts from the word, go. This costs us all money and in this era when we need to be cutting back the skyrocketing costs of government adding rules that drive up costs before the first foundation is dug is madness. Worse it is unfair to the largest number of construction companies that aren’t union members as they are forced as a condition of getting the work to pay unions thousands out of their pockets even as they’ll never benefit from union pensions or other programs.

Sadly, too many Illinois Republican Congressmen have been consistently in favor of allowing unions this free government handout. It is probably not a huge surprise that even Republicans in deep blue Illinois might end up bowing to the needs of greedy Big Labor initiatives. But it is not a healthy support regardless.

Not all Illinois Republicans have been swayed by Big Labor, mind you, but most of them have repeatedly voted in favor of PLAs. Only three of the Illinois GOP delegation, for instance, voted PLAs down in the last round of votes for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) held on May 17.

During that last vote on NDAA amendments, an amendment sponsored by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R, Md.) passed by a slim 211 to 209 margin. This amendment would torpedo any requirements that PLAs be forced on qualified contractors by federal agencies. (Roll call vote results).

Unfortunately, only Representatives Randy Hultgren (14th District), Don Manzullo (16th District), and Bobby Schilling (17th District) voted in favor of free and open competition in government contracts with their NDAA votes. As for the rest, Congressman Adam Kinzinger (11th District) switched his vote at the last minute joining all the other GOP Congressmen in voting for Big Labor’s interests. Even Congressman Joe Walsh (8th District), ordinarily one of Congresses most consistently conservative members, voted in Big Labor’s favor last week.

Just as unfortunate, Congressman Manzullo, a staunch anti-Union voice, lost his primary and will not be returning to Washington for the 113th Session. Interestingly, two Big Labor Super PACs contributed heavily — well over $200 K total — to have Manzullo beaten in the Illinois Primary.

The two groups, the pro-Big Labor group calling itself Lunch Pail Republicans, and the Campaign for Primary Accountability, together donated $324,529 in the successful effort to defeat Manzullo. So, one good, pro-fairness voice will be missing starting with the next Congress and this means we need to impress on those remaining that they should drop their support for Big Labor and step up to the plate to support fairness in government contracts.

Certainly, Illinois is not the only state with too many Republicans voting against free, open and fair practices. It is an issue that must be brought to the attention of our Congressmen everywhere. (For several other PLA related amendment votes see: Roll Call 126, Roll Call 369, Roll Call 413)

To prove that it isn’t just Illinois Republicans that are a problem, here is another twist. Just because the Bartlett amendment was adopted in NDAA and the NDAA passed the House, remember one thing: this is Congress. Nothing is ever settled with these people. Word is that a new amendment to the MilCon/VA FY 2013 appropriations bill (H.R. 5854) will be introduced to strip language in Section 517 of H.R. 5854. Section 517 is very similar to the pro-fair and open competition language of the Bartlett amendment to the NDAA. It is going to be offered by another wayward Republican, Rep. Grimm (R-NY). They never give up trying to give payoffs to unions, folks.

PLAs must be defeated when they come to a vote. PLAs are bad for business and bad for the taxpayers. PLAs are just more union coercion that is at its core un-American. I hope the Illinois GOP delegation — and the rest of Congress for that matter — change direction and stop giving unions free money.

Capitalism, led only by faith and freedom, has deep roots in America’s history. It is the economic system that built the greatest nation on earth, yet today it is under assault. For those who choose achievement over government dependence, it is important to go to ground zero in today’s economy: Houston, Texas. Why Houston? A global city, Houston’s economy ranks #1 as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States and tops New York as America’s most ethnically diverse. Nationwide, as companies flounder in a down economy, insight is gleaned from three of Houston’s top business leaders. Through them, the primacy of American Capitalism is on full display.

MARTHA TURNER – REAL ESTATE

The American dream of homeownership is under attack, claims the National Board of Realtors. At the core of American capitalism is the quest to own a home as part of the American dream. When government coerced banks and mortgage lenders to give loans to buyers who had no means of paying them back, real estate brokers got caught in the downdraft. Today, a shaky economy and depressed housing markets nationwide have many brokers struggling.

Seeing the head winds, Houston realtor Martha Turner, of Martha Turner Properties, got busy. In a daring move, Turner radically changed her company’s sales strategy. She personally stepped before TV cameras and used a locally-aired commercial to get the word out. Known in Houston for selling high-end properties, Turner opened the flood-gates by letting Houston homeowners know that the expertise of Houston’s number one independent real estate company was there for them. With a natural charm and steadfast sincerity, Turner told viewers, “We want to be your Realtor.” To weather the storm of a depressed real estate market, Turner declared that Martha Turner Properties would now broker sales on homes ranging in price from $20 million to $20 thousand. It worked. Turner’s company rode out what could have been a difficult period with ingenuity. The phones started ringing and business remained stable for Turner’s company while many realtors abandoned the market. In 2011, Martha Turner Properties topped $1.3 billion by selling homes ranging from over $8 million to $15,000. It was a record year.

Turner understands the free market. With high-end clients financially strapped, mid-range listings kept Turner and company selling in a weak market. Today, CultureMap-Houston’s Ralph Bivens reports economist Ted Jones’ 2012 forecast: “We have eaten through the inventory. In the next 18 to 20 months, home prices will go up significantly. We have the highest home prices in the history of Houston, Texas. The market is back.” As a significant economic indicator, real estate sales lead to purchases of furnishings, appliances, flooring, insulation, carpentry, gardening and so forth. Consumers spend, jobs are created and the economy grows. Free enterprise flourishes. Free-market capitalism succeeds.

Houston’s good news, however, is not widespread nationwide. A rocky national economy still creates uncertainty as banks remain reluctant to make loans as jobs are being lost. Even so, the siren call of low interest rates has so-called “smart money” using cash to again buy commercial and residential property. Turner wisely credits Houston’s business environment as her silent, yet robust partner. With Turner setting the pace, others followed. For 2012, American Express ranks Houston as the top city for women-owned businesses based on revenue. At its core, Houston is driven by the principles of capitalism, free enterprise and its renowned generosity to charitable causes. Even so, Turner is aware that increased regulations and higher taxes by Washington can eventually stymy growth. “Starting in business today, I don’t think people know how much regulations and taxes are involved and how much they are increasing every year,” she says. “Costs are going up just trying to keep track and file responses to the government. There are restrictions on what I can do for my employees. Without high taxes, we would have more to share.”

While incentive drives Martha Turner, fair play guides her. It was in a small, east Texas town where young Martha made her first sale in her family’s dry goods and hardware store. Then, came college. A former teacher, she entered the Houston real estate market in 1981 when interest rates were soaring and agents were bailing. Her entrepreneurial spirit unshaken, she said, “That’s okay. I’ll be the only one selling houses.” She set up shop in a borrowed office that she cleaned and swept daily, took out a loan, and advertised. Turner says the mainstays of her company are excellence backed by hard work and a win-win outcome for all parties involved. Turner’s profound belief is that all people are equal. Though devout in her personal faith, her employees are of many — including Christian, Jewish and Muslim. Through her outreach, Turner serves Houston’s homeless, hospices, mentally disabled, and medical foundations among numerous other charities.

Martha Turner’s advice to the government is to privatize where possible, incentivize people to be self-reliant, lower taxes, cut regulations and step out of the way of faith and free enterprise. Through hard work and a giving heart, a young east Texas girl travelled the road to success under the fairest economic system in the world — capitalism. Martha Turner wants the same equal opportunities for all young Americans. Apprehensive about what the economy bodes for their future, she says with concern, “The worst thing that can happen is not to know your own potential.” Ever the optimist, she then smiles with words of encouragement to her grandchildren’s generation, “Dream the dream. Don’t let what is happening in the country today get in your way. There will always be room for young entrepreneurs.” She should know. It was, after all, a young Martha Turner who found the road to success through capitalism, free enterprise and a charitable heart.

Next in series: CAPITALISM – Part III: CHARITIES – George Strake

Related articles: CAPITALISM – Part I: RETAIL – Jim McIngvale

LINK: http://www.stoptheaclu.com/2012/05/22/profiles-in-capitalism-retail-jim-mcingvale-part-one/

Permission to reprint is granted.

Humans Are Not Like Slowly Boiling Frogs … We Are Like Slowly Boiling Brainless Frogs

Even though people keep using the famous simile — “the fatally slow human response to climate change makes us like a slowly boiling frog” — it is not quite right.

As Wikipedia puts it, German physiologist Friedrich Goltz “demonstrated that a frog that has had its brain removed will remain in slowly heated water, but his intact frogs attempted to escape the water.” Other 19th Century studies appeared to have different results, but modern experiments (!) show that frogs with brains are in fact smart enough to leap out of water as it is heated up. (snip)

If we destroy a livable climate, which means “billions of people will be condemned to poverty and much of civilisation will collapse” and are renamed just plain Homo, then in fact we will have demonstrated we are dumber than frogs (who were, after all, doing just fine until we came along).

At that point, we will be brainless frogs.

Joe even provides a pithy cartoon (he actually provides two, both hotlinked from the Washington Post. I guess stealing is OK when the planet is on the line)

The cartoon is rather correct, since most Warmists, especially the leaders, refuse to give up their big “carbon” lifestyles.

Anyhow, all you frogs out there must be feeling the heat from the temperatures going up a whopping 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the 20th Century. Global temp increases have been statistically insignificant, per Pete Jones, since 1995. According to some data, temps have gone down slightly over the past decade, despite a rise in CO2. Perhaps something else is happening in the atmosphere other than man induced, eh?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.

(Politico) Mitt Romney wants voters to see him as the man to save the economy and right the country, the redeeming American hero riding in on the proverbial white horse.

Just not that White Horse.

That’s the one in the old Mormon prophecy attributed to Joseph Smith, which predicts that after the banks fail and when the Constitution is nearing collapse, Mormons flush with wealth — the White Horse, in the prophecy’s metaphor — will rise and lead America back to greatness.

Now that Romney’s essentially secured the Republican nomination, the media attention to his religious beliefs has already kicked off a sort of national Mormonism 101. Deep into his second run for president, Romney’s Mormonism remains one of his great mysteries — and obstacles — in many voters’ minds. The Senate has more Mormons than Episcopalians or Lutherans, but polls consistently show that Romney’s religion has remained a factor.

So, the media plans to run a bigoted campaign against Mitt Romney based on religion, and will most likely end up insulting Mormons across the country. When it was Obama’s religious beliefs in the spotlight, the media turned the dimmer down all the way to off.

The White Horse prophecy itself was discounted by the church almost a hundred years ago but Mormon political figures like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and even Romney himself still get asked about it from time to time. And even though it’s long been discredited by the church, there are pieces of the prophecy that echo with important themes of mainstream Mormonism today: church members believe the Framers were divinely inspired, and Mormons have a special role to play in preserving the Constitution and the nation as a whole.

So the White Horse prophecy is meaningless, and was brought up at the beginning of the story for no reason except to try and make Mormons, and Romney, look wacky. Gotcha. In fact, after the next two paragraphs, most of the story is about that same prophecy, attempting to keep showing that Mormons are wacky.

Yet Romney, for the most part, has steered clear of answering detailed questions about his religious beliefs—referring to “people of different faiths, like yours and mine” in his commencement address to the evangelical Liberty University is about as far as he’s gone in the 2012 campaign.

That leaves journalists and other observers searching for clues, and the attention already going to Mormon views of the Constitution, which has percolated up from the blogs to the New York Times, provides a window into how this can play out on the campaign trail.

The same journalists and observers are still indifferent as to Barack Obama’s past, specifically during his time in the pews at Jeremiah Wrights “church” and during Obama’s time in higher education. How about what he did as a lawyer and community agitator? Never really heard about those.

All that’s missing is the progressives wringing their hands over the coming Republican theocratic takeover.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.