Good and welfare clause?

1/3 occupations require government licensing, up from 1/20

Over 43 people have been killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu in two days of fighting between Shabab (al-Shabaab) insurgent forces, who on March 10 advanced to within one mile of the nation’s presidential palace, and troops of the U.S.-backed Transitional Federal Government. The fighting has just begun.

The last ambassador of the United States to Somalia (1994-1995), Daniel H. Simpson, penned a column for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on March 10 in which which he posed the question “why, apart from the only lightly documented charge of Islamic extremism among the Shabab, is the United States reengaging in Somalia at this time?”

He answered it in stating “Part of the reason is because the United States has its only base in Africa up the coast from Mogadishu, in Djibouti, the former French Somaliland. The U.S. Africa Command was established there in 2008, and, absent the willingness of other African countries to host it, the base in Djibouti became the headquarters for U.S. troops and fighter bombers in Africa.

“Flush with money, in spite of the expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense obviously feels itself in a position to undertake military action in Africa, in Somalia.” [1]

Fulfilling its appointed role, the New York Times leaked U.S. military plans for the current offensive in Somalia on March 5 in a report titled “U.S. Aiding Somalia in Its Plan to Retake Its Capital.” (Note that the Transitional Federal Government is presented as Somalia itself and Mogadishu as its capital.)

The tone of the feature was of course one of approval and endorsement of the Pentagon’s rationale for directly intervening in Somalia. (Read more from )

Americans for Tax Reform today released the following “By the Numbers” breakdown of ObamaCare:

The number of new tax increases in the healthcare bill: 19

The number of tax increases that unquestionably violate President Obama’s “firm pledge” not to raise “any form” of taxes on families making less than $250,000: 7

The tax increase over the first decade if the healthcare bill becomes law: $497 billion

The top federal tax rate on wages and self-employment earnings under this bill: 43.4%

The annual tax hike for every man, woman, and child in America: $165

The top federal tax rate on early distributions from HSAs under this bill: 59.6%

The most parents of special-needs kids can save tax-free for tuition in FSAs (currently, the amount is unlimited): $2500 (Read more from atr.org)

16,500 more IRS agents needed to enforce Obamacare

J.P. Freire
Washington Examiner
March 21, 2010

New tax mandates and penalties included in Obamacare will cause the greatest expansion of the Internal Revenue Service since World War II, according to a release from Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas.

A new analysis by the Joint Economic Committee and the House Ways & Means Committee minority staff estimates up to 16,500 new IRS personnel will be needed to collect, examine and audit new tax information mandated on families and small businesses in the ‘reconciliation’ bill being taken up by the U.S. House of Representatives this weekend. …

Scores of new federal mandates and fifteen different tax increases totaling $400 billion are imposed under the Democratic House bill. In addition to more complicated tax returns, families and small businesses will be forced to reveal further tax information to the IRS, provide proof of ‘government approved’ health care and submit detailed sales information to comply with new excise taxes.

Americans for Tax Reform has a good breakdown of the bill by the numbers. (Read more from prisonplanet.com)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised that we would find out what is in the health care reform bill after it passed. And, true to her promise, certain provisions are now coming
to light, including one that exempts certain Congressional staff.

According to the Hotline, Congressional staff who work for committees or leadership offices are specifically exempt from the mandates imposed by health care reform to enroll in government provided health care reform plans.

“The loophole for leadership staffers could impact thousands of Hill employees. There are 16 active leadership offices in the House and 26 in the Senate, according to the government transparency website LegiStorm. Some are small, with just a few employees. Others are much larger; Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid 54 employees a total of $1.1M in the last quarter of ’09, while House Min. Leader John Boehner paid his 26 staffers a total of $721K in the same quarter.

“Leaving out committee staffers means aides at the 24 standing House committees and the 20 Senate panels will each be exempted as well, if CRS’s interpretation of the measure stands.” (Read more from associatedcontent.com)

After last week’s announced settlement expansion effectively torpedoed the indirect peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, the Israeli government is will to do almost anything to build “trust,” so long as it doesn’t involve the only thing the PA actually wants, abandoning that settlement expansion.

Now, Israel has reportedly reached an agreement with the Obama Administration on something called a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. In short, Israel would continue to expand settlements in occupied East Jerusalem with impunity, but they wouldn’t make a big deal of announcing those expansions in the press. (Read more from antiwar.com)

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) criticized as “dangerous and counterproductive” the Senate testimony of General David Petraeus in which he blamed “insufficient progress” in resolving the ongoing Israeli-Arab conflict as a significant impediment to achieving U.S. goals in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Iran, and for encouraging “anti-American sentiment.”

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement in response to the general’s March 16 testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee:

“The assumptions Gen. Petraeus presented to the Senate Armed Services Committee wrongly attribute ‘insufficient progress’ in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and ‘a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel’ as significantly impeding the U.S. military mission in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan and in dealing with the Iranian influences in the region. It is that much more of a concern to hear this coming from such a great American patriot and hero.” (Read more from Haaretz.com)

The Muslim world hates us because they are evil radicals. Any suggestion otherwise will not be tolerated.