A Destroyer of Worlds

Prior to the elections much was made of just who Obama was. For those willing to set aside the god-like adoration and honestly look at those he associated with, they found radical leftists like Sal Salinsky and his “Rules for Radicals”. His pastor of 20 years Jeremiah Wright whose bigoted rants from the pulpit provided a clear window to his spiritual soul. Bill Ayers, the unrepentant Weatherman bomber acted as a mentor from his early days at Columbia through his entry into politics.

His state legislative record provided insights as well. His inability to make a decision was clearly on display in his 125+ times voting “Present”. A willingness to allow fetuses born alive during a botched abortion to simply die gave us an early indication of the value he places on the lives of those most helpless in our society. A persistent desire to limit the position of fire arms indicated Obama cared little for our second amendment rights.

Conversations with “Joe the Plumber” clearly showed his intention to seize the earnings of the “rich” and “spread the wealth around” to those who are less productive.

There was also his fondness for exaggeration. He billed himself as a law professor in constitutional law. Actually, he was a guest lecturer. There were many others: his introduction of legislation regarding reporting of small nuclear plant leaks (he didn’t), his parents fell in love during their march on Selma ( yet he was born 4 years prior), he played up his community organizing abilities (he opened a single employment office and had asbestos removed) were but a few “accomplishments” he hailed during the campaign.

Since election he has hired numerous lobbyists, after vowing they would have no place. He promised to make Washington swear off earmarks, yet his most recent spending bill has over 9,000 of them. Four of his appointees have had substantial tax problems – one of which now runs the IRS.

Perhaps we could conclude he was less than honest about who he was, what his core values were and the direction he would take our country.

In a brief period of only 8 weeks, it has been clear who we have elected to – as his lovely wife Michele declared – rule over our nation. In the Hindu religion the third god is Lord Shiva – the Destroyer of Worlds. This is the persona President Obama has seen fit to take on, Lord Shiva.

In an amazing and mind numbing series of proclamations, spending bills, bail-outs, and flat out usurpations of power our new Dark Lord has single handedly destroyed 2.1 Trillion dollars of wealth from Americans retirement plans, pensions, investment portfolios and 401Ks. It’s far from over. He has given no indication that he is even aware that people are looking to him for some level of confidence that he understands the problem. In stead he declares the “profit/earning” ratio is getting good enough and we should consider buying stocks. The fact that there is no such thing as “profit/earning” ratio seems to have slipped his mind. His unwillingness to address the toxic housing inventory, the lack of credit for small businesses, the implosion of the auto industry, the failing state budgets and pension plans do nothing but accelerate his task of destroying America’s economy.

To arrest the plummeting revenues collected by the Federal Government, he has decided to increase taxes on “the rich” (tell me, doesn’t 60% feel just a bit high??), eliminate tax breaks on the evil oil companies just as their profits are plummeting, repeal the Bush tax cuts (increasing taxes on those making $45,000 per year by 13%), adding a cap and trade policy sure to drastically increase the cost of electricity and fuel, impose new CAFÉ standards on the auto industry as it falls apart in their hands, remove deductions for interest on homes as we are trying to buck up the real-estate market and remove deductions for charitable giving as charities see the pending money squeeze coming.

Thus President Obama takes his place as our first Lord Shiva, the destroyer on the American economy. And we have another three years and 10 months to look forward to. Our grandchildren will sit and wonder why we elected such a man as our President.

Our murderous troops in action!

Showin' the love.

Watch and smile!

American Thinker: Bingo! Call It Communism

American Thinker: Bingo! Call It Communism

Obama taking direction from the CPUSA??  Naw, couldn't be.  Just some right winger mouthing off.  Move along - nothing to see here, move along.

Bingo! Call It Communism

By Randall Hoven

I once wrote  that we could play "Communist Manifesto Bingo": once President Obama enacts or strengthens five planks from the Communist Manifesto, yell "bingo" and you win.  One month into President Obama's first term, BINGO!

Crude oil is getting cheaper — so why isn't gas? : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel

The devil is always in the details.

Crude oil is getting cheaper — so why isn't gas? : Business : Knoxville News Sentinel

Crude oil is getting cheaper — so why isn't gas?

By CHRIS KAHN, Associated Press
NEW YORK — Crude oil prices have fallen to new lows for this year. So you’d think gas prices would sink right along with them.

Not so.

On Thursday, for example, crude oil closed just under $34 a barrel, its lowest point for 2009. But the national average price of a gallon of gas rose to $1.95 on the same day, its peak for the year. On Friday gas went a penny higher.

To drivers once again grimacing as they tank up, it sounds like a conspiracy. But it has more to do with an energy market turned upside-down that has left gas cut off from its usual economic moorings.

The price of gas is indeed tied to oil. It’s just a matter of which oil.

Stimulus Bill Abolishes Welfare Reform and Adds New Welfare Spending

Well of course it does.  What else would be expected??

Stimulus Bill Abolishes Welfare Reform and Adds New Welfare Spending

 

Stimulus Bill Abolishes Welfare Reform and Adds New Welfare Spending

by Robert E. Rector and Katherine Bradley

WebMemo #2287

A major public policy success, welfare reform in the mid-1990s led to a dramatic reduction in welfare dependency and child poverty. This successful reform, however is now in jeopardy: Little-noted provisions in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate stimulus bills actually abolish this historic reform. In addition, the stimulus bills will add nearly $800 billion in new means-tested welfare spending over the next decade. This new spending amounts to around $22,500 for every poor person in the U.S. The cost of the new welfare spending amounts, on average, to over $10,000 for each family paying income tax.

So how did we get in this financial mess??

I wonder why I haven’t posted on this before. Not sure, but a good friend who sets on the other side of the planet from me politically posted today about the $800 Billion (say that real slow, let it roll off your tongue – 800 hundred billion dollars) and in it appeared to lay it at the doorstep of the Iraq war and followed it up by saying to me in an email how he had lived through 8 years of failed Bush policies and his shattered economy.

This was a quaint argument. He’s a nice guy, but has been totally unwilling to backup his points of view with facts. For example, President Bush had the second best record of consecutive months of economic growth – 27 months. (Bill Clinton had 32), President Bush also brought in more revenue – much more – with his tax cuts. If you check from 2001 to 2006, revenues were up just over 20%. If you narrow the focus to 2003 to 2006 revenues were up 35%. This was due the basic fact that when people keep their money, the look for ways to invest. Companies then grow and revenues to the federal government increase. It proved true for JFK in the 60s, Regan in the 80s and Bush in 2001-2006. Just a note – what happened in 2006?? Mmmmmm – let me see?? What happened in the fall of 2006???? Oh yeah, now I remember – Democrats took control of Congress. How could I have forgotten that? Not that it mattered a whole lot to be honest. The Republican Party of the Bush administration stopped any illusion of being conservative and became Democratic Lite in nature.

However, there was a problem brewing in the housing financial market – identified as early as 1999 as revealed during testimony before Senator Henry Waxman – brewing in the housing market, particularly with Fannie and Freddie. The problem was toxic (as they are called now) assets that they were backing. A problem that began with the Community Reinvestment Act of the 70s and compounded by Janet Reno’s aggressive targeting of banks threatening prosecution if they didn’t step up loans to folks who – honestly – did not meet the most basic criteria for the loan. To enlist the cooperation of the banks, Freddie and Fannie beefed up their loan guarantees, thus setting the stage for this catastrophe. Everyone knew it was coming. Yet, in testimony by Congressman Dodd and Senator Franks as recently as 2007 the program was adamantly defended. In a rather warped set of logic, many on the left claim that the major problem was a LACK of regulation of the banking industry that caused this problem. Honestly, just the opposite is true. Regulation of the banking industry for social engineering (making loans to poor people who could not repay the) figured mightily into our current problem. And, so it went. Here are a couple of links that will take you through the entire story.

First, a step by step slideshow, from the start of the process to where we are today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4&annotation_id=annotation_918789&feature=iv

“Finally, a lecture by Peter Wallison, A co director of AEI's program on financial markets deregulation, Wallison studies banking, insurance, and Wall Street regulation. As general counsel of the U.S. Treasury department, he had a significant role in the development of the Reagan administration's proposals for the deregulation of the financial services industry. He was also general counsel of the Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee and later served as White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan. His latest book is Competitive Equity: A Better Way to Organize Mutual Funds (AEI Press, 2007).”

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2008/12/022355.php

It has been generally agreed by conservative economists that housing needs to be solved first. But, solved is the key word. A number of recommendations have been made.

Dissolve Freddie and Fannie: Their policies have been disaster and just the words “too big to fail” should be a flag that they need to be split apart to spread the risk.

Allow banks to reassert loan requirements: Banks must be able to qualify folks looking for a loan and have a high degree of confidence that they will be able to pay it back.

Repeal Mark to Market: Banks need to be able to declare their holdings as assets that will have future value and not simply have their assets reduced to zero.

Actually use the TARP funds to purchase the toxic assets – according to the original plan – and then auction them off. Currently toxic assets are worth zero; this would set a base line for valuation.

The plan introduced this week, and apparently agreed to by the Democrats of the House and Senate, tackle none of this. In fact, they compound the problem by enhancing the power of Freddie and Fannie, putting increased expectations on banks to “loosen credit” and simply exercise an orgy of spending that does nothing to get a handle on our banking – or broader – financial problems. Yet, there we are.

Just to be fair, the Bush administration made tremendous errors during their term in office. Medicare Part D comes to mind first. This introduced an on-going commitment of over $8 Billion per year to our already staggering entitlement costs. Bush’s unwillingness to wield the veto pen a single time during his first term also did a lot to generate a feeling that there was nothing was off limits when it came to spending. The success of his tax cuts further exacerbated the problem. With more and more money coming into the treasury, Congress (both under Republican and Democrat control) saw fit to spend this windfall rather than to reduce our spiraling national debt.

Now, under President Obama, we find that he feels there is absolutely no problem with deficit spending and plans on deficits far into the future. The day of reckoning is once again pushed a bit down the road. Within 10 years, the bill will come due. Between the interest costs of our spiraling debt, the increasing payments to Medicare, the plunging value of state pension plans and the looming Social Security obligations – our national “bill” will no longer be able to be ignored.

My young friend’s usual reason for our current problems is “the war”. How does the war figure into this? Well, how do our annual costs in Iraq – averaged over the past 6 years - pencil out? Our average costs have been in the neighborhood of $10 Billion per month, $120 Billion per year. With a stroke of the pen, the TARP bill, penned by the Democrat House and confirmed by the Senate, exceeded our entire war costs since March 2003. The Democrat House and Senate has now passed an additional $850 Billion “stimulus” bill and Geitner says another $2 Trillion plus will be needed to unwind the banking problems. Yet my young friend confidently declares (along with a host of the left) that Iraq was the problem. Sorry, no sale.

So what does this mean? The bailout won’t work. Think of it like a family who has maxed out a credit card. Then they get a new offer in the mail with a higher limit. They transfer their balance and then max out the new card. The old empty credit card is too much to ignore, so the old card is now maxed out once again. Our cards, as a nation, are nearly maxed out. President Obama and the Democrat’s plan will finish the process. The result? I believe we may well be headed for a national – and global – collapse. Time will tell, but it’s going to get bumpy – very, very bumpy.

Walmart - the bad guy?? Really??

Two interesting stories about Walmart. Just what goes on inside a Walmart store? Are there secrets to their success?? Yep, they actually care about their customers.

Life at Wal-Mart

Posted by Charles Platt, February 1, 2009 11:03 PM

(Charles Platt is a guest blogger)

As I begin my second week here as a guest blogger, I'm going to risk venturing into a couple of contentious political areas. My aim is not to provoke dissent; I simply feel that some stories are not being told.

The picture above is of me, finishing my shift at the world’s largest retailer. How did I move from being a senior writer at Wired magazine to an entry-level position in a company that is reviled by almost all living journalists?

Next, are the aldermen of Chicago willing to forgo thousands of jobs just because the jobs would be provided by Walmart?? Really??

Wal-Mart Figures Time Is Ripe for Chicago Push

By MIGUEL BUSTILLO

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is mounting a new push to expand in Chicago, hoping that its promises of jobs and sales-tax dollars will prove more tempting in the recession than when city leaders first rebuffed the discount chain earlier this decade.

The world's largest retailer, which so far has been able to build only one store in the nation's third-largest city, hopes to open a half-dozen more in the coming years, according to the company and politicians familiar with its plans. It has been heavily courting Chicago leaders and is studying a dozen potential sites.

Wal-Mart, whose stores are largely concentrated in rural and suburban markets, has long struggled to penetrate the largest American cities amid fierce opposition from politicians sympathetic to organized labor and small business groups concerned the discounter would steal sales from smaller retailers.

Jobs?? We don't need any stinkin' jobs!!!

Speechless, I'm speechless.

Magic in the Mission

Caille Millner

Monday, February 9, 2009

It is too easy to make fun of the people who packed Room 400 in San Francisco's City Hall to stop American Apparel from opening a store on Valencia Street in the Mission District last week.

They are not serious people. They live in a world where facts like 27 vacant storefronts on Valencia Street and 9.3 percent unemployment statewide and nearly 600,000 jobs lost nationally last month do not matter. The few who read books know no authors beyond Naomi Klein. They do not believe that the world has changed since the 1999 World Trade Organization protests in Seattle. This accounts for both the static nature of their vocabulary - "no formula retail!" is their death chant, though anyone who has picked up a newspaper in the last five months could tell you that there isn't a single retail establishment with a formula today - and the juvenile nature of their worldview. They do not want to see businesses be successful. They do not want the Mission District to be welcoming to different types of people.

What they want is magic.

Here comes the "Fairness Doctrine" again!

BLOOD . . . SHOOTING . . . OUT . . . EYES!!!

TOP . . . OF . . . SKULL . . .  SEPERATING!!!!

NUCLEAR . . . FIREBALL . . . EXPANDING!!!

My very own Sen. Harkin says it's time for the Fairness Doctrine to come back into law.

Transcript:

BILL PRESS:  And, thanks for your leadership, thanks for your good work, it's great to have you there Senator. And,  great to have you on the show. Appreciate it.
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Well, anytime – just let me know Bill. I love being with you, and thanks again for all you do to get the truth and the facts out there. By the way, I read your Op-Ed in the Washington Post the other day. I ripped it out, I took it into my office and said 'there you go, we gotta get the Fairness Doctrine back in law again.'
BILL PRESS:  Alright, well good for you. You know, we gotta work on that, because they are just shutting down progressive talk from one city after another. All we want is, you know, some balance on the airwaves, that's all. You know, we're not going to take any of the conservative voices off the airwaves, but just make sure that there are a few progressives and liberals out there, right?
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Exactly, and that's why we need the fair -- that's why we need the Fairness Doctrine back.
BILL PRESS: We'll work on that together. Hey, thanks, Senator! Always good to talk to you.
SENATOR TOM HARKIN (D-IA): Thanks Bill, see you, bye.

Perhaps if the "progressives" had something to say that the American people wanted to hear, "progressive" radio programs could sell advertising and grow as conservative programs do.  But - THEY CAN"T BECAUSE NO ONE IS LISTENING TO THEM.

LiveLeak.com - Shia Muslim Imam Defending Democracy & Freedom!

Wow!  Kinda puts a dent in the libs deriding of our efforts in Iraq.

LiveLeak.com - Shia Muslim Imam Defending Democracy & Freedom!

The arrogance of Power

There is a reason our Founding Fathers feared a ruling class - the arrogance or power.  That point in time when those in power look at their "subjects" and calmly declare that their "subjects" don't mind being abused.  We have reached that point:  from Senator Schumer of New York:

Wow, the American people don't care about pork.  Good to know.

Bloomberg.com: Opinion

Bloomberg.com: Opinion

Yes, this is what I want in the way of government regarding my health care: "Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions "

Why the hell do I want the government guiding my doctore?  DID ANY FUCKING REPUBLICAN READ THIS BILL??  HELLO??  ANYONE???

Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan: Betsy McCaughey

Email | Print | A A A

Commentary by Betsy McCaughey

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.

Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

Bloomberg.com: News

Bloomberg.com: News

Hello???  Is there anyone home in D.C.??  Anyone care about our kids and grandkids??  Is there a limit??  ANY LIMIT AT ALL - on spending?  HELLO????????

U.S. Taxpayers Risk $9.7 Trillion on Bailouts as Senate Votes

By Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The stimulus package the U.S. Congress is completing would raise the government’s commitment to solving the financial crisis to $9.7 trillion, enough to pay off more than 90 percent of the nation’s home mortgages.

The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if needed. The total already tapped has decreased about 1 percent since November, mostly because foreign central banks are using fewer dollars in currency-exchange agreements called swaps. The Senate is to vote early this week on a stimulus package totaling at least $780 billion that President Barack Obama says is needed to avert a deeper recession. That measure would need to be reconciled with an $819 billion plan the House approved last month.

Stories from the Holocaust, told firsthand | Richmond Times-Dispatch

Stories from the Holocaust, told firsthand | Richmond Times-Dispatch

What will the world do when these folks can't defend themselves?

Stories from the Holocaust, told firsthand

EVA RUSSO/TIMES-DISPATCH

Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, a stepsister of Anne Frank, speaks to students at St. Catherine’s School, in Richmond, on Thursday, February 5, 2009. The theater company at the school is producing “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the Words of Anne Frank.“

By Lisa Crutchfield
Published: February 6, 2009

On the day she arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Eva Geiringer Schloss' fate was decided by the coat she was wearing.

Guards sorted new prisoners at the concentration camp into those who faced a life of hard labor and unspeakable horrors, and others -- too old, young or weak -- who went to the gas chambers.

Schloss was captured on her 15th birthday. Were it not for a coat that made her look older, she would have been killed immediately.

Yesterday, Schloss calmly looked out into an audience of high school students at St. Catherine's School in Richmond. "Most of you would not have passed through," she told them.

Newsmax.com - White House Nabs Political Control over Census for 2012 Redistricting

Newsmax.com - White House Nabs Political Control over Census for 2012 Redistricting

A move worthy of Putin.  Does anyone care??  Nationalize Banks - has to be done for the good of the country.  Nationalize the auto industry - has to be done for the good of the country.  Nationalize healthcare - has to be done for the good of the country.  Nationalize the housing industry - has to be done for the good of the country.  Transfer the wealth of productive Americans and businesses to the porkulius bill - has to be done for the good of the country.  Close GITMO - has to be done for the safety of the country.

Hello??   Hello??  Is there anyone out there that believes in America anymore??  Anyone??

 

White House Nabs Political Control over Census for 2012 Redistricting

Sunday, February 8, 2009 10:22 AM

The Obama administration is ending the Census Bureau's autonomy – a move that has Republicans outraged over the White House's politicization of counting Americans.

Last week, an administration official revealed that the yet-to-be-named director of the Census Bureau will report to the White House rather than Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg, a Republican.

That prompted a blistering response from two key Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"Any attempt by the Obama administration to circumvent the census process for their political benefit will be met with fierce opposition as this ill-conceived proposal undermines a constitutionally obligated process that speaks to the very heart of our democracy," California Rep. Darrell Issa wrote in a letter to President Barack Obama. The letter was co-signed by North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry.

"Requiring the census director to report directly to the White House and placing responsibility for administration of the Bureau outside the Department of Commerce may even violate federal law," the letter stated. "According to Title 13 of the U.S. Code, the Bureau is to be administered 'within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.' According to U.S. Code, the Executive Branch is limited to providing support for the Bureau in the form of information and resources."

Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

A report from the Congressional Budget Office - this "stimlus " bill hurts our country.  Is the Big O listening??  Hello???

Washington Times - CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul

Stephen Dinan
Wednesday, February 4, 2009

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 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.

I keep waiting to see the leadership and understanding I expect to see in a President

I'm still waiting.  This is the man that will lead us out of our financial wilderness??

 

American Thinker Blog: More Gun Control Introduced in Congress

The Big "O" believes in the 2nd Amendment - no, really, I'm sure he said so.  This Bill (HR 45) must be some kind of mistake.

American Thinker Blog: More Gun Control Introduced in Congress

More Gun Control Introduced in Congress

Gregory Young
The liberals are at it again. In a new bill introduced the first day of present session of Congress, and with zero coverage from the MSM, H.R. 45 (Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009) targets all gun owners in the U.S.A.
This nefarious bill seeks to strip us all of our Constitutional Rights to possess and bear firearms of any distinction. It requires, within the first two years, that all new guns be registered. The bill goes retroactive after two years.  Meaning that two years after the passage of the bill, ALL FIREARMS in a citizen’s possession must be registered, not just those purchased after the bill passes, and this apparently applies to antique firearms as well.    

50 De-Stimulating Facts by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson on National Review Online

Is it any wonder Americans are outraged at the "stimulus" bill??

50 De-Stimulating Facts by Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson on National Review Online

50 De-Stimulating Facts
Chapter and verse on a bad bill.
By Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson

Senate Democrats acknowledged Wednesday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill in its current form. This is unexpected good news. The House passed the stimulus package with zero Republican votes (and even a few Democratic defections), but few expected Senate Republicans (of whom there are only 41) to present a unified front. A few moderate Democrats have reportedly joined them.
The idea that the government can spend the economy out of a recession is highly questionable, and even with Senate moderates pushing for changes, the current package is unlikely to see much improvement. Nevertheless, this presents an opportunity to remove some of the most egregious spending, to shrink some programs, and to add guidelines where the initial bill called for a blank check. Here are 50 of the most outrageous items in the stimulus package: