This week, the vast majority of the American people have nominated a motley crew of elitists for the “Educated Idiots Award:”
The arrogant Democrats who will defy the American people and abet Obama’s nearly trillion dollar government takeover of Americans’ health care.
Embodying the arrogant intellectuals unacquainted with real life who foist their [...]

As the Obama Administration struggles to come to terms with Tuesday’s election of Republican Scott Brown to the US Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy, Americans are seeing another rise in jobless claims. The Department of Labor’s weekly jobless number rose by 36,000 in the report released this morning.

Initial claims for jobless benefits rose by 36,000 to 482,000 in the week ended Jan. 16, according to the Labor Department’s weekly report Thursday. The previous week’s level was revised upward to 446,000 from 444,000.

Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires expected a decrease of 4,000 initial claims.

The four-week moving average, which aims to smooth volatility in the data, also increased as well last week. The Labor Department said the four-week moving average increased by 7,000 to 448,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 441,250.

(The following are excerpts from an Investor’s Business Daily article titled “The War on Banks”. You can view the full article at: Read the complete article at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=518187

You can also view Rep. McCotter’s remarks to Fox News about the bank tax plan.)

Financial Crisis: The White House wants to impose a stiff new tax on banks to punish them for their role in the financial meltdown. That’ll really get them lending again … won’t it?

We have to admit we’re a little perplexed. The White House and Congress have complained over and over again about the banks’ “failure to lend” to get the economy moving.

Home foreclosures are expected to hit an all-time record this year as unemployment and depressed home values continue to take their toll on Americans hard-hit by the weak economy.

Last year there were 2.82 million foreclosures, the most since RealtyTrac began compiling data in 2005. More than 4.5 million filings are expected this year, including default or auction notices and bank seizures, said Rick Sharga, senior vice president for the Irvine, California-based seller of default data and forecasts. There were 3.96 million filings in 2009. …

U.S. lenders permanently modified 31,382 mortgages, or 1 percent, of the 4 million loans targeted under the Obama administration’s foreclosure prevention plan through November, the U.S. Treasury Department said last month. Fewer than half of the 3.2 million homeowners estimated as eligible for mortgage relief by the Treasury actually qualify, according to Herb Allison, assistant secretary for financial stability.

The Congressional Budget Office today released a study of the Republicans’ common-sense health care reform proposal. The CBO found the Republican plan, unlike the Pelosi bill, reduces premiums without raising taxes.

In response to the report Rep. McCotter made the following statement.

In hearing and heeding the American people, House Republicans have proposed sensible, affordable and helpful reforms to advance patient-centered wellness that will empower working families to reduce the costs, increase the quality and maximize the choices regarding their health care.

Findings from the study released by the Republican Leader’s Office are after the jump.

This commentary by Michael S. Rulle Jr. originally appeared on Breitbart’s “Big Hollywood” blog
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Polish American Walt Kowalski, played to anti-hero perfection by Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, stands against corruption and lawlessness and wins. But not before sacrificing his life. Kowalski is a Korean War veteran and retired auto worker living outside of [...]

Friday, July 24, 2009
by Frank Beckmann in the Detroit News

On Monday, President Barack Obama hailed that Apollo 11 mission that landed on the moon for sparking “innovation, the drive, the entrepreneurship, the creativity, back here on Earth.”

How right he was. Our space program led to technological advancements like breast cancer detection, digital imaging, ocular screening for young children, laser angioplasty, ultrasound scanning, arteriosclerosis detection, portable X-ray devices, MRIs and bone analyzers.