The Boring Made Dull

Culture of Corruption: Bob Etheridge (D-SC)

2010-06-14T20:53:00.003-04:00

Apparently, it's poor form to ask Congressmen questions on the street. Nevermind that 60 Minutes has been doing this since Methuselah was a pup.

Here's what's billed as the raw video of Etheridge's assault on his questioners:

Now, as assaults go, this is pretty minor stuff, no doubt contained by the presence of the second video camera. Memo to the thug Etheridge: next time, bring some folk from the SEIU to dole out the Ken Gladney treatment.

The Christian Science Monitor asks “Bob Etheridge Incident: What Does He Have to Apologize For?” Beyond general rudeness, swatting at the camera, grabbing the questioner, putting him in a headlock, and general thuggery, I'm not sure. One can only suspect that without the second camera present, he would have behaved even worse.

In fairness to the CSM, the article isn't as clueless as the headline implies.

What we don't know pretty much boils down to the identity of the “students” taking the video. As the video shows, this is not an extraordinarily hostile confrontation. Is it a setup? Does it matter? Even assuming that these are operatives in the pay of the vast right wing conspiracy, all the thug Etheridge has to do is say something like “No, not completely” or “No Comment”, or “Not right now boys, I have to get to a meeting, so call my office”, or some such non-committal drivel. Any one of those responses is so bland that it wouldn't go viral in a bowl of vanilla pudding.

Nobody in the media seemed to care if George Allen's “Macaca” moment was a set up, least of all the Washington Post, but that's all that they will likely care about with this clip.

Thug Etheridge's “apology” can be found here. Certainly reads more like one of those “I'm sorry I got caught” moments than anything substantial. According to the AP, he'd just had a long day. I'm sure that that excuse would have worked for George Allen, and the WaPo would have forgiven all.

Well, they would have, if he had been a Democrat.

It's only a matter of time before some Democrat introduces legislation to make video cameras illegal outside of government sanctioned media outlets. Oh, wait – the FTC is getting ready to put this camel's nose inside the tent....

Greece Reject Moody's “Junk” Bond Rating

2010-06-14T20:09:00.002-04:00

Can't believe that they are too surprised; perhaps they were holding out for the coveted “rotting carcass” status.

Mixed Nuts: Bruce Patterson*

2010-05-29T22:48:00.005-04:00

The esteemed Mr. Patterson, a Michigan state senator (R-7 MI), is on his way to the Mixed Nuts Hall of Fame. Not for nothing does this dude sport a Snidely Whiplash mustache (though to be fair to Snidely, Mr. Patterson doesn't exactly sport Snidely's trim physique). It seems State Sen. Patterson is deeply troubled by the fact that there are people reporting on Michigan state politics who he hasn't heard of. Worse yet, they work for publications he hasn't heard of! The Horror!

Solution? Why, a State of Michigan “ Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for journalists!!! That way, the people will know who has the official approval of Michigan's government for their dose of propaganda! Double Plus Un-Good!**

This probably goes beyond the scope of the Mixed Nuts grab bag. Most of our honorees are simply stupid folk doing stupid things, usually with minimal threat to the body politic. Mr. Patterson's buffoonery, however, is something more than a zit on the buttock of the body politic, he's actively advocating the introduction of carcinoma.

And what might be the esteemed Mr. Patterson's requirements for his seal of approval? Here's the list:

“ According to the bill, reporters must provide the licensing board proof of:

--"Good moral character” and demonstrate they have industry “ethics standards acceptable to the board.”

--Possession of a degree in journalism or other degree substantially equivalent.

--Not less than 3 years experience as a reporter or any other relevant background information.

--Awards or recognition related to being a reporter.

--Three or more writing samples.

Reporters will also have to pay an application and registration fee.”

Let's translate:

“ Good Moral Character”: Never criticize the licensing board, or Michigan government in general.

“ Degree in Journalism”: Reliably liberal, but with no real knowledge of any particular subject matter relevant to government.

“ Not less than 3 years experience in something or other”: see “good moral character”.

“ Awards or recognition”: be really, really, reliably liberal, never criticize Michigan's government, and remain steadfastly ignorant and incurious about the affairs of state.

“ Three or more writing samples”: Be able to cut and paste official part press releases into “news” articles.

I think that that about sums up this petty fascist's proposal, don't you? After all, if Mr. Patterson gets his way, pieces like this will get the thumbs down from Michigan's new state censorship board. Of course, his operative assumption is that people who think like he does will always be in control of the “ licensing” board. One wonders what happens when they are not? What happens when control of the board passes to the ACORN / SEIU? The Truthers? The Birthers? The Tea Party? Insert your favorite boogey man here...

Thats's why a free country steers away from government endorsement of “approved” media.

* Just to be fair, having played “Name That Party” on other MSM posts, one should note that the Fox piece doesn't point out that bozo here is a Republican.

** To make this clear to the meanest intelligence, and I allude to Mr. Patterson's, this is a reference to Orwell's classic, 1984. Perhaps he should read it sometime. Assuming he can.

Mixed Nuts: Eileen Campo

2010-05-13T21:10:00.001-04:00

Who is Eileen Campo? Just part of a group of parasites that expects other electric utility customers to subsidize her heating bill. Even worse, she pulled her kids out of school to fight for the right to have other people pay her bills.

Ms. Campo has been getting the welfare treatment on her electric bills – paid for by the rest of First Energy's customers – since 1992, and is grumpy that the gravy train is coming to a halt. For some reason, we're supposed to be upset that she's going to have to start paying her own bills.

I'd offer her a nickel to buy a clue, but it's apparent that it would just be another instance of throwing good money after bad. Especially after all of us First Energy customers have been chipping in on her utility bills for years.

Still, if you look to the “Citizens for keeping the all-electric promise” (CKAP) manifesto, as published by the Beacon, you'll get a glimpse of why the United States is headed the way of Greece:

“A permanent rate differential for all-electric homes that can be passed on to new buyers of the home.
Rate relief for homes built after 2007, which did not receive discounts or relief under recent PUCO action.
Refunds of overcharges from May 2009 to now.
A commitment that FirstEnergy, not other rate payers, should pay for the 'breach of promise.'”

Translation:

I demand that the rest of First Energy's customers pay my bills.
I demand that the rest of First Energy's customers pay the bills for those who never got the discount
I demand that the rest of First Energy's customers send my money.
I believe that the rest of First Energy's customers are too stupid to realize that they are paying for my tantrums.

For some reason, I'm unimpressed with the fierce moral urgency to fork over my cash to pay Ms. Campo's bills. I'm even less impressed with her inculcating her kids into the notion that they should be expecting handouts from the rest of us.

Really, is she so ignorant that she believes that there are fairies sprinkling pixie dust over First Energy's bank accounts so that the rest of the customers are not going to pick up the tab for her foolishness?

Memo to Ms. Campo: There is no magical pot of money that doesn't come from other First Energy customers. First Energy gave you a discount – at my and others' expense – for a number of years. Man up, shut your trap, buy a gas / oil / propane furnace, and stop teaching your kids that they can prey on their neighbors to pay their bills.

Fear the Boom and Bust

2010-02-08T12:39:00.003-05:00

The now famous Keynes v Hayek rap:

Should be required watching in Washington. Sadly, the bulk of Keynes' reputation is based on telling politicians exactly what they want to hear. Kinda like the IPCC on global warming....

“Ohioans Wonder Whether New Rail Line Will Be Too Slow, Underutilized”

2010-02-07T12:18:00.004-05:00

According to the Plain Dealer.

Fortunately, I have a master's degree in the obvious, so I can lay this disquiet to rest.

The trains will be too slow. Topping out at 79 MPH? I've seen cars on 71 moving well into the 80s. Additionally, you have the added time of travel to the train station, waiting to board, travel from the station to where ever you are going. This adds aggravation as well as time to your journey.
They will be underutilized. Cleveland – Columbus – Dayton – Cincinnati. On a daily basis, I can't see these things selling 80-90% of seats. Will there be multiple departures per day? If not, that adds to the travel time & inconvenience factor noted in #1. However, with multiple departures, you have more capacity to sell. Without multiple departures, car travel becomes even more competitive.

As a bonus, let's consider two additional factors.

The actual cost will far exceed the $400 million in “ stimulus” money. There aren't many government projects that come in either on time or at / below budget. Just wait until every county commissioner's relative scores a payday on this boondoggle.
Given the high level of price and convenience competition from automobiles, prices will have to be set low to generate ridership. That spells endless subsidies. I suspect that Amtrack hasn't earned profit dollar one, and if you can't make it on the DC-Balt-Phil-NYC-Boston corridor, what makes you think that Cleveland to Cincinnati is going to make a buck? Answer: it won't. This will be a millstone around the taxpayer's neck until it is shut down. And pols never shut down things that waste the taxpayer's money.

Economic competitiveness and future growth does not depend on herding people into uneconomic activities that only provide photo ops for politicians, along with untold millions in taxpayer subsidies.

Why Air America Failed

2010-01-23T09:37:00.002-05:00

Air America was always more of a partisan political operation, rather than a business. Explicitly built to counter the nefarious influences of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc., they never understood the nature of their real competition. Revenge isn't usually a viable business model.

NPR. Established pretty much everywhere, with the benefits of tax subsidies, university alliances, etc., NPR has already cornered the market for liberal leaning talk radio commentary, and for the most part, still carries a patina of a non-political operation.

The other main factor leading to Air America's demise – beyond their shady finances – if we look at the broader market for left wing commentary, it's already saturated. By the NY Times, Washington Post, CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, etc. There just wasn't that much unmet demand for their product.

WSJ Satirist Thomas Frank

2010-01-20T20:00:00.002-05:00

Provides today's liberal revenge fantasy has the treasury selling off it's gold stock, for the simple expedient of financially ruining the wingnuts. Let's go after the goldbugs by having the Treasury sell it's estimated 261 million ounces of gold!

That will fix those wingnuts! Drive the price down from today's about $ 1,100 per ounce to.. ?

Given the tremendous ad and news push running up gold, there's always the risk of a popped bubble as more folks sell. Prices move both ways (as I learned at great personal expense during the Nelson Bunker Hunt silver run in, I recall, the 80's. So, can gold go down? Can the government, at least in the short run, supress the price by selling off it's supply?

Yes.

Technically, the U.S. Government's gold stock does not underpin the value of the dollar. Practically, I'm not sure that the Chinese – or others holding large amounts of U.S. Dollar denominated debt – would see it the same way.

So, what happens when we decide to spite the goldbugs? The international markets drop their dollar denominated holdings for the gold that the Treasury is selling.

Temporary gold price drop. Long term hit to Treasury securities, and U. S. Government borrowing costs.

And the goldbugs? Most are diversified, and will will perversely benefit in the long run from the collapse that Tom's suggesting.

Nice work Tom. Glad you're only the WSJ's court jester.

Dictator du Jour: Hugo Chavez

2010-01-18T20:21:00.002-05:00

Seems like headlines like this only happen in one party states: “... blackouts from bad planning, drought”. So, where is it? Well, Venezuela, of course. (Though California or Michigan wouldn't be that far fetched...)

Drought, blackouts, and poor planning always seem to happen when the government is too involved in the economy. Venezuela is a textbook example of a country, rich in oil and other natural resources, that is destined to be forever poor, thanks to the efforts of folks like Hugo Chavez.

And speaking of Venezuela, is anyone surprised that Goodyear is going to take a huge haircut on their operations there? Anybody?

Note to Mr. Robert Keegan: If you have people on the ground in Venezuela, get them out. Yesterday would have been soon enough. It's only a matter of time unil Chavez has them up on spying / profiteering charges. It's bad enough that you're just lost millions in Venezuela; but that's just money. You don't want to go to bed at night thinking about your former employees as guests of the maximum caudillo's Hotel Greybar.

The only question left about Venezuela is whether or not Mubabe's Zimbabwe will be fend off their challenge for the worst run economy in the world.

President Obama Vacations in Hawaii

2009-12-26T20:10:00.000-05:00

Don't get me wrong; I have no beef with Presidential “vacations” as such; mostly, because as President, there really are no vacations, no matter where you are. You are always on call. (Still, if GWB had tried this..)

That said, Hawaii's an awfully expensive, exotic touch, when millions of Americans are unemployed, and the nation will struggle to pay for the ever increasing scope of Bailoutistan, as well as the eventuall bill for nationalizing healthcare.

Secondly, I don't want to see any more global warming / climate change hipocracy from a guy who flies his family, a major security detail, a gobble of staffers, and attendant press sycophants a kazillion miles to Hawaii.

If global warming due to man made CO2 is a crisis, why don't our politicians act like it's a crisis?

I'd like to take my family to Hawaii for a vacation, but it seems that in the future, only the friends of Obama will be priveleged to do so.

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright

2009-12-15T18:02:00.002-05:00

One hesitates to comment on the whole Tiger Woods fiasco; after all, even satire has a lower limit. One that Tiger has easily eclipsed, with the floozie index headed well into double digits, cash losses, a likely divorce, and now one of his doctors headed to le Hotel Greybar.

No doubt more revelations to come; I doubt that even Tiger has enough hush money to prevent these women from selling their stories. Perhaps we'll be treated to a made for TV movie. All the principle parts are in place:

Rich celebrity philandering husband;
Beautiful wronged wife;
A harem that seems largely drawn from a 'Cops' episode shot in America's trailer parks;
A shady doctor;
A potential flight to Sweden for Mom & kids.

The mob hasn't made an appearance yet, but as the bimbo list continues to expand, it's only a matter of time.

About the only thing that could further impair what's left of his reputation would be to become a deadbeat dad. Which, if present trends continue, is starting to sound far less fetched than it should.

I wonder how many male sports stars are now having to face unpleasant and embarrassing requests from their wives for cell phone logs, expense accounting, etc.?

“ But honey, we're just friends, honest... just because she works in the adult entertainment industry doesn't mean that there's anything going on... well, there was that one time. Well, and another with her cousin... Ok, maybe the sponsorship and personal appearances at the Vegas Strippers & Lap Dancer's Booty Shake Off looks bad... but the St Bernard wasn't my idea, honest!”

Robbing The Poor

2009-12-13T20:28:00.002-05:00

To give to enlightened, progressive, artists. It's well known that cigarette smokers are more likely to have lower incomes and educational levels than non-smokers, so essentially this represents the worst sort of regressive taxation.

The “Arts Community” is in favor of a tax on the poor to benefit themselves. Surprised? Me neither.

Progressives, of course, despise smokers more than any other group in American society. Well, technically, the most despised group is Sarah Palin, but she's only one woman, so that's not much of a group.

A couple of quick points: The Beacon piece nicely points out that one Michael J. Mikula, who says that “'investing in the arts community is smart money,''', primarily because he scored $20,000 of taxpayer money. Yup, if you've fleeced the taxpayers out of $20 g's for glassware, you're entitled to think of them as stupid.

Secondly, one can argue that the arts are important. However, in Akron, we're busy laying off cops and firefighters – two professions of much more value to the community than some dude turning out glassware.

I'm not sure that we actually have to raise taxes – as long as we are subsidizing professional softball, the downtown athletic club, and probably the inventors' hall of fame, and a kazillion deputy mayors, one could argue that noone in Akron's political class really thinks that there's a budget crisis – but if we have to, cops, firefighter, and sanitation work should go to the head of the line.

Granted, the position of the Arts Community is all about greed. After all, it's far easier to con some government into giving you a living than producing a product anyone wants to by. Still, this comment from one Thomas B. Schorgi gives one pause for the sheer concentration of industrial strength stupidity:

“ 'If the arts and cultural groups go away tomorrow, there would be people who now come into Summit County who would go elsewhere,'' said Thomas B. Schorgl, president and chief executive of the Cleveland-based Community Partnership for Arts and Culture. ''And when they come into Summit County, they are clearly spending dollars from outside the county. There is a true economic impact.'''

Generally speaking, if you have to subsidize something in order for it to be produced, that's a sign of economic inefficiency. If there was sufficient demand, there would be no need for the subsidy. Note to Mr. Schorgi: you can't make a community better off by producing things that can't be sold for more than the costs of production. That's just a cold, hard fact.

Mr. Schorgi's argument, if one could call it that, that a positive economic impact will be generated boils down to the assumption that the amount spent by out of towners on art will exceed the amount of the tax. After all, anyone buying a pack of cigarettes will have $0.34 less to spend on other things, so if the out of town spend on art is less, the community is a net loser. .

Now, you can argue that the arts produce a value that is unrecognized by the market. That's a different argument. To argue that point is to argue that subsidizing the arts is an economic loser, but that the intrinsic value (an externality or unrecognized community benefit) exceeds the economic costs.

But that would be a quality of life impact, not an economic one. Oh, sure, it's of economic value to the artists enjoying life on the taxpayer's tit, and one for art fans (likely upper class and upper income) who benefit as consumers from the subsidy, but as a net for the community, it's an economic negative.

Memo to the 'Artiste': If you can't make more than your expenses, it's time to get a haircut and get a real job. That, at least, won't be actively harmful to the poor.

Culture of Corruption: The Max Baucus Edition

2009-12-05T20:33:00.003-05:00

Sen. Max Baucus nominates his shack up honey for U.S. Attorney* job.

The only known qualifications for ~~this bimbo~~ Melodee Haynes** – other than Max's comment that she gets everything “up and up” – certainly seem to be pretty thin. Still, Baucus' connections were good enough to get her a “top official in the Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention”. Spare me the blather about the independent and non-political nature of this gig; If a key Democratic senator' shack up honey is up for a job, she's getting it, qualification would just be a bonus.

It probably doesn't help much that the supposedly independent “third party reviewer” was a Baucus contributor.

* It's also interesting that Bernstein's post suggests that this isn't the first time that Ms. Haynes has had domestically related career “ issues”, or that her c.v. also sounds dodgy.

** Geez, her parents couldn't even spell “Melody” correctly. Strikes one as a sign that she was destined to be a shack up honey.

Iran Searches for the West's Backbone

2009-12-01T22:43:00.002-05:00

And keeps coming up empty. Add 10 more uranium enrichment facilities to build nuclear weapons? We may, upon due consideration, at some point in the future, decide to use harsh language, as long as no one would be unduly offended by said language.

Accuse 5 sailors in a disabled racing sailboat of spying?

Ahmadinejad and cronies have to be wondering if there's anything we'll stand up to.

Government Motors

2009-12-01T20:25:00.002-05:00

Don't count on getting your $50 billion back anytime soon. Not that I was all that enthralled with Fritz Henderson as CEO (Just how was a 28 year GM employee supposed to radically change the culture?), but there's going to be a loss of focus associated with uncertainty at the top.

Plus, GM is at least 3 years behind Ford in attempting to get their house in order.

Which brings us to an unsung hero of the American auto industry – Bill Ford. At some point, Ford looked at the hard truth of where his company was, realized that he couldn't fix it, and went out to find someone who could.

Lots of people talk about recognizing the grim reality, but fewer manage to do anything about it.

Climategate / Climatequiddick

2009-11-29T18:18:00.002-05:00

This is now starting to look serious. At first, the leaked emails seemed too good to be true – admissions of data rigging, attempts to game the publication system, and efforts to conceal information from Freedom of Information Act requests.

About what one would expect from people with so much money and power at stake. About the only thing missing was receipts from payoffs from George Soros and Al Gore.

However, now we're into the territory where they've been destroying the raw data, essentially preventing anyone from being able to duplicate their results.

That, my friends, is cheating of a high order.

And then there's this bit:

“ Professor Trevor Davies, the university's Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Research Enterprise and Engagement, said yesterday: "CRU's full data will be published in the interests of research transparency when we have the necessary agreements. It is worth reiterating that our conclusions correlate well to those of other scientists based on the separate data sets held by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

'We are grateful for the necessary support of the Met Office in requesting the permissions for releasing the information but understand that responses may take several months and that some countries may refuse permission due to the economic value of the data.'”

The effective translation: “We're going to stall and hope this goes away”.

It's also an admission of the fact that this alliance between “scientists” and bureaucrats is an economic enterprise, dedicated to taking money and freedom from citizens, and lining their own pockets.

If you believe that the “Exxon” folks were dishonest because of taking corporate money, how much more crooked are the supposedly “disinterested” scientists paid by governments? Exxon only wants to make money by selling you gas to run your car, and oil to heat your home. The government wants an excuse to take your money and your freedom as well. And they won't give you anything in return.

NEWT!

2009-11-10T21:08:00.002-05:00

Not. He's a man who needs to go off to a think tank, publish papers, and appear on talk shows.

Not run for President. Newt's ideal job description is “gadfly”.

Would he be a better President than Obama? Given current trends, that's not much of a bar to clear. Say what you will about Newt; “dithering” is not his core competency.

Obama Dithering on Iran

2009-11-10T20:45:00.002-05:00

Because dithering is his core competency.

One wonders how much additional time the he'll give the mullahs. Perhaps till there's a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv.

Gorbachev Guarantees Victory in Afghanistan

2009-11-10T20:00:00.002-05:00

By claiming that victory is impossible. This guy has been wrong about just about everything; as S.J. Perelman might say, he's a straw to see which way the wind is blowing away from. The only thing that would make this even more sure would be if Paul Ehrlich had recommended withdrawal as well.

The Ghosts of Kelo

2009-11-10T16:22:00.002-05:00

So, New London, Connecticut made a decision to deprive Susette Kelo and others of their property for the immense public benefit of a new Pfizer research facility promising “jobs”.

Now Pfizer is closing up shop; the promised facility was never built, and New London is left with a wasteland and a justly deserved reputation as a city run by idiots, eager to swipe the property of the poor and sell it to the rich.

Of course, the city's selling it's residents property rights for a mess of pottage was immensely harmful to Ms. Kelo and others. The message – that if a corporation isn't willing to pay market rates for property, and is relying on government officials to steal it for them, it's not likely to live up to it's end of the bargain – is likely lost on politicians everywhere.

Hey, New London! The world's not laughing with you, we're laughing at you!

Healthcare

2009-11-07T21:25:00.002-05:00

Some Thoughts:

The law of unintended consequences rules. We're having a vote, rushed through, with none of the promised 72 hour review. (that's only 3 days on a 1,000+ page bill). This thing was written by lobbyists; nobody, not Pelosi, not Hoyer, not Obama, knows what the legislative language means at this point. That means that the bill is loaded with stuff nobody wants, other than some lefty nutcases. Sort of like the AIG bonus payments buried in the stimulus bill.
We do know that if you don't buy a Pelosi approved insurance policy, you're going to jail. But don't worry; the cost of the Pelosi approved plan is only about $15,000 annually. No problem in this economy, right?
Abortions will be covered, probably at 100%. The abortion lobby is a key Democratic constituency. Unborn babies don't vote, or, more relevantly, contribute to campaigns. The Stupak fig leaf will be eliminated in House / Senate reconciliation.
The cost estimates – ranging from Pelosi's shade under $900 billion, to Heritage's $2.4 trillion, to Judd Gregg's $3 trillion. Given that no, zero, zip, zilch, nada government entitlement plan has ever come in even close to at or under budget, the $3 trillion is probably only a starting point.

Will Anyone Believe For A Minute

2009-11-07T21:01:00.002-05:00

That Betty Sutton would do anything other than what Nancy Pelosi told her to do?

Anyone?

Hellooooo......

What Casinos in Ohio Really Mean

2009-11-07T19:45:00.002-05:00

When you win, you don't really win! It's a machine malfunction! Good luck to Bill Seebeck on collecting his winnings against a bunch of politically connected casino operators. I'm betting on the snowball's chance in H*** as a more likely outcome.

Just so you know the kind of ~~crooks~~ ethically challenged folks Ohio just got into bed with.

Frankly, I've been against any and all casino initiatives.

Like the lottery, casino gambling s a tax on the stupid and mathematically challenged; in other words, a poor tax. To confirm this, all you had to see was the morons on a bus commercial that was in favor of the issue.

But if we're going to legalize gambling, let's legalize gambling, and let anyone open a casino in an appropriate business district. Whys should someone like Gilbert get a constitutionally recognized monopoly and reap monopoly profits?

Well, except for the fact that it will be easier to shake down a couple of owners for campaign contributions than hundreds...;.

Nora

2009-10-27T20:38:00.006-04:00

On the plus side, the Borings have acquired a new puppy, Nora, a lab / husky mix (leastaways, that's what they're claiming) from the Humane Society.

Housebreaking is no fun, even with a crate, but she's a fun dog. Very different from Mystique; not much prey drive, not very territorial, more friendly.

Since she'll probably top out at about half Mystique's tonnage, this is not a dog you send down a dark alley to take out the trash.

On the other hand, maybe she'll be coordinated enough to catch a frisbee.

On the name: one of my favorite actresses is Myrna Loy. Myrna just didn't seem to work, so we settled on perhaps Myrna Loy's best known role, that of Nora Charles in the Thin Man series.

Radio Silence

2009-10-27T20:30:00.002-04:00

Dear Reader,

Been quiet on the TBMD front recently; either too much, or not enough, real life happening. The essentials are that I recently became part of Marx' reserve army of the unemployed, due to a corporate restructure.

After not having to look for work in, oh, about 30 years, it's an interesting time to start from scratch.

There's nothing that sucks the energy out of a man faster or more effectively than the (irrational) perception of sudden uselessness.

Companies Not To Invest In

2009-10-21T18:01:00.002-04:00

Of course, it's the bailout boys. Obama's Director of Corporate Failure, Kenneth R Feinberg, is slashing the top executive's pay at these companies by 90% Y/Y.

Sure, it will play well politically, but the only guarantee is that executive talent will flee these companies to greener pastures. (though one could argue that the only talent left at GM and Chrysler is licking Ron Bloom's boots...)

The “top 25” at these companies may or may not stay on. The critical issue is with executives #26 – 100. Those folks – key to any turnaround effort - are effectively up for grabs.

Even in the John Galt economy, they have options.

Do you?

Obama Wins The Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T09:24:00.002-04:00

??? Is it April 1 ^s^t?

Okaayyyy, I suppose congratulations are in order.....

But what for? Nine months into his term, and he doesn't have any foreign policy successes, certainly nothing earth shattering.

There are plenty of trouble signs – he's busy papering over Iran's rigged elections, protestor beatings, killings, and show trials to get his prized photo op with Ahmadinejad. He's also done nothing to stop their nuclear weapons program, except threaten to use harsh language.

He's also busy selling out US allies (or, soon to be former US allies) like Poland ¹ and the Czech Republic to appease the Russians, Israel to appease the hotheads in Tehran, Damascus, Pakistan, Riyadh, and the people of Honduras to to appease Chavez and Castro.

On the domestic front, he's busy crushing the dollar, exponentially increasing debt and deficits through various stimulus packages and bailouts, and he's about to send healthcare in America to third world, or worse, British, standards.

Oh wait, I think that we've found the common thread here.

1. I don't think that the significance of tossing Poland under the bus on the 70 ^th anniversary of the Soviet invasion was lost on Putin.

Letterman

2009-10-06T08:48:00.002-04:00

David Letterman is now a legal time bomb for CBS. Because of his hijinks, it's only a matter of time before some female staffer who didn't get a promotion will sue for a “sexually intimidating environment” or some similar complaint.

It might be worse if you were a female staffer who did get a promotion while working for Letterman, since the default assumption – rightly or wrongly-- is now that you've slept your way to the top.

Which is one reason why we're supposed to take sexual harassment laws seriously. Or at least we used to, in the good ol' pre-Clinton days.

Beware of Congressmen Bearing Gifts

2009-10-06T08:24:00.002-04:00

Still, I expect that even the WSJ is going a bit overboard when it describes “Cash for Clunkers” as “ One of Washington's all-time dumb ideas”.

There are just too many contenders – Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, the NEA, our entire farm price support policy, foreign aid to the Palestinians, etc.

Still, on a small scale, cash for clunkers does epitomize what's wrong with Washingon: it cost a lot of money, resulted in a net loss to the economy of about $1.4 billion, and had no real positive effect on anyone other than those people the government paid to do what they were going to do anyway.

Perversely enough, it's being billed by politicians as a huge success. I'm not sure how many more successes like this we can afford.

2016 Olympics: Good News, Bad News

2009-10-02T12:46:00.001-04:00

The games won't be coming to Chicago.

On the good news side, the taxpayers will be spared the inevitable cost overruns, massive losses, and especially the graft and corruption associated with anything involving local Chicago politics.

On the bad news side, it's a bummer for the local restaurant, hotel, and construction trades, as well as the Chicago pols' dreams of lining their own pockets with millions in kickbacks, etc.

It's also a bit of moderately bad news for President Obama, who wasted some more of his prestige on this project. He doesn't have much to spare, and badly needs some sort of victory for American interests – even one as inconsequential as the Olympics – to be able to point to some bit of positive news.

Had he persuaded the IOC, the most carping you would have heard would have been about pretty dry cost benefit analysis. However, given the trillions tossed down the gutter in Bailoutistan, a billion or two to cost overruns and graft seems like pretty small potatoes. Additionally, the Olympics are a huge object of national pride, which would easily swamp the cost objections. However, to go to Copenhagen and come away empty suggests nothing but weakness.

Roman Polanski Update

2009-10-01T15:17:00.006-04:00

Cancel that bit of commentary about the lack of feminist outrage from this post – Here's Susan Estrich:

“ The reason to keep him in prison for far more than one day is that he's a rapist who fled from justice. Actually, that's two reasons, and each is sufficient.

Roman the Rapist pleaded guilty. This is not one of those stories where you need to insert an 'alleged' or a 'purported' before each sentence. This is not a "he said-she said." He was in his 40s. She was 13. He was a famous director. She was a child. He lied, lured and plied her with drugs and alcohol.”

Also note this bit from the LA Times:

“ Melissa Silverstein, who runs the feminist movie blog Women & Hollywood and does online marketing for films aimed at women, was angered by the industry's reaction to Polanski's arrest and found the silence of disapproval 'deafening.'

'I think people are afraid to talk in Hollywood. They are afraid about their next job,' she said. 'I don't know where the women of Hollywood are. This is an opportunity for them to stand up for their daughters.'”

There are some interesting political implications developing here; on the one hand, you folks who are likely major financial supporters of the Democratic Party singing petitions supporting Polanski. This is effectively a list of Hollywood elite who are signing on to “We Support Drugging and Raping Chilren – As Long As We're The Only Ones Who Do It” petition, vs. The LA District Attorney's office and the Obama Administration. If this gets bungled, and Polanski is perceived to get off the hook because of his fame, money, and connections, and the Administration is perceived as either not caring or bungling, the “Obama Administration Protects Child Rapists” ads practically write themselves.

The Ohio State Budget Follies

2009-10-01T14:23:00.002-04:00

Governor Strickland, the former anti-gambling crusader turned casino pimp, now has to fall back on the old Democratic standby, tax increases.

Thanks to the State Supreme Court, which, amazingly enough, ruled that slot machines are gambling, t he whole casino poor tax issue has to go to the voters, leaving Strickland with a $900 million dollar hole (plus or minus) in the state budget.

Naturally, he's threatening that this will r equire draconian cuts in education if he doesn't get his way. Based on the s tate budget plan of about $25 billion per year, this amounts to less than 4% of planned spending – actually, about 3.6%.

Are we to believe that there's not 3.5 – 4.0% of the Ohio state budget that can't be cut? Certainly seems a) both unlikely, and b) 4% hardly seems “draconian”.

It also seems like his proposed tax increase (yes, Gov., it is an increase when the government voids a law providing for tax relief) will likely not generate the $850 million dollars he's looking for. In this economy, the last thing that Ohio needs is to act to make it's business climate even worse. .

Joe Wilson is Still Right

2009-10-01T09:10:00.002-04:00

As Senate Democrats water down the verification requirements needed to prevent illegal aliens from flooding ObamaCare. It's not exactly a bold prediction to note that the rest of the verification requirements will be gutted in the final version of the bill. It's only a matter of waiting until they think that nobody's looking.

In related news, abortions will be paid for. It's not quite there yet, but abortionists and their apologists are key democratic constituencies. Since the President's position is part of the radical abortionist wing, you know paying for abortions under any circumstance will be part of the package, if only to pay off the ACORN of healthcare issues, Planned Parenthood.

Roman Polanski – What's the Fuss?

2009-09-29T09:17:00.002-04:00

Why the stink over the arrest of a convicted child rapist and fugitive from justice?

Let's see – convicted of giving a 13 year old girl drugs and alcohol, raping her, and then fleeing the country before sentencing. But don't worry, he's suffered enough, by continuing to make millions from films, rubbing elbows with the rich and famous, and generally living like a king in France.

But for some reason, people are squeamish about bringing this rapist to justice, because he's an 'artist'. Seriously, if he wasn't an 'important director', would anybody think twice about letting this guy off the hook? Where's the feminist outrage?

Kudos to the Swiss. And I applaud their lack of 'tact'. One can only hope that his appeals drag of for years, and that he has to spend them in a jail.

Obama and the Olympics

2009-09-28T14:28:00.002-04:00

One suspects that Ramesh Ponnuru is right – Pres. Obama wouldn't be going to Copenhagen to see the Olympic Committee unless he knew Chicago was going to get the games. There's just too much downside risk to what little remains of his rapidly dwindling international reputation to come away empty handed.

The other downside – at least for the taxpayers – is if he wins. Chicago and Illinois will be saddled with a huge bill for a bunch of white elephant infrastructure, as well as major losses on the games themselves. No doubt Uncle Sam will be expected to pick up the lion's share of the tab.

Still, in 2016, it will be his last chance to unleash the National Endowment for the Arts “ Army of Lili Riefenstahls” that his administration has under construction.

More on the Cash for Clunkers Disaster

2009-09-22T08:03:00.000-04:00

Empty showrooms. As noted, this huge waste of taxpayer dollars simply pulled purchases into the Cash for Clunkers window, and didn't really result in more “new” purchases. .

Unfortunately for the Democrats, all this really proves that people respond to incentives. In this case, the incentives merely impacted the timing of car purchases.

Imagine what benefit we could get by incenting people to save, invest, and develop businesses? By, let's say, the radical notion of cutting taxes on savings and investment, and eliminating senseless regulations?

Silly question in an age where “community organizer” is held to be an ideal, and the business people who actually make life better are loathed.

Obama Fundraiser Collared on Fraud Charges

2009-09-21T20:39:00.004-04:00

Well, a cynic would certainly say that this has something to do with the Administrations rather curious support for the Iranian regime:

“ NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hassan Nemazee, a fund-raiser for Barack Obama , Hillary Clinton and other Democrats, has been indicted for defrauding Bank of America, HSBC and Citigroup Inc out of more than $290 million in loan proceeds, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.

The announcement follows last month's indictment of Nemazee, head of a private equity firm and an Iran ian American Political Action Committee board member, on one count of defrauding Citigroup's Citibank.”

But with the Democrats, it's not just the stupidity, it's old fashioned cupidity.

We might also observe that this guy's ability to defraud all of these banks to the tune of close to $300 million says something very unfortunate about our banking system, and the folks running it.

Bailoutistan for the MSM

2009-09-20T23:27:00.002-04:00

Can anybody be surprised? If the NYT, WaPo and LA T go under, Pres. Obama has to wonder if the Huffpo, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and PBS affiliates are enough propaganda outlets.

Goodness me, his sycophants are dying left and right, and we're supposed to be surprised that he's willing to loot the taxpayer pockets yet again?

A Good Reason to Vote “Yes” To Recall A Mayor

2009-09-18T21:47:00.002-04:00

Is provided by Brooklyn OH Mayor Kenneth Patton, whose attempted tryout for Marc “ Dannimal House” Dann's team ended with the predictable result:

“ BROOKLYN -- Mayor Kenneth Patton, who is accused of assaulting and sexually harassing a City Hall employee, resigned on Friday citing unspecified health concerns and a recall effort.

The move came the same week that a special prosecutor received the case of the woman, who said the mayor physically assaulted her while he was drunk at City Hall last year. “

It's strange that the Plain Dealer doesn't mention his political party... Surprisingly, this only seems to happen to democratic politicians.

Obama’s Slight of Hand on Illegal Aliens and Healthcare:

2009-09-18T20:33:00.000-04:00

Facing up to the fact that Joe Wilson was right*, the White House went along with a measure to add citizenship verification to the healthcare bill.

However, Obama has now turned to amnesty as a way to give illegals healthcare.

Nice – technically, Obama’s no longer lying about covering illegals; He’s betting that the Democratic Congress – the same bunch that’s been shoveling millions of dollars to ACORN – will simply make them legal.

Problem solved.

* But this doesn't excuse his boorish behavior.

Homeland Insecurity

2009-09-18T07:36:00.000-04:00

One wonders why we’re surprised that Janet Napolitano is playing politics with the Homeland Security slush stimulus funds.

If you modernize the checkpoints that are actually used, you might actually do something to improve border security, thus ticking off the illegal immigrant lobby.

It’s also not much of a surpise that the administration is deliberately keeping their construction plans hidden from the public - it might reveal some inconvenient truths about where the money was going.

Politicians always treat tax money as their personal piggy bank to enrich themselves and their supporters. If any actual good happens as a result, it’s usually a product of coincidence.

$15 million for a border crossing in Whitepoint, Montana that has about 3 travelers per day, all at the insistence of politicians.

Just wait till they start making investment decisions on healthcare.

ACORN

2009-09-17T22:12:00.002-04:00

It's about time that one of the most corrupt organizations in the country suffered some exposure for their goings-on.

I don't expect the House and Senate funding bans to amount to anything; more than likely, the money for ACORN will be restored in conference committee. The Democrats are too dependent on ACORN / SEIU to do anything else.

And this proposed “audit”? Pullllleeezzzzee. As someone else has noted, an audit committee of a Kennedy, a thug, a guy who lied to the FBI, and a Soros stooge. This is like getting Andy Fastow to audit Enron.

With millions of tax dollars at stake, and ACORN's record of voter fraud, embezzlement, and willingness to engage in tax planning for child prostitution rings, something a tad more rigorous would seem to be indicated.

As an added plus, here's Jon Stewart's take down. Probably the clearest sign that ACORN is about to be consumed by blind pigs.

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A Man and His Fiberglass Cow

2009-09-17T20:30:00.002-04:00

Beat the Bureaucrats.

Well, at least for the moment. They’ll be back; no bureaucrat can stomach the thought that someone, somewhere, might have an unauthorized fiberglass cow.

A Present for Putin

2009-09-17T20:21:00.003-04:00

On the 70 ^th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland, President Obama announces that he’s scrapping plans to install missile defense in Europe.

Sure, the CNN article reports that Obama is announcing a “new and improved” plan, the the following suggests that this is just more administration prevaricating.

For a plan that will supposedly “provide capabilities sooner”, there’s absolutely no mention of operational details. No mention of basing, implementation steps, anything other than the vaguest of generalities. Sure, some of this is likely security driven, but something like a timeline would suggest that there is actual activity planned.
No mention of consultation with Poland or the Czech Republic, just a ‘dear john’ phone call. Or for that matter, consultation with any of the NATO member leadership. Lack of assurances for our allies in the region speaks more loudly than announced “plans”.

All that’s left is a concession to Russia, in the same week in which the French are conceding that Iran is working on nuclear weapons. Even t he ostrich crowd at the IAEAagree.

So far, the Obama foreign policy seems eerily similar to Carter’s – a lot of self-righteous bloviating, combined with bullying our allies, and actions that embolden our enemies.

Another Healthcare Meltdown

2009-09-17T06:58:00.000-04:00

As Sen. Rockefeller points out that Sen. Baucus’ proposal is really a huge tax increase on the middle class. Not that that’s a surprise.

Given the 35% excise tax on “high cost plans”, we can immediately conclude that insurance companies will no longer offer those plans, since they would now be net money losers.

The result?

1. Since those plans will no longer be offered, those families will not, in fact, be able to keep their existing plan, no matter how much they like it. Certainly sounds like Obama’s indulging himself in a little bearing of false witness, no?

2. The excise tax will not bring in anywhere near the $200 billion anticipated by Sen. Baucus. This means that other taxes will have to go up to pay for the Obama plan.

Keep in mind that Congress and the plans covering the bureaucracy will likely be exempt from this tax, so they’ll be keeping their “Cadillac” plans – while degrading your coverage, and making you pay more for the privilege as well.

Dictator du Jour: Robert Mugabe

2009-09-16T22:21:00.002-04:00

CNN expresses some surprise that not much has changed in Zimbabwe after a year of the “power sharing”h deal between ZANU PF and the MDC.

Since Mugabe had a 20 year head start on pillaging Zimbabwe and plundering it's people to benefit his family and cronies, one should not be surprised that it's still a mess, and likely to remain so for as long as Mugabe is alive. Even at that, it will take years to clean up the mess, assuming anyone's willing to try.

As for Tsvangirai, he's been consistently outmanned, outmanuvered, and outgunned. The unity government is working out as just a shell game to shift the blame for failure to Tsvangirai, while Mugabe keeps up his murderous ways.

It Needed but This…

2009-09-16T22:01:00.001-04:00

“ Miley Cyrus Weighs In On Kanye West/ Taylor Swift VMA Incident”

Cap – n - Tax

2009-09-16T19:30:00.002-04:00

The Obama Administration is now admitting that their energy bill will cost the average American household close to $1,800 per year, or about the equivalent of a 15% increase in income taxes.

Keep in mind that virtually no federal legislation comes in at budget, so don’t be surprised if the actual cost is eventually double or triple these initial estimates.

All in the name of taking your money to make politically connected corporations like GE more profitable.

Well, and to curry favor with some European governments. And attempt to appease China and India on climate talks. Not that that will do any good; neither China or India is going to put their populations on the rack for global warming, unless they are extremely well compensated.

The USA Today Bleats about Civility

2009-09-15T23:09:00.002-04:00

But doesn’t know what to do. It does, however, identify at least one of the enemies of civilized life, the notion of “keepin’ it real”, or “authentic”.

Otherwise known as, “I gotta be me”. No matter how big a jerk I am. Spelling and grammar optional; in today's world, style isn't defined by expressing yourself well, it's about combining the punctuation of ee cummings with the vocabulary of a rap star who's channeling Ozzie Osborne. .

This entire sorry state of affairs, has, like most foul things, it's roots in the indulgence of the '50s, and the resultant corruption of the '60s.

If the key values are “self actualization”, “self esteem”, and similar pop psychology nostrums, what do you expect?

Combined with our fear of “being judgmental”, and a ruthless conformity to peer pressure formerly confined to 7 ^th grade students, the boor – be it Rep. Joe Wilson, Kanye West, Serena Williams, - is celebrated for “authenticity”.

A significant part of this is related to our culture of youth worship. Since we've given up behaving like adults and dressing like adults, naturally we've degenerated into acting like children.

A few classic examples:

50 year old, mostly bald guy, sporting a grey ponytail. Who does he think he is, a samurai? Since he's usually potbellied as well, I would suspect not.

Similar 50 year old, with or without the ponytail, but sporting an earring. Nothing screams “moron” like a grown up man with an earring. Unless, of course, he's covered in tattoos.

Clergy with the effrontery to preach the Word of God at Divine Service dressed in a way that would have gotten them thrown out of a better class of bowling alley not so long ago.

The insistence on avoiding use of “Mr.”, “Mrs.”, “Miss.”, or even the somewhat emetic “Ms.” by otherwise identifiable adults in favor of first names, even for a) serving staff in restaurants and elsewhere; b) with people to which they've just been introduced, and c) children (at my age, identified as anyone under 30).

Does “Cash for Clunkers” Tell Us Anything?

2009-09-15T22:01:00.002-04:00

Donald Marron d iscusses the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) analysis, and it's not pretty.

Long story short: out of the 690,000 sales as part of the “Cash for Clunkers” program, only 330,000 are estimated to be due to the program. The remaining 360,000 represent sales that would have happened anyway, or sales pulled from into the program by either delayed or accelerated purchases.

At 690,000 cars “stimulated”, the average cost of the program is about $4,200 per car. However, if 360,000 were going to be purchased anyway, the stimulus was wasted on those transactions. (ignoring the timing value of the purchases to the automakers). With only 330,000 “real” Clunker transactions, the average cost per transaction increases to about $8,700.

This is essentially a waste factor of $4,500 per transaction, or about 110%.

Keep that in mind when listening to official estimates of healthcare savings costs under some government program.

Akron City Layoffs

2009-09-15T21:34:00.002-04:00

Funny, lots of cops and firefighters, but no mention of deputy mayors.

Forget the “Death Panels”

2009-09-15T21:08:00.002-04:00

President Obama's gonna talk Granny to death. Seriously, in the space of what, a week? We're treated to a prime time address to a joint session of Congress, appearance on 5 Sunday political gabfests, and an appearance on Letterman.

Perhaps next week, he'll guest on WWE, or maybe “Rock of Love”.

Actually, the WWE thing is somewhat intriguing – would Vince MacMahon cast him as a good guy, or a bad guy, or a good guy who later goes bad, or a bad guy who later goes good? (Ooops, think I just revealed all of the WWE plotlines at this point...).

Perhaps he could partner with the Undertaker in a special healthcare grudge match against the team of Sarah Palin and the Big Show. Get David Axelrod on the line, Stat!

Seriously, somebody needs to explain to the White House that quantity is no guarantor of quality

Obama Admits that Joe Wilson Was Right

2009-09-13T23:24:00.000-04:00

Obama's caved on principle, and is willing to add a citizen verification requirement to the nationalization of healthcare.

I don't expect that this provision will make it into the final legislation; it's just window dressing for the rubes, like the anti-abortion bits, but it's yet another example of the Administration 'bearing false witness', at least until they are called on it in a very public way.

Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

2009-09-13T21:05:00.002-04:00

With apologies to Jimmy Breslin, as far as Obama and economics goes, apparently not. So, we're in a recession, and we decide to pick a trade war with one of our biggest trading partners*, and a -perhaps- rapidly growing economy.

Smoot Hawley, anyone?

By the standards that the Obama Administration is setting, the 1962 Mets look like the 1927 Yankees.

I guess the recent suggestions that Obama is following Herbert Hoover's radical increase in the size and scope of government, followed by more of the same by Roosevelt, was more on the money than not.

In the battle of intellectual candlepower, Obama isn't going to come off well against James Buchanan.

*granted, Thomas Friedman loves the idea of the Beijing Regime's ability of tossing dissenters in the gulag in order to “get things done”, mostly because it doesn't occur to him that he'd be one of the first to be sent to the camps....

Joe Wilson, Boor of the Day

2009-09-10T19:52:00.002-04:00

An excellent example of being right on the facts, but wrong on the execution.

All Congressman Wilson’s boorish outburst does is make him look like a fool, plays into the leftist meme that only the yokels and morons object to further intrusion of the government into your healthcare, and makes it harder to get people to listen to the facts around the Obama’s pushing more than the nose of the government takeover camel into the healthcare tent.

Worse than that, it leads to run on sentences!

It’s certainly plain that illegals are going to be getting benefits. Sure, Congress has some boilerplate that rules them out, but has already stripped any verification requirements out of the bill.

No serious verification effort = illegal aliens get benefits at the American taxpayer’s expense.

Update: Further verification that while Congressman Wilson may be a jerk, he’s also right.

Unsurprising Headlines

2009-09-09T21:14:00.002-04:00

“ Hugh Hefner Files for Divorce”

The only surprising thing is that he found a female willing to marry him.

Those Pesky Fact-Thingys

2009-09-08T20:42:00.002-04:00

As Obama has now bludgeoned America's youth through excessive exposure to platitudes, bromides, and cliches, Byron York uncovers the fact that when Bush the Elder did something similar in 1991, he was d enounced by the Washington Post, and investigated by congressional democratic majority and the GAO.

I don't think that we have to worry that the Democrats will investigate Obama the way they did Bush. Indeed, if it wasn't for the creepy bit in the lesson plan about having the kids write letters to hold themselves accountable for supporting the president, this might have been a non-issue from the start.

Doesn't mean that it wasn't a colossal waste of instructional time as well as money.

Van Jones – One Czar Down, 883 To Go.

2009-09-06T19:25:00.003-04:00

Truth be told, like everybody else, I've lost track of the precise number of the Obama Administration's Czars. It's a troubling thought; pre-communist Russia only had one Czar at a time, and that country was screwed up enough to produce conditions leading to the implementation of the most evil ideology developed by the mind of man. (At least so far.)

The curious question about Van Jones is “How the heck did a self proclaimed communist and truther get a prominent administration job?”

On the communist part, from the East Bay Express::

“ Jones had planned to move to Washington, DC, and had already landed a job and an apartment there. But in jail, he said, 'I met all these young radical people of color -- I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of.' Although he already had a plane ticket, he decided to stay in San Francisco. 'I spent the next ten years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary.' In the months that followed, he let go of any lingering thoughts that he might fit in with the status quo. 'I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th,' he said. 'By August, I was a communist.'”

Well, it could be worse, He could be a supporter of cop killers or something. Oops, he's been there, done that, produced the CD.

Once again, Obama's superior judgment proves deficient. Still, he did manage to bring himself to fire the dude, disappointing Republicans everywhere, who looked forward to making Jones the poster boy for the Administration's radicalism, duplicity, and incompetence.

Note to Obama: If you don't want the American people to treat you with suspicion, drop the personality cult stuff and stop appointing people like Jones.

Chappaquiddick

2009-09-06T18:42:00.002-04:00

At least the official line remains ‘haunted by guilt’, etc., etc., etc. This would be more plausible if he didn’t have a reputation for joking about it.

Some Sanity on the Parole Front

2009-09-06T18:38:00.002-04:00

Susan Atkins, part of the Manson gang responsible for the murder of Sharon Tate and her unborn child, is denied parole.

September 8, 2008 – Dear Leader Addresses America's Children

2009-09-01T21:22:00.003-04:00

OK, so it's not quite that bad. At least not yet. While not rising to the level of an Obama Youth, or the Young Obama Pioneers, this is a bit disconcerting. Oh, the standard stay-in-school-work-hard boiler plate isn't so bad, though one wonders why we're wasting instructional time on it – let's face it, it's not like Obama has anything to say on the issue that hasn't been said about a thousand times before.

It's the bootlicking nature of the accompanying lesson plans that give one the willies.* Imagine the outcry if President Bush planned to give an identical speech. Think that more than ½ of 1% of teachers would follow these lesson plans in that case? We'd have nothing but NEA rent-a-mobs parading on the news for weeks.

Really – write letters asking what they can do to help the President? Like, if Mummy is listening to Rush Limbaugh, or perhaps if your parents didn't vote for the last school levy, email the White House at flag@whitehouse.gov?.

* It's not like I expected anyone to put out a lesson plan that might encourage the students to think critically about if our educational system works, or what the appropriate role for government in education might be. That kind of heretical approach is strictly verboten. While our schools have abandoned teaching facts in favor of 'critical thinking' skills, all they tend to produce is ill educated conformists.

Update: Obama aides are now scrubbing the lesson plans of references to writing letters pledging support to Dear Leader. Students are now encouraged to write letters ~~in support of the Great Helmsman~~ about their personal goals. It’s amazing how the language of the cult of personality continues to drip from this administration.

The intrusive “accountability” portion still remains.

“The suggestion about writing letters has since been changed to: ‘Write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals. These would be collected and redistributed at an appropriate later date by the teacher to make students accountable to their goals.’”

Redistributed? To who?

Memo to parents: your students should be accountable to you, not some government employee.

Update II: Laying aside the “Dear Leader” and “Great Helmsman” hyperbole, Dan Riehl has some less snarky and more sensible comments, including this:

“That what once would have been a non-event is so incredibly controversial suggests to me that a great many Americans likely feel disconnected from the nation's political affairs right now, as well as extremely concerned about what the future's going to bring. The crisis Rahm suggested taking advantage of doesn't just cut one way, after all. And I doubt that any alienation, or all the concern came about from just 9 months of any one term.”

Those Polish Ingrates

2009-09-01T20:26:00.001-04:00

Just don’t understand what blessings that communism brought them.

I’m sure they were surprised to learn that they were plotting an invasion of the Soviet Union, as well as massacring their own men at Katyn.

Best part:

“On Sunday, Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, also labelled attempts in the Baltic states, which were also invaded under the pact's terms, to equate Hitler with Stalin as a ‘cynical lie’.”

Not sure what’s so cynical about this – one can argue about which one was actually worse, but both sides have points to make.

On Hilter’s side, we have WWII and the Holocaust.

On Stalin’s side, we have the Soviet induced famines to eliminate the Kulaks, their part as a German ally in WWII, the tyranny of their rule in Eastern Europe, as well as the death toll associated with communist machinations around the world. Oh, and let’s not leave out Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, the Gulag, etc., etc., etc.

Kind of a toss up; reasonable people can disagree about which one was worse, but combined with Mao, they form the leading triumvirate in the Tyrannical League Dictator’s Hall of Fame.

Fortunately, Nazi-ism is long dead as a governing ideology. Socialism and Communism are still creating poverty, misery, and havoc around the world.

Kennedy and Healthcare:

2009-08-28T08:06:00.000-04:00

We’re likely to wind up with an even worse, more expensive bill, with more hidden provisions, as the Democrats use Kennedy’s death as a vehicle to cram through a “legacy” bill.

It will likely be a bill that insures that people in Kennedy’s position get the best possible treatments, while the rest of us get end of life “consultations”, and if we’re lucky, an aspirin.

As bad as Britain’s system is, I have every confidence that we’ll be able to take the worst of the NHS and make it even worse.

ObamaCare’s Partnership with the IRS

2009-08-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

The IRS will be making your tax data available to thousands of bureaucrats.

Fortunately, we know that government employees never snoop through personal records for their own amusement (or political dirt), and that no hacker will ever gain access to your records.

Astroturfed Violence

2009-08-27T20:02:00.000-04:00

As a former canvasser for Democratic Candidates get caught vandalizing Democratic Party Headquarters. Just to blame folks objecting to the coming government takeover of health care.

Expect behavior like this to continue, with the most obnoxious town hall protesters* & inciters of violence to be plants from SEIU or ACORN in an effort to paint objections to Obamacare as racist, fascist, etc., etc.

* Well, except for Randall Terry.

R.I.P., Senator Edward Kennedy

2009-08-27T19:52:00.000-04:00

Probably no better public example of life as a mixed bag – wealthy, privileged, popular Senator, likely to be subject of memorials that will make the Princess Di & Michael Jackson funerals seem to be models of restraint and decorum.

On the other hand you have the Harvard cheating incident, Chappaquiddick, A son with cancer, murdered brothers, family lost in plane crashes, a broken marriage, nephews accused of rape, and an assortment of lesser tragedies.

Given all that went with being a Kennedy of that era, it’s a wonder that any of them avoided a complete nervous breakdown, or could function at all.

He’ll certainly be missed by the Democratic Party; he certainly was effective in moving the liberal agenda forward though the warm, fuzzy haze of bi-partisanship, hoodwinking and outmaneuvering just about any Republican Senator on most pieces of major legislation.

That kind of ability doesn’t grow on trees.

Our prayers go out to the Kennedy family.

Notices: NYT, Reuters

Mixed Nuts: Frank Rich

2009-08-23T22:00:00.002-04:00

Memo to Frank:

In today's scale, J.F.K., a fierce anti-Communist, and budding supply sider, was probably to the right of G.W.B. Indeed, he was assassinated by a l eft wing nut, a fact curiously omitted from Mr. Rich's column.

Rich, a New York Times bloviator paid a fortune to be outrageous, spends a considerable amount of ink / pixels blaming Jefferson – one of the guiding founders of the Democratic Party, for the current situation in which Americans don't trust their government.

Oh, yeah, he doesn't like Tom Coburn either. Mostly because Sen Coburn has exhibited some skepticism about the trend of government.

Let's be agreed – all sides of the political specturm produce nuts – Timothy McVeigh, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, the Black Panthers given a pass by Eric Holder, Code Pink, SEIU, ACORN, Obama's friends the terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn in the Weather Underground, etc.

Ooops - somehow Frank whitewashes the Weather Underground connection....

Those VA Bonuses

2009-08-23T20:24:00.002-04:00

As Insty notes, it's only bad if businesses pay bonuses. The government paying out millions of taxpayer dollars in bonuses to stumble bums while veterans wait for payment is a feature, not a bug.

If the government's make over of healthcare turns out to be only half as bad as the post office crossed with the IRS and Dept of Motor Vehicles, we'll have gotten off lightly.

Fortunately, the bureaucrats at the VA are providing top quality care, or at least altering the reports when they don't. Just something to look forward to as unaccountable bureaucrats assume more control over deciding what care you get, who will provide it, and how competently it was administered.

How Hard is it to Connect These Healthcare Dots?

2009-08-21T23:07:00.002-04:00

The US, a wealthy society, spends more on healthcare than many would like.

Obama promises reform to “ bend the cost curve”.
Obama notes that most of the cost of healthcare is incurred by pesky old folks.
Obama want s to pay doctors to conduct “ end of life” counseling sessions.
Obama's plan included a committee of unelected bureaucrats to determine what level of care should be provided in various cases.
Obama proclaims himself as a partner with God in making life or death decisions.

This isn't exactly a thin trail of breadcumbs in the forest, or a case too tough for Sherlock Homes.. For Granny, it's not a death panel or active euthanasia, but a quiet refusal to provide care by some faceless committee of unaccountable bureaucrats at ObamaCare Central.

Yet we're all supposed to be shocked that Granny can employ some simple reasoning to determine that she's likely to wind up on an ice floe based on what ObamaCare supporters are saying. .

David Patterson Plays the Race Card

2009-08-21T22:37:00.002-04:00

Because He could never be a bungling idiot, so it must be r acist reporters, or racist critics, or something.

Dude, as a living example of the Peter Principle*, you have very little cause for complaint.

* In this case, Mr. Patterson got his job due to the fact that his predecessor, Elliot Spitzer, couldn't keep his peter principled.

Yet Still More “Cash for Clunkers”

2009-08-21T11:02:00.000-04:00

The popular government subsidy to a) middle and upper middle class car buyers, and b) auto manufacturers, at the expense of a) the taxpayer, b) the poor and first time car buyers, c) junkyards and parts recyclers is finally winding down.

If you were a dealer, this probably seemed to be a good thing. Until the Obama Administration stiffed you for the promised payments. The fact that the administration didn’t set up a usable system, and imposed a clunker of a 10 page application, and then rejects 85% or so of the applications, certainly doesn’t speak well for their ability to take over healthcare, now does it?

“Bearing False Witness”

2009-08-21T05:41:00.001-04:00

If Obama’s against it, perhaps he should stop talking. The old joke about lying politicians (“How do you know when a politician is lying?” “His lips are moving”) is certainly Obama’s operative mode over the Democrat’s plan to nationalize health care.

Given that Obama, Barney Frank, and others have stated that the goal is to move to single payer, there’s absolutely no way that you’ll be allowed to keep your current plan. Mostly because the bureaucrats will burden that plan with so many extra regulations and costs that it will go out of business, forcing you onto the government plan, one even Obama admits will be no better than the post office.

Actually, it’s more likely to be the efficiency of the post office, with the customer service attitude of the IRS, which will be responsible for making sure that you do what Uncle Sam demands.

I’m not sure that I’m comforted by the notion of the President – someone who’s bill is going to pay doctors to apply some pressure during “end of life counseling”, and who’s IMAC board is going to set the parameters about who gets what kind of care, views himself as one of “God’s partner in life and death”. Especially since he, Congress, and the bureaucrats running the system won’t be participants.

But not to worry, if nothing else, it will steer lots of money to Obama’s friends.

House Backs Down On Additional Luxury Planes

2009-08-10T20:49:00.001-04:00

Not exactly a surprise – After all, how many chauffeured air limos can Nancy Pelosi really use?

Secure air transport for the Speaker seems reasonable. After all, she's 3 ^rd in the line of succession.

The rest of the lot should be flying commercial. And not going on the Global Warming Snorkeling Tour.*

* Is there anything more worthless than a “Congressional Fact Finding Tour”? Doesn't much seem like it. It's just a chance to go to exotic places and party on the taxpayer's dime. No facts are ever gathered, but there will be cocktails.

Yet More Cash for Clunkers.

2009-08-10T07:53:00.000-04:00

The Senate has coughed up another $2 billion of the taxpayer’s money.

This additional handout to the auto companies is getting more expensive all the time. One wonders what’s going to happen to sales when the program finally does expire – all of the late fall demand has been pulled into August.

And it still remains as regressive as ever – punishing poor people looking for a cheap car for basic transportation by destroying usable vehicles and parts, reducing the supply, and raising prices. If you’re running a small used car business catering to the starter used car market, you’re collateral damage.

Countries do not get rich by destroying usable assets.

About That Stimulus Package

2009-08-10T06:51:00.001-04:00

The official deficit numbers for July are out - $1.3 trillion. No wonder Obama wanted to get his budget busting healthcare takeover done before August.

One notes that one reason the stimulus package isn’t very stimulating is that north of 70% of the money spent so far was used to prop up state government programs.

As far as the unemployment numbers, the decline from 9.6% to 9.4% isn’t unalloyed good news – about half a million workers have given up looking for work. They no longer count as ‘unemployed’, but they certainly aren’t employed.

In other economic news, Barney Frank’s Fannie Mae is back borrowing another $10.7 billion from the feds. They’ve swallowed $34 billion already this year, and we still have 5 months to go with no end in sight to our beloved “government sponsored entities” demand for taxpayer dollars.

Culture of Corruption Update: William “Freezer” Jefferson

2009-08-09T21:50:00.002-04:00

Convicted on 11 of 16 counts, a grab bag of money laundering, racketeering, conspiracy, attempted bribery, etc. etc. etc.

Jefferson certainly represents a curious mix of corruption and incompetence – really, keeping $90,000 in bribe money in your freezer? – and certainly deserves a nice long stretch in le Hotel Greybar.

More on Jefferson here, here, here, and here.

Deficit? What Deficit?

2009-08-09T21:42:00.002-04:00

HRH The Princess Pelosi orders up $500 million of luxury aircraft to ferry herself and related barnacles about the world.

Note the attached graph from the Wall Street Journal: the cost of congressional junketing has more than doubled since 2001.

Keep in mind that's just a tithe of how Congress indulges themselves, while, for example, raising the prices of starter cars for the young & lower income via "cash for clunkers"

He's Not A Cop, and He Doesn't Even Play One on TV

2009-08-06T21:01:00.002-04:00

But that doesn't stop Akron's hothead Mayor.

Every day, in every way, he's looking to rehabilitate Warner Mendenhall.

Chapter XXXII, In Which Some 60 Year Old Polo Shirt Wearing Stormtroopers

2009-08-06T20:45:00.002-04:00

Chase some bimbo trying to read Obama's talking points off the stage.

By doing intimidating things, like showing up prepared, asking questions, quoting Madison, and other typical fascist stuff.

Only in Obama's America could the old folk's bridge club be transformed into the face of an angry radical mob.

Transparency?

2009-08-04T21:02:00.002-04:00

Cash For Clunkers data isn’t being made available to the public. Could just be the Obama administration’s need to hide what the data shows, or it could just be the fact that the government’s computers are so screwed up they don’t really know what’s going on.

More than likely, it’s both. The government’s lack of ability to run something as simple as a car rebate program doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the Fed’s ability to run the healthcare industry.

Also no surprise that Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai are gathering up most of the sales. People seem to like the Ford Focus, and Ford has the added advantage of having started the effort to fix their company several years ago, unlike the government run wreckage of GM and Chrysler. Hyundai has the advantage of producing fairly reliable cars at low price points.

The Mayor & the Cops

2009-08-04T20:44:00.002-04:00

Just a preview of what’s to come, esp. after the police endorsed the recall campaign.

Still, one would thing that the Mayor would have outgrown barhopping at 2.30 AM on Sunday mornings.

More “Cash for Clunkers”

2009-08-03T21:14:00.002-04:00

Some Misc Thoughts based on t he program so far:

It's clear that “stimulus” is more stimulating when the government cuts out the special interest middlemen, and provides incentives to citizens instead of campaign supporters.
I was too pessimistic about the program – turns out that the proposed rebate is about 2 times the expected trade on most of these vehicles. Given the balance of the restrictions on the program regarding qualifying vehicles, etc., it just seemed like the difference was too marginal to be a real motivator.
It's still too skewed against the poor who need cheap starter vehicles, or parts for their existing vehicles. It's also biased against families that need more space than a compact car can offer. The scrappage requirement should be scrapped. The increased volume of used cars would push down used car prices, used parts prices, and help to generate profits for dealers and junkyards. Environmental benefits would still follow, as people buying the used so called “clunkers” would likely be replacing cars that are even older and worse on the environment.
The computer crashes and general unpreparedness of the Feds, combined with the hour of paperwork required per deal, do not bode well for America under ObamaCare. If you can't size a network to handle a simple, straight forward program like this, you can't manage healthcare. Once the government starts putting doctors through this hell, we'll have a lot fewer doctors.
The program's estimated results of an additional 115,000 units are only about 40-50% of the billion dollars allotted. (at between $3,500 – 4,000 per vehicle), so why is it out of cash already? Simply too many unapproved deals in the pipeline? Otherwise, we'd have a 50 – 60% waste factor, probably better than the government's average.
This is a program on the verge of becoming permanent. Given the Democrat's hatred of automobiles, it's kind of ironic.
Imagine what a stimulus that allowed you to keep more of your earnings in your own pocket would have done.

Who Are the Rubes Anyhow?

2009-08-03T20:19:00.002-04:00

Both Geithner and Summers are hedging on the “no middle class tax increases” cornerstone of the Obama campaign. Given the close to trillion “stimulus” package, and the potential additional trillions of deficits created by the “cap-n-trade” bill and government takeover of healthcare, this can't come as a surprise to anyone.

Robert Gibbs was sent out to deny the obvious, but the math on Obama's runaway spending only adds up to tax increases. There simply aren't enough rich people to foot the bill for all of this, especially in an era where the top 1% of earners are already is soaked for the same dollar amount of income tax as the bottom 90% of taxpayers, and capital is mobile.

Sooner or later, the rich will move their capital offshore, to places where investment is appreciated.

What the rest of us will be treated to is likely to be either an extended recession or a fresh one brought on by tax increases, and a bunch of doublespeak about how our tax increases really aren't tax increases.

Cash for “Clunkers”

2009-07-31T21:12:00.002-04:00

Well, they're not really necessarily “clunkers”, they are just cars deemed politically incorrect by the Obama Administration.

Not too surprisingly, if you waive $3500 - $4500 dollars in front of someone on the fence about purchasing a car, it will get them to move*. Consequently, the program, budgeted at a billion dollars, has already a) run out of money; and b) been hit by serious systemic problems.

A significantly under publicized fact about this program: it's highly regressive in nature. If you can afford a new car payment, you may be in good shape. Though, under the old regime, a dealer would often give you a $500 trade for an undrivable / clearly unsafe vehicle, and somewhat more for a functional beater. The undrivables went to scrapyards, where still useful second hand motor and drive train parts helped poor people to fix their existing cars. The beaters went to auctions or lots where they were priced at levels poor people could afford.

Now they're mandated to be scrapped / rendered unusable. For all of the Democratic whining about about caring for the poor, when it comes time to do anything meaningful for the poor, they're putting money in corporate coffers instead.

One of the explicit goals of this program seems to be to deprive the poor and lower middle classes of affordable used parts to fix their current cars.

Just a piece with the stimulus bill – the system doesn't work as advertised, and Congress immediately realizes that it's going to cost more than they thought. Good to know that this will never happen to our healthcare.

* One wonders what an real economically powerful stimulus like a payroll tax holiday could have accomplished, in place of the “throw money at my political supporters” stimulus package we got.

The Tribe Tosses in the Towel

2009-07-29T22:54:00.001-04:00

With the trade of Cliff Lee, on 2010, 2011, and probably 2012. The 2009 season seemed to be done around the middle of May.

Not having any knowledge of the prospects involved, it's tough to analyze these types of deals. But the major downside is that most prospects, however highly rated, don't make a contribution at the big league level. Which is why general managers like to stockpile them. It's the reverse of 'chinese marketing' – If I get a billion prospects, some of them have to work out!

Actually, no, they don't.

I'm not 100% sold on the notion that Mark Shapiro is the main problem. However, he did hire Eric Wedge, and has stuck with him, though it's clear that he's not major league manager material. It is clear that the Dolans are a big problem that magnifies all of the other shortcomings in the organization.

So, what's left of value?

Victor Martinez: if he doesn't go by the deadline this year, he'll be gone by the deadline next year.

Jhonny Peralta? Can't play short; doesn't really hit enough to play third. A mediocre player that can't even spell his first name. The 'shortstop of the future' that displaced Omar Vizquel. Peralta has more power, but his OPS isn't that much better than Vizquel's over the past 5 years (though the past two years of Omar at age 41 & 42 have been what you'd expect from a 40 year old). Omar's still a better ballplayer than Peralta.

Travis Hafner? The Hafner of the 2007 - 2008 isn't worth much. In 2009, he's starting to look like a DH. Still nowhere near the Hafner of 2004 – 2006. At 32, there's not much upside. Maybe someone is desperate for a left handed bat.

Grady Sizemore is worth a lot, but you have to have some name that the fans recognize. Probably as a Yankee.

New York City’s Newest Export Product:

2009-07-29T21:25:00.002-04:00

Homeless people! Given the city’s rapidly deteriorating business climate, they have a lot of potential product to move.

Democratic Blamestorming

2009-07-29T21:22:00.002-04:00

It’s all the Republican’s Fault! Certainly, the R’s had a high degree of complicity in the current mess; after an initial burst of sense in the areas of taxes, most of GWB’s domestic policy was center left – more new entitlement programs, expansion of the regulatory state, corporate welfare, etc. etc., essentially a domestic policy of Obama Lite.

Unfortunately, the Obama administration has sought to exponentially increase all of these trends: the huge yet-to-stimulate stimulus bill. The proposed corporate welfare program known as tax and trade, and now the takeover of healthcare.

All of which involve fresh government spending in the trillions, and will entail higher taxes, increased debt and deficits, and will dramatically reduce the potential for economic growth in the future. Since Obama has promised big tax increases by letting the Bush cuts expire, and is now planning significant additional increases in taxes to “pay” for the government take over of the energy and healthcare industries.

Since the Democrats have had control of Congress since 2006, and now have substantially increased their majorities in both houses to a filibuster proof 60 in the Senate, it’s hardly the Republican’s fault that the Democrats haven’t been able to pass tax and trade or succeed in putting ACORN in charge of deciding if your mother gets a pacemaker, pain killer, or just put out on an ice floe.

Dictator du Jour: Hugo Chavez

2009-07-28T18:45:00.004-04:00

Is supplying arms to the FARC terrorists seeking to overthrow the government of Colombia. It's certainly in character.

Keep in mind that the Obama Administration is busy working as hard as they can to sell out Honduras to a Chavez wannabe. It's the standard Jimmy Carter Foreign Policy Reflex: Lefties good. Liberty bad.

Because you can't have too many ultra leftist dictators wreaking poverty, misery, and oppression across Latin America.

The Mickey Mouse Lighting

2009-07-22T21:26:00.003-04:00

Kinda sums up Obama. Though in his case, ' Mickey Mouse' is the likely high point of his Presidency.

Though if 'Mickey Mouse' is the worst thing said about the Obama presidency, we'll have had a narrow escape.

So Much For Being Careful with the Taxpayer's Money.

2009-07-21T21:36:00.002-04:00

Akron School Board votes to artificially increase construction costs. The School Board must just have so much money coming in that they can afford a political payoff to the unions.

Keep this waste in mind the next time they threaten to cut your kid's sport teams or busing if you don't vote for their levy.

Tax Increases on the Way

2009-07-21T20:57:00.002-04:00

Between taxing private healthcare, taxing businesses who can’t afford to offer government approved healthcare, and the surtax on the upper middle class, don’t look for growth anytime soon.

Perhaps the most amusing bit on the surtax:

“ He [Obama] said people who are better off, 'like myself,' should step up and help contribute to bankrolling the new system.”

This man represents an Administration of Leona Helmsleys. From Timothy Geithner, Nancy Killefer (at least this one was pretty trival), and Tom Daschle

And let’s not forget at best, dodgy antics of Bill Richardson or Steve Rattner.

Over at Obama's Transparency Central

2009-07-21T20:31:00.002-04:00

Over at Transparency Central The mid year budget review is being delayed. Maybe it’s just late, or maybe it’s being held back until Congress crams through another budget busting takeover of the 15% or so of the economy associated with healthcare.

The Club Gitmo closing plan is delayed for 6 months. At least this is a step in the right direction.

And remember the supposedly huge effort to trim a measly $100 million in spending over 90 days? This was supposed to convince us all about Obama’s dedication to fiscal prudence, but nobody’s bothered to put out the report. Somewhere in the morass of the Federal Budget, something has been cut by $100 million, so I suspect they’ll come up with something eventually. My suspicion is the Dept of Defense.

“Pay No Attention to the Deficit Behind the Curtain”

2009-07-20T18:20:00.002-04:00

As the Obama Administration postpones the release of the mid year budget update. No reason to suspect that they’re hiding how much the deficit and debt have increased until after Congress votes to nationalize healthcare. Nope, no reason. None at all. Nothing to see here, folks, so move along, move along.

Even the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is estimating the healthcare hit to the debt / deficit to be about $1 trillion over 10 years. After some Senate noodling with projections, the new score was about $611 billion over the same time frame.

Since this was supposed to “bend the cost curve” and save us money, this is a complete trainwreck.

Also, when was the last time the government launched a major new entitlement scheme that actually came it at or under the estimated cost? Social Security? Medicare? Medicaid? The long term record here isn’t very encouraging.

“Budget Cuts Concern Ohio Tourism Official”

2009-07-20T18:14:00.002-04:00

Apparently, Ohio tourist attractions may have to sell themselves without state help.

It’s just crazy enough to work….

Not Good News for Jimmy DiMora

2009-07-18T22:19:00.002-04:00

Steven Pumper has pled guilty to a number of corruption and bribery charges.

“ CLEVELAND -- Former D-A-S Construction chief executive Steven Pumper pleaded guilty to nine corruption-related crimes Friday, including bribery, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI.

Pumper will get a shorter prison sentence in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors, including testifying if necessary against others under investigation for corruption-related activity, according to his plea agreement.

Pumper pleaded guilty to paying bribes to a county officials whose description matches Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora. Dimora has not been charged with a crime and has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.”

There’s more at the link.

Short version of the entire Plain Dealer corruption series : Pick a Cuyahoga County official, any official. There’s a good chance he’s on the take.

Read the whole thing, if you can stomach it. And keep in mind that the voters have tolerated these shenanigans for years, and yet wonder why the Cleveland area is declining. Here’s a hint: Putting a bunch of crooks into county government is an anti-stimulus package.

Only Evil when Businesses Do It:

2009-07-16T20:13:00.002-04:00

The Social Security Administration blows $ 700,000 of your money on a luxury party for it’s management team. At a pretty nice hotel – The Arizona Biltmore. Free airfare, rooms, dining, dancing, trips to a casino, bring the family...

Just check out the link to the Biltmore; it's not exactly Motel 6.

Funny, AIG caught all kinds of guff for trying to reward some sales people with a similar event. Compared to Social Security, AIG was a well run, financially sound operation.

Do as I Say, and Not as I Do:

2009-07-16T19:49:00.002-04:00

Pres. Obama, from his speech in Ghana, July 11, 2009:

“ This is about more than holding elections - it's also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.

In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent institutions are the key to success - strong parliaments and honest police forces; independent judges and journalists; a vibrant private sector and civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in peoples' lives.”

Kind of humourous, actually. Given that effective corporate tax rates have been increasing rapidly against our international competitors for a number of years, Obama’s desire to push those rates even higher, combined with the proposed surtaxes to pay for his budget busting nationalized healthcare scheme, it's rapidly approaching the point for most of us where we would be gratified with a government that only skimmed 20%.

It’s probably safe to assume that whatever the Democrats fashion as health care “reform”, a significant chunk of your money is headed out of your pockets to pay off the political rent seekers, a la Waxman-Markey and the “ climate” bill.

The fact that this is going to be another 1,000+ page behemoth of a bill that won’t be assembled until the last possible second insures that no one will have an idea of the impact of even all of the major provisions, and that the details will be written by staff and lobbyists. All with no meaningful debate or review by Congress.

“House Bill to Hit Millionaires with 5.4% Surtax”

2009-07-14T22:00:00.003-04:00

There are only two guaranteed outcomes if this comes to pass: it won't raise anywhere near the revenue that Congress believes that it will. The second is that it will help to kill job creation at small and medium sized businesses.

It won't raise the revenue because capital, and rich people, are mobile. There's always some country willing to reward, or at least not punish, success and innovation. As a result, capital flight to places like India, China, and elsewhere will slow business growth, harming the working and middle classes, as investments in plant, equipment, and information systems are made elsewhere.

The secondary consequence is that the gargantuan deficit and resulting debt from the government's takeover of healthcare will be even worse than expected.

It's a lose – lose, unless you're a bureaucrat or Congressman, in which case crises are opportunities not to be wasted. Even, or perhaps especially, if you were instrumental in creating them.

Update: OBTW, that "millionaire's surtax" will be moved agressively downwards when the cash doesn't come in as expected. That means you'll be paying more taxes for worse healthcare.

“Minority Broadcasters Seek Federal Aid”

2009-07-14T21:44:00.002-04:00

They did their part last fall, and now they want their payoff. They just aren’t as subtle as ABC.

The Democrats and National Security

2009-07-13T20:07:00.000-04:00

As a party, the Democrats seem fixated on weakening national security. As evidence, take the latest Cheney dust up.

Post 9/11, the CIA starts working on a plan to find and assassinate key al Queda leaders. So far, so good. It’s what you would expect them to do. Under orders from Vice President Cheney, the existence of the project may have been kept from Congress, probably for two reasons:

it was still in the talk / research phase;
by informing Congress, the chances of the project details showing up on the front page of the New York Times increase exponentially. The more people who know, the more potential leakers.

The project then apparently died a natural death, either due to impractabilty or bureaucratic inertia.

But now, for some strange reason, it’s a critical, criminal lapse on the part of the VP and CIA to not inform Congress of a plan that never became operational.

Perhaps everyone should simply start informing Congress of everything that they didn’t do. It’s certainly a measure of Cheneyphobia that this is even worthy of mention.

A cynic might possibly note the timing of the recurrence of the “Bush / Cheney evil criminal masterminds” theme following Obama’s recent decline at in the polls. It’s certainly an easier story to sell than economy wrecking energy and healthcare legislation.