Commander in Hope Reassures America

The president in a speech from Hawaii yesterday announced his faith based security plan. Obama said,

We will be guarded by our hope, unity, and the values that binds us

What?!?!?!?    Hope? Are you kidding me? I heard this clip on a talk radio show yesterday, and I am stunned that it's not being played, replayed, and replayed again on any of the news outlets! When George W Bush made his famous/infamous "Wanted dead or alive" remarks in response to 9/11 the state run media crushed the guy and criticized his remarks as 'too jingoistic'.

Well? maybe so? But my question is, where is the critique or support for Obama's first verbal response to the latest attempted terror attack? There isn't any! Obama's response is so feeble, weak, inadequate, ineffective, poor, unconvincing, unpersuasive, unsatisfactory, unsuitable that even Fox News won't air it for fear that it will only emboldened more terrorist attacks by signaling to them that we will do nothing.

Obama is too busy dismantling the safeguards that kept us safe for the 8 tears after 9/11 to announce a response, except hope. Hope they don't attack again. Pray they don't attack again. By not being jingoistic, by not doing the things the Bush did, Obama thinks we will be safe. His priorities? Prosecuting Navy SEALS who gave a top Al Queda leader a fat lip. Closing Gitmo and moving prisoners onto U.S. soil where our jackpot justice system could possibly release war criminals, enemy combatants, and prisoners of war.

So egregious was his statement that today he refused to speak in front of reporters but he released a video statement where he tried to sound tougher than he did the previous day. State run Media helped him rewrite history and perhaps it is just as well, for all of our sakes.

Obama says 'systemic failure' allowed airline plot

In further evidence of a clueless administration...

Napolitano Says No Evidence of Wider Terrorist Plot -NYT

So Al Queda corrected in her by issuing a press release the next day, saving her from an investigation

We are soooo...screwed!

Merry Christmas. Go into that light, and to all a good night.

Here is wishing you a merry Christmas.

No matter your political or religious inclinations I hope you are able to take advantage of the holiday season to spend time with those that are meaningful to you.

In Hoc Anno Domini - WSJ.com

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Welcome back to bondage. The health care takeover enslaves all of us, and delivers us to the same fate as those who served unto Caesar.

The Health Care Paradox

It looks as though the Obama administration will get the debacle of a health care bill that they wanted over our dead bodies....litterally.

This legislation is so flawed that it guarantees an accelerated increase in premiums over the dire projections of how costs would have increased if "we did nothing".

The contradictions of what they said they were going to do, and what thry are doing are just not insulting to one's intelligence, but diamettrically opposed to logic.

Suddenly, too much insurance is an evil thing! Too much insurance you say? There is no such thing as too much insurance! Too much insurance is called 'preventative care'! And everybody should have preventative care in order to bring down the costs of health care! Right?

Not so fast pilgrim!

Obama in Late Push on Health

The administration is sensitive to criticism the legislation does too little to trim growth of costs. White House Budget Director Peter Orszag says the 40% tax on high-cost, or "Cadillac," plans will encourage employers to look for more thrifty coverage and discourage unnecessary procedures. Cost is the reason for favoring this as well as the Medicare commission.

Mr. Obama said in an NPR interview Wednesday that Cadillac plans "don't make people healthier but just take more money out of their pockets because they're paying more for insurance than they need to."

What?!?!?! Too much insurance is bad? Too much access to health care is bad? What means "thrifty" coverage!?!?

Can somebody please explain to me when a procedure is considered unnecessary and when a procedure is considered preventative care? Are you really falling for the lie about preventative care reducing costs? Where is that in this bill? I can't find it!

And, if the tax on those cadilac plans are such a moral imperative, then why give all the unions a pass on the tax? Should the government really encourage the unions to waste their money on those plans that don't make them any healthier and that just raise costs for the rest of us?

ObamaCare's Longshoremen Rules

Start with the special tax carve-outs included in the "manager's amendment" that Harry Reid dropped Saturday morning. White House budget director Peter Orszag has claimed that the bill's 40% excise tax on high-cost insurance plans is key to reducing health costs. Yet the Senate Majority Leader's new version specifically exempts "individuals whose primary work is longshore work." That would be the longshoremen's union, which has negotiated very costly insurance benefits. The well-connected dock workers join other union interests such as miners, electrical linemen, EMTs, construction workers, some farmers, fishermen, foresters, early retirees and others who are absolved from this tax.

Puhlease!. Unless you are in a union, or unless you currently have no health care coverage, you are so screwed that you will rue this day!




x

Global Comedy

Excellent Cartoon over at reason.com. It is very apropos given that the president gave a speech today on global warming.

Go see it.

So, $100 Billion annually from the United States? That figure doubles the amount of foreign aid that the United States already provides to countries around the world.

Where are we going to get this money? Borrow it from China? Then give it back to them and other countries? China won't even agree to a verification frame work, which would verify compliance to a non binding treaty!

I wonder what Hugo Chavez will do with his slice of U.S. Foreign aid? Mine some more uranium for Iran? Hey! It's all in the name of clean nuclear energy! Muahahahaha

How stupid are we? Sheesh!

Kiss My Hamas: Part IV

Q: How long does foreign policy on-the-job training take? 

A: Almost one year.


After giving Iran another year to build it's nuclear bomb, and to quell what was a real and nascent democratic movement, it has dawned on the Obama administration that 'reaching out and talking with our enemies' might not be working.

File this one under "No shit Sherlock"!

The beautiful irony here is that then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had taunted then Candidate Obama about the naivete of extending direct talks to Iran and now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has to announce to the world that diplomacy is not working. Boy, does she look annoyed! What I want to know is who is she annoyed at? Iran? or Obama? (tee hee hee hee)

I have made this prediction before, and this latest development only reinforces my intuition that Hillary will quit her post in late 2010 or early 2011, and then oppose Obama in a primary for the 2012 election. a la Kennedy vs Carter.

Good Times!

Reason.com: She’s Back!

Good read.

She’s Back! - Reason.com

Tea Party protests have been chock-a-block with signs such as “Atlas Is Shrugging” and “The name is Galt. John Galt.” Sales of Rand’s classic Atlas Shrugged have soared in 2009, 

Ed Hudgins, director of advocacy with the Atlas Society, an organization that promotes Rand’s philosophy, says that when he looks at House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and federally owned mortgage lender Freddie Mac, he thinks of another Atlas Shrugged character: banker Eugene Lawson, who in Hudgins’ words “destroys his bank and a good part of the state of Wisconsin because he’s making loans based not on sound business practice but on the basis of need.”  


Many political bloggers this year have preferred to invoke one of Rand’s heroes by spreading the idea that more and more people may soon be “going Galt”

Ahem, yes....they have.(Going Galt)

More than ever, Rand’s uncompromising and unconservative (though hyper-free-market) vision rubs violently against the realities of contemporary American politics of both right and left. 

I have the same problem. If you are truly a conservative libertine, then both the right and the left hate you.
As for the movie......

With Rand fan Angelina Jolie, long rumored to star as railroad heroine Dagny Taggart, begging off the project, the producers are now preparing to turn Atlas Shrugged into a mini-series on the new cable channel Epix, possibly starring Charlize Theron. (In Hollywood, nothing is fact until the cameras roll—or until after they finish rolling. Atlas Shrugged is not yet at that stage and may never come to fruition.) 

I doubt that liberal Hollywood would ever let this movie get made. Too many careers would be ruined. Or, they would intentionally screw it up and cast it in the light of Wall Street 'fat-cats' walking around like they deserved everything because of their sheer arrogance, a la Marie Antoinette "Let them Eat Cake".

recognition of certain Randian truths. These include “asking in the face of new taxes and government controls, ‘Why work at all?’ ‘For whom am I working?’ ” The Atlas Society also suggests that Rand lovers should start by “recognizing that you’re being punished not for your vices but for your virtues,” “recognizing that you do not need to justify your life or wealth to your neighbors, ‘society,’ or politicians, or bureaucrats,” and “taking the moral high ground by explicitly rejecting as evil the premise of ‘self-sacrifice’ that they sell to you as a virtue.”  

I proclaim these truths to be self evident, but it's important to point them out to the looters!

given that most of Obama’s initiatives have been driven by deficit spending, not taxation, it’s unlikely we’ll see any statistically detectable signs of tax avoidance of the sort you’d expect from a Galt-leaning culture.

Wait for it. Just wait........

That kind of smarminess of bureaucratic-speak— ‘we’re doing this for your own good’—is very much in evidence these days.” 

Amen

Fear and Loathing in Providence

Once again Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) is in Providence today, and talking about health care. To his constituents you ask? Nope! Not yet. Still no plans for a town hall with the people he represents. Today's event is called "The Best and Brightest Forum on Medical Innovation". There will probably be a good photo-op in tomorrow's Pro-Jo, and it will be made to look like he is out there talking about the critical issue of health care.

You may recall that Rep. Kennedy has said he's afraid of town hall meetings.

All Patches has to fear, is fear itself!

And Nancy Pelosi is scared of those Tea Party types too!

---

She is of course referring to the murder of Harvey Milk who was killed by Dan White a former San Fransisco Supervisor, who was a democrat!

It's funny. If you don't agree with Washington's out of control spending and you speak up in opposition then you are scary! But if you're on the left, and you want more free stuff, then go nuts!

Torch-carrying protesters storm UC Berkeley chancellor's home; 8 arrested

Those silly Tea  Party protesters don't know how to protest at all! Their protests would make you think they are all teetotallers.

Now this is how you protest!

Nearly 1000 arrested at climate change protest

---

The stark contrast of how a climate protest and a tax protest gets described is hysterical! The video above is from the Huffington Post. They basically report a peaceful protest temporarily interrupted. You know, those crazy kids. Lefties will be lefties you know. What are ya gonna do? But if you search the Huffington Post for reports on the Tax Day Tea Party protests it's a different story. Here they go out of their way to report an actually peaceful protest as an angry mob!

Tea Party Video: Right-Wing Tax Protests Caught On Tape

An angry guy off camera starts cussing up a storm

Oh no! Not cussing! Dear god! Run for the hills! Hide the woman and children! Where is the humanity! Hide Mr. Kennedy, hide!
Gotta love it!

UPDATE (5:28 PM): I just want to point out that I posted this before Glenn Beck did his Copenhagen protest shtick. His was laugh out loud funny though. I'll post video here if I can find it.

Beat the Drum Louder

There is an old adage that says:

"You learn more from those that disagree with you, than you do from those that already agree with you"

I think I would now add to that "unless you're on the left because then you think you already know everything"

They are still angry out there!

So with some free time to burn I let my curiosity get the best of me and used that wonerful "Next Blog" link to randomly take me around the  blogosphere.

One of the places I landed early on was a blog at http://somehistoricalperspective.blogspot.com/. Great! I like to think my blog is all about historical perspective too! When you arrive at this blog the title of the blog is "Make it Stop! Make it Stop!".  Interesting? It almost screams the visual of someone holding their hands over their ears and screaming "Make it Stop! Make it Stop!". moving on, the first article is interesting. It is a slam piece about that ridiculous purity test that I have really only heard people on the left talk about. I don't doubt that some silly ultra-conservative may have suggested something like this, but even if it's true that there is a push to use something like this I too think it's dumb. The last part of the post penned by 'LaPopessa' sparks my curiosity.

9 -Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion
10 - The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership

Where to begin, where to begin. Could it be the innate contradiction of points 9 & 10 (we care about your life only while in the womb, outside of it, run or duck & cover, 'cause we've got a right to those guns).

That's kinda cute. But it left me with a question? So I left an anonymous post. Not sure why I decide to do that? I usually don't post anonymous, but somehow I guess I did get a bad vibe from the site. Perhaps this could be one of those politics of personal destruction types! So I wrote something to the affect of

Interesting post, I do not think I would pass the purity test either........ I too have often pondered the inconsistency with 9 & 10 as well. I suppose one could pose the the contrary condition: Why is it OK to kill an innocent baby and not to be able to protect your family from killers?

I guess ultimately I am wondering which position of consistency you favor? Kill babies and go ahead kill anyone else with your gun? or don't kill babies and don't own guns?

 I went back a few times because I was truly interested in what the reply might be. After the post sat there for a few days I went back and it was gone! So I left another post that said something to the affect of:

Not into the whole free exhange of ideas thing?

I went back again. Sure enough, deleted. But this time there was a reply (2 comments).

Comment deleted

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

3:03 PM

LaPopessa said...

Yes anonymous I have. Beat your chest all you like, but until you man up enough to actually leave your name, don't expect me to take you seriously.

9:59 PM

 Wow! So she would never take an anonymous piece like the Federalist Papers seriously? I mean, just for some historical perspective. So I determine this probably isn't the place for me.

Moving on again I stumble upon http://www.drumsnwhistles.com/. The Title of this blog is "Odd Time Signatures". Indeed! I find a post that elicits my curiosity .

Tell me again: What was the public option supposed to do? 

In this case, I leave a comment, and I get a reply from the author Karoli . In the reply I am posed a question in what comes across as an angry tone. So I answer the question. You can read the thread here. No reply. OK fine.

Then I find another interesting post.

True health care reform: Puzzle it out

I leave another post. You can go here and read it, but you won't see it on the site. Basically it said

True health care reform

 The concept of pre-existing conditions came about the same time congress rolled out medicare medicaid. The idea was backed by the government then because they thought it would incentivize people to maintain insurance policies. They were talking the same mantra then that they are talking today. If everybody, including the young and health have insurance then the large pool will insure enough money is available for all. It didn't work out that though.

So, without the threat of being denied insurance for a pre-existing condition; explain to me again why I should carry health insurance? My choices are to continue to pay the monthly premiums as I do today, or I can drop my coverage and pay a tax that is roughly equivalent to one months premium? And then, if I get sick? Just sign up for insurance then! Brilliant!

http://conservativelibertine.blogspot.com/2009/...

In short, the left does not like well thought out well reasoned ideas or questions. The only way they know to combat cold calculated logic is to hold their hands over their ears, scream "La La La I can't hear you!", and beat the drum louder.

Death & Taxes

Now they get you coming and going.........

A while back I lamented that the diktat to have health care insurance was the equivalent to an existence tax.

The Existance Tax

 

I should probably post the lyrics to the Beatle's "Tax Man" here. They wan't to tax you for being here, and then they want to tax you when you leave.

The Tax That Won't Die

Both concepts are abhorrent to anyone that believes in a free society.

Making (up) History......

Now this is spin you can believe in!

Harry Reid recently tried to capture the moral high ground in the well of the Senate by "equating opposition to Medicare cuts and tax increases with support for human bondage that it took a bloody civil war to end, "

Olympia Snowe Is Right

Mr. Reid made his case with his usual intellectual nuance this week: 

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, 'Slow down, stop everything, let's start over.' If you think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right. When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, 'Slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough.'"

Does Harry Reid know any history? I mean, he knows that it was the newly formed Republican party that was the Anti-Slavery party and that it was the democrats that were fighting for slavery, right?  We know from history that the Whig Party basically dissolved over the issue of slavery. The protest movement against slavery became the Republican Party, right?

But, no no, this time, they (the democrats) are on the right side of history. umm...brotha puhlease! 

The irony of the analogy is staggering. What democrats are currently trying to do with health care reform will actually enslave all Americans regardless of their race! They still believe that Massa knows best, and that they can take care of us better than we can take care of ourselves! But don't worry, they will be benevolent masters (this time). As the government continues to take over large segments of the economy, as they move to rule our lives and everything we do in the name of reducing the costs of health care, the United States will be come one big sharecropping plantation.

It's even more ironic that the President who claims Lincoln as his all time political hero will be the president that could sign into law the legislation that shackles and enslaves an entire country.

Harry, thanks for reminding everybody that when it come to moral issues the Republicans are right (literally), and that you guys are just selfish, power hungry control freaks.

Don't Count Your Chickens.........

While just a few days ago, Obama was taking bows (as opposed to performing bows) because the November unemployment numbers fell to a mere 11,000 and the overall unemployment rate fell to 10% from 10.2%. HE proclaimed that the economy was at least signaling that it was starting to move in the right direction.

Not so fast! I am shocked that I have not heard one analyst or one report that even hints or suggests that November might be an anomaly due to the Holiday effect. What's the Holiday effect? Well, in business, October is usually where next year's budget gets final approval, and you have a good idea how the fourth quarter is going to turn out. Sometimes you'll see spates of layoff's in October to adjust the bottom line and make the numbers look good or at least better at year end. But after that most companies are on cruise control and don't execute any huge new initiatives. Especially not lay-offs. Nobody wants to be the grinch that ruined Thanksgiving or Christmas. That's what you saw in 2008. Even though the sky had started to fall, and you might have noticed the rise in unemployment, but then, nothing really happened until January. Beware the ides of January! You can expect a negligible number for unemployment in December. Possibly even better looking than Novembers mild numbers.

We won't really know the direction of the economy until the January unemployment numbers come out. January will indicate if the 2010 budgets that were planned and approved in October, are suggesting that businesses are executing growth strategies or not.

However, you should not count your chickens before they are hatched! Remember that the 2010 budgets were finalized in October. Remember that businesses even today still have the question marks regarding Health Care reform, as well as Cap & Tax. With the looming uncertainty of what these government programs will mean to the bottom line, expect companies to sit on their cash or delay the execution of growth strategies until the political issues are solved and the can crunch the numbers and determine the implications to their budgets.

Meanwhile, the President went on TV today to essentially suggest "See! Spending is working! The jobless numbers are starting in the right direction, and it is because the stimulus is beging to work!".

Obama urges major new stimulus, jobs spending

Obama said the U.S. must continue to "spend our way out of this recession" as long as so many people are out of work.

Never mind that this is not what business wants to here, unless of course you own a construction business and you have a friend who happens to hold political office. Business knows that they will be paying for further transfers in wealth with taxes.

Never mind that banks do not want to hear this. Even though many of them were bailed out by the government, they know a train wreck when they see one. Was it irresponsible of them to lend to people they figured couldn't pay the loans back? Sure, but they were government backed loans and Barney Frank really liked to see low income people get homes they could not afford. But, they are not totally stupid! There is no-one to back the loans made by the government if it starts to look like they might not be able to repay loans (See Dubai).

Moody's Warns U.S. Could Lose Triple-A Rating

Losing your triple A rating is like missing a payment on your credit card and watching the interest rate go from 6% to 23%. It costs you a lot of money.

Health Care Mein Kampf

Saul Alinsky's principles directed toward a specific end. A strategy, verbalized in to tactics to achieve a specific victory. This is the equivalent of taking Rommels' "The Tank and Attack" and using it to create a specific battle plan.

Was Democrats’ Health Care Strategy Written In Federal Prison?

“We must create a national consensus that health care is a right, not a commodity; and that government must guarantee that right.”

“We must create a national consensus that the health care system is in crisis.”

“Our messaging program over the next two years should focus heavily on reducing the credibility of the health insurance industry and focusing on the failure of private health insurance.”

“We need to systematically forge relationships with large sectors of the business/employer community.”

“We need to convince political leaders that they owe their elections, at least in part, to the groundswell of support of [sic] universal health care, and that they face political peril if they fail to deliver on universal health care in 2009.”

“We need not agree in advance on the components of a plan, but we must foster a process that can ultimately yield consensus.”

“Over the next two years, we must design and organize a massive national field program.”

“We must focus especially on the mobilization of the labor movement and the faith community.”

“We must systematically leverage the connections and resources of a massive array of institutions and organizations of all types.”

“To be successful, we must put in place commitments for hundreds of millions of dollars to be used to finance paid communications and mobilization once the battle is joined.”

The real 'go get'em boys!' part of the plan is when he says:

Creamer adds: “To win we must not just generate understanding, but emotion—fear, revulsion, anger, disgust.”

Watch out Tea Party!

Picture that moment in the movie Patton. Rommel's tank division attacks Patton at Kasserine Pass. Patton drives the Fascists into retreat and says:

[Outmaneuvering Rommel]
Patton: [referring to Rommel's book, 'Infantry Attacks' or 'Infanterie greift an'] Rommel... you magnificent bastard, *I read your book*!

The Tea Party needs to generate more fear, more revulsion, more anger and more disgust! I don't care how scared and whiny Nancy Peolsi and Patrick Kennedy get!

All Patches has to fear, is fear itself!

Animal Cars

Well that didn't take long. When the 'bailout' of GM happened and the company re-emerged from bankruptcy with a board of directors representing the primary stock holders, the U.S. Government and the Unions, it was the completion of the revolt. Now that the animals are in control of the farm it is amusing to watch the champions of the proletariat rapidly become capitalists. The board has made drastic changes to GM's top management in order to make the company 'into a leaner more nimble company'. Leaner, eh? Does this mean that the unions will be more accepting, heck, directing layoffs and plant shut downs?

GM Shakes Up Management

In a company meeting broadcast to employees, Napoleon, er, um I mean new Chairman Ed Whitacre told employees to 'Step up".

In an employee meeting Friday that was broadcast to GM locations around the globe, Mr. Whitacre said employees are expected to "step up" and take more responsibility, according to a person who watched the 45-minute broadcast.

That's right! The chickens need to lay more eggs, the horses need to move more rocks, and the geese need to harvest more grain. This isn't your father's union shop! Get off of your butts!

Earlier, in an employee message, Mr. Whitacre said there are no plans for further layoffs at the sharply downsized company.

Oh, I am sure they won't call anything layoffs. It will probably be something like retraining or re-education at "Alfred Simmonds, Horse Slaughterer and Glue Boiler".

Animal Farm

Years pass, and the pigs learn to walk upright, carry whips, and wear clothes. The Seven Commandments are reduced to a single phrase: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Napoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the humans of the area, who congratulate Napoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the country on the least feed. Napoleon announces an alliance with the humans, against the labouring classes of both "worlds". He abolishes practices and traditions related to the Revolution, and reverts the name of the farm to "Manor Farm".

Job Summit or Just More Blame Storming?

President Obama just finished a speech in Pennsylvania. His speech was meant to inspire confidence in his economic agenda. What economic agenda? Well, we are all still waiting to hear. The illusion of a jobs summit that was attennded mostly by Union leaders, and ivory tower academics with a few company CEO's (who happen to be Obama supporters) was political theater meant to dramatically signal to the country that he is paying attention to the jobless rates and overall problem with economic growth.

It's an excellent strategy. Not only do these high profile acts project the illusion of leadership on the economic front, it also takes attention away from the sausage making happening on the floor of the Senate. The health care bill, the presidents real priority, is in the process of being butchered with amendments, favors, and the usual pork that the president promised would not plague Washington anymore. Nothing to see here.

The real disappointment in the presidents speech was his walk down memory blame. In describing how the housing bubble happened, he returned to the fairy tail about greedy Wall Street fat cats giving loans to people who just should not have received loans. He admitted that everyone was to blame, because everyone was making money. Accept he didn't mention the governments role in the mess, and those that do not learn from history are forced to repeat it. Back in May I posted about what still seems to be the pink elephant in the corner:

Prophetic Pronouncement from WSJ

And he has people in Hollywood helping to place the blame on anyone but the government.

Revisionist History

giving loans to those who they knew could never repay

Now, he's right, of course. But, by not giving you the whole story, or by not sharing the blame with bad govt policy, and lack of enforcement of existing regulations, he effectively revises history to place all of the blame on Wall Street and the Republicans.

Never mind that it was the Community Reinvestment Act signed into law by Jimmy Carter which was

designed to encourage commercial banks and savings associations to meet the needs of borrowers in all segments of their communities, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.^[1][2][3] Congress passed the Act in 1977 to reduce discriminatory credit practices against low-income neighborhoods, a practice known as redlining.

Never mind the  Financial Services Modernization Act signed into law by President Bill Clinton

which repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, opening up the market among bankingsecurities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and/or an insurance company. companies,

 Never mind that in September of 1999

the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.

Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.

 In that same New York Times article, there were those who were already sounding the alarm.

''From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,'' said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ''If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.''

And in a further illustration of the Presidents ignorance about job creation he went on to explain how "Companies are still hesitant to hire", and talked about how we need to make them hire people.

Mr. President, you will not see any significant burst in job growth until you put health care and the cap & tax bills behind you. Comapnies are sitting on any cash that theyhave until they know how much you plan to take from them. If both initiatives fail, then you will see an immediate increase in job growth. If both pass, well, there just won't be that much money left for companies to spend on new employees. It's pretty simple.

oh yeah, and will somebody tell the President that Barney Frank is still trying to give loans to people who don't deserve them?

You got to Roll Me......

Back to the Future

Not surprising really, when you think about it. Since Obama stated to the world that the U.S. has no intention of beating the Taliban and will begin retreating 18 months after staging a surge, Karzai is looking down the road to his new stark reality.

AP Interview: Karzai willing to talk to Taliban

White House spokesperson Gibbs and other had defended the disastrous speech at West Point by saying that the 18 month withdrawal time-line was just 'a goal', and that conditions on the ground would dictate what really happens, and that the 18 month time-line was intended to tell the Afghan government that we would not be there forever so they better get on top of defending themselves.

Karzai has clearly received the message. He and the Taliban now realize that Obama is pulling out and it is not even a matter of time. We all now know the time-line.

Real-estate value in Tora-Bora just went back up again.

Obamastan or Osamastan?

I guess we know now.

Going Galt

Is it starting to happen? Is Atlas beginning to shrug? As government inflicts itself and imposes it's political desires on big business and critical industries, are the captains of industry giving up?

Mostly I want to know if it was John Galt or Francisco d'Anconia that showed up and convinced ex-GM CEO "Fritz" Henderson of the futility of it all. Which one of them convinced Fritz that the looters have arrived and they intend to take what others produce? Were they the ones who got him to embrace his Sanction of the victim?

U.S.'s Role Expands in the Boardroom - WSJ

Boards crammed with government appointees have prompted the departure announcements of three CEOs in the past two months: Mr. Henderson, Kenneth D. Lewis at Bank of America Corp. and Alvaro de Molina at GMAC Financial Services.


The departures, and friction at other government-backed companies, raise a sticky question: Whose interests are these boards serving?

Is there a destroyer loose in the world? Some evil creature that is deliberately luring away the brains of the world for a purpose we cannot understand?

Is Hank Greenberg, the former CEO at AIG, the contemporary Hank Reardon? Both Hanks were chased away by the government because it wanted their riches. Eventually the government run businesses wants Hank to come back and take the wheel.

All very interesting parallels.

My last question is; who is John Galt?

Kiss My Hamas: Part III

Talking to your enemies: What a difference a year makes; or not

So, after convincing the American electorate that then President Bush's policy of pushing the U.N. for sanctions on Iran because of their efforts towards obtaining nuclear weapons was wrong, jingoistic, mean, and just not the right strategy in a world where diplomacy can solve everything; President Obama just may have learned his first on-the-job lesson. Too bad Iran is another whole year closer to having a nuclear bomb.

The Iranians have played Obama for the fool that he is. The presidents displays of weakness, deference, and his Pollyanna approach to diplomacy has made the situation worse, not better.

Iran to Build 10 More Nuclear Sites, State News Agency Says

The Iranian's have concluded that Obama is weaker and meeker than Jimmy Carter. 

So the chess game continues

Kiss My Hamas: Part Deux

The announcement of plans to build 10 more Uranium enrichment facilities is an interesting move. Is this just a hostile threat meant to scare Obama into backing off any efforts to have the U.N. impose more sanctions? Obama clearly communicated that he didn't think sanctions were the way to go, so the threat of making things worse could be an effective attempt to reinforce that idea.

Or is it worse than that? Could Iran have obtained nuclear weapons already? Spreading out the production of your Uranium enrichment production is a smart military move. They know that right now they are completely vulnerable to a military strike that could completely eliminate their enrichment capabilities, so creating more targets to make that happen makes sense. But, why would you announce it to the world? Why wouldn't you just quietly go ahead and do it? Are they trying to provoke the military option? Are they hoping Israel will freak out and bomb their Nanantz nuclear facility, so that they can retaliate with their brand new nuclear missile and remove Israel from the face of the map as they have promised?

Once again, Your move Mr. President.





Iran

Climate Change: The New Religion

I think that Dan Brown's next book should be a thriller that unravels the mysteries, the intrigue, and the secrecy at work in the hallowed halls at the Church of Climate change.

I absolutely believe in freedom of religion. I even admire people of faith. But, when it comes to people forcing their belief system on others, and even using it to extract money, and create rules of law then I object in the strongest terms possible.

This sentiment could apply to the Christian Church of the Dark Ages, or even Islam and Sharia law, but in this instance I am specifically referring to the priests, mullahs, scientist, or whatever you want to call them at the UK's Climate Research Unit.

Global Warming With the Lid Off

Climategate may have shaken the faith of some, but there is enough blind faith to keep the true believers chanting. 

I have previously posted that I believe in global warming, just not man made global warming.

Global Warming is Real!

 

I mean even if you were to accept that the data they used was accurate, honest, and did in fact prove that the climate of the earth was in fact warming in the period of time for which they had data, it is still meaningless! Sorry, but when you think about how old the earth is, and how extreme the differences in climate have been, the data sample they base their conclusions on is statistically insignificant. After all, what is the correct temperature or climate for the planet? Is it the tropical climate that fostered the age of the dinosaurs? Is it the ice age that ended the rein of the dinosaurs and sent glaciers growing towards the equator? Or is it the climate in which their little minds currently exist?


Newsflash: The Globe has been warming ever since the end of the ice age!

I am fine with scientific differences of opinion, but governments are now seriously considering making laws and collecting taxes for a belief system that probably isn't even true! The president is about to travel to Copenhagen to commit our country to (pardon the phrase) god knows what, and when Congress puts the health care issue to rest they will take up a cap & tax approach to limiting carbon emissions that could put the final nail into the coffin of our economy.

If you and some like minded people can't visibly prove your beliefs, but you congregate together to profess your faith in your beliefs, then you are part of a religion. And there is nothing wrong with that.

We need to maintain the separation of church and state. Especially in this case!


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Happy Thanksgiving

I wish a Happy Thanksgiving to everybody. This year has been particularly challenging with the suffering economy and job market for myself, many I call friends, and many more I don't know. Yet, there is still much to be thankful for. Very few of us succumb to hunger or the elements, and we in this country no longer have to worry about being hunted by beast or by man. We live in the same manner of relative safety that the Pilgrims lived in before they left for the new world.

The Desolate Wilderness -WSJ

Why did the Pilgrims leave safety and comfort and risk everything, including their lives and the lives of their families? Because the society they were living in would not let them practice their faith and live their lives in the manner they wished to.

Pilgrims created a new world and when independence came they made sure that all religions would be welcome. They mandated a separation of Church and state. Now this very concept that was meant to be inclusive is now used by atheists and Muslims to persecute and tear down what was a predominately Judea-christian society.

Maybe it's cosmic karma. The Pilgrims and those who followed didn't treat the indigenous people who were here before them very well. Truth be told they eventually pushed them out. Now the invited and uninvited over running America's shores are not treating the existing society with any respect either.

What happens next? Where can some one go to participate in the type of society that made America great? The society that practiced self reliance and charity rather than socialism. What happens when you no longer feel that the society you are living in will let you practice your faith and live your life in the manner you wished to? Do new age Pilgrims explore and colonize outer space? Rebuild a society that will become the envy of the universe and once again become the place people want to flock to? or does Sharia law merely grant them 'reservations' where they are left relatively un-molested? Maybe they will let them keep their fire water, and perhaps they will even grant them the right to run Casino's.

They called it Paradise - I don't know why
You call some place Paradise - kiss it goodbye
- The Last Resort, by the Eagles

It's the Economy Stupid!

The news channels on Saturday was as frenzied as I have seen them in a while. There seemed to be a lot of hype surrounding the upcoming vote. While the vote was to merely debate the proposed bill on the floor of the Senate, it is important because it does communicate what leadership deems to be important and what they intend to focus on. On Fox News that Saturday I watched Harry Reid make speech emploring senators to vote for cloture.

All we are doing is voting to debate the bill. Not debating this bill would be un-American
(Paraphrased Because I cannot find a the quote in print but watched it live)

The most compelling argument came from Senator Bob Corker (R-TN).
Corker Says Reid Health Care Plan "Takes Our Country In Exactly The Wrong Direction"

While the Senator mostly focuses on the direction of the bill, I was hoping someone would talk about the direction of the country. I was hoping that someone would mangle Bill Clinton's tag line and declare "It's the job market stupid!"

The Obama administration will have spent their entire first year in office dedicated to pretty much this one issue. I have pointed out before that if you crunch the numbers the issue they are trying to address will really only benefit 4% maybe 5% of the population. realtively minuscule compared to the 10.2% of the population that is unemployed right now. And guess what, at least 86% of Americans get their health care insurance through their employers. So you know what that means? Unemployment is a health care issue!

Ideally someone would have stood up during the debate and pleaded to vote against bringing the bill to the floor so that the senate could move on to issues that deal with 10.2% of the population that is unemployed.

Unfortunately, the senate has clearly communicated to businesses that the government take over of health care is their priority instead. And so, despite a slight upturn in economic indicators, business will be sitting on any mild gains they have been able to make. With the uncertainty over what additional costs per employee due to health care obligations, the senate has insured that for the fourth quarter of 2009 and the first quarter of 2010, businesses will not be perusing any aggressive growth strategies.

This is the time of year where businesses are finalizing next years budget. I do not think it a wild exaggeration to say that last Saturdays vote has probably slowed the countries economic recovery by an entire year.

The Audacity of Blame

My head is still shaking in wonderment about the decision to try KSM in civilian court as opposed military tribunals.

This is your idea of Hope?

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This day in History.... National Socialism is Goes on Trial

 Is this just base incompetence and naivete of a neophyte president? Or, is this deep, deep, deep evil genius political strategy? Is it at all possible that they want KSM to go free? Are the betting that charges will be dismissed because KSM was tortured (if you classify water boarding as real torture).

Just think about it. Think about how they could re-direct the outrage into more of the 'Hate Bush' fuel that has served him so well. Let's face it, the administration has had no successes yet. Not in foreign policy, not in domestic, policy, and not with the economy. This guy is slowly beginning to realize that he can't fix things just by walking into the room. He is also beginning to realize that he did not win the election, but that George W Bush lost the election, even though he was not running.

It is win/win for Obama if KSM is set free, or at least has charges dropped. Obama will take the moral high road in an attempt to grab more of that international 'rock star' love that he craves. It could even spark another apology tour. I can hear it now:

"We Americans need to use this as a teaching moment. By using tactics that terrorists, and every other army in history has used, we have brought this upon ourselves. If only the previous administration had not engaged in the unacceptable treatment of detainees, we would not have to deal with the ugly reality that because of the Bush administration, we are not safe"

Perfect! Brilliant! See! Bush didn't keep us safe for the eight years after 9/11, he made it worse, and KSM will be the proof. The intensity of the hate Bush / blame Bush flame has died down to low to be of any help, and so this would be the perfect accelerant to make that fire burn bright once again.

Also, the perceived out reach and act of fairness towards the Muslim world is another reason Obama could see this as a winning strategy. It won't work of course. Just like appeasing Russia by scrubbing missle defense yielded nothing, just like direct talks with Iran have gone nowhere the reality is that the United States will look weaker in the eyes of the world. The world will love him for it. Power is like matter, it is neither created or destroyed. By yielding power to others they make express appreciation, but don't expect favorable treatment for it.

“Guilty as hell, free as a bird—America is a great country”
-Bill Ayers

This day in History.... National Socialism Goes on Trial

Nuremberg Trials Begin (1945)

Neuremberg is a good example of how military courts are better suited to deal with acts of war than civil courts. I still don't understand why the Obama administration is sending some of the terrorists to military tribunals and others to civilian courts. The 'because they killed civilians' explanation is just not logical. In fact given the sometimes jackpot justice outcomes (O.J. Simpson) that occur, aren't they really giving incentive to the terrorists to strike civilian targets rather than military targets?

Using the administrations logic it appears that they would have brought Hermann Göring back to the US or the UK for trial since he was responsible for ordering the bombing of the London civilian population during the Battle of Britain.

It doesn't really make sense does it?

Who is John Galt?: the obamacare lockbox

Just an excellent post over on the WhoIsJohnGalt blog. It reveals the lie behind the lie of health care reform in a very simple and straight forward way.

A must read!

Who is John Galt?: the obamacare lockbox

I guess that Al Gore lock box thing was a good idea?


Alas, we all know that Mr Galt is right. This government never has and never will save money for a rainy day.


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This is a Test, This is Only a Test.....

of the create an emergency network.

FAA glitch causes widespread delays

 A problem with the FAA system that collects airlines' flight plans caused widespread flight cancellations and delays nationwide Thursday. It was the second time in 15 months that a glitch in the flight plan system caused delays.

 The outage is affecting mostly flight plans but also traffic management, such as ground stops and ground delays, he said.

 I guess these things happen. Usually critical systems like these have some pretty serious redundancy architectures. Sure, performing upgrades can be problematic, but redundancy can be used to quickly declare 'no go' when things start to go wrong. It is perplexing how such an important piece of infrastructure could be so vulnerable.

FBI Suspects Terrorists Are Exploring Cyber Attacks

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking at people with suspected links to al Qaeda who have shown an interest in mounting an attack on computer systems that control critical U.S. infrastructure, a senior official told Congress Tuesday.

Such infrastructure could include power grids and transportation systems.

I am not saying today's events are an attack, but perhaps someone poking around, seeing what's what, and oops?

I will be very interested to hear the explanation for this one. The explanation for the last one?

The FAA said at that time the source of the computer software malfunction was a "packet switch" that "failed due to a database mismatch."

Ok, right....whatever.

Bow Wow Wow!

What is up with Obama's habit of bowing to some foreign leader's and not others? The real puzzling thing is why he feels the need to bow at all? American president's had a completely consistent record of not bowing to royalty, as that was the form of government we rebelled against and sought our independence from. But this guy uses the bow like a wink at at a poker game. It's not a diplomatic formality, it's a message!

	Royal Leader	Obama	Any other President
	Saudi King
	British Queen
	Japanese Emperor

Is it a sexist thing? Even if you think that maybe bowing to Royal figure heads is just a nice warm and fuzzy diplomatic ritual that we should begin to observe, why is it that he does not bow consistently? Saudi King; OK, no women allowed so nothing really there to observe. British Queen; OK, he learned his lesson about the whole bowing to royalty thing, so he's not going to do that again! Japanese Emperor; Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We kicked these guy's asses! They owe us everything! and he is bowing to their figure head leader? Even more telling was the deep, and far bow he gave to the Emperor, and the lame nod of the head, hardly even qualifying as a bow, that he gave to the Empress.

What's the logic/message here?
 Is it "get in your Burka and shut up!"?

No Show Jobs - Mob Style

With the audacity that would make Tony Soprano proud, the administration has been discovered yet again in their attempt to transform America's national politics into Chicago style politics.

WSJ: The Chicago Way

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Gangsta Land: ObamaCorps

Apparently 'no show' jobs are part of the recovery plan. I haven't seen it on state run media yet, but Fox News is reporting that the web site that Obama pledged to create so that it would instill confidence in the epic stimulus package is severely flawed. The numbers don't add up.

Congressman Blasts White House for Faulty Job Data on Government Web Site

The Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee is demanding greater accountability from the the Obama administration after gross inaccuracies were found on a government Web site that tracks jobs purportedly saved or created by the $787 billion stimulus plan.

The site -- Recovery.gov -- is under fire for posting a number of jobs created in congressional districts that don't exist and for accepting unrealistic data from several reporting outlets.
For instance, the Web site reported that 30 jobs were saved or created with $761,420 of federal stimulus spending in Arizona's 15th Congressional District. One problem with the claim -- the state has only eight districts 

The site also lists 12 other non-existent districts in Arizona where jobs were reportedly saved or created. It also lists imaginary districts in at least three other states, including Oklahoma, Iowa, and Connecticut.

 Embarrassingly enough, the web site is still up and as of the time of this posting was still advertising bogus jobs and bogus expenditures in bogus congressional districts. I happen to have first hand knowledge that little old Rhode Island (li'l Rhody) happens to only have two congressional districts. However, the web site reports stimulus funds being spent in five Rhode Island Congressional districts.

There is no way that the administration is going to take the heat for this. I have been in business for over 20 years and there is one thing I know. When the numbers don't add up, blame IT. Those stupid computer geeks must have hosed the numbers." Why didn't finance tell the nerds not to show the 'no show' districts!" Somebody could potentially get whacked for this!

More Number Crunching: What is even more embarrassing is that they publish these numbers as if they are something to be proud of! Do they think we should be happy with the fact that each job supposedly created in Rhode Island cost tax payers $335,355? Does that sound good to any body? I am pretty confident that the jobs supposedly created are not six figure jobs and would not be worthy of a $335,355 investment by even the most aggressive speculator.

I know, I know; I can hear Tony Soprano now; "Don't worry aboud it!"