.
The Kremlin's latest move to project military force is raising some alarms.
Russia and the breakaway state of Abkhazia announced they had concluded a deal that would allow Russia establish an air and naval bases in the republic. Abkhazia won recognition from Russia as an independent state after the war in South Ossetia this summer. (Besides Russia, only Nicaragua has recognized Abkhazia's 'independence'.)
The Financial Times summarizes the anxiety over Moscow's latest move."Nato members are concerned at the decision because they see it is an important step in allowing Russia to project its military strength beyond its borders ... They also believe the move deepens the violation of Georgian sovereignty after Russia invaded Georgia last August and declared Abkhazia and South Ossetia independent territories."
Russia has another Black Sea base at Sevastopol, which belongs to Ukraine. The lease for that base runs out in 2017. Building an airbase in Abkhazia could also be a raised middle finger at the United States, which runs an airbase in Kyrgyzstan. The head of Georgia's parliamentary committee on defense and national security, told Reuters the move proved Russia's expansionist ambitions."It demonstrates that Russia's real goal was never the protection of its so-called citizens in South Ossetia or Abkhazia, but to use these territories for new military bases,"
It gets trickier: the United States and Georgia signed a strategic pact earlier this month....
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Monday, February 2, 2009
Russia Snares New Black Sea Bases
Europeans are finally waking up to the demise of democracy
Angry people across the EU are discovering the fine print in all the treaties signed by their leaders
The peoples of Europe have finally discovered what they signed up to. I do mean "peoples" (plural) because however much political elites may deceive themselves, the populations of the member states of the EU are culturally, historically and economically separate and distinct. And a significant proportion of them are getting very, very angry.
What the strikers at the Lindsey oil refinery (and their brother supporters in Nottinghamshire and Kent) have discovered is the real meaning of the fine print in those treaties, and the significance of those European court judgments whose interpretation they left to EU obsessives: it is now illegal – illegal – for the government of an EU country to put the needs and concerns of its own population first. It would, for example, be against European law to do what Frank Field has sensibly suggested and reintroduce a system of "work permits" for EU nationals who wished to apply for jobs here.
Meanwhile, demonstrators in Paris and the recalcitrant electorate in Germany are waking up to the consequences of what two generations of European ideologues have thrust upon them: the burden not just of their own economic problems but also the obligation to accept the consequences of their neighbours' debts and failures. Each country is true to its own history in the way it expresses its rage: in France, they take to the streets and throw things at the police, in Germany they threaten the stability of the coalition government, and here, we revive the tradition of wildcat strikes.
But the response from the EU political class is the same to all of these varied manifestations of resistance. Those who protest are being smeared with accusations of foolhardy protectionism or racist nationalism... [snip]
And here we are, with a generation of European political leaders who almost all accept the terms in which their predecessors gave away the most important principle of that great democratic pact between a free people and its government. While times were good and there was enough prosperity to keep everybody distracted and happy, the loss went almost unnoticed except by a few persistent and despairing critics.
Well, not any more.
[Will we learn from Europe's mistakes? America is the perennial top target of the one-world-government crowd and they never rest {it's their 24/7 job at the UN} - we need be eternally vigilant.]
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Free trade frenzy
.
They include two of the biggest countries in the world –China and Canada- and a group of four politically small –but stable- European states, which have ratified their support for trading with Colombia even amidst one of the biggest economic crises of all time.
President Hu is considering, according to Chinese Press Agency Xinhua, “increasing imports from Colombia to realize a balanced rise in bilateral trade”. He added that his government will continue to encourage Chinese investments in Colombia, especially in areas such as infrastructure, construction, agriculture, telecommunications and energy.
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Call for obese children to be taken into 'care'
.
Severely obese children should be notified to child protection authorities, and even taken into care, if their parents are unwilling or unable to help them lose weight, experts have argued. The continuing failure of parents to ensure treatment for their obese child could be considered medical neglect when the child is at high risk of suffering associated severe health problems.
[Who decides what constitutes 'high risk'? The government of course]
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The Next Big Stink
.
They're worrying up a storm in Washington. (Good thing that George W. Bush is no longer in charge of the weather and FEMA the way he was during Hurricane Katrina.) America is experiencing a polar ice cap and financial meltdown, causing sea levels to rise and sending cold water flooding into Wall Street where the rapidly acidifying ocean is corroding our 401(k)s and releasing mortgage securities full of hot air into the atmosphere until our every breath is full of CO2 especially when we exhale, which should be banned when children are present lest their uninsured health care be harmed by second-hand greenhouse gases that are causing endangerment of plant and animal species (Republicans are extinct already), leading to a shortage of green, leafy vegetables vital to the fight against America's growing epidemics of obese hunger and housing foreclosures on the homeless. [snip]
My guess is that the next great government crusade will be against soap. The president will appoint a Blue Ribbon Commission, which will determine that soap releases polluting grime into the ecosystem, leads to aquifer depletion, and contains fatty acids that laboratory studies have shown to be acidic and not fat-free. Soap encourages teenage pregnancy as well as adult sexual activity with multiple partners, driving America's divorce rate higher, causing more children to live under the poverty line in single-parent households. Soap is a factor in many cases of child abuse, according to small boys in bathtubs. Soap bubbles may contain methane, especially if rising to the surface of bath water containing small boys. Soap marketing sends the wrong message about the Ivory trade and also about Irish Spring, which is being altered by climate change. Soap degrades the flame-resistant properties of children's pajamas. And soap makes whales foam when they spout.
Socialism--you can smell it coming.
[Sadly, Recommended, to demonstrate how consistently P.J.'s satire strikes resonant cords throughout his piece - and where there's such volumes of smoke...]
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Democrats Launch Petition Against Rush Limbaugh
.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has launched an online petition for readers to express their outrage at conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh for saying last week that he wanted President Barack Obama to fail.
On Tuesday, in a note at the top of his Web site , Limbaugh responded to the Democrats' petition:"I am greatly puzzled. Why would the Democrats petition against me if I am doing such terrible damage to the GOP? "
Last Friday, Obama advised Republicans to stop listening to Limbaugh if they wanted to get along with Democrats and the administration. [snip] According to Wolff,"Limbaugh's cheap shot at President Obama might be the first by the Republican attack machine this year but we know that it won't be the last. We need every grassroots Democrat to show Rush Limbaugh and all of the Republicans what they're up against if they start attacking President Obama and Democrats who are working to end the failed GOP policies of the last eight years."
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[And if you question Obama's policies? For the 100th time: not a big fan of Rush - but this is prelude to reintroducing the misnamed 'Fairness Doctrine', which is overt censorship by our government and must be resisted...
please join me in working against it by joining MRC's Free Speech Alliance - and as always, pass it on...]
Bye, Bye, American
Economy: In barring foreign steel from infrastructure projects and forcing payment of "prevailing wages," [union wages] the stimulus bill merges the Davis-Bacon and Smoot-Hawley acts in a way that could be a recipe for depression.
[Could be? They're considered key factors in worsening the great depression - what do we think they could do this time around?]
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UPDATE: Obama Will Review Buy American Provision in Stimulus
The issue may cloud Obama’s trip to Canada on Feb. 19, his first journey outside U.S. borders as president. Officials in Canada, the top U.S. trade partner, are criticizing a part of legislation that passed the U.S. House of Representatives Jan. 28 that requires the use of U.S.-made iron and steel in infrastructure projects.
Ralph Goodale, house leader for the opposition Liberal Party, said today in Parliament. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday that he will complain to U.S. officials over the “buy American” measure. “This is obviously a serious matter,” he said.
The provision also is opposed by U.S. companies with significant sales overseas such as General Electric Co. and Caterpillar Inc., which warn it may spark other countries to retaliate by restricting U.S. products.
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GDP Better Than Expected: Have Media Overhyped Depression Talk?
The Gross Domestic Product declined by 3.8 percent in the final quarter of 2008.
It was bad, but nowhere near as bad as expected.
Is it possible that all the hysterical gloom and doom emanating from the media is way overdone, and that things are not close to as apocalyptic as we've been told the past five months?
Consider the actual numbers reported Friday morning by MarketWatch:
The U.S. economy contracted at a 3.8% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the fourth quarter, the Commerce Department estimated Friday. This is the largest contraction since the first quarter of 1982. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch were expecting a negative 5.5% growth rate in the fourth quarter.
For the year, GDP rose 1.3 percent which was its worst performance since 2001. Is this the end of the world we've been hearing about since September?
After all, this 3.8 percent decline is only the 13th worst since the Commerce Department began doing quarterly reports in 1947. This means that there's been twelve worse quarters since 1946, and none of them signalled the end of the world nor required the kind of government spending now being discussed in Washington.
For instance, GDP declined by an astounding 6.4 percent in the first quarter of 1982. This followed a 4.9 percent drop in the fourth quarter of 1981. History now shows this to be the worst of that decade's recession, as the economy exploded in 1983 beginning one of its most powerful and long-lasting expansions ever.
In fact, there have been two recessions in the previous three decades [i.e., not counting the big D] when we experienced far worse economic growth than this most recent quarter without it indicating a depression and without the need for historic increases in deficit spending to get the economy going again.
Is it therefore possible all this doom and gloom is way overstated?
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All Seriousness Aside
.
It is like the Peanuts gang laughing in derision after yet another Charlie Brown gaffe. It is like the doubling-over at the double-stumble (video) during fashion week in Paris.
The cackles and guffaws now come routinely. Global warming alarmists, led by inconvenienced (because of cooling weather) Al Gore, are seeing their prophecies of doom dissolve. Now that big ice grows, big winter is bad (like last year), cold temperatures hit record levels, and global mean surface temperature has not continued upward -- despite continued increases in that demonized "greenhouse" gas, carbon dioxide -- the panic peddlers look like flailing jesters.
Look at the recent responses to the self-caricature, Gore. The late nighters already found global warming (targeting both sides) to be fodder for yuks. But after the former vice president gave a repeat command performance before Congress this week, the scorn against alarmists is stronger than ever. The acerbic Dennis Miller, who said Gore probably is otherwise a good guy, called him a "doofus" because of his global warming beliefs... [snip]
It's not limited to Gore. Even scientists recognize they have a credibility and perception problem, yet they still can't harness their own panicky rhetoric. The faltering reputation of the alarmists, so dependent on the climate change industry bubble they've inflated, now drives environmental reporters to find quotes that attempt to shore up credibility,
Since when does the mainstream media need quotes of validation to support their fellow environmental activists? You would never have seen this, even six months ago. The alarmists are desperate.
[Sadly, the burgeoning realization we've been scammed is likely too late: with big business figuring out how to profit from the game the last serious impediment to government expansion has evaporated, and it's very likely that laws will make it on the books - and once on...
still, Recommended > ]
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Friday, January 30, 2009
Poll: Economic Stimulus Plan Unpopular
Americans are skeptical that an economic stimulus plan from the federal government will help the nation’s economy. This is perhaps due to the fact that most people think that the elected officials in Washington working on the plan are part of the economic problem as opposed to the solution.
Less than half (45 percent) of Americans think “Barack Obama’s proposed $825 billion dollar economic recovery plan” will help the economy. More Americans think the focus of an economic stimulus plan should be “cutting taxes” (50 percent) than "increasing government spending on new programs and infrastructure projects” (29 percent).
Majorities of Republicans (69 percent) and independents (52 percent) think cutting taxes should be the focus of an economic stimulus plan. More Democrats think the focus should be increasing spending (42 percent) than cutting taxes (35 percent).
Nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of Americans think moving “away from capitalism and more toward socialism” would be a good thing for the United States. This includes 42 percent of those with household incomes under $30,000, as well as 35 percent of Democrats, and 31 percent of those under age thirty.
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An $800 Billion Mistake
As a conservative economist, I might be expected to oppose a stimulus plan. In fact, on this page in October, I declared my support for a stimulus. But the fiscal package now before Congress needs to be thoroughly revised. In its current form, it does too little to raise national spending and employment. It would be better for the Senate to delay legislation for a month, or even two, if that's what it takes to produce a much better bill. We cannot afford an $800 billion mistake.
The plan to finance health insurance premiums for the unemployed would actually increase unemployment by giving employers an incentive to lay off workers rather than pay health premiums during a time of weak demand. And this supposedly two-year program would create a precedent that could be hard to reverse.
Instead, the tax changes should focus on providing incentives to households and businesses to increase current spending. Why not a temporary refundable tax credit to households that purchase cars or other major consumer durables, analogous to the investment tax credit for businesses? Or a temporary tax credit for home improvements? In that way, the same total tax reduction could produce much more spending and employment.
Postponing the scheduled increase in the tax on dividends and capital gains would raise share prices, leading to increased consumer spending and, by lowering the cost of capital, more business investment. All new spending and tax changes should have explicit time limits that prevent ever-increasing additions to the national debt. Similarly, spending programs should not create political dynamics that will make them hard to end.
The problem with the current stimulus plan is not that it is too big but that it delivers too little extra employment and income for such a large fiscal deficit. It is worth taking the time to get it right.
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image toon - Ob's good intentions paving way to hell - mny
House GOP throws stimulus brushback
Despite President Obama's trip to the Hill on Tuesday, he couldn't pry loose a single Republican vote for his stimulus plan, which nonetheless passed with solely Democratic support. Still, the partisan split signaled that despite their weakened political state and the popularity of the new president, Republicans won't be won over by charm alone. Nor has it escaped notice that it was the opposition to the bill which was bipartisan...
[TV Test: has your news source pointed out that it was the opposition to this bill that was bipartisan, while support came from only one party? No? Change the channel...]
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Bipartisan Stimulus
There's a serious debate in this country as to how best to end the recession. The average recession will last five to 11 months; the average recovery will last six years. Recessions will end on their own if they're left alone. What can make the recession worse is the wrong kind of government intervention.
I believe the wrong kind is precisely what President Barack Obama has proposed. I don't believe his is a "stimulus plan" at all -- I don't think it stimulates anything but the Democratic Party. This "porkulus" bill is designed to repair the Democratic Party's power losses from the 1990s forward, and to cement the party's majority power for decades
Notwithstanding the media blitz in support of the Obama stimulus plan, most Americans, according to a new Rasmussen poll, are skeptical. Rasmussen finds that 59% fear that Congress and the president will increase government spending too much. Only 17% worry they will cut taxes too much. Since the American people are not certain that the Obama stimulus plan is the way to go, it seems to me there's an opportunity for genuine compromise. At the same time, we can garner evidence on how to deal with future recessions, so every occurrence will no longer become a matter of partisan debate. [snip]
Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions:
54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts...
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Top U.S official: There's no way to stop Iran's nuclear program
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"There's no way and no chance to stop the Iranian nuclear program," U.S. Congressman and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Peter Hoekstra told the independent American news site Newsmax in an interview on Tuesday.
The U.S army's Strategic Studies Institute's assessment that Iran will obtain enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear bomb before the end of the year.
"Iran is a threat to the stability of the Middle East, and countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel fear what it may do," said Hoekstra.
[complete tripe. It's not a case of our being unable to stop Iran, it's a case of the 'international' community lacking the will.
If we literally blockaded the country until it gave up its nuclear ambitions, it would crumble - its only natural resource is oil.
But we don't; we let the UN play veto games with China, Russia and the largest single voting block in the organization - the Islamic nations.
Meanwhile, thanks to public statements like this guy's, smiles all around in Tehran...]
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Turkey Holds Suspicious Iran-Venezuela Shipment
Ankara, Turkey - Turkey was holding a suspicious shipment bound for Venezuela from Iran because it contained lab equipment capable of producing explosives, a customs official said Tuesday. Suleyman Tosun, a customs official at the Mediterranean port of Mersin, said military experts were asked to examine the material, which was seized last month Authorities detected the equipment during a search of 22 containers labeled ''tractor parts''...
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To Combat Obama, Al-Qaeda Hurls Insults
Soon after the November election, al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader took stock of America's new president-elect and dismissed him with an insulting epithet. "A house Negro," Ayman al-Zawahiri said.
That was just a warm-up. In the weeks since, the terrorist group has unleashed a stream of verbal tirades against Barack Obama, each more venomous than the last.
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Obama and the Arabs
... The interview wasn’t into its first two minutes before Obama tells the Arab interviewer that, when it comes to the on-going Arab-Israeli conflict in Gaza, the United States has acted more like an ignorant dictator:"…what I told (Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell) is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating—in the past on some of these issues—and we don't always know all the factors that are involved."
It’s all downhill from there, with President Obama later implying that the United States hasn’t been respectful in its treatment of the Muslim world:“Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect.”
He also implied that the American people have a prejudiced view of Muslims, owing to the attacks of September 11, and therefore do not understand the Muslim world:“My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives.”
But what should be of utmost concern to Americans is the way Obama redefined the priorities of the president:" I think that what you'll see is somebody who is listening, who is respectful, and who is trying to promote the interests not just of the United States, but also ordinary people who right now are suffering from poverty and a lack of opportunity. I want to make sure that I’m speaking to them, as well."
Obama believes that equal to the interests of the United States, the president must also promote the interests of “ordinary people” in the Muslim world.
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Somalia: Fighting Erupts in Mogadishu
Mogadishu — At leat 2 people have been killed after fresh fighting between government militias and Islamist terrorists has erupted Monday in Medina district in Mogadishu, witnesses told Radio Shabelle. Residents say the fighting is heavy and both sides have used mortars and heavy machine guns. The fighting started after the Islamist terrorists attacked a checkpoint manned by government militias...
[GWOT]
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U.S. professors call for academic and cultural boycott of Israel
While Israeli academics have grown used to such news from Great Britain, where anti-Israel groups several times attempted to establish academic boycotts, the formation of the United States movement marks the first time that a national academic boycott movement has come out of America.
Israeli professors are not sure yet how big of an impact the one-week-old movement will have, but started discussing the significance of and possible counteractions against the campaign.
[shameful]
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Nato has 'no will' to admit Georgia or Ukraine
Nato is suffering from 'enlargement fatigue' and has no will to admit Georgia or Ukraine, according to Poland's foreign minister Radek Sikorski. Mr Sikorski, who is a leading contender to become Nato's secretary-general when the Alliance selects a new chief in April, told The Daily Telegraph that membership for both countries was a "fairly distant prospect".
[They're cow-towing to Russia, plain and simple. I.e., a "Gas in our lifetime" moment.]
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EU warns Slovakia against reopening nuclear plant
The European Commission warned Slovakia Monday that its decision to reactivate an old nuclear reactor runs counter to EU law and was "not an option." If the Slovakian government reactivates the Bohunice nuclear plant "that would be a clear violation" of the treaty that Bratislava signed to become an EU member, said commission spokesman Ferran Tarradellas.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said earlier that his government would restart a nuclear reactor at the plant unless Russian gas supplies were restored to Europe.
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FATAL NAIVETE ON FREE TRADE
At her Senate confirmation hearing last week, Hillary Clinton expressed confidence the U.S. alliance with Colombia will always be good, free-trade treaty or not. But growing signs show she's got it wrong.
Last year, Columbia's Trade Minister Luis Plata warned that denying free trade to Colombia in a hemisphere full of U.S. free-trade treaties amounted to sanctions on an ally because the other countries with which America has agreements are its competitors.
The matter is urgent, because the global economic downturn is hitting Colombia hard now.
Colombia already has tariff-free trading on its exports to the United States for its cooperation in the war on drugs. It collects $1 billion in tariffs on U.S. imports, but would gladly give that up to draw foreign investment that would flow under the trade treaty.
[ah, but our unions don't like it; so its political party...]
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Northern Virginia lawmaker proposes four-day workweek for state workers
A Northern Virginia delegate is proposing to cram a 40-hour workweek into four days for many state workers, in the hopes of recouping energy costs and 'encouraging' Virginians to access the Internet for government services. [snip]“I think the work force is going to like this, I think they’re going to enjoy it. I think we’re going to benefit from energy savings, and I think people are going to wind up using the Internet more to access services."
[and the tax payers? What do they think about 'winding up' using the internet more? A: They weren't asked. But who cares - they just pay the bills, and it's not like there's any competition to turn to - this is the government...]
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Guilty Until Proven Innocent
I have frequently written about how the environmentalists have set up a system in which all products of industrial civilization are regarded as guilty until proven innocent, i.e., all industrial emissions are regarded as toxic or destructive until proven otherwise, according to an impossible standard of proof.
The article below reveals the same pattern, but as applied to cigarette smoke. You have heard of "second-hand smoke," but have you heard of "third-hand smoke"? According to this article, "Studies have shown that these contaminating particles are measurable in rooms, on clothing and on toys long after a person has finished smoking."
They key word is "measurable." With the extraordinary sensitivity of modern scientific instruments, which can detect substances in concentrations of parts per billion, anything is "measurable." Thus, many contemporary health scares are mere artifacts of our newfound ability to measure, in benignly infinitesimal quantities, substances that would be toxic if they were found in much higher concentrations.
This story finally makes clear to me the reason for the enduring strength of the anti-smoking crusade. It is a kind of laboratory for establishing the key environmentalist method. It is an attempt to condition the public to accept the most outlandish health claims about the smallest quantities of man-made chemicals—a method that can then be applied to the byproducts of industrial civilization.
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Fat dogs seized by RSPCA
The RSPCA has seized two dogs from their owner after she was accused of feeding them too much. The Labradors were taken from their home by an inspector from the charity who said they were just going to be weighed.
The organisation has not allowed Marie Davidson, 48, to see her animals, or even told her where they have been kept for the past three months...
[her loved pets. 'Liberal fascism' isn't just another catch phrase - it's real and accelerating. This act was based on the fact that we're allowing governments to somehow label being overweight as criminal. Think about the ramifications of that...]
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INTEREST ON RESERVE
On October 6, 2008 the Federal Reserve announced it would begin to pay interest starting on October 9, 2008, on required and excess reserves that individual banks maintain at the Fed, stating that this would encourage banks to hold larger reserves. But this is exactly the wrong policy objective in an environment where banks are reluctant to lend to businesses and others, says Jim Johnston, director of the Heartland Institute.
- The recovery from the Great Depression was well on the way when the Fed observed that banks were holding more than twice the level of reserves than was required.
- Under the Banking Act of 1935, the Board of Governors doubled the reserve requirement on member banks between 1936 and 1937 believing that doing so would generate an increase in public confidence and would not change the behavior of the banks.
- However, the banks responded by sharply increasing their already-sufficient reserves, resulting in the sharpest downturn in U.S. economic activity in history.
[at least he's not being alarmist]
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Gore Warns Global Warming Will Bring Civilization to a ‘Screeching Halt’
Former Vice President Al Gore told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that if action is not taken by the United States to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the world as we know it could disappear. (Snip)
Gore testified on Capitol Hill. “If we continue at today’s levels, some scientists have said it can be an increase (in global temperature) of up to 11 degrees Fahrenheit.
[the guy is getting more desperate, and absurd, but the day]
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Iraq to Open More Oil Fields to Bids
BAGHDAD — Iraq announced on Wednesday that it would launch a second round of bids to license international oil companies to develop 11 oil and gas fields or groups of fields.
Iraq’s oil minister, Hussein al-Shahristani, said at a news conference that he hoped that these fields could be producing 2 to 2.5 million barrels a day in three or four years...
[everyone but u.s.]
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THE LATEST ENTITLEMENT: FEDERAL HEALTH CARE AT 300 PERCENT OF POVERTY
The Senate made its first down payment on President Obama's health-care plans yesterday, passing a major expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP).
S-CHIP will more than double in size with $73.3 billion in new spending over the next decade -- not counting a budget gimmick that hides the true cost. The program is supposed to help children from working-poor families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but since it was created in 1997 Democrats have used it as a ratchet to grow the federal taxpayer share of health-care coverage.
The political purpose behind S-CHIP has always been to capture the middle class. But every time the program grows, it displaces private insurance, says the Journal:
- Even before Democrats struck down rules limiting crowd out, research indicated that for every 100 children signed up -- now more than 7.1 million -- there is a reduction in private coverage for 25 to 50 kids.
- Exactly the same thing will happen if Obama and Daschle end up introducing a "public option," a government insurance program modeled after Medicare but open to anyone of any income.
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Colleges cut instruction spending
Most of the nation's colleges are gradually paring back their investments in classroom teaching, an analysis of federal data shows. And all colleges have in recent years been spending a greater share of their revenue on expenses other than instruction, including computing centers, student services, administrative salaries and lawn care.
Those are among findings of a report released today that sheds light on where various types of colleges and universities get their money and how they spend it. While instruction remains the largest share of education and general spending at most colleges, much of the revenue raised by increasing tuition is not going to that core function of higher education, it concludes."Students are paying for more and arguably getting less, particularly in the classroom,"
says Jane Wellman, director of the Delta Cost Project, a Washington-based non-profit that released the report. It is based on federally reported data from 2002 to 2006 of nearly 2,000 public and private institutions that enroll about 75% of all college students.
At some point between 2002 and 2004, most private four-colleges began spending a larger share of their budget on administrative and academic support than on instruction.
[if our government was serious about raising general attendance, it would implement an Internet based education system for a basic college education (probably with more varied degrees than bachelors/masters). Transfer of knowledge (if not wisdom - but do you think we're getting that now?) is exactly what the net does best. The problem? It could be done for comparatively FREE - and there's unions galore who think that would be just horrible - and they own a major political party.]
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Harry Reid's dictatorship of bad ideas
Last September, Louisiana's David Vitter strode to the podium of the U.S. Senate to offer an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 2009. What's so significant about that?
Amazingly, it marks the last time that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid permitted a Republican amendment to be voted on -- a period of 125 days that can only be described as a diabolical, dictatorial suppression of democracy...
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Experts: ‘Pay to play’ is the SOP on Capitol Hill
The alleged “pay-to-play” scheme coarsely laid out by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) in FBI wiretaps sent the political world on the hunt for those who reportedly offered $1.5 million for a Senate seat. But campaign finance experts and some lawmakers wonder why the person dubbed “Senate Candidate 5” is getting singled out. They do not see much difference between what the candidate’s “emissary” offered and standard operating procedure in Congress.
[our two party system is killing us. We need move to an OPEN (On-line Party-less Electorate Nominating) Process using the Internet to level the playing field and broaden it to anyone with the gumption to run.]
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Democrats in Chicago and Alabama in Trouble, Neither IDed as Democrats
One convicted on bribery, the other attacks cops at crime scene saying she wasn't driving drunk...
... none of the stories (plural) detailing either of these incidents could find room in them to identify these politicians as Democrats.
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NY Pol Indicted... But What's That Party?
Well, it's the Republican Party. And how do we know this? Well, check out the beginning of this AP story: (my bold throughout)
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Joseph Bruno, the former majority leader of the New York Senate and for a time the most powerful Republican in state politics, was indicted Friday on federal corruption charges.Hmmm. He's noted as a Republican in the first sentence.
Then there's the Washington Post that was in such a hurry that it didn't wait for the story to start at all but told us right in the headline that "Former NY GOP Leader Indicted."
Reuters gives us the important news of party affiliation in it's first sentence, too.
And, on top of that, nearly every single local New York paper, TV and radio report filed on the Internet includes Bruno's party right in the first few sentences.
Whereas, and as we've chronicled roughly one bazillion times in the past, when the media finds a criminal Democrat that politician's party is either buried at the end of the story or never mentioned at all.
[nonsense, there's no bias here - move along...]
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Video: 100 Years of Headlines About Catastrophic Climate Change
Readers are encouraged to review a previous NewsBusters report "150 Years of Global Warming and Cooling at the New York Times."
.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
A 40-Year Wish List
You won't believe what's in that stimulus bill
In selling the plan, President Obama has said this bill will make "dramatic investments to revive our flagging economy." Well, you be the judge. [ many examples, snip]
Add the roughly $20 billion for business tax cuts, and by our estimate only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus. And even many of these projects aren't likely to help the economy immediately. As Peter Orszag, the President's new budget director, told Congress a year ago,"even those [public works] that are 'on the shelf' generally cannot be undertaken quickly enough to provide timely stimulus to the economy."
Oh, and don't forget education, which would get $66 billion more. That's more than the entire Education Department spent a mere 10 years ago and is on top of the doubling under President Bush. Some $6 billion of this will subsidize university building projects. If you think the intention here is to help kids learn, the House declares on page 257 that"No recipient . . . shall use such funds to provide financial assistance to students to attend private elementary or secondary schools."
Horrors: Some money might go to nonunion teachers. [snip]
The larger fiscal issue here is whether this spending bonanza will become part of the annual "budget baseline" that Congress uses as the new floor when calculating how much to increase spending the following year, and into the future. Democrats insist that it will not. But it's hard -- no, impossible -- to believe that Congress will cut spending next year on any of these programs from their new, higher levels. The likelihood is that this allegedly emergency spending will become a permanent addition to federal outlays -- increasing pressure for tax increases in the bargain.
This is supposed to be a new era of bipartisanship, but this bill was written based on the wish list of every living -- or dead -- Democratic interest group. As Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it,"We won the election. We wrote the bill."
So they did. Republicans should let them take all of the 'credit'.
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Buying time to build bombs
Obama's plan to negotiate with Iran will give Tehran the time it needs to complete their nuclear weapon program
Barack Obama's arrival in the White House substantially reduces the likelihood of Israel using military force to thwart Iran's nuclear program and accelerates the possibility that within a year the regime of ayatollahs will possess atomic bombs, according to the assessment of experts in Israel and the United States.
Obama may have referred in his inauguration speech to the challenge of "the nuclear threat," but before that he had already made clear his plan of pursuing a sharp turnaround from George Bush's policy on all matters related to Iran.
The policy Obama is formulating is one of engagement and negotiation. He hopes the Iranians will be tempted to respond to the generous proposals he intends to offer them, diplomatic relations, lifting sanctions, improved commercial ties, and in return a halt or at least suspend uranium enrichment.
Iran, the experts believe, will ostensibly respond favorably to the American courtship and will even reciprocate with some gestures of its own, but in practice, Iran will accelerate its nuclear program and there are already signs of this...
[unfortunately, Recommended > ]
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Ahmadinejad Demands Apology for U.S. 'Crimes'
President Obama on Tuesday, in an interview with Arabic television, called for more dialogue with Iran to express difference and see "where there are potential avenues for progress."
Without mentioning President Barack Obama by name, Ahmadinejad Wednesday repeatedly referred to those who want to bring "change," and indicated that Iran would be looking to see if there would be substantive differences in U.S. policy.
Ahmadinejad also demanded the U.S. apologize for 'crimes' committed against Iran...
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Iran's Vice President Sets Two Preconditions for Talks with US
In an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, he said as long as U.S. forces have not left the Middle East region and continues its support for the Zionist regime, talks between Iran and U.S. is off the agenda.
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Obama and "World Opinion"
The big news last week was Barack Obama's executive order declaring that the terrorist detention camp at Guantanamo Bay will be closed in one year—maybe. But the interesting thing about this measure is that it is largely symbolic, not substantive.
Obama is unlikely to simply release men like, for example, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the main planner of the September 11 attacks. So instead, as a Wall Street Journal article makes clear, he is going to have to reconstitute some close equivalent of the current military tribunals and the current system of indefinite detention of al-Qaeda combatants.
Thus, this is likely to be a change in symbols rather than substance. But the symbolism is itself ominous. As Jennifer Rubin notes:"So in the end we'd have essentially the same legal system, extremely dangerous prisoners on US soil, and the same complaints from the civil liberties lobby. This is a peculiar type of change indeed, one attuned to the elusive and subjective feelings of "world opinion."
That hits the nail on the head. The real significance of the executive order on Guantanamo is that it is a symbol of Barack Obama's desire to tailor US national security to the demands of "world opinion."
Ask the Israelis how well that policy has been working out for them lately.
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US navy seeks arms bound for Hamas
meanwhile...
Tel Aviv - An American naval taskforce in the Gulf of Aden has been ordered to hunt for suspicious Iranian arms ships heading for the Red Sea as Tehran seeks to re-equip Hamas, its Islamist ally in Gaza.
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NPR Baghdad Chief: Not a Single Iraqi Grateful For Their Alleged 'Freedom'
On Inauguration Day, National Public Radio wanted to know how the Iraqi people would greet the American transition of power. On the afternoon talk show Talk of the Nation, host Neal Conan talked to NPR Baghdad Bureau Chief Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, and her street interviews led her to the idea that Iraq was unanimous:
Not a single Iraqi is grateful for the removal of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship...
[your tax dollars at work]
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Raft of Deals Before Castro's Visit
Russia and Cuba signed a raft of agreements Friday, including some on oil, nickel and car servicing, in preparation for a visit by Cuban President Raul Castro on Jan. 30. Closer ties with Cuba are a springboard for advancing Russian interests in that [that would be 'our'] part of the world, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said after the agreement-signing ceremony. "
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Venezuela opposition attacked after Chavez speech
CARACAS - Assailants attacked Venezuela's opposition with tear gas on Monday after President Hugo Chavez told police to use gas at anti-government public disturbances ahead of a referendum on allowing the leftist re-election. Venezuelans will vote on Feb. 15 on a proposed change to the constitution allowing Chavez and other politicians to stay in office as long as they keep winning elections.
[which is easier to do with tear gas]
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Turner Admits He Ignored Slaughter by Khmer Rouge Communists
MSM
"You got me. I didn’t really think about it. You know, it didn’t make the news very much at the time."
[why not?]
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Five Short Economics Lessons
Barack Obama and the Democratic Party seem to have fallen in love with the idea of "make work" jobs. In other words, they're going to take money from taxpayers and then use it to "create green jobs," work projects, and other marginally useful government programs. Then, to add insult to injury, these very same politicians who've taken the money out of working people's pockets will pat themselves on their backs for being compassionate enough to put people to work.
What shouldn't be missed is the other side of the equation: much of the money paid in taxes to the government would otherwise be spent, thereby creating jobs. Furthermore, since the government is less efficient than private industry and because in most cases, people are better able to fill their own needs with their own money than the government can, the "make work" job process is inherently inefficient.
For the United States to remain an economic super power, we need to have competitive businesses that employ productive workers. The American people have proven up to the task for over 200 years and will remain so as long as the government doesn't get in our way. That's why one of the worst things the government can do, particularly in a recession, is to try to create "jobs programs."
[Highly Recommended > ]
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Do Bailouts Prove Reagan's Point Re: Government's Economic View?
Ronald Reagan once said:Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Is there no finer example of this concept than our government's hundred year relationship with the American auto industry?
Before you answer, consider the following Wall Street Journal editorial published Wednesday (h/t Tapscott's Behind the Wheel via Instapundit):
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OUR SPENDTHRIFT STATES DON'T NEED A BAILOUT
Our governors and state legislators need to learn to use fat years to prepare for lean ones.
This time last year, many governors and state legislators were imploring Congress to let them spend more money; now, they are imploring Washington to bail them out. But this is not the first time states have been caught in this trap. Why? Because many fail to address their deep, structural budget problems during the good times, and fail to deal with huge and growing employee pension and benefits liabilities:
- The average public sector worker earns 46 percent more in total compensation than a private sector worker, largely because government employers.
- States have collectively racked up $731 billion in unfunded liabilities for pensions and other retirement benefits but have only put aside $11 billion.
- California state and local governments are paying some $12.8 billion a year to finance public employee pensions, up from $4.8 billion in 1999.
[*as usual, any talk of lower taxes (or, in California, not raising them as much as the Democrats want) results not in consideration of trimming back pension contributions but in threats of cutting essential services. And we keep sending them back...]
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Bush Should Be Ashamed by What He Did to Us
On Sunday's Meet the Press the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary charged Bush “should be ashamed of what he's left us.” The Post-based nationally-syndicated “Color of Money” personal finance columnist contended that as a “regular mom and churchgoer” she's “just so disheartened by what Bush did to us” economically by “fighting a war that we couldn't win.” She got the last word, an overly dramatic one at that, during the panel's assessment of Bush's legacy:His economic legacy is selfishness. You know, you look at what they wanted to do to Social Security. Imagine if our money was in the markets right now, which is one of the things that he wanted to do. I think this, this administration failed on so many levels when it came to the economy, including not regulating the banks and letting things happen that shouldn't have happened with the mortgage industry. And, you know, he should be ashamed of what he, what he's left us.
Singletary, who is also a contributor to NPR, appeared with Todd Purdum of Vanity Fair, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe and Rich Lowry of National Review.
[evidently the change in administration won't end BDS - her 'argument' in nonsensical]
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Obama top star pupil in James Hansen’s School of Climate Change
The answer is James Hansen, the same person who has influenced Gore since 1988 when he appeared before Gore’s Senate Committee. Stephen Schneider introduced him at a Stanford University presentation recently as “an iconic leader”. Schneider made the following statement reported in Discover magazine (October 1989).“Scientists need to get some broader base support, to capture the public’s imagination… that, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements, and make little mention of doubts we may have… Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”
No wonder Schneider defines him as iconic because nobody has practiced what Schneider preached more than Hansen. From the time of his appearance before Gore’s committee to the speech at Stanford, Hansen continued his tactics. Fear, threats of impending doom, running out of time, are all used and backed by misinformation, unjustified speculation, and inaccurate information. [snip]"... a disease called Hansenism which has gripped western media sources and political, business and public opinion in a deadly grasp. Hansenist climate hysteria is driven by relentless, ideological, pseudo-scientific drivel, most of which issues from green political activists and their supporters, and is then promulgated by compliant media commentators who are innocent of knowledge of true scientific method."
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Labour peer set to make a fortune out of eco-bulbs
A former Labour Cabinet Minister is expecting to make a fortune from the Government’s controversial decision to phase out traditional light bulbs and replace them with a low-energy version.
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Light bulbs spark safety fears
Health Canada launched the study in December to test compact fluorescent bulbs to see if they emit ultraviolet radiation.
Two months earlier, British health officials issued a public warning that, in close proximity, the bulbs emit UV rays similar to outdoor exposure levels on a sunny summer day.
Britain's Health Protection Agency now recommends people should not be closer than 30 centimetres [say, a reading lamp] from an energy-saving light bulb for more than one hour per day [say, reading a book], saying it is like exposing bare skin to direct sunlight...
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Huffington: 'I Would Not Have Posted' Article Asking Gore To Apologize
Did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine seeing an article at the liberal website the Huffington Post that not only refuted the anthropogenic global warming myth, but also asked Nobel Laureate Al Gore to apologize for the climate hysteria he's caused?
Apparently, neither could the website's founder, as Arianna Huffington has now gone on the record as saying,
"It was an error in judgment" publishing Harold Ambler's "Mr. Gore: Apology Accepted." "I would not have posted it."
So reported the environmental blog Grist Wednesday:
"...Although HuffPost welcomes a vigorous debate on many subjects, I am a firm believer that there are not two sides to every issue, and that on some issues the jury is no longer out. The climate crisis is one of these issues. "
Wow. So there AREN'T two sides to every issue. That sure is a fine concept to be held by a journalist, dontcha think?
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HAWAII'S KEIKO CRASH OFFERS LESSON FOR ALL
Hawaii just had a vivid lesson in health care economics, learning that if you offer people insurance for free -- surprise, surprise -- they'll quickly drop other coverage to enroll. As a result, Hawaii has ended the only state universal children's health care program in the country after just seven months.
The program, called the Keiki (Child) Care Plan, was designed to provide coverage to children whose parents can't afford private insurance but who make too much money to qualify for other public programs, such as Medicaid's State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). However:
- State officials found families were dropping private coverage to enroll their children in the plan [hence the death of the private sector].
- In fact, 85 percent of the children in Keiki Care previously had been covered under a private, nonprofit plan that cost $55 a month.
- When Gov. Linda Lingle (R) saw the data, she pulled the plug on funding; she realized it was unwise to spend public money to replace private coverage that children already had.
- Yet, Lingle is facing a political firestorm from critics who say she's denying children health insurance -- even though children in Hawaiian families earning up to $73,000 a year are eligible for Medicaid.
The Hawaiian debacle should also be a caution to President Obama, who wants to mandate health insurance for all children at the national level.
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Obama 'Shifting Power From Traditional Cabinet Posts'; Will Media Complain About 'Too-Powerful Executive'?
Jonathan Martin at Politico.com reports that the Obama Administration is concentrating lots of power at the top (bolds are mine):
West Wing on steroids in Obama W.H.
President Barack Obama is taking far-reaching steps to centralize decision-making inside the White House, surrounding himself with influential counselors, overseas envoys and policy "czars" that shift power from traditional Cabinet posts.
Not even a week has passed since he was sworn in, but already Obama is moving to create perhaps the most powerful staff in modern history – a sort of West Wing on steroids that places no less than a half-dozen of his top initiatives into the hands of advisers outside the Cabinet.
Pulling power close is something all recent presidents have done – and on the campaign trail, Obama spoke out against George W. Bush’s attempt to expand his executive authority.
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Geithner names ex-lobbyist as Treasury chief of staff
.
This on the same day he announces a rule reducing lobbyists' role in agency decisions.
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Gay Portland Mayor Won't Resign Over Lying About Relationship With Teen
The mayor of Portland, Ore., told city commissioners Sunday he will not resign despite calls for him to do so after he admitted he lied and asked a teenager to lie about their sexual relationship. Mayor Sam Adams publicly apologized this past week for lying early in his campaign.
City Comissioner Randy Leonard told the Associated Press that Adams left him a phone message Sunday morning saying he had decided to remain ...
[why should he - no one else is held responsible for their actions no matter how high/public the office {Geithner, tax czar?}]
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California is almost out of ways to pay bills, fund programs, controller says
The controller says California is down to Plan D on its checklist of paying bills. Its cash reserves are piddling; the special funds it borrows from are tapped out, and no one in the private sector is going to lend it any cash at a reasonable interest rate.
That leaves what in state government circles are called "payment deferrals" and what in real life is called "stiffing your creditors."
In this case the creditors include income taxpayers expecting refunds, college students waiting on state aid, counties that operate public assistance programs, and companies that sell goods and services to state agencies.
Chiang has said he won't write $3.7 billion worth of checks for those and other state programs if legislators and the governor haven't reached a deal by next Sunday to close the budget gap.
The controller said he must conserve what little cash the state has to be able to make constitutionally required payments to schools and interest payments to state bondholders.
[anyone recall the many reminders here re: bonds being the worst way to pay for anything as they essentially double a thing's cost? Now add at any cost given their apparent primacy of place re: debtors]
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Sarah Palin forms a PAC
Like others presumed to have their eye on the party nod -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arkansas ex-Gov. Mike Huckabee -- Palin has set up a PAC -- SarahPAC.
The creation of such a financial entity commits her to nothing. But such a political action committee will allow Palin to position herself to compete by legally collecting donations to travel and speak on her own behalf. (Iowa is a long snow machine ride from Wasilla, Alaska.)
It also will permit her to raise and distribute campaign donations to like-minded GOP supporters seeking office...
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