"Don’t you dare attempt any constructive activity," notes Moonbattery with biting sarcasm, "especially something that will help alleviate unemployment, unless you have acquired approval and fully submitted to any conceivably applicable needless and cumbersome regulations -- even if bureaucrats’ glacial pace and pyramid-sized tangles of red tape would put you out of business."
Showing posts with label Big Government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big Government. Show all posts
Coding Bootcamps in California Struggle to Survive Regulation Overkill
January 31, 2014 - You would think that the government, at any level, would welcome and encourage anything that will help people get decent jobs. If so, your thinking is incorrect. Remember: Government is not interested in helping you, but only in helping the the government itself and the gray bureaucrats that cling to it like leaches. That's no truer anywhere than in over-regulated California.
"Don’t you dare attempt any constructive activity," notes Moonbattery with biting sarcasm, "especially something that will help alleviate unemployment, unless you have acquired approval and fully submitted to any conceivably applicable needless and cumbersome regulations -- even if bureaucrats’ glacial pace and pyramid-sized tangles of red tape would put you out of business."
"Don’t you dare attempt any constructive activity," notes Moonbattery with biting sarcasm, "especially something that will help alleviate unemployment, unless you have acquired approval and fully submitted to any conceivably applicable needless and cumbersome regulations -- even if bureaucrats’ glacial pace and pyramid-sized tangles of red tape would put you out of business."
Democrat NH Legislator Wants to Make State "So Unwelcoming That Some Will Choose Not to Come"
Jan. 4, 2013 - A state legislator in New Hampshire thinks that restricting people's freedoms is a good idea. Really. Cynthia Chase, 69, Democrat and fan of Saul Alinsky, is worried about a movement called the "Free Staters," who are Libertarians determined to "free" New Hamphire. Chase is a member of New Hampshire's House of Representatives. She represented the Cheshire 3 district from 2010 to 2012, and has represented the Cheshire 8 district since December 5, 2012.
"Thanks to the Free State Project," says their Facebook page, "thousands of liberty-minded people are moving to New Hampshire, working within and without its political system to reduce the size and scope of government. The plan is to inspire 20,000 or more pro-liberty activists to join our efforts to reduce burdensome taxation and regulation, reform state and local law, opt out of federal mandates, protect individual rights, expand free markets, restore constitutional federalism, and much more."
Is America Over-Regulated? Are You Kidding?
February 18, 2012 - "The home of laissez-faire," says The Economist magazine, "is being suffocated by excessive and badly written regulation."
This comes as no surprise to those of us paying attention, of course. In an article titled "Over-regulated America" in their February 18 print edition, the British publication examines the problems of too many laws for too many things for too many stupid reasons.
This comes as no surprise to those of us paying attention, of course. In an article titled "Over-regulated America" in their February 18 print edition, the British publication examines the problems of too many laws for too many things for too many stupid reasons.
The article highlights examples such as the over-sold Dodd-Frank bill, which even uber-liberal George Soros said was "lobbied into inconsistency and incomprehensibility by special interests."
Some excerpts from The Economist article:
The problem, says The Economist, "is not the rules that are self-evidently absurd. It is the ones that sound reasonable on their own but impose a huge burden collectively. America is meant to be the home of laissez-faire....Americans are supposed to be free to choose, for better or for worse. Yet for some time America has been straying from this ideal."
Barack Obama and his administration have certainly contributed to the over-regulation of America, but that process was already well under way by the time Our Glorious Leader was born (wherever that may have been).
Some of you may doubt that regulation has exploded under Obama. Perhaps you believed the blatant lie he told during his State of the Union Address, on Jan. 24, 2012, in which he claimed to have issued fewer regulations in the first three years of his Administration than did George W. Bush.
If you believe that lie, or simply wondered about its veracity, you need to read a February 15 report from Job Creators Alliance (JCA) that cites an analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which shows some stunning numbers. In its summary of the CEI analysis, JCA wrote, "953 economically significant final rules were issued in the first three years of the Obama Administration, compared to just 30 in the first three years of the Bush Administration – more than a thirty-fold increase. In fact, in 2009, the first year of President Obama’s Administration nearly as many economically significant final rules were issued (163) as were issued in the entire eight years of the Bush Administration (179)."
Stunning, right? JCA's conclusion: "The Obama Administration has greatly expanded the impact of the regulatory state on job creators and the economy – more than Clinton, more than Bush, and perhaps more than any Administration in history." (Emphasis added.)
The problem is by no means restricted to the Federal government, as noted by several examples cited above from The Economist.
Over-regulation happens at every level of government in the U.S., from the boards and councils of small towns and big cities to county boards to state legislatures, lawmakers often make stupid laws out of a desperate need to appear as though they are earning their often-bloated salaries. That's not the only reason, of course.
"Two forces make American laws too complex," says the Economist. "One is hubris. Many lawmakers seem to believe that they can lay down rules to govern every eventuality."
Surprisingly, The Economist did not use the phrase "nanny state" to describe what's going on here, but that's what this is. When a bureaucrat or elected official deems it necessary to force you to eat less salt or sugar, or when the Chicago City Council purposefully makes legal gun ownership as expensive and restrictive as possible, that's the nanny state committing first-degree over-regulation. Bring up the subject of over-regulation the next time you're talking with a friendly local merchant and, I guarantee, you'll get an earful.
"The other force that makes American laws complex is lobbying," says The Economist. "The government’s drive to micromanage so many activities creates a huge incentive for interest groups to push for special favours. When a bill is hundreds of pages long, it is not hard for congressmen to slip in clauses that benefit their chums and campaign donors. The health-care bill included tons of favours for the pushy. Congress’s last, failed attempt to regulate greenhouse gases was even worse."
The Competitive Enterprise Institute concludes that "Congress needs to be made more accountable for these regulations. The REINS Act [H.R. 10] approach, proposed by Kentuckians Rep. Geoff Davis and Sen. Rand Paul, would have Congress perform at least an expedited vote on all economically significant rules."
Ah, but there's the rub: "Accountability." When you hear somebody say that "Congress needs to be made more accountable," the first question you should ask is, "How? By whom?" It's a bit like asking any legislative body to restrict their own pay raises. They make the rules, and it's rare when any legislative body works against the personal interests of its members. Only they can impose the laws that would make them more accountable, but to do so would spoil the opportunities available for favors, corruption and grandstanding.
Ironically, it would require yet more regulation to regulate those most in need of it. Don't hold your breath.
Some excerpts from The Economist article:
- Dodd-Frank law of 2010.... Dodd-Frank is far too complex, and becoming more so. At 848 pages, it is 23 times longer than Glass-Steagall, the reform that followed the Wall Street crash of 1929. Worse, every other page demands that regulators fill in further detail. Some of these clarifications are hundreds of pages long. Just one bit, the “Volcker rule”, which aims to curb risky proprietary trading by banks, includes 383 questions that break down into 1,420 subquestions.
- A Florida law requires vending-machine labels to urge the public to file a report if the label is not there.
- A proposed code for nurseries in Colorado that specifies how many crayons each box must contain.
- The Federal Railroad Administration insists that all trains must be painted with an “F” at the front, so you can tell which end is which.
- Bureaucratic busybodies in Bethesda, Maryland, have shut down children’s lemonade stands because the enterprising young moppets did not have trading licences.
 |
| Cover of The Economist, Feb. 18, 2012 |
Barack Obama and his administration have certainly contributed to the over-regulation of America, but that process was already well under way by the time Our Glorious Leader was born (wherever that may have been).
Some of you may doubt that regulation has exploded under Obama. Perhaps you believed the blatant lie he told during his State of the Union Address, on Jan. 24, 2012, in which he claimed to have issued fewer regulations in the first three years of his Administration than did George W. Bush.
If you believe that lie, or simply wondered about its veracity, you need to read a February 15 report from Job Creators Alliance (JCA) that cites an analysis by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which shows some stunning numbers. In its summary of the CEI analysis, JCA wrote, "953 economically significant final rules were issued in the first three years of the Obama Administration, compared to just 30 in the first three years of the Bush Administration – more than a thirty-fold increase. In fact, in 2009, the first year of President Obama’s Administration nearly as many economically significant final rules were issued (163) as were issued in the entire eight years of the Bush Administration (179)."
Stunning, right? JCA's conclusion: "The Obama Administration has greatly expanded the impact of the regulatory state on job creators and the economy – more than Clinton, more than Bush, and perhaps more than any Administration in history." (Emphasis added.)
Over-regulation happens at every level of government in the U.S., from the boards and councils of small towns and big cities to county boards to state legislatures, lawmakers often make stupid laws out of a desperate need to appear as though they are earning their often-bloated salaries. That's not the only reason, of course.
"Two forces make American laws too complex," says the Economist. "One is hubris. Many lawmakers seem to believe that they can lay down rules to govern every eventuality."
Surprisingly, The Economist did not use the phrase "nanny state" to describe what's going on here, but that's what this is. When a bureaucrat or elected official deems it necessary to force you to eat less salt or sugar, or when the Chicago City Council purposefully makes legal gun ownership as expensive and restrictive as possible, that's the nanny state committing first-degree over-regulation. Bring up the subject of over-regulation the next time you're talking with a friendly local merchant and, I guarantee, you'll get an earful.
"The other force that makes American laws complex is lobbying," says The Economist. "The government’s drive to micromanage so many activities creates a huge incentive for interest groups to push for special favours. When a bill is hundreds of pages long, it is not hard for congressmen to slip in clauses that benefit their chums and campaign donors. The health-care bill included tons of favours for the pushy. Congress’s last, failed attempt to regulate greenhouse gases was even worse."
Ah, but there's the rub: "Accountability." When you hear somebody say that "Congress needs to be made more accountable," the first question you should ask is, "How? By whom?" It's a bit like asking any legislative body to restrict their own pay raises. They make the rules, and it's rare when any legislative body works against the personal interests of its members. Only they can impose the laws that would make them more accountable, but to do so would spoil the opportunities available for favors, corruption and grandstanding.
Ironically, it would require yet more regulation to regulate those most in need of it. Don't hold your breath.
Canadian TV Uses Taxpayer Dollars For Racy Programming
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| Things have gotten sexier at the CBC |
(Note: It'a amusing that Google Adsense ads disappear when you're looking at this post. That why you'll see the words like "p*rn" and "p*rn*graph" - YOU know what it means, but the bots don't.)
"The French radio wing of the CBC is under fire for offering soft p*rn on a special website," reported Newstalk1010.
Children of any age are able to view the content. Although the CBC call the produced-in-France content "soft," it shows full n*dity and expl*c*t s*x acts. You can see a sample of the port, courtesy of The Edmonton Sun. (Watch at your own discretion, however, and don't say you were not warned.)
Apparently, things are either more interesting in Canada than I've long suspected they were, or they are indeed so boring that government bureaucrats feel compelled to spice things up with official p*rn*graphy.
The Toronto Sun newspaper's Brian Lilley wrote yesterday that "CBC’s French division has been posting a p*rn*graphic television show on one of their websites free for all to see. Let me be clear about something: The one thing the Internet does not need more of is p*rn. But some well-paid executive over at the state broadcaster not only disagreed and thought there needed to be more p*rn online, they used tax dollars, taken from your wallet, to pay for this." At the center of the controversy is a show called "Hard."
Blogger "Blazing Cat Fur" posted this afternoon about this breaking scandal.
"CBC filed copyright complaints against SunTV and myself," wrote BCF, "for this video clip taken from the Brian Lilley show that aired February 2nd. Spoilsports. The CBC didn't like the fact they got caught spending tax payer money on p*rn. CBC exec explains how they spend $1.1 billion in tax dollars every year." Blazing Cat Fur's video, above, shows CBC's Executive VP Kirstine Stewart trying to explain away the CBC-produced p*rn by saying that they were "doing the best with what we have."
The CBC is fighting dirty with Blazing Cat Fur, as Vlad Tepes reports in his post "CBC bullies Canadian blogger and taxpayer, Blazing Cat Fur for posting video from SUN TV" today. (Big hat tip to my good friends at iOwnTheWorld.com, who were on this story like pasties on a stripper.)
On Thursday, reported Lilley, CBC said "that the show would stay on its website, but only be available in the wee hours. Consistent with its policies and programs to ensure that the Hard series is not seen by children, Radio-Canada made the decision to limit the broadcast between midnight and 4 a.m. (EST) today, CBC’s French division posted on their Facebook page."
Fortunately, not everybody in the Canadian federal government is amoral and corrupt. It would seem, however, that they are all completely insane.
 |
| Moore |
Minister Moore however, is under fire for remarks he has made about the CBC p*rn scandal. The Toronto Sun ran a scathing op-ed on February 2.
Here's an excerpt from that editorial:
"Moore must apologize publicly to QMI Media's Kris Sims for the low-blow insult to her integrity by calling her a 'pawn' to Quebecor Media CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau just for asking questions any competent journalist would ask, and should ask, when taxpayer money is involved. And, second, Prime Minister Stephen Harper must immediately remove Moore from his portfolio and replace him with someone who doesn't appear to be in bed with the taxpayer-funded state broadcaster."
Confused? Yes, me too, and apparently, so is everybody in Canada.
Big Brother Pizza, Can I Help You?
Big Brother is watching you, we know this. The Comrade Obama Regime is giving Big Bro even more power to intrude into our (theoretically) private business, and not just with nationalized health care. Here's a video (flash) from the ACLU (click to watch) that is not only funny as heck, it's a brilliant sendup of the nanny state and government intrustion into every facet of our lives.
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(Videos) Animated Joker Obama Speaks!
That now famous Obama-as-joker picture has been animated, and in these videos he's at his best. Actual audio powers these videos. In the first video here, Fool Obama makes that goofy Post Office vs. FedEx speech. It's set to the actual audio of a speech made by The Idiot Obama, who tripped over words and logic without teleprompter notes to guide him. The most amazing thing about the speech is that Obama defeats his own argument for government run healthcare by saying that FedEx and UPS are doing better than the Post Office! The Post Office is run by the government and is more than a billion dollars in the red. That's supposed to be an argument in favor of government run healthcare? In the second video, we hear Moron Obama make that famous "inhalator" speech. How the hell did this idiot get elected? Hat tip to Another Black Conservative.
Oh, and here's a special link just for hypcritical, whiney Liberals
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The Fake Crises of Global Warming and Swine Flu
By now, you've probably had a good chuckle over the hysteria about the predicted swine flu "pandemic." Hands gripping both sides of their heads, mouths open wide in a scream of alarm, health officials an government spokespersons worldwide warned that we're all gonna die. The Great Swine Flu Scare of 2009 had its opening night, so to speak, and it failed at the box office. No pandemic, no sign of one. Remember the avian flu ("bird" flu) scare that started several years ago? That one didn't fly either.
Then there's the "crisis" of Global Warming. The difference between global warming and the current swine flu: The swine flu, although not the pandemic it was advertised as, actually existed and not merely theoretical. Global warming, on the other hand, is still theoretical. The theory behind it is flawed and growing more discredited every day.
An editorial in Investors Business Daily (IBD), on May 26, skewers the Waxman-Markey climate change bill, which is yet another attempt by alarmists to scare us into compliance and further their agendas of gaining increased power and bigger budgets to control. Here's an excerpt from IBD (emphasis added):
The public is told that climate change legislation is urgently needed to save the planet. But the evidence that the global warming scare is all about power and politics, not the environment, keeps piling up. The Waxman-Markey climate change bill that would establish a regime to limit carbon dioxide emissions through a cap-and-trade system was passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week.
IBD goes on to ask this: If global warming were a grave threat, wouldn't getting a CO2 emissions restriction law passed and signed take precedence over lawmakers' objections on behalf of their constituents? The fact that.... so many Democrats would rather have no bill than to let it become law without input from the Agriculture Committee exposes the global warming scare: It's not about the environment — it's about power and politics.
Truth can be so inconvenient when trying to get power, but politics can often obscure the truth. Hundreds of millions of people have had the wool pulled over their eyes regarding global warming, but the wool shows signs of fraying. If you're looking for scientific discussion about this, with real scientists who dispute the Al Gore-style propaganda, there are two essential global warming videos that must be seen.
Global warming theory has become so discredited that many who claimed it was real have actually stopped using the term. Now, they call it "climate change," a safe generic term that allows them wiggle room in the face of reality. That reality is this: The world has not warmed over the past ten years as predicted. By my recollection, Al Gore predicted a few years ago that Miami would be under water by 2011, and that doesn't seem imminent. Now, many of the same scientists who pushed the global "warming" nonsense are actually saying that we're undergoing global "cooling." In fact, there are now 32000 scientists who do not agree with the global warming “consensus," and that number keeps growing. Along with Weather Channel founder John Coleman, over 30,000 scientists are trying to sue Al Gore for fraud.
It's all a tacit admission by the "global warming" crowd that it's nothing more than fraud, a hoax perpetrated for political purposes. It's simple, really. Convince enough people that there is a crisis (any crisis), and they're more willing to let the government take more money to "solve" the crisis, and to impose more government rules and control over just about anything to "save" us.
RELATED:
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The Global Warming Myth? - ABC News
Power Line - Dispelling the Global Warming Myth
Video: The Great Global Warming Swindle
Video: CBC - Global Warming Doomsday Called Off
Video: Glenn Beck Interviews John Coleman, Founder of Weather Channel
Video: Glenn Beck on Global Warming Bullies
Video: See Al Gore's Hypocrisy!
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Urban League's Declaration of Dependence
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| Star Parker |
This week, Parker thought a lot about the National Urban League and their shameful willingness to declare, in effect, that African-Americans are not able to make it on their own, and that Big Government is the only hope for them. Those are my words, not Parker's. She says it a whole lot better than I can:
The National Urban League has just issued its annual State of Black America report. It provides a troubling statistical snapshot of where blacks stand today in our country. Like Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, I'm concerned. But after concern, we part company. We have very different ideas of what it is we should be concerned about. Morial, I am sure, sees his organization as part of the solution. From what I see, it is a well-funded symptom of the problem.
Note: If you want a copy of the State of Black America report, the National Urban League will gladly sell you a copy for $19.95. However, you can find a free Executive Summary and free abstracts at no charge on their website.
Parker jumps right into to her declaration that the National Urban League, a suck-up organization in the pocket of the Democrat National Committee, is not part of any solution. The National Urban League, she says, is a big part of the problem:
Shouldn't it embarrass black Americans that one the nation's largest and most prestigious civil rights organizations offers a long list of proposals to improve black life in our country, and every single proposal is a government program? Government funded jobs as the answer to unemployment, more government money in public schools, government health care, government business loans, government money for retirement accounts, government programs for counseling homebuyers, government worker training programs, government money for building construction, and on and on.
Indeed, it should embarrass not just black Americans but all Americans that, in the year 2009, so much of the failed policies of Lyndon Johnson's not-so-"Great Society" are still clung to by race-baiting opportunists. The National Urban League is such an opportunistic organization, eager to take the tax dollars of hard working men and women regardless of race and redistribute it to those who have not earned it. A main motivation of such immoral action: Power. He who controls the gold controls those to whom he doles it. Why do you think 90 percent of black voters, in a typical election, will vote for the Democrat? Because organizations like the Urban League are in a devil's pact with the Democrats and the redistributionists.
Parker continues:
There's not a single proposal that I could find in a several hundred-page report about improving black life that does not start with government. The civil rights movement once was about freedom and liberation. Now it's about government dependency. We should be ashamed.
Ashamed, yes. Surprised, no, not with reflection and critical thought. One of the most disturbing nightmares for the Democrat Party leadership and groups such as the National Urban League is one in which black people and other minority groups begin to realize that freedom and liberty is killed by dependence. Whether that dependence is that of a child to parent or welfare recipient to government bureaucrat, freedom dies and the recipient is co-opted. Creativity is discouraged, enterprise muted, progress retarded.
But, you may whimper, blacks and minorities need more help than, you know, the rest of us. That's liberal code for "white people." The Democrat Party and the Urban League don't mind that at all. The notion that one cannot make it with Uncle Sam's hand up one's rear end, as with a ventriloquist and his dummy, is just fine and dandy. The ventriloquist, after all, controls the dummy. What good would it do the ventriloquist if the dummy got off his lap, walked away, and booked his own act?
Racism still exists, but it can no longer be blamed as a blanket reason for blacks to fail. Too many black Americans are succeeding, thank God, for that to be a valid reason any longer. It is now an shirker's excuse.
As Parker writes, "Regarding discrimination, you have to wonder what it will take to get off this convenient excuse. Some 40 million white Americans voted for Barack Obama for president. That is two million more white Americans than voted for John Kerry in 2004."
It is, perhaps, an ironic statement for Parker to make, considering that Kerry and Obama have been and continue to be part of the cabal that encourages groups like the National Urban League - and the myth that black Americans can't make it without them.
Stimulus Math Frightening
The total cost of the Obama Stimulus just for Illinois will be at least $3,108,484,657. That's the total of cost of all the projects submitted by Illinois... so far. How does that break down, what does it mean to YOU? No need for a calculator out, a commenter at Illinois Review did the math for us:
> 3.108 billion divided by 13 million [Illinois] residents is 239 per person. 956 for a family of 4.
> The 3 trillion of all the bailout/ stimulus/ porkulus/ obamu-us divided by 13 million is 230,000 per person, 920,000 for a family of 4.
> If the government borrows the money at 3% that is 27,600 interest cost per family of 4.
> 27,600 - 956 = 26,644 net loss per Illinois family.
> And this is the way we stimulate the economy?
No, it's how you stimulate Big Government. Yah, this is "change," but not for the better. Tea Party on April 15, anybody?
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Todd Stroger: The Beating Continues
Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica reports that the new budget was passed "with no new tax increases and without the massive new borrowing" that His Lordship Todd Stroger wanted. That is very good news, but it's a bit like saying you're happy to learn that your neighbor will not increase the number of times that he beats up his wife per week. The beating continues at the same pace, he just won't increase the frequency. Todd Stroger continues to beat up the taxpayers. While we thank Tony and his allies for this "victory," we hope they will keep fighting until Todd Stroger stops beating his constituents. That's you and me, folks.
Tony filed this report at 4:52 pm via Facebook:
I have excellent news to report. A few minutes ago, we scored a major victory for the Cook County taxpayers:
We held the line and passed a budget with no new tax increases and without the massive new borrowing sought by Todd Stroger and his allies.
Make no mistake: this victory is huge.
By blocking the insiders today, we have no doubt angered them. They are certainly planning right now how to exact revenge in the 2010 elections. That’s why I need your help.
Please click here to make an immediate online contribution to help keep me fighting for you on the Cook County Board.
The insiders wanted $740 million in new bonds. We didn’t let them have it.
They wanted a back-door tax increase. We didn’t let them have it.
They wanted tens of millions in additional spending. We didn’t let them have it.
Bottom line: We won. They lost.
Help us to continue scoring victories for the Cook County taxpayers through your online contribution of $10, $25, $100 or whatever you can afford.
We are proving that reform can be achieved. And, with your help, we will continue fighting for the taxpayers and residents of Cook County.
Thank you for your continued support.
See Tony Peraica's website, Reform Cook County
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Obama, Neo-Fascist
Is Obama a socialist? Yes, in some ways, but Michael Ledeen contends he's really more of a fascist.
Not "Nazi." Fascist. There's a huge difference, and without getting into a long lesson in economic theory or modern history, suffice it to say that fascism and socialism both are economic systems. Like capitalism, there are many variations possible with each. Like socialism (and its more serious sibling communism), fascism can be mixed with genocidal tendencies, but neither genocide nor fascism nor socialism/communism are mutually dependent. Non-murderous socialist states and non-murderous fascist states are entirely possible.
If classical liberalism spells individualism, Fascism spells government.Unfortunately, we've seen the horrors when fascism and socialism are carried to extremes, as with Hilter's Third Reich and Stalin's Soviet Union. Socialist Stalin, by the way, imprisoned and killed far more people than did fascist Hitler. Some numbers: 61,911,000 Murdered: The Soviet Gulag State 35,236,000 Murdered: The Communist Chinese 20,946,000 Murdered: The Nazi Genocide State (Soucre; also see here)
Benito Mussolini
I am a Socialist, and a very different kind of Socialist from your rich friend, Count Reventlow. ... What you understand by Socialism is nothing more than Marxism. Adolf Hitler, spoken to Otto Strasser, Berlin, May 21, 1930No, we're not calling any Democrats "Nazis." Ledeen explains himself at Pajamas Media. There, on Feb. 12, he wrote "We Are All Fascists Now" (his response to Newsweeks' "We Are All Socialists Now"). Here is an excerpt from Ledeen's column: What is happening now–and Newsweek is honest enough to say so down in the body of the article–is an expansion of the state’s role, an increase in public/private joint ventures and partnerships, and much more state regulation of business. Yes, it’s very “European,” and some of the Europeans even call it “social democracy,” but it isn’t. It’s fascism. Nobody calls it by its proper name, for two basic reasons: first, because “fascism” has long since lost its actual, historical, content; it’s been a pure epithet for many decades. Lots of the people writing about current events like what Obama et. al. are doing, and wouldn’t want to stigmatize it with that “f” epithet. One of the great ironies of modern political "debate" is the unthinking, knee-jerk tendency of "liberals" to throw the word "fascist" at their opponents. If they knew what they were saying, if they understood history and economic theory, those liberals would not call their pro-market, pro-individualism, pro-self reliance opponents "fascists." If they knew better, they would understand that it's like the pot calling the china black. RELATED: Nationalism has its roots in socialism as well as fascism Fascism and Communism/Socialism: Ayn Rand Lexicon The Socialism and Fascism of the New Deal We’ve got fascism, not socialism: Times Argus Online Fascism's Legacy: Liberalism - Daniel Pipes It's Ayn Rand's World, We Just Live In It The Future Did Not Work - 00.03 USSR--Genocide and Mass Murder Roots of fascism CNB RSS Feed
Updated: Tim Geithner Causes Stock Dump
Even as the Stimulus Package passed today, Golden Boy Tim Geithner, our nation's new Treasury Secretary and Tax Cheat, is acquiring a new tarnish. For starters, his idiot policies caused the stock market to take a dump today.
UPDATE: We originally posted this at 3:27 pm, EST. Michelle Malkin got this up a couple of hours later: Tax cheat wonder boy Geithner is a laughingstock. Barack Obama, then, is also a laughing stock. Obama picked Geithner. Obama lauded him as brilliant. We now see that the unethical Geithner, while not a stupid man, is not the saviour that Our Lord Barack promised us he is. Or was, or would be. Or could be. Breitbart weighed in, too: N.Y. stocks tumble on skepticism over economic plans+
Seems Geithner, who was hyped by Democrats prior to his confirmation as the Only Man Who Can Save Us, is not the man who can save us. To wit, this breaking news:
Stocks tumbled 3 percent on Tuesday as bank shares slid on concerns that a plan to shore up the financial sector unveiled by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner may not be enough to loosen up credit and contain the deepening recession. Indexes slumped immediately following Geithner's announcement of a plan to mop up $500 billion in spoiled assets from the beleaguered banking system. (Washington Post...)
What? Geithner's genius master plan, whatever the hell that is, isn't working?!? That's right, it AIN'T WORKING!
The newly named Financial Stability Plan expands some of the lending and equity capital investing mandates under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), adds the creation of a "public-private partnership" to buy troubled assets from banks, and will put the 15 largest U.S. banks through a rigorous regulatory stress test before allowing them to tap additional federal bailout money. The market reaction? Investors dumped bank stocks. (Forbes...)
Genius, pure frikking genius. Si, se pueda!
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Tony Peraica,"Just Say No!"
A message today from Cook County Commish Tony Peraica. (He's such a trouble maker!) What's Tony worked up about this time?
He wants you, the taxpayers of Cook County, to urge the county commissioners "to vote against the massive new debt that Todd Stroger has proposed in the form of hundreds of millions in new bonds."
Read Tony Peraica's message, "Heed the Tribune’s Call: Tell Your Commissioner to Vote ‘No’ On Back Door Tax Hikes." Then, just do it. You'll feel like you did something constructive today. When you're done calling your Cook County Commissioners, watch the video "Crook County - A Quick Conversation about Chicago Politics" at YouTube.
Finally, just for laughs, read this: Todd Stroger Turns It On!
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Quinn: New Boss, Old Ways
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, that's all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
~ Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Pat Quinn is a nice guy, we've heard for years, and we don't doubt it. Pat Quinn is ready, they told us. Pat Quinn is the right guy at the right time, we were assured. Pat Quinn, as Illinois's Lieutenant Governor, has been groomed to take the shoveled-out seat of Rod Blagojevich. Now, he's Governor Quinn. What they forgot to remind all of us was this: Pat Quinn is just another Big Government Democrat. And you better not doubt it:
Quinn's first official act expands state government
True to Democratic liberal form, the new Governor Pat Quinn's first executive order is to expand Illinois government by setting up his new Illinois Reform Commission as an official state body, he told reporters today. FULL ARTICLE at ILLINOIS REVIEW...
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Video: Obama's Stimulus Dysfunction
If you thought Bush spent like a drunken sailor, know this: Obama's proposal for even more money for the non-stimulating "stimulus" will throw money down like a meth whore in Reno. The investment will be about as well spent, too. Watch the must-see video below for an explanation that even Barney Frank could understand.
President Obama wants Congress to dramatically expand the burden of government spending. This CF&P Foundation mini-documentary explains why such a policy, based on the discredited Keynesian theory of economics, will not be successful. Indeed, the video demonstrates that Obama is proposing - for all intents and purposes - to repeat Bush's mistakes. Government will be bigger, even though global evidence shows that nations with small governments are more prosperous. (Source)
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Voter Registration Offered to Dead Fish (Really!)
Yes, really, according to Associated Press. And, of course, the dead goldfish was offered the chance to register to vote in ... Illinois. Yup, and ACORN had nuttin' ta do wid it. It was just more of the same, incomprehesibly incompetence from the the Government. You know the Government, don'cha? Sure, they're the imbeciles that many of you want to take over our health care system. Good God, people, connect the damned dots already, will ya?
According to AP, "...election officials in Chicago's northern suburbs want to know why voter registration material was sent to the dead goldfish."
Yes, we'd all like to know. FULL ARTICLE... (with hearty hat tip to Chicago Bungalow)
BAIL OUT, RESCUE, WASTE OF TIME?
That big "rescue" has not even been implemented yet... and already it's failing! Way to go, Big Government! I suppose that, out of fairness, we should give them a few years to let the "rescue" take effect. After all, it took years for Sen. Chris Dodd and Cong. Barney Frank and several of Barack Obama's top advisors to set up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and lending institutions across the US for utter implosion. Way to go!
The Dow Jones industrials are down more than 500 points, more than half their huge 936-point advance from Monday, and all the major indexes are down at least 5 percent. Angst over the economy is sending stocks plunging once again. A disappointing retail sales report has investors convinced that the banking crisis has caused cracks in the economy well beyond the financial sector and that a recession, if not already here, is inevitable. FULL STORY, AP...
Fagus, Master of the Black Hole
David Fagus is the COO of Cermak Health Services of Cook County. The US Dept. of Justice is not happy with Cook County or with Cermak Health. Why? Because it's an information black hole. As the chief operations officer of Cermak, David Fagus ought to know this. To the naive, he does not. To the non-naive, he certainly does.
In Fagus's many years at Cermak, he's had ample opportunity to correct the problems. It would seem that he has been more interested in his duties as Chicago's 49th Ward Democrat Committeeman, however, a purely political position in which he can create an information black hole for Alderman Joe Moore. This has worked for Moore, so far. (For example, where did that missing ballot box go for several hours back in April, 2007 exactly?) Cermak's info black hole, however, now threatens to suck David Fagus into the abyss. Will it? (And could a black hole accept such a massive object?)
David Fagus hopes Barack Obama becomes president and hopes a nationalized health care system becomes reality. Let us pray to God Almighty that Fagus's hopes do not come true.
Excerpts from the July 11, 2008 DOJ letter to Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart give interesting clues [emphasis added]. (Full document as a PDF or plain text.)
"IAD also reported a backlog in resolving use of force cases and incidents involving inmate-on-inmate assaults because it is difficult to obtain medical releases from Cermak, CCJ's on-site health care provider, in a timely manner."
"Obtaining medical IAD is under the Sheriff's Office while Cermak is part of the Cook County Bureau of Health. [Obtaining] records from Cermak can take anywhere from six to 12 months, which prevents IAD from bringing prompt closure to an investigation. This type of delay is totally unacceptable, and is devastating for any investigation."
"Despite having Cermak physicians treat these serious dental emergencies, inmates continue to suffer needlessly because they do not receive appropriate follow-up care."
"...staff involved in the inmate grievance process are frustrated that once a medical or mental health related grievance is referred to Cermak, a response is not forthcoming.... We reviewed numerous grievance files that alleged the need for medical services, some of an emergent nature that showed a referral to Cermak, but contained no actual response to the grievance."
"Drain flies are small flies that are found in shower and toilet areas where they lay their eggs in gelatinous organic matter that builds up under the rim of toilets and in floor drains. These flies were noted in several of the divisions including the Cermak medical area where fly traps were being used to capture adult flies. Outbreaks of adult flies have been associated with bronchial asthma in susceptible individuals. Their presence is also a sign of inadequate housekeeping and sanitation." FULL DOCUMENT as a PDF or plain text.
RELATED:
Feds Give Fagus 49 Days to Turn Around Decades of Patronage-Fueled Mismanagement
The Coming US Health Care Nightmare
TOTAL NON-RECALL: IL SENATE SAYS "SCREW YOU"
The self-serving scum in the Illinois State Senate have decided that YOU should not be able to recall THEM if they are not doing their jobs satisfactorily. One of the newest scum in the Senate, Heather Steans (photo), predictably voted against the People. (See how the Illinois Senators voted on Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment No. 70 (PDF file)Writes John Ruberry today, "This is why we need a new constitution in Illinois. A bill to place a proposal on the November ballot to allow a recall provision for public officials failed in the Illinois State Senate, after easily passing in the House." MORE at Marathon Pundit!...
RELATED:
Let voters decide on recall - An good editorial on May 1st from the Chicago Tribune (but why did the Trib not publish this a week ago?)
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