Collect Welfare, Live Large in Million Dollar Lakefront Mansion

The American people who are generally compassionate would be more receptive to a tax increase if it went for a proper purpose. But before that happens, the government needs to root out all the corruption and waste--including crony capitalism/corporate welfare and individual welfare fraud. We also need to find out what these bureaucrats in social service agencies actually do all day.

Case in point: A Seattle woman on federal and state welfare is living large in Seattle:



Read more here.

Who or What Derailed the Cain Train?

 [Image Credit: Gage Skidmore]

Have you ever winged it when faced with a tough question in a job interview?

Of course you have. Everyone has.

That doesn't make you a bad person. It is often irrelevant to how well you would perform on the job if offered the position.

So at times, former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain seemed to be improvising during the debates, especially in connection with foreign policy.

That notwithstanding, he seems like a fine man with a glowing business resume--unlike the incumbent who has virtually no resume and zero private-sector job experience--which could be just what the country needs with the economy in the tank.

So it remains to be seen if Mr. Cain was smeared or he was a player/philander while he was on the road for the National Restaurant Association and his wife was back home in Atlanta. Then again, remember that during the Clinton administration all the liberal situational-ethicists insisted that lying about sex was okay.

The most unsettling/disappointing aspect about Cain dropping out of the campaign (technically a suspension of activity) is that Obama operatives have a track record of sabotaging rivals well before any votes take place. This was addressed back in 2008 by the zenpundit blog:

The model for this strategy is the previous Obama senatorial campaign in Illinois, where Obama’s two most formidible, centimillionaire, rivals, Democrat Blair Hull and Republican Jack Ryan were personally destroyed in the primaries when salacious details from their sealed divorce records were mysteriously leaked to the media, which then pressured for their full release, notably in the pages of the Chicago Tribune. Thus, ultimately permitting Obama to run against an out-of-state, clown candidate, religious conservative firebrand Alan Keyes, in the general election.

Was the Cain Train "railroaded"? Time will tell. It's also worth noting that American law makes it very difficult for a public figure to recover damages in court for libel or slander.

DOJ Documents Suggest Fast and Furious Misdirection

In yet another Friday night document dump, the U.S. Justice Department admitted it mislead Congress over the Fast and Furious investigation. Attorney General Eric Holder once again testifies about the gunrunning scandal before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8.

According to The Ulsterman Report and the confidential "White House Insider" source (who may or may not be on the level), it is only a matter of time before Holder submits his resignation:

Regarding Attorney General Eric Holder, Insider made our last communication very specific - we are reaching the-the moment of truth on Holder. Just today there are new reports indicating one of the killers of Border Agent Brian Terry – using guns provided them by the Obama administration, was in fact an FBI informant. According to these reports, both the FBI and ATF knew of the dangers posed to U.S. Border Agents – but did nothing to intervene. A known ambush against border agents that lead to the death of Brian Terry resulted. Is it any wonder the Obama Justice Department so recently sealed all records relating to the murder of Agent Terry? And can there be any remaining doubt a full-on cover-up by the Obama administration has been underway since the failed gunrunning program story broke?

British Civil Servants Lose Public Support

Government unions on both sides of the Atlantic seems to feel that they should be immune from marketplace forces. Ordinary middle-class individuals and families who are barely making ends meet under the current economic conditions should be -- according to organized labor-- forced to pay for unlimited benefits for the entitled public-sector workforce no matter what.

Despite predictable efforts by the left-wing media, it is interesting that a strike by public sector workers in the U.K. over pension reform this week apparently turned out to be a big flop. London Telegraph blogger James Delingpole describes the public mood in Britain:

I got my answer from a chance remark made by Jeremy Vine after our interview. He was telling me about the phone-in he'd done the day before during the public sector workers' strike and what had astonished him was the mood of the callers. If I remember what he said correctly, one of his studio guests was a nurse on a £40,000 PA salary, with a guaranteed £30,000 pension, and this had not gone down well with the mother-of-three from Northern Ireland struggling as a finance officer in the private sector on a salary of £14,000 and no pension to speak of. The callers were very much on the side of the private sector. In fact, they were on the whole absolutely apoplectic that privileged, relatively overpaid public sector workers with their gold-plated pensions should have the gall to go out on strike when the people who pay their salaries – private sector workers – have to go on slogging their guts out regardless.

Sound familiar?

Petition Fraud in Walker Recall?

 [Image Credit: Megan McCormick]

Vote fraud is a huge problem in our elections, but here's a new wrinkle: Petition signature fraud seems to be in play in the effort to recall Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin.

You may remember that the "Democrat-Union Complex" came unglued when Walker sought to implement modest collective bargaining reforms that avoided a budgetary disaster in the state. Walker ultimately prevailed, but now organized labor wants to kick him out of office before the end of his term. It seems the apparently misnamed Wisconsin Government Accountability Board isn't going to do much about petition shenanigans either.So who will watch the watchdogs?

The state board overseeing the potential recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tells the MacIver News Service that they will rely upon temporary workers to scrutinize recall petitions and those individuals will not be expected to catch any duplicate signatures submitted by recall organizers.

This revelation comes as one statewide liberal group is actively promoting the collection of duplicate signatures, paving the way for a lengthy process wherein Walker supporters will challenge the validity of the recall petitions...

[GAB spokesman]Magney told MNS said that the pro-union groups obtaining recall signatures will be expected to self-police the collection of duplicate signatures.

However, neither the state Democratic Party nor the pro-labor organizations steering the recall drive have disclosed any process by which they will identify and discard the duplicate signatures they obtain.

When was the last time a union successfully "self-policed" itself, especially during electioneering? The same GAB spokesman earlier said that "the burden of proving the validity of signatures will fall on Governor Walker, not those filing the recall petitions." State law grants Walker a mere 10 days to challenge ineligible signatures.

Recallers need about 540,000 thousand valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Added: in writing about the Democrat-union "perpetual hissy fit" manifested in this instance by the Walker recall, libertarian Tim Nerzenz writes that he does not stand with Scott Walker. Instead, Scott Walker stands with him:

I stand for the right to work.  I stand against compulsory unionization.  I stand for the right of every employee to join a union, and for the equal right of every employee to work free of union impairment.  I stand for the right of every union to collect its own dues directly from its members.  I stand for the right of every business owner to deal directly with his/her employees or to work through an intermediary as he or she sees fit.  I stand for the right of any business to refrain from political activity altogether without being targeted for boycotts by extortionists...

So no, my dear Democrat friends, I will not be signing your recall petitions.  When you come to my door I will not be ungracious; I will not be unkind.   I will not tell you “I stand with Scott Walker” and slam the door in your face.  I will tell you instead that I stand for Liberty, and then I will ask you why you will not stand with me.  It is a reasonable question, and I expect you to answer it.  It is the least you can do if you want me to help you turn the whole state upside down to rehash your grievance over again for the umpteenth time.

Read the whole piece here.

Update: A grassroots organization of volunteers is forming check the validity of all signatures submitted in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. To participate or find out more about this effort, go to verifytherecall.com.

Washington Bureaucrats Coming After Your Health Supplements

[Image Credit: Ragesoss]

Imagine going to your local health food store or supermarket and finding the shelves normally containing your favorite vitamin and nutritional supplements completely bare.

There is still time to sign an online petition opposing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draconian supplement regulations that threatens access to dietary supplements. It wouldn't hurt to contact your member of Congress too.

As Citizens for Health explains...

[The FDA] is attempting to drastically change existing law by saying that finished product manufacturers must make a submission for every product that contains a [New Dietary Ingredient--NID] or whenever a formula is changed, if an NDI is present. If this guidance is not withdrawn and its misinterpretation of law is backed by the FDA's own policy, review and enforcement powers, it would cause major disruption in the dietary supplement market; force a significant number of products off the shelves; and result in revenue losses of over a billion dollars and the unemployment of over 100,000 Americans. Neither American consumers nor the dietary supplement industry should stand for this unconscionable attempt by the FDA to, via various NDI-related side doors, effectively re-write [the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994], maim the health-food industry and drastically reduce consumer choice.

While supplements by themselves aren't always a complete panacea (and some products are hyped up or lack quality ingredients), FDA bureaucrats who routinely allow toxic pharmaceutical drugs into the marketplace seem hell-bent on getting their hooks into the supplement industry. Supplements can and do form one part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

If Obamacare is not repealed, and rationing and death panels become the norm (as has occurred everywhere where socialized medicine has been tried), health freedom and taking charge of our own health with more natural approaches will become even more important.

As one of the comments on the Citizens for Health website indicates: "No one has the right to tell us what supplements and vitamins we can have. That isn't protecting us, it's restraint of trade and is big pharma's way of growing even more powerful and corrupt."

Have you noticed how the same lapdog "pro choice" mainstream news media that seems to accept virtually every job- and freedom-killing Obama administration initiative at face value also regularly helps to demonize generally safe supplements at the behest of Washington bureaucrats and "Big Pharma"? Along these lines, responding to a recent widely publicized American Medical Association study of questionable methodology that sought to discredit vitamins, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com wrote in part:

Caught yet again, the mainstream media has been exposed pulling off a juvenile, simplistic hoax that attempts to scare people away from good nutrition. To accomplish this hoax, they took a poorly-constructed "scientific" study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine which was itself based on erroneous conclusions...and then blatantly misreported what the study data actually showed.

Exit Heidi Watney

In the aftermath of the September beer-and-chicken collapse, the Boston Red Sox lost Tito, Theo, and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Other departures are expected. But forget the players and coaches for a moment; NESN viewers may miss stunning reporter Heidi Watney the most. Today is her last day on the job. Although she was unable to officially confirm yet, Watney is apparently returning to California to work for the Lakers, but expect to see her on other high-profile media gigs. Watney appeared for an hour on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan sports radio show (which is simulcast on NESN) this morning to reflect on the season and take calls from fans. Heidi's final NESN assignment will be covering incoming manager Bobby Valentine's press conference this evening.

Here is a portion of this morning's WEEI/NESN farewell interview:

Perhaps her most famous YouTube moment: