The Full Scope of the Tragedy Has Finally Been Revealed

Deepak Chopra informs: Michael Jackson was working on a song about climate change in the days before his death.

Entrenched Agent of the Status Quo

The heat is on (at least until Waxman-Markey takes effect):

Hours after the House passed landmark legislation meant to curb greenhouse gas emissions and create an energy-efficient economy, President Barack Obama on Saturday urged senators to show courage and follow suit. The sharply debated bill's fate is unclear in the Senate, and Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address to ratchet up pressure on the 100-seat chamber. "My call to every senator, as well as to every American, is this," he said. "We cannot be afraid of the future. And we must not be prisoners of the past. Don't believe the misinformation out there that suggests there is somehow a contradiction between investing in clean energy and economic growth."

Rarely has so much dishonesty been packed into so few words. The man truly has a gift. Anyone opposed to his power grab and tax increases is afraid of the future and spreading disinformation by virtue of not accepting the ever growing empty promises of this increasingly empty suit. I will admit that I am afraid of his proposed future.

Obama said the bill would create jobs, make renewable energy profitable and decrease America's dependence on foreign oil.

This from a man who has never created a job or turned a profit. Of course one way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil is to force everyone to stop using oil altogether, regardless of the consequences. It's not the unintended consequences of this legislation I'm worried about as much as the intended consequences.

"It will spur the development of low-carbon sources of energy — everything from wind, solar and geothermal power to safer nuclear energy and cleaner coal," he said.

Really. We already have safer nuclear energy and could implement it without this legislation. Just curious, but any idea when any more of it might be coming on line? Or is this just a McGuffin to hide the true intent.

House Democratic leaders said the bill helped accomplish one of Obama's campaign promises and would make the U.S. a leader in international efforts to address climate change when negotiations take place in Copenhagen later this year.

A yes, another progressive solution in search of a problem. I've used Matt Stone's and Trey Parker's line about hating Republicans but really f%^ing hating Democrats many times. But when it comes to Progressives I'm resorting to Jules Winnfield, "Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' mo&^%$*&^%er, mo&^%$*&^%er!

As for this international leader nonsense, well, do you really think anyone is going to follow the United States lead once they see how this cripples our economy and drives down our standard of living -- for no appreciable "climate change" benefit since China and India aren't playing? Funny how the Left in this country insists on everyone playing by our labor and workplace rules in the interest of fariness so long as it disadvantages American consumers, but no so much when it comes to environmental rules that disadvantage foreign manufacturers. So much for not exporting jobs, eh? And speaking of climate change, or what we euphemistically used to call "the weather," I think they know the PR game is just about up after they abandoned the term Anthropomorphic Global Warming (AGW) as the evidence continues to mount that whatever warming there may be isn't being caused by mankind or increases in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, but I digress.

"We passed transformational legislation, which will take us into the future," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after the 219-212 vote. "For some it was a very difficult vote because the entrenched agents of the status quo were out there full force, jamming the lines in their districts and here, and they withstood that," Pelosi said.

Entrenched agent of the status quo, i.e., a conservative. I think I'll wear that sobriquet proudly in opposition to just about everything Madame Speaker stands for and advocates.

Success will be tougher in the Senate. Majority Leader Harry Reid says he wants to take up the legislation by the fall.

Well, at least the Senators will have a chance to read the legislation before voting on it. If Majority Leader Reid is going to wait until the fall to bring this up I wonder if he really wants to see this fail. Clearly the House rushed this through to avoid the hue and cry that is going to be inevitable once the public finds out what is in this monstrosity. Hmm..., what kind of game is Dingy Harry playing?

In the Republicans' weekly radio and Internet address, House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio said, "By imposing a tax on every American who drives a car or flips on a light switch, this plan will drive up the prices for food, gasoline and electricity." But Obama said the measure would cost the average American about the price of a postage stamp per day.

Remember this lie in years to come. Engrave it in stone to as a warning to future generations of this postmodern Ozymandias.

In California alone, Obama said, 3,000 people will be employed to build a new solar plant that will create 1,000 permanent jobs.

And let the rent seeking begin.

The Will to Power

Do you think anyone in Iran's government in Tehran right now is saying, “You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid.” Or is it possible the mullahs wouldn't sink as low morally and politically as Rahm Emanuel?

DOWNDATE: Quick! Somebody tell Rahm: Honduras Lurches Toward Crisis Over Election

SAT Question

Multiple choice entries in the comments below.

Smoot-Hawley is to Waxman-Markey as ...

Separated at Birth?

Worst. Congress. Ever.

House passes climate-change prosperity destroying power grab bill

There, fixed that for you.

Every member of Congress that voted for this bill without reading it needs to lose their job -- on principle alone. I have no firm opinion on whether the tarring and feathering should happen before or after their sorry asses are thrown out of Congress.

The vote was extremely close – 219-212, with eight Republicans voting yes and 44 Democrats voting no.

Republicans, my ass. Hope you are enjoying your last term in office.

Does This Say More About the Mental Health of Our Culture or Just the Mental Health of Big Media?

CBS News breathlessly asks:

Will Obama Make A Statement On Jackson?

Does your world revolve around waiting on a statement from President Obama (or seemingly anyone, for that matter) on the death of Michael Jackson (or seemingly anything, for that matter) before knowing what to think or feel? I guess some pathetic souls must know what the party line is before they can stick to it.

George Orwell was without a doubt the leading prophet of the 20th century. But I digress.

Now I Understand What They Mean by Green Cars

I recently saw this, which looked interesting:

Tesla delivers 500th Roadster to New Jersey man

Kind of cool for a fast little battery powered car. Then today I saw this:

The Energy Department is lending money to the Ford Motor Co. and two other automakers from a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles, congressional officials say. [...snip...] Nissan has applied for an undisclosed amount of assistance, while Tesla has sought $450 million.

Really? $450M? And they have delivered 500 vehicles to date. At roughly $100,000 per unit, that's a grand total of $50M in revenue. Not income, but revenue. Makes me wonder if they are in the business of making green cars or seeking green from the federal government as their core business. Wouldn't you like to see the business plan that shows how this money is ever going to be paid back? I can imagine the looks I'd get down at the bank if I asked for $9 in loans for every $1 in revenue I'd taken in over the last three years.

Seriously, if it were that good of an idea and Tesla had a business plan that showed a reasonable expectation of a profit, don't you think they could find $450M in private capital, for a product that gets such positive press? But hey, why bother when being green can generate so much green? Even if it is all deficit spending that will probably never be paid back.

Freedom is Slavery

White House: Firing AmeriCorps IG an act of "political courage"

Kind of begs the question what they think an act of political cowardice might look like. Alberto Gonzalez could not be reached for comment.

Is there anything these little Masters of the Universe think they can't get away with?

Not That They Weren't Petty Enough Already

PETA becomes PETI:

Norfolk-based group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the flyswatter-in-chief to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he's bedeviled by a fly in the White House.

"We support compassion even for the most curious, smallest and least sympathetic animals," PETA spokesman Bruce Friedrich said Wednesday. "We believe that people, where they can be compassionate, should be, for all animals."

Insects are people animals too!

Makes You Wonder Why He Wanted the Job, Doesn't It?

Sometime, I'd really like someone to ask President Obama if there is any part of the private, free market America he can bring himself to say something good about:

"If we do not fix our healthcare system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less, and going broke," Obama said, likening the healthcare system to struggling carmaker General Motors, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Fortunately, our healthcare system isn't a monolithic system that will all go broke at once.

Yet.

This Is Not the Change You're Looking For

Obama Says U.S. Jobless Rate to Reach 10% This Year

What now? Double down on the debt bet and spend another $1,600,000,000,000 we don't have!

Senate health overhaul costs top $1.6T

And that's only to solve an estimatedone-third of the uninsured problem!

I can't wait for the next release of the Heritage Foundation chart with the Obama debt projections.

The Most Transparent Administration Transparency Ever

Obama blocks list of visitors to White House

The Alinsky Broadcasting Company

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE

What Does It Say That This Must Be Said?

CIA: Panetta doesn't believe Cheney rooting for terrorist attack

Captain Obvious Strikes Again

Aside from all the good specific arguments about why Government Motors is a bad idea, and there are many, fundamentally the problem is that it puts the government explicitly in the position of picking winners -- and the government's criteria for picking winners is usually much worse than the marketplace's and much, much more prone to corruption.

A Waist Is A Terrible Thing To Mind

I turn fifty in five months. I plan to lose thirty pounds between now and then. The reasons are several and varied, some obvious, some somewhat less so. But now that I've stated it for the Google bots to keep in an archive forever, I can't easily back down.

I start at 220.

Wish me luck.

I Blame Bush

Why not, everybody else does. Clearly his administration did not run deficits high enough to scare the crap out of everyone about deficit spending.

White House: Budget deficit to top $1.8 trillion

Setting aside the 40% annualized inflation rate of last month's White House deficit estimate, what this means is that for every one of the 31,536,000 seconds of the coming year the federal government will spend $57,077 it does not have.

So, I'll have to ask again, is it going to be debt repudiation or inflation?

Playing Roulette With the House's Money

Drudge says: OBAMA BETS IT ALL ON RED

Rather than ask about the other dominant color on the roulette wheel, I am more inclined to wonder whether all that green means this is Year 0 or Year 00.

A Question for the Guys

Would your company's dress code frown upon you wearing a dress?

Adventures in Headline Writing

Bank stress tests show some banks need more funds

Here, let me fix that for you:

Bank stress tests show some banks need more funds to go under

But no worries:

Officials have said they will not let any of the 19 institutions fold.

Do you ever get the idea that the term "moral hazard" means nothing to our political masters?

The Visible Hand

Henceforth, when federal tax dollars, or perhaps more correctly debtor obligations, are used to purchase vehicles for any federal agency or state or municipal agency using federal dollars, will there be a bias towards purchasing Chrysler and GM vehicles over Fords?

Will this be the end of the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor? Then again, it may have already been on the way out.

Shiller's Remorse

Has anyone seen a good explanation yet of why Ms. McArdle, Mr. Brooks, and Mr. Buckley thought that President Obama wasn't going to do everything that candidate Obama said he was going to do? Especially with a compliant Congress?

I suppose it's a good thing that they see the error of their ways now, but some mistakes are so big they are not easily forgiveable.

Strike A Pose

Should Al Gore be statuated planting tobacco, counting his global warming millions, trying to selectively count votes, or something else? At least they should make it out of wood to be environmentally friendly, for the children, don't you think?

A resolution urging the creation of statues to be built on the Tennessee Capitol grounds of the state's two Nobel Peace Prize winners, Al Gore and Cordell Hull, is on its way to a full Senate vote.

Why don't we just go full Roman and start declaring our political masters gods and be done with it?

Chocolate Rations Increased to 20 Grams!

In a depressingly recurring scenario, the Obama administration announces a very negative fact as a great positive! And the great unwashed eat it up:

A White House official hit back at claims the administration was making only modest savings by shaving 17 billion dollars off a whopping 3.4 trillion dollar US budget due to be unveiled Thursday. "I'm going to come back and say, under any set of assumptions, finding the 17 billion dollars a year, I don't think, is a side show," White House budget chief Peter Orszag said on MSNBC.

I agree with Mr. Orszag, this isn't a sideshow. To qualify as a sideshow the savings should be at least 3-4%, not a paltry 0.5%. Unsurprisingly, half the 121 programs cut come from the defense department. Who could have guessed that? Here's an idea though for the future, strike anything that has Murtha, Byrd, or any other Congressperson's name in it. Why, I'll bet we can get to sideshow status in a New York minute!

But get this, straight from President Obama's lips:

Answering criticism that his cuts were but a drop in a multi-trillion-dollar spending bucket, Obama said: "Some of the cuts we're putting forward today are more painful than others. Some are larger than others. In fact a few of the programs we eliminate will produce less than a million dollars in savings. Outside of Washington, that's still a lot of money."

Gives you a lot of insight as to what he really thinks of all you rubes out there doesn't it?

DOWNDATE: E-mailed this to Instapundit in response to his using the same "news" reports about President Obama's budget knife: When all you've got experience with is a ladle, every problem looks like an empty soup bowl.

Star Trek

Haven't seen the eleventh Star Trek movie yet, but if the commercials are any indication it looks as though it will be virtually indistinguishable from any of a dozen Jerry Bruckheimer produced movies where lots of things move around really fast with lots of CGI right up to the point where they explode. Apparently some people like that sort of thing, but why it will make Star Trek more popular escapes me.

Penny for Your Thoughts Stock

Well, that's one way to avoid delisting on the NYSE: GM plans 1-for-100 reverse stock split.

Do Us a Favor Favre

The Bret Favre NFL retirement tour enters its fifth year:

Citing an anonymous source "with direct knowledge of the discussions between the two parties," ESPN reported Tuesday that Favre is scheduled to meet with Vikings coach Brad Childress later this week about a possible comeback with Minnesota.

Presidential Succession Question

Do you think Hillary Clinton accepted the position of Secretary of State because she realized that fifth in line to the presidency was as close as she was ever going to get?

Charles Erwin Wilson President Obama Says, "What's Good for General Motors Is Good for the Country"

Well, that's a bit of a scary thought isn't it? But when the current UAW contract expires do you think they'll pick GM, Chrysler or Ford as the lead or target company for bargaining? Strangely enough, I don't think the answer is as obvious as it seems at first blush, depending on just how devious you think President Obama and the UAW are.

DOWNDATE: According to Wikipedia, what Charles Erwin Wilson actually said during his confirmation hearings was:

"... because for years I thought what was good for the country was good for General Motors and vice versa".

A distinction without a difference or a subtly nuanced change that captures perfectly what has happened?