I agree with Senator Kerry.....

Yeah, I know it's a shocker, but here's what he said:

"I'm sick and tired of picking up the newspaper and reading about another
idiotic abuse of taxpayer money, while our country is on the brink," Sen.
John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement released to
Reuters.

Unfortunately, this is where he and I split opinions. He's talking about Northern Trust who threw some sort of party for a few million bucks, which they say wasn't taxpayer money, and we all know it was, or at least, the $1.8 billion they've received help to loosen the pursestrings a tad. I'm talking about his extraordinary talent to find ways to vote for things to waste taxpayers money like last week's stimulus and this week's proposal to implement yet another governmental oversight agency to investigate and monitor the money given to banks by the TARP fund.

Funny, these geniuses didn't think of this back during the rush to bail out the banks back a few months ago. Had to get it done, immediately, without delay so we could hurry up and loosen the credit market. If we don't hurry, the economy will collapse.

Anyone noticing any improvements since the TARP fund started?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Me neither.

ROFL @ The Obamessiah

So, I gotta believe that the conversation at the White House went something like this:

Obamessiah- Joe, I want to show the American people that I feel their pain and that I understand their cynicism regarding the Porkulus...uh...Stimulus package, so I think we should have a Fiscal Responsibility Summit, right here at the Whitehouse.

VP Biden - Uh...Mr. President, you just signed a bill that pays $15 billion to help people in Puerto Rico develop solar water heaters when we coulda bought 55 gallon drums, painted them black and been done. Don't you think it's a little soon for "Fiscal Responsibility"?

Yeah, probably a bit much painting Biden as the voice of reason, huh?

Can't make this crap up...Spend $800 billion one week, have a summit on fiscal responsibility the next. Man, what the hell kind of world do they live in?

WaPo says Gitmo = legal

The Washington Post reported that a review ordered by the Obamessiah administration shows that the treatment of detainees at Gitmo meets the requirements of the Geneva convention.

Does this mean that yet another one of the Obamessiah's campaign promises will get broken? Perhaps, but it's possible that they'll still close it because it just 'looks bad' and we certainly can't have that. Better to close a perfectly legal detention facility because it looks bad than break a promise. Better to close a place where these guys can't plan further attacks on Americans than lose face with Europeans.

Funny how suddenly when the Obamessiah gets briefed by people who actually know what the hell is going on in the world, his campaign promises get modified a tad. I guess we can be thankful that he does have the sense to listen to his briefings and not charge forward with these promises made to the frothing leftwing of his Dimwitocrat party.

For now anyway.

Humor

And for those of you who think I've lost my sense of humor with the Trillion here, Trillion there administration, have no fear:

CNBC: MSNBC's conservative little brother

Rick Santelli, CNBC correspondent at the Chicago Board of Trade, loses his mind about the latest government proposal to promote bad behaviour and reward people who gambled with variable loans and bought a house too big for them to afford. If this doesn't hit it right on the head, I don't know what does:

Pork, pork, and more pork

Stimuluswatch.org does a great job of detailing the various pieces of pork, how much money is allocated to it, where the pork is being spent, and how many jobs are being created from the project. Remember though, this is the congressional estimate of how many jobs are being created, so it's probably at least double the real number, since they want credit for creating as many jobs as possible, when in reality they're probably not creating jack, other than a ginormous debt for my great-grand children to pay off.

Here's a few details:

$17.5 billion (yes, that's a B) for "Energy Efficiency Industrial Zones" in Cidra, Puerto Rico.
WTH does that even mean? And $17 billion? I'm willing to bet that we could buy the entire island for that. The bill states it will create 1628 jobs. For those of you who can't afford calculators because of all the taxes you're paying, that's $10,749,385 per job. Really? How about we just cut a check for $4425 to each man, woman, and child on the island to buy a couple of pigs each? I rate this one big porker

$2.463 billion for a mass transit system between Miami Intermodal Center, extending their 'Orange Line'. 10.5 miles worth of pork, for an average of $243 million per mile. They're estimating that 400 jobs will be created from this piece of ham, which averages $6,157,500 per job. DAYUM...I want one of those gigs. I definitely rate this a big porker as well.

$500,000,000 to provide solar water heaters for rural area families in Cidra,Puerto Rico. Now I'm not sure who the congressman in Cidra is, but I am sure that constitutionally, he or she doesn't have a vote. But they damn sure have a lot of pull, getting the first item on this list as well as this one. While I'm all for going solar, especially somewhere like PR where the sun shines most days, I'm certainly not sure why it is that my tax dollars are going to pay for it. 14 jobs are estimated to be created by this itty bitty pork project, which comes out to a little over $35, 714, 285 per job. Nevermind what I said about the Miami jobs, I want one of THESE! I rate this one as a double-porker.

$2.16 billion to fund the 'Solar Los Angeles' project. This will create a solar infrastructure for LA and help provide energy for the area through solar power. A good idea on its face, but again, why are tax-payers from around the country paying for California's piss poor planning? 10 years ago they effectively destroyed the power industry in CA, causing rolling blackouts and the state to purchase energy from other states. And now we have to pay for it because California doesn't want to make a power plant in their own back yard? Hell no. This huge sow says they'll create 31243 jobs, but I'm not buying that at all. Especially since the language in the bill says that all the work has to be done by the LA department of public works, effectively locking out private industry, who really has the expertise in this area. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say 20k jobs. That's still $112,500 per job. In addition, the LA County, Orange County, and Santa Barbara county area has some of the most affluent areas in the country, many of which are left-wing libs. Let those air-bags pay for it.

The interesting thing about the funding of the majority of these projects is that there are no details regarding the funding of the upkeep of the projects. You really think the local area will pick up the maintenance of a project funded by the feds? Not a chance in hell.

These are a few of the ridiculous pork projects that are in the details of the bill, and the reasons why Obama, Pelosi, and Reid, the three Stooges, wanted to rush this bill through Congress so that we didn't get a chance to do the math.

Call your congressman/woman and Senators today. It isn't too late.

David Olofson - felon

Ah, but there's more to the story than the fact that he's a felon. David Olofson was an Army reservist, an average citizen, and a gun-owner. David owned an AR-15 rifle, which is basically a replica of the M-16 military rifle, but without some of the military specs. It's a great gun to shoot, as I've used them on multiple occasions (both the M-16 and AR-15!)
David loaned his gun to a friend, who brought it to a local rifle range. During his session, the friend moved the safety switch past the 'fire' position and fired. The M-16 has three positions, safe, single shot, & three round burst. The AR-15 has two positions, safe and fire. The gun fired several short bursts of multiple rounds, then jammed. Obviously this was a malfunction of the weapon, as an AR-15 is not designed for multiple shots. However, someone near the range called the police and reported machine-gun fire. The ATF got involved and found that the weapon was NOT modified by Olofson or his friend. Obviously the ATF and the prosecutor felt that they could not charge him with the modification of the weapon as there were none, so instead they charged him with the illegal transfer of a machine gun. Considering there was no transfer, other than a loan, I'm not sure exactly how that even flew, but the prosecutor brought the case and he was convicted. Now David Olofson sits in a federal penitentiary awaiting an appeal.

My first irritation with this entire case is the obvious stupidity of the prosecution. I can understand that someone may be prosecuted for the malfunction of a piece of equipment that they own. If my brakes fail and I plow into a crowd of people, killing someone, I would understand that I may be charged with involuntary manslaughter or something in that category. But in 95% of cases, there is no prosecution because there was no malice in the action. If everything else in the situation was legal (I wasn't speeding, driving recklessly, and made every effort to avoid the crowd), prosecution will usually pass on the case. In this case, they went for the throat.
My second irritation with this case is that the NRA is being gutless. Their lack of backing in this case confirms exactly what I've suspected for some time, that they are interested more in political power than actually standing up for gun owners. If they were to back Olofson and lose, they'd lose face and power. Gun Owners of America are backing Olofson and I predict will gain members as a result.
I wrote the following letter to the NRA via their website. I don't expect an answer, since oftentimes when an organization shows their true colors they don't want to respond, but we'll see. I urge anyone who reads this and agrees with me to send their own email and ensure that the NRA understands that their members and supporters are pissed.

Why is the NRA not jumping into the David Olofson case in Wisconsin with both feet? What seems to be the issue that would keep the NRA from backing him wholeheartedly? Afraid of Obama? Afraid that if he is let out, some sort of legislation will result?
The NRA I used to belong to had no qualms with backing ordinary citizens like David Olofson with their considerable legal and financial power.

What has happened?

I'm truly disappointed with you, first the McCain endorsement and now this. I don't see a reason that I'll ever belong to the NRA again. If you don't back law-abdiding gun owners, what the hell are you here for?

***UPDATE***
I received a response, quite soon after emailing the NRA. I said I'd post it, so here it is:

Thank you for your email to the NRA-ILA regarding the Olofson case. NRA has and will continue to assist Olofson counsel in this and similar cases. As is common practice, NRA seldom publicly discusses our involvement in active criminal cases, to avoid prejudicing the defendant's case.

The fact that the defendant or his attorney may want to discuss our involvement does not alter our policy in this regard. If you have further questions or need more information, please contact us at (800) 392-8683. We appreciate your support.

Sincerely,

Krista Cupp
NRA-ILA Grassroots Division

So, perhaps I was hasty, merely taking the word of a talking head, rather than going to the NRA directly and checking with them. Mea Culpa
*****************************
Thanks to Dr. Ken for the inspiration. Additionally, here's a bit more info for those of you who refuse to read stuff that I've linked. Let's let Lou Dobbs break it down for you:

Just in case you didn't think the porkulus package sucked enough already....

An economist from Bloomberg has read the entire Pork Package (I just can't bring myself to lie to people like a politician does and call it a 'stimulus') and found some interesting sections that I'm extremely surprised (ok, that's sarcasm) that no one is talking about nor has objected to.

Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor for New York and current fellow at the Hudson Institute has read the entire package, unlike the politicians that are spending our money for us and has found some details that definitely set us on the road to socialized medicine. The Hudson Institute is a think-tank whose mission statement says that their goals are "... innovative research and analysis that promotes global security, prosperity, and freedom."

Ms. McCaughey has found within the Pork Package, a section that creates an entirely new bureaucracy, called the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. This position will not only work to turn everyones health record into an electronic version that is centrally stored in a government database, but will also set the standards for care, using these newly digitized records. First of all, for the record, I'm in favor of a centralized electronic medical record. I work for a hospital and I see the benefit of this sharing of information between institutations and the efficiencies that it buys us. However, the government should be the last bunch of idiots put in charge of this sharing. Our credit information is managed by the free market, why can't our health care be managed by the same group? I've dealt with mistakes in my military record that took six months to fix. Can you imagine what would happen to you if something accidentally was put into your record and dealing with the government employees in an attempt to fix it?

"Our records show that you're pregnant Mr. Johnson. Here are your prenatal vitamins"
"Um...I'm male, and 41. I think your records are wrong"
"Our records cannot be wrong"
"In this case, I think you need to look again"
"Oh, I guess there may have been a data entry mistake. Ok, well, take this form to request the change form. Fill it out, all four pages, front and back. Send it in to our processing center, where it will take 6-8 weeks to process to get you the hearing request form. Once you get the hearing request form, please discuss with your lawyer and fill out the entire booklet to request a scheduled hearing. Our backlog is currently approximately 12 months"

Yeah, that's just the people I want managing my medical records. Don't get me wrong, some of the people that work at hospitals (at least the ones I've encountered) should already be government employees, given their lack of work-ethic and utter laziness. But I think that can apply to almost any industry. As my drill instructors use to say "There's always going to be that 10% that we can use as cannon fodder"

But that's not all. If they were just putting together a central database to store all our medical records, I could almost accept it (other than the fact that about the only computers that are broken into more often than government computers would be the random Russian computer that hosts pr0n). Unfortunately, that's nowhere near the end of the proposal. Rather, the government will use the data to monitor your treatments and ensure that your physician is doing what the federal government deems to be cost effective. So, back to the "government knows better than your doctor" discussion. The goal is to reduce costs, NOT to, oh, I dunno...save a life or get you the best treatment. Don't believe me? Check out pages 442 and 446 of the Pork Package.

Think that this is just the creation of this bureaucracy surrounding the database? Then why is it that more money is allocated to this area than is allocated to medical care for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines combined (pages 90-92, 174-177, 181)? Thought that the Obamessiah was going to take care of the veterans? Oh yeah, sure he did. He actually VISITED them at Walter Reed and laid his gaze upon them. That should heal a few.

This package needs more scrutiny. The fact is that the more the American people learn about this Pork-laden piece of garbage, the more they will realize that they're giving up what is left of their freedom for a handout that won't even affect the majority of us.

George Washington once said "Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession". Let's not let the government/liberals get posession of the health care system any more than they already have, or we'll see the quality of our care go down and the costs go up. You think the cost of health care is bad now, just wait until the libs get a hold of it. The only difference is that it'll all be hidden in the governmental budgetary process now.

Post script: if you actually want to read the entire thing, you can find the Pork Package here, but I've referred to specific pages within the PDF in my analysis. I've not read it cover to cover, as I'm not a complete and total sadist, but I've read enough to know that it's f-ing ridiculous and no stimulus package.

Stimulus my ass

This alleged stimulus plan is just typical ignorant crap. The thing that makes me the most crazy is that the liberals, who usually only benefit from an ignorant populous, are rushing this turd through Congress. The longer it sit there, the more it stinks. Educating the people about the kinds of utter bullshit that are part of this pork-fest can only help to at least make sure that these congress-turds that vote for it pay for it when they're up for election again.
The Obamessiah has said this is the worst economy since the Depression. If you truly believe that, feel free to send me a check, since you are too stupid to deserve the prosperity that you've earned to this point in life. Look at the late 70's where inflation, unemployment, and interest rates were worse by multiples. But of course, the Obamessiah can't really point to that can he, since he's pushing for the same failed liberal crap that Carter pushed and ended up causing that economic crisis. This economy is no where near that economy.

The other thing that I find offensive is that the Obamessiah loves to point out that America "chose hope over fear" in electing his sorry ass, but yet, the instant things stop going exactly the way he wants them, the whiner-in-chief stomps his feet and uses that very same fear in an attempt to scare people into supporting his Turd bill.

Stimulative spending is temporary. Yet $264 billion of this bill is a new welfare program and that is just the 'down payment'. "Tax Cuts" which are in actuality merely checks to people who are able-bodied and who don't pay taxes anyway. The 10-year cost of just this piece is estimated to be $700 million, no where near the first couple year estimation of the $200 million they refer to.

Send a letter or call your senator or congressman. Please. If you care at all about the future of this country, you have to let them know your opinion.

If you don't actually want to go to the trouble of composing a letter or if you're just illiterate (which if you were, you wouldn't be reading this), go here and the following letter will be sent to your leaders:

The stimulus plan being considered in Congress this week will do nothing to help spur the economy out of recession. It is a massive $825 billion package full off wasteful spending, and worse still, multi-billion dollar handouts to politically motivated groups that engage in questionable practices. Specifically, radical left-wing groups such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) could have access to billions of dollars should this stimulus plan pass.

I don’t believe that my hard-earned tax dollars should be used in such a politically motivated manner, especially under the guise of stimulating our economy.

I urge you to vote against the "stimulus" package and instead support fiscally sound approaches to boosting our economy such as real tax cuts and significant spending controls.

Wait wait wait....

Sarah Palin is demonized by the left as being "too stupid to be VP", but yet, this idiot is three heartbeats from the presidency? Are you f-ing kidding me? She's dumber than a box of rocks.

BTW, there are approximately 300 million Americans. Period.

Setting the bar so high....

Found at Townhall.com:

More Obama hypocrisy

"No lobbyists in my cabinet, no lobbyists working for me" - The Obamessiah

Unless of course you count William J. Lynn, #2 guy at the Dept of Defense who recently lobbied for Raytheon, big gigantic defense contractor.
Or William Corr, deputy secretary at Health & Human Services who recently lobbied for an Anti-Tobacco group.
Or Timothy Geithner's chief of staff, Mark Patterson who was a registered lobbyist for Goldman Sachs.
Or John Podesta, leader of the transition team, who lobbied for the "Center for American Progress", a far left wing 'think tank'. I tend to have an issue whenever someone puts the word think anywhere near the phrase 'left-wing', but let's go with it for now.
Or Ron Klain, VP Joe Biden's chief of staff, who lobbied for Fannie May.
Or R. Hunter Biden, Biden's son, who supposedly has never lobbied the old man, but let's face it, do you really think that there's no discussion at Thanksgiving dinner about work? If you believe that, you're a true idiot and this administration is going to be perfect for you.

Guarantee if this was the Bush administration (or the McCain administration) the media would be howling mad and it would be splashed all over the 6 o'clock news, as well as the front page of the bird-cage liners. But since it's the Obamessiah, you have folks who are supposedly for open government spouting such stupidity as:
"A few waivers will not undermine it," (the ban on lobbyists) he said, "provided they are justified and limited."

Of course it won't....

And Rush Limbaugh is a likely dinner guest at the White House tomorrow too.....