Happy Anniversary! President Obama. Yes, it's been one year since you passed your stimulus bill. I must say, it has been incredibly popular and successful. Unemployment is low, jobs are in abundance, the economy is good and the American people are optimistic. Unfortunately, none of these things are true. However, not if you ask the White House. They are saying that they, and they alone, have brought us back from the brink of a second depression. Financial analyst say you can only measure what is, not could have been. Biden said the administration has saved 2 million jobs. How do you measure that? I have saved 2 million souls, yea, whatever. Indiana senator, Evan Bayh said that the stimulus hasn't created one job a few days ago. That had to hurt the administration. The original cost of the stimulus bill was $787 billion. Now, the Congressional Budget Office announced two days ago that the true cost is $862 billion with the higher jobless benefits paid out and additional food stamps cost and that doesn't include the interest our kids will have to pay in the future. President Obama promised to create millions of jobs. If he kept his promise, he would need to create 6.3 million jobs in the next year. Recently, analysts have estimated that only 1.2 million jobs will be created in 2010 on the high side. With unemployment at 9.7%, Biden had the gall to say that we are not losing too many jobs now. Obviously, he hasn't lost his job. I am disgusted how cavalier the administration is with the loss of jobs. And let's not forget about the 800 pound elephant in the room, healthcare reform, which is still in the forefront of the
Here is a large serving of Bar-B-Que Pork:
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military
$200 million to the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program
$300 million for "Violence Against Women Prevention and Prosecution Programs"
$900 million for the IRS for the "Limitation on Administrative Expenses"
$1 million for the Railroad Retirement Board for administrative costs
$2 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Act
$50 million for Health and Human Services to carry out injury prevention programs
$1.1 billion for studies on the effectiveness of different medical treatments -- $200 million to upgrade labs and facilities for the Department of Agriculture "to improve workplace safety and mission-area efficiencies"
$10 million for urban canal inspection
$16 billion to pay for student financial aid
$1 billion to pay for the U.S. Census
$600 million to pay for a fuel-efficient federal auto fleet
$650 million for the Digital Converter Box Program to help the constantly delayed transition from analog television
$485 million to the Forest Service for "hazardous fuels reduction and hazard mitigation activities in areas at high risk of catastrophic wildfire"
Up to $1 billion for "summer activities" for youths as old as 24
$40 million for the occupational research agenda
$3 billion for the Centers for Disease Control wellness programs and vaccinations
$410 million for Indian health facilities
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstrations
Will these expeditures create jobs, lower unemployment? Or is this just a PORK bar-b-que sandwich? Or a democrat slush fund? Our supposed leaders are excellent examples for today's youth in regards to fiscal responsibility. "Don't tread on me"
You be the judge:
Marjah inroads slowed by new bombs
By Rajiv Chandrasekaran in Marjah, Afghanistan
Published: February 17 2010 20:19
Lt Col Cal Worth, who commands one of two Marine battalions leading the offensive against Taliban fighters here, set off at 7am on Wednesday for the return journey to his battalion headquarters from a combat outpost less than four miles away.
In a place where homemade bombs are buried under seemingly every road, this trip was supposed to be safe and easy: A team of Marine engineers and ordnance-disposal experts had swept the route 48 hours earlier, unearthing and blowing up seven mines. But on Wednesday, Col Worth’s convoy had travelled less than a mile before the engineers discovered a mine on the rutted road. They would later find three more – all planted in the same intersection as the seven mines they found Monday.
Marjah’s real test will come after offensive - Feb-17Top Taliban commander captured - Feb-16Taliban chief arrested at checkpoint - Feb-16Global Insight: Encouraging sign in Pakistan - Feb-16Mastermind who holds vital intelligence - Feb-16Marines help push insurgents out of Marjah - Feb-17Col Worth’s Sisyphean challenge of moving about in Marjah suggests that Taliban bombmakers, and those who burrow the devices into the dirt roads here, have not been cowed by the presence of two US Marine battalions and a large contingent of Afghan soldiers. Nor have scores of other insurgent fighters, who kept up a steady pace of attacks on coalition forces on Wednesday, firing assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades at their bases and patrols.
Although US and Afghan forces have made steady inroads here since beginning the largest military operation of the war four days ago, they only control a few modest patches of this farming community, principally around the two biggest bazaar areas. Much of Marjah has not yet been patrolled by troops on the ground, and video images from surveillance drones have shown Taliban fighters operating with impunity in those places.
US and Nato commanders were not certain the insurgents who have lorded over Marjah for the past three years would stand and fight or flee to parts of Afghanistan with fewer international security forces. It now appears clear that many Taliban members here have opted to stay – at least for now.
That may mean many more weeks of arduous house-to-house clearing operations for the Marines and Afghan forces in this 155-square-mile area, making this a far more complex and dangerous mission than initially envisaged, and it could delay some efforts to deliver government services and reconstruction projects to the 80,000 people who live here.
“It’s early days yet,” said the British army’s Maj Gen Nick Carter, the overall commander of international forces in southern Afghanistan. “You’re dealing with a large area, with a lot of people in it. It’s going to take a while to clear it.”
Even if insurgents are not fleeing, they are also not winning any of their fights with the Marines. Dozens of militants – there is no authoritative count – have been killed since the operation began. Only One Marine has died.
Senior US military officials have been encouraged by the relatively low level of coalition casualties – more Marines have been evacuated for hypothermia and knee and ankle strains than for gun and bomb wounds – and by the fact that combat engineers have discovered dozens of roadside bombs before they have struck tactical vehicles.
The low level of injuries is due, in large part, to the Marines’ deliberate approach in moving about the area. Instead of driving all over hunting down insurgents, they have been moving in cautious convoys that are preceded by sophisticated minesweeping gear.
Marine commanders remain optimistic that their initial efforts at establishing bubbles of security around key commercial areas will have a catalyzing effect on the population and will result in residents identifying Taliban fighters, bomb locations and arms caches.
Thus far, however, most residents seem to be opting for a wait-and-see approach. Most roads used by the Marines have been devoid of people, save for a few curious gawkers. The bazaars are similarly abandoned, some so hastily that merchants left their onions and potatoes sitting atop wooden carts.
“When they see us providing security, we think they’ll choose the side they think will be victorious in the long term,” Col Worth said.
When Col Worth departed from his Bravo Company’s base next to the Koru Chreh bazaar at 7am, he figured he was giving himself more than enough time to make it back by 10am for what was to be the first meeting of shopkeepers and community leaders. Next up on his schedule, at noon, was a visit by the top Marine commander in Afghanistan and the governor of Helmand province.
By 9:30am, his convoy ground to a halt when the engineers found the first bomb at a the narrow intersection. where they had to turn south to the battalion headquarters. At 10:30am, while munching pretzels in his armoured truck, he received a radio message: The meeting of shopkeepers “was a no-show. Nobody came.”
He didn’t get an explanation. But a few shop owners have dropped by the battalion headquarters to inquire about the military operations and when it might be safe to reopen their stalls. Marine officers usher the visitors to an informal meeting area in the dilapidated compound they now call home: a plastic tarpaulin (for sitting on the floor, Afghan style) with a few treats in the center pulled from military rations — small boxes of Froot Loops, Nature Valley granola bars, New York Style mini bagel chips and Home Run peanuts.
When Gen Carter and the dignitaries arrived at his headquarters, Worth was still sitting on the road, waiting for the explosives-disposal experts to defuse the fourth bomb of the day. As the convoy parked on the road, the turret gunners spotted several men milling about in the bushes and Col Worth feared an ambush. To make matters worse, one of the trucks accidentally drove halfway into a canal, further exposing the forces.
The convoy finally got moving, before an attack could be mounted, but by then a group of Afghan soldiers had already raised their red, green and black flag in the bazaar for the dignitaries. The governor and the visiting generals walked around the rubbled market — large parts of which were destroyed by a US special forces airstrike in the spring of 2009 — and hailed the progress of the current mission.
“I have full confidence that Marja district will be very peaceful and it will be one of the best-developed district in Afghanistan,” said Helmand governor Gulab Mangal.
When Gen Carter was asked how long it would take to pacify Marjah, he said it was impossible to predict. “You can’t put a time on it ... You just have to take it slowly but surely, and the people will be won around in due course.”
Col Worth missed all of it. He arrived 30 minutes after they departed – and 7½ hours after he set off.
After the dignitaries left, the Afghan soldiers who raised their large, shiny tricolor pulled it down and replaced it with a smaller, faded one.
“It’s still dangerous in this area,” one soldier said. The Taliban “might burn it.”
Semper Fi
Daft statement of the day:
"No second depression."
Barack Hussein Obama
Green Piece:
Is the Copenhagen Accord already dead?
PARIS—Less than two months after it was hastily drafted to stave off a fiasco, the Copenhagen Accord on climate change is floundering, and some are already saying it has no future.
Political momentum is so weak that so far only two negotiating rounds have been rostered in 2010, one among officials in Bonn in mid-year, the other in Mexico at ministerial level in December.
Worse, the Accord itself already seems to have been quietly disowned by China, India, and other emerging economies just weeks after they helped write it, say these sources.
“Publicly, they are being bubbly and supportive about the Copenhagen Accord. In private, they are urinating all over it,” one observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
The specific examples Milbank chose for mockery from a list compiled by the Heritage Foundation are in fact perfectly valid observations conducted not by “environmentalists” but by research scientists:
Still, the three official “pillars” of the International Olympic Committee are sport, culture, and environment. If organizers were serious about the third pillar, they’d give the traveling show a permanent home.
Oceans' acidity rate is soaring, claims study - Nature, Environment - The Independent
The oceans are likely to become so acidic in coming centuries that they will become uninhabitable for vast swathes of life, especially the little-studied organisms on the deep-sea floor which are a vital link in the marine food chain.
Spokesman Tom Mueller said BP informed USCAP today of its decision. Another BP spokesman, Ronnie Chappell, said USCAP "has accomplished the work that we thought important when we joined, which was the establishment of a principles-based framework for shaping climate change legislation."
Socialist Spotlight:
Dawn Johnsen - Nominee of Obama for Head of Office of Legal Counsel. 45 house republicans have sent Obama a letter asking him to pull back her nomination. Dawn Johnsen has had a very strong pro-abortion stance in her career including a Supreme Court amicus brief where she equated 'forced pregnancy" is "suggestive of involuntary servitude." Okay. That is the kind of attorney Obama wants. Pro-abortion, fits his modis operandi. Stop the madness.
Quote du jour:
"There is a demand in these days for men who can make wrong appear right."
Terence
Writings of Our Founding Fathers
Federalist Papers
Federalist No. 20
The Same Subject Continued: The Insufficiency of the Present Confederation to Preserve the Union
From the New York Packet.
Tuesday, December 11, 1787.
Author: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison
To the People of the State of New York:
THE United Netherlands are a confederacy of republics, or rather of aristocracies of a very remarkable texture, yet confirming all the lessons derived from those which we have already reviewed.
The union is composed of seven coequal and sovereign states, and each state or province is a composition of equal and independent cities. In all important cases, not only the provinces but the cities must be unanimous.
The sovereignty of the Union is represented by the States-General, consisting usually of about fifty deputies appointed by the provinces. They hold their seats, some for life, some for six, three, and one years; from two provinces they continue in appointment during pleasure.
The States-General have authority to enter into treaties and alliances; to make war and peace; to raise armies and equip fleets; to ascertain quotas and demand contributions. In all these cases, however, unanimity and the sanction of their constituents are requisite. They have authority to appoint and receive ambassadors; to execute treaties and alliances already formed; to provide for the collection of duties on imports and exports; to regulate the mint, with a saving to the provincial rights; to govern as sovereigns the dependent territories. The provinces are restrained, unless with the general consent, from entering into foreign treaties; from establishing imposts injurious to others, or charging their neighbors with higher duties than their own subjects. A council of state, a chamber of accounts, with five colleges of admiralty, aid and fortify the federal administration.
The executive magistrate of the union is the stadtholder, who is now an hereditary prince. His principal weight and influence in the republic are derived from this independent title; from his great patrimonial estates; from his family connections with some of the chief potentates of Europe; and, more than all, perhaps, from his being stadtholder in the several provinces, as well as for the union; in which provincial quality he has the appointment of town magistrates under certain regulations, executes provincial decrees, presides when he pleases in the provincial tribunals, and has throughout the power of pardon.
As stadtholder of the union, he has, however, considerable prerogatives.
In his political capacity he has authority to settle disputes between the provinces, when other methods fail; to assist at the deliberations of the States-General, and at their particular conferences; to give audiences to foreign ambassadors, and to keep agents for his particular affairs at foreign courts.
In his military capacity he commands the federal troops, provides for garrisons, and in general regulates military affairs; disposes of all appointments, from colonels to ensigns, and of the governments and posts of fortified towns.
In his marine capacity he is admiral-general, and superintends and directs every thing relative to naval forces and other naval affairs; presides in the admiralties in person or by proxy; appoints lieutenant-admirals and other officers; and establishes councils of war, whose sentences are not executed till he approves them.
His revenue, exclusive of his private income, amounts to three hundred thousand florins. The standing army which he commands consists of about forty thousand men.
Such is the nature of the celebrated Belgic confederacy, as delineated on parchment. What are the characters which practice has stamped upon it? Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war.
It was long ago remarked by Grotius, that nothing but the hatred of his countrymen to the house of Austria kept them from being ruined by the vices of their constitution.
The union of Utrecht, says another respectable writer, reposes an authority in the States-General, seemingly sufficient to secure harmony, but the jealousy in each province renders the practice very different from the theory.
The same instrument, says another, obliges each province to levy certain contributions; but this article never could, and probably never will, be executed; because the inland provinces, who have little commerce, cannot pay an equal quota.
In matters of contribution, it is the practice to waive the articles of the constitution. The danger of delay obliges the consenting provinces to furnish their quotas, without waiting for the others; and then to obtain reimbursement from the others, by deputations, which are frequent, or otherwise, as they can. The great wealth and influence of the province of Holland enable her to effect both these purposes.
It has more than once happened, that the deficiencies had to be ultimately collected at the point of the bayonet; a thing practicable, though dreadful, in a confedracy where one of the members exceeds in force all the rest, and where several of them are too small to meditate resistance; but utterly impracticable in one composed of members, several of which are equal to each other in strength and resources, and equal singly to a vigorous and persevering defense.
Foreign ministers, says Sir William Temple, who was himself a foreign minister, elude matters taken ad referendum, by tampering with the provinces and cities. In 1726, the treaty of Hanover was delayed by these means a whole year. Instances of a like nature are numerous and notorious.
In critical emergencies, the States-General are often compelled to overleap their constitutional bounds. In 1688, they concluded a treaty of themselves at the risk of their heads. The treaty of Westphalia, in 1648, by which their independence was formerly and finally recognized, was concluded without the consent of Zealand. Even as recently as the last treaty of peace with Great Britain, the constitutional principle of unanimity was departed from. A weak constitution must necessarily terminate in dissolution, for want of proper powers, or the usurpation of powers requisite for the public safety. Whether the usurpation, when once begun, will stop at the salutary point, or go forward to the dangerous extreme, must depend on the contingencies of the moment. Tyranny has perhaps oftener grown out of the assumptions of power, called for, on pressing exigencies, by a defective constitution, than out of the full exercise of the largest constitutional authorities.
Notwithstanding the calamities produced by the stadtholdership, it has been supposed that without his influence in the individual provinces, the causes of anarchy manifest in the confederacy would long ago have dissolved it. "Under such a government," says the Abbe Mably, "the Union could never have subsisted, if the provinces had not a spring within themselves, capable of quickening their tardiness, and compelling them to the same way of thinking. This spring is the stadtholder." It is remarked by Sir William Temple, "that in the intermissions of the stadtholdership, Holland, by her riches and her authority, which drew the others into a sort of dependence, supplied the place."
These are not the only circumstances which have controlled the tendency to anarchy and dissolution. The surrounding powers impose an absolute necessity of union to a certain degree, at the same time that they nourish by their intrigues the constitutional vices which keep the republic in some degree always at their mercy.
The true patriots have long bewailed the fatal tendency of these vices, and have made no less than four regular experiments by EXTRAORDINARY ASSEMBLIES, convened for the special purpose, to apply a remedy. As many times has their laudable zeal found it impossible to UNITE THE PUBLIC COUNCILS in reforming the known, the acknowledged, the fatal evils of the existing constitution. Let us pause, my fellow-citizens, for one moment, over this melancholy and monitory lesson of history; and with the tear that drops for the calamities brought on mankind by their adverse opinions and selfish passions, let our gratitude mingle an ejaculation to Heaven, for the propitious concord which has distinguished the consultations for our political happiness.
A design was also conceived of establishing a general tax to be administered by the federal authority. This also had its adversaries and failed.
This unhappy people seem to be now suffering from popular convulsions, from dissensions among the states, and from the actual invasion of foreign arms, the crisis of their distiny. All nations have their eyes fixed on the awful spectacle. The first wish prompted by humanity is, that this severe trial may issue in such a revolution of their government as will establish their union, and render it the parent of tranquillity, freedom and happiness: The next, that the asylum under which, we trust, the enjoyment of these blessings will speedily be secured in this country, may receive and console them for the catastrophe of their own.
I make no apology for having dwelt so long on the contemplation of these federal precedents. Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred. The important truth, which it unequivocally pronounces in the present case, is that a sovereignty over sovereigns, a government over governments, a legislation for communities, as contradistinguished from individuals, as it is a solecism in theory, so in practice it is subversive of the order and ends of civil polity, by substituting VIOLENCE in place of LAW, or the destructive COERCION of the SWORD in place of the mild and salutary COERCION of the MAGISTRACY.
PUBLIUS.
References:
http://www.hotair.com/
http://www.thehill.com/
http://www.drudgereport.com/
http://www.politico.com/
http://www.weeklystandard.com/
http://www.newsbusters.com/
http://www.americanthinker.com/
http://www.americanspectator.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.quotationspage.com/
Library of Congress/Federalist Papers
Washington Post
Fianacial Times
Grist Magazine
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
http://www.climatedepot.com/
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