Pirates in Congress

AU to Barney - We don't love you

Barney Frank shouldn't be addressing "public affairs" at any time.

AU students protest Barney speech
About 130 American University students have signed an online petition of sorts asking the school's administration to withdraw an invitation to Barney Frank, who is slated to deliver a commencement address at AU's School of Public Affairs in a few weeks.

The students blame the fiery House Financial Services chairman for the financial meltdown, singling out his longtime support of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as contributing to the severity of the crisis and magnitude of bailouts.

"Many of us are having trouble finding a job and are finding our ability to get into grad schools hindered by the economy, so it's seems inappropriate for Rep. Frank to deliver the commencement," says Sarah DeStefano, a senior from upstate New York who describes herself as a moderate Repubican.

"I would never expect American, which is a left-leaning school, to invite a Repubplican to the commencement, but this speaker of all speakers seems wrong," she added.

Many of the signees are members of the campus Young Republicans chapter but a handful are Dems or independents -- and one of the protesters is the vice-president of the campus Democrats, she said.

DeStefano has set up a Facebook "AU Students & Alumni Against Barney Frank @ SPA Commencement '09" page that has 128 signees.

On it, she claims Frank "helped lead us and the world into a global economic meltdown," and describes the Massachusetts Democrat as "excessively partisan and notoriously divisive during times when compromise and bipartisanship is needed the most."

Frank didn't immediately respond.

Placebo cures by polling for our national ills

Polling is invaluable tool in a campaign where time is compressed.

Polling, as a mechanism to lead a nation as this president does, is a cheap finger to the wind to gauge what is popular.

It is a poor way to lead a nation which is what is happening to our nation under the Obama Administration because Obama's handlers are leading Obama which means they are the true leaders behind the child throne.

As defined through action by this administration, this government fiat through an advertising tool which is used as a bludgeon because it is what an informed populous wants. Unfortunately the populous is not only uninformed as to who President Obama is, the populous is also uninformed about the purposely made complicated matters vexing our nation. It as the administration and Congress wants it.

An ignorant electorate is far easier to rule.

Inside Obama's polling operation
As President Barack Obama works to sell the American people on a sweeping agenda of domestic spending and policy changes, he’s relying on three men who have gone through neither Senate confirmation nor cable news spin cycles.

Data from pollsters Joel Benenson and Paul Harstad has become increasingly important to shaping the White House’s message as the crucial battle over the president’s budget intensifies.

“The pace [of polling] is picking up,” said one source familiar with the data.

In addition, David Binder, a San Francisco-based focus group expert, also has been traveling the country taking the national temperature on issues like energy and health care, others close to the White House said.

Presidents have long pooh-poohed polls while privately conducting them. Jimmy Carter had Patrick Caddell, Reagan had Dick Wirthlin, and Bill Clinton relied on Mark Penn for weekly, personal briefings on the numbers.

George W. Bush, reacting against Clinton’s perceived reliance on polls, sharply cut back the practice, according to spending tallies. His main pollster was the no-profile Jan van Lohuizen, but Karl Rove still conducted six major surveys a year, a senior Bush White House staffer said, and employed an aide to pore over the growing pile of publicly available data.

Obama, too, has denounced polling, promising in one high-profile Iowa speech to lead “not by polls, but by principle,” even though he employed six campaign pollsters.

Would the visionary leaders we have been graced with in the past please wake the politically bludgeoned populous to say simply, "This isn't leadership. It is a bitter placebo enveloped in jelly to make you feel maternal love feels your pain and has a cure when in fact you are getting sicker."

Congress moves to prohibit "unreasonable and excessive compensation" as they keep theirs

Everybody's favorite boy, Barney Frank, wants to set your salary. Not just the salary that your boss gets, but also yours.

Beyond AIG: A Bill to let Big Government Set Your Salary
It was nearly two weeks ago that the House of Representatives, acting in a near-frenzy after the disclosure of bonuses paid to executives of AIG, passed a bill that would impose a 90 percent retroactive tax on those bonuses. Despite the overwhelming 328-93 vote, support for the measure began to collapse almost immediately. Within days, the Obama White House backed away from it, as did the Senate Democratic leadership. The bill stalled, and the populist storm that spawned it seemed to pass.

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

The purpose of the legislation is to "prohibit unreasonable and excessive compensation and compensation not based on performance standards," according to the bill's language. That includes regular pay, bonuses -- everything -- paid to employees of companies in whom the government has a capital stake, including those that have received funds through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP, as well as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

I wonder if Franklin Raines, Jamie Gorelick and the many others will have their huge bonuses from Fannie and Freddie affected. Maybe they're just like all the tax cheats in the administration and are more equal than the mere workers that pay their salaries. And bonuses.

There's a stench in DC and it isn't even August.

UPDATE: Tom Blumer of Bizzy Blog has some interesting insights on this absolutely ridiculous idea of Barney Frank.

Obama's Cavalcade of Chat Jetting to Europe

After numerous trips over the pond to do advance work for President Obama, the kit and kaboodle is now jetting off for real now that the most picturesque backdrops and people have been found and prepared.

Cargo planes, carrying all of Obama's travel needs and presumably Michelle's closet, will flank Air Force One, as they fly, which should remind Europe of the last D-Day force to invade. In addition to all of the experts, the flying gym, teleprompters, aides and the Presidential minion, there are at least 35 vehicles, numerous helicopters to confuse our terrorist friends and Marine One so Obama won't have to use the Tube. Also part of the Flymada are staff for Mrs President, Reggie Love who handles Obama's favorite snacks and beverages for the President as well as being Obama's personal exercise buddy and tireless dialer of the President's BlackBerry, chefs to cater to his food-of-the-people menu and a medical team so Obama will not have to deal with the medical systems in Europe which he wants to emulate here in the United States.

This will number about 500 people including a palace guard of 200 Secret Service to protect Obama from his friends in all the countries he will visit to chat, summit with and just get down with his new buddies around the world.

Meanwhile in the real world, the stock market is losing billions, people are losing jobs and Barney Frank wants to start setting salaries for all of us money grubbing know-nothings.

On the bright side, Barack will be able to whisper to Michelle, "We'll always have Paris."

Obama: Dictator of Detroit, Baron of Banks & Sultan of Stocks

Tim Geithner: Court Jester

He's told Wall Street what to do. He's ordered banks to disregard the foolish lack of detail by his Treasury Secretary and now Obama is firing CEOs, talking mergers and guaranteeing warranties in Detroit. Is he the man for all seasons? No, he most certainly is not that.

I think it time that someone ask Obama, "Just who do you think you are? Dictator? President? Businessman? Wall Street wiz? Actually, who are you, because you are failing across the board."

Obama has betrayed the his base, the left, he has betrayed business, he has betrayed CEOs and he's betraying pretty much everybody else left.

People that voted for him are suddenly quiet about him. People who didn't, but wouldn't help Republicans are obviously shamed into silence, as they should be. People with children and grandchildren feel scared. People with parents and grandparents watching their savings, investments and options dwindle are angry. People involved in the stock market just want him to at least shut his mouth. Our allies are angry and confused. Hell, that pretty much leaves communists, dictators, the ignorant and the stupid left with a smile on their face.

Here, on Jenkins Hill, Obama appears to be not stupid, yes, ignorant, yes, naive, but a man with a vision that he cannot communicate or dare not communicate.

He is the Hugo Chavez of North America with all of the bravado, the swagger and the inability to convince anybody that he knows what he is doing, outside of dragging this country down. He does seem to be doing that pretty well. I guess in his relative world that is something.

It is time for Republicans to form a solid line to block and to not just say no, but to offer alternatives when he spouts off, but better yet, offer alternatives before he spouts off. It can only be Republicans that can save us from this mess and bring sanity back to Washington, DC. They must unite their members, all of them (hear that Specter, Collins, Snowe, etc.?), and they must unite their Party and they must unite the people.

That's change and hope that can save this nation.

Obama to be CEO of GM?

Why not? He's saving the world, if only in his mind, why not a tiny little concern like General Motors?

GM CEO Rick Wagoner Will Step Down... Developing...
Stipulation for feds to lend billions more to GM?
...Automaker Awaits Bailout News

We The People Stimulus Package

Bravo!

U.S. Treasury before completion. Washington, D.C.

Photograph from the early 1860s.

State Rebellion Pending

From Stephen Hopkins at Aude Sapere:

Even Alexander Hamilton couldn't argue with this.

States Rebellion Pending
Professor Walter E. Williams has a very interesting article today that puts a little more punch into the state sovereignty effort. Here is a small snippet:

…Congress and the White House will laugh off these state resolutions. State
legislatures must take measures that put some teeth into their 10th Amendment
resolutions. Congress will simply threaten a state, for example, with a cutoff
of highway construction funds if it doesn’t obey a congressional mandate, such
as those that require seat belt laws or that lower the legal blood-alcohol level
to .08 for drivers. States might take a lead explored by Colorado.

In 1994, the Colorado Legislature passed a 10th Amendment resolution
and later introduced a bill titled “State Sovereignty Act.” Had the State
Sovereignty Act passed both houses of the legislature, it would have required
all people liable for any federal tax that’s a component of the highway users
fund, such as a gasoline tax, to remit those taxes directly to the Colorado
Department of Revenue. The money would have been deposited in an escrow account called the “Federal Tax Fund” and remitted monthly to the IRS, along with a list of payees and respective amounts paid. If Congress imposed sanctions on Colorado for failure to obey an unconstitutional mandate and penalized the state by
withholding funds due, say $5 million for highway construction, the State
Sovereignty Act would have prohibited the state treasurer from remitting any
funds in the escrow account to the IRS. Instead, Colorado would have imposed a
$5 million surcharge on the Federal Tax Fund account to continue the highway
construction.

The eight state legislatures that have enacted 10th Amendment resolutions
deserve our praise, but their next step is to give them teeth.

Obama' Special Olympics economics

Obama's Swedish American Model

This is what this whole "economic crisis" is really about which is why Obama has been crying wolf for so long. There really isn't a wolf and people are seeing it for what it is.

Liberal Fascism: AIG Issue Is Simply a Stepping Stone Toward More Government Control

AIG Attainder Bill 90% Tax Unconstitutional

Bill of Attainder. The bill, while not mentioning AIG by name, is clearly meant to punish AIG executives who received large bonuses—a specific group of individuals in response to public outrage over the bonuses. Given this motivation, many believe that the legislation is a bill of attainder, and thus prohibited by Article I, Section 9, Clause 3 of the Constitution.

The really sad thing about this continuing serial thriller of clowns on crack is that Congress successfully made contractual bonuses the main focus instead of their role in this planned economic train wreck. A train wreck that Democrats in Congress engineered. The train wreck cover-up by Frank, Dodd, et al is a Democratic Congressional production that is pure CYA by the Democratic leadership and those Democrats, er-cough-cough-Frank-Dodd-cough-cough that used our money to wreck the train.

Bitching about the bonuses is like bitching about incorrect change, say 12 cents instead of 13 cents, back on a $100.00 bill. But distraction is the action on Capitol Hill, especially when one doesn't want the media to be able to explain the roots of the mess and one doesn't want their name prominently headlined as a culprit in crime. The "one" here would have a D after their name when sponsoring, cosponsoring and voting on legislation.

Remember, this all started with "something for nothing", otherwise known as mortgages to people that could not afford one and could actually not pay on one. To show their racial sensitivity, Congress ordered banks to give mortgages to those that couldn't possibly afford them and now blame the banks.

Hello Fannie. Hello Freddie.

Hello Barney. Hello Maxine.

Where's our damned money you pandering political losers?

If Congress sez it's so, It is. Isn't it?

Fiscal responsibility is a relative term to many in Congress.

Carter Obama; How incredibly appropriate

CARTER VISITS WHITE HOUSE...

One economic trainwreck learning (teaching?) from another.

Where are the fiscally responsible, ie. conservative, in Washington, DC?

Do they no longer exist or have they just lost their voice?

FDR Didn't Have BO

"This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance." FDR Inaugural Speech - Inauguration Day January 20, 1933

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was many things, he shared a purposeful opaqueness with Barack Obama that allowed for soaring oratory that held very little true meaning, but FDR didn't scare the hell out of the country every time he spoke.

This administration talks of fiscal irresponsibility as they drive us deeper in debt faster than ever before and making everything worse every time they talk.

"I don't think that any economist disputes that we're in the worst economic crisis since the great depression." Barack Obama Inaugural Speech - Inauguration Day January 20, 2009

Now, after Obama has now said that, oops, guess things are getting better after all, Larry Summers, Obama's top economic advisor, blurts out that we have an excess of fear:

Summers: 'Excess of fear' must be broken
President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said Friday the nation's economic crisis has led to an "excess of fear" among Americans that must be broken to reverse the downturn.

"Fear begets fear," Lawrence Summers, the president's director of the National Economic Council, told a forum.

"It is this transition from an excess of greed to an excess of fear that President Roosevelt had in mind when he famously observed that the only thing we had to fear was fear itself," Summers said. "It is this transition that has happened in the United States today."

Excess greed to excess fear. Is this another Jimmy Carter idea that it's our fault that we believed Obama and minions and are feeling a malaise?

This is a rocky road we find ourselves on and it is going to get rockier.

Councils, Czars, Commissions, Special Assistants Clogging Government and Spending Our Money

When ever DC wants to pose a PR stunt to address the polling problem de jour they start with committees, commissions, councils, etc. They accomplish little if anything, but they give a nice face to the cold hard largeness of the federal government. It's kind of like trying to make a meat cleaver seem like a fine scalpel. It may seem nice, but if it does anything at all, it mangles what ever it strikes.

Most of these window dressings at least look like a window dressing that will pull people in. Look at the list below and ask yourself what is wrong.

“Opportunities their mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers never dreamed of”

The White House Council on Women and Girls:
The Secretary of State; Hillary Clinton
The Secretary of the Treasury; Tim Geithner
The Secretary of Defense; Robert Gates
The Attorney General; Eric Hilder
The Secretary of Interior; Ken Salazar
The Secretary of Agriculture; Thomas J. Vilsack
The Secretary of Commerce; Gary F. Locke *
The Secretary of Labor; Hilda L. Solis
The Secretary of Health and Human Services; Charles E. Johnson 1
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Shaun L.S. Donovan
The Secretary of Transportation; Raymond L. LaHood
The Secretary of Energy; Steven Chu
The Secretary of Education; Arne Duncan
The Secretary of Veterans Affairs; Eric K. Shinseki
The Secretary of Homeland Security; Janet A. Napolitano
The United States Ambassador to the United Nations; Susan Rice
The United States Trade Representative; Ronald Kirk
The Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Peter R. Orszag
The Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; Lisa P. Jackson
The Administrator of the Small Business Administration; Darryl Hairston 2
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management; Kathie Ann Whipple 3
The Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors; Christina Romer
The Director of the National Economic Council; Lawrence Summer
The Director of the Domestic Policy Council. Melody C. Barnes

* designate
1 Acting Sec, appointed by George W Bush
2 designate – nominee, Karen Gordon Mills
3 acting director

This is just putting a face on another special interest group to win elections. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars and a waste of government bureaucrat's valuable time.

It is Washington, DC as usual which is at its worst.

Hall Of Shame

Top 20 Earmarking Senators in the $410 Billion Spending Bill

Here's a breakdown of the top 20 earmarking senators and the value of their solo earmarks:

1) Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. -- $122,804,900
2) Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. -- $114,484,250
3) Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo. -- $85,691,491
4) Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. -- $76,899,425
5) Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss. -- $75,908,475
6) Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska -- $74,000,750
7) Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa -- $66,860,000
8) Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla. -- $53,133,500
9) Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. -- $51,186,000
10) Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii -- $46,380,205
11) Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. -- $39,228,250
12) Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D. -- $36,547,100
13) Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt. -- $36,161,125
14) Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. -- $35,577,250
15) Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa. -- $27,169,750
16) Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. -- $26,628,613
17) Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. -- $25,320,000
18) Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis. -- $23,832,000
19) Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. -- $21,952,250
20) Former Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. -- $19,588,625
Click here to read the full report from Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Two Months Too Much

Two months of "change has brought us a world of change that most voters haven't even noticed, because they are not paying attention or, worse yet, they are believing the bankrupt news media.

In 2006 the Democrats took charge of Congress and began portraying Republicans as heartless hoping the charge would pile on top of their baseless and jaded charges that the Bush Administration was guilty of "crimes." The media jumped on this pile head first laughing all the way to the bank, they thought.

Republicans did little to counter these charges and offered up a "maverick" for the presidency while Rep. Barney Frank, Sen. Chris Dodd and their financial backers at Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac continued to force lenders to give mortgages to people who could not afford them. When President Bush and some Republicans questioned this practice, Democrats were quick to divert attention away from the facts by crying "racist." Most Republicans sat on their hands, too cowardly or worse yet, they agreed with liberals, to do anything.

Their moment of triumph came with the election of Obama.

Obama's 4 million jobs? Who is going to hire? In the midst of this manufactured financial crisis Obama comes up with a tax plan that raises taxes on the very people that hire people. To add insult to injury, Obama trod his own path, saying what he thought worked well on the campaign trail and sent the stock market to the tank. Some change.

Health care will be a joke unless you're someone who wishes abortion on demand or want to see embryos used in stem cell research.

Obama is now addressing the real crisis, which is education in this country and, as usual, he wants more spending and more government control. This is the very policy that has driven our education system downward which has made the system totally incapable of producing the leaders we need in industry, research and development and sensible policy.

This administration has a plan for the Middle East. Just ask them. Unfortunately, the rest of the world is confused and scared about what this policy may or may not be. The terrorists operating in Iraq and Afghanistan have been given hope because they believe in Obama's "change" and in thanks to Obama have set off fire works killing dozens, sending shock waves of fear through those countries.

This is not change unless you like the dumber twin of Clinton policy or the oafish stupidity of a Carter. It is a naive and dangerous attempt to be all things to all people. The only thing we have to show for all this work is a president said to be "tired", in fact too tired, to act presidential to the leader of one of our most important allies, Gordon Brown.

Stalin once said "A Capitalist will sell you the rope to hang him with." I am beginning to doubt that can happen know. Obama will make sure that we are too poor, too stupid, too sick and too scared to make, sell or receive the rope.

Republicans need to once again to act Republican and stop this ridiculous drama of hoping and caring. It is neither.

Taxation As Repression Against Those With Whom You Disagree

Against all logic and common sense it appears that we are in for more taxes, hidden taxes and fees and other costs just to save us and the US from us.

Hoist the Green flag and the green flag of Democrats over the Capitol and the White House because they are there, they are for us and they're going to tax us to death just to cure us.

Oh, hoist those flags over every government building throughout the land because they are all on the same page whether it is a cabal to destroy conservative talk, starting with Limbaugh, to destroy conservative thought or to just tax us back to the stone age. That way we can be just like the third world countries they so envy.

More price hikes due for cigarettes
The average price for cigarettes will soon be above $5 a pack, according to Credit Suisse. That probably won't have much of an impact on smokers, the analysts said, since sales volume didn't really change in states where prices have already surpassed that mark.

New York has fat taxes, people taxes, cab taxes, water taxes, etc., etc., and now a pack of cigarettes will be around $9 per pack. What a healthy city. Yeah.

The federal government isn't the only one taxing the hell out of people.

Invincible Armor has more on this and how government fattens their pockets by dividing and conquering us, one group at a time.

The Economic Lies Of Sin Taxes

Taxes. I once learned about a shining new country, The United States of America, that was formed with freedom for all and it was formed in reaction to taxes and other onerous government repressions. Now, as their elected officials sit by and argue about the correct degrees of how much lost economic and individual freedoms will be lost, the government is unable to hear the people.

It seems the people don't matter anymore.