The Final Five: May 30, 2013

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Tonight's Crazy Story:
Couple Splits After Wife Adopts 550 Cats
Read the headline...enough said.

Topic One: Obamanomics
IBD analyzes the drop in consumer confidence: "Analysts had predicted the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index would climb to 70 in May. Instead it dropped more than four points to 64.9, the biggest drop since last fall. It's the latest in another round of disappointing numbers. Just a few weeks ago, new jobs came in "unexpectedly" low. And before that, GDP data disappointed. Underperforming economic indicators have been so common under Obama that the only mystery is why the experts keep getting caught off guard. In the case of the Consumer Confidence Index, the current number — bad as it is — doesn't even tell the whole story."

Meanwhile, ratings agencies are warning of another US debt downgrade: "Rating agencies say they need to be convinced that lawmakers have a real plan in the works to reduce the growing debt if the nation is to avert future downgrades, according to a report by The Hill. "If Congress doesn’t put in place a process that assures people that this will be addressed in a real manner . . . then there is no doubt in my mind that our sovereign debt will be downgraded," said Steve Bell, the senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "Markets throughout the world are going to be looking at the action of the United States government."

America's age of austerity is here: "America’s still deep in denial. We prefer happy talk to the truth. No, nobody will get honest about austerity till after the elections. Then it’ll hit hard. Till the elections, nobody else will tell you the truth about what comes with this slowdown: Plan on classic economic austerity. Maybe not austerity as deep as the euro zone’s Spain and Greece. Yet maybe deeper than the 1930s as Nobel economist Paul Krugman writes in his new book, “End This Depression Now.” Yes, America’s already in a depression. Wake up America, to a long bear market, a recession cycle, to austerity where everything slows down, income, jobs, retail, global trade, and market returns."

Time for a Laugh:
"It's not such a great day for fans of the game show "Jeopardy," which is everybody. Alex Trebek says he may retire at the end of the season. Trebek says he wants to spend more time at home, arrogantly correcting his family."
-Craig Ferguson

Topic Two: Wisconsin
In their headline, The New York Times asks "How Did Wisconsin Become the Most Politically Divisive Place in America?" The answer is simple: Wisconsin elected a man who refused to bow to union pressure. When the unions realized they had lost the fight over the bill, they then decided to involve themselves in a smear campaign and force a recall election.

However, Walker is not the only candidate on the ballot. Also facing a statewide recall is Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch. While Walker is starting to pull away from Tom Barrett and is looking safer as the election draws closer, Kleefisch's race is still looking close. A Walker victory with a Kleefisch defeat would do little to influence public policy (barring some unforseen event or an assassination of Walker, which would not be outside the realm of possibility when unions are involved), but it would still be a symbolic victory for the unions that could have consequences within the state.

Finally, The Nation makes this very important point: Scott Walker is human. Yes, Walker may have supported and benefited from recalls in the past, but there is not a person in the world who would be completely fair when it comes to looking at events such as this.

Debt Watch:
$15,713,655,602,953.23
( As of Tuesday, May 29, 2012 )

Change: +$2,054,656,747
Your share as a citizen: $50,253.45
Share per household: $137,554.33
Debt since Obama inauguration: $5,086,778,554,040

Topic Three: Green Fails
This week, we celebrated the anniversary of Obama's praise of Solyndra as an engine of economic growth. It turned out to be more like an engine of taxpayer waste. It was never about the jobs; it was about political payback to Obama's biggest supporters.

The new math of renewable energy: "Suppose you could produce $50 of electricity but it cost you $100 to do so. Would that make any sense? It would if you work at the White House. In a speech at a wind-turbine blade manufacturer in Iowa, President Obama called for extending two sets of subsidies that turn energy economics upside down and force higher costs on consumers and taxpayers. The first extension is for the production tax credit (PTC), which is set to expire at the end of the year. It provides wind-energy producers with a subsidy of about 40 percent of the wholesale cost of electricity. So, when a wind-energy producer sells $50 worth of electricity, Uncle Sam adds another $20 for a total revenue of $70 to the producer. The second extension is for the Advanced Energy Manufacturing Credit—originally funded in President Obama’s “stimulus” bill. This 30 percent credit cuts the cost of $100 worth of equipment to just $70."

Tweet of the Day:
@RBPundit: GST = 750 layoffs. Solyndra = 1100 layoffs and $535 Million in taxpayer money lost. Advantage, Romney. #tcot #p2

Topic Four: Voter ID
Richmond Times-Dispatch takes a look at the ID controversy in Virginia: "Then, as now, they argued that there was little evidence of need for such a measure. It's a fair point — but it cuts both ways. Voter-ID measures have now been on the books for a decade. Where is the evidence of voter suppression? If the law thwarted anyone who should have been able to cast a ballot from doing so, then groups such as the ACLU and the NAACP would have brought them forward, held press conferences, and sued for the violation of voting rights faster than you can say George Wallace. That hasn't happened. The law will still permit individuals without a valid ID to cast a ballot, just like the old one did. However, rather than sign an affidavit that they are who they claim to be, as current law permits, the new law will make the ballot provisional until the voter provides proof. At the same time, it also expands the types of identification accepted. Voters not only can present a Social Security card, driver's license, government ID, or photo ID from a private employer, they now will be able to use a utility bill, paycheck, bank statement, government check, or college student ID card. And, of course, they still can use a voter registration card — such as the new ones being sent out by the state."

A FOX News special exposed the truth about election fraud: "Despite the indictments and convictions, the position of progressives is that election fraud isn't really much of a problem in America. Eric Shawn of Fox News has done more than anyone else on television to expose the truth about election fraud. For years he's reported on it, and now he's come out with an excellent new special: "Stealing Your Vote." The issues Shawn covers include fraudulent absentee ballots, illegal petitions to get candidates on ballots, the Wisconsin recall, non-citizen voting, using the registrations of the dead to vote, ACORN and voter registration fraud, voter ID laws and the Obama crusade against them, and the recent appeal by the NAACP to the UN. There's also a terrific segment on the history of election fraud in America. Shawn is imminently fair and goes after both parties. But the most disturbing segment is on the 2008 election for U.S. Senate in Minnesota where illegal voting by felons robbed Sen. Norm Coleman of reelection. That stolen election gave Democrats their filibuster-proof margin -- and made ObamaCare possible."

You can watch Eric Shawn's video at Dailymotion.

Food for Thought - A Quote from our Founders
"Whenever governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
-Elbridge Gerry

Topic Five: The War on the Church
Jonathan Tobin discusses ObamaCare's impact on religious freedoms: "Religious freedom is not just the right to, as the Times puts it, “preach that contraception is sinful and rail against Mr. Obama for making it more readily available” (though in fact, the Church is not seeking to curtail the availability of contraception to the general public). It is also the right not to have its institutions forced to either pay for or facilitate the receipt of services that run contrary to its principles."

"It bears repeating that one needn’t share the Vatican’s views on contraception to understand that a government dictat that would coerce churches to dispense it is a violation of their religious liberty. Nor would a so-called “compromise” that would maintain the imposition but shift its cost reduce the threat to freedom. But the fact, as the Times points out, that even most Catholics support contraception does not mean the church and those who agree with it should be stripped of their rights. Allowing their institutions to abstain from providing contraception coverage does not make the church a law unto itself or impose its views on others; it merely leaves them alone. Nor does the government’s obligation to advance a “compelling interest” grant it the latitude to violate those rights. Those who wish to receive free contraception don’t have to work for the church. The idea that a fanciful constitutional right to such services should trump religious freedom is the product of a mindset in which all freedoms can be annulled for the sake of some mythical and unproven greater good."

Tomorrow in History
May 31, 1790 - Congress enacts the first copyright statute, The Copyright Act of 1790.

Grab Bag - Interesting and Important Stories to Conclude Your Evening:
Saverin left as a taxpayer, not a traitor

German teen solves 300-year-old riddle posed by Issac Newton

NC Walmart has Veterans removed on Memorial Day

Obama confuses NAACP with NCAA

Is it time for monetary regime change?

Obama isn't learning the right lessons

Indiana homecoming queen, salutatorian stuck in Mexico on visa technicality

Illinois state rep goes ballistic
(NOTE: Content warning for language during the opening 10 seconds. Normally, I would not include this video, but it is nice to see that there is someone who takes his job as a representative seriously.)

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