If we need a portrait-in-miniature of the Obama administration and its progressive homeboys, this is it.
From the Boston Herald:
President Obama’s accused drunken-driving uncle — who was busted after a near collision with a Framingham cop — has had a valid Social Security number for at least 19 years, despite being an illegal immigrant ordered to be deported back to Kenya, the Herald has learned.
The president’s 67-year-old uncle, Obama Onyango, has had a valid Massachusetts driver’s license and Social Security number since at least 1992, said Registry of Motor Vehicles spokesman Michael Verseckes.
Onyango, whose sister, Zeituni Onyango, made headlines when it was revealed she was an illegal immigrant living in public housing in South Boston, was wobbly legged, “slurring” and had “red and glassy eyes” when he was pulled over at 7 p.m. Wednesday on Waverly Street in Framingham.
As someone who has witnessed (in his family) the expense and stress incurred by people who steadfastly adhere to immigration law in order to build their upright lives in this wonderful country, this episode is offensive beyond words. There is one law for my family members, and another for the ne'er-do-well illegals that constitute The One's extended family.
But beyond that, it demonstrates Obama's simple incompetence at solving simple problems. Uncle Onyango is a drunk, and he's not going to get sober. Fair enough. Most don't. He's also here illegally, and a deportation order has been issued.
A competent person in Obama's position concludes: Uncle Onyango will drink himself into oblivion wherever he lives. So, let's make sure he is quietly returned to Kenya. I (Obama) have some wealth, and the ability to get things done. Let's rent him a flat in a nice safe part of a city, where the local authorities can keep an eye on him (they can be bought, you know), and arrange for a modest monthly stipend to keep him fed, his booze supply plentiful, and the occasional hooker to keep him happy. In a few years, he'll be dead, and in the meantime, he'll just be another old drunk in Kenya.
Obama could do this on his own dime, not spending one penny of public or donor money. He could even buy the plane ticket-one way to Kinshasa.
This is what a competent President would do--outcome for Uncle would be essentially the same, but the law would be adhered to in the US, and Uncle could not possibly be a distraction or embarrassment fourteen months ahead of the election. A President has other fish to fry, like war and peace, the economy, etc. etc.
November 2012 cannot arrive soon enough.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
No Moral Hazard Here: BlackRock Wants To Create And Control Its Own Indexes, And Sell Securities Based Upon Them
Pshaw, ya'll! What could go wrong?
Besides...
IShares said in its application that neither the advisers to the funds nor the internal index provider would have the ability to manipulate a benchmark, in part because the company plans to set up “firewalls.” Each BlackRock index would be rules-based, composed of equity and/or fixed-income securities, whose methodology would be clearly disclosed, according to the application.
That'll take care of things, fer sure. No possibility of folks from one side of the wall having a friendly fishing trip with folks from the other side. That sort of stuff never happens, 'cuz it would be immoral...
And, when it all blows up, Little Timmy and Uncle Ben will simply make it all good with taxpayer money, and send the bill to our grandchildren.
No problem!
Besides...
IShares said in its application that neither the advisers to the funds nor the internal index provider would have the ability to manipulate a benchmark, in part because the company plans to set up “firewalls.” Each BlackRock index would be rules-based, composed of equity and/or fixed-income securities, whose methodology would be clearly disclosed, according to the application.
That'll take care of things, fer sure. No possibility of folks from one side of the wall having a friendly fishing trip with folks from the other side. That sort of stuff never happens, 'cuz it would be immoral...
And, when it all blows up, Little Timmy and Uncle Ben will simply make it all good with taxpayer money, and send the bill to our grandchildren.
No problem!
Labor In Wisconsin Believes In Inclusiveness (As Long As You Don't Belong To The GOP)
File under: Tempest In A Teapot, But Are We Surprised?
Wisconsin politics — which hasn't been pretty of late — has made its way into a local Labor Day parade. The organizers of the Wausau Labor Day parade announced they would not let Republican lawmakers take part in the Sept. 5 display. The parade is organized by 30 local unions.
Ya gotta' love dose union guyz...they do know how to win friends and influence people.
All the good the union movement did (and it did some good in its day, truly) is now swallowed up in invective and thuggery.
November 2012 cannot arrive soon enough.
Wisconsin politics — which hasn't been pretty of late — has made its way into a local Labor Day parade. The organizers of the Wausau Labor Day parade announced they would not let Republican lawmakers take part in the Sept. 5 display. The parade is organized by 30 local unions.
Ya gotta' love dose union guyz...they do know how to win friends and influence people.
All the good the union movement did (and it did some good in its day, truly) is now swallowed up in invective and thuggery.
November 2012 cannot arrive soon enough.
Indiana Families Vote With Their Feet And Vouchers, Head Toward Parochial Schools
And, should we be surprised?
SOUTH BEND, IND. — Weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils.
It’s a scenario public school advocates have long feared: Students fleeing local districts in large numbers, taking with them vital tax dollars that often end up at parochial schools. Opponents say the practice violates the separation of church and state.
In at least one district, public school principals have been pleading with parents not to move their children.
“The bottom line from our perspective is, when you cut through all the chaff, nobody can deny that public money is going to be taken from public schools, and they’re going to end up in private, mostly religious schools,” said Nate Schnellenberger, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools. That number is expected to climb significantly in the next two years as awareness of the program increases and limits on the number of applicants are lifted.
Let's get our bearings here: Tax dollars are extracted from the populace at the point of a gun. They are spent, in part, on schools that harm children. So, in making those dollars available to the families from which they were extracted at the point of a gun, and granting them the freedom to allocate those tax dollars as best they see fit for their children...this is not a public subsidy of anyone's religion.
It is a family-by-family free choice, to remove their children from harms' way, and place them in safe and productive schools. The parochials have the accreditation, and they have desks to fill. Little wonder the parents seek them out.
In three to five year's time, the public systems will have made some adjustments in order to be competitive, like safe hallways and literate teachers. Other, secular, schools will achieve accreditation. And, there will be families that decide they don't like the parochial school experience, and that there is no 'magic pixie dust' after all. Children who don't work don't achieve, period. Those families will drift back to the county school systems, where they won't feel so bad about being lazy.
The parochials will thrive, and maybe, just maybe, some of those great old neighborhoods will revive.
Everyone, except the NEA, will benefit.
Kudos to Mitch Daniels and the legislature of Indiana.
SOUTH BEND, IND. — Weeks after Indiana began the nation’s broadest school voucher program, thousands of students have transferred from public to private schools, causing a spike in enrollment at some Catholic institutions that were only recently on the brink of closing for lack of pupils.
It’s a scenario public school advocates have long feared: Students fleeing local districts in large numbers, taking with them vital tax dollars that often end up at parochial schools. Opponents say the practice violates the separation of church and state.
In at least one district, public school principals have been pleading with parents not to move their children.
“The bottom line from our perspective is, when you cut through all the chaff, nobody can deny that public money is going to be taken from public schools, and they’re going to end up in private, mostly religious schools,” said Nate Schnellenberger, president of the Indiana State Teachers Association.
Under a law signed in May by Gov. Mitch Daniels, more than 3,200 Indiana students are receiving vouchers to attend private schools. That number is expected to climb significantly in the next two years as awareness of the program increases and limits on the number of applicants are lifted.
Let's get our bearings here: Tax dollars are extracted from the populace at the point of a gun. They are spent, in part, on schools that harm children. So, in making those dollars available to the families from which they were extracted at the point of a gun, and granting them the freedom to allocate those tax dollars as best they see fit for their children...this is not a public subsidy of anyone's religion.
It is a family-by-family free choice, to remove their children from harms' way, and place them in safe and productive schools. The parochials have the accreditation, and they have desks to fill. Little wonder the parents seek them out.
In three to five year's time, the public systems will have made some adjustments in order to be competitive, like safe hallways and literate teachers. Other, secular, schools will achieve accreditation. And, there will be families that decide they don't like the parochial school experience, and that there is no 'magic pixie dust' after all. Children who don't work don't achieve, period. Those families will drift back to the county school systems, where they won't feel so bad about being lazy.
The parochials will thrive, and maybe, just maybe, some of those great old neighborhoods will revive.
Everyone, except the NEA, will benefit.
Kudos to Mitch Daniels and the legislature of Indiana.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Mendacious Idiocy: The US Government Raid On Gibson Guitars "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms"
You think they can't get more evil and stupid, and something like this happens.
Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.
This must be read to be believed, because it is simply unbelievable.
Guitarists, violinists, clarinetists, bassoonists, all manner of acoustical musicians play instruments made of wood. They tweak them, renovate them, overhaul them, customize them endlessly. They use bits of wood to create bridges, bows, neck joints, fingerboards, etc., endlessly. There is absolutely no way on God's Green Earth to know the provenance of each bit of wood--many of the instruments are decades, even centuries old, and are maintained and renovated with parts from similar instruments.
Obama's goons have decided they know better. This is Hope and Change, unmasked.
OS will on the phone to his Congressman bright and early Monday.
Folks, these criminals with badges must be removed from their offices, and they must be barred from any position that would allow them to create this sort of harm in the future.
November 2012 cannot come soon enough.
Federal agents swooped in on Gibson Guitar Wednesday, raiding factories and offices in Memphis and Nashville, seizing several pallets of wood, electronic files and guitars. The Feds are keeping mum, but in a statement yesterday Gibson's chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, defended his company's manufacturing policies, accusing the Justice Department of bullying the company. "The wood the government seized Wednesday is from a Forest Stewardship Council certified supplier," he said, suggesting the Feds are using the aggressive enforcement of overly broad laws to make the company cry uncle.
This must be read to be believed, because it is simply unbelievable.
Guitarists, violinists, clarinetists, bassoonists, all manner of acoustical musicians play instruments made of wood. They tweak them, renovate them, overhaul them, customize them endlessly. They use bits of wood to create bridges, bows, neck joints, fingerboards, etc., endlessly. There is absolutely no way on God's Green Earth to know the provenance of each bit of wood--many of the instruments are decades, even centuries old, and are maintained and renovated with parts from similar instruments.
Obama's goons have decided they know better. This is Hope and Change, unmasked.
OS will on the phone to his Congressman bright and early Monday.
Folks, these criminals with badges must be removed from their offices, and they must be barred from any position that would allow them to create this sort of harm in the future.
November 2012 cannot come soon enough.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Helicopter Ben's Speech, Translated Into Southern
Of course, the United States faces many growth challenges. Our population is aging, like those of many other advanced economies, and our society will have to adapt over time to an older workforce. Our K-12 educational system, despite considerable strengths, poorly serves a substantial portion of our population. The costs of health care in the United States are the highest in the world, without fully commensurate results in terms of health outcomes. But all of these long-term issues were well known before the crisis; efforts to address these problems have been ongoing, and these efforts will continue and, I hope, intensify.
The schools suck. They spend money like drunken sailors and produce illiterate graduates who are essentially unemployable.
The health care system sucks as badly as the schools. It spends money like a drunken sailor, and we're less, nor more, healthy at the end of the day.
'Tain't telling yew nothin' new, but dem politicians gotta git-er-dun' or weez doomed!
Normally, monetary or fiscal policies aimed primarily at promoting a faster pace
of economic recovery in the near term would not be expected to significantly affect the longer-term performance of the economy. However, current circumstances may be an
exception to that standard view--the exception to which I alluded earlier. Our economy is suffering today from an extraordinarily high level of long-term unemployment, with nearly half of the unemployed having been out of work for more than six months. Under these unusual circumstances, policies that promote a stronger recovery in the near term may serve longer-term objectives as well. In the short term, putting people back to work reduces the hardships inflicted by difficult economic times and helps ensure that our economy is producing at its full potential rather than leaving productive resources fallow. In the longer term, minimizing the duration of unemployment supports a healthy economy by avoiding some of the erosion of skills and loss of attachment to the labor force that is often associated with long-term unemployment.
If'n President Teleprompter and his homeboyz don't git off their asses and stop doing things that crush job creation, like shutting down the entire oil industry in the Gulf, and attempting to kill the coal industry, NLRB blackmail of Boeing (neeeed we continue?), then weze all screwed. People who don't work, and live off gubbermint cheese, fergit what it feels like to work, ya'll.
Notwithstanding this observation, which adds urgency to the need to achieve a
cyclical recovery in employment, most of the economic policies that support robust
economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank.
We cain't fix this stuff. We're here to help, but you-all GOTS to git yer act together. Don't matter how many helicopters we send up with how much cash, it don't matter. We needs us some grown-ups in charge, and we ain't seen none in years!
Finally, and perhaps most challenging, the country would be well served by a
better process for making fiscal decisions. The negotiations that took place over thesummer disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well, and similar
events in the future could, over time, seriously jeopardize the willingness of investors around the world to hold U.S. financial assets or to make direct investments in job-creating U.S. businesses. Although details would have to be negotiated, fiscal policymakers could consider developing a more effective process that sets clear and transparent budget goals, together with budget mechanisms to establish the credibility of those goals. Of course, formal budget goals and mechanisms do not replace the need for fiscal policymakers to make the difficult choices that are needed to put the country’sfiscal house in order, which means that public understanding of and support for the goals of fiscal policy are crucial.
Likes I said beferr--we gots to git us some sober grownups runnin' things, and not let meth-head Cousin Cody anywhere near anybody's money.
Now, git going. I'm tarehd of dealing wif you peepulz. Call me up when yew want to act responsible-like,
The schools suck. They spend money like drunken sailors and produce illiterate graduates who are essentially unemployable.
The health care system sucks as badly as the schools. It spends money like a drunken sailor, and we're less, nor more, healthy at the end of the day.
'Tain't telling yew nothin' new, but dem politicians gotta git-er-dun' or weez doomed!
Normally, monetary or fiscal policies aimed primarily at promoting a faster pace
of economic recovery in the near term would not be expected to significantly affect the longer-term performance of the economy. However, current circumstances may be an
exception to that standard view--the exception to which I alluded earlier. Our economy is suffering today from an extraordinarily high level of long-term unemployment, with nearly half of the unemployed having been out of work for more than six months. Under these unusual circumstances, policies that promote a stronger recovery in the near term may serve longer-term objectives as well. In the short term, putting people back to work reduces the hardships inflicted by difficult economic times and helps ensure that our economy is producing at its full potential rather than leaving productive resources fallow. In the longer term, minimizing the duration of unemployment supports a healthy economy by avoiding some of the erosion of skills and loss of attachment to the labor force that is often associated with long-term unemployment.
If'n President Teleprompter and his homeboyz don't git off their asses and stop doing things that crush job creation, like shutting down the entire oil industry in the Gulf, and attempting to kill the coal industry, NLRB blackmail of Boeing (neeeed we continue?), then weze all screwed. People who don't work, and live off gubbermint cheese, fergit what it feels like to work, ya'll.
Notwithstanding this observation, which adds urgency to the need to achieve a
cyclical recovery in employment, most of the economic policies that support robust
economic growth in the long run are outside the province of the central bank.
We cain't fix this stuff. We're here to help, but you-all GOTS to git yer act together. Don't matter how many helicopters we send up with how much cash, it don't matter. We needs us some grown-ups in charge, and we ain't seen none in years!
Finally, and perhaps most challenging, the country would be well served by a
better process for making fiscal decisions. The negotiations that took place over thesummer disrupted financial markets and probably the economy as well, and similar
events in the future could, over time, seriously jeopardize the willingness of investors around the world to hold U.S. financial assets or to make direct investments in job-creating U.S. businesses. Although details would have to be negotiated, fiscal policymakers could consider developing a more effective process that sets clear and transparent budget goals, together with budget mechanisms to establish the credibility of those goals. Of course, formal budget goals and mechanisms do not replace the need for fiscal policymakers to make the difficult choices that are needed to put the country’sfiscal house in order, which means that public understanding of and support for the goals of fiscal policy are crucial.
Likes I said beferr--we gots to git us some sober grownups runnin' things, and not let meth-head Cousin Cody anywhere near anybody's money.
Now, git going. I'm tarehd of dealing wif you peepulz. Call me up when yew want to act responsible-like,
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Bailouts, Round 2: JPM To Buy BAC With 100 Billion Tax Dollars
Word floating that Little Timmy will be ponying up 100 billion dollars of OUR MONEY to make the pending Bank of America failure less traumatic to the banksters.
If the House Republicans want to live up to the promises they made the voters, they need to scream bloody murder at the very top of their lungs.
Three years ago, we were all caught by surprise, and the dirty deeds were done before we could understand what was happening.
Now, no longer. We have all grown cynical, and informed.
BAC is the product of a shotgun marriage, paid for with tax dollars, as they took over Merrill Lynch, shortly after buying Countrywide. That worked out well, did it not?
Now for the next round, to attempt to paper over that mess.
Whatever happened to the concept of risk in business? Or is that just for small, Main Street businesses, small banks, individual families?
This will not end well, ya'll.
If the House Republicans want to live up to the promises they made the voters, they need to scream bloody murder at the very top of their lungs.
Three years ago, we were all caught by surprise, and the dirty deeds were done before we could understand what was happening.
Now, no longer. We have all grown cynical, and informed.
BAC is the product of a shotgun marriage, paid for with tax dollars, as they took over Merrill Lynch, shortly after buying Countrywide. That worked out well, did it not?
Now for the next round, to attempt to paper over that mess.
Whatever happened to the concept of risk in business? Or is that just for small, Main Street businesses, small banks, individual families?
This will not end well, ya'll.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Republic And Mother Earth, Saved In The Nick Of Time: The Feds Raid Gibson Guitar Factories In Nashville And Memphis
File under: You just can't make this stuff up.
From the Nashville Tennessean:
Federal agents are in the process of raiding the offices of the Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corporation.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began executing search warrants this morning on guitar factories and corporate headquarters in Nashville and Memphis, according to Nicholas Chavez, special agent in charge with the Fish and Wildlife.
Chavez said the raid included both the corporate headquarters on Park Plus Boulevard and a factory on Elm Hill Pike.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported tourists arriving to a Gibson Guitar factory in downtown Memphis this morning to find the doors locked and agents inside.
The Game Warden is raiding a guitar shop!!
Huh??!!
Read on, read on!!
Gibson was also raided in 2009 for possible violations of the Lacey Act, which bans the importation of endangered plants and wildlife. Federal officials seized ebony and other woods they said were prohibited under the act. Gibson has said in the past it was "fully cooperating" with the investigation.
This is about the wood used to build guitars.
This country has been, well, sodomized, by bankers and their lawyers, with the Feds complicit or looking the other way. Our borders are not secure, and that little civil war in Mexico is going make its way to our heartland, sooner or later.
But never fear, ya'll, Da Fedz iz on da JOB! Dey gunna shut down that rogue guitar operashun, and save da Rain Ferest and all of Gaia's little furry friends!
Hope 'n Change, ya'll!
From the Nashville Tennessean:
Federal agents are in the process of raiding the offices of the Nashville-based Gibson Guitar Corporation.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents began executing search warrants this morning on guitar factories and corporate headquarters in Nashville and Memphis, according to Nicholas Chavez, special agent in charge with the Fish and Wildlife.
Chavez said the raid included both the corporate headquarters on Park Plus Boulevard and a factory on Elm Hill Pike.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal reported tourists arriving to a Gibson Guitar factory in downtown Memphis this morning to find the doors locked and agents inside.
The Game Warden is raiding a guitar shop!!
Huh??!!
Read on, read on!!
Gibson was also raided in 2009 for possible violations of the Lacey Act, which bans the importation of endangered plants and wildlife. Federal officials seized ebony and other woods they said were prohibited under the act. Gibson has said in the past it was "fully cooperating" with the investigation.
This is about the wood used to build guitars.
This country has been, well, sodomized, by bankers and their lawyers, with the Feds complicit or looking the other way. Our borders are not secure, and that little civil war in Mexico is going make its way to our heartland, sooner or later.
But never fear, ya'll, Da Fedz iz on da JOB! Dey gunna shut down that rogue guitar operashun, and save da Rain Ferest and all of Gaia's little furry friends!
Hope 'n Change, ya'll!
New York City's Last Print Music Outlet
OS, from his headline banner, and his tiny little pulpit, continues to insist that we won't have an economy worth working in unless we have a culture worth the sacrifice of time, energy and wealth.
This poignant short film about Manhattan's final classical print music outlet tells a real tale. Remember, Manhattan used to be the center of the musical world in the 20th century.
Yes, one could say all sorts of things like, 'Bricks and mortar are dead, she should sell the business and retire, she should move to the burbs, etc. etc.' But, on Manhattan, has the culture caved to the extent that it won't support one walk-in music store?
OS remembers some phrase about the canary in the coal mine...
This poignant short film about Manhattan's final classical print music outlet tells a real tale. Remember, Manhattan used to be the center of the musical world in the 20th century.
Al Niente: New York's last sheet music store from lea khayata on Vimeo.
Yes, one could say all sorts of things like, 'Bricks and mortar are dead, she should sell the business and retire, she should move to the burbs, etc. etc.' But, on Manhattan, has the culture caved to the extent that it won't support one walk-in music store?
OS remembers some phrase about the canary in the coal mine...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
While Obama Is On Vacation, And The Next Recession Gathers Steam....
Let's remember what life was like when we had a real President.
Not a neurotic self-righteous Baptist preacher wanna-be, or a Yale patrician, or an Arkansas Bubbah who never could keep it in his pants, or a patrician's son who understood little past loyalty to himself, or a leftist who dedicated his life to the demise of the country.
A President.
We miss you, Gipper.
Not a neurotic self-righteous Baptist preacher wanna-be, or a Yale patrician, or an Arkansas Bubbah who never could keep it in his pants, or a patrician's son who understood little past loyalty to himself, or a leftist who dedicated his life to the demise of the country.
A President.
We miss you, Gipper.
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