Anti-gun and clear bag policies apparently weren't enough...

Now it appears the NFL is working to make the term Super Bowl synonymous with the term Police State.

Big Sports and Big Government have joined forces to promote Big Totalitarianism.

No, this is not a good thing.

Those darn conservatives...

Fiscal conservatives are apparently not surrendering their principles or abandoning common sense fast enough to suit House Speaker John Boehner.

Boehner's reaction to conservative push-back is just more proof the whole compromise deal is one designed to protect status quo and incumbents of both parties in next year's mid-term elections.

As if the media isn't already lap-doggish enough...

The FCC wants to know the hows and whys of news story selection decisions in privately owned American broadcast, print and Internet newsrooms...

A first step to overt steps toward government control of the stories you see and hear in the so-called mainstream media?

The gun grabbers haven't given up

Gun control is back in play in the Congress.

Gun Owners of America notes this week's passage renewing the Undetectable Firearms Act is probably just a start:

So now we have the worst of both worlds:  Congress has given the plastic gun ban a ten-year carte blanche, which will allow the Obama administration to engage in all of the anti-gun mischief that its sloppy language invites.  And, at the same time, both Democrats and Republicans (like Grassley) are now committed to making the gun ban even broader over the next two months.

Last December, Democrats made a brash grab at gun control and, for a short time, some of them even suggested confiscation might be in the works. Defenders of the Second Amendment pushed back, and the Left's dreams of what they labeled an assault weapon ban was pushed back into its bottle.

I don't expect a full frontal assault in the next go-round. Look for more innocent sounding piecemeal legislation. But I also expect there will be deceptive language in any new or rewrite bill to lay framework for much wider gun control in whatever is attempted.

Be forewarned. This is no time to let our guard down.

Still waiting on recovery?

How can you have an economic recovery when you have a federal government and busy-body regulators than keep getting in the way?

Builder Online notes that home builders will face a new set of obstacles in the coming year:

Dodd-Frank rules and regulations kicking in at a new level in the early part of 2014, we don't see an outpouring of enthusiasm among traditional regional bank lenders in the land acquisition and development lending space. 

And Builder also notes, big problems remain in financing home buyers:

Banks are girding for new qualified mortgage and qualified residential mortgage rules and regulation, servicers are still convulsing from the non-stop binge of federal and local liability issues that stalk them since the housing crisis days, and consumers themselves continue to be plagued with uncertainties in job security and wage growth. 

I've seen ads recently touting home buyer and refinance mortgage rates at around 2 1/2 percent. But I've also seen stories and a chart showing home ownership rates in American continue to fall.

From FRED, the St. Louis fed, as re-posted on Twitter

Something remains terribly wrong if, with mortgage rates so artificially low, we're still losing ground in home ownership. It's a nine year trend and it appears on track to continue

They really do think you're stupid

Democrats and most Republicans in DC seem to be falling all over themselves in praise of the "bi-partisan" federal budget deal announced Tuesday.

This is nothing but a sham.

A Washington Times headline notes: "New budget accord saves $23 billion — after $65 billion spending spree."

This is no kind of fix. This is no improvement.

The touted "compromise" is political gamesmanship designed to spend more money we don't have, intended to sweep serious fiscal issues under the rug until after the November 2014 midterm elections. The proposed "deal" is nothing but a bi-partisan ploy to mask the ugly realities of an increasingly unsustainable America.

Politicians are doing their best to continue an illusion of normal in an America that's everything but.

Police State, USA

I might nitpick some its parsings, but even Mother Jones understands the trend is not our friend.

Let this sink in...

"Most Americans are men of good will. Most politicians are not... Thus, for a man of good will to deal with politicians and political bodies as if they were like him is a fatal error. The latter will view the former as a sheep to be shorn." - Francis Porretto at Liberty's Torch

"Fast Feud"

From Hope n' Change Cartoons:

Sucker

Alan Grayson, the Tea Party bashing Democrat Congressman from Florida has something new to put on his resume.

Stock scheme sucker.

News account says he got taken for $18 million. 

Spread the wealth around, as certain Dems are fond of saying.

NFL gun ban helps to arm criminals

From the Detroit News:

First Precinct Capt. Steve Dolunt added that guns are being stolen from Lions fans who leave them in their vehicles because of the NFL’s firearms prohibition. Because of a new rule barring off-duty police officers from carrying weapons into football stadiums, Dolunt said a Detroit police officer’s gun was stolen from his car earlier this season.

If you like your fire department, you can keep it

Or, under Obamacare, maybe not.