From Zero Hedge:

And from the relentless shock and awe happening abroad every single day, we briefly turn our attention to the total financial chaos domestically. Following the settlement of $67.6 billion in debt from last week’s auctions, the Treasury managed to raise its dangerously low cash to a level that will give Tim Geithner pocket change for another week, or $99.5 billion. Alas, the cash buffer came at a price: total debt increased from $14.166 trillion to $14.238 trillion. As a reminder, the debt ceiling is $14.294 trillion, so on a pure basis there is a $56 billion buffer or less than one’s week’s worth of auctions…

It goes on to note that with this, that and the other fiscal rabbits Timmy can pull out of the hat, we’ve got about 6 weeks of money in the Treasury at the moment. Boys and girls, the United States isn’t living paycheck to paycheck, we’re living from payday loan to payday loan…and goodness knows what will happen if, say, a revolutionary ferment or gigantic natural disaster out there dries up the cash of those who buy US bonds. We’re teetering on the brink of disaster – and the way out is for massive reductions in spending…just returning us back to FY 2008 levels of spending (hardly a tight fiscal year for the United States, you know) would ease the pressure. Returning us to 2004 levels of spending would balance the budget (and, once again, it wasn’t like we were being financially sober in 2004).

But, howls of pain arise in Democrat quarters if we even try a mere $60 billion in cuts… I do wonder if the people in DC (aside from a very few who are seeing things clearly) fully understand our condition? We are really out of money – we are just one bad natural disaster or one financial meltdown away from national default. Earthquake in California, Katrina-style hurricane in the Gulf, Chinese meltdown because of inflation and property bubble bursting…and that is it; there won’t be enough money in the world to buy the bonds we’ll need just to keep the lights on.

It was once observed that great empires and little minds go ill together…and here we are, facing bankruptcy and our President divides his time between golf and NCAA brackets…I feel a bit worried, these days.

From Eyeblast:

According to an eyewitness account:

This video was shot minutes after a union advocate destroyed several petitions at a recall Jim Holperin Rally in Merill, WI. The event was moved to the court house grounds because the private location originally slated to host the event was threatened with arson. It should be noted that police were present when the protestor destroyed these recall petitions, but stated to us that there was nothing they could do about it. The female protestor, who had a young child with her, approached the recall table pretending to be interested in signing the petition, then proceeded to write F— You! She then ripped up other completed petitions before being stopped. Her actions were met with great approval from the rest of the crowd…

No surprise. Heck, our Matt Margolis was roughed up by unions goons during the 2004 campaign. Meanwhile one kindly, new-toning liberal once opined that I should be strung up from a lamp post…with a meat hook. This is what fascism really looks like, good people – attempts to shut down debate, prevent votes and intimidate people in to silence. I know our liberals will go ballistic and insist that there is no similarity between modern liberalism and fascism…but that is simply because they’ve bought the age-old, Stalinist line (and, yes, they don’t even know whence it comes) that all on the left are “anti-fascist” (and, thus, they are the good guys). Those of us who are opposed to all that sort of nonsense can see it more clearly – today’s liberalism might be on a different branch from Mussolini, but they are very much on the same, poison tree.

The ultimate key to victory is to de-fund the left. All a public sector union amounts to is taxpayer funded street muscle for Big Government. A lot – and perhaps a majority – of the rank and file don’t realize it, but that is all they are. Hired guns for a corrupt Ruling Class determined to perpetuate itself. But if we can just get control for a short while and have leaders of courage, we can cut off the government funding…and then the liberal infrastructure will be mortally wounded. They are not capable of supporting themselves by their own efforts – even with all their billionaires, they don’t have the sinews to compete in a genuinely free market of ideas. Take away their ability to coerce at taxpayer expense and you take away their ability to ever win…and once beaten in that field, we’ll be able to beat them everywhere and restore American greatness (and, no, not greatness of power – I actually mean our moral greatness, long since vanished down the sewer where liberal gutter politics have brought us).

Its not just about green beer and corned beef:

…It was probably in the summer months of the year 433, that Patrick and his companions landed at the mouth of the Vantry River close by Wicklow Head. The Druids were at once in arms against him. But Patrick was not disheartened. The intrepid missionary resolved to search out a more friendly territory in which to enter on his mission. First of all, however, he would proceed towards Dalriada, where he had been a slave, to pay the price of ransom to his former master, and in exchange for the servitude and cruelty endured at his hands to impart to him the blessings and freedom of God’s children. He rested for some days at the islands off the Skerries coast, one of which still retains the name of Inis-Patrick, and he probably visited the adjoining mainland, which in olden times was known as Holm Patrick. Tradition fondly points out the impression of St. Patrick’s foot upon the hard rock — off the main shore, at the entrance to Skerries harbour. Continuing his course northwards he halted at the mouth of the River Boyne. A number of the natives there gathered around him and heard with joy in their own sweet tongue the glad tidings of Redemption. There too he performed his first miracle on Irish soil to confirm the honour due to the Blessed Virgin, and the Divine birth of our Saviour. Leaving one of his companions to continue the work of instruction so auspiciously begun, he hastened forward to Strangford Loughand there quitting his boat continued his journey over land towards Slemish. He had not proceeded far when a chieftain, named Dichu, appeared on the scene to prevent his further advance. He drew his sword to smite the saint, but his arm became rigid as a statue and continued so until he declared himself obedient to Patrick. Overcome by the saint’s meekness and miracles, Dichu asked for instruction and made a gift of a large sabhall (barn), in which the sacred mysteries were offered up. This was the first sanctuary dedicated by St. Patrick in Erin. It became in later years a chosen retreat of the saint. A monastery and church were erected there, and the hallowed site retains the name Sabhall (pronounced Saul) to the present day. Continuing his journey towards Slemish, the saint was struck with horror on seeing at a distance the fort of his old master Milchu enveloped in flames. The fame of Patrick’s marvelous power of miracles preceeded him. Milchu, in a fit of frenzy, gathered his treasures into his mansion and setting it on fire, cast himself into the flames. An ancient record adds: “His pride could not endure the thought of being vanquished by his former slave”…

You just can’t out-poetic the Irish…nor can one ever doubt the power of a man who has turned his life over to God. St. Patrick really can be credited with the conversion of a nation – and not just conversion, but the civilizing of a nation. So stout was the seed St. Patrick planted that formerly barbarous Ireland – which had never been under Roman rule – was to send out missionaries and educators to England and France after they had fallen very low.

So, go out and have a beer today and enjoy the fact that everyone gets to be Irish for a day…but remember that the start of the whole thing was a man, once a slave, returning voluntarily to his tormentors to bring them the blessings of Christ.

And it’s name is “Stability”. From France 24:

Muammar Gaddafi’s forces pushed towards the Libyan rebel stronghold of Benghazi on Wednesday and his government predicted victory within days while world powers debated imposing a no-fly zone to help stop him.

Foreign powers condemn the crackdown but show little appetite for action to support an uprising that was inspired by pro-democracy rebellions that toppled the Egyptian and Tunisian presidents. A Gaddafi victory and a crackdown on protests in Bahrain could turn the tide in the region against pro-democracy movements…

…German Ambassador Peter Wittig told reporters after the meeting his country still had queries.

“We raised questions we felt are still not fully answered, as to the Arab participation in such a measure, as to whether the implementation of such a zone would run counter to the intention of the Arab League itself, the Arab League having pointed out that there should be no foreign intervention,” Wittig said…

My view: the leaders of the world, especially of the West, have decided that some thousands of murdered Libyans are worth it if we can get calm in the oil producing States. Its a cold calculation – if revolution spreads oil prices will skyrocket pushing the West in to recession…and that risks the careers of politicians. For the German ruling party it is a matter of State elections through the rest of the year with the ruling party skidding in the polls. For the Brits its Cameron’s minority government which can be forced to call a new election just about any time. For the United States, our President has to face the electoral music in 2012 and can’t afford another dive in the US economy.

All this talk of consulting and trying to figure out is just so much talking the matter to death until the Libyan rebels are crushed and then killed or exiled. It is very reminiscent of the stance the Western powers took during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930’s…just leave it alone, don’t intervene and hope one side loses swiftly before it becomes troublesome. This just rankles with me – people are dying, a tyrant is triumphant and all the power and wealth of the United States and the Western world is sitting idle, doing nothing.

For goodness sake, do they have any sense of honor, at all?

From her Facebook page:

The evidence of the President’s anti-drilling mentality and his culpability in the high gas prices hurting Americans is there for all to see…

…Guided by politics and pure emotion following the Gulf spill instead of peer-reviewed science or defensible law, the President used the power of his executive order to impose a deepwater drilling moratorium. The Administration even ignored a court order halting his moratorium. And what is the net result of the President’s (in)actions? A large drilling company was forced to declare bankruptcy, the economy of the region has been hobbled, and at least 7 rigs moved out of the Gulf area to other parts of the world while many others remain idle. Is it any surprise that oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to fall by 240,000 bbl/d in 2011 alone?

But that’s just the Gulf. There’s also the question of a moratorium on the development of Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf. It seems the Obama Administration can’t agree with itself on whether it imposed a moratorium there or not. The White House claims that they didn’t, but their own Department of the Interior let slip that they did. To clear up this mess, Gov. Parnell decided to sue the DOI to get a solid answer because such a federal OCS drilling moratorium would violate federal law…

Some are expecting the recent drop in oil prices will result in lower gasoline prices – perhaps, but only temporarily. First off, the summer season approaches when insane, government regulations require a different and more expensive formulation of gasoline be used in the United States. Secondly, with a number of Japanese oil refineries out of action at least for a while, there will be rising demand on other refineries, pushing up the price of gasoline even if the price of oil eases. Finally, the turmoil in the Middle East is not likely to end soon – Saudi Arabia managed to put a lid on it, but we must expect that the wave of revolution will continue, putting upward pressure on oil prices as time goes on.

The United States cannot, perhaps, become oil independent (though with a dearth of exploration in recent decades, we really don’t know, for certain…but the amount of oil we’re finding in the Dakotas indicates that there might be quite a lot of it in American territory that we don’t know about), but we can at the very least substantially reduce our imports. And we can also greatly reduce supply swings at the consumer level by building enough refining capacity to ensure that there is sufficient slack to meet all emergency demands.

The energy policy of the Obama Administration seems to be clearly in line with his goals stated as a candidate – he wants prices to rise very high. This is because only by placing a crushing financial burden on the American people will the “green” alternative become palatable. We’re being social-engineered – and the worst part of it is that Obama’s “permatorium” on offshore drilling is illegal…yet another examples of the lawlessness of the Obama Administration.

2012 can’t come fast enough.

Not at all good news from NRO:

On March 10, Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, testified that North Korea “may now have several plutonium-based nuclear warheads that it can deliver by ballistic missiles and aircraft as well as unconventional means.” It is uncertain whether Lt. General Burgess’s statement is based on new intelligence reporting or a higher level of confidence that DIA has in the new analytic assessment.

His remarks were disturbing because most experts to date have held that North Korea has not yet mastered the requirements to miniaturize any nuclear warhead sufficiently to put it on a missile…

A regime which likes to use blackmail may have nuclear warheads capable of being launched on ballistic missiles. Do keep in mind that “close” counts in three types of activities – horse shoes, hand grenades and nuclear war. Its not like a NK missile has to have pinpoint accuracy…if they can get it in the general direction of Japan or Hawaii, they have the capability to cause massive damage. And they’ve got the lunatic reputation necessary to convince everyone they would be willing to do it.

What to do is the tricky part – but like all such totalitarian regimes, there are those big celebrations they put on with massed slaves marching in step. Perhaps at the next such event we can figure out a way to kill the entire leadership with pin point strike? Yes, I know it would be difficult and risky – but leaving nuclear weapons in the hands of the North Korean regime as currently constituted doesn’t commend itself to me.

Once again, the bad news: Obama is President. Whatever course of action we choose, it will probably wind up being the very worst we can get…some combination of alternate kowtowing and chest thumping…the sort of thing to convince the NK’s we’re cowards while also angering them enough to try something stupid…

HAT TIP: The American Catholic

Seems that the fight against wasteful government continues – from Reuters:

Voters in Miami-Dade, one of the most populous U.S. counties, removed Mayor Carlos Alvarez from office in a special vote on Tuesday triggered by popular anger over a hike in property taxes.

With 707 of 829 precincts reporting, official results showed 88 percent of voters backed the effort to oust the once-popular mayor, who is his second four-year term…

Do keep in mind that Alvarez is a Republican – and this means yet another RINO has bit the political dust. The lesson should now be learned by all RINOs – the people aren’t about to tolerate Republicans who are nothing more than tax collectors for Big Government. It isn’t enough to have an “R” after your name: you actually have to carry out the Republican polices of low taxes, tight budgets and accountability to the people.

This is not even close to the end – we’re going to keep up with this through 2012 and beyond.

That is the rising call among the Luddites of the left. Never failing to take advantage of catastrophe, some are urging that we start shutting down nuclear reactors in the United States – especially those of a similar design to the reactors failing in Japan.

First off, it should be kept in mind that the reactors in most trouble are those of a much older design – some of them are decades old. Technology has advanced a bit over the past 30 or 40 years and so the reactors we want to build today will be far more robust and able to take disaster much easier. There is no perfect technology in the world. Everything human beings do will be flawed and bear with it the chance of complete failure. To make our plans based upon suppositions of the very worst case scenario is asinine.

Secondly, figure the odds. Japan was hit by a 9.0 earthquake triggering a gigantic tsunami within minutes – there was no chance to prepare or take emergency steps to lessen the chance of a major failure at the nuclear plants. Now, there is the chance of the very same thing happening in California – which, as I understand it, has two operating nuclear power plants. So, there is cause for concern and those plants should be reviewed with this catastrophe in mind and whatever needs to be done to prepare for it should be implemented. But to shut down all the power plants when hardly any of them are at risk of any sort of Japanese-style disaster is stupid.

Rational policy dictates that we learn from the past, not run in fear from it. Now we know yet another thing which can happen and we should prepare for it. All nuclear power plant designs should be reviewed for earthquake preparedness, sudden loss of power and floods. Any deficiency in such areas should be remedied – and if we determine that any existing power plants simply cannot be made to meet the known threats then they should be scheduled for shut down as soon as replacement capacity is ready, not before.

Life is risky. In fact, you can eat right and exercise all you want – you’re still going to die. Sooner or later everyone you know, including yourself, will be dead. We don’t want to take wanton risks with human life, but there is no way to live without risking your life. Wake up in the morning and your risk starts right away.

If anything, given what is happening elsewhere in the world, this is a time to go on crash course of nuclear plant construction. America needs vast amounts of readily available and inexpensive energy from proven technology if we are to rebuild our manufacturing, mining and agricultural sectors. Unless we want to build a lot of coal or other fossil fuel plants, the only way we can get this amount of energy is from nuclear power. With modern technology bulked up by the lessons learned in the Japanese earthquake, we can build these plants swiftly and durably.

Unfortunately, the leadership we have today is a set of frightened rabbits – and rabbits who want to please the left wing base in advance of the 2012 elections. While noises have come out of the Obama Administration that we’ll still advance on the nuclear power front, you can bet your bottom dollar that no such thing will happen. Leftist pressure to go slow or stop it altogether will be immense, and Obama isn’t the man to stand up against pressure. And, so, we’ll continue to wallow and attempt to advance in a quixotic attempt at “green energy”, which is a great form of energy as long as you don’t need to turn your lights on every day. As in all things, America’s only real hope is to get rid of Obama in 2012 and hope for new leadership with bit of courage and sense.

From the comments on this article (which is, itself, a must read):

Every trillion squandered on global warming, is a trillion not spent on earthquake preparedness.

Resources are limited and everything human beings do involves a trade off. It is much more likely (in fact, inevitable) that California or Missouri will suffer a catastrophic earthquake than that the ocean levels will rise in a manner causing an equal disaster. Which do you want to prepare for: polar ice caps melting, or a 9.0 quake in California? We can’t do everything. Choose.