Help My Classroom Update

I want to thank everyone who has donated to my back-to-school campaign this year so far and give an update.  I've received several very nice donations through Donors Choose and Adopt-my-Classroom and some anonymous angel has pledged a dozen thumb drives via Amazon.

You just can't know how much it means to both me and my students to get this help.  Over the years I've spent thousands of dollars out of my own pocket to buy materials and supplies for my students (what teacher hasn't?).  What I finally learned is that there are kind, generous people out there who are willing to help and who believe in funding education.

So, I'm very grateful!

As we begin school this week, my most pressing needs are below.  I still need about 15 of the Rick Bragg books; and you can still use the Donors Choose link and the Adopt-my Classroom link.  Nothing is too small!  Five dollars, one book, a dozen pencils - we can use it all!  And if you can't donate financially you can absolutely help by sharing this post on your social media - the more people that know we need help, the more likely these kids will get some help!

Asking for a Little Help

Can you believe it's time to go back to school?

One week from today we'll kick off a brand new year.  It's hard to believe the summer is already over!   I've spent most of this summer working on research for a book (I don't want to go too much into detail on that just yet) and then Mr. SIGIS and I took a trip to Iowa to see his family.    It was a very busy and productive summer.

This week, I'm in a very intensive training workshop through NMSI -- that is, the National Math and Science Initiative.  This is a national initiative to raise scores in math and science but, thankfully, we all realize you can't do that without English which is my content area.  Our school was fortunate enough to be selected for the NMSI program and thus my training this week.  

And OH what training!  In some ways, I feel like I've been "doing it wrong" all these years.  I feel more enthusiastic than I have in years about starting a new year.  This training has shown me new techniques and strategies for my kids than I could ever imagined.  I'm so mentally exhausted when I come home, last night I went to bed before dark and my neighbor was still outside mowing his grass.  It's fab!

Let's just say that it hasn't been one of those droning, repetitive in-service workshops where you want to grind your eyes out with a paper clip.  

At any rate, I'm ready to put this training into practice.  You may recall that last year I appealed for help in getting basic supplies for my classroom.  Part of the problem last year was the new curriculum and the need for books.  Our school is low income, inner city, low parental support -- and many of our students don't have the money to go purchase paperback novels. 

Last year, you, my readers, came through in an astounding way.  I was moved to tears almost daily by the

flood of supplies and donations that I received.  Almost daily the front office would call and tell me I had "another box" downstairs.  I put four sets of novels in our library that my students will be able to use again this year!  I got a flood of basic supplies like pens, paper, and notebooks, too. 

Best of all, my kids were so grateful and thrilled when they had crisp new books to read and never had to worry about paper and pens to get their work done.  It was a blessing beyond measure.

This year, my needs are not as great, but I still have needs.  Things like pens, pencils and paper have been consumed and need to be restocked.  

My Creative Writing class needs a text - I'd like to use Rick Bragg's Somebody Told Me as a reader for them for several reasons:  first, he's a Pulitzer prize winning author; second, he is a southern writer, and we live in the south!  And finally, the book is a collection of his articles and series of articles and will enable us to branch out into fabulous discussions and bridge over to readings by other authors that I will bring in.

I need printer ink.  We are limited to 500 copies a month at my school.  Think about that -- I have English II, English IV, and Creative Writing.  Three preps -- so running "a class set" isn't much help.  By the time I've run off my syllabus and a couple of quizzes, I've used all my copies for the first month!  I need to be able to print text passages that my kids can use in close-reading exercises, that they can annotate and mark up; I need to be able to print graphic organizers and current event reading selections; printing is just a must.

My seniors need flash drives:  most of them don't have computers at home or laptops to carry around, so when they work on their Senior Project research papers, they are working from computers at school, at the public library, maybe at home -- they're working from multiple stations.  A flash drive is critical so a student doesn't lose his work.

It may not seem like much to ask a kid to go to Walmart or a dollar store and pick up a spiral notebook, but some of these kids are working two and three jobs just to help keep the electricity on at home.  To them, an eight dollar thumb drive is extravagant; you could feed the family supper on that.

Anyway, I'm again pleading for your help this year.  I've set up a project at Adopt-a-Classroom again where you can donate; I'm also posting my wish items via Amazon below, which you can order and have shipped straight to me at school.  The shipping address for that would be Bossier High School, Attn:  Pat Becker, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA, 71111.  

You can also use my PayPal widget on the top right sidebar.

I'm really excited about the new school year and to use the new strategies and skills I've learned!  I know my kids are going to do great!  We have great kids at our school who are ready to learn and to achieve.  Please consider helping us, if you can.  Nothing is too small -- and my kids are grateful for all the help and support they can get.

Both I and my students are grateful for your help!

 Update:  Thank you Adrienne!  I promise I'll buy thumb drives!  You rock!

Didn't we give up living off Ramen noodles in college?

Over at Hot Air, Ed Morrissey has a post highlighting rising food prices.  This isn't news to anyone who has been in a grocery store lately, but it does seem relevant to point it out  on today, the fifth anniversary of the Porkulus bill.

If you’ve noticed a higher grocery bill in this era of supposedly low inflation, you’re not imagining things. Despite Washington estimates of low consumer inflation over the last few years, the prices of goods at the market are rising rapidly — especially for meat items, which have risen by double digits since 2011. 

I've all but quit buying red meat, and not for health reasons or that I've become a vegetarian: I'm a red meat carnivore, but who in the world can afford a $24 rump roast for Sunday dinner?  Mr. SIGIS bought groceries at the commissary on base last week and paid $4.00 per lb. for ground beef.  A whole chicken runs about $6 now as opposed to about $4 a year ago at my grocery store.  Milk?  About $4.50 a gallon.  Our weekly splurge of ribeyes for the grill is a thing of the past.  Even my own favorite food group, beer, now costs about $2 more a six-pack.

Coincidentally, food stamp use is higher than its ever been, especially among our military.  Via CNN:

Food stamp redemption at military grocers has been rising steadily since the beginning of the recession in 2008. Nearly $104 million worth of food stamps was redeemed at military commissaries in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30.

This graphic tells the story:

Meanwhile, Congress tried to cut military pensions and the Pentagon wants to close base commissaries.

Of course, Obama's gutting of welfare reform including making food stamps easier to obtain, so that could explain part of it; more Americans than ever are on food stamps,  but there's no question that food prices are rising.

What's the answer?  Buy stock in Ramen?  Ed Morrissey again:

That won’t change until two pressures on the economy are reversed: rising costs on business and improvement of chronic joblessness. The latter keeps wages depressed by providing a large labor pool for a relatively small number of net jobs created over the last five years since the beginning of the recovery in June 2009. On average since then, we have created significantly fewer jobs each month than necessary to keep pace with population growth. In large part, the job-creation market has been stifled by extra costs and disincentives to investors and businesses in job-creating expansion and risk-taking. Those same costs, along with relatively high energy costs, get passed along to consumers in higher prices, putting them in the economic vise described in this CBS report.Seems to me that the stimulus has failed and that Obama's policies have done more harm than good.

Marco Rubio, today:

“If you recall five years ago, the notion was that if the government spent all this money — that, by the way, was borrowed— that somehow the economy would begin to grow and create jobs. Well, of course, it clearly failed,” Rubio says in the video, according to POLITICO’s Mike Allen in Playbook. “Five years later, underemployment is still too high, the number of people that have dropped out of the workforce is astounding, unemployment remains stubbornly high and our economy isn’t growing fast enough — proof that massive government spending, particularly debt spending, is not the solution to our economic growth problems.”

Maybe it's time to start living off the land again.

Here in Louisiana it's crawfish season!  (Oh, but they're $8 a pound right now.)

Asking For a Little Help

It's been a busy month at SIGIS.  Steve and I took ten days, visited six states, visited family, drove part of Route 66, saw a Texas Rangers game, celebrated my grandson's first birthday, rode an historic train, visited Reiman Gardens and the Butterfly House at Iowa State University, visited the old Coffeyville Air Field where my dad took flight training in WWII, and walked "Death Alley" where some of the Dalton Gang met their maker.

I didn't do a "Take a Trip..." post because it was just too much although I did post some pictures along the way.  If you missed the one about The Bloody Benders, scroll down for that.

When I returned from vacation I had just about enough time to unpack before I had to report for jury duty.  It only took three days and as much as I griped about it when I got the summons it turned out to be an experience I'm very grateful for.  I learned a lot, I was part of the justice system for a short time, and our judge was a real jewel.  He brought us doughnuts, even!  And at the end,, after the verdict, he came back to dismiss us, gave us some instructions about talking to media and lawyers, and ended with a prayer.  It was a sobering experience.

School starts in about a week for me and I feel rested and ready to go.  I hope that feeling lasts for a while!  We will be fully implementing the new Common Core curriculum in our school this year and regardless of how I feel personally about the federal takeover of curriculum, I will do my job and teach my students what they need to know to be successful.

Whenever you get these new programs, and they come and go with regularity in education, there is never, never funding to go along with them.  For example, for both my sophomores and my seniors I have a whole new novels list from which to choose their reading material.  The seniors list I can probably work with from resources already on hand, but the sophomore list - no way.  We do not have class sets of those novels.  There may be one of the titles that we have a class set for, but it's not one of the better choices in my personal opinion; it's not one that my students would benefit most from.

I have written a grant to get funding to buy class sets of novels but it won't come through for a while even if I get it.  A majority of our students are impoverished and on free/reduced lunch.  For many of them getting basic supplies such as paper and pen is a challenge.  Buying a $10 paperback novel for class is nearly impossible.  So, I've signed up with SOS: Supply Our Schools, to help these kids.  If you click on the new widget in the sidebar you can help us!

Last year I personally spent at least $500 on notebook paper, spiral notebooks, pencils, erasers, dry erase markers, tissues, hand sanitizer, construction paper, markers, copy paper, computer ink, and I even bought a large-print dictionary for a student who just couldn't read the print in a regular dictionary.

Please consider helping us with a donation (click the widget!).

If you'd prefer to donate through my PayPal widget, that's fine too.

Or, you can help us buy ordering from one of the links below, directly from Amazon, and have it shipped to us at Bossier High School, 777 Bearkat Drive, Bossier City, LA  71111.  It should be addressed to the attention of Mrs. Becker (that's me.)

I'm ready for a new and successful school year, and I think my students will be ready.  While I know that locally there are "Stuff the Bus" campaigns that hopefully get supplies in the hands of kids, sometimes kids just don't like to ask.  And I know that parents should be responsible for buying supplies for their kids but the reality is that it just can't happen for some of them.

I, and my students, appreciate any help you feel moved to give.

Update:  A HUGE HUGE Thank You to Bride of Rove for her Smashbook order!  I'm overwhelmed.  Thank you, so much!

Update II:  Thank you SO MUCH to Karen at Pondering Penguin for the composition books!  Your gift will directly help my English students by providing a place for them to write their daily journals.  I appreciate your generosity more than you know!  Thank you!

Remember This Moment

Right now is as good as it's going to get for many years to come.  Remember this moment.  

When the lemmings all start blaming the "obstructionist Republicans" in January for taking us off the fiscal cliff, remember this:

To be fair to the Secretary and the President, we didn’t just put together a bill that included his $2 trillion tax increase – we also added the almost $400 billion in new tax stimulus measures he wanted as well. This bill contained a continuation of the payroll tax holiday, a 10 percent credit for new wages that will go to businesses big and small, and it included a fix to one of the many flawed provisions of Obamacare – an expansion of a tax credit for businesses that no one uses. This proposal reflected exactly what was in the President’s budget and his various submissions to Congress.

That is Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell venting a little frustration as he explains that Harry Reid would not allow Obama's fiscal cliff plan to come up for a vote on the Senate floor.

Apparently, near total capitulation by the Republicans is not enough.

This screen shot from Drudge just about tells it all:

Go.  Let.them.go.  Hurry up, even. 

Bernard Goldberg wrote the most delicious rant about this.  He fully acknowledges that those nasty, obstructionist republicans will be blamed no matter what:

We know that you, the American people, will blame us, the Republican Party if we go over the cliff.  We know you will blame us when we slip into another recession and millions of Americans lose their jobs.  We know that if a giant meteor falls out of the sky and kills a pussy willow in Wyoming you will blame us for that too.  Good thing we no longer care what you think.

There's no question.  Never mind that Obama has increased government spending to unheard of levels.  It's the Republicans fault!  George Bush's fault! 

I swear, they still say that.  They do.

More Goldberg:

 Sure, this will cause a lot of pain and suffering.  Too bad I’ve reached the point where I don’t care anymore.  Barack Obama doesn’t understand how the economy works and neither do the slugs who voted for him.  They deserve each other – and the consequences of their actions.

That's truly where I am with this - just let it go.  We're all going down the tubes together whether we want to or not.  

And it won't matter whose fault it is when it's all over.  They'll still blame the Republicans, of course, but it won't matter.  You can remind them that obstructionist majority leader Harry Reid didn't even have the cajones to bring Obama's plan to the floor, but they won't care.

Just as long as the millionaires those making over $250,000 are taxed to hell and back.

Find a Lifeboat

The fiscal cliff negotiations have left me totally cold.  As far as I'm concerned, let it go.  Just let it go.  Do a complete Thelma and Louise at warp speed and hang on.

This is what America voted for in November - at least, enough to maintain the status quo, anyway. 

On November 6, Americans affirmed their willingness to pay higher taxes, grow government, demonize the successful, and support the 48% who won't or can't work. 

So let them have it. 

All you can do at this point is to find a lifeboat.  Face it: the Titanic is taking on water faster than we can bail it out now, and all you can do is figure out how you can best survive.

It won't be any better in four more years, either.  By then the Democrats, if they haven't already, will have cemented their dependent-voter bloc and the progressive agenda will be irreversible. 

I'm watching many of my conservative blogs gnash their teeth and continue to try and hold the line for conservatism, but I think it's over.  I'm not "disheartened"; it's just the reality we now face. 

You can expect Republicans in Washington to continue to "compromise" and bail on their principles; you will continue to hear people like tax cheat Tim Geithner blame the Republicans for what is about to happen, and you can expect Obama to continue to do nothing in the way of leadership. 

I've been working for the past four years to pay down my debt and make preparations for the economic apocalypse that we now face.  I'm not ready to go into the bunker with the bottled water and canned tuna fish just yet, but I think it's time to start looking for a lifeboat.

We're up to our asses in alligators right now and the worst is yet to come.

The July Jobs Report is a Total Disaster for U.S. Workers

Let's put this July jobs report in perspective.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy supposedly grew 163,000 jobs last month.  Except that's not exactly true.

Rush Limbaugh was on a roll about these numbers yesterday.  He called Obama "a closed-minded economic bigot."  Here's his take:

Sadly, folks, there were 195,000 fewer people employed in this country in July than there were in June. It might have been 172,000 new jobs.  That's even debatable.  But it was a net wash because -- these are numbers from the BLS report.  I'm not making it up.  Obama's Department of Labor's own numbers, 195,000 fewer people employed in the United States in July than there were in June.  We lost jobs.  We also lost more people from the labor force.  The national unemployment rate went up, 8.2 to 8.3%. One-hundred and fifty thousand people simply dropped out of the labor force.  Actually that number is 155,000, which means that this 172,000 new jobs that he's trumpeting are actually a wash, folks.  No net new jobs, 195,000 fewer people employed, 150,000 simply dropped out of the labor force.  That's the pattern. 

If you figure in all the people that have just quit looking for work and have dropped out or gone on disability then our unemployment is closer to 15%.

Ed Morrissey:

July saw a slight move up in U-6, which had been coming down earlier in the year to the mid-14 range.  That measure of un/underemployment has now risen to 15.2%, increasing in both adjusted and unadjusted measures.  It’s the highest rating in this measure since February, and it’s now up more than a full point since April. 

Historically, no sitting president has won re-election with numbers like this.

Chris Cillizza:

Because the July jobs report affirmed the now-certain reality that the unemployment rate won’t drop below eight percent between today and November. And no sitting president since World War II has been re-elected with the unemployment rate above 7.2 percent. 

The numbers are daunting for Obama. The unemployment rate has been above 8 percent for 42 straight months— its longest period ever.

Remember, Obama said he would get unemployment down under 6% if Congress passed the stimulus.  He's quite a long way from that.

James Pethokoukis on the jobs report:

Not only is the 8.3% unemployment rate way above the 5.6% unemployment rate that Team Obama predicted for July 2012 if Congress passed the $800 billion stimulus plan. It’s way above the 6.0% unemployment rate they predicted if no stimulus was passed.

In his remarks yesterday, "the smartest president ever" redefined economic policy as we know it to work with his theory of trickle-up economics:

And keep in mind, we're talking about folks like me going back to the tax rates that existed under Bill Clinton.  If you remember, that was when we created 23 million new jobs, we went from deficits to surplus, and folks at the top did well, too -- because when middle-class families have money in their pockets, they go out and buy that new car, or that new appliance, or that new computer for their kids, or they go out to a restaurant, or, heaven forbid, they take a vacation once in a while.  And that money goes back into the economy, and businesses do well because they've got more customers.

So the rich get richer because the middle class spends money?  And the middle class gets this money where?  Food stamps?  After all, that's Nancy Pelosi's theory.  She explained her food-stamps-as-stimulus theory back in 2010.  That these people are running the country just scares the hell out of me.

Rush Limbaugh again:

Did you catch that?  The money starts with the middle class, and as long as the middle class has money, then they go out and spend it, and that's how the rich get rich.  Wow!  Wow!  Folks at the top did well, too, because when middle-class families have money in their pockets, they go out and buy that new car, that new appliance, or that new computer for their kids when they've got money in their pocket. So we gotta get money into the hands of the middle class.  How we gonna do that?  We're gonna do food stamps.  Trickle up.  So we got a brand-new economic definition here from Mr. Wizard of Smart.  

It's just incredible.  How can the polls even be close?  As Mark Steyn said, "This should not be a close race."

Every number, every statistic, every graph, every calculation you look at shows Obama's ruinous effect on our economy from the explosion of the entitlement state to unemployment and more.

And stop to think for a moment about all the job killing regulations that are to come via the EPA and ObamaCare (for starters).  Think about Taxmageddon coming in January. ObamaCare is already killing jobs.  Think about another four years under Obama's energy policy (gas prices are now more than double what they were when he took office).

In light of all that, if Obama wins in November, we may look back at this jobs report and think these were the good old days.


(Graphic from James Pethokoukis)

The Dependency Agenda

Get Ready For Taxamageddon

I heard a caller on a local radio talk show today say "For the life of me I can't understand why anybody would vote to re-elect Barack Obama!"

I've spent the better part of three years trying to figure out why anybody would vote for him in the first place and I've yet to find a liberal who voted for him that could coherently explain to me why they did.  All I get is mushy-feel-good tripe.

All the news around here is depressing today.  The first thing out of the gate this morning I got word that my insurance will be going up between $50 and $60 a month and the co-pay will be increasing as well.  I guess we all saw that one coming.  The closing line of the memo was a reminder that my paycheck will be less than it was last school year.

I love my job.  I really do.  I love teaching.  But this year we'll begin implementing the Common Core State Standards and a new teacher evaluation system which makes is more than extremely difficult to be scored "highly qualified" and now we'll be getting less money for it.  More pressure, less money.  

It's a condition I guess we all better get used to.  Have you read Grover Norquist's piece in American Spectator today?  It's all about "Taxamageddon" and I wouldn't advise reading it with sharp objects nearby. 

Basically, on January 1, 2013 when the tax cuts lapse, some $500 billion will be added to the nation's tax burden.  That doesn't include the ObamaCare taxes that will begin to kick in:

Of the 20 new taxes or tax hikes in Obamacare, four will take effect January 1, including a 3.8 percent surtax on investment income (on top of existing capital gains and dividend taxes) and a 2.3 percent excise tax on medical devices, such as wheelchairs, pacemakers, and children’s braces.

After outlining a series of tax hikes vile enough to make one want to jump off a cliff (but do it before the death tax goes up!), Norquist closes with this:

Election Day sits only 56 days from a $500 billion tax hike, and the only way to stop it is to re-elect a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, add at least four Republicans to the Senate, and install Mitt Romney in the White House. Then, through reconciliation, the House and Senate can extend the lapsing tax cuts for one year, enough time to pass a real revenue-neutral, Reagan-style tax reform, like the one outlined by Rep. Paul Ryan, which drops the personal and corporate income tax rates to 25 percent. 

A vote for Obama is a vote for an immediate $500 billion tax hike and the long term continuation of Obama’s downward path toward the fate of Europe.

Which brings me back to the original question.  Why would anybody in their right mind vote for this guy?

Here is a liberal's take on Taxamageddon:

The fact is, once one rips the scales from one's eyes (the scales inserted by the likes of Grover Norquist) one realizes the expiry of the Bush tax cuts especially will lead to a new era of growth. Whatever minor immediate dip in GDP occurs, will be more than corrected for by higher productivity, more jobs and more investments....in labor, not just speculative capital. 

Said liberal babbles on about "al-Qaeda phantoms" and "useless wars" before concluding that the Laffer curve is nonsense and so is a vote for Romney.

The Heritage Foundation has a page dedicated to determining how Taxamageddon will affect you and says:

Taxmageddon falls primarily on middle- and low-income Americans. That’s because, contrary to the President’s rhetoric about “the wealthiest Americans,” 60 percent of the Bush tax cuts went to middle- and low-income taxpayers. The expiration of the patch on the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) will cause these taxpayers to pay a tax that was never supposed to hit them, and the expiration of the payroll tax cut is a tax hike almost exclusively on middle- and low-income families.

It's all quite depressing.

Read Norquist's piece if you dare.

And vote Romney.

(Graphic via Heritage Foundation)

We've Moved Way Past "Hammock"

James Pethokoukis has six charts that ought to scare you to death.

I heard Allen West say the other day that welfare was meant to be a safety net, not a hammock.  According to these charts, it's not only become a hammock but a TempurPedic mattress.

This chart shows the explosion of the entitlement state:

Look at the other charts and keep in mind, this is BEFORE Obamacare hits.

(H/T:  Memeorandum)

"Doing Fine"

Gun makers, that is:

Gun manufacturing is the one private-sector industry “doing fine” on Mr. Obama’s watch. Sturm, Ruger & Co. sold 1 million firearms in the first quarter of 2012 - an amazing 50 percent increase from the first quarter of 2011. The jump was so steep that the company stopped accepting orders from March to May to catch up with demand for its products. 

Last month, Smith & Wesson announced a firearm-order backlog of approximately $439 million by the end of April, up 135 percent from the same quarter in 2011. Sales in that period were up 28 percent from 2011 and 14 percent over its own predictions to investors. NSSF estimates the industry is responsible for approximately 180,000 jobs and has an annual impact on the U.S. economy of $28 billion.

Shocker.

While Time attributes the boon partially to zombies (no, really), it is also noted that it could have something to do with the upcoming election:

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Olin’s ammunition sales have risen strongly during the first quarter of 2012, increasing 8% overall and 13% among civilians. During an April conference call with analysts, Olin’s CEO said the increase in sales “may be related to the election.”

What do you think?  Are you stocking up on ammo?

At least some portion of the economy is booming.

Stephen King's Juvenile, Profanity Laced Op Ed Misses the Point

Stephen King has stepped off the rails and is now an economist.  In a juvenile, profanity laden, editorial for The Daily Beast, King demands that the rich, himself included, be compelled to pay more taxes.  Mr. King spends as much time insulting Chris Christie in the piece (fat jokes are pretty juvenile if you ask me) as he does advocating higher taxes for the rich.

Blasting Mitt Romney for refusing to apologize for being rich, King writes:

 I don’t want you to apologize for being rich; I want you to acknowledge that in America, we all should have to pay our fair share. That our civics classes never taught us that being American means that—sorry, kiddies—you’re on your own. That those who have received much must be obligated to pay—not to give, not to “cut a check and shut up,” in Governor Christie’s words, but to pay—in the same proportion. That’s called stepping up and not whining about it. That’s called patriotism, a word the Tea Partiers love to throw around as long as it doesn’t cost their beloved rich folks any money.

King, and other liberals like him, fail to ever recognize or acknowledge that what we have is a spending problem.  Let's address that little problem before we start hammering the top ten percent for more dough.  


Revisit this article from the Wall Street Journal a year ago which points out that the top one percent pay 38% of the taxes in this country.  Nearly half of the American population pay no income taxes whatsoever.  You want to talk about paying your "fair share"?  What's "fair" about that?


King points out that the uber-wealthy voluntarily donate millions each year (himself included) but fails to address the issue of Apple shaving billions off their tax bill by taking advantage of legal loopholes and funneling their dough overseas.  Their tax bill is about 9.8%.  Not bad.  Paying their "fair share," are they, Mr. King?  


In truth, if the rich were taxed at 100% they wouldn't be able to cover the grand entitlements expansion that Obama has saddled us and the next generation with, and that is, as the Wall Street Journal points out, BEFORE Obamacare kicks. in. 


It seems to me that King's (and others like him) criticism is misguided. Instead of taxing the rich even more we should expand the tax base - create more tax payers. Get more people paying into the system. Creating jobs would create more tax payers. 


 One of the biggest problems with the Obama administration is that it kills jobs. Do we need a list? Start with the Keystone pipeline. Energy crushing EPA regulations have shut down coal fired power plants and cost jobs. The Gulf moratorium cost countless jobs and not just in the drilling sector but on land too in all those businesses that cater to and support the drilling industry. Need I go on? 


 It doesn't take a rocket scientist (oh and we killed those jobs too at NASA) to figure out that businesses aren't hiring because of the crushing Obamacare mandates coming down the pike. If you keep an employee at part-time you won't have to pay for his hip replacement later. 


 When did it become a crime to be rich in America, anyway? Instead of falling into Obama's class warfare rhetoric,  Mr. King should stick to his writing career. Then he can make more money and pay more taxes. 


 (Graphic from Heritage) 


 (H/T: Memeorandum)

A Sad Loss to Front Street: The Book Merchant Has Closed Its Doors

It's the end of an era on Front Street in Natchitoches.  At least, it seems like that to me.

The Book Merchant has closed its doors.

When we tried to visit the shop this week all we found was a locked door, an empty shop, and a card taped on the door by J. Michael Kinny, "If you need me..." and his phone number.  No more shop cats sleeping in the clever window displays.  No more Princess slipping through traffic on Front Street to do whatever it is cats do on the outside.  No more smiling J. Michael with a bright greeting and soft jazz playing in the background.

Louisiana freelance writer Angie Dilmore did a nice write up last year on The Book Merchant and J. Michael here in which he chronicles his struggle to stay competitive.   The photo credit of J. Michael (above left) belongs to her.

Independent booksellers are having a rough time hanging on and keeping the doors open in this age of internet sellers and e-books.  It hasn't been the evil "big box stores" after all that have challenged the indy; it has been the e-book.  The closing of Borders books was seen by some as an opportunity for the independents to have a renaissance.

Yet last year Shreveport lost its last independent bookseller, Tower Books.  We still have some used book stores; some big box stores are hanging on - we have Books a Million in Bossier and Barnes and Noble in Shreveport.  To find (and support) and independent bookseller you'll have to drive to Grand Cane for the closest one:

That would be Vanessa Efferson's The Raven bookstore.  Vanessa stays competitive by offering books of local  interest, having book signings, and by having an area with tables where you can sit and sip Starbucks coffee while you browse or read.  There are also book clubs open for your participation.  Vanessa stocks various gift items, first editions, and other oddities to catch your eye.  Like J. Michael Kinny, Vanessa is friendly, personable, and remembers everyone who comes in.

In February 2011 Ted Gregory of The Chicago Tribune did a story on independent booksellers:

In fact, the survival of the independent bookstore may reflect a changing consumer mindset and serve as a metaphor for what it takes to succeed today in business, important considerations as the country limps out of its worst economic recession in 70 years.

"They got through their own valley of death," said Scott Lubeck, executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, a trade association based in New York City.

Lubeck, like other experts, said the number of independents that disappeared in the last 20 years included many hobbyists. But the decline has "absolutely" leveled off in recent years, he said.

"I see many, many independent booksellers," Lubeck said, "and I think they're going to continue to thrive. There's no question about it: The bookstore is still the most powerful instrument to connect a reader with a book."

I'm as guilty as anyone when it comes to ordering from Amazon and other online sellers.  It's just convenient and cheap.  But I also make it a point to visit the indies whenever I can and support them.  I bought something from The Book Merchant nearly every single time I visited just to show support.  My meager purchases alone would never have been enough to keep him in business, but it was something.  Ditto with The Raven.  It's important to support these local businesses.   Plus, at The Book Merchant I always had the added benefit of petting one of the shop cats (when he wasn't asleep in the window).

The website Indie Bound points out the advantages of buying local which includes benefits to the economy, the environment and the community.

To find an independent bookshop near you, go here.

Looking through the glass door into the empty Book Merchant store brought to my mind that scene in "You've Got Mail" when Kathleen turned out the lights and locked up the empty shop for the last time, turning the "Open" sign to "Closed" and taking the bell off the door with her as she walked away into the night.

When "On Your Own" Meant Freedom and Liberty

I've been stewing over this Obama speech since last Friday.  Did you see (or hear) this?



In a speech in Vermont, The Great Uniter takes a sharply partisan turn toward Republicans.  He sounds defensive, doesn't he?  Is he worried about something?

This is the part that just slays me:

"You know, if you're out of work, can't find a job, tough luck; you're on your own. If you don't have healthcare, that's your problem; you're on your own. If you're born into poverty, lift yourself up out of your own -- with your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots; you're on your own," Obama said in remarks before a cheering crowd in Burlington, Vt. "Hey, they believe that's how America has advanced. That's the cramped, narrow conception they have of liberty."

Wow.  Just wow.  Clearly the man has no concept of economics or of what made America great.  We did not become the greatest country in the world by cradle to grave handouts or by massive expansion of the welfare state.  Obamacare alone created yet another massive entitlement system on top of the expansion of food stamps and extensions of unemployment benefits Obama has enacted.

Republicans do not believe "you're on your own."   I'd like to see his research on conservative charitable giving.  Healthcare?  Charity hospitals and clinics abound throughout the United States.

This is the part that got me: the insinuation that if you're born into poverty the only way you can get out is by some government handout.  Think of all the people born into poverty through the decades, since the beginning of America even, who had nothing yet worked hard, studied hard, and found a way to succeed.  THAT'S what makes America great is that the opportunity is there; the grit and determination of the individual to make something of himself makes the difference.

What pride is there in doing nothing but taking government handouts?

Obama mocks the way that America has advanced?  He says we have a "narrow conception...of liberty"?

Liberty is when the government leaves us alone; when it does the job the founders enumerated and no more.

Later in the day Obama said in another speech:

"I hear politicians talking about values in an election year," he said. "Let me tell you about values. Hard work, personal responsibility -- those are values. But looking out for one another, that's a value. The idea we're all in this together, I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper, that's a value."

He is confusing the idea of "looking out for one another" with unconstitutional mandates and government handouts. He's confusing it with cradle to grave handouts and entitlements.  He's confusing it with creating a society dependent on the federal government for its every need and whim while wrecking innovation and small business.   Let churches, neighbors, and families look out for one another.    


If Obama is truly his "brother's keeper," somebody ought to give him the number to his brother's hut in Kenya and maybe he'll leave me alone and let me worry about my own brother.


I agree with him on one thing.  Of the upcoming election, Obama said:

"I think it's going to be a clarifying election about who we are and what we stand for."

He's got that right.

Soggy Sunday Loose Thoughts and Links

We've been under a long, soaking rain for the past couple of days which has actually been nice given that we had a terrible drought last summer from which we still haven't fully recovered.  I'm roasting a chicken for dinner, the dogs are curled up sleeping inside, and Mr. SIGIS is watching "Storage Wars" and spring training baseball.

Back in September I bought a Dell Streak and have spent the ensuing months tweaking, adjusting and experimenting with it trying to convince myself that it's just as good as an iPad.  Even though Android has lots of apps in their Marketplace, I've not been as happy with them as with the apps on my iPhone.  However, I use the tablet primarily as a reader and so when I finally found the Pulse app, my affection for my Streak has improved.  The larger screen of the tablet makes reading my favorite blogs and sites much easier than on the iPhone.

Pulse enables me to read a variety of periodicals and it gives me the option to select sites from my Google reader to put into the feed.  My Streak and I are getting along better now and while it's not exactly an iPad, it'll do for what I want it for.  Anyway, that's what I've been playing with this morning: updating my Google reader subscriptions and adding them to Pulse.

Some links from my blog surfing:

Don Surber ponders the viability of Rick Santorum:

Santorum has no money and no organization. He’s about as much an heir to Ronald Reagan’s political legacy as Ron Reagan Jr. is. As a candidate, the original Reagan was more than just a good-looking guy with an upbeat outlook and optimistic message for America. Ronald Reagan was a CEO. Over the years, he had proved himself to people inside and outside politics, enough so that when he ran for president in 1980, he had an organization.

What does Santorum have? He can barely put together a partial slate of delegates.

I'm guessing Don is going for Mitt Romney, then.  It's just dismal.  I'm sick of the Republicans eating their own throughout this campaign and have been disheartened about it for some time now.  I'm really tired of picking the lesser of two evils when I vote.  I want to vote for someone I'm excited about.  Meh.

William Teach is sure to get some liberal women fired up with this one:

For all their talking of empowerment and being their own woman, liberal women sure do seem to like being treated as incapable of using their own thoughts and taking care of themselves, and instead expect to be treated as morons and a voting block, taken care of by a man, or, well, if we’re talking liberal men, a metrosexual.

He is, of course, referring to Team Obama's strategy to appeal to women as a voter block as reported by the New York Times today.  Just don't call them "babe."

Speaking of liberals, Professor Jacobson has a new bumper sticker photo.

Bread Upon the Waters reports on a prayer vigil being organized by Team Obama for the purpose of shaping public opinion on the ObamaCare law prior to the Supreme Court consideration of the case:

This inquiring mind wants to know: Will open displays of the cross and other religious symbols be permitted in the public square at Obama's event, unlike the religious symbols at Georgetown that were covered as a condition of Obama speaking there?....

....Sadly, in the eyes of this administration, prayers and acknowledgements of the Divine are political tools.

Slightly hypocritical, I'd say.

Bride of Rove is preparing for the worst:

Think of it like the Zombie Apocalypse. My husband has been selling off things like the golf cart and boat parts and other toys so he can buy guns because, he says, they only way to stop stupid is with bullets. We hope it doesn’t come to that, but, honestly? It’s already at the gates and spreading. I did my part and bought a case of Spam and a huge bag of rice. I think we’re good. Because if and when Obama wins in November? The economy is only going to get worse. On the up side, I think Obama may be planning to start World War III this summer via Israel and Iran so … well … applying distopian survival theory, we could crawl our way out of this after all, if we survive it.

It's a depressing post but one you should probably read.  Mr. Bride of Rove is simply convinced that Obama will win in November.   If he does you can only blame the Republicans for leaving us with this sorry field of candidates.  I'm going to buy a case of Spam, too, I guess.  A truckload.  Because, BoR is right - if Obama wins, we're done for.  For more on this, see Doug Ross.

On the local front, in Jindal watch, C.B. Forgotston laments the decline of the first amendment in Louisiana as he reports on the firing by Jindal of a state employee for expressing her views in legislative testimony.  American Press has an editorial today about the firing:

On Tuesday, Martha Manuel, executive director of the Governor’s Office of Elderly Affairs, testified before the House Appropriations Committee that the governor’s plan to shift her offices to the state Department of Health and Hospitals would not be in the best interest of elderly residents.
She said Jindal never consulted her about his plan and only learned about it when she saw the office’s budget had been moved in the governor’s budget proposal.

By Wednesday morning, Manuel was unemployed, unceremoniously fired via a phone call from Tammy Woods, Jindal’s community programs director.  Asked later that day about the termination, Jindal said he had decided to go in a different direction.  Bottom line: Manuel, who was appointed to the position by Jindal in February, 2011 and made $88,587, is out of a job.

All appointees like Manuel serve at the pleasure of the governor. It’s always been that way in Louisiana and always will be. But her ouster on the eve of the legislative session’s opening sends a chilling message — dissenting opinions by Jindal’s department heads and undersecretaries will not be tolerated.

This is interesting and we'll probably be hearing more about this in the days to come.  I suspect there is more there.


The thunder is rumbling across the sky and the world outside my door is gray and inundated with water.  Tornado watches and flash flood warnings are all out.  The chicken is about roasted so I'm off to tend to that.  Enjoy your Sunday.

NYT: Black Friday Shoppers Forced To Go Out in the Dark of Night for Deals While Idle Rich Stay Home

If one is to believe the New York Times, all you Black Friday shoppers out there are miserable, poor underlings forced to leave the comfort of your Thanksgiving tables and stand in line at WalMart in the dark of night with a passel of kids in tow because you can't afford a babysitter.

Meanwhile, the idle rich never leave the comfort of their warm, comfy homes simply because they don't need to do all that:

Budget-minded shoppers will be racing for bargains at ever-earlier hours while the rich mostly will not be bothering to leave home.

Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Best Buy and Target will start their Black Friday sales earlier than ever — at 9 and 10 p.m. in some instances — with dirt-cheap offers intended to secure their customers’ limited dollars. A half a day later, on Friday morning, higher-end stores like Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nordstrom will open with only a sprinkling of special sales. 

Is The Times suggesting that retailers are sacrificing profits to help the lowly, unemployed shopper?

The low-end and midrange retailers are risking low margins as they cut prices to attract shoppers, while executives at luxury stores say that they are actually able to sell more at full price than in recent boom years. 

The Times misses the point that stores are opening earlier and earlier, not so much because people have fewer dollars and they're just feeling benevolent, but because they're trying to scoop each other.  

It's less of an altruistic move on the part of the big box store than a profit hugging move by savvy retailers.

And those damned rich people!  They can stay home and order their cashmere sweaters while tucked under their down comforters using their iPads and their American Express cards!

Meanwhile, many affluent shoppers will avoid the scene altogether, he said. “The women who are shopping the fourth floor at Saks are not Black Friday shoppers,” he said.

The Times also misses the point that a lot of those Black Friday shoppers actually enjoy the "sport" of it:

“Those in a more modest income situation are the people who are going to the Wal-Marts and the Best Buys and the Targets at 8, 9, 10, 11 p.m. with little kids in tow because they can’t afford a baby sitter,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultant firm. “It’s a very unpleasant shopping experience, frankly, for a lot of people.” 

 I know a gal who gets together with her girlfriends and they comb the ads, plot their stops, and fan out.  They aren't miserable, poor shoppers having to suffer the indignities of WalMart at midnight while dragging kids behind them.  They just like the thrill of the chase.

The Times is simply adding fuel to the OWS fire.  The evil, idle rich get to sit home on Black Friday eating bon bons and tallying up their money market accounts while the unwashed masses sit in pup tents in front of a Best Buy in the drizzling rain.

Oh!  The unfairness of it all!


(Photo:  Henrietta Widsmith/The Shreveport Times)

(More at Memeorandum)

Telling

You know that old cliche about a picture saying a thousand words?  How about this picture?

Staggering.

Story here.

We Can't Wait!, Or.... Can We?

In caving to environmentalists and political appeasement, Obama not only lost an estimated 20,000 jobs but now the Prime Minister of Canada has a different plan for his oil:

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Sunday that he was looking at exporting more oil to China after the United States delayed a decision on a controversial pipeline.

In a clearly political move, Obama has "kicked the can down the road," as they say, and hopes that he can at least get the green vote next year.

Apparently adding jobs and energy stability to America isn't part of his "We Can't Wait" campaign.

Informal and Unscientific SIGIS Poll

So who is going to watch Obama's speech Thursday?  Several Republican aren't.

If you ARE going to watch, why?  I mean, I'll probably watch so I can blog about it and you won't have to suffer through it.  But, do you expect to hear anything new from him?  What are you anticipating he will say?  More of the same? 

Exit question:  What will his speech to do the markets on Friday?

"We can always print more money!"

Is Eugene Robinson serious?  Or is he just joshin' with us?  Pulling our chain?

And no, I can't join the "we're all at fault" chorus. Absent the threat of willful default, a downgrade would be unjustified and absurd. And history will note that it was House Republicans who issued that threat.  There is no plausible scenario under which the U.S. would be unable to service its debt. If political gridlock were to persist, our government would be able to pay bondholders with a combination of tax revenues and funds raised by selling more Treasury bills.

And in the final analysis, as Alan Greenspan noted Sunday on "Meet the Press," the U.S. "can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that."

I know this kind of talk is horrifying to Ron Paul and others who believe we should be walking around with our pockets full of doubloons, but most of us find paper money more convenient.

Really, it's just such talk that makes rating agencies look askance at us.  Print more money? 

Is he trippin'?!