Today, President Obama releases his proposed federal budget for the next fiscal year. The great budget battle will now begin.

Chalk up another victory – at least on the rhetorical level – for the Tea Party.

President Obama will release his fiscal year 2012 budget Monday and he’s apparently become a born-again fiscal conservative. Here are some excerpts from a Washington Post story.

President Obama will respond to a Republican push for a drastic reduction in government spending by proposing sharp cuts of his own in a fiscal 2012 budget blueprint that aims to trim record federal deficits by $1.1 trillion over the next decade. …two-thirds of the savings would come from spending cuts that are draconian by Democratic standards… When it lands Monday on Capitol Hill, Obama’s plan will launch a bidding war with Republicans over how deeply and swiftly to cut, as the two parties seek a path to fiscal stability for a nation awash in red ink.

I’m skeptical of battlefield conversions, particularly when politicians utilize the dishonest Washington definition of a budget cut – increasing spending by less than previously planned. So the first thing I’ll do when the budget is released Monday is to visit the Historical Tables of the Budget website and see what spending is projected to be in 2011 and what Obama is asking for in 2012.

Those numbers probably won’t be accurate since the Obama Administration (like previous ones) will use best-case assumptions, but at least we’ll get a sense of whether:

a) spending actually is being cut (I’m not holding my breath for this miracle), or

b) spending is frozen at current levels (this approach would balance the budget by 2017, but it’s almost as unlikely at the first option), or

c) spending is being restrained (perhaps 2 percent growth, enough to keep pace with inflation), or

d) spending is growing far too fast (say 4 percent growth, pushing America quickly in the wrong direction), or

e) spending is continuing to explode (5 percent growth, 6 percent growth, or even more, meaning we’ll be Greece sooner than we think).

My guess, for what it’s worth, is that the Obama Administration will claim (d) but will actually be proposing (e) if more realistic assumptions are used.

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A week after Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday celebration, comparisons between presidents Obama and Reagan continue.

The conversation began when Obama praised Reagan in a USA Today op-ed. He commended Reagan’s leadership, his confidence in and optimism for America, and his great ability to communicate his vision for the country. Reaganites like myself appreciate these sentiments.

But so far, the differences between the two presidents are still huge.

Begin with the economy. Reagan and Obama both inherited deep and brutal recessions. But the first six recovery quarters look completely different for each president.

So far, real GDP has averaged only 3 percent annually for Obama. Employment as defined by nonfarm payrolls has increased by a paltry 121,000.

On the other hand, going back to Reagan’s first six recovery quarters, real GDP averaged 7.7 percent annually while nonfarm payrolls rose by 5.3 million.

No two situations are exactly alike. Reagan inherited massive double-digit inflation with 20 percent interest rates. Obama was left with a colossal financial meltdown. But Reagan’s economic vision put private-sector free-enterprise at the center. Obama has chosen a massive expansion of government power.

These are huge differences. One succeeded, while thus far the other has not.

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What is going to happen next in Egypt?  According to Mubarak, “the result will be extremism and radical Islam.”  Others aren’t so sure.  What is certain is that the risk factor in the Middle East has risen again.  That means the world’s oil supply is at risk as well.  A wise country would do what it could to insulate its people from that risk.  It is beyond a serious question as to whether the United States will.

Revolutions are not things of certainty. For instance, once underway, the ideals and prospects for the French Revolution once were touted by the likes of our own Jefferson and Madison. Washington, the soldier among the three, was far more circumspect.  The freedom won by the likes of the Marquis Lafayette in the early days of the French Revolution was lost not long after in the ensuing chaos.  Lafayette, the same man who helped win our Revolution, would eventually be jailed for years while many thousands died in The Terror before Napoleon dashed any hope for democracy.  So much for the foresight of our 3^rd and 4^th Presidents – they fanned the early embers only to see those embers engulf a nation.

Our current President encouraged those taking part in the first Act of Egypt’s current drama.  Given that it was the military of Egypt that removed an intransigent Mubarak and now run its streets, it can hardly be said that freedom has been assured.  The difficult part lies ahead.  The only certainty in front of us now is uncertainty.

Returning to the French Revolution, its affects were hardly restricted to the French.   International trade was affected and the rise of Napoleon brought serious concerns of war in the United States and actual wars to Europe.  Egypt may play a similar role today.

Will Mubarak be right about the future of Egypt?

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Last summer, unions spent an estimated $10 million on the Democratic primary in Arkansas in a failed attempt to defeat then-Senator Blanche Lincoln. It was $10 million worth of their members’ dues that was wasted.  Unions did not waste their members’ money because Blanche Lincoln opposed higher wages or better benefits. Union bosses wasted their members’ money because Blanche Lincoln fell out of union bosses’ favor for not by backing the job-killing Employee Free Choice Act (aka card-check).

On the mid-terms, unions spent hundreds of millions on voter registration, campaign donations, TV ads, manpower and GOTV efforts. Nearly all of that money went to union-bought Democrats.

In 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that union members who object to having their union dues spent on politics can get a refund for the portion of their dues used for politics. Since then, however, many union members have found the process of getting their dues refunds an burdensome process.

This week, at CPAC, Republican Saul Anuzis (a former member of the Teamsters) announced the launch of a new website specifically designed to give union members assistance in getting refunds for the portion of their dues used on politics.  It is not “anti-union,” it is a site with one purpose—to help union members who do NOT want their dues money used on politics, regardless of party.

The site is UnionRefund.org

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New Media Entrepreneur declares that his voice will not be suppressed.

Andrew Breitbart and the head of Breitbart.tv sued by Pigford claimant.

Los Angeles, CA, February 12, 2011 – Breitbart.com LLC announced today that its Chairman and CEO Andrew Breitbart and the head of Breitbart.tv, Larry O’Connor, have been sued in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by a central figure in the Pigford “back-door” reparations case. The Pigford case involves over $2.5 billion in US taxpayer money and constitutes one of the biggest cases of corruption
and politically-motivated fraud in the history of the United States. Mr. Breitbart and Breitbart.tv have been investigating and reporting on the Pigford case since late summer 2010.

Andrew Breitbart said, in response to being sued, “I find it extremely telling that this lawsuit was brought almost seven months after the alleged incidents that caused a national media frenzy occurred. It is no coincidence that this lawsuit was filed one day after I held a press conference revealing audio proof of orchestrated and systemic Pigford fraud. I can promise you this: neither I, nor my journalistic
websites, will or can be silenced by the institutional Left, which is obviously funding this lawsuit. I welcome the judicial discovery process, including finding out which groups are doing so.”

On Thursday, February 10, 2011, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., Mr. Breitbart held a national press conference at which he, Huffington Post blogger Lee Stranahan, and black farmer Eddie Slaughter presented compelling evidence for, and Representatives Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Steve King (R-IA) specifically called for, Congressional investigation into the Pigford case.

At the press conference, Mr. Breitbart revealed two hours of audio of Thomas Burrell, the head of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalist Association, Inc., teaching non-farmers in the South how to commit fraud in the Pigford “back-door” reparations case. This audio conclusively demonstrates how people have conspired to grow the class of Pigford claimants to 94,000, when in fact, there were only
about 18,000 black farmers in the entire country during the relevant time period, and when there were never anticipated to be more than a few thousand potential claimants among those 18,000. The numbers just do not and cannot add up.

“I am determined to obtain justice for the truly and legitimately discriminated against American black farmers, who have heretofore been denied justice by the USDA and the Pigford case,” Andrew Breitbart said. “Nothing will deter my efforts to make them whole. I will simultaneously continue to fight relentlessly against the efforts of those who would use these working American farmers to defraud
the American taxpayer to the tune of billions of dollars. This new lawsuit will not stop the American public from finding out what is really going on, who is directly culpable, and the critical role of the Pigford claimant in all off this.”

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Texas congressman Ron Paul has won the straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has finished second.

Paul got 30 percent, while Romney got 23 percent of the votes of those attending the conference in Washington. Others were grouped far behind. Paul is a hero to libertarians and has a fiercely loyal following. Paul also won last year.

The straw poll was co-sponsored by CPAC and The Washington Times.

A total of 3742 people, about a third of total CPAC attendees, voted in the poll, a 64% increase over last year .

Comprehensive results here.

Ron Raul: 30%, Mitt Romney: 23%, Gary Johnson: 6%, Chris Christie: 6%, Newt Gingrich: 5%, Tim Pawlenty: 4%, Michele Bachmann: 4%, Mitch Daniels: 4%, Sarah Palin: 3%, Herman Cain: 2%, Mike Huckabee: 2%, Rick Santorum: 2%, John Thune: 2%, Jon Huntsman: 1%, Haley Barbour: 1% (more…)

Andrew Breitbart addresses the CPAC convention and discusses his affinity for disrupting left wing protests simply by asking the protesters questions.

Recently Illinois Senator Ed Maloney (D) introduced SB136 which would require “the parents or legal guardians of children attending non-public schools, a defined term, or private or parochial schools to annually register their children with the State Board of Education, in conformance with procedures prescribed by the State Board of Education.”

Basically homeschoolers and anyone else who has deemed the public education system a failure would have to register their children with the State, since apparently Senator Maloney believes “that since the State was responsible for the education of our children, the State should know who was being homeschooled,” according to Pastor James McDonald who met with the Senator along with several homeschooling advocates.

I hate to burst the Senator’s progressive utopian bubble, but as Pastor McDonald points out “in the eyes of most home educators, the responsibility to ensure our children receive a competent education belonged to parents, not the State.”  I don’t think registering children, like licensing a dog, was exactly what Thomas Jefferson had in mind when he envisioned public education.

,Jefferson trusted the people closest to the issue to care most for the outcomes.  Regarding education he stated in a letter to Joseph Cabell, “But if it is believed that these elementary schools will be better managed by the Governor and Council, the commissioners of the literary fund, or any other general authority of the government, than by the parents within each ward, it is a belief against all experience.”

Hardly a resounding endorsement of the power of the State, which he was extremely wary of, when he stated in the same letter, “What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? The generalizing and concentrating all cares and power into one body, no matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or France, or of the aristocrats of a Venetian senate.”  Or even the Illinois Senate.

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Our national debt exceeds $14 trillion and after running a federal deficit of $1.3 trillion last year, we will see a $1.5 trillion deficit this year.  I get one clear message in talking with the American people – promote job growth and control government spending.

The federal government funds thousands of programs and projects, and Congress must look at all federal expenditures and reduce or eliminate those that do not meet the needs of the American people.

Taxpayers deserve accountability, and recent undercover videos taken at Planned Parenthood centers demonstrate the egregious abuse of taxpayer funds.  These videos show that Planned Parenthood is willing to use public funds to commit a federal crime.

Thanks to Live Action, a group of young people dedicated to strengthening the culture of life, we learn from undercover videos that Planned Parenthood is all too willing to ignore the law in promoting its services, among them abortion.

Working with Live Action, a man and woman posed as sex traffickers at a Planned Parenthood center and asked about abortions and other services for their child sex workers.  Instead being reported for what appeared to be a horrendous sexual exploitation of children, the pair received information on how to arrange abortions for their child sex workers.

This just adds to Planned Parenthood’s record of violating state sexual assault and child abuse reporting laws, and of encouraging young girls to lie about their ages to circumvent state reporting laws.

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Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, reputation is in shambles after spending last week aggressively denying a report by this author, in an article appearing in Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government Blog and featured on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, that the Fed’s QE2 monetary stimulus program is the cause of revolts in poor countries worldwide. In a stunning development, the United Nations Agricultural and Food Organization at the end of the week released a crisis report warning of the growing dangers from starvation and political unrest from global food inflation.

Chairman Bernanke tried to distract criticism from his dangerous policies that have inflated food costs by trying to shift blame to the leaders of other countries in the developing world. Bernanke urged leaders in emerging countries to stop subsidizing food costs. At a National Press Club meeting Bernanke said; “In some cases, some of the emerging markets are facing inflationary pressure because their own economies are growing faster than their own capacity.” He added: “It is up to emerging markets to find the right tools to balance their own growth,”

In response to a reporter’s direct question about the civil unrest in the Middle East and the Fed’s role in the months-long surging commodities prices, Bernanke strongly denied that the U.S. central bank’s continuing purchases of Treasury bonds, known as Quantitative Easing Two, are the primary driver of higher global food prices. Mr. Bernanke stated: “It is entirely unfair to attribute excess demand pressures to U.S. monetary policy.” Instead, Bernanke suggested surging prices of things like corn, soybeans, sugar and livestock to rising incomes in developing countries. He stated that higher incomes translate into strong growth in global demand for food, particularly an increased appetite for animal proteins such as beef, pork and chicken. “As people’s diets become more sophisticated, their demand for food and energy grows,” he said.

A new United Nations report debunks Bernanke’s pathetic alibi. As demonstrated below, the index of food prices would be up a lot more than 35%, if inflation in meat and dairy costs were not so low as compared to the cost of cereal feed, which have sky-rocketed. Farmers are actually liquidating flocks and herds right now because they cannot afford the cost of grain to feed them.

Commodity Index Increase

Overall 35%, Meat 10%, Dairy 12%, Cooking Oil 42%, Cereal 52%, Sugar 70%

Poor people around the world eat little or no meat or dairy. The majority of their diet consists of rice, corn, flour, sugar and cooking oil. Those food costs are up 55% since the Fed’s stimulus.

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When I look at the picture of the horrifically tortured Khaled Said I am sickened.  A government willing to do this – perhaps to thousands of “disappeared” Egyptians over the past 30 years – to silence dissenting voice, to kill humanity, deserves to be reviled by the world.

Technology brought Said’s (and Egypt’s) horror to our eyes.  It exposed what “stability” means there.  No God-fearing person can support this terror.  Nothing justifies that.

I must confess that I was initially torn by what was happening in Egypt, especially as it pertains to the use of Internet technologies to foment the uprising.  I still harbor apprehensions on what lies on the other side of the wall.  To defeat one atrocious regime only to have it possibly replaced with one bent on our destruction unsettles me greatly.

Yet, the default for humanity must be to let voices flourish, and lives to be lived in liberty, over the tyranny of “stability.”  This may sound naïve, even offensive to some, in light of our post 9-11 world.  I cannot, however, reconcile Said with American exceptionalism.

Doubtless, much work and hard choices remain for Egypt, her people, and the region.  The rest of world’s democracies must become involved, too.  As former Prime Minster of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, put it in his recent WSJ piece, “The Arab World’s 1989?”:

Today, those of us who believe in open societies, in democracy and in freedom, have the obligation to help see that the changes unfolding in the region head in the right direction. In the direction that leads to the rejection of jihad as a political instrument. In the direction that leads to religious freedom, to pluralist democracy, to the acceptance of international law, to an opening to the world, and to respect for universal human rights.

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Today, in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born. What is it about February?

Has the conservative movement become a champion of gay rights? Is gun-owning, lesbian singer Sophie B. Hawkins of “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” fame a liberal in bed and conservative in the head?

Last night, Reason’s Michael Moynihan dropped by the Big Gay Party, a celebration of the role of the conservative movement in advocating for gay rights, which was hosted by conservative gay group GOProud and new media mogul Andrew Breitbart. The party was part of the festivities surrounding the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which was boycotted by some conservatives because of GOProud’s participation.

The video features interviews with Army Lt. Dan Choi, Gay Activist; Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart.com; Fred Smith, president of the Competitive Enterprise Institute; radio host Guy Benson; Evan Coyne Maloney, the director of Indoctrinate U; Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee chair; Liz Mair, GOProud Advisory Council; Bruce Majors, libertarian blogger; Richard Grenell, Capitol Media Partners; Larry O’Connor, Breitbart.tv; and singer-songwriter Sophie B. Hawkins.

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Every four years the voters and the media both complain that the presidential selection process starts too early and go too long as candidates all try to get a head start on competitors. Past is more than prologue. Forget everything you know about the Republican Presidential nominating process. The TV and cable networks, in their frenzy to trump each other, will start this process with the first televised debate a full eight months before the first votes are cast in Iowa closely followed by New Hampshire.

As a veteran of eight National Presidential campaigns I have studied this process for a long time. The Networks have created TWO contests – one in 2011 and another in 2012. This takes national focus off current government efforts to solve the nations problems. It’s a disservice to the voters and will de-value the early state caucuses and primaries.

Putting that aside, the process must be played as it is – and the new schedule could be a lay-up for a media savvy candidate like Donald J. Trump. No one understands the power of television like Trump. Millions tune in the Apprentice to see the most successful and best known businessman in America. Trump’s sharp criticism of trade policy with China, OPEC and the war in Afghanistan could find a large, even commanding segment in the GOP.

Trump showed at the CPAC gathering that his star quality plus his pro-gun, pro-life views combined with his pro-business stance can be a winner in the GOP. Trump literally has nothing to lose – and everything to gain by entering the 2011 debates. While Trump says he will decide if he is running by June, I would advise him to wait until the Florida GOP straw-poll in October to decide. After all, Trump doesn’t require time to build his name ID.

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Not likely if he continues to squash freedom in the form of Indiana’s Right To Work law.  

Governor Daniels is in an enviable position sitting atop two strong Republican legislative majorities after the numerous 2010 Tea Party victories in his state.  The Republicans control the state House and state Senate with solid majorities.  A similar situation could await the next U.S. President in 2013.  Therefore, it is reasonable to ask how the next president might handle these potential majorities.

Unfortunately for Hoosiers and Daniels’s presidential aspirations, it appears that the Governor would rather bend to the will of union bosses than bring the reform Indiana needs.

• By passing a Right To Work law, workers in Indiana have the opportunity to breathe the same free air that workers in 22 states enjoy.  This law simply allows individuals the freedom to choose to join or not join or pay fees to union without being denied or losing a job.
• Indiana is encircled by several forced unionism states suffering from high unemployment, and it could become the release valve for many employers and workers in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio.
• Illinois recently increased taxes 66%; therefore, Illinois businesses and families are looking for are place to relocate.
• Most important though is the basic freedom that a Right To Work law will bring to Hoosiers, even 80% of union members prefer the Right To Work over forced unionism.

The rise of the Tea Party movement illustrates that people are looking for political leaders who will forcibly address issues and stand on principle.

Yet, according news reports, Gov. Daniels is trying to avoid a decision and even a debate on freedom that influences every worker and business in Indiana.  This is not leadership. (more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss Egypt, the possibility of a German owned NYSE and the post-Steve Jobs picture at Apple.

We’re brought to you as always by BigGovernment and Stephen Clouse and Associates. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

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