Did I Call It, Or WHAT!?

Back in December 2008, I said, “The fact is, that there are ONLY TWO possible solutions to America’s domestic auto crisis; (1) either the UAW shops have to be coerced into working for the same $50/hour wage, health and pension package as the non-Union Toyota, Nissan, and BMW shops, OR, (2) all those non-Union shops have to be either coerced OR tariffed/taxed into paying the same amount for THEIR labor. OTHERWISE the UAW shops will NEVER be able to compete.”

SEE: http://workingclassconservative.blogspot.com/2008/12/uaws-bailout-deal-sacrifice-or.html

The Obama administration apparently agrees as the AP reported earlier today; “President Barack Obama refused further long-term federal bailouts for General Motors and Chrysler, saying more concessions were needed from unions, creditors and others before they could be approved. He raised the possibility Monday of controlled bankruptcy for one or both of the beleaguered auto giants...

“...Obama said he is committed to the survival of an auto industry — on terms that will allow it to compete internationally.”

That doesn’t sound exactly pro-Union, does it?

I mean, in the first part of that statement they’re acknowledging that America’s UAW shops can’t compete due to “poor decision making” (apparently capitulating to unsustainable Union demands) by their Executive Boards and is now demanding concessions (in pay and benefits) to get those shops in-line with their non-UAW competitors.

It’s the RIGHT path, though NOT necessarily the “pro-Union” one.

The “Fixed Economic Pie” Mythology STILL Holds Some Weight...

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As if things haven’t been depressing enough lately, a recent Rasmussen Poll shows that a full "30% of Americans believe the government should make it illegal to pay movie stars and athletes more than $1 million per year."

There is a more support - but not much more - for capping the pay of corporate executives. Thirty-six percent (36%) say the federal government should make it illegal to pay any executive more than $1 million a year. The majority (54%), however, disagree.

SEE: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/30_say_government_should_limit_pay_for_athletes_and_movie_stars

Yes, a whopping 59% of Americans still oppose capping compensation for movie stars and sports figures, and 54% oppose capping CEO pay, but, the fact that younger Americans tend to favor government limits on celebrity salaries more than their elders and that, as expected, lower income Americans like them more than those whose annual salaries are higher, along with the fact that forty-two percent (42%) of women think a government limit on executive salaries is a good idea, compared to only 29% of men does not bode well at all.

Yes, indeed the vast majority of those young people will “grow up,” and out of those foolish, child-like ideas, but the numbers are still way too high!

The fact is there is hardly a myth more pernicious than the Malthusian one that goes, “There is only a certain amount of wealth available at any given time, so those who earn “too much” TAKE wealth away from those who wind up with too little.”

NOTHING could be further from the truth.

Wealth expands and contracts and the primary cause of wealth creation/expansion is investment and Capitalization.

Those who have Capital demand a good return, with a limited cut going to the government, for putting that Capital at risk...and rightly so.

So far as compensation goes, some skills are obviously more valuable than others.

Only a fool would argue that a surgeon isn’t some forty or fifty times more valuable than a math teacher, for instance.

Athletes and movie stars aren’t “salaried employees,” they’re independent contractors whose earnings are based on the returns (profits) their films, sports teams bring in.

Why shouldn’t someone who draws in millions of dollars in revenues get a percentage of the gate?!

Same with sales people, who largely work “on commission.” Why should they be limited in what they can earn, as that also, in turn, winds up limiting what they can/will sell?

After all, if a salesman is capped at $1 MILLION/year in compensation and has routinely brought in sales that have resulted in $5 MILLION/year in commissions/compensation, then why should he sell any more than his cap makes it worth his while to sell?

Such limits always come back to limit ALL of us!

So, yes, while it’s comforting that 60% of Americans recognize that we do not exist within a “fixed economic pie,” it’s sad that apparently 30% do!

Group Rallies For Lovelle Mixon, Lauding Him as a "Hero"

In a sick, twisted display of heinous racist bigotry, the folks at Oakland's Uhuru House demonstrated FOR deceased cop killer Lovelle Mixon, lauding him as a hero. One of the sickest and most demented things you're going to see....

BUT this NEEDS to be seen.

What’s Wrong With THIS Picture???

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Last weekend, long-time WABC newsman George Weber (above top) was murdered in his Brooklyn apartment.

Weber was stabbed over fifty times by a “knife-obsessed” Satanist.

All of that is horrible and George Weber, with his dynamic on-air personality, was certainly a victim of a violent crime, but the back-story is revealing and it makes the entire story a lot more complex.

Turns out that the 47 y/o Weber met his alleged killer (John Katehis - also pictured above bottom) through an online ad on Craigslist. An ad that offered $60 for rough sex.

OK, here’s what’s wrong with this picture, in grieving for George Weber, we lose site of the fact that he TOO committed a series of crimes here, the LEAST of which is offering to pay for sex (promoting prostitution) and the MOST SERIOUS being, put in the most charitable light, statutory rape – sex with a minor!

While neither of those crimes is worthy of death, they are serious issues and they speak to the moral crisis we face as a country today. Put it this way, IF George Weber had survived the attack, we'd still want John Katehis punished for his crimes, and once Mr. Weber got out of the hospital, we'd have wanted him to answer for his, as well.

But we seem to see it so often now-a-days that we’ve become numb to it – MSNBC’s “To Catch a Predator” has shown dozens of men of all backgrounds and income strata seeking out and driving hundreds of miles to engage in sex with 12 and 14 year-olds!

This kind of debased morality is inconsistent with freedom as Liberty and we cannot long survive as a nation so long as this plague is so widespread and remains so unaddressed.

Daniel Hannan MEP: The devalued Prime Minister of a devalued Government

British Parlimentarian Daniel Hannan rips Gordon Brown over his Keynesian policies! Excoriating Prime Minister Brown over trying to "spend his way out of recession," declaring "You have run out of OUR money." GREAT video with almost 1.5 MILLION hits.

Obama Administration: We Love the Troops so MUCH We’re Gonna Make’m Pay for Their Own Healthcare Costs...

The Obama administration is looking into ways of saving money.

Good, you say?

Maybe they’ll cut some of those pork-ladden social programs and slash government funds going to radical groups like ACORN?

No such luck.

How’s about America’s servicemen paying for their own healthcare to cover the costs of injuries incurred in fighting on behalf of their country?

Yup, that seems to be about the size of it.


"Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki confirmed Tuesday that the Obama administration is considering a controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance.

"But the proposal would be "dead on arrival" if it's sent to Congress, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, said.

"Murray used that blunt terminology when she told Shinseki that the idea would not be acceptable and would be rejected if formally proposed. Her remarks came during a hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs about the 2010 budget.

"Asked about the proposal, Shinseki said it was under "consideration."

"A final decision hasn't been made yet," he said.

"Currently, veterans' private insurance is charged only when they receive health care from the VA for medical issues that are not related to service injuries, like getting the flu.

"Charging for service-related injuries would violate "a sacred trust," Veterans of Foreign Wars spokesman Joe Davis said. Davis said the move would risk private health care for veterans and their families by potentially maxing out benefits paying for costly war injury treatments."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/10/veterans.health.insurance/index.html

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So, WHY the pretense of "supporting our troops", especially NOW, when such a pretense is hardly needed? So, the Left wants to punish America's Vets for fighting for a nation THEY view as imperialist and evil...OK, then why not just have the guts to say that?!

Key Dems KNEW About AIG’s Bonuses!...

Amidst all the faux outrage over the AIG bonuses, there’s now a lot of ducking and covering.

Turns out that the Senate version of TARP, which came out of the Senate Finance Committee run by Chris Dodd, had in place ironclad protections for any bonuses contracted BEFORE February 9, 2009.

Now, Dodd is throwing Tim Geithner and by extension, Barack Obama under the bus to save himself (he’s trailing badly in re-election polls for his Senate seat), by claiming “We didn’t write that line, the treasury Department did.”

Really?Notice, Dodd didn’t say he didn’t KNOW about it, just that he “didn’t write it.”

The “writing” apparently done by Tim Geithner.

Oddly enough, it’s CONGRESS, NOT the Treasury Department that is charged with writing legislation, so it’s doubtful that Tim Geithner wrote that line.

But accuracy is never all that important when you’re trying to save your own skin.

After all, aside from those VIP Mortgages he glommed from Countrywide, Dodd also happily took $103,000 from AIG!

Hmmmm, BIG DONATION and a line that provides an ironclad protection for contracted bonuses written on or before 2/9/09 gets passed over in the Bill.

Coincidence?

PLEASE Connecticut, do the right thing (you did it in re-electing Lieberman) and flush this guy, once and for all!

Nancy Pelosi Lauds Protections for Illegal Immigrant Workers, While More and MORE Americans Lose Their Jobs...

Calling workplace enforcement “raids”, ICE officials “thugs” and illegal immigrants “heros” called for worker protections for illegal immigrants and the end to things like E-Verify.

Again, while it’s understandable why Liberal/Moderate “Country Club” Republicans would support illegal immigration (CHEAP LABOR), Pelosi’s reasoning seems more convoluted and flat-out wrong.

For demographic trends show that Hispanic Americans are very entrepreneurial and very religious, putting them at odds with the Leftist agenda of folks like Nancy Pelosi.

In fact, Hispanic-American citizens tend to vote more Conservatively than most other ethnic groups.

Either way, it’s a shame that an “American” politician seems MORE concerned with protecting the jobs of NON-citizens than she does America’s working people!

What’s Wrong With America’s Healthcare?

Well one thing, is that over 25% of the costs for American healthcare are due to administrative costs, complying with various government and insurance regulations.

Makes for an inherently inefficient system.

Which is the Most Effective law Enforcement Agency

This is an old one, sent to me in an email by my friend P-Mac.

It’s a fictitious but humorous account of an administration trying to find the most effective law enforcement agency in the country.

The President was trying to determine the most effective law enforcement agency in the country and after months of eliminations had come down to three agencies – the CIA, the FBI and the NYPD.

The government decided to run a test to determine which of the three was really the best. So, they spray painted three rabbits gold and set them loose in three separate forests and let the three agencies have at it.

First the CIA planted cameras and listening devices throughout the forest, used look-alike rodents (fake squirrels and gophers) to try and ferret the golden rabbit out of the forest.

After six months the CIA issued a 1,027 page report that, in essence, said, “There’s no such thing as a golden rabbit."

The FBI surrounded the forest, brought in tanks to deploy tear gas and demanded the golden rabbit come out peacefully, when it didn’t respond, the FBI set fire to the forest and issued a statement saying, “The golden rabbit deserved that fate.”

The NYPD sent its officers into its forest to “search for suspects and interrogate them.”

After a day and a half the NYPD officers brought out a badly beaten bear, who kept shouting, "I’m the f*cking rabbit! I AM the f*cking RABBIT!!!"

I guess it just goes to show you, if you really want a crime SOLVED, with minimal environmental damage or eye strain, go get an NYPD cop!



H/T to P-Mac

Did “The Steamroller” Help Trigger the Credit Crisis???

The closer you look at the star-crossed tenure of former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer, the worse that train wreck looks.

Most of AIG’s problems began after March of 2005
after the company's board buckled under pressure from then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and fired longtime CEO Hank Greenberg.

As the WSJ reports, “Almost immediately, Fitch took away the company's triple-A credit rating, which allowed it to borrow at cheaper rates. AIG subsequently announced an earnings restatement. The restatement addressed alleged accounting sins that Mr. Spitzer trumpeted initially but later dropped from his civil complaint.” AIG itself later reversed many of the other elements of the restatement, but the damage had been done. The restatement triggered more credit ratings downgrades.

As the WSJ reported, “Mr. Greenberg's successors seemed to understand that the game had changed, warning in a 2005 SEC filing that a lower credit rating meant the firm would likely have to post more collateral to trading counterparties. But rather than managing risks even more carefully, they went in the opposite direction. Tragically, they did what Mr. Greenberg's AIG never did -- bet big on housing," by issuing Credit Default Swaps (CDS’s are veritable insurance policies on investments) to Merril Lynch, Bear Stearns and other major institutions, that bolstered their own appetites for risk.

If nothing else, Eliot Spitzer’s actions seemed to contribute to a “perfect economic storm,” his scorched-earth, witch-hunt tactics cowed major Corporate institutions, like AIG, lowering their bond rating and making it harder for such institutions to borrow money at preferred rates.

That inevitably led to those institutions taking on more risk (CDS’s in AIG’s case). As AIG took on more risk, by, in effect, insuring the high risks that other major players took, those institution’s appetite for risk grew, making the inevitable housing bubble bust far, far worse than it otherwise would have and should have been.

Apparently Ashley Dupre wasn’t the only one that “Client 9” (Spitzer's name in an affidavit filed in US Federal Court) was screwing over.

Now THIS is Just TOO FUNNY!...

“On Wednesday (March 11, 2009), only two days after he lifted President Bush’s executive order banning federal funding of stem cell research that requires the destruction of human embryos, President Barack Obama signed a law that explicitly bans federal funding of any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death."

“The provision was buried in the 465-page omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. Known as the Dickey-Wicker amendment, it has been included in the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Health and Human Services every fiscal year since 1996.”

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/co...px? RsrcID=44943

So, I guess we can safely say that Barack Obama SUPPORTED ESC Research openly to court the base, before voting AGAINST it in private a few days later.

Kind of like his "No earmarks” pledge - the Stimulus Bill had over 9,000 earmarks (40% from Republicans)...and THAT was going to be "the last such Bill,” but now the new Omnibus Spending Bill is chock full of bipartisan earmarks too!

I guess that pledge went the way of the one that promised "No government Bailout Money will go to pay BONUSES."AIG (a Company that taxpayers NOT "the government" BUT taxpayers have a $170 BILLION stake in) is paying out over $165 million in Executive bonuses!

I wonder how this second-coming of the Carter administration looking to the far-Left about now?

Rendition - Said NO, but YES

NSA Surveillance and Telecom Immunities – Said NO, but YES

ESC Research – Banned on Monday, March 9th, 2009 and amended 2 days after the ban was lifted, with a RE-BAN on any "research in which a human embryo or embryos are destroyed, discarded, or knowingly subjected to risk of injury or death."

Earmarks - Said NO, but YES

G W Bush-styled Big Corporate Bailouts - YES

HUGE Executive Bonuses paid by Bailed Out Banks - Said No, but YES

I guess THAT'S what you get by bringing Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Robert Rubin - the architects of the eradication of Glass-Spiegel, the law that kept the banks from becoming the ominvores they are today - merging banking, brokerage services and insurance.

EVERY one of the Obama Economic team is from the banking and finance sector, NONE from the hard industries (auto, oil, agriculture, etc.), NONE from the regulatory sectors of government!

Keep believing that the Democrats are NOT controlled by Corporate America....they're even MORE Corporately owned! They always have been.

Filed Under “Good Answer to a DUMB Question;

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“Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked:

" ‘What do you feel.....when you shoot a Terrorist?’ "

"The Marine shrugged and replied, ‘A slight recoil.’ "

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WHY do Liberals always feel compelled to ask such idiotic questions?!

H/T to Dan O (http://lagrangeohio.blogspot.com/ and Paul @ GottaGetDrunkFirst (http://gottagetdrunkfirst.blogspot.com/2009/03/best-answer-to-stupid-question.html

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UPDATE: Indeed Snopes.com debunks this story as a humorous anecdote;

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http://www.snopes.com/politics/war/recoil.asp

On My Renewed Respect and Appreciation for Andy Cuomo...

OK, so being a Conservative (“Zell Miller”) Democrat, perhaps it’s easier for me to look at the good in SOME Democrats, when they indeed do something good, but I’ll say this, “I never thought I’d have ANYthing to praise a Cuomo over, but NOW, I DO!”

Turns out that NYS Attorney General Andy Cuomo has so rattled the pro-pedarist group NAMBLA that one of the NAMBLA scumbags has apparently offered a $10,000 reward for “Anyone who’d shoot the New York State AG in the face."

“ The "reward" was offered under the headline: "$10,000 to shoot Andrew Cuomo in the face!"

"I am an official of NAMBLA, and I can confirm that we have raised the cash to reward any individual who manages to accomplish this task. Thank you," read the message, a transcript of which was obtained by The NY Post.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/03092009/news/columnists/perv_group_puts_10g_hit_on_andy_158663.htm

According to NY Post reporter, Fred U. Dicker, “The threat, described by a source as "unprecedented" because it is believed to come from an organization, prompted a sweeping and ongoing criminal probe by the Attorney General's Office and at least one other law-enforcement organization, and subpoenas were issued, sources said.”

He went on to report, “The message, which investigators have linked to an imprisoned pervert with strong NAMBLA ties - and whom Cuomo's office is seeking to keep behind bars under a "civil commitment" law - was spotted by a citizen who brought it to the attention of Verizon, his Internet service provider. Law-enforcement sources declined to reveal the imprisoned man's identity.”

Turns out that NAMBLA and their supporters are angry at Andy Cuomo over his making the various Internet service providers, like Verizon, take responsibility for policing child pornography, supports the ubiquitous online “pedophile stings” and for being a strong advocate of keeping NAMBLA types behind bars through civil commitment – the practice of keeping especially dangerous felons behind bars beyond their allotted sentences.

According to reports Verizon’s security officers removed the posting quickly and then notified law enforcement, including Cuomo's office, sources said.

Through today, Andrew Cuomo's office has kept at least 75 convicted sexual predators, including several linked to NAMBLA, in state prison under a tough, new civil-commitment law approved in 2007.

According to Fred Dicker’s report, “Criminal investigators, working with Verizon, tracked the message to a news group maintained by a woman living in a private home in The Bronx.

“The woman denied any knowledge of the message, allowed investigators to examine her personal computer, and was eventually told she was not a suspect, sources said.
"She was clearly not involved," one source said.”

The case against the NAMBLA perv is ongoing and I hope for a fast and draconian resolution for the perverted would-be assassin.

For being an enemy of NAMBLA, I have to acknowledge a renewed respect and appreciation for Andy Cuomo, even if I DO often disagree with him on other matters.

The Folly of Class-Envy...

"Only 2% of households earn over $250,000 a year - so yes they are rare. They're also the ones who have benefited from the phony "investor class" economy that ballooned at the expense of workers whose wages have barely doubled in 30 years." (Liberal poster)

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WoW! That statement is entirely and completely untrue.
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FACT: investors don't earn "income" from their investments, they earn "Capital Gains" which are taxed at a much lower, flat rate, which is necessary to stimulate further investment (risk of capital), as THAT’S what investment is, putting already accrued (worked for or inherited) Capital at risk. The lower Capital Gains rate recognizes that a leveraged, invested dollar is worth many, MANY times what a dollar exchanged for labor is.

Moreover, the income disparity mentioned, is virtually ENTIRELY the result of differing costs of living throughout the country.

The overwhelming bulk  (well over 90% of those earning over $250,000/year) of the highest income earners tend to live in high cost of living areas, like NYC, San Francisco, the Metro D.C. area, L.A, etc.).

For instance, in NYC $123,000/year is exactly equivalent to $60,000/year in Houston TX. or Atlanta, GA.

The "Investor Class" isn't hit by increasing income taxes, regular working people ARE. In other words, those "suckers" who work for a living in those high cost-of-living areas. For instance, two cops in NYC earn over $250K/year with overtime factored in, so do two Corrections Officers (with OT), so does an Accountant (CPA) and a school teacher.

And so do many of the small business owners, who produce upwards of 80% of the jobs in America!Hey! I'm ALL for giving tax breaks to those living in low cost-of-living States like North Dakota, Arkansas, Wyoming and Montana...those folks work HARD and under some very rough conditions.

I just don't like the idea of further punishing those folks living in far more expensive, not to mention less picturesque places, like New York City, San Francisco and places like that.

D. L. Hughley Says “The Republican National Convention looked like Nazi Germany.”

In response to the uproar over RNC head Michael Steele’s referring to Conservative icon Rush Limbaugh as an “entertainer” whose show can be “incendiary”, CNN’s D. L. Hughley (pictured above) had the above to say about the Republican National Convention.

Without question, Steele’s calling out Limbaugh was a little out-of-line, at least within the broader context of some fringe Democrats trying to demonize Conservatism.

The "racism" charge against the likes of Limbaugh is especially ludicrous - if he were a racial bigot, he wouldn't have Walter E Williams (a black economist) filling in for him on the radio.

Steele, at best, "mis-spoke," and by mis-speaking in that way, bolstered and emboldened the Liberal fringe.And to make matters worse, D. L. Hughley (OK, hardly a scholar) says, “The RNC looked like Nazi Germany” - apparently because there weren't ENOUGH black faces there.

There were blacks, there were Jews and there were many Hispanics (in 2000 and 2004 nearly 60% of Hispanics voted Republican, mostly because they rightly perceived Liberal Democrats to be anti-religious and specifically anti-Christian).

Look D. L. Hughley spewing that kind of malicious crap makes the likes of Bob Grant (who was occasionally over-the-top, ie. On the day Ron Brown was killed in a copter crash over Kosovo, "I'm hearing reports of one survivor, my luck it'll be Ron Brown.") look tame by comparison.

Bob Grant was fired for that above remark.....Hughley's was even more malicious and disgusting and it wasn't said, as Grant's faux pas was, in jest.

SEE Video: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/03/02/dl.michael.chuck.cnn?iref=videosearch

Jim Bishop: The LAST FREEDOM-LOVING AMERICAN???

John Bishop...knows that ALL oppression comes through government...YOUR OWN government!

For those who CLAIM to think that, “Government’s taking from those who’re doing well to help those doing less well,” is a “GOOD thing,” the fact that they wouldn’t themselves do that on their own, voluntarily, proves, that even THEY don’t think it’s all that “good,” or even necessary.