Don Singleton

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Out of ideas

Betsy Newmark blogged

The Washington Post has a story entitled, "Nervous Democrats say President Obama must be bolder on economy." The sad thing is that Obama has used up his bold efforts on the economy. He had his chance for the first two years of his administration when he had an filibuster-proof control of the Congress and blew it.

They could have raised the debt limit as high as they wanted to, or even eliminated it altogether. They didn't want to get blamed. They did not even pass a budget. The Republican House did.

He spent over a trillion dollars and arguably made things worse with his pork-laden stimulus and increased government interference in the market place. He's out of ideas now or the ones he has are ineffectual and counterproductive. What he could do such as easing up on regulations, pushing through free-trade deals, and allowing more drilling or the construction of the Canada pipeline, he is too beholden to special interests to do.

The Republican President in 2013 will do all of those, plus repeal Obama Care and Dodd / Frank, as soon as he/she is in office. And job growth will skyrocked.

Mostly what he has are calls for more taxes. His Democratic allies want him to advance some sort of "bold" plan that, even though it wouldn't get through the Congress, he could use in a sort of Trumanesque campaign against a "do nothing" Congress.

Good luck with that.

His aides are listening and promising that he'll lay out some measures for "creating jobs, helping the middle class, and guiding lawmakers on a “balanced” way to cut deficits, raise taxes on the wealthy and adjust entitlements."

He has been trying that, and it is not working.

It's two and a half years into his term and he's now thinking about these sorts of things. Where he's been all this time? Oh, yeah. Making things worse. And now there is even less federal money to throw around in the kind of ideas he's pondering.

But he has had plenty of time to play golf. Nero played the fiddle while Rome burned. Obama played golf while London burned.

Rick Perry and his Texas jobs boom

CNN reported

Texas has gained more than 1 million net new jobs in the decade Perry has led the state. And it's been going strong since the recession ended. "Over the last two years, 40% of the net new jobs created in the United States were created in Texas," he told a conference of state legislators from around the nation this week.

But that doesn't mean that all is well with employment in the Lone Star State. Texas leads the nation in minimum-wage jobs,

But they are employed, and can work to improve themselves and when they qualify for a better job they can show an potential employer they are capable of holding down a job

and many positions don't offer health benefits.

Neither employers or the government should pay for a person's health insurance. The employers can take the money they would have put into health benefits and pay the employee more, and they can buy the insurance they want, and if they leave and go to work for someone else, they will not have to worry about Preexisting Conditions

Also, steep budget cuts are expected to result in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs.

Still a lot better than the country under Obama

Perhaps most importantly, Texas can't create jobs fast enough to keep up with its rapidly growing population. Since 2007, the state's number of working-age residents expanded by 6.6%, nearly twice the national average.

People are moving to Texas because that is where the jobs are.

Still, Texas has been adding jobs at a rapid clip since the recession's end in 2009. The state has created nearly 297,000 net new positions since June of that year, representing a major chunk of the nation's 715,000 gain, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Of course, Texas enjoys advantages that have nothing to do with having Perry at the helm. Rich in natural resources, the state has been benefiting from the high price of oil and the expanded interest in natural gas exploration. Energy employment has soared by 16.8% over the past year alone.

Just think what it would have been without all of the anti-oil-and-gas regulations Obama's regulators have been dumping on the country.

While the energy sector is driving much of the recent jobs expansion, nearly all industries are doing well, said Jim Gaines, research economist at The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University. Construction jobs, for instance, have grown by 5.4% in the past year, according to the center. Employment in professional services is up 4.5% and in the hospitality business by 3%. Only the government and information technology sectors have seen drops, of 1.4% and 5%, respectively.

I would like to see more in the IT area, but I am happy he is cutting government jobs. Hope he keeps that up when he gets to Washington

"Texas has fared better than most of the nation," said Terry Clower, who directs the Center for Economic Development and Research at the University of North Texas. "Private sector job creation has been pretty strong compared to most other states."

Texas today, America in 2013

Glenn Beck’s Restoring Courage Event

TheBlaze.com reported

Glenn Beck’s groundbreaking event, “Restoring Courage,” is just days away.

God bless Glenn Beck

On August 24, 2011, Beck will join people from around the world to offer up one resounding message: It’s important that America and her allies support Israel.

I completely agree. I pray nightly asking God to not only bless Israel but to supernaturally protect Israel, and I apologize to Him that Obama has thrown Israel under the bus, while reaching out to the Muslims, and I pray that He will look at the hearts of the many Americans that continue to support Israel as He ponders on what He said in Genesis 12:3:

And I will bless those who bless you,

And the one who curses you I will curse.

And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.

The article goes on to say

Recently, Beck was granted a special meeting with with Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger. During the discussion, he had an opportunity to describe “Restoring Courage,” while connecting with the Rabbi on issues of faith and Beck’s passionate support for Israel. IsraelNationalNews.com writes:
As he did when he addressed members of Knesset, Beck said he was inspired by the words of Biblical Ruth, who followed her mother-in-law, Naomi, to Israel from Moab and promised her that “Your people shall be my people and your God shall be my God.”
“That’s what needs to be said,” Beck told Rabbi Metzger. “We need to say that, so we are gathering together.”

I pray for safety for everyone who attends.

Rick Perry

CNN reported

As a resident of Texas for 36 years, I keep wondering why the rest of the nation pays any attention to our political and cultural absurdities and yet still chooses Texans as presidents. Our most revered historical moment, the Alamo, was arguably a mass suicide.

If you seriously think that, you either do not understand Texas history, or you are incapable of distinguishing between suicide and self sacrifice, because those brave men died to give Sam Houston time to raise the forces to defeat the Mexican army at San Jacinto. Have you seen the monument there (that counting the star on top is taller than the Washington monument?

The slaughter in San Antonio was followed by a massacre at Goliad, the fall of the Confederacy to Union forces, and later by the Houston Astros. Texas has a legacy of losing.

A battle at Goliad that was followed by Texas independence, a loss to Union forces that resulted in the abolishment of slavery, and a ball team that can't afford to pay for decent players. Two out of three ain't bad.

None of this apparently matters, though, because America is beginning the process of electing another Texan to be president. Gigantic tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, a trumped up war and a ruined economy from the last Texan seem incapable of dissuading supporters of Rick Perry.

I may be guessing here, but it sort of sounds like you are a Democrat that can't think for himself, and just parrots talking points. The Bush Tax cuts helped the Middle Class more, making many pay no tax at all. The Dems liked them, but can't stand the fact that the people that pay most of the income taxes got any cut at all. The trumped up war was a response to an Islamic attack that killed 3000 on our own shores, and Obama did far more to hurt the economy than Bush ever did

His Saturday speech in South Carolina will make clear that he is entering the race for the White House

I don't know whether Rick Perry is my candidate or not. The next few months will determine that. Right now he looks good, but let us see how he does in the debates

and will spawn the ugliest and most expensive presidential race in U.S. history,

That will happen regardless of who the Republican Candidate is, as Obama tries desperately to hold onto a job he is not qualified for

and he will win. A C and D student, who hates to govern, loves to campaign, and barely has a sixth grader's understanding of economics, will lead our nation into oblivion.

I don't know how you got access to Obama's grades, I thought they were blocked, but I will agree with everything else you said about Obama. Oh, you were talking about Rick Perry? You seemed to describe Obama so well, you confused me.

The big brains gathered east of the Hudson and Potomac Rivers believe that Mitt Romney is the candidate to beat.

Actually the think he would be so liberal that he would leave much of what Obama has done to the country that they could live with him as President, because they know Obama is going to lose, and they hope to fool Republicans into nominating Romney or Huntsmen

But they are unable to hear what Rick Perry is saying. The Christian prayer rally in Houston was a very loud proclamation to fundamentalists and Teavangelicals, which said, "I am not a Mormon."

No it said "Ï am a Christian"

The far right and Christian fundamentalists have an inordinate amount of influence in the GOP primary process and, regardless of messages of inclusion, very few of them will vote for a Mormon.

It depends on who the Mormon was. I don't want a liberal like Romney or Huntsman, but I would much prefer Glenn Beck to Obama. And I don't care about color. I would certainly prefer Herman Cain, or Allen West, or a number of other blacks to Barack Obama.

10:1 mix of spending cuts and tax hikes

Debate flashback: Which candidates would support a 10:1 mix of spending cuts and tax hikes? « Hot Air reported

Have we now reached the point where, for all intents and purposes, any amount of tax increases will render a deal intolerable no matter how many glorious spending cuts are packed into it? A 10-to-one ratio isn’t good enough, apparently; how about 20 to one? Fifty to one? What if the Democrats offered to pass Cut, Cap, and Balance in return for, say, $500 billion in new revenue from households that make $1 million or more? What if they asked for $1 trillion in new revenue and agreed to pass Paul Ryan’s budget in return?

No it is about current year spending cuts. They are offering spending cuts in the next 10 years, and one congress cannot bind a future congress. Reagan fell for that, as did GHWB. Offer 10 to 1 current year cuts and they would leap on it, if the cuts were not all in defense

This can’t simply be about not wanting to slow the economy by adding new tax burdens. Deep, short-term spending cuts also run that risk,

It depends on what is being cut.

yet one of the big knocks on the debt-ceiling deal from the right was that there weren’t enough of those in the final package.

No, they were not cutting things that needed to be cut.

I’m morbidly curious to see what happens if the Super Committee can’t make a deal on tax reform

Which I don't think they will do. We need tax reform, but it will be easier to get real reform in 2013.

and Republicans are suddenly staring down the barrel of the Bush tax cuts lapsing at the end of 2012. Obama will have no incentive to compromise by extending the cuts for the rich yet again during next year’s campaign. Polling shows the public is on his side there and he knows he can’t cave on yet another deal now that the left’s enraged over the debt-ceiling agreement.

Nothing good can come of a change made in the middle of election season. We just need to hope the country can survive until 2013

The GOP’s only chance to extend across-the-board cuts again is to win the election.

The country's only chance is for a Republican sweep in the 2012 elections.

If they don’t, tax hikes are coming, one way or another.

If Obama is re-elected, the only chance we have will come in sitting on a white horse, riding on a cloud. As the last three words in the New Testament (Revelation 22:20) say Come, Lord Jesus.

Sunday, October 04, 2009

Happy Hippo Education Centre

Happy Hippo Education Centre is a building school in the virtual world of Second Life. I teach at Happy Hippo, and recently persuaded the owner of the school to allow me to put up a Website, which will have static information about the school, a Blog, where teachers will post blog entries about upcoming classes, and students can comment, and a Forum, where students can pose questions that teachers or other students can answer. To try to reach the younger crowd, we also have a Facebook Page, and Twitter Account

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Sunday, June 14, 2009

Who will guarantee it?

FOXNews reported Netanyahu said "In any peace agreement, the territory under Palestinian control must be disarmed, with solid security guarantees for Israel," he said.

And who is going to guarantee they disarm and remain disarmed? The same UN that was supposed to prevent Hezbolah from rearming in Lebanon?

"If we get this guarantee for demilitarization and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people,

Or when Hell freezes over

we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Oklahoma did pretty good

According to WSJ Oklahoma was sixth in states with an increase in GDP with 2.7%, beeten only by North Dakota with 7.3%, Wyoming with 4.4%, South Dakota with 3.5%, District of Columbia with 3.0% (all of those extra government jobs our children and grandchildren will be paying for), and Colorado with 2.9%. We were fourth in job GAINS 1.2%, beaten only by Wyoming with 3.1%, North Dakota with 1.7%, and Alaska with 1.5%. Our Housing Prices fell 1.7% compared to Nevada's drop of 28.2%, California's drop of 25.5, Florida's drop of 24.0%, and Arizona's drop of 20.6%. Eleven states did better than Oklahoma. Kansas, Kentucky, New Mexico, Iowa, and West Virginia had smaller losses in Housing Prices, and South Dakota, Hawaii, Texas, Alaska, Wyoming, and North Dakota even saw an increase in Housing Prices (North Dakota was highest at 1.9%).

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Says he didn't do it

NYTimes reported Suspect in Hijacking of U.S. Ship off Somalia Denies Federal Charges

There were four hijackers. The navy shot three, and the fourth says he didn't do it. Who are you going to believe? How did he get on the boat?

.... Idd Beddel Mohamed, the deputy permanent representative to the Somali Mission to the United Nations, who attended the hearing, said “Over all, we have full confidence in the American legal system,

Where guilty people get off all the time

and I think in due course justice will be served on both sides.”

ROF, LMAO

He said that his government had confidence in the defense lawyers and sympathized with the hostages’ families. Prosecutors say Mr. Muse is over 18. His lawyers and father say that he is as young as 15, and should be treated as a juvenile.

A juvenile that hijacked a ship and threatened to kill the Captain.

For now, he is being treated as an adult.

“He’s confused. He’s terrified,” another lawyer, Deirdre von Dornum, said. “As you can imagine, he’s a boy who fishes,

That was not a fishing pole he carried.

and now he’s ended up in solitary confinement here.” She added, “He’s having a very difficult time.”

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Soda Tax

WSJ.com reported Senate leaders are considering new federal taxes on soda and other sugary drinks to help pay for an overhaul of the nation's health-care system.

They just raised taxes on cigarettes to pay for health insurance. How many more taxes will Obama's Nanny State raise on the people he promised not to raise taxes on, to try to control what we consume. Or is this tax just for soda drinkers that earn in the top 5%.

The taxes would pay for only a fraction of the cost to expand health-insurance coverage to all Americans and would face strong opposition from the beverage industry. They also could spark a backlash from consumers who would have to pay several cents more for a soft drink.

Does it apply to diet soda, which contains many possibly dangerous chemicals.

On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is set to hear proposals from about a dozen experts about how to pay for the comprehensive health-care overhaul that President Barack Obama wants to enact this year.

Here is an idea. Don't pass Obama Care, and you won't have to pay for it.

Early estimates put the cost of the plan at around $1.2 trillion.

That is a LOT of soda.

The administration has so far only earmarked funds for about half of that amount.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Class Warrior

Telegraph reported Wealthy Wall Street financiers and other business figures provided crucial support for Mr Obama during the election, backing him over the Republican candidate John McCain as the right leader to rescue the collapsing US economy. But it is now dawning on many among them that Mr Obama was serious about his campaign trail promises to bring root and branch reform to corporate America - and that they were more than just election rhetoric.

Never back someone who says he is going to hurt you, when you think he is just kidding.

The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion.

And there is not that much money available even if he confiscates everything they have. The people that he is promising free things to are going to pay for them, either with taxes or higher prices for goods they buy, or money that loses its buying power.

But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance. A top Obama fundraiser and hedge fund manager said: "I'm appalled at the anti-Wall Street rhetoric. It was OK on the campaign but now it's the real world.

News Flash. The campaign is the real world. A politician that says he will do one thing, when you think he will do something else, is not one you can trust.

I'm surprised that Obama is turning out to be so left-wing. He's a real class warrior."

And did he not reveal that in the campaign?

Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute, a free enterprise think tank, said Democrats in Congress were unnerved by the president's latest plan to raise $210 billion over 10 years from multinational corporations. The money is needed to pay for a national debt that will double over the next five years; and triple over the next 10 years to $17.3 trillion. But the crackdown already faces fierce Democratic resistance.

And even stiffer Republican resistance. But we are giving him too much power to do whatever he wants.

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Cliff Asness responds to Obama

Cliff Asness wrote When hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and individuals, including very sweet grandmothers, lend their money they expect to get it back. However, they know, or should know, they take the risk of not being paid back. But if such a bad event happens it usually does not result in a complete loss. A firm in bankruptcy still has assets. It’s not always a pretty process. Bankruptcy court is about figuring out how to most fairly divvy up the remaining assets based on who is owed what and whose contracts come first. The process already has built-in partial protections for employees and pensions, and can set lenders' contracts aside in order to help the company survive, all of which are the rules of the game lenders know before they lend. But, without this recovery process nobody would lend to risky borrowers. Essentially, lenders accept less than shareholders (means bonds return less than stocks) in good times only because they get more than shareholders in bad times.

And that is the way it should be. A greedy president should not be able to steal investor's money to give an unfair advantage to the union that caused the problem in the first place, just because they gave Obama donations to get him elected.

The above is how it works in America, or how it’s supposed to work. The President and his team sought to avoid having Chrysler go through this process, proposing their own plan for re-organizing the company and partially paying off Chrysler’s creditors. Some bond holders thought this plan unfair. Specifically, they thought it unfairly favored the United Auto Workers, and unfairly paid bondholders less than they would get in bankruptcy court. So, they said no to the plan and decided, as is their right, to take their chances in the bankruptcy process. But, as his quotes above show, the President thought they were being unpatriotic or worse.

To obama patriotism does not mean support for the country, it means support for anything he wants in order to change the country to the Socialistic/Communistic/Fascist view he has for the country.

Let’s be clear, it is the job and obligation of all investment managers, including hedge fund managers, to get their clients the most return they can. They are allowed to be charitable with their own money, and many are spectacularly so, but if they give away their clients’ money to share in the “sacrifice”, they are stealing. Clients of hedge funds include, among others, pension funds of all kinds of workers, unionized and not. The managers have a fiduciary obligation to look after their clients’ money as best they can, not to support the President, nor to oppose him, nor otherwise advance their personal political views. That’s how the system works. If you hired an investment professional and he could preserve more of your money in a financial disaster, but instead he decided to spend it on the UAW so you could “share in the sacrifice”, you would not be happy.

And you would not give that fund any more of your money.

Let’s quickly review a few side issues.

The President's attempted diktat takes money from bondholders and gives it to a labor union that delivers money and votes for him. Why is he not calling on his party to "sacrifice" some campaign contributions, and votes, for the greater good? Shaking down lenders for the benefit of political donors is recycled corruption and abuse of power.

In other words standard Democratic policies.

Let’s also mention only in passing the irony of this same President begging hedge funds to borrow more to purchase other troubled securities. That he expects them to do so when he has already shown what happens if they ask for their money to be repaid fairly would be amusing if not so dangerous. That hedge funds might not participate in these programs because of fear of getting sucked into some toxic demagoguery that ends in arbitrary punishment for trying to work with the Treasury is distressing. Some useful programs, like those designed to help finance consumer loans, won't work because of this irresponsible hectoring.

And the fear that if they buy the toxic assets and try to recover money from them, Obama may get congress to pass laws saying they can't do that. That they must rent the property to people at a price the Government sets.

Last but not least, the President screaming that the hedge funds are looking for an unjustified taxpayer-funded bailout is the big lie writ large. Find me a hedge fund that has been bailed out. Find me a hedge fund, even a failed one, that has asked for one. In fact, it was only because hedge funds have not taken government funds that they could stand up to this bullying. The TARP recipients had no choice but to go along. The hedge funds were singled out only because they are unpopular, not because they behaved any differently from any other ethical manager of other people's money. The President’s comments here are backwards and libelous. Yet, somehow I don’t think the hedge funds will be following ACORN’s lead and trucking in a bunch of paid professional protestors soon. Hedge funds really need a community organizer.

This is America. We have a free enterprise system that has worked spectacularly for us for two hundred plus years. When it fails it fixes itself. Most importantly, it is not an owned lackey of the oval office to be scolded for disobedience by the President.

Amen

Two Tulsa Area Bloggers Discuss Star Treck

Christopher Lee and Irritated Tulsan discuss the new Star Trek movie. I can't see it in the theater, but I am eager to see it when it comes out on DVD or Cable.

Miss Susie Goes to Washington

Dutch, Reformed blogged Ten years ago today, as I stood in the back of an ornate committee room in the nation's capital holding six-week-old Mary Margaret, Susie testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, which was considering a new $21 billion daycare plan. (She had been invited by Senator Don Nickles, who later wrote her a note praising her remarks.) Her testimony garnered coverage on News9, in the Tulsa World, and on the front page of The Oklahoman, and was printed on The Oklahoman's editorial page on Mother's Day. Here's what Susie (The Velvet Hammer) Dutcher told the committee:

.... I would love to put more dollars into our retirement account, for example, but I'm forced to put them into your Social Security trust fund, which I don't trust. I'd like to buy more books for Lincoln, Elizabeth, and Mary Margaret, and put more money in their college fund, but you've already seen fit to use that money funding closed-captioning for the Jerry Springer show. I'd love to get ballet lessons for Elizabeth, but my money is tied up buying food stamps for the deceased. I'd love to give more money to support our church's missionary in Albania, or the free medical clinic in Oklahoma City, but instead I'm forced to fund fish farming in Arkansas and Social Security disability payments for escaped convicts. Call us greedy, but my husband and I would like for the most part to make our own choices concerning the fruit of our labor. But naturally, under threat of imprisonment, we defer to your choices.....

Just think what she would say if she was allowed to testify today. The increased spending during the Bush administration was bad, but it is orders of magnitude worse today. They were worried about Mary Margaret then. Obama is spending Mary Margaret's inheritance, and the inheritance of Mary Margaret's children and grandchildren.

Hat tip to Michael Bates

The $357,000 photo

The White House finally released the $357,000 publicity photo of Air Force One that frightened so many New Yorkers because they tried to do it in secret, and not warn anyone of the flight.

AllahPundit blogged Louis Caldera, the White House official who approved the flight, is now nestled snugly alongside Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger, and about 20 other people under the Messiah’s bus.

Christopher Lee says I Could Have Done It MUCH Cheaper. $70 for Photoshop.

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Israeli Nukes

Washington Times reported President Obama's efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons threaten to expose and derail a 40-year-old secret U.S. agreement to shield Israel's nuclear weapons from international scrutiny, former and current U.S. and Israeli officials and nuclear specialists say. The issue will likely come to a head when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Mr. Obama on May 18 in Washington. Mr. Netanyahu is expected to seek assurances from Mr. Obama that he will uphold the U.S. commitment and will not trade Israeli nuclear concessions for Iranian ones.

That is because no one believes Iran would keep its word. Except for the promise that it intends to destroy Israel.

Assistant Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, speaking Tuesday at a U.N. meeting on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), said Israel should join the treaty, which would require Israel to declare and relinquish its nuclear arsenal.

If they have to relinquish their arsenal, what about over Iranian airspace?

"Universal adherence to the NPT itself, including by India, Israel, Pakistan and North Korea, ... remains a fundamental objective of the United States," Ms. Gottemoeller told the meeting, according to Reuters.

And anyone that expects India and Pakistan to get rid of their nukes, other than over each other's state, is foolish.

Toxic Assets

csmonitor.com reported Buying loans from banks – the types of loans that need to be handled with latex gloves and hazmat suits – is becoming a new growth industry. Former mortgage bankers and Wall Street wheeler-dealers even now are leafing through confidential bank documents detailing tens of billions of dollars of bad mortgages and other loans known as “toxic assets.” Their goal: to find undervalued assets they can buy cheaply and make money on.

What they need to be concerned about is if they buy assets they think they can sell, will congress suddenly change the law and say they cannot eject the current resident that is not paying for the house, and rent it to them at a price congress determines. If the White House will threaten to ruin the reputation of bondholders that will not take 20 cents on the dollar, and are holding out for 30 cents on the dollar for Chrysler, while giving 55% of the company to the unions, what makes you think they will not attempt

It may be chutzpah. It may be opportunism. Or it may be the solution to cleaning up the banks’ balance sheets. Whatever the case, many prospective buyers are mining for data that will help them in June, when a new government plan to deal with banks’ problems starts up.

Get a firm commitment they won't change the rules in mid stream.

This time, unlike during the roaring mortgage boom, some potential investors are actually visiting houses, talking to lenders, and acting like crime scene investigators for bad loans.

Crime scene investigators are what is needed. The people that forced the banks to make bad loans should be in jail, along with the people that bundled bad loans with good and sold them.

The decisions made by loan sleuths on how much to pay for the banks’ bad holdings will determine the success of the government’s plan to try to move those holdings off the banks’ books. If the banks agree to the prices offered for their loans, the shifts in ownership of those loans could ultimately free up capital for the economy’s recovery. But if the banks balk because they believe the assets are more valuable, think about the economy in terms of molasses.

Britain Bans 16 for 'Fostering Extremism'

washingtonpost.com reported The British government on Tuesday named 16 people who have been banned from entering Britain for "fostering extremism or hatred,"

It's about time, but there are a lot more than 16 muslim extremists yu should ban, including a bunch that are already there.

including Muslim extremists, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, a U.S. radio talk show host and a Kansas preacher.

I hope they just included them so they could not be accused of profiling Muslims.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who is responsible for domestic security, said she decided to make the names public to show the kind of behavior that Britain is "not willing to have in this country."

The list includes six Americans. Perhaps the most prominent is Michael Savage, a nationally syndicated conservative radio host who has made controversial remarks about immigrants and Muslims, such as urging Americans to "burn the Mexican flag on your street corner" and saying that "when I see a woman walking around with a burqa, I see a Nazi."

He never flew planes into buildings, killing nearly 3,000, and he did not dance in the street when others did

.... The Rev. Fred W. Phelps Sr. and his daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church also are unwelcome in the United Kingdom.

I don't want them here either. I wish the UK would take them in, and keep them.

The pair, who have picketed at funerals carrying placards with anti-gay slogans, are banned for "fostering hatred," the Home Office said.

The other Americans on the list are Eric Gliebe, described by the Home Office as a distributor of "racist leaflets"; Abdul Ali Musa, a Muslim activist; and former Klan leader Stephen Donald Black.

Do they include Senator Robert Byrd, a former Klan leader?

Dems Stab Specter

Capitol Briefing reported The Senate dealt a blow tonight to Sen. Arlen Specter's hold on seniority in several key committees, a week after the Pennsylvanian's party switch placed Democrats on the precipice of a 60-seat majority.

And this is after he negotiated a deal with Reid. Does this mean that Reid really does not speak for the Dems he is the supposed leader of in the Senate, or that he promises one thing, and then stabs you in the back once he gets it. I suspect both.

In a unanimous voice vote,

That must mean Reid voted to stab Specter.

the Senate approved a resolution that added Specter to the Democratic side of the dais on the five committees on which he serves, an expected move that gives Democrats larger margins on key panels such as Judiciary and Appropriations.

But just grabs his vote, and devistates Specter. Will Specter try to jump back to the Republicans? Or will he just retire, knowing no one likes him?

But Democrats placed Specter in one of the two most junior slots on each of the five committees for the remainder of this Congress, which goes through December 2010. Democrats have suggested that they will consider revisiting Specter's seniority claim at the committee level only after the midterm elections next year.

And what is the probability of that? If a guarantee from the Majority Leader does not mean anything, what is the promise of reconsidering going to be worth. All they are saying is if you are the Democratic nominee, don't throw the election and let a Republican get in.

"This is all going to be negotiated next Congress," Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), said tonight.

Ed Morrissey blogged Democrats sent a more practical message with this vote. Specter needed to retain his seniority in order to make the argument that electing him would keep Pennsylvania in a position of power in Congress. The caucus has made it much easier for a Democratic primary challenger to beat Specter by taking that advantage away from him.

So the Dems are happy to take Specter away from the Republicans, but they want a real Dem to defeat him in the Democratic primary.

It’s practically a signal flare to Joe Sestak, approving of his run against Specter.

Contrast this to the treatment given Jim Jeffords when he jumped to the Democrats and temporarily gave Tom Daschle control of the Senate. Jeffords kept his seniority and landed a committee chair (Environment and Public Works), and kept his seniority for committee assignments. If Reid really did make a similar deal with Specter, then his caucus just sent him a message as well, a humiliation that will make Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins think twice before following Specter into rookie status.

I wish it would make them vote more reliably with the Republicans.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Ayatollah Moqtada al-Sadr

Adnkronos reported Radical Iraqi Shia cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr, is reported to have assumed the title of Grand Ayatollah after concluding his studies in the holy city of Qom in Iran.

When he returns to Iraq someone should remove his head, with the black turban still attached.

Sources close to the cleric's faction released the news to the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat.

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