Mr VJP

AARP and CBO Realize What Democrats Don't -- Debt is Bad http://image.patriotpost.us/2011-06-24-digest.jpg[/img] Hands are off current seniors' entitlements You know the debt situation is bad when even AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) changes its tune on Social Security. After staunchly opposing any and all reforms for years, the association announced last Friday that it would be willing to consider changes to the massive FDR-era entitlement program. AARP, one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country with some 40 million members, concluded that it wants a seat at the table when change is discussed, and that meant offering concessions, even if it won't champion them. The association's board recognizes the impending demise of Social Security and felt it couldn't afford to ignore the momentum for entitlement reform that has built for years. AARP was primarily responsible for killing President George W. Bush's partial privatization plan in 2005. So it's no surprise that the debate over its now-softened stance was contentious. Many members were so riled that AARP was forced to walk back a bit with a statement reasserting their complete support for Social Security. It's important to note, however, that no one is talking about cutting benefits for today's seniors. Yet leftists have shamelessly demagogued the issue with that straw man. Their relentless smear campaign is labeling thoughtful reformers such as Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) as extremist. They have ignored the scope of the problem and the facts surrounding proposed solutions. Now that AARP might participate in entitlement discussions, the job for opponents of reform just became tougher. In related news, the Congressional Budget Office released this week its 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook. CBO now predicts that in one of two scenarios -- depending upon whether the Bush tax cuts are extended or not -- federal debt will reach 101 percent of GDP by 2021, which is two years earlier than last year's outlook predicted. The other scenario, accounting for supposedly increased revenue if the Bush tax cuts expire, shows the debt reaching more than two-thirds GDP by 2021. For the current year, the CBO predicts a deficit of $1.4 trillion, and much of that is because of entitlement spending. According to the CBO Director's Blog, those projections "understate the severity of the long-term budget problem because they do not incorporate the negative effects that accumulating additional federal debt would have on the economy, nor do they include the impact of higher tax rates on people's incentives to work and save." As if on cue, the Federal Reserve issued a forecast for a weak recovery this year and next, despite the federal spending and money-printing binges undertaken over the last three years. Or maybe -- just maybe -- it's because of those things. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke insists, however, "I don't think that sharp, immediate cuts in the deficit would create more jobs," he said. "Deficit reduction is at best neutral for job-creation." So how are deficit-reduction discussions proceeding? Not so good. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ) have withdrawn from talks led by Vice President Joe Biden because, as Cantor said, they have reached an "impasse on taxes." In other words, Democrats insist on raising taxes, and Republicans refuse. Not only do Democrats not "get it" on taxes, but they're actually calling for more spending -- even unabashedly referring to another "stimulus package." How is it that Democrats so consistently come up with the wrong solution?

[table] [tr] [td][/td] [td] [/td][/tr] [tr] [td][/td][td] Why am I not surprised??? http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2...latestnews [/td][/tr][/table]

Report: Ending US horse slaughter destroyed market A 62-page report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) concludes that the 2007 closure of US horse slaughter plants championed by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and other animal rights groups has resulted in a glut of horses and a seriously depressed market. Further, it has not ended the commercial slaughter of horses, but has merely moved it to Canada and Mexico. Billings Gazette.

Private emails detail Obama admin involvement in cutting non-union worker pensions post-GM bailout Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/22/private-emails-detail-obama-admin-involvement-in-cutting-non-union-worker-pensions-post-gm-bailout/#ixzz1Q9Z0yQiO New emails obtained by The Daily Caller contradict claims by the Obama administration that the Treasury Department would avoid “intervening in the day-to-day management” of General Motors post-auto bailout. These messages reveal that Treasury officials were involved in decision-making that led to more than 20,000 non-union workers losing their pensions. (General Motors not eager to be political talking point in 2012) Republican Reps. Dan Burton and Mike Turner say that during the GM bailout, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner decided to cut pensions for salaried non-union employees at Delphi, a GM spinoff, to expedite GM’s emergence from bankruptcy. At a Wednesday hearing, the House Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending started pushing the Treasury Department for answers on the effects of the bailout and on how much of a role the department played in picking winners and losers. The key point of the Wednesday hearing was to show that the Obama administration advised GM on how to eliminate the Delphi workers’ pensions. The evidence suggests Geithner’s team played a significant role in that process, despite claims to the contrary. In 2009 congressional testimony, senior Obama administration official Ron Bloom said the president told the Treasury Department to stay out of the management of these companies and downplayed any administration intervention. “From the beginning of this process, the President gave the Auto Task Force two clear directions regarding its approach to the auto restructurings,” Bloom said then. “The first was to behave in a commercial manner by ensuring that all stakeholders were treated fairly and received neither more nor less than they would have simply because the government was involved. The second was to refrain from intervening in the day-to-day management of these companies.” But the emails TheDC obtained show high-ranking Treasury Department officials, including Matthew Feldman of Treasury’s Auto Task Force, corresponding with senior GM officials on how to make certain decisions regarding who was going to win and who was going to lose. “Have you guys begun a dialogue with the UAW over your desire to see the hourly plan terminated?” Feldman asked GM’s Rick Westenberg and Walter Borst in June 2009. This email shows Feldman and the Treasury Department were involved in GM’s day-to-day management. “One concern I have is that while the PBGC [Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a federal agency that handles private-sector pension benefits issues] is likely to agree to terminate, it’s not clear what position they will take on the Benefit Guaranty,” Feldman continued in that email, demonstrating his involvement in union negotiations. “At a minimum this could get messy and the UAW should probably be brought into the loop.” The exchanges go on to clearly demonstrate that the administration had a controlling stake in GM’s management timeline. Borst replied that GM had not “begun conversations with the UAW pending hearing back from you and the PBGC. We can begin that dialogue but our reading of the benefit guarantee is clear that it’s for the benefit of the retirees and not the PBGC. The UAW may not be available to us this week as GM is in the summer shutdown.” Feldman responded by reminding Borst the steps required to eliminate Delphi’s pension plans. “Keep in mind we need the PBGC’s help to terminate this plan so we will have to deal with the PBGC,” wrote Feldman. “If you think there is a way to cause its unilateral termination (outside of Delphi going down an 1113 process) let me know.” Another email chain TheDC has obtained shows that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s employees were advising GM executives and communications officials on how to craft their public messages and press releases. In response to GM sending her a draft of a press release about the company ceasing operations at several factories nationwide, the Treasury Department’s Jenni Engebretsen wrote to GM officials on Friday, May 29, 2009: “We would ask that you move the reference to Treasury down to the third paragraph, taking it out of the lede. Please let us know if this presents any issues.” GM’s director of policy and Washington communications replied to Engebretsen: “No problems. Done.” Engebretsen then asked: “If there is an updated version at some point over the weekend we’d appreciate a final copy. Many thanks.” These emails show the Obama administration was not only active in guiding GM executives’ decisions, but Treasury Department officials were influential in crafting GM’s message to the public. With Engebretsen asking GM to move references to the Treasury Department out of the press release’s lede paragraph, it suggests the Obama administration wanted to publicly downplay its role in the GM bailout and the Delphi workers’ subsequent loss of their pensions.

Just to set the record straight......I have not changed my opinion of gun control, government abuse or the status of gun owners who are not NRA members, no matter how much someone misinterprets what I post.

Second Amendment: Gunrunner Developments Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is expected to resign in the coming days in the wake of investigations into Operation Fast and Furious and Project Gunrunner. To briefly recap, Gunrunner is an effort by ATF and the Justice Department to allow guns to make it into the hands of Mexican drug gangs allegedly for the purpose of tracking them. However, two American law enforcement officials have been killed with these guns, as well as countless Mexican citizens. Melson is either falling on his sword or being thrown under the bus, given that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has held very public hearings about the issue. Even the Leftmedia has had to take a glance every now and then. As evidence that this was all a construct to further the objective of gun control here in the U.S., the administration is looking to replace Melson with Chicago ATF bureau chief Andrew Traver, who was rejected last time the administration tried to give him the keys to the gun safe. Since 2006, the ATF has been without a Senate-confirmed director because a suitable head has not been found. Traver is an anti-gun zealot who would be a disaster as acting director. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, ATF celebrated its first "gay pride" event, with keynote speaker Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), who is openly homosexual. In a news release, ATF said the celebration was intended to recognize the "accomplishments and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans to ATF and the nation, and to promote awareness of the LGBT culture." Furthermore, said Melson, "ATF works to ensure sexual orientation discrimination and prejudice are not tolerated in our workplace. ATF is an equal employment opportunity environment where effective and equitable participation is encouraged." How about doing what ATF should be doing -- protecting Second Amendment rights for Americans of all stripes?

The point I get is this forum has a couple of people who will never comprehend anything above the third grade reading level, and will choose to respond with jokes to try and divert attention from their lack of knowlege and understanding. If you had any real knowledge of the posted subject matter, you would post it in an intelligent, debatable manner. Better you don't respond to my posts and show your ignorance.

Elmer we are not disputing the actual facts when there are some, just look at the title to this thread, dont you think its a bit of a stretch to think that all of this ATF stuff happened so that gun owners would be hassled? That is VJP's style, inflamatory made up rhetoric doesnt go far with me. OK then, show us why you think they happened then? You don't follow or connect the dots at all, do you? You haven't been following Obama's statements to gun control groups about planning to do exactly what has been done? This is why this administration is out of control. They know they can get this stuff past the majority of you because you are not paying attention or protesting their actions at all. Slaves ae made in such ways. When the government manufactures a crisis, the government is the crisis. You guys are in for some very rude awakenings in your lifetimes, and they won't be far into the future. But I'm sure you will all find ways to accept the yoke you will have around your neck when it happens. Keep rejecting the facts and dismissing the warnings. That will make it all go away.

This post started out with replys that could only be labeled as insults, not rebuttals with facts. Your immature replys deserve the responses you got. Try acting mature with your replys to posts you don't like and maybe you will get better responses. Insulting a post is not giving your opinion, it is childish and immature. You reap what you sow. Don't spew it if you can't take it.

Morons always think everything is a joke. A sense of humor doesn't mean acting like children when serious issues need to be addressed. Maturity is obviously something that has passed you all by.

The souces I post from don't matter if they are indisputable facts. You clowns just post insults, but never provide any factual rebutal. It's obvious you guys are oblivious and apathetic. You guys are the sheeple, who follow the marching orders of the masses straight to hell, which is where you are taking this country. Elmer, I already told you what he does. He's too stupid and arrogant to earn an income or have a job. If he had any type of profession, I'm sure he would have posted it right away.

No push back on this post? I'm stunned. I thought for sure someone would challenge it and say it's not true. Maybe this one scared you guys and opened your eyes a little.

American citizens tend to get the type of government they deserve. If the majority are clueless morons, you get a government like we have today. It makes it very hard for the informed and educated to fix, because they can't just show morons the way, as they are too stupid to follow them out of the swamp.

You boys are really not capable of comprehending the written word, are you? That article came from Investors Business Daily, and all of the facts are in the Congressional Ledger taken directly from the hearings that are currently underway in Washington, D.C. You obviously don't watch the news or read a newspaper, if you are so clueless on current events. The point of the article isn't what the ATF did, or what the results of it were. Those two things have already been proven beyond a shadow of doubt by testimony to Congress from ATF field agents themselves. Two things are still left unanswered. How far up the government hierarchy did the knowledge go? But most of all, was this a contrived, manufactured conspiracy to make it look as if the Clinton "assault weapons" ban needed to be re-instated again? That would be a direct attack on gun owners and the 2nd Amendment, based on lies! If you don't think it was, you are either naive, or leftist anti-gun. The acting ATF head is going to take the fall for this, but I hope Congress presses on even if he does, because the Chicago crony that Holder wants to put in as a permanent head of the ATF hates guns and gun owners. And you can look it up if you don't believe it. P.S. I love how my posts are dismissed as factless and biased, based on sheer intolerance of the subject matter, wihout any research or rebuttal what so ever. That is evidence of uninformed opinion or blind liberalism. (Personally, I think Steve is unemployed, based on the amount of time he devotes to posting hate for the right on this forum. BTW, they don't call it the "Right" for nothing.)

You guys can't seem to see that if it were not for us fighting these battles over the past 4 decades, you guys wouldn't have any guns to shoot today. Many things would be much worse in this land today if we had the defeatest attitude you guys seem to have. One thing I don't expect from younger folks in America is gratitude, because most of them don't know jack about American history, especially recent history, including gun control since 1968. And because they don't know, they are doomed to repeat it. We could have done a lot more, and still could, if more gun owners were more interested in educating themselves on the threats they face, rather than accepting leftist anti-gun dogma and propaganda.

The Foundation "Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined." --Patrick Henry Editorial Exegesis http://image.patriotpost.us/2011-06-22-chronicle.jpg[/img] "Acting ATF director Kenneth Melson is apparently ready to take the fall for what may be the most morally repulsive scandal to befall the Obama administration so far. Our neighbor Mexico lies bleeding from a long, vicious war to fight seven major drug cartels at once. Some 38,000 have been left dead since 2006. Amid all this, U.S. ATF agents had orders from on high to supply U.S. weapons to cartel middlemen buying them on U.S. soil for the odd purpose of 'tracing' them. The news that Melson is resigning seems to be a bid by the Obama administration to paint this as simply an example of Keystone Kop-style bungling being corrected. But many things suggest the operation may have been done for political purposes, and not merely stupidity. The idea behind 'Operation Fast and Furious' was to let gun dealers sell weapons to cartel middlemen, who would then ship them to criminal gangs in Mexico, and damn the consequences. ... There was no effort to trace the weapons even after letting them get out. If the weapons weren't traced, why was this operation sanctioned? ... [barack Obama ... wanted to reinstate an assault-weapon ban in 2008, but said he did not have the political capital to do it. Bob Owens, writing for Pajamas Media, noted that the administration seemed to want to whip up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in the U.S. It gets worse. President Obama has long wanted gun-control-oriented ATF agent Andrew Traver to head the agency. Now, with Melson rumored to be ready to quit this week, he may get his way and benefit. There are real questions that must be answered about who knew about this, and when. An American lies murdered for what may be political aims. He has a right to justice -- as high up as it goes." --Investor's Business Daily

Perhaps you never considered how many regulations these agencies have implemented that are costing you a lot of money, as well as controlling your life? They do some good things, but they also abuse their power in a way that negatively affects the quality of your life.

"The point of [the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act] is cost containment. This supposedly depends on the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The IPAB, which is a perfect expression of the progressive mind, is to be composed of 15 presidential appointees empowered to reduce Medicare spending -- which is 13 percent of federal spending -- to certain stipulated targets. IPAB is to do this by making 'proposals' or 'recommendations' to limit costs by limiting reimbursements to doctors. This, inevitably, will limit available treatments -- and access to care when physicians leave the Medicare system. The PPACA repeatedly refers to any IPAB proposal as a 'legislative proposal,' and speaks of 'the legislation introduced' by the IPAB. Each proposal automatically becomes law unless Congress passes -- with a three-fifths supermajority required in the Senate -- a measure cutting medical spending as much as the IPAB proposal would. This is a travesty of constitutional lawmaking: An executive branch agency makes laws unless Congress enacts legislation to achieve the executive agency's aim. And it gets worse. Any resolution to abolish the IPAB must pass both houses of Congress. And no such resolution can be introduced before 2017 or after Feb. 1, 2017, and must be enacted by Aug. 15 of that year. And if passed, it cannot take effect until 2020. ... The essence of progressivism, and of the administrative state that is progressivism's project, is this doctrine: Modern society is too complex for popular sovereignty, so government of, by and for supposedly disinterested experts must not perish from the earth." --columnist George Will

Virgil, why don't you tell us why you do trust the government? Do you believe it is your friend?

Really? It happens all the time already! Any false accusation against your caracter and good name by anyone who doesn't like you will get them confiscated by a Judge until you prove your innocence. When they are returned, they will surely be pretty beat up and rusted. It will cost you plenty to get them back too! Do you honestly think they wouldn't confiscate any gun that was suddenly deemed illegal to own? Talk to people in NJ who had to give up M1 Carbines and so called "assualt weapons" when they were banned there. You trust the government a lot more than they trust you friend.

When I can't go hunting, I go fishing. But if I can go hunting, I will choose that over fishing. I fish mostly for trout, but will do any type of fishing if the chance comes up.

Here's why......REGISTRATION IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARDS CONFISCATION! If they know what you have and where you have it, it's very simple to come and get them. History has many cases on file where a government has done just that after registration was enforced. Don't you guys study the history of gun control in the world?

Miracles DO happen I guess. The first post of yours that shows some level of sanity. What also needs to be added to this is that the same needs to apply to private sales. What good does it do if NICS checks are required for purchases from dealers, if you can buy and sell it privately with NO background check? I have NO doubt that this system WOULD keep guns away from the criminal element and there would be a better checks and balance to exactly how they are getting them. Try passing this by the NRA, though! They would have a huge $#!+ fit over anyone even suggesting something like this. So tell me that they aren't also part of the problem here?? Shove your insults Steve. You can't seem to post without them. The system I described would apply to all sales, FFL or private. Most intelligent people can see that. There would be no NICS checks after the card was issued to an individual, it would be done once and that's it, period. Criminals would still get guns under this system, from the black market that would certainly arise. But the system would shut the mouths of fools who think any type of gun control law will prevent criminals from getting guns. Then again, they would probably whine this law isn't strict enough. The NRA has long backed such a sensible compromise for gun owners in America. (They were the ones who promoted the NICS system over the 3 day waitng period from years ago. Waiting 3 days for a gun to defend yourself with got a lot of people killed!) But your Leftist, anti-gun Democrats aren't satisfied with the above proposal, as it doesn't have any hope of banning ALL guns from this so called "free" society. They are the ones who have shot it down in Congress everytime it has been proposed. They want registration and eventual confiscation. And they will never allow anyone to buy any gun they want, or any capacity magazine they desire. Direct your rage at the ones who are at fault here, and it ain't the NRA! Your ignorance of the NRA and it's vision, is beyond comprehesion, for one who so freely attacks them. You prove what I have been saying, if you ain't NRA, you're nothin'!

Take a look at England and Australia. They impemented a total gun ban, that is uniform across the country. Soon after, gun crimes rose dramatically. Why? Because victims became sheep to be sheered by the criminals with no way to prevent it. Uniform gun bans in America would do the same. Here's my suggestion, allow any American to get checked out by the Feds in a proper NICS manner, and do it within 1 month. If that American has no felony convictions, that American passes, give that person an I.D. card that allows them to buy whatever gun they want, any size magazine they want, any ammo they want, and as many as they want, for the rest of their lives, uness they commit a crime that revokes their I.D. That would identify who should be able to own guns and simplify all of this BS nickle and dime legislation that is all over the board. Currently it is so confusing, no one can tell what is legal without a lawyer. That seems to be the reason for it to begin with. Make it so confusing, people won't want to even attempt to navigate it. Anyone have a problem with that bit of common sense? Anyone not allowed to own a firearm who is caught in possession of one should be jailed for 10 years or more, no exception, no plea bargains and no parole. Problem solved, as far a gun crime goes. But don't expect murder, rape and robbery to vanish, because those crimes have nothing to do with guns, other than they are currently used in those crimes.