6 years, 100,000 miles, guaranteed by.....Uncle?

Apparently it's not enough for Obama to be President. He apparently also wants to be President of General Government Motors.

It is my hope that the steps I am announcing today will go a long way towards answering many of the questions people may have about the future of GM and Chrysler. But just in case there are still nagging doubts, let me say it as plainly as I can -- if you buy a car from Chrysler or General Motors, you will be able to get your car serviced and repaired, just like always. Your warranty will be safe.

In fact, it will be safer than it's ever been. Because starting today, the United States government will stand behind your warranty.

Benito Mussolini would be so proud. Such is life in the Bizzarro World of DoublePlusGoodHopeChange.

I know that Ford must be breathing a tremendous sigh of relief knowing that they aren't under Uncle's thumb, having rejected bailout money last Fall. In fact, Ford stock is up over 400% since GM and Chrysler took bailout money according to Baby Vulture, who has been actively monitoring that stock since it hit its low of $0.79 per share.

Lay down with dogs, expect fleas. Lay down with Collectivists, expect Fascism.

Yes, there ARE good politicians

One would think, for all of the time I spend lambasting awful politicians like Harry Reid and Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi, that I have a very low regard for politicians. One would be right.

But my disdain for politicians isn't universal. Anyone who has read more than about 5 of my posts knows that I L-O-V-E Ron Paul. Longtime readers are also aware that I have a great deal of admiration and respect for Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic and constant critic of the European Union.

Now I've added a third member to my list of admirable politicians - Daniel Hannan. Check out the beat-down he administers to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a meeting of the EU Parliament last week (click here for the video, here for the transcript).

I really can't do his speech justice with a few random quotes. But I would like to highlight my two favorite parts of his speech. Perhaps it will motivate you to check it out for yourself.

The truth, Prime Minister, is that you have run out of our money. The country as a whole is now in negative equity. Every British child is born owing around £20,000. Servicing the interest on that debt is going to cost more than educating the child.

---

[Y]ou are the devalued Prime Minister of a devalued government.

This guy is AWESOME.

BTW, he's also written a book called The Plan which details how Britain can be turned around by taking back power from Brussels and returning it to the people. This is my kind of guy.

Wiener of the Week

This is one installment of WotW that you're gonna just love. I know I do. It seems that an attempt to smear Christians and supporters of third-party candidates has come back to bite the state of Missouri in the ass.

The Missouri Highway Patrol this week retracted a controversial report on militia activity and will change how such reports are reviewed before being distributed to law enforcement agencies.

The Highway Patrol also will open an investigation into the origin of the report, which linked conservative groups with domestic terrorism and named former presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

---

[I]t suggested that domestic militias often subscribed to radical ideologies rooted in Christian views and opposition to immigration, abortion or federal taxes. The report also stated that it was "not uncommon" for militia members to support third-party political candidates.

Let's see. We have "radical ideologies rooted in Christian views" (whatever that means). We have a blanket painting of third-party supporters as militia members (and, as such, as right-wing extremists. What more could we ask for?

The state's Lt. Governor had more - much more.

Before Keathley’s memo was released Wednesday, Kinder criticized the report for suggesting that only issues championed by conservatives motivated domestic terrorists. The report "slanders" opponents of abortion and critics of illegal immigration, he said.

"Under the guidance of the present director, who apparently must think it is Nixon’s secret service, the Department of Public Safety has taken on the new and sinister role of political profiling," Kinder said.

Also troubling, Kinder said, the report makes no mention of Islamic terrorists or those who might subscribe to ideologies associated with liberals, such as environmental radicals.

I'd like to second that last thought. Google up ALF (Animal Liberation Front) or ELF (Environmental Liberation Front). These are bona fide terrorist groups - not a phantom menace like Christian supporters of third-parties!

What's extraordinary about this story is that it took a major s*** storm for Missouri to disavow the report! Their initial reaction was this:

[T]he information analysis center released a statement reaffirming its "regard for the Constitutions of the United States and Missouri" and expressing regret that "any citizens or groups were unintentionally offended by the content of the document."

Yeah! Don't get your panties in a ball! We're protected by the First Amendment, so you can kiss our collective asses!

They're not talking so tough now, are they? And you wonder why schadenfreude is such a major part of who I am...

So, Missouri: Congrats! You're the Wiener of the Week.

Welcome to Obama's Amerika

In my post-election analysis of what kind of president King Obama, Lord and Savior of Big Media (the BM for short) might be, I postulated that the worst scenario would be for Obama to turn out to be the next Woodrow Wilson. Well, hello Mr. Wilson!

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.

The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.

Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president's Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.

For all of the sniveling of the blathering heads of conservative talk radio about what a communist Obama is, he's shown much more aptitude and appetite for plain, old fashioned Corporatism (a euphemism for good old Mussolini-style Fascism). When the government has the power to seize major segments of the economy based on the Treasury Secretary's perception of the relative financial health of the companies that comprise that segment, you're looking at an economy that isn't the least bit free in a country whose citizens are little more than Serfs.

This is what DoublePlusGoodHopeChange looks like. Buyer's remorse, anyone?

More "stimulus"

You remember King Obama's stimulus bill, the one he was so anxious to pass, the one that got hijacked by Harry Reid and Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi? You remember that, don't you? It was supposed to be the panacea. It was supposed to fix everything: solve our economic "crisis", end world hunger, bring about world peace and a planet devoted to sitting in a circle singing Kum Ba Ya. How's that working out?

Not so well apparently. The Fed has taken matters into its own hands.

The Federal Reserve sharply stepped up its efforts to bolster the economy on Wednesday, announcing that it would pump an extra $1 trillion into the financial system by purchasing Treasury bonds and mortgage securities.

Having already reduced the key interest rate it controls nearly to zero, the central bank has increasingly turned to alternatives like buying securities as a way of getting more dollars into the economy, a tactic that amounts to creating vast new sums of money out of thin air. But the moves on Wednesday were its biggest yet, almost doubling all of the Fed's measures in the last year. (emphasis mine)

I'm not used to such candor from the media. Oh, wait. It's the International Herald Tribune. That's why. God forbid that our domestic media should say anything that would reflect badly on their Lord and Savior, King Obama.

The article is absolutely accurate. The Fed IS creating vast new sums of money out of thin air. This is a recipe for disaster. By inflating the money supply, the Fed is guaranteeing a wave of hyperinflation that will make us nostalgic for the Good Old Days of the 1970's when inflation was "only" 10%.

It seems that the more government and pseudo-governmental agencies like the Fed get involved in the financial problems our nation is experiencing, the worse things get.

Is it redundant to say that?

Wiener of the Week

This was a tough week for choosing a WotW. So many candidates! But in the end, I had to go with The Gang that Couldn't Think Straight.

What is with these banks? Have they lost their everloving minds? Just days after AIG gets splattered all over the news, these two gems come out.

Citi wants to "save money" by redecorating.

Citigroup is going through with more than $3 million worth of construction at its corporate headquarters in Manhattan.

The bank says the renovation will save $20 million in the long run. Top executives currently working on two floors will be consolidated in "smaller, simpler offices on a single floor," Citigroup said.

But the office makeover at the bank's Park Avenue address comes at a tricky time for the company, which is operating with $45 billion in federal funding after recording five straight quarters of losses. The bank's use of taxpayer dollars has been under close watch.

Gee, d'ya think?

Bank of America "bails out" Hollywood.

"Why Bank of America?," Greenfield asks in a report posted this morning. "We have not seen any formal announcement about the Bank of America/[DWA] promotion beyond an increasing number of consumers discussing the promotion link on Twitter. However, we find it odd that a bank that just received $45 bn [billion] in government aid is paying for consumers across the US to see a movie in 3-D vs. 2-D at no extra cost. We also wonder whether the presence of DWA’s President, Lew Coleman, helped DWA convince Bank of America to enter into the promotion, as Coleman is a former Vice Chairman and CFO of Bank of America."

I need to make something clear before continuing. I don't care if Citi wants to redecorate as part of office consolidation and downsizing. And I don't care if BofA wants to get involved in movie promotions. But these people have to be aware of the scrutiny their every move is receiving in the wake of the government bailouts. They are under the microscope; they need to act accordingly if they don't want to be hounded and harassed like AIG's executives have been.

Citi and BofA, for demonstrating complete tone-deafness in the wake of the AIG scandal, you're the Wiener of the Week.

Vulture Droppings - AIG? OMG!!!

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

---

You can't make this stuff up. Let me begin by summarizing the situation.

1. AIG is an insurance company. That bears repeating. An insurance company.
2. AIG followed the rest of the financial herd by getting heavily leveraged into derivatives backed by home mortgages.
3. AIG lost their ass.
4. AIG receive a massive amount of Federal bailout money in September ($85 billion). They were "too big to fail".
   
5. AIG executives went on a retreat in early October to a resort spa. Total cost: $440,000.
6. Roughly two weeks ago, AIG received an additional $30 billion in Federal bailout money. This, coupled with other monies received between September and February, brought the AIG net haul to $165 billion.
   
7. This past week it was announced that AIG executives had been awarded $165 million in bonuses. That bears repeating. AIG executives.

Do you see a pattern here? AIG executives like to reward themselves when they're able to successfully plunder the National Treasury.

---

I've heard a lot of the blathering heads on talk radio (particularly Quinn and Rose out of Pittsburgh, courtesy of XM Radio) twist themselves into all kinds of pretzel shapes trying to justify the bonuses. "They were contractually obligated to pay those bonuses!", was the first stab. When that didn't hold water, they went with, "Those were retention bonuses to make sure they didn't lose the talented people they need to turn the company around!"

There's just one problem with that last argument. The people with the talent to turn the company around aren't the people who received the bonuses. The people who are in the trenches trying to stop the bleeding; those are the people who need to be retained to try to salvage the company. But they weren't the ones getting the bonuses, now were they? Nope. It was the folks with the Important Titles who got the bonuses...the self-same asshats who ran the company into the ground in the first place!

---

Congress and the President have been running around howling like rabid apes about this debacle. It's been laugh-out-loud funny. I mean, when lowlife snakes like Harry Reid and Little Nancy "Air Force 3" Pelosi are railing against someone else's financial irresponsibility, it's downright comical.

Speaking of comedy, nothing beats Chuck Grassly (R-Iowa), who took the grand prize with this doozy.

"I suggest, you know, obviously, maybe they ought to be removed," Grassley said. "But I would suggest the first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide.

"And in the case of the Japanese, they usually commit suicide before they make any apology."

Dude! That's SO awesome!

Lost in all of the bluster is the fact the many of the key legislative and executive players on the government side were recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from AIG during the past election cycle, particularly Chris Dodd and His Royal Holiness, King Obama, Savior of Big Media (the BM for short), who received over $100,000 from AIG.

Can you say "hypocrisy"?

---

Now Reid and "Air Force 3" want to introduce legislation that would claw back the bonuses from the AIG executives. The fact that legislation of that kind is expressly prohibited by the Constitution will hinder them in no way.

In what can only be called a case of "too little, too late", AIG executives have been urged to return half of the bonus money to the company. Half? You think Harry is going to be satisfied with half? HAHAHAHAHA.

---

So where do I stand on all of this? I can sum it up in 4 words: What did you expect? When a proto-fascist alliance of government and business loots the Federal Treasury, you're going to get the most craven and over-the-top instances of greed and avarice imaginable. Think about it. You take a multi-billion dollar company that insures other multi-billion dollar companies and run it nose first into the ground. Then you take Federal money to save your ass. Then you give yourself a huge-ass bonus.

John Galt, where are you? It's time.

---

Bad Policy, Bad Ethics, Bad Karma

If this is true, and I have no reason to doubt either the source or the reporting, then King Obama is a worse snake than I had previously estimated.

The leader of the nation's largest veterans organization says he is "deeply disappointed and concerned" after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

"It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan," said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. "He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it."

Let's hit the bullet points, shall we?

1. Obama proposes to force private insurance companies to foot the bill for medical costs incurrened as a result of an individual's military service.
2. He 'refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations' he would abrogate.

I know what you're thinking: what do you expect from a Fascist/Socialist like Obama? To him, the government and the private corporations will soon be one entity anyway, so what not start now by forcing them to pay for military injury claims?

Striking, isn't it? What, you ask? Why, the ease with which Leftists like Obama casually throw around words like force.

Il Duce would be proud.

Wiener of the Week

If this trend keeps up, I may have to rename the award. Yes, she's once again the WotW winner, for the 5th time. She's also been the WotM winner twice. Nancy Pelosi, come on down! This is one for the ages.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly requested military aircraft to shuttle her and her colleagues and family around the country, according to a new report from a conservative watchdog group.

Representatives for Judicial Watch, which obtained e-mails and other documents from a Freedom of Information request, said the correspondence shows Pelosi has abused the system in place to accommodate congressional leaders and treated the Air Force as her "personal airline."

Okay, so she uses military aircraft a lot. So what? This is what.

Judicial Watch said that Pelosi was notorious for making special demands for high-end aircraft, lodging last-minute cancellations and racking up additional expenses for the military.

The e-mails showed repeated attempts by Pelosi aides to request aircraft, sometimes aggressively, and by Department of Defense officials to accommodate them.

"I think that's above and beyond what other members of Congress are doing and what is expected of our elected officials," said Jenny Small, a researcher with the group.

In one e-mail, aide Kay King complained to the military that they had not made available any aircraft the House speaker wanted for Memorial Day recess.

"It is my understanding there are NO G5s available for the House during the Memorial Day recess. This is totally unacceptable ... The Speaker will want to know where the planes are," King wrote.

Her Royal Highness 'wants to know where the planes are'? Are you kidding? What? Does she think that the Air Force is her personal corporate jet service? What a tool!

I'm convinced that the leadership of the House and Senate are suffering from a terminal case of delusions of grandeur. They're convinced that they're royalty!

Well, Little Nancy, you may not be royalty, but you ARE the Wiener of the Week.

Obama gets one right

King Obama, Lord and Savior of Big Media (the BM for short), finally got one right. After weeks of misstep after pratfall after faux pas after f-up, Obama finally enacted a policy that is Constitutional.

Raids by the federal government on legally sanctioned medical marijuana facilities will become a thing of the past. President Obama is averse to using federal funds for this purpose, particularly when state law provides for medicinal marijuana use. Moving forward, decisions on medical marijuana raids will be left up to state government.

FINALLY, a reversal of the ridiculous and patently unconstitutional policy of King George the Dim! Our Constitution explicitly provides for states to make their own laws and for those laws to supercede Federal law except in cases where it directly violates the Constitution or the Constitutional rights of the citizens of that state. This is the first step towards more individual freedom undertaken by this administration. Hell, it's the first step toward more individual freedom that I can remember in a very, very long time.

Regardless of how you may personally feel about drugs and drug abuse, there's one true unassailable fact: the Drug War is an absolute failure. It's a cluster eff on a biblical scale. It's done nothing but ruin lives, both here in the US as well as in the drug producing and drug importing countries. Look at Mexico. Mexico may erupt in civil war at any moment - drogistas against federales. And for what? Did we learn nothing from Prohibition? Absolutely nothing?

Apparently.

So give credit where credit is due. Obama scores major libertarian points with this new policy. It's a start.

Wiener of the Month - February

By rights, the WotM should be ME, for realizing more than a week into March that I hadn't done a WotM for February. But me pillorying me would be about as interesting as a Rosie O'Donnell after-school special.

No, I've got bigger fish to fry. And, speaking of "fish", it's that pompous-ass fish faced phony Harry Reid who is on my hook today.

First, there was the little matter of the "Obama" stimulus bill, which consisted of His Royal Holiness throwing a command over the wall to Congress to present him with a bill. Oh, they sent him the bill, all right. Harry and Little Nancy (Pelosi) saw to it that every Congressman and Senator had his or her slab of pork delivered up and made to order. They essentially strong-armed the President and had their way with him.

But, more recently, there was this.

The Senate's top Democrat is proposing special power lines to carry renewable energy — like solar and wind power — from remote places.

The Federal government would be able to override states and direct where the lines would go and who would pay for them.

Wait? Did I read that correctly? The Federal government would be able to override states? Would direct where the lines would go? Would dictate who would pay for them?!?!? Where I come from, that's called Dictatorship. But that's Harry. Apparently he's in charge now.

Harry Reid, you're the Wiener of the Month.

Wiener of the Week

This week the WotW is a double offender. And I do mean 'offender', in every sense of the word.

General Motors is run by quite possibly the most stupid and inept people to ever pull down a paycheck. Naturally, they've been rewarded for their incompetence by our numskull government with a pile of bailout money. This is offensive, no? It gets worse.

General Motors did exactly one thing right in the past 20 years. That one thing was Saturn. Saturn was going to be the new prototype of automobile manufacturing. Built in Tennessee. Quasi-independent of the mother corporation. Composite bodies with a steel frame cage providing maximum safety in a wreck (more on that later). And the price? As low as for any vehicle available at that time.

How come I know so much about Saturns? Because my little family has owned FIVE of them between 1992 and the present. I was in wrecks, one of them quite serious, in 2 of them. In the serious wreck, I hit a stationary vehicle at a speed in excess of 50 MPH...and walked away from the crumpled little vehicle completely unharmed!

How about the gas mileage? My mileage was always over 30 MPG in my Saturns; my last one averaged about 34 MPG.

Were they reliable? Ask me. You bet your hindquarters they were reliable! Every one of my Saturns was virtually problem-free.

But over the years GM began corrupting Saturn. Saturn became less independent. The cars lost their unique look. The composite body was phased out. The company that was different, the company that was the prototype, became just another subsidiary of The Company That Couldn't Shoot Straight.

And now, as of 2010 or 2011, it will be no more.

Eff you, GM! You are a most deserving Wiener of the Week.

Vulture Droppings - The World Economy Craters

Vulture Droppings is a semi-regular feature of this blog. It's a kind of "Random Thoughts" post in which I try to quickly summarize a particularly large event or series of events. Think of it being sort of like what a vulture leaves behind after devouring a horse. You don't get the whole horse, just highly processed leftovers.

---

You may have noticed that I haven't spent much time commenting on the impending financial implosion that will wreak havoc across the entire planet. Were I a betting man or a prognosticator, I'd say early to mid Summer should be the center of gravity tipping point for a number of the world's economies. Mexico won't last through the Summer. Eastern Europe (with the exception of Russia) is teetering. Much of Western Europe is wobbly as well. And South America? Fuhgedaboutit!

Who can save us from this dire dilemma? Why, His Eminence, King Obama! A trillion here, a trillion there...pretty soon we'll be talking serious money! But it's going to work. All of the Keynesian economists say so. That Keynesians are pretty much wrong 90% of the time is beside the point...

---

Okay, Vulture. You've had your little chuckle. Now get serious. Is it really that bad? To be honest, I don't know. I only know what I read. You see, given the location in which I live and the career field in which I'm employed, I'm extremely sheltered from the gyrations of the economy. I'm not saying that so as to brag; on the contrary, my situation makes me even more worried. Things aren't hunky-dorree in these parts; how bad can it be in, say, Michigan or California?

---

So...is King Obama's "stimulus" going to help? Are you sh**ing me? Of course not! Nor was it ever supposed to be anything more than expensive window dressing.

---

I'm of the opinion that King Obama would be all kinds of happy if the entire American financial system collapsed. After all, it's only in extreme times that extreme measures (like Fascism and Communism) can be made palatable to the sheeple.

While Obama's reputation is that of a lifelong Communist, his actions belie different leanings; he's a Fascist through-and-through. Lest there be any misunderstanding, by "Fascist" I mean a proponent of the Private/Public ownership of the means of production as implemented by Benito Mussolini. I am NOT using the word in the traditional Leftist pejorative way, which is, as a means to tar one's enemies.

And truth is we've been living in a Fascist system for years. It just wasn't codified until King George the Dim implemented his infamous bailouts last Fall. His bailouts established the precedent that profits belong to the corporations, but losses belong to the sheeple. If that's not Fascism, what, then, is it?

---

Okay, Mr. Gloom-and-Doom. So what can we do to protect ourselves? How the hell should I know? I'm just an ordinary man who happens to live in extraordinary times. I have no reference point nor sufficient knowledge to have the first idea what we the common folk can do, short of storming Congress carrying torches and pitchforks.

Times are hard, and they're going to get harder. The Russians are fairly certain that we're going to self-destruct.

If you're inclined to believe Igor Panarin, and the Kremlin wouldn't mind if you did, then President Barack Obama will order martial law this year, the U.S. will split into six rump-states before 2011, and Russia and China will become the backbones of a new world order.

Panarin might be easy to ignore but for the fact that he is a dean at the Foreign Ministry's school for future diplomats and a regular on Russia's state-guided TV channels.

As much as I hate to say it, if the scenario painted by Mr. Panarin plays out, we will do in 2009 what the mighty Soviet Union did in 1989-1991; we'll splinter into regional factions with an impotent central government trying vainly to hold it all together. Perhaps we'll be as lucky as Russia and manage to hold together enough substance in one of the splinters to serve as a counterweight to the Russians and Chinese. But I doubt it.

---

Feeling good and depressed yet? Feeling hopeless? Don't. There is One far mightier than those pitiful perfumed princes and princesses who lust after the power to rule over us all. My trust is in Him, though my actions may not always reflect that.

Paul said it best:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -- Romans 8:38-39

Amen.

GOP RIP

What do you get when a political party has:

1. An obese self-parody clown talk show host as its defacto voice?

2. A party chairman who first attacks said clown, then grovels before his throne?

3. A straw poll winner who is not the leader who will bring them back to political prominence (the two best candidates for said roll -- Ron Paul and Sarah Palin -- finished 3rd and 4th, respectively) but rather an intellectual zero with no core beliefs (but a really great head of hair)?

4. A parade of bozo "experts" who insist that, since moving left worked so well in 2008, that's the only answer for the party to be successful in 2010 and 2012?

Why, you get political suicide, of course! That shadow you see circling Team Elephant? That would be me and my friends, waiting to devour the rotting carcass that awaits.

Watching a political party commit suicide is an ugly thing. Ugly indeed.

Wiener of the Week

One of the most aggravating conceits of the Left is their insistence on trying, trying, and trying yet again to implement the same old failed policies because, though they've failed every single time they've been tried, "it'll work this time" because it's THEM trying it this time.

King Obama, His Royal Hemorrhoid Brown...come on down!

GORDON BROWN hopes to forge a partnership with President Barack Obama in Washington this week, to call for a “global new deal” to lift the world out of recession.

Yeah, let's do it! After all, the original New Deal worked SOOOOOOO well. Okay, it worked well if your goal was to turn an 18 month severe recession into a 15 year Great Depression.

But, apparently, the goal MUST be a 15 year Great Depression. It's the only logical explanation for the "stimulus" bill and the "New New Deal".

PM Brown, you're the Wiener of the Week.