On Saturday, before a less than overwhelming crowd at Ohio State University, Obama upbraided Romney for Romney’s oft-cited statement that corporations are people.  In so doing, Obama stated, “I don’t care how many ways you try to explain it, corporations aren’t people. People are people.”

Obama’s statement makes sense, doesn’t it?

No it doesn’t. Not to a Thinking American.

The good folks at LearnLiberty.org produced the following video of St. Louis University Professor Steven Horwitz addressing the question: Are corporations people?

Give it a gander.  Once you have, I believe you’ll understand that Romney is correct. Corporations are people.

Here is Brokaw in his own words:

“[A]s I’ve gone around the country, a lot of people say to me, “What’s happened with the press?  What’s happened with political coverage in America?  We don’t feel connected to it.”

“And then I was out on the road when the White House Correspondents Dinner popped up again.  And I looked at the C-SPAN coverage and read all the accounts of it.  And if there’s ever an event that separates the press from the people that they’re supposed to serve symbolically, it is that one.  It is time to rethink it.  You know, it’s– look, I think George Clooney’s a great guy.  I’d like to meet Charlize Theron. [Emphasis added]

“But I don’t think the big press event in Washington should be that kind of glittering event where the whole talk about is Cristal champagne, taking over the Italian Embassy, who had the best party, who got to meet the most people.  That’s another separation between what we’re supposed to be doing and what the people expect us to be doing.  And I think that the Washington Press Corps has to look at that.  And by the way, I’m a charter member of the White House Correspondents Association.  I was there early on and often, and often enjoyed it.  But it’s gone beyond what it needs to be.”

Tom Brokaw is correct.  The unprofessional behavior of the White House press is just one more reason why Americans west of the Potomac River look at Washington, DC and see a city of self-absorbed leeches all inhabiting one putrid swamp full of self-absorption and greed.

Folks in the DC press corp would be wise to remember that they are about the only profession that is viewed with more distrust than DC pols themselves.

In so doing, Tanner draws upon the following words penned by James Madison in Federalist 51.

“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”

Then, in a powerful statement of his own, Tanner illuminates the inherent risk from surrendering authority to a government consisting of, inevitably, flawed men.

“Indeed, the damage that government can do is far greater than the damage that can be done by business or individuals, because ultimately the state holds a monopoly on the use of force. If I make a mistake, it affects my life and perhaps the lives of my family and a few others. If a business makes a mistake, it can affect thousands more. But if government makes a mistake, it can affect everyone. That is what makes the growing reach of government so dangerous.”

There can be no doubt that we live in a time when the growing reach of government permeates every aspect of our lives.

Consequently, there can be no doubt that with the growing reach of government comes growing danger.

To believe otherwise is to believe that we have a government of angels.

{Please read Michael Tanner’s entire commentary, Because angels don’t govern us, by clicking –> here}

Who should voters believe? Can we trust anyone to be objective?

Former listeners to my radio shows are familiar with the name Peter Morici. Morici is an economist and professor at the Smith School of Business located at the University of Maryland and I’ve interviewed him a number of times over the years. Morici is also a prolific writer and I subscribe to his newsletter. While I sometimes disagree with his proposed solutions to our nation’s fiscal woes, I have found Morici to be an honest broker when it comes to presenting the state of the economy. By and large, Morici’s predictions over the years have withstood the test of time.

Because I trust Morici, his newsletter today was disheartening as it paints a picture of an economy on the way down – not up.

The piece, Only Modest Jobs Growth As Economy Weakens, predicts:

“Second quarter economic growth is likely to be much less than two percent, and fewer than 200,000 jobs should be added each month. New jobs created will hardly be enough to replace all those lost during the Great Recession and provide opportunities for new graduates looking for work.”

Looking at the jobs picture in more detail, Morici states:

“Some 80 percent of the reduction in the unemployment rate from 10 to 8.2 percent has been from adults quitting the labor force.

The percentage of adults participating in the labor force – those employed, self employed, or unemployed but looking for work – has declined significantly. If the adult participation rate was the same today as when Barak Obama became president, unemployment would be 10.7 percent.

Adding adults on the sidelines, who say they would reenter the labor market if conditions improved, and part-time workers, who would prefer full-time positions, the unemployment rate becomes 14.5 percent. Factoring in college graduates in low skill positions, like counterwork at Starbucks, and unemployment is much higher still.”

Finally, Morici lays out the danger on the horizon:

“The economy growing 2 percent is like an airplane flying at low altitude. The plane can keep going, but the slightest unexpected obstacle and the plane ditches – such difficulties may soon emerge in Europe or China.”

Bottom line: It would be wise to prepare a life raft. One that can withstand rough economic seas.

Don’t hold your breath.

Hypocritically, Jesse, Al, Eric and MSNBC believe only whites carry-out racist attacks.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

This from, A beating at Church and Brambleton. in The Virginian-Pilot:

“Wave after wave of young men surged forward to take turns punching and kicking their victim.

The victim’s friend, a young woman, tried to pull him back into his car. Attackers came after her, pulling her hair, punching her head and causing a bloody scratch to the surface of her eye…”

“Forster and Rostami, both white, suffered a beating at the hands of a crowd of black teenagers.”

Read the full sordid account. –> A beating at Church and Brambleton.

Here’s the link to the interview. –>  What if Congress finds Holder in contempt?

As civil society becomes less cohesive, will we see more reports like this from Fox News today?

5 arrested for allegedly trying to blow up Ohio bridge

Sadly, I do believe we will see more anarchy this summer and in the years to come. Stay tuned.

Question: Why would we re-elect any member of Congress who is not performing the most basic constitutional function of Congress?

Thirteen months later and our national cancer is still growing.

While there are many factors contributing to the rapidly declining economic health of our country, the largest contributors are our burgeoning federal retirement and health care entitlement programs.

Last Monday, the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees released their annual reports for 2012.  The reports paint a picture of an impending fiscal collapse when it comes to three of the major welfare programs Americans increasingly rely upon – Social Security, Medicare and Disability.

According to the reports:  The Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2016; the Medicare Trust Fund (specifically, Medicare Part A which covers hospital stays) will be exhausted in 2024; and, the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2033.

As if these dates are not imminent enough, the trustees warned the projections are overly optimistic because they are based upon unrealistic expectations of congressional action.  And, lest the fast-approaching dates of insolvency are not enough of a siren, the trustees quantified the size of the cancer in dollars.

Social Security and Medicare currently have a combined unfunded liability (benefits promised minus payroll taxes and premiums collected) of more than $63 Trillion.  And, once again, the trustees warned that this unimaginable dollar figure is probably low because the calculation is based upon the “highly uncertain” enactment of provisions within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – commonly known as ObamaCare.

A more realistic figure for the unfunded liability is an incomprehensible $100 Trillion.

At the heart of this erupting volcano of debt is an inescapable demographic reality. We are a graying nation.  Today, and every day for the next 20 years, 10,000 Americans will reach the age of eligibility for Social Security and Medicare.

There’s the rub.

Combine 10,000 additional retirees per day with historic low birth rates and historic high life expectancy and you have a nation that can no longer expect to fund entitlement programs for an exploding population of seniors by shifting the costs to a dwindling population of working age citizens.

So, how do we stop this economic crisis?

As a conservative libertarian, I believe the costs of health care and retirement should be borne by the individual coupled with charities for those truly incapable of providing for themselves.  As a realist, I know that our current welfare state will not return to a nation of individual responsibility overnight.

However, that should not stop us from beginning immediately to make changes that can save us from certain ruin.

And, the most important change must begin with each of us as individuals.

As much as we all like to blame our elected representatives in Washington for the current dismal economic state of affairs, the reality is we have trained our representatives that they get rewarded – meaning reelected – by satisfying our every desire, want and whim.  And, yes, we all want ‘something’ from Washington.

We must as a nation change that paradigm.

We must stop demanding that the President and Congress increase the size and burden of government and start demanding that they expeditiously and dramatically reduce the size of the federal government by returning the well-being of our lives to the states, our local communities and us as individuals.

Bottom line: When it comes to Medicare, Social Security and Disability, we are quickly running out of time to correct a looming disaster.  It is long past time that we as individuals take responsibility and demand less of our federal government and thereby avert what has rightly been called by Erskine Bowles and others, “the most predictable economic crisis in history.”

Yes, that’s right. When determining how best to secure our nation against al-Qaeda, Iran, North Korea, China and other assorted threats, DHS must determine if its actions place “disproportionately high and adverse effects on the human health and environment of minority or low-income populations.”

Starting this year, DHS will prepare an Annual Implementation Progress Report to address the department’s efforts concerning: “(1) implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act; (2) implementation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended; (3) impacts from climate change; and (4) impacts from commercial transportation and supporting infrastructure (“goods movement”).”

In order to comply with the new strategy, senior leadership at DHS must ensure that “environmental justice is appropriately integrated into their specific mission: maritime safety, security, and stewardship; federal assistance authority; emergency management programs; border security; transportation security; immigration services; law enforcement training; science and technology research; and mission support and asset management.”

Further, “[a]s the Department’s capacities and mission areas evolve in response to improved understanding of emerging threats to safety and security, the concepts of this strategy will be extended to match the commitment to environmental justice in those new areas.”

There now, don’t you feel safer?