Obama’s scandal atmosphere and 2014 Democratic recruitment efforts.

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:15:24 +0000

I’m not sure that Stu Rothenberg is correct, here: …it isn’t clear how much of an impact, if any, the controversies will have on the 2014 midterms. Even if (when) those controversies fade, however, there could be short-term consequences for both the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in the area of recruitment. Largely because it doesn’t look like either organization | Read More »

Tech at Sunday Morning: We now know why the MetroPCS / T-Mobile deal went through. What to do about Google Glass.

Sun, 19 May 2013 09:30:44 +0000

Had some work to do Friday night, so this this became Tech at Sunday Morning!

I still don't see it passing the House after Mike Enzi's winners and losers talk poisoned the well, but conservative governors want MFA passed for good reason. Ask Scott Walker.

Remember when the T-Mobile/MetroPCS deal flew through the Obama administration without a hitch? I think we now know why: it meant the end of the MetroPCS challenge to Net Neutrality. How convenient.

Stealth recording technology. What could go wrong? Of course, if you don't like Google Glass, the real thing to do is to let property owners ban it on their own property. Problem solved.

The tax reform moment

Sat, 18 May 2013 20:37:33 +0000

Rupert Murdoch took some heat for observing on Twitter, “Growing IRS scandal makes perfect case for flat tax and abolition all deductions. Nothing could be fairer and abuse free.” Several responses took Murdoch to task because the abusive treatment of certain groups applying for tax-exempt status, based on their politics, doesn’t have any direct relationship with the progressive income tax system, or plans to replace it. | Read More »

Supersecret IRS Obamacare Qualification Form Revealed!!

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:17:12 +0000

Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Republican Party?

Personalizing Gatsby’s “Green Light”

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:00:45 +0000

(Promoted from the diaries) The story of Jay Gatsby can impart wisdom to our life goals in a particularly powerful manner. Though I was not disappointed by the new adaptation of The Great Gatsby, neither was I enthralled. Instead, the movie seemed to begin with a forced storytelling of rough scene cuts that eventually found itself understanding the deeper meaning. It must be admitted that, by many accounts, | Read More »

Darrell Issa, John Boehner not “taking the bait” with current White House scandals.

Sat, 18 May 2013 15:00:09 +0000

(H/T: Hot Air Headlines) This is not going to end up being a windmill joust against Barack Obama. Much to the Democrats’ secret displeasure. GOP leaders will help coordinate various House investigations into controversies involving the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the State Department. But the key Republican lawmaker with jurisdiction on all these matters said that a rerun of | Read More »

Too Big To Jail

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:43:10 +0000

The late, great Lewis Grizzard attended the University of Georgia with a man named “Joe,” where they developed a lifelong friendship. Joe grew up poor in rural Southwest Georgia. He was only a boy when he found the body of his dead father who had taken his own life with the family shotgun. Joe became the man | Read More »

Obama’s Travesty of Leadership: The News Media Share Culpability

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:00:12 +0000

(Promoted from the diaries) The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan has correctly characterized the Obama administration’s Benghazi and IRS scandals for what they are: gross failures of leadership that ultimately include a bold—even boastful—policy of criminal activity (my words, not hers). But the Washington Post’s Richard Cohen jeered at conservatives’ concerns about Benghazi, and the Columbia Journalism Review’s Ryan Chittum said Noonan has “lost it”. She has | Read More »

Meet New Mexico’s liberal Tim Keller, before he becomes fake-moderate Tim Keller.

Fri, 17 May 2013 17:30:02 +0000

Well, let us not ignore the upcoming election cycle simply because the Obama administration has decided to go utterly mad this week*. Below for your dubious delectation is a video from the New Mexico Republican party on one Tim Keller, who is being pushed out as a stealth liberal challenger to Governor Susana Martinez next year. I say “stealth” because – well, watch: Short version | Read More »

Obama administration going with the idiot narrative on #Benghazi.

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:30:14 +0000

No, seriously, this is the angle that they’re going to run with: “We’re portrayed by Republicans as either being lying or idiots,” said one Obama administration official who was part of the Benghazi response. “It’s actually closer to us being idiots.” Personally, I take the position that the administration needs to embrace the healing power of ‘and,’ here. But as the philosopher once put it: | Read More »

Is the Deficit Really Shrinking?

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:00:51 +0000

On today's edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss a DHS reaction to Bitcoin, a CBO report on a shrinking deficit and why liberals think deficits are a good thing.

Immigration, Wages, and Free Markets

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:58:52 +0000

All conservatives and libertarians agree that government should not set wage requirements on private enterprise. That would violate the foundation of a free market economy. But should industries and special interest groups get to use the power of government to tilt our immigration system in a way that will actively depress wages? Is that free market doctrine? I’ve been looking to find someone to come | Read More »

Meet the Partisan Union Behind The Partisan Internal Revenue Service

Fri, 17 May 2013 02:30:45 +0000

On Thursday, despite the escalating scandal, Barack Obama told reporters that he did not see the need for a special prosecutor, saying “probes by Congress and the Justice Department should be able to figure out who was responsible for improperly targeting tea party groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.” While that may appease reporters from CNN and the mainstream media for the moment, one must wonder why there shouldn’t be a special prosecutor to look into the wrongdoings of an agency with such vast powers over the American populace. Unless, of course, there is a smoking gun that people within the administration don’t want discovered.

Finally, A Bi-Partisan Solution on Term Limits

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:45:19 +0000

Congressman Jim Bridenstine (R-OK) written with Congressman Beto O’Roarke (D-TX) Many in our country and in the districts we represent feel that Congress is out of touch and that members are more focused on re-election than on providing real solutions to our nation’s biggest challenges. We hear from constituents all the time that there is a lack of urgency and focus when it comes to | Read More »

White House: All Americans Can Opt-Out Of ObamaCare

Fri, 17 May 2013 01:33:44 +0000

Believe it or not, RedStaters, the White House has just announced that every American with private health insurance can opt-out of ObamaCare! Yes. In a response to my petition on the White House website, the administration states very clearly: “If you currently have private health insurance, you should be able to keep it, and that’s exactly what the health care law says. It’s not a | Read More »

“Business As Usual, During Alterations.”

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:18 +0000

If you are interested in figuring out how to handle digital rights management and just recompense for work that is easily replicable by electronic methods, then you absolutely need to read a science fiction story from 1958 called “Business As Usual, During Alterations,” and written by Ralph Williams*. I will give you the short version: Earth society is given a matter duplicator by Alien Space | Read More »

Why You Should Support Rep. Price’s IRS Bill

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:46:05 +0000

Rep. Tom Price came on my program today to discuss his “Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act.” Why is this important? Because the regulating entity of Obamacare is in trouble for discriminating against, and persecuting, conservatives. Even more unbelievable: The Internal Revenue Service official in charge of the tax-exempt organizations at the time when the unit targeted tea party groups now runs the | Read More »

Concert Review: The Killers at Madison Square Garden

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:39:52 +0000

Checking off the top act remaining on my current “gotta see live” list, I went with my wife to see The Killers in concert at Madison Square Garden Tuesday night. While there were a few bumps in the road, on the whole the show was a reminder of why they are possibly the best rock band still in their prime today. The Setting I’ve previously | Read More »

The legitimacy of elections

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:52:11 +0000

The worst possible outcome of the IRS scandal would see it growing large enough to call the legitimacy of the 2012 election into question. Some people reading this might think it’s already reached that point. Others would say it could never reach that point. There is a case to be made that the American system would resist such an outcome, in a much broader sense than merely | Read More »

IRS targeted the Leadership Institute

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:18:26 +0000

I worked at the Leadership Institute in Arlington for a little more than four years; it was my first job out of college and one of the most important times of my career. I learned a tremendous amount about the conservative movement, the nature of coalitions, and how political technology was philosophically neutral. I also learned about character and left with a hero: Morton Blackwell. | Read More »