Category Archives: Followup

Recap…

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I blogged (yes, it’s a verb!) yesterday about gas prices dropping below $2/gallon by Christmas. I was pessimistic. In thirteen states, including Missouri, that goal has already been reached.

In These 13 States, Gas Is Selling for Below $2 a Gallon

Natalie Johnson / /

Just two weeks ago, a sole gas station in Oklahoma swept headlines for dropping gas prices below $2 a gallon. Today, 13 states have joined that list, and the trend is expanding.Gas for less than $1.90 a gallon can be found in at least one station in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Ohio, according to CNN. CNN cites 10 additional states– Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia– that now have gas below $2 a gallon.“What we’re seeing is markets at work,” Heritage Foundation economist Nick Loris said. “Significant increases in supply and a relatively weak demand is lowering prices not just at the pump, but for most of the goods and services we pay for.”

The national average has dipped to $2.55 a gallon, marking the lowest drop since October 2009, according to AAA’s Fuel Gauge Report. Just a year ago, that average was $3.23.

“Oil prices are plunging because there is so much oil in the market,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said in a press release. “It’s unclear exactly how long this will continue, but gas prices will keep falling as long as oil prices do.”

Jenkins said oil prices are predicted to continue dropping through the first half of next year, increasing the “likelihood of $2 gasoline.”

CNN partially attributes this drop in prices to decreased oil demand because of the “economic slowdowns” across Europe and Asia along with increasingly fuel-efficient vehicles.

Another key reason for the drop is the increase in U.S. output. Domestic oil production is at a three-decade high, contributing to the increase in supply and driving down costs.

But Loris cautions against celebrating too soon.

“The falling prices are certainly a welcome relief,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean policymakers should ignore the government-imposed regulations and restrictions that artificially inflate prices and prevent markets from working more efficiently.”

Low gas prices is a Christmas gift to us all.

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I’m a Mark Levin fan. I have most (all?) of his books. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I do believe most. He is one of the stalwarts of conservatism in the country. His Landmark Legal Foundation is in the forefront litigating for our liberty and the retention of our constitutional rights.

He also has a temper.

Mark Levin slams GOP: ‘The Constitution is in tatters’

By Cheryl K. Chumley – The Washington Times – Tuesday, December 16, 2014
http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2014/05/29/ap88849515097_c0-0-4883-2846_s561x327.jpg?e9405e23da046a9ad99c1e954eefdd816ea390cd

Conservative Talk Show host and founder of the Landmark Legal Foundation, Mark Levin.

Conservative talk radio icon Mark Levin blasted his fellow Republican Party members during his most recent show, slamming the leadership for caving on the budget and for, time after time, ignoring basic constitutional principles.

“The Constitution is in tatters,” he said, adding that he was “one inch away” from breaking with the Republicans.He went on, Newsmax reported: “I want to tell the Republican leadership, the RNC, the NRSC, the NCCC, the NAACP — whatever they call themselves in the Republican Party — I am one inch away from leaving you. And I bet I speak for hundreds of thousands of people. One inch. You think this is a joke? You think you can lie to the American people?”

He spoke specifically to Republican promises to defund Obamacare and fight President Obama on immigration amnesty — and the recent failures of GOP leadership to take advantage of the budget dealings with Democrats to do just that.

“Do you think you can lie to … conservatives about how you’re going to defund Obamacare, run millions of dollars on ads on that to get re-elected, on how you’re going to fight unconstitutional amnesty? Tooth and nail? You think you can lie to us with impunity? And repeatedly? I don’t care how many millionaires and billionaires you have in your damn back pocket,” he said, Newsmax reported.

Mr. Levin then blasted the Republicans for speaking ill of Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in Politico and other media outlets.

“You sound like a bunch of munchkins,” he said. “Backbenchers. Immature! Stupid! Childish comments. I don’t know what this is going to add up to. I don’t know why we’re here. I’ve seen this movie before, and you’re so ineffective. You’re so impotent.”

Mr. Levin also said that he “worked for a president who shut down the damn government over half a dozen times. It’s not the end of the world. … Our Constitution is in tatters.”

Levin’s rant comes on the same day RINO Jeb Bush announced the formation of an “exploratory committee,” i.e., how many donors he can corral. Levin carries a lot of clout. His ‘Convention of States’ continues to gather more support. If another Romney or Bush RINO gets the nomination on 2016, the GOP is dead.

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Followups: SCOTUS and Public Education

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More news has come out in the day(s) since I posted on these two subjects. None of that new information has changed my positions.

re·cuse/riˈkyo͞oz/

Verb:
  1. Challenge (a judge, prosecutor, or juror) as unqualified to perform legal duties because of a possible conflict of interest or lack of…: “a motion to recuse the prosecutor”
  2. (of a judge) Excuse oneself from a case because of a possible conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

 On the subject yesterday where SCOTUS is going to hear arguments on Obamacare. A significant number of ‘Pub congressmen are calling for Elena Kagan to recuse herself.  There is documentary evidence that Kagan, while Obama’s Solicitor General, played a significant part in planning the passage of Obamacare.  The State Media has, as expected, been silent on the issue.  In fact the State Media continues to ignore Kagan’s conflict-of-interest on issues since she joined the court. No, they ignore Kagan’s issues and instead demand Clarence Thomas recuse himself due to positions taken “by his wife”.

The State Media thinks that it’s mandatory for Justice Thomas to recuse himself due to positions and statements by his wife—not for anything he has done himself, while it is perfectly OK for Kagan who actively worked for Obamacare’s passage to not recuse herself.  When Kagan was in the nomination process, the New York Times had this to say on Kagan’s recusals.

The 2010 term’s arguments and decisions will be scrutinized for insights into how Justice Kagan thinks. But because she served as solicitor general, Justice Kagan will not participate in about half of the 54 cases on the docket so far, raising the possibility of 4-to-4 deadlocks.

 Do I expect Kagan to recuse herself?  No. For eight decades the democrat/liberal party has proven they believe in the rule of law only when it benefits themselves.  When it does not, they ignore or blatantly ignore the law.  Why should I believe a liberal and democrat operative such as Elena Kagan to follow precedent and recuse herself.  There is nothing, no law, no rule, nothing except tradition that can force her to do so.

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On Monday of this week, I wrote a post about The Fraud known as Public Education. The column below appeared in the Washington Times containing more information how the Occupy Wall Street crowds have been actively supported by the education unions, the NEA and the AFT.  You can read the entire column here.

Since the class-warfare message of the Occupy Wall Street protests started nearly two months ago, the two largest teachers unions, the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), have taken every chance possible to stand in solidarity with the group of mostly underemployed college students and left-leaning activists. With AFT President Randi Weingarten joining in protests and state affiliates taking part and organizing protests of their own, the teachers unions are quick to point out that “public education, teachers and unions have increasingly come under attack from the one percent,” as Leo Casey, spokesman for the AFT’s New York City local put it.
The union support is pouring in state after state. For example, in the union stronghold of California, California NEA affiliate President Dean Vogel called on the rich to pay more taxes. “It’s time to put Main Street before Wall Street, and for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes,” he said. Meanwhile, the union rank and file are resorting to taking the fight into the classroom with lesson plans titled “Who are the 99 percent? Ways to teach about Occupy Wall Street.”
As the protests continue and the union rhetoric becomes more radical, one can’t help but find the situation ironic. While the teachers unions claim they are being persecuted by the wealthiest Americans, clearly it is the unions and union bosses themselves that have benefited from a system that takes advantage of taxpayers at the expense of our students.
When any profession or trade is taken over by a union, the main purpose of that union is not the benefit of the members, no it is the survival and growth of power of the union that is the priority.  Why are these unions so strident at eating at the public trough?  To get more union jobs—and the increased union revenue from dues that can be used by the union to increase their politic power.  You’ll note that nowhere in all this is any priority at these unions supposed purpose—improving education.  No, that is the last thing they want.  If education improves why it may mean that there won’t be as big a demand for union jobs.
Unions have evolved into parasites and the NEA and the AFT, along with the SEIU, all public service unions, are the worse of the lot.