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Michigan unionized teachers protest having to contribute to their own pensions

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The Blog Prof is a great Michigan-based blog and the proprieter is all over this story.

Excerpt:

Thousands of teachers are gathering in Lansing today to protest having to pay 3% towards their generous pension and healthcare benefits. Michiganders are waking up to the reality that public employees, and especially K-12 teachers in this state, are enjoying extravagant reimbursement for their services far in excess of the public sector such as 1) higher pay than their private sector counterparts, 2) better job security than anyone in the private sector, 3) healthcare benefits far in excess of the private sector, and 4) pension benefits that are far in excess of the private sector. Fact is, here in Michigan teachers are paid better than any other teacher in the country per unit Michigander income…

Check this out:

And this:

And this:

Remember, I am PAYING FOR THIS NO MATTER WHAT.

Public schools are funded by compulsory taxation that takes money out of my future family’s coffers so that we have FEWER CHOICES about how we have to will serve God by raising godly children. It’s money taken away such that my future wife will have fewer options and opportunities because she will have less to spend as she sees fit. And we will be forced to pay for our neighbor’s kids to learn values that we don’t hold. Ridiculous! I didn’t make this money to give it away to secular leftist indoctrinators with guaranteed jobs and pensions.

News

New-home sales plunge 33% to record low in May

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Story from CBS Marketwatch. (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

Sales of new single-family homes plunged 33% in May to a record-low level after a federal subsidy for home buyers expired, according to data released Wednesday by the Commerce Department.

Sales dropped to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000, the lowest since records began in 1963. April’s sales pace was revised down to 446,000 compared with the 504,000 originally reported. March’s sales were also revised lower.

The results were much worse than expected, and economists had expected a 20% decline to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 405,000.

[…]Sales fell sharply in all four regions, with sales down more than 50% in the West.

The median sales price in May was $200,900, down 9.6% from a year earlier and the lowest since December 2003.

[…]Housing data in May have been dismal. Housing starts fell 10%, building permits fell 5.9%, mortgage applications dropped, and the home builders’ index fell by five points. The only bright spot was mortgage rates, which stayed very low.

Obama’s solution to this problem was government spending in the form of an $8000 federal tax credit “stimulus” for people who bought homes between February and April. How did that government-run top-down Keynesian stimulus solution work out?

Excerpt:

The tax credit likely pulled many sales forward into the first four months of the year. Sales increased a cumulative 29% between February and April. But once the credit expired, sales collapsed in May.

I guess maybe they were hoping to “prime the pump” which of course doesn’t work any more than “cash for clunkers” works.

News

What does Barack Obama really think about the definition of marriage?

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Here is Obama talking about his view of marriage in front of Christians:

And here he is in front of his real constituents, the gay rights lobby:

In the video, he says that his administration is trying to dismantle the Defense of Marriage Act.

What is the Defense of Marriage Act, you ask?

Excerpt:

The Defense of Marriage Act defines marriage in federal law as follows:

In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word “marriage” means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.

The Defense of Marriage Act also affirms the power of each state to make its own decision as to whether it will accept or reject same-sex marriages created in other jurisdictions. It was enacted pursuant to the power granted to Congress in the second sentence of Article IV, Section 1. The Full Faith and Credit Statute was amended to include this provision:

No State, territory, or possession of the United States, or Indian tribe, shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession, or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such relationship.

So what does Obama really support? Does he support DOMA? Or is he trying to repeal DOMA?

Obama is actually trying to REPEAL DOMA. He doesn’t believe that the word “marriage” means a union between one man and one woman as husband and wife. He doesn’t believe that the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. He just says that to get votes. He actually believes the opposite. And when he gets into office, he acts on what he really believes.

Do you like religious liberty? Obama’s ENDA bill, which he mentioned in the video, will put an end to your religious liberty. Even more than his “hate crimes” bill already did. And he’s the most pro-abortion President, too. If you care about foreign policy, he’s the worst President ever on foreign policy. If you care about fiscal policy, he’s the worst President ever on fiscal policy. He’s the worst President ever, no matter what you care about.

Oh wait… he’s good at playing golf. So there’s that.