California Hires AG Eric Holder to Defend Sanctuary Cities

You have to hand it to these political grafters.  They’re well connected and know how to fleece the taxpayers.  Disgraced AG, Eric Holder, has landed a lucrative gig with California’s state government hauling in a hefty $25,000 a month litigating on behalf of illegal aliens against American citizens.

California is projected to have a $1.6 billion budget deficit by next summer; yet, they can afford to squander money defending invaders.  Adding insult to injury, one-third of California’s state budget if funded by the American taxpayers!  Now that takes balls.

One must ask, why do Democrats defend sanctuary cities?  The answer is simple.  The Census Bureau doesn’t distinguish citizens from illegal aliens, therefore states with higher populations are able to appropriate more representation in Congress and receive a higher allocation of taxpayer dollars.  And because of this bastardization of the census, California has 55 Electoral College votes which far exceed the second highest which is Texas with 38 electors.

What it comes down to is money and power and citizens are damned.

Source:

 http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-jerry-brown-budget-trump-risks-20170110-story.html

 http://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/weekly-updates/new-border-terror-threat/

http://state.1keydata.com/state-electoral-votes.php

http://costonscomplaint.blogspot.com/2017/01/federal-government-funds-13-of.html

CBO Dashes White House Deficit Report

Yesterday, the News and Observer practically had an orgasm reporting the latest White House report on the federal budget deficit.  Opiates couldn’t have given the editors at this rag such a high.  They were dancing on the clouds.

Today, the Congressional Budget Office said not so fast.  The Politico reported the following:

Less than a week after the White House reported this year’s deficit will be the smallest of the Obama administration, the Congressional Budget Office said that over the long term the budget shortfall will approach unprecedented levels.

In its annual analysis of the government’s long-term fiscal outlook, the nonpartisan agency said Tuesday that it expects the deficit to begin growing again in coming years, and continue growing to levels unseen since the wake of World War II

“Deficits are projected to rise steadily and, by 2039, to push federal debt held by the public up to a percentage of GDP seen only once before in U.S. history [just after World War II],” the agency said.  Publicly held debt will reach 106 percent of GDP by 2039, according to the report, compared to the current 74 percent.

I’m sure that report doesn’t matter to the editors at the News and Observer.   They’re too busy walking on sunshine.

Source:

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/budget-shortfall-longterm-bad-congressional-budget-office-108921.html?hp=r4

Sen. Ted Cruz Laments Versailles, D.C.

Well, the Washington D.C. establishment has once again told the American people to eat cake.  The whole country is watching the court of King Obama laugh at the peasants as they destroy their health care and country.  Why should they care?  The laws they pass don't apply to them.

Sen. Tom Harkin: We Don't Have a Spending Problem

We don't have a spending problem.  We have a misallocation of wealth?  Wow, its amazing what these socialist come up with.

Thanks Iowa for sending this genius to Washington D.C.

CBO Director: Fix Entitlements or Raise Taxes on All Americans

And lets not forget all that "free" Medicaid money the federal government is doling out.

H/T:  Weasel Zippers

Incorrigible Wastrels Throw More Money Down D.C. Black Hole

The incorrigible wastrels in Washington D.C. have postponed this fiscal cliff in lieu of a higher one down the road.  And as usual these phantoms of irresponsibility used the dark of night on a holiday to mask their crimes.  Here is the booty our elected conspirators have managed to confiscate from the job creators, as reported by the Daily Caller: 

The cliff deal passed by the Senate would increase the 10-year baseline deficit of $2.9 trillion by $4 trillion, says the CBO in a report released Tuesday. That’s a nearly $7 trillion increase in debt by 2022.

The deal would increase the deficits during Obama’s second term by $1.7 trillion, in addition to the $1.7 trillion deficit already projected by the CBO, creating a four-year deficit of $3.4 trillion.

That $3.4 trillion in new debt by 2017 would increase the current federal debt from $16.4 trillion to almost $20 trillion in January 2017.

That’s an debt increase of almost $10 trillion during Obama’s two terms. The higher deficits would be primarily due to the extension of lower tax rates, known as the Bush-era rates, for individuals making under $400,000 and couples making under $450,000.

But hey, those evil rich people aren’t the only ones who’ll have to pony up.  The Social Security loophole has been closed as well.    

Both sides lamented their failure to reach a significant deficit-cutting agreement. But neither much mentioned another omission: The immediate expiration of a two-year, 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax.

That break, which put an extra $1,000 in the wallets of typical families earning $50,000 a year, was an Obama priority two years ago as a way to boost consumer spending and spark the flagging economy, but it fell victim this time to other priorities.

It is being reported that this bill has a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts. Only the gullible would believe Congress will cut spending.

Listen.  Listen real close.  Can you hear that huge sucking sound?  That’s your future being swallowed by that D.C. black hole.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/01/01/3759999/not-solved-yet-gop-wants-more.html#storylink=cpy

  http://dailycaller.com/2013/01/01/senate-cliff-deal-would-push-debt-to-20-trillion-by-2017/#ixzz2GoT61aTN

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/12/31/Fiscal-cliff-deal-41-1-in-tax-increases-to-spending-cuts-ratio

Raising Taxes Will Not Balance the Budget

This is a straight forward tutorial.  But to the average Obama voter, we probably would have to resort to a Clockwork Orange type of therapy. 

 

 

 

H/T: NC Renegade



 

Obama and Congress Puts Another Nail in Social Security Coffin

The road to serfdom is paved with good intentions and Congress swiftly laid down the Grecian asphalt this afternoon. Today they extended the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. This legislation would add $85 billion to the budget deficit, and deplete the Social Security “trust fund” of $93 billion through 2022.

WASHINGTON Congress swiftly approved legislation Friday renewing a payroll tax cut for 160 million American workers and jobless benefits for millions more, backing the main items on President Barack Obama's jobs agenda in a rare burst of Washington bipartisanship.

The Senate approved the $143 billion measure on a 60-36 vote minutes after the House approved it by a sweeping 293-132 vote. Obama is expected to sign it shortly after returning from a West Coast fundraising swing.

On Friday in an appearance at a Boeing factory in Everett, Wash., Obama gave lawmakers a verbal fist bump.

"It is amazing what happens when Congress focuses on doing the right thing instead of just playing politics," Obama said. "This was a good example, and Congress should take pride in it."

Only 41 democrats and 91 republicans voted against this bill in the House of Representatives; the Senate 5 democrats and 31 republicans. These defectors should be commended for not raiding the treasury for what is obviously a give away to buy votes. Of course, there are some whose intentions were not so honorable.

Social Security is projected to run at a deficit. The Great Recession has taken its toll on revenues. Business Insider explains our dire situation:

Looking at the data on this basis, you'll see the actual deterioration that took place in 2011.

2012 will be worse than 2011. Benefits are going to jump by $50B+ next year. 10,000 new people are signing up for checks every day of the week. Add the fact that every one of the 55mm beneficiaries will be getting 3.6% more in their checks (COLA adjustment). The revenue side is a wild card. What will GDP be? If it's around the 2% that is currently anticipated, revenues at SSA will fall well below plan. A flat economy (+2%) would translate into a $100B 2012 primary deficit (payroll receipts minus benefits). A number like that is not on anyone’s radar today.

It definitely isn’t on the D.C. Swamp Monster’s radar. They just depleted Social Security even more by extending the tax cut. But when the crisis comes to ahead in a few short years, even raising “revenues” will be impossible to cover the obligations promised by pandering politicians. Business Insider continues:

The 2011 numbers for SSA indicate that we are at least five years ahead of existing thinking on the SSA deficits. When this realization sinks in, it will break the hearts of the SS defenders. If we are, as I contend, five to six years ahead of “schedule” with cash deficits at SSA, there is no alternative besides cutting scheduled benefits. Raising taxes to fill a hole this big is not an option. Nor is it an option to maintain the status quo and allow for a very rapid rundown of the SS Trust Fund.

If we are going to experience what I believe we will, then the cumulative SS cash shortfall over the next decade will add ANOTHER $1.5 trillion onto Public Sector Borrowing ("PSB"). (A shift from the Intergovernmental account into the PSB account; AKA the Chinese). This increase in PSB more than offsets the $1.2 T of cuts that the congressional super committee failure has just mandated.

The consequences of SS (and similarly the other government retirement funds) on PSB over the coming years is not now being considered by those looking at America’s debt profile. It will be soon enough. The current thinking is that SS is a problem that can be worried about in another ten years or so. That's simply not true.

And this payroll tax cut upped the ante.

Source: http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-12-06/home/30481042_1_adjustments-ssa-payroll-tax-revenue#ixzz1mh24skO4


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/16/3018891/house-speaker-says-payroll-tax.html#storylink=cpy


http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/17/10435191-congress-passes-payroll-tax-cut-extension

Obama Administration Gives "Strong Endorsement" for Charlotte Light-Rail Boondoggle

Here we are staring at a Grecian-esque economy and the pigs are still squealing at the trough. The morally and figuratively bankrupt stooges in Charlotte, North Carolina are high-fiving the Obama administration’s “strong endorsement” of building a light-rail line extension.

The Obama administration gave a strong endorsement for Charlotte's $1 billion light-rail extension Tuesday, by budgeting $70 million for construction and engineering for the upcoming year and predicting that it will give the project its full approval in the fall.

"We don't expect anything to derail it," said Federal Transit Administrator Peter Rogoff Tuesday. "We are very supportive of this project. We don't see any show-stoppers."

Rogoff said he expects the final paperwork - known as a Full Funding Grant Agreement - to be signed later this year. That would commit the federal government to roughly $530 million in construction money, about half of the line's $1.07 billion cost

Don’t see any show-stoppers? How about $15 trillion federal debt? Shouldn’t that be a show-stopper? Or how about the fact that Mecklenburg County is already under budget restraints, and must by law produce a balanced budget. Where are they going to get the rest of the money to build this line? According to the Charlotte Observer, CATS and the N.C. Department of Transportation will chip in another 25%. That still leaves a big ass hole. And these people are not even taking in consideration budget overruns.


And let’s not forget operational and maintenance cost.

But the Lynx appears to be facing some of the financial challenges that have affected other rail systems nationwide: How to pay for ongoing maintenance.

Last year, Peter Rogoff of the Federal Transit Administration said that rail systems nationwide had billions in deferred maintenance. He questioned whether the federal government should help cities financially to build new rail lines when those cities are struggling to maintain the rail lines they already have.

CATS plans to extend the current light-rail line from uptown to UNC Charlotte. CATS has decided against building the line to Interstate 485 to save money, but the transit system has said it will still be a challenge to finish the $900 million project.

Steve Polzin of the University of South Florida's Center for Urban Transportation Research said the operating cost increases are large and could make it difficult for CATS to expand.

"Can that number jeopardize future plans?" he said.

CATS has struggled to correctly project how much transit projects will cost. There have been cost overruns on the construction side, and the transit system has underestimated the cost of operating its system.

In 2006, CATS projected the Lynx Blue Line would cost $11.4 million to operate in fiscal year 2012, which begins in July. The most recent estimate is that light-rail will cost $14.6 million


You would think that our sage politicians and bureaucrats would’ve learned from their mistakes, but that would take a small measure of commonsense. And that is one budget item these people will never have a surplus in.


Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/03/10/2125754/blue-lynx-costs-expected-to-rise.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/02/14/3012572/feds-back-70-million-for-charlotte.html#storylink=omni_popular#storylink=cpy

http://charmeck.org/mecklenburg/county/CountyManagersOffice/OMB/Budget/Pages/default.aspx

Obama Ushers in a New Era of Debt and Irresponsibility

In 2009, Barack Hussein Obama addressed the need for a responsible approach to the federal government and its expenditures.

“Government has failed to fully confront the deep, systemic problems that year after year have only become a larger and larger drag on our economy,” Obama said in his first budget message in February 2009. “From the rising costs of health care to the state of our schools, from the need to revolutionize how we power our economy to our crumbling infrastructure, policymakers in Washington have chosen temporary fixes over lasting solutions.

“The time has come to usher in a new era—a new era of responsibility in which we act not only to save and create new jobs, but also to lay a new foundation of growth upon which we can renew the promise of America,” said Obama.

The Anointed One has indeed ushered in a new era – a new era of insurmountable debt and budgets that are so irresponsible that the Senate voted 97 – 0 against it in 2011. This year’s budget proposal is so laughable, that Sen. Harry Reid (D) won’t even allow it to come to the floor for a simple majority vote. The projections are so astronomical, that it is determined by the year 2021 we will have a national debt of $25 trillion with a debt to GDP ratio of 110%. That is outrageous!

And to make matters worse, the Senate hasn’t passed a budget in three years. Senator Jeff Sessions (R) is up in arms over this flagrant violation of federal law:

It’s been more than 1,000 days since Senate Democrats have offered a budget plan to the American people. Now, once again, the Senate’s ineffectual Democrat majority balks at the task of leadership. Majority Leader Reid is denying the American people the opportunity to become engaged in the debate about the nation’s fiscal future and the difficult choices we face. He obviously continues in his belief that it would be politically foolish for his members to go on record in support of any long-term vision. But by refusing to lay out a budget plan for public examination—a fact no one can deny—the Democrat Senate has forfeited the high privilege to lead this chamber. If Sen. Reid and his members stand by this announcement, it means that the American people will go through yet another year of crisis without Senate Democrats unveiling and standing behind a financial plan for our future.

Budget Control Act spending caps, crafted behind closed doors and rushed to passage at the 11th hour under threat of panic, do not even approach the definition of the budget process that the law requires. They are not in any way or any sense a Senate Democrat budget plan. There is no argument that can be made that these caps are a long-term vision for this country—not on taxes, not on entitlements, not on spending, not on debt. Presumably, this obvious fact is why Chairman Conrad has said he will mark up a budget in our Committee. However, this process will be eviscerated if Sen. Reid refuses to allow a budget resolution to come to the floor.

I will continue to insist that the public process be carried out and that Senate Democrats bring an actual budget resolution to the Senate floor.

Senator, you can insist all you want, but these people believe they are above the law. The only way we can restore the integrity of the Senate is get rid of the Democratic majority. And that will be a tall order come November.


Source: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/debt-has-climbed-447t-obama-released-first-budget-calling-new-era-responsibility

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2012/02/obama-budget-to-miss-deficit-goal/1

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/163347-senate-votes-unanimously-against-obama-budget

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/02/budget-who-needs-a-budget.php

http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obamas-budget-would-have-the-national-debt-break#HTWF2

North Carolina is Heavily Dependent on Federal Government Subsidies

North Carolina (much like other states) is heavily dependent on federal government subsidies. And with Congress’s inability to make cuts to the deficit, many programs that are funded by that behemoth on the Potomac River is about to get a rude awakening. The Newsobserserver.com published the potential losses of revenue to N.C. state budget:

If federal deficit-reduction cuts take effect, exemptions would include pay for active-duty military personnel, veterans' benefits, highway funds, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits and welfare payments. But a range of other defense and non-defense programs would be affected. Here are some of the estimated funding losses for North Carolina in 2013, the first year of the mandated cuts:

Defense contractors
$351 million

Medicare providers/doctors, hospitals
$333 million

K-12 Title 1 funds for poor schools
$40 million

K-12 special-education programs
$35 million

Public housing
$27 million


Supplemental food program (WIC)
$20 million

Head Start
$16 million

Low-income home energy assistance
$12 million


That doesn’t include the funding losses to universities and other suspect programs via direct grants.

Unfortunately, the biggest loser is our military. The one mandate that our federal government is constitutionally obligated to enforce is slated for the chopping block. This should be an awakening of how far the United States has fallen from a federalist system to a welfare state. And starting 2013, you’ll hear the howling of state legislators when their biggest source of revenue gets cut.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau; National Governors Association; Federal Funds Information for States; N.C. State Officials, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Congressional Budget Office

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/09/1763710/lack-of-us-debt-deal-could-soon.html#storylink=cpy

Is Generational Theft Against the Law?

Is there a law against stealing from generations of Americans yet unborn? Apparently not; the Democrats are proposing another “stimulus program”. Because you know the last one was so successful.

Senate Democrats on the supercommittee say the group needs to include stimulus for the economy in the deficit-reduction plan it has been tasked with producing by Thanksgiving.
The three Senate Democrats serving on the 12-member deficit supercommittee outlined their approach to the talks in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Wednesday.

Supercommittee Co-Chairwoman Patty Murray (Wash.) and Sens. Max Baucus (Mont.) and John Kerry (Mass.) said the supercommittee needs to make jobs a top priority. “We know that our goal is to reduce spending. But we also know that America faces not just a budget deficit but also a jobs deficit. Nobody on this committee would be happy if we reduced the budget deficit but even more Americans end up losing their jobs,” Murray, Baucus and Kerry wrote in the op-ed.

What they mean is that federal government workers shouldn’t lose their jobs. And in order to guarantee this loyal constituency employment and benefits until death, they must steal from your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

H/T: Randy's Right

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/177175-dem-supercommittee-members-want-focus-on-stimulus-

Trillion Dollar Obamacare Law Ruled Unconstitutional

The Libtards received a huge setback on their cornerstone legislation. A federal appellate court ruled Obamacare unconstitutional:

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law suffered a setback on Friday when an appeals court ruled that it was unconstitutional to require all Americans to buy insurance or face a penalty.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the 11th Circuit, based in Atlanta, ruled 2 to 1 that Congress exceeded its authority by requiring Americans to buy coverage, but it unanimously reversed a lower court decision that threw out the entire law.

The legality of the individual mandate, a cornerstone of the healthcare law, is widely expected to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Opponents have argued that without the mandate, which goes into effect in 2014, the entire law falls.

This ruling comes on the heels of an Investor’s.com report of an additional $500 billion in deficit spending. Initially, Obamacare was to cost the American taxpayers only $109 billion in deficit spending over 10 years. And Pelosi’s famous assertion is coming true, we are finding out what is in this bill after they passed it:

The latest cost overrun associated with ObamaCare? A $500 billion "error" associated with insuring the spouses and children of new entitlement recipients. That's $500 billion in additional deficit spending — although it didn't stem from an "error" so much as it was the result of a deliberate miscalculation.

As it attempted to calculate ObamaCare's true fiscal impact, the Congressional Budget Office was explicitly instructed to ignore the cost of covering family members under new eligibility requirements for low-income private sector employees.

"The Congressional Budget Office has never done a cost-estimate of this (because) they were expressly told to do their modeling on single coverage," researcher Richard Burkhauser told the Daily Caller this month.

Documents obtained from the Democratic-controlled Joint Committee on Taxation confirm Burkhauser's account — and demonstrate the lengths to which Obama supporters went in an effort to hide these costs from the taxpayers.

Obviously this isn't the first "oversight" associated with this unconstitutional abomination. In March of 2011, Obama's heath care czarina Kathleen Sebelius was forced to acknowledge under oath that the government double-counted $529 billion in "savings" associated with the implementation of the legislation.

Numerous other errors and omissions have been uncovered within ObamaCare's fuzzy math — including a $52 billion raid of Social Security and a $72 billion repayment obligation for a new "long-term care trust fund."

It looks like the D.C. Swamp Monsters have pulled another fast one. Obamacare is now projected to cost the taxpayers over a trillion dollars. And that is just what we have learned so far.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/44121839

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/581079/201108101852/500-Billion-New-Reasons-To-Invalidate-ObamaCare.htm

Sen. Jim DeMint Calls for Geithner Resignation

Now that the S&P has downgraded America’s credit rating, the chorus of GOP voices is calling for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The choir leader is tea party favorite Senator Jim DeMint:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) responded to the nation's downgrade at the hands of Standard & Poor's by calling for the resignation of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Saying "enough is enough," the Tea Party favorite pressured President Obama to remove his top economic official and adopt a new perspective.

"The President should demand that Secretary Geithner resign and immediately replace him with someone who will help Washington focus on balancing our budget and allowing the private sector to create jobs," he said in a statement. "For months he opposed all efforts to reduce the debt in return for a debt ceiling increase. His opposition to serious spending and debt reforms has been reckless and now the American people will pay the price."

Not only does Lil’ Timmy need to resign, so does Obama and his legion of czars.

Source: http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/175743-demint-geithner-must-go

Charlotte Observer Joins Tea Party Slurs

It’s no surprise that the editors at the Charlotte Observer would join the chorus of slurs aimed at the tea party people. According to this local rag, these fiscally responsible people are Mad Hatters and hostage takers. I’m surprised they didn’t call the tea partiers terrorist like the rest of the socialist that infest the media.

The Disturber is upset that “revenues” were not raised to offset government expenditures. Someone needs to tell these statist that higher taxes doesn’t equate to higher revenues. What does bring more money into the government coffers is an expanding economy that employs more people; and when you have people in D.C. who are hostile to businesses, that is not going to happen.

The Disturber does make a point on mandatory expenditures:

Second, nearly 60 percent of federal spending is mandatory, meaning it goes up automatically to meet a growing need for services established by law. That includes Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As more Baby Boomers reach retirement age, these expenditures will increase dramatically. These programs are unsustainable. Additional revenues and reforms will be needed to preserve them.

The federal government brings in $200 billion a month. Now compare that to the cost of programs that are sacrosanct:

Here are the facts, as reported by Market Watch and the Bipartisan Policy Center. You do the math:

* The federal government receives approximately $200 billion in revenues each month.
* Interest on the national debt in August will be approximately $29 billion.
* Social Security will cost about $49.2 billion.
* Medicare and Medicaid will cost about $50 billion.
* Active duty military pay will cost about $2.9 billion.
* Veterans affairs programs will cost about $2.9 billion

As you can see the feds bring in enough money to pay for mandatory expenditures. But hostile government agencies, and a spending disease that’s running rampant throughout D.C. are crippling this country; and decentralization is the only cure. That type of thinking is contrary to the Big Government editors at the Charlotte Disturber.

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/washington-gets-200-billion-month-social-security-costs-50-billio#ixzz1TpPEDLBB

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/07/31/2492502/cut-spending-yes-but-dont-stop.html#ixzz1TpOJguEd

Small Business Owner Ask, "Where is D.C. Sacrifice?"

This guy nails it.

H/T: Randy's Right

Rep. Paul Ryan Explains D.C. Math

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) explains that D.C. math so all can understand it. If this is the kind of crap that comes out of that swamp, we need to shut down the Department of Education right now before they contaminate the rest of the country.

Class Warfare: The Foundation of the Democratic Party

Democratic Senator Tom Harkin (IA) called the Republican Party a cult for trying to reign in the outlandish spending of the federal government. The House’s Cut, Cap, and Balance Bill is like holy water to a vampire: it burns. And as with all bloodsuckers, they need sustenance.

According to Mr. Big Government, the millionaires and billionaires are the leeches of society; taking advantage of the middle class; dipping their bread in the open wounds of the poor and sucking the potential out of their marrow. Class warfare is the foundation of the Democratic Party platform.

Deception is what keeps Senator Tom Harkin in office. He would have all of us believe that it is he and the federal government that is our savior, when in fact he is enslaving us to an insurmountable debt that will render future generations of Americans subject to the tyranny of domestic and foreign government bureaucrats.

Rep. Paul Ryan on Cap, Cut and Balance

Rep. Paul Ryan (R) made a damn good presentation on the House floor. This is a must see.

Judge Rules N.C. Taxpayers Must Fund Glorified Daycare Centers

A North Carolina activist judge ruled that the state budget was unconstitutional, because republicans had put a cap on a glorified, taxpayer funded daycare program. The News and Observer Reports the following:

Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard E. Manning Jr. issued an order Monday that the state cannot implement any barrier or regulation that prevents eligible at-risk children from enrolling in the state's pre-kindergarten program, previously known as More at Four.

Manning cited a provision in the new law spelling out a 20 percent cap for at-risk children, which would dramatically reduce the number of slots for them. The budget also cut the program's budget by 20 percent, or $32 million, and specified that families who are not "at risk" would be charged copayments

Mind you this program is designed for 4 year olds. And we all know how valuable an education is at four. If it weren’t for Judge Manning’s intercession, children couldn’t become connoisseurs of paste; finger painting masterpieces would be lost to the world; and remedial pigtail pulling would have to wait until kindergarten.

Who in their right mind would deny four year olds this sound basic education? Certainly, not Judge Howard E. Manning, Jr. defender of toddlers:

"This case is about the individual right of every child to have the equal opportunity to obtain a sound basic education," Manning wrote in the order. "The constitutional right belongs to the child, not to the adults. Each at-risk four-year-old that appears at the doors of the [North Carolina pre-kindergarten] program this fall is a defenseless, fragile child whose background of poverty or disability places the child at-risk of subsequent academic failure."

Because if we don’t catch these children at four, their lives will be irredeemable.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/19/1353809/judge-strikes-pre-k-limits.html#ixzz1Shc9HFSy