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Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Problem with Liberals

"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument."
- William G. McAdoo

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pay Czar Increased Base Pay at Firms

It's one thing to reduce the exorbitant pay for CEOs and such at companies that receive public money. It's quite another to adjust the entire salary structure at those firms to make things more "equitable." Socialism, anyone? It sure ain't the free market.

Pay Czar Increased Base Pay at Firms - WSJ.com:
"Treasury Department pay czar Kenneth Feinberg last week announced sharp cuts in total compensation at the finance and auto companies under his control.

But while he cut total compensation by half, he substantially increased one important element -- regular salaries, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis.

The move reflects the complexity of regulating something that mixes politics and economics.

Mr. Feinberg oversees seven firms that accepted bailout packages: American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., General Motors Corp., GMAC Financial Services, Chrysler Group and Chrysler Financial."

Friday, October 23, 2009

Fed Gov't should help REAL American Problems - Chinese drywall

Rather than slamming its critics, why doesn't the WH do something about American homeowners getting slammed with problems from imported products? This is the clear domain of the federal government, as States don't have the rights nor the resources to fight international commerce - only the Feds have that.

Hey Dems - you want to be helpful? Help Americans with REAL problems!


Fla. insurer reverses on Chinese drywall - wtop.com:
"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Florida's public insurance company now says it will continue covering a couple's home after to renew the policy because of tainted Chinese drywall problems.

James and Maria Ivory moved back to Colorado after finding their new Gulf Coast residence was built with the imported drywall, which emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes.

Citizens Property Insurance Corp. denied their claim to fix it, then said the policy wouldn't be renewed. This week, the company reversed course after a second inspection and will renew the policy.

Experts say homeowners across the country could start losing policies on homes containing the tainted materials. In some cases, it's estimated the fix could cost more than owners paid for their homes.

(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)"

UPDATE: WH Vs Fox News

To their credit (and my astonishemnt), the major news networks stood by Fox News when the Obama White House tried to freeze them out.

Perhaps the major networks know news when they see it, whereas the Administration does not.

White House Loses Bid to Exclude Fox News From Pay Czar Interview - Political News - FOXNews.com
The Obama administration on Thursday failed in its attempt to manipulate other news networks into isolating and excluding Fox News, as Republicans on Capitol Hill stepped up their criticism of the hardball tactics employed by the White House.
The Obama administration on Thursday tried to make "pay czar" Kenneth Feinberg available for interviews to every member of the White House pool except Fox News. The pool is the five-network rotation that for decades has shared the costs and duties of daily coverage of the presidency.
But the Washington bureau chiefs of the five TV networks consulted and decided that none of their reporters would interview Feinberg unless Fox News was included.
The administration relented, making Feinberg available for all five pool members and Bloomberg TV.
The pushback came after White House senior adviser David Axelrod told ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday that Fox News is not a real news organization and other news networks "ought not to treat them that way."


The decision to boycott the Feinberg interview unless Fox News was included was cheered by media analysts, who said the administration's gambit was taking its feud with Fox News too far. President Obama has already declined to go on "Fox News Sunday," even while appearing on the other Sunday shows.

Public Figures

"Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them either."
- Gore Vidal

Further evidence of WH Tyranny

Obama gives Congress, and by proxy the American people, the finger.

W.H. tells Congress that policy 'Czars' won't testify - Washington Times:
"The White House has told Congress it will reject calls for many of President Obama's policy czars to testify before Congress - a decision senators said goes against the president's promises of transparency and openness and treads on Congress' constitutional mandate to investigate the administration's actions.
The debate goes to the heart of weighty constitutional issues about separation of powers. The president argues that he should be allowed to have advisers who are free to give him confidential advice without having to fear being called to testify about it. Democrats and Republicans in Congress, though, argue that those in office who actually craft policy should be able to be summoned to testify because they do more than just give the president advice."

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Looking at the WH vs FOX Flap - from the other side


Putting aside that the Obama Administration's behavior toward Fox News has been markedly un-Presidential, I wonder what the other networks think about this: Is the White house putting all news organizations on notice that if they criticize the Administration, they'll also be called out? And will that deter them?

Honestly, If I were the "courageous journalist" that all in the media think they are, irrespective of what political side I was on I'd not only be concerned, I'd be pissed.

After the election, with Obama winning, the proper thing is to move toward governance for all Americans. That means a transcendence of party politics. But Obama didn't do this, rather he continued a campaign of demonizing enemies. Now certain elements of the press are considered enemies. Can anyone remember when Richard Nixon did this?

To think that the government can control the "Fourth Estate;" if anything is un-American, this is it.  Think I'm out of my tree?  Here's what WikiPedia has to say about Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of propaganda:

He exerted totalitarian control over the media, arts, and information in Germany. In that position, he perfected an understanding of the "Big Lie" technique of propaganda, which is based on the principle that a lie, if audacious enough and repeated enough times, will be believed by the masses.

How about that for history repeating itself?


Obama Compares Fox News to Talk Radio, Says He's Not 'Losing Sleep' Over Controversy - Political News - FOXNews.com:
"Several top White House advisers have gone on other channels to criticize Fox News' coverage of the administration, dismiss the network as the mouthpiece of the Republican Party and urge other news organizations not to treat Fox News as a legitimate news station.

And on Tuesday, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said White House officials 'render (that) opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage.'"

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

How they lied


This is true; Anita Dunn, Obama's Communications Chief and proud admirer of Mao Tse Tung (in the video, watch her tongue; she looks like a serpent!), said it herself. It's not a report from a third party, not a hatchet job from the Republicans, not a disgruntled ex-employee. It's the word from the horse's mouth, how they misled the American people.

It's ironic that, while Dunn says they used YouTube to disseminate their message with the intent of controlling the press, that it's now YouTube being used to disseminate how they lied, and why. How they did it: They put out several videos featuring David Pluff, and then the establishment media just parroted that; no confirmation, no additional checking by the media. I'm not sure who's more to blame, the campaign, or the media. 

I wonder how the press is taking this, having been completely duped.  Do they even care? Journalism died a quiet, willing death, that's for sure.

Dunn is an idiot for revealing this, but I am thankful for it. Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLpmqO4xoHI

So now, how do we trust this Administration? 
Answer: We don't.
How do we trust the press?
Answer: We don't.
And the tyranny is complete.



Top White House Official Says Obama Team 'Controlled' Media Coverage During Campaign - Political News - FOXNews.com:
"The Obama campaign's press strategy leading up to his election last November focused on 'making' the media cover what the campaign wanted and on exercising absolute 'control' over coverage, White House Communications Director Anita Dunn told an overseas crowd early this year.

In a video of the event, Dunn is seen describing in detail the media strategy used by then-Sen. Barack Obama's highly disciplined presidential campaign. The video is footage from a Jan. 12 forum hosted by the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development in the Dominican Republic.

'Very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control,' Dunn said, admitting that the strategy 'did not always make us popular in the press.'"

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

What to do about Afghanistan

Merriam Webster defines "retreat" thusly:

1 : a (1) an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable
2 : a place of privacy or safety : refuge
3 : a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction under a director

Americans have a penchant for banging our heads against a wall, without knowing why we are doing so. To wit: Is the prosecution of this war another quagmire, ala VietNam? That is, is it being run too closely along political lines, as LBJ and the Democrats did back in the mid-1960s, without a clear goal that's in American interests? Is the goal more to satisfy the requirements of domestic party politics than to keep the world (and America) safe? 

We need a reset switch. Why don't we use Merriam Webster's definition as a plan, not just words. Pull out entirely, and leave the rascals to their own devices. But don't for a minute give up on Afghanistan. This is just the first step in how to handle it with the least cost - in both American life and dollars.

Step 1: Retreat from Afghanistan, to a man. Trash the equipment and leave it there. Let the Taliban come back. That will take care of the corrupt government we somehow managed to empower there.

Step 2: Let our military heal itself.  There's a lot of battle fatigue going around, and they need a rest. But we learned a lot, and can train for the next dust-up. Reflect on what we did, and didn't do, while watching Afghanistan closely.

Step 3: When the Taliban/Al Quada come back (and they will), blast them again just like we did in 2001/2002 when we removed them in the first place. What did that take - 30 days?  Then pull out again, and prepare to do this repeatedly as an extended policy on Afghanistan.

American efforts toward rebuilding nations that we destroy actually seem to make things worse.  The gobs of cash that we always bestow on these locales are nothing more than an opportunity for the most clever among tyrannical, despotic, power-mad thieves to gain great position under our flag. Such has happened in Afghanistan, and there little we can now do about it. Hence the need for a reset.

The corrupt Afghanistan government will thwart any and all efforts we take there to stabilize the country. Instability is the name of the game for those who want to control Afghanistan, and we're footing the bill for it.

Again, hence the need for a reset.

To outright remove the current Afghan government is not possible; to do so spends too much in valuable diplomatic resources and capital. But pulling out with the intent to periodically return to ensure peace (AKA hitting the reset button) forces the Afghan government to sink or swim, improves our military by giving them a break, saves money and American lives, and is just the most efficient way to achieve the goal of a non-threatening Afghanistan. They won't be free, but our goal should be regional docility and peace. If it becomes free, that a side benefit.

It's like battling roaches when one lives in a rowhouse; you'll never get rid of all of them, but hiring an exterminator will at least control them to a point where life is livable.

 

McChrystal: More U.S. Troops May Not Prevent Afghanistan From Falling to Terror Haven - Political News - FOXNews.com: "WASHINGTON -- Rampant government corruption might derail the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan even if as many as 80,000 additional U.S. troops were sent to the war, the top military commander there has concluded, according to U.S. officials briefed on his recommendations.

The conclusion by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is part of a still-secret document that requests more troops even as he warns that they ultimately may not prevent terrorists from turning Afghanistan back into a haven.

McChrystal has outlined three options for additional troops -- from as many as 80,000 to as few as 10,000 to 15,000, according to officials at the Pentagon and White House.

Each option carries a high risk of failing, according to U.S. officials, although they said McChrystal concluded that fewer troops will bring the highest risks."

Monday, October 12, 2009

More Hidden Costs of health Care Reform

The Democrats think their health care "reform" will end up costing taxpayers less. In an alternate reality that is probably true.

What the Democrats are trying to do is what liberals always try to do: Impose their myopic morality on everyone while getting someone else to pay.

Actuaries for the health insurance companies are now weighing in: while taxes may not go up, insurance costs are going WAY up. A tax by another name.

So, my word to the youth vote who put Obama in office: Now that you will be required to spend several thousand dollars a year on healthcare you now don't have and don't want, are you satisfied with your vote? I thought not.

Consider it a teaching moment - at everyone's expense.

Insurers Mount Attack Against Health Reform - Political News - FOXNews.com: "Late Sunday, the industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans sent its member companies a new accounting firm study that projects the legislation would add $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in 2013, when most of the major provisions in the bill would be in effect.

Premiums for a single person would go up by $600 more than would be the case without the legislation, the PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis concluded in the study commissioned by the insurance group.

'Several major provisions in the current legislative proposal will cause health care costs to increase far faster and higher than they would under the current system,' Karen Ignagni, the top industry lobbyist in Washington, wrote in a memo to insurance company CEOs.

The study projected that in 2019, family premiums could be $4,000 higher and individual premiums could be $1,500 higher."

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Obama's Olympic Failure Highlights Limits of His International Appeal

Obama's Olympic Failure Highlights Limits of His International Appeal - Political News - FOXNews.com:
"Obama's failure in Copenhagen is feeding a growing perception that he is tall on rhetoric and short on results and more of a celebrity than a leader."

Friday, October 2, 2009

Laugh of the day: Mikulski earmarks go to top campaign contributors


See her comment at the end. It is to laugh...

Mikulski earmarks go to top campaign contributors -- baltimoresun.com
Democratic Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has added tens of millions of dollars to a defense spending measure in earmarked grants for her top campaign donors, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis.

All but one of Mikulski's 16 funding requests were approved, making her the champion defense earmarker for the state. Final numbers won't be available until Congress completes action on the spending legislation later this fall.

Included in the senator's $42.1 million total is a combined $10.5 million for three companies, Northrop Grumman, Thales Communications and L-3 Communications, whose executives and political action committees have been among her most generous contributors.

Northrop Grumman officials and the company's PAC gave $57,900 to Mikulski's campaign and her political committee between 2005 and this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political money.

That makes Northrop Grumman the largest source of contributions to Mikulski's re-election, according to the center's figures. The other two companies, Thales and L-3, also ranked among her top 15 donors.

The Senate bill contains $4 million for a Northrop Grumman radar system being developed by the defense giant at its Electronic Systems division in Linthicum. Another $4 million went to a radio project for Thales, a French company whose U.S. division is headquartered in Clarksburg. Mikulski also obtained $2.5 million for an L-3 Communications division in Lexington Park that is working on an antenna project for unmanned drones.

Mikulski, who is seeking re-election next year, said campaign contributions have no impact on her decisions.