A Tale Of Two Scoundrels

We have come to accept such low standards in our politicians that recent disclosures have made hardly a ripple in the news. Republican Senator John Ensign, Nevada, admitted to an affair with a married staffer, yet there is no talk of him stepping down. I know what he admitted to is not illegal, but it is highly offensive given his positions regarding marriage and faith. Democrat Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois, sold $100,000 worth of stock one day after a closed door meeting with Federal Reserve and Treasury officials. Martha Stewart can tell you that is insider trading and lands you in jail. Durbin doesn't see anything wrong with his actions.... is anybody home at the SEC? Every two years, We the People get to fire all the bums in the House, and fire one third of the bums in the Senate, yet voter turnout on our most important day of responsibility to the Republic averages 37%! That means that 63% of eligible voters are so happy with the status quo that they can't be bothered to spend a few minutes helping reform our government. We only have ourselves to blame.

GM+Government=Fascism

We have plunged into the abyss of a new Dark Age to paraphrase Winston Churchill. By seizing control of GM, and coercing other major corporations to follow the "green economy" model for the future, the government has created the conditions for a new fascism replacing a relatively free market economy. As the CEO of GE recently said in a letter to shareholders: "in the future the government will be promoter, partner, and financier for the private sector." If past performance is a predictor of future results, we can hope to be at least as successful using this model as many western European countries have been in the last 50 years. If shared misery, stagnant growth, and rationed healthcare are our Nation's goals, we are well on our way.

Pondering Pandering

As the GOP wanders the wilderness searching for it's identity, the temptation is great to sink into demographics politics and special interest pandering for votes. This would clearly spell disaster for the party. Only by showing reverence for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence can the GOP return to the powerful message of Reagan, the last conservative President. As many have pointed out, Republicans don't need to move left, they only need to draw the center towards them. By espousing the ideals of limited government, personal responsibility, and individual liberty as spelled out by our Founding Fathers, this goal can quickly be attained.

Closing Gitmo? Don't Hold Your Breath!

The President is digging in on his decision to close Gitmo within a year. Instead of persuading Americans that he has a superior solution that will keep us safer, Mr. Obama falls back on nebulous arguments that somehow detaining terrorists in Cuba creates more recruits than detaining them somewhere else, or that friendly countries will be less willing to share intelligence with us because 240 killers are being held without the full rights of a U.S. citizen. Give me a break. The President further insinuates that Gitmo is some "bad experiment" cooked up by the Bush Administration to punish the terrorists, when Donald Rumsfeld bluntly described it as our "least worst option" to prevent admitted and proud murderers from re-entering the battlefield. How about if the politicians just shut up on the issue until they truly come up with a better solution that doesn't involve sending these elite soldiers of radical Islam to U.S. prisons, where they would find fertile recruiting ground among disaffected American criminals.

Let This Be A Warning!

Two seemingly unrelated events show a symmetry in squishing dissent. In Iran, an Iranian-American journalist was convicted of espionage after originally being arrested for buying a bottle of wine. After receiving an 8 year sentence, she has since had it reduced to 2 years suspended, and, hopefully, allowed to return to the U.S. The other event was the vitriolic "humor" during the White House Press Corps dinner Saturday night where Rush Limbaugh and Former V.P. Dick Cheney were savaged by the President and tv actress Wanda Sykes. Both incidents send the same message: be nice to us or else.... My conviction is that Americans will see through this mobster scare tactic from both regimes and support Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech in both Iran and the U.S.A.

Hubris Takes Flight

If a pilot of a 2 seater airplane strays into the "no fly zone" surrounding the White House and Capital, he is escorted to the ground by fighter jets, detained, and cited. When Air Force One, escorted by 2 F16s buzzes Lower Manhattan, causing widespread panic, the White House initially said they "took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities." This notification included directing them not to notify residents of the planned fly by. Perhaps, besides reminding us about 9/11, which many in government are trying to make us forget, this incident points out the arrogance that pervades Washington, which Mayor Bloomberg said "in the end, can do what it wishes."

Tortured Logic

While it is open to debate whether "enhanced interrogation" is torture, the intel gained has clearly saved American lives. By excluding these techniques being used by U.S. personnel, we return to the days of rendering high value detainees to countries like Turkey or Egypt where real torture is legal, and observing while the detainees are questioned by brutal inquisitors. This results in actual torture, as opposed to psychological trauma, and wastes precious time when innocent lives are in grave danger. Shockingly, the Administration uses hyperbole in condemning these "enhanced interrogation" techniques on two or three subjects, while ignoring the very real, and unhuman torture that is inflicted on the elderly in U.S. nursing homes every day. Just one month before the 9/11 attacks, CBS news reported that over 9,000 instances of abuse had been reported from 1999 to 2001 in nursing homes. These included beating, kicking, withholding water, and numerous other crimes that would violate the conscience of even the most hardened interrogator. For my money, I hope that when my comes to go to a home, I hope to be treated with the same care and respect that our detainees recieve at the Guantanamo Bay facility, rather than the way some 1600 of our nursing homes care for the elderly.

President Saves World! Details at 10

While it is unclear whether this Administration understands how to manage the free world, they are quite adept at managing headlines. The President today called for $100 million in budget cuts, prompting the usual headlines about "fiscal responsibility" and "reform." I did the math and these proposed cuts are the equivalent to the average household cutting annual spending by 99 cents. Can you imagine a headline like "Illinoistom makes hard choices, cuts annual spending by 99 cents?" Which is why I always tell my son to read past the headlines, you might be surprised to find the truth buried in the story.

Happy Tax Day!

Nearly 50% of Americans pay no federal income tax. The top 1% of earners generate 19% of the wealth yet pay 30% of the taxes. The U.S. corporate tax rate is 35% versus an average of 25% in Europe. All inconvenient truths to the current U.S. government, yet they are committed to doubling down on Federal spending to "rebuild the economy on solid rock." Say what? So you can never say I didn't warn you, I will say this as plainly as humanly possible: $1 trillion per year deficits can only be sustained by INFLATING THEM AWAY! The U.S. cannot default, it can only debase the currency, which may get rid of debt but also destroys your 401k, IRA, Social Security, or pension. The left's favorite economist, John Maynard Keynes warned of the end to free markets and capitalism by saying "Lenin is said to have declared that the best way to destroy the Capitalistic System was to debauch the currency. . . Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose."

We Have Met The Enemy, And They Is Us

The law of unintended consequences has struck again in Washington. Many of us looked on nervously as the Department of Homeland Security was created as a reflexive response to 9/11. Naturally, it has morphed from an outward looking agency charged with coordinating efforts to defeat radical Islamists into a stormcrow warning that "Right-wing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning." Telltale signs to look for are: Pro Life bumper stickers, pro 2nd Amendment bumper stickers, promoting anti-taxation tea parties. Those of us who revere the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independance are finding ourselves characterized as "fringe radical conservatives," while activist groups openly pushing a socialist agenda such as ACORN describe themselves as "a non-profit, non-partisan social justice organization." Interesting times, indeed.

Avast!

Finally, a bit of good news on the TV. After months of bailouts of failed corporations, failed state governments, assaults on the Constitution by our elected officials, apologies for being American by the President, and countless other insults to our collective psyche, 20 merchant seamen have made us all proud by retaking their ship from Somali pirates. I write this before the details have been released, but the first reports make me feel good about life, and the American ideal of self reliance.

Europe loves him.... should we worry?

The BBC played "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" while describing the President's G20 meetings this week. I hope they were being facetious in comparing him to Jesus. Besides the obvious policy differences, Jesus was humble, meek, yet authoritative. Obama, on the other hand, seems to revel in the spotlight, delivering soaring prepared speeches, yet stammers and stumbles while answering direct questions sans teleprompter. The Euros venerate this man while he apologizes for America, and that is fine. My hope is that no real foreign policy crisis comes during this Administration, because sophist rhetoric is no substitute for conviction and strength of will. While it may be that Obama will conduct passable foreign policy, the seeds have been sown for a weaker U.S. in embracing the notion of allowing international law to trump the Constitution in many areas. Our founding documents are America's greatest gift to the world, not things to be apologized for or undermined. I pray that the President remembers that he took an oath to defend the Constitution.

A Bridge Loan too Far

If the President had fired Ron Gettelfinger along with GM CEO Rick Wagoner, he would at least have been intellectually honest. Instead, he hoisted Wagoner's head on the pike (with a $20 million dollar parachute), while preserving the UAW as an innocent in the demise of GM. Us old free marketeers have been calling for CH 11 for GM for a year, yet successive Administrations have kept them on life support with the net result being loan defaults and layoffs culminating in de-facto bankruptcy anyways. Chrysler will be forced into a shotgun marriage with Fiat (financed by our own fiat currency). Ford may actually get their dream of a $2 dollar a gallon gas tax to force consumers to buy their high mileage cars. Depressed yet? And still, with all this federal intervention, the markets will have their way; the weak will fail, the strong will survive. The disciples of Keynes are ruling the day for now, but Smith and Friedman will still prevail in the end.

Daniel Hannan

A young MP named Daniel Hannan dared confront PM Brown, calling him The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government. What makes this noteworthy is the apoplectic reaction by the the UK and US left. They attack what they fear, and they have every reason to fear the man some are calling the next Maggie Thatcher. Now if we could just identify our next Ronald Reagan. In other news, the U.S. Congress is considering supporting failing newspapers as non-profits. Pravda and Isvestia were also non-profits for you gen Y kids out there. May God save the Republic!

Newspeak for Dummies

Global War on Terror to be replaced by Overseas Contingency.
Terrorist Act to be replaced by Man Caused Disaster.
Adding $9 TRILLION to the national debt is now an Investment.
The Civil War was fought by A Nation of Cowards regarding Race.
The Loyal Opposition is now The Chattering Class.
Sensing a pattern here?

Huey Long would be proud

Instead of protesting the government that bailed out a failed company (AIG), then legislated funding for $165 million in bonuses for said failed company, ACORN members (federally funded social agitators) decide to protest outside the homes of the recipients of the bonuses. I pray that Americans eventually direct their anger in the proper direction: towards elected officials that confiscate our wealth to prevent our bankruptcy laws from cleaning up the financial mess. Welfare is an evil concept regardless of who it subsidizes, be it a welfare queen, or a "too big to fail" corporation.

Enter The Dragon

AIG former Chairman Hank Greenberg has found little traction in implicating Goldman Sachs as the main culprit in the current bailout mess. My hope is that David Boies, Greenberg's chief counsel will be able to illuminate the profound power that GS holds in the Administration. Secretary Geithner, former Secretary Paulson, current AIG CEO Libby all have ties to the investment bank that recieved $20 billion plus from the Fed bailout of AIG. The President recieved $100,000 in campaign contributions from AIG. Secretary Geithner directed Senator Chris Dodd to amend the "stimulus" bill to allow $165 million in AIG bonuses. Is this all starting to stink? I respect David Boies as an attorney and hope that he can give the American people a clear sense of the chicanery that has overwhelmed the very center of our government. Stay tuned....

Hillary's new button

When Secretary Clinton presented the Russians with a symbolic "reset" button to declare U.S. intentions to reset our relationship, little did she know that the Russians would choose to reset it to 1962. We now know that they are in talks with Cuba to base long range strategic bombers there. I guess the Cold War was just too much fun to live with out. It is also interesting that the Chinese are more worried about our appetite for massive deficits than we are. Whodathunkit: Maoists having to explain free market Capitalism to the people that perfected it.

Et tu, Buffett?

First, Rick Santelli gets taken to the White House woodshed for calling for a "Chicago Tea Party" to protest the mortgage bailout. Next, ardent Obama supporter Jim Cramer of CNBC gets thrown under the Obama campaign bus for daring to question the Administration's economic policy. Today, Warren Buffett (another loyal Obama supporter) portrays the economy as having "fallen off a cliff." While White House press secretary Gibbs held back from blasting the Oracle of Omaha directly, one wonders how long the White House will brook discension from their greatest show pony of campaign props. I predict that soon Buffett will be cast alongside all those other "Wall Street CEOs that disappear in their private jets" if he doesn't get with the program and support every jot and tittle of the Obama/Pelosi agenda. This current regime is beginning to resemble the Nixon White House at its most paranoid.... and we are only 7 weeks in!

Talking Points ala Animal Farm

After watching a U.S. Congresswoman tick off the talking points regarding the proposed budget, it became obvious that she was positively giddy that she had a) remembered them, and b) wasn't challenged to defend them. I immediately flashed back to Animal Farm in which the sheep dutifully bleated "four legs good, two legs bad." When I first read that book over thirty years ago, I thought "thank God I live in America, where that scenario would never happen." Today I'm having doubts about that.

The stock market is like a tracking poll?

The President's comments on the equity markets yesterday reveal a stunning ignorance of what they are and do. He sounded much like I might if I had to explain String Theory (no clue what it is, although it sounds cool). The markets are not a poll, they are a predictor of future economic conditions and they are currently predicting future catastrophe. My wife witnessed stark evidence of our downward spiral yesterday as one third of her coworkers were laid off. Are they cheered that we are making a $630 billion dollar down payment on European style health care? No, they want their job back. Are they cheered that we are going to tax CO2 emissions to the tune of $600 billion over the next decade? No, they want their job back. Are they cheered that the Marsh Mouse of California will get $50 million to preserve it's pristine habitat? No, they want their job back. Joe Biden is right that Americans care about a three letter word: J-O-B-S (hey, at least he spelled it right). When even liberal Senators like Russ Feingold and Evan Bayh get sticker shock, maybe it's time to reconsider reinventing America!

Does Goldman Sachs own US?

The only "winner" so far in the quasi nationalization of our financial sector is Goldman Sachs. Going down the rabbit trail of AIG loans being passed through to Goldman to the tune of $20 billion will bring conspiracy theorists flying out of the woodwork. Paulson and Geithner both have seemed more interested in protecting their old firm than creating a coherent strategy to stabilize the overall sector. As our retirement funds evaporate, along with our employers an hopes of future wealth, how long can the the Nero of Wall Street fiddle in it's so far fireproof corporate headquarters?

The Audacity of Mopes

The New Deal. The Great Society. Now comes "The Audacity of Mopes." By casting this current economic mess as one requiring massive government spending, the Administration is replacing big government with LEVIATHAN government. Conservatives can argue that the 3 impediments to economic growth are taxes, labor costs, and onerous regulation on industry until they are blue in the face, yet the average voter simply wants the government to "do something." The failed fiscal policies that plague Illinois are now being foisted on our entire nation and yet a majority of the electorate still fails to see we have finally given Huey Long his great victory over capitalism. How much farther down this road will we travel before we realize that America is becoming what we fought so mightily against throughout our history? Did countless thousands die defending freedom and opportunity die only to see us surrender to the base forces of class envy and the ultimate nanny state?