Please don't forget Bowe Bergdahl...another one 

Obama has left behind.

Call your Congressperson and tell them that
you DEMAND Bowe be brought home...
NOW!!!

Detroit is America's Best Opportunity in Decades

Michael Schaus/ Townhall Finance Columnist

 

Assuming Detroit emerges from its bankruptcy in a fairly stable position, it poses the best opportunity America has had in decades to illustrate our resilience, tenacity and American ingenuity. Bloomberg News made a point that many pundits have ignored in recent days: Even if Detroit successfully sets its fiscal house in order. . . What exactly is left upon which we can build? The city has the highest crime rate in the nation, deteriorating infrastructure, and some of the highest tax rates in all of Michigan. However, Detroit has an opportunity. It is up to the council, and people, to seize that opportunity and make the most of it.

While the bankruptcy will, no doubt, present challenges. . . The whole point of bankruptcy is to present to the indebted an opportunity at redemption. Under what possible circumstances could Detroit recover from a tale of American failure to the legend of American redemption? It’s simple. But it won’t occur with the current mindset of Democrat dominance.

Detroit has before it an opportunity to seize the mantle of American entrepreneurship. After debts are consolidated, and obligations reorganized, the city will have an opportunity to remake itself in a successful image. Currently the city has oppressive tax rates, and is burdened with the typical regulatory red tape inherent in large metropolitan areas. By lowering taxes, reducing regulation, and welcoming businesses of any stripe, the city could quickly become a tale of American excellence – rather than a tale of the welfare-state’s incompetence.

Detroit is rife with unemployed, low skill, labor. The city has some of the lowest priced real-estate in the nation. Furthermore, they harbor a renowned legacy of manufacturing, infrastructure, and name recognition. Circumstances are borderline attractive for would-be entreprueners. However, the crime rate, lack of public services, and general deterioration of the city are an instant turnoff for any would-be billion dollar company looking for some new headquarters.

But, what if the city became America’s very own tax haven? If the city was to set, as its target, the goal of beoming the “easiest place in America” to begin a new business. . . How quickly would the area recoup? If American companies could carry their headquarters to Detroit, and pay some of the lowest taxes in the nation while simultaneously facing some of the most business-friendly regulations, the city would see a resurgence that would rival the boom of the 1950’s automotive era.

Detroit is a consequence of big government, big taxes, and big welfare. After bankruptcy, if they resolve to attempt new and “innovative” rebuilding, they can become the first metropolitian area in the nation to fully embrace the freedom that coorporations (and their workers) have sought out for years. However, they can just as easily perpetuate the altruistic notion of welfare and welth redistribution.

While New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Denver move increasingly toward the very policies that drove 1 million Detroit citizens from Michigan’s Motor City, a free market alternative might very well attract the kind of business that will build wealth and grow the (taxable) population of working age adults. After all, Henrey Ford did not produce a million jobs at the behest of a government program. Our wealth of the 1950’s did not manifest as a consequence of increasing taxes. And our rise as a world superpower was not due to government meddling in the free economy.

Detroit has an opportunity. The Motor City will soon become the beaming example of American Endurance, or the manifestation of liberalism’s lingering failure. Ultimately, the choice will not be up to Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder, or the Bankruptcy court. It will be up to the voting residents of Detroit and their duly elected city council. While my expectations are not hopeful, my hopes are optimistic. Bankruptcy, as it turns out, could be the best opportunity Detroit has had for redemption in the last 30 years.

The Democrats Destroyed Detroit

by Ben Crystal / Personl Liberty Digest

PHOTOS.COM

Don’t look now, kids; but while you were laughing at the irony of the same Democrats who ignored the bloodcurdling murder of Baby Antonio Santiago gathering to demand “justice” for Trayvon Martin, Detroit provided one of the greatest “teachable moments” in American history. Despite enjoying the better part of a century’s worth of compassionate, caring and community organized leadership by the best Democrats money could satisfy — in combination with a primary industrial base shot through with the very soul of Big Labor — Detroit skidded through the safety cones of taxpayer-funded bailouts and slammed back into the bridge abutment of bankruptcy.

And let’s be clear about this: The Motor City isn’t dying. It’s dead. Sure, there are still residents skulking around the once-proud burg; but census figures show that their numbers are nearly 60 percent lower than they were a half-century ago. What remains is an urban zombie, a hollow-eyed corpse shuffling along in a mindless search for taxpayer funds.

But this isn’t news. Detroit’s demise didn’t sneak up from behind us while we were distracted by exploding Chevy Volts. Actually, in a sense, it did. We were told that Detroit had put its troubles in the rear view mirror. Thanks to a government takeover led by President Barack Obama, the worthless executives were expunged from the model line like Pontiac Azteks. In their place, even more worthless bureaucrats whose private-sector experience extended to coffee with the Undersecretary of Commerce’s scheduler joined hands with Big Labor to continue churning out the mind-numbingly depressing fleet cars that combine none of the competitors’ pizzazz with none of their quality control. Case in point: Pre-bailout, the Chevy Malibu versus the Toyota Camry. Post-bailout, the Chevy Malibu versus the Toyota Camry.

In truth, Detroit’s downward spiral began decades ago. Following the post-World War II boom; the Nation’s industries underwent an inevitable downturn. Since the Federal government had yet to get into the “saving union thugs from their own incompetence” business, companies like Packard shuttered their plants. Not long afterward, as the city reeled from the economic blow, a police raid of an illegal speakeasy so enraged the patrons that they started a race riot, which would ultimately hold the “burning down our own city” title until South Central Los Angeles claimed it a quarter century later. Not only did damages exceed $80 million (about $560 million in 2013 dollars); but they sent 2,500 businesses to “quitsville,” 43 people to the morgue and a huge portion of the productive population to the suburbs. Universally respected economist Thomas Sowell noted:

Before the ghetto riot of 1967, Detroit’s black population had the highest rate of home-ownership of any black urban population in the country, and their unemployment rate was just 3.4 percent. It was not despair that fueled the riot. It was the riot which marked the beginning of the decline of Detroit to its current state of despair.

Following the riots, an oil crunch took its toll. The auto industry, plagued by Big Labor attacks since the 40s, responded to rising gas prices with a series of incredibly awful automobiles and incredibly bad concessions to the unions. After GM essentially launched the Japanese import market with horrendous cars like the Vega, the United Auto Workers actually managed to exact the infamous GM jobs bank, a program in which laid-off workers were paid nearly full salary and benefits to not work. Over the next few decades, the jobs bank cost GM just less than $1 billion per year.

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While the city’s major employers desperately tried to keep their heads above water despite the unions’ attempts to drown them, the remaining denizens of Detroit decided to salt the fields they had so badly plowed under in 1967. Given the choice to elect redoubtable stewards of the public trust, the Motor City’s voters elected kleptocrats like Kwame Kilpatrick — twice.

Bad planning, bad production, bad employees, bad politicians and bad people took control of a city named Detroit. By the time they were through with it, Detroit was the city we see now: Democratted to death.

‘Voting The Bums Out’ A Failed Strategy

by Michael Boldin / Persnal Liberty Digest

PHOTOS.COM

I’ve got some news for you.

There is absolutely nothing from the Founding Fathers — and I mean nothing — in which they said your No. 1 course of action in response to massive, repeated Constitutional violations should be to “vote the bums out.”

They never said that. Nowhere. Ever.

For some reason, though, opponents of endless Federal power seem to pull the “vote the bums out” card first. And a vast majority of them seem to have just that one card — and no others.

Wherever I speak around the country, voting the bums out is the first thing people tell me needs to be done to fix problems created by the Federal government. People everywhere back this up with their money. The 2012 elections saw about $6 billion spent.

Six billion dollars. Anyone who complains about how Congress spends money should be appalled at this utter waste of resources.

When Congress spends hundreds of dollars on a toilet seat, at least they get something to sit on.
When you spend your hard-earned money on Federal candidates who are going to reduce the size and scope of the Federal government, you get nothing. Zilch.

“Government today is bigger and more unConstitutional than it was before the last election.”
If you could travel through time, you could make that statement in any of the past 100 years and you’d almost never be wrong.

“Voting the bums out” has proven to be a complete and utter failure as a strategy.

Neighborhood Dining

Some people will tell you that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

While I doubt that people spending their hard-earned money on this proven failure are insane, there’s certainly something to be said here.

Let’s say you have a new restaurant open in your neighborhood. You give it a try; they treat you rudely and don’t even give you what you ordered. They serve you something completely different and refuse to fix it. After talking with your neighbors, you learn that every one of them had the same experience there.

You probably wouldn’t give them your money again, would you?

Well, maybe the owners want to give it another try. They hire a new manager, walk around the neighborhood, door-to-door, apologizing for the horrible treatment and making great promises about service, better prices and higher quality.

OK, you think, time to give these people another chance; they’re human, after all.

The second time you go there, it’s worse.

Again, they bring you food you never ordered and refuse to correct the mistake. They spill food on your clothes and then force you to pay them to clean it. And after you leave, they double-charge your credit card, too.

I can guarantee that even if you got to the second try, there would never be a third.

Congressional Appetite

But for some odd reason, even though each and every one of us deals with this kind of treatment (well, much worse, actually) from the Federal government, there’s more than a second try or even a third. Way more.

After watching government grow every year for our entire life, millions of us pour our hearts, souls and money into the next person who promises to fix things.

These bums, and the new bums who replace them once in a while, have an insatiable appetite for money and power. They often sound like underdogs, make wonderful promises about all the good they’ll do, and they never have enough of your money.

Occasionally, you get someone who’s the real deal. He is an honest person. He will work hard to do the right thing. And he will do everything he can to move the Federal government closer to the Constitution.

Even when a few good people get elected, they fail.

Here’s the hard truth. It doesn’t matter what political party is in power in Washington, D.C., or what person is in charge in the White House; Federal power always grows and your liberty is always less. This is how things have gone for at least 100 years.

The Recipe

Even though government schools will never teach you how to limit government power, the Founders did, in fact, offer solutions.

No, there’s no silver bullet. No one’s riding in on a white horse to save you in the way people view Presidential candidates. And, no, those unaccountable, politically connected lawyers who make up the Supreme Court aren’t going to fix things either. They work for the organization that’s violating your rights more than any in the world: the Federal government. They’re part of the problem, too.

James Madison, generally regarded as the “father of the Constitution,” was pretty direct about what should be done. He wrote the following in Federalist No. 46:

Should an unwarrantable measure of the federal government be unpopular in particular States, which would seldom fail to be the case, or even a warrantable measure be so, which may sometimes be the case, the means of opposition to it are powerful and at hand. The disquietude of the people; their repugnance and, perhaps refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union, the frowns of the executive magistracy of the State; the embarrassment created by legislative devices, which would often be added on such occasions, would oppose, in any State, very serious impediments; and were the sentiments of several adjoining States happen to be in Union, would present obstructions which the federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.

James Madison said that when the Federal government passes an unConstitutional measure — or even if it passes something that’s totally Constitutional, but still unpopular — there are ways to successfully resist it.

Notice that Madison didn’t mention a single thing about elections or voting bums out.
Nothing.

He did, however, point to methods which are “powerful and at hand.” Two prominent examples that you should be doing today:

“Refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union.”

Use “legislative devices” to create “very serious impediments.”

Madison also told us that if several adjoining States would do the same, it would make things extremely difficult for the Feds to deal with.

Judge Andrew Napolitano has said virtually the same recently, that a State refusing to comply would make Federal laws “nearly impossible to enforce.”

I happen to agree.

What Now?

We’ve all got extremely limited time, resources and money. It’s important to try to have the biggest bang for the buck when it comes to the Constitution and your liberty.

Let’s say, for example, you have one hour a week to dedicate to an effort and $100 a year to donate.

If you’re knocking on doors trying to help someone win a congressional primary race, or you’ve if donated your $100 to a 2016 Presidential candidate, you’ve already lost.

Instead, you could dedicate one hour per week to following Madison’s advice. You could work to advance legislation in your State, county, city or town that would, by law, require a “refusal to cooperate with officers of the Union” on a specific issue, as Madison advised.

Stop pouring your time and money into the siren song of Federal election campaigns. Voting the bums out is a failed strategy.

If your goal is the Constitution, it’s high time that you started following Madison’s advice on how to get there.

Your country needs you. Your community needs you. Your family needs you. Liberty needs you. The time to act is now.

Who edited Boston Marathon jihad murderer's social media page?

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

On April 19, four days after the Boston Marathon jihad bombings, I posted here at Jihad Watch this screenshot of Boston Marathon jihad murderer Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's page on the Russian social media site VK:


I gave the link to the page (here) and noted the two Islam links under "Noteworthy Pages" and the bomb underneath "send a gift."

This morning, while working on my new book for Regnery Publishing, Assassin's Creed: The Jihad Our Government Ignores, Denies, and Abets (previously announced here as The Arab Spring Comes to America until events in the Middle East made that title obsolete), I went back to the page and found that it had been edited. The bomb image is gone, and Dzhokhar's personal information has been changed to remove mention of the fact that he is single and speaks various languages. In place of that information is this chilling notation: "Current city: Boston."

Here is a screenshot of the page as it appears today:



The comments from others are also gone.

So who has been editing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's page since April 19? Did Dzhokhar himself take the time to edit this page while on the run from police on April 19? Or someone else after that?

TRAITORS ALL!!!

Congress capitulates to Obama, lifts hurdles on arming Syrian jihadists

From Jihad Watch / Posted by Robert Spencer

"Nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of" -- New York Times, April 28, 2013

Syrian rebels pledge loyalty to al-Qaeda -- USA Today, April 11, 2013

"U.S. Congressional Hurdles Lifted on Arming Syrian Rebels," by Tabassum Zakaria for Reuters, July 22 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama should be able to go ahead with a plan to arm the Syrian rebels after some congressional concerns were eased, the chairman of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee said on Monday. 

“We believe we are in a position that the administration can move forward,” Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, told Reuters.

Both Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees had expressed worries about whether the administration’s plan would succeed, delaying weapons deliveries to the Syrian opposition.

The White House announced in June that it would offer military aid to vetted groups of Syrian rebels after two years of balking at directly sending arms to the opposition in the civil war.

Vetted how? By whom? By officials chosen by the President who is widely hated in Egypt for his uncritical support of the Muslim Brotherhood there?

But lawmakers held up the project, complaining that the plan might not tip the balance in Syria in favor of forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad, and that weapons could end up in the hands of Islamist militants. 

Last week, a senior administration official said that members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who had questioned the wisdom of arming the insurgents had tentatively agreed that the administration could go ahead with its plans, but sought updates as the covert effort proceeded.

Now, the House has given at least a cautious go-ahead.

“It is important to note that there are still strong reservations,” he said.

“We got a consensus that we could move forward with what the administration’s plans and intentions are in Syria consistent with committee reservations.”...

Detroit: The Legacy of the New Democrat Party

Michael Schaus/ Townhall Finance Columnist

 

 

Detroit has filed for Bankruptcy. Among the opposition’s arguments against an organized restructuring of the city’s debt, are constitutional worries, pension concerns, and President Barack Obama’s reputation. (Or, “street cred” if you prefer.) A Michigan judge, in a stunning display of impartiality and balance, said the bankruptcy should be withdrawn in part because it failed to honor “the (United States) president, who took (Detroit’s auto companies) out of bankruptcy.” I’ll give you a moment to catch your breath and re-read that last sentence.

Most lawyers that have involved themselves in any number of bankruptcy cases would be quick to tell you that stroking the ego of the US President is rarely a prerequisite for filing. But, Judge Rosemary Aquilina ordered the bankruptcy be withdrawn because it failed to do just that. Oh, she also mentioned that the Michigan constitution disallowed any sort of pension fund restructuring. More on that in a minute.

Making the claim that President Obama saved the Auto Industry is like saying Neville Chamberlin saved Britain. At last check, the Treasury Department would have to sell roughly 190 million shares at nearly $90 per share for taxpayers to break even on Obama’s attempt at venture capitalism. GM is trading around $36 a share. Additionally, President Obama’s unprecedented insertion of the Executive Branch into bankruptcy proceedings for the auto giant came with a rarely reported $45 billion in write offs. (The book value was roughly $18 billion.) All of this says nothing to the fact that senior investors and preferred stock holders were pushed aside so that the United Auto Workers union could bear as little loss as possible. The President’s first attempt at running anything within the private sector cost the US taxpaying public a great handful of money.

Judge Aquilina’s argument, aside from her concern for our President’s reputation, is rooted in a provision in the Michigan Constitution that limits changes to pension plans. The Michigan constitution does, in fact, place restrictions on when, or if, pension plans can be resolved. However, Governor Rick Snyder has indicated that to the extent pension plans are funded, they will not be touched. Pension plans that are underfunded, however, will be examined in public by the bankruptcy court so that the city’s obligations can be resolved.

The larger question is “what are the alternatives?” While it would be nice to make sure everyone from bond holders to retired policeman get the full amount due, such an outcome is not possible with Detroit’s current revenues. This seems, to most untrained eyes, the exact reason bankruptcy courts were formed. Detroit’s obligations outweigh its ability to raise capital. And, while the Judge might be wary of a major city filing for bankruptcy, she would certainly do well to keep her personal adoration for the president out of the conversation.

Furthermore, the judge should be reprimanded for her accidental irony: President Obama, his bailout, his ideology, and similar liberal policies are exactly what Detroit has been living with for decades.

Detroit is the consequence of every progressive initiative President Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and the far left Democrats have pushed. Far from failing to “honor” the President, Detroit’s current circumstances are all that are left for Detroit citizens to honor liberalism. The once great Motor City, shines now as a beaming example of how Democrat ideas ultimately come to an end.

As for the court case? The Judge might have raised a constitutional objection to the bankruptcy that could be effective in certain courts (although we’ll leave that decision to a hopefully less biased judge). However, her argument is profoundly diminished by her apparent concern for Obama’s legacy. Detroit – as she clearly is unaware – is already the legacy of the left.