Archive for January, 2009
January 30th, 2009 | 
Author: In an editorial today on WorldNetDaily, Bill Press writes that the GOP stabs Obama in the Back. He goes on to call the Republicans negative, out-of-touch, and calcified. He further calls John Boehner clueless. Well the only ones that are clueless are socialist, liberals like Bill Press. Just because Obama won the election doesn’t mean that his welfare stimulus package should be embraced with open arms. Or, as Rush called it, the Porkulus Bill. And that is just what it is. I suppose that for the past 8 years the Democrats practiced bipartisanship. I don’t think so. Obama is nothing more than a showman. He did not extend his hand in bipartisanship. The Democrats rejected all of the Republican’s changes. In fact, wasn’t it Obama who exclaimed, “I won.”
If Obama fails, and he will, he has nobody to blame but himself and brain dead Democrats like Reid and Pelosi. Bill Clinton’s economic success wasn’t due to his economic plan that he enacted with the Republicans, it was Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America. If the Democrats were so successful on their own, why were they thrown out of congress in 94. Just like they will be thrown out in 2010.
Honestly, I don’t know why WorldNetDaily even publishes this garbage.
Morning Bell
FRIDAY, JAN. 30, 2009
The Stealth Plan to Silence Rush
Does President Barack Obama believe that the greatest threat to progress resides in Rush Limbaugh? Earlier this week while trying to sell his Trillion Dollar Debt Plan to Republican leaders, Obama said, "You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done." Thankfully House Republicans listened to the hundreds of constituents calling their offices asking them to vote against the bill and not the guy who thinks he can buy their votes with a couple of cocktail and Super Bowl parties. Now we find out that Obama’s far left allies are upping the ante. The leftist umbrella organization American Untied for Change is pouring money into radio ads in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Nevada. The ads ask listeners, "Will you side with Obama or Rush Limbaugh?"
Recent Entries
Freeing American Entrepreneurs to Compete in Global Market
More Nuclear Energy, Less Nuclear Waste
Transparency Promise Broken on First Bill Signed
The Trillion Dollar Debt Plan vs The New DealClearly the left believe they can get Republicans to sacrifice their principles by demonizing and isolating Rush Limbaugh. So much for that new era of bipartisanship. But what if all of Obama’s old-school politics of division fails to win him any Republican votes? What is the next arrow in his political quiver?
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell previewed what may be the left’s next line of attack at a speech to the Media Institute in Washington this Wednesday. McDowell warned that when the left comes to silence Rush and other Obama critics, they will not be dumb enough to try and do it under the label Fairness Doctrine: "That’s just Marketing 101: if your brand is controversial, make a new brand." Multichannel News reports that McDowell even suggested that a stealth version of the doctrine may already be teed up at the FCC in the form of "Localism" rules which empower community advisory boards to help dictate local
No one should be surprised by this development. Last year the brain trust for the Obama Administration, the Center for American Progress released a report entitled: The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio. Here is what they said about already existing legal authority to implement Fairness Doctrine/Localism-type rules:
First, from a regulatory perspective, the Fairness Doctrine was never formally repealed. … the original Communications Act still requires commercial broadcasters “to operate in the public interest and to afford reasonable opportunity for the discussion of conflicting views of issues of public importance.” … Thus, the public obligations inherent in the Fairness Doctrine are still in existence and operative, at least on paper.
So what new policy recommendations does CAP advise?
The Fairness Doctrine was most effective as part of a regulatory structure that limited license terms to three years, subjected broadcasters to license challenges through comparative hearings, required notice to the local community that licenses were going to expire, and empowered the local community through a process of interviewing a variety of local leaders.
…
We recommend the following steps the FCC should take to ensure local needs are being met:
- Provide a license to radio broadcasters for a term no longer than three years.
- Require radio broadcast licensees to regularly show that they are operating on behalf of the public interest and provide public documentation and viewing of how they are meeting these obligations.
So under the old Fairness Doctrine, free speech on the radio was stifled by an FCC rule that required broadcasters to devote reasonable time to fairly presenting all sides of any controversial issue discussed on the air, with the government deciding the meaning of all the italicized words. Under the CAP Localism rule broadcasters must renew their licenses every three years instead of every eight and when they do so the must “show that they are operating on behalf of the public interest” with public interest being defined as whatever ACORN like community organizers the left can rustle up to help define “community needs.”
Whenever controversial issues come up that President Obama wants to avoid talking about, he calls them "distractions." And the Fairness Doctrine/Localism Rule issue may be just that. Commissioner McDowell also said, through aides, Obama had signaled to him that he would not re-impose the Fairness Doctrine. If Obama wants to prove his desire to protect the First Amendment is deeper than his desire to silence Rush Limbaugh, then he should go on record and disavow both the Fairness Doctrine and its equally perniciousness cousin, Localism.
QUICK HITS
Please check out this Friday’s installment of Profiles in Conservatis
m, California Congressman Devin Nunes
A military judge threw a wrench yesterday into the Obama’s plan to suspend legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, denying the government’s request to delay the case of a detainee accused of planning the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.
Dozens, and potentially hundreds, of gas stations around California are choosing to shut down rather than comply with a state mandate that would require owners to purchase new equipment to reduce vapor emissions at the pump.
Despite President Obama’s promise that lobbyists "won’t find a job in my White House" at least a dozen former lobbyists have found top jobs in his administration.
While Obama tires to pass over $1 trillion in new deficit spending, and his Treasury Department warns it may need another $4 trillion, world leaders are beginning to complain that this unprecedented level of borrowing will drive up economic recovery killing interest rates worldwide.
The house has passed, as Rush Limbaugh calls it, the Porkulus Bill. Not one republican voted in favor of it, and 11 democrats voted against it. Sorry Obama, just because you won the election, doesn’t mean that everyone is stupid. Maybe you should take Rush’s advice. You can read it here:
Of course if you don’t want to take his word for it, maybe this will persuade you.
An $800 Billion Mistake
By the way, it was written by Martin Feldstein. Who is he? A Harvard economics professor and chairman of Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers.
Finally, let’s have a cheer for the house republicans.
Morning Bell
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 28, 2009
Morning Bell: The Pelosi-Obama-Reid Trillion Dollar Debt Plan
Last Friday we warned you about some family planning provisions tucked away in the House stimulus bill. Some conservative lawmakers then took up the issue on the Sunday shows, and the provisions quickly became a symbol of how completely unrelated to "economic stimulus" the House bill really is. Being the savvy political operator he is, President Barack Obama has now instructed House Democrats to remove that one provision. But, like much of Obama’s presidency so far, this was a completely symbolic move. The family planning provisions are just one small loophole inside of a massive new permanent expansion of socialized medicine. Don’t believe us? Here is how the New York Times reports (not editorializes, a hard news report) on the bill:
Recent Entries
How Many Will Lose Health Insurance Because of SCHIP Expansion?
DeMint Laments ‘Business As Usual’
And The Winner Is…The Hollywood Elite
Why the Left Loves to Waste Taxpayer MoneyThe stimulus bill working its way through Congress is not just a package of spending increases and tax cuts intended to jolt the nation out of recession. For Democrats, it is also a tool for rewriting the social contract with the poor, the uninsured and the unemployed, in ways they have long yearned to do.
…
As Congress rushes to inject cash into a listless economy, it is setting aside many of the restraints that have checked new domestic spending for more than a decade.
…
The economic stimulus bill prevents states from enforcing a means test. … Republicans said this proposal would take a big step toward federalizing Medicaid. For their part, Democrats said the changes took a major step toward their goal of coverage for all Americans.This is why long time advocates for socialized medicine, like Ways and Means health subcommittee chair Pete Stark (D-CA), have been telling reporters not to expect any other health care legislation this year. This "stimulus" bill is the left’s major down payment for socialized medicine. By making everyone eligible, the bill makes government health care the default option for the unemployed. Coupled with their SCHIP legislation that makes three-fourths of all American children eligible for Medicaid, this stimulus bill is designed to maximize the pushing of Americans off their current private coverage and into government run health care.
The left’s power grab does not end with health care. As we noted last week, and the New York Times reports today, the bill will "profoundly change the federal government’s role in education, which has traditionally been the responsibility of state and local government." The NYT continues: "The proposed emergency expenditures on nearly every realm of education … would amount to the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II."
And we haven’t even got to the Christmas tree like wish list of other long sought after leftist spending priorities, which include: $1 billion for Amtrak, $2 billion for child-care subsidies; $50 million for the National Endowment of the Arts; $400 million for global warming research; $2.4 billion for clean coal; $650 million for even more digital TV conversion coupons; $600 million for new government cars; $7 billion for modernizing federal buildings; $150 million for the Smithsonian; and $54 billion for Economic Development Office and Small Business Administration programs that the OMB or GAO have already analyzed to be "ineffective."
All of this deficit spending has a cost. And the Congressional Budget Office confirmed yesterday that the cost of servicing the mountains of new debt of all this government expansion pushes the total price tag of just the existing House spending plans (before a single cent of Senate waste is added) to over $1 trillion dollars. In a letter to Rep. Paul Ryan (D-WI) CBO director Doug Elmendorf writes: "CBO estimates that the government’s interest costs would increase by $0.7 billion in fiscal year 2009 and by a total of $347 billion over the 2009- 2019 period." In other words, the Pelosi-Obama-Reid Debt Plan already weighs in at $1.172 trillion.
President Obama reportedly told Republicans yesterday, "I would love to not have to spend this money." Every American is free to take Obama’s words at face value. Or you could believe the President’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Comm
enting on the left’s governing plans this November, he said: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things you couldn’t do before." Exactly.QUICK HITS
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issued new guidelines Tuesday aimed at eliminating the influence of lobbyists on the $700 billion financial bailout program.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a Goldman Sachs lobbyist as his Chief of Staff Tuesday.
Newly minted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently received a $435,000 severance payment from his old employer, according to a mandatory financial disclosure statement released by the Office of Government Ethics.
All six of the law and accounting firms hired by the Treasury Department to help manage the $700 billion financial bailout have clients who received the federal money, contracting and regulatory records show.
The parent company of both Philadelphia newspapers has been engaged in discussions with Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) about obtaining a $10 million government bailout.
Morning Bell
TUESDAY, JAN. 27, 2009
What Is the Spending Multiplier on a Pack of Condoms?
This Sunday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) created quite a stir when she attempted to defend Section 5004, of the House’s economic stimulus plan which allows the Medicaid bailout portion of the spending plan to be spent on family planning clinics. The leftist organization Media Matters came to Pelosi’s defense claiming "The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association says such policies are extremely popular." But Media Matters and their leftist allies completely miss the policy point underscored by highlighting the stimulus plan’s family planning loophole. The Associated Press explains why this issue goes way beyond family planning:
Recent Entries
More Regulations, More Renewables, More Economic Pain
Fast-Tracking Government Control of Health Care
More Nuclear Expansion in the U.S
What the Stimulus Will Cost Working Families
PA Governor Wants Federal Aid He Doesn’t NeedWhile the debate surrounding the overall impact of the measure pits economists and their statistics against one another, Republicans quickly seized on the family planning money as evidence that the Democrats were advancing an agenda that went beyond the economy.
The entire intellectual underpinning of President Barack Obama’s spending plan rests on the belief that certain types of government spending creates a "multiplier effect" which raises national income beyond the size of government’s initial spending increase. So, for example, Mark Zandi has concocted a table which purports to show that for every one dollar the government spends building "Infrastructure" GDP will grow by $1.59. There is also an entry on Zandi’s table for "General Aid to State Government" which Zandi knows for an absolute fact has a 1.36 spending multiplier. So if Obama’s stimulus plan bails out California’s spendthrift government, and Sacramento then spends that money buying condoms for Nancy Pelosi’s constituents, Mark Zandi wants us to believe that this entire transaction will increase GDP by $1.36 for every $1 in condoms Sacramento buys. Does anybody really believe this?
Again, the family planning issue is just one example of how the left is using the cover of the stimulus to advance their long-term goals of increasing the size of the federal government. The stimulus plan increases Washington’s control over spending on education, spending on health care, spending on the environment, and even spending on local law enforcement. As the Washington Post editorialized this weekend: "All of those ideas may have merit, but why do they belong in an emergency measure aimed to kick-start the economy?"
They don’t. Before he had to toe the official administration line, National Economic Council director Larry Summers said that in order to be effective, any stimulus bill must be “timely… targeted … and credibly temporary.” As we have already proven, there is nothing temporary about this stimulus spending. But new Congressional Budget Office numbers show there is nothing timely about it either. According to the CBO cost estimate of the stimulus plan, only 52% of the spending in the bill will occur by the end of FY 2010. This is well short of President Obama’s own standard of 75% of the spending taking effect over the next year and a half. The CBO details the reason for the untimeliness of the spending:
Frequently in the past, in all types of federal programs, a noticeable lag has occurred between sharp increases in funding and resulting increases in outlays. Based on such experiences, CBO expects that federal agencies, states, and other recipients of funding would find it difficult to properly manage and oversee a rapid expansion of existing programs so as to spend added funds quickly as they expend their normal resources.Defending all the left wing spending in the stimulus bill, Speaker Pelosi told Politico last week: “Yes, we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election.” This statement perfectly reflects the attitude of those in power on Capitol Hill. They are driven to use the current economic emergency to advance their long held partisan interests. There is nothing "timely, targeted, and temporary" about the left’s agenda. By Larry Summers own criteria, this stimulus bill is guaranteed to fail.
QUICK HITS
Today, the Foundry offers "Stimulus 101" to quickly index the shortfalls of the Pelosi-Reid-Obama Debt Plan. This short guide should give you the quick hits as to why spending does not equal stimulus.
As Congress prepares legislation to pump more than $800 billion into the economy, governments in the Washington region are lining up for their share.
Struggling auto parts suppliers are gearing up to lobby for a federal bailout in the coming weeks.
Fannie Mae is expected to request a $16 billion bailout from the government and Freddie Mac needs another $13.8 billion.
President Obama’s environmental bureaucrats are all from coastal states and Democratic lawmakers from the Midwest and Plains States worry that their global warming policies will further damage their economies.
IBD editorial, "Everyone is talking about how much money the government is spending, but very little attention is being paid to where they are spending it or what they are buying with it."
Find out what’s in store for us, and tell everyone to tell their representatives to vote no to the stimulus.
‘Stimulus’ Plan Is Really About Enlarging Gov’t
President Obama told the GOP leaders during a discussion about his planned stimulus package, "You can’t just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."
Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has condemned President Barack Obama’s comment about talk show host Rush Limbaugh, saying the “attack on conservative talk radio” has begun.
“It means it’s his far left way and no other way. If he had his way, the president would have us all reading the New York Times and listening to left-wing Air America. He knows his only opposition to enacting a radical left-wing agenda is conservative talk radio.
Read the rest on Newsmax.com.
Morning Bell
FRIDAY, JAN. 23, 2009
Nothing Temporary About This Stimulus Spending
Pushing for his own deficit spending economic stimulus package in 1971, President Richard Nixon famously told ABC News, "I am now a Keynesian in economics." Increasingly it seems that everyone on Capitol Hill is adopting Nixon’s economic views … but a thousand times worse. Where Nixon wanted to deficit spend by mere billions, President Barack Obama wants to deficit spend in the trillions. According to the suddenly back in style Keynesian theory, government can stimulate economic growth by temporarily increasing government spending. Problem is, there was nothing temporary about increases in government spending under Nixon and there is nothing temporary about the trillion dollars in new spending currently being debated in Congress.
Recent Entries
Asking the Right Questions in Public Policy
Common Sense Voter ID Upheld … Again
Not All Tax Cuts Are Created Equal
Will U.S. F-35s Face Russian S-300s?Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Politico yesterday: "Yes we wrote the bill. Yes, we won the election." Accordingly, the House bill working its way through committee perfectly demonstrates how the left is using the economic stimulus bill as cover to accomplish their long held desire to permanently increase the size of the federal government. Some tell tale signs are:
Medicaid Bailout: The House bill includes $87 billion bailout for state Medicaid spending. Supposedly this federal spigot will expire in two years but there is simply no reason to believe states will be prepared to meet their Medicaid obligations any more in 2011 than they are today. Medicaid is funded by a formula that matches state spending levels with federal dollars. If we keep bailing states out they will every incentive to continue their irresponsible spending. So, for example, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) has significantly expanded health care spending in Illinois while Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) has prudently made the "hard choices" necessary to maintain adequate reserves. When they bailout comes, Indiana taxpayers are going to have to pay for Gov. Blagojevich’s mistakes.
Medicaid Expansion: The House bill expands Medicaid eligibility to cover unemployed workers whose income does not exceed 200% of the Federal Poverty Line. This provision also supposedly will expire in two years, but does anyone really believe that once states have put these new populations on the Medicaid roles that the political will exists at the state or federal level to kick them off? No. States will push for this program expansion indefinitely and neither the White House or this congressional leadership is ideologically pre-disposed to say no. Mark our words, this will be a permanent expansion of the program.
Family Planning Loophole: Section 5004 of the Medicaid expansion includes language that smuggles the left’s social agenda into law under the guise of stimulus. Contrary to current law, the income of parents or even a spouse would not be counted in determining eligibility. In other words, a child in a family at any income level may be eligible for free family planning services. And thanks to the "presumptive eligibility period" in the legislation, no parent ever need be notfiied that their child applied for Medicaid. Finally, applicants would not have to prove their citizenship before their "presumptive eligibility" is determined.
Education Bailout: The House bill also creates a $79 billion State Fiscal Stabilization Fund to help states pay for public services, 61% of which must be spent on education. Not only does this money incentivize states to not make tough budgeting decisions, but it also comes with new federal restrictions designed to please leftist constituency groups. For example, the legislation forbids bailout funds require that "no recipient of funds under this title shall use funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools."
Expanded Education Spending: In addition to the $79 billion education bailout, the House bill also includes expanded spending for a slew of other programs, bringing the total education stimulus price tag to $142 billion. Winners of this round of spending include $1 billion for Technology Education, $1.5 billion for Pell Grants, $6 billion for higher education institutions, $2.1 billion for Head Start, $2.5 billion for the National Science Foundation, and $2 billion in Child Care Development Block Grants. Are any of these spending increased even intended to be temporary? Can you possibly imagine Democrats in Congress standing up to cut Head Start and Pell Grant funding in two years. Of course not. This $142 billion education spending increase is nearly double the total outlays for the Department of Education in 2007.
Some legistors are beginning to catch on the left’s game. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he opposes the Medicaid bailout "because some governors would use the money to mask poor decisions in other portions of their budgets." Rep. Heath Shuler (D-TN) claims "he is concerned about returning fiscal responsibility to Washington" and says the stimulus bill "can’t be the pet projects of the House and Senate." It’s time to wake up. This
stimulus bill is nothing but the permanent implementation of the pet projects of the House and Senate. There is nothing temporary about any of the spending increases in this bill. They are all designed to make the American people more dependent on the federal government. And there is nothing stimulating about that.QUICK HITS
Several days of the coldest temperatures South Florida has seen in years are threatening to ruin orange groves, cucumber fields and tropical fish ponds across the state.
A new Pew Poll shows that Americans rank global warming last among 20 voter concerns.
The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda’s Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out Obama’s promise to close Guantanamo.
The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Iraq, warned that a precipitous withdrawal of American troops runs "some very serious risks," from the resurgence of the insurgent group al-Qaeda in Iraq to a collapse of faith in a nascent Iraqi state.
Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner hinted at a harder line on China trade yesterday.
This from Dick Morris,THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY: HERE COMES SOCIALISM, "2009-2010 will rank with 1913-14, 1933-36, 1964-65 and 1981-82 as years that will permanently change our government, politics and lives." This is scary stuff. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to pass.
We now have a tax evader as the Treasury Secretary.
Obama had a press conference today to announce his order to close Guantanamo in a years time. During the press conference, it didn’t seem like Obama had the details though. Let’s see if it gets done. Easy to talk. Murtha from Pennsylvania offered to take the detainees in his state. Great. Maybe then the morons in that district will finally vote him out.
This from the Wall Street Journal, Political Interference Seen in Bank Bailout Decisions,
"Troubled OneUnited Bank in Boston didn’t look much like a candidate for aid from the Treasury Department’s bank bailout fund last fall.
The Treasury had said it would give money only to healthy banks, to jump-start lending. But OneUnited had seen most of its capital evaporate. Moreover, it was under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives’ use.
Nonetheless, in December OneUnited got a $12 million injection from the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. One apparent factor: the intercession of Rep. Barney Frank, the powerful head of the House Financial Services Committee."
Way to go Barney.
Government spending does not solve economic crisis’s. Only the private sector can do that. Give small checks to individuals, some who do not pay taxes, will not help the problem. Only permanent tax cuts for everyone will. History has proved that FDR’s new deal did nothing to fix the Great Depression, only increase production due to World War II did. However, Reagan economics got us out of the Jimmy Carter economic crisis of the 70′s. Read Pat Buchanan’s article. He makes a much better case than I.
Heritage.org has gotten it right once again. In today’s post,Don’t Take the Bait for Obama’s Trillion Dollar Spending Trap, Conn Carroll explains that Obama’s strategy of showing bipartisanship is just a way to get GOP conservatives to vote for a 1 Trillion Dollar spending trap. Yes, 1 trillion dollars. This is what is looks like: $1,000,000,000,000. Lots of zeroes.
Government infrastructure spending will do nothing to get us out of the current economic crises. They haven’t in the past, and they won’t in the future. Obama’s plan is a sure fire way to just prolong the current situation and may make it worse. History doesn’t lie, as long as it is told by honest historians. Broad tax cuts are the only way to stimulate the economy.
Read the IBD editorial:
Judicial Watch has issued it’s list of Washington’s Most Corrupt Politicians for 2008.
Let’s see. Who is on the list:
Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen Chris Dodd, Nancy Pelosi, and yes, our new president, Barrack Obama.
What is wrong with this picture? AP is reporting that illegal aliens are living in public housing while legal citizens are on waiting lists. Many illegal immigrants live in public housing
Taxpayers are supposed to expect increased taxes while we continue to pay for illegals’ education and medical treatment. Cities are proposing huge fee and tax increases across the board to cover their budget deficits. Here’s a novel idea. Stop supporting illegals. Deport them. Make it hard for them to live here. I for one am sick of hearing that there is no more to cut from federal, state, and city budgets. Why don’t we start here.