Iran’s Nuclear Facility Unsafe?

Mark Noonan3 Comments

Interesting bit of news from Strategy Page:

…Russians who worked at Bushehr complained of sloppy work by Iranians and a nuclear power facility that is fundamentally unsafe. Perhaps because of this, the government recently announced that 4,000 civilians living near the Bushehr plant would be relocated, at a cost of $10 million…

If the Russians are considering it unsafe, then one has to wonder just how bad it is…the guys who built Chernobyl are scared.  Just great.  Not only is Iran only building the bloody things so they can eventually get nuclear weapons, but they are building them badly, probably much too rushed and we have the risk of a major nuclear accident to add to the risk that those lunatics might get nuclear weapons.

This is the price of not acting decisively.  Iran’s nuclear facilities should have been destroyed years ago…long before any nuclear fuel could get to a nuclear plant which may be unsafe.  It is time for us to stop acting like fools – regimes like that which governs Iran are not legitimate.  They don’t have the right to issue a parking ticket, let alone build nuclear.  It is up to decent people to decide how far such a regime can go…and as soon as it became clear that Iran was bent on nukes, we should have taken the steps to halt the program, even if it meant war.

Now we’re kind of stuck.  We’ve got a President who doesn’t even realize the risks and we’ve got Iran an ace away from having nuclear weapons which can target all of the middle east.  It is just going to get worse and worse because we did not act with firmness an in accordance with American convictions about what constitutes legitimate government.  Just burns me up that the merest application of morality to the Iranian situation would have produced the correct decision…we didn’t and now we’re going to catch it hot.

Obama, Ruling Class Desperate for Europe to Act

Mark Noonan3 Comments

From Zero Hedge:

The Obama administration has been fiercely lobbying European governments and central banks to shut up and do something. No more disagreements in public, Timothy Geithner told them in Poland. No more disputes over fundamental issues. To heck with democratic problem resolution. The world is collapsing, and it’s time to act boldly and decisively. Hank Paulson’s extortion racket is back.

This time, it isn’t Congress and American taxpayers that are targeted, but the Europeans, or rather a select few, in particular certain recalcitrant elements in the German government and in the Bundesbank. The White House brandishes the big fix of 2008 and 2009. That’s how we fixed our crisis, that’s how you should fix yours, they say.

Alas, the big fix of 2008 and 2009 today: Withered green shoots, high unemployment, annual budget deficits near 10% of GDP, and a gargantuan pile of debt…

So, why would Obama and Co want the Europeans to do that?  Because they are afraid that an European collapse will drop the whole world in to Depression and that would kill off any chance of Obama getting re-elected.  It doesn’t matter that duplicating our efforts 2008-09 would ultimately fail and,  indeed, leave Europe and the world worse off…all that matters is getting the economy to limp past November, 2012 without a Great Depression.

This is a Ruling Class in panic…worried that it really is all coming to an end.  But here’s Obama’s problem – he’s got to get the Germans to agree to kill their own economy in order to bail out Greece, Spain, etc…and if Germany agrees to do that, then Chancellor Merkel will be crushed at the next German elections.  Merkel must politically die so that Obama may politically live…and, if you polled the Ruling Class, that would probably be considered a good outcome.  Obama has become the lynch pin of a corrupt, self-serving, global elite…if he goes, the sort of reforms to be enacted in the United States would pave the way for the rest of the world’s people to reform themselves.  But, will Merkel do it?

That remains to be seen.  It also remains to be seen whether such actions by Europe can really save the day.  I don’t think they can…I think the debt has piled so high and the insolvency has spread to widely in the financial system that nothing can really stop the crash.  But, we shall see.  But remember what is going on here – the Ruling Class is trying to save itself.  Whatever they say, remember what the real goal is:  Saving Obama.

Christie Considers Presidential Run

Mark Noonan24 Comments

From Newsmax:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is reconsidering his decision not to enter the 2012 presidential race — and he says he will let top Republican donors know within days about his plans, Newsmax has learned.

During the past few weeks, several leading Republican donors and fundraisers have been urging the popular Republican governor to reconsider his decision not to run and to enter the GOP primary.

These Christie supporters note that significant GOP support has remained on the sidelines of the primary fight. Many leading fundraisers have yet to commit to any current primary contender, including frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney…

In my view, the only person who could stop Christie would be Palin…if he gets in, he’s the Republican nominee for President…and most likely the next President of the United States of America.

Stay tuned.

Democrats Attempt to Limit Solyndra Investigation

Mark Noonan11 Comments

As per usual, desperately trying to protect their corrupt, fellow Democrats – from the New York Times:

Democrats would back a GOP subpoena to compel testimony from executives at government-backed solar firm Solyndra who plan to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights at a hotly anticipated oversight hearing tomorrow, according to the party’s senior member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee…

Sounds good, right?  First paragraph of the MSM story…good, old Democrats are willing to join the GOP in going after the Solyndra execs.  Just great!  Except for one thing – the Solyndra execs represent only one half of the corruption…the other half is Obama Administration officials.  So, how do the Democrats view that?  Some paragraphs down in the story, we’re told:

…Waxman drew a bright line between a potential subpoena of the company and a July edict that Republicans issued to the Office of Management and Budget for emails related to its review of the Solyndra loan guarantee — a party-line subpoena that the Californian then lambasted as “an abuse” and “a fishing expedition”…

So, it is “abuse” to ask Administration Officials about how Administration officials decided to procure a loan benefiting a donor to the President’s political campaigns.  Yeah, right.  What this really amounts to is a Democrat attempt to limit the investigation…ok to hang the Solyndra execs out to dry, but don’t dare go after the Administration.  And if you do, its an abuse…some sick bit of Teabagger, bitter-clinger political nastiness when we’re all supposed to be engaging in a new tone.  How dare you!

We must not let Democrats have any say in the House investigation.  We have learned that allowing Democrats to participate in any investigation only results in Democrats covering up for other Democrats.  Democrats have proven they are not interested in the truth…only interested in limiting the amount of damage to themselves and, if possible, shoving the blame for their own failures on to the GOP.  This investigation is vital and it must find the truth…and so the only Democrat input should be under oath, on camera, and in front of the investigating committee.

Corrupt, Thuggish “Palestinian” Regime Applies for Statehood

Mark Noonan29 Comments

From CBS:

Defying U.S. and Israeli opposition, (the ruffians who rule over the West Bank) asked the United Nations on Friday to accept them as a member state, sidestepping nearly two decades of failed negotiations in the hope this dramatic move on the world stage would reenergize their quest for (unfettered rule over a kleptocracy which likes murdered Jews).

Shortly after submitting the application to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, “Palestinian” (capo) Mahmoud Abbas was greeted by sustained applause and appreciative whistles as he approached the dais to deliver a speech outlining his (fellow thugs and kleptocrats) hopes and dreams of becoming a full member of the United Nations…(MSM report edited to make it accurate)

Thing is, such a State would fit right in with the UN…seriously, what would be the difference between such a regime and UN stalwarts like Zimbabwe, Syria, Sudan, Iran and Cuba?  Probably get them right on the Human Rights Commission in time to issue some more anti-Semitic statements while ignoring massacre and robbery in other lands.

The bottom line here is not the absurd demand for Statehood, but the fact that we are even part of this corrupt organization.  The United States cannot with honor remain in the United Nations…we have to cut the ties and seek to build a global organization of decent, free nations.  Sticking with the UN is akin to the police making common cause with drug gangs.

In practical terms, all this will do is allow the thugs and thieves of the world – especially those of the Islamo-fascist variety – to be yet more thuggish and criminal.  They’ll be encouraged to steal and kill even more, because stealing and killing is clearly the path to glory in the UN.  Time we were well done with it…and we should start pressing the GOP contenders on how they view our relationship to the UN and how they will propose to reform it, how long they’ll wait, and when they’ll withdraw us from it once the UN proves itself incorrigible.

 

Can a Recession be Avoided?

Mark Noonan10 Comments

The G20, faced with a global slump in stock prices, has pledged to keep things afloat.  This, I think, makes at least a half dozen Ruling Class efforts I’ve seen over the past month to stave off disaster…each assertion (by a central bank, by China, by the European Union, etc) is that no one should worry…they’re on it and they’ll never let it all fall apart.  Usually, when such announcements are made, stock prices shoot up.  I guess because people who buy stocks are stupid enough to actually believe such stories.  Naturally, there is a renewed slump…and the slumps come faster after each “we’ve got a cure!” announcement.

Sure enough, European stocks inched off their lows…but a Mish points out, Asian stocks weren’t even phased by the announcement:  they resumed their slide from the day before.  Essentially, the Masters of the Universe are running out of even fake things they can do stave off collapse.  I don’t know what they’ll do next, but I guess the maximum half-life of this latest pledge from the G20 is about 5 days.  It might see us through the weekend.

But they can’t prevent the crash – they can only delay it, and the longer they delay it, the worse it will be.  The economy is bad – not just the US economy, but the global economy.  It is honeycombed with bad debt, corruption and political blindness.  Some nations have managed to fake it to prosperity the last three years (most notably China), a few nations actually did well (Australia and Canada, who sell a lot of things to China), but all nations are doomed to an economic downturn.  No part of the world will escape it, and it will be a hard landing.  I just don’t know when it will happen…depends on how badly the Ruling Class wants to cling on to power.  A bad economy going in to 2012 means not only Obama loses, but may well mean an historic electoral blowout of the Democrats.  The people in charge don’t want that…same thing around the world.  The Chinese don’t want revolution, the Eurocrats want the people to keep quiet, etc, etc, etc.  So, these clowns will go to very great lengths to patch up the sinking ship.

And that means – what?  Beats me…could be they hold it together until 2013…could be that the market crashes tomorrow or Monday.  We’ll have to wait and see…

UPDATE:  Want a little more proof that the global economy is lousy?  According to this news report – about a new supertanker being mothballed – back in 2007 you had to pay $229,000.00 a day to lease a tanker…this supertanker is being mothballed because they could only get $1,000.000 a day.  This is where economic rubber hits to road…not in phonied-up government statistics, not in stock prices and bond yields (though these things can be important) but in whether or not people are actually doing things.  Ships lying idle is an indicator of an economy in desperate straights.

How Political Payoffs are Done

Mark Noonan15 Comments

From MSNBC:

A retired Chicago labor leader secured a $158,000 public pension — roughly five times greater than what a typical retired public-service worker in the Windy City receives — after being rehired for just one day of active duty on the city payroll, local news reports said…

…Gannon, former president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, was able to take a long leave from a city job to work for a union and then receive a city pension based on a high union salary. That arrangement is allowed under a state law signed by Gov. Jim Thompson on his last day in office in 1991, according to an investigation by the Tribune and WGN-TV.

The change has enabled a couple dozen labor leaders to become potential millionaires.

What is different in Gannon’s case is that he became eligible for the especially lucrative pension deal only because the city rehired the former Streets and Sanitation Department worker for one day in 1994, before granting him an indefinite leave of absence, according to the investigation. He retired from the city job in 2004 at age 50…

Now, don’t anyone out there think that any Joe Shmoe can get a job, work a day, go on indefinite leave and then collect millions in pension benefits.  This is something entirely reserved only for those the government wants to pay off for one reason or another.  I don’t know what services Gannon rendered in order to secure such a massive amount of money for no work, but it was probably pretty stupendous…and probably something the politicians of Chicago and Illinois would prefer we never find out about.  And this is just a tip of the iceberg in the total playbook of how to bribe of payoff in politics.

One other way which Matt and I discovered in writing Caucus of Corruption is to donate to powerful politicians who either run un-opposed or against token opposition.  You’ll be surprised how many such there are in politics…and even more surprised in how much money they raise for their re-election campaigns.  You become un-surprised about it when you find out that their campaign staffers, at very high salaries, are spouses, children, family members and long-time cronies.  In other words, you don’t directly bribe Congressman X, you donate to his campaign and he pays his wife $100,000.00 a year to be a campaign “consultant” against a non-existent or quixotic opponent.  All perfectly legal, just as Gannon’s pension, but always it is a bribe…it is a means of giving in return for getting without the public finding out just what sort of nauseating filth is going on.

And it is on and on like that all through politics.  To be sure, plenty of Republicans engage in it…but it is endemic in the Democrat party.  If you found me a Democrat who had never engaged in any sort of shady practice, I’d be surprised…pleased, but surprised.  It is endemic over there for two reasons – for generations Democrats were in power and never really had anyone call them to account; secondly, Democrat electorates have proven almost impervious to corruption…no matter how corrupt a Democrat is, he can usually win re-election if he’s in a strongly Democrat district (for instance, Barney Frank had a live-in whore working out of Frank’s DC townhouse; Frank fixed 33 of the whore’s parking tickets and wrote a letter on his behalf to the parole board…a GOPer who had that would be forced to resign in days; Frank has been re-elected 11 times since that scandal).  Year by year it has built up – first go ahead and do it; secondly, you never (or, at least, rarely) get punished for it.

The thing to remember is that if the MSM actually did its job and relentlessly investigated the corruption in government, it would be front page headlines every day that some senior politician is on the take…even if the take is “legal” in the sense that corrupt politicians have set up the laws and regulations to make it so, but still crooked as all get out.  Nine out of ten of the crooks would be Democrat, of course…and that is why the MSM doesn’t do its job.  It doesn’t want to implode the Democrat party in a sea of corruption stories.  And, so, it just continues…but, perhaps not for long.

The real fear in the Ruling Class is that someone will get elected next year who doesn’t care about the Ruling Class and is willing to unleash law enforcement on those who have broken the law, as well as ruthlessly exposing those who keep within the law, but are clearly taking/giving bribes and payoffs.  The Ruling Class is afraid that their time at the hog trough might be through…that is the real genesis of the Wisconsin protests and recall elections.  The Ruling Class was frightened that the corrupt deals, bribes and payoffs might come to a screeching halt…as, indeed, they will now that Wisconsin government doesn’t have to roll over to corrupt public sector unions.  If you think Wisconsin was bizarre, just wait until a TEA Party-backed candidate comes to the White House…these people will go ballistic.

But ballistic only because they are afraid they won’t get free money and an easy time in life.  That is what must be remembered.  They’ll talk like they are fighting for the little guy but all they are really fighting for is their bribes, kickbacks and payoffs…they will be upset that maybe they won’t ever get a chance at millions of dollars in taxpayer money for working a day.    There are probably 30 to 50 million people like that in the United States…who are either already living off the taxpayer or dream of doing so…on a larger or smaller scale, but still the goal is to get money they didn’t earn.  This is the core constituency of the left…and they are worried sick they might be kicked off the taxpayer’s teat.

And, glad to say, it looks like that is what will happen…a revolution is brewing in this nation.  Those who have been paying the freight for a corrupt, lying, morally degenerating Ruling Class have had enough…we’re taking it all back next year, and we’ll fix this nation and restore our greatness.  This will result in a lot of leeches having to get real jobs, but that is all to the good…it’ll teach them to be better Americans.

HAT TIP:  Mish’s

Team Obama: Dumber by the Day

Mark Noonan14 Comments

From Investors.com:

The 48-year-old Brent Spence Bridge spanning the Ohio River near Cincinnati isn’t much to look at. But for President Obama, it’s become a rallying cry for his $477 billion jobs plan.

He referred to it in his Sept. 8 speech to Congress, saying “there’s a bridge that needs repair between Ohio and Kentucky that’s on one of the busiest trucking routes in North America.” …

…Although some press accounts have described Brent Spence as “crumbling,” and the White House says it’s an example of “urgently needed” repairs, the bridge isn’t falling apart. In fact, it’s designed to last for decades more…

The bridge does have a problem – its too small for the amount of traffic crossing it.  So, the plan is to build an additional bridge next to it…but that isn’t scheduled to start for three for four years, putting it outside the Obama timetable of two years for the projects in his jobs bill.  In other words, the bridge doesn’t in any way relate to the things Obama wants to do…only a bonehead would go there as an example of “crumbling infrastructure” that you want to repair right away.  This is right up there with using a company that is outsourcing jobs as a backdrop for your bill to create more jobs.

Its like the Obama people just don’t care – they just want their photo ops and sound bites and are expecting that the MSM, as it did in 2008, will keep a lid on any criticism.  Trouble is, the New Media has grown exponentially since then and Obama no longer has the ability to be a “stealth candidate”.  We know all about him – and we’re tired of him.

2012 can’t get here fast enough…and I’m really looking forward to it.

 

Out and About on a Thursday Morning

Mark Noonan22 Comments

Just too many issues to write about and, as it turns out, I’m not feeling very well…bad headache, upset stomach.  Can’t explain it.  Haven’t listened to Obama talk for days.  But, since I’m not up to writing anything worth reading, here’s a few bits and pieces for you to ponder and discuss:

Fast and Furious:  Dead border patrol agent is “collateral damage“.

Shocking News:  Even Catholics have the right to free speech!  Who woulda thunk it?

Will the left’s rank anti-Semitism and growing alliance with Islamo-fascism finally propel American Jews in to the GOP?  Time will tell.

Conservative House GOPers kill continuing resolution – and a good job, too.  Democrats want more spending without cutting anywhere…our more weak kneed GOP leaders are willing to go along with it.  Hopefully the leadership will now listen and pass a bill with some genuine cuts in spending.

Cost of raising a child rises 40% in past decade.  Thanks, Federal Reserve!  We really appreciate the inflation!

Arab Spring Update:  Syria slides towards civil war while regional players angle to pick up the pieces.  Glad we don’t have that cowboy Bush in office…much better to have a President like Obama who will just let things fly out of control and allow our enemies to profit…

Not sure how much we should really put in to this, but one financial guy is saying we should watch the Hang Seng stock market…down 17.5% since August and he says it usually leads the rest of the markets…if this is the case, then the S&P (off 9% of late) has a lot further to go down.

Marines ticked off at brass which is more worried about careers than the needs of the Marines…it actually turns on what sort of underwear the Marines want to wear.  As for me:  any Jarhead can wear any kind of skivvies he chooses.  Why are our officers even worried about it?

Only 19% say the US is heading in the direction.  I figure that 19% reflects how many Americans have had three or more drinks on any given day the pollster calls.

From IMAO:

Come to think of it, Obama can still run on pretty much all the platforms he ran on in 2008: Close Gitmo. End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and now also Libya). Turn around this horrible economy. End the incompetent, divisive leadership of the current president. Sucks to be the incumbent, huh?

Enjoy the day!

The Big Government Economy-Killer

Mark Noonan18 Comments

From Real Clear Politics:

From Peter Schiff’s prepared remarks to Congress. Schiff is the CEO of Euro Pacific Capital.

In my own business, securities regulations have prohibited me from hiring brokers for more than three years. I was even fined fifteen thousand dollar expressly for hiring too many brokers in 2008. In the process I incurred more than $500,000 in legal bills to mitigate a more severe regulatory outcome as a result of hiring too many workers. I have also been prohibited from opening up additional offices. I had a major expansion plan that would have resulted in my creating hundreds of additional jobs. Regulations have forced me to put those jobs on hold...

Not that I’m too interested in bigger financial firms…but the main thing is to understand that more people would be working today if government didn’t have insane regulations.  It is like this all up and down the economy…pushing up costs, driving down wages, ensuring that businesses either never get started, or don’t expand if they already exist.

It is time, I think, for a re-codification of US law.  Figure out what we really want as law, pass that and in that same act repeal every other law and regulation on the books.  A bit of wisdom and we can probably do the whole thing in a couple hundred pages…and dispose of tens of thousands of pages which serve only to empower un-elected bureaucrats and give lobbyists the ability to create or expand loopholes for those who have deep pockets and no honor.  This isn’t, by the way, about changing the Constitution in any way…just repealing all the laws and regulations we currently have and replacing them with a smaller number of laws, easily understandable by all Americans.

Simplicity and predictability of law is required for their to be justice…and, indeed, respect for law.  By doing things like fining someone for hiring “too many” employees, all we’re doing is engendering contempt for law.  The next firm so situated will just try to bribe their way out of it (via donations and lobbyists to write special rules just for them), or they’ll open up the firm in a foreign country.  The average people are also losing their respect for law…and how can it be otherwise when each of us likely violates several federal laws and regulations each day?  Tear down the legal and regulatory structure and replace it…that is the only way we’re going to clear out this part of the mess.