Monday Cartoons

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News and opinons for the last day of 2012!

Politics, Corruption, Big Government, EPA

• Did the Obama admin sit on an FDA report for political reasons?
• Lindsey Graham: Congratulations to Obama, he won and I’ll vote for his tax increases
• Evan Thomas, Charles Krauthammer rip Obama for lack of fiscal cliff leadership [VIDEO]
• The other, other cliff: With no farm bill, milk prices set to soar
• How the Welfare State Traps the Poor in Dependency, the British Version
• Tesla CEO Buys $17 Million Mansion; Got $465 Million Govt. Loan
• Fiscal cliff negotiations update: Biden, Congress to receive pay increases — no other news to report
• EPA head resigns; Obama ‘most transparent administration’ pledge up in a nom de plume of smoke
• EPA offers hints on fracking’s future
• DEMOCRATIC OFFICIALS in Maryland, NJ, NY and Massachusetts Face Prison Time for Voter Fraud (Video)
• White House talks don't include NRA: gun group president

Media

• NY Paper to Publish Additional Gun Owners' Names, Addresses
• Gallup: Majority of Americans approve of the NRA 

 
Bill of Rights

• About that gun law enforcement thing
• George W. Bush continues to destroy privacy rights
• And the Stakes Go Higher
• ‘Gun Control Fails,’ Say Statistics from … Gun-Control Advocates 
• The Senate’s Rushed Debate on NSA Spying Powers
• Government Can’t Silence Speech Criticizing Its Actions, Even If That Speech Is ‘Commercial’
• Regulating the Militia
• Video: A liberal’s case for the Second Amendment

Liberal Mindset, Socialism, Communism

• Piers Morgan: Hey, let’s amend the Bible
• LAPD, smothering themselves in buffoonery again.
• Laws Are for Little People 
• The tyranny of the “better than you” 

Foreign Policy

• Senate Republicans refuse to confirm Kerry until Hillary testifies about Benghazi

Budget Battle

• Washington spenders flunk basic math
• Municipal bankrupty, disease or cure?
• Sure sounds like that fiscal cliff summit ended badly; Update: Obama wants vote on his plan if Senate can’t reach deal

Looking Ahead

• What you’ll see in the Rebellion
• How to Talk to the Non Initiated
• A Reluctant Vote in Favor of Armed School Guards

Sunday Cartoons

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Saturday Cartoons

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Protect Our Most Important Treasure

From a commenter on the blog of Tim Blair, a conservative journalist in Australia:

I think it’s hard for people not raised in the United States to understand how difficult it is to live up to the ideal of American citizenship.  We have these God-given freedoms of speech, worship, assembly, and yes, firearm ownership, that are not granted by the government, but are expressly forbidden for the government to legislate, except for certain stated limits (libel, slander, etc.).

But with these rights come responsibilities, and what the US is suffering right now is an abdication of personal responsibility in favor of having the State take care of everything.  Thus the press for gun control legislation in the wake of this mass murder.  Certainly the mother, God rest her soul, showed poor responsibility by having easily accessible firearms around a mentally disturbed sociopath that she was trying to have committed.
We surround our President with guns for protection when he travels through his own citizenry.  Celebrities routinely hire armed bodyguards for protection.  The mayor of New York city says that Wayne LaPierre, the VP of the National Rifle Association (NRA) paints a “paranoid, dystopian vision of a more dangerous and violent America where everyone is armed and no place is safe.”

That pretty much IS most outsiders’ vision of America, isn’t it?  But actually, no place IS really safe—we only have an illusion of safety because no nut case has decided to make our corner of the world his last stand.

The bottom line is that it’s not the appropriate response to a tragedy of this scope to further reduce the liberties of the law-abiding portion of the country.  If we deem the President and Brittany Spears important enough to allow them to surround themselves with firearms, why not our most important treasure, our children?

JamesS of Washington, DC

This is from Tim's post "The Caro Doctrine", which you should read for full context, but the sentiment stands alone for anyone who loves their children.

Friday Cartoons

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Going into debt the really hard way

Worst of all worlds — all debt, no degree

The Higher Education Bubble is bursting, and the hardest hit Americans will likely be those who cannot afford to complete their degree programs.

Via Instapundit: The Wall Street Journal writer Ben Casselman takes a detailed look at the complex economic factors impacting millions of troubled scholars.

The rest is here.

Thursday Cartoons

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Wednesday highlights

• Benghazi penalties “bogus,” officials returning to work?
• Booker: I’m not afraid of law-abiding gun owners
• Why Cuomo’s Nutty Gun Confiscation Plan Will Never Work
• “We’ve made a collective decision as a town that we need armed security in each of our schools”
• New Study: More than Three-Fifths of Colleges Maintain Speech Codes That Violate First Amendment Principles 
• Reflections on Newtown: A week after an American tragedy, what have we learned? 
• Study Says Community Reinvestment Act Induced Banks To Take Bad Risks
   

(Legal) Insurrection

Moving from an Emboldened Left in 2012 to a Legal Insurrection in 2013

The 2012 word of the year ought to be “emboldened,” in reference to the radical left, the anti-freedom elements of our society: the union operatives, naive but militant Occupy, radical anti-Americanists, and leftist community organizers.

During my lifetime, there has always been an undercurrent of collusion between our public school systems and anti-America, anti-freedom philosophies. But they are now emboldened to profess the alliance in the open.

It's an excellent read, with good suggestions.

Wednesday Cartoons

Merry Christmas!

Enjoy the holidays!

Posting will be light for a while; regular activity will result early next week.

If you have to read one thing about gun control...

.....read this:  An opinion on gun control.

Here are two example quotes from this:

So now that there is a new tragedy the president wants to have a “national conversation on guns”. Here’s the thing. Until this national conversation is willing to entertain allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons, then it isn’t a conversation at all, it is a lecture.

and......

The single best way to respond to a mass shooter is with an immediate, violent response. The vast majority of the time, as soon as a mass shooter meets serious resistance, it bursts their fantasy world bubble. Then they kill themselves or surrender. This has happened over and over again.

You may not agree with everything that's said there.  But there may be something for you to learn.  I certainly did.

So, read the whole thing.  And pass it on.

Monday Cartoons

News and opinions on Christmas Eve

Politics, Second Amendment

• Good Advice
• Supporting NRA’s Policy Proposal for School Security
• This is What Democracy Looks Like
• “Confiscation could be an option”
• Steven Greenhut: California lawmakers train sights on gun ownership

It's the Economy, Financial, Taxes

• American Dream Fades for Generation Y Professionals
• Don't be fooled by January pay: Higher taxes loom

Big Government

• Federal government largest driver of income inequality?

Budget Battle, Politics

• Senators lower expectations for fiscal deal, trade blame
• Rewriting history on the filibuster
• Why Obama isn't caving

Liberal mindset, socialism

• Gun Control Mayors Most Heavily Protected By Guns
• Are We Going to Avoid Reality in the Gun Control Debate?
• Ambassador Musclehead
• Actual CNN Segment: Should We Profile White Men After Newtown Shooting?…
• Putting Santa on trial

Unions

• 50,000 GM Union Workers to Bag Year-End Bonuses

Politics

• If your employee did these 10 things, would you fire them?

Media

• It's Time for Media Control
• Will Obama include his Hollywood supporters in the discussion about repairing a culture that ‘glorifies guns and violence’? Updated
• NRA chief: Media wrong to ‘blame guns’ for every tragedy 
• The press goes full hysteria

Christmas Cartoon Special

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold, as usual:

Sunday Cartoons

Opinions, thoughts, and news for Sunday

Looking Ahead

• Is putting a cop in every school even possible, or wise?

Liberal Mindset

• Obama Urges Congress to Keep Working on Fiscal Cliff …Then Jets Off to Hawaii
• Today We Are Gathered … To Hear More About Me
• Congrats, same-sex spouses: Here's your tax bill
• SHANNON WATTS, FOUNDER OF "MOMS FOR GUN CONTROL", SLAMS BILL CLINTON: Sent Armed Guards into Schools in 2000

Politics

• Despite defeat, Boehner’s grip on Speaker’s gavel appears secure
• House Republicans Circulate Plan to Oust Boehner from Speakership
• Senate resolution tells Village Voice to take down 'adult entertainment' section
• Boehner's Power Outage Dimming Obama's Options As Well
• Revenge of the purged
• Why Republicans Failed
• Boehner Should Resign

Bill of Rights

• Harrold Independent School District in Harrold, Texas
• Don't Deflect the Blame, Stand up to Evil
• States examining their own gun-law options
• An opinion on gun control

Media

• Video game violence and our bubble wrapped society
• Mother Jones's Own Reporting Contradicts Its Conclusions on Gun Violence
• HOLLYWOOD OFF HOOK?  Despite Movie Violence, Industry Evades Scrutiny
• Hot Mic: Reporters Overheard Mocking NRA, Praising Code Pink

It's The Economy, Budget Battle

• Obama on the fiscal cliff: We can still get this done if everyone just gives a little bit
• The Fiscal Cliff and the Middle East

Big Government, EPA, Corruption

• Critics Slam New EPA Demands
• How to downsize the federal government
• Obama admin finally releases their regulatory agenda — and only eight months late
• Examiner Editorial: GM is alive and taxpayers got ripped off

Unions

• If You Need Further Proof That Unions Control The Democratic Party…

Elections

• Quick dirty review of 2012 election fraud

Perhaps "shoddy fraud"?

When reading scientific and technical papers today, one needs to see if the author has an agenda that is not scientific nor technical.  This is one example why:

An Open Letter to Dr. Janet Rosenbaum

Dr. Rosembaum: It appears today that your efforts to publicize your research ("Gun Utopias? Firearm Access and Ownership in Israel and Switzerland," Journal of Public Health Policy 33, p. 47 (2012)) have accelerated. The most recent showcase for your paper and the concepts that underlie it happens to be Foreign Policy ("A League of Our Own," Foreign Policy (December 19, 2012)) but Ezra Klein showcased your research in an interview for his Washington-Post sponsored Wonkblog some days before ("Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias," Wonkblog (December 14, 2012)). It is unfortunate then that the body of your research on Switzerland can only be described as "shoddy," at best. At worst it appears more like raw academic fraud.

Here in Switzerland we resent being pressed into forced labor in the salt mines of America's rapidly devolving culture wars, but this would be somewhat easier service to tolerate if your representation of Swiss law, statistics on firearms related deaths and homicides in Switzerland, and Swiss culture were remotely accurate. They are not. Not even close.

Moreover, it is the considered opinion of finem respice that you know it.

 Read the rest for a demonstration why critical thinking is rapidly becoming a survival trait in this sad world.

(Note: "finem respice" is Latin for "consider the end", or "look to the end".)

Saturday Cartoons

Saturday news & opinions

It's the Economy, Unions

• What the Looming Port Strike Is Really About

Agenda 21

• Why Are Broke Local Governments Sending Dues to ICLEI and Pushing Through Agenda 21?

Budget Battle, Politics

• Analysis: Boehner has few options in fiscal cliff mess
• No End in Sight as Congressional Impasse Over Fiscal Cliff Drags On
• Inside the Plan B meltdown
• LaTourette: Blame Tea Party “chuckleheads,” not Boehner’s leadership
• Morning Bell: Conservatives Stand Their Ground
  

Bill of Rights, ObamaCareTax

• Piers Morgan's Argument for Gun Control: 'You're an Unbelievably Stupid Man, Aren't You?'
• NRA Press Conference transcript -- December 21st, 2012
• Obama to gun-control petitioners: “We hear you”
• Court: No injunction for Hobby Lobby on birth control mandate
• Poll: Majority Agree with NRA Plan to 'Increase Police Presence at Schools'.
• The new horizon of gun control, Part 4. “Wolves at the door”

 
Liberal Mindset, Media

• MPAA chief: Hollywood “stands ready” to talk about culture of violence

Big Government, EPA, Corruption

• Congress may be stalled out, but the EPA certainly isn’t
• To Woo Republican Support, Sandy Aid Bill Plumped Up With Money for Another Hurricane
• “NO” on Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Assistance
• Auto-Pilot Toward the Fiscal Cliff
• U.S. Representative Massie Votes ‘Nay’ on NDAA

Who's being offensive?

Mild profanity warning!  But worth the time to listen.

State and County News

Local Government, Taxes

• No wiggle room seen in budget (registration may be required)

State Government, Politics, Taxes

• Court: WA Legislature failing at education funding
• Gregoire’s Final Budget Defeats Shortfall in a Few Quick Moves, But Proposes More Than $1 Billion in New Spending, Taxes
• Gregoire's plan to pay for school buses may cost motorists
• Senate Dems Make Counter-Offer – Denied Majority Control, They Suggest Co-Chairs for All Committees

Fiscal responsibility

School board votes to return excess dollars

Walla Walla Public Schools Board of Directors voted to return excess funds to the taxpayers should voters approve the February 12, 2013 special election proposal to modernize Walla Walla High School and the project comes in under budget.

Board members approved Resolution No. 15-2012 to officially revise the bond proposal to state the district will reduce the tax burden on the district’s property owners should there be any excess bond funds once the project is completed. 

“If this helps us pass the bond, then I’m all for it,” said Anne Golden, School Board President. “We are good stewards of taxpayer’s dollars and we want to continue to model this practice.”

Friday Cartoons

Friday opinions, thoughts, and news

State Government, Budget Battle

• Washington’s unemployment rate drops below 8 percent for the first time since 2009
• Republican response to Gov. Gregoire’s proposed budget
• Gov. Gregoire proposes taxes to pay for $1 billion in education funding
• Senate Democrats reject GOP power-sharing proposal, offer counterproposal (link fixed)

Media

• Media ‘Watchdogs’ Upset Obama Received No Benghazi Questions at Wednesday Presser
• Piers Morgan: 'Of Course' I'm 'Gleeful Tragedy Happened'
• 3 senators slam 'Zero Dark Thirty'

 Big Government, EPA, Agenda 21

• Taxpayers will lose around $14 billion in Treasury’s sell off of GM stock
• EPA Withdraws Order In the Face of Farmer’s Lawsuit
• California eliminates scary public threat: Small-business burger stand
• Obama: Climate change is going to be one of my top priorities this time around

Civil Discourse

• The ‘National Discussion’ on Guns Begins: CT Congressman Calls Rick Perry a ‘Testosterone Laden’ Individual with Blood on His Hands

Foreign Policy

• State Dept. officials resign after release of Benghazi report: ‘Systemic failures’ left consulate inadequately protected; attack coordinated, not result of protest over a video

 Second Amendment

• Five-Point Action Plan for President Obama to Reduce Violence by the Mentally Ill
• The new horizon of gun control, Part 3. “Military style weapons”
• The post-Newtown witch hunt
• A gun ownership boom?
• Obama Sidelines Gun Control
• A conservative case for an assault weapons ban
• Disastrous Gun Law Sparked School Shootings
  
• PIERS MORGAN'S TOP 10 FIREARMS TIPS. Oh, did I say Piers Morgan? I meant the Founding Fathers

Attention property owners! (Updated and bumped)

UPDATE:  The Union-Bulletin reports that the meeting will be held at 11 a.m. on 21 December, in the District's board room at  364 South Park Street.

========================================

The Walla Walla School Board has an opportunity to give rather than take.  They are considering how to use any "excess" from the proposed WaHi bond, should it pass next February (registration may be required):

The Walla Walla School Board plans to hold a special meeting before Dec. 28 to decide what to do with any excess funds from a Walla Walla High School bond should the measure pass in February.

The board held a brief work session Tuesday to hear feedback from community members and leaders of the Wa-Hi bond committee on the matter of potential excess funds.

Craig Sievertsen and Shannon Bergevin, co-chairs of the bond committee, were at the work session and expressed concerns about the potential for board members to use any excess funds rather than return them to taxpayers or pay down debt.

Sievertsen said the matter continues to come up in the public, with many people saying the board’s previous decision to use excess funds from the Edison Elementary bond for other projects as costing them yes votes on the Wa-Hi initiative.

Sievertsen said the board has an opportunity to make it a nonissue. While he personally sees the value of reinvesting dollars into the district, he said the committee simply doesn’t have enough time before the election to make a case for the benefits of using any excess money.

Their options are:

• Spend any"excess" funds left over from the WaHi on Lincoln High School
• Pay down the debt incurred by the bond

According to the article, the public will have another chance to comment on the matter, at a meeting is "set in the next few days" (the article is dated December 19th, 2012).

Considering that this is the Christmas holiday season, there are only a few days on which they can actually hold the meeting, and expect any sort of respectable public attendance. Assuming that the board won't meet on weekends or holidays, that leaves December 20th, 21st, 26th, 27th, and 28th.  This doesn't leave much notice for a public announcement.  And considering that people can be out of town, or paying more attention to holiday cheer than school board politics, this isn't very good planning on the part of the board.

In fact, the school board calendar has "12:00 PM - Special School Board Meeting - Location: District Office Board Room (364 S. Park St)" set for the 21st of December, but no other information is on their web site.  If this is that meeting, it's poorly written, and not much of advance notice. 

If you can't make the meeting, you can contact the School District by the following methods, and offer your input:

• Mail: Walla Walla Public Schools, 364 South Park Street, Walla Walla, WA 99362
• Voice: (509) 527-3000
• Facsimile: (509) 529-7713
• Email: mhiggins@wwps.org
• District Suggestion Box

If you pay taxes that go into the Walla Walla School District, attend the meeting this Friday, or contact the District as noted above.  Or you could write a letter to the editor of the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

Make your voice heard.  This is a local matter, and your input matters a great deal.

This we don't need

Here's an interesting quote from outgoing Governor Gregoire:

Gregoire noted that the country's top oil companies have made billions of dollars in profits this year, "so I expect them to do this without passing this on to consumers."

A governor declaring how much money a company can make is beyond the pale.  And arrogant -- "I expect them"?  If it isn't in the law, why should the oil companies pay attention?  If it is in the law, how does the State enforce it, assuming that it's constitutional in the first place.

What might soon-to-be Governor Inslee say in a year or two, following this example?  "I expect everyone to pay an income tax", whether it's the law, or not? 

It's a good thing she's leaving office, but soon-to-be ex-Governor Gregoire is setting a poor tone for the upcoming budget debate in Olympia.  There's a need to balance spending and revenue, but behaving like this is not the way to get bi-partisan agreement AND not adversely impact the state economy.

Stay in contact with your elected representatives; at least with the power sharing scheme in the State Senate, there's a chance of setting an example for this sort of arrogance.

Thursday Cartoons

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Thursday News & Opinions

The Constitution, Bill of Rights

• The new horizon of gun control, Part 2. The black hole of mental health.
• Obama Ignores Fast & Furious, Rushes to Announce ‘Gun Control Task Group’ in Wake of Newtown
• Is Obama Really Committed to Leading the Gun Control Charge?
• An open call to gun-control advocates and gun supporters

 
Foreign Policy, Corruption

• Benghazi Report — No protest, deteriorating security conditions ignored
• Obama’s Benghazi Fall Guys
• Benghazi: State Department fail

Big Government, EPA, Corruption

• CBS News: ‘Fast and Furious’ Gun Found At Site Where Mexican Beauty Queen Killed
• No bigs: Head of EPA does a bunch of her work on alias e-mail account
• Pistol purchased by ATF agent found at alleged cartel crime scene in Mexico
• Hurricane Sandy relief turning into Porkfest 2012

 
Liberal Mindset, Civil Discourse

• What Kind of Values Are Being Taught In a School Named For a Murderer?
• NAACP Goes Racist Against First Black Senator, Tim Scott
• Harry Reid in 2010: “I carried a gun with me everywhere I went”; Update: Feinstein in 1995, too

 
Media

• Is Saturation Coverage Encouraging Mass Murderers?

ObamaCareTax

• White House buckling on HHS mandate?

Budget Battle, It's the Economy, Taxes

• Speaker Boehner: "Mr. President, It's Plan B or Be Responsible For the Largest Tax Hike In History" *drops mic*
• It's the Spending, Stupid! 
• Boehner’s House Has Increased Debt $18,944 Per Household

Wednesday Cartoons

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Wednesday news & opinions

Bill of Rights, The Constitution

• Time to look at repeal

Liberal Mindset, Civil Discourse

• Texas Democratic Party Official Calls For Murder of NRA Members
• SEEN ON FACEBOOK
• Herbert Marcuse, Wile E. Coyote and the Auto-Beclownment of Erik Loomis, Ph.D.
• Human Rights vs. Natural Rights
  

ObamaCareTax

• States Give ObamaCare A Massive Vote Of No Confidence

Budget Battle, It's The Economy

• Video: Boehner still working on Plan B; Update: Presser video added
• Democrats Come Out Strong Against Boehner's 'Plan B'
• THE END IS NEAR: 10 Terrifying Truths About the National Debt

Socialism

• How the Government Class Lives

 
Big Government, Corruption, EPA

• Feds look other way as wind farms kill birds -- but haul oil and gas firms to court
• California solar power imposing its costs on non-consumers

Second Amendment

• The new horizon of gun control, part 1. “A Violent Society”
• why the gun is civilization.
• Carney: Obama will “actively support” Dems’ push for new assault weapons ban
• 6 simple things parents can do in the wake of massacres without government

Tuesday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold......

Tuesday news, thoughts, and opinions

Budget Battle, Taxes

• Report: Fiscal cliff deal emerging — including one-year debt-ceiling increase; Update: Obama concedes on new, higher income threshold for tax hikes
• Boehner Offers Obama Tax Rate Boost If Entitlements Cut
• Obama, Boehner meet at the White House over new cliff-deal proposals?
• Could a Fiscal-Cliff Deal Go the Way of TARP?
• GOP Movement on Taxes Still Leaves Huge Budget Quandary
• President Obama’s Economically Destructive Tax-Hike Plan

ObamaCareTax

• Obamacare and My Daughter

Second Amendment

• Gun Control, Disarmament and the Threat of Genocide
• Active shooters in schools: The enemy is denial
• Rep. Louie Gohmert: Attorney General Eric Holder is one to talk about gun control
• Bloomberg: “I don’t know what a gun would have done”
• The Facts about Mass Shootings
• Some explicit history to explain why we must keep military-capable arms to ensure our essential liberty 

Liberal Mindset

• Months Before Shooting, “Civil Liberties” Groups Defeated Conn. Law Aimed at the Violent Mentally Ill

Education

• The $10,000 Degree

Elections

• The Ten Worst Fact-Checks of the 2012 Election

United Nations

• Confirmed: Majority of UN member nations aren’t big on freedom of information

Never let a crisis go to waste.....

Stampeding Gun Control Through Crisis

I am appalled. Yes, I am appalled that a monster killed children and teachers, but I am more appalled that the first response from the professional control freaks — the political animals across the nation — is to initiate the long-planned campaign to stampede Americans into surrendering their rights, to disarm all the people who didn’t murder anyone, and — most importantly — to eliminate the ability of the citizens to defend themselves from a whole spectrum of evils ranging from common bad guys to government tyranny.

Senator Feinstein has pledged to submit new “assault weapon” legislation, even more draconian than the last completely useless ban, the one that had no effect on crime other than to create new classes of victims. Senator Feinstein, evidently in an effort to avoid accusations that this new bill is a knee jerk response to the shootings, assures us that she has been working on this bill for a year.

Contemplate that for a moment. This “new” bill has been poised to launch for months, waiting only for the (hopefully) inevitable next horrific incident, an appropriate tragedy, to whip this “solution” out while stampeding a frightened, sad and disoriented populace into accepting yet another “DO SOMETHING!” law that constrains honest people while addressing the actual problem not at all. The senseless slaughter of 20 little ones is the perfect political platform for shoving fascist policies down our throats. The media will trot out every profile of every child and teacher who died, to engender guilt, horror and remorse and bully Americans into letting go of their guns. Newsflash, a**hats… we aren’t that gullible and stupid. We certainly aren’t that weak.

The whole thing is worth a few moments of your time.  Please read it, and pass it on.

It begins

From Bookworm.com:  Factual weaponry for the stalwart foot soldiers fighting on behalf of the 2nd Amendment in the cause of Common Sense

Including this graphic:

(Click to enlarge)

And other basic facts.  These will be necessary, because, regardless of the truth, the left is mobilizing to lay the blame for the Connecticut tragedy squarely at the feet of responsible gun owners in America.

Monday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold......

Monday news & opinions

Looking Ahead

• As Republicans ponder 2012 defeat, party’s philosophy hangs in the balance
• Tea Party at a Crossroads

Second Amendment

• Obama Hears A New Argument: Gun Control Could Win Democrats Votes
• Gun control, yes, but that’s only the beginning
• Feinstein leads Democratic senators in call to renew gun debate, vows legislation
• An Honest Liberal Writes about Gun Control
• 4 Awful Reactions to Sandy Hook School Shooting - And Thoughts on a Better Response

Media

• The Hollywood activist formula strikes again

Communism, Socialism, Liberal Mindset

• China adding fortifications to the Great Firewall
• Gérard Depardieu says he will give up French passport over tax rises
• Obama Takes The Christmas Out oF The White House Christmas Card....

ObamaCareTax

• 26 States Decline ObamaCare Exchange; 'Administrative Nightmare' Seen

Unions

• Michigan's 'hot dog guy' getting new digs after protesters destroyed his supplies

Taxes, Budget Battle

• Speaker Boehner offers up a tax hike for millionaires
• Boehner offers millionaire tax hike, Fox News confirms
• Obama administration, Congress quietly let school security funds lapse 

Big Government, EPA, Agenda 21

• The United Kingdom says “Yes!” to fracking

Some thoughts about the tragedy in Connecticut

• Thinking the Unthinkable
• Madness, Deinstitutionalization & Murder
• ‘We in Israel understand the shock and agony,’ Netanyahu tells Obama after Connecticut slaughter  
• The Heroes Of Sandy Hook

Sunday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold......

Sunday news & opinions

ObamaCareTax

• Obamacare is coming to town…
• Calif: Cuts to Medi-Cal Reimbursements Could Jeopardize ObamaCare
• Obama nixes any thought of ending the medical devices Obamacare tax. Shock. Surprise…
• Domino's founder sues feds over health care law

Budget Battle, Taxes

• Dems draw red line on raising Medicare age, complicating talks
• Is the American Economy Being Deliberately Destroyed?
• Is The Fed Cruising Toward A Monetary Cliff?
• A tax hike Republicans could cheer?
• Reid Laughs at Idea of Bringing GOP Bills to Vote
• Those cigarette taxes are sure working out, eh?

The Constitution, Bill Of Rights

• A second mass shooting avoided on Friday
• Congress Unlikely to Embrace New Gun Laws Following Connecticut Shooting
• Obama Responds With Tears. Israel Responds With Teeth.
• CalGuns Foundation
• Hickenlooper and the 2nd amendment 
• The Clackamas Shooting Stopped By Armed Citizen
• Vultures
• Calif. Residents Concerned by Drone Use in Law Enforcement

Looking Ahead

• Black Mobs Take Over Washington Metro

Foreign Policy

• Obama’s Foreign Policies Appeasement Will Never Work

United Nations, EPA, Agenda 21

• IPCC AR5 draft leaked, contains game-changing admission of enhanced solar forcing – as well as a lack of warming to match model projections, and reversal on ‘extreme weather’
• Environmentalists Protest Coal Trains' Effect on Car Traffic

Big Government, Corruption

• Obama's Predatory Food Stamp Program Targets Seniors
• HSBC: Too Big to Jail
• Report: Obama's Union-Packed Labor Board Dysfunctiona

Requiescat in pace

Click to enlarge

Related:

• Praying for the families and children of Newtown, Conn.
• Teachers sacrificed themselves to save their pupils

Touchet bond vote

Touchet voters to see bond for secondary school work

The Touchet School Board recently approved a resolution to put a $6.5 million bond measure before voters in February. The funds would be used along with state matching funds for complete renovation of the secondary school.

#According to Superintendent Susan Bell, the proposed renovation would be the first major work on the building, which was completed in 1975 and currently houses students in fifth through 12th grades. “The secondary building is badly in need of repair,” she said. “We’re to the point of having serious roof leaks when it rains.”

Read the rest here.  Registration may be required.

The Eastsider's Report for December

December 14, 2012                     

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to correspond with you via email due to election-year restrictions. I’m writing today to bring you up to speed on some important developments in the Washington State Senate and to pass along a video I recently recorded showcasing some of the highlights of our 16th Legislative District.

Thank you for the continued honor of allowing me to serve you. As always, I welcome your thoughts and feedback about the topics covered in this update, or whatever is on your mind. If there is anything I can do for you or your family, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Sen. Mike Hewitt

And he can cross that river

Presented in honor of all those who served, and especially those who paid the price for freedom.

State news, thoughts, and opinions

• Coal port hearing in Seattle draws thousands
• Sen. Ed Murray on ‘power-sharing,’ major transpo package, coal hearings & more
• Off the Set: Sen. Adam Kline on the death penalty, gun control and Three Strikes
• State studies taxing car owners based on how much they drive

Saturday news, opinions, and thoughts

ObamaCareTax

• Washington gets approval to operate health exchange
• Health care exchange decision day: 25 states won’t build them
• Get ready for the costs and chaos of Obamacare
• Bloomberg: ObamaCare Doubling Premiums for Individuals & Firms Spurs Talk of Delaying Rollout
• Medical companies brace for 'devastating' ObamaCare tax, prepare for layoffs

The Constitution, Bill of Rights, Second Amendment

• Mandatory “black boxes" in new autos inch us ever-forward to 1984
• Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations
• Shooter identified in Connecticut shooting, may have targeted his teacher mother (timeline)
• Update: Virtually Nothing In The Original Reports About the Killer Was Correct
• Adam Lansa Was Autistic, Had Asperger's, and Had a Personality Disorder
• Gun-Free Zones Don't Deter Killers Determined To Bring Their Guns To Kill People
• I Guess We Don’t Have a Monopoly on Sickos

 

 Politics

• Deterring the nuclear option
• Obama Tries to Cut Charitable Deductions
• White House: Boehner Offering 'Fantasy Economics'
• WaPo editors: Golly, Obama’s fiscal-cliff approach is unbalanced

Socialism, Communism, Liberal Mindset

• American Gulag
• Michelle Suggests Republicans are Liars
• Harry Belafonte, MSNBC criticized over 'jailing Republicans' remarks

Big Government, Corruption, Agenda 21, EPA

• Election Over, Administration Unleashes New Rules
• GOP: This Consumer Financial “Protection” Bureau looks an awful lot like a “run-away regulator”
• Solar firms probed for possible ‘misrepresentations’ in getting public money
• Video: Why is the SEC delaying a bipartisan effort to encourage capital investment?
• Virginia takes EPA to court claiming water regulation plan is illegal land takeover
• TSA detains sick girl because she tested positive for explosives, mother says
• Crony Confab: Valerie Jarrett Meets with Top Hedge Fund Execs
• Federal Judges Sue to Win Promised Pay Increases
• EPA tightens clean-air standard for soot

United Nations

• US refuses to sign UN Internet regulations

Unions

• 'We'll Be At Your Daughter's Soccer Game!'

Saturday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold......

Today is Bill of Rights Day

And Cato @ Liberty has a status on the state of our Constitutional safeguards.  A sample:

The Seventh Amendment guarantees the right to a jury trial in civil cases where the controversy “shall exceed twenty dollars.” Government officials, however, insist that they can impose draconian fines on people without jury trials.

 Do read the whole thing.

A moment of silence

Think your privacy is threatened by the government?

It could be you aren't paranoid enough.  Yet.

U.S. Terrorism Agency to Tap a Vast Database of Citizens 

The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.

Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited. Data about Americans "reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information" may be permanently retained.

The changes also allow databases of U.S. civilian information to be given to foreign governments for analysis of their own. In effect, U.S. and foreign governments would be using the information to look for clues that people might commit future crimes.

"It's breathtaking" in its scope, said a former senior administration official familiar with the White House debate

Read the whole thing.  Now.

Friday Cartoons

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Friday news & opinions (Updated = *)

Big Government, Corruption

• CO: Secret energy lab spawns million dollar govt employee
• Surprise: Emergency Sandy legislation full of millions in non-Sandy spending
• Profiting From a Child's Illiteracy*
• Great news: Your permanent record is now available on demand*
   

United Nations

• That proposed Internet regulation at the UN didn’t go over too well

Liberal Mindset, Socialism

• Video: Michael Moore tells Democrats to get off the couch
• Mad Scientist Calls for ‘Murderous Rampage’ Against Watchdog Group

Media*

• ‘Through a Plate Glass Window’: How Liberal Media De-Legitimize Dissent

Unions*

• Forced unionization of in-home care workers back on Minnesota agenda

Budget Battle*

• Corker proposes bill matching debt ceiling hike to entitlement cuts
• Poll: Majority would blame both sides equally if talks fail
• Report: Boehner willing to consider more tax revenue - in exchange for deeper entitlement cuts
• Progressives Ready to Go Over the Fiscal Cliff
• DeMint: Obama is going to "get his wish" on higher taxes

Some good news on the State budget?

This is a bit old, but probably welcome news: Coalition Grabs Reins in the Senate – Democratic Party Leaders Left Reeling as Bipartisan Group Prepares to Lead from the Middle. 

Other opinions on this:

• Editorial: Majority coalition caucus in state Senate is a welcome change
• Republican power grab good for Mid-Columbia

More news on this can be found at the Washington State Wire.

Houston, we have a problem.....

Green schools: Long on promise, short on delivery

USA TODAY special report finds little link between environmentally friendly buildings and learning or energy use.

The Houston Independent School District took a big step in 2007 toward becoming environmentally friendly by designing two new schools to meet a coveted "green" standard set by a private-builders' group.

The nation's seventh-largest school district added features such as automated light sensors and a heat-reflecting roof, in hopes of minimizing energy use.

But the schools are not operating as promised.

Thompson Elementary ranked 205th out of 239 Houston schools in a report last year for the district that showed each school's energy cost per student. Walnut Bend Elementary ranked 155th. A third "green" school, built in 2010, ranked 46th in the report, which a local utility did for the district to find ways of cutting energy costs.

Read the rest here.

This is yet another example of where climate change alarmism and environmentalism send valuable education funds down a rat hole, chasing elusive cost savings and improved student performance under the guise of going "Green".

The Houston area is highlighted in the article, but the problem is nationwide.  Any compromise with climate change alarmists is an exercise in futility.

Thursday Cartoons

Click to enlarge!  More below the fold......

Thursday news and opinions

Taxes, Liberal Mindset

• Gosh, Wally, isn’t Warren Buffett being kind of hypocritical? 
• Tea Party Organizers Deliver Anti-Tax Hike Petition

Unions

• AFL-CIO OMG WTF?

Budget Battle

• Video: Is the President listening?
• Woodward: Civil war brewing in the Democratic Party over entitlement reform

Wisdom From Mid-America

Click to enlarge.

Wednesday news & opinions

Budget Battle

• Obama-GOP Cliff Talks Take Positive Turn 
• Boehner: Can we just be honest about this? We’re broke.

Big Government, EPA, Agenda 21

• Interior Dept pushes the timeline for fracking rules into 2013
• Vilsack: Rural America is becoming less and less relevant 
• Stunner: California’s cap-and-trade on track to deliver 14% of promised revenue in first auction

ObamaCareTax

• Contractor building federal Obamacare exchange has a big ol’ conflict of interest
• Obamacare fee of $63 per person to begin in 2014
• OWN IT: 16 Dem Senators Who Voted For Obamacare Decry “Job-Killing” Obamacare Tax…

Second Amendment

• Federal appeals court: Second Amendment prevents states from completely banning concealed carry

Unions

• BREAKING VIDEO: MI Union Thugs Greet Right-To-Work Law With Thuggery And Cupcakes, But Mostly Thuggery