1. Of course we WANT Obama to fail. The policies he does enact WILL fail. And America will succeed in spite of it.

There are countless reasons we have already seen to be deathly afraid of where the country is headed under President Obama’s leadership.

2. Stepping Back From The “Washington Consensus”

Remember way back in the early Nineties, when history had ended? Global leaders and policymakers more or less settled on the “Washington Consensus”: a combination of free-market capitalism with at least a modicum of political liberty had won the Twentieth Century’s agonized debate over which system works best.

3. Ron Kirk Nomination Raises Question: Is Obama Vetting To Ensure He Picks People Who Do Not Pay Taxes?

This many cannot be an accident, can it?

4. The Fairness Doctrine fight is not over

Adam Theirer, a scholar at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, notes that the Fairness Doctrine was part of a regulatory paradigm being pushed by the left and, in particular, the group Free Press. This fight is not over.

5. WPost: Why Do Democrats Hate DC Students?

Liberal Cruelty Aimed at Poor African-American Kids

6. AIG To Sue Federal Government.

Haven’t they ever heard it’s not nice to bite the hand that feeds them?

1. Of course we WANT Obama to fail. The policies he does enact WILL fail. And America will succeed in spite of it.

There are countless reasons we have already seen to be deathly afraid of where the country is headed under President Obama’s leadership.

The issue here is not whether we want Obama to fail in his agenda to radically re-shape America – we do. (little head nod to Animal House). No, the issue is that we KNOW that his policies CANNOT POSSIBLY SUCCEED.

We know those policies will fail. Why? Because we know that expanding the size and scope of government, appointing activist judges, taxing the American people, spending money that we do not have, eliminating personal responsibility by bailing out failures, and empowering government to take away our freedom is a prescription for failure.

The only way our nation will succeed is IN SPITE of this destructive, anti-American agenda. It will be because of the innate competitive spirit of Americans, a belief in freedom, self-determination and personal responsibility… and a firm reliance on the hand of Divine Providence.

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2. Stepping Back From The “Washington Consensus”

Remember way back in the early Nineties, when history had ended? Global leaders and policymakers more or less settled on the “Washington Consensus”: a combination of free-market capitalism with at least a modicum of political liberty had won the Twentieth Century’s agonized debate over which system works best.

Countries all over the world rushed to implement the new model after the fall of the Soviet Union. The common features were market capitalism combined with either a lot of freedom (Estonia) or a little bit of freedom (China).

This was a revolution in how the world organizes its societies. Americans live in the only nation in history that has believed in freedom from the start. It’s all too easy for us not to appreciate that humans have almost always lived under the thumbs of despotic rulers.

Few remember this critical thing about the past two decades: the global revolution in finance and market-capitalism has enabled at least one, and perhaps two billion human beings to rise up out of grinding poverty.

And now everything is rushing back in the opposite direction. The world’s deep thinkers are considering whether capitalism, and even freedom itself, harbor a fatal flaw, a genetic predisposition to financial self-destruction. Whether or not this is true (and I don’t profess to know the answer), it will be a long time before the world tries them again on such a grand scale.

Americans will remember the coming decade as a lean period, not as bad as some we’ve lived through. But for many of the world’s poor, it might be an evil memory for centuries, like the Black Death.

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3. Ron Kirk Nomination Raises Question: Is Obama Vetting To Ensure He Picks People Who Do Not Pay Taxes?

This many cannot be an accident, can it?

I mean seriously, I dare you to manage, just at random, to come up with as many tax dodgers as Obama has, even if the vetters themselves have tax troubles. I’m pretty cynical about politicians, but I don’t think you could pull this off just by throwing darts at lists of DC insiders and Chicago pols, could you? I think you have to be trying.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee this afternoon revealed that another of President Obama’s nominees — U.S. Trade Representative-designate Ron Kirk — has tax problems.

Finance staff briefed aides to committee members today on the revelations, which indicate the former Dallas mayor underpaid taxes to the tune of $9,975 during 2005-07, and that he has agreed to promptly file adjustments. The underpayments deal in part with speaking honoraria he received that he listed as charitable donations to his alma mater, Austin College.

I mean, I was up until 2am last night wrestling with TurboTax and trying to figure out things like how to account for the small amount of income (arguably not even a net positive) I make from ads on my blog. I’m sure my taxes could easily be inaccurate by a few hundred bucks in either direction, as is true of a lot of people, no matter how hard you may try to account for all the possible sources of income, deductions, donations, etc. But who just forgets enough taxable income to underpay by ten grand?

The only alternative explanation, after all, is that there is something about the kinds of people Obama chooses to associate with and give power to that makes them think they don’t need to make sure they pay their taxes. I leave it to you to judge.

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4. The Fairness Doctrine fight is not over

Adam Theirer, a scholar at the Progress and Freedom Foundation, notes that the Fairness Doctrine was part of a regulatory paradigm being pushed by the left and, in particular, the group Free Press. This fight is not over.

Of course, the radicals at the (Un)Free Press weren’t about to let one of the Left’s old favorite regulations go so away without asking for something in return. One of the reasons that Silver and Ammori are suddenly willing to give their blessing to the Doctrine’s burial is because they want to get on with the more far-reaching agenda of micro-managing media markets using a variety of less visible regulations.

Indeed, in their paper, Silver and Ammori go to great pains to try to show that the Fairness Doctrine supposedly has nothing to do with all the other regulations that they want Congress and the FCC to continue to enforce, or even expand. These goals include media ownership restrictions, diversity mandates, local programming regulation, and so on. Recognizing that the Fairness Doctrine was not only ineffective but also a useful tool for many on the political Right to whip their base into action, the Free Press moved to preemptively divorce their other pet projects from the Fairness Doctrine.

It’s a brilliant tactical move by Free Press; lull Limbaugh and other conservatives into a deep sleep by throwing them the bone of a Fairness Doctrine win, and then push a far more radical regulatory agenda through the back-door once they’ve stopped paying attention. Of course, these things cannot be as easily divorced as the Free Press radicals want us to believe. The Fairness Doctrine was just one part of a much grander regulatory paradigm that so-called progressives have pushed for under the banner of “public interest regulation.”

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5. WPost: Why Do Democrats Hate DC Students?

Liberal Cruelty Aimed at Poor African-American Kids

REP. DAVID R. Obey (Wis.) and other congressional Democrats should spare us their phony concern about the children participating in the District’s school voucher program. If they cared for the future of these students, they wouldn’t be so quick as to try to kill the program that affords low-income, minority children a chance at a better education. Their refusal to even give the program a fair hearing makes it critical that D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) seek help from voucher supporters in the Senate and, if need be, President Obama.

Last week, the Democrat-controlled House passed a spending bill that spells the end, after the 2009-10 school year, of the federally funded program that enables poor students to attend private schools with scholarships of up to $7,500. A statement signed by Mr. Obey as Appropriations Committee chairman that accompanied the $410 billion spending package directs D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee to “promptly take steps to minimize potential disruption and ensure smooth transition” for students forced back into the public schools.

Democrats tell us that conservatives are cruel and heartless; that we show no compassion towards the children of America. They tell us that when conservatives run the government, they have tried to deny kids a good education. They tell us that in the increasingly competitive world marketplace, kids need a good education now more than ever. Yet just weeks after taking charge of both Congress and the White House, they’re kicking thousands of kids out of the best schools they’ll ever see, and forcing them back into some of the nation’s worst. And they’re doing so without even giving these kids the benefit of a hearing.

It’s clear that Washington Democrats are owned lock, stock and barrel by the teachers’ unions — which would rather not have to compete against private schools for the right to educate your children. And they have no problem doing this to a cohort of kids who are 99 percent minority.

Do you suppose they would have been so cruel and cavalier to the kids of their limousine liberal supporters in San Francisco or Boston?

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6. AIG To Sue Federal Government.

Haven’t they ever heard it’s not nice to bite the hand that feeds them?

“In the midst of its negotiation with the federal government over revised terms of its bailout, American International Group Inc. sued the U.S. on Friday over a disputed $306 million in taxes, interest and penalties. . . . ‘AIG is taking this action to ensure that it is not required to pay more than its fair share of taxes,’ said a company spokeswoman. An IRS spokesman declined to comment.”

Fire that person.

Then fire every person that that person ever hired.

Then fire every person who works on the same floor as that person. You never know: there may be a airborne vector for stupidity.

Then figure out some way to let AIG collapse without destroying the American economy, because if there is an airborne vector for stupidity, it’s probably infected the entire company by now. We probably already have the disease spreading through the federal government anyway, but you never know; let’s just get the government out of the insurance business on general principles. In the meantime, start wearing those little breath mask things.

Every little bit helps.

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