Race Attack On Sleeping White Kid Not A Hate Crime In Liberal Austin

If this had happened at the home of a black family living in a white neighborhood, the the Obama Regime would have taken action to make sure that the FBI would already be investigating and Barry Hussein would have already spoken out on the situation. At a minimum, the cops in Texas' most liberal city would have classified the incident as a hate crime and devoted extra manpower to it.

But hey, since the little boy whose window was broken by a brick with a racial message scrawled on it is white, it is a low-priority misdemeanor incident.

Police are investigating a brick with an offensive message thrown into the window of an East Austin home.

The brick, thrown through a 4-year-old boy’s bedroom window, read “Keep Eastside Black. Keep Eastside Strong.”

* * *

Police have not classified this incident as a hate crime, said Austin Police Sgt. Richard Stresing, because hate crimes target an individual specifically because of an identifying characteristic, like race.

So when a white family living in a predominantly black neighborhood has a brick thrown through their window with a message about keeping the neighborhood black, that doesn't qualify as being targeted specifically because race? Would the same judgment be made if the it were a black family living in a white neighborhood getting a brick through the window with a message to keep the neighborhood white? The question answers itself.

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Obama Regime Admits Health Care Scheme NBot About Saving Money, Controlling Costs

But oddly, those are the reasons so often given for implementing such a plan -- Barry Hussein has even said so.

But now we get to the truth, after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has shown how costly and inefficient the current proposals really are.

But now Peter Orszag, Obama's director of the Office of Management and Budget has admitted the truth -- any savings are a long way off.

The point of the proposal, however, was never to generate savings over the next decade.

In other words, for a decade we will piss away even more money than would have otherwise been spent. And in return for spending more money, here's what we lose.

1. Freedom to choose what's in your plan
   
2. Freedom to be rewarded for healthy living, or pay your real costs
   
3. Freedom to choose high-deductible coverage
   
4. Freedom to keep your existing plan
   
5. Freedom to choose your doctors
   

So got that -- higher cost, less freedom. Are Americans really so stupid as to think that is a better deal? Because that is what Obama and his cronies are counting on to get this plan adopted.

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Time To Fix The Texas Social Studies Curriculum

I've sounded off on this point a couple of times before, but today's Houston Chronicle editorial on some proposals for revising the state's social studies curriculum leads me to bring it up again.

But first, the Chroncle's silly, error-ridden editorial.

Last week, Stephen Colbert tipped his ironic hat to the Texas State Board of Education. The board had already allowed creationism to be considered in Texas biology classes, the comedian said approvingly, and now it was pushing for more Christianity to be taught in U.S. history. But why stop there? Colbert asked. What about math? Five plus two doesn't have to equal seven — not if you're Jesus. And for that matter, what about penmanship? Why not teach students to really CROSS their T's?

There's truthiness in those jokes. Of the six people who the board appointed as “experts” to review the current curriculum, three are on record as Christian soldiers, battling to bring back a golden age of God in American government.

Evangelist David Barton founded WallBuilders, which aims to rebuild America's Christian ramparts in the way Old Testament Jews rebuilt Jerusalem's walls. Daniel Dreisbach, a professor at American University, takes a similar (if anti-wall) position: He's known for arguing that the Supreme Court misunderstood Thomas Jefferson's ideas about a “high wall” separating church and state. And then there's Peter Marshall, the head of Peter Marshall Ministries, who preaches that Watergate, the Vietnam War and Hurricane Katrina were God's wrath, ignited by the nation's sexual immorality.

Those three reviewers, in their recommendations to revamp K-12 social studies, aim to emphasize the early years of American history — the era in which the U.S. was almost entirely a Christian nation. Barton, for instance, advocates teaching kids not just about the major founding fathers, but some 250 others, such as Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Rush, John Witherspoon, and Gouverneur Morris. All three of the conservative reviewers urge intensive study of original documents such as the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Pennsylvania Charter of Liberties and Frame of Government, and the Virginia Declaration of Rights.

But the problem is, teachers don't have enough time to teach everything intensively. And if they spend a large part of the school year parsing the fine points of the Pilgrim and Revolutionary eras, they'll have to skim lightly over the rest of American history — as in, those years when slaves were freed, when women won the right to vote, and when minorities fought for their civil rights. Those parts of American history are important, too.

Christianity undeniably influenced the European settlement of North America and the founding of the United States. That said, some of the founding fathers would have described themselves as deists rather than Christians, and thanks to the separation of church and state we've never been an officially Christian country. Though about half of our citizens are Christian, we are no longer only a Christian nation — just as we're no longer a nation run solely by white male property owners.

It would be wrong not to teach our kids about America's Christian roots. But it would be just as wrong to pretend that the rest of our history matters less. In Texas schools, five plus two should always equal seven — whether or not that answer matches the curriculum reviewers' goals.

When the Houston Chronicle cannot even get correct the percentage of Americans self-identifying as Christian (it is over 2/3 of Americans, not half), it is probably best to dismiss the piece. And the belittling comments about the three "Christian soldiers" (one a respected historian, another the former vice chairman of the Republican Party of Texas) shows a significant bias against the beliefs of a majority of Texans (I'm curious -- does the editorial board "look like Texas" in terms of the religious affiliations and beliefs of its members, or is it shockingly lacking in both the diversity of the state and its reflection of the public it serves?).

But the reports attacked by the paper are not the end of the process, and there is a long way to go in re-writing the standards, including much more input from the public and educators in the field like myself.

But where I am disturbed is that the editorial -- and the state of Texas --might once again miss the chance to deal with what I and a number of other social studies teachers see as a serious flaw with our state's sequence of courses in the field.

What, you may ask?

How about the scandalously absurd sequencing of courses from grade 6 through grade 12?

Currently, the sequence of courses from middle school to graduation looks like this:

• Grade 6 -- World Cultures
  
• Grade 7 -- Texas History
  
• Grade 8 -- US History through Reconstruction
  
• Grade 9 -- World Geography
  
• Grade 10 -- World History
  
• Grade 11 -- US History since Reconstruction
  
• Grade 12 -- US Government & Economics
  

What's the problem? The sixth grade course is a rather amorphous amorphous blend of geography, history, and current events. It is then followed by the parochial Texas history course. The founding of America and the Civil War are taught in eighth grade, but then the rest of the American experience doesn't follow for another three years!

We would do better to re-sequence the entire thing, perhaps as follows:

• Grade 6 -- Texas History
  
• Grade 7 -- World Geography
  
• Grade 8 -- World History through the Middle Ages
  
• Grade 9 -- World History since the Renaissance
  
• Grade 10 -- US History through Reconstruction
  
• Grade 11 -- US History since Reconstruction
  
• Grade 12 -- US Government & Economics
  

The benefit? More time to pursue the richness of world history, continuity in American history, and a more logical flow of content from the beginning of middle school through graduation.

Texas -- we have a chance to fix our social studies curriculum so that it makes more sens in terms of scope and sequence. Let's not continue with the current sequence because "we've always done it that way". Let's instead have our classes build upon what came before, with courses that logically follow one another grouped together to increase both retention of material and the development of related concepts.

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Obama, The Palestinians, And The Holocaust

I think this one from Dry Bones says it all.

After all, Obama's analogy only works if the following things were true in 1933.

• Jews controlled 97% of Europe while Germans controlled 3%.
  
• Jews were regularly murdering innocent German women and children in terror attacks.
  
• German policy was to avoid the killings of innocent Jewish civilians.
  
• Jewish acts of terror were blamed on German intransigence by the international community.
  
• Germany made repeated concessions to Jewish demands, while the Jews refused to live up to any agreement made with the Germans.
  

Of course, none of those conditions applied in Germany in 1933 -- but every single one of them has been the status quo for decades in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. So either Barack Obama is woefully ignorant of history, perniciously hateful of Jews, or simply finds it convenient to belittle the Holocaust by drawing an inapt moral equivalence between the innocent victims of the Holocaust and murderous aggressors in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Or perhaps all three.

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Obama Regime: Differnt Standard For Government Than For Private Sector

That's the only way to look at this one.

When companies accepted government bailouts, they were forbidden to send executives on junkets to resorts for conferences. There was talk about responsible use of taxpayer money

Government agencies, even ones that are insolvent in an age when we are running the largest deficits in US history, can still spend loads of taxpayer cash for such trips, though.

A Social Security Administration motivational management conference held at a high-end Valley resort last week cost $700,000, the SSA told the ABC15 Investigators.

Costs for the conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers, and food, an administration official said.

A spokesperson from the SSA's regional office said the conference was essential, that teleconferencing was not an option, and that all 675 managers needed to meet in person.

The SSA provided ABC15 with a list of courses provided at the conference, which included "Techniques to Empower You," "Mentoring the Generations," and "Emotional Intelligence."

But the information provided by the SSA did not mention an after-hours casino trip, family members staying at the hotel, or the 20-minute dance party ABC15 observed.

Just one more example of the Obama regime wanting to control you life while exempting government.

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Hutchison Rakes In Bucks For Governor's Race

Kay Bailey Hutchison is going all-out to make the 2010 gubernatorial primary a race. And her fundraising numbers certainly bear that out.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison had publicly vanished from the governor's race during the past several months, but burst back on the scene Monday with an announcement that she has $12.5 million for a campaign to knock Gov. Rick Perry out of office.

Hutchison said she will formally announce as a candidate next month. She described the $6.7 million she raised during the first half of this year as a record for a Texas politician.

“This is a huge victory,” Hutchison said.

Perry has announced that he raised $4.2 million in the final nine days of June and had $9.3 million in the bank.

Given the Texas Democrats' notoriously shallow bench, it is unlikely that any Democrat could even come close to either of these two Republicans. That means the GOP primary will be the election. Her's hoping that Texas Republicans make the correct choice by sending Rick Perry packing and nominating Kay to be our next governor.

Which, of course, will sets the stage for the election of Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams as our United States Senator.

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Chavez Announces Next Obama Administration Foreign Policy Initiative

Given that ol' Barry Hussein has been following the lead of Hugo Chavez in attempting to overthrow the legitimate Honduran government and reinstall the legally-removed former president of that nation, we can only presume that this is the next step for the Obama Regime.

MOSCOW, July 13 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called on the United States to withdraw its "gringo" troops from its airbase in Honduras to protest the recent coup in the Central American state.

* * *

"If the U.S. really was against the coup it would have already withdrawn its troops from the Palmerola military base," Chavez said in his Sunday TV program, Hello President.

The U.S., which has repeatedly condemned the coup, has some 350 soldiers deployed at an airbase in Honduras.

"Obama, pull your gringo soldiers out of Honduras, deprive the rebels of aid, freeze their accounts, stop giving them visas, and you will see how their rule ends," Chavez went on.

The dictator of Venezuela has spoken. Obama should be falling in line shortly -- especially if Fidel Castro makes a similar call. Supporters of freedom and constitutional government should tremble.

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NY Times Columnist States A Half-Truth

If you hadn't been following the John Ensign story, this bit in Gail Collins' NY Times column would no doubt conjure up images of GOP senators and congressmen -- and a couple of pastors -- holding a massive Roman orgy.

But lately, the Ensign saga has become more and more fascinating. Every social conservative in Washington seems to have been involved.

Yeah, but HOW they were involved is the real key here.

They weren't sleeping with Ensign or his mistress.

They were urging their friend and colleague to break off the affair. They were encouraging him to reconcile with his wife. They were suggesting ways for him to mitigate the harm done to the family of his mistress and his own family. Indeed, it appears that they were trying to get him right with God.

In other words, they were acting like CHRISTIANS.

Remember -- one part of Christian teaching is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Another is that we are all called to repent of our sins and strive to live a better life. And as I've read the revelations of the last couple of days, that's what I see members and spiritual advisers of a Christian group in Washington pushing Ensign towards -- repentance and reformation.

As more details come out about John Ensign, I am beginning to move towards a belief that he may need to resign. But that said, I'm rather proud of the decisions and actions of those who tried to get Ensign back on the straight and narrow path. After all, it is what they ought to have done consistent with their faith.

On the other hand, I'm rather ashamed of Gail Collins and her tawdry innuendo that appears designed to deceive rather than inform her readers.

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Arlen Specter Defines Arrogance

Let's see -- Arlen Specter is a Democrat who ran jumped ship to the GOP early in his career because it was the only way for him to get elected to public office. He recently jumped ship back to the Democrats (after decades as a Republican) when it became apparent that he was going to lose the GOP primary to someone who more closely represented the GOP platform. In other words, opportunistic party-switching is one of the defining characteristics of Specter's career.

So of course, having just switched to the Democrat Party this year so he can run for office as a Democrat, he is now accusing his opponent of having become a Democrat in 2006 just so he could run for office as a Democrat!

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter called his fellow Democrat, Rep. Joe Sestak, a "flagrant hypocrite" and accused his rival of registering as a Democrat "just in time to run for Congress."

Sestak has said that he will challenge Specter, who has the backing of President Obama and party leaders, for the Democratic Senate nomination next year. Specter, a longtime Republican, switched his party registration to Democrat this year.

On Thursday, Specter's campaign sought to bring into question Sestak's roots to the Democratic Party. Specter's campaign sent out a list of Sestak's voting history in Delaware County, which the senator's campaign said showed that Sestak registered as an Independent in 1971, didn't vote in any primary elections from 1971-2005 and that he officially registered as a Democrat in February of 2006. Sestak was elected as a Democrat to the House in 2006.

Sestak's response? That as a military officer he remained a registered independent because he believes that military officers should not be a member of any political party. Having grown up on military bases as the son of a military officer, I've a number of officers who took precisely that position and acted upon it. It is a position I find principled and admirable, even if I would argue that voting in a primary does not undermine the non-artisan nature of the military. I'm therefore not offended at all by Sestak's voter registration history.

I am, on the other hand, quite offended by Specter's hypocrisy in accusing ANYONE of manipulating party registration just to find a convenient banner under which to seek office.

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While You Were Otherwise Distracted

You know, by stories about Sanford and Ensign and their affairs, speculation about Sarah Palin's resignation, and the Michael Jackson saga -- here's what the news media HASN'T been telling you about the conduct of the Democrat majority in Washington.

** Rep. John Conyers' (D-MI) wife Monica was convicted on bribery charges. An associate also implicated Rep. Conyers and Senator Stabenow (D-MI) in the crimes. The state-run media hasn't touched this.

** The jury in Rep. Jefferson's (D-LA)criminal case saw tape this week of him accepting bribes and were handed photos of his frozen cold cash this week.

** Mr. John Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud this week. He pledged to cooporate with prosecutors in the investigation of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) in exchange for the lenient sentence.

** Criminal accusations against Senator Dodd (D-Conn.)continue. Dodd has not been straightforward about the value of his 10-acre waterfront home in Ireland. Since 2002 he listed the value of the home at $250,000. In February his office changed that to $127,000. In March, Dodd told The Hartford Current he paid $177,000 for the home. In May he told Newsweek he paid $207,000. Acording to the senator's most recent financial disclosure form, the cottage is actually worth $658,000.

** Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) has come under scrutiny as more defense contractors associated with him are being investigated. This time the names include Mountaintop Technologies which received $10 million in earmarks and Kuchera Industries which got $9 million in earmarks in 2008. The Pennsylvania representative allegedly used his seniority and position on the U.S. House Appropriations committee to secure the earmarks that he passed on to companies with whom he had relationships. Donations from executives of Mountaintop to Murtha's campaigns amounted to $40,200 while employees of Kuchera kicked in $89,000.

** Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (Dems) are under investigation for taking an illegal trip to Cuba where these members sucked up to Fidel Castro.

** The House ethics committee opened an inquiry into whether Caribbean trips taken by Representative Charles Rangel violated House gift rules.

** Sen. Inouye (D-Hawaii) acts on behalf of a constituent, who turns out to be in large part himself (a troubled bank in which his ownership share makes up ‘the bulk of his personal wealth’), via Instapundit. The media is silent.

** The House so far has ignored Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois over his reported effort to persuade ousted Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to appoint him to fill President Obama's former Senate seat.

** And, there's also Speaker Pelosi who lied about her knowlege of waterboarding and then charged the CIA with lying.

Of course, why would you want to know about those things -- after all, Democrats brought Hope'N'Change to America, and anything that interferes with implementing the agenda of Barack Obama is unpatriotic, so we just have to let Democrat corruption slide.

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New Haven Firemen To Testafy Against Sotomayor!

This will be great -- two bona fide heroes posing the question that Sotomayor needs to answer on live television.

You know -- "Why don't you think we are entitled to equal protection of the law under the Fourteenth Amendment?"

Republicans will call two New Haven firefighters to testify in the confirmation hearings of Sonia Sotomayor next week, making clear the GOP's intent to place affirmative action at the center of Senate battle over Sotomayor's nomination.

A Judiciary Committee press release lists Frank Ricci and Ben Vargas as expected Republican witnesses. Ricci was the lead plaintiff in Ricci v. New Haven, the controversial case in which Sotomayor ruled the New Haven fire department acted constitutionally when it promoted black firefighters who scored lower than their white counterparts on a qualifying test. Vargas was the only non-white co-plaintiff in that case.

Demsare bringin in a bunch of political and social elites to support Sotomayor, but these Average Americans are going to have their say, too. How refreshing!

Maybe someone on the committee will press the Wise Latina to explain why she dismissed the rights of these firefighters with no substantive analysis of their case in an opinion of less than a single page.

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Current Watcher's Council Results

From July 3:

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 points! – The Razor - Settlement
• Second place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Right Truth - LIFE


• Second place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – The Glittering Eye - Affording Everything
• Third place with 2/3 point – (T*) – The Provocateur - The Libertarians Downfall: Conspiracy Theories


• Third place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Joshuapundit - Masquerade In iran
• Third place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Mere Rhetoric - ShhÂ… Massachusetts Proves Mandate-Based Health Reform Will Be A Disaster


• Fourth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – Wolf Howling - Politicized Science
• Fourth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – Soccer Dad - Diehl me out

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 1/3 points! – FaustaÂ’s Blog - Responses to “Coup in Honduras – Correction: This is NOT a coup”
• Second place with 1 2/3 points – Christina Hoff Sommers - Persistent Myths in Feminist Scholarship


• Third place with 1 point – (T*) – The League of Ordinary Gentlemen - Iraq June 30th
• Third place with 1 point – (T*) – EU Referendum - Rigging The Debate


• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Delaware Liberal - Should Sanford Resign?
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Diana West - “Role of Women in Iran Protest Kindles Hope”…OF WHAT?


• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – American Daughter - Religion and Politics DonÂ’t Mix
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – Financial Times - Obama is Choosing to be Weak

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Belated Watcher's Council Results

From June 19:

Winning Council Submissions

• First place with 2 1/3 points! – Wolf Howling - Iran 6/16 – The Fire Still Burning


• Second place with 1 2/3 points – Bookworm Room - ObamaÂ’s belief in the power of his own rhetoric
• Third place with 1 1/3 point – Soccer Dad - The campaignÂ’s the thing


• Fourth place with 1 point – (T*) – Right Truth - When the unbelievable becomes true
• Fourth place with 1 point – (T*) – Mere Rhetoric - Liberal Foreign Policy Experts: This Ahmadinejad Reelection Was Just So Unpredictable!


• Fifth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Joshuapundit - Iran ‘ElectionÂ’ Update
• Fifth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – The Glittering Eye - Dammit They Did What I Said


• Sixth place with 1/3 point – Rhymes With Right - Obama Should Fire Panetta For Cheney Smear — But Supports Him Instead

Winning Non-Council Submissions

• First place with 2 points! – Michelle Malkin - ObamaÂ’s AmeriCrooks and cronies scandal


• Second place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – Christopher Hitchens - DonÂ’t Call It An Election In Iran
• Second place with 1 1/3 points – (T*) – The Hashmonean - Coup DÂ’etat: The Revolutionary Guards In Control of Iran Had Nothing to Fear From Obama Biden (Link Update I)


• Third place with 1 point – (T*) – MidEastAnalysis.com - What Happened in Iran?
• Third place with 1 point – (T*) – The New Republic - Narrative Dissonance


• Third place with 1 point – (T*) – Wall Street Journal - What If Israel Strikes Iran?
• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – The Last Crusade - CNN, FOX NEWS TURN BLIND EYE TO UPRISING IN IRAN


• Fourth place with 2/3 point – (T*) – Legal Insurrection / Hot Air Greenroom - What About The Right Not To Wear Head Covering
• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – Liberty Chick - ACORN Part III


• Fifth place with 1/3 point – (T*) – NewsBusters - Schultz: I ‘AbsolutelyÂ’ Believe Cheney Wants Americans To Die

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Who Elected Michelle Obama Squat?

And why are we paying this much money for her staff?

The salaries for staffers in the Office of First Lady are also on the newest list. The highest paid is Chief of Staff Susan Sher, who gets the top $172,200. Here are the rest:

$140,000
Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$113,000
Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$102,000
Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$90,000
Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$84,000
Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$75,000
Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$70,000
Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$65,000
Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$62,000
Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$60,000
Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$52,500
Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$50,000
Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$45,000
Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)

$40,000
Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$36,000
Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Now I realize that the total expenditure of $1.6 million is a drop in the bucket as far as Barack Obama's trillion dollar deficits are concerned, but for an unelected spouse of an elected official to have such a taxpayer-supported staff reeks of royalty. And yes, I know that Mrs. Obama is not the first to have such a staff, but that makes it no more acceptable.

Of course, the Obama Regime refuses to tell us how much we taxpayers are spending to take Michelle and the kids on vacation trips and date nights (heck, even on ice cream runs -- personal rather than official travel) despite promises of openness and transparency, so I suppose we should be thankful for even being permitted this much insight into the excess expenditures of government.

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A Reminder About Obama's Budget Plans

Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post points out this inconvenient truth about the need to "fatten the beast" in the Era of Hope'N'Change.

You cannot run a progressive government of the kind Obama favors by collecting only 18 percent of the gross domestic product in taxes, which has been the norm over the past 40 years. Nor can you increase the tax take to 24.5 percent of GDP -- which is what Obama proposes to be spending in 2019 -- simply by making the rich pay more.

And if you can't limit those tax increases to the super-rich making over $250,000. . . $200,000. . . $100,000 a year, then taxes are going to need to be raised somewhere. The only place left, of course, is the middle class -- you know, those of us making over $40,000 a year. The people who Obama swore would not see their taxes increased to pay for his programs.

Is this the Change you've been Hoping for?

More At Hot Air

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Former Oilers QB Dead

The Houston Oilers were gone by the time I moved to Houston, so I have no great attachment to that team or its players. however, the murder of Steve McNair is still a very sad thing, though I don't know that I would use the word tragedy to describe it (though it is certainly a tragedy for his family and other loved ones).

For those unaware of the news, McNair and a woman were found shot to death in an apartment/condo in Nashville -- the former QB with multiple gunshot wounds. He appears to have had some sort of relationship with the woman, based upon the fact that there was a vehicle registered in both of their names. I won't speculate what that relationship was without evidence, though at least one article I've read refers to the young woman as his "girlfriend".

However, the details of the case do raise questions -- especially given this bit of information.

McNair was found shot to death in a Nashville condominium he was renting. He suffered several gunshot wounds, including one to the head. [Sahel] Kazemi was found on the floor near him with a single gunshot wound to her head. The Nashville Tennessean reports a pistol was found near her body.

Additionally, Nashville police are not actively looking for suspects. Police have not yet called the deaths the result of a murder-suicide. Autopsies are scheduled for today, after which an official cause of death is likely to be named.

It appears that McNair was the victim rather than the perpetrator in this case. Unfortunately, the end of his life may ultimately overshadow the greatness he showed on the football field.

Steve McNair leaves behind a wife and kids, making this situation all the more sad. That they will have to carry on in the wake of this ugly situation is difficult to contemplate.

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A Favorite Patriotic Musical Bit

The Egg, from the musical 1776.

Enjoy this Fourth of July.

Posted by: Greg at 07:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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In Re. Palin

Like everyone else, I'm still stunned by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's surprise resignation announcement yesterday.

Not because I'm a saddened supporter -- I'm not. I think she was a good pick for VP, and a potential star for the future, but I don't think she is what the GOP needs right now. Rather, because the entire thing is so unexpected and inexplicable.

And as I began, like others (some of which appeared to be nothing more than a liberal echo chamber-- ), musing upon the possible reasons for this resignation, I was left quite confused. Is Palin doomed, I wondered?

Until I realized a possible reason for the resignation that requires looking beyond the immediate political landscape.

Sarah Palin is NOT running for President in 2012. She is going to run for Senator in 2010 -- and bide her time in that office until 2016 or 2020.

Think about it for a minute. Alaska's current GOP senator is not terribly popular in Alaska, and Sarah Palin could easily beat her in a primary -- and is popular enough in Alaska to win the general election handily. But to run as a sitting governor would be difficult for her -- first because she would be taking on an incumbent of her own party, and second because of the string of frivolous ethics complaints filed against her by her political enemies. But out of office, she is not taking time away from her job as governor and she can't be accused of using state resources to advance her candidacy.

Now secure in the US Senate for six years, the following become possible.

1. Palin develops a national record in Washington -- and racks up lots of political IOUs -- campaigning for the 2012 GOP ticket and assorted candidates around the country in 2012.
   
2. In the event that the GOP ticket loses in 2012, she is positioned as a successful Governor and Senator in 2016, when she would be the front-runner for the GOP nomination in a year when the GOP is quite likely to win the presidency after 8 years of Obama.
   
3. In the event the GOP ticket wins in 2012, Palin is a likely Cabinet pick -- perhaps Secretary of Energy, due to her experience with the field in Alaska. She then bides her time until 2020 -- when she will still be in her mid-50s and have a formidable resume among her GOP rivals.
   

Of course, she may just stay out of office for the time being. It's not like this is without precedent.

Remember -- it took Ronald Reagan 12 years from the time he first looked at the presidency (196 to the time he won in 1980. Palin has a book deal, and she can fire up a crowd with her speeches -- and doesn't need a teleprompter, unlike a certain politician I could name.

My biggest hope, though, is that Mark Steyn is wrong about what Palin's move yesterday means -- namely, the definitive end of the age when an ordinary American can aspire to rise to the upper ranks of America's leadership because of the nature of contemporary politics and its impact upon the lives of those who "play the game".

National office will dwindle down to the unhealthily singleminded (Clinton, Obama), the timeserving emirs of Incumbistan (Biden, McCain) and dynastic heirs (Bush). Our loss.

This Independence Day, I hope America is better than that, and that we have not entered a day of elite government by narcissists, careerists, and dynasts -- for if we have, then yesterday's announcement signaled the death of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, which would mean that it was effectively the obituary of our nation.

I'll open the comments on this one.

Posted by: Greg at 03:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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