Links and Minifeatures 2009 04 06 Monday

Carnival of Real Estate

Carnival of Personal Finance

Victor Davis Hanson: President Obama's First 70 Days: It really does all make sense.

In other words, if you believed as President Obama and many of his advisors do, then you would do what Obama and his advisors are now doing.

You want to know what people believe, what their priorities are, what they really want, watch what they do, not what they say.

Look Who's Politicizing Justice Now

In the course of its usual task of reviewing pending legislation to identify constitutional problems, OLC determined that the D.C. voting rights bill, which would give the District of Columbia a voting member in the House of Representatives, is unconstitutional. The acting head of OLC, David Barron -- a liberal Harvard law professor appointed by Holder -- signed an opinion setting forth OLC's conclusion. That conclusion is no surprise, as it has been the Department of Justice's consistent position, under presidents of both parties, at least as far back as Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy in 1963 and as recently as two years ago.

When Holder, a longtime supporter of the voting rights bill, learned of the OLC determination, he acted to override it. He contacted another of his appointees, deputy solicitor general Neal K. Katyal, to ask whether Katyal's office could, under its usual standards, defend the bill in court. Katyal said it could, and Holder then overruled OLC.

Making a movie of Atlas Shrugged

With the rise of the group mentality and class warfare, the producers in our world today are castigated and blamed for the current economic downfall. Rand once said, "One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary." That is exactly what we are seeing in today societal and political rhetoric, just look at recent comments by President Barack Obama for affirmation of the misguided and canerous populism consuming America. That the market has failed and it must be regulated to the point of expanding government power to take over businesses.

Barack Obama fails to win NATO troops he wants for Afghanistan

Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the US was hoping to prise from the Prime Minister. Related Links

Just two other allies made firm offers of troops. Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12. Mr Obama's host, Nicolas Sarkozy, refused his request.

And this is the war NATO voted to support. Great Britain, whom Obama has done quite a bit to antagonize offers a few hundred troops when he wanted thousands, and the rest of the "alliance" offers a grand total of 47.

As opposed to what these same allies did when George Bush wanted help, a much larger number of troops.

But he's going to "rehabilitate our international reputation". Excuse me while I roll on the floor, laughing. It beats the other alternative.

Obama, Going Along to Get Along

What's striking about Obama's diplomacy, however, has been his willingness to embrace the priorities of European governments, Russia and China while playing down -- or setting aside altogether -- principal American concerns.

As U.S. officials readily acknowledge, strategic arms control is of much greater interest to Russia -- whose nuclear arsenal is rapidly deteriorating -- than it is to the United States. From Washington's perspective, stopping Iran's nuclear program is far more urgent than agreeing on the next incremental reduction in Cold War warheads. Yet Obama essentially consented in his first summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to devote the next four months of U.S.-Russian relations to an intensive effort to complete a new START treaty. No such cooperation on Iran is on the horizon. "I don't think we want to suggest that somehow . . . there's agreement about how to proceed," one U.S. briefer conceded

However, after a certain point, this incompetence can no longer be classified as funny. I think we're going to be crying for a very long time.

Why they hate Sarah Palin so much

Obamateurism of the Day

Nick Robinson asks Obama which country is most to blame for the current economic meltdown, especially since every Western government is pointing their finger at the US. For some reason, Obama very clearly didn't anticipate this, and goes deep into "uh" mode for almost three minutes while ducking the question

See video at the link

A bill to give the President authority to shut down the internet "in the interest of national security"

Section 14 may be a bigger problem. It essentially revokes all privacy safeguards on Internet use for all networks. The Fourth Amendment would go straight out the window with the explicit inclusion of "private sector owned critical infrastructure information systems and networks." While Section 18 limits jurisdiction to federal networks, Section 14 allows the government to go after private networks without search warrants. The section also doesn't limit the jurisdiction to acute attacks, either. That jurisdiction exists at all times.

The big problem isn't that Obama might shut down the Internet. It's that the bill essentially repeals the Fourth Amendment.

I was a lot more willing to give the Bush Administration power than the Obama, simply because the Bush Administration had so many self-declared enemies in the press and media, and nobody willing to sweep any alleged misdeeds under the rug or down the memory hole. With the Obama administration, that's much more for the reason that mass media wants to believe this guy is the messiah, and they will manipulate what is reported to serve that end.

China: Strong On The Outside, Rotten On The Inside

Real Culture of Curruption: Rep. Murtha Wants $134M In Earmarks

Four of the earmark requests from Murtha's office are for current or former clients of a lobbying firm, the PMA Group, that is currently under federal investigation for connection to possible "straw" donations to Murtha and other Democratic members of the House.

PMA Group clients include: Advanced Acoustic Concepts ($5 million request), Argon ST ($8 million request), MTS Technologies, Inc. ($5 million request) and Planning Systems Inc. ($2.3 million request).

You can't make stuff like this up. Stuff you make up has to be believable.

Wall Street Journal: Obama Wants to Control the Banks

I must be naive. I really thought the administration would welcome the return of bank bailout money. Some $340 million in TARP cash flowed back this week from four small banks in Louisiana, New York, Indiana and California. This isn't much when we routinely talk in trillions, but clearly that money has not been wasted or otherwise sunk down Wall Street's black hole. So why no cheering as the cash comes back?

My answer: The government wants to control the banks, just as it now controls GM and Chrysler, and will surely control the health industry in the not-too-distant future. Keeping them TARP-stuffed is the key to control. And for this intensely political president, mere influence is not enough. The White House wants to tell 'em what to do. Control. Direct. Command.

It is not for nothing that rage has been turned on those wicked financiers. The banks are at the core of the administration's thrust: By managing the money, government can steer the whole economy even more firmly down the left fork in the road.

If the banks are forced to keep TARP cash -- which was often forced on them in the first place -- the Obama team can work its will on the financial system to unprecedented degree. That's what's happening right now.

And the difference between this an the fascist/national socialist program that was worked upon Italy and Germany to take complete control of them 70 to 80 years ago is....?

I mean, I'd really like to find a difference that matters economically and legally. So far I'm coming up blank. Help me out here, someone?

The reason I can't find one couldn't possibly be that there aren't any, could it?