Update:  Charlie Gasparino Fox Business News reports:

Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, wrote President Obama this morning asking for “all records of communication – including emails, phone logs and meeting records- related to the ShoreBank negotiations that exist between the Administration and representatives of ShoreBank, and executives of the banks involved in the bailout.”

Chicago’s ShoreBank’s motto in their logo?  “Let’s Change the World” I kid you not.  You already know whats coming next don’t you?

Yep, Chicago’s ShoreBank is the poster child bank for the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act is now being warned of being wiped out by the FDIC.  But wait!   The politically connected bank is getting a last minute Robin Hood attempt by none other than Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Bank of America, and Citigroup in an attempt to raise $125 million, except (as good traders that never lose money) the bank heroes are $25 million short.  Gee, why would these banks be so generous all of a sudden?

It is reported that GS Lloyd Blankfein is PERSONALLY making phone calls to raise funds.  PERSONALLY. Not like he is busy with making $100million a day with 63 straight days of money making trades, or dealing with government probes and heat, or anything.  Golly gee Obama and Jan Schakowsky we tried real hard, yes we did.

Shorebank was pimped out by Obama on a trip to Naibrobi when he was in the Senate.  Shorebanks co-founder and President Mary Houghton gave advice to Obama’s mother on small business lending.  The bank was also a contributor to dear leader’s campaign. (gee you’d think an insolvent bank would practice a little fiscal discipline).

Shorebank has a familiar cast of characters and connections to Obama.  It is a small world we live in, isn’t it?   Maybe some day all these coincidences may just cause a few light bulbs(LED or CFL of course) to pop on.

As BigGovernment.com points out, ShoreBank has highlighted a few customers, including Van Jones and his Green For All gig.

https://www.sbk.com/shorebankdirect/customer-stories/van-jones/

There are a slew of connections to Obama administration, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and so on.

Most recently, Mr. Nash served as Hillary Clinton’s deputy campaign manager in her campaign for the Democratic nomination for President. He was formerly vice chairman of ShoreBank Corporation, chairman of ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit and the Detroit Bank Advisory Committee, and chairman of the board for ShoreBank Neighborhood Institute and ShoreBank Enterprise Cleveland.

Shorebanks listed locations is also telling:
Chicago
Detroit
Cleveland
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Portland, Oregon
Coastal Oregon & Washington
Washington D.C.

Here is the time line of the birth of the CRA, ShoreBank was the poster child.  We all know how that ended.

The Bank instituted a direct-deposit service for Social Security and other government checks; it installed a new computerized central information system for customer bank accounts.
• At a meeting in Estes Park, Colorado, Ron Grzywinski suggest to a Senate Banking Committee staff member that legislation be introduced to require all banks to invest in their community service areas. 1977
• INDC raised additional capital and obtained authorization from the Federal Reserve Board to establish the City Lands Corp. (now ShoreBank Development) as a for-profit real estate development company, and The Neighborhood Institute (now called ShoreBank Neighborhood Institute, and soon to become ShoreBank Enterprise) as a non-profit organization providing tenant advocacy, education, job training and employee placement services.
• Ron Grzywinski testifies before Congress in favor of the Community Reinvestment Act.

• Ron Grzywinski accompanied President Bill Clinton in the Rose Garden as the President signed the Community Development Financial Institutions Act.

What is ironic, is the last entry of ShoreBank’s history timeline:

Hyde Park resident Barack Obama was elected 44th president of the United States; First Lady Michelle Obama grew up in the South Shore neighborhood.  Former Southern Development board member Hillary Clinton is designated as Secretary of State in the new administration.

Rep Jan Schakowsky along with Dick Durbin (DEMOCRAT) had suggested earlier in the year that the bank get the first state backed bailout in US history.

The state of Illinois is considering an unprecedented bailout of ShoreBank, the struggling South Side bank acclaimed for its commitment to lending in low-income neighborhoods.

Prodded by the likes of U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Finance Authority officials met earlier this month with ShoreBank executives to discuss raising tens of millions for the bank through an IFA bond offering.

When that didn’t work out, Rep Schakowsky (DEMOCRAT) started to shake down Goldman Sachs and cronies:

Rep. Schakowsky played her own part in the shakedown. She chewed out Goldman Sachs executives in her office, and then boasted about it at the Huffington Post. She warned them:

“You are looking at one of the 57 members who voted against the repeal of Glass-Stiegel [sic] in 1999.”

Regardless of their views of the Glass-Steagall Act, the executives at Goldman Sachs got a first-hard lesson in Chicago-style management.By bailing out ShoreBank, Goldman Sachs and the other banks may hope to appease Rep. Schakowsky and the administration–and to meet their obligations under the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977, a law that set the stage for the sub-prime crisis. Wall Street is learning that complying with the CRA does not mean actually helping working families, but bailing out politically-favored institutions like ShoreBank.

BigGovernment.com

Of course Schakowsky (DEMOCRAT) IL was ok with other community banks failing in her own district.

There is a great writeup about all the characters at the Central IL 9/12 project.

http://centralillinois912project.com/?p=3814

Oh, and did ya know that ShoreBank got $35,000,000 in stimulus money?   The story just wouldn’t be complete without some double dipping.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34225

Obama’s Chicago left hand gal Valerie Jarrett isn’t to be left out either.

ShoreBank has ties to the Obama administration; Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s senior adviser and a fixture in Chicago politics (as was the president), served on the board of Chicago Metropolis 2020, a civic organization which was run by Adele Simmons, a director at ShoreBank.

Fox’s Charlie Gasparino reports on political pressure on GS and the banks to cough up some funds:

“The banks tell me there is a degree of political pressure to give money but I think at this point they are tapped out. They just had the meeting an hour ago, they had $100 million raised, they are $25 million short. And what they are telling me is they are not giving any more money.”

“But I will tell you this, the banks themselves are telling me that there is a degree of political pressure being applied by the Obama administration to bail this out…so we could get a last minute bailout…This is a very politically connected bank.”

Ah, a new era in ethics.  I wonder if this is the change America voted for?

The verdict should be in soon.  Will ShoreBank get the FDIC axe or will the Obama Administration pressure the evil banks to bail out Obama’s home pet bank?

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has been critical of Arizona’s new immigration law, said Thursday he hasn’t yet read the law and is going by what he’s read in newspapers or seen on television.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/13/holder-hasnt-read-ariz-law-he-criticized/

It’s been almost a month since the law was signed.  The law is less than 20 pages.   The law backs up existing federal law in the Alien Registration Act in 1940.  Eric Holder admits he hasn’t read the AZ law.  He is going by what he has read or what he watches?   Are you F%^&*ing kidding me?

Yet he can flap his gums and make predictions into the future of what might happen, a modern day civil rights Nostradamus?  Or just another Obama flunkee?  Maybe Holder has dyslexia and can’t read?  Is he blind?  Can’t he have one of his staffers read the law to him?

Maybe Holder is not tech savvy like Obama and can’t find it on the internets?   Well here is a link.  Watch out, all less than 20 pages might overload your computer thingy.

http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf

“I’ve just expressed concerns on the basis of what I’ve heard about the law. But I’m not in a position to say at this point, not having read the law, not having had the chance to interact with people are doing the review, exactly what my position is,” Mr. Holder told the House Judiciary Committee.

So the president flaps his gums as well as his attorney general and they have not read the law?  How long does it take for your staff to review less than 20 pages?   Geez, the legal eagles in CONgress can whip out THOUSANDS of pages of sausage in mere days, let alone, READ less than 20 pages.

Jake Tapper recently schooled Holder, exposing him on his idiocy of forming opinions on what “could” happen, and not about the legality.   When Tapper confronts the ever prepared AG, Holder even admits the law is not racist.  Repeat, Holder admits the law is NOT racist.  But don’t let that stop the administration.  The constitution is just an impediment and living documents can be changed to suit the situation.

Holder is worried about “perception”.  Perception?  Gee Holder, didn’t think you worried about perception when wanting to try terrorists in NYC?

TAPPER:  You’ve said we’re a nation of cowards because we don’t talk
freely and openly about race.  So in that spirit, let me give it a
shot.  Do you think the Arizona immigration law is racist?

HOLDER:  Well, I don’t think it’s necessarily a good idea.  I mean,
I think we have to understand that the immigration problem that we have,
illegal immigration problem that we have, is a national one, and a
state-by-state solution to it is not the way in which we ought to go.

TAPPER:  But your issue with it is not that it’s state-by-state.
Your issue with it is that there are concerns that there might be racial
profiling that takes place, right?

HOLDER:  That is certainly one of the concerns that you have, that
you’ll end up in a situation where people are racially profiled, and
that could lead to a wedge drawn between certain communities and law
enforcement, which leads to the problem of people in those communities
not willing to interact with people in law enforcement, not willing to
share information, not willing to be witnesses where law enforcement
needs them.  I think you have to think about the collateral consequences
of such a law, understanding the frustration that people feel in
Arizona.  IT’s one of the reasons why I think we have to have a national
solution to this immigration problem.

TAPPER:  Do you think it’s racist?

HOLDER:  I don’t think it’s racist in its motivation.  But I think
the concern I have is how it will be perceived and how it perhaps could
be enacted, how it could be carried out.  I think we could potentially
get on a slippery slope where people will be picked on because of how
they look as opposed to what they have done, and that is I think
something that we have to try to avoid at all costs.

Holder says it shouldn’t be up to the states and that illegal immigration is a national one.   DING! He gets one right!

Holder thinks “we have to have a national solution to the immigration problem”   Freaking brilliant?  Guess what?  We already DO!  It is just not enforced.  Secondly, AZ law is rooted in the National law.

Look at how our top legal mind uses   “Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda, slippery slope” in the above exchange.

Oh yeah, did I mention Holder admitted he has not read the sub 20 page law yet?

Video of this exchange with Tapper: (how long will Tapper be kept by ABC, or how long can Tapper stomach working at ABC?)

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/holder-az-immigration-law-not-racist.html

Not sure how much farther we can kick the can down the road.  The current administration has continued the trend, if not even more vertical.  Of course blaming the last administration.

The spike in 33 was not even from creation of tremendous debt as it was from a rapid decline in the denominator of GDP.   Look at our parabolic run in recent times, and that is without a rapid decline in GDP.  Right now we benefit by comparative advantage by being a little stronger than those across the pond.   Pointing fingers “over there” only buy us a little more time but the correction will be even more austere.  Look at the credit crunch crisis we had a year and a half ago.  That was our Greek warning, that was our riot.   Yet we have done nothing but extend and pretend.   We didn’t get any positive change, in fact, much much worse change w/ growing entitlements.

Couple that with the baby boomers who were in their prime earning years to drive the economy. That has ended and the shift is now boomers will be net sellers to draw down their equity in retirement. It’ll be tough to grow GDP and grow our way out of the rapid debt accumulation.

We are brewing a perfect storm for some serious can kick back in the next few years if we don’t impose our own fiscally responsible measures.   Cracks are starting to appear overseas in Greece(soon to be others) and even here at home with a nearly 1000 pt plunge.  Our problems aren’t fat finger trades but rather fat finger bailouts and fat finger spending.

Government has already proved how it will respond by extend and pretend, ignoring the warning signs of not implementing financial discipline.   It’s reported dear leader has been lecturing European heads of state on these matters.  What a joke.    America is waking up and hopefully we can re-tool the Republican party with real conservatives who can implement the hard choices of smaller government.

I believe the success of the conservative movement is a foundation of state/individual right vs. big government.  Government sets us up to fail, then points fingers, grabs more power, and institutes even more regulation.

Conservative leaders are missing the opportunity to tie all the happenings these days (offshore drilling, financial debacle, illegal immigration etc..) to this central message.  It’s all related.

CROWLEY: And would you stop any idea of leasing areas, now, for offshore drilling or any building until we find out?

RUBIO: Well, I think it’s premature to make statements like that. I will say, however, that I hope the inquiry will be taken seriously. I’m sure that it will. We’re going to wait for all that to happen before we, you know, make hard-edged pronouncements on what the future should be with regards to this.

I hope Rubio isn’t starting to waffle here.  Someone please tell Rubio(and all other conservatives) his message should be,  as Vladimir pointed out in a recent entry, “I am for drilling in safer places.   Why is the federal government roping off all the safer drilling areas like on land, and shallower shelf drilling?    If the federal govt would quit forcing private companies to drill in deep places which are riskier this would have never happened.  ”   Drilling in those deep areas should be one of the last options, but government forces the oil industry’s hand.

This is a prime opportunity for conservatives to highlight the danger imposed by federal government.  Expose the federal government forcing companies to take higher unnecessary risk and then turning around and blaming them.

Look at the financial breakdown, federal government was key in driving subprime loans in the name of equality and then when things go very wrong they demonize the other players.  Not that there weren’t other players to blame, but the government always gets off the hook.

Look at the illegal immigration situation.  The federal government doesn’t do its job its already paid to do on the border while taking more of our tax money.  It’s like a cop being paid to work the front door at a bar carding patrons then turning around and writing the establishment a ticket for serving minors!

Not to mention the prime opportunity to call out the left wing flapping about their sanctuary cities.  They should be challenged and called out to take in illegals they claim they want.  Put up or shut up.

A left wing/big government sets up industry to FAIL, then swooping in to take more control and institute even more regulation.This is not just for political gain, but common sense.   Republicans/conservatives are already at a disadvantage battling the propagandist useful idiot media and that gets compounded when we leave the easy opportunities stranded on base.

It’s time to make the utopians running sanctuary cities such as Gavin newsome in sanfran, put up, or shut up. They claim they’ll take all comers. Mayor bloomberg has also jumped on to the bandwagon. If that’s what their city wants, we should give it to them.

I propose that Arizona call out all sanctuary cities to send buses to “rescue” all illegals encountered. If those cities decline, then bus the illegals to sanctuary city halls. These people need to be challenged to walk their talk, or be exposed for the feel good but NIMBY left wing frauds they are.

If they aren’t challenged they become more and more bold, as we found out during the last administration.

Since sanctuary cities are openly welcoming law breakers then clean out the illegals out of the AZ jails too.

Time for the gloves to come off.

From Oct. 1, 2000, through April 20, 2010, Georgia ranked first among U.S. states for the most bank failures, according to FDIC data. Illinois and Florida tied for second.

NEW YORK (AP) – Regulators on Friday shut down seven banks in Illinois, putting the number of U.S. bank failures this year at 57.

Seven banks in IL this week?  What is going on in IL?  and GA?  I understand FL w/ the RE speculation but IL?

Coincidently, one of the IL banks shut down this week was Obama’s buddy Giannoulias’ family bank, who is running for Obama’s seat.   Alexi says he is running to turn around IL’s economy.  LOL.   Your bank goes bust and you want to take over IL’s economy after crying out that the only reason your bank went bust is you didn’t get a bailout from the FEDS!

Broadway Bank was owned by the family of Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat who is running for President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat. The bank was heavy into real estate loans and lost $75 million last year.

“My campaign for the United States Senate goes forward, with a renewed determination to turn Illinois’s economy around and to fix what’s broken in Washington, D.C.,” Giannoulias said.

“Unlike the big Wall Street banks, there was no bailout for my father’s bank,” Giannoulias said, fighting back tears at a news conference at a Chicago hotel. “It is an incredibly sad and heartbreaking day for me and for my family.”

The rats are starting to leave the ship.  Orszag has indicated to a few colleagues that he wants to leave this summer, hmmm before the budget work in the fall.    The writing is on the wall.   This administration is holding on by strings and any news like this could be a trigger for a bigger wave of rats leaving the ship.

Orszag, the numbers guy, knows more than anyone else what kind of mortal danger Obama admin has placed this country.

Obama is said to have been appealing to Peter to stay on.  Obama can’t afford to have a huge chink in his armor expose him.  Timing is critically important because Obama wants to focus on deficit reduction.  Deficit reduction?  You mean tax raises, fees, payola, vig, health care tax?   No wonder we haven’t seen Orszag out in the media, he is probably not much of a liar.

Who in their right mind would leave this “historic”, “transformational” administration?   Unless they knew it was doomed?

The media is already spinning this saying “its normal” for budget directors to leave early, it happened to Bush and Clinton.   Wow, that makes us feel much better.

A few names floated about to succeed Orszag are:

Robert Greenstein CBPP, think tank on how federal budget/tax impacts low income families, worked in Carter administration in food/agriculture

Robert Reischauer-”health policy expert”, former director of CBO(how long before the CBO gets compromised and politicized?)

Gene Sperling-advisor to Geithner, Hillary as SecState and her campaign, and former Pres Clinton,

With the radical track record of this administration, I’m not sure I even want to investigate their backgrounds.

Soon before tax day, could you imagine your accountant quitting you?  Saying he doesn’t want to work on your account?   Trouble is brewing.  The emperor could be finally losing his clothes.

I received this in a forwarded email.  What a simple test to share with family, friends, neighbors, co-workers etc…  When you boil it down to simple terms it becomes very clear for everyone, despite all the Obamao hocus pocus.

******************
If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a liberal doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat..
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don’t like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced.

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative reads this, he’ll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he’s “offended”.

It’d be hilarious to see Obamao read this w/out a hitch from his BamaPrompter.

“…and I’m Ron Burgundy?”

Have a great week everyone.

AP April 4

Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens says he “will surely” retire while President Barack Obama is still in office, giving the president the opportunity to maintain the high court’s ideological balance.

“I will surely do it while he’s still president,” Stevens told The Washington Post.

Can we all stop pretending that SCOTUS is independent of politics?   It’s war, time to gear up for a good fight.   While we are busy saying “Nancy is nice” don’t think that the radical left wouldn’t want to have the entire court all liberals if they could.   Don’t lay down on this one.  Especially since Steven’s was nominated by Gerald Ford.  Gee thanks Justice Stevens.

Stevens said last week that he thought the country had collapsed into troubling political divisions. “There is more polarization than there used to be, and I don’t think that’s a good thing. I definitely don’t.”

Gee, not like you announcing you’ll retire for sure when Obama is in office, no division or partisanship there, eh?

Steven’s made it official today.  Hopefully that is a sign from the high court that Obama is a one term disaster and not an 8 year nightmare for America.

The number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose unexpectedly last week, which a Labor Department economist blamed partly on the Easter holiday and other seasonal factors.

Holy smokes, how many times can you use “unexpectedly” when talking about bad news coming out of this administration.  After a 1000 times or so, “unexepectedly” kinda loses its value.  Gee wouldn’t a holiday keep people busy and delay their filings?  nahhhh.

Labor Department economist said seasonal factors partly affected the report, such as the Easter holiday and celebration of Cesar Chavez Day in California

Who is this Cesar guy and why is he missing with America’s jobs!?    I suggest Obama hide everyones free Easter baskets a little better so they take more time lookin instead of going to the unemployment office.

This is a volatile time when the numbers are moving around quite a bit,” the economist said. “I don’t think there is anything really unusual in the numbers.”

Who is this “unkown admin economist”?    Kinda picture the Unknown Comic.  Too embarrassed to reveal their name when peddling this steaming pile of $%*# insight.

The economist said Easter occurs at a different time each year and this can lead to inaccuracies in the seasonal factors used in Labor Department calculations.

The admin has dispatched a team to figure out to do about July 4 period reporting, since July 4 always lands on, well, July 4th.   But of course July 4 will probably vary on what day of the week it falls.  Whew.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304198004575171620576313354.html?mod=WSJ_Heard_MoreInMarkets#articleTabs%3Darticle

There is a diary about the Obama admin banning private unpaid internships with a variety of commentary and reasoning behind motivations.

One good one is it is a source of new “employment” for the admin to claim that may have not been counted in the past.  Along with continual targeting of the private sector.

This just came across the business news on Bloomberg.  That earned them an invite by Henry “the rat” Waxman.

AT&T already announced a $1Billion charge for rising health care costs due to ObamaCare, as well as similar charges announced by several other companies.

Obamacare, can you hear us now?

CFTC Gold and Silver Hearing Is Old News — Seeking Alpha

I’ve noticed a couple hedge funds have converted their paper ETF gold holdings into physical gold. Greenlight Capital did last year for about $400million worth in their own warehouse, citing storage costs of physical is cheaper than gold fund mgt fees. hmmmm

Anway, from recent CFTC hearings it is revealed that the “physical” gold market can include GLD ETF, London LBMA OTC gold, Comex gold. All paper.

It was also admitted that there is approximately 100X gold paper leverage to every ounce of gold.

In one of the videos the guy testifying said gold banks shorted the market at the time when they were getting many physical gold redemptions. An obvious attempt to keep prices down to prevent any more physical redemptions(manipulation). He later came up with some gobbledy gook saying he misspoke.

Also, something is afoot when exchanges change rules saying they do not have to settle in physical gold but rather cash. Obviously it is similar to fractional reserve banking where they don’t have the entire amount outstanding.

So it sounds like you can have unlimited naked shorting in order to keep prices in check.

Can you say manipulation of physical gold?

This is something to keep an eye on as it strikes to the very integrity of markets, especially in this environment of distrust.

In addition, Sprott Asset Mgt set up a gold bullion fund that must hold nearly all (97%)physical gold. They raised as much as $390million recently and listed as holding only $15million in gold assets.

Those large amounts are the type that central banks buy from the IMF. Recent reports have the IMF announcing that they are selling large quantities of gold either to India or China. Critics say it was only a deception intended on keeping the price of gold in check not to cause a run on real physical gold and blowing up the gold paper market (remember 100X or so).

China said it was willing to buy the entire IMF lot of 13 million ounces the IMF had indicated for sale and would buy the entire 100million ounces in cash. The IMF later sold a chunk to central banks of India, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius in “off market” transactions, probably bookkeeping entries and not physical transfer. More “things that make you go hmmm”

IMF later announced they’d sell another chunk into the market. Sprott announced they had inquired about purchasing a chunk from the IMF but was turned down by the IMF (probably since Sprott wanted physical delivery and not a piece of paper that transferred ownership but bullion still held by IMF)

This is either a grand conspiracy to get every last dollar from regular folks before gold bubble pops (all the gold commercials are getting tiring), OR, we’ll see a bust of the (100X+)paper gold bubble and price of physical gold skyrocket on any nervousness.

I’m gonna have to revisit my brainstorm on raising some money to buying pawn shops up for the gold purchasing engine

There is some interesting reading in the above article and video clips of the CFTC testimony.

18 (5) EXEMPTIONS FROM INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS.

—In the case of an individual who is seeking an exemption certificate under section 1311(d)(4)(H) from any requirement or penalty imposed by section 5000A, the following information:

(A) In the case of an individual seeking exemption based on the individual’s status as a member of an exempt religious sect or division, as a member of a health care sharing ministry, as an Indian, or as an individual eligible for a hardship exemption, such information as the Secretary shall prescribe.

I read something about Muslims wondering if they are exempt from mandatory insurance.  I think the Amish are as they are exempt from SS and medicare.

Anyone know who qualifies according to the above?   Maybe it’s time to start a Constitution religion for exemption on anything we choose that violates our religious grounds?

I’d think any government involvement/payment on abortion would be grounds for nearly any religious exemption, no?  How about equal protection?(ie. Govt picking winners for exemption)

If we look hard enough there has to be tens or hundreds of legitimate ways to chip away at this monstrosity through courts and states rights while we retool the GOP and work on future election victories with real conservatives to hit the reset button.

Many are asking why is the left doing such stupid things?   People ask is the administration that stupid?

Nope, they aren’t stupid, except for the useful idiots.  It is intentional.

Ramming ObaMaoCare, cap and trade, running up the deficit/national debt beyond nosebleed heights just don’t make sense to the average person.  The reason why is Obama is not cut of the same cloth as an average American.

These snippets of the  article sums up Obama and reveals the big picture of what is going on.  I wish every American would read this.  It would clear up the frustration and rightfully scare the hell out of them.  Full article link at the bottom.

Victor Davis HansonNRO August 26, 2009

Obama and ‘Redistributive Change’
Forget the recession and the “uninsured.” Obama has bigger fish to fry.

The first seven months of the Obama administration seemingly make no sense. Why squander public approval by running up astronomical deficits in a time of pre-existing staggering national debt?

Why polarize opponents after promising bipartisan transcendence?

Why create vast new programs when the efficacy of big government is already seen as dubious?

snip..

We can discern this same mandated egalitarianism beneath many of the administration’s recent policy initiatives. Obama is not a pragmatist, as he insisted, nor even a liberal, as charged.

Rather, he is a statist. The president believes that a select group of affluent, highly educated technocrats — cosmopolitan, noble-minded, and properly progressive — supported by a phalanx of whiz-kids fresh out of blue-chip universities with little or no experience in the marketplace, can direct our lives far better than we can ourselves. By “better” I do not mean in a fashion that, measured by disinterested criteria, makes us necessarily wealthier, happier, more productive, or freer.

snip….

That goal is the touchstone that explains the seemingly inexplicable — and explains also why, when Obama is losing independents, conservative Democrats, and moderate Republicans, his anxious base nevertheless keeps pushing him to become even more partisan, more left-wing, angrier, and more in a hurry to rush things through. They understand the unpopularity of the agenda and the brief shelf life of the president’s charm. One term may be enough to establish lasting institutional change.

Scary when you now think of Obama in a couple interviews saying he would be content with one term.  He knows he could inflict enough damage for lasting change in 4 years.  This gives insight of how he governs without the will of the people.

So we move at breakneck speed in order not to miss this rare opportunity when the radical leadership of the Congress and the White House for a brief moment clinch the reins of power. By the time a shell-shocked public wakes up and realizes that the prescribed chemotherapy is far worse than the existing illness, it should be too late to revive the old-style American patient.

Will America wake up in time?  I hear often, “well, he’ll be gone in 2012″.  Will that be too late?

This article in full should be a must read for every American as it sums up Obama quite well to give the big picture.   A good short article link to keep handy for friends and relatives who are just now beginning to wake up to this deception of America.

http://article.nationalreview.com/404120/obama-and-redistributive-change/victor-davis-hanson

Update:  oops, not so fast     Rangel says, “you bet your life” that he is still chairman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Charles Rangel is denying that he’s stepping down as chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Rangel told reporters ”you bet your life” when asked if we was still chairman. He had just emerged from a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to discuss his fate.

Pelosi had no comment.

Rangel saw the writing on the wall being stripped of his position in the near future and gave up chairman spot on ways and means.   He’ll probably “retire” before his next election.

Sander Levin taking over temporarily.

Sounds like the Obama admin is preparing us for a jobless storm coming on Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House economic adviser Larry Summers said on Monday winter blizzards were likely to distort U.S. February jobless figures, which are due to be released on Friday.

"The blizzards that affected much of the country during the last month are likely to distort the statistics. So it’s going to be very important … to look past whatever the next figures are to gauge the underlying trends," Summers said in an interview with CNBC, according to a transcript.

What? Summers isn’t bringing us some sunshine from all that hope and change?  But rather, he tells us to ignore this month because of big bad winter.  Gee wonder what boogeyman it will be next month?  Will they dust off the "blame Bush" theme? Since it hasn’t been used in awhile, like since last week.

MSNBC reports about that "Wicked" winter.   Are we going to have a war on winter now?  Raise taxes on winter?   That evil winter, ruining Al Gore’s global warming plans of demanding one meeeeeeeeeehhhlion dollars.

Wicked winter adds to economy’s woes

Record snowfall leaves winners and losers, could distort jobs data

msnbc.msn.com

Golly gee, that wicked winter didn’t stop those trudging it out to file for benefits at the unemployment office, why would it stop hiring?   Was it so bad in California? AZ? FL? that people were too snowed in and distraught by global warming to hire?

Are you freakin kidding me?  These global warming nuts(don’t let them slither into "climate change" label) now are warning us about a possible bad Friday job report ahead of time and blame it on freakin blizzards?

I guess the blame it on Bush is getting old.  Time to blame it on blizzards.   Oh yeah, and Al gore now comes out of hiding in an op ed telling us the severe cold records is because of global warming.

Is there no shame?  Is there no bottom to the lies?  Is there no low level they will stoop?

Hopefully in 2010 and 2012 we’ll have a great melting down of this snow job of this congressional majority and administration to start a new day of sunshine in America.

Update:

Ahhh, I get it now.   Since the boogey man winter storms were especially harsh and "wicked" in DC (God does have a sense of humor!) and since most of the new jobs created or saved are in DC, technically the administration is right.   A DC snowstorm will have  a devastating effect on jobless claims.

Fritz Henderson is back at GM, for $3,000 an hour

NEW YORK (Fortune) — After resigning as president and CEO of General Motors in December, Fritz Henderson might have gone into hiding or decided to sit out the harsh Michigan winter on a Florida beach.

Instead, here he is popping up again, this time as a consultant to GM on international operations at the very fancy fee of $59,090 a month for 20 hours of work a month. That works out to almost $3,000 an hour for a CEO who was ousted after just eight months on the job.

By Alex Taylor III, senior editorFebruary 23, 2010: 11:58 AM ET

News comes out that Fritz Henderson gets hired as a consultant for Government Motors after he was booted.  Now many times when a company is bought out or more apt, hostile takeover, key execs get consulting contract for a couple reasons:

To provide good transition period helping out but normally it is to enforce non-competes and keep former execs in check.

Why wouldn’t this have happened as soon as Fritz was canned?

The timing of now bringing Fritz back into the fold has only two reasons, both exposing GovtMotors either acting stupidly or buying off Fritz’ silence with hush money.

So either CEO Obama of GovtMotors made a poor mistake letting Fritz go, forgoing his business knowledge, especially international markets, OR it was to tie up Fritz from coming public on what really happened behind the scenes. 

Coming from Elizabeth Warren Feb report of a congressional oversight panel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBbsx56cVrI

Nearly 3000 banks classified as having high weights of commercial real estate loans.

The COP says community banks, rather than large Wall Street institutions, face the greatest risk of insolvency due to mounting commercial real estate loan losses.

Forecasts project that banks will suffer their worst losses well after 2010, and well after Treasury’s bailout authority expires under TARP, the panel said.

“The banks that are on the front lines of small-business lending are about to get hit by a tidal wave of commercial-loan failures,” says Elizabeth Warren, a law professor at Harvard University who heads the COP.

According to federal guidelines, 2,988 banks nationwide are classified as having a concentration of commercial loans.

The panel’s findings show that $1.4 trillion in loans made over the last decade for retail properties, office space, industrial facilities, hotels, and apartments will reach the end of their terms and require refinancing between 2011 and 2014.

According to the panel, the loans most likely to fail are those made at the height of the real estate bubble, when it seemed property values could go nowhere but up.

DSNews.com reports since that time, commercial property values have fallen more than 40 percent, and now, nearly half of the loans coming due are “underwater,” the panel said, making refinancing particularly difficult to secure.

“Even borrowers who own profitable properties may be unable to refinance their loans as they face tightened underwriting standards, increased demands for additional investment by borrowers, and restricted credit,” according to the panel.

Warren and her fellow panel members warn  that “a significant wave of commercial mortgage defaults would trigger economic damage that could touch the lives of nearly every American.”

http://www.realestatechannel.com/us-markets/commercial-real-estate-1/real-estate-news-harvard-university-community-banks-congressional-oversight-panel-trouble-asset-relief-program-tarp-elizabeth-warren-2028.php

“The four biggest US commercial banks – JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo – possess 64 per cent of the assets of US commercial banks (see chart). If creditors of these businesses cannot suffer significant losses, this is not much of a market economy”  Financial Times 2/15/10

Sheesh, 64%, we aren’t very far from it already.  Lesson to community banks, know people in Washington.

Note that major hedge funds such as Soros, John Paulson, Buffet either have large holdings in these banks and/or they have recently added some big chunks in Wells and Citi.   They know these banks are too big to fail.

Batten down the hatches, the next few years will be a rough ride.

Obama’s “jobs saved or created” might all be in the FDIC bank liquidation department.

Great news!

There are over 500 real jobs coming to IL, high paying too.

Among the vacant positions in Schaumburg: One opening for a training specialist, with a salary of $88,055 to $145,697; a slot for a facilities services assistant, with a salary of $43,396 to $69,061; and three positions for counsels, who will be paid $107,799 to $202,515.

Pretty impressive, but wait, there’s more!

Ooops, they are government jobs.   Double oooops, they are for a new branch of the FDIC for liquidating failed banks.  What has been going on in IL? ACORN? Community organizing?

That suggests that the pace of Illinois bank failures is likely to remain brisk. In 2009, regulators seized 21 banks statewide, topped only by Georgia.

Wow, IL in 2nd place in bank failures?   That ACORN community organizing must really be "paying off", NOT!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0203-notebook-financial-20100202,0,3457297.story