Who Said It?

"We can’t constantly explain to our voters that taxpayers have to be on the hook for certain risks, rather than those who make a lot of money taking those risks."

-- Barack Obama Angela Merkel

To Hell With The TSA

"We spend my child's whole life telling him that only mom, dad and a doctor can touch you in your private area, and now we have to add TSA agent and that's just wrong," he told Reuters. "At some point the terrorists have won."

More here.

Uncalled House Race Update: VA-11 a Democrat Hold

Real Clear Politics has been showing this race a Democrat hold since yesterday.

Politics Daily shows the incumbent Democrat Connolly with just 920 votes more than the Republican challenger Fimian.

Three third party candidates could be blamed for the Republican's loss. The Independent garnered 1,838 votes, the Libertarian 1,381 votes, and the Green 959 votes. All together those votes represented barely 1.75% of all votes cast.

Net Republican gains remain at 61 with 6 races still not called: CA-11, CA-20, IL-8, KY-6, NY-25 and NY-1.

Was Monday's California Missile Launch a Chinese Cruise Missile?

Did history just rhyme on Monday with an incident which embarrassed the US Navy back in October 2006? Has the People's Liberation Army been (California) dreamin' about this since 1996?

Consider this from James Kraska, a former adviser to the Joint Chiefs of Staff:

In 1999, the PLA Navy introduced the sophisticated Song-class diesel electric submarine. Reportedly quieter than the fast attack US Los Angeles-class boats, the Song was equipped with wake-homing torpedoes and anti-ship cruise missiles. In one incident in October 2006, one of the ultra-quiet Song submarines surfaced inside the protective screen of the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk. Admiral Gary Roughead, who was commander of the US Pacific Fleet and who would later go on to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was visiting China at the time of the incident. In 1996, at the end of the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, PLA General Xiong Guangkai warned a visiting US envoy, ‘‘. . . you care more about Los Angeles than you do about Taipei.’’ ...


[T]he US Pacific Fleet was in panic after the Kitty Hawk embarrassment over its vulnerability to Chinese diesel-electric boats.


In the decades after the end of the Cold War, China closed the gap in naval capability, even surpassing the United States in some areas in terms of both quantity and quality of platforms. For example, China concentrated on advancing its large diesel-electric submarine force. Sweden became the first nation to develop a diesel-electric submarine with air-independent propulsion (AIP), which extended underwater endurance from a few days to one month. The first in class of these vessels, the HMS Gotland, was leased by the US Navy for two years in order to practice anti-submarine warfare. The Gotland proved extremely quiet and effective, and AIP submarines are able to sprint under water—greatly increasing their attack radius. China integrated AIP technology into the Type 041 Yuan-class boats, which followed the Song. Having launched several of these smaller, stealthy boats each year since 2004, a decade later, the US Seventh Fleet could never be certain whether China was shadowing US vessels.


Monday's incident could have been a shot across our bow, meant to embarrass the president in his own backyard while he's visiting in theirs.

Cutting Paychecks of 535 Members of Congress by 10% is Silly

Do the math:

$174,000 per year

10% of which = $17,400

x 535 members of Congress = less than $10 million.

That'll really hurt the plutocrats like John Kerry and Darrell Issa.

$10 million dollars goes into a $3.5 trillion budget 350,000 times for crying out loud. It's like taking a long piss in the Pacific ocean. NO ONE WILL NOTICE!

Get serious! Cut an entire Cabinet level department or two, starting with Education.

Story here.

About Half of New Republicans Term Limit Themselves

Pure idiocy.

To paraphrase George C. Scott playing General George Patton: Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won by term-limiting himself for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard term-limit himself for it.

These dopes haven't learned a thing on the outside. Why, I'll bet they're ready to compromise on all sorts of things. Heaven help us.

I predict rising spirits among Democrats.

Politico has the story here.

Another Guy Goes on the Record that it was a Missile

According to National Journal here:

Naval expert Norman Polmar, a long-time consultant to the Navy and Pentagon, said he believes the missile was almost certainly launched by the US military. “From the video it’s clearly a land- or sea-launched ballistic missile, and it couldn’t have come from a French or British submarine, because they are only deployed in the Atlantic and Mediterranean,” he told National Journal. “Chinese submarines have never ventured farther east than Hawaii, nor have they ever successfully test fired a ballistic missile. That only leaves the Russians, but for the life of me I can’t fathom why Moscow would have a submarine sail 5,000 miles to launch a missile off the coast of California.”

I can fathom why a North Korean submarine would do it, or a Chinese submarine, especially just ahead of Obama's arrival in Seoul for the G-20 meeting.

But the capability question is still there in both cases.

Do the North Koreans have a blue water submarine, let alone the technology?

Do the Chinese have the technology?

And why would the US government lie about a test of its own?

Solid Propellant Missile From A Submarine or Surface Ship

If it wasn't a missile that's news to at least one expert, as related here:

Doug Richardson, the editor of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets, examined the video for the Times of London and said he was left with little doubt. 

"It’s a solid propellant missile," he told the Times. "You can tell from the efflux [smoke]." 

Richardson said it could have been a ballistic missile launched from a submarine or an interceptor, the defensive anti-missile weapon used by Navy surface ships. 

Obama Doubles Number of Federal Workers Getting $150K or More Per Year

Dennis Cauchon for USA Today keeps on the trail of federal worker pay:

The number of federal workers earning $150,000 or more a year has soared tenfold in the past five years and doubled since President Obama took office, a USA TODAY analysis finds.

Read the rest here.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is National Opt-Out Day: Pass it On

Check it out here:

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is NATIONAL OPT-OUT DAY!  

It's the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government's desire to virtually strip us naked or submit to an "enhanced pat down" that touches people's breasts and genitals.  You should never have to explain to your children, "Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it's a government employee, then it's OK."  

The goal of National Opt Out Day is to send a message to our lawmakers that we demand change.  No naked body scanners, no government-approved groping.  We have a right to privacy and buying a plane ticket should not mean that we're guilty until proven innocent.  This day is needed because many people do not understand what they consent to when choosing to fly.

Here are the details:

Who?

    You, your family and friends traveling by air on Wednesday, November 24, 2010. 

What?

    National Opt-Out Day.  While the government doesn't always like to advertise this, you have the ability to opt-out of the naked body scanner machines (AIT, or Advance Imaging Technology, as the government calls it).  All you have to do is say "I opt out" when they tell you to go through one of the machines.  You will then be given a pat down.

Where?

    At an airport near you!  

When?

    Wednesday, November 24, 2010.  That's right: November 24 - one of the busiest travel days of the year!  We want families to sit around the dinner table, eating turkey, talking about how a government employee molested them at the airport.  We hope the outrageous experience then propels people to write their Member of Congress and demand change.  

Why?

    We are sick of "security theater."  These naked body scanners do not make us a more secure nation.  In fact, the scanners, which use radiation, may not even be safe for our long-term health.  The government should not have the ability to virtually strip search anyone it wants.  Why should a government employee get to see a naked scan of a passenger, and do who knows what in the back room while viewing that image?   We have already heard stories of TSA officials laughing at small genitals and making certain women go through the machines or taking off extra clothes, reducing them to tears.  This is absolutely sick behavior.  If you don't like it and don't want to be virtually strip searched, then too bad says the government.  To try and make everyone comply with the naked body scanners, the government has made the alternative worse!  With their enhanced pat downs, TSA now touches the genitals and private areas of men, women and children!  We do not believe the government has a right to see you naked or feel you up just because you bought an airline ticket.  There are better, less invasive security measures that can be taken.

How?

    By saying "I opt out" when told to go through the bodying imaging machines.  Also, be sure to have your enhanced pat down by TSA in full public - do not go to the back room when asked.  Every citizen must see for themselves how the government treats law-abiding citizens.

follow us on twitter:  http://twitter.com/nationaloptout

Arrogant Flight Attendants Want Special Treatment On Enhanced Pat-Downs

But your choice is to get scanned virtually strip-searched or groped, that's it, against your 4th Amendment rights.

Calling enhanced pat-downs by the TSA "invasive," Deborah Volpe, Vice President of the Association of Flight Attendants Local 66 in Phoenix, says they want a different "crew pass" procedure for flight attendants and pilots, according to a story here from ABC15 in Phoenix:

"We don't want them in uniform going through this enhanced screening where their private areas are being touched in public."

"They actually make contact with the genital area."

"They've already contacted the ACLU."

"We just feel this pat-down is a little much."

If it's a little much for you, isn't it a little much for anyone? What makes union members so special?

Want to crash the TSA? November 24 is National Opt-Out Day. Refuse the scanners. Make them feel you up. And make sure to film it and upload it to YouTube.

Pass the word: optoutday.com.

Wikipedia Article Debates Possible Role of North Koreans in Missile Launch

The article in question is about the Golf II class of submarines, which you can find here.

Here is a screen shot of the relevant passage which was removed overnight, claiming "vandalism":

Was The Missile a Stunt from Kim Jong Mentally Ill?

Here's a theory:

Obama leaves the country on his grand Asia tour, which involves a G20 meeting in South Korea. While the cat's away, the North Koreans sneak a missile sub 35 miles off our California coast to demonstrate their ability to strike us and embarrass him, catching us flat-footed. The event gets credited to Kim Jong-Il's son, the new general and heir apparent, cementing his position with the military. Meanwhile we've got a president who's disengaged from and unrealistic about matters military whose liberal death wish could very well get us all killed. Would this have happened with a 600 ship navy under Reagan instead of the 300 ship one we have now?

The Macroeconomics of Gold

Edmund Conway has an excellent discussion of the macroeconomics of gold for The UK Telegraph here, at the heart of which is this:

Enjoy!

Undecided Races Update: WA-2 Stays Democrat

Real Clear Politics shows the race as a Democrat hold this morning.

Politics Daily shows just 11 precincts left to be counted and 98% of the vote in with incumbent Democrat Larsen ahead of Republican challenger Koster by almost 5,500 votes.

That leaves the Republicans with a net gain of 61 seats in the US House, with 7 races still not called: CA-11, CA-20, IL-8, KY-6, NY-25, VA-11 and NY-1.

Obama Bows to Indian Parliament

The guards of a tyrant are foreigners.

Pilot Union President Urges Scanner Boycott By Pilots

In a story reported here, Captain Dave Bates objects to the scanners on both health and privacy grounds, conceding that the scans could be harmful not only to pilots but to frequent flyers, and that the opt-out procedure, the enhanced pat down, is so demeaning that if pilots have to go through that, it should occur out of view of the public.

So the guy thinks it's ok for the rest of us to get groped by uniformed government employees, and in front of everyone?!

What happened to equal treatment under the law, eh Captain?

Pilots should boycott both the scans and the pat downs, and so should the rest of us. Don't fly, period. That's the only way to get this madness stopped once and for all.

Was Centreville, Virginia, UFO Actually a Spy Drone?

The story about the appearance one day after the midterm election was reported here.

Here Come the Spy Drones

How long before they have backscatter scanners like the airports and mobile vans have to see through the roof of your home to search you without a warrant?

These aerial robots from England can hover silently for hours, and at only 3 feet in diameter can conceal themselves easily. Equipped with cameras and thermal imaging scanners, they can see you hiding in the bushes. They can track you as you drive, mow the lawn, go for a walk, or have a picnic. All your comings and goings, and those of your associates, can be tracked, recorded and studied without your knowledge or consent.

The story here says they're coming to the US.

Your freedom and privacy are being destroyed as we speak!

What are you going to do about it?

Start by boycotting every place where scanners are installed. That means not flying. And complain, loudly, until this is brought to a halt.

Of 8 More Close Uncalled House Races, 3 Look to go Republican

With a net gain to date of 61 seats, 3 more defeats of Democrat incumbents look possible.

Bloomberg.com reports similarly here:

“It’s expected that Republicans will hold on and pick up a total of 63 or 64 seats, though recounts can occasionally produce a surprise,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.

Vote totals taken from PoliticsDaily.com show Republican Vidak overturning Democrat Costa in CA-20 50.8% to 49.2%.

In IL-8, the Republican Walsh looks to overtake Democrat Melissa Bean 48.5% to 48.3% thanks to Green Party Scheurer siphoning off 3.2% on the Democrat incumbent's left. This was conservative Republican Phil Crane's old seat.

And in NY-25 the Republican Buerkle has a similarly razor thin lead over incumbent Democrat Maffei 50.2% to 49.8%.

Other races don't look as promising for Republicans, close as they are.

A constitutionalist third party candidate in CA-11 has managed 5% of the vote in a race leaning to the incumbent Democrat McNerney over the Republican Harmer by just .3%.

Incumbent Democrat Chandler in KY-6 has a .2% lead over Republican challenger Barr.

Three third parties in VA-11 have bled off 1.8% of the vote in favor of the Democrat incumbent Connolly vs. Republican Fimian who trails by .4% of the vote. Libertarian and Green parties strike again.

WA-2 is a different matter with 95% of the precincts reporting because of voting by mail. The Democrat Larsen is ahead of Republican Koster 50.7% to 49.3%.

The race in NY-1 has looked like Democrat incumbent Bishop's over Republican Altshuler 51% to 49% until the report of a closer count in the Bloomberg story. The Republican says many absentee ballots have not yet been counted. 

Third Party Candidates in Colorado Senate Race Hand Victory to Democrat Bennet

Where the difference between the Democrat winning and the Republican losing was only 16,000 votes.

The Independent Reform candidate, a self-described social liberal and economic conservative, in other words a libertarian, siphoned off 18,000 votes. A non-originalist crank, he thought two bad innovations of the past have been good for the country, as in this:

The graduated income tax and direct election of senators were originally third party ideas adopted by the major parties to win back votes.

The Libertarian Party candidate in the race bled off 21,000 votes.

Two unaffiliated candidates trying to capitalize on opposition to bailouts and ineffective stimulus spending siphoned off another 16,000 between them. One was a dope advocate who subsequently took credit for stopping the election of the Republican Buck.

That's 55,000 votes on the more or less economic right to the environmentalist wacko Greens on the left who bled off 36,000 votes of their own.

Stronger candidates from the two major parties admittedly would have reduced this hemorrhaging. On the right, however, it's evidence of the voters' justifiable distrust of the Republican commitment to economic conservatism. 

If You Opt Out of Airport Naked Scans, Prepare to be Otherwise Intimidated

From Joe Sharkey for The New York Times here:

I have always disliked uniformed authorities shouting at me. So I was unhappy last week when some security screeners at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago started yelling.

“Opt out! We got an opt out!” one bellowed about me in a tone that people in my desert neighborhood in Tucson usually reserve for declaring, “Rattlesnake!”

Other screeners took up the “Opt out!” shout.


Sheeple. Led to the slaughter.

TSA Fondles Women and Children Refusing Airport Naked Body Scanners

Resist the government and the airlines by not flying! Don't submit! Boycott air travel until the scanners come out! The terrorists are laughing at us.

See why here.

Traveling to India: Outlandish, Luxurious, Unprecedented

"Probably not since the days of the Pharaohs or the more ludicrous Roman Emperors has a head of state travelled in such pomp and expensive grandeur as the President of the United States of America."

-- The UK Daily Mail, here

4 Libertarians, 1 Conservative Cost Republicans 5 Victories in US House

In AZ-8, the Libertarian took 4% of the vote in a 2 point race between Democrat Giffords and Republican Kelly.

In IN-2, the Libertarian took 5% of the vote in a 1 point race between Democrat Donnelly and Republican Walorski.

In IA-1, the Libertarian took 2% of the vote in a 1 point race between Democrat Braley and Republican Lange.

In MO-3, the Libertarian took 3% of the vote in a 2 point race between Democrat Carnahan and Republican Martin.

And in NY-23, the Conservative Hoffman took 6% of the vote in a 2 point race between Democrat Owens and Republican Doheny.

By garnering less than 40,000 votes these pests managed to disappoint the hopes of half a million Republicans in just five races. Democrats just love third parties.

Pricks.

Net Republican Pickups 61

Republican pickups number 64 gross, but the net must subtract Democrat pickups, which were 3: the at-large seat in Delaware vacated by primary defeated Mike Castle in the Senate race, Abercrombie's seat in Hawaii only very temporarily occupied by a Republican, and Cao's seat in Louisiana, who lost as the only Republican voting for Obamacare.

So net 61 Republican pickups, as shown at Real Clear Politics, with 8 races still not called.

Uncalled Races Update

Looks like NY-1 all of a sudden goes into the undecided category, with Real Clear Politics this morning showing Bishop vs. Altshuler at 50-50.

The others are (Democrat vs. Republican):

CA-11, McNerney vs. Harmer, 48-47

CA-20, Costa vs. Vidak, 49-51

IL-8, Bean vs. Walsh, 48-49

KY-6, Chandler vs. Barr, 50-50

NY-25, Maffei vs. Buerkle, 51-49

VA-11, Connolly vs. Fimian, 49-49

WA-2, Larsen vs. Koster, 50-50.

So we're back to 8, not 7, uncalled. Republicans still have 64 pickups.

Jesse Kelly Loses a Heartbreaker in Arizona 8th

See his remarks here.

A third party Libertarian candidate bled off over 10,000 votes to allow the liberal incumbent Democrat Gabrielle Giffords to win by less than 4000 votes. Thanks a lot, pest.

That leaves 7 House races still not called. Republicans still have 64 pickups.

Better luck next time, Marine.

Keith Olbermann Suspended For Donations to Democrats

He who accused Fox of shilling for political causes has been doing it himself, contributing monies to three Democrats: Conway, Grijalva and Giffords.

The Democrat Way: Projecting failings onto others which are more true of oneself, aka hypocrisy, the pot calling the kettle black, and liberal projection syndrome.

Lovely.

CNN has the story here.

A Housing Lotto?

Reuven Brenner for Forbes thinks a lottery might be the solution to the foreclosure and shadow inventory mess. He got the idea from Thomas Jefferson:

Shortly before Thomas Jefferson died, he tried to pay debts that amounted to $80,000 by disposing of land he owned through the use of a lottery, a well-established method at the time. He explained the rationale for such financing: "An article of property, insusceptible of division at all, or not without great diminution of its worth, is sometimes of so large value that no purchaser can be found ... The lottery is here a salutary instrument for disposing of it, where men run small risks for a chance of obtaining a high prize."

Go here to read how Brenner thinks it could be made to work.

Republicans Should Invest in Tea Futures

The Washington Examiner weighs in on the breadth and depth of the Republican victory on Tuesday:

Republicans took control of at least 19 additional state legislative bodies Tuesday for a total of 26 in which the party controls both chambers, compared with 21 for Democrats and with three still up for grabs. ... These developments have national implications, especially for redistricting. According to the Republican State Leadership Committee, Republicans now will play a role in redrawing the boundaries of a whopping 314 congressional districts.

Lots more detail here.

Tuesday, In a Nutshell

From the inimitable Pat McIlheran, for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Nothing was so fatal to House Democrats, especially newbies, than to have voted for Obamacare. Dozens fell, including Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton). The one Republican who favored it lost.

Running against it saved the jobs of 11 out of 34 Democrats who had opposed the bill, and a popular Democratic governor won West Virginia's Senate seat only after he reversed to say he'd oppose Obamacare.

In Wisconsin, the Senate race became a referendum after incumbent Russ Feingold stood firm for Obamacare. Victorious challenger Ron Johnson spent the campaign telling how it was the bill's passage that goaded him into running. At every turn, he said he was convinced it is a government takeover that will kill innovation.

He pointed out repeatedly that fear of the plan's costs were depressing the economy.

Johnson won, 52% to 47%.

You'll not want to miss the rest here. 

Why They Lost: House Democrat Casualty Lists for November 2, 2010

In politics it always pays to avoid controversy if you want to survive.

If I'm counting correctly, there are 64 Republican pickups from the Democrats in the House as of this morning over at Real Clear Politics, with 9 races still not called in Arizona (2), California (2), Illinois, Kentucky, New York, Virginia and Washington (Grijalva, Giffords, McNerney, Costa, Bean, Chandler, Maffei, Connolly and Larsen).

In 50 of these 64 races lost by Democrats, incumbents were defending seats, and 33 of those, or 66%, had voted FOR Obamacare in March, despite its unpopularity in the polls: Oberstar [L], Titus [f], Ortiz [L], Kirkpatrick [f], Mitchell [BD], Salazar [BDL], Markey [fBD], Pomeroy [BDL], Rodriguez [L], Hill [BDL], Boyd [BD], Klein, Spratt [L], Perriello [fL], Etheridge [L], Wilson [BDL], Boccieri [fL], Kosmas [f], Grayson [f], Halvorson [f], Foster, Hare, Schauer [f], Shea-Porter, Hall [L], Scott Murphy [BD], Driehaus [fL], Kilroy [f], Carney [BDL], Kanjorski [L], Dahlkemper [fBDL], Pat Murphy [fBD], and Kagen.

The remaining 17 incumbents lost despite voting AGAINST Obamacare: Minnick [fBD], Bright [fBDst], Sandlin [BD], Taylor [BDst], Nye [fBD], Boucher, Space [BDst], Marshall [BDst], Kratovil [fBD], Skelton [st], Childers [BDst], Adler [f], Teague [fst], McMahon [f], Arcuri [BD], Lincoln Davis [BDst] and Edwards.

20 of the 64 who lost were freshmen [marked f], representing 63% of the 32 freshmen elected with Obama in 2008, and 31% of the total.

Of 54 Blue Dogs on the coalition's list in March at the time of the Obamacare vote, 22 were defeated yesterday [marked BD], or 41% of that membership. 3 races were still too close to call: Chandler [st], Costa and Giffords.

Of 21 Stupak Amendment supporters who proved it by voting NO on Obamacare [marked st], 8 still lost yesterday. Of 32 more who proved they didn't really believe in the Stupak Amendment by voting YES on Obamacare [marked L], 16 lost.

The distribution of self-definitions shows that the group most likely to get booted was the fiscally conservative Blue Dogs (22 associations), undoubtedly because the voters saw that despite the self-identification their voting records were anything but fiscally prudent. "Methinks Thou dost protest too much."

Next most likely to get booted were freshmen (20 associations). Inexperience makes you vulnerable by definition. The vast majority of new business fails, which is why spawn are numbered in the millions.

Pro-lifers in name only come next in vulnerability (16 associations). It's best not to lie about matters so serious because you will be found out eventually.

The least vulnerable among these losing Democrats? Those who were pro-life and meant it (8 associations), and those who defined themselves not at all (7 associations).

Nine Years of Housing Inventory Owned by Banks

Which is why Chris Whalen calls the banks unwilling REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). This is a national catastrophe which threatens our very way of life. No one can sell. No one can move.

As reported here by the Wall Street Journal on October 30th:

As of September, [banks] owned nearly 994,000 foreclosed homes, up 21% from a year earlier. The shadow inventory stood at 5.2 million homes, down 7% from a year earlier. Grand total: 107 months of inventory.

And Obama's off on another junket at taxpayer expense, costing an estimated $200 million PER DAY according to widely circulated reports.

Why are Americans putting up with this?

Disinformation Election Headlines at Real Clear Politics Repudiated by Republican Tsunami

Compare Walter Shapiro's "The Democratic Debacle" at Politics Daily today here:

America has seen tidal wave off-year elections before (three, in fact, in the past 16 years). But what was epic about the glub-glub election of 2010 is that even with months of warning most imperiled Democrats could not find high enough ground.

In the House, Republicans gained a minimum of 60 seats, dethroning Nancy Pelosi as House speaker, probably making this the GOP's biggest off-year triumph since (gulp!) 1938 once all the votes are counted.


And these headlines from Real Clear Politics, which admittedly disappeared rather suddenly in early October, for a good belly laugh on this historic day for America:

Saturday, October 9, 2010: Dem: Election Won't Be So Bad After All - Tim Fernholz, American Prospect

Friday, October 1, 2010: Democrats Will Hold the House and Senate - Bob Shrum, The Week

Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010: Why the Generic Ballot May Underestimate Dems - Nate Silver, NY Times

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010: GOP Has Tough Road to Win House - Martin Frost, Politico

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010: Tying GOP to Tea Parties is D's Best Hope - Michael Tomasky, The Guardian

Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010: Don't Forget That the Bailouts Worked - Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek [If they had worked we'd know it and wouldn't need to be reminded. After all, we are paying for it right now . . . and Will. Be. Forever.]

Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010: Landslide Midterm is Hardly Certain - Charles Blow, New York Times [Did we mention a landslide is hardly certain?]

Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010: Landslide Midterm is Hardly Certain - Charles Blow, New York Times

Friday, Sept. 17, 2010: Faustian Deal w/Tea Party Will Cost GOP Dearly - Bob Shrum, The Week [Hahahahahahahaha!]

Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010: David Plouffe: Tea Parties Help Democrats - Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast [Yeah right, when pigs fly in formation]

Wednesday, Sept. 15, 2010: Pelosi: Democrats "Absolutely" Will Retain the House - The Hill [When pigs fly upside down]

Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010: Maybe All Isn't Lost for Democrats - Dick Polman, Philadelphia Inquirer

Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010: Democrats Can Win the House - Ben Crair, The Daily Beast [When pigs fly]

Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010: 10 Things Dems Could Do to Win - Thomas Geoghegan, The Nation [No. 10: Become Republicans]

Friday, Sept. 10, 2010: Dems' Gloom May Be Premature - David Corn, Politics Daily

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010: It's Good to Have Obama on the Campaign Trail - Gene Lyons, Salon

Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010: Dem Strategists Pooh-Pooh the Polls - Dana Milbank, Washington Post

Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010: Democrats Doomed? Not So Fast - Susan Estrich, Creators

In Victory, Representative Justin Amash Already Disappoints

In televised remarks last night thanking his supporters and outgoing Michigan 3rd Congressional District Representative Vern Ehlers, who stood out like a sore thumb in a sea of young faces assembled for the event, Justin Amash made two statements which sounded incredibly tone-deaf to his Republican political base.

He pledged himself to the cause of transforming America and transforming Michigan, and to the cause of bipartisanship. The former has been the clarion call of the Obama led Democrats, which the voters of America soundly rejected yesterday in an historic Tea Party inspired Republican takeover of the US House of Representatives: We don't need no trans-for-ma-tion, they might have been singing. The latter, bipartisanship, is hardly the message being trumpeted by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, whose  radio program's commercial breaks have been saturated with Justin Amash for Congress political ads in recent days. Americans have had quite enough of the (demolition) work being accomplished by a Congress controlled by Democrats and don't want Republicans to join in the destruction, but reverse it.

One can chalk it up to rookie mistakes, but Kent County Michigan voters would do well to prepare themselves for many more such disappointments from Justin Amash, whose kinship to president Obama's ideological habit of mind was revealed by the faux paus. Libertarians and Marxists have more in common than American liberals and conservatives have at issue between them.

From tax policies favoring the nuclear family to support for the defense of the state of Israel, Republicans may all too soon learn that the libertarian and pro-Arab ideas which undergird Amash's thinking can and will lead to some surprising votes in the next Congress. And one can well imagine how Amash may use his pledge to vote NO on bills he has not read as an excuse to avoid difficult votes in the US House. Illinois voters got plenty of that political cowardice from one Barack Hussein Obama during his tenure in their state senate, where he often voted PRESENT to avoid taking politically inexpedient stands. Look what that has got us. Amash's assiduous courting of the support of the fiscally moderate and pro-TARP Vern Ehlers should have already warned voters to regard Amash's incessant appeals to principle and consistency as expressions of politically winning aspirations, not of the reality. But you can fool most of the people most of the time, especially with lots of money from outside the district.

Buyer beware!

The story was reported here:

In his victory speech at Kent County GOP election night headquarters, he said the party should work to bring more Democrats and independents into the party to "transform this state" and "transform this country."

The congressman-elect thanked his predecessor, U.S. Rep. Vern Ehlers, calling him a model of integrity. Ehlers did not seek re-election.

Economic Distress Defines Today's Election

Exit polling results indicate that after two years with complete control of the White House, the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, Democrats have not done much to convince voters that things have appreciably improved:

Preliminary exit poll results underscored the economic distress defining the 2010 election. Eighty-eight percent of voters today said the national economy's in bad shape, nearly as many as the record 92 percent who said so two years ago. Only 14 percent say their own family's financial situation has improved since 2008.

And few see much respite: Compounding the political impact of the long downturn, 86 percent remain worried about the economy's direction in the next year, including half who are "very" worried.

The economy has deeply affected the broader public mood. Sixty-two percent say the country is seriously headed in the wrong direction (a record 74 percent said so in 2008, as the economy fell into the abyss). More broadly, 39 percent expect life for the next generation of Americans to be worse than it is today, compared with 32 percent who say better.

ABC News has much more here.

The Answer: Because He's Going Golfing For The Rest Of His Life For Free

The Question: Why Is Obama So Calm Right Now?

Jonathan Cohn for The New Republic has a different answer, however, here:

"I keep thinking back to that email that circulated in late 2008, when Obama was behind in the polls. It had a picture of him speaking at the convention with the caption 'I’ve got this.' Part of me thinks he still does. And part of me doesn’t."

Meet Nemesis Jonathan, starting today.

QE (Quantitative Easing): How to Bailout Banks by By-Passing Congress

TPC at Pragmatic Capitalism makes a persuasive case that we have government of the banks, by the banks, and for the banks:

[I]f you’re a bad bank with a few trillion dollars in bad mortgage paper you’re delighted if a AAA rated entity [The Federal Reserve] comes in and swaps those assets out with their highly rated paper. This is exactly what the Fed did in 2009 and make no mistake – it was hugely successful in clearing the credit markets and altering the composition of bank balance sheets. This was Mr. Bernanke’s goal after all. He was simply trying to clear the credit markets and improve the banking system and he believed that would ultimately fix the problems in the US economy. Unfortunately, he misdiagnosed a household balance sheet recession as a banking crisis. QE1 provided liquidity in the credit markets and it gave the banks some much needed breathing room. Unfortunately, the impact on the real economy was far more muted.

The author points out that QE II is now necessary because the banks are going to be in trouble again very soon as the next leg down in housing ensues.

Don't miss the rest here.

Tomorrow Is Election Day: Time To Become A . . .

Enshrining Bailouts Into Law: Both Parties Terrified of Upsetting High Finance Status Quo

A reminder from Nicole Gelinas from July why the Dodd-Frank legislation was a failure:

For 25 years, Washington has done everything in its power to subsidize Americans' profligate borrowing habits. Debt became the fuel for economic growth. Washington subsidized the financial industry's borrowing through implicit guarantees against loss.

The feds first started rescuing creditors to "too big to fail" banks in 1984. Since then, it's become clear to lenders -- Wall Street's global bondholders and trading counterparties -- that the government would save them anytime a large financial firm foundered.

Indemnified against losses, bondholders could lend nearly infinitely to Wall Street. Wall Street found creative ways to lend that money right back to the public, through mortgage brokers and credit card marketers.

Some exceptions exist. In September 2008, the feds refused to rescue Lehman Brothers' lenders. But the exceptions have only proven the rule. Today, conventional Washington wisdom is that letting Lehman fail was a catastrophe.

The Dodd-Frank bill is a monument to the status quo. Despite promises that the bill will end bailouts, it enshrines bailouts into law.

Read the whole thing here.

Foreclosure and Securitization Fraud: Conjuring Collateral Documents From Thin Air

Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism writing for the New York Times zeroes in on the fraud which lies at the heart of the mortgage securitization and foreclosure crisis:

Consider a company called Lender Processing Services, which acts as a middleman for mortgage servicers and says it oversees more than half the foreclosures in the United States. To assist foreclosure law firms in its network, a subsidiary of the company offered a menu of services it provided for a fee.

The list showed prices for “creating” — that is, conjuring from thin air — various documents that the trust owning the loan should already have on hand. The firm even offered to create a “collateral file,” which contained all the documents needed to establish ownership of a particular real estate loan. Equipped with a collateral file, you could likely persuade a court that you were entitled to foreclose on a house even if you had never owned the loan.

That there was even a market for such fabricated documents among the law firms involved in foreclosures shows just how hard it is going to be to fix the problems caused by the lapses of the mortgage boom. No one would resort to such dubious behavior if there were an easier remedy.

Read the rest of her excellently presented discussion here.

GDP Q3 2010 at 2%

The Bureau of Economic Analysis has the numbers here. They're sticking with 1.7% for Q2, for now.

Yves Smith of Naked Capitalism: Obama's Lies On Jon Stewart Epitomize His Failure

"I’m so offended by the latest Obama canard, that the financial crisis of 2007-2008 cost less than 1% of GDP, that I barely know where to begin. Not only does this Administration lie on a routine basis, it doesn’t even bother to tell credible lies. And this one came directly from the top, not via minions. It’s not that this misrepresentation is earth-shaking, but that it epitomizes why the Obama Administration is well on its way to being an abject failure."

And that's just the opening paragraph. The rest is not to be missed, here.

Katie Couric Wants a Whiff?

Divine this mood Tinkerbell:

Couric has spent recent weeks in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is touring what she calls “this great unwashed middle of the country” in an effort to divine the mood of the midterms.

Quoted here.

Yea, we can't spell "literally" and "capitol" either, but "NO!" is really easy.

The Official Pace Car for Obamacare

2010 Consumer Contraction Worse Than 2008

Read the data for yourself here at Pragmatic Capitalism, but don't miss the second half of the entry which discusses the genesis and meaning of "the new frugality" and the devastating consequences of the Fed's war on the average American through ZIRP (zero interest rate policy):

On Wall Street and inside the Beltway there are no perceived victims of low interest rates, because low rates result in obscene spreads between the real cost of institutional borrowing (essentially zero) and the real rate of consumer lending (18% to 24% on real-world short term loans). Meanwhile every barrier possible has been raised to prevent those lower rates from propagating to those most in need of longer term relief.

Down with debt! Down with the Fed!

Making a List and Checking it Twice

Ears: They're Not Just For Presidents Anymore

Major Banks Appeal Federal Reserve Disclosure Ruling to Supreme Court

But the Federal Reserve did not join in the appeal, apparently in order to enhance the standing of the banks in the case.

At stake are the details of $2 trillion in Federal Reserve assistance to financial institutions beginning in late 2007 and running through the crisis of 2008, details which the Fed does not want to reveal to protect the institutions which received the dough.

Nevermind it's your money.

Down with the Fed!

Reuters.com has the story here.

US Treasury Still Stonewalling FOIA Request on Citigroup Guarantees

Twenty months and counting, including a non-response response on what securities $300 billion of taxpayer monies guarantee. It's our money! We have a right to know!

And tomorrow it will be the Federal Reserve's turn to continue the stonewalling on a separate FOIA request involving $2 trillion in taxpayer guarantees for financial institutions from two years ago, and we still don't know even though the courts have ordered the Federal Reserve to comply with the requests. When they finally do, how much do you want to bet it will be a similar non-response response?

No wonder the people want the Federal Reserve abolished, and the Treasury to burn down.

Bloomberg, which supports the FOIA requests, has the full story here.

National Debt Up $5 Trillion Under Pelosi, $3.1 Trillion Under Hastert

The woman said in January 2007 that under Democrats there wouldn't be any more deficit spending but pay as you go instead. Yea right.

Under Hastert the deficit increased so much not because of war spending, but because of social spending, particularly on Drugs for Seniors, the largest expansion of government since the 1960s at the time.

You can't trust either party as far as you can throw them.

The story was reported here.

A Libertarian Defends Local Bankers

An analyst of the banks and an increasingly visible commentator on the foreclosure mess, R. Christopher Whalen puts in a good word for local bankers on his blog at Reuters.com:

The bad guys in the housing bust are not the banks who must foreclose on homes, but the politicians in both political parties who used reckless housing policies to further their personal interests. This is a bipartisan national scandal. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Phil Graham, Alan Greenspan and their contemporaries are the authors of our collective misery, not the local banker who must clean up the mess created by government intervention in the housing market.

Read the rest here.

Corporate Cash Really Isn't

Mish has an interesting post which contrasts "corporate cash" with corporate debt. The upshot is the cash is concentrated in just four big financials (Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Bank of America), and overall in about 50 companies. But corporates with cash are also in debt up to their eyeballs, so much so that the debt outweighs the cash by a TARP-size bailout amount:

As you can see, the total cash (in green) for the top 50 companies is $3.71 trillion, which sure sounds like a hell of a lot of cash, and it would be were it not for the debt (in red) totaling $4.45 trillion.

Read it all and see the graphic here.

Promises! Promises!: Hurt US Congress

Story here.

Hurt is running against Tom “If you don't tie our hands, we will keep stealing” Perriello in VA-5. 

Los Angeles Times Says 2010 Obama Message is "Darker" Than 2008's

Seriously. Here.

Obama Doesn't Know His (Foreclosure) Constituency

John Judis for The New Republic almost says he knew FDR and that FDR was a friend of his, but he does say that Obama is no FDR:

The left will support Obama and Democrats. It’s the working-class voters who reluctantly backed Obama in 2008, but have been turned off by the impression that the administration cares more about the banks than about them. ... [FDR] knew who his constituency was: His was the party of the common man. The Obama administration, meanwhile, worries about the people who listen to "Charlie Rose." And they and the Democrats are going to pay a steep price for their inattention to common concerns this November.


Read the full commentary here.

Some Banksters May Yet Go To Jail for Fraud

According to a story today from CNBC.com:

In a number of cases in the past year — sources put it between five and ten — auditors have found enough evidence of fraud by bankers that they referred the cases to criminal investigators within the Treasury Inspector General’s office for a more detailed analysis.

The rest is here.

On the Lesson of the Log Cabin Republicans

"If you let in a bunch of pricks, eventually you'll get screwed."

-- Imam John

14 More Reasons Not To Be a Republican

One More Reason I'll Never Be a Republican Again

Obama Increases National Debt 29% in 22 Months

Eyeball news has the story here.

National debt on Obama Immaculation Day: $10.626 trillion.

National debt yesterday: $13.665 trillion.

That's about $138 billion of new debt every month Obama's been in office.

GDP in 2009 was about $14.26 trillion.

A Voice Crying in the Wilderness Against Chinese Protectionism

James Kostohryz here doesn't say so explicitly, but he's just a little embarrassed by the fact that Americans are so stupid that he needs to write an article explaining how "China's [currency] policies are blatantly and massively protectionist," because it hoards US dollars to prevent equilibration just like 19th century powers hoarded gold against the rules.

Praying for Clean Spirits: That's Not Weird?

Easily as weird as another First Lady who believed in astrology.

"It means all the world to us to know that there are prayer circles out there and people who are keeping the spirits clean around us," First Lady Michelle Obama said on the "Tom Joyner Morning Show" today.

See that here.

Didn't anyone tell her there's an election coming up shortly and to put a sock in it, or at least some more shrimp, crab and lobster to keep that yap occupied until the danger passes? If she keeps this up that Marian Robinson voodoo stuff is going to start sounding plausible!

Serbians Try to Beat Up Marching Poofters in Belgrade

Thomson Reuters has the story here:

"This government [of President Boris Tadic of the Serbian Democratic Party in coalition with the Socialist Party] wants to protect a deviant, wicked and non-Christian minority against the good, law-abiding majority," said Milija, 28, a construction engineer who described himself as a religious nationalist.

Selling Gold? You'll Pay the IRS at 28%, not 15%

Paul Sullivan reminds us here of a little appreciated drawback to investing in gold:

And even if you invest in gold through an E.T.F. — as opposed to buying bullion — it has two significant costs. The first is that it does not pay a dividend, so there will not be a stream of income from it.

Selling it is easy, particularly with an E.T.F., but this leads to the second problem: gold is taxed at a much higher capital-gains rate. The Internal Revenue Service considers it a collectible and taxes gains at a rate of 28 percent, as opposed to the 15 percent capital gains tax for other securities. This means gold has to appreciate more than other securities to make up for a tax rate on gains that is almost double.

Natural Gas Reserves in US Increase 35%, The Most in Forty Years

And supplies in other countries, also from shale fields, are on the increase and are making energy, economic and political independence more certain for many more nations than ever before:

Last year, the “Potential Gas Committee,” a group of specialists linked to the Colorado School of Mines, reported the biggest increase in US natural-gas reserves in its 44-year history, from 1,532 trillion cubic feet (TCF) in 2006 to 2,074 TCF in 2008.

Since the US used approximately 23 TCF in 2008 at a unit cost in excess of $9.00, the vast new reserves point to prices closer to $6.00 going forward and decades of supply. Americans should get serious about committing to compressed natural gas powered automobiles instead of gimmicks like electric and hybrid electric cars in order to bridge the gap to a cleaner energy future.

Read the fascinating details from Peter Foster for The Financial Post here.

Obama: The God That Failed

The Associated Press is reporting today here that unemployment holds high and steady at 9.6%:

Unemployment has now topped 9.5 percent for 14 months in a row, the longest stretch since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Flash back to the beginning of the year when we were in month six of the fourteen:

"And the notion that I would somehow resist doing something that cost half as much but would produce twice as many jobs -- why would I resist that? I wouldn't. I mean, that's my point, is that -- I am not an ideologue. I'm not."

-- BHO, Baltimore Q and A, January 29, 2010

What else but devotion to a failed ideology would work like such a charm and keep unemployment so high for so long?

Obama: 22 Months of Making This Time Different Than All the Rest

"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys ... We are the hope of the father ... We are the hope of the woman ... We are the hope of the future; the answer to the cynics who tell us ... we cannot remake this world as it should be.

[W]hat began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus ... that will heal this nation, repair this world, and make this time different than all the rest."

-- BHO, speech in Chicago, February 5, 2008

Obama The Utopian

"Our union can be perfected."

-- BHO, speech in Chicago, IL, November 4, 2008

Remember This Health Insurance Premiums Whopper?

"If you already have health insurance, the only thing that will change under my plan is that we will lower premiums."

-- Barack Hussein Obama, speech in Canton, Ohio, Monday October 27, 2008

A new survey of companies by Hewitt Associates here projects an 8.8% overall increase in premiums for 2011, 11% to 22% of which is directly caused by ObamaCare.

Obama: "We Are Going To Have Hand-to-Hand Combat"

The Los Angeles Times has the story here:

"They are fired up. They are mobilized. They see an opportunity to take back the House, maybe take back the Senate," he said. "If they're successful in doing that, they've already said they're going to go back to the same policies that were in place during the Bush administration. That means that we are going to have just hand-to-hand combat up here on Capitol Hill."

Suddenly it's OK to use this kind of speech.

Just seven months ago Democrats were accusing Republicans of trying to foment physical violence over the passage of Obamacare because they used this kind of vivid language of "fighting." Within a week the FBI had raided the Hutaree militia in southeast Michigan and other states, accusing them of planning an armed revolt against the government. Google "Republicans threaten violence over healthcare" and see how many million  results you get. It was an hysterical reaction designed to incite hysteria, and perhaps goad someone into making a mistake which would be very politically valuable to the Democrats.

This is the m/o of leftist extremism.

Nat Hentoff Worries We Are Ignoring Obama's Gutting of the Fourth Amendment

Nat Hentoff is justifiably worried that Tea Partiers have ignored the threat posed by Obama to the Fourth Amendment:

Insofar as the tea partiers will continue to be an influence on the Republicans – having already been instrumental this year in re-electing some – I have not, as I've reported, seen much concern among them about our vanishing privacy (though I admire the tea partiers declared devotion to the Constitution).

Perhaps when the drones start scanning you in your own home you'll wake up, but by then it may be too late.

Read Nat Hentoff at The Village Voice here, or The Richmond-Times Dispatch here, or at World Net Daily. His latest on the Fourth Amendment for the latter appeared here.

The Scope of Democrat Gridlock Continues to Grow

The Democrat Party has controlled both the US House and Senate since the 2006 midterm elections, but 420 bills passed by the current House elected in 2008 continue to languish unactioned by the Senate, which the Democrats presently control with an effective majority of 59 seats (which includes two independents) vs. 41 seats held by Republicans.

In February the number of unactioned bills had stood at 290. During the summer it climbed to 372.

Isn't there a pill for impotence?

TheHill.com has the story here.

Daniel Gross: "To Spend Money We Don't Have is Vital"

Ah, no, but for some Americans there is no choice.

Daniel Gross for The New York Times here protests that he's witnessed a "frugality" kick twice in America and has lived to see us shake it off both times. He points to signs which he thinks show that Americans may be doing that once again because total debt is up, and boy is he happy about it.

What he won't say honestly, however, is that total debt continues its inexorable rise because while consumers have in fact cut back, government has stepped into the breach to make up for it. A good little Keynesian that Daniel Gross.

Unfortunately, it's the poorest Americans who are spending more, and it's because they must.

Sara Murray for The Wall Street Journal here points out that for the poorest quintile, spending rose 5.6% in 2009 from 2007 while experiencing at the same time a 5.5% drop in their after-tax income. Food spending alone for this group went up 15.4% in 2009 from 2007, because of rising prices. To make ends meet, they are using up what little savings they have left, and . . . tapping credit!

Meanwhile the middle quintile's spending in 2009 is down 3.5% from 2008, and 3.1% from 2007. Overall, Americans are spending 2.8% less in 2009 than in 2008, including the rich.

Many of these statistics are "firsts". And if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire, another first will be inflicted on the poorest Americans by benevolent, compassionate liberalism: a 50% tax increase when the 10% bracket disappears and reverts to 15%.

In Everlasting Debt

The recent decline was almost completely the result of defaults written off by banks and credit card companies, not of consumers paying down their debts:

Kenneth Rogoff on Gold

Kenneth Rogoff for Project-Syndicate.org here weighs in on the increased interest in gold, adding the not often heard warning that rising interest rates could cause the price to fall as investors invest elsewhere seeking return in the form of cash flows which an American Gold Eagle in your safe simply cannot provide.

He also notes that the long-term inflation adjusted price lags current gold prices:

At $1,300, today’s price is probably more than double very long-term, inflation-adjusted, average gold prices.

Adjusting the price of gold for inflation from its price in 1913 to 2009 would put gold at $462 the ounce last year, so at $1,300 an ounce the price is 2.8 times that already, and climbing.

Are ya feeling lucky? Well are ya?

On Suffering Women's Suffrage

In a dull stream, which moving slow,
You hardly see the current flow;
When a small breeze obstructs the course,
It whirls about for want of force,
And in its narrow circle gathers
Nothing but chaff, and straws, and feathers:

The current of a female mind stops thus,
and turns with ev'ry wind;
Thus whirling round, together draws
Fools, fops, and rakes, for chaff and straws.

-- Jonathan Swift, 1713