Dan Calabrese

Liberal economist admits job picture is horrendous, but . . .

Give Alan Blinder credit for this: The left-wing Princeton economist is willing to say what a lot of Obama supporters want you to forget, which is that 7.6 percent unemployment is horrible. As Blinder says in today's Wall Street Journal, "So any complacency is misguided. Rather, policy makers should be running around like their hair is on fire."

IRS to pro-life group (audio): ‘Know your boundaries’

A Texas-based group called Pro Life Revolution waited more than two years for approval of its tax-exempt status from the IRS, but it didn't have to wait that long to find out what happens to pro-life groups, especially those with a faith-based bent, when they seek the same kind of legal tax status as thousands of other groups. (Hat tip to Mary Katharine Ham at Hot Air on this one.)

CNN: Clarence Thomas has a lot of nerve not acting authentically black

This dreck shows up every once in awhile, and while there's an understandable impulse to just ignore it, I think it's more important to expose it. Plain and simple, this piece written by John Blake on CNN.com is a racist attack on Clarence Thomas. What makes it so is the constant implication throughout the piece that Thomas has no right to change his thinking on the law because he is black, and never would have gotten where he is without the race-conscious measures Thomas now believes are unconstitutional:

Just a reminder: John Dingell is a power-drunk, abusive bully

One of the frustrating things about living in Michigan is that people here love John Dingell. This is an indictment of my state because it reveals a certain insecurity that makes us think we need a bully to protect us from the rest of the world. The 85-year-old Democratic congressman, who has "served" since 1955 and last week became the longest-tenured member of Congress in the nation's history, is widely revered as a Michigan hero because he has so skillfully wielded the power born of his clout in Washington.

Anger of data mining: Democrats reap what they have sown

First I have to say I am inclined to agree with the Wall Street Journal concerning the merits of the newly exposed data mining efforts of the NSA, which is really not new at all, since we listened to the same howling over the same thing when George W. Bush was in the White House and Dick Cheney was supposedly listening in on all our private conversations:

Back in time: 2008 presidential candidate deplores spying on citizens (VIDEO)

I'm sure Rob will have more to say on this later today, and I will be out much of the day celebrating my wedding anniversary, but in light of this morning's report that the administration is collecting phone data on all Verizon customers - from terror suspects to ordinary citizens like you and me (and yes, I am a Verizon customer) - I thought it would be instructive to hear from a certain presidential candidate who held forth on this issue back in 2008. (Hat tip to Mary Katharine Ham for this one.)

Judge saves 10-year-old from Kathleen Sebelius - the one-woman death panel

Not that she'll get credit for it, but when Sarah Palin warned of "death panels" resulting from the constructs of ObamaCare, this is exactly what she meant: Someone needs something or they're going to die, and some government bureaucrat who values the systemic ramifications of the matter above all else, gets to decide what will happen.

VIDEO: Democrat Jim McDermott blames conservative groups for IRS harassment

Jim McDermott is the guy who visited Iraq before the 2003 invastion to show solidarity with Saddam Hussein, so keep that in mind as you watch this.

Supremes decide: A DNA swab is just like fingerprinting

This post might provide an interesting look at whether the readership is more of the libertarian-leaning type (probably more akin to Rob) or more the law-and-order type conservative like I suppose I would categorize myself.

ObamaCare talking point on insurance premiums not working out too well

Here's a word of caution for those on the left and in the "center" if they would like to avail themselves of it: Just because Rush Limbaugh, or CNS News, or whoever else said something, doesn't automatically mean it's not true. And just because an Obama-friendly "study" disputed what they said doesn't mean it was "debunked."

Here we go: Media protection of Obama starts with attacks on Darrell Issa

Maybe it's not so much that they're motivated to protect Obama. I'm sure they're still ticked off at him about the snooping on the AP, and maybe even what he did to James Rosen too.

Court: Catholic school can’t fire teacher for violating morals clause

I guess it's an interesting time to be Catholic. You've got a new pope who has a lot of people excited, although the media thinks he's "obsessed with the devil." But at the same time, you've got the federal government forcing you to provide contraceptive services to employees in violation of your own moral teachings, and now you can't even require teachers in your schools to uphold those same moral teachings - even when they agreed to do so as a condition of employment.

Just a reminder: Social Security and Medicare are still going broke

You know this, of course. Everyone who's paying attention - which is sadly not all that much of the country - knows it. Absent a serious restructuring of these programs, of which no such thing has been forthcoming, Social Security and Medicare are still on very frightening fiscal trajectories. Social Security looks to be insolvent by 2033, which is only 20 years from now. You think that's a long time? Bill Clinton was sworn in 20 years ago. It's not exactly an eternity. And the disability fund within Social Security is on a pace to reach insolvency by 2016!

IRS agents tell Issa their marching orders came from Washington

This all reminds me of Benghazi. Remember the initial story - horrible guy who put a Mohammed video on YouTube - and how it soon became, er, inoperable as the real truth became obvious? The original story of the two rogue IRS agents in Cincinnati is starting to seem a little like that. Did they really try to tell that one? Eh, just forget they ever said it.

Wealth wiped out in 2008 crash hasn’t recovered under Obama

Of all the damning things you can say about the nation's economic performance since Barack Obama took office, perhaps the most damning - and the one the fewest people understand the importance of - is that the nation has not been creating wealth during Obama's presidency.

Jay Carney: It’s ‘self-evident’ that lying liar Holder’s lie is totally true

It takes a special kind of skill to do Jay Carney's job, at least the way Jay Carney does it. The rule of modern-day politics is that you never concede anything the other side says, no matter how absurd the claim you have to make. That means you've got to twist yourself into some pretty contorted pretzels sometimes, but that's the rule and you have to follow the rule.

House to explore whether lying liar Holder’s obvious lie is legal perjury

No one needs to "investigate" whether Eric Holder lied. He lied. I'll show you. It's not even complicated.

Obama DOJ to federal judge: Let’s keep this James Rosen warrant between us, OK?

The entire pretext by which the Obama Justice Department justified spying on James Rosen was flimsy enough. They trumped up the notion that they might charge him as a criminal co-conspirator to justify the warrant that allowed them to read his e-mails and access his phone records. This was always absurd, based on ridiculous notions about how Rosen approached his reporting work.

Tips to GOP congressmen indicate IRS abuse is systematic

If you're not careful, you might almost mistake this for some sort of defense of the IRS. Hey, they weren't picking on the Tea Party! They treated everyone that way!

Since America lost its nerve long ago, Obama officially renounces War on Terror

Let's just be honest. Democrats never liked the War on Terror. They never really supported it. There were a lot of reasons for this. Some were partisan - they just didn't want to support anything George W. Bush wanted to do. Some were ideological - they really didn't believe we had the right to pursue our enemies, and they just plain didn't want to because they don't like when the U.S. uses force aggressively. Some were strategic - if they backed the idea that we should be doing this sort of thing, they gave tacit approval to the use of funds they would prefer to spend on more Democrat-friendly priorities.