I want to be half as smart as Hans Von Spakovsky

When my brain grows up I'll be happy if it's half as smart as Hans Von Spakovsky. I was privileged to get to know Hans when he was in Atlanta going through the Coverdell Institute. I had no idea that this fun-loving, sharp talking guy was anywhere near as brilliant as I've since discovered. Since he left us for Washington D.C., I've kept up with him via his writings, the Institute and his appearances on various shows.

Why am I writing about Hans? He is a "Visiting Legal Scholar" at the Heritage Foundation. Every day I get an update from the Foundation and occasionally he is quoted or writes. Even when he doesn't write, seeing the update makes me think of him, however fleetingly.

He isn't mentioned in the article below, nor does he probably have anything to do with it. But I have long neglected giving him a shout out and kudos for doing so much to help the conservative cause. We in the conservative side of the political spectrum are blessed to have people like Hans on our side.

Now, on to why I thought of Hans, the Morning Bell.

Today's Morning Bell from the Heritage Foundation focuses on Omnibus package and its impact on some students. Something you may or may not hear about in the mainstream media is the fact that by signing the $410 Omnibus package (you know, the one with thousands of, gasp, earmarks) Obama is kicking two kids out of his daughter's school. The two students are only able to attend the school due to a scholarship that Obama kills with the stroke of a pen.

It seems to me that if he cared as much about the children as he says he does, if all the "regular" people were at least as important in his estimation as the unions, he'd veto the bill and make them bring him one that was earmark free.

Instead he is countering his so-called principles by tossing underprivileged students out of schools and signing a bill with un-needed earmarks. Then, to add more poop to his mud-pie, he's going to tell us about earmark reform.

The other day he treated us to his view of education. It includes fun things like increased time in school, also known as the babysitting and daycare killing provision.

Here's the Morning Bell from the Heritage Foundation which sparked all of the thoughts above... whew. As always, the Bell is chocked full of information that I wish I had written or thought of myself:

The “Same Chance” Obama Had

Outlining his educational policy yesterday, President Barack Obama said: “And I want every child in this country to have the same chance that my mother gave me, that my teachers gave me, that my college professors gave me, that America gave me.” These are wonderful words, but unless President Obama vetoes the $410 billion omnibus spending bill heading towards his desk, he will fall far short of living up to them.

Inserted into the omnibus’ 1,132 pages is language dictated to Congress by teachers’ unions killing 1,700 scholarships that enable kindergarten through 12th grade students from low-income families in the District of Columbia to attend private schools. Conservatives in the Senate fought to strip the provision from the bill last night, but were defeated by the liberal majority.

The D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program was passed by Congress in January 2004 and approximately 7,200 children have applied for the 1,700 spots in the program. A 2008 Department of Education study found that after just 19 months of instruction, scholarship students realized slightly higher academic achievement than those students who applied but were not lucky enough to secure a spot in the program. A more recent University of Arkansas study has shown that parents are overwhelmingly satisfied with their children’s experience in the program. Common reasons for this higher level of satisfaction included appreciation for the ability to choose their child’s school and the success their children are having in their new school environments.

President Obama and his administration are very familiar with the empowering benefits school choice brings to families struggling to educate their children. Growing up in Chicago, Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan attended a private school. Growing up in Hawaii, President Obama attended a private school. Growing up first in Chicago, and now in Washington, Obama’s two daughters attended and still attend private schools. In fact, two of Obama’s daughter’s classmates are able to attend Sidwell Friends thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program. By signing the omnibus spending bill, Obama will be denying these children the “same chance” he had as a child.

Some in the media are portraying Obama’s speech as “tough talk on teachers” since the president said he wanted to spend additional money on “effective” teachers. But the teachers unions were in no way disappointed with what Obama actually said. National Education Association president Dennis Van Roekel said: “I think people are putting words in his mouth and jumping to conclusions about what he supports.” American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten added: “The devil is in the details, and it is important that teachers’ voices are heard when we implement the president’s vision.”

Well, the voices of teachers unions are already being heard, and unless President Obama does something about it, those voices will cost 1,700 children the “same chance” President Obama had to school choice.

Heritage Foundation: The Obama Tax and Spend Economy is Here

Love the Heritage Foundation, the world isn't right until I've read my Morning Bell. Always have great insights and a clear, consise look at what's going on in our world:

Yesterday, just weeks after they signed their economic stimulus plan, the White House released a statement claiming credit for the reopening of a window and door factory in Chicago, Illinois. Vice President Joe Biden said, “The reopening of this factory and the rehiring of these workers provide an excellent example of how the money in the Recovery Act is targeted to spur job creation quickly.” If the Obama Administration is going to claim credit for every job created since they were elected, then if they are honest, they should also take the blame for every job lost. Since President Barack Obama was elected on November 4, 2008, the Dow has dropped 2,562 points. This past Friday, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy shrank by 6.2%, making it the worst quarter since 1982. Many economists predict that labor data to be released this Friday will show that as many as 700,000 jobs were lost in February.

Breaking Down the Energy Budget

Why has our economic downturn only accelerated since President Obama took office? Because the Obama Administration’s policies amount to a declaration of war on the investors, entrepreneurs and small businesses that make our economy grow. The budget released last week only confirmed the worst fears about the direction the Obama Administration wants to take the country.

Taxes: At a time when only the economists on the White House payroll believe our economy is about to recover, the Obama Administration plans to raise taxes on the American people by almost $2 trillion. The first $1.3 trillion of these taxes are aimed at the highest earning Americans, corporations, and small businesses. According to Heritage Foundation senior analyst Brian Riedl, while the top 20% of taxpayers now pay 80% of all taxes collected by the government, under the Obama plan, the top 20% of tax filers would pay 90% of all taxes, and the number of families who owe no tax would climb to near 50%. Riedl warns: “You can only increase taxes on the rich so much before they stop working, saving and investing, and that reduces economic growth for everybody.”

Then there is the $646 billion tax hike on every American. The Obama Administration euphemistically refers to these taxes as “climate revenues” from their planned carbon capping scheme. But make no mistake: government taxes on energy will be passed on to the consumer. And the deadweight loss from this massive and regressive tax hike doesn’t even include the costs of the invasive new government monitoring of all economic activity necessary to make the plan work.

Spending: Obama’s budget proposes $1.13 trillion in regular discretionary spending for 2010. This is a full 12% increase over the 2009 spending baseline. On top of this the Obama budget increases entitlement spending by another $700 billion. The proposed post-recession spending level of 22% of GDP has been exceeded only 8 times in the post-war era. And these numbers do not include the spending priorities of the unchecked far left in Congress.

The Chicago Tribune reports today “President Barack Obama will break a campaign pledge against congressional earmarks and sign a budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers’ pet projects … Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion.”

Deficits: The Obama budget claims to cut the deficit in half by 2012, but relies on audaciously optimistic economic forecasts that no one believes in. Adding the “stimulus” bill to a realistic budget baseline yields a projected 2010-2017 cumulative budget deficit of $8.4 trillion – 2.5 times the size of President Bush’s deficits over the same 8-year time period. Before the recession, revenues were 18 percent of GDP and spending was 20 percent. After the recession, President Obama would maintain revenues at 19 percent of GDP, and spending at 22 percent. In other words, all new tax revenues would finance new spending, rather than deficit reduction. President Obama’s structural budget deficit would exceed President Bush’s.

Defending Obama’s budget on Meet the Press this Sunday, Democratic Leadership Council chairman Harold Ford Jr. said, “In November voters said, “We want a different path.” If it doesn’t work, [Obama]’s indicated, “I own this budget. I own this economy.” Exactly.