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.
Can you tell the difference between this:
And this:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Amendment in Senate)
Answer: While they’re both piles of crap, the manure will actually stimulate growth!
Revisions/extensions (12:10 pm 2/7/2009, steveegg) – Fixed the link. I agree; only the item hauled by Ford would stimulate growth.
I do hope you reserved Saturday, March 7 on your calendar. Americans for Prosperity is holding the 2nd Annual Defending the American Dream – Wisconsin Summit at the Midwest Airlines Center. Yes, there is a bit of a cost involved at $36 for general admission and $19 for students, but the lineup of both guests and topics are well worth it.
Guests include Rep. Paul Ryan, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Moore, authors Herman Cain and Fred Kelly Grant, Judge (and candiate for Supreme Court Justice) Randy Koschnick, candidate for State Superintendent Rose Fernandez, and WIBA/WISN radio star Vicki McKenna.
Topics include the death tax, climate “change”, property rights, the upcoming state budget, and choice in education.
Do register for this great event as soon as possible.
Most of this is assuming me being in better shape than I’m in (very sore throat, rather tired), but here’s what’s happening around town that I’m shooting for:
– Saturday 2/6, 2:30 pm-3:30 pm – Rose Fernandez listening session, Mayfair Mall, Community Room 150, 2500 N. Mayfair Rd. in Wauwatosa. Rose is a candidate for state superintendent, and the one I’m supporting.
– Tuesday 2/10, 7 pm-??? – Drinking Right, Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W. Burleigh St. in Milwaukee. If it’s the second Tuesday of the month, and the first one isn’t Election Night, it’s all about being drinking.
– Wednesday 2/11, 6:30 pm-9 pm – Oak Creek Mayoral Candidate forum, Oak Creek Community Center, 8580 S. Howell Ave. in Oak Creek. Come meet all three candidates running for Oak Creek Mayor, incumbent Dick Bolender, Alderman Mark Verhalen and Alderwoman Dimity Grabowski, and learn about the issues in the race. Side note; I do have a short questionnarie out to all three candidates and hope to have responses from all of them prior to this event.
– Tuesday 2/24, 7 pm-??? – Blog ‘n Grog, Sprizzos, 363 W. Main St. in Waukesha. It’s not as hard to find your way around downtown Waukesha as it used to be, so come on out and grog.
– Saturday 3/7, 8:30 am-6 pm – Defending the American Dream – Wisconsin, Midwest Airlines Center, 400 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Milwaukee. My friends at AFP are once again bringing some good guests and great conservative topics together.
In addition, I’m still working on getting to CPAC. I cannot promise that one though.
The Business Journal of Milwaukee has a rather distressing story for those of us in Oak Creek. The U.S. Postal Service has decided to delay building its planned $80 million mail processing and distribution center on the old Van Beck property at College and Pennsylvania at least a year because of their current financial condition.
Buried in that story is a real stinker of an item, especially for those that opposed the facility. The USPS bought the property from Cobalt Partners, the developer-of-record, last month for $8.1 million, after Cobalt spent $4.6 million assembling the property from the estate of the Van Becks, two other individuals, and the city. That’s right; it’s now exempt from taxes.
I sent an e-mail to Mayor Dick Bolender this morning asking for clarification on another item of interest; whether this change in ownership affects a previous agreement from Cobalt Partners to pay for part of the reconstruction of College and Pennsylvania that is scheduled to begin this year. When and if I hear back from the mayor, I’ll update this post with the answer.
Tonight, President Obama has warned the nation of dire economic consequences if the pile of garbage called a stimulus package isn’t passed immediately.
One of Obama’s key arguments for the stimulus package is jobs. In his oped piece today he warned:
Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits.
Just three weeks ago President Obama’s team released a white paper that argued for the stimulus package. I covered the inconsistency of positions that one of it’s authors, Christina Romer has between the white paper and her previously published postions here.
In the white paper, there is a chart that shows what will happen to unemployment with and without the stimulus package. With the latest report of new unemployment filings it is expected that the unemployment rate will rise to 7.5%, right in line with the white paper’s expectations.
From here, the white paper projects that with a stimulus package, unemployment will continue to rise and peak at approximately 8% in the third quarter of this year. Without the stimulus package, the paper projects that unemployment will rise, peaking at 9% in the middle of next year.
There are approximately 155 million individuals in the US workforce. If I do my math correctly and giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, the difference between 7.5% and 9% is 1.5%. 1.5% of 155 million is about 2.3 million.
When discussing unemployment figures economists always talk about the net number of unemployed. The reason for this is pretty straight forward. Even in the best economic times there are people who lose their jobs. Contrary to other economic systems, a capitalistic one does not provide cradle to grave employment. Nor does an employee have to work at the same job and same employer for their entire life. People move. If Obama was talking in the same terms that labor economists use than he is grossly exaggerating the increased unemployment that his own team says will come if their own predictions come to pass. However, even if Obama was talking gross he’s exaggerating.
In a typical year, an average of about 3 million people quit or change jobs in any given year. If Obama is suggesting that this year we will now have a total of 5 million people lose their jobs, that’s an increase of 2 million. I’m not suggesting that 2 million is nothing. Certainly to every person impacted, and their family, it is very significant. However, to suggest that spending $900 billion will keep 2 million people from going through the process of changing jobs…that’s a cost of $450,000 per job! We could just pay them in place for a cost that is a fraction of the $900 billion!
Obama has staked a significant portion of his political capital on this stimulus bill. It contains his first installments on all the Left believes they are owed for supporting his candidacy. Unfortunately, he took his eye off the ball and let Pelosi make a mockery of what was not a correct, but at least an honest effort by him. After the Republicans did an about face in the House and with the rapidly falling public support of the bill, Obama has resorted to an increasing scare hyperbole in an attempt to move the bill along.
Obama needs to be careful. While I don’t think the bill won’t pass, he only needs to pick off two of the weak Rinos, he will likely not get more than just that couple. After using the “give it to me or it will get waaaaaaay worse,” if the bill passes, he’d better hope that things improve and fairly soon. If not, no amount of “things were worse than we thought” explanations, will restore credibility with the public and allow him to use the scare card in the future.
I’m way late to this party, but since the Senate will continue work on their version tomorrow, and it will be going to a conference committee, it’s not “never”. My friends at Americans for Prosperity set up a site opposing the Generational Theft Act of 2009 called No Stimulus! As part of this effort, they’re gathering signatures on a petition in opposition to the expansion of government. They’re at 53,288, but they could still use your help.
Mary Katharine Ham has done it again…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkSFnh7lbQ[/youtube]
I’m still down with a cold, but I need to throw something up here…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxvJmHsyQ_g[/youtube]
Yes, it is Open Thread Thursday, so in the spirit of all the bailouts, how about bailing a sick blogger out.
Those of us who live in the north know the benefits that cold and lack of sunlight have on garbage storage. During the winter you never have to worry about garbage stinking or maggots growing in your garbage cans. No, it’s not until heat and sunlight are applied that garbage begins to stink and you get nasty little things like really like garbage showing up to gorge on it. A similar thing can be said about alleged, stimulus bills.
When kept in the dark and not allowed to be viewed because all around it are yelling that it will be an economic “catastrophe” if the bill isn’t passed NOW, stimulus bills don’t stink. In fact, when kept in the dark, you can hardly tell that it’s garbage at all. However, as light is allowed in and heat in the way of questions gets applied, even the prettiest packaged garbage begins to stink. The longer it’s in the light and heat, the more the stink increases.
Doubt me?
I wrote here how Rasmussen had found a decline in approval rating of the stimulus bill of 8% in just one week! That change in approval was during the week in which the House passed their version of the stimulus with no Republican support. With an additional week of scrutiny and the beginning of debate on the Senate version, Rasmussen reports that support has dropped another 9% and now has more Americans against the bill than for it.
The longer the bill is exposed, the less the public supports it. The less the public supports it, the more Senate Republicans seem to be getting the message that this is one battle worth fighting and finding a better solution for. Even John McCain, the Senator voted “most likely to try and get a long with President Obama,” has decided that the stimulus as proposed, is unacceptable:
"’No bill’ is better than this bill," McCain told CNSNews.com just outside the Senate chamber.
It’s time to put this bill out to the curb for pickup. McCain claims that he will reveal a new proposal on Thursday. I don’t know if it will be any better but there’s no doubt it won’t be any worse than the current stinker.
Ashamedly, I’ve been writing consistently against the stimulus package. I’ve believed that it was focused incorrectly and spent money that we don’t have on issues that were really political paybacks and future government budget busters.
I was wrong!
Nancy Pelosi has finally provided the explanation that proves we need to pass the stimulus package, STAT!
Folks, we’re a country of losers! With “500 million people losing their jobs each month,” every last one of us have lost our job every month! In fact, with 500 million losing their jobs, some of you have actually lost MULTIPLE JOBS A MONTH! Good Gosh, we’ve become a country of irresponsible teenagers, not caring about showing up to work on time because we know that mom and dad will just give us a bigger allowance next month!
Huh? What? You say Nancy misspoke and really doesn’t know the difference between 500 million and 500 thousand? Oh, OK.
No wonder Nancy doesn’t understand the Republican’s rejection of her stimulus bill. Nancy can’t tell the difference between 500 million and 500 thousand, do you think she understands the difference between $1 billion and $1 trillion?
Standing around the water cooler on Monday morning, every play of the previous day’s “big game” is easy to dissect. It’s easy to see what the quarterback did wrong, where the defense missed a coverage and where a receiver ran the wrong route. It’s easy when you have the advantage of 24 hours to reflect and seeing the replay of every error from at least six different angles….in slow motion!
After two weeks in office, President Barack Obama, a man who has never run anything, is having trouble, well, running something. Specifically, after second guessing his way to the Presidency, Obama is finding it difficult to execute smoothly when there is more to deal with than just the tie that he will wear at his next photo op.
In just two weeks Obama has gone 1 for 3 on securing tax cheats into administration positions. While a .333 batting average is good if you’re a catcher in the American League, supporting these candidates even after the tax revelations, shows a complete tin ear to the expectations of average Americans.
In just two weeks, Obama has already made a shambles of his ethical standards order. At least two former lobbyists have been hired under the guise of “uniquely qualified”. Along with the insistence that people who aren’t smart enough to get competent tax advice are still smart enough to run major Federal agencies including the IRS, the hiring of the lobbyists show that contrary to all the campaign promises, the Obama administration will look just like any other “good ol’ boy” political organization that has ever existed.
In just two weeks, legislation for a stimulus bill that was supposed to be ready for the President to sign on the day of his inauguration, has only passed the House. The debate is just beginning in the Senate and the bill is rapidly losing support from the American public. Oh, and in just two weeks President Obama lost control of his “post partisan” message as Nancy Pelosi rejected the ability for any input or amendments from any Republican.
In just two weeks, after attempting to be kindler and gentler with Iran, Iran responded to the Obama’s generous gesture by saying “did we say step to this line? No, you must now step to this new line.”
It seems so easy looking back from Monday morning. It’s quite a different thing to do it right when you’re in the middle of the play on each and every down. I hope for all our sakes, that President Obama learns the differences, quickly.
Commenting on the stimulus bill that was passed in the House and a variation of it that is being debated in the Senate, President Obama said there were:
“very modest differences”
between the bills being debated and what Republicans want in a stimulus bill.
I find that hard to believe.
By any measure, the bill that came out of the House and the bill being debated in the Senate are not “modestly different” from even Obama’s outline for the bill!
You may remember that President Obama’s original outline for the bill was for a $750 billion bill with 40% of the bill targeted on tax cuts. What has been approved thus far is an $819 billion package with only 22% of “tax cuts.” Meanwhile, the Senate bill being debated, is $900 billion with 29% attributed to “tax cuts.”
The “tax cuts” in both the House and Senate bill are sleight of hand at best. The bulk of the “tax cuts” in the house bill are really one time tax credits and not tax cuts in any classical sense. It’s easy to see the difference. Where as true tax cuts change the amount of money a taxpayer has to spend on an ongoing basis, a tax credit is a one time event. The problem with credits is that they do not change spending habits on an ongoing basis. In fact, what was seen in last year’s rebate, is that a significant portion of the refund went to paying down loans or into savings and not into direct “stimulation” of the economy. The increase in “tax cuts” in the Senate version is mostly due to a one year patch to the AMT so that it doesn’t drag more taxpayers into it….a “patch” that has been routinely done so it’s really not a true reduction of any kind.
Modest does not describe anything about either of the bills being discussed. Not the size, the impact on the growth of government nor the differences between them or what Republicans ought to want. The only thing “modest” in this entire scenario is the logic of those who complained about the spending by Republicans but suddenly believe that spending is AOK now.
Following the election of Barack Obama numerous pundits across the left, middle and squishy parts of the right, pontificated that the results of the election proved that Conservatism, especially Reagan Conservatism was dead. The argument was that the American public wanted more government solutions, more regulation, more “fairness” and more social services.
A recent poll by Rasmussen finds results that appears to run contrary to these pontiffs:
Fifty-six percent (56%) of U.S. voters say the Republican Party should return to the views and values of the iconic 40th president of the United States.
The response from Republicans isn’t surprising:
Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republican voters believe a return to the two-term president’s views and values are the road to success. Just eight percent (8%) disagree.
However, responses from unaffiliated voters and Democrats were:
Among unaffiliated voters, 61% say the Republican Party
should return to Reagan, while 23% think the party should move away from those values.
Even 29% of Democrats think Reagan is a good role model for the modern Republican Party.
Also surprising, at least if you believe that President Obama had some kind of a mandate to expand government is the following:
In his first inaugural address, Reagan declared that "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Fifty-nine percent (59%) 59% of voters still agree with him.
Finally, the survey showed that 57% believe that tax cuts are good for the economy while only 17% disagreed.
The findings in this report provide a lot of insight as to why support for the stimulus bill is fading. It should also be something that President Obama takes to heart.
Contrary to what has been whispered to Obama, or what he may believe, about the country wanting to move quickly to the left, it appears that Reagan Conservatism is still alive and well even within the Democrat party.
Can someone please make sure that Mitch McConnell gets a copy of the poll?
To paraphrase Twain: Rumors of Conseratism’s demise have been greatly exaggerated!
I admit, I was shocked when I read this quote by Jonathon Porritt a former Green Party Chair, from yesterday’s London Times:
"I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate," Porritt said.
It’s always puzzled me how folks like the Greens believed that humans could control the earth’s weather patterns by changing their individual activities and habits. Yet, those same humans were incapable of controlling their sexual impulses and therefore had a right to abortion as a form of birth control. It’s good to see that the Greens finally have aligned the logic of their arguments!
Um, I guess not:
Porritt, a former chairman of the Green party, says the government must improve family planning, even if it means shifting money from curing illness to increasing contraception and abortion.
He said: "We still have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe and we still have relatively high levels of pregnancies going to birth, often among women who are not convinced they want to become mothers.
and
The Optimum Population Trust, a campaign group of which Porritt is a patron, says each baby born in Britain will, during his or her lifetime, burn carbon roughly equivalent to 2 ½ acres of old-growth oak woodland – an area the size of Trafalgar Square.
Let’s take Porritt’s logic to its extended conclusion shall we? Pick people afflicted by your favorite physical or mentally challenged issue and let’s be done with them….we could make more room for “valuable people” to “use the earth.” How about people who are in a persistent coma state…let’s pull the plugs there and make room! Retired people who just prefer to sit on their porches each day and watch the world go by; they’re gone because they add no value and are taking up resources.
Porritt and his ilk use phrases like “family planning” to try and hide away from the moral consequences of abortion. They attempt this in the same way the creators of the city in Logan’s Run used the Carousel and shouts of “Renew” to hide the fact that they too were killing those who were determined to no longer contribute more than the resources they used.
If the value of human life is determined by the impact on the earth, why stop at abortion?
In his first two Executive Orders, President Obama began the process to close Gitmo and revoked President Bush’s order that allowed enhanced interrogation techniques. During the signing, President Obama explained:
“The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals.”
Today the LA Times reports that President Obama has left himself a tiny, little, minuscule really, but never-the-less important loophole in dealing with people he thinks are bad:
Under executive orders issued by Obama recently, the CIA still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.
That’s interesting. I didn’t know that our “values and ideals” included asking other countries to do things we find objectionable. I guess this is what they mean when they refer to “work Americans won’t do!”
(H/T – Ed Morrissey)
Remember that item from Friday that had President Barack Obama (D) taking Senator Judd Gregg (R-NH) as his Commerce Secretary so that the Democrats would get to 59-of-99 seats in the Senate? The Hill is quoting named and unnamed Republicans close to Gregg that he wouldn’t do it if the Democratic governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, appointed a Democrat to replace him.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) won’t accept a position as President Obama’s secretary of Commerce unless he is guaranteed his Senate seat remains in GOP hands, said two Republicans who know Gregg well….
"Gregg would never allow his seat to go to a Democrat, the only way he would allow it is if he died," said a Republican close to Gregg. "He would consider it to be a breach of trust to people who elected it."
For those of you wondering why I call it the Tommy Thompson Memorial Pickoff Pool, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson (R) made a sport of cherry-picking a Democratic state Senator for a plum state job and replacing that person with a Republican when the Democratically-controlled Senate would block the budget process. Of course, the Senate Republican “Leader” at the time, Mike Ellis (Neenah) would always find a way to have his caucus lose a seat in the next election to return control right back to the Dems.
The funny thing is, the Dems don’t even need to get to 60; there will always be enough RINOs (with or without Gregg and the still-“fighting” Norm Coleman from Minnesota) siding with them to stop any filibuster from the remainder of the caucus.
This is the last serious betting opportunity of the NFL season. Let’s ignore the disastrous first part of the season and the non-existant second half/playoffs (necessitated by a vig crunch), and gamble on the Su…er, Championship Game That Cannot Be Named™. Unless specified, all of these come from Bodog as of 8:15 am; bets and odds may vary based on when and with whom you plunk down your marker:
Final – Pittsburgh -7 points and -210 to win, under 47 total (the under is the 5-star pick of the day)
First half – Arizona +4 points, under 24 total
1st quarter – Pittsburgh -.5, under 10 total
2nd quarter – Arizona +.5, under 13.5 total
3rd quarter – Pittsburgh -.5, under 10 total
4th quarter – Pittsburgh -.5, under 13 total
Will Arizona score in every quarter – No (-325)
Will Pittsburgh score in every quarter – No (-180)
Will there be a score in the last 3:30 of the game? – No (+125)
What will be the final margin? – Pittsburgh by 7-12 points (4/1)
Who will throw more interceptions? – Kurt Warner (-160)
Will Troy Polamalu have an interception? – Yes (+140)
(Not from Bodog, but courtesy Arthur Balinovsky on Facebook) – What will the White House thermostat be set at for the party? – Under 76 degrees (of course, every fireplace will be going full-tilt)
Does former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich have any professional interest on today’s action? – No (but only because he was also kicked out of his office pool)
All information provided is for entertainment purposes only. NRE and its agents assume no responsibility for any money lost, tax liabilities incurred, court appearances ordered, jail time sentenced, broken bones inflicted, killings suffered, or any other action taken as a result of using this to gamble.
But I repeat myself…..
I can’t do better than the sarcasm the WSJ has already dripped on the Dems sudden love affair with Tax cuts…go read the article for yourself. Be careful, make sure you have an ace bandage tightly wrapped or your head will explode if you follow this link.
I am a bit late to the RedState/DontGo Movement Send A Pair Project. The first target is Senate “Republican leader” Mitch McConnell, specifically his Louisville office (601 W. Broadway Room 630, Louisville, KY 40202). RedState recommends playground balls, but after I read the item I’m about to post on, I’m going to send some serious 2″ gumballs (once they arrive at the bunker, that is) because somebody must’ve slipped some Neuticles into the first shipment.
Jeff Emanuel points to a piece that ran on Politico yesterday that says that quotes McConnell as saying the Republicans need to become even more liberal than they have over the last 8 years. Let me put it this way; when there were GOP governors on both coasts, when Ronald Reagan won every state except Minnesota, the GOP was the party of both economic and social conservatism. Over the last 18 years, ever since George H.W. Bush busted his lips and raised taxes, the Republican Party has abandoned first economic conservatism and then social conservatism. The Democrats never really abandoned their liberalism, at least once they reached office.
Jake Tapper of ABC reports that Health and Human Services Secretary-designate Tom Daschle (last seen in public life as the Democratic Senate leader) waited until he was being vetted for the HHS post before he paid $101,943 plus interest in taxes owed for using a chauffeur and car between 2005 and 2007. For those keeping score at home, that’s roughly three times what Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner belatedly paid in taxes.
I can already hear the excuses – Daschle, as Senate Democratic leader, was provided with a chauffeur and car paid for by you and me.
I’ve lost count of how many of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet and Cabinet-level advisers have had ethical lapses. Of course, since the Senate “Republican” leadership is in desperate need of a pair of balls (more on that in a moment), I’ll say that at least 12 Senators with “R”s behind their name will vote for Daschle’s confirmation.
Flip Pidot puts the answer in a handy graphic (which you’re going to have to go see yourself). In inflation-adjusted dollars, the “infrastructure/energy” portion of the Generational Theft Act of 2009 (arguably the “stimulative” part of the act) ranks below the Louisiana Purchase, the Moon Race, the first 4 years of the New Deal, and the Iraq War (the other governmental spending on the chart), while each of the remaining 3 components; “wealth redistribution”, “states/human capital” (i.e. government spending money on itself), and interest on the borrowing, each outstrip everything except the New Deal and the Iraq War.
Bonus item – Using the same numbers from Bianco Research (via The Big Picture) that Flip used, the total $1.2 trillion cost of the Generational Theft Act is greater than any “single-event” outlay other than World War II in inflation-adjusted terms.
Revisions/extensions (7:17 pm 1/30/2009) – Link to Flip’s post fixed, but I won’t guarantee success in getting through. All I can say is, “Try, try again.”
DakRoland, a regular Ed Morrissey Show chatizen, passed this one onto me. For an initial cost of $69.95 (plus shipping and handling), CollectiblesToday.com will send you the first 3 cars in the BOHO (Barack Obama HO-scale) railroad set, along with a short track and a power pack.
I’m waiting for the inevitable YouTube video of the train derailing.
Update by Shoebox: Here’s video of the 2 BOHO trains, Hope and Change, trying to use the economic track laid by the BOHO stimulus bill
Revisions/extensions (4:22 pm 1/30/2009) – Corrected the state in the party ID from Rhode Island to New Hampshire (thanks to JB in the comments).
David Fredosso picked up on an item that first ran in Roll Call that President Barack Obama wants to tap Sen. Judd Gregg (“R”-NH) as Commerce Secretary. New Hampshire is one of the states that states the governor gets to appoint a temporary replacement, specifically until the next general election (in 2010). At last check, the governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, is a Democrat, and there is nothing that says that Lynch has to appoint another “Republican”.
I guess the ‘Rats believe there is a difference between a potential 59-of-100 and a potential 60-of-100 after all, especially since the House Republicans showed some backbone the other day in opposing the Generational Theft Act of 2009.
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