It’s Monday, October 1st, 2012….but before we begin, our Video of the Day (accessible at www.thedailygouge.com) offers another must-see video clip featuring former Dimocratic pollster Pat Caddell you have to see to believe.  Simply click on the #2 box below the Quote of the Day as shown on the screen shot below….

….and enjoy.

Now, here’s The Gouge!

First up, nothing bespeaks the mess that’s America, so perfectly symbolizes her culture of corruption and decline as much as these two headlines, courtesy of Gannett Company’s  Tallahassee outlet and Townhall.com respectively:

‘Honey Boo Boo’ is a real treasure

 

As race stands, Obama within reach of second term

 

Which just serves to remind us there are….

Then again, as Occam so eloquently observed, the simplest explanation is most often correct:

Next up, as Conn Carroll observes in the Morning Examiner, despite the MSM’s efforts to obscure the truth, it’s more apparent with every passing day their Emperor is….

….absolutely naked:

Obama’s Libya lies crumble

 

We seemed to have reached a tipping point in the liberal media’s coverage of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. This morning, The Washington Post has published to the web a devastating timeline of Obama administration statements on the attack that clearly demonstrate Obama has been lying about the incident for political gain from day one. The Post writes:

In any kind of confused overseas event, initial reports are often wrong. But the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, including the ambassador, is a case study of how an administration can carefully keep the focus as long as possible on one storyline — and then turn on a dime when it is no longer tenable.

For political reasons, it certainly was in the White House’s interests to not portray the attack as a terrorist incident, especially one that took place on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Instead the administration kept the focus on what was ultimately a red herring — anger in the Arab world over anti-Muslim video posted on You Tube. With key phrases and message discipline, the administration was able to conflate an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Egypt — which apparently was prompted by the video — with the deadly assault in Benghazi.

President Obama appears to be the only member of his administration still sticking to the original lie that the Benghazi attack was prompted by a video. (As our next item confirms, not the only member.) The head of Obama’s National Counterterrorism Center, White House Spokesman Jay Carney, and even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all admitted that the Benghazi attack was terrorism. But there was Obama Tuesday in the United Nations, droning about the initial YouTube cover story. He’s going to have to admit his video cover story is false eventually. (Only if Romney brings it up in the debates!) If not now, then definitely in the debate next week. And when he does, he will face a slew of related questions. The Wall Street Journal sums up:

Imagine the uproar if, barely a month before Election Day, the Bush Administration had responded to a terrorist strike—on Sept. 11 no less—in this fashion. Obfuscating about what happened. Refusing to acknowledge that clear security warnings were apparently ignored. Then trying to shoot the messengers who bring these inconvenient truths to light in order to talk about anything but a stunning and deadly attack on U.S. sovereign territory.

Four Americans lost their lives in Benghazi in a terrorist attack that evidence suggests should have been anticipated and might have been stopped. Rather than accept responsibility, the Administration has tried to stonewall and blame others. Congress should call hearings to hold someone accountable for this debacle.

If Congress does not hold Obama accountable, eventually the American people will.

We wouldn’t bet on it.

The bottom line?

Yet, as the following letter to the WSJ clearly demonstrates, this entire Administration is intrinsically incapable of telling the truth; far beyond the point their lies are patently obvious….or would be if the MSM offered accurate reporting:

Don’t Paint Our Loss With a Political Brush

 

I write regarding your editorial “The Libya Debacle” (Sept. 27) about the State Department’s response in the wake of the brutal assault in Benghazi that resulted in the loss of our ambassador’s life and the lives of three other Americans. I was disappointed by your effort to paint this national tragedy with a political brush. For all the State Department officials who stand up for our diplomats and their families, politics is the furthest thing from their minds. That’s why your suggestions are particularly unfair and, to the point, wrong. Those speaking out in support of the Stevens family and the department, including Philippe Reines, deserve our appreciation for championing and respecting the vital work that thousands of public servants do every day to further our nation’s interests.

William J. Burns

Deputy Secretary

Department of State

Washington

Yeah….

Or, to borrow a phrase from the legendary Dean Vernon Wormer….

And since we’re on the subject of lies, damned lies….and Dimocrats, as Americans for Tax Reform details, The Dear Misleaders claim to have never raised taxes is a whopper:

Full List of Obama Tax Hikes

President Barack Obama has signed into law twenty-one new or higher taxes on the American people. The full list is below:

 

Anybody else smell smoke?!?

1. A 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco: On February 4, 2009, just sixteen days into his Administration, Obama signed into law a 156 percent increase in the federal excise tax on tobacco, a hike of 61 cents per pack. The median income of smokers is just over $36,000 per year.

2. Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (takes effect in Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance – as defined by Obama-appointed HHS bureaucrats — must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following:

	1 Adult	2 Adults	3+ Adults
2014	1% AGI/$95	1% AGI/$190	1% AGI/$285
2015	2% AGI/$325	2% AGI/$650	2% AGI/$975
2016 +	2.5% AGI/$695	2.5% AGI/$1390	2.5% AGI/$2085

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that six million American families will be liable for the tax, and as Americans for Tax Reform has pointed out, 100 percent of Americans filing a tax return (140 million filers will be forced to submit paperwork to the IRS showing they had “qualifying” health insurance for every month of the tax year). Bill: PPACA; Page: 317-337

3. Obamacare Employer Mandate Tax (takes effect Jan. 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2000 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees. If any employee actually receives coverage through the exchange, the penalty on the employer for that employee rises to $3000. If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer). Bill: PPACA; Page: 345-346

Combined score of individual and employer mandate tax penalty: $65 billion/10 years

4. Obamacare Surtax on Investment Income (Tax hike of $123 billion/takes effect Jan. 2013): Creation of a new, 3.8 percent surtax on investment income earned in households making at least $250,000 ($200,000 single). This would result in the following top tax rates on investment income: Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 87-93

	Capital Gains	Dividends	Other*
2011-2012	15%	15%	35%
2013+ (current law)	23.8%	43.4%	43.4%
2013+ (Obama budget)	23.8%	23.8%	43.4%

*Other unearned income includes (for surtax purposes) gross income from interest, annuities, royalties, net rents, and passive income in partnerships and Subchapter-S corporations. It does not include municipal bond interest or life insurance proceeds, since those do not add to gross income. It does not include active trade or business income, fair market value sales of ownership in pass-through entities, or distributions from retirement plans. The 3.8% surtax does not apply to non-resident aliens.

5. Obamacare Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans (Tax hike of $32 bil/takes effect Jan. 2018): Starting in 2018, new 40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance plans ($10,200 single/$27,500 family). Higher threshold ($11,500 single/$29,450 family) for early retirees and high-risk professions. CPI +1 percentage point indexed. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,941-1,956

6. Obamacare Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax (Tax hike of $86.8 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Current law and changes:

	First $200,000 ($250,000 Married) Employer/Employee	All Remaining Wages Employer/Employee
Current Law	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed
Obamacare Tax Hike	1.45%/1.45% 2.9% self-employed	1.45%/2.35% 3.8% self-employed

Bill: PPACA, Reconciliation Act; Page: 2000-2003; 87-93

7. Obamacare Medicine Cabinet Tax (Tax hike of $5 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Americans are no longer able to use health savings account (HSA), flexible spending account (FSA), or health reimbursement (HRA) pre-tax dollars to purchase non-prescription, over-the-counter medicines (except insulin). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957-1,959

8. Obamacare HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (Tax hike of $1.4 bil/took effect Jan. 2011): Increases additional tax on non-medical early withdrawals from an HSA from 10 to 20 percent, disadvantaging them relative to IRAs and other tax-advantaged accounts, which remain at 10 percent. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,959

9. Obamacare Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax” (Tax hike of $13 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Imposes cap on FSAs of $2500 (currently unlimited). Indexed to inflation after 2013. There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children. There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States, and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education. Tuition rates at one leading school that teaches special needs children in Washington, D.C. (National Child Research Center) can easily exceed $14,000 per year. Under tax rules, FSA dollars can be used to pay for this type of special needs education. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,388-2,389

10. Obamacare Tax on Medical Device Manufacturers (Tax hike of $20 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Medical device manufacturers 409,000 people in 12,000 plants across the country. This law imposes a new 2.3 percent excise tax on total sales, even if the respective company does not earn a profit. Exempts items retailing for <$100. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,980-1,986

11. Obamacare “Haircut” for Medical Itemized Deduction from 7.5% to 10% of AGI (Tax hike of $15.2 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013): Currently, those facing high medical expenses are allowed a deduction for medical expenses to the extent that those expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). The new provision imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI. Waived for 65+ taxpayers in 2013-2016 only. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994-1,995

12. Obamacare Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (Tax hike of $2.7 billion/took effect July 2010): New 10 percent excise tax on Americans using indoor tanning salons. Making matters worse: According to a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration report, the Obama IRS didn’t bother to issue compliance guidelines until three quarterly filing deadlines had passed: “By the time [IRS] notices were issued, tanning excise tax returns had been due for three quarters.” Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,397-2,399

13. Obamacare elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage in coordination with Medicare Part D (Tax hike of $4.5 bil/takes effect Jan. 2013) Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,994

14. Obamacare Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike (Tax hike of $0.4 bil/took effect Jan. 1 2010): The special tax deduction in current law for Blue Cross/Blue Shield companies would only be allowed if 85 percent or more of premium revenues are spent on clinical services. Bill: PPACA; Page: 2,004

15. Obamacare Excise Tax on Charitable Hospitals (Min$/took effect immediately): $50,000 per hospital if they fail to meet new “community health assessment needs,” “financial assistance,” and “billing and collection” rules set by Obama-appointed HHS bureaucrats. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,961-1,971

16. Obamacare Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Tax hike of $22.2 bil/took effect Jan. 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980

17. Obamacare Tax on Health Insurers (Tax hike of $60.1 bil/takes effect Jan. 2014): Annual tax on the industry imposed relative to health insurance premiums collected that year. Phases in gradually until 2018. Fully-imposed on firms with $50 million in profits. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,986-1,993

18. Obamacare $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives (Tax hike of $0.6 bil/takes effect Jan 2013). Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,995-2,000

19. Obamacare Employer Reporting of Insurance on W-2 ($min/takes effect Jan. 2012): Preamble to taxing health benefits on individual tax returns. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,957

20. Obamacare “Black liquor” tax hike (Tax hike of $23.6 billion/took effect immediately). This is a tax increase on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105

21. Obamacare Codification of the “economic substance doctrine” (Tax hike of $4.5 billion/took effect immediately). This provision allows the IRS to disallow completely-legal tax deductions and other legal tax-minimizing plans just because the IRS deems that the action lacks “substance” and is merely intended to reduce taxes owed. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 108-113

Which is just another way of stating the obvious:

Meanwhile, there’s at least one member of The Gang That Still Can’t Shoot Straight still willing to call a spade a spade:

DeMint joins national effort to keep feds from bailing out state pension systems

 

Pat Quinn prays for Allah to rescue Illinois

Next up, courtesy of Speed Mach and NROs Mario Loyola writing at The Corner, we learn how the Liberal elite is once again….

Celebrating Blasphemy in Manhattan

 

In a related item, as The Blaze informs us, one Catholic Bishop suggests….

Voting for Obama, Dems Could Place ‘Eternal Salvation of Your Own Soul in Serious Jeopardy’

 

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/catholic-bishop-voting-for-obama-dems-could-place-eternal-salvation-of-your-own-soul-in-serious-jeopardy/

Tell us something we DIDN’T know!

And in the Environmental Moment, the WSJ lists yet another reason America cannot afford another four years of Team Tick-Tock:

The EPA’s Pebble Beaching

Rewriting the Clean Water Act to kill an Alaska mining project.

 

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson….who obviously isn’t following the First Marxette’s draconian dietary decrees

Lisa Jackson’s Environmental Protection Agency keeps losing in court, but that doesn’t mean she’s at all deterred from expanding her authority. Witness her agency’s assault on an Alaska mining project before the developers have even submitted their plans for government approval.

The Pebble Partnership—a joint effort by Anglo-American and Northern Dynasty Minerals—has spent a decade and $132 million exploring the potential to dig North America’s largest copper and gold mine on state-owned land in southwest Alaska. The deposit is vast and could be among the world’s largest supplies of both minerals, creating upwards of 1,000 high-paying jobs.

The Partnership is planning to apply for permits later this year, and in the normal course this would trigger extensive state and federal reviews. The federal review is done by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which under the Clean Water Act has primary authority for deciding whether to issue permits for wetlands. The EPA can later review and revoke the Corps-issued permits with cause.

And there is the regulatory rub. The EPA has long chafed at this secondary role in permitting, though it has learned to use its veto threat to extract concessions from developers along the way. In the Pebble case, however, Mrs. Jackson is moving to supercede the Army Corps and make the EPA the only regulator, notwithstanding the plain language of the Clean Water Act.

Specifically, the EPA launched a preliminary study of what a mine would do to the Bristol Bay watershed, a spawning ground for sockeye salmon. Our sources say the EPA has never before undertaken such an exercise, for the simple reason that it is impossible to determine the environmental impact of a project before it has been proposed.

But Mrs. Jackson’s EPA is nothing if not creative. The agency invented a hypothetical Pebble mine, with its own engineering standards that industry claims are antiquated and show limited concern for the environment. Voila, the EPA found that its nonexistent mine would harm the watershed. The clear message: Don’t even bother submitting a proposal, because even if it passes Army Corps review, the EPA will kill it.

The problem is that Mrs. Jackson’s study has been roundly ridiculed—not least by the EPA’s own peer-review experts. In a public meeting in August, the 12 peer reviewers lambasted the study for its rushed, “unsatisfactory” and “hypothetical” nature, and for numerous errors. One reviewer, University of Idaho hydrology expert Charles Slaughter, called some of the study’s key parts “pure hogwash.”

The EPA’s response? It may go even further and veto the Pebble mine before the Army Corps does its assessment. Asked specifically by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa if the EPA is contemplating a pre-emptive veto, EPA Associate Administrator Arvin Ganesan didn’t deny it in a May letter. He said the statute gives Mrs. Jackson “broad authority” to prohibit a project “whenever” necessary—including “prior to the submittal of an application.”

The courts are unlikely to agree. This spring a federal court in D.C. slammed the EPA for revoking an Army Corps permit four years after it was issued for a West Virginia mining project. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson noted that the EPA’s view that it could “unilaterally modify or revoke” a Corps permit “at any time” was a “stunning power for an agency to arrogate to itself when there is absolutely no mention of it in the statute.”

The EPA’s actions with Pebble are no less stunning and are likely to be economically damaging. The Brattle Group, a consulting firm, estimates that some $220 billion in U.S. investments—resource extraction, farming, energy, manufacturing and more—go through the Corps permitting process. Were the EPA to seize power to wall off entire areas to development—before projects are even proposed—much of that investment would go outside the U.S.

The EPA’s power grab is an insult to the Army Corps (No….it’s an affront to the American people!) and especially to the state of Alaska, which has every reason to evaluate the Pebble project carefully so it doesn’t damage the state’s lucrative fishing and tourism industries.

Under Mrs. Jackson, the EPA has become less a regulator following the law and more an ideological vanguard that will push its limits-to-growth agenda as long and as far as the courts and Congress allow. Watch out in a second Obama term.

Which is truly saying something!

On the Lighter Side….

Turning to the Entertainment Section, we remember when network television was actually worth watching:

The ‘Beverly Hillbillies’ turn 50

 

Fifty years ago today CBS introduced a new TV series that sharply divided American cultural opinion. Critics and intellectuals hated it, and it became for them a symbol of how far television had fallen since the so-called “golden age” of live, New York-based programs in the early days of the medium. (i.e., the same folks who now comprise Team Tick-Tock.)  Most everybody else felt differently, however.

The show became an instant hit of mammoth proportions. It spent its first two seasons at the very top of the Nielsen ratings. At its peak, it was being watched by 60 million viewers per week.  As late as 1982, eleven years after it had left the air at the end of its ninth season, nine of this show’s episodes could still be found on the list of the top fifty highest-rated broadcasts of all time, alongside Super Bowls, blockbuster miniseries, and special event programming. “The Beverly Hillbillies” was, without question, one of the most popular television series in the history of American television.

And they did it without profanity….without gratuitous violence….and without selling illicit sex, homosexuality….or any other form of moral turpitude.

Finally, we’ll call it a wrap with the “Hope She Spent It All In One Place” segment, courtesy of the….

Michigan lottery winner found dead of apparent drug overdose

 

Police say a Detroit-area woman who collected welfare benefits despite winning a $735,000 lottery prize has died of a possible drug overdose. Ecorse police Sgt. Cornelius Herring confirmed that 25-year-old Amanda Clayton was found dead about 9 a.m. Saturday at a home in the community southwest of Detroit.

“The Amanda I knew was a caring person,” Josh Ormanian, Clayton’s former boyfriend, told MyFoxDetroit.com. “She did care. She went down the wrong path, she got the money, got the freedom and felt like she could do whatever she wanted.” Clayton was recently involved in an altercation with her neighbors and was due in court this week, MyFoxDetroit.com reports.

Clayton made headlines after she won the $1 million prize in September 2011, but was charged with fraud after admitting she was still collecting welfare benefits.

So much for only the good dying young.

Magoo