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2009-12-31T19:09:00.001-08:00

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Hot Air » Blog Archive » Quote of the year

2009-12-31T18:56:00.001-08:00

Quote of the year

posted at 9:30 pm on December 31, 2009 by Allahpundit
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I’m going to make you vote this one out, but feel free to suggest your own in the comments. Happy new year to Hot Air readers everywhere!

Quote of the year

"You lie!"
"Let me be clear"
"I hope he fails"
"The system worked"
"Hide the decline"
"B+"
"I won"

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How a Community Organizer Became President -- February 2009 Phyllis Schlafly Report

2009-03-03T18:45:00.001-08:00

Order for home delivery today!

How a Community Organizer Became President

Community Organizing Continues

VOL. 42, NO. 7 P.O. BOX 618, ALTON, ILLINOIS 62002 FEBRUARY 2009

How a Community Organizer Became President

Google Ads are provided by Google and are not selected or endorsed by Eagle Forum

In the chapter on Communication, Alinsky teaches his organizers how to direct the thinking of his people while letting them think they are making their own decisions. The organizer should develop skills in the manipulative technique of asking "loaded questions designed to elicit particular responses and to steer the organization's decision-making process in the direction which the organizer prefers."
The chapter called In the Beginning describes how to train the community organizer in how to make himself acceptable to the Have-Nots in the local community. "From the moment the organizer enters a community he lives, dreams, eats, breathes, sleeps only one thing and that is to build the mass power base of what he calls the army. Until he has developed that mass power base, he confronts no major issues."
The organizer's "biggest job is to give the people the feeling that they can do something." The organizer's job is "to build confidence and hope in the idea of organization and thus in the people themselves: to win limited victories, each of which will build confidence." The organizer will learn that "Change comes from power, and power comes from organization."
"The organizer's first job is to create the issues or problems," and "organizations must be based on many issues." The organizer "must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community; fan the latent hostilities of many of the people to the point of overt expression. He must search out controversy and issues, rather than avoid them, for unless there is controversy people are not concerned enough to act. . . . An organizer must stir up dissatisfaction and discontent." He can provoke class resentment by painting Wall Street as villains.
The organizer "begins his 'trouble making' by stirring up these angers, frustrations, and resentments, and highlighting specific issues or grievances that heighten controversy." The organizer must remember that "Organizations need action as an individual needs oxygen. The cessation of action brings death to the organization."
At the same time, "The job of the organizer is to maneuver and bait the establishment so that it will publicly attack him as a 'dangerous enemy.'" Alinsky reminds his organizers that "To attempt to operate on a good-will rather than on a power basis would be to attempt something that the world has not yet experienced."
Alinsky's book is full of examples of issues and organizational victories from the decade of the 1960s (such as the Vietnam War, civil rights litigation, urban renewal, and campus riots) which are not meaningful to younger Americans today. However they emphasize his strategy that organizers must use current issues and "must be aware of the tremendous importance of understanding the part played by rationalization on a mass basis."
In the chapter called Tactics, Alinsky reminds his trainees that power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." He lists some of his recommended tactics:
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
"Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions." "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition." "Multiple issues mean constant action and life" for the cause. (Obama never harps on one issue as Hillary did with health care. His platform is packed with grievances from "economic justice" to "reproductive justice" to "environmental justice.")
"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." Alinsky's advice was to "laugh at the enemy" to provoke "irrational anger." (Obama used the ridicule tactic on John McCain at a rally in Las Vegas. Attacking McCain's chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee, Obama sarcastically said, "Well, all I can say to Senator McCain is 'Nice job. Nice job.'")
"A mass impression can be lasting and intimidating." (Obama moved his acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention to a football stadium and bused in 55,000 supporters.)
"Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules." "You can club them to death with their 'book' of rules and regulations." That means, taunt them every time they appear to violate their own principles, which Alinsky believes everybody does frequently.
A leader may struggle toward a decision and weigh the merits and demerits of a situation, but he must convince the people that "their cause is 100 percent on the side of the angels, and that the opposition are 100 percent on the side of the devil," even though that is a lie because there is "really only a 10 percent difference." Alinsky justifies this lie to achieve the transfer of power.
Alinsky describes some of his successful mass demonstrations:

Buying 100 tickets to a Rochester symphony concert for 100 blacks, feeding them lots of baked beans beforehand so that they had to get up and go to the restroom during the first musical selection. This created "a combination not only of noise but also of odor, what you might call natural stink bombs." He reminded his readers that there is nothing illegal about needing to rush to the restroom.

Tying up all the restrooms at O'Hare Airport by having his demonstrators lock themselves in the toilet booths equipped with a book to read, and then staying there all day.

Dropping wads of chewing gum all over the walks on a college campus.

Paralyzing a bank by having 100 people show up at once with $5 or $10 to open a savings account (which they would then come back to close the following day). There is nothing illegal about this, but it created chaos for the bank. Alinsky called this "a middle-class guerrilla attack."

Engaging in proxy fights with corporations.

Alinsky reveals his total contempt for the Haves and their devotion to self interest. He says, "I feel confident that I could persuade a millionaire on a Friday to subsidize a revolution for Saturday out of which he would make a huge profit on Sunday even though he was certain to be executed on Monday."
When Alinsky approached the end of his Rules for Radicals and projected future strategies in the chapter entitled The Way Ahead, he laid out his plan to go after "America's white middle class. That is where the power is." They are the "Have-a-Little, Want Mores."
Alinsky boasts that, "With rare exceptions, our activists and radicals are products of and rebels against our middle-class society. . . . Our rebels have contemptuously rejected the values and way of life of the middle class."
Here is where Alinsky's hypocrisy and duplicity become obvious. He had trained his community organizers to adopt a "middle-class identity" and familiarity with their "values and problems" in order to organize his "own people." Now, realizing "the priceless value of his middle-class experience," they will "begin to dissect and examine that way of life as he never has before." "Everything now has a different meaning and purpose."
Alinsky instructs his trainees to "return to the suburban scene of your middle class with its variety of organizations from PTAs to League of Women Voters, consumer groups, churches, and clubs. The job is to search out the leaders in these various activities, identify their major issues, find areas of common agreement, and excite their imagination with tactics that can introduce drama and adventure into the tedium of middle class life."
And a word of Alinsky caution: "Start them easy, don't scare them off." When Alinsky's community organizer moves from organizing the "poor" to organizing the "middle class," he "discards the rhetoric that always says 'pig.' . . . He will view with strategic sensitivity the nature of middle-class behavior with its hangups over rudeness or aggressive, insulting, profane actions. All this and more must be grasped and used to radicalize parts of the middle class." (Obama never talks like an angry radical. He usually wears a coat and tie, and he speaks in calm, measured tones.)

Community Organizing Continues
Will the Alinsky strategies that nominated and elected Barack Obama President of the United States be put on the back burner for four years, lying dormant until they are needed to reelect him in 2012? Not likely. Those strategies are available right now to push through the radical legislation and gigantic spending programs that he promised his followers.
The pro-Obama New York Times laid out the plan on its January 26 front page under the headline "Retooling a Grass-Roots Network To Serve a YouTube Presidency." Obama's staff has already started "transforming the YouTubing-Facebooking-Texting-Twittering grass-roots organization that put Mr. Obama in the White House into an instrument of government. That is something that Mr. Obama, who began his career as a community organizer, told aides was a top priority, even before he was elected."
President Obama's staff has created a group, headquartered in the offices of the Democratic National Committee, called "Organizing for America." Its mission is to "redirect the campaign machinery into the service of broad changes in health care, environmental and fiscal policy. They envision an army of supporters talking, sending e-mail messages and texting to friends and neighbors as they try to mold public opinion." Three days after Obama was sworn in as President, an announcement video was sent to 13 million people.
The Obama team understands very well that traditional methods of communicating with voters are being replaced by new channels built around social networking. In the 2008 campaign, liberals dominated conservatives by more than 10-to-1 on the Internet, and the Obama campaign exploited that advantage fully and profitably. This massive Internet advantage enabled Obama and leftists to raise ten times more money than conservatives over the Internet, and to create a climate of extreme bias in the media against conservative candidates. Sarah Palin was savaged on liberal blogs with little resistance from conservatives.
This 21st Century use of Internet technology and new-media communication was reflected in Obama's truly incredible record of money-raising. He raised nearly $750 million for his presidential campaign. By contrast, in 2004, George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry together collected less than $650 million. For the general election, Obama had more than three times what John McCain had at his disposal, and Obama still had $30 million in the bank after the election.
Obama's technology/Internet superiority continues. DailyKos.com, a liberal blog site, ranks 3,631 in daily traffic out of many millions of internet websites. This is far higher, often by a factor of 100, than conservative sites. Many other liberal websites also outrank conservative sites, such as Moveon.org, a website started a decade ago in defense of Clinton during his scandals.
Previous Presidents recorded and released a radio speech every Saturday morning, but Obama instead records a video speech, then posts it on the White House website and YouTube where it can be picked up and forwarded to millions of followers who weren't listening to radio on Saturday mornings. His first speech was a sales talk for his $825 billion economic so-called stimulus package. By Sunday afternoon, more then 600,000 people had viewed it on YouTube.
It is virtually impossible for a candidate to win when he is outspent 10-to-1 by the other side. It is essential that conservatives assert themselves on the Internet in order to regain competitiveness in both ideas and in money.
Further Reading: "Social Justice"

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Instapundit » Blog Archive » SOME ADVICE ON FUTURE “TEA PARTY” PROTESTS, from a media producer who attended the Overland Park aff…

2009-02-26T17:07:00.001-08:00

February 22, 2009

SOME ADVICE ON FUTURE “TEA PARTY” PROTESTS, from a media producer who attended the Overland Park affair:

I attended the invigorating protest outside Congressman Dennis Moore’s Overland Park, Kansas office yesterday.

I hoped 10-15 souls might show up. I was thrilled to see hundreds. Here are some suggestions. I don’t really want my name used. Sadly, it could really hurt my business, which is already hurting.

As a professional media producer, here are my concerns:

1. Incoherent message - the signs were all over the place. There were lots of agendas. That’s fine. The color and signage look good on TV.

But, when it came to the microphone - the overall message was tepid and unsure.

2. Create a theme - like “We want Senator So-and-So to resign for voting for this bill.” Or, “We want the Stimulus Repealed!” “Start Over.” Have a definitive purpose to your Assembly. A central theme will also help public speakers to focus. And don’t be afraid to personalize this. Put it on your Senators, Congress people, and the President. That’s what they are doing to anyone who objects.

3. Speakers not prepared for the media - the organizer was asked to name some specific objectionable items in the stimulus. She couldn’t do it. I doubt many of us could.

If you are an organizer, or the “face” of the event - take an hour to prepare. You don’t need to know everything about the stimulus. Just find 2 or 3 things - hard facts - you can point to and credibly say - these are wrong, wasteful spending items. Or, these items grow government, not the economy. It is critical.

4. Pass out talking points, just in case Joe or Jane Protestor gets buttonholed by a reporter.

5. This is all about image. If we don’t present the media with a professional, organized and, unfortunately, scripted image, they are going to make their own, and it won’t be favorable.

6. Recruit some help to pack the area around people being interviewed for background. God love the guy in the crazy Uncle Sam suit, and we certainly need the Minute Men, but these folks will quickly become THE story because they are colorful or controversial i.e., Good TV. Welcome their support. Maybe give them a minute on the mic. But I recommend trying to pack in mainstream, boring looking, and diverse Americans around the camera. No offense to anyone. Anytime a TV camera comes out, a certain number and type of attention seeker will flock to it. Now is the time for Grandma and Grandpa, the Plumber, the Young Executive, and the Homeschooling Mom to flock to the camera as background. Don’t be shy. Remember, how do you want your cause to be presented by the media? As crazies? Or as Concerned Neighbors?

7. Have an Agenda and a Time. We’re going to Assemble at this Time. We’re going to have a Sign-In Table. We’re going to have a Sign-Making Area. We’re going to have speakers at 10:30. We’re going to March to the Senator’s Office at this time and demand she resign. We’re going to end with Chants, and a Call-to-Action for the next Protest. That, and Protestors want to know what’s going on. If they become unsure, they leave. Organization wins, and it also intimidates the opposition. And the opposition is going to start showing up.

8. Share the Day’s Agenda with the Media. You have to create your own press. The event in Overland Park was HUGE, but only one news station came out to cover it, and there’s not even a photo in today’s Sunday paper. Sell it to them. They love good stories.

That’s it. I hope this helpful. These things are only going to get bigger, and people need to realize that a great responsibility comes with this wonderful opportunity. Get a Message. And Get It Out.

via pajamasmedia.com

Time for a Tea Party | America's North Shore Journal

2009-02-26T17:05:00.001-08:00

Time for a Tea Party

LOCATIONS:

Northeast

Boston - Friday, February 27, 2009 noon, The Barking Crab Restaurant, 88 Sleeper Street, Boston

Hartford, CT - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, State Capitol

New York City - Saturday, February 28, 2009, 2:00pm - 3:00pm, City Hall Park, New York

Philadelphia - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Independence Hall

Washington D.C. - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 2:00pm White House on the Lafayette Square Park side

Pittsburgh - ***May be postponed due to rain *** Friday, February 27, 2009 12 pm - 1 pm, Market Square

Southeast

Atlanta - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm at the Georgia State Capitol Building ~ Downtown Atlanta Washington Street Exit

Fayetteville - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Liberty Point Resolves Marker, downtown Fayetteville, Hay Street

Asheville, NC - Friday, February 27 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, Pritchard Park, Corner of Haywood St. and Patton Ave.

Columbia, SC - TBD

Greenville, SC - Friday, February 27, 2009 6:00pm, on the banks of the Reedy River and on the walking bridge just west of Main Street

Orlando - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm on Lake Eola across from Panera Bread

Tampa - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Federal Courthouse, 801 N. Florida Ave., Tampa

Gainesville FL - Friday, February 27, 2009 2:00pm - 6:00pm, Ale House, 3950 SW Archer Rd

Fort Meyers Beach - Friday, February 27, 2009 11:30am - 1:00pm Bowditch Park, 50 Estero Blvd., Fort Myers Beach

Sarasota - Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:00pm - 1:00pm, Island Park and Marina Jacks, Bayfront Drive (41) and Ringling Blvd, Sarasota

Nashville - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm Legislative Plaza

Shelby County Alabama - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, entrance to Eagle Point Neighborhood, Highway 280

Jackson, Miss - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:30pm, On the steps of the Capital Building in Jackson

Midwest

Cleveland - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm Public Square in Downtown Cleveland, 1 Public Square

Chicago - Friday, February 27, 2009 11:00am - 12:20pm at
Daley Plaza Civic Center, 50 W Washington St.

Lansing, MI - Friday, February 27, 2009 12:00pm - 1:00pm, State Capitol bldg

St. Louis - Friday, February 27, 2009 11:00am - 12:00pm The Steps of Arch, Wharf Street

Springfield, MO - Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm, Lake Springfield Park

Kansas City - Saturday, February 28, 2009 10:00am - 2:00pm J.C. Nichols Foundation, 47th and J.C. Nichols Parkway K.C. MO

Wichita, Kansas - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:30am - 12:30pm, Farm Credit Bank Building, 245 N. Waco

Omaha - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:00am - 12:00pm, Douglas County Courthouse, 16th and Farnam St, Omaha

Davenport, Iowa - Saturday, February 28, 2009, 12:00pm - 1 pm, Corner of Brady & Locust Streets, Davenport

Southwest

Austin - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:00am - 12 pm, Capitol steps

Dallas - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:00am - 12 pm, Victory Plaza at the American Airlines Center

Fort Worth - Friday, February 27, 2009 3pm to 7pm at the Cowtown Bar & Grill, 7108 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth

Houston - Friday, February 27, 2009 11:00am - 2:00pm, Fondren Green at Discovery Green Park, in front of Amphitheatre

San Antonio - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:00am - 12 pm, Alamo Plaza

Oklahoma City - Friday, February 27, 2009, 11:00am - 12:00pm, State Capitol Steps, Oklahoma City

Tulsa - Friday, February 27, 2009 11 am to 1 pm, Veteran’s Park, 21st & Boulder

Phoenix - Friday, February 27, 2009, 10:00am - 11:00am, State Capitol, 1700 W Washington St, Phoenix

Tempe AZ - Friday, February 27, 2009 noon, Tempe Beach Park, west of the Mill Avenue Bridge

Rockies

Denver - Friday, February 27, 2009 10:00am - 12:00pm Colorado State Capitol Building - West side steps 200 E. Colfax Ave.

West Coast

Seattle - Friday, February 27, 2009, 12:15pm - 1:15pm, Westlake Park, 410 Pine St. by the big arch

Portland - Friday, February 27, 2009 9:00am - 10:00am Pioneer Courthouse Square @ the corner of Broadway & Morrison (in front of the STARBUCKS), 715 SW Morrison St

San Diego - Friday, February 27, 2009 9-10 am, Just north of the Star of India on San Diego Bay

Sacramento CA - Friday, February 27, 12 Noon, California State Capitol, North Steps, L Street, Sacramento

Los Angeles - Friday, February 27, 2009, 9:00am - 10:00am, Santa Monica Pier

Orange County - Friday, February 27, 2009, 9:00am - 10:00am, Huntington Beach Pier

Here is a list of online resources for the growing revolt against the stimulus package, the proposed government fix for those not paying their mortgages, pork busting, and other government waste issues.

Tips for Tea Party Organizers on the Media. If you look no farther, please read this before you start organizing.

Twitter search

Pajamas Media American Tea Party Coverage

Facebook:
Top Conservatives

American Tea Party

Nationwide Chicago Tea Party

New American Tea Party

Pajamas’s Media

Sunlight Foundation

Citizens Against Government Waste

3,583 views Tags: economic stimulus plan, government pork, obama, tax revolt, taxpayer revolt, tea party, unpaid mortages

via northshorejournal.org

Heritage New Media Partners, Inc. - NMA TV - Preteen pro-life speech goes viral

2009-02-20T14:55:00.001-08:00

via nmatv.com

NRA-ILA ::

2009-02-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

Several Pro-Gun, Pro-Hunting Measures Advancing in Alabama! Friday, February 20, 2009
Four pro-gun, pro-hunting bills are currently making their way through the Alabama Legislature.

House Bill 362, sponsored by State Representative Craig Ford (D-28) is awaiting consideration by the House Commerce Committee. This pro-gun bill states that no person or employer may prohibit a law-abiding citizen from possessing a firearm in a locked motor vehicle while parked on private property.

House Bill 225 was passed unanimously yesterday by the House, 101-0. It now moves to the Senate where it awaits a committee assignment. Introduced by State Representative Marc Keahey (D-65), HB 225 would protect our Second Amendment rights by prohibiting any government agency from confiscating or regulating the lawful sale, possession, transfer, transport and carry of firearms during a state of emergency, such as occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Yesterday, House Bill 432 was passed by the House Judiciary Committee. It now heads to the House floor for a vote. This pro-gun bill, sponsored by State Representative Jack Page (D-29), would require that records relating to pistol permits would be kept from public disclosure and made available for law enforcement purposes only.

House Bill 328 successfully passed out of the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee. The bill now moves to the House floor for consideration. HB 328, “no-net-loss” legislation, will ensure hunters in the state of Alabama that their vast hunting acreage will never decrease. This bill requires that the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources maintain the level of available public hunting land that currently exists. Simply stated, it requires that additional lands be opened to hunting if land that is currently open to hunting is closed.

Please continue checking your email and www.NRAILA.org for updates on these bills. We will alert you when and if the need for action arises.

via nraila.org

Michelle Malkin » “This is our house now:” ACORN mob begins breaking into homes

2009-02-20T06:37:00.001-08:00

“This is our house now:” ACORN mob begins breaking into homes

By Michelle Malkin • February 20, 2009 09:25 AM

On Wednesday, I said prepare for lawlessness as ACORN’s civil disobedience mob steps up pressure for President Obama’s mortgage entitlement expansion.

Well, are you ready, Baltimore? (Hat tip - Jeff Quinton) ACORN’s troops are breaking the padlocks and breaking into homes. And this is just the start. Caution: OBAMACORN at work.

A community organization breaks into a foreclosed home in what they are calling an act of civil disobedience.

The group wants to train homeowners facing eviction on peaceful ways they can remain in their homes.

Derek Valcourt reports their actions are not without controversy.

Near Patterson Park, the padlock on the door and the sign in the window tells part of Donna Hanks foreclosure story.

“The mortgage went up $300 in one month,” said Hanks, former homeowner.

She says the bank refused to modify her loan and foreclosed, kicking her out of the house in September.

The community group ACORN calls Hanks a victim of predatory lending.

“This is our house now,” said Louis Beverly, ACORN.

And on Thursday afternoon, they literally broke the foreclosure padlock right off the front door and then broke into the house, letting Hanks back in for the first time in months.

Taxpayer-subsidized anarchy is on the way.

Mr. President? Mr. President?

Cartoons, Chimps, and Scared White People | QandO

2009-02-20T06:36:00.001-08:00

Cartoons, Chimps, and Scared White People

Who is that poor, dead ape?

Yesterday, in a surprisingly foolish move, New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonas attempted to somehow use the story of the Unfortunate Chimpanzee Incident in Connecticut as a visual segue to some sort of commentary on politics. Although, I’m not entirely sure what point was being made.

The reference to writing the next stimulus bill seems to me to be a clear reference to Pres. Obama. He is, after all the guy the guy who’s been out pushing for the thing since day one. They guy who tried to get Republicans and Democrats together to vote for it a bipartisan fashion. The number one cheerleader. He is inextricably linked in the public’s mind with the stimulus bill. We even call it the Obama Stimulus Bill. So, who, then are we supposed to think this cartoon is referring to? Who else could we reasonably infer it refers to?

Now, Obama isn’t the first president who’s been the butt of Chimp references.

He is, however, the first president whose racial heritage includes centuries of invidious comparisons to the great apes.

Which is a shame, actually, because for reasons entirely unrelated to his race, Pres. Obama has a physical feature that is perfect for comparison to a chimp. His ears.

Chimpy McHaliburton Bushitler

I mean, have you seen them? They are Ferengi-class ears. Lyndon Johnson’s soundhorns were practically unnoticeable by comparison. Sarah Palin may be able to see Russia from her place in Alaska, but with those satellite dishes Mr. Obama carts around on his skull, I bet he hears the occasional Da, and Khorosho! from the bowels of the Kremlin while sitting in the Oval Office. I don’t think Mr Obama is Jesus, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that he does hear it every time a sparrow falls.

But, irrespective of the comedy gold that could be mined from Pres. Obama’s unfortunate auricular appendages, and unlike Mr. Bush, who had some relatively chimp-like expressions, a major newspaper can’t make those same references to any African-American, much less the president of the United States, and expect to elide past the deserved criticism for it.

How then could the cartoonist possibly be blind to the possible inferences that would be drawn? And for that matter, what of the vaunted “layers of editors” the mainstream media employs? The cartoon didn’t raise any red flags in the mind of the Page 6 Editor? the Op/Ed Editor? The Managing Editor?

Apparently not.

I simply can’t believe that the staff of a major newspaper were blissfully unaware that even an oblique Obama/chimpanzee reference would be…troublesome. And even if they did, you’d think the dead president reference might raise a red flag or two in the publisher’s suite, wouldn’t you?

Combining that into the dead chimpanzee president has to be almost the apex of bad judgment by a major media outlet.

But, once the cat was out of the bag, the Right couldn’t leave it alone. Instead, the defenders of the cartoon jumped in with their explanations. Her, for example, is John Hinderaker at Powerline:

Readers of the Huffington Post and–who else?–Al Sharpton construe the cartoon as a possibly racist attack on President Obama…There are several problems with this critique. Most obviously, Obama didn’t write the “stimulus” bill. If anyone is being called a chimp, it is Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

And yet, we don’t call it the Pelosi-Reid Stimulus Bill, do we? How terribly odd. This defense of the cartoon is little short of obtuse.

And Post Editor-n Chief Col Allen isn’t any more convincing.

“The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut,” Allan said in a statement. “It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.”

I yield to no man in my contempt for Rev. Sharpton, but this is terribly lame. How, in fact, does this broadly mock the stimulus effort. It can’t be a reference to the bill itself. that bill, unfortunately, is not only not dead, it is now the law of the land. From a political point of view, the passage effort was successful. And why the reference to the person who “wrote” the stimulus bill? That person–if not the actual writer, the primary cheerleader for it–is comfortably ensconced in the Oval Office, savoring his victory on this issue, and moving on to mortgage relief.

The only part of Mr. Allen’s statement with which I agree is that it is, in fact, “is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee”. But to what end? If we assume that it is not a reference to the president, then what, exactly is it about? And why do so many people seem to think it is a reference to the president? Why is there no label on the dead ape so that we can know what it is supposed to represent?

"Hi There, Eric. I Can't Help But Notice You're Black. Let's Talk About How Black You Are."

You see, the thing about one-panel political cartooning is that it takes an extraordinary amount of talent to provoke a complicated train of thought from a single, hand-drawn picture. You have to be clear, concise, and often humorous, and make a clear, polemical point in one panel. Somehow, the average person thinks the point is entirely different from what Mr. Allen says it is. And that is, as our Soviet friends used to say, “no coincidence.”

Yesterday morning, before this thing had blown into a full-scale brou-ha-ha, The guys at the Opie and Anthony Show had seen it, and they had their producers out on the street, showing the cartoon to the morning commuters on 57th Street in NYC, and asking them, “What do think this cartoon means?”

What they got was a collection of nervous mumbles that amounted to, “Uh, I don’t really know.” “I can’t say.” “Er, uh, I can’t talk right now”. Oh the passersby had time to read it, but when given the chance to express an opinion about it publicly, all of the sudden it was to dense for them to take in, or they had pressing engagements elsewhere.

Which is an interesting reaction, considering Attorney General Eric Holder’s speech on race, coincidentally given yesterday.

“Though the nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said.

“Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we average Americans simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

The funniest response to that came from a Jeff Emanuel piece at RedState, which was titled, “Hi There, Eric. I Can’t Help But Notice You’re Black. Let’s Talk About How Black You Are.”

Well, we probably don’t talk enough about race. We don’t have those frank exchanges of racial views. Indeed, we don’t even have humorous public statements about race, even tangentially. Because all it takes is for Dom Imus to say something on the radio like, “That’s some nappy-headed hos right there,” and he’s done. Al Sharpton comes around with a group of lusty, gusty fellows to demand your firing, as soon as he hears about it. And you lose your livelihood, because he’ll get it.

If you’re white, there’s no upside to having a talk about race. You run the risk of accidentally or unknowingly saying something insensitive, at which point the best thing that can happen to you is that you’ll be publicly reviled as some sort of bigoted troll. Why take the risk?

Is that cowardice, or simply the result of a prudent calculation of risks and benefits?

No, the only time we talk about race, is when some buffoon like Sean Delonas makes a public faux pas that can’t be ignored. And I don’t see that changing any time soon.

Tags: New York Post, racism, Sean Delonas

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 at 21:51 and is filed under Culture, Dale Franks, Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

via qando.net

Michelle Malkin » Arlen Specter jeered by taxpayers

2009-02-20T06:31:00.001-08:00

It’s about time. KDKA reports Turncoat Caucus Sen. Arlen Specter was met with jeers at a Pa. press conference. Betrayal of core fiscal conservative principles has consequences.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter was greeted with jeers at a press conference in Cranberry Township.

Conservatives are fuming after Specter cast the deciding vote that led to the passage of President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

Specter, 79, acknowledges his run for re-election will be tough.

He says he’s not completely happy with Obama’s plans but he points out that he was able to cut the price tag by over $100 billion and he says he was able to increase the amount of tax cuts.

Even so, Specter acknowledges the Republican Party’s conservative wing will attempt to unseat him in next year’s primary race.

Maybe Sen. Specter can dial up the president, who can stroke his ego and call him a patriot again to make him feel better.

Brilliant Samuel Adams quote

2009-02-19T20:33:00.001-08:00

Samuel Adams: It does not take a majority to prevail. What it takes is an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.

via tcunation.com

Rush to Wait by Thomas Sowell on National Review Online

2009-02-19T05:37:00.001-08:00

Rush to Wait
A 1,000-page bill passed in two days sat unsigned on the president’s desk for three.

By Thomas Sowell

The big story last week was the incredible congressional rush to pass a bill that was more than 1,000 pages long in just two days — after which it sat on the president’s desk for three days while the Obamas were away on a holiday.

There is the same complete inconsistency in the bill itself. Despite the urgency in President Obama’s rhetoric, as well as in Congress’s haste in passing a bill which few — if any — members had time to read, much less consider, most of the actual spending will take place next year at the earliest.

Not even the most Alice-in-Wonderland actions will arouse the suspicions of those who have what William James once called “the will to believe.”

Nowhere was that will to believe greater than in the election of Barack Obama to be president of the United States, not on the basis of any actual accomplishment, but as the repository of hopes and symbolism. His supporters among the voters and in the media are not going to stop believing now.
It will take a lot more than blatant inconsistency for the faithful to lose faith. It may take catastrophe — and there may well be catastrophe.

For some, even catastrophe under Obama can be blamed on George W. Bush. After all, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term in 1940, after two terms in which the unemployment rate never fell below 10 percent and was above 20 percent for 21 consecutive months.

FDR also inspired the will to believe — and he also had Herbert Hoover on whom to blame all the country’s troubles.

It may seem strange, to those who never lived through those times, that someone could be president of the United States for eight straight years and nevertheless escape responsibility for mass unemployment by blaming his long-departed predecessor. But we may yet see a rerun of that scenario in our own time.

Nothing in the amateurish way the current administration has begun suggests that they have mastered even the mechanics of governing, much less the complexities of the huge national problems looming ahead, at home and abroad.

The multiple Cabinet nominees withdrawing before their nomination can come to a vote in the Senate are just one example of this amateurism.

Another example was the secretary of the Treasury holding a much heralded unveiling of his recovery plan, only to publicly embarrass himself and the administration when his speech made painfully clear that there is no plan, but only pious hopes. The plunge in the stock market after his speech suggests how much confidence he inspired.

There is far more to fear from this administration than its amateurism in governing. The urgency with which it has rushed through a monumental spending bill, whose actual spending will not be completed even after 2010, ought to set off alarm bells among those who are not in thrall to the euphoria of Obama’s presidency.

The urgency was real, even if the reason given was phony. President Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, let slip a valuable clue when he said that a crisis should not go to waste, that a crisis is an opportunity to do things that you could not do otherwise.

Think about the utter cynicism of that. During a crisis, a panicked public will let you get away with things you couldn’t get away with otherwise.

A corollary of that is that you had better act quickly while the crisis is at hand, without congressional hearings or public debates about what you are doing. Above all, you must act before the economy begins to recover on its own.

The party line is that the market has failed so disastrously that only the government can save us. It is proclaimed in Washington and echoed in the media.

The last thing the administration can risk is delay that could allow the market to begin recovering on its own. That would undermine, if not destroy, a golden opportunity to restructure the American economy in ways that would allow politicians to micromanage other sectors of the economy the way they have micromanaged the housing market into disaster.

— Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

© 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

via article.nationalreview.com

Under the gun - Los Angeles Times

2009-02-19T05:28:00.001-08:00

Editorial

Under the gun

Orange County supervisors should have Sheriff Sandra Hutchens' back in a fight about concealed-weapons permits.

February 17, 2009

» Discuss Article (22 Comments)

Orange County supervisors were looking for someone to transform the sheriff's office when they hired an outsider last year to replace disgraced Sheriff Michael S. Carona. Now they're complaining that the new sheriff isn't sensitive to the culture of Orange County. If by "culture" they mean concealed-weapons permits handed out to people who have no legitimate need to carry guns on the streets, then yes, Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is not one to honor tradition, and we admire her for that.

Among Hutchens' first announcements as sheriff was that she would systematically review the county's 1,000 active permits and require their holders to have a reason for packing a gun -- aside from a desire to do so. That could include a job such as owning a jewelry store, or a history of having been threatened or harassed. Times have changed, and so has Orange County. It is no longer an outpost of cattle ranches and lima-bean fields; it's a diverse metropolitan area, and it should operate like one.

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Hutchens, a retired division chief from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, spent her career in a county with three times the population of Orange County's but with about one-third the number of concealed-weapons permits. She brings a new sensibility to the Sheriff's Department, sorely needed after Carona gave permits to friends and political donors. One of these, Carona's former martial-arts instructor, was sentenced to six months in prison after making a dangerous fool of himself on a golf course by drawing his gun in a dispute about a wayward fairway shot.

County supervisors have been pressured by the permit holders who stand to lose their privileges. But considering that this amounts to about 500 people in a county of 3 million, the board should not interpret the carrying of guns to be a venerated part of Orange County culture. Hutchens' staff has worsened tensions by acting inappropriately during board meetings on the gun issue, at one point directing security cameras toward the notes of two supervisors, and in another case sending text messages that poked fun at the people there. Hutchens has apologized and launched investigations; more important, she must assert control over her staff's conduct, just as she has asserted authority over gun permits.

The law offers sheriffs broad leeway in determining what constitutes a legitimate reason to carry a gun; we think Hutchens is bringing the correct balance to this matter. The supervisors courageously sought radical change in the sheriff's operations. The easy part of that was hiring Hutchens; the harder part is sticking by her when change becomes uncomfortable.

via latimes.com

State Sovereignty Update

2009-02-19T05:12:00.001-08:00

State Sovereignty Update

February 17th, 2009 · No Comments ·

Now that most of the state legislatures are back in session, we’re starting to see some progress on the passage of state sovereignty bills. It looks like at least 22 states have bills in some stage of development. About half are in the process of being drafted, several are in committee or out for debate and the pack is being led by Arizona, Oklahoma and New Hampshire where the bills have strong support and will likely be voted on within a matter of weeks. As yet none have passed into law, but we may see that happen in some of the most active states fairly quickly.

The Arizona bill is interesting because it actually cites New York v. US in the text of the bill, pointing out one of the 10th Amendment cases which is often cited in arguments for state nullification of federal mandates. It seems to have a lot of support and a realistic chance of passage.

Oklahoma’s sovereignty bill which passed their House last session but got stalled in the Senate came out of the rules committee last week with unanimous support and should move forward quickly. It may run into problems in the state Senate again because it is more evenly split between Democrats and Republicans than their House of representatives is.

As demonstrated in the recently introduced Michigan resolution some of the bills target a much more specific threat. Michigan’s bill asserts 10th Amendment rights, but does it in the context of reiterating and guaranteeing protection of the right of the citizens to own firearms, taking a stand against possible gun seizures from the federal government. The Montana resolution was introduced at the same time and is largely the same with the same focus on gun rights.

State Representative Dan Itse, author of the New Hampshire sovereigny resolution appeared on the Glenn Beck show on Fox News over the weekend to explain the bill. Although New Hampshire’s bill is one of the most radical, he stressed that it was not about secession from the union, but about reasserting state control, saying “This isn’t about withdrawing from the union. The happiest resolution of this resolution would be a renewed union within the confines of the Constitution.” But he went on to make the key distinction that the New Hampshire bill actually makes the claim, based on the writings of Jefferson and Madison, that if the government fails to obey the Constitution then it has effectively negated itself and dissolved the union formed by that document. Itse said, “If the general government nullifies the Constitution, how do you withdraw from something which does not exist?”

Oklahoma State Representative Jason Murphey wrote an editorial for the Edmond Sun explaining his state’s sovereignty bill and linking it specifically to the unfunded mandates and massive spending in the so-called Stimulus Bill, linking this issue to the efforts of some governors to block federal spending within their states. He notes that it is “is going to be important for the state to refuse to participate in new inappropriate federal programs such as the apparent expansion of the welfare program included in the stimulus bill.” And also expresses the widespread concern that much of the money in the stimulus is intended to benefit the Democratic party’s political allies, pointing out that “we can expect the federal government to reflect the desires of powerful special interests, liberal politicians and their support groups like ACORN — the possible recipient of $2 billion because of the stimulus bill.”

A lot of crazy claims about the sovereignty movement are still circulating, many of them seemingly generated to advance their own interests by Ron Paul supporters involved in his Campaign for Liberty. But the truth is that, contrary to their assertions, this is not a movement for secession from the union and the sovereignty bills are generally not arising out of grassroots efforts from far-right groups like C4L.

Rather, these resolutions are originating from inside legislatures and from established state politicians, specifically in response to concerns about unfunded mandates and excessive burdens placed on the states by the federal government. The expense and partisan character of many of the elements of the stimulus bill is increasing concern and helping to motivate legislators to pass these state resolutions as are federal efforts to limit the constitutional rights of individuals on a nationwide basis. While the 10th Amendment is central to their argument, legislators are more concerned about retaining power they see being gradually eroded by the federal government than more abstract issues of Constitutional rights.

Dave Nalle has worked as a magazine editor, a freelance writer, a capitol hill staffer, a game designer and taught college history for many years. He now designs fonts for a living and lives with his family in a small town just outside Austin where he is ex-president of the local Lions Club. He is on the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus and Politics Editor of Blogcritics Magazine. You can find his writings about fonts, art and graphic design at The Scriptorium. He also runs a conspiracy debunking site at IdiotWars.com.

via fontcraft.com

State Sovereignty Movement Quietly Growing

2009-02-19T05:09:00.001-08:00

State Sovereignty Movement Quietly Growing

February 5th, 2009 · 46 Comments · History, Local Issues, Politics, Rights and Liberty

You may not have heard much about it, but there’s a quiet movement afoot to reassert state sovereignty and stop the uncontrolled expansion of federal government power. Almost half of the state legislatures are considering or have representatives preparing to introduce resolutions which reassert the principles of the 9th and 10th Amendments to the Constitution and the idea that federal power is strictly limited to specific areas detailed in the Constitution and that all other governmental authority rests with the states.

In the version of this bill being considered in Washington state, they appeal to the authority of James Madison in The Federalist who wrote:

“”The powers delegated to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the state governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, [such] as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several states will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people.”

The founding fathers believed in a balance between state and federal power. This state sovereignty movement clearly arises from the belief that the balance of power has tilted too far and for too long in the direction of the federal government and that it’s time to restore that lose balance.

The emergence of this movement is a hopeful sign of the people asserting their rights and the rights of the states and finally crying “enough” to runaway government. With the threat of increasingly out of control federal spending, some of these sovereignty bills may stand a fair chance of passage in the coming year.

There’s a lot of excitement about these bills, but there are also a lot of misconceptions, with people claiming that some states have already declared sovereignty and that the movement is much farther along than it really is. Contrary to popular rumor, none of the states has actually enacted a sovereignty law yet. Some have come close. Oklahoma’s bill passed their lower house overwhelmingly but stalled in the Senate last fall and is being held over for consideration in the new year.

Contrary to the fantasies of some extremists, these sovereignty bills are not the first step towards secession or splitting up the union, nor are they an effort to block collection of the income tax, appealing though that might be. For the most part, they are not so much political statements of independence as they are expressions of fiscal authority directed specifically at the growing cost of unfunded mandates being placed upon the states by the federal government. Despite the movement picking up steam as he came to office, the target of these bills is not President Obama, but rather the Democrat-dominated Congress whose plans for massive bailouts and expanded social programs are likely to come at an enormous cost to the states.

It has become increasingly common for Congress to pass legislation which dictates policy to the states, but which comes without adequate federal funding and the expectation that the cost of these programs, which the states had no real say in approving, will come out of state budgets. This has been a long-term problem with Medicaid and Medicare, but the unfunded mandate which stirred up the most ire recently was the No Child Left Behind program. More concern has been raised with the recent reauthorization and expansion of the SCHIP program which has a history of requiring more expenditure than is provided for in the federal budget.

The text of the bill proposed in Arizona makes the clearest statement of the intent to block unfunded mandates:

“That this Resolution serves as notice and demand to the federal government, as our agent, to cease and desist, effective immediately, mandates that are beyond the scope of these constitutionally delegated powers.”

and

“That all compulsory federal legislation that directs states to comply under threat of civil or criminal penalties or sanctions or requires states to pass legislation or lose federal funding be prohibited or repealed.”

What this movement is most similar to is the Nullification Crisis of 1832 where the State of South Carolina asserted that it had the right to nullify the authority of federal laws within its borders. In this case the states are not asserting anything as broad as the Doctrine of Nullification, but are merely reasserting the limits which the 10th Amendment places on federal authority, specifically as it applies to spending, the idea being that they don’t have to pay for federal mandates if their legislators choose not to.

Not all of the bills fall within these limitations. Missouri’s bill actually goes somewhat further and does assert the right fo the state to negate federal law, specifically in reference to the proposed federal Freedom of Choice Act, which some fear would bar states from passing laws regulating abortion. New Hampshire’s bill actually goes so far as to lay out a very strongly worded variant of the Doctrine of Nullifcation which specifies acts by the federal government (many of them currently being proposed in Congress) which would effectively negate the Constitution and the authority of the federal government within their state. Hawaii’s proposed sovereignty bill comes very close to being an actual act of secession, based on native tribal rights.

As things stand right now it looks like Oklahoma, Washington, Hawaii, Missouri, Arizona, New Hampshire, Georgia, California, Michigan and Montana will all definitely consider sovereignty bills this year. They may be joined by Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania where legislators have pledged to introduce similar bills. Twenty states standing up to the federal government and demanding a return to constitutional principles is a great start, but it remains to be seen whether legislatures and governors are brave enough or angry enough to follow through. As the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress push for more expansion of federal power and spending that may help provide the motivation needed for the sovereignty movement to take off.

Dave Nalle has worked as a magazine editor, a freelance writer, a capitol hill staffer, a game designer and taught college history for many years. He now designs fonts for a living and lives with his family in a small town just outside Austin where he is ex-president of the local Lions Club. He is on the board of the Republican Liberty Caucus and Politics Editor of Blogcritics Magazine. You can find his writings about fonts, art and graphic design at The Scriptorium. He also runs a conspiracy debunking site at IdiotWars.com.

via fontcraft.com

Guardsmen to conduct urban training at Arcadia in April

2009-02-19T04:49:00.001-08:00

2/17/2009 Email this article • Print this article

The primary phase will be done Saturday, April 4, when convoys will be deployed from Carroll to Arcadia. Pictures of a suspected arms dealer will be shown in Arcadia, and soldiers will go door to door asking if residents have seen the suspect. ... The drill will culminate in the apprehension of the suspected arms dealer.

Guardsmen to conduct urban training at Arcadia in April

By BUTCH HEMAN
Staff Writer

The Carroll National Guard unit will train on urban military operations by holding a four-day exercise at Arcadia.

The purpose of the April 2-5 drill will be to gather intelligence, then search for and apprehend a suspected weapons dealer, according to Sgt. Mike Kots, readiness NCO for Alpha Company.

Citizens, law enforcement, media and other supporters will participate.

Troops will spend Thursday, April 2, staging at a forward operations base at Carroll. The next day company leaders will conduct reconnaissance and begin patrolling the streets of Arcadia to identify possible locations of the weapons dealer.

The primary phase will be done Saturday, April 4, when convoys will be deployed from Carroll to Arcadia. Pictures of the arms dealer will be shown in Arcadia, and soldiers will go door to door asking if residents have seen the suspect.

Soldiers will knock only at households that have agreed to participate in the drill, Kots noted.

"Once credible intelligence has been gathered," said Kots, "portions of the town will be road-blocked and more in-depth searches of homes and vehicles will be conducted in accordance with the residents' wishes.

"One of the techniques we use in today's political environment is cordon and knock," Kots explained. "We ask for the head of the household, get permission to search, then have them open doors and cupboards. The homeowner maintains control. We peer over their shoulder, and the soldier uses the homeowner's body language and position to protect him."

During this phase of the operation, troops will interact with residents and media while implementing crowd-control measures and possibly treating and evacuating injured persons.

The unit will use a Blackhawk helicopter for overhead command and control, and to simulate medevacs.

The drill will culminate in the apprehension of the suspected arms dealer.

Alpha Company will conduct a review of the drill on Sunday, April 5.

A meeting to give residents more information and accept volunteers will be held 7 p.m. Monday, March 2, in the Arcadia American Legion hall.

Kots said the exercise will replace Alpha Company's weekend drill for April.

"We have a lot of extended drills this coming year," he added.

In addition to surveillance, searching and apprehension, the exercise will also give the troops valuable experience in stability, support, patrol, traffic control, vehicle searches and other skills needed for deployment in an urban environment.

"This exercise will improve the real-life operational skills of the unit," said Kots. "And it will hopefully improve the public's understanding of military operations."

The pre-drill work with residents is as important at the drill itself.

"It will be important for us to gain the trust and confidence of the residents of Arcadia," said Kots. "We will need to identify individuals that are willing to assist us in training by allowing us to search their homes and vehicles and to participate in role-playing."

"We really want to get as much information out there as possible, because this operation could be pretty intrusive to the people of Arcadia."

via carrollspaper.com

State Sovereignty Update

2009-02-18T17:40:00.001-08:00

via blogcritics.org

Tax troubles for president's chief of staff

2009-02-18T17:08:00.001-08:00

OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Tax troubles for president's chief of staff
Emanuel's rent-free Washington residence draws questioning

Posted: February 17, 2009
9:47 pm Eastern

© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Rahm Emanuel

There could be tax troubles on the horizon for White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who reportedly has lived rent-free in Washington for five years but hasn't paid taxes on the imputed income, according to reports.
He's the latest in a growing list of President Obama's nominees to have been involved in tax issues.
WND columnist Phyllis Schlafly writes that several of "Obama's major nominees are mired in political embarrassment. Three withdrew their names from consideration, one sneaked through confirmation because senators were still intoxicated with the Obama honeymoon, and Obama plans to use a waiver so the Senate will approve the fifth."
"Funny thing," she continued, "Americans don't seem to like it when government officials evade the taxes the rest of us pay, especially when they evade more taxes than most Americans' entire tax bill. Apparently, that doesn't seem to bother Obama."

According to the New York Post, the nondisclosure of free rent in a home owned by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., apparently isn't all that's being questioned about Emanuel's arrangements.
Another issue is "the work Emanuel tossed the way of DeLauro's husband, Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg."
Get the latest on all the Washington shenanigans. "Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future and It Doesn't Work"
The Post said while Emanuel was living in the rent-free arrangement, he also served as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which gave Greenberg several polling contracts, paying him $239,000 in 2006 and $317,000 in 2008.
The report said Emanuel has explained the living arrangements as "hospitality" between colleagues, and that's why it never appeared on his financial-disclosure forms.
But the Post suggested that over five years, the rent could have been worth more than $100,000.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed despite not paying taxes on time, Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle withdrew his name over unpaid taxes and proposed Chief Performance officer Nancy Killifer withdrew over similar problems.
Schlafly noted Daschle's tax problems involved $146,000 that went unpaid. But larger than the money was the response to such misbehaviors.
"Even after it became publicly known that Daschle had failed to pay all his income taxes, Obama defiantly declared that he was 'absolutely' standing by Daschle," she wrote.
After Daschle took his own name out of the running, Obama admitted he made a "mistake" in the selection. But he didn't admit a similar misjudgment over Geithner, who paid about $35,000 past due after being nominated to the post.
In Killifer's case, she reportedly failed to pay required employment taxes on her household employee.
Also, while the issue didn't involve taxes, Obama's first pick for secretary of commerce – New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson – proved an embarrassment because of his involvement in an alleged pay-to-play scheme.
The Washington Post and New York Daily News suggested that at a minimum, the gift rules for members of the U.S. House may not have been met by Emanuel's extended use of free housing.
And according to reports in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Democrat Al Franken, whose challenge to incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman remains unresolved, also had tax issues during his campaign.
Franken's campaign manager, Andy Barr, said the candidate's accountant worked with California officials during the campaign to sort out whether he paid taxes on earnings in the state between 2003 and 2007.
Franken previously left unpaid workers' compensation and disability premiums in New York.

via worldnetdaily.com

She's not just going to hell.....she's got a first class ticket!

2009-02-18T16:57:00.001-08:00

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI received Nancy Pelosi, one of the most prominent abortion rights politicians in America, and told her Wednesday that Catholic politicians have a duty to protect life "at all stages of its development." The U.S. House speaker, a Catholic, was the first top Democrat to meet with Benedict since the election of Barack Obama, who won a majority of the U.S. Catholic vote despite differences with the Vatican on abortion.

On his fourth day in office last month, Obama ended a ban on funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option — a sharp policy change from former President George W. Bush's Republican administration.

The Vatican's attempts to keep the Pelosi visit low-profile displayed its obvious unease with the new U.S. administration. Benedict and Bush had found common ground in opposing abortion, an issue that drew them together despite their differences over the war in Iraq.

Wednesday's meeting, in a small room off a Vatican auditorium after the pope's weekly public audience, was closed to reporters and photographers.

The Vatican also said — contrary to its usual policy when the pope meets world leaders — that it was not issuing either a photo or video of the encounter, claiming the meeting was private.

A short statement from the Vatican said the pope "briefly greeted" Pelosi and did not mention any other subject they may have discussed besides abortion.

In their 15-minute meeting, the Vatican said Benedict spoke of the church's teaching "on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death." That is an expression often used by the pope when expressing opposition to abortion.

Benedict said all Catholics — especially legislators, jurists and political leaders — should work to create "a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the Vatican said.

Pelosi, for her part, did not even mention the pope's allusion to abortion.

In a statement issued by her office, Pelosi said it was with "great joy" that she and her husband Paul met with Benedict.

"In our conversation, I had the opportunity to praise the Church's leadership in fighting poverty, hunger and global warming, as well as the Holy Father's dedication to religious freedom and his upcoming trip and message to Israel," Pelosi said.

"I was proud to show His Holiness a photograph of my family's papal visit in the 1950s, as well as a recent picture of our children and grandchildren," said the California congresswoman, who has often expressed pride in her religious heritage.

Pelosi is the third person in line in U.S. government, after Obama and his vice president, Joe Biden.

The treatment of Pelosi echoed the Vatican's earlier treatment of Geraldine Ferraro, a Catholic who was the Democratic vice presidential candidate in 1984. The Vatican did not disguise its irritation at Ferraro's position that she opposed abortion but also opposed outlawing it.

Pope John Paul II's meeting with Ferraro in 1985 was never officially announced and — like the Pelosi audience — no photo was released.

While some Vatican officials under Benedict have been openly critical of the Democrats and Obama over abortion — former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has said the Democrats risk becoming a "party of death" — Benedict has cautiously welcomed Obama's new administration.

Still, a number of bishops in the United States have questioned Pelosi's stance on abortion, particularly her theological defense of her support for abortion rights.

The question of how much religion should influence American politicians came to the forefront with the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic to become U.S. president, and has continued to this day.
A number of American lawmakers who support abortion rights attended Benedict's Mass in Washington last April, including Pelosi and Sen. John Kerry, the former Democratic presidential candidate in 2004.
During the 2004 campaign, several U.S. bishops questioned whether Kerry should receive Communion because of his stand on abortion. But no American priest or bishop tried to deny Kerry Communion. At the April 2008 papal Mass, Kerry took Communion from a priest far from the papal altar.
Pelosi also had meetings with Italian leaders in the past few days, including Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

via news.yahoo.com

You know, she's pretty funny.....for a racist.

2009-02-18T15:09:00.001-08:00

Michelle Malkin » More scenes from Mesa: “I need a beachfront condo, Mr. President!”

2009-02-18T15:00:00.001-08:00

More scenes from Mesa: “I need a beachfront condo, Mr. President!”

By Michelle Malkin • February 18, 2009 04:20 PM

I love this. At the Mesa AZ protest against President Obama today, KFYI listeners brought signs telling Santa Obama what they wanted from the savior-based economy. Hats off to KFYI’s Bruce Jacobs and J.D. Hayworth. Reader Al Swanson sent these priceless pics.

Dude, where’s our bailout?

Amen, brother:

Posted in: fiscal stimulus

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YouTube - Follow the Money: How Fannie Mae Bought the Democrat Party

2009-02-17T03:15:00.001-08:00

YouTube - Explosive Video, Fannie Mae CEO calling Obama and the Dems the "Family" and "Conscience" of Fannie Mae

2009-02-17T03:14:00.001-08:00

Democrats (socialists) covering up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mess THEY created!

2009-02-16T06:49:00.001-08:00

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Obama administration no longer issuing denials on Fairness Doctrine

2009-02-15T12:49:00.001-08:00

Obama administration no longer issuing denials on Fairness Doctrine

posted at 12:00 pm on February 15, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
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Remember when the Left laughed at conservatives’ concerns over the Fairness Doctrine? Barack Obama already said he opposed the reimposition of the FCC rule, they said. After all, Obama’s campaign gave this definitive statement in June 2008:

“Senator Obama does not support re-imposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters,” said press secretary Michael Ortiz in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday.

“He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible,” said Ortiz.

As our friend Jim Geraghty reminds us, all of Barack Obama’s statements come with an expiration date. Today, Chris Wallace interviewed David Axelrod and asked him directly about the Fairness Doctrine — and suddenly the White House adviser got a lot less definitive:

WALLACE: Will you rule out reimposing the Fairness Doctrine?

AXELROD: I’m going to leave that issue to Julius Genachowski, our new head of the FCC, to, and the president, to discuss. So I don’t have an answer for you now.

That’s hardly a denial, as Politico’s Michael Calderone notes:

Lester Kinsolving, the conservative radio host, has twice asked Robert Gibbs about it in the briefing room, and each time, the press secretary didn’t reveal the administration’s position.

Last week, I reached out to press office staffers in order to find out if the administration’s position is the same as in June, and have not yet received a response.

If Obama’s position on the Fairness Doctrine is the same as during the campaign — and I have no reason to believe it isn’t — stating such clearly would quickly silence a lot of conservative critics who assume the Democratic president is going to try and reinstate the defunct policy. Otherwise, the Fairness Doctrine chatter on the airwaves isn’t likely to die down.

It’s an easy question. Does this administration believe in free speech or government censorship? Their sudden inability to provide a clear answer, when they had no problem giving such assurances eight months ago, does not bode well for the answer.

I’d like to say I told you so to all of those who accused us of paranoia, but the window on that ability to do so on the airwaves looks like it’s about to expire — like all of Obama’s campaign promises.

The American media should be ashamed of themselves on this issue. They pose as the defenders of the First Amendment and free speech. Why are Chris Wallace and Michael Calderone the only MSM people pursuing this?

via hotair.com

This Has To Give You A “Warm Fuzzy” | QandO

2009-02-15T07:17:00.001-08:00

A prescient Goldwater editorial | cynics and skeptics

2009-02-15T07:12:00.001-08:00

A prescient Goldwater editorial

Barry Goldwater wrote this guest editorial in 1937 for the Phoenix Gazette. It is included in the wonderful book Pure Goldwater by John Dean and Barry Goldwater Jr.

Guest Editorial: “A Fireside Chat with Mr. Roosevelt” (June 19, 1937)

My friend: You have, for over five years, been telling me about your plans; how much they were going to do for me; how much they were going to mean to me. Now I want to turn around and ask you just what have they done that would be of any value to me as a businessman and a citizen?

Your plans, if I recall 1932 correctly, called for economy in government and a reduction in taxes. In five years you have spent more than this government of ours spent in its entire history before 1932. In five years my taxes have increased over 250 percent and I fear greatly that “I ain’t seen half of it yet.”

You had the very commendable plan of bettering the conditions of the working man. Have you done that? Well, I wonder. True, hours are shorter, which is fine, but wages, well wages have been raised hourly but the working man is working less hours due to an industrial condition that your plans alone have caused, so the working man is making the same, or a little less, than he did before. The worst thing about your labor plan has been you have turned over to the racketeering practices of ill-organized unions the future of the working man. Witness the chaos they are creating in the eastern cities. Witness the men thrown out of work, the riots, the bloodshed, and the ll feeling between labor and capital and then decide for yourself if that plan worked.

You were confronted with a staggering number of unemployed when you took over in 1932. You immediately set up boards numerous enough to tax the entire run of the alphabet to name them in an effort to stamp out this evil. But in spite of your plans we still have just about as many unemployed in our midst as we did back in 1932.

Somewhere in your planning you thought it necessary to jump down the throats of everyone in business and where has it gotten you? No place. Instead of the businessman having confidence in you today, he distrusts you and fears your every utterance.

Now you are going to prime the pump—but are you? Isn’t that money really going to prime a few votes? Will it get into the channels of business or will it get into weak districts?

Now, these are but a few of the things that go through my mind as I think of you. I, as a businessman and citizen, am very interested in the queer antics of those in Washington. I would like to know just where you are leading us. Are you going further into the morass that you have led us into or are you going to go back to the good old American way of doing things where business is trusted, where labor earns more, where we take care of our unemployed, and where a man is elected to office because he is a good man for the job and not because he commands your good will and a few dollars of the taxpayer’s money? I would like to know because I like the old-fashioned way of being an American a lot better than the way we are headed now.

via cynicsandskeptics.com

Stimulus II? Ponder This …. | QandO

2009-02-15T06:52:00.001-08:00

Stimulus II? Ponder This ….

You’ve just witness the unimaginable - Congress passes a 789 billion dollar pork-laden spending bill disguised as a “stimulus” bill and they may be contemplating “Unimaginable II”:

Despite the enormous size of the $787 billion stimulus plan, some economists worry that it won’t make a big enough dent in unemployment and that lawmakers will have to work on another stimulus in short order — something members of Congress are loathe to discuss.

“That’s possible,” said Alice Rivlin, a former Clinton administration budget director. “I think the economy is getting worse quite rapidly and this may not prove to be enough.”

And why is that, Ms. Rivlin? Why might it not be “enough”?

The stimulus got “less stimulative,” Rivlin said, as it passed through the Senate and some of the things that offered “the biggest bang for the buck” were scaled back, such as more money for food stamps.

*Gasp*

You mean it was exactly what those mean old Republicans said it was - more relief than stimulus. More social spending than jobs? That, in fact, any stimulative part of the bill was watered down or eliminated in favor of special interest spending on programs which are either years in the future or will provide no immediate jobs with which to help get the economy moving?

You mean, despite all the rhetoric and nonsense to the contrary by Obama and the Dems, we are on the road to repeating the mistakes Japan made that brought them their “lost decade”?

No kidding?

And I doubt many would call Ms. Rivlin a right-wing reactionary economist spouting Republican talking points, would they?

So now that the Dems have fulfilled their 40 year social program spending spree, it appears they may now try to actually stimulate the economy with a few more hundred billions of your great, great, great grandchildren’s money.

More future theft.

“Son of Stimulus”, coming to a wallet near you soon?

~McQ

Tags: stimulus

via qando.net

The First Three Weeks - washingtonpost.com

2009-02-15T06:44:00.001-08:00

The First Three Weeks

The new presidency has been through a whirlwind both chastening and productive.

Every presidency has its learning curve, and by historical standards Mr. Obama has had more than his share of successes. It did not receive enough notice in the frenzy over the stimulus vote that the Democratic president secured, in addition to the usual suspects, the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers. Mr. Obama already has overseen three major pieces of legislation: the Lilly Ledbetter employment discrimination measure, an expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program and the stimulus package. Not bad for little more than three weeks' work. His reaching out to Republican lawmakers may not have borne immediate fruit, but it planted potentially fertile seeds for future cooperation.

Unfortunately for Mr. Obama and the nation, the current economic situation does not allow for the usual margin of error; fairly or not, he will not be measured against normal historical standards. Sooner rather than later, he will have to find the right balance between reassurance and alarmism; sooner than in past administrations, he needs a full team in place.

Fortunately for the nation, while Mr. Obama has an experience deficit, he possesses a surfeit of smarts and steadiness. Perhaps partly as a result, the country's optimism about him is accompanied by a realistic assessment of the problems he confronts and the time it will take to address them. Even in an age of instant gratification, Americans seem to understand that economic recovery is likely to take months, if not years. Whether this attitude will continue in the face of continued economic stress is open to question. But the sober approach Mr. Obama has taken since his election, underscoring the severity of the situation and taking pains to avoid over-promising results, may help keep the patient calm in the months that it will take to gauge the medication's effectiveness.

via washingtonpost.com

Obama’s new deal is the same old blunder | Dominic Lawson - Times Online

2009-02-15T06:40:00.001-08:00

From The Sunday Times
February 15, 2009
Obama’s new deal is the same old blunder

Dominic Lawson
Here’s something new: instead of the customary attempts to put an optimistic gloss on the state of the economy, our governments are doing exactly the opposite. Over here Ed Balls tells us, more or less, that this is the worst recession since dinosaurs roamed the primordial swamps. Meanwhile President Barack Obama declared last week that “if we don’t act immediately, our nation will sink into a crisis that at some point we may be unable to reverse”. As The Economist commented, with some alarm: “The notion that [America] might never recover was previously entertained only by bearded survivalists stockpiling beans and ammunition in remote log cabins.”
Obama’s dire assessment was on the surface the more surprising – wasn’t he supposed to be the great uplifter of the national mood, in the spirit of Franklin D Roosevelt’s “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”? It seems all the odder because Obama has explicitly drawn on folk memories of FDR’s New Deal, telling television viewers to “keep in mind that in 1932, 1933 the unemployment rate was 25%”.
Obama is probably right to assume that those same memories have it that the massive state interventionism of the New Deal triumphantly restored America to full employment. That’s why he felt comfortable in asserting, on the eve of the launch of a $2 trillion (or so) injection of taxpayers’ money, “There is no disagreement that we need . . . a recovery plan that will help to jump-start the economy.”
He might, therefore, have been surprised to see an advertisement in the national papers, signed by more than 200 eminent economists, which declared: “With all due respect, Mr President, that is not true. Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians . . . we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s.” The sorry facts bear this out. The unemployment rate in the US was still 19% in 1939. Over the following four years the number of unemployed workers declined dramatically, by more than 7m. This had a very particular reason: the number of men in military service rose by 8.6m.
You might say that it is always possible to find 200 economists to disagree with anything, but in fact the practitioners of the dismal science are genuinely divided on this one. When the US Journal of Economic History polled economists on the proposition that “Taken as a whole, government policies of the New Deal served to lengthen and deepen the Great Depression”, 49% agreed. These would be the ones who might have recalled the damning remark of FDR’s own Treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau. In 1939 he confided: “We have tried spending money . . . it does not work . . . we have just as much unemployment . . . and an enormous debt to boot.”
The trouble, 70 years on, is that America’s debt is already enormous, even before Obama’s “jump-start” has begun to hoover up the taxpayers’ trillions.
Perhaps Obama will not repeat some of the errors of the New Deal. Roosevelt (and indeed Hoover) recalled the anger caused by the wage cuts during the depression of 1920-1 and cajoled employers to keep wage rates stable, even as output dropped. This is a policy supported by the Keynesians of today, who argue that lower wages lead to lower demand, which leads to lower output, which leads to more unemployment, and so on ad infinitum.
In practice, however, if labour costs do not come down in a recession, then employers are even less willing to hire staff. The US government of the 1930s augmented this error with protectionist tariffs – designed to keep out imports from countries that had not sought to maintain wage rates, regardless of profitability.
Unfortunately, it may be that Obama will indeed leap into the same elephant trap: the president issued an executive order this month requiring federal agencies to put in place agreements that set “wages, work rules and other benefits” when awarding big construction projects. Perhaps this is payback for the unions’ support for Obama during the election. Admittedly the White House has sought to strip out many of the “buy America” clauses that Congress had attached to its stimulus bill, but when the gold-plating of federal contracts reduces any beneficial effect they might have on overall employment rates, we can be certain that the protectionist chorus will then belt out again, fortissimo.
This fear was not the reason the Dow Jones index plunged by almost 5% between the moment the Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, began to announce the details of the “rescue” package and when he had finished speaking. There was a stunning lack of detail in the plan to inject up to $2 trillion into the financial system – prompting the observation even from a firm supporter of his, the Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, that it reminded him of “an old joke from my younger days: what do you get when you cross a godfather with a deconstructionist? Someone who makes you an offer you can’t understand”.
How would the Treasury secretary invest the hundreds of billions earmarked to “rescue” the housing market? “We will announce details in the next few weeks.” How, exactly would he construct the announced $1 trillion public-private partnership to absorb the banks’ “toxic debts”? “We are not going to put out details until we have the right structure.” With apologies to Obama the author, this might be described as the opacity of hope.
It is, in fact, a dangerous mix of messages, and not just because it erodes the public’s sense that the administration knows what it is doing with all the billions it is throwing at the banking system – a complaint which over here is proving ever more damaging to our own government’s fading prospect of reelection.
You simply can’t tell the public on the one hand that there is an imminent danger of economic meltdown if your plans are not implemented – and on the other, give the impression that those plans are little more than scribbles on the back of an envelope. Obama is much more able to get away with such a mismatch between promise and practice – he has a fresh mandate and the high level of opinion poll support which tends to attach to that. Yet, for the same reason, he will never have had a better opportunity to harness popular goodwill to political action.
By contrast, the $787 billion fiscal stimulus that passed through Congress last week was almost too prescriptive, since Obama had allowed the House Democrats to write the cheques themselves: so, for example, there was $335m for STD prevention, $400m for research on global warming, $198m for Filipino veterans of the second world war. Noble of them, I’m sure, but how much is all of that guaranteed to “get America back to work”? Yet Obama mocked those who made such complaints: “You get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill; this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point.”
In other words, Obama is backing the most primitive interpretation of Keynes’s theories: that any form of government spending amounts to an economic stimulus. He is almost blind to supply-side economics, which suggests that if you want to encourage profitable job creation, you should concentrate on reducing companies’ payroll taxes – and then leave individual businesses to decide how best to employ the funds released.
Instead, the young president seems to want to take us back to some of the failed policies of the 1930s, under the mistaken impression that they were a great triumph. He illustrates with dreadful clarity George Santayana’s most-quoted aphorism: those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.
dominic.lawson@sunday-times.co.uk

via timesonline.co.uk

The Online Office of Congressman Bobby Bright - Congressman Bright’s Statement on H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

2009-02-15T06:12:00.001-08:00

Congressman Bright’s Statement on H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: http://www.bright.house.gov/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=74','win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" target="_blank"> http://www.bright.house.gov/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=74&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=67','win2','status=no,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,titlebar=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,width=640,height=480,directories=no,location=no'); return false;" target="_blank">

"Today, I voted against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While I believe that we need to pass a bill that helps Americans keep their jobs and create new opportunities for work, after serious consideration I decided that this bill was not the way to achieve this very important goal. I applaud this legislation's inclusion of the small business tax provisions contained in my first bill and I think there are many worthwhile investments in infrastructure and education, but I remain unconvinced that the benefits of H.R. 1 outweigh its considerable costs.

"I feel strongly that the American people must have confidence that a recovery package is worth its tremendous price tag. Congress could have done this by simply focusing on investments in infrastructure and targeted tax relief for individuals and small businesses, but this legislation includes billions in additional spending that will have little effect on the economy. Many of these programs are worthwhile, but they do not belong in an economic recovery package.
"While we must act in a timely manner, it is more important to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars and ensure that our actions are the right ones. I am hopeful that Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate will be able to make the necessary changes to produce a bill that helps jump start the economy."

via bright.house.gov

The Conservative Underground

2009-02-15T03:25:00.001-08:00

Welcome to The Conservative Underground, the social network just for conservatives! Join Us

OK TCU - Let the Fight Begin!
Sunday February 15, 2009

Great American Patriots,

The first shot has been fired! Last week we had the 'stimulus package' rammed down our throat. Citizens of the United States nor Congress was given the chance to read the largest spending bill in the history of the World!
It's time...
Now is the time to make a stand. Do not let this type of tyranny get you down. It should motivate you. We have almost two years to organize a movement that will retake our country.
Invite your friends to join this movement, educate them on what is happening to our country. Hundreds of people are joining TCU each day and we have had over 220,000 views in just three weeks.
This time we cannot afford to sit back, pull a lever, and say we did our part.
You know what's coming next; Universal Health care, the Fairness Doctrine, and more spending. If we do not step up now, in two years it may be too late.
TCU is for everyone who believes in liberty and the vision our founding fathers scribed in the Constitution.

We are in this together
The time to act is now
People run the United States, not the government.

The first shot has been fired, are you ready?
I added a little song on the homepage for inspiration.

EB
Why I started TCU

via tcunation.com

To Alter or Abolish by David Bardallis

2009-02-15T03:17:00.001-08:00

Note: The following letter was found left behind at a local drinking establishment; the authors' identity is unknown. It is passed along without comment.
"That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it…" ~ Declaration of Independence of the American Colonies, 1776
Dear Federal Government,
Drop dead.
Excuse us. Some may consider such bluntness to be indecorous, but why beat around the bush? In any case, we've been around this bush (Bush?) too many times to count already. It's time to let you know what we really think of you, what we say behind your back, what we whisper to each other when you leave the room.
We hate you. We want you to drop dead. Or, anyway, to go away and never come back. You are not welcome anymore. We have tolerated you – and we emphasize "tolerated" – for a long time, long after whatever romance there may have been was gone. We can pretend no more. You are disgraceful, boorish, nauseating, corrupt, shameful, arrogant, dishonest, self-serving, parasitic, disgusting, hypocritical, and rotten to the core. You have not even one redeeming quality. There is nothing you offer that we want any longer. We're not even sure what it is we ever saw in you to begin with.
We suppose you can be forgiven if this letter comes as a shock. "Why," you say, "what do you mean? I still command great respect and inspire widespread adulation. And I still care about you. Isn't it obvious?"
It's true that, in public, we often nod our heads and agree with you, even defer or appear to defer to you. But we assure you that this happens not out of respect; rather, it arises merely from the fact that you have a lot of guns and a bad temper. Inside, we are seething and resentful. Inside, we imagine your demise in the most vivid and gratifying of ways. We may fear your irrational and violent behavior, but we manifestly do not respect or agree with you. We don't love you. We don't even like you. (See the part about hate, above.)
At any rate, our revulsion toward you has finally come to outweigh any fear we have of you. We refuse to keep our real feelings in for even one more second. We want you gone from our lives. And we mean completely. Vamoose. Go. Die.
Please understand we aren't here to argue. No special new subsidy, tax break, or privileged "loophole" is going to sway our opinion or make us change our minds about this. We've been there, done that, for too many decades to count now. Likewise, your threats are starting to make us yawn and even laugh. You see, we know all your tricks now. We can see through your lies because we've heard them all so many times before. We are fully aware of your true nature, and we see that that nature is radioactive evil, wrapped in a tattered blanket of ignorance, foolishness, and stupidity.
Look, we know it's only a matter of time anyway. Your dimwittedness, greed, fraudulence, and moral bankruptcy are finally starting to catch up to you. Even your former employees admit as much. Do you remember Paul Craig Roberts, one of your past Treasury officials? Today he says of your latest economy-wrecking and warmongering efforts:

"The world has never seen such total mindlessness. Napoleon's and Hitler's marches into Russia were rational acts compared to the mindless idiocy of the United States government."

Mindless idiocy: We could not have said it better ourselves. Wait, yes, we could have, because we would have also mentioned your meanness and malevolence.
Our state governments are starting to feel the same way about you that we do. Many are openly refusing to obey your so-called "REAL ID" attempt at creating a national "your papers, please" regime of Hitlerian proportions. Some are even starting to make noises about the Tenth Amendment, which reiterates that you aren't allowed to just do anything you feel like doing. (We are not big fans of our state governments either, but at least they don't start wars, counterfeit our money, and prop up tyrannies across the globe.)
You see? Look in the mirror for once. The emperor not only hasn't got any clothes, he's a quadruple amputee demanding that everyone admire his muscular physique. We don't know whether to laugh at or feel pity for such a pathetic creature.
In conclusion and just so we're clear: We're done. Pack up and get out. Better yet, don't pack – all that stuff belongs to us in the first place. Just get out. And when you finally, mercifully, do kick the bucket, please make sure it is in some place far away from us, where we won't have to smell the stench of your hideous, rotting corpse.
Signed,
Every Normal Human Being in America and the Rest of the World

February 14, 2009

David Bardallis [send him mail] hails from the Glorious Sovereign Republic of Michigan (motto: "Never forget we have all the water!") and blogs at Suds & Soliloquies.

Copyright © 2009 LewRockwell.com

David Bardallis Archives

via lewrockwell.com

Welcome To The Extended Recession | QandO

2009-02-14T20:11:00.001-08:00

Watch for flying pigs

via qando.net

YouTube - Barack Obama "Public Will Have 5 Days To Look At Every Bill That Lands On My Desk"

2009-02-14T19:26:00.001-08:00

What wikipedia tells us | davidwoodall.com

2009-02-14T19:05:00.001-08:00

What wikipedia tells us

Feb 14th, 2009
by dwood.
[Edit]

http://tinyurl.com/bmtsqo+from:+@dwoodall">
Straight from Wikipedia, draw your own conclusions:

Democracy is a form of government in which power is held directly or indirectly by citizens under a free electoral system.

Republic is a state where the head of state is not a monarch”, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people) do have an impact on its government.

The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies.

Proportional representation (PR), sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of electoral formulas aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates (grouped by a certain measure) obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive (usually in legislative assemblies). PR is a democratic principle rather than an electoral system in itself. It is often contrasted to plurality voting systems, where disproportional seat distribution results from the division of voters into multiple electoral districts, especially “winner takes all” plurality (”first past the post” or FPTP) districts.

Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating public or state ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, and a society characterized by equal opportunities for all individuals, with a fair or egalitarian method of compensation.

Fascism is an authoritarian nationalist ideology focused on solving economic, political, and social problems that its supporters see as causing national decline or decadence.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] Fascists aim to create a single-party state in which the government is led by a dictator who seeks unity by requiring individuals to subordinate self-interest to the collective interest of the nation or a race.

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Bobby Bright…the newest Congressman, and maybe the best. | davidwoodall.com

2009-02-14T17:33:00.001-08:00

Bobby Bright…the newest Congressman, and maybe the best.

Feb 14th, 2009
by dwood.

http://tinyurl.com/awg7ay+from:+@dwoodall">
I am a conservative Southernor. While most closely affiliated with the Republican Party, I vote a straight ticket only about once in every 2 or 3 elections. I believe strongly in the premise of “the best person for the job” and often can find a Democrat or Independent with true conservative values whom I prefer and trust over the Republican nominee. While I’ve never voted for a Democratic Presedential candidate, I have voted for Democrats in State and local elections when I felt they best served the role of the office for which they were running, and when their personal beliefs and philosophies closely matched my conservative nature.

Due to educational concern for my 9 year-old daughter, and convenience for my business commute, I moved last year from Alabama’s 3rd Congressional District (represented by Congressman Mike Rogers, a strong and well-seated Republican) into the 2nd District. One of my immediate concerns was newly-elected Representative Bobby Bright, a Democrat who had served as Mayor of Montgomery prior to winning the election to represent the 2nd District. Bright’s record in Montgomery had been wonderful, some say exemplary, as he revitalized downtown, operated continually within a balanced budget, and was very successful and instrumental in bringing new industries and new jobs to the area. Still, that big “D” after his name concerned me, as did the fact that he was “the new kid on the block” in Washington. I had only a cursory knowledge of his career, did not reside in Montgomery, and never had the need to research or follow him as his service had no direct impact on my life prior to moving into the 2nd. Suddenly he wasn’t just my Mayor, or State Representative. He was my one and only tie to the House of Representatives in Washington, DC. I began to follow him closely.

During the initial House vote on ERRA, Congressman Bright was one of only 11 Democrats to vote against the Pelosi/Reid stimulus proposal. When ERRA returned from the Senate Bright once again voted no, this time one of only 7 Democratic Representatives to do so. Some may argue that it is his personal conservative values that drove his vote (he is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, with a proven record of conservative values on almost every issue), as opposed to his responsible and faithful representation of the constituents of the 2nd district. Whatever the motivation, Congressman Bright got it right. In the face of what was certain pressure and coercion by seasoned Washington veterans such as Pelosi, Reid, Artur Davis of Alabama, and others, Congressman Bright stood his ground and voted the way the people of Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District would have wanted him to vote. He recognizes, as do we, that this Bill is not in the best interest of this Country nor this economy. Unlike Arlen Spector, a career politician and professional fence rider, Congressman Bright showed true character, strength, and responsibility by voting as his constituents would want, and not simply voting for something “because it was better than nothing.”

Arlen Spector, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snow should take a look at Alabama’s “new kid on the block” and ask themselves one question: ”How is it that a newcomer, from the other party no less, is being heralded by “our party” as a hero while we longtime professional “conservatives” are being vilified?” The answer to that question lies as much with Spector, Collins and Snow as it does with Congressman Bobby Bright.

Bobby Bright represents the people of the 2nd District of Alabama. He is new, inexperienced, and more concerned with “getting it right” than “getting noticed.” Whether or not he agrees with us is not the issue. He voted as we wanted him to, and he will do it again in the future. He gets it, and we are proud of our “new kid on the block.” He voted AGAINST his party and FOR his people. He didn’t vote AGAINST his party, AND AGAINST his people, because HE/SHE knew better than all of them combined. He honored his responsibility, he didn’t use it to his advantage. Does that shed any light on it for you Senators Collins, Spector and Snow?

I am proud of my Congressman, Bobby Bright (D) from Alabama. He is the newest man in the House, and yet, not a single person there has done their job any better than he. He is from “the wrong party” (in my mind) and yet he has earned my trust, and my respect. He embodies things seen seldom in today’s machine that is the US Government:

Honor to his Country. Honor to his constituents. Honor to himself, and his family. Honor to his State. Honor to the Constitution. Honor to the Republic that is the United States of America.

Because he has honor, because he has respect, and because he has conservative values, I can say today that…

He has my vote. No matter what capital letter comes after his name, or how short his term has been.

I am proud of Bobby Bright simply as a man and as an Alabamian, but I am more proud to call him MY Congressman. Because he gets it.

And he honors it.

Thank you, Congressman Bright.

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Assume the Position, America

2009-02-14T05:49:00.001-08:00

Obama Says Passage of Stimulus Only First Step in Recovery Plan

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By Kim Chipman

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said congressional passage of a $787 billion economic stimulus plan last night must be followed by action to stabilize the financial and housing markets to pull the nation out of a recession.

“This historic step won’t be the end of what we do to turn our economy around, but rather the beginning,” Obama said in his weekly address. “The problems that led us into this crisis are deep and widespread, and our response must be equal to the task.”

Obama said the next phases of his economic plan will be stabilizing and reforming the banking system to unlock credit for businesses and consumers; writing new regulations “to stop unscrupulous speculators from undermining our economy ever again;” and stemming the raft of home foreclosures.

The president also pledged to submit a new proposal in coming weeks to rein in the ballooning federal deficit.

“This is a challenging agenda, but one we can and will achieve,” he said.

The stimulus legislation, which includes $212 billion in tax cuts and $575 billion in spending, passed the House of Representatives without any Republican support. The Senate approved the measure with the votes of three Republicans.

Obama sidestepped the political divide in Congress. “I want to thank the members of Congress who came together in common purpose to make it happen,” he said in the address, released this morning on the radio and the Internet.

Signing Next Week

Obama said he will “sign this legislation into law shortly.” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday the bill likely won’t reach the president’s desk before Feb. 16.

“Accountability, responsibility and transparency” will be key to the success of the spending portion of the stimulus, Obama said.

“I’ve tasked my Cabinet and staff to set up the kind of management, oversight and disclosure that will help ensure that, and I challenge state and local governments to do the same,” he said. “Ultimately, this is your money, and you deserve to know where it’s going and how it’s spent.”

Republicans argue that the stimulus bill is weighted too much toward government spending and, because of that, will fall short of providing a boost for the economy.

“Republicans have been supportive of a stimulus plan all along. Yet, over the past few weeks, a serious difference of opinion has emerged over what an economic recovery plan should include,” Senator Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, said today in the weekly Republican address.

Spending Priorities

“Democrats, it seems, settled on a random dollar amount in the neighborhood of $1 trillion and then set out to fill the bucket. Republicans, on the other hand, thought that we should figure out what was at the root of the problem, and then see how much it would cost to fix,” she said.

The costliest item in the stimulus package is a $400 tax credit for individuals earning less than $75,000 a year and $800 for couples with income of less than $150,000.

Infrastructure construction makes up a big portion of the spending, including $29 billion for highways, $17.7 billion for mass transit and rail and $18.8 billion for clean water and flood control projects.

The plan provides $87 billion for Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor. It contains $39 billion for unemployed workers in families, including provisions extending jobless benefits for 20 additional weeks in most states and 33 additional weeks in states with high unemployment rates. It also increases weekly benefits by $25.

Housing Plan

Obama plans to unveil more details on his proposals to deal with the housing crisis with a speech Feb. 18 in Arizona, which had the third-highest rate of foreclosures in January -- one in 182 housing units -- after Nevada and California.

Obama has pledged to commit money toward housing relief, using $50 billion to $100 billion from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program enacted last year. Lawrence Summers, the president’s top economic adviser, said that the administration intends to focus its efforts on reducing monthly payments for homeowners struggling with their mortgages.

“Going directly at the problem means addressing affordability by addressing payments,” Summers said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” scheduled to air this weekend.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kim Chipman in Chicago at kchipman@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 14, 2009 06:00 EST

via bloomberg.com

Screw the American People. We know what's best!

2009-02-14T03:30:00.001-08:00

The $13 a week Stimulus | theanchoressonline.com

2009-02-12T07:45:00.001-08:00

February 11, 2009

The $13 a week stimulus - UPDATED

Hey, $13 dollars is $13, I guess. In January that falls to $8.

Here is our 800 billion dollar ~~stimulus~~ mostly-spending bill we must see passed, and we must gratefully accept as the only possible solution to our “catastrophic” problems and our growing malaise. The ONLY solution.

This other one, over here, brought up by another Democrat? Ignored. Just ignored.

I just have one thing to ask:

What does Michelle Obama suggest we do - how we will stimulate the economy with our $13?

As I recall, when there was a $600.00 stimulus check rolling down the pike a while back, Mrs. Obama rather sneered at it:

“You’re getting $600. What can you do with that? Not to be ungrateful or anything. But maybe it pays down a bill, but it doesn’t pay down every bill every month..

Barack’s approach is that the short-term quick fix kinda stuff sounds good. And it may even feel good that first month when you get that check. And then you go out and you buy a pair of earrings.”

Hmmmm…forget earrings…I’m not sure I understand how $13.00 a week, reduced to $8.00 a week in January, will do much for “paying down every bill every month.” $54 per month (or $32), when offset by the increased taxes that will come from ending the infamous Bush Tax Cuts - which stimulated us out of a recession and brought 7 years of unimpeded growth before this time-suspect strangeness occurred and the additional tax increases that will accompany our ramped-up spending, plus the million little laws, fees and fines that will eat into our incomes…help me out, I’m not really seeing the stimulus, here.

And, you know, if Barney Frank gets his way and caps salaries at $500,000 per year, that will foment a huge loss of tax-revenue, (assuming that most fatcats - unlike say, our deer-in-headlines SecTreas - actually pay most of their taxes), which will have to be made up.

Except I don’t think people who are accustomed to making huge salaries are going to be playing fair on all this. I think they’ll find ways to continue their lavish life-styles at the expense of others, and duck taxes, anyway. This is how black markets start.

How will all those tax revenues be made up? Hmmm…let me think. You know, this is just an idea…but if you take about 400 Billion of spending out of that bill - just chuck it for now, and bring it up later, when we’re back on our feet - and then maybe spread 200 billion around to the taxpayers by way of payroll tax reductions, tax-holidays and temporary tax-relief programs, and spend some money on job-creation and vo-tech educational programs and ummm…oh, yeah, open ANWR and most of our coastal oil reserves up for drilling, reinstate the Bush executive order allowing drilling contracts in Utah and start investigating the feasibility of refining oil shale, you could actually create good-paying jobs, which will contribute to the tax-base.

And…you’d have the additional effect of eventually - in less than a decade - freeing this country from its dependency on foreign oil.

Because, you see, even this silly little electric golf cart that is an absurd part of this mostly-spending bill is going to require, ummm…energy. Electricity may be invisible, but it is not yet free or magically produced. Not yet.

This is really not as complicated or as difficult as you folks want to make it.

But, hey, thanks for the $13.00/$8.00 a week. Like Mrs. Obama, I don’t want to be ungrateful, but it’s not going to pay down a bill for one month, or two, so I’m going to donate it to a local food pantry, so they can stock up and be ready for a lot of hungry, scared folks. Maybe next month I’ll donate it here, and the month after that, here, and maybe Americans helping Americans, not with hand-outs but hands-outstretched - will re-awaken something that is being lost, in all of this: our sense of purpose and potentiality.

Maybe it will re-ignite the woefully American habit of dreaming glorious dreams, which seems strangely subdued, lately.

Psssssst - while Obama and Congress were working so hard to convince us that the stimulus was “desperately needed or there will be a catastrophe,” Lorie Byrd points out that retail sales rebounded in January. Now you understand the rush. If you’d realized that recessions can fix themselves, you might not have allowed Obama/Pelosi/Reid to go forward with that socialist’s wet dream of a bill.

Kim at Wizbang is writing on this and - ever an American entrepreneur - has already figured out what to do with her “tee-shirt stimulus”:

Yes, she is selling them - and even has a few priced for the January ‘10 drop! I love America! I love it!

UPDATES:
Bookie on Your Tax Dollars at Work
The Chicago Way
American Digest and Neo: Tag teaming.
Tom Maguire: Oh, we’re stimulated!

via theanchoressonline.com

Michelle Malkin » “The Obamasburg Address”

2009-02-12T06:27:00.001-08:00

The Obamasburg Address
Washington DC
February 12, 2009

Three weeks and two days ago our community organizers and voter fraud operatives brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Socialism, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created to be subservient to their government.

Now we are engaged in a great class war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave up their individual liberty that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The gullible voters, living and dead, who were bamboozled here, have consecrated it, far above the diminished power of the people to detract. The media will little note, nor long remember what we are actually doing here, nor will it ever admit what they did here. It is for us the powerful centralized government, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so fraudulently advanced. It is rather for us, the ones we have been waiting for, to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these uneducated, unskilled masses we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these useful idiots shall not have voted, however many times, in vain — that this nation, under Me, shall have a new birth of HopenchangeTM — and that government of the lobbyists, by the politically-connected, for the career politicians, shall not perish from the earth.”

Riehl World View: Henrietta Hughes: How Many Homes Have They Owned?

2009-02-12T06:17:00.001-08:00

Henrietta Hughes: How Many Homes Have They Owned?

(This research comes from a reliable non-partisan source linked below. I didn't solicit it. It isn't intended to personally embarrass Henrietta Hughes. If it speaks to anything, it's likely broken liberal systems that don't work while potentially encouraging the worst instincts in people.)

Update: Here we go - they're touring their new home today. Ellen can't wait to have them on. "Fired" from a city job seven years ago and no steady employment since? Getting fired from a government gig is harder than swimming the Atlantic - and we know that rarely happens via JWF.

Seven years ago, 37 year old Corey was fired as an IT analyst for the city of Fort Myers.

From Michelle's latest on Hughes - she is now being touted as "the face of the economic crisis" on a website.

It appears as though Henrietta Hughes is not registered to vote in either Florida or New York - not sure about son Corey. Their names appear to come up listed as "owner(s)" on three distinct public housing units going back as far as 1983 - one in Georgia and two in Florida. As to reports she was living with "friends" in New York, that appears to be the home of her parents.

I have no idea why Henrietta Hughes may be homeless today. Unfortunate events happen to us all. My only point is, her troubles and need for public assistance seem to precede the current economic crisis and likely go back years.

It's unclear what the status of any of these properties is today. One now seems to be owned by a builder. However, there is more via the Freepers. Some of the info seems to suggest at least one property is still in Corey's name with taxes paid to date but may be vacant. Information below originally posted at WOD.

In one manner, or another, it would seem public assistance has benefitted the Hughes family with their housing issues on multiple occasions over years to no good long-term effect. In my opinion, throwing more money at the problem is not going to fix it. And it certainly won't be fixed by a town hall.

Name: HENRIETTA CLARK HUGHES

Date of Birth: 9/10/1947

(1) Approximate time frame-1983

Parcel Number - 17-44-25-P4-00300.0100
Book - 2534
Page - 2907
Name Owner : FORT MYERS HOUSING AUTHORITY
Property Address: - 3701 SABAL PALM BLVD, FORT MYERS FL 33916-2232, LEE COUNTY

(2) Approximate time frame-1986

Parcel Number - 0014-0068-0005-050
Name Owner : F I B ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COR
Name Owner 2: !P
Property Address: - 108 CLEVELAND AVE, ATLANTA GA 30315, FULTON COUNTY
Owner Address: 7 PIEDMONT CTR S 300, ATLANTA GA 30305, FULTON COUNTY

(3) Owner Information

Original Name: COREY LEMONT HUGHES
DOB: 5/2/1971 Age: 37

Original Address: PO BOX 644
ELFERS, FL 34680

Standardized Address: PO BOX 644
ELFERS, FL 34680-0644
PASCO COUNTY

Property Information
Original Property Address: 1011 HIBISCUS AVE
LEHIGH ACRES, FL 33936

Standardized Property Address: 1011 HIBISCUS AVE

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Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 03:33 AM in Politics | Permalink

via riehlworldview.com

iowahawk: With Apologies to Margaret Bourke-White

2009-02-11T17:45:00.001-08:00

via iowahawk.typepad.com

What I want for stimulus..... - The Conservative Underground

2009-02-11T17:40:00.001-08:00

Since President Obama has decided to take the place of Santa Clause and listen to everyone's dreams and guarantee their dreams in the "stimulus" package I feel like giving him a few more ideas. I encourage you all to ad my list as well. It's just like Christmas except instead of Jesus being born by the power of the holy spirit is is Obama being born by the power of liberal victimhood.

Dear President Obama,

#1. I want all of my schooling paid for. I didn't get any extra help through financial aid because they said my parents made too much. They still couldn't pay for it all so they took out loans for the first 2 years and then I was on my own. Of course, people who didn't get as good grades as me in high school and whose parents make just as much as mine, got money. They were minorities, adopted, or their parents were divorced. "It wasn't their fault, they didn't choose their background" is what you will say. But neither did I. I didn't have a choice in it and it certainly wasn't my fault that they ended up where they were. Why am I being punished?

#2 I want my car paid for. I bought it in November. I got a good deal because no one was buying car out of fear. I got a loan becuase I make enough to make payments. (Funny how that works) Since you have come into office and scared everyone even more and made everything even worse, I could have gotten a better deal. You screwed me out of money. And you are going to make me pay so people who can't afford payments to get cars.

#3 I want my parents' house paid for. They followed the rules, they didn't borrow more than they could pay back, they made their payments on time, and when money got tight they bit the bullet. You want them to pay so people who didn't follow the rules can keep their houses. They didn't make payments and when they got in trouble I guarantee they just spent more money because we all know that if your going to file for bankruptcy you might as well wipe as much debt out as possible.

#4 I want you to call upon your most gracious father to help you resurrect all of the innocent babies you have helped kill. Just like before, they didn't choose for the mother to act recklessly. Even if the mother was raped the child never chose whether they wanted to live or die. Why do they automatically loose their lives? It's funny that "the only proponents of abortion are those who have already been born."

#5 I want you to look your daughters in the eye and tell them you are sorry for referring to them as punishments to their mother. You cannot say that they are punishments when the mother doesn't plan to have them and say that that they are gifts when they do. It's still a human being either way. There is no difference.

#6 I want $1.272 Million. Because over 7 year your wife made $1.622 Million from a non-profit hospital. I think that salary is outrageous. I think she deserved $50k a year. Did you ever think hat they could charge a little less for an MRI if they weren't paying her than kind of money? Guess not....

#7 I want you to get on your knees and beg for the forgiveness of every soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. They put their lives on the line to keep you safe and you leave them out in the cold. They take extra risks capturing terrorists so they can stand trial and you refuse to finish the job because it's not politically correct. If they get captured the enemy would surely torture and most likely kill them, maybe even stream it on the internet, and you are worried about the terrorists feelings.

#8 I want you to visit the graveside and family of every single American who has died as a result of terrorism or the War on Terror. I want you to tell them why you have called and end to the War on Terror and why you refuse to take a stand against the people who cost them and their loved ones' lives. I want you to look them in the eye and tell them that the world would be a better place if we quit hunting down and holding terrorists accountable for their crimes against humanity.

The truth is Mr. President all of these are meant to correct the wrongs you and your friends have caused or will create. These are the true victims of your policies. Its not the union member or the person who bought a house they couldn't afford. It's the people who work hard for the money and negotiate their own contracts. Those of us who live within our means and get up every day and provide for our family because we don't believe the government should have to. It's the soldiers who bravely and proudly serve the United States of America. They stand on the front line with a rifle and a Flag on their shoulder because it's their job. And you make decisions that could get them hurt or killed based on an opinion poll.

via tcunation.com

Written by one of our Members. I think he hit it out of the park with this one!

TheHill.com - Hillary’s incredible, shrinking role

2009-02-11T17:39:00.001-08:00

Hillary’s incredible, shrinking role

By Dick Morris

Posted: 02/09/09 06:23 PM [ET]

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is finding that her job description is dissolving under her feet, leaving her with only a vestige of the power she must have thought she acquired when she signed on to be President Obama’s chief Cabinet officer.
Since her designation:

• Vice President Biden has moved vigorously to stake out foreign policy as his turf. His visit to Afghanistan, right before the Inauguration, could not but send a signal to Hillary that he would conduct foreign policy in the new administration, leaving Hillary in the role of backup.
• Richard Holbrooke, the former Balkan negotiator and U.N. ambassador, has been named special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. He insisted on direct access to the president, a privilege he was denied during much of the Clinton years.
• Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine), negotiator of the Irish Peace Accords, was appointed to be the administration’s point man on Arab-Israeli negotiations.
• Samantha Power, Obama’s former campaign aide, who once called Hillary a “monster,” has been appointed to the National Security Council (NSC) as director of “multilateral affairs.”
• Gen. James L. Jones, Obama’s new national security adviser, has announced an expansion of the membership and role of the NSC. He pledges to eliminate “back channels” to the president and wants to grow the NSC’s role to accommodate the “dramatically different” challenges of the current world situation.
• Susan Rice, Obama’s new United Nations ambassador, insisted upon and got Cabinet rank for her portfolio, and she will presumably also have the same kind of access to Obama that she had as his chief foreign policy adviser during the campaign.
So where does all this leave Secretary of State Clinton?
While sympathy for Mrs. Clinton is outside the normal fare of these columns, one cannot help but feel that she is surrounded by people who are, at best, strangers and, at worst, enemies. The competition that has historically occupied secretaries of State and national security advisers seems poised to ratchet up to a new level in the current administration.
Hillary’s essential problem is that she is an outsider in the current mix. She was the adversary in the campaign, and Rice and Powers — at the very least — know it well, having helped to run the campaign that dethroned her. Can they — and she — be devoid of bitterness or at least of normal human trepidation? Not very likely.
The fact is that the power of the secretary of State is not statutory, nor does it flow from the prestige of the post’s occupant. Former Gen. Al Haig, once supreme commander of NATO and chief of staff to President Nixon, found that out when he was undercut as secretary by the White House troika of Mike Deaver, James Baker and Ed Meese. Bill Rogers, Eisenhower’s attorney general and Nixon’s California confidant, found himself on the outs from the moment he became secretary of State, with Henry Kissinger soaking up all the power through his direct access to Nixon as national security adviser.
The power of the secretary of State flows directly from the president. But Hillary does not have the inside track with Obama. Rice and Powers, close advisers in the campaign, and Gen. Jones — whose office is in the White House — all may have superior access. Holbrooke and Mitchell will have more immediate information about the world’s trouble spots.
So what is Hillary’s mandate? Of what is she secretary of State? If you take the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan out of the equation, what is left? One would have to assume that the old North Korea hands in the government would monopolize that theater of action. What, precisely, is it that Hillary is to do? The question lingers.
And for this she gave up a Senate seat?

via thehill.com

Dear God, help us all....

2009-02-11T13:21:00.001-08:00

Get Behind LiveActionFilms

2009-02-11T13:12:00.001-08:00

I, Pencil A classic essay by Leonard E. Read, 1958

2009-02-11T07:12:00.001-08:00

I, Pencil

By Leonard E. Read

I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.

Writing is both my vocation and my avocation; that’s all I do.

You may wonder why I should write a genealogy. Well, to begin with, my story is interesting. And, next, I am a mystery —more so than a tree or a sunset or even a flash of lightning. But, sadly, I am taken for granted by those who use me, as if I were a mere incident and without background. This supercilious attitude relegates me to the level of the commonplace. This is a species of the grievous error in which mankind cannot too long persist without peril. For, the wise G. K. Chesterton observed, “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.”

I, Pencil, simple though I appear to be, merit your wonder and awe, a claim I shall attempt to prove. In fact, if you can understand me—no, that’s too much to ask of anyone—if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing. I have a profound lesson to teach. And I can teach this lesson better than can an automobile or an airplane or a mechanical dishwasher because—well, because I am seemingly so simple.

Simple? Yet, not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me. This sounds fantastic, doesn’t it? Especially when it is realized that there are about one and one-half billion of my kind produced in the U.S.A. each year.

Pick me up and look me over. What do you see? Not much meets the eye—there’s some wood, lacquer, the printed labeling, graphite lead, a bit of metal, and an eraser.

Innumerable Antecedents

Just as you cannot trace your family tree back very far, so is it impossible for me to name and explain all my antecedents. But I would like to suggest enough of them to impress upon you the richness and complexity of my background.

My family tree begins with what in fact is a tree, a cedar of straight grain that grows in Northern California and Oregon. Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding. Think of all the persons and the numberless skills that went into their fabrication: the mining of ore, the making of steel and its refinement into saws, axes, motors; the growing of hemp and bringing it through all the stages to heavy and strong rope; the logging camps with their beds and mess halls, the cookery and the raising of all the foods. Why, untold thousands of persons had a hand in every cup of coffee the loggers drink!

The logs are shipped to a mill in San Leandro, California. Can you imagine the individuals who make flat cars and rails and railroad engines and who construct and install the communication systems incidental thereto? These legions are among my antecedents.

Consider the millwork in San Leandro. The cedar logs are cut into small, pencil-length slats less than one-fourth of an inch in thickness. These are kiln dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look pretty, not a pallid white. The slats are waxed and kiln dried again. How many skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light and power, the belts, motors, and all the other things a mill requires? Sweepers in the mill among my ancestors? Yes, and included are the men who poured the concrete for the dam of a Pacific Gas & Electric Company hydroplant which supplies the mill’s power!

Don’t overlook the ancestors present and distant who have a hand in transporting sixty carloads of slats across the nation.

Once in the pencil factory—$4,000,000 in machinery and building, all capital accumulated by thrifty and saving parents of mine—each slat is given eight grooves by a complex machine, after which another machine lays leads in every other slat, applies glue, and places another slat atop—a lead sandwich, so to speak. Seven brothers and I are mechanically carved from this “wood-clinched” sandwich.

My “lead” itself—it contains no lead at all—is complex. The graphite is mined in Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. Consider these miners and those who make their many tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped and those who make the string that ties the sacks and those who put them aboard ships and those who make the ships. Even the lighthouse keepers along the way assisted in my birth—and the harbor pilots.

The graphite is mixed with clay from Mississippi in which ammonium hydroxide is used in the refining process. Then wetting agents are added such as sulfonated tallow—animal fats chemically reacted with sulfuric acid. After passing through numerous machines, the mixture finally appears as endless extrusions—as from a sausage grinder—cut to size, dried, and baked for several hours at 1,850 degrees Fahrenheit. To increase their strength and smoothness the leads are then treated with a hot mixture which includes candelilla wax from Mexico, paraffin wax, and hydrogenated natural fats.

My cedar receives six coats of lacquer. Do you know all the ingredients of lacquer? Who would think that the growers of castor beans and the refiners of castor oil are a part of it? They are. Why, even the processes by which the lacquer is made a beautiful yellow involve the skills of more persons than one can enumerate!

Observe the labeling. That’s a film formed by applying heat to carbon black mixed with resins. How do you make resins and what, pray, is carbon black?

My bit of metal—the ferrule—is brass. Think of all the persons who mine zinc and copper and those who have the skills to make shiny sheet brass from these products of nature. Those black rings on my ferrule are black nickel. What is black nickel and how is it applied? The complete story of why the center of my ferrule has no black nickel on it would take pages to explain.

Then there’s my crowning glory, inelegantly referred to in the trade as “the plug,” the part man uses to erase the errors he makes with me. An ingredient called “factice” is what does the erasing. It is a rubber-like product made by reacting rapeseed oil from the Dutch East Indies [Indonesia] with sulfur chloride. Rubber, contrary to the common notion, is only for binding purposes. Then, too, there are numerous vulcanizing and accelerating agents. The pumice comes from Italy; and the pigment which gives “the plug” its color is cadmium sulfide.

No One Knows

Does anyone wish to challenge my earlier assertion that no single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me?

Actually, millions of human beings have had a hand in my creation, no one of whom even knows more than a very few of the others. Now, you may say that I go too far in relating the picker of a coffee berry in far-off Brazil and food growers elsewhere to my creation; that this is an extreme position. I shall stand by my claim. There isn’t a single person in all these millions, including the president of the pencil company, who contributes more than a tiny, infinitesimal bit of know-how. From the standpoint of know-how the only difference between the miner of graphite in Ceylon and the logger in Oregon is in the type of know-how. Neither the miner nor the logger can be dispensed with, any more than can the chemist at the factory or the worker in the oil field—paraffin being a by-product of petroleum.

Here is an astounding fact: Neither the worker in the oil field nor the chemist nor the digger of graphite or clay nor any who mans or makes the ships or trains or trucks nor the one who runs the machine that does the knurling on my bit of metal nor the president of the company performs his singular task because he wants me. Each one wants me less, perhaps, than does a child in the first grade. Indeed, there are some among this vast multitude who never saw a pencil nor would they know how to use one. Their motivation is other than me. Perhaps it is something like this: Each of these millions sees that he can thus exchange his tiny know-how for the goods and services he needs or wants. I may or may not be among these items.

No Master Mind

There is a fact still more astounding: The absence of a master mind, of anyone dictating or forcibly directing these countless actions which bring me into being. No trace of such a person can be found. Instead, we find the Invisible Hand at work. This is the mystery to which I earlier referred.

It has been said that “only God can make a tree.” Why do we agree with this? Isn’t it because we realize that we ourselves could not make one? Indeed, can we even describe a tree? We cannot, except in superficial terms. We can say, for instance, that a certain molecular configuration manifests itself as a tree. But what mind is there among men that could even record, let alone direct, the constant changes in molecules that transpire in the life span of a tree? Such a feat is utterly unthinkable!

I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on. But to these miracles which manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies—millions of tiny know-hows configurating naturally and spontaneously in response to human necessity and desire and in the absence of any human masterminding! Since only God can make a tree, I insist that only God could make me. Man can no more direct these millions of know-hows to bring me into being than he can put molecules together to create a tree.

The above is what I meant when writing, “If you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing.” For, if one is aware that these know-hows will naturally, yes, automatically, arrange themselves into creative and productive patterns in response to human necessity and demand— that is, in the absence of governmental or any other coercive master-minding—then one will possess an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without this faith.

Once government has had a monopoly of a creative activity such, for instance, as the delivery of the mails, most individuals will believe that the mails could not be efficiently delivered by men acting freely. And here is the reason: Each one acknowledges that he himself doesn’t know how to do all the things incident to mail delivery. He also recognizes that no other individual could do it. These assumptions are correct. No individual possesses enough know-how to perform a nation’s mail delivery any more than any individual possesses enough know-how to make a pencil. Now, in the absence of faith in free people—in the unawareness that millions of tiny know-hows would naturally and miraculously form and cooperate to satisfy this necessity—the individual cannot help but reach the erroneous conclusion that mail can be delivered only by governmental “masterminding.”

Testimony Galore

If I, Pencil, were the only item that could offer testimony on what men and women can accomplish when free to try, then those with little faith would have a fair case. However, there is testimony galore; it’s all about us and on every hand. Mail delivery is exceedingly simple when compared, for instance, to the making of an automobile or a calculating machine or a grain combine or a milling machine or to tens of thousands of other things. Delivery? Why, in this area where men have been left free to try, they deliver the human voice around the world in less than one second; they deliver an event visually and in motion to any person’s home when it is happening; they deliver 150 passengers from Seattle to Baltimore in less than four hours; they deliver gas from Texas to one’s range or furnace in New York at unbelievably low rates and without subsidy; they deliver each four pounds of oil from the Persian Gulf to our Eastern Seaboard—halfway around the world—for less money than the government charges for delivering a one-ounce letter across the street!

The lesson I have to teach is this: Leave all creative energies uninhibited. Merely organize society to act in harmony with this lesson. Let society’s legal apparatus remove all obstacles the best it can. Permit these creative know-hows freely to flow. Have faith that free men and women will respond to the Invisible Hand. This faith will be confirmed. I, Pencil, seemingly simple though I am, offer the miracle of my creation as testimony that this is a practical faith, as practical as the sun, the rain, a cedar tree, the good earth.

***

via fee.org

CalvinHobbs Nails it (15 years ago)

2009-02-11T05:23:00.001-08:00

via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Barrack Obama | davidwoodall.com

2009-02-11T04:28:00.001-08:00

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Barrack Obama

Feb 11th, 2009
by dwood.

http://tinyurl.com/dyjd42+from:+@dwoodall">
From the home office in Burnt Corn, Alabama, the Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About President Barrack Obama:

10. Will exempt “Kool Milds 100s” from cigarette tax.

9. Before each press conference, has Harry Reid warm up the crowd by having them chant “Barrack….Barrack….Barrack is on fire!”

8. UFC nickname is “Half-Black, Half-White, All-Hurt!”

7. Has a golden retriever named “Marx.”

6. Favorite song is little-known Three Dog Night sequel entitled “1,000,000,000,000 is the Loneliest Number.”

5. Doesn’t “appoint” Cabinet Members, he “annoints” them.

4. ”Barrack” actually means “listen to me or you’re all going to die” in Nigerian.

3. Suggested that all government business cease each day for one hour at 4pm “so we can watch Oprah.”

2. Once used a note from Nancy Pelosi to be excused early from Senate Floor.

1. Often says “He was always Mom’s favorite” when referring to Jesus Christ.

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Barack Obama's Savior-Based Economy by Michelle Malkin of townhall.com

2009-02-11T03:38:00.001-08:00

President Obama is back in messianic campaign mode. It is unbecoming. When he's not snarling at conservative opponents of his endless spending programs, he's pandering to supporters as the nation's community organizer-in-chief. At a stimulus rally in Ft. Myers, Fla., on Tuesday, a woman named Henrietta Hughes stood up to decry the mortgage crisis and ask Obama for his personal help. Choking back tears, she implored: "I have an urgent need. … We need a home, our own kitchen, our own bathroom."
If she had more time, she probably would have remembered to ask Obama to fill up her gas tank, too. The soul-fixer dutifully asked her name, gave her a hug and ordered his staff to meet with her. Supporters cried, "Amen!" and "Yes!" A young McDonald's worker named Julio Osegueda bolted out of his seat and exclaimed: "It is such a blessing to see you. Oh! Gracious God, thank you so much! Ungh!"
The event turned into a full-blown revival meeting when Obama announced that the Senate had passed his massive stimulus plan. Audience members erupted into applause. Tongues of fire descended from the sky. Loaves and fishes (or rather, pork and Kool-Aid) multiplied miraculously into trillions for all. GOP Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina didn't know how right he was when he warned over the weekend: "We're moving precipitously close to what I would call a savior-based economy."
Like Mighty Mouse, President Obama is here to save the day. The government is here to help -- and it is your patriotic duty to pay for it all without preconditions. Hughes didn't explain the cause of her financial turmoil. Obama didn't ask. And if we conservatives dare to question the circumstances -- and the underlying assumption that it is government's (that is, taxpayers') role to bail her out -- we'll be lambasted as cruel haters of the downtrodden.
Woe unto ye unbelievers in Big Government who cling to what Obama derided as "ideological rigidity."
Well, pardon my unbending belief in fairness and personal responsibility, but why should my tax dollars go to feed the housing entitlement beast? At his fear-mongering press conference Monday night, Obama lamented that homeowners "are seeing their property values decline." Countrywide crony Sen. Chris Dodd successfully stuffed $50 billion into the just-passed stimulus package for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to spend on "mandatory loan modifications" for homeowners deep underwater on their mortgages. That's in addition to the $20 billion already allocated by the House last month for the same purposes.
Banks have been engaged in these "Mo Mod" programs over the past year. Democrats want to accelerate the pace and use the power of government to essentially provide a blanket amnesty for borrowers and lenders who made bad financial decisions. Yes, there are many responsible borrowers out there having trouble negotiating loan modifications. But this $50 billion giveaway to the banks -- on top of the upward of $2 trillion more from the Treasury department, on top of the $700 billion in original "TARP" funding -- is throwing more bad money after bad.
This massive expansion of government meddling in the housing market -- yet another attempt to get federal bureaucrats in the business of rewriting loan contracts and reducing principal -- will just delay the inevitable. A report released by the Comptroller of the Currency in December showed that more than half of loans modified in the first quarter of 2008 fell 30 days delinquent within six months. And after six months, 35 percent of people were 60 or more days behind on their payments.
Where's the fairness in forcing prudent homeowners and renters to subsidize people who bought overpriced houses and rescue the banks that lent to them?
Tellingly, Obama chose Ft. Myers to drum up support for his wealth redistributionism. The area has been one of the hardest hit by foreclosures, as the president was quick to point out. But many of those homes are second or third homes and investment properties. And low housing prices are not a catastrophe for everyone. They've created opportunities for Americans who haven't been able to buy in an artificially inflated market. The median sales price of a home in the Ft. Myers area fell 50 percent to $106,900, from $215,200 in December 2007. Bargain-priced home sales are up 146 percent from a year ago.
It's sacrilegious to say it in the Age of Obama, but it needs to be said: Home ownership is not an entitlement. Credit is not a civil right. Your property-value preservation is not my problem. Can I get an "Amen!"?

via townhall.com

Michelle hits another one out of the park. Did Obama heal the sick, and turn Tampa Bay into wine before returning from Florida?

Amen, Dr. Rogers!

2009-02-10T18:42:00.001-08:00

Southern Baptist pastor, Dr. Adrian Rogers:

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out
of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person
must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody
anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When
half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the
other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the
idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get
what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.
You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Another Gem from iowahawk!

2009-02-10T18:39:00.001-08:00

Numbers in the News

MATHEMATICIANS DISCOVER LARGEST NUMBER

Stimulus: artist's conception
PALO ALTO, CA - An international mathematics research team announced today that they had discovered a new integer that surpasses any previously known value "by a totally mindblowning shitload." Project director Yujin Xiao of Stanford University said the theoretical number, dubbed a "stimulus," could lead to breakthroughs in fields as diverse as astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and Chicago asphalt contracting.

"Unlike the previous large numbers like the Googleplex or the Bazillionty, the Stimulus has no static numerical definition," said Xiao. "It keeps growing and growing, compounding factorially, eating up all zeros in its path. It moves freely across Cartesian dimensions and has the power to make any other number irrational."

Jean-Luc Brossard, a researcher with the European consortium CERN, said the number is so staggeringly large that it is difficult to for even mathematicians to grasp, let alone lay people.

"The number itself is incomprehensible by human minds, and can only be theoretically understood in a fractional parallel universe which we refer to as the DC dimension," said Brossard. "The best way to understand a stimulus is to imagine a dollar sign followed by a packed string of hexidecimal nanodigits, wound into a triple helix, woven into a dodecahedron, and stacked on top of one another. Now imagine you were a black hole on the far edge of the universe, trying to escape the stimulus at 30 times the speed of light. The stimulus would still catch up to you and ram your black hole with such furious, repeated force that it would cause your entire reality itself to collapse."

Xiao said the team discovered the number with the help of an international network of 24 nitrogen-cooled Cray Ultracluster supercomputers, the CERN particle accelerator, and "three pounds of Humboldt County Chronic."

"The exciting news is that with more powerful computers and drugs, we believe we are on the verge of discovering an even larger number, which we refer to as a 'stimulusconferencebill,'" said Xiao. "Speaker Pelosi has already promised us the funding."
OBAMA COMMEMORATES FALL OF COMMUNISM

Federal factories, farms, restaurants get day off
WASHINGTON - President Obama signed a executive order today declaring November 9, 2009 a federal holiday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The official order stops mail delivery service and provides paid leave to the 147 million non-essential federal employees expected to be in place by November.

"The historic peaceful triumph of Democracy over Communism is something all Americans can rightly celebrate," said the President in an afternoon signing ceremony. "Let us take a day to commemorate this joyous anniversary, then redouble our efforts to fulfill the glorious Five Year Ethanol Plan."

GRAMMY STARS TOAST RECORD BUYER

Beyonce: lucious lapful for lucky lad
LOS ANGELES - The Grammy Awards ended on an emotional note Sunday night as a chorus of over one hundred recording stars paid musical tribute to Jeff Sargent, the Blue Springs, MO man responsible for buying both CDs sold in 2008.

Sargent, 28, accounted for 100% of U.S. and 40% of global CD sales last year after purchasing Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III" and "Kenny Chesney's Greatest Hits" from the same Raytown, MO Wal Mart in November, earning a special testimonial award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Sargent said he was "touched" by the show-stopping medley, which included solos by Kid Rock, Jennifer Hudson, Jay-Z, and Coldplay, as well as lap dances from Beyonce, Rihanna and Katy Perry.

"Man, that was the best $29.98 I've ever spent," said Sargent. "I'll have to look for free downloads of their albums when I get home."
IMAGINARY-AMERICANS MARCH FOR CENSUS RIGHTS

Aerial view of rally
WASHINGTON - Waving invisible banners proclaiming "Census Rights Now," an enormous throng of Imaginary-Americans rallied at the National Mall today to support the Obama Administration's planned takeover of the U.S. Census Bureau.

"I want to thank everyone in the Imaginary community for turning out for this great cause," said President Obama, speaking on the steps of the Lincoln Monument to a reportedly cheering crowd estimated at between 0 and 12 million. "For too long, the Census Bureau has discriminated against people on the basis of their existential status, or perceived lack of appearance. That must stop. I promise you that under my administration, Imaginary-Americans everywhere will enjoy the same rights that they do in my home town of Chicago."

ABC News analyst Jake Tapper said the rally underscored the growing national political clout of Imaginary-Americans.

"It used to be that Non-Existentials were mostly confined to a few wards in Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit, but we're seeing them more and more in opinion polls and elections around the country," said Tapper. "With dozens of congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal grants hanging in the balance, the President wants to make sure Imaginary citizens don't get undercounted in the 2010 Census."

"It's just smart politics," added Tapper. "According to the exit polls, President Obama carried the Imaginary vote 346% to √-12%."

February 10, 2009 in Economics, Music, The Ruling Class | Permalink

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Cato exposes Obama's lies

2009-02-10T14:19:00.001-08:00

I care, Mr. Shumer

2009-02-10T11:07:00.001-08:00

Power Line - Obama Takes His Case to the People

2009-02-10T05:21:00.001-08:00

Obama Takes His Case to the People

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February 9, 2009 Posted by John at 8:12 PM

Barack Obama gave a press conference tonight; the key topic, of course, was the Democrats' trillion-dollar pork bill. My guess is that the widely-televised event helped the Democrats' cause some. Those who weren't paying close attention probably thought Obama made a decent case.

Substantively, though, it was a weak effort. Obama repeatedly characterized his opponents (the Republicans) as people who want to do nothing about the current economic crisis:

As I said, the one concern I've got on the stimulus package, in terms of the debate and listening to some of what's been said in Congress, is that there seems to be a set of folks who -- I don't doubt their sincerity -- who just believe that we should do nothing.

This is not just disingenuous; frankly, it's an outright lie. The question is whether it's an effective one. Don't most people who would bother to watch a televised press conference know that the Republicans have made all kinds of alternative proposals? One would think.

Obama's attacks on the Bush administration were equally silly:

First of all, when I hear that from folks who presided over a doubling of the national debt, then, you know, I just want them to not engage in some revisionist history. I inherited the deficit that we have right now and the economic crisis that we have right now.

Right. And that's why his first act as President is to double or triple the deficit? Why, then, doesn't he say that the Bush administration was following the right policies, only needed to go farther? Likewise with his claim that the "failed" policy of the past was to rely only on tax cuts. Actually, the Bush administration also increased spending greatly, just as Obama now proposes. And since, as Obama told us a couple of days ago, all spending equals stimulus, isn't he once again emulating the policies of his predecessor, only carrying them to a new level?

Have you noticed, too, that as Obama tries ever more desperately to sell his porkapalooza, his claims for it expand? Originally he said it would save or create 3 million jobs. Then for a while it was 3-4 million. Tonight Obama's consistent claim was that the porkfest will create 4 million jobs.

When reporters asked him about issues other than the economy, Obama often responded in a weaselly style. For example, one reporter quoted Joe Biden--from 2004!--attacking the Bush administration for not allowing the return of caskets of dead soldiers to be turned into a media frenzy. Surely, given Biden's criticism, and having had more than four years to think about it, The One intends to reverse that Bush-era policy? Not so fast!

Now, with respect to the policy of opening up media to loved ones being brought back home, we are in the process of reviewing those policies in conversations with the Department of Defense, so I don't want to give you an answer now before I've evaluated that review and understand all the implications involved.

Add that to the long list of issues that have suddenly gotten a lot more complicated now that the election is over.

The thoroughly insane Helen Thomas had her moment in the sun:

QUESTION: Mr. President, do you think that Pakistan and -- are maintaining the safe havens in Afghanistan for these so-called terrorists? And, also, do you know of any country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons?

I think she meant Israel, but what her point was, I'm not sure. Obama didn't take the bait on the "so-called terrorists," but mildly told her that he was pretty sure there were some hanging out in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It helped Obama, as usual, that he was among friends. This question near the end of the press conference, from Mara Liasson, was a stunner:

QUESTION: If it's this hard to get more than a handful of Republican votes on what is relatively easy -- spending tons of money and cutting people's taxes -- when you look down the road at health care, and entitlement reform, and energy reform, those are really tough choices.

That's the pass we've arrived at, folks: spending a trillion dollars we don't have is "relatively easy;" whatever possesses those Republicans not to go along?

On the whole, it was a slippery and dishonest performance but probably a reasonably effective one, as least for those in the audience who haven't followed the stimulus debate with any care.

UPDATE: Jules Crittenden focuses on another revealing moment:

Obama's presser became suddenly fascinating when he was caught like a deer in the headlights by an Iran question, and halting managed to spit out that while the people of Iran are great, its government has a long history of being "unhelpful."

My initial reaction, of course, was revulsion. Let's see. There's the 241 unhelpfully dead Marines in Lebanon, and years of unhelpful instability and thuggishness there, with ongoing interference by Iranian-backed terrorists who have brought war and destruction down on the Lebanese people. There are several hundred unhelpfully dead American soldiers in Iraq and God knows how many unhelpfully dead Iraqis. There is the unhelpful nuclear program. There was the unhelful taking of an American embassy, and 444 unhelpful days of humiliation.

"My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them. My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face."

"There's been a lot of mistrust built up over the years, so it's not going to happen overnight."

Did the president of the United States actually intend in his first press conference to kiss mullah ass?

To be fair to Obama, he actually puckered up more forcefully in his infamous Al Arabiya interview.

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via powerlineblog.com

Will Americans Block the ‘Spendulus’ Plan Before It’s Too Late? « FOX Forum « FOXNews.com

2009-02-09T16:28:00.001-08:00

Will Americans Block the ‘Spendulus’ Plan Before It’s Too Late?

By Phil Kerpen
Director of Policy, Americans for Prosperity

Just moments ago the Senate mustered 61 votes to squeak through the Collins-Nelson amendment, better known as the “compromise” stimulus plan. If you listen to the mainstream media, this means the fight is over, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and President Obama win, and it’s time to move on. Well, not so fast.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (AP file photo)

The public hates this bill. Intensely. The more they learn about it, the more they hate it. The anti-stimulus website NoStimulus.com was so flooded with traffic that it crashed this morning, then it was brought back up with three servers and promptly crashed again.

The trillion dollar question is whether that anger breaks through into the Washington bubble before it’s too late.

Now that the public is really paying attention to this bill, it’s a race against the clock to get it passed before it collapses of its own weight. Democrats and their outside allies, like MoveOn.org, concede that if it doesn’t happen this week it never will, and the vote tonight only means the bill cleared the first of several hurdles that it faces this week.

The Senate bill, as amended last night, is set to pass the Senate by the same razor thin margin that we saw in the House — by just 61 votes — that’s all 58 Democrats plus Sens. Collins, Snowe, and Specter. This, despite the fact that the compromise, sold as being “only” $780 billion, a modest reduction from the $819 billion Pelosi version, was estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, just before the vote, to cost $838.2 billion. That’s well more than Collins and Nelson claimed, and also well more than the House bill. — Only in Washington would that be called a compromise.

Now it gets interesting. The bill will go to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions. Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan was already calling for the conference committee to pork the bill up minutes after the Nelson-Collins deal was announced. The House conferees will be the old-line liberal-bull committee chairman–people like Reps. Dave Obey, Charlie Rangel, and John Spratt. They will fight to add back as much pork as possible, including brand new pork not in either the House or Senate version. The conference committee could become a brand-new feeding frenzy that significantly adds to both the overall price tag of the bill and the list of embarrassing special interest giveaways.

That sets up a showdown in the House, between Pelosi and the committee chairman on one side and the so-called Blue Dogs and New Democrat coalitions, which were already critical of the bill, and were hopeful that the Senate would trim some its worst excesses. Instead the Senate bill is already bigger than the House bill, and the bill is only expected to grow in conference.

There are 55 Democratic Congressmen who recently signed a letter to Pelosi objecting to the way this bill was rammed through without following the proper process. If Republicans stand together in opposition again, it will take 40 Democrats to stop the bill. Last vote, there were 11. That means 29 more must be convinced. That’s tough, but not impossible, especially when you consider that many so-called “Blue Dogs” and other Democrats in conservative districts voted for the bill only because they expected the Senate to substantially reduce its size, and the Senate instead made it bigger. If public outrage remains intense, this week’s House vote could be a replay of the “shocker” of the first House vote on TARP.

The bill could also run aground in the Senate, because Sen. Collins has said that she’ll oppose the bill if more spending is added in conference, and it almost certainly will be. If Collins holds to her word, and one of two Senators, either Snowe or Specter follows her lead, Reid would fall short of the 60 votes he needs.

Even Congress’s own economic scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office, says the stimulus does more economic harm than good. A plan so poorly designed economically can only be justified politically, which means public opinion is critical to its path. The trillion dollar question is whether that anger breaks through into the Washington bubble before it’s too late.

Phil Kerpen is director of policy for Americans for Prosperity.

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The United States of America….where did it go?

2009-02-09T12:27:00.001-08:00

Feb 9th, 2009 by dwood.

Gather around, my conservative brothers and sisters, and lets discuss a few things we haven’t for far too long. You liberals and democrats can leave us alone, please, as this doesn’t really concern you. Go watch Oprah, read Reich, or listen to Lil Jeezy for a while, and give us a few minutes of privacy. We appreciate it.

Alright, now that its just us, lets get started:

Remember the 80’s? Ronald Reagan; Trickle-down; an energetic, young and active Republican Party; the end of the cold war; control of Congress; and the return of conservative responsibility to a government and a people who had abandoned it decades before? Remember all of that? Where is it now?

I’ll tell you where it is:

Its sitting on a sofa in Montgomery, Alabama; Its having a beer in Atlanta, Georgia; Its playing golf in New Hampshire, and working on its tan in Florida. Its sitting at a slot machine in Reno, and riding a snowboard in Aspen, Colorado.

Its too busy with soccer, and conference calls, buying and selling, promoting its business, and complaining about Maine’s Senators, to stop and get involved in taking its Country and its government back.

Ironically, its too busy remembering the 80’s, and the good old days. Its too consumed with complaining about Obama, and Pelosi, Reid, and Geithner. And far too busy to set aside a few minutes each week, let alone each day, to pick up a phone and call their Senator, or someone else’s Senator, or a friend, or their party, and tell them what they believe and why they believe it.

Oh its vocal alright, which is important, but like my old Uncle Charlie, it only complains about the present and waxes on about the past, with no real action and far too few solutions. It thinks that it can still count on all of its buddies to show up on election day, pull a lever, and place the world back on the correct axis.

And it couldn’t be more wrong.

How did we get here?

Well the answer to that lies with that group of people I asked to leave just before we started this little chat (and yes, I know some of them are still here). The liberals wanted change. They didn’t want to take care of themselves any longer, no, they wanted the government to do it for them. They wanted their handouts, and their freedom from religion, their gun control, and their abortion clinics. They wanted their stimulus checks, the silencing of talk radio, their over-bloated and inefficient government, Oprah, Ashley Judd, and absolute, homogenous equality by any criteria.

So they got off their collective asses, and went to work. They organized. They recruited. They rallied. They campaigned, and talked, and wrote, and committed. They gave their money, their support, and most importantly their time and effort. They made phone calls, sent faxes, wrote letters and blogs, went to meetings, and sacrificed a little of their personal lives for the benefit of their Party.

They did it on Monday, then again on Tuesday. They even did it on Saturday and Sunday. They did it in March, and April, July and October. They did it in the Spring, The Summer, the Fall, and even the Winter. They did it in the morning, in the evening, late at night, and all throughout the day. They worked hard, independently, together, and they didn’t rely on someone else to do the work for them (ironic in that one of their biggest objectives was the complete opposite).

And as they’ve reminded us ever since, they won.

So how do we change it back? Do you really have to ask? Why the answer is so simple, even a liberal can figure it out:

We work. Today. Tomorrow. Thursday and Saturday. We organize, and recruit, fax and call. We write, rally, campaign, and turn up our talk radio. We give a little to our Party and our future each day, every day. We show up, we stand together, and we work individually so that we and our party can triumph. We focus on solutions, and not blame. We support our President because he is our President, and we work hard to see that he is replaced with someone who loves liberty, The Constitution, God, and prosperity just as much as we do. We support our Representatives, and we work to replace those who seek fame and reputation more than the simple honor and duty of faithful representation.

We don’t just show up and pull a lever, because that isn’t going to work anymore, not ever again.

I see Oprah’s almost over, so leave here and go to work. Work with each other. Work by yourself. Work with the younger generations. Seek the contributions and input of all who hold dear those same principles as we do, and put them to work in whatever capacity they can best contribute. Give a little. Every day. Call and fax. Write and email. Give a little money, or time, or effort.

And turn your radio up full blast….while you still can.

All the president's tax cheats

2009-02-08T11:35:00.001-08:00

All the president's tax cheats
Michelle Malkin - Syndicated Columnist - 2/4/2009 10:50:00 AM
You never get a second chance to make a first post-inaugural impression. Less than three weeks into his first 100 days, Barack Obama has left an indelible mark on his nascent presidency: the mark of incompetence and hubris. Despite the administration's much-touted wealth of bright minds and high bars, the transition has been a complete disaster.

In a double whammy on Tuesday, tax troubles and ethical clouds forced the withdrawal of not one but two high-profile Obama nominees. These come on the heels of former Commerce Secretary-nominee Bill Richardson's withdrawal due to a pay-for-play probe in New Mexico and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's "tax goofs" involving his failure to pay $43,000 in federal self-employment taxes for four separate years -- until, that is, he was nominated for the Treasury post. Thorough vetting, it seems, is an inconvenient process -- a pesky "distraction," if you will -- in the Land of Hope and Change.

Health and Human Services Secretary-designee Tom Daschle finally bowed out after aggressive rehabilitative efforts failed. His chummy Senate pals on both sides of the aisle may have been willing to forgive his failure to pay longstanding back taxes owed on limo services, undisclosed consulting fees and dubious charitable donations worth an estimated $146,000, including interest and penalties. But the American people were not. (And an interesting postscript: He may have apologized and dropped out of the administration, but Daschle still owes Medicare taxes equal to 2.9 percent of the personal value of the car service he received from Democratic donor and crony Leo Hindery, Jr.)

Just before the Daschle announcement came the withdrawal of Nancy Killefer. She was tapped to be President Obama's "Chief Performance Officer," overseeing compliance, organizational effectiveness and waste management across every federal agency. But the former Clinton Treasury official and head of the prestigious Washington office of the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Inc., couldn't be bothered to manage her own household help effectively. She failed for a year and a half to pay employment taxes and had an outstanding tax lien on her home. The lien was worth less than $1,000 -- far less than the tax liability Geithner owed.

If I were a left-wing feminist, I'd be sorely tempted to whip out the gender card and give the Good Old Boys Club a few whacks. Killefer gets thrown under the bus, but Geithner gets to drive? No justice, no peace!

Now, compare President Bush's transition track record in 2001. Remember that the traditional 100-day period was shortened as a result of the election lawsuit. Wrote Paul Light of the left-leaning Brookings Institution at the time: "Bush gets an A on the transition into office. He survived his truncated 40-day transition with only one major mistake -- Linda Chavez, who withdrew her nomination for Labor Secretary after the flap over allowing an illegal immigrant to stay in her house....Bush also deserves an A-plus for the timely assembly of his White House team. Building around Vice President Dick Cheney, the Bush White House is an MBA's dream: efficient, predictable, well controlled, on time, under budget."

During Tuesday's press briefing, glib White House spokesman Robert Gibbs did his best to bat down a rising chorus of questions about his boss's judgment -- not only on the nomination "glitches," but also on an ever-growing list of exemptions to Obama's no-lobbyists pledge. Echoing Bill Clinton's "most ethical administration ever" and Nancy Pelosi's "most ethical House ever" mantras, Gibbs defensively asserted: "The bar that we set is the highest that any administration in the country has ever set."

Then how, pray tell, did all the president's tax cheats make it past the front door? And where is Vice President Joe Biden to wag his finger at their lack of patriotism? Team Obama embraced these damaged candidates despite advanced knowledge of their lapses. Killefer's tax lien was four years old. Questions about Daschle's judgment have lingered for years. Ask GOP Sen. John Thune, who defeated Daschle the Dodger in 2004 after news broke of his bogus property-tax homestead exemption claim on his $1.9 million D.C. mansion -- which he listed as his primary residence despite voting in South Dakota and claiming it as his primary residence in order to run for re-election.

The buck stops at the desk of Barack Obama. A little of that humility and personal responsibility he spoke so much about during his inaugural address is now in order.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

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The Black Sphere: The Biden Distraction - Kevin Jackson hits another homerun!

2009-02-08T10:20:00.001-08:00

Saturday, February 07, 2009

The Biden Distraction

Are you getting the feeling that when things are looking bad for Obama, he uncages Biden to scare us? As I wrote in The Biden Experiment , Biden is 100% effective in his role of ...being stupid. The perfect distraction.

So Biden is in Europe doing what he does best...pontificating, adding to his title of VP the role of, "Master of the Obvious".

Just recently he said that "…we must improve our relations with Russia." As opposed to what, degrading our relationship with Russia? Don't we strive to improve our relations with everybody? I have yet to hear a politician say, "We need to ruin our relationship with [insert country here]."

Liberal kindergarteners hear Biden, and they say, "…he's so smart". For the rest of us, this was Biden just stating the obvious, and trying to appear intellectual. Doesn't work, Joe. You're still two strands short of complete human DNA, and Conservatives know it.

While in Europe, Biden warned us yet again of the "perilous road ahead", speaking of course about the economy. In a word, "Duh". Tell us something we don't know, Joe.

With the Democrat-created financial debacle, compounded with the Democrat-controlled Congress' absolutely certifiably insane leadership, you get a Liberal sprinkling of nuts, pardon the pun. OK, so you want Trail Mix. Then add these nuts to the rotten fruit of Obamulus von Porkulus, and you have a full fledge nutty, fruity mix. And of course… a perilous road ahead.

Here's an example of Liberal "leadership", and it involves the unions. These Liberal congressional nuts are intent on building up unions, something that the America people reject 80%. What's the Democrats' plan to shrink the unions, who are ruining America's businesses? Get rid of the secret vote. This way the unions can intimidate workers, and likely expand.

Now in my analysis and research on unions, i.e. using the "common sense" model for you purists, I find that companies with unions are less profitable, if profitable at all. And they are ultimately doomed to failure. For you guys who want to dispute my common sense on this issue, I will tell you that the most "unionized" companies are Fed contractors, industries already being propped up by Federal money, or staple industries, i.e. truckers, longshoremen, etc.

A union company trying to compete in America without one of those advantages mentioned earlier has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel. That company cannot compete in the long run. It's only salvation would be socialism. Thus, socialism equals the "perilous road ahead". Thanks for the warning, Joe.

Later on his European jaunt Biden shifts back to the international stage, this time not stating the obvious, but showcasing his ignorance in world affairs and diplomacy, and attempting to sound menacing.

His comment to reporters regarding Iran was, "we will talk, but know that we are ready to act." Biden is proof that a comment that says so little, can illuminate just how big of an idiot a person is.

That was sure to get the Iranians' knees knocking. I'm sure they went straight away and destroyed their recently deployed spy satellites, and are now dismantling their nuclear program. After all, Obama's actions of releasing terrorists, no longer allowing harsh interrogations of enemy combatants, cutting the military budget, and canceling the anti-missile system in Poland, all point to our willingness to "act".

As I heard a comedian once say, "…that's about as tough as being Mike Tyson's roommate in prison, and Mike says he going to sodomize you. Then you defiantly say…'Ok, but for how long'?"

Finally Biden exposed his special mission to support a small and much maligned group of people. This group is persecuted all over the world. Yes, Joe is attempting to find homes throughout Europe for the most heinous of terrorists and those bent on destroying America and other infidels. Joe is launching a sort of "Habitat for Humanity", that might more appropriately called, "Joints for Jihadist". He is asking countries in Europe to step up and take some of the finest Liberals GITMO could produce…Islamic jihadists. After all, they are just misunderstood.

Here's the wrap:

The media will spin Biden's trip throughout Europe as an attempt to change America's perception in the world, to mend fences, as if we need to mend any.

They will say that Biden is acting on behalf of the president to spread Obama's good intentions, and to alert the world to the kindler, gentler America, where they can bring all their problems. Though that is all spin, I do believe that some will benefit from Biden's visit, just differently than they think.

And as I said earlier, Biden will take the spotlight off his boss, who has had a miserable two weeks.

But more importantly Biden will help a select group of people in every town in Europe that he visits. He will prove that he is an equal opportunity idiot, showcasing his lack of knowledge in all parts of the Europe, and on a multitude of subjects, with the occasional hint at the truth.

"Village idiots" everywhere will celebrate, as their titles are temporarily usurped with Biden's arrival. And they will weep like old ladies at a funeral when he leaves.

That's my rant!

© 2009 Kevin Jackson – The Black Sphere All Rights Reserved

via theblacksphere.blogspot.com

Hopefully cautious overreaction...ammo is HARD to come by (223), as all is becoming

2009-02-08T08:34:00.001-08:00

US Government to Collapse in February 2009

Posted to a political forum on March 22, 2008:

Hi all, This might be the last thing I ever post on here but I need to warn you all. I have been with LAPD for a while and have learned alot of things. One of them is to be a little more independent. Don't put 100 % faith in other humans to take care of you. And yes that means the government 2. Well because things have gotten so bad in LA (Officers being shot at up 39 % in 2007) I decided to move to Idaho. And I love it by the way. Anyway what I'm going to say might shock you or even scare you, but please understand that fear does nothing but makes things worse kinda like stress. So instead of worrying do something to fix it. Remember there's no problems only solutions. This morning I got a call from my uncle who is very high up in the military and he told me to leave the city now. I hardly ever talk to him so he was unaware that I had already left LA. But he seemed very concerned but refused to tell me why. After about 20 minutes he told me the very basics. The first thing he said was to buy as much can food and water as possible. The second was to stock up on ammo. I have already stacked up on ammo because I knew it would become very expensive later and in LA there was a 1 year wait for .223 bullets for my AR15. But I was still very confused as to why he's calling out of the blue and telling me these things. Well what he said next is something the american people aren't suppose to know. He told me that there is an actual plan as to when the economy will completely crash. As of right now he said it will happen in the middle of sept of this year. Also he said that our Government will crash in Feb of 2009. He said that Mexico and Canada will merge with us and that a new dollar called the Amero is going to replace the dollar. But the most scary thing is what he told me he's been doing for the past couple of years. He's been overseeing the construction of Prison Camps being built all through out America. He said a Private company called Haliburton is building them. He told me that 1 camp in Alaska can hold 2 million people and there's almost 1000 camps in the USA. ( not including the ones underground) He also said that these will be used when they declare Martial Law. There's some more things but I promised him I would never repeat them. But just knowing that this could even be possible makes me say to myself " why not buy an extra 20 or 30 bucks of food I can store" each time I go shopping. I had about 2 weeks worth because in California you never know when that next big earthquake can hit not to mention the last year and a half we have been training on how to handle food riots in LA.( By the way the first step in the LAPD process is to stand back and observe) Crazy Huh. Well use common sense and get what you can because once everyone wakes up it will be to late. Last but not least why I believe him is because he is the same one that told me beforehand not to fly in Aug and Sept of 2001 Do I have to go on ? Take care everyone and GOD Bless !!!

Posted by Pablo Mac at 7:59 AM

1 comments:

kc8yds said...

you should bump this up

some big events are going to happen this week

12:13 AM

via pablomac.blogspot.com

Petzal: The Rules of Gunfighting | Field & Stream

2009-02-08T07:17:00.001-08:00

Drill Sergeant Joe B. Fricks Rules For A Gunfight

1. Forget about knives, bats and fists. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns. Bring four times the ammunition you think you could ever need.

2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammunition is cheap - life is expensive. If you shoot inside, buckshot is your friend. A new wall is cheap - funerals are expensive

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough or using cover correctly.

5. Move away from your attacker and go to cover. Distance is your friend. (Bulletproof cover and diagonal or lateral movement are preferred.)

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a semi or full-automatic long gun and a friend with a long gun.

7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running. Yell "Fire!" Why "Fire"? Cops will come with the Fire Department, sirens often scare off the bad guys, or at least cause then to lose concentration and will.... and who is going to summon help if you yell "Intruder," "Glock" or "Winchester?"

9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.

10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

11. Stretch the rules. Always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

12. Have a plan.

13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work. "No battle plan ever survives 10 seconds past first contact with an enemy."

14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible, but remember, sheetrock walls and the like stop nothing but your pulse when bullets tear through them.

15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

16. Don't drop your guard.

17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees. Practice reloading one-handed and off-hand shooting. That's how you live if hit in your "good" side.

18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. Smiles, frowns and other facial expressions don't (In God we trust. Everyone else keep your hands where I can see them.)

19. Decide NOW to always be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet if necessary, because they may want to kill you.

22. Be courteous to everyone, overly friendly to no one.

23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with anything smaller than "4".

25. Use a gun that works EVERY TIME. "All skill is in vain when an Angel blows the powder from the flintlock of your musket." At a practice session, throw you gun into the mud, then make sure it still works. You can clean it later.

26. Practice shooting in the dark, with someone shouting at you, when out of breath, etc.

27. Regardless of whether justified of not, you will feel sad about killing another human being. It is better to be sad than to be room temperature.

28. The only thing you EVER say afterwards is, "He said he was going to kill me. I believed him. I'm sorry, Officer, but I'm very upset now. I can't say anything more. Please speak with my attorney."

Finally, Drill Sergeant Frick's Rules For Un-armed Combat.

1. Never be unarmed.

via fieldandstream.com

ANother SNL Parody of Obama. (Biden is especially hilarious)

2009-02-08T06:53:00.001-08:00

SNL Parodies Pelosi and the Stimulus. Well Done!

2009-02-08T06:46:00.001-08:00

Lawmakers in 20 states move to reclaim sovereignty

2009-02-08T06:19:00.001-08:00

Lawmakers in 20 states move to reclaim sovereignty
Obama's $1 trillion deficit-spending 'stimulus plan' seen as last straw

Posted: February 06, 2009
11:50 pm Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon

NEW YORK – As the Obama administration attempts to push through Congress a nearly $1 trillion deficit spending plan that is weighted heavily toward advancing typically Democratic-supported social welfare programs, a rebellion against the growing dominance of federal control is beginning to spread at the state level.
So far, eight states have introduced resolutions declaring state sovereignty under the Ninth and Tenth Amendment to the Constitution, including Arizona, Hawaii, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma and Washington.
Analysts expect that in addition, another 20 states may see similar measures introduced this year, including Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania.
"What we are trying to do is to get the U.S. Congress out of the state's business," Oklahoma Republican state Sen. Randy Brogdon told WND.
(Story continues below)

"Congress is completely out of line spending trillions of dollars over the last 10 years putting the nation into a debt crisis like we've never seen before," Brogdon said, arguing that the Obama stimulus plan is the last straw taxing state patience in the brewing sovereignty dispute.
"This particular 111th Congress is the biggest bunch of over-reachers and underachievers we've ever had in Congress," he said.
"A sixth-grader should realize you can't borrow money to pay off your debt, and that is the Obama administration's answer for a stimulus package," he added.
The Ninth Amendment reads, "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
The Tenth Amendment specifically provides, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Brogdon, the lead sponsor of the Oklahoma state senate version of the sovereignty bill, has been a strong opponent of extending the plan to build a four-football-fields-wide Trans-Texas Corridor parallel to Interstate-35 to Oklahoma, as WND reported.
Rollback federal authority
The various sovereignty measures moving through state legislatures are designed to reassert state authority through a rollback of federal authority under the powers enumerated in the Constitution, with the states assuming the governance of the non-enumerated powers, as required by the Tenth Amendment.
The state sovereignty measures, aimed largely at the perceived fiscal irresponsibility of Congress in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, have gained momentum with the $1 trillion deficit-spending economic stimulus package the Obama administration is currently pushing through Congress.
Particularly disturbing to many state legislators are the increasing number of "unfunded mandates" that have proliferated in social welfare programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, in which bills passed by Congress dictate policy to the states without providing funding.
In addition, the various state resolutions include discussion of a wide range of policy areas, including the regulation of firearms sales (Montana) and the demand to issue drivers licenses with technology to embed personal information under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and the Real ID Act (Michigan).
Hawaii's measure calls for a new state constitutional convention to return self-governance, a complaint that traces back to the days it was a U.S. territory, prior to achieving statehood in 1959.
"We are trying to send a message to the federal government that the states are trying to reclaim their sovereignty," Republican Rep. Matt Shea, the lead sponsor of Washington's sovereignty resolution told WND.
"State sovereignty has been eroded in so many areas, it's hard to know where to start," he said. "There are a ton of federal mandates imposed on states, for instance, on education spending and welfare spending."
Shea said the Obama administration's economic stimulus package moving through Congress is a "perfect example."
"In the state of Washington, we have increased state spending 33 percent in the last three years and hired 6,000 new state employees, often using federal mandates as an excuse to grow state government," he said. "We need to return government back down to the people, to keep government as close to the local people as possible."
Shea is a private attorney who serves with the Alliance Defense Fund, a nationwide network of about 1,000 attorneys who work pro-bono. As a counter to the ACLU, the alliance seeks to protect and defend religious liberty, the sanctity of life and traditional family values.
Republican state Rep. Judy Burges, the primary sponsor of the sovereignty resolution in the Arizona House, told WND the federal government "has been trouncing on our constitutional rights."
"The real turning point for me was the Real ID act, which involved both a violation of the Fourth Amendments rights against the illegal searches and seizures and the Tenth Amendment," she said.
Burges told WND she is concerned that the overreaching of federal powers could lead to new legislation aimed at confiscating weapons from citizens or encoding ammunition.
"The Real ID Act was so broadly written that we are afraid that it involves the potential for "mission-creep," that could easily involve confiscation of firearms and violations of the Second Amendment," she said.
Burges said she has been surprised at the number of e-mails she has received in support of the sovereignty measure.
"We are a sovereign state in Arizona, not a branch of the federal government, and we need to be treated as such, she insisted.

via wnd.com

There’s a Movement Going On… « Watching The Nation

2009-02-08T06:16:00.001-08:00

There’s a Movement Going On…

February 5, 2009 · 2 Comments

…Yes, it’s called the “states’ rights movement”…at least that’s what I’m calling it. I see something happening and I’m wondering…is this in response to what’s going on in Washington? Are states now taking action to affirm and protect themselves from large central government? It certainly looks that way to me. Now I would have to spend a bunch of time doing some studying to try to explain all the details, so I will just point the reader in the direction where he can go read and make up his own mind. The site where I first learned about this is at www.thelonelyconservative.com. Here’s the link to the specific post about the New Hampshire resolution. At www.therightsideoflife.com I found more states starting initiatives for this and various other bills. It looks like some of them are introducing bills making it mandatory that a candidate produce his birth certificate…obviously this indicates they are wanting to avoid the uncertainty that seems to be in certain sectors concerning President Obama’s birthplace. I find this all very intriguing…and comforting. The states are standing up to a bloated federal government. Wow. Michigan, Arizona, Oklahoma, Washington, Missouri are others who are introducing state sovereignty resolutions. You gotta’ read about this!

Missouri regarding FOCA

Michigan

Oklahoma

Arizona

Montana regarding firearms regulations

Georgia regarding their Constitutional Convention, School Vouchers, and proof citizenship for voting

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
The President’s Oath
Anti-Illegal, Not Anti-Immigrant
Winning Friends & Influencing People — The Mark Sanford Way
State governments look for hand-outs

Categories: Conservatism · Our great country · Recent news
Tagged: big central government, birth records, states' rights

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More Politics of Fear from The Great Pretender

2009-02-08T05:25:00.001-08:00

Obama demands speed on stimulus

Sun Feb 8, 2009 7:13am EST

© Thomson Reuters 2009 All rights reserved

via reuters.com

40B/year in debt service?

Awesome!!!

Greatest Hits from the Porkulus Debate (FRC Blog)

2009-02-07T10:53:00.001-08:00

Greatest Hits from the Porkulus Debate

Darned If You Do, Darned If You Don't
"Because if we don't move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe." President Barack Obama's weekly radio address, February 7th.

"President Obama's economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Wednesday.
CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing." Stephen Dinan, "CBO: Obama Stimulus Harmful Over the Longhaul." Washington Times, February 4th, 2009.

Hey Wait a Second! What Happened to That Guy Always Talking About "Hope"?
"Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." President Barack Obama, "The Action America Needs," Washington Post, February 5, 2009.

Bye Bye Bipartisanship?
"Washington seems consumed in the process argument of bipartisanship." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) commenting on the attempt to get Republican support for the legislation in the Senate.

It All Depends on What Your Definition of Stimulus Is
"So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill, this is a spending bill. What do you think a stimulus is? That's the whole point." President Barack Obama at the House Democratic Caucus Annual Issues Conference in Williamsburg, VA.

Spending Cuts Shmending Cuts
"These cuts are very damaging -- [the House bill] was put together very carefully." . . .
"The new Senate cuts, if passed, 'will do violence to the future,' said Pelosi." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on spending cuts in the Senate version of the legislation.

"Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, told reporters he and others hoped that some of the funds on the chopping block would be restored next week when negotiations open on a House-Senate compromise." "Tentative Deal on Senate Stimulus Bill", Associated Press, February 6, 2009.

Shortest Night EVER
"So it is 6:15 tonight and I would hope in the next 12 hours we could have a piece of legislation we will feel good about it after working on the many hours that we have worked ... There isn't a single senator who has come to this floor who hasn't said that this economy is in deep trouble, and we have to do something to fix it. And my comment was I hope we can do that. And that's the reason I've said we've got to work the night." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on the Senate floor Thursday, February 5th.

"We're going to stop legislating tonight" Senator Reid less then three hours later.

Short But to the Point Award
"So what." House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) in response to a question on NPR's "Morning Edition" about the perceived lack of direction from Congress as to how money in the stimulus should be spent.

Part of Personal (Shifting of) Responsibility
"The person who spends the money badly will be responsible (not the U.S. Congress)." House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) on the lack of direction of where exactly the money should go in the bill.

Finally, Something We Can All Agree On
"Regardless of what we do, there will be some stupid decisions made." House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) on lack of oversight of spending in the bill.

I Don't Think Neil Kinnok Will Claim Authorship of This Speech
"Anybody remember a time when we're talking about, if we don't make some real changes, deficits that are a trillion two hundred billion dollars a year for as far as the eye can see, if we don't, ah, get it right, which you guys have already?" Vice President Joe Biden remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Annual Issues Conference in Williamsburg, VA. It appears he was starting to talk about the deficit and then realized he was talking to a crowd that just greatly increased the deficit. Politico reports "(d)uring the speech, some members read newspapers or checked BlackBerrys in the warm conference room."

It's Tiring Spending All Your Money
"My staff is worn out, working around the clock. So is David Obey's staff. So is Nancy Pelosi's staff." President Barack Obama at the House Democratic Caucus Annual Issues Conference in Williamsburg, VA.

"Man am I tired. Working all day to find enough R votes to get this thing to conference. I confess I'm cranky." Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) twittering on the Senate negotiations.

Joe the (Lousy) Oddsmaker
"If we do everything right. We do it with absolute certainty . . .there is still a thirty percent chance we are going to get it wrong." Vice President Joe Biden remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Annual Issues Conference in Williamsburg, VA.

Maybe She Was Talking About In All 57 States?
"Every month we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) The latest census numbers show the U.S. population is 303 million.

Easing Families Burdens by Eliminating Them
"One of the elements of this package is assistance to the states. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those - one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), on This Week With George Stephanopoulos, defending giving millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood as "stimulus."

via frcblog.com

Michelle Malkin...what would we do without her?

2009-02-07T09:37:00.001-08:00

Gird your loins: The Senate thieves rush to pass trillion-dollar porkulus

By Michelle Malkin • February 7, 2009 11:50 AM

Here’s where things stand. The Senate will be in session today from about noon to 3:00pm Eastern. Members will speak, but there won’t be any roll call votes. Cloture will reportedly be filed on the Cave-In/”Compromise” amendment from Sens. Collins and Nelson. The cloture vote (to end debate) on the amendment is scheduled for Monday at 5:30pm Eastern. GOP minority leader Mitch McConnell’s office tells us that “if cloture is invoked on the amendment post cloture time will run until noon on Tuesday. At noon on Tuesday the bill will be subject to another 60 vote hurdle by either waiving a budget point of order or achieving 60 votes on final passage.”

They’re taking Sunday off.

Question: Who has seen the Collins/Nelson cave-in amendment? Where is it? When can we, the taxpayers, see it? SHOW US THE BILL.

Here’s the list of Friday’s Roll Call Votes. Of note: Sen. Vitter’s amendment to ban ACORN funding failed 45-51. More:

· Coburn #176 (no bid contracts) passed 97-0
· Coburn #309 (wasteful spending) passed 73-24
· Graham/Conrad #501 (foreclosure prevention) failed 39-57
· Grassley #297 (FMAP) failed 47-49
· Cantwell #274 (energy tax incentives) motion to waive budget act passed 80-16
· Vitter #107 (no $ for ACORN) failed 45-51
· Bunning #531 (capitol loss) failed 41-55
· Thune #538 (tax rebate) motion to waive the budget act failed 35-61

And here’s McConnell’s statement released late last night:

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Friday regarding the Democrats’ agreement on the trillion-dollar spending bill:

“The question of whether or not the economy needs help is really not in debate. I don’t think there’s a single member of the Senate that believes that no action is the appropriate course for us to take.

“But one of the good things about reading history is you learn a good deal. And, we know for sure that the big spending programs of the New Deal did not work.

“In 1940, unemployment was still 15%. And, it’s widely agreed among economists, that what got us out of the doldrums that we were in during the Depression was the beginning of World War II.

“We have another example.

“What is called in Japan the Lost Decade of the 1990’s, where stimulus packages similar to the one we’re considering tonight were tried again, and again, and again. And, at the end of the 1990’s, Japan, looked very much like it did at the beginning of the 1990’s, except that it had a much larger debt.

“Now, we’ve not seen the compromise proposal, which has been discussed here tonight. And, I know there’s been a good faith effort on the part of those involved to pare down the size of the underlying Senate measure.

“But as near as we can tell, even after those efforts, it is roughly the same size as the House bill.

“According to the figures I’ve been given, the House bill is about $820 billion. The Senate bill, under the compromise, we believe, would be about $827 billion. Bear in mind the interest costs on either of those proposals would be $348 billion. So we’re really talking about a $1.1 trillion pending measure.

“A $1.1 trillion spending measure. We’re looking at a $1 trillion deficit for this fiscal year.

“We believe that the Secretary of the Treasury and the President will suggest to us as early as next week that we need to do — what has commonly become referred to as a TARP round – some kind of additional assistance for the financial system as early as next week. We’re talking about an extraordinarily large amount of money and a crushing debt for our grandchildren.

“Now, if most Republicans were convinced that this would work, there might be a greater willingness to support it. But all the historical evidence suggests that it’s highly unlikely to work. And so, you have to balance the likelihood of success versus the crushing debt that we’re levying on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and, yes, their children.

“And the need to finance all of this debt which many suspect would lead to ever higher and higher interest rates which could create a new round of problems for our economy.

“So let me just sum it up by saying no action is not what any of my Republican colleagues are advocating. But most of us are deeply skeptical that this will work. And that level of skepticism leads us to believe that this course of action should not be chosen.

“We had an opportunity to do this in a truly bipartisan basis and the President said originally he had hoped to get 80 votes. It appears that, the way this has developed, there will be some bipartisan support, but not a lot. And it’s not likely, in the judgment of most of us, to produce the result that we all desire.

“So, I will not be in a position to recommend support for this product as it has developed in spite, again, of the best efforts of those who worked on the compromise. I commend them for their willingness to try to work this out. It seems to me that it falls far short of the kind of measure that we should be passing.

I ask again: Where is the cave-in amendment? When does the tax-paying public that will fund this Generational Theft Act get to see it? SHOW US THE BILL.

Thanks to all of you who have melted the phones to stop passage of this Mt. Kilimanjaro-sized, gold-plated pile of crapola. The voicemail and e-mail boxes of the U.S. Senate are completely filled. You can find local district phone and contact information for every U.S. senator here. Don’t stop.

Posted in: fiscal stimulus

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David's Tweet of the Week Award

2009-02-07T09:28:00.001-08:00

My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That's almost $7.00 in dog money. #tcot

By BrianBoettcher

http://twitter.com/BrianBoettcher

Boehner Statement on Whitehouse Census Takeover

2009-02-07T09:10:00.001-08:00

Leader Boehner Questions White House Takeover of U.S. Census Bureau
Nonpartisan Census Should Remain Independent of Politics, Republican Leader Says

Washington, Feb 6 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement regarding reports that control of the U.S. Census Bureau will be stripped from the Department of Commerce and placed with the White House staff:

“I am disturbed by reports that control of the traditionally nonpartisan Census Bureau is being stripped from the Commerce Department and placed with the White House staff. This action appears to be motivated by politics, rather than the interests of our country, and the burden will be on the new administration to prove otherwise during Senator Gregg’s confirmation hearings. The United States Census should remain independent of politics; it should not be directed by political operatives working out of the White House.”

via republicanleader.house.gov

2009-02-07T08:03:00.001-08:00

Why we must ruin Senators Collins, Snow, and Specter

Feb 7th, 2009
by dwood.

Like all Republicans, and most conservatives, it is with shock and disgust that I have watched three Republican Senators acquiesce to the social and fiscal irresponsibility of the Pelosi/Reid/Obama Generational Theft Act. I believe it is the patriotic duty of all who truly love this Country to do all that we can to ensure that the political careers of Senators Collins and Snow of Maine, and Senator Specter of Pennsylvania (”the Evil 3″) are completely and totally ruined, and that they are never given the honor of serving in any capacity of representation ever again. They embody all that is broken within our system, and all that Thomas Jefferson and the Constitutional Convention sought to protect our Great Country from.

Political service, in a republic, is defined by representation. It is the honor, duty, and obligation of those elected officials to represent their constituency, whether they agree with that sentiment or not. Examples of responsible, ethical representation are still seen in Congress (most often along party lines, but not always. Congressman Bobby Bright (D-AL) for example), but more common now are those who display an arrogant and elitist attitude of “I know what is best for this country, and I will vote on my conscience alone.” Nowhere is that more evident than in the actions and ignorance of the Evil 3 with regard to their alliance on The Generational Theft Act.

The Constitution frames a republic, not a plurality. While the Evil 3 may sincerely believe (albeit true ignorance) that The Generational Theft Act is best for most in this country, supporting and promoting it is a direct and blatant violation of their responsibilities to The Republic and to their constituents. The people of Maine and Pennsylvania do not support The Generational Theft Act, but by the arrogant, ignorant, foolish actions of their “representatives,” their voice is not heard. It is marginalized; muted; ignored. The message is clear to the constituents of the Evil 3:

“You do not matter. We know what is best”

I encourage the People of the Great State of Maine, and the People of the Great State of Pennsylvania, to embrace your duties as Americans and defenders of the Constitution, and take the lead in ruining the political careers of these three traitors. End their careers at the next election. Censure them until then. Remind them of what they have done; make them own it; and immortalize them in shame for the manner in which they have betrayed you.

We, as a Party and as a People, will support you fully. The GOP should not contribute one iota of support, in any fashion, to the Evil 3 and any others who may follow them. No financial contribution. No political advancement. No recognition. Nothing. Nada. Zip. If the GOP truly represents its Members, the Party must in this instance follow the lead of the People and turn their backs on the Evil 3.

I believe in the Constitution. I will fight for the Constitution. I believe in a Republic. And I will fight for a Republic. I believe in the Republican Party, the People of Maine, the People of Pennsylvania, and the People of the United States of America. I will fight for all of them, no matter who the enemy. Even if it is I.

Because of that, I will fight to end the political careers of Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Senator Olympia Snow of Maine, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and anyone else who does not honestly and responsibly fulfill their electorate and Constitutional duties, regardless of political affiliation. I will do that by encouraging my Party to turn their backs on the Evil 3, and by encouraging my conservative Representatives to shun them as well. They have found their own island, and we must keep them there until we send them into obscurity forever.

They have betrayed our confidence. They have betrayed our Party. They have betrayed the Constitution. They have betrayed our People. They have betrayed their States. They have been faithful only to themselves, if even that.

Ruin them as politicians.

Now.

Totally and finally.

If you believe in the Constitution, and this country, it is your patriotic duty to see to it that they are not allowed the honor of serving ever again.

The White House - Press Office - Remarks of President Barack Obama Economic Recovery Advisory Board

2009-02-07T06:11:00.001-08:00

Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 12:00 am

Remarks of President Barack Obama Economic Recovery Advisory Board
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
_________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
February 6, 2009

As Prepared for Delivery

Good morning. I've just had the opportunity to welcome the members of my Economic Recovery Advisory Board. I’m grateful that I will have the counsel of these talented and experienced men and women in the challenging months to come.

And if there is anyone, anywhere, who doubts the need for wise counsel and bold and immediate action, consider the devastating news we just received this morning.

Last month, another six hundred thousand Americans lost their jobs. That is the single worst month of job loss in 35 years. The Department of Labor also adjusted their job loss numbers for 2008 upwards, and now report that we have lost 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

That’s 3.6 million Americans who wake up every day wondering how they are going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, and provide for their children. That’s 3.6 million Americans who need our help.

I am sure that at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, members of the Senate are reading these same numbers this morning. I hope they share my sense of urgency and draw the same, unmistakable conclusion: the situation could not be more serious. These numbers demand action. It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work. It is time for Congress to act. It is time to pass an Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Plan to get our economy moving again.

This is not some abstract debate. It is an urgent and growing crisis that can only be fully understood through the unseen stories that lie underneath each and every one of those lost jobs. Somewhere in America, a small business has shut its doors; a family has said goodbye to their home; a young parent has lost their livelihood, and doesn’t know what’s going to take its place.

These Americans are counting on us. All of us in Washington must remember that we’re here to work for the American people. And if we drag our feet and fail to act, this crisis will turn into a catastrophe. We’ll continue to get devastating job reports like today’s – month after month, year after year. These aren’t my assessments – these are the assessments of independent economists. Millions of jobs will be lost. More families will lose their homes. More Americans will go without health care. We’ll continue to send our kids to crumbling schools, and be crippled by our dependence on foreign oil.

That is the result of the inaction, and it is completely unacceptable to the American people.

The American people did not choose more of the same. They did not send us to Washington to get stuck in partisan posturing, or to turn back to the same tried and failed approaches that were rejected in the last election. They sent us here with a mandate for change, and the expectation that we would act.

The bill before Congress isn’t perfect, but it is absolutely necessary. We will continue to refine it and improve it. There may be provisions in the bill that need to be left out and some that need to be added. But broadly speaking, it is the right size. It is the right scope. It has the right priorities to create 3 to 4 million jobs and to do it in a way that lays the groundwork for long term growth by fixing our schools; modernizing health care to lower costs; repairing our roads, bridges, levees, and other vital infrastructure; and moving us towards energy independence. It is what America needs right now. It will take months – even years – to renew our economy. But every day that Washington fails to act, that recovery is delayed.

Now we also know that no single act can meet the challenges of this moment. This is just the beginning of a long journey back to progress and prosperity. Given the scope of this crisis, we need an all hands on deck approach to forging our recovery. I am pleased to have an extraordinary economic team, with Tim Geithner at Treasury, and Larry Summers, Christina Roemer and Peter Orszag here in the White House. I also want to be sure that we’re tapping a broad and diverse range of opinion from across the country, because an historic crisis demands an historic response. That is why we took the unique step of creating the new institution whose members have gathered here today.

To put it simply, I created this Board to enlist voices that come from beyond the echo chamber of Washington, DC, and to ensure that no stone is unturned as we work to put people back to work and to get our economy moving. We will meet regularly so that I can hear different ideas and sharpen my own, and seek counsel that is candid and informed by the wider world.

The Board is headed by Paul Volcker, who by any measure is one of the world’s most experienced and insightful economic minds. He has advised me for many months, and he has helped steer the American economy through many twists and turns. I’m glad that Paul has decided to continue his public service at this critical moment. Assisting Paul and the rest of the Board will be Austan Goolsbee, who has long been one my closest economic advisors, and who will ensure that we are making the best possible use of this unique resource.

I’m not interested in groupthink, which is why the Board reflects a broad cross-section of experience, expertise, and ideology. We’ve recruited Republican and Democrats; veterans of government and the private sector; advocates for business and labor. Not everyone is going to agree with each other, and not all of them are going to agree with me – and that’s precisely the point. Because we want to ensure that our policies have the benefit of independent thought and vigorous debate.

I will also count on these men and women to serve as additional eyes and ears for me as we work to reverse this downturn. Many of them have a ground-level view of the changes that are taking place, as they work across different sectors of the economy and different regions of the country. They can help us see the trends that are not fully formed, the trouble that may be on the horizon, and the opportunities that have yet to be seized. I look forward to relying on their input and recommendations on specific questions as we jumpstart job creation and pursue strong and stable economic growth.

This new institution should send a signal of how seriously I take the responsibility of building an economic recovery that is broad and enduring. These are extraordinary times. For far too many Americans, the future is filled with unanswered questions. Can I get a job? Will my family be able to stay in our home? Will I be able to retire with dignity, and see my kids or grandkids lead a better life?

Those are the questions that we must answer affirmatively in the life of this Administration, so that we create the jobs our people need and the future that a great nation deserves. Those are the challenges that my economic team, and these distinguished advisors, will be tackling in the months and years to come. Thank you.

via whitehouse.gov

More politics of fear from the Great Pretender

Michael Steele and the RNC Respond To Stimulus Package

2009-02-07T05:30:00.003-08:00

Posted via email from TCUnation

Michael Steele and the RNC Respond To Stimulus Package

2009-02-07T05:30:00.001-08:00

It is clear Americans don't want this Bill

2009-02-07T04:54:00.001-08:00

From The Freedom Project:

2/6/2009
Winston Examines Surveys on the Dems' Trillion-Dollar Spending Bill

Dave Winston of The Winston Group has a great breakdown of the CBS survey on Democrats' trillion-dollar spending bill. Winston notes some of CBS' key findings, including:

45 percent of voters do not think a massive spending bill will shorten the recession. Only 39 percent think it will.
81 percent of Democrats "think it is important for the bill to have support of both parties." Congressional Democrats are clearly in the other 19 percent.
And "Americans prefer tax cuts over increased government spending by almost a 3:1 margin to get us out of the recession." This puts Republicans on the same side as most voters, as theGOP economic recovery plan uses fast-acting tax relief – not government spending – to create twice as many jobs, twice as fast, and at half the cost of the Democrats' plan.

These findings mirror other recent surveys that show public support for a trillion-dollar spending bill slipping. Read the whole post.

In another must-read article, Charles Krauthammer blasts the bill by Congressional Democrats as "not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination":

"It's not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.

"It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said."

My letter to Senator Susan Collins

2009-02-06T16:43:00.001-08:00

Senator Collins,

While I couldn't be more happy that you are not my designated representative, I am deeply saddened and devastatingly impacted by your betrayal of my party and the people whom you "represent."

It is my sincere hope that you can obtain one of those paper mill jobs you mentioned in your diatribe on the Floor, because we as a party are going to work hard to see that you never have the opportunity to represent us again.

You, madame, are an embarrassment to the Constitution, and the Republican Party.

That said, I wish you all that you deserve.

One of your former supporters, and a loyal Republican,

David Woodall

Obama losing it

2009-02-06T08:59:00.001-08:00

Back Taxes - Great quote by Argus Hamilton

2009-02-06T05:45:00.001-08:00

Tom Daschle paid up his back taxes Tuesday, as did Treasury nominee Tim Geithner and ethics nominee Nancy Killefer, before she withdrew.

If Americans can stay patient, Barack Obama will balance the budget one nominee at a time.

- Argus Hamilton

Nancy Pelosi...Traitor, Socialist, Liar

2009-02-05T12:55:00.001-08:00

No comment required

Difference in Repubs and Dems

2009-02-05T08:51:00.001-08:00

Another Great Video!

2009-02-05T07:59:00.001-08:00