1.) Catty Hill Dems can’t resist spinning a tragedy — Here are two good ways to win votes and influence people: Hours after a national tragedy, phone a reporter and spin the event this way: The Obama White House “need[s] to deftly pin this on the tea partiers….Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.” When Pres. Obama instead says before a crowd in Tucson, “What we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another….Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations,” the next best thing Democrats can do, apparently, is personally attack Rep. John Boehner for not flying to Tucson to hear Obama discourage personal attacks. Different aide, different day, same moral depravity: “Don’t you think they could have worked with the White House on timing to make sure he got on AF1?,” a senior congressional aide told The Daily Caller’s Jon Ward on Thursday. “Hell, as speaker, he could have taken a delegation to Arizona on military air.” When it was pointed out that Boehner was already attending a memorial, in Washington, the aide argued that the speaker was skipping Tucson for an RNC event. “Tell these guys to give me a break. Bottom line: he’s not there and he’s Speaker of the House. He’s not there and is at an RNC event tonight. Period.” The aforementioned statements have nothing to do with why House Democrats are in the minority, but are two good reasons why they should stay there. (more)
There was no way that they would fail. Their bonds were rated AAA, they were managed by the chairman of the stock market, they were America’s seventh largest company, and expert accountants confirmed their long-term fiscal viability. But still, AIG, Madoff Investment Securities, Enron, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac all went bankrupt. (more)
Democratic staff passed out a press release to reporters on their way into a briefing with the new House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer Tuesday that read: “Meet the New Republicans – Same as the Old Republicans.” (more)
Enron, joined by BP, invented the global warming industry. I know because I was in the room. This was during my storied three-week or so stint as Director of Federal Government Relations for Enron in the spring of 1997, back when Enron was everyone’s darling in Washington. It proved to be an eye-opening experience that didn’t last much beyond my expressing concern about this agenda of using the state to rob Peter, paying Paul, drawing Paul’s enthusiastic support. (more)
On Thursday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced the federal budget deficit for 2010 will exceed $1.3 trillion. This is already on the heels of a 2009 budget deficit of $1.2 trillion and on top of a national debt of some $13.3 trillion. The word ‘trillion’ seems to have, almost overnight, crept into our standard economic parlance and by the looks of it is here to stay. And with the CBO’s forecast of more than $6 trillion in federal budget deficits accruing over the next nine years from 2010 to 2019, many are logically wondering if the United States has effectively crossed, or is fast approaching, a virtual economic point of no return — an economic Rubicon if you will. (more)
“A–hole!” That was what Jeff Skilling, the boss of Enron, called an investor who challenged his rosy account of his firm’s financial health. Other bosses usually give less obvious clues that they are lying. Happily, a new study reveals what those clues are. (more)
Some impressive commentators are weighing in about whether promotion of small government versus big government is ideologically or practically driven. Ezra Klein makes an interesting, but misdirected, point that small government proponents see small government as an end in itself — i.e., they are ideologically driven — whereas proponents of more government simply want “larger government in certain areas where it seems to make sense.” (more)
“Hey, Frank. Can you believe it was only 18 months ago you guys announced the sale of the first piece of BP — that $10 billion Alaska plot they nicknamed Palin’s Peaks — to start paying for their Gulf clean up? And today, they’re auctioning off their last field, that hell-hole in Nigeria.” (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has sided with Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron chief executive, in limiting the use of a federal fraud law that has been a favorite of white-collar crime prosecutors. (more)
On the eve of a key vote in the Senate on an issue in which Wal-Mart is deeply invested, the company announced it is donating $20 million to charities and opening scores of new stores in the Chicago area, in the home state of Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, the retail giant’s top ally in its push to cap credit card fees. (more)
Tim Carney has a column at the Washington Examiner detailing BP’s lobbying influence, which begs the following history lesson and first-hand account for voters, generally unaccustomed to such sleaze, to fully appreciate the game presently being played out in Washington. (more)
With months of closed doors meeting and cutting deals with industry, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) finally unveiled their cap-and-trade bill. After helping to craft the bill, this bill contains many giveaways to industry and the end result is this bill that will increase the cost of every aspect of business and cost every individual citizen to turn on the lights and put gas in the car. (more)
There’s no doubt that George Will is on drugs. Yes, I know the thought of America’s leading conservative columnist indulging on a regular basis in powerful, mind-altering substances is rather hard to believe. But once you consider the evidence I have no doubt you’ll agree that there is no other explanation for his bizarre behavior in his weekly appearances on ABC’s This Week. (more)
Today’s press conference teaming Big Business and the left-wing coalition is in fact an embarrassing display of the worst that today’s Washington has to offer. To understand why, consider this excerpt from Chapter 5 of “Power Grab: How Obama’s Green Policies Will Steal Your Freedom and Bankrupt America: Picking Your Pockets for Political Payola” (citations omitted). (more)
Anti-bank rhetoric may be all the rage, but there are 19 billion reasons why taxpayers should redirect their anger toward Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the lawmakers who keep bailing them out and the news media that refuse to report it. (more)
The Tony Award nominations included lots of surprises. Although “American Idiot” has been widely perceived to be the front-runner to win best musical on June 13, its actors, choreographer and director were snubbed by the nominating committee. In the category of best play, “Enron” had been up for London’s equivalent to the Tony, the Olivier Award but it isn’t on the Tonys list of nominees. (more)
In his recent speech on Wall Street, President Obama tried to delegitimize any criticism of his proposed financial regulations and taxes. He said, “What’s not legitimate is to suggest that somehow the legislation being proposed is going to encourage future taxpayer bailouts, as some have claimed. That makes for a good sound bite, but it’s not factually accurate. It is not true. In fact…a vote for reform is a vote to put a stop to taxpayer-funded bailouts. That’s the truth. End of story.” (more)
Financial chicanery 101. That’s the lesson being taught at “Enron,” a new Broadway play from London about the corporate scandal involving the Texas energy giant. (more)
Those of you worrying on Wall Street, please do not be distracted by the president’s apparent assault. He’s still got your back. With the push beginning Monday to push through a “cap-and-trade” energy tax and rationing scheme—without committee hearings and possibly, according to Harry Reid, even using “reconciliation” again—your big “ask” appears to be in better shape than ever for being crammed down on the rest of us. (more)
As well-intentioned people gather to celebrate Earth Day, it is also important to recognize the unintended consequences of bad policy. From California’s imploding green economy to Europe’s staggering unemployment environmental regulations are having a devastating impact wherever they are implemented. Unfortunately, the real world facts never make their way into to rhetoric touted at Earth Day events in major cities, small towns and college campuses all across the nation. With no regard to their implications on the economy, consumers or the average American family, Earth Day rallies are filled with calls for far reaching regulations, job killing legislation and initiatives designed to punish hard working Americans. (more)
