Happy Easter

To all my friends and readers;

Have a blessed and joyous Easter!

Clifton B.

Another Black Conservative blog

Hope and Change goes bust: NYT/CBS Poll - Nation's mood at lowest levels in 2 years

The New York Times: Americans are more pessimistic about the nation’s economic outlook and overall direction than they have been at any time since President Obama’s first two months in office, when the country was still officially ensnared in the Great Recession, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Amid rising gas prices, stubborn unemployment and a cacophonous debate in Washington over the federal government’s ability to meet its future obligations, the poll presents stark evidence that the slow, if unsteady, gains in public confidence earlier this year that a recovery was under way are now all but gone.

Capturing what appears to be an abrupt change in attitude, the survey shows that the number of Americans who think the economy is getting worse has jumped 13 percentage points in just one month. Though there have been encouraging signs of renewed growth since last fall, many economists are having second thoughts, warning that the pace of expansion might not be fast enough to create significant numbers of new jobs. [MORE]

Click here to see the devastatingly bad numbers in the poll.

The only thing anyone should find surprising about this poll is that it comes from the New York Times and CBS News, two organizations that are well known for carrying Obama's water.

What is not surprising is the nation's sour mood. Two years ago, Obama and the Democrats were elected on the promise of Hope and Change. They were suppose to usher in a new dawn in America after Republicans abandoned their core principles and failed miserably. Two years later all of American's core concerns have gone unanswered.

It is almost as though Washington, in its new bloated form, is tending to what is best for Washington and screw the people who they are suppose to represent. On crucial issue after crucial issue Obama has voted present.

• Jobs - no action.
• Debt - no action.
• The economy - no action.
• The wars - no action.

For all the nation's crucial issues, Obama's answer is always the same, form a committee, summit or task force to get the issue off the front burner.

Republicans have not been much of a success either. For two years, they promised to adhere to the will of the people and force a sharp course correction. After a landslide election in November, only a handful of these Republicans seem willing to keep those promises. The rest, lead by the GOP leadership, seems to want to go back to same old ways of doing business. Basically, compromising with Democrats on bad ideas and then coming away with less than half a loaf.

What America sorely needs is a leader. A leader who understands the priorities and needs of the electorate and will then do the hard work needed to turn things around. Anyone, who can step forward from the left, right or center who address the nations concerns with a true vision while showing some real competence will probably find him or herself in the White House come January 2013.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: The New York Times
Via: The New York Times

A reversal of fortunes: WI Justice David Prosser gains 7,500 votes

On Wednesday JoAnn Kloppenburg declared herself the winner of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Yesterday, in a stunning reversal of fortune a computer error has now put victory firmly in the hands of her opponent Justice David Prosser.

JS Online: In one explosive stroke Thursday, the clerk in a Republican stronghold tilted the tight Supreme Court race in favor of Justice David Prosser by recovering thousands of untallied votes for the incumbent.

Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said Thursday that she failed to save on her computer and then report 14,315 votes in the city of Brookfield, omitting them entirely in an unofficial total she released after Tuesday's election. With other smaller errors in Waukesha County, Prosser gained 7,582 votes over his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, leaving the sitting justice significantly ahead for now amid ongoing official counting.

"I'm thankful that this error was caught early in the process. This is not a case of extra ballots being found. This is human error which I apologize for," Nickolaus said, her voice wavering as she spoke to reporters.

The figures are still far from final in a race that had previously seemed almost certain to see a statewide recount. Around the state, elections officials Thursday were tweaking unofficial results from the day before that had put Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general, ahead of Prosser by a razor-thin 204 votes.
But nothing compared to Brookfield, where the new totals give 10,859 more votes to Prosser and 3,456 more to Kloppenburg. [MORE]

Needless the left is screaming foul play, but a Waukesha Democrat who helped tabulate the votes confirms the numbers.

Should these numbers hold (the left has an uncanny ability of "finding" votes), it will be a major defeat for the union effort. The unions put a lot into this election in order to send a message to both Scott Walker and Republicans across the nation. Despite that effort, it now looks like they have come up short.

I suspect they will now double their efforts with their recall campaigns, because given the national attention with the whole collective bargaining fight unions cannot afford to come out losers.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Gateway Pundit
Via: JS Online
Via: Hot Air

VIDEO: Allen West at CPAC 2011

The first 8 and a half minutes is David Keene's introduction to Allen West.  Jump to the 8:45 mark for the beginning of Allen West's keynote address.  This video cuts off about 5 minutes short.  You can view the end of West's speech at The Right Scoop.

Allen West is everything Obama pretends to be, highly intelligent, well spoken and patriotic.  Of all the new TEA Party candidates, West is clearly the ideal.  


What saddens me is that West is about a decade too late getting to the national scene.  Had he been elected ten years ago, he could  be finishing up a term or two as governor of Florida.  He would destroy Obama in two seconds flat, because he is a man of solid convictions who knows how to wage and win a war.


My hope is that West will pull another term in the House and then seek a governorship somewhere.  After a term or two as a governor, he should seek the White House.  Then he could easily be one of the best GOP candidates the nation has ever seen.


Via: Drudge

VIDEO: Ron Paul at CPAC 2011

Once again Ron Paul looses me on foreign policy. In some aspects, I think Ron Paul is correct. Why are we still paying for defense in Europe and Japan?  Let these nations pay for their own military needs. We can no longer afford to pick up their slack.  I also agree that when we prop up dictators we pay for it in the end. The number one reason why America plays footsie with dictators is because we lack energy independence. It is this lack of independence why we must compromise our principles of freedom and democracy .

However, even if we were energy independent, America simply cannot bury its head in the sand.  As we retreat from the world stage others rush in to fill the void. In our absence the world gets shaped into ways unlike our own and eventually those conflicting views will come knocking on our door. It would be far better to get our energy independence and then engage the world with true principles of freedom and democracy.

Foreign policy aside, I think Ron Paul is a man ahead of his time on the spending issue and the Federal Reserve. Sadly though, Donald Trump is right, Ron Paul will never be president. I think on of the biggest stumbling blocks for Ron Paul getting elected is his supporters.  It seems so many of them are brash and cult like.  Some of them refuse to realize that winning a campaign means building a coalition. You cannot build a coalition by shouting down those you disagree with or insulting those you do not share your vision.  If Ron Paul supporters truly want their guy in the White House, then they will have to take the time to win over some hearts and minds in the Republican Party.  It's not impossible, they are a dedicated lot.

Video: Sarah Palin's speech at the Reagan Center

Last night Sarah Palin gave the keynote speech at the Young America's Foundation dinner celebrating Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday.  My favorite line from the speech;

"There's a whole army of patriotic Davids out there across this great country ready to stand up and to speak out in defense of liberty, and these Davids aren't afraid to tell Goliath "don't tread on me."

This is an excellent reminder for many conservatives who are starting to fret about 2012. Remember, it was a whole army of patriotic Davids that cleaned out a slew of Democrats in 2010. There is no reason why we cannot defeat a single president.

Via: Memeorandum

Video h/t: Mediaite

Sarah Palin turns down CPAC keynote

The Note: UPDATED: After skipping the popular Conservative Political Action Conference for the past three years, Sarah Palin has once again turned down the invitation of CPAC officials to address the conference this year.

CPAC organizers invited Palin to deliver the closing-night keynote speech on Saturday Feb. 12, immediately following the announcement of the results of CPAC’s annual presidential straw poll,  but after several days of negotiations, she declined.

“We’re disappointed that she wasn’t able to make it this year,” American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene said through a spokesman on Thursday. He noted that Palin "expressed interest in wanting to come this year," but said that it came down to "a scheduling issue." [MORE]

It turns out that Palin maybe putting family first.  Both her birthday and an Iron Dog ceremony are happening around that date.

Honestly, I don't know why every year everyone makes such a fuss about Palin skipping CPAC.  When you think about it, CPAC doesn't offer Palin anything she doesn't already have.

Most Republican candidates seeking the White House use CPAC to gain notoriety, polish their conservative credentials or to make a good showing in the non binding straw poll.  Palin already has all of those things so why fly almost 4,000 just to get what you already have?

If I had to guess why everyone tries to make Palin's skipping CPAC into a big story, it would have to be because no one want to acknowledge that Palin is actually bigger than CPAC. That or one more "Palin controversy" is always good for the media's readership.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The Note

Via: Conservatives 4 Palin

CBO rains on Obama’s parade: $1.5 Trillion deficit for 2011

Last night Obama gave his second State of the Union address chock full of new “investment” [spending] ideas.  Today the CBO is raining all over that parade with some very sobering news.

For 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that if current laws remain unchanged, the federal budget will show a deficit of close to $1.5 trillion, or 9.8 percent of GDP. The deficits in CBO's baseline projections drop markedly over the next few years as a share of output and average 3.1 percent of GDP from 2014 to 2021. Those projections, however, are based on the assumption that tax and spending policies unfold as specified in current law. Consequently, they understate the budget deficits that would occur if many policies currently in place were continued, rather than allowed to expire as scheduled under current law.

We hear it every day from both sides of the political spectrum that the current deficits we are running are unsustainable. This is why the spending freeze Obama announced last night seems so reckless and irresponsible.   

I have little doubt that this sobering bit of news from the CBO will not be heeded by the Obama administration.  As Nile Gardnier from The Telegraph puts it, [t]he Obama Presidency remains in a dangerous state of denial. God help us.

 

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Congressional Budget Office

Via: The Telegraph