Bill Whittle has caved to the Wilsonian Neo-Cons.
How any Conservative can be bought out; by a bunch of hooked-nosed Christ denying swine is beyond me.
Whatever happened to the Independent Spirit?
Category: Opinion
The Southern Avenger on “AIG Bonuses are a Ruse”
How the controversy over the AIG bonuses imbedded in the stimulus obfuscate the root problem of spending in general.
The Economist wakes up from the Hope and Change Stupor
Looks like one the major media supporters of President Obama has basically said, “Well, perhaps not!”
But at home Mr Obama has had a difficult start. His performance has been weaker than those who endorsed his candidacy, including this newspaper, had hoped. Many of his strongest supporters—liberal columnists, prominent donors, Democratic Party stalwarts—have started to question him. As for those not so beholden, polls show that independent voters again prefer Republicans to Democrats, a startling reversal of fortune in just a few weeks. Mr Obama’s once-celestial approval ratings are about where George Bush’s were at this stage in his awful presidency. Despite his resounding electoral victory, his solid majorities in both chambers of Congress and the obvious goodwill of the bulk of the electorate, Mr Obama has seemed curiously feeble.
There is a great deal more over that at the article, I do encourage you to click the link and go over and read it. Some on the left would argue that the Economist is a “rich man’s” magazine. As much as it pains me to say this; when you have lost the rich elitist class, you start losing everyone else too. I say it pains me, because I have always had a problem with elitism. It just goes against my grain. I was not born into wealth, I was raised in a middle class family. Do not get me wrong, I do not fault people for being wealthy; because most of the time it is because someone, somewhere, worked their tails off to get that way. But the whole snobbery thing turns me off, in a big way.
Of course, and I say this with a bit of dread; because I know some moronic liberal is going to read this and go run to their fellow liberal blogger buddies and tell them that I am some sort of a racist, which is silly, anyone that knows me well, knows that I am not. —— This is what happens when a Political Party pushes a man out front of other more qualified persons and elects him. —– all because of his skin color. The painful truth that was very well articulated by another Democratic Party Candidate Geraldine Farrow; was that the only reason that Obama was where he was, was because he was black. This, of course, caused that race hustling crowd to break into a frenzy. In the end, this might have hurt Hillary’s campaign, but the underlining truth was totally cast aside. That Obama was being given a free ride, a free pass, or just treated differently, because he was black.
That not an observation made out of hate, racism or any of that sort of nonsense, it is one made simply based upon the facts. Anyone that takes anything other than this away from this Blog posting has got a serious problem.
Additional Coverage:
Jennifer Rubin / Commentary: Not Like We Didn’t See this Coming
Mark Steyn / The Corner: Missing the point — The Economist is the latest of the smart guys …
Other Blogs: Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, The Atlanticist, Stop The ACLU, Fausta’s Blog, pw, QandO, TIME.com, Pundit & Pundette
Rep. Michele Bachmann continues to make the G.O.P. look like the Party of the Crazies
First she tries channeling McCarthy, now she’s got some wild hair up her ass about Obama dumping the dollar and going to a global currency. Something that the Obama Administration has said that it does not want to do.
Now she’s dropping inferences that the American people should stage a violent coup on the White House.
Quote:
Michele Bachmann, a Republican Congresswoman from east-central Minnesota, has some fighting words for President Obama’s energy plans.
According to the Smart Politics blog at the University of Minnesota’s Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, Ms. Bachmann, when asked about President Obama’s cap-and-trade plans on a local radio station last Saturday, responded:
I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, “Having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,” and the people – we the people – are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country. And I think this has the potential of changing the dynamic of freedom forever in the United States.
Keith Olbermann discusses this:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Here’s why this bothers me. As you know; I am not a Republican, I am a Independent libertarian-minded Conservative. Let me say this publicly, that this sort of violent rhetoric does nothing to enhance, improve, and project the image of the G.O.P. in a positive light. The Republican Party just got done taking a severe ass whipping in the 2006 and 2008 elections. This should have been awake up call to the leadership and to every member of that Party.
If this sort of nonsense from the leaders of that Party do not stop; the G.O.P. will go the way of the Whigs in short order. As much as I dislike President Barack Obama and his socialist agenda, I do NOT, at all, in any way shape, forum or idea; advocate any sort of violence towards our Nation’s President. I believe there does need to be a sharp review of the sort of language that is used towards the President and his polices. The G.O.P. should know this by now; that McCarthy’s tactics did not work, nor will these and if that Party does not want to be rendered the party of the Black Helicopters and Alex Jones type of crazies, it need stop the silliness and very quickly.
My hope is that someone, somewhere gets to Michele Bachmann and quite bluntly tells her to shut her damn pothole and fast.
Additional Coverage:
Judson Berger / Fox News: Outspoken But Not Outmaneuvered, Rep. Bachmann Manages Her Candor
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias: Bachmann and Beck Double-Down on Currency Conspiracy Theory
Eric Kleefeld / TPMDC: Bachmann Blasts Obama’s “Economic Marxism,” …
Other Blogs: Glenn Beck, American Power, NewsBusters.org, Hot Air, Dump Michele Bachmann , TPMDC, Alas, a blog, Washington Monthly, American Power, MyDD, AMERICAblog News, Dump Michele Bachmann
Technorati Tags: Conservatism ,Conservative ,Conservatives ,Opinion ,Politics ,Republican ,Republican Party ,Republicans
Congressional Stupidity
Yeah, I think this sort of a thing is stupid.
As I said…. StOOOOpid! 🙄
Your Tax dollars at work.
About Reid’s comments on Roberts
This is kinda odd.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that John Roberts misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be a moderate — and that the United States is now “stuck” with him as chief justice.
“Roberts didn’t tell us the truth. At least Alito told us who he was,” Reid said, referring to Samuel Alito, the second Supreme Court justice nominated by President George W. Bush. “But we’re stuck with those two young men, and we’ll try to change by having some moderates in the federal courts system as time goes on — I think that will happen.”
Reid’s comments, which came during a wide-ranging discussion hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, reflect Democratic concerns that Roberts presented himself as a neutral arbiter of the law but has wielded a relentlessly conservative agenda. Republicans reject the attacks, saying Roberts has been a fair judge and has been consistent in his opinions.
via Reid: Roberts ‘didn’t tell us the truth’ – Manu Raju – POLITICO.com.
I guess my only question is, why’d Reid believe him in the first place? I mean, the dude is a Conservative. You’d think that even Liberal Reid would know not to take his word for it.
Others: Power Line, Weekly Standard, The Sundries Shack, Fox News, Sweetness & Light and The Corner
(Via Memeorandum)
Follow up! Guest Voice – Chuck Baldwin: MISSOURI SCRAPS M.I.A.C. REPORT
Please note: The Opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the political or personal opinions of owner of this Blog.
However, I am very pleased by the news presented in this piece.
—–
Well, there is still hope for liberty after all! After multiple thousands of phone calls, emails, faxes, and other communications from outraged citizens, the State of Missouri has rescinded its controversial “militia” report. This proves the point I made in this column recently that the most effective way to fight an ever-encroaching federal leviathan is to focus on our individual states.
Let me review the events of the last few weeks so as to help readers familiarize themselves with this historic–and I do mean historic–episode.
On February 20, 2009, the State of Missouri, via its Department of Public Safety, issued what was called “MIAC Strategic Report: The Modern Militia Movement.” In this report, people who supported Presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and yours truly were referenced as being connected to potentially dangerous “militia members.” But the inference did not stop there. People of conservative ideology were also identified in the State Police report as being potentially dangerous. People who held political opinions opposing abortion, illegal immigration, the New World Order, the North American Union, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., were profiled in the MIAC report.
Interestingly enough, no left-leaning political ideologies were identified. No Islamic extremists. No environmental extremists. Only people holding “conservative” or “right-wing” philosophies were identified in the MIAC report.
The MIAC report was categorized as “Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive,” meaning the report was intended for law enforcement personnel only. Fortunately, an unidentified (for obvious reasons) Missouri law enforcement officer, who was extremely disturbed by this report, sent a copy to nationally syndicated radio talk show host Alex Jones. Of course, Jones immediately “blew the whistle” on the story. This was on March 11.
On March 14, the Columbia (Missouri) Daily Tribune ran a story on the subject, and on March 17, I wrote my first column about it. From that point, the story went viral.
Internet sites, radio talk show hosts, and bloggers all over America picked up the story, and thousands of outraged citizens began bombarding the appropriate officials in Missouri with protests. Even Fox News Channel talk show host Glenn Beck ran a feature on the story on Friday, March 20, and again on Monday, March 23. The Constitution Party issued a “Travel Advisory” for the State of Missouri, warning tourists and residents about the possibility of being profiled by State Police for such things as having bumper stickers with political statements on their vehicles, etc. All of this commotion was not lost on several Missouri State legislators and executive officers, either.
Missouri Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder called on Governor Jay Nixon (who had previously stood by and defended the MIAC report) to place Department of Public Safety Director John Britt on administrative leave pending an investigation into the report. In addition, several Missouri State legislators said they would introduce an amendment to the Department of Public Safety’s budget barring the agency from using “state or federal funds for political profiling.”
On March 23, DPS Director John Britt sent an apology letter to Ron Paul, Bob Barr, and me stating, “I have ordered that the offending report be edited so as to excise all reference to Ron Paul, Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin and to any third-party political organizations.”
While Ron, Bob, and I appreciated the apology and retraction from Mr. Britt, the overriding offense of the report still lingered: namely, the report, with a very broad brush, linked people holding conservative political opinions to dangerous and violence-prone “militias,” which Missouri law enforcement personnel were instructed to be on guard against. Therefore, public outcry against the MIAC report continued, Mr. Britt’s apology notwithstanding.
Then, on Wednesday, March 25, the head of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Col. James F. Keathley, ordered the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) to “permanently cease distribution” of this abysmal report. Keathley said that neither he nor Britt had read the report before it was distributed.
Keathley also noted that the report was filled with numerous spelling and grammatical errors and did not cite any sources for its broad statements about “right-wing” militias. He further said that his department would now review how the MIAC distributes intelligence reports to police officers. He said the process “needs improvement.”
Dear readers, please take a bow! Because of tens of thousands of patriotic, freedom-loving Americans–including thousands of courageous Missourians–the long arm of totalitarianism was shortened just a bit.
This sordid story is truly an embarrassment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State of Missouri. Governor Nixon, especially, is left with egg on his face for foolishly and stupidly standing behind the report, when he had either never read it, or, if he had, was just as guilty of political profiling as the ones who wrote the report.
Why DHS, you ask? Because the MIAC report is similar to several other reports currently circulating around various State police agencies courtesy of DHS-sponsored “Fusion Centers.” There is another side of this story that is even more sinister, however.
If we can continue to probe the details of the MIAC report, I am absolutely convinced we will find that this report actually originates with Morris Dees and his ultra-liberal Southern Poverty Law Center. And if my hunch (a very educated hunch, I might add) is correct, it means that the DHS and various State police agencies around the country are allowing a left-wing special interest group to use them to harass, intimidate, and profile people with conservative political opinions.
I would further proffer that those of us who are outraged by this event should not stop with the MIAC report being removed. While this is very good news, the fear and intimidation associated with those referenced in this report has already taken place. Are people opposed to abortion, illegal immigration, the Income Tax, the U.N., etc., now afraid to express their opinions publicly (especially in Missouri)? If so, this seems to me to be the basis for legal action, based on the abridgment of the First Amendment freedom of speech by a State (and perhaps federal) law enforcement agency.
There is yet another chilling question that must be answered: by saying Missouri State Police will “review” how MIAC distributes intelligence reports to police officers, does Col. Keathley mean that the State of Missouri’s law enforcement agencies will continue to promote similar reports, but simply make them “Classified”? In other words, will they (and other State police agencies around the country) simply employ greater secrecy when issuing such reports, but do nothing to change the content of future reports? Hopefully not, but we shall see.
With that said, here are the lessons all of us need to take to heart:
*Every police officer, deputy sheriff, and law enforcement officer in America who believes in constitutional government, individual liberty, and the Bill of Rights needs to be alert for any report that smacks of the MIAC report, and be willing to quickly “blow the whistle” on any such report they see.
*Lovers of freedom should be much encouraged to see what can happen when they are willing to stand up to their State governing officials as they see abridgements to their liberties taking place. I say again, the best way to fight these mushrooming despotic tendencies of government we seem to see everywhere is to focus on our State governments. Do you now see why I say that? Even if DHS was behind the MIAC report, it was the State of Missouri that had to implement it; and it was the State of Missouri that (under pressure) killed it.
See my column on this important subject here.
*Notice, too, that we did not need the major media to achieve this victory. We cut off this one branch of the tyranny tree without the help of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX NEWS (with the exception of Glenn Beck), or even the Drudge Report. Victory was achieved with the weapons of talk radio, syndicated Internet columns, Internet blogging, and word of mouth.
You see, folks, we can achieve victory without the major media. But we must stay focused and actively involved in our respective State governments. “We the people” are still the power of this country. And don’t let anyone deceive you into believing anything else. Therefore, take heart in knowing that your diligence convinced the State of Missouri to rescind its atrocious MIAC report. Now, don’t let it stop there. Let’s faithfully cut off the tentacles of tyranny wherever we find them. Amen?
Olbermann Watch must be reading my mind!
I swear, someone over at Olbermann Watch and possibly those over at HotAir must have been reading my mind last night. Yes, I did see the segment, when it aired and I thought, “Wait a Minute!”
The Video:
Plus, that whole twitter thing, was MSNBC’s all along… D’oh!
Keith, you’re slipping buddy. Gotta work that Magic Monkey ( 😮 ) act a little better….
The Southern Avenger on “War and the Neoconservative Mind”
When neoconservative writer Ira Stoll took former president Jimmy Carter to task in the New York Daily News for daring to question the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln’s war on the South, an examination of how neocons – as opposed to normal, patriotic citizens – perceive and promote war, was in order.
A.I.G. Executive Quits
Seems that Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit has quit and sent his resignation letter to the New York Times.
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.
You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.
[….]
The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.
So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.
That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.
On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.
This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.
Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”
Of course, this has generated a good deal of Conservative outrage, which you can sample at the end of this entry. The links marked in red are, for the most part, Conservative. The blue ones, of course are Democrats or liberals. One thing that I must say that I agree with, is this comment from a Blogger who calls himself “The Anonymous Liberal“:
But the reality is this: when companies fail, lots of innocent people get screwed. Lots of promises aren’t kept. That’s why companies declare bankruptcy: because they can’t afford to live up to their promises. Had the government allowed AIG to fail last fall, DeSantis wouldn’t have received anything. He’d be like many other people who woke up one morning to find their lives turned upside down by this recession. On second thought, given that Mr. DeSantis can apparently afford to give his entire $750,000 bonus to charity, I suspect he’d be much better off than most people who have suffered through the failure of their employer.
It’s striking to me that the very same people who are outraged by DeSantis’s treatment showed no sympathy at all for the nation’s autoworkers. In fact, they were angrily demanding that these workers (who make a small fraction of what DeSantis makes) agree to give up their “luxurious” health benefits and agree to salary reductions. These workers too had been promised things by their employers, but their complaints fell on deaf, even hostile ears. If their companies were going to be saved by taxpayer money (at a fraction of the cost of bailing out AIG), well these workers were just going to have to suck it up and take the hit.
The fact that the plight of a millionaire executive (one who actually received his promised bonus) elicits such sympathy from the Right, but the plight of blue collar assembly line workers doesn’t says a lot about the ideological prism through which many conservatives view the world. They simply identify with DeSantis in a way they don’t with many of the other victims of this recession.
I could not have put that any better. I too sat here seething with anger, as I watched Wilsonian Neo-Conservatives screaming at the top of their lungs at the autoworkers; “Screw Them!”, “Let them Fail”, “To hell with Detroit!” and so on. Seeing my own Father is a retired General Motors worker. The only Conservatives who were sticking up for the middle class, was myself and Pat Buchanan.
So, while I am sympathetic towards this guy; I am also aware that there are many others out there, that are hurting and are out of work, or have lost thier jobs, due to the stupidity of this company and others like it.
Others: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Megan McArdle, Swampland, The Swamp, The New Republic, Michelle Malkin, Salon, Political Machine, Right Pundits, Obsidian Wings, The Anonymous Liberal, Commentary, Gawker, Don Surber, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Foundry, Simply Left Behind, Samizdata.net, AmSpecBlog, Six Meat Buffet, Wizbang and Power Line
The Southern Avenger on “What Happened to the War on Terror?”
On the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq, why are the loudest champions of the War on Terror no longer talking about it?
Headlines from Bizzaro World
Wow, I had to check the watch… No, it is not Friday the 13’th…
Anyhow, some very bizzare stuff happening here.
- Senator Arlen Spector comes out against card check. Not because it is Communist in Nature. But because of the Economy.
- Rep. Barney Frank chastises Code Pink. Seriously.
- The G.O.P. to Dickhead Cheney, Go away… Please!
- Blond harpy sellout Megan McCain sells the Republican Party up the river….again.
Man, it’s only Tuesday and it’s already getting weird around here. 😮
In brighter news… Mary Katharine Ham is following me on twitter. Woo Hoo! She’s such a hottie. 😀 😛
Culture 11 Downfall Revisited
I noticed that Washington Monthly has done an article on the downfall of Culture 11 and the uprise in Breit Bart’s Big Hollywood. The problem is that the article really does not reflect the real reasons why Culture 11 flopped and Big Hollywood worked. I have several theories as to why.
- Appearance: Culture 11’s design was rather…. What’s the word? *snapping finger*…. generic?!?! It just wasn’t that sham-wow like, of a Blog design. Not to say that it was ugly or anything. It really was not a “Eye Candy” kind of a site. You know, kind of like Gawker.com? I never had any issues with the content; of course, I really never went anywhere, except in the politics section a few times.
- Political Affiliation: No, I am not talking about it being a Conservative site. I am referring to the kind of Conservative site. It is my understanding that Breit Bart is a Wilsonian Neo-Conservative, as are most of his friends, I tend to suspect that the funding come from people of that ilk. On the other hand; I was under the impression that Culture 11.com was an alternative Conservative or Paleo-Conservative based Blog that did the whole pop culture thing.
- Funding: This could be intertwined with the above as well. But the Wilsonian Neo-Conservatives are well funded. Considering where most of the money comes from, this should not be a big surprise. The Alternative Conservative scene is just not as well funded.
Just my take on it. It was a good site and it is a pity that it did not last.
Others:
Iain Murray / The Corner: Selective Quotation is Alive and Well
Daniel Larison / Eunomia: Culture11 — Digg (0) Stumble Upon Newsvine Slashdot Mixx (0) Diigo
David Weigel / The Washington Independent: The Decline and Fall of Culture11
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish: Beyond The Cocoon — Charles Homans has written a piece …
President Barack Hussein Obama’s March Towards Communism
In all honesty…. it is more like a marathon run towards Communism actually.
Thanks to the stupidity of the Carter and Clinton Administrations and the inaction on the Republican controlled 2003 Congress. We are now becoming a Communist Nation. We have no one to blame, but ourselves.
The Communist owned Washington Post reports:
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury’s role, are still in flux.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is set to argue for the new powers at a hearing today on Capitol Hill about the furor over bonuses paid to executives at American International Group, which the government has propped up with about $180 billion in federal aid. Administration officials have said that the proposed authority would have allowed them to seize AIG last fall and wind down its operations at less cost to taxpayers.
The administration’s proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed’s other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy.
The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure.
Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG’s most troubled unit.
The Treasury secretary could act only after consulting with the president and getting a recommendation from two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board, according to the plan.
Geithner plans to lay out the administration’s broader strategy for overhauling financial regulation at another hearing on Thursday.
You see folks, this is where it starts. They start seizing businesses, and taking the assets for themselves. Then the Government decides to take YOUR assets; because they happen to think that you are making too much money. What amazes me, is the resounding silence from the Republicans, especially the Neo-Conservatives like Michelle Malkin and over at HotAir.com. Could it be that the Neo-Conservatives secretly approve of such actions? Possibly the Republican Party as well? Could it be that the Republican Party is now infiltrated with Communists to the point of having lost it’s true identity?
You decide.
Others: The Moderate Voice, Reuters, pw, , The Strata-Sphere,Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, Sweetness & Light, Neptunus Lex, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, and Fausta’s Blog
(Via Memeorandum)
Bill O’Reilly and his Producer are so asking for it.
For this dumb bullcrap right here:
I expect O’Reilly to air this “interview” at some point this week, possibly as early as tonight. I have no expectation that he will show the entire altercation or give the entire story about what happened, so here is the full account, offering a glimpse inside the O’Reilly harrassment machine:
– The Stalking: Watters and his camera man accosted me at approximately 3:45 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, in Winchester, VA, which is a two-hour drive from Washington, DC. My friend and I were in this small town for a short weekend vacation and had told no one about where we were going. I can only infer that the two men staked out my apartment and then followed me for two hours. Looking back, my friend and I remember seeing their tan SUV following us for much of the trip.
– The Ambush: Shortly after checking into our lodgings, we emerged and immediately saw two men walking toward us calling out my name. Watters said he was from Fox News, but never said his or his companion’s name, nor did he say he was with The O’Reilly Factor.
– The Surprise Attack: Watters immediately began asking me why I was causing “pain and suffering” to the Alexa Foundation. He never gave me the context for his questions. Confused, I repeatedly asked him what he was talking about and whether he could refresh my memory, but he just continued shouting his question.
– The Evasion: I said that it was inappropriate for O’Reilly to imply that just because a woman may be drunk and/or dressed in a certain way, she should expect to be raped. Watters asked me whether I had listened to the interview (which I had) and claimed that O’Reilly had made the comments in the context of a commentary on Mel Gibson/drunkenness. When I tried to ascertain why he was attacking ThinkProgress in particular — even though other sites had also covered the story — he said that we were part of the “smear pipeline,” which also included the “Soros-funded” Media Matters. He ignored my comments when I asked if Fox News also smears people.
– Setting A Guilt Trap: Watters ended the charade by demanding that I look into the camera and apologize to the Alexa Foundation and rape victims. I told them that I don’t speak through Fox News and if someone from the Alexa Foundation would like to personally call me, I’d be happy to speak with that person.
– More Stalking: The camera man then continued to film me as I walked down the block. After a few minutes while I waited at the light to cross the street, Watters called him back and they left.
Bill, you need to stop the crap, before your producer ends up dead. You claim to be some sort of media professional, and you do this sort of a thing. You’re nothing more than an idiot media heck. No damn wonder you were FIRED from inside edition.
Because next time someone shows up at his house, it might not be with just signs.
Others: Matthew Yglesias Gawker and The Plank
Technorati Tags: Conservatism ,Conservative ,Conservatives ,Fox News ,Media ,Opinion ,Politics ,Republican ,Republican Party ,Republicans
Barry Continues to win friends
It is being reported in French paper Le Figaro:
Barack Obama a écrit à Jacques Chirac
Le président américain vient d’adresser une lettre «très sympathique » à Jacques Chirac, selon l’expression de ce dernier. «Je suis certain que nous pourrons au cours des quatre années à venir collaborer ensemble dans un esprit de paix et d’amitié afin de construire un monde plus sûr» , écrit le successeur de George W. Bush au prédécesseur de Nicolas Sarkozy. En évoquant le mot de « paix», Obama rend un hommage implicite à l’action de l’ancien président français qui s’était opposé à la guerre en Irak. Une intervention américaine contre laquelle le futur président américain s’était opposé comme sénateur, lors du vote au Congrès.
Which Translates to: (As good as google translate can do so…)
Barack Obama wrote to Jacques Chirac
The U.S. President has just sent a letter “very sympathetic” to Jacques Chirac, in the words of the latter. “I am confident that we can over the next four years working together in a spirit of peace and friendship to build a safer world,” writes the successor to George W. Bush’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy. In mentioning the word “peace,” Obama makes implicit tribute to the action of the former French president who opposed the war in Iraq. A U.S. intervention against which the future U.S. president had opposed as a senator, in a vote in Congress.
Nice…… Barry in his first 100 days, manages to piss off the British AND the french! Great. 🙄
Others Covering:
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Winning friends internationally again
Erick Erickson / RedState: Morning Briefing for March 23, 2009
(H/T to Gateway Pundit)
Tim Geithner reveals his plan and it still sucks
There’s a great deal of coverage on this… go here to check it out. We’re screwed, and I do mean badly.
Others covering:
Frank James / The Swamp: Geithner’s financial-rescue plan, take two
Jeremy P. Jacobs / The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room: Geithner lays out toxic asset plan
Caitlin Taylor / The Note: The Note, 3/23/09: Crisis of Confidence …
Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario: Breaking The Bank — My problem with Monday’s expected announcement …
Atrios / Eschaton: Risk — One thing which stood out from Timmeh’s WSJ op-ed (perfect place to leg hump the
Ben Pershing / Washington Post: A New Week, A New Economic Plan to Sell
Clay Risen / The Plank: Foxes Guarding the Henhouse?
James Joyner / Outside The Beltway: Geithner Plan: TARP 2.0?
Caitlin Taylor / Political Punch: Will the Public Want to Partner with Wall Street?
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire – bk: Geithner’s Plan, Take Two — In advance of his second attempt …
Betsy Newmark / Betsy’s Page: Obama and the AIG bonuses
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture: US Futures Higher: Dow 212+
William Richards / Dealbreaker: Opening Bell: 03.23.09 — Geithner Looks To Announce New Plan Today (Bloomberg)
Charles Lemos / MyDD: D-Day for Geithner — It’s showtime for Secretary Geithner.
Lambert / Corrente: What you mean, “we,” Timmy?
Doug Stanglin / On Deadline: Geithner set to unveil bank bailout plan
more via Memeorandum
Congrats to Ann Althouse!
Yay! I wish her the best. 😀
Others Covering the News:
Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute: Good Luck, Better Judgment, Best Wishes
Editorial: The psychos are running the nuthouse!
Originally published over at my column at NolanChart.com:
It has been a while since I have written an article for my column; with all my days spent blogging about the political happenings post-Obama election, I just have not had the time to sit here and hammer out a good column. I have not forgotten to write, I just have not had the time to sit down and gather my thoughts and put my opinion to the current matters.
President Barack Obama has not been in the White House for 100 days yet and already it seems that our Country is headed for either one of two things; either economic disaster or outright European socialism. Although I tend to believe that one will follow the other, I do firmly believe that capitalism is in grave danger. I also believe that our Nation is going to be one that is going to become a society that rewards failure.
This applies in the area of the home mortgages; since when do we bail out people who have gotten in over their heads in debt? To be clear, I do understand that there were those who were victimized, and those who did this, to innocent people, should be prosecuted. However, those who knowingly got into mortgages that they knew they would not normally be able to afford, I have zero pity for. You make a stupid mistake you pay the consequences. That is how a free and democratic society works. You have to responsibility for your own actions.
Let me give you a personal example. When I was 19 years old, Discover Card sent me an application for a Credit Card. My parents came on as co-signers. Between the time that I first received that card and the time in 2004, when I finally filed for bankruptcy, I was over 14K in debt. Conversely it was over 18K of debt with the new truck that I bought, that I could not really afford; however because I had a job, I could make payments. One day the unthinkable happened, I lost my job; the gravy train stopped and threw me off. Those gravy trains never were known for their cordialness. After doing the obligatory and quite painful grunt and skid across the debt parking lot. I decided I had better go see a bankruptcy lawyer.
What does this have to do with what is happening now in the United States Government? It has quite a bit to do with it actually. Did the United States Government come in and offer to pay off my debt? No. Did the United States Government offer to come in and give me any kind of relief on my truck payments? Nope! I ended up losing that truck someone else owns it now. In other words, I was not rewarded for making stupid decisions, like going over my head in debt. Which by the way, was my own fault, I am the one that charged items on my discover card and got over my head in all that debt not anyone else, not that American taxpayers, but me.
Another way that the United States Government is rewarding failure is by losing their ever-loving minds over bonuses that were contractually awarded to employees of a company. Now I understand the reasons why people are upset about the bonuses. The problem is, the people on the left, or the Democrats are looking at this from a rather idiotic point of view. If the Democrats in Congress are so mad about these bonuses, then why in the heck did they vote to prop up these banks in the first place? The bonuses were a drop in the bucket to what we spent to take ownership in these companies. Why nationalize a company and then gripe about a bonus? It makes zero sense to me.
Again, even bailing out these companies in the first place is rewarding companies for failure. Sorry, I do not buy the notion of a business being too big to fail, that is simply stupid political double talk for a nationalization argument.
Let me give you another personal example of why I think this propping up a business is just simply stupid and why it teaches that it is okay to have a bad business model. I used to run a small electronics out of my house here. I would never buy more than one or two items at the most. I would always tell my customers, you want something, you pay up front, and I will order the item. I would get the money and order the item, and whatever I had left over, I kept for profit. That is called responsible business practices. However, what if I went out, got a loan for say $500.000, and bought a bunch of inventory and then the market fell out in the electronics business or what if I just did not bother to advertise? I would be stuck with a bill for the loan and a bunch of inventory that I could not move. Now would it fair for me to want the United States Government to bail me out of that situation? I think not. Nevertheless, that is what the Government is doing; they are essentially saying that some businesses are just too big to fail.
Not only this, but we are bailing these banks out with money that we do not even have. We are using money that we are borrowing from china, money that is not even ours. What we do not borrow from China, we are printing ourselves, which will devalue the dollar. It is as the title of this column says a case of psychos that are running the nuthouse.
New Video: Conservative Sellouts
Update:
Instant Celebrity Neo-Conservative Sell out...just add Roger Simon
I rest my case.
Cry me a river!
Scott over at power line Blog is depressed because the Liberals are running the country.
Sorry dude, but I have zero pity for you or the Republican Party. They could have chosen a real Conservative candidate; but instead they ran a rich Mormon asshole, a crazy hick preacher, a half asleep old man who stumbled and cleared his throat alot and finally a senile old man, who really wasn’t even a Republican, but rather a RINO.
The senile old fool won the beauty contest and went up against the most hip, the most cool, and the first ever black Presidential candidate ever…..and he lost.
Those are the breaks.
Of course, there was one guy, who had two first names, someone who went against the grain and did not fall in line, and you all treated him like a special education student; in fact, he had to go have his own party, because you all would not even let him speak at your convention.
Now America is being lead by a Neo-Liberal, who wants to take America down the path of European socialism, and eventually into the path of full blown Communism.
Indeed, America’s Chickens are coming home……to roost.
Others:
Donald Douglas / American Power: The Folsom Cell Block National Culture
Victor Davis Hanson / Pajamas Media: Thoughts About Depressed Americans
Fausta / Fausta’s Blog: Am I depressed yet?
Stephen F. Hayes / Weekly Standard: Iran Responds: “Death to America”
The party is over for Obama among independent voters
Looks like the Independents in America have sobered up from the Hope and Change stupor:
In the new National Public Radio poll conducted by the Democratic polling company Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and its Republican counterpart, Public Opinion Strategies, 42 percent of the 800 likely voters surveyed March 10 to 14 said that if the next congressional election were held today they would vote for the Republican candidate; an identical percentage of respondents said they would vote for the Democratic one. For several years, Democrats held a substantial lead on this question.
Democrats still outnumbered Republicans in terms of party identification in this poll by 6 points, 45 percent to 39 percent. Democrats also favored their own party’s congressional candidates 83 percent to 7 percent. But voters who call themselves independents gave GOP candidates the edge by 14 points, 38 percent to 24 percent. And self-identified Republicans supported their own party’s candidates 85 percent to 3 percent.
via National Journal Magazine – Are Independents Hedging Their Bets?.
I recommend you go read the whole thing, as it is a very interesting read. The political climate in America is changing very fast. Most Americans do not want to see their children paying for some economic mess, that was not even of their own making; but rather was of some Democrat in Washington D.C.’s making. Now, in fairness, the Republicans could have stopped this mess in 2003, they tried and the people creating the mess played the race card and also denied that anything was even wrong. However, if Jimmy Carter and later on Bill Clinton would have left well enough alone, this whole economic mess would have been avoided.
I do truly hope by 2010 that the poll numbers for the Democrats are so low that Republican Congress will be able to take back the majority and out of the hands of these crazy people who want to spend out country into bankruptcy.
More Coverage:
Susan Duclos / Wake up America: Independents Jumping Ship
Jennifer Rubin / Commentary: Flotsam and Jetsam — A thought provoking piece on whether …
Yes, Iran does hate us and they have reasons too
This is one of those posts that will separate me from the rabid Neo-Conservative right.
The New York Times reports that Iran has rejected the overtures of the Obama Administration.
The reasons were given:
Khamenei enumerated a long list of Iranian grievances against the United States over the past 30 years and said the U.S. was still interfering in Iranian affairs.
He mentioned U.S. sanctions against Iran, U.S. support for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war against Iran and the downing of an Iranian airliner over the Persian Gulf in 1988.
He also accused the U.S. of provoking ethnic tension in Iran and said Washington’s accusations that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons are a sign of U.S. hostility. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, like energy production, not for building weapons.
”Have you released Iranian assets? Have you lifted oppressive sanctions? Have you given up mudslinging and making accusations against the great Iranian nation and its officials? Have you given up your unconditional support for the Zionist regime? Even the language remains unchanged,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei, wearing a black turban and dark robes, said America was hated around the world for its arrogance, as the crowd chanted ”Death to America.”
While I will be the first to concede that much of this was done much before Obama’s time. The fact is that the United States has always treated that region as a pawn. A pawn in a game of “The Ends Justify the means.” and we are bearing the fruit of that now.
The Zionist remark can be described as simply this. The United States has never, ever, taken a critical tone with Israel and has mostly always blindly supported Israel’s acts of aggression in the region. All the while condemning anyone’s acts towards Israel. It is that policy that has people like those in Iran saying, “Death to America.”
Anyone that tries to tell you anything other than this, is selling you a line of bullshit.