Feds Sting Amish Farmer Selling Raw Milk Locally

Feds sting Amish farmer selling raw milk locally - Washington Times: "A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

The product in question: unpasteurized milk."

Texas Bill Would Make Invasive Pat-Downs a Felony

Texas Bill Would Make Invasive Pat-Downs a Felony - FoxNews.com: "A former Miss USA's claims of being groped during a pat-down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport could be a felony under a bill gaining momentum in the Texas Legislature.

The bill would make it illegal for a security officer to intentionally touch someone's private areas -- even atop clothing -- unless they have probable cause to believe the person is carrying something illegal."

President Obama, you're no Ronald Reagan

This should be obvious: President Obama, you're no Ronald Reagan | Examiner Editorial | Opinion | Washington Examiner: "The numbers tell the story. The Commerce Department reported yesterday that the U.S. economy grew at an anemic 1.8 percent rate during the first quarter of 2011, more evidence that the Obama recovery has been tepid, at best. At a comparable point in Reagan's presidency, the shaky economy he inherited was headed to a robust recovery, with gross domestic product surging by 5.1 percent in the first quarter of 1983. For the rest of 1983, the economy grew at a 4.5 percent rate, then leaped 7.2 percent in 1984, as Reagan won a landslide re-election. Today, the Federal Reserve Board projects GDP growth of 3.1 percent to 3.3 percent in 2011, and 3.5 percent to 4.2 percent in 2012. Note, too, that Reagan took office after a year of 13.5 percent inflation, but by 1984, it was 4.3 percent."

The Keynesian Growth Discount

The Keynesian Growth Discount - WSJ.com: "Imagine if President Obama had introduced his original stimulus in February 2009 with the vow that, 26 months later, GDP would be growing by 1.8% and the jobless rate would be 8.8%. Does anyone think it would have passed?"

Glenn Beck Interviews Rep. Allen West

Glenn Beck interviews Rep. Allen West (R-FL), who although newly elected, is Beck's favorite 2012 presidential pick.  When asked by a fawning Glenn if he was running, West replied, "Not now". 

Andrew Breitbart: Mainstream Media Must be Defeated

A review of Andrew Breitbart's new book, "Righteous Indignation": 

Breitbart: Mainstream Media Must be Defeated | Red County: "Breitbart writes about himself (not an easy task, as any writer can attest) brilliantly, fearless of his past even when admitting being ashamed by episodes within it. This kind of honesty is the true genius of Righteous, for as the book will undoubtedly inspire a legion of Breitbart acolytes who will participate in the media transformation that is soon to reach critical mass, it also may inspire a rethinking what it means to be conservative. If anyone can put conservatism on its head and reset the norms for what defines ‘acceptable’ conservatism, it is Andrew Breitbart."

The Biggest US Economic Story Of The Year: The Federal Government Vs. Boeing

The Biggest US Economic Story Of The Year: The Federal Government Vs. Boeing: "For a U.S. company, for example, the prospect that Boeing’s $2 billion investment might be effectively confiscated by the government will be one more reason to build the next factory in a foreign country. The U.S. government won’t be able to sue to prevent the startup of production in Mexico, Canada, China, etc."

Leftists Don’t Form ‘Public Interest’ Groups–They Form Government Interest Groups

Leftists Don’t Form ‘Public Interest’ Groups–They Form Government Interest Groups - Big Government: "Those of the Left rarely like to admit or acknowledge that they are of the Left.
Witness their repeated vacillations on what they call themselves. It was “progressive” – until people figured out what that meant and loathed it.

So they bastardized the classical definition of “liberal” – until people found out what they meant by that and loathed it.
So they are now back to “progressive” – hoping that no one remembers how much they loathed it the last go ‘round.
So too is it with the Leftist grievance groups. The assemblages that exist aren’t really to promote their alleged agenda items – but to grow government, and demonize and silence those who stand opposed to their so doing."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Obama's Energy Secretary

"Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe." – Steven Chu


Note:  I hope he's happy. 

Mike Pence Introduces Bill to End the Federal Reserve’s Dual Mandate

U.S. Congressman Mike Pence released the following statement today as he introduced legislation to scale back the mandate of the Federal Reserve:

“Since 1977 the Fed has been forced to develop monetary policy that balances concerns for employment and inflation. The bill I’m introducing today will end that dual mandate and put the Fed back in the business of solely focusing on price stability and preventing inflation.

“The Fed’s QE2 decision earlier this month to print $600 billion, as an attempt to reduce unemployment, is another example of the failure of its dual mandate. By using monetary stimulus in this way, the central bank has actually taken steps that will prove inflationary in the long run. Printing money is no substitute for sound fiscal policy.

“The Federal Reserve should focus solely on controlling inflation.  Unemployment is a matter of great seriousness to the American people, but it is the job of the Congress and the President to put forth pro-growth policies on taxes, to rein in government spending, and to reduce the regulatory burden in order to create an environment that is friendly to our nation’s job creators and that sustains long-term employment. The Fed’s full employment mandate has, too often, led to short-term fixes with long-term inflationary consequences that will not lead to job creation. It’s time to return the Federal Reserve to the singular mission of protecting the fundamental strength and integrity of the dollar.”

Government Creates Poverty

John Stossel: Government Creates Poverty: "It is intuitive to assume that, when people struggle, government 'help' is the answer. The opposite is true. American groups who are helped the most, do the worst."

Why Isn't Obama Celebrating High Oil Prices?

RealClearPolitics - Why Isn't Obama Celebrating High Oil Prices?: "The left's 'energy' initiatives of the past decade -- the entire purpose of energy policy, in fact -- have been aimed at artificially driving fossil fuel prices up to incentivize the bitter clingers to embrace the government's Utopian energy schemes. No secret has been made of it. 

In 2008, candidate Barack Obama was asked by CNBC's John Harwood, 'So could the (high) oil prices help us?' Obama: 'I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment.' Sudden spikes are bad (politically speaking), but gradual price spikes? Helpful. That same year, current U.S. 'Energy' Secretary (then just a zany professor) Steven Chu clarified that 'somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.'"

WHEN BERNANKE SAYS "QE" YOU SAY "PRINTING MONEY"

Wednesday, April 27, Federal Reserve Chairman, Helicopter Ben Bernanke, will hold the unconstitutional, private banking cartel's first ever press conference, in an attempt to put lipstick on the inflation pig he's created using a monetary scheme called, "Quantitative Easing", or "QE".  

Quantitative Easing is an Orweillan term basically meaning printing money (or in this case, the electronic version thereof) to buy our own debt (bonds).  I know, it's hard to wrap your head around. You have to think a little bit like Bernie Madoff to understand it.  Of course, calling it quantitative easing, or QE, sounds so much more sophisticated, strategic, mysterious, and indecipherable that it results in virtually no push back from the public.  So far.  

Never before in U.S. history, going back to the Federal Reserve's creation, has this monetary "tool" been used to the extreme it is being used now.  Not to worry though, attempting to print your way to prosperity has been used in other countries (see:  hyperinflation, Weimar Republic and Zimbabwe).  

You cannot print excess dollars without causing inflation.  As more money is printed, existing dollars become worth less, and when it's done to this degree, worthless.  Hence, we see the dollar crashing and prices of almost all commodities, not just oil, soaring around the world.  Of course, the government stats tell us that there is no inflation.  Don't believe it.  John Williams from Shadowstats.com has calculated that if inflation was calculated the way the government used to do it, before they manipulated it to show a deceptively lower number, inflation would now be 9.6%.  

Bernanke himself said that inflation was "too low", and that a goal of QE1 (the first round) and QE2 (the second round of cash infusion that was "necessary" because the first one worked so well).  If you eat or use energy, I know you'll agree that it's safe to say that he's getting his wish.

Cross Posted on:  Red County

The End of QEII: It’s Time to Make the Donuts

From the world's largest bond manager: PIMCO | Global Central Bank Focus - The End of QEII: It’s Time to Make the Donuts: 

From Donuts to QEI and QEII: The New Profit Illusion

"Just as Charles Ponzi needed donuts to turn back a suspicious crowd of investors, the Fed needs “donuts” in order to fill the bellies of the literally millions of investors worldwide who worry about the alarmingly large U.S. budget deficit and the impact that the U.S. debt dilemma could have on their Treasury holdings. Investors are no doubt worried they may have bought into an unsustainable scheme: the creation of a scourge of debt so large that the Fed itself has had to purchase the debt to keep the game going.

All that the Fed has had to do thus far to keep the game going is press the “on” button to its virtual printing press, crediting the account of the U.S. Treasury. In the process, the Fed has kept the demand for U.S. Treasuries high, perhaps deceptively so, attracting with its redolence many classes of buyers, including households, banks, pension funds, insurance companies and foreign investors. Their collective buying has created what we believe to be a profit illusion with many investors mistakenly believing they can continuously reap profits from perpetually falling bond yields and rising bond prices, just as they have had opportunity to do over the past 30 years, amid the great secular bull market for Treasuries and the bond market more generally."

Note: "QE", or "Quantitative Easing" is a fancy term basically meaning printing money to buy our own debt, a ponzi scheme that would make Bernie Madoff blush. Of course, calling it "printing money", or "creating money out of thin air", might result in some resistance from the public, so the more sophisticated sounding term is used.  The result:  Bubbles and Inflation

Monetary Reform: The Key to Spending Restraint

Lewis Lehrman: Monetary Reform: The Key to Spending Restraint - WSJ.com: "The solution to the problem is equally simple. First, in order to limit Fed discretion, the dollar must be made convertible to a weight unit of gold by congressional statute—at a price that preserves the level of nominal wages in order to avoid the threat of deflation. Second, the government must at the same time be prohibited from financing its deficit at the Fed or in the banks—both at home or abroad. Third, only in the free market for true savings—undisguised by inflationary new Federal Reserve money and banking system credit—will interest rates signal to voters the consequences of growing federal government deficits."

Obama's NLRB Meddling Pure Union Payoff

NLRB meddling pure union payoff | detnews.com | The Detroit News: "The Boeing Co., an innovator in the rebuilding of a recession-ravaged America, found a way to proceed efficiently on a project that would help South Carolina with 1,000 employees already hired, but no.

The National Labor Relations Board has decided that fair play and an improved economy must not get in the way of union wishes. The independent agency, nowadays in the grip of pro-labor Democrats, has filed a complaint to make Boeing desert South Carolina and build the planned 787 Dreamliner passenger planes in the state of Washington."

Tyranny: Obama Levies Bully Tactics to Force Out Another CEO

Government Aims to Oust Forest Labs CEO - WSJ.com: "The 'action against the CEO of Forest Labs is a game changer,' said Richard Westling, a corporate defense attorney in Nashville who has represented executives in different industries against the government.

According to Mr. Westling, 'It would be a mistake to see this as solely a health-care industry issue. The use of sanctions such as exclusion and debarment to punish individuals where the government is unable to prove a direct legal or regulatory violation could have wide-ranging impact.' An exclusion penalty could be more costly than a Justice Department prosecution."

Bernanke's Inflation Paradox

Review & Outlook: Bernanke's Inflation Paradox - WSJ.com: "On the other hand, this dollar flood has also contributed to a boom in commodity prices around the world, spurred inflation in countries with links to the dollar, and prompted investors to seek returns in non-dollar assets that are often risky and in many cases will prove to be a misallocation of capital. All of this, in turn, has reduced growth in real incomes, undermined consumer confidence and raised doubts about the durability of the recovery. The American middle class doesn't feel any richer.

Call this the price of putting all of your economic expansion hopes in Ben Bernanke's monetary basket."

Ron Paul Launches Presidential Campaign

NationalJournal.com - Ron Paul Launches Presidential Campaign - Monday, April 25, 2011: "Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, whose outspoken libertarian views and folksy style made him a cult hero during two previous presidential campaigns, will announce on Tuesday that he's going to try a third time.

Sources close to Paul, who is in his 12th term in the House, said he will unveil an exploratory presidential committee, a key step in gearing up for a White House race. He will also unveil the campaign’s leadership team in Iowa, where the first votes of the presidential election will be cast in caucuses next year."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Democrat pollster/analyst Doug Schoen:  "The best candidate to run against Obama is Obama."

White House Confirms Work Underway on Executive Order That Critics Say Will Stifle Political Free Speech

WH Confirms Work Underway on Executive Order That Critics Say Will Stifle Political Speech | CNSnews.com

Regulation: The Hidden Tax

Regulation: The hidden tax - Sacramento Living - Sacramento Food and Wine, Home, Health | Sacramento Bee: "The federal government is on track to spend more than $3.5 trillion this year. What most people don't know is that government actually costs about 50 percent more than what it spends. That's because complying with federal regulation costs an additional $1.75 trillion - nearly an eighth of GDP. And almost none of that cost appears on the budget.

Regulation is a hidden tax that raises the price of goods. It's tempting to think that businesses bear most of the burden. But consumers are the ones who actually pay, because companies pass on their costs.

Just how regulated is the economy? The just-released 2011 edition of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's annual 'Ten Thousand Commandments' study has some answers. At the end of 2009, the Code of Federal Regulations was 157,974 pages long. In 2010, 3,752 new rules hit the books - equivalent to a new regulation coming into effect every 2 hours and 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

An additional 4,225 regulations are at various stages of the pipeline right now."

Sarah Palin Predicted Federal Reserve Failure and Inflation Sun

Sarah Palin for the Fed? - April 24, 2011 - The New York Sun: "The big question as Chairman Bernanke gets set for his first quarterly press conference is how Sarah Palin was able to figure out sooner than everyone else that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of quantitative easing wouldn’t work. Disappointment in the Fed’s policies is being reported this morning at the top of page one of the New York Times. It reports that “most Americans are not feeling the difference” from the Fed’s “experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt.” It reports that “a broad range of economists say that the disappointing results show the limits of the central bank’s ability to lift the nation from its economic malaise.”

It’s a terrific story, and well-timed, given that on Wednesday Mr. Bernanke will break tradition and meet with the press. It is part of the Fed’s effort to get ahead of what is emerging as a public relations catastrophe, as gasoline is nearing six dollars a gallon at some pumps, the cost of groceries is skyrocketing, and the value of the dollars that Mr. Bernanke’s institution issues as Federal"

Does Limiting Government Really Condemn Children To Starvation?

Does Limiting Government Really Condemn Children To Starvation? - Bill Flax - The Courage To Do Nothing - Forbes: "What if Washington stopped doling out relief now? Would a vacuum prevail? It’s an odd presumption considering free markets have lifted so many millions out of poverty and America is the world’s most generous dispenser of private charity. Maybe sanctimonious liberals fear such a vacuum because they are notoriously stingy.

People who oppose government redistribution contribute four times as much charity as those who favor such schemes. This includes 3.5 times as much to secular charities. Those who prefer free markets also give more blood, are more likely to provide directions, to return change given mistakenly or offer assistance to the homeless."

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude." -- Calvin Coolidge

America’s Ever Expanding Welfare Empire

America’s Ever Expanding Welfare Empire - Peter Ferrara - On The Cutting Edge - Forbes: "A fundamental misconception about America’s welfare state misleads millions of voters to reflexively support ever bigger and more generous government. William Voegeli fingers the attitude in his book, Never Enough: America’s Limitless Welfare State: “no matter how large the welfare state, liberal politicians and writers have accused it of being shamefully small” and “contemptibly austere.”

Barbara Ehrenreich expresses the attitude in her book, Nickled and Dimed: “guilt doesn’t go anywhere near far enough; the appropriate emotion is shame” regarding the stingy miserliness of America’s welfare state. In light of the current budget debate, with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan putting fundamental entitlement reform on the table, this misconception especially needs to be corrected."

TSA Screener Charged with Child Pornography

Airport passenger screener charged in distributing child pornography | Philadelphia Inquirer | 04/23/2011: "A passenger screener at Philadelphia International Airport is facing charges that he distributed more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook, records show.

Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.

Homeland Security agents arrested the TSA officer March 24, and he is being held without bail."

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin

Obama says it’s only ‘fair’ to raise taxes on the rich. He’s wrong

Obama says it’s only ‘fair’ to raise taxes on the rich. He’s wrong.  "We are not a perfect opportunity society in the United States. But if we want to approach that ideal, we must define fairness as meritocracy, embrace a system that rewards merit, and work tirelessly for true equal opportunity. The system that makes this possible, of course, is free enterprise. When I work harder or longer hours in the free-enterprise system, I am generally paid more than if I work less in the same job. Investments in my education translate into market rewards. Clever ideas usually garner more rewards than bad ones, as judged not by a politburo, but by citizens in the marketplace."