North Korea launches a missile and it takes Barack Obama and the UN five days to respond. Iran holds fraudulent elections, kills protesters and it takes weeks before Barack Obama can stand up and say that he is "concerned" about the situation.

Then the people of Honduras try to uphold their constitution and laws of the land from being trampled by a Chavez-wanna be ... and it takes Barack Obama one day to proclaim that this was not a legal coup.

Why the sudden decisiveness? Where were these strong opinions on foreign matters when Iranian authorities were trampling protestors and cutting off media access to the outside world? Where was this decisiveness when Kim Jong Ill decided that he was going to launch missiles toward Hawaii on the Fourth of July? Why ... NOW ... is Obama suddenly speaking out loudly

How about a little background. Are you really sure you know what has been going on in Honduras? Do you think that this was simply a coup? Let me give you a rough outline here, and then you can sit back and wonder just why PrezBO is in the weeds with Chavez and Castro on this one.

Mel Zelaya is, or was, the President of Honduras. He and Hugo Chaves were tight. So tight, it seems, that Zelaya wanted to emulate Hugo by changing the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for office until he durned well gets tired of it.

To change the constitution in Honduras you have to convene a constituent assembly. The president cannot do that. The Honduran congress must approve a national referendum calling for the constituent assembly to consider changes to the constitution. Zelaya didn't like the part about the constitution requiring approval of the congress before a national referendum could be called. So ... he decided to call one on his own.

OK .. so here we have President Zelaya calling for a national referendum when he doesn't have the power to do so. The next problem is obtaining ballots! Since the Honduran congress had not called for the referendum, as required by the constitution, the government certainly wasn't going to print the ballots! After all, how smart would it be to print ballots for an illegal referendum? So ... Zelaya had to get the ballots printed elsewhere. Here's an idea! Get his pall Hugo Chavez to print them! Yes! That will work!

So Chaves prints Zelaya's ballots and they're shipped to Honduras. Enter the Honduran Supreme Court. The court considers Zelaya's election in light of the requirements of the Honduran constitution, and rules the referendum illegal and unconstitutional. The court then issues an order to the Honduran military telling them not to do the logistical work associated with Zelaya's phony referendum. Remember, now ... all of this has one primary goal. To get rid of the term limits limiting Zelaya's rule in Honduras.

After the supreme court's decision, General Romeo Velasquez tells President Zelaya that he is subject to a proper order from the Supreme Court and will not be able to carry out Zelaya's referendum. So ... Zelaya fires him. The Supreme Court orders Zelaya to reinstate Velasquez, and Zelaya refuses to do so.

At this point Zelaya's ego is getting the better of him. If the military won't run his illegal referendum, he'll just do it himself. He gins up a mob and leads them to the military compound where Hugo's ballots are stored and then has his supporters begin distributing the ballots to the masses.

Based on the Supreme Court's ruling the Honduran attorney general said that the proposed referendum was illegal and said that he would arrest anyone attempting to carry out the election. Zelaya was arrested by the military and was escorted out of the country.

Now ... does this sound like a military coup-de-etat to you? The attorney general and the military were operating in accordance with the Honduran rule of law. They acted under a valid court order. Coup? The Honduran congress has convened and designated a successor president, all in accordance with the Honduran Constitution. Military coup? The presidential elections set for November .. the election that Zelaya was trying to get around ... will go on as scheduled. A blow for democracy?

Fidel Castro, Daniel Noriega, Hugo Chavez ... all on the side of Zelaya. But Obama? Obama fighting against the rule of law and for a wannabe dictator? What gives?

... then you are against the world! Yep, this is the new line from liberals and Democrats. If you are against this climate change, cap-and-trade legislation that is making its way through Congress, then you are basically immoral.

Let's start with Henry Waxman, who is one of the chief architects of this cap-and-trade scheme. In response to the Republicans who voted against his plan, he says: "They [Republicans] want to play politics and see if they can keep any achievements from being accomplished that may be beneficial to the Democrats. They're rooting against the country and I think in this case, even rooting against the world because the world needs to get its act together to stop global warming."

Then, we get this from Paul Krugman in The New York Times. He writes, "A handful of these no votes came from representatives who considered the bill too weak, but most rejected the bill because they rejected the whole notion that we have to do something about greenhouse gases. And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn't help thinking that I was watching a form of treason -- treason against the planet. To fully appreciate the irresponsibility and immorality of climate-change denial, you need to know about the grim turn taken by the latest climate research."

Treason ... rooting against the world ... immorality ... wow, do these guys have a high opinion of their fraudulent cause or what?

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued its final set of decisions for a while and one of these included the New Haven firefighter case originally decided by nominee Sonia Sotomayor. But the Supreme Court ended up reversing Sotomayor's lower court ruling.

So the White House had its explanation all ready to go. The new line is that the reversal of Sotomayor's ruling proves that she follows judicial precedent. Robert Gibbs says that this should put to rest any claims that Sotomayor is an activist judge. He says, "One thing is clear, that the ruling by Judge Sotomayor was based on the precedent of the Second Circuit. ... The Supreme Court clearly had a new interpretation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act."

The House and the Senate are working on their versions of the healthcare bill after they return from the Fourth of July holiday. But we are starting to get a better idea of what to expect from the House. Especially considering the advice doled out yesterday by Tom Daschle and John Podesta. They support the idea of taxing some employer-provided health benefits. This seems to be the direction we are heading in.

The healthcare bill currently being considered by the House would include the following, according to the Charlotte Business Journal:

-Employers would have to pay at least 72.5% of the cost of insurance premiums for full-time employees

-Employers would be required to pick up at least some of the tab for insuring part-time employees

-Businesses that don't provide that minimum level of coverage would be required to pay the federal government a fee based on 8% of their payroll

-Small businesses would be exempted from that "play or pay" requirement

If the White House wants to get a message out, how do you go about doing that? Apparently the answer to that question is now: have Ashton Kutcher twitter about it.

Seriously.

The White House wanted to get the word out about National HIV Testing Day. So what did they do? They contacted Ashton Kutcher. The guy has over 2.5 million followers on Twitter. So they asked him to tweet about National HIV Day.

You know things are bad when a socialist Eastern European country passes a bill to lower taxes in order to help its economy recover. Hungary's socialist government passed a tax bill that will cut current personal income taxes and "social contributions" paid by employers to the government. It will also raise the lower income tax bracket to that "average" incomes are taxed at a rate of 17%.

They didn't get it all right, though. The parliament did pass a "wealth tax" on real estate and luxury items.

Wealth envy is universal .. but at least the Hungarians know that lowering tax rates will be the shortest route to economic recovery.

Senator James Inhofe is calling for an investigation into the report that was suppressed by the EPA because it didn't fit with the administration's agenda for climate change.

Here's a prime example of what happens when the government gets into the business of providing subsidies for alternative fuels.

When are we supposed to start feeling the effects of Barack Obama's stimulus plan? The administration continues to push back the goal post.

Did you know that the biggest beneficiary of the government's bank rescue program isn't even a bank?

An Oklahoma legislature blames the current economic climate on .... Gays? Oh gawd, here we go.

Turns out that the CBO forgot to calculate the economic impact of imposing billions in new operating and production costs with this cap-and-trade legislation.

The Heritage Foundation explains show Barack Obama's missile defense plan is putting America at risk.

No one in the state of Virginia can get painkillers right now because someone hacked into the state's prescription drug database.

Nine out of ten people in Great Britain are worried that the government is going to cut healthcare services. Duhhhh

Speaking of government healthcare, the government in Great Britain is promising patients 'enforceable rights' to high standards of care.

Nancy Pelosi will not commit to giving the public five days (as the Obama administration promised) to read the healthcare bill before it is voted on. She knows that the more we know the harder it will be to pass this monstrosity.

Only 10% of Massachusetts voters say the quality of health care has gotten better as a result of their reform plan, according to Rasmussen.

In an attempt to rein you all in, here's an open thread for you to talk about recent celebrity deaths: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. That way, if people want to ignore it they can. So try and keep it here, m'kay?

Now we know just how ignorant Obama thinks the American people are. Answer: Dumb as rocks.

All the president's men (and women) are out selling the asinine idea that Obama's government health insurance idea is going to put competition into the marketplace. This is an idea that one could only sell to a fool. Thanks to our system of government education, we are not suffering any shortage of fools.

Here's what Obama wants us to think. If the government gets into the health insurance business it will create such a fine and wonderful health insurance product that all other health insurance companies out there will have to tweak their products and prices in order to compete. This competition will, if you believe Obama and his sycophants, make health insurance more effective and more available across the board.

Like I said .. there's certainly no shortage of fools out there. Someone is buying this load of horse squeeze.

Sure, the government may very well come up with a health insurance product that is cheaper (to the consumer) and more effective than those offered in the private sector. Think about this though ... Could that possibly be because the government will be under no pressure whatsoever to make a profit on its health insurance? When you can operate at a loss indefinitely you have no problem undercutting your competitors. When you can call on endless government subsidies you can run anyone you chose out of business.

Let's say I open a grocery store. My stated goal is to give the other grocery stores in town some competition so we can provide a better product to the poor hungry consumers and help them save money at the same time. The other grocery stores will have to make a profit or close their doors. Not me! I'm the government, and I can operate at a loss. I have endless government subsidies and infusions of cash at my disposal. What will happen? No secret: When I move into the marketplace with a below-cost product the other grocery stores will shut down and I'll have your business locked up. Then I can do whatever I want with the choice, quality and price of my groceries and there really isn't a thing you'll be able to do about it.

There, my friends, is Obama's goal. He knows very well that his government-run insurance option is going to run private sector insurance companies out of business. Then the only game in town will be the government. This "competition" nonsense is just a talking point created to placate the dumb masses. The average 12-year-old home schooled child could dissect this game plan in a heartbeat. The same fools who thought Obama was going to pay their mortgage and put gas in their cars will now think that PrezBO is bring good old free market competition to the health insurance marketplace. All hail Obama, the sort-of God.

Now if the competition line doesn't work there's always a little class warfare that can be played. Sorry ... didn't get the name ... but I saw some ObamaBot on Fox News last night trying to sell Obama's health insurance takeover on a wealth envy basis. He referred to health insurance companies being engaged in "Sweetheart Deals that makes its executives very very rich," and referred to the private sector health insurance companies as a "cartel." On the one hand he plays directly to wealth envy and the hatred that the Obama crowd has been generating toward high-paid executives; on the other he conjures images of health insurers operating like the Mexican or Columbian drug cartels. That's the Obama concept of open discussion.

This is about control. Nothing more, nothing less. Obama wants control. Control over every aspect of your life. He's well on his way to complete success.

Wednesday, the president will hold another online town hall about heath care. They're taking your video questions via YouTube. You can try asking your questions. We'll see if they actually get answered or if they just cherry pick the easy ones.

Just when Barack Obama and the Democrats are on the verge of erecting a government-run healthcare system in this country, other counties are reverting to private options. Take this latest news from Great Britain, which is being called a "radical shift in government policy." Cancer patients who are facing long waits in the National Health Service will be given cash to go seek private treatment.

I'm not kidding, folks. The government is going to pay people to opt out of its government-run system and seek treatment from private providers. Basically the legislation would ensure that cancer patients who cannot get an appointment with a specialist within two weeks after being referred from a GP would be provided funding for a private consultation.

Ironically enough, this plan is being included in Gordon Brown's "Building Britain's Future." Meanwhile, the United States is attempting to build the entirely opposite future - going in the opposite direction.

On Friday, your House of Representatives passed the largest tax increase in American history. Most of them probably couldn't tell you many details about the bill, considering the Democrats were still ramming through 300-page amendments as of late Friday night. In fact, on Friday afternoon House minority leader John Boehner tried to dissect some of the language of that 300-page amendment on the House floor. But after his mini-filibuster was over ... the House voted ... and it passed. There were 44 Democrats who voted against the bill. They're all up for re-election in 2010. But there were eight Republicans that ended up voting for the bill, which passed 219-212. So here they are.

Mary Bono Mack (CA)
Mike Castle (DE)
Mark Steven Kirk (IL)
Leonard Lance (NJ)
Frank A. LoBiondo (NJ)
John M. McHugh (NY)
Dave Reichert (WA)
Chris Smith (NJ)

So what can you do? Well, your voice can be heard at the ballot box. The next time these hacks come up for re-election, you simply vote them out of office. Show them that their time for monkeying around in Washington is over. That's it. We know this won't happen though. Every one of these politicians has a long list of wonderful pork projects they've brought back to their districts ... projects that give them all the reelection juice they need.

Meanwhile, now the next battle is in the Senate. Make even more of a concerted effort to contact your Senators and make sure that they won't be conned into voting for this huge tax increase based on the global warming scam.

For those of you who need a refresher ... here are some details from Investor's Business Daily:

An analysis of Waxman-Markey by the Heritage Foundation projects that by 2035 it would reduce aggregate gross domestic product by $7.4 trillion. In an average year, 844,000 jobs would be destroyed, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by almost 2 million (see charts below).

Consumers would pay through the nose as electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket, as President Obama once put it, by 90% adjusted for inflation. Inflation-adjusted gasoline prices would rise 74%, residential natural gas prices by 55% and the average family's annual energy bill by $1,500.

Hit hardest by all this would be the "95% of working families" Obama keeps mentioning as being protected from increased taxation. They are protected, that is, unless they use energy. Then they'll be hit by this draconian energy tax.

And what would we get for all this pain? According to an analysis by Chip Knappenberger, administrator of the World Climate Report, the reduction of U.S. CO2 emissions to 83% below 2005 levels by 2050 -- the goal of the Waxman-Markey bill -- would reduce global temperature in 2050 by a mere 0.05 degree Celsius.

It's a scam, folks. It is not about the environment, it is about gaining power. It is not about creating jobs, because it won't. It will actually kill jobs. Speaking of that .........

How would America's biggest oil companies react to this cap-and-trade legislation? Most people would say "who cares?" because they are big, bad, evil corporations. But you should care, because they big, bad, evil corporations also provide Americans with jobs and energy.

So how will these companies react? According to Bloomberg News, they will be closing plants, cutting capital spending and increasing imports. You see, fuel importers will only need to purchase permits for the fuel that is to be burned by cars, trucks, etc. Domestic oil companies, on the other hand, would also have to buy allowances for any CO2 produced by their plants. Clearly that would make domestic companies less competitive and create an imbalance in the market. Yeah .. .haven't thought of that one, have you?

The CEO of ConocoPhillips, Jim Mulva, says, "It will lead to the opportunity for foreign sources to bring in transportation fuels at a lower cost, which will have an adverse impact to our industry, potential shutdown of refineries and investment and, ultimately, employment."

It is estimated that one out of every six US refineries would close by 2020 because the cost of carbon allowances would simply erase profits, according to the American Petroleum Institute. For the consumer, carbon permits would add 77 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline. Slowly, people have started to realize that Obama has mastered the art of increasing taxes on businesses, which ultimately pass on those increases in the form of price hikes for consumers.

The Obama administration has gotten itself into a little pickle. You see, on the campaign trail, Barack Obama made the mistake of promising that he would not raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. But now reality has hit. He really wants to get this healthcare reform passed and he needs to find the money to do it. One option that has been on the table is taxing healthcare benefits as income. Anyone who isn't government educated might immediately understand that this would clearly constitute a tax increase for a lot of Americans, including a lot of 'em making less than $250,000 a year.

So over the weekend, George Stephanopoulos asked Obama's senior advisor David Axelrod about this option. Axelrod did not say what the people wanted to hear: Axelrod said that taxing healthcare benefits would not be an option because that would clearly constitute an increase in taxes for the middle class. Instead. Then, having said that, he immediately reversed course and "left open" the possibility that Obama would still sign legislation calling for taxing health care benefits if such a bill were passed.

Axelrod avoided answering the question directly by saying, "The president had said in the past that he doesn't believe taxing health care benefits at any level is necessarily the best way to go here. He still believes that, but there are a number of formulations and we'll wait and see ... The important thing at this point is to keep the process moving, to keep people at the table, to the keep the discussions going. We've gotten a long way down the road and we want to finish that journey."

Throughout the questioning Axelrod refused to re-state Obama's promise to not raise taxes on the middle class. Are you starting to get the picture here?

So ... tax increases for the middle class if that's what's needed to "keep the process moving." Now I get it.

I mentioned this one on the air last week, but it is so outrageous that it is worth repeating. When it comes to healthcare reform, the Senate is considering the idea of allowing union-negotiated benefit packages go un-taxed. Yep, as I just talked about in the Nuze item above, there is still an option on the table that would tax employee healthcare benefits. However, if that plan makes it into the bill, union-negotiated contracts would be exempt from paying these taxes.

You can thank Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus for this one. He's the one that believes that any major changes to the US healthcare system should exempt perks secured by existing collective bargaining agreements. In other words ... they would be grandfathered in. Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute makes a good point. He says that this "smacks of political favoritism ... "I can't think of any other aspect of the individual income tax that treats benefits of different people differently because of who they work for."

So this would be a way to still tax benefits, but magically exclude 12.4% of American workers who happen to be union members. In the end, who is going to have more of a say come election time?

California State Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, a Democrat, did an interview with the LA Times. Thought you may enjoy her response to the following question:

How do you think conservative talk radio has affected the Legislature's work?

Bass' response: The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: "You vote for revenue and your career is over." I don't know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it's about free speech, but it's extremely unfair.

Now that's a first. I know that politicians don't particularly like talk radio, and I know that many politicians are quietly plotting the demise of conservative talk radio wherever they can find it and by whatever means. This, though, is the first time I've heard a politician call talk show hosts terrorists. She wonders how in the world we can allow talk radio terrorism to exist.

OK .. so this is just one barking moonbat from California ... though a powerful one. Let's see how long it takes for the rest of the left to pick up the "terrorism" gambit.

It seems that there was a Tea Party tax protest scheduled for Independence Day in Gwinnett County. The event was going to take place in the parking lot of the old Macy's at Gwinnett Place Mall. Gwinnett Place is a Simon mall. The parking lot where the event was to take place is privately owned. The owner of the property had given permission. Last week the Simon people asked the event organizers to come to a meeting. Even though Simon did not own the property, there were some contractual agreements that gave Simon control over what could and could not be done there. So ... the Tea Party is now history. Julianne Thompson, the co-organizer of the event, tells us that Simon didn't like the fact that the word "protest" was being used to promote the event --- besides, Simon doesn't like "political events" on property they control.

So .. there you go. The Scheduled Atlanta Tea Party is history. The vendors, fireworks, children's activities ... all of it cancelled. No alternative location could be found on such short notice. So, on this Independence day, we want to thank Simon Property Group, Inc. for standing up for the cause of liberty. Not.

There are other Tea Party tax protests in the Atlanta area for Independence Day. Check out this list of nationwide protests to find one near you. 

Exactly what is going on in Honduras? This column covers it very nicely. It's important because our illustrious president is on the wrong side here. He knows most Americans aren't smart enough to figure that out.

Billy Mays passed away over the weekend. He, too, made the unfortunate mistake of going Tango Uniform in the wake of Michael Jackson's death.

Barack Obama wants the Senate to pass global warming legislation only after it passes it healthcare reform plan.

Jack Cashill has new insight into the speculation that Bill Ayers ghostwrote Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father. It's beginning to look like there was more than one radical at the word processor on this one.

Another great column from George Will about Americans' unreasonable expectations on healthcare costs and how we will regret "fixing" the system.

Iranian authorities have cracked down on protestors; thousands are in jail and hundreds of people are missing.

North Korea announced it can enrich uranium, which is a simpler method to build nuclear weapons than reprocessing plutonium.

Thomas Sowell explores how more Americans can consider themselves "conservative" and yet the Republican Party has nothing going for it.

The "powers that be" decided to back off on plans to investigate ACORN for committing voter fraud. Getting too close to PrezBO?

Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez says that the United States had something to do with the coup in Honduras.

The Obama administration appears to be considering issuing an executive order to govern the indefinite imprisonment of alleged Al Qaeda operatives.

Here's a must-read ... the man with unusual access to the White House: Andy Stern, the head of the Service Employees International Union. Yep, a union leader.

Today the Supreme Court will decide its final three cases, including Sonia Sotomayor's firefighter discrimination case.

The truth about the cost of Massachusetts healthcare program isn't helping the Barack Obama camp right now.

Here's why Slobbering Barney's plan to relax mortgage standards on new condos is a disaster waiting to happen.

States are having a tough time finding the funds to pay for unemployment benefits and some are expected to borrow up to $17 billion by next year.

A charter school in Los Angeles apparently won't let its class valedictorian deliver her graduation speech because she participated in a sit-in to protest teacher layoffs.

Newt Gingrich was on the show earlier today and urged you all to go sign the petition to stop the energy tax. It might help the cause if we gave you a link to that. Consider it done.

Today the House is going to vote on this Cap and Trade - more accurately called "Cap and Tax" climate change scam. Any idea as to how big this bill is? Try 1,201 pages. [pdf] Any idea how many members of the House have read the darn thing? Try zero. Yeah, we are talking about a bill that is going to cost us $845 billion over the next 10 years ... and not one House member has read the entire thing.

If you had $845 billion of your own money on the line, do you think you would be combing through this thing tooth and nail? You betcha. But it's the taxpayers ... it's your grandchildren that will eventually suffer. So the House is willing to sit back and let it pass, and the government educated voters out there wouldn't know the difference.

What's happening tomorrow in Hollywood? What movies are coming out this weekend or what sports teams are playing? I bet you the average American can give you a 1,201 dissertation on these questions. Ask them what their Representatives in Congress are doing today ... passing a $845 billion Cap and Tax bill ... brook trout. I guarantee it.

Here's where the government schools and our wonder bread and circuses culture really come in handy for the political class. As with most of the other things they do, this is about power. Power over your pocketbook. Power over your life. They're going to take a naturally occurring function of everyday life and tax it. Well, more accurately .. they're going to lay claim to something that is essential to human life, something that is essential to the very operation of our economy, and then they're going to sell it to us. Believe me, if these same power-hungry cretins could lay claim to the very air that we breathe, and then sell it back to us, they would do it.

It takes a profoundly ignorant American to not realize that this bill is going to increase their cost of living by a fairly good clip. If you listen carefully the politicians have been admitting it ... and they feel free to do so because they by-God know that the people are not listening. Americans have been so sucked-in by this phony global warming scam that they will accept almost any solution the politicians throw at them. Now you understand why it was so important that, in spite of the evidence to the contrary, these politicians were able to scare you to death with global warming. Movies like "Day after Tomorrow" and OwlGore's idiotic flick had a purpose. Convince you that the seas are going to rise to cover your house and the sky is going to turn orange if we don't do something fast. Americans bought it, and now for the big government payoff. Billions and billions of new dollars flowing into political slush funds to enhance the power and guarantee the elections of political hacks who don't have the talent to run a freaking hardware store.

When is it not going to be "the moment" for Democrat legislation? I'm getting sick of being reminded by Barack Obama that if we don't seize this moment, these opportunities will be lost forever.

"Now is the time to pass climate change legislation ..."

"This is the moment to seize our chance to pass healthcare reform ..."

"This is the moment when the seas begin to subside ..."

"We cannot miss this opportunity to stimulate our economy ..."

I'll tell you when the moment passes. It's when (if ever) the American people wake up to see what's being done to them, their country and their freedoms.

The magic number for this healthcare bill seems to be $1 trillion. The Democrats are convinced that if they get the cost of healthcare below $1 trillion, that the government educated dumb-masses will suddenly believe it to be manageable.

Whatever.

So top Democrat senators say that they have found $400 billion in savings by reducing the amount of subsidies for the poor, poor pitiful poor to buy insurance. The other $200 billion in savings will come from "further adjusting the level of subsidies."

Are you buying this? Does this make sense to you? When have you ever know the government to cut subsidies? They fertilize these subsidies every day of their lives. They WANT them to grow. Subsidies lead to dependency, and dependency is the tonic on which big government thrives.

There has never been a government health care proposal that didn't end up costing many times more than the original estimates. Medicare is a good example. According to estimates at the time it was passed Medicare should be priced about one-sixth of what it is actually costing us today.

The game here is to get the law passed. Get the people under the government's thumb when it comes to health care. Then suddenly Washington won't be interested in how much it costs. They have what they want. YOU, by the short hairs.

Oh you're going to love this one. An amazing attack on the American entrepreneurial spirit. There's a repulsive suggestion floating around Washington right now. Louis Gerstner, the former CEO of International Business Machines Corp is pushing the idea that short-term investment gains should be taxed at 80%. Gerstner says that taxing short-term gains would counter the culture of "greed" on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, he believes that selling an investment after five years should carry a zero tax rate in order to re-establish a culture of true investors compared to traders.

Do you realize how many American businesses would not exist today if short term investment gains had been taxed at 80%. If you have an idea, count yourself among the elite. Remember ... government education.

Back in February, the White House passed its stimulus plan with the promise of tax breaks for people who purchase electric cars. However, the latest study from the Government Accountability Office says that electric cars will not by itself decrease any greenhouse gas emissions.

The reason is obvious ... it takes power to plug-in and charge an electric vehicle, and where does much of our country get its power? Coal. The study shows that "if plug-in hybrids reached 56 percent of the cars on the road by 2030, they would require an increased electricity production, much of which would likely come from additional coal plants."

Actually ... they have it wrong. Any ObamaBot can tell you that the power to charge up the batteries in electric cars will come from those windmills the government is going to put on the roof of your houses. If you have houses.

California is in big budget trouble budget wise. It may run out of money by July 28th. So when in doubt, propose new taxes. This time, California regulators want to impose a statewide carbon fee. The fee would be paid on utilities, oil refineries and other industries that produce pollution. Naturally, this would raise millions of dollars for the state, but it says the money would go toward regulating greenhouse gas emissions and fighting global warming.

It's a scam, folks. It's not about the environment .. it's about money and power. Hey .. how about you folks stop all that spending on illegal aliens in California? That would be a start.

Pity Farrah Fawcett. You don't want to up and die on the same day as Michael Jackson

That lying bastard Al Sharpton had to get his fat puss in the MJ news last night .. and, of course, he inserted race into Michael Jackson's death.

Obama is sure in a hurry ... gotta get his government agenda passed before the dumb masses start waking up. You ARE waking up, aren't you?

If you're getting on in years, or if you're caring for an older relative, DO NOT read this.

This cap-and-trade scheme will spend billions of dollars not to cut down trees in other countries.

How dare anyone compare THE Barack Obama to that heinous former President Bush.

The Democrats are slowing starting to see their ambitious agenda for 2009 fade into political oblivion.

Barack Obama wants to emulate the Spanish model for creating "green jobs." George Will explains why this is humorous.

The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose unexpectedly last week.

The Obama administration needs to come up with a measly $20 billion in order to keep highway construction projects afloat.

Oh joy ... Barack Obama says that committed to working with Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform.

An audit of the Detroit government school system found there to be 257 people that are mysteriously getting paid for doing .......

Russians have erected a billboard of Joseph Stalin to promote his methods as the best remedy for the world economic crisis.

What could be worse than drinking and driving?

Porn has finally come to the iTunes App store .... I'm surprised it took this long?

At least ...... I'm assuming she's a flatbelly until we get picture proof. Anyway, what a wild story. First the Governor of South Carolina goes "missing." Then there is a period of days where he is staff "thinks" he is hiking in the Appalachian Mountains. Then he shows up yesterday and admits that he has been "clearing his head" in Argentina ...... with his Argentinean lover.

Alright, should we give the guy a pass? As one of my Twitter followers (14,000+ strong) pointed out (and I love this): If Mark Sanford had cheated on his taxes instead of his wife, he would have been a cabinet member by now.

Naturally the media jumped on this story. But Republicans in particular jumped on it, calling Sanford a "bastard" or "scumbag" or any name that would impart their own moral supremacy onto the situation. Give it up, folks. Men are pigs, all men, no exceptions. Not that that is an excuse, but this guy isn't doing anything to his girlfriend that the average politician hasn't done to the average taxpayer. Besides ... don't we have a wonderful history of this sort of stuff? John F. Kennedy comes to mind. Then there's Bill Clinton. The Democrats, you will remember, were telling us that this Clinton thing didn't matter ... it was his private life after all.

I'll tell you what really bothered me. Father's Day. It's Father's Day and this character is nowhere to be found. He has four sons wondering where their daddy is. How sad. Meanwhile .. another step backward for the Republicans. Look ... the Republicans love to parade through town on their moral high horses. When they fall off it's naturally going to make more noise.

Thud.

Did you catch this part of PrezBO's presser earlier this week? Some reporter asked him about his government health insurance pushing private health insurers out of business. Obama responds "If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care; if they tell us that they're offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That's not logical."

OK .. one of two things about Obama's "not logical" statement is true:

(a) Obama actually believes what he said; or,

(b) Obama thinks that we are too stupid to realize how completely inane his statement was.

Sorry ... but I'm going with (a). Obama's love of all-things-government is so strong that he just cannot see the inherent problems with private-sector insurance competing with a government plan.

First of all .. it is the very nature of competing businesses to try to run each other out of the marketplace. Government health care will be no different. The bureaucrats and politicians behind the government health plan, recognizing that every switch from private sector to government insurance increases government dependency, will fight to destroy the private market. This won't be hard to do, after all the private insurance market will have to earn a profit. The government insurance scheme will not.

Another point .. this from the Cato Institute .. did Obama happen to notice that Medicare completely wiped out health insurance plans for the elderly? To ignore that little fact is simply not logical.

Seriously, folks; did Obama put any real thought into his statement? How can any private sector insurance company compete against a government plan that does not even want to earn a profit and can, in fact, operate at a huge loss year after year? Maybe Obama picked up on that Atlanta college professor who, years ago, announced that the use of linear logic is racist.

Now ... if you don't' think Obama can do all of this ... if you're a doubter. Just click here. You'll feel so much better.

Barack Obama says that his thoughts on healthcare are "evolving." Oh really? Well what are they "evolving" toward? It seems as though Obama is okay with the idea of mandating that individuals purchase health insurance. Of course, there would be a waiver for the poor, poor, pitiful poor. Where in our Constitution does it give the federal government the authority that private citizens buy anything, let alone health insurance? I've tried, but I just can't find it there. Then I suddenly realized what an idiot I was for trying to find a Constitutional justification for an Obama plan.

Now get this ... this is his explanation as to why he thinks that mandates for all people are a good thing: "People have made some pretty compelling arguments to me that if we want to have a system that drives down costs for everybody, then we've got to have healthier people not opt out of the system." Ohhhhh ... that's ObamaLogic for you.

So, in the World According to Obama, even if you are healthy and/or could afford to pay for your own healthcare costs as they arise, the government still wants to force you into its system. Why is that? Not because you need their health insurance, but because they need your money. Duh. If you are a healthier person that is forced into paying for health insurance, naturally you are going to choose the least expensive option, which in this case may be the government option. Now you know you aren't really going to use the services, but hey .. at least you are avoiding that pesky government fine. So now, your payments can be used to subsidize the healthcare of some government leach.

Also, here's the latest line from the Obama administration. Listen to the difference this makes. Obama was preaching the fact that people who liked their healthcare plans and their doctors would be able to keep them under his healthcare reforms. Well, he knows that this isn't true. So he has developed a new line. He says that "the government" will not take away your current healthcare plan. What changed? Well, Obama recognizes what will happen once his reforms go into place ... private employers would probably change their healthcare benefits on their own. They'll simply announce that the employee health plan is going to be terminated, and that all employees should take steps to apply for alternate insurance or move over to the government plan. The employer will probably placate the workers by saying that their paychecks are going to be increased by some fraction of the amount the company was paying for health care. So ... off you go to the government health plan, but the government didn't make you do it. Your employer did. So Obama's "the government won't take away your current healthcare plan" holds true. Obama says "I can guarantee you that there's the possibility for a whole lot of Americans out there that they're not going to end up having the same health care they have ... Because what's going to happen is, as costs keep on going up, employers are going to start making decisions: 'We've got to raise premiums on our employees. In some cases, we can't provide health insurance at all.'" See? He knows the game he's playing here.

More government regulations are never the answer .. unless you are a politician who loves government and the power it provides them. In this case, let's go to San Francisco. The city's Board of Supervisors has come up with new regulations for landlords. These 'renters' rights laws' were written by Supervisor Chris Daly. One proposal would make it illegal for owners who want to move into their property to evict a family with children. With or without a lease. This would mean that once you've rented an apartment ... all you have to do is download a tricycle motor and you're in for good. The idiot politician who introduced this regulation moaned about "children having to leave the city where they were born." Cry me a river.

Among the most outrageous proposals from Daly is one that "bars landlords from increasing rent to more than one-third of a tenant's income. Realizing how asinine this idea is, he proposed an amendment that would limit eligibility to those who are unemployed, people whose wages have fallen more than 20% over the past year or those who solely rely on the government for a living.

By the way ... did you know that in San Francisco they have something called a "Tenant's Union?" Just wonderful.

I've owned rental property. It's a good deal. But here's a word of warning. If you're going to own rental property be sure that the property can command rents far and above what would be deemed "affordable" for some household living at or near the poverty level. In today's economy I wouldn't touch a piece of rental property that rented for less than about $2000 a month. Once you're above that level your tenant isn't going to be among that class pandered to by politicians. You might actually end up making some money on your investment.

Here's a Wall Street Journal piece about the Cap and Tax proposal. You may read it, most of the dumb masses won't. Too bad.

Something else the dumbest among us should read. Government health plans ALWAYS ration health care. Period.

North Korea says that if the United States provokes "a second Korean war" it would wipe us off the map. Those be some fightin' words. This is what happens when our leadership projects weakness.

And speaking of weakness ... Dick Morris believes that Barack Obama is showing weakness in the face of North Korea and Iran. I wonder what his first clue was.

John Kerry is a world-class jerk.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon says that threat is "silliness."

Even if the Democrats don't get their government healthcare plan, the unions will find a way to receive their thanks in the form of special tax breaks for union health plans.

Get out the pitchforks ... Citigroup will raise salaries by as much as 50% to compensate for a reduction in annual bonuses. Citigroup says this is necessary to stop the outflow of capable executives .. but government-lovers won't see it that way.

You know the myth ... more tax dollars will mean better education? Here are some facts on why that is simply not the case.

Here's Slobbering Barney Frank's explanation as to why this fancy new financial consumer-protection agency will be good for financial institutions.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is seeking an additional review of an EPA finding that would regulate greenhouse gas emissions, saying that the findings were based on cherry-picked data and manipulated by agency officials.

The Politico seems to think that there is going to be a Republican resurgence within the next year. Based on what? Mark Sanford?

The great state of California could run out of money by July 28th. Think the Mexicans would buy California from us? We could trade California for some oil. It would be the "Fruits and Nuts for Oil" program.

This line about 46 million Americans not having health insurance is not accurate because it does not reflect exactly who those people are and why they are "uninsured."

The taxpayers of Massachusetts are paying $2 million a month to house homeless people in motels.

Barack Obama could save $45 million by eliminating the job of U.S. trade representative.

It's been proposed before, but several members of Congress want to take redistricting out of legislative hands and give control to nonpartisan, independent panels.

Since there's still a bit of mystery surrounding South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford's secret trip to South America, here's an open thread to discuss all of your theories.

UPDATE: he admitted to having an affair in his press conference today.

So what did you think of Obama's press conference yesterday? Maybe you were more struck by what Obama DIDN'T say compared to what he read from the teleprompter. For example, the Politico points out that his 55-minute news conference failed to include the words "Iraq" or "Afghanistan." That's not all, try the words "Korea," "Pakistan," "soldiers," "surge" and "war." No mention of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine. None of 'em. A stark difference from our previous president ... but I guess this is what Obama meant by "change you can believe in."

Anyway, I'll have my own shot at the questions. Yep, another Boortz Press Conference tomorrow at 11:05AM EST. And no ... I won't be using a teleprompter.

I got on a rant about unions again after reading about these government school teachers in New York. You know the ones sitting in these "rubber rooms" doing crossword puzzles and playing grab-ass? Yeah, those are the ones. What a joke. But you continue to turn your children over to the government to be educated.

Anyway, that got me thinking about how hideous unions are for this country, and I was reminded of a recent study by the Heritage Foundation. Take a look at some of the highlights below. It's wonderful stuff.

• Studies typically find that unionized companies earn profits between 10 percent and 15 percent lower than those of comparable non-union firms.
   
• Some unions win higher wages for their members, though many do not. But with these higher wages, unions bring less investment, fewer jobs, higher prices, and smaller 401(k) plans for everyone else.
   
• Final union contracts typically give workers group identities instead of treating them as individuals. Unions do not have the resources to monitor each worker's performance and tailor the contract accordingly. Even if they could, they would not want to do so. Unions want employees to view the union--not their individual achievements--as the source of their economic gains.
   
• Consequently, union contracts compress wages: They suppress the wages of more productive workers and raise the wages of the less competent. Unions redistribute wealth between workers.
   
• A better summary of the economic research is that unions do not increase workers' wages by nearly as much as they claim and that, at a number of companies, they do not raise wages at all.
   
• In essence, unions "tax" investments that corporations make, redistributing part of the return from these investments to their members. This makes undertaking a new investment less worthwhile. Companies respond to the union tax in the same way they respond to government taxes on investment--by investing less.
   
• Research shows that unions directly cause firms to reduce their investments. In fact, investment drops sharply after unions organize a company. One study found that unionizing reduces capital investment by 30 percent--the same effect as a 33 percentage point increase in the corporate tax rate
   
• The balance of economic research shows that unions do not just happen to organize firms with more layoffs and less job growth: They cause job losses. Most studies find that jobs drop at newly organized companies, with employment falling between 5 percent and 10 percent.

During his press conference yesterday, Barack Obama tried to articulate his position on government-run healthcare. Are you buying this?

Now we are getting stories of "brain drain" from companies like Citigroup and Bank of America. It was only a matter of time before the talented people realized the miracle of government.

Question: how many years did it take George Bush to run up the same budget deficit already reached by Barack Obama?

A $105.9 billion war-funding bill stuffed with all that pork Barack Obama said he was going to get rid of.

Obama wants to sign a UN treaty that says children have basic rights to education, health care and protection from abuse. Oh gawd.

Only government would spend $200,000 to promote ... tap water.

The ACLU is suing on behalf of two Muslim inmates in federal prison who say they aren't allowed to pray in groups as often as their peaceful, serene religion of Islam commands.

The Heritage Foundation believes that the CBO grossly underestimated the cost of this cap and trade bill. Here are the hairy details.

The situation in Iran is not letting up. We've got people in jail, protestors being shot to death, a fraudulent election in the hands of a regime on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon. All of this and the best that our White House Press Secretary can come up with is the fact that Barack Obama ... the leader of the free world ... has been "moved" by the protests in Iran.

Moved? Moved? Well I'm so glad he's moved. People are fighting for their freedom, and Obama is moved. That's just so special. I'm moved that he's moved? Are you moved? Yup ... we're all moved. It's so nice to be moved on a Tuesday morning.

Iran's Guardian Council has admitted that there were some irregularities in the presidential election. Gee, ya think? It said that the number of votes collected was greater than the number of eligible voters ... we are talking about 3 million questionable votes. But Iranian authorities have ruled out the possibility of nullifying the vote.

Meanwhile, did you hear what Moonbat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had to say about the election? You'll find this statement humorous:

"In Western countries, democracy is 100% controlled and people's role is ceremonial. But, what happened in Islamic Iran was the true manifestation of the nation's resolve and determination ... Following Iran's election, the US and British leaders became concerned about their own existence and launched a sinister effort to defend the oppressive system that they have imposed on the world ... Today, the enemies are upset because a nation has understood its capacity and is turning into a role model for the international community."

I want to know just when he hired Obama's speechwriters .... Or are they on loan.

... Who even begins to understand this absurd advertising campaign for the Lexus IS convertible? What's with the people running all over the place, and that helicopter? Was someone paid actual money to come up with this?

While we're talking cars, y'all take up a collection and buy the Talkmaster a McLaren 722S. There's one on the showroom floor at Mercedes Benz of Buckhead with my name on it.

If there is one thing that Barack Obama can do really well it is campaign. I really hoped that this guy would make just as good a president as he was a candidate, but sadly that doesn't seem to be the case. But that's another story. Now that he is in the White House, he is going to use his excellent campaign techniques to get legislation passed. In this case, it would be government-run healthcare. Yep. He is going to use his campaign slogan of "yes we can" to con the government-educated Americans into believing that government healthcare is exactly what they need in their lives.

He said that those "here in Washington who've grown accustomed to sky-is-falling prognoses and the certainties that we cannot get this done, I have to repeat and revive an old saying we had from the campaign: 'Yes, we can.'"

• "Yes we can" make the dumb masses react positively to another focus-group based sloganeering campaign.
• "Yes we can" take control of another 20% of the American economy.
• "Yes we can" gain even more control over you by controlling your access to health care.
• "Yes we can" ration health care.
• "Yes we can" make the necessary excuses when this whole thing turns into dog squeeze. We'll blame what's left of the private sector.
• "Yes we can" stifle innovation in health care for the rest of time.
• "Yes we can" create long waiting lines for seeing a specialist.
• "Yes we can" make it seem as if there are only two MRI units in the entire nation
• "Yes we can" make the Canadians feel better knowing that misery loves company
• "Yes we can" successfully ignore the private sector's role in health care.
• "Yes we can" help to bury the people the people who die because their access to health care was limited due to their age.
• "Yes we can" run your health care like we've run Social Security and Medicaid.
• "Yes we can" fool most of the people in this country ... most of the time.

Gag me. The only thing that is missing is the "change we can believe in" banner underneath. I'm sure that one is coming. After all, "change" is such a hot buzz word with voters.

Investor's Business Daily published some research on government-run healthcare. The Pacific Research Institute did a study on healthcare spending in order to compare the cost of private versus government healthcare. I'm sure that you know what is coming, but here are the details. Don't mention these statistics to a Democrat.

The results are clear: Since 1970 -- even without the prescription drug benefit -- Medicare's costs have risen 34% more, per patient, than the combined costs of all health care in America apart from Medicare and Medicaid, the vast majority of which is purchased through the private sector.

Since 1970, the per-patient costs of all health care apart from Medicare and Medicaid have risen from $364 to $7,119, while Medicare's per-patient costs have risen from $368 to $9,634. Medicare's costs have risen $2,511 more per patient.

Just remember that healthcare isn't really about your health or making it more affordable ... it is all about power.

Obama is going to have a press conference today at 12:30PM EST. Maybe he will explain to America how moved he is by Iran and North Korea.

According to Rasmussen, 39% of voters now say the country's economic problems are caused more by the policies Obama has put in place.

Yesterday Obama revealed the long-awaited rules on how to properly count the number of jobs created or saved by the stimulus bill.

This article explains how Obama has gone from a great communicator to a great explainer .. much like FDR.

Fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin wants a Congressional hearing on his case.

The Supreme Court ruled that parents who send their special education students to private schools cannot be barred from seeking taxpayer reimbursement for their tuition costs.

Teachers unions have found their latest target: charter schools.

French President Nicholas Sarkozy says that burqas (you know .. the penguin suits) will not be welcomed in France.

Mother of the year award. She leaves twin infants in a car in 90 degree weather so that she can go shopping.

Get this ... Democrats in many state legislatures are pushing measures that require businesses to grant employees additional time off from work.

That fired inspector general? What was PrezBO trying to cover up?

Arizona has had the longest stretch of days below 100 degrees since 1913. Must be all of that global warming.

Man, Harry Reid is really pushing for immigration reform lately. Now he insists on including a guest worker program in future legislation.

Dianne Feinstein says that all narcotics trafficking in the US is controlled by drug gangs in federal and state prisons.

Hot outside, isn't it? How many of you remember your community swimming pools from your childhood years. These were your oasis from the heat; a place together with your friends. I remember a city pool in Taylor, Texas. When Aunt Joyce or my grandparents would drive me over there for the afternoon I was literally beside myself with joy. They would sit there in the hot summer Texas sun while I splashed in the water. Now ... let me tell you, this swimming pool in Taylor wasn't pretty. There was broken and jagged concrete. Fixtures were rusted. It was the best this poor farming community could do .. and it was fine enough.

In case you didn't know it, there are many swimming pools that didn't open for the summer this year. There are at least five pools run by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources that are closed.

Here's what happened: About 18 months ago a 7-year-old girl was held underwater in an outdoor spa by the drain. These spas circulate a lot of water, and the drain can be strong. Unfortunately she died. Hate to say it, but kids die in swimming pools all the time, and have been doing so for generations. This particular little girl, however, was the granddaughter of a former Secretary of State. Uh oh. Time for the Imperial Federal Government to step in.

So now we have a nifty new federal law that requires fancy new drain covers, sump pumps at the bottom of some pools. We have covers on skimmers and mesh outlets in the sides of pools. All of these new fittings have that wonderful little stamp on them which says that they meet all sorts of federal standards. Trouble is, in some cases the renovations were just too expensive, and so the pools remain closed.

Where does this end? Look, life isn't safe. There are dangers everywhere. If you really want to make pools safe, fill them in with dirt. Do you know that in some communities you aren't allowed to so much as have one of those Wal-Mart plastic wading pools in your back yard unless you have a trained lifeguard on duty? Where is this going? Are we eventually going to get to the point that the federal government appoints a safety watchdog to every American household? We could pass a law requiring that each household set aside a place for a government monitor to live, and that person can then spend six days a week watching the family's every move to make sure they don't do anything that could involve even the most remote chance of danger. The watchdog would get one day off, and on that day the family would be forbidden from leaving the home. They wouldn't even be allowed to plug in or remove an electrical appliance.

I grew up plugging stuff in. Did I ever get shocked? You betcha. It taught me to be more careful the next time. Now when you buy an electrical appliance the first thing you do is get some scissors or a knife to cut all of the warning labels off the cord. And then there's those ugly stickers on your visor telling you about the dangers of airbags with children in the car. The wonderful federal government has mandated that these stickers be impossible to remove. Impossible hell. I know how to remove them, and I take them off of every car I drive ... even the rental cars. That ugly sticker hovering above my eyes is just a constant and revolting reminder of the nanny state we're becoming.

You have seen what's happening in our government schools, haven't you? Children aren't allowed to touch each other during recess --- if there even is a recess - because someone could get hurt. At some schools they won't even let the children outside if the grass is wet. That's why the children in Seattle are so sickly looking. In Florida they lock down schools if someone hears a clap of thunder, and they won't let the kids leave until 30 minutes after the last thunder is heard ... even if their parents are waiting for them in a car outside.

Can you see where this is going? We're raising a generation of wimpy, pasty-faced, candy-assed cowards that are afraid of their own shadows. Watch out! Don't get sucked into that swimming pool drain! No, you can't go outside, the grass is wet. Wait! Was that thunder I heard? Get inside? Tommy! Stop touching people. No, you can't play tag. Someone might get touched. Besides, someone has to be "it," and that hurts their self esteem.

I'd love to write a book on this ... but only if they allow me to title the book. Hold your ears now. Cover the eyes of your precious frightened little children. "The Pussification of America." There. Can't you just see that one flying off the shelves? Can't, though; Someone might get offended.

I wonder if the pool in Taylor is open. Sure is hot there.

During a recent audit here in Georgia, the state Board of Education discovered something fishy about some standardized test scores. Specifically, the fifth grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRTs). Administrations and/or teachers at four elementary schools are believed to have tampered with the CRT results.

The audit was conducted by the Governor's Office of Student Achievement. It noticed something was strange when some of the answer sheets had up to 40 erasure marks on them; when students on average only changed their answers twice. Not to mention that most of the changed answers always went from a wrong one to a right one.

Here's the deal. Based on previous results, the four schools involved must have been on the verge of being sanctioned under the federal No Child Left Behind law. In other words ... they were going to receive an "F." Once the answers were changed on these tests ... guess what? No "F"! Now suddenly these schools look golden! Whoever changed those scores ... were they helping the kids? Hardly. If the school was sanctioned the parents could then transfer kids to another school. In effect, the altered answers trapped these kids in these poor schools.

So now the state board has to vote on whether or not to toss the scores. The principal at Atherton Elementary, James L. Berry, has already resigned. His assistant principal Doretha Alexander also resigned. Both have been arrested and charged with altering public documents. Isn't that just sweet!

Now state senators have called for a bill that would make it a crime for educators to change answers on standardized tests.

President Obama finally decided to issue a statement over the weekend about the fake election and subsequent repression of protestors in Iran. Here's what the president had to say:

The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.

As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.

Martin Luther King once said - "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples' belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.

What do you think? Too little, too late? Iranian authorities have arrested 24 journalists, and at least 17 people have been killed in protest. This is really all that Obama can come up with? I never thought I'd say this, but I'm sticking with France on this one. French President Sarkozy came out with a statement a week ago about the situation. That's right .. Sarkozy didn't munch snails for a week trying to figure out what to do. He knew what was right, and voiced it immediately. He said that he "condemned the violence directed at demonstrators, the arrest of opposition members and political figures, restrictions on public liberties, freedom of expression and communication and the constraints imposed on Iranian and foreign nationals." Now we have France's Foreign Minister condemning "this brutal repression."

Not that Obama's words are going to make a difference ... but at least the world knows where the United States stands ...... sort of.

Here's a little story about unions flexing their muscles. We'll back into this one. Out in California, many companies are looking to set up solar power plants. So a company called Ausra files plans to build. Immediately it is inundated for demands from a union: "before you can build, you have to study the effects this will have on endangered species like the short-nosed kangaroo rat or the ferruginous hawk!" Studies like this could take years, and they are definitely costly.

Then, another company called BrightSource Energy comes along and wants to build a solar power plant. The same union has no complaints. In fact, it wants regulators to approve the project ASAP.

So I'm sure by now you've already figured out what is going on here. The first company, Ausra, rejected demands to only use union workers to build the solar farm. The other company, BrightSource, said that it would use labor-friendly contractors.

It's not like this is anything new. This is business as usual for unions. What is new is the field that unions have planned to use the green movement to achieve their goals of union expansion. Socialist and communists figured this out 20 years ago, don't know why it took the unions so long.

Barack Obama and the Democrats have ensured that wind and solar farms will be popping up all around the country and creating all sorts of new jobs. (So they say.) So the unions want to make sure that these "new jobs" are union jobs. They are going to use this movement to "regain relevance," as it says in the New York Times. So the unions have devised a plan: use these costly environmental studies to threaten any company that doesn't agree to use union workers or labor-friendly contractors. Obama's their pal. Maybe they'll get away with it.

As we well know, California is in some deep horsesqueeze. They need to come up with some serious cash to balance the budget, and luckily Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refuses to increase taxes. So his latest idea to save taxpayer money is to deport illegal immigrates in California jails. Wow! A sane and logical plan from government? The only question is .... why have they waited so long?

The proposal will supposedly save California more than $180 million. It plans to commute the sentences of thousands of illegal immigrants and turn them over to the Feds to be deported.

Something tells me that there will be a lot of panties in a wad over this one. Besides .. how long do you think it will take the illegals to get back across the border once they're sent home ... and they'll be out of jail and ready to commit more crimes! What a state!

Meeting this week, the Federal Reserve is unlikely to propose any new efforts to revive the economy. They know the people are sick of unresponsive stimulus and government intervention.

According to Rasmussen, 34% of Americans now strongly disapprove of Obama's handling of the presidency. Take a look at how it is split down party lines.

Have you heard about the little stunt pulled by the New York Times when it wanted to poll people about Obama's healthcare reform?

Senator Diane Feinstein believes that there are not enough votes in the Senate as of right now to pass Obama's healthcare reform plan.

Speaking of healthcare reform, take a look at the "deal" the Democrats struck with the pharmaceutical industry.

George Will explains why we don't need radical healthcare reform. Remember, folks .. it's not about your health it's all about power for politicians in Washington.

Despite current tensions, Iran spent twice as much on U.S. imports during Obama's first months in office as it did during the same period in 2008.

Michael Barone offers his Three Rules of Obama. This is excellent .. a must read.

President Obama is discovering that the promise of "transparency" is easier said than done.

The FDA has now decided that Cheerios is a drug.

Here's an article we've been expecting (it was written by a college professor, so I wouldn't expect much else): Congressional Budget Office is threat to health care reform. What he means is that the truth is a threat to health reform.

I've talked about this on the air ... Atlanta is tearing down parasite housing projects and giving people vouchers to move into private housing around the city.

After last week's little episode, Barbara Boxer refuses to apologize for her "don't call me ma'am, call me senator" remark to a Brigadier General.

Al Sharpton is still hammering Sheriff Joe Arpaio about his illegal immigration crackdown. Now Sharpton wants to videotape alleged racial profiling by the sheriff's office.

Barack Obama has the environmentalists' thongs in a wad over his failure to protect 60 million acres of federal woodlands.

Government waste: the National Institutes of Health is spending nearly half a million dollars to determine why men don't like to wear condoms.

These 3 chihuahuas are either brave or stupid.

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/video.

Remember the flap about the email a Republican aide in Tennessee sent out? Well here's Joel Samuelson's take on it. Happy Friday!

The Gargoyle has truly lost it, folks. Are you paying attention to all of this? According to Japanese intelligence officers, North Korea may launch a long-range ballistic missile towards Hawaii. Not only that ... but this crazy bastard says he's going to launch that missile on July 4th, our Independence Day. Nice touch, don't you think?

Can the Gargoyle's missile reach Hawaii? Prolly not. The main Hawaiian islands are 4,500 miles from North Korea. These Taepoodung-2 missiles are capable of traveling up to 4,000. But that's not really the point, is it? If they're intentionally aimed at Hawaii that pretty much puts the foam on the latte for me.

What are going to do? Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the military to take defensive measures if North Korea launches that missile toward Hawaii. Gates says, "I think we are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect American territory."

OK .. hold on just a goll-durned minute here. "Good position?" You know, somehow I was looking for a bit more than that. How about "can?" I want to hear that we CAN protect American territory. Last time I looked we had the greatest, most powerful military in the world. I know we elected Obama for change .. but I didn't want to see us change from a position where we "can" protect our interests (like our 50th state) to where we're in a "good position" to do so

Meanwhile, in the middle of this provocation the North Korean menace has warned of a "thousand-fold" military retaliation again the US and our allies if provoked. So here's your Playbill. This twerp says he's going to fire off a missile towards Hawaii, and he then warns us of the dangers that wait if we dare to provoke him.

You need to remember something here folks. The last time Li'l Satan fired off a missile the very next day ... and I'm talking with 24 hours my friends ... Mr. Change You Can Believe in announced a reduction in funding for our missile defense system. Even if you're government educated you can figure out just what sort of message that sent to this North Korean prepuce.

Let's talk about this 4th of July thing a bit more. I'll bet you that more Americans have their panties in a wad about their local government canceling their fireworks show than they do about this situation with North Korea; or, for that matter, with the level of government spending in Washington. Then there's Obama's newfound power to nationalize private companies. To most Americans, freedom means the ability to choose which movie to watch on a Friday night and which magazine they should buy at the grocery store - US Weekly or People. That is the pathetic excuse for the type of freedom these people now claim to celebrate once a year. Yeah, I know I'm a bit early for the Fourth of July rant .......... Stay tuned.

I don't want it to say that I never display any empathy. Fact is, I do. I have empathy up to here [gesturing] for all of those ObamaBots who put so much thought and attention into their vote last year. You know the ones I'm talking about ... the people who swooned and fainted at the very mention of the word "change" and who went to sleep every night with visions of sugar plums and change we can believe in.

I'm trying to build a scorecard. Here's just a few items:

• Trillions added to our national debt.
• American is having trouble getting other countries to buy American debt
• Obama virtually ignores a corrupt election in Iran. We leave it to French President Sarkozy to speak out for the Iranian people wanting a free election.
• GM and Citigroup now government operations. More to come.
• The government (Obama) gets to set executive compensation levels.
• Obama seeking the ability to seize private businesses.
• Firing inspector generals who uncover corruption involving Obama buddies.
• Overturning established law to favor unions over secured creditors in GM's bankruptcy.
• Obama wants to reduce tax deductions for charitable deductions. Government doesn't like competition.
• The Washington DC voucher system, with a great record of success, slated for elimination while Obama's kids go to private school.
• Obama says 8% unemployment max. We're nearing 10%
• Obama moves to raise taxes on the small businesses that create the jobs.
• North Korea threatening to send a missile toward Hawaii
• While NK is lobbing missiles, Obama cuts spending in missile defense systems.

Hey .. that's just scratching the surface. How's this "change you can believe in" working out for you? I know. It's tough. You put all of this faith in Barack Obama. He's going to make everything just wonderful. All we need is change. Now you're sitting here trying to figure out just how long you will be able to keep that Obama bumper sticker on your car. After all ... being a sucker is one thing. Advertising to the world that you got suckered by focus group slogans is another.

Working out pretty well, isn't it?

The group's name is Perpetuum Jazzile. It's a choir. Now before you leave this 'puter you watch this video and see how this incredible ensemble handles the Toto tune "Africa." You are going to be amazed. Then you're going to share it with your friends. Then you're going to send me love letters for sharing this with you. Kim Kommando found this one. She's hot. In case you're wondering, Perpetuum Jazzile is a Slovenian choir. You probably already knew that one already. Here's their website.

OK pay attention to this one. Here's a little taste of what it is like to live in a country with entirely too much government. In this case, let's focus on Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, where he has managed to nationalize nearly every major industry.

For the next three months, GM is stopping production in Venezuela. Why? Because the Venezuelan government won't give them enough dollars to import parts. Yep the government won't give them enough money to continue production. So they will just shut down. Where does Hugo Chavez get the power to do this? Simple, he had the government implement currency controls. Back in 2003, Chavez started regulating the access that businesses and people had to dollars. Now, if a Venezuelan wants to import goods or take a vacation, they must apply to the government currency agency for dollars.

So what started happening? Businesses and citizens started transferring money out of Venezuela to the tune of $72.7 billion since 2003. Clearly this had an effect on the economy ñ inflation, less private investment.

So all of this money and investment has left the country. Then what happens? An economic crisis. Oil prices drop, and oil represents 93% of Venezuela's exports. So now, the government has less money for imports. It has to tighten currency controls and ration its dollar supplies. The government starts prioritizing where dollars get spent. Food and medicine take priority while "luxury goods" like liquor, cosmetics and designer clothing are limited or completely shut out. And when it comes to those evil private businesses, they are rationed too. Hence, the closing of the GM plant ñ because the government doesn't view money for GM to import parts and continue production as a high priority.

So what happens now? Well when companies can't get government dollars they turn to dollar-denominated government bonds, which sell at three times the official exchange rate. Now more money is entering the system and .. tada the inflation rate continues to climb. Venezuelans suddenly have less purchasing power. What happens when you have less power as a consumer? Economic growth comes to a halt, and the cycle continues.

You want the Reader's Digest version of all of this? Hugo Chavez gets too involved with his dreams of regulating the free market and seizing private industry. In short order the market is on its way to hell on a sled. Hugo tries even more intervention. The sled speeds up.

Sound like anyone you know?

Do you remember during the presidential campaign, Barack Obama continuously promised that he would "not take a dime" from lobbyists or political action committees? Well it seems as though that is easier said than done. See if this is what you envisioned when Obama made that promise.

Last night, Obama made a speech at a Democratic fundraising reception. In order to uphold his end of the bargain, there were no lobbyists allowed at his speech. But then we wake up this morning, and at the same exact hotel where PrezBO gave his speech we had registered lobbyists being invited to attend a Democrat issues conference and pay $5,000 if they wanted to maintain good standing with the House and Senate re-election committees.

So what's happening here? Democrats will still gladly take lobbyist money for the House and Senate re-election committees, as long as Obama isn't there to witness it. Then it doesn't count. Do you get it now?

Just a question:

What would you try to do with your life right now if you knew that you could not fail?

Well, what's stopping you?

Tax cheat Timothy Geithner faced a Senate panel yesterday, doing his best to try and sell Obama's financial regulation plans.

Politicians without a sense of humor.

Here's a little background on what's currently going on in Iran.

And on Iran Krauthammer says that Obama is clueless. Just on Iran?

Ohhh look! A health care bill! Let's dissect it!

Is the sticker shock starting to set in on ObamaCare? From The Wall Street journal.

Our wonderful teacher's unions are targeting our military. We could take great strides toward saving our country by eliminating teacher's unions. Today would not be too soon.

The Democrats are calling the Republicans hypocrites because they voted against the latest war funding bill that they had previously supported. Republicans supposedly voted against the bill because it contained money for the IMF.

Conservatives are taking a page out of the Democrat playbook to fight healthcare reform? Say it ain't so!

Barack Obama: "In some countries a single-payer health care system 'works pretty well.'" Media: "What countries?" White House: "We're not really sure." Gotta love it.

Rep. Charlie Rangel does not want to use Obama's international tax proposals to fund healthcare reform.

See if this logic from our president makes any sense to you: "If we are growing at a robust rate, then we can pay for the government that we need without having to raise taxes."

Uh oh Experts warn that a new wave of mortgage foreclosures may be coming soon and could rival the default rates for subprime mortgages.

Not only is Obama having to explain the firing of Gerald Walpin, apparently there is debate over the firing of another Inspector General.

Speaking of Gerald Walpin, the latest from the White House is that firing Walpin was an "act of political courage."

According to Investor's Business Daily, this global warming bill will be a jobs killer. Exactly opposite of what Obama and the Democrats are touting.

White House Press Secretary has a response from the latest criticism from George Bush: "We won." Yeah but you weren't running against Bush.

Just as a reminder, do NOT refer to Barbara Boxer as "ma'am." I have a few suggestions, but it seems as though she would like everyone to go with "senator." Gawd, what a b .. well, you know.

The White House recently issued a new federal report on climate change. Here's the analysis, and guess what? It misrepresents its own research.

Government officials in Maine have nothing better to do than to outlaw the word "squaw" because it is derived from a word that is offensive to American Indians.

You knew that articles like this were coming people are sad that their towns don't have enough money to celebrate the Fourth of July, canceling their fireworks shows.

Rhode Island is the third state in the nation and the first on the East coast to allow marijuana sales to chronically ill patients.

The Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation in America. So, which one of these Senators had slaves? Otherwise, why would they need to apologize?

• Men who marry older women die earlier. If they marry women about 15 years younger than they are they live longer... OK ... if the science is correct, can men who marry an older women counteract those affects by just having a little fling with a younger woman once in a while? "Look, honey. You want me around for a long time, don't you?" Hey ladies. Let me know if that would work for you.

• Tried to talk Belinda into a couples massage after the show today. She declined. Biatch.

• I want a plaque. Look ... if they can name highways around the Atlanta area for every hack politician who has ever served in any capacity around these parts ... I can have my plaque. I want that plaque in the sidewalk where I stepped off that Greyhound bus in 1967, "On July 2, 1967, Neal Boortz stepped off a Greyhound Bus and began his conquest of Atlanta." Contributions being accepted.

• Do you spell "plaque" the same way for a commemorative display as you would for that stuff you scrape off your teeth?

• Levin .. what a stud. 11 out of 12 weeks at No. 1 on the NYT Bestseller's list. Looks like I'll be on his radio show tonight. Big time here I come.

• PrezBO says that health care costs (insurance costs) affect business competitiveness in this country. Is he kidding me? These corporations merely deduct those costs from what they would otherwise be paying their employees. How in the wide wide world of government does this reduce business competitiveness? Look at corporate income taxes if you're looking for a cause.

• If not a plaque I'll hire a homeless person to stand there with a sign.

• Would our history have changed if they had put Nelson Rockefeller's shoes on the right foot?

Are Americans finally realizing that elections have consequences? Notice that your friends and your neighbors are silently removing their Barack Obama bumper stickers from their cars. Now they're walking around with a "who, me?" look on their faces. Notice also that more people growing weary of government spending and intervention. They may not admit it, but they know they were wrong. After all, Obama didn't lie about what he wanted to do as president - he ran on a platform of bigger government and more spending on healthcare, energy, education, etc. But most Americans couldn't see beyond his hot bod and charm. They we suckered in by focus group slogans. They voted for him anyway.

A new Wall Street Journal poll found that there are rising doubts among Americans. This is not good for a president that has the most ambitious government-growth plans since the Great Depression. For example, 70% of Americans are concerned about the increased government intervention in the private sector.

Now here is a prime example of a dumb Obama voter. This is someone who voted for Obama precisely because of the reasons above. Laura Zamora is a local government worker in Orange, California. Government worker ... that's your key. Ms. Zamora says she is frustrated with Obama, but here is why: "He's bailing out the private sector. He's putting all kinds of money into the private sector ... The money should be going to social programs, not to bailing out banks and GM. It should go to people who are unemployed." I would bet a day's salary that this bimbo was government educated. No bets on whether or not she's here legally.

The Democrats see this failing confidence in their Messiah. They know that if they want to increase government dependency through government growth they have to move fast, before more people out there wake up. It's classic. They're trying to steal your independence .. and their tip-toeing through your room in the dark of night trying to get it done before you wake up ... and they just heard you move under the covers. Why do you think the Democrats are bummed that they have to postpone a markup of the healthcare reform bill? Because they know that time is of the essence.

While the Democrats battle within their own party to come up with a healthcare bill that they think can pass, the Republicans have decided to come up with a bill of their own. Does it have any legs to stand on? Not a chance. But here are some of the details according to CNN Money ......

• "Pools" of insurance. It would let states, small businesses and others group together to offer lower-cost, health care plans. Such pools would have to offer, at a minimum, any coverage that is provided in a majority of states.
• Medicaid transfer. It would allow Medicaid users to take the value of their Medicaid benefits and transfer/apply those to a private health care plan instead.
• Boosting of health care savings accounts. It would increase incentives for people, especially those in lower income brackets or over 55, to build up HSAs. OK .. this idea has merit.
• Automatic insurance. It would encourage employers to sign up their workers for health insurance automatically, so that employees would have to "opt out" of coverage if they didn't want it. This is reform? How about moving more health insurance policies to private ownership, instead of corporate.
• Longer coverage for youths. It would allow dependent children to stay on their parents' policies until they are 25.
• Promotion of wellness at the workplace. It would encourage employers to reward employees for improved health.
• Expansion of community health centers.
• Mobile health care. It would allow Americans to maintain their specific health insurance policies when they lose or leave jobs.
• In-home care. It would provide financial help and encourage more in-home care over institutions.
• Limitations on malpractice lawsuits. There is general agreement over limiting such lawsuits, but a deep divide exists over exactly how much.

This is weak. Very weak. There is only a minimal promotion of the private sector here. Let me give you just a few ideas of things they missed:

1. Allow individuals to deduct the cost of their health insurance from their taxable income, just like their employers can right now.
2. End all state insurance mandates. If some insurance company wants to market an insurance policy that doesn't cover for the normal costs of childbirth, drug abuse treatments, mental health treatments, obesity treatments, alcohol-related treatments and the like ... then let them.
3. Allow people to shop across state lines for their medical insurance.
4. Expand the privileges of nurse practitioners. I don't need someone with seven years of medical school and residency to prescribe an antibiotic for a sore throat.
5. Charge a minimum of $5.00 per visit to any public health facility ... regardless of income. This will weed out the people for whom a visit to the doctor is more of a weekly social event.
6. Require only life-saving medical care to those who are in this country illegally.
7. Allow employers to shut out smokers from any company-provided health insurance benefits.

That too me all of 90 seconds .. .and there's not one idea there that expands the size or scope of government.

If the government passed a law requiring employers to provide health insurance policies to employees, what would that do to our employment figures?

And can someone please --- after all of these years --- please explain to me the logic behind the conventional wisdom that when you hire someone you are supposed to provide them with health insurance? Why not life insurance? After all, if they die they can't come to work, can they? Why not auto insurance? They have to drive to get to work, don't they?

As I've already pointed out, the Obama administration knows that it has to act quick on these big agenda items. Healthcare has clearly taken center stage lately. But we can't forget about Obama's energy legislation. The cap-and-trade bill is back in the mix, and guess what? Obama wants the bill to be passed next week! Next week will be dubbed "energy week." Well isn't that special!

Gawd, that was fast. Just in case you don't remember how incredibly painful this bill would be for the American economy, Citizens Against Government Waste has some more details:

In reality, this cap-and-trade plan is nothing more than a hidden tax that The Heritage Foundation has estimated could increase the average American family's energy bill by $1,500 annually!

..... These higher operating costs for utilities, oil companies, and industry will ultimately trickle down to individual Americans, and you will pay an estimated 74 percent more for gasoline, 90 percent more for electricity, and 55 percent more on your natural gas bill. And that's not the end of it. You'll also pay more for every product that requires fossil fuels in its manufacture or transportation!

The Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade plan will also grow the size and cost of government by requiring the Environmental Protection Agency to establish a greenhouse gas (GHG) registry, create a GHG emission allowance transfer system, and set emission allowances from 2012-2050. This army of new bureaucrats will eventually control every aspect of industrial, commercial, and individual energy use. You won't be able to tune up your car or install a grill in your back yard without federal interference ... perhaps even a costly environmental impact study. What's more, the cap-and-trade program will necessarily be ripe for political favoritism and corruption, as politicians and bureaucrats manipulate the system for favored industries.

Climatologist Chip Knappenberger has estimated that the 83 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions mandated under Waxman-Markey by 2050 will result in a drop in climate temperature of only nine-hundredths of 1 degree Fahrenheit. That's equivalent to just two years of avoided global warming.

It's a tax, my friends. It's all about the government getting more of your money. The pretense here is the environment. There's a reason why these environmental pushes come from the political left. It's not about the environment. It's about expanding the scope and the size of the Imperial Federal Government. It's about control over your life. Wake up. Global warming is a fraud.

Department of Defense employees must take written exams as part of their routine training. See if you can correctly answer the following question:

"Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?"

• Attacking the Pentagon
• IEDs
• Hate crimes against racial groups
• Protests

Any guesses? I bet you know where this one is going, don't you? That's right. Protests. Now we have the Defense Department telling their workers that protests are "low-level terrorism." Excuse me, but isn't there something in the Constitution about the right to "peaceably assemble?" And then there's something else about the right to "petition the government for a redress of grievances." Now we call these activities low-level terrorism? What does that make all you tea-party demonstrators from earlier this year? Low-level terrorists?

Do you feel comfortable with this? Not I!

You have to watch this video of this incredible twit as the latest American Idol winner is announced. This, my friends, is the future of our country. Could this possibly be any more pathetic? Like, OMG!

Obama blames everyone for the people's resistance to government-run health care ... everybody but government.

While much of the world condemns the Iranian election, Obama has just decided to give the whole thing a pass.

What has been the reaction to Obama's announcement about his financial-regulation plan? The Wall Street Journal explains the brewing controversies.

Iran accused the United States of "intolerable" meddling in its internal affairs in regards to its recent "election." Meddling? Obama hasn't said squat! Sarkozy has been left to carry the ball on this one.

Victor Davis Hanson with his handy guide to the Age of Obama "logic."

Bush has his say on some of PrezBO's policies.

The battle over the firing of IG Gerald Walpin is heating up. Walpin responded to Obama's character assassination.

So ABC won't accept free market healthcare ads during Obama's healthcare townhall next week. They explain that they never accept 'advocacy ads.'

But apparently ABC isn't the first network to do coverage of a presidential plan like this ... NBC did it back in 1994 with Hillarycare.

In a big blow to the healthcare bill, the Senate Finance Committee has postponed the markup of the bill until after the Fourth of July recess.

Meanwhile, Max Baucus says that he is going to strip $600 billion out of the healthcare bill in order to bring down the cost to $1 trillion. Oh ... I feel so much better now.

Many of the lawmakers involved in crafting this climate change legislation have investments in companies that would be directly affected by passing the bill.

Here is a visual representation of how the Obama administration completely misjudged the impact of the economic stimulus plan. You need to look at this. On this chart you'll see the Obama team's predictions for unemployment rates both with and without the stimulus plan. Then it shows the actual figures. This Obama guy really has it figured out.

After admitting that he cheated on his wife, Republican Sen. John Ensign stepped down as the chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. Maybe cheating on your wife isn't such a good policy ... unless you're married to Jane Fonda.

Barack Obama says that you would be hard-pressed to watch Fox News for a day and find a positive story about him.

The gay community has its thong in a wad over Obama's proposal to extend benefits to gay partners of federal employees.

PETA is upset for Barack Obama for killing a fly during a TV interview.

I could have told you this one ... research shows that dogs are smarter than cats.

Hey look! Those tools at MediaMatters are still listening to the ol' Talkmaster. Thank goodness for that.

Yeah, let us know how that works out for you, kid.

Today is the day that Barack Obama unveils his plans for one of the most radical growths in government this country has ever seen. Obama's plan will give the government the power to seize companies that are considered "too big to fail" and could jeopardize the financial system. We aren't just talking about banks, folks. We are talking about ANY company.

OK ... I can't let this pass. Over a week ago, when Obama was first promoting his executive compensation limitations, I told you that it would be no time at all before Mr. Government Control was expanding his ideas to companies his administration deemed to be "too big to fail." Thus far Hugo Obama hasn't actually used the "too big to fail" language. Instead we are hearing things about companies who's failure, as the Lost Angeles Times puts it, "jeopardizes the financial system." As determined by who? As determined by Obama's henchmen, of course. Now ... here we are. Just how hard was that one to predict? Why, not hard at all, actually.

This is what our country has come to. Our Founding Fathers are rolling over right now at the thought that our imperial federal government will soon have the power to seize virtually any company that it wants. All we have to do is get some government hack, like our tax-cheat Treasury Secretary, to say that the failure of this company would be bad news for our economy ... and that the government needs to take it over. And Obama gets upset when he hears people refer to him as a Socialist. How sad.

Think all of this over for a second. Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security. Welfare Housing. Veteran's Administration hospitals. TSA. Homeland Security. Look at all the enterprises our wonderful Imperial Federal Government operates? Do you really think that the government operates any of these entities more efficiently than the private sector could? And now we are going to sit back while Barack Obama sets up a system where he can seize pretty much any company he wants so long as he can make some argument that the failure of that company would be troublesome.

While we're at it, why not go ahead and create another government agency? You really can't have enough government, can you? Obama's new regulatory body will be called the Consumer Financial Protection Agency. An administration official says that the agency will "protect consumers of credit, savings, payment and other consumer financial products and services, and to regulate all providers of such products and services." It will have the authority to write and enforce rules for financial firms. This agency will enforce so-called "fair lending" laws. Yeah ... that will work. Can't wait until we find out what the government seems to think is "fair."

Douglas J. Elliott, an economics fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former investment banker says, "As far as I can tell, the administration doesn't think it's as important to get that structure right as to get the rules right and make sure people are focused on acting the right way."

Acting the right way. Now government will be the one to determine whether or not these businesses are "acting the right way."

Could you have imagined when this last presidential election cycle started that we were going to end up with an administration that would be hell-bent on placing private businesses under government ownership? There were some people around who were warning you about that. They're called talk show hosts.

Elections have consequences.

The Congressional Budget Office released its estimates on the cost of Obama's healthcare plan. Just as expected, it wasn't pretty. Just as expected, the White House immediately backed away from the report. Now all of the sudden, this Dodd-Kennedy healthcare bill "is not the administration's bill," according to White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. Ok, so technically he is right. That's because the president does not propose legislation. But anyone that doesn't believe Obama's ideas and desires aren't reflected in this bill is full of horsesqueeze. So that's the latest excuse from the White House, the CBO figures don't really count because they calculated it based on a bill that was not Barack Obama's. Got it?

So what DID the CBO report show? Well for one, it estimated that this bill would cost over $1 trillion over the next ten years. The kicker is that this estimate doesn't even take into account the president's government-run health insurance plan. Not to mention the fact that the said goal of this bill is to provide health insurance to all Americans. The reality is that this Senate bill would only increase coverage for 16 million Americans. On top of that, the CBO estimates that millions of Americans would lose their current employer-provided health insurance.

The director of the CBO says, "...When fully implemented, about 39 million individuals would obtain coverage through the new insurance exchanges. At the same time, the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million (or roughly 10 percent), and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million, so the net decrease in the number of people uninsured would be about 16 million or 17 million."

I wonder if that information will be covered on ABC's coverage of Obama's healthcare Townhall meeting?

It happened last night. There was debate on the floor of the House over some amendments to a spending bill. The amendments were offered by Republicans and concerned funding for ACORN and an investigation into Nancy Pelosi's problems with the CIA.

As I understand the story, the Democrats announced that there would be no more votes that evening, and Republicans started heading home. When enough Republicans were gone the Democrats headed back to the House floor and called for a vote to end debate on all amendments to the spending bill. Republicans scrambled to get back into the House, but it was too late. Democrats saved Pelosi and ACORN with their little chicanery. For now.

Michelle Obama said something that I can agree with ... that struggling communities should not look to the government alone for help. Great. Let's throw some personal responsibility in there from time to time. But then she turns around and points out that the government just passed a government service law in order to put volunteers to work, and you should really take advantage of this.

Hmm. So on one hand you want communities to not look to the government, but then you want them to rely on a government law that provides volunteers. Maybe it's just me, but it shouldn't take a government law to encourage volunteerism.

Then she pulls out this line, "Washington can only do so much ... Communities are built and rebuilt by regular people." So just in case you were not aware, those people in Washington aren't regular people. Maybe they are, I don't know, above regular people?

Let's back into this. A Republican aide in the Tennessee state legislature sent out an email to fellow GOP staff members. The email was a collage of portraits from the other 43 presidents, and the last portrait depicted Barack Obama as two white eyes peering from a black background. Now the Democrats are calling for the aide, Sherri Goforth, to be fired.

Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester says, "I am calling on Sen. Black to reject this racist smear and fire this staffer who, on state government time, on state government computers, using a state government e-mail account, launched this bigoted attack on our president ... This e-mail is reprehensible, insults the office of the president, and is embarrassing to all Tennesseans regardless of political party," Forrester said.

The staffer shouldn't be fired because she's a racist. She should be fired because she's dumb as hell. Sorry ... and I know that the Democrats are using this for some good old-fashioned race baiting, but what kind of an idiot would send out that email in the first place?

Iran? Obama? Forget it. Obama has abdicated.

The White House issued its first report on climate change, predicting that temperatures in the US are going to rise 11 degrees by the end of the century. That, by the way, is 92 years away. What a crock.

Barack Obama says that the unemployment rate will reach 10% this year. Looks like all of this government stimulus is really paying off. Remember ... his earlier prediction was 8%. This guy really has a grip on his numbers, doesn't he?

A group of Republicans have introduced a bill that would prohibit the federal government from using federally funded comparative effectiveness research to ration healthcare. Not a chance.

Harry Reid says that he is willing to ditch bipartisanship in order to get a healthcare bill passed. Again ... not a chance. Reid is saying that if the Republicans will just go along, the Democrats will be bipartisan.

This is humorous ...HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says that he insurance lobby won't be able to block a government health plan because most Americans realize they would be better off if the industry had competition. Wait! An ObamaBot talking up competition?

Jimmy Carter wants the Obama administration to remove Hamas from the terrorist list. When will this failed ex-president just go away?

Economist Nouriel Roubini believes that there is a significant risk that the US could experience a double-dip recession.

According to Rasmussen, 80% of Americans want the Obama administration to sell its stake in GM and Chrysler ASAP.

Looks like the cash-for-clunkers plan, which has been included in a war funding bill, may be facing opposition in the Senate.

Here's the latest on the brouhaha between ABC and the Republicans over Obama's primetime healthcare townhall.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ripped the Senate healthcare bill that is in the works. Not good news for PrezBO.

California Democrats just don't get it. They want to increase taxes in order to close their $24 billion budget deficit, and people wonder why Californians can't get out of that state fast enough.

When it comes to voting, 83% of Americans support the idea of checking photo IDs in order to vote ... the Justice Department, however, disagrees. The Justice Department, you see, is controlled by Democrats.

Yesterday the protests in Iran turned deadly. Pro-government militia opened fire on protestors in Tehran killing one man and wounding others. That really makes you believe that this election was open and honest, doesn't it?

In the meantime ... what is our President saying? Has he really taken a side in this? You either support Ahmadinejad and tell the world that you believe his election was valid, or you express your doubts and thrown some moral support to the people of Iran who are protesting. So, PrezBO, which way is it? Then, on the other hand, you can just sit around and say nothing. That seems to be the tact. Obama's silence on the situation in Iran has been deafening. All we can get from the White House is the fact that the United States is "deeply troubled."

Deeply troubled. Oh .. you mean like Americans are deeply troubled about your spending? Like Americans are deeply troubled that you're not running Government Motors? Oh .... I see.

Well, Mr. President, when you feel like you can take a principled stand on this one just let us know.

A recent Gallup polls shows that 40% of Americans describe themselves as conservative. Only 21% of Americans call themselves liberal and 35% consider themselves moderate.

Clearly all of these conservatives don't consider themselves to be Republicans. Many of them are round in the ranks of or in sympathy with the Libertarians. A lot of them even vote Democrat. Conservative doesn't always equate to Republican. There are a lot of conservatives, for instance, who do not feel that it is the government's role to control a woman's reproductive life. Many of them won't vote Republican until the party starts to concentrate more on governance than it does on people's personal lives.

Fact is, the Republican party is out of fresh and new ideas, and it is ignoring the good old ones. Where are the Republicans who are standing up with anything more than a whimper for free enterprise?

OK .. you know where I'm going. I'm completely convinced that if the Republican party would put its full support behind the FairTax, and pledge to pass it as soon as they have control of the House and the Senate, it would turn next year's midterm election on its ear. The FairTax would become the issue. Sure, the Democrats would demagogue it, but as more and more Americans learned the truth their demagoguery would serve to hurt their cause, not help it. The formula here is so simple. Would you rather pay the government 33% of everything you earn, or 23% of everything you spend. What do you think of the idea of nobody paying any taxes at all to the federal government until they have provided for the basic necessities for their family? Now think about that one. Should the government have a claim on one single penny of the money you earn --- or, to state it differently --- should the government have any claim on one single minute of your life before you've taken care of your own family's basic needs? Unless I miss my guess, most Americans would answer "no" to those questions. Can't you see the Republicans running on a campaign of "Not one penny for the government until your family is taken care of." Well, that's the FairTax.

Why won't the Republicans get behind this? The FairTax is the most thoroughly studied and researched piece of legislation ever to have been placed before the Congress of the United States. Still, the Republicans don't believe that they can stand up to Democrat demagoguery. They have no confidence in the voters. They think that the voters will respond to simplistic and sophomoric ideas like calling the Democrat Party the "Socialist Democrat Party." Yeah ... that's showing 'em. But when it comes to supporting and promoting legislation that would bring about the largest transfer of power from the government to the people in our history .... The Republicans shy away.

There are trillions of dollars ... perhaps as much as $13 trillion ... in American dollar-denominated deposits working in overseas economies. Those dollars belong to Americans and American corporations. Stimulus? You want stimulus? What if that money came flowing back home to work in our economy? Can you imagine the stimulus to our economy that would result from just one-half of this money coming back home? This money would be spent by the people who earned it and own it, not by the government. The spending decisions would be privately made, not made in Washington's dark chambers. Obama's idea? Pass laws that tax these overseas earnings right here at home. Construct an economic Berlin Wall. If you see a dollar trying to escape our tax system, shoot it down without remorse. The FairTax plan? The FairTax play that could be the Republican plan? Tell the people who hold this wealth to bring it home with absolutely no federal tax consequences whatsoever. No taxes, no interest on taxes, no penalties .. nothing. Bring it home and put it to work in America and for Americans. But ... have you heard one single Republican present these different approaches to the American people?

How can the Democrats frighten the Republicans so much on this plan? The Democrats would argue for withholding money from your paycheck before you even see it. The Republicans could argue for presenting you with 100% of your paycheck every payday. The Democrats could argue for taxing everything that moves. The Republicans could argue for businesses operating in the US with no tax component on capital or labor. The Republicans aren't willing to take on this argument?

How sad it must be to have the hearts and minds of the plurality of the American people, but be unable to translate that into actual support. How on Earth do we have Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the show? Again, I said there were two reasons. The first being that the Republican Party has nothing going for itself. The second is because the American people have been conned ... at least in the presidential election ... into voting for a man who promised them "hope" and "change."

Elections have consequences. Are you starting to figure that out yet?

Just so you know, if you are opposed to Barack Obama's healthcare reform scam you may be using "scare tactics and fear-mongering." Yep. Obama says that "because these fear tactics have worked, things have kept getting worse."

So not wanting the government to be involved in my healthcare decisions suddenly makes me a fear-monger. Pointing out the absurd costs to the tax payers and the redistribution of wealth that is necessary to fund Obama's plan ... that makes me a fear-monger. Daring to suggest that healthcare is not a right, it is a privilege. Fear monger. Oh .. and warning people that Obama's massive government plan must, of necessity, result in the rationing of health care? That's fear mongering as well.

I have long thought that socialized medicine was inevitable in this country. What government wouldn't like to have this power over its people? You control someone's health care, you control that person. Now I'm wondering .. because of Obama's overreaching and haste, is it at all possible that the people of this country might actually wake up and turn against this life-destroying plan before its too late?

The President of Brazil has let the cat out of the bag. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that unions and workers should be taking better advantage of the current financial crisis to form "a new world economic order." What kind of world order would that be? One based on fairness. One where the workers and the unions would dominate political policy and make sure that the evil rich corporations that provide their jobs don't make money.

He made this statement at the International Labor Organization summit, a gathering of United Nations members. He says, "This is an exceptional opportunity for all of you to think and develop proposals together with the employers and business leaders so that we can change definitely the relations between state and civil society and so that we can build our countries with much more fairness and much more solidarity."

Sadly, there are a lot of people ... including some in our own government ... that would agree with him.

We can only hope this country wakes up before Obama ruins it.

A group of lawmakers asked the IRS to stop imposing "excessive penalties" on small businesses that use questionable tax shelters.

Obama pitched his healthcare reform scam to the American Medical Association yesterday. He got booed.

Great Britain is pissed at the Obama administration after failing to consult Britain over the transfer of four Guantánamo detainees to Bermuda.

Meanwhile, take a look at how these are now living in Bermuda. Not bad. Remember, just weeks ago these saps were being tortured.

Republican Sen. John Thune is proposing a bill that would require the government to sell its ownership interests by July 2010 and prevent it from owning a piece of any American company in the future.

Have you been keeping up with the back-and-forth between Dick Cheney and CIA Director Leon Panetta?

On Wednesday Obama is going to release more details on how his administration plans to oversee banks and financial companies.

Barack Obama says that the upfront costs of healthcare reform will pay for itself in the long-term. But history says that will not be the case.

If you missed this one on the show yesterday ...serial killers have the same personality traits as what other group of people? I would add talk show hosts to that list as well.

The United States is going to give China "financial and technological assistance" in order to help it fight climate change.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say there is a lack of diversity on the Sunday political talk shows. What a bunch of race pimps.

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan has introduced a bill to create a nonprofit corporation to promote tourism to the United States, and it would run by implementing a tax on tourists.

Here's a headline I somewhat expected .. As the Senate's top Democrat pushes for expansion of federal hate crime laws, the Holocaust museum shooter has yet to be charged with a hate crime.

What better way for government-educated teenagers to spend the summer than to watch MTV's "16 and Pregnant."

Here it is .. the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate on the Dodd-Kennedy healthcare bill, and it is going to cost well over $1 trillion. But wait, that doesn't even include the cost of Obama's government-run insurance plan. Uh oh.