Monday, February 09, 2009

House Capital Markets Chair: first $700 billion averted "the end of our economic system... as we know it"


What really happened in September 2008, when an ashen-faced Treasury Secretary and Federal Reserve Board Chairman met in emergency, closed-door meetings with Congress and the Executive Branch?

Why did they demand $700 billion?

And why did literally everyone on both sides of the aisle agree?

It turns out they were merely averting a "$550 billion bank run" and a global economic apocalypse.

On C-SPAN, the chairman of the House Capital Markets Subcommittee, Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, explains.

Look, I was there when the Secretary [of the Treasury] and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve came in to meet with the members of Congress about what was going on. It was about September 15th.

Here's the facts, and we don't even talk about these things. On Thursday, at about 11:00 in the morning, the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw-down of money market accounts in the United States, to the tune of $550 billion dollars was being drawn out in the matter of an hour or two.

The Treasury opened up its window to help. They pumped a hundred and five billion dollars into the system and quickly realized that they could not stem the tide. We were having an electronic run on the banks. They decided to close the operation, close down the money accounts, and announce a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there wouldn't be further panic out there. And that's what actually happened. If they had not done that, their estimation was that by two o'clock that afternoon, five-and-a-half trillion dollars would have been drawn out of the money market system of the United States, would have collapsed the entire economy of the United States, and within 24 hours the world economy would have collapsed.

Now we talked at that time about what would happen if that happened?

It would have been the end of our economic system and our political system as we know it.

And that's why, when they made the point that we've got to act and do things quickly, we did...

If you don't have a banking system, you don't have an economy.

Worse, Kanjorski asserts we're no better off now than we were before.

Sooner or later, people will realize government's interference in the free market precipitated this crisis (do twisted economic distortions like CRA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ring a bell?). Sooner or later, we'll return to the principles that saved us from the Carter administration's financial devastation.

Let free people decide how to spend their money. It's Adam Smith 101, folks.

Republican Rogue's Gallery: The Porkulus Turncoats


The trillion-dollar boondoggle is destined for an unmitigated failure.

President Obama is on television -- at this very moment -- blaming the financial meltdown on a bunch of banks that mysteriously made ill-advised loans to those with poor credit. Gee, I wonder who might have sued the banks on phony charges of redlining and forced them to make those bad loans against their will?

President Obama is on television claiming that only government spending, not tax cuts, can save the economy. He calls tax cuts a "discredited" approach. Funny, I wonder what triaged economic growth after Jimmy Carter's disastrous administration? Anyone?

As for the trio of so-called Republicans who supported the Generational Theft Act of 2009, there's a special place in history for the three of you.

Benedict Specter

Mata Collins

Tokyo Snowe


Here's a general email address (info@gop.com), the Chairman's email address (chairman@gop.com), a contact form and a script you can paste in. Call 202.863.8500 or email now.


Here's the story.

The three Republican senators who plan to support the measure are Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Collins and Specter spoke in favor of the agreement on the Senate floor Friday night.

"The American people want us to work together. They don't want to see us dividing along partisan lines on the most serious crisis confronting our country," Collins said on the floor.

Actually, dimwit, the American people don't want you to bankrupt the country with a thousand-page pork-laden bill that rips off taxpayers and saddles our descendents with massive amounts of debt.

Email the GOP now at info@gop.com and chairman@gop.com. Call 202.863.8500 or email now.

As for the three turncoats: America's children and grandchildren will know your names. You have enslaved them with massive amounts of debt for generations.

Benedict Specter is up for reelection in 2010. Tokyo Snow in 2012. And Mata Collins in 2014. We're elephants, turncoats. We never forget.

Linked by: Denny. Thanks!

Smoking gun: caller explains Stimulus as Obama plan to fund permanent Democratic patronage system


"Chicago Bob", calling into a radio talk show, explains the need to rush on the Stimulus package before anyone gets a good chance to review its sordid details. The transcript:

"I really feel that what I'm gonna give you here is a smoking gun.

I'm a conservative Democrat and I'm from Chicago... and I, I feel that I was betrayed.

I was in a meeting after Obama got elected and I was told by the Democratic officials in that meeting that we were gonna give billions of dollars that was gonna come down the pike, our way, and what we were to do with it was we were supposed to do with it...

We are gonna build an army of Democratic patronage jobs.... gonna completely freeze up the Republicans forever and ever...

It's a job-capturing system, the same one they have in Chicago... everyone's asking 'why isn't that money being released until 2011 and 2012?'

Because it needs to be released at a time that's close to the election, so that they don't go blow the money and spend it. So they're gonna hold some back and that's where... the real bucks will be spent, right up close to the election.

...It's not a stimulus package, it's not pork! It's a job patronage system... there's gonna be more [people] working for the Democrats in a patronage system than the United States Army...

And the jobs are gonna be camouflaged in a million different ways, whether you're workin' for the city, or workin' for the state, but when the election comes around, you're gonna be obligated to go out and get that vote... ...like ACORN, except the jobs will be larger scale. I just wanted to say that, because I was really depressed when they told me, because I really thought they'd be different.

If I've done nothing else in my life, I've informed what that bill really is... it's a job patronage system."

Linked by: Instapundit, Gateway Pundit, Patriot Room, The Cleveland Examiner, Winky Dog, Prepare to be offended, Bob McCarty, Nice Deb, RBO, Common Sense Junction, Dad 29, The Anchoress and Strata-Sphere. Thanks!

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: An unmitigated disaster


The government's meddling got us into this mess: Barron's
Bolton slams Condi, says Israel must go it alone on Iran: Israel Matzav
Nobody knows the outcome, so let's hurry up and spend: NewsBusters

Obama violating Constitution with Census heist: Ace
Quake that killed 80,000 may have been man-made: ThunderPig
We are all Socialists now: YouTube (HTWW)

Salon hammers Obama's Beltway zombies: ECO
Change you can download: secret CRS reports: WikiLeaks
Greenwald's curious recounting of history: NewsBusters

GOP turncoats face backlash: Fox
Unions influence Denver elections big time: Examiner
The emperor has no clothes: Sister Toldjah

Taqiyya in action: IBA
USS Cole: the third rail for Obama: Grand Rants
Since the CBO says the recession will end...: DPO

Peter Schiff: Stimulus Bill Will Lead to "Unmitigated Disaster": Yahoo!
Understanding Obama: the cult of personality: Ali Sina
Show us the bill!: Pal2Pal

Sarko on nukes: you go ahead an disarm, we'll keep ours: Fausta
Moving Gitmo to a prison against Geneva Convention?: Dinah Lord
Censorship Advocate Stabenow's Husband Active in Left-Wing Radio: NewsBusters

Smashing idea: Hyundai giving away Superbowl ads soundtrack: AutoBlog
Microsoft Songsmith ad trumps Seinfeld shocker:NewsAlbum
Top Five Swarovski Disasters: CNet

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Amazon's Kindle eBook Reader gets an upgrade


TechCrunch reports that Amazon's well-reviewed Kindle eBook could be getting a serious upgrade.

The K2 seems to be much slimmer and a tad shorter. We'll find out momentarily as the announcement is supposed to come sometime tomorrow. It should be available on February 24th at a price of $359.

Flashback: BoingBoing's 2007 Review of Kindle I.

Bankrupt Delphi tries to shed retiree health care obligations


Remember Delphi, the giant parts supplier for General Motors? It spun off from the mother ship in 1997 and declared bankruptcy in 2005 after a an accounting scandal cast a long shadow on its financial position.

Delphi has roughly 170,000 employees and has many of the same issues as GM: a rigid, union-dominated workforce, brutal retiree health care liabilities, and a balance sheet as clean as Michael Moore's arteries.

The company has yet to emerge from bankruptcy and now says that it needs additional relief from a crushing amount of debt.

Delphi Corp. is asking a bankruptcy judge for permission to stop paying health care and life insurance benefits to its salaried retirees... The Troy automotive parts supplier has been struggling to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and has launched a series of new cost-cutting measures to help the company attract the financing it needs.

...The move would end health insurance benefits to about 15,000 Delphi salaried retirees, most of whom rely on Delphi for medical, dental and vision coverage... The change would not affect benefits to current salaried workers, but those workers -- about 9,600 in the United States -- would not receive benefits after they retire.

CFO Magazine reports on the impact to the bottom line.

The company claims it will save about $70 million per year, or $200 million through 2011, according to the AP report. Delphi also reportedly told the court that if it is permitted to cut the benefits, it will be able to reduce its balance-sheet liabilities by $1.1 billion.

The company wants the change because industrywide projections for auto sales have gone way down in the past few months. Earlier forecasts called for industrywide light vehicle production of 14.2 million units in 2009 and as many as 16.3 million units in 2011. Now, automakers say the best the industry will be able to do this year will be about 12.5 million units, Delphi said...

Delphi, which has been in Chapter 11 since October 2005, has been hurt by the credit crisis as it seeks financing. Last August former parent General Motors agreed to lend Delphi an additional $300 million simply to improve Delphi's liquidity... Altogether, GM has loaned Delphi $950 million...

In other words, GM used its precious cash to keep a bankrupt sister company afloat.

And consider that Delphi has been cleaning itself up to emerge from bankruptcy since 2005. It has about half the number of employees of GM.

Can anyone tell me why Delphi could use Chapter 7 bankruptcy law to survive and strip itself into a workable enterprise... but GM can't?

Bueller? Anyone?

"Why did Congress create Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"?


Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs): An Institutional Overview is one of thousands of documents recently made available on WikiLeaks. A veritable myriad of Congressional Research Service documents offer startling glimpses into the scale and scope of government intrusion into the free markets.

Why Did Congress Create GSEs?

GSEs were not created for the purpose of expanding home ownership by lower- and middle-income members of the public. Rather, Congress established GSEs "to improve the efficiency of capital markets" and to overcome "statutory and other market imperfections which otherwise prevent funds from moving easily from suppliers of funds to areas of high loan demand..."

The economic rationale for GSEs is the belief that, without such government-sponsored institutions, a critical area of necessary debt financing would be underserved or served inefficiently. Government, according to this rationale, should use some of its sovereign powers (e.g., full faith and credit of the U.S. Treasury) to encourage the development of private financial intermediaries to serve selected markets. GSEs are part of a tradition of mercantilist financial institutions. Government assigns them benefits and privileges in their charters that are not available to fully private corporations. In return, the government limits activities and lines of business of GSEs and requires them to promote selected public policy objectives. As a private entity, a GSE is exempt from federal management and staffing laws, which provides additional operational flexibility.

In other words, the GSEs were yet another example of government thinking it could better engineer the debt market than Adam Smith's "invisible hand", the world of free enterprise.

It's a startlingly stupid proposition, when you stop and think about it, but then this is Congress we're talking about.

Questions for Congress


The CRS report concludes with questions for Congress.

Are GSEs still needed?
• Should the GSE model be replaced with a different type of entity?
• Should GSEs' subsidies be provided in some other form?

Methinks it will be a long while indeed before the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, architects of the current financial disaster, get around to answering.

The death spiral of the GSEs will have a direct impact on their campaign contributions. The central flaw of the GSEs -- as even a toddler could have predicted -- is that they turned into Democratic piggy-banks for a litany of well-connected liberals. The GSEs provided hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions to powerful Democrats like Chris Dodd, Barack Obama and John Kerry who, in turn, protected, nurtured and sheltered the bureaucracies.

A Democratic Piggy-bank


From 1998 to 2003, Clinton administration officials like Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, and Jamie Gorelick paid themselves nearly $200 million amidst a massive accounting scandal at the GSEs.

And it wasn't as though no one had predicted the meltdown of the GSEs. A March 2002 Business Week article ("The Homes Keep Selling") sounded one of many alarms.

...gains in home prices are outstripping wage gains. That creates a gold-rush mentality in which potential homebuyers rush to grab a house as quickly as possible, even if they overpay. And mortgage lenders are willing to oblige, even in the case of buyers who might not have qualified before. ....the aggressive tactics of mortgage lenders have been made possible by the automated underwriting systems developed in recent years by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae)…. [These new systems] allow for higher loan-to-income ratios than in the past to encourage home buying. …but the relaxed ratios could pose serious problems in the future...

Serious problems indeed.

Linked by: Paul Ibrahim.

The Big-Dig-ulus: Backscratching we can believe in


Boston's Big Dig project began in 1982 as a government-led attempt to fight the near constant gridlock that drivers experienced downtown while on Interstate 93.

The original plan called for the replacement of the rusting, elevated "Central Artery" (I-93) and a third harbor tunnel that would enhance access to Logan Airport.

By 1985, the project had received clearance from environmental regulators and was marketed to taxpayers as a $2.8 billion effort.

The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (MTA), an organization with a checkered history of waste, graft and fraud, ran the project despite its lack of experience in managing a project the size of "The Big Dig".

Over two decades, the project incurred numerous cost overruns, criminal arrests, tunnel leaks, a fatal collapse of a ceiling on a driver, use of substandard materials and documented waste on a grand scale.

Instead of $2.8 billion, the Big Dig will cost at least $22 billion, an eight-fold increase. Taxpayers will be paying the tab until 2038.

Consider the Big Dig in the context of the stunningly large "Stimulus" package. Instead of an estimated $2.8 billion for starters, the corpulent government construction tab comes in at around $100 billion.

It includes transportation infrastructure, which translates to roadways, bridges, public transportation, and airports; renewable energy projects and energy-efficiency initiatives; and upgrades to water infrastructure (both drinking and waste-water systems) as well as flood-protection projects.

Given the nebulous nature of many of the projects -- just what encompasses energy-efficiency, for example? -- it's unclear just how much waste and fraud will result. But one thing is certain: it will range from immense to spectacularly huge.

Furthermore, a little publicized Executive Order rescinded by Barack Obama will result in even more waste and expense.

Obama's action means that 84% of America's construction workers and 25,000 businesses will be ineligible to participate in any federally funded construction projects. Why? Because those workers and businesses are non-unionized.

So why is President Obama rushing to ram the immense Porkulus package down taxpayers' throats before they've even had a chance to read it?

It's called payback to the unions. Obama's executive order limits federally funded construction spending to union shops. The "Spendulus" package is heavy in federally funded construction spending.

The combination is a festival of waste, fraud and mismanagement, topped off with a wonderful return-on-investment for the union bosses. The current Porkulus package is not temporary, is not targeted, and it doesn't create jobs. That's why they're trying to rush it through.

Now that's back-scratching we can believe in!

Related reading: Wikipedia: Boston's Big Dig and The Big Dig comes to an End. Maybe.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: LNG find is "a game changer"


Joe Biden was right: Surber
Some disasters don't count: Townhall (Steely)
Obama on stimulus and spending: Pax Parabellum

CBO: Obama stimulus harmful over long haul: Times
Hope. Change. The rest of the world still hates us.: Surber
Stimulus Socialism: American Power

Gas Found off Israel is "A Game Changer": NeoExp
ADL sees "pandemic of anti-Semitism": ynet
Venezuelan Jews fear for their safety: Fox

The President's inaccurate economic statements: Gateway
Turncoat disgrace Collins defends her vote: Gateway
Al Franken Admits $50,000 Tax Debt: Kessler

Rahm & Barack: a stimulus problem: Parkway
How an EPA bureaucrat killed the U.S. hybrid car industry 30 years ago: PJM (Schreiber)
Scariest Bear Ever: LGF

Dead Hobo Reporting Glitch Claims Another White House Appointee: IowaHawk:

U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced his resignation this morning amid new reports that Alameda County workers had unearthed more than a dozen additional dead hobo bodies at his former home in Berkeley, California. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist had been the subject of a week-long controversy after he amended his White House application form to declare "3 or 4" hobo corpses in his crawl space, but after this morning's discovery, Chu said he felt he could no longer serve as an effective spokesman for Administration energy policy.

"Getting America on the road to energy independence requires a secretary who is focused full time on developing comprehensive strategies for alternative fuels, rather than a political distraction over a handful of decomposing drifters," said Chu. "I'm afraid I am no longer that person."

..."It was an honest mistake on Dr. Chu's part," said the President. "The section of the screening questionnaire about dead hobos has been confusing for a lot of nominees. In his defense it only specifies 'basement/crawl space/storage shed,' so I can somewhat understand why he didn't mention the ones discovered by the backhoe yesterday. That said, it's important that we move forward with revitalized American energy leadership. I'd like to thank Dr. Chu for his service and delicious home-made beef jerky, and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Saturday, February 07, 2009

3M's cellphone-sized projector


I missed it when it was introduced a couple of months ago, but 3M is selling its first cellphone-sized projector.

The MPro110 supports 1280 x 768 resolution and its LED-based light source is supposed to last 10,000 hours. No crap-ass bulbs to replace.

The distance that 3M says it will handle is 50". I seriously doubt it, but let's dare to dream.

The free market: a disgrace and a failure


The Failure of the Free Market -- If Democrats get tough and coordinated now, they can destroy the power of the myth that unregulated free markets will guide us to prosperity. -- Dean Powers

The notion that we have an "unregulated free market" is false.

If we had a free market, the organizations and individuals on Wall Street that made idiotic investment decisions would now be bankrupt, to be replaced by more competent organizations and managers. Instead, under the current system, they are “bailed out” -- at our expense -- and allowed to continue operating.

If we had an unregulated free market, the government would not force bankers to underwrite risky loans to those with inferior credit. The government would not enact legislation such as the Community Reinvestment Act and threaten lawsuits from organizations like ACORN and from the Justice Department (Clinton's DOJ filed 13 major lawsuits against banks for failure to lend to “minorities“).

If we had an unregulated free market, there would be no central banking entity in charge of a fiat money supply with the ability to:

a) Make vast amounts of credit available at below-market interest rates.

b) Follow such a persistent policy of inflation as to convince virtually everyone in the country that purchasing a house is “a good investment”.

c) Eliminate ( or at least significantly reduce) risk aversion by guaranteeing bankers that they (the Fed) will always be there as “lender of last resort”.

d) Condone and make possible a preposterously over-leveraged fractional reserve banking system under which banks currently hold total reserves of only about 4% and are thus extremely vulnerable to any sort of a run or loss of confidence in the bank.

If we had an unregulated free market there would be no quasi-governmental entities like Fannie and Freddie and the FHA to insure that trillions of dollars of that cheap credit made possible by the Fed was directed into the residential housing market, producing an unsustainable boom in housing construction, which, when it ends, leads inevitably into an economic bust.

If we had an unregulated free market, the Federal Government would not now be contemplating looting the American taxpayers of another trillion dollars or so to pay off various special interests that helped the latest collection of looters get into power.

We don’t have an unregulated free market. We have a “mixed economy”, with a few elements of capitalism struggling under the weight of literally thousands of pages of rules and regulations and dozens of government agencies interfering in virtually every aspect of our economic lives.

And under this set-up, it is you, the "little guy", the individual who doesn't have a powerful lobby in Washington to bend the rules in your favor -- you, who cannot command an audience with Congress to beg for a personal bailout -- you, who can do nothing as government uses your funds to save the incompetent and the dishonest from the consequences of their own actions -- it is you who gets screwed.

We don't have an unregulated free market; we have an out-of-control government behemoth, controlled by Democrats and their special interests, which is intent on looting us blind.


Based upon a comment at EconTalk by: Michael Smith.

Obama Justice Department "accidentally" leaks sealed files


Nothing terrifies liberals as much as a powerful, black conservative. Michael Steele, in this case.

That appears to be why he's now the focus of a "scandal", manufactured by The Washington Post.

Michael S. Steele, the newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee, arranged for his 2006 Senate campaign to pay a defunct company run by his sister for services that were never performed, his finance chairman from that campaign has told federal prosecutors... ...His sister, Monica Turner, ...told them that this was part of a “get Steele” campaign and shut the door on the reporter, [and the Washington Post] also reported that the Steele campaign has invoices for much of the money in question showing Turner’s work for the campaign.

How did the Post receive a sealed defense memorandum instead of what they had requested (the prosecution sentencing memorandum in a related case, in which the accused offered dirt on Steele in exchange for leniency)?

Not until you reach well down on the jump page do you learn this interesting little detail: "The U.S. attorney's office inadvertently sent the confidential document, a defense sentencing memorandum filed under seal, to The Washington Post after the newspaper requested the prosecution's sentencing memorandum." Inadvertently sent what was supposed to be a sealed document to the Post? Yeah, sure, and the Post will sell you the Brooklyn Bridge real cheap, too.

Is anyone in the U.S. Attorney's office going to lose their job over this? Will the Obama DOJ launch an investigation to make sure this wasn't politically motivated? What would the Post and others have said if this had happened to, say, Howard Dean, during the Bush administration?

We'll patiently await the investigation and firings of those responsible.

Hopenchange!

Update: Steele remains on the war path against the porkulus spending frenzy.

Related: An open letter to Paul Krugman.

Hat tips: Ace and Larwyn. Linked by: Memeorandum and TAB. Thanks!

25,000 businesses put at risk with a stroke of Obama's pen


Two weeks ago, during his Inaugural address, President Obama stated: "We have chosen hope over fear."

It turns out, however, that fear comes in handy when you're trying to reward your trial lawyer, Union boss and welfare recipient supporters with a trillion dollars of the taxpayers' dough:

• "A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."

• "Let's do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time."

• "In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face."

• "It is inexcusable and irresponsible to get bogged down in distraction and delay while millions of Americans are being put out of work."

• "If we do not move swiftly to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law, an economy that is already in crisis will be faced with catastrophe."

Apparently, however, the situation isn't dire enough to prevent President Obama from harming up to 25,000 small businesses via a direct payback to the Unions that helped elect him. The Association of Building Contractors, which represents 25,000 businesses around the country, condemned an executive order signed by Obama that restricts bidding on federally funded construction projects to union-controlled businesses.

Today's decision to repeal Executive Order 13202 opens the door to waste and discrimination in federal and federally funded construction contracts... This action removes the safeguards that prohibited discrimination based upon union affiliation in the awarding of federal contracts...

Absent the economic benefits of competitive bidding, union-only PLAs are known to increase construction costs between 10 percent and 20 percent and discriminate against minorities, women and qualified construction workers who have traditionally been excluded from union membership.

Union-only PLAs drive up costs for American taxpayers while unfairly discriminating against 84 percent of U.S. construction workers who choose not to join a labor union... All taxpayers should have the opportunity to compete fairly on any project funded by the federal government.

In other words, President Obama just shut out 84% of U.S. construction workers from bidding on federal projects. Change!

Neither is the situation dire enough to prevent the White House from grabbing control of the Census Bureau. Apparently, Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has plenty of extra time on his hands -- no significant crises of any kind to deal with such as the economy, the release of nuclear salesman A.Q. Kahn by Pakistan, or an Iran that continues to "clench its fists".

The Census is used "to allocate federal aid to states and draw electoral districts."

Pulling the Census Bureau into the White House is a nakedly partisan ploy and another direct slap in the face to voters who believed his campaign promises.

We're looking to fundamentally change the status quo in Washington... So this will not be easy. Make no mistake about what we're up against. We're up against the belief that it's all right for lobbyists to dominate our government, that they are just part of the system in Washington...

But we know that the undue influence of lobbyists is part of the problem and this election is our chance to say that we are not going to let them stand in our way anymore.

...We're up against decades of bitter partisanship that cause politicians to demonize their opponents instead of coming together... It's the kind of partisanship where you're not even allowed to say that a Republican had an idea, even if it's one you never agreed with.

That's the kind of politics that is bad for our party, it is bad for our country, and this is our chance to end it once and for all.

At last count, 14 lobbyists work in the Obama White House.

Grabbing the Census Bureau, which has lived in the Commerce Department for decades, is as partisan a move as a President could make.

So much for the kind of politics that's "bad for our country."

The good news? Most Americans will have been sufficiently jaded by Obama's fabrications that they'll automatically discard 90% of what comes out of his pie-hole in 2012. They'll know the naked truth. He's just another slick-talking Chicago politician.

Related: Studies confirm: Unions harm employment and wages. Linked by: Gateway Pundit, Jawa Report, Sister Toldjah and Cadillac Tight. Thanks!


RED ALERT: Contact the GOP! Not a penny to the turncoats!


Three turncoat Republican Senators intend to vote for the massive Spendulus bill (also known as the 'Bankrupt America Act'). Here's a general email address (info@gop.com), the Chairman's email address (chairman@gop.com), a contact form and a script you can paste in. Call 202.863.8500 or email now.


Here's the story.

The three Republican senators who plan to support the measure are Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Collins and Specter spoke in favor of the agreement on the Senate floor Friday night.

"The American people want us to work together. They don't want to see us dividing along partisan lines on the most serious crisis confronting our country," Collins said on the floor.

Actually, dimwit, the American people don't want you to bankrupt the country with a thousand-page pork-laden bill that rips off taxpayers and saddles our descendents with massive amounts of debt.

Visit the GOP contact form now and make your voice heard!

Related: Malkin, Hot Air and Fox.

Holy crap! Wingsuits!


Dave W. sent this one in. Unbelievable!





Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "I value your tired partisan ideas"


Stimulate the economy, not government: Romney
"Why we chose not to meet with Pres. Obama": TerPol
Obama drops charges against USS Cole bomber: LGF

We elected a teleprompter: Gateway
Milton Friedman schools Phil Donahue: YouTube
Does anyone know how big the Stimulus is?: Corner

Devious conservative anti-Stimulus attack idea: TigerHawk
Pakistan frees nuclear salesman A.Q. Kahn: LGF
2 face death over translation of Quran: AP

Iran, Obama administration off to shaky start: Indybay
Newspapers Following ‘Million Little Pieces’ Model: BMW
Against torture? They're inkboarding us to death: Sanity

White House power consolidation continues: BizzyBlog
Change you can deceive in: Dogfight at Bankstown
Dodd's loan disclosure magic trick: WSJ

Lafayette, La., finally gets its fiber network: CNet
Some great photos: Southern Cutworm
"I value your tired old, partisan ideas": AT (Cary)

In his televised speech to Democrat members of the House last night, President Obama said:

"Look, I value the constructive criticism and healthy debate that is a foundation of American democracy. I don't think any of us have cornered the market on wisdom, or that good ideas are the province of any party. The American people know that our challenges are great. They're not expecting Democratic solutions or Republican solutions -- they want American solutions. And I have said that to those who have criticized the plan.

But what I have also said is -- don't come to table with the same tired arguments and worn ideas that helped create this crisis."

That's doublethink: I value constructive criticism that represents the same tired Republican arguments. Say what?

Friday, February 06, 2009

Milton Friedman puts a boot in Phil Donahue's a$$


Click on any of the screencaps or here to watch the video.

Donahue: "When you see around the globe the mal-distribution of wealth, the desperate plight of millions of people in undeveloped countries … when you see the greed and the concentration of power, did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed is a good idea to run on?"

Friedman: "In the only cases in which the masses have escaped from the kind of grinding poverty you're talking about … they have had capitalism and largely free trade. … So that the record of history is absolutely crystal clear: that there is no alternative way so far discovered of improving the lot of the ordinary people that can hold a candle to the productive activities that are unleashed by a free enterprise system."

Later, when asked by Mr. Donahue whether capitalism rewards virtue, Friedman responds, "Tell me, is there some society you know that doesn't run on greed? What is greed? Of course, none of us are greedy; it's only the other fellow who's greedy. This — the world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests. You know, I think you're taking a lot of things for granted... Is it really true that political self-interest is nobler somehow than economic self-interest? … Just tell me where in the world you're going to find these angels who are going to organize society for us? I don't even trust you to do that!"

Hat tips: New York Sun and YouTube.

A free-to-taxpayers $1.7 trillion stimulus package?


A little-publicized API study revealed that over $1.7 trillion in government revenue could be generated through a single act of Congress.

...America’s vast domestic oil and natural gas resources [have] been kept off-limits by Congress for decades [and] could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue, create thousands of new jobs and enhance the nation’s energy security by significantly boosting domestic production, a study released Monday shows.

The study analyzed offshore areas (arbitrarily blocked by Congressional mandates), Alaska's ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) region and a small parcel of land in the Rockies.

Its determinations were startling:

• Domestic crude oil production could be increased by as much as 2 million barrels per day (offsetting around 20% of imports by 2030)

• Natural gas production could increase by 5.34 billion cubic feet per day (roughly 61 percent of imports over the same period).

The study also estimated that the value of oil and natural gas resources on federal lands could exceed $4 trillion in total.

Bob McCarty notes that the highest weekly U.S. oil rig count was achieved on Dec. 28, 1981 -- during President Ronald Reagan’s first term -- with 4,530.

The all-time low for oil rigs? 488 on April 23, 1999, under Bill Clinton.

Baker Hughes reports that the January 2009 number was 1,553.

The U.S. is the only country that arbitrarily restricts its own access to energy.

Think about it. Trillions of dollars in value... hundreds of thousands of jobs... a resurgent economy... all are hamstrung by Democrat bureaucrats more interested in accruing power than in our well-being.

Hat tip Bob McCarty.


The Ace o' Spades flaming skull is out!


Click the skull or here to catch the latest on the Destroy America's Economy Act of 2009.

Ace suggests that the Republicans demand that the whole bill be read on the floor.

Call your Senator now (click here for phone numbers) and demand that they stop the Bankrupt America Act!

Here are the GOP turncoats. Call now. Call back if it's busy.

      Collins (202) 224-2523
      Snowe (202) 224-5344
      Voinovich (202) 224-3353
      Specter (202) 224-4254

Here's a script you can use:

I'd like to leave a message for Senator whats-his-futz,

My family demands that you vote against the so-called Stimulus package, which our children and grandchildren will be paying for decades from now. The only proven way to heal the economy is through tax cuts.

Free enterprise, not Politburo-style central planning, is the answer. Jimmy Carter's disastrous economy is proof enough. We urge you to vote against this disastrous plan.

Tax cuts. Tax cuts. Tax cuts.

Hat tip: Larwyn.

Larwyn's Link Kerplosion: "There lies madness"


50 De-Stimulating Facts: NRO
Obama teaches Petraeus military strategy: IPS
The 'politics of fear': Malkin

Michael Yon: "It's Raining": Instapundit
Does Obama Really Believe What He Says?: Copious Dissent
There lies madness: Anchoress

Jake Tapper pwns Robert Gibbs: Scoffery
Pass this or I shall whine some more: Anchoress
The only thing we have to fear is catastrophe itself: AT (Cary)

Josh Marshall and the sacred texts: QandO
Chevron makes 'important' discovery in Gulf: BMW
Discredited Lancet study gets even more discredited: Hot Air

American Muslim teenager murdered by ex-Gitmo detainee: LGF
Since GE took gubmint money, Olbermann's salary must be capped: CP
Democrat Senators pushing hearings on censoring talk radio: Politico

'Gifted Oratory' Not Enough to Save Obama's Porkulus Scam: JWF
Reality check on Aisle Obama: Surber
Latest on the Scamulus: Riehl

5 Real Life Soldiers Who Make Rambo Look Like a P****: Cracked
Nissan GT-R still quick with updated launch control: AutoBlog
The Ten Manliest Weapons: Arthur Shall