The Australian humorists Clarke & Dawe offer a brief summary of the "slight" problem in the Cypriot banking system. The European Union's response has not yet fixed the problem, though it has resulted in a massive exodus of deposits held by foreigners. (Note to kleptocrats everywhere: if you put an entire nation's banking system on a bank holiday, it's best to make sure that bank holiday applies to the nation's foreign bank branches, too!) As of today, Cypriots are allowed to withdraw up to €300 a day of their own money.
March 14, 2013 - Former Congressman Allen West on Thursday addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in what TheBlaze's Mike Opelka described as a "fiery" speech that had "everyone on their feet." "I'll give it to you straight," West began. "Last November we did take one on the jaw, but this movement and this fight is not determined by the punches that we take. We're defined by how quickly we pull ourselves off the mat and our perseverance."
"There're no shortage of people telling us what conservatism cannot accomplish, what we can't do, how we cannot connect, how we must change our values to fit the times."
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you: That that truly is a bunch of malarkey," he added, seemingly channeling the spirit of VP debate Joe Biden.
"Last time I checked," he continued, "a bended knee is not, nor shall it ever be a conservative tradition."
He went on to argue that people like him (i.e. a black conservative) absolutely terrify liberals.
"I'm speaking from experience when I tell you that there is nothing on this green earth that a liberal progressive fears more than a black American who wants a better life and a smaller government," West said.
A session at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) focused on the GOP reaching out to minorities descended into chaos Friday afternoon after a male audience member asked what Frederick Douglass’s former slave master had to be sorry for: “For giving him food and shelter?”
“It seems to be that you’re reaching out to voters, in the method and program that you’re offering us, at the expense of young white Southern males like myself — my demographic,” 30-year-old Scott Terry of North Carolina said during a question and answer session during a discussion called, “Trump The Race Card: Are You Sick And Tired Of Being Called A Racist When You Know You’re Not One?”
The broad brushes are out on the left in an effort to paint all conservatives and especially Republicans as holding the same racist opinions as Terry. We don't. The Blaze notes that [emphasis added]:
Terry was accompanied by Matthew Heimbach, founder of the White Student Union at Towson University. TheBlaze spoke to Heimbach Friday to verify the statements were in accurate and in context. Terry is also a member of the White Students Union at Towson.
This past Wednesday, the White Student Union's website included this announcement [emphasis added]*:
As close to two dozen of us prepare to head to the Conservative Political Action Conference labeled as independent, Towson College Republicans, Campaign for Liberty supporters, and other conservative organizations we will do our best to engage the issue of preservation of the European-American population and a strong stance against immigration.
Simply put, Scott Terry, Matthew Heimbach, and the other gate-crashers they brought with them are neither conservative nor Republican.
Perhaps some good can come of this. Last year, I shot video of K. Carl Smith--he was the presenter at CPAC who's presentation was disrupted by Terry. Smith had one of the best speeches at the Rally for Common Sense. Here's what I wrote about it at the time:
Senate conservative Ted Cruz (R-TX) has breathed new life into the defund Obamacare movement. As the Washinton Post reports:
Outspoken freshman Sen. Ted Cruz intends to offer an amendment to the stopgap spending plan under debate in Congress this week that would defund President Obama’s health care law until the nation’s economy grows at a rate in line with historical averages.
The most severe and damaging economic impacts of Obamacare have yet to occur, as they will come with the law’s full implementation and the implementation of its funding mechanisms in 2014. After that point, this law will be more entrenched and its damaging effects will be much more difficult to amend.
The Democrats control the Senate so even if the Conservatives unite behind Ted Cruz, it's unlikely that they will succeed.
On this episode, the Afghan military takes control of the Coalition Forces' oldest base, we see how there are some things that technology just cannot replace, an Air National Guard unit quietly passes a significant milestone, we look at the sacrifices that have been make in Afghanistan, and we see what it's like to be the wife of a deployed service member.
The Washington Post's Bob Woodward ripped into President Barack Obama on "Morning Joe" today, saying he's exhibiting a "kind of madness I haven't seen in a long time" for a decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf because of budget concerns.
"Can you imagine Ronald Reagan sitting there and saying, 'Oh, by the way, I can't do this because of some budget document?'" Woodward said.
"Or George W. Bush saying, 'You know, I'm not going to invade Iraq because I can't get the aircraft carriers I need?'" Or even Bill Clinton saying, 'You know, I'm not going to attack Saddam Hussein's intelligence headquarters,' ... because of some budget document?"
American military resolve goes back even further. Reagan renewed America's military confidence after it had been eroded by the Vietnam War and a feckless President Jimmy Carter. President Carter's only use of the American military was to crash a bunch of helicopters in the Iranian desert in a failed attempt to free the hostages. But the article above also calls to mind Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. Roosevelt sent the fleet, which was based in the Atlantic Ocean, around the world, but not everyone approved of it:
Senator Eugene Hale, the chairman of the Senate Naval Appropriation Committee, threatened to cut the fleet's funding.
Responding in typical fashion, Roosevelt replied that he already had the money and dared Congressional leaders to "try and get it back."
In light of the President's recent funding priorities, is the Benghazi debacle really surprising?
The sequester “cuts” are subtracted after increasing appropriations subject to the sequester at the rate of inflation and adding back in more than a trillion dollars (over ten years) of spending exempted from the sequester.
Each year federal spending is increased based on population growth and inflation. That increase becomes the new baseline budget. That annual bump is about 6% this year, so a 2.4% sequester half-way through the fiscal year means that this year's budget will be more than 4.5% larger than last year's.
But, according to the President, this trivial cut is the end of the world. The White House has launched the classic FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) campaign against the coming sequester. Politico reports that the administration is: "releasing state by state details of the pain and suffering the sequester will cause..." TrimTabs president and CEO Charles Biderman doesn't think that they can be serious:
Biderman goes on to make the point that the government does not want to cut anything.
It's a classic game of brinksmanship. The Democrat view of the economy is that economic success is driven by government spending so cutting government spending will harm the economy. Republicans see a world where smaller government gets out of the way of business unleashing economic growth.
This is only the opening act. The real fight will occur after the sequester goes into effect on March 1st and both sides try to get the press to report their economic outlook.
Yesterday, both 24thState.com and Hennessy's View reported that the Missouri GOP seems to be flirting with the Medicaid expansion.
I just listened to St. Louis Public Radio's Politically Speaking Podcast. They had some surprising comments. Around the 22:30 mark in the NPR audio at that link,
Chris McDaniel, Jo Mannies, and Jason Rosenbaum speculate that Republican Speaker
of the Missouri House, Tim Jones, may be moving toward compromise with
Liberal Gov. Jay Nixon on Medicaid expansion.
At last weekend's state-wide Lincoln Days, Jones was crystal clear on the Medicaid expansion. At 24:45 in the video below, he's asked about Gov. Nixon's effort to implement Medicaid expansion. Jones takes a hard line against it, which is exactly what the conservative grassroots expects.
The ever-growing U.S. government has an edgy social, ethical, and political character. It is distasteful to a majority of persons who vote Republican and to independent voters, as well as to perhaps one fifth of those who vote Democrat. The Republican leadership’s kinship with the socio-political class that runs modern government is deep. Country class Americans have but to glance at the Media to hear themselves insulted from on high as greedy, racist, violent, ignorant extremists. Yet far has it been from the Republican leadership to defend them. Whenever possible, the Republican Establishment has chosen candidates for office – especially the Presidency – who have ignored, soft-pedaled or given mere lip service to their voters’ identities and concerns.
Paul McKinley is the Republican running to replace Jesse Jackson Jr. Earlier this month, Jackson plead guilty to misusing campaign funds. In fighting among the Democrat candidates may create an opportunity for McKinley to pick up this traditionally Democrat seat.
Tea Party Conservative who began blogging at http://RebootCongress.NET when TARP passed. Email me: contact@RebootCongress.net. Help support my work: Donate Bitcoins
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