Obama Wage Hike is Obamacare by 'Other Means'

John Ransom  / Townhall Finance Editor

 

From a solely material perspective, which is the only perspective that the government ought to consider, there is nothing wrong in our body politic that can’t be made at least a little better with more jobs.

With due respect to Harry Reid, Barack Obama and other great priests of the Do-Nothing State, providing more leisure time for people to pursue hobbies like, oh, protesting Broadway Joe’s fur coat, occupying houses they didn’t pay for, or erecting a monument to Satan in Oklahoma City, might not be the best way to find our way out of the crisis of confidence that these priests have put us in.

Idle hands, as they say, are the Devil’s playground.

“According to the Divine decree of our grandfather Adam,” wrote Peter the Great in 1696, “we are eating our bread in the sweat of our face.” Peter at the time was engaged in building a great fleet of ships, personally wielding an axe as a ship’s carpenter.

That’s one of the various reasons the tall, energetic czar was considered great.

Oh, think of what a website he would build.

Or an Olympics he would run.

Not so with government today.

And while I’m generally OK with the government not doing their job—or better yet any job really-- I think that they ought to at least let us do our jobs.

And that is the rub, isn’t it?

The government that can’t run our housing sector, the banking business, the healthcare system, the CIA, EPA, insurance or even a loan program to private businesses, now wants to have more responsibility for doing much more that amounts to nothing at all, while telling us all to do nothing too.

Because, like many of the policies pursued by the administration, that’s what the proposal by Obama to hike the minimum wage actually amounts to: higher costs for the same productivity; or to put it this way: doing nothing for more cost.

That’s like saying you can keep the insurance plan that you like, it will just cost more, with a higher deductible and a different doctor.

You’ll bleed the same when the needle pricks though.

See? Same. Exact. Plan.

Yeah.

So let’s just agree that the minimum wage plan amounts to Obamacare for the economy by other means.

If you like your job, you can keep your job, except that it will be a different job, working for someone else and you’ll have a long wait on the unemployment line to go through first before you reap the benefit, especially if you are unemployed already.

Because a minimum wage hike will mostly affect the people who are least likely to be able find employment right now.

And they’ll bleed exactly the same when the needle pricks.

See? Same. Exact. Job. That is, no job at all.

All economies run on the creation and maintenance of jobs.

You want more people to have health insurance? Provide more jobs.

You want to cut our deficit? Provide more jobs.

You want increase taxes? Provide more jobs.

You want to start to stabilize the Social Security Trust Fund? Provide more jobs.

Jobs will not, in fact, solve every problem that we have in the country.

But nothing looks quite as bad if the economy is creating jobs.

The high priests of the Do-Nothing state should do nothing in this case, and let wages—and jobs—look after themselves.

Things would look brighter that way.

And, oh... that must be their problem with it.

The Left's Valentine to Defiant Jihad-Enabler Lynne Stewart

Michelle Malkin  / Townhall Columnist

What are you doing for Valentine's Day? Bleeding-heart progressives across the country are raising money for "an evening of music, song and sharing love for recently released People's Lawyer Lynne Stewart." Warm fuzzies for one of the world's most notorious terrorist helpers? I can't think of a more stomach-turning way to mark the holiday.

Thanks to the Obama administration, Stewart walked out of prison on New Year's Eve. She is reportedly suffering stage-four breast cancer. Now she's passing the plate among her supporters, asking them to foot the bill for her health insurance deductibles and co-pays, as well as for a "special diet, vitamins and other healing methods." What, no Obamacare?

Has Stewart shown exceptional remorse or good behavior to warrant such compassion? Don't forget: Both the Bureau of Prisons and a federal judge previously had denied Stewart's petition for a compassionate release, but a U.S. Attorney intervened. This preferential treatment is extraordinary: Since 1992, the annual average number of prisoners who receive compassionate release has been less than two-dozen.

Let me remind you of what she did, who benefited, who died and how she has acted since being caught red-handed and freed.

Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping terrorist Omar Abdel Rahman -- the murderous Blind Sheik -- smuggle coded messages of Islamic violence to outside followers in violation of an explicit pledge to abide by her client's court-ordered isolation. Rahman, Stewart's "political client," had called on Muslims to "destroy" the West, "burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air or land." He issued bloody fatwas against U.S. "infidels" that inspired the 1993 WTC bombing, the 1997 massacre of Western tourists in Luxor, Egypt, and the 9/11 attacks.

Stewart ignored a judge's communications ban, transmitting Rahman's edicts of violence to fellow jihadist Rifa'l Ahman Tara in Egypt. She smuggled out a coded order to his followers lifting a ceasefire between his terrorist group and the Egyptian government. She personally delivered one of the messages to a Reuters reporter.

Far from the innocent grandma her supporters continue to portray her as, Stewart was caught on video making distracting "covering noises" -- tapping the table, shaking a water jar -- for the Blind Sheik's translator to evade the communications ban.

After receiving a measly initial sentence of 28 months for abetting terrorism, the disbarred civil rights attorney was re-sentenced to 10 years in jail. A federal panel of judges felt the need to spotlight her smugness. "From the moment she committed the first act for which she was convicted, through her trial, sentencing and appeals," Judge Robert Sack of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, "Stewart has persisted in exhibiting what seems to be a stark inability to understand the seriousness of her crimes."

Stewart failed to understand "the breadth and depth of the danger in which" her crimes had "placed the lives and safety of unknown innocents, and the extent to which they constituted an abuse of her trust and privilege as a member of the bar," the panel concluded.

This jihad-coddling grandmother remains defiant. She called 9/11 an "armed struggle." Upon her initial sentencing, she boasted that she could serve the term "standing on her head." After she was convicted of aiding and abetting Rahman, she told an interviewer she "would do it again." She has repeatedly told liberal sycophantic journalists that she would not have done anything differently.

After a jubilant return to New York City upon her release last month, Stewart thanked Louis Farrakhan, bragged about her (convicted cop-killer) Mumia Abu Jamal pin, condemned the government that had just released her and vowed to continue her radical advocacy of "political prisoners." No regrets, no remorse, no repentance.

Stewart doesn't need to solicit President Obama and the White House for a Valentine's Day donation. They delivered her the biggest "LUV YA" candy heart a terror-enabler could ask for: her release papers sealed with a kiss. XOXO.

The dangers of Muslim-Christian “interfaith dialogue”

Robert Spencer  / Jihad Watch

 

This extraordinary article explains exactly why it is unwise and ultimately self-defeating for Catholic leaders (and Christian leaders in general) to engage in “interfaith dialogue” with Muslim leaders without knowing much of anything about Islam, or, for that matter, about the goals for the dialogue of their Muslim counterparts.

The author, William Kilpatrick, author of Christianity, Islam and Atheism: The Struggle for The Soul of The West, includes a succinct summary of the smear campaigns by Reza Aslan’s Aslan Media that got me canceled from a couple of Catholic events last year by bishops who did not trouble to inform themselves of all the facts of the case, and did not deign to allow me to defend myself from the charges. Kilpatrick shows how these incidents were part of a larger pattern of naive accommodation on the part of Catholic leaders that is ultimately not just self-defeating, but suicidal.

“Has the Church in the U.S. Succumbed to the Charms of Islam?,” by William Kilpatrick in New Oxford Review, January 2014:

…New York’s Timothy Cardinal Dolan paid a visit last summer to the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Tompkinsville on Staten Island, where he met with a large group of Muslim leaders. As is often the case when Catholic prelates meet with Muslims, his theme was the common ground shared by the two faiths. Cardinal Dolan told his Islamic audience, “You love God, we love God, and he is the same God,” and he thanked them “for making me feel like a friend and a member of a family.” He went on to tell them how much they share in common with Catholics: “Your love of marriage and family, your love of children and babies, your love of freedom — religious freedom particularly — your defense of life, your desire for harmony and unity and your care for others, your care for God’s creation and your care for those who are in need.”

Perhaps this is true of the Muslims of Tompkinsville, but unfortunately the cardinal’s words will be taken as an endorsement of Islam in general. I say “unfortunately” because what he says about the common values and beliefs of Muslims and Catholics is highly misleading.

Two Fundamentally Distinct Faiths

Take the assertion that Muslims and Catholics love the same God. Of course, Cardinal Dolan’s statement can be justified in the broad sense: There is, after all, only one God. Whether prayer and worship are being offered to our Father in Heaven or to Allah or to the Great Spirit, there is only one God who is paying attention. But in that sense, anyone who offers up prayers is praying to the same God to whom Catholics pray.

Once we move from the general to the particular, the “same God” thesis begins to fall apart. In the New Testament, God presents Himself as a Trinity (Mt. 28:19); in the Koran, God explicitly denies being a Trinity (5:73). In the Gospels, God refers to Jesus as “my beloved Son” (Mt. 3:17); in the Koran, God curses Christians for calling Christ the Son of God (9:30). In the Christian account, God accepts His only Son’s sacrificial death on the cross; in the Muslim account, God declares reports of Christ’s crucifixion to be “a monstrous falsehood” (4:157). In light of these significant differences, it is difficult to see how the God of the Bible and the God of the Koran could be one and the same.

There are similar problems with Cardinal Dolan’s other assertions, such as, “Your love of marriage and the family.” Yes, Muslims can generally be counted on to love their families. But in many respects, the Catholic and Muslim views of marriage and family are worlds apart. To Catholics, marriage is a sacrament; to Muslims, it is a contract.

Moreover, it is primarily a contract about sex and money. In fact, the Arabic language uses the same word, nikah, for both marriage and sexual intercourse. In Islam, marriage is an institution ordained to meet the sexual needs of men. Thus, a Muslim man can have two, three, or four wives at a time and as many different families. And four is not really an absolute limit because if a Muslim man gets tired of one of his wives, he need only say “I divorce you” three times and he is free to marry another. Although many Muslim men rise above their religion and stay faithful to one wife, the knowledge that one can be easily replaced creates an undercurrent of insecurity and instability that, in turn, leads to widespread family dysfunction in the Muslim world. In fact, a number of scholars contend that Islamic violence is in large part the result of Islamic family dynamics.

“Your love of children and babies.” Under Islamic law, women and children are little more than possessions of their husbands and fathers. Still, the bonds of natural affection often trump what Egyptian-born writer Nonie Darwish calls “the corrupting temptations” of Islam. Yet those religiously sanctioned temptations are ever present in the Muslim world. Take the matter of child marriage. Muhammad signed a marriage contract with Aisha when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage when she was nine.

And Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the most perfect human being who ever lived! The Koran says ninety-one times that all Muslims are supposed to pattern their lives after Muhammad. Thus, when Islamic societies strive to return to their Muhammaden roots, there is a corresponding demand for a lowering of the legal age of marriage. For example, Iranian lawmakers are now seeking to lower the age of marriage for girls to nine. Mohammad Ali Isfenani, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, called the current minimum age of thirteen “un-Islamic.”

Op-ed:
Benghazi and the race card...tied tightly together

By: Diane Sori

Benghazi must NOT be allowed to be swept under the rug. Benghazi must be kept before the eyes of the public NO matter how many times the Obama administration tries to silence those who refuse to be silenced.

And with that I want to start with the bottom line that many in the Republican hierarchy will just NOT accept, and that is by John Boehner refusing to initiate a special select committee to investigate Benghazi, he is actually standing between both the families of those murdered, 'We the People,' and the all-important truth. 

And why is he refusing...to cover his own cowardliness and fear is why.

Benghazi...Barack HUSSEIN Obama's ILLEGAL gun and weapons running operation to the (NEVER decimated and NEVER on the run) al-Qaeda backed Syrian rebels...weapons smuggled from Libya through Benghazi into Turkey then onto their Syrian destination...IMHO...and something I have said since day one.

Benghazi...Obama's ILLEGAL gun and weapons running operation that Ambassador Christopher Stevens found out about and was going to publicly expose, therefore, by any means possible he had to be silenced (IMHO). Benghazi...an ILLEGAL gun and weapons operation that caused the deaths of Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty for NO other reason than they were expendable collateral damage (again IMHO).

Benghazi...blood on Barack HUSSEIN Obama's and Hillary 'What Difference Does It Make' Clinton's hands. Benghazi...another name for treason.

And yet nobody in the seats of power has had the guts and courage to come out and say what I just said...as in the TRUTH...a truth those in Congress know damn well to be the truth. And so they all hem and haw tying NOT to step on the toes of political correctness forgetting that Obama and his buddies can only play upon their fears of the race card for just so long before it too becomes just another big yawn.

And still John Boehner...Mr. Speaker of the House...the very House where Republicans still hold the majority...a man who is 'supposedly' on our side (sometimes I wonder about that)...that man still has NOT insisted...NO...demanded... that accountability for Benghazi must be had, especially since in the year and a half since the attack NOT one single individual has yet to be held responsible for anything ...NOT for the deaths of four Americans...NOT for the lax if outright non-existent security....NOT for the refusal to send help even after receiving numerous pleas from Ambassador Stevens to that effect...NOT for the orders to 'stand down'...NOT for anything.

And again why...I believe that when all the rhetoric and excuses are put aside it still comes back to John Boehner. While I do NOT believe for a minute that Boehner had a hand in the operations going on at Benghazi, I do believe that once he found out what was going on...and believe me he knew after a time exactly what was going on and he knew it before the actual attack of September 11th occurred ...he tried to cover up what he knew NOT just to protect himself per se, but to also protect the fact that some others in power on the Republican side knew what was going on in Benghazi and did NOTHING to stop the slaughter, simply because they were afraid of personal retribution if they talked.

In other words John Boehner kept quiet out of simple cowardliness and fear, and that very cowardliness and fear helped to bring about the deaths of Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty. This could be the only reason that makes any sense as to why he has NOT demanded a special select investigation be done, especially when many in his own party have been clamoring for one for over a year now.

Shameful, utterly and completely shameful...NOT only the actions or lack thereof of John Boehner, but also of the Republican party as well for while some of honor have pleaded for a special select committee to be formed, the majority of House Republicans have sat back and allowed Obama and his handlers to dictate what will or will NOT be done in regards to investigating the happenings at Benghazi. And while an 85-page report was issued saying the attack was indeed preventable it still did NOT place the blame on the two people who caused, LIED about, and covered-up the true happenings...Barack HUSSEIN Obama and Hillary "What Difference Does It Make' Clinton.

And when that report was issued Boehner had a chance to say wait a minute, there's still NO personal accountability here...and Boehner said NOT a word to that affect because he knew that Obama knows exactly how much he knew about Benghazi and when he knew it (again IMHO). Blackmail perhaps...for lack of a better word...or just Obama's dangling of the race card dancing before Boehner's eyes may have been enough to silence the one man whose voice needed NOT to be silenced.

The race card...do NOT underestimate the power of those two words...two short and simple words that Barack HUSSEIN Obama and his minions have honed into a fine point dagger that they thrust into the heart and soul of any who dare to cross or question the motives or actions of America's first black president (which by the way he is NOT). The race card... emotions used to play on the media-pushed collective guilt for long ago happenings before any alive today were even born. The race card...a figurative card that holds the truth hostage as it brings grown men and women to their knees in submission to a man who is an enemy of all our country stands for and holds dear.

The race card and the race card alone is what prevents the truth about Benghazi from coming out, and as long as John Boehner and those in Congress cower in fear of it being used against them instead of mustering up the courage to stand strong and united against it...and against those individuals who use it to suppress the truth...the truth about the deaths of Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, and Glen Doherty will NEVER be made public...period.