Obama: Fiddles in Hollywood While Wall St. Burns

Culture Watch vol. 33
Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com




Last week saw an unprecedented government intrusion into the private markets as they continued bailing out, with our tax dollars, failing companies. This is called socialism. For more on this frightening trend, check out, 'Caution: Government At Work.'

ELECTION '08:

As world financial markets melted, Obama took time out from hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities to pronounce capitalism as a failed institution. No one in the media questioned him on his alternative. They were too busy trying to brand Sarah Palin as some sort of religious loon.

The drive-by media was also too busy to question Obama on a credible report that he tried to influence Iraq to delay the withdrawal of US troops until after the election. Logan Act anyone??

Electioneering has begun in earnest with polls showing a dead heat between Obama and McCain. I expect that may be due, in part, to the Obama campaign's decision to send Obama's teleprompters on the road with him. Or it could be due to the efforts of a group of Palestinian students living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, who gather nightly to phone US voters and urge them to vote for Obama.

Meanwhile, the investigator looking into Sarah Palins' firing of a state trooper, Stephen Branchflower, has been slapped with a lawsuit by Alaska residents who believe his inquiry represents an abuse of their tax dollars. Alaska legislators, meanwhile, announce that the investigation will be finished before the election, meaning, in time to influence the election.


GOOD NEWS:

In what hopefully could become a trend, students at Dos Palos High School actually staged a protest - by wearing patriotic regalia to school - after a sophomore was forced to remove a T-shirt depicting an American flag. Cool Jeans!

In the face of a legal challenge, search engine Google was forced to lift its ban on pro-life advertisements. Technology is coming closer to developing software that analyse a person's speech, voice and facial expression to determine if they are telling the truth. Imagine the implications.

Remember the war on terror? Top U.S. counterterrorism experts say al-Qaeda is "imploding" and that its violent tactics have turned Muslims world-wide against them. Here at home, the FBI says violent crime is on the downswing. Good news, all around. You probably heard it here first.




CULTURE:

Speaking of violent crime, check out the latest face of terror. A schoolboy, the youngest Briton to be convicted of a terrorism offense, was jailed for 2 years for his part in a world-wide plot to target non-Muslims.

97% of 14 to 17 year-olds play video games. Another survey shows that half of all Americans believe in guardian angels. (Hint: the guardian angel they believe in is NOT the government.) Meanwhile, a Riviera Beach law against 'saggy pants' has been ruled unconstitutional. Cracks are now legal.

Over in Poland, legislators are seriously considering introducing 'coerced treatment' of pedophiles. Translation: castration. And India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime relying on a controversial machine: a brain scanner. Here in the US, a former Army Special Forces commander passed over for a job at the Library of Congress because he was in the process of becoming a she won a discrimination lawsuit.

A new study calculates that a full one-third of American college students have to enroll in remedial classes. The bill to taxpayers for trying to bring them up to speed on stuff they were supposed to learn in government schools is a whopping $2.3 to $2.9 billion, annually.



Search giant Google is set to launch its new "Google phone" operating system this Tuesday. Google is also planning on deploying all the supercomputers it uses in its internet search business to barges located seven miles off shore, away from national laws and taxes.

Speaking of taxes, it appears our government is trying to collect billions of dollars in late taxes from nearly half a million federal employees. One of the most prominent, is Congressman Charlie Rangel, who got caught cheating on his taxes. Did I mention he is head of a key tax writing committee?

Dems have so far shot down two attempts by GOP to punish Rangel for tax fraud, meanwhile, Rangel wrote an open letter to New Yorkers saying he is the target of a "guerilla war." This is called hubris. Its also called 'politics as usual.'


ESSENTIAL TRIVIA:

Standing at just 2ft 5in high, He Pinping has been officially named the world's smallest man. Svetlana Pankratova, meanwhile, owns the longest legs in the world

The owner of the Storchen restaurant in Winterthur is improving his menu by using mother's milk in his soups and sauces. Whoa.

From the schadenfruede files, it might be comforting to know that billionaire George Soros's hedge fund may have lost at least $120 million on its stake in failed Lehman Brothers. I'm smiling. Color me catty.
An Israeli city is compiling a DNA data bank - on dog poop. Apparently they will match dog poop with the owners in order to both reward and fine dog owners who don't use a pooper scooper. How about we initiate a similar DNA test for Democrat's failed policies? Just a thought...



IDIOT OF THE WEEK:

There are so many contenders for this weekly award that RightBias is forced, by space constraints, to publish the myriad idiots lists as a separate page this week. Check out 'IDIOTS OF THE WEEK AWARDS'

The top idiot of the week award goes, hands down, to Dem VP contender Joe Biden, who stated with a straight face that being patriotic means paying higher taxes. No doubt, some will fall for this bunk, which further explains the need for an expanded IDIOT'S list. So many idiots, so little time.

Till next week, keep smiling,

by Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com

Culture Watch may be reprinted, with attribution to RightBias.com

Financial Bail-out: Govt. Interference Caused Govt. Bailout

Caution: Government at Work
Financial Problems are Government's Fault in the First Place
The Political Capitalist Different from True Capitalist





September 17 was Constitution Day. The federal government celebrated by staging the largest intervention into the private sector in history. With an injection of $85 billion of our tax dollars, our federal government now owns a majority stake in insurance giant, American International Group.

AIG should fit nicely with the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that our government seized last week. Of course, Fannie and Freddie also came with liabilities of more than $5 trillion worth of mortgages, which are now liabilities of the U.S. taxpayers. Not to worry, the government doesn't intend to incorporate the assets or liabilities of Fannie and Freddie onto the federal books, for now.

The outgoing CEO's of the failed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be leaving with a $24 million severance package, also paid for with our tax dollars. Ditto with failed giant AIG. Even though AIG shares have dropped 94 percent since Robert Willumstad, was named chief executive officer on June 15, this soon to be ex-CEO may get a $7 million exit package after a Federal Reserve take-over forces him out. Had enough yet? Hold on, there's more.

The Big Three’s chief executive officers are now in Washington, tin cups in hand. They were granted a rare Capitol Hill meeting Wednesday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders to ask for $25 billion in government loans for the auto industry.

Meanwhile, Congress has just approved and sent to President Bush an $8 billion rescue package for the federal highway trust fund. Apparently its going broke, which threatens road and bridge projects in every state.

Government bailouts, in effect, use our tax dollars to reward bad behaviour, while at the same time, putting more and more private business under government control. While America's eyes are eagerly following the presidential election, our government is turning the US into a corporate welfare state. Its called socialism, and it has failed everywhere its been tried.

No doubt, these business failures will be used as a further indictment of capitalism. But, as Burton Fulson points out in his book, 'The Myth of the Robber Baron,' there are two very different types of capitalists operating in America.

The true capitalists, the market entrepreneurs, are subject to the vagaries and risks of the market and fail or succeed based strictly the age old rule of supply and demand. The political capitalists are entrepreneurs whose fortunes are not determined by market forces as much as they are by political forces.

Political capitalists, instead of relying on market forces, rely instead on politicians and the political process to further their own interests and undermine their competitors'. This appears to be the case with both AIG and mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

As Jennifer Rubin points out in Commentary, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "survived by manipulating, cajoling and lobbying politicians and hiring board members who were politicos (e.g. Jamie Gorelick) rather than mortgage gurus. They hired lobbyists, gave massive donations, obtained nice tax breaks and sailed below the regulatory radar screen."

Ditto for investment bank Lehman Brothers, which also failed this week. The government chose not to bail Lehman out, despite the $395,574 in campaign donations to Obama and the $145,100 to McCain. Go figure.

A selection of conservative books available.


Political fingerprints are found all over every single failed business, from the 'favorable' mortgages to politicians, to the campaign contributions, to the lack of regulatory oversight by key members of banking and regulatory committees.

As the blame game starts, as politicos start to distance themselves from the very policies that contributed to the failures, expect more of our tax dollars to be spent on CYA activities. That's liberal speak for 'plausible deniability.' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was first out of the gate, announcing the launch of an investigation of Wall Street. This should make for good theater, if you're into sound and fury that signifies nothing.

When the dust finally settles, the federal government will have ever more power over the housing industry, the mortgage industry and the banking industry. Next up will most likely be the airline industry. All justified under the rubric of protecting the American people. The question never asked is: What government program, other than the military, works?

Most American's don't have to spend millions of dollars, summon legions of experts, and study the vast intricacies of the latest politically correct theory on how the market works in order to see the obvious. Most of us know we just need to get politics, politicians and our tax dollars out of the private market, and allow it to work. Its called capitalism.

by Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

Article may be reprinted with attribution