When Sarah Palin was telling an audience last month that Republicans have the fighting instinct of sheep she wasn’t talking about Andrew Breitbart. Today in Wisconsin Andrew addressed the thousands of tea party patriots who came out in the cold to hold a rally for freedom, personal responsibility, and fiscal conservatism.

During his introduction of Sarah Palin, Andrew took on the vile Trumpka-Obama leftists who came out to taunt the tea partiers. Andrew told them that they could, “Go to hell! Go to hell!” for having the audacity to lecture the tea party about civility after the death threats and thuggery displayed in Wisconsin last month.
Andrew was in rare form.

More… Invisible Dude added this:

Andrew would make a good press secretary for President Palin……
just sayin’

Agreed.

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The contrast could not have been greater.

Last night, I was at the Jacksonville Landing, speaking at a rally held by the First Coast Tea Party that was keynoted by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The weather was gorgeous with temperatures in the mid to high 70s and the mood of the patriots gathered there matched the sunny climate. There were skits and laughter amid the speeches that dealt with the solemn issue of fiscal responsibility.

This morning, I made my way from Jacksonville to Atlanta to Memphis to Chicago and then on to the icy Wisconsin war zone. The temperature hovered around freezing as I arrived in Madison. Bitter cold rain gave way to snow but that didn’t stop thousands of Wisconsinites from coming out to make a stand and hear from a number of great speakers including the woman I was privileged to introduce, Sarah Palin.

But there was another group also there to greet us; the shock troops sent by Richard Trumka and president Obama’s Organizing for America. This was my second trip to Madison in the last couple of months and the defeats that the union’s leadership have suffered in that time have plunged these losers into an even more animalistic state of frenzy. Still stinging from last week’s election reaffirmation of Gov. Scott Walker’s policy of requiring public sector unions to face some of the economic realities that the rest of us have to deal with, the counter protesters both homegrown and bussed in them were louder, ruder and more desperate than ever. Their goal is to be as intimidating as the Green Bay Packers offensive line and it’s one of the only areas that they’ve had success.

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UPDATE: Oh look, the MSM’s already making thing’s up. See here.

If Sarah Palin’s not running for president, what a terrible waste that would be of the single best stump speech I’ve heard since, well, Palin’s ’08 convention speech, which just happened to be the single most electrifying political moment of my adult life. A thrill didn’t just run up my leg that night, it ran up everything in me that’s American, and today in Madison, WI, it happened again. Surrounded by an obnoxiously hostile, astro-turfed, pro-union crowd that tried and failed to drown out her message with obnoxiously hostile astro-turfed noise, the former Alaskan Governor took the fight directly to the growing pile of Obama’s failures in the most effective way we’ve heard yet from a potential GOP challenger.

If you want to know why Obama’s Palace Guards in the MSM are determined to destroy this woman and all of popular culture has risen up to help, press PLAY. If you want to know why the GOP Establishment had better start looking over their collective shoulders, press PLAY.

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You see what else she did there? Exactly what she did as a reform-minded governor in Alaska. She called the GOP Establishment out for everything they’re doing wrong, appealed to reasonable rank-and-file union members disgusted by their leadership, and reaffirmed her own proud union credentials. Better yet, she also launched the kind of tight, sharp, and articulate attack on President Obama’s failed presidency that likely has the White House — and their media allies — loosening their ties, clearing their throats, and looking for any word she might have mispronounced as an excuse to drown out her appealing message with the furtherance of a cruel “stupid” narrative they’ve been failing at for two-plus years.

I’ll ask again: How can someone so “dumb” be so right about everything?

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The man just doesn’t get it.

In his deficit reduction plan unveiled Wednesday, President Obama proposed a spending reduction of only $4 trillion over the next 12 years, a figure that falls significantly short of the spending cuts proposed by the President’s own debt commission. The speech is yet another reminder that Obama is not serious about cutting federal spending in practice, but rather in delivering platitudes in the midst of what is arguably our most serious budget crisis in history.

And so the spending debate rages on in Washington.

Many forward-thinking Congressional Republicans, particularly those who ascended to office on the wave of Tea Party victories, have cautioned that lawmakers ought not to accept a spending plan without making sure they get something in return—in the name of restoring fiscal accountability to Washington.

This is indeed a wise impulse: The national debt now looms at well over $14 trillion. The national deficit hurdles toward $1.4 trillion. Our country’s deficit has now reached such epic proportions that even if the federal government were to seize the total assets of every American billionaire, we could not cover the costs of this year’s deficit alone.

Judging from speech this week, either Obama has not internalized the enormity of our national debt, or he is simply not concerned with it. Whether that epiphany strikes him or not, though, we are teetering on the edge of budgetary meltdown, and something must be done if we wish to avoid a complete and utter national fiscal crisis.

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Ah, April 15th! I want you to consider that the date means absolutely nothing to 47% of US households as they will pay zero in federal income tax. Yes, state, property and sin taxes still get them, but we are seeing a disturbing trend towards a tipping point where fewer than half of us pay any sort of income tax. Five years ago it was 40% who paid no income tax. By 2012 this could be the first election in which the majority of voters will be able to vote themselves more government largess paid for by a minority of taxpayers. We may soon have to re-jigger the American Revolution’s familiar rallying cry into: “Representation Without Taxation!”

Statistics vary slightly but it can be argued that the top five percent of US households pay 60% of federal income tax. Ten percent account for over 75%. Another two-fifths make up the rest. And half are exempt. And yet…twenty percent of US households get 75% of their income from the federal government. Another one-fifth receives 40% of their financial support from Uncle Sam. Think about what this means in terms of fiscal responsibility down the road. How receptive to cutting taxes which they do not pay, or cutting government spending, from which they benefit, is a majority voting block going to be in the future? Indeed, what does this say about our prospects for economic growth or curbing the size and scope of an ever growing government colossus in the face of a crushing $20 trillion deficit looming on the horizon?

Very soon we may not be merely de-incentivizing economic activity but actively waging war on it.

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Late last week, the U.S. House passed a Joint Resolution disapproving of the FCC’s Net Neutrality regulations, which were issued by the agency late last December.  Such a Resolution through the Congressional Review Act (CRA) works to nullify actions by agencies through a streamlined procedure, which keeps amendments off, and requires only simple majorities in each body of Congress, plus the President’s signature, to take effect.

The CRA Resolution has doubtless been a contentious process.  The new Congress, with its conservative majority in the House and a stronger conservative minority in the Senate, has enabled the legislative branch to become more assertive when it comes to agency activities.  The CRA tactic reflects that change in approach.

Not surprisingly, however, its progress has broken primarily across party lines, with Republicans supporting it because they generally feel the FCC lacks the congressional authority to issue its Net Neutrality regulations in the first place; and Democrats moving against it because by and large they believe in the FCC’s regulations, no matter how they’re arrived at.

The vote passed 240-to-179.  Beyond the House vote, its progress in the Senate, and at the President’s desk – if it gets that far – remains uncertain.  Regardless, this has not stopped detractors of the Resolution to use it as yet another public forum to voice support for the FCC’s likely illegal, new regulations.

Of late, two of the louder voices against the Resolution have been former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and Internet millionaire turned Colorado Congressman, Jared Polis.

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Walking into Miss B’s Café in Louisburg, KS you join farmers, cattlemen and cowboys. It is a throwback to a time when the local community would gather around a table and talk to one another about local, state and national issues over a hot cup of coffee and a sumptuous breakfast. On the Saturday after the budget compromise I ventured back to that institution to listen to the heart of America expecting to hear appreciation for the Congress and Administration avoiding a government shut down. Instead I learned of the depth of discontent with a political system that seems to be out of touch with its people.

I, for one was impressed with the compromise for several reasons. First, spending was cut by the largest amount in the history of this Country. Granted, it is only a cut of the increase in spending of this Administration and the previous Congress but it is significant that it came when the Administration and remnants of that Congress pledged that there would not only be no cuts, but another increase in spending. Moreover this was punctuated when the President and Majority Leader of the Senate then tried to take credit for the compromise. Not only did that effort fail with the majority of Americans but it angered the stalwarts of their party who have accused them of being spineless.

Secondly, it is apparent that Congressman Boehner was the engineer of the compromise and it was his leadership that made the result possible. For most of us, our introduction to the Congressman was his tearful statements when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives. I was hopeful that he was as sincere as his delivery, but admittedly too jaded to believe it. His success is not only a testament that those deep feels he gushed were sincere but that he is now a proven leader.

Finally, I was impressed with Boehner’s generosity toward the Tea Party, giving them credit for being a big part of the solution. It is unusual for any politician to give others credit, especially those outside of their loyal party. And regardless of what the press says, the Tea Party is outside the Republican and Democratic Party. Instead as was the case with the President and Senate Majority Leader, they wanted to hijack the success of others.

So why all the dissatisfaction?

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Because there are absolutely no other problems in this country, yesterday the Feds shut down a number of on-line poker sites. More Hope and Change.

Cross-Posted: TobyToons.com (Conservative Political Cartoons)

Army wife and blogger Jaci Greggs wrote this fantastic citizen book review.  We just had to have it, and she was gracious enough to share it with us.  Please visit her blog, Me and My Soldier Man.

“Make no mistake: America is in a media war.”  ~ Righteous Indignation

If you ever watch the news, listen to the radio or check the headlines on msn.com, you must read this book.

I’ve been telling y’all this for weeks, months now. There is a battle going on for the information gateway of our country: the news media complex.

And the great general leading the charge, the brilliant strategist who has been literally on the forefront of this fight and has seen it from the inside-out and the ground-up, who makes it possible for you and I to literally hear “the rest of the story”…. is Andrew Breitbart. And his latest book, “Righteous Indignation,” was released last Thursday.

I’ve mentioned Breitbart on here before, mostly in passing or in reference to his Big sites (linked on the right). Anything we know today, about the JournoList, about ACORN, about Pigford is directly because of Andrew Breitbart. (And if you don’t know about any of the things I just mentioned, start researching, because this affects YOU)

And, on a personal note, I had the great pleasure of meeting Breitbart a couple of years ago, when I went to LA with Sister. Granted, I just shook his hand and then stood in the group listening to him talk, but you’ve never met a more approachable, friendly guy who’s excited and passionate about what he’s doing. Any media portrayal of him as this frothing bitter-clinger makes me laugh and roll my eyes.

“Righteous Indignation” is part memoir, part treatise, part history lesson. It begins with the infamous ACORN sting investigation, in which James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles went to multiple ACORN offices around the country and asked ACORN to help them find tax breaks for their brothel, in which they claimed to employ underage illegal immigrants. Yes, they explicitly stated that was their business – underage human trafficking.

And Breitbart dropped the videos, one by one. Aside from the moral repugnance of the actions of the ACORN offices, the bigger story was that ACORN was doing this using taxpayer dollars. Within weeks, Congress unanimously voted to defund one of the largest community activists groups in the country.

All because of some bloggers and a couple of kids with a camera.

Continue reading the entire review here.

Check out Andrew’s list of upcoming appearances and other press coverage.

By taking advantage of  “must-pass” pieces of legislation, Republicans have three chances this year to restrain the burden of government.  They didn’t do very well with the ‘CR fight” over appropriated spending for the rest of FY2011, which was their first opportunity. I was hoping for an extra-base hit off the fence, but the GOP was afraid of a government shutdown and negotiated from a position of weakness. As such, the best interpretation is that they eked out an infield single.

The next chance to impose fiscal discipline will be the debt limit. Currently, the federal government “only” has the authority to borrow $14.3 trillion (including bookkeeping entries such as the IOUs in the Social Security Trust Fund). This is a very big number, but America’s gross federal debt will hit that limit soon, perhaps May or June.

Republicans say they will not raise the debt limit unless such legislation is accompanied by meaningful fiscal reforms. The political strategists in the Obama White House understandably want to blunt any GOP effort, so they are claiming that any delay in passing a “clean debt limit” will have catastrophic consequences. Specifically, they are using Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke to create fear and uncertainty in financial markets.

Just a few days ago, for instance, the Treasury Secretary was fanning the flames of a financial meltdown, as noted by Bloomberg:

“Default would cause a financial crisis potentially more severe than the crisis from which we are only now starting to recover,” Geithner said. “For these reasons, default by the United States is unthinkable.”

The Fed Chairman also tried to pour gasoline on the fire.

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As Madison Teachers union head John Matthews was asserting his members were legitimately sick at the start of the protests at the state capitol, new evidence suggests he was organizing a sick-out that shut down Madison Public Schools for four days in late February.

Madison school official and union leaders did not enjoy the cozy relationship protesters at the Capitol portrayed to the media, according to an open records request by the MacIver Institute.

The MacIver News Service examined emails between MMSD Superintendent Dan Nerad and his staff and MTI Executive Director John Matthews.  Many of the emails concerned the teacher sick out and how the district would make up the days.

The tone of their conversations often broke from civility.  At one point, Matthews chewed out Nerad for visiting his sick mother in a Kenosha hospital instead of negotiating with MTI over the make up days.

The following account offers some insight into what was going on behind the scenes as protests raged around the Capitol.

Tuesday, February 15^th

The first massive protests began at the Capitol on Tuesday, February 15^th, after Governor Walker announced his budget repair bill limiting collective bargaining the Friday before.  Madison school officials had received indications teachers intended on staging a sick out starting the next day.

Bob Nadler, the human resources director, sent an email to teachers warning them not to do it.  For employees who were genuinely sick, they would need documentation from a doctor.

“If you do not provide this documentation, you will not be allowed to use personal or family illness leave and your pay will be docked,” Nadler wrote.

John Matthews responded, “Yikes, people who are ill and you threaten them?”

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Before we get started, here’s a quick and important rundown of the hopelessly biased, corrupt-to-the-core media world in which we presently live…

A few dopes, most of them likely Leftist plants and Larouchers, show up at Tea Party rallies with a few dumb signs and it’s a national news story for months. No one from the Tea Party yells the N-word at a Capitol Hill ObamaCare protest and yet there’s a week-long media storm saying someone did — and nary a peep once it’s proved they didn’t. Someone commits a heinous mass murder in Tucson and the entire MSM Complex spends days blaming Sarah Palin because the suspected shooter never saw some campaign maps she was supposedly associated with once upon a time.

And yet, this can happen in Wisconsin and the national media all but ignores it and the local media all but says “you reap what you sow.” Oh, wait — that’s exactly what they said. And finally, this can happen to a Black man at the hands of union thugs and our precious media willfully looks the other way.

Tomorrow, former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin will speak at a Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisconsin. Unless you’ve been asleep for the past few months, you know that right now Madison is Ground Zero in the ongoing political battle to take our country back from corrupt public unions and the Democratic politicians corrupted by them. This battle represents the very heart of what the Tea Party is about, where the national spotlight should be, and yet I don’t see a long line of political types heading to my home state to take advantage of that spotlight.

Palin’s going, though, and so is the Wall Street Journal’s John Fund. And this is exactly where we should be going, and not just because this is where the heart of the fight for our country currently is, but also to make very clear to pro-union types that we will not be intimidated by their thuggishness.

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by Francis Cianfrocca to discuss the latest on inflation, and the consequences of Obama Economics.

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:

Prices March Higher, Led by Energy, But Income Off
Fed Plays Down Inflation
The President’s budget strategy

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During President Obama’s budget “redo” speech Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden seemed to be nodding off, causing many of us to instantly empathize with him.

The president’s speech, though billed as his second 2012 budget presentation, appeared to be nothing more than another campaign speech, with the same rhetoric heard in hundreds of speeches given by Obama in the past. The speech included the same guilt-inducing references to “shared sacrifice,” use of human shields, such as “seniors,” “the poor,” “autistic children,” and “children with Down Syndrome,” all not getting the services they need due, of course, to evil millionaires and the Republicans who like them. Not to be missed in the speech as well were the many references to, yes, more spending, or investing, as the Democrats like to say in order to fool all of us dumb Americans.

Nevertheless, according to the president, we should not worry about the unavoidable, disastrous, catastrophic social ailments, which will be caused by the Republican proposed budget. These will undoubtedly be remedied by Dr. Obama’s All-Purpose Magic Elixir, called Tax The Rich. If you order now, you will get not one, but two bottles for $19.95 (not tax deductible), to ward off the evil that may come your way due to people like Congressman Paul Ryan.

Just to “appear” Presidential, the president reminded us, in his speech, that he is ahead of the game with waste and fraud because, soon, his special Obamacare unelected commission will cut costs in Medicare.

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Almost five months after Billy Long won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in Missouri’s 7th Congressional District, some people in the Show-Me State are wondering whether the words used on the campaign trail by the auctioneer and real estate industry mogul-turned-Republican politician were serious or just a World Poker Tour-style bluff for votes.

First, some background.

On Nov. 9, 2009, then-candidate Long sat down for a short interview (see video below) with Josh Marsh, Morning News Watch host on KZRG radio in Joplin, Mo.

During the interview, he spoke about the hardships and sacrifices he was willing to make if voters in southwest Missouri elected him to Congress:

“You have to sell your business. If you have a fiduciary business, you have to sell that, so I’ve gotta walk away from a business I built up for 30 years. Who’s gonna buy it without me there? Answer: Nobody. Whoever I sell it to has to take my name off of it. Now, what’s it worth? Absolutely nothing.

“I own a third interest in the largest real estate company in Springfield; I have to sell that. Do you want to buy a real estate company today? You know, they’re not worth anything, and I have to give up my real estate broker’s license.”

One of those people interested in comparing Long’s rhetoric to reality is Clay Bowler, the conservative Missouri blogger who became the victim of a witch hunt after a complaint by the recently-elected congressman prompted FBI agents to visit him at his Ozark, Mo., home. Five days ago, he reported there was no record yet of Billy Long selling auction house to meet House rules and campaign promise.

The other person is yours truly.

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It’s one the most troublesome aspects of the Pigford settlement – how could thousands (or tens of thousands) of people knowingly commit fraud to receive a $50,000 check that they weren’t entitled to?

We have the answer in the form of undercover audio that was recorded at a meeting that taught potential Pigford claimants exactly how to commit fraud. The meeting was conducted by a man named Thomas Burrell, the head of the Black Farmers Agricultural Association, Inc. At CPAC in February, we held a press conference where we released a two hour unedited section of audio. Now I’m releasing the first in a series of shorter excerpts that take you through some of the key points. I

There are two parts to the full answer of how such massive fraud could come to be ; one practical, the other ethical. Practically speaking, they were coached. They were told precisely what to say in order for their claim to pass muster with the adjudicator. Who told them? People like who conducted meetings for years throughout the country.

The ethical question is the more troubling part. I believe that thousands of basically honest people were induced into committing fraud by people like Mr. Burrell. How? As you will hear in this excerpt from undercover audio that we recorded earlier this year, Thomas Burrell uses a powerful combination of persuasive techniques including literally invoking the name of God, telling his audience that their ancestors were owed the money and the technique of “social proof”, which makes collecting a $50,000 check seem like something many people have done. Stir this together with the basic human failing of greed and frankly it’s a wonder that many more people do not file fraudulent claim.

Here is the first excerpt:

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Yes, it’s that new age of Democrat political civility rearing its ugly head yet again. During an April 12 debate on gun control Pennsylvania State Representative Margo Davidson of Philadelphia wondered aloud on the House floor if it might be OK for her to blow the brains out of one of Pennsylvania’s Republican Representatives.

Before we even go on with this story, imagine if a white, male, and Republican politician had asked during a debate on policy if it would be OK if he blew the brains out of a black, female, Democrat. Just imagine what would be happening to such a man should he have done this. Certainly his name would be on the lips of every TV newscaster for at least a week after he said such an outrageous thing. Movements would be born to oust him from his elected position. Colleagues would be condemning him. Race-baiters would be flocking to the state for vigils. Further his own party would be denouncing him in no uncertain terms.

But what we have here is a black female, a Democrat from a big city, and no one is paying any attention at all. Obviously it is not a big deal. Apparently we are expected to just move on as if there is nothing wrong with a black woman expressing the desire to kill her political opponent.

Double standard is the nicest thing I can say about it.

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