Hey! Twenty three Democratic Senators can do minimum wage math!

Shocking. Why have they hidden their light under a bushel for all these years?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Tuesday delayed action on legislation raising the minimum wage, the centerpiece of the Democrats’ 2014 agenda.

[snip]

Reid has not yet unified his caucus on the issue, which is a constant in the Democrats’ election-year playbook. Of the 55 senators who caucus with the Democrats, only 32 have signed on as official co-sponsors of Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-Iowa) bill.

(H/T: Hot Air) The ostensible problem was a CBO (a org that the Left can never decide is good or bad these days) report promising that this measure would lose half a million jobs. But the real problem is that Democratic politicians have never been able to gently explain to their more activist members that business owners do not have Scrooge McDuck swimming pools full of gold coins. I know that this sounds unbelievable, but trust me: many progressives really do think that prices are high simply because capitalists take ‘too much’ profits. That a business like, say, oil production could be seeing most of its revenues go out in overhead (ESPECIALLY taxes) seems to be absolutely alien to them, as a whole.

But you have to understand: many of the Left’s theoreticians lack critical educational or life experiences that would help them properly understand economics. Very few of them have owned a business, worked directly for a small business owner, and/or experienced what we in this country laughingly call ‘poverty.’ The closest most of them have come are a variety of retail jobs that were abandoned the moment something better came along – or, more likely, they got boring. Couple that with the usual lack of empathy* and you get this kind of failure to communicate.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board! …Which is going to be a little bare on the Democrats’ side, given that it’s an election year, but such is life.

Via: Red State

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NO, THIS IS NOT JIM CROW FOR GAYS — UNDERSTANDING ARIZONA S.B. 1062

The Arizona legislature has passed S.B. 1066. It amends a 1999 Arizona law called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). It does so in an attempt to strengthen the ability of vendors to follow their religious conscience by, for example, declining to provide services at gay weddings. The text of the legislation can be found here.

The legislation has generated much criticism. The two most recent Republican presidential candidates have urged Governor Brewer not to sign the bill. Various big businesses have done the same. Even the National Football League, that bastion of enlightenment, has weighed in. This is no small matter given that Arizona likes to host the Super Bowl. Must religious freedom pay for Richie Incognito’s sins?

I’m confident that a broad consensus exists on the issues raised (or allegedly raised) by S.B. 1066. First, it seems fundamentally wrong to deny someone service at, say, a restaurant or a gas station because of his or her sexual orientation (although doing so is not currently banned by Arizona state law). Likewise, it seems fundamentally wrong for a photographer to refuse to take, say, a passport photo of a person because of his or her sexual orientation.

But second, it also seems fundamentally wrong to require a photographer who believes, based on sincere religious conviction, that gay marriage is immoral to participate in a gay marriage celebration by photographing it. Indeed, it is odd (and telling) that any gay couple would want their sacred ceremony to be chronicled by someone who finds the event morally reprehensible. Such a photographer is unlikely to capture the spirit of the occasion.

S.B. 1062 is being portrayed as vindicating the second of these propositions at the expense of the first. If so, Gov. Brewer shouldn’t sign it. Instead she should, in effect, send the legislature back to the drawing board to craft a bill that better balances the two concerns — basic fairness for gays and religious freedom for religious believers.

But as I understand S.B. 1062, it does a good job of balancing these concerns. A RFRA law like Arizona’s is not a license to discriminate against gays based upon religious beliefs. Indeed, according to this analysis, no business has ever successfully used either a state RFRA or the federal RFRA to defend their right to not serve gays.

Via: Powerline

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NAM: Obamacare 'Will Hurt Manufacturers and Their Employees'

(CNSNews.com) - "Perhaps perhaps no issue gives manufacturers more heartburn than health care," the head of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) told a gathering in Houston on Tuesday.

"If we don’t do something to fix the law, between six and seven million fewer American workers will have employer-sponsored coverage over the next 10 years. That will be the new reality for our workforce," said NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons.

"The law, as implemented, will hurt manufacturers and their employees. Take, for instance, what you are facing in additional fees and costs over the next three years: $22.2 billion. That figure is simply added cost -- it won’t get that mom on your assembly line one more pediatrician visit or one more prescription filled for your shop floor manager’s family."

Timmons said 97 percent of manufacturers offer health coverage to their employees, but the health care law threatens their ability to provide those benefits by forcing them into a one-size-fits-all system.

Although the law is not supposed to affect companies with fewer than 50 employees, that is not the case, Timmons said.

Via: CNS News
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Sen. Barbara Boxer: The Keystone Pipeline Will Cause Cancer

Sen. Barbara Boxer wants to add a new element to the Keystone XL oil pipeline debate: its effects on health.

The California Democrat claims negative health effects from the proposed pipeline's development were ignored by the State Department's environmental impact review.

"The Environmental Impact Statement was woefully inadequate when it came to exploring human impacts of the pipeline," Boxer said Wednesday at a press conference held with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and anti-Keystone XL activists and environmentalists.

She said Keystone would add pollutants to the air that will increase the likelihood of people getting cancer or heart disease.

"I do believe the public health impacts are something that average people can really relate to because they know cancer is the second leading cause of death in this country — heart disease is number one — and all of this filthy air contributes to both of those," she said.

Boxer and Whitehouse will send a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry detailing the health impacts of the pipeline, which they hope he will consider when determining whether Keystone XL is in the nation's best interests.

The State Department is currently in the national determination phase of its review, which lasts for 90 days. While the department's environmental analysis said the pipeline developed by TransCanada would not significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions, Boxer claims more information is needed on the human impacts.

"As tar sands oil flows to our gulf coast refineries it will increase toxic pollution that already plagues communities like Port Arthur Texas, which is near many refineries that will process tar sands," Boxer said.

Boxer said hearings on the topic are a possibility but nothing is set in stone. Her goal is to get President Obama and Kerry's attention.

Via: Fox News

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Amid military cuts, Obama urges $300B for roads and railways

Just two days after the Pentagon outlined major cuts to the U.S. Army and other military programs, President Obama is calling for a whopping $300 billion commitment for America's roads, bridges and mass transit systems -- though as much as half comes from a tax plan that has bleak prospects on the Hill. 

The president talked about the stimulus-style plan during a stop Wednesday afternoon in St. Paul, Minn. Officials say the money, as proposed, largely would come from "pro-growth business tax reform." But aside from the challenges in pushing tax reform, Obama could have a hard time making the sell when his military leaders, just days ago, were complaining about the budget crunch. 

Moments before the president took the podium, the Republican National Committee also questioned whether new transportation spending would be the jobs engine the administration claims. 

"President Obama claimed that the $830 billion stimulus would spend money on shovel-ready projects that would repair our country's infrastructure," RNC spokesman Jahan Wilcox said in a statement. "If the president couldn't fix our economic problems the first time, then why would we trust him with another blank check?" 

On Monday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed shrinking the Army from its current level of 522,000 to between 440,000 and 450,000, which would be the lowest level since before the World War II build-up. He called for a range of other cuts including retiring the A-10 fleet for a savings of $3.5 billion. Military officials said they need to cut $75 billion over two years, to comply with congressionally mandated reductions. 

The $302 billion infrastructure fund Obama is talking about would last for four years, but more than eclipses the budget shortfall the military is grappling with. 

Via: Fox News

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HillaryWatch: MSNBC Spent More Time on Clinton Than Fox and CNN Combined

CNN has led thus far in Mediaite’s weekly examination of cable news’ coverage of Hillary Clinton — who, once again, holds no office and is not in contention for one.

This week saw the first shift, as MSNBC devoted more time to Clinton and her impending potential hypothetical 2016 campaign than the other two cable networks combined, with 97 minutes devoted to Clinton. (Much of that came from Chris Matthews, who ran several ten-minute-plus segments on Clinton.) CNN still ran the most segments on non-existent Clinton, but spent cumulatively far less time discussing her hypothetical run, while Fox News spent 52 minutes over the course of twelve segments.

Les charts:

Overall, this week’s 185 minutes of attention was down considerably this week from last week’swhopping 410 minutes. Coverage is still being driven largely by comments of Republican figures about whether Bill Clinton’s mid-90s scandals should bear upon Clinton’s campaign, though Fox is much more interested in Clinton’s old papers than the other two networks.

Methodology: The study counted any sustained discussion lasting more than thirty seconds and involving more than a passing reference to Clinton (thus excluding, for instance, any Scott Walker orChris Christie segments that happened to reference her as a hypothetical election opponent); however, any on-screen graphic of 2016 poll numbers citing Clinton automatically counted as a segment. All repeats and show intros were excluded.

Eternal disclaimer: there are 986 days until the 2016 election.

Via: Mediaite.com

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IRS Says It Spent $7.9 Million on Congressional Probes

The Internal Revenue Service claims it has cost nearly $8 million to answer congressional investigations into the extra scrutiny it gave conservative political groups before the 2012 election.

A letter from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to House Democrats Elijah Cummings of Maryland and Sandy Levin of Michigan says 255 employees have spent 97,542 hours responding to the investigations, USA Today reports. 

Koskinen claimed the accounting was a "conservative approach" that did not include figures for some support staff, the press office, or congressional liaisons. 

The expenditures include $259,849 for travel, and staff time billed at more than $79 an hour for workers.

Levin and other House Democrats say the cost of the investigations shows Republicans are "fixated" on punishing the IRS, and Republicans are "wasting millions of dollars in an attempt to reignite their partisan inquiry before the November elections."

But Republicans say they want to disclose the whole story of how the IRS targeted certain organizations as the race to re-elect President Barack Obama neared.

"This committee is working to restore accountability and trust into this broken agency," said Sarah Swinehart, spokeswoman for House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich.

The Republican-controlled House is conducting two investigations, as is the Democratic-controlled Senate. In addition, a Treasury Department inspector general and the Department of Justice are investigating the IRS.

But the nearly $7.9 million in costs cited by Koskinen are just the beginning of the expenses the agency has absorbed since the 2012 scandal.

Via: Newsmax
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