It’s hard not to imagine that some bureaucrats that the National Institute’s of Health were not thinking of Robert Burns’ “best laid plans of mice and men” when they heard the results of a recent “comparative effectiveness” study of the drugs Lucentis and Avastin.

“Comparative effectiveness” studies are the shoehorn for government interference between the doctor/patient relationship. These studies allow bureaucrats to dictate health care decisions that should be made by doctors by determining that certain drugs or treatments are comparable and the cheaper drug becomes the one the government covers for treatment. The ObamaCare takeover of our health care system appropriated nearly $1 billion for these studies.

The National Institute for Health (NIH) initiated a study into the “comparative effectiveness” of the drugs Lucentis and Avastin – both made by the same manufacture. The basis of the study was to determine whether Avastin could be used as a substitute for Lucentis when treated macular degeneration. Avastin was never approved by the FDA for macular degeneration while Lucentis was tried, tested and approved for such purpose.

The initial test results showed the danger of such a strategy.

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Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) held a town hall meeting on April 7 about the possibility of a government shutdown. During the event, a veteran stood up and questioned him why he isn’t in Congress right now working out a deal so the troops can get funding. Moran began answering the mans questioned then got testy and told him to sit down or leave.

Moran has a history of anger issues. For example, in 2000 Moran stooped as low to accuse an 8-year boy, who was a straight-A student, of trying to steal his car. During the incident, Moran began choking and cursing at him. He later said the boy claimed he had a gun on him. He didn’t. The child also told the police he was just admiring his car.

Here’s Moran at the town hall.

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When looking at the possibility of fraud in the Pigford settlement, one of the big red flags that goes up for many people is a disparity between the number of claims and the number of black farmers.

Between the first and second Pigford settlements, there had been over 90,000 claims filed but as agricultural news source Agri-Pulse points out…

…confronted with the skyrocketing federal deficit, more officials are taking a critical  look at the billion dollars spent thus far and wondering when these discrimination cases will ever end. Already, the number of people who have been paid and are still seeking payment will likely exceed the 26,785 black farmers who were considered to even be operating back you in 1997, according to USDA.

Despite that obvious disparity, the defenders of Pigford have any number of explanations to justify nearly four times the number of claims as there were farmers. Last night while doing research on Pigford I found an even more jarring statistical difference that I’ve never heard anyone point out.

According to this 2007 Census report on black farmers, the overwhelming majority of black farmers are men – 86%. In case you’re wondering, the number is exactly the same for white farmers; in other words, most farmers are men.

But the majority of successful Pigford claimants are women.

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Three weeks ago the BBC World Service Trust, a charity for the British network, was angling for a share of State Department funding to promote Internet freedom. But after Americans revolted at the idea, the organization has pulled out entirely, failing to even submit a grant proposal.

The BBC charity had developed a lucrative relationship with the U.S. government during the Obama administration. U.S. tax dollars are supporting at least two BBC World Service Trust projects: The State Department gave the organization $300,000 for work in Burma and USAID gave it $4.5 million for a project in Nigeria.

But outrage from American taxpayers, members of Congress and the Broadcasting Board of Governors was apparently enough to dissuade the British organization from making a formal proposal this time. At stake was up to $28 million in funding for work on Internet freedom issues.

Even with the BBC World Service Trust out of the running, there’s still hard feelings over a British organization seeking U.S. funding for work that the federal government’s own taxpayer-funded broadcaster does as well.

(more…)

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets from the Sammies in Chicago, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the political and economic costs of a potential government shutdown.

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:

Time’s up: Obama and GOP scramble to halt shutdown
Congress doesn’t shut down during a shutdown
Budget negotiators differ by $6.5 billion: aide
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange
ICYMI: Coffee & Market’s 300th Episode with Michael Barone
The Sammie Awards

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Recent developments in the Middle East seem to have a new or unique quality. For the first time, “ordinary” people appear to be rising up against oppressive and even tyrannical regimes. This is, of course, desirable on a number of levels. Somewhat distressing, however, is the little-discussed fact that many (though certainly not all) of these “ordinary people” have clear and unmistakable ties to America’s most bitter enemies, the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.

Whatever U.S. policy is—and currently, it appears that even the President, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense cannot get on the same page, let alone develop a united strategy with allies—it needs to be guided by only one thing: what is in the security interests of the United States of America? Our Founders, both in the Constitution and in their actions governing the early Republic, spoke clearly on how to deal with such overseas adventures. While the threats may be current, they are neither new nor unique.

First, it is critical to understand that virtually all of the Founders had served in the military at one time or another and most of them had actually seen combat. These were not wild-eyed dreamers, nor pacifists. They knew blood; they knew struggle. Washington, Madison, Hamilton, Knox, Livingston, Greene, Randolph, and many more had seen war up close, and none of the Founders believed in disarmament. Their only disagreements came over whether militias could be whipped into shape quickly enough to defend the nation. Jefferson, one of the last to come around, finally admitted the need for a U.S. military academy to train officers.

Second, while the phrase “entangling alliances” is commonly thrown out by some conservatives as a warning against any alliances, the fact is that the U.S. had benefitted greatly from an “entangling” alliance with France. Washington’s warning, in his Farewell Address, warned against “permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations.” Put simply, he believed people were capable of change. But then Washington made clear that Europe had different interests than our own—and that, indeed, the U.S. did have national interests. He argued for a standing army to protect those interests. It is all the more odd, then, that Washington (and John Adams) paid tribute, or bribes, to the Barbary Pirates to prevent them from seizing our shipping. But in the meantime Adams began construction of our first blue-water navy, which was completed in time for his successor, Thomas Jefferson to use it. When the Bey of Tripoli engaged in the time-tested declaration of war (back then, cutting down the U.S. flag), Jefferson did not hesitate a moment to send the entire U.S. fleet—without a declaration of war—to not only eliminate the Bey himself, but to take out any of his allies whether those states had declared war on the U.S. or not!

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When Donald Trump began testing the presidential waters in late February, it was easy to discard his efforts as nothing more than a public relations ploy. It seemed “The Don” was just looking for one more way to get the Trump name up in lights. Thus, like so many others, I was not impressed.

Yet since that time, Trump has carved out a niche for himself politically and has not only proven his sincerity in considering a presidential run, but has also risen to the point of being the 2^nd most popular candidate among possible GOP primary contestants.  He has done this not only by saying what conservatives in America have long wanted a politician to say, but also by doing so with the kind of unapologetic tone that marks the words of a man who’s confident in the justness of his cause.

To my point: Trump is angry over what Obama has done to America and he’s not afraid to express this indignation via various radio, television, and print outlets. (It’s been a long time since a potential presidential candidate loved America enough to verbalize his disdain over the harm a sitting president has done to this country.)

He believes Obama has given us “a terrible presidency” and he wants to see America return to being “the greatest place in the world.”

And although some of Trump’s statements have been maligned by the MSM (and Glenn Beck) to date, his words communicate convictions that resonate with everyday Americans throughout the land.

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The Michigan Education Association is growing more pathetic by the day.  The union is beginning to act like the crazy drunk uncle at the Christmas party – spilling his drink on himself and acting rudely to the point where others are embarrassed for him.

Seemingly unable to stop any legislation that it opposes after being neutered in the last election, the union is on the floor, kicking and screaming.  It’s a pretty pathetic scene to watch.

After getting rolled by legislation that would create Emergency Financial Managers in the worst municipalities and school districts, the MEA is now complaining that the legislature is taking a two week break.  The masochists write to their members:

“After barely 30 days in session and no meaningful action to create jobs, legislators think they’ve ‘earned’  two weeks of paid vacation,” said Glenn Freeman, president of the Greater Lansing Labor Council. “Instead of spending time working on their tans, we need our leaders to get back to work and come together to create quality jobs for Michigan workers.”

That’s an interesting assessment.  Detroit Public Schools has a drop-out rate well above 50% and it’s test scores are absolutely dismal, but employees see no problem taking three months off during the summer – but I digress…

The MEA has thus far demonstrated zero ability to stop any legislation it doesn’t like.  Wouldn’t the union want the legislature to stay out as long as possible?  Or do they truly enjoy pain and griping?

It should be noted that the union is criticizing the legislature at a time when many of its own members are on spring break.  While I’m not defender of the work ethic of the Michigan legislature, for unionized teachers who are contracted to work somewhere around 180 days a year, the criticism is a bit hollow. Is this the best spit ball the union can lob?  I’d hate to see the follow up.  It would probably  involve the word “meanies” and other medaphorical open-handed punches.

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GOP Candidate David Prosser is now ahead by 7,000 votes. Epic public sector union fail!

And just think…. It was only a few short hours ago that far left Wisconsin candidate JoAnne Kloppenburg declared victory in the state’s Supreme Court race.
Now this.

Watch the first 36 seconds of her victory speech if you want a good laugh.

From the video:

Question: How do you feel comfortable declaring victory when the margin is so thin? Justice Prosser’s supporters seem to think that they may be able to pull out a victory in a recount process.

Kloppenburg: You know, we ran a campaign that was focused on being positive and respectful and winning and we did win and we’re confident that the margin will hold… Because we’ve enjoyed a broad and deep state-wide support and we’re gratified that the numbers showed that.

That’s not all.

Later in the day Kloppenburg released a victory statement to the media:

“We owe Justice Prosser our gratitude for his more than 30 years of public service. Wisconsin voters have spoken and I am grateful for, and humbled by, their confidence and trust. I will be independent and impartial and I will decide cases based on the facts and the law. As I have traveled the State, people tell me they believe partisan politics do not belong in our Courts. I look forward to bringing new blood to the Supreme Court and focusing my energy on the important work Wisconsin residents elect Supreme Court justices to do.”

Bummer…

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By the time the votes in Wisconsin’s State Supreme Court race were all counted the day after Tuesday’s big election, Big Labor candidate, Joanne Kloppenburg, had a 204 vote lead out of almost 1.5 million cast. Statistically this is zero and as today’s first round of county-by county recount tallies dribbled in, it looked as though the State of Wisconsin was in for a long, emotionally agonizing process. Just today, the lead managed to swing back and forth at least three times. First Kloppenburg was ahead, then Prosser, then Kloppenburg — all by as few as a dozen votes. 

As of late this afternoon, though, that agonizing process appears to have come to an end. A clerical error has been discovered that nets sitting Supreme Court Justice David Prosser somewhere around 7500 votes and almost certain victory. The 14,000 votes cast in the overwhelmingly Republican City of Brookfield were counted election night, they just weren’t reported. 

Unless a similar clerical-type error is found in an area as heavily Democratic as Brookfield is Republican, it’s impossible to imagine Kloppenburg prevailing. The best news for Prosser is that the heavily liberal Dane County (Madison) is already over 60% done with their recount and Kloppenburg’s only picked up a total of 12 votes. 

The other outlier is the heavily Democratic Milwaukee Country, but again a clerical error of this kind is a freak happening and unlikely to be recreated anywhere else. 

Furthermore, sources tell me that the person responsible for this reporting error, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, is famous for her incompetence and her stubborn refusal to give up an old personal computer in favor of a newer system that wouldn’t cause these kinds of problems. The win-win might be Prosser winning the election and Nicklolaus finally being relieved of her duties. 

Look for an explosion of liberal rage over this, the least of which will be lawsuits. Big Labor, the White House and Big Crybaby Public Employees went all-in on this election in the hopes that replacing Prosser with a left-wing judicial activist like Kloppenburg would be their judicial activist firewall in stopping Governor Scott Walker’s reform programs — a program we now hope will include a Voter ID law. 

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Rather than accept a few billion in budget cuts (read rounding error), President Obama has signaled his willingness to shut down the federal government. (Yah!) For those keeping score at home, any government shutdown that happens is on Obama’s plate. He is the President. All on him.

The worst part of this whole debate is the Obama Administration’s decision to hold military pay hostage to the budget debate. For the last few decades, government shutdowns have been guided by an OMB directive issued during the Reagan Administration. Under this directive, military personnel would continue to receive the paychecks while politicians argued about the budget. The Clinton Administration, during the last government shutdown, kept the paychecks flowing.

But, not Obama.

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Last week, an e-mail went out to all employees in the Illinois Department of Public Health to let them know that their corporate cards will no longer work after April 22nd because Bank of America is not renewing the contract and the State cannot find a replacement.

Like most major companies, the State issues corporate cards to employees to charge travel expenses and other charges related to their work. In the case of the State, this has to be done via your typical procurement processes. The below e-mail shows that Bank of America is fed up with the State and they have yet to find a willing sucker bidder willing to deal with the State’s payment cycle.

Here is a copy of the e-mail (emphasis mine):

Folks:

Not to send panic, but just a heads up to each of you as to what’s happening.

Bank of America is cancelling the contract with the State of Illinois effective April 22, 2011. They will not do another contract extension for the State of Illinos. So what does that mean? On April 23, 2011 at 12:01 a.m., the cards currently held by IDPH employees will no longer be valid. The State has been trying to finda new vendor, encourage BoA to give us a few more months, but as of this writing has been unsuccessful on all fronts. So what does this mean to our travelers? Most establishments will not direct bill especially conferences, (prior approval needed by travel office for this process) so persons required to travel will have to put charges on their personal charge cards or set aside personal funds on prepaid travel card, or pay cash out of pocket. For those who are non-GRF [General Revenue Fund] this should be not big deal, but to those traveling on GRF, this could have an impact.

One additional details are received. I will share that information with you so that you can share with our travelers.

Unti then . . . this is just a heads up!!!!

The state has for several years run budget deficits. As Illinois can’t print money and they’ve run out of cash, they have resorted to simply paying bills later and later. Some vendors have stopped doing business with the state, some vendors simply will not do business with the state or seek state business.

Bank of America is likely tired of having a customer owe millions and insist on paying on a Net-270 (on a good month). The fact that they can’t find other bidders shows that everyone knows the score here.

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If for no other reason, you have to admire the tenacity of some legislative leaders to look out for the interests of their teacher union sponsors.

The Idaho House of Representatives was debating a bill that would eliminate the cap on number of charter schools allowed in the state when the minority leader, Democrat John Rusche, accused proponents of an ethical violation.  Of what, you ask?  They were reportedly wearing free yellow scarves with the National School Choice Week logo and this, in his mind constituted a gift related to a bill being debated.

His complaint ultimately led to the tabling of the bill, which was originally expected to pass the Republican-majority House.  With only days remaining in the legislative session, Rusche likely succeeded in killing the initiative.

What an incredibly cheap stunt to block the expansion of school choice for hundreds if not thousands of kids in Idaho.

Rusche has been endorsed and financially supported by the Idaho Education Association.  Its parent, the National Education Association, is a leading critic of school choice and charter schools.

Perhaps if school choice proponents were throwing around thousand dollar campaign checks instead of free yellow scarves, they would have an easier time in the legislature.  Maybe Rusche was insulted with the cheap scarf.

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Just days after the introduction of a very good plan by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, leaders from the Republican Study Committee in the House of Representatives have introduced an even better plan.

In a previous post, I compared spending levels from the Obama budget and the Ryan budget and showed that the burden of federal spending would rise much faster if the White House plan was adopted.

If the goal is to restrain government, the RSC blueprint is the best of all worlds. As the chart illustrates, government only grows by an average of 1.7 percent annually with that plan, compared to an average of 2.8 percent growth under Ryan’s good budget and 4.7 percent average growth with Obama’s head-in-the-sand proposal.

According to the numbers released by the Republican Study Committee, the burden of federal spending would fall to about 18 percent of GDP after 10 years if the RSC plan is implemented.

While that’s a great improvement compared to today, the federal government would still consume as much of the economy as it did when Bill Clinton left office.

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Am I surprised over Trumps’ early success in testing the waters as the Republican nominee for 2012? To be perfectly honest, yes I am. The man is in second place in New Hampshire, within single digits of Romney, and according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, he’s second nationally and tied with Gov. Huckabee with 17%. My friends, he hasn’t even spent $500 million yet.

Speaking of which, do you think he is going to take public financing? Paaalease. I understand the need to make a campaign feel like the people own it but in Trump’s case, he is a multi-billionaire. I don’t see him getting a lot of financial support from the average taxpayer who is fighting through high unemployment and a recession. Most importantly, a point to avoid for Trump is when he does receive lackluster fund raising because of that from average citizens, the media will try to spin it as an indicator that Trump enjoys little support. When in actuality people just don’t ordinarily give to billionaires who have billionaire friends. So Trump should definitely consider financing a large part of his campaign and rely on ultra wealthy donors for support. It is all about the early contests. There’s reasons they are held in the order they are. So the candidate can win early and often. If you need a illustrative point, consider Rudy Giuliani’s disastrous attempt to wait until Florida.

If Donald Trump runs for President, he should forgo public finance and federal matching funds not just because, as a mega-wealthy billionaire, he can, but because doing so would allow him to spend in the early primary and caucus state’s without federal limitation. A candidate who accepts matching funds also agrees to observe strict spending limits in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, Florida, and all the primary and caucus states. A candidate who self-funds and doesn’t accept Federal matching funds is under no such limitations.

Bypassing public finance, Trump can leverage his wealth to outspend his opponents in the early states, gaining a significant strategic advantage. Sadly, Trump advisor Michael Cohen, a vice president of the Trump organization, doesn’t seem to understand this. City Hall newspaper recently reported “Cohen said that Trump would raise money from average citizens, rather than just funnel his own money into a campaign.”He wants citizens in the country to have skin in the game,” he said. ( Roger Stone)

Does he have the Trump name brand on his side? Absolutely, and, of course, that helps. But there is something more going on here. He’s saying things that are resonating with people. First and foremost, he certainly doesn’t talk like a politician.

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Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski – R, has hired former CBS 11 lead political reporter and anchor, Matthew Felling, as her Communications Director.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska has announced Alaskan broadcast journalist Matthew Felling as her new Communications Director.

Felling comes to Sen. Murkowski’s office after being lead political reporter and anchor for CBS 11 News Anchorage. He joined CBS 11 News after a decade of news reporting, commentary and analysis in Washington, D.C — becoming the only TV reporter on the Washington Post’s “Best State-Based Political Reporter” list.

What the article doesn’t say is that CBS 11 is actually KTVA. As reported by both Big Journalism and Big Government back on October 30, 2010, several members of KTVA staff were caught conspiring against Murkowski opponent Joe Miller in a saved voice mail message to Miller campaign spokesperson, Randy DeSoto.

Given that Felling seems to have followed Murkowski from DC to Alaska and now back, again, he almost looks as much like a traveling companion, as he does a journalist and now new employee. Furthermore, the move would not have been possible had Murkowski not won the election. Given Felling’s role at KTVA and that two KTVA employees were fired as a result of the October incident, the ethics issues here are glaring. It’s fair to ask if Felling isn’t nowbeing rewarded for helping to steer CBS 11’s coverage Murkowski’s way during the November election.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Michael Barone to talk about Paul Ryan’s budget, how Republicans can appeal to minorities and the 2012 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:

Ryan steals march on Obama as fiscal crisis looms
Comparing the Ryan and Obama budgets
Prominent Democrat: Obama should address entitlements
GOP shouldn’t panic if whites become a minority
Michael Barone at the Washington Examiner

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On April 3^rd, Chinese artist and citizen investigator Ai Weiwei was taken into custody by his government while attempting to fly from Beijing to Hong Kong. Initially, Chinese law enforcement would not disclose the reason, but yesterday announced they were investigating him for “suspected economic crimes.” His whereabouts are still unknown.

With the Arab world’s civil unrest in the periphery, many China critics believe the arrest of Ai Weiwei (pronounced EYE-Way-Way) is part of a recent crackdown on Chinese dissidents to stop any climate of protest from migrating into their borders. For nearly two-months, China has been arresting well known writers, human rights lawyers, and activists – making some completely vanish within their penal system. With well over a billion people under their governance, China’s leaders should fear demonstrations given their abysmal free speech and human rights record.

But the arrest of Ai Weiwei is markedly significant for one simple reason – he is one of their most prolific artists. Ai Weiwei was the “creative consultant” for the country’s iconic Beijing National Stadium – or what many refer to as China’s Olympic Bird’s Nest stadium. With the arrest of such a prominent figure, the country has sent the message to their people that no one, no matter how internationally heralded, is safe if they openly critique the government. And Ai Weiwei has done his share of criticizing. (more…)