President Obama promotes Chicago in Denmark rather than approving Afghanistan needs

I recently posted that President Obama has still not responded to the general that he appointed concerning needs in Afghanistan. General Stanley McChrystal said over a month ago that we need more troops in Afghanistan or else we will lose the war there.

Now, President Obama has gone to Denmark, with all his staff, to promote his home town of Chicago to get the Olympics.

And our men and women in the military are still fighting and dying, undersupported because President Obama has waited over a month now without even responding to the requests.

Afghanistan: Do it or don't do it

Did you hear that August was the deadliest month in the Iraq/Afghanistan theater since we went there in 2002? Yes, despite all the protests by Democrats that Bush was killing our troops, Obama has seen more killed himself.

The general that President Obama himself appointed to oversee the war in Afghanistan has strongly recommended that we need more troops. He says we need them NOW.

When healthcare issues or stimulus issues come up, President Obama says these bills must go through now - don't even bother reading it, just pass it - it's too important to get done now. But when his own appointee general gives him a report about Afghanistan, he lets it sit on his desk for WEEKS without action.

Instead, the President goes on TV shows. He's been on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Univision, and The David Letterman Show; he's given talks to the UN (apologizing for the United States again), been to meetings in Russia, and he's taken a vacation on Martha's Vineyard, all since he's gotten the report on Afghanistan. And he has still not done anything about the report, still not approved the troops that are, according to the report, NECESSARY to win the war.

Now, I'm not sure the troops are needed. I think we should be able to use a technological solution, but that's my bias. But I think we should do WHATEVER IT TAKES to get the job done. Get it done, and get our troops home.

If you don't have enough troops available, I have a simple solution. Transfer everyone from Germany, Britain, Australia, Ireland, and anywhere else they are not actively needed for our own defense Close every base in other countries, unless we actively need them for our own defense. Put enough troops in Afghanistan that there will be one every square yard over the entire country. Take out EVERY MEMBER of the Taliban and EVERY MEMBER of Al Qaeda and EVERY MEMBER of any other terrorist group, with, as they say, extreme prejudice. If there's a stronghold and you can't get to it, use a cruise missile with a tactical nuke and destroy it.

Get the job done and bring our troops home.

Or, if you're unwilling to do what it takes, then just bring them home. It's better to admit defeat now, than to wait until you've allowed another few thousand of our men and women die and then pull them out.

Letter to my Senators and Congressman: Do not support ANY bailout of media

There is now discussion of possible bailouts for newspaper companies. I just sent this letter to my Senators and Congressman.
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Do not support ANY bailout of media companies, including, but not limited to, as any newspaper company. The majority of media companies are losing market share because they are losing customers, and they are losing customers for many reasons, such as inaccurate, incomplete, and/or biased reporting. The Constitution guarantees the ability to print anything the publisher desires to print. It does not guarantee that anyone wants to read it. And it certainly does not require such printings be conducted at the public expense.

ACORN's out from census and HUD - now get SEIU out

After all the scandals, ACORN has been removed from the census (which they were going to take) and Housing and Urban Development, which has been giving them lots of money supposedly for helping low-income people to find housing.

But SEIU is cut from the same cloth. Two brothers, Wade and Dale Rathke, control both. Wade is over ACORN and Dale is over SEIU. They share a headquarters. They share funding. They share a shell company that handles all the funding (a private not-for-profit company, so all their records are private).

Get SEIU out too. And get both of them all the way out, not just partway out.

ACORN: Promoting prostitution, including child prostitution

News broken this morning:

ACORN, the organization that President Obama worked for as an attorney and "community organizer", the organization that has been given charge of the 2010 census by the White House - and the organization that has been charged in many states with election fraud...

ACORN - has been caught on tape with several members, not just a "rogue" employee, actually showing people how to engage in prostitution, including child prostitution, and how to do so with the appearance of legality.

They said to report the business activity as "performing arts", and to register the children as dependents for tax credit.

This group is getting MILLIONS, maybe even BILLIONS of dollars from US, the American taxpayers.

We've seen before how they register people like "Mickey Mouse" and others as voters.

We've seen how they bus people in from out of state to vote in places where advance registration is not required.

We've seen them organize protests and bus tours of the AIG executive homes, to make it seem that the general public was upset.

We've seen them "participate" at town hall forums concerning the President's healthcare agenda and we've seen them yell and get violent, so as to give the impression that those who object to the plan were unruly - when it was actually ACORN (and SEIU) people doing it all along.

And now we see them showing others how to do what they do best - how to game the system for personal benefit, even when the "personal benefits" are clearly and notoriously illegal.

Hewalthcare: "A means to an end"

President Obama said in preparation for his speech tonight that a public option of healthcare is not an end in itself, but is only a means to and end.

Well, we already knew that. The public option is a means to the total government takeover of our healthcare system. And the takeover of healthcare is but one step in a takeover of all aspects of our society.

They have started with banks and auto manufacturing, and these people in charge, some of whom call themselves "progressive" (a system where all wealth is redistributed according to the dictates of the ruling party), some of whom call themselves "socialist" (a system where the government controls all business without owning it directly), and some of whom call themselves "communist" (a system where the government outright owns all business) will not be satisfied until they, as the President himself has said, "fundamentally transform America".

Van Jones: Gone, but not forgotten

Van Jones, the self-proclaimed Communist Green Jobs Czar, uh, Special Advisor on Green Jobs, has resigned due to the controversy surrounding his involvement with a 9-11 conspiracy group (a group that believes the US government caused the 9-11-2001 disaster).

But is he really gone? Is he still advising President Obama, whether in an official capacity or otherwise?

And what about the affiliated group The Apollo Project that wrote the stimulus / Recovery Act and got $11 billion out of it for themselves and more for the unions they represent?

And what about the other, less vocal but nevertheless strong, Communists, Marxists and Socialists in the administration? Remember, President Obama himself proclaimed himself as a Marxist in college, and was friends in Chicago with the founder of the terrorist group Weather Underground - and initiated his run for Senate in his house.

In other words, Van Jones is no longer in an official position. But we still have to watch these people very closely. Remember, President Obama himself said that we can judge him by the people with which he surrounds himself.

Senator Edward Kennedy and Health Care

Senator Edward Kennedy died last night.

He has had a year and a half of treatments trying to save his life.

If the healthcare plan he has pushed passes, other people will not be able to get similar care. They will be given pain treatments instead.

This is not my opinion; Health Czar Dr. Ezekial Emanuel says that care will be provided based on "quality-adjusted life years." That means that if treatment costs more than $50,000 per anticipated year of quality life, the treatment will be denied.

It also means that if treatment will not significantly improve either length or quality of life, the treatment will be denied - for instance, if the procedure will just reduce pain (say, back surgery or knee/hip replacement), they'll just give pain treatments instead.

Of course, the current Democratic healthcare plan exempts the Congress and Senate members from itself; it only applies to "regular people"...

Reasonable Questions

On his show and copied on his website, Glenn Beck (Fox News) has posed some good questions. Questions that aren't being answered.

Questions like:

- Who is "surrounding" the President in the White House?

- Do any of the President's advisers have criminal records?

- Are the President's advisers working to better the country or their own ideals?

- Who are the anti-capitalists in Washington?

- What roles do they have in crafting bills?

- What was "STORM"? What happened to the founders, where are they now?

- What qualifications must one have to be a Presidential adviser?

- What is the difference between a community organizer and a community activist?

- Do the czars have power?

- Should a communist have the ear of the President of the United States?

- What role did the Apollo Alliance play in crafting bills?

- Does the President know the co-founder of the Weather Underground is a board member of the Apollo Alliance?

- How many people in the administration are connected to the movement for a democratic society?

- What role does George Soros play... CONSTITUTIONALLY?

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- Our unfunded liability for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is close to $100 trillion. Is there any way to pay for these programs without bankrupting America?

- We are in so much debt, why spend more borrowed money on cap-and-trade and healthcare programs before we stop the flow of red-ink?

- The stimulus package funneled billions of dollars to ACORN. How does giving billions of dollars to ACORN stimulate the economy?

- If it was so important for congress to pass the stimulus bill before they even had time to read it why has only a fraction of the stimulus money been spent 6 months later?

- Bush said he had to abandon free market principles in order to save them, how exactly does that work?

- Why won’t members of Congress read the bills before they vote on them?

- Why are citizens mocked and laughed at when they ask their congressman to read the bills before they vote on them?

- Was the cash-for-clunkers program meant to save the earth or the economy? Did it accomplish either?

- How did Van Jones, a self-proclaimed communist become a special advisor to the president?

- Did President Obama know of Van Jones’ radical political beliefs when he named him special advisor?

- The Apollo Alliance claimed credit for writing the stimulus bill—why was this group allowed to write any portion of this bill?

- If politicians aren’t writing the bills and aren’t reading the bills, do they have any idea what these 1000 page plus bills actually impose on the American people?

- If the ‘public option’ health care plan is so good why won’t politicians agree to have that as their plan?

- If town hall meetings are intended for the politicians to learn what’s on our mind—why do they spend so much time talking instead of listening?

- Politicians are refusing to attend town hall meetings complaining, without evidence, that they are scripted. Does that mean we shouldn’t come out and vote for you since every campaign stop, baby kiss and speech you give is scripted?

- Why would you want to overwhelm the system?

- Is using the economic crises to rush legislation through congress what Rahm Emanuel meant when he talked about "not letting a crises go to waste"?

- What are the czars paid? What is the budget for their staffs/offices?

Green Job Czar: Avowed Radical Communist

You read that right. Van Jones, the President's appointed "Special Adviser on Green Jobs," AKA "Green Jobs Czar"is a self-proclaimed Radical Communist. He has been in prison for radical activities, and spent time in jail associated with the Rodney King riots in LA.

That's not me or anyone else calling him a "communist" - it's him calling himself that.

How did he get past the FBI's vetting (background check) process? Simple. The White House does their own vetting now; they won't let the FBI look into his past.

War: Either Do It or Don't Do It

Just like with George H W Bush and George W Bush in Iraq:

Mr. President, either get the job done in Afghanistan or get out.

Don't just play around with it. Let the men and women who are trained to take down an enemy do what they are trained to do. Or bring them home.

Either way, finish there. Don't drag it out for the next eight years and wait for somebody else pull them out for you.

My personal preference: Take out Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Completely. (I am considering that "if you cut off the head, the snake will die;" ex-members of a dead group don't need to be individually taken out unless they are themselves a continuing threat.)

Don't play around with threats to our national security. Like poisonous snakes, either kill them or leave them alone. We don't want to get bitten again, because that would probably mean thousands (or more) of more people would die.

Of course, if they nuke DC, we'll get a new Congress and Senate out of it... But that's no excuse for the collateral damage of possibly millions of people to die because you just wouldn't let our military and intelligence services do their jobs.

It should be quite simple, really. We know our services have the ability to infiltrate them, a few people in varied positions. They can take out the leadership. In a manner that allows deniability, obviously. (Yea, the Taliban leadership must have gotten some dirty water or something. Always drink UPstream from the horses. We had nothing to do with it...)

Dems say Republicans only complain, no ideas

The Democrats repeatedly say that the Republicans only complain about the Democrat healthcare bill and offer no ideas of their own.

Well, I will readily admit that the Republicans aren't doing nearly as much as they could. That the Democrats can say what they do without getting laughed at is a case in point.

But the simple matter is that while the Democrats have put out one healthcare plan, the Republicans have put out three.

There is a saying that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it as true. The Democrats are telling lie after lie, but the Republicans aren't standing up to them.

"Stimulus" Exposed, This Week on Fox News

This week on Fox News (each night at 5PM EDT), Glenn Beck is going to expose the people and motives behind the "Stimulus" package.

He has given some information already on his radio show.

Rep. John Conyers said that he didn't need to read the bill, and mocked those who said he needed to, not because the bill isn't important, but because he trusts those who wrote it. This is a key in the Progressive movement - you don't need to actually do your job (that is, read the bill and make sure it is good for your constituents); just trust those who work with you in your movement.

So, who wrote the bill? Glenn gave some info on some of the people, but it's a long list. It includes heads / key figures in the big unions (United Steelworkers, SEIU), extreme environmental groups, Zero Population Growth, and members of the Revolutionary Communists. Not just "regular" Communists, but "Revolutionary" Communists.

Watch Glenn Beck at 5PM on Fox News for all the details. He is not speculating on this; he has all the documentation. (5PM EDT - adjust the time for your situation of you're not in Eastern Time.)

Our Federal Government is Financially Irresponsible

Our federal government can't handle $1 billion for Cash for Clunkers. The money was supposed to last 5 months, but it was gone in the first weekend.

Their response? Triple the funding. As it turned out, that only lasted a few more weeks. The Cash for Clunkers program, which was supposed to last until November 1, will now end on Monday, August 24.

A simple rebate requires 30 pages of paperwork, which has 136 pages of documentation. Rebate forms are being returned unpaid for simple spelling mistakes. The user agreement on the government website (though it was later changed after people complained) said that any computer that accessed the site became the property of the federal government and all information on it could be copied and any communications could be monitored and all information could be shared with any government entity, national or international.

Car dealers aren't getting reimbursed. They are giving out $3500-4500 per customer out of their own pockets (literally - most dealerships are sole proprietorships), but a month later, the government has only repaid 2% of the amount they've promised. Dealerships are stopping using the program because they can't afford it. And some in positions to know such things suggest that if the federal money runs out, the dealerships will just be out of luck on getting repaid at all.

Our federal government can't handle $1 billion for Cash for Clunkers.

But the same government, with the same legislators and the same bureaucrats, says they want $1.5 trillion for healthcare. They say they'll improve things. They really expect us to trust them?


With healthcare, the $1.5T will be spent in just as short a time. Then they'll just pass increases. Of course, they won't be able to just end the program once they've dismantled our current system, so they'll have to increase the funding again. Obviously, this means taxes. They've already long forgotten the campaign promises for no tax increases of any kind on anyone making less than $250,000/year, so there's no telling where things will head at that point.

There's no telling how much paperwork will be involved for a simple checkup, an x-ray of a suspected broken leg, a cut that needs stitches. Will the doctor be required to complete the 30 pages (or 300 pages, the way things are heading) before giving someone a drug for a heart attack? Or will the patient be expected to complete the paperwork himself before he can receive any treatment?

Will costs be unreimburseable if the form has a spelling mistake? Will coverage be denied if an emergency procedure isn't approved in advance by a government bureaucrat? Will doctors have to wait months for reimbursement? Will doctors stop accepting the government "insurance" plan like car dealers are doing with Cash for Clunkers, even if it means moving out of the country?

Unreasonable? Yes. But remember, the people passing the regulations won't have to deal with it themselves. Congress has already exempted themselves; they have their own plan for themselves and their families.

"Community Organizers" = Thugs for Hire

OK, there are exceptions. But in general, the big well-known "community organizer" groups, particularly ACORN and SEIU, are acting as thugs hired out to left-wing / liberal / progressive political parties.

Several examples:

Black Panthers blocked entrances to a number of polling locations last fall. They wouldn't allow the white voters to enter. There was a lawsuit, but the newly-appointed public prosecutor dropped the case.

All the protests in front of AIG executive's houses? All the death threats? Paid for by ACORN. Bus tours chartered by ACORN.

The fights in Healthcare Reform town hall meetings? The rowdy protesters? All the ones who were actually rowdy were SEIU members. SEUI members have actually beat up - to the point that the people had to go to the hospital - people who disagree with the "reform" that is being proposed.

Again, "Community Organizers" = Thugs for Hire

Healthcare "Reform" - mandatory abortion coverage

The current healthcare "reform" plan requires - REQUIRES - all insurance plans, public or private, to pay for abortion.

There are many problems with this.

One, I'm a single man. Why should I have insurance for childcare, whether killing the baby or live birth? And why should my parents in their senior years be required to have childcare insurance coverage?

Two, I don't want to pay for other people's elective abortion. And most people agree with me; a Zogby poll last year says 71% of Americans don't want insurance to be required to cover abortion.

Three, I believe abortion kills babies. 82% of Americans believe there should be at least some limits on abortion, and 11% believe all elective abortion should be illegal.

In contrast, President Obama is part of the only 9% of Americans (Harris) that believes that abortion should be legal for any reason at any point in the pregnancy. But more than that, he wants it paid for at taxpayer expense.

Why? Some experts believe that the purpose is population control. This will come in two ways.

One, many people will choose abortion over children. Some women will gladly take the simplicity of a minor surgical procedure (nevermind that only one of the two patients will survive the process) to the extended difficulty of a pregnancy followed by the pain of the birth. And some people, given the choice between meeting their obligations as human beings and actually caring for their own children or discarding their own offspring as "inconvenient" will take the easy way out. Then factor in that they don't actually have to pay for even the abortion themselves, and you have a "no-brainer".

Two, we will soon see encouragement to reduce childhood disorders. We will see efforts to reduce issues like Down's Syndrome, autism, and the 2% of all children who are technically "mentally retarded". How will these be reduced? Simple - fetal tests. And if the baby, that is, "fetus" has signs of a concern, the mother will be advised to abort the child. Later, this "advice" may become stronger. Parents have recently become legally criminal for not having their children vaccinated as instructed; parents may soon become required to kill "substandard" children. Obviously, these steps will require that the abortion be funded.

There may be portents of a third step to come later. Obama's "Science Czar", John P. Holdren (director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy) has written (another reference) that he does not believe a child to be a "human being" until he, excuse me, "it", is several years old, and then only if "given the opportunity to develop properly" including "essential early socializing experiences and sufficient nourishing food". Those who don't "develop properly"? They are never deemed human at any age, and as such can be eliminated without consequence. You know, Christians, Jews, homosexuals, conservatives, Republicans, Libertarians - anybody the ruling authority deems to have a negative influence in society. I would hope that one individual with radical ideas will not unduly influence the rest, but you never know.

I would have hoped that the second phase would not come in my lifetime, if at all. This is the stuff of science fiction, and not the good kind. But experts are now expecting this to come soon. Phase One within months, if the current "reform" passes, and Phase Two soon afterward. On the other hand, it has only been sixty-some years since the third phase was used extensively in Europe.

Cash for Clunkers Fiasco

Cash for Clunkers was supposed to run July 1 to November 1, four full months. But the money ran out after four days. Now they are trying to add another $2B to the $1B that was already used.

The program was supposed to start on July 1. But the program details weren't finalized until July 24.

The application form is 30 pages long, and the instructions are 136 pages.

The privacy policy said that using the CARS system will cause your (the car dealer's) computer and any networked systems to become property of the Federal government, and any information in this system, including usernames and passwords, can be copied and any communication can be monitored, and any of this can be sent to any government organization, either national or international. (This policy has since been changed, due to the loud feedback.)

Do we really want these people in charge of out healthcare?

Private Jets

Do you remember back when Congress got all over the heads of the auto manufacturers for flying to DC in private jets?

Well, Congress has now ordered half a billion dollars in private jets for their own use.

The Air Force maintains the aircraft for Congressional use, and they say only two jets are needed (to replace old ones), not all the ones that have been ordered. They say that they don't need them and that they didn't order them. Congress went around the AF and ordered the jets themselves.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor Confirmed for Supreme Court

I have said before that "race", someone's culture, heritage and background, are a person's flavor, a seasoning of life.

If someone is from Georgia, grown up with fried chicken and grits, that person is no more inherently "right" or "wrong" than someone from Washington State with their apples and cherries. Do you like New York foldable pizza better than Chicago's thick-crust pizza? Fine. Do you like Texas spicy baked beans better than Boston's sweet baked beans? OK. Neither is right or wrong, just personal preference, and someone should be neither qualified nor disqualified from public office on the basis of such personal culture.

Similarly, is not voting for someone exclusively because of skin color or gender the very definition of racism or sexism? I have no problem with a person being elected (or "confirmed", as the case may be) to office, who may happen to be of a particular heritage or gender, but nobody should be elected or confirmed primarily because of such bias.

Voting for such a person in large part because of a bias is just as bad as voting against the person because of a bias.

A Senator who confirmed Judge Sonia Sotomayor primarily because she has a Latina heritage is just as bad as someone who voted against Barack Obama just because he's black. There is no difference.

Decreased posting frequency

Some may note that my blog postings have become less frequent. This is because I have been listening less to politics. It has gotten depressing.

Examples, from memory:

One of President Obama's appointees (I think a czar of some sort) is a Communist. Not a "he has some positions I see as being Communist" Communist, but a"he is an official member of the Communist Party" Communist.

One of President Obama's appointees (maybe a czar of some sort, and maybe the person above) has said that he thinks offspring (that is, children) who have undesirable characteristics (defects, less desirable genetics) should be terminated. You're thinking, "So? Many people think fetuses with problems should be aborted." The problem is that he doesn't think it should be a problem whether or not the "fetus" happens to already be born. By several years. He thinks any person with a genetic defect should be "terminated" for the good of the society. So, what constitutes a "genetic defect"? Blacks? That's why Planned Parenthood got started, to eliminate black reproduction so the "defective genes" would die out. Christians? Jews? Homosexuals? These were part of Hitler's "cleansing," why not part of this one?

The proposed "healthcare reform" is expected by many experts to end care for many diseases. The University of Tennessee cancer care center is creating plans to close in the event this legislation passes. People who develop issues which are not "cost effective" to treat or are deemed "less beneficial to society" will not be treated. They will be "made comfortable" and allowed to die. This is how things are currently done in some countries with government-run healthcare, and many experts believe it will soon be this way here if this legislation passes. And they believe it enough to already be planning the shutdowns of major centers.

The people pushing for healthcare reform are now trying to change the term from "healthcare reform" to "health insurance reform' because their studies show people respond better to that term. They insist you will be able to keep your doctor. Whatever treatment he recommends just won't be covered under the new plans. And new people won't want to become doctors, because they aren't expected to get paid much. Why pay hundreds of thousands for education when you'll only get paid what the government says you get paid?

The proposed "healthcare reform" includes "end-of-life counseling", required every six months for anyone over 65 years of age. In other words, they are going to tell everyone over 65 just how big a drain they are on society and how they should just remove themselves from being a burden. And then they will repeat it every six months, in one-on-one "counseling" sessions with anyone who chose not to off themselves since the last meeting.

The "Cash for Clunkers" program pays people to buy a car that gets at least 25 miles per gallon in the idea of increasing fuel efficiency. 25MPG isn't very efficient, but someone can get paid up to $4500 for getting one. And the trade-in can't be resold, even if it's in perfect shape; it has to be scrapped. And used cars don't qualify; the bought car has to be new - used car dealers don't get any stimulus out of this.

The cars.gov website for the "Cash for Clunkers" program has an unusual usage agreement. It states that if you use that website, your computer becomes property of the US Government and anything on your computer can be copied and anything you do with your computer can be monitored. Emails, instant messages, Internet-based phone calls, anything.

Democrats: Time to get off the Obama Boat...

As a preface, I'm not a Republican. Or not lately, since they haven't done much in a long while to help our country.

But it's time for the Democrats to get off the "Obama Boat" as well. President Obama's approval numbers have dropped as fast as the economy.

His approval rating is now lower than Carter's at the same point in his presidency. President Obama's approval index, those who strongly approve minus those who strongly disapprove, is negative - there are 10% more people who STRONGLY disapprove what he's doing than strongly approve.

His own timetable to turn the economy around has passed; we were supposed to have seen recovery by today (7/31). Instead, unemployment keeps growing. And GDP keeps dropping.

The stimulus was "required" to keep the unemployment from climbing above 8 1/2%; it was about 7% at the time. It's now 9.7% as a nationwide average.

He just pushed through (granted, it took a lot of help) the LARGEST TAX INCREASE in history, with the cap-and-trade bill. A bill that NOBODY read before it was passed, because another 300 pages were added at 2AM (or was that 3AM, I don't remember) the DAY OF THE VOTE. The extra pages were pork to swing votes for it.

He wants to pass a healthcare bill that will require everyone who ever changes their employment to start using a government-supplied insurance plan. He says that you can keep your insurance and your doctor? That's not what the bill says; if your insurance ever needs to change, for any reason (add a dependent, drop one, change your job), that's it - your out of your insurance. And when someone asked him, he admitted that HE had not read the bill himself. His talks are based not on what IS in the bill, but what he WANTS in the bill.

He keeps talking about the $1.5T deficit that he "inherited" from Bush. He doesn't talk about the extra $4T he has added himself. So far, and only for bills that have already passed.

He showed racism the other day, after police responded by-the-book and very respectfully to a breaking-and-entering 911 call, when he said that the police "acted stupidly" when he, admittedly, didn't know anything of the situation other than that a black Harvard professor complained about them. It turned out, from radio recordings, that the professor had refused to identify himself and cursed at the police officer. Oh, and he did break into the house; it was just his own house.

Oh, and having Secret Service point guns out of vehicles at the crowds as his motorcade passes by doesn't help his image any. That's right, yesterday at his healthcare promotional stop at the Kroger in Bristol Virginia, reported by thirty-something different people who saw for themselves - rifles pointed out of vehicle windows as they moved down the street. And reported on a local radio call-in show by several of them. On the topic of that meeting, there were some 1500 people that showed up. National news only reported 250 people, because that was all that had tickets for the employees-only meeting inside the store.

Honduras Interference

President Obama says that we don't get involved in other countries' internal politics. He said this when many people contested Iran's election results, which clearly had tampering (some districts had more votes cast than registered voters).

But when the government of Honduras LEGALLY removes a President who ILLEGALLY and UNCONSTITUTIONALLY tries to stay in office AFTER HIS TERM HAS ENDED, the same President Obama insists that they reinstate him. What's up with that?

As a reminder, the Constitution of Honduras limits Presidents to a single term. President Manuel Zelaya served his term, but he didn't want to leave. He filed with the court, and they said that, nope, you only get one term. He filed with the congress, and they said that, nope, you only get one term. He said that he wanted a public referendum, and they said that, nope, the president can't constitutionally issue one. So he decided that he just wouldn't leave. So they arrested him and ejected him from the country. Now President Obama is trying to get them to take him back anyway? They say they don't care what some President in another country says, even if its from the United States. Good for them; if you're doing what's right, don't back down from the neighborhood bully.

The US press is saying this was a coup. Sorry; it was the Constitutional process. Besides, in any normal coup, you don't calmly eject the previous leader - you execute them.

McCain doesn't get it

For some reason, McCain (or his staff) still believes that Sarah Palin was the reason he lost the election. He doesn't get it.

Sarah is the only reason he did as well as he did. I know people that if it weren't for Sarah, they wouldn't have voted at all. The option was "Socialist vs Socialist Lite". Americans don't want our car companies run by the government. Americans don't want the banks run by the government. And Americans don't want healthcare run by the government. President Obama has effected some of these and is pushing for it all. But McCain was also pushing in this direction.

McCain just went to DC to meet with Obama. Why? McCain is upset with the unions. Why? Because he wants them to ease up on hiring restrictions against ILLEGAL ALIENS!

Even now, while Americans need jobs, McCain wants to give MORE of them away to ILLEGALS!

No, "no person is illegal". But many people are in the US illegally. That doesn't make their existence illegal. But it does make their presence in this country illegal. And it makes them criminals.

VA: Rick Boucher votes to increase taxes

I live in southwest Virginia. My US Representative, Rick Boucher, voted to approve the "American Clean Energy and Security Act".

This act is 1200 pages long and includes BILLIONS in pork, including 300 pages that was added early in the morning before the vote. Worse for us, it includes the so-called "cap-and-trade" provisions.

The Wall Street Journal says that the bill will "impose crushing costs on...consumers" (Review & Outlook, June 25, 2009). Estimates are that residential electricity costs may increase 90%.

Despite what anyone says, this act will dramatically increase energy costs, and when we can least afford them.

And it will cost jobs. Much of US "green jobs" policy, which is in this act, is based on Spain's policy. Policies that has caused Spain's unemployment to go to 17.4% as of April.

To put it simply, Rep. Rick Boucher voted to increase our energy bills as much as 90%. And he voted to support a bill that will increase unemployment even worse than it already is.

If you don't live near me, check here to see how your Representative voted.

And vote against him or her the next chance you get. I will.

Health care: Rationing required

President Obama now admits that his healthcare plan will require service rationing.

That is, only x number of y services can be performed in z period of time. That means that when you can now just go into your doctor and get, say, a mammogram done, you will instead need to sign up on a list.

In Canada, you generally have to wait 6-12 months for a mammogram, even if you have a lump. This person (second Google result for "canada mammogram wait") was 34 and had a lump; she could not get approved for a mammogram until she had an ultrasound, which itself a had 6-month wait. That's the difference between easy treatment with little or no side effects and go home and wait to die.

Regulatory reform: unnecessary and doesn't even do what it intends

Two major bills are currently being proposed. One is finance oversight regulation, the other is health care reform.

1: Finance oversight.

The major financial problems we've had over the last year was, and most people know this, due largely to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They encouraged, financed, and in many cases even required, lenders to make home loans to "underqualified buyers".

"Underqualified" means that the people couldn't afford them, like someone who makes $20k/year getting a $200k house. How could they even work that? Simple. Give them a low-interest, interest-only loan for the first five years. They don't have to pay on the $200k at all, only the 3% interest. They know that in five years they'll have to start paying principal too, and the interest will go to 9%. They pay $500/month for now. But in five years, that will go to $2028. Why would they even do that? They probably plan to either sell the house at a profit in five years, with a side thought of refinancing into a 30-year fixed at 6% ($1200/month) on an increased income. Problem is that housing values went down. They couldn't sell at a profit. They are "upside-down" in a house they couldn't afford. The bank should never have even lent to them. But Fannie Mae required that they make a certain number of these loans, or else risk losing access to financing sources.

The problem with the proposed legislation?

The new regulation DOES NOT APPLY TO FANNIE MAE OR FREDDIE MAC! AT ALL! The area that actually needs oversight doesn't get it!

2: Health care reform.

President Obama has pushed for this reform, in large part using General Motors as an example. The union "legacy costs", primarily health insurance, is too high, and has greatly contributed to their bankruptcy.

The problem with the proposed legislation? (Ignoring many other issues, like estimated costs of $1 trillion with no funding, and expectations that many employers will dump their current better insurance since the new stuff won't cost them anything...)

The new regulation grandfathers in the union plans! If you have a union, YOU CAN'T GET INTO THE NEW PLAN EVEN IF YOU WANT TO! The industries that need the reform most aren't allowed to use it!

Transparent and Ethical Government as promised?

AmeriCorps is a public service organization under the Federal Government.

President Obama just fired the Inspector General of AmeriCorps. Why? He was "confused and disoriented". What's that mean? Is that like Joe Biden is everytime he speaks publicly? Or like Obama is everytime he doesn't have his teleprompter?

Obama sent notification to the Senate seven days after the firing. Part of the problem is that a law THAT OBAMA SIGNED requires 30-days advance notice is to be given to the Senate before starting procedures to fire any Inspector General. In other words, President Obama expressly broke the law, and a law he himself approved.

Why was Inspector General Walpin fired? Because the board of directors wanted him fired. Why did they want him fired? Because he had just investigated an organization for misuse of taxpayer funds provided by AmeriCorps. That organization, the St. HOPE Academy of Sacramento, was founded by an Obama supporter who used the $850,000 he got from AmeriCorp (for arts programs) for things like increasing salaries for his organization and personal car washes. After the investigation, While St. HOPE was not charged criminally, they agreed to repay half the grants.

In other words, Inspector General Walpin was doing his job, investigating misuse of taxpayer funds. But it turned out that those he was investigating supported Obama. And he was fired, without valid reason and directly contrary to the law.

Reference: http://whitehouse.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/06/16/obama-accuses-fired-inspector-general-of-americorps-of-being-confused-disoriented

Moon / Space missions

OK, it's a toss-up, regular blog or political...

NASA has regular space missions. Some say they are useless. There's also the point that they're expensive in a time that we're having economic problems.

My thoughts?

First, on the economy, that's a valid point. My first thought was that we could delay missions for now until we can better afford them. Then I realized that large economies are built around these industries; if we shut them down, that would just cause more economic problems, albeit in specialized sectors. If it were planned properly, maybe, but we now have people and companies relying on these missions for their incomes and salaries.

Second, on the missions themselves:
Step it up! We should have manned stations on the moon by now. And civilian colonies on the moon. We've been visiting for FORTY YEARS! Why are we just playing with it? Most of the missions we're doing are with obsolete equipment. The only good these missions do is to enable scientific labs on the space station. Why have we not developed better propulsion systems? Better defensive systems? Antigravity systems?

It seems like our space administration is, like most in government, more interested in saving their own jobs than actually developing new tech and making new discoveries. How else can you explain our more advanced space tech being 20-year-old shuttles? If the problem is that they don't have sufficient funding, maybe they need to use the money more wisely. They're not getting anything done as it is. Maybe they, like many government agencies, are paying too much in too many salaries, and not on the research and equipment.

Bill for a specific purpose is only 80% for that purpose, and that's fine?!?

A bill to fund military operations includes $5 billion in lending to the International Monetary Fund, money that some expect will be lent to countries like Iran and North Korea. Money that will be borrowed (by us) largely from China, since we don't have it.

But the Democrat House Majority Leader, says that it's not a problem since 80% of the bill is still going to the military.

That's part of the problem. As long as over half of the funds of a bill go to the EXPRESS PURPOSE OF A BILL go to that purpose, the bill is "close enough" on target. That's why they have no problem with "pork". They are including in a bill $5 BILLION that is for something entirely different? I'm not even getting into the wrongness (or whatever) of what that money is for. If they want the money for IMF, put a bill through for that; don't tack it onto something else.

Ahmadinejad Reelected?!?

So, Iran's "president" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the man often referred to as "Hitler in a head scarf", was reelected in a landslide, despite polling that showed him tied with the other candidate.

Who'd have thunk it?

On another note, there are people protesting the election results. If I were them, I'd stop - now. And either get out of Iran or distance myself from the protests, and quickly. Especially if they have families to think of. Because, one way or another, there probably won't be any of these protesters left in another month or so.

Pay controls for everyone

The President's office has just announced pay "guidelines" that apply to all employees at all public companies. Not just financial companies, not just companies that accepted bailout funds. Everyone.

Do you expect executives for companies that have been growing and making lots of money will keep working hard when their pay is cut? Do you think they will work hard to keep as many jobs as they can? Will they work to keep costs down so they can keep wages high?

Why should they try to keep employee wages up if the government will mandate lower wages?

Do you work at a fast-food restaurant or big box store? Any job that could be considered entry-level? Do you want to have your pay changed to minimum wage?

This is un-Constitutional. There is no provision in the Constitution for government to get involved in regulating business. At all.

If the Federal government wants to tie wages to performance, let them start at home. Cut Congressional pay rates. Tie the President's pay to performance - as the economy dries up, let his pay dry up. Drop the excuses blaming everything on a guy who left office in January when you've effectively been in charge since last November. Try pay for performance there first before you mandate it on everyone else in the country and kill off what economy we still have.

Global Warming: Winds - a quick comment

It has just been noticed, with preliminary study results, that global wind speeds seem to be slowing.

This is inconsistent with "warming". It is also inconsistent with the dire warnings some have been screaming.

But it is consistent with a global "greenhouse" environment. The idea is not warming, but moderating. That means that while winters may be warmer, summers will be cooler. Winds will be lower because the temperature extremes are not as extreme. Weather storms, one of the major threats of global warming extremists, will actually reduce, because they are created by temperature extremes, both locally and globally.

Of course, all this is theory since no studies along these lines have been done. Studies of global warming have been done, and the earth has been seen to be cooling instead of warming over the last decade. But I suggest that the earth is moderating in true "global greenhouse" style. Think "global Hawaii". Moderate temperatures year-round. Weather storms will get milder and milder in general, though there will be exceptions. As long as politicians do not do anything extreme, since our interference in this natural process could cause problems.

The earth is generating large amounts of carbon dioxide. Not man, but natural processes. And the plants love it.

Definitions: Racism and Sexism

Racism: The belief that one race/ethnicity is inherently superior to another.

Sexism: The belief that one gender is inherently superior to the other.

Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor said that she believes a woman would make better decisions than a man, and that a Latina (a woman from a Spanish-heritage country) would make better decisions than a white man.

President Obama said he would hope that she would restate it given the chance. She did. She said effectively the same thing repeatedly over a number of years in a variety of situations.

So, you decide. Are these racist or sexist comments?

Do these statements have any place whatsoever coming from someone nominated to a position which is supposed to be "blind" and completely impartial to all circumstances in all decisions?

Reference

The President seeks to appease a religion?!?

Why does our President feel it necessary to appease a religion, to meet with leaders of that religion, fly to nations with majorities of that religion, and have long, extended speeches specifically to speak to members of that religion?

He flew to Egypt to speak to "the Muslim world". Not the Arab world, not the middle eastern world. The Muslim world. Did he fly to Italy to speak to "the Catholic world"? Did he fly to Israel to speak to "the Orthodox Jewish world"? Did he fly to Germany to speak to "the Lutheran world"? Did he fly to Japan to speak to "the Buddhist world"?

Then why select one specific religion to speak to? Repeatedly? And specifically to apologize to them? On two separate world tours?

GM Bankruptcy, review

I just saw in my post from April 30 that I thought GM's bankruptcy would get the government out of their management at last.

WRONG!

The US government now owns 60% of General Motors. (Or Government Motors, whatever.) And Canada gets 12.5%. The UAW (United Auto Workers union) gets 17.5%.

And the bondholders, the people who were originally guaranteed by bankruptcy law to get at least their principal back, those who didn't take risk, those who needed stable investments, like school, fire department and police department pension funds, will get the remaining 10%, mere pennies on the dollar.

Stockholders get zip. Preferred stockholders (retirees living on a fixed income from dividends) get zip. Common stockholders (holding them as they split and increase value over time) get zip.

GM Being Run by Inexperienced Dropout

GM is now being run by Brian Deese, a 31-year-old Yale drop-out.

He got his undergrad degree in Political Science from a small private school in Vermont, and has had no formal econonomics education. His only previous experience with the auto industry was sleeping in his car in a Pontiac plant parking lot.

He worked with several Democratic-financed think-tanks, and after the stint at Yale, went to Hilary Clinton's Presidential campaign as her economic advisor. When that folded, he went to the Obama campaign as deputy economic policy director, then with the transition team as an economic advisor. Then, despite having neither any economic or business education, nor any private-sector experience, he was the only full-time member of the auto task force between the election and mid-February.

He is now managing the government investment of $458,000 per day in GM. And that plant at which he slept in the parking lot? The entire brand is being closed under his management.

Reference for much of this, though I found it elsewhere citing this article.

Abortion is murder. But murder is also murder.

Some over-zealous individual (or nutjob, or psycopath - I don't know his story) killed an abortion doctor Sunday morning.

Yes, I believe abortion is wrong. But murder is also wrong. Two wrongs don't make a right. And a wrong done for the right reasons is still wrong.

How should this have been handled? Since elective abortion is murder, the laws should reflect such and those who do elective abortions under such law should be found by the courts to be guilty of murder. (No, the law should not be retroactive, as no laws should be.) The law should then act and serve justice. If a murder is, for some reason, not legally considered such (whether unborn children as now, or members of unfavored ethnicities as in the past), then the law should be changed, not the enforcement of laws.

However, this individual who murdered the doctor finds himself in the same place he wished the doctor. The doctor is legally not guilty and the individual guilty. When these persons come before God for judgment, they will both be deemed guilty of the same crime.

Wasteful spending

The US National Institutes of Health is spending $2.6M to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job. You can't make this stuff up!

A union that supports itself, not its members

The Service Employees International Union, SEIU, self-noted as the second-largest union of government employees, gave $33M to President Obama's campaign.

California is out of money. They are losing residents who are fleeing increasing state taxes. They are being forced to close offices, lay off people, and reduce hours of those who stay. The White House has just informed the State of California that if they proceed in their plan to trim $74M in worker pay they will lose $6.8B in stimulus.

The SEIU may have a legitimate mission; I'm not arguing that. They are free to support political candidates that best reflect their members. My problem is with the politicians. Rather than doing what is best for all the people, they would rather pay back their supporters. This is not even in the best long-term interests of the members of the union; if California is not allowed to trim costs now, the problems will just get bigger. This rewards the union leaders at the expense of the union members. We can't afford the paybacks anymore.

GM Restructuring

GM's restructuring plan includes more jobs manufacturing cars. But those jobs will be in Mexico and China, because they are moving some of the manufacturing there.

But...I thought this bailout was to save the "American auto industry"? So we are now bailing out the Mexican and Chinese auto industry, while those who really make cars here, like Honda and Toyota, are on their own?

More government "savings"?

It turns out more of those budget cuts that the President just found include cancelling the extension of the fence on the Mexico border, and cutting funding to detect nuclear bombs at our seaports, an area reports have repeatedly warned is our weakest point.

We want our rights back!

Wow! We've got some REALLY positive news for a change!

Several states are putting together similar laws. The law is that guns made, sold, and remaining within that state are not subject to any federal gun laws, but will only be subject to state laws. The federal gun laws are under the authority of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, and since these items do not have anything to do with interstate commerce, those laws do not apply.

And a major factor is that 20 states are working on these laws; the Court strongly considers societal trends in its decisions. They could easily decide that a strong federal government was the way people wanted it fifty years ago, but now people want decisions to be more local. It's the same idea as with gay marriage; the courts decide, not based on law, but on what most people want. If you are in state government and reading this, push for state laws matching the Montana Firearms Freedom Act. The more states that have this law, the more ground the court will have to expand on it.

They are gearing this to go quickly to the courts, and then to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has been leaning this way, as shown in recent decisions, but those cases were too small to bother with.

This involves guns, so everybody will be watching. The government knows that gun and ammo sales are a direct indicator of trust in the government. When people trust the government, sales are flat; but when people don't trust the government, sales go through the roof.

If this goes well, it can lead to overturning all regulatory laws that affect anything other than interstate commerce. After all, the laws were based on interstate commerce; they've just gotten WAY out of control. Minimum wage laws are based on interstate commerce. Maximum hours per week are based on interstate commerce. The entire EPA is based on interstate commerce!

Mind you, these regulations may continue for businesses that deal across state lines, but small businesses, those that are only in one state, those that are currently getting regulated TO DEATH since they can't afford to hire hundreds of people just to deal with the regulations, may find some relief in the next few years. The ultimate solution may take two or three years to come, but it's heading that way.

Government running our businesses

The government is insistent on taking over the banks. They started by loaning the TARP/bailout money to the banks. They they changed that to preferred stocks - some more risk than bonded loans, but still higher in the food chain. Now the government wants to change it to common stock. You know, the stuff that becomes worthless in bankruptcy? Why? Because common stock is VOTING stock! The government wants to tell the banks exactly what to do! (They also get four of nine directors of Chrysler. with the UAW getting one and Canada getting one, totalling six of the nine directors.)

Since when has the government been any good at running a business? Just look at the Postal Service. They keep raising rates all the time. They are slow, and they lose a lot of mail. They don't guarantee their service unless you get the highest (most expensive) options. The major competitors at least guarantee they won't lose your stuff - and they offer tracking included at no extra charge. But they AREN'T ALLOWED to handle non-priority letters! The government knows it's doing such a bad job that it won't let others compete!

Keep the government's hands off of businesses!

FYI on a label I used.

Fascism: One of the major components is the government telling businesses what to do even while those businesses maintain the fascade of being private. Communism includes when those businesses are directly government-owned. Look it up.

Banking "stress test"

We've just gotten results from a "stress test" done on banks by the FDIC. The FDIC does these regularly anyway! It's just more politics.

And the bad news took the Dow Jones down another 102.43 points. Thanks - my 401K (what's left of it) needed that.

Government "savings"?

The President has announced he has found ways to cut 1/2 of 1% of the budget. how has he done it?

A big chunk came from cutting the death benefit for police officers killed in the line of duty to less than half what it was.

ACORN

You might have already heard that the White House is taking control of the census, which used to be an independent organization to keep it out of politics. You might have also heard that in some areas, they will be allowed to "estimate" the populations rather than actually counting people. You know, like the word "census" means, "to count"?

Well, much of actually taking the census is being handed to ACORN. You know, the group President Obama used to work with and got his experience as a "community organizer"? And they are being investigated in 14 states for voter fraud, under charges brought by Democrats. They registered thousands of voters under duplicate names, fake names (like - and I'm not making this up - "Mickey Mouse"), forged applications, and busing people from other states to register and vote the same day.

And there are eight ex-executives of ACORN who have quit and are pursuing corruption charges against them. But these are "racists" and "black-haters"? Sorry - ALL EIGHT of these are African-Americans.

Stimulus oversight?

We were promised close oversight of the stimulus, right? The Congressional oversight committee just had their second meeting.

Only three of the ten members bothered to show up for the meeting!

Transparency?

You may wonder, where's all the "transparency" we were promised? We just found out with Chrysler that we lost $4.3 billion from TARP. Wasn't "every last dime" supposed to be accounted for?

It turns out that they aren't going to give us any information on this until next year.

Chrysler bankruptcy

The company Cerberus owned 81% of the company, was owed $500M, and owned the Chrysler Building. They lose everything in the bankruptcy. They get repaid zero. They even lose the building.

The company Daimler that used to own Chrysler is owed another $1.5B. They get repaid zero.

Banks are owed $6.9B. They get $2B, 29 cents on the dollar.

The US government has put in $4.3B from the TARP bailout. They are also owed $300M in fees. This was supposed to be a great investment Chrysler would repay with interest. What do we get on our investment? Zero. No, worse than zero. We will give them another $3.2B in the restructuring and another $4.7B later.

The United Auto Workers has $10.6B in Chrysler debt. Remember from my last note that this is unsecured debt; they are only supposed to get what's left over after the secured debt is FULLY repaid. So, what do they get? A note for $4.6B (at 9% interest!), or 43 cents on the dollar, more than anybody else. Plus - and a big plus - they get 55% of the equity of the company. They went from not actually owning anything, and being last in line for repayment, to owning 55% of the company. Oh, and they also get $600M in "legacy costs", for stuff like pension and healthcare benefits, from Daimler.

Guess what? The "Car Czar", Steve Rattner, was Finance Chair for the Democratic National Committee. And guess what else? The UAW gives 99% of their political contributions to the DNC. Makes things clearer, doesn't it?

Unions vs The Law

For some reason, the Obama administration seems to really like the unions. Two situations that seem to show this:

The "Employee Free Choice Act", also known as "Card Check".

This act, which Obama sponsored last year in the Senate, will eliminate the secret ballot for unionizing a business. Whether a business will be unionized used to be determined by secret ballot. The "Employee Free Choice Act" will remove this, instead requiring employees to sign a card while being observed by a union official.

In the past, the pressure step, signing while being watched, was only a petition of intent; it only allowed the organization to proceed with the secret ballot. With the "Employee Free Choice Act", unions can return to early 1900's tactics of pressuring a person to vote for the union or else suffer some kind of punishment.

The Chrysler bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy law requires that secured lenders, those who have some kind of collateral with the company, like a home loan that has the house for collateral, or a car loan which has the house for collateral, get their money before those who have unsecured debt, those who lent the money just on the credit of the company, like a credit card.

In this case, the main secured debt is corporate bonds. The biggest investors in bonds are the fund companies; these in turn wind up with our retirement accounts and such. The main unsecured debt is common stock. The major unsecured investor is the union. According to the law, the bond holders should get all their money before the stock holders get anything.

Well, Obama doesn't like that idea. He, and those who work for him, call the investment funds things like "greedy", "speculators", and "refusing to sacrifice like everyone else". Instead, he wants the unions to get all their money, and the bond holders to settle for 35% of theirs. Excuse me, but it's not just "greed" or "speculation". It's called "the law".

Government waste, on both sides

That Air Force One photo op that probably cost $200,000? Turns out it cost $328,000. And they don't even want to give us the pictures we paid for! But we will get them - Fox News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get them.

Another proof that it's BOTH parties that are causing problems. The National Institutes of Health, under a plan created under Bush, is spending $400,000 to study the link between drinking and risky sexual behavior... but only among homosexuals... and only in Argentina. That seems to be wise use of taxpayer dollars. As a reminder, this is dollars of US taxpayers, not Argentinian taxpayers.

Green jobs

The current administration wants to expand our economy using Spain's example of producing "green jobs".

One problem. No, make that two problems.

First, these jobs in Spain cost them the equivalent of over $750,000 per job. And these are low-paying, mostly manual-labor jobs.

Second, Spain has unemployment of 17.8%!

Do we want to follow their example on job creation?!? Our unemployment has gone from 6% last September to 9% in March. Do we really want to double that again to match their 18%?

Understand this: You are not "creating" jobs when you actually reduce jobs.

Don't get me wrong. I love the idea of cheap/free energy. But this is not free energy if it doubles unemployment.

Besides, whatever happened to fusion? Huge amounts of energy created from readily-available materials like hydrogen? It's not practical? We've had SIXTY YEARS using fission to get it working! And we can't even use widespread solar or wind energy because environmental types say they harm the local environment!

Auto industry bankruptcy

Well, Bush said that the "US auto industry" was too big to fail. (Never mind that Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen, BMW, and others make their stuff here, and frequently with more US-made parts than the "US" manufacturers...) We, meaning the taxpayers, have put billions into them.

Well, now Chrysler is failing anyway. YAY! We've been putting "good money after bad" for far too long, and I don't want the government running businesses anyway. And Fiat will get a good deal, because the tax payers and debtors (mostly small businesses) are covering the rest.

Now we just need to push GM over, so they go bankrupt too and get the government out of their management. And the unions too, while they're at it. Unions can be useful, but they've gotten to just be huge, political, and expensive bureaucracies of their own.

The Federal Governmemnt Is Clueless

OK, the Air Force One flight that served to terrify people in NYC cost closer to $350,000. And the trip to Missouri yesterday was about $20 million. Your tax dollars at work.

Our government over the past year - yes, with both parties and both administrations - are using crisis after crisis to get more power. The government and the unions now control GM and the major banks (and a large portion of Chrysler). They have pushed through cabinet secretaries without proper review, and any objections were overruled in the name of the crisis. We got a tax cheat AS THE HEAD OF THE IRS because we had a crisis. He has since proven worthless; CitiBank and Bank of America are now (based on the "stress test") seen as less stable and more likely to fail AFTER the bailout than before. Now we have someone with a strongly racist beliefs as head of Health and Human Services because of a crisis. It's just a bad flu, at least for now, and all they really need to do is close the border from Mexico to keep sick illegals out.

When I say HHS secretary Sebelius is racist, I mean as in wanting to eliminate all black people. She's scary - check it out, just not with the major news sources since they love everything Obama does. Oh, and as a reminder, Obama's only 1/16 black. With 7/16 Arab and 1/2 white. This is common knowledge, but generally ignored. I don't care what race/heritage someone is, but don't try to convince me of something that's not true. Planned Parenthood was started by Margaret Sanger explicitly to eliminate blacks by aborting all black babies. They try to play that down now, but it's still true.

They just don't get it!

More evidence that politicians, on either side, do not get it.

- Arlin Specter, Senator from PA, switches parties to increase his chances of reelection.

Proof that there is little difference between the two parties to most people in office.

- Air Force One flies at low altitude over NYC for some pictures. Near where 9/1/1 happened. Without even telling NYC officials about it.

Obama says he's outraged? You really expect us to believe somebody can take Air Force One for a flight without his permission? With fighter escort? At a TAX PAYER COST of at least $200,000? Maybe a lot more?

- "Swine Flu", uh, "H1N1".

It's Mexican Flu. That's what other countries call it. There is also a real swine flu, and this is not it. We call other flus based on where they're from. Remember "Asian flu"? "Spanish flu?" This is Mexican flu. But our politician won't call it that, because they don't want to offend Mexico or their illegal aliens who are bringing the disease into this country. If they'd just OFFEND Mexico a bit by ENFORCING THE LAW and CLOSING THE BORDER we wouldn't have to worry about it. Instead, they let people walk across to get free healthcare here. Well, free to them - we pay for it for them through higher costs and higher insurance rates. If the disease was in Canada, they'd close the border in a heartbeat.

- "Cap and Trade" to reduce "Global Warming"

First, the science is NOT "settled". Many scientists say the planet is cooling, not warming. But our government will not allow debate on the issue. When they host conferences, they do not allow those who are known to disagree to attend.

I think it's moderating - getting warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. In VA, we haven't had much snow in years and no temperatures below 0, but we've also had no summer temperatures over 100 in a while and not much over 90. Which I like, by the way - it saves money on heat and A/C, and just feels better. Maybe we're heading to Hawaii temperatures of 75 year-round? One can hope... (By the way, even if all polar ice completely melts, "real scientists", as opposed to those with an agenda to push, estimate the oceans MAY rise by 1 to 4 inches, and likely not even that much...)

Back to the point. Cap and Trade is a TAX. A big one. One which non-partisan estimates say will at least double the cost of all energy in this country. Car gas? Doubled. Natural gas? Doubled. Coal? Doubled. (Obama said during the election he was going to put coal companies out of business, so no surprise there.) Electricity? Doubled. When we're in recession? Most costs of business are doubled.

But man-made CO2 is only 3% of the CO2 produced each year. They don't care - they want power.

And they will not allow real progress. Nuclear energy causes ZERO pollution of any kind, including CO2, but they won't allow that. They use fear tactics of forty-year-old technology. Solar and wind power supposedly endanger the environment, so production is extremely limited. We could already be completely off any fossil fuels, if the government would just get out of the way.

The Specter Spectacle

So, Senator Arlen Specter just changed parties, from Republican to Democrat. That just exemplifies the problem in politics these days - there's not much difference between the two. Neither one supports the people. Some in the parties do, but not the parties themselves.

Can we start a "Beckian Party" - the party of those who say what they mean and mean what they say? Or is that a 9-12 Party?

Our politicians are getting irritating...

- They go on about how "water boarding" is horrible and abusive. But Nancy Pelosi, current Speaker of the House, KNEW since 2002 that it was permitted and legally not torture. Neither she nor anyone else objected about any of the procedures until now, and in fact, two actually asked if it was going far enough. There are minutes of the meeting as proof.

- Obama blames Bush for his inherited debt. Yes, Bush doubled the national debt during his two terms. I didn't like most of what Bush did. But that doesn't explain Obama quadrupling the debt (based on Federal budget forecasts) during his first term.

- Republicans blame Democrats for poor control of the Mexico border. Bush created a highway through the middle of the country that is considered international territory; any truck from an approved company gets through with little if any inspection, and McCain tried to reduce control of illegal crossing even further.

- Dems blame our banking problems on lack of regulation that allowed them to make unwise loans. Sorry, but Barney Frank's House Financial Services Committee required banks make high-risk loans, and if they refused, they'd lose access to Federal borrowing sources.

- Everybody was up at arms about AIG bonuses. The bonuses were not to those who were part of the problems, but to those who took over from them. Further, these people had agreed to a salary of only $1 a year; the bonus was to be their only pay for the work, and then only if they exceeded the goals that had been set by the regulators. Since they did exceed the goals, they were supposed to get the bonus. Now the bonus, the only pay they get, will be taxed at 90%. Which is illegal, by the way, according to the Constitution, that forbids punitive taxes or taxes that are targeted to specific groups.

- Speaking of bonuses, did you know that members of Chris Dodd's Senate Finance Committee got bonuses from Fannie Mae, which is also getting bailout money? And the Fannie Mae bonuses were not protected by the bailout wording; AIG's bonuses were specifically allowed in the bailout, because they were appropriate, as explained above. And both Chris Dodd and Barack Obama got hundreds of thousands from AIG.

- The government says they want to keep the "auto industry" from failing. So they are now requiring Chrysler and GM to file bankruptcy, when they say they don't need to? (Besides, don't Honda, Toyota, BMW, etc, who make their vehicles here count as auto industry? Honda uses more US-made parts in their cars than Ford does...)

- Obama went to the opening of a wind farm? Fine. I like cheaper energy. But he took Air Force One to get there and used 9000 gallons of jet fuel to do so? And probably (he usually does) took a second one as backup, and a cargo jet with the limos, at least tripling the gas to closer to 30,000 gallons of jet fuel. And the gas used by the processional limos, which are not hybrids.

- Boston requires all taxi companies buy new hybrids by 2015. They can't get used ones; they have to be new ones.

- And by the way, research shows that hybrid cars create a lot more environmental damage when they are made than they can ever offset by being more efficient. (And they aren't usually that much more efficient...)