Of Nukes, Norks and other assorted madmen

"Nothing more wonderfully concentrates a man's mind than the sure knowledge he is to be hanged in the morning."

B-Daddy breaks down how best to deal with the nuclear threat posed by both North Korea and Iran and shows admirable restraint with respect to describing the proclivities of the little dog-eating perv of the peninsula.

Check it out here

The Washington Post does not believe you are sufficiently nuanced to understand the President's energy policies

Hey, do you remember when we were told that a vote for McCain would be a vote for the continuation of energy policies that were destructive to the environment? Well, they were right.

During the campaign and after his election, President Obama left environmentalists in coal country with the distinct impression that he was going to do away with mountaintop removal mining in the Appalachians. That's where coal companies expose coal seams by stripping the dirt and rock covering them or blasting the tops of mountains to bits with dynamite and then, under legally defined conditions, dump the debris into valleys. It's a particularly destructive practice, but it's legal. And it will remain so under a memorandum of understanding the Obama administration will announce today.

The linked WaPo article provides lame cover by stating that the President never "flat-out" said he would ban strip mining (like how we never "flat-out" said we wouldn’t vote for Obama) while even acknowledging the cynical politics of allowing strip mining to buy votes for the climate-change bill… you know – destroying the environment in order to save it.

We’re curious as to what the Post’s official position is on off-shore drilling, a practice that would seem far less harmful to the environment than strip mining.

Quote of the Day

…. if only Dick Cheney looked this good in a swim suit.

“You know, I think it’s hilarious right now that the world is turning to beauty queens for the answers for this. I think it’s an important issue and I think that it’s one that I don’t think I can win a battle. I don’t want to be any more divisive than it’s already become.”

(too late, sweetie)

That from Tami Farrell, the newly-minted Miss California USA who assumed the position after the canning of Carrie Prejean and who like Ms. Prejean holds similar views on gay marriage.

Tales from Bailout Nation Pt. XIV

... is starting to stretch our knowledge of Roman numerology.

Q: You've been quite critical of the Treasury. What troubles you most about what you're getting and what you're not getting?

A: There's no discussion of the overall policy. Instead, there are specific programs that are announced, and from that, it's necessary to reason backwards to figure out what the goal must have been. It's like a "Jeopardy!" game. If this is the answer, what was the question? It's frustrating because without a clearly articulated goal and identified metrics to determine whether the goal is being accomplished, it's almost impossible to tell if a program is successful.

Q: Do you have a clear sense of what the overall TARP plan at this point is supposed to do? Are you capable of summarizing what it's supposed to be doing?

A: No. And neither is Treasury. Treasury has given us multiple contradictory explanations for what it's trying to accomplish. There's a major problem and a minor problem. The minor problem is documentation. I've spent four weeks now looking for someone who can give me the details of the stress test so that we can do an independent evaluation of whether the stress test is any good.
We get: "someone will call [you] right back." Only the call doesn't come.
The major problem is that Treasury has not articulated its goals. And without that, we can't have a robust debate about whether they're headed in the right direction; instead, we're stuck with this more technical argument about the implementation of the [Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility] or the details of the Capital Acquisition Program. And that misses the central question of, should we be subsidizing failing banks or liquidating them? When we acquire capital, should we exercise more control over the institutions that take the money or less control? Those are the central policy issues that the American public has a right to participate in.

This from some right-wing crank or Tea Party type whose got its panties in a wad over the vague nature of the TARP program? Nope. The “A” in question is from one Elizabeth Warren who was appointed chair of the newly created Congressional Oversight Panel which is charged with keeping tabs on the $700 billion worth of TARP funds.

More here.

Barney Frank would like to have a gander at your pay stub

The Administration, while actively pursuing constraints on executive compensation for firms that have received TARP funds has shown amazing restraint in not wanting to meddle in the affairs of firms that have not been bailed out. And shouldn’t you be expressing your eternal gratitude towards that nod to rampant laissez-faire capitalism?

Congress, however does not share the Administration’s sentiment that there are aspects of the private sector in which they should not be meddling… after all, the most ethical Congress in history is doing such a bang-up job managing their own affairs, wouldn’t you agree?

Here’s vice madam of the House, Barney Frank:

"I do differ with the administration in that hope springs eternal and their position seems to be that if we strengthen the compensation committees we will do better.”

Compensation committees… Sounds suspiciously like they would be staffed in similar fashion and given the same directives as Maoist “committees for public safety.”

After all, it’s for your own good

His previous experience should serve him well.

B-Daddy has a word of advice for the new head of GM. Not that head of GM... but this head of GM.

Not so random thought of the Day

(this post was started late last night and wrapped-up this morning. Please set your watches accordingly)

Thank goodness for basketball. No, not the NBA or college hoops but our rag-tag rec league that plays on Monday nights (and sometimes Wednesday nights or even double-headers on Mondays because of scheduling crunches) down at San Diego High’s venerable old Cave. Yours truly was privileged to play a small part in a semi-final win this evening for which we chipped in 10 pts., a charlie horse, a bruised lip and a technical foul. And because of all that, the fact that we will not actually fall asleep until 1 matters not a lick.

We mention this because there are times while we are driving home, completely exhausted, that we have the greatest peace of mind and the greatest clarity regarding the world around us. Bruce Springsteen once said, “It all comes back to the physical”, meaning those 4-hour rock’n’roll tent revival meetings he is famous for were really about breaking down the body to free the spirit…. Liberate your ass and the mind will follow...

This goes double for this evening as the events that unfolded today in D.C. will mean that turning on the T.V. or radio or opening up the newspaper or surfing the internet will be absolutely insufferable… as will blogging. So, again, thank goodness for basketball and the completely inconsequential world of sports, in general.

And because we feel we have some clarity right now, it’s safe to describe our mood currently as saddened. We are saddened by the 3 very high profile murders that have occurred this past 10-11 days. Murder is wrong and nothing… nothing justifies it. And despite what you will hear or read for the next few days, (weeks? months?) hatred knows no ideology. We are also saddened that people will use this as an excuse to play gotcha politics. We couldn’t help but notice the near glee emoting from some news commentators, columnists and blog-folk over the murder of George Tiller. It was sickening. It was as if the life of a single person was a small price to pay for pinning absolute moral failure on a religious/political ideology. Yaaaaay, now we’ve got’m pinned!

And this is why today, we couldn’t wait to get to the Cave and wish for someone to give us a cheap elbow to the chops.

We are also saddened that we have a President who is not as saddened. The Commander-in-Chief has seen fit to issue a statement on the White House.gov website condemning (and rightfully so) the murder of Dr. Tiller and also a statement on the murder of the security guard at the Holocaust museum that was issued in such a pro forma and hasty manner, it did not bother to mention the name of the man who gave his life to protect the sanctity of the museum and the lives of those inside it.

Yet this same Commander-in-Chief cannot see fit to address, at the same website, the assassination of an Army private who is in his Constitutionally-mandated chain of command at the hands of an Islamic jihadist. The War on Terror has been brought to our home turf and yet no one dare speak its name. How can that not be saddening?

The absence of this, the smallest of gestures actually overshadows Bailout Nation, the laughable “era of fiscal responsibility”, the porkulus political payoffs, the bankruptcy cramdowns and the rest of the miserable lot of folly and vanity administered now out of the West wing.

And it’s saddening because we love our President. Yes, we do. Not in the blindly sycophantic “thrill up the leg” way of a fourth estate that has completely rolled over and abrogated its responsibility to the Republic but a love borne of devotion and respect for the office of President. Prayers for the safety of and wisdom for, are not offered on behalf of any particular person, they are sent on behalf of the President of the United States of America. We disagree vehemently with the policies of the President but by dammed, he’s the only one we’ve got.

So considering the events of the past week and a half and our current mood, we’re a tad worn out. We posted some stuff late this afternoon where we haven’t gone back to take a look at with respect to comments because quite frankly, we don’t care what you think of what we think. And this not checking or responding to comments may continue for a few days, we’re not sure. Please do not take this as any disrespect. We are as flattered as humanly possible that anyone would want to take valuable time to read what we post here, it’s just that we’re taking a break from other people’s opinions for a short while. We’ve said our piece and now we move on.

We’ll break out of this funk in no time, we’re sure. At least until the morning when we wake up, trundle downstairs to break open the fish wrap and are once again assaulted with the news of the world and dutifully instructed as to who’s to blame for this bloody mess.

Most likely pictures of sunsets and daisies to follow.

There are just some episodes of folly that were too much fun to be left in the scrap heap of history

In an article here of which we otherwise did not agree with much, there was one paragraph that did strike us as, hey, great point and yeah, we had completely forgot about that one.

· Under the guise of preventing "systemic risk", counterparties to Wall Street firms, even those surviving on government bailouts, were made whole via TARP funds. That's in stark contrast to how the automakers' creditors were treated. Similarly, the Obama team hid behind the "sanctity of contract law" amid the uproar over AIG bonuses but felt no compunction in redoing contracts between Chrysler, GM and their creditors; in the process, the administration overturned the way secured vs. unsecured creditors have historically been treated in bankruptcies.

You all remember those AIG bonuses that couldn’t possibly be revoked because they were already written into the executives' contracts and which everyone from the President and Chris Dodd knew about? Alas, not being ones to waste a crisis, though, the most ethical Congress in history sprung into action like a pack of crazed dogs and made like night-riders anew in order to demonize and track down those ingrate fat cats who refused to part with their bonuses. Ah yes, the good ol' days.

Evil that must be spoken out against

The following is a statement from the President regarding the shooting today at the Holocaust museum:

"I am shocked and saddened by today’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. This outrageous act reminds us that we must remain vigilant against anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms. No American institution is more important to this effort than the Holocaust Museum, and no act of violence will diminish our determination to honor those who were lost by building a more peaceful and tolerant world.

"Today, we have lost a courageous security guard who stood watch at this place of solemn remembrance. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends in this painful time."

(We understand the pressure the White House must've felt to release this statement in such a hasty manner as the name of the statement's anonymous deceased security guard who gave his life in the line of duty is Stephen T. Johns, 39, of Temple Hills, Md.)

We wholeheartedly agree with the sentiments expressed by the President and would hope he is crafting similar language to honor the life of Private William Long and condemn the act of another hate-filled monster who assassinated Long a week and a half ago and which will be on display at the White House.gov site

Remember, it's only a "concept". (UPDATED)

(UPDATE #1): Well, that didn’t take long. As predicted, the fix is already in. A day after announcing the Porkulus Surge, the President adopted a get-tough approach to putting together a budget exhorting Congress to adopt pay-go rules. No new spending unless it could be paid for with budget cuts elsewhere or new taxes. And no exemptions – repeat – no exemptions… he really, really means it… except for, you know, the $2.5 trillion for universal health care over the next 10 years.

The "pay-as-you-go" budget formula plan is significantly weaker than a proposal Obama issued with little fanfare last month.

It would carve out about $2.5 trillion worth of exemptions for Obama's priorities over the next decade. His health care reform plan also would get a green light to run big deficits in its early years. But over a decade, Congress would have to come up with money to cover those early year deficits.

Try to suppress your laughter a little, please.

(here endeth the update)
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Employing the latest ruse in an attempt to get China to purchase more U.S. debt, President Obama, yesterday, rolled out a challenge to Congress to “pay-go” or pay as you go, meaning they could only pay for new entitlement spending by raising taxes or coming up with budget cuts.

Sounds pretty good, right? You only pay for stuff if you have the money for it.

The only problem is, it’s complete bunk. Back at Seminary, we did not have an Honor Code, we had an Honor Concept and the running gag there was to be mindful of the distinction and to act accordingly.

So, it’s not binding – it’s only a challenge. And when “pay as you go” was in play back in the 90s, it was common practice to simply exempt areas of the budget from any cuts. So, in effect, it made the raising taxes to pay for new entitlement spending the only effective option for paying for it. Now, you don’t think that this, the most ethical Congress in history would resort to such parliamentary chicanery, now do you?

Lastly, this pay-go “concept” is not meant to effect legislation on a yearly basis, meaning the books don’t have to be balanced at the end of the fiscal year but rather over the coming decade which means there is really no check on the President’s and Congress’s current and future spending plans as someone else will have to deal with the mess some ten years down the road. So, thank god, there is nothing to worry abot - the deferred responsibility program is still on track

Let’s go to the scoreboard…

Pay-go on a scale of 1 - 10. Effectiveness: 0 Cynicism: 8.5

Corporate smack of the Day

"Lane Kiffin is a flat-out liar. He lied to the team, he lied to the fans, and he lied to the media. He will try to destroy that university like he tried to destroy the Raiders, and will eventually clash with (Pat) Summitt and (Bruce) Pearl. Other than that, the Raiders can say nothing further."

(Al, there is nothing else you would like to get off your chest, regarding Mr. Kiffin?)

That from Lane Kiffin’s former NFL employer. Lane is now the coach of the Tennessee Volunteers and, to date, has racked up no less than 5 secondary violations (so, he and the Chargers defensive backfield have something in common already) and has seen fit to run some excellent smack of his own with regard to a couple of conference rivals without having even coached a single game. Have we mentioned how much we are looking forward to the start of this particular college football season?

Anyway, ESPN’s Outside the Lines' cameras were on hand while doing a segment on Kiffin’s adventurous start at Rocky Top and caught him violating another recruiting rule: talking to a recruit in front of media cameras. Get more of this and the actual ESPN OTL feature, here.