Get Your Exemption Card Here!!

Rule 4: Make opponents live up to their own book of rules. “You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
Rule 5: Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.
So it’s time for a little something this president understands, Quid Pro Quo.

“This card a tangible reminder that Obama has deliberately broken his central campaign promise not to raise any form of taxes on Americans earning less than $250,000. The last President to break his tax pledge – Bush 41 – served only one term.” – Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform


You may have noticed that President Obama has broken his central campaign promise – a “firm pledge” that Americans making less than $250,000 would not see “any form of tax increase.” He first broke this pledge sixteen days into his presidency when he signed a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco. And Obamacare contains 21 tax increases – several of which violate his “firm pledge”.
To protect you from these tax hikes, Americans for Tax Reform presents the “Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card”. The card fits neatly in your wallet and contains a list of the tax hikes signed into law by President Obama that violate his tax pledge, as well as a few other taxes that have been threatened: a European-style Value-Added Tax, Cap and Trade taxes, and even a federal soda tax.
Fill out the form below to get your Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card
How to use the card:
Step 1: Present the card to merchants, employers, and tax authorities.
Step 2: If challenged, pleasantly ask: “Are you calling President Obama a liar?”

“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”
–Candidate Barack Obama, Sept. 12, 2008
“If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.”

Read more: https://www.atr.org/obama-tax-hike-exemption-card-a5140##ixzz0sLFjN4tF
TheTax on Indoor Tanning Services takes effect July 1, 2010: This provision of Obamacare imposes a new 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons.  The tax was tucked into the bill behind closed doors at the last minute, replacing the previous “Bo-Tax” – a proposed tax on plastic surgery.  The 30 million Americans who visit tanning facilities are getting a lesson in the petty, nanny-state nature of Obamacare – every time they walk through the door.  Not to mention the business owners and employees who are threatened by the tax.  (Page 373 of Manager’s amendment/$2.7 billion)
The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: Thanks to Obamacare, Americans will no longer be able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin).  (Page 1997/Sec. 9003/$5 billion)
The “Special Needs Kids Tax” takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit).  There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.  There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education.  Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year.  Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education.  (Page 1999/Sec. 9005/$14 billion)
The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike takes effect Jan. 1, 2011: This provision of Obamacare increases the additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent.  (Page 1998/Sec. 9004/$1.3 billion)
TheMedical Itemized Deductions Cap takes effect Jan. 1, 2013: Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction if the total cost if the expenses reduces the filer’s income by 7.5%.  This provision of Obamacare imposes a threshold of 10%.  This new tax will most adversely affect early retirees and the catastrophically ill.  (Page 2034/Sec. 9013/$15.2 billion)
The Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax takes effect Jan. 1, 2014: Anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following (page 71 of manager’s amendment updates Reid bill): (Page 324/Sec. 1501)

	Single	2 People	3+ People
2014	$95/1.0% AGI	$190/1.0% AGI	$285/1.0% AGI
2015	$325/2.0% AGI	$650/2.0% AGI	$975/2.0% AGI
2016+	$695/2.5% AGI	$1390/2.0% AGI	$2085/2.5%/AGI

The Obamacare Medical Prosthetics and Devices Tax took effect in January of 2010:
This Obamacare tax raises the price of all medical prosthetic devices, such as pacemakers and artificial limbs. Consumers of these devices will end up paying more for these life-saving items.  ($20 billion)
The Obama Tobacco Tax Hike took effect April 1, 2009
Obama first broke his tax pledge sixteen days into his presidency when he signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco.  At that time, Obama was rightly called out by Calvin Woodward of the Associated Press in a piece titled “Promises, Promises: Obama Tax Pledge Up in Smoke” Use your Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card – or else be prepared to pony up an extra 62 cents per pack of cigarettes.
Potential Obama Tax Hike to Watch Out For:  A Federal Soda Tax
In an interview with Men’s Health published in September of 2009, President Obama said that a tax on soda and sugar-laden beverages was “an idea that we should be exploring.”  So, keep your Obama Tax Hike Exemption Card handy at all times!  With this President, you never know when the other shoe will drop!

And we haven’t included the Bank Tax (that you’ll end up paying)  in the now troubled, but ultimately will pass-I believe-Financial Reform Bill.
Then we Have the Cap & Trade Bill with it’s 19th Century outrage for the Industrial Revolution which will now be the “We Hate BP” bill.
The 2011 Tax increase (previously outlined) in my blog “2011“
The whole salt thing and what about taxing foods that are bad for you?
The moratorium on drilling that the President is fighting, so gas prices can skyrocket and INCREASE our dependency on foreign Oil because all the 60′s pie-in-sky bovine fecal matter will not change reality.
So you have to use the card as a discount for that $7.00 gas you may get saddled with.
So you may need multiple copies!

Set Your TV on Spin!

I’m so glad I will be working hard to pay liberals need to spend and tax tonight instead of having the option to watch Obama’s ‘Kick ass’ spin that should knock the planet off it’s axis.

Not only shouldn’t our global messiah be expected to plug the damn hole — he’s not Superman, people! — but evidently he shouldn’t be expected to find out if there’s any containment boom sitting in a warehouse somewhere {Maine} waiting to be used either. What he’s supposed to do, apparently, is go around reminding people why he’s really not to blame. I’ll say this for him: He’s awfully good at that, at least.
Obama on the spill:“Even though I am President of the United States my powers are not limitless,” Obama said last Friday at Camardelle’s Live Bait and Boiled Seafood, “So I can’t dive down there and plug the hole. I can’t suck it up with a straw. All I can do is make sure that I put honest, hardworking, smart people in place.”
So that’s why he refused the Dutch offer of oil skimmers 3 days after the incident!
Why people who have technology to deal with the spill are being given a deaf ear.
Because he’s doing everything he can to make it not his fault that he’s not doing enough to convince people he has no blame for being unconcerned, really, about it.
So we get the Campaign Speech tonight. Not leadership.
He’s worried about the politics. And after nearly 2 months, now he wants to “kick ass” because the politics is kicking his ass. That’s why he’s now “engaged”.
The White House is the one that released the video of the above meeting, after all!
It’s a PR stunt. Nothing more.
And tonight is no different.
The bottom line: Oil Week in Washington — complete with CEO testimony, a presidential address to the nation and the release of damaging documents about BP’s safety record — may represent a turning point in the way the public views the domestic oil industry if Waxman and the White House succeed in their efforts. Longtime environmentalists like Waxman see the oil spill crisis as their moment to put the industry on its heels after decades of having its way on Capitol Hill — much like Waxman did with the tobacco industry in the 1990s.
President Barack Obama is expected to challenge lawmakers to complete climate change legislation in his first address from the Oval Office Tuesday night — right after evening newscasts featuring oil company executives defending their businesses and safety standards.
While Markey’s global warming subcommittee is the opening venue, Waxman has ensured that he will be a dominant force in the oil spill investigation and the planned legislative response. Another of Waxman’s panels, the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, will bear down on BP CEO Tony Hayward on Thursday.
Waxman has been assiduously building his case against Big Oil for years, and now he has the documents and the forum to carry on his mission. On Monday, Waxman released a scathing 14-page letter to Hayward that outlined his charge that BP sacrificed safety for profit and cut corners on drilling procedures.
Industry and government sources expect that the other oil company executives — including those from Exxon, Conoco and Chevron — will echo the charge that BP cut corners, further isolating the company at the center of the oil spill. The strategy for these other companies is to help Waxman throw BP down the well in hopes of appeasing him. (Politico)
The Angry Environmentalist Political Gods demand a Sacrifice!
Then they will come after you later.
Everyone is looking forward to President Obama’s speech about the Gulf of Mexico. After all, he promised that he was taking in information from experts throughout the land in order to determine, in his words, “whose ass to kick.”
However it comes across from the presidential lectern on Tuesday night or from the media analysis afterwards, the Gulf of Mexico spin will direct our attention away from a matter that has more of an impact on how the nation is riding along under this administration.
The latest retail numbers came back from May, indicating that they are down over 1%. With the continued unemployment rate hovering around 10% (even after the addition of some 400,000 temporary consensus position with the federal government) and the failure of the private sector to pick up with job creation, the nation’s dizzying focus on President Obama’s butt-kicking ventures with BP pale in comparison with the butt-kicking endeavors his administration should be undertaking to get this economy going. After a massive stimulus package, bank bailouts (started under President Bush), and government interference that included the presidential firing of a corporate CEO, not much is changing for Americans that are growing weary and finding their economic options dwindling without a boom in the economy or a change in Washington this fall.
Through both unplanned (e.g., the BP oil spill) and planned (e.g., the sudden prioritization of health care reform in 2009-2010 to the top of legislative importance) issues, the Obama Administration has continued to remain distracted, failing to keep focus on the top issue that put him into the White House after the 2008 election. Many forget that Senator John McCain was leading the national polls in early September – even with swing states such as Virginia leading towards Mr. Obama – until the economic crisis of 2008 hit America. Health care reform, the wars overseas, and even a shaky set of Sarah Palin interviews could not catapult the Obama Candidacy to comfortable leads in the polls. Each became a cementing factor only after the economic crisis broke public perception and mood Mr. Obama’s way.
Now, President Obama wades through oil slicks in the Gulf and the muck of a stagnant economy that does not show signs of recovery for “Main Street” – the group of Americans he vowed to put before the “Wall Street fat-cats” that, by the way, have received billions and recovered since the initial crisis some 2 years ago. With the choice of reporting on the blotched efforts of an oil corporation whose dereliction of duty is well-documented versus answering to the failures of his administration to improve the lives of everyday Americans economically, the president has chosen the former. It is more believable – and thus easier for the White House – to support President Obama as he details the storyline of the BP spill and the administration’s efforts henceforth than it is to allow President Obama, Robert Gibbs, and others within the administration to continue propagating the myth of a “jobless recovery” with the latest unemployment numbers and retail figures out from May noting otherwise for America’s economy.
The spin from the BP and administration actions around the oil spill in the Gulf may make the nation dizzy, but the more important spin is the one that has been given for some time now: namely, the talk of this continued “economic recovery” in the midst of economic disappointing numbers. That spin should make America sick. What we are finding out is that the more that we follow this supposed butt-kicking ride with the president, the more that everyday Americans are feeling light-headed, queasy, and uncertain of continuing on this downhill ride much longer.(Daily Caller).
The state and local grants in Porkulus acted as a federal bailout package for state bureaucrats, who otherwise may have lost their jobs as state and local governments cut spending in order to balance budgets. The White House sold this as rescues of teachers and first responders, but as a series of local newspapers reported, those jobs were never in jeopardy. The money that got added to those budget items got transferred elsewhere to save less politically sensitive bureaucrats elsewhere, while the Obama administration claimed to have saved millions of jobs through these bailout transfers.
Of course, that only works for a single budget year, and the same structural cost issues that existed over the last year continue today, thanks to the federal bailout. What’s the Obama administration answer for that? Another bailout:

President Obama urged reluctant lawmakers Saturday to quickly approve nearly $50 billion in emergency aid to state and local governments, saying the money is needed to avoid “massive layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters” and to support the still-fragile economic recovery.
In a letter to congressional leaders, Obama defended last year’s huge economic stimulus package, saying it helped break the economy’s free fall, but argued that more spending is urgent and unavoidable. “We must take these emergency measures,” he wrote in an appeal aimed primarily at members of his own party. …
With the letter, however, Obama makes a direct and unequivocal case for additional “targeted investments,” including state aid and several less-expensive initiatives aimed at assisting small businesses. He specifically calls for passage of the measure that is before the Senate, which would extend unemployment benefits and offer states additional aid, increasing deficits by nearly $80 billion over the next decade.
Obama asks lawmakers to be patient on the deficit, noting that a special commission is at work on a comprehensive deficit-reduction plan.

That’s a laugh. Obama wants people to believe he’s serious about deficit reform, and so he’s proposing making the deficit worse until someone forces him to stop spending. It’s the action of an addict. I can stop spending any time I want. I just don’t want to do it right now.
Besides, the jobs targeted by these bloc-grant bailouts are the exact same ones claimed by the White House last year. When do people in Minnesota get to stop bailing out California bureaucrats? Shouldn’t the states themselves start working on making rational judgments about the size and sustainability of their own governments? If it takes Minnesota money to float California, and Texas money to float Minnesota, then there is no accountability to the citizens of a state at all. It’s a shell game and nothing more.
And this is all money just going down a rathole anyway. The bailout last year didn’t solve the problem, but it did add over a hundred billion dollars to the national debt. Obama now proposes to send $50 billion more in imaginary money after bad imaginary money to, once again, avoid tough economic choices by kicking the can down the road at the expense of future generations. It’s becoming the theme of his presidency, which is profligate irresponsibility combined with an utter lack of strategic comprehensive growth policies.
John Hinderaker agrees, and points out the only real beneficiary of this bailout:

The original “stimulus” bill was all about keeping state and local government spending, and the salaries it supports, sky-high. It doesn’t appear that President Obama has a game plan to help the economy, other than continuing to feed the already-bloated public sector. This is consistent with his apparently complete ignorance of basic principles of economics. Democrats in Congress, however, can see the writing on the wall. It will be interesting to see whether they are willing to brave voter wrath by stimulating the public sector still further.

This is a $50 billion bailout to Big Labor — the SEIU, AFSCME, and the NEA.
But don’t worry, with Teleprompter One’s help, he’ll look “presidential” and he’ll be forceful and The Ministry of Truth will be gushing all over him with more praise that if you could see if physically it would leak more than the Deep Water Horizon.
Meanwhile, nothing will have actually been done.
Unemployment will still be near 10%.
There will be more bailouts of his base.
More government control of everything and everybody.
And more people will struggle when the Democrats pass their Cap & Trade monster.
But at least he’ll look “presidential”.
Just ask the Ministry of Truth.

Crying Laughable

When I saw this I had to laugh.President Barack Obama is telling high school graduates in Michigan not to make excuses, and to take responsibility for failures as well as successes.
In excerpts of remarks to be delivered Monday evening at Kalamazoo Central High School, Obama said that it’s easy to blame others when problems arise. “We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV,” the president said.

//

He said the high school kids can and have done better than that.
“You could have made excuses—our kids have fewer advantages, our schools have fewer resources, so how can we compete? You could have spent years pointing fingers—blaming parents, blaming teachers, blaming the principal or the superintendent or the government,” the president said.
“But instead, you came together. You were honest with yourselves about where you were falling short. And you resolved to do better.” (AP)

He can’t, but you should.
I guess that was Bush’s fault too!
****
One of Obama’s thug unions the SEIU (Government Service union) boycotting Arizona has come out with a parody hotline issuing a travel warning for those visiting Arizona.
The official web site of Service Employees International Union states that “If you plan to visit Arizona this summer, please call our travel advisory hotline first to understand the implications of Arizona’s newest law that allows police to use “reasonable suspicion” to detain anyone they believe may not be an American citizen.”
Interesting point – the hotline message is only in English, not Spanish.
From the SEIU website:
Sign the Boycott Intolerance pledge:
I pledge to stand up against Arizona’s new immigration legislation, SB 1070, and boycott intolerance in Arizona until this radical and unjust law is repealed, overturned by the courts, and/or superseded by comprehensive federal immigration.
The SEIU is the Leftist mob thugs that showed up at a Bank of America CEO’s home en masse to terrorize his family earlier this year, and have been caught beating up people and rioting at Tea Party events in 2009.
Nice People.
*******
Prince William County, VA General order 45.01: Illegal Immigration
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:X-FGbhjJjBwJ:www.co.prince-william.va.us/docLibrary/PDF/008333.pdf+prince+william+county+general+order+45.01&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShkyLUzWwwAFYM4-QiA25bM0AYsynV_xJY47G2I7JYikhcb1v3QVj1ocmHhgu6qHzcMHGBM8iKpsKmmYvpXxPCO46eJ3gHM4txjWxVhVgX9nUvYU7pzJntsmGW8thg8V7l2z9qm&sig=AHIEtbSZryR_lfdkbuGIFXR_sw2QzrzwTQ
Sounds familiar somehow…
So are they the next boycott victim? Or will the Liberal media ignore it?
Any bets?
********
After spending several weeks expressing disdain for pundits’ calls for President Obama to show more emotion and outrage about the environmental disaster in the Gulf — White House officials called it “method acting” and “theatrics” — President Obama showed some anger in an interview to air on NBC tomorrow morning.(ABC)
“I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar, we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”– President Obama
Yeah, he’s President Badass! He’s Mad! He’s not going to take it anymore!
So when is my next golf vacation and concert!?
“I was down there a month ago, before most of these talking heads were even paying attention to the gulf,” he told Lauer. “A month ago I was meeting with fishermen down there, standing in the rain talking about what a potential crisis this could be. And I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”
Love the elegance of that last phrase.
And when Obama tried to replay his pre-tested soundbite answer that he wasn’t elected to “vent,” but rather to “solve problems,” Lauer expertly led him down the BP path with quotes from BP CEO Tony Hayward.
“But to solve the problem you need to have a reliable partner,” Lauer began. “Let me read you some of things that Mr. Hayward has said over the course of this disaster. He said, ‘The Gulf of Mexico is a big ocean. The amount of volume of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water value;’ – somewhat obvious – ‘the environmental impact of this disaster is likely to be very very modest.’ And then he said, ‘no one wants to end more than I do, I want my life back, family members of those 11 people who died on the rig, and people’s whose lives are going to be changed for years want their lives back too.’ He doesn’t work for you but if he did, would you want him out?
“He wouldn’t be working for me after any of those statements,” Obama said.
And yet, Obama is still working with Hayward, and for several weeks, was deferring excessively while we now know BP kept crucial facts about the spill from Americans.
President Barack Obama is telling high school graduates in Michigan not to make excuses, and to take responsibility for failures as well as successes.
I guess he hopes they are better at it than he is.
He’s only The President of The United States, after all… no one really important or “in charge”.