We remember

Today, Memorial Day, we remember those who died in service to the USA.

There are lots of events today from Seattle to Monroe to Edmonds. Seattle Times

Here is one who lived. (Not in the photo.) He doesn't consider himself a hero; they are all buried overseas. But the Army was too sedate for him the summer of 1941 (before the Pearl Harbor attack), so he quit it to go to China with General Chenault's Flying Tigers, fighting against Japan. He kept the planes supplied with armaments.

Boston Herald

Are we ready to cut the spending?

Are we are ready to cut the benefits we receive from the federal government? On more than one occasion tea partiers, when asked by reporters if their main concern is taxes or spending, replied "spending." Get control of the spending first. Then the taxes. Are they ready to reduce what they receive? Do they know what they receive? It is my order of priorities also. Get spending under control. Our Congress and President are not restrained by income or anything else. Any problem they will throw money at, even when it makes no sense. (Example of that: Social Security recipients get a cost of living adjustment every year. This year the cost of living was lower. So, be happy, things are cheaper. No. They wanted the increase they got every year. If adults had been in charge they would have said "Be satisfied. The cost of living is lower." No. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid got Congress to pass a $250 bonus. It makes no sense at all. If they were spending money they had it might be defendable. But they have to borrow in order to pay this "lower cost of living" bonus. Just recklessly throwing money at every situation.) Emmett Tryrrell of the American Spectator magazine thinks we have arrived at the point where people will start accepting the pain. On the side he has an interesting contrast between us hoi poloi and the intelligentsia. American Spectator WASHINGTON -- Owing to the promotion tour for my new book, After the Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery, I have been meeting with what the intelligentsia once called "the masses." They read books. They pay taxes. They attend lectures. Oh, and by the way, they are now a lot more prosperous and even more civilized than the intelligentsia, today's version of which are actually anti-intellectual and occasionally only semi-literate. The reason that "the masses" are a lot more prosperous and even civilized is that they have been participating in our free-market economy for years. It has made their lives easier, and they recognize it. As Arthur Brooks, the urbane president of the American Enterprise Institute, demonstrates in his new book, The Battle: How the Fight Between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America's Future, seventy percent of Americans favor free enterprise, with only a glum thirty percent turning their tremulous palms up to the nanny state. At any rate, after talking with thousands of ordinary Americans on talk radio and at book receptions, I have come to the conclusion that America has arrived at a historic turning point. It is not just that Tea Partiers are revolting against big government. It is something more. Usually a revolt against big government has meant that restive Americans wanted their taxes lowered, but as for cutting government back they were vague. They favored economies but certainly no cutbacks in their entitlements -- a loaded word, that, entitled to whom from what? -- or government subsidies. What makes this a historic moment is that growing numbers of Americans now accept that they too are going to have to forego at least some of their so-called entitlements. ...

Sestak - The White House admitted guilt

The White House admitted that ex-President Clinton was authorized to offer Rep. Joe Sestak a job in exchange for not running for Senate against poor Arlen Spector. (It must be a huge disappointment to be denied your birthright of lifetime office in the US Senate. He was sure it was his.) White House Counsel Bauer admitted guilt in a two-page memorandum. Read the memo. It doesn't matter that the office was unpaid. President Obama's team offered a bribe to Sestak to leave Specter alone. It's a crime. Here is The Caucus blog at New York Times version of the law - two laws:

Federal law makes it a crime for anyone “who directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or any other benefit” to someone else “as consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special election to any political office.” It is also illegal for a government official to use “his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate” for Senate.

And Bauer hides behind their obvious trick of doing it indirectly. The White House did not contact Sestak... But had Clinton do it. Doesn't matter. it was a bribe. And besides, everyone does it - breaks this law. In Bauer's words:

There have been numerous, reported instances in the past when prior Administrations -- both Democratic and Republican, and motivated by the same goals -- discussed alternative paths to service for qualified individuals also considering campaigns for public office

And it is Bauer's job - after admitting guilt - to say that the illegal is legal, so he does. OK, lapdogs, NY TImes, WA Post, all of you. Others chased out the scandal. Just report on it. Not on an obscure blog, but on the front page. Ask some questions.

Not so concerned about Europe. China

Anita Raghavan is bullish because of expected growth - not in Europe. Forbes It seems like the market is divided between two camps right now. There are the bears who think the fiscal woes of Europe are likely to threaten the emerging global recovery, dousing it even before it really blazes. And then there are the bulls who quite frankly don't give a damn about Europe. In their mind, Europe is just a speck on an otherwise expanding economic landscape. On Friday, one of the biggest bulls, Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill chimed in with his thoughts before the long holiday weekend. "The China-U.S. economic outlook is simply way more important than all this European stuff," he writes in a research note. O'Neill's basic read is that a "much better tone" exists between senior U.S. policymakers and their counterparts in Beijing than earlier in the year. Among other things that have helped foster the better relationship is a recognition by the U.S. of the contribution of Chinese global consumption. He puts the problems of the euro zone into perspective, saying that Goldman expects Chinese gross domestic product to rise by $7 trillion this decade, nearly two times its current size, two times the change in the U.S. and equivalent to the change in the U.S. and the other three BRIC countries--Goldman's moniker for Brazil, Russia, India and China--put together. Goldman expects Chinese GDP to hit $11 trillion by 2019. "Not a single euro area country will be in the top ten contributors,'' he writes. Also, despite all the hand-wringing over Europe, he says the euro area in aggregate is in better fiscal shape than the U.S. "Irrelevant of the considerable challenges within many individual countries, in aggregate, the euro area is in modest, current account surplus," writes O'Neill. Among the statistics that comfort Goldman's economists is that general government net lending, commonly known as the fiscal deficit, stood as a percentage of GDP at negative 4.1% for the euro zone in 2009 and negative 4.5% for the U.S. ...

Medieval castle in Arkansas Ozarks?

Yes. Under construction using only the tools they had in 1300! Wall Street Journal Boone County Judge Mike Moore has seen plenty of dreamers promise the world to this humble corner of the Ozarks. Developers have talked of an amusement park, a Nascar racetrack, a golf course lined with condos. None of that materialized. So when a dapper Frenchman stopped by his office a few years back to sketch his vision of building a medieval castle in the forest, Judge Moore scoffed. "I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, I'll believe you when I see the moat," he recalls. "Well, now I see the moat." Actually, just a scale model of the moat. The real thing hasn't been dug yet. But construction of the castle itself is under way. The first layers of hand-hewn rock are rising from a hillside clearing. The turrets are taking shape, and the arched entry that will one day support the drawbridge. You can hear the plink of chisels, the creak of wooden carts, and the grunts of local laborers who are building the massive fortress by hand, using only tools available in the 13th century. Which raises the obvious question: Why? It all begins with the Frenchman, Michel Guyot, who has been obsessed with castles since he was a boy. For years, he renovated medieval ruins. In 1997, he set a grander course: He would build his own crenellated château in the Guédelon forest in Burgundy. To finance the project, he opened the site to tourists. It has been self-sustaining ever since. The Guédelon castle, which is about halfway built, has drawn visitors from around the world, including Jean-Marc Miret, a French expatriate living in the Ozarks. He was so taken with the concept, he urged Mr. Guyot to build an American version on his estate in Boone County, Ark. "We went on the Internet to check, where was this Arkansas?" says Noémi Brunet, Mr. Guyot's wife and business partner. Her conclusion? "It was the middle of nowhere." It was also irresistible. Mr. Guyot and Ms. Brunet visited and fell in love with the remote county, best known for its annual crawdad festival. "It's green and lovely, very authentic, very pure," Ms. Brunet says. ...

Rossi forgoes earmarks

Dino Rossi, candidate to replace Senator Patty, announced that he will not seek earmarks when he is serving in the Senate. Senator Patty is a hero of earmarks - 8th in the Senate. OpenSecrets Her representative, Alex Glass, emphasized that she feels it her duty to add spending items after a bill has been debated. That's what an earmark is: you avoid the light of the hearing process and sneak funding for a boat the military doesn't want at the end of the process when there is no time to consider the merits. Her representative says she supports adding some light with a searchable database of earmarks. She has been in the Senate for 18 years. Funny she didn't think of adding light until this week. She's has been hiding from it all that time. And the database, I am sure, will be for seeing the damage after its done, not during the process. She is not a cosponsor of S.3335. Jim Brunner at Seattle Times Politics NW Blog

Kagan ended requirement to study US constitutional law

Why study our legal foundation when you can study stuff that will impress Europeans? Elena Kagan, while dean at Harvard, ended the requirement to study US constitutional law. We need lawyers who appreciate the foundation of our legal system. Well, most of it. Common law and Constitutional law. CNS News

Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama’s choice to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court, is best known for moving Harvard Law School away from the 100-year old “case-law method” of legal study. But in the process, critics say, she moved the nation’s premier law school away from requiring the study of U.S. constitutional law towards the study of the laws of foreign nations and international law. As dean, Kagan won approval from the faculty in 2006 to make major changes to the Harvard Law's curriculum. “My understanding is that she instituted three new courses to the required curriculum and, in so doing, got rid of a requirement to take constitutional law,” Robert Alt, senior legal fellow and deputy director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation, told CNSNews.com. “Currently, at Harvard, constitutional law is not required for first-year law students, or even for graduation,” Alt added. ...

More government and less private investment

Your senator or congressman gets a choice committee spot, or even becomes the chair. It's good for business in your district/state. Of course? No, surprisingly, not for business. An in-depth study was done: Harvard Business School & National Bureau of Economic Research - "Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing?" They found that largess from the federal government goes up, but private investment, activity and jobs decrease. When the government decides the winners everyone else tends to look for a more even playing field - somewhere else.

"The central finding of this paper is that positive shocks to the seniority of a state's congressional delegation cause large and persistent increases in government allocated funding to the states, and significant retrenchment on the part of the corporations headquartered in the state. This retrenchment appears to be a response to the large and persistent increase in federal funding that the state receives following the shock. Following the appointment of a senator to the chair of a powerful committee, we estimate that his state experiences, on average, a 40-50 percent increase in its share of congressional earmark spending, and a 9-10 percent increase in its share of total state-level government transfers. At the same time, firms residing in the state cut their capital expenditures by 8-15 percent, reduce R&D by 7-12 percent, and increase payout by 4-13 percent. Employment and sales growth are also impacted, as corporations scale back employment growth by 3-15%, and sales growth falls by up to 15%."

Via Wash Policy Council

Dino vs. Patty

Dino Rossi made it official this morning. He is running against the 99th smartest US Senator, Patty Murray.

DinoRossi.com

I have been supporting Dr. Art Coday, because I know him and he very articulately expounds conservative principles. We need to get rid of Patty. I hope a vigorous top-two primary selects the best challenger.

Mexico threatens people of Arizona

The Tourism Board of Mexico took out a two-page ad the weekend of May 23 that threatens the people of Arizona. The ad shows a soldier in a camouflage hemet looking through binoculars and says:

In Sonora we are looking for people from Arizona.

Is it reasonable to conclude that they are giving the same message that their President Calderone gave to Congress last week? He said Arizona has no business enforcing US immigration laws. And Democratics stood and cheered. Salon

Mexico's Tourist Board is saying the same thing. They are dictating what Arizona can and cannot do.

I am now an Arizonan. If Mexico welcomes Arizonans with soldiers with binoculars, that is a threat. They are threatening me also.

The past two winters I have spent 9 and 14 days in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California Sur. It's a great place. I enjoyed being there. But now I have been told I will be threatened when I come. We have reserved two weeks there in December. I had better ask them if they want me to come.

TPM Muckraker

Mexico abuses its immigrants - Amnesty International

Tell us again, Mr. President of Mexico, how evil Arizona is to enforce US immigration laws. Your laws and their enforcement at both worse!! Amnesty International says Mexico systematically abuses its immigrants. Report: Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico, April 28, 2010

The Mexican authorities must act to halt the continuing abuse of migrants who are preyed on by criminal gangs while public officials turn a blind eye or even play an active part in kidnappings, rapes and murders, Amnesty International said in a new report released on Tuesday. Invisible Victims: Migrants on the Move in Mexico, documents the alarming levels of abuse faced by the tens of thousands of Central American irregular migrants that every year attempt to reach the US by crossing Mexico. "Migrants in Mexico are facing a major human rights crisis leaving them with virtually no access to justice, fearing reprisals and deportation if they complain of abuses," said Rupert Knox, Mexico Researcher at Amnesty International. "Persistent failure by the authorities to tackle abuses carried out against irregular migrants has made their journey through Mexico one of the most dangerous in the world." Kidnappings of migrants, mainly for ransom, reached new heights in 2009, with the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) reporting that nearly 10,000 were abducted over six months and almost half of interviewed victims saying that public officials were involved in their kidnapping. An estimated six out of 10 migrant women and girls experience sexual violence, allegedly prompting some people smugglers to demand that women receive contraceptive injections ahead of the journey, to avoid them falling pregnant as a result of rape. On 23 January 2010, armed police stopped a freight train carrying over 100 migrants in Chiapas State, southern Mexico. Veronica (not her real name) said that Federal Police forced her and the other migrants to leave the train and lie face down on the ground, before stealing their belongings and threatening to kill them unless they continued their journey by foot along the railway.

...

North Korea secrecy unveiled by satellite photos

While keeping "his people" impoverished to the point of starvation, Kim Jong Il lives lavishly. We now have proof. BBC News shows photos of lavish country estates which include swimming pools with water slides. There are lots of these estates, especially on the coast. Most of the decent roads in N Korea lead to their gates. While people starve.

Is ObamaCare consitutional? Debate Thursday

Cato Institute Senior Fellow Ilya Shapiro will be debating against the constitutionality of ObamaCare Thursday at University of Washington. The UW Law School had a one-sided "debate" in March 30 because they could not find anyone who would take the "un" side. Seattle Times. Where did they look? The Hub? Seattle has a Federalist Society. Come on! Shapiro is traveling here from I don't know where for the debate plus another event:

The Debate, sponsored by UW Law School, Federalist Society and other groups 4:30 pm Thursday May 27 Room 138 of William H. Gates Hall at U of Washington Law School This is mentioned in a post on the developments this week in the court battle at Cato@Liberty Blog. The Seattle Times also.

ON A DIFFERENT TOPIC the night before:

Shapiro will speak about Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. 6:30 pm Wednesday May 26 Washington Athletic Club, sponsored by Puget Sound Federalist Society Lawyers Chapter Cost $25 - Registration required - Contact Michael Bindas (206) 341-9300 mbindas AT ij.org Posted on the Sound Politics Public Calendar

The ruling class - crime-free theft

There are two Americas: The priveleged government class and those who pay for it. We pay for them to play. Government workers stole, but most won't be punished. How about if they return or reimburse what they stole? You just don't understand. They are the rulers. Washington Times

An investigation that found thousands of dollars in unauthorized purchases of clothing, gold coins, flat-screen televisions, gym memberships and college tuition payments by employees of the Federal Protective Services using government purchase cards has resulted in no disciplinary action. Twenty-one FPS employees took advantage of an 18-month transition period during which the security agency was moved from the General Services Administration to the Department of Homeland Security "to loot GSA resources by purchasing unauthorized goods," according to the GSA's office of inspector general. Investigative documents obtained by The Washington Times through a Freedom of Information Act request said the California-based FPS employees used the government cards to buy, among other things, $17,000 in suits at Macy's and the Men's Wearhouse, $15,000 in gold and silver coins, $60,000 in tuition payments and professional memberships, and $8,000 in gym memberships in 2003 and 2004. The FPS employees, who are responsible for securing federal buildings, also used expense vouchers to get reimbursements for more than $9,000 in clothing, including an $800 tuxedo. Investigators said employees with the security force bought the questionable items but concealed them by not entering them into the government computer system known as "Pegasys," which processes and reconciles financial transactions. The purchases were the subject of an investigation by the inspector general's office that spanned five years. In September, investigators closed the case and noted that of the 21 employees involved in making the inappropriate purchases, three resigned and four retired. Five employees faced a possible reprimand and no action had been taken against nine others.

Our Senator Patty Murray is protecting these people, because they are her kind of people. Not us.

Gray whale at Everett waterfront

Our on-site reporter, my daughter Margaret, saw a whale Friday on the waterfront of Everett, Washington, north of the Naval Base, by the large marina. My informed guess was that it was a gray whale, given the time of year. The news media rushed to the site after her report and found and photographed it. Unfortunately KING-5 links to video of an arrested baby sitter, instead of the whale. Their first reports were that it was in the Snohomish River. But she saw it in salt water just below (south of) the mouth. KING-5 The outlook is not good for a gray whale swimming at the mouth of the Snohomish River in Everett on Saturday. Boater Jake Jacobson said he's been watching the whale for a few days. Local whale researchers confirm several sightings of a gray whale near the Everett Marina. A whale expert with Cascadia Research tells KING 5 the gray whale is extremely emaciated. Marine experts have no plans to try to move the whale. The researcher says in its extremely poor nutritional state, there is very little they can do. Everett's Marine Patrol watched the whale all morning. "It just surfaces real slow, rolls back down, goes down very, very slow and several times its just sat on the top of water as it doesn't have any energy and doesn't want to go anywhere," said Jim Pulley with the Everett Police Dept. Marine Patrol. The Marine Patrol is concerned that some boaters might get too close and harass or stress the whale. "The problem is that we want to ensure the safety of the whale itself, it appears to be in some sort of distress, its not acting like a healthy whale," said Sgt. Robert Goetz. Cascadia Research says so far this year, six dead gray whales have washed up on Washington's coast. All the whales appeared to be thin and undernourished, which is a common cause of death during their long migration. Experts say it is not unusual to have five to 10 whales die during the spring migration.

Homeland Security Sec. requested federal help for Arizona border

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano aka Incompetano spoke for Arozona as its governor requesting help from the federal government. Because it was not protecting the US border in Arizona. Here is her letter:

Date: March 11, 2008

"... [r]eal solutions to fix our broken borders cannot wait that long. Human and drug smuggling rings continue to thrive in Arizona, crossing our border and using our cities as major hubs to transport crosser throughout the country. While we wait for real progress on the "virtual fence," border communities in Arizona will continue to be strained by the millions of dollars in costs they must absorb due to the state of border security." .... Yours very truly, Janet Napolitano Governor

Greta at Fox News comments: In reading the above letter, would you not think DHS Napolitano would be Arizona's biggest champion in Washington? Would you not think she, of all people, would understand the frustration in Arizona? Don't you think she would be pushing her boss, President Obama, to help Arizona? and get President Obama to push Congress to help this state? Instead DHS Napolitano had to recently embarrassingly admit that she did not read the Arizona illegal immigration law. And before you get all whooped up about whether the Arizona statute is constitutional or not, that is not the issue. The statute is a cry for help and the current fight over it a distraction. The issue is the FAILURE of the federal government to help the STATE of ARIZONA. The statue, while probably unconstitutional for trying to set immigration policy in contravention of our Constitution, is a cry for help -- one that has been utterly ignore. [PS if you think that is the ONLY letter we have from then Gov Napolitano, you are dead wrong. I just finished studying a bunch of her letters pleading the case for Arizona when she was Governor. Tune in tonight to ON THE RECORD at 10pm.]

Getting good information on climate change - the Sun

Algore was so successful at shutting down debate among climate scientists that those who have data that didn't fit were afraid to speak with very few exceptions. Funding is life blood in research; they knew they would lose it. The situation has greatly improved. Probably due to a combination of Algore overdoing it, the in-your-face nonsense of him receiving the Nobel Prize, and the blow out of the emails between the East Anglia University cabal of Phil Jones and fellow travelers Michael Mann of Penn State and others. Lawrence Solomon at National Post's (Canada) Full Comment blog: Four years ago, when I first started profiling scientists who were global warming skeptics, I soon learned two things: Solar scientists were overwhelmingly skeptical that humans caused climate change and, overwhelmingly, they were reluctant to go public with their views. Often, they refused to be quoted at all, saying they feared for their funding, or they feared other recriminations from climate scientists in the doomsayer camp. When the skeptics agreed to be quoted at all, they often hedged their statements, to give themselves wiggle room if accused of being a global warming denier. Scant few were outspoken about their skepticism. No longer. Scientists, and especially solar scientists, are becoming assertive. Maybe their newfound confidence stems from the Climategate emails, which cast doomsayer-scientists as frauds and diminished their standing within academia. Maybe their confidence stems from the avalanche of errors recently found in the reports of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, destroying its reputation as a gold standard in climate science. Maybe the solar scientists are becoming assertive because the public no longer buys the doomsayer thesis, as seen in public opinion polls throughout the developed world. Whatever it was, solar scientists are increasingly conveying a clear message on the chief cause of climate change: It’s the Sun, Stupid. Jeff Kuhn, a rising star at the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy, is one of the most recent scientists to go public, revealing in press releases this month that solar scientists worldwide are on a mission to show that the Sun drives Earth’s climate. “As a scientist who knows the data, I simply can’t accept [the claim that man plays a dominant role in Earth’s climate],” he states. Kuhn’s team, which includes solar scientists from Stanford University and Brazil as well as from his own institute, last week announced a startling breakthrough — evidence that the Sun does not change much in size, as had previously been believed. This week, in announcing the award of a ¤60,000 Humboldt Prize for Kuhn’s solar excellence, his institute issued a release stating that its research into sunspots “may ultimately help us predict how and when a changing sun affects Earth’s climate.” Earlier this month, the link between solar activity and climate made headlines throughout Europe after space scientists from the U.K., Germany and South Korea linked the recent paucity of sunspots to the cold weather that Europe has been experiencing. This period of spotlessness, the scientists predicted in a study published in Environmental Research Letters, could augur a repeat of winters comparable to those of the Little Ice Age in the 1600s, during which the Sun was often free of sunspots. By comparing temperatures in Europe since 1659 to highs and lows in solar activity in the same years, the scientists discovered that low solar activity generally corresponded to cold winters. Could this centuries-long link between the Sun and Earth’s climate have been a matter of chance? “There is less than a 1% probability that the result was obtained by chance,” asserts Mike Lockwood of the University of Reading in the U.K., the study’s lead author. [Backup link] Solar scientists widely consider the link between the Sun and Earth’s climate incontrovertible. When bodies such the IPCC dismiss solar science’s contribution to understanding Earth’s climate out of hand, solar scientists no longer sit on their hands. Danish scientist Henrik Svensmark of the Danish National Space Institute stated that the IPCC was “probably totally wrong” to dismiss the significance of the sun, which in 2009 would likely have the most spotless days in a century. As for claims from the IPCC and other global warming doomsayers who argue that periods of extreme heat or cold were regional in scope, not global, Svensmark cites the Medieval Warm Period, a prosperous period of very high solar activity around the year 1000: “It was a time when frosts in May were almost unknown — a matter of great importance for a good harvest. Vikings settled in Greenland and explored the coast of North America. On the whole it was a good time. For example, China’s population doubled in this period.” The Medieval Warm Period, many solar scientists believe, was warmer than today, and the Roman Warm Period, around the time of Christ, was warmer still. Compelling new evidence to support his view came just in March from the Saskatchewan Isotope Laboratory at the University of Saskatchewan and Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, the authors for the first time document seasonal temperature variations in the North Atlantic over a 2,000-year period, from 360 BC to about 1660 AD. Their technique — involving measurements of oxygen and carbon isotopes captured in mollusk shells — confirmed that the Roman Period was the warmest in the past two millennia. Among solar scientists, there are a great many theories about how the Sun influences climate. Some will especially point to sunspots, others to the Sun’s magnetic field, others still to the Sun’s influence on cosmic rays which, in turn, affect cloud cover. There is as yet no answer to how the Sun affects Earth’s climate. All that now seems sure is that the Sun does play an outsized role and that the Big Chill on freedom of expression that scientists once faced when discussing global warming is becoming a Big Thaw. [end of quote]

Boss Pelosi's Congress: Paygo is a scam

From the subscription only Wall Street Journal Political Diary provided by Sound Politics reader "Paddy Wagon." "The Paygo Con A day after beating incumbent Arlen Specter in a Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary contest, Rep. Joe Sestak announced that he would make "enforcement of the pay-as-you-go budget rules" a priority if he wins in November. Good luck to him. Pay-as-you-go, or paygo, rules require that new entitlement spending and new tax cuts must be paid for dollar-for-dollar with entitlement spending cuts or tax increases. As Paul Ryan, the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee has noted, the Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi "have violated pay-as-you-go rules by nearly $1 trillion" over the past three years. And they're not done. In the coming weeks, say Congressional Republicans, we should expect some $300 billion of expenditures that Democrats will declare "emergency spending" and thus do not have to be offset by other spending cuts. The list includes $60 billion for a military supplemental spending bill; $23 billion for education; and $170 billion for jobless and other welfare benefits. All said, the deficit could climb to $1.7 trillion from the current record high $1.4 trillion. "I really can't think of the last time the Democrats paid for anything they want to spend money on," Mr. Ryan grumbles. The reality is that paygo is designed to stop tax cuts rather than check spending, which is why Democrats will soon return to singing its praises. Before the end of the year, look for Republicans to push for a continuation of the Bush tax cuts. And look for Democrats to insist they must be paid for. -- Stephen Moore"

Everybody draw Mohammed day - May 20

Today is Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. It was the idea of Seattle cartoonist Molly Norris. After Comedy Central cut a portion of a South Park episode following a death threat from a radical Muslim group, Norris wanted to counter the fear. She wanted to spread the threat. She has declared May 20th "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day." My Northwest Molly Norris's cartoon at The Stranger. Is the threat real? From three days ago: Lars Vilks, the Swedish cartoonist who drew the cartoon that was used in the fabricated outrage in Denmark is in hiding after constant death threats. He says there was an arson attempt against his home in Nyhamnslage, Sweden. Yahoo News via Hot Air

ObamaCare Public option is alive and well and hidden. Updated

Update at bottom. Boss Pelosi told her Democrat pawns that Congress had to pass ObamaCare for them to find out what's in it. And - surprise - we keep finding more booby traps in it. She and Honorable Harry Reid put the Congressional Budget Office in a corner so it had to release a beneficial cost estimate which everyone knew was wrong; but they have to do the Chairman's bidding. Now we have learned, via the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that it will not reduce, but will increase, federal spending on health care by $311 billion over its first ten years. Also, Obama promised you would be able to keep your insurance if you like it. He didn't make it clear that you can keep it for about ten minutes, then ObamaCare would suck you in. The Demos made a big show of dropping the "public option" of government-run coverage. They even had a mock fight over it. Gone, right? Gotcha! Washington Examiner

... The truth is the public option is alive and well, residing in Section 1334, pages 97-100, of the new health care law. That section gives the U.S. Office of Personnel Management — which presently manages the federal civil service — new responsibilities: establishing and running two entirely new government health insurance programs to compete directly with private insurance companies in every state with coverage for people outside of government. Quoting the new law, former OPM director Donald Devine notes that it makes the OPM boss a health care czar, with power to set “‘profit margin premiums and other such terms and conditions of coverage as are in the interest of enrollees in such plans.’ That’s open-ended. You can do anything.” Dan Blair, another former OPM director, calls the new program “nothing but a placeholder for the public option.” Indeed, the OPM head is also given the authority to “appoint as many employees” as needed to run the program, and to spend “such sums as may be necessary” to establish and administer it.

And Boss Pelosi promised to be open and transparent....

As with so much else, Obama and the Democrats did this behind closed doors. They held no public hearings on it and invited no public testimony to estimate its costs or explain its effect on OPM in its traditional role of managing the civil service.

Update 5/21: A reader at Sound Politics provided the list of all the tax increases in ObamaCare passed in March (not sourced; unconfirmed):

A 40% tax on health insurance plans exceeding determined levels. Those levels are projected for 2013 to be $8,500 for self only and $23,000 for any other level. An increase from 10% to 20% on taxes of money in a health savings account not used for qualified medical expenses. For Archer medical savings accounts, an increase from 15% to 20%. A $50,000 tax on hospital organizations, which fail to meet described quality requirements. A fee based upon the sales of pharmaceutical companies in relation to the total sale of such pharmaceutical products to the public. Medical device manufacturers must pay a fee in relation to the sales of their product in the marketplace and the total sales of devices. A fee applied to all health insurance providers based upon net premiums and any third party fees associated with the administration of those programs. High income tax payers, making on a joint return over $250,000 and a standard return over $200,000, are required to pay an additional 0.5% of wages. This applies to both self-employed, and regularly employed individuals. A 1% tax increase for individuals making between $350,000 and $500,000. A 1.5% tax increase for individuals making between $500,000 and $1 million. A 5.4% increase for individuals making more than $1 million. A tax of 5% is levied upon the am mount paid for any cosmetic surgery. This does not include the need for such surgeries created by trauma or a disfiguring disease. If the tax is not collected by that professional completing the procedure, their business is still liable for the requirement.