Before I start this article, this is the link to the YouTube video of the Black Panthers intimidating voters in Philadelphia. 

Yesterday, the Washington Times posted an editorial by J. Christian Adams.  Mr. Adams explains some of the actions taken on the Black Panthers voter intimidation case in his editorial:

“The New Black Panther case was the simplest and most obvious violation of federal law I saw in my Justice Department career. Because of the corrupt nature of the dismissal, statements falsely characterizing the case and, most of all, indefensible orders for the career attorneys not to comply with lawful subpoenas investigating the dismissal, this month I resigned my position as a Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney.”

Mr. Adams states that the handling of this case by the Department of Justice brings into question whether the department will be able to enforce election laws in an unbiased manner in the midterm elections and the 2010 presidential election.

The editorial further points out:

“The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has opened an investigation into the dismissal and the DOJ’s skewed enforcement priorities. Attorneys who brought the case are under subpoena to testify, but the department ordered us to ignore the subpoena, lawlessly placing us in an unacceptable legal limbo.”

Please follow the link above and read the entire editorial.  It is a chilling account of the justice department’s ignoring the rule of law.  This is a further example of the Obama Administration ignoring the rule of law and the wishes of the people.  President Obama has brought “the Chicago way” to Washington and needs to lose the support of Congress in the midterm election and to lose the Presidency in 2012. 

The information for this story comes from CBN News and Washington Post articles that were posted on Friday.

Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 that people who sign referendum petitions should not expect to have their names kept secret.  This sounds like a really good idea–open government, transparency, etc., but there are some problems.

CBN News reports what recently happened in California with Proposition 8:

“The group known as Protect Marriage Washington organized the petition drive in an effort to give the public a chance to vote on repealing the state’s domestic partnership law.

“Gay rights activists then asked the state for the petitioners names. The request left some feeling uneasy in light of what happened in California after the Proposition 8 campaign.

“The Golden State’s gay rights activists targeted churches and individuals who supported overturning gay marriage. Vandalism and job threats were common. Some even faced death threats.”

If transparency in a specific instance results in danger for ordinary citizens, is it something we want?

The Washington Post reports:

“”There are laws against threats and intimidation; and harsh criticism, short of unlawful action, is a price our people have traditionally been willing to pay for self-governance,” Scalia wrote in a separate concurrence. “Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed.”

“Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter. He said the state’s decision to disclose the names on all petitions is unconstitutional “because there will always be a less restrictive means by which Washington can vindicate its stated interest in preserving the integrity of its referendum process.””

I guess I am just on the minority side of this.  Until the safety of petition signers can be guaranteed (which it never can), I want signatures to be validated by the Attorney General of the state involved and not made public.

Please follow this link to a YouTube video of Democrat County Supervisor Peggy West of Milwaukee explaining that she might be willing to take another look at Arizona’s immigration law if Arizona was a border state that was impacted by illegal immigration.  I guess they didn’t teach geography in her school.

This website was started in order to publish the news that didn’t make it into the mainstream media.  This article arrived in my email recently.  This is a story that needs to be told.

This is the story of Navy Petty Officer, PO2 (Petty Officer, Second Class) EOD2 (Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Second Class) “MIKE MONSOOR.”

Mike Monsoor,

(April 5th ~ September 29th,2009) 
Was Awarded “The Congressional Medal Of Honor” Last Week,
For Giving His Life In Iraq, As He Jumped On, And Covered With His Body, A Live Hand Grenade,

Saving The Lives Of A Large Group Of Navy Seals That Was Passing By!
~
During Mike Monsoor’s Funeral,
At Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery , In San Diego , California,
The Six Pallbearers Removed The Rosewood Casket From The Hearse,
And Lined Up On Each Side Of Mike Monsoor’s Casket,
His Family Members, Friends, Fellow Sailors, And Well-wishers.

Continued From The Hearse, All The Way To The Grave Site.

What The Group Didn’t Know At The Time Was,
Every Navy Seal
(45 To Be Exact)
That Mike Monsoor Saved That Day Was Scattered Through-Out The Column!
~
As The Pallbearers Carried The Rosewood Casket
Down The Column Of People To The Grave Side.
The Column Would Collapse.. 
And Form A Group Of People That Followed Behind.

Every Time The Rosewood Casket Passed A Navy Seal,
He Would Remove His Gold Trident Pin From His Uniform,
And Slap It Down Hard,
Causing The Gold Trident Pin To Embed Itself
Into The Top Of The Wooden Casket!
Then The Navy Seal Would Step Back From The Column, And Salute!
~
Now For Those,

Who Don’t Know What A Trident Pin Is,
Here Is The Definition!

~
After One Completes The Basic Navy Seals Program Which Lasts For Three Weeks,
And Is Followed By Seal Qualification Training,
Which Is 15 More Weeks Of Training,
Necessary To Continue Improving Basic Skills
And To Learn New Tactics And Techniques,
Required For An Assignment To A Navy Seal Platoon.
After successful completion,

Trainees Are Given Their Naval Enlisted Code,
And Are Awarded The Navy Seal Trident Pin.
With This Gold Pin They Are Now Officially Navy Seals!
It Was Said,
That You
Could Hear Each Of The 45 Slaps From Across The Cemetery!
By The Time The Rosewood Casket Reached The Grave Site,
It Looked As Though It Had A Gold Inlay From The 45 Trident Pins That Lined The Top!

This Was A Fitting End To An Eternal Send-Off For A Warrior Hero!

Please pray for all of our military. 

The following paragraphs are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics website–the numbers are from their press release of early June detailing employment information for May.  The boldface type was my addition.

“Temporary help services added 31,000 jobs over the month; employment
in the industry has risen by 362,000 since September 2009.

“Employment in mining continued to increase in May, with a gain of
10,000. Support activities for mining accounted for 8,000 of the over-
the-month increase. Since October 2009, mining employment has expanded
by 50,000.

“Health care employment was little changed in May (+8,000). Over the
prior 12 months, health care employment had increased by an average
of 20,000 per month.

“In May, employment in construction declined by 35,000, largely off-
setting gains in the industry in the prior 2 months. May’s job loss
was spread throughout the sector.

“Employment in other private-sector industries, including wholesale
trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing, information,
financial activities, and leisure and hospitality showed little or
no change in May.

“Government employment rose by 390,000 in May. The Federal government
hired 411,000 temporary workers for Census 2010, bringing total tem-
porary census staffing during the payroll survey reference period to
564,000. Employment in state government excluding education decreased
by 13,000.

“In May, the average workweek for all employees on private nonfarm pay-
rolls increased by 0.1 hour to 34.2 hours. The manufacturing workweek
for all employees increased by 0.3 hour to 40.5 hours. The average
workweek for production and nonsupervisory employees on private non-
farm payrolls increased by 0.1 hour to 33.5 hours over the month.

“Average hourly earnings of all employees in the private nonfarm sector
increased by 7 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $22.57 in May. Over the past
12 months, average hourly earnings have increased by 1.9 percent. In
May, average hourly earnings of private-sector production and nonsuper-
visory employees increased by 4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $18.99.”

As the government takes over more of the economy, it will crowd out the private sector.  As long as the government continues to grow at its present rate, the wealth of individuals in America will decrease.  When you take money from the producers in a society and give it to the non-productive members, the number of non-productive members increases, and the number of producers decreases.  That is the direction of the current Congress and President.  If America is to recover fully from its current financial woes, we need a total change of direction.  I strongly suggest voting Republican in November.  That won’t solve the problem totally, but it will begin to take the wind out of the sails of those moving us into a socialist direction.

Today Power Line posted an article about the Birds of Paradise, an Islamic satellite channel that broadcasts from Bahrain and is aired in Gaza. 

According to the article:

“The head of the satellite channel is Khalid Maqdad, a Palestinian Jordanian. The children’s choir featured in the video below is apparently also called Birds of Paradise.” 

Please follow the link above and watch the video.  It is a group of beautiful young children singing about the joys of martyrdom for the sake of Palestine.  Until the teaching of Palestinian children that their destiny is to be martyrs for the sake of Palestine ends, there will not be peace in the Middle East.  The problems of rocket attacks on civilians in Israel will not end until there is a change in the Gaza Strip culture and education of children.  All the negotiations and peace talks in the world will not be successful until the next generation of Palestinians is taught the value of peace.

CNBC News reported yesterday that more than $9 million of the tax credits for homebuyers went to nearly 1,300 prison inmates. 

According to the article:

“In all, more than 14,100 taxpayers wrongly received at least $26.7 million in tax credits that were meant to boost the nation’s slumping housing markets, said the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration.”

The article also reported that 87 IRS employees may have improperly claimed the credit.

At a time when taxpayers are dealing with unemployement, tighter budgets, and an economy  that does not seem to be creating jobs, the last thing we need is to find out that the taxes were are paying are being badly mishandled.  This is a further example of the fact that the government has gotten too big and cannot police itself.  We need a smaller government with more transparency so that the taxpayers know where their money is going. 

The Hill is reporting that President Obama has accepted the resignation of General McChrystal and that General Petraeus will replace him in Afghanistan. 

The resignation of General McChrystal is unfortunate, but necessary in light of the Rolling Stone article.  Even if the remarks quoted in the Rolling Stone article were made by his staff and not directly by him, the remarks are still considered insubordination and have to be dealt with.

General Petraeus did a fantastic job in Iraq and hopefully can do the same in Afghanistan.  I know someone who went to high school with him, and she has told me that even then, General Petraeus was respected as a leader. 

It is difficult to change horses in midstream, but if we have to do it, I believe that General Petraeus can step into the job as commander in Afghanistan quite effectively.

Power LIne posted an article and a video today of an arrest in Dearborn, Michigan.  The people arrested were charged with disorderly conduct for handing out copies of the Gospel of John outside an Arab cultural festival.  The four Christian missionaries were arrested for handing out the literature OUTSIDE the festival.  They were not inside the festival, nor were they causing a disturbance.  If you watch the video, you will see that the police who arrested them asked them to stop filiming the arrest.  The four missionaries are currently free on bond.  What!!!???  What in the world happened to the First Amendment?   Are we in danger of having European ‘no go’ zones in some of our midwestern cities?  ‘No go’ zones are places where the police will not go in some European countries.  In France, a Jewish man was kidnapped, tortured for three weeks, and finally killed.  The BBC reported on the trial last spring. 

This is America.  We are supposedly governed by our Constitution.  We need to make sure the Constitution is used as the standard for law enforcement throughout the country.

The New Orleans Times Picayune is reporting that federal authorities have ordered the state of Louisiana to stop dredging to build sand berms to stop the growing oil spill.  The actual contention has to do with dredging east of the Mississippi River. 

According to the article:

“(Governor Bobby) Jindal said about 450,000 cubic yards of sand has been dredged in the area.

“He said it would take about 5 days to build the pipeline federal authorities want to access the new dredging site. “It took so long to approve this project. We don’t want to be tied up in more red tape,” he said.

“Jindal, a frequent critic of the BP and federal responses to the spill, has proposed building massive berms to intercept the oil before it gets to the coast. The plan has received partial approval from the corps. BP has agreed to pay $360 million for the project.”

Evidently there are some scientists that are concerned that the dredging will change tidal patterns and could lead to more long-term erosion of the islands.  That may be true, but I can guarantee that if the oil slick reaches those islands it will have long-term effects.

I really am beginning to wonder about the government’s involvement in this oil spill.  It seems as if they have failed to deal with the spill successfully from the beginning.  The government stopped the skimming boats for twenty-four hours, they delayed the building of berms for a month, and generally they have been more of a hindrance than a help.  The government seems to be more concerned about the environmental impact of stopping the spill than the environmental impact of the spill.

In the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico we are seeing the results of a too big federal government  blocking states from doing the things they need to do to protect their land and economies.

Bloomberg.com is reporting that U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman has granted a preliminary injunction to lift the drilling ban in the Gulf of Mexico.  The Judge has also  “immediately prohibited” the U.S. from enforcing the ban.

According to the article:

“The court is unable to divine or fathom a relationship between the findings and the immense scope of the moratorium,” Feldman said in his 22-page decision. “The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 feet also universally present an imminent danger.”

The U. S. will appeal the decision. 

The Hill is reporting today that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) will confirm in a speech today that the Democrats will not pass a budget in 2010.  Meanwhile, the Democrats are vowing to cut spending when they do pass a budget.  Represenative Hoyer stated, “It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December.”

This is political gobbledygook!  Let me translate.  The only way the Democrats ever attempted to balance the budget was to raise taxes–it has never occurred to them to cut spending.  So this is what they are thinking:  It would be stupid to raise taxes just before an election.  Maybe the voters won’t realize that when the Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year, everyone’s taxes will be going up.  Maybe we can get a one percent value added tax (VAT) passed after the election, and no one will be upset because it’s only one percent.  Then next time we take Congress we can raise it!

If you want your country and your wallet back, vote Republican in November!

This story is based on an article today at Politico.com.  The historical perspective is based on a story in the Washington Post on October 3, 2009.  General McChrystal has been summoned to the White House after some comments he recently made to Rolling Stone magazine. 

Later this week, the magazine will publish an article entitled, “The Runaway General.”  The article is based on an interview with General Stanley McChrystal, the top general in Afghanistan. 

According to the article:

“The article, titled “the Runaway General,” appears in the magazine later this week.  It contains a number of jabs by McChrystal and his staff aimed not only at the President but at Vice President Biden, special envoy Richard Holbrooke, Karl Eikenberry, the ambassador to Afghanistan and others.”

The relationship between the President and General McChrystal has been strained from the beginning.  The Washington Post reported that until the meeting between the two men in October 2009, the President and the General had met only once.  Considering that the general has been the leader of our troops in a major war, it would seem that they would be meeting on a regular basis.

I expect an announcement of General McChrystal’s retirement in the very near future.  The President is General McChrystal’s boss, and criticizing the chain of command is against the oath that military officers take.  I am not sure whether the comments published in Rolling Stone magazine were meant to be off the record, but at best they were very unwise.  Although I suspect General McChrystal may have a much better idea of what is needed in Afghanistan, what he did was inexcusable.  According to military rules, he will be fired.

UPDATE:

Byron York at the Washngton Examiner reports that according to a retired military source the comments by General McChrystal are not a surprise.  He describes the general as being arrogant and disdainful of civilians.  Byron York points out that President Obama would be fully justified in firing General McChrystal, but that firing him would seriously complicate President Obama’s timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan.  It would be nice if General McChrystal’s departure provided an excuse for staying in Afghanistan long enough to finish the job.  I doubt it will.

Yahoo.com posted an Associated Press article today about the lawsuit filed by  the Covington-based Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, Louisiana, charging that the six month moratorium on deep-water drillling in the Gulf of Mexico was arbitrarily set by the government. 

According to the article:

“Companies that ferry people and supplies to offshore oil rigs asked a federal judge Monday to lift a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects imposed in the aftermath of the massive Gulf spill.

“U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman heard two hours of arguments Monday and said he will decide by Wednesday whether to overturn the ban imposed by President Barack Obama’s administration after the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.”

It will be very interesting to see how the judge rules.  The shutdown of the drilling projects has created tremendous hardship for people working in the industries that support offshore drilling.  The oil spill has already deeply impacted the tourist industry in the Gulf, and the shutdown is a further blow to the area.  If drilling is continued, there will always be the danger of a spill–underwater drilling is not perfect science, but that risk has to be weighed against the economy of the region.

On Friday, Mort Zuckerman at U. S. News & World Report posted an article about how the rest of the world views President Obama.  The article points out the failure of the Obama Administration to push the ‘reset’ button in our relations with countries around the world.

In discussing the President’s lack of understanding of America’s leadership and use of its power for good, Mr. Zuckerman states,  “One Middle East authority, Fouad Ajami, pointed out that Obama seems unaware that it is bad form and even a great moral lapse to speak ill of one’s own tribe while in the lands of others.”

The majority of President Obama’s experience before becoming President was as a community organizer, college professor, Senator, and campaigner.  There is nothing in this resume that indicates an ability to solve problems and get things done.  Sparkling rhetoric does nothing to stop an oil spill, and protecting union workers by enforcing the Jones Act slows down the clean-up effort.

The article concludes:

“The United States for 60 years has met its responsibilities as the leader and the defender of the democracies of the free world. We have policed the sea lanes, protected the air and space domains, countered terrorism, responded to genocide, and been the bulwark against rogue states engaging in aggression. The world now senses, in the context of the erosion of America’s economic power and the pressures of our budget deficits, that we will compress our commitments. But the world needs the vision, idealism, and strong leadership that America brings to international affairs. This can be done and must be done. But we are the only ones who can do it.”

We need to remember that since America became a leading nation in the world, she has used her power not to build an empire, but to defend freedom.  We conquered Japan and Germany in World War II.  Both of those countries are independent democracies today.  To weaken America is to take the policeman off the beat.  As Americans, we don’t always like the fact that our young men defend the freedom of other countries, but that is part of who we are.  To be unwilling to defend freedom is to give up part of our heritage.

Next Monday–June 28–not tomorrow–next Monday, Marty Lamb will be at Briggs Corner Pizzeria in Attleboro, Massachusetts, at 6 pm.   Come meet our next Congressman from the Third District!!!

Today Arutz Sheva (IsraelNationalNews.com) posted a story stating that Egypt has allowed at least one Isreali and eleven American warships to pass through the Suez Canal as an Iranian flotilla approaches the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.  The Israeli government had asked the Egyptian government not to allow the Iranian flotilla to use the Suez Canal, but that request was denied by the Egyptian government.

The article points out:

“Israel has warned U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Israel will use force, if necessary, to stop the boats, one of which is carrying approximately 70 women passengers and crew organized by Hizbullah support Samar al-Hajj. Her husband is one of several jailed suspects involved in the assassination for former Lebanese anti-Syrian Prime Rafik Hariri.

“Hizbullah has denied it is connected with the Lebanese flotilla, but it has been reported that Al Hajj met with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah last month. (IsraelNationalNews.com).”

This will be another attempt at victory by terrorists in the propaganda war in the Middle East.  The Gazans are not starving–I have posted articles listing the amount of food and supplies flowing into Gaza, pictures of thriving street markets, and links to menus of four-star restaurants in Gaza. 

To quote Walid Shoebat, “The Holocaust never ended but the victims have decided to defend themselves…”

Anti-Semitism is growing around the world, and we need to remember that when the Jewish people are persecuted, bad things follow.

Yesterday Hot Air posted an article that had originally been posted at The Optimistic Conservative’s Blog by J. E. Dyer.  The article deals with the $20 billion escrow fund that BP has set up to compensate those people adversely impacted by the Gulf oil spill.

Mr. Dyer points out that the escrow fund is an exercise in executive power outside the rule of law.  An appointee of President Obama will be in charge of dispensing these funds.  The article points out that the six-month shutdown of drilling in the Gulf is not the result of BP’s actions, but of President Obama’s actions.  He points out that a judge in a federal court might not hold BP totally responsible for the loss of employment caused by that shutdown–the shutdown was ordered by President Obama–it was not endorsed or ordered by the experts he consulted.  In fact, the President has had to apologize to the experts he claimed supported the shutdown–the experts have publicly stated that they did not support the shutdown.  When the President appoints someone to administer the relief fund, he will not have to bother with the risk of judges and courts that decide issues the wrong way.

The article points out that up until now, there was a $75 million or so cap on damages a corporation would be required to pay after a drilling accident such as the Gulf oil spill.  That amount was established by Congress (after much lobbying by and partying with oil company lobbyists).  Keeping that amount low lowered insurance payments for the oil companys and kept their business in the United States.

The article concludes:

“Darn good thing Congress spared us all that, huh?  With BP’s liability capped by federal law, we’re left with Obama and his $20 billion slush fund to address the job and property losses.  And hey, the good news is, with BP’s shareholders and investors – many of them Americans – to shake down, Obama doesn’t have to let this crisis go to waste!  He can shut down businesses and jobs for his own political reasons, having nothing to do with the oil rig explosion, and make BP pay off the people he’s hurting!

“On such a thread hang our civil rights in Obama’s America.”

The $20 billion fund was extortion.  I am hoping that more people will be willing to admit that as we move forward.

Yesterday Opinion.com posted an editorial about the comments of Texas Republican Representative Joe Barton.  According to the article, Representative Barton 

“…declared that he was “ashamed” of the White House’s tactics, and called it “a tragedy of the first proportion that a private corporation can be subjected to what I would characterize as a shakedown.””

I really like a politician who tells the truth.  Evidently, the leaders in the Republican Party have no spine and are afraid of telling the truth.  After Representative Barton made that statement, House Republican leader Representative John Boehner of Ohio and GOP Whip Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia demanded that he apologize immediately.

But there is more to the story.  The article reports:

“The real outrage, though, should be reserved for (Vice President) Biden if he, as radio talk show host Neal Boortz reports, “is the one who leaned across the table during the White House meeting with BP and told them that if they didn’t go along with the $20 billion fund to be administered by Obama’s people, then Obama would ‘do it to them.’ “”

Why isn’t the media talking about that?  It sounds like a shakedown to me.  If it walks like a duck…

The article concludes:

“Barton wasn’t thinking politics when he spoke his mind at Thursday’s hearing. He was thinking about how this government has overstepped its bounds and expressed his legitimate concern over what its recent behavior means to our future.

“His GOP associates should have rallied in support rather than threatened him. Their behavior does not inspire confidence.”

That is one reason we have a ‘tea party.’

Fox News reported yesterday that ten of the seventeen Afghanis who deserted military training at a Texas military base are still missing.  KT McFarland wrote the story; she is a Fox News National Security Analyst who appears on the internet show “DefCon3” at FoxNews.com. 

There are a number of questions about the missing Afghanis.  The obvious question is, “Why was this information released in a ‘Friday afternoon news dump’ rather than a national alert?”  The last one of these seventeen people disappeared six month ago.  Why are we hearing about it now?  Has there been a previous alert concerning these missing men?  Are all of these men on the no-fly list?  The notice that was put out Wednesday (a Be-on-the-Lookout (BOLO) notice) included all seventeen men, including the seven already accounted for ?????  It was distributed to local and federal law enforcement officials and joint terrorism task force members across the country

The article points out:

“Going back to Monday night, when a couple was arrested for trying to enter MacDill Air Force Base, we learned that they were picked up in 90 seconds. I’ve been going to military bases for 40 years, believe me, nothing happens in 90 seconds on a military base! The lightening fast action on the base doesn’t make sense. Either the folks at MacDill are lying about it or the base was on a VERY heightened state of alert. Remember these Afghan deserters had full access to bases.”

It seems to me that we have some serious national security problems that need to be addressed.  It is through the grace of God that the Christmas day bomber didn’t properly light his underwear and the Times Square bomber wasn’t all that skilled in the art of bomb making.  We need to put some people in charge of national security who understand the seriousness of the job–who are willing to come home from vacation when a terrorism attack is attempted and who are willing to call Islamist extremists what they are.  We are in a war with people who want to kill us–regardless of what you call them.  The people who want to kill us want to kill all of us–killing military people is fine, but they also aim at civilians.  All the people in charge in our government need to keep this in mind.

Power Line had an interesting post yesterday about the $20 billion BP is setting aside to cover damages in the Gulf oil spill.  One of the Power Line readers did some basic math and drew some interesting conclusions.

This is the reader’s calculation:

“In response to the notion (not necessarily yours, I understand) that Obama’s generated $20B for US taxpayers, I’d like to to offer some admittedly sloppy calculations.

“First, you said yesterday US citizens own 40% of BP. Looking at my Schwab account right now (I own BP stock myself), I see their market capitalization presently stands at $99B.

“If their stock price has fallen by 40%, that means the market cap was (before all this ass-kicking started) around $165B — so the value of the stock has fallen by $66B. 40% of that loss, or around $26 billion of it, was sustained by Americans if we hold 40% of the stock.

“So the net cost of this drama to the taxpayers is $6B and counting. And that is assuming that $20B is distributed fairly. Perhaps they can put ACORN in charge of it.”

There might be a few things to consider in this transaction.  John Hinderaker points out that since much of BP stock is held in mutual funds, the Americans who actually contributed toward the $20 billion are probably not aware of their contribution.  John states, “Modern politics consists largely of promoting the interests of those who are aware they are getting money, in opposition to those who don’t realize they are paying it.”  That is definitely where we are.  The other aspect of this is that yet again the Obama Administration has taken money from the private sector and put it under government control.  He has moved wealth (the dividends and previous value of the stock) from people into government.  That has been the direction of the money flow during his administration.  As the public sector has grown, the private sector has been strangled. 

I wonder how long it will take the voters to realize that all of us are getting fleeced.  I hope it happens before November! 

Real Clear Politics posted this quote yesterday from Representative Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan, “I think we had to have someone say this is where you can go without limiting your criminal liability or civil liability.For instance, the question is brought up, pay for all of the health care for the people in the Gulf. No, but Ithink those who lost their job, then lost their health care would be legitimate.”

There is a video at the link of the representative making this statement.  I feel as if I have entered “The Twilight Zone.”  I keep waiting for Rod Serling to walk out of the oval office.  

While Congress and President Obama were taking their shots at BP in Washington, the government was standing in the way of preventing the oil leaking in the Gulf from doing any more damage.  It occurs to me that since the government won’t be paying for the damage done by the oil spill, their desire to clean it up quickly might not be as strong as it would be if they were footing the bill.

According to ABC News today, the Coast Guard yesterday stopped the crude-oil barges that Governor Jindal had sent to vacuum up the oil spill.  There was sixteen barges sitting idle today after they had sucked up thousands of gallons of crude oil in the very recent past.  The Coast Guard explained that their reason for stopping the barges was that the Coast Guard “needed to confirm that there were fire extinguishers and life vests on board, and then it had trouble contacting the people who built the barges.”

According to the article:

“The governor (Alabama Governor Bob Riley) said the problem is there’s still no single person giving a “yes” or “no.” While the Gulf Coast governors have developed plans with the Coast Guard’s command center in the Gulf, things begin to shift when other agencies start weighing in, like the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“”It’s like this huge committee down there,” Riley said, “and every decision that we try to implement, any one person on that committee has absolute veto power.””

It is sad that our government is so wrapped up in red tape that they are preventing actions that will lessen the environmental impact of this oil spill. 

Yesterday, Fortune Magazine posted an article entitled, “5 painful health-care lessons from Massachusetts.”  As someone who lives in Massachsuetts, I was already well aware of the problems with our state health-care program, but I will share Fortune Magazine’s list.

1.  It does not control costs–Massachusetts has the most expensive health-care in the nation–in the four years the law has been in effect, the cost of health insurance has not gone down, but climbed rapidly.

2.  Community rating, guaranteed issue and mandated benefits swell costs.  Because the fines for not having health insurance are low, many people choose not to have covereage.  Insurers are getting socked by people who sign up for insurance to get expensive care mandated under state law, including hospitalization for childbirth or hip replacements, and then depart once the procedure is completed.  This has resulted in the insurance companies demanding higher premiums to pay for the additional cost.  So far the Governor of Massachusetts has generally not approved these rate increases.

3.  High subsidies for low-to-medium earners could prove extremely expensive.  This also places more cost on the insurance companies, who then must raise premiums to make a profit.  As the plans become more expensive, employers will stop covering workers and created a bigger pool of people seeking government healthcare coverage, which will in turn drive up the government’s costs.

4.  The exhanges reward people for working less and earning less.  This is not a good way to encourage productivity.

5.  The generous plans and added mandates give employers an incentive to drop health insurance. 

The article concludes:

“Starting in 2017, the states will have the option of allowing companies that drop their plans to shift workers into the subsidized, state-run exchanges. That choice doesn’t exist now in Massachusetts. It’s not that employers are likely to dump their plans en masse. What’s far more probable is a progressive erosion that relentlessly and systematically raises government spending.

“The incentives are there, both in the federal plan, and its prototype in the Bay State. And when the incentives are that big — and when subsidies inevitably get bigger, not smaller — no amount of regulatory tinkering can stop America’s employers and employees from taking the government’s money, and saving their own.”

The bottom line here is simple–the free market works better than the government.  We ignore that fact at our own risk.  If we continue down this road, we will become Greece.