July 26, 2010, Conservatively Speaking

• Is Hollywood Going Way of Dodo Bird?

• More Grim News for U. S. Defense

• Feds say Lt. Governor Owes Over $100,000 in Taxes

• Obama’s Disingenuousness, and Arrogance Toward Israel

• Rangel On Trial?

• 25% Of D. C. Teachers “Ineffective” Or Nearly So.

• Most Say Enough Regulation Already

• Californians Versus Other Americans On Immigration

• Lohan Favorables Below Obama, Gibson and Lebron

• A Review About Coming Iranian Apocalypse.

As the Teamsters Union decides whether to shut down movie making comes a report by the Milken Institute showing the withering of that once powerful industry. The number of movies wholly or partially filmed in California has dropped from 272 in 2000 to 160 in 2008. The state’s share of North American film-making has declined from 40 percent in 1997 to 37.4 percent.

Schwarzenegger has been chortling about a new tax credit that he says will help the beleaguered industry recover its luster. But, there is not much evidence of that - at least yet.

Milken says more steps are needed to restore the industry’s prominence in the state, including more tax incentives to match those of other states and Canada.

“California has lost 36,000 total jobs, $2.4 billion in wages and $4.2 billion in total economic output,” Milken said.

The question seems to be whether Hollywood will go the way of California’s once flourishing aerospace industry that has dried up and moved to other more business friendly states.

Ironically as California flourished during the last downturns provoking a jealous ABC (Anyplace But California) campaign. Now there is so much flight from the once Golden State that some expect it to have its Congressional delegation reduced by one and maybe two seats. Like the bumper sticker says “You can’t eat sunshine - I’m leaving.”

Nearly half (49%) of Minnesota voters believe state election officials should investigate allegations that felons voted illegally in the 2008 election. That election, many believe elected the ascerbic, unfunny man - Al Frankin.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a top-secret briefing last week on the U.S. intelligence community’s National Intelligence Estimate on the new START arms treaty with Russia and whether it can be verified.

Details of the briefing and the NIE have not been disclosed, but comments by officials and other specialists have revealed major problems with the treaty’s verification provisions. Critics say Obama “gave away the store” for domestic political gain.

Also last week the directors of the three national laboratories involved in nuclear weapons development and maintenance testified before the Senate that they have major concerns about the long-term commitment of the Obama administration to spending needed to modernize the arsenal and supporting infrastructure. The bottom-line is fears of viability of the U. S. nuclear arsenal in the long term. Meanwhile the Russians are vastly modernizing their nuclear arsenal.

Taken together means there are very serious concerns about Obama’s naiveté as he rushes into questionable, dangerous decisions giving away large portions of the U. S. strategic forces. At the same time Obama plans to slash the U. S. Navy to less than 250 ships including eliminating two Nimitz-class carrier strike forces; drastically cutting the F-35 joint strike fighter’s production having cancelled the F-22 stealth fighter and numerous other weapons platforms and capabilities.

Congresswoman Lois Capps (D) CA 23^rd is being dogged for her comments at a Santa Barbara hospital when she said Obama care is a “big gamble” and not a particularly good law but something had to be passed while possible. A dozen complaining letters and editorials have appeared in her hometown newspaper alone. A recent poll shows less than half would vote to reelect her while more would vote against her.

The Los Angeles Times reports a Santa Barbara County business owned by Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado owes the federal government more than $100,000 in taxes.

Federal officials filed a lien against the property on April 13 - two weeks before Maldonado was sworn in as lieutenant governor.

According to the Times, the Internal Revenue Service lien indicates that Maldonado owes the government $111,146 for underpaying a category of taxes that include Social Security, Medicare and federal withholding contributions for employees on his 6,000-acre farm.

A spokesman for Maldonado’s reelection campaign told the Times the outstanding taxes are “absolutely not an employee compensation issue,” rather a dispute over the use of company vehicles.

The Times did not say the farm is family owned and was begun by Maldonado’s father who bootstrapped himself after starting as a green card agriculture worker in the Santa Maria Valley. Other reports do refer to the company as “family owned..”

Maldonado trailed San Francisco Democrat Major Newsom by a 3 to 2 margin in their race for Lt. Governor in a recent Field poll. Maldonado was appointed earlier this year by Governor Schwarzenegger to fill the office abandoned by its Democrat occupant who was elected to Congress. Maldonado’s now vacant Senate seat will be filled in an August special election. Republican Sam Blakeslee has a lead in that race.

The federal budget deficit, which hit a record $1.4 trillion last year, will exceed that figure in 2010 and 2011, according to a White House forecast released Friday.  The $1.47 trillion budget gap predicted for 2010 represents a slight improvement over the administration’s February forecast, but the outlook for 2011 has darkened considerably, primarily due to a drop in expected tax receipts.

During an interview with Israel’s Channel Two, Obama was asked why he thinks Israelis mistrust him. Here’s what he said:

“Some of it may just be the fact that my middle name is Hussein,” he told the interviewer, “and that creates suspicion. Some of it may have to do with the fact that I have actively reached out to the Muslim community, and I think that sometimes - particularly in the Middle East - there’s the feeling of the friend of my enemy must be my enemy.”

In two sentences, Obama revealed the key to his character. Of course, the reason Israelis and a growing number of American Jews mistrust Obama is that, contrary to his claim of being a friend to Israel, he has actively sided with Israel’s enemies and dissed Israel.

The fact that Obama would take such a well-known fact and turn it into another slam against Israelis demonstrates Obama’s disingenuousness, his arrogance, and his obsessive need to blame everyone but himself for problems he has created.

Excerpted from an article by Ron Kessler.

Americans now rate Congress dead last among 16 other national institutions at an all-time low of 11% approval according to a new Gallup Poll.

In an irony laced development the always supercilious (as in patronizingly haughty) Rep. Charles Rangel (D) New York is accused by a House investigative panel of multiple ethics charges against, the powerful New York Democrat who has been fending off accusations related to his business dealings and fund-raising, among other issues.

Rangel can resign, accept the charges and try to stay on, or defend himself. Pressure could build from Democratic members for him to resign rather than endure a public trial that would be humiliating for him and his party before the November midterm elections. Nancy Pelosi initially pooh-poohed the charges against Rangel insisting it would all be over in 2008 obviously she was wrong.

The last time this happened was 8-years ago when Jim Traficant (D) Ohio the corrupt Sheriff of Mahoning County, Ohio (Youngstown called bomb city USA) was forced out and then imprisoned.

Ironically Rangel defeated the notoriously corrupt Adam Clayton Powell who was denied seniority after he was fined $25,000 for stealing taxpayer funds on the basis of being more ethical. Rangel took office in 1971. Powell died a year later.

A further irony is that Rangel is now being opposed in his Harlem centered district by Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Allegations that scientists’ views were improperly used to justify a Obama’s moratorium on deep-water drilling are being investigated, the Interior Department’s top watchdog says.

One in four Washington DC teachers are either ineffective or rated only barely so. Last week 241 were fired as abject failures and 737 listed as marginal. The union says it will protest the firings.

Last month, union members and the D.C. Council approved a new contract that raises educators’ salaries by 21.6 percent from $67,000 to $81,000 but diminishes traditional seniority protections in favor of personnel decisions based on results in the classroom. The pact also provides for a “performance pay” system with bonuses of $20,000 to $30,000 annually for teachers who meet certain benchmarks, including growth in test scores.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer was struggling earlier this year but now holds a commanding lead in the campaign to keep her job. A new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey finds Brewer leading Democrat Terry Goddard by a 56% to 37% margin.

Most American voters feel small businesses are regulated too much. There is also a strong belief that more competition and less regulation would be better for the economy and job creation.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 38% of Likely Voters are concerned enough to favor the idea of a one-year moratorium on the creation of any new federal government regulations. Thirty-four percent (34%) oppose such a moratorium, while another 28% are not sure.

This week in 1944, a bomb intended for Adolf Hitler exploded but failed to kill him. It was a defective device called the Apple iBomb. It would have worked but Hitler was holding it wrong.- Leno

Voters in California are almost evenly divided on whether or not they support the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to challenge Arizona’s immigration law.

45% agree with the Justice Department’s challenge of the recently enacted immigration law in Arizona.  Slightly more (47%), however, disagree with the challenge.

This marks a sharp contrast to voters’ views nationwide.  Nationally, voters by a two-to-one margin — 56% to 28% — oppose the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to challenge the legality of Arizona’s new immigration law in federal court.

Meanwhile, 53% of California voters favor an Arizona-like immigration law in their own state, lower than the national average. Thirty-nine percent (39%) oppose such a law in their own state.

Schmuck -noun Slang . an obnoxious or contemptible person. Origin: 1890-95;  Yiddish shmok (vulgar) lit., penis (of uncert. orig.)

Lindsay Lohan, who was sentenced to 90 days in jail for violating probation, tops the list of the least liked, being viewed favorably by only 12% of Americans. Seventy-six percent (76%) rate the star unfavorably, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey.

Those figures are down slightly from a survey in 2007 right after Lohan entered rehab for alcoholism.

Sixty-two percent (62%) rate golfer Tiger Woods unfavorably, while 31% give him a favorable rating.  Those figures are unchanged from our survey in late March before Woods returned to his first tournament since becoming embroiled in a sex scandal.

Pop sensation Lady Gaga earns a 24% favorable rating. Sixty-one percent (61%) rate her unfavorably.

Actor Mel Gibson is viewed favorably by 35% of adults, but 57% have an unfavorable impression of the Hollywood superstar. It was reported last week that Gibson abused and threatened his ex-girlfriend, the mother of his most recent child. Audio tapes supposedly containing these threats have begun circulating in the media.

The new findings are a reversal from August 2006, shortly after Gibson was arrested for drunk driving and making anti-Semitic slurs. At that time, 56% viewed him favorably, while 28% rated him unfavorably.

Basketball star LeBron James, who as a free agent has created a media frenzy, is viewed favorably by 32% of adults. Forty-five percent (45%) rate him unfavorably.

James and Lady Gaga are the least well-known of this group of celebrities.

Betty White may be 88 years old, but she has soared in popularity in the movies and on television this year. Seventy-six percent (76%) rate the former Golden Girl favorably, with 55% viewing her very favorably. Just 14% have an unfavorable impression.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on July 9-10, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not testify at his trial. He wanted to testify, but he sold his seat at the court for $100,000. — Leno

——-IN MY OPINION——-

It is time, really past time, to review and consider the approaching catastrophe of   nuclear armed Iranian mullahs.

Iran has been at war with the United States since 1979, when it seized and held our diplomats for 444 days — an act of war under settled principles of international law. Few in the United States then wanted to regard it as such (though Sen. Pat Moynihan said we should “bring fire and brimstone to the gates of Tehran”).

On April 24, 1980, President Carter launched a U. S. rescue mission that failed miserably resulted in the destruction of two aircraft and the deaths of eight American servicemen and one Iranian civilian.

Then too America had a weak, indecisive president. The final hostages were only released when Carter was gone and President Ronald Reagan was sworn in on Jan. 20, 1981.

Later the mullah regime sponsored the 1983 attack on our Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon and attacks on our soldiers in Iraq and elsewhere — more acts of war. Six presidents have chosen not to retaliate for reasons of prudence that have much to commend them. War with Iran would be a terrible thing. But one can also believe, as the UAE ambassador incautiously said, a nuclear-armed Iran would be even worse.

Now the moment is fast approaching when the Mullahs will be able to hold the entire Middle East hostage with nuclear warheads. No amount of apocalyptic imagining will suffice to predict the consequence of such circumstance which VP Biden has predicted will happen saying we need to “get used to a nuclear armed Iran.”

America’s foreign policy is seen as flaccid. Last week Obama’s plans to eviscerate the U. S. military sent chills through allies and patriots alike. His new course ends Reagan’s peace through strength approach. There are growing storm clouds and no amount of glib talk will diminish that.

Meantime Iran announced multi-million dollar funding for a fusion reactor that has many scratching their heads and other body parts.

The latest Rasmussen Report nationwide poll of likely voters finds just 25% Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove