Legendary Fears

Even Though
The state Senate has advanced legislation to allow immigrant workers on Vermont farms to become legal drivers, even though they might be in the country illegally.

The 27-2 vote came nearly 19 months after the Vermont State Police stopped a car containing two passengers who were Mexican immigrant farmworkers in the country illegally and turned them over to the U.S. Border Patrol. (Burlington Free Press, 4/5/2013)

Continuing their laser-like focus on the issues vital to an economically sound and prosperous Vermont, state legislators roll up their sleeves to tackle drivers licenses for illegals.

Yesterday while taking our cat out for a walk, RedStateVT conducted an admittedly informal survey in the neighborhood. We asked: "What is the most pressing issue here in Vermont that we want our legislators to address?" Unanimously, our fellow Vermonters answered "drivers licenses for illegals." 

Well there you go. 


Hard Times
The president could face an even tougher time selling the Social Security change to liberal members of Congress. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., fired off a statement Thursday responding to what was then the rumor that Obama's budget could include the change. "Millions of working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, and women will be extremely disappointed if President Obama caves into the long standing Republican effort to cut Social Security and benefits for disabled veterans and their survivors through a so-called chained CPI," Sanders said. "In 2008, candidate Barack Obama told the American people that he would not cut Social Security.  Having him go back on his word will only add to the rampant political cynicism that our country is experiencing today." (Foxnews.com, 4/5/2013)

Whenever defending or advocating for government entitlements Colonel Bernie Sanders will inevitably provide a laundry list of those who would be affected. Working people, seniors, disabled veterans, those who have lost a loved one in combat, women, those with broken bones, with broken hearts, the tired, the poor, those who yearn, those who once yearned, pet owners, people who lost a pet, seniors who lost a pet, the disabled who lost a pet, the recently deceased, those about to be deceased, etc.

On the other side is a single group: taxpayers. 


Shore Line
“If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there’s no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement. “That’s no way to lead and move the country forward.” (NYT, 4/5/2013)

Excellent point by John Boehner who is slowly rehabilitating himself. If President Obama believes in the absolute necessity of entitlement reform in order to ensure the sustainability of these programs for the long term, then why is such reform tied to tax hikes on the rich? The answer, we suspect, is that Obama is not a true believer on such reform.


Story Time
Our favorite anecdote from the tour, however, came when some protesters against Keystone XL chanted outside another rich man's home, "What do we want from the President? No pipeline for the 1%."

These protesters need to have their consciousness raised too. The 1%-ers writing checks to Mr. Obama loathe the pipeline. The folks who need and want it are the 99%. They're the working stiffs who are "struggling to get by" in this economy.... (WSJ, 4/5/2013)

See yesterday's RedStateVT post. More proof that the Wall Street Journal reads RedStateVT?


Hail Hail
The economy created a net 88,000 new jobs, 95,000 in private business. This means that for every unemployed American who found a job in March, about five left the labor force. If the Obama Administration can convince another three million or so Americans to leave the job market, the President will be able to hail "full employment." (WSJ, 4/5/2013)

Our favorite line from a column on the latest unemployment numbers. 

900 Posts!

Gains and Losses
Bolstered by a healthier private sector, the United States economy gained 236,000 jobs in February, well above what had been expected, while the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, its lowest level since December 2008.
...
While many economists were encouraged by the report, some noted that the size of the labor force contracted by 130,000. Some of that was because of retirements, but some was also a result of discouraged workers giving up the search for jobs. As a result, the labor participation rate sank to 63.5 percent, a low for the current economic cycle.
...
The unemployment fell from 7.9 percent in January. (NYT, 3/7/2013)

Unemployment at Four-year Low as U.S. Hiring Gains Steam screams the New York Times headline. We don't have to read very far to learn that labor participation rate is at a low and that the unemployment rate shrank a whopping 0.02%. 

Stock headline had a Republican been president? 

Unemployment Remains Stubbornly High, Millions Abandon Job Search.


All Over Again
Mr. Obama is making the same mistake he made four years ago. We are in a jobs crisis and he does not see it. He thinks he's in a wrestling match about taxing and spending, he thinks he's in a game with those dread Republicans. But the real question is whether the American people will be able to have jobs. (Peggy Noonan, WSJ, 3/8/2013)

While we agree with Noonan, we also point out that Obama's first term mistakes cost him very little. Will it be different in his second term? It is hard to say, but consider this. If Obama leaves office with an unemployment rate of - let's say 5.5% - can anyone say that his was a successful presidency?


Drip Drip
The government gave a $3,700 grant to build a miniature street in West Virginia—out of Legos. It shelled out $500,000 to support specialty shampoo products for cats and dogs. A San Diego outfit got $10,000 for trolley dancing. The feds last year held 894 conferences that each cost more than $100,000—$340 million altogether. But Mr. Obama is too broke to let American kids look around the White House. (Kimberley A. Strassel, WSJ, 3/7/2013)

We wrote about this yesterday and note again that Republicans are winning the battle for the hearts and minds on the sequester. Given the way that Washington wastes our tax dollars, they have righteousness on their side. The sooner that Obama gets the White House tours up and running again the better for his approval ratings. 


Fall in to the Gap
...Medicare's long-term "unfunded liability"—the gap between promised benefits and the program's ability to fund them—is roughly $42.7 trillion. When Republicans say they want to reform Medicare, they mean they want to make durable changes to the program's structure and operations so that this gap narrows over time while achieving the same or better results. They don't want to cut for the sake of cutting or "austerity." They want to solve Medicare's problems. (WSJ, 3/7/2013)

Remember this brief and articulate snippet the next time that Colonel Bernie Sanders starts lying about how Republicans want to destroy entitlement programs. 


The Best Defense
Former President Bill Clinton, who signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 barring federal recognition of same-sex weddings, called on the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn the law.

Just weeks before the court takes up a case challenging the law, Mr. Clinton said he had come to believe that the law is unconstitutional and contravenes the quintessential American values of “freedom, equality and justice above all.” In doing so, he joined President Obama in arguing that the law be overturned.

“As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution,” Mr. Clinton wrote in an op-ed article posted on the Web site of The Washington Post on Thursday evening. (NYT, 3/7/2013)

Another Democrat flip-flops.....er, evolves! Bill Clinton is a bigot and a homophobe no more.

And the New York Times finally comes clean and admits that it was the Big Dog, Bill Clinton, who signed DOMA in the first place.