Archive for January, 2010

From patriotpost.us, 1/26/2010

by Ben McGrath, New Yorker, Feb. 1, 2010

My first immersion in the social movement that helped take Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat away from the Democrats, and may have derailed the President’s chief domestic initiative, occurred last fall, in Burlington, Kentucky, at a Take Back America rally. My escort was an exceptionally genial sixty-seven-year-old man named Don Seely, an electrical engineer who said that he was between jobs and using the unwanted free time to volunteer his services to the Northern Kentucky Tea Party, the rally’s host organization, as a Webmaster. “I’ve never been a Webmaster, but I’ve known Webmasters,” he explained, with a chuckle, as he walked around a muddy field, near a horse-jumping ring, and introduced me to some of his colleagues, one of whom was a fireman. “And he’s also our finance guy.” Being the finance guy, from what I could gather, entailed volunteering a personal credit card to be used for the group’s PayPal account. The amateur nature of the operation was a matter of pride to all those who were taking an active interest, in many cases for the first time in their lives, in the cause of governance. Several of the volunteers had met at Bulldog’s Roadhouse, in a nearby town named Independence, where they assembled on weekdays for what you might call happy hour, were it not for the fact that Bulldog’s is a Fox News joint and five o’clock is when Glenn Beck comes on, warning from a studio that he likes to call the “doom room” about the return of a Marxist fifth column.

Read more at http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath

Long, and a little condescending, with a view from New York.

by Charlie Cook, National Journal, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010

Having given himself “a good, solid B-plus” for his first year in office and declaring he would “rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president,” President Obama has a lot of people, even in his own party, wondering what on earth constitutes a good performance to his way of thinking.

Jimmy Carter is the only president in over a century who failed to win re-election after taking over from the other party. That presidents usually get re-elected is of little solace to Democrats bracing for losses that could be comparable to the epic midterm election defeats of 1958, 1974, 1982, 1994, and 2006.

Congressional Democrats are hardly blameless on this, but it is the president who sets the agenda and largely runs the show. After his historic election to the presidency, Obama had a lot of political capital. But by opting to push a deeply flawed and insufficiently robust economic stimulus package, one that failed to keep unemployment from rising far higher than the administration expected, Obama committed his first presidential sin. Some observers argue that the $787 billion stimulus package was the biggest the president thought he could get. A far more persuasive argument is that he wanted to save his political capital for causes nearer and dearer to his heart. Making matters worse, the legislation lost credibility because Obama let the stimulus become a Christmas tree for all kinds of pet Democratic projects. Instead of being seen as a much-needed economic shot-in-the-arm, the package was widely viewed as wasteful spending.

Read more at http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cookreport.php

by Sarah Palin, Facebook, Tue. Jan 26, 2010

Women’s Rights groups, like NOW, commendably call out advertisers and networks for airing sexist and demeaning portrayals of women that lead to young women’s diminished self-esteem and acceptance of roles as mere sexed-up objects.

What a ridiculous situation they’re getting themselves into now with their protest of CBS airing a pro-life ad during the upcoming Super Bowl game. The ad will feature Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mom, and they’ll speak to the sanctity of life and the beautiful potential within every innocent child as Mrs. Tebow acknowledges her choice to give Tim life, despite less than ideal circumstances. Messages like this empower women! This speaks to the strength and commitment and nurturing spirit within women. The message says everything positive and nothing negative about the power of women – and life. Evidently, some women’s rights groups like NOW do not like that message.

Read more at http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=268722553434

By Bob Unruh, WorldNetDaily, January 29, 2010

Speaker’s trips ‘are more about partying than anything else’

It reads like a dream order for a wild frat party: Maker’s Mark whiskey, Courvoisier cognac, Johnny Walker Red scotch, Grey Goose vodka, E&J brandy, Bailey’s Irish Crème, Bacardi Light rum, Jim Beam whiskey, Beefeater gin, Dewars scotch, Bombay Sapphire gin, Jack Daniels whiskey … and Corona beer.

But that single receipt makes up just part of the more than $101,000 taxpayers paid for “in-flight
services” – including food and liquor, for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trips on Air Force jets over the last two years. That’s almost $1,000 per week.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, which investigates and prosecutes government corruption, show Pelosi incurred expenses of some $2.1 million for her use of Air Force jets for travel over that time.

“Speaker Pelosi has a historyof wasting taxpayer funds with her boorish demands for military travel,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said today. “And these documents suggest the Speaker’s congressional delegations are more about partying than anything else.”

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=123472

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For More Information, please contact
David Karst (262) 455-1554 January 27, 2010

Why the flip flop for President Obama on Spending?

Apparently President Obama and the Democrats have decided that the loss of a United States Senate Seat to the Republicans in last Tuesday’s election was enough to turn them around when it comes to a spending freeze on discretionary federal dollars, said David Karst, chairman of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County.

It needs to be pointed out that Obama is making this move to offset the $787 billion stimulus. After last week’s election in Massachusetts, the President has decided to cover all three years of the remainder of his first term as President with spending cuts after the federal government has had very healthy spending in both 2009 and 2010.

The American people need to be aware that this is a flip flop of what has actually been taking place during his first year in office and what continues to take place. He is like the individual in the beginning of the year that says I’m going to lose a few pounds, after they have just eaten the entire chocolate cake.

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For the last 30 years, I’ve devoted the better part of my life to frightening you, trying my best to make you believe that you are weak, vulnerable, dependent and at risk. I know what’s good for you. You don’t. I’ve tried hard for three decades to defy the laws of nature and return you to infancy, cradled in your mommy’s arm, suckling at her breast, all warm and cozy, not a care in the world. I am the tip of the spear of the liberal nanny state. I am ANCHORMAN!

Read more at  http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/15/confessions-of-an-anchorman/

Interesting!

Republican Party of Milwaukee County
South Side Branch Hosts
Pints and Politics
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Time: 5:30 p.m. to ?
Cash Bar, Cash Food

St. Francis Brewery & Restaurant - 3825 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue, St. Francis, WI 53235

The Republican Party of Milwaukee County South Side Branch invites you to Pints and Politics at the new St. Francis Brewery & Restaurant on the corner of S. Kinnickinnic and Howard Avenue in the City of St. Francis, Wisconsin.

Come and meet other Republicans on the South Side of Milwaukee in a relaxed atmosphere. If you are frustrated with the current Wisconsin Administration of Jim Doyle and the Obama administration - we are here to elect a Republican Governor and Republican candidates to office in 2010.

We will be in a separate private room - there will be signs up to tell you which room we are in. Look forward to seeing you.

Drink moderately with conservatives!

by Patrick McIlheran of the Journal Sentinel, Jan. 25, 2010

The story so far: The United Nations’ chief global warming agitators, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, issued a report a couple years back. It said, among other things, that the glaciers atop the Himalayas would be gone by 2035.

Now, it turns out there’s no science to back that up. The glaciers won’t be gone by 2035; the claim was bogus and was based on nothing more than a talking point in an old environmentalist brochure. Experts on the Himalayan glaciers said the claim is baseless.

Now, new twist: The guy who put the claim in the report, according to the Daily Mail, “admitted it was included purely to put political pressure on world leaders.”

Read more at  http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/82598642.html

It seems like Global Warming really IS man-made, full of lies.

by Craig Karmin, Wall Street Journal, January 27, 2010

Public pension funds needing to boost their returns but frustrated with hedge funds and private-equity investments are turning to one of the oldest investment strategies—using borrowed money to boost performance.

The strategy calls for leveraging pension funds’ safest asset—government or other high-grade bonds—while reducing exposure to stocks.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which manages $78 billion, became among the first to adopt the strategy when it approved the plan Tuesday. The fund will borrow an amount equivalent to 4% of assets this year, and as much as 20% of its assets over the next three years.

Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704905604575027601300360196.html (WSJ Subscription required)

You can read more at http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/01/state-of-wisconsin-goes-insane-with.html

Now, I know that some in my own party will argue that we can’t address the deficit or freeze government spending when so many are still hurting. And I agree, which is why this freeze won’t take effect until next year, when the economy is stronger. That’s how budgeting works.

(LAUGHTER)

But understand — understand, if we don’t take meaningful steps to rein in our debt, it could damage our markets, increase the cost of borrowing, and jeopardize our recovery, all of which would have an even worse effect on our job growth and family incomes.

Full transcript at http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/27/sotu.transcript/index.html?hpt=T1

MEANWHILE

Justice Alito mouths ‘not true’

by Martin Kady II, Politico.com, January 27, 2010

POLITICO’s Kasie Hunt, who’s in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words “not true” when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s campaign finance decision.

“Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. “Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.”

The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone-faced, was priceless.

Read more, with video, at http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0110/Justice_Alitos_You_lie_moment.html

In the video, Alito is in the second row, at the left side of the screen

by Paul Merrion, Greg Hinz and Steven R. Strahler, Crain’s Chicago Business,  January 18, 2010

As Illinois’ fiscal crisis deepens, the word “bankruptcy” is creeping more and more into the public discourse.

“We would like all the stakeholders of Illinois to recognize how close the state is to bankruptcy or insolvency,” says Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a fiscal watchdog in Chicago.

“Bankruptcy is the reality that looms out there,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Andrew McKenna Jr. says.

While it appears unlikely or even impossible for a state to hide out from creditors in Bankruptcy Court, Illinois appears to meet classic definitions of insolvency: Its liabilities far exceed its assets, and it’s not generating enough cash to pay its bills. Private companies in similar circumstances often shut down or file for bankruptcy protection.

“I would describe bankruptcy as the inability to pay one’s bills,” says Jim Nowlan, senior fellow at the University of Illinois’ Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “We’re close to de facto bankruptcy, if not de jure bankruptcy.”

–SNIP– While the Illinois Constitution protects vested pension benefits, that promise, like all the state’s obligations, is only as good as its ability to pay. The Civic Federation warned lawmakers last fall that “there is mounting evidence that a judge could find the state is already insolvent. If the state is found to be insolvent under the classical cash-flow definition of insolvency, which is ‘the inability to pay debts as they come due,’ it is not only the pension rights of non-vested employees that will be in jeopardy. All the obligations of the state, whether vested or not, will be competing for funding with the other essential responsibilities of state government. Even vested pension rights are jeopardized when a government is insolvent.“

Read more at  http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/mag/article.pl?id=32910

Wisconsin is not that far behind.

How Stimulus Funds are being Spent

The Journal Sentinel is tracking the $7.74 billion in federal stimulus money that has been allocated so far to state and federal programs in Wisconsin. Check out our interactive map to see geographical breakdowns of direct federal funding that has been announced so far for Wisconsin counties, cities, villages and towns; or follow the latest coverage with the links below.
From  http://www.jsonline.com/news/40851947.html

Wisconsin stimulus money tracker

Updated January 2010: The Journal Sentinel is tracking the flow of federal stimulus money into Wisconsin. About $7.76 billion in stimulus money had been allocated to the state. This interactive map shows the stimulus funding that has been announced so far going to Wisconsin municipalities, school districts, transportation projects and government agencies.

Click on a county in the map and then on a city, school district, transportation project or government agency to see how stimulus money is being distributed. The box in the bottom left contains information on Native American tribes. Scroll down to the bottom of a county list to see the county’s May unemployment rate and state rank.

Click the chart tab to see a breakdown of the top 20 program areas receiving federal stimulus money.

Click here to see a complete list of stimulus program funding.

The Journal Sentinel will update the stimulus tracker monthly depending on the flow of information from the Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment.

From  http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/44713312.html

by Cong. Paul Ryan, Wall Street Journal, January 26, 2010

There’s still time to rejuvenate our market economy and avoid a European-style welfare state.

In tonight’s State of the Union address, President Obama will declare a new found commitment to “fiscal responsibility” to cover the huge spending and debt he and congressional Democrats have run up in his first year in office. But next Monday, when he submits his actual budget, I fear it will rely on gimmickry, commissions, luke-warm spending “freezes,” and paper-tiger controls to create the illusion of budget discipline. Meanwhile, he and the Democratic congressional leadership will continue pursuing a relentless expansion of government and a new culture of dependency.

America needs an alternative. For that reason, I have reintroduced my plan to tackle our nation’s most pressing domestic challenges—updated to reflect the dramatic decline in our economic and fiscal condition. The plan, called A Road Map for America’s Future and first introduced in 2008, is a comprehensive proposal to ensure health and retirement security for all Americans, to lift the debt burdens that are mounting every day because of Washington’s reckless spending, and to promote jobs and competitiveness in the 21st century global economy.

Read more at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904575025080017959478.html

A Road Map for America’s Future at  http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/

Perez to Lead RPW Response to State of the Union Address

Wisconsin Republican National Hispanic Assembly Chairman and labor economist Manuel Perez will lead the state GOP’s speech-watching party and media availability before, during, and after President Obama’s State of the Union address on Wednesday night. The speech watching party and media availability will take place at Los Tres Hermanos in Milwaukee. This is the official RPW “State of the Union”  watching party, and everyone is invited.  Milwaukee TV, as well as State and Hispanic media will be at this event.  Media inquiries should be directed to Kristin Ruesch at 608-257-4765 or KRuesch@wisgop.org.

Who:  Wisconsin Republican National Hispanic Assembly Chairman and labor economist Manuel Perez

What:  Republican Party of Wisconsin speech watching party and media availability before, during, and after President Obama’s State of the Union address

When:  January 27, 2010; 6:15 pm - 9:15 pm

Where: Los Tres Hermanos, 1332 West Lincoln Avenue, Milwaukee, WI

From patriotpost.us, 1/25/2010
Mark off any words that Obama uses in his State of the Union speech Wednesday night.

http://content.patriotpost.us/img/legacy/broadcasts/humor/012510.html

by Jerome Corsi, World Net Daily, 1/15/2010

Statistics from the federal government document how the Federal Reserve over the course of 2009 bought some 80 percent of the $1.5 trillion borrowed by the U.S. Treasury – making the federal government like the family that uses Visa to pay down a monthly MasterCard bill.Remarkable as that may seem, data make clear the Obama administration has been managing trillion dollar federal budget deficits by selling financial instruments to the Fed.

Even to sophisticated investment analysts, using the Fed to buy Treasury debt is the equivalent of simply printing money to pay for government-funded programs an increasingly bankrupt United States can no longer afford.

While the Federal Reserve’s massive purchases of Treasury bonds and government agency debt, including debt issued by the government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, has keep interest rates low, the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee in its Dec. 15-16, 2009, meeting strongly suggested the program to buy debt issued by U.S. Treasury, government-sponsored agency debt and mortgage-backed securities will come to a close at some point.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121993

The Fed is monetizing the debt, i.e. printing money out of thin air to buy treasury bonds, “supporting” the bond market. This is NOT healthy.

“How will Obama continue to sell trillions of dollars of debt?”

by Jake Tapper, ABC News, January 25, 2010

The chairman and ranking Republican of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee today urged the Obama administration to transfer the Christmas Day bomber into military custody, and harged that though President Obama “has said repeatedly that we are at war, it does not appear to us that the President’s words are reflected in the actions of some in the Executive branch, including some at the Department of Justice, responsible for fighting that war.”

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and the president’s top homeland security adviser, John Brennan, Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Me., urged for the immediate transfer of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab into Pentagon hands to be “held as an unprivileged enemy belligerent (UEB) and questioned and charged accordingly.”

The two senators noted that once Abdulmutallab “was in custody, federal law enforcement officials on the ground in Detroit read the terrorist his Miranda rights.  According to press reports, by the time the Miranda rights were read and Abdulmutallab went silent, he had been questioned for just under an hour, during which time he had been speaking openly about the attack” as well as the role of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Read more at  http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/chairman-and-ranking-republican-of-senate-homeland-security-committee-does-everyone-in-obama-adminis.html

by Ron Futrell, 1/25/2010

It can be a powerful drug. I’ve seen many of my media friends swept off their feet by its incredible power and influence. Hopeium. Oh, the mere sight or sound of the junk can cause the most callous and caustic reporter to wither and melt like Nancy Pelosi during a free Botox party.

The first time the media heard Barack Obama use the phrase “Hope”, they were hooked.

It explains what caused NBC’s Chris Matthews to get the “thrill up going up my leg”, as Barack Obama spoke. It explains why ABC’s George Stephanopoulos and his wife cried on Inauguration Day. Maybe it explains what Evan Thomas of Newsweek was thinking when he proclaimed Obama is, “sort of god.” Here’s the full quote so you have the context:

I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God.

Timothy Leary would love this. That’s some powerful stuff. High on hopeium.

Read more at http://bigjournalism.com/rfutrell/2010/01/25/what-a-bringdown-did-you-get-high-on-hopeium/

by Daniel Fisher, Forbes, 1/20/2010

The world has issued so much debt in the past two years fighting the Great Recession that paying it all back is going to be hell–for Americans along with everybody else. Taxes will have to rise around the globe, hobbling job growth and economic recovery.

Featuring:

Can Japan Beat Its Debt Disaster? by Daniel Fisher - It’s a measure of Japan’s mounting fiscal problems that its finance minister, Hirohisa Fujii, resigned in early January because of exhaustion.

The United States Of Debt by Kurt Badenhausen, Illinois - New York and Connecticut top our list of problem places. What about your state?

The Risk List by Neil Weinberg - Ten companies flashing financial danger signs

The Coming Sovereign Debt Crisis by Nouriel Roubini and Arpitha Bykere - Will investors move out of their ‘’safe haven” markets?

AND MUCH MORE at  http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/20/global-debt-bomb-business-wall-street-debt-10_land.html