And even the New York Times can’t help itself from revealing what total dumb-asses those Dem wits in the House and Senate are:

In a new report, the Congressional Research Service says the law may have significant unintended consequences for the “personal health insurance coverage” of senators, representatives and their staff members.

For example, it says, the law may “remove members of Congress and Congressional staff” from their current coverage, in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, before any alternatives are available.

The confusion raises the inevitable question: If they did not know exactly what they were doing to themselves, did lawmakers who wrote and passed the bill fully grasp the details of how it would influence the lives of other Americans?

As Nanny Nancy Pelosi said in so many words, “We’ll have to pass this bill to find out what’s in it.” Wow! Ain’t that the truth! They didn’t “fully grasp” crap!

The law apparently bars members of Congress from the federal employees health program, on the assumption that lawmakers should join many of their constituents in getting coverage through new state-based markets known as insurance exchanges.

But the research service found that this provision was written in an imprecise, confusing way, so it is not clear when it takes effect.

The new exchanges do not have to be in operation until 2014. But because of a possible “drafting error,” the report says, Congress did not specify an effective date for the section excluding lawmakers from the existing program.

Under well-established canons of statutory interpretation, the report said, “a law takes effect on the date of its enactment” unless Congress clearly specifies otherwise. And Congress did not specify any other effective date for this part of the health care law. The law was enacted when President Obama signed it three weeks ago.

Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch o’ pathetic losers — and many of them will be even bigger losers in November! Purple Avenger over at Ace reacted with this:

ObamaCare™ is apparently like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get…even if you’re the brain dead jackasses who wrote the fracking thing.

If these drool bib wearing imbeciles can’t even get it right for themselves, what shot do you have with this?

How you be likin’ that Obamacare now, Congresscritters?

Gotta LUV these folks — they sure know how to party! I can’t say it any better than Ace:

That image just gets people where they live. It’s not an intellectual thing — it’s just an emotional reaction to someone who just f**ked you over and then cavorts joyously about it on television, dancing on your grave.

President Obama signed the bill today.

13 states immediately filed suit against it!

The attorneys general of 13 states immediately filed lawsuits against the pro-abortion health care bill President Barack Obama signed Tuesday morning. They include 12 Republicans and one Democrat, of Louisiana, and a Rasmussen poll finds Americans supportive of their actions.

Just seven minutes after Obama signed the measure into law, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum took the lead and filed the suit for his colleagues in court in Florida.

“The Constitution nowhere authorizes the United States to mandate, either directly or under threat of penalty, that all citizens and legal residents have qualifying health care coverage,” the lawsuit says, according to an AP report.

McCollum, who is pro-life, is joined by attorneys general from South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Michigan, Utah, Pennsylvania, Alabama, South Dakota, Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Louisiana.

Some states are looking at other ways of getting out of participating in the pro-abortion health care bill as Virginia and Idaho have passed legislation to do that.

And, how about our super-classy Vice President, Joe Biden, tellin’ ol’ Barry at the signing ceremony, “This is a Big F*#cking Deal”.

Here’s the hit list for the upcoming election cycle.

In November we’ll be showing these jokers in the House what a real “‘Big F*#cking Deal” looks like!

An open letter to the Democrats in power in Washington D.C.

November 2, 2010 — the most important election in my lifetime!

It’s been a good ten eleven days since I’ve posted here — Okie’s been kinda busy lately — so I’m havin’ trouble gettin’ started again. Especially in light of all the CRAP that the Obama administration and the Demwit controlled Congress has been shoveling our way: the abominable health care bill that Nanny Nancy Pelosi rammed through the House last Saturday night, the weak response from Obama about the Fort Hood shootings, Obama not bothering to show up for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall fall. At least he did show and give a fine speech at the Fort Hood Memorial. Damn, time to pour another round of adult beverage!

About that next-to-last item, Ace has a sharply-pointed comment:

There is a fallacy in the theory of evolution, often cautioned against, to imagine evolution as one long “march of progress” in which every mutation and selection works, teleologically, to produce the supreme form of being (that would be us). It’s a vanity science has no use of.

On the other hand, there is Obama. 100,000 years of human history have unfolded in just this precisely-right way to contrive in his person the Ultimate Man.

There is no agenda of Obama; rather, physics and history have an agenda leading us to Obama.

The universe has conspired benevolently to bring us him.

What a stupid dick.

Ya see, because it isn’t all about the Mighty “O”, he just can’t be bothered to attend. Maybe he’s afraid of Reagan cooties or something. The Telegraph.UK sees that as a possibility:

But Obama is, of course, making time to trot over to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in December. Didn’t seem to have too much of a problem clearing the diary for that – though his acceptance of the prize and decision to give a another soaring, historical, epoch-marking etc etc speech there will be looked back on as a colossal political mistake and sign of hubris.

Perhaps Obama felt that celebrating the role of the United States in bringing down the wall would be a bit triumphalist and not quite in keeping with his wish to present America as a declining world power anxious to apologise for sundry historic misdeeds. Maybe he didn’t really want to be associated with that warmonger Ronald Reagan:

As Oliver North observed tonight on Hannity, the Fort Hood shootings aren’t a tragedy, they’re a travesty! For almost a week now the mainstream media has shied away from calling this an act of terrorism, or even acknowledge that it was an act of radical Islamic jihad — which it most certainly was. Especially in the military itself, a discouraging word against the religion of peace is so anti-PC it can ruin careers. Michelle Malkin makes this observation today:

Hey, you know how President Obama constantly carps about having inherited all the nation’s worst problems? Well, there’s one problem he did indeed inherit from the Bush administration — but it’s a problem he won’t acknowledge because it indicts the wretched excesses of the Left. The problem is Washington’s tolerance fetish. The path to Fort Hood was paved not just with political correctness (as even some left-wingers are beginning to acknowledge), but specifically with blind tolerance for “diversity” and open borders and indiscriminate lowering of standards at the expense of national security.

The death toll will not abate until this administration tears off the Hello Kitty band-aids it applied to the body politics in its rush to “heal” — and instead treats the gangrenous p.c. infection.

Over at Life News Maria Vitale is wondering if the Obama administration will prosecute Major Nidal Hasan under the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as Laci and Conner’s law.

I wouldn’t hold my breath . . .

The House of Representative’s health care bill was presented yesterday and it’s a whopping 1,900-plus pages, 1,990 to be exact. Much of it’s in legalese, nearly unfathomable to the layman, let alone those Dem wits that passed this monster. Politico provides such a section:

And for those who cry “read the bill,” beware. There are plenty of paragraphs like this one:

“(a) Outpatient Hospitals – (1) In General – Section 1833(t)(3)(C)(iv) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(t)(3)(C)(iv)) is amended – (A) in the first sentence – (i) by inserting “(which is subject to the productivity adjustment described in subclause (II) of such section)” after “1886(b)(3)(B)(iii); and (ii) by inserting “(but not below 0)” after “reduced”; and (B) in the second sentence, by inserting “and which is subject, beginning with 2010 to the productivity adjustment described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(iii)(II)”.

The section deals with “incorporating productivity improvements into market basket updates that do not already incorporate such improvements,” if that helps.

Got that Okie? Yeah, clear as mud! The Democrats are also saying that this 1,990 page bill is virtually identical to the previous three 1,000-page versions so, not to worry. Shoot, what could they have possibly slipped in there in an extra 900 pages? A Jewish deli guy we used to know, recently deceased, once jokingly asked us, “How do you say f___ you in Jewish? Trust me.” I’m gettin’ that vibe here big time.

The Dems are also sayin’ that this bills $894 billion cost guesstimate is below the original $900-billion upper limit set by the Obama administration. They’re gettin’ that from the report by the Congressional Budget Office:

The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday a U.S. House health-care system re-write would extend health insurance to 96% of the nonelderly U.S. population by 2019, and spend $1.055 trillion to do so.

Penalties imposed on individuals who did not purchase insurance, and employers who did not offer coverage to their workers, would raise $161 billion over that time-frame. That brings the net cost of the bill to $894 billion through 2019, CBO said.

Achieving that number requires over $400-billion in cuts to existing programs and over $570-billion in new taxes — Trust Us!

The death panel end-of-life-counseling provision made it into those 1,990 pages:

The Medicare end-of-life planning provision that 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said was tantamount to “death panels” for seniors is staying in the latest Democratic health care bill unveiled Thursday.

The provision allows Medicare to pay for voluntary counseling to help beneficiaries deal with the complex and painful decisions families face when a loved one is approaching death.

‘Naw, we’d never, ever tell ya when to pull the plug on grandma — Trust Us!”

Let’s wrap up: Good ol’ House Speaker Nanny Nancy wants a full House vote on this mother by the end of next week — 1,990 pages, around 400,000 words, a 10-year cost guesstimate of $894 billion buckaroos — gee, a bit over two bucks plus two bits a word. Cheap, huh? And she’s givin’ them a whole week to read and digest this pup. Didn’t know that your Congress person was a speed reader, did ya?

Nancy, she say — “Trust Us!”

Over at The Washington Times, Amanda Carpenter’s Hot Button makes note that what Senate Dems and the Obama White House have so far failed to do to the coal industry, the EPA is working overtime to accomplish:

While campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama said his cap-and-trade tax plans would “bankrupt” anyone building a coal-fired power plant. Although those taxes haven’t materialized, the Environmental Protection Agency has put the brakes on 79 surface mining permits in four states since he was elected.

The EPA says these permits could violate the Clean Water Act and warrant “enhanced” review. But the agency went even further last week, announcing plans to revoke a permit for the Spruce No. 1 Mine in West Virginia – a move that has caused anxiety among coal-state Democrats about the future of the industry under the Obama administration.

Mr. Obama’s opposition to coal has been apparent since January 2008 when he told the San Francisco Chronicle he would clamp down on miners by enacting a cap-and-trade system that would make it too expensive to stay in business. “So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can,” he said at the time. “It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that’s being emitted.”

Although his favored cap-and-trade bill hasn’t yet been passed, West Virginia’s Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin III, who supported Mr. Obama’s candidacy, called the EPA moves part of a stealth campaign to stifle the industry.

Yeah, just what this country needs right now, another big industry to go into permanent decline — dragging a lot of others along for the ride, not to even mention all the rest of us with much higher energy bills due to the higher cost of coal, or the complete lack of it altogether. All in the name of combating so-called Anthropogenic Climate Change, formerly know as the Holy Order of Global Warming. This secular church is being propped up today with some new rounds of statistics that argue against what most of us have observed first hand — “they” say that the numbers tell us that it’s not getting cooler right now, but it’s still getting hotter.

Have you heard that the world is now cooling instead of warming? You may have seen some news reports on the Internet or heard about it from a provocative new book.

Only one problem: It’s not true, according to an analysis of the numbers done by several independent statisticians for The Associated Press.

{…}

“If you look at the data and sort of cherry-pick a micro-trend within a bigger trend, that technique is particularly suspect,” said John Grego, a professor of statistics at the University of South Carolina.

“[C]herry-pick a micro-trend within a bigger trend[.]“ Hmmm, isn’t that exactly what those Global Warming proponents have done for years now with their slavish regard for the discredited “Hockey Stick” graph?

In his LA Times column today, Fido, a.k.a. the climate criminal, Liberal Fascists author Jonah Goldberg puts all the hoo haa about stressing over man-caused global warming into perspective.

Some climate-change activists would take your dog away — and spend trillions on other efforts — rather than come up with solutions that could actually work to offset carbon levels.

{…}

The push in Congress for a huge new carbon tax is a dangerous farce. Yes, it’s true that CO2 levels and global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution, and that’s something to take seriously. But the political reality is that truly meaningful global restrictions on CO2 emissions in the near future simply will not happen, and pretending otherwise is a waste of time, money and political capital.

{…}

Meanwhile, an international bureaucracy pushes “global governance” to combat climate change, heedless of popular sentiment. America’s founders revolted to protest too much taxation and too little representation. The notion that America will sacrifice its sovereignty and treasure — and dogs! — to reduce warming by a fraction a century from now is absurd.

If you cannot afford — politically, morally or economically — the solution to a perceived problem, then it’s not a solution.

So, will the Dem wits in Congress actually cram Cap & Trade Crap & TAX down our throats like the shit sandwich that it is? Will you, Mr. or Mrs. American citizen accept being told by your government to freeze your keester off in the Winter and sweat your gonads off in the summer so that little entrepreneurs in China and India can pump the world full of C02 as they please? Not that doing so would hurt the trees any mind you. Or maybe, like John Holdren, the Obama administration Science Czar, you’re a big fan of the Chinese way of population control — one child per family — enforced however cruelly is necessary?

As Dennis Prager is so fond of saying, “If you don’t believe in God, you’ll believe in anything.”

Yeah, you’ll believe that little ol’ us can actually destroy, or save, the planet Earth . . .

Right! Anyone want to buy a bridge?

Democratic Congressman David Scott (D-13th District, Georgia) had a bit o’ trouble when asked a simple question about the Obama health care plan being jammed through Nancy Pelosi’s House. Seems that a mild-mannered, well-spoken doctor, who had repeatedly tried to get a meeting with the Congressman but couldn’t, finally decided that he would have to corral Scott at an open meeting. The doc wasn’t out of line, as questioning had been open to all subjects . . . however, the Congressman can’t quite rise to the occasion when asked, “Do you support a government run option?”

With all the YouTube action over this past week of concerned conservatives and independents getting VOCAL to the max at these types of meetings, it is refreshing to see one where the opposition is all calm, cool and collected while the elected official has a fit. Ace says it well:

Videos of angry protesters shouting are dime a dozen. Yes, people are angry. We know that. Adds very little to the debate, except the very incremental information that yes, these particular people are angry too.

On the other hand, catch an idiot melting down over a perfectly fair question from one of his constituents, and you’ve really got something. Priceless:

Make one wonder what the good Congressman would have said if the doc had asked him about the deficit, which grew by $181 billion in July!

Bailouts for financial firms and billions in tax revenue lost because of the recession drove the deficit to a record $1.3 trillion in July, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

Tax receipts that have fallen due to the poor economy and increased spending to save car companies, banks and mortgage firms were major contributors to the federal deficit, according to CBO, which provides official budget numbers for Congress. The federal deficit grew by another $181 billion in July.

Falling tax receipts and increased spending on bailouts for auto companies and the financial sector and for the economic stimulus package added to the deficit, according to CBO.

That’s 181 billion, with a “B”! Sure sounds like a great time to spend more of the people’s money, right? Like, let’s see . . . Nancy Pelosi and the Dem Wit House need some new private jets to fly around in, the Obama administration agrees on getting four, and voilà — the House votes to buy not the four, but eight!

$550 MILLION for Eight. Private. Jets.

The funding for new planes is “a classic example of Congress being out of touch with the realities of deficit spending,” said Mr. Thune.

The Obama administration had sought $220 million to buy four passenger jets, including two that are currently being leased by the Air Force, to replace a fleet of older planes. Before leaving town for the August break, House lawmakers doubled the aircraft order to eight, at a total cost of $550 million.

Hmmm, if Congressman Scott had been asked about this private-jet-buy his head probably would have done a Linda Blair spinaround!

Let’s recap:

• About the “details” of Obamacare, Dem wit Congressmen don’t want to talk about it, don’t want to answer any concerns, run and hide from constituents!
• Tax revenues are down severely, spending is up exponentially; the deficit is growing like baby Godzilla!
• Nanny Nancy and her Dems decides the timing is perfect to saddle taxpayers with the cost of eight private jets, just so they can fly the friendly skies in style!

All this madness can end, by the way; 2010 is just around the corner.

Wow! Goin’ on vacation isn’t what it used to be . . .

Kathleen Sebelius and Arlen Specter don’t fare any better in Philadelphia.

Michelle Malkin warns and challenges:

Prepare to be demonized, of course.

And don’t let up until socialized medicine goes down[.]

Gee, the crowd in Philly wasn’t very “kind” when Specter proclaims that the Congress needs to get this “currently unwritten” legislation passed — FAST!

A commenter on the YouTube page for that last video says it all:

Did I hear this right, Specter said he would “divide up the bill and make judgement very fast” and did’nt Kathleen Sebelius say “The Bill isn’t written”. What the HELL are they voting on? What kind of Idiot would Sign a BLANK Bill and Fill in the rest later?????

Oh, I recon the same kind of idiots that voted on the “unread”, partially “unwritten” Waxman-Markey “Cap & Trade TAX” bill just over a month ago — kinda a pattern happenin’ here, no? But, at least the natives are finally getting restless.

We need a couple thousand of these ‘Just Say NO!” rallies and then maybe those professional politicians would finally remember who they work for! Or, maybe not. Watch this next one and see Obama and other Dems, in their own words, confirm that what they really want is to eliminate all PRIVATE health insurance and implement a SINGLE PAYER plan for all Americans.

Single Payer for all, except for our esteemed leaders, natch. No one’s gonna touch their gold-plated plan — not in this lifetime. They gotta stay real healthy so that they can have enough stamina to keep screwin’ with all the rest of us!

Now really, was 52% enough of a mandate to destroy the finest, most modern, most innovative system of health care the world has ever seen?

I can hear it now, ol’ Nanny Nancy gettin’ up and screeching “Pass this bill or we’ll kill this planet!” Or something to that effect. The Waxman-Markey bill passed the House yesterday evening thanks to the defections of 8 Republicans and despite the “no” votes of 44 Democrats. Michelle Malkin has a wanted poster up for “The 8 cap-and-tax Republicans…and the 44 Democrats who voted no”, along with phone numbers so that you can call those 8 suckers and let them know just how much you are looking forward to paying out the wazzoo for so-called “green” energy in the not so distant future.

After all, they’re all like just saving the planet man, don’t ya know? Like Gaia has any trouble handlin’ her own stuff!

In “Voting For Economic Suicide” Hugh Hewitt puts it in perspective:

They could not have read the bill.

A 300 page amendment to a bill that greatly impacts every American and greatly burdens every American business was introduced at 3:00 AM Friday and passed 16 hours later.

The spectacle of the House voting for a massive tax increase and a 300 page amendment they could not have read is a low point for post-segregationist Congresses. Never have so few read so little about so important a proposal, and yet brazen forward oblivious to the the deeply embarrassing charade it presents to the world. Banana republics make a better show of governing themselves than did the U.S. House of Representatives today.

{…}

The country knows the Obama/Pelosi/Reid Democrats are drunk on power and lurching so far to the left as to stun even partisan Democrats. The Senate may stop this attempt at economic suicide, but independents and Republicans cannot allow the public to forget the recklessness of today’s abdication of responsibility by the hard left House leadership.

There is even a part of the bill called “placeholder”, which will deal with market associated financial derivatives that will have to do with carbon emissions — PLACEHOLDER????!!!!!! So, not only has no one actually read this monster but some of it isn’t even written yet???!!! — and they passed it anyway? And these are the same jokers that are full-speed freight-training a government-option health care bill that they say will be done this summer! Yeah, like we want folks like this to be in charge of our rectal exams! Sheesh!

The 2010 elections can’t come soon enough. The economy isn’t turning around, unemployment is getting higher, government is meddling more and more in our business and private lives — Guess that’s the “change” part of Obama’s hopichanginess he promised.

Perhaps it should have been called “Hopeless Change” . . .

I don’t do this often, but this is too important to excerpt. From the D.C. Examiner comes this editorial:

Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel

By Examiner Editorial – 3/26/09

With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community service job increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that on closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism. The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns.

To begin with, the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair, and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service – including elementary school students. The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination. Now, ask yourself if congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening.

Totally frightening! Totally fascist! Benito would be proud.

However, The Anchoress cautions us to not be afraid:

DO NOT BE AFRAID. Everything happens for a reason. All is in place for a purpose. You just hunker down, stock up on some tuna, candles, batteries, ammo, duct tape and good books, keep the family close, get quiet and pray – and stay positive, because if you believe all things happen to God’s glory, well…here come glory.

Things are moving very fast for a reason, and after being delayed for 8 years, this train ain’t stopping for anything.

This administration, and this Congress is getting totally out of control. Sometimes fear is a good thing — especially if it spurs one on to action. Better start stockin’ up!

Technorati Tags: National Community Civilian Corps

Not a lot of time for blogging here but my goodness, it seems like the news gets worse by the very minute. After spending close to a trillion dollars, and then pledging another in a public/private plan to save the banking system, our Obamassiah, er. President Chosen One his own self, is asking Congress for the power to take over all financial-based businesses — if his Treasury Secretary good ol’ (Turbo-Tax-Tim) Geithner feels like they might be on the verge of failure — or whatever other reason they dream up I’m sure.

The administration’s proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed’s other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy.

The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure.

WTF? Confiscatory maybe? Unconstitutional??? You bet! You think this administration cares? Obama is pressing Congress to move quickly to give his administration this new authority. No doubt, he would like to parade these new powers during his G20 summit in London next week. In a LA Times editorial today, Making the world work again, our teleprompter-tongued leader laid out his overall agenda — er, make that his World-Wide agenda. It takes him awhile to get through the political boiler plate, but when he gets to the meat, I smell somethin’ rancid!

While these actions can help get us out of crisis, we cannot settle for a return to the status quo. We must put an end to the reckless speculation and spending beyond our means; to the bad credit, over-leveraged banks and absence of oversight that condemns us to bubbles that inevitably bust. Only coordinated international action can prevent the irresponsible risk-taking that caused this crisis. That is why I am committed to seizing this opportunity to advance comprehensive reforms of our regulatory and supervisory framework.

All of our financial institutions — on Wall Street and around the globe — need strong oversight and common- sense rules. All markets should have standards for stability and a mechanism for disclosure. A strong framework of capital requirements should protect against future crises. We must crack down on offshore tax havens and money laundering. Rigorous transparency and accountability must check abuse, and the days of out-of-control compensation must end. Instead of patchwork efforts that enable a race to the bottom, we must provide the clear incentives for good behavior that foster a race to the top.

I know that America bears its share of responsibility for the mess that we all face. But I also know that we need not choose between a chaotic and unforgiving capitalism and an oppressive government-run economy. That is a false choice that will not serve our people or any people.

This G-20 meeting provides a forum for a new kind of global economic cooperation. Now is the time to work together to restore the sustained growth that can only come from open and stable markets that harness innovation, support entrepreneurship and advance opportunity.

The nations of the world have a stake in one another. The United States is ready to join a global effort on behalf of new jobs and sustainable growth. Together, we can learn the lessons of this crisis and forge a prosperity that is enduring and secure for the 21st century.

Yesterday on air Hugh Hewitt told a caller that he didn’t think Obama was working toward a One-World Order, with a common currency and planet-wide control. Wonder what he thinks after reading this Obama LA Times piece? China is ready to deep-six the greenback and get the world rolling on a common currency, controlled by the IMF, not by markets and governments.

China’s central bank on Monday proposed replacing the US dollar as the international reserve currency with a new global system controlled by the International Monetary Fund.

In an essay posted on the People’s Bank of China’s website, Zhou Xiaochuan, the central bank’s governor, said the goal would be to create a reserve currency “that is disconnected from individual nations and is able to remain stable in the long run, thus removing the inherent deficiencies caused by using credit-based national currencies”.

Analysts said the proposal was an indication of Beijing’s fears that actions being taken to save the domestic US economy would have a negative impact on China.

China is worried that the US won’t be able to cover all the borrowing that Obama will be doing to pay for his Extreme Makeover of America. He did warn us, you know? Maybe Obama can sell them on the Obamabuck?

George Will rebukes the new President and the Congress for their “recent lawlessness, situational constitutionalism and institutional derangement”. That pretty much sums it all up!

As the Anchoress says, “We are in terrible trouble, you know.” She also has some words about Notre Dame asking King Obama to give the commencement address this year. The uproar of course is Obama’s staunch support for all manner of abortion, even partial-birth abortion, and his refusal while in Illinois to support legislation that would require medical attention for babies born alive during a botched abortion. Watch those videos on her post of folks playin’ “Yes we can” backwards and hearing” Thank you Satan.” Much more convincing than the old “Paul is dead” and “I buried Paul” that got the Boomers all hot and bothered in the early ’70s.

BTW — Hugh Hewitt finds nothing good about Obama being asked to speak at Notre Dame:

In a single gesture, ND has undone much if not all of the work of last fall during which the Roman Catholic hierarchy in America labored mightily to deliver the message that the Church really does mean what it says about protecting the unborn. The public rebukes to Speaker Pelosi and candidate Biden about their distortion of Church teaching on abortion underscored the resolve of the Church’s leadership to deliver a message about the centrality of the Church’s position on life to the Church’s mission in the world.

By inviting President Obama to be honored, Notre Dame’s leadership undermines all of that effort in a stroke, sending a message to the entire culture that those crazy bishops and cardinals don’t speak for Catholicism in America. The country’s preeminent Catholic institution just doesn’t care about abortion, or embryonic stem cell research, or even late term abortion or the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, at least not enough to stand in the way of a good party and a lot of camera time.

Michelle Malkin notes that over 80,000 (now over 87,000!) have signed a petition protesting Obama speaking at Notre Dame. You can sign it here.

Bad things are happening all around us. Over at Cheat-Seeking Missiles, Laer contrasts his school days with today’s in light of Zero Tolerance policies that are illuminating the rank insanity that has overtaken our public school administrators. Over in Safford, AZ, the school system feels it’s appropriate to strip-search a 13 year old girl for bringing prescription-strength ibuprofen (the equivalent of two Advils®) to school. After making her strip to her underwear, well, the girl herself describes the rest:

“[T]hey asked me to pull out my bra and move it from side to side,” she said. “They made me open my legs and pull out my underwear.”

Bottom line — no pills. This school system lost in the insanely liberal Ninth Circuit. Now they are taking it to SCOTUS, and it will be heard this year. Let’s hope that the Rodger’s court will KO this stupid school system and make plain that unreasonable search and seizure is, well — unreasonable. And, unconstitutional!

Ace sends us to this piece by author Jerry Pournelle: SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS

Why should free citizens welcome a master? What is the attraction that tyrants hold?

It is not so difficult to see why nations might turn to a strong leader after a military disaster, or in times of civil war, but that is not the whole of it.

The sad truth is that democracy itself is often unstable. Intellectuals lose faith. Democracy is not flashy. It falls out of fashion. The intelligentsia feel scorned, unappreciated, and turn to new theories.

There are other pressures. Republics stand until the citizens begin to vote themselves largess from the public treasury. When the plunder begins, those plundered feel no loyalty to the nation—and the beneficiaries demand ever more, until few are left unplundered. Eventually everyone plunders everyone, the state serving as little more than an agency for collecting and dispensing largess. The economy falters. Inflation begins. Deficits mount. Something must be done. Strong measures are demanded, but nothing can be agreed to.

In Weimar Germany the price of a postage stamp went to 8 billion marks. In China, Latin America, many of the new African nations, inflation has exceeded 1000%. The middle class is destroyed. The economy collapses. Democratic institutions cannot cope.

Enter the strong man, who will save the state.

Hmmm, sound like anyone? Can we really be so stupid as to elect the agent of our own destruction, hand him the keys to our freedoms and access to our purse and then stand back and watch in utter amazement as over 200 years of history and human progress goes down the toilet, treated like a turd?

Evidently, Yes. We. Can.

Technorati Tags: Geithner, G20 summit, One-World Order, Notre Dame

Folks — If you just went out and made this crap up — no one would believe ya! Gee, I wish it was all just a dream . . . or just another botched joke on The Tonight Show.
More at Mock Barack

President Obama’s budget proposals, if carried out, would produce a staggering $9.3 trillion in total deficits over the next decade, much more than the White House has predicted, the Congressional Budget Office said on Friday.

The office’s estimates of deficits in the fiscal years 2010 through 2019 “exceed those anticipated by the administration by $2.3 trillion.”

The deficits under the Obama plan would be $4.9 trillion more than the projected deficits if there were no changes in current laws and policies — what the nonpartisan budget office calls its baseline assumption.

The startling new figures have enormous implications, political as well as fiscal. They are certain to bring new expressions of alarm and dismay from deficit hawks on Capitol Hill, where the president’s $3.6 trillion budget proposal for the next fiscal year, which begins in October, has already stirred debate.

President Obama’s budget director, Peter R. Orszag, conceded in a news briefing on Friday that annual deficits of 4 to 5 percent of gross domestic product, as envisioned in the office’s report, are “ultimately not sustainable.”

Read it all. Makes on wonder if the White House somehow got the CBO to wait until late Friday to release this report — let it get buried over the weekend and all. Meanwhile, President Chosen One fiddles around with Jay Leno — insulting the Special Olympics along the way (Michelle Malkin says “The teleprompter made him do it!” — while the U.S. Congress tries to burn down the economic house.

Meanwhile, Ace has the goods on Pres Barry O’s best use of that pesky ol’ teleprompter.

Heh!

I watched the Chosen One’s first presser last night and besides my eyes glazing over and almost falling out of my chair with boredom — which the press themselves looked ready to do — I wonder what the man actually accomplished except for nailing shut the coffin on bi-partisanship before his first month in office is done.

And boy is it ever done! Michelle Malkin announces that with the votes of three turn-coat Republicans, Specter, Snowe, and Collins, the Senate has passed the so-called stimulus bill 61-37 and adds:

Now, it’s off to the House-Senate conference backrooms to stuff more pork back in.

You didn’t think that they’d really leave out the “pork” now, did ya? Not with good ol’ Chucky Schumer telling all of us that he doesn’t care a flyin’-fornicatin’-rodent’s-hairy-hiney what WE think. Watch him taunting his GOP co-senators.

“American people really don’t care”, huh Chuck? They’ll care plenty when they have to pay the bill! They’ll care even more when the bill comes due and this porky, portly non-plan of non-action creates nada, nothing in the realm of jobs. Well, maybe they’ll care.

Wall Street isn’t impressed and the Dow is plummeting, in fact, the more that Obama’s Treasury Secretary Geithner speaks, the faster it tanks. Perhaps it’s because he’s talking about injecting another $1.5 – $2 TRILLION into the banking sector. That’s trillion, with a “T”! On top of the $800 plus Billion for the stimulus, the original $350 Billion TARP funds and the more, More, MORE $$$ that we keep hearing will be required before we can dig out from this financial crisis. The Anchoress remarks on the Wall Street free fall:

Stocks Tumbling: As the Senate passes a bill to end America as we know it. Well, Michelle Obama did say her husband would “never let us go back to the way we were.” Is anyone surprised – by any of this?

Geez, I got a huge headache! I’m not the only one. My buddy Laer at Cheat-Seeking Missiles saw “No Magic” in the Pres’ presser either:

Unfortunately for the newly dour Mr. Obama – who, it seems, never thought for a moment that being president would be anything but fun – the American people have started paying attention. They look at the crazed spending and obscene overreach of Porkasaurus and say to themselves, “I just don’t believe this guy any more. If this is how he deals with a crisis, he’s right – we may not be able to reverse it.”

He also presents AOL poll results that show Obama’s stature with the lefty side of the populace being taken down a few notches to boot. Ed Morrissey thinks that Obama told two big whoppers about the GOP and blew his history review of Japan’s economic failures in the 1990s. Lie number one is that the GOP wanted to “do nothing” about the crisis. Lie number two is that the GOP is solely responsible for the trillion dollar deficit, and he told the reporters, and the American people, that Japan messed up by not acting swiftly enough.

In other words, Obama gets an F in economic history despite supposedly having the best and brightest cribbers working on his staff. He gets an F for honesty as well as an D- on bipartisanship. It’s a lousy start to his four-year class on how to be an executive.

Ace sees the classic “bait & switch” of a shifty used car salesman:

Bait and switch. He promised a much more sensible stimulus with more tax cuts — and costing only $174 billion — as Candidate Obama.

As President Obama, he is ramming an $1.3 trillion porkfest on us and claiming the “people have spoken” and have endorsed this plan through their votes.

Actually, to the extent they endorsed anything, they endorsed the more Republican-friendly $174 billion plan.

He also notes that the AP is starting to “wonder” about Obama’s facts and figures.

Watching the presser on C-Span, as it wrapped and the Mighty-”O” exited stage back and the mikes still live — what I saw was a classic South Park moment — everyone looking a bit stunned with “What the Hell was that!” looks on their faces, with nervous laughter all around.

I keep snappin’ my fingers in front of my face — I still can’t wake from this nightmare — all I can hear in my head is that voice form on high sayin’, “I Won! Deal with it!”

Technorati Tags: stimulus bill, Geithner, TARP, Obama, porkfest

What the Obama administration needs to do is cut a deal with McNEIL-PPC, Inc. to send out to every American taxpayer their own super-size tub of KY Jelly, ’cause with the reamin’ that’s a comin’ based on last night’s Senatorial “compromise”, all us taxpayers are gonna need all the heavy-duty lubricant that we can possibly get our hands on as we bend over to take the BIG ONE up the ol’ financial wazoo! Yep, three of the GOP’s not-so-finest, Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, caved in to the persuasions of Obama’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and the Senate Democrat majority and abandoned their fellow Republicans — which begs the question, “Just what did those three get promised in return?” The Senate minority leader puts it in the proper perspective:

“Now, if most Republicans were convinced that this would work, there might be a greater willingness to support it,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on the floor of the Senate after announcement of the deal. “But all the historical evidence suggests that it’s highly unlikely to work. And so, you have to balance the likelihood of success versus the crushing debt that we’re levying on the backs of our children, our grandchildren, and, yes, their children.”

True, this is about $100+ Billion less than it would have been yesterday, and that sounds like “such a deal”, if you’re one of those morons that buys into anything that gets promoted you way. Over at Patterico they are likening this to a bad car buying deal:

$100 billion off a $937 billion package. If that sounds good to you, then you’re probably the type of person who is impressed when the car dealer says he’s willing to knock $500 off the sticker price.

{…}

There are about 138 million taxpayers in the country. A $937 billion package, therefore, amounts to $6789 for every taxpayer.

If they cut it by $100 billion, that brings the total to the low, low price of only $6065 per taxpayer. For a typical family, that’s $12,130.

Twelve thousand dollars per family. That’s the number that may bring the “moderate Republicans” on board.

Who’s paying that? You? Or your kids, with interest?

Well, all we know is that it probably won’t be any of the high-profile Democrats payin’ for nothin’, as they sure don’t seem to like payin’ their fair share of the tax burden they dump on the rest of us!

But hey you say, Obama’s right, we really need to stop standing around and “DO SOMETHING!”, and do it “RIGHT FRICKIN’ NOW!”, or we’re all doomed! Doomed! DOOMED!!!!!!

Un, the Congressional Budget Office would like to have a little word with all you “depression hysterics” out there:

President Obama’s economic recovery package will actually hurt the economy more in the long run than if he were to do nothing, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

CBO, the official scorekeepers for legislation, said the House and Senate bills will help in the short term but result in so much government debt that within a few years they would crowd out private investment, actually leading to a lower Gross Domestic Product over the next 10 years than if the government had done nothing.

CBO estimates that by 2019 the Senate legislation would reduce GDP by 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent on net.

According to the rest of this article, there is an admission by the COB that some jobs will be created by this so-called “stimulus” package — but that for the next 2-1/2 — 3 years the effects of that would be “minimal”.

So, get that into your head. WE are gonna let Congress give Obama the power to spend almost a Trillion Dollars even though the Congress’ own budget office says that this spending will achieve next to nothing. Michelle Malkin gives us the current update on where all this stands as of Sat. noon:

Here’s where things stand. The Senate will be in session today from about noon to 3:00pm Eastern. Members will speak, but there won’t be any roll call votes. Cloture will reportedly be filed on the Cave-In/”Compromise” amendment from Sens. Collins and Nelson. The cloture vote (to end debate) on the amendment is scheduled for Monday at 5:30pm Eastern. GOP minority leader Mitch McConnell’s office tells us that “if cloture is invoked on the amendment post cloture time will run until noon on Tuesday. At noon on Tuesday the bill will be subject to another 60 vote hurdle by either waiving a budget point of order or achieving 60 votes on final passage.”

They’re taking Sunday off.

Question: Who has seen the Collins/Nelson cave-in amendment? Where is it? When can we, the taxpayers, see it? SHOW US THE BILL.

She calls this bill a “gold-plated pile of crapola!”

Wow! What a way to learn the hard knocks of losing an election, especially to the most radical-Left candidate in many a generation. If this gets past both houses of Congress and is signed into law by the Chosen One, better hope that they get that KY delivered and fast. Cause “assume the position” will be the order of the day!

Remember, only the first 6 Billion is consensual . . .

Technorati Tags: Mitch McConnell, Obama’s economic recovery package

Chris Muir’s Day by Day Cartoon

Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal today, thinks that President Obama has made a colossal blunder even while getting a big “win” with the House Democrat’s passing of the Economic Stimulus Bill.

President Obama could have made big history here. Instead he just got a win. It’s a missed opportunity.

It’s a win because of the obvious headline: Nine days after inauguration, the new president achieves a major Congressional victory, House passage of an economic stimulus bill by a vote of 244-188. It wasn’t even close. This is major.

But do you know anyone, Democrat or Republican, dancing in the street over this? You don’t. Because most everyone knows it isn’t a good bill, and knows that its failure to receive a single Republican vote, not one, suggests the old battle lines are hardening. Back to the Crips versus the Bloods. Not very inspiring.

The president will enjoy short-term gain. In the great circle of power, to win you have to look like a winner, and to look like a winner you have to win. He did and does. But for the long term, the president made a mistake by not forcing the creation of a bill Republicans could or should have supported.

Consider the moment. House Republicans had conceded that dramatic action was needed and had grown utterly supportive of the idea of federal jobs creation on a large scale. All that was needed was a sober, seriously focused piece of legislation that honestly tried to meet the need, one that everyone could tinker with a little and claim as their own. Instead, as Rep. Mike Pence is reported to have said to the president, “Know that we’re praying for you. . . . But know that there has been no negotiation [with Republicans] on the bill—we had absolutely no say.” The final bill was privately agreed by most and publicly conceded by many to be a big, messy, largely off-point and philosophically chaotic piece of legislation. The Congressional Budget Office says only 25% of the money will even go out in the first year. This newspaper, in its analysis, argues that only 12 cents of every dollar is for something that could plausibly be called stimulus.

Obama should have been reminded of his “lipstick on a pig” line from the campaign as this bill is almost total pork, and tryin’ to hold the Dem Wit’s feet to the fire on this one is worse than tryin’ to catch a greased pig!

Noonan is correct in her analysis — Obama could have pulled off the coup of his political career if he had actually thrown the GOP congressmen a bone or two, let them get some real input into the House Stimulus Bill, made it impossible for them to not have some ownership, some skin in this game. If that had happened it would be game over — Dem control for probably as long as I’ll be around.

He didn’t — it didn’t — The Dems own this one lock, stock and barrel! Not sure what the Senate GOP members are made of — sure hope that they get some inspiration from their House brethren and get ready to rumble — make that filibuster. Yeah folks — filibuster like you mean it and like it might be the last time. If MN breaks for Franken, it just might be your last time.

Technorati Tags: Economic Stimulus Bill, President Obama

Well, 5 days into the Obama Presidency and gee, the fellow sure has been busy. Doing the business of the people, no doubt. No doubt if you don’t believe in the sanctity of nascent human life, no doubt if you aren’t a bit afraid of the terrorists being held in Guantanamo, no doubt if you cringe at the thought of our CIA operatives going full Jack Bauer on some vile American-hating combatant or terror planner to find out just how they are planning to kill all of us. No doubt, if you hate Rush Limbaugh. Say what?

Yep, Prez Barry-O took a swipe back at Rush yesterday, “warning” republicans on the hill not to listen to him anymore, not to consider the concerns of their conservative constituents back home ’cause WE ALL GOTS LOTS TO DO OR THE ECONOMY WILL BE TOILETIZED! And, better than that, “I WON!” Just STFU and deal with it was the unspoken sentiment, or with Rahm Emmanuel on board, maybe it was indeed spoken.

Of course when you take a look at the Democrat’s plan, a lot of the money won’t get into the economy for nearly two years! A big chunk is slated for tax rebates for those that don’t pay any Federal income taxes (welfare by any other name is still welfare, isn’t it?) And what’s up with hundreds of millions for condoms?

Let’s shine some light on a couple of those. First, Obama‘s executive order that affects abortion, which he signed one day after the 36th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade SCOTUS ruling. With this order, Obama once again stuck down the rule that disallowed International funding for groups that promoted and or performed abortions. This ruling was first established by Ronald Reagan and then rescinded by ol’ Slick Willy. “W” reinstated it, and now Barry-O has decided that killing the unborn abroad needs to be cool again, supported by our taxpayer dollars, natch. Gerald Warner writes at the Telegraph.co.UK: Barack Obama inauguration: this Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears. [h/t: Michelle Malkin]

To anyone who kept his head, the string of Christmas cracker mottoes booming through the public address system on Washington’s National Mall can only excite scepticism. It is crucial to recall the reality that lies behind the rhetoric. Denouncing “those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents” comes ill from a man whose flagship legislation, the Freedom of Choice Act, will impose abortion, including partial-birth abortion, on every state in the Union. It seems the era of Hope is to be inaugurated with a slaughter of the innocents.

{…}

It is frightening to think there is a real possibility that the entire world economy could go into complete meltdown and famine kill millions. Yet Western – and British – commentators are cocooned in a warm comfort zone of infatuation with America’s answer to Neil Kinnock. We should be long past applauding politicians of any hue: they got us into this mess. The best deserve a probationary opportunity to prove themselves, the worst should be in jail.

It is questionable whether the present political system can survive the coming crisis. Whatever the solution, teenage swooning sentimentality over a celebrity cult has no part in it. The most powerful nation on earth is confronting its worst economic crisis under the leadership of its most extremely liberal politician, who has virtually no experience of federal politics. That is not an opportunity but a catastrophe.

The Vatican is not amused:

Archbishop Rino Fisichella warned against what he called the ‘arrogance’ of those in power who think they can decide between life and death.

I warned you all about Obama’s aggressive pro-abortion attitude last Aug.: Obama On Abortion — He’s For It . . . Then Again, He’s For It! Remember, the concept of where life begins is “above our new President’s pay grade”!

And then there’s the continuing war on terror, or war on terrorists if you prefer. With released former Guantanamo prisoners showing up in al Qeada videos one might have second thoughts about releasing those last 200 plus detainees. But nope, one of the new Pres’ first orders of business was to declare that this facility would close within a year. He did give himself some wiggle room, “just in case” I guess, sanity makes a comeback. He also ordered the CIA to close all of its overseas prisons and banned any “US personnel including the CIA from using threats, coercion, physical abuse and waterboarding.” I guess that now all our guys can do is ask, “Is that music a bit too loud? Would you like some coffee with your baklava and a reading light with your Koran?” That’ll really make ‘em talk. Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, using tactics from his buddy Bill Ayers mentor, Saul Alinsky, Pres Barry-O picks a fight with Rush Limbaugh.

President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

“You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done,” he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.

“There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats,” the official said. “We shouldn’t let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done.”

Not being one to take a hit and not hit back, Rush responded:

There are two things going on here. One prong of the Great Unifier’s plan is to isolate elected Republicans from their voters and supporters by making the argument about me and not about his plan. He is hoping that these Republicans will also publicly denounce me and thus marginalize me. And who knows? Are ideological and philosophical ties enough to keep the GOP loyal to their voters? Meanwhile, the effort to foist all blame for this mess on the private sector continues unabated when most of the blame for this current debacle can be laid at the feet of the Congress and a couple of former presidents. And there is a strategic reason for this.

{…}

To make the argument about me instead of his plan makes sense from his perspective. Obama’s plan would buy votes for the Democrat Party, in the same way FDR’s New Deal established majority power for 50 years of Democrat rule, and it would also simultaneously seriously damage any hope of future tax cuts. It would allow a majority of American voters to guarantee no taxes for themselves going forward. It would burden the private sector and put the public sector in permanent and firm control of the economy. Put simply, I believe his stimulus is aimed at re-establishing “eternal” power for the Democrat Party rather than stimulating the economy because anyone with a brain knows this is NOT how you stimulate the economy.

{…}

If I can be made to serve as a distraction, then there is that much less time debating the merits of the trillion dollar debacle.

One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama’s ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy’s Rules for Radicals:

“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”

Back to the Obama bailout plan. And, what a plan it is folks. 825 Billion and counting — expected to top a Trillion before the Dems are through porking it up to make all good little Dems happy. They’ve got the keys to the car, the credit card for the gas, and a heavy right foot for the go, Go GO — they just don’t have any brakes on this jalopy! “Boldly and swiftly” they plan to lay zillions of miles of new electric grid, to bring online the power of wind mills and other renewable energy outlets — and do it all in the next three years. Yeah, right. They won’t even get through the environmental vetting process in three years, let alone lay a single mile of power line. His radical appointment to head the EPA will ensure that. Also, what I would like to know is how he plans to “cut electric” bills while at the same time impose draconian anti-CO2 measures on energy producers?

The Obama administration is pushing forward with plans to aggressively limit greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming despite fears that the move could further slow the recessionary economy.

The administration plans to portray the limits as a boost for America’s “clean energy economy,” according to congressional leaders and energy experts who have talked with top Obama advisors. The move would spur competition and promote investment in renewable alternatives to imported oil, the government will argue.

At issue is the so-called cap-and-trade initiative, under which the government would set limits on carbon emissions by power plants, factories and other installations, but allow those who emit more to buy or trade permits with companies and facilities that emitted less than the prescribed limit.

The idea is that raising the cost of pumping more carbon into the atmosphere would encourage companies and other emitters to cut back, thus reducing a principal cause of global warming.

But cap-and-trade would amount to a tax, raising energy costs. And several independent studies have suggested that emissions limits could be a drag on economic growth, a concern raised frequently by opponents of climate change legislation.

Not that the wealthy elite that just had to be at the Inauguration were in the least concerned about their “carbon footprint”, as 600 of their private jets were flown into DC for the occasion. Twice the number as for the “War-for-Oil” Bush event. Irony? Or just in-your-face narcissism?

We’ve got at least four years of this comin’ at us. This is the result of days 1-5. Better hope that the 41 Republicans in the Senate, 42 if Coleman ever gets a decent recount in MN, can stick together and filibuster well — otherwise it’s gonna be a painful 48 months!

Technorati Tags: Rush Limbaugh, millions for condoms, Obama, Guantanamo

Yeah, that’s right. I think that my district’s congressman, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) is starking-mad bonkers for what he’s about to do as chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee — from Yahoo News:

The chairman of a key House committee says he wants to pass a climate change bill before Memorial Day.

California Rep. Henry Waxman said Thursday the environment and U.S. economy depend on congressional action to confront the threat of climate change. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, spoke as he opened Congress’ first hearing on climate legislation.

A group of 14 corporate executives and environmental leaders are testifying before the panel. They’re part of a 31-member coalition that is calling for an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Nope, ya can’t blame this fellow on me, I sure never voted for him, and I doubt that he’d take my calls or ever promote anything that I would support. Henry is a lefty’s lefty through-&-through. I’ll give him this though, it takes some real balls, or maybe just a total disconnect from reality to hammer on this Climate Change issue with the top of the country facing 40 below temps, cold-temp records being shattered in Michigan, and Chicago having the most consecutive days of snowfall since the beginning of record keeping way back in 1884 hinting strongly that man-caused Global Warming has been oversold just a tad.

But really, these lefties can’t possibly believe that our world is coming to an end if we don’t reduce CO2 emissions. I honestly don’t believe that they’re that dumb. What they do believe in is finding any way possible to implement ever more government control over our lives. And many, especially in the environmental movement itself, are so entrenched in their belief that man is the root of all plague and pestilence on said planet Earth that they would like to see a depopulation of humanity to pre-human history levels. As long as they are part of the 10% that survive, of course, brainiacs that they are — the survivors will need their leadership skills, oh ya betcha.

Leaders like good ol’ Henry . . . right!

I won’t be votin’ for ya next time, either.

Technorati Tags: Henry Waxman, Climate Change, Global Warming

Yep — it’s been silent around these here parts since the 2nd of this month. I don’t remember a time since the inception of ‘Okie’ that I’ve gone 10 days between posts. I know that no one depends on this ol’ wordsmith for breaking news, and certainly there are more knowledgeable squires out there for giving you analysis — which leaves me good for commenting only — and I haven’t had much to say. Why? Now, there a question for ya.

Ever since November’s election I’ve been filled with a need to wait-and-see what our Pres-elect is going to do. Many — no, make that most — of the big sites were compelled to immediately attack Obama, like that is going to do anything constructive. Now, don’t get the ol’ Okie wrong, I’m extremely disappointed that our side didn’t win. But folks, we got ourselves an ol’ fashion’d ass-whuppin’ at the polls and there’s repercussions from things like that. Besides, after examining the Pres-elect’s picks so far, can you pick that apart much more that you would have a Pres-elect McCain’s attempts to “reach across the isle” and create a bi-partisan government — which he most surely would have done, look at his record. Sarah Palin would have squawked and been sent on a Siberian-delegation tour until summer.

My blog buddy Laer is keeping the “Obama Drama” record at this site, and so far the elected-One is drama-queen-in-chief. Still, like current VEEP Cheney said over the weekend:

“I have the same feeling that I think many Americans have, that it’s really remarkable that — what we’re going to do here in a few days is swear in the first African American president of the United States. When I came to town in 1968, we’d had the Martin Luther King assassination, Bobby Kennedy assassination, riots in the cities, major, major disturbances, a lot of it racially motivated around the country.

“And in fact, things have changed so dramatically that we’re now about to swear in Barack Obama as president of the United States. That’s really a remarkable story and I think a record of tremendous success and progress for the United States.”

Of course, being the first African-American President won’t keep him from steppin’ on his Johnson if he doesn’t govern wisely. In his This Week interview yesterday, Stephanopoulos asked Pres-elect Obama the following and got answered:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me press you on this, at the end of the day, are you really talking about over the course of your presidency some kind of a grand bargain? That you have tax reform, health care reform, entitlement reform, including Social Security and Medicare where everybody in the country is going to have to sacrifice something, accept change for the greater good?

OBAMA: Yes.

Anytime folks in power start throwing out the phrase greater good I start looking for a hidey hole, oh ya betcha, ’cause those folks either don’t know what they’re sayin’, or they really know what they’re sayin’ — know what I’m sayin’?

Meanwhile, while I don’t usually spend my free time reading Pravda, Drudge links to one of their articles this week that does a bang up job on exploding the myth of consensus concerning Global Warming man-caused Climate Change:

The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large and compelling body of evidence from within the field of climate science. Many sources of data which provide our knowledge base of long-term climate change indicate that the warm, twelve thousand year-long Holocene period will rather soon be coming to an end, and then the earth will return to Ice Age conditions for the next 100,000 years.

Ice cores, ocean sediment cores, the geologic record, and studies of ancient plant and animal populations all demonstrate a regular cyclic pattern of Ice Age glacial maximums which each last about 100,000 years, separated by intervening warm interglacials, each lasting about 12,000 years.

Most of the long-term climate data collected from various sources also shows a strong correlation with the three astronomical cycles which are together known as the Milankovich cycles. The three Milankovich cycles include the tilt of the earth, which varies over a 41,000 year period; the shape of the earth’s orbit, which changes over a period of 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, also known as the earth’s ‘wobble’, which gradually rotates the direction of the earth’s axis over a period of 26,000 years. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, these three astronomical cycles, each of which effects the amount of solar radiation which reaches the earth, act together to produce the cycle of cold Ice Age maximums and warm interglacials.

I’m not running out to buy future tundra locations in Florida, most likely we’ll see a return to a cycle similar to the Little Ice Age that decimated Europe, especially Ireland, in the period 1650AD — 1850AD. Oh, and what about the rising CO2 levels that Big Al Gore and the Global Warming hysterics constantly bleat about? The Pravda piece elaborates:

Because the release of CO2 by the warming oceans lags behind the changes in the earth’s temperature, we should expect to see global CO2 levels continue to rise for another eight hundred years after the end of the earth’s current Interglacial warm period. We should already be eight hundred years into the coming Ice Age before global CO2 levels begin to drop in response to the increased chilling of the world’s oceans.

The Vostok ice core data graph reveals that global CO2 levels regularly rose and fell in a direct response to the natural cycle of Ice Age minimums and maximums during the past four hundred and twenty thousand years. Within that natural cycle, about every 110,000 years global temperatures, followed by global CO2 levels, have peaked at approximately the same levels which they are at today.

{…}

The AGW theory is based on data that is drawn from a ridiculously narrow span of time and it demonstrates a wanton disregard for the ‘big picture’ of long-term climate change. The data from paleoclimatology, including ice cores, sea sediments, geology, paleobotany and zoology, indicate that we are on the verge of entering another Ice Age, and the data also shows that severe and lasting climate change can occur within only a few years. While concern over the dubious threat of Anthropogenic Global Warming continues to distract the attention of people throughout the world, the very real threat of the approaching and inevitable Ice Age, which will render large parts of the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable, is being foolishly ignored.

In light of this kind of information, what is the incoming administration gonna do? Why appoint a climate czar with socialist ties and goals for “global governance” of course:

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for “global governance” and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner’s name and biography had been removed from Socialist International’s Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group’s congress in Greece was still available.

Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world’s social democratic political parties such as Britain’s Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.

The group’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, the organization’s action arm on climate change, says the developed world must reduce consumption and commit to binding and punitive limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr. Obama, who has said action on climate change would be a priority in his administration, tapped Mrs. Browner last month to fill a new position as White House coordinator of climate and energy policies. The appointment does not need Senate confirmation.

Uhhhh, that don’t sound so good!

Mrs. Browner ran the Environmental Protection Agency under President Clinton. Until she was tapped for the Obama administration, she was on the board of directors for the National Audubon Society, the League of Conservation Voters, the Center for American Progress and former Vice President Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection.

Her name has been removed from the Gore organization’s Web site list of directors, and the Audubon Society issued a press release about her departure from that organization.

Funny, not funny ha ha, is the way liberals, make that Progressives, like to use the “Memory Hole” tactic of website scrubbing. So, even though I’ve been willing to give our POTUS-elect the benefit of the doubt — the doubts keep stacking up big time, and fast, too.

BTW — long-time ‘Okie’ reader Glenn from Mustang, OK sent this to me. Looks like an organized assault on the 2nd Amendment is in the works. Not much of a mystery of where Obama will stand on this one . . . Remember, you can’t lock and load what you don’t got!

Technorati Tags: Obama, African-American President, Global Warming, Carol M. Browner, climate change, 2nd Amendment

And, they did it anyway!

Ed Morrissey breaks it down for us:

Here, in fact, is the genesis of the problem, the ideology that created the monster. Cuomo, the Clinton administration, and Congress believed they had the right and the power to determine acceptable risk for the lenders, rather than lenders determining it for themselves in a free market. Even while imposing risk standards on lenders, Cuomo admits that he expects a higher default rate on the new loans — which is why the lenders didn’t want to write them in the first place.

In other words, the CRA didn’t get used to fight discrimination, but to force lenders to give money to high-risk borrowers for political purposes. And Cuomo knew it.

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While Democrats like Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi keep blaming “greed” for the collapse, it was Democrats like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd building that “greed” into the system in order to drive the subprime lending market. And it was Democrats like Frank, Dodd, Maxine Waters, and Lacy Clay who suggested that regulators like Armando Falcon were racists for blowing the whistle on the Ponzi scheme they created.

The Democrats decided, as Michelle says, that mortgages were a civil right, and wouldn’t cost the American taxpayers a dime.

Well, that really worked out hunky dory didn’t it?

Technorati Tags: high-risk borrowers, Barack Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd

I didn’t get to watch Meet the Press on Sunday, but if I had I’d have been riled up enough to get this out soonest. You see, when the Democrats try to show how religious they are, they usually stick both feet in their mouth. Now, I’m sure there are a lot of God-fearing, church-going Dems out there, it’s just hard to figure them out when their current supreme leader, Nancy Pelosi (R – Cal) shoots off her mouth. In response to Tom Brokaw’s question as to what she would advise Barack Obama on the beginnings of life, since good ol’ Barack says that question is “above his pay grade”, she said:

I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose. Roe v. Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There’s very clear distinctions. This isn’t about abortion on demand, it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this, and there are those who’ve decided…

Brokaw reminds her that the Church states that life begins at the moment of conception, to which she replies

I understand. And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that. So again, over the history of the church, this is an issue of controversy.

I’m not a Catholic, the last church I was a member of was a Southern Baptist church, but even I know that the Catholic Church has never sanctioned abortion. Nancy Pelosi just went on national TV and told a whopper! And, at the same time, maligned an entire organized religion to boot. Way to go miss representative from San Francisco.

Now, it didn’t take very long for some high-ranking members of the Catholic Church to take note and decide that Nanny Nancy needed a bit of remedial-catechism. From Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl:

We respect the right of elected officials such as Speaker Pelosi to address matters of public policy that are before them, but the interpretation of Catholic faith has rightfully been entrusted to the Catholic bishops. Given this responsibility to teach, it is important to make this correction for the record.

Wuerl pointed out that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear, and has been clear for 2,000 years. He cited Catechism language that reads, “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception … Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.

On the 25th, Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver addressed Pelosi’s lies about the Church and its stance on abortion:

Since Speaker Pelosi has, in her words, studied the issue “for a long time,” she must know very well one of the premier works on the subject, Jesuit John Connery’s Abortion: The Development of the Roman Catholic Perspective (Loyola, 1977). Here’s how Connery concludes his study:

“The Christian tradition from the earliest days reveals a firm antiabortion attitude . . . The condemna-tion of abortion did not depend on and was not limited in any way by theories regarding the time of fetal animation. Even during the many centuries when Church penal and penitential practice was based on the theory of delayed animation, the condemnation of abortion was never affected by it. Whatever one would want to hold about the time of animation, or when the fetus became a human being in the strict sense of the term, abortion from the time of conception was considered wrong, and the time of animation was never looked on as a moral dividing line between permissible and impermissible abortion.”

Or to put it in the blunter words of the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Destruction of the embryo in the mother’s womb is a violation of the right to live which God has bestowed on this nascent life. To raise the question whether we are here concerned already with a human being or not is merely to confuse the issue. The simple fact is that God certainly intended to create a human being and that this nascent human being has been deliberately deprived of his life. And that is nothing but murder.”

Furthering the re-education of the Dem wits on Catholic theology regarding abortion, the Archbishop had this to say to Obama’s VP pick, Joe Biden (D-Del), self-professed Catholic and huge abortion supporter:

I certainly presume his good will and integrity,” said the archbishop, “and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion if he supports a false ‘right’ to abortion.

The Anchoress, to whom I will defer all things Catholic, writes this:

[I]f Pelosi wants to quote Augustine’s saying “three months,” as somehow authoritative – even if the church does not – how does she reconcile that with her abortion voting record, which upholds later term abortions, partial birth abortions, embryonic experimentation, etc, etc. She says “I personally think the answer is 16 weeks,”, but that’s just an opinion, like anyone else’s opinion, even mine – and if she believes the answer is 16 weeks, how can she possible vote in favor of, say, partial birth abortion?
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I mean, I’m not expert, and I’m far from brilliant. But one does not have to be brilliant to figure that out. Err on the side of life, not death. It might be a legislative conundrum, and a sickle into the side of free will and free conscience, but in simple terms of life and death, the moral calculus is not really that difficult.

Hey lady, you are brilliant! And, you’re dead-on correct on this one.

Hey folks, it’s a right to life issue. Abortion is a right to end life, not save it, or make someone else’s life easier or more convenient. Barack Obama is the most abortion-supporting candidate ever to be at the top of a US national ticket for President. But, at least he isn’t out there miss-stating lying about Catholic Church doctrine. Naw, he’ll leave that one up to Slow Joe . . .

Technorati Tags: Nancy Pelosi On Abortion, Nancy Pelosi, Roe v. Wade, Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, Archbishop Charles Chaput