Last 2 weeks of News

I have been MIA the last two weeks, to much work and to do at home in the nice Spring weather to spend time on the computer.

1) California Supreme court rules Prop 8 is a “legal” amendment but stating the only the term marriage is what was made illegal for same sex couples in California. This is a ruling I actual agree with. Marriage is a religious term and should be taken totally out of the Governments hands. The government should create a mutual support contract to be filed with a government agency to give the “marriage rights” to any two people who want to enter such a relationship. Also a dissolution of the mutual support contract form and process would be needed. No need for lawyers or courts. Just a notarized form.
A good legal analysis can be found here.

2) Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, A normal far left wing hack job who thinks that they no better than anyone else what is “good” and “just” for all without any regard for the actual law.

3) Government Motors is now bankrupt. Big shock here, a poorly managed company for the last 30 years that has a huge union presence so short and long term costs can’t be controlled. To bad it will result in a motor company which is fascist in nature, supposedly privately owned by run by the government.

4) Obama stumping for his health care plans passage this summer before the bill is even written. The plan is here but there are no specifics. Normal politics, talk, give speech, no substance and rush through a plan in the darkness of night that nobody can read or comprehend since a true debate of the bill will result in it being something a vast majority of US citizen’s do not want.

5) North Korea leaves the peace Armistice, blows up a nuclear weapon and tests some long range missiles, the US response, maybe we can get a harsher worded letter to be considered at the UN but no passed. While this is going on make statements that this is not tolerable and North Korea is a rogue state, yada yada yada, nothing changed in 20 years on this front.

Searching for a silver lining but do not see anywhere that people are being told to be responsible for themselves and live with the consequences of poor decision making. Another couple of weeks on the road to fascism.

Maybe Obama Finally gets it

Obama Says U.S. Long-Term Debt Load ‘Unsustainable’

May 14 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.

“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”

Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”
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Us conservatives have been railing against government spending for many, many years and have been saying it is not long term sustainable and will cause huge inflation and high interest rates.

We will see if he actually does cut government costs significantly (25-50%) or is another lip service politician which says one thing and does another, like add a few trillion more in government spending for universal health insurance for the 3 or 4 million American citizens which do not have insurance for the long term.

Adding the 12 to 15 million uninsured illegal immigrants will bankrupt any government system. The other 12 to 15 million which are already eligible for government insurance (SCHIP or MEDICAID) and do not use those programs. That is 25 to 30 million of the 45 million the Single Payer Health insurance people talk about, then there are 10 million transient people (between insurance coverage) and 5 to 10 million who do not choose to buy health insurance.

Effects of Stimulus Plan

1) As part of California’s attempt to balance its budget earlier this year there was an agreement to reduce some union labor rates that work for the government. Now the federal government (Obama administration) is telling California that unless it recedes the wage cuts, California will loose $6.8 Billion dollars in federal stimulus plan money.
California Officials Question Union’s Role in Federal Stimulus Ruling
Lawmaker angry over federal stimulus money decision

2) Spending the U.S. stimulus: states can’t afford it

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – One of the greatest challenges U.S. states face in spending federal stimulus money is funding the burst in bureaucracy that accompanies the funds, a government watchdog said on Thursday, as the Obama administration pledged to give states more help.

Revenue has been dropping in most U.S. states for a year, and many governments have cut staff. But the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act flooded states with money for programs and required them to keep the public and federal government apprised of their spending, all of which requires more workers, said the Government Accountability Office.

“Due to fiscal constraints, many states reported significant declines in the number of oversight staff — limiting their ability to ensure proper implementation and management of Recovery Act funds,” the GAO’s nearly 300-page report on the stimulus plan said.
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3) STIMULUS WATCH: Jobs, but not where needed most

WASHINGTON – The billions in transportation stimulus dollars that President Barack Obama promoted as a way to create jobs shortchange counties that need the work the most, an Associated Press analysis has found.

The AP’s review of more than 5,500 planned transportation projects nationwide is the most complete picture available of where states plan to spend the first wave of highway money. It reveals that states are planning to spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment than in communities with the highest. The Transportation Department said it will attempt to replicate the AP’s analysis as it continues pressing states to dole out money fairly.
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Results of the stimulus plan, direct political payback to unions that supported the Obama campaign, creating jobs where there is low unemployment and states can’t spend the money due to lack of resources.

As usual, the government is trying to help and puts resources in the wrong spots and the controls decisions which have nothing to do with the original area of concern.

Yup, just the new business as usual from the hopeychange administration.

Worst Supreme Court Decision Ever

A case nobody has probably ever heard of is one of the most influential to date and controls more of Americans live than anyone can image.

Wickard v. Filburn
link to Wikipedia
link to Conservapedia

This case gives the federal government the ability to regulate someones activity to engage in a act which has no commercial value because it may indirectly influence the commercial activity somewhere else.

I know that sounds far fetched but it is true.

From wikipedia

Roscoe Filburn was a farmer who produced wheat in excess of the amount permitted. Filburn however, argued that because the excess wheat was produced for his private consumption on his own farm, it never entered commerce at all, much less interstate commerce, and therefore was not a proper subject of federal regulation under the Commerce Clause.

[edit] Amount of wheat at issue

In July 1940, pursuant to the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, Filburn’s 1941 allotment was established at 11.1 acres (45,000 m2) and a normal yield of 20.1 bushels of wheat per acre. Filburn was given notice of the allotment in July 1940 before the Fall planting of his 1941 crop of wheat, and again in July 1941, before it was harvested. Despite these notices Filburn planted 23 acres (93,000 m2) and harvested 239 bushels from his 11.9 acres (48,000 m2) of excess area.[1]

……..

The Court’s decision

The intended rationale of the Agricultural Adjustment Act was to stabilize the price of wheat on the national market. The federal government has the power to regulate interstate commerce through the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution. In Filburn the Court unanimously reasoned that the power to regulate the price at which commerce occurs was inherent in the power to regulate commerce.

Filburn argued that since the excess wheat he produced was intended solely for home consumption it could not be regulated through the interstate Commerce Clause. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, reasoning that if Filburn had not used home-grown wheat he would have had to buy wheat on the open market. This effect on interstate commerce, the Court reasoned, may not be substantial from the actions of Filburn alone but through the cumulative actions of thousands of other farmers just like Filburn its effect would certainly become substantial. Therefore Congress could regulate wholly intrastate, non-commercial activity if such activity, viewed in the aggregate, would have a substantial effect on interstate commerce, even if the individual effects are trivial.

This court case precedent will be the centerpiece in the argument between states rights with the Montana and Utah laws on gun rights and commerce recently passed.

An overturning of this case would/could dramatically change how the Federal Government works and put restrictions on the federal government. Anyone who wants a smaller federal government needs to hope that the Supreme court takes up a case which will allow this to be precedent to be overturned. This is more important than any other issue, it if for the continuing existence of states and personal liberty.

HR 1913 – Hate Crime – Perceived intent added to offenses

Text of H.R. 1913: Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009

Another redundant unnecessary feel good law passed in the house by democrats that will let the justice department have someone put on trial because a politically appointed lawyer (prosecutor) perceives that the person on trial for committing a crime may have thought something before or during the committing of a crime.

Some excerpts from the law

(1)OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, OR NATIONAL ORIGIN- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerous weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, or national origin of any person–
………………..
(2)OFFENSES INVOLVING ACTUAL OR PERCEIVED RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY, OR DISABILITY-
‘(A) IN GENERAL- Whoever, whether or not acting under color of law, in any circumstance described in subparagraph (B), willfully causes bodily injury to any person or, through the use of fire, a firearm, a dangerouse weapon, or an explosive or incendiary device, attempts to cause bodily injury to any person, because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person–

I am pretty sure is is already against the law for anyone to burn, shot, beat, stab or blow up someone else in America. It should not matter if any perceived prejudice is present just that one individual (or group) tried to harm or succeeding in harming another individual.

Passage of this bill and signing into law will make any crime a hate crime because one can now be prosecuted on the perception of a prejudice.

Under this law any crime in which the attacker can be categorized as different is some way from the victim is now a hate crime.

So much for equal protection under the law, one is only equal to one that the government classifies as the same not everyone. This is a tragedy and a shame that the punishment for all crime is not the same regardless of government classification for the perpetrator and the victim. Everyone will now be unequal under the law.

This is the “thought” police at work. Bring on Big Brother, it is 1984 Mr Orwell.

Economy is OK if the news is NOT AS BAD AS EXPECTED

Recent news which is said to be good since it is not as bad as predicted.

Fed’s Bank Results ‘Reassuring,’ Show No Insolvency

…….
Federal Reserve stress tests on the 19 biggest lenders show Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. together require about $54 billion, said people familiar with the conclusions.
…….
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday suggested that the Obama
administration may seek management changes at some banks. Officials will want to “ensure that going forward they felt that the management was in place to remedy the situation and ensure long-term viability without continued government assistance,” he said.

Bank of America Chief Executive Officer Kenneth D. Lewis, 62, was ousted as chairman on April 29 ……….

Jobs Report Giving Investors Mixed Picture On US Economy

The pace of layoffs slowed in April when employers cut 539,000 jobs, the fewest in six months. But the unemployment rate climbed to 8.9 percent,………………..

Job losses in February and March turned out to be deeper, according to revised figures. Employers cut 681,000 positions in February, 30,000 more than previously reported.
They cut 699,000 jobs in March, more than the 663,000 first reported. The deepest job cuts of the recession —741,000 came in January.

Jobs: A little less bleak

……………
Wachovia senior economist Mark Vitner and Gilliam both say they’re worried about the impact on jobs in coming reports from the bankruptcy at Chrysler, which will result in a 30-to-60 day shutdown at all of its plants, and the possible bankruptcy at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500). The loss of jobs — not just at those companies but at their dealers and suppliers — will be substantial.

And Vitner said that while Wachovia is projecting that there will be economic growth by the fourth quarter of this year, it’s projecting that unemployment will continue to rise into 2010, topping out at 10.8% in April of that year.

“We are moving in the right direction, but the recession is not over, and even when it’s over that’s not an end of the tough times,” said Vitner.

Wow a bank stress test with an 8.4% unemployment shows the banks will be OK, current unemployment is 8.9% and expected to exceed 10% in the next year.

I wonder if a new stress test will be needed so that the federal government can take over the banks.

GM & Chrysler Bankruptcy

G.M., Leaking Cash, Faces Bigger Chance of Bankruptcy

Even after receiving $15.4 billion in federal loans, General Motors is once again on the brink of financial collapse.

The automaker’s first-quarter earnings released Thursday showed that G.M. was losing more money and sales than it was in late December, when the government began its bailout…………..

This is occurring as Chrysler is in Bankruptcy

Chrysler Files to Seek Bankruptcy Protection

President Obama forced Chrysler into federal bankruptcy protection on Thursday so it could pursue a lifesaving alliance with the Italian automaker Fiat, in yet another extraordinary intervention into private industry by the federal government.
Flanked by his automobile task force of cabinet secretaries and business advisers in the White House’s grand entranceway, Mr. Obama announced a plan that would allow the United Automobile Workers, through their retirement plan, to take control of Chrysler, with Fiat and the United States as junior partners. The government would lend about $8 billion more to the company, on top of the $4 billion it had already provided……

If this is the good things that comes out of companies being to big to fail and then being supported by a federal government which is to big to fail.

This just proves that the US federal government is to bg and needs to be dismantled and let the states try to run things since the feds have screwed things up so badly.

1st 100 Days & the future failure of America

I thought after the 1st 50 days that things could only get better, lots of new people making new people mistakes, these people really have pride in America just not reacting to well to the new power and environment.

It has just gotten worse except for the distraction game, the Obama administration has gotten very, very good at distraction while the real agenda of the government take over of a majority of American business marches forward.

Some of the highlights/lowlights
1) The American Apology tour through Europe. I thought only look at how important I am, self-indulgent Hollywood types (Penn, Glover, Bellafonte) and ex-presidents (Carter) went around the world saying America is evil. Now the sitting president is apologizing to the world because American Capitalism over the last century and a half has brought an improved standard of living to a large segment of the world population.

2) Cut 100 million dollars from federal budget, same as a family making $45000 a year taking a $1.22 annual pay cut. I wonder what will be cut in the family budget to make up for the income loss, need to drink water instead of the bottle of soda at today’s lunch. savings achieved, no more cutting needed.

3) Media lapdog to the president – ignores hundreds of thousands of protesters who think that government is overstepping its bounds and government intervention into private society needs to be curtailed.

4) Continue to ignore friends and prop up enemies. (Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea) And listen to them speak while they rant about how evil America is.

5) Politicize the security of America by releasing CIA memos

All of these are a distraction as they push through a universal health insurance and energy cap and trade plan.

Universal health care will result in limiting access, it is the only way to decrease costs is to limit access. See Charles Krauthammer collumn. The government has convinced a majority of the people that the America Health Care industry is broken and can only be “fixed” by the federal government.

The federal government is going to do the same thing with the energy industry under Cap & Trade. Cap & Trade will result in significant 300 to 400% increases in energy prices which will raise the prices for each American household about $3900 dollars more a year. This will result in American’s becoming enraged against energy companies and utilities giving the government the support to price cap and nationalize the energy industry. This will result in less energy for everyone to use.

It is called hidden taxes on business which gives those in power the ability to create a crisis and then solve the crisis by taking more power.

America is on a road to rapid failure and lower standards of living for the good of everyone.

POWER CORRUPTS, ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPT ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!

Why Bank’s should Not have taken Gov’t Money

US to put conditions on Tarp repayment

Strong banks will be allowed to repay bail-out funds they received from the US government but only if such a move passes a test to determine whether it is in the national economic interest, a senior administration official has told the Financial Times.
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The official said former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was right to treat all the banks the same way in late 2008 at the peak of the crisis but it was now necessary to differentiate more between institutions.
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I hope the banks will learn from this, never trust government, they took the government’s money when some did not want it, now that they want to give it back since they never really did much with it to begin with, the government will not take it back until certain tests are passed.

All Businesses, if you want to be independent, do not take government “loans”. The strings will never be gone and if they want the government will take over your business from you. ( New GM CEO ring a bell.)

Now since the public has gotten more vocal about stopping the insane spending, Congress wants to back out. The government solution is not to let the banks figure it out for themselves. The government will just buy the banks by taking over the bank’s stocks and destroy an individuals common stock value.

U.S. may convert banks’ bailouts to equity share

President Obama’s top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation’s banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, according to administration officials.

In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.

Remember, the government will change the rules whenever it wants to keep control.

Stopping this type of government behavior is the real root of the tea parties last weak. The government needs to get out of the way and stop trying to prevent some failures and preventing all from succeeding.

Government to set Salaries?

One had to see this coming.

Take money from the government and you will have no idea what strings will be attached after the fact.

The jealous, take from successful, success is evil attitude of this country is against the principals on which this country was built and the people exposing these beliefs should be ashamed of themselves.

Beyond AIG: A Bill to let Big Government Set Your Salary

But now, in a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved a measure that would, in some key ways, go beyond the most draconian features of the original AIG bill. The new legislation, the “Pay for Performance Act of 2009,” would impose government controls on the pay of all employees — not just top executives — of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would, like the tax measure, be retroactive, changing the terms of compensation agreements already in place. And it would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies.

Not only will the federal government order companies what products to make and sell they are setting the salaries of the employees.

History is repeating itself, I fear we are in 1930 with progressive government activists in charge, today the all think the reason the depression was so bad is that government did not do enough soon enough. Since history is taught so poorly in the US now, everything I have read outside of school history books is that the government action made the economy worse than it would have been.

The number one reason for this is that the government started retro-actively throwing out valid private contracts without due process in a court of law. The resulted in people not believing in the validity of contracts since they were valid until one party of the contract complained to the government who then voided or made obsolete the contract.

Without valid private contracts, there can be no business, therefore a depression.