http://www.redstate.com/greycloak Thu, 17 Sep 2009 08:34:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en President Obama's political goals can be debated, and should be ... but he won by </a href="http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/">"53% of the vote</a>. President Carter: I voted for your sorry derrierre <i>once</i>, because you were a Nuclear Engineer in the US Navy, and I thought you might promote clean, non-carbon, non-polluting nuclear energy; but ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/09/17/race-and-carters-stupidity/ So I am continuing through the bill, page 93 -- Subtitle C. GM has announced a 230 mpg hybrid that can plug into your house. Nice thing ... same socket as your electric mower or chainsaw. (The first is silly; I own the second, and it is handy.) But the Bill provides ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/08/13/cap-and-paid-electrical-outlets/ I have only read the first 100 pages of the Cap-and-Trade Bill, but I am already aghast. To bad nobody in Congress read it: if you think they did, just ask your CongressCritter what "pyrolization" means (the word appears several times in the first twenty pages). When you read the Bill, remember ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/07/02/cap-and-raid/ Iran's vote is being contested. Meanwhile our stock market dropped almost 200 points. Maybe unrelated, but America would have kinda wanted "the other guy" to win. Mir Hossein Mousavi is a little less confrontational (he's an artist), but has also been Prime Minister of Iran (1981-1989). Much political hay will be ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/06/16/iran-votes-and-america-is-no-example/ The Conservative side is rightly criticized for not offering positive solutions. Criticism is good, but solves little. Herein, some comments on piracy and other things. Nobody in Congress cares, although the Congress is charged (Article I, Section 8): To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/04/27/of-pirates-and-publicity/ Is this the next big global flu epidemic that public health experts have long anticipated and worried about? Is this the novel virus that will kill millions around the world, as pandemics did in 1918, 1957 and 1968? __AP, Sunday, April 26 So ... the US has twenty cases, all of which ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/04/27/flying-flu-the-sky-is-falling/ One of the many causes of our recent financial failures is "mark-to-market" accounting: whether a simple mortgage or a complicated investment vehicle, "mark-to-market" sets the value of the investment at whatever price anybody might be willing to pay. In reasonable times, this is a reasonable accounting practice. But when the market ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/03/30/mark-to-mystery/ So the big news today is that Rick Wagoner (CEO of General Motors) is going to "step down" at the request of the White House. Meanwhile, plenty of other GM workers are losing their jobs, courtesy of not-quite-a-bankruptcy and government intervention. On the open market, one could buy all of GM for ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/03/29/buying-a-new-car-fresh-paint-this-car-is-hot/ The AP wrote an article on how we're going to keep track of "stimulus" spending: And how, exactly, are states supposed to track and report all this spending when there's no money in the law for tracking or auditing? Gee ... I thought State Treasurers or Comptrollers and Federal Contract Administrators, COTRs, ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/03/17/spend-til-you-drop/ As we peer into society's future, we -- you and I, and our government -- must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/02/18/past-is-future-read-this/ I've no sympathy for Bernie Madoff, but some calls for justice verge on the ridiculous. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saying Bernard Madoff enjoys a "gilded penthouse incarceration," civil rights activist Al Sharpton led a rally outside the accused swindler's Manhattan home on Saturday urging equal justice for the rich and poor. The ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/02/09/sharpton-calling-the-kettle-black/ Maybe I don't have to remind Republicans, but a special shout out to my Senators: Mr Cornyn and Ms Hutchison, if you can do it under the rules, please place Mr. Daschle in your back pocket and sit on his nomination! To the Democrats: please remember all the kind words Mr ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/02/03/democrats-and-republicans-dump-daschle/ Today, Eric Holder was confirmed as Attorney General. Holder's chief supporter, Sen. Patrick Leahy, said the confirmation was a fulfillment of civil rights leader Martin Luther King's dream that everyone would be judged by the content of their character. I'm glad he's the first Black AG, but what's the big deal? The ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/02/02/when-black-is-white/ Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada, somehow thinks he should have a say in the Senatorial appointments/elections in Illinois.  Putting aside a general election (which I would prefer), it is a forgone conclusion that Illinois will anoint a Democrat to fill Obama's Senate seat. So what? Governor Blagojevich' appointment of ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2009/01/06/republicans-should-seat-burris/ Senator Dickie Durbin (D-IL) has requested a special election to fill Senator Obama's Senate seat: Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois says the state's legislature should order a special election to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat rather than allow Gov. Rod Blagojevich [Democrat] to pick a new senator. ... "No appointment by ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/12/10/time-to-win-an-illinois-seat/ In a month or so, Obama has suggested we close Guantanamo for prisoners.  Few care any longer, and this administration won't complete any prosecutions. But <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/08/september-11-confessions">a few prisoners recently confessed.</a> No more trials for them. What about sentencing? It would be only fair to kick the bucket even further down the ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/12/09/confession-consequences/ This week, Detroit will once again come to Congress and beg for money, after car-pooling or taking commercial flights to Washington. We can probably greet them at Gate 24 at United, in Reagan National. But Homeland Security might want us to wait in the baggage area. Be wary .. they ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/12/02/bail-out-fail-out/ Garrison Keillor recently (Oct 10) wrote a column criticizing Governor Palin. I got the e-mail from a Washington State Democrat currently in France. I love my sister, but I just had to reply: Anybody that thinks a Chicago politician and the Senator in whose State every one of the "evil corporations" ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/10/12/cynicism-and-dishonesty/ As Nancy Pelosi casts the pieces of "The Paulson Plan" on the waters, Congress on both sides of the aisle might consider their sins of the past. From Alan Greenspan's 2004 testimony to Congress: GSEs--the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/09/30/requiem-for-the-economy/ I can't believe our Republican leadership let an insurance salesman in the door. Some have proposed that we just guarantee the prices (provide insurance) for the buyers of securities. It is said this would cost less than $700B. "Insurance" guarantees that taxpayers will lose money on every mortgage backed security (MBS) that ... http://www.redstate.com/greycloak/2008/09/27/insuring-defeat/