Sleepless in Midland

Little wonder government workers voted for Obama

Federal employees are weathering the recession in fine form. While employees in the private sector worry about pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs, the number of federal employees is growing, and the pay checks are getting fatter. Source, and excerpt:

Executive branch employment — 1.98 million in 2009, excluding the Postal Service and the Defense Department — is set to increase by 15.6 percent for the 2010 fiscal year. Most of that is thanks to the Census Bureau hiring 102,000 temporary workers, but not counting them still yields a net increase of 2 percent in one year.

There's little belt-tightening in evidence in Washington, D.C.: Counting benefits, the average pay per federal worker will leap from $72,800 in 2008 to $75,419 next year.

[Emphasis added.]

And Mr. Obama cares about government employees and what they think so much that he will let them influence his budget process. See Employee satisfaction survey will play role in budget process. Excerpt:

The Obama administration plans to use a biennial survey of employee satisfaction and morale to shape the 2011 budget process, according to Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

True, we want workers at any job to have some degree of satisfaction. But is it asking too much to take a customers' satisfaction survey to determine whether the agency is actually providing the service they are paid to do? And better yet, let's ask taxpayers where to cut and where to spend. Now there's a radical concept.

To get your own federal job, go to USAjobs.gov where it says, "There are 33,112 U.S. Government job opportunities worldwide."

Biden "misread the economy"

Vice President Biden recently claimed that he and everyone else misread the economy when he was questioned on ABC about the rising unemployment numbers. The administration team was talking down the economy for the entire duration of the campaign leading up to the '08 election, so maybe he's admitting to some pre-election hyperbole. Or perhaps he and the President are not cognizant of the effect they themselves have had on the economy. Or more likely, both are true. But so far they've done little to reassure any citizen who has a basic understanding of economics.

For Mr. Biden, it's a case of vision shaped by a lifetime in government. For Mr. Obama, it's the vision of a naive ideologue with a remarkable understanding of how to get people to vote for him but a misguided belief that he can change fundamental human behavior.

There are giant deficit causing spending programs, threats of higher taxes, bank takeovers, auto industry takeovers, threats to credit companies, threats to cut executives' pay, threats to hinder the energy industry, threats to alter the health care profession, union favoritism, and other threats and actions Obama and team have made to the health of the economy. They may relish the power that results from the fear they cause, but everyone else has to suffer because of it.

The same thing happened during the Great Depression. See Great Depression 2.0 and Regime Uncertainty, inside. "Regime Uncertainty" is a phrase coined by Robert Higgs to describe the fear that a government can create in the business world, and that fear inhibits any desire in the private sector to make investments.

Listen to a podcast interview with Mr. Higgs at econtalk.org. And read his paper titled Regime Uncertainty (PDF) in which he discussed the years following the crash in which the economy operated substantially below it's capability to produce, and fear of the government prolonged the Great Depression by several years.

We hear talk about not repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression, but when Obama/Biden say it, they are probably not thinking beyond trade tariffs. They seem unwilling to admit to the fear they've created in the investment world and among the people and industries they expect will help lower the unemployment rate.

Odessa Tea Party, July 4, 2009

Rally organizers in Odessa were on top of the Tea Party game last April 15 when they put together a fabulous event. And they did it again yesterday, July 4. The spirits were high, the speakers were eloquent, and the temperature was HOT, HOT, HOT!

The rally got started shortly after noon, and the speakers and audience celebrated the 4th of July with an appreciation of their right to speak freely and express concern about the problems the country faces, problems which resulted in no small part from the actions of our esteemed elected officials.

In fact, it's not just a right, it's a patriotic duty to our friends, neighbors and fellow Americans to speak up about problems that needs addressing. The participants had various concerns; some were religious, but most were political. And one thing on which they all would probably agree is that our government is out of control with the spending. Whether the people in our government know pork when they see it or whether they think all spending is somehow good for the country, the President and Congress have been spending with less caution than a lottery winning cocaine addict.

One noteworthy sign said "OK, we're here. What Now?" She summed up the feeling a lot of the attendees must have felt, a sense of helplessness as our government has spent so much money it will take three generations to pay it back. The Republicans started it, and the Democrats are building it into a Frankenstein monster they won't be able to control, and the citizenry can only watch in astonishment.

When our biggest creditor, which also happens to be a rival super power, is worried about the wisdom of their investments maybe it's time to wake. Perhaps that's role that the Tea Party movement will serve -- a barking guard dog warning that burglars are hauling off our life savings.  We can go back to sleep and let it happen or wake up and take a stand.

Links: Odessa Tea Party website; video; and previously, Odessa Tea Party April 15.

A trillion here, a trillion there ...

"A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money." That's the famous quote attributed to Everett Dirksen. Now days a billion seems insignificant compared to the trillions of dollars each of the new government proposals are projected to cost.

A friend told me about a recent article describing how Republican pollsters were trying to get people to focus on how much the Obama programs would cost. According to the article, GOP pollsters would ask people to "think of a dollar as one second - one dollar, one brief tick of your watch. A million seconds, the pollster explained, equals eleven days. A billion seconds equals 31 years. And a trillion seconds equals 310 centuries." They must have done some rounding, and math checkers might come up with a few more centuries, but that certainly is a big chunk of time no matter how you add it up.

The number "trillion" really is a big one, and most of us don't encounter it in our daily lives, except when we try to comprehend the government. So let's do the math.

1,000 = one thousand
1,000,000 = one million
1,000,000,000 = one billion, and
1,000,000,000,000 = one trillion.

A trillion is a "one" followed by 12 zeros and four commas. For a visualization of a guy standing next to a trillion dollars in 100 bills check out this image. It's like a "Where's Waldo" with a tiny little Waldo.

Interestingly, the number of votes cast in the 2008 presidential election, 131,257,328, is remarkably close to the total number of taxpayers, 135,719,160 (2006 number). Let's divide the trillion dollars among the taxpayers, and each gets $7,368.16. (It was divided equally so as to satisfy Mr. Obama's share-the-wealth needs even though the burden wasn't shared equally.)

WolframAlpha tells us there are 6.57 billion people on the planet (as of 7/2/09). So each of them could get $152.21.

Breitbart tells us that China is holding $700 billion in U.S. bonds, so we could pay that off and still have $300 billion left over to give each U.S. resident almost a thousand dollars! Or Congress could squander the remainder on pet projects.

If there are any trillionaires out there Forbes doesn't report them. So maybe we should create one. Devise a computer program whereby one form 1040 is selected at random from all the IRS forms filed in 2008, and that person gets the trillion dollars and become the richest person on the planet.

And what if Barack Obama happened to be that winner? We all know he would be so altruistic that he would plow it into a healthcare program for the uninsured. Ya think? George Bush would probably buy land. Bill Clinton or Mark Sanford could afford to make a million indecent proposals to some lucky lady.

In any event, a trillion dollars is one heck of a lot of money. And it's depressing to contemplate the fact that voters are so acquiescent. At least we now know what "hope" and "change" meant.

Obamercial TV ratings

Last night President Obama and ABC teamed up for the prime time ObamaCare show, but the ratings weren't that hot. According to Race for Midweek Overnight Dominance in MediaWeek the ABC show came in third. Here's what they say the ratings were at that time slot:

#1 - CBS, rerun of "CSI: NY" at 5.1/ 9
#2 - NBC, "The Philanthropist" at 4.8/ 9
#3 - ABC, "Primetime – Questions for the President: Prescription for America" at 3.7/ 7

Last night ABC first had on "Wipeout" which scored 4.6/ 9, followed by "I survived a Japanese Game Show" which scored 2.4/ 4, and then the O'mercial with ratings of 3.7/ 7. Obama could have followed "Wipeout" for a bigger lead in, but then viewers might have been tempted to associate the name "Wipeout" with ObamaCare. Oh the decisions a President has to make!

In honor of the ABC Obamacare infomercial

The ABC Obamacare show is supposed to air tonight, and with an "I survived a Japanese Game Show" lead, the ratings should be huge.

There will probably be a few token questions from the opposition, but there's no avoiding the fact that Mr. Obama will be given an amazing opportunity to present his side of the issue in the most favorable fashion.

Pro-Obamacare factions are screaming "hypocrisy" over complaints about the TV show because Fox News did some Bush Administration personality profiles, but there's a big difference. This is a sales job.  No one expected a Fox show to convince a skeptical public to swallow a pill that will drastically change our health care system in the most expensive way. The Obama plan is presented as a way to provide insurance coverage for those people who are currently uninsured, and there's nothing wrong with that concept.  But this grand experiment is sure to affect medical care for everyone in the country. And ABC is helping make the sale. By the way, it's looking less like a pill than a suppository.

A note about the image: In honor of the Obama TV Network connection the old TV with the repetitious picture roll seemed a timely selection. There's a great do-it-yourself special effects page at PhotoFunia. Upload a photo of a face for placement in another photo.

He's Barack Obama, come to save the day

Great new video from JibJab:

"When darkness had descended
all across the land,
A lone voice in the distance uttered
'Yes, we can!' "
...
He's Barack Obama
he's come to save the day!

It's so refreshing to find someone not afraid to poke fun at "The One." Watch this hilarious parody at Youtube.

In the meantime JibJab fans can learn how they did it at the JibJab blog. Given that it takes them three months to put one together, this action-hero-Obama was very timely as the real Obama waits patiently for a winner to emerge in Iran.

He shoots hoops, he kills flies, he balances the budget!

Well, two out of three anyway -- worth a solid "D," but with grade inflation, "C."

By now we've all seen the clip of President Obama swatting a fly with his open hand. Watch it on youtube and listen to his remarks. "That was pretty impressive, wasn't it? I got him, I got the sucker. What do ya think, Gibbs? You wanna film that? There it is."

It's reminiscent of his hoop shot from the three point range during the '08 campaign. Click to watch. "I may not make the first one," he says. He made it and beams with pride, but he wisely avoids the second try.

He's obviously very proud of of those physical accomplishments, and those of us who questioned whether he was qualified to serve as President might wish he had stayed in sports. But he's probably not good enough to have attained any real sports fame, and along came politics, the narcissist's playground.

I really shouldn't criticize him for being so proud of his fly swat. He needs something to brag about, and it certainly couldn't be anything he's done since becoming president.A recent WSJ poll  revealed that 51% approve of his handling the economy, down from 56% in February and April. The 51% roughly equals the percentage of the popular vote he got in November, but there appears to be growing dissatisfaction. Or maybe it's a realization that expectations were too high to begin with.

His overall approval number is 56% telling us that a lot of people still love him in spite of his lack of success in the things that matter. But he can swat flies with his bare hands. We are sure to see more things like this as his team begins to stage little scenes at which Mr. Obama can shine. And maybe next time there will be some hand sanitizer nearby so he can clean up afterward. Did anyone shake his hand when the interview ended? Yuck!

Odessa Tea Party July 4, 2009

Remember the Taxpayer Tea Party that took place in Odessa on April 15? Here are some photos  for a reminder.

Well, there's another one coming up very soon. Elizabeth Woolridge and Matt Pippen will be putting it together. And it's planned for Independence Day, July 4, at the Buffalo Wallow/Memorial Gardens in Odessa, Texas, from noon until 2 pm.

This is truly a grass roots organization, so be sure to visit the Odessa Tea Party website to show your support.

Letterman - desire to ridicule political opposition overrides sense of decency

Greg Gutfeld nailed it with this:

Here's my take on Letterman's obsession with Sarah Palin:

-ideology clouds what you find funny. If you're a lefty, then a Palin joke is priceless. If you're a righty, it's lame. That's just the way it is. ...

He's right. That's just the way it is. Letterman can get away with poking fun at Sarah Palin and her daughter because his audience eats it up, his ratings spike, sponsors pay more and CBS makes money.

There are probably a lot of conservative satirists who would love to play by Letterman's rules, but if conservatives have a sense of decency they enter that arena with one hand tied behind their backs. And besides, there's no market for it. For example, we would never hear a comedian say something like this:

When asked what he thought about Letterman attacking Palin's daughter, Kelly Frank said, "Oh, so now it's fun, is it? I could give Letterman a list: Top ten to twenty reasons why people should stay away from famous people's kids!"

Wouldn't happen. Never. No one could ever stoop to that level.

What this country needs is more euphemisms

Homeland Security Czarista Napolitano recently informed us that the word "terrorism" will be replaced with the phrase "man-caused disasters." Why stop there?

By way of a Shire Network News podcast we are provided with a top nine list of these masterpieces of the bureaucratic mindset. Alas, the author of these gems, Doug Payton, has them posted at Considerettes, to wit:

9 - The term "tax cuts" will now be called "Unamerican Activities".
8 - "Paycheck Bonus" shall become "A Congressional Oversight".
7 - "Disagreeing with President Obama" will now be called "Racism".
6 - "Affirmative Action" will be replaced with "Universal Diversity Adjustment".
5 - "Financial Collapse" shall now be known as "Republican Party Evil Master Plan".
4 - "Supporting Israel’s right to exist" will now be called "Racism".
3 - "Militant Islamists" are to be referred to as "Misunderstood Peaceniks".
2 - "Western Civilization" will now be called "Racism".
1 - "Socialism" will henceforth go by the name "Capitalism".

The Laffer Curve is getting renewed attention

Last year Arthur Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter Tanou authored a book titled The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy - If We Let it Happen.

The other day a talk the authors gave about it was bradcast on C-SPAN. It's quite a delight to watch, and they do a good job of explaining in simple terms the problems we are facing, and they make no bones about how President Obama's policies will make it worse, whether it's the goal of energy independence, government run industries, or the "tax the wealthy" mentality.

They are right, of course. Mr. Laffer's ideas about taxes in the early '80s helped usher in a long era of prosperity, and only the most hard core political opponents even attempt to deny that lower taxes have been proven to lead to prosperity. On the other hand, high taxes hurt the economy. And the "wealthy" will figure out a way to avoid taxes. The issue isn't political, it's economic.

In the talk Mr. Laffer provides an image that anyone can grasp. If you tax people in place "A" higher than place "B," then people in "A" will move to "B."  That's why Mr. Laffer moved from California to Tennessee.  An example Mr. Laffer gives of how the wealthy avoid taxes is Warren Buffet who until recently was supposed to be worth $66 billion. His wealth is unrealized capital gains in Berkshire Hathaway stock, and he won't pay any taxes on it unless he sells it. So if Mr. Buffet says he pays less taxes than his secretary then he's probably telling the truth. And Mr. Buffet could donate his stock to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to avoid ever paying any taxes on it.

The talk is available online here. If you watch it pay attention at around the 23 minute mark where you can hear the most remarkable compliment/complaint I've heard about Barack Obama. Here's a partial transcript, Laffer is talking:

"This man Barack Obama is one of the most impressive human beings I've seen in my life in politics I'm awe struck. He's an awesome man, he represents so much that is wonderful about our country. A black African father, a white American mother, if that's not the melting pot I don't know what is. ... He went to Columbia University, did extraordinarily well then. He then went to Harvard Law School, became editor of the Harvard Law Review -- you don't get that by affirmative action, you got to really be good. ... This man is really cool. ... But he's wrong on every single issue."

Mr. Obama is known to be somewhat thin skinned, so maybe that's the way to criticize him. Butter up his ego and make it very personal, then slam him with the truth about his policies.

Obama campaign gear on sale

Good news for Obama fans! They're having a sale on Obama campaign leftovers. Bumper stickers 50 for $2.50, buttons 50 for $5.00. But wait, there's more!

President Obama's rose colored glasses

"The U.S. will remain a super power;
The national debt is under control;
The U.S. is a good credit risk;
Taxes will fall;
There is no hyperinflation risk;
Our enemies love us.
Hey, I want every American to get
a pair of these rose colored glasses!"

[Photo credit: Pete Souza.]

Mayors Gone Wild

Most people have some gripe about their local city governments, and some have more reason to do so than others. But city dwellers across the nation probably heard about former San Angelo Mayor J. W. Lown and said to themselves, "I sure am glad my mayor didn't abandon his job to go to Mexico to chase after his gay lover."

Shhhh, don't ask, don't tell.

The folks in San Angelo seem sympathetic to former Mayor Lown. The position of mayor in a small town is usually a second, low paying job. But most mayors probably expect their role as mayor to help them in their primary occupation. So it's really kind of touching to see not the mighty dollar but romance stealing the attention of a town leader.

Just goes to show, when that old love bug bites, there's nothing you can do about it.

Links: Lown’s surprise move is talk of the town;
Lown answers questions about resignation;
Weighty decision led to mayor's resignation.

What to expect: A test of whether a gay marriage can bestow U.S. citizenship.

A convenient list of Joe Biden's gaffes

Joe Biden's most recently reported gaffe was supposed to have occurred at a Gridiron Dinner in which he revealed the location of the undisclosed location where Dick Cheney was stationed immediately after the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.  Nice going, Joe.

Biden is wealth of material for bloggers, and for our convenience, Fox has compiled a "list of 14 amusing yet cringe-worthy 'Bidenisms' made during the vice president's more recent political career." Link.

My favorite:

-- At a Sept. 10, 2008, town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., Biden said, "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me."

Runner up:

-- On Jan. 31, 2007 -- the day Biden announced his presidential bid -- the Delaware Senator was roundly criticized for calling Obama "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man."

Say it ain't so, Joe. Via Madville.

Of course, Biden's main job is to be ready to take over as President should Obama die, resign or be removed. Picture that, President Joe Biden, leader of the free world, with no one around to shush him up.

Speaking of presidential succession (PDF), should anything happen to both Obama and Biden then the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, takes the job. Should anything happen to all three, then the President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes President. So 91 year old Robert Byrd, currently residing in a hospital, is three heart attacks away from the presidency.

Take your vitamins, Mr. Obama. And ditch the cigarettes.

Borrower in Chief

On Thursday, May 14, 2009, President Obama made a remarkable statement. Here's the link to his online version of it, and here's the key part:

But the long-term deficit and debt that we have accumulated is unsustainable. We can't keep on just borrowing from China, or borrowing from other countries -- (applause) -- because part of it is, we have to pay for -- we have to pay interest on that debt. And that means that we're mortgaging our children's future with more and more debt, but what's also true is that at some point they're just going to get tired of buying our debt. And when that happens, we will really have to raise interest rates to be able to borrow, and that will raise interest rates for everybody -- on your auto loan, on your mortgage, on -- so it will have a dampening effect on the economy.

This is such a remarkable admission. It's something everyone knows by now, and it seemed that the only one who didn't was the president himself. Did he learn this only now or has he known it all along but gone ahead with the monumental spending anyway? This is one wild and crazy guy.

This statement has been around for a couple of days, but it's so remarkable that I just had to copy it and save the link for future use the next time Mr. Obama hits the cookie jar.

Addendum: If Obama's Morning Joe fans think this is significant then it's either a major revelation or a gaffe. Then again it may simply be another case of Obama telling his audience what he thinks they want to hear at the time.

More White House photo fun

President Obama believes that his conversational skills will deter enemies. Here he talks with a pirate.

Notice: Each time I've used photos from the White House Flickr site the guidelines for use of the photos had been changed, however I've followed them as they were at the time. They've changed again, and now they don't want any manipulation of the photos. I believe these photos belong to the people. But to accommodate them anyway, I've avoided adding anything to the photo itself.  Furthermore, to avoid any doubt, I do not suggest approval or endorsement from the President, the First Family, or the White House. Link to the photo.

"Obama tells a joke" -- the cartoon

Here's the setup: After a successful performance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, President Obama tries to tell a joke on his own. Click here to watch it at Goanimate.

Obama tells a joke

Goanimate makes it very easy for those of us who can't draw to make cartoons. But I'm not sure snarky political jabs like this one fit very well in that community, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Pop quiz: Which Chicago preacher has been flying an American flag upside down lately?

No, it's not Jerry Wright. It's Michael Pfleger who had his 15 minutes of fame as he campaigned from a pulpit for Barack Obama, or if memory serves, against Hillary Clinton, in the run-up to the 2008 Democratic primary.

He's flying the U.S. flag upside down. Chicago:

Pfleger said he decided to fly the flag upside down outside St. Sabina Church on the South Side as a "distress signal" to raise awareness of how many children are being killed by gun violence.

Pfleger referred to Wednesday's fatal shooting of 16-year-old Ramone Morris on the West Side and the slaying of 15-year-old Alex Arellano, who was found beaten, shot and burned over the weekend.

Apparently, Mr. Pfleger expects young Chicago gang members to see the upside down flag, absorb the message, reflect on their murderous ways, and elect to discontinue violence as a tactic in their gang's ways of achieving its goals.

Or maybe he's merely posturing for a payback bailout from his fellow Chicagoan.

Obama and a cute little baby

The White House dropped its demand that the government photographers be given credit when the photos from the White House Flikr site get recycled. So we no longer have to say, " Pete Souza took that photo." In celebration of that relaxation of a rule which was probably unenforceable, let's make some more gags.

No politician can resist a photo opportunity with a baby, but who really knows what the baby thinks about it? Well, we do. And through the miracle of Photoshop we all get to see thoughts come alive.

Click the photo for a larger popup. See more like that in Those White House Photos were begging for captions.

Wanda Sykes at the White House Correspondents' Dinner

We knew it was going to be an Obama love fest, that was easy.  [See Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.]

At previous WHCDs the audience would expect to see the powerful get skewered. But what we didn't predict but should have seen coming was the attack on high profile conservatives. And the audience loved it when both Obama and Sykes took jabs at Fox News, Shawn Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. [Watch the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner at C-Span.]

Early on in the Obama administration they demonstrated how much a threat they thought Rush Limbaugh was to them. And Wanda Sykes reinforced that theme last night when she joked to a friendly audience that Limbaugh should incur a life threatening physical impairment.

Her joke was about Limbaugh's proclamation that he hoped Obama would fail, clarified to mean that he hoped Obama's economic plan for the country would fail. Sykes didn't bother with the clarification but repeated that Limbaugh wanted Obama to fail and added that he wanted the country to fail, too. So she says about Limbaugh, "I hope his kidneys fail." The audience loved it.

My favorite part was the sight of Keith Olbermann in the audience. Ms. Sykes joked that Olbermann should waterboard Shawn Hannity, and as the audience laughed, the camera caught a partial glimpse of Olbermann. Olbermann immediately shifted position so that viewers could see his entire mug beaming like a full moon. What a ham, that one.

Mr. Obama is certainly basking in the adoration, and we should wonder what might happen should the media ever turn on him. Most likely he'll do whatever it takes to win them back. To paraphrase a line from a movie, the President is the head, but the media is the neck determining which direction to point the head.

The White House got its $300,000 photo

The White House has released one of the photos of the presidential transport planes (Air Force One) flying over the Statue of Liberty. Was it worth it?

White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera resigned over the incident to remind us that when government heads roll they usually don't have far to drop as they always seems to belong to someone in the lower echelons. President Obama is keen on apologizing to foreign leaders for American history, but when it comes to domestic matters we will probably see the buck stopping long before it gets to Mr. Obama's door.

On the other hand, maybe this will help improve the communication system in place for distribution of CYA memos.

See Wall Street Journal and Washington Post for the story. Via WSJ Law Blog.

GM = Government Motors

President Obama certainly does not lack in ambition. But even the most seriously afflicted obamaphiliacs should be questioning the government's efforts to control GM and Chrysler and dictate what products they sell.

However, it's a full 17 months before the 2010 congressional elections, and the current crew of congressmen/women and senators seem to have little incentive to stifle that ambition else their own sacred sows may not be able to feed from the government trough.

So let's try to find the bright side of it. Kuro3hin provides some examples of automobiles made by other governments, for example, the East German Trabant, the Serbian Yugo, the Soviet Lada and Moskvitch, and the Malaysian Proton. President Obama and his crew probably hope to equal the success of those government made cars.  They're even showing solidarity by giving the guy in charge the moniker "Car Czar."

Oh, let's not ignore the Chinese and their CHAMCO coming soon to a car dealership near you.

Actually, we've already had a taste of government vehicles on the streets and highways of the U.S., although they weren't made by the government but were made to sell to the government. In WWII the Willys Jeep served the military well, and after the war, surplus Jeeps sold like hotcakes. The Jeep brand eventually became Chrysler property, and Jeeps are still on the roads.

Also, there's the Humvee made by General Motors. It was originally made for the military and then retrofitted for street use followed by the popular Hummer offshoots, popular at least until gasoline prices shot up.

Maybe there's a lesson here. The winners were the ones originally tested by the military, and once they proved their usefulness and stamina, then they were mass produced for the consuming public. So can we look forward to a street legal M1117? ( Seats 9.)

Will Government Motors learn from the past? Unfortunately, history has not been President Obama's strong suit.  He campaigned on "hope" and "change" but gave us fear and uncertainty.  Hope is all we can do.

Finally, a quote from P.J. O'Rourke:

The US Government is going to take over the American car industry. I can predict the result - a light-weight, compact vehicle with a small carbon footprint using sustainable alternative energy. When I was a kid we called it a bike.

Those White House Photos were begging for captions

The Barack Obama White House is giving supporters what they may want the most: more photos of Barack Obama. There's an Official White House Flikr site where you can see dozens of photos of President Obama and which raise the question: Does Obama select which photos go on that site or does he delegate that to someone else? Before we tag him with a narcissist label let's remember that he is only giving star struck fans what they want, and it's not as bad as the Hugo Chavez TV show.

There are short descriptions of the scenes at the website, but there's no transcript or dialogue available to know what the people were saying and thinking. And those photos were just begging for captions.  As you know, I just want to help.

If some of the jokes seem a little crude, I don't know how those got there.

 

 

 

The photo of the janitor was snapped by Chuck Kennedy, but the rest were snapped by Pete Souza, and they are official White House photos all. See the original unmolested photos at the Official White House Flikr site.

Swine Flu Hysteria

Vice President Joe Biden may have said that people should stay off airplanes and subways because of swine flu. Or he may have been simply offering hypothetical advice to a family member planing a trip to Mexico depending on which version of what he said is what he really meant. Source: The Oval.

One thing is certain, though, there is a lot of hysteria out there about swine flu. Schools are closing, Mexico is on a five day holiday, the entire state of Texas is a disaster area.

"This is discouraging," an anonymous Houston emailer says, "The first recorded death from swine flu recorded in the US is a Mexican from Mexico City who ends up traveling to Houston to die." See Reuters for details.

However, some are questioning the hype. See Swine Flu Walking the Line between Hyping and Helping in which we are advised to take a deep breath, presumably not while in an airplane or on a subway.

Who gains from the chicken little hype? It's the fans of big government. If a crisis is averted, thank the federal government as Rick Perry gets accused of hypocrisy for requesting a portion of Texas' allotment of antiviral medication from the CDCs Strategic National Stockpile.

The hysteria is no doubt causing people to take precautions to protect themselves, and there are probably a lot of people limbering up to pat themselves on the back for averting a pandemic or epidemic. President Obama will get accolades from the media along with inevitable references to the Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans. But for all the things Obama complains of inheriting, there will be little or no credit given to the decision makers who began planing for health related catastrophes years ago. However, there will be a heavy emphasis on the need for a national health care program, which coincidentally, is currently being formulated.

Hospital bond issue -- a tough decision for voters

The broad arguments are easy to summarize.

On the "yes" side there's the need for quality health care out here in a desert community with little else to entice top notch health care professionals other than an expensive new facility and a rich earning environment.

On the "no" side is the fact that $115 million is a lot of money for taxpayers to have to pony up as the community heads into lean times. Add to that the lingering suspicion that the money may not be spent in the most efficient manner possible.

Yet there are still a lot of undecided voters out there. And I'm one of them.

Others have gone into great detail about certain aspects of the issue; in particular, see MyWestTexas.com here, here, here, here, here, and here. See Jessica's Well here, here, and here. And see Newsroom Stew here, here, here and here. Good points have been made by all. And the bond proponents FAQ lists the things they expect the money will buy.

These are frustrating times for taxpayers as we see what is going on in Washington and marvel at their don't-worry-be-happy attitude about the huge national debt. And locally tax revenues have increased from 30% to 40% between 2002 and 2007 while population during that time increased by a mere 10%. (Source: Newsroom Stew.)

So how much would the hospital bond cost individual taxpayers? The aforementioned FAQ tells us that property owners should expect an additional tax assessment of $0.066 cents per $100 of appraised value along with a helpful reminder that those over 65 can vote for it and expect others to pay their share. Then there's this astonishing statement: "Many believe - as did Memorial Hospital's founders and this generation's philanthropists - that 6.6¢ is a small price to pay for a top-notch hospital when you or someone you love needs it most!"

And with that bit of hyperbole we are compelled to wonder just what price the Midland Appraisal District will place on our houses. House prices nationwide have taken a tumble lately, but the value on which our houses will be taxed will be the one the Appraisal District decided was a fair market value as of January 1, 2009, regardless of what the market has done in the months since then. And the Appraisal District values were determined by the reported sales prices of houses in the vicinity of the house being appraised, and those sales had to have taken place prior to 2009. So in a falling market the appraised values will likely be unrealistically high.

But here's another straw to toss on the camel's back. The last day to vote in the hospital bond election will be Saturday, May 9. And if the person I spoke with today at the Midland county Appraisal District was accurate, they hope to mail out the new appraisals to taxpayers on Monday, May 11. Darn. Missed it by that much. It's almost as if the bond proponents knew when those appraisals would be mailed when they selected the vote date.

Napolitano Apologizes to veterans, other "right wing extremists" still nervous

Janet Napolitano has apologized to the American Legion, and according to Fox News, that makes at least three apologies she has made for that infamous report warning of right wing extremists. Click for PDF.

The "historical presidential election," the current economic and political environment, disgruntled military veterans, among other things, caused this presumed rise in right wing extremism. Gun owners who bought ammo because of the current ammo shortage were thrown in there, too.

The report was so widely attacked that Ms. Napolitano was driven to apologize. So let's have some fun with it while it's still fresh. Remember that definition of "destructive device" which included a weapon with a bore size of over 1/2 inch? See previously. Now a hypothetical news item:

WMD seized -- terrorist suspect apprehended

Homeland Security Agents apprehended a suspected terrorist yesterday on the highways of West Texas averting what they called, "a potential human caused disaster, formerly known as terrorist attack."  He was carrying a load of what the agents said fit the definition of weapons of mass destruction -- numerous destructive devices with bore holes larger than 1/2 inch. The vehicle had a bumper sticker saying "If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran" which agents said fit the profile of the recently identified Right Wing Extremist sect. Further, agents said he had a white powdery substance in his shoes.

Passerbys who gathered outside the crime scene were seen laughing, and when asked, one said, "Those WMD? Ha! They're drill pipe! And that white powdery substance? That's Dr. Scholl's!"

In case you came in late, that's a fake news item.

The Serve America Act -- government in competition with charities

The reason behind the tax law allowing a deduction for charitable giving was probably to encourage people who could afford it to make charitable donations. That way the donated funds could be spent on projects to promote the general good and maybe do things that people might otherwise be tempted to ask the government to do.

However, it wasn't too long ago that we learned that part of Mr. Obama's plan for change would reduce the donation deductibility for people who made over a certain amount of money.

Part of Mr. Obama's presidential campaign was based on resentment of the wealthy, and it's possible that this denial of charitable deductions was an effort to punish the rich. But in any event, the effect will be to punish the charities. See The Obama Budget and Charitable Tax Deductions and A Deduction from Charity.

Another possible motive was to weaken private charities and concentrate funds and power in the federal government. Evidence supporting this theory comes to us by way of yesterday's White House press release telling us that Mr. Obama was to have signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. We have to go outside the government websites to find the cost of this program, and in an article friendly to the program at Boston.com we find out it's $5.7 billion. Here's more from that article:

The law dedicates $5.7 billion over five years to encourage volunteerism, including providing $500 summer scholarships to middle school and high school students and granting $1,000 educational stipends to older volunteers, who could pass the cash on to their children, grandchildren, or another young person.

Further, the law vastly expands AmeriCorps, putting the 16-year-old domestic volunteer program on track to increase from its current level of 75,000 volunteers to 250,000. Those volunteers - who receive a living allowance of about $12,000 for 10 to 12 months of work - would staff programs for poor people, veterans, the environment, healthcare, and education.

As the old joke goes, before long we're talking about real money.

Not everyone is as exited about the project as Boston.com, and Reason.com gives it the ground 'n pound.

It's not clear whether or to what extent ACORN will qualify for some of these funds, but one thing is almost certain. When the summary says that it "Authorizes Nonprofit Capacity Building grants to provide organizational development assistance to small and mid-size nonprofit organizations," you can be sure that there will be a plethora of new organizations springing up with mission statements which fit the funding requirements to a "T."

And there's one more confusing objective in the summary.  The act "Introduces responsible and balanced competition to the RSVP program." Is there a problem with the RSVP program we haven't been told about? One of the RSVP objectives is "Helping community organizations operate more efficiently." So maybe they aren't pulling their weight in the community organizing department. Hey, maybe ACORN could do that!

Generally, competition is a good thing for the consumer, but to pit government volunteer programs against each other, presumably for taxpayer money, raises the question of whether the government is trying too hard to consolidate power.

Oh well, a majority of voters wanted hope and change, so maybe this is the change they've been waiting for. After all, John McCain voted for it and would likely have signed it had he become president, so there's really no escape.

Comparing quips: Obama and Carter

One of the big news items to come from President Obama's South American trip was his response to socialist Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's lashing out at the United States with a 50 minute rant. See news source for details.

Americans are hungry to see how our presidents respond when affronted, and like it or not, a president lives or dies by those one liners. So it was interesting to see how President Obama responded. When asked what he thought about Mr. Ortega's speech he first said, "It was 50 minutes long. That's what I thought," implying that he didn't quite have enough time to come up with a good retort. Later he said, "I'm grateful that President Ortega did not blame me for things that happened when I was three months old." And with that strange expression of gratitude he gave himself room to blame he predecessors. Still not the most satisfying retort, but we go south with the president we have whether we wanted him or not.

For comparison, let's look at Jimmy Carter's visit to Mexico in 1979. The U.S. was experiencing an oil shortage, and Mexico was flexing its muscle as an oil producer. President Portillo gave a speech, and here's what one report said:

The palm trees and topless bathers made for a successful no-fault conference; however, Mr. Carter's tan faded quickly, to be replaced with a red face. Mexican President Lَpez Portillo sternly lectured his American guest in public on the evils of U.S. imperialism.

Mr. Carter's retort was that in a prior visit to Mexico he had been a victim of Montezuma's Revenge. Source.

So how do these two presidential quips compare? It's difficult to say, so I'm calling it a draw. Next time Obama should go out there with a handful of one liners and comebacks. Get help from someone, Leno, Letterman, Colbert, anyone. But go prepared. Go out there and win one for the quipper.