Someone knocks sense into the Washington Post

for a couple paragraphs, anyway: 

"Health-care reform is entitlement reform" has become a mantra of the Obama administration. The idea is that Congress can add a massive health-care program this year -- covering the uninsured -- and use the same measures that pay for the health reform to fix the broader budget problems. If that sounds too good to be true, there's a reason.

Carbon credit scammers ruin lives

A long boring article that, when it gets right down to it, is about what a scam exchanging carbon credits is. It concludes with an environmentalist complaining that, hey, the system isn't perfect but it's "a start." Bleh. More to come: 

The factories getting carbon-credits money were the serious polluters. But how can you reward them for stopping polluting in one area, when they pollute in another? 

'And who were the victims of all the previous pollution they caused? The local farmers. Surely they are the people who deserve to be compensated with the carbon-credits money. Why does it all go into the pockets of the industry that caused the damage in the first place?

‘GFL has been polluting the surrounding soil and water for years, and villagers have been fighting them in court for the past 15. So how can Ineos claim not to know or care? Incidents like the gas leak make it even worse.’

Globally, the overall impact on the environment is ambiguous. Since developing countries do not yet have any national caps on emissions, companies can take the handsome payments they receive from carbon cuts in one plant and use the money to build new polluting factories. 

It's the carbon, stupid

Tigerhawk has an interesting perspective on the infamous "date night": 

If you believe, and President Obama says he does, that the production of greenhouse gases will lead to global catastrophe and therefore that we have a fierce moral urgancy to give up our energy-intensive ways, flying three planes to New York to take in a show is nothing less than outrageous. Imagine the entirely different pro-Gaia message if the Obamas had taken over a few cars on an Accela Express and ridden it up to Penn Station Biden-style? 

It is also bad politics; how are voters going to accept fear of climate change as a justification for massively higher energy prices if the president wastes it with public and joyful profligacy? They, like me, will believe it is a crisis when the people who say it is a crisis start acting as if it were one.

More-on BO's date night

from Hot Air: 

But the real foolishness was the Gulfstream and helicopters for the media.  Are we to believe that the national news media has no reporters in New York City?  The BIg Apple isn’t exactly the Badlands of the Dakotas, or the remote peaks of the Rockies, in terms of media saturation.  It looks like Obama wanted to make this a media event and didn’t mind using three planeloads of taxpayer money to stage it.

And can anyone calculate the carbon footprint of three Gulfstream jets, three helicopters, and all the stalled traffic in New York City?  I’d say that it reaches Goracle-like levels.

Obama on date night

Say Anything blog has a comment about the Obamas' rather expensive taxpayer-funded "date night." 

I wouldn’t have such a problem with this, except that Obama’s the guy who is regulating what kind of cars we can drive for the sake of global warming.  He’s going to put a carbon tax on us in the form of cap and trade.  He said on the campaign trail that Americans can’t just set their thermostats wherever they want.  Obama and his fellow liberals want to regulate just about every aspect of our lives, all in the name of the “climate change crisis.”

Yet, Obama can hop on a private jet and take his on a “date night”?  I’m told that I have to sacrifice, but it’s all private jets and jets and luxury lifestyles for Obama and the rest of the liberal elite?

An unhealthy fascination...

...with Obama? Is it possible?

The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment; but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America.

Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means.

San Diego backs down on pastor holding Bible studies

Read it here:

 “We've advised the pastor he has the authority to continue to hold his meetings just as he's held them,” Wallar said. “My hope is we will be able to resolve the traffic concerns.”

The Canadians and the Russians get it....

from Canada Free Press:

 No doubt there is a long list of industries that Obama will be happy to “bail out”, and by bail out, we mean of course spend billions in taxpayer owned debt to take over, carve up and hand out to their supporters.

The rape of the American auto industry by Obama and his henchmen was a classic case of a gang of politicians robbing the country blind in order to provide patronage to their backers, both at the union and the dealership level. But that is par for the course.

Obama promised to fix the capitalist arrogance of the free market with some wealth redistribution, which is a lot like a mugger telling you that he can cure your credit card debt by taking all your money. Now we’re seeing just how far that mugging went and how many victims it’s leaving behind. And we’re not done yet.

The reason for the tea parties, in case you didn't know:

Read it at The National Review: 

But it’s the bigger picture that has me most concerned. What does Government Motors say about the direction of the United States? Historically, we don’t own car companies — or banks or insurance firms. But we do now. Tick them off on your fingers: GM, Citi, AIG. Oh, and let’s not forget Fannie and Freddie, those big, quasi-government, taxpayer-owned housing agencies. California is broke and likely headed to bankruptcy. Will we the taxpayers own that, too?

Party til you drop!!

Why let a little recession bother you? Remember we ALL need to make sacrifices!!! in these difficult times!!!!

the Obamas took a smaller plane than the jumbo jet he usually uses. White House staff and reporters flew in two similar aircraft.A White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the smaller planes were used because fewer aides traveled with the presidents and the planes were more efficient than the big jet.The White House refused to say how much the trip was costing taxpayers.Even before the Obamas left Washington, the there-and-back trip drew criticism from Republicans. They questioned the president's decision to travel to New York for a night of entertainment during a recession and while automakers struggle to survive.

Good for thee, but not for me....

A so-called environmentalist strikes again...YOU should have to do things that s/he does NOT do:

The Vineyard Gazette reports that David, ex-wife of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David and executive producer of the global-warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," was fined $900 Tuesday after receiving a citation from the Chilmark conservation commission.David was cited for violating the Wetlands Protection Act during the construction of a tennis court on her sprawling Chilmark property, when workers installed boards and stones to construct a path to the court.

Larry Summers a voice of reason? Not anymore

The Weekly Standard has the idea

: When Barack Obama won the election and began to staff up, those of us who worried that the administration's policies would lean so far in the direction of political pandering as to create serious economic problems took heart when we learned that Larry Summers was to be at the center of policy-making. His fearless intelligence and debating skills would certainly prevent the administration from making terrible, irrevocable policy errors. Christina Romer, chosen by Obama to chair his Council of Economic Advisers, might prefer that appointment to fidelity to her academic research findings--tax cuts are more effective in stimulating an economy than is spending--but surely Larry Summers would not. So great is his reputation that Obama's chief political adviser, David Axelrod, told the press, "I'm not sure we would have gotten him but for the fact that we have a crisis that is equal to his talents."

Dam* the First Amendment when it comes to dissing the First Amendment

They came for my neighbor, and I said nothing....then they came for me....

"First, we will expand the restriction on oral communications to cover all persons, not just federally registered lobbyists. For the first time, we will reach contacts not only by registered lobbyists but also by unregistered ones, as well as anyone else exerting influence on the process. We concluded this was necessary under the unique circumstances of the stimulus program.

Sugar cookies persuade terrorists in BO's world!!!

Yes, it's true, at least in Time magazine's view. In an article entitled "How to make terrorists talk" (yes, REALLY), you can read about it here:

The most successful interrogation of an Al-Qaeda operative by U.S. officials required no sleep deprivation, no slapping or "walling" and no waterboarding. All it took to soften up Abu Jandal, who had been closer to Osama bin Laden than any other terrorist ever captured, was a handful of sugar-free cookies.

Stimulus awarding bad behavior? Mais, NON!

Read about it here: 

Criminal offenders, teen moms, dropouts, runaways and other wayward youths will score summer jobs with federal stimulus cash as most Bay State kids desperately scramble to land coveted seasonal gigs in a tight economy.

“To me, it sounds like the federal government is rewarding bad behavior,” said state Sen. Richard R. Tisei (R-Wakefield).

Black Panthers' case....dismissed?

the worst case of voter intimidation in years? dismissed? A big story, non?  Cracker?

       To support its evidence, the government had secured an affidavit from Bartle Bull, a longtime civil rights activist and former aide to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign. Mr. Bull said in a sworn statement dated April 7 that he was serving in November as a credentialed poll watcher in Philadelphia when he saw the three uniformed Panthers confront and intimidate voters with a nightstick.
      Inexplicably, the government did not enter the affidavit in the court case, according to the files."In my opinion, the men created an intimidating presence at the entrance to a poll," he declared. "In all my experience in politics, in civil rights litigation and in my efforts in the 1960s to secure the right to vote in Mississippi ... I have never encountered or heard of another instance in the United States where armed and uniformed men blocked the entrance to a polling location.

      "Mr. Bull said the "clear purpose" of what the Panthers were doing was to "intimidate voters with whom they did not agree." He also said he overheard one of the men tell a white poll watcher: "You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker."

BO use a relative's experiences for political purposes???

NAW!!!

SPIEGEL: At first Mr. Obama claimed that one of his family members was involved in the liberation Auschwitz. How did this misunderstanding come about?

Payne: He couldn't have gotten it from me since we had never talked about this particular episode in the war. My sister and her husband were both great storytellers and sometimes made up the details to go along with it. They told him about my deployment with the 89th Infantry Division and apparently they mixed up a few details. Of course it came out immediately that he was wrong since there are enough people in America who know that Auschwitz is in the East and that the camp was liberated by the Red Army.

Bible studies outlawed in San Diego?

Read the account: 

Broyles said, "The county asked, 'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?' She said, 'Yes.' 'Do you say amen?' 'Yes.' 'Do you pray?' 'Yes.' 'Do you say praise the Lord?' 'Yes.'" The county employee notified the couple that the small Bible study, with an average of 15 people attending, was in violation of County regulations, according to Broyles.

Paint it white!!!

I want to see it painted, painted, PAINTED white as....snow? Okay, this story has been around a couple days, but in case you live in a cave and you didn't hear it, HERE IT IS: 

Obama's green guru calls for white roofs

President Obama's energy adviser has suggested all the world's roofs should be painted white as part of efforts to slow global warming.

Closing of dealerships partisan?

What are the odds that virtually ALL the car dealerships were Republican donors or dealerships who donated to no one? Hm? Read about it a NewsBusters: 

The odds are massively against this pattern emerging – to the tune of 1/10,000,000 of 1% [h/t Doug Ross].  By comparison, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning this year (1/400,000); Mine That Bird had a better shot at being the winner of the Kentucky Derby (a glue-factory refugee which was the longest-shot winner since Donerail won on 91-1 odds in 1913), and Buster Douglas had of knocking out Mike Tyson.

Striking garbage workers trash neighborhood

This is what we want....more union workers.

Car dealerships' closings political? Update

At Gateway Pundit: 

Chrysler did more last week than thin the dealer ranks in clogged metro markets. Chrysler also took out some underperforming dealers, leaving some good smaller markets without any Chrysler stores. 

Chrysler President Jim Press said the company will be back in those markets. 

Chrysler has been managing its dealer count downward in overdealered metro markets, a program called Project Genesis.

Of course, several of the dealerships that were closed had owners who happened to donate to Republicans and a number of these businesses were profitable "5 Star" dealerships.

VAT tax coming?

Numbers being bandied about are between 10 and 25% on EVERYTHING purchased. The tax would be embedded into the price of EVERYTHING so that consumers will not know they are paying it. This, in addition to the cap and trade legislation, would overwhelm taxpayers and the economy. 

A VAT is a tax on the transfer of goods and services that ultimately is borne by the consumer. Highly visible, it would increase the cost of just about everything, from a carton of eggs to a visit with a lawyer. It is also hugely regressive, falling heavily on the poor. But VAT advocates say those negatives could be offset by using the proceeds to pay for health care for every American -- a tangible benefit that would be highly valuable to low-income families.

California salaries

And we're supposed to bail these people out? These salaries are INCREDIBLE....check it out:

Chief STRS officer $684,523

Chief investment office for PERS $586,806

And check this out. If you're a "special nurse," you can make $350,000.

If you're the municpal railway director, you can make $325,000.

These salaries do NOT include benefits!

Car dealership closings political??

Gateway Pundit has an update: 

Dem Donor Group allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... Local competitors eliminated by Obama's task force!!

Earlier it was reported that the Obama Administration may have targeted GOP donors in deciding which Chrysler dealerships would have to close their doors.

Now there's this...
RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men.
One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton.
One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter.
All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open.
And, get this... Their local competitors have been eliminated!

The North Korea problem

Obama's words on obligation to redistribute wealth

Read Obama's words ten years ago: 

"And I think one of the tragedies of the civil rights movement was that the civil rights movement became so court-focused, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and organizing activities on the ground that are able to bring about the coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change, and in some ways we still suffer from that," Obama said.

New show on environmental extremists

Read a review here:

Director Mike Judge’s new animated television series “The Goode Family” is a send-up of a clan of environmentalists who live by the words “What would Al Gore do?” Gerald and Helen Goode want nothing more than to minimize their carbon footprint. They feed their dog, Che, only veggies (much to the pet’s dismay) and Mr. Goode dutifully separates sheets of toilet paper when his wife accidentally buys two-ply. And, of course, the family drives a hybrid.

Millionaires disappear from Maryland

Read about it at the Wall Street Journal: 

One-third of the millionaires have disappeared from Maryland tax rolls. In 2008 roughly 3,000 million-dollar income tax returns were filed by the end of April. This year there were 2,000, which the state comptroller's office concedes is a "substantial decline." On those missing returns, the government collects 6.25% of nothing. Instead of the state coffers gaining the extra $106 million the politicians predicted, millionaires paid $100 million less in taxes than they did last year -- even at higher rates.

Malkin cautions

against assuming too much about the Chrysler car dealers: 

But I would caution against getting carried away with “Nixon enemies list” rhetoric until a thorough vetting of the dealers on the list is done — which may take a while, but can definitely be expedited through the same kind of crowd-sourcing that has already taken place.

Fact is: Some of the GOP dealers on the list don’t deserve a whole hell of a lot of sympathy. Or my tax dollars.

Controversy rages

about whether the closing of car dealerships was politically motivated:

 Consider the partial list of Chrysler dealership owners, listed below. You'll notice that all were opponents of Barack Obama, most through sponsorship of GOP candidates and organizations, but a handful through Barack's Democrat rivals (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in 2008, for example).

Ya THINK?

READ AT THE TIMES:

Mr. Obama, however, wants to do it all - including bail out the economy; create a government health care system; pour billions more into education, including a new college-tuition program; and end the nation's reliance on fossil fuels. And that's just for starters.

However, analysts, including Democrats, have begun asking whether his wish list involves more spending than a debt-ridden, weakened economy can handle without falling deeper into a financial hole.

Memorial Day, 2009

Obama transferring torture reins to allies

It makes sense, really. Then WE didn't do it. And everyone knows that our allies are SO much easier on our enemies than we were.

The United States is now relying heavily on foreign intelligence services to capture, interrogate and detain all but the highest-level terrorist suspects seized outside the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, according to current and former American government officials.

Schwarzenegger's boondoggle worsens

Think raising taxes will produce more money for the government? Think again.

As predicted, that tax increase made the deficit worse. The recession had reduced the state's March sales-tax collections by 19 percent. After Mr. Schwarzenegger increased the sales tax a penny per dollar on April 1, April sales tax revenues plunged 44 percent. The Laffer curve is alive and well.

What can California do? Its credit is stretched to the breaking point, and increasing tax rates now produces decreasing tax revenues. Its deficit vastly exceeds resolution by conventional budget reductions. There is no line item labeled "waste," and the state's deficit vastly exceeds the truly obsolete and overlapping programs strewn throughout its budget.

Surviving on $1.98 a month

As they say, your tax dollars at work:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- On paper, he has 20 possibly 21 children.

With a minimum wage job, he can't afford to support them all.

What is the state to do?

Desmond Hatchett, 29, told WVLT he wasn't out to set a record, though he certainly holds it in Knox County Juvenile Child Support Court.

Hatchett's children range in age from newborn 11.

Unbelievable

This is hard to believe, but here it is. Read at World Net Daily: "

Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

Obama's idea to tax Americans overseas meets resistance

Read about it at The Telegraph:

The proposals, which were unveiled as part of the president's first budget, are designed to clamp-down on American tax evaders abroad. However bank bosses say they are being asked to take on the task of collecting American taxes at a cost and legal liability that are inexpedient.

Govt wants us all to drive cars that get 35 mpg

like the Smart Car, which isn't too smart to drive. Follow the link to read the article.

We are out of money...Obama admits it

but claims THAT is why we need to institute government health care for all. Drudge has the c-Span story: 

So we have a short-term problem and we also have a long-term problem. The short-term problem is dwarfed by the long-term problem. And the long-term problem is Medicaid and Medicare. If we don't reduce long-term health care inflation substantially, we can't get control of the deficit. 

So, one option is just to do nothing. We say, well, it's too expensive for us to make some short-term investments in health care. We can't afford it. We've got this big deficit. Let's just keep the health care system that we've got now. 

Along that trajectory, we will see health care cost as an overall share of our federal spending grow and grow and grow and grow until essentially it consumes everything... 

The American Thinker has a novel idea

Read about it HERE:

Once legalized, counterfeiting would still have to be regulated.  Parity and fairness would dictate that families earning over $250,000 would only be allowed to print $1, $2, $5 and $10 denominations. Families with combined incomes of less than $250,000 could print $20 and $50 bills. The unemployed could print $100 bills, and ACORN workers and UAW members would be entitled to counterfeit a new denomination, something even larger than the $100 bill (with President Obama on the front).

Waterboarding...the horror

Watch it here. That’s right.  Waterboarding is so horrific, so awful, that radio show hosts do it for publicity.

Renovating Private Parking Garages for U.S. House Will Cost Taxpayers $156,322 Per Congressman

What more needs to be said? Read it here:

Shame! Shame! Congress tries to trick public

out of understanding the bills they pass: 

Govt steals from teachers' pensions

Read about it at the Wall Street Journal

: Remember how President Obama blamed Chrysler's bankruptcy filing last month on "a small group of speculators" who turned down Treasury's $2 billion final offer for their $6.9 billion in debt? Well, it turns out that hedge funds and other short sellers weren't the only secured creditors who got a raw deal from Uncle Sam.

Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock revealed this week that his state's police and teacher pension funds have lost millions of dollars in the Chrysler "restructuring." Indiana's State Police Fund and Major Moves Construction Fund, which finances roads and bridges, together lost more than $1 million. And the Teacher's Retirement Fund "suffered, at a minimum, a loss of $4.6 million due to the action of the Federal government," reports Mr. Mourdock.

Democrats introduce bill to mandate vacation

just like in Europe:

The bill would require companies with more than 100 employees to offer a week of paid vacation for both full-time and part-time employees after they’ve put in a year on the job. Three years after the effective date of the law, those same companies would be required to provide two weeks of paid vacation, and companies with 50 or more employees would have to provide one week.

A Call to Action

Read about it here:ACTION ALERT: FIGHT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE ON MAY 30TH!

Do you get a sinking feeling (or rising nausea, or both) when you read about some giant, collectivist march or rally that just happened in your city, and you did nothing to show your opposition? Do you wish that you could go back in time and at least show up so that your point of view is represented and the other side does not speak for you? Do you hope that someday people will stand up and show the world the immorality of stealing from one person to give to another under the guise of "the greater good," which basically amounts to buying votes?