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Clearing the Browser Tabs – Scary Economic Chart Thursday Edition Posted: 23 Jun 2011 03:10 AM PDT Today, apparently, was Scary Chart Day at Jim Pethokoukis’ Reuters blog and he certainly didn’t cheat us. I may write a bit more about a couple of these posts, but for now, let me just give them to you. Scary. Scarier. Scariest. Note on that first chart that for us to keep pace with government spending, we will have to crank up the percentage of GDP Washington takes in taxes from the current 15 percent or so (well below the historic 19 percent) to somewhere around 25 percent and keep it there, essentially, forever. As The Right Sphere points out in a delicious smack-down of WaPo hack Ezra Klein (and as I’ve noted here several times), we’ve never gotten as high as 21 percent. Ever. Check out the links and, when you do, understand that most of the people running the government in Washington right now believe the only way to fix the problems you see is to do far more of the things that caused those problems in the first place. And now, links! Daniel Mitchell of Cato uses Andrew Sullivan to prove the “even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes” theory. I’d say some Republicans around the country, including more than a few egotistical political consultants, owe Ladd Ehlinger a huge apology. Iain Murray has written a book called Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You I really do want to read. The subject of how our government went from what it was to the sprawling behemoth that churns money for fairly wealthy politicians and their campaign contributors is one that bears far more discussion around the country. I’d be pretty happy if we folded the long-obsolete NLRB and the legislation that serves to grant it far more power than it ought to have (via Rand Simberg) Rick Perry != George W. Bush. It’s bad enough that we conservatives have to fight the entire Democratic Party on the issue of government overreach on the environment. It’s even worse when we have to fight Global Warming Cultists in Republican Party, too. James Taranto has a few hard questions for the people who say that Voter ID requirements amount to a new set of Jim Crow laws (via Instapundit). Pat, you really shouldn’t be surprised that Rolling Stone published an insult-laden screed against Michele Bachmann. She’s the target of the day and they’re only following the progressive herd. There is a segment of our society bound and determined to grant amnesty to every illegal alien in this country and they will use every method, both fair and foul, to accomplish that, no matter how much irreversible damage it will do to America. I’m pretty sure I don’t care why Megan Fox left the Transformers 3 movie, so long as Troglopundit posts more pictures of her.

The Delivery Presents – I Don’t Often Sound the Horn of Outrage, But… Posted: 22 Jun 2011 11:19 AM PDT I covered quite a a bit of ground in Episode 99 (AKA: The Big Gretzky!) but by far, the most important part of the whole show is in the second half of the first segment. Listen to the whole show, of course, then send it to your friends and family and get them to subscribe to it on iTunes and leave nice ratings, but do not miss that particular part. Let me be as blunt as I can about Operation Fast and Furious (which you might also see as part of a discussion of something called Project Gunrunner): Our Federal government intentionally allowed thousands of weapons, including military-grade sniper rifles, to move from the United States to narco-terrorist cartels in Mexico. Those criminals used the guns they ultimately got from legal gun dealers, many of whom protested the sales to ATF agents, to slaughter at least 152 people including two US law enforcement officers. And that, really, is only a small part of the story. I will very likely spend a lot more time on Gunrunner/Fast and Furious in a show in the very near future, but for now, let me give you a few links to get you up to speed. Here is the report produced for Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley (PDF Link). If you read none of the other links, read that report. You go-to people on this story are Bob Owens who has a great summary of the situation as we know it, and Michelle Malkin who has plenty of links to local bloggers who have been on the story from the beginning. Glenn Reynolds is also a good source. If you want a comprehensive timeline of all the events of which we are aware right now, Vince Warde at the Reasoned Politics blog has done the work. The “90 percent” meme used by the Democrats and certain anti-gun activists dies a horrible death here. The sinister aspects of the story begin with this article, continue into this article, and could involve the possible replacement for ATF Director Kenneth Melton, should he resign. Okay…those are the links. I hope that wasn’t too much. On the surface, Gunrunner/Fast and Furious looks awfully complex, but really it’s as simple as that one paragraph summary I gave earlier in the post. Stick around in the show for the second half, which has plenty of good news and a few musical suggestions to make your week just that little bit more incredible. Also, did I mention the good news? Yeah. The Delivery - Episode 99 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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