The Wack-Job Lefties

Now and then it's a good thing to note that the "OWS" gang also posts to wacko-Lefty sites.

Here's a good example:

Anonymous said...

It is MUCH WORSE than this. The DOJ knows that scotty walker admitted on a tape to conspiring to institute a violent "false flag" attempt against protesters. You can google this yourself and find transcripts and/or actual copies of the audio where walker brags to a fake koch brother about considering committing serious crimes against the people of wisconsin. He does say that they decided not to do it - BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT! The conspiracy is a serious crime and actually carries stiffer penalties than the crime would have (unless, of course, walker's "false flag" terrorism would have killed someone) Wisconsin's governor has been given a "free pass" and has never had to answer any questions under oath to either clear his name or be held accountable for serious crimes against Wisconsin and our great Nation. Please CALL John W. Vaudreuil at: 608) 264-5158 You will be told to write a letter - probably a good idea, but please also share that the public safety should not be dependent on a popular vote. Please write a strong letter; I sent mine certified. Please then call them back a couple of weeks later. Tell them you want to talk to someone about your letter. They may just continue to take your name and promise call backs; they may ask you to write a letter - who knows (I will decline to give more details about my experience at this point in time) LET'S WORK OBAMA'S DOJ TO DO ITS JOB. Let's give scotty walker an opportunity to "clear the air" under oath (assuming he can). I literally fear what will happen in the next few weeks. HELP!

You can't make that stuff up, folks.

He Calls Himself "Fiscally Responsible"? Mitt, You're Kidding!

At Bain Capital, the objective was to squeeze every single drop of juice from the victim acquired company--usually by dumping everyone with actual experience--and then sell the husk for more than it's worth.

So this guy Romney brags about his 'biz smarts.'  Uh-huh.

Mitt Romney said he wants to “eliminate every government program that is not absolutely essential.” That sounds good until you realize that Romney’s goal of cutting $500 billion from projected federal outlays in 2016 would, at best, leave the budget about 8 percent higher than it is now and only 11 percent lower than it would be without any attempt to restrain spending

... He predictably zeroes in on the National Endowment for the Arts, a favorite target of conservatives, but he does not zero it out. Instead, he recommends “deep reductions” in the NEA’s funding, which was $155 million this year, or 0.004 percent of the $3.7 trillion federal budget. Likewise, he wants to cut but not eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Getting rid of these three programs, which are not “absolutely necessary” by any stretch of the imagination, would save less than $1 billion a year, about 0.02 percent of the total budget. What does it say about Romney’s commitment to fiscal restraint that he can’t even go that far?

What it says is that the Mittster is a squish.

... let’s assume Romney can reach his target while recklessly expanding the Pentagon’s already bloated budget. Where will that get us? “I will put us on a path to a balanced budget,” he said in his speech to Americans for Prosperity last week. Translation: I will never balance the budget.

But he looks SO pretty, ain'a?

Vatican Termites Get Swatted

The term 'termites' has been long-used by Catholics who know s&^% from shinola.  The termites infest the Vatican and all Chancery offices in the US.  Everyone knows it.  Pascendi was all about the termites.

The current crop over in "Peace and Justice" just took a dose of swatting.

Precisely when the G20 summit in Cannes was coming to its weak and uncertain conclusion, on that same Friday, November 4 at the Vatican, a smaller summit convened in the secretariat of state was doing damage control on the latest of many moments of confusion in the Roman curia.

In the hot seat was the document on the global financial crisis released ten days earlier by the pontifical council for justice and peace. A document that had disturbed many, inside and outside of the Vatican.

The secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, complained that he had not known about it until the last moment. And precisely for this reason he had called that meeting in the secretariat of state.

The conclusion of the summit was that this binding order would be transmitted to all of the offices of the curia: from that point on, nothing in writing would be released unless it had been inspected and authorized by the secretariat of state.

Well, it was just a silly pipe-dream statement, right?

Wrong.

...what has been even more irritating for many authoritative readers of the document of the pontifical council for justice and peace is the fact that it is in glaring contradiction with Benedict XVI's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate."

In the encyclical, pope Joseph Ratzinger does not in any way call for a "public authority with universal competency" over politics and the economy, that sort of great Leviathan (no telling who gets the throne, or how) so dear to the document of October 24.

In "Caritas in Veritate" the pope speaks more properly of the "governance" (meaning regulation, "moderamen" in Latin) of globalization, through subsidiary and polyarchic institutions. Nothing at all like a monocratic world government.

The Statist "Ruling Class" bunch is everywhere, sometimes wearing Roman collars (and nun's habits.)  Doesn't make their idiocy any more acceptable.

HT:  Fr. Phil

Penn State and the Disappearing D.A.

As the Penn State thing gets worse and worse, this little news item gets more intriguing.

It is strange that Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar never prosecuted Jerry Sandusky on child-rape charges 13 years ago, some speculate, because Gricar was known for being fiercely independent and hard on crime.

But it is even stranger that we cannot ask Gricar why Sandusky was not put behind bars because the tough-as-nails district attorney disappeared in 2005. And though he was declared dead July of this year, his body has never been found.

His laptop was found, but the hard drive had also disappeared.

Hmmmm.

Kinda smells a bit like the Fr. Kunz case.  The good priest was (according to sources) about to pop the lid on another homosex scandal, too.

Fed Judge With Good Questions on Citi

Gee.  Now and then you kinda have hope!

A federal judge sharply questioned the Securities and Exchange Commission about why it didn't force Citigroup Inc. to admit to "what the facts are" before the agency agreed to settle a mortgage-bond case for $285 million.

During an hour-long hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, an outspoken critic of the SEC's approach to securities-fraud settlements, challenged the SEC on why the regulator allowed Citigroup to settle the case using boilerplate language in which it neither admits or denies wrongdoing.

"Why does that make any sense in this context?" the judge said.

... He questioned why the SEC only sought $160 million in alleged illicit profits—the regulator claims Citigroup profited from the deal—when investors may have lost more than $700 million in the deal.

"They're out something like $600 million, so the net effect of this is, you're only returning a small fraction of what the plaintiff's lost, yes?" the judge asked.  --Mish quoting WSJ

Just sell off the damn company.

Obozo's Guarantees of SPANISH Debt (!)

What's $2.75Bn between friends, anyway?

So it's a firm domiciled in Spain.  Who cares?  The Green Goddess impels us to sacrifice US taxpayers!!

The Real Pervert: Axelrod

It would seem that Axelrod has a fascination with sex stuff--and a payroll-pal in the Cook County court system.

Jack Ryan:  "There is no such thing as co-incidence."

Guess the Names

Actually, I HAD heard of Bing.

HT:  Burri

The Rise of Statism, NLRB Edition

Since Obozo has less public support than Joe Stalin, he'll adopt Stalinesque methods.  What's to lose?

The NLRB issued an order on Nov 3, 2011 that gives Solomon “full authority over court litigation matters that otherwise would require Board authorization and full authority to certify the results of any secret ballot election conducted under the National Emergency provisions of the Labor Management Relations Act…” The order comes into effect “during any time at which the Board has fewer than three Members and shall cease to be effective whenever the Board has at least three members.”

Meaning this:  the NLRB's lawyer will do whatever he damn pleases in those instances, regardless of the Board's quorum or lack thereof.

And that lawyer?  Another Obozoite jackass.

Lies, Damned Lies, and Educators' Statistics

To the surprise of no one, the Education Establishment is crying wolf.

Too bad that their "survey" has a few obvious flaws, eh?

...according to WASDA’s own data the median student to teacher ratio in Wisconsin is 13.5 to 1. To put that in perspective, the national student to teacher ratio this year is 15.5 to one.

Strike One.

...according to WASDA’s own data 60% of districts have class sizes that are staying the same or getting smaller. In addition, WASDA’s data shows that new hires outnumber layoffs and non-renewals by 1,213 positions

Strike Two.

And the biggest layoffs happened in districts which are still governed by teachers' unions:  Milwaukee, Janesville, and Kenosha.

That's Strike Three.

As a reminder, in 2003, the total cost/student was $11,218. in Milwaukee Public Schools.

In 2010, it was $14,674/student--that's a thirty percent increase in only seven years.

(Figures from WI DPI )

Green Goddess Costs Lotsa YOUR Money

Sierra club prostrates itself before the Green Goddess, and sacrifices you.

The Sierra Club on Wednesday took the first step toward suing We Energies for violations of state environmental permits as a result of the bluff collapse and landslide that sent coal ash into Lake Michigan last week.

...The notice of intent to sue alleges that the pollutants in the coal ash at the bottom of Lake Michigan "pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health and the environment," she said.

...The health and environmental risks from coal ash are disputed. Coal ash is not licensed as a hazardous pollutant and ash generated from power plants today is reused in concrete and road beds.

"Health impacts are unlikely from this event," We Energies says in its most recent update on cleanup work at the site. "Coal ash is made up mostly of silica, which is similar to sand, and has not been classified as carcinogenic by the Environmental Protection Agency."

Imagine that.  Sand on a shoreline.

The New Civility, Huh?

Just a reminder of how 'civility' differs between people:

A well-backed Democrat candidate who ran for a position on the board of a top beltway-area school system has been found guilty of assault for ramming a pro-lifer with her car during this year’s national March for Life on January 24, LifeSiteNews has learned.

Glassman was driving out of an alley near the Supreme Court building on the day of the March for Life when a woman stepped in front of the car, yelling at her to stop because of the crowd.  Glassman allegedly laughed and kept moving forward until she hit the woman.

A couple of herniated disks later....but that's 'civil,' see?

Obozo's Re-Election Theme: "Screw Your Retirement Funds!!"

Gee.  Who'd have thunk that Obozo's only goal is re-election?

....Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) dropped a bomb shell concerning the efforts of the congressional "Super Committee" which has been charged with eliminating 1.2 trillion from the federal budget by Nov. 23.

"I have news straight from sources close to the Super Committee that the Democrats have walked away from the table and they're refusing to talk to the Republicans about a deal and they will not counter any offers and basically there's an impasse and it's starting to look like they don't want any deal at all."

Sen. Paul added he believes that the Democrats and President Obama are in no rush: "it helps his campaign not to have a deal." "I don't think he cares at all what this will do to people's retirement account on Nov. 23rd... The president does not care about your retirement account."

Maybe the local Democrats--like Herbie, if he's awake--should be reminded of their duty.

BTW, does anyone really give a shit if the Bucks ever play again?

Obozo's ICE: Don't Arrest Anyone

Seems as though the "rule of law" is just an option with the Obozo-ites.

Chris Crane, president of the union that represents the nation’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, has provided the House Judiciary Committee and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) with what Crane says are internal ICE emails that back up testimony he gave in July and October that ICE headquarters had verbally ordered officers in the field not to arrest illegal aliens who did not have prior criminal convictions--even if they were fugitives evading deportation orders or were individuals who had illegally re-entered the United States after being deported and were thus committing a felony.

How very ........hospitable........Obozo is!

About 300,000 illegal criminals remain here due to Obozo policy.  

The US Banks' Europe Exposure: How Big?

Ticker has fun with studies and reports.

...what Chris is talking about is the practice of counting a repo transaction as "cash."  Well, it only is cash if the asset is known to be good at face value at any point up to maturity.

There is at present only one security that can be trusted to be this way: US Treasuries.

Treating other "AAA" securities (Subprime Mortgage bonds anyone?) like this is one of the ways that Bear and Lehman blew up.  When the allegedly-good securities turned out not to be suddenly a loss appeared "out of nowhere", and since these securities were often held off balance sheet there was no clear way to know what the depth and quality of the exposure was before it blew up in the public's face....

Which is a problem, you see, because as it turned out, the actual US banks' counterparty exposure (in the 2008 fiasco) was TWENTY TIMES the initially-reported number.

See, the US investment and commercial banks used "off-balance-sheet" vehicles (principally offshore entities) to bury the bones.

So, while OCC says there's 'de minimis' exposure, remember that the OCC was off by 95% in 2008.

Hmmmmm.

The End of the Eurozone Is Nigh

Well, that's Mish's opinion, but he's certainly not alone.

Realization [that] the Eurozone is no longer tenable is at long last at hand. In fact, "intense discussions" have been underway for months but are just mow admitted to by senior EU officials.

Snarky little chop here:

If France wants to stay in the Euro, let them. They can have the ECB as well. Then the ECB will print money to bail out the French banks (just as French president Sarkozy wants).

But he's right.  All three Big French Banks are in deep trouble.

Alabama County and Chase

Noted:

Alabama county votes to declare $4.1 billion bankruptcy over sewer debt. It would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.  --AP 

[That's Jefferson County.]

Ticker will be going ballistic in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....

Let's review.  Jefferson County was told by the feral (oops - Federal) government that they had to rebuild their sewer system.  (is there a 10th Amendment or did we use that for toilet paper years ago?)  The county bid the project.  By the time the mission creep (you know, what government usually does - take a $500 million problem and turn it into a $2 billion one?) was complete you'd think that would be the end of it.

You'd be wrong.  The banks got involved and turned this into a more than $5 billion boondoggle, complete with alleged (and, judging from the guilty pleas and convictions at this point) and actual bribery and other forms of official corruption. 

Here's the rest of Ticker's posts on the matter.

 

AKA Hog Heaven!!

News item:

Gander Mountain said Wednesday it will open its first Gun World store in Germantown.

The St. Paul, Minn., outdoor retailer calls its Gun World by Gander Mountain the nation's "ultimate gun store."

The new Gun World is a 30,000-square-foot retail outlet featuring upwards of 5,000 guns of all kinds, and firearms specialists on duty to give shoppers more one-on-one service.

We'll buy the ammo, then go there.

"Transparent", Alright. Transparent Liars

Who coulda thunk it?

Newly obtained emails released by House investigators suggest that George Kaiser, a billionaire Obama donor and chief investor in bankrupt solar panel manufacturer Solyndra, discussed the company with White House officials, directly contradicting earlier accounts

...Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich, and oversight panel chair Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., disclosed the emails including one from March 5, 2010 between Kaiser and Steve Mitchell, Kaiser’s venture capital firm Argonaut.

 

"BTW, a couple of weeks ago, when Ken and I were visiting with a group of Administration folks in DC who are in charge of the stimulus process (White House, not DOE) and Solyndra came up, every one of them responded simultaneously about their thorough knowledge of the Solyndra story, suggesting it was one of their prime poster children."

Yet both Kaiser and the White House previously denied Solyndra was ever discussed in any of his 17 visits to the White House.

When the slime in the WH testifies, they will blame (R) Congressmen and call for stronger disclosure laws--but only for non-Presidents.

Neat Stuff to Scratch Your Head By

Troglo found something interesting.

It's called the Ulam Spiral.

Should keep Strupp occupied for a couple of weeks, anyway,.

Abramoff Is Right, and Wrong

Jack Abramoff will be 'telling all' in a forthcoming book and to a lesser extent on "60 Minutes."

Should be a lot of fun to read and watch, I suppose. 

He seems to think that the lobbying system needs reform.  Well, maybe. 

Abramoff swings and misses on two counts.

1)  There will always be corruption and dishonesty, whether in DC, Madistan, or the Village of Left Insomnia.  Ain't going away.  Elections are supposed to fix that problem--or in some cases, prosecution.

2)  There's too much Government.  Even if there were no outright dishonesty or corruption, interest groups will always exist, so long as there are interests at stake.  Create a Cabinet Department, or write tax-law, makes no difference:  interests will be .......ahhh.......interested.

So.  Dump 50% of the Gummint, you'll lose at least 50% of the crap.

THAT is the solution, along with hard time for corruptocrats of the Ruling Class.

All You Need to Know About "Big Gummint"

This little item tells you everything you need to know about Big Gummint--and the Republicans who stamp their widdle signatures on funding bills for, say, the Agriculture Department.

President Obama’s Agriculture Department today announced that it will impose a new 15-cent charge on all fresh Christmas trees—the Christmas Tree Tax—to support a new Federal program to improve the image and marketing of Christmas trees.

In the Federal Register of November 8, 2011, Acting Administrator of Agricultural Marketing David R. Shipman announced that the Secretary of Agriculture will appoint a Christmas Tree Promotion Board.  The purpose of the Board is to run a “program of promotion, research, evaluation, and information designed to strengthen the Christmas tree industry’s position in the marketplace; maintain and expend existing markets for Christmas trees; and to carry out programs, plans, and projects designed to provide maximum benefits to the Christmas tree industry” (7 CFR 1214.46(n)).  And the program of “information” is to include efforts to “enhance the image of Christmas trees and the Christmas tree industry in the United States” (7 CFR 1214.10).

To pay for the new Federal Christmas tree image improvement and marketing program, the Department of Agriculture imposed a 15-cent fee on all sales of fresh Christmas trees by sellers of more than 500 trees per year (7 CFR 1214.52).  And, of course, the Christmas tree sellers are free to pass along the 15-cent Federal fee to consumers who buy their Christmas trees.

Some of us think that the Christmas tree industry is doing just fine, and would continue to do just fine, without some damnfool bunch of pointyheaded Ruling Class bozos sticking it to taxpayers to "promote" Christmas trees.

Lightbulbs, toilets, salt in food, 24-hour GPS surveillance.......

BUY MORE AMMO!!!

Queer Marriage? Not in NY Archdiocese.

Kudos to the Archbishop!

Following the legalization of same-sex “marriage” in New York in June, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan has issued an official statement banning the use of Roman Catholic churches, facilities or properties for homosexual “marriage” ceremonies.

“No Catholic facility or property, including but not limited to parishes, missions, chapels, meeting halls, Catholic educational, health, or charitable institutions or benevolent orders, or any place dedicated, consecrated, or used for Catholic worship may be used for the solemnization or consecration of same-sex marriages,” the decree states.

The decree also states: “No items dedicated, consecrated, or used for the celebration of Catholic liturgy or sacred worship, including but not limited to sacred vessels, vestments, liturgical books or other items may be used for the solemnization or celebration of a same-sex marriage.”

Pretty much covers the waterfront.  Lawsuit will be filed by the gaygang of course.

Oh, there's more:

The archbishop has further decreed that “canonical sanctions” may be imposed on any Church personnel that participate in such ceremonies.

“No member of the clergy (priest or deacon) incardinated or assisting in the Archdiocese of New York, or any person while acting as an employee of the Church, may participate in the civil solemnization or celebration of a same-sex marriage, which includes but is not limited to providing services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privilege for such event. Ecclesiastical solemnization or celebration of same-sex marriages is expressly forbidden by Canon law.

“Failure to adhere to this policy may result in the imposition of canonical sanctions.”

Not to mention that their ass will be fired.

Fannie: The Porcelain Tube

Another day older an' deeper in debt.

Not just Tennessee Ernie, folks.  It's YOU!!

Fannie Mae, the biggest source of money for U.S. home loans, on Tuesday said it needed a further $7.8 billion in federal aid to stay afloat as a shaky housing market widened its third-quarter loss to $5.1 billion.

Meantime, Boehner and Kyl want to perform a lewd act on you because they cannot find spending reductions. 


How about cutting your staff to ONE, and cutting your salary to $1.00/year, bozobrains?

If Only Assistant Coaches Could Marry......Oh, Wait......

Gee.  Assistant coaches ARE free to marry.

Paterno did not address, of course, the likelihood that his prayer pledge would be unnecessary had he just called the cops after learning a decade ago that his former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky was allegedly spotted sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in the shower at the university’s football facility.

Homosexual assault on a child.  'Nuff said.

It's the SPENDING, Stupids!!

Well, here we go again.

After watching Washington politicians double the size of the federal budget from 2001 to 2011, American taxpayers are now being told that “new revenue” is the only way to bring our soaring deficits under control.

In other words, prepare for another Boehning.

Hewitt mentioned this.  The WaPo reports that Kyl and Hensaerling are going to bend you over the table and extract $300Bn or so by 'capping' mortgage-interest, state-and-local tax deductions, AND by jiggering the inflation factor for purposes of calculating the Alternative Minimum Tax.  The state/local deduction cap will slam Wisconsin residents; the mortgage-interest cap will effect more deterioration in house values across the board.

There are better ideas.

“A spending freeze balances the budget by 2017. Red ink disappears by 2019 if spending is allowed to grow 1 percent each year. And the deficit disappears by 2021 if spending is limited to 2 percent annual growth,” explains budget expert Daniel J. Mitchell of the Cato Institute.

It's clear that the "DC Minds" are stuck on stupid.  Maybe a few pitchforks and torches will help them get it.

And maybe a swift kick in the ass is required.

Italy's Bonds Flip the Curve

Yield-curve on Italian bonds flipped:  now the 3 and 5 year yields exceed the 10 year.

Say 'ciao'.

This Is an Attorney General?

Holderbozo beclowns himself.

...he not only called for tighter gun control regulations — he also accused the House of Representatives of keeping law enforcement in the dark “when individuals purchase multiple semi-automatic rifles and shotguns in Southwest border gun shops.”

This from a guy whose charges forced gun-shop owners to sell literally THOUSANDS of weapons to Mexican cartel straw-buyers.

Which allowed one of those cartel members to shoot a Border Patrolman dead.

Holder lives in an alternate universe.  He could be A.G. in THAT universe--but not ours.

State of Wis. Employees MAY Carry Concealed

Well, well.  This from D of Administration Huebsch:

Today I am announcing state policy on the recently-enacted concealed carry legislation for the Capitol and other state buildings. In short, Act 35 allows responsible, law-abiding citizens who have completed the proper training, obtained a license and who follow the provisions of the law, to carry a concealed weapon for their own protection. As Secretary of the Department of Administration it is my duty to implement this law as it applies to state facilities. Having worked with those who passed the concealed carry legislation - and the Governor who signed it into law -1 understand the legislative intent and the spirit of the law. Therefore, with limited exceptions, we will allow concealed carry in the Capitol and other state buildings. 

There are three areas where concealed carry will be prohibited. First, where State and Federal statutes prohibit carrying concealed in certain types of facilities, such as police stations, courts, schools and other such areas. Second, where there is a significant risk that the general population within or served by a facility could overcome a person carrying concealed; such facilities will be prohibited from concealed carry. Probation and parole offices, mental health institutions and other similar facilities meet these criteria. Third, we will prohibit concealed carry in areas where the inadvertent discharge of a weapon could create an explosion or chemical reaction. To alert individuals as to where they may and may not carry concealed, I have directed state facilities to post signs designating areas where concealed carry is not allowed.

So.  Be very polite, indeed, at those DMV offices.

Republican-Hating Lawyer at SCOWI Today

Vince Megna, who announced that he will never again represent a Republican, will be looking for income today at SCOWI.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to hear oral arguments in a lemon law case, the kind that prompted a new law that sets presumptive caps on attorney fees in those and other consumer law claims that allowed for "fee shifitng."

The lemon at issue was a Mercedes-Benz. The auto maker says it tried to provide Marco Marquez  a refund within 30 days as the law allows, but that Marquez stalled.  [That should sound familiar to the Lynch Chevrolet people, no?]

"If a consumer fails to act in good faith, the consumer is not entitled to the lemon law’s statutory remedies of double damages and attorney fees,"  the Court of Appeals said.

Most interesting.

Oh, Yah, Dodd-Frank Really Helps. NOT!

See how the Government "fixes stuff" for you?

Executives of Wal-Mart Stores Inc and McDonald's Corp say new U.S. rules limiting debit card processing fees will not cut their costs as much as they hoped, and could actually boost their expenses.

...McDonald's and other U.S. retailers that rely on a high volume of small dollar transactions could see an increase in their debit card processing costs, because prior debit costs for smaller purchases had lower fees

...for smaller, everyday purchases, executives said those costs will likely lead to price increases for consumers.

Donovan pointed to privately held DVD company Redbox, which raised prices on rentals at its movie kiosks to $1.20 from $1 as an example of rising consumer costs...

So.  Mommy Gummint screws you, again.

HT:  Enterprise Blog

"Clean" Energy?

The Green Goddess strikes.

United Ethanol has agreed to pay $700,000 to settle allegations that its plant in Milton violated air pollution laws periodically over several years.

Oh, that's clean, alright.

Walker Sums It Up. Pain in the Ass Disagrees

Simple story.

Walker said Monday that the evergreen decorated with ornaments and adorned with a star in the center of Wisconsin's Capitol Rotunda is a Christmas tree, not a holiday tree

...Annie Laurie Gaylor, called Walker's decision rude and insensitive to non-Christians.

Tough.

Woops! Morgan Stanley Gets a Nastygram

Maybe they're 'too big to fail.'

Maybe not.

(Reuters) - Morgan Stanley said a group of investors believes the bank may have sold defective mortgage bonds contained in more than $6 billion of trusts, signaling that it may face litigation over its involvement

...Gibbs & Bruns is the same law firm that spearheaded a proposed $8.5 billion nationwide investor settlement with Bank of America Corp over losses tied to mortgages by the former Countrywide Financial Corp.

The fun's just beginning!!

Speaking of the Lobbyist/Government Complex...

Ike was right, but only partially so.  There is a military-industrial complex, but it is hardly the only one sucking the blood of Americans.

...The Democratic staffer who was Nancy Pelosi's messaging guru during the health care debate is now working for a group led by [The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the health-insurance lobby...--Carney quoting Politico

Not exactly an isolated incident.

...Pelosi health-care aide Arshi Siddiqui was one of the first ObamaCare authors to cash out to K Street, jumping to Akin Gump (whose clients include AHIP and Pfizer). You would also know that Amy Rosenbaum, Policy Coordinator for Nancy Pelosi, is married to a health-care lobbyist at Glover Park Group.

Follow the damn money.

Then BUY MORE AMMO.

Now Cain Has a Problem

With the first three noises--reported by Politico in a peculiarly fact-free fashion--what we heard was, basically, nothing.

The Chicago woman, however, presents a very specific account of what could be sexual assault (prolly 4th degree), but it's an assault, assuming what she said is absolutely true.

Not good.

Leggies Dump CCW "4-Hours" Training Rule

Egads.
 

Those seeking permits to carry concealed weapons no longer need to show they had at least four hours of firearms training.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen wrote rules implementing the state’s new weapons law that set four hours as the minimum length of firearms training courses. But on Monday, his fellow Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules suspended the requirement for minimum hours.

Applicants must still submit a certificate indicating that they were trained, but the "four hours" is no longer operative.

By the way:

The JS's stories on this have consistently downplayed or ignored the fact that an honorable discharge (DD 214) is sufficient to prove "training."

Canadian Shale Oil? Not Soon, and Will Cost More

Obozo cannot cross the Green Goddess bunch, nor can he cross Big Labor.

Too bad that they are diametrically opposed on the question of Keystone, eh?

So Mr. Transparent, Mr. "Right Thing" will punt the decision until after 11/2012.

Meantime,

TransCanada chief executive Russ Girling said Friday that the three-year review process has already imposed costs on his company, including $1.9 billion on pipe and other equipment stored in warehouses.

“The carrying costs on those are material, and we continue to incur those costs,” he said, adding that further delays beyond the end of the year could force U.S. refineries that have signed contracts with TransCanada to look at alternatives, either other sources of supply or other transport means.

Too bad.  I might not have purchased the pipe quite so early.  But Girling was operating in a business-mode, not a "politics calls all" mode.

Asthma Problems from Tylenol??

Well, here's news you can use.

The epidemiologic association between acetaminophen use and asthma prevalence and severity in children and adults is well established. A variety of observations suggest that acetaminophen use has contributed to the recent increase in asthma prevalence in children: (1) the strength of the association; (2) the consistency of the association across age, geography, and culture; (3) the dose-response relationship; (4) the timing of increased acetaminophen use and the asthma epidemic; (5) the relationship between per-capita sales of acetaminophen and asthma prevalence across countries; (6) the results of a double-blind trial of ibuprofen and acetaminophen for treatment of fever in asthmatic children; and (7) the biologically plausible mechanism of glutathione depletion in airway mucosa. Until future studies document the safety of this drug, children with asthma or at risk for asthma should avoid the use of acetaminophen…--Pediatrics, quoted at JunkScience

The study also mentions that the authors cannot identify another "abrupt environmental change" which could be responsible.

How to Make a Power-Windmill

Interesting little fact which, for some reason, doesn't get broadcast by the MSM.

The wind farm requires eight tonnes of an element called neodymium, which is produced only in Inner Mongolia, by boiling ores in acid leaving lakes of radioactive tailings so toxic no creature goes near them.

And there are the dead birds and bats, who are required to self-sacrifice for the Green Goddess.

Oh, yes, there's more, at the link.

HT:  ColdFury

You Have a Home on Lake of the Ozarks? Maybe Not!

Well, this is even more ......unwelcome......than the Wisconsin DNR's stuff.

Nearly every year, Patsy Riley has gotten unsolicited offers for her house on Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks with its spectacular views of tree-lined bluffs and its ample shoreline, but she never wanted to leave. Now, she and hundreds of her neighbors wonder what will become of their homes after a federal agency declared that many structures built close to the lake may have to go.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, citing restrictions on private developments around dams, says thousands of residences, decks, patios and boathouses appear to encroach on land belonging to the hydroelectric project in violation of federal regulations  --AP quoted at MoonBattery

Somewhere, there must be someone who OK'd all those homes, decks, patios, and boathouses.  

Who "Takes Care" of the Rich? (Surprise!!)

Kinda interesting.

...it turns out that the rich actually got poorer under President Bush, and the income gap has been climbing under Obama.

What’s more, the biggest increase in income inequality over the past three decades took place when Democrat Bill Clinton was in the White House.  --IBD quoted at Gateway

So the UN-transparent Administration is a benefactor to 'the rich.'

Pre-Recession Employment? A Long Time Away

 

125K jobs/month is this year's average.

Ugly.

HT: CalcRisk

Getting Dumped: Non-Union Hotel Workers

Some are more equal than others, you see.

In February, when the Democratic National Committee chose Charlotte, North Carolina as the host city for its September 2012 convention, it left the door wide open for the Charlotte-area’s union-free workforce to be discriminated against in favor union workers. Although Charlotte’s Democrat Mayor, Anthony Foxx  (who is facing GOP challenger Scott Stone in Tuesday’s election), has denied the allegation, it appears Foxx has been misleading Charlotte residents on both his (alleged) job creation record as well as the outsourcing of DNC convention jobs to union labor.

That lasted about 9 months.

...Late last week, we received a tip that the DNC was forcing the downtown-Charlotte hotels to displace their own existing workers and bringing in union labor to work during the DNC Convention. While the Hyatt Place denied the rumor, numerous calls were placed to general managers at other area hotels but were not returned.

However, at the Ritz Carlton, Charlotte, where President Obama is reportedly staying during the convention, employees did confirm that they had been told they would be laid off during the convention.

We mentioned, below, the fracturing of the Blue Coalition.

This won't help the Blues, unless you consider the 'unemployment blues' to be helpful.

The "Gimme" Society v. The Disappearing Middle Class

Wow.

Walter Russell Mead wrote a barnburner.  He's envisioning the 'end of the blue coalition.'

...A series of trials now underway in the Bronx reveal the harsh truth of embedded corruption and contempt for the public at the heart (if that is the right word) of the New York City police union.

That's one part of the 'blue coalition':  the public-employee union(s).  During a demonstration the police union organized, which vilified the Bronx D.A. and his investigation, Part Two of the 'blue coalition' was under attack, too--by the cops.

...the Times was deeply shocked and troubled by what it saw.  Policemen booing and cursing prosecutors and officers of the court?  Open solidarity with lawbreakers? But it was even worse.  Across the street from the courthouse is a “benefits center.” When the crowd lined up to collect welfare payments started chanting “Fix our tickets!” at the protesting cops, the cops responded with derisory chants of “EBT! EBT” (electric benefits transfer, a popular method of making social support payments here in the blue paradise of the northeast).

Then Mead ID's Part Three:  loosely speaking, the blue half of the "Ruling Class."

the good government, pro-minority Times reporters,

....whose interests are (loosely):

...Money and power for the government enable the upper middle class good government types to dream up new schemes to help us all live better lives and give government the resources for the various social, ecological and cultural transformations on the ever-expandable goo-goo to-do list that range from a global carbon tax to fair trade coffee cooperatives and the war on saturated fat.

And then, there's Part Four, which is not so much 'blue' as 'green' (the color of money.)

...Blue Wall Street: the bankers, financiers and business leaders who thrive in the world of the blue social model — and who likely have never visited a criminal court or a benefits center in their lives.

...The symbiosis between Blue Wall Street and the state is strong and deep. The pension funds, bond issues and other financial transactions that blue city and state governments need helps nourish Blue Wall Street; Blue Wall Street helps integrate the policy agenda of other government focused interest groups with larger national priorities and movements.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the archetypes of this symbiosis: they are government-backed forces in the capital markets built around support for the single most important American social program of the blue period: home ownership.

...Good relations with politicians help make money: ask the leadership of Goldman Sachs, which has provided much of the leadership and policy advice for administrations of both parties for some time.  It’s a sensible trade-off for well connected i-bankers to accept higher general tax rates in exchange for significant influence over government policy.  You can not only use that influence to carve out nice loopholes that insulate you from the high tax rates blue policies entail; you can get enough business from good government relations to offset the cost of the taxes the model requires.  If Al Gore’s environmental businesses make enough money as a result of emission laws and price controls, he doesn’t have to worry too much about his tax rate.  And in any case, carbon taxes favor the financial economy (which uses very little carbon though its PR firms emit a lot of hot air) over the manufacturing economy.

That ought to shed a little light on many of the people who inhabit the 'OWS' encampments, too...

More very good commentary at Grim's place.

Even more (indirectly) from Sarah Palin, courtesy of the Coyote.

HT:  Examiner/Barone

"Stimulus", Right?

Terry reports:

"going back to the Bush presidency, a report from the Congressional Research Service found last April that that 'the federal workforce grew by more than 350,000 employees between 2000 (the low point during the last 12 years) and 2010... .'"

Sweet.  And just in case you are still slightly happy, here's more:

...there are 12 percent more federal workers today than there were when the downturn started, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Every damn one of them is absolutely critical to the nation's well-being, too.

The Good Old Days

DVR'd  "The Rockford Files" on a lark.  Always enjoyed Garner's work in that series.  Not mentally strenuous, either.

So there we are (wife joined to watch), good ol' Jim pulls into a gas station.  First thing you notice is that as he's driving in, he hits vacuum hoses and a bell rings.

Next thing you notice is that a kid sticks his head into the window and asks "Whaddya like?"

Rockford says "$3.00 worth of regular, please."

At that point, wife falls off the chair in a paroxysm of nostalgia.

For you young'uns:  $3.00 worth of regular--in THOSE days--bought about 11 gallons of gasoline.

In the dark ages, I worked in a gas station.  Kids would come in all the time and get $3.00 worth for a whole night of driving around fun.  $2.00 if they were pressed for cash--and the girls?  THEY would order ONE dollar's worth.  The girls never had any money.

We didn't wash the windows for $1.00's worth--unless the girls were wearing short skirts.

Ya' Know, Denninger's Right

Denninger posts a longie.

We've largely avoided the "Occupy" stuff for exactly the reasons he mentions.

And if it's not clear yet:  the problems lie in the 'DC Mind(s)' and in about 50 State Capitols--plus several thousand muni and county gummints.

The Madness of Madistan

I've said it before.  You have to spend time in that town before you know how crazy they REALLY are.

Bar-owners are warned:  requiring a DL for ID will get you in trouble.

"It's been clearly documented who does and doesn't have driver's licenses in the state of Wisconsin," said Mark Woulf, alcohol policy coordinator for Madison, citing a vast divide between blacks and whites. "That alone raises eyebrows and could easily be determined to be discriminatory."... 

--Althouse quoting State Journal

Don't be surprised if just glancing at a female is "harassment" out there.

Lou Grant v. Politico v. Cain: "Harassment" Jumping the Shark

Wes Pruden, a gruff old editor:

Politico, the political daily of liberal pedigree that set the hounds on Mr. Cain, has not said what he is guilty of, or when, or where, or who says so. Innuendo is enough. Politico says it has a half-dozen sources "shedding light on different aspects of the complaints." Once upon a time, a reporter trying to get a story merely "shedding light" on "aspects" past a gruff old city editor would have been thrown down the stairs if the gruff old city editor was having a particularly bad day.  --quoted at AmSpec

Most men are well-aware of the 'harassment' trap and have taken elaborate precautions to institute and maintain  professionally-cold relationships with women, including workplace and volunteer/community activities. 

So far, the Cain story lends weight to the "trap" concept.  The stories are vague:  "uncomfortable," or "inappropriate" are not exactly specific terms, are they?

Worse, they are strictly 'eyes of the beholder' terms.  Sorta like "hate crimes" and "racism."

"Harassment" is now jumping the shark.  And victims of real harassment will be the losers.

Obama to Congress: "Drop Dead With Your Subpoena"

Moving from the meaning of "is" to the meaning of "transparency"....

The White House on Friday all but refused to turn over the documents House Republicans have subpoenaed on bankrupt solar firm Solyndra, firing off a letter saying the request would put an "unreasonable burden on the president's ability to meet his constitutional duties." 

There are lots of things which you--the taxpayer--do not NEED to know.

And Teh Won certainly isn't going to tell you.

HT:  AOSHQ

Sad End to a Great Pacifist

There are all sorts of good reasons to be a pacifist.

There are NO good reasons to flap one's jaw in 'support' of women's "ordination."

But that doesn't prevent a good pacifist from becoming addled on that latter.

DNC Chair v. Personhood and Embryologists

"Personhood is the legal recognition of a human being's full status as a human person that applies to all human beings irrespective of age, health, function, physical or mental dependency, or method of reproduction, from the beginning of their biological development."

And since embryology tells us that 'biological development' begins at conception, we now understand the attack on the concept screeched by D. Wasserman-Schultz, who:

said Thursday that for states to enact constitutional amendments that say human life begins at conception is “an extreme and radical step.”

Thus making embryologists part of an 'extreme and radical' cult, I suppose.

"Improved" Job Market, Huh?

Here's the reporting:

The American job market improved modestly in October, and economists looking deeper into the numbers found real reasons for optimism -- or at least what counts for optimism in this agonizingly slow economic recovery.The nation added 80,000 jobs. That was fewer than the 100,000 that economists expected, but it was the 13th consecutive month of job gains.  --AP

The rest of the story?  The economy has to generate 110,000 jobs/month to absorb all the workers coming onstream--not to mention those who are un/underemployed.

"Harassment" in Iowa

You decide.

During his Oct. 3 broadcast in Iowa, Deace mentioned that Cain made a comment to a woman who was there to report on the radio interview for another news agency.

“Cain said, ‘Darling, do you mind doctoring my tea for me?’” Deace said.Deace told the Register last month that he believes Cain was talking about adding honey and lemon, but that it was an awkward moment.

Deace doesn't like Cain; he claims to be 'more conservative.'

HT:  Insurrection

The Real 99%

Headless' story is different from some, but similar in general terms.

They Got PAID for This?

In the middle of a Vox post:

...he set off to the University of Connecticut to get an MFA in his passion—puppetry. Three years and $35,000 in student loans later, he emerged with degree in hand,...

Somebody at UConn actually gets paid to teach "puppetry" at the Masters' level.

Think about that as this society collapses around you.

Does Iran HAVE Nukes?

According to this article, the answer is yes.  Iran has at least 2 of 'em.

Bought and paid for, too--from traitorous Soviet Union army officers.

Clearly, They're the Same

Shouldn't be any questions about it.

HT:  Moonbattery

Krusick Requires Police Protection (??)

From Today's TMJ4:

The veteran south side Milwaukee lawmaker, Peggy Krusick, needed a police escort inside the Capitol to protect her from protestors, but she's saying very little about the controversy

This is interesting.  Krusick proposed the amendment late one afternoon and that was followed by several hours of debate.

So. 

How, exactly, did a mob of 'protesters' get formed--overnight--sufficient to require police protection for Ms. Krusick?

Da Bomb: Abramoff's Book

Long story here about Abramoff's book which details his influence-peddling/lobbying activities.  It's apparently a mea culpa combined with kiss-and-tell.

Should be a fun read, if you like sticking pins into your eyes; it's OUR country that's being sold, after all.

One observer comes to the only right conclusion:

Rob Port [Say Anything blog] cut to the chase with a disturbing comment: "The truth is that the key to limiting government corruption is to limit government power. The less influence politicians have to sell to people like Abramoff and/or their clients the less corruption it will be. Think of government as a sort of protection racket run by organized crime. Lobbyists facilitate tribute payments to the local bosses in exchange for favors. The more power the government has to sell, the bigger the tribute payments and the more need for lobbyists."

No kidding.  The First Amendment figures into lobbying activity, and 'reform' never worked (surprise!!)  Given those facts, the small-gummint guys (read:  TEA Party and Port) have the best solution.

Planned Parenthood or Planned Fraud?

The maxim "follow the money" applies.

A former employee of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast has filed a whistleblower’s complaint with both the Texas and United States Attorneys General alleging her management engaged in massive Medicaid fraud.

Details follow in the news item.  Among other things, PP billed the taxpayers for abortions, but re-worked the billing notes to mask that fact.  That's flat-out illegal under the Hyde Amendment.  And PP also billed for services not rendered AND for services rendered, but not necessary.

PP Gulf Coast is not alone.

...Reynolds is the third whistleblower to accuse her former Planned Parenthood employer of fraud against the government.

Former Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles CFO P. Victor Gonzalez has a case in federal court accusing his employer of similar activity.

And the IRS is investigating charges brought by an unnamed employee of the now defunct Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.

Meanwhile, Americans United for Life reports that government audits have uncovered similar fraud at Planned Parenthoods in New Jersey, New York, and Washington state.

Can't say this comes as a surprise, folks.

Bambi's Moving

Almost hit one the other day on Springdale, and watched a small 6-pointer today, eastbound next to North Ave. in the swamp.  This one was running parallel to the road, facing traffic, just like his mommy told him.

Both daylight, not evening sightings.

Be careful.  One of those things crosswise and you're up for ~$2500.00 in repairs.

"We Paid Bonuses, So We Need $6Bn More"--Fan/Fred

Oh, yah.

Fannie/Freddie, the banko Gummint mortgage outfits, paid several million dollars in bonus to a few execs a while back.

Now?

Government-controlled mortgage giant Freddie Mac has requested $6 billion in additional aid after posting a wider loss in the third quarter.

No, sucka, there's nothing YOU can do about it.

HT:  HotAir

If Our Economy Is Built on This......

Ticker offers one of two very serious critiques of Groupon.

(The other comes from the Milwaukee woman who has gimlet eyes....)

THIS is $6Billion?  THIS is an 'economy'?

What Will the Greeks Do?

Eyes on Europe.

Ticker has an astringent:

If Greece gives Merkel the finger,many large German (and almost certainly French) banks blow up.

And Italy is next.

We note that Iceland's doing just fine, by the way--and they gave Merkel's banksters the finger, too.

By the way, German and French banks are "regulated."  Worked real well, ain'a?

The Prosecution's Summation

On l'affaire Herman, here's a lawprof's summation:

Let’s sum up the “facts” as they are known right now.  Mostly unnamed people accused Herman Cain of unspecified conduct which some people who will not specify the people or the conduct have deemed “inappropriate.”  And one of the unnamed people received a piddly $35,000 severance package almost 15 years ago for unspecified conduct which included conduct unrelated to Cain.

Enough for a conviction by the MSM, of course.  But if you have common sense........not so much.

As to the accusers:  lacking any further details, it's reasonable to say that these are typical "wound-waaay-too-tight" types who really ought to spend some time with their meds, not the press.

Stupid Republican Tricks

There are some things which (R) Congresscritters simply should not do.

Affirming the national motto is one of them. 

For openers, it IS the national motto. Never changed.

Crap like this affirms the TEA Party's understanding:  few of these bozos are actually serious.  They're pandering slimebuckets (like Mitt Romney.)

$450K to Leave Solyndra!

Looks like a good scam, altogether.

Found a company which feeds the Green Goddess worship.  Take it down the porcelain tubes while obtaining taxpayer-funding.

Leave with $450K in your pocket.

Let's Review: Criminal Violations, Bank-Style

It's tiresome to hear about "Gummint did it."  That's true--but there are these bank criminal violations...

Citifinancial's chief risk officer testified under oath that by 2007 80% of the loans they handled and sold did not meet their quality guidelines.  The same quality guidelines that they were representing to investors, and investors were relying on

Wachovia pled guilty to money laundering for mexican drug cartels

Several people went to prison in Jefferson County Alabama for bribery and other offenses related to the now-infamous sewer deal.  None of them were bankers who make a bunch of money from that crooked process.   [That would be Chase, by the way.]

Both Goldman and Citibank got caught structuring CDOs that were intended to fail, yet were sold to customers as "good investments."  Both paid fines while "not admitting or denying fault."  Ooook.  It's commonplace to pay a $200 million fine if you did nothing wrong, yes?

And fuggeddabout yapping "More regulation!!"   What you have above are instances which occurred in a highly-regulated market.  No 'regulator' prevented them; few 'regulators' saw it happening.  Adding a few thousand more 'regulators'  ain't the answer.

Corzine Missed It By THAAAT Much!

Wow.

Corzine's MFGlobal bet wasn't really a high-risk bet at all.

Think things are 'on the edge'?  You're right.

Mark Block, Idiot

Block has gone nuts.

Makes no difference who informed Politico of a story which still lacks a "there" there.

And Block's accusation is even more thinly-sourced than Politico's.

It's all very well and good to have paranoid tendencies.  It's not very well and good to display them on national TV.

Notable and famous Wisconsin blogger agrees.

"Racism"? BlahBlahBlah

The Assembly removed race as a factor for certain State college grant programs.

That's called "racism."

OK, right.  Whatever.

The shark's been jumped, EEEEEKane.

Let's Kill "No Child Left Behind"

Seems as though the US Senate--which cannot find time to pass a budget--will be re-authorizing NCLB.

They've added something:

One provision of the bill specifically mandates that any state taking federal funds "must put in place 'college and career ready aligned standards.'" 

"Mandating that each state have aligned standards with aligned coursework will guarantee the creation of national academic standards, national curriculum, and national testing," this week's report on the controversy said.

Home-schoolers are particularly worked up about this, but "national standards"--established by the DC Mind--fly directly in the face of local controls, not to mention State controls.

Just kill it.

"Honest Federal Budgeting"? C'mon!

Apparently 2 (R) Senators think that Congress will pass (and Obama will sign) a bill requiring some honesty in Federal budgeting.

It is to laugh!!

Obozo Loses It Entirely

Yup.  He claims that 'we're better off now' than when he took office.'

Well, HE is.  That part is true.

Manufacturing: The Place To Be

This is a damn good idea!

The Milwaukee 7 economic development group Wednesday said it is assembling a strategy to change the perception that Wisconsin's manufacturing too often is dismissed as "dirty, dumb, dangerous and declining."

..."A viral, heavy hitting manufacturing campaign" is one of the ideas under discussion, said Shelley Jurewicz, a vice president in the M-7 organization, which comprises the seven counties of metro Milwaukee. The M-7 held a meeting Wednesday at the Gateway Technical College in Sturtevant.

We've seen a few manufacturing plants.  People who work in them are not 'dumb'--not by a long shot.  Nor are most plants 'dangerous,' although paying attention is very useful on a floor.  "Declining"?  Not in the last couple of years, and in fact, lots of work is returning to the US from PRChina and other places.  "Dirty"?  Kinda depends on the industry (castings is not an ultra-clean biz), but manufacturers who are smart invest big bucks in well-lit, clean, orderly shops.  Among other things, that removes the 'danger' aspect.

A Solid Critique of Perry's Tax Plan

Easily one of the brightest lights in America, Schlafly has a few thoughts on Perry's tax-plan.

Does Rick Perry want to undermine traditional marriage? This question leaps out from his new 20 percent flat-tax plan, which would eliminate all tax advantages for married couples where one spouse is the primary breadwinner.

For more than 60 years, the federal income tax has treated the family as an economic unit. A husband and wife have the benefit of pooling their income in a joint tax return, which affords larger deductions and lower rates.

...If an income tax were truly “flat,” filing status wouldn’t matter because a wife is taxed at the same rate as her husband. But Perry’s so-called flat tax isn’t anywhere near flat, so it matters greatly that he offers the same standard allowances to alternative lifestyles as for married couples. His plan would allow, for example, two unrelated adults living with two children to avoid income tax on their first $50,000 of income.

And here's another:

Although the Perry plan’s most striking feature is its anti-marriage bias, his proposal for corporate income is equally pernicious. Perry would shift businesses to a “territorial” tax system, which means that corporations would be taxed only on the profits they earn inside the United States.

We should do exactly the opposite. We should reduce or eliminate taxes on businesses that employ Americans producing goods and services inside our own country, while increasing taxes on the profits that corporations earn by outsourcing or manufacturing overseas.

Above all, we should eliminate the foreign tax credit, a self-destructive provision that allows corporations to pay China, Venezuela or Saudi Arabia the money they would otherwise owe the U.S. government. Let’s also cut out the deductions that U.S. corporations take for hiring foreigners to do work that Americans can do.

Indeed!

The Liturgically-Persnickety Weigel

We have some differences with Weigel, specifically about his out-of-hand dissing of Latin in the OF Mass.  But here, he has some very constructive ideas.

Holy Mass should never begin with a greeting or an injunction that is not in the Roman Missal. The first words the congregation hears from the celebrant should be the liturgical words of greeting prescribed in the Sacramentary....

Far too many lectors, including many of the best, begin the responsorial psalm inappropriately, saying, “The responsorial psalm is…”—and then reciting the antiphon to the psalm, which is not “the responsorial psalm” but its antiphon....

The Communion antiphon, typically linked to the Gospel of the day, is just as typically AWOL at Mass. If it is not sung by the choir, it should be recited prior to the distribution of holy Communion, not afterwards, as if it were some sort of afterthought.

...The re-sacralization of the English used in the liturgy affords all of us an opportunity to ponder just what it is we are doing at Holy Mass: we are participating, here and now, in the liturgy of angels and saints that goes on constantly around the Throne of Grace where the Holy Trinity lives in a communion of radical self-gift and receptivity. This is, in short, serious business, even as it is joyful business. We should do it well, as the grace of God has empowered us to do it well.

More (some even more persnickety) at the link.

LawProfs, Beware!!

Noted at TaxLawProf:

Some students didn't take well to Steven Maranville's teaching style at Utah Valley University. They complained that in the professor’s “capstone” business course, he asked them questions in class even when they didn't raise their hands. They also didn't like it when he made them work in teams.

Those complaints against him led the university denying him tenure – a decision amounting to firing, according to a lawsuit Maranville filed against the university this month. 

...The Socratic style of teaching that Maranville used is hardly novel. But experts say that while it remains popular in law schools, there are reasons many faculty members have never used it extensively with the current generation of students. ...TaxLaw quoting Inside Higher Ed

HT:  FrPhil

Eyes on Greece, Folks....

Here's the very short summary:

In essence, the Greeks could push over the first domino this week. If they do, there’s really no telling how much worse things could get.

Video at the link (above.)

HT:  Verum

Same Old, Same Old. And It's Still Wrong

Lanny Breuer still thinks that the 2A is all about hunting.

“Very few hunters in the United States or sports people and law-abiding people really need to have semiautomatic weapons or long guns,” he said.  --Captain quoting AFP

Uh-huh. 

HT:  Arms/Law

Does the NYSlimes Twist Stories?

You be the judge.

Grim remarks on a NYSlimes story which twists the truth so far that it becomes a parody-story.

Of course, this is only one example.

Asthmatic? Tough. You'll Die for the Green Goddess

Primatene Mist is now going buh-bye, if the Senate has its way.

By a vote of 54-44, the Senate voted against an amendment to its minibus appropriations bill that would block the FDA from regulating the Primatene Mist inhaler — the only inhaler available without a prescription.

Primatene uses CFC's to propel its active ingredient.

CFC's are a no-no.  Remember the 'ozone layer'?

So.  Just die and get it over with, already, please.

Bruce Murphy's Opinion

I don't think that Walker--or the taxpayers of the State--are particularly happy about the economics which have required a 'pay freeze' here.

But Bruce Murphy takes it a step further.

...the Walker administration has announced it will begin a system of merit pay for exceptional employees. The idea, ostensibly, is to make government work like the private sector. But private companies are driven by the profit margin and reward employees who contribute the most to that profitability.

Not so in the public sector. Government leaders are inevitably tempted to reward political loyalty. And all the changes occurring under Walker are leading in that direction. Unions have lost all ability to represent workers. There will still be civil service protection for those threatened with firing, but it’s difficult to see how civil service rules will prevent cronyism in the awarding of merit raises. And that sends a message to all workers: Be loyal or you’ll never get ahead.

If Mr. Murphy is able to document the red-highlighted charge, on which the rest of his screed depends, perhaps he'd like to share.

Walker, and at least most of 'his people', understand the difference between the interests of the State and the interests of Walker.


If they don't, then they can be tossed.  That's what elections are for.  In fact, Murphy indirectly proves it here:


...the legislature has given Walker the power to reach deeper into government departments to appoint loyalists rather than civil service employees, and the power to override rule-making by government agencies. All of this will lead to increased politicization of government – and less ability of workers to withstand orders that serve the party in power (whichever party it is) rather than all the people.

The Doyle Administration was tossed for a reason, and the reason is described above.  The number of loyal statist/Doylies, and their activities, led the electorate to make the decision:  "Enough!  Get Out!!"

Obama, Corzine, and Primary Dealer MF Global

Ticker reposts a very good question from CNBC:

The bankruptcy does raise questions, however, about how the Fed picks the primary dealers -- especially since MF Global was one of four firms added to the ranks after new, more stringent requirements were put in effect in 2010.

Here's one possible answer:

President Obama is desperately putting his Wall Street stock in an unlikely old buddy.

The beleaguered president has recruited former Goldman Sachs head honcho Jon Corzine to shore up re-election funds from the banking industry, which is furious over Obama's financial regulations.

--quoting the NY Post from July '11.

By the way, MFGlobal operated in the "Highly Regulated" environment.....which pays 'regulators' very well, indeed (>$200K/year in NYC) but seems to have missed something here, no?

Big Losers on Corzine Bets

Mish looked at the BK results from the WSJ:

1) Fidelity funds, 13.9 million shares or 8.44% of common stock

2) Guardian Life Insurance Co., 12.9 million common shares, or 7.8%

3) Fine Capital Partners, 21.5 million shares, 7.37% *(In a recent SEC filing, Fine Capital reporting owning 12.16 million shares, for a 7.4% stake in MF Global.)

4) Cadian Capital Management, 10.2 million shares, 6.17%

5) TIAA-CREF, 9.5 million shares, 5.77%

Not to mention JPMorgan Chase, a lender.

Madison: Assault an Employee OK. Non-Assault? That Gets Headlines!

Althouse notes this:

A Dane County prosecutor says she believes Madison Ald. Brian Solomon sexually assaulted a city employee who is assigned to work with the common council. But the district attorney's office won't bring him to trial only because, it says, getting a unanimous jury to convict would be chancy....  --Althouse quoting Blaska

Althouse doesn't hear an outcry from the Usual Suspects--the Madistan feminazi bunch.

Neither do we.

She contrasts this to the SCREAMING MEEEMIE reax to the Prosser non-assault........

More on The Ruling Class

AOSHQ noted this page at Insty.  The essays are re-formulations of Codevilla's "Ruling Class" bombshell.

I can’t help but notice that anti-Americanism, and the various manifestations of what some have called Transnational Progressivism, are most common among people who, well, have state-supported managerial or intellectual jobs, the people who made up what Milovan Djilas and others called the “New Class” of bureaucrats and managers in the old Communist world. Not surprisingly, the New Class was deeply concerned with matters of status and position, and deeply opposed to things that might have led to competition on merit. 

Or this from Douthat:

The public-sector workplace has become a kind of artificial Eden, whose fortunate inhabitants enjoy solid pay and 1950s-style job security and retirement benefits, all of it paid for by their less-fortunate private-sector peers. Some on the left have convinced themselves that this “success” can lay the foundation for a broader middle-class revival. But if a bloated public sector were the blueprint for a thriving middle-class society, then the whole world would be beating a path to Greece’s door.

All keyed off an Applebaum essay which was noted at Grim's place a few days ago.

New Bank Regs Cost You: The DC 'Mind' Bank-Killers

It's the same old story.  Large banks--the Too Big To Fail bunch--can spread the cost of regulation over their large asset-base.

Small banks?  Well, they're screwed.

Wesenberg [a Wisconsin credit union president] decried what she called a "crisis of creeping complexity" from the many new rules, which she criticized as "costly" and "confusing" without doing much good.

"We would prefer to spend our resources on promoting our mission of financial literacy and the development of new products to serve the needs of our members," she said.

Wesenberg said the credit union's vice president of lending dedicates about one-third of her time wading through regulatory changes.

Another Wisconsin banker provided more specific charges:

Reinhart warns that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is an area of concern since the new agency's rules will impact community banks.

"The CFPB should not implement any rules that would adversely impact the ability of community banks to customize products to meet customer needs," he said.

Reinhart believes examiners who evaluate the structure of financial institutions are over regulating by requiring write-downs or re-classifications on performing loans based on the value of the collateral; disregarding the borrowers ability to pay; placing loans on nonaccrual even though the borrower is current; and moving the capital goalposts.

"Community bankers nationwide have reported that bank regulators are often demanding significant capital increases above the minimum regulatory levels established for well capitalized banks," Reinhart said. "For example, some examiners are requiring banks to maintain minimum leverage ratios as high as 8% to 9% (versus the 5% required by regulation) and minimum Tier 1 risk-based ratios as high as 10% (versus the 6% required by regulation). To bankers, the process appears arbitrary and punitive."

To the DC Mind, small banks (and small towns) are irrelevant.  Not 'nuff lobbying money, for openers.