Our Awful Situation

Archive for the ‘Government’ Category

Grand Theft Society

Posted by Charlie Kilo on July 2nd, 2008

A core problem with government is that its managers believe that all reality will conform to their wishes if they issue the right orders, pass the right laws, and put the right people in charge. Reality resists this simple-minded approach; witness the debacle of the war on terror. Sadly, the same group that has managed that war is now managing another one: the war on recession.

Oklahoma sticks it to the Fed

Posted by patriot on June 18th, 2008

Oklahoma tells the Feds to mind their own business:

The Oklahoma House passed an unprecedented joint house resolution declaring its sovereignty over matters not “enumerated” to the U.S. government under the text of the Constitution. It also sent a “Notice and Demand” to the federals to cease and desist unconstitutional activity. The resolution numbered HJR 1089 passed by a vote of 92 Yeahs, 3 Nays, and 6 abstentions. Presently, it appears hung up in a rules committee in the Oklahoma Senate.

I’d love to talk to one of the Nay votes… what do these people think?

U.S. House approves 2009 defense bill: $602 billion for 2009!

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 25th, 2008

WOW, what a waste!

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a defense spending bill of $602 billion for 2009, despite a warning by the White House that the bill could be vetoed by the president if it contained any amendments.

Lawmakers voted 384-23 for the bill, but introduced a number of amendments, including a 52% cut in funding for the controversial missile defense shield, planned for deployment in Central Europe.

Hard numbers: The economy is worse than you know

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 8th, 2008

What? The government lies about their official statistics? Noooooo:

Ever since the 1960s, Washington has gulled its citizens and creditors by debasing official statistics, the vital instruments with which the vigor and muscle of the American economy are measured.

The effect has been to create a false sense of economic achievement and rectitude, allowing us to maintain artificially low interest rates, massive government borrowing, and a dangerous reliance on mortgage and financial debt even as real economic growth has been slower than claimed.

Read on…

U.S. lets some migrants cross border repeatedly

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 2nd, 2008

Gee this could be profitable. Illegal Oaxacans beg with kids in Texas, then wait for police escort back:

Josefa Gonzalez Loya has sneaked across the Mexican border at least 128 times in the past eight years. And each time, the Border Patrol has been nice enough to give her a lift home.

Gonzalez and a group of other women and children — all Indians from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca — have no interest in staying in the United States. All they want to do is panhandle outside El Paso businesses, using the children as lures.

At the end of a productive day, they wait for the Border Patrol to come pick them up and drive them back to the border.

National DNA database gets kickstart from feds

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 2nd, 2008

Its a brave new world:

With virtually no fanfare, President Bush signed into law a plan ordering the government to take no more than six months to set up a “national contingency plan” to screen newborns’ DNA in case of a “public health emergency.”

The new law requires that the results of the program – including “information … research, and data on newborn screening” – shall be assembled by a “central clearinghouse” and made available on the Internet.

According to congressional records, S.1858, sponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was approved in the Senate Dec. 13, in the House April 8 and signed by Bush April 24.

“Soon, under this bill, the DNA of all citizens will be housed in government genomic biobanks and considered governmental property for government research,” said Twila Brase, president of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care. “The DNA taken at birth from every citizen is essentially owned by the government, and every citizen becomes a potential subject of government-sponsored genetic research.”

Higher Gas Prices Eat Up Much of Stimulus Check

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 29th, 2008

Its like trying to use a garden hose on forest fire:

In the 11 weeks since President Bush approved tax rebates aimed at averting a recession, energy prices have risen so much that the country is now spending about $250 million more per day on gasoline.

As the U.S. Treasury races to get the rebates to households, beginning this week, it faces an uphill battle against inflation that is blunting the benefits of the $152 billion 2008 stimulus package.

There is a lot riding on what consumers do with these rebate checks.

Depending on how much is promptly spent — and on what — it could mean the difference between the U.S. economy eking out marginal growth in the coming months or slipping into a deep recession.

U.S. deficit at record high and rising

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 24th, 2008

Christian Science Monitor:

Deficit? What deficit? Three big intersecting events – war in Iraq, the economic downturn, and the presidential race – this year have combined to knock fiscal discipline far down the list of Washington’s policy priorities.

In fact, the federal deficit hit an all-time high of $311 billion for the first half of this budget year, reports the Treasury Department. And Congress is discussing further moves to help distressed homeowners and stimulate the economy. Iraq and Afghanistan will cost at least another $170 billion in supplemental funds through the end of next year.

Given the need, the current rush of spending might be understandable, say some deficit hawks. But they worry that Washington will use recession and war as excuses to stop caring about red ink altogether. They also warn that current deficits leave Washington ill-prepared to face an imminent explosion of spending on Social Security and Medicare caused by retiring baby boomers.

Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 14th, 2008

Are you “warm on it”?

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation’s most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department’s new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities — such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

Sophisticated overhead sensor data will be used for law enforcement once privacy and civil rights concerns are resolved, he said. The department has previously said the program will not intercept communications.

“There is no basis to suggest that this process is in any way insufficient to protect the privacy and civil liberties of Americans,” Chertoff wrote to Reps. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and Jane Harman (D-Calif.), chairmen of the House Homeland Security Committee and its intelligence subcommittee, respectively, in letters released yesterday.

“I think we’ve fully addressed anybody’s concerns,” Chertoff added in remarks last week to bloggers. “I think the way is now clear to stand it up and go warm on it.”

HUD chief inattentive to crisis, critics say

Posted by Charlie Kilo on April 13th, 2008

Another Bush bozo out the door due to scandal:

In late 2006, as economists warned of an imminent housing market collapse, housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson repeatedly insisted that the mounting wave of mortgage failures was a short-term “correction.”

He pushed for legislation that would make it easier for federally backed lenders to make mortgage loans to risky borrowers who put less money down. He issued a rule that was criticized by law enforcement authorities because it could increase the difficulty of detecting and proving mortgage fraud.

As Jackson leaves office this week, much of the attention on his tenure has been focused on investigations into whether his agency directed housing contracts to his friends and political allies. But critics say an equally significant legacy of his four years as the nation’s top housing officer was gross inattention to the looming housing crisis.

They contend that Jackson ignored warnings from within his agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, whose inspector general told Congress that some of the secretary’s efforts were “ill-advised policy” and likely to put more families at risk of losing their homes.

During Jackson’s years on the job, foreclosures for loans insured by HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) have risen and default rates have hit a record high.

All the while, Jackson enjoyed a chef and a full-time security detail that trailed him to Washington social events. His office launched a new $7 million auditorium and cafeteria at HUD’s headquarters, money that some within the agency believed should have been directed toward housing for the poor. His office solicited an emergency bid to obtain oil portraits of Jackson and four other HUD secretaries at a cost to taxpayers of $100,000.

While Rome burned…

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