Stimulus Funds Used to Employ Foreign Workers Instead of Unemployed Americans

President Obama is bouncing around the U.S. spouting how we need jobs in this country and that he can no longer wait for the Republicans in Congress to pass his jobs bill.... so he must do it through an Executive Order.

Let's take a look at some of President Obama's previous attempts at putting unemployed Americans back to work...

From ALIPAC --

Rep. Peter DeFazio demanded Tuesday that the federal Department of Labor add muscular - and clear - new provisions to a guest-worker program that was used to hire foreign workers for forest jobs in Oregon intended for unemployed U.S. citizens.

"Over the past year it has come to light that several contractors exploited loopholes in the H-2B visa process to intentionally hire foreign workers, rather than available Americans, for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act-funded jobs on Forest Service lands in Oregon. This is unacceptable," DeFazio said in a letter sent Tuesday to Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

The letter came less than a week after the department's inspector general released a report about the contracts and the fact that 254 foreign workers were hired to perform work that most believed should have been filled by unemployed Americans.

"Taxpayer money was spent to hire foreign workers while unemployed Oregonians were denied these jobs. The Department of Labor owes it to the American taxpayer and the over 13 million unemployed Americans to make sure this can never occur again," the letter says. More...

In light of his continued failures, one must wonder who exactly does President Obama want to create jobs for -- illegal immigrants or unemployed Americans?

U.S. to spend $20 Million on Pakistani Sesame Street

Bert & Ernie, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird need not apply!

As part of an overall commitment to spend $7.5 Billion over the next 5 years for civilian aid in Pakistan, the U.S. will also fund a new Pakistani version of Sesame Street in attempts to increase tolerance....

From Fox News --

Sesame Street is coming to Pakistan but not as generations of Americans know it.

The U.S. is bankrolling the initiative with $20 million, hoping it will improve education in a country where one-third of primary school-age children are not in class. Washington also hopes the program will increase tolerance at a time when the influence of radical views is growing.

"One of the key goals of the show in Pakistan is to increase tolerance toward groups like women and ethnic minorities," said Larry Dolan, who was the head education officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Pakistan until very recently. More...

So we raised the debt ceiling for a Pakistani Muppet show?!? Any bets on how long this show is declared as blasphemy by the Islamikaze's in Pakistan and Elmo is sentenced to death by stoning?

What do the Top 1% Really Pay in Taxes?

From The Tax Foundation --

The income earned by the top 1% of Americans has declined for the second year in a row while their average tax rate has increased, according to a new Tax Foundation study. The average federal tax rate for those reporting at least $343,927 in income has increased from 22.5% in 2007 to 24.0% in 2009, while the average income for the top 1% has declined from $1.4 million to $1 million over the same period.

The Tax Foundation's analysis is based on new data from the Internal Revenue Service on individual income taxes, reporting on calendar year 2009.  The amount of individual income tax paid steeply declined by $166 billion, twice the decline from 2007 to 2008.  Nationally, average effective income tax rates were at their lowest levels since the IRS began tracking them in 1986. The average tax rate for returns with a positive liability went from 12.2% in 2008 to 11.1% in 2009.

"During a time of economic downturn, we expect to see significant changes in both total income reported and the share of taxes paid by those with the highest incomes," said Logan. "Unlike middle-income wage-earners whose incomes and tax liabilities are fairly steady, high-income people tend to realize significant capital gains that fluctuate wildly with the economy, causing their income tax liabilities to fluctuate as well."

In 2009, the top 1% of tax returns earned 16.9% of adjusted gross income and paid 36.7% of all federal individual income taxes. In 2008 those figures were 20.0% and 38.0%, respectively. Each year from 2005 to 2007, the top 1 percent's constantly growing share of income earned and taxes paid set a record. The 2008 reversal of this trend continued in 2009.

The study also takes a look at the very highest earners, the top 0.1 percent of tax returns, which the IRS only began singling out in recent years. In 2009, those 138,000 tax returns accounted for nearly 7.8% of adjusted gross income earned (down from almost 10% in 2008), and they paid around 17% of the nation's federal individual income taxes (down from 18.5% percent in 2008).

"The very highest income group—the top one-tenth of one percent—actually has a lower average effective income tax rate than the rest of the top 1 percent of returns because these extremely high-income returns are more likely to have income from capital gains and dividends, which are typically taxed at lower rates," said Logan. "It's worth pointing out that in the case of capital gains and dividends, however, income derived from these sources has already been taxed once by the corporate income tax, which is not included in the current study, meaning the average effective tax rate numbers can be somewhat misleading."

Tax Foundation Fiscal Fact No. 285, "Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data," by economist David S. Logan is available online..

New Tool to Track the Money in the 2012 Race for the White House

Here is a great new tool from Center for Responsive Politics to track the money for the 2012 White House race....
From Open Secrets --

As the presidential money chase continues to heat up, the Center for Responsive Politics is rolling out several new features to help you keep tabs on the 2012 race for the White House.

Part of the "Banking on Becoming President" database on  OpenSecrets.org, these features aim to help the public better understand the relationships between the men and women currently campaigning to lead the country and the moneyed special interest groups eager to help them raise the massive amounts of money needed to do it.

Among the new features are new graphs and tables that display how much candidates are raising and from whom -- as well as how their war chests stack up against one another. 

Presidential candidates recently reached another milestone in the the 2012 race when they filed their third-quarter fund-raising reports with the Federal Election Commission. 

OpenSecrets.org is now not only tracking the summary information, we also allows users to break down those fund-raising figures over time -- comparing day by day, week by week, month by month or quarter by quarter.

And the New Sanctuary City is.... Washington D.C.!

The Capital of our country - Washington D.C. - ignoring our laws and U.S. Constitution, opens their arms and your wallets by putting out a "Welcome" sign for illegal immigrants...

From ALIPAC --

If there were only one way to sum up the illegal immigration crisis in the United States, the people who run the government in the nation’s Capital may have found it: Washington D.C., where our laws are made, where there the words “Equal Justice Under Law” are displayed over the Supreme Court Building and where the Chief Executive of the Republic resides … is now a sanctuary city for illegal aliens.

The District of Columbia became a sanctuary city on Wednesday after Mayor Vincent Gray signed a new order forbidding D.C. police to ask about an individuals immigration status.

Furthermore, Mayor Gray said District police will not help Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents execute federal warrants unless the individual has committed another crime.

The new order also forbids D.C. police from contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement to inquire about an individual's immigration status. More...

A Match Made in Liberal Heaven: OWS & NPR (National Propaganda Radio)

In a video that surfaced earlier this year, NPR Foundation President Ron Schiller called Tea Party supporters, "Islamaphobic, xenophobic, uneducated, radical, racist, gun-toting whites of middle America." Schiller also candidly admits in the video that NPR doesn't need federal funding, and welcomes the opportunity to slant their reporting without the oversight of the taxpayer,"

In response, scores of Tea Party, 9/12 and other liberty-minded groups from across America, contacted members of Congress and demanded that NPR be defunded.  Under the leadership of Speaker John Boehner, the GOP controlled U.S. House dismissed and ignored these requests.  As you will see below, some members of Congress even defended the continued funding for these purveyors of presidential propaganda.

 And once again, never missing a chance to push their progressive views over the airwaves, the taxpayer-funded propagandists at NPR are allowing one of their hosts to serve as a spokesperson for the Occupy Wall Street movement....

From the Media Research Center --

The Media Research Center’s President Brent Bozell sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner today calling on him to jumpstart Congress into stripping the government-subsidized corporation of taxpayer dollars, following the latest outrageous violation of ethics by NPR.

The laundry list of offenses by NPR is long and robust, but the most recent revelation that NPR host Lisa Simeone is serving as a spokesperson for Occupy DC, the Washington-based effort of the radical Occupy Wall Street movement, has gone much too far. More...

Earlier this year, Tom Zawistowski of the Portage County Tea Party and I hand delivered a letter to Congressman LaTourette's office as part of the Tea Party Patriots "Deal in the District" initiative. (Deal in the District Letter)

In response to the "Deal in the District" letter and commenting on an earlier conversation I had with him, Congressman LaTourette defined defunding NPR as a social issue...

"On the NPR and EPA votes, I have explained to Ralph, but am happy to repeat, that this fight over spending can either focus on social issues or money."

It appears the woefully misguided and establishment-elite infected Congressman LaTourette feels it is OK for the "left" to use tax-payer money to promote their social issues on and through NPR, as the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about leftist "share the wealth" social issues and is a direct attack on personal property and liberty.

We need to support Media Research Center and continue with our previous calls for the defunding of NPR, a State-Run Media outlet for the progressive and now OWS movement.

Contact Speaker John Boehner and your member of Congress and demand the funding of NPR cease immediately. And of course don't forget to contact Congressman LaTourette and inquire if he supports the use of the left pushing social issues with taxpayer money.

Speaker John Boehner
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-0600
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-5117

Rep. Steven LaTourette, OH-14D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5731
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3307

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012

Rep. Jean Schmidt, OH-2
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-3164
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-1992

Rep. Mike Turner, OH-3
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-6465
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-6754

Rep. Jim Jordan, OH-4
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2676
D.C. Office Fax: (202)226-0577

Rep. Bob Latta, OH-5
D.C. Office Phone: 1-800-541-6446 (OHIO)
D.C. Office Fax: 1-800-278-8203

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907

Rep. Steve Austria, OH-7
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-4324
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-1984

Rep. Patrick Tiberi, OH-12
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-5355
D.C. Office Fax: (202)226-4523

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529

Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059

Rep. Bob Gibbs, (OH-18)
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394

Tea Party Patriots Co-Founder Mark Meckler; "Occupy Wall Street is No Tea Party"

One of our National Coordinators and Co-Founder of Tea Party Patriots, Mark Meckler, offers up a rebuke of the MSM's intellectually dishonest attempts of linking the Occupy Wall Street movement with the Tea Party movement...

From Politico --

The media chorus is singing a new song this week in its anti-tea party echo chamber. It goes something like this: The law-breaking anarchists who want to tear America down are somehow just like law-abiding tea partiers — who are working tirelessly to build America back up.

This boneheaded comparison reminds me of what has now become an oft-repeated political euphemism. In 1988, during a vice presidential debate, Democratic candidate Sen. Lloyd Bentsen said to his Republican opponent, Sen. Dan Quayle, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”

So despite the risk of sounding cliché here, I say to the small band of misfits and anarchists now occupying Wall Street: I was one of tens of thousands of patriotic Americans who were there at the beginning of the tea party movement. I stood shoulder to shoulder with tea partiers all across this country. And you, who are occupying Wall Street and trying to tear America down, are no tea partiers.

The tea party movement started spontaneously from the rant of CNBC’s Rick Santelli on Feb. 19, 2009. His words resonated with millions across the country, and his spontaneous call for a “tea party” spurred tens of thousands to action.

Within a week, in close to 50 locations across the country, almost 40,000 people turned out to protest the U.S. government’s fiscal irresponsibility. By Tax Day in April 2009, the movement had grown to millions — and there were more than 850 peaceful, lawful protests across the nation attended by more than a million people.

The movement was organic, fast moving and had a cogent message: It’s time for fiscal responsibility in government.

Tea party rallies have always felt like “parties” — and safe and clean ones at that. Unlike protesters in New York, I can find no reports of tea partiers being arrested, individually or en masse, at the thousands of tea parties across the country with millions of attendees that have taken place for years now.

We are not lawbreakers, we don’t hate the police, we don’t even litter. A quick glance at the TV reveals the sharp contrast to the Wall Street occupiers.

In recent days, I’ve been repeatedly asked by reporters, “Does the comparison now being made in the media between the tea party and the Wall Street protesters bother you?”

My answer is an unequivocal: “Hell yes, it bothers me.”

It bothers me because it groups millions of patriotic tea partiers, who want to build America back up, together with a bunch of criminals who want to tear America down.

For two years now, tea partiers have stood firmly on principle and helped shape the political debate. They believe in time-honored American values, principles and systems — including the freedom to innovate and employ people to implement and distribute your ideas to the public.

Consider the career of the late Steve Jobs. The freedom from government allowed him to try new things, see what worked and discard what didn’t. Tea partiers agree, not believing corporations like Apple are inherently evil or that bankers should be beheaded. They do not believe this country should be divided by class but united in a return to the principles that undergird success.

In fact — we want more of what made America great. More constitutional restraint on government, so the people have more freedom to achieve the good things the country offers.

In contrast, those occupying Wall Street want less of what made America great — and more of what is damaging America. They want a bigger, more powerful government to come in and take care of them, redistributing the wealth of those who innovate and create something, so they don’t have to work like the rest of us who pay their bills.

When tea partiers first took to the streets, we were ignored and then mocked by the media and those threatened by our principles. Then we were attacked with labels like “AstroTurf,” “racists,” “fringe,” “radical,” “terrorists,” “jihadis,” “hostage takers” and “Nazis.”

In just the past few weeks, we have been told by Democratic elected officials to “go to Hell,” called “the real enemy” and accused of wanting to see fellow citizens “hanging from trees.”

Meanwhile, some of the media continues to cheer for a group of law-breaking miscreants who occupied a park in New York, blocked the Brooklyn Bridge, were arrested by the hundreds and treated law enforcement with disrespect and disdain — all while trying to tear down the foundations of the greatest nation on earth.

We expect that kind of idiocy from the media. But when you compare these people with tea partiers, now you’ve got a problem with We the People.

Mark Meckler is a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, the nation’s largest tea party organization, with more than 3,500 affiliated local groups.

Super Committee will hold Public Meeting on Discretionary Spending

According to Senator Max Baucus, the Super Committee will be holding at least one public meeting and it will address discretionary spending. Also, that no final decisions will be made behind closed doors.

From USA Today --

The joint deficit reduction congressional committee will hold one, maybe two, public meetings next week, and no decisions are being made behind closed doors, Sen. Max Baucus, a member of the committee, said Wednesday.

The Montana Democrat said the first meeting will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday and will cover discretionary spending, those parts of the federal budget that are not mandated, such as Medicare and Social Security.

The meetings have been closed thus far to prevent interest groups from influencing members, he said.

"We're really going to keep all of this to ourselves. Once a proposal gets up to the public domain interest groups will jump all over it -- it makes things difficult," Baucus said.

No votes or final decisions will be made behind closed doors, said Baucus, who promised to open up Congress when first elected to the U.S. House in 1974.

"There were decisions made by members of the House and Senate in that Congress that were made not in public and that's wrong. This is different. All votes and all decisions will be made in public," Baucus said.

While it is good they are negotiating privately to keep the discussions focused, that no public input has been taken to formulate their 'great compromise' is suspect.  It smells more like the typical "we know what's best" elite establishment attitude of D.C.

Newt Gingrich offers up probably the best description on the Super Committee...

"If you want to understand how totally broken Washington is, look at this entire model of a [deficit] supercommitte, which has now got a magic number to achieve and if it doesn't achieve the magic number then we'll all have to shoot ourselves in the head. So when they come back with a dumb idea to merely cut off our right leg, we will all be grateful that they are only semi-stupid instead of being totally stupid." – Newt Gingrich

Most likely we will see a "plan" that is fiscally unappetizing to most and then, like the debt ceiling / default fraud, we will be told we must take it or we face imminent doom. 

Dick Morris on the Herman Cain "9-9-9" Plan

From Dick Morris --

In 1980, facing a terrible economy, Ronald Reagan called for a new tax program: 10-10-10. Based on the Kemp-Roth bill, he called for 10 percent cuts in income taxes for three years. He got it, and it kindled 20 years of prosperity.

Now, Herman Cain understands that we need fundamental reform to get our economy moving. He calls for replacing the current system with just three levies of 9 percent each on personal income, corporate income and consumption. There would be no capital gains tax, inheritance tax, Social Security tax or Medicare tax. Just 9-9-9.


His proposal is breathtaking. Currently, the lowest top tax rate is Poland’s 18 percent. And Poland is the only European nation that had no recession. If Cain passes 9-9-9, we will thrive and become the destination of choice for every business and businessman. Look at what Reagan’s tax cuts achieved, and at the best-performing state economies, where there is no income tax.

The proposal, naturally, attracts critics and skeptics.

Some worry that it will add to the deficit. But that’s not likely.

• Americans now earn $12.5 trillion of personal income. Tax it at 9 percent with no deductions and you generate about $1.125 billion.
• We spend $10.3 trillion. A 9 percent tax would yield about $927 billion.
• Net corporate income (after dividends) is $1.1 trillion. A 9 percent levy would generate $100 billion.
• That comes to $2.152 billion, about the same as our actual revenues of $2.162 billion for fiscal 2010.

And then, when you factor in the economic growth this plan will engender, the scenario becomes even better.

Liberals worry that the tax would shift the burden from the rich to the middle class. No, sir. Americans making $50,000 to $60,000 a year now pay an average of 6 percent of their income in income taxes. But they also pay 6.5 percent in FICA levies and 2.9 percent in Medicare payroll taxes (a total of 15.4 percent). The Cain proposal would replace these with a flat 9 percent, saving them 6.4 percent.

Of course, the middle class would also have to pay a 9 percent sales tax, but it would be largely offset by the savings in their payroll taxes.

Cain says that competitive pressures would hold down prices and force businesses to eat much of the 9 percent sales tax. Employers would not have to pay their 6.5 percent share of payroll in Social Security taxes, and their corporate taxes would be cut. For commodities with high price elasticity — like cars — competition will hold down prices. But for inelastic purchases — like food and drugs — some of the tax would probably be passed on. For the middle class? It’s a wash.

More compelling is the possible impact on the poor. A family making $20,000 to $30,000 a year pays only 3 percent of its income in taxes (much of it more than offset by tax credits). But it still pays 6.5 percent in FICA and 2.9 percent in Medicare taxes. So the requirement that such a family pay 9 percent in personal income taxes would probably be fully offset by the cut in payroll taxes. But the poor might face higher prices. Cain plans to spell out how he can mitigate the impact on the poor through special empowerment zones. We need to see the details. Certainly, the poor would benefit from the increased employment, wages and growth the Cain tax cuts would generate.

Conservatives worry that 9-9-9 will open the door to a European Value-Added Tax that starts at 9 percent but goes up each year. Cain proposes that a two-thirds vote be required to raise rates. But a simple act of Congress could change that.

The real answer is political. If the Republican Party surges back to power in 2012, captures the Senate, keeps the House and takes the presidency, it can make sure the rates don’t go up. Republicans usually can count on 40 votes in the Senate; we just have to use them.

The 9-9-9 is a good, good plan that can save our economy.

The Cost of Freedom -- Some Are Still Paying For It

While we talk about our national debt, there is a debt our country can never repay -- it is to the Americans that have served our country at a time of war.

In what was and will always be a black eye on our country -- the treatment of our Vietnam Veterans, while serving , coming home and, for many years after -- and knowing the Cost of Freedom isn't Free, these interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall show the cost some paid and how many are still paying it and will for many years to come.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the only war memorial dedicated to the soldiers and not the war in which they fought. There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.
The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth , Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.

Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E - May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W - continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. Thus the war's beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle's open side and contained within the earth itself.

• Most of the surviving Parents are now Deceased

• There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.

• 39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.

• 8,283 were just 19 years old.

• The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.

• 12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

• 5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

• One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

• 997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam.

• 1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam.

• 31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.

• 31 sets of parents lost two of their sons.

• 54 soldiers on attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.

• 8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.

• 244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

• Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.

• West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, they see the faces and feel the pain that these numbers created.

They are, until they too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were their friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.