The Peggster Finally Gets It

I have avoided posting/talking about/referencing Peggy Noonan for two years.  She fell for the Obama rhetoric like a bowling ball off a high-dive, labeling him a "gifted politician," and an "extraordinary intellect."  While she still hasn't come back in the fold, she is starting to realize that the Bamster is incompetent.  Her weekly column over at the Wall Street Journal titled "He Was Supposed to be Competent," brings her back with baby steps and is worth the read:

The president, in my view, continues to govern in a way that suggests he is chronically detached from the central and immediate concerns of his countrymen. This is a terrible thing to see in a political figure, and a startling thing in one who won so handily and shrewdly in 2008. But he has not, almost from the day he was inaugurated, been in sync with the center. The heart of the country is thinking each day about A, B and C, and he is thinking about X, Y and Z. They're in one reality, he's in another.

Work with me here, Peggy.  Why do you think he behaves this way?  We are supposed to have eliminated "stupid" from the option list a long time ago, so that can't be it.  Could it be that he has another agenda and he doesn't give a damn about the American people, the United States in general and certainly not our Constitution??  And why is it a "terrible thing?"  The American people, including you Ms. Noonan, were hoodwinked in 2008 - remember "hope and change" and the "sea levels falling?"  Those of us not seduced by the smooth as Essolube rhetoric kept asking the hard questions, that only now are people of your ilk starting to formulate:

• Who is this guy?
• What does he really believe, because when we look at his associations from Father Flager to Rev. Wright to Bill Ayers, there seems to be a disturbing pattern?
• What are his qualifications?  We do need qualifications don't we?  Does voting "present" most of your political career prove you are a good leader?

I could go on and on - go back into the Rumbler archives to the summer and fall of 2008 and you will see that folks like us were on the job.  She goes on:

In his news conference Thursday, President Obama made his position no better. He attempted to act out passionate engagement through the use of heightened language—"catastrophe," etc.—but repeatedly took refuge in factual minutiae. His staff probably thought this demonstrated his command of even the most obscure facts. Instead it made him seem like someone who won't see the big picture. The unspoken mantra in his head must have been, "I will not be defensive, I will not give them a resentful soundbite." But his strategic problem was that he'd already lost the battle. If the well was plugged tomorrow, the damage will already have been done.

I actually gagged through the news conference yesterday and swung between yelling at the screen and grabbing the trash can to vomit.  When he opened with the line about "we were in charge from the very beginning..." I knew the lie-fest was on. The White House should have just hung a sign over the teleprompter that read "It's not my fault."  Of course the blowout wasn't his fault, no sentient human being could suggest that...neither were 9/11 and Katrina Bush's fault.  Anyone with any appreciation of the complexity of the problem created by the blowout could imagine the President/Federal Government swooping in with a magic wand and making it all better.  It was his detachment and finger pointing that was sickening.  It's the vacations, fund-raisers and golf games that are pi..ing people off. He's a year and a half in power and he still, reflexively, blames Bush...amazing!

The disaster in the Gulf may well spell the political end of the president and his administration, and that is no cause for joy. It's not good to have a president in this position—weakened, polarizing and lacking broad public support—less than halfway through his term. That it is his fault is no comfort. It is not good for the stability of the world, or its safety, that the leader of "the indispensble nation" be so weakened. I never until the past 10 years understood the almost moral imperative that an American president maintain a high standing in the eyes of his countrymen.

I weep for the people of Louisiana and other affected Gulf states.  The marshes will die, thousands of jobs will be lost, and when the next big hurricane comes the barrier islands will not be able to protect cities like New Orleans, Gulfport and Mobile.  But I do not weep at all for the political end of this poser we have as President...he is "weakened" and he is definitely "polarizing," but he has served one extraordinary purpose in his short reign: he has awakened the American people to the reality that our freedom can easily be put in jeopardy.   In this he has been unifying.  I know a number of people who swooned and voted for the Bamster from whom the scales have fallen from their eyes and they see.  This tragedy in the Gulf and the immature response of Dear Leader have no doubt driven even more from their cult-like adoration of "the One."  This, Peggy, is how America works and if we have a crippled leader for a couple of years, we will overcome it.  Remember, it took the lowness of Jimmy Carter to get us Ronald Reagan.  Yes, the country will pay a price internationally - it already is - and I am not at all happy about that, but maybe, just maybe, this generation of Americans will learn that their vote matters and we should always place hard facts above wished-for utopias.

History Repeating Itself? Let Us Pray

May 27 is a great day in our nation's Constitution.  On this day in 1935, the Supreme Court of the United States in a ruling in the case of "Schechter Poultry Corp. vs. the United States" declared the "National Industrial Recovery Act" unconstitutional.  From Wikipedia:

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly codified at 15 U.S.C. sec. 703), was an American statute which authorized the President of the United States to regulate industry and permit cartels andmonopolies in an attempt to stimulate economic recovery, and established a national public works program.^[1][2] The legislation was enacted in June 1933 during the Great Depression part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislative program. Section 7(a) of the bill, which protected collective bargaining rights for unions, proved contentious (especially in the Senate),^[1][3] but both chambers eventually passed the legislation and President Roosevelt signed the bill into law on June 16, 1933.^[1][4] The Act had two main sections (or "titles"). Title I was devoted to industrial recovery, and authorized the promulgation of industrial codes of fair competition, guaranteed trade union rights, permitted the regulation of working standards, and regulated the price of certain refined petroleum products and their transportation. Title II established the Public Works Administration, outlined the projects and funding opportunities it could engage in, and funded the Act.

The Act was implemented by the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA).^[2][5] Very large numbers of regulations were generated under the authority granted to the NRA by the Act,^[6][7] which led to a significant loss of political support for Roosevelt and the New Deal.^[2] The NIRA was set to expire in June 1935, but in a major constitutional ruling the U.S. Supreme Court held Title I of the Act unconstitutional on May 27, 1935, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935).^[2] The National Industrial Recovery Act is widely considered a policy failure, both in the 1930s and by historians today.^[1][8][9] Disputes over the reasons for this failure continue, however. Among the suggested causes are that the Act promoted economically harmful monopolies,^[6] that the Act lacked critical support from the business community,^[10] and that the Act was poorly administered.^[10][11] The Act encouraged union organizing, which led to significant labor unrest.^[12] The Act had no mechanisms for handling these problems, which led Congress to pass the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.^[13]

Great article this morning in the Wall Street Journal by Dan Danner, the head of the National Federation of Independent Businesses titled "ObamaCare vs. Small Business."  The same logic of poor administration, harmful policy, harmful to business that got NIRA overturned could well be the death knell of ObamaCare.  It is over-reaching, harmful to the creation of the very jobs that are needed to save the economy and it is unconstitutional.  Let us pray that this-

goes the way of this:

Great New Resource Being Launched

Blogger pal, Blue Collar Muse, and some other right-minded Tennesseans are launching a great new venture called "Tea Party HDTV."  From their press release:


TeaPartyHD is principally engaged in the development, production and worldwide distribution of news programs, television programs, television broadcasting, cable network programming, IPTV programs,  Internet TV and Mobile TV. The unit’s studios, production facilities and film and television library provide high-quality creative content while its broadcasting and cable networks provide extensive distribution platforms for the Company's programs. In 2010, TeaPartyHD bought TeaParty.TV, a company that began in 2007. TeaPartyHD has incorporated Tea Party TV assets and products into a robust offering for all tea lovers.


In the famous words of The Who, after Team Bamster's very effective 2008 campaign, conservatives are making sure we "don't get fooled again!"

Think These Might Be Related?

Well lookee here - we're officially over $13 TRILLION in debt!

Hmm, could it be that this big number (biggest spread yet) is related:

What our Boy President and his Congressional Juntistas don't realize is that the American people get it...they don't want to be in debt like this and they want the madness to stop.  Dan Heninger over at the Wall Street Journal really drives that home :



"Rightful rage at misgovernance."  Exactly.

They're Going to Have to Bail Them Out...

Hat Tip SP.

Oil Pollution Act of 1990

Mark Levin picked up on this yesterday...enough already with the Obama administration doing the Sergeant Schultz with the BP oil spill:




The Bamster and the Chicago Mob may not like it, but they ARE in charge...from the Federal Register's overview of the  Oil Pollution Act of 1990:

In addition, the OPA provided new requirements for contingency planning both by government and industry. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) has been expanded in a three-tiered approach: the Federal government is required to direct all public and private response efforts for certain types of spill events; Area Committees -- composed of federal, state, and local government officials -- must develop detailed, location-specific Area Contingency Plans; and owners or operators of vessels and certain facilities that pose a serious threat to the environment must prepare their own Facility Response Plans.

The emphasis is mine, but it's pretty clear.  Levin has much more of this point on his site, but what is becoming glaringly obvious is that there is no one in this government right now that has a clue about how to handle a national emergency.  They are allowing BP to continue its efforts because they don't have any ideas nor do they have the management expertise to bring to bear to help solve the problem.  The nation is realizing that we have elected Toonces as our President:

Down, Down, Down

And it's not just the stock market:

Jimmy Carter is happy, very happy.

Reading is Fun!

Well, at least it's not embarrassing!  Now if we can only ask the Teleprompter in Chief if he's read it...

Required Rumbler Reading

This week's installment of recommended reading for your pleasure and edification:

1. Is it time for America to get over it's infatuation with owning a home?  Richard Florida, the author of "The Creative Class,"  suggests it might be.  In an Atlantic article titled "America Needs to Get Over Its House Passion," he presents some compelling evidence.  Rumbler has always had problems with policies that lead to market distortions, and U.S. housing policy is at the top of the list.  From the home mortgage interest deduction to the creation of Fannie and Freddie, to poor land use, housing is in serious need of a re-think in our country.

2. We speak often in these pages about the dangers of statism, the evil step-child of liber..oops, "progressivism."  Here's an interesting take on the culture behind all that: "America's New Culture War: Free Enterprise vs. Government Control."

3. No stranger to the needs and perils of immigration, Victor Davis Hanson spells out what needs to be done to ameliorate the situation with illegal immigration and the whole dust-up with Arizona...maybe another beer summit for the Bamster?  Why not, when the governor of Arizona is Jan "Brewer?" 

4. Don't throw away those parkas just yet...still MORE evidence that the earth is cooling.  Apparently it might all be part of something called a "natural cycle."  Methinks the polar bears are going to be just fine.

How can you not say "awwwww?"

5. Put the sharp objects away before you read this piece.  This is a summary of the reasons that we may be staring at a double-dip recession.  It is amazing to me that with all the history of the failures of the highly regulated state, that this administration and this Congress can't stop hurtling us towards disaster.

This Is What We Are Up Against...

"Obama pays my welfare check..."
"600 Million people..."

I am amazed this liberal knew how to dial a phone.  Sadly, this is the level of ignorance that gets statist demagogues like Obama elected.

Come To The USA!

Yes, that is funny...these two reports are not:


Part 1


Part 2


This has gone beyond illegal immigration, this is an invasion. And while Rome burns, Obama...

Alfalfa Bound Again

Hadn't checked in on BHO's numbers in a couple of weeks...uh oh - she's headed for the alfalfa again!

Clueless Governments Still Don't Understand

Great read by Egon Greyerz over at Matterhorn Asset Management: "Alea Iacta Est," ("The Die Has Been Cast").  Bluntly pointing out that:

Clueless governments still don’t understand that it is their ruinous actions that have created a credit infested and bankrupt world. They will continue to prescribe the same remedy that caused the problem in the first place, namely more credit and more printed money. The consequences are clear; we will have hyperinflation, economic and human misery as well as social unrest.

Take a look at this chart...Bamster's gotta be upset - we're #3, although he and Nancy and Harry are doing their level best to get us to #1 - c'mon, no one wants the French ahead too:

Put away any sharp objects you have nearby, but do go read this article.

"An Event That Captivated The World..."

OK, this is just plain weird language by the Teleprompter in Chief.  The beheading of an innocent man captured on video tape and sent round the world and he describes this as "an event that captivated the world?"

Is it just me, but when I think about events that captivated the world, I think about Apollo 11 and 13, a Papal election, heck even the Bamster's speech in Berlin.  I would describe what happened to Daniel Pearl as "grisly, barbaric...representative of the darkest elements of radical Islam...a reminder of why we must fight evil 24/7..."

Language aside, watch the interaction with Barry and Daniel Pearl's little boy who is watching the signing...oh wait, there is none.  Does this man have a heart?

Low-Level Economic Literacy

James Glassman, the Senior Economist at J.P. Morgan Chase said what dares not to be said in a memo to clients yesterday...in a nutshell, the people writing the legislation for financial "reform" are economic illiterates.

Here's the whole memo:


JPMorgan Chase Analyst Takes Aim At U.S. Senators -

Here's one of several money shots:

􏰀 The low level of economic literacy exposed in last week’s hearings before the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations offered an unnerving insight into much that is driving the financial reform effort.

He goes on to opine, correctly, that the proposed legislation doesn't even address the core problems that were exposed by the most recent recession.  We've been saying for awhile that if you don't address Fannie and Freddie, you are ignoring the central cause of the meltdown.  Just like the healthcare "reform" bill didn't address tort reform or increase market competitiveness, this monstrosity of legislation will do little more than hamper small business even further.

In a similar vein, Meredith Whitney, (the Dark Princess who forecast the housing crash correctly) wrote in a piece in the Wall Street Journal yesterday that: 

 Proposed regulatory reform—specifically interest-rate caps and interchange fees—will merely exacerbate the cycle of credit contraction plaguing small businesses.

If banks are not allowed to effectively price for risk, they will not take the risk. Right now we need banks, and particularly community banks, more than ever to step in and provide liquidity to small businesses. Interest-rate caps and interchange fees will more likely drive consumer credit out of the market and many community banks out of business.

And all of this wonderful torrent of regulation, legislation and outright takeover is being done by people who, well to put it mildly, aren't very bright.  I am reminded of the line from a Gordon Lightfoot song: "think about the fool who by his virtue can be found in a most unusual situation playing jester to the clown."  You look at the Senate hearings, whether it is about terrorism, Goldman Sachs, or an oil spill and you shudder.  We DO need some change we can believe in.

Greco-California

The only thing wrong with this picture is that Greecalifornia should be drawn in red.  Meanwhile, they are too busy lecturing and boycotting Arizona to staunch the bleeding of their budget.  Let's hope Germany and the IMF can bail California out too, seein as how the United States of Obama is out of money....although they do control the printing presses.

Required Rumbler Reading

New feature!  We are going to provide a weekly reading list of articles across a broad range of topics that a well-versed citizen should absorb.  If you have suggestions for the Required Rumbler Reading list, please e-mail me at redstaterumbler@gmail.com.  Now, for this week's list:

1. Book review of "Rules for Radicals."  We've all heard a lot about how Obama believes in Saul Alinsky's tactics.  This short review of the book should send chills up your spine:

2. "The Revenue Limits of Tax and Spend" by David Ranson.  A meticulous discussion on why our current model in vogue in Washington is DOA and will bankrupt us. 

3. "The U.S. in 2050: Bigger, Younger, Less White, Less Urban."  A review of uber-urbanist, Joel Kotkin's new book on demographic trends in the U.S. of A.  

4. "The Hidden History of Evil." Claire Berlinsky's piece in the City Journal is already being quoted in the "Notable and Quotable" section of the Wall Street Journal, but the entire piece needs to be read and digested.  Why do we turn a blind eye to the reality of the failure of socialism and it's big sister, communism?  We want to stick our fingers in our ears, shut our eyes real tight and deny the very existence of evil.  

Was that a map of Western Europe on his forehead?

5. John Mauldin's piece titled "Europe Throws the Hail Mary Pass" will help you understand the wild fluctuations in the stock market as we stumble towards understanding the real "bubble" plagueing almost all advanced economies: government spending!

Let's get this week underway!  Happy reading, I look forward to your comments.

Jon Voigt's Letter to the American People

Listen up, this is very good...

Holder Doing Back Flips

Right, those damned Mennonite Nuns that attacked us on 9/11 are still a huge threat!

This guy needs to go - political correctness is the suicide of the West and Holder is cocking the trigger of the gun pointed at our head.

Christie Tells It Like It Is...Need More To Do The Same!

Blood Money

The documentary opens today in New York.

Blogprof has an excellent write-up about this, click here.

Even though Obama voted four times against a bill that would have prohibited infanticide in Illinois when he was a state Senator, he's got to be glad that at least one person didn't visit Planned Parenthood:

"I HAVE NOT READ THE LAW..."

So, our Attorney General is out spouting off about "suing Arizona" on CNN this past Sunday, and he hasn't even read the law??

WTF? WTFF?!!

Sounds to me like he's read the law here:

Holder told ABC's "This Week" program that one concern about the Arizona law is that "you'll end up in a situation where people are racially profiled, and that could lead to a wedge drawn between certain communities and law enforcement, which leads to the problem of people in those communities not willing to interact with people in law enforcement, not willing to share information, not willing to be witnesses where law enforcement needs them."

Or how about here:

"I think we could potentially get on a slippery slope where people will be picked on because of how they look as opposed to what they have done, and that is, I think, something that we have to try to avoid at all costs," Holder added.

But then, it's not about the law, is it?  Here's what it's really about:

Holder said comprehensive federal immigration reform is the best approach for the problem of illegal immigrants crossing U.S. borders. His stance echoed the approach favored by President Obama, who last week criticized the Arizona law and said he wants Congress to work on the issue this year.

"Comprehensive immigration reform."  That's the Holy Grail for Progressive Statists.  Legalize millions of illegals, put them on your free health care and welfare heroin, and they will vote for you for life! 

We don't need "comprehensive immigration reform."  We need a Federal government with the cojones to enforce the laws we have on the books.  But when the ship is sinking, the first thing you do is plug the leak.  Seal the border FIRST.  Then establish an orderly process to get those that are here illegally sorted out.  If they have demonstrated a record of good citizenship, paid taxes, been a benefit to their community, fast track them for citizenship.

Liberals love "comprehensive" legislation with thousands of pages when they don't even read a simple 10-pager that doesn't say what they really wished it would say to fit in their script.  Legislation is best handled in small, simple steps to avoid the law of unintended consequences - you know, like finding out that your healthcare "reform" bill is going to cost $115 BILLION more than you thought.

And You Thought It Was Only Greece...

Everyone's calling them the "PIGS" - "Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain."  If we take them in order, my guess is that it will be the "GIPSE" or "Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, England."  That will be the order of default.  Here's a taste of what's happening in Ireland:



And just look who is making this video - "Eirigi," Irish Socialists.  Quite humorous to see the communists in Greece and the Socialists in Ireland exploiting the very situation that their policies have gotten those two countries to.  It's a concept - get everyone entitled and dependent on the government teat, tax all manor of production and wealth to pay for it, then riot when you can't pay the bills.  THEN, step in and tell them you are the answer.

Wait a second - isn't that what our government is doing?  Well, surely that type of behavior couldn't happen here, right?  Umm - take a look at UC Davis a few months ago when they implemented a fee hike:




OK, our protesters are pikers - and downright flippin' goofy - compared to the Greeks and Irish, but just who was the short-grey-haired dude in the red shirt inciting the students?  Oh, not to worry, just another run of the mill community organizer!  It's the tip of the iceberg folks...in the words of Admiral Joshua Painter (Fred Thompson) in "The Hunt for Red October," "This business will get out of control.  It will get out of control and we will be lucky to live through it."

Jobless Numbers

How is that "hopey change" thing workin' for ya?

Obama and Dems Want USA to be Number ONE!

You bet they do!  At least in one thing...

• First in deficit spending?  You bet!  Now projected to be $1.5 Trillion - topping last year's whopper of $1.4 T.
• Longest number of months running a deficit?  No Problem!  We are up to 19 months and counting...according to Reuters, it's the longest running number of months to run deficits on record.
• Quadruple the deficit you posted one year ago in the height of the financial crisis?  DONE, baby!  We are number one! We stuck a $82.69 BILLION deficit for April 2010, swamping that little wimpy $20.91 BB from 2009.  We are on a roll!

Even White House Budget Director Peter Orszag now says it needs to get "under control" to keep us from becoming like Greece.  WHY??  If Greece can stage some girly-man financial meltdown, under Obama's leadership we ought to be able to make their riots look like a fraternity panty raid.  We're America, dammit, we ought to be Number One...or should I say "Numero Uno?"

Paul Ryan Gets It -Wish More Did

Excellent interview with Paul Ryan on the "SDC" or "Sovereign Debt Crisis."  Coming to a state near you soon - and quite possibly our country.  Note to the Obamistas - socialism doesn't work.

The Iron Maiden's Last Stand Against Socialism

What class!  Maggie Thatcher had it right - look at what she predicted and how it has come to pass.  Damned shame that Obama can't learn from this!




Hat tip Taxing Tennessee

Gates to Navy: "Drop Anchor!"

Investor's Business Daily fired a round over the bow of the Defense Secretary for his comments at the Navy League last week.  Secretary Gates publicly questioned whether we need 11 carrier battle groups, although in the same speech he stated that we were committed to such a force structure through 2040.  IBD rightly points out the path of greatness that countries with great navies steer and highlighted the growing presence of the Chinese Navy, which is emerging as a blue water force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Pacific.

As an old Navy man, it pains me to think that we are now down below 320 ships; I was part of the Reagan build up to the 600 ship fleet.  But the reality is that the wars we are fighting now do not require a 600 ship fleet -- I am not sure what the right number is, but it is certainly a lot higher than  320.  The simple reality, as told by Alfred Thayer Mahan over a century ago, is that the United States is a maritime nation.  To survive, we need trade and raw materials (especially oil from the Middle East - the name coined by Mahan)  - and to ensure that flow is uninterrupted we need a powerful navy.  Nothing gets the attention of the bad guys more than the ability to inject an air force into any air space in the world...a carrier battle group does just that.

My guess is that what we are hearing out of Gates is something of the truth: we can't afford it anymore.  We can't afford massive social welfare programs, massive debts, a lumbering leviathan of a Federal government, two wars, and ever expanding entitlement programs while still maintaining a lethal navy.  Take one look at Greece if you want to see how this is going to turn out.  When those that are suckling on the teat of government largesse are told that we have to choose between their taxpayer subsidized mortgage or keeping the country safe with a robust naval presence, you know they will vote for the Navy to drop anchor.

Damned Right We Are!

Might Have Spoken To Treasury...

I am not a Goldman Sachs hater...there, it's out in the open.  In fact, I am a big fan of Goldman and what they have done as a firm through the years.  Their forte is NOT public relations, that was glaringly evident in the hearings last week.  And, let's face it, they are so deep in bed with the Obama administration that their toes are interlocked.  The Republicans know it, the Democrats know it.  Listen to this clip of Blankfein responding to Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK) last week:

Bada boom...rim shot! Of course he's spoken to people at Treasury!  He would be crazy not to.  But he also realizes that Coburn has just pulled the sheets off the bed and he is trying desperately to get covered up.  (OK, I have to stop with this analogy - I'm getting throw up in my mouth images now.)  Goldman, being the good capitalists that they are, are working feverishly to get this Financial "Reform" package passed.  Oh sure, they will pay some fines and suffer some public humiliation to do it, but at the end of the day there is obviously something in it for them - from what I can gather, the "something" is the elimination of most of their competition.  Not a bad trade off - time for a smoke.


Post note - is it just me, or is Lloyd Blankfein the great Myron Cohen's lost twin?  You decide:

Lloyd Balnkfein

Myron Cohen

For some good Cohen schtick, click here.  The Baron of the Borscht Belt!

The Real Toxic Spill

We've Been A Little Busy Here In Tennessee

I have been a little pre-occupied with the rain these past few days.  At the Rumblehaus we took some seepage in the basement, but otherwise survived, despite getting 18" of rain in less than two days when we normally get 49" in a year.  Al Gore hasn't emerged from his bunker down the street yet to tell us that it was all about the global warmings, but when he does, rest assured he will get a good hearty Tennessee guffaw...and then we will get back to work.  Here are some images with the fabulous Johnny Cash providing the appropriate soundtrack: