TheDC Morning – 12/7/10

Pat McMahon Contributor
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1.) Congressional Republicans welcome Pres. Obama to the Grand Ole Party — Have the Democrats lost their progressive paladin? Do zombies want to eat your brains? What. A. Night! In the words of lefty journalist and frequent Keith Olbermann guest host Chris Hayes, “Democrats, in charge of Congress and White House, are about to ratify single defining domestic policy of W.” Yes, that is a good way to put it! But it’s not all fun and games for the one-time Democratic president. “Vice President Biden heads to Capitol Hill today to lobby Senate Democrats to support the tax cut compromise,” reports ABC’s Jake Tapper, “as President Obama faces criticism from congressional Democrats that he should have fought more for the Bush tax cuts on the middle class, and against the cuts for wealthier Americans.” In response to these criticisms, a senior White House staffer had this to say: “We wanted a fight on these tax cuts, and Congressional Democrats never took up the charge and held a vote.” Also: “It was like the Jets versus Sharks except there weren’t any Jets….Senator Schumer says he wants a fight? He couldn’t hold his caucus together.” This is called “triangulating,” apparently!
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2.) Obama administration continues to grant exemptions from Obamacare — In other Obama-abandoning-the-party news, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that the White House “has quietly granted even more waivers to the new federal health reform law, doubling the number in just the last three weeks to a new total of 222.” These waivers exempt companies with limited-benefit health insurance policies from providing more coverage to their employees. Among the organizations that no longer have to comply with the Democrats’ authoritarian regulations are Waffle House, Universal Studios of Orlando, and the Pearson Candy Company, as well as “Bricklayers Local 1 of MD, VA and DC, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, the Indiana Teamsters Health Benefits Fund, and Service Employees International Union Local 1 Cleveland Welfare Fund.” In summation: Unions aren’t the only folks who are getting special treatment from the Obama Administration.
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3.) Colleges find new ways to rip off taxpayer — Public and non-profit institutions of higher learning have graduated from jacking up their prices and miring your kids in debt to encouraging junior to apply for food stamps, reports The Daily Caller’s Matthew Boyle. Colleges across the country, both public and private, encourage their students to apply for food stamps in order to supplement the tens of thousands of dollars they borrow from private lenders and the federal government. “Sometimes grants and loans don’t stretch far enough and students are forced to work low-paying jobs,” reads the website of Portland State. “For some, this still is not enough to get by. Having to choose between buying groceries or a $125 textbook is a tough decision that many students have been forced to make at some point in their college careers. As if taking a full class load wasn’t stressful enough!” And Portland State is just one of many colleges who would rather see your child apply for public assistance than forego marking up their rates at a pace five times higher than inflation! If you have not already sunk a fist through your computer screen or flushed your smart phone down the crapper, make sure and to read the rest of Boyle’s food stamp reporting.
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4.) Michelle Obama one step closer to taking over America’s cafeterias — The USDA has rolled over for Michelle Obama’s salad bar project, reports environmental news site Grist. “Backers of the Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools project said local health inspectors already were citing an Oct. 8 memo from the USDA’s Child Nutrition Division as a reason for declaring self-serve salad bars a potential food safety hazard and not allowing small children around them,” Grist reports. The only way small children could use a salad bar is if the salads were prepackaged or an adult prepared the salads. Under intense pressure from Michelle’s goons, however, a USDA employee admitted that there was a third option: Midget sneeze-guards! In the end, it looks like America’s schools will get salad bars at a cost of $16 million. Ironically, FLOTUS’s policy does not require fatties to eat salads.
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5.) American students still relatively stupid — “After a decade of intensive efforts to improve its schools, the United States posted these results in a new global survey of 15-year-old student achievement: average in reading, average in science and slightly below average in math,” reports the Washington Post. According to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, lots and lots of countries are smarter than us, and quite a few are dumber. Is this acceptable? For once in his bureaucratic existence, Education Secretary Arne Duncan answers that question correctly: “Have we ever been satisfied as Americans being average in anything? Is that our aspiration? Our goal should be absolutely to lead the world in education.” Should be? That’s inspiring!
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6.) Brits arrest Wikileaks founder — “WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in the U.K. early Tuesday on an international warrant related to sexual-assault accusations in Sweden, setting up a battle over an extradition he has already pledged to fight,” reports the Wall Street Journal. Ironically, Assange made the top of Interpol’s most wanted list not for leaking classified information from the U.S. State Department, but for continuing to have sex with a Swedish woman after the condom they were using broke.

Pat McMahon