July 2010 saw the slowest pace of new home sales since 1963. In the same month, Congress extended unemployment benefits for a fourth time, adding another $34 billion to the deficit to help out 2.5 non-working Americans.

The Associated Press says, “High unemployment, slow job growth, and tight credit have kept people from buying homes.” In other words, a bad economy is scaring people away from purchasing new homes.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s wrong with our economy. It just takes a conservative.

When Mr. Obama went to Washington, he promised a lot of people a lot of things. He was going to pay their mortgages! He was going to pay their gas bills! He might as well have promised everyone a unicorn ride over a double rainbow and fat-free ice cream that actually tastes good.

The government doesn’t work that way. The government can’t take care of you; only other people can take care of you. The 99 weeks of unemployment Joe Schmoe is entitled to? Someone is paying that. Someone is paying for him to not work, instead of using that money to hire someone who will work.

Since the employer is busy paying someone to not work instead of paying someone to work, no goods or services are produced or rendered. No goods or services, no sales. No sales, no money. The employer goes out of business, and the few employees that were left working there are now out of work. But don’t worry about them; they’ll get unemployment checks from the government. To pay for them, Uncle Sam is going to raise taxes on the companies left standing. And then … those companies might have to downsize to cover the costs on the new taxes. It’s a vicious cycle.

New home sales are down because people are afraid to make such large purchases in times of economic uncertainty. We’re living in economic uncertainty because no one knows what new mandate or regulation is going to pass into law next. The tax burden of these entitlement laws falls on employers, who pass it along to their employees and consumers in the form of layoffs and higher prices.

Free health care? Ninety-nine weeks of unemployment benefits?

Sure. At the expense of the American Dream: A decent job and a beautiful new home.

Cross Posted at The Stir

Nancy Pelosi asserts that unemployment benefits are great for the economy. “It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name,” she says.

In other news:

• Candy bars are good for weight loss
• Never saying no to your children makes them well-behaved
• The best way to help an addict is to enable him or her

Good or bad, stimulating or not, how in the world does welfare help the economy? Make no mistake, unemployment checks are welfare. It’s money that you get for not working. I have friends that refer to their unemployment as a paid vacation, and are annoyed when they actually have to go find a job when their benefits run out.

How does requiring employers to pay former employees for NOT WORKING free up more cash for them to hire new people? Someone please explain this to me.

H/T Breitbart TV

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano wants to read your email. Apparently the “right to privacy” only exists between a woman and her abortion provider. Although it’s probably unfair to say that Ms. Napolitano personally wants to read your email.

It’s much more likely that she wants to set up a few new governmentagencies, hire thousands of people on the taxpayers’ dime (don’t forget about those bloated government pensions!), and have themread your email. So it might be a moot point anyway, since we all know how effective government agencies are — been to the DMV lately?

Why does Ms. Napolitano want to read your email? To fightterrorism, of course! How silly to even ask. It turns out that terrorists like to communicate with one another via Internet communications. The panty-bomber, the Fort Hood shooter, and Jihad Jane are all big fans of Internet communications.

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“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” — Margaret Thatcher

Not a day has gone by in the past two years that I have not heard, spoken, or at least thought these words. I have been frustrated over and over again by well-meaning friends that believe that the government should take care of us from the moment we enter the world until the moment we leave it.

The government should pay for our mother’s prenatal health care, our childhood vaccinations, our educations, our food and housing, medical care when we need it, and our retirements.

It’s the right thing to do. Everyone deserves a good life, and it’s just so unfair that some people are born as Paris Hilton while others are born in slums. (Although it’s probably a toss-up as to which of those two fates is worse than the other.)

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I love this article. It was written some years ago, but is timeless in America. Keep it in mind when you go the ballot box this election cycle.

By Charlie Reese

(Date of publication unknown)

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax code. Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy. Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president and nine Supreme Court justices – 545 human beings out of the 235 million – are directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank.

I excluded all but the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it.

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislation’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY

Don’t you see how the con game that is played on the people by the politicians? Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of Tip O’Neill, who stood up and criticized Ronald Reagan for creating deficits.

The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating appropriations and taxes.

O’neill is the speaker of the House. He is the leader of the majority party. He and his fellow Democrats, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetos it, they can pass it over his veto.

REPLACE SCOUNDRELS

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 235 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility.

I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns, that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.

When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red. If the Marines are in Lebanon, it’s because they want them in Lebanon.

There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take it.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people and they alone are responsible. They and they alone have the power. They and they alone should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses – provided they have the gumption to manage their own employees.

h/t Liberty Pundits

My latest at The Stir:

I’m not exactly what you’d call a crunchy mom. I love the convenience of disposable diapers. I drive an SUV that holds over 25 gallons of gasoline at a time. I’m hopelessly addicted to my BlackBerry.

Since I’m an advocate of free choice, I have no qualms whatsoever with other mamas that choose to cloth-diaper their kiddos, buckle them into the Prius, then snuggle them into the sling while they browse the aisles at their local health food store. It’s just not for me.

For better or worse and to each their own. As parents, we all try to do what’s best for our children within the confines of our lifestyles. We make sure they get the rest they need, we take them to the doctor when they’re sick, and we kiss and bandage boo-boos with abandon. And of course we feed them as healthy of a diet as we can get into their picky little mouths and down their stubborn little throats.

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Jenny rants about the nanny-state .. Senator John Thune (R-SD) joins to talk about his stance on current events … and Smart Girl Politics President Stacy Mott comes on to give an SGP update.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I just found out about CTAP today.

The California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) distributes telecommunications equipment and services to individuals certified as having difficulty using the telephone. CTAP is a California State mandated program, under governance of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Equipment and some network services are available at no charge to eligible consumers.

Californians who are deaf, hard of hearing, speech-disabled, cognitively-disabled, blind, or who have low vision, or restricted mobility, are eligible to receive equipment with certification by a medical doctor, a licensed audiologist, a qualified state agency, or a hearing aid dispenser.

CTAP is funded by a small surcharge that appears on all telephone bills in California. The money collected from this surcharge pays for both the California Telephone Access Program (CTAP) and the California Relay Service (CRS). This surcharge appears on your phone bill as “CA Relay Service and Communications Devices Fund.”

No wonder California is broke as a joke. No denying that being blind, deaf, or having fingers too fat to dial on a regular keypad are all tragic conditions. But why do the rest of us have to buy you a phone?

It’s almost as ridiculous as forcing tax-payers to pay for other people’s TV converter boxes.

PS- This picture makes me giggle.

"Your call could not be completed as dialed. Your fingers are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now."

I think the tanning rays may have finally seeped into the Florida Governor’s skull. Dude was on top of the world a couple of years ago. His name was even tossed around as one of the VP hopefuls for the 2008 Presidential ticket. Of course, that was before Senator McCain picked that smart and sassy nobody from the great white North.

That was Before.

Before a man was seated in the Oval Office that really didn’t like America, and sought to fundamentally transform it.

Before our President appointed a 9/11 Truther to be one of his close, personal advisors. A 9/11 Truther, in case you weren’t aware, is someone that believes the United States was behind the horrific 9/11 attacks. As in planned them. Yeah. That’s bad.

Before the government took over banks, car companies, and even our health care.

Governor Crist was riding the wave of popularity Before. He was a shoo-in for the Senate seat left vacant by retiring George LeMieux. But that was Before.

After?

After the last year and change (and I do mean change), Crist represents a deviation of the Republican party. The Moderate. The Moderate is squishy. He tries to please everyone, and in effect pleases no one. He is not a RINO (Republican In Name Only), but he is not a conservative. He does not align himself with the principles set forth by the awesome dudes that founded the greatest, richest, strongest, most spectacularly free nation in the history of the world. Well, except for Eden, but that was even before Before.

We (and by “we” I mean Americans) are done with the Moderate. We want him him out. He embraced the Leftist Change, and now we want people that will fight for their constituents to change it back. Which is why we like peeps like Marco Rubio.

A year ago, Rubio was down in the polls by 40+ points. Now he’s ahead of Crist by well over 20 points. The Cuban nobody. No important family ties. No giant bank account. He hasn’t even “done his time” as they like to say in the government job sector. But the people? Oh the people are speaking. They like this fresh young conservative eager to change it back. They love his pledge for freedom from government interference in their lives.

They probably love his face too; the guy’s not bad to look at.

So how does Charlie Crist respond to this changing tide? By pondering running as an Independent instead of being beaten at the primaries by this Rubio kid. In a statement today he addressed those questioning his irrational thought process:

“I care what my fellow Floridians think and what their thoughts are much more than anybody from Washington.”

Dude. Florida is speaking. You’re not listening. Run however you want-Republican, Independent, or as the Florida Whig Party. You’re not going to Washington. You may have a few years ago, but that was Before.

People like Marco Rubio are After.