Old Thoughts Brought to the Fore: Sitting in A Congressional Hearing

Is sitting in this Congressional hearing and I can't help but think these politicians waste so much time punishing productivity and non-violent, non-crimes.

If this is the best liberalism/managerialism has to offer, and what people accept as "good for us", then we have a long way to go before we restore economic prosperity in this country.

Murray Rothbard on Public Schools

To the religious conservatives: Restoring public prayer won't be enough, says Murray Rothbard.

Restoring prayer, however, will scarcely at this date solve the grievous public school problem. Public schools are expensive and massive centers for cultural and ideological brainwashing, at which they are unfortunately far more effective than in teaching the 3R's or in keeping simple order within the schools. Any plan to begin dismantling the public school monstrosity is met with effective opposition by the teachers' and educators' unions. Truly radical change is needed to shift education from public to unregulated private schooling, religious and secular, as well as home-schooling parents.

Murray Rothbard, The Religious Right: Towards A Coalition, The Irrepressible Rothbard: The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays Of Murray N. Rothbard

Murray Rothbard on Establishing a religion

Rothbard on establishing a religion:

Establishing a religion has a specific meaning: paying for ministers and churches out of taxpayer funds. To ban even voluntary prayer from the public schools, or to ban the teaching of religion, is a pettifogging willful misconstruction of the text and of the intent of the framers, in order to replace our former Christian culture with a left-secular one. The banning of creches in front of local town halls demonstrates how far the secularists will go--indeed shows how totalitarian they are in their drive to ban religion from public institutions.

Murray Rothbard, The Religious Right: Toward A Coalition, The Irrepressible Rothbard: The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard

The President’s Private War by Andrew P. Napolitano -- Antiwar.com

Against citizens of a country that we are not at war with, President Obama has done the following:

In his three-plus years in office, Obama has launched 254 drones toward persons in Pakistan, and they collectively have killed 1,277 persons there. The New America Foundation, a Washington think tank that monitors the presidential use of drones in Pakistan, estimates that between 11 and 17 percent of the drone victims are innocent Pakistani civilians. So much for Brennan’s surgical strikes. So much for Holder’s due process.

The President’s Private War by Andrew P. Napolitano -- Antiwar.com

Obama's Forward: A Cartoon and Commentary

Commentary:

Forward With Obama || FrontPageMag.com

Ron Paul: Romney would be ‘marginally’ better than Obama, not ‘100 percent different’ - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) conceded Thursday that Mitt Romney would make a “marginally” better president than Obama.

“We can’t boil it down and say it’s Obama’s fault and Romney will be 100 percent different and it will all be better,” Paul told conservative Laura Ingraham on her radio show.

Ron Paul: Romney would be ‘marginally’ better than Obama, not ‘100 percent different’ - The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

Gary North Admits He Doesn't Measure Up To Rothbard

Even Gary North, whom Murray Rothbard is said to have thought highly of, admits that he doesn't measure up to Rothbard.

The Great Debate: Ron Paul versus Paul Krugman

Ron Paul versus Paul Krugman || Bloomberg TV

U.S. Manufacturing Activity Unexpectedly Expands At Faster Rate

(RTTNews) - Activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector unexpectedly expanded at a faster rate in the month of April, according to a report released by the Institute for Supply Management on Tuesday, with the index of activity in the sector rising to a ten-month high.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index climbed to 54.8 in April from 53.4 in March, with a reading above 50 indicating an expansion in manufacturing activity. The increase surprised economists, who had expected the index to edge down to a reading of 53.0.

With the unexpected increase, the purchasing managers index rose to its highest level since coming in at 55.8 in June of 2011.

U.S. Manufacturing Activity Unexpectedly Expands At Faster Rate || RTT News

Data: Only 13 percent of "the poor" couldn't obtain medical care due to cost

(GoinsReport) - A 2011 report from the conservative Heritage Foundation shows that the picture of poverty in the United States isn't what it is painted to be by anti-poverty advocates, including access to healthcare.

Among the Census Bureau data compiled by the Heritage Foundation, the data on healthcare access shows that only 13 percent of poor households couldn't afford healthcare.

According to the report: "Although it is widely supposed that the poor cannot obtain medical care, only 13 percent of poor households report that a family member needed to go to the doctor or hospital at some point in the prior year but was unable to do so because the family could not afford the cost."

What makes a poor household varies by the family’s size.

In 2010, a family of four is considered a poor household if its counted cash income is less than $22,314 a year; a family of three, $17,374.

The counted cash income does not include the numerous cash benefits provided by the Federal government.

According to the Heritage report, which uses data from the Census Bureau’s annual poverty report, 46.2 million Americans were poor in 2010.

The Census Bureau told GoinsReport.com that what counts as unaffordable medical care varies.

Weekly Health Review, Vol.1

A House Ways and Means Committee report says that 71 percent of top companies would drop insurance plans for their employees to pay PPACA non-compliance penalty, CNSNews.com reports.

HHS-crafted presentations gives an incomplete view of the 2010 health care law, CNSNews.com reports.

Doctors overseas are going to begin attempts to "shrink" the hearts of patients, BBC news reports.

The FDA seems to contradict the Obama reelection campaign's insistent claim that the health care law's contraception mandate does not cover abortifacients, CNSNews.com reports.

Three million Americans and thousands of American employers will receive $1 billion - or about $127 per person - in rebates as a result of President Obama's health care law, the Associated Press reports.

Planned Parenthood slashes its lobbying spending, The Hill reports.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discussed the release of the Social Security and Medicare Trustees reports.

Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius discussed new steps to prevent and decrease the amount of Medicare Fraud.

In a flashback post, Thomas Sowell asks why is there a regulation on gold in the President's health care law, in a nationally syndicated column.