BLATANT ARROGANCE SEEN IN ILLINOIS

Rod Blagojevich, the scandal-plagued Illinois Governor who is accused of trying to sell Barack Obama’s US Senate seat, astonished political observers last night by naming a retired, 71-year-old black politician as the replacement to fill it. Despite facing multiple corruption charges, impeachment proceedings and warnings from the Democratic leadership in Washington that anybody he chose would be unacceptable, Mr Blagojevich named Roland Burris, the former Illinois attorney-general, to succeed Mr Obama. The move was condemned by Mr Obama, who said that while Mr Burris was a “good man and a fine public servant”, the governor had no right to appoint him. “I agree with [the Democratic leaders’] decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it,” the President-elect said...Although Mr Burris had called for the governor’s resignation four days after his arrest, yesterday he described Mr Blagojevich as a man of “unquestioned integrity, extensive experience and a wise and distinguished senior statesman of Illinois.” SOURCE:CHICAGO SUN TIMES

Blagojevich,by going back on his word and appointing a replacement to fill President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat,he stole from the Illinois voters the chance to select their own senator through a special election.
And whom did the governor choose? Just another Illinois politician, Roland Burris, the former attorney general whose political career is notable only for its lack of notable achievements.Source:Chicago Tribune

However, Mr. Burris is no "shrinking violet" of a politician. In the past he has had the following to say about himself: "I am a visionary,’’ he declared in Chicago Sun-Times interview in 2002, when he was running for governor, his third unsuccessful try at the job.
In another interview with the paper, Burris said his past success — election as state comptroller and attorney general — was “divine providence” that began as a teenager when he decided to become a lawyer and officeholder.
“People said I was either crazy or divinely directed. I accept the latter,’’ he said. “I believe without a doubt that I am predestined to be a role model.”

I guess the Gov. felt he was too!

At a news conference on Tuesday, Blagojevich insisted he was making the appointment solely for the benefit of the people of Illinois, who should not be deprived of a sitting senator another day.And, he said, the law requires it of him. But this would be so if he had not been already arrested for trying to sell the Obama Senate seat.

I don't know why Blagojevich chose Burris, who as Illinois comptroller was the first African American elected to statewide office.A hardened cynic might suspect that Blagojevich, by making the Burris appointment, is thinking not of the people of Illinois, but of the 12 jurors who will sit in judgment of him at a criminal trial.

The governor's defense now can argue that the governor never intended to sell the Senate seat. See for yourself -- he chose Burris.

Nor does Burris' appointment hurt Blagojevich if there happen to be African Americans on Blagojevich's jury, according to traditional thinking among the defense attorneys.

This all is indicative of my cynical thinking I admit, but the Illinois governor has invited cynicism for years! He is a hard man to take at his word. Rumors are flowing around Chicago, that before he entered politics, he was a "bag man" for the Chicago mob.

Blagojevich emphasized that his own political and legal problems should not reflect poorly on Burris when he said this: ""Please, don't allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man,"

But I think that anyone chosen by Blagojevich would be tainted, even the most accomplished politician. The only way the Senator that replaces President elect Obama will have any legitimacy is to have a general election. And the argument that it costs too much does not hold water. The State spends millions on failed welfare and public works projects with little or no objection. Why not do something that would bring legitimacy, if not honesty back to Illinois?

DEFEAT HAMAS OR THEY WILL DESTROY ISRAEL

The members of the anti-Israel Press are highlighting the numbers of "civilians" being killed by the bombs being dropped by the IDF jets that are trying to rid the World once and for all of a cancer that has festered in the Gaza Strip for decades.

To try to help readers of this blog understand just what Hamas is, and the threat it poses to the one ally the USA has in the Middle East. I have included a time line of the Hamas movement.

* Hamas is an acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement and also means "zeal" in Arabic.
* It is formally committed to destroying Israel and putting an Islamic state in its place. But Hamas has said it would accept a Palestinian state in lands captured by Israeli forces in the 1967 war in return for a long-term truce.
* Hamas has rebuffed demands from Israel, the United States and other nations to recognize the Jewish state and disarm. Israel and the United States have sought to isolate Hamas.
* Hamas spearheaded a suicide bombing campaign against Israel starting in 2000 but later abide by a 2005 truce. Israel's deadly air strikes in the Gaza Strip on Saturday prompted Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal to call for a new uprising.
* Hamas was helped in the 2006 parliamentary election by its pledges to eradicate graft in the Palestinian Authority and its fight against Israel. It is also popular because of a network of charities.

1987 - Hamas was established during the first Palestinian uprising.
1993 - Hamas rejects interim peace accords between Israel and Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization.
1996 - Arafat elected Palestinian president. Fatah wins 68 out of 88 seats in parliament. Hamas boycotts the vote.
2000 - Second Intifada, or uprising, starts after the collapse of peace talks

Arafat dies in Paris and is succeeded by Mahmoud Abbas as head of the PLO and Palestinian president.
2005 - Abbas and Israeli leader Ariel Sharon declare ceasefire. Abbas wins support from Hamas, which largely abides by the truce. Israel ends 38-year Gaza occupation.

Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary election in 2006, taking 74 seats in 132-member parliament. Abbas's long-dominant Fatah movement wins 45 seats.
2007 - Hamas Islamists won a brief civil war in the Gaza Strip against secular Fatah forces loyal to Abbas.

Since then the Hamas controlled Gaza strip has been the launching site of male and female suicide bombers, rocket launching that has gradually increased in explosive power and range, and that poses a constant threat to Israel.

And if this is not enough to justify cleaning Hamas out of Gaza. Consider the effect that many tunnels built from Gaza were ostensibly to be used to transport supplies to Gaza, but are also used to transport weapons from Egypt and other Arab Countries that hate Israel.

These tunnels could be used to secretly transport nuclear weapons, when acquired , from Iran, China, North Korea and evn Russia, to carry out the avowed threatof Hamas, to wipe Israel of the face of the Earth!

To put the threat to Israel in perspective. What if terrorist elements took over the southern portion of Tijuana, Mexico? They began lobing rockets upon the southern parts of San Diego County, and suicide bombers in civilian clothing began coming over the border to attack buses and shopping centers in San Diego!
How long would the Liberal, anti-military element of this Country be successful in convincing Americans that a cease fire and "talks" would solve the problem?

It is easy for those around the world who are not under a daily threat of terrorist acts to tell the Israelis how they should act, but only the Israelis will have to suffer the consequences if the "talks" fail as they have for decades!

IT WORKED IN RUSSIA SO WHY NOT IN THE USA?

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

With rumors swirling around the Internet that ex-Weatherman William Ayers "ghost" wrote Obama's "DREAM memoirs, and based the book on Homers "Odyssey". It occurs to me that the pictures of President elect Obama body surfing and pictures of him in his bathing suit walking on the beach, may be an attempt by Obama handlers to depict him as a "he man" who will lead from strength!

In the following paragraphs I attempt to show the pictures of Obama "shirtless" are no isolated incident, but an attempt to show masculinity and power by his "team and the co-operating media.

In Russian Vladimir Putin's case, his shirtless pictures were a demonstration of the physical prowess of a man who is a black belt in karate, and a spy who worked covertly on the KGB for years before he became President of Russia.


Despite some incredulous reactions to Putin allowing himself to be photographed topless on blogs."Wilderness Putin," has been getting a lot of thumbs up in Russia as well. Many bloggers are calling him "sexy"!

The reactions should come as no surprise. Like any good politician, part of Putin’s popularity is based on his image. Compared to the Russian and Soviet leaders who came before him, Putin is leading the charge for the young and healthy generation.

At the end of the Soviet era, it was hard to keep up with which 70-year-old, visibly sick leader was in charge. After Leonid Brezhnev died, neither of the next two successors lasted more than 15 months before dying – leading to the joke of a guard demanding to see someone’s ticket to be allowed in to a Soviet leader’s funeral, to which he responds that he has season tickets. Source:Pravda

Now,Obama's physique has been well-exposed; photographers snapped him body surfing in Hawaii during the campaign. He was on the November cover of Men's Health and detailed his workouts for the magazine: 45 minutes, six days a week, alternating between weights and "cardio".

Obama is apparently now the world's biggest celebrity, just after Angelina and Brad Pitt. I guess some would say they're neck and neck right now.

The celebrity description is appropriate, even as Obama faces a plummeting economy and two wars upon entering office. He's seen as often on "Access Hollywood" as on the nightly news, and appears in "Us Weekly" with the regularity of a Jennifer Aniston.This is understandable when you consider that the media chose him as their messiah long ago!

When John F. Kennedy was pictured shirtless, there were media accounts fretting about the threshold we had crossed as a country, but nothing Obama does will ever get a negative spin in the Media.

Vladimir Putin. The black-belt-in-judo, non-smoking, rarely-drinking, cool and collected leader. While his popularity is certainly tied to his image – leading to everything from Putinka brand vodka to the girl-band pop song "Like Putin" (whose singers look for a man who is "like Putin/full of strength/like Putin/who won’t drink) – Putin’s image is, in turn, mirrored by his era.

This is an era in which Russia is getting stronger, reasserting itself internationally, becoming more stable at home and growing economically. And if it’s the image of a shirtless, machete-wielding president which best represents the man who can do all that and enjoy approval ratings at about 70 percent, maybe it’s not such a bad thing.

Is it such a stretch to think that the Obama "string pullers" are entering the image enhancement stage to reassure those who did vote for him, that he is physically fit to fight the problems our country faces? If so, look forward to more "puff" pictures of President Obama as his term in office turns ugly due to the decisions he must make that will not please all the special interest groups that put him in the Oval Office.

And the Left leaning Media took the bait! The following "Swoon" article illustrates the media's messianic opinion of the President elect.
"A paparazzi picture of a buff and shirtless Barack Obama Monday prompted a decidedly un-presidential reaction on the Web.
“Dang, my President is SMOKIN' HOT. Who else has such a fine leader? France? Great Britain? Eat your heart out, Sarkozy,” wrote one commenter on The Huffington Post, one of a select few outlets to receive the images Monday.
Peter Moore, the editor of Men’s Health magazine who interviewed Obama on his workout habits for a November cover story, told Politico his nearly seven-day-a-week regimen seems to have paid off. “No love handles to speak of on the sides. You see the definitions in his arms. He’s a dude. Wow.”

Well, when I look at the pictures of Obama and compare his physique with that of Putin. It leaves me wondering what they see that is so "hot"?

TIME FOR A TAXPAYERS REVOLT

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

An American family in financial crisis would cut back on wants to have enough money for their needs to exist. Not so the governments of most states,
Bloated with government employees and gilded with all the perquisites and plush surroundings. The people whom the taxpayers send to their State Capitols are unfortunately out of touch with reality.

When the Country is hit with a slow down,aka recession, people buy less, and the taxes on the goods they do buy diminish. This naturally reduces the amount of revenue State has to spend. So do they cut back on their budgets? Cut the number of the employees that do their "bidding" like private business is doing? No the first impulse is almost a knee jerk reaction. Think of ways to raise taxes on the already burdened taxpayer!

The following is an excerpt from the "THE THINKER" that illustrates the tax hogs reaction to decreased revenue!"

"Governors want to levy higher taxes next year on clothes, soft drinks, gasoline, auto licenses and other items that likely will hit low- and middle-income families struggling to make ends meet in a deepening recession the hardest.

Officials say they are required by law to balance budgets and that tax increases are necessary as state governments face sharply declining tax revenues, but fiscal analysts say raising these taxes during an economic downturn will only worsen local economies and prolong the recession."

How much more will the American taxpayer stand for? This Country went to war with England in the Revolutionary days because the taxes on tea became unreasonable. The founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they could see the taxation we Americans put up with to REDISTRIBUTE the wealth!

Merry Christmas to All and Especially President and Laura Bush

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

At this blessed time of the holiday season. It is my fondest wish that all Christians and Jews have a blessed and peaceful Christmas and Hanuka! For a Christian like myself whose boss is a Jewish carpenter from Nazareth. I have special happiness at this time of the year that is mixed with sadness!
For Christmas day is the anniversary of my mothers birthday, and although she has been dead many years. I think of her kindness and love that helped to make me the man I am.

I also thank the Lord for becoming a man in such lowly circumstances, a cave used as a manger, over two thousand years ago to save us all despite our wish not to be saved in many cases.

It is the time of the year that families get together and exchange presents. Some do it for eight straight days. In my house we do it on Christmas after we go to church to thank "I AM" for sending his son to wipe the original sin from us mortals.

Some, too many i believe, do not believe in Christmas or anything that interferes with their license to do what they want to do. To them I also say a Merry Christmas!

But the man who deserves my recognition on this Christmas eve that will not receive it from too many people is our President Bush.

This is a man who has been the object of slander, derision and rancor for eight years by the secular left because he is a man who believes in God!
His stance on abortion has made him the object of hate from the moment he took office.
And the war that everyone on the left said we had lost in Iraq was used daily to vitriol unlike any President in modern times. Yes we lost 4000 plus men and women in Iraq, but those of us old enough to remember WWII will recall that more than that were killed in one day in the invasions of Tarawa and Iwo Jima!

Many people said Bush had no heart, and people like the "press hound" Cindy Sheehan made a spectacle of herself by camping out where ever the President and the press was calling him a "murderer".

What people don't know is that President Bush, while doing his duty as Commander in Chief,was feeling the lose more than any Liberal Press gave him credit for.
The following is a report from an Australian blogger who got the information directly from Washington Times

"One of the sickest smears the Left has made against George Bush is that he’s ignored the dead and wounded soldiers who fought in his wars. Just check the number of times that allegation has been made.

The Washington Times now reports the quiet truth:

Mr. Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support…

Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said".

The chair in the Oval Office is a lonely place to sit at times of crisis and I believe with all my heart that President Bush felt the invasion of Iraq was necessary to eliminate a potential threat to the USA and the rest of the World. For that we ought to say "job well done and Bon Voyage and Merry Christmas Mr President!

OBAMAS HARVARD CONNECTION STIKES AGAIN

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

As the appointments to Obama insider positions progresses, it has become apparent that to be considered you have to be a fellow alumni of the President elects University-Harvard. Todays news includes the appointment of Harvard's professor of Environmental Policy, Dr. John Holdren. Obama in making the appointment said, John Holdern is "one of the most passionate and persistent voices about the growing threat climate change".

This is not an exaggerated statement as this excerpt from a speech that Holdern gave on June 6, 2007 at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth University illustrates.

"Even if we are not running out of energy per se, however, running out of cheap energy is already stressful for society. And we are also running out of some other energy-related "resources" that matter a great deal.

We are running out of environment, in the sense of the capacity of the atmosphere and waters and biota of the Earth to absorb, without intolerable consequences,( he does not mention what they are) the impacts of mobilizing energy in the quantities and in the ways characterizing today's energy use and that which is ahead in the "business as usual" future.

We are running out of societal will to make the investments in improved technologies of energy supply and use, and to devise the policies to promote the use of these technologies, that will be needed to get us through.Bloggers note: We need more persuavive propaganda to convince the public that Carbon Credits are the way to go!

And we are running out of time for a smooth transition to the more sustainable energy system the world is going to need.Just what energy system will maintain our way of life?
This last dimension of the problem is the one most under-rated by policy makers and the public, who generally fail to grasp both the huge momentum associated with the scale and long turnover time of the world's existing energy system and the rate at which the problems with it are growing".

This a politician, not a Climate scientist talking. And worse than that, he is an Internationalist. He is not a man committed to the betterment of Americans, but the World!

Why so? Because Holdren says that a poll of scientists says that climate change is caused by human activity, that is to be held as the same as a scientific 'proof?'

There is no doubt in my mind that climate change is happening, and it is obvious that a big part of it is a result of making big carbon molecules into smaller ones, it is less than obvious about what can and should be done about it.

Reality is; there has never in the entire history of human-kind been a better time to live on the planet. How is that all bad?

The issue that is most clear to me though, is that all of the alternative energy proposals are not as carbon neutral as their proponents claim.Nor as economically feasible!

One rarely hears about the consequences of, as an example; less intensive farming on a global scale. Is that because it will result in the death of perhaps billions of humans as a result of starvation?

This is bad science, and Holden isn't as much a scientist as he is a politician. An argument that is based on the belief that sceptics are Republicans and therefore stupid isn't much of an argument. He will fit well with all the other left of center politicians that make up most of Obama Cabinet and close advisers.

We can look forward to the European type of socialism from the Obama administration, and that will be a CHANGE we do not want to live with!

THE STARK COMPARISON OF FREEDOM VERSUS SUBJUCATION

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

Iranian authorities on Sunday closed the office of the country's main human rights organization, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. Dozens of plainclothes detectives and local police officers entered the Center for the Defense of Human Rights in Tehran and shut it down hours before a ceremony was to take place commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

According to members of the organization, which has been active since 2000, the police had been informed of the meeting, at which political activists were scheduled to speak. "The general human rights activities of this nongovernmental organization are the reason for this illegal reaction," the center's leadership said in a statement. THE MULLAHS THAT CONTROL IRAN'S THEOCRACY POLICE STATE BROACH NO DISSENT!

Center officials speculated that the closure was in part a response to a United Nations resolution issued Thursday that expressed "deep concern" about the human rights situation in Iran. SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST

In contrast to the oppressive actions of the Iranian police state authorities. The city of Baghdad in war torn Iraq has the first-ever public Christmas celebration in Baghdad!

It was held Saturday and sponsored by the Iraqi Interior Ministry. Once thought to be infiltrated by death squads, the Ministry now is trying to root out sectarian violence -- as well as improve its PR image. The event took place in a public park in eastern Baghdad, ringed with security checkpoints.

Interior Ministry forces deployed on surrounding rooftops looked down at the scene: a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments and tinsel; a red-costumed Santa Claus waving to the crowd, an Iraqi flag draped over his shoulders; a red-and-black-uniformed military band playing stirring martial music, not Christmas carols.

On a large stage, children dressed in costumes representing Iraq's many ethnic and religious groups -- Kurds, Turkmen, Yazidis, Christians, Arab Muslims not defined as Sunni or Shiite held their hands high and sang "We are building Iraq!" Two young boys, a mini-policeman and a mini-soldier sporting painted-on mustaches, march stiffly and salute.

"All Iraqis are Christian today!" said Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karin Khalef. Khalaf said sectarian and ethnic violence killed thousands of Iraqis. "Now that we have crossed that hurdle and destroyed the incubators of terrorism."
He then said, "and the security situation is good, we have to go back and strengthen community ties." Even though the spokesman is surrounded by heavy security.
This celebration shows that the security situation in Baghdad is improving. Many of the people attending the Christmas celebration appear to be Muslims, with women wearing head scarves. Suad Mahmoud, holding her 16-month-old daughter, Sara, tells me she is indeed Muslim, but she's very happy to be here. "My mother's birthday also is this month, so we celebrate all occasions," she says, "especially in this lovely month of Christmas and New Year." SOURCE: CNN

And yet there are those who believe our invasion and occupation of Iraq was only going to make Muslims hate us more! This illustrates the fallacy of that argument and clearly shows the difference that freedom has on events that affect the populace.

A wise man once said, "War is preferable;e to subjugation"!

WHAT YOUR GRANDCHILDREN WILL HAVE TO PAY!

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

WITH THE CONGRESS AND THE PRESIDENT SPENDING OUR TAX DOLLARS LIKE DRUNKEN SAILORS.
It is time to reflect on the consiquences of what they are doing to future generations. We have heard all the dire predictions of what will happen if they had not done this bail out. But no one seems to be concerned with the fall out of actually printing and flooding the markrt with this wortless script used to bail out industries and banks who should have been punished for their malfeasance, not rewarded!

With the decision to commit $17.4 billion to the auto industry, the government "effectively has allocated the first $350 billion" portion of a $700 billion financial bailout package.
Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson said, Friday. As of Dec. 16, $167.8 billion had been invested in banks, as detailed below. Another $40 billion went to bail out insurance giant AIG. The rest is committed to banks, including an additional $20 billion pledged to Citicorp.

Bank City State Amount are listed below, and nowhere is their a listing for mortgage holders who are in default! It is all for so called"fat cats" of finance/
Wells Fargo & Company San Francisco CA $25,000,000,000
JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York NY $25,000,000,000
Citigroup Inc. New York NY $25,000,000,000
Bank of America Corporation Charlotte NC $15,000,000,000
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. New York NY $10,000,000,000
Morgan Stanley New York NY $10,000,000,000
Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. New York NY $10,000,000,000
U.S. Bancorp Minneapolis MN $6,599,000,000
Capital One Financial Corporation McLean VA $3,555,199,000
SunTrust Banks, Inc. Atlanta GA $3,500,000,000
Regions Financial Corp. Birmingham AL $3,500,000,000
BB&T Corp. Winston-Salem NC $3,133,640,000
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation New York NY $3,000,000,000
KeyCorp Cleveland OH $2,500,000,000
Comerica Inc. Dallas TX $2,250,000,000
State Street Corporation Boston MA $2,000,000,000
Marshall & Ilsley Corporation Milwaukee WI $1,715,000,000
Northern Trust Corporation Chicago IL $1,576,000,000
Zions Bancorporation Salt Lake City UT $1,400,000,000
Huntington Bancshares Columbus OH $1,398,071,000
Popular, Inc. San Juan PR $935,000,000
First Horizon National Corporation Memphis TN $866,540,000
Associated Banc-Corp Green Bay WI $525,000,000
Webster Financial Corporation Waterbury CT $400,000,000
City National Corporation Beverly Hills CA $400,000,000
TCF Financial Corporation Wayzata MN $361,172,000
South Financial Group, Inc. Greenville SC $347,000,000
Wilmington Trust Corporation Wilmington DE $330,000,000
East West Bancorp Pasadena CA $306,546,000
Sterling Financial Corporation Spokane WA $303,000,000
Valley National Bancorp Wayne NJ $300,000,000
Susquehanna Bancshares, Inc Lititz PA $300,000,000
Citizens Republic Bancorp, Inc. Flint MI $300,000,000
UCBH Holdings, Inc. San Francisco CA $298,737,000
Cathay General Bancorp Los Angeles CA $258,000,000
SVB Financial Group Santa Clara CA $235,000,000
Trustmark Corporation Jackson MS $215,000,000
Umpqua Holdings Corp. Portland OR $214,181,000
Washington Federal Inc. Seattle WA $200,000,000
MB Financial Inc. Chicago IL $196,000,000
First Midwest Bancorp, Inc. Itasca IL $193,000,000
First Niagara Financial Group Lockport NY $184,011,000
Pacific Capital Bancorp Santa Barbara CA $180,634,000
United Community Banks, Inc. Blairsville GA $180,000,000
Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. Boston MA $154,000,000
Provident Bancshares Corp. Baltimore MD $151,500,000
National Penn Bancshares, Inc. Boyertown PA $150,000,000
Western Alliance Bancorporation Las Vegas NV $140,000,000
CVB Financial Corp Ontario CA $130,000,000
Sterling Bancshares, Inc. Houston TX $125,198,000
Banner Corporation Walla Walla WA $124,000,000
Signature Bank New York NY $120,000,000
Taylor Capital Group Rosemont IL $104,823,000
Old National Bancorp Evansville IN $100,000,000
Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. Nashville TN $95,000,000
Iberiabank Corporation Lafayette LA $90,000,000
Midwest Banc Holdings, Inc. Melrose Park IL $84,784,000
Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. Olney MD $83,094,000
Columbia Banking System, Inc. Tacoma WA $76,898,000
TowneBank Portsmouth VA $76,458,000
Wesbanco Bank Inc. Wheeling WV $75,000,000
Bank of the Ozarks, Inc. Little Rock AR $75,000,000
Independent Bank Corporation Ionia MI $72,000,000
Virginia Commerce Bancorp Arlington VA $71,000,000
Southwest Bancorp, Inc. Stillwater OK $70,000,000
Superior Bancorp Inc. Birmingham AL $69,000,000
Nara Bancorp, Inc. Los Angeles CA $67,000,000
First Financial Holdings Inc. Charleston SC $65,000,000
Wilshire Bancorp, Inc. Los Angeles CA $62,158,000
Great Southern Bancorp Springfield MO $58,000,000
Center Financial Corporation Los Angeles CA $55,000,000
NewBridge Bancorp Greensboro NC $52,372,000
Ameris Bancorp Moultrie GA $52,000,000
The Bancorp, Inc. Wilmington DE $45,220,000
Southern Community Financial Corp. Winston-Salem NC $42,750,000
First Community Bankshares Inc. Bluefield VA $41,500,000
Capital Bank Corporation Raliegh NC $41,279,000
Heritage Commerce Corp. San Jose CA $40,000,000
Cascade Financial Corporation Everett WA $38,970,000
Eagle Bancorp, Inc. Bethesda MD $38,235,000
TIB Financial Corp Naples FL $37,000,000
First Defiance Financial Corp. Defiance OH $37,000,000
State Bancorp, Inc. Jericho NY $36,842,000
Porter Bancorp Inc. Louisville KY $35,000,000
Encore Bancshares Inc. Houston TX $34,000,000
Bank of North Carolina Thomasville NC $31,260,000
Bank of Marin Bancorp Novato CA $28,000,000
Centerstate Banks of Florida Inc. Davenport FL $27,875,000
LNB Bancorp Inc. Lorain OH $25,223,000
HF Financial Corp. Sioux Falls SD $25,000,000
Heritage Financial Corporation Olympia WA $24,000,000
Severn Bancorp, Inc. Annapolis MD $23,393,000
Blue Valley Ban Corp Overland Park KS $21,750,000
Indiana Community Bancorp Columbus IN $21,500,000
Unity Bancorp, Inc. Clinton NJ $20,649,000
Citizens South Banking Corporation Gastonia NC $20,500,000
First PacTrust Bancorp, Inc. Chula Vista CA $19,300,000
HopFed Bancorp Hopkinsville KY $18,400,000
Bank of Commerce Holdings Redding CA $17,000,000
1st FS Corporation Hendersonville NC $16,369,000
Valley Financial Corporation Roanoke VA $16,019,000
LSB Corporation North Andover MA $15,000,000
Oak Valley Bancorp Oakdale CA $13,500,000
First Community Corporation Lexington SC $11,350,000
First Litchfield Financial Corporation Litchfield CT $10,000,000
Central Bancorp, Inc. Somerville MA $10,000,000
Coastal Banking Company, Inc. Fernandina Beach FL $9,950,000
Southern Missouri Bancorp, Inc. Poplar Bluff MO $9,550,000
Broadway Financial Corporation Los Angeles CA $9,000,000
Central Federal Corporation Fairlawn OH $7,225,000
Old Line Bancshares, Inc. Bowie MD $7,000,000
Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. Pittsburgh PA $7,000,000
Pacific International Bancorp Seattle WA $6,500,000
FPB Bancorp, Inc. Port St. Lucie FL $5,800,000
Northeast Bancorp Lewiston ME $4,227,000
Manhattan Bancorp El Segundo CA $1,700,000
Source: U.S. Treasury

AS you can se the list is very long and the money has been spent. But my sources in the lending industry tell me that the banks, credit unions and savings and loans are not lending the money. Why, because they are scared of what will happen next when the Presidential administration changes on January 20, 2009,

Obama has literaly "promised the moon" to those unfortunate people who are on the downside of the economic scales. And if he does what he has proposed. He will spend trillions more on Rooseveltian make work programs and civilian job corps.

This will further add to the inflationary spiral we are enetring and will certainly devalate the already falling dollar. Will we have rapid inflation or will we have stagflation? I am not in a position to predict, but you cannot continue to print money that is esentialy worthless without consequences!

The problem, like all most all problems solved by politicians, will be forced upon a future generation when the politicians are long gone, or at least most of them!
Our grandchildren will inherit a Country that in all probability will be a second rate miitary power, with reduced freedoms and more government control over their lives than our Founding Fathers could conger up in their worst nightmares.

AS my father once said, "you will need a bushel basket of money to buy a bag of groceries", and he may be right!

THE UNSPOKEN REASON THE BIG 3 IS IN TROUBLE

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan


Senator Stabenow (D-MI) has said repeatedly that Senate Republicans killed the auto industry bailout proposal by “politicizing” the issue. In other words, she ascribes to Senate Republicans no concern for workers or for the economy, only a desire to “pierce the heart” of organized labor. The truth is that she and other Democrats have been bought and paid for over the years by the UAW and other unions and it is Democrats who lacks the courage to tell the unions that the party’s over... there are no more free lunches.

It is the United Auto Workers who have made U.S. auto makers non-competitive. If General Motors sells 9.7 million cars in FY 2008 and loses $38.7 billion, while Toyota sells 9.7 million cars in that same year and earns $17.1 billion, how does that compute? What’s the difference? The difference is in the labor segment of the cost equation. It costs General Motors $73 per hour for each assembly line worker(salary and benefits), while Toyota’s labor costs are just $44.20 per hour. Is there anyone outside the union halls who fails to understand that? It’s simple arithmetic. SOURCE: PAUL HOLLRAH


COINCIDENTALLY THE 1st Amendment to the Constitution provides for freedom of the press, giving journalists the right to print and broadcast what they want without fear of government censorship. However, the moral contract under which We the People confer that right contains a bit of small print... which says that the right extends only to those who have an unswerving dedication to truth. So the question arises, does the 1st Amendment give the press the right to purposely misinform... any more than it gives individuals the right to yell “Fire!” in a crowded movie theater? That cannot be what the Founding Fathers had in mind.

To add to the public confusion about the Big 3 "bail out" proposals, the Media has posited that we cannot afford to let the Detroit auto makers go bankrupt, because people will not buy cars from a bankrupt industry. They also exaggerate the number of people who will loose jobs in associated support industries(auto parts,etc.). Failing to mention that these same people supply the non-union auto makers in the Southern States.

And if that is not enough to convince the UAW to redo their benefit structure to help make Detroit competitive. Consider this, Mexico and India have increased their auto making capability.
For example, India's Pune city has a large pool of skilled, industrious, readily available manpower, and no serious shortage of utilities. This made it an ideal location for manufacturing units of all manners. The engineering industry first came and established itself here. Next, it was the IT industry that made great strides. And now, with several international car makers setting up shop here, the city is gearing up for its emergence as a global hub for the auto industry.

Realistically speaking, the Pune, India auto story began in the early 60s when Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto were amongst the first to set up manufacturing plants on the outskirts of the city. Almost 30 years later, a series of events took place that augured well for industrial growth in general and the auto industry in particular.
The outcome: global majors Volkswagen, General Motors, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat plus domestic leaders such as Tata Motors, Mahindra and Mahindra and Bajaj Auto, which already has modern plant to produce the Pulsar here, announced plans to set up greenfield projects and make big-ticket investments in the region. Naturally, the existing auto component industry also got a big boost in their business also.

GM, which already has a plant at Halol, is investing Rs 1,400 crore at Talegaon, and will look at global sourcing from India, scouted 12 States before firming up on this one location. The plant, that has an installed capacity of 1,40,000 units, will produce a small car – a variant of the Chevrolet Spark. It will go into trial production by April 2008. Zource: Business Line For Hindu Business


If the truth were told. The bail out would only delay the inevitable bankruptcy of an industry that has let the UAW lead them by the nose for too many years.As a result the Big 3 have become non-competitive with the foreign companies making cars and trucks right here in the USA!

OPEN LETTER TO USA CATHOLICS AND JEWS

According to the exit polls, President-Elect Obama built a winning coalition of religious voters of all persuasions, significantly closing the gap which traditionally shows frequent-worshippers leaning towards the Republicans.

Despite the abortion furore and his avowed liberalism, he won over a majority of Jews and Roman Catholics, made significant inroads into the younger Evangelicals, and persuaded vast numbers of the minor religious groups to buy into his vision.
TNE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT MANY IGNORED THE TEACHINGS OF THEIR BIBLES AND IN THE JEWISH CASE THE TORAH!
One Jewish leader, former Clinton White House Counsel even went so far as to call Barack Obama a "yiddishe neshuma" to describe him. It essentially means a Jewish soul. It's an expression my mother used. It means a sensitive, sympathetic personality, someone who understands where you are coming from." So much for Moses and the Ten Commandments! And to quote Tora Aish, "How can we be redeemed? We have no good deeds to our credit. What is going to be with us?"


The Democrats usually do well with the Jewish vote, and this election was no different. President-Elect Obama won about 77 per cent, which was an increase on the 2004 election, when Democratic candidate John Kerry received 74 per cent of the Jewish vote.

Nationwide, 54 percent of Catholics supported Obama and 44 percent voted for McCain. Of the total population, 52 percent voted for Obama and 46 percent for McCain.

THIS IS THE STATISTICAL REPORT FROM THE CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE. And if it is true there are 54% of the Catholics in the USA that ignored one of the basic tenets of the Catholic church. You should not kill! And my belief is that not enough Parish priests and Bishops stressed the fact that voting for a man who is 100% for abortion and partial birth abortion is tantamount to consenting to the sin of abortion!
A number( unfortunately not all)of US Catholic bishops emphasised abortion as a paramount voting issue this year, but the economy and/or the Iraq war appears to have been a primary cause for the voting shift.
Bishop Joseph F. Martino of the Scranton Diocese issued a letter, which he required pastors to read to their parishioners, warning that "being 'right' on taxes, education, health care, immigration and the economy fails to make up for the error of disregarding the value of a human life." Martino continued: "It is a tragic irony that 'pro-choice' candidates have come to support homicide - the gravest injustice a society can tolerate - in the name of 'social justice."

The Catholic Church lists nine ways that a Catholic may be complicit in the commission of a Mortal Sin. 5. If the person had full knowledge of the severity of the sin;
1. If the person voluntarily consented to the sin;
2. If the person assisted others to sin;
3. If the person by advised someone to sin;
4. If the person commanded someone to sin;
5. If the person provoked someone to sin;
6. If the person consented to some one's sin;
7. If the person showed someone how to sin;
8. If the person praised someone for his sin;
9. If the person concealed, remained silent or did nothing to prevent some one's sin

It is number nine that I am afraid most of the 54% percent of Catholics that voted for a man(OBAMA) who not only voted repeatedly for abortion rights, but voted against a Bill that would have given the right to life for a baby born despite a failed abortion. Semantics call it "partial-birth abortion". This is murder pure and simple,Ipso facto!! And do not compare abortion to the death penalty. In abortion you are terminating the life of an innocent person. Not so in the death penalty!

Perhaps this explains the results of a study done by Believenet that showed that Catholics(as well as other Christians) are actually no more guilt-ridden than anyone else. In my opinion it is a sign that Christians and Jews, as a whole, and Catholics in specific have killed their conscience by being politically correct. And even the former Communist Russian paper Pravda hailed the turn away from religious principles in their congratulation message about Obama's election.
This from the Rocky Mountain Express; "Russian newspaper Pravada praised Obama, and said " … in choosing Obama, the people of America have opted to come back into the international fold. Welcome back, friends!" I am not sure the secular world is where we want to be!

Apparently 54% of the Catholics were CINO's( catholics in name only)in the majority of the States in the USA. "Cradle" Catholics, who go to church on Sunday, but leave their beliefs in the church when the service is over!

What is interesting is the vote of the religious group that is dedicated to replacing all religions but theirs, in time.
It is reported that 89 per cent of US Muslims voted for Barack Obama, as against 2 per cent for John McCain. 95 per cent of Muslims are reported to have voted in this presidential election, either at the polls or by absentee ballot. This is the highest ever American Muslim voter turnout.
And as a group, black Protestants, 94 per cent voted for Obama, along with 72 per cent of Hispanic Catholics and 67 per cent of Hispanic Protestants.

All this indicates to me that religious leaders have failed to get the message that the Ten Commandments are the basis for religious belief, and Americans put their religious beliefs second behind personal gain, and voted for a slick talking man with a bag full of promises!

THE CHEER LEADERS FOR OUR OWN VERSION OF GENOCIDE ARE COMING

The blood of the millions of "murdered" unborn and partial born infants, who have been killed in the years since The Supreme Court ruled on the most heinous law in our history, cries out for vengeance. The Bush administration and most of the Republicans in Congress have tried to hold back the genocide of the most vulnerable class of people, a baby in it's mothers womb. But the Media is trumpeting the news from the transition team for president elect Obama, to roll back all restrictions on abortion and expand the agenda of the "Right to Choose" cabal.

If ever there was a schizophrenic slogan, the "right too choose" has to head the list.
The choice was made when the woman choose to have sex that can never be protected from conception unless the woman, or man she is having coitus with, is sterilized!
What about the right of the living fetus in the womb? It is arguably the most protected place in the world, the mothers womb! But not anymore!

With all the economic troubles we Americans currently have, and the threat of Iran developing nuclear weapons during Obama's first or second year in the Oval Office. His transition team has let the people know that one of his first acts will be to roll back the right of a Physician to refuse to perform an abortion if his conscience prohibits him from doing the killing.

Where is the logic in the ability of a man or women to refuse to serve in a combat unit because he/she is a conscientious objector, but Our President thinks it should punish a doctor for refusing to participate in killing a defenseless baby while still in the womb with absolutely no way of defending itself?

The following excerpt is from an article written by Laura Meckler for today's issue of the Wallstreet Journal.
"The outgoing Bush administration this week will finalize a regulation establishing a "right of conscience" allowing medical staff to refuse to participate in any practice they object to on moral grounds, including abortion but possibly birth control and other health care as well.

In transition offices across town, officials in the incoming Obama administration have begun considering how and when to undo it.

The regulation is one of a swath of abortion and other reproductive-health issues under review by the Obama team, which is preparing to reverse a variety of Bush measures, according to officials close to the transition. The review is part of a sweeping scrutiny of Bush-era legislation and regulation on issues across the federal government, from environmental and labor rules to defense spending.

Decisions that the new administration will weigh include: whether to cut funding for sexual abstinence programs; whether to increase funding for comprehensive sex education programs that include discussion of birth control; whether to allow federal health plans to pay for abortions; and whether to overturn regulations such as one that makes fetuses eligible for health-care coverage under the Children's Health Insurance Program.

Women's health advocates are also pushing for a change in rules that would lower the cost of birth control at college health clinics.Obama aides will have to settle many of these questions in issuing their first budget in February".

And we still have the gaul to sing "GOD Bless America"!

THE NEW "NEW DEAL" WILL FAIL AGAIN

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

The academics and Liberal historians are still lying about the Great "New Deal" that President Franklin Roosevelt used to attempt to stem the tide of Depression in the time between 1930 and 1933.

The Keynesian approach to reversing the economic downward spiral was to spend millions on a series of economic programs he initiated between 1933 and 1936 with the goals of giving work (relief) to the unemployed, reform of business and financial practices, and recovery of the economy during The Great Depression.

The "First New Deal" of 1933 was aimed at short-term recovery programs for all groups which were called the '[Alphabet Agencies]'. The Roosevelt administration promoted or implemented banking reform laws, emergency relief programs, work relief programs, agricultural programs, and industrial reform (the NRA), a federal welfare state, as well as the end of the gold standard and prohibition.Source" Wikapedia

A "Second New Deal" (1935–36) included labor union support, the WPA relief program, the Social Security Act, and programs to aid farmers, including tenant farmers and migrant workers. The Supreme Court ruled several programs unconstitutional; however, most were soon replaced, with the exception of the NRA. In practice the New Deal ended with World War II. As Roosevelt himself said in December, 1943, "Dr. New Deal" had given way to "Dr. Win the War."

Most of the relief programs were shut down during World War II by the Conservative Coalition (i.e. the opponents of the New Deal in Congress). Many regulations were ended during the wave of deregulation in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Several New Deal programs remain active, with some still operating under the original names, including the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), and we know how well they have fared in recent months!

The New Deal represented a significant shift in political and domestic policy in the U.S., with its more lasting changes being increased federal government control over the economy and money supply, intervention to control prices and agricultural production. This was the beginning of complex social programs and wider acceptance of trade unions. The effects of the New Deal still remain a source of controversy and debate among economists and historians.

The largest programs still in existence today are the Social Security System and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).And now comes the "New ,New Deal" of president elect Obama, and it will chug into Washington DC on a train. With the 44th president to be and his Delaware VP and an assortment of family and confidants who expect the Obama "Change" to save America's economy and status on the World stage!

Obama brings with him a promise to save the economy, although he says "it is more severe than he originally thought it was, and probably cannot be fixed in a year or even one four year term".His plan includes a trillion dollar price tag as estimated by those who deal daily in numbers and federal spending, predict.

President-elect Barack Obama took center stage in the economic crisis for the third day in a row Sunday as he sent out aides to pitch his rapidly expanding stimulus plan on TV and announced plans to introduce his economic team Monday.

Appearing on the Sunday talk shows, his advisers indicated that the ambitious plan he announced Saturday to create 2.5 million public-works and alternative-energy jobs will be far more costly than previously discussed. Along with other possible steps to turn the economy around, it could cost the government as much as $700 billion.

That would be four times the size of the $175 billion stimulus package that Obama promoted as a presidential candidate.

Not unlike Roosevelt, Obama is using scare tactics to advance his "welfare state" agenda,as illustrated by this statement; "This is as big of an economic crisis as we've faced in 75 years, and we've got to do something that's up to the task of confronting that,'' Goolsbee said.

Obama's aides also did not dispute a New York Times report that fear of worsening the economy might lead him to postpone advancing a centerpiece of his campaign -- a tax increase for people earning more than $250,000 a year.

Whether by design or necessity, Obama appeared to be using the deepening economic crisis to step to the forefront and seize the stage in order to reassure a nervous nation two months before he takes office.

The only problem with their crisis argument is that in 1933, 4000 banks had failed and the unemployment rate hovered around 25%! And despite all the money spent by Roosevelt in the New Deal. The Country fell into a Recession again in 1937 during
FDR's second term. In the fall of 1937 the economy fell into recession that continued through most of 1938. Production declined sharply, as did profits and employment. Unemployment jumped from 14.3% in 1937 to 19.0% in 1938. Keynesian economists speculated that this was a result of a premature effort to curb government spending and balance the budget, while conservatives said it was caused by attacks on business and by the huge strikes caused by the organizing activities of the CIO and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).( Does this sound strangely like an echo from the past in today's political rhetoric!

Fear has been used by many power happy despots in the recent twentieth century. Let us not be stampeded into the Socialist State by fear tactics that are based not upon facts but bizarre predictions! The economy is bad but do the math! It has not been 75 years since we had 19% unemployment in 1938!

UAW PRESIDENT IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

UAW president, Gettelfinger, had a press conference immediately after the Senate failed to pass the Big 3 bail out package and showed that he is out of touch with reality.
Mr.Ron Gettelfinger, in a press conference Friday morning, blamed Republican senators, who he said resented his organization! He further tried to muddy the swirling waters that are about to bring down the Big 3 with this statement." There is no question that the UAW has demonstrated leadership in this process. There were some in the Senate, who, we felt, resented that.”(bloggers note: he has a strange concept of what leadership his union has?)

If you look at the financial report for a UAW local, you will see that 62% of all dues are sent to the International in the form of a per capita tax. Some of that tax goes into something the UAW calls a Community Action Program (CAP). These CAP’s are mostly used to support liberal Democratic candidates. The biggest UAW CAP in Kentucky reported in 2002 that it had expenses of $79,999 of which $77,785 was for “Other Disbursements” but it doesn’t tell what those other disbursements were. You’ve got to wonder how union members can figure out what the union is doing with their dues when 97% of the money is unaccounted for. In 2003 the US Dept of Labor issued new regulations for union financial disclosure statements to give union members a better idea of what was really happening to their dues. Not surprisingly, the unions opposed these new regulations every step of the way. Why is it that the unions don’t want their members to know about what is being done with THEIR money? Perhaps they don’t want you to know that the UAW owns a radio broadcasting network that lost $3 million in 2002 and a golf course that lost $321,000 in 2002!

In 2001 President Bush issued an executive order which required federal contractors to inform their workers of their Beck rights. The UAW filed a lawsuit against the Bush Administration in an effort to block this Executive Order. The UAW has even FIRED members from their jobs for exercising their Beck rights. Recently a former Colt Manufacturing employee won a judgment against the UAW because of his illegal firing. HIS CASE HAD BEEN CONSOLIDATED WITH DOZENS OF OTHERS IN A NATIONWIDE CASE AGAINST THE UAW. Why doesn’t the UAW want its members to know their rights??? What are they trying to hide???

Gettelfinger also said that since financial workers were not asked to make concessions in the $700 billion bailout, senators were applying a double standard to the UAW".
The point he missed apparently, is the FACT THAT HIS UNIONS SALARY AND BENEFIT STRUCTURE IS SO HIGH THAT THE big 3 HAS TO PRICE THEIR CARS ON AVERAGE 3 TO 5 THOUSAND DOLLARS ABOVE SIMILAR PERFORMING CARS MADE IN THE USA BY FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS THAT PAY THEIR EMPLOYEES 20-30 DOLLARS(salary and benefits) LESS PER HOUR THAN UAW EMPLOYEES.And the foreign car maker employees still make a enviable and credible salary.

This fact is supported by Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the free market Cato Institute, told CNSNews.com on Friday that the UAW is, in part, to blame.

“UAW contracts have played a big role in pulling automakers into the crisis they now face,” said Griswold. “Those contracts are the single biggest difference between domestic and foreign-owned competitors operating on USA soil". Griswold also said that it was the UAW’s “adversarial attitude” in the bailout negotiations that caused the talks to collapse.
The union claims that their members have a “voice” at the bargaining table. Let’s look at what their “voice” achieved during the September 2003 Big 3/UAW contract talks. They got 50,000 job eliminations, 10+ plant closings, prescription drug co-pays doubled, two tier wages for Delphi, a stricter attendance policy and no raises for the first two years of the contract. Is this what they sent their Bargaining Committee to achieve??? It doesn’t matter what they were sent for the fact remains that this was the result, and Gettlefinger wants Us to believe he was co-operating with those who tried to make a deal for the Big 3?

An important fact o remember is that, "In the last 20 years unions representing workers on private payrolls have LOST 28% of their membership while total employment has grown by 38%. During that same time period, in inflation adjusted dollars, union members’ pay increased by 4% while the pay of non-union workers increased by 17%. Source: UNION MEMBERSHIP EARNINGS and DATA BOOK

The Big 3 will go bankrupt, unless the Democrats and incoming President Obama would rather the USA go bankrupt trying to save the Union!

THE ISSUE OF SEPERATION OF POWERS DEPENDS ON WHOSE OX IS BEING GORED!

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

Yesterday the Democrat,aka socialist,Senator Fiengold from Wisconsin sent a letter to president elect Obama asking him to reverse all of Bush's executive orders that he felt had taken away authority from the Congress. His hope was that the President elect would restore the balance of power he believed has been lost.

Today he and his ilk are strangely silent as president Bush has announced that he intends to use the undesignated TARP money to fund the bail out of the Big 3 auto makers in Detroit.

This is a blatant usurping of the powers of the Congresional authority to appropriate money. It appears that that Bush's interference is being done to help save the UAW from making any meaningful cuts in the wage and benefit structure of their members and retirees.Nor are they willing to stop paying laid off workers 95% of their salary when they are not producing any profit! Certainly the Big 3 cost of hiring one UAW worker at $73.00 per hour and earned benfits of $23.00 per hour leaves some wiggle room!

Even Obama had his "two cents" worth to contribute to the situation that would undermine the separation of powers if done by Bush. He said this today. "I am disappointed that the Senate could not reach agreement on a short-term plan for the auto industry. I share the frustration of so many about the decades of mismanagement in this industry that has helped deliver the current crisis."(note he blams only management)
"Those bad practices cannot be rewarded or continued. But I also know that millions of American jobs rely directly or indirectly on a viable auto industry, and that the beginnings of reform are at hand. The revival of our economy as a whole should not be a partisan issue. So I commend those in Congress as well as the Administration who tried valiantly to forge a compromise. My hope is that the Administration and the Congress will still find a way to give the industry the temporary assistance it needs while demanding the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required."

You will notice their is no mention of drastic action needed by the UAW. History shows that when the Airlines industry was in financial trouble, the Airline Pilots union and the Flight Attendants union had to agree to benefits and salary cuts to keep the planes flying. It worked. This present situation cannot possibly work unless the union bosses quit telling the Congress how to do their business.
But then why would we expect the Congress to understand why tax payers money should not be pumped down rat holes! Congress and President Bush have been spending taxpayers money like drunken sailors(with apologies to the Naval service)for over four years!

HIS NOSE GROWS LONGER BY THE DAY!

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

In children's folklore, the story of Pinocchio and Ghepetto the wood carver that made toys, is a story with a message for young children. Do not lie or your nose will grow and everyone will know you are a liar!

Well, we have our own Pinocchio in Barrack Hussein Obama with his stumbling explanation yesterday morning, that he or none of his cabinet level appointees had any contact with the Gov. of Illinois regarding his soon to be vacated U.S.Senate seat.
Even if you give Obama the benefit of the doubt, it begs credibility to believe that an incoming President has no concern about who will fill his seat in the Senate. Friend or foe makes no difference? Well, if you believe that! I have bridge between San Francisco and Oakland I would like to sell you!

To begin with Obama raised money and campaigned for Blagojevich in his successful run for Governor in 2002. Now he wants the American public to believe that he suddenly went into a cacoon of disinterest about who the Governor would appoint to fill his seat in the Senate. And "Blago" was the first Governor to endorse Obama when he announced he was acandidate for President!

Even in Obama's explanation of the "two different brands of politics" in America yesterday morning at his press conference he made the oddest assertion that Chicago style corruption was endemic in "state assemblies" and "city councils" across the nation.So this makes it acceptable?

Come now......isn't this the same type of horrid corruption that Nancyrexia, Harry Dirtdog, Rahm Ratfinger and the ilk were supposed to eliminate? Where is the CHANGE we can all believe in?
Didn't they say they needed a new government that was responsive to the people, transparent...one that would restore honor to DC? Respect in the world??? (and **gasp***our children??)

I guess the bottom line is, say anything to get in power...........

Even the Los Angeles Times, that was one of the first Newspapers to endorse Obama for President, had this to say: "It took three tries in as many days for President-elect Barack Obama to roll out a strategy for defusing the crisis over Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich's alleged attempt to put his old Senate seat up for sale." More: "Obama's evolving response was the first test of his team's capacity to cope with a fast-moving political scandal while staying true to his promise to run a transparent shop with a minimum of secrets."

What is next?

Not About the Jobs, IT IS ABOUT REWARDING POOR MANAGEMENT!

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.” —Ronald Reagan

The Media and the Democrat and RINO cabal that is trying to award poor management practices with you hard earned tax dollars is telling you it is all about saving jobs. But I do not believe it!
That's right America: It's your problem! Just like the banks and insurance companies and everybody else we've been bailing out because they're "too big to let fail."
After the roughly $2 trillion already committed to stemming the credit crisis, an additional $25 billion in public money for the automakers (on top of the $25 billion loan program created by Congress in September to help them develop more fuel-efficient vehicles) seems almost trivial. THE MEDIA SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THIS!

Not only is it morally wrong to reward unprofitable business practices, it's fundamentally wrong and anti-capitalistic.
It wasn't about the jobs when the automakers sent so much of their manufacturing overseas; that was about their bottom line.
It wasn't about the jobs when they built, and then abandoned the project, the EV-1 electric car program. It would not sell anyways because the cost to the consumer is estimated as prohibitive
It wasn't about the jobs when they made decades of vehicles consumers shunned in favor of better products from foreign manufacturers.
It's only about the jobs when it costs them. For over 50 years, the Big Three, with the aid of the UAW, have fought anything that was thought good for the car buyer.

On 11/5/08 the UAW came to Washington to ask for a government Bridge loan to help their Health Trust. The Detroit News reported that the Big 3,and UAW asked for health trust help.
The Big Three and the United Auto Workers were pressing the case for low-cost government loans to help automakers make required payments to trust funds to oversee hourly retiree health care starting in 2010.
The need for congressional support for the health care funding isn't their most immediate concern, but it's looming. The automakers are asking Congress for as much as $25 billion in "bridge financing" to help with their liquidity crisis, but that money also could be used for funding the health care trust.
This request was separate from the $25 billion already approved for low-cost loans for retooling plants to build more fuel-efficient cars, when it returns to work this month.
The topic of the health-care payments was addressed during an hour-long meeting of House Democrats convened by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday.
In total, Detroit's Big Three automakers would have made nearly $60 billion in payments to bankroll three trust funds to pay for hourly retiree health care. All union members who apparently supported Obama in the past election.

The argument that has driven this slow moving economic "iceberg" to the point where the House has passed a "bail out" bill that President Bush has said he would sign is
the warning by legislative director Alan Reuther, who said the financial ability of automakers to make the payments into the trust fund in 2010 is a concern, and one of the issues that should be addressed by Congress.
"If the federal government does not provide assistance to the Detroit-based auto companies to enable them to survive the economic downturn, hundreds of thousands of jobs at the auto companies and suppliers will be threatened," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger wrote in an Oct. 27 letter to lawmakers. "The health care and pension benefits for the retirees and their families will be placed in jeopardy." He noted that the government could be forced to assume a large increase in health care and retiree costs if the Big Three collapsed.
Detroit's Big Three automakers spent $8.9 billion on health care in 2007, compared with a record $11 billion in 2005.
Automakers have said they think Congress should consider all available options to assist automakers.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Congress considered the taxpaying public a little more before they bail out an industry that is destined to to be bankrupt without "chucking" their bloated Union benefit structure, and start making cars that the consumer wants, not cars that the "Eco-freaks" demand!

As an interesting side note. The President elect spent less than two minutes in today's press conference denying he had any contact with indicted and arrested Governor Blagojevich regarding the filling of his Senate seat. He spent most of his time introducing ex-Senator Tom Daschel and Gene Lambert as his team to craft a National Health Plan. Most notable was when asked how can we afford National Health
Insurance? His simplistic non-response was: "how can we afford not to do it!" Not unlike the non-detailed plans for his CHANGE during the campaign!

Our only hope is that true Republican that believe in fiscal responsibility will hold the line. The latest news from the AP is that Republicans are challenging lame-duck President George W. Bush on the proposal, arguing that any support for the domestic auto industry should carry significant concessions from autoworkers and creditors and reject tougher environmental rules imposed by House Democrats.

There were 170 Congressmen and women who voted against the 14 billion dollar loan Wednesday,so I hope the Republicans,in the Senate, do not give into the hysteria of severe job loss that is being used to sell this loan. It will not save jobs, but it will delay their demise until Obama can take over the Oval Office and begin the Socialization of the Republic that once was the USA.