Les Jones

State govt. debt: Mass. highest, Tenn. lowest

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 2 Comments |

From taxfoundation.org. Figures are for 2007.

Five most-indebted state governments:

Five least-indebted state governments:

Massachusetts was the worst state in both absolute dept per capita and debt per capita in terms of state GDP. Tennessee was the best on both measures, with Texas second best on both.

Hat tip to Philip Greenspun.

Delicious free lunches for Judge Elihu Smails

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

or,

Cash for Duffers

Wall Street Journal - Cash for Clubbers: Congress’s fabulous golf cart stimulus:

We thought cash for clunkers was the ultimate waste of taxpayer money, but as usual we were too optimistic. Thanks to the federal tax credit to buy high-mileage cars that was part of President Obama’s stimulus plan, Uncle Sam is now paying Americans to buy that great necessity of modern life, the golf cart.

The federal credit provides from $4,200 to $5,500 for the purchase of an electric vehicle, and when it is combined with similar incentive plans in many states the tax credits can pay for nearly the entire cost of a golf cart. Even in states that don’t have their own tax rebate plans, the federal credit is generous enough to pay for half or even two-thirds of the average sticker price of a cart, which is typically in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. “The purchase of some models could be absolutely free,” Roger Gaddis of Ada Electric Cars in Oklahoma said earlier this year. “Is that about the coolest thing you’ve ever heard?”

Previously - Delicious free lunches for pro sports teams

Tags: free lunches, porkulus

Delicious free lunches for pro sports teams

Thursday, October 29th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

The politics of using taxpayer money to build sports stadiums for millionaire athletes and billionaire team owners.

Tags: bread and circuses, free lunches

iLike to Watch?

Saturday, October 24th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

Over on Facebook I notice that friends across the political spectrum are creeped out by the LAPD iWatch commercial. It’s filmed like an Apple TV ad, but instead of encouraging you to buy a hip consumer electronic it’s advocating you report your neighbors to the police if you have the slightest inkling they’re terrorists.

Tags: facebook, youtube

A scary historical what-if

Monday, October 19th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

Reason - Fools for Communism: Still apologists after all these years:

If Franklin Roosevelt had died just nine or 10 months earlier, his third-term vice president, Communist sympathizer Henry Wallace, would have become president. Wallace once said that if he were president he would appoint Harry Dexter White treasury secretary and Laurence Duggan secretary of state. Both of them, we now know unambiguously from Venona cables, were Soviet spies.

Obama is the wimpy reverse Wimpy

Thursday, October 15th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Reason - Shrewd, Gutsy, and Naive?:

To his legion of online supporters, Obama’s first foreign policy coup was caving to Russian pressure on missile defense, they claimed, in exchange for Moscow’s assistance in applying sanctions on Tehran. Brendan Nyhan argued that Obama didn’t “appease” Moscow because the move was “part of a quid pro quo in which Russia agreed to support tougher sanctions against Iran.” Ubiquitous liberal blogger Matt Yglesias scoffed that, contra Obama’s critics, in the “real world, Obama’s approach is working” by getting Russia behind the administration’s Iran policy. In Salon, Juan Cole argued that Obama “has been rewarded with greater Russian cooperativeness on Iran.” “The US right wing accused Obama of a failure of nerve,” Cole wrote, “But in fact his move was shrewd and gutsy, since he predisposed Russia to increased cooperation with the US in regard to Iran’s nuclear research program.”

Only now Russia is balking at supporting sanctions against Iran, who is their ally in trade, nuclear technology, and arms. Who didn’t see this coming? Other than the shameless Obama boosters above, I mean? From a post of mine in March, Obama throws Europe under the bus, prostrates himself to Russia:

In a three way cage match between Obama, Putin, and Ahmadinejad I’d put my money on anyone but Obama. They were in office before him and I’ll bet they’ll still be in office after he’s gone. All they have to do to come out ahead is to get the U.S. to provide concessions now in return for promised concessions that will come after Obama’s day is over. Ahmadinejad is already dreaming of being Iran’s Castro.

There was a Popeye character named Wimpy who promised “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” Like Putin and Ahmadinejad, Wimpy was conniving, but he wasn’t a fool. His deal gave him something immediate in exchange for a promise that he didn’t intend to keep.

Poor dumb Obama is giving away concrete concessions today in exchange for a promise of future cooperation from our enemies, a promise our enemies are naturally inclined to break. Obama is the reverse Wimpy who’s just wimpy.

Tags: obama

Peace Prize - “Conservatives, you were right all along”

Monday, October 12th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 2 Comments |

The Public Interest - The Public Interest:

I don’t care who’s president, and what party they belong to: no U.S. president has a list of accomplishments worthy of this award with less than a year in office under their belt. I’d say this even if that president personally discovered a cure for cancer during his first year.

The Nobel Committee cost itself a vast amount of legitimacy (the ultimate prize, according to the true reading of Niccolo Machiavelli’s 16th century work “the Prince”).

In the past decade I had justified to myself the reasons behind the Peace Prize award given to President Carter (he’s in my view one of the best ex-presidents we’ve ever had) and Al Gore (for playing the part of a necessary Cassandra on global warming). Now it’s evident the Nobel Committee is nothing more than a wing of the Democratic party. Awarding this so soon for so little measurable success on Obama’s part does nothing else but cheapen the award for future recipients.

So as much as it pains me to say it, conservatives, you were right all along about this one.

Tags: obama

Did someone slip me a crazy pill or did Obama just win the Nobel Peace Prize?

Friday, October 9th, 2009 | Funny Ha-Ha, Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

Did you think it was April Fool’s Day when you heard Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize? I mean, he’s been president for less than a year and hasn’t done anything, right? Iraq, Afghanistan, Gitmo … same same.

I’m thinking maybe The Onion bought CNN in a leveraged buyout and is just pulling our leg. That at least would make sense.

Well, get ready to take some more crazy pills.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.

Two whole weeks? I reckon he deserves it for his journeyman work during his long tenure. It’s like a gold watch for the underperformer who’s put in 50 years of hard work. Sure, maybe Obama wasn’t a rockstar performer like Yassir Arafat or Henry Kissinger, but you’ve got to give it to him for sticking it out for 14 grueling days. For the peace.

Michelle Obama was quoted as saying, “For the first time in my adult life I’m proud of Norway.”

Bonus! Time magazine’s Mark Halperin rates Obama’s presidency to date. His grade? A-. Because unemployment is only 9.8% and the deficit is only $1.4 trillion. With those kind of numbers sainthood is right around the corner. Do you need some water to wash down those pills?

Tags: obama, youtube

Obama throws the Dalai Lama under the bus

Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

Roger L. Simon - Tibet: Now Obama loses the Richard Gere vote:

In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama’s summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks.

For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been “drop-in” visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress’s highest civilian award.

This is consistent with the Obama’s policy of ignoring Tibet because China told him to:

Thus for example, Clinton, on a first state visit to China, told reporters she would not say much about human rights or Tibet because “our pressing on those issues can’t interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crisis.” Amnesty International declared it was “shocked and extremely disappointed” by her words. Unfazed, Clinton moved on to Russia, where she glibly presented its dictator, Vladimir Putin, with a toy “reset button” even while the string of unsolved murders of independent journalists that has marked his reign continued to lengthen.

Meanwhile in the Middle East, Obama has cut off funding for an Iranian human rights organization, presumably so he won’t embarrass his buddies in the Iranian regime. I’m sure China and Iran will succumb to Obama’s withering charm offensive any minute now.

Tags: obama

Claim: Bill Ayers admitted writing Obama’s “Dreams of My Father”

Tuesday, October 6th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

I say claim because it’s a conservative blogger who can’t substantiate it.

Examiner - Bill Ayers admits writing ‘Dreams’ to conservative blogger:

Ayers was in Washington, he told her, for a conference on education. “That’s what I do, education,” he said. “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear about me… You know nothing about me.”

To which she responded, “I said, I know plenty–I’m from Chicago, a conservative blogger, and I’ll post this.” I bet his heart skipped a beat on that one.

But he didn’t scowl, and didn’t run off as he has been known to do. Instead, unprompted, he blurted out: “I wrote ‘Dreams From My Father… Michelle asked me to.” Then he added “And if you can prove it we can split the royalties.”

Anne responded, “Stop pulling my leg!”

But he repeated insistently, “I wrote it, the wording was similar [to Ayers’ other writing.]”

Anne responded, “I believe you probably heavily edited it.”

Ayers stated firmly, “I wrote it.”

We’ll see. If Ayers - the admitted terrorist bomber that Obama claimed was just “some guy in his neighborhood” -  is the true author and is also the egomaniac the Examiner suggests I reckon he’ll make a public claim to being the author sooner or later.

Previously

• New Obama biography confirms Bill Ayers ghostwrote “Dreams of My Father”
• Did Bill Ayers ghostwrite “Dreams From My Father”?

Tags: obama

New Obama biography confirms Bill Ayers ghostwrote “Dreams of My Father”

Friday, September 25th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

I’ve blogged about Jack Cashill’s suggestion that Barrack Obama didn’t write his autobiography, Dreams of My Father. That it was instead written by admitted terrorist bomber Bill Ayers, a man Obama claims was just some guy in his neighborhood he barely knew. Cashill based his theory on similarities between Dreams and Ayers’ own biography, Fugitive Days. Now an Obama biographer says Ayers ghostwrote Dreams.

Ron Radosh - An Old Claim Arises Once More: Did Barack Obama Write ‘Dreams From My Father’?:

And now, Cashill picked up the new bestseller about Obama and his wife, Christopher Andersen’s Barack and Michelle:Portrait of an American Marriage. What he found simply threw him for a loop because, I suspect, it was the last thing Cashill expected to find. Andersen writes in his book that after Obama finally got a new contract to write a book, Michelle Obama suggested that her husband get advice “from his friend and Hyde Park neighbor Bill Ayers.”

Obama had not as yet written anything. But he had taped interviews with family members. Andersen writes: “These oral histories, along with a partial manuscript and a truckload of notes, were given to Ayers.” Look over those words. A man Obama said before the campaign — after conservative pundits continually raised the issue that he was friends with an “unrepentent terrorist” — that he knew only in passing as someone in the neighborhood. He was simply an acquaintance — not someone he had any real friendship or relationship with. Yet Obama evidently gave Ayers his notes, tapes, and the small amount that he had already written.

Finally, Christopher Andersen concludes: “In the end, Ayers’s contribution to Barack’s Dreams From My Father would be significant — so much so that the book’s language, oddly specific references, literary devices, and themes would bear a jarring similarity to Ayers’s own writing.”

Hat tip to Ace of Spades.

Tags: obama

The War on Food Poor People Eat

Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009 | Food & Drink, Politics, Science | Permalink | 5 Comments |

Slate - Let Them Drink Water!What a fat tax really means for America:

It’s ironic that so many advocates for healthy eating are also outspoken gourmands. Alice Waters, the proprietor of Chez Panisse, calls for a “delicious revolution” of low-fat, low-sugar lunch programs. It’s a central dogma of the organic movement that you can be a foodie and a health nut at the same time—that what’s real and natural tastes better, anyway. Never mind how much fat and sugar and salt you’ll get from a Wabash Cannonball and a slice of pain au levain. Forget that cuisiniers have for centuries been catering to our hedonic hunger—our pleasure-seeking, caveman selves—with a repertoire of batters and sauces. Junk foods are hyperpalatable. Whole Foods is delicious. Doughnuts are a drug; brioche is a treat.

But of course. Politicians and food nannyists will tax candy bars, but not creme brulee. They’ll tax the Mello Yello at McDonald’s, but not the Espresso Macchiato at Starbucks. The distinction isn’t the nutritional content of the food - it’s who’s eating it. Poor people’s cheap food will be taxed. Expensive foods won’t. Nanny foodism isn’t about health. It’s about social class, political power, attacking corporations, and demonstrating who gets to tell whom how to live.

Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary, Supersize Me, chronicled his experiment in eating every meal at McDonald’s. While no one would argue that McDonald’s is health food, Spurlock could have gained just as much weight if he had eaten at high-priced French restaurants. If there’s ever a rational fat tax it will add ten bucks to the price of every Julia Child cookbook.

Any tax on “bad” foods assumes that nutritional science can actually tell us something useful about what to eat and what not to eat. The evidence on that count is mixed. The long-held consensus of low fat dieting is under withering attack. Advice on the health benefits of moderate alcohol consumption keep being revised in both directions. Sweet and Low packets used to carry warnings that saccharine caused cancer in lab rats, but those labels were removed a few years ago. Most notable of all, after decades of diet books, diet products, and more attention paid to weight America is now fatter than ever.

The crossroads of science and public policy is a dangerous place. Policy should be informed by science only when the science is long-settled. That means that the most pressing topics - the ones that are most likely to be in the spotlight and the subject of new law - will rarely be informed by good science. They will instead be settled by politics and the pressure of political interest groups.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Obama will fight for you (except against lawyers, because they know Latin and Kung Fu)

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 | Health Care, Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

CNSNews.com - Howard Dean: Democrats Left Tort Reform Out of Health Care Bill Because They Feared ‘Taking On’ Trial Lawyers

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, a medical doctor who served as governor of Vermont, said at a town hall meeting on Tuesday night that Democrats in Congress did not include tort reform in the health care bill because they were fearful of “taking on” the trial lawyers.

“This is the answer from a doctor and a politician,” said Dean. “Here is why tort reform is not in the bill. When you go to pass a really enormous bill like that the more stuff you put in, the more enemies you make, right? And the reason why tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on, and that is the plain and simple truth. Now, that’s the truth.”

Tags: obama

Gaddafi set to go after the real terrorists - the Swiss

Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

To the United Nations Libya and Switzerland are equally legitimate countries and now Libya is set to preside over the UN General Assembly. Welcome to Crazyville.

CNBC - Gaddafi Calls for an End to Switzerland: Report

Gaddafi is set to put forward his plans to eradicate the Alpine state when Libya officially takes over the annual presidency of the UN General Assembly on September 15, the Daily Mail newspaper reported.

Relations between Switzerland and Libya have been tense since Gaddafi’s son and his son’s wife were arrested and accused of assaulting a hotel chambermaid in Geneva a year ago.

Even though the complaint was dropped and the couple released on bail, Gaddafi withdraw $5 billion from Swiss bank accounts, closed Swiss business in Libya and arrested Swiss nationals in the country.

Kennedy offered to help Soviets against Reagan

Friday, August 28th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

Forbes - Ted Kennedy’s Soviet Gambit:

Continue reading the rest of this post right here ›››

Charles Rangel (D-NY) finds half million dollars in couch

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | No Comments |

“Only Republicans are corrupt.”
- Steve at White’s Creek

Instapundit:

I’M SHOCKED, SHOCKED TO FIND THAT Charles Rangel has undisclosed assets. “House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel, already beset by a series of ethics investigations, has disclosed more than $500,000 in previously unreported assets. Among the new items on Rangel’s amended 2007 financial disclosure report were an account at the Congressional Federal Credit Union worth at least $250,000, an investment account with at least $250,000, land in southern New Jersey and stock in PepsiCo and fast food conglomerate Yum! Brands. None of those investments appeared on the original report, which was filled out by hand and filed in May 2008.”

UPDATE: The real total in previously-undisclosed assets is probably over $1 million:

In 2004, for instance, Rangel reported earning between $4,000 and $10,000 in outside earnings on top of his $158,100 congressional salary. But the amended filings show that after the sale of a property on West 132nd Street, his outside income that year was somewhere between $118,000 and $1.04 million.

The Post revealed yesterday that Rangel is in arrears on New Jersey property taxes — for property that for more than 15 years he failed to disclose to Congress and the public.

Tags: only republicans are corrupt

Memo: Obama made backroom deal with pharma companies

Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | Health Care, Politics | Permalink | 5 Comments |

Via Ace of Spades, Huffington Post - Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways In White House Deal With Big Pharma:

The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly involved in the negotiations, lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.

It says the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government’s leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada — and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: “Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.”

Obama got cuts in exchange for not asking for more cuts. He also got the pharma companies to pledge $150 million in advertising to support the plan. (Which may well be illegal, as Ace notes.) That quid pro quoe seems like collusion against taxpayers and against citizens opposed to his healthcare plan, or even less generously like Obama was charging protection money to the pharma companies.

If this is happening before the government takeover of healthcare begins, imagine what’s going to happen later. We’ll see non-stop influence-peddling and influence-buying. That’s what happens when politicians control money and power.

UPDATE: Linda Douglas, the communications director for the White House Office of Health Reform, was on CNN August 13th. CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer asked her if the White House had struck a deal for pharma to cough up $150 million for advertising to support Obamacare. Douglass deflected the question. Blitzer immediately asked about the $150 million again, and Douglass again evaded the question. RealClearPolitics has the CNN transcript.

BLITZER: Did the White House make a secret deal with pharma, the pharmaceutical lobby here in Washington, that would limit how much cost reductions they would have going forward over the next 10 years?

DOUGLASS: Here is what — what happened. The White House, the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate Finance Committee agreed that the pharmaceutical industry would contribute $80 billion over 10 years — a very, very substantial sum of money that would lower the high cost of prescription drugs for seniors, who are paying exorbitant costs for prescription drugs. That was a crucial piece of this deal, as well as other steps that they would take to lower costs.

It’s an $80 billion agreement. That’s what the White House, the Senate Finance Committee and pharma have agreed to. And the final details are being worked out with the — with the Senate Finance Committee.

BLITZER: Did pharma, in exchange, make a promise of $150 million to pay for advertising to help the president’s plan go forward?

What — what you have, Wolf, is this deal that is $80 billion. And we are very pleased, obviously, that — that the pharmaceutical industry agrees with us, that there’s an urgent need for comprehensive health insurance reform that’s going to protect Americans from unfair rules, from rising costs. They agree with that. They’ve agreed with it from the beginning. That’s why they came to us and we worked out this agreement with the pharmaceutical industry. And they’re supporting health reform legislation. And that is good for the country.

BLITZER: So is part of the deal that they would support this legislation, go forward with $150 million in advertising?

DOUGLASS: You know, Wolf, part of the agreement here is that we’re all going to work together to bring comprehensive health reform. I mean, clearly, the pharmaceutical industry said we are going to support comprehensive health reform. And that’s what they’re doing.

Tags: obama

Obama delegate lies, claims to be physician at town hall meeting

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 | Health Care, Politics | Permalink | 3 Comments |

Roxana Mayer identified herself as a “pediatric primary care physician” at a Houston town hall meeting on government healthcare and that’s how the press reported it. She now admits she is not and never has been a doctor. Instead, she was Obama’s registered delegate in Texas.

Patterico’s got the story. Me, I’ve got a prediction.

During the Bush years we saw lots of phony anti-war soldiers - people like Micah Wright and Jesse Macbeth who lied about their service and made up atrocities to fit an anti-war narrative. With healthcare front and center I expect to see more fake doctors shilling for Obamacare. Roxana Mayer is just the first.

LATER: Patterico found the video.

After Mayer says she’s a primary care physician, Rep. Sheila Jackson (D-TX) leads a round of applause, thanking her for being a primary care physician and hugging her. Jackson asks Mayer how long she’s been practicing. Answer: “Four years.”

Tags: bullshit artists

Democrats aren’t the party of logic and reason, either

Monday, August 10th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Tigerhawk:

Which party contains 99 percent of the people who believe (or believed):

• O.J. is innocent
• Bush shirked his National Guard duty
• Sarah Palin’s infant child, Trig, was actually the child of her daughter
• Justice Antonin Scalia threw the 2000 election to Bush so that his son could get a legal job with the Labor Department
• The spectacularly guilty Mumia Abu-Jamal was framed
• The Diebold Corp. secretly stole thousands of Kerry votes in 2004
• Duke lacrosse players gang-raped a stripper
• Bill Clinton did not have sex with “that woman”
• Heterosexuals are just as likely to contract AIDS as gays
• John Edwards didn’t have an affair with Rielle Hunter
• John Edwards’ campaign aide Andrew Young is the father of Rielle Hunter’s child.
• And as has been recently noted, a 2007 Rasmussen poll showed that 35 percent of Democrats believe Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks in advance, while 26 percent aren’t sure …

Meanwhile in the Republican camp you’ll find Obama birthers and lots of other kooks. Neither party has a monopoly on the crazy. Anyone who votes a straight party line and swears it’s only the other side that’s ever wrong is coo coo.

Eat the rich!

Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Health Care, Politics, Social Security | Permalink | No Comments |

Washington Times - Congress in Fantasyland:

The Congressional Budget Office projects a total additional deficit of approximately $4.9 trillion dollars during President Obama’s first term (2009-2012). Currently, the top 1 percent of taxpayers pay 40 percent of the tax, or $450 billion a year, or approximately $1.8 trillion dollars during the next four years, leaving a $3.1 trillion hole. Increasing the tax rate on those high earners to 100 percent might yield an additional $1.5 trillion the first year, but this will only work for the first year. Most people, after being taxed 100 percent on their income, will quit work and/or put their investments in nontaxable entities, such as tax-free local government bonds.

It is also not mathematically possible to take care of all the new spending by increasing taxes on the top 5 percent of taxpayers (those making $160,000 or more annually) who already pay 61 percent of the federal tax (or $676 billion per year). Most of these people are now paying close to the revenue maximizing rate, which means that any increase in their tax rate is unlikely over the long run to bring in much more tax revenue

Congressman William Jefferson guilty on 11 of 16 counts

Thursday, August 6th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“Only Republicans are corrupt.”
– Steve at White’s Creek

NOLA.com - William Jefferson verdict: Guilty on 11 of 16 counts:

Former Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was found guilty of 11 of 16 corruption charges today by a federal jury. The jury of eight women and four men returned a guilty verdict following five days of deliberation.

In the 16-count indictment, Jefferson was charged with soliciting bribes and other crimes for a series of schemes in which he helped American businesses broker deals in West African in exchange for payments or financial considerations to companies controlled by members of his family, including his brother Mose, his wife, Andrea, their five daughters and a son-in-law.

Jefferson, 62, who represented the New Orleans-based 2nd Congressional District for nine terms, will now face sentencing by Judge T.S. Ellis III, who earlier meted out stiff sentences for lesser figures in the case. According to the U.S. attorney’s office, Jefferson faced 235 years in prison if convicted on all counts, and will still face substantial prison time.

Tags: only republicans are corrupt

“Cash for Clunkers” suspended

Friday, July 31st, 2009 | Health Care, Politics | Permalink | 1 Comment |

This post has been updated with additional information.

The government has suspended the Cash for Clunkers program. Officially, the program had run through 20% of its four month budget in just one week, but car dealers expressed concern that the government hadn’t recognized many more sales that might empty the program’s $1 billion in funds.

Gee, a government program going over budget. Who could have guessed? Like Insty says, “Hmm. So the program ran through the money faster than they thought. I wonder how their healthcare plan will work out?”

I’m sure when the government takes over health care that Cash for Cancer won’t run out of money in one week. Probably. For instance, Hawaii’s healthcare program lasted a whole seven months before being shut down due to bankrupting cost overruns. So as long as you can get through the waiting list for cancer treatment in less than seven months you probably won’t even die.

Tags: we're from the government

Making fun of Obama birthers

Thursday, July 30th, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 2 Comments |

There’s a fringe political movement of birthers: people who question whether Barack Obama was born in Hawaii and whether he’s a natural born citizen eligible to be president.

Don’t miss Robb Allen’s brilliant BREAKING NEWS!!!! Shocking proof that Obama was not born in Hawaii. Dan Rather wasn’t available for comment.

Random Nuclear Strikes asks the birthers, what are you going to do even if you’re right?

The campaign for John McCain, who faced similar challenges about his eligibility based on his being born overseas to military parents, investigated the claims about Obama. McCain’s team found the claims dubious and the people promoting them incompetent:
Continue reading the rest of this post right here ›››

Tags: fish barrel gun some assembly required, obama

Hypocrisy in action

Thursday, July 23rd, 2009 | Politics | Permalink | 2 Comments |

Here in Tennessee a married state legislator - Paul Stanley (R) - admitted to having an affair with an intern, but only after her presumed boyfriend blackmailed him for $10,000. He’s  running on family values while diddling the intern, which is hypocritical enough, but here’s the really hypocritical part from a Planned Parenthood worker who met with Stanley:

He told us that he didn’t believe young people should have sex before marriage anyway, that his faith and church are important to him, and he wants to promote abstinence, blah, blah, blah. Now I realize that when he said those things, he had already been sexing it up with an intern and her boyfriend was trying to blackmail him with dirty pictures. In retrospect, I think maybe Sen. Stanley meant that he just doesn’t want young people to have sex with each other, thereby saving the cute young things for himself.

P.S. Totally unrelated but found while Googling this guy … Here’s something that will make you feel old. KISS guitarist Paul Stanley had hip replacement surgery. Three years ago.

On the ineffectiveness of government retraining programs

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | Political Survival Kit, Politics | Permalink | 1 Comment |

Megan McArdle - Retraining Isn’t the Answer:

Thus did I make one of the best and worst decisions in my life: I signed up for a course to become a CNE–a Certified Netware Engineer. I’d done some light network administration at the startup, and I thought I’d like to make a career of it.

The IT types among my readers are cringing. No one gets hired because they took some low-rent course and passed a computer adaptive test. Indeed, back in the day, hearing someone officiously announce that “I’m a CNE” was a warning sign not to let them anywhere near your network. It’s like having a job applicant hand over their eighth-grade graduation certificate. Of course, everyone qualified has one to stick on the resume, but they don’t talk about it, because it’s not even a basic qualification. Anyone whose main qualification is a CNE knows just enough to be extremely dangerous.

But I didn’t know that at the time. I financed a $3,500 course on credit cards, and dutifully trooped off to class four evenings a week. I passed all the tests. Then I found out what any professional could have told me: without actual work experience, no one would hire me.

And that’s for one of the more reasonable-sounding career training options. There are lots of shady operations out there thay prey on people’s hopes. I have a relative who pinned her hopes on a medical transcription course that she paid for out of her own pocket, but which never produced a job. Beware.

Read the whole thing, which predicts poor prospects for government-retraining of laid off autoworkers, based on not just McArdle’s experience, but past studies. Politicians like retraining programs, because it looks like they’re doing something, and also no doubt because in some cases the training companies are sending money their way. What - me cycnical?