SOUNDS LIKE HE WAS DESCRIBING BARACK OBAMA

"Did you ever know a politician that was not 'facing the most critical time in the world's affairs' every time he spoke in public?"

 --humorist Will Rogers

www.washingtonexaminer.com

NKorea launches rocket, defying world pressure

By JEAN H. LEE
Associated Press

North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean and U.S. governments said.

Japan immediately called for an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council.

The multistage rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government. FULL STORY.

Free Enterprise On Death Watch

by Michael Reagan

America as we know it is being destroyed by a president determined to bring it down so he can rebuild it in his own image...

The Global Double Standard

What's Good For The Goose Isn't Good For The Gander

By Herbert London

One might assume that standards which prevail on one part of the globe might be applied equally to another part of the world. One might assume as well that what is good for the goose might be good for the gander. Well you might assume that, but in contemporary life you would be wrong. Some behavior tacitly and vehemently accepted by radicals within the Islamic community is rejected when applied by others.

According to erstwhile president Jimmy Carter, Israeli checkpoints on the Gaza border designed to forestall terrorism are an example of “apartheid.” However, the former president has not said a word about Saudi Arabian policy that bars non-Muslims from Mecca and from holding Saudi citizenship.

Muslims in the White House?
BY GARY BAUER

There is a tinge of hypocrisy in the Left’s desire for faith-based hiring. I remember the hyperventilating in Washington when it was learned that the Bush administration made an effort to hire graduates of Regent University Law School, which was founded by Pat Robertson.

The liberal blogosphere blew up, citing it as yet another example of Bush subordinating ability to politics in hiring decisions. Reporters were aghast to discover that the school’s mission is to provide “Christian leadership to change the world.” They mocked the university for having the temerity to teach that man’s law ought not to preclude God’s law. Leftwing groups warned that America was on the verge of a theocracy and that the “separation of church and state” was under assault.

I’m not hearing much concern about the “separation of mosque and state” today from those groups. Of course, according to the Left, it is preferable to have ardent Muslims in the White House than it is to have believing Christians. Read the entire column here.

HUMAN EVENTS Exclusive Interview with Gen. Richard Myers

by Jed Babbin

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff talks about the lessons of Vietnam and why ending state sponsorship of terrorism is the sine qua non of peace.

THIS MAY BE ECONOMICS 101 MATERIAL, BUT ...

It's a good reminder:

"Ask the average person which is the correct answer to the following question: Which president gave the biggest tax cuts for the rich -- Reagan or Bush? I would bet the rent money that you would not get the correct response, which is: Presidents have no taxing authority. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution says: 'The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises.' ... Another tax question: If there's an imposition of a property tax on your land, who pays the tax? I guarantee you that land does not pay taxes; only people pay taxes. That means a tax on your land is a tax on you. You say, 'Williams, that's pretty elementary, isn't it?' But what do you say to a politician or news media people who propose increasing corporate taxes as means to get rich corporations to pay their rightful share of government? They should be told that they speak nonsense because corporations, like land, do not pay taxes; only people pay taxes. If a tax is levied on a corporation, and if it is to survive, it must raise the price of its product, or lower dividends or lay off workers. In each case, it is people, not some legal fiction called a corporation, who bear the burden of any tax levied on the corporation. An important subject area in economics called tax incidence says that the entity upon whom a tax is levied does not necessarily bear the burden of the tax. Some of the tax burden can be shifted to another party. That's precisely what corporations do and as such they are merely government tax collectors."

--George Mason University economics professor Walter Williams

Ronald Reagan understood this:
"The most dangerous myth is the demagoguery that business can be made to pay a larger share, thus relieving the individual. Politicians preaching this are either deliberately dishonest, or economically illiterate, and either one should scare us. Business doesn't pay taxes.... Only people pay taxes, and people pay as consumers every tax that is assessed against a business. Begin with the food and fiber raised in the farm, to the ore drilled in a mine, to the oil and gas from out of the ground, whatever it may be -- through the processing, through the manufacturing, on out to the retailer's license. If the tax cannot be included in the price of the product, no one along that line can stay in business."

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

--Patrick Henry

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite."

--James Madison

David Roche Says Easy Credit Fueled the Financial Crisis in Eastern Europe - WSJ.com

As a rule, middle-class societies newly liberated from dictatorship generally go on a credit binge that ends in tears. It's like giving a released prisoner a limitless credit card -- a spending spree is sure to ensue. That's what happened in Asia and Latin America in the past, and what more recently happened in the former "Eastern Bloc" nations of Europe.

Unlike past examples, however, the credit binge in Eastern Europe has been in foreign currencies, with Western European banks or their subsidiaries extending most of the foreign.....

HOW CONGRESS CAUSES BANK FAILURES

Forget AIG, Family Banks are Actually Thriving in U.S.

Why did some banks and financial institutions fail and others succeed? There are many reasons, but one common ingredient of those that have not failed is that they are organized as partnerships and/or are controlled by a family, or are closely held by a few senior officers. That is, they have "skin in the game."

The oldest and largest partnership bank in the United States is Brown Bros. Harriman & Co., which was formed in 1818 and is a premier financial institution. Brown Bros. has weathered the financial crisis just fine because it is not overleveraged and did not take foolish risks because the partners were not playing with shareholders' money - they risk their own money every day. Banks that are partnerships are called private banks because their stock is not held by the public.

Michelle Malkin : Obama Census Plan: No Illegal Alien Left Behind

I have seen the electoral future, and it is rigged. With fraud-prone, ideologically driven interest groups swarming the census-gathering process, the left is solidifying its chances of a permanent ruling majority. Lax immigration enforcement is the not-so-secret key to the Democrats' power grab. And the Obama administration is all too happy to aid and abet.

Hugh Hewitt : Obama's New GM

I'd like to know where to file my application to become one of the president's appointees to join the remade Board of Directors of General Motors. I don't know a lick about making or selling cars, but I think I have a pretty persuasive case to make for membership nonetheless.

Obama Wants to Control the Banks

Barack Obama Maintains Control Over Banks By Refusing to Accept Repayment of TARP Money - WSJ.com

There's a reason he refuses to accept repayment of TARP money.

I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back?

New York's Budget Targets the Golden Eggs

David Paterson's New York Budget Fails to Deliver Fiscal Responsibility - WSJ.com

Gov. Paterson came into office with a different attitude.

After a strong rhetorical start, the governor failed to deliver a budget tailored to the new fiscal realities he had preached. While the Albany Times Union on Dec. 16 quoted a gubernatorial aide predicting an "aggressive set of cuts" that would leave "blood in the streets," Mr. Paterson's December budget proposal called for a 1.1% increase in spending, with little in the way of significant restructuring, consolidation, or downsizing. He called for 137 new or increased taxes, fees and fines totaling $4.1 billion, hitting energy bills and health care as well as consumer items.

Obama's Attack Machine

Kimberley Strassel Says the Attempted Political Assassination of Eric Cantor Reveals What the Left Fears Most - WSJ.com

The thing about fear is that you can see it. For an insight as to what the left today fears most, witness its attempted political assassination of Eric Cantor.

"When a business or an individual spends more than it makes, it goes bankrupt. When government does it, it sends you the bill. And when government does it for 40 years, the bill comes in two ways: higher taxes and inflation. Make no mistake about it, inflation is a tax and not by accident."

--Ronald Reagan

"The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves.

A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat.

When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic."

-- author Dresden James

Invasion of the Corporate Snatchers

By Cal Thomas:

The plot of the 1956 cult classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" seems remarkably similar to the storyline of the Obama administration, which is invading, and appears eager to take over, corporate America.

LENO HUMOR

Jay Leno:

The Obama administration asked General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner to step down, and he agreed. This is good news for Obama; the last time he tried to get someone to quit, it took months -- and even then, he had to promise her a job as secretary of state.

****

According to the government, Rick Wagoner was forced to resign because of poor performance. That's embarrassing -- run an organization that loses billions of dollars and then get fired by a guy who heads up an organization that loses trillions of dollars.

****

Obama also said if you buy a new car, you will able to deduct the sales tax from your income tax. Or you can just take a job at the White House and you wouldn't have to pay taxes at all.

****

President Obama said this week that things will get worse before they get better. That's something you never hear before the election -- "Let me tell you, if I'm elected it's going to get a lot worse."

WHAT IS A SOCIALIST?

"A socialist is somebody who doesn't have anything, and is ready to divide it up equally among everybody."

-- George Bernard Shaw

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

"The financial markets are sluggish, but they are functioning. It's time to wind down the bailouts -- and get the federal government out of the way."

-- Ed Feulner, president of the Heritage Foundation

A NIX ON CAPITALISM

"If you listen to the principal spokesmen for U.S. economic policy -- Obama and Geithner -- they grow daily ever more explicitly hostile to the private sector and ever more comfortable with the language of micromanaged government-approved capitalism -- which, of course, isn't capitalism at all."

--columnist Mark Steyn

POWER GRAB

"We are seeing the biggest power grab by politicians in American history. The idea that they would propose that the Treasury could intervene and take over non-bank, non-financial system assets gives them the potential to basically create the equivalent of a dictatorship."

--former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich

A BIG PART OF THE PROBLEM - BUT IT WON'T BE ADDRESSED

"[W]hy isn't Obama's special auto task force ordering a replacement for Ron Gettelfinger, the UAW's president? Weren't their oversized pay and benefit packages a big part of the problem? Well, that's never gonna happen. The election power of the union is too strong. But this does reveal the political nature of these government bailout operations."

--economist Lawrence Kudlow

UNIONS NOW RUNING THE COUNTRY?

Labor Union to Obama: Fire Bank of America CEO
(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama forced the ouster of the General Motors chairman, and now he must fire the Bank of America CEO, a labor union insists. The Service Employees International Union is circulating an online petition, telling Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to get rid of Ken Lewis.

"The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position."

--George Washington

Pakistan under Zardari lurching from crisis to crisis

BY HUSSAIN, S. AMJAD
toledoblade.com --

There is a relative breakdown of law and order in parts of [Pakistan]. Kidnappings for ransom, some carried out by the Taliban and some by criminal elements, are rampant. This insecurity has had an adverse effect on the economy, and were it not for the infusion of U.S. aid, the country would be bankrupt. And then there is the ongoing menace of religious violence.
READ MORE.

Homeland Security Frees 27 Illegal Immigrants, Sends Them Back to Work
Fox News

Uproar over Chinese drywall; Floridians say it's making them ill and hurting home values

Chinese drywall complaints: Florida residents claim the imported wall board is damaging property and causing health problems

South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Homeowners claim the drywall is causing health problems, including nosebleeds, headaches and sore throats.

D.C.'s money-saving plan: Free inmates

Up to 80 percent could qualify to leave prison early
Washington Times

University of Maryland student union to screen porn film
Baltimore Sun

X-rated films on campuses

Schools find redeeming value in pornography
Washington Times

Poll: Dodd's Approval Numbers Drop to New Lows

Hartford, Conn. (AP) - U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd's standing with Connecticut voters continues to plunge as a new poll released Thursday shows only one in three people approve of his job performance.

The Quinnipiac University survey also says the five-term veteran would lose his seat to either of two declared Republican challengers if the election were held today -- even though many people admitted they don't know much about either challenger.

Cap and Trade Legislation Would Kill Coal Industry, Congressman Says
(CNSNews.com) - “This cap-and-trade scheme may not just reduce Illinois coal jobs further – it is my worry that this legislation aims to kill the entire coal industry,” Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) told CNSNews.com. Shimkus and Rep. Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) held a press conference Wednesday to rally opposition to the cap and trade proposals, which they said would lead to both higher energy costs and severe job loss in the coal mining industry.

Obama's Own Report on GM Says Plan to Build Non-Gas-Burning Car Would Not Save Company
(CNSNews.com) – A White House report on General Motors says the company’s restructuring plan will not lead to a sound company, in part because the beleaguered auto giant’s proposal to rely more heavily on advanced, fuel-efficient cars is not commercially viable. The report’s findings stand in stark contrast with the President’s chief goal for America’s auto industry: leading the world in green car production.

This is hilarious

Hamas couldn't fire smuggled Stingers against Israelis due to embedded ID system

GAZA CITY — The Hamas regime acquired U.S.-origin air defense systems but was unable to use them in combat. Read more.

'Keeping Score': Chicago politics moves into the White House

Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal

"Don't think we're not keeping score, brother." That's what President Barack Obama said to Rep. Peter DeFazio in a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus last week, according to the Associated Press.

A few weeks ago, Mr. DeFazio voted against the administration's stimulus bill. The comment from Mr. Obama was a presidential rebuke and part of a new, hard-nosed push by the White House to pressure Congress to adopt the president's budget. He has mobilized outside groups and enlisted forces still in place from the Obama campaign. Read more.

G20 funny money: IMF plan would create cash, pass it to any/all regimes

Wall Street Journal

If the G-20 leaders meeting in London this week have one goal, it is to find a way to reflate the global economy with the least political cost. As bad luck would have it, the International Monetary Fund is standing by to help. Read more at WSJ.

Iran native copied, transferred nuclear software while employed at largest U.S. reactor

WASHINGTON — Iran has gained access to U.S. nuclear power plants and detailed knowledge of their operations. Continue reading.

Goodbye U.S. sovereignty, hello globalocracy

With the nomination of Harold Hongju Koh, the Dean of Yale Law School, as the Legal Adviser for the State Department, President Barack Obama is putting a world government team in place under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The other key appointment was Anne-Marie Slaughter, the dean of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, as Director of Policy Planning at State. Slaughter wrote the 2004 book, A New World Order, and believes in an international system dominated by the U.N. and other global institutions and networks. Continue reading.

U.S. commanders admit uncertainty over security in Iraq after pullout

U.S. commanders admit uncertainty over security in Iraq after pullout
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military has expressed concerns over the prospect of major deterioration in security in mid-2009.

Officials said U.S. military commanders have warned that a withdrawal of American ground forces from major Iraqi cities in July 2009 could result in a sharp decline in security amid a campaign financed by former Saddam exiles in Syria. Continue reading.

Is This the End of Capitalism?

Hardly, but it's a great excuse for the antiglobalization crowd.

Daniel Henninger Says Blaming Capitalism for the Crisis Overlooks the Housing Bubble

Heads of state, perplexed finance ministers, inflated retinues and journalists from 20 nations arrived in London yesterday to address "the greatest financial crisis since the Depression." By 4 p.m. London time today they will hold a press conference and go home.

Is there any chance we can adopt this system for Congress? Read more at WSJ.com.

A Spanish Judge Opens Criminal Case Against Six Americans, Including Alberto Gonzales, Douglas Feith and David Addington

Here's the match-up. In the right corner we have Omar al-Bashir, for 20 years the Islamist dictator of Sudan and the man most responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Darfuris. In the left corner we have six former Bush Administration officials who were given the task after September 11 of formulating America's response to the atrocities. Who do you think is in the greatest legal jeopardy? More at WSJ.com.

Holman Jenkins Says Barack Obama Will Not Send GM into Bankruptcy and Risk Upsetting the UAW

Keep that in mind amid the defenestration of Rick Wagoner, who was not as popular with UAW Chief Ron Gettelfinger as Mr. Wagoner's replacement, Fritz Henderson. Keep that in mind amid reports the administration favors a "quick and surgical" bankruptcy. It's a bluff. The same administration that inserted itself into GM's corporate governance to order the resignation of a CEO is hardly likely to defer to the prescribed legal order for a failing company, namely bankruptcy. Even a "prepackaged" filing runs too much risk of a judge imposing more "sacrifice" on the UAW than the administration is prepared to tolerate.

GM bondholders understand this: They've been intransigent precisely because they calculate the UAW is too important to Democratic electoral politics for Mr. Obama to risk losing control of the reorganization process to a bankruptcy judge.  Read more at WSJ.com.

Michelle Malkin : The Shut Up and Swallow Congress

Deliberation in Washington is dead. We don't have legislators. We have lemmings. We don't have debates. We have high-speed hysteria sessions. After ramming through stimulus legislation that no one read and bailout bills that no one understood, Congress is now poised to stuff down taxpayers' throats a deficit-exploding $3.5 trillion budget that enshrines the largest tax increase in American history.

Welcome to the cap-and-trade crap sandwich.

Walter E. Williams : Our Problem is Immorality

Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. You say, "That's a pretty heavy charge, Williams. You'd better be prepared to back it up with evidence!" I'll try with a few questions for you to answer.

OBAMA'S WORST JOBS-KILLER

 By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

More than anything else, business needs a predictable environment if it is to create jobs.

Changes in the regulatory environment and the tax code make it almost impossible for businesses to make investments.

Yet President Obama seems to ignore this reality. Each day's news brings another bold and far-reaching proposal to change the fundamentals of the US economy.

And each time he indulges his personal ideology with such a pronouncement, businesses all over the world cut back on their planned investment until the dust settles.

Most incredible was the fact that he chose the middle of a deep recession to announce a major tax-code overhaul. Read more.

Obama Putting Our Tax Dollars On Auto Pilot

Major media pushed for bailout billions when many knew it was throwing good money after bad.

By Dan Gainor
The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow
Business & Media Institute

If you were alarmed about the outlandish growth of government power, doubt no longer. Barack Obama just fired the head of a private company. The March 30 Wall Street Journal headline said it all: “Government Forces Out Wagoner at GM.” And several more bosses are likely to fall as Obama throws them to the mob. Read more.

Liberals Complain, CNBC Caves In

"Given the state of the economy, financial networks have come under increasing scrutiny. CNBC specifically has been attacked for its pro-investment point-of-view, but after a few weeks of harsh criticism the network seems to be making a big, left turn."

Read about it at The Balance Sheet.

Welcome, Businessmen, to Government Oversight

Just wait until bureaucrats get their hands on your expense accounts.

Cap and Trade War

Team Obama floats a carbon tariff.

Night of the Living Death Tax
Obama's budget quietly resurrects it in 2010.

The Obama Autoworks
At GM and Chrysler, politics is now Job One.

Congress's New Radio Job Killer
By Hugh Hewitt

While the threat to talk radio from a new Fairness Doctrine is receding, there is another torpedo in the water aimed at our industry--the radio Performance Tax.

Music companies, hard pressed by declining CD sales now, want Congress to impose a tax on every song played on the radio--a burden that would quickly bankrupt many radio companies and shutter many radio stations.

Ever since radio has been bringing music to fans, the arrangement has been that the radio stations would play the music for free and the music companies and artists would benefit from the exposure. Now these companies want a royalty--a tax--on every tune that is played.

Radio will simply have to give up playing music on hundreds if not thousands of stations. The industry--like many others in media--is already struggling to survive in the new media world. A new tax will spell the end of thousands of jobs across the land. Congress must say no to this new tax, which is every bit the radio killer as the Fairness Doctrine.

Senate Finance Chair Wants Obama Tax Increases Voted on This Year
(CNSNews.com) – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) has introduced a bill that would enshrine tax increases sought by the Obama administration into law this year – one year ahead of schedule. “These measures are not excessive or outrageous, but timely and targeted, and will build on earlier efforts to stabilize the economy,” he said.

Democrats Unveil Massive Anti-Pollution Plan

U.S. Falls Dangerously Behind In Cyber Warfare

In the next few weeks President Barack Obama will be handed a report detailing the country's cybersecurity defenses and laying out what's needed to protect America’s technology resources from hostile nations and organized crime groups.

It will not be a pretty picture.

'New York Times' Spiked Obama Donor Story
The Philadelphia Bulletin Archives

Congressional Testimony: ‘Game-Changer’ Article Would Have Connected Campaign With ACORN
By Michael P. Tremoglie, The Bulletin
Monday, March 30, 2009

A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a “a game changer.”

IT WON'T WORK MR. GATES

Defense Sec. Gates: Sanctions Will Get Iran to Negotiate

WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Sunday that economic sanctions would be more effective than diplomatic overtures in bringing Iran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

"Perhaps if there is enough economic pressure placed on Iran, diplomacy can provide them an open door through which they can walk if they choose to change their policies," Gates said on Fox News Sunday.

That's a mighty big "if."

The problem, Mr. Gates, is you will NEVER get China and Russia to cooperate in having the kind of sanctions that you would need to accomplish that which you want to acccomplish.

As George Friedman, analyst for STRATFOR , writes:

First, the sanctions don’t work very well. Sanctions only work when most powers are prepared to comply with them. Neither the Russians nor the Chinese are prepared to systematically comply with sanctions, so there is little that Iran can afford that it can’t get. Iran’s problem is that it cannot afford much. Its economy is in shambles due more to internal problems than to sanctions.

Mexico's Calderon Rejects Joint Drug Raids With U.S.

LONDON -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Monday he's ruled out joint raids with the United States aimed at stemming drug cartel violence along their border, but called for closer cooperation between the neighboring nations.

A Single Nuke Could Destroy America

I have had three posts in the past on the topic of EMPs. Two in 2005 and one in 2008. This is a threat that does not get a lot of coverage.

Newt Gingrich wrote about it just a couple of days ago, and I am glad he did.

This comes at a time when rogue countries like Iran and North Korea are trying to become nuclear and are working on improving their missile capabilities, while we are talking about weakening our missile defense systems. This is scary stuff.

Must we commit suicide?

Newt Gingrich: A Single Nuke Could Destroy America

Fifty years ago, it was not Sputnik itself that sent a dire chill of warning around the world; it was the capability of the rocket that launched Sputnik. The rocket that lofted Sputnik into orbit also could have served as an ICBM.

Yet for all its rhetoric, the Soviet Union was essentially a rational power that recognized the threat of mutual destruction and thus never stepped to the edge.

The world is different today. Intercontinental range missiles tipped with nuclear weapons in the hands of leaders driven by fanaticism, leaders that support global terrorism, leaders that have made repeated threats that they will seek our annihilation . . . can now at last achieve that dream in a matter of minutes.

Those who claim that there is little to fear from Iran or North Korea because “at best” they will have only one or two nuclear weapons ignore the catastrophic level of threat we now face from just “a couple” of nuclear weapons.

Again: One to three missiles tipped with nuclear weapons and armed to detonate at a high altitude — to achieve the strongest EMP over the greatest area of the United States — would create an EMP “overlay” that triggers a continent-wide collapse of our entire electrical, transportation, and communications infrastructure.

Within weeks after such an attack, tens of millions of Americans would perish. The impact has been likened to a nationwide Hurricane Katrina. Some studies estimate that 90 percent of all Americans might very well die in the year after such an attack as our transportation, food distribution, communications, public safety, law enforcement, and medical infrastructures collapse.

Telling CO2 Lies to Destroy America
By Alan Caruba

My friend, the internationally famed climatologist Dr. S. Fred Singer, calls them “the CO2 wars.” It is the last ditch attempt by the Greens, under the aegis of the Obama administration, to declare carbon dioxide a pollutant and thus open the door to its regulation. Singer says such regulation “would be the equivalent of an atomic bomb directed at the U.S. economy—all without any scientific justification.” Here are a few things you need to keep in mind about carbon dioxide.

Message for Republicans
By Rich Galen

I think it is quite possible that, if the GOP were looking for a "message" one of them might be: The Federal Government cannot tell a private corporation who is acceptable to the government to run that corporation. I know that old saying "If you take the king's gold, you follow the king's rules," but what happened to GM Chairman Rick Wagoner is a really dangerous precedent.

Islamic Law's Influence in America a Growing Concern

As America's Muslim population grows, so too does the influence of Islamic law, or Shariah, in daily life in the U.S.

"Shariah Law is the totality of the Muslim's obligation," said Abdullahi An-Na'im, a professor of law at Emory University in Atlanta. According to An-Na'im, Shariah is similar to Jewish Talmudic Law or Catholic Canon Law in that it guides an adherent's moral conduct.

"As a citizen, I am a subject of the United States," An-Na'im said. "I owe allegiance to the United States, to the Constitution of the United States. That is not inconsistent with observing a religious code in terms of my own personal behavior."

While many view this as a testament to the "great American melting pot," others see Islamic law's growing influence as a threat. More..

Washington Times - EXCLUSIVE: AIG chiefs pressed to donate to Dodd

$160,000 streamed in as senator gained power on banking committee

As Democrats prepared to take control of Congress after the 2006 elections, a top boss at the insurance giant American International Group Inc. told colleagues that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd was seeking re-election donations and he implored company executives and their spouses to give.

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, has lost some political standing heading into re-election because of his ties to American International Group Inc.

AND YET ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE. ANYONE KEEPING COUNT?

Obama to sign lands bill before the promised 5 days of comment
Washington Times

EARTH HOUR NEWS

1.Environmentalists Hail 'Earth Hour' As A Success


2. ‘Earth Hour’ on Saturday to Be Marked by Turning Off Lights; 'Absurd,' Some Say

And...

Al Gore ignores 'Earth Hour'

Driveway to Nashville mansion flooded with electricity

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" may have inspired many to participate in yesterday's "Earth Hour" by switching off their lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., but maybe the former vice president didn't get the memo.

Drew Johnson, the president of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, decided to drive by Gore's mansion in Nashville at 8:48 p.m. and records that floodlights were on illuminating the driveway leading up to the main quarter.

"I pulled up to Al's house, located in the posh Belle Meade section of Nashville, at 8:48 p.m. – right in the middle of Earth Hour," he wrote on his blog. "I found that the main spotlights that usually illuminate his 9,000 square foot mansion were dark, but several of the lights inside the house were on."

He added: "The kicker, though, were the dozen or so floodlights grandly highlighting several trees and illuminating the driveway entrance of Gore’s mansion. I [kid] you not, my friends, the savior of the environment couldn’t be bothered to turn off the gaudy lights that show off his goofy trees."

Offshore Oil Drilling Ban Will Be Restored ‘By Any Means Necessary,’ Democratic Congressman Says

The ban on offshore oil drilling that expired last September will be restored by “any means necessary,” Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who serves on both the House Committee on Natural Resources and the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Inslee, who participated in a conference entitled "Planning for a Secure Energy Future” sponsored by the Washington Post, also recommended a ban on future drilling in the arctic, where he says there is a “gold rush” for oil uncovered by melting ice caps. Read more.

SCURRYING ON DOWN THE ROAD TO SOCIALISM

Obama Forcing Management Decisions on Corporate America


Geithner Says Free Market Will Not Solve Current Economic Problems

WHAT? NO TIMELINE? NO EXIT STRATEGY?

No Exit Strategy, Timeline in Afghanistan Strategy, White House Says
White House (CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration has no exit strategy for the conflict in Afghanistan, White House officials said Friday, as it announced that another 4,000 troops would be sent to the country on top of the 17,000 additional troops already approved. “The only exit strategy will be to leave the Afghan people to deal with their security problem,” said Richard Holbrooke, an Obama foreign policy adviser who served on the interagency review panel on Afghanistan and Pakistan. Read more.

How can this be? My, how times have changed ... and so quickly, too. There was a time not so long ago that it was an unpardonable sin not to have both.

Treasury Secretary to Become Bailout Czar under Proposed Financial Institution Takeover Plan
(CNSNews.com) – The Treasury Department last week revealed the details of a proposed government takeover plan for troubled financial institutions that would empower the Treasury secretary to determine when an institution has failed – and whether to bail the institution out or have the government take it over. The proposed legislation would send regulatory powers into uncharted waters, giving the government the power to take over any type of large financial institution.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Congress says they are looking into this Bernard Madoff scandal.

So, the guy that made $50 billion disappear is being investigated by the people who made $750 billion disappear.

Rich. No?