Down Memory Lane

"It was precisely the fact that Estrada was Hispanic that made Democrats and their activist allies want to kill his nomination. They were determined to deny a Republican White House credit, political and otherwise, for putting a first-rate Hispanic nominee on the bench. ........ hey filibustered Estrada for years and he never made it onto the bench. So, when you see Barack Obama--who voted to filibuster Sam Alito!--piously denouncing "the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this process" in the past, remember Miguel Estrada. Somewhere on this earth, there is a worse hypocrite than Barack Obama." [ Power Line ]

Bush Administration: Right After All! Again.

"It's one more in a long series of instances in which the Obama administration has backtracked on its campaign promises--fortunately!--by keeping Bush administration anti-terror policies in place."

"Obama and Cheney are the two biggest supporters of Bush's policies. Cheney with his vociferous defence and Obama through his actions." [Power Line]

Americans Oppose GM Bailout

"Rasmussen finds today that by a 67 percent to 21 percent margin, voters "oppose a plan for the federal government to give General Motors an additional $50 billion to buy 70% of the company." Only 18 percent say the government will do a good job of running GM. (It would be interesting to know how many of those 18 percent are union members.)" [Power Line]

Waterboarding Demo

Download THIS video to see a demonstration of waterboarding. If doing this to a terrorist can save lives, then let's do it.

Obama Offers Prime Posts to Top Campaign Contributors (Update1)

"Even with his pledges to change government, Obama is following the tradition of his predecessors by offering some ambassadorships to top campaign backers, including four of the 12 nominations this week. The president acknowledged in a news conference in January that donors might get plum postings." [Bloomberg]

IF YOU DON'T WATCH FOX NEWS....

You are almost alone in this country...... here are the ratings for this Thursday ..... and they've been running like this for a long time: (Source: Drudge Report)

CABLE NEWS RACE
THURS., MAY 29, 2009

FOXNEWS OREILLY 3,526,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,474,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,009,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 1,871,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 1,834,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 1,787,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,298,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,029,000
CNNHN GRACE 915,000
CNN COOPER 852,000

About Empathy

"Barack Obama famously says that a key quality he wants in a Supreme Court justice is "empathy." As many commentators have observed, "empathy" is really a cover for lawlessness. But it's actually worse than that, because empathy, as that term is used by Obama, is inherently selective." [Power Line]

Sotomayor's cases have NEVER been affirmed by Supreme Court

"President Obama must be confident that he has the votes in Congress to get Sotomayor confirmed. If the Democrats didn't have such a commanding majority in the Senate, it's hard to imagine that Obama would pick someone who is so brazenly at odds with mainstream legal thought that the Court has yet to affirm her reasoning on any of her decisions that have been appealed." [Power Line]

Lawyers tag nominee as 'terror on the bench'

"Lawyers who have argued cases before Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor call her "nasty," "angry" and a "terror on the bench," according to the current Almanac of the Federal Judiciary -- a kind of Zagat's guide to federal judges." [Washington Times]

PRAVDA: American capitalism gone with a whimper

"It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

These past two weeks have been the most breath taking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, loses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look little more then ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the shear volumes. Should we congratulate them" [PRAVDA]

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies

SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold Bible studies in their home [San Diego News]

Shock! Big Dem Donor Group Allowed to Keep Their 6 Chrysler Dealerships Open ...Update: Their Local Competitors Eliminated!!

Big Dem Donor Group allowed to keep all 6 Chrysler dealerships open.... Local competitors eliminated by Obama's task force!!

Obama says health care a must this year _ or never

"President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act.

"If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip." [Breitbart.com]

Presidential Fundraising Trips Leave Taxpayers With Hefty Tab

"President Obama left Tuesday for a two-day fundraising tour in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The Democratic National Committee is expected to pick up part of the cost, but if history is any gauge, taxpayers will pick up most of the tab. " [Fox News]

Dealergate: Stats demonstrate that Chrysler Dealers likely shuttered on a partisan basis

How did the U.S. government's "car czar" decide which Chrysler dealers to close and which would remain open? No one appears to know, not even the President of Chrysler:

Follow the evidence trail, below, and judge for yourself.

Dealers on the closing list donated millions to Republicans, $200 for Obama

The initial pass at the list of shuttered dealers showed they had donated, in the aggregate, millions to Republican candidates and PACs and a total of $200 to Barack Obama.

Take That!

One wag reports:

One day after North Korea launched a successful test of a nuclear weapon, President Obama said that the United States was prepared to respond to the threat with "the strongest possible adjectives."

In remarks to reporters at the White House, Mr. Obama said that North Korea should fear the "full force and might of the United States' arsenal of adjectives" and called the missile test "reckless, reprehensible, objectionable, senseless, egregious and condemnable."

Sotomayor: What Should Republicans Do?

"A judge who believes that judicial decisions depend not on the Constitution and the laws, but on the race or gender of the judge who renders them, is unfit for the Supreme Court. If Sotomayor sticks to that stance, Republicans should vote against her unanimously, and they will be supported by the American people in doing so. If, as no doubt will happen, Sotomayor recants those racist views, the American people will, at least, see which party is on the side of equal justice under the law." [Power Line]

Burping of the lambs blows roast off menu

"GIVE up lamb roasts and save the planet. Government advisers are developing menus to combat climate change by cutting out “high carbon” food such as meat from sheep, whose burping poses a serious threat to the environment.

Out will go kebabs, greenhouse tomatoes and alcohol. Instead, diners will be encouraged to consume more potatoes and seasonal vegetables, as well as pork and chicken, which generate fewer carbon emissions. " [Times OnLine]

FRIDAY MORNING AT THE PENTAGON

Here's Lt. Col. Bateman's account of a little-known ceremony that fills the halls of the Army corridor of the Pentagon with cheers, applause and many tears every Friday morning. It first appeared on May 17 on the Weblog of media critic and pundit Eric Alterman at the Media Matters for America Website

Photographic Fraud

"The media have an obvious vested interest in constantly urging that cameras be allowed in more places where governmental decisions are being made, including the Supreme Court of the United States. Like so many things that are said to be good for the public, this is something that would be good only for its advocates-- and harmful to the process of making decisions in the public interest, as distinguished from providing a forum for grandstanding." [Thomas Sowell]

A Law Student Letter to Liberals

"Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement: " ...... [King's Right Site]

Headwinds For the Left

A series of polls reported over the last few days by Scott Rasmussen paint an interesting picture of an electorate that may be on the eve of what the Democrats intend to be the most radical transformation in our history.

By a 77 percent to 14 percent margin, voters say the big problem in the United States is politicians' unwillingness to cut spending, not the electorate's unwillingness to pay more taxes.

By a 47 percent to 18 percent margin, respondents believe the government will do a bad job, not a good job, of running GM and Chrysler.

By a 75 percent to 13 percent margin, Americans think it is more important to develop new sources of energy than to require auto-makers to produce more fuel-efficient cars.

By a 66 percent to 24 percent margin, voters oppose a federal bailout for California.

Emily Litella Pelosi

"Think about it: the Speaker of the House of Representatives claims that the CIA, on which both Congress and the Executive Branch rely in making vital, life or death decisions, "lies" and "misleads Congess all the time." If that were true, it would be a fact of astonishing importance. It would be vitally important to investigate and get to the bottom of why the Agency "misleads Congress," so that we can sweep the liars and misleaders out of office and clean up the Agency. Right?" [Power Line]

Al Qaeda in Minneapolis

"The case against Warsame dates back to his arrest as a material witness at the end of 2003. At the time of his arrest Warsame was a student at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, about which we have written previously in connection with the planned installation of foot baths for Muslim students.

According to the indictment handed up in the Minnesota federal district court, Warsame was a resident of Minneapolis by way of Canada and Somalia. He was first arrested and detained as a material witness. The subsequent indictment charged Warsame with conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda between March 2000 and December 8, 2003, the day he was arrested in Minneapolis by the FBI. Warsame admitted traveling to an al Qaeda training camp in 2000 and 2001." [Power Line]

See No Evil

"On February 2, a Department of Defense spokesman told THE WEEKLY STANDARD that a Pentagon report documenting the recidivism of some former Guantanamo detainees would be released imminently. The report was coming so soon that we were told to check defenselink.mil for it that afternoon.

Nothing.

Today, the New York Times, which has obtained a copy of the report, says that two administration officials claim it was squashed for political reasons." [The Weekly Standard]

U.S. Courts Should ‘Download’ International Law into Domestic Law, Obama Nominee Says

Should you have ANY DOUBT that Obama's administration seeks to destroy our Constitution ........ read on !

CAFE's Three Strikes - It Should be Out

The federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard was enacted during the 1975 energy crisis. It required auto manufacturers to meet certain mileage standards, measured in Miles Per Gallon (mpg), across a manufacturer's entire fleet of vehicles. CAFE was originally proposed as a means of reducing America's dependence on foreign oil.

• Original CAFE standards were 18 mpg for cars and 15.8 mpg for light trucks up to 6,000 pounds.

• Current CAFE standards are 27.5 mpg for cars and 20.7 mpg for light trucks.

• In the future, CAFE advocates want Congress to set fuel economy standards at 40 mpg for both cars and light trucks.

Legislators, noting CAFE's inability to reduce reliance on foreign oil, among other problems, have placed a moratorium on increases in the CAFE standard. But in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, CAFE supporters are mounting a two-pronged justification for raising CAFE standards. They are again raising the specter of energy "security," and also are arguing that increasing the mpg standard for cars and light trucks will help reduce global warming.

CAFE has three strikes against it:

• The best evidence suggests that raising CAFE standards will not reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

• Even if human activity is contributing to global warming, raising CAFE standards will have little or no effect.

• CAFE standards - both at their present level and at the proposed higher levels - pose a significant risk to life and health.

Flip-Flops and Governance

"Mr. Obama either had very little grasp of what governing would involve or, if he did, he used words meant to mislead the public. Neither option is particularly encouraging. America now has a president quite different from the person who advertised himself for the job last year. Over time, those things can catch up to a politician." [Wall Street Journal]

Message From Head of CIA to Employees

Here is the text of the message from Leon Panetta [Obama's CIA Director] to all CIA employees:

Message from the Director: Turning Down the Volume

There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I’m gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress.

Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.

My advice — indeed, my direction — to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country.

We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is — even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.

McCain Says Obama Does Not Have the Authority to Use Bank Bailout Money to Bailout Auto Makers

"Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday that President Obama does not have the authority to use money from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)--the bank bailout law--to bail out the auto industry." [CNS News]

Elites may lead, but Americans do not always follow.

"Many years ago, political scientists came up with a theory that elites lead public opinion. And on some issues, they clearly do. But on some issues, they don't. Two examples of the latter phenomenon are conspicuous at a time when Barack Obama enjoys the approval of more than 60 percent of Americans and Democrats have won thumping majorities in two elections in a row. One is global warming. The other is gun control. On both issues, the elites of academe, the media and big business have been solidly on one side for years. But on both, the American public has been moving in the other direction." [Michael Barone]

The Continuing War on Police

"On April 24, as I was waiting in the San Francisco Hall of Justice to cover a murder case involving members of the Black Liberation Army (BLA), a small group of BLA supporters was beginning to gather. Convicted lawyer Lynne Stewart greeted Ward Churchill, after the lanky and long-haired former Professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder strolled down the hallway. "Congratulations," she said, embracing him and referring to a jury verdict that he was wrongly fired. "Will you be reinstated?" Churchill answered, "It remains to be seen." " [Accuracy in Media]

What the Progressives Want

"Progressives divide the world into victims and exploiters, and see themselves as saviors of the underdogs who are incapable of fending for themselves. And that requires greater government power in their hands, to vanquish the exploiters. This perspective explains much of what President Obama is doing with the vast powers at his disposal." [American Thinker]

"Empathy" Versus Law - Part I

"That President Obama has made "empathy" with certain groups one of his criteria for choosing a Supreme Court nominee is a dangerous sign of how much further the Supreme Court may be pushed away from the rule of law and toward even more arbitrary judicial edicts to advance the agenda of the left and set it in legal concrete, immune from the democratic process.

Would you want to go into court to appear before a judge with "empathy" for groups A, B and C, if you were a member of groups X, Y or Z? Nothing could be further from the rule of law. That would be bad news, even in a traffic court, much less in a court that has the last word on your rights under the Constitution of the United States." [Thomas Sowell]

"Empathy" Versus Law: Part II

"The great Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is not the kind of justice who would have been appointed under President Barack Obama's criterion of "empathy" for certain groups." [Thomas Sowell]

"Empathy" Versus Law: Part III

"There is a reason why the statue of Justice wears a blindfold. There are things that courts are not supposed to see or recognize when making their decisions-- the race you belong to, whether you are rich or poor, and other personal things that could bias decisions by judges and juries." [Thomas Sowell]

"Empathy" Versus Law: Part IV

"What is at stake in Supreme Court nominations is the power of the federal government. "Empathy" is just camouflage, a soothing word for those who do not look beyond nice-sounding rhetoric" [Thomas Sowell]

Suckers United for Change

"Now that we're more than 100 days into the Obama presidency, the handwriting is on the wall regarding our new leader's game plan for America. Spend other people's money like a Madoff on steroids. Let every enemy on the planet know there's a wimp in the White House. Let every ally know the wimp in the White House will do nothing to help them when push comes to shove. Let the 50 states know there's a power coup in play that strips them of constitutionally guaranteed liberties. Let every company know that neither they nor their non-union employees are safe from Chicago-Way thugs and their mouthpieces in the media. Let the 300 million American citizens know that the rule of law, applied equally to all, is about to be replaced by special favoritism in the form of "empathy."" [American Thinker]

In occupied France, part 2

"One Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago, a group wearing "BOYCOTT ISRAEL" T-shirts entered a French branch of Carrefour, the world's largest supermarket chain, and announced themselves. They then systematically advanced down every aisle examining every product, seizing all the items made in Israel and piling them into carts to take away and destroy. Judging from the video they made, the protesters were mostly Muslim immigrants and a few French leftists" [Power Line]

Criminal misconduct at the Obama-Holder Justice Department

Dept. of Justice leaks report in complete violation of U.S. Law.

U.S. threatens to rescind stimulus money over wage cuts

More strong-arm, third worldish, banana republic thuggery by this administration.

"Reporting from Sacramento -- The Obama administration is threatening to rescind billions of dollars in federal stimulus money if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers do not restore wage cuts to unionized home healthcare workers approved in February as part of the budget." [LA Times]

The union workers Obama is protecting here are members of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) ...... the brown shirt arm of ACORN !!!!! Seems there's a pattern here, doesn't it?

" So I said to him, ' Barack, I know Abe Lincoln, and you ain't Abe Lincoln. ' "

CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of 'Enhanced Interrogations'

"In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics." [ Washington Post]

The Justice Department’s Torture Hypocrisy

"The Obama Justice Department is engaged in the worst type of hypocrisy. Its Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) is nearing completion of a 220-page report which will recommend that Attorney General Eric Holder refer former Bush administration lawyers to their state bar disciplinary committees over purported ethical lapses in the legal analysis those lawyers drafted to justify harsh interrogation techniques that critics — including President Obama himself — have labeled “torture.”

YET .... even as the OPR report is being finalized, even after Obama declared himself open to the possibility of criminal prosecution against the Bush officials, and even after Holder promised to conduct an investigation that would “follow the evidence wherever it takes us, follow the law wherever that takes us” (emphasis added), the Obama Justice Department is relying on the very same legal analysis in order to urge a federal appeals court to reject torture claims. In fact, as the Obama Justice Department argued to that appeals court a little over a week ago, the torture law analysis in question has already been adopted by another federal appeals court." [National Review]

WHAT UNMITIGATED HYPOCRISY !!!!!
They want it BOTH ways !

Obama Proposes Saving $17 Billion by Cutting Programs (Update2)

“You’re taking a little teaspoonful of water out of the ocean while you’re dumping a whole river in,” Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire said.

Though the White House is trying to focus public attention on cuts, federal spending is on the rise. The blueprint Congress adopted last week provides for a 9 percent increase in domestic discretionary spending and a 4 percent defense increase.

Obama 'stimulus' has sale of guns booming

"Although he campaigned as a supporter of the Second Amendment, they say Obama is the most anti-gun president ever. The NRA gave him an "F" in 2004, and calls him "Anti-gun. Period."They worry that Obama will restore an assault-weapons ban or tax the brass off bullets. The NRA points out that at an anti-gun rally in 1999, Obama proposed a 500 percent tax on ammunition." [Cincinnati Enquirer]

"Gangster Government"

"Think carefully about what's happening here. The White House, presumably car czar Steven Rattner and deputy Ron Bloom, is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people to another group that is politically favored. In the process, it is setting aside basic property rights in favor of rewarding the United Auto Workers for the support the union has given the Democratic Party." [Power Line]

Time to ditch the climate consensus

"It’s not hard to get labelled a climate change “denier”. You don’t even have to deny that climate change is real, man-made and a problem. As Bjørn Lomborg, climatologist Patrick Michaels and political scientist Professor Roger Pielke Jr have discovered, you merely have to challenge the orthodox political policy responses.Or, like Climate Audit’s Steve McIntyre, dare to scrutinise the statistical workings behind influential climate research papers. If you stray from agreeing with the political prescription, you're an immoral person." [The Register]

A Bully In the White House

"Bullying, lying and lawless: President Obama has achieved a sort of trifecta of dishonor in connection with the Chrysler cram-down.


The President's attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him. ... Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power. ..." [Power Line]

No He Can't

"Please know: I am black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul’s name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a black president to love the ideal of America. I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes." [Anne Wortham]

'El no habla': Obama jumbles Cinco de Mayo salute

and George Bush was excoriated for his speeches....... at least Bush speaks Spanish rather well!!!!

State attorney general files charges against ACORN, 2 employees

"ACORN, an activist group that turned in 90,000 completed voter registration forms in Clark County for last year's election, violated state law by setting mandatory quotas for workers who canvassed neighborhoods looking for people to register to vote, according to the state attorney general's office." [Las Vegas Review Journal]

FCC Announces May 7 'Diversity Committee' Meeting - Behold a New 'Fairness' Doctrine

"President Barack Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has released the names of the thirty-one members of their Advisory Committee On Diversity For Communications In The Digital Age. This May 7 gathering is made up of a laundry list of left-wing grievance groups, with a smattering of radio and television companies included to break up the monotony.

Not a single conservative organization is taking part in this Commission - more than a dozen Leftist groups are. A little ironic for a "diversity" panel, is it not?" [NewsBusters]

They are heading for mandating radio/television ownership requirements.......

" The proponents of station owner affirmative action are the same Leftists who were so ardently in favor of reinstating the [so-called Fairness] Doctrine. One can thusly be forgiven for seeing this as an alternative route for the Left to reach their long-sought original destination - the silencing of conservative and Christian talk radio via governmental regulatory fiat."[NewsBusters]

Chrysler and coercion

“The President is trying to abrogate contractual rights; if he will attack that contractual right, what right will he not attack?” [Michelle Malkin]

Seeking to Save the Planet, With a Thesaurus

Disney calls it "pixie dust", Rednecks call it bu-- sh--, sophisticates call it obfuscation, but a thorn bush by any other name still has thorns. The enviro-whackos are not getting the public to move fast enough on their draconian regulation agenda, so they change the names of everything. How many bailout $$ went to the enviro-marketing firm to come up with these winners?

'Obama Discrediting Himself and the US'

"Many had hoped that US President Barack Obama would undo all the damage done by his predecessor. Now, it looks like he might continue the Bush-era practice of trying terror suspects in military tribunals. German commentators are disappointed." [Der Spiegel]

Overcoming American Exceptionalism, with American democracy as collateral damage

"President Obama’s first 100 days have confirmed that he intends to subject America to a radical makeover. As our elected executive, it is his right to attempt this. But that quest should not be carried out anti-democratically by smuggling foreign law into our legal system. It follows that the Senate should not confirm Harold Koh.

As the State Department’s legal advisor Koh would be well positioned to facilitate the transfer of power from American voters to foreign bureaucrats. For his duties would include helping to formulate the legal positions the United States takes in federal court on questions of the role foreign law plays in our legal system." [Washington Examiner]

Only the wrong survive (Pete Seeger edition)

"Today Pete Seeger turns 90. He is a relic of the Old Left, a specimen who, when the time comes, might be embalmed and put on display in the Smithsonian as representative of the breed. He was a party-line Communist and Soviet apologist.

Seeger's most famous record -- the Almanac Singers' very first album -- Songs for John Doe. Released during the week in June 1941 when Hitler broke the pact with Stalin and invaded the USSR, the antiwar album was filled with hard-hitting songs that called for no intervention in European battles on behalf of British imperialism, and condemned Roosevelt as a warmongering fascist who worked for J.P. Morgan...The reason so few people know of the album's existence is easily explained: In true Communist fashion, Pete and his comrades had to respond immediately to the change in the party line that occurred when Hitler invaded the USSR. That meant a recall of the album just beginning to be introduced. All pressings were destoryed, leaving only a few for posterity." [Power Line]

Genesis of the debt disaster

"In the 1990s, a young team at Wall Street investment bank JP Morgan pioneered a new way of making money – credit derivatives. Within a decade, the market for these exotic securities had exploded to more than $12,000bn – and some people later blamed them for fuelling the global financial fiasco. In the first of two extracts from her book, Fool’s Gold, the FT’s Gillian Tett reveals how the innovation genie was first let out of the bottle – and eventually devoured the system, to the horror of its creators." [Financial Times]

BE SURE TO READ THIS TO THE END to see why J.P. Morgan survived

Surprise! Obama may revive Military Tribunals at Gitmo

"To highlight the cynicism employed by the Administration, we have this quote from an unamed "official:"

"The more they look at it," said one official, "the more commissions don't look as bad as they did on Jan. 20."

Nor do most other Bush era programs to fight terror and protect the homeland. The president doesn't want a terrorist attack to occur on American soil anymore than Bush did nor does he want the terrorists in American courts where their lawyers will tie up the legal system with one gambit after another. There is also the fact that most of the testimony against the terrorists was given in top secret interrogations and the problem of revealing those sources in an American court means the tipsters would be left helpless against the terrorists." [American Thinker]

A lawless president looks for a lawless Supreme Court Justice

"By indicating that his concern is not just with just decisions but also just outcomes, Obama reveals the lawless quality of his thinking. The legitimate function of a judge is to reach just decisions, full stop." [Power Line]

A terrorist's plea bargain

"the New York Times editorial board wrote in July 2008 that 'the government, which says [al Marri] has ties to Al Qaeda, designated him an enemy combatant, even though it never alleged that he was in an army or carried arms on a battlefield. He was held on the basis of extremely thin hearsay evidence.' "

However, his plea bargain clearly acknowledges that "al Marri was tasked by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed with investigating several types of attacks on the U.S., including poisoning water reservoirs. His laptop, which was loaded with al Qaeda propanganda videos, contained research on cyanide and sulfuric acid." [Power Line]

Swine Flu in Perspective

We've had pandemic scares for years ....... remember EBOLA (1996) ? SARS (2003) ? Avian Bird Flu (2005)? Swine Flu (1976 ... more people died from the vaccination than the disease before the "protection" program was stopped)?........ What is causing all the ruckus over the current "pandemic" ???

"Look at the facts in the light of the other potential disasters described above. Remember that a good crisis means that somebody is spending money and somebody is making money. Rahm Emanuel advised never to waste a good crisis. In the case of a public health crisis, it is the government, hence the taxpayer, that is spending money. When you hear an influenza research scientist raising the specter of a possible pandemic, you should also visualize large sums of money going from your pocket to his. " [ American Thinker]

Government-Run Health Insurance Program Made Almost $19 Billion in Improper Payments in 2008

" Medicaid, the government-run health insurance program for low income people that is administered by state governments and funded by federal taxpayers, made almost $19 billion in improper payments in 2008, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office last week. " [CNS News]

The Spanish Inquisition

"If we ever once accept that a European court -- and not even a recognized "international" one! -- has jurisdiction over actions committed by American officials here in the United States, and can prosecute them for "crimes" that are not even recognized here, then we have crossed a line from which we can never retreat: The United States will cease to be a sovereign power." [Power Line]

Saudis see Obama as FOOL over torture position

"The current debate over "torture"--the waterboarding of three high-level al Qaeda leaders in order to obtain information about threatened attacks--is an example of public discourse at its worst. From Barack Obama on down, most of what has been said by critics of harsh interrogation has been dumb, disingenuous or both. Waterboarding is, as I've often said, a humane alternative to actual torture. It frightens (even when, as in the case of the three al Qaeda terrorists, they are told beforehand that it may feel like they're drowning, but they won't) but does no physical harm. None." [Power Line]

And the Lefties Complained About Sarah Palin Borrowing Some Dresses ??

"While volunteering Wednesday at a D.C. food bank, the First Lady sported her usual J.Crew cardigan, a pair of utilitarian capri pants and, on her feet, a sneaky splurge: trainers that go for $540." [Daily News]