Central Planning fails because it is too large, and its excesses are too politically charged.

Obama college loan program massively in the red . . . In obscure data tables buried deep in its 2016 budget proposal, the Obama administration revealed this week that its student loan program had a $21.8 billion shortfall last year, apparently the largest ever recorded for any government credit program. PoliticO

Editor's notes:  Yet another example of Central Planning's innate inability to function responsibly.  Don't miss the import of the word "innate," here.  Many have come to believe that the Federal Government is so burdened by it owns regulations,  its own union demands and forced "fairness" rules as to employment,  and its own feckless provisions that work against actually getting things done,  that it cannot function in ways that are typical to  successful corporations.  

Look,  there are many dedicated,  hard working government employees mixed in with the thousands of employees who care nothing about anything but their next check and the retirement/benefit programs of their federal employer(s). 

When we couple the poor employer/employee circumstance of Central Planning with the fact that Planning does not believe it can run out of money,  well,  you have headlines such as the above.  

Does the student loan program work?  Central Planning will argue, "Yes,"  solely based on how many people are enrolled in that program   . . . . . .    never mind that the program is bankrupt.  

Diddo for Medicare.  Does Medicare work?  Millions are in the program !!  Never mind that they are forced into the program,  or the fact that Medicare is 47 trillion dollars in debt to itself.  They call this "unfunded liabilities."  Such is not officially called "debt,"  but the fact remains,  that Central Planning is obligated to funding futures, for which it has no money.  And when payment demand comes,  Central Planning is forced to borrow money from the taxpayer (via the sale of bonds and t-bills) and/or foreign governments.  No matter these details,  the fact of the matter is this:  Medicare is growing much faster than its ability to provide.  In time,  when economies die and foreign money dries up,  the entire program will go down in flames.  

Point of this post:  simply that we have created another federal program than cannot pay for itself.  The problem?  It may surprise you,  but the problem is an existential one.  There is no way any federal program can run on a "maintenance" schedule and provide for all who would apply.  If we do not turn people away,  if we do not demand individual responsibility,  in time,  the nation of takers will overwhelm needed fiscal management, threatening the very existence of the Federal government.    

That is what is happening with Obama's student loan program and ObamaCare.  Sadly,  because the creators of these programs are Obama-style, Utopian Democrats,  the life cycle of both programs has been shortened,  dramatically.  The headline, above,  is a first report,  confirming the theme of this post.  

Brian Williams airs NBC's criticism of Hillary's Afghan lie ("I was under sniper fire"), during the Obama campaign despite the fact that his lie was told for 12 stinking years and featured more specificity (all an outrageous lie) than anything Hillary spoke.

The anti-Semitic feelings of Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus are about to be on display.

<<<  The Black Caucus holding hands with the young Castro brother.  You should know that such action is designed to tell the world,  "We stand in solidarity with this communist regime."  

Editor's notes:  Little to nothing, negative,  is ever written about the Congressional Black Caucus.  If you are a frequent attendee to this blog,  and some 4,400 of you are,  you may know that the Black Caucus is a congressional collective that sees value in Communism,  and has often been found supporting the Castro brothers,  Hugo Chavez when he was alive,  and the governments of Venezuela,  Argentina,  Honduras.  Obama is a proud member of this Communist collective.  I don't mean to brand all CBC members as "communist,"  but,  neither do I believe that their willing support of communism is healthy or helpful to this nation's future.  Most importantly,  you should know that the CBC is disgustingly anti-Semitic,  and that is at play in this case.  

Obama has ignored the CBC leadership all the while he has been "president."  And his circumvention of congress is just that,  a circumvention of both Democrat and GOP leadership.   Keep this in mind, as well,  as you watch the developing reality pettiness of the Democrat blacks.  

The Hill   Leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are lining up to skip a coming speech by the prime minister of Israel.

Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), the civil rights icon, and G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), the chairman of the CBC, said they won’t attend Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 3 speech before Congress to protest Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) decision to invite the prime minister without first consulting President Obama, according to The Associated Press.

“I think it’s an affront to the president and the State Department what the speaker did,” Lewis told the AP.

The lawmakers emphasized that they are not organizing a formal boycott, but had made the personal decision to steer clear of the speech.

“The only thing I can control is my attendance,” Butterfield told the AP.

Brenda Jones, a spokeswoman for Lewis, confirmed that the lawmaker is not planning to attend the speech, adding that the decision was not a boycott.

The secret to burning "smokeless" and successfully resisting intrusive and unnecessary EPA standards

Editor's notes:  if the wood stove police can't see smoke,  they will not stop to investigate your burning habits.  And the secret to that  . . .    burning smokeless  . . . . .  is a healthy bed of ash  (2 inches or more),  and a continuous bed of hot, hot, coals.  In our stove,  I burn four 6 to 9 inch logs in the morning,  and,  again,  in the evening.  Once in a while,  I have to load the stove three times,  rather two.  My point is this:  keep the coals hot and the emissions are burned before they get out of the chimney.   It is not the stove that is the problem,  but the type of fire you maintain,  that is.  

Also,  buy or rent solar.  We have a 32 panel system for our 1800 foot home,  and our electric bill is around $30 per month.  Our new windows,  throughout,  help as well.  Without any heat,  our home stays 21 degrees warmer than outside,  during the winter months.  When the outside temp is 40,  the inside of our home is 61 degrees.  Heating to 70 degrees is no big deal.  Problem:  when the early spring arrives,  and the outside temp runs a low of 50 degrees,  plus or minus,  we cannot burn because the inside temp is simply,  too high. 

From the Daily Caller:

The EPA has finalized a 344-page rule to make wood stoves more environmentally friendly, meaning that millions of Americans will soon be forced to buy more expensive wood-fired stoves.

Republican lawmakers have opposed the rule, saying it would harm millions in rural America that rely on wood stoves to heat their homes every winter. With natural gas and electricity prices on the rise, wood stoves can be an economical choice for many living in the countryside.

“The EPA’s shortsighted regulatory overreach is once again hitting hardworking Montanans in their pocketbooks,” said Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

Some 2.4 million American households rely on wood stoves for heat. When the agency proposed the rule last year, critics argued 80 percent of wood stoves in use would not meet tightened standards and consumers would never be able to buy them brand new — raising energy costs for millions of people during the coldest times of the year.

Watcher's Council: Best conservative journalism on the planet and the Left is has only its talking points and parrot community.

Council Submissions

• The Noisy Room – The Muslim Brotherhood Calls For “A Long, Uncompromising Jihad” In Egypt After Meeting With US State Department


• The Independent Sentinel – This is what's wrong with American Sniper and snipers in general


• Simply Jews – Saving a man or Aaron Dover on my couch


• Rhymes With Right – Obama Decries Decision That Keeps Government From Limiting Political Speech, Activity


• Nice Deb – Don't Trust Do Verify: Questioning Corrupt and Politicized Climate Science


• Joshuapundit-Breaking: NYT Admits Obama Deliberately Manufactured Netanyahu Spat


• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD – The Foreign Policy Vacuum


• The Razor – Terf Wars


• The Right Planet – Man In The Mirror


• VA Right! - CCRC Chairman Don Williams Jeopardizing the GOP Committee’s Tax Exempt Status


• The Glittering Eye -In Which I Learn That I Am Not a Liberal


• Bookworm Room – Neo-Paganism is sweeping the First World - and that's a bad thing *UPDATED*


• Ask Marion – 
  Washington Times’ Bombshell Tapes Confirm Citizen Commission’s Findings on Benghazi

Honorable Mentions

• David Gerstman/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion - Tom Cotton takes a hard stance on Iran


• The People's Cube - Islamic State's War on Women vs. Republican War on Women


• The Pirate's Cove - Obama’s Unserious Budget Is Still Mostly About Creating A Fight


• Seraphic Secret - The American Sniper Effect: What it Says About the 2016 Election

Non-Council Submissions

• Daniel Greenfield/FrontPage Mag–The Ghosts of Auschwitz in the Muslim World submitted by The Noisy Room


• Nick Tell/NRO –Walker Squirms On Immigration submitted by The Independent Sentinel


• Anne's Opinions – Yemen insurgency shows the danger of the lack of a coherent US Middle East strategy submitted by Simply Jews


• Reason Blog – 9-Year-Old Boy Suspended for Using Lord of the Rings Magic on Fellow Student submitted by Rhymes with Right


• James Delingpole/Breitbart -Forget Climategate: this 'global warming' scandal is much bigger submitted by Nice Deb


• Michael Totten/City Journal – Chris Kyle wasn’t a savage; he killed savages. submitted by Joshuapundit


• Anka Pandit/The Diplomat – ISIS-Taliban Turf War in Afghanistan?submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD


• Reason.Com –The Voluntarily Unvaccinated Are Harming Other People in California Measles Outbreak submitted by The Razor


• James Lewis/American Thinker – Obama Is Openly Colluding with the Enemy submitted by The Right Planet


• Ace Of Spades HQ – Jordan: Hey, You Know How You Demanded We Release A Female Terrorist Prisoner In Exchange for Our Downed Pilot? submitted by VA Right!


• The Belmont Club – Learning To Hate submitted by The Glittering Eye


• Bloomberg/Megan McArdle-When Bread Bags Weren't Funnysubmitted by Bookworm Room


• Liberty's Spirit -Iran, the Bomb and Some Commentary submitted byThe Watcher


• Jim Clifton/Gallup – The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment submitted byThe Watcher


• Seth Mandel/Commentary – Scott Walker Rejects Your Premise submitted by The Watcher

Enjoy! And don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow usTwitter..'cause we're cool like that!And don't forget to tune in Friday for the results!

While Hillary ranks 3rd, she falls far behind the Most Influential of Secretary of States. Kerry, on the same list, finished dead last.

Kerry has been busy,  far more so than Hillary,  but has accomplished next to nothing  -  a record of "accomplishment" as dismal as the ex-First Lady's,  but,  without the Benghazi disaster.  Madeleine Albright,  a flaming Utopian liberal,  was much more accomplished than Hillary, so much so,  that Hillary's place on this list has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with reality.  
(source:  http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/03/top-twenty-five-schools-international-relations/

Who was the most effective U.S. secretary of state of the past 50 years?

• 1.Henry Kissinger32.21%
• 2.Don't know18.32%
• 3.James Baker17.71%
• 4.Madeleine Albright8.70%
• 4.Hillary Clinton8.70%
• 6.George Shultz5.65%
• 7.Dean Rusk3.51%
• 8.Warren Christopher1.53%
• 8.Cyrus Vance1.53%
• 10.Colin Powell1.07%
• 11.Condoleezza Rice0.46%
• 12.Lawrence Eagleburger0.31%
• 13.John Kerry0.31%

At the Prayer Breakfast on Wednesday, Obama offered up more excuses for his inaction as to radicalized Islam. Good luck in 2016, Democrats.

OBAMA: In our home country, slavery and Jim crow, all too often was justified in the name of Christ. Michelle and I returned from India, an incredible, beautiful country. Full of this magnificent diversity, but a place where in past years religious faiths of all types have on occasion been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and believes. Acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhi, the person who helped to liberate that nation. So this is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith.

Editor's notes:  Clearly,  because Democrats used the Christian faith to justify the KKK and Jim Crow, decades ago,  coupled with how  Europeans used the Christian faith to justify their crusades 800 to 1000 years ago,  or whatever threats existed back in the days of Ghandi,  give Obama a sense of moral equivalency with regards to radical Islam,  so much so,  that he is paralyzed when it comes to the "here and now" threat we face from Islamic Jihad.  

What happened hundreds of years ago,  has nothing to do with the current threat, OF COURSE.      Whatever one might say about past "sins,"  the fact remains that those who committed these ancient atrocities did not represent true Christianity or the truth of Ghandi. 

You must believe that when we single out "radical Islam,"  absolutely no one is talking about "all of Islam"  . . . .  no one.  Yet,  Obama continues to fight against this straw-man as if he is accomplishing something.  

Question:  when you fight against something that is not there,  a comparison that is false or so outdated as to be useless,   what is being accomplished?  You know the answer.  Obama's wasted words have proven to be more of a problem,  of and within themselves, than the immediate terror threat we are facing.  Why?    Because his feckless nonsense lays the foundation for continued indecision and delay,  when,  in fact,  we do not have this time to waste.  

Here is the sad truth of all this:  ISIS will be a campaign issue,  in 2016,  when it should have been eradicated well before those elections.  Good luck,  Democrats.  Once again,  Obama is pushing policies that promise to bury you, in, yet, another election cycle.   

Yesterday, Obama hosted a closed door meeting with leadership from various domestic Muslim organizations in this country and refuses to tell the American people anything about that meeting.

When I write "anything" in the headline,  above,  I mean that quite literally.  He is telling us nothing about that meeting,  to wit:  nothing as to the purpose(s) for the meeting;  nothing as to the names of those in attendance;  nothing as to the organizations they represent   . . . . .   nothing.

This meeting was held the day following Obama telling the King of Jordan,  he would be able to give Jordan any additional help.  Not only that,  this came the day after letting the King know that he (Obama) opposed the executions of the two Jordanian war criminals help in Jordan custody.

It is little wonder that Obama has no influence in the Middle East.
His approval/trust factor with that region of the world is, consistently,  close to 15%.

He is at odds with Syria,  of course,  a country with which he is at war,  a country that is, incredibly,  being supported by Iran.  His has no influence  with Jordan and Lebanon for refusing to help with their increasing population of refugees, and,  with Saudi Arabia and Egypt (they see him as a quitter,  a man who does not follow through with his threats and headline seeking plans).  Yemen?  It just went to hell,  forcing us to permanently close our embassy three months after Obama put it up as an example of the success of his Middle Eastern policies. Libya has turned into another Somalia, two nations that have been overrun by al Qaeda type forces,  countries with no serious governance  --  all since Obama forced his do-nothing policy on that region.

But I digress.   There can be little question as to who was invited to the White House.  My list would not be comprehensive,  but it must include CAIR and leaders from the Muslim Brotherhood,  and various Iman's from the North East part of our country,  many of them quite radical.  Sadly,   my list,  admittedly incomplete,  is full of radicalicalized domestic Muslim "partners."

Also,  understand that CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood were terror groups red-flagged by the FBI in the years prior to Obama.  But,  per Obama's specific demands,  they were taken off this listing.  Turns out  he has been "in bed" with these radicals for years, a reality that gives reason for Obama's continued allegiance to the Prophet (per his UN speech in 2012).

The fact that this meeting was secret is evidence,  in and of itself,  that no good will come from this gathering.

Be prepared for the "rest of the story,"  to come later today or tomorrow.

As you listen to Brian Williams, know this: he has admitted that it was all - ALL - a lie. .

An incredibly detailed lie,  every word,and this is the face of NBC News.  

Listen to at least half of this.  Why?  Because,  if you don't,  you will not get the magnitude of this lie.  I mean,  the particulars of this story,  all an admitted lie   . . . .   admitted by Brian Williams himself  . . . . .  is most incredible (as in "without credibility").  Understand that this is not a slip of the lip,  or a man who simply got his facts mixed up.  It is a full-on story about war,  rescue and survival   . . . .   and every word is a damn lie  (ala Hillary and her lie about being fired on during a visit to Iraq).  

Stars And Stripes reports that Williams “was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.”

Another provable lie, this time about the "coalition" and the UAE

Editor's notes:  I have added a  "cut and paste" directly from the Department of Defense.  Why? To prove the newest lie being told to the American people.  This time,  it is about the air campaign in the Middle East.  Obama pretends that he has a working coalition of 60 nation,  a significant number because it is much larger than that of Bush's.   Problem: I believe this coalition is largely,  a lie.  In this following report,  last paragraph,  Obama's propaganda machine names the Untied Arab Emirates as a member nation flying sorties into the Iraqi war zone.  Turns out that UAE has abandoned the fight last December.  The report I have posted is a matter of Administration record   . . . . . . . .    today.  In other words,  it is a current lie. 

And the other countries named?  What exactly are they doing?  I mean,  We are flying,  on average,  7 sorties per day,  down from 12 a couple of months ago.  Compare this to 1100 per day in Desert Storm and 700 a day when we went after Saddam. 

In other words,  He failed in Iraq after telling us “we have left behind an Iraq that is strong stable and sovereign.”  And his “war” in Afghanistan is nothing less than a sick, sick  joke.  Now,  he put out that he had built a huge coalition in under two weeks  . . . . . . . .   an obvious lie if,  for no other reason,  than this fantasy time table.  If true,  this war would already be over.  I mean,  60 NATIONS against one “organization.”    

DoD News

E-MAIL A COPY | PRINTER FRIENDLY | LATEST NEWS  NEWS ARTICLE Operation Inherent Resolve Airstrikes Continue in Syria, Iraq From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, Feb. 4, 2015 – U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, which took place between 8 a.m. yesterday and 8 a.m. today, local time, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Airstrikes in Syria Bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 11 airstrikes near Kobani in Syria, striking nine ISIL tactical units and an ISIL large tactical unit and destroying three ISIL staging positions and an ISIL fighting position. Airstrikes in Iraq Attack and fighter aircraft conducted six airstrikes in Iraq: -- Near Beiji, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL checkpoint. -- Near Tal Afar, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit. -- Near Asad, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit. -- Near Rawah, an airstrike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL guard facility. -- Near Huwayjah, an airstrike destroyed an ISIL checkpoint, an ISIL guard tower, an ISIL bunker, an ISIL vehicle and two ISIL shipping containers. -- Near Mosul, an airstrike struck an ISIL improvised explosive device factory. Part of Operation Inherent Resolve The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations conducting airstrikes in Syria include the United States, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

from: http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=128109