THIS DEBT IS LIKE A CANCER. Speaking at the National Governors Association annual meeting, the co-chairmen of President Obama's debt and deficit commission offered an ominous assessment of the nation's fiscal future.

[A]t present, federal revenue is fully consumed by three programs: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. "The rest of the federal government, including fighting two wars, homeland security, education, art, culture, you name it, veterans -- the whole rest of the discretionary budget is being financed by China and other countries," [Alan] Simpson said.

"We can't grow our way out of this," [Erskine] Bowles said. "We could have decades of double-digit growth and not grow our way out of this enormous debt problem. We can't tax our way out.... The reality is we've got to do exactly what you all do every day as governors. We've got to cut spending or increase revenues or do some combination of that."

An Instapundit reader asks if this debt-as-cancer thing makes Congress the equivalent of Big Tobacco. Instapundit’s reply? “Worse: Big Tobacco had to persuade you to smoke.”

FIRST DOG flies to vacation on separate jet. The First Couple’s oversized egos took up too much room ....

Instapundit reacts.

And Chris Muir captures the moment perfectly.

TARANIS UNVEILED: the first British unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) debuts. First flight is expected in 2011.


The comments are illuminating – but not necessarily in a positive manner.

A PHOTO OF THE DEVASTATION caused by the magnitude 3.5 D.C. earthquake.

PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS: a union-only protection racket.

OBAMA OR THE iPHONE: “Isn't it disappointing when a much-hyped arrival lands with a bit of a thud? We were told that this one would be different! Different and better! This one would change the world -- make things easier, faster, cooler."

Read it all. But as far as giving either the iPhone or Obama another chance, forget it.

IF FEDERAL LAW PREEMPTS STATE LAW ON IMMIGRATION, shouldn’t it preempt state laws legalizing marijuana?

THE GREAT RECESSION: America isn’t optimistic. And the least optimistic are the job creators.

YOUCUT THIS WEEK. Vote to:

Eliminate unnecessary Congressional printing; or
Eliminate the “Dodd Clinic” earmark from ObamaCare; or
Prohibit “First-Class” subsidies on Amtrak; or
Reform the Energy Star Program; or
Prevent LIHEAP Payments to individuals who are deceased, incarcerated, or who don’t meet income requirements.

More wasteful programs announced every week.

FINAL STRAW? Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) asks DOJ Inspector General to launch investigation of New Black Panther case.

The primary responsibility of the inspector general is to ensure “integrity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness in Department of Justice operations,” according to your office’s statute. The new information provided by Mr. Adams to the commission last week clearly underscores the need for an investigation into whether the department’s “integrity, economy, efficiency, and effectiveness” have been compromised. I recall that you, rightly, had no qualms about investigating allegations of impropriety during the previous administration and I would hope that same ethic would remain during this administration.

There is something rotten happening at the department. Your continued refusal to investigate has been — and remains — inexcusable (emphasis mine).

Now that former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams as stepped forward, perhaps this will finally receive the attention it deserves.

AS WE APPEAR TO BE entering the second dip of a double-dip recession, it’s nice to find that Obama aborted the recovery.

YOU THOUGHT THE NAACP’s resolution declaring the Tea Party “racist” was bad? Read this.

And think about this: “There are many more black members of the Tea Party—however you define that movement—than there are, by definition, non-black members of the NAACP.” Although from his picture, it’s hard to think of NAACP Chairman Benjamin Jealous as black.

More at Instapundit.

OBAMA’S SUCCESS: manufacturing conservatives and libertarians (and independents) at an unprecedented clip.

Pray the Republicans are wise (not smart, wise) enough to take advantage of Obama’s ‘success’.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON offers a ten-step healing program for our president in the spirit of our therapeutic age.

Will Obama adopt it? Not a chance.

FELONS VOTING ILLEGALLY may have put Sen. Al Franken over the top in Minnesota.

Felony voting, felony representation.

HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS visited the Gulf Coast of Louisiana on Friday as part of her department’s “ongoing efforts to address the public health and mental health aspects of the Gulf oil spill.”

We are especially concerned about mental health, as it is clear from past experiences and from all our discussions today that mental health and substance abuse issues are likely to be some of the most long-lasting effects of this oil spill.

Has it occurred to anyone in the Obama administration that they might not have to worry about “mental health and substance abuse” issues if they’d just clean up the damned spill?

SQUIRREL DROPPINGS

There’s new home construction going on up in the topmost branches of the tree. This is the residue.

And here’s the new “home” about 65-70 feet up in the tree. Judging from its size, it’s going to be a cold winter, or our little entrepreneur is planning to sublet.

NAACP RESOLUTION CALLS ON TEA PARTY to repudiate 'racist elements' in movement.

Uh, when did the NAACP publicly condemn this racist rant (1:15 into the video)? And where are the video clips of Tea Partiers saying things equally vile?

The resolution simply proves that NAACP is bigoted ... (and ‘Jealous’).

PEGGY NOONAN: Where is the adult supervision?

There's ... an emerging mentoring gap going on in America right now. You can see it in a generalized absence of the wise old politician/lawyer/leader/editor who helps the young along, who teaches them the ropes and ways and traditions of a craft.

And where did the adults go?

The grown-ups took the buyout. The grown-ups were laid off. The grown-ups are not there.

And it shows. Read it all.

REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER



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