UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR THE IDLE RICH? DEMOCRATS SAY YES

Posted on December 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

SENATOR TOM COBURN, MD

Sen. Tom Coburn (R KY) sponsored a bill that would make millionaires ineligible to collect unemployment compensation. The provision was estimated to save the government 100 million dollars over a 5 year period; not much money but still worth doing. It would buy lunch.

All 42 Republican senators voted in favor of it. A total of 50 Democrats and two Independents* voted against it. That defeated the bill. A few hundred out-of-work millionaires heaved a sigh of relief and gave thanks for Democrats.

The Daily Caller reports on the story under the headline Senate Democrats reject elimination of unemployment benefits for millionaires. The New York Times bills the story simply as Coburn Takes Aim at the Idled Rich. Bias is more often hidden in what is not said than found in what is said.

Let’s be fair. We doubt Democrats killed the bill out of concern for hard-working millionaires temporarily out of work just trying to make ends meet without having to liquidate any of their bond holdings. The bill sponsored by the Republican senator also called for a 15% reduction in Pentagon Procurements. We don’t think it was that either. Yet another cost saving measure in the bill was a 3 year pay freeze for members of the Senate and the House. Now that could be the reason.

* There really are no Independents. Sanders is a Socialist and Lieberman is a Democrat despite his excommunication by the Party.

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JUSTAPHOTO

Posted on December 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

 

JUSTA MALE MALLARD

 

 

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OBAMA RAISES PRICE OF GASOLINE

Posted on December 17, 2010 | Leave a comment

When Obama announced the drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said “30% of our oil comes from the Gulf of Mexico. If you shut that down you will have $14 gasoline.” Actually 29% of U.S. production comes from the Gulf, close enough. But Obama did not move to “shut it down” and the $14 was made up out of thin air. Nevertheless, it does seem we are about to see $4 gasoline or more as a result of the moratorium on new drilling and suspension of exploration leases.

We predicted rigs would leave the bay in our previous post Obama Administration Falsifies Drilling Engineers Report. A later post confirmed the prediction, First Oil Rig Sails Away. The moratorium is lifted but the damage is done. Some rigs are gone and leases (rights to drill) need to be renewed. We discussed the inevitable long delays that would occur in clearing environmental regulations and litigating roadblocks by advocacy groups in Drilling Moratorium Ended?

“Government isn’t the answer to the problem. Government is the problem.”

Gulf of Mexico production graph courtesy of Red State

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CAMPAIGN 2012 HAS BEGUN

Posted on December 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

Various media organizations already are setting up debates, Palin is travelling to the Mid-East, Romney is speaking in New Hampshire and Gingrich is crossing his fingers hoping for a shot at the job. But it’s the Democrats who are off to the fastest start. Obama has supported the Bush income tax rates, and now is meeting with the nations business leaders, in person, and without asking how they traveled to Washington.

Dana Milbank, a frequent guest on MSNBC’s Matthews and Olbermann shows, writes for the Washington Post. Milbank’s Wednesday Op-Ed column is entitled “The socialist president plays host to capitalism.” He begins

“The titans of American industry were all assembled at the White House complex Wednesday. There was Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google. There was Kenneth Chenault, the chairman of American Express. And there was Barack Obama, the sometimes owner of General Motors, Chrysler, Citibank, Bank of America, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”

In his column Dana said the meeting with corporate executives was the socialist President’s chance “to show, in contrast to the perception that many voters had last month, that he is a big fan of the free market and private industry.” We think Dana was serious.

Before walking into the meeting with corporate America, Obama held a press conference. This time Dana reports

In the space of just four minutes, included seven mentions of jobs, six of growth or growing, and two of hiring. “Spurring economic growth is what I’ll talk about later this morning when I meet with some of America’s top business leaders,” the president said. (READ: I am a capitalist!) “That includes Jim McNerney of Boeing, who also heads up my Export Council, and several members of my Economic Recovery Advisory Board.” (READ: Some of my best friends are capitalists!)

We think Milbank was not serious. Serious or not, the campaign has begun. Lets us remember the time John McCain put Obama on the spot for reneging on a key campaign promise to make all the hearings open for viewing on CSPAN. The President looked McCain in the eye and laughed as he said “The Campaign is over, John.”

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PELOSI CONGRESS SETS NEW RECORD

Posted on December 15, 2010 | 2 comments

Worst Congress Ever

Gallop poll

Approval rating – 13%   The lowest on historical record

Disapproval rating – 83%   The lowest in over 30 years

Please note, that doesn’t leave much room in between for the wishie-washies. Congress really lost the Democrats in the last two months. Approval by Democratic voters plunged 58%, from 38 to 16 since Oct 10th. There was almost no change among Republicans. Obama remains above the fray. His approval rating has been staying in the 44-46% range. One can only speculate why.

So let us speculate. Left wing Democratic voters are unhappy because the likes of Cap and Trade, Card Check and  the DREAM Act did not get passed. Right wing Democrats, if one can say that, are holding Congress responsible for the election results. Centrist Democrats, if there still are any, are unhappy for both reasons.

That still doesn’t answer the question why Obama’s approval rating is little affected. It’s a puzzling question. Let’s speculate again. Blacks remain solidly in support of the President. They have no such loyalty to Congress. That accounts for about 12%. The Jewish community has always been fiercely loyal to the Democratic party. They are beginning to crack but the seepage is still just a trickle. Finally, once you achieve Messiah status, you acquire a true believer following. Men fail, but God can do no wrong. Congress, as we know, is comprised of mere mortals. Very mere indeed.

UPDATE: In short, Obama’s approval remains stable while Congress’s approval plunges because Obama has the loyalty of blacks, Jews and true believers and Congress does not.

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911 FIRST RESPONDERS HEALTH CARE BILL

Posted on December 14, 2010 | 2 comments

When you see a headline like this one from the Baltimore Sun, “Republicans deny medical aid to 9/11 First Responders ” the first thought that should come to anyone’s mind is – why? And there is always a reason why. But it often takes some effort to find it.

In this case, the first thing that came to my mind is “no they don’t”.  The headline is a not so subtle propagandic phrase. What the Republicans are denying is this particular proposition for expansion of certain medical benefits. There are just four objectives that drive political actions, power, money, election/re-election and the good of the country.  Meanness does not further any of these objectives; however, painting your opponent as being mean, does.

Democrats could have passed the bill in July. Democrats controlled the Senate; Democrats controlled the House. The party that controls the House sets the House procedural rules for each bill. The vote was 255 in favor to 159 opposed. Why didn’t it pass? The New York Times explained

“Democrats used rules requiring a wider majority for approval to prevent Republicans from offering amendments on the floor that would embarrass Democrats in an election year”

And further stated,

“the federal government has been appropriating money on an annual basis to monitor the health of people injured at ground zero and to provide them with medical treatment. But the bill’s supporters said there were problems with the year-to-year approach, including that money for the program was subject to the political whims of Congress and the White House.

So, if we are to believe the New York Times, it was the procedural rules set by Democrats in charge that killed the bill. And it was done to prevent certain “embarrassments” to Democrats in an election year. See above, paragraph 2, objective 3, “election/re-election.”

Also according to the Times, the 911 first responders have been getting funds from the federal government all along. No one, neither Republicans nor Democrats have denied medical benefits to these heroes. The bill is less about the first responders (objective 4) than it is about power, money and election/re-election (objectives 1 to 3).

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OBAMA LOSES ONE IN COURT

Posted on December 13, 2010 | Leave a comment

Many parallels have drawn between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Barack H. Obama. Now there is another one. Both had key provisions of their transformative programs struck down by the courts. FDR’s National Recovery Act (NRA) was declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court. Now the core of Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, has been declared unconstitutional by a U.S. District Court.

Of course, a District Court is not the final word and only one provision of the PPACA (Obamacare) is affected. But remember what Obama said when he spoke to labor union members, “single payer is the goal.” The District Court has struck at the heart and shattered Obama’s dream. If it goes to the Supreme Court of the land, the President can count on the ladies to lean his way. The ladies, of course are Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan. (A somewhat motley group, no?)

If Obama gets his way with the ladies and SOTUS reverses TUSDC (The U.S. District Court) there is still 2013. If the courts do not provide relief from Obamacare the legislature can change the law.

Just in the last few days, Obama has lost one to the Democrats, one to the courts and one to Bill Clinton. When we say the “Dude is Done”, the dude is done.

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JUSTAPHOTO

Posted on December 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

JUSTA HAPPY FAMILY

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1984 IS ALMOST HERE

Posted on December 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

George Orwell wrote the novel “1984” in 1949. This was before the internet, data mining, and GPS. It was both science and social fiction at the time. Sixty years later it is more science and less fiction. If you haven’t read it, you should.

Wikipedia describes the book as a dystopian novel about an oligarchical, collectivist society in a world of pervasive government surveillance and incessant public mind control. In “1984” the individual is always subordinated to the state, and it is in part, collectivist philosophy which allows the Big Brother Party, to manipulate and control humanity.

Random Thots found the following headlines all published in the same day:

CNN Reporter Put On Watch List After Criticizing TSA
http://www.prisonplanet.com/cnn-reporter-put-on-watch-list-after-criticizing-tsa.html
Wave goodbye to Internet freedom

FCC crosses the Rubicon into online regulation
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/2/wave-goodbye-to-internet-freedom/

Government reports violations of limits on spying aimed at U.S. citizens
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/02/AR2010120206052_pf.html

Feds Warrantlessly Tracking Americans’ Credit Cards in Real Time
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/realtime/

No headlines surfaced that day relative to GPS, but we know that many cars have tracking transmitters openly placed for fleet control and clandestinely placed for marketing and research purposes. Credit card transactions are recorded enabling the tracking of our whereabouts when out of the car. The possibilities with cellphones are limited only by our imagination. The tools are all in place for Big Brother to employ when the time is ripe.

Wikileaks, interestingly enough, is actually a reversal of Orwell’s theme. Orwell had the Memory Hole down which truth was thrown so that only government claims would remain standing as truth. Government ‘truth’ was called Newspeak. Assange with his Wikileaks is revealing what might be called Realspeak and throwing government Diplomaspeak down the Memory Hole.

The problem from America’s point of view is Assange is only exposing only one country and that happens to be us. If the same degree of revelation were made for every nation we would come out looking pretty good. Just imagine what Russian secret memos would reveal!

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ABBOTT & COSTELLO ON EMPLOYMENT

Posted on December 11, 2010 | Leave a comment

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