Gaffe Master Vice President Joe Biden to oversee Stimulus Implementation

(H/T to AllahPundit on Twitter)

This is an interesting report via Faux Noise:

President Obama has turned to his own vice president to oversee implementation of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, part of which will be available this week for state Medicaid programs.

Obama announced his decision before the National Governors Association in Washington on Monday, saying Vice

The Gaffe Master

The Gaffe Master

President Joe Biden will help ensure the distribution of the money is not just swift, “but also efficient and effective.”

“The fact that I’m asking my vice president to personally lead this effort shows how important it is for our country and future to get this right,” he said.

Biden, in his new role, would meet regularly with key members of the Cabinet, governors and mayor to make sure their efforts are speedy and effective. He is expected to make regular reports to the president that will be posted online at www.recovery.gov.

With Biden at the helm, $15 billion from the recovery package will be freed up Wednesday for the health care programs, Obama said.

The administration projects the money will help states struggling with budget deficits and maintain Medicaid coverage for 20 million recipients.

What could go wrong here? Never mind. I don’t wanna know. 🙄

Russian Warship Sinks Chinese Freighter

It is, in fact, a bit of a slow news day.  So, I will be digging up what I can find.

Video:

This story via strategypage.com:

The Russian Coast Guard sank a Chinese coastal freighter, the New Star, on February 15th, after the ship left the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka without permission. The New Star arrived in Nakhodka nearly three weeks ago, with a cargo of rice. But the firm that purchased the rice complained that the cargo was of low quality, and demanded a lower price. The Russian buyer went to local officials, and got the government to forbid the New Star from leaving until the matter was settled. Caught in the middle of this dispute between the Chinese rice broker and the Russian buyer, the Hong Kong owner of the New Star ordered the captain to leave port anyway. When the Russian Coast Guard was notified, they sent a patrol ship out to bring the New Star back. The Russian patrol boat caught up with the New Star, about 80 kilometers from Nakhodka, and ordered the Chinese ship to return to port. The Chinese ship refused, and eventually the Russians opened fire with a 30mm auto-cannon. After several hours, 515 30mm shells were fired into the hull of the New Star, causing it to take on water and begin to sink. While getting off the New Star, eight of the crew died when one of the two life rafts flipped over in rough seas. The other eight members of the crew were picked up by a Russian Coast Guard ship.

Freedom Fighter Radio adds the following… (Please note, the legitimacy of these claims cannot be verified):

Most disturbing about these reports are them stating that the New Star is owned by the J Rui Lucky Shipping Co Ltd. which is a private limited company registered in Hong Kong and has long been known by Russian FSB Analysts to be an International shipping carrier of US Military and CIA cargo to support their Global War on Terror under contract with the American giant services company KBR whose former leader was US Vice President Cheney.

These reports further state that President Obama and the Globalist elite he represents are now ‘desperate’ in their attempts to stage a 9/11 type false flag operation in order to complete the subjugation of their citizens prior to the expected outbreak of massive social unrest they state will be occurring during the coming summer months as their economy continues to implode.

To the fears being felt by the American and European Globalists we can read as reported by German experts:

“The global financial crisis could lead to an economic meltdown – and to instable democratic structures in the western world. Because governments spend more billions than they possess, the outcome will probably be a massive inflation connected with millions of lost jobs – or even the total collapse. That’s why President Hussein Obama needed an astronomic 3B-stimulus. But the Big Bailout will probably end as Big Bang: With no changes on the more-growth-more-capital-more financial market power mentality there will be no escape from the crisis. A global monetary reform seems to be the last exit from chaos and before social unrests will inevitably start.”

These German fears were further confirmed yesterday by the former head of the US Federal Reserve, and as we can also read:

“Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the current global recession will “surely be the longest and deepest” since the 1930s and more government rescue funds are needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system.”

The report goes on to talk about FEMA Prisoner camps and other such nonsense, none of which has been verified by legitimate news sources. Only by conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones and his ilk. I have often wanted to ask Alex, how does it feel to make a living off people’s paranoia?

Like I said, slow news day, really sllllooooowwww news day.

(H/T Freedom’ Phoenix)


Stupidity Unleashed: Republican Senator Jim Bunning

Egad.

U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning predicted over the weekend that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.

During a wide-ranging 30-minute speech on Saturday at the Hardin County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner, Bunning said he supports conservative judges “and that’s going to be in place very shortly because Ruth Bader Ginsburg … has cancer.”

“Bad cancer. The kind that you don’t get better from,” he told a crowd of about 100 at the old State Theater.

“Even though she was operated on, usually, nine months is the longest that anybody would live after (being diagnosed) with pancreatic cancer,” he said.

Ginsburg, who is 75, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this month and surgeons removed a small tumor that had not spread. Doctors termed it a “Stage 1” cancer, meaning they found it in the early stages when it is most curable.

via Bunning: Justice Ginsberg likely will be dead in 9 months – The Courier-Journal.

If the Republican Party is looking to regain their legitimacy among the American people, this is not, I repeat not a way to go about doing so; at all.

Freaky Deaky – Ball Lightning As a weapon?!?!

Now this is quite interesting:

Two hundred years ago this week, the warship HMS Warren Hastings was struck by a weird phenomenon: “Three distinct balls of fire” fell from the heavens, striking the ship and killing two crewmen, leaving behind “a nauseous, sulfurous smell,” according to the Times of London.

Ball lightning has been the subject of much scientific scrutiny over the years. And, as with many powerful natural phenomena, the question arises: “Can we turn it into a weapon?” Peculiar as it may seem, that’s exactly what some researchers are working on — even though it hasn’t even been properly replicated in the laboratory yet.

The exact cause and nature of ball lighting has yet to be determined; there may be several different types, confusing matters further. But generally it manifests as a grapefruit-sized sphere of light moving slowly through the air which may end by fizzling out or exploding.

via Scientist Looks to Weaponize Ball Lightning | Danger Room from Wired.com.

Here’s a video to go with the freaky deaky story… Although, I think some of the “so-called” Ball Lightning in this video is Fireworks and also some shots of the moon. Although, I could be wrong.

Oy. That music is enough to make one want to hide under the bed. 😮

Between that and watching Glenn Beck’s show on “What could go wrong.” I’m inclined to just stay in the house until the rapture of the Church!

(H/T to Freedom’s Phoenix)

Swiss are not happy about US probe of UBS

Now this is interesting:

The right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) called on Saturday for retaliation against the United States over a U.S. tax probe into the country’s biggest bank UBS that threatens prized banking secrecy.

The populist SVP, the country’s biggest party, said Switzerland should not take in any detainees from the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which the Swiss government said last month it could consider to help shut the camp down.

Switzerland should also reconsider its policy of representing the United States in countries where it has no diplomatic presence, the parliamentary SVP said in a statement.

The SVP said gold stored by the Swiss National Bank in the United States should be repatriated and Switzerland should ban the sale of U.S. funds in the country to protect Swiss investors after the failure of U.S. regulators.

The SVP has one minister in the seven-member Swiss government which is made up of the biggest four parties, but its populist policies have shaken up usually consensual Swiss politics.

via Swiss party wants to punish U.S. for UBS probe – Reuters.

You see, this is what happens, when the United States entangles itself in the affairs of other Governments. Switzerland has been a neutral country for years and a somewhat friend of ours, now they’ve become a enemy. Real smart there Barry, Real fucking smart.


Obama to Unveil Class Warfare Plan

I knew this was coming:

President Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half over the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on business and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.

In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation’s economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that Obama hopes to enact later this year.

A summary of Obama’s budget request for the fiscal year that begins in October will be delivered to Congress on Thursday, with the complete, multi-hundred-page document to follow in April. But Obama plans to unveil his goals for scaling back record deficits and rebuilding the nation’s costly and inefficient health care system Monday, when he addresses more than 100 lawmakers and budget experts at a White House summit on restoring “fiscal responsibility” to Washington.

In his weekly radio and Internet address today, Obama expressed determination to “get exploding deficits under control” and described his budget request as “sober in its assessments, honest in its accounting, and lays out in detail my strategy for investing in what we need, cutting what we don’t, and restoring fiscal discipline.”

Reducing the deficit, he said, is critical to the nation’s future: “We can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control.”

Obama faces the long-term challenge of retirement and health programs that threaten to bankrupt the government years down the road, as well as the more immediate problem of deficits bloated by spending on the economy and financial-system bailouts. His budget proposal takes aim at the short-term problem, administration officials said, but also would begin to address the nation’s chronic budget imbalance by squeezing savings from the federal health programs for the elderly and the poor.

Even before Congress approved the stimulus package earlier this month, this year’s deficit was projected by Congressional budget analysts to approach $1.2 trillion, or 8.3 percent of the overall economy, the highest since World War II. With the stimulus and other expenses, some analysts say the annual gap between federal spending and income could approach $2 trillion when the fiscal year ends in September.

Obama proposes to dramatically reduce those numbers by the end of his first term, cutting the deficit he inherited in half, said administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the budget has yet to be released. His budget plan would keep the deficit hovering near $1 trillion in 2010 and 2011, but shows it dropping to $533 billion in 2013 — still high in dollar terms, but a more manageable 3 percent of the overall economy.

To get there, Obama proposes to cut spending and raise taxes. The savings would come primarily from “winding down the war” in Iraq, a senior administration official said. The budget assumes that the nation will continue to spend money on “overseas military contingency operations” throughout Obama’s presidency, the official said, but that number is significantly lower than the nearly $190 billion the nation budgeted for Iraq and Afghanistan last year

via Washington Post – Obama to Unveil an Ambitious Budget Plan.

Well, one can forget about any new jobs coming to Michigan or anywhere else in America, because if Businesses are taxed, they will not hire new people. Just more class warfare from the Democrats. I also notice that Obama is cutting funds to Iraq and Afghanistan, that will be the precursor to ending the war. Because you cannot fight a war, if you do not have the funds.

We are headed into a repeat of the 1990’s all over again, ending the deficit on the backs of the wealthy in the Country, while the rest of Country gets off scott free. Where is the fairness in that? The reason why this is so bad is this, if you tax the wealthy and business owners, they are much less likely to hire new employees and also they are less likely to spend money, thereby adding to the economy. This whole idea of the Democrats of Tax and Spending our way out of our Economic woes is just plain idiotic.

We are headed towards very scary times in America. Act accordingly.

(H/T and Thanks to Drudge)

Awesome Karl Denninger lays the smack down on White Press Secretary Gibbs

This is just too awesome!

Wow! I love it when smart people to stuff like that…

Karl Denninger’s Blog

(H/T Lew Rockwell)

Nothing ever changes in Washington D.C.

Heh.

The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails.

Two advocacy groups suing the Executive Office of the President say that large amounts of White House e-mail documenting Bush’s eight years in office may still be missing, and that the government must undertake an extensive recovery effort. They expressed disappointment that Obama’s Justice Department is continuing the Bush administration’s bid to get the lawsuits dismissed.

During its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, resulting in millions of messages that could not be found.

The Bush White House discovered the problem in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution.

via Obama administration tries to kill e-mail case – AP.

Hey far lefty liberals! How’s that Hope and Change working out for ya eh? 😆 🙄

Too funny for words. What the Liberals get for putting all thier Faith and trust into a magic moonbat.

Others: Newshoggers.comFlopping Aces

Report Says that Gitmo Meets Geneva Convention Standards

There is a quite a bit that could be said about this and I know some of you are thinking that I am going to sound like some of the Neo-Cons. But as some of you know, I am not on Neil or John Podhoretz’s payroll; so I do think for myself. So, no, I am not going to rile Obama for breaking his campaign promises. That’s because Obama has not broken any, when it relates to this….yet.

Via The Washington Post:

A Pentagon review of conditions at the Guantanamo Bay military prison has concluded that the treatment of detainees meets the requirements of the Geneva Conventions but that prisoners in the highest-security camps should be allowed more religious and social interaction, according to a government official who has read the 85-page document.

The report, which President Obama ordered, was prepared by Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the vice chief of naval operations, and has been delivered to the White House. Obama requested the review as part of an executive order on the planned closure of the prison at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, on the southeastern tip of Cuba.

Another aspect of the closure — what to do with the approximately 245 detainees — will be considered by an interagency task force, and yesterday the Justice Department announced the head of that group: Matthew G. Olsen, a 12-year career prosecutor and acting assistant attorney general for national security.

Review teams will examine each detainee’s case and report to Olsen, who will make recommendations to senior officials from Justice and other agencies, including the departments of State and Defense and the CIA. Those officials will make the final decision on each prisoner.

“The Task Force will consider whether it is possible to transfer or release detained individuals consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States; evaluate whether the government should seek to prosecute detained individuals for crimes they may have committed; and, if none of those options are possible, the Task Force will recommend other lawful means for disposition of the detained individuals,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

Now here is where most of your Neo-Conservatives, or those who supported George W. Bush’s asinine idea of going to war with a country, that had zero to do with 911; start carping, “See! I told you so, I told you so, I told so!” But that, as always, is not the point. The point is that Obama wanted to know the standards being used at Gitmo, but he is going to close it anyhow. The Neo-Conservative fear mongers are playing this as some sort of horrible security risk. Which has to be one of the biggest insults to Nation’s various law enforcement agencies. We have had like death row inmates in California and Texas for how long? They have not escaped. I do believe that our Nation’s law enforcement agencies would well handle some of these guys. I must confess that the idea of a couple of them getting “bumped off” in a prison really does not bother me at all. I mean, after all, I do remember what happened on 9/11 and turn about is fair play.

On an unrelated matter, Ed Morrissey,  comments over at Neo-Con Central about this article here, spouts the following Neo-Con Stupidity:

All statements from Barack Obama come with expiration dates.  That’s something that the HopeandChangizoids have begun to learn just a month after the dawning of the Age of Obama.  A lot of them owe Bush — and us — apologies.

His sentiments about “The Magic One” aside, I will take issue with the whole “A lot of them owe Bush — and us — apologies.” line. Ed; if anything, George W. Bush, The Republican Party and every last one of the fucking Neo-Conservative leaders; owes the American people an huge apology for lying to America about the fact that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, owes the American people for consistently moving the fucking goal posts every time one of his hair brained conclusions about Iraq was proven wrong, Owes the American people for illegally spying on million of Americans without warrants, owes the American people an apology for taking the damn focus off of Afghanistan and for allowing the actual mastermind of the 9/11 attacks escape and now leaving us with a situation where we might not ever be able to capture him. The Liberals and those of us who were against the war in Iraq owe the Neo-Conservatives nothing at all. Get used to it and enjoy being in the damned Minority, because, quite frankly, that is where you bastards fucking belong.

I know, you’re thinking, “Damn that’s harsh!” There’s a reason I got a huge beef with Morrissey and his clan of “Go along to get along” crowd over there at HotAir.com. I was tossed and banned from HotAir.com’s Commenting section AND Ed’s Chatroom that he runs during his show. Because I refuse to go along with the notion of embracing diversity, and because I dared to speak my mind about race of people that I personally believe have contributed to the moral decline of this country. No, I am not talking about Jews. I am talking about Negro race. That’s right folks, that is how I feel, I make no bones about it. Want to see a perfect example? Look at Detroit. Look at the rap music scene and you tell me, that the Negro race is not contributing to the moral decline in this country. Plus, my own cousin was shot and killed by two corrupt Negro Detroit Cops and one Mexican cop. I admit the details of that killing was some of my cousin’s fault, mostly because of some rather bone-headed stupidity on his part. But the Detroit cops that killed my cousin went way, way, way overboard on their use of force. It happened back in 1992 or 1993, I cannot remember which, it was never in the media. Oh they checked into it, but once they saw that my cousin was White and cops were black, they retreated from it, in a big hurry. Had the roles been reversed? It would have been on the front page of every newspaper in this country. But yet, Morrissey and his clan over there resented me coming in there and saying how I feel about blacks. Sorry, I categorically reject the notion that “All men are created equal” horse shit that the father of “Big Government”, Abe Lincoln opined in his document that basically sold the American White man up the damned river. So does my dead cousin, Michael Hill.

Technorati Tags: ,

Update: Ooops, Forgot these: QandO, Pirate’s Cove, Stop The ACLU, Power Line, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber, Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette

When one of our men goes bad.

This is what happens when you treat war, like a hobby:

A U.S. Army medic was convicted of murder Friday for his involvement in the execution-style slayings of four bound and blindfolded Iraqi detainees shot in the back of the head in the spring of 2007. The court sentenced him to life in prison.

Sgt. Michael Leahy Jr. was found guilty on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder by the nine-person jury who had heard testimony about the killings at the court-martial at the Army’s Rose Barracks Courthouse since Wednesday.

After a sentencing hearing, Leahy received a life sentence, with the possibility of parole. He also will have his rank reduced to private, his pay foreited and be dishonorably discharged.

“Looking back at the canal, I see it was the wrong thing to do,” Leahy read from a statement to the court before he was sentenced. “Please see that I’m not a bad person, that I made a bad mistake. I want to move on.”

via ABC News: US Soldier Guilty of Murder in Deaths of 4 Iraqis.

I just wonder how much more of this happened? This is just one that got caught. It is a sad thing, this turkey got what was coming to him.

The Extremely Painful Obligatory Ann Coulter does Larry King Live clip

Honestly? I’d rather have a damn root canal than listen to these two harpies demagogue their positions. Doh But! It’s a slow news night and I’m basically trying to pull content out of my wazoo…  Surprise So, Here you go:

To me, it is the political equivalent of, “I’m prettier!”, “No, I’m prettier!” and about that time, I walk on set and say, “No, both of you are damn ugly…”  Rolling on the floorHee heeWinkingBig Grin Also, it just starts sounding like cats in a blender, after a while. Not listeningChatterboxAt wits end

As always, a very big hat tip to my friend, (at least I consider him to be my friend, he might have thoughts otherwise! Surprise) AllahPundit over at Neo-Con Central, for always finding the cool stuff, before I do, Waiting and for not removing my trackbacks. Hee heeWinking

Quote of the Day Part 1

Wow! 😮

Holder was eight years old half a century ago. The desegregation of schools had barely begun. The “dream” of Martin Luther King, Jr. was still ringing in the people’s ears and he had only recently been murdered. Black men and women did not figure in our national politics. Black teenagers did not then reasonably aspire to do well at school -the odds were against them–or hope to graduate, as Holder did, from Columbia University (as Barack Obama also did) and from the Columbia Law School. There were no black generals or managing partners of law firms or presidents of the best institutions of higher learning or CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and not many black people at all in the solid middle class. And almost none in the upper middle class. How many blacks were actually rich or even super-rich? No, America is not racial paradise. But it is more integrated, much more integrated than Great Britain and France which used to disdain our bigoted traditions and habits. No longer, believe me, no longer.

Kudos to the person that had the guts to say this in public! 😀



Trackposted to Nuke’s, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, , Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Linkfest Haven, the Blogger's Oasis

A very valid point

I must say that I agree with this:

Our new Attorney General, Eric Holder, says that America is a “nation of cowards” when it comes to race relations. The race-baiting cabinet official made his remarks yesterday in honor of Black History Month. Apparently being the first black attorney general serving under the first black president isn’t indicative of progress according to Holder. Listening to him, you’d think that Jim Crow had just ended with Obama’s election.

Holder’s insulting remarks were no doubt aimed at white Americans, particularly those who didn’t vote for Obama. That’s why Holder dragged out the tired rhetoric about “the need to confront our racial past and to understand our racial present.” It’s the same white-guilt lecturing we’ve always heard before. Yet what makes this event noteworthy is the fact that a sitting attorney general is saying this nonsense, implying that he’ll be incorporating this racialism into public policy at the Justice Department.

In their never-ending work to preserve victimhood for racial minorities, the Left will now have the perfect spokesman to help with that task. No, the real cowards are self-righteous liberals like Holder who build themselves up by tearing down Middle America for cheap political gain. If the fires of racism still exist in America (and they do), then it’s only because people like Holder keep stoking the embers. His political career depends upon it.

via Holder’s Racialist Lecturing | Conservative Heritage Times.

The only thing that I can really add to this is, that the Liberal African-American Community, led by the leadership within the Democratic Party wants to use racism as a false flag, to limit dissent and freedom of speech towards those, who disagree with their Race Baiting and more broadly disagree with their socialist agenda.

Which is just about as bad as the Identity Politics on the far right, amongst the Republicans. When it comes to the Jewish Community. What I am trying to say is, that I have nothing against the Jewish people, at all. But I refuse to be held responsible for what happened to the Jews in Germany.  This is Identity Politics and the pushing of the “White Guilt” mentality. Again, let me be clear, I have zero against Jews, Israel, or their right to exist. But, I will not “Kiss up” to them at all. Neither will I do this to the African-American Community. I did not put them in chains, and I will not feel a bit of guilt for what happened to them 300 years ago. Because I did not have anything to do with it.

The problem with what I just wrote above is, that when a “Zionist” or a Race Baiting Liberals reads what I wrote; the first thing they will do is, play the race card. Which garners them support and paints the person that says these things, as Nazi’s and Hatemongers, and it’s bullshit. Because I do not hate. I just will not made to feel guilty for something that I did not have a part in; Period.

Race baiting and White Guilt is insane and Anti-American as hell.


The Southern Avenger on “Crisis-Mongering”

How President Obama’s haste and hysterics in passing his stimulus to alleviate the economic crisis is similar to Bush’s theatrics in addressing the terror “crisis.”

The Southern Avenger’s Blog

The Southern Avanger at Taki’s Magazine

Taki’s Magazine HQ

Breaking News – Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says that Roland Burris has got to go!

I knew this was coming, but it is a slow news day and I’m going with it:

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday that Roland Burris should resign from the United States Senate and the vacancy should then be filled by a special election.

Quinn joins a chorus of state legislators and two Democratic House members in calling on Burris to resign, saying his Jan. 8 answers before a state legislative committee defied the public’s trust about the appointment.

via Governor calls for Burris to resign – Politico.com.

Calling Bobby Rush! Time to run interference for the fellow Brother!

Bobby?

*crickets*

Oh, Wait. Roland has been kicked to the curb.

HELL FREEZES OVER! Andrew Sullivan says something nice about Ron Paul

Holy Moses ‘n Aaron! I never thought I’d see this day, ever!

I do not know these things. But I do know that a serious engagement with the ideas and principles of a non-Keynesian approach to economics – of the kind Ron Paul talks about – is worth having again. At some point the right will have to govern again; and reminding people of the dangers of excessive government, excessive debt, and printing money will be necessary. The groundwork needs to start now. And it needs to be free of partisan cant and ideological posturing.

via The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan (February 20, 2009) – A Conservative Of Doubt.

I agree with Sullivan; for a change. I feel so Odd, and like I need to shower. 😉

Quote of the Day

Partisans of President Bush may blame Obama for presiding over a strategic retreat, but it is the Bush administration that assured and accelerated such a retreat.

As Robert Pape of the University of Chicago writes in The National Interest: “America is in unprecedented decline. The self-inflicted wounds of the Iraq war, growing government debt, increasingly negative current-account balances and other internal economic weaknesses have cost the United States real power in today’s world of rapidly spreading knowledge and technology. If present trends continue, we will look back at the Bush administration years as the death knell of American hegemony.”

Pape’s harsh verdict is rooted in his reading of history, that the “size of an economy relative to potential rivals ultimately determines the limits of power in international politics.”

In other words, when a great nation’s share of world product shrinks, the nation’s strategic position follows. Between 2000 and 2008, the U.S. share of world product plunged from 31 percent to 23 percent, and is expected to fall to 21 percent by 2013 — a decline of 32 percent in 13 years. China’s share of world product over the same period will more than double to 9 percent.

Pape went back to the 19th century to correlate the rise of the great powers like Britain and the commensurate growth in their share of world product. He found the Bush decline had no precedent.

“America’s relative decline since 2000 of some 30 percent represents a far greater loss of relative power in a shorter time than any power shift among European great powers roughly from the end of the Napoleonic Wars to World War II. It is one of the largest relative declines in modern history. Indeed, in size, it is clearly surpassed by only one other great-power decline, the unprecedented internal collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.”

With an economy still three times that of China, America continues to be the world’s most powerful nation, fully capable of defending all of its vital interests. We can no longer, however, defend every ally to whom we made a commitment over the six decades since NATO was formed.

Obama’s assignment: Rebuild U.S. productive power, and execute a strategic withdrawal from non-vital commitments.

Regarding the New York Post’s apology

Regarding the New York Post’s Apology and the other stupidity.

I dunno, what ya’ll think?

Family Resemblance?

Family Resemblance?

So, like Michelle said; Sue me.

Other likemided people: Michelle Malkin, Gateway Pundit, Pat Dollard and JOSHUAPUNDIT

Yeah, I know what I wrote here. I still feel that way too. But this is not about Racism, this is about the Liberal Democrats controlling Conservatives right to free speech. The, ahem, chimps Liberal Black Democrats want to control what we honkey White Conservatives write, and I think it is a bunch of bullshit.

So, bring it on, there Mr. “Interloper”.  I dare ya.

Chris Muir also weighs in here:

Uh……Oh…….. – Iran’s got enough uranium for a Nuke

Oy… It goes from Bad to Worse….:

Iran has now built up a stockpile of enough enriched uranium for one nuclear bomb, United Nations officials acknowledged on Thursday.

In a development that comes as the Obama administration is drawing up its policy on negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear programme, UN officials said Iran had produced more nuclear material than previously thought.

They said Iran had now accumulated more than one tonne of low enriched uranium hexafluoride at a facility in Natanz. If such a quantity were further enriched it could produce more than 20kg of fissile material – enough for a bomb.

“It appears that Iran has walked right up to the threshold of having enough low enriched uranium to provide enough raw material for a single bomb,” said Peter Zimmerman, a former chief scientist of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

The new figures come in a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN’s nuclear watchdog, released on Thursday.

This revealed that Iran’s production of low enriched uranium had previously been underestimated.

via FT.com / Middle East / Politics & Society – Iran holds enough uranium for bomb.

I just wonder, will Barry still want to kiss up to these idiots? 🙄

Others: The Corner, Hot Air and Reason

(H/T Drudge)

Updated headline. I hate it when I do stupid stuff like that! D’oh!

CNBC’s Rick Santelli goes off on a rant about the Bailouts and the Stimulus

Sometimes I just wuv BreitBart. This has to be one of the best things I’ve ever seen on MSBC/CNBC.

Exit Question: I just wonder how long it is before Rick Santelli gets terminated for not embracing the politics of hope and change?

Manufacturing Suffers

Some more grim news… 🙁

Via the Economist:

$0.00, not counting fuel and handling: that is the cheapest quote right now if you want to ship a container from southern China to Europe. Back in the summer of 2007 the shipper would have charged $1,400. Half-empty freighters are just one sign of a worldwide collapse in manufacturing. In Germany December’s machine-tool orders were 40% lower than a year earlier. Half of China’s 9,000 or so toy exporters have gone bust. Taiwan’s shipments of notebook computers fell by a third in the month of January. The number of cars being assembled in America was 60% below January 2008.

The destructive global power of the financial crisis became clear last year. The immensity of the manufacturing crisis is still sinking in, largely because it is seen in national terms—indeed, often nationalistic ones. In fact manufacturing is also caught up in a global whirlwind.

Industrial production fell in the latest three months by 3.6% and 4.4% respectively in America and Britain (equivalent to annual declines of 13.8% and 16.4%). Some locals blame that on Wall Street and the City. But the collapse is much worse in countries more dependent on manufacturing exports, which have come to rely on consumers in debtor countries. Germany’s industrial production in the fourth quarter fell by 6.8%; Taiwan’s by 21.7%; Japan’s by 12%—which helps to explain why GDP is falling even faster there than it did in the early 1990s (see article). Industrial production is volatile, but the world has not seen a contraction like this since the first oil shock in the 1970s—and even that was not so widespread. Industry is collapsing in eastern Europe, as it is in Brazil, Malaysia and Turkey. Thousands of factories in southern China are now abandoned. Their workers went home to the countryside for the new year in January. Millions never came back (see article).

This is what happens when you create an economic bubble, by loosening up regulations to sell mortgages to those who cannot afford them. The whole world suffers. Our American companies suffer, the World manufacturing sector suffers. It is a domino effect. The problem is, that the United States is going about this all wrong. Instead of changing the way our economic system works. They are simply trying to reinflate the broken bubble. It is like trying to tape up a busted air ballon and trying to put air back into it again. It works for a while, but ends up breaking again.


Rat in the mouse house?

Well, something like that:

You’ve heard a lot about the astonishing spending in the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, signed into law this week by President Barack Obama. But you probably haven’t heard about a provision in the bill that threatens to politicize the way allegations of fraud and corruption are investigated — or not investigated — throughout the federal government.

Photographers take pictures of the economic stimulus bill after President Barack Obama signed the document during a ceremony at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The provision, which attracted virtually no attention in the debate over the 1,073-page stimulus bill, creates something called the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board — the RAT Board, as it’s known by the few insiders who are aware of it. The board would oversee the in-house watchdogs, known as inspectors general, whose job is to independently investigate allegations of wrongdoing at various federal agencies, without fear of interference by political appointees or the White House.

In the name of accountability and transparency, Congress has given the RAT Board the authority to ask “that an inspector general conduct or refrain from conducting an audit or investigation.” If the inspector general doesn’t want to follow the wishes of the RAT Board, he’ll have to write a report explaining his decision to the board, as well as to the head of his agency (from whom he is supposedly independent) and to Congress. In the end, a determined inspector general can probably get his way, but only after jumping through bureaucratic hoops that will inevitably make him hesitate to go forward.

When Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, a longtime champion of inspectors general, read the words “conduct or refrain from conducting,” alarm bells went off. The language means that the board — whose chairman will be appointed by the president — can reach deep inside a federal agency and tell an inspector general to lay off some particularly sensitive subject. Or, conversely, it can tell the inspector general to go after a tempting political target.

via The RAT hiding deep inside the stimulus bill – www.dcexaminer.com.

Sounds like Communism to me. One must report the fuhrer before he can exercise his authority. Hope and change? I hardly think so. More like control and tyranny.

Others: JustOneMinute, Riehl World View, Hot Airprotein wisdom, Wizbang, Cold Fury and Sister Toldjah


uh-oh – Nearly One-Forth of the House got donations from corrupt firm connected to Murtha

I suspect there will be some sort of fallout from this here:

More than 100 House members secured earmarks in a major spending bill for clients of a single lobbying firm — The PMA Group — known for its close ties to John P. Murtha , the congressman in charge of Pentagon appropriations.

“It shows you how good they were,” said Keith Ashdown, chief investigator at the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. “The sheer coordination of that would take an army to finish.”

PMA’s offices have been raided, and the firm closed its political action committee last week amid reports that the FBI is investigating possibly illegal campaign contributions to Murtha and other lawmakers.

No matter what the outcome of the federal investigation, PMA’s earmark success illustrates how a well-connected lobbying firm operates on Capitol Hill. And earmark accountability rules imposed by the Democrats in 2007 make it possible to see how extensively PMA worked the Hill for its clients.

In the spending bill managed by Murtha, the fiscal 2008 Defense appropriation, 104 House members got earmarks for projects sought by PMA clients, according to Congressional Quarterly’s analysis of a database constructed by Ashdown’s group.

Those House members, plus a handful of senators, combined to route nearly $300 million in public money to clients of PMA through that one law (PL 110-116).

And when the lawmakers were in need — as they all are to finance their campaigns — PMA came through for them.

According to CQ MoneyLine, the same House members who took responsibility for PMA’s earmarks in that spending bill have, since 2001, accepted a cumulative $1,815,138 in campaign contributions from PMA’s political action committee and employees of the firm.

via CQ Politics | Firm with Murtha Ties Got Earmarks From Nearly One-Fourth of House.

I will simply say this, that ALL of the members of the House and Senate involved with this should resign immediately. This is a disgrace to the political system and should be dealt with harshly; that goes for Democrats AND Republicans.

Update: Here’s the list of people with their hands in the cookie jar:

Bold = Member Did Not Receive PMA Money between 2001 and 2008
* = No Longer Serving in the House
# = Member of House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in the 110th Congress

Democrats

Requesting MemberState$ Secured Solo$ Secured w/OthersTotal CreditedPMA campaign $ since 2001
Peter J. Visclosky#Indiana$21,400,000$2,400,000$23,800,000$219,000
John P. Murtha#Pennsylvania$31,705,000$2,400,000$34,105,000$143,600
James P. Moran#Virginia$8,400,000$2,400,000$10,800,000$125,250
Norm Dicks#Washington$11,330,000$800,000$12,130,000$91,600
Bill Pascrell Jr.New Jersey$2,400,000$2,400,000$73,200
Mike DoylePennsylvania$1,600,000$1,600,000$69,400
Loretta SanchezCalifornia$3,200,000$3,200,000$60,118
Tim HoldenPennsylvania$3,200,000$3,200,000$57,275
Tim RyanOhio$1,000,000$1,000,000$54,250
Michael E. CapuanoMassachusetts$2,000,000$800,000$2,800,000$54,000
Chet EdwardsTexas$6,040,000$6,040,000$48,734
Silvestre ReyesTexas$800,000$800,000$42,300
Christopher CarneyPennsylvania$5,900,000$5,900,000$38,500
Paul E. KanjorskiPennsylvania$1,600,000$3,200,000$4,800,000$37,150
Marcy Kaptur#Ohio$1,600,000$1,600,000$34,500
Carolyn McCarthyNew York$1,000,000$1,000,000$31,500
Patrick J. MurphyPennsylvania$1,600,000$1,600,000$29,250
Allyson Y. SchwartzPennsylvania$800,000$800,000$25,000
Jason AltmirePennsylvania$2,600,000$2,600,000$24,500
Brad ShermanCalifornia$1,600,000$1,600,000$15,500
Susan A. DavisCalifornia$800,000$800,000$13,750
Allen Boyd#Florida$6,400,000$2,200,000$8,600,000$12,000
Sanford D. Bishop Jr.#Georgia$1,200,000$2,400,000$3,600,000$10,500
Jane HarmanCalifornia$2,400,000$2,400,000$10,500
Jim MathesonUtah$2,400,000$2,400,000$10,000
Steve IsraelNew York$1,600,000$1,600,000$8,500
Jerrold NadlerNew York$1,600,000$1,600,000$8,500
Joe SestakPennsylvania$1,280,000$1,280,000$8,500
Jim MarshallGeorgia$2,400,000$2,400,000$7,000
Mark Udall*Colorado$2,000,000$2,000,000$6,533
Michael H. MichaudMaine$800,000$800,000$6,500
Tom Allen*Maine$1,800,000$1,800,000$5,750
Danny K. DavisIllinois$295,000$295,000$5,500
Robert E. AndrewsNew Jersey$1,500,000$1,500,000$5,000
Gene TaylorMississippi$800,000$800,000$4,750
Nancy PelosiCalifornia$2,000,000$2,000,000$4,500
David E. PriceNorth Carolina$800,000$800,000$4,000
Steven R. Rothman#New Jersey$800,000$2,400,000$3,200,000$4,000
Brian HigginsNew York$3,400,000$3,400,000$3,000
Brad MillerNorth Carolina$1,000,000$1,000,000$2,250
Brad EllsworthIndiana$1,600,000$1,600,000$2,000
Ed PerlmutterColorado$1,600,000$1,600,000$2,000
Phil HareIllinois$6,800,000$6,800,000$1,500
Martin Meehan*Massachusetts$2,800,000$2,800,000$1,500
Howard L. BermanCalifornia$800,000$800,000$1,000
Carolyn B. MaloneyNew York$3,200,000$3,200,000$1,000
Ben ChandlerKentucky$2,400,000$2,400,000$250
Shelley BerkleyNevada$2,400,000$2,400,000
Dan BorenOklahoma$2,000,000$2,000,000
Leonard L. BoswellIowa$1,650,000$1,650,000
Baron P. HillIndiana$1,600,000$1,600,000
Gwen MooreWisconsin$400,000$400,000
Christopher S. MurphyConnecticut$400,000$400,000
Mike ThompsonCalifornia$1,000,000$1,000,000

Republicans

Requesting MemberState$ Secured Solo$ Secured w/OthersTotal CreditedPMA campaign $ since 2001
David L. Hobson*#Ohio$3,500,000$3,500,000$70,050
Jerry LewisCalifornia$4,000,000$4,000,000$8,000,000$34,649
Rodney Frelinghuysen#New Jersey$2,500,000$4,800,000$7,300,000$29,129
Ander CrenshawFlorida$1,000,000$1,000,000$27,300
Zach WampTennessee$2,800,000$2,800,000$23,900
Todd Tiahrt#Kansas$5,000,000$2,000,000$7,000,000$21,250
Tom Reynolds*New York$1,000,000$1,000,000$12,000
Jack Kingston#Georgia$4,000,000$2,400,000$6,400,000$11,500
H. James Saxton*New Jersey$2,000,000$1,500,000$3,500,000$11,500
Jo Ann EmersonMissouri$1,000,000$1,000,000$11,000
C.W. Bill Young#Florida$16,000,000$4,400,000$20,400,000$10,750
Howard P. “Buck” McKeonCalifornia$1,000,000$4,000,000$5,000,000$9,500
Heather Wilson*New Mexico$6,500,000$6,500,000$9,000
Jim Walsh*New York$2,400,000$2,400,000$8,500
Mark Steven KirkIllinois$390,000$390,000$7,750
Todd AkinMissouri$1,000,000$1,000,000$7,500
Ray LaHood*Illinois$7,800,000$7,800,000$7,450
Jeff MillerFlorida$1,600,000$2,200,000$3,800,000$7,000
Duncan Hunter*California$15,200,000$15,200,000$6,500
Chris Cannon*Utah$1,600,000$1,600,000$6,000
Kay GrangerTexas$3,600,000$3,600,000$6,000
Joe Knollenberg*Michigan$2,800,000$2,800,000$6,000
David DreierCalifornia$3,000,000$3,000,000$5,000
Jim GerlachPennsylvania$1,000,000$1,000,000$4,500
Tom LathamIowa$5,150,000$5,150,000$4,500
Joe L. BartonTexas$2,400,000$2,400,000$4,000
J. Dennis Hastert*Illinois$1,600,000$1,600,000$3,500
Roscoe G. BartlettMaryland$400,000$400,000$3,000
Peter HoekstraMichigan$3,700,000$3,700,000$2,500
Howard CobleNorth Carolina$1,000,000$1,000,000$2,000
John T. Doolittle*California$2,400,000$2,400,000$2,000
Kenny Hulshof*Missouri$1,600,000$1,600,000$2,000
Steve Pearce*New Mexico$6,500,000$6,500,000$2,000
Bill ShusterPennsylvania$1,600,000$1,600,000$2,000
Frank A. LoBiondoNew Jersey$1,500,000$1,500,000$1,500
Rob BishopUtah$2,400,000$2,400,000$1,000
Geoff DavisKentucky$6,800,000$6,800,000$1,000
Virgil H. Goode Jr.*Virginia$2,400,000$2,400,000$1,000
Doug LambornColorado$1,000,000$1,000,000$1,000
Kenny MarchantTexas$2,400,000$2,400,000$1,000
Christopher Shays*Connecticut$1,600,000$1,600,000$1,000
John SullivanOklahoma$2,000,000$2,000,000$1,000
Tom Tancredo*Colorado$1,600,000$1,600,000$1,000
Michael C. BurgessTexas$2,400,000$2,400,000$500
Ralph M. HallTexas$2,400,000$2,400,000
Doc HastingsWashington$1,600,000$1,600,000
Sam JohnsonTexas$1,200,000$1,200,000
Todd R. PlattsPennsylvania$4,400,000$4,400,000
Rick Renzi*Arizona$2,400,000$2,400,000
Pete SessionsTexas$1,600,000$4,800,000$6,400,000

Wow. Can’t wait for the fallout.

Others: The Swamp, NPR, Outside The Beltway, The Washington Independent, Liberty Street, Right Wing Nut House, Betsy’s Page, Hot Air, Wizbang, Taegan Goddard’s …, Riehl World ViewSister Toldjah, Michelle Malkin and QandO