Free Republic

He’s been called many things, our president. A socialist, a conniver, a Big Government guy, even a Kenyan. But we have to admit to reading a couple of descriptions today of President Barack Obama that brought a smile to our lips. . . .

We’ve already lamented that elections pretty much are decided by the muddled middle, those folks with the lightest grasp on principles and the vaguest knowledge of candidates and their positions. That’s why they are the muddled middle. They can’t make up their minds because of these handicaps. Elections boil down to these quasi-informed, wishy-washy people finally deciding. Might as well flip a coin. But here’s something that makes that sad state of affairs almost welcome by comparison.

The last thing Democrats and other tax-and-spenders want to do is to cut taxes. Oh woe are they if tax cutters have their way. Where will they get money to spend if taxes are cut? Of course, this is short-sighted as well as greedy. Ask Art Laffer. . . Or, ask John Kennedy. Yeah, that John Kennedy. . .

Gov. Jerry Brown tried to improve his chances of raising your taxes by caving in to a teachers’ union and agreeing to merge his tax initiative with the union’s. Too many tax-increase initiatives on the ballot, Brown rightly reasons, will make it unlikely voters will approve one. But there’s still a second initiative authored by attorney Molly Munger to raise about as much in taxes as Brown’s, $9 billion to $10 billion. Munger’s would increase everyone’s state income tax. Brown’s would increase income taxes on high earners and add a quarter cent to the sales tax...

Assemblywoman Diane Harkey, a Republican from Dana Point, has a way with words. She calls her bill to repeal $9 billion in available state debt funding for what we call the Moonbeam Express the “High Speed Rail Lemon Law.” Moonbeam or lemon, it amounts to the same thing: a taxpayer-financed boondoggle California can neither afford to build nor make operate profitably...

To increase his chances of increasing taxpayers’ burden, Jerry Brown has “compromised” with a teachers’ union and revised his tax initiative to take $9 billion a year out of the economy instead of the mere $7 billion he intended to take. Whereas there are some who cast this as a “compromise,” it’s more accurately identified as what it is: Gov. Jerry Brown kowtowing to the people he serves, the people who got him elected, public employee unions. In this case, public school teachers...

Electric cars, which wouldn’t even be an option if taxpayers’ money wasn’t propping them up, don’t ultimately save money or cut down pollution. They aren’t reliable to get from here to there. But they can look nice, like the Fisker Karma. Speaking of which, we have this shall we say not entirely unexpected news, courtesy Reuters:...

The huge tax increases proposed by Gov. Jerry Brown are becoming much less popular as voters learn more about them. At the rate of decline in popularity over just the past two months, there may be no one left in California who will vote for the higher taxes by the time November balloting arrives, save, of course, Mr. Brown and the principal beneficiaries, public employee union members to whom he panders. Meanwhile, an analysis by the state Board of Equalization, which handles state business taxes, has weighed the impact of the governor's higher taxes and found them quite costly. The...

So, how is that alternative, renewable wind energy coming along? No need to split hairs. Give us a general idea. “To the nearest whole number, the percentage of the world’s energy that comes from wind turbines today is: zero,” says Matt Ridley at the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Oops...

We know politics is the “art” of give and take, but the report out of Israel about President Barack Obama’s promise to that country is as blatant a political payoff as we’ve heard for a while. And it’s behind closed doors, of course. . . President Make-A-Deal has a principled objection to arming Israel with weapons to use against Iran unless the Israelis agree not to use them until after he is reelected. Gee, why would that be a condition? . . .

The Los Angeles Times has a news story today about the Moonbeam Express, as we like to call it. Sometimes known as the California High-Speed Rail. The Times sub-headline says: “The high-speed rail line would transform California lifestyles for the better, backers say.” We couldn’t have said it better. There, in one concise sentence, is the problem. . . The problem with that is the train’s backers are almost exclusively agents of your government, a coercive group that doesn’t persuade, it, well, coerces. The government wants to transform your lifestyle. . .

California's high-speed rail project has been plagued with cost increases, delays and political shenanigans since 2008, when voters authorized $9.9 billion in bonds to help pay for it. Unsurprisingly, recent weeks have brought more of the same. The independent Legislative Analyst now says the state must repay more than $700 million annually if bonds are sold to build an initial 130-mile Central Valley route. Ultimately, the plan would link San Diego and San Francisco. But to get $3.3 billion in federal funds, train authorities agreed to put the first tracks where populations are sparse, rather than in densely populated areas...

This campaign ain’t over by a long shot. Mitt Romney’s delegate total for the Republican race to choose President Barack Obama’s opponent in November stands at 404, according to Real Clear Politics, compared to runnerup Rick Santorum’s 161, with 1,144 needed to win. Even though Romney won six of Super Tuesday’s 10 contests, news reports fall something short of coronation. One reason may be the next nine primaries between now and April. With the exception of Illinois, none of the states in the coming month look particularly Romney-ish. . . It’s not a stretch to think Santorum could sweep that...

Peter Gleick, a global warming true believer and purported scientific ethics expert, has admitted soliciting, receiving then distributing confidential fundraising and budget documents from the Heartland Institute under false pretenses, all to discredit Heartland, a free-market think tank that disputes global warming alarmism. We await determinations of whether violations of state or federal laws on wire fraud and identity theft, and perhaps other offenses, occurred. Illinois-based Heartland has called in the FBI...

Attempts to look at the taxpayer-funded ruminations of a taxpayer-funded climate researcher suffered a setback today in Virginia where a split decision by the state’s high court said essentially, it’s none of your business what Michael Mann was writing about his taxpayer-funded work. State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli lost a verdict that permits continued suppression of evidence in the Michael Mann “hockey stick” graph controversy. But it’s probably not the last note in this song, not by a long shot....

We want to share a headline from an ABC News-Harris press release from March 10, 1980. The latest poll was summed up thus: . . .

This is a new one on us: there’s something called “autonomous vehicles” inching off the drawing board and onto the freeways. These self-driving cars apparently are spawned by techies at Google, Caltech and other places. According to the L.A. Times, the cars “use radar, video cameras and lasers to navigate roads and stay safe in traffic without human assistance.” Seems interesting. It couldn’t but help that mad rush on the 57 we navigate every morning and evening. But wait...

By 51-48 the Senate today killed the amendment to allow employers to refuse to cover health services when it conflicts with religious convictions, giving the Obama administration another victory in its steady march to undermine constitutional rights with administrative mandates. . . . This is all but inevitable as the government assumes more and more authority over of what people should be doing for themselves. And, perhaps worst of all, the orders come from faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats who make this stuff up to suit their political ideology. As we noted on Sunday, this is where the Administrative State takes us.

We noticed years ago that global warming not only was caused by everything we do, according to the alarmists, but that global warming caused nearly everything – including oddly enough, global cooling. We came across this news clipping today at Creative Minority Report, which dubbed it the “Greatest Global Warming Headline … Evah!” We have to agree: . . .

Michigan’s narrow win for Mitt Romney on Tuesday might be considered ho-hum. After all, he beat John McCain there in 2008, he grew up there and his father was governor of the pleasant peninsula. On the other hand, it’s undeniable that Romney sweated out this one until all the votes were counted, hence his victory statement: “…we didn’t win by a lot, but we won by enough and that’s all that counts.” That’s not exactly a victory lap. With Super Tuesday looming in less than a week when 10 states will decide which GOP candidate they prefer, it is worth...