COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Friday, January 15, 2010

Obama Will Make Taxpayers "Whole"



The new mantra coming from the Marxist mouthpiece in the White House is truly Orwellian Obamese, "Making the taxpayer whole." Get used to hearing this. It is the phrase de jour to distract the American Public from noticing the latest federal tax increase on the banking industry, a tax that will not be on the banking industry, but a tax on the American consumer, and collected for the government by the banks.
__________________________________

One year out: President Obama's fall


By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, January 15, 2010
Washington Post

What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama's approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent -- and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president's second year.

A year ago, he was leader of a liberal ascendancy that would last 40 years (James Carville). A year ago, conservatism was dead (Sam Tanenhaus). Now the race to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in bluest of blue Massachusetts is surprisingly close, with a virtually unknown state senator bursting on the scene by turning the election into a mini-referendum on Obama and his agenda, most particularly health-care reform.

A year ago, Obama was the most charismatic politician on Earth. Today the thrill is gone, the doubts growing -- even among erstwhile believers.

Liberals try to attribute Obama's political decline to matters of style. He's too cool, detached, uninvolved. He's not tough, angry or aggressive enough with opponents. He's contracted out too much of his agenda to Congress.

These stylistic and tactical complaints may be true, but they miss the major point: The reason for today's vast discontent, presaged by spontaneous national Tea Party opposition, is not that Obama is too cool or compliant but that he's too left.

It's not about style; it's about substance. About which Obama has been admirably candid. This out-of-nowhere, least-known of presidents dropped the veil most dramatically in the single most important political event of 2009, his Feb. 24 first address to Congress. With remarkable political honesty and courage, Obama unveiled the most radical (in American terms) ideological agenda since the New Deal: the fundamental restructuring of three pillars of American society -- health care, education and energy.

Then began the descent -- when, more amazingly still, Obama devoted himself to turning these statist visions into legislative reality. First energy, with cap-and-trade, an unprecedented federal intrusion into American industry and commerce. It got through the House, with its Democratic majority and Supreme Soviet-style rules. But it will never get out of the Senate.

Then, the keystone: a health-care revolution in which the federal government will regulate in crushing detail one-sixth of the U.S. economy. By essentially abolishing medical underwriting (actuarially based risk assessment) and replacing it with government fiat, Obamacare turns the health insurance companies into utilities, their every significant move dictated by government regulators. The public option was a sideshow. As many on the right have long been arguing, and as the more astute on the left (such as The New Yorker's James Surowiecki) understand, Obamacare is government health care by proxy, single-payer through a facade of nominally "private" insurers.

At first, health-care reform was sustained politically by Obama's own popularity. But then gravity took hold, and Obamacare's profound unpopularity dragged him down with it. After 29 speeches and a fortune in squandered political capital, it still will not sell.

The health-care drive is the most important reason Obama has sunk to 46 percent. But this reflects something larger. In the end, what matters is not the persona but the agenda. In a country where politics is fought between the 40-yard lines, Obama has insisted on pushing hard for the 30. And the American people -- disorganized and unled but nonetheless agitated and mobilized -- have put up a stout defense somewhere just left of midfield.

Ideas matter. Legislative proposals matter. Slick campaigns and dazzling speeches can work for a while, but the magic always wears off.

It's inherently risky for any charismatic politician to legislate. To act is to choose and to choose is to disappoint the expectations of many who had poured their hopes into the empty vessel -- of which candidate Obama was the greatest representative in recent American political history.

Obama did not just act, however. He acted ideologically. To his credit, Obama didn't just come to Washington to be someone. Like Reagan, he came to Washington to do something -- to introduce a powerful social democratic stream into America's deeply and historically individualist polity.

Perhaps Obama thought he'd been sent to the White House to do just that. If so, he vastly over-read his mandate. His own electoral success -- twinned with handy victories and large majorities in both houses of Congress -- was a referendum on his predecessor's governance and the post-Lehman financial collapse. It was not an endorsement of European-style social democracy.

Hence the resistance. Hence the fall. The system may not always work, but it does take its revenge.


letters@charleskrauthammer.com





168 comments:

  1. No one is sympathetic to the banks, so they are the perfect target for Obama to focus on, but do not be fooled by what this really is.

    It is another $100B tax, not on the banks, but on the US economy.

    The fools that voted for Obama, including many bankers, will be distracted by "making the taxpayers whole."

    Credit card users and retail customers of banks will pay the Obama bank tax. That extraction by the federal government from the private sector will be squandered and the economy will take another hit in employment.

    Does anyone think that the banks will not offset some of this tax by clamping down on job creation?

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee."

    Now, we have a new program to "recover every single dime for the American taxpayers."

    "Massive profits and obscene bonuses."

    This is surreal. Orwellelian, even.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It strikes me as posing and pompous to make such an announcement flanked by Tim Geithner and Larry Summers.

    This pronouncement is political theatre to quell populist criticism.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Obama is a shameless redistributionist, a community organizer snatch and grabbing for his people.

    Stealth reparations for the old hood.

    Read the union deal on cadillac health plans.

    ReplyDelete
  5. whit: "Massive profits and obscene bonuses."

    Obscene bonuses, I'm on board. It's not a right-left issue, if you're taking bailout money you don't give your CEO hundreds of millions of dollars in a "performance" bonus. If you're not taking bailout money, then the government can stay the hell out and let the shareholders deal with it.

    Massive profits may be obscene to Obama but not a Libertarian. Besides, the government already has an income tax.

    Deuce: Credit card users and retail customers of banks will pay the Obama bank tax.

    The only ones who will pay are the unemployed credit card users who are swiping their plastic to put food on the table. Good luck with extracting higher fees from them, fat cats. The customers who still have jobs are paying down and cutting up their credit cards.

    Consumers have reduced revolving debt every one of the fourteen months since the Lehman bankruptcy last September. The consumer reaction to the financial crisis has been immediate, sustained and one way.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Setting it straight...

    Definition of turgid (adjective):
    swollen and engorged

    I erred.

    Trish is not smug and turgid.

    Only smug as demonstrated by her distain for Sarah Palin.

    ReplyDelete
  7. And her opinion that Mark Levin is the Joe Peschi of conservatives.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Glad you reminded me about Avast, Linear!
    I found a link to get CA Antivirus free a year ago and used it.
    Computer kept getting slower and slower.
    Uninstalled it a couple of days ago, replaced it with Avast, and voila!
    3 times faster!

    ReplyDelete
  9. ...only an engeneer would not know the meaning of turdjid.

    ReplyDelete
  10. In a few days I'm buying their "Professional" package, Doug. I need the malware protection, and I think other vendors' malware protection may have conflicts with Avast. I'm just waiting to hear back from them if I can put it on two home pc's with one subscription.

    I haven't used that new Dell since I got this old Compaq cleaned up with Avast.

    Vista sucks.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh, shit. I'll hear about that, fer sure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. 'Rat, or anyone:

    Paralegal advice needed.
    In the course of his house inspection, guy noted that pressure regulator was leaking.

    Bank made an adjustment to pay us for the cost of replacing it.

    Luckily, as it turned out, (for record keeping purposes) wife had a plumber do it even tho I planned on doing it myself.

    Yesterday while tearing up the carpet in a bedroom, I encountered rotted out tack strips.

    Ripped off some (newly painted 2 days before!) drywall, and found that the leak had soaked 2 walls up to about a foot.

    Treated wood looks pretty good, despite the (apparently) long term leak, but just in case it turns out to require more expensive remediation than just drying out and refinishing, would the bank or the inspector's insurance possibly cover expenses?

    Thanks.
    Non-lawyer Doug.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I've used Microsoft "Defender" since it came out, Linear.
    Free, apparently does not conflict with Avast.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Yeah, Vista is the most stable setup yet.
    Just turn off the user account control.
    17 years on the net, and haven't lost data to a virus yet.

    ...course I don't frequent them highly turdjid porno sites.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Like you, I haven't used the laptop much yet.
    (got Win 7 upgrade disk, installed, went back to other things)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Once a month, Windows update runs a new malware removal tool scan.
    ...don't know if it ever did anything.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Colder than a Witch's Zit here!
    70 in the bedroom this morning.
    Electric Blankie time!

    ReplyDelete
  18. (zit juice congeals @ 72 degrees)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I'm curious, Deuce, as to what you think the Obama should do considering the money is already out the door? Not only is it out the door but it was Bush and crew who did most of the dirty deed. Now that the new guy has his hands on the reins of power should he just let the bankers keep their loot and tell the taxpayer "it must suck to be you"?

    ReplyDelete
  20. "We want our money back!"

    Rails the lying, corrupt, cocksucking Communist.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Yeah, Ashie:
    Blame Bush!
    ...ignore the Trillions gifted to crony crooks.

    Hundreds of millions for Nancy and Barry WASTING OUR MONEY on their rich ass rip off travels.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Bush let the Dems do the dirty deed.
    Obama voted yes.
    We already knew Bush is a wuss.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Deuce: Read the union deal on cadillac health plans.

    One rule for groups that contribute to Democrats, and another rule for the rest of us. What else is new? It's the Chicago Way.

    ReplyDelete
  24. What's the word for
    stupider than stupid?

    ReplyDelete
  25. Doug, forget who shoved the money to the banks in the first place 'cause it doesn't really matter at the moment. The question is do you just let the suckers keep it or do you go after it? What is your suggestion?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Just what I was thinking, T!
    First the Cornholer Kickback,
    and now we take another one in the ass for the sake of the sodomizing SEIUrs.

    ReplyDelete
  27. ...that would save a HELL of a lot more than the "banker bailout tax"

    ReplyDelete
  28. ...but Ash wants to sell the distraction.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Robert Reich wrote that "the chances of unemployment being 10 percent next November are overwhelmingly high." The number of newly created jobs will be offset by discouraged workers beginning to once again seek employment. But Obama is focused on grabbing one-sixth of the US economy with socialized medicine and even more with Cap and Trade.

    Since World War II, unemployment has exceeded 8 percent in a total of only 12 months in even-numbered (meaning, congressional election) years. All 12 months were in 1982.

    November 2010 is going to be a political tsunami.

    ReplyDelete
  30. "Does anyone think that the banks will not offset some of this tax by clamping down on job creation?"
    ---
    You know who.
    A crisis is a terrible thing to waste.

    Signed,
    Ash

    ReplyDelete
  31. Catholics should not work in ERs.
    Rapers of babies should go free.
    Coakley for Teddy's seat!

    ReplyDelete
  32. The Union Cadillac exemption is refered to as a "compromise" by the MSM!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Doug, don't do the "T" thing too, or pretty soon I'll run out of people to talk to here. There's no "T".

    ReplyDelete
  34. off topic

    brit's meeting with hezbollah...

    op ed coming from pat buchanan calling for normalization with hezbollah

    hezbollah rearmed 5 x from war time, adds advanced weapons from iran via syria, all under UN watch, totally ignored, hezbollah attacked and seized portion of beirut last year, many killed.

    France is calling for tough action on iran

    Obama's deadline comes and goes (on iran) again...

    I wonder when france is going to be the president of the UNSC?

    and if obama is willing to "vote present" and duck...

    and obama has effectively thrown israel under the bus (no weapon sales to israel in 2009) (building freeze and more...

    israel will target and hit high value hezbollah, iran & hamas targets.

    syria still may keep it's head down in order to survive...

    gas masks are being tested and deployed in israel, largest bio drill was yesterday..

    the palestinian issue has become (on the world stage) irrelevant, with egypt build a steel wall to separate themselves from gaza, and hamas/palestinians shooting egyptians, it's hard to blame israel for all the strips ills... (as hamas and fatah both kill each other (some spilling out in lebanon)

    obama has become irrelevant...

    ReplyDelete
  35. If it were up to the American People the only question would be whether to give them (the bankers) a blindfold, and a cigarette.

    I think most would vote, "No."

    ReplyDelete
  36. Deuce: Get used to hearing this. It is the phrase de jour to distract the American Public from noticing the latest federal tax increase on the banking industry...

    Obama is exempting GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from that tax even though taxpayers were tapped to bailout those firms.

    ReplyDelete
  37. The only reasonable thing to do with the banks is to "break them up."

    If they're "too big to fail," they're too big to exist. We can't afford any more of this bullshit.

    And, let's be fair. It was Bush's head of FDIC, SEC, and Fed that allowed this crazy shit to happen. We can sit around and blame Barney Frank, and Chris Dodd till the cows come home, but Dubya "screwed the pooch," also.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Latest poll has Brown up by 4 in Mass. He's liable to win that thing.

    ReplyDelete
  39. If Maverick was behind the Resolve desk, then the Dems would have a lock on Mass.

    And all the economic failures would be his, instead of Obama's.

    The Dems would be secure in their 60 Senate seats and Maverick would be making "deals", with them.

    But with Obama in the White House, and with the Dems owning the Senate and House, it all becomes theirs. For better or worse.

    And they are anything but irrelevant players, in the positions they hold.

    Like it or not.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Clinton's clan did it before Bush, Rufus.
    There you go, defending the socialists again!

    ReplyDelete
  41. ...and BHO promoted W's crooks.

    ReplyDelete
  42. "There's no "T"."

    What happened to her?

    ReplyDelete
  43. Clinton's Clan REQUIRED the banks to give loans to folks who could not afford them, Rufus.

    All the crooks took advantage of the new rules.

    ...everyone else continued the disasterous process.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Absolutely, Doug. It goes all the way back, and it's still going on.

    But, this crazy "no-doc" loans, CDOs, CSOs, "Off the Balance Sheet," idiocy hit its crescendo under Dubya.

    ReplyDelete
  45. And, Allen Greenspan was Hugely culpable. Hugely.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Terasita wrote:

    "Obama is exempting GM, Chrysler, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from that tax even though taxpayers were tapped to bailout those firms."

    The main problem being THERE ARE NO PROFITS to tax and secondly, the government owns them.

    ReplyDelete
  47. I didn't watch the video (I can't stand watching the pretentious fool,) but I agree with taxing the living shit out of the banks that caused this mess. Just consider it a "fine."

    The "people" are mad because they know that a lot of Bankers "Should" be in Jail, right now; and, they're not.

    What these corrupt bastards did is no different than what the crooks at Enron did. They just have more powerful friends.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Irony is Clinton being asked to save "kennedy's seat" while obama hides, after kennedy screwed clinton by supporting obama

    ReplyDelete
  49. go Brown...

    Dear democrats...

    As a life long democrat, now Independent American..

    Fuck you...

    ReplyDelete
  50. A Palestinian immigrant to Denmark who wounded two Israelis in a shopping-mall shooting allegedly motivated by the IDF's Gaza operation has been convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison.


    Police examine the scene of the Copenhagen shooting attack.
    Photo: Channel 2 [file]
    SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World
    Wissam Freijeh fired shots with a handgun at a stand selling Israeli hair products in the Dec. 31, 2008, attack in Odense.

    His lawyer said the 28-year-old Danish citizen was provoked by Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip in late 2008, but did not intend to kill anyone.

    The Odense court on Friday found Freijeh guilty of five counts of attempted murder because there were five people at the stand when he opened fire. Two Israeli employees were injured, while a third employee and two Danish customers escaped unharmed.

    ReplyDelete
  51. So my daughter and I were standing down in baggage claim last night and down the escalator come the two most strikingly handsome guys I've ever seen. A middle-aged man and his younger twin.

    When you see your loved ones every day it's easy to stop seeing - I mean really seeing - these things. Even brief absences help us to notice afresh what the eyes are wont to take for granted through long acquaintance.




    I am smug because I don't care for the individuals that you do, Linear? I don't think that's in the American Heritage Dictionary, but
    oh, well.

    Say la vee.

    ReplyDelete
  52. rufus said...
    Absolutely, Doug. It goes all the way back, and it's still going on.

    But, this crazy "no-doc" loans, CDOs, CSOs, "Off the Balance Sheet," idiocy hit its crescendo under Dubya.



    Sure did, and it was bush that called for hearing and was stopped by the democratic congress...

    ReplyDelete
  53. Just wait until we go back down to DC and I get my NPR on. (I have resolved even in the mornings to assiduously avoid AM630 - sorry Grandy and Andy.)

    It's only going to get worse.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Trish is once again enjoying the things us state side folks take for granted.

    God's speed, Trish, in hitting your stride!

    ReplyDelete
  55. I'm gonna start writing fan letters to Diane Rehm.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I promised myself, I was gonna stay away but everytime lilithTerisitaMissY says, "There's no, T." I just think it's a good thing I don't wear depends because with the price of things these days, I would go broke.

    I laugh out loud everytime I read that because I don't understand where she went.

    ReplyDelete
  57. "Trish is once again enjoying the things us state side folks take for granted.

    Like being able to make it up 80 MPH on the highway? At first it was frightening (and not only because dotter's been doing all the driving).

    Last Monday - the last day of The Holidays in Bogota - my husband for the first time in two years made it up to 100 KPH on the cross-city expy on the way to the embassy.

    It's usually less than half that.

    With obvious exceptions, in the US you can really haul some serious ass.

    ReplyDelete
  58. Teresita, with all respect, what shall we call you?

    ReplyDelete
  59. Crazier than a shithouse rat, Melody.

    And one does not respond to crazy people - unless they're close relatives.

    ReplyDelete
  60. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  61. Shit, I was going to start fresh with Trish and now that's out the window.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Ash, Don't click on this link It could damage your trust in the new Gov. Religion of Global Warming. :)

    Just kidding, Ash. I realize that you're looking at both sides of the issue.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Cigarettes are more than five bucks a pack.

    Trish has noticed that, too.

    "You're shitting me. What, no gun?"

    - P J O'Rourke

    ReplyDelete
  64. It doesn't take much to amuse me. And I don't mean to criticize. It's just when I read that I crack up...every single time.

    T, I mean Lil, you say it like someone died. I understand you want to start fresh but you are who you are, I don't care what name you put there. You'll always be T to me. And changing your name to start fresh with someone is not the way to do it.

    If Bob changed his name to make it right with everyone he would have 15 fucking names.

    ReplyDelete
  65. T, quite literally, has gone through just about 15 names here at the EB and she somehow thinks folk will be hurt if she doesn't address them.

    *shrug*

    add to that the narcissistic recapping of her 'witty' comments on her blog and you are left scratching your head in puzzlement.

    ReplyDelete
  66. This place provides a unique method of experiencing other folks dementia and neuroses...

    ...bob, seek medical advice for you insomnia as home remedies could put you in the grave early.

    ReplyDelete
  67. Gag Reflex: ...with all respect, what shall we call you?

    Please use "Lilith". If you call me something else, then it tells me you find antagonizing me more interesting than conversing with me, and we don't have anything to say after that, to my regret, because I have nothing but respect for everyone who participates here.

    ReplyDelete
  68. Lilith it is....

    Would Ms. L suffice? or just L?

    I'm in to brevity bigtime...

    ReplyDelete
  69. I agree with, Ash, if it's truly insomnia and has been going on for some time, see a doctor. There's a lot of underlying issues that cause insomnia. I would get checked out.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Well, rufus, I clicked on your link to explore it and I was dismayed to find links to video presentations. I watched the first one "CARBON DIOXIDE, CO2, DOES NOT CAUSE SIGNIFICANT WARMING OF THE EARTH." and the content was primarily fluff laced with non-scientific statements like "Scientific Proof".

    The page did however link to a "scientific paper on how Carbon Dioxide is not causing climate change."

    http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/81557272.html

    which was a little more interesting. However that paper has sustained significant criticism (it was first floated outside of scientific journals in 1997).

    eg:

    "It is seemingly aimed at refuting “climate alarmists” (who are mainly not identified, but seem to include the media and representatives of environmental groups) and in doing so sets up a lot of strawmen that gives him an excuse to put in a couple of contradictory references. In most cases, however, the claims he shoots at are neither valid nor at all central to the key scientific findings regarding human-induced global warming.

    Since 1990, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued three major assessment reports (IPCC 1990, 1995, 2001) that assemble and evaluate international scientific findings in this field after they have gone through a several-stage review process that ensures their views encompass the full range of expert science. Legates does not seem to accept the central findings of the IPCC, namely that human activities are having a significant effect on the global climate. But then, multiple times throughout the report, he selectively cites IPCC as an authority on what is not well-established in order to try to refute the views of those he labels as “climate alarmists.” This is a bit like saying I won’t believe what the American Medical Association recommends as best practice for treating various diseases, but will consider them an authority on what they say is not well-established as effective.

    If IPCC is being cited against the “climate alarmists,” then its findings must not represent those that Legates is criticizing and IPCC’s views should be accepted as valid. But no, he both attacks and cites their findings. And this is not an isolated situation. Legates takes the same two-faced approach with the international Arctic Climate Impacts Assessment (with many of the citations to opposing results being to quite dated papers), the US National Assessment (discussed further below), the results of NASA (where he relies on selected results, generally ignoring recent results). He even (on page 11) cites the “scientific consensus” as an authority while throughout most of the rest of the report disagreeing with it. He is basically totally inconsistent on what is authoritative and what is not.

    The report is also filled with mistakes and nonsense. Herewith just a sampling: "

    http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/index.php/csw/details/maccracken-legates/

    ReplyDelete
  71. The Climate Warming Hoax of the 21st century will go down as one of the biggest scams in the history of this earth.

    Right along with the Obama election. Why are so called "intellectuals" or "educated peoples" (that one really makes me laugh) so damned gullable?

    ReplyDelete
  72. Self importance, gag.

    Man made global warming fuels the story line that man is responsible for the conditions of life and has the ability to impact them.

    It fuels the fires of their imaginations, to maintain that mankind is in control of its' own destiny.

    Kind of a constant refrain of "educational" cable television programing.

    Rather than the the truth that climate change is caused, primarily, by cyclical sun cycles, cyclical orbital patterns and cyclical changes in the planets' axis of inclination.

    All things that we cannot influence, that most folks cannot really comprehend the impacts of.

    But that are historical astrophysical truths.

    ReplyDelete
  73. Schumer calls Brown a right wing tea bagger. Now that's funny.

    Brown may take that as a compliment.

    ReplyDelete
  74. In all the postings of the various avatars of "Lilith " has made, I do not think that I have EVER addressed them by any moniker, other than Ms T.

    That will remain the case.

    At least until a character arrives that does not immediately identify itself as the "former" Ms T.

    ReplyDelete
  75. One of the marks of the true shaman in Mircea Eliade is the ablity to stave off the need to sleep.

    And, didn't Jesus tell his disciples to 'stay awake' and yet, even when he was sweating blood, they were snoring.
    :)

    I have you pegged as simply stupid Ash. Alas, no doctor can cure that.

    Well we're never staying overnight at the Casino again. That bed was like a brick, and the pillows like rocks.

    Nice Indian appointments around the room and in the halls though.

    ReplyDelete
  76. heh, looks like Brown is going to win. I hope. I can hardly believe it, but it may be true.

    As for Obumle, fastest fall of any President, just what he deserves.

    I watched Palin on the tube last night, she sounded good to me.

    Then fell asleep in my wife's arms, on what amounted to hard ground. Might as well have slept on the floor.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Global, Schmobal, I'd jist like to have a little "Mississippi Warming."

    ReplyDelete
  78. Low to mid 70's, here.

    Another fabulous day in Phoenix, weather wise.

    ReplyDelete
  79. But it's heartening to see you're all so deeply concerned about my sleep problems. One part of it is, often my back hurts like hell, another is, I never did need much sleep, another is, as getting older we tend to not sleep so much, I've seen this in all my relatives, another is I often get truly wired on coffee, cause I like coffee when I smoke, and I smoke too much.

    But thanks, if you want me to offer diagnosis to some of you, I'd be happy to.

    Ash, remedial education
    Rat, anger management
    etc

    ReplyDelete
  80. Rat, I will be there week after next. Staying at the Kierland Westin in Scottsdale during the week, then over to the JW Marriott at Camelback for the weekend with my female companion!

    ReplyDelete
  81. The coldest I have ever been was while bowhunting out of a tree stand in Mississippi (Holmes Co). 38 degrees, 86% humidity and a 20 mph North wind.

    Laugh it up, Northerners, but that condition will absolutely chill you to the bone....

    ReplyDelete
  82. The Kierland complex is right down the street. Really quite nice.

    Two weeks from now, aye, you'll just miss the chance to see, 55th Annual Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show
    February 11-21, 2010
    at Westworld, Scottsdale, Arizona

    ReplyDelete
  83. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I will happy with a night at Greasewood Flats.

    ReplyDelete
  85. bobal: heh, looks like Brown is going to win. I hope. I can hardly believe it, but it may be true.

    Coakley is supported by 77% of Democrats while Brown picks up the vote from 88% of Republicans. Fifty-one percent of Massachusettians identify as neither Donk or Pub, and among these folks Brown leads 71% to 23%. Add to that the enthusiasm factor being on the GOP side, and you've got a surprise blowout in the making.

    ReplyDelete
  86. bobal: As for Obumle, fastest fall of any President, just what he deserves.

    And in the last fifty years, no President has raised his approval rating in the year running up to his first mid-term election. Obummer has nowhere to go but down, and drag the Donks with him.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Someone is intentionally taunting us with "get my NPR on" and "Diane Rhemn fanclub."

    Yeah, try that trite for a fortnight. You'll come back around. And pleaseeee, if you do dip into the sinister side, don't bring that trash back in here.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  88. Diane Rhem SUCKS!

    ReplyDelete
  89. Taste of the past, there at Greasewood Flats.

    Been dancin' in the desert nights, there, for thirty years, more.

    Back to when Rio Verde Dr was a dirt track to the Box Bar, down at the river.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Two things for my bucket list:
    1. Go to Rose Bowl, (parade, ball game, the whole enchilada.)

    2. Attend Barrett-Jackson auction in Phoenix.

    ReplyDelete
  91. They had just opened the golf course and condos, at Rio Verde, 1975 or so, and we got the dude and outfitting franchise at the old ranch headquarters.

    Had upwards of 15 horses on the string, corrals, tack room and a small cabin.

    The ladies would come down from MN, where hubby was laboring in the cold, to pay for the desert condo life.

    They'd always want a little taste of the "wild west" and Greasewood was where I'd take 'em, for the appetizer.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Wall Street Journal - Jonathan Weisman, Peter Wallsten

    WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will travel to Massachusetts this weekend to try to save Edward M. Kennedy's former US Senate seat for his party, and with it the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority.

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  93. By John C. Dvorak

    BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- The investment community is wrong regarding the dustup between China and Google Inc. over the alleged attack on Google by the Chinese government. The stock should have gone up, not down.

    The story we are told in the New York Times and elsewhere is that China Inc. hacked into the Gmail service to get at the email of certain dissidents. Then Google, outraged, said that it was considering quitting China.
    ...
    Google is gaining market share on China's most popular search engine, Baidu.com /quotes/comstock/15*!bidu/quotes/nls/bidu (BIDU 460.52, -3.71, -0.80%) , and could probably surpass it within a year or two. But it's nuts for Google to perpetually kowtow to Chinese censorship demands, especially when it is so politically incorrect everywhere else.
    ...
    Google could become dependent on China for a large share of revenues and profit -- to the point where China might suddenly tell the search giant to censor anti-China Web sites in the United States and elsewhere. If Google refused, China could pull the plug, sink the stock and do serious damage.

    Deciding to leave the country on its own removes the future, more devastating consequence for Google and also allows for an underground methodology to emerge, where Google can be accessed by the Chinese people via proxy servers and other Internet work-arounds.

    Google, like others, has noticed that innocuous sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are blocked in China for no good reason. ...

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  94. Consumer prices dipped 0.2 percent in Colorado and other Western states in December from November, the second straight monthly decline in the regional price index, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday.

    Still, the region's consumer-price index (CPI) -- a leading index of the inflation rate -- was up 2.2 percent for all of 2009, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said in its latest "Mountain-Plains CPI Blue Card."

    Nationwide, the CPI increased 0.1 percent in December from the previous month, less than the 0.2 percent rise analysts had expected. But year over year, the CPI was up 2.7 percent nationwide in December
    . ...

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  95. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Gates makes recommendations in Ft. Hood shooting case

    Los Angeles Times -

    The military needs to do a better job of comprehensively evaluating personnel and commanders need to be able to evaluate their personnel and pick up on behavior that needs closer examination, he says.

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  97. "WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will travel to Massachusetts this weekend to try to save Edward M. Kennedy's former US Senate seat..."

    One would think this indicates the White House is pretty confident that Coakley can retain this seat; especially given the negative blowback Obama received for pushing Craig Deeds' candidacy in VA and for the president's part in pushing the Chicago Olympics bid in Copenhagen.

    That being said, few people argue that the White House staff has qualified for any Mensa awards in their first year.

    .

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  98. Hey, 'Rat:
    Any ideas about my Fri Jan 15, 08:42:00 AM EST question?

    ReplyDelete
  99. Realty law is State specific, that being said the first objective would be to see what the Inspector's real liability potential is.

    You paid for the inspection.
    He was YOUR expert.

    You could ask your realtor, but I doubt you used one.

    ReplyDelete
  100. FOXNews - ‎

    Qassim al-Raimi, military chief of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, speaks in a video posted on Islamist Web sites.
    Al-Raimi was reportedly killed in an airstrike in Yemen Friday.

    ReplyDelete
  101. Quirk: One would think this indicates the White House is pretty confident that Coakley can retain this seat; especially given the negative blowback Obama received for pushing Craig Deeds' candidacy in VA and for the president's part in pushing the Chicago Olympics bid in Copenhagen.

    Quirk, by August, Democrats will be creating roadblocks to stop the Presidential Limo from coming into a contested district.

    Rat Fuck: In all the postings of the various avatars of "Lilith " has made, I do not think that I have EVER addressed them by any moniker, other than Ms T. That will remain the case.

    Fine. It's not like I have anything to say to an ex-guard from Buchenwald anyway. You and MLD and Ash knock yourself out posting to "Ms T" and see how far it gets ya. I think I'm getting a bad rap. 2164th changed his nick to Deuce and he doesn't get any crap over it.

    ReplyDelete
  102. We've called him, "Deuce" from the first day, T. It was a lot easier than typing 2164th.

    Deuce is Deuce, and, you, T, are "T." And you, always, will be known as such. Nothing wrong with it. We luvs you, baby. We just ain't gonna be confusing ourselves keeping up with the latest moniker. You is you. Enjoy.

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  103. Ash, quite amusing today.

    On the bankers, I am sort of with Rufus. There are a few things I would do.

    1. Make FDIC insurance come with a deuctible where the depositor shares in the loss.

    2. Limit the percentage of loan syndication by tying it to the bank's capital, with the syndicating bank taking the first loss.

    3. Eliminate all government mandates on lending by diversity.

    4. Get the government out of the mortgage business.

    5. Let residential renters take a 25% deduction on their rental payment.

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  104. Q, I figure Obumfuck figures there's no downside to going to Mass. The Broad is already expected to lose. They've been working the "Creigh Deeds type loser candidate" meme for a day, or two.

    He gets to take another ride on the "big bird," and take credit for "at least, trying."

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  105. I agree with you Deuce that regulatory reform is in order and the government should be out of the housing business. I'm not sure how FDIC deductibles would help much in that FDIC was/is a useful means of preventing runs on banks at the consumer level. I would like the government to have stuck to their guns and backstopped FDIC stuff only instead of all the other crap they've done but maybe the doomsday stuff they floated (banks toppling like dominoes) may be what would have happened. I'm unsure as to what is really different between 'then' and 'now' re. the banking industry - I guess the primary thing is the banks were able to move loads of crap off of their balance sheet and on to the Federal Bank's balance sheet but the Banks (note Goldman et al weren't banks before but Investment banks) are back churning up profits...maybe 'mark to fantasy' really is a good thing?

    ReplyDelete
  106. Greatest transfer of wealth from the people to the elite cronies in our lifetimes.

    ReplyDelete
  107. Good idea, Rufus:
    WE address her as "You"

    ReplyDelete
  108. And some still doubt that the Boners have their own agenda, and it is not always ours.

    Despite the self-applied labels

    ReplyDelete
  109. Thanks, 'Rat.
    Any suggestions for what to put on the wood besides Chlorox and Detergent?

    ReplyDelete
  110. He temporarily suspended his deeply held conservative beliefs because he has more deeply held beliefs below those, 'Rat!

    ReplyDelete
  111. Why not send landing craft to Haiti?

    ReplyDelete
  112. Don't worry, the Feds will be getting out of the mortgage business. Fannie and Freddie are massive liabilities and now FHA is just about in the same boat. (They been the sole source of loan guarantees since the collapse.) The country is still struggling with the credit crisis and as has been said here many times, essentially nothing has been done about it.

    I still say that we're moving away from the post WWII growth paradigm into a more "sustainable" one.

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  113. I am smug because I don't care for the individuals that you do, Linear?

    If you choose to define it that way, be my guest.

    In my lexicon you're smug because of the haughty disdain you express for persons of great capability and insight with whom you don't agree, e.g., Sarah Palin and Mark Levin.

    Just as you may characterize me as vulgar for the way I might describe your heros, I describe you as smug.

    Get over it.

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  114. Sarah Palin a person of great capabilities and insight? You must be thinking with your little head again Linear.

    ReplyDelete
  115. Linear,
    Have you tried Windows Defender for Malware?

    ReplyDelete
  116. For the mold?
    Singe it with a torch.

    The heat kills it better than bleach

    ReplyDelete
  117. Mark Levin is gifted and brilliant constitutional lawyer.

    Sarah Palin is a cross between Chauncey Gardiner and Annie Oakley.

    She is cute, am sure can be fun, probably good kisser and sexy, and certainly a real pill to live with.

    I would rather to do tequila shots with her than trust her to be anything higher than a member of congress.

    ReplyDelete
  118. Maybe Sarah and the rest of us ought to go bowling:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neO5fnwQjqg

    ReplyDelete
  119. Don't they say, "Two heads are better than one?"

    ReplyDelete
  120. I will probably do a post on this, but right now am enjoying my wine, but catch this title from the New Republic:

    Steele Cage

    Republicans find their inner Al Sharpton.

    Jonathan Chait

    ReplyDelete
  121. Deuce is also smug.

    For the record, I've always liked Chauncey Gardiner and Annie Oakley.

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
  122. I have no respect for that crowd.

    ReplyDelete
  123. Like everyone else, Pat Buchanan has no answers, only questions. Is America's financial collapse inevitable?

    We're on the horns of dilemma and Buchanan points out that there is no satisfactory or politically viable solution.

    ReplyDelete
  124. Geez trish, I had an appointment in NYC on upper East side on Madison Avenue today, and what do I see across the street but Lilly Pulitzer. Not exactly Palm Beach or the Keys but it was kinda warm in New York today.

    ReplyDelete
  125. No respect for Annie Oakley?

    Oh my!

    ReplyDelete
  126. There certainly is a degree of smugness in that position!

    Dissin' Ms Oakley!

    ReplyDelete
  127. Smug I can live with.

    Pink...it's the best color ever.

    Save black.

    ReplyDelete
  128. Have you tried Windows Defender for Malware?

    No. Only because it has the Microsoft brand.

    Is that like throwing the baby out with the bath water?

    ReplyDelete
  129. Everyone seems to hate Buchanan except me but he did call the shot on the cultural war.

    I like Buchanan. He reminds me of some of the guys I used to caddy with, when a double loop made you $8 plus a $2 tip. You did 27 or 36 if really ambitious and went home with an amaing $20 smoking a Camel or a Lucky Strike, which cost you a quarter and you got two cents back in the pack.

    ReplyDelete
  130. The best Windows defender is an Apple.

    ReplyDelete
  131. Reuters - Basil Katz, Philip Barbara - ‎

    NEW YORK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who spent $108 million to win a third term, distributed more than $2 million in bonuses to campaign staffers, according to papers filed on Friday with the Campaign Finance Board.


    Talk about your walkin' around money.!

    ReplyDelete
  132. Larry Elder says Steele Cage is raking in honoraria.
    Probly a first for party head.

    ReplyDelete
  133. I'd like Sarah Palin just fine as President. She strikes me as being "plenty smart."

    ReplyDelete
  134. I had some nasty trojan malware/adware. Windows Defender couldn't find it. Symantec couldn't detect. Finally after weeks of searching and running antivirus software, with MacAfee, I found something that looked peculiar. MacAfee got part of it and I had to manually delete the rest.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Obama may or may not be more intelligent than Sarah Palin but she has more common sense than he will ever have.

    ReplyDelete
  136. Rufus: Deuce is Deuce, and, you, T, are "T."

    Rufus, there will come a day when you wonder why I don't answer your posts anymore, and this post will be the reason why.

    ReplyDelete
  137. That particular malware sneaked in as a Flashplayer update, would throw up a warning that malicious software had been detected and I should go to such and such a site to buy the remedy. It escalated the urgency with a large frontal of a beautiful woman proudly standing on a beach in full Brazilian.

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  138. Doug,

    I've got a mac and a bunch of PC's. I'll take the PC any day.

    For anti-virus I use Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free and it runs in the background very nicely. With this product Microsoft has done a really good job from what I can tell. I've used Norton, McAfee, and other free stuff over the years. I got irritated with them and ran without and anti-virus stuff for quite awhile until Security Essentials came out. Note: all my computers interface with the internet through a router which is your first line of defense. Dlink and Linksys are two cost effective manufacturers if you don't already have one. Wireless hookup is also on them.

    For cleaning my computer I use Adaware to search for adware and other mal/spyware.

    http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

    crap cleaner is good for cleaning out the registry and stuff

    http://www.scanwith.com/download/CCleaner.htm

    all this stuff is free and I find quite useful for cleaning up a windows based computer.

    p.s. I'm no fan of Vista, have used XP for years, but Win 7 is one of my systems and it appears to be good, real good.

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  139. Whit: Obama may or may not be more intelligent than Sarah Palin but she has more common sense than he will ever have.

    Obama was never asked a gotcha question like, "What other Supreme Court cases do you disagree with?" or "Who's the President of Guatemala?" so he was never tagged as a moron. I can never get behind Palin because she opposes same-sex marriage, but if it was between her and Obama I'd cheer Palin on even as I voted for the Libertarian.

    ReplyDelete
  140. Deuce: The best Windows defender is an Apple.

    Or better yet, Linux, because you can still run Windows programs, where you can't on a Mac.

    http://hackylinux.blogspot.com/2009/09/wine.html

    ReplyDelete
  141. Al-Qaeda threat: Britain worst in western world

    American officials now believe Britain poses a major threat to Western security because of the large number of al-Qaeda supporters that are active in the country. Two years ago Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, estimated that there were 2,000 al-Qaeda sympathisers based in Britain – the largest concentration of al-Qaeda activists in any Western country. But American officials, who regularly refer to “Londonistan” because of the high concentration of Islamic radicals in the capital, believe the figure is growing all the time.

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  142. Mark Levin says:

    "Sarah Palin loves America. And she knows we are a hair's breadth from losing much of what we and millions of our countrymen have painstakingly built with sweat and blood over more than two centuries. She knows that Cap and Trade is not just another piece of legislation. It is a hollowpoint bullet aimed straight at the heart of the American economy. She knows that health care reform is designed to, and will, utterly devastate the quality and availability of health care that is currently the best the world has ever known. She knows that American presidents don't nationalize automakers. Third-world dictators do that.

    But unlike nearly every other American, Sarah Palin can do something about it. Conservatives know she is the real thing. And so do Liberals. How else to explain the daily, spittle-flecked rage spewed at her and her family? Is there anything about Sarah Palin that is vile, repugnant, or amoral? There is one thing and only one thing driving the Left's hatred of Sarah Palin: fear. It is the fear that she is the next Reagan, who was viciously attacked in the same way. It is the fear that she will, through her classic American values and sensibility (think Truman), sweep all the rubes in flyover country into a tidal wave of support and decimate Liberal power.

    Palin is not your standard politician. To judge her by the standard playbook is a fool's errand. There is no playbook for people like Sarah Palin, just like there was no playbook for Barack Obama. Sarah Palin is the rare politician who can play by her own rules."

    Deuce said...

    "Mark Levin is gifted and brilliant constitutional lawyer.

    Sarah Palin is a cross between Chauncey Gardiner and Annie Oakley."

    How do you square that circle, Deuce?

    ReplyDelete
  143. Arkansas Democratic Rep. Vic Snyder, trailing his Republican opponent by 17-points, released a statement Friday evening making clear that he would not be a candidate for an eighth term. That's one pickup for the House.

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  144. Viktor Silo, hi there. Sorry to see you close your blog.

    ReplyDelete
  145. T, I don't give a flying fuck if you Ever "Answer" one of my posts.

    ReplyDelete
  146. On the other hand, you ARE "fambly," so if you want to engage with me I'll be happy to do so. :)

    ReplyDelete
  147. Hugo Chavez has sent one airplane to Haiti. Don't knock yourself out, bro.

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  148. Doug: Hundreds of millions for Nancy and Barry WASTING OUR MONEY on their rich ass rip off travels.

    The Copenhagen carbon footprint was 40,500 tons, according to left-leaning CBS, and it accomplished nada.

    ReplyDelete
  149. Ash said...
    Doug,

    I've got a mac and a bunch of PC's. I'll take the PC any day...



    That proves it, Ash you're retarded....

    ReplyDelete
  150. WiO, here's a slightly bigger moron:

    Actor Danny Glover says the earthquake in Haiti is a result of global warming. Glover told GRITtv that it could have happened to any of the Caribbean island nations: "They are all in peril because of global warming."

    Then, he lamented the failure of the climate summit in Copenhagen. As a result of that failure, he says, "this is what happened."

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  151. Ms. T wrote"

    "Obama was never asked a gotcha question like, "







    What are you currently reading?







    W (mac lover) iO,

    ummmm, I guess you are not retarded for paying 8.9% on a mortgage? 3x what I'm paying, but hey, belly up and pay that MAC premium 'because MAC's or sooooooo much betta.

    I won't say MAC's are bad, 'cause they aren't since system 10 came into being, but it's just UNIX, which is what LINUX, or FreeBSD is and ms. T is right to trumpet the goodness of that OS, if you don't unpacking TAR balls and rolling your own apps.

    ReplyDelete
  152. In 2001 the U.S. economy lost 2% of its jobs and it took four years to get them back. This time the U.S. economy has lost more than 5% of its jobs and there is no sign that the bleeding of jobs will stop any time soon. December was the worst month for unemployment since this recession began.

    Delinquent home loans at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac surged 20 percent from July through September. A second wave of mortgage defaults is getting ready to hit the U.S. economy starting in 2010. Sub-prime was just the start. Here comes two more crises with Alt-As and Option ARMs, one peaking around election day of this year, and the big one around New Years 2012. This charts "pay shock" when borrowers suddenly go from the teaser rates that enticed them out of rentals into their $600,000 home and suddenly see what their real payments are. And they walk. That's a lot of homes coming on the market.

    Meanwhile Obama is pushing Cap and Trade and socialized medicine.

    ReplyDelete
  153. ....and, no, you don't roll your own apps on the MAC, you PAY for them, through the nose.

    ReplyDelete
  154. "Mark Levin is gifted and brilliant constitutional lawyer.

    Sarah Palin is a cross between Chauncey Gardener and Annie Oakley."

    How do you square that circle, Deuce?
    _____________

    Hi Victor.

    I don't dislike Sarah Palin, but she was used by a desperate John McCain, because conservative politicians would not accept his choice of joe Lieberman.

    McCain, my guy, gave the keys to the farm to a perfectly respectable attractive and gifted young woman that was obviously in over her head.

    It was a tawdry iconic event in the shallowness of media driven American politics. Her qualifications to be Potus in waiting were that she was not Joe Biden and a distraction from the floundering McCain campaign.

    Sarah Palin is arguably no less qualified than George Bush or Barack Obama, but that still does not make her qualified to be president, if the position is meant to be filled by a serious and qualified person.

    ReplyDelete
  155. I respect Mark Levin and I respectfully do not accept his every opinion to be dogma.

    ReplyDelete
  156. Lilith said...

    "Viktor Silo, hi there. Sorry to see you close your blog."

    Me, too.

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  157. Box Score & Commentary

    Deuce handled his response well, parrying Viktor's thrust by deflection with a subjective opinion of Ms Palin, but struggled to close the challenged circle, and in the end appeared to have sued for an amicable draw by qualifying his endorsement of Mark Levin.

    Viktor's deftly crafted challenge puts him ahead on both style and substance, and has yet to be satisfactorily rebutted.

    Interim Score:
    Viktor: 10 to Deuce: 8.6

    ReplyDelete
  158. I've been absolutely in love with this song ever since I heard it at the Grand Coulee Dam laser light show last September, and I finally found out what it was. Yeeee-HAW! But it's better two watch it accompanied by red, green, and blue lasers dancing on a wall of falling white water about 350 feet high and 1700 feet wide.

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  159. I accept my 8.6 amicably.

    In most sport it is preferable to play against a slightly more skilled opponent so as to improve one's skills.

    There is no shame in losing to a 10.

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  160. Deuce said...

    "I accept my 8.6 amicably.

    In most sport it is preferable to play against a slightly more skilled opponent so as to improve one's skills.

    There is no shame in losing to a 10."


    Deuce, this reply is beyond gracious. I blush!

    :-)

    ReplyDelete