Saturday, October 24, 2009

Jodie Evans and Obama

Why does Obama continue to give so much face time to Jodie Evans? The founder of Code Pink and major fundraiser for Obama recently spoke for a while with Obama at a fundraiser.

Jodie Evans is one of the worst people in this country. Let's count the ways:

On the terrorists in Iraq fighting and killing US soldiers:
”We must begin by really standing with the Iraqi people and defending their right to resist. I can remain myself against all forms of violence, and yet I cannot judge what someone has to do when pushed to the wall to protect all they love. The Iraqi people are fighting for their country, to protect their families and to preserve all they love. They are fighting for their lives, and we are fighting for lies.” (AlterNet, June 26, 2005)

“There is widespread opposition to the occupation. Political, social, and civil resistance through peaceful means is subjected to repression by the occupying forces. It is the occupation and its brutality that has provoked a strong armed resistance and certain acts of desperation. By the principles embodied in the UN Charter and in international law, the popular national resistance to the occupation is legitimate and justified. It deserves the support of people everywhere who care for justice and freedom.”


Evans travels the globe, meeting with every terrorist and tyrant she can find, offering her support. The President should denounce her publicly and refuse her contributions, not grant her face time.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Burning One Down

Marijuana growers from a Mexican drug cartel just caused an 88,000 acre wildfire in California. Do you think liberals will be more interested in protecting the border now? Hmmm, probably not.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

The Drum-quarium


New post on Stuff White Christians Like: The Drum-quarium.

Sunday, August 09, 2009

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Liberals: Not Wasting Crises Since 1933


"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste," Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief of staff, let slip just after the election. "This crisis provides the opportunity for us to do things that you could not do before," he continued. Obama has seized the opportunity, following the example of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who took full advantage of the fear created by the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression.

Let's review: in October 1929, two months after the crash, unemployment peaked at 9% and then declined to 6.3% by June 1930. Congress and President Hoover then passed the Smoot-Hawley tariffs with the intention of reducing imports and protecting American jobs. By November unemployment was 11.6% and the Great Depression was beginning. FDR was elected in 1933, promising in his acceptance speech:
"Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms."


FDR believed that through greater central planning of the economy, more powerful unions and massive social programs he could improve the economy and dramatically shift the power balance towards statism and the Democratic party. He succeeded only in the latter. The first of FDR's New Deal interventions in the economy after taking office in 1933 was the National Industrial Recovery Act, which set prices and wages. Then came the Agricultural Adjustment Act, which allowed FDR to control prices and output of all the nation's farmers. These interventions and others, combined with anti-business rhetoric from the White House created much unpredictability in the marketplace and business investment fell off the cliff. For the first 21 months of FDR's presidency, unemployment was above 20%. In 1940, after 7 years of FDR's New Deal, unemployment was 14.3%. When WWII started, unemployment declined dramatically as millions of unemployed men went to war and FDR changed his focus from radically changing the free market to winning the war.

Not only did FDR's policies extend the Great Depression, causing much suffering, but he left us with a much, much, much larger and oppressive federal government that continues to rob us of our liberty and tax dollars to this day. He took full advantage of the crisis at hand to move the country a long way toward statism.

Obama is seeking to do the same, having learned from FDR's example. Massive deficit spending didn't help the economy when FDR tried it, but it did help the federal government usurp more power from the people, so Obama rolled out a $1 trillion "stimulus" bill. His health care "reform" is a thinly disguised attempt to force us all into socialized medicine.

Most of Obama's efforts to revive the economy focus on creating government jobs. Unfortunately, creating more government jobs does not mean more net jobs, since the money used to create them is taken out of the market, which would have been more efficient at creating jobs with that money. However, as Obama learned well while in Chicago, government jobs create a group of people that rely on the government for their paycheck and will tend to vote for people that favor their continued employment.

FDR used the Great Depression to move this country away from individual liberty and limited government and toward statism. Let's hope Obama is not as "successful."

Thursday, July 30, 2009

The Obama Birth Certificate

Attention conspiracy theorists: President Obama was born in Hawaii, please give that one up. As Andrew McCarthy points out in National Review, the controversy surrounding Obama's birth certificate should be about his honesty (or lack thereof) about his past.

During the campaign, Obama lacked experience, so he ran on a compelling story, as detailed in two auto-biographies. Much of this life story is a complete fabrication, as McCarthy details. McCarthy hypothesizes that Obama doesn't want the birth certificate released because it will reveal additional details about the Muslim heritage he alternately embraces and shuns whenever it suits him. The media has been very interested in Sarah Palin rumors, but hasn't bothered to examine the details of Obama's past:

Astonishingly, reporters see their job not as reporting Obama news but as debunking Obama news, or flat-out suppressing it. How many Americans know, for example, that as a sitting U.S. senator in 2006, Obama interfered in a Kenyan election, publicly ripping the incumbent government (a U.S. ally) for corruption while he was its guest and barnstorming with his preferred candidate: a Marxist now known to have made a secret agreement with Islamists to convert Kenya to sharia law, and whose supporters, upon losing the election, committed murder and mayhem, displacing thousands of Kenyans and plunging their country into utter chaos?


Obama has not been honest about his past and it's worth finding out the truth.

Stuff White Christians Like #36 Unofficial Church Roll Calls


#36 Unofficial Church Roll Calls

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Stuff White Christians Like #34 Non-Traditional Biblical Names

Learn how white Christians satisfy the urge to use weird baby names just like the celebrities, yet remain grounded in the Bible: #34 Non-Traditional Biblical Names.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

Stuff White Christians Like #33: PowerPoint

White Christians love PowerPoint... but not the inept tech guy running it.

#33 PowerPoint

Monday, June 29, 2009

Cap and Tax

The House passed a “Cap and Trade” bill on Friday. The Wall Street Journal calls it the largest tax ever. Obama claims it will only cost the average tax payer the price of a postage stamp a day, yet it will fight global warming and create millions of new “green” jobs. Obama is lying through his teeth. The point of cap and trade (besides granting Democrats even more control of your lives) is to artificially make energy derived from coal or gasoline so expensive that using alternative energy sources becomes more economical. Increasing the taxes by pennies a day isn’t enough to force the average consumer to change. In the beginning, the Heritage Foundation estimates that the bill (should it pass the Senate) would cost the average family of four $1,870 a year. In 2035 it will cost the average middle class family nearly $7,000 a year.

Obama may give you some of the money back through tax credits for living your life in leftist approved ways – for example, by driving an Obama approved car and living in an Obama approved house. One provision of the bill stipulates that in order to sell your house, it must first be inspected by a government bureaucrat. If your house doesn’t have energy efficient windows and appliances you can’t sell your house. I’ll guess that means we’ll all be living in Obama approved housing before too long.

Obama claims this will create (or save?) lots of “green” jobs. Of course it will. It’s not hard to create a job. You could take a billion in tax dollars and pay 20,000 people $50k a year to dig ditches and then fill them in again. You just created 20,000 jobs, but you destroyed many more than that because of the billion dollars you took out of the private sector.

Cap and trade will dramatically increase your heating bill, your electric bill, and your transportation costs. Every product you buy will become more expensive because the energy used to create it and ship it to you will be more expensive. The green industry will make out like bandits, but your quality of life will decline dramatically. Forget that vacation or college savings account – your extra money is going to cap and trade.


House Republicans tried to submit amendments that would suspend the program if gas hit $5 a gallon, or if electricity prices rose 15% or if unemployment hit 15%. The Democrats defeated them all. Here's John Boehner on this disastrous legislation:


“Americans need real solutions to create jobs, lower energy prices, and clean up the environment, but Speaker Pelosi’s national energy tax is a recipe for driving up prices for middle-class families and small businesses and shipping more American jobs overseas. The President repeated his claim that this bill will create jobs, but independent analysts suggest it’s a job killer, while one of his prominent supporters, Warren Buffett, calls it a huge, regressive tax.

“Republicans believe there is a better route to more jobs, reliable energy, and a cleaner, healthier environment. Our all-of-the-above plan will increase American energy production in an environmentally-safe way, encourage the use of alternatives such as nuclear and clean-coal energy, and promote new technologies and efficiencies. Unfortunately, Democrats in Congress and the Administration have chosen to go it alone with their costly, jobs-killing national energy tax scheme. Middle-class families and small businesses struggling during this recession won’t support it. It’s time for Democrats to work with Republicans on real solutions to create jobs and pave the way for a cleaner, more reliable energy future.”

Obama, Chavez and Castro Vs. the People of Honduras

Why is Obama siding with Chavez and Castro against the Honduran people? Read more from the WSJ on how Honduras is attempting to defend its democracy over the objections of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Youth Pastors

Stuff White Christians Like #32: Youth Pastors

This guy is a real youth pastor - thanks Google images!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Failed Stimulus Package


Joe Biden told Meet the Press this morning that "everyone guessed wrong" about the impact the $787 billion stimulus package would have on job numbers. He stated that economists used standard formulas project the job growth the stimulus package would create - the reason they were wrong is that the economy was much worse than everyone feared.

I beg to disagree. Every Republican in the House and almost all the Republicans in the Senate voted against the bill - arguing that the historic spending would not efficiently cause job growth (and that much of the spending was just plain wasteful pork headed for favored Democrat constituents). Hundreds of noted economists came out against the bill and the overall concept that massive government spending could bring us out of recession. Apparently, Biden means that "the Democrats guessed wrong."

There are several reasons why the stimulus package hasn't worked and won't work. Every dollar the government spends must come from somewhere. Specifically, from one of three places: taxes, borrowing, or by printing money and causing inflation. If the government had not passed the trillion dollar stimulus ($787 plus interest), that trillion dollars would have gone somewhere else. It would have been invested in businesses or it would have been spent. Both spending and investment create jobs, but much more efficiently than the projects thought up by the economic wizards leading the Democratic Party: Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

A second problem is that the market (free people making decisions about what to do with their time and money) knows that Obama's massive spending will mean much higher taxes in the future. Higher taxes slow down economic growth because government spending is less efficient than allowing free people to spend their own money, but also because it decreases the incentive to be productive in the first place. If the government takes 75% of the money you earn and provides free housing, food, education, health care, a GM car, and your retirement, it matters a whole lot less how hard you work or how high paying your job is.

The failure of the stimulus package is a surprise only to Democrats.

Combined Summer Services


Stuff White Christians Like #30: Combined Summer Services.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Avalene Claire

I'm proud to announce the arrival of Avalene Claire! She was born yesterday at 8:03 am - 6 lbs. 3 oz. and 19.5 inches long. Baby and mom are doing great. Grandma and Grandpa VanderPlas were here yesterday and Grandma and Grandpa Bos are coming tomorrow. 

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Bon Iver

Bon Iver's album, For Emma, Forever Ago is one of my favorite albums of the last year. Here's a live performance on Letterman. The MP3 album is on sale for only $5 on Amazon this month. 

Stuff White Christians Like #29 Puppet Ministry


It has been said that there are two things that separate us from the animals: souls and opposable thumbs. Well, both of these items are on prominent display with the 29th white Christian like: Puppet Ministry.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Sowell on Sotamayor

Excellent column from Thomas Sowell on judge Sotamayor. Sowell notes that "the very idea that a judge's 'life experiences' should influence judicial decisions is as absurd as it is dangerous. It is dangerous because citizens are supposed to obey the law, which means they must know what the law is in advance - and nobody can know in advance what the 'life experiences' of whatever judge they might appear before will happen to be."

The media is outraged that notable figures on the right like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh would say she is racist. However, they have not disputed the charge, they have complained about the "tone." There is no doubt that if a white male had said that being white made him a better judge than a Latino he would have zero shot at being on any court, let alone the highest court in the land. The left claims that minorities can't be racist, since they are not in power, so they should not be held to the same standard. This is preposterous at any time, but especially now, considering we have a black president and the fact that Sotamayor is being considered for one of the most powerful positions in this country.

Republicans don't have the votes to stop her confirmation, but they need to let the American people what kind of judge Obama has nominated. Sotamyor is up for a life time appointment to the Supreme Court where she will have the power to impose her views on every American.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Government Motors

"Government Motors" has become a popular moniker for the restructured General Motors. Obama denies this charge, saying "What I am not doing, what I have no interest in doing, is running GM.... They, and not the government, will call the shots and make the decisions about how to turn this company around."

Ha! Firing the CEO, forcing bond holders to take 10 cents on the dollar, big give-aways to the union and passing legislation making some of their most competitive vehicles illegal, is not exactly a hands-off approach. Obama won't run the company, he'll hand it over to the UAW and hand picked executives, while the taxpayers foot the bill to the tune of $50 billion. What exactly is the difference? 

Surprise, surprise, Obama's selection for CEO supports the new legislation making many of the cars you and I would like to buy illegal. By 2016, the average car must get 39 miles per gallon, up from the current 27.5. This will make cars more expensive, make domestic auto companies less competitive, and limit your freedom to buy a car that is right for you and your family. Worst of all, carmakers will have to sacrifice safety, making cars smaller and lighter in order to improve fuel efficiency. Thousands more people will die in traffic accidents because of this legislation. Driving a more fuel efficient car sounds great, but the free market (AKA the independent decisions of free people) will strike a better balance between fuel costs, maintenance, retail price, safety, and utility of a car or SUV than having President Obama decide what car is right for you.

The best thing for GM would have been to go bankrupt without a huge government "investment" and renegotiate its union contracts. This would allow them to get their costs in line and become competitive again. Obama refused to allow this to happen to his union supporters. Instead, we will dump billion after billion in tax payer money supporting the unions and a company that may never make a profit again.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Racist, Leftist, Activist and Not a Surprise


I had major misgivings about Senator McCain, but I voted for him in no small part because of the kind of justice he would appoint to the Supreme Court. President Obama didn't have to wait long for a vacancy and today he nominated Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic woman to be nominated. Growing up in the projects in the Bronx, she has an amazing rags to riches story that speaks to the greatness of this country.

Obama had stipulated that his choice would be based largely on the "depth and breadth of one's empathy" and whether he/she had "the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old—and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges." This is insanity. Isn't justice supposed to be blind? Isn't the role of the court to interpret the law and judge it against the Constitution? What does knowing what it's like to be black, old, gay or disabled have to do with the role of the court? Is it also important to know what it's like to be rich, white, or heterosexual?

Obama has apparently found his judge with empathy (read: liberal activist), but now claims that “a judge’s job is to interpret, not make law." This is in stark contrast with Sotomayor's actual record of judicial activism and President Obama's opposition to Justice Roberts and Alito who actually believe that statement. Obama cleverly adopts conservative catch phrases - he speaks about being "fiscally responsible" while giving us a deficit four times the record, he talks about "reducing the number of abortions" while promoting legislation that would remove every restriction on abortion and force Christian and Catholic hospitals to perform them. Now he gives lip service to judicial restraint while nominating someone who will seek to advance a liberal agenda no matter what the law says.

In one decision (now before the Supreme Court) Sotomayor ruled against a white firefighter who was denied a promotion because no blacks qualified for the same promotion. He bought $1,000 worth of books and studied for the required exam, getting a friend to read the books onto audiotapes because he is dyslexic. However, the city decided that not enough minorities had passed the test and refused to promote him. Apparently, Sotomayor lacked the "empathy" to understand what it's like to be dyslexic, not to mention was lacking in understanding of the 14th Amendment guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

This statement might help to understand Sotomayor:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

and this:

"[W]e who judge must not deny the differences resulting from experience or heritage but attempt . . . continuously to judge when those opinions, sympathies, and prejudices are appropriate."

You could say that the argument that her "opinions, sympathies and prejudices" were at least sometimes appropriate to factor into her decisions precludes her from the job, considering the oath she'll have to take:

"I, __________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (name of position) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Green Day and Walmart


A lot of people, including the music blogger for Yahoo, seem very upset that Walmart is refusing to carry Green Day's new album in their stores. Walmart asked the band to offer them a cleaner version, bleep out some swear words, etc. and they refused.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong: "Wal-Mart's become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won't carry our record because they wanted us to censor it. They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there. We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something."

Bassist Mike Dirnt: "As the biggest record store in the America, [Wal-Mart] should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."


Censorship! Waaaaa! Where oh where will people buy the Green Day album now? A private organization decided that selling a certain cd was not in their best interest. How do they have an obligation to sell someone's album? I realize this country is becoming less free by the day, but I think private businesses have more than enough obligations placed on them without having to be told what the "correct art" is that they must stock on their shelves.

Friday, May 01, 2009

Arlen Spector

Here's the Onion's take on Arlen Specter's defection to the Democrats.

This highlights a fact that few considered during the presidential election. We weren't voting on John McCain's policies vs. Barack Obama's. We were voting on whether or not we wanted a check on a left wing Congress. With Democrats in firm control of both houses, John McCain wasn't going to get much of his agenda passed, but he could have stood in the way of the radical transformation of our country that is currently under way.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

TARP Forever

Many Americans were outraged when the federal government created the TARP program to bail out banks to the tune of $700 billion. What's more outrageous is that several of the banks now want to pay that money back and the Obama administration will not let them.

Reasonable people can disagree on whether the Bush administration acted appropriately in bailing out the banks. However, what they were doing was without doubt, based on economics. Treasury Secretary Paulson was trying desperately to stablize the banking system. What Obama is doing is based on politics. He doesn't want the money back - he wants control. He wants control over who the banks loan to and what they pay their executives.

Stuart Varney, Wall Street Journal:
If [GM CEO] Rick Wagoner can be fired and compact cars can be mandated, why can't a bank with a vault full of TARP money be told where to lend? And since politics drives this administration, why can't special loans and terms be offered to favored constituents, favored industries, or even favored regions? Our prosperity has never been based on the political allocation of credit -- until now.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Live Tea or Die

To follow-up on the infamous CNN video of last week's tea parties, here's a great article by National Review's Mark Steyn.

CNN's Susan Roesgen : Did you know that the state of Lincoln gets $50 billion dollars out of this stimulus? That’s $50 billion dollars for this state, sir.

Steyn: Really? Who knew it was that easy? $50 billion dollars! Did those Navy SEALs find it just off the Somali coast in the wreckage of a pirate skiff in a half-submerged treasure chest, all in convertible pieces of eight or Zanzibari doubloons?

Or is it perhaps the case that that $50 billion dollars has to be raised from the same limited pool of 300 million Americans and their as-yet-unborn descendants?

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

There's been a lot of noise about Homeland Security's warning about right-wing extremists (and no, they are not just plotting to put Bill Clinton's DNA on Monica's dress this time). While the report is a little offensive to veterans and raises some civil rights issues, what's more interesting is how this fits with the Obama administration's view of the threats facing this country.

This administration has gone through a lot of trouble to convince us that Islamist terrorism is not nearly the danger George W. Bush made it out to be. We no longer use the verbiage "war on terror" or "enemy combatants." Actually "terror" is out altogether. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitan prefers "man-caused disaster." National Review wonders if someone perpetuating one of these acts will be called a "man-caused-disaster-causing man." As for "war on terror", it is being replaced around the White House and the Pentagon by "Overseas Contingency Operation."

Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo. The new director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, was asked what we will do with all the man-caused-disaster-causing-men imprisoned there. He replied, "If we are to release them in the United States, you can't just... put them on the street... We need some sort of assistance to them to start a new life and not return to some of the conditions that may have inspired them in the first place." Wait, so not only are at least some of the terrorists going to be released inside the U.S., but we will give them welfare too?

With this approach to the real threats facing civilization (other than socialism), is it any wonder people are concerned about the latest intelligence assessment?

Tea Party



This woman has no idea why people would be upset about out of control, unprecedented in modern times government spending. "Don't you know Illinois is getting stimulus money?" She views these people with absolute disgust - a bunch of nuts, mind-numbed robots doing the bidding of Fox News - people too stupid to understand the greatness of Obama.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Foreign Law in Our Courts


NYT reports on Supreme Court Justice Ruth Ginsburg's view that foreign law should be taken into account in rulings from the Court: “I frankly don’t understand all the brouhaha lately from Congress and even from some of my colleagues about referring to foreign law."

Ginsburg also doesn't understand (or refuses to accept) her role as a Supreme Court justice. Her job is to be a check on the power of the other branches of government, using the United States Constitution to determine whether legislation passed by the other branches fits within the constraints the Constitution places on those branches. Foreign law is not the US Constitution, therefore it has no relevance. What does a German judge's ruling (or an Iranian judge, for that matter) have to do with the US Constitution?

Citing foreign law is just an excuse to do things that aren't constitutional. Simply search the world for a judge somewhere who agrees with you and cite his/her ruling as precedent. Or are only judges from certain countries worthy? Should we put more weight on the French high court than the Pakistani high court? What happens if Justice Roberts wants to cite the Czech Republic court and Ginsburg cites the Dominican Republic high court?

President Obama has stated that he will seek to add more Supreme Court justices like Ginsburg.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Wozofoto


Sorry I've been slacking on the posts lately - I've been working on a new project. I noticed that your walls were a little bare, so I decided to launch a a new website:

Wozofoto.com brings you fine art photography at prices you can't resist. It's a deal-a-day site, so everyday you'll see a different photo by a different photographer and everyday the price will be $10. Only $10 for a 5x7 or 8x10 that would cost you multiples more elsewhere. Larger sizes are also available for an additional fee. Photos are printed at professional photo labs with archival quality inks and paper. Your photos will be printed and shipped to you so fast they'll be on your wall in about a week.

What's the catch? The photo of the day is here today and gone tomorrow. One day, one photo. Thanks for checking it out the site - let me know what you think.

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Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Message


Enjoy being relevant and contemporary with Stuff White Christians Like #17: The Message.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Faith-Themed Tattoos


Revel in the extreme, flesh-revealing ministry of faith-themed tattoos with Stuff White Christians Like: #16 Faith-Themed Tattoos.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Freedom of Choice Act


On the campaign trail Obama said "the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." This act would override and eliminate any state restrictions on abortion (such as partial birth abortion and parental consent) and would also remove protections for physicians that don't want to perform abortions and force all hospitals to perform abortions

The Catholic church says it may close all of its 624 U.S. hospitals if this legislation passes. Bishop Thomas Paprocki said that if FOCA becomes law, "It would not be sufficient to withdraw our sponsorship or to sell them to someone who would perform abortions. That would be a morally unacceptable cooperation in evil."

The Catholic church operates 13% of the country's 5,000 hospitals and employs 600,000 people. There's also the possibility the church would engage in civil disobedience. Better yet, let's pray that Congress stands up the president. Is there any doubt that Obama is the most virulently pro-abortion president we've ever seen?

Friday, March 06, 2009

Pranksters

One of the better pranks I've seen. From Collegehumor.com

Thursday, March 05, 2009

The Stench of Pork and Pigs


AP Headline: "Iowans say pig-odor study passes the smell test"

A $1.7 million earmark in Obama's new budget for studying pig odor in Iowa has become the most lambasted of the 8,500 earmarks in the new bill. However, the AP insists that it is important research, just as they stood up for Harry Reid's $8.5 billion high speed rail from LA to Vegas included in the "stimulus" bill (construction will begin in 5 years, so much for stimulus). The pig odor research may be important. That is not the point. If it is so important, let the people of Iowa pay for it out of their state tax bill (or better yet, let the private sector pay for it) instead of passing on the bill to the millions of Americans who don't care why pigs smell.


It's a perfect illustration of the failure of big government. Local government is much more efficient because people will only pay more in taxes if they feel they get a good return on those tax dollars. Politicians love spending other people's money and the only way to stop them is through shame. AP - you are not helping.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Don't Worry, the Financial Wizards are in Charge

This quote today from President Obama made me wistful for a Mitt Romney presidency: "On the other hand, what you're now seeing is profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it." 

Profit and earning ratios? Oh my. How many points did the Dow drop on that one? Perhaps Obama was thinking of P/E ratios - which stands for price/earnings. 

Here's how the AP reported the gaffe: "Trying to pump up the nation's confidence, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Wall Street has been hammered so hard that 'buying stocks is a potentially good deal'..." Nothing to see here folks. He's a genius, trust us.

Payday for Hamas


Hillary Clinton on the Israel - Palestinian conflict: "We happen to believe that moving toward a two-state solution is in Israel's best interests." Ah, putting it only as a liberal can. "We know what is best for Israel - so they'd better fall in line and follow our lead." Shouldn't we consider what Israel thinks is in its best interest? Perhaps the people who are actually subject to the rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and threats of complete annihilation from its neighbors should decide instead. 

Meanwhile, Obama has our printing press working overtime in order to send $900 million in aid to Hamas, who last I checked, is a terrorist organization. The administration is trying to reassure people that this huge sum is not going to the terrorists, but to nongovernmental organizations... who will then spend the money as directed by Hamas. 


Sunday, March 01, 2009

White Jesus


New post on Stuff White Christians Like: White Jesus.

Obama's War on Capitalism and Non-Profits

Those of you who hoped for a moderate Obama presidency didn't have to wait long to be proven very, very wrong. In a few short months Obama has declared war on the freedoms that make this country great. His plans to start paying for his unprecedented spending binge are truly frightening. He is declaring war on achievement, on private-enterprise, on housing, on non-profit organizations - on capitalism (just a word that describes freedom in the economic sense) in general.

For those of you who make $250k+, you're going to get hammered. Good thing we live in a world where what happens to these people makes no difference to us. Oh wait. If big investors have their capital gains taxes raised from 15 to 20% - that encourages people not to invest, costing us jobs and keeping our 401ks down. Obama wants to eliminate the deduction for home mortgage interest - pretty much the worst thing you could do to the housing industry.

Most alarming of all, Obama wants to limit the tax deduction the rich get for giving to charity. This will harm the fund raising efforts of every non-profit organization in this country (most of whom are already struggling in this economy). The proposed changes are estimated to cost non-profits about $4 billion a year. Obama is saying, "Don't give non-profits your money, give it to me instead - I can spend it better."

"If your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single dime. I repeat: not one single dime.” - President Obama

Apparently Obama is not aware that families earning less than that have utility bills. Obama's plans for a cap and trade system will impose massive new taxes on energy companies. His plan states that he will use this cap and trade system to provide tax credits for working families. These working families will pay the increased tax on their energy, and then get it back from their most merciful president.

Obama's policies are all anti-growth. They will slow the economic recovery and change this country for the worse. His presidency will end (hopefully in four years) with an enormous debt and a much bigger and more oppressive government.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Standing Up for Federalism


Harry: I can't believe we drove around all day, and there's not a single job in this town. There is nothing, nada, zip!

Lloyd: Yeah! Unless you want to work 40 hours a week! 

Several Republican governors (and at least one Democrat) are being ripped for saying they plan to refuse to accept hundreds of millions from Obama's "stimulus" bill to pay more unemployment benefits. Why on earth would they turn down all that money when they could use it to help the unemployed? Aren't they just being partisan (with the exception of Phil Bredersen - Democrat from Tennessee)?

They are rejecting the money because in exchange for the temporary funding, they will be required to permanently change their unemployment laws which will increase state taxes on businesses. For example, most states pay unemployment while they try to help you find a job, but you have to be willing to accept a full time job to stay on unemployment. The "stimulus" bill forces state governments to pay unemployment to many more people than they currently do, including to people unwilling to work full time. The bill also requires the state to pay people who quit their jobs because they moved and no longer want to make the commute. 

It's not hard to see that this will mean much higher payroll taxes, which discourages firms from hiring. This expansion of unemployment benefits also encourages people not to work. This is a classic example of how Washington usurps power from local government. They offer money (acquired by taxing the state's citizens) to the states with strings attached. "You can have your this money if you do what we say." Kudos to Bobby Jindal, Haley Barbour, Phil Brederson and others who are standing up for federalism and common sense. 

Monday, February 23, 2009

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Major Tax Hike on the Way

Here's the headline: "Obama's First Budget Seeks To Trim Deficit". How nice. We wouldn't want to put the words "higher taxes" in a headline about Obama, now would we?

Obama is planning to raise taxes on the "wealthy" and businesses. Apparently Obama has forgotten that we are in a recession. The administration has announced a White House summit on "fiscal responsibility." I wonder if Obama has to stop himself from laughing out loud when he says that phrase, considering he just signed the most fiscally irresponsible bill in our nation's history.  

Serious investors (i.e. those making over $250,000) will see their capital gains tax raised from 15-20% - that should really help the stock market, which has already dropped 10% in the month since Obama took office. Capital gains taxes reduce the incentive to invest. Investing is already a scary prospect - now investors have another huge reason to sit on their money, instead of using it to create jobs. Obama plans to raise total taxation by 19%. Considering the times we are in, this is economic malpractice.

As I've noted many times on this blog - taxes on corporations and small businesses hurt everyone - they don't just punish big bad business and people dressed like the Monopoly Man. Those taxes are passed down to you and I in the form of higher prices. Higher prices mean decreased demand for those goods and services, which means the companies have to lay more people off - maybe even you. 

If Obama really cared about the deficit, he wouldn't have signed a bill loaded with hundreds of billions in pork projects for Democrats in the House and Senate. This is all part of a plan to advance his health care agenda which will further erode our economy, reduce economic freedom, and introduce us to government-rationed health care. 

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

More on Stimulus

Click here to read the Heritage Foundation's open letter to Congress, urging them (unsuccessfully) not to pass the stimulus bill. They note that this is by far the most expensive bill ever passed, yet it has been rammed through without vetting and without debate. 

This bill is the height of irresponsibility and is exactly what we should expect, unfortunately, when Democrats are in charge of the House, Senate, and the White House. The politicians who voted for (or signed) this bill owe an apology to today's young people and our children and grandchildren. 

Obama and the Democrats are being dishonest when they call this a stimulus bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this bill will weaken long-term economic growth! So if the federal government says it will hurt our economy, it must not be a stimulus bill. Instead it a massive give away - hundreds of billions of dollars going to the Democrats' various pet projects and causes. 

Most people don't care. They're just happy Obama is doing something about the economy and don't bother finding out just what that is. And when the economy recovers (as it will at some point), Obama can take credit, even though his bill will do far more harm than good. 

Monday, February 16, 2009

#13 Diversity


New post on Stuff White Christians Like: #13 Diversity.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Generational Theft


President Obama, addressing Congress:
All of you are committed to building a more responsible, more accountable government, and part of what that means is making sure that we're spending precious tax dollars wisely and cutting costs wherever possible. During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts. So should Washington... Those of us who manage the public's knowledge will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can they restore the vital trust between the people and their government.


The $787 billion ($3 trillion plus by the time we finance it) "stimulus" bill just passed by the House at Obama's request is the exact opposite of everything Obama said - it is not responsible, accountable, wise, or doing "business in the light of day." The Democrats promised to release the bill at least 48 hours in advance of voting on it. They broke that promise and not a single representative had read the 8 inch thick, 1071 page bill before they voted on it. Zero Republicans voted for it and 7 Democrats voted against it. They are trying to rush this through so opponents can't share what's actually in the bill with the public before it's too late. Unfortunately, the Senate will pass it later this week and Obama will sign it.

Obama and the Democrats seem to be arguing that if only we flush enough taxpayer money down the toilet, our economy will come back. Just a few items:

  • $300 million for "streamlined" golf carts
  • $8 billion for high speed rail connecting LA and Las Vegas (construction will begin in about 5 years, after the environmental impact study)
  • $180 million for "diplomatic and consular services"
  • $30 million to protect the habitat of an endangered mouse in San Francisco
  • $2.2 billion to ACORN - the leftist "community organizers" who systematically engage in voter fraud.
Very little of the money will do anything to stimulate the economy when we need it - now. Most infrastructure projects won't get going for a few years. Mostly the bill is a once in a lifetime Christmas list for Democrats and a way to make government much, much bigger (and the individual much smaller). This bill will add to our already crippling national debt and could cause crushing inflation. Many critics have called it "generational theft" - this money will be repaid by our children and grandchildren.

Obama claims this bill will "create or save" 3.5 million jobs. This comes to somewhere between $225k and $275k in tax payer money per job created, even if he's right. In addition, the bill lays the framework for socialized medicine and increases federal government interference in the doctor-patient relationship. It does away with President Clinton's welfare reform that led to dramatic reductions in dependency on welfare and child poverty.

But haven't huge stimulus packages worked before? No. They failed during the Great Depression, they failed in Japan in the 90's, and Bush's mini (in comparison) package also failed. Consider Henry Morgenthau, FDR's Treasury Secretary, and his analysis of the New Deal: "We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. ... I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started ... And an enormous debt to boot!"

The economy will turn around. It's just a question of how long it will take. Most of the spending will start kicking in after the economy is picking up again, and will then cause massive inflation. Inflation has to be fought by tightening the money supply, which will slow the economy back down. Oh, and did I mention that our projected deficit for a two-term Obama presidency is $8.4 trillion?

A better plan would cut the payroll tax or the corporate tax rate (among the highest in the world). This bill will only hurt our economy, erode individual liberty, and increase the tyranny of big government.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Craigslisting

I've posted before about Craigslisting - a very funny blog detailing various adventures the author has on the classified ad site Craigslist. It's a little like prank phone calls, except he is messing with people that have posted an item on Craiglist. Here's one adventure that I found particularly funny: someone offering old wall art for sale discovers he may be the owner of a very important artifact and is pursued by prominent, competing "archaeologists" who will stop at nothing to obtain the piece.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Abortion Extremists

On Drudge: Florida woman goes to abortion clinic to abort her 23 week old baby. Baby is born alive. Baby is put in trash by workers at clinic and dies. 

President Obama thinks this should be legal

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

National Signing Day


After deciding to skip the 2008 season (I have no memories of it, didn't happen, you can't make me remember it, la la la), Rich Rodriguez and Michigan has put together a great recruiting class. According to Rivals, it's the 7th best in the nation, Scout says 13th. The high school seniors heading to Ann Arbor in the fall include the monster DE William Campbell (5 star, pictured), one of the very top recruits in the country. The Wolverines snagged more four-star recruits than you can shake a stick at, most notably Je'Ron Stokes (WR) and Tate Forcier (QB). They also picked up three four-star offensive linemen - a key weakness last season (I mean, what season?). 

My very early and premature prediction for '09 is 7-5 - a return to respectability at least, but not good. 

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Obama's Cabinet


The big news of the day: Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination to be health secretary because of his failure to pay over $100,000 in income taxes. Nancy Killefer, who was to oversee the performance of government programs for Obama also withdrew because of tax issues (the woman supposed to be identifying waste failed to pay unemployment taxes on her two nannies - which she required to look after her two teenagers).

There's a third tax cheat who should also go: Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner. Is it too much to ask that the person in charge of the IRS actually pays his own taxes?

As Larry Kudlow notes, Daschle said he wouldn't have been able to reform the nation’s health-care system “with the full faith of Congress and the American people.” Does Geithner have the full faith of the American people to reform our financial system? He was approved by the Senate despite opposition from 31 senators.

All this is just the latest embarrassment for the Obama administration. We still don't know all the details of Rahm Emanuel's dealings with Blagojevich. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had to withdraw his nomination to head the commerce department because of an FBI investigation into his dealings with a California financial services firm that was awarded a lucrative contract from the New Mexico Finance Authority after donating to political committees linked to the governor.

Hillary Clinton's nomination to Secretary of State looks completely non-controversial compared to all these upstanding citizens, despite alarming conflicts of interest. Out of the hundreds of millions donated to President Clinton's foundation, foreign governments have donated $46 million. People don't donate that kind of money without expectations of influence (granted they thought they were currying favor with a future President Hillary Clinton, not Secretary of State Clinton). Not that the Clintons have a history of helping unsavory characters when money or elections are on the line (cough! Mark Rich! cough! FALN terrorists!)

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Sarah and Jesus



I just had to share this photo. This incredibly creepy mural is the first thing you see when you step out of the elevator on the maternity ward at the hospital in Hinsdale (where we were visiting Rudi and Stephanie's new baby).

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Stimulus?

The "stimulus" bill that passed the House is quite possibly the worst bill ever. To their credit, not a single Republican voted for the $953 billion spending spree. All this spending will do very little to stimulate the economy but will come back to bite us in the form of higher taxes (paid by us, our children, and probably their children) or inflation. 

Every employed person will get a $500 tax break. About 15% of this (based on statistics from the last round of stimulus checks) will probably be spent, the rest will be saved or used to pay down debt. The business tax cuts do not encourage employment of productivity, instead of, say cutting the payroll tax, which would actually encourage companies to hire people, they go to companies that have lost a lot of money in the past few years. They reward failure instead of encouraging success.

Those are the tax cuts. Then the spending: mostly pork projects (new sod for the Jefferson Memorial, $400 million for STD prevention, $150 million for honey bee insurance, etc.) that are unlikely to produce jobs in a cost-effective manner. Most of the infrastructure projects (even the ones worth doing) won't begin for a while and will do nothing for the economy until the recession is over. Only $170 billion of the total package will be spent this year, $356 billion in 2010, and the other 40% or so after that, when the recession will almost certainly be over. The plan calls for another 250,000 government employees. Don't we have enough bureaucrats sucking up our tax dollars?

Bottom line, huge waste of money - money we don't have. The only good news is that its failure will be another nail in the Keynesian coffin. We will likely run deficits of about 10% of GDP during the Obama administration - 10%! 

Obama claims all this spending will create (or save) 3 million jobs. Great! That comes to $275,000 per job. 

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Visitors


New post on Stuff White Christians Like: #10 Visitors.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed


Sarah and I watched the Ben Stein documentary, "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" last night. It was a really interesting look at intelligent design and those promoting it within the world of academia. 

Stein chooses his fight carefully. Instead of taking on evolution directly, he points out that evolution does not explain how life began and argues that the idea of a designer is at least the equal of other theories on how life emerged from non-living things. No one knows how life came from non-life, but the scientific community has decreed that only non-intelligent design theories are worthy of discussion. Stein details the persecution of those in the scientific community that raise these points and argues that intelligent design deserves to be part of the debate.

The most fascinating part of the documentary is when Stein interviews Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist and author of The God Delusion. According to Dawkins, there is little to no chance of God or a creator, but he believes that a plausible explanation for the beginning of life on earth was a visit from aliens billions of years ago. 

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Obama's Inaugural

A historic day, no doubt. I think we're in no danger of overlooking this. The media is behaving a little different than during Bush's, huh? There are 240 million people in this country who did not vote for Obama, including the 58 million who voted for John McCain. While it's great that we've reached a point as a country where we can elect an African-American, that doesn't mean it's good for the country to have Barack Obama as president, just as it would have been bad for the country to have Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton in the Oval Office. 

Obama's inaugural address was supposed to be soaring, words that would go down in history, words that would inspire a generation. I thought his speech was unmemorable and unfocused. I thought he was unfair to President Bush ("we can no longer afford indifference to the suffering outside our boundaries" as if Bush's $15 billion in spending to fight HIV/AIDS was nothing). The most memorable part of the ceremony was the prayer at the end by Rev. Joseph Lowery: 
We ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around, when yellow will be mellow, when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right.

Apparently a black president means nothing in the civil rights movement. The entire prayer was nothing but a political speech to God, punctuated with demeaning comments about whites and Asians.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Stop Digging


Politicians on both sides of the aisle have long criticized the billions in earmarks and pork that get sneaked in to legislation. For many politicians, bringing home the bacon to their district or state is their primary objective in Washington. The same type of projects usually regarded as waste are now being promoted as the way to save our economy. The only difference is that instead of spending millions or billions, we'll spend almost a trillion and instead of calling it pork we'll call it "stimulus." 

We're in a hole, and Obama is grabbing a shovel. More spending requires one of three things: higher taxes, more borrowing, or printing money. All three are bad - no one with a brain is calling for higher taxes right now, there is a limit on how much we can borrow from China and that money will have to be paid back by my generation and the generations after. Printing money steals from us all by causing inflation. 

The ingenuity and work ethic of the American people (some, anyway) will bring us out of this recession, not government. 

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Coffee-Themed Ministry


New post on Stuff White Christians Like: "Coffee Themed Ministry."

Friday, January 09, 2009

Obama Clears Obama

I was just made aware of this illustrative headline from the Politico: "Obama report clears Emanuel,  other aides." What a relief! Also, what a time saver for the busy journalist: just accept reports from the Obama administration about the Obama administration as fact. 

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Prop 8

I guess my discussion of Prop 8 a few weeks ago missed a key detail: a typo in the amendment to California's state constitution now defines marriage as between "one man and one wolfman."

My New Senator


Senate Democrats have now decided that they will seat Blago's choice to replace Obama, and apparent high bidder, Roland Burris. Here's a question: does Burris add to or detract from the character of the Democrats already in the Senate? 

Consider a few other fine individuals in the Senate:

  • Robert Byrd (D-WV) - current President pro tempore of the Senate, former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan

  • Ted Kennedy (D-MA) - committed manslaughter (never charged) by driving (drunk) into a channel with a young woman he was having an affair with - she drowned.  

  • Al Franken (D-MN) - tax cheat and all around disgusting human being. 

  • Patrick Leahy (D-VT) - forced to give up his vice-chairmanship of Senate Intelligence Committee after leaking classified information to a reporter about an operation against Egyptian sponsored terrorism - at least one operative died because of the reporter's story, earning the senator the nickname "Leaky Leahy." He later leaked classified information about a Reagan operation to topple Libyan dictator and terrorist Moamarr Gadhafi, causing the operation to be aborted. Not too much later, he allowed a reporter to view classified reports on Iran-Contra. But don't worry, he's a hero because he opposed the Iraq war. 

At least a huge abortion extremist who argued that you have the right to kill your new born baby if it survives an abortion is no longer in the Senate, but I guess having Barack Obama as president isn't an improvement. 

The good news is, Burris will probably be beaten by moderate Republican Congressman Mark Kirk during the next election. I also encourage NY Gov. Patterson to, you know, appoint Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton's seat, because, you know, she'll also be easy to beat, you know. 

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Fleet Foxes



I love this video from Fleet Foxes. I highly recommend their new (self-titled) album.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Finish Hamas


Israel continues its military operations into Gaza as western elites wring their hands over the "disproportionate" response. It is amazing to me how people just refuse to take Hamas at their word. They can't be terrorists who will stop at nothing to destroy the nation of Israel and kill all the Israelis, surely they are just upset over variance grievances and can be placated if only Israel were nicer to them.

Take Hussein Massawi, former leader of Hamas, for example: “We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.” Perhaps we should believe him and his ilk and stop pretending that we can come to some sort of compromise with these monsters. Israel gave them Gaza. Were they happy? Did they build resorts on the ocean? No, they used Gaza to fire rockets at innocent Israelis and continued to send their children into crowded restaurants with bombs strapped to their chests. Hamas uses homes, hospitals and schools to fire these rockets and store ammunition. If Israel bombs these places, Hamas bears all responsibility for civilian deaths.

The only difference between Hamas and al Qaeda is that Hamas was actually elected by the Palestinians (oh, and that they are a pawn of Iran). But they are a minority, says the left, and they are oppressed. Liberals also tend to believe that people are basically good, they only turn to violence in response to injustice. Israel, therefore, is causing the violence and needs to be more accommodating.

Iran, Hamas, and al-Qaeda share a similar goal: worldwide Islamic rule. They aim to destroy the west as we know it and replace our culture with Islamic culture, our law with Sharia law. We must defeat them. There will be peace in the middle east only when Israel has achieved victory over Hamas. The only alternative is a Hamas/Iranian victory over Israel.

I appreciate that Obama is not interfering and is waiting until he is president to comment on the conflict, but I am not confident that he has an appropriate appreciation for the Islamist threat.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Friday, January 02, 2009

Favorites from 2008


Books

  1. Liberal Fascism - Jonah Goldberg
  2. Capitalism and Freedom - Milton Freidman
  3. America Alone - Mark Steyn
  4. John Adams - David McCullough
  5. The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria
  6. God and Man at Yale - William F. Buckley
  7. Who Really Cares - Arthur C. Brooks
  8. The Velvet Elvis - Rob Bell
  9. No Country For Old Men - Cormac McCarthy
  10. Vintage Jesus - Mark Driscoll
Movies

  1. The Dark Knight
  2. Once
  3. There Will Be Blood
  4. Juno
  5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
  6. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
  7. Iron Man
  8. Gone Baby Gone
  9. 3:10 to Yuma
  10. Atonement
Music
  1. Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
  2. Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
  3. Once Soundtrack
  4. Band of Horses - Cease to Begin
  5. The Ranconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
  6. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Four NFL'ers Who Might Survive a Shark Attack


I saw this on Shutdown Corner, one of Yahoo's sports blogs. My favorite is Brett Favre: "He's like a little kid out here!"