"New" "Savings" "Found" for Obamacare

Mmmm, this smells like bull poop.

This looks like bull poop.

It even sounds like bull poop.

But if Obama is saying it, it must be true.

Yeah, right.

Blue Star Chronicle Defends Sarah

These guys over at Blue Star get it right. Read their post, watch the video, admire Sarah and realize just how much of a douche Matt Lauer is.

And I want to add one point that I haven't seen anyone make. Letterman's apology says he didn't mean Willow, he meant Bristol because she's 18 and Willow is 14.

The joke is still as wrong and as ugly as before - when is it funny to joke about a young mother getting raped? Bristol is a mother, a young girl, and a human being.

Letterman is lower than slug scum.

Thin Skinned Frank

Status: Still A Classless Ass.

Liberal Fascism in Paperback

Jonah talks with Will Cain in an Off The Page video pod about his excellent, excellent book.

Pushback On Palin

Nice little bit about Sarah with lots and lots of links.

Happy Birthday CEI

Steve Forbes sends my husband's think tank a lovely Happy 25th Birthday card in the form of this article in The Washington Times.

That was were I was last night and in good libertarian tradition, I was up way too late arguing with the folks from Cato about stuff.

Happy Birthday CEI. You do hero's work!

(They are a non-profit so feel free to visit them and make a donation.)

The Fed Head’s Problem

(Originally posted at NRO by Larry Kudlow and so horrible that I am posting it in full)

Did the Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke lie about pressuring the Bank of America not to back out of the Merrill Lynch merger? BofA CEO Ken Lewis made this charge to New York AG Andrew Cuomo, and basically repeated it with a bit of sugar-coating in a House hearing today on Capitol Hill.

The central issue was whether Lewis would invoke the material-adverse-change clause (the MAC clause) to back out of the Merrill deal last December, when Merrill’s books showed far greater losses than were first recognized. Of course, the deal is now succeeding profitably, with the whole financial world having changed for the better since late last year.

But a bunch of e-mails and documents clearly show that Bernanke was hammering Lewis, as was former Treasury man Henry Paulson. So far as I know Paulson has never denied this. But Bernanke did, and therein lies the Fed head’s problem.

Last May 5, in front of the Joint Economic Committee, when asked if he pressured Lewis, Bernanke responded: “Absolutely not, that I absolutely did not in any way ask Mr. Lewis to obscure any disclosures or to fail to report any information that he should be reporting.”

However, an e-mail reveals that Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker spoke at length with Bernanke about all this: “Just had a long talk with Ben . . . says they think the MAC threat is irrelevant because it’s not credible. Also intends to make it even more clear that if they play that card and they need assistance, management is gone.”

In other words, Bernanke acknowledged to Lacker that if BofA management disclosed to shareholders the terrible state of Merrill, even in considering a withdrawal from the deal, Bernanke would fire them. This directly contradicts the Fed head’s public statement before Congress’s JEC.

At that time, Lewis was strongly considering a material-adverse-change clause to stop the Merrill deal. So Bernanke put a gun to Lewis’s head, but he won’t fess up about it. A House investigative committee will probably call Bernanke to testify on this subject. If so, the whole world will be watching. As former Reagan prosecutor Joe diGenova told me last night on CNBC, the Justice Department won’t prosecute Bernanke. But his political and monetary credibility may suffer enormously.

Now the question is whether the Obama White House will issue a statement strongly supporting Bernanke, as they have in the past, or whether they will let the Fed head twist slowly in the wind. Perhaps my Larry Summers/King Dollar preference over Bernanke for Fed head next year is not so far fetched.

PJTV Takes on MSNBC

PJTV's Steve Crowder and AlfonZo Rachel bring MSNBC's view of republicans to 3-D glory.

Then Why'd You Pay The Money Back?

Charming.

According to this AP news report,

Barack Obama says he has lost confidence in the inspector general who investigates AmeriCorps and other national service programs and has told Congress he is removing him from the position.

Obama's move follows an investigation by IG Gerald Walpin finding misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group led by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star.

Buried in the article is this tidbit of information.

The U.S. attorney's office reached a settlement in the matter. Brown cited press accounts that said Johnson and the nonprofit would repay half of nearly $850,000 in grants it received.

Kevin Hiestand, chairman of the board of St. HOPE Academy, said in a statement it was "about time" Walpin was removed. "Mr. Walpin's allegations were meritless and clearly motivated by matters beyond an honest assessment of our program," he said.

If Mr. Walpin's statements were so "meritless" why'd they have to pay the money back.

Obama seems to think he is above the law. Mr. Walpin should show him he is not.

Silly Me

Think I'm over-reacting and that there's nothing to fear of a government take-over?

Visit RealClearPolitics here and read about how deep the government's reach into private companies has become. The US federal government now has ownership stakes in over 500 companies.

America was created by entrepreneurs of one kind or another. Allowing the government to continue this trend of Socialization/nationalization will stifle that which made the United States great.

The article was written by Sen. Thune and he closes with what appears to be a very good idea.

To stop this dangerous course of action, I have introduced the Government Ownership Exit Plan Act. This legislation would put an immediate end to government purchases of additional direct ownership interests of private companies. It would also prohibit government officials from making or influencing business decisions when it comes to the companies in which the government already has an ownership interest.

It is equally important to set an exit strategy for this unprecedented government intrusion. The Government Ownership Exit Plan sets a hard deadline for the final termination of government ownership interests in private companies and puts our economy back on the path to competitiveness and private ownership, not governmental control. The legislation would require the Treasury to sell any ownership stake in a private entity by July 1, 2010. Revenue from the sale of these assets would be used for debt reduction.

If we do not act now, government ownership of these private entities could persist for decades. If we want to once again promote free market principles and the private ownership of business, it is time to act.

Another Krauthammer Must Read

This article by Charles Krauthammer in The Washington Post is a must read if you enjoy watching someone point out Obama's hypocrisy and failed rhetoric.

(I do, thank you Mr. Krauthammer)

Obama Meets His First Protesters

And trust me, Obama will be meeting A LOT more protesters in the coming days.

Universal healthcare is evil, wrong, and bad.

If you want to kill your parents and grandparents, if you like waiting months for necessary operations, if you want to have every tax increase possible to occur, if you want your doctor to become a government employee, if you want thousands of private insurance companies unemployed, then by all means be an idiot and vote for national healthcare.

I'm hoping we fight this monstrosity tooth and nail and beat this stupid idea to death.

Arizonans Against Affirmative Action

I hope Ward Connerly is helping these folks out.

Zero Tolerance

As a wife of an immigrant, I can safely say I have zero tolerance for illegal immigrants.

None whatsoever. We had to do it. You have to do it and go through the correct and legal channels to America.

Once you're here and you're nice and legal, then I welcome you with open arms.

Which is why I love the e-Verify system for forcing companies to only hire legals.

This article from The LA Times (natch) reporting about how a food manufacturer in LA had to fire over 200 employees because their social security numbers were fraudulent is so overwhelmingly biased against immigration standards that it actually backs into being ludicrously funny. It's so pro-illegal immigrants that I have to wonder if this is part of some readership drive.

But the Overhill case illustrates how desktop raids can ravage immigrant families, even without arrests and deportation. Employers facing stiff fines and potential prison terms for hiring illegal immigrants may decide to fire employees who have suspect paperwork.

"We killed ourselves on the assembly lines for years, many of us have injuries from repetitive motion," said Bohemia Agustiano, 38, a mother of four from Huntington Park. "Now we're worth nothing. We're out on the streets. This is unjust, no one should be treated this way."

Overhill says it gave the workers 30 days to correct the problem with the IRS and provide the company with verification, but none did so.

"This is not something the company planned to do, it's not something the company initiated and it's not something that benefited the company," said Alexander Auerbach, a spokesman for Overhill, which dismissed about a quarter of its 1,000-plus workforce. "Quite the contrary. We lost very good, very loyal employees."

Overhill, whose workforce is largely Latino, says it has no idea of the legal status of the fired employees. No one has formally accused them of being illegal immigrants. Still, the company argues that it risked potential criminal liability under tax and immigration laws if it continued to employ them after the IRS audit.

Look, you knew the risks of entering this country illegally and now they've caught up with you. America isn't a free ride. Get legal or get out.

Picking Apart The New Haven Decision

Stuart Taylor over at National Journal has a lengthy and intelligent article carefully and completely picking apart the Sotomayor decision on Riccio vs. New Haven.

He's right, it was nothing but racial politicking.

Leave The Kids Alone

Jim Geraghty has an excellent post up over at CampaignSpot about attacking the children of politicians.

If they are liberal, do not do it.
If they are conservative, do not do it.

Period.

Or as Mr. Geraghty points it...

But even if you think Barack Obama or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or Sarah Palin are the biggest doofuses to walk the face of the earth, you're not supposed to take it out on their kids. Because they're kids. If you really can't instinctively grasp why it's wrong for a grown man to make a child a butt of jokes, I don't know whether it can be explained to you.

Yes, But Are They Anti-Abortion?

This is obviously an attempt to force radical environmentalist issues on the United States such as forcing us to ruin our economy even further by adopting destructive energy policies.

Crimes against Future Generations need to become taboo
Montreal/Hamburg, 29. Mai 2009. How can we prevent and prosecute activities today that severely threaten the living conditions and health of those living in the future? This was the theme at the symposium of 120 international law experts in Montréal on May 28-29, where the World Future Council (WFC) presented its pioneering work on Crimes against Future generations for discussion.

“We are today using international law in a heartless fashion, for we think only of those who are alive here and now and shut our eyes to the rest of the vast family of humanity who are yet to come. This forecloses to future generations their rights to the basic fundamentals of civilized existence: acknowledging them as holders of rights in the eyes of our law” says Judge C.G. Weeramantry, former Vice-President of the International Court of Justice and WFC Councillor.

But what I really want to know is if these jokers are serious, does that mean they'll also be anti-abortion?

Tell Us How You Really Feel

Michelle Malkin writes an open letter to "perv" David Letterman.

She doesn't hold back, does she?

Also this is a great piece on the left's treatment of conservative women- The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse.

The folks who engage in such thinking and behavior are such class acts who bring to mind the courtesy and grace of Paul Newman and Audrey Hepburn.

Quite frankly, having been raised a New England Liberal, it was that smug, arrogant rudeness and enthrallment to wistful thinking rather than reality that drove me to conservativism. I have yet to plumb the depths of my loathing for rude people.

Another Government Takeover

Michelle Malkin breaks the news (along with the roll call) that the government via the FDA is going to take over the tobacco industry.

Presumably, given Obama's smoking habits, he just wants to run everything.

There is no reason for the government to regulate tobacco, this is their attempt to start regulating beer, fat, wine, snacks, alcohol, everything you consume.

Fight back, write your Senator and tell him to vote no against this ridiculousness.

Busy Day, Light Posting

I'll be back tomorrow but today is about to go "pear-shaped" for me. And I've got to get on it!

See ya.

Green Beret Loses Race, Wins Battle

Michael Yon has a lovely brief slideshow of our troops in the Philippines and the good work they are doing.

Check it out. It is super sweet and just lovely.

Also please visit this website and help send "Books to Barrios". What an amazing cause!

Big Spenders

Glenn is at it again banging away at Obama's spendathon with this well-linked post here.

It's always nice to keep the pressure up!

Closing the Door to Freedom

Samizdata.net has a great article about America's loss of freedom over the years to "nit-picking beaurocrats".

It is an excellent and moving plea.

Why We Should Stop TARP Now

The economic outlook is certainly much better than it was just a few months ago, which brings me to The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and its role in creating economic recovery. Given the rapid improvement in the economic outlook, and the slow rate of stimulus spending under the act thus far, most of the spending under ARRA will likely occur well after recovery is under way. A new CBO study shows that through late May only about $37 billion has been spent, which is just under 10% of authorized spending under the ARRA. In fact, the Departments of Education, Transportation and Energy all have spent 2% or less of their allocations. Recovery is on the way, without massive government spending.

But wasn't the whole idea for fiscal stimulus that there was no way we would recover without it? And didn't Vice President Biden indicate that virtually all economists agreed with this view? Given the improving economic outlook, ARRA now represents a significant and very expensive public policy mistake. And in contrast to the vice president's view about economists' support for the program, it is well known that many of them who specialize in macroeconomic policy significantly criticized the need for substantial fiscal stimulus before ARRA was passed.

The economic arguments for ARRA were badly dated and erroneous. The stimulus bill was promoted under the old-fashioned Keynesian view that only the federal government is big enough to dig us out of the hole that we had gotten ourselves into, and digging us out of that hole required massive federal spending. But there was significant opposition to this premise by many economists who not only predicted that spending would be significantly delayed--with the bulk of spending not taking place until after recovery was well under way--but who also sharply disagreed with the premise that enormous increases in government spending were required to restore economic prosperity.

The above quote is from a forbes.com article by Lee Ohanian titled "The $787 Billion Mistake".

You should read the whole thing and tell your Congressional representatives to stop TARP now!

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