Another Tax Cheat in the Obama Administration

To the surprise of nobody, it turns out that Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary is ALSO a tax cheat.  

Apparently, it is a requirement for this administration that you cheat on your taxes before you can be nominated for a cabinet post. 

Of course, once again, these are "honest errors."  I'm just curious why all of these honest mistakes are only found when these people get appointed to a cabinet post?  Is there some Special Version of Turbo Tax that asks the question "Are you a democrat in a highly visible public office?  If so, you are eligible to dodge some of your taxes.  But if you get nominated for a cabinet post, you may have to pay these taxes...."?

Like Michelle Malkin said, "Knock me over with a feather!"

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Just a Thought

This weekend on one of the political talk programs, Turbo Tax Tim Geithner made the comment that the administration "...does not want to reward failure."

My question would be, then, why are we taking money away from successful businesses and punishing them, in order to give it to unsuccessful ones, allowing the unsuccessful ones to pay millions and millions of dollars out to their executives?

It's just a thought...

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Sebelius Testifies Before The Senate

President Obama's choice to head the U.S. Health and Human Services Department, said Tuesday that if confirmed, "health reform would be my mission."

Testifying before a Senate panel, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius pledged herself to Obama's goal of overhauling the health system to cover 48 million uninsured Americans. Although consumers, insurers, the health industry and others largely agree that reform is needed now, some battle lines have been drawn over Obama's health overhaul plans.

"Inaction is not an option. The status quo is unacceptable, and unsustainable," said Sebelius, citing high health care costs that she said were hurting families and crippling the economy.

Before you draw any opinions of Sebelius, please read the article below about the Tiller verdict and the corruption in Sebeilus' state. It is this corruption of the judicial and political process that will make her fit right in to the Obama administration.

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Bush vs. Gore: Eco-friendly Homes

Global Warming is once again in the news.  You can Google the latest, if you'd like.  I thought that, in response, I'd like to post an excerpt from Snopes.com regarding the e-mails you may have seen floating around alleging that the Crawford, Texas ranch of George W. Bush is more eco-friendly than the home of Global Warming profiteer, Al Gore.

Here is the web address.

According to the Associated Press, the Gore's 10,000 square foot Belle Meade residence consumes electricity at a rate of about 12 times the average for a typical house in Nashville.  While there are mitigating factors, this is still a surprising number, given that the residence is approximately four times the size of the average new American home.

The Prairie Chapel Ranch home owned by George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas was designed by Austin architect David Heymann.... and is a model of environmental rectitude.  Geothermal heat pumps ... circulate water through pipes buried 300 feet deep in the ground where the temperature is a constant 67 degrees; the water heats the house in the winter and cools it in the summer.... A 25,000 gallon underground cistern collects rainwater gathered from roof runs... The water is used to irrigate the landscaping surrounding the four-bedroom home....By marketplace standards, the house is startlingly small... Constructed from local limestone, the house has eight rooms in a long, narrow design to take advantage of views and breezes....

Al Gore would like the government to force you and I to be more energy efficient.  But he does not want to practice what he preaches.

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Obama and Escalation in Afghanistan

President Obama went on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday to make the case for his great big war in Afghanistan.

The good news is that Obama says, "What I will not do is to simply assume that more troops always results in an improved situation."

The bad news is that Obama is dispatching more troops to a country that has never taken well to occupation.

So where is the MoveOn.org blast condemning the ramping up of an undeclared war and the president's refusal to rule out an even more dramatic expansion of that war to Pakistan? Where is the memo from the Center for American Progress outlining the case against giving the president "a blank check for endless war"?

Don't hold your breath, says John Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy and the co-author of Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq and The Best War Ever: Lies, Damned Lies and the Mess in Iraq, two of the most scathing books on the Bush-Cheney administration and its war in Iraq.

In a no-holds-barred critique of groups that earned their reputations as critics of the rush to invade and occupy Iraq, Stauber argues that the Obama administration has effectively co-opted some of the nation's most high-profile anti-war groups.

Here's what Stauber writes in a piece titled: "How Obama Took Over the Peace Movement," which appears on the CMD website:

John Podesta's liberal think tank the Center for American Progress strongly supports Barack Obama's escalation of the US wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is best evidenced by Sustainable Security in Afghanistan, a CAP report by Lawrence J. Korb. Podesta served as the head of Obama's transition team, and CAP's support for Obama's wars is the latest step in a successful co-option of the US peace movement by Obama's political aids and the Democratic Party.

CAP and the five million member liberal lobby group MoveOn were behind Americans Against Escalation in Iraq (AAEI), a coalition that spent tens of millions of dollars using Iraq as a political bludgeon against Republican politicians, while refusing to pressure the Democratic Congress to actually cut off funding for the war. AAEI was operated by two of Barack Obama's top political aids, Steve Hildebrand and Paul Tewes, and by Brad Woodhouse of Americans United for Change and USAction.

Today Woodhouse is Obama's Director of Communications and Research for the Democratic National Committee. He controls the massive email list called Obama for America composed of the many millions of people who gave money and love to the Democratic peace candidate and might be wondering what the heck he is up to in Afghanistan and Pakistan. MoveOn built its list by organizing vigils and ads for peace and by then supporting Obama for president; today it operates as a full-time cheerleader supporting Obama's policy agenda. Some of us saw this unfolding years ago. Others are probably shocked watching their peace candidate escalating a war and sounding so much like the previous administration in his rationale for doing so.

Ouch!

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Tiller the Killer found "not guilty"

What you've heard by now, if you've been watching the news, is that infamous abortion doctor, George Tiller, also known as "Tiller the Killer", was found not guilty of violating Kansas state abortion guidelines in performing heinous late term abortions, many on victims that were very near delivery.

What you don't know may surprise you.

Tiller is the poster-boy, not just of near-birth abortions, but also of political corruption.  Aside from his murder of innocent unborn children, one of the biggest complaints the people of the state of Kansas have against Tiller has always been his ability to use political connections to avoid the enforcement of state regulations governing late-term abortions.  His direct and indirect support of Kathleen Sebelius (current governor and nominee for Obama's HHS secretary), combined with a judicial selection process that is completely opaque and deeply political, bought him years of immunity and reduced the state's late-term abortion laws to a statutory wink.  The laws were there, but enforcing them was never an option.

That changed when activist pro-life State Attorney General, Phil Kline, was elected in Kansas in 2002.  Conservatives almost never win statewide office in Kansas; the state is run by a coalition of "moderate" (read center-left) Republicans and Democrats.  In taking on Tiller, Kline took on the political establishment in Kansas, most notably Sebelius's political coalition and the once powerful Kansas City Star, a paper so devoted to the cause of unrestricted abortion that it used to accept awards from Planned Parenthood for its unstinting adoration of the "right to choose," no matter why, when or by whom that choice is made.

Kline made powerful enemies, of course, and was ultimately destroyed politically and financially.  Although he's now teaching law in Virginia, they still pursue him.  But on his way out, he launched a couple of investigations, including the one that has brought Tiller to court.

Kline's successor, Paul Morrison, was recruited by Governor Sebelius to run the Attorney General's office in a Tiller-friendly fashion.  He successfully tossed out many of the charges he would have faced under Kline, but not because not all of the lower court judges are Sebelius loyalists.  The "technical" misdemeanors with which Tiller had been charged somehow survived.

Morrision later resigned amid a sex scandal and was replaced by another avidly pro-choice Attorney General, Steve Six.  The governor, one of the most aggressive supporters of abortion in the country, thus had a great deal of say over this process.  In Kansas, much of the judiciary is under the control of the governor through a closed-door appointment process unlike in any other state.

It was expected that Tiller would be acquitted before the trial ever started.

The state's lackadaisical case was "embarrassing" according to knowledgeable observers. The state assigned a single prosecutor to the case.  Tiller had a five-member team, including a former U.S. Attorney.  The state called one witness - Kristin Neuhaus, the doctor who signed off on Tiller's near-birth abortions.  She was an extremely hostile witness who avoided answering questions directly. The prosecution had "reams of documents" available to them dealing with the case, but didn't use them.  Tiller's accountant wasn't even called, a surprising move if the prosecution wanted to win the case, given that the case rested on the financial relationship between Tiller and Neuhaus.  

Ironically, as more than one trial-follower noted, the only thing that might convict Tiller, given the prosecution's "botching" of the case, was Tiller's own statements asked by his defense team.  There he let slip that Neuhaus had worked for him and was part of his "organization", before quickly correcting himself.

One person described the case as a "show-trial."  That person meant it literally.  It was just for show, so that Tiller's supporters could say that he got his day in court and won.

This trial will now be used to devastate the effort to enforce abortion laws in Kansas for years, or decades, to come.  Those illegal abortions will go on forever, and the whole thing will be blown up in the press as a "witch hunt" launched by Phil Kline.  

The case was a "lay-down".  The Attorney General's office did not want to win the case.

As bad as that is, what's worse is what will happen to other cases in Kansas.  Planned Parenthood has been charged with falsifying documents as a way of justifying not reporting illegal abortions, including those done on children as young as 12, 13 and 14 years old.  There are, literally, thousands of these cases and every single one is a sex crime that will never be prosecuted.  Tiller's acquittal will make a successful prosecution of Planned Parenthood virtually impossible (even if the office of the Attorney General wanted to be successful in prosecuting these cases.)

Don't expect this to show up in the news, however.  The MainStream Media will report this as vindication for the "right to choose."

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Vince the Sham Wow Guy - Arrested

This should brighten everyone's day:

Meet Vince Shlomi. He's probably better known to you as the ShamWow Guy, the ubiquitous television pitchman who has been phenomenally successful peddling absorbent towels and food choppers. 

Shlomi, 44, was arrested last month on a felony battery charge following a violent confrontation with a prostitute in his South Beach hotel room. 

According to an arrest affidavit, Shlomi met Sasha Harris, 26, at a Miami Beach nightclub on February 7 and subsequently retired with her to his $750 room at the lavish Setai hotel. Shlomi told cops he paid Harris about $1000 in cash after she "propositioned him for straight sex." Shlomi said that when he kissed Harris, she suddenly "bit his tongue and would not let go." Shlomi then punched Harris several times until she released his tongue. 

The affidavit notes that during the 4 AM fight Harris sustained facial fractures and lacerations all over her face.

VINCE, THE SHAM WOW GUY

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Obama Has It Both Ways On the Economy

President Obama's plea Tuesday for patience in the economic turmoil fits with the view of most economists that a turnaround will take some time. It doesn't fit quite so neatly with his bullish budget.

The president's spending plans and deficit projections rest on the assumption that the economy will post solid growth next year after a mild, further decline this year. Many economists think that's too rosy.

Obama was more cautious than that in his prime-time news conference - possibly to the point of having it both ways.

A look at some of his statements and how they square with the facts:

THE CLAIM: "We will recover from this recession. But it will take time, it will take patience, and it will take an understanding that when we all work together, when each of us looks beyond our own short-term interests to the wider set of obligations we have to each other, that's when we succeed."

THE FACTS: No one really knows when the recession will end. But Obama's own budget forecasts the recession will continue through this year but with a relatively shallow 1.2 percent decline in the gross domestic product.

Then, the budget predicts solid 3.2 percent growth for 2010, followed by three years of more than 4 percent growth each year.

Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said this week she was "incredibly confident" the U.S. economy will recover within a year.

Congressional Republicans and some Democratic budget hawks have suggested the Obama budget projections are unduly optimistic to make the math to pay for the president's programs work. The higher the GDP growth, the more tax revenues come in.

Meanwhile, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last week predicted that the Obama budget would produce deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.

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OBAMA: "In this budget, we have made the tough choices necessary to cut our deficit in half by the end of my first term even under the most pessimistic estimates."

THE FACTS: Not all credible estimates foresee a deficit halved in that time.

Obama's budget forecast a deficit of $530 billion by the end of 2013. That would cut by half the deficit he inherited at the start of his term. To succeed, Obama is counting on a recovered economy, a tax boost for the rich and success in easing foreign entanglements. But his assertion that he can accomplish that "even under the most pessimistic estimates" flies in the face of an answer he gave moments later.

The Congressional Budget Office forecasts that Obama's spending plan would leave a deficit of $672 billion by the end of 2013. Explaining the differences between his projections and CBO's, Obama said his administration projects a higher growth rate.

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THE CLAIM: "Our assumptions are perfectly consistent with what blue-chip forecasters out there are saying."

THE FACTS: The Obama administration's economic growth projections are more optimistic over the next five years than those of the Blue Chip Consensus, a monthly average of 50 economic forecasts from the private sector.

The Blue Chip projection is for a deeper contraction this year than is foreseen by the administration --1.9 percent versus 1.2 percent. Then it foresees growth of only 2.1 percent next year, instead of 3.2 percent, and less than 3 percent in each of the next three years, when the administration's forecasts are for 4 percent or better.

After 2015, the blue chip forecast is a little brighter than the administration's.

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THE CLAIM: Obama repeated his assertion that his housing bailout will help "stabilize the housing market and help responsible homeowners stay in their homes."

THE FACTS: Even officials in his administration, many supporters of the plan in Congress and the Federal Reserve chairman have said some of the bailout money is bound to go to those who acted irresponsibly.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has said it's important for the nation to go ahead with the plan even though it means assistance will go to some who should have known better than to get in over their heads.

Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., made a similar point when she said it's "simply impractical" to examine every delinquent loan and weed out those taken by people who overstated their income or assets to get a mortgage they couldn't afford.

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THE CLAIM: Responding to Republican critics in Congress who say his proposed budget carries an irresponsible deficit, Obama said, "I suspect that some of those Republican critics have a short memory, because, as I recall, I'm inheriting a $1.3 trillion deficit, annual deficit, from them."

FACT: Obama inherited a whopper of a deficit, much of it due to policies and spending led by Republican President George W. Bush. But the Congress, which authorizes spending and is not blameless in driving up deficits, was controlled by Democrats in the last two years of Bush's presidency.

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Hillary: Mexican Drug Violence Is the Fault of the United States

In the latest salvo from the "Blame America First" Party, Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton lays most of the blame for Mexico's drug violence on the United States.

An "insatiable" appetite in the United States for illegal drugs is to blame for much of the violence ripping through Mexico, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

Clinton acknowledged the U.S. role in Mexico's vicious drug war as she arrived in Mexico for a two-day visit where she discussed U.S. plans to ramp up security on the border with President Felipe Calderon.

A surge in drug gang killings to 6,300 last year and fears the violence could seep over the border has put Mexico's drug war high on President Barack Obama's agenda, after years of Mexico feeling that Washington was neglecting a joint problem.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians," Clinton told reporters during her flight to Mexico City.

"I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility."

There is no question that the US should take responsibility for some of the blame.  But not the way Clinton suggests.

Hillary blames the US for having an "insatiable appetite" for drugs.  True, to a large extent.  And which party is it, pray tell, that wants drug laws to be soft?  Which party wants to let drug users off scot free, for the most part.  And, on the other hand, which party would like to lock up habitual users, especially those who commit crimes to support their habits and remove them from society?  Hmmmmm.  Maybe that has something to do with our appetite.  No incentive to stay away from illegal drugs.

Clinton also blames our Second Amendment right for much of the Drug violence in Mexico.  That seems a little strange to me, particularly since many of the drug lords down there are beheading their enemies to send a message.  When was the last time someone used a hunting rifle to behead someone?

How about blaming the Democrats for not securing our borders?  How about blaming the Democrats for being soft on drug enforcement?  How about blaming the democrats for being soft on illegal immigrants who are here committing crimes?

It is the Democratic party who wants as many illegal immigrants here as possible, who wants to protect them and give them health care, education and welfare, so they'll stay, become citizens and vote for more Democrats.

Yes, Hillary, some of the drug violence in Mexico is the fault of the US.  And most of that blame can be laid at the feet of you and your party.

By the way, I should be commended for not highlighting and making a joke of the article's unintended double entendre, when it said that Mexico had long felt that "Washington was neglecting a joint problem."

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Controversy Solved...

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Two Constants

There appear to be only two constants in our ever-changing world. One is that Barack Obama is going to be on television every day forever. No venue is too strange. Soon, he’ll be on “Dancing With the Stars” (“And now, doing the Health Care, Energy and Education tango ...”) or delivering the weather report. (“Here we see a wave of systemic change, moving across the nation ...”)

The other immutable truth is that we always need to have somebody we can be really, really angry at. John McCain, George W. Bush, the House Republicans. The A.I.G. bonus-takers have pretty much worn out their 15 minutes. Someone will have to step up to the plate and take their turn.

I don't know for certain, but I suspect there must be a White House department for this.  Someone appointed to target the next distraction/villain to keep the public eye off of the economy and the administration.  Someone to distract us from the ever increasing federal deficit and national debt. Someone to make us forget that we went from a president who stumbled over his words, to one who stumbles over his thoughts without a tele-prompter.

I don't know who this person is, but if he really exists, I'm certain he's cheated on his taxes.

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GOP to Release Budget Proposal

A mere one day after a tele-prompter told the president to ridicule the GOP for not having a budget of their own, the Republican leadership in the House announces that they will unveil their own budget today.

The content of the proposal is not yet known.  What is known is this:  The MainStreamMedia will likely not play this story/event, allowing the democrats to continue to use the "Party of No" rhetoric and continue to complain the the GOP has no alternative solutions, as they have since Obama's Teleprompter took office.  

The Republicans in the House and in the Senate have made numerous suggestions and proposals, nearly all of which have been shot down by Democrats who then complain that the GOP doesn't have an alternative plan, so the Tele-Prompter's plans HAVE to be passed.

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Jobless Claims Up ... Again

The number of laid-off Americans filing initial jobless benefit claims rose slightly last week while the number of people continuing to claim benefits set a record for the ninth straight week, the Labor Department said Thursday.

The figures indicate that the labor market remains weak.

The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 644,000, slightly higher than analysts expected. A year ago, the number stood at 367,000.

The total number of people claiming benefits for more than a week jumped 122,000 to 5.56 million, significantly higher than analysts' projections of 5.48 million and the highest on records dating back to 1967. The continuing claims data lag initial claims by a week.  Still, this is less than the 5 million job losses per month that Nancy Pelosi touted in an effort to pass the largest pork barrel spending bill in our nations history.

The number of continuing claims has increased by more than 100,000 four times in the past five weeks, an indication that workers are remaining on the rolls for longer as they struggle to land a new job after being laid off.

As a proportion of the work force, the number of people receiving benefits is at its highest level since May 1983, when the economy was recovering from a steep recession.

As an interesting side note, The Tele-Prompter and his administration have been talking up the economy in the last few weeks.  Just this past week, an administration official used the words "fundamentals are sound" to try to boost stock prices.

In October, The Tele-Prompter made the following statement in response to John McCain's claim that the fundamentals of the economy were sound: "Nine straight months of job loss. Yet, just the other week, John McCain said the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Well, I don't know what yardstick Sen. McCain uses, but where I come from, there's nothing more fundamental than a job."

Someone should remind that Tele-Prompter that there STILL is nothing more fundamental than a job.  Perhaps it's time to get off of the PR circuit and do his job.

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Will The Dollar Remain Reserve Currency?

Treasury Secretary and tax cheat, Timothy "Turbo Tax" Geithner said today that the U.S. dollar is still the world's reserve currency, though he also expressed openness to exand the use of an IMF currency basket.

Turbo Tax, when asked during an audience question and answer period following a speech in New York, whether he foresaw a change in the dollar's global role said, "No, I do not.  The dollar remains the world's dominant reserve currency and I think that's likely to continue for a long period of time."

The fact that the question was even brought up is cause for concern, as well as his less-than-certain response.  Other world economic and banking leaders have been recently suggesting a change.

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White House to Grab More Power over Financial Companies

Pointing with dismay to the AIG debacle, the nation's top economic officials argued Tuesday for unprecedented powers to regulate and even take over financial goliaths whose collapse could imperil the entire economy. A Tele-prompter agreed and said he hoped "it doesn't take too long to convince Congress."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Turbo-TaxCheat Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a rare joint appearance before a House committee, said the messy federal intervention into American International Group, an insurance giant, demonstrated a need to regulate complex nonbank financial institutions just as banks are now regulated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

"AIG highlights broad failures of our financial system," Turbo-Tax Geithner told the House Financial Services Committee. "We must ensure that our country never faces this situation again."

But the two appeared divided over where the authority should reside. Geithner suggested his Treasury Department's powers be expanded. Bernanke was noncommittal, even suggesting the FDIC.

Both officials sought to channel the widespread public outrage over the millions of dollars AIG spent in post-bailout bonuses into support for regulatory overhaul. Geithner was expected to lay out more details on the administration's plan Thursday when he appears again before the committee.

Democrats in the Senate say the administration wants the proposal on taking over non-banks to move separately from the larger financial industry regulatory bill, to get it going more quickly.

At the White House, the Tele-Prompter In Chief told reporters, "We are already hard at work in putting forward a detailed proposal. We will work in consultation with members of Congress. That will be just one phase of a broader regulatory framework that we're going to have to put in place to prevent these kinds of crises from happening again."

Christianophobe Bawney Fwank, D-Mass., the committee chairman, said that "when nonbank major financial institutions need to be put out of their misery, we need to give somebody the authority to do what the FDIC can do with banks."  

... Especially since they have such a great track record.

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