Archive for December, 2011

The new election year is almost upon us, and the Republican National Committee has some pretty scathing resolution suggestions for President Barack Obama in 2012.

The resolutions are featured on the committee’s latest microsite, www.ObamaResolutions.com, which allows visitors to send them as quippy e-cards.

And the attacks aren’t just limited to Obama. Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and even Jon Corzine are also included in the mockery.

From Grace Wyler at Business Insider

Click here to see the Resolutions

Four years after the banking system nearly collapsed from reckless mortgage lending, federal prosecutors have stayed on the sidelines, even as judges around the country are pointing fingers at possible wrongdoing.

The federal government, as has been widely noted, has pressed few criminal cases against major lenders or senior executives for the events that led to the meltdown of 2007. Finding hard evidence has proved difficult, the Justice Department has said.

The government also hasn’t brought any prosecutions for dubious foreclosure practices deployed since 2007 by big banks and other mortgage-servicing companies.

But this part of the financial system, a Reuters examination shows, is filled with potential leads.

Read more at Reuters.com

Crony capitalism is the most serious current danger to the American community, a threat not simply to government or the economy, but to our very way of life. It is the worst such threat since the trusts and monopolies of the early 20th century, and in much the same way. Cronyism is one of the major forces behind the establishment of the corrupt pseudo-aristocracy that has been taking shape in this country over the past two decades, a synthetic privileged class made up in large part of politicians, hustlers, and hangers-on who have become expert in exploiting the rest of us.

The legacy media, for some obscure reason, tends to bury discussions about this group. While the reportage on discrete incidents is there — see the parade of stories on Solyndra, Goldman Sachs, and MF Global for examples — we find little effort to pull it all together. Academics, with the single exception of Angelo Codevilla, who sounded the alarm two years ago in The Ruling Class, appear oblivious, as if they had no idea what’s going on, which may well be the case.

The customary watchdogs having remained asleep, we need to rely on independents. Chief among these in Peter Schweizer, whose latest book Throw Them All Out (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011) gives us the clearest picture we’ve yet had of the activities of the new crony class.

–SNIP– Though Schweizer makes an honest attempt to remain bipartisan, the book is dominated by members of a certain political party the name of which I will not mention but which is run by politicians named Kerry, Durbin, and Pelosi among others.

Read more by J.R. Dunn at American Thinker

Repo Man

If you’re making money on the Wall Street scale — which is nothing like your boring, middle-management in the Fortune 500, Hamptons-and-Mercedes, barely–a–1 percenter type money — then you can buy basically anything.

–SNIP– For a few measly millions, Wall Street not only bought itself a president, but got the start-up firm of B. H. Obama & Co. LLC to throw a cabinet into the deal, too — on remarkably generous terms. President Obama, for a guy prone to delivering prim and smug little homilies denouncing greed, greed, greed — the only of the seven deadly sins that truly offends Democrats (though Mrs. Obama has done some desultory work on gluttony) — is strangely comfortable among the Gordon Gekkos of this world.

–SNIP– Wall Street can do math, and the math looks like this: Wall Street + Washington = Wild Profitability. Free enterprise? Entrepreneurship? Starting a business making and selling stuff behind some grimy little storefront? You’d have to be a fool. Better to invest in political favors.

Read more by Kevin D. Williamson at National Review

Occupy activists meet in Iowa, plan caucus events

Already they have interrupted Michele Bachmann and drawn a withering putdown from Newt Gingrich as “all noise, no thought.”

Now, to the dismay of Iowa Republicans, Occupy activists in Des Moines are vowing to expand their protests as GOP presidential hopefuls converge on the state that speaks first in the race for the party’s presidential nomination.

“The 99 percent have woken up and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Occupy activist Stephen Toothman, of Des Moines, said as an advance guard met Tuesday to decide which candidates to target in the coming week.

Hundreds of Occupy activists from at least 10 states were expected to participate in a “People’s Caucus” near the Capitol to plot activities between now and the Jan. 3 caucuses. The activists are promising to interrupt candidates at events and camp out at their Iowa campaign offices. They say they want to change the political dialogue, but critics fear their tactics could tarnish Iowa’s reputation for civil political discourse ahead of the contest. Activists say mass arrests are possible.

Read more by RYAN J. FOLEY and MIKE GLOVER at the Associated Press

Look on the bright side. This averages out to 450 hours he wasn’t signing bad laws or destroying the economy.

Read more by Erika Johnsen at Townhall.com

Comment from Lucianne.com

Barack Obama 2012: Screw those stupid white people.

Could you imagine the firestorm if Republicans explicitly stated they’re abandoning any effort at winning over minority voters?

Read more at JammieWearingFools.com

What are Democrats for?

* * * * * * *
What Do Democrats Really Stand For Today?
by Jim Geraghty

The Tuesday edition of the Morning Jolt features more on Barney Frank’s surprise retirement, some explosive news out of Iran, and this discussion in the shift in the thinking of the Democratic Party:

Read more at National Review.com

The good folks at CNN were kind enough to have me on this morning (12/21/11) to discuss the latest Congress insider trading revelations.

To wit: In addition to trading for their own accounts with private information gleaned from their jobs, our Senators and Representatives regularly meet privately with hedge funds who then use what they learn about impending legislation to cash in.

No, no, protests Congress. There’s no scandal. It’s just business as usual.

And of course that’s the point.

If this were happening in the private sector, Congress would be screaming bloody murder about corruption and greed.

Because its Washington, however, it’s just the way things are done.

Read more by Henry Blodget at Business Insider

The Chinese government increased trade tensions with the Obama administration Wednesday evening by unexpectedly imposing antidumping and antisubsidy tariffs on imports of sport utility vehicles and midsize and large cars from the United States.

The new tariffs, totaling up to nearly 22 percent of the import prices, will probably have a mainly symbolic function, rather than reducing the already skimpy sales of such vehicles in China. Other tariffs and taxes already in place have limited sales of American imports by helping raise their retail prices by about three times what the same cars and S.U.V.’s sell for in the United States.

–SNIP– Because of the high Chinese tariffs and taxes already in place, the vehicles are sold only in the thousands or even hundreds in China, and only to the most affluent. (A Jeep Grand Cherokee that begins at $27,490 at dealerships in the United States costs $85,000 or more in China.)

Read more By KEITH BRADSHER at the NY Times

The Republican Party of Milwaukee County wishes you a Merry Christmas!

Yes, we wish you a Merry Christmas!

A generic “Happy Holidays” doesn’t do it justice.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The New York affiliate of the Planned Parenthood abortion business is giving out tips today for its supporters in terms of how they can push abortion on their guests at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The website is sure to upset millions of pro-life advocates who are busy spending the day thanking God for the gifts and blessings they’ve been given, especially the gift of human life that has been snuffed out more than 54 million times since the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973.

As is expected, the tips Planned Parenthood of New York city gives its supporters involve covering up promotion of abortion with terms like “reproductive health” and focusing on women’s rights.

Read more by Steven Ertelt from 11/24/2011 at LifeNews.com

From Greece to Washington to New York state, there’s no effective mechanism to control spending.

Across Europe and the United States, the fiscal crisis is setting up an epic battle among government services, pensioners, government employees, creditors and taxpayers. There is simply not enough money coming in to pay all the promises politicians have made. The shortfalls and fights are challenging our democracies and shifting wealth from the private sector to ever bigger government.

The hope has been that Europe’s debt crisis would force government downsizing in time to meet cash flow requirements. Newfound fiscal discipline would provide a silver lining to the debt crisis. But that’s not working out.

Read more By DAVID MALPASS from the Wall Street Journal

Attorney General Eric Holder’s list of Operation Fast and Furious critics has grown over the past several days, as four more have signed on to a resolution of “no confidence” in him.

Republican Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Kevin Brady of Texas, Tim Griffin of Arkansas and Tim Walberg of Michigan have all now signed on as co-sponsors of Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar’s “no confidence” resolution.

Though it’s not directly a call for Holder to step down, the resolution alleges that the nation’s top law enforcement official’s actions have proven he is not “competent, trustworthy and beyond reproach,” and that he has sought to “cover up” mistakes rather than cooperate with Congress “in disclosing the events and circumstances and transparently addressing the issues.”

Griffin told The Daily Caller he signed on to the resolution because Holder has not actively held anyone accountable for Fast and Furious.

Read more by Matthew Boyle at the Daily Caller

A holiday message from the Walker family, Scott, Tonette, Matt and Alex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRzLCTOo4g

Wishing you and your family a blessed and MERRY CHRISTMAS!