Calling in Gay…

by the Pink Elephant Pundit

So, tomorrow is “Day without a Gay“. Or whatever you want to call it – basically, the gay community has decided that they need to prove their worth by showing the rest of us that we cannot function without them

My statement to the gay community is this: We know that you’re valuable. You’re people. You hold jobs, you have families. You, as a human being, are indispensable to those that love you, and are a part of our nation. Shirking the responsibilities that go along with that isn’t a way to prove anything. You want equality and acceptance – why do you try so hard to separate yourselves with special laws, and demonstrations like this? All you’re doing is increasing resentment in those that will have to pick up the slack for you tomorrow.

…(Read full article)

Blagojevich is the Ugly Mug of Government Paternalism

by Leslie Carbone

The irony is almost too delicious.

Yesterday, Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) visited laid-off workers occupying their former factory, which closed down after Bank of America cut off credit to their employer, Republic Windows & Doors. (By the way, how’s that bail-out working?) Gov. Blagojevich ordered state agencies to stop doing business with B of A until it sends Republic some of the taxpayers’ money in order to keep the factory open and reward the whining protesters.

Today, Gov. Blagojevich and his Chief-of-Staff John Harris were arrested on a breath-taking panorama of corruption charges, which include trying to sell an appointment to Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.

…(Read full article)

Rumors Spread as Truth — Today in Washington D. C. – Dec 9, 2008

ARRA News Service 

by Bill Smith

Both the Senate and House both conviened today. Yesterday, the news was reporting a rumor that a bill for the auto-industry bailout had been set to the White House. THIS WAS NOT TRUE. The House wasn’t even in session yesterday and no bills regarding the big 3 bailout was bassed by Congress.

When the public hears “a bill was sent to the White House,” they rightly assume it was legislation ready to be signed into law. But the truth is they are being mislead.

…(Read full article)

House ethics panel expands Rangel investigation

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The House ethics committee is expanding an investigation of Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee. The ethics panel issued a statement Tuesday saying it had voted to expand an already far-ranging probe into the New York Democrat to examine whether he protected an oil drilling company from a big tax bill when the head of that company pledged a $1 million donation to a college center named after the congressman.

The move means the Rangel inquiry will likely stretch well past early January, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., had previously said she expected the matter to be resolved.

…(Read full article)

Kudos to CRNC–College Republican National Committee

College Republican National Committee

These ladies and gentleman are standing up for conservative values and the GOP in some of the strongest bastions of liberalism in our country–our universities. I just wanted to give them a pat on the back here and bring some attention to their efforts. If we really want to Rebuild the Party, working with them may be a great place to start chipping away at the Democrats’ lead in the 18-29 category.

From the website:

“The oldest, the biggest, the best – come join CR’s!”

College Republicans is the nation’s oldest, largest, and most active youth political organization. Founded in 1892, there are currently over 250,000 CR’s around the country on 1,800+ campuses in every state and DC.

From the Blog:

The CR Voice–Recent Posts

*Why We Are Losing the Youth Vote
December 1st, 2008

Because we didn’t try. Now, don’t get me wrong – CRs spent millions of dollars, deployed dozens of full-time organizers, ran innovative online programs, and contacted over 1.5 million Americans by November 4th, but our party as a whole and the conservative movement gave only a passing effort to attract 18-29 year old supporters.

…

*Surge in Iraq is a Success
November 14th, 2008
(h/t Ed Morrissey)

The video below says it all, but it’s worth saying again – the Surge has worked in Iraq. The video documents what it looked like before and after the surge on 60th Street in South Baghdad – an area known as Dora. Be sure to watch the video, it’s only a minute long.

…

*Here We Go…Crisis Awaits Obama
November 8th, 2008

Finally, after decades in the halls of the US Senate, Joe Biden was right on a foreign policy issue: the world’s worst characters will test Barack Obama when he becomes president.

…

Illinois Governor arrested in Obama successor probe

By MIKE ROBINSON, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, according to a federal criminal complaint. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper’s editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

…

View full article

See the Department of Justice release here

“We Don’t Want Government to Run Companies”

Posted December 9th, 2008 at 9.05am in Entrepreneurship.

This Sunday on Meet the Press, President-elect Barack Obama told Tom Brokaw, “We we don’t want government to run companies. Generally, government historically hasn’t done that very well.” Obama is right on both counts: government has a miserable record as a corporate manager and therefore we should not want them to be in the business of doing so. Unfortunately that is exactly what liberals in Congress are about to do if their proposed auto bailout plan passes. Under the latest plan to come out of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office Congress “would mandate, or at least heavily influence, what kind of cars companies make, what mileage and environmental standards they must meet and what large investments they are permitted to make.” Yale management professor Jeffrey Garten told the New York Times: …

Full Article at the Foundry

Write your elected officials (links on right side of this page) and tell them we don’t want this bailout!

Bonuses? No. Retention Pay? Yes! Huh???

This is why I’m so opposed to the bailouts for the banks, auto companies, or any other industry:

St. Regis Resort--Where AIG executives blew $400K of taxpayer money!

American International Group Inc., whose bonuses and perks drew fire from lawmakers after the insurer accepted a federal bailout, will make special retention payments that more than double the salaries of some senior managers, according to a person familiar with the matter.

View full article.

According to the article, AIG has so far taken $162 billion in assistance from the U.S. taxpayer to save it from the decisions made by these incompetent managers. But, because they know bonuses will bring heat from Congress and the public (you, me, and everyone else who is paying for their incompetence,) they’ve decided that we’re so stupid we won’t recognize bonuses if they rename them “retention pay.”

If that’s not arrogant enough for you, there’s this. CEO Edward Liddy says this retention pay is necessary to keep good employees! His words, “We have to hold on to the talented people running our businesses..” Exactly what does it take to qualify as “talented” to this guy?

Seems to me that these upper level employees should be encouraged to leave! Didn’t they play a role in the near death of the company? Where is the responsibility, the accountability in this company? Where did these idiots get their business degrees?

I guess Liddy doesn’t read the papers, and none of his “talented” employees have informed him there’s really no place to go at the moment. I mean, didn’t he hear Obama say the country has shed 2,000,000 jobs this year? Who’s going to hire these talented incompetent bozos?

The company’s retirement services chief, Jay Winthrob, will get $3 million in retention pay, compared with his annual salary of $775,000. It’s incredible how stupid these people think we are, that we’d buy this retention pay is different than bonuses.

Every time you think the auto companies might deserve a bailout, think of AIG. The reason they’re in this mess is they’re incompetent, but they don’t even realize it. The storyline will be the same for any entity tapping the struggling U.S. taxpayer’s wallet.

Call, write, or email the White House, your Senators and Representatives today and stop this madness. Contact information for these folks is available in the links on the right side of this page.

Stop the madness!