Big Dogs Weblog

Stop The Bail Out Now

Sep 23, 2008 Political

I have written that I understand the reason for the bailout but that I am not happy with it. The government should not be in the business of giving taxpayer money to businesses that are failing because they were mismanaged. It makes no difference if the market turned, it was greed, or they did not know what they were doing. The fact is, taxpayers do not share the wealth when these companies make money and we should not pay for the problems when they don’t.

The government is moving toward socialism where it will own, subsidize or underwrite everything. This is not the America I grew up in and it is not the America I want to leave to my grandchildren.

The reality is that the federal government is unable to do things effectively and they are irresponsible with our money. That’s right our money. In addition to the fiasco and huge expense that Treasury Secretary Paulson is working on to bailout his buddies in the financial world, the government is adding many items to the bailout showing once again that they cannot wait to spend our money. The Washington Times reports:

In the dark of night over the weekend when most people were snoozing, the Treasury dramatically expanded its bailout plan to include buying student loans, car loans, credit card debt and any other “troubled” assets held by banks.

The changes, which were included in draft language that also opened the bailout program to foreign banks with extensive loan operations in the United States, potentially added tens of billions of dollars to the cost of the program.

Although it was a major addition to what was already the nation’s largest-ever bailout, it did not become part of the debate between Democrats and the Treasury over details of the program. A Monday counterproposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd included such consumer loans as well as mortgages, just as the Treasury’s draft did Saturday night.

When exactly are people going to be held accountable for their own risks in life? The financial geniuses who make millions of dollars in salaries are still rich while the country pays for their sins. Now, the government is adding people who made bad decisions with their credit and students who finance their schooling to the program.

Let me be clear; IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TAXPAYER TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS.

People who are in credit card debt or have car loans that they cannot afford have no one to blame but themselves. Students who take out loans for an education are making an investment in their future. I wonder how these students would act if their future earnings were given to taxpayers. It is, after all, only fair. If we pay for your car, house or credit cards then we deserve to have the things you bought. This idea that the world will end if people or businesses fail is ridiculous.

We need to end this whole bailout now. ALL OF IT. If AIG and other companies, including foreign banks, are going to fail than let them fail. This is a buyer’s opportunity to pick up cheap investments. Lehman Brothers is being purchased, Constellation Energy is being purchased (by a Warren Buffet company) and there are many (like Buffet) looking for bargains. If a company fails there are people who will buy them on the cheap and have a go at making them successful. If no one buys them then they can go out of business.

It is a shame that people lose their jobs as a result of mismanagement and the ineptitude of the corrupt government but that is not the fault of the taxpayer.

John McCain needs to oppose this bailout. He needs to provide real leadership and show that he truly is against government waste because surely, this bailout is just that. The money is designed to let Paulson help his buddies and it is designed to allow politicians claim they were there to help during a time of crisis. This is particularly important to them because it is an election year and they are the ones who helped cause it.

Look at the items added. Christopher Dodd added consumer loans. He is the criminal most responsible. He has his Countrywide VIP loan that saved him $75,000 and he failed, to act early on when President Bush, on 17 occasions, warned of trouble and tried to get something done. The last things we need are the people who caused this mess to be the ones overseeing its cleanup. Yes, greed on Wall Street is partly responsible but to be fair, many mortgage companies were following the inane law that allows people with no hope of affording a house to buy one. Did they [financial companies] abuse the process? You bet and they should be held accountable.

Everyone involved should be held accountable. We can do this by:

• Getting rid of the CEOs and ensuring they do not receive a severance.
• Take back some of the untold millions these people made through greed and shady practices
• Stop the bailout and let unsound companies fail (or be bought up)
• Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all 435 House seats (thereby replacing the entire House)
• Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all contested Senate seats (thereby replacing 1/3 of the Senate)
• Hold people accountable for their own loans. If they fail they will learn a valuable lesson. If we bail them out, they will not

It is time for a shake up in DC. We need to replace all of these criminals so that they are held accountable for their misdeeds.

It is also time we held our fellow citizens accountable for their actions. Ron Paul has an excellent piece on this. He states exactly what I believe:

Additionally, the government’s actions encourage moral hazard of the worst sort. Now that the precedent has been set, the likelihood of financial institutions to engage in riskier investment schemes is increased, because they now know that an investment position so overextended as to threaten the stability of the financial system will result in a government bailout and purchase of worthless, illiquid assets.

I would add that this extends to any individual who takes risky decisions and is bailed out by the government.

Big Dog Salute to Raven who, as usual, is on top of things.
Others:
Texas Pundit

Tags: bailout, corruption, dodd, mortgage companies, paulson, sham, taxpayer fraud

Don’t Take Flight 93 to Mecca 9-18-2008

Sep 18, 2008 Flight 93

“They had some forewarning and they chose to take action.” The defenders of the crescent also have forewarning, and are trying to cover it up.

Gordon Felt, president of the Flight 93 family group that supports the crescent shaped memorial, offered a nice summary statement of the heroism of Flight 93:

They had some forewarning and they chose to take action.

“It’s that citizen soldier, heroism message,” he said “that we want to get out and memorialize their actions.”

Mr. Felt also has forewarning of an enemy plot, but he and the other defenders of the crescent design are choosing not to act. They are displaying a perfect anti-spirit of Flight 93.

According to Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird, they all know that all of our basic claims about the crescent design are accurate: the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent; the 44 translucent blocks that are to be placed along the flight path, etcetera. Yet they and their allies in the press are doing everything in their power to keep the public from knowing what they know.

Example 1: PA paper reports Mecca orientation controversy, omits its own verification of the Mecca orientation of the crescent.

In last week’s anniversary coverage of the 9/11 attacks, the Johnstown Tribune Democrat noted the controversy over the orientation of the crescent. We say it points to Mecca. The Park Service denies it:

The project also has been dogged by complaints spearheaded by California author Alec Rawls that the memorial points to Mecca and is a veiled tribute to the Islamic terrorists – a claim family members and developers maintain has been investigated and refuted.

What reporter Kirk Swauger fails to mention is that he himself fact-checked the Mecca-orientation claim last year, and published his findings:

Rawls maintains that the midpoint between the tips of the crescent points almost precisely toward “qibla,” the direction to Mecca, which Muslims are supposed to face for prayer.

His claims seem to be backed up by coordinates for the direction of qibla from Somerset that can be found on Islam.com. When superimposed over the crescent in the memorial design, the midpoint points over the Arctic Circle, through Europe toward Mecca.

This is the only instance in three years now where any news organization has ever published any fact-checking of our easy to fact check claims about the memorial design. Alec has several times emailed Kirk’s published confirmation of the Mecca-orientation to every newsdesk in Pennsylvania and to every reporter covering the memorial story. They ALL know about it. Yet even Kirk continues to present the Mecca orientation claim as a “he said, she said” conflict, without letting his readers know that he has verified the Mecca-orientation for himself (and this isn’t the first time he has made this omission).

If Mr. Swauger really wanted everyone to forget his confirmation of the Mecca-orientation, he could just avoid any mention of the orientation of the crescent at all. Alec’s best guess is that Kirk is being held back by Tribune Democrat editor Chip Minemyer, who has tried to sweep the memorial controversy under the rug from day one, but the reporters are also neck deep. Several have suggested that to investigate and report on the accuracy of our claims would be taking sides. Of course that phony “scruple” would disappear in a second if the facts showed our criticisms to be bogus.

Example 2: Gordon Felt himself misled the public about the 44 blocks.

The Crescent of Embrace design, now called the (broken) Circle of Embrace, calls for a total of 44 inscribed translucent memorial blocks to be placed along the flight path. (There were forty passengers and crew on Flight 93 and four terrorists.)

In trying to get this information out to the public, we need to be brief, so “44 inscribed translucent memorial blocks” sometimes gets shortened to “44 glass blocks,” or “44 blocks.” Asked last spring about the 44 blocks, Gordon Felt declared it a lie:

Opponents also claim there is a plan to have 44 glass blocks — for the 40 victims and four hijackers — in the design.

“That’s an absolute, unequivocal fabrication that is being portrayed as fact,” said Edward Felt’s brother, Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93. “It’s misleading and helps drive the conspiracy theory.”

But he follows this denial with a footnote, indicating that he knows full well that there will be 44 memorial blocks:

Felt said the names of the passengers and crew will be placed on the memorial, but no final decision has been made on how they would be displayed or on what material.

In other words, he is nit-picking over our occasional description of the blocks as “glass blocks,” when they might not all be technically made of glass.

As Alec’s original report to the Memorial Project made clear, 43 of the blocks are described in the design drawings as “polished, translucent white marble”:

Click pic for larger image.

The lower section of wall, on the left, contains forty of the “translucent white marble” blocks or panels (backlit at night), inscribed with the names of the forty heroes. The upper section of wall, on the right, contains three more blocks, inscribed with the 9/11 date.

That upper section of wall, by the way, is centered on the bisector of the giant crescent, placing it in the exact position of the star on an Islamic crescent and star flag. Thus the date goes to the Islamic star. The date goes to the terrorists.

Here is the 44th block on the flight path. It marks the upper crescent tip, where according to the Park Service’s own website, the flight path symbolically breaks our (Christian) circle, turning it into the giant (Mecca oriented) crescent. A clearer depiction of al Qaeda victory is hard to imagine, and it all comes together right here:

At the end of the Entry Portal Walkway (after the walkway symbolically “breaks” the towering Entry Portal Walls) sits a large “glass memorial plaque” that dedicates the entire site.

This 44th translucent block on the flight path marks the spot where the terrorists symbolically broke our harmonious circle and turned it into a giant Islamic shaped crescent. To be inscribed: “A field of honor forever.”

Gordon Felt knows ALL of this, and is trying to keep the public from knowing. It’s as if someone on Flight 93, hearing from the ground that airplanes had crashed into the Trade Towers, insisted to the other passengers that NO airplanes had crashed into the Trade Towers.

Apparently grief has made these people crazy. They have forewarning, and are struggling with all their might to keep others from being forewarned as well.

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Tags: flight 93 memorial, lies, Mecca, sham

The Maryland Tax Rape Plan

Nov 19, 2007 Political

The legislature of Maryland wrapped up the Special Session called by Governor O’Malley and the result is going to be very painful to Maryland residents. For the past three weeks the legislature has been mulling over how to screw the citizens of this state out of their hard earned money and they finally succeeded at doing just that. When O’Malley was elected I predicted that he would raise our taxes and hurt us. I think he believes that Hillary will select him for a position in her administration and he will not have to worry about paying for what he did when the next election rolls around (in Maryland it will be 2010).

The special session was called to address a budget shortfall for a budget that does not yet exist. They then addressed gasoline taxes, which do not go into the general funds and cannot reduce any perceived deficit, then they increased health care assistance which adds to the budget which is contrary to why the session was convened. Additionally, a half billion dollars in cuts were recommended to the governor but he is free to dismiss the cuts which he likely will. The whole process was a sham in order to raise our taxes starting on 1 January despite the fact that the current budget is in place until July and I might add that it is balanced.

Marylanders received a 20% increase in the sales tax and the income taxes, which were a fair flat tax, were changed to a progressive tax so that wealthier people pay more of the share for government than other wage earners. Yep, the wealthy in the state will now pay more to government despite the fact that the wealthy use far fewer government services. This is Socialism 101 and Governor O’Malley is the Karl Marx of Maryland.

There are many wealthy liberals who are very upset that they will pay a higher percentage of taxes than much of the state and I am happy about that. The service industry will also take a big hit because taxes have been extended to a lot of things that were not taxed in the past. The people who provide these services are getting screwed as well and many of them will likely question why they voted for O’Malley in the first place. All I can say is I hope it hurts the people who voted for him so badly that they are eating cat food for dinner so they can afford to heat their homes. I am tired of the liberals in this state imposing their will upon the people and screwing us so it is time that they paid for their stupidity. I hope the cat food tastes good.

I know which of my elected ‘leaders’ voted to increase my taxes and I will actively work to defeat them during the next election. I will work to ensure that the citizens of this state do not forget who they were and what they did. I am hoping that this is the straw that finally broke the camel’s back and people will vote the Democrats out of office so that we can get true leadership in here.

There will no doubt be an exodus of people from this state. Some will sell their homes and move and others will just go to other states to shop. I will not purchase any big ticket item in Maryland and I will try to get my services from entities outside the state. and I know there will be many others who do the same. Those living close to Delaware or Virginia will go to those states for gas and other items in order to pay less in taxes. I imagine it will not be long before the tax Nazis from Annapolis are waiting at the borders to confiscate good purchased elsewhere.

The bills will be signed into law today and that will be the death of this state and, as is true of all bad times in Maryland, it will come on a Democrat’s watch.

Interestingly, the legislature decided to put a slot machine bill on the ballot for referendum which means the people will vote on it in 2008 and, if it passes, it will become part of the Constitution of the state. Only a moron would make this part of the Constitution because then any changes will require a change to the Constitution which means by referendum and vote of the people. Slots have been a big issue for five years and the Democrats have always voted them down because they are evil (actually they did not want the Republican governor to get credit for the income) and now they are pushing the issue farther down the road because they lack the leadership necessary to address the issue. If the people pass slots the revenue will not begin to flow for a few more years. It could have been flowing by now were it not for the obstructive Democrats. If the measure fails they will raise our taxes again because a lot of what they are spending is based upon projected revenue from slots and many items in the special session were tied to slots.

I would have preferred they put the tax question directly to the people. Of course, since nearly 80% of the citizens opposed raising taxes they were not going to let us vote on it. They do not trust us to make those decisions even though they work for us.

We need a recall election in Maryland to get rid of O’Malley and we need to vote every person who raised our taxes OUT OF OFFICE.

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. Today however, is Thankstaking, the day Maryland government will give thanks for what it will take from its citizens.

Others with similar items:
Stop the ACLU, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, A Blog For All, guerrilla radio, Right Truth, The Populist, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Leaning Straight Up, Nuke’s, third world county, Allie Is Wired, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Wolf Pangloss, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Tags: billion dollars, budget shortfall, Democrats, Hillary, karl marx, o malley, progressive tax, sham, socialism, special session, wage earners

The Ron Paul Revolution

Nov 17, 2007 Political

I have to start off by saying that I like Ron Paul. I don’t know that I like him enough to vote for him for president yet but I like most of his positions. There is a Ron Paul Revolution that appears to be coming from the youth in America, those of college age who are most likely fed up with politics as usual in this country. The problem is, will there be enough of them to help him win? If the history of voting shows anything, it might not be an issue because the youth in America tend NOT to vote. That is why the mainstream politicians court the vote of the seasoned among us. The elderly vote in droves compared to the young however, Paul’s age might help him with the elderly vote. One other thing; is Paul the candidate that can beat any Democrat on the ticket?

Paul has great ideas about retuning this country to following the Constitution. His Congressional nickname is Dr. No because he votes no on any item that does not conform to the limits of the Constitution. As far as any of the candidates are concerned, his voting record is the only one that shows conformity to the Constitution.

Paul is for placing us back on the gold standard and for abolishing the IRS and he would repeal the income tax, all are not bad ideas. Placing us on the gold standard would not allow us just print money to handle inflation. Our country did well under the gold standard and it is time our money was backed by something of value. The backing of the words of politicians is not very strong. The tax system in this country is a sham and it allows government to take our money and redistribute it anywhere they so desire. Congress has shown that it does not know how to handle money and that it is fiscally irresponsible. The XVI Amendment, passed in 1913, is reported to have never been ratified by the required 3/4 of the states because Ohio was not “a state” due to an administrative error. Regardless of the arguments, the tax code has been in effect for nearly 100 years and the only way to do it right is to repeal it and start over.

The IRS is nothing more than the enforcement arm of the extortion racket the government runs. In the days of the mob, people were forced to join protection rackets. If they refused to pay some big guy named Bruno showed up and beat the hell out of them or their business mysteriously burned to the ground. The government extorts money from us and we cannot limit them when they do it. If they passed a law requiring everyone to pay 80% of income in taxes we could not stop it. If we refused to pay, the IRS (their Bruno) would come looking for us and make life miserable. Paul is on to something when he says that we should get rid of this stuff. I like his Constitutional approach. He is not like by the status quo because he says the things DC insiders do not like.

One thing that Ron Paul is adamant about is getting out of the UN. I agree 100% with him on that and believe that we should dissolve all treaties with regard to the UN and we should kick them out of our country. They are worthless and oppose us at every turn.

There are negatives though. Paul is in his 70s and that is a liability though he seems to be in good shape and is handling the rigor of a campaign well. It is still a concern though being young is not necessarily a guarantee one will not die while in office (JFK), it just means that they have a better chance.

There are also the fringe groups that support Paul. The Skinheads is probably the major one but I am sure there are others. I do not think for one minute that Ron Paul courts these people or that he agrees with their message but it is disconcerting that these kinds of folks would flock to his message. Regardless of how Paul feels, perception is reality to many people and many will perceive that he has their philosophies.

The other thing to think about is can Ron Paul beat any of the Democrats that are running? He certainly can garner votes from young people fed up with the system and he can garner votes from moderate conservatives who want the country run in accordance with the Constitution but there are a lot of liberals who are going to vote and they do not like this idea of limited government or repealing the income tax. Liberals are for big government and lots of tax money to spend on worthless programs. Since universal health care is not part of the Constitution, they will not like Paul’s positions because he would deny those things liberals believe to be entitlements.

While I agree with Paul on domestic issues, I am not in agreement with his foreign policy ideas. Regardless of what one believes about the war in Iraq, a complete withdrawal would result in disaster in Iraq as well as here at home. If we are perceived as weak then the radical Muslims will increase their attacks upon us. Clinton’s decisions not to attack them after they continually attacked us led to 9/11. Despite the rewritten history and the Berger stolen documents, it is undeniable that this is what happened. Bin Laden told us that he attacked us because of the weakness displayed by Clinton. If Ron Paul displays a similar weakness then we will be hit again.

If Ron Paul is unwilling to use our military then he should not be President. If, on the other hand, he has some idea as to how to use them to keep us from being attacked then I can listen to what he has to say. I realize that Paul believes we attacked illegally and that the money is being wasted and I know liberals would love to spend it on street corner abortion clinics or other such things. With regard to Paul, the money is worthless if we are attacked here at home and with regard to liberals, they will not get the money if Paul is President. However, if Paul agrees to withdraw all of the financial support we provide around the world and bring our troops home from all nations and put them on bases guarding our country from enemies (and ILLEGALS) then we might be on to something. This means ALL support but it also means that we would be abandoning our allies like Israel, unless Paul has some idea about a treaty with them to help protect them from the Muslim world. I doubt that would happen because Paul seems convinced that since we were able to stare down a Soviet Union with nukes that an Iran with nukes would pose little threat and should be of no concern. I am not sure that he understands that Ahmadinejad is not plating with a full deck and would launch on Israel. In that case I would have to throw back the Ron Paul supporter’s question; WWRPD?

I have not decided on a candidate as of yet. I am watching and listening to see who will do the best job for this country and who can beat the Democratic candidate. I will continue to watch Paul with the rest of them (I never discounted him like the media did) and will decide as we get closer to the election.

One thing is for sure, thoughtful comments and dialog will be beneficial to the process but Ron Paul spammers calling names does little to help the process.

Someone from the Revolution enlighten me and my readers.

Tags: conformity, Congress, constitution, Democrats, gold standard, illegals, income tax, Military, President, ron paul, sham, war