Category: Republicans

Yes, we are a Banana Republic

John Hinderaker is shocked to discover that America is not what it seems to be:

I’m stupefied to find that some people are defending the constitutionality of Nancy Pelosi’s discriminatory, confiscatory and retroactive tax on people who receive bonus income from companies that got TARP money. I would have considered it a bright line rule that the government can’t identify a class of unpopular people and impose a special tax on them. What’s next? A 100% income tax on registered Republicans, retroactive to last year? If Pelosi’s bill passes muster, why not?

One theory, presumably, is that since the government is contributing TARP money it can put whatever strings it wants on that money. (Including, I guess, strings imposed after the fact that would deprive employees of agreed-upon consideration for work they’ve already performed.) But that theory has been rejected in a variety of contexts. The government cannot condition its spending on a relinquishment of constitutional rights. Here’s a thought experiment: how about putting a condition (retroactively, of course) on TARP money that says no employee of any bank that receives such money (or his spouse) can get an abortion? Would Nancy Pelosi think that’s constitutional?

Wells Fargo didn’t want any TARP money, but the government forced it to take more than $5 billion worth, so Wells Fargo employees who receive bonuses would be subject to Pelosi’s proposed tax. Say you’re a teller at a Wells Fargo branch in Minnesota and you’re married to a lawyer who makes $250,000 this year. You get a $10,000 bonus for your good work during 2008. The government steals it all (90 percent federal plus 8.5 percent state plus, unless it’s included in the 90 percent, 3 percent Medicare). That is simply insane.

Welcome to the new real world John! This is what happens when Conservatives, Libertarians and those pesky independents falls for the nice speeches and sweet swagger of a man, who in all honesty has zero business being President.

Luckily for us, there some Republicans who have some brains up on the hill. The AP Reports:

Senate Republicans are drawing out a flap that has made the Obama administration squirm, applying the brakes to Democratic attempts to quickly tax away most of the bonuses at troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies.

Sen. Jon Kyl, the Republicans’ vote counter, blocked Democratic efforts Thursday evening to bring up the Senate version of the tax bill to recoup most of the $165 million paid out by AIG last weekend and other bonuses in 2009. The House had swiftly approved its version of the bill earlier in the day.

By rushing, Kyl said, Democrats were letting populist outrage trump informed decision making in the Senate, which is supposed to be insulated from the pressures of public passion.

“I don’t believe that Congress should rush to pass yet another piece of hastily crafted legislation in this very toxic atmosphere, at least without understanding the facts and the potential unintended consequences,” Kyl said on the Senate floor. “Frankly, I think that’s how we got into the current mess.”

Senate Democrats said they will try again next week to take up the tax bill and hope to complete it before April 4, when Congress leaves for a two-week spring break. Combining the disparate House and Senate versions of the bill might have to wait until after the recess.

If the Democrats want to fix the problem, they should try turning to the moron that they put in the White House and his treasury secretary. Both of their resignations would be nice right about now. We need some real leadership, and not that idiot Harlem Globetrotter nonsense, that we have been getting since Barry took office. In other words, it’s time for “Teleprompter Boy” to hit the damned road.

Others:

One the biggest reasons why I will never vote Democrat again…Ever

I am not going to write a long post about this. Because if I do, it will devolve into four letter words and outright nastyness.

I will simple say this; anyone who wants to know why I decided that the Democratic Party no longer represented the views that I hold, and was no longer the Party that I wanted to be associated with, need look no further than right here.

I am not a Republican, nor have I ever been a Republican, nor will I ever be a Republican. But I’ll be GOD DAMNED, if I’ll ever vote for a damned President that sucked up to, made alliances with and basically pandered to people that do this sort of a thing!

Michelle Malkin might be a bit more to the right than myself. But I commend that little loud mouthed woman for being the one that has the, ahem, balls to report this stuff that goes on. Good on you, Michelle. Next time some idiot calls her a hater, I’m sending them this link.

That is all….

The Southern Avenger on "States' Rights and The Left"

Synopsis:

When a number of states passed state sovereignty resolutions recently, though these measures came from right-wing resistance to Obama’s statism, the Left would do well to take note.

The Southern Avenger

The Southern Avenger @ Taki’s Magazine 

D'oh! Obama Bombs a joke…..Badly

To his defense,  The President was trying to funny. Did not work well, at all. 😮

Via Jack Tapper:

The first appearance by a sitting president on “The Tonight Show” may well end up being the last.

President Obama, in his taping with Jay Leno Thursday afternoon, attempted to yuk it up with the funnyman, and ended up insulting the disabled.

Towards the end of his approximately 40-minute appearance, the president talked about how he’s gotten better at bowling and has been practicing in the White House bowling alley.

He bowled a 129, the president said.

“That’s very good, Mr. President,” Leno said sarcastically.

It’s “like the Special Olympics or something,” the president said.

Ouch. Not a good way to follow up the week. I mean, after A.I.G. and everything else happening, and he does this.

Of course, The President’s spokesman and the White House tried to walk the cat backward:

When asked about the remark, the White House said the president did not intend to offend.

“The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics,” White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said. “He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program that gives an opportunity for people with disabilities from around the world.”

From the GibbMaster:

“Good afternoon. The President made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics. He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world.”

Meanwhile, a war of opinions over at HotAir between AllahPundit and Ed Morrissey has broken out:

Update (AP): The Anchoress’s point is well taken, but honestly, I tire of this politically calculated outrage. We all know what he meant; it was politically incorrect, but more political incorrectness among our political elite is all to the good. Lay off.

Update (Ed): Not if only one side gets away with it, AP.

Also, let’s remember that Obama is supposed to be leading, not campaigning or working as a stand-up comedian.  He’s been insisting that we’re in the worst financial crisis in 70 years.  Going on Leno to discuss his policies could have been a smart step; going on Leno to make quips and one-liners, and doing it badly, hardly builds confidence in his leadership or his priorities.  When he stops with the crisis mentality, then he can show us why his stand-up career would have gone nowhere.

Also, wasn’t it Obama and his team that was screeching about the “political incorrectness” of Rush Limbaugh in hoping he’d fail, and insinuating that it amounted to treason?

Hey Allah, When they fire you from drifting off the script too much, you can come work for me man. I cannot afford to pay you; at least not until the Advertising money starts rolling in. I will need help with the dedicated hosting that we’ll have to get, because you are a big name writer and my puny little shared hosting account would not be able to keep with the demand, and I only get 50 gigabytes of bandwidth a month! So, when Michelle drops the hammer man; look me up!  We would make a good team! 😀 😉 😛

More Coverage:

Other Bloggers, left and right: : Townhall.com, protein wisdom, The Sundries Shack, Right Pundits, The Strata-Sphere, Patterico’s Pontifications, NO QUARTER, Perfunction, TBogg, Taegan Goddard’s …, TalkLeft, Ben Smith’s Blog, NewsBusters.org, Don Surber, Little Green Footballs, Wizbang, Conservatives4Palin.com, JammieWearingFool, Taylor Marsh, Riehl World View Alan Colmes’ Liberaland, Political Machine

Palin's Crap shoot

I said the same thing about Mark Sandford, not on the blog; but I did think this at the time. I really feel what Sarah Palin is doing here is huge crap shoot. I’ll explain after the quote:

Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

“We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. We are not requesting more money for normal day-to-day operations of government as part of this economic stimulus package. In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government,” Palin said.

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety. The full list and the specifics aren’t available from the governor’s budget department yet.

The reason I say this is a crap shoot is this. If Obama’s stimulus is a failure or does not bring the expected change in the economy; Palin and Sandford will be considered heroes in the Republican Party, and amongst open-minded Independents that voted for Obama.  On the other hand; If Obama’s Stimulus package works and the economy does turn around,  The Republicans who opposed this stimulus as well as Palin and Sanford will be considered those who stood in the way of rescuing the Nation’s economy from total meltdown.

Either way, it is a very risky crap shoot and not one I personally would have taken. Because there is that risk that you might end up regretting your actions. While appealing to your loyal and sometimes overly ideological base may be nice, one has to remember is that Sanford and Palin are Governors of the entire state that they Govern and not just Governors of that State’s Republican Party base.

Another theory I have is this; perhaps Palin knows that her popularity within the party and amongst Alaskans is gone, and she’s basically setting herself up to not run in 2010 for Governor or get defeated. I could be wrong on that one. But sometimes politicians do this sort of a thing, knowing that they won’t be running for reelection or have seen the poll numbers and are going out in a blaze of glory.

Others, on Both Sides: Hot Air, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Salon, Conservatives4Palin.com, RedState, AMERICAblog News, Don Surber and TPMDC

The History Revisionists Continue

Normally I would normally would not link to this Blog/Site, but I feel that this is extremely warranted.

Via Think Progress:

On PBS’s Charlie Rose yesterday — six years after the eve of the Iraq invasion — former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice discussed the decision to invade Iraq. Rice said she has had no “second thoughts” about striking the country, and when pressed by Rose on whether Saddam Hussein had connections to 9/11, Rice blankly said that “no one” believed in such a link:

ROSE: But you didn’t believe it had anything to do with 9/11.

RICE: No. No one was arguing that Saddam Hussein somehow had something to do with 9/11.

ROSE: No one.

RICE: I was certainly not. The President was certainly not. … That’s right. We were not arguing that.

Hmmm… That is kind of funny, because of this:

In his book, Bush At War, Bob Woodward noted that Bush said after 9/11, “I believe Iraq was involved, but I’m not going to strike them now.” Rice was no exception either. On Sept. 15, 2002, she said that Saddam had “links to terrorism [that] would include al-Qaeda.” As late as September 2006, she remarked, “there were ties going on between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s regime going back for a decade.” Cheney still believes there was a link between Iraq and al Qaeda.

In recent weeks, former Bush administration officials have continued to push the link. Bush maintains that he was right to make a false link between Iraq and 9/11. Former press secretary Ari Fleischer said last week, “But after September 11th, having been being hit once, how could we take a chance that Saddam Hussein might not strike again?”

I may not be a big fan of President Obama and his big Government socialism. But I will take that over a buffoon Administration that cannot even get their damned stories straight. Yes, I still believe that the Bush Administration mislead America, on the reasons for going to war in Iraq.  Do I believe that there should be punishments handed out? Sure, if there were any laws broken. But we all know that this will never happen, because we never punish our political leaders; Waco, Ruby Ridge and many other idiot acts by the idiotic centralized Government have proven that.

The Paleo Con and Neo-Con War rages on

Between the guys over The American Conservative and Commentary Magazine.

Can’t we all just get along people?

I mean, seriously. The Conservative movement is very much in the wilderness right now. Can’t we, just for once, put aside our differences and unite together, as one front, and get back to our moorings? We have some seriously dangerous people in the White House, we have to fight them, and we cannot do this, as long as we are fighting one another.

Sigh… This is one of the reasons why I am simply thinking about stopping blogging. It is just getting to be not worth it anymore.

The Obligatory AIG-Gate Posting

The sappy soap opera that is the AIG-gate scandal continues. If you want to read about that nonsense, go here. I am about as interested in this, as I am knitting. Economics is not my thing, at all.

One note of interest, my far right wing friend Michelle Malkin is having a fit over supposed death threats to the employees of AIG. Which makes me wonder, did she have this same of sort of concern for the two families that she maligned and revealed personal info about, like what kind of cars they drove; during the SCHIP program debacle? ThinkingI dont know

Just sayin’… Cool

Updated:Oh Great…. – Feds undercut civilian supply of ammunition – Update: Order Reversed!

It has began, the assault on gun owners in America:

The Story: Feds undercut civilian supply of ammunition Via WorldNetDaily.com.

A recent government policy change has taken a bite out of the nation’s already stressed ammunition supply, leaving arms dealers scrambling to find ammo for private gun owners.

Georgia Arms is a company that for the last 15 years has been purchasing fired brass shell casings from the Department of Defense and private government surplus liquidators. The military collects the discarded casings from fired rounds, then sells them through liquidators to companies like Georgia Arms that re-manufacture the casings into ammunition for the law enforcement and civilian gun owner communities.

But earlier this month, Georgia Arms received a canceled order, informed by its supplier that the government now requires fired brass casings be mutilated, in other words, destroyed to a scrap metal state.

The policy change, handed down from the Department of Defense through the Defense Logistics Agency, cuts a supply leg out from underneath ammunition manufacturers.

I knew this was coming, I just did not know how.

Boots and Sabers Blog Weighs in:

This policy didn’t come out of the blue.  The Commander in Chief is clearly sending a message to gun owners that they should be paying more for ammunition.  If he can’t do it through regulatory action, he’ll do it by forcing ammunition manufacturers to spend more on production, and he’ll do it at the taxpayers’ expense.

I think it might be even a bit more sinister than that. I believe it could be an underhanded way of attempting to cripple the supply of ammunition. If we cripple or limit the supply, there will be less guns.

But that is the liberals for you. 🙄

Update: Wow! That was quick, the order has been reversed. Days of our Trailers has the details, as does the JPFO and the NRA. Nice work men. We must stay on top of this stuff, as we do have a hostile Administration in the White House, who wants to get rid of all the guns; despite what he might say. All Socialists, who are really Communists in disguise; want to take away our guns.

The Southern Avenger on "Racist Jim Clyburn"

When House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn insinuated that fellow South Carolinian leader, Governor Mark Sanford was racist, an examination of Clyburn’s statement – and the term “racist” – was….

The Video:

The Southern Avenger’s Blog

The Southern Avenger at Taki’s Magazine