Primer: The Hundred Years War inside the GOP

The Heritage Foundation has put out a couple of really good videos in the last week.  They're worth checking out as a conservative.

The first one I want to share is the one that focuses on the battle for the soul of the GOP as a primer for a couple of the other videos they've produced.  This video focuses on the background behind the Tea Party vs. GOP elite discord.

Yellen downloads belt tightening onto banks

Let me get this straight, Quantitative Easing (printing more money) is okay, but big banks should be required to hold more money to weather financial shocks.  Setting aside the notion that stricter reserve requirements for banks run counter to quantitative easing efforts,  is Yellen actually expecting a financial jolt? Is she downloading the belt tightening onto banks?  What's driving this?

...They said it could be a sign that the Fed under Yellen will take a more aggressive stance on bank regulation.

In her speech, Yellen said further actions to address risks, such as requiring firms to hold more capital, would likely apply only to the largest, most complex banks. But she suggested that other requirements could be applied more broadly to medium-size banks and non-bank financial institutions.

Karen Shaw Petrou, an analyst who heads Federal Financial Analytics in Washington, said Yellen also appeared to be signaling a desire to ensure that in tightening rules for big banks, regulators don't just drive risky behavior into less regulated areas of the financial system. These areas are often called the shadow banking system.

"The threat is if all you do is regulate the big banks, the risk will move to the non-banks," Petrou said. "Yellen is signaling that the Fed will seek to address that problem."

It sounds like it might be more about regulation and control as far as the drivers of this thinking goes. But the timing is oddly curious. 

Tax Day Wishes

Warm wishes to all Americans on Tax Day, a day of reflection on how wisely the government uses the funds you provide it with.  That is if you are in the Top 20% of taxable incomes in America.  Otherwise you are paying nothing, or even negative taxes.

Ain't life swell?

Sebelius' departure is no victory for conservatives

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, overseer of the disastrous Obamacare roll out, i stepping down from her post.  But this represents no win for the GOP or conservatism.  The ACA, Obamacare is growing roots despite the pitiful roll out so far, and the longer it takes to reverse the law, the less likely it becomes, no matter how badly the program performs.  Its political inertia makes it more entrenched as each day passes.  Sebelius' departure does nothing to change that.

In fact, the departure helps Democrats in the midterms if only modestly.  Obama can argue that despite the flawed roll out, a new team in charge, with fresh energy and ideas will make Obamacare far more successful going forward.  It, like every other Obama excuse is flimsy, but it is probably enough with the help of a compliant media, to convince some voters that the problem isn't the law, just the team that was running its initial implementation.  They can make the case that going forward things are getting better and will get a whole lot smoother still, downstream.

Further, Sebelius is not going to be replaced by a conservative-minded secretary.  Given Obama's record of appointments - from judicial to administrative - an even more liberal replacement is the likeliest scenario.  He's always trying to shift the country to the left, at every possible opportunity.  And while he has an abysmal record of vetting his appointments going back even further than Tim Geithner, he's gotten a pretty easy ride on his appointments for the most part, and a filibuster-proof process working for him as well.

There's no reason to believe that there is any good for conservatives or the GOP coming out of Sebelius' departure.

UPDATED: Nevada Cattle Battle

At first glance, this cattle battle doesn't seem to be the biggest or most important story in the news right now.  But looks can be deceiving.  Having your cattle seized might be seen as a liberty issue.  I don't think it's reached that level of criticality just yet, but it is a story worth keeping an eye on - even though the cattle may now have been released.

One question - where is Nevada senator Harry Reid on this issue? Probably working out a way to blame Republicans.

UPDATE (15/04/14): Harry Reid, who had taken a low profile on this issue, has chimed in, saying "It's not over".