If one bad apple spoils the bushel, what happens when the whole bushel is rotten?

In a sleepy little suburb outside of Portland, Oregon, there is a monster lurking in the classroom, teaching schoolchildren their three Rs—Reading, Radicalism & Reprisal. The monster is known as the McMinnville Education Association [MEA].

McMinnville School District is in negotiations with the MEA (hereafter to be known as MEAn) and has been since last year (with the occasional help of a mediator), with the parties having been millions apart.  However, according to local press reports, with a state school budget crisis, while some progress has been made, so far an agreement has been elusive.

Nevertheless, as negotiations have dragged on over months, the MEAn has gotten…well…MEAner.

On Valentine’s Day, prior to the McMinnville School Board meeting, the McMinnville Area of Commerce’s Governmental Affairs Committee had sent out a statement (via e-mail) to hundreds of local businesses and residents. That evening, at the school board meeting, Leslie “LV” VanBlaricom (a member of the chamber’s board of directors) read the statement (text below the fold). Apparently, her reading of the letter did not sit well with MEAn, who then allegedly had her fired from her job: (more…)

We have discussed quite a bit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s December 21 unauthorized, unilateral Internet power grab – instigated and rammed through by its Chairman Julius Genachowski so as to impose the ridiculous notion that is Network Neutrality.

We have time and again demonstrated how untethered to Reality the attempted imposition of Net Neutrality on the working Web actually is.

Meanwhile, the Media Marxists have incessantly scolded us – for in fact more than six years now – that the end of the Internet as we know it was nigh unless we immediately imposed Net Neutrality.

During which time the Internet did not end.  It instead rapidly continued developing – in government-free fashion – into the free speech, free market Xanadu we all know and love.

NONE of what Free Press, Public Knowledge, Media Access Project and the rest of the these Leftist media “reformers” said would happen without Net Neutrality happened.  In fact, the exact opposite occurred – and continued occurring, and continues to occur.

An Internet that’s better, stronger, faster and freer – all without the government regulatory regime that is Net Neutrality in place.

The Media Marxists – confounded by Reality yet again.

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The socialists and rationers at the European Union appear to be more sensitive to the plight of breast cancer patients that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking to implement President Obama’s mandate to “reduce the cost of health care.”

In June 2010, a subpanel at the FDA recommended that the late-stage cancer drug Avastin be denied insurance and Medicare coverage for breast cancer patients.  Cost was specifically mentioned as a reason for the decision.  “De-labeling” the drug will save Medicare the burden of paying for the drug that can run $80,000 a year.

Despite protests from thousands of breast cancer patients who cannot afford the treatment without insurance, the FDA approved the panel’s recommendation in December.  Patient groups like Susan B. Komen and Cancer101 have now entered the ring arguing that decision – if it becomes final – will have dramatic implications for the future of our health care system.  They are pleading for the FDA to reverse itself.

Now the European Union health care advisory committee– a bastion of socialist medicine and open rationing of care – has found that Avastin in combination with chemotherapy helps women with metastatic breast cancer live longer without their disease worsening.  That is exactly what American cancer patients and doctors have said all along.

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While their leaders openly bemoan pending budget cuts due to an expected decline in state aid, Milwaukee Public Schools’ is spending $24,999 to private investigators to obtain evidence and provide surveillance of their teachers to determine residency.

That expenditure was one of the more interesting found during MacIver News Service’s routine examination of the MPS checkbook.

Others include:

$1,360 for coat rack rentals

$24,999 for MPS enrollment advertising

$16,000 for the Flood the Hood with Dreams mentoring program

$560 for after school yoga instruction

$4,600 for a Drumline coach

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What was the FBI hiding about the late Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy’s sordid past?

Judicial Watch finally found out when we obtained previously redacted material from the FBI file of the late Massachusetts Democrat who died in August 2009 from brain cancer. We got the records pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, originally filed on June 9, 2010. And they make for a fascinating read.

Of particular interest is a December 28, 1961, FBI memo describing a tour of several Latin American countries taken by then-Assistant District Attorney of Suffolk County Kennedy.

Judicial Watch had previously obtained this very memo, but the document that was originally made public was almost completely redacted. After an initial challenge by Judicial Watch, a version with fewer redactions was released. Still not satisfied, our legal team continued to argue that the blackouts were baseless and, after six more months, the FBI relented.

So here are the statements the FBI tried to keep secret but were recently made available to Judicial Watch:

•“While Kennedy was in Santiago he made arrangements to ‘rent’ a brothel for an entire night. Kennedy allegedly invited one of the Embassy chauffeurs to participate in the night’s activities.”
•“[I]n each country Kennedy insisted on interviewing ‘the angry young men’ of the country. He wanted to meet with communists and others who had left-wing views. …Ambassador Freeman, Bogota, said the first person whom Kennedy wanted to meet was Lauchlin Currie.” (The document subsequently identifies Currie as a person who “had been mentioned in Washington investigations of Soviet spy rings.”)

•“[I]n Mexico Kennedy asked Ambassador Mann that certain left-wingers be invited to the Embassy residence where interviews could be held. Mann took the strong position that he would not invite such people and stated that if any such interviews were to be conducted, all arrangements should be made by Kennedy himself.”

All this is certainly consistent with another document in the Kennedy FBI file we uncovered last year, dated March 28, 1963.

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I’m sitting in my campaign office working on a policy statement (I’m running for U.S. Senate in Virginia as a Republican Tea Party candidate) when the following headline from the Washington Times comes across my computer, “Government posts biggest monthly deficit ever.” Now, that is something to be proud of– if you are President Obama or a member of Congress and believe the more you borrow the better.

The Congressional Budget Office just released preliminary numbers Monday that show a $223 billion federal deficit for February alone – an especially amazing accomplishment in just 28 short days, even for the United States Congress. In fact, it is the largest single monthly deficit in the history of our country! Compare this February deficit of $223 billion to the entire 2007 fiscal year deficit of $163 billion. Does this look like insanity now?

Now, what is even more frustrating is that during the month of February we had House Republican Leaders who had promised us $100 billion in cuts, but could muster only $61 billion in cuts. And even worse, we had the Democrats who made the bold proposal (sarcasm implied) of a staggering $6 billion in cuts, and then had the audacity to call that meeting the Republicans half-way.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Josh Zerkle to discuss the business of the NFL’s dispute with their player’s union. Then Pejman Yousefzadeh discusses Senator Ensign’s decision to not seek re-election.

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.

Related Links:

Josh Zerkle’s With Leather
Greed is good in NFL labor talks
The Rise and Fall of John Ensign
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From Judicial Watch:

Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a lawsuit on March 7, 2011, against Florida Democrat Congressman Alcee Hastings on behalf of a female employee who was repeatedly subjected to “unwelcome sexual advances,” “unwelcome touching” and retaliation.  The alleged harassment and retaliation began in 2008, when Hastings was Chairman of the United States Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.  The Commission is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.  Also named is the Commission’s former staff director, Fred Turner.  Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on behalf of Commission employee Winsome Packer (Packer v. US Comm. On Security & Cooperation in Europe, and Hastings and Turner (CV No. 11-00485 D.D.C.))

According to Judicial Watch’s lawsuit, filed on Monday March 7^th with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia:

For over two years, from January 2008 through February 19, 2010, Ms. Packer was forced to endure unwelcome sexual advances, crude sexual comments, and unwelcome touching by Mr. Hastings while serving as the Representative of the Commission to the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.  Although Ms. Packer repeatedly rejected Mr. Hastings’ sexual attention and repeatedly complained about the harassment to the Commission Staff Director, Fred Turner, Mr. Hastings refused to stop sexually harassing her.  Rather, Mr. Hastings and Mr. Turner began to retaliate against Ms. Packer—including making threats of termination—because she continued to object to Mr. Hastings’ conduct.

Ms. Packer was particularly vulnerable to such threats because she was a Republican working for the Democratically-controlled Commission, a point that both Mr. Hastings and Mr. Turner used to threaten and intimidate her.  Eventually, the emotional distress, anxiety, and humiliation caused by the sexual harassment and retaliation caused Ms. Packer to suffer severe health problems and forced her to leave her prestigious position.

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National Public Radio President Vivian Schiller held a luncheon at the National Press Club yesterday to speak of NPR’s new endeavors as well as stating the case why they should not be stripped of federal funding.

Questions at the event had to be written down beforehand, and were later read to Ms. Schiller by a moderator.

When asked “Do you believe there is an imbalance at NPR in terms of liberals and conservatives in the newsroom? If the answer is ‘yes’ what do you propose to do about it?”

Schiller responded by saying they get a “tremendous amount of criticism for being too conservative as well” and wishes those people could be in their editorial meetings so they could see what goes on. She then states NPR’s journalism reflects “no particular bias.”

After, she says there’s no question it’s a “perception issue” that some believe NPR is liberal in nature.

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Since 2009, the day-to-day management of Detroit Public Schools has been under the auspices of Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. He was appointed by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm to right the ship that is DPS.  It had already struck the iceberg, and Bobb was tasked with not only ensuring it didn’t sink, but that it wouldn’t drag the whole state down with it.

During Bobb’s brief tenure, DPS is already showing signs of improvement. He has slashed the budget, gotten rid of some of the worst teachers and increased the graduation rate by nearly three percent. DPS has a very long way to go, but there’s finally a sense that things are improving.

A lot of that has to do with Bobb’s approach to his job.  He is a straight-forward man who has little patience for waste, fraud, abuse or putting adult interests ahead of student needs.  He should be an inspiration for every taxpayer watchdog group in America.

Last year, when it was rumored that a group of radical, renegade Detroit teachers was threatening a walk out on students because their “rights” were in jeopardy, Bobb had little use for that, too.

We asked Bobb about the walk-out threat when we interviewed him for our documentary “Kids Aren’t Cars.” In typical fashion, the plainspoken Bobb cut through the B.S. and called out the renegade teacher group.

Whenever we hold public screenings of “Kids Aren’t Cars,” this scene causes the audience to burst out in applause. They find Bobb’s candor to be refreshing and inspiring.

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From the 1^st quarter through the 4th quarter of 2010, GM’s lobbying expenses more than doubled from $1.8 million to $3.89 million – a 113% increase.  After all, when the government is your largest shareholder, your company execs will inevitably be spending an inordinate amount of time cozying up to Washington politicians.

Moreover, GM’s lobbyist team reads like a who’s who of the government bailout business.  And why wouldn’t it?  When you’re lobbying Washington to privatize gains for your clients and socialize their losses among taxpayers, you hire those firms with the most experience representing other notorious companies that received massive bailouts by U.S. taxpayers — Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman Sachs, AIG and others.

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Regardless of failed economic policies, a destructive health care law that most Americans want repealed and the lack of leadership in foreign affairs, Barack Obama will have $1 billion, the support of the majority of the media and a potentially long and divisive Republican primary to assist his re-election in 2012.  However, the recently elected Republican governors can assure the nation of a Republican victory by taking control of the election.  By organizing now and selecting a candidate from among themselves, forcing all others to step aside for the good of the country, they will neutralize Mr. Obama’s advantages and focus the election on his dismal performance in office.

It is clear that no Republican candidate can win in 2012 without support from Ohio’s John Kasich; Pennsylvania’s Tom Corbett; Florida’s Rick Scott; Virginia’s Bob McDonnell, South Carolina’s Nikki Haley; and certainly not without the support of New Jersey’s Chris Christie.  These patriots are all taking on the difficult problems their respective states face and solving them with common sense solutions and firm leadership.  They are making decisions, showing courage and taking the political risks necessary to succeed for their people.  These are all of the same qualities needed to lead the nation back to greatness and are all of the qualities that Mr. Obama lacks or at least has not demonstrated since taking office.

These governors need to organize into a 2012 election committee and then decide on who among them will run for the presidency.  The candidate needs to be one of the governors because neither Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum nor any of the other potential players would be as strong a candidate with independent voters as any of the governors would be.  If left to a long and brutal primary to select from one of these former candidates, the party would spend too much money and time to regain financial strength and momentum.  Mr. Obama will win a second term by default and the nation will be in serious trouble.

Assuming that the governors will take charge, they must do so before the summer of this year.  This will give the candidate as much time to organize a campaign as the Democrats now have, completely neutralizing Mr. Obama’s time advantage.  It will also permit the candidate to match the Democrats dollar for dollar in fund raising, eliminating Mr. Obama’s financial advantage.  Without the need for a Republican primary, there will not be a long period of Republicans debating Republicans with the eventual candidate bruised by the process.  Instead, the candidate will be able to begin to shape the message against this failed presidency and begin to focus the debate on the issues, depriving the Democrats of the advantage of Republican in-fighting for months.

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Today, in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange was founded. A few weeks ago, it was sold to the Germans. We’re fine with that, actually. We just think it is interesting. More Hope and Change.

From National Journal:

In a paean to deregulation, a group of top telecommunication companies and trade associations sent a letter to the White House Friday, complaining that the Federal Communications Commission isn’t doing enough to reduce federal rules.

Comcast, AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Verizon joined organizations like CTIA and Broadband for America in arguing that the FCC, which regulates all of them, is not sufficiently following President Obama’s order to review, and if necessary, cut regulations.

While the group lauded FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s pledge to review the agency’s rules, current efforts are “plainly insufficient to carry out the President’s vision of meaningful regulatory reform,” the letter reads. The companies go on to call for a “far more rigorous and comprehensive effort to ensure that the governing regulatory framework is appropriately tailored to today’s broadband marketplace, and that outdated and needlessly burdensome rules do not stand in the way of continued investment and innovation.”

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The Subcommittee on Water and Power held an oversight hearing last week in Washington to examine the FY 2012 budget request for the Bureau of Reclamation. Subcommittee Chairman Tom McClintock made the following opening statement at the hearing:

With today’s hearing, the Water and Power Sub-Committee will begin the process of restoring abundance as the principal objective of America’s Federal water and power policy. We meet today to receive testimony from the Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Geological Service on their plans for the coming year. We do so in conjunction with our responsibility under the Federal Budget Act to provide guidance to the House Budget Committee as it prepares the 2012 budget and with our responsibility under House Resolution 72 to identify regulations and practices of the government that are impeding job creation and burdening economic growth.

In my opinion, all of these hearings and all of the actions stemming from them must be focused on developing the vast water and hydro-electric resources in our nation. The failure of the last generation to keep pace with our water and power needs has caused chronic water shortages and skyrocketing electricity prices that are causing serious economic harm.

In addition, willful policies that have deliberately misallocated our resources must be reversed.

California’s Central Valley, where 200 billion gallons of water were deliberately diverted away from vital agriculture for the enjoyment and amusement of the 2-inch Delta Smelt is a case in point. These water diversions have destroyed a quarter million acres of the most fertile farmland in America, thrown tens of thousands of farm families into unemployment and impacted fruit, vegetable and nut prices in grocery stores across America.

In Northern Arizona, 1,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity – enough to power a million homes – has been lost due to environmental mandates for the humpback chub.

In the Klamath, the federal government is seeking to destroy four perfectly good hydroelectric dams at the cost of more than a half billion dollars at a time when we can’t guarantee enough electricity to keep refrigerators running this summer. The rationale is to save the salmon, but the same proposal would close the Iron Gate Fish Hatchery that produces 5 million salmon smolt each year.

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“The nation is not broke, my friends,” opines guerilla filmmaker and amateur accountant Michael Moore. “Wisconsin is not broke. Saying that the country is broke is repeating a Big Lie.”

Relax, America, it turns out that all that talk about local, state, and federal government being broke is just total B.S. or, as The New York Times puts it, “obfuscating nonsense…a scare tactic employed for political ends.”

Moore is a bit skimpy on evidence, simply asserting that all we need to do to make things right is to shake down rich people who “have diverted…wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates.” The Times’ case isn’t much more compelling. “A country with a deficit is not necessarily any more ‘broke’ than a family with a mortgage or a college loan,” says the paper of record. “And states have to balance their budgets.”

OK, but what should you call a family or a country that spent about 20 percent of GDP for each of the past 60 years while raising less than 18 percent of GDP each year? And that is facing a massive balloon payment (let’s call it entitlement spending on Medicare and Social Security) in the not-too-distant future? And has to keep borrowing money just to pay today’s bills? And has no chance of increasing its take-home pay to cover its expenses?

It’s a pretty safe bet that most of us would call that family or country broke. Or something along those lines.

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Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and legislative Republicans say Senate Democrats, led by Mark Miller of Monona, are being ridiculous and not honest with them or the public. Walker blames Senator Miller for the stalemate over the budget repair bill and suggests that the 14 Democrat senators remain in Illinois at the request of national labor union officials.

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News coverage of Government Motors over the past few weeks has painted an increasingly glowing picture, but here’s a dose of reality:  GM still has not repaid taxpayers for the bailout and it’s looking less and less like taxpayers will ever be made whole.

Unlike much of the media, we actually spent a considerable amount of time looking behind the press releases to see what GM’s numbers really say about the health of a company taxpayers now own.

This week, we will be sharing with readers a more realistic picture of the company’s health.  The bottom line:  The picture is far less rosy than GM would like you to believe.

1. GM’s Share Price:  Will taxpayers ever be made whole?

Remember these promises?

• “Recent progress at GM gives reason for optimism that it may be possible for taxpayers to get every penny back.” – Steve Rattner, Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry (11/18/2010)
• “American taxpayers are now positioned to recover more than my administration invested in GM.” – President Barack Obama (11/18/2010)
• “The government’s investment is well placed, and I think they’ll make a lot of money.” – Former GM CEO Ed Whitacre (11/18/2010)

GM’s share price closed below its $33 IPO price for the first time on March 1st.  The company has underperformed the S&P 500 by 15% since the beginning of the year.  The Middle East is in turmoil and gas prices are skyrocketing.  Not a good harbinger for GM’s share price.

Now the Feds say that they want to get out of their GM position as soon as possible. Their first opportunity to do so will be when the government’s “lockup period” ends in May.

But according to the House Oversight Panel’s January update on TARP and the auto industry, for U.S. taxpayers just to break even on the government’s historic $50 billion “investment”, GM shares will need to trade at $54.28 — a whopping 65% premium over GM’s March 1^st closing price.

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According to news reports, Team Obama and House Republicans are at least $50 billion apart in the budget negotiations for FY2011. I’m willing to bet that Team Obama and Senate Democrats won’t agree to even $20 billion in spending cuts.

And that’s a far cry from the GOP’s annualized $100 billion pledge-to-America mark, and an even farther cry from the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts that are necessary over the next five to ten years. As I recall, the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission suggested more than $1 trillion in cuts to the domestic discretionary baseline over ten years. I think the Paul Ryan plan would do the same.

Surely the Tea Party advocates will push the GOP to stay on message and stay the course. That’s what last November’s elections were all about. And if a satisfactory deal cannot be reached, one that keeps the GOP spending-cut pledge and includes a spending-limit rule with real teeth, then why not shut down the government?

Reading through various reports from the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post, you get the sense that no great harm will come from a shutdown. Social Security checks will be mailed. Other benefit payments will be met. Air-traffic controllers will do their jobs. Border protection and military operations will continue. Uniformed military personnel will be exempted. The Post Office will do its business uninterrupted. And incoming revenues can be designated for interest payment on the debt.

Doesn’t sound that bad to me. It sure isn’t the end of the world.

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