TRENTON, NJ: Governor  Chris Christie shreds a thin-skinned reporter during a news conference. He tells it like it is and articulates the reason conservatives are different.

Dr. Rand Paul, solid conservative and Right-to-Lifer

BOWLING GREEN, KY: Rand Paul substantially leads in the Kentucky race for the seat vacated by the distinguished Senator Jim Bunning. A survey released today by Survey USA has him in the lead by 16 points.

The NIP is saddened to lose such a dependable voice for conservatism and truth as Jim Bunning. This writer spent an hour with Senator Bunning in March and found him having an amazing command of facts and possessing unimpeachable integrity.

The race to fill his Senate seat is a closely watched race as there is a substantial difference between Rand Paul and Trey Grayson.

Rand Paul, son of Texas Republican Congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul. He has the endorsement of the Tea Party movement as well as Jim Demint and Jim Bunning. Jim Bunning was rated the 2nd most conservative Senator next to Jim Demint, and both endorsements are important.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has endorsed Trey Grayson. McConnell was instrumental in pressuring Jim Bunning to retire, and it should be no surprise that he has eschewed Rand Paul as “too conservative” for his taste. Kentuckians should remember that come time for McConnell’s reelection and send him packing.

Dr. James Dobson

Trey Grayson’s campaign, seeking Dr. James Dobson’s endorsement, lied to Dr. Dobson, painting Rand Paul as an abortion advocate. For that Grayson gets the attention of the NIP. We call on Kentuckians to reject Grayson’s bid. Don’t we have enough liars in Washingon already?

Listen to Dr. Dobson’s statement: 

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NEW YORK: Yesterday’s record intraday crash in the stock market was not a result of trading error (see video below). There are enormous pressures on our financial markets due to profligate spending by out of control governments. Greece is just the first to fall due to  weakness in the Greek economy.

The US is not immune. Moody’s has issued three warnings to the US which could have severe repercussions if not heeded. The US has been able to stay behind Europe in the race to financial and social instability, largely because many of the socialist programs have not been implemented here as widely as in the EU, at least until now. However, the Obama administration is pushing full steam ahead in an effort to force the US to follow Europe’s bad example, an example we don’t want to follow.

It is our free market that has kept us out of trouble until now. Our productivity and hard work far outstrips Europe’s:

Let’s get real. There’s almost no comparison between the U.S. and Greece or other failed European states. By almost any measure, the United States has outperformed Europe for decades.

This is especially true when it comes to productivity, a fact that only now seems to be dawning on the people of Greece if not Europe in general. We have noted with interest that, from 2002 to 2008 alone, American productivity grew 28% — a rate 50% higher than among the 10 biggest economies in Europe.

From 1980 to 2009, real GDP per person — the best broad measure of both productivity and standard of living — grew 6% faster in the U.S. than in Europe. Sounds like a small difference, but it isn’t. In 1980, the average American produced just $4,500 more in GDP, after adjusting for inflation, than the average European. Today, the gap is $8,236 — and growing wider. Investor’s Business Daily

Yesterday’s intraday crash of 9% in just minutes set a record. As always there is always a rush to blame computer trading or some other glitch, anything to draw attention away from the underlying instability in the markets. Tom O’Brien of TFNN.com (below) makes clear that this was no trading fluke.

It’s time for hard-working, tax-paying Americans to wake up and fundamentally transform America ourselves. We need to throw out the career politicians who steal our money to buy votes from those who want a free ride at our expense.

DJIA Loses 1000 point in minutes

NEW YORK: The stock market sold off today in huge volume. A DJIA key support area of 9835 was nearly taken out as the Dow dropped 1000 points in minutes. Stocks recovered quickly but still ended the day down 3.2%. The selloff was in response to the collapse of the Greek economy and the enormous protests in that country due to conditions placed on bridge loans from the IMF and the EU.

Tear gas, riot police, fire bombs, rock throwing and violence abound in Greek streets as Greeks respond to inevitable reduction of benefits. One key benefit is their retirement age, as early as 50:

Vasia Veremi may be only 28, but as a hairdresser in Athens, she is keenly aware that, under a current law that treats her job as hazardous to her health, she has the right to retire with a full pension at age 50…

It is still difficult to explain to outsiders why the Greek government has identified at least 580 job categories deemed to be hazardous enough to merit retiring early — at age 50 for women and 55 for men. Read more…

ERIC CHESLEY:New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg can keep his 25 cents because his opinion isn’t worth even that much. In an interview on Sunday night’s CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, Bloomberg made a thinly veiled accusation that a homegrown, healthcare hating American was behind the attempted Times Square bombing. What does this description conjure up in many American’s minds? Tea Party members.

Bloomberg said that the attempt:

Looks like an amateurish job done by at least one person, and that if I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that, somebody home-grown, maybe a mentally-deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn’t like the healthcare bill or something.

Seriously? After two successful terrorist attacks by Islamo-fascist and who knows how many failed attempts, Mayor Bloomberg places his bet on a fellow citizen. Why is it that Bloomberg did not suggest that a May Day protestor, or a G8 protestor where behind the attempted bombing? Could it be because Mayor Bloomberg and his ilk are eager for the opportunity to use violence to their political advantage? Read more…

Will you let the Feds raid your 401(k)?

WASHINGTON: There is no end to the dishonesty and thievery in Congress. For some time now union pension plans have been projecting losses due to union management treating these accounts as slush funds, as if these accounts were their own personal piggy banks. Hey, how is that any different from every Federal administration that has raided the Social Security trust fund, leaving behind only a trail of IOUs?

Now these guys are teaming up and have their eyes set on your money. It is just plain not fair that you should have saved money to retire on in a 401(k), while the rest of the illegal immigrants, unemployed, etc. only have Social Security. What we need is some social justice. Of course Congress is exempted from Social Security as they have their own Cadillac plans, but where does that leave all their loyal voters who have depended on their handouts all these years? If Congress leaves them out in the cold, good-bye votes.

The problem is easily solved, they’ll just seize your 401(k) and use it to fund their handouts to their loyal voters.

In February, the White House released its “Annual Report on the Middle Class” containing new regulations favored by Big Labor including a bailout of critically underfunded union pension plans through “retirement security” options.

The radical solution most favored by Big Labor is the seizure of private 401(k) plans for government disbursement — which lets them off the hook for their collapsing retirement scheme.  And, of course, the Obama administration is eager to accommodate their buddies.

Vice President Joe Biden floated the idea, called “Guaranteed Retirement Accounts” (GRAs), in the February “Middle Class” report. Connie Hair, Human Events

This idea has been floated time and time again by the Democrats. Now that they own Congress and the White House some version of this is likely to happen. It’s time for hard working Americans to wake up and realize that they need to support limited government and throw these people out of office.

CHICAGO: Fearful that America’s Supreme Court will soon strike down Chicago’s handgun ban, frustrated by the Illinois legislature’s rejection of his anti-gun agenda, and repudiated by American courts and legislatures over his plan to sue federally licensed manufacturers and dealers of firearms for third-party crimes, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley (D) is showing contempt for his own country’s and state’s institutions, by seeking a foreign entity to enforce his anti-gun agenda against the American people.

This week, Daley called for “redress against the gun industry” in the World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands. Wrapping up the sixth annual Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum:

Daley convinced more than a dozen of his counterparts from around the world to approve a resolution urging “redress against the gun industry through the courts of the world” in The Hague.

“This is coming from international mayors. They’re saying, ‘We’re tired of your guns, America. … We don’t want those anymore because guns kill and injure people,’ ” Daley told a news conference at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times

Read more…