Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Websites and blogs I recommend
Blog Archive
-
▼
2009
(92)
-
▼
February
(11)
- President Obama's Feb. 24, 2009 Speech
- I Feel Nauseous
- This Used To Be America...
- There are lies... and then there are LIES...
- Our System of Government is Hopelessly Broken
- Are Democrats Trying To Undo The 1996 Welfare Refo...
- Incompetents, Cowards, and Scoundrels
- 202-456-1414
- Allow Me To Bring To Your Attention...
- For Shame...
- The Milli Vanilli Standard
-
▼
February
(11)
About Me
- William R. Barker
- Pearl River, NY High School Class of '81; Northeastern University, Boston, MA Class of '87.
11 comments:
First up...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123371143249046139.html
Excerpting...
-- Just as Tom Daschle's Senate pals were preparing to grant absolution for his six-figure tax-free limousine -- could've happened to anyone -- the former Majority Leader yesterday withdrew his nomination to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Give Mr. Daschle credit for making the honorable choice, and sparing President Obama from a bipartisan populist revolt. --
I wonder... WOULD there have been a BIPARTISAN populist revolt...??? Any liberal Dems (or those who usually vote Dem by default in major races) who would have been outraged by Daschle's comfirmation?
Continuing...
-- ...Mr. Daschle's $5.2 million post-Senate windfall as lobbyist and speaking-circuit regular, notably in front of the health-care industry...Mr. Daschle's embarrassment of riches is a typical story, and in fact is the result of the liberal ideology his critics have been advocating for decades. The main story of the Obama Presidency so far isn't the contradiction between Mr. Obama's campaign promises and the messier reality of his nominees. That was always inevitable. The real story is the massive transfer of power and wealth now underway from the private sector to the political class. Mr. Daschle could make so much money and achieve such prominence because he was expected to be a central broker in that wealth transfer. --
AMEN! And this isn't limited to liberals or Democrats; this is a cancer within the very structure of our (small d) democratic republic.
It's one thing to translate political fame into media fame; it's quite another to cash in as a "fixer."
Continuing...
-- Alston & Bird, the white-shoe law firm that took in Mr. Daschle, is a lobbying shop. Any normal person would therefore consider Mr. Daschle, who does not have a law degree, to be a lobbyist. But he was not technically a lobbyist under Beltway rules, and while it is still unclear exactly what services he performed as "Special Public Policy Advisor" to pile up $2.1 million, we do know he consulted for the insurance conglomerate UnitedHealth Group. Mr. Daschle cashed in to the tune of nearly a quarter million dollars from various health-care businesses. The Health Industry Distributors Association paid $14,000 to hear him speak in March 2008 about "the impact an Obama administration will have on the industry." America's Health Insurance Plans, the insurers' lobby, gave $20,000 for another speech, as did health-care consulting firms, hospital systems and pharmacy boards. --
Does this sound "reasonable" to anyone...???
"Money for nothing, chicks for free" used to be just for rock stars. All joking aside, we're talking political plutocracy here. This is influence peddling pure and simple. No level playing field... no transparency. The fix is in.
Continuing...
-- What Mr. Daschle's lucrative career as influence peddler really illustrates is how much Washington is now expanding its reach over the economy. Politicians and their staffers can make or break fortunes by slipping a rider into a "must pass" bill or dispensing billions of dollars in subsidies to favored constituencies. --
Anyone care to argue this point...???
We're losing control of our country, people.
BILL
File Under: GOD BLESS TOM COBURN!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123371083449746103.html
Excerpting...
-- As the Senate considers a massive $1.1 trillion stimulus bill, it is vital that the American people ask hard questions of their elected officials. When they do, it will become very clear that the bill will not only fail to stimulate the economy, but could seriously delay economic recovery. --
Yes!
Yes... yes... YES...!!!
The Obama/Pelosi bill is a DISASTER...!!! We're talking stagflation... we're talking a return to the Carter years. This is INSANITY...!!!
Continuing...
-- As a nation, we got into this mess by spending and investing money that didn't exist. We won't get out of it by doing more of the same. --
EXACTLY...!!!
Continuing...
-- Yet this is precisely what this bill proposes we do. Less than 10% of the bill could be considered true stimulus, if one assumes tax credits and infrastructure spending will jolt the economy. The other 90% of the bill represents one of the most egregious acts of generational theft in our nation's history, with taxpayer money going to special-interest earmarks, an ill-conceived bailout to states, and permanent spending increases that expand government's reach in areas like health care and education. The bill's selling point is that three million jobs will be created or saved by this package. What's alarming is that each job will cost $286,000 to create or save. Moreover, one in five will be a government job. One of the more egregious provisions in the Senate bill is a $166 billion bailout plan for the states that rewards bad budgeting at the state level. Simply sending cash to states without asking for appropriate sacrifices is grossly irresponsible. States will no longer have the incentive to live within their means, because they'll assume the federal government will be there to bail them out. --
For GOD'S sake, people... WAKE UP!!! Coburn is exactly right!!!
Continuing...
-- The Senate bill doubles the amount of the Medicaid bailout requested by governors... --
HUH...?!?! (Yep... you read that right, folks. DOUBLES!!!)
Continuing...
-- What is not in the bill is as troubling as what is. The package does nothing to clear the toxic assets and bad mortgages that helped trigger the credit crisis. It also contains very little meaningful tax relief to make small businesses and American companies more competitive. Instead, the tax provisions of the stimulus are essentially a modest cash handout that repeats the failed policy of George W. Bush's rebate-check stimulus. --
Yes!!! Whether it was BUSH then or OBAMA now... bad policy is bad policy. These bozos in Washington are destroying our nation's long term economic foundation!!!
Continuing...
-- Finally, the bill's sponsors have made zero effort to pay for this new spending by eliminating programs that aren't working. Mr. Obama's pledge to go through the budget line-by-line has made no impression on the bill's authors, nor has the plight of millions of Americans faced with tough spending choices. Dozens of independent watchdog groups, think tanks and elected officials on both sides of the aisle have spent decades identifying areas of the budget that can be cut. Yet Congress remains focused on finding "shovel ready" projects when at least $300 billion in wasteful programs are "scissor ready" today. --
We all KNOW that Coburn is speaking the truth here... right...??? This is INSANITY...!!! As bad as Bush and Paulson were, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid seem intent upon making the RINOs look like cheapskates! This is NUTS!!!
Continuing...
-- One of the lessons I've learned from the practice of medicine is the danger of treating symptoms rather than the disease. Doing so makes the disease worse and causes the symptoms to come back with a vengeance. It's time for government to quit masking the symptoms and deal with this crisis at its source: toxic assets in the mortgage market and a federal government that continues to pollute our economy with pork and failed interventionist policies. --
Please, God... grant President Obama the strength and wisdom to see that Senator Coburn is RIGHT.
BILL
File Under: Damn Good Frigg'n Question!
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjUyZjE4ZjA0YTlmODZhZmNhNzQ4ZWIyM2FhOWVmZWU=
Excerpting...
-- Daschle’s negligence was gross, particularly for a party and an administration that have celebrated prostration before the taxman as a “patriotic duty.” But Daschle’s offenses, galling as they may be, are exceeded by those of Geithner. Indeed, of all the tax transgressions touching Obama’s circle, Geithner’s are the worst. Not only did Geithner neglect to pay his taxes, he turned a buck by doing so—accepting payments from his employer for the very purpose of offsetting those taxes. When he took the money, he signed a statement promising to pay the taxes and then ignored his obligations—for years. Protected by a statute of limitations, he did not pay his 2001–02 taxes until his nomination made them a public issue. If Daschle’s tax problems should bar him from managing the federal health-services bureaucracy and Killefer’s preclude her from scrutinizing the budget, how is it that Geithner’s transgressions—the worst of the lot—are insufficient to disqualify him from managing the same Internal Revenue Service whose attentions he evaded? We must not have a two-tiered tax code. Obama should make a clean sweep of it and dismiss Geithner. He’ll land on his feet, perhaps securing a gig at Tom Daschle’s private-equity fund, where the perks are so enviable. If he does so, we recommend taking a hard look at his 1040 next year. --
* Subfile Under: I Concur!
-- High-profile tax-scofflaw Tom Daschle has been shamed out of an appointment as secretary of health and human services. And he’s not alone: President Obama will have to hunt down another candidate for the newly created position of “chief performance officer” now that his nominee, Nancy Killefer, has been torpedoed by tax delinquencies of her own. But the most outrageous offender, Timothy Geithner, was confirmed as Treasury secretary, borne aloft on an air of indispensability. Daschle’s offenses were accepting money and services—including a chauffeur-driven Cadillac—without reporting the income to the IRS. Daschle claimed that this was a series of honest errors, but his story was never credible. Even a million-dollar-a-year guy should notice an extra check for $83,333—a month’s installment on his consulting contract. He knew who owned that Cadillac and who paid its driver. Like Geithner, the former Senate majority leader began making good on his debts when it became clear that Obama’s political rise would present opportunities for his own advancement. --
Bottom line... Geithner's nomination should have been withdrawn by President Obama the moment Obama learned Geithner was a tax cheat.
Bottom line... even though President Obama chose not to do the honorable thing and withdraw his support... Geithner should have done the honorable thing and withdrawn on his own as Daaschle did.
Bottom line... when both Obama and Geithner showed themselves to be men unworthy of trust... the Senate as a bipartisan body should have rejected the Geithner nomination.
(*SIGH*)
God help this once great nation.
BILL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8hMJVXt09E
Yep... dumber than soap.
(*CHUCKLE*)
BILL
File Under: Et Tu Maureen
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/04/opinion/04dowd.html?ref=opinion
When even Maureen Dowd seems to get it...
(*SHRUG*)
Excerpting...
-- Mr. Obama admitted that “ultimately it’s important for this administration to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules. You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.” It took Daschle’s resignation to shake the president out of his arrogant attitude that his charmed circle doesn’t have to abide by the lofty standards he lectured the rest of us about for two years. Before he recanted, his hand forced by a cascade of appointees who “forgot” to pay taxes, his reasoning was creeping perilously close to that of the outgoing leaders he denounced in his Inaugural Address: that elitist mentality of “we know best,” we know we’re doing the “right” thing for the country, so we can twist the rules. --
(*SHRUG*) (Hmm... but speaking of the "outgoing leaders" who was the tax cheat BUSH is inferred to have appointed as SecTreas? Which BUSH Attorney General was involved in cash for pardons?) Anyway...
Continuing...
-- Mr. Obama’s errors on the helter-skelter stimulus package were also self-induced. He should put down those Lincoln books and order “Dave” from Netflix. When Kevin Kline becomes an accidental president, he summons his personal accountant, Murray Blum, to the White House to cut millions in silly programs out of the federal budget so he can give money to the homeless. “Who does these books?” Blum says with disgust, red-penciling an ad campaign to boost consumers’ confidence in cars they’d already bought. “If I ran my office this way, I’d be out of business.” Mr. Obama should have taken a red pencil to the $819 billion stimulus bill and slashed all the provisions that looked like caricatures of Democratic drunken-sailor spending. As Senator Kit Bond, a Republican, put it, there were so many good targets that he felt “like a mosquito in a nudist colony.” --
(*SHRUG*)
-- Mr. Obama protested to Brian Williams that the programs denounced as “wasteful” by Republicans “amount to less than 1 percent of the entire package.” All the more reason to cut them and create a lean, clean bill tailored to creating jobs. --
EXACTLY...!!!
-- Betrayed by their bankers and leaders, Americans were desperate to trust someone when they made Barack Obama president. His debut has left them skeptical about his willingness to smack down those who would flout his high standards or waste our money. Companies that have gotten bailouts continue to make a mockery of taxpayers. Until it came to light Tuesday, Wells Fargo, which received $25 billion in federal funds, was blithely planning a series of “employee recognition outings” to Las Vegas luxury hotels this month. As ABC reported, Bank of America took its $45 billion in bailout funds and sponsored a five-day carnival outside the Super Bowl stadium, and Morgan Stanley took its $10 billion in bailout money and held a three-day conference at the Breakers in Palm Beach. (Morgan Stanley had also still planned to send top employees to Monte Carlo and the Bahamas, events just canceled.) The New York Post revealed that Sandy Weill, former chief executive of Citigroup, took a company jet to fly his family for a Christmas holiday to a $12,000-a-night luxury resort in San José del Cabo, Mexico. No matter that the company just got a $50 billion federal bailout and laid off 53,000 worldwide. The interior of the 18-seat jet, as described by The Post, is posh, with a full bar, fine-wine selection, $13,000 carpets, Baccarat crystal glasses, Cristofle sterling silver flatware and — my personal favorite — pillows made from Hermès scarves. --
So much for "change." Hopefully we've still got... er... hope.
(*SHRUG*)
BILL
File Under: Jeez... Even Foreigners Get It!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4450516/Same-old-fudges-and-loopholes-in-Obamas-new-era-of-ethics.html
Excerpting...
-- President Obama still sounds a lot like candidate Obama. On day one in the White House, he announced that he was closing "the revolving door that lets lobbyists come into government freely" and making "a clean break from business as usual". His new ethics and transparency rules were, he ventured, "historic measures." But the sheen is already coming off, as realities takes its toll. Two days after he had looked Americans in the eye and told them that this was a new ethical dawn, the President waived his "historic" rule. William Lynn, a lobbyist for the defence giant Raytheon, was nominated as the deputy Pentagon chief. There would always be "reasonable exceptions", the White House press secretary insisted. "If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years," Mr Obama had said. He neglected to add the footnote: "Except when it suits us otherwise." --
(*SNORT*)
-- White House officials brief that change is hard: that a few veteran Washington insiders will be needed to help dismantle the system that benefits entrenched interests. The problem is, a pattern is emerging. The new treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner – who oversees the Internal Revenue Service, America's equivalent of the H M Revenue and Customs – apologised profusely for failing to pay $34,000 in taxes and survived. Yesterday, Nancy Killefer, who was to be federal "chief performance officer", stood down for failing to pay employment taxes for her house cleaner. Now Mr Obama has been forced to jettison Mr Daschle, an early supporter who provided key staff and access to an invaluable political network. The loss of two nominees in a single day will inevitably raise questions over his judgment. --
Forget "judgement!" How about basic integrity?! The fact that these tax cheats weren't caught early in the political vetting process and thus never nominated in the first place is perhaps a question of "judgement," but the fact that Obama STUCK BY THEM AFTER BEING MADE AWARE THEY WERE TAX CHEATS... that speaks to Obama's STANDARDS of integrity.
(*SHRUG*)
-- Just after his election, he said, in effect, that "change, c'est moi " – look at who I am, not who I have appointed. "Understand where the vision for change comes from, first and foremost. It comes from me." At times, Mr Obama's candidacy verged on a cult of personality. As president, however, he will ultimately be judged on actions and results. If he fails to deliver, the corrosive cynicism about politics that he so frequently lamented on the campaign trail will only deepen. --
Yep.
BILL
File Under: For GOD'S SAKE... PAY ATTENTION...!!!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123396676711659061.html
Excerpting...
-- To understand the problem with the stimulus bill, it helps to focus on specific parts. Take the $142 billion for schools, which is nearly double the total outlays of the Department of Education in 2007. Now consider that much of this cash would go to public-school systems that don't even need the money for its earmarked purposes. The Milwaukee Public School system, for example, would receive $88.6 million over two years for new construction projects under the House version of the stimulus - even though the district currently has 15 vacant school buildings and declining enrollment. Between 1990 and 2008, inflation-adjusted MPS spending rose by 35%, per-pupil spending increased by 36% and state aid grew by 58%. Over the same period, enrollment fell by a percentage point and is projected to continue falling, leaving the system with enough excess capacity for some 22,000 students. --
Now I'm not gonna beg for responses... but I KNOW people are reading this...!!!
For Christ's sake... THIS AIN'T ROCKET SCIENCE!!!
I mean... you DO understand that the WSJ isn't just MAKING THIS STUFF UP... don't you...?!?!
(*SIGH*)
-- The Milwaukee situation is instructive for another reason. The city is home to the country's oldest and largest school voucher program, which provides public funds for children to attend private schools. Families who participate in the means-tested voucher program receive $6,700 per pupil, while the city spends more than $13,000 per student. In addition to saving the taxpayers money, voucher students graduate at higher rates and outscore their counterparts on reading and math exams, which is one reason waiting lists for the program are common. Yet language in the stimulus bill expressly prohibits any dollars from going toward financial assistance to students attending private schools. In other words, Milwaukee can use the money to build schools it doesn't need, but not to expand education programs that are producing better outcomes for disadvantaged kids. The Senate version excludes provisions in the House bill for teacher merit pay and charter schools now serving more than a million students, two more education reforms that are gaining popularity nationwide despite opposition from teachers unions and local school boards. --
Again, folks... THEY'RE NOT MAKING THIS $HIT UP...!!!
This is OUR CONGRESS and OUR PRESIDENT in action...!!!
(*FEELING PHYSICALLY ILL*)
BILL
Just forwarded the following to my cyberbud Rob... who is OLD.
(*WINK*)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123413701032661445.html
Excerpting...
-- President Obama and Congressional Democrats are inching the U.S. toward government-run health insurance. Last week's expansion of Schip - the State Children's Health Insurance Program - is a first step. Before proceeding further, here's a suggestion: Look at Canada's experience. --
O.K.! Good idea! Let's do that...
-- Canadians often wait months or even years for necessary care....In Ontario, Lindsay McCreith was suffering from headaches and seizures yet faced a four and a half month wait for an MRI scan in January of 2006. Deciding that the wait was untenable, Mr. McCreith did what a lot of Canadians do: He went south, and paid for an MRI scan across the border in Buffalo. The MRI revealed a malignant brain tumor. Ontario's government system still refused to provide timely treatment, offering instead a months-long wait for surgery. In the end, Mr. McCreith returned to Buffalo and paid for surgery that may have saved his life. --
(*SHRUG*)
Next...
-- Shona Holmes...endured a similarly harrowing struggle. In March of 2005, Ms. Holmes began losing her vision and experienced headaches, anxiety attacks, extreme fatigue and weight gain. Despite an MRI scan showing a brain tumor, Ms. Holmes was told she would have to wait months to see a specialist. In June, her vision deteriorating rapidly, Ms. Holmes went to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, where she found that immediate surgery was required to prevent permanent vision loss and potentially death. Again, the government system in Ontario required more appointments and more tests along with more wait times. Ms. Holmes returned to the Mayo Clinic and paid for her surgery. --
"Free" health care, huh? I guess you get what you pay for in Canada.
(*SHRUG*)
Next...
-- On the other side of the country in Alberta, Bill Murray waited in pain for more than a year to see a specialist for his arthritic hip. The specialist recommended a "Birmingham" hip resurfacing surgery (a state-of-the-art procedure that gives better results than basic hip replacement) as the best medical option. But government bureaucrats determined that Mr. Murray, who was 57, was "too old" to enjoy the benefits of this procedure and said no. In the end, he was also denied the opportunity to pay for the procedure himself in Alberta. --
(*SHAKING MY HEAD IN AMAZEMENT*)
BILL
P.S. - I was opposed to the expansion of SCHIP.
The op-ed is titled "Reaganomics vs. Obamanomics"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123431484726570949.html
Excerpting...
-- In 1981, Reagan forced through Congress not only his famed, historic tax cuts, but also a package of budget cuts close to 5% of the federal budget - equivalent to roughly $150 billion today. In constant dollars, non-defense discretionary spending declined by 14.4% from 1981 to 1982, and by 16.8% from 1981 to 1983. Moreover, in constant dollars, this non-defense discretionary spending never returned to its 1981 level for the rest of Reagan's two terms. By 1988, this spending was still down 14.4% from its 1981 level in constant dollars. Even with the Reagan defense buildup, which helped win the Cold War, total federal spending declined to 21.2% of GDP in 1989 from 23.5% of GDP in 1983. That's a real reduction of 10% in the size of government relative to the economy. --
(*SHRUG*)
-- The fourth component of the Reagan recovery plan was tight, anti-inflation monetary policy, which was spectacularly successful. Inflation was cut in half to 6.2% in 1982 from 13.2% in 1980, and cut in half again to 3.2% in 1983. We know such policies work because they turned around in just two years an economy far worse than today's. We were suffering from multiyear, double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment, double-digit interest rates, declining incomes, and rising poverty. In fact, what we suffer with today is not the worst economy since the Great Depression, but the worst economy since Jimmy Carter - the last time liberals were dominant politically and intellectually. --
YES!!! I was there!!! Most of you reading this were there too!!! OBAMA HIMSELF WAS THERE!!!
Seriously... what is the deal with Obama constantly LYING about this being the worst economy since the Great Depression...???
Seriously?!?! Why lie...??? I'm guessing that each and every year starting in 1973 and going through to 1982 was MUCH worse than we face now.
WHY LIE MR. PRESIDENT...???
Anyone wanna claim that Obama is NOT deliberately lying... and back up the claim...???
(*SHRUG*)
BILL
File Under: This Makes Sense To Me!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123431465155370931.html
While I urge you to cut and paste the link so as to read the op-ed in its entirety, here's the bottom line:
...First, strip out all the toxic assets and put them into a holding tank inside the Treasury. Then inject $300 billion in fresh equity for both Citi and Bank of America. Create 10 billion new shares of each of the companies to replace the old ones. The book value of each share could be $30. Very quickly, a new board of directors should be created and a new management team hired. Here's the tricky part: Who owns the shares? Politics will kill a nationalized bank. So spin them out immediately.
Some $6 trillion in income taxes were paid by individuals in 2006, 2007 and 2008. On a pro-forma basis, send out those 10 billion shares of each bank to taxpayers. They paid for the recapitalization.
Each taxpayer would get about $100 worth of stock for each $1,000 of taxes paid. Of course, each taxpayer has the ability to sell these shares on the open market, maybe at $40, maybe $20, maybe $80. It depends on management, their vision, how much additional capital they are willing to raise, the dividend they declare, etc. Meanwhile, the toxic assets sitting inside the Treasury will have residual value and the proceeds from their eventual sale, I believe, will more than offset the capital injected. That would benefit all citizens, not the managements and shareholders who blew up the banking system in the first place.
* Again... makes sense to me.
(*SHRUG*)
BILL
Oh... btw... speaking of Obama as Liar In Chief...
http://www.cato.org/special/stimulus09/alternate_version.html
(*SHRUG*)
Too bad the MSM doesn't have the integrity of the Cato Institute.
(*SHRUG*)
BILL
Post a Comment