Next week, (Friday, to be specific) the Congress is due to pass appropriations for next year (a fiscal year that begins October 1). They have had a year to prepare a budget (never completed), argue over it (still going on, and little of it public), and actually PASS appropriations for the next Fiscal Year. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence | Read More »
Greece has come a long way since it last ruled the known Western World. I am struck by this interesting Time article, and the parallels it might have for America: To regain credibility, the government has to tell the truth, no matter how ugly it is, Bastian says. And it seems to have already learned that lesson. The national statistics agency has fudged data for | Read More »
The Primary season is over. There’s an interesting count remaining in Alaska, but most of the 2010 candidates have been selected. I’m glad of some and sad of others. Tea Party candidates (and it’s unfortunate that no Democrats were included amongst them) had modest success in early primaries … media tells me that we are five-for-five in the last Primary!!! But now the candidates have | Read More »
In the worst of times, the Obama administration continues to cut non-government jobs and send thousands to the unemployment lines. A recently-released report from the Administration shows that Government Motors (previously, GM) and Chrysler put more than a thousand dealerships out of business (along with all their sales and service people) at the Government’s behest : GM’s initial plan submitted to the government in February | Read More »
After delaying the capping of the Gulf oil spill for a day or two, the Obama Administration wants to re-open the spill. All those high-paying “government scientist” committee jobs might be threatened (the recent capping was delayed “for government review”, and continues to be subject to continued testing). More importantly, with the spill capped, Obama may have to deal with why the EPA and FEMA | Read More »
I don’t know that Obama and the Green movement have sworn off using gasoline, but if they were honest in their claims, they would. Yet another Federal Court has overturned Obama’s halt on Gulf Drilling. Unfortunately, endless appeals just continue the Administration’s intent of putting thousands of people on Unemployment. Companies are already sending Gulf oil workers overseas. Some are even from shallow-water rigs. Others | Read More »
I few years ago, I sat in the Senate Gallery, and watched Senator Byrd walk up the aisle on two canes. I rarely agreed with his politics, but the man deserves respect. The Senate has lost a great statesman. Perhaps its last. Back when a filibuster required Senators to actually speak, Senator Byrd did so for fourteen hours, against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. | Read More »
President Obama and Congress are great on lambasting BP (perhaps deserved), but where is the “put your money where your mouth is?” When did Congress “improve oil spill response capabilities?” Funding for the OSRR program and operation of Ohmsett – The National Oil Spill Response Test Facility are appropriated from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF). The OSLTF received funds from a $0.05 tax | Read More »
Drilling is safe and necessary. There’s no leak in the Gulf. After the Deep Horizon sank, every well in the Gulf was inspected and “MMS has completed [May 12, 2010] its inspection of deepwater drilling rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and no major violations were found.” __ Department of the Interior News Release Then why did the President put 20,000 people out of work | Read More »
My challenge today is to name all the ancestors and relatives who have served and sometimes died in the cause of America’s freedom. It is a challenge I present to all of Redstate. It is a challenge to myself, and I have failed. I do not know everybody in my family that has served or died in America’s cause. My wife and I share Revolutionary | Read More »
I do not for a moment condone driving an airplane into an IRS building … I have relatives in that Agency, and others that have worked for the government. Caveat aside: I have read and seen the news and comments. Media and Congress miss the point. Our disfunctional Congress passes laws that hurt people; our Agencies are bound by regulations that protect the regulators and | Read More »
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 you did NOT. Not a single nuclear power plant has been started since you | Read More »
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 all sorts of “assistance” to build out electric charging stations that are NOT | Read More »
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 that you are charged by the KiloWatt Hour but I have a simple | Read More »
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 made of this, but it is mostly chaff. We are supposed to like free | Read More »
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 offenses against the law of nations; To declare war, grant letters of marque and | Read More »
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 have recovered (and the number will go up, with observation); only ONE required | Read More »
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 disappears, prices are even more imaginary than the complex formulae that investment bankers use | Read More »
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 $2.21 Billion. But our government is no cheapskate: GM has already received $13.4 | Read More »
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, and Agency heads were already charged with tracking responsibilities. As a Federal contractor | Read More »
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