Homeland Security To Step Up Enforcement Efforts Against Employers Of Illegal Aliens

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano soon will direct federal agents to focus more on arresting and prosecuting American employers than the illegal laborers who sneak into the country to work for them, department officials said Monday.

...

"She is focused on using our limited resources to the greatest effect, targeting criminal aliens and employers that flout our laws and deliberately cultivate an illegal workforce," the official said.

Homeland Security officials emphasized that the department would not stop conducting sweeps of businesses while more structural changes to U.S. immigration law and policy were being contemplated.

OK, so one of the middle steps in the Chad plan is going to be implemented (supposedly - given the nature of the Democrat party I am not sure I believe it yet. I want to see some raids on employers). Let's assume this is for real and not just away for the Obama administration to put off enforcement efforts while "building cases", and there is some concern about that as this guy points out:

Michael W. Cutler, a retired senior special INS agent, said the Obama administration needed to go after workers and employers to send a message that it would not condone illegal immigration.

"Who is more responsible for prostitution, the hookers or the johns? It is a shared responsibility," said Cutler, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group opposed to illegal immigration.

He said it would be "dumb" to "go after employers and not the illegal aliens. That means they are going to make very few arrests. And the message that sends is that if you can make it across the border, you're home free. No one is going to be looking for you."

Then it would be a good first step. Now let's get to work on improving border enforcement and deporting criminals.

Speaking of deporting criminals. We need some of those intestinator things like in the movie Fortress so that if a criminal crosses the border again his guts explode. But I digress.

source

immigration

At this point Gays and stoners have to be wondering why they voted for Obama - Don't Ask Don't Tell stands for now

First he wouldn't come out against Prop 8 in California because he doesn't support gay marriage. Next he tells the dope smokers that he doesn't think legalizing pot is a good idea and to add insult to injury the Justice Department, which had previously announced a halt on raids on medical marijuana dispensaries has started them up again. Now Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced that Don't ask Don't Tell won't be changed anytime soon:

A change to the controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy toward gays in the military will be delayed despite promises by the Obama administration to overturn the rule, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday.

"The president and I feel like we've got a lot on our plates right now and let's push that one down the road a little bit," Gates told "FOX News Sunday."

source

I don't think this is the change they were hoping for.

Obama, military

Thank God Obama Removed The Federal Restrictions On Stem Cell Research - Stem Cells To Grow Bigger Breasts

A STEM cell therapy offering “natural” breast enlargement is to be made available to British women for the first time.

The treatment could boost cup size while reducing stomach fat. It involves extracting stem cells from spare fat on the stomach or thighs and growing them in a woman’s breasts. An increase of one cup size is likely, with the potential for larger gains as the technique improves.


source

Finally, science we can use.

boobs

Right Leaning Celebs outed by WCBS

OK maybe outed is a strong word. The important thing however is their list includes Bo Derek, Rachel Hunter, Janine Turner and Angie Harmon.

GOP, Politics

Ennui - Horrible Horrible Ennui

Just Kidding.

Went to the library and after wading through the drunk shirtless guys and the homeless people I picked up "The Naked Lunch" by William S. Burroughs. I've never read it, but it's supposedly it was highly influential in the cyberpunk movement, and since I am a cyberpunk fan I decided what the hell.

Also picked up a biography of Andrew Jackson and a novel about a British cavalry officer in the Indian Raj. Hesitant about the Jackson biography because I am a fan of Jacksonian democracy, or at least Jacksonian democracy as I understand it and I don't want that understanding crushed. :-P

books

Maybe I am growing up

I have actually walked away from two arguments in the last two days. Something must be wrong with me.

Forr all you Matrix fanboys out there

h/t Mushiloon

And how The Matrix trilogy should have ended

two from the Fabulous Thunderbirds

Tuff Enuff



Wrap it Up

Wired calls this bad news? I say Hooray! Scientists derive new cheaper way to turn coal into gas

Electric cars have been getting a lot of buzz lately, but a more immediately viable transportation fuel of the future could be liquid derived from coal. Scientists have devised a new way to transform coal into gas for your car using far less energy than the current process. The advance makes scaling up the environmentally unfriendly fuel more economical than greener alternatives.

...

The new process could cut the energy cost of producing the fuel by 20 percent just by rejiggering the intermediate chemical steps, said co-author Ben Glasser of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. But coal-derived fuel could produce as much as twice as much CO2 as traditional petroleum fuels and at best will emit at least as much of the greenhouse gas.

...

Glasser's new production method allows them to set a lower limit on the amount of energy that would be needed to transform solid coal into fuel. The very best possible CTL process would require 350 megawatts of input to make 80,000 gallons of fuel; the current process uses more than 1,000 megawatts.

Even with the small efficiency gains, a large, domestic, carbon-intensive source of transportation fuel would throw a wrench into many plans to reduce emissions from vehicles.

source

No surprise here. I have been pointing out for a long time that the idea that we are running out of energy is a lie and that "green" energy is way more expensive and not as effecient as fossil fuels.

energy

No! No! No! New Push For Legalization Of Illegal Immigrants

When will people get the message?

With their prospects in Congress sinking along with the economy, liberal advocates of giving undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship are launching a risky strategy to push lawmakers and the White House to take up their cause.

They are devising a proposal in which millions of undocumented workers would be legalized now, while the number of foreign workers allowed to enter the country would be examined by a new independent commission, and probably reduced.

...

Ana Avendaño, the AFL-CIO's point person on the issue, said the labor federation believes the Democrats' enhanced power in Washington represents a "sea change" in which liberal groups can forge ahead without working with Republican-leaning business lobbyists.

source

The thing that is expressly missing here is any mention of enforcement. The LA Times article does imply that there would be some sort of fine, but what about deportation of felons, workplace enforcement etc. If the AFL-CIO is writing this bill it's doubtful those items will be contained in it.

Let me once again offer the Chad 5 point plan for immigration reform:

1. Secure The Border
2. Workplace Enforcement
3. Deport The Criminals
4. Legalization
5. Assimilation (Including English as the official language)

As I pointed out back in October 2007 it has been shown that this plan can basically work:

Most illegals from Mexico come to the US to fill low wage jobs that aren't being filled by US workers (I readily admit that not all the jobs are low wage but most are paid at a wage that makes Americans unwilling to take them). They do so in order to support a family in Mexico. When the illegals come here and work in the underground economy they artificially depress wages and this perpetuates the cycle. If we make it too expensive for new illegals to cross the border while combining that with measures that push wages up to a natural equilibrium point the economic situation will tend to stem the tide. Those who are here already will either assimilate or return to their country of origin. The invisible hand that Adam Smith talks about pokes a finger in and resolves the situation.

I have been one of the very few among the circle of bloggers that I read / try to interact with that has taken this point of view, but today's New York Times offers a little vindication:

EL RODEO, Mexico — For years, millions of Mexican migrants working in the United States have sent money back home to villages like this one, money that allows families to pay medical bills and school fees, build houses and buy clothes or, if they save enough, maybe start a tiny business.

But after years of strong increases, the amount of migrant money flowing to Mexico has stagnated. From 2000 to 2006, remittances grew to nearly $24 billion a year from $6.6 billion, rising more than 20 percent some years. In 2007, the increase so far has been less than 2 percent.

Reasons given?

1. Stronger Border Enforcement
2. Stronger Workplace Enforcement
3. Slowing US economy
4. Assimilation

Immigration reform isn't a high priority right now, but that's why we have to be vigilant - To prevent groups like the AFL-CIO from sneaking something crappy past us.

Update: I swear to Christ the fastest way for an issue to lose importance is for me to blog about it. I sent links to the LA Times article to a number of largish blogs which were strenuously anti-immmigration reform when John McCain was pushing it and not one has mentioned it. Not even the Malkinistas over at Hot Air are talking about this. WTF is going on?

Immigration

Director of National Intelligence - Some Gitmo Detainees May Be Released In US

They will also be given "assistance" to return to society.

• 39 weeks unemployment
• Job Retraining
• Al-Qaeda has a health plan so I assume they will be eligible for COBRA.

Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence, anticipates that many of those released will seek employment in crowded shopping malls and schools where their future suicide bombings will be most devastating.

source

Is it wrong for me to point out what an insanely bad idea this is? It's only been two weeks since it was reported that a recently killed Taliban commander was a Gitmo detainee and overall 60 some have returned to terrorism after being released. Supposedly those that will be released in the US will have been cleared of terrorism charges and pose no threat but I'm sorry I don't buy it.

War , al-Qaeda, Taliban, Guantanamo Bay

Poll shows Obama approval rating at 50%. Methods questioned

Back on Monday over at Ace of Spades Purple Avenger linked to some Zogby poll results that showed Obama's approval rating had dropped to 50%. A huge change! The dextrosphere rejoiced, although two prescient commenters at Ace's did offer the opinion that this poll was unreliable.

Two days later it turns out those commenters may have been right. According to NPR there is a huge dispute over how valid Zogby's sample selection technique was:

...it's not just the numbers that propelled pollsters into a serious chat room snit — though they represent a marked departure from other recent polls that consistently show the president with approval ratings hovering around 60 percent.

It's the Internet survey methods that pollster John Zogby used to gather the data that have research-centric Web sites and forums brimming with agita. Zogby's technique, critics say, turns the traditional polling practice of random survey on its head by drawing poll participants from visitors to his site who volunteer to be a member of his "online panel."

Zogby says he also recruits panel members during traditional phone call surveys and from purchased e-mail lists. And the pollster stoutly defends his method as ahead of the curve in its use of the Internet.

source

Seems like the critics have a valid point. This seems to be a situation rife with the potential for selection bias, and lets be honest there is a reason that ABC and the AP won't use his results.

Oh well it was a happy thought while it lasted.

Obama, Politics

The IAEA is electing a new leader

The International Atomic Energy Agency, whose primary mission is nuclear non-proliferation, is attempting to elect a new leader. So far neither the Japanese guy or the South African has won the required 2/3 majority so I am sure a compromise Iranian or North Korean candidate will be selected. Isn't that pretty much the way the UN always works?

source

IAEA, UN, Iran, North Korea

Love Is A Killer

This video was very popular in Antarctica at about 2 or 3 AM or whenever we had finished our drinking for the day.

Will the Dow break 8000 this week?

Looks like it could.

I am not an economist or a trader but it looks like a combination of things is at work here.

1. Geitner finally announced a plan to deal with banks toxic assets. It's essentially the same plan that Paulson started out with last year. The fact that they found it unworkable then should give people pause but Geitner is supposed to be a super-genius so I will cut him some slack for now.

2. Home sales made an unexpected upswing.

3. Unemployment has slowed.

4. The castigation of bank executives has eased a bit

5. There is just a lot less uncertainty in general.

There have been a couple rough patches too. The market definitely does not like Obama's budget. They also didn't seem to like Geitner's proposal that the government be allowed to seize any business it deems to be failing. Neither do I honestly. That is just a recipe for abuse and honestly it is right out of the Nazi / Ba'ath playbook, not that I am calling anyone in the Obama administration a Nazi, just pointing out how such powers can be abused.

Overall I am relatively optimistic about the economy at this point, that may change depending on the final budget that comes out of congress and the administrations future behavior.

(speaking of Nazism - does anyone else find it creepy that Obamanauts are out knocking on peoples doors to put pressure on congress. I can't think of the last time this has happened (never?) but it does smack of intimidation of the first order.)

I'm up, I'm bored and it's been awhile, so here is a Jana Defi / Maria Swan video

Makes me feel all patriotic and shit

Can't sleep. Ended up watching dazed and confused again

First time I saw it I hated it. Now it's become one of those movies I watch every time it comes on like Black Hawk Down.

Some music from each:

Just found out my twitter feed and rss feed weren't working

hopefully fixed now. Not that I have any subscribers but still it's the principle.

Bush Deficit vs. Obama Deficit Graphically

h/t Instapundit

Missile Strikes Against Al-Qaeda Are Extremely Effective. Look For Obama To Call A Halt

Reporting from Washington -- An intense, six-month campaign of Predator strikes in Pakistan has taken such a toll on Al Qaeda that militants have begun turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust, U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials say.

The pace of the Predator attacks has accelerated dramatically since August, when the Bush administration made a previously undisclosed decision to abandon the practice of obtaining permission from the Pakistani government before launching missiles from the unmanned aircraft.

...

U.S. intelligence officials said they see clear signs that the Predator strikes are sowing distrust within Al Qaeda. "They have started hunting down people who they think are responsible" for security breaches, the senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said, discussing intelligence assessments on condition of anonymity. "People are showing up dead or disappearing."

...

The success of the Predator campaign has prompted some counter-terrorism officials to speak of a post-Al Qaeda era in which its regional affiliates -- in North Africa and elsewhere -- are all that remain after the center collapses.

"You can imagine a horizon in which Al Qaeda proper no longer exists," said Juan Zarate, former counter-terrorism advisor to Bush. "If you were to continue on this pace, and get No. 1 and No. 2, Al Qaeda is dead. You can't resuscitate that organization as we know it without its senior leadership."

source

Good news! And for the record I made up the bit about Obama canceling the program, although with some of his recent moves it wouldn't surprise me. Closing Gitmo, ceasing the use of the enemy combatant designation, his homeland security secretary referring to terrorism as a man caused disaster, all of these show a lack of seriousness about terrorism that is disturbing and ceasing a successful program would be par for the course he has played so far.

Cosmopolitan completes 50 year study on how women can please their men

Sarah Shahi is insanely hot

Jus' Sayin is all

So let's get this right - We want to punish the wealth creators but let pro athletes and movie stars off scott free

Looking at the NY Times this morning and I see an article entitled "Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay".

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said.

...

One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company.

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Is this really what we want? The government deciding how compensation is determined and how much a person can make. Doesn't that sound a little, I don't know, Marxist?
From each according to his ability to each according to his need - well who determines ability and need? What happens when congress decides that your overpaid and they are going to slap a 100% tax on everything you make over $30,000.

I guess we could adopt the Twentieth Century Motors plan and let everyone vote on it, but that probably wouldn't work well.

And why, oh why, isn't anything said about limiting the pay of pro-athletes and movie stars? Both of those industries have been sucking at the public tit for years and their salaries are far in excess of value provided.

I know that people are angry right now and in part I agree with them. I think a lot of executives are overpaid for what they do, but that's part of having a free labor market. You get to make the best deal you can. And honestly just because you're angry doesn't mean you're right. Kids get mad when they aren't allowed to play with loaded handguns and matches - so what. These actions have consequences and maybe that should be considered instead of blindly rushing forward in a craze of righteous indignation.

I almost sound Randian here which is funny because I think Atlas Shrugged is both simplistic and stupid, (and yes I know many people consider me simplistic and stupid so the irony is not lost) but she did hit one thing right. If you remove a person incentive to work they stop working. If nothing else the former Soviet Union showed that.

OK, now that I have finished ranting some of the other aspects of this plan I agree with (at least in theory I haven't seen details yet):

It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.

A good part of the reason we are in this mess is because of a lack of transparency on the part of traders. The system won't work unless everyone has access to the same facts.

While I am here let's jump back to the AIG bonuses for a bit. One of the reasons that we are in this spot is that the government decided AIG was too big to fail following the disruption caused by the Lehman Brothers failure. At the time I supported that decision, and I still do to an extent, an overnight failure would have been devastating to the economy, but now the question arises is the bailout doing more harm than good? I think so.

Joe Nocera makes the same point, and raises a damn good question.

(A rich irony here is that any nonfinancial company in A.I.G.’s straits would be in bankruptcy, and contracts would have to be renegotiated. The fact that the government is afraid to force A.I.G. into bankruptcy, despite its crippled state, is the main reason Mr. Liddy felt he couldn’t try to redo the contracts.)

But there is a much bigger issue that has barely been touched upon by Congress: the way tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money has been funneled to A.I.G.’s counterparties — at 100 cents on the dollar. How can it possibly make sense that Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup and every other company that bought credit-default swaps from A.I.G. should be made whole by the government? Why isn’t it forcing them to take a haircut?

He is right. The immediate crisis passed awhile ago. The government needs to let AIG go into bankruptcy and reorganize. It may be that AIG like Ford or GM may require a special set of bankruptcy laws. So be it, just read the damn things before voting on them congress.

Why isn't this surprising - Budget deficit will be an unsustainable 5% of GDP by end of decade

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year over the next decade, according to the latest congressional estimates, significantly worse than predicted by the White House just last month.

The Congressional Budget Office figures, obtained by The Associated Press Friday, predict Obama's budget will produce $9.3 trillion worth of red ink over 2010-2019. That's $2.3 trillion worse than the White House predicted in its budget.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama's policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

Of course this has nothing to do with the massive expansion of the government that Obama has planned. It's all Bush's fault.

This Is Why I Hate Mail-in Voting and Electronic Voting

Top public officials in Clay County schemed to buy votes in several elections so they could hold on to power and enrich themselves and others, a federal grand jury has charged.

...

According to the indictment, Democratic election commissioner Charles Wayne Jones and election officer William E. Stivers helped extort money from candidates. In some cases, candidates were apparently asked to pool money so votes could be bought.

Thompson, the county clerk, allegedly provided money for election officers to buy votes. Thompson also told election officers how to change votes at the machines, according to the indictment.

Some voters were bribed at the voting booths. Some officials told voters to use booths incorrectly, so that they could go back and change the tallies, the indictment says.

source 1, source 2

Just too much potential for shenanigans. At least if I am punching holes in a card and dropping it in a locked sealed box it is a little harder to mess with.

The media was playing yet another round of name that party but at this point it's hard to tell if this is a partisan or bi-partisan scandal - one of the defendants is the Democratic election commissioner, but it took me about 12 articles to find that out, while one of the races that is mentioned in the indictment was won by a Republican. Unfortunately I don't know how much effect Clay Country has on races in the 5th Congressional District so it's possible that it was won by the Republican despite efforts at corrupting the race or that the corruption is what swung it to the winner. Just have to wait and see.

Bear Market Rally or Turning Point?

It's early yet but the Dow is starting off on an up note again this morning. 6 out of the last 10 sessions have been up days and we have recovered 600 points. That's good news but can it continue?

Personally I am hopeful but cautious. The administration stopping a great deal of the "we are all gonna die" rhetoric and the fact that GM refused the 2 billion dollars it had requested for March as well as some of the banks actually posting a profit in the last couple weeks are all good signs. If the trend holds we may have turned the corner.

On the other hand the quarter ends for many companies on March 31st so between April 14th and 21st is when we really need to be watching. If quarterly results are bad look for another freefall.

Update: Looks like I spoke too soon. Immediately after I posted the Dow dropped to - 60 some.

The Watchmen -Nietzschen Nihilism vs. Randian Absolutism

The Watchmen is a movie that has generated a great deal of interest across the internet, because many of the people who are hardcore internet junkies are old comic book fans too. The film is not a huge success but it is generating a lot of interest and discussion because it is, like the graphic novel it came from, rather unique. More than a good versus evil morality play or a pulp adventure story, Watchmen is a character study and a philosophical examination of the nature of man and why we act how we do.

...

Alan Moore is a nihilist, he embraces anarchy as a proper method of dealing with government and follows the philosophies of Friedrich Nietzsche. The Watchmen is a comparison of philosophies with the presumption of nihilism's superiority in explaining the world and human behavior.

source

Saw the movie and read the book and I had a different take. I saw Rorschach as the rugged individualist (although an insane one) while Ozymandias represented the encroaching state. Rorschach wanted to make his own decisions and was willing to take the consequences, while Ozymandias felt he knew better and wanted to remove the ability to make those decisions from others.

This guy has obviously put a lot more thought into it than I have so he has probably hit a little closer to the essential conflicts. If he is correct it may explain why I felt a driving urge to read "Atlas Shrugged" after seeing the movie.



h/t Ace

AIG Execs Call On Politicians To Resign Or Commit Suicide

AIG Vice Chairman and Chief Marketing Officer Robert G. Krebs suggested that Senators Chris Dodd (D-CT), Charles Grassley (D-IA) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) take a "Japanese approach" toward accepting responsibility for the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by resigning or killing themselves.

"In all candor, I don't know why they're so exercised by some bonuses. These pathetic excuses for politicians cost the taxpayers trillions of dollars and, worst of all, they're still in power."

source

Honestly either way is OK with me. If they could convince a few news anchors to go along for the ride so much the better.

h/t instapundit

I know it's been a few days

I was out of town over the weekend and busy yesterday. Not much has been happening here anyway - Still re-reading Atlas shrugged, and Obama is on TV talking about making America truly productive while introducing a budget designed to destroy the means of production.

Judd Gregg - Obama Budget Forecast Is A Lie

It isn't often that a politician is this straightforward:

In his opening statement, Gregg politely called the administration's budget forecast a lie.

"The argument that it cuts the debt in half in four years is, ahh, is truly spurious," he told Geithner.

...

He added pointedly, "I think we're putting at risk not only our children's future, we're clearly putting at risk the value of a dollar and our ability to sell debt."

...

"The argument that this budget doesn't have tax increases [on everyone] is, I think, an 'Alice in Wonderland' view of the budget," he said.

He challenged the budget's math on cutting the debt: "When you take the deficit and quadruple it and then you cut it and half, that's like taking four steps back and two steps forward. That's not making any progress; you're still going backwards."

Gregg questioned why any foreign country would continue to buy up U.S. debt: "Because if I'm in the international marketplace, and I'm looking at this budget, I'm saying to myself, ‘Where's the discipline? Where's the containment?' There isn't any."

source

So the warning is out there, now the question is will anyone listen?

Chinese Harrassment Of US Navy Ship Was On Schedule

Over the weekend the Chinese Navy harassed an unarmed US Navy ocean survey ship. While listening to this being discussed on Fox News this morning I was amazed how many people were acting surprised by this sudden decline in US / China relations.

Am I the only one who remembers April 2001?

The Navy EP-3 Orion that was hit by the Chinese plane in remarkably similar circumstances. The plane was on patrol in international airspace when the Chinese Air Force began harassing it. A crash resulted and the plane was forced to land in China.

Sound familiar?

I am sure the only thing that didn't go according to plan is that the Chinese probably wanted to force an accident so they would have to provide an "emergency" tow to port. That didn't happen.

This is a test of President Obama. If he holds the line against these chicom bastards then we can probably expect less saber rattling over Taiwan. If not then look for pressure on Taipei to increase.

Note: I deleted the previous post on this because I meesed up the title horribly and couldn't fix it. Content is unchanged.

Obama to America - "Stop wallowing in ignorance. Educate yourselves you cretins!"

OK, I may have taken some liberties with that headline, and by liberties I mean completely made it up, but what does this sound like to you:

Obama plans to call on Americans to educate themselves as well as their children during his appearance Tuesday at the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

because we all just sit around scratching our asses and eating our boogers right?

And how are we supposed to achieve this? By setting goals of course:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is promoting tighter standards for teachers and a reduced dropout rate for students as part of an education plan that, at least for now, lacks any new legislative component.

...

officials say he plans neither to detail any requirements to achieve his goals nor to change President George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind program.

Instead, a senior administration official said, Obama would speak to the importance of increasing the rigor of the standards in place and challenge states to adopt world-class standards rather than a specific standard.

...

White House aides characterized the president's speech on Tuesday as a first step in an agenda to change American schools. Aides say the president will again call for the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020, as well as pre-kindergarten programs that would send children to classrooms prepared to learn.

source

Don't get me wrong goals are an important part of any achievement, but like hope they are not a plan.

First thing to do is refine the goals - Highest proportion of college graduates in the world sounds good in a speech how about setting a specific target number. Same with world class standards. Something a little more concrete. Lets get some standards down on paper then start coming up with a specific plan to meet those standards.

See what I am saying?

Dems finally read bills - Solidarity fades

The Menendez rebellion was a jolt of political reality for Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, signaling that the solidarity of the stimulus debate is fading as Democratic lawmakers are starting to read the fine print of the bills they will wrestle with in the coming weeks and months, and not always liking what they see.

source

Reading the bill before voting on it? This novel concept must be nipped in the bud as nothing good can come from it.



Other issues causing consternation - Medicare means testing, farm subsidies and an end of federal support for private education loans. I think the President may be in for a bruising summer.

We live in exponential times

h/t Flopping Aces

Alan Blinder on the downside of bank nationalization

Lots of issues associated with nationalization, some of which we have already seen.

This is reassuring. Obama didn't snub Brits on purpose he is just unable to concentrate on foreign policy

Three flashbacks to the presidential campaign.

Obama assuring us that his vast executive experience running his campaign actually qualified him to be president, his ridiculing of John McCain for suspending his campaign to return to Washington to work on the TARP legislation, whereas Obama was able to effectively multitask, I believe he used the term walk and chew gum at the same time, and the ridicule of John McCain for his physical infirmities acquired in a North Vietnamese prison cell, while the press assured us Obama was young and fit, his glistening pecs more than up to the strain of the job.

So explain this:

Barack Obama's offhand approach to Gordon Brown's Washington visit last week came about because the president was facing exhaustion over America's economic crisis and is unable to focus on foreign affairs, the Sunday Telegraph has been told.

Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been "overwhelmed" by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.

...

But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama's inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.

Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president's surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.

Yay! Our president isn't an incompetent boob, he is just a tired distracted boob.

Even better no one at the State Department seems to understand the problem and in fact seem to be going out of their way to antagonize the British:

The real views of many in Obama administration were laid bare by a State Department official involved in planning the Brown visit, who reacted with fury when questioned by The Sunday Telegraph about why the event was so low-key.

The official dismissed any notion of the special relationship, saying: "There's nothing special about Britain. You're just the same as the other 190 countries in the world. You shouldn't expect special treatment."

I'm sure that will be helpful the next time we ask NATO to commit more troops to Afghanistan or hep us with a Security Council resolution.

Hillary Clinton announces next ally in line for insulting gifts

Next up Turkey chosen in an effort to satisfy the President's campaign promise to visit a Muslim country within his first 100 days in office.

My sources at the State Department* tell me that the list of gifts includes a bottle of Scotch and a smoked ham.

*by sources I mean the voices I hear in my head, and before anyone complains I know Turkey is a secular country. A legacy of Mustafa Kemal Attaturk. The question is does our Secretary of State.

The Brits are a little pissed...

Not satisfied with snubbing Prime Minister Gordon Brown professionally, refusing a full press conference, canceling a meeting because of snow, President and Mrs. Obama cheaped out on the gifts too. The British Press is in an uproar:

As he headed back home from Washington, Gordon Brown must have rummaged through his party bag with disappointment.

Because all he got was a set of DVDs. Barack Obama, the leader of the world's richest country, gave the Prime Minister a box set of 25 classic American films - a gift about as exciting as a pair of socks.

Mr Brown is not thought to be a film buff, and his reaction to the box set is unknown. But it didn't really compare to the thoughtful presents he had brought along with him.

The Prime Minister gave Mr Obama an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet.

The unique present delighted Mr Obama because oak from the Gannet's sister ship, HMS Resolute, was carved to make a desk that has sat in the Oval Office in the White House since 1880.

Mr Brown also handed over a framed commission for HMS Resolute and a first edition of the seven-volume biography of Churchill by Sir Martin Gilbert.

In addition, Mr Brown and his wife showered gifts on the Obama children giving Sasha and Malia an outfit each from Topshop and six children's books by British authors which are shortly to be published in America.

In return, the Obamas gave the Browns two models of the presidential helicopter, Marine One, to take home to sons Fraser and John.

source

and

In return Mrs Obama gave the Brown children, Fraser and John, two toy models of Marine One, the Presidential helicopter. Fair enough on the helicopter part, always a popular choice with small boys; but Marine One? It’s not as though anyone needs reminding that Barack Obama is President or that he has his own helicopter. Short of giving the boys Action Man models of her own husband smiting the evil forces of neoconservatism, Mrs Obama’s gesture could not have been more solipsistic or more inherently dismissive of Mrs Brown.

Not only did she demonstrate that she spent approximately three seconds contemplating the needs of the Brown boys (having an aide pop to the White House gift shop for a piece of merchandising does not imply a great deal of thought), she appeared to show a most uncharacteristic lapse of judgment.

source

Not exactly a good first impression.

Socialized Medicine Sucks

Feds announce mortgage modification plan

The Obama administration laid out the guidelines for it's highly anticipated mortgage modification plan today.

As I read it this plan will force banks to take a loss on performing loans:

The Home Affordable Refinance program will be available to 4 to 5 million homeowners who have a solid payment history on an existing mortgage owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Later it goes on to define eligible mortgages as those in imminent danger of default, which is rather ambiguous, up to 60 days in arrears, which doesn't seem to meet the "solid payment history" outlined above.

What is immediate danger of default? Leaving a term that ambiguously defined just seems rife with danger. It's not like no one has ever crawled through a loophole before.

Not to worry though - in order to insure there is no fraud / mismanagement Freddie Mac will be monitoring compliance. Hello Kettle, this is Pot. You're black.

Seriously wasn't Freddie Mac just taken over by the government because of massive mismanagement?

Personally I think banks would be smart to modify mortgages that are going into default. As I understand it they never really recover value on a foreclosed house but why should the government be forcing this on them? Especially when the majority of people who have had loan terms modified after defaulting on a mortgage default again. This just seems to be throwing good money after bad.

So how's that economic stimulus package working out

The Dow doesn't seem too impressed.



h/t Instapundit

If this is all the exposure that antropogenic global warming skepticism can get we're in big trouble

Chris Horner on Living the Life (an ABC Family / Christian Broadcasting Network version of "The View")

Thieve much?

Apparently the people at Pajamas Media aren't happy with ruining perfectly good blogs any longer now they are trying to use voter discontentment with the stimulus package to push yet another crappy PJTV product on us.

Roger Simon in his write up on CPAC talks about their great conservative version of "The View" called "Washington Tea Party". I suppose we are supposed to believe that the name is a coincidence and has nothing to do with the protests that have been occurring around the country under the Tea Party banner?

Dow breaks through the 7000 barrier

Woke up this morning to the news that President Obama was ready to sign an earmark laden $400,000,000,000++ budget and the Dow had busted through the 7000 floor.

Yay!!!

Even though I am conservative and a Republican I want to be fair and not assign blame if Obama doesn't deserve it, but it sure seems to me that every time his economic team makes a move we lose another 10% on the market.