The Post (Washington) cited testimony to Congress in September by Peter Orszag, currently Obama's budget director, estimating that revenue from a cap-and-trade scheme could reach 112 billion dollars by 2012.
ADD THIS TO THE $989,000,000,000 BILLION DOLLARS AND WE HAVE A TOTAL OF $1,101,000,000,000,000, YES TRILLION DOLLAR TAX INCREASE!!!
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.2b04b3e135c9639d2bbf7a45f32c5bad.201&show_article=1
STIMULATING ISN’T IT?
February 26, 2009 12:00 PM
President Obama's budget proposes $989 billion in new taxes over the course of the next 10 years, starting fiscal year 2011, most of which are tax increases on individuals.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/02/obamas-budget-a.html
STIMULATING ISN’T IT!!!
The first, a Manchester surgeon, says: 'I like to see accountants on my
operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is
numbered.'
The second, a Liverpool surgeon, responds: 'Yeah, but you should try
electricians! Everything inside them is colour coded.'
The third, a Newcastle surgeon, says: 'No, I really think librarians are
the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.'
The fourth, a Birmingham surgeon, chimes in: 'You know, I like
construction workers...those guys always understand when you have a few
parts left over.
But the fifth, a London surgeon, shuts them all up when he observed:
You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on. There's no
guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the
arse are interchangeable
Illegal aliens can apply for mortgage relief under the Obama administration's $275 billion plan, according to immigration experts and a group the government will use to help homeowners modify loans.
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=89967
Our illustrious leaders, Obama, Reid and Pelosi are either as stupid or incompetent as they look or they are diabolical manipulators working to rob us of our God given liberty.
The truth is that they are all three. Metaphorically they act like the Father, Son and the Holy Ghost. Nancy Pelosi – Stupid, Harry Reid – Incompetent, Barack Obama - Diabolical. These three make one god, the god of socialism.
Socialism denies human nature, they do. Socialism robs you of your liberty, they do. Socialism steals your future, they do.
Enough of that…
Now that we are all Socialists according to Newsweek, why don’t we say our prayers?
I believe in Obama, the Father Almighty,
Creator of Heaven and Earth
And in Harry Reid
His only Son, Our Lord
Who was conceived of Nancy Pelosi
Born of the Democrat-Socialist Party
Suffered under George W. Bush
Was crucified, died and was buried.
On the third day, he rose again
He ascended into the senate
and is seated at the right hand
of Obama, the Father Almighty.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead (and tax them).
I believe in Nancy Pelosi,
The Democrat-Socialist party,
the Communion of the politburo,
the forgiveness of moral and ethical bankruptcy,
the resurrection of the party,
and life everlasting.
Amen.
Enough of the leftist pipe dream time to get back to the real world. The Democrat-Socialists act against human nature, history and the bible. They don’t care. They will “Remake” society. Like so many socialists before them. Exemplary individuals like Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Tojo and Comrade Stalin.
Welcome to Tyranny… Soft Tyranny today, tomorrow’s Tyranny is yet to be seen. I’m sure our children will thank us.
Justin BerkJustin has been doing weather on Baltimore TV since 1997. His degree is from Cornell, he has the CBM- the highest certification from the AMS, and he taught college for 5 years. A true weather geek and snowhound, he mixes technical forecasting with pop culture, and may lose sleep after a bad forecast. Working WMAR-ABC2 mornings and WCBM-Radio dayside, when the tie comes off he likes to play outside and get dirty.
February 24, 10:05 AM
by Justin Berk, Baltimore Weather Examiner
Temperature anomalies still raise questions of accuracy
The report from NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) had a tongue in cheek approach to this finding. It was colder, but stated that La Nina, or a cool phase, in the Pacific Ocean was primarily responsible. It still shows a cool down despite increased greenhouse gasses.
Pick your headline
The other highlight was that "2008 was the ninth warmest year on record"
Depending on who tells this story, you may get a different spin on the results. I ask which of the following is more important?
The temperatures show a distinct cooling trend
The temperatures are still warmer than the average
While GISS claims to have continuous records dating back to 1880, we must ask, "how accurate is that data?" President Grant commissioned the United States Weather Bureau, which wasn't fully organized as a civilian agency until 1891. Are we to assume that accurate data and records for the rest of the planet already existed? Besides, the GISS director is James Hansen. This is the same man who turned off the air conditioning in the Capitol while speaking about Global Warming on a hot day in 1988. I wrote about his exposure of bad data for Russia just this last October. He used September data (a statistically warmer month) in place of cooler October data. This skewed temperatures upward. That is why I placed a question mark over Russia in the map above. Was that region even 2.5-3.5 degrees above normal? GISS also stated that the 10 warmest years have all been between 1997 and 2008, which contradicts other data such as US weather stations.
The temperature in the United States in 2008 was not much different than the 1951-1980 mean, which makes it cooler than all the previous years this decade.
This statement came directly from the report, which raises another question: If we have continuous records back to 1880, then why don't we at least compare a 100 year mean (1880-1980)? Does it have anything to do with the hot decade of the 1930s? The year 1934 still ranks as the hottest on record in the United States.
When looking at temperature records for just the Unites States, the National Climatic Data Center shows a comparison for temperatures dating back to 1895. 
A larger view of this chart is in the slide show below.
I have highlighted the top 4 years showing the grouping spread out by 60 years. I have also circled the drop last year to near the mean of all of the records. NCDC stated that last year was the first year near 'normal' since 1997. They also stated on their report, "The 2007-2008 winter season was the 53rd warmest on record". That is between 1896-2008. Notice the wording? Why not just state it was statistically near normal? Or 59th coolest? If you think there is bias, this would add weight to your argument.
The spikes of hot years in the 1930s clearly show up, and so does the cool down in the 1960s and 1970s. An upward trend above the mean is seen since 1980, but with wide variation each year.
I was educated with the assumption that the United Sates had the most elaborate and reliable structure of weather records. While the US is a small part of the planet as a whole, should our broad range of climate regions give a good sample of what is really happening? With 20-25% of carbon dioxide emissions, shouldn't we be on the front lines of direct impact before spreading this greenhouse gas around the globe? Then why the dramatic cooling?
The GISS report does mention the solar cycle minimum as part of the reason for the cooler temperatures. Is the sun's role in global warming and cooling finally getting a mention of recognition? Hansen did predict another record high temperature for the planet in 2010.
Climate Satellite Failed This Morning
Ironically, NASA just launched a $270 million mission this morning to study CO2. The Taurus rocket lifted off this morning from California and failed. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) was intended to help pinpoint the key locations on our planet's surface where the gas is being emitted and absorbed. Launch video and the full story can be seen on the BBC.
If you missed my morning weather post, click here. Check out the images in the slide show, and please share your thoughts on this below.
For more info: NASA GISS report; NCDC 2008 Report
Maps and graphs show seasonal cold trends. Precipitation, Tornadoes, and Alaska data as well.
February 23, 2009
A reader reminds us of this remarkable article from the New York Times in 1999 (before Bush 43 took office), headlined, "Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending." Some excerpts (emphases mine):
...Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits. ...
... at least one study indicates that 18 percent of the loans in the subprime market went to black borrowers, compared to 5 per cent of loans in the conventional loan market. ...
Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980's.
There's much more. Read the whole thing.
Hat tip: Richard Baehr
Clinton wraps Asia trip by asking China to buy US debt
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday urged China to keep buying US debt as she wrapped up her first overseas trip, during which she agreed to work closely with Beijing on the financial crisis.
To read the rest of the story click:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.42a44b0f5d9cf5c9762e80574e79a3d5.831&show_article=1
Remember the days when we defeated the Communists? Now that we’re led by one, we go cap-in-hand to them. Loan Principle, Tibetan freedom. Interest, Taiwan?
vs 
Old things aren't always applicable to current things...but you may find that, most of the time and in some way, they are.
For example, yesterday in church, the homily by the sub-deacon was not his own: rather, it was one written 1500 years ago by Gregory the Great. Although my first instinct was to think, "Oh no...I'm not going to be able to follow all the medieval language and references in this thing!" the homily he proceeded to give was incredibly clear and informative on the Gospel reading.
Admittedly, theology is more static than politics. However, when I was reading "On the Good Life," by Roman orator Marcus Cicero, I was astounded by the applicability and current relevance of many of the words he wrote over 2,000 years ago to modern America's actions regarding property ownership.
Property ownership is a foundational principle of America. John Adams called property "as surely a right as liberty." The recently passed stimulus bill, I believe, throws the concept of this right out of balance--to own property means being able to afford property. For example, we have the right to bear arms...does that mean the government should buy us all handguns? And what if it bought certain people guns, but not others? Moreover, what if it taxed you more to pay for that other person's new-found property?
Cicero faced a similar scenario in Ancient Rome of politicians destroying the equilibrium, and therefore, the justice, of property ownership. Here are a few things he had to say about it:
"When politicians, enthusiastic to pose as the people's friends, bring forward bills providing for the distribution of property, they intend that the existing owners shall be driven from their homes. Or they propose to excuse borrowers from paying back their debts.
"Men with those views undermine the very foundations on which our commonwealth depends. In the first place, they are shattering the harmony between one element in the State and another, a relationship which cannot possibly survive if debtors are excused from paying their creditor back the sums of money he is entitled to. Furthermore, all politicians who harbour such intentions are aiming a fatal blow at the whole principle of justice; for once rights of property are infringed, this principle is totally undermined."
But how do we keep this from happening when families are losing their homes and their jobs?
It's a shame we didn't listen to Cicero 30 years ago:
"The real answer to the problem is that we must make absolutely certain that private debts do not ever reach proportions which will constitute a national peril. There are various ways of ensuring this. But just to take the money away from the rich creditors and give the debtors something that does not belong to them is no solution at all. For the firmest possible guarantee of a country's security is sound credit...
So the men in charge of our national interests will do well to steer clear of the kind of liberality which involves robbing one man to give to another."
It is important to note that Cicero was a wholehearted advocate of generosity; moreover, generosity to the genuinely poor, not those to whom the giver will gain popularity and status by donating. However, he also believed the state is not a charity, and especially so if it is "distributing property" forcibly.
I really am hoping that this "stimulus bill" fixes things. My skepticism is enormous, but since there's nothing I can do about it, I am pulling for its success. Nonetheless, I think my fears regarding the implications this bill may have on our foundational American principles are well founded.
If only Cicero could speak in Senate...
February 16, 2009
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