Want to get rich? Work for feds

(Washington Examiner) - For decades, public sector unions have peddled the fantasy that government employees were paid less than their counterparts in the private sector. In fact, the pay disparity is the other way around. Government workers, especially at the federal level, make salaries that are scandalously higher than those paid to private sector workers. And let's not forget private sector workers not only have to be sufficiently productive to earn their paychecks, they also must pay the taxes that support the more generous jobs in the public sector.

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Oklahoma House passes bill outlawing militias and gang recruiting

(The Oklahoman) - Recruiting membership in an unauthorized militia or the Ku Klux Klan would be a crime if legislation approved Thursday by the House of Representatives becomes law.

"This is making unauthorized militias illegal," said Rep. Mike Shelton, the amendment’s author.

Both groups were added in an amendment to Senate Bill 2018, which would increase the penalty for aiding or soliciting gang membership from one year in prison to five years in prison. It also would create a new crime for gang-related offenses as a condition of membership, with the penalty being five years in prison.


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23 states now ban texting while driving

(Stateline.org) - Michigan on Wednesday (April 28) became the 23rd state to ban texting while driving, while two other states, Kentucky and Nebraska, approved similar bans earlier this month, according to The Detroit News.

Governor Jennifer Granholm will sign Michigan's measure into law on Friday during a safe-driving rally in Detroit, which will be aired on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show," The News reported. Winfrey has become a vocal supporter of state laws addressing distracted driving.

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FBI agent short on details on militia inquiry

DETROIT (AP) - An FBI agent who led the investigation of nine Michigan militia members charged with trying to launch war against the federal government couldn't recall many details of the two-year probe yesterday during questioning by defense lawyers.

Even the judge who must decide whether to release the nine until trial was puzzled.

"I share the frustrations of the defense team … that she doesn't know anything," U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said after agent Leslie Larsen confessed she hadn't reviewed her notes recently and couldn't remember specific details of the case.

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Baffling presentation to try to explain Afghanistan mess

(Mail Online) - Even the sharpest military minds in American were left baffled by this PowerPoint slide, a mind-boggling attempt to explain the situation in Afghanistan.

"When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war," General Stanley McChrystal, the US and NATO force commander, remarked wryly when confronted by the sprawling spaghetti diagram in a briefing.

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Proposal: All New Yorkers become organ donors

NEW YORK (CBS) - New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky nearly lost his daughter, Willie, at 4 years old when she needed a kidney transplant, and again 10 years later when her second kidney failed.

"We have 10,000 New Yorkers on the list today waiting for organs. We import half the organs we transplant. It is an unacceptable failed system," Brodsky said.

To fix that, Brodsky introduced a new bill in Albany that would enroll all New Yorkers as an organ donor, unless they actually opt out of organ donation. It would be the first law of its kind in the United States.

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Arizona immigration law puts police in 'impossible situation'

(Christian Science Monitor) - Local law enforcement agencies have moved front and center in the national debate over immigration reform with the signing of Arizona's SB1070 immigration law.

The law – signed Friday by Gov. Jan Brewer (R) – requires law enforcement to check the residency status of those thought to be in the country illegally. Police unions were divided on the issue and some leading law enforcement agencies petitioned Governor Brewer not to sign the bill – fearing racial profiling and loss of the public's trust.

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Poll: 35 percent of Republicans back 'bailout fund'

(Washington Post blog) - Thirty-five percent of Republicans support "requiring large banks and other financial companies to put money into a fund that would cover the cost of taking over and breaking up any large financial company that fails and threatens the broader economy," the part of the bill labeled the "bailout fund" by Republican leaders. Twenty-seven percent support "having the federal government regulate the complex financial instruments known as derivatives." Forty-four percent support "increasing federal oversight of the way banks and other financial companies make consumer loans, such as mortgages and auto loans, and issue credit cards." And a majority, 53 percent, support "stricter federal regulations on the way Wall Street firms conduct their business."

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Motorcyclist jailed for 26 hours for videotaping gun-wielding cop

Motorcyclist Anthony Graber was guilty of speeding. There is no debate about that. But that hardly warrants being threatened with a gun by a plainclothes officer who doesn't even bother to flash a badge.

The real kicker is that Garber was later arrested and thrown in jail for daring to capture the incident on video without the gun-toting cop's permission.

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Tax Fury on Facebook

Gary North writes:

A showdown is coming in November. It will be a showdown between the old boy network and the social networks. A new political force is on the move, that the Establishment has not yet learned how to manipulate.

The social networks are examples of what free market economist F. A. Hayek called the spontaneous order. It is outside the old boy network.

The fury over taxes is increasing. This is moving toward a fury over the deficits. This is new. It means that Congress can run, but it can’t hide. Congressmen can run, but they can't hide.

This will be fun to watch.

Read the full article here.