konane's Blog

"Holder Admits to Not Reading Arizona's Immigration Law Despite Criticizing It

  Clown   Wonder who told him to say it was a bad idea?  Clown

________

"Holder Admits to Not Reading Arizona's Immigration Law Despite Criticizing It

FOXNews.com 

"Despite repeatedly voicing concerns about Arizona's new immigration enforcement law in recent weeks and threatening to challenge it, Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday he has not yet read the law -- which is only 10 pages long.

"I have not had a chance to -- I've glanced at it," Holder said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing when asked by Rep.Ted Poe, R-Texas whether Holder has read the state law cracking down on illegal immigrants.

"I'll give you my copy of it if you would like," Poe responded.

Holder told reporters last month that he fears the new law is subject to abuse and that the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department are in the midst of conducting a review. ......."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/13/holder-admits-reading-arizonas-immigration-law-despite-slamming/

Entry #1,815

"The New World Order is Now Complete

Interesting perspective ..... you decide.

_____________

10  05/10

"The New World Order is Now Complete

15:52 by Administrator. Filed under: Whatever

Source http://johngaltfla.com/blog3 via Steve Quayle Q News

by John Galt
May 10, 2010

"It took them a long time. I was stupid not to realize the obvious fact. Here we are, finally, united in a new world order of happiness and a future so bright that I have to wear shades. For most people much like myself, we always thought it was the United States and the armed citizenry that stalled and prevented the establishment of this new order, both economic and political. Sadly us Americentric types focused on our nation as the center of the universe failed to see the big picture and I did not realize until tonight that it was not Presidents Bush and Obama that prevented the new order from taking hold. It was not the Tea Party, Republican Party or the Libertarian Party which obstructed the globalist regime. It was not Joe Redneck, Joe Six-Pack or Joe the Plumber that intimidated or slowed down the establishment of this order.

It was our friends in Europe.

And last night a shotgun wedding was performed, Miss America, meet your groom, the European Union.

The idea that the European Union needed $1 trillion to bail out Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain is absurd. Even if all of that money was obtainable on the open markets or via fiat creation it does nothing to repair or restore the economic engine of hybrid Corporatist Statism, but does indicate the level of desperation that the powers in the West are willing to resort to in a last ditch effort to insure the expansion of and maintenance of their fortunes and power. Here we are, at the crux of another crisis and a “miracle” cure is found by creating more debt to service, not pay off, existing debt from various member nations who were resistant to the idea of a unified political structure. Ireland and the other PIIGS nations wanted no part of a unified Parliamentary structure for the EU with the ability to dictate law and settle on a series of Constitutionally mandated rights for the member nations. Yet here we are with those very nations who opposed such a regime surrendering their economic freedoms and in turn insuring such an animal will exist, a beast to America’s east.

Despite years of people calling others ‘tinfoil freaks’ of whom I have been guilty of that years and years ago, the conspiracy is not that nor has it been for two years now. The conspiracy has turned into a course of action where people are being deceived into believing that according to the leaders of the West, aka the United States and Europe, that there is no other choice if we wish to survive as a civilization. Common sense tells the informed citizen otherwise but the panic and hysteria created on an almost scheduled, regular basis, be it an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, financial crisis, war, or terrorist act keeps many citizens from understanding or realizing the activities being undertaken behind the scenes. How many people realize that the new financial reform package expands the powers of the Federal Reserve to the point of extra-Constitutional authorities not implied nor given to the Executive Branch as written within that <snip>ed piece of paper? How many people who run a small business now understand that starting in 2012 you have to give a 1099 to every vendor you purchase $600 or more from? How many citizens understand that Homeland Security is working with the Congress to create a standardized National Identification program under the guise of the Health Care legislation to provide the ability to monitor not just the consumption patterns of citizens but the transportation habits, domestic and international, of our citizens to enable further taxation due to the risks created by those who can afford to travel to and fro?

And that’s just the United States side of the equation. Once the European Parliament convenes when the dust settles and the last fire from the riots are extinguished, the Eurosheeple much like the Amerisheeple will begin to understand that gee, we really do have a lot in common and perhaps unifying our financial systems and legal systems would be a logical extension from where we are now. The fact that we just put their precious European Monetary Union into debt to the Federal Reserve via the currency swaps and the International Monetary Fund loan program does sort of entitle those who are in charge to demand concessions of the citizens to insure a guarantee of repayment and streamlining of operations now, doesn’t it?

The next wave of the now completed new order will be to unify financial and corporate regulatory regimes because we “have to” and thus with that logic our sovereign rights along with the individual participants within the EU will agree to do the same. Beyond that, the human rights campaigns masked by their Eurosocialist masters will demand we in turn surrender key freedoms and rights as provided by the Constitution to insure financial and corporate stability, thus leaving the American citizen with no voice because we will have none in this matter.

The end game arrived with little fanfare but as expected a warning shot across the bow of the world economies with the shock of last Thursday. The Untied States has a banking cartel which was already engaged to be married to their Eurosocialist brethren but the right trigger event was never created to insure that the “people” would cooperate in such an event. Americans, due to the demographic shift, will support any and all actions that guarantee their retirement accounts as large numbers of the Baby Boomer generation is more than happy to sell the rest of us out to insure a comfortable period of time from retirement to their death. The Eurosocialist want to protect their 32 hour work week with 12 weeks of vacation so they are willing to accept a more “diversified” society if the United States citizens are willing to pay for it, thus they will accept their new immigrants, their new laws, and their new compliance with a budding world council to manage their affairs because after all the “New World” is going to share in their pain.

Thus the table has been set. Elections are somewhat irrelevant in the United States after the 2010 mid-term election unless upwards of 50% of the incumbents are turned out at every level, be it dog catcher or Congressman. The path has been set upon not by a desperation to insure world peace, as many thought it would in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, but instead a dying desire to make sure they can retire with their surround sound DVD player and golf every Thursday with Bob at the community country club. The Greatest Generation, the ones who fought and died during World War II and endured the pains of the Great Depression of the 1930’s have finally given way. The Sellout Generation, their spawn, will insure world peace and stability for a generation to come.

By enslaving us all to the whims of a cartel of corporatist Marxists hell bent on a twisted Fascist world domination."

http://johngaltfla.com/blog3/2010/05/10/the-new-world-order-is-now-complete-2/

Entry #1,814

"Lawyers: Rig workers asked to sign statements

"Lawyers: Rig workers asked to sign statements

By GARANCE BURKE and CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writers

Source SFGate.com

Tuesday, May 11, 2010"(05-11) 10:50 PDT , (AP) --

"Workers aboard an exploding offshore drilling platform were told to sign statements denying they were hurt or witnessed the blast that rocked the rig, killed 11 and spewed millions of gallons of oil into the ocean, their attorneys said Tuesday.

Survivors floated for hours in life boats in the Gulf of Mexico following the disaster on the Deepwater Horizon, and were greeted by company officials onshore asking them to sign statements that they had no "first hand or personal knowledge" of the incident, attorneys said. ......"

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/05/11/national/a104820D60.DTL

Entry #1,813

Bank of America ~ Snopes verified

Came in email.

___________

Snopes verified. 
This one takes the prize! 


 
 Bank of America, can I help you?

 
Customer: Yes, I want to cancel my account. I don't want to do business with you any longer.
 
The Bank: Why?
 
Customer: You're giving credit to illegal immigrants and I don't think it's right. I'm taking my business elsewhere.
 
The Bank: Well, Mr. Customer, we don't want to see you do that, but we can't stop you. I'll help you close the account. What is your account number?
 
Customer: (gives account number)
 
The Bank: For security purposes and for your protection, can you please give me the last four digits of your social security number?
 
Customer: No?
 
The Bank: Mr. Customer, I need to verify your information, but in order to help you, I'll need verification of who you are..
 
Customer: Why should I give you my social security number? The reason I'm closing my account is that your bank is issuing credit cards to illegal immigrants who don't have social security numbers. You are targeting that audience and want their business. Let's say I'm an illegal immigrant and you've given me a credit card. I have a question about it and call for assistance. You wouldn't be asking me for a Social Security number, would you?
 
The Bank: No sir, I wouldn't.
 
Customer: Why not?
 
The Bank: Because you would have pressed '2' to speak in Spanish. We don't ask for that information when calling in on the Spanish line.
 
If it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then forward it to every human in the country including every representative in Washington , DC four times a week for a month.
         

 
Entry #1,812

"A blast from Elena Kagan's past

"A blast from Elena Kagan's past

Source Powerlineblog.com

May 12, 2010 Posted by Paul at 6:05 PM

Byron York reports on an obscure but potentially embarrassing controversy involving Elena Kagan's days in the Clinton administration:

In 1995 and 1996, future Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan was involved in a bizarre controversy in which the Clinton White House was accused of siding with an eco-terrorist group locked in a standoff with federal agents deep in the woods of Oregon. The incident led to an investigation by House Republicans, who concluded that a staffer on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) tipped off the environmental radicals to impending action by U.S. Forest Service law enforcement agents -- a leak that Forest Service officials believed endangered the lives of their agents on the ground.

Kagan, at the time an associate White House counsel, had no role in leaking the feds' plans to the radicals, but House Committee on Natural Resources investigators concluded she shirked her responsibility by not searching for the source of the leak or pushing for punishment of the leaker.

"Nothing was ever done by Elena Kagan to learn the details about the leaks, or to identify the leaker and ensure that proper punishment occurred," the committee's 1999 report concluded. In fact, investigators found evidence suggesting that Kagan, in internal White House discussions, defended the alleged leaker.

(emphasis added) The suspected leaker was a senior CEQ official Dinah Bear who had wide contacts in the environmental community. Bear wrote in an email that "Elena went out of her way to go to bat for yours truly, which was quite decent of her." When congressional investigators asked the White House for Kagan's notes of her discussions with Dinah Bear, the White House refused to provide them.

It's quite likely that during her confirmation hearings, Kagan will be asked about the Warner Creek incident. It's quite unlikely that the matter will hurt Kagan's chances of being confirmed. But depending on the facts and how she answers questions about the matter, Kagan may come off looking bad. That, in turn, would make President Obama look bad.

The public would probably look askance at a nominee who disses the U.S. military and goes "to bat" for leakers who undermine U.S. law enforcement officials."

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/05/026283.php

Entry #1,811

"The Perversity Of Bank-Driven Policy Response

Denninger is a brilliant analyst ....  this happens to be one of his best about what faction (banksters) the current regime is allowing to run the US into the ground.  For such a symbiotic relationship between the regime and banksters there has to be mutual benefit.  Wonder what that could be?  What?  You decide.

____________

Wednesday, May 12. 2010

Posted by Karl Denninger   11:24

Source The Market Ticker

"The Perversity Of Bank-Driven Policy Response

If you're wondering why the big banks have "captured" the political environment in every nation of the world, you need only look at the Goldman results through a somewhat-different lens.

See, it wasn't just Goldman - it was also Bank of America, Citibank and JP Morgan who scored "perfect quarters."

Now if Goldman's record was predicated on the outcome of a game of chance set of odds and had an 8.67 x 10-19 probability of occurring, for four of these institutions to do so would be that to the 4th power, or something approaching 5.65 x 10-73.

As pointed out in the forum by Tsberts, there are fewer than this many particles (atoms, etc) in the known universe.

Now it is certainly true that trading activities are not a pure game of chance, and that most of the trading profits are generated from "market making" (that is, earning a spread.)

But that makes the performance even more outrageous, because these "market making" activities are claimed to be something that provides net benefit to market participants and thus the economy as a whole.

That claim looks awfully hard to sustain when the book-maker never loses - not even once on a daily aggregate basis.

Indeed, this puts into stark relief the nature of "banking" these days in the Wall Street context, which is increasingly nothing more than an activity intended and executed to skim off profits for the banksters at the expense of literally everyone else in the economy.

They seem to be doing a good job of it too, if these results are any indication.

Here's the problem with this, assuming you're not a bank executive: The money these people skim off comes from all other economic activity.  That is, every dollar they make through these "activities" is a dollar you lose as a productive member of society.

It cannot be otherwise.  The spread has to come from someone, and the "someone" it comes from ultimately is you!

You pay it at the pump, you pay it in your mortgage, you pay for it at the grocery store, and you pay for it at Home Depot.  In each and every product and service you purchase there is an implicit "Bankster Tax."

Now some of this "bankster tax" is unavoidable.  That is, there indeed is a need for a banking system, despite the claims of some.  We have a penchant in modern society for being able to easily buy things we want, and do to that we need both one or more mediums of exchange but also a clearing mechanism.  Banks provide this.

But what's lost on most people in the current debate is that many of the other things that banks do are actually quite destructive.  Have you noticed that you can only get a CD that pays 1% right now?  Is the cost of living rising at 1% or less?  No, it is not, which means that you are funding the bankster tax if you have your money in the bank.  They're stripping you!

Worse is the game being played between the banks and Treasury.  This is a symbiotic mess and it sucks.  The banks borrow at or near zero from The Fed and then buy Treasuries with the money.  Since Treasuries have a "Zero" risk weighting, they can then pledge those for Repo money in the overnight market (again, at essentially zero) and now they have cash to do it again!  This creates effective infinite leverage and yet this is permitted because these "securities" are sovereign and thus "safe."

This has allowed the Treasury to continue to "borrow" and spend, but the "borrowing" is, to a large degree, false money.  That is, it is nothing other than leverage - it is not actual money being lent. 

This, if it does not stop, is how you get a Ponzi-style collapse!

If you want to know why Greece was bailed out, this is the reason.  Had they not been the banks in Europe who had taken this Greek Debt which was represented as "safe" but in fact was not would have gotten nailed, as their inherent leverage in the transaction would have chewed them to bits.  Indeed, they had mark-to-market losses in the billions when the interest rates on that debt ramped - all not recognized, of course, since sovereign debt has "zero risk."

The error in this process is that sovereign debt does not have zero risk.  Indeed, allowing banks to trade anything creates this sort of hazard, since there is no such thing as a free lunch - claims otherwise are in fact lies.  Yet the claims continue.

Mark Hanson of Hanson Advisors has an interesting report out this morning that underlies much of the trouble, which of course is focused in the housing market.  We have been told repeatedly by administration officials and others that the "worst of the crisis" in mortgages and similar instruments is behind us, and that credit quality is "improving." 

This is a lie.

I have stressed repeatedly that you cannot fix someone who is overlevered by offering them more credit, no matter the terms.  You can only solve their problem by reducing their credit load.  But for most Americans their primary mortgage (which is all that HAMP really addresses, despite the protests of some 'pundits') isn't the half of it.  You also have HELOC debt, and far more importantly all other forms of credit, including credit cards, auto loans and similar.

The Ponziconomy folks are well-aware that without restarting credit creation the attempts to "pump" our claimed "economic recovery" will fail.  More importantly, since we have managed to crank expectations in business so high over the last year, resulting in an 80% ramp in the stock markets, if they fail we won't "muddle along" and work the excesses out - that capability has now disappeared.  What we face is an all-on collapse that will likely destroy 20% or more of the S&P 500 and 50% or more of all small businesses.

The numbers say they're failing:

(Chart)

That's everything but mortgages.  Non-revolving debt has leveled off - but it never went materially below a zero creation rate in the first place.  But revolving debt has not, which belies the claim that "credit quality is stable and improving." 

It most-emphatically is not when one looks at the outstanding credit as represented here:

(Chart)

We nearly doubled non-revolving credit out from 2000-2008 and added about 50% to revolving.  Now non-revolving, despite all the "stimulus" programs and "Free money" deals for cars, has stalled and refuses to resume it's ascent, while revolving continues to contract. On a total basis you have this:

(Chart)

Looks folks, we went from $1.5 trillion outstanding to over $2.5 trillion in ten years.  Now it's contracting and while non-revolving has stabilized, it is not growing materially, and revolving debt continues to contract.  To resume the upward trajectory we had in 2000-2007, we must ramp consumer credit from $2.5 trillion to roughly $4 trillion over the next ten years, and we must also take the $53 trillion in total outstanding debt and ramp it to somewhere around $80 trillion.

But to do that you must have the income to service that debt. 

We do not, and we cannot without radical changes in how we approach trade and employment in this nation.

All we have done thus far is play "extend and pretend" writ large throughout the economy, with a special emphasis in the housing market in all it's forms.  The banks are cheating on asset valuations when it comes to MBS and whole loans of all sorts but so are consumers!  A consumer who has a total debt-service-to-income ratio post modification in the 60s or above is one blown transmission in their car, a leaking water heater or an unexpected medical bill away from bankruptcy.

To get out of this hole we must either truly restructure those debts (which at best means writing down expected interest payment streams in the future, and at worst recognizing the bankruptcy that has already taken place) or we must significantly increase income - not by 5 or 10% but by serious amounts, 20% or more.

The latter is impossible due to global wage arbitrage unless we either force China to revalue their currency or whack them (and other low-cost exporters such as Vietnam and similar) with huge tariffs on everything they export to the United States.

Enjoy the illusion that it has all been fixed.  Everywhere I look, no matter the sector, I see the same game being played. 

Last week showed us a crack in the dam.  The coming weeks may prove that the number of cracks exceed the number of available fingers.

http://market-ticker.org/archives/2307-The-Perversity-Of-Bank-Driven-Policy-Response.html

Entry #1,810

"Shocker: Obamacare To Cost More Than $1 Trillion

Some really good questions to ponder.  Love or hate him, Boortz makes you think.

______

"SHOCKER: OBAMACARE TO COST MORE THAN $1 TRILLION
_________

"BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

By Neal Boortz @ May 12, 2010 8:51 AM

Source Boortz.com

"If you've been paying attention you will know that the cost estimates for ObamaCare were far too low in the first place, just as they usually are for government spending and entitlement programs. The key phrase here is "if you've been paying attention." Sadly, far too many Americans aren't paying attention to much more than their Hollywood celebrity news and favorite sports team. Bread and circuses .. and the politicians love it. Spending figures and debt to GDP ratios mean little to most Americans. Slogans and impossible promises drive far too many elections.

Now let's say, just for the sake of argument, that you do run into someone today who has decided that it's time to put down the US Weekly magazine and pick up some serious reading. They ask you for some suggestions on what areas they might research for more information. I'm running out of time before the show ... but here are just a few ideas.

  • Look into the Social Security Trust Fund. Does is really exist? Social Security benefits now exceed the amount collected in Social Security taxes. If there is no money in the Trust Fund, where will the money come from to pay these benefits?
  • China seems to be running into a little snag with their economy. Soon they might not be in the mood to buy any foreign debt. When that happens (when, not if) who will se sell our bonds too? At what interest rate?
  • Here's a simple task. Try to find someone who can explain to you how we will be able to afford to pay Social Security and Medicare benefits ... together with ObamaCare ... in, say, ten years.
  • The United States has the second-highest corporate income tax in the world - second to Japan. Ask some businessmen to explain how this helps create much-needed jobs.
  • Virtually all of the personal income taxes in the United States are paid by just 47% of those who actually have income. This means that about 53% of the people are getting a free ride. Jobs and economic growth come from the 47%, not the 53%. What does this tell you about America's future?
  • Speaking of America's future: The life-expectancy of a representative government based on the rule of law with personal and economic liberty is right around 200 years. We're about three decades beyond our life expectancy. Try to explain why we're bulletproof and our system of government simply cannot collapse under regulatory and debt load.
  • If two fat Asian women wearing traditional Japanese garb robbed a bank, try to explain how police would catch these two without profiling. Would the "BOLO" alert simply say "Be on the lookout for two people who robbed a bank ....... ?"
  • Study the 10th Amendment to our Constitution. Then try to find one politician in Washington who actually tries to govern in accordance with these instructions from our founding fathers.
  • Are you watching what's happening in Greece? Do you know that the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have just approved a ONE TRILLION dollar bailout fund for countries like Greece, Portugal, Spain and others? Oh, you did? Well ... did you know that American taxpayers are on the hook for $50 billion of those dollars in that bailout fund? Just where is that money going to come from?
  • Do you have health insurance through your employer? Well, isn't that special. Are you aware that some of America's largest employers are considering dropping their employee health benefits as ObamaCare goes into effect? Why? Because they get rid of a massive headache. Besides, it would be cheaper for them just to pay the penalty to the government rather than pay for all of those expensive health plans. Reconcile this with Obama's promise that you would be able to keep your health insurance plan if you liked it.
  • A little reading of history will show you that despots and tyrants know that they must control the flow of information if they are to maintain power. In recent days your President has been telling graduates that all of this information is "putting pressure" on them and "our democracy." Obama's FCC has also made moves to control the Internet. Is there any reason to believe that Obama has a problem with the free flow of information in our society?
  • A wager earner pays $5000 in income taxes. He needs that money to bring his mortgage current and to pay for some medical expenses. Instead the money is given to a puppet theatre to build some new puppets and scenery. Do you have a problem with that?
  • Do illegal immigrants in the Southwest United States believe that they are there illegally? Do you realize that 58% of the people in Mexico are of the opinion that the Southwestern United States actually belongs to Mexico and not to the United States?
  • Our borders with Mexico are still wide open. List the reasons why politicians might not want to stem the flood of illegals into the United States.
  • Try to figure out why a school system owned by the government, operated by the government and staffed by government employees would NOT teach your children that government is the answer to all of their problems.
  • Do some research to figure out where the jobs come from. You'll find that almost all new private sector jobs ... as much as 80% ... come from small businesses, not corporations. The owners of these small businesses report their income on their personal income tax returns. They aren't hiring. Study the situation and try to figure out why they're sitting on the sidelines. Could it possibly have anything to do with the fact that they're scared s#!tless about all of the regulations and tax increases Obama has in store for them?
  • Considering the fact that we have a president who has called the private sector "the enemy;" a president who clearly does not favor the concept of free enterprise and capitalism ... is there the slightest chance that this president might be engaged in an intentional effort to destroy or cripple our free market economy so that he can replace it with a centrally-planned economy more to his liking? Even the SLIGHTEST chance?

OK ... enough. Maybe .. just maybe those questions aimed at the right people might get someone actually interested in what the hell is going on outside of Hollywood or their local sports stadium."

http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2010/05/but-wait-theres-more-2.html

Entry #1,808

"CAGW Names Senator Thad Cochran Porker of the Month

"Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
 

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.)

Washington Office:
Phone:
202-224-5054
Fax: 202-224-9450

 

"CAGW Names Senator Thad Cochran Porker of the Month 

"(Washington, D.C.)Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) April Porker of the Month for being the biggest porker in the 2010 Congressional Pig Book, the third consecutive year he has received this dishonor.  Sen. Cochran obtained 240 earmarks worth $490 million.  Since fiscal year 2008, Sen. Cochran has obtained more than $2 billion in pork-barrel earmarks.  This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the Congressional Pig Book

The 2010 Congressional Pig Book documented 9,129 earmarks worth $16.5 billion and features “Oinker Awards,” which bestow special recognition on the most extraordinarily wasteful projects.  The “Thad the Impaler Award” went to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) for securing the most pork. 

In a March 17, 2010 Politico article, when Sen. Cochran was asked about his earmark spending he said, ‘“I don’t have any guilt trips.”’  Sen. Cochran’s attitude illustrates how fiscally irresponsible members put wasteful parochial interests ahead of the fiscal strength of the country and taxpayers. 

“Unfortunately, some members of Congress continue to take advantage of the broken earmark spoils system,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “Sen. Cochran and members like him continue to manipulate the appropriations process and siphon off the limited resources created by the taxpayers’ blood, sweat, and tears to buy votes.  This mindless self-dealing is why the taxpayers are saddled with a $1.6 trillion budget deficit, a $12.8 trillion national debt, and the prospect of trillion-dollar budget deficits for the foreseeable future.  Taxpayers know that earmarks are not a productive use of taxpayer money, but politicians like Sen. Cochran who continue to earmark with an utter disregard to the country’s fiscal situation either don’t listen or don’t care,” concluded Schatz. 

Some examples of Sen. Cochran’s $490 million in pork include:  $4,841,000 for wood utilization research; $1,608,000 for dietary supplements research; $1,000,000 for the University of Southern Mississippi for transitioning space technologies into the commercial sector; $850,000 for the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship; $231,000 for e-commerce; and $200,000 for the Washington National Opera. 

For his unparalleled ability to engage in excessively wasteful pork-barrel spending, CAGW names Sen. Thad Cochran its April 2010 Porker of the Month.
 
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers."

http://www.cagw.org/newsroom/porker-of-the-month/2010/senator-thad-cochran.html

Entry #1,807

"Breaking: Bank Protesters Storm Irish Parliament - Yesterday Greece, Today Ireland, Tomorrow ?

"Breaking: Bank Protesters Storm Irish Parliament - YesterdayGreece, Today Ireland, Tomorrow ?

Submitted by Tyler Durden on05/11/2010 15:48 -0500

From the BelfastTelegraph

Banksprotesters storm Irish parliament

Protesters have stormedparliament during a march against government plans to inject billions of eurosinto the country's banks.

Dozens of people broke away from the march andran at the gates of the parliament's main building, Leinster House.

Theywrestled with police, who tried to force them back and secure thegate.

At least one man suffered a head injury during the scuffles withorganisers appealing for calm."
h/tJohn

http://www.zerohedge.com/article/breaking-bank-protesters-storm-irish-parliament-yesterday-greece-today-ireland-tomorrow

Entry #1,805

"Moms to the Barricades 'The tea parties are an extension of our need to protect the future for our

No wonder this movement has Dems running scared, demonizing this grass roots movement. 

________

"Moms to the Barricades 'The tea parties are an extension of our need to protect the future for our children.'

By MICHAEL GRAHAM

Source WSJ.com 

"If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And if you've been to a tea party, you know Momma ain't happy at all.

Forget "angry white men." In the male-dominated world of conservative politics, the tea party stands out as a movement of energized and organized women. In particular, moms.

Moms like Sarah Palin, of course, who's been described as the "Momma Bear" of the tea party movement. But more important are the thousands of women at the state and local level who created this political phenomenon.

Moms like Christen Varley, the suburban mother of four who organized the successful tea party rally on Boston Common last month. Moms like Karen Miner Herd, who calls herself "one of the founding mothers" of the tea party movement in Virginia.

Her favorite tea party sign? "Menopause Was Change Enough for Me."

In fact, a recent Quinnipiac poll of voters found a majority of tea party supporters—55%—are women. To put that in perspective, only 48% of women voted for George W. Bush in 2004. And just two years ago, President Obama won 56% of the female vote.

As part of a recent book project I've been asking women around the country: Why are you angry? What is it about the tea party movement that energizes busy working moms to get even busier organizing protests?

Many women gave the most obvious answer: "If we waited around for you men to do it, it would never get done."

When I asked Christen Varley, the Boston tea party leader, she said it's because moms tend to be "the CEO's of our households. We do the shopping, bill paying, budgeting, etc. We know less money means less freedom. Maybe if the president and Congress did the grocery shopping, they'd know why we're mad."

Dana Loesch, talk host and co-founder of the St. Louis tea party, believes the tea party movement is the modern conservative version of "the personal is political."

"Motherhood itself has become a political act," says Ms. Loesch. "And the tea parties are an extension of our need as moms to protect the future for our children."

Keli Carender isn't a mom, but the Seattle-area 30-something is the mother of the tea party movement. She held the very first rally of the modern tea party era to protest the so-called stimulus package, days before Rick Santelli's infamous CNBC rant.

The tea party idea "just clicked in the minds of conservative women," she says. "Most women I know are thinking 'I'm taking care of my family and the government's taking care of it's business—right?' Then they see what the government is really doing and they saw 'Whoa, whoa! I guess I've gotta take care of their mess, too.'"

Mr. Graham, a radio talk show host in Boston

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