The Benefits of Opaque Transparency

The current POTUS promised transparency in his administration. The blinds would be open to whoever wished to peer in the window. Bills would be posted online for 5 days prior to signature, policy meetings would be open, and the kangaroo courts would be televised as the enemies of the revolution were tried and denounced. I digress.

Chrysler has been taken over by the Democrats in Government. Hundreds of dealerships were summarily closed. No one can explain the closure process and the White House disclaims any involvement even though the administration appointed a 'Car Czar,' the Pres personally derided bondholders for not taking his deal, and the White House pressured the bankruptcy court to fast-track the Chrysler reorganization.

Some people are digging into the closure results based upon a political analysis. The results are telling. I hope the assertions are unfounded.

More Tax News

Revenue to the IRS plunged by 34% in April when turnover is compared year to year. We all know that the economy is suffering, so tax revenues will naturally fall. But, the big and never reported story is the main reason for the decline. The US has tied its revenue cart to the super-wealthy. I have banged this drum many times in the past, but as the Rev J Wright likes to say, "America's chickens are coming home to roost."

The redistributionist tax code of the USA is manageable in the good times. We take 40% from the top 1% and distribute it to the bottom 45% through tax credits and services. The problem occurs when companies lose money and capital gains turn into capital losses. Many of the top 1% are small business owners who pay taxes based on their company's income. No income, no taxes! Yet the government keeps spending (or in this case increases spending!). When 40% of the revenue is tied to a very small group, you court disaster.

Bigotry on Display

“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,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees. (NYTIMES 5/15/09)

Obama has made his choice, and one need not twist sentences and deconstruct 'code words' to know this woman is a bigot. Simply read the above quote. This stuff really frustrates me. This justice says the white men (the hated enemy of progressive academia, politics, and religion) do not have rich experiences and therefore cannot reach better [more just] decisions than a Latina woman. This is hate speech by the progressives own definition of the term with one major exception, the target is acceptably hated. Good grief, one hundred years ago, these same vacuous arguments were being made to limit women's suffrage.

Can someone please explain to me why this is an acceptable ideology for a Supreme? This is not a joke at some roast where stupidity is de rigueur. This is not some off-colour comment made at a dinner to get under someones skin. This is a speech made at a Law School and therefore is representative of judicial policy.

Justice Sotomayor will not make a good justice precisely because she elevates her race, class, and gender above everyone else. I reject her Balkanized philosophy as it has no place in the American experience. I condemn her racism as the tool of thoughtless bullies represented by the likes of Bull Connor and George Wallace. I condemn her stereotyping of a people-group for many a tyrant has used this tactic to justify oppression.

UN Decisive Action

On Monday, N Korea detonated its second nuclear weapon in a test designed to show the world that starvation is no inhibitor of tyranny. Taking counsel from Barry O! who called for action from the international community, the UN quickly convened to take up two resolutions: 1. To soundly condemn N Korean actions and 2. To forget the whole thing happened by Tuesday because they need to quickly return to controlling the global climate and coddling other, less-bad dictators.

Because the recent N Korean violation has triggered "a firm response" reaction from the UN, the stationary used to write the letter of condemnation will have the facsimile of a clinched fist as the UN's official signature. They really, really, really mean it this time! Take that Dear Leader (Kim not O!).

Meanwhile, the NY Time, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC and others all ran a reprise of Barry O's! great foreign policy victory over 4 teenage boys, I mean pirates, off the Horn of Africa.

Social Welfare and the Environment

Europe, the model for social welfare government programs, has a problem. In order to pay for the lavish benefits offered to citizens, there must be enough people paying taxes into the treasury. The problem occurs as spending rises and more jobs must be created to pay more taxes which means more immigration, larger cities, and dreaded encroachment. Europe is facing a shrinking animal habitat. So, once again we see progressive left-wing ideas at odds with a sustainable environment.

A Question

I have been trying to determine how the word 'injustice' is defined particularly the far left progressive definition. In my reading and listening to 'social justice' types, what I think of as personal responsibility, the far left progressives define as a traditional, systemic, and willful oppression of 'fill in the blank with your special interest'. Specifically, the progressives see the idea of personal responsibility as a bludgeon used by the powerful and integrated into all of society's systems to keep people down. Broadly put, if I make a mess, then it is unjust to assume I will suffer the mess because the traditional, systemic, and willful oppression of society is mostly responsible for my mess and therefore must be made to pay to clean that mess and afterwords be torn down so the mess never happens again. Am I crazy to think this?

More Canadian Fallout

So Canada, bad ole Bush is gone and with him American hubris and hegemony. You were told not to believe the 'rumours' about Obama limiting trade between our two countries. You got your favoured candidate and guess what, he meant what he said about limiting trade. I wish I was there to hear the Toronto chatter about this latest outrage. Most of all, I want to hear how this is all being blamed on Bush and neocons.

Fitzgeralding

I want to make up a new word. It is based on an experiment run by a university student. Having read the story, I propose a few definitions.

Fitzgerald v. - Purposely planting bogus information expecting the media to believe it. This works best with issues the media find tedious and wish to do as little as possible fact-checking or, as in the case of Sara Palin, an issue that the media is sympathetic towards and will spill much ink about before any fact-checking will discover the error (think troopergate, Baby Triggate, wardrobegate, & c).

Sentence usage: "We'll be fitzgeralding the new GOP candidate this weekend using the standard 'he's a white racist line'", J Garofalo said. While at a Monday press conference, Times reporter Libby Rall asked, "How do you explain your racism?" GOP candidate thinks, "Oh boy, I've been fitzgeralded."

Oh Goody!

The current administration has cut 0.5% of the budget deficit in the now infamous laser-like-specific-targeting-air-strike-precision budgeting process O! promised during his campaign. Too bad the spending increases were not as well thought out! What a joke, Rome is burning while the Congress and Pres figure out ways to pour gas on the flames.

Don't expect some partisan rhetoric from this writer! This all started under the Republicans and Bush. The government gives prescription drugs to the wealthiest class in the country. Meanwhile the busboy at Denny's is being fined 3.75% of his gross pay in order to pay for that giveaway to the rich. Bush and the Republicans also gave us the Dept of Homeland Buffoonery, placing tens of thousands of new employees on the government payrolls. In the previous eight years, the federal government decided to increase its control over the local school systems by funding a huge centrally-planned bureaucratic nightmare that the liberals use as a bludgeon every election cycle saying, "Schools are underfunded, schools are underfunded, republicans hate kids because schools are underfunded." Meanwhile, the teacher's unions strangle the life out of the school systems while demanding that kids be forced to attend crappy schools so they can get their federal funding all the while screaming, "Schools are underfunded." And the vicious cycle starts all over again.

But wait, there's more! The repubs and Bush threw in huge farm subsidies and every spending bill had thousands of earmarks attached. Every budget was larger than the previous year's because we can't live without the new and shiny government spending program. When did we trade reason for madness?

Update:
The Federal Bond Auction did not go well today. That means the USA's deficit spending will be more expensive in the future AND it will take more capital out of the productive sector in favor of the non-productive sector.

I Love the Onion

Check out this video:

No Press Bias...He's Just New and Shiny!

This is getting ridiculous. The press poodles so desperately want to be called on the master's lap.