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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Michael Bieker Draws Inspiration From Hayek

Was great in Studio 54.


Not her!











Friedrich.  Friedrich Hayek!  The brilliant economist and author of 'The Road To Serfdom'.


Warned of the dangers of the expanding state.




Michael Bieker offers a movement away from a statist bureacracy and its ever expanding taxation and regulation.  Now that's something worth noticing!  A fresh direction for Oregon House District 33.

Read these:

Michael Bieker Hopes To Lead State To New Health

Merwyn Greenlick A Tad Fuzzy On The Concept Of Rights

Can Oregon Afford Another Term With Mitch Greenlick?

Michael Bieker Offers Oregon House District 33 New Direction

If Mitch Greenlick Can Be This Wrong On Rights, What Else Is He Wrong About?

Happily married guy.
Mitch Greenlick On Reckless Course

Schwarzengger Finds Monkey In The Works



Please join me in supporting Mike for House District 33.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

'Far From The Madding Crowd' Open Thread








What are your thoughts?

Kitzhaber Claim Too Lame To Listen To

PERS Supporter John Kitzhaber
"If Chris Dudley gets his tax breaks for the rich, we won't have the money for schools"

So runs the Kitzhaber screed.  John Kitzhaber has saddled Oregon with a number of problems, not the least of which was the financial burden of supporting a Public Employee Retirement System that has bankrupted the state. After it became apparent that costs were out of hand, the people of the state of Oregon were presented with Ballot Measure 8, which limited state employee benefits and required them to contribute to the costs of their pension plan. This initiative was passed. In response, then governor Kitzhaber raised employee salaries to offset the costs the measure required state employees to contribute to their retirement plan.  One year later the State Supreme Court ruled that Proposition 8 violated the state constitution, and it was never applied. But the salaries were never reversed. Now he speaks of being concerned about having money for schools...well governor, you've already spent it.

Business Owner Chris Dudley 
Chris Dudley offers a clear choice. As a small businessman, he understands the cost concerns of running small businesses, and small businesses are what make Oregon's economy thrive. Why should we select another go-round with a big government policy wonk. The author of the Oregon Health Plan does not need another shot at presenting big ticket expenses to be born by those still left here with a job. We can't afford another four years with Kitzhaber enjoying the governor's mansion. No more big ideas and better ways, governor, thank you very much. If you are really worried about our schools, try taking back some of the money that you threw at our state employees. The costs of PERS is outrageous, and few of us here in the private sector can support someone who doesn't consider reducing those costs as an option.

Please join me in giving Oregon a chance. Vote Chris Dudley for governor.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Barney Frank Called On The Carpet

Blog fav Thomas Sowell is one of our nation's most prominent economists and a conscience to the nation. In his latest piece, Frankly Ruthless he lays out the problem of abuse so rampant amongst our current Congress:
"Among others who have been at the heart of the risky lending behind the financial meltdown are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whom Congressman Barney Frank has also championed and protected. When federal regulators uncovered irregularities in Fannie Mae’s accounting, and in 2004 issued what Barron’s magazine called “a blistering 211-page report,” Barney Frank lashed out — not at Fannie Mae, but at the regulators who uncovered Fannie Mae’s misdeeds. He said “a leadership change” in the regulatory agency was “overdue.”

Politicians who say we need more regulation almost never mean regulation in the sense of impartially enforcing explicit rules, such as the accounting rules that Fannie Mae was violating to cover up its own risks. They mean regulation with arbitrary powers, such as those under the Community Reinvestment Act, which enable regulators to carry out the agendas that politicians give them."
Didn't I see this scene in one of those Robin Hood movies? I believe so, but the french speaking English nobleman and traitor was as sharp as a whip, and he didn't speak with a lisp.

People like Frank have undermined our nations Democracy for years. It is well past time they are called on their abuses and sent out of office. Here's hoping the people of Massachusetts will move to save the country.

Great piece, Tommy. Go Sean Bielat!

'It's All Their Fault' Cries An Unrepentant Barack

Barack Obama continued to shirk any responsibility for the nation's economic woes, claiming the melt down in the financial sector in 2007-2008 had nothing to do with the government's intrusion into the banking market under President Clinton and his AG Janet Reno, and ignoring the roles played by Democrat controlled House and Senate committees in brushing aside the regulators that by law were required to attempt to protect the nation from just such a melt down. Instead, Maxine Waters and Barney Frank were quite happy to allow Howard Raines to continue the unstable and unsupportable lending practices until they resulted in disastrous crash in the Fall of 2008.
He (Barack) said Republicans had driven the economy into a ditch and then stood by and criticized while Democrats pulled it out. Now that progress has been made, he said, "we can't have special interests sitting shotgun. We gotta have middle class families up in front. We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back."
Nice visual. Imagine if Christine O'Donnell had said that about the Dems. Who's writing this stuff on the tele-prompter?

The people that are elected by the people are in the drivers seat, whether the president recognizes that fact or not.
"Nor was his greeting totally friendly in Rhode Island where Obama has pointedly declined to endorse his party's candidate for governor.

Obama can "take his endorsement and shove it," declared Democrat Frank Caprio, battling Republican-turned-independent Lincoln Chafee in a gubernatorial race rated tight..."
Geez, that's a mouthful. How are things going over there? Don't want him to stick around, eh? Not everyone happy over there, eh?
"Democrats relied on more than the president's time to boost their chances in the final days of the campaign. There was the matter of federal funds, too, in the form of hundreds of millions in grants announced during the day to provide high speed rail service in California, between Chicago and Iowa, and elsewhere. Administration officials left it to Democratic lawmakers to make the announcements..."
Big handouts for the people voting "D". These guys are shameless.
"Eight days before the election, the principal uncertainty concerned the size and scope of anticipated Democratic losses in the House, the Senate, governor's races and state legislatures."
The concern is all on the part of the Democrats. The people are not concerned about the size of the losses the Democrats will face.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

- Caprica Open Thread (Season 1.5)













Hey, feel free!





Christine O'Donnell Outshines Coons, Makes It Look Easy.

In a radio broadcast debate October 18th, Christine O'Donnell schooled Democrat contender Chris Coons, repeatedly showing broader command of the issues and greater poise under pressure. In addition, the debate added the bonus of underscoring Coons' deficient understanding of the nature and text of the Constitution which governs our nation. Words mean things, and as Coons found out, fudging around the edges and beating around the bush didn't cut it with Ms. O'Donnell. She initially had to take him to task on the Constitution's First Amendment.

As Coons attempted to defend why he thought no explanations should be discussed in schools other than Darwin's Theory of Evolution, Ms. O'Donnell caught him claiming the Constitution stated a wall of separation existed between the church and the state. As Ms. O'Donnell was aware, the notion of a ”wall of separation between church and state” is not found in the Constitution or any of its amendments. It is found in Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptist Association written January 1st, 1802.  In this letter, Jefferson assures the Danbury Baptist Association that the government will not interfere with the religion of the Baptists, nor will an officer of government preside over a national religion, as the king of England did over the Church of England.  It is an explanation that the Constitution protects the Danbury Baptists from governmental interference.

Coons attempted to misconstrue the impetus behind O'Donnell's question, to the laughter and great pleasure of the assembled dolt law school students in the audience. Following the next question, Coons attempted to embarrass Ms. O'Donnell, erroneously thinking he had caught Ms. O’Donnell in a simplistic error.

“I think you’ve just heard from my opponent in her asking ‘where is the separation of church and state’ show that she has a fundamental misunderstanding.”

“That’s in the First Amendment?” O’Donnell probed.

“Yes” Coons responded.

The First Amendment reads in part:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Coons misunderstood the text of the First Amendment and the significance of Ms. O'Donnell's question. He also apparently was unaware of the degree of knowledge Ms. O'Donnell possessed on the subject. O'Donnell is well versed in the First Amendment protections, as became embarrassingly obvious when O'Donnell asked Mr. Coons if he could identify the five freedoms protected in the First Amendment.

Big on taxation, short on Constitutional restraint.
In answer Coons, who has studied the law and practiced as a lawyer, named the establishment clause, but blanked on all the others. The First Amendment prohibits the Congress from making a law toward the establishment of religion, and protects the free exercise of religion.  It also protects the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, and the freedom of the people to peaceably assemble and petition their government. After that take down Mr. Coons demanded that O’Donnell quit asking further questions of him. Indeed, as they went to the heart of the matter and underscored his hypocrisy in criticising Ms. O'Donnell. We must stop that at once.

Throughout, Coons was boorish and overbearing. His smug aside comments to the moderators, dismissive attitude toward Ms. O'Donnell and incessant interruptions of his young opponent were embarrassing to watch. For her part, Christine O'Donnell was warm and engaging, and consistently displayed a greater awareness of the topics at hand and their relevance to the people of Delaware.

Delawareans have a clear choice.

Friday, October 22, 2010

NPR Claims Their 'News Analyst' Position Requires Objectivity?

Jim Vicevich has further commentary on NPR CEO Vivian Schiller's statement about the speech restrictions expected of their 'News Analysts' to maintain their ethical integrity. Apparently NPR lists Ted Koppel and Cokie Roberts as their only two surviving News Analysts. A quick look at the record shows what we already know - that neither of these two have shown much restraint in offering their opinions, even when supposedly analyzing the news on NPR, let alone at other venues. Here is Koppel maintaining his ethical objectivity:
"We have raced to Afghanistan and Iraq, and more recently to Yemen and Somalia; we have created a swollen national security apparatus; and we are so absorbed in our own fury and so oblivious to our enemy’s intentions that we inflate the building of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan into a national debate and watch, helpless, while a minister in Florida outrages even our friends in the Islamic world by threatening to burn copies of the Koran."
Vicevich observes:
"In the above case, it does not matter if you agree with or disagree with Koppel. He’s expressing his opinion in an OpEd piece not associated with NPR and he’s an NPR news analyst.

If I must, I’ll continue with Cokie Roberts, a contributing senior news analyst at NPR. Earlier in March this year, she referred to Glenn Beck as a terrorist and traitor and suggested advertisers stop supporting his radio and TV show. I don’t listen or watch Beck, but from what I understand, few are taking Roberts’ suggestion."

That's pretty rich, Jimmy.

He goes on to cite an example of Cokie Roberts displaying her standard NPR objectivitiy:
"We are not denying Beck or anyone else their First Amendment rights. He can say anything he wants. But advertisers don’t have to support his brand of hate mongering, and audiences don’t have to take Fox News seriously if one of its top names has become a “circus clown.”
Ethical standards of professional objectivity of the 'News Analyst' isn't looking to good over there at NPR. Cokie continues:
"Actually, Beck is worse than a clown. He’s more like a terrorist who believes he has discovered the One True Faith, and condemns everyone else as a heretic. And that makes him something else as well — a traitor to the American values he professes so loudly to defend."
Talk radio host Glenn Beck is more like a terrorist? He's a conservative, right? Well, if that passes muster of their objectivity code I don't know what Schiller is talking about with Williams.

Come on. Ethical integrity? Objectivity? This is NPR, for Pete's sake.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Merwyn Greenlick A Tad Fuzzy On The Concept Of Rights

More government means less freedom.
Oregon State Representative Mitch Greenlick, D-Portland, has attempted to make the provision of health care a right in the Oregon Constitution for more than five years. In this, his third legislative session in which he has introduced a proposal to make the state responsible to fund healthcare services to the uninsured, the resolution fell short of the number needed to pass. Greenlick said he will not try again. Let us hope we can take him at his word.

The measure called for amending the Oregon Constitution to declare:

"it is the obligation of the state to ensure that every legal resident of Oregon has access to effective, medically appropriate and affordable health care as a fundamental right."

Opponents said the measure would subject the state to an obligation it could not afford to deliver. Said Representative Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, the resolution was "a social experiment in constitutional socialism."
"Greenlick said he would be dead from lymphoma, now in remission, if he did not have access to affordable health care. That access should be a right, not a privilege, he said."
Why?
"Rights come from wrongs," he said. "What more egregious wrong can there be than depriving people the right to life simply because they do not have access to health care."
Rights come from wrongs? What kind of disturbance in one's thinking could result in such a non sequitur to be offered up as a proof?

Dr. Greenlick, this nation was founded on the principle that we as people are the possessors of rights that are inalienable. That is, the rights we are the possessors of cannot be transferred or given away. They are intrinsically ours as they come from God. We are not beholding to the state. When the state transgresses these rights it does wrong. An example of such a wrong would be your plan to take the funds from one person and give it for the benefit of another. This is called theft, and it is an immoral practice.

Let's clear up the confusion. Bigger is not better. Please join me in supporting Mike Bieker for State House District 33.

(Reposted From original post date of July 2nd, 2010)

If Juan Williams Cannot Speak Freely, Who Of Us Can?

Longtime NPR commentator Juan Williams was fired today for ... commenting.  Juan was speaking with Fox News host Bill O'Reilly when he made the following

"Well, actually, I hate to say this to you because I don’t want to get your ego going. But I think you’re right. I think, look, political correctness can lead to some kind of paralysis where you don’t address reality.

I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

Now, I remember also that when the Times Square bomber was at court, I think this was just last week. He said the war with Muslims, America’s war is just beginning, first drop of blood. I don’t think there’s any way to get away from these facts."

That's an honest statement that reflects a natural human reaction to the events that have transpired.

Fired.

This is not a small thing. This is what is undermining our nation, and it's ubiquitous presence extending into our military is the kind of thinking that is destroying our ability to defend ourselves.

The whole notion that there are opinions that cannot be thought, much less expressed is the same one behind Ft. Hood commanders Lt. General Robert Cone declaring

"preliminary evidence did not suggest that the shooting was terrorism"

The Leutenant General's statement implies he is unable to interpret the significance of Nidal Malik Hasan shouting "Allah Akbar" as he shot down the commander's unarmed soldiers. This of course was followed by Cheif of Staff George Casey's reassurances that he understands what was truly at risk at Fort Hood when he stated

"And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casuality, I think that's worse"

Fortunately for the base personnel they had the services of little Kimmy Munley, who had the stones to shoot back at this SOB without worrying whether or not his feelings would be hurt, and without inquiring first as to the diverstiy that his presence on the base represented.

If General Casey had been sitting in the base infirmary as Major Hassan stood up to address his fellow servicemen and women, would the general be thinking the most important thing in his command was diversity in the military? When the NPR management officers take their place in the first class section of their next air trip, would they feel comforted to see Mohammed Atta sitting up in the front row of their flight?

More importantly, would they know that they still lived in a country where they were free to give voice to their thoughts and feelings?

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Is Barney Frank Going Down?

It's one of those questions bloggers fear to pose.   But it is very possible that the Dems queen of the lisping interruption will find himself upside down in the polls come November 2nd.  And who may be on top, towering over the angry, flabby Boston bean?  None other than Sean Bielat, a former US servicemen (Marine Corps) who now works in a plant that manufactures military bomb disposal equipment.

It is the big government attitude of Frank that rankles the most. That, and his willingness to spend untold billions of government money with nary a thought about it. Such recklessness has crippled the nation's economy. His carefree attitude toward spending away what was hard earned by the people was brought to relief in his recent comments regarding another government cash infusion blow-out for the economically destitute city of Detroit:
"There's no downside to trying." Barney Frank, above, in a CNBC "Closing Bell" interview October 20 tells Maria Bartiromo "I think there are a lot of rich people out there whom we can tax at a point down the road and recover some of this money."
No downside to trying... what a twit. Sissy Willis has the low down, as does that Stacy McCain character.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Michael Bieker Hopes To Lead State To Renewed Health

Michael Bieker is a breath of fresh air for we who have lived through the stale, tired policies of a Democrat controlled congress in the State of Oregon. It is time for change in Oregon, and never was there a house seat that needed changing more than in House District 33, where Michael Bieker hopes to relieve Mitch Greenlick of Portland.

A Sunset High School and University of Oregon graduate, Mike is not one to be put off by a touch of rain.  He's an Oregonian through and through.  He loves our state and has great hopes for our future.

"I'm blessed to live in the best state in the union. However, like most people, I'm concerned about the future of our state. Oregon suffers from chronic unemployment, and the state government's unsustainable spending is driving us towards bankruptcy. Let's focus on solutions that will make Oregon the best it can be. Please join me." - Michael Bieker

Join me in supporting Mike Bieker for State District 33.

Anita Hill Displays Poise, Good Judgment, Calls In FBI

Anita calls on the FBI to protect her.
Anita Hill put a call out to the Brandeis University Public Safety Office and contacted the FBI in reaction to a phone message left ominously at the university where she is a professor.

Mrs. Thomas had called the Brandeis professor to see if she would consider making a statement about her actions nineteen years earlier and correct things that possibly spun out of control and ended up disparaging the good name of her husband.

Virginia Thomas is a 53 year old woman who lives 440 miles away, and is the wife of a sitting US Supreme Court Justice. How much harm does Ms. Hill think is going to befall her from Mrs. Thomas? This paragon of courage who fearlessly came out to speak the 'truth' that the nation needed to hear put this information together and concluded her life was in such jeopardy that she needed to notify the University and bring in the FBI.

If ever there was an indication that Anita Hill was not the possessor of reasonable judgment, this would be it. Mrs. Thomas on the other hand has showed herself to be hopeful, forgiving, and open to the possibility of people gaining perspective and maturity from their life experiences.

ABC News listened in on the recording and wrote down all the gory details. According to their report, Mrs Thomas came at Ms. Hill in the following manner:

"I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.  So give it some thought and certainly pray about this and come to understand why you did what you did.  OK, have a good day."
Wow, that is chilling.

What exactly was in the mind of Ms. Hill with all the commotion she has brought upon herself over a simple phone call?

"I certainly thought the call was inappropriate," Hill, who worked for Clarence Thomas in two federal government jobs, said in a statement released Tuesday night.
"I have no intention of apologizing because I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony," she added.
Yeah, right.

Contacted by the press, Virginia Thomas disclosed her ill begot plan:


"I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get past what happened so long ago. That offer still stands.  I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same."


Sexual crimes and sexual misconduct are known to have an exteremly high rate of recidivism. Now, with the wisdom of time at our disposal, what has been revealed about Justice Thomas and his accuser Anita Hill?

Prior to Miss Hill, there were no claims of sexual misconduct against Clarence Thomas. Since Miss Hill's claim ninteen years ago, there have been no claims of sexual misconduct against Clarence Thomas.

The only thing you can wonder is why anyone would ever place any responsibility in the hands of this ungrateful, nutbar, tool of the left.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Can Oregon Afford Another Term With Mitch Greenlick?

Oregon deserves a brighter future.
The simple answer is 'No.'

The question is will the people of District 33 have the where with all to figure that out for the rest of the state. With unemployement rising, the economy stifled and Greenlick looking to continue his penchant to increase government regulation and increase taxation, there is hope that the light of day will break thru the liberal gloom of Northwest Portland and its near surrounds.

Mitch Greenlick On Reckless Course

Greenlick amongst his base - Federal Employee union members.
If ever there was a time to turn out a big government statist, this would be it. The state is struggling with 12% unemployment, the public employee retirement system is devouring what revenues the state can produce, and Mitch Greenlick wants more taxes and more state mandated healthcare programs. He is Oregon's own Captain Edward Smith, standing on the bridge of the Titanic. He knows the iceberg damaged the ship, but he insists on steaming on into the night, into an uncertain and perilous future.

Mitch Greenlick is an unmitigated disaster. His policies are killing our state, and are pushed upon us with little regard to the will of the people. Case in point would be the recent additional 60 cent cigarette tax Greenlick burdened the citizens of Oregon with. "I am fully ready to take on the tobacco industry" Greenlick said "Their product kills people." Yeah, well outlaw it then, Mitch. It is such a specious argument. You are not taxing the tobacco companies, Merwyn, you're taxing the people that like to smoke, and you are saying that it is for them to carry the burden of supplying the funds for your healthcare scheme. It's criminal. And this, despite the fact that the very same proposal was brought before the Oregon voters in 2007, and the voters rejected it. That didn't trouble Merwyn any. In 2009 the Dems had a super majority in both houses, so they didn't have to trouble with getting the approval of the people that live in his state. What an ass.

Vote for new blood.. a bright young man who is concerned about the will of the people and who will stop further taxation and governmental expansion.

Vote Michael Bieker for State House District 33.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Michael Bieker Offers Oregon House District 33 New Direction

After seven years in the Oregon legislature, Mitch Greenlick has expanded taxes, legislated financial obligations on private industry, destroyed the recovery program that aided Oregon's physicians in need, and helped to place the state into a two billion dollar financial hole.  A true believer in 'Better living through better government', Mr. Greenlick thoroughly bought into the idea that  'More is better'.  More committees, more regulations, more tax funded programs...enough to choke a pig.

Come November Oregonians in District 33 will have an opportunity to turn control of the state back to the people. 

Michael Bieker is a newcomer to politics.  A small business owner and entrepreneur, he is well aware of the drubbing small businesses have taken over the past few years, with declining business due to the poor economy, coupled with increased taxation and regulation from statist bureaucrats like Mitch Greenlick.  Mr. Bieker has pledged to vote against any further inceases in state income generation schemes, whether it be efforts at increasing taxes, increasing fees, or the increasing the costs accessed for tickets and fines.  Mr. Bieker is bright and well spoken, with ideas that are centered on limiting government intrusion, not expanding it as we have suffered from so much in the past.  Young Mr. Bieker is a breath of fresh air.  It is my great pleasure to recommend to you Michael Bieker to represent Oregon House District 33.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Dems Monkey Around With Electoral Process


Democrats messing with the election process is on the rise, as noted in a piece by Jack Cashill and reported at Emerging Corruption.Com

A conservative Democrat and former naval aviator by the name of Will Royster lost his primary bid last August to DNC party man John Rizzo for an open seat in a largely Democrat district.

“If we won’t allow Somali pirates to hijack our ships, why do we allow them to hijack our elections?”

Royster has experienced this paradox up close. It was his election that was hijacked, specifically the August 3 Democratic primary for the 40th district Missouri State House seat.

The piece goes on to detail multiple episodes of Somali immigrants being told to vote for Rizzo, or having their ballots filled out for them. Result: Rizzo wins! Rizzo wins!

It is a pattern of behavior that undermines our electoral system. Having an illegal ballot count in an election is as bad as not counting a valid ballot. With this going on, what faith can we have that the government represents the people?

"At the most recent court hearing, five election judges testified on Royster’s behalf. No one challenged their testimony, but Judge Stephen Nixon refused to rule in Royster’s favor. Although conceding the various violations, the judge attributed the failure to the seemingly benign error of the election judges. Royster understands something about the value of citizenship. He flew 43 missions over Iraq in Desert Storm and left the Navy only after being injured when ejecting from a crippled plane.

“With all due respect to Judge Nixon,” said Royster, “I respectfully disagree with his decision to decriminalize election fraud and voter fraud in the state of Missouri.”
Absolutely.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Return of Ace Blogger

That's better than anything I've done this week.

The girl has got the chops.

Dems Still Messing Up Housing And Loan Industries

After the blow up in 2007-08, one would think the singed little fingers of Dems in Congress would be lesson enough for these officers of the government to back away from the financial industry.

No.

The housing market is poised for another massive crash, due to the tie up of funds in foreclosures. Doug Ross attempts to entangle the web:
This is a failure of Democrat policies, not the free market. Agency after agency, bureaucracy after bureaucracy, politician after politician failed to unwind the disastrous policies of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD and the other Statist programs hatched by Bill Clinton, Andrew Cuomo and Janet Reno to make homes "affordable".

Fannie and Freddie were raped and pillaged by connected Democrats like Franklin Raines, Jim Johnson, Jamie Gorelick, Tom Donilon, and many others. It was wracked by accounting scandals that mysteriously spawned generous bonuses for these executives. With the help of Democrats in Congress, it blocked eighteen separate attempts by the Bush administration to audit the entities and to implement traditional risk management controls.
So much for Mr. Frank's claims that it was Republicans that wouldn't fix the problems. I've listened to the hearings, and the Dems in the House committee, Barney Frank and Maxine Waters in particular, brow beat the people that had been placed in charge to be sure the entities were safe. They didn't want to hear what might go wrong, and they assured us that everything was okay, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Franklin Raines. Buloney.

However bad that was, it may all get a whole lot worse. Democrats are now thinking of inserting themselves once again by implementing a foreclosure moratorium which not only would stop foreclosures, it would likely freeze up the entire housing market.
Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters and the rest of the social engineering geniuses who protected Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from regulatory oversight during the Democrat housing boom should be serving life sentences in Leavenworth.
Absolutely. With the US Tax payers on the hook to cover the failures, we must get the government to stop playing around with the banking industry. It is not a regulation problem, it is a governmental mandate problem.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Dick Cheney Speaks With Wife Before Ten Thousand Well Wishers

Dick Cheney was in Bakersfield, California last weekend, where he granted an 'interview' to his wife Lynn before an audience of ten thousand well wishers.

Mr. Cheney's political career has included working with four Republican presidents. A playful Mrs. Cheney asked,
"So who's your favorite?"
To which he replied:
"I got to work for all those presidents because I never said who was my favorite."

His proudest accomplishment came because of something that didn't happen: The nation did not suffer another devastating terrorist attack in the years following Sept. 11.
He stated his greatest fear was a nuclear weapon in the hands of terrorists.
"We came to the point that we could no longer treat terrorist attacks as a simple law enforcement problem," he told the appreciative crowd. "They were an act of war."

That's the sound of a reasonable man speaking.

It's a pity the Democrats were so focused on gaining power, and that their tactic to that end was to undermine the nation's confidence in good men like Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney loves his country. He has served it well.

God bless and keep him and his family.

Dems Caught Inserting Bogus Candidate Into New Jersey Race

Peter DeStefano shows off bonafides
From the AP:
A New Jersey Republican congressional candidate criticized his Democratic opponent Friday amid mounting evidence that Democratic officials planted a 'tea party' candidate in the race to siphon off conservative votes.

"My opponent, John Adler, represents everything that is wrong with politics in our country today," Republican Jon Runyan said. "I would ask for an apology. But frankly, an apology from someone like Congressman Adler would be so meaningless that it’s not worth seeking."

He spoke at a news conference as Adler, a first-term Democratic lawmaker, and his campaign remained mum about a report in the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill in which Democratic operatives speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed what Republicans have believed for months: That tea-party candidate Peter DeStefano was put on the ballot by Democrats.
Republicans started raising suspicions over DeStefano a few months ago when they found out that many of the signatures on DeStefano's nominating petitions were from Democrats, including the name of a former Adler campaign staff member. Later, a county Democratic employee showed up running the Web elements of DeStefano’s campaign. For their part, Tea Party organizations have denounced DeStefano since he first entered the race in June. Friday they called on him to quit the race.
DeStefano told reporters he would remain in the race, but he would not answer specific questions about the newspaper’s report, dismissing the allegations as "hearsay."
Dismissing them as hearsay?! That's not denying them at all. It's alluding to the unproven nature of the allegation, and nothing more.
"I’m an average guy who’s running for Congress on the independent ticket," DeStefano said.
What?! With an awful lot of Democrat friends who deride the Tea Party's ideas, some of whom are hooked up in the DNC. Yup, just an average guy.
One tea party group, the West Jersey Tea Party, said it plans to file a voter-fraud lawsuit against Adler next week…
Yeah, they should. These Democrats and their willingness to subvert the electoral process that the nation is based on...

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Donna Brazile To Stir Things Up

The nation is losing it's patience with the Democrat party, whose penchant for meddling with the election process is repeated every two years. In the face of ACORN Voter Registration scandels, New Black Panther intimidation activities, the movement to non-citizen voter registration and the bi-annual voting of the dead in Chicago extended as a nationwide Democrat policy initiative, the latest from Donna Brazile is that trouble is coming:
"If these Tea Partiers win, they'll come to Washington with this agenda: Stop President Obama, and stick it to the middle class. They're campaigning exactly how they'll govern — with misleading information and wild-eyed distortions, personal invective and rampant vitriol."
Right. Sounds like a tad bit of projection to me.

With a tip of the hat to Sissy Willis of SISU.

Asymetric Warfare Explained

Commenting on Osama Bin Laden's recent audio address to the world at large, and the knee jerk reaction it engendered from the US Government and the Western powers in Europe, George Jonas made a plea for sanity to be instilled into the West's response to the Islamic threat.
"Since terrorists win by blowing up airplanes, buildings and trains, many people assume that whenever they fail to blow up anything, they lose. Unfortunately, this isn't so. Terrorists don't have to blow up anything to win. They win by reducing travellers to Alcatraz inmates. They win by turning free countries into police states."
Technology and ever greater efforts to screen people while taking no allowance to rely on human judgment plays directly into the hands of those that would subdue us, apparently as noticed by everyone, all the while allowing real threats to pass through unhindered.
"Authorities that waste time confiscating toiletries from Miami matrons had cheerfully waved aboard (1) a 23-year-old Muslim male (2) from Nigeria (3) travelling without luggage, (4) who had purchased a one-way ticket with cash at the airport, (5) was already on a terrorist watch list and (6) had been denounced by his own father for being a radical. What could a $100,000 full body scanner tell officials about a man who all but had "suicide bomber" pasted on his forehead?

Body-scanning without profiling passengers for ethnicity, religion and, especially, behaviour is a waste. Technology may supplement common sense; it can't supplant it."
Unfortunately Mr. Jonas, arming ourselves with common sense is a weopon we have decided is too dangerous to be allowed in the fight against Islamic extremists.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

What's that, Jimmy?

Former President Jimmy Carter raised some eyebrows recently when he claimed that his post-presidency has been superior to those of other living former presidents. A poll of Newsweek Internet users came up with a different result:

Who do you think has been the best former president?


Former President George W. Bush 50.5%

Former President George H.W. Bush 30.42%

Former President Bill Clinton 13.12%

Jimmy Carter 5.96%


Don't worry. Help is coming, Jimmy!

Support Building For Sarah Palin

Mr. Ruddy introducing Sarah Palin in Florida.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin recently met with fifty of the nations conservative leaders in Palm Beach, Florida where she discussed economic and diplomatic policy. The meeting was organized by Chris Ruddy, owner and manager of conservative website Newsmax.

The brainiacs at US News summed up the situation with their usual acumen and insight:
"Conservatives have warmed to Palin in part because of her golden touch in picking Tea Party candidates to back in House and Senate races, giving her a ready-made support base in a presidential bid."
They have it backward, as per usual.

Look, she isn't just lucky at picking when candidates she supports win primaries. An endorsement by Sarah Palin gives a candidate immediate heightened interest and credibility. This is correctly perceived as an indicator that she has influence and a connection with conservatives nation wide. People trust her, she is engaging and has broad appeal. She's an attractive candidate, period.

Mark Steyn Returns

After weeks away and a very long, dry summer of recovery, people are starting to go a little bazerk with the news: Mark Steyn has returned from his trips abroad gathering up Sappho awards and the like, and has resumed his weekly stops at the Hugh Hewitt Show, where he had this to share:
"I think at this stage, it’s very hard to rally Democrats, because I think a lot of them recognize, I think a lot of them are actually ashamed of what happened in 2008. It’s fascinating to me, I was driving earlier today through a little liberal enclave of New Hampshire. And I do not recall in any electoral cycle seeing so few Democratic Party signs. I mean normally, the Democrats in that particular town outnumber the Republican candidate signs very considerably. The Democrat signs are conspicuous by their absence. And I think people understand that they were taken for a ride in 2008."
Right. It's the man's infectious laughter I love, as much as the keen insight and cutting commentary. Read the rest here.

Friday, October 8, 2010

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Shahzad Late Mortgage Payments Not Likely To Be Made Good

The daft musings of the media in their initial response to the Times Square Bomber were never more brilliantly brought into relief then at the court sentencing of Faisal Shahzad.

To review, a car bomb designed to blow up in the middle of Time Square on a busy Saturday failed to explode when its two alarm clock detonators were set twelve hours off. The car was found the following day and the bomb defused. Initial reactions from the press ascribed many possible motivations for the bomb left parked in Time Square, but curiously lacking in the possibilities considered were concerns over whether it may have represented a Muslim terrorist attack.

First we were told they were looking for a white guy in his forties. Then it was an angry white guy who we were confident had acted alone. With a little coaxing from Katie Couric, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg famously chimed in,
"If I had to guess 25 cents, this would be exactly that, somebody- a home-grown, maybe a mentally deranged person or somebody with a political agenda that doesn't like the health care bill or something. It could be anything."
As more information became available, the press described him as a Connecticut man, and noted that he was well educated. Then he was an american-immigrant that seemed to have been establishing himself in our society and was making his way. His work as a budget analyst had recently been interrupted by a lengthy stay out of the country, but what of it? The fact that he was late on his home mortgage payments was advanced as a possible motive for his act of intended violence. By this point people like you and I were thinking "Oh give me a break!" Two days later, Shahzad was arrested after being removed from a plane bound for Dubai at John F. Kennedy airport.

Yesterdays sentencing made just how far off the beam the instinctive reaction of the left really was:
Shahzad was calm and controlled but defiant and unremorseful. He asked to make a five minute statement before being sentenced.

"This is my whole life and I will sacrifice it one thousand times for Allah. Muslims don't abide by any other laws because those laws are corrupt. We only believe in Shariah law. How can I be judged by a judge that doesn't understand the suffering of my people?"
That suffering plea gets a lot of play in the minds of the media and lefties in general. How much suffering does his people inflict upon his people? Was it not Saudi Arabian religious law officers that forced school girls to die in a burning school house because they did not have the proper head scarves in place? Do not Muslims routinely blow up other Muslims in various market place attacks? No tears from Shahzad about any of that.
"We don't accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have shariah law and freedom. The war with Muslims has just begun. The defeat of the US is imminent."

Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum interrupted his statement and asked when he became a naturalized American?

"April of last year" replied Shahzad.

The Judge then asked whether he swore allegiance and he said, "I didn't mean it." The judge continued, "You took a false oath?"

"Yes," he said.
The good judge seems a tad slow here. Why didn't she just ask Faisal about the home loan late payments the press was so sure was the reason for his discontent.

"Faisal, am I to understand that you never had any intention of making those back mortgage payments? You were just gonna stiff the bank?

"Yes"


Shahzad didn't stop there, he kept going,
"the past nine years, the wars against Muslims hasn't achieved anything. We want to defend and if nothing changes we will keep terrorism. We will defeat you with time." And he concluded with "My last message, there is only one God... Embrace Islam and become Muslim."

After Shahzad finished his statement, Judge Cedarbaum read out the counts.

"Count one and two life in prison," she said.

In response to this Shahzad cried out "Allahu Akbar."

The judged then said, "I understand you welcome that."
Mr. Shazad had told investigators that he had received bomb-making training from the Taliban in Pakistan, which he said had funded the attempted bombing. He thought the bomb would kill at least forty people. He claimed he had planned a second bombing to go off at an undisclosed location in New York for two weeks later.
"My sentence is only the limit God has set for me... and you all will face your destiny in the hereafter."

Nice guy, that Faisal Shahzad.

Faisal ended up being sentenced to six consecutive life sentences.

I think the bank can pretty much forget about those mortgage payments.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sissy Willis Up To No Good

This girl has way too much fun!

Not only is it a fun read in a crime thriller kind of way, but it's a link fest for other great stuff, a number of which written by the notorious Stacy McCain.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Steven Portnoy Aghast Over Limbaugh Tax Comments

ABC News reporter Steven Portnoy is aghast to discover Rush Limbaugh critical of the president.  Yes, the man who has been called everything under the sun by the likes of Portney has been chided as having gone too far:
Obama, Limbaugh says, is an "economic ignoramus" for not understanding how a "tax increase" on the wealthy won't stimulate growth.  Quoting an AP article from yesterday, Limbaugh pointed out Obama’s remarks at a meeting of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board that the wealthy would “take our ball and go home” if their tax cuts aren’t extended.

Limbaugh then addressed the following line to the president directly:

“Mr. Obama, our imam-child, they have already taken their trillion dollar ball home, and they’re sitting on it, you jackass.”
Damn straight.

Listen, Portnoy, don't worry about it.  Mr. Obama has to be aware that people are going to be critical of him, seeing as how he has plunged the nation into crushing debt, destabilized the world market and taken over large sections of private industry.

Moreover, Limbaugh's right.  Why do you think businesses are fiscally cautious these days?  If there is one thing markets do not like, it's instability.  With Obamonomics, we've got instability the likes of which we haven't seen since the thirties.  Despite this, the president continues to make ill considered, inane comments on tax policy and our crippled economy.

Rush Limbaugh can't raise taxes or change your health coverage.  Stop worrying about what people are saying about the president, and start worrying about what the president is saying and doing.

That's what Limbaugh's doing.

'Hopscotch' Open Thread











What did you think?