Poll: 39% of Americans Willing to be Sold as Slaves

Its the only way to interpret this Rasmussen poll result:

Forty-nine percent (49%) of U.S. voters trust their own judgment more than President Obama’s when it comes to the economic issues affecting the nation.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) trust the president more in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure whose judgment is better.

Obama has never held a real job – for anyone who has ever held a real job to figure that Obama has better economic judgment is to have the mentality of a slave, looking for a Master do to all the thinking for you. Now, some of that 39% is made up of people who have never had a job, like Obama, but most of it is probably made up of people like that McDonald’s employee at the Town Hall…looking for Master Obama to make things all better for him…

We do need to bring back a test for voting – “Do you wish to be a slave?”, answer “yes” or “maybe”, and you don’t get to vote…

The United States is $42,970,000,000,000.00 In the Hole

Yes, you read that correctly: in a Treasury report (PDF), the “total present value of future expenditures in excess of future revenue” is $42.97 trillion dollars. This is over the next 75 years – which means that over the next 75 years, we’ll have to come up with that money, unless you think there is more than $40 trillion we can borrow out there. Remember, this is expenditures in excess of revenues…in other words, the real annual deficit over the next 75 years is about $570,000,000,000.00. And this is before TARP II and Obama’s “spendulus” package. We’re in a position where we need to figure out how to spend half a trillion dollars less per year, and Obama wants to spend trillions more than we’re already over spending.

This is from the smart guy who replaced President Bush.

A very large part of this annual deficit is, of course, in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And this, dear liberals, is why we conservatives started yammering on about how we need to fix entitlement spending because its already horrible, and the longer we wait to start fixing it, the harder it will be to fix. Thank you, very much, for already screwing the pooch on this one. And you did it simply for a partisan, campaign issue…a few votes, to you, was more important than the future economic health of the United States of America.

Anyways…

As I’ve said before, we’re bankrupt. We tried the liberal model for the past 75 years – with some modifications by Reagan and Bush which, because of liberal intransigence, ended up merely putting off the day of reckoning – and it has failed. There is, as they say, no free lunch – and the tab has now come due. We have to pull back – spend less, make more, save more.

If we really want to get out of this, we have to immediately cease all non-essential government spending, start the long process of privatizing entitlements and set up our economic regulations in such a manner as to encourage wealth creation. We do this, and we can get ’round this problem in a decade or two…don’t do it, and it will just get worse and worse each year, perhaps masked at times by a prosperous year or two, but ultimately there will come a when we’ve taxed, borrowed and printed every red cent we can, and there are still people with their hands out.

And, liberals, there is some good news I can impart to you here – you don’t have to give up your dreams of bonanzas of government spending. But you do have to give up your dreams of borrowing and printing your way into the funds for doing it. Set up a budgetary system which is balanced with a “rainy day” set aside each fiscal year, and in a few years you’ll find that even with a balanced budget and swiftly reducing federal debt that you’ve got just oodles of taxpayer cash to play with…but you have to live within your means.

And, hey, I’m not the first person to say this to you of late – Obama did, too. Of course, he was lying about it. But did you think he was lying about it when he said it? If you didn’t, then don’t you think you should busy yourself holding him to his promise? Its either that, or the course you’re heading down will result in a very large Republican majority in the by and by…and then even if there are oodles of cash, we won’t let you play with it…

Your choice.

What to do With a RINO

Chuck Muth picks up an interesting story from Tennessee, and suggests what we might to do Sens. Specter, Snowe and Collins.

The Spendulus, In a Nutshell

From Senator Lamar Alexander, via Post Politics:

This bill will give American workers $8 a week in their paychecks in exchange for passing along a $1 trillion debt to our grandchildren. The entire New Deal in today’s dollars cost only half of what this bill costs.

The wife and I are eagerly anticipating what we’ll do with that extra $8 a week, each…me, personally, I figure we go heavy into canned goods, and spend the tax return on the shotguns. Meanwhile, we drain out the 401k and buy gold.

Its going to be a very long four years, and we’re going to emerge out of it a great deal poorer than we are today – but, hopefully, we’ll be wiser in a lot of ways and especially in that way which makes people positively retch at the mere thought of another liberal, Democratic Administration.

The Problem With Darwinists

There is, of course, nothing wrong with the theory of evolution as a means of explaining how life developed on this Earth – but there is a problem when people take that theory and attempt to apply it in a universal sense and turn it into a political ideology masking as a scientific theory:

Father Marc Leclerc, professor of Natural Philosophy at the Gregorian Pontifical University of Rome, explained in a recent article for L’Osservatore Romano that there is no problem with the theory of evolution. The problem, he said, lies in the ideology that is created as part of the theory.

In his article, the Jesuit priest said that in the past, and much more so in the present, “many, whether they are fans and foes of Darwin, have confused his scientific theory of evolution—which should be discussed at a scientific level by competent persons—with the reduction of it to an ideological system, a vision of the world that forcibly falls upon on all men.”

Father Leclerc underscored that “as then Cardinal Ratzinger rightly wrote, the controversy has not come from the theory of evolution as such, but from the turning some of its elements into a universal philosophy, in order to explain all of reality’.”

Darwin, he noted, “applied his theory of natural selection to how our species emerged, but not to the functioning of current human societies, underscoring instead as a beneficial aspect for the species the acquisition of moral and religious faculties that lead man to protect the weakest, contrary to the absurd pretentions of social Darwinism.”

“Evolution and creation pose no opposition to each other, but rather they show themselves to be complementary,” the priest added.

He went on to say, “Reflection on the place of man in evolution and in creation” is of particular importance. Man, as a living being, can find his own place in the evolution of species which, when read post factum, had prepared for his coming for a long time. But man cannot reduce himself to a pure product of the evolution of species without contradictions: in other words, man is not reducible to mere animality.”

But the Darwinists insist we are mere animals – accidental results of accidental evolution which has no meaning and no point. Such assertions fly in the face of easily observable facts – such as the fact that there is no way to predict what I’ll think next, and if you can’t predict what I think next, then a purely evolutionary view of the development of life is utter nonsense. But Darwinism – as differentiated from Darwin’s theory – isn’t about science or truth; it is about an anti-religious worldview which some people insist we adhere to.

What is the reason for opposing Intelligent Design as a theory of how life developed? Not anything in Darwin’s theories. In fact, ID does an excellent job of filling in the rather large holes which have developed in Darwin’s theory since he first proposed it more than a century and a half ago. The reason for being opposed to ID is because if you have a Designer, then you’re open to the whole gamut of thought regarding God, and the Darwinists don’t want the kiddies to hear about God, because – in their absurd view – belief in God is at the root of all or most of our societal problems.

It is fine and dandy for someone to believe that the net effect of religious belief is negative – but it is quite another when such a person desires to impose that view on everyone else. By hijacking Darwin’s theory and pretending that it explains all and also disposes of any need for a Creator, the anti-religious Darwinists are seeking to impose their worldview on us.

We must fight this – in the name of liberty and, very importantly, in the name of science. It is anti-science to hold that a theory cannot be questioned – Darwin has a theory and it is actually our duty to question it, and accept no dogmas which have built up around it unless such things are verifiable in a laboratory setting. For all the carping that ID can’t be proved, the fact remains that Darwin’s theory can’t be proved, either and thus mere rational discourse requires that we allow the free play of ideas in the matter of the origin and development of life.

Senator Feinstein Reveals CIA Drones Operating From Within Pakistan

It appears that Senator Dianne Feinstein revealed secret information yesterday which complicates the war on terror…. 

A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an airbase inside that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counterterrorism collaboration with the United States.

The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land.

At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise at Pakistani opposition to the ongoing campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets along Pakistan’s northwest border.

“As I understand it, these are flown out of a Pakistani base,” she said of the planes.

The basing of the pilotless aircraft in Pakistan suggests a much deeper relationship with the United States on counterterrorism matters than has been publicly acknowledged. Such an arrangement would be at odds with protests lodged by officials in Islamabad and could inflame anti-American sentiment in the country.

Feinstein said through a spokesman that her statement “was based solely on previous news reports that Predators were operated from bases near Islamabad.” But, that doesn’t seem likely.

“If accurate, what this says is that Pakistani involvement, or at least acquiescence, has been much more extensive than has previously been known,” said Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at Georgetown University. “It puts the Pakistani government in a far more difficult position [in terms of] its credibility with its own people. Unfortunately it also has the potential to threaten Pakistani-American relations.”

Nice going, Dianne.

Forgive Them, Because They Know Not What They Do

Meaning, in this instance, our Democrats and their Obama-Pelosi-Ried Hot-Dang-We-Gonna-Spend-Us-Some-Money Porkenstien “Stimulus” Bill – no one can possibly read it prior to the upcoming vote – from The Sundries Shack:

It is now 7 PM and the Democrats in Congress have yet to give their Republican counterparts a copy of the final Stimulus Bill for them to read. Steny Hoyer says that the House is going to move toward a vote starting at 9 AM tomorrow.

Today’s version of the bill clocks in at 1,434 pages and that’s not the final version. What Congress will likely vote on tomorrow (because President Obama has practically demanded that he sign it on Monday) is likely going to be larger.

There is no chance in the world that any member of Congress is going to be able to read the bill by morning unless they are a trained speed reader. Even then, they’re not going to know the full ramifications of what the bill contains. I’ll do some back of the envelope calculations to prove it.

Let’s start with two generous assumptions: that the bill remains at 1,434 pages, and it gets in the hands of your member of Congress at 8 PM. Let’s also assume that there are about 350 words on each page

In order for anyone to read the entire bill in 13 hours, they’d have to start the very minute they got it and read over 1.8 pages a minute every minute, without a break. They’ll be clocking in at a reading speed of 640.5 words per minute at that rate. If anyone needs a potty break, they’d better take the bill with them. Forget eating.

As noted later in that linked entry, even if by some miracle some Congresscritter did manage to read the whole thing, that doesn’t mean said critter would be able to understand all the ramifications of the bill, as a lot of the bill is couched in “amendment to sub-section 3C” legalese. At the end of the day, Obama and his Democrats are passing a bill of which they are ignorant of its provisions as well as how it will fit in with all other programs carried on by the United States government – its just a bunch of sh** shoved through the legislative process as fast as possible, with low level Congressional aides and Obama Administration officials to be left to apply it to the American people after passage.

Liberals, do you fully realize just how monumentally stupid this is? And this is the action of the man you swear up and down is a vast improvement over President Bush. Let me tell you – for the sake of argument, lets say that Bush was just as bad as you say he was. Obama is worse. By far.

Obama's Stimulus Fizzle

Entirely unsurprising:

President Obama today repeated the claim we asked about yesterday at the press briefing that Jim Owens, the CEO of Caterpillar, Inc., “said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off.”

Caterpillar announced 22,000 layoffs last month.

But after the president left the event, Owens said the exact opposite.

Asked if the stimulus package would be able to stop the 22,000 layoffs or not, Owens said, “I think realistically no. The truth is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again”

“It is going to take some time before that stimulus bill” means re-hiring, he said.

The wonder remains whether or not Obama actually believes his Porkenstein will do good, or whether he’s just scamming us…he’s either a fool, or a con artist. Neither of which makes for a good President.

Liberals: Just please file this sort of post for later reference. When your Obamessiah completely flunks the test and Democrats are crushed in 2010 and 2012, you just remember that we told you before it was passed that the stimulus bill not only would not work, but would actually make things worse.

Democrats Lie, Again

Yaaawn…some day this won’t be routine:

In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp.

“[I] don’t know, ‘cause they haven’t seen the bill either,” Boehner said.

“The American people have a right to know what’s in this bill,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind) told HUMAN EVENTS after the press conference. “Every member of Congress — Republicans and Democrats — voted to post this bill on the internet for 48 hours, 48 hours ago. We’ll see if the Democrats keep their word.”

Actually — as of 5:15 pm, the Democrats had broken their word.

One wonders why Democrats even bother making promises – everyone just has to know by now that anything a Democrat says is merely for temporary expediency and the actual event will be some sort of corrupt, screw-the-people boondoggle designed to enhance the power and wealth of senior Democrats. But they keep at it, and they keep breaking their promises.

UPDATE: Now that the Democrats have graciously placed the bill on the House website, lets see how they are going to keep things above-board for us:

SEC. 1221. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY BOARD.

There is established a board to be known as the `Recovery Act Accountability and Transparency Board’ (hereafter in this subtitle referred to as the `Board’) to coordinate and conduct oversight of Federal spending under this Act to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse.

SEC. 1222. COMPOSITION OF BOARD.

(a) Membership- The Board shall be composed of seven members as follows:

(1) The Chief Performance Officer of the President, who shall chair the Board.

(2) Six members designated by the President from the inspectors general and deputy secretaries of the Departments of Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Transportation, and other Federal departments and agencies to which funds are made available in this Act.

(b) Terms- Each member of the Board shall serve for a term to be determined by the President.

The President will have his guy running a board staffed by more of the President’s guys to keep an eye on what the President’s guys are doing. Yeah, I’m confident – feel absolutely certain that these watchdogs will keep close tabs on how the people’s money is spent.

And we get this all for a measly $14,000,000.00….

Gregg Withdraws

There are some things which can’t be tolerated – and the growing absurdity known as the Obama Administration is one of them:

President Obama’s choice for Commerce Secretary, Senator Judd Gregg, withdrew his nomination on Thursday. He said there were “irresolvable conflicts” between him and the administration.

“It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census, there are irresolvable conflicts for me,” Mr. Gregg said in a statement. “Prior to accepting this post, we had discussed these and other potential differences, but unfortunately we did not adequately focus on these concerns. We are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”

The withdrawal comes one week after Mr. Gregg was named to become the third Republican member of the Obama Cabinet. It is the second time that the commerce secretary position has been vacant within the last month.

The conflicts, I imagine, revolve around the fact that the so-called “stimulus” bill is a con job, while the census going under direct White House control means that liberals are going to try and gerrymander the United States, likely by trying to manage the count so that liberal areas of the country lose fewer House seats than expected. Disaster is coming, and no one with any sense really wants to be part of the train wreck, except Gates at Defense who is doing a patriot’s job of protecting the military as best he can against the liberals.