No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for June, 2009

June 12, 2009

It’s the final countdown

by @ 7:38. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Today is the last day most TV stations will be broadcasting analog signals. Let’s celebrate with some one-hit wonder…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_IKcMl_a9A[/youtube]

Tim Cuprisin of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a list of what will be happening today:

  • Channels 18 (WVTV), 24 (WCGV), and 30 (WVCY) previously shut down their analog broadcasts.
  • At 9 am, Channels 10 (WMVS), 36 (WMVT) and 49 (WBME) will shut down analog broadcasts.
  • Also at 9 am, Channel 63 (WYTU-LP) will cease Telemundo broadcasting and begin simulcasting the CBS and local programming carried by Weigel corporate sister Channel 58 (WDJT) in analog. Because the mandatory digital conversion does not affect low-power stations, The Business Journal of Milwaukee previously reported that Channels 63 and 41 (WMLW-CA, also owned by Weigel) will continue to broadcast an analog signal after today.
  • At 11:30 am, Channel 6 (WITI) will bring back Albert the Alleycat and the playing of the national anthem one more time as part of a special signoff of its analog signal. They then wil run a loop of digital transition information for the next two weeks, with audio still available at 87.7 MHz on the FM dial for those two weeks.
  • At noon, Channel 12 (WISN) will shut down the analog signal.
  • Also at noon, Channel 4 (WTMJ) will run a 2-hour loop of digital transition information, with analog signal shutdown at 2 pm.
  • At 11:59 pm, Channels 55 (WPXE) and 58 will shut down their analog signals. That does not affect the simulcast of Channel 58’s signal on Channel 63.

For those of you who have every TV/VCR/DVR hooked up to ATSC tuners (either built-in or converter box), cable, satellite or AT&T’s U-verse, or watch nothing but low-power TV, you’re golden. If you still have at least one TV, VCR or DVR that isn’t and don’t like or can’t get the very-limited choices low-power TV offers, you’re about to be SOL.

Revisions/extensions (8:20 am 6/12/2009, with Part 2 at 8:28 am 6/12/2009) – A couple of housekeeping notes based on the fact that the FCC has ordered the abandonment Channels 52-69 so that they can be auctioned off for other telecommunications services:

  • WVTV will be returning to physical channel 18 from its pre-transition digital physical channel 61 at 9 am. That means that those of you who get WVTV via antenna will need to rescan.
  • Channel 63 (about to become the analog version of WDJT) will soon vacate that channel. Weigel does have a construction permit on file with the FCC to move the analog signal to Channel 49 (about to be vacated by WBME), with the same coverage as the current Channel 63 signal.
  • WMLW has a application in to the FCC to assume physical channel 24 for its analog signal as physical channel 41 has been assigned to digital stations in Green Bay and Rockford, and WCGV will remain on physical channel 25.

R&E part 3 (10:40 am 6/12/2009) – The loss of the analog Telemundo signal did not affect either the Time Warner carriage of Telemundo (on cable channel 27), its broadcast as a low-power digital station on physical channel 17, or its simulcast on WBME’s digital signal at virtual subchannel 49.4 (physical subchannel 48.4).

Relating to Weigel, and specifically WMLW, while it does have a low-powered digital signal at channel 13, the return to the frequency by Grand Rapids’ WZZM after its pre-transition relocation to channel 39 means that prior plans to make the digital signal full-powered had to be set aside, and it will continue to be available on WDJT’s digital signal at virtual subchannel 58.2 (physical subchannel 46.2).

Also, WMKE-CA, which operates on Channel 7, runs America One programming, and is essentially available only in the northern 2/3rds of Milwaukee County (and notably, not in Oak Creek), apparently will continue to broadcast its analog signal. The parent company does not have any plans to construct a digital tower.

June 11, 2009

Open Thread Thursday – 6/11/2009

by @ 7:00. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

It’s Thursday, so let me know what I’m missing. It’s cold, dark and dreary in the land of cheese and beer, so we need blues…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sMWTqUuSh4[/youtube]

June 10, 2009

Wednesday Hot Read – Christian Schneider’s “Willy Wonka Explains the Wisconsin State Budget”

by @ 13:18. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Christian Schneider reaches into the Dennis York bag of blogging to explain the Daughter-of-Necrobudget:

Yesterday, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released their summary of the state budget as rushed through by the Joint Finance Committee last week. It’s a long and complicated document, so we here at WPRI have enlisted some help in explaining many of the big themes included the budget.

As it happens, most of what legislative Democrats passed can be explained by eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka, star of the 1971 children’s classic “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” Here are some famous quotes from the movie, and how they shed light on the budget currently before the Legislature. Cuddle up with your favorite little Oompa Loompa and read along:

Anyone who can work “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” quotes into a very serious look at what the Assembly will be working on instead of the majority making a pilgrimage to The Won is a genius.

The final budget plunge to begin tomorrow

by @ 13:06. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Rep. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) Tweeted the news that the Assembly will be in session at 10 am tomorrow to take up the 1,903-page Daughter-of-Necrobudget as well as a scheme to shift $261 million in Porkulus money around to allow the current budget to close $70 million in the black (via WisPolitics). Originally, they were supposed to take it up today, but that was postponed after the rank-and-file Democrats started to balk at what their leaders in the Joint Finance Committee put together.

Speculation had been that, since they didn’t have enough votes to ram the Daughter-of-Necrobudget through today, they wouldn’t take it up until next week so they could join the pilgrimage to President Obama in Green Bay tomorrow (via the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). The fact that they’re passing up the first post-inauguration visit is not good news.

UAW Motors is now official

by @ 12:21. Tags:
Filed under Business.

(H/T – The Focusing Brad V)

While I was on a conference call with Sen. Lamar Alexander (recap in the post immediately prior), Chrysler, Fiat, and the United States Treasury took immediate advantage of the denial of relief from several objectors, including three Indiana trust funds, and closed the deal for Fiat to buy an initial 20% stake in the “good” assets of Chrysler for $2 billion and give the UAW a 55% stake in the new company.

UAW Motors escapes bankruptcy with $6 billion in financing from the US Treasury, which according to previous reports will be of official senior secured status.

Conference call with Sen. Lamar Alexander re. govt. car cos.

by @ 12:10. Tags:
Filed under Business, Politics - National.

Thanks to Sean Hackbarth, I was part of a conference call with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), discussing his plan to distribute the Treasury-held common stock in Chrysler and GM directly to the taxpayers within a year and his new Car Czar award. Since I managed to have my digital voice recorder working, I was actually able to grab a few notes from that. Of course, partly because of my natural quietness, and partially because of a heavy-hitter lineup on the call so experienced that even Fausta didn’t get to ask questions, all I can offer is a writeup.

  • The Auto Stock for Every Taxpayer Act (S. 1198, no text available yet from THOMAS) would require the Treasury to distribute all of the common stock to the 120 million or so Americans who pay individual income taxes within a year of GM leaving bankruptcy (side note; Chrysler has now closed its “sale” to Fiat/UAW/US and Canadian governments and will henceforth be called UAW Motors on this blog).
  • Sen. Alexander describes it as the fastest way to get the stock out of the hands of government, and brought up the example of the Green Bay Packers and its community-owned structure (Sean’s influence at work).
  • The most-important thing is to stop the political meddling that results from government ownership, citing the White House-ordered firing of Rick Wagoner as CEO of GM, “suggestions” on where the HQ of GM ought to be, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) pressuring GM to keep a Massachusetts distribution center open, clamors from Congress on what models to make (do I hear Iowahawk’s Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition?), the pay czar to “fix” the price of labor.
  • The rationale to the taxpayers is, “You paid for it, you should own it”.
  • As part of that, the Car Czar award, first given to Rep. Frank on Monday, will become a regular feature.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a conference call without questions. As I said, we had some heavy hitters.

  • Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters started up with a two-parter: How will the inevitable calls from the Democrats to include non-taxpayers be addressed, and will the stock distribution will be based on population or percentage of taxes paid? Sen. Alexander hasn’t heard much from the Dems yet, but the principle is that we should give the shares back to those who actually paid for them. As for the distribution percentage, he acknowledges that a percentage-based would be better, but the population-based split would “give the little guy a break” and be “simpler and cleaner”.

    Side note – the Treasury would have roughly 310,000,000 common shares in “new GM”, and an unspecified number of shares equaling 8% of the membership stake (all non-voting) in UAW Motors, so a population-based split would be “simpler and cleaner”.

  • Jennifer Rubin of Commentary Magazine and Pajamas Media wondered if the Chrysler and GM bankruptcies have changed the rule of law regarding private property owners. Sen. Alexander said that we’ve damaged the rule of law and the rights of private property owners. He pointed out that, in the future, private entities will be slower to lend money to enterprises and rely on contracts to pay the money back, and asserted that our system won’t “function very well” in that scenario.
  • Travis Griffith at CarGurus.com asked about stock dumping by those that would get the distribution. Sen. Alexander notes that stock distributions happen all the time. The alternative would be for the Treasury to slowly divest over 5-7 years, and he expects the government to run both right into the ground before they can fully divest themselves.

    Side notes – I’d expect each invidiual 3-share stake in GM to be worth somewhere around $30 at the close (based on the $1 billion in VEBA funding the UAW is giving up for 17.5% of the common shares) and each individual membership stake in UAW Motors to be worth somewhere between $4 and $7 as of a couple hours ago (depending on which valuation method one uses). At the same time, the UAW will be looking to dump significant chunks of its holdings, which will depress the estimated values and limit the dumping.

  • Stephanie Davis from RFC Radio wondered whether the political meddling would be extended to Ford. Sen. Alexander hopes not, and the faster the stock gets out of the Treasury, the less likely it is that Ford will be meddled with. He read off a long list of enterprises government has been meddling in over the last 9 months.
  • Noel Sheppard asked about Sen. Alexander’s thoughts on the European rejection of their leftist leaders. Sen. Alexander pointed out he has been around a while, and he’s seen things change quickly. Europe has been at points in the past a leading political indicator of trends in the US, especially in right turns. Takeaway quote; “(T)he more the Obama administration practices politics of Washington takeover, the more wary Americans are going to be of one-party control in Washington, which is what we have today.”
  • Somebody from RedState (interference on my DVR prevented me from catching his name) asked about the politicization of the Chrysler dealership closings (which took effect at the close of business yesterday). Sen. Alexander noted that the mere odor of politicization is reason enough to end the “incestuous relationship” of the government owning the car companies.
  • Travis Griffith asked how often we can expect a Car Czar award. Sen. Alexander expects a couple a week because we’re in a target-rich environment. As part of previous answer, he mentioned that he might have to give one to himself for urging that the Spring Hill, Tennessee GM plant stay open.
  • Missed who asked this one, but someone asked whether Sen. Alexander had any confidence that the government control of GM will be transparent. He’s hopeful that the demand for transparency will make GM the most-public private company in America, and that the pressure will get the Obama administration to get the government out of GM.

Sean said he would get a recording out to those of us who participated later, so I won’t inflict you with my very-low-quality version.

Revisions/extensions (12:49 pm 6/10/2009) – Ask, and ye shall receive. Sean came through with audio.

I haven’t completed my thoughts on the bill, but it definitely sounds intriguing. One item I haven’t seen addressed yet – the preferred shares that the Treasury will be holding.

June 9, 2009

Picture of the day – arse*-kicking edition

by @ 12:30. Filed under Politics.

It’s been far too long since I linked to S. Weasel. That’s one of the dangers of having too many blogs to read. In any case, she had a front-row seat for the arse*-kicking the British voters delivered Gordon Brown and the Labour Party yesterday, and took made this picture (unfortunately, she didn’t pack alexthechick’s stompy boots)…

To encourage you to read the whole thing, I’ve disabled comments on this post.

* Yes, I know we Yanks say “ass”, but since it was a British Royal kicking, I’ll make an exception to the proper spelling of vulgarities. If you can’t deal with that, I’ve got two words for you, and the first is “fuck”.

Tuesday Hot Read – Lou Pritchett’s “You Scare Me”

by @ 12:13. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Charlie Sykes)

Lou Pritchett is a former vice president at Procter & Gamble. According to Snopes, which confirmed Lou’s authorship of the following letter, he originally submitted this to the New York Times, which refused to acknowledge receipt of the letter and refused to publish it. Unlike my usual Hot Reads, I will republish the letter in its entirety:

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core..

You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America’ crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Since one of the liberal apologists over at Charlie’s site failed Reading Comprehension 101, I’ll list the 13 Presidents that Lou has lived under:

  • Barack Obama
  • George W. Bush
  • Bill Clinton
  • George H.W. Bush
  • Ronald Reagan
  • Jimmy Carter
  • Gerald Ford
  • Richard Nixon
  • Lyndon Johnson
  • John Kennedy
  • Dwight Eisenhower
  • Harry Truman
  • Franklin Roosevelt

While Lou has but childhood first-hand memories of FDR, he has also lived as an adult under some very liberal Presidents.

Do also note that those with recent experience with what Obama wants to do and is doing have rejected the kindred spirits to Obama in EU parliamentary elections. Can you say, “The warning bells are ringing!”?

Your twelve-hour warning

by @ 7:00. Tags:
Filed under Miscellaneous.

This is your 12-hour warning for Drinking Right. It is the second Tuesday of the month, so we’ll be at Papa’s Social Club (7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee) at 7 pm tonight. Nick reports that Elliot Stearns (or at least his close friend Michael) will be there. Will you?

June 8, 2009

Oh so close

by @ 15:26. Filed under Politics - National.

A couple months ago, Shoebox had a poll up on when Rasmussen’s Presidential Approval Index (the percentage of those who strongly approve less the percentage of those who strongly disapprove in Rasmussen’s 3-day-rolling-average daily Presidential tracking poll) would go negative. On June 5, which reflects June 2, June 3, and June 4, it was zero, with 34% strongly approving and 34% strongly disapproving. Meanwhile, the overall approval was 54%, tied for second-lowest (right behind the June 6 results) and overall disapproval was 46%, tied for second-highest (again, right behind the June 6 results).

Roll bloat – local edition

by @ 14:46. Filed under The Blog.

I should’ve done this before I went on vacation, but I ran out of time. Please welcome Dave_WI and Dave’s Thoughts to the roll of bloat.

Monday Hot Read – Charlie Sykes’ “So What Are They Thinking?”

by @ 7:13. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin.

Charlie Sykes asks what Doyle and the Democratic Legislature are thinking with the Daughter-of-Necrobudget (© Kevin Binversie) that came out of the Joint Finance Committee on mostly party-line 12-4 votes:

Here’s the most interesting political question of the year: why do Jim Doyle and the Democrats think they can get away with this budget?

The package rolling toward final approval is a grotesque fiscal, economic and political monster that not even a mother could love. Besides a few notable payoffs to favored special interests like the trial lawyers and the teachers union, it is a collection of uglies: massive tax and fee increases during a recession; slashes in law enforcement while releasing hundreds of felons from prison; gutting welfare reform; and tens of millions of dollars of pork, all cooked up behind closed doors and voted on in the middle of the night….

There is, in short, no lip stick glossy enough for this pig. So what could Doyle be thinking here?

Charlie, after listing a few of the horrid things in the Daughter-of-Necrobudget that I didn’t include in the excerpt, has a few possible answers to the question. The simple answer is, because they can.

One of the longer answers that Charlie didn’t have time to mention is the “overload” theory. Even if the Democrats get ousted in 2010 (or sooner; there are recall efforts being organized against both Doyle and Sen. Jim Sullivan of Wauwatosa), they figure that, with so much garbage being tossed up, there’s no way the Republicans will be able to mop everything up and restore the pre-bloated size of government.

Winding down

by @ 6:51. Filed under The Blog.

Jib once said that once blogging became not fun, it was time to stop. I’m rapidly approaching the point where blogging is no longer fun.

I’ve still got a few things left to say, but right now, they’re at best half-formed thoughts. Once (or if) I get them out, I don’t know what the future holds for me.

June 6, 2009

Storming the castle, revisited

by @ 20:59. Filed under History, Military.

Sixty-five years ago today:

D-Day.

Addendum: Black Five has an excellent roundup of D-Day posts from many blogs. And have a look at this entry for a photo essay on D-Day.

Photo link courtesy of Confederate Yankee.

(First posted in 2006. I was going to write something else to commemorate D-Day, but that photo says it all.)

Flag

UPDATE: President Reagan’s speech at Normandy, delivered on the 40th anniversary of the landings in 1984: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc. One of the great presidential speeches, ever. Audio of the speech: Part 1 and Part 2.

(cross-posted at Public Secrets. Thanks to Steve for letting me play in his sandbox.)

Thanks

by @ 9:43. Filed under The Blog.

I’d like to thank Phineas, Sister Toldjah, silent E and Fred (who finally included some talent in his annual Liza pic) for filling in while I was on vacation.

Now, for the fishing report. It was the coldest, rawest year ever, but that didn’t stop the fishing. I got a 25″ walleye and a 28″ walleye on consecutive days. In fact, we caught so many large fish, we had trouble getting keepers (ones between 16.5″ and 18″, since Ontario put a slot of 18″ and 23″ where we can’t keep any, and only one of a total of four over that).

I’ll slowly get back into the swing of things after missing 9,000+ items on my overstuffed feed reader.

June 5, 2009

Just Because he left me the keys (again)

by @ 13:38. Filed under Miscellaneous.

untitled

One of these entertainers is Steve’s favorite.

Can you guess which one?

Saturn is getting a new owner.

by @ 13:29. Filed under Miscellaneous.

From The Egg-Man’s perspective, it is an open wheel guy.

I mean if Jack Rousch had bought Saturn then we might have something good here.

I thought this might help Steve after his return from Canada.

by @ 13:26. Filed under Miscellaneous.

H/T Bitter

Elk Cuban Sammiches.  (Because Steve is killing stuff in Canada you know)

Today’s Outdoor Wire features recipes from the winners of the Alabama Wildlife Federation’s Wild Game Cook-Off. I don’t think it’s possible to express how jealous I am of the judges for that contest. I would do just about anything to get a seat on that panel. ANYTHING. (Srlsy, call me, Alabama folks. CALL ME.)

I figured this is the kind of audience that would appreciate the recipes, if for no other reason than to drool over them. Today I’ll feature the overall winner.

Elk Cuban Sandwiches

Cuban Bread:
Starter:
Three-quarter teaspoon of yeast
One-third cup of warm (90-100 deg) water
One-third cup of all purpose flour
Dissolve yeast in water till foamy – 5 minutes, then add flour and store in the fridge for 1 day (or up to 3 days)

Bread:
Four and a half teaspoons yeast (2 packets)
One and a half cups of warm water (90-100 deg)
Four tablespoons of lard – cut up (he used Crisco sticks for the cook off, but lard is better, of course)
One tablespoon sugar
One tablespoon sea salt
One-half batch of the Starter
Four to five cups of all purpose flour

Elk or Venison:

Take hind quarter roast and add dry rub of your preference and marinate overnight. Over hot fire, grill until medium rare or medium at the most. Slice thinly with a deli slicer if available.

Aran’s instructions for the bread follow: Dissolve the yeast in four table spoons of the water and leave for 5 minutes, then add sugar and salt. Add the cut lard, rest of the water and then the half batch of starter.

In his Kitchen Aid mixing bowl, he put on the dough hook attachment and start adding flour 1 cup at a time. On a setting of 4, I mix for 9 minutes. Add the flour until the dough firms up and is more clingy to the dough hook. The sides of the bowl should be clean. It usually takes almost 5 cups of flour.

Dump the dough out, clean the bowl and spray it with Pam. Then return the dough to the bowl, cover it and let it rise for 45 minutes. Lightly dust the clean counter with flour and lay the dough out.

“For the cook-off I made 200 small rolls,” Aran said. “Each batch made 30 rolls. I made a long log (2 foot) and cut 30 rolls out of it. Place 15 rolls on parchment paper, cover with parchment paper and a towel – Let it rise for an hour and fifteen minutes. Heat your oven to 350 degrees and cook for 18 minutes.

“For my family I make Cuban loaves, which you do the same way but divide the same dough into two equal loafs and let it rise for the same time. Before you bake it, soak two pieces of twine in water, lay one lengthwise on each loaf (end to end). After baking remove the twine and you will have a loaf worthy enough to sell on Calle Ocho in Miami.”

If you opt for the larger Cuban loaves, increase the oven time to 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

June 4, 2009

Open Thread Thursday – vacation edition (6/4/2009)

by @ 3:35. Filed under Open Thread Thursday.

This is the Emergency Blogging System. It has been activated because Steve is either face-down drunk in a Canadian cabin after he realized just how much of a screwing this country has taken in his absence from the keyboard or face-down drunk in a Canadian cabin after a successful few days of fishing (or more-likely, both). Since he will still be gone for a couple more days in either case, and because it’s Thursday, it’s time for another round of Open Thread Thursday.

One thing we need is some music, and George Thorogood is appropriate…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysXMAOgEIq4[/youtube]

You are instructed to continue to enjoy the works of the guest-bloggers. This concludes the EBS portion of this post.

June 3, 2009

VIDEO: Harry Reid’s support of Sotomayor not based on a single opinion she wrote

by @ 21:25. Filed under Politics.

Our Senate “leadership” in action:

Transcript:

“I understand that during her career, she’s written hundreds and hundreds of opinions. I haven’t read a single one of them, and if I’m fortunate before we end this, I won’t have to read one of them. ”

Now, why does he support her nomination again? Sounds like he’s just skipped the “advice” part and gone straight to “consent.”

Nevada voters, are you paying attention?

Related reading: Sotomayor’s Supporters May Spin Her Out Of A Job

Cross-posted from the Sister Toldjah blog.

Politics as high-school physics?

by @ 13:36. Filed under Business, Economy, Politics.

The First Law of Thermodynamics states:

Energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It can only change forms. In any process, the total energy of the universe remains the same.

Timothy Carney at the Washington Examiner has found its corollary in politics, reporting today that General Motors, the formerly private company now owned by the federal government, will use bailout money provided by the federal government to lobby … the federal government:

General Motors will continue its multimillion-dollar lobbying operation in Washington, even after the federal government takes ownership of it. The automaker may even maintain its high-dollar lobbying contracts with some of the wealthiest and most influential K Street firms.

“We believe we have an obligation to remain engaged at the federal and state levels,” General Motors stated in an e-mail after President Barack Obama announced his plan for the federal takeover of the carmaker, “and to have our voice heard in the policymaking process.”

As a result, some of the jobs that the White House will save with this unprecedented nationalization could be on K Street in downtown D.C., rather than in Detroit.

In other words, part of the taxpayer money (and the dosh borrowed from the Chinese…) is being laundered through “Government Motors” to pay for lobbyists who will buy dinners for and contribute to the campaigns of the members who voted to create the bailout program in the first place. It’s a closed system, the total energy (money) of which remains the same. The money just changes forms, that’s all.

Head spinning yet?

As Ed points out at Hot Air, there’s nothing wrong with lobbying per se; it’s protected under the 1st amendment right to petition Congress. However, this is more than a bit unseemly: for a company whose only hope of survival was to be taken over by the government at taxpayer expense to then use that same money to lobby its new owners for more money is more than ridiculous. It would have been better to have let GM just go broke and then divvy the bailout money among the workers.

But such is the way of things in Obama’s Corporatist States of America. Sigh

(Cross-posted at Public Secrets)

June 2, 2009

Quote of the day: Obama on Bubba

by @ 22:15. Filed under Politics.

From an upcoming book on Obama’s campaign for President by former Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe:

His wife is now Obama’s secretary of state, but Obama had some tough words for the actions of former President Bill Clinton during the campaign.

“We had to figure out how to deal with a former president who was just lying, engaging in bald-faced lies,” Obama explained to Wolffe.

And now we have to figure out how to – without being accused of racism – deal with a current President who is engaging in bald-faced lies himself.

Here’s a detailed excerpt from the book on the internal debate on whether or not to pick Hillary Clinton for Sec. of State.

Read more quotes from the book here. More excerpts can be found here.

Cross-posted from the Sister Toldjah blog.

Sign of the times?

by @ 13:09. Tags: , ,
Filed under Politics.

liberal fascism

The paperback edition of Jonah Goldberg’s excellent Liberal Fascism won’t be released until tomorrow, but it’s already number 34 on Amazon’s best-seller list. Maybe people are catching on….

Meanwhile, National Review Online has published a Q&A with Goldberg to coincide with the paperback’s release. The new version contains an afterword about President Obama, and here’s what Goldberg said in response to a question about it:

If you look at how most liberals think about economics, they want big corporations and big government working in tandem with labor, universities (think industrial policy), and progressive organizations to come up with “inclusive” policies set at the national or international level. That’s not necessarily socialism — it’s corporatism. When you listen to how Obama is making economic policy with “everyone at the table,” he’s describing corporatism, the economic philosophy of fascism. Government is the senior partner, but all of the other institutions are on board — so long as they agree with the government’s agenda. The people left out of this coordinated effort — the Nazis called it the Gleichschaltung — are the small businessmen, the entrepreneurs, the ideological, social, or economic mavericks who don’t want to play along. When you listen to Obama demonize Chrysler’s bondholders simply because they want their contracts enforced and the rule of law sustained, you get a sense of what I’m talking about.

Read the whole interview and then buy the book; 2010 is closer than you think.

(Cross-posted at Public Secrets)

June 1, 2009

Heard the “Young Conservative Anthem” yet?

by @ 22:34. Filed under Conservatism.

Via Uwire:

A conservative rap video which claims to reflect true conservative values is quickly becoming a cult success and going viral.

“The Young Con Anthem,” created by two Dartmouth students, has received more than 90,000 views and has made it to The Huffington Post, USA Today and a variety of blogs across the political spectrum.

Students David Rufful and Josh Riddle made a rap video which they say was intended to spread the views of the Young Conservatives, a group started by Rufful and Riddle with “a devout mission to spread the love and logic surrounding true conservatism,” according the organization’s Web site.

Rufful and Riddle, both due to graduate in 2012, came to Dartmouth from the Northfield Mount Hermon School, a private school in Massachusetts.

“We didn’t think it would blow up to be this big, but it was kind of a way for us to express a pretty unique view,” Riddle said in an interview with The Dartmouth. “We kind of wanted to spread the love that’s behind the conservative movement.”

In the rap, Rufful and Riddle, who perform under the names Serious C and Stiltz, respectively, discuss the origins of their conservative values, saying: “Three things taught me conservative love / Jesus, Ronald Reagan plus Atlas Shrugged.”

“I take the way I want to have relationships and my morals from the Bible and Jesus, the idea of supply side economics from Ronald Reagan and from Atlas Shrugged, “Riddle said in an interview, “obviously, I don’t agree with all of [Ayn Rand’s] religious philosophies, but it’s all about the power of the individual.”

Riddle said his views are “more valid” because of the diverse influences that contribute to his conservatism.

Here’s the vid:

I found it hard to understand them at times, but the concept was neat – and it’s always good to see young conservatives out there trying to spread the the conservative message.

What did you think of the song/vid?

Cross-posted from the Sister Toldjah blog.

Who Do Ya Know Wants To Buy A Car????

by @ 14:55. Filed under Business.

Well he’s no E.V.S…. That’s for sure.

gmo

President Borg says that the government isn’t interested in running an auto manufacturing business. Ironically the French government said the same thing before invading Renault. Imagine the U.S. with a brand new fleet of  THESE….

5_le_car_modele

Awwwww…. Those kids look so happy in their death machine clown car…….

GM will be directed to build this kind of crap under the direction of it’s new CEO, President Obama.

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