"Broken Government"

Power Line - How to Tell When the Government Is Broken

George calls this one perfectly. When Republicans are having trouble with the reform of something that the Democrats are blocking, the MSM calls that "good government". Reverse it and it is "broken government". Remember that when the Democrats filibustered an unprecedented 10 Bush judicial appointments,  the threat of filibuster was a sacred part of the Senate, not to be touched by any "nuclear option". There were kudos to the "moderate RINO" John McCain and his "gang of 14" in heading off this "crisis".

Now? Oh, now the Democrats can talk of using reconciliation to force the health care bill through (an example of "going nuclear" to get around the filibuster) and the MSM is just FINE with that!

TERRY MORAN, HOST: There's a sense that something is broken in Washington summed up this week by Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) who announced his retirement. I think it's fair to say he's leaving in disgust. Here's what he had to say.

SENATOR EVAN BAYH, (D-IND.): I have had a growing conviction that Congress is not operating as it should. There is much too much partisanship, and not enough progress. Too much narrow ideology, and not enough practical problem solving. Even at a time of enormous national challenge, the people's business is not getting done.

MORAN: Is he right, George?

GEORGE WILL: Well, it's hard to take a lecture on bipartisanship from a man who voted against the confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts, the confirmation of Justice Alito, the confirmation of Attorney General Ashcroft, the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State. Far from being a rebel against his Party's lockstep movement, Mr. Bayh voted for the Detroit bailout, for the stimulus, for the public option in the healthcare bill. I don't know quite what his complaint is, but, Terry, with metronomic regularity, we go through these moments in Washington where we complain about the government being broken. These moments have one thing in common: The Left is having trouble enacting its agenda. No one when George W. Bush had trouble reforming Social Security said, "Oh, that's terrible - the government's broken."

Analyis of the BO Presidency

American Thinker: Another Failed Presidency

If only it was just a bad dream that was over -- but alas, we still have to listen to this guy for nearly 3 more years!

Considering the options though, long live BO! I'd have to disconnect from the media rather than even listen to one second of Biden.

Great BO Video

Some excellent lines. The fact that this bozo could be elected makes one question democracy. We desperately need him to be a "half termer" with a Republican Congress for the second half of his first term. The prospects for taking congress look pretty good,  but the Republicans need a candidate for President!!  Reagan will NOT be running!!

Green Ice Not So Good

Talk of the Games | Ice issues delay men's speed skating 500 meters | Seattle Times Newspaper

I haven't watched any Olympics -- they don't give the Biathlon the coverage it deserves so I boycott it.

Apparently, some Canadian company makes all-electric "green" ice surfacing machines, and they have broken down quite a lot and done a poor job of resurfacing, forcing them to bring in a good old fashioned propane Zamboni that is American made.

Must be somewhat embarrassing to our docile Molson swilling Zamboni drivers to the North.

Signs of the End

Identifying Sure Signs Of The Final Economic Plunge : Neithercorp Press

Is it really going to be financial Armageddon? I certainly don't know, but these guys have some interesting ideas. 

Crony Capitalism

Under Obama, crony capitalism again rules the day | Washington Examiner

Last week, amid Washington's blizzards, Obama was asked about the $17 million bonus awarded to JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon and the $9 million bonus for Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

"I know both these guys; they are very savvy businessmen," he said. "I, like most of the American people, don't begrudge people success or wealth." So much for campaign-trail denunciations of "fat cat" bankers and bloated bonuses.

I'm sure they are, I just don't like the idea that now my tax dollars are helping them be "savvy". Probably the smartest thing they did was provide big campaign contributions to BO. 

Remember Dick Cheney and Haliburton? He was CEO, he left, he put all his stock in trust, the stock went down -- no matter, "Haliburton" became a chant for the left. They used to only like guys in office that have never held down a job (like BO), now they seem to be able to remain completely silent while the lobbiests roll up the dollars and the folks that BO bailed out roll in the dough and the praises.

Have politics completely replaces principles on the left?

Palm vs Prompter

'Palm-gate' proves centrists' Palin doubts - CNN.com

I understand that consistency is not an issue for the left -- so it is OK for them to be fine with BO using a teleprompter to say hello. Apparently though, the assumption is that even it is OK for them to have no consistency at all, they assume that moderates are OK as well with BO using a teleprompter to say hello, but are going to be turned off by Palin writing on her palm?

Oh wait, maybe it is the fact that she wrote on her palm, but made fun of BO for using a teleprompter? That must be it ... but BO made a HUGE deal about campaign finance, then bypassed the whole apparatus and raised over $500M for the presidential race alone. It must be that they assume that given the bias in the media, most independents were not aware of the BO hypocrisy, but will have the Palin version rubbed in their faces enough to be turned off by it.

Something like this must explain it. 

No Keynesian Free Lunch

FT.com / Comment / Opinion - A Greek crisis is coming to America

Ferguson is one of my favorite writers. Good column, especially liked this paragraph:

What we in the western world are about to learn is that there is no such thing as a Keynesian free lunch. Deficits did not “save” us half so much as monetary policy – zero interest rates plus quantitative easing – did. First, the impact of government spending (the hallowed “multiplier”) has been much less than the proponents of stimulus hoped. Second, there is a good deal of “leakage” from open economies in a globalised world. Last, crucially, explosions of public debt incur bills that fall due much sooner than we expect

DC Pushing 1898 Snow Record

Washington Builds a Mountain of Snow - WSJ.com

For Washington, the winter of 2010, which blanketed the capital with about 45 inches before Tuesday, seems likely to break the record 54.5 inches set a decade after record-keeping began in 1888. "I don't know any staff member that's been around that remembers snowfalls of this magnitude," Mr. Howland said.

While Katrina was widely touted in the MSM as "proof of global warming", DC (and many other places in the world) beaking 100 year records for snow and cold is nothing to be noticed.

The Dead for BO

One always thinks there is a limit, but then, there isn't!

Views of the Truth

Editorial - The Truth About the Deficit - NYTimes.com

Unsurprisingly, the NYTs has the (largely unstated) assumptions behind the linked column:

• Government takeover of medicine will save money.
  
• Taxation has no detrimental effects on economic growth -- taxes can be raised with impunity, and revenue will simply rise. There is no downside.
• The Republican led congress bore no responsibility for the budgets in the black, significant responsibility (along with Bush) for the budgets in the red from '01-'06, but when the Democrats took over congress in '07, they bore no responsibility. Here is their key quote ...
• HOW DID WE GET HERE? When President Bush took office in 2001, the federal budget had been in the black for three years, and continued surpluses were projected for a decade to come.By the time Mr. Bush left office in early 2009, the government had run big deficits for seven straight years, and the economy was on the brink of another Great Depression.
• Republican's must be inherently evil or incompetent, or both. Certainly the above (largely unstated) assumptions are true, and there is no reason discussing them as we face the deficit question.
  

Liberals vs Voters

RealClearPolitics - The Electorate vs. Obama's Agenda

Well, they understand it through a prism of two cherished axioms: (1) The people are stupid and (2) Republicans are bad. Result? The dim, led by the malicious, vote incorrectly.

Good one by Charles, but it pretty much sums up the MSM / Democrat view of the US electorate.

Krugman Vs Krugman

Op-Ed Columnist - Fiscal Scare Tactics - NYTimes.com

Here is Krugman in 2005

And so it has turned out. President Bush has presided over the transformation of a budget surplus into a large deficit, which threatens the government's long-run solvency. The principal cause of that reversal was Mr. Bush's unprecedented decision to cut taxes, especially on the wealthiest Americans, while taking the nation into an expensive war.

Here is Krugman today:

Yet they aren’t facts. Many economists take a much calmer view of budget deficits than anything you’ll see on TV. Nor do investors seem unduly concerned: U.S. government bonds continue to find ready buyers, even at historically low interest rates. The long-run budget outlook is problematic, but short-term deficits aren’t — and even the long-term outlook is much less frightening than the public is being led to believe.

See, not to worry. Deficits in the low 100's of billions in a growing economy under a Republican president "threaten long-run solvency". Deficits in the trillions in a stagnant to falling economy under a Democrat are really no big deal at all. Simple.

No need to ask multiple economists to get multiple opinions with Krugman around, just switch parties and the whole world is different!

That Old BO Magic

AnnCoulter.com - Archived Article: THAT OLD OBAMA MAGIC IS BACK

When she's good, she's very good ;-)

The Democrats have no natural majority because they have no fundamental principles -- at least none that they are willing to state out loud. They are like a drunken vagrant who emerges from the alley to cause havoc every few years. They are the perpetual toothache of American politics.

Worth a read. She has them pegged -- BO has taken the electorate 2 year reality check of the last 40 years after "unsafe selection" (casting ballots for Democrats) down to 10 months.

Assumed Incompetence?

Investors.com - Bare Warning

A chilling spectacle just took place before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Panel Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., asked, "What is the likelihood of another terrorist-attempted attack on the U.S. homeland in the next three to six months, high or low?"

And one by one, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, CIA Director Leon Panetta and FBI Director Robert Mueller all agreed an attack was "certain."

Seems like that would get a little more notice from somebody? is everyone in the MSM so certain of the incompetence of the BO administration that they discount a 100% prediction of an attack by the heads of every one of our intelligence agencies?