Today, in 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first Earth-orbiting satellite. The event launched the Space Race. In just a little over a decade, the US would put a man on the moon.

Just mere days ago, Reason.tv broke the fourth wall, the fifth dimension, and the seventh sense by releasing, in conjunction with Reason magazine, the 3D series Fiscal House of Horrors!

The series, including the episodes “I Spend on Your Grave!”, “Night of the Living Debt”, and “Attack of the Killer Compensation!,” illustrate how out-of-control government spending is shredding the economy like Freddy Krueger on steroids.

Reason is happy to release Fiscal House of Horrors in 2D for viewers too scared to confront the federal spending horror in heart-stopping 3D (debt, deficit, and despair)!

Watch and learn. And, as former senator and recidivist presidential candidate Mike Gravel (D-Alaska) says in his warning, don’t be afraid to scream – it just might save your life. And your country’s future!

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Keeping government limited is a practical approach to governing that opens the door to growth and prosperity.

Why?

Consider a fundamental difference between business and government. Any businessman operating successfully is in touch with reality, with change, and acts with speed to make adjustments necessary to survive.

Businesses are not democracies, so a CEO can execute what needs to be done on the spot.

Government is the opposite. It is allergic to change. They say government programs are like headless nails. Once in they’re impossible to get out. Programs produce interests who then fight change.

So it should be obvious that if we want a nation that is vibrant, in touch with reality, changing as it needs to in a timely way, the reach of government must be limited.

Consider Social Security.

With annual expenditures almost 5% of US GDP, it’s the single largest government spending program.

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Am I the only one who saw weakness when President Obama and his departing chief of staff Rahm Emanuel gave each other big, fat, full-bore hug following their speeches at the resignation event in the White House’s East Room on Friday?

Remember, this is on global television. And it has to do with the very top of the United States government. Our friends and enemies were all watching.

I think the hug lacked dignity. It did not send a message of American power and forcefulness. So I fret about the reaction around the world to this kind of fraternity-like emotionalism in full public view.

Why not just a dignified, stand-up, serious handshake? That’s what Reagan would have done. A strong handshake shows friendship, respect, and even affection. But a big fat hug seems to go over the line.

Perhaps I’m overreacting to this. But when it comes to the presidency and the behavior of our top leaders, I think the image we want to send at home and abroad is one of serious strength of purpose. Not some kind of collegiate squeeze. Somehow the Obama-Emanuel embrace seemed demeaning — to the presidency, to our officialdom, and to our strength of purpose.

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Today, in 1990, West and East Germany were reunited. The Cold War was finally, officially over.

Wow! Go Marxists Go!
They don’t even try to hide it anymore.

Socialists marched into the left-wing’s One Nation” rally today chanting:
“Obama aint no socialist! We are! We are!”

Hat Tip Tammy Bruce on Twitter

Of course, they weren’t the only socialists at the rally.

The commies weren’t very clean, either.

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While browsing the “Antiques” category on eBay today, I came across a most remarkable ad. I had to do a double-take at first but on second glance I saw it really was true. Someone is actually auctioning off Gloria Allred, famed so-called victims’ rights attorney, on eBay. Incredible.

Here’s the verbatim listing, taken directly from the online auctioneer’s website:

“Item:  Sleaziest Lawyer in America

Current Bid: $2.50

Buy Her Now! price: $9.50

Condition: Slimy but still working

Item description:

Item is a 69-year-old American female attorney named Gloria Allred (nee Bloom), date of birth July 3, 1941. Item is a member of the California Bar Association.  Item has a long and checkered history of inserting itself into high-profile or controversial cases (O.J. Simpson, Scott Peterson, Roman Polanski, Tiger Woods) and—as events of this past week demonstrate—even at current long-in-the-tooth stage, item has lost none of its effectiveness at cheap publicity stunts.

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Peggy Noonan in today’s Wall Street Journal:

The Democratic Party right now is showing signs of coming apart under the pressure of the election and two years of an unpopular presidency. But it’s not a split in two, with the left versus the establishment. It’s more like a splintering, with left-leaning activists distancing themselves from the party’s politicians, and moderate politicians distancing themselves from Mr. Obama.

And part of what’s driving it is what is driving the evolution of the Republican Party. The Internet changed everything. Everyone has facts now, knows who voted how and why. New thought leaders spring up and lead in new directions. Total transparency leads to party fracturing. Information dings unity. We are in new territory.

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No Commercial Flights, But Airport Still Hoping to Land More Federal Funds

St. Cloud Regional Airport (STC) touts lots of amenities on its website—a café, ATM, free wi-fi, free parking and a $5 million completely renovated terminal whose capacity went up dramatically from 30 to 200 travelers. There’s also a new $750,000 passenger boarding bridge secured with federal stimulus funds to keep travelers out of the elements while catching a flight.  One asset, however, the newly renovated airport notably lacks—commercial flights and passengers.

“We’re here to serve the public and serve them well and have adequate facilities,” Bill Towle, airport director, told the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota. “I would say the airport is a utility and we need adequate facilities to serve the public.”

Currently, an average of about one charter flight a month with 130 or so passengers uses the eerily empty 9,000 square foot glass-fronted facility.  Potential passengers checking the airport’s website are notified there’s “no commercial air service” available. Delta Connection flights between St. Cloud and Minneapolis were grounded at the end of 2009 due to weak customer demand. Both national rental car agencies pulled out of their airport offices months ago.

By then, it was too late. $3.125 million in federal aviation grants from user fees on fuel and tickets, $1.131 million in state airport funds, and $767,000 in local sales taxes were already spent on what’s in danger of becoming a terminal project in more ways than one.

“One thing we did not see is that Delta was going to pull out of here.  That was an absolute shock,” Towle said. ”We might not have done this improvement if we knew they were going to be gone.”

Soon the six Transportation Security Administration (TSA) baggage screeners based in St. Cloud will also depart, along with their high-tech, high-cost equipment. Assigned to other airports in the region for several months, the screeners have been offered jobs elsewhere.

“There’s no commercial flights, so there’s no need for screening,” said Luis Casanova, TSA spokesman.  “We’re pulling our screeners out in November and at some point, the equipment will be moved, too.”

Not so long ago, federal, state, and local transportation planners envisioned the St. Cloud facility as a tier-two “reliever airport” to ease air traffic congestion into Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, setting in motion the $5 million terminal upgrade and other spending for infrastructure improvements.

Officials forecast 25,000 or more commercial passengers would fly through STC in 2010 with a steady increase in traffic in future years, according to the project’s 2006 master plan.  Without Delta, however, about 1,000 passengers have boarded a handful of Sun Country charter flights to a Nevada casino resort this year.

“We got all those numbers approved by the FAA. The likely growth if we continued even as a status quo put us at 26-27,000 enplanements a year,” Towle said.

The controversy refocuses attention on the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program, which some critics say too often results in misplaced priorities and aviation funding. In the last decade, St. Cloud Regional Airport has received more than $24 million in FAA airport improvement grants, including funding for the terminal project, according to OMB Watch, an online database that tracks government spending.  Another national watchdog group indicates the St. Cloud airport received clearance for the terminal expansion despite the project’s low ranking of 35 out of 100 on the FAA’s own priority ratings scale.  The FAA states the rating “is the first evaluation factor and serves to categorize airport development in accordance with agency goals and objectives.”

Meantime, St. Cloud officials have launched an unusual campaign to attract another carrier, approaching local businesses for travel pledges in hopes of demonstrating significant local demand for air travel. With results falling short of the goal so far, the effort may depend on whether the city proves successful in obtaining a more familiar revenue stream–another $500,000 federal grant now under consideration at the FAA.

“Some of the ways we’d use that grant money would be to offset costs from start up of service,” Towle said.  “Additionally, if there’s any losses at the beginning maybe we could help reduce the cost of those losses…and maybe also help with marketing.”

Despite a shortage of commercial flights out of STC, there’s no shortage in requests for federal dollars.  Senator Al Franken’s website lists a $500,000 earmark request for improved runway lighting for the St. Cloud Regional Airport, while Senator Amy Klobuchar’s website lists a $1,000,000 earmark request for the same project.

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A game show host, a truck driver and a governor walk into a bar. No they don’t, they join us on the podcast this week: Pat Sajak, Dave Carter, and Governor Pete Wilson. It’s a wide ranging discussion from trucking to tea parties to an inside look at the Golden State, both in terms of the election and the future. All that, and the view from Prague.

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The Republican Party’s 2010 Agenda, “A Pledge to America,” is in many ways an impressive document.  It contains both principles and policies that answer the call for a more accountable government in Washington.  It is particularly strong on the health-care issue.  Should the Republicans succeed in repealing ObamaCare, it will be rightly regarded as one of the most crucial victories in stopping the growth of the progressive welfare state.

As I look over the Republican Pledge, however, I am not convinced that it has all the power and principle it needs to change the direction of politics in Washington and actually to return the federal government to the limited—though important—role envisioned by the Founding Fathers.  Is, for example, cutting “government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels” a temporary tactic or a permanent goal?  The ultimate purpose of the Tea Party movement would appear to be not just a return to the status quo ante Obama, but actually a restoration of the first principles of government as understood by the Founding Fathers and as practiced in this nation for a century and a half.

While holding those elected in 2010 to their own Pledge, we should urge Republicans and concerned citizens to press beyond the necessary tactics for winning elections in 2010 and consider a more complete set of first principles that will return government to its more limited place in our lives.  To this end, I offer the following.

Human beings are individuals.  They are born not into a class or a race or a special interest but into the human community.  The American ideal has always been to treat individuals not as belonging to preferred classes or groups but as individuals.  Attempts to categorize and hyphenate individuals, particularly for political purposes, are far from being American.

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Today, thousands of leftists, unionists, progressives and a host of socialists and communists will gather in DC for the “One Nation Rally.” The rally marks the start of a series of desperate moves by the left throughout October to reverse the impending disaster in November. It is precious that they’re trying this stuff, but it won’t work.

I proudly stood behind James O’Keefe on his groundbreaking ACORN investigation. I also defended him when the media, including CNN — during a previous regime, “the Rick Sanchez era” — falsely reported the Sen. Mary Landrieu story as a “wiretapping” plot gone wrong.

In all these cases the left-leaning media exposed its obvious bias against James because of his contrarian point of view and because the targets of his investigations are protected institutions of the Democrat Media Complex.

However, in my dealings with Ms. Boudreau, she and her producer, Scott Zamost, conducted themselves professionally, and I believe James owes them a candid and public explanation.

From what I’ve read about this script, though not executed, it is patently gross and offensive. It’s not his detractors to whom he also owes this public airing. It’s to his legion of supporters.

We are a selfish nation and treating our neighbor to the south horribly. It’s our fault that border violence is up.

From Fox News:

A coalition of Mexican mayors has asked the United States to stop deporting illegal immigrants who have been convicted of serious crimes in the U.S. to Mexican border cities, saying the deportations are contributing to Mexican border violence.

Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes blamed U.S. deportation policy for contributing to his city’s violence, saying that of the 80,000 people deported to Juarez in the past three years, 28,000 had U.S. criminal records — including 7,000 convicted rapists and 2,000 convicted murderers.

Wait a second. This can’t be true. Everyone knows that all the illegal aliens in America are law abiding people (except for that coming into the country illegally part) who just want to do the jobs Americans won’t do. Hey, don’t we have American rapists and murderers to do these “jobs”? Maybe these guys will do it for less.

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Now that the final bell has rung on NBC’s week-long Education Nation conference, we can ask the extra credit question: When did school choice go mainstream?

The “summit,” held at NBC’s New York studios at Rockefeller Center, almost felt like a publicity junket for Waiting for Superman, a highly praised new documentary advocating for charter schools. A national TV audience watched as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee chewed out teachers union honcho Randi Weingarten for spending $1 million in campaign funds to halt Rhee’s reform agenda. Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski took a shot at Weingarten for resisting merit pay for teachers. And what to make of former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi working to promote National School Choice Week, slated for January 2011?

Will Democrats turn their newfound zeal for school choice into policies that actually banish unions from the classroom and empower parents and students? Reason.tv’s Michael Moynihan went to Education Nation to find out.

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In a hail-mary attempt to garner main street support for Democrats before the elections put an end to the legislative season, President Obama finally was able to push the small business lending bill through the Senate, thanks to two retiring Republicans who crossed the aisle to vote for the stimulus package.

While I don’t believe that this bill is the right way to grow small businesses, and by extension, jobs, I want to let you know some ways that you can take advantage of this bill. Most importantly, keep in mind that much of the money behind this bill is designed to relax credit- reminiscent of banks loosening credit limits leading up to the real estate bubble. Trying to entice businesses into a loan just because it is available is just as bad as having tight credit. Keep that in mind as you consider these options.

Government created incentives for small banks to lend
Financially secure small banks will have access to $30 billion in funds to loan to small businesses. What’s in it for the banks? If they can increase their small business lending by ten percent over the previous year, they will have access to the funds at interest rates near one percent.

Write-offs for startups, long-term investors
The amount that new businesses can invest and consequently write-off will quadruple from $5000 to $20000. Companies who make eligible investments will pay nothing in capital gains taxes on those investments for five years. Businesses can also write-off qualifying business location improvements, property acquisitions, and health care costs for themselves and their families.

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