The media wants to know why tea partiers seem so angry. Here’s a clue: It’s the spending, stupid! And it’s HOW the money is being spent.

Let’s go to New Jersey .(Yes, we have to. It’s nicer than what you’ve seen on TV. Really.) While tolls were going up, the NJ Turnpike Authority was throwing money around like Nancy Pelosi at a botox party.

Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included…

The New York Times has just published another in a series of establishment press missives seeking to marginalize — from the perspective of establishment press-types — tea party activists and politicians who embrace or are embraced by them.

This latest entry is an embarrassment, if a rather typical one as I detail on Chapter 1 of Red Hot Lies, “Media on a Mission.” Here are some problems with the article:

“Climate change is real, and man is causing it,” [Dem. Congressman and pro-cap-and-trade voter Baron] Hill said, echoing most climate scientists.

The author does not point to any survey of “most climate scientists,” challenge or even inquire about the source for or other evidence to support that claim. That is because there is no such survey or collective assertion by the critical masses of “climate scientists.” Period. It’s a talking point. But he’s a reporter. If he wanted to be straight about the issue he would at the very least turn to the very inconvenient statement by the Association of State Climatologists. But, again, it’s inconvenient.

When pressed, those who scribble or utter this shibboleth generally expand the universe of “climate scientist” to include anyone who is willing to go on record agreeing in return for being called one of the world’s leading climate scientists. Even if they are anthropology teaching assistants. Read on.

That is, they revert to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a collection of (as its name indicates) representatives appointed by governments, which itself appoints anthropology TAs, instructors in “the human dimension of environmental change” (bring own incense, please) and transport policy instructors, for example, to achieve great if still exaggerated (why is that necessary?) numbers of supporters who supposedly (but didn’t) write its proclamations? The IPCC’s “chief climate scientist” and chief “climatologist,” according to outlets like the New York Times and USA Today is, just for the record, actually a… railway engineer.

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The mainstream media–a group of people far to the left of the American public–are deeply concerned that the extremist tea party–a group of people whose ideals represent the American mainstream–are threatening the careers of centrist Democrats… who are extremists.

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With the midterm elections right around the corner, Rasmussen reports that most voters oppose the reelection of anyone who voted for the health care law, auto bailouts, and stimulus plan. For this reason, polls show the GOP with a lead of seven percentage points on the generic ballot, 50%-43%, up four points from a month ago.

Due to the impact of Obamacare on voters, we at Eyeblast.tv went out to get the thoughts and opinions of ordinary people in Alexandria, Virginia on Obamacare and the individual mandate. Here are their responses:

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California Republican Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina Tuesday reaffirmed her opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s bid to exert regulatory influence over the broadband industry, attesting in a web video to the onerous and “antiquated” regulations imposed on the tech industry.

“Net neutrality, in principle, sounds fantastic,” Fiorina said in a ten-question online forum hosted by PDF. “But I grew up in the telcom industry, and I know how bureaucratic, and frankly antiquated, the regulations in the telcom industry have been.”

Fiorina, the former chief executive of tech giant Hewlett-Packard, warned the FCC against imposing a dated regulatory regime on industry that thrives on innovation.

“I don’t think we should take a regulator structure that was created in the early 20th century and apply it in the 21st century,” she said, adding, “I don’t support reclassifying broadband as telecom as a result.”

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Amidst the requisite election-year class warfare being played across the country, one of the common arguments being made by the left and accepted begrudgingly by the right is that those who earn the most should pay their fair share.  While both sides might differ over the size of one’s “fair share,” nevertheless even the most sober conservatives will usually concede this point.  Yet when one looks at how wealth is created, especially in spite of an economy as increasingly shackled as ours, this proves to be a specious argument.

The “fair share” arguments insinuate that the businessman, the entrepreneur, the inventor greedily piles their money on the backs of the poor.  Even for those who don’t see the world this way, there is a pervasive feeling that because one lives comfortably, one should be forced to support others because one has had such good fortune.  While you or I may agree that there is great merit to being charitable, I think we can also agree at least in principle that it is immoral for us to force someone to be charitable — especially if that “charity” is a government-run one for a government-determined cause, which is to say that it bears little resemblance to a charity at all.

But more importantly, what is forgotten are all the benefits that accrue to society as a result of the efforts of the wealth producer.

For it is the producer who generates wealth by applying his skills, energies and ideas and taking risk, generation which requires the creation of jobs both within his firm and within the firms that make up the other cogs in the chain of production, the proper allocation of capital by investors to fund the idea and the provision of a product that society values.  For one to make a lot of money, all of these disparate parts must come together, leading not just to success for the the producer, but food, an education and healthcare for the family of the employee and all of the employees at the firms that helped in the production of the good, a return for investors that can be reinvested in other profitable ventures to grow the overall economic pie and over time better and cheaper goods for the consumers, those who solely determine which producers are rewarded with profits and which are penalized with losses.

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Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana has triggered a spat among policy wonks with his recent comments expressing sympathy for a value-added tax (VAT). Kevin Williamson of National Review is arguing that a VAT will probably be necessary because there is no hope of restraining spending. Ryan Ellis of Americans for Tax Reform jumped on Williamson for his “apostasy,” arguing that a VAT would be bad news for taxpayers. From a policy perspective, I’m very much against a VAT because it will finance bigger government, as explained in this video.

That being said, Kevin Williamson makes a good point when he says that some supply-siders have neglected the spending side of the fiscal ledger. And it certainly is true that Republicans don’t seem very interested in curtailing the growth of government. But does this mean, as Williamson argues, but that our choices are limited to 1) a 36 percent spending cut, 2) catastrophic deficits and debt, or 3) a European-style value-added tax.

I actually think it would be a great idea to reduce the budget by 36 percent. That would bring the burden of federal spending back down to where it was in 2003. Notwithstanding the screams from various interest groups that this would generate, nobody was starving in the streets when the budget was $2.3 trillion rather than today’s $3.5 trillion. But Kevin is unfortunately correct in noting that this type of fiscal reform won’t happen.

Kevin is wrong, however, in saying that we therefore have to choose between either Greek-style deficits or a VAT.

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During the 2008 campaign, Obama claimed that the rich didn’t “need” the Bush tax cuts. Despite an economy that hasn’t responded to his record deficit spending – otherwise known as the “stimulus” – Obama and his talking heads still oppose maintaining the Bush cuts. Any such opposition, however, is rooted far more in demagoguery than in economics. In truth, the coming tax hikes will hurt the economy in many ways, including exacerbating the foreclosure crisis and ensuring a bad economy for years on end.

Of course, it has long been the strategy of the Democrats to engage in class warfare when it  comes to  tax cuts. Obama’s belief that the Bush tax cuts were for people who  “don’t need them and didn’t even ask for them,” is just the latest incarnation of that tired theme. In today’s economy, which features an ongoing foreclosure crisis unlike any other over the last 40 years, nothing could be further from the truth.

Common sense thinkers, including Reagan, JFK and Keynes, well know that lower tax rates lead to greater incentives and greater economic activity and therefore greater tax revenues over time. Tax increases, on the other hand, reduce incentives and economic activity and therefore result in less tax revenue. During a bad economy like today, the latter effect can be accelerated and the current foreclosure crisis is a dangerous case in point.

Consider, if you will, Contra Costa County, California, which is some 30 miles east of San Francisco. Most would consider it a well to do area. Indeed, by the numbers, those living in Contra Costa have the 5th highest per capita income of all California counties and 45th in the nation. To be sure, among the over one million residents of Contra Costa, there are many Contra Costans who Obama would consider “rich” – and therefore who don’t “need” the Bush tax cuts.

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Today, in 1805, the British won a famous naval victory against Napoleon. It ended any ambitions Napoleon had to extend his tyranny beyond the European continent. It is Britain’s Fourth of July. God speed to them.

On November 2, 2010, California voters will decide whether or not to legalize marijuana.

If passed, Proposition 19 would control marijuana like alcohol, allowing adults 21 years of age and over to possess up to an ounce of pot for personal consumption and grow marijuana at a private residence in a space of up to 25 square feet. The initiative would also allow local governments to tax and regulate the commercial cultivation, transport, and sale of marijuana.

In order to get a handle on the debate surrounding. Prop 19, we spoke to both supporters and opponents of the initiative.

So what do you think? Should Californians legalize marijuana?

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This morning I had the opportunity to listen to a NAACP conference call that was organized to release its report highlighting alleged (yet unproven) Tea Party ties to racist groups. This conference call, report, and website reminded me very much of the quote from Shakespeare’s Macbeth, “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

What was reiterated on the call by the NAACP and it’s minion of “progressive” allies was the same old, unproven, nonsensical charges against the strongest modern grass-roots movement in decades.

“The Tea Party used the N word against a Black Congressmen during the Healthcare Debate.” Indeed Ben Jealous, CEO of the NAACP had the audacity to reload this charge in spite of Andrew Breitbart’s $100,000.00 challenge to anybody that could document the occurrence and in spite of the Tea Party Federation’s unanswered challenge to the Congressional Black Caucus to have a joint investigation of the phony incident.

The most illuminating part of the call came when “progressive” ally, Larry Cohen of the CWA (Communication Workers of America) revealed the real agenda of the attacks on the Tea Party by the Left, “We disagree with the agenda of the tea party Movement… They advocate slavery,” and this classic gem, “We don’t need 19^th century capitalism.”

What this potpourri of “progressive” groups are really trying to do is inspire an uninspired liberal base of voters, days before the predicted November election bloodletting. (more…)

Don’t ask me what I think of the NAACP’s desperate, politically timed report, ask Cedra Crenshaw, Damon Dunn, Tim Scott, Ryan Frazier, Allen West, Star Parker, Bill Marcy, Charlotte Bergmann, Robert Broadus, Ryan Frazier, Charles Lollar, Stephen Broden, Michel Faulker, Bill Randall, Patrick David King, Chuck Smith, and Isaac Hayes, all conservative black candidates running for higher office, endorsed and embraced by tea parties around the country. This malicious “report” is crafted and timed as a cynical means to scare the black community to the voting booth, and is dutifully played up by the same media that ignores the aforementioned black conservative candidates because it goes against the “narrative”.

Or ask former chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and liberal icon Mary Frances Berry, who said:

“Tainting the tea party movement with the charge of racism is proving to be an effective strategy for Democrats. There is no evidence that tea party adherents are any more racist than other Republicans, and indeed many other Americans. But getting them to spend their time purging their ranks and having candidates distance themselves should help Democrats win in November. Having one’s opponent rebut charges of racism is far better than discussing joblessness.”

The same media that plays up the NAACP’s desperate smear campaign continues to trot out the provably blatant falsehood that a “mob” of Tea Partiers hurled the N-Word at Congressmen John Lewis, Emanuel Cleaver and Andre Carson the day before the health care vote on the steps of the Cannon House Building.

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On Monday night, my opponent Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) delivered this speech to Democrats at a restaurant in Chicago–with U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and Governor Pat Quinn in attendance:

All around the country, people are trying to replicate what we do in Chicago. They–we have a tradition of knockin’ on doors, of pulling people out–you know, people, they talk about “message” and “persuasion.” Here’s our message: “I don’t get off your doorstep until you get out to the polls and vote.” That’s our message! That’s our message!

There’s nothing wrong with going door-to-door and urging people to vote. There is something wrong–and illegal–with “pulling” people out of their homes, or threatening that you won’t leave until they do what you tell them.

It’s called intimidation, and it is a felony under Illinois law–even if it is, in Jan Schakowsky’s experience, a “tradition” in Chicago politics.

There are two reasons to be concerned about Schakowsky’s exhortation. One is that it may be part of a national strategy for desperate Democrats in this election cycle. Indeed, her husband, Washington insider and convicted felon Robert Creamer, gave the same advice (almost word-for-word) in a recent Huffington Post column. (And repeated it. And repeated it again. And again.)

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It’s official.  There have been whispers in recent days, but George Soros decided to go public today.  He’s giving Media Matters a million bucks.  Why?  Because FOX News and Glenn Beck must be stopped!

In a statement released today by Soros and Media Matters:

“Despite repeated assertions to the contrary by various Fox News commentators, I have not to date been a funder of Media Matters,” Soros said. “However, in view of recent evidence suggesting that the incendiary rhetoric of Fox News hosts may incite violence, I have now decided to support the organization. Media Matters is one of the few groups that attempts to hold Fox News accountable for the false and misleading information they so often broadcast. I am supporting Media Matters in an effort to more widely publicize the challenge Fox News poses to civil and informed discourse in our democracy.”

See, now there you go again, George Soros.  Making FOX News out to be the evil (deceptively named) Ministry of Truth from George Orwell’s 1984, pushing out packaged Newspeak.

As Politico reported:

Soros figured prominently in the conspiracy theory that allegedly drove convicted felon Byron Williams to arm himself and set out to kill staffers at the Soros-funded Tides Foundation the ACLU this summer.  Although Williams said he had first heard of the theory from other sources, he told Media Matters in a jailhouse interview that Glenn Beck was a “schoolteacher” who “blew my mind” on such topics. He told the interviewer to watch Beck’s June shows to get more information about Tides.

On Friday, Drummond Pike, the founder and CEO of the Tides Foundation, said “there will be blood on many hands” if the next assassin succeed, and called for a network-wide advertiser boycott of Fox News in response to Beck’s rhetoric. This morning Media Matters launched a website to join the effort.

Might we remind readers that Mr. Soros has donated money to, among many other organizations, the Tides Foundation.

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Hopefully this short video helps put a face to the evil “wealthiest two percent” that we so often hear about throughout this election cycle. This government is on a tear to stir up hatred towards our nation’s successful business owners, who surprisingly enough, employ a huge chunk of Americans. It’s a difficult concept for some, I know. Try telling a college student that a company is made up of employees i.e. people, and they’ll look at you like you’ve got lobsters crawling out of your ears.

So leftists, please remember something.

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Forget Waldo. Where’s Gloria?

Gloria Allred—the lawyer who put the ”rude” in jurisprudence—is mysteriously missing in action of late. Surfacing recently from beneath her rock in a cellophane effort to shore up Jerry-the-Clown Brown’s gubernatorial aspirations, Allred came riding to the raucous rescue of innocent Nikki Diaz, poor li’l counterfeit alien girl forced to accept the humiliating, inhumane salary of $23-an-hour from her employer-oppressor, Meg “She’s a whore” Whitman. Victim Diaz was even forced to—terribile dictu—drive the Whitman automobile to—and from!—the supermarket. Forget the Chicago stockyards, o ghost of Upton Sinclair, and get thee to California. It’s a real jungle out there.

Of course, Allred is to be applauded for her unrelenting altruistic efforts to call reprobates like Whitman to account and to champion immigration cheats and forgers like victim Diaz, those loveable naughty miscreants who otherwise would not have a voice in our noble legal system. “What’s in a name?” asked Romeo. But indeed, in Allred’s case, is there an appellation other than Gloria so befitting this self-effacing vindicatrix of victimhood, this scourge of scandal, this Titania of tarnish?

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New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the country’s foremost nanny-staters, recently opened up a new front in the food wars, advocating a ban on the use of food stamps to purchase soft drinks.

However, it is one of his other pet nanny-state initiatives threatening to become a reality for New Yorkers that has many residents of the Big Apple irate this week: Bloomberg’s proposal to ban smoking outdoors– in parks, on boardwalks and on beaches.

Last week, it was reported that that proposal may have just enough support to clear New York’s City Council, with advocates of the ban apparently seeking to restrict smoking to individuals’ cars and homes.

Proponents of the ban say creating separate smoking sections in parks would not do enough to protect passers-by from the menace of smokers.

But others– apparently in the minority– think the outright ban on smoking in outdoor, public spaces goes too far.

David Goerlitz, the former “Winston Man,” said in a media availability before the Council’s hearing that smokers are treated like “lepers and second-class citizens.”

No doubt food stamp recipients who want their Orange Crush agree.

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I am constantly amazed by the double standards that characterize the environmental/liberal movement.

Billionaires are bad…unless they are called Oprah, Spielberg, or Soros.

Flying is bad too because of the emissions it produces is bad for the environment, or so environmentalists tell us. But it seems it is only other people flying that is damaging.

Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rajendra Pachauri, and the tens of thousands of IPCC fellow travelers spend their lives on planes and receive no criticism from their hypocritical environmental cheerleaders.

And the hypocrisy continues with their coverage of California’s Prop23, which aims to suspend Global Warming legislation that will increase energy bills and drive businesses and jobs out of the state.

Environmentalists, and their enabling environmental “correspondents” who work for establishment newspapers and blogs, cannot wait to let us know that much of the money supporting Prop23 is coming from “out of state oil companies.”

This is true, except these companies also employ thousands of people in California in real jobs.

But perhaps more importantly, it ignores reality.

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