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November 21, 2008

Targeting Your 401(K)

Congress has an eye on the tax break for your retirement.

You may have heard about Argentina's plan to nationalize private retirement accounts. Some Democrats on Capitol Hill are inspired, and with their big election victory they may get the chance to test Peronist ideas in America.

Meet Congressmen George Miller and Jim McDermott, who are eager to change the way Americans save for their golden years. They'll also be powerbrokers in the next Congress. Mr. Miller, who came in with the Class of 1974 from California, chairs the House Education and Labor Committee. Mr. McDermott, who has represented Seattle the past two decades, runs a House Ways and Means subcommittee on income security and family support.

Before Election Day, the Congressmen began to target the $3 trillion in 401(k) accounts held by about 60% of Americans. Mr. Miller called the system "an inadequate vehicle" that "has not been terribly successful" in encouraging retirement savings. He wants a "wholesale re-examination" of pensions.

Just what alternative these Democrats support is unclear. But the Chairman has also signalled greater ambitions. At a hearing last month, Mr. Miller put the 401(k) system into play.

Read the rest here.

 

posted by : Left Coast Conservative on November 21, 2008
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November 21, 2008

Republicans & The Courts

Will the Republican Party construct an honest, reliable Jeffersonian judicial policy and offer it to main street America?

Let’s face it. It’s always about “the economy,” stupid or not. And for the foreseeable future it will be so in spades, a fact, by the way, that demands Republican leaders follow main street conservative principles as they devise economic policies that put the American people first.

However, like the executives of our auto companies, Republicans must understand they can’t survive by fixing one thing at a time; for especially in politics, issues have a way of coming up when least expected — taking a stance on a judicial nominee, for example.

I mention the judiciary because with regard to it Republicans have some serious fixing to do. Why? To answer that, let’s review the ironic quality of Republican “production” and “marketing” of judicial policy since the fifties.

To capture this irony, it is essential to say first that the struggle between liberal judicial activists and Jeffersonians strikes at the heart of the following proposition, one with which virtually every Republican (indeed, a solid majority of Americans) will agree:

Read AJ DiCintio's stimulating commentary HERE.

posted by : Left Coast Conservative on November 21, 2008
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November 21, 2008

US contractors lose immunity in Iraq security deal

Thousands of contractors, both private Americans and non-Iraqi foreigners working in key roles for the United States in Iraq, will lose immunity and be subject to Iraqi law under new security arrangements, Bush administration officials say. 

Pentagon and State Department officials notified companies that provide contract employees, like Blackwater Worldwide, Dyncorp International, Triple Canopy and KBR, of the changes on Thursday as the Iraqi parliament continues contentious debate on a security deal that will govern the presence of American forces in Iraq after January.

That so-called Status of Forces, or SOFA, agreement, which gives the Iraqi government only limited jurisdiction over U.S. troops and Defense Department civilians, excludes Defense Department contractors, two officials said.  Full story HERE

posted by : renee taylor on November 21, 2008
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November 21, 2008

Americans Know ‘American Idol’ Star Better than American History

Does this surprise anyone?

 

More than twice as many Americans - 56 percent -- know that Paula Abdul is a judge on "American Idol" as know that the phrase "government of the people, by the people, for the people" comes from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address (21 percent) -- a phrase President-elect Barack Obama used in his election-night victory speech.

Read Article thenpost your thoughts on how we change this!

posted by : Nancy Kennon on November 21, 2008
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November 20, 2008

Pentagon Hit by Unprecedented Cyber Attack

As a result of the cyber attack, the Defense Department has banned the use of external hardware devices throughout a vast network of military computers.

The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of banning the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVD's, FOX News has learned.

The attack came in the form of a global virus or worm that is spreading rapidly throughout a number of military networks.

"We have detected a global virus for which there has been alerts, and we have seen some of this on our networks," a Pentagon official told FOX News. "We are now taking steps to mitigate the virus."  Full story HERE

posted by : renee taylor on November 20, 2008
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November 20, 2008

The Emerging Threat to Conservative Talk Radio

Instead of passing a federal "Fairness Doctrine," libs will attack talk radio locally.

Despite President-elect Obama’s claim that he will not seek a new “Fairness Doctrine” to silence conservative voices in the media, commentators are bracing for a battle over their free speech rights under the First Amendment. Indeed, the battle is already underway and the enemies of free speech have made it clear that their censorship campaign will initially be based on claims that conservatives do not reflect “local” and “diverse” viewpoints. The so-called Fairness Doctrine may come later.

Ominously, Obama has chosen as his transition chief John Podesta, who is president of the George Soros-funded Center for American Progress (CAP), a liberal think tank that produced a report attacking conservative talk radio. But there is reason to believe the attack that is expected to come from an Obama-controlled Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will not come, at least immediately, in the form of a new push for the Fairness Doctrine.

The attack, which is actually now underway and building, comes in the form of demanding “localism.” This is an effort by “progressives” in various cities to object to conservative talk radio being aired by local radio stations.

GO HERE to read Wes Vernon's entire commentary.

posted by : Left Coast Conservative on November 20, 2008
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November 20, 2008

Joy Behar: 'A lot' of Homeschooled Kids Are 'Demented'

 

"The View" co-host Joy Behar is well on her way to unhinged, if not already there.

Earlier today, NB's Justin McCarthy noted that Behar, in mentioning GOP Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin, said that "we all know that the woman is an airhead."

Michelle Malkin noted this evening that Behar also took an uncalled-for cheap shot at those who are involved in an important and growing alternative not only to the public schools, but also to traditional brick-and-mortar classroom education (video is at link):

Behar show(ed) .... her contempt for both homeschooled students and parents: "A lot of them are demented when they're homeschooled." 

Read article - then please come back and comment!   Behar comments 7 minutes into this video below

 

posted by : Nancy Kennon on November 20, 2008
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November 20, 2008

White House: AMERICA CAN CELEBRATE VICTORY IN IRAQ!

posted by : Nancy Kennon on November 20, 2008
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November 19, 2008

Let Detroit Go Bankrupt

By MITT ROMNEY

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.

I love cars, American cars. I was born in Detroit, the son of an auto chief executive. In 1954, my dad, George Romney, was tapped to run American Motors when its president suddenly died. The company itself was on life support — banks were threatening to deal it a death blow. The stock collapsed. I watched Dad work to turn the company around — and years later at business school, they were still talking about it. From the lessons of that turnaround, and from my own experiences, I have several prescriptions for Detroit’s automakers. Full article HERE

posted by : renee taylor on November 19, 2008
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November 19, 2008

Concealed Carry Permits Go ‘Poof!’ in California

A new Orange County sheriff demonstrates just how precarious the right to carry is in certain states.

In California, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens unveiled a new policy that could cause “dozens, if not hundreds,” of concealed carry permit holders to lose permits issued by the previous sheriff. Did these law-abiding Orange County citizens do anything illegal, immoral, or unethical to cost them their permits?

No, they’ve merely fallen afoul of a sheriff that spent the bulk of her career as a deputy in the Los Angeles County prison system, and who apparently has issues with trusting those citizens she was appointed to serve.

Hutchens’ new policy requires that to get a concealed firearm permit, applicants must prove there is a legitimate threat to their safety and agree to undergo possible psychological, polygraph, or medical testing.

There are just over three million people in Orange County, and just 1,100 concealed carry permits. By way of comparison, Wake County, NC, has a population of more than 787,000 and the sheriff has issued 6,593 valid concealed carry permits. Why the huge discrepancy from one part of the country to another?  Full article HERE

posted by : renee taylor on November 19, 2008
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