The Bailout Is Unconstitutional

George F. Will - Bailing Out of the Constitution - washingtonpost.com:

"It is high time Americans heard an argument that might turn a vague national uneasiness into a vivid awareness of something going very wrong. The argument is that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA) is unconstitutional."

George Will makes the argument that Congress cannot delegate its constitutionally reserved powers to the executive branch, and that is what it has done in the TARP bailout law. That's right, I almost forgot about it, we have that Constitution thingy.

Uh - oh: The Putsch Continues

Sebelius Open to Fast-Track Process for Health Bill - WSJ.com:

"WASHINGTON -- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, indicated Tuesday she wouldn't take off the table a fast-track process for passing a health-overhaul bill despite Republicans' opposition to the tactic. Ms. Sebelius, testifying before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said she had spoken with members of Congress who support using the budget-reconciliation process to pass health legislation, which would allow a bill to pass in the Senate with only 51 votes rather than 60."

Yet another fundamental change to a massive portion of our economic system may be shoved down our throat without even any respect for the Senate rules. 1 senator will be able to decide the future of our health care system and 17% of our economy. Glad we elected this post-partisan, bi-partisan, centrist President.

FALSE CHOICE ALERT - Obama's verbal tick

Mark Steyn: Government's grasp goes global | government, global, geithner, obama, economy - Opinion - OCRegister.com: "

In their first two months, Obama and Geithner have done nothing but vaporize your wealth, and your children's future. What began as an economic crisis is now principally a political usurpation. And, to return to the president's 'false choice,' that 'chaotic and unforgiving capitalism' is exactly what we need right now. It's the quickest, cheapest, fairest, most efficient route to economic stabilization and renewal. A regimented and eternally forgiving global command economy with no moral hazard will destroy us all."

I linked to this Mark Steyn paragraph because it so succinctly states what is going on. But it also gives us the opportunity to call a FALSE CHOICE alert. Whenever you hear FALSE CHOICE in an Obama speech you know you are being served up a STRAW MAN.

Obama - No Surprise Except To the Squishy Centrists and RINOs That Supported Him

Commentary » Blog Archive » Not Like We Didn’t See this Coming:

"Yes, there is an element of managerial incompetence, but the real issue is that the Right was correct about Obama: he’s an ultra-liberal at least on domestic policy, not a pragmatic centrist either on policy or in style. His mode of governance — denigrate the opposition, engage in ad hominem attacks, refuse to compromise on substantive policy, disguise radical policy intentions with a haze of meaningless rhetoric — bespeaks someone supremely confident in his ideological views and undaunted by fears (which are slowly creeping up on his Red state colleagues) of having overshot his mandate."

President Obama's performance to date, rather than being a disappointment or surprise, has been one of the most predictable outcomes I have observed since I began following politics some decades ago. We need to find clever ways to unmask his tactics (e.g. STRAW MAN ALERT) and apply them with great vigor. I can barely imagine how ineffectual this President may become if stripped of his power to mesmerize and obfuscate. Hat tip to Mark Steyn for pointing me in the direction of this Commentary blog.

Leftie Indoctrination - Paid for by Mr and Mrs Middle America

Big Hollywood » Blog Archive » PBS’ Dickens Adaptation Politicizes, Vulgarizes Classic Novel:

"The latest PBS adaptation of Charles Dickens’s classic novel Oliver Twist demonstrates the urgent need for reform of the taxpayer-supported broadcasting service–or an end to taxpayer funding for it."

PBS can't seem to touch anything without turning into a thinly veiled lecture in leftist politics and philosophy. It would be easy to say, "just don't watch PBS." However, these remakes of classic english literature will certainly be adopted by classroom teachers all across American, making even the teaching of the canon an opportunity for leftist indoctrination. I am convinced that we have reached the point we are at politically because we have been saddled by our public education system and our universities with an unthinking and indoctrinated electorate. Until we figure out how to break the left's stranglehold on education, we face an uphill battle.

Hubris

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Meet The New Boss:

"President Obama said Monday, 'my team will be working closely with GM to produce a better business plan.'

To that confident assertion he added these stern sentiments:

'They must ask themselves: Have they consolidated enough unprofitable brands? Have they cleaned up their balance sheets, or are they still saddled with so much debt that they can't make future investments? Above all, have they created a credible model for how not only to survive, but to succeed in this competitive global market?'"

It's frightening to contemplate the fact that the President can make a statement like this with a straight face. The work audacity was not in one of his book titles for naught. What does the President's team know about running an auto company? It's too bad Barack Obama couldn't have taken a few days off the campaign trail two years ago to visit the executives in Detroit and set them straight. If he had confronted them with these inciteful questions two years ago, perhaps they could have course-corrected and spared themselves this whole crisis.

The best thing "his team" could do is get out of the way and let these companies reorganize under the bankruptcy laws. It is clear that the unions aren't willing to do what is necessary to save these companies. And the bondholders, who who know the proposed reforms are half measures, aren't willing to be paid off in equity. We are just throwing more good taxpayer money after bad. We'll be bailing them out again in a couple of months. The FIAT merger is just a way to kick the can down the road for a while. The last thing an ailing car company needs is to merge with another ailing car company. Too bad the anti-special interests President is too beholden to organized labor to act in the best interest of all the American people.

Dangerous Naivete in Foreign Policy

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Rookie Errors Mar Obama's Efforts So Far:

"What did his televised overture to the Iranians accomplish, except to reassure them that he was not going to do a damn thing to stop them from getting a nuclear bomb? It is a mistake that can go ringing down the corridors of history.

Future generations who live in the shadow of that nuclear threat may wonder what we were thinking about, putting our lives — and theirs — in the hands of a rookie because we liked his style and symbolism?"

This column does a great job of covering the broad range of foolish foreign policy actions this administration has undertaken in its two months on the job. I believe the President's letter to the Russians, and his video to the Iranians were highly personal initiatives - and they both show how terribly wrong-headed he is in dealing with dangerous foreign adversaries.

Some Fun

After that last posting, I thought I'd better serve up some fun. Check out this YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xksO2E4eNGY

Obama's Unilateralist Afghan Policy

The World from Berlin: Success or Failure in Afghanistan Will Depend on Americans - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International:

"'If Obama had any illusions whatsoever when he took office about whether his partners would abandon their increasing reserve on the issue of Afghanistan, then those have been buried by now. Of course, the emissaries he sent to the region and to his partners have told him that by now. Germany may be willing to keep its current 3,400 troops in the country, but other countries are firmly holding to their plans to withdraw. Holland will pull out 1,700 troops by
2010, and a year later Canada's 2,800-soldier contingent will return home. The success or failure on the main front in the battle against radical Islam will be determined by the US's engagement there.'"

I thought if we stopped calling them "Old Europe" and made nice to them, our "allies" were supposed to be more supportive of our foreign policy. Wasn't Afghanistan the war we all agreed upon?

Of course, no amount of diplomacy, cajoling, cow-towing, or conferring with the Europeans can elicit any significant contribution from them. They lack the backbone and the resources to be of any help. They long ago gave up on funding a meaningful defense. Their money has been all sucked up by their welfare state economies. And their resolve has been sapped by the nihilism that permeates their cultures.

At current course and speed, that'll be us in another 10 years.

Pay No Attention to All Those Red Lines - After All I Inherited a Deficit

Projected Deficit - washingtonpost.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2009/03/21/GR2009032100104.html

At his press conference, the President repeatedly evaded answering questions about whether he was sticking our children with paying for our overspending. As I recall, his arguments were:

1) I inherited a big deficit. How that justifies going on to triple the deficit you inherited totally escapes me.

2) It's either do what I propose or do nothing. STRAW MAN ALERT. There really is no course of action somewhere between doing nothing and running up $9.3 TRILLION in deficits?

3) If we don't spend all this money on education and healthcare, there's no way our economy is going to grow at even 2% HUH? Which economy has been the growth engine of the world, the US, or the European socialist states Pres Obama wants to turn us into? And how does throwing more money at our woefully inefficient education system, without reforming it, promise to generate any return on our "investment?" Thus far, federal spending on education has been pretty much inversely related to the global competitiveness of our education system.

The BIggest Threat To Freedom and Prosperity

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Copenhagen: Environmental Munich:

"Writing in the Financial Times recently, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said: 'As someone who lived under communism for most of his life, I feel obliged to say that I see the biggest threat to freedom, democracy, the market economy and prosperity now is ambitious environmentalism, not communism.' Klaus told the Cato Institute recently that 'environmentalism is a religion' that accepts global warming on faith and seeks to exploit it to reshape the world and economic social order."

Read this piece on the UN meetings taking place in Copenhagen. The accord they hope to pass represents a suicide pact for western economies. The anti-capitalists have repeatedly failed to gain public support in the US. Environmentalism is their back-door way of accomplishing their agenda.

Down With the Dollar

A world currency moves nearer after Tim Geithner's slip - Telegraph:

"US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner confessed on Wednesday that he had not read the plans by China's central bank governor for a 'super-sovereign reserve currency' run by the International Monetary Fund, but nevertheless let slip that Washington was 'open' to the idea. Whoops."

This is how matters quickly escalate in geo-finance. China's suggestion – backed by Russia, Brazil, and India, and clearly aimed at breaking US dollar hegemony – is making its way onto the agenda of the G20 Summit next week. 'Dollar-dämmerung' no longer looks so far-fetched.

Maybe Geithner is angling to get that new job running the World Treasury at the United Nations.

Obama Administration Pursuing Unilateralist Economic Policy

Gordon Brown retreats on Budget spending spree - Telegraph:

"Gordon Brown seemed to heed warnings about the health of the Britain's public finances as he retreated from plans for a massive spending package to revive the economy in next month's Budget."

Pres. Obama's only major ally in the push for continued massive stimulus has thrown in the towel, apparently convinced that there is actually such a thing as spending too much money you don't have. When will this Cowboy administration get in step with our European allies and stop trying to go it alone?

Europeans to America - You're Spending Like Drunken Europeans

EU presidency: US and UK economic recovery plans are 'a way to hell' - Telegraph:

"Mr Topolanek warned the European Parliament that the Obama administration's stimulus package and financial bail-out 'will undermine the stability of the global financial market'.

”All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell,” he told Euro-MPs in Strasbourg

”We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the EU is the refusal to go this way.”"

I think the Europeans are getting really freaked. For decades its been the hard-charging capitalist economy of the US that has been the growth engine of the world. Who's going to take over that role if Pres Obama turns us into a pseudo-european social democratic welfare state?

Tell Your Congressman - While You Are Passing Bills of Attainder...

Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant -- chicagotribune.com:

"Before its portfolio of bad loans helped trigger the current housing crisis, mortgage giant Freddie Mac was the focus of a major accounting scandal that led to a management shake-up, huge fines and scalding condemnation of passive directors by a top federal regulator.

One of those allegedly asleep-at-the-switch board members was Chicago's Rahm Emanuel—now chief of staff to President Barack Obama—who made at least $320,000 for a 14-month stint at Freddie Mac that required little effort."...

John Coffee, a law professor and expert on corporate governance at Columbia University, said the financial crisis at Freddie Mac was years in the making and fueled by chronically weak oversight by the firm's directors. The presence of presidential appointees on the board didn't help, he added.

...Please get back our $320,000 you paid Rahm Emanuel for doing nothing while Freddie Mac helped kick off this whole financial meltdown. Where's the outrage???

If Only We Had Had Government Bureaucrats Running the Financial System

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Control Freaks:

"with all these plans to exert ever more control over the economy, few people are asking the appropriate question: Do those in government have the knowledge and ability to run our economy?

The answer, put bluntly, is no. This could be seen in Postmaster General John Potter's trip to Congress Wednesday, begging for more money for the ailing postal service. 'We are facing losses of historic proportion,' he said. 'Our situation is critical.'

This from the head of a government-run company that has a virtual monopoly in its business — the delivery of first-class mail — and still can't make a profit. Losses last year totaled $2.8 billion.

Two other major government enterprises — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — were largely responsible for the mess we're in now. Managed mostly by former Democratic politicians, they too had a virtual monopoly, holding $5.4 trillion of the total $12 trillion in U.S. mortgages, and still went bust."

Don't Distract Us With the Facts - We Have a Healthcare System to Destroy!

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- How U.S. Health Care Really Stacks Up:

"'People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed.' More than seven in 10 Germans, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and Britons say their health systems need either 'fundamental change' or 'complete rebuilding.'"

A must read, this article gives lie to the leftist claims that America's health system is inferior and in need of nationalization.

We Knew It All Along

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Yes, Hugo Cheated:

"Anyone who steals an election has no claim to democracy. But somehow there's an exception for Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, who's still recognized as a 'democratically elected' leader by the U.S. and others.

It now comes to light that the CIA cybersecurity experts know he fixed his 2004 recall referendum. Two weeks ago, at a field hearing before the U.S. Election Assistance Commission in Orlando, Fla., CIA's Steve Stigall cited Venezuela, along with Macedonia and Ukraine, as examples of the risks of electronic voting.

Chavez, he said, controlled most voting machines and may have provided the program used to 'randomly' select them for audit during a recount, the Miami Herald reported.

The problem went beyond cheating. The referendum was then certified as free and fair by none other than ex-President Jimmy Carter and recognized by the hemisphere as democratic."

It was well known at the time that Chavez rigged the 2004 recall. That's what made it so shocking that tyrant-lover Jimmy Carter lent credibility to the result. Two lessons from this story:

1) Jimmy Carter never met an American-hating tyrant he didn't like
2) Electronic voting machines only make election rigging easier - give me an audit trail of paper ballots any day

Would Someone Put a Muzzle on This Guy?

Geithner Says Dollar to Remain World’s Dominant Reserve Currency - NYTimes.com:

"Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday said
that the dollar would remain the world’s dominant reserve currency for some time
to come, clarifying earlier remarks that sent the dollar tumbling."

Geithner needs to take a teleprompter with him wherever he goes.

Pravda Act of 2009

U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers Politics Reuters:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With many U.S. newspapers struggling
to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by
allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax
breaks."

This is a horrible idea, but, on reflection, I can't imagine that the quality of reportage could sink any lower than it already has. At least if they are vassals of the state, we could dictate what kind of curtains they have in their offices and how big a bonus they can pay down at the local newspaper.

Another Slow Learner Is Catching On to the Implications of the Obama Agenda

Bonfire of the Inanities - The Daily Beast:

"In the midst of this bonfire of inanities, President Obama
is pressing ahead with a $3.6 trillion budget, predicated on utterly unrealistic
economic growth, even as the Congressional Budget Office is now projecting that
this year’s deficit will soar past $1.8 trillion, 13 percent of the US economy.
This would amount, as the Washington Post reports, to “the deepest well of red
ink since the end of World War II.” According to the Post, the CBO is warning,
ominously, that the result of this kind of borrowing and spending could lead to
an exponentially expanding national debt that would “exceed 82 percent of the
overall economy by 2019.”"

Chris Buckley was one of the marquee name "conservatives" who broke for Barack Obama during the presidential campaign. Obviously, he is having second thoughts.

Lest you take any comfort that these deficits have a precedent in the WWII era, remember, when WWII ended, we stopped spending money on it. There is no end in sight to the spending Pres. Obama is piling on in the stimulus plan and the FY2009 and FY2010 budgets. The expansions of government programs and entitlements enacted today will be nearly impossible to pare back down the road.

Votes of No Confidence Coming From the Left As Well As The Right

Despair over financial policy - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com:

"This plan will produce big gains for banks that didn’t actually need any help; it will, however, do little to reassure the public about banks that are seriously ndercapitalized. And I fear that when the plan fails, as it almost surely will, the administration will have shot its bolt: it won’t be able to come back to Congress for a plan that might actually work.

What an awful mess."

The erosion of confidence in the administration continues.

Charles Krauthammer Touches Upon A Theme Dear to This Blog - Obama Cares More About His Left Wing Agenda Than About the Economic Crisis

Charles Krauthammer - Bonfire of the Trivialities - washingtonpost.com:

"Obama has been strangely passive about this single greatest threat to the country. In his address to Congress and his budget, he's been far more interested in his grand program for reshaping the American social contract in health care, energy and education."

If you've been reading this blog for the past two months, this will sound familiar to you. I consider myself in good company with Charles Krauthammer.

Mark Steyn: Listen In As He Sits in for Rush This Week

Mark Steyn: AIG execs the new 'enemy combatants' president, outraged, aig, don, bonuses - Opinion - OCRegister.com:

"The first two months of the Age of the Hopeychange have
been an eye-opener. I expected it to be ideologically distasteful to me, but I
didn't expect it to be so inept. Not because I had any expectations of President
Obama's executive skills. But I assumed he'd have folks around him who could
take care of details like governing, while he pranced around as the smiley-face
hopeychange frontman. But the bench is still empty save for a handful of
mediocrities. And the disconnect between the smoothly scripted mush and what's
actually happening makes the telepromptered cool look even more
ridiculous."

Devastating - George Will Takes The Gloves Off

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- And So Begins Another Week Of Malfeasance:

"With the braying of 328 yahoos — members of the House of Representatives who voted for retroactive and punitive use of the tax code to confiscate legal earnings of a small unpopular group — still reverberating, the Obama administration Monday invited private-sector investors to become business partners with the capricious and increasingly anti-constitutional government."

A devastating accounting of how far our government has been debauched in just eight weeks of one-party rule. Please read the whole thing.

Tax and Spend Your Way to the Top

Tell your Obama-supporting friends to look at California for a crystal ball of where the Dems want to take America. California, under its decades-long union-beholden Dem rule has certainly reached some new chart-topping heights:

#1 - number of foreclosures
#1 - rate of foreclosures
#1 - largest population loss (144,000 in one year)
#1 - largest decrease in activity in its ports
#1 - highest income tax rate, by top bracket
#1 - largest budget deficits by % underfunded (44%)
#1 - state with worst bond rating
(source Fortune, March 30, 2009)

This is California - cradle of the aerospace industry, home to Silicon Valley and Hollywood. You can't say they don't have a lot going for them. Congratualtions, Califormia! You got what you voted for! Let's hope we can turn our federal government around before we join California in the poor house.

Another Poster Child For The Results of Democrat Rule

The Taxin' Illini - WSJ.com:

"Mr. Quinn ran as Mr. Blagojevich's Lieutenant Governor on a platform of no new taxes. But now he defends his huge tax increase by saying this will only hit those who have the 'ability to pay.' Of course, employers and the wealthy also have the ability to leave -- which they have been doing. In the last decade 736,000 more Americans have left Illinois than have entered, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Over the last six years, Illinois has ranked 45th out of 50 states in job creation, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. In 2008, 175,000 jobs vanished -- a medium-sized city of lost jobs. Mr. Quinn's tax increase will mean 50% higher taxes for nearly every small business, subchapter S company and corporation in the state."

Another basket case Blue State that has only its own tax-and-spend, union-funded, one-party politics to blame. The beauty of our federal system is that citizens fed up with this kind of mindless big government agenda can pick up and move to another state - as Illinoisians have done to the tune of three quarter million people for the last decade. California has seen an outflux as well - if it weren't for the fact that their houses were underwater, Blue Staters would be pouring into Red States at even higher rates.

Now President Obama and the other Big Government Democrats in Washington are trying to turn every state into a California or Illinois, by doling out "stimulus" money to those states that put themselves on the hook for permanently and massively expanding their entitlement spending. Governors like Perry, Paley and Sanford are doing the only responsible thing they can do in turning away such poison pills from Dr Obama.

During his Presidential campaign, Rudy Giuliani joked, "if the US adopts a national health care program, where will Canadians go for their urgent health care needs?" Likewise, if we let the big spenders in Washington turn our Red States into spendocracies, where will fed up Californians and Illinoisans go to escape?

Overcoming OOFS - The Dread Crippler of Conservative Minds In the Obama Era

Yes, my posts slowed a bit this past week. The reason is that I have come down with OOFS - Obama Outrage Fatigue Syndrome. There is no cure for OOFS, but there is HOPE. Some days, I just want to give in to the urge to go 24 hours without feeling outraged at what is going on in Washington. So I avoid the paper and the cable news. Of course, I know it is wrong. At this, of all times, we must all soldier on, even those of us with OOFS.

We are in the most critical phase of Obama's presidency, and he and his allies in Congress certainly know it. They know they must shove all of the socialist, anti-free market, entitlement-oriented, soak-the-rich, squeeze the middle-class programs they can down the throat of the Democrat controlled federal government, as fast as they can. The President's polls are already sliding, moderate Democrats in Congress are getting frightened, people are beginning to ask inconvenient questions. It will be much harder, even six months from now, for the Democrats to impose this left-wing agenda on an American populace this is still essentially conservative in its world view.

So fight on friends. Make sure everyone you meet knows what is going on. Ask them if they think it is right and if it is going to make America a better place or a worse one. Use examples like California and Illinois to illustrate where we as a nation are headed under the Democrat agenda. Urge your representatives in Washington to do what they can to slow down the Obama juggernaut. Time is not on the President's side. If he is ever forced to slow down and defend his policies, he will have a much harder time enacting them.

Vindicating McCain - WSJ.com

Vindicating McCain - WSJ.com:

"'And this is your plan, John,' he said at one debate. 'For the first time in history, you will be taxing people's health-care benefits.' Mr. Obama added that the McCain proposal was 'radical,' 'the biggest middle-class tax increase in history,' 'out of line with our basic values' and that 'the choice you'll have is having your employer no longer provide you health care.' Combined with heavy advertising and Mr. McCain's inability to defend his own ideas, these distortions were highly effective.
In a deeply cynical turnabout, the White House now says a tax on employer benefits is acceptable as long as someone else proposes it. We suppose anyone would be embarrassed to endorse a fundamental insight that he once claimed was vile and destructive."

Well, at least the President's cynicism and dishonesty are at the expense of his left-wing supporters for a change.

How Long Before the Purge at the CBO?

News Headlines - $1 trillion deficits seen for next 10 years : Townhall.com:

"President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1
trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional
estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last
month.
The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated
Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink
over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its
budget.
Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would
never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists
agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5
percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level."

The only surprise here is that the CBO is still free to make and publicly release honest analysis of government economic policy.

More Shameless DoubletalkFrom the Great Unifier

Obama to Republicans: Enough with 'just say no' - Los Angeles Times:

"Obama to Republicans: Enough with 'just say no'
GOP opposition to taxes and proposed spending in the president's budget plan has spurred Democrats to portray Republicans as the negativity party. Obama tells Republicans to offer constructive ideas.

Reporting from Washington -- In an effort to boost pressure on congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama appealed to them to stop sniping at his budget proposals and offer their own constructive ideas, saying that the current difficult times call for more than negativity."

This is a clever, but breathtakingly dishonest tactic by the president. If he wants to hear the Republicans' constructive ideas, perhaps he should stop his pals in Congress from:

Pushing monumental legislation through Congress so rapidly that it can't even be read
Refusing to consider Republican proposals and amendments
Shoving provisions into laws during the reconciliation process, essentially stifling all debate on the matter

Republicans have offered many constructive proposals (many to be found in this blog) such as:

Lowering taxes on corporations
Lowering taxes on investments
Allowing corporations to repatriate profits earned overseas without paying confiscatory taxes on them
Suspending mark-to-market accounting rules
Expanding, not reducing free trade
Stimulating the economy (now) and improving our defense posture by spending stimulus money to replenish military weapons and materiel stockpiles depleted from the war
Expanding, not reducing charitable giving
Expanding, not reducing, school vouchers
Opening up a national market for health insurance
Extending the tax break for medical insurance to employees
The list goes on and on

There is no dearth of alternative ideas in Washington, just an unwillingness on the part of the "post-partisan President" to hear them.

The Obama Administration Isn't Serious - Part XXXVIII

Congress Doesn't Respect Nafta - WSJ.com:

"Nobody can argue that Mexico hasn't worked tirelessly for more than a decade to avoid a dispute with the United States over Mexican long-haul trucks traveling through this country. But free and fair trade hit another red light this past week. The U.S. Congress, which has now killed a modest and highly successful U.S.-Mexico trucking demonstration program, has sadly left my government no choice but to impose countermeasures after years of restraint and goodwill."

Despite the current bear rally on Wall Street, the world economic situation continues to unravel. Nations around the world are already worried about resurgent protectionism in the Democrat controlled US government. Now, in a silly dispute over 98 trucks (!) the Democrats have violated NAFTA and picked a protectionist fight with Mexico. Their position is unethical, illogical, illegal and dangerous. It's just another pay-off to the unions, in this "post-special-interest era."

Coming Soon To an American Hospital Near You

Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph: "Targets blamed for 1,200 deaths at hospital

NHS managers have been accused of putting targets and cost-cutting ahead of patients as a report found 'appalling standards of care' at a single hospital."

Oh, but don't worry, the super-competent Obama bureaucrats won't run your national health care system that way. Look at the job they're doing with AIG!

I Didn't Know This - The Teleprompter's Not Just For Prepared Remarks

Washington Times - EDITORIAL: Obama's reliance on teleprompters:

"The American Spectator notes that for many events: '... down to many of the questions and the answers to those questions. ... [t]eleprompter screens at the events scrolled not only his opening remarks, but also statistics and information he could use to answer questions.' It quoted one Obama advisor as saying that Mr. Obama is looking at installing a computer screen in White House podiums so 'it would make it easier for the comms (communications) guys to pass along information without being obvious about it.'"

Can you believe this? It's also used as an electronic cheat sheet, to create the illusion that the President has command over a lot more facts and figures than he really does. As the Washington Times noted, the press and the comedians would have had a field day if Bush had done this.

Don't Be Fooled - The Dems Will Push For The Muzzling of Conservative Radio - Fairness Doctrine or Not

CNSNews.com - Speaker Pelosi Backs Senate Amendment to Regulate Talk Radio:

"(CNSNews.com) – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNSNews.com on Thursday that she supports an amendment to a Senate bill that would force the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership and to ensure that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest.”"

Just one of the ways the Dems will harass and manipulate radio station owners to try and bring down conservative talk radio.

Just What American Business Needs - Bureaucrats Making All Their Decisions For Them

The Orwellianly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) not only takes away the secret ballot during the union organizing process, it holds the sword of mandatory arbitration over the head of management, to reach agreement with the union, or be essentially taken over by government bureaucrats.

EFCA Authorizes Government Control of 4 Million Small Businesses: "Under EFCA government bureaucrats would impose:

* Wages and bonuses;
* Employment levels;
* Retirement and health care plans;
* Changes in business operations;
* Promotions procedures;
* Work assignments;
* Subcontracting; and
* Closure, sale, or merger of a business.[7]

The government would decide how many employees a firm hired, how much it paid them, how it promotes them, and what retirement and health benefits they receive."

This applies to businesses of any size. I'm naive enough to believe that this law would be overturned by today's Supreme Court. But what about tomorrow's? It seems our greatest hope against this Obamination is that Arkansas' two democrat senators dare not vote for this bill, given what it would do to Wal Mart.

Another example of the most blatant "special interest" political pay-off. The kind Barack Obama railed against during the campaign. The unions shoveled $450M into the Democrat Party's coffers during the past campaign cycle, so they will be paid off by passage of the EFCA, no matter what it does to the economy.

Barack Obama's aides admit errors are making him less popular - Telegraph

Barack Obama's aides admit errors are making him less popular - Telegraph:

"A new poll revealed that the president's personal approval ratings have slumped to levels below those of George W. Bush at the same stage of his first term, undermining the common assumption that Mr Obama is enjoying unusual levels of public popularity."

Elsewhere in the article, it talks about how the White House believes the drop in the President's popularity is due to "presentational errors." Could it, instead, be because of his policies, which are way outside mainstream American opinion?

Unintended Consequences

Barack Obama fuels gun buying boom with pledge to tighten laws - Telegraph:

"Barack Obama fuels gun buying boom with pledge to tighten laws A pledge by US President Barack Obama to tighten gun control laws has led to firearms sales soaring across America."

From the Oracle of Omaha

Barack Obama's aides admit errors are making him less popular - Telegraph:

"'You can't expect people to unite behind you if you're trying to jam a whole bunch of things down their throat.'"

I had heard about this quote, but just ran across it in writing for the first time.

Send This Link To Your Kids

Mark Steyn: Welcome, kids, to the Brokest Generation | old, percent, young, generation, year - Opinion - OCRegister.com:

"This is the biggest generational transfer of wealth in the history of the world. If you're an 18-year-old middle-class hopeychanger, look at the way your parents and grandparents live: It's not going to be like that for you. You're going to have a smaller house, and a smaller car – if not a basement flat and a bus ticket. You didn't get us into this catastrophe. But you're going to be stuck with the tab"

Laugh of the Day

Transcript:

"MS: ...the joke that’s going around the internet that I saw a couple of hours ago is you know, what’s the difference between Obama and Jesus? Jesus knew how to build a cabinet."

From a transcript of Hugh Hewitt's radio show, with guest Mark Steyn.

Friendly Fire Shows Obama Losing Focus

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Friendly Fire Shows Obama Losing Focus: by Michael Barone

"We did not have a housing bubble collapse because we don't have a national health insurance program. We don't have toxic waste clogging the balance sheets of the banks and other financial institutions because of carbon emissions. The Bush tax cuts were not a proximate cause of the giant public debt being run up under the Toxic Assets Relief Program or the 2009 stimulus package.

And, as Galston points out, the New Deal doesn't provide a precedent for the Obama budget. In his first months in office, Franklin Roosevelt concentrated on repairing a financial system that was in much worse shape than ours is today, with most banks closed. Roosevelt got most of them open and running again.

It was a couple of years later that the programs we remember the New Deal for were passed —"

We must begin to explain to Obama supporters and on-the-fencers that this guy is playing a shell game with the American people.

Is James Taranto Reading My Blog?

Best of the Web Today: Please Get Serious, Mr. President - WSJ.com:

"But everyone knows the crisis is real, even if it falls short of a catastrophe. And hardly anyone is gullible enough to think that socializing the health-insurance business, imposing massive taxes on energy, and increasing the power of unions are going to resolve a crisis that has its origins in the credit markets.

Obama seems to care about the economic crisis only to the extent that it is an impediment to or an instrument for winning support for policies in unrelated areas. It is as if President Bush had responded to 9/11 by launching an all-out campaign for private Social Security accounts." (emphasis added)

Unlikely. But he did come up with almost the precise analogy that I put forth in my posting of last Saturday, March 7, part of which stated: "It's as if the day after 9/11 President Bush began stumping for repealing Roe v Wade, school vouchers, and a defense of marriage amendment, all of which he claimed were critical problems that had to be solved if we were to win the war on terrorism. Everyone would have justly and roundly criticized him for not focusing on the true crisis at hand - the terrorist threat to the nation."

The Indispensible Man Gets It Wrong Again

Geithner Cool to Suspending Mark-to-Market - WSJ.com:

"WASHINGTON -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that some proposals to temporarily suspend mark-to-market accounting rules could lead to an erosion of the market's ability to assess risks at banks.

The comments would seem to suggest that Mr. Geithner would be opposed to a suspension of those rules, although he wouldn't expressly say so, noting it would be the decision of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to do so."

We pour money into banks, who can't lend it out because mark-to-market rules make them hoard it. So then the banks come back to us for more money...

De-linking mark-to-market from reserve requirements (allowing them to lend based on a more reasonable estimate of the value of their assets) doesn't preclude us from requiring the banks to provide us with mark-to-market accounting of their assets as yet another means to evaluate their health.

What an Outrage

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Using Embryos Without Limit Is Line Too Far:

"The implication, of course, is that while Obama is guided solely by science, Bush was driven by dogma, ideology and politics. What an outrage. George Bush's nationally televised stem cell speech was the most morally serious address on medical ethics ever given by an American president."

I pretty much said it in my earlier post, but Krauthammer always say it better. The pretensions of this president are hard to take.

Phantom Health Care Savings

Obama's $80 Billion Exaggeration - WSJ.com:

"We both voted for President Obama, in part because of his pragmatic approach to problems, belief in empirical data, and openness to changing his mind when those data contradict his initial approach to a problem. We need the president to apply real scientific rigor to fix our health-care system rather than rely on elegant exercises in wishful thinking."

As I noted in my comments on the President's Congressional address, it is highly dubious that electronic medical records efficiencies will pay for themselves and generate savings to offset his health care plan costs. More dishonesty and slight of hand.

The Maine Fiscal Conservatives

SteynOnline - THE GIRLYMAN GOVERNOR:

"I see the nice Maine ladies, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, were hailed for reaching across the aisle on the “stimulus” bill by William Cohen, who helpfully explained to The Washington Post that Pine Tree Staters are “liberal on social issues and conservative on fiscal matters.” And nothing says “fiscally conservative” like voting for a trillion dollars of pork after you’ve stayed up three nights in a row carefully weeding out the $473.84 that shouldn’t have been in there."...

...the reality is that almost every “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” politician turns out to be fiscally liberal — in the same way that, if you mix half a pint of vanilla ice cream with half a pint of horse manure, it’s not hard to figure which taste will predominate.

I'm pretty sure the ladies signed on to the $421B budget, too, didn't they?

I better stop excerpting so much Mark Steyn or he's gonna sue me. But he's so witty. Go to http://www.steynonline.com/ anytime you need a good laugh.

Media Self-Censorship - Soon We'll Need to Tune in To Radio Free America (from Poland) To Get the News

Don't read all about it! - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online:

"I'm glad to see the back of the Saudi shill Chas Freeman, but I wonder what Mr. and Mrs. America will make of it tomorrow morning, reading for the very first time how the 'Outspoken Former Ambassador' (as the AP's headline has it) was scuttled by a controversy their newspaper saw fit not to utter a word about. As far as I can tell, the only papers in America to so much as mention the Freeman story were the Wall Street Journal, Investors' Business Daily, the Washington Times, the New York Post, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Augusta Chronicle, and the Press Enterprise of Riverside, California."

But you read about it here. Good riddance to the whole lot of liberal dailies that are dropping like flies. They ceased serving a positive role in our democracy long ago.

Dunces

WSJ.com Economic Forecasting Survey Gives Obama, Geithner Low Grades - WSJ.com:

"U.S. President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner received
failing grades for their efforts to revive the economy from participants in the
latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey."

Is it too late for them to drop the class?

Good News

Chas Freeman, discussed in an earlier post, has removed his name for consideration for heading up the National Intelligence Council.

Fannie/Freddie Meltdown Timeline

(Click on title above for video) I had seen this YouTube video some time ago. It still takes my breath away when I see Barney Frank and Chris Dodd grilling those "irresponsible, greedy" executives of financial institution on the evening news.

Warren Buffett - Fix Mark to Market

Holman Jenkins Says Warren Buffett's Call to Suspend Mark-to-Market Accounting Could Relieve Undue Pressure on Banks - WSJ.com: "

there's still a chance to avoid a disastrous, taxpayer-financed government takeover of the banking system. The alternative, just as Mr. Buffett spelled it out, begins with forbearance on capital standards."

As I said in my post on February 16, I am AMAZED that this issue still goes unresolved. Fixing mark-to-market is such an obvious move. Makes you wonder if they want to end the crisis.

The Judgment of Bush Administration Religious Extremists?

The Weekly Standard:

"In our judgment, the derivation of stem cells from embryos remaining following infertility treatments is justifiable only if no less morally problematic alternatives are available for advancing the research."

No, actually the judgment of the Clinton bioethics panel, circa 1999. Yet, Pres. Obama dishonestly paints the Bush administration policy on embryonic stem cell research as anti-scientific political pandering to religious voters. Read John McCormack's complete post at the Weekly Standard blog.

Email Your Representative - Chas Freeman Has No Place on the National Intelligence Council

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Chas And The ChiComs:

"National Security: It seems the foreign conflicts of interest to the man President Obama wants to oversee his eyes-only intelligence are worse than first reported. It's time for full disclosure."

A danger to our national security, and political hypocrisy of the highest order. Appalling.

Don't You Want to Keep People From Losing Their Homes?

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- The High Cost Of Subsidizing Bad Decisions:

"What is new is the current notion of indulging people who refused to save for a rainy day or to live within their means. In politics, it is called 'compassion' — which comes in both the standard liberal version and 'compassionate conservatism.'

The one person toward whom there is no compassion is the taxpayer.

The current political stampede to stop mortgage foreclosures proceeds as if foreclosures are just something that strikes people like a bolt of lightning from the blue — and as if the people facing foreclosures are the only people that matter."(emphasis added)

A liberal acquaintance recently asked my wife not to forward any more conservative emails to her. She supports Pres. Obama. Among her reasons for doing so was that she thinks it is a good thing to help people stay in "their houses." My response was, that I hated to see people lose their homes, too. But, if someone bought a house they couldn't afford for no money down, made no principal payments, and then defaulted on their mortgage, under what definition can you call it "their home?" Pres. Obama dishonestly promised in his Congressional address that taxpayer aid would not go to such people. But, as factcheck.org pointed out, he has absolutely no means of keeping that promise.

Damned Lies - Where is the Outrage?

Charles Krauthammer - Obama's Radical Agenda - washingtonpost.com:

"Forget the '2 trillion dollars in savings' that 'we have already identified,' $1.6 trillion of which President Obama's budget director later admits is the 'savings' of not continuing the surge in Iraq until 2019 -- 11 years after George Bush ended it, and eight years after even Bush would have had us out of Iraq completely."

Already the most dishonest administration I have seen in my lifetime. Disgusting.

“They should be focused on stabilization” of financial firms “and stimulus

Bloomberg.com: U.S.:

"The jump in the U.S. unemployment rate to the highest level in a quarter century last month suggests the recession is deeper than the Obama administration forecasts and additional measures may be needed to restart growth.The jobless rate rose to 8.1 percent in February as employers reduced payrolls by 651,000, the Labor Department said yesterday in Washington. Losses have now exceeded 600,000 for three straight months, the first time that’s happened since collection of the data began in 1939. Unemployment has already reached the average rate the White House projected for the whole year. The administration needs to keep its focus on repairing the banking system and implementing the stimulus rather than get diverted by other goals such as healthcare changes, said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics LLC in New York. “They should be focused on stabilization” of financial firms “and stimulus -- and that should not only be ‘Job one,’ that should be the only job right now,” Ryding said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “The question is, is it recession or is it something worse than recession?”" (emphasis added)

If this sounds like my previous post, I DON'T Feel Your Pain, it should. The markets have no confidence in the Obama administration because it has not even demonstrated that it understands the gravity of the situation. It is too busy pumping up the size of the federal leviathan.

What Steele Should Have Said to Matt

Rive gauche - Mark Steyn - The Corner on National Review Online:

"Twenty-five million people listened to Rush last week. Millions of them have listened to him for 20 years. That makes them 'hard-right' extremists.

Whereas being one of a few thousand who listened to Jeremiah Wright every week for 20 years makes you a mainstream moderate."

I realize that it's not always easy to come up with stuff like this while under fire, but Michael Steele needs to take the fight to them. It was devastating for him to be apologizing for Rush Limbaugh. It was also devastating for him to tacitly agree with this statement by CNN personality, D.L. Hugely:

“The tenets of the Republican Party are amazing and they seem warm and welcome. But when I watch it be applied -- like you didn’t have to go much further than the Republican National Convention....It literally look[s] like Nazi Germany.”

I worked for Mr Steele's senate campaign and have a high regard for him, but if he can't do better than he did this past week, he should pack it in. We need a leader, not an apologist-in-chief.

Oh Maggie, We Need You

“The thing about socialism is that…eventually you run out of other people’s money.” - Margaret Thatcher

Barack Obama 'too tired' to deal with International Affairs

Barack Obama 'too tired' to give proper welcome to Gordon Brown - Telegraph:

"Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been 'overwhelmed' by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained ... that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship."

Oh, that explains it. I was starting to get a little worried.

adding more to the debt than all previous presidents -- from George Washington to George W. Bush -- combined.

Michael Boskin Says Barack Obama Is Moving Us Toward a European-Style Social Welfare State and Long-Run Economic Stagnation - WSJ.com:

"Mr. Obama's $3.6 trillion budget blueprint, by his own admission, redefines the role of government in our economy and society. The budget more than doubles the national debt held by the public, adding more to the debt than all previous presidents -- from George Washington to George W. Bush -- combined. It reduces defense spending to a level not sustained since the dangerous days before World War II, while increasing nondefense spending (relative to GDP) to the highest level in U.S. history. And it would raise taxes to historically high levels (again, relative to GDP). And all of this before addressing the impending explosion in Social Security and Medicare costs."

When President Obama likes to remind us of the debt he inherited, you just have to laugh.

Hilarious, but a little too true for comfort

What is Congress going to do when no one wants to buy those cars they will force GM and Chrysler to build in return for their bailout money? Check out this video on YouTube, by Iowahawk. While you are there, he's got another fun video of Obama's teleprompter.

"I DON'T Feel Your Pain" or "It's the Economy, Stupid"

"And, you know, the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. You know, it bobs up and down day to day. And if you spend all your time worrying about that, then you’re probably going to get the long-term strategy wrong."

- Pres. Barack Obama

I am of the firm opinion that Pres. Obama's response to the financial crisis can fairly be called an abject failure, a mere six weeks after his inauguration. I don't deny that he inherited a nearly unprecedented mess, one which seems to befuddle many of the world's foremost economic experts. Then how, you may ask, can you rush to judgment on his program?

If President Obama were focused on implementing policies aimed at resolving the liquidity crisis and stimulating our domestic economy, and those policies were enjoying limited or mixed success, I'd say hang in with him. But, in fact, what's happening is that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are more focused on using the crisis to consolidate their power than in addressing our economic crisis.

It's as if the day after 9/11 President Bush began stumping for repealing Roe v Wade, school vouchers, and a defense of marriage amendment, all of which he claimed were critical problems that had to be solved if we were to win the war on terrorism. Everyone would have justly and roundly criticized him for not focusing on the true crisis at hand - the terrorist threat to the nation.

Well, here we are teetering on the precipice of global depression and what is our President spending his time doing? Stumping around the country for massive tax and spend programs that will only add to our economic woes, both now and in the future:

• Cap and trade (a tax of at least $650B over ten years)
• Health care reform (a cost of at least $1 trillion over ten years)
• Reducing tax breaks for charitable giving
• Reducing tax breaks for mortgage interest (!)
• Closing Gitmo
• Green energy subsidies
• Thousands of wasteful earmark projects
• Cutting back domestic oil exploration
• Shutting down Yucca Mountain
• Taking away school vouchers from deserving families in Washington DC
• Reinstating federal funding for embryonic stem cell research
• Reinstating federal funding for abortions

This administration is providing no leadership on the economy. The markets have voted with their dollars - each day the markets hit new lows - especially after a speech by Obama or Geithner. But worse, the Obama administration is demonstrating how little it cares about fixing the economy. You don't go around warning of impending catastrophe and threatening huge tax hikes if you want to restore confidence in the economy. Why then is Pres. Obama doing this? Because, apparently, his priority is exploiting this crisis to expand the power of government to a degree never seen before in our nation's history.

"Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you couldn't do before." - Rahm Emanuel, Obama Chief of Staff

Fortunately, it appears that more than a few Democrats are worried about following Pres. Obama down this path. They realize that the markets and the American people are beginning to lose faith in the President, and they fear a backlash that could send them packing in 2010 in a way that makes 1994 look pale. The job of Republicans in Congress is to make sure those Democrats are forced to stand and be counted.

Duh! Part Deux

Op-Ed Columnist - A Moderate Manifesto - NYTimes.com:

"Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice. As Clive Crook, an Obama admirer, wrote in The Financial Times, the Obama budget “contains no trace of compromise. It makes no gesture, however small, however costless to its larger agenda, of a bipartisan approach to the great questions it addresses. It is a liberal’s dream of a new New Deal.”"

OK. Barrack Obama said he was going to "transform" America. He had the the VERY most liberal voting record in the Senate. He was the darling of George Soros and MoveOn.org. What about Obama's campaign led David Brooks to expect Barack Obama was a centrist?

Duh! Even Congressional Dems Get It!

White House Rethinks Tax Hikes - WSJ.com:

"Some lawmakers questioned whether it was smart to reduce mortgage-interest deductions in the midst of a housing-market crisis."

Some signs of brain activity on Capitol Hill.

More Comic Relief

iowahawk:

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

Iowahawk is reliably funny, check it out.

The Six-Trillion-Dollar Man

The Six-Trillion-Dollar Man by Mark Steyn on National Review Online:

"Of course, when Barack Obama is accused of creating his Six-Trillion-Dollar Man “because I believe in bigger government” he denies it: “I don’t,” he says flatly. This is like Clark Kent telling Lois Lane he’s not Superman: They just look a bit similar when he removes his glasses. Likewise, any connection between Obama and a Big Government behemoth swallowing everything in sight is entirely coincidental."

Read this column by Mark Steyn, it's hilarious.

Carter Diplomacy Redux

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Betraying Our Friends:

"What sense does it make that after Ronald Reagan wins the Cold War by refusing to abandon missile defense, the United States offers it as a bargaining chip to an increasingly menacing post-Communist Russia?

And where is the wisdom in withdrawing plans to use missile defense to protect the liberated former Eastern Bloc states against a Russian aggressor willing to wage war with the former Soviet state of Georgia and use the Ukrainian pipeline to starve Europeans of natural gas — all to prevent its former satellites from aligning with the free West?"

The administration telegraphs its weakness and embarrasses our nation.

Thomas Sowell on the Power of Words

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- Power Of Life And Death Is In Our Words:

"We have been saved by our institutions and our traditions — the very institutions and traditions that so many are so busy eroding or dismantling, whether in classrooms or courtrooms or in the halls of Congress and the White House."

If you don't know Thomas Sowell, he is a brilliant professor of economics at the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. He is one of the clearest thinkers in America today. Not that it should matter, but he happens to be black.

It Couldn't Have Happened to a Nicer Dictator

Stanford Bank Collapse Threatens Venezuela - WSJ.com:

"The collapse of a Venezuelan bank owned by R. Allen Stanford, the Texas financier accused of fraud, is raising concern that the run on its deposits could spread to other banks, threatening the nation's economy.

On Saturday, President Hugo Chávez blamed his political enemies for rumors about mass withdrawals, and urged depositors not to pull their savings from domestic banks."

At last some good economic news. The lighter side of Ponzi schemes.

Save the Planet - Leave Your Escalade Idling in the Driveway!

IBDeditorials.com: Editorials, Political Cartoons, and Polls from Investor's Business Daily -- James Hansen's Political Science:

"'Many people don't realize that over geological time, we're really in a CO2 famine now. Almost never has CO2 . . . been as low as it has been in the Holocene (geologic epoch) — 280 (parts per million) — that's unheard of,' said Happer. He notes the earth and humanity did just fine when CO2 levels were much higher."

A lot of interesting facts and quotes in this IBD Editorial about the lunacy of the "climate change" fundamentalists. If the issue were truly the environment, these crusaders would be willing to look at the scientific facts. But it's not about the environment. It's about a huge new tax hiding under the name "cap and trade" and the power that goes along with all that new revenue.

Better Late Than Never - Good News From the UN Front

The Barack Obama Administration Withdraws From Durban II, the U.N. Conference on Racism - WSJ.com:

"The new Obama team first thought its diplomatic charms could deter a repeat, and it dispatched negotiators to Geneva for the preparatory meetings. They got nowhere, which isn't surprising given that the preparatory committee is chaired by Libya, aided by vice chairs Iran and Cuba. 'The document grew from bad to worse,' said a U.S. official, in explaining the walkout."

Kudos to the State Department for finally waking up and smelling the coffee on this one. How long would it have taken the average American to figure out that a racism conference led by Libya, Iran, and Cuba might not be a constructive forum?

The Roots of Liberal Condescension - WSJ.com

The Roots of Liberal Condescension - WSJ.com:

"whatever the correct assessment of Sarah Palin's abilities and limitations, it's impossible to imagine that it would have taken her 20 years of close contact with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to notice that he sincerely believes a number of toxic, lunatic ideas. The thread connecting all of these—that 9/11 was a minor incident compared to the terrorism undertaken by the U.S., that AIDS was inflicted on Americans through deliberate government policies, that Louis Farrakhan is one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century—is that America is a wicked, contemptible place, and there is no such thing as an excessive criticism of it. Barack Obama's degrees from Columbia and Harvard law school may be proof of intellectual agility, but they do not guarantee good sense. For this, as William Buckley suggested 45 years ago, we are better advised to rely on graduates of the University of Idaho, or even the opinions of stewardesses."

Great column on how blue state America sees red state America. Prepare for a protracted lecture from Washington.

Shocking!

Clinton Not Optimistic About Iran-U.S. Thaw - NYTimes.com:

"JERUSALEM — Expressing doubts about one of the Obama administration’s most important diplomatic initiatives, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told an Arab foreign minister on Monday that she did not expect Iran to respond positively to an American offer of direct negotiations."

I don't understand. President Obama has not referred to Iran as evil even once, and he has offered to meet with them without preconditions. Why can't we all just get along?

Pray the President Takes A Breather...

Kudlow's Money Politic$ on National Review Online:

"There’s a pattern here. Stocks fell last Friday following the latest bailout chapter for Citigroup. And stocks fell last Thursday after the release of Obama’s budget, with its breathtaking expansion of government and its war on entrepreneurs, investors, banks, and so on. Stocks also fell after Obama’s address to Congress, and they collapsed after Tim Geithner’s misbegotten financial speech. So you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see a pattern of government announcements leading to falling stocks."

We can't afford any more economic policy speeches.

From the UK - Church Schools Losing Their Religious Freedom?

Church schools could be forced to promote Islam and homosexuality, Catholics fear - Telegraph:

"Church schools could be forced to promote Islam and homosexuality, Catholics fear"

From the Telegraph of London. The Left hates church schools - they threaten their goal of social indoctrination. This is England now - how long before it comes to America? We have already seen moves in California to ban home schooling. We have seen the Democrats shut down a very successful school voucher program in Washington, DC. Phasing out of charitable deductions will also put the financial squeeze on church schools. Expect to see greater scrutiny of the teacher credentials and curricula of religious schools on the horizon.

Big Brother Wants To Control Philanthropy

Activists Want to Redistribute Philanthropic Wealth Based on Racial Quotas - WSJ.com:

"Nonprofit leaders are reeling from the recent news that President Barack Obama's proposed budget would limit tax deductions on charitable contributions from wealthy Americans. But now the philanthropic world has something else to worry about. Today the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), a research and advocacy group, will release a report offering 'benchmarks to assess foundation performance.' Its real aim is to push philanthropic organizations into ignoring donor intent and instead giving grants based on political considerations."

The totalitarians in Washington can't bear the idea that other entities besides Uncle Sam might be doling out charity to the needy. The attack on private charity so far has at least three prongs:

1) Cut off their funding by taking away the tax deduction for charitable giving
2) Insinuate the government in their operations through expansion of George Bush's ill-conceived "faith-based initiatives" program. Like profligate banks that have taken TARP money, charities that take part in this program will soon find Washington calling the shots on what the can and can't do, who they can and can't hire, etc.
3) Regulate foundations, so that they have to give in ways acceptable to Washington, and in ways that pay off the Democrats pet interest groups.

Damn the Economy - Full Spending Ahead!

Our Troubled Economy Is a Response to Barack Obama's Policies - WSJ.com:

"As 2009 opened, three weeks before Barack Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9034 on January 2, its highest level since the autumn panic. Yesterday the Dow fell another 4.24% to 6763, for an overall decline of 25% in two months and to its lowest level since 1997. The dismaying message here is that President Obama's policies have become part of the economy's problem.

Americans have welcomed the Obama era in the same spirit of hope the President campaigned on. But after five weeks in office, it's become clear that Mr. Obama's policies are slowing, if not stopping, what would otherwise be the normal process of economic recovery. From punishing business to squandering scarce national public resources, Team Obama is creating more uncertainty and less confidence -- and thus a longer period of recession or subpar growth."

The Democrats are so busy consolidating their power and shoving their Big Government agenda down our throats, they are willing to send our weakened economy into an outright tailspin. What else can you conclude when in the midst of a serious recession, the President proposes to RAISE taxes. Not just on the "rich," through higher marginal tax rates, but on the ENTIRE American economy, through cap and trade. I'm sorry, I exaggerated - those parts of the economy that don't use fossil fuels for light, heat, transportation, or raw materials, or transact with businesses that do - will not be impacted.