Monthly Archives: February 2009
Video-Glenn Beck explains our financial mess
Funny? yes, scary? yes, infuriating? definitely!
H/T Common Cents
UConn basketball coach smacks down outraged journalist
Apparently a “freelance journalist activist” is not happy about how much money UConn’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun makes for doing his job. Sounds like fake outrage to me.
Connecticut’s budget problems and his own high-paying state salary leads to a heated exchange between UConn Huskies Coach Jim Calhoun — on the afternoon of win 799 — and a freelance journalist.
The post-game sideshow was kicked off by Ken Kreyeske, working for the Hartford News. He started to ask the UConn head coach about his $1.6 million a year salary in these difficult finiancial times.
The man asking the questions which got the Hall of Fame Coach fired-up, has made headlines in the past.
The 35-year-old Kreyeske was arrested on a breach of peace charge in January 2007 after trying to take a picture of Governor Rell during her inaugural parade.
Yep, just blame people for being successful there hippy!
JB Williams: Obama’s Failing Recovery Plan
Despite trillions in so-called “economic stimulus” efforts from Washington elites, economic experts continue to predict “tougher times ahead and more stimulus needed.” Democrats strong-armed their 40 year wish list of leftist spending through congress without a single supporter across the aisle and even seven fellow Democrats opposed.
Members of congress were not even allowed to read the 1070 page document before being forced to vote on it and Obama signed it into law before keeping his campaign promise to allow voters at least five days to view the product before signing it.
Investors have been fleeing from the market for more than a year now, in preparation for the new administration, dropping the DOW average from its $14,000 high to its current $7600 low. The people have already lost nearly 50% of their savings. And every time Democrats make another move, investors retreat from the market even further… Why?
Obama is rushing his idea of economic recovery to market and the market is reacting violently, leaving economic experts to predict worsening conditions ahead, despite the trillions in new taxpayer debt being pumped into the system.
According to the Democrat Obama plan….
The primary aims of the recovery plan must be:
to put people back to work;
to sustain the purchasing power of individuals and families and their access to health care, especially among those experiencing unemployment and underemployment;
to invest in infrastructure, education, and alternative energy sources and thereby enhance the long-term productivity of the economy and work force; and
to refinance distressed mortgages so that families can stay in their homes, neighborhoods can recover, and home values can stabilize. Such an effort would also improve the value of the “toxic assets” that the subprime mortgage crisis generated.
This all sounds nice, huh? So why are private investors still fleeing from the market in record numbers, driving stock, retirement account and private property values even deeper into the financial toilet in response to the Obama economic recovery plan?
You’ve heard me and many others refer to the Democrat Plan as a Marxist spending spree and laundry list of socialist power grabs. Some of you have tried to shout down those who use these terms to describe the current Democrat strategies in Washington DC. Some of you accuse Republicans of playing politics in their efforts to stop the Democrat WASTE bill from becoming the law of the land. And now, several GOP governors are rejecting “their fair share” of the fed funny money….
Well, it’s time for American voters to grow up and face reality. Although the above four point stimulus priority list matches the Democrat Plan 100%, I actually borrowed it from the economic recovery plan proposed by an organization called The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) here http://www.dsausa.org/pdf/Economic_Recovery_Plan.pdf.
In short, Washington Democrats adopted lock, stock and barrel, the Socialist economic recovery plan. Obama didn’t think it up. Pelosi and Reid didn’t even dream it up. They adopted it from the Democratic Socialists of America, which happens to be the largest Socialist organization in America today, and the primary US representative for the International Socialists Organization.
They explain their agenda in a single paragraph on their web site here http://www.dsausa.org/dsa.html.
“Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically—to meet public needs, not to make profits for a few. To achieve a more just society, many structures of our government and economy must be radically transformed through greater economic and social democracy so that ordinary Americans can participate in the many decisions that affect our lives.”
This is the basis for the Democrat “stimulus package” put forth by DSA’s legislative arm, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and signed into law by Resident Barack Hussein Obama two days ago. And this is why private investors are fleeing an economic system which is officially, no longer free…
In short, private investors never invest in socialism unless they are going to be the new economy Czar like George Soros, after all of the private industries have been successfully nationalized.
Stimulating What?
66 million American voters voted for American Marxism in the name of “change.” Most of them didn’t know that’s what they were voting for and some still won’t get it even after reading the DSA Economic Recovery Plan along side of Obama’s plan, and finding no discrepancies.
But as you can see, private investors get it all too well.
Obama’s package isn’t designed to save the free market economy. It’s designed to replace the free market economy with a full-blown socialist nanny state run by Czars and a Democrat dictatorship anxious to nationalize banking, energy, technology, transportation, communications, health, food and drinking water. All of it is in their so-called stimulus bill, if you have the time and stomach to read it. Frankly, it’s just plain sickening!
No intelligent private investor will invest in unbridled Marxism. And by the way, NO private business will hire people while they are being taxed and regulated out of business. To fully comprehend how investors are reacting to Obama’s Marxism, watch this short CNBC video clip of investors… http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853
Obama’s stimulus package is destined to finish off the free market system that Democratic Socialists in Washington have been systematically dismantling for decades. If you don’t know it, learn it by reading my recent column, Congressional Democrats Bankrupted the Nation. Facts are stubborn things. Too bad too many Americans lack the courage to face the facts.
A Fool and his Country are soon Parted
The decision is already made. Americans chose to trust Obama & Co. instead of themselves. The free market cannot self-correct when it is no longer a free market.
3 million private sector jobs have been lost so far and that number will double before year end. Many of these jobs will not be replaced during the Obama administration. Some will be replaced, but by new government jobs funded by taxpayers.
The free American economy is being squashed. “Evil” capitalism is for all practical purposes, dead. Its heart is still beating for the moment, but Democrats are fully committed to finishing it off. Capitalism is mean spirited and unfair. It only provides well for the productive. It does nothing for the non-productive, or the under-achiever, which happens to make up today’s Democrat Party constituency.
Of course, only the productive pay taxes, which fund all welfare programs, and only “the rich” fund charities. But who cares about the facts? They only get in the way of the leftist agenda.
It isn’t a stimulus package. It’s a wealth redistribution bill. Taxpayers and investors know it and they are reacting accordingly. Nanny state dependents don’t know it yet, but they soon will.
Only Days Old and Already an Abject Failure
Those ambitious enough to read 1070 pages of pork barrel spending will find a list of Marxist redistribution efforts that will do absolutely nothing to stimulate the recovery of the free market economy. It will do just the opposite.
It will grow the federal government at a record pace and increase the national debt at a rate that will choke what little life remains, out of the free market system. It will make the dollar worth less than a dime, and drive every American household into a corner where socialism looks better than the soup line.
It will strip away what is left of states rights and penalize those who resist.
As Obama was signing the bill into law, he was already telling you that the bill would not work. His economic advisors were out promoting the next several rounds of trillion dollar spending sprees the next morning. They all know that what they passed, won’t work. It wasn’t designed to work. It was designed to grab industry after industry and in that way, it will work.
It was an abject failure the moment it became law. Think not? Watch how many more trillions you will be sold since the first trillion didn’t work… before it even has a chance to work. It’s not designed to work, stupid! (If stupid is as stupid does, then 66 million American voters have certainly earned the title. If the shoe fits, kick yourself with it!)
Past the Point of No Return
American voters agreed to a trillion dollar investment which is not designed to produce a return. In doing so, they have passed the point of no return. They no longer have the power to stop the additional Marxist spending sprees soon to be forced through congress down similar partisan lines.
Obama has already “made history” and affected very real “change.”
He signed the most partisan bill in US history into law and the free market dropped another 300 points while he was signing that bill.
Republicans have no power to stop them and the American people have their heads in the sand, hoping against all logic, for some miraculous result from a bill designed to trash capitalism, not save it.
American citizens are losing their savings, their jobs and their homes and they ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Socialism has failed everywhere it has ever been tried and it will fail in America too. You can’t replace private sector investment with government waste. You can’t replace private sector employment with government employment, because you can’t pay for it…
66 million Americans made a mistake that will cost them, their children and grandchildren, their freedom. Well done!
Forget your next move. You have no next move. It’s checkmate! There is no way out of this corner except through the fire now. For the next few years, the price of gross ignorance will be beyond your imagination. But on the other side of the fire, America will emerge, once again the most conservative God fearing nation on earth.
Nothing will bring a nation back to its knees like broad based personal tragedy will. The home of the brave is currently run by cowards. The land of the free is foolishly hoping for a free-ride. But there ain’t no free lunch. Didn’t your parents tell you that?
It’s too bad Americans have to learn history the hard way. They could have simply studied the past in order to understand the present and see their future. Since they were too busy to do so, they will have to re-live it to believe it…
But don’t say you were never warned! People have been warning you for years…
Stay tuned. It’s about to get really interesting! The people who voted for this crap with pay the heaviest price. Now that’s justice!
Has a single Democrat voter noticed that the ten most over-taxed states in the nation are also the most bankrupt states in the nation? In order of the most over-taxed and still financially challenged first…
Connecticut
New York
New Jersey
Nevada
Vermont
Rhode Island
Massachusetts
California
Washington
Maine
I bet not… But then, why bother with such silly little details. By no coincidence, these are also the ten most over-regulated states. Oh yeah, they are all BLUE voting states too!
Wake up America! Check the fruit on the Democrat tree before you buy anymore Marxist rhetoric.
How to make a recession a depression?
Well, all you really need is Obamanomics! Hope and Change anyone? Well, it would seem that the markets are not big fans of it. Not at all!
The Bush Economy went up in smoke in September-October 2008. The financial meltdown hit Wall Street, devastating bank equities and laying waste to America’s 401-Ks. The Republican ticket, McCain-Palin, was a 50-50 bet on Sept. 15; by Oct. 15 it was a 5-1 long-shot. Voters saw the carnage: the Dow Jones Index lost 17% of its value from Sept. 2 through Nov. 3. In a flash, Americans lost years of toil, and Republicans the election. Decisively.
The election marked a turning point. Investors looked forward to the economic policies crafted by Democrats in Congress and the White House. More pointedly, they wanted decisive, well-crafted action on the banking crisis. Hence the Dow soared 6.5% Nov. 21 on news that Timothy Geithner, the highly-respected head of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, was Obama’s pick for Treasury Secretary.
Yet, from Nov. 4, 2008 through Feb. 12, 2009, the DJI overall fell 18% — a larger drop than during the Sept-Oct plunge. In January, when the Obama plan, promising far greater deficits than the two much smaller “emergency stimulus” plans signed by Pres. George W. Bush in 2008, was unveiled, the market tanked – the worst January performance in 113 years.
Obama Justice Dept. to Detainees: No Constitutional Rights For You!
Just remember kids, the Left said Bush was Hitler for things like this. They just knew hope and change would end rendition, and restore Habeus Corpus, and heal our image in the world, and end all wars, and……………
The justice department ruled that some 600 so-called enemy combatants at Bagram have no constitutional rights.
Most have been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of waging a terrorist war against the US.
The move has disappointed human rights lawyers who had hoped the Obama administration would take a different line to that of George W Bush.
Prof Barbara Olshansky, the lead counsel in a legal challenge on behalf of four Bagram detainees, told the BBC the justice department’s decision not to reform the rules was both surprising and “enormously disappointing”.
I wonder if Obama has the letters WWBD? on his desk? What Would Bush Do?
World’s oldest Liberal: Terrorists are terrible! But, so are we!
They say with age comes wisdom. Not always true! Let’s just call this the Helen Thomas Rule!
Border Agent shoots drug smuggler
Well, when you refuse to stop and run over a border patrol agent, you should be shot frankly.
U.S. Border Patrol agents shot a man described as a suspected drug smuggler in the New Mexico desert Thursday night, federal officials said Friday.
Doug Mosier, a Border Patrol spokesman in El Paso, said agents were trying to stop a pickup truck headed north along a desert ranch road about 11 p.m. Thursday night, when the driver ran over an agent.
At least one other agent at the scene opened fire, hitting the driver at least once.
Following the shooting, Mosier said, the driver of the truck crashed the vehicle along N.M. 9, about 25 miles west of the border crossing at Santa Teresa, about 14 miles west of El Paso.
The agent and the driver, neither of whom have been identified, were both taken to a hospital in El Paso. Mosier said the agent suffered nonlife-threatening injuries.
Utah Jazz owner dies
Very sad news. I love the Jazz because of the way Miller ran the team. He has stuck with his coach, despite not winning any NBA titles, I respect that. The Jazz have been a good team for well over two decades,the fans are loyal, the owner loyal, and I look at the Jazz, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers as the two best franchises in sports.
Miller had one of my favorite quotes about ten years ago. When asked if he would ever sign Dennis Rodman, he said that if not signing Rodman meat the Jazz would never win a chamionship, then they would never win a championship.
RIP
Michelle Malkin on the taxpayer revolt
Will there be one? How about another Tea Party? Who knows, Michelle opines that there is something moving. I hope she is right!
The Tax Man is coming for you
I just do not have the mental energy to comment on these “ideas” Obama has for raising revenues. So I will let JWF fill y’all in.
Trust me, it is scary! Really scary! I mean seeing Roseanne Barr naked scary!
Sorry, I doubt any of you needed that last mental image, but I had to make a point!
Update! Obama nixes tax-per-mile talk.
Well, I am relieved! Good for Obama! I just “hope” this statement from the administration does not “change”
H/T Michelle Malkin
Governor Jindal: We don’t need no stinkin Marxulus!
Nothing to really add is there? I do hope other governiors have the guts and dedication to principles Jindal does!
More Liberal Inconsistentitis!
Yep! Inconsistentitis, yet another Liberal malady I have diagnosed! Check out how Liberal Democrats are inconsitent on union ballots being secret? Yep, it is Inconsistentitis alright!
Democrats leading the charge in 2009 for legislation that critics say will abolish secret ballots for employees voting in U.S. workplace unionization contests signed a 2001 letter urging Mexican officials to protect their workers’ electoral privacy as a defense against union thugs.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA or “Card Check”) would allow labor activists to gather signatures from 51 percent of employees to force a company to accept a unionized workplace. Current law requires a representation election in which workers are guaranteed a secret ballot.
Critics, including officials with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Right to Work Committee and Members of Congress from both parties who oppose EFCA, say the card system invites abuse because workers could be intimidated into signing.
Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the main “card check bill” sponsor on the House side, and nine other Democratic co-sponsors,” all signed the letter to Mexico demanding that the secret ballot be maintained. Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.), Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.), Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.), Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.). all joined Miller in both co-sponsoring EFCA and signing the 2001 letter.
“We understand the secret ballot is allowed for, but not required by Mexican labor law. However, we feel that the secret ballot is absolutely necessary in order to ensure that workers are not intimidated into voting for a union they might not otherwise choose,” Miller and the other card check co-sponsors said in the letter.
“We respect Mexico as an important neighbor and a trading partner, and we feel that the increased use of the secret ballot in union recognition elections will help bring real democracy to the Mexican workplace,” they said.
The biggest problem with the Left? Consistency!
They screech about race, and demand people never stereotype or make racial judgments. Yet they are the ones who also demand we label people according to skin color. Asian-American, African-American, Hispanic-America, This-American, That-American. People either race is important, or it is not important!
They are always quick to question why terrorists or dictators attack Western nations. “Why do they hate us?” “What did we do to anger them?” “We need to reach out and understand them.” These are things you will regularly here when attacks on Israel, the UK, or the U.S. by terrorists are discussed. Yet, when one of those nations retaliates, and attacks terror groups, or the dictators, the same Liberals rarely take the same attitude do they? When did you last here Michael Moore, or Rosie O’Donnell ask, what al-Qaeda did to make America so mad? How about their demands that Hamas, or Hezbollah understand how Israel feels? Ever hear those questions from the Left? Nope!
Look at the manner in which Liberals approach free speech. During the Bush presidency, we heard Liberal after Liberal declare that President Bush was crushing freedom of speech, and destroying dissent. Of course, these charges were moronic and had absolutely no basis in anything realistic. Generally, some Liberal would make some controversial statements, which, of course, is their right. Then, when a Conservative would use that same right to take them to task for their comments, the Liberal would cry that their right to speak freely was being denied.
Foolish as those arguments were, they were nothing to the reaction of most Liberals to what went down in Venezuela, a few years ago. There Hugo Chavez, an avowed Marxist shut down the nation’s most popular broadcast station when it criticized him too harshly. Clearly, he was, in fact, crushing political dissent and free speech! Where were the Liberal voices of outrage over this? Nowhere to be heard, nowhere at all. They suddenly had no interest in defending free speech. The same folks who defined American dissent as the purest form of patriotism had no interest in defending Venezuela’s dissenters as patriots. Instead, many liberals embrace Chavez as a liberator. Liberator? Really?
Therefore, according to the Leftist Doctrine, if your speech is debated or challenged THAT constitutes crushing your freedom. However, if a Marxist actually closes down radio or TV stations that questions his policies, and then calls out his military to quash protests, THAT constitutes social justice?
Consider the whole phenomenon of political correctness for a moment, In the interest of ideals like inclusiveness, sensitivity, and tolerance; Liberals have implemented speech codes and free-speech zones on college campuses. They have stolen school newspapers that contained op-ed pieces they disagreed with. They have over and again attempted to not allow Conservative speakers at commencement ceremonies. Does this sound like a consistent pursuit of freedom of speech for all? Certainly not!
Look at other “PC” campaigns. In the quest to never, ever, even come anywhere close to offending anyone, Liberal activists have sought to erase totally chapters of American history, which they deem offensive. The most glaring example would be where the War Between the States is concerned. Time after time, Southerners have seen their Confederate ancestors attacked, demonized, and treated as if they were Nazi storm troopers. Confederate flags, Confederate monuments, holidays that honor truly great men like Davis, Lee, Jackson, and others have become targets for extermination.
The reason we are told is simple. These symbols are, or might be “offensive” to some. Therefore, they must be torn down, taken out of public view and not discussed at all. Hmmm, they cry sensitivity, but what of those people who enjoy honoring their ancestors? Or who enjoy teaching the history of the war without politically correct editing? What of THEIR feelings? Oh, they do not count I suppose. In true Marxist fashion, I suppose that some animals are, indeed more equal than others?
Ah, the examples of Liberal inconsistency just keep piling up don’t they? How about the Liberal’s tolerance where Christmas is concerned? The ACLU has been trying to eradicate this holiday for years now. All in the name of “separation of church and state” try finding that phrase in our Constitution. Go on, try! It is not there, never was, never. What the Constitution, a document the Left claims to embrace, says is VERY CLEAR! It says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Now, let us apply logic and common sense. Is a student thanking God at graduation, an act of Congress? Is a Nativity scene on a courthouse lawn? How about a town with a Christmas parade? A prayer before a football game? How do these, which have all been targeted by the ACLU, as unconstitutional, equal Congress making a law respecting an establishment of religion? Of course not! Yet the Left, which will tell us all how they are the most ardent defenders of the Constitution, are constantly trying to stop these activities despite the fact that their activities are far in fact unconstitutional. Yes, trying to stop someone from praying IS a violation of the First Amendment!
There are so many more examples of the Left’s inconsistent principles, it could fill a book, a big, big, book! But, the examples cited here ought to be enough to make any truly open-minded Liberal stop and re-examine what they are truly fighting for. If they are to be taken seriously by anyone except their own selves, then they must start being consistent to their stated principles, instead of pulling out those stated principles when it is convenient for them, and putting them away when it is not! In short, convenience has its place, and can be a good thing, but consistency, that is truly irreplaceable!
The death of the free press
The Anchoress has put together a some fine thoughts on what has happened to our media in Ameruca. And, like me, she thinks that, basically, the press has lost any sign of credibility.
Watching Rick Santelli on CNBC proved the point of that study: he threw out the controls and said what he really thought – and it was liberating for the moment, and certainly great tv.
Now, we’ll have to see if he has a job tomorrow, or if he will be silenced. Will he be “suspended” as David Schuster was, from MSNBC for wondering if Hillary Clinton was “pimping Chelsea” to voters during the primary? Will he be made to apologize and grovel, as Chris Matthews was, when he suggested that Hillary Clinton’s post-White House career has been helped by her husband’s infidelity?
Hey, we’re watching police pull over drivers for sticking stupid (but not yet illegal) signs on their cars.
America has already lost her free press, but that was a free-surrender on the part of the press; the government did not shut the press down – it simply married them, hired them and subsumed them.
President Obama, one funny guy
What a jokester! Imagine him telling U.S. mayors not to waste stimulus money! I mean really, how can he say this and keep a straight face? They say the best joke tellers are the ones that can keep their face normal until they deliver the punch line. So, if that is true, Obama is the next great stand-up comic!
Invoking his own name-and-shame policy, President Barack Obama warned the nation’s mayors on Friday that he will “call them out” if they waste the money from his massive economic stimulus plan.
“The American people are watching,” Obama told a gathering of mayors at the White House. “They need this plan to work. They expect to see the money that they’ve earned — they’ve worked so hard to earn — spent in its intended purposes without waste, without inefficiency, without fraud.”
In the days since the White House and Congress came to terms on the $787 billion economic package, the political focus has shifted to how it will work. Obama has staked his reputation not just on the promise of 3.5 million jobs saved or created, but also on a pledge to let the public see where the money goes.
His budget chief this week released a 25,000-word document that details exactly how Cabinet and executive agencies, states and local organizations must report spending. It is a system meant to streamline reports so they can be displayed on the administration’s new Web site, Recovery.gov.
Review of Gitmo shows it meets Geneva Convention standards
Via Ace of Spades, and Hot Air
This report will do one of two things to our Lefty friends. To a few (the ones who have open minds) it will cause them to re-examine their condemnations of President Bush. For the rest, it will cause them to entrench in their hatred of Bush even deeper.
For our president, this news could cause some problems regarding his promise to close Gitmo. If Gitmo does comply with Geneva Convenion standards, then there is no viable reasoning behind ordering it to be closed.
There may be a fine opportunity here that President Obama can seize upon. He could actually use this report to justify a change in his position on Gitmo. Sure he would piss off the far Left, but, he would likely make up for that by pleasing the rest of the country. Of course, he would also avoid the hassles of what to do with the detainees currently in Gitmo once it closes.
We will see if Obama ignores this, or uses it to show he really is an independent thinker who will put America’s best interest before politics.
My bet? I imagine we will hear not a peep about this from the administration or the media.
Gatordoug
darcprynce
Dave C
