Claire Shipman's Latte Economics

Claire Shipman shows us why it's important to actually know something, anything about economics before discussing it in front of millions.

First, the obligatory Bush Bashing on the deficit:

"a parting gift from one president to the next of the most unwelcome sort."

The President can't spend one dime without the consent of congress. But that pesky fact flies in the face of the "Everything is Bush's fault" narrative.

Then we have this asinine little exercise:

"Now, we came up with a few GMA solutions to try to put this in perspective. If every American were to pitch in $2,000, we could pay off this year's deficit. Or, if we handed over, each of us, 500 gallons of gasoline or, in terms we could all really understand, if every American gave up 666 lattes for a year, we could pay off this year's deficit. Robin?"

OK. Let's humor this moron for a moment. $2,000 a person equates to $8,000 dollars for a family of four that probably doesn't even drink lattes, much less 666 each. I know $8,000 isn't a lot of money to condescending snobs like Shipman, but it is a lot of good money thrown after bad to most people. And even if the deficit were paid off for one year, it just gives congress license to spend even more of our money. Shipman, like most lefties believes that government is the only entity that can never do with less.

Shipman also (unsurprisingly) fails to realize that the money she wants throw down the government rat hole would not be spent in the job creating private sector, which will slow down the economy, which will result in lower tax revenue. Then idiots like Shipman will call for even higher taxes and the downward spiral continues.

When Will Democrats Apologize to Blacks?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a resolution
apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow...

While many states have apologized for slavery, it is the first time a branch of
the federal government has done so...MORE

The KKK was formed as the terrorist wing of the Democrat party and Jim Crow laws were also their invention. Democrats are the common denominator in all injustices done to blacks; including the destruction of the black family with with welfare money that rewards irresponsible behavior and gives them just enough money to keep them poor. Did you know that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican? Why don't they just apologize to the whole country and be done with it?

Note: Watch for this vote to be used as a pretext to renewed discussions on reparations

Rich States, Poor States

Here's more proof of the mass migration of people and businesses from high tax and regulation states to low ones. Capital and investment will always seek out the places with the lowest barriers to trade and that's exactly what's happening throughout the U.S.

Just look at the domestic migration rates of the four largest states. Compare highly burdensome California and New York to more economically free Texas and Florida. The added benefit to the country of these population trends will be a shift in congressional influence from fossilized socialist states to more vibrant and free ones.

Barack Obama's Stealth Socialism

Investors Business Daily documents Obama's well earned Marxist credentials and the deceptive rhetoric he uses to disguise his true intentions. If Democrats can achieve a filibuster proof Senate majority, he and his congressional comrades will be dusting off every half baked socialist scheme on the shelf - and there's a lot of them.

Election '08: Before friendly audiences, Barack Obama speaks passionately about something called "economic justice." He uses the term obliquely, though, speaking in code — socialist code...MORE

Ultimate Global Warming Challenge Now $500,000

Fill the coffers of the Church of GW! This should be easy cash since the "debate is over":

$500,000 will be awarded to the first person to prove, in a scientific manner, that humans are causing harmful global warming. The winning entry will specifically reject both of the following two hypotheses:

UGWC Hypothesis 1
Manmade emissions of greenhouse gases do not discernibly, significantly and predictably cause increases in global surface and tropospheric temperatures along with associated stratospheric cooling.

UGWC Hypothesis 2
The benefits equal or exceed the costs of any increases in global temperature caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions between the present time and the year 2100, when all global social, economic and environmental effects are considered.

Union Thugs Steal Money for Dems

The mighty Service Employees International Union (SEIU) plans to spend some $150 million in this year's election, most of it to get Barack Obama and other Democrats elected. Where'd they get that much money?...

The union adopted a new amendment to its constitution at last month's SEIU convention, requiring that every local contribute an amount equal to $6 per member per year to the union's national political action committee. This is in addition to regular union dues. Unions that fail to meet the requirement must contribute an amount in "local union funds" equal to the "deficiency," plus a 50% penalty...

No other major institution could get away with its bosses demanding that every single one of its workers step in line behind its political preferences...MORE

Break Up Fannie and Freddie

Steve Forbes calls for exactly what a lot of us have been saying for a while now.

The Bush Administration should vigorously push to have Fannie Mae (nyse: FNM
- news - people ) and Freddie Mac (nyse: FRE
- news - people ) recapitalized and broken up into 10 to 12 new companies, with their ties
to the government completely severed. Yes, this would mean Uncle Sam pumping in
some $300 billion in equity capital, and perhaps taking on some $100 billion in
those questionable mortgages. But such an investment would enable these
companies to have a sound debt-to-equity ratio in the vicinity of 4-to-1.

But it gets little or no attention because these entities have become a corrupt, taxpayer guaranteed cesspool of graft and congress has no interest in turning off the money and influence spigot.

We believe in the right of individuals and businesses to lobby Congress.
But with Fan and Fred now explicitly guaranteed by taxpayers, letting them ladle
cash all over Washington amounts to using government-guaranteed profits to lobby
for continued government protection. Congress sets the rules in favor of Fan and
Fred, which then repay the Members with cash from their rigged profit stream.
This is the government lobbying itself for more government.

L.A. Wants to Ban Fast Food Restaurants

The incrementalism of the lifestyle fascists (see smoking) aims at an easy target in never ending quest to politicize all private behavior and destroy individualism:

LOS ANGELES - In the impoverished neighborhood of South Los Angeles, fast food
is the easiest cuisine to find — and that’s a problem for elected officials who
see it as an unhealthy source of calories and cholesterol.
The City Council
was meeting to vote Tuesday on a moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a
swath of the city where a proliferation of such eateries goes hand-in-hand with
obesity...

Oh Yeah? Then what about this guy?

A Virginia man lost about 80 pounds in six months by eating nearly every
meal at McDonald's.
Not Big Macs, french fries or chocolate shakes. Mostly
salads, wraps and apple dippers without the caramel sauce.

The busybodies and little dictators ignore the LAW of supply and demand as always:

The California Restaurant Association says the moratorium, which could be
extended up to two years, is misguided.
Fast food “is the only industry that
wants to be in South LA,” said association spokesman Andrew Casana. “Sit-down
restaurants don’t want to go in. If they did, they’d be there. This moratorium
isn’t going to help them relocate.”

And they won't. Not only is there no demand, the crime associated with these neighborhoods that sit down restaurants are far more vulnerable to, makes the investment not worth the risk.
What restaurants to they expect to flock there anyway? Since when is discouraging business from locating to an impoverished a good idea? What is acceptable to these pests? Obviously the people in South LA aren't interested in the diet government bullies want to foist on them. They probably should eat better foods. They should also learn some personal responsibility.

Obama’s European Love Parade

From the Brussels
Journal:

More than 200,000 Germans turned out in Berlin on July 24 to hear a
carefully stage-managed Barack Obama tell them exactly what they wanted to hear:
If he becomes US president, America will become a whole lot more like
Europe...No big surprise, then, that Obama says he supports [pdf]
“Europe’s strategy of enlargement, which has been history’s most successful
democratization strategy and has brought peace, stability and prosperity to
millions.”

As any honest observer of contemporary European politics will
acknowledge, the European Union is not a
democratic project, as the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty proves.
Moreover, the United States, not Europe, is responsible for the peace, stability
and prosperity that millions of Europeans have taken for granted since the end
of World War II.

The majority of Europeans would like to see a weaker U.S. and a majority would vote for Obama.
Enough said.

NY Broke, Again

ALBANY - Gov. Paterson, convinced the state faces its worst fiscal crisis since the mid-1970s, will deliver the grim news in an unprecedented special address to New Yorkers as soon as tomorrow night, The Post has learned.
The governor's address - which his aides hope will be televised by public and cable news stations - will say that plunging state revenues will force painful cuts in state services, necessitate a reduction in the state work force, possibly through layoffs, and require other difficult economic measures, source said.

Where have I heard that before. Look for the final solution to be higher taxes and another cave in to the unions and other parasites that hold the state hostage. This just means that more taxpayers, businesses and jobs will be heading for the exits in even greater numbers. Upstate New York is already the Detroit of the northeast and eventually the state will be empty outside of a hundred mile radius of NYC, which won't be far behind.

Washington Post Scolds McCain For Telling the Truth

The Folks at WAPO have their panties in a bunch over McCain's statement that Obama "would rather lose a war than lose a campaign,". The Post whines that "It's one thing to say Mr. Obama is wrong. It's another to accuse him of putting political self-interest over country. This is not the "politics of civility" that Mr. McCain was promising as recently as last month."

Oh please. When has the Post or anyone else heard Obama even use the word "win" when describing his Iraq policy, whatever that is, unless he was forced to. He and his party, including the Nutroots and Obama's radical chic circle of friends have made it abundantly clear that they couldn't give a rip if we won in Iraq or anywhere else for that matter. Obama is conveniently straddling the issue now, but throughout the primaries and before, his mantra was to get out at any cost and damn the consequences. He's even said that he stiil wouldn't have voted for the surge, despite its success. Does the Post really believe we forgot all that or that it doesn't matter?

We also haven't forgotten the Democrat Party's defeatist, "we should lose because we suck" attitude of the last forty years.

It was Democrats who refused to fund the Vietnam War after the North broke the peace treaty. We lost and 3 million Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians were slaughtered. They would be happy to repeat that shame in Iraq if they could, although this time the death toll would be much higher. Hey, what's a little genocide compared to the Democrat party's divine agenda?

It was Democrats who fought Reagan every step of the way in the Cold War. They voted against just about every weapon system in use today, including the Stealth Fighter, Patriot Missile, etc., etc. Democrats derided Reagan as a war mongering dope as they played footsie with our enemies from Managua to Moscow. Democrats not only didn't think we could beat the Soviets, they didn't want us to. And they are sorry we did.

The first Gulf War almost didn't happen because of Democrat opposition. They would have rather left the Kuwaitis and their oil in the hands of a brutal madman, eyeing Saudi Arabia as his next target. At least Al Gore voted for it after trading his support in order to get his mug on prime time TV.

The Washington Post should spare us the lectures on civility. Their ever present double standard and denial of the truth certainly isn't surprising. But it sure is getting old.

McCain to Fannie Mae: Go Away

From
The Wall Street Journal:

In the rush to bulldoze the Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac and housing bailout bill
through Congress this week, scant attention has been paid in Washington to how
the U.S. system fell into this hole. Thus it was refreshing to see Senator John
McCain step up and speak rude truth to his colleagues about the fiasco in an
op-ed piece this week.

"Americans should be outraged at the latest sweetheart deal in
Washington," the Republican presidential hopeful wrote in the St. Petersburg Times, stating
the clear but all-too-often unspoken reality about this greatest of
boondoggles...

Senator McCain, who wasn't present for the cloture vote, also called for an
end to their multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign. More importantly, he called
for "making them [Fannie and Freddie] go away," as in, be no more. Receivership
may indeed by the only option if a regulator can't get the far-flung activities
of these two under control.

Even if these quasi-socialist entities are brought under control and stabilized, they should be broken up and completely privatized. These two corporations were created at times when the private secondary market was virtually non-existent. That's no longer the case and their mere existence as private profit, public risk ventures distorts the mortgage market and encourages the type of behavior one would expect when someone else pays the consequences for their bad decisions. Additionally, Fannie and Freddie's operations are heavily influenced by the political considerations of congress that prompt them to adopt imprudent policies no truly private company would ever consider.

Many are saying that without Fanny and Freddie, the mortgage and Real Estate markets would have collapsed had they not been there as a backstop, without considering that private markets would have been more conservative had they not been there in the first place. On a basic level, the Federal Government has no moral or constitutional right to be in the mortgage business in the anyway. This disaster proves that it's high time they got the hell out and take taxpayers off the hook.

Florida Tomato Growers Due Amends

The Tampa Tribune
Published: July 25, 2008
Florida's tomato farmers were not to blame for the
salmonella outbreak that sickened more than 1,200 people this summer, but they
have suffered the brunt of the economic consequences. They want compensation for
their estimated $100 million in losses, and they deserve it.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the nation's poor food
surveillance system is to blame for the ruin that hit the industry after the FDA
warned people in early June to not eat tomatoes grown in Florida.

This is what happens when you give that kind of power to nameless, unelected government hacks. At the very least, someone shuld be accountable for this reckless, shoot first and ask questions later bungling. But since we're talking about all too common government incompetence, those responsible will probably be promoted.

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the
Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the
shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the
wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family,
offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an
African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of
righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little
blow. ..LINK

Funny stuff. What's scary is that a lot of Obamamaniacs will read it and shout Amen!

Obama probably believes it too:

Messiah complex is a state in which the individual believes themselves to be,
or destined to become, the saviour of the particular field,
a group, an event, a time period, or in an extreme scenario, the world. This
could also be the state in which a group views an individual as a messiah, such
as followers of a cult leader. The cult leader doesn't have to claim to be a
messiah, but if he is treated as such by his followers, it can also be
classified as such.

People with a messiah complex tend to see themselves as saviors to a
specific group of people or a specific field, making claims of their own glory,
or claiming a self-awareness of their own gift and how that gift can affect a
group of people or a field of life.

In the most extreme cases, people with a messiah complex may see
themselves as spiritual/religious messiahs with transcendent powers who are
destined to save the world.

See also: Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Megalomania.

Housing Bailout Almost Done: Taxpayers Prepare To Grab Ankles

Congress is nearing completion of the massive and meddling government solution to government created problems. As Thomas Sowell puts it: "We don't look to arsonists to help put out fires but we do look to politicians to help solve financial crises that they played a major role in creating. "

I haven't read all the details of the bill, but it's clear that taxpayers will be stuck with the check for the private profit of the quasi-socialist, useless and corrupt Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac. No one knows how much that will be so congress just gave them an open ended line of credit. Common sense dictates that these two organizations should have been broken up and completely privatized years ago. But the money and power that the trillions these companies control confers on Washington is too much for the venal denizens of Washington to ever give up.

It also raises the federal debt ceiling by about $800 Billion to $10.6 Trillion.

In addition the bill provides for up to $300 billion for insured loans to bail out "struggling" homeowners, regardless of how irresponsible or fraudulently they behaved in putting themselves into that position in the first place. Many of those paying for this will be citizens who acted more prudently and resisted the lure of quick riches regardless of risk. Is there going to be a proposal of a windfall profits tax on the millions more who made out like bandits during the housing boom? Just asking.

Of course, no massive spending bill would be complete some pork so we have at least $600 million for "affordable housing", a perennial rat hole of corruption which showers money on parasites like ACORN, one of the largest members of the Marxist grievance industry; a group that worked hand in hand with Barack Obama when he was a "community organizer" (see Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson)

I'll have more as this monstrosity is fleshed out.


Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off. Ayn Rand

Congress Moves to Do Nothing on Oil

First it was the Oil company profits, then it was OPEC. Speculators are the latest scapegoat offered to the ignorant masses in order to cover up congress' incompetence and cowardice.

On Tuesday, Sen. Byron Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, called that "excessive, relentless speculation."
In 2000, 37 percent of the people in the oil futures market were speculators, Dorgan said. Now, speculators make up 71 percent of the market.
"They've broken the market," Dorgan said.

The fact that more investors are participating in the market has nothing to do with the current price spike. If anything, it reflects increasing investor recognition of underlying supply and demand issues economic idiots like Dorgan continue to ignore. Futures speculators can make just as much money betting the market will go down as up. Additionally, the purchase of a contract requires a seller. That seller is obviously standing pat on the current price. Further, the fact that most of the new money in oil futures is coming from pension funds and other large investment pools is obviously lost on congressional demagogues.

Harry Reid complains about Republicans coming to their senses:

"Forty-seven different Republican senators have spoken at one time or another on the need to do something about speculation," Reid said. "That was before they heard from the oil companies, and I guess some people on Wall Street.
"Now, suddenly, they don't think speculation's a big deal."


The Horror! You mean Republicans listened to the people who actually do this for a living? How dare they? Don't they understand that facts get in the way of Democrats no growth Euro-Socialist agenda?

One of things Republicans heard was this:

"Yes, speculation is a big deal, said Sen. John Ensign, a Republican from Nevada, but he warned that curbing speculation in the United States could mean that foreign markets will take over."

That's right. Democrats either don't understand or don't care that oil is traded on futures markets throughout the world and that hamstringing American trading will just chase capital to friendlier places.

Then we have the venal T. Boone Pickens mucking up the conversation with his dishonest promotion of wind power that is really designed to protect and expand the publicly funded subsidies and tax breaks for his huge investment in that technology.

Another Senate panel heard Tuesday from Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens. He warned lawmakers that the smart response to the oil price shock is not to drill more, but to expand solar and wind power.

And when congress listens to a real expert and economist like Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, they just stick their fingers in their ears and shout "la la la":

Bernanke: Another concern that has been raised is that financial speculation has added markedly to upward pressures on oil prices. Certainly, investor interest in oil and other commodities has increased substantially of late. However, if financial speculation were pushing oil prices above the levels consistent with the fundamentals of supply and demand, we would expect inventories of crude oil and petroleum products to increase as supply rose and demand fell. But in fact, available data on oil inventories show notable declines over the past year.

Then a Democrat asks for advice he can ignore:

Question from Senator Tom Carper (D-DE): "The third factor that we keep coming back to is the role that speculation is playing. We've touched on this at least indirectly here today. Just give us some advice. I think we're going to debate -- seriously debate, probably before the beginning of next month, legislation dealing with speculation to try to curb the excesses that may be occurring there. If you could give us some advice, it would be timely and much appreciated."

Bernanke:

Well, I think, as I said, based on the evidence that's available, I would not estimate that speculation or particularly manipulation is a significant part of the rise in oil prices. That said, the CFTC and others are looking at the data and trying to evaluate that. These are very difficult matters. We don't want to do anything that will stop the futures markets from having their legitimate functions, serving their legitimate functions of providing liquidity and hedging.
So, you know, my advice would be to go slow and carefully and to take the insights that you get from the CFTC and others who are directly -- associated directly overseeing these activities. I would -- despite the concerns -- and I fully understand the concerns about high gas prices -- I don't think it's likely that you can have a big effect on gas prices with short-term moves in the futures markets. And I would urge careful and deliberate action in this area.

Mel Martinez, the feckless and pusillanimous GOP Senator from my state obviously doesn't like what he's hearing. So he'll rephrase the question, hoping for a different answer:

And a question from Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL): "I wonder if you might dwell just for a moment on the speculation side as to why you don't see that as a fundamental part of the problem, but then also what we could do to be more helpful in the area of transparency and oversight."

Bernanke:
Well, there would be -- there are a number of pieces of evidence against the view that speculation is a primary force. I mention in my testimony the absence of hoarding or inventories that you would expect to see if speculation was driving prices above the supply/demand equilibrium. There are a number of studies which show that there is little or no connection between the open interest taken by noncommercial traders in futures markets and the movement -- subsequent movements in prices. It's also interesting to note that there are many commodities, or at least some commodities, that are not even traded on futures markets, like iron ore, for example, which have had very large increases in prices. So I think the evidence is terribly weak.

In short, we have a corrupt, incompetent and craven congress holding the future of our economy and national security in their hands, doing everything in their power to stand in the way of the people's economic and political needs and desires. They can try to place blame wherever they want, but they and the thinking American public know exactly where it belongs.

Armed Israeli Citizen Thwarts Bulldozer Terrorist

Sixteen people were wounded, one of them moderately, as a bulldozer driver went on a rampage in central Jerusalem Tuesday afternoon in an apparent attempt to recreate the terror attack in the capital earlier this month...

The first man to respond to the attack was Yaakov [Yaki] Asa-El, whose brother Amotz is a Jerusalem Post columnist. Asa-El, 53, a father of nine living near Mount Hebron.
Asa-El fired the first shot at Abu Tir, and then the border policeman arrived and fired at the attacker from both sides of the bulldozer.

The gun control nuts here must be shocked that Israeli citizens are allowed to defend themselves against terrorist thugs in their midst. It just encourages more violence don't you know.

No Smoking Hot Spot

David Evans July 18, 2008
I DEVOTED six years to carbon accounting, building models for the Australian Greenhouse Office. I am the rocket scientist who wrote the carbon accounting model (FullCAM) that measures Australia's compliance with the Kyoto Protocol, in the land use change and forestry sector.

When I started that job in 1999 the evidence that carbon emissions caused global warming seemed pretty good: CO2 is a greenhouse gas, the old ice core data, no other suspects.

The evidence was not conclusive, but why wait until we were certain when it appeared we needed to act quickly? Soon government and the scientific community were working together and lots of science research jobs were created. We scientists had political support, the ear of government, big budgets, and we felt fairly important and useful (well, I did anyway). It was great. We were working to save the planet.

But since 1999 new evidence has seriously weakened the case that carbon emissions are the main cause of global warming, and by 2007 the evidence was pretty conclusive that carbon played only a minor role and was not the main cause of the recent global warming. As Lord Keynes famously said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"

How many skeptical scientists and contrary evidence do we need before this global joke is finally thrown on the ash heap of history? Notice the hard sell of the GW parishioners. It must be addressed now! There's no time! That's the oldest strong arm sales tactic in the book. Don't let them think about it, otherwise they'll figure out the deal stinks.

Notice also every solution to this mythical problem. More government, more taxes, more regulations and less liberty and freedom. How hard is it for anyone but the most stupid or fanatical to see what's going on here?

Get That Feeling Up Your Leg

The McCain camp has grown a set at least temporarily with this video documenting the shameless idol worship of Obama by the media. To call mainstream journalism a profession is an insult to real professionals everywhere. These dupes are as lacking in critical thinking skills as Saint Obama's fanatical followers.

Obama Would Still Oppose The Surge

Part of an ABC interview to be aired tonight:

Q: If you had to do it over again, knowing what you know now, would you support the surge?

A: No, because, keep in mind that…

Q: You wouldn’t?

A: Keep in mind… These kinds of hypotheticals are very difficult. Hindsight is 20/20. But I think that, what I’m absolutely convinced of, is that at that time we had to change the political debate because the view of the Bush administration at that time was one that I just disagreed with.

We know you disagreed with it at the time, you incoherent fool! What the hell are you talking about anyway? The reason this hypothetical is so difficult for you is that even if you were certain the surge would work, you still would have voted for your country's defeat and you know it. You just don't want to admit it to anyone other than your anti-american comrades.

McCain's NYT OpEd Update

The Times defends its shabby treatment of the presumptive GOP nominee itself with the usual self-serving tripe.

Get a load of this line of crap:

"That said, I should also say there is an enormous firewall between the editorial/Op-Ed side and the news operation."

There's two operations? How do they tell the difference?

Today's Obama Stupidity

I'm wondering why Obama the candidate is speaking to a rally of non-voting Germans at all.

After receiving a hailstorm of criticism for considering Brandenburg Gate
for a public speech, as
well as official German dissuasion, Barack Obama moved the venue to the
Siegessäule monument. Obama will speak about “historic” US-German
relations, but once again, Obama’s own grasp of history has
been proven deficient. Not only does the site contain a monument to
Prussian victories over other American allies in Europe, its placement was
decided by Adolf Hitler — in order to impress crowds in his idealized version of
Berlin called Germania:

Since he thinks there's at least 57 states in the Union, no one should be surprised by this little gem:

"the objective of this trip was to have substantive discussions with people like President Karzai or Prime Minister Maliki or President Sarkozy or others who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years.

How do Democrats Define "Fair Share"?

Washington is teeing up "the rich" for a big tax hike next year, as a
way to make them "pay their fair share." Well, the latest IRS data have arrived
on who paid what share of income taxes in 2006, and it's going to be hard for
the rich to pay any more than they already do. The data show that the 2003 Bush
tax cuts caused what may be the biggest increase in tax payments by the rich in
American history...The idea that this has been a giveaway to the rich is a
figment of the Lefts imagination. Taxes paid by millionaire households more
than doubled to $274 billion in 2006 from $136 billion in 2003. No President has
ever plied more money from the rich than George W. Bush did with his 2003 tax
cuts. These tax payments from the rich explain the very rapid reduction in the
budget deficit to 1.9% of GDP in 2006 from 3.5% in 2003.

Most of the "rich" are small business people who are the particular engine that drives the economy. Obama and his apostles in congress would like to throw a monkey wrench into that engine despite the fact that it will result in less money to the treasury. This will satisfy the mythical goal of fairness of outcome rather than opportunity which is really just a quest for power. The statist left doesn't care if the pie is smaller as long as they control more of it.

Remember this exchange from an April debate?

MR. GIBSON: And in each instance, when the (capital gains) rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased. The government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down. So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?

SENATOR OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I've said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness. We saw an article today which showed that the top 50 hedge fund managers made $29 billion last year -- $29 billion for 50 individuals. And part of what has happened is that those who are able to work the stock market and amass huge fortunes on capital gains are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries. That's not fair.

Another Salvo Fired at The Church of Global Warming

A group at the American Physical Society (APS, 50,000) called the Physics and Society Forum has added its members to the thousands of scientists skeptical of the man-made global warming hoax. Non-scientist and lunatic Al Gore will no doubt ignore them or call them outliers while refusing to debate anyone on the subject, despite numerous invitations to do so. One of those challengers is Lord Christopher Monckton , whose paper on the subject revealed facts that Gore wont address or refute because he can't. Among those are:

*The IPCC's 2007 climate summary overstated CO2's impact on temperature by 500-2000%;

*CO2 enrichment will add little more than 1 °F (0.6 °C) to global mean surface temperature by 2100;

*Not one of the three key variables whose product is climate sensitivity can be measured directly;

*The IPCC's values for these key variables are taken from only four published papers, not 2,500;

*The IPCC's values for each of the three variables, and hence for climate sensitivity, are overstated;

*"Global warming" halted ten years ago, and surface temperature has been falling for seven years;

*Not one of the computer models relied upon by the IPCC predicted so long and rapid a cooling;

*The IPCC inserted a table into the scientists' draft, overstating the effect of ice-melt by 1000%;

And my favorites:

*It was proved 50 years ago that predicting climate more than two weeks ahead is impossible;

*Mars, Jupiter, Neptune's largest moon, and Pluto warmed at the same time as Earth warmed;

*In the past 70 years the Sun was more active than at almost any other time in the past 11,400 years.

McCain's NYT OpEd

This is my small contribution to doing the job MSM outlets like the New York Times say they do. That is, objective reporting of newsworthy events. The Time's rejection of a presidential candidate's OpEd along with condescending suggestions reminiscent of my most pedantic English teacher is an act of astonishing arrogance and bias. And it's not just David Shipley. Right now he's out in the Hamptons yucking it up with his like-minded buddies over this latest act of journalistic malfeasance. What's really laughable is that the NYT continues to insult our intelligence by touting itself as a the trustworthy "paper of record" What's more funny is that the wine and cheese liberals who run this mess really think they are fair and mainstream, given the Upper West Side echo chamber they live in.

This latest incident left wing is just one of thousands that have been documented over the years and will thankfully contribute to this rag's dwindling circulation.

Hypocrites and Idiots

Great video of the scene surrounding one of Al Gore's Snake Oil pitches. There's seems to be a lot of people who talk a great game and not much else. Al obviously believes some are more equal than others.

Lebanon Celebrates Return of Terrorist and Child Murderer

Israel handed victory to the Islamo-Nazis by releasing the psychopathic coward
Imad Mughniyeh in exchange for two dead bodies. Naturally, a big party was called for.


What did Israel get in return?

Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, former Chief Rabbi of the IDF, who was present during the
transfer of the fallen soldiers yesterday, said that "the verification process
yesterday was very slow, because, if we thought the enemy was cruel to the
living and the dead, we were surprised, when we opened the caskets, to discover
just how cruel. And I'll leave it at that."

Palestinian Rabbit Faces Amputaion On Children's Show

Should we cut the rabbit's hand off for stealing? Or maybe just his ear. These questions are asked in the latest installment of the Palestinian terrorist training show for children, No word on whether Jimmy Carter visited the set for autographs on his last visit. Maybe Obama will get a souvenir T-Shirt for him and his other left wing boys on his trip this week. Are they simulcasting this show in San Fransisco schools yet?

NYT Stock Burns. Publishers Fiddle

The Brontosaurus of the Dinosaur media is heading for extinction as its stock hits a new low not seen in over a decade.


"Friday, September 20, 1996 is also the last time New York Times Company stock closed lower than its July 16, 2008 close of $12.59:"


I wonder how long it will be before The Times is offered for free at my local supermarket.

Obama Promises To Rid World Of Nuclear Weapons

America's most dangerous useful idiot believes his scary persuasive talents will convince Iran, North Korea, Russia, Pakistan, Israel et al. that they'd be better off and happier if they just gathered around the campfire and sang Kumbaya.

Al Gore Tone-Deaf to Democrats Energy Woes

Al Gore, the most famous Church of Global Warming fundamentalist, is ignoring current political reality with his plans to deliver a sermon in Washington.

"Al Gore hopes to put global warming back at the top of Washington’s agenda
Thursday, but some Democrats in Congress are questioning his timing when they
are getting pummeled by Republicans over record gas prices.
Gore hopes to
deliver a major speech on the environment at Constitution Hall in Washington
that will “press the reset button on how people are looking at the energy crisis
and the climate crisis,” said Brian Hardwick, spokesman for Gore’s Alliance for
Climate Protection. "

D.C. Still Trying to Circumvent The Bill of Rights

The District won't go quietly in its attempts to deny citizens their right to defend their right to defend their lives with its wiseass new law in response to the Heller decision.

"Weapons must be unloaded, disassembled or trigger-locked, except when there is a "threat of immediate harm to a person" in the home."

In other words, their complying with Heller by allowing people to keep and bear a handgun in the home for self-defense but not be able to use it unless needed immediately. Then it can be re-assembled and loaded, which renders the weapon virtually useless for self-defense.

San Fransisco Attacks Catholic Doctrine

From the secular socialist enclave of San Fransisco we have yet another attack on all things American:

The debate is a result of Resolution
168-06, which was passed unanimously on March 21, 2006, by the board of
supervisors of the city and county of San Francisco and which urged the
archbishop of San Francisco and Catholic Charities of San Francisco to defy
church directives.

The document called on Cardinal William Levada, in his capacity as
head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, to
withdraw his “discriminatory and defamatory directive” that Catholic Charities
of the Archdiocese of San Francisco stop placing children in need of adoption
with homosexual households...

In addition, the March 21, 2006, resolution alluded to the Vatican as
a “foreign country” meddling in the affairs of the city and described the
church’s moral teaching as “insulting to all San Franciscans,” “hateful,”
“insulting and callous,” “defamatory” and “absolutely unacceptable.”

This is a clear violation of the First Amendment on two fronts, the most obvious being that it violates the guarantee of religious expression. Secondly, it violates the establishment clause in that the government is officially codifying secular religious beliefs in law. Nowhere is it written that faith is something that must explicitly refer to god IE: The Church of Global Warming. All that is needed is a belief, an opinion that adherents hold as ultimate truth. The government of San Fransisco is using its monopoly on force to establish secular beliefs while attacking others.

Global Warming as Pathological Science

Today's Global Warming campaign is endangering real, honest science. Global Warming superstition has become an international power grab, and good science suffers as a result.

...Pathological science kills people and ruins lives. Such fake science is still peddled by the PC establishment in Europe and America. Global Warming is only the most recent case. Rachel Carson's screed against DDT caused malaria to re-emerge in Africa, killing hundreds of thousands of human beings. Those human-caused disasters have never been discussed honestly in the media, and rarely if ever in science journals. The DDT scandal is still suppressed.

...Some scientists rationalize this corruption of their vocation by saying that people can lie for a good cause. The record shows otherwise. Fraudulent science and science journalism has led to AIDS going out of control; to DDT being banned and malaria gaining a new lease on life in Africa; to decades of famines in Russia; to children being badly mis-educated on such basics as reading and arithmetic; to end endless slew of unjustified health scares, like Mad Cow; and to a worldwide Leftist campaign cynically aiming to gain international power and enormous sums of money, based on a simple, unscientific fraud. LINK

La Times Has No Faith In Free Markets

Of course they don't since the free market is rejecting their crummy product. Now they project their own feelings and wishful thinking on the rest of the country by telling us that:

"Now, to a degree not seen in years, politicians and outside experts are looking with favor at more, not less, government involvement in the economy."


The fact that our most troubled industries eg. Energy, Housing, Mortgages, Health care etc. are already the most heavily regulated is a risible irony that's obviously lost on them. The computer industry seems to be doing just fine without the command and control economics that works so well in Cuba and North Korea. Former Soviet countries, the Chinese and India have learned the hard way how misery follows government meddling. But the thick as a brick leftists here want to go the other way.

Obama: Teachers More Important Than Parents

Barack Obama addressed his indoctrination corps at a union meeting of the American Federation of (government) Teachers:

" ...the single most important factor in determining a child’s achievement
is not the color of their skin or where they come from; it’s not who their
parents are or how much money they have. It’s who their teacher is."

Peppered throughout Obama's speeches are dozens of tidbits like this that show his clear belief that individuals exist to further the goals of the state. Obama's definition of a child's acheivement is meant only in so far as they are trained to serve those goals. Parents are merely a necessary evil.

University Thought Police Apologize to Janitor

INDIANAPOLIS - A janitor whom a university official had accused of racial harassment for reading a historical book about the Ku Klux Klan on his break has gotten an apology — months later — from the school.

The guy could have saved himself a lot of trouble and would have promoted if he read Das Kapital or the Motorcycle Diaries instead.

Guatanamo Interrogation Video

The NYT has breathlessly posted a video of a sixteen year old being interrogated after being captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan where he "allegedly" killed a US soldier. No word on when the Times will post the videos of Islamo-Nazis really torturing and beheading Americans and others.
It's also important to remember that a bullet fired by a sixteen year old is just as deadly as any other.

Government Toady Proposes Limits to Mortgage Broker Pay

I really find it offensive when rank opportunists call themselves capitalists as they feed from the government trough. It's even more offensive when they espouse disastrous ideas that haven't worked, wont work and can't work. The latest is from is from the Curious Capitalist quoting Louis Pizante, CEO of Mavent, who makes his money reviewing loans for regulatory compliance. In other words, his livelyhood depends on government intrusion

"What Pizante would like to see instead are government rules on how mortgage
brokers are paid. "To me it would seem that it would be much easier to regulate
broker compensation," he said. For example: "You’re not going to get a lump-sum
fee, you’re going to get a percentage of the cash flows from that
loan."
There's been an awful
lot of talk over the past year about changing compensation both on Wall
Street and in the mortgage business to better reflect the risks inherent in
transactions that deliver a big up-front payday. But the standard retort is that
any firm that tries to enforce such pay arrangements would quickly
lose its best producers to competitors. Which, in Pizante's view, is exactly
why government needs to step in."

Beyond the fact that the government has no constitutional or moral authority to dictate the compensation of anyone or the terms of a private, voluntary contract, Pizante reveals an astonishing ignorance of market economics and a bit of a fascistic streak. He tells us that regulation is needed because firms willlose employees to competitors if they try to compensate brokers the way he wants, which is an admission that his idea can't work when individuals are free to choose.

So what he's saying is that he wants to cut off all avenues of escape for those brokers who will undoubtedly find his scheme unacceptable. The talented and competent will flee to other industries where they are still free (for now) to negotiate the terms for their services, leaving behind the hacks that will further blur the lines between government and business. It is axiomatic that when you regulate the price of anything you will have less of it with lower quality.

Mr. Pizante and the dishonestly named "Curious Capitalist" don't understand that and it's frightening that either of these ignoramus' are in any position of influence. Perhaps we should regulate Mr. Pizante's compensation and that of his company, since the fees he makes ultimately come from the American consumer through government force.

Dumb Reporter Gets a Lesson on Liberty

President Bush shot down the entire premise of a media moron question from someone who was either not around or drunk during the 70's:


Q Mr. President, understanding what you say about energy supplies being tight and the debate over energy, which has gone on for years and will continue long through the campaign and into the next administration -- one thing nobody debates is that if Americans use less energy the current supply/demand equation would improve. Why have you not sort of called on Americans to drive less and to turn down the thermostat?

(He could also put on a stupid cardigan sweater and berate us for our malaise a la Jimmy Carter. Or maybe impose price controls and a windfall profits tax. That worked out well, right? )

THE PRESIDENT: They're smart enough to figure out whether they're going to drive less or not. I mean, you know, it's interesting what the price of gasoline has done, is it caused people to drive less. That's why they want smaller cars, they want to conserve. But the consumer is plenty bright, Mark. The marketplace works.
Secondly, we have worked with Congress to change CAFE standards, and had a mandatory alternative fuel requirement.
So no question about what you just said is right. One way to correct the imbalance is to save, is to conserve. And as you notice my statement yesterday, I talked about good conservation. And people can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks.

Q But you don't see the need to ask -- you don't see the value of your calling for a campaign --

(Translation: Mr. President, don't you see that the people are a bunch of ravenous stupid children? Obviously I and the rest of the anointed can be trusted to think for ourselves and do the right thing, but surely you're not -snort- suggesting that the masses should be allowed to do whatever they want regardless of what we no know to better for them and the country, are you?)


THE PRESIDENT: I think people ought to conserve and be wise about how they use gasoline and energy. Absolutely. And there's some easy steps people can take. You know, if they're not in their home, they don't keep their air-conditioning running. There's a lot of things people can do.
But my point to you, Mark, is that, you know, it's a little presumptuous on my part to dictate to consumers how they live their lives. The American people are plenty capable and plenty smart people and they'll make adjustments to their own pocketbooks. That's why I was so much in favor of letting them keep more of their own money. It's a philosophical difference: Should the government spend their money, or should they spend their own money? And I've got faith in the American people.
And as much as I regret that the gasoline prices are high -- and they are -- I also understand that people are going to make adjustments to meet their own needs. And I suspect you'll see, in the whole, Americans using less gasoline. I bet that's going to happen. And in the meantime, technologies will be coming on the market that will enable them to drive and save money, compared to the automobiles they're using before. And as you notice, the automobile industry is beginning to adjust here at home as consumer demand changes. And the great thing about our system, it is the consumer that drives our system; it's the individual American and their collection that end up driving the economy.

Will La Raza (the race) hold a new name contest

Change our name! That's the ticket! Reuben Navarette of the SD Tribune has reduced the image problems of the far left La Raza (NCLR) to that and those of us who "swallow the nonsense from cable news demagogues and conservative radio talkers that NCLR is a racist and anti-American hate group, it is Murguia's organization that is trying to divide Americans."

Well! Perhaps Mr. Navarette could explain to a sponge like me what I should make of the actual positions of these poor misunderstood activists:



It supports access to driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

It opposes the REAL ID Act, which requires that all driver's license and photo ID applicants be able to verify they are legal residents of the United States, and that the documents they present to prove their identity are genuine. According to La Raza, this law "opens the door to widespread discrimination and civil rights violations."

It opposes the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act (CLEAR), which would empower state and local law-enforcement authorities to enforce federal immigration laws. La Raza argues this would "result in higher levels of racial profiling, police misconduct, and other civil rights violations."

It lobbies for racial and ethnic preferences (affirmative action) and set-asides in hiring, promotions, and college admissions.

It supports bilingual education and bilingual ballots.

It supports voting rights for illegal aliens.

It supports stricter hate-crime laws.

It opposes the Aviation Transportation and Security Act requiring that all airport baggage screeners be U.S. citizens.

It opposed President Bush's signing of the "Secure Fence Act of 2006" which authorized 700 miles of new border fencing along the U.S.-Mexico border.


He could also tell me why I'm a racist for wondering about the federally funded racist and far left
charter schools it has opened that are nothing more than indoctrination centers. Let's hear from one of the principals of a LaRaza supported school:

"La Academia Semillas del Pueblo is a Los Angeles public school that teaches
children "Aztec math" and the Mexican indigenous language of "Nahuatl." The
principal, Marcos Aguilar, is an ethnic separatist who told a UCLA interviewer:
"We don't want to drink from a White water fountain, we have our own wells and
our natural reservoirs and our way of collecting rain in our aqueducts. We don't
need a White water fountain. … We are not interested in what they have because
we have so much more and because the world is so much larger. And ultimately the
White way, the American way, the neo liberal, capitalist way of life will
eventually lead to our own destruction."

Hiding behind new names is nothing new for left wing eg. Handgun Control Inc., American Trial Lawyers Association. And I guess it works to some extent. For me these prevarications serve as confirmation of the Lefts inherent dishonesty and moral bankruptcy.

Picksenplan: Just Passing Wind

In the shamelessness department, T. Boone Pickens is trying save his massive investment in a Texas wind farm with a nationwide sales pitch designed to get his subsidies reinstated. Steven Milloy over at Junk Science blows down Pickens and the wind power fairy tale. No telling if anyone is listening to Pickens, but this rank opportunist disguised as a capitalist must stand to lose big bucks with such an obvious and very public act of self-service.

"The federal government currently subsidizes wind farm operators with a tax
credit worth 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour -- potentially making for a tidy annual
taxpayer gift to Pickens based on his anticipated capacity.

But all is not well in Wind Subsidy-land.

Since Congress didn't renew the wind subsidy as part of the 2007 energy
bill, it will expire at the end of this year unless reauthorized.

Subsidies are perhaps more important to the wind industry that wind
itself. Without them, wind can't compete against fossil fuel-generated power. As
pointed out by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (July 9), "In 1999, 2001 and
2003, when Congress temporarily killed the credits, the number of new turbines
dropped dramatically."

It's little wonder that Pickens is waging a $58 million PR campaign to
promote his plan. If it works, his short-term gain will be saving the tax credit
and his wind farm investment. In the long-term, he stands to line his already
overflowing pockets with hard-earned taxpayer dollars. "

A Foreigner Visits Liberal America

The left likes to harangue us over our "lost standing" in the (left wing) world. Here's a take on how Portland Oregon is being Europeanized in the Obama and Democrat mold.

"I am on the MAX Red Line light rail car going from downtown Portland to the
Airport. Some things socialists do better. Among them are public transportation,
recycling, French poetry readings, yoga, coffee, artisan food and arthouse
cinema. Would it that the counterscale were not so much more loaded..."