Where Am I ?????

I post very rarely do to job commitments, but when I do post my posts can be found at A Tangled Web.

The Troll

Politics as Usual or Typical Democrat Stupidity

As the President returns from his world wide Groveling Tour. Where he and the missus show a lack of respect and protocol to our ally the queen, while bowing before a tyrant and spiritual adversary the Saudi King. The buffoon parade ends as he arrives home to cut the military budget.

In the beginning of a world war when the administration is tossing Trillions down the bailout drain, while unconstitutionally stealing control of private industry. They have decided to enact massive military spending cuts.

Following in the footsteps of his clone Carter and the misogynist Bill Clinton, the Military is the only part of the government that will see a decrease.

Now it's one thing cutting missile defense even though the malignant midget in N Korea launched an ICBM right while the Obamanation was giving a speech on Nuclear Disarmament. The fools that act as the brain trust of our government are cutting the number one weapons platform in our modern arsenal. Calling his plan a “reform budget,” Gates said he would eliminate the F-22 Raptor at 187 aircraft.

That leaves 187 aircraft to replace the over 700 plane fleet of f-15 and f-18 fighters. Now mind you those aircraft when they came on line replaced 2400 f-4s. This however is the equivalent of shooting Secretariat right before the Triple Crown was run.

The Raptor is the most deadly aircraft ever built. There is no plane made by any other nation that comes close. The Chicoms have crap, and the Russians have a high tech bird that is very good but is not a stealth craft like the Raptor.

The Raptor flies higher with an almost invisible signature with the capability to see and shoot down other craft that are still over the horizon. It is also the most maneuverable fighter craft ever designed making it next to impossible defeat in a dog fight due to a new revolution in flight control design.

It is our sweeper weapon they fly in and clear the sky of all other craft before they even come into the enemies range. They then can deliver devastating ground strike capability once they get to that combat area.

Non of this means anything to groveling apologists that now control the levers of power in Washington to them it's just time to cut what they hate, American Superiority.

Call These ASSHOLES

compliments of Quinn & Rose



Power Line Blog - John Hinderaker - Wall of Shame - March 19, 2009

That's where we put the names of House members who voted for Nancy Pelosi's silly, unconstitutional 90% tax on the AIG bonuses. The measure passed, 328-93, with Democrats frantically seeking cover against voter wrath. It's sad to see any Republicans going along with the Democrats' Know-Nothingism, but, by a bare 87-85 margin Republicans opposed the Dems' stunt. I'm glad to see that conservative stalwarts, including John Kline, John Shadegg and Michele Bachmann, generally voted "no."

Pelosi's tax will never become law; it will die quietly at some point. Its only purpose is as a cheap PR stunt to deflect public anger--mostly misplaced, in my view, to the extent that it focuses on the AIG bonuses rather than the multiple, trillion dollar disasters the Democrats have perpetrated or are planning.

Aderholt
Alexander
Barton (TX)
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Blunt
Bono Mack
Boozman
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Buchanan
Calvert
Camp
Cantor
Cao
Capito
Cassidy
Castle
Crenshaw
Davis (KY)
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Duncan
Ehlers
Emerson
Fleming
Forbes
Fortenberry
Frelinghuysen
Gallegly
Gerlach
Goodlatte
Guthrie
Heller
Herger
Hoekstra
Johnson (IL)
Jones
Kirk
Lance
Latham
Lee (NY)
Lewis (CA)
LoBiondo
Manzullo
McCaul
McClintock
McHugh
McMorris Rodgers
Mica
Miller (MI)
Moran (KS)
Petri
Platts
Putnam
Rehberg
Reichert
Roe (TN)
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Rooney
Ros-Lehtinen
Roskam
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Schmidt
Schock
Shimkus
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Stearns
Tiberi
Turner
Upton
Walden
Wamp
Whitfield
Wittman
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)



Republican Idiots

The Circus Maximus

This clip depicts so many characters in this 3 ring monkey show that's being put on about a pitence of bonuses a mere 136million. I submit to you Senator Dodd, President Obama, Secretary Geitner, et al.....


The Sham that they have just committed over the last week was great comedy except for the tragedy that it's my country. The administration has lied, been caught lying, and then breached one of the primary principals of and for the Constitution of The United States.

These bonuses are not even bonuses for performance they are retention bonuses. The toothless town idiot Blarney Fwank said and I quote "All these people should be fired" just imagine that line coming out the mouth of the worst lisp you've ever heard spraying from toothless lips.

Well rocket scientists, economic wizard Rep Fwanks, THEY ARE ALREADY FIRED! The bonuses are for staying to finish there jobs as they themselves tye the knots up of their already eliminated Jobs, ya dumb git.

These people were told "were doing away with your jobs will pay you this just to finish them off".
Now mind you they all knew about these bonuses before the Bill that "nobody read" and the fact Dodd and Obama were the two largest recipients of AIG contributions, and Geitner, the white house staff, Dodds staff, and madam Pelosi, Specifically put in the wording in to protect those bonuses. your not supposed to notice.

Nor are you to notice that the same day this all started, it was released that out of the 186 BILLION, that AIG received 44 Bil went to American Banks while 55 Bill went to overseas Banks. I'm sure only the Swiss know where part of the missing Billions are.

Then the she-bitch Pelousey Violates the constitution by ramming through a Bill of Attainder. A Bill of Attainder is the power of Government used to punish a specific person or group of persons Like the AIG bonus receivers (that they were protecting in the first place) It is specifically forbidden by the Constitution, because it was the manifestation of the policies of the government they fought against.

What your not supposed to notice though is this week the Federal Reserve Monetized the debt. We bought our own bad paper. No Nation has ever survived that, but that all right since the whole world is in the economic toilet what we really need is a UN Dollar for the entire world...
Obama & Dodd

Our Future in Healthcare

The Envy Of The World

Have Stalinist healthcare system, get Stalinist healthcare rationing.

"Appalling standards of care have been exposed at Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals trust, where between 400 and 1200 more patients died than would be expected in just three years, according to a damning report by the Healthcare Commission."

I think we can see where this one's going already.

"It is not clear how many patients died as a direct result of the failures but the Commission found that mortality rates in emergency care were between 27 per cent and 45 per cent higher than would be expected, equating to between 400 and 1,200 excess deaths."

Ah well, they're just numbers, faceless men and women who clutter up the day, isn't that right, box-tickers? A bout of hand-wringing, a liberal sprinkling of "lessons will be learned" and under the carpet it goes.


Click to read more ...

Posted on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 at 07:59PM by Pete Moore

An Education

But most of you will not take the time to listen to what is said in this post. Some out of hate, some due to a lack of attention span, but must just because your unwilling to hear someone explane to you the TRUTH.

There are 10 parts to this speech, I'll bet 10 to 1 that you don't make it through the first.

If your interested in understanding who and what the majority of us are you should educate yourself.

I hope you now have a little better understanding, but I doubt it!

Rush

Let The BUM GO and REED with Him

Eagles blindsided by report of alleged McNabb demands
Feb. 24, 2009

By Clark Judge

CBSSports.com Senior Writer

I don't know what to make of the latest Donovan McNabb story, and, frankly, neither do the Philadelphia Eagles.
According to an ESPN.com report, McNabb might delay talks of a contract extension "until he sees how the Eagles improve themselves in the offseason via free agency and/or trades." The implication was that if the club doesn't meet McNabb's demands for more weapons, he might not seek an extension and, instead, could pursue a trade.

Let The Bum Go he can't win a Superbowl and never will, add to that Andy Reed is a lousy coach who can't call plays. Who prefers the View from up his ASS rather than the Sidelines.

McNabb

Abbott and Costello on their way To BiBi's House

These Two clowns are going to go to Israel and "Dictate" what Israel should do. Does the Term "Rude Awakening" come to your mind, because it does mine.


Hillary Clinton and George Mitchell are expected to meet in Jerusalem with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

She is also scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad in Ramallah.

Clinton will be preceded in Israel by four days by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell, who will be making his second visit on Thursday since assuming his new position in January.

Trying to feel the water before The Hildabeast jumps into shark infested waters.

He will meet Clinton in Egypt for the Gaza conference, and then return with her to Israel.
Where they will be handed their asses and TOLD what Israel intends to do, since the current administration in DC are going down the appeasement road.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak said:
"Israel's policy is clear: We are not ruling out any option regarding the Iranian nuclear [program]," he said. "We mean it."

"We recommend that others don't rule out any option either," continued Barak in an address at the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya on Wednesday evening, with a possible hint to US President Barack Obama's administration. "A dialogue with Iran should be defined and limited in time."

Hillary

Happy Birthday to a Truly Great Bastard

A Long Read but Worth It!

Abraham Lincoln's Birthday was today February 12th 200 years ago. Lincoln was the right man at the right time. A home schooled Self taught Genius that presided over the bloodiest time in American History.

The Civil War was really about states rights so in one aspect you can say the War was really lost by both sides. It was the beginning of the death of Federalism. Though history looks at it as a victory and it truly was.

It kept the nation together, and ended slavery in the civilized world.

But let no one sell you this crap about this wise man that fought a war for the nobility of freeing a race of people. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Lincoln was the Bastard of all Bastards, and he got himself written into history as one of the greatest presidents. He was a brilliant man with a set of iron balls that must have clanked when he walked.

He won the Presidency through the Lincoln -Douglas Debates which no modern politician would do today they actually spoke about issues, imagine that.

Drawing on remnants of the old Whig, Free Soil, Liberty and Democratic parties, he was instrumental in forming the new Republican Party. In a stirring campaign, the Republicans carried Illinois in 1854 and elected a senator. Lincoln was the obvious choice, but to keep the new party balanced he allowed the election to go to an ex-Democrat Lyman Trumbull. How many of today's egocentric gits that run for office would give someone else their seat for the good of the party.

With the emergence of the Republicans as the nation's first major sectional party by the mid-1850s, politics became the stage on which sectional tensions were played out. Although much of the West – the focal point of sectional tensions – was unfit for cotton cultivation, Southern secessionists read the political fallout as a sign that their power in national politics was rapidly weakening. Before, the slave system had been buttressed to an extent by the Democratic Party, which was increasingly seen as representing a more pro-Southern position that unfairly permitted Southerners to prevail in the nation's territories and to dominate national policy before the Civil War. But they suffered a significant reverse in the electoral realignment of the mid-1850s. 1860 was a critical election that marked a stark change in existing patterns of party loyalties among groups of voters; Abraham Lincoln's election was a watershed in the balance of power of competing national and parochial interests and affiliations.

The North and the West were becoming Industrial but industry and oil were still in their infancy. The nation needed the Cotton revenue.

Douglas had infected a few to many people that believed as a democracy they could succeed if they chose. This of course was bull. A house divided can not stand.

To preserve the house Lincoln did what he had to do. The birth of the Republican Party was a death knell to the Democrat party at the time, and Seven States declared they would secede if Lincoln won the Election. When he did win both Lincoln and his predecessor Buchanan refused to recognize the Confederacy.

President-elect Lincoln evaded possible assassins in Baltimore, and on February 23, 1861, arrived in disguise in Washington, D.C. At his inauguration on March 4, 1861, the German American Turners (What today would be special forces) formed Lincoln's bodyguard; and a sizable garrison of federal troops was also present, ready to protect the capital from Confederate invasion and local insurrection.

By the time Lincoln took office, the Confederacy was an established fact, and no leaders of the insurrection proposed rejoining the Union on any terms. No compromise was found because a compromise was deemed virtually impossible. Buchanan might have allowed the southern states to secede, and some Republicans recommended that. However, conservative Democratic nationalists, such as Jeremiah S. Black, Joseph Holt, and Edwin M. Stanton had taken control of Buchanan's cabinet around January 1, 1861, and refused to accept secession. Lincoln and nearly every Republican leader adopted this position by March 1861: the Union could not be dismantled.

In July 1862, Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act, which freed the slaves of anyone convicted of aiding the rebellion. The goal was to weaken the rebellion, which was led and controlled by slave owners. While it did not abolish the legal institution of slavery (the Thirteenth Amendment did that), the Act showed that Lincoln had the support of Congress in liberating slaves owned by rebels. In that same month, Lincoln discussed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet.

"I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." ... My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free."

The Emancipation Proclamation, announced on September 22, 1862 and put into effect on January 1, 1863, freed slaves in territories not already under Union control. As Union armies advanced south, more slaves were liberated until all of them in Confederate territory (over three million) were freed. Lincoln later said: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper." The proclamation made the abolition of slavery in the rebel states an official war goal. Lincoln then threw his energies into passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to permanently abolish slavery throughout the nation.

This is when the fun really began Lincoln Tossed away the Right of Habeus Corpus, which meant he could have you locked up and never even charge you. And he did it several times.

The South had Chosen Lee to run their Army so for his betrayal Lincoln ordered the Union Dead buried in the Front Lawn of his family estate. You might of heard of it. They called it Arlington.

And the first soldiers were buried twenty feet in front of his porch.

One person running for Governor of Ohio Clement Laird Vallandigham, was so outspoken that Lincoln had him locked up and deported to Canada. When he continued to rabble rouse in Canada they threw him out and Lincoln locked him back up.

The war was getting Bloodier and bloodier with each major engagement. Gettysburg was so bad no one wanted to join And when getting people to join was next to impossible they used a very political draft to fill the ranks. This draft caused riots from the Irish in NY during which the navy was ordered to fire on the cities Irish quarter to end the rioting.

Lincoln during the war was plagued by Generals who refused to engage the enemy the worst of these was McClellan (the man who truly invented hurry up and wait) He had several chances to end the war and refused to engage the enemy.

In walks Grant, Grant first reached national prominence by taking Forts Henry and Donelson in 1862 in the first Union victories of the war. The following year, his celebrated campaign ending in the surrender of Vicksburg secured Union control of the Mississippi and—with the simultaneous Union victory at Gettysburg—turned the tide of the war in the North's favor.

Named commanding general of the Federal armies in 1864, he implemented a coordinated strategy of simultaneous attacks aimed at destroying the South's ability to carry on the war. He Ordered Sherman's March to the Sea one of the greatest campaigns ever. In 1865, after conducting a costly war of attrition in the East, he accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Many of the politicians and other Generals hated Grant and complained incessantly to Lincoln that he was allowing the war to be run by a Drunkard. Lincolns response was "find out what he's drinking and send a case to every commander I've got"

There was no bi-partisanship in Lincoln's government, Which made me laugh today when Obama said there was. If you spoke against the war you were locked up period.

Lincoln stuck to his guns and lead the country through it's bloodiest war and never flinched.

God Bless you President Lincoln, we need politicians of your fortitude now. As the nation is on the very eve of self destruction, once again at the hand of the Democrat Party.

Material for this Article was pulled fro the National Archives and Wiki

Glenns Poll

1) Yes or no: Do you believe America is a good place, that we've lost our way over the years, that we have done bad things but generally speaking we tried hard. We try to make amends. We have tried to do the right thing. Just like everybody else, we fail from time to time and we have truly lost our way in the last 20 years. But gosh, if you look at America, she's good and our founders were good and our founding documents are good. We've just strayed too far away from them. Yes or no.

2) Yes or no: I believe in God. I may not go to the same church or synagogue or mosque as the majority of people in America, but I believe in God and he is the center of my life, and God does not tell people to behead others or to persecute others that see God in a different way. As long as that god is not telling them to persecute others.

Yes or no.

3) Yes or no: It is my responsibility to try to be better and a more honest person than I was yesterday. Sometimes I fail, I'll make mistakes, but it's my main mission to be better than I was personally than I was yesterday.

4) Yes or no: The family is sacred. I and my spouse are the ultimate authority under God when it comes to my family. I raise my family, and that comes with a grave responsibility. If I fail, I answer to God.

5) Yes or no: If you break the law, you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.

6) Yes or no: I have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but that is not a guarantee of equal results.

7) Yes or no: I work hard for what I have, and I will share it with others that I choose when I choose, should I choose. Government cannot force me to be charitable.

8) It is not un-American for anyone to disagree with my opinion, but my opinion or others' opinions may be anti-American. Anti-American rhetoric would be anything that is destructive to the Constitution and our country as our founders understood it.

9) And the last one is the government works for me. The government answers to me. I do not answer to the government.


Here's what I want you to do. Step one: No matter where you are right now, I want you to take a picture of yourself. I want you to take a picture, and I ask you and you'll understand as we go in the next couple of weeks, I ask you if you could bring these and ask your children -- can we post these please on the Internet, on the website? I want you to ask as many people as you know, do you believe in these things? Just seven out of nine. Do you believe in them? Then will you please take a picture of yourself. If you ask your family and you ask your children tonight, do you believe in these things. Take a picture of your spouse. Not as a family. Take them one at a time and send them to me, e-mail them to me at -- what is the address, Stu? Wesurroundthem@gmail.com. This is how much I believe that you are not alone.

Employee Free Choice Act

Does a ballot cast in private or a card signed in pub?lic better reveal a worker's true preference about whether to join a union? A private vote is the obvious answer, but organized labor has nonetheless made the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 800) its highest legislative priority.

What that means is Guido and his two buddies approach you and say "are you John Smith, living at 222 Brown St and work at Wall Mart? Here sign this union card." Now if you don't want to they know where you live and they know "your a problem".

The Bill also does away with Elections, the Union can come to your house, the bar you hang at, the work place, or all 3. Once they "convince" 51% of the workers to sign the cards your store is now a Union Shop.

The Company then has 90 days to complete a Union Contract that the Union agrees to or the Government steps in and decides what workers make what wages and receive what benefits.

If the Company refuses they have to close the business and are forbidden to EVER reopen again.

Union activists contend that the act would pro?tect workers' freedom to freely choose to join a union. However, workers' best defense against harassment and intimidation by either a union or an employer is a secret-ballot election in which nei?ther knows how any individual worker voted.

7% of the American work force are Union members, that's all. Unions have destroyed the two largest industries in the country. The Steel Industry, and The Auto Industry. Since 1940 Organized labour has cost the US 50 Trillion Dollars in GDP.

This happens with the hidden expense that a union costs a business. The Average US Big 3 Auto worker costs the company $75 an hour, where a non-union worker at an American Toyota factory costs $40 an hour.

The debt for Medicare and Social Security for the next 40 years is $50 Trillion the same cost as what the Unions have already cost the country. What unions have already cost us could have made those programs solvent.

To sum it up if this bill passes workers will be intimidated into joining a union, companies will have to comply, or shut their doors forever. Not to mention the COMMUNIST tactic of the government dictating who gets paid what. Which they just did to the corporate execs who begged for bailout money.

Add to that the cost of increased prices which effect everyone, and the forcing of 22 states removing their right to work laws by dictation from the Federal Government.

The Current group in power are Soviets.
Unions

$800 Billion Plane Ride

[Marc Thiessen]

From a Senate staffer:
“I just heard that the reason we’re trying to wrap up this bill by tomorrow is that there is a CODEL to Germany [for the annual Munich Security Conference]. Wheels up sometime around 6 p.m. out of Andrews. We’re going to let this thing go without making them take tough votes because a group of Senators wants to take a ride on the taxpayer overseas. We should call it the $800 billion plane ride. We should be debating this thing all week and make Reid shut us down. The more this hangs out there, the worse it smells to the American people. We are a sad excuse for a minority.”
The Munich Security Conference is the Davos of the defense and national security world. It takes place Feb. 6-8.

We Plan To Live Up To Our Ethical Standards Very, Very Soon [Byron York]

>

A number of bloggers are pointing out this ethics pledge on Barack Obama's campaign website:
Sunlight Before Signing: Too often bills are rushed through Congress and to the president before the public has the opportunity to review them. As president, Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.

Obama has now signed two bills into law — the Lily Ledbetter Act and SCHIP — and in neither case did he wait five days before signing. The website PolitiFact asked the White House about the broken pledge and got this response from an Obama spokesman:

During the campaign, the President committed to introducing more sunlight into the lawmaking process by posting non-emergency legislation online for five days before signing it. The President remains committed to bringing more transparency to government, and in this spirit the White House has posted legislation expected to come to the President's desk online for comment.

We will be implementing this policy in full soon; currently we are working through implementation procedures and some initial issues with the congressional calendar. In the meantime, we will continue to post legislation on our website for comment as it moves through congress over the next few weeks."
02/05 07:47 AM

No One is Safe from The Mad Persian

As Iran Launches it's first satellite into space what does it mean? Can the Iranians now get the Dish Network and watch more TV, or does it prove the Mad Persian Imamadjihad can now drop a nuke anywhere in the world he wants?

The Safir-2 Rocket Launch went off without a hitch. Successfully putting the satellite in orbit. Proving that Iran can deliver a payload into orbit. The question I ask is what is more likely to be in that payload? A communication satellite, or a Nuclear Bomb?

This regime has declared war on the West, the fact that they have had missiles that could reach England, France, or Germany has caused no real concern to the heads of the EU. Will this launch even cause them to blink an eye?

Iran will have enough fissile material to create warheads within the month. Will that cause the EU or the UN to loose any sleep?

This man who was one of the leaders in the hostage taking of the US embassy in 1979, and who is a member of the sect that believes the 12th Imam will return. A man who has said on numerous occasions it is his mission in life to bring about this return, which by the way can only be brought back by bathing the world in blood.

Or will all this just be another ho hum event to the comatose masses of gits that walk slowly to their own slaughter.

What do you think?

Iran

Go Israel

A News Story About Real Leaders
Our leaders placate and want to appease the enemy. BiBi is a true leader of his people, and understands his job is to protect them. Not Rape them for their money.

Netanyahu says Iran will not get hands on nukes
By ARON HELLER,
Associated Press Writer AP - Sunday, February 1
JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's leading candidate for prime minister, said Saturday that Iran "will not be armed with a nuclear weapon."
In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu said if elected prime minister his first mission will be to thwart the Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu, the current opposition leader and head of the hardline Likud party, called Iran the greatest danger to Israel and to all humanity.
When asked if stopping Iran's nuclear ambitions included a military strike, he replied: "It includes everything that is necessary to make this statement come true."
Iran has denied it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful uses. It also denies it is engaged in terrorism, instead accusing Israel of terrorist policies against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.
The Channel 2 TV broadcast interviewed all three candidates for prime minister ahead of the Feb. 10 election. The three did not debate each other and appeared one after the other to answer questions posted by Israelis in YouTube videos.
Tzipi Livni of Kadima and Ehud Barak of Labor were both asked about how they intended to deal with the continuing rocket threat from Hamas militants in Gaza. Both took a hard line.
"Hamas was hit like it was never hit before," Barak, the defense minister, said. "If they try us again, they will be hit again."
Israeli launched a massive three-week offensive against Gaza militants on Dec. 27 to stop eight years of near-daily militant rocket fire at southern Israeli towns. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians were killed in the fighting, about half of them civilians, according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.
Livni, the foreign minister, said if Hamas "hasn't gotten the message yet" Israel would strike it again.
Regardless, she said Hamas could not be negotiated with and called on the people of Gaza to overthrow their regime.
"I do not intend to reach any agreements with Hamas. Agreements I make with people who accept my existence," she said. "They do not recognize Israel and do not renounce violence and terrorism. They will not be a party to an agreement and therefore the people of Gaza have to expel the Hamas from within them."

Israel

Sarah Palin: The case for drilling in ANWR

I AM DISMAYED THAT LEGISLATION HAS AGAIN BEEN INTRODUCED in Congress to prohibit forever oil and gas development in the most promising unexplored petroleum province in North America -- the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in Alaska.

Let's not forget: Only six months ago, oil was selling for nearly $150 per barrel, while Americans were paying $4 a gallon and more for gasoline. And today, there is potential for prices to rebound as OPEC asserts its market power and as Russia disrupts needed natural gas to Europe for the second time in three years.

As I traveled throughout the country campaigning for vice president, I was glad to hear politicians, including Barack Obama, promise that "everything was on the table" to address America's great challenges. I also found that when Americans were apprised of the facts, most people became supporters of responsible oil and gas drilling in Alaska. So, I want to remind our national leaders of this promise and make the case against this legislation:

•Oil from ANWR represents a huge, secure domestic supply that could help satisfy U.S. demand for more than 25 years.

•ANWR sits within a 20 million-acre refuge (the size of South Carolina), but thanks to advanced technology like directional drilling, the aggregated drilling footprint would be less than 2,000 acres (about one-quarter the size of Dulles Airport). This is like laying a 2-by-3-foot welcome mat on a basketball court.

•Energy development is quite compatible with the protection of our wildlife and their habitat. For example, North Slope caribou herds have grown and remained healthy throughout more than three decades of oil development. Most of the year, our coastal plain is frozen solid and thus characterized by low biological productivity.

•ANWR development would create hundreds of thousands of good American jobs, positively affecting every state by providing a safe energy supply and generating demand for goods and services.

•Development here would reduce U.S. dependence on unstable, dangerous sources of energy, such as the Middle East, and would decrease our huge trade deficit, a large percentage of which is directly attributable to oil imports.

•Incremental ANWR production would help reduce energy price volatility. Previous price disruptions demonstrate how even relatively low levels of oil production influence world prices.

•Federal revenues from ANWR -- cash bids, leases and oil taxes -- would help reduce the multitrillion-dollar national debt, and we'd circulate U.S. petrodollars in our own country instead of continuing to send hundreds of billions of our dollars overseas, creating jobs and stronger economies in other countries.

The development of oil and clean-burning natural gas isn't a panacea. However, this development should be authorized in comprehensive legislation that includes alternative fuels, fuel efficiency and conservation.

Americans know that gasoline and other refined crude oil products will keep fueling our transportation system for the foreseeable future. Further, the soaring prices of food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other products graphically illustrate the importance of petroleum to the health and well-being of America.

Another important reality is that the location and quantity of oil production are drastically changing world geopolitics.

Energy-producing countries are rapidly gaining world power. Several of these countries have objectives and value systems that are antithetical to U.S. interests.

Washington politicians should be horrified as we become increasingly dependent on these insecure, foreign sources while our U.S. petrodollars finance activities that harm America and our economic and military interests around the world.

If we don't move now to enact a comprehensive energy policy that includes domestic oil and gas production, including ANWR, we will look back someday and regret that we failed to perceive a critical crossroads in the history of America. It's not overly dramatic to say our nation's future depends on the decisions made by the federal government over the next few months.

Polls show a majority of Americans now support responsible energy development in Alaska. Unfortunately, some disingenuous special-interest groups are still fighting the public will in Congress.

Americans, please contact Congress and ask that all options stay on the table as we formulate our needed energy plan. Remind politicians about their promises to increase domestic oil and gas production.

Sarah Palin is governor of Alaska.

•Development here would reduce U.S. dependence on unstable, dangerous sources of energy, such as the Middle East, and would decrease our huge trade deficit, a large percentage of which is directly attributable to oil imports.

•Incremental ANWR production would help reduce energy price volatility. Previous price disruptions demonstrate how even relatively low levels of oil production influence world prices.

•Federal revenues from ANWR -- cash bids, leases and oil taxes -- would help reduce the multitrillion-dollar national debt, and we'd circulate U.S. petrodollars in our own country instead of continuing to send hundreds of billions of our dollars overseas, creating jobs and stronger economies in other countries.

The development of oil and clean-burning natural gas isn't a panacea. However, this development should be authorized in comprehensive legislation that includes alternative fuels, fuel efficiency and conservation.

Americans know that gasoline and other refined crude oil products will keep fueling our transportation system for the foreseeable future. Further, the soaring prices of food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other products graphically illustrate the importance of petroleum to the health and well-being of America.

Another important reality is that the location and quantity of oil production are drastically changing world geopolitics.

Energy-producing countries are rapidly gaining world power. Several of these countries have objectives and value systems that are antithetical to U.S. interests.

Washington politicians should be horrified as we become increasingly dependent on these insecure, foreign sources while our U.S. petrodollars finance activities that harm America and our economic and military interests around the world.

If we don't move now to enact a comprehensive energy policy that includes domestic oil and gas production, including ANWR, we will look back someday and regret that we failed to perceive a critical crossroads in the history of America. It's not overly dramatic to say our nation's future depends on the decisions made by the federal government over the next few months.

Polls show a majority of Americans now support responsible energy development in Alaska. Unfortunately, some disingenuous special-interest groups are still fighting the public will in Congress.

Americans, please contact Congress and ask that all options stay on the table as we formulate our needed energy plan. Remind politicians about their promises to increase domestic oil and gas production.

Sarah Palin is governor of Alaska.

•Development here would reduce U.S. dependence on unstable, dangerous sources of energy, such as the Middle East, and would decrease our huge trade deficit, a large percentage of which is directly attributable to oil imports.

•Incremental ANWR production would help reduce energy price volatility. Previous price disruptions demonstrate how even relatively low levels of oil production influence world prices.

•Federal revenues from ANWR -- cash bids, leases and oil taxes -- would help reduce the multitrillion-dollar national debt, and we'd circulate U.S. petrodollars in our own country instead of continuing to send hundreds of billions of our dollars overseas, creating jobs and stronger economies in other countries.

The development of oil and clean-burning natural gas isn't a panacea. However, this development should be authorized in comprehensive legislation that includes alternative fuels, fuel efficiency and conservation.

Americans know that gasoline and other refined crude oil products will keep fueling our transportation system for the foreseeable future. Further, the soaring prices of food, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and other products graphically illustrate the importance of petroleum to the health and well-being of America.

Another important reality is that the location and quantity of oil production are drastically changing world geopolitics.

Energy-producing countries are rapidly gaining world power. Several of these countries have objectives and value systems that are antithetical to U.S. interests.

Washington politicians should be horrified as we become increasingly dependent on these insecure, foreign sources while our U.S. petrodollars finance activities that harm America and our economic and military interests around the world.

If we don't move now to enact a comprehensive energy policy that includes domestic oil and gas production, including ANWR, we will look back someday and regret that we failed to perceive a critical crossroads in the history of America. It's not overly dramatic to say our nation's future depends on the decisions made by the federal government over the next few months.

Polls show a majority of Americans now support responsible energy development in Alaska. Unfortunately, some disingenuous special-interest groups are still fighting the public will in Congress.

Americans, please contact Congress and ask that all options stay on the table as we formulate our needed energy plan. Remind politicians about their promises to increase domestic oil and gas production.

Sarah Palin is governor of Alaska.

OIl

A Little Edumacation for The Naysayer

Here is just some basic info I could put together at a glance. I do understand that it will be above most of your heads.

API Access Counter The development of America’s vast domestic oil and natural gas resources that had been kept off-limits by Congress for decades could generate more government revenue, create new jobs and significantly boost domestic production. Want to learn more about increased production, decreased imports, and the cars and homes that could be powered by untapped U.S. resources? The API Access Counter enables you to explore resources and regions to understand the benefits of increased energy exploration.

Off-limits US oil, gas worth $1.7 trillion to government: study

Karen Matusic 202.682.8118 matusick@api.org
WASHINGTON – The development of America’s vast domestic oil and natural gas resources that had been kept off-limits by Congress for decades could generate more than $1.7 trillion in government revenue, create thousands of new jobs and enhance the nation’s energy security by significantly boosting domestic production, a study released Monday shows.
The ICF International study, commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API), shows that developing the offshore areas that had been subject to Congressional moratoria until recently, as well as the resources in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and a small portion of currently unavailable federal lands in the Rockies, would lift U.S. crude oil production by as much as 2 million barrels per day in 2030, offsetting nearly a fifth of the nation’s imports. Natural gas production could increase by 5.34 billion cubic feet per day, or the equivalent of 61 percent of the expected natural gas imports in 2030.
The study also estimates that the development of all U.S. oil and natural gas resources on federal lands could exceed $4 trillion over the life of the resources.
“This study underscores how the oil and natural gas industry can enhance America’s energy security and help solve our economic problems by increasing production of our nation’s vast oil and natural gas resources,” said API President and CEO Jack N. Gerard. “The U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports more than six million jobs, and more drilling for oil and natural gas will mean more energy for America, more well-paying jobs, and trillions of dollars of much-needed revenues that will help federal, state and local governments pay for critical services.”
According to the ICF study, U.S. crude oil production would rise by 36% by 2030 if development is permitted in the studied areas of the Outer Continental Shelf, ANWR and the Rockies and domestic natural gas production would rise by 10%. By 2030, this activity would create 160,000 jobs.
API is the industry’s national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Global professional services company ICF International partners with government and commercial clients to deliver consulting services and technology solutions in energy, climate change, environment, transportation, social programs, health, defense, and emergency management.
Summary ReportSize: 58 KB Date: December 8, 2008
Final ReportSize: 812 KB Date: December 8, 2008

Wondering what's going on with American energy and where our country is headed? Click here to find out the truth about oil and gas, and what it means for America's energy and economic future.

Here is a state by state map on different R&D taking place in the US.

From Kipplinger

The U.S. is sitting on the world's largest, untapped oil reserves -- reservoirs which energy experts know exist, but which have not yet been tapped and may not be attainable with current technology. In fact, such untapped reserves are estimated at about 2.3 trillion barrels, nearly three times more than the reserves held by Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations and sufficient to meet 300 years of demand -- at today's levels -- for auto, truck, aircraft, heating and industrial fuel, without importing a single barrel of oil.
What's the problem then? Why aren't oil companies jumping to pump the black gold? Contrary to what some conspiracy theorists would have you believe, there is no cabal of oil companies and foreign governments blocking the way, bottling up U.S. oil production. The reality is much more mundane. Those untapped reserves are located in places that either Uncle Sam has put off-limits for environmental reasons or are too costly to get -- or a combination of both.

Oil

My Bipartisan Stimulus

Let's cut taxes, as I want, and spend more, as Obama would like.

By RUSH LIMBAUGH

There's a serious debate in this country as to how best to end the recession. The average recession will last five to 11 months; the average recovery will last six years. Recessions will end on their own if they're left alone. What can make the recession worse is the wrong kind of government intervention.

I believe the wrong kind is precisely what President Barack Obama has proposed. I don't believe his is a "stimulus plan" at all -- I don't think it stimulates anything but the Democratic Party. This "porkulus" bill is designed to repair the Democratic Party's power losses from the 1990s forward, and to cement the party's majority power for decades.

Keynesian economists believe government spending on "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects -- schools, roads, bridges -- is the best way to stimulate our staggering economy. Supply-side economists make an equally persuasive case that tax cuts are the surest and quickest way to create permanent jobs and cause an economy to rebound. That happened under JFK, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. We know that when tax rates are cut in a recession, it brings an economy back.

Recent polling indicates that the American people are in favor of both approaches.

Notwithstanding the media blitz in support of the Obama stimulus plan, most Americans, according to a new Rasmussen poll, are skeptical. Rasmussen finds that 59% fear that Congress and the president will increase government spending too much. Only 17% worry they will cut taxes too much. Since the American people are not certain that the Obama stimulus plan is the way to go, it seems to me there's an opportunity for genuine compromise. At the same time, we can garner evidence on how to deal with future recessions, so every occurrence will no longer become a matter of partisan debate.

Congress is currently haggling over how to spend $900 billion generated by American taxpayers in the private sector. (It's important to remember that it's the people's money, not Washington's.) In a Jan. 23 meeting between President Obama and Republican leaders, Rep. Eric Cantor (R., Va.) proposed a moderate tax cut plan. President Obama responded, "I won. I'm going to trump you on that."

Yes, elections have consequences. But where's the bipartisanship, Mr. Obama? This does not have to be a divisive issue. My proposal is a genuine compromise.

Fifty-three percent of American voters voted for Barack Obama; 46% voted for John McCain, and 1% voted for wackos. Give that 1% to President Obama. Let's say the vote was 54% to 46%. As a way to bring the country together and at the same time determine the most effective way to deal with recessions, under the Obama-Limbaugh Stimulus Plan of 2009: 54% of the $900 billion -- $486 billion -- will be spent on infrastructure and pork as defined by Mr. Obama and the Democrats; 46% -- $414 billion -- will be directed toward tax cuts, as determined by me.

Then we compare. We see which stimulus actually works. This is bipartisanship! It would satisfy the American people's wishes, as polls currently note; and it would also serve as a measurable test as to which approach best stimulates job growth.

I say, cut the U.S. corporate tax rate -- at 35%, among the highest of all industrialized nations -- in half. Suspend the capital gains tax for a year to incentivize new investment, after which it would be reimposed at 10%. Then get out of the way! Once Wall Street starts ticking up 500 points a day, the rest of the private sector will follow. There's no reason to tell the American people their future is bleak. There's no reason, as the administration is doing, to depress their hopes. There's no reason to insist that recovery can't happen quickly, because it can.

In this new era of responsibility, let's use both Keynesians and supply-siders to responsibly determine which theory best stimulates our economy -- and if elements of both work, so much the better. The American people are made up of Republicans, Democrats, independents and moderates, but our economy doesn't know the difference. This is about jobs now.

The economic crisis is an opportunity to unify people, if we set aside the politics. The leader of the Democrats and the leader of the Republicans (me, according to Mr. Obama) can get it done. This will have the overwhelming support of the American people. Let's stop the acrimony. Let's start solving our problems, together. Why wait one more day?

Mr. Limbaugh is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.

What the GOP's hostility to Obama's stimulus plan portends.

The Party Of Goldwater?
What the GOP's hostility to Obama's stimulus plan portends.

By Michael Hirsh Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jan 29, 2009 Updated: 12:22 p.m. ET Jan 29, 2009

Is it possible history is repeating itself? As House Republicans defy President Obama over his stimulus package, the party seems to be reverting to form after decades of overreaching ambition and outsized growth; think of the GOP, perhaps, as the Citigroup of politics. Many Republicans seem resigned—even content—to go back to being the party of Barry Goldwater. In other words: We don't care if we're marginalized. In our hearts we know we're right. Never mind that the party suffered terrible defeats in 2008 and 2006, some thoughtful Republicans (mainly on the Senate side, like Lindsay Graham, as well as intellectuals such as David Frum) have been fretting for some time that the GOP base is getting too narrow. These days, you hear little talk of Karl Rove's bigger tent or reinventing conservatism. Quite the opposite: it seems as though the party has decided to go back to basics. The message they're sending: "We don't care if Obama won or that he's popular; let's just wait until the country sees the truth again, as old Barry did. Until then, we'll be happy to be the righteous minority again, proudly willing to go down in flames for our beliefs: government spending never works, and tax cuts always do. Keynesian stimulus is for liberal witch doctors."

Until this moment, we have had an uneasy bipartisan consensus over how to solve the financial and economic crisis. As we saw with the approval of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) last fall, most Republicans reluctantly went along with Bush's decision to "chunk" his "free-market principles," as he described the move. No more. True, Wednesday's unanimous GOP vote against the $819 billion stimulus package was partly driven by the peculiar politics of the Hill. Some House Republicans wanted to send a "message" to Obama, and they may come around and vote for the final bill after the Senate approves its version. But for many Republicans the vote reaffirmed the old philosophical divide. Never mind that Obama reached out, lunched with GOP leaders on the Hill, and pressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to drop family planning and National Mall renovation. Not a single House Republican could bring himself or herself to vote with the president on a measure to prevent what could become the most serious recession since the 1930s.

Granted, there are some substantive problems with the House bill. Even Martin Feldstein, President Reagan's former chief economist, is in favor of a stimulus but says he can't support this particular measure. The tax cuts are too small and not targeted enough, and the spending portion won't create enough jobs, Feldstein argues in Thursday's Washington Post. Many Democrats are also unhappy with the paucity of infrastructure projects, among other things. But for many Republicans, the simple fact that the bill didn't contain 100 percent tax cuts and zero government spending appeared to be enough to prompt a "no" vote.

This is part of what is becoming a familiar political cycle. After the disastrous presidency of Herbert Hoover and the advent of the Great Depression, conservatives fell into a 50-year funk. Even their presidents didn't do right by them: Eisenhower was never considered a true believer, and Nixon drove way off the reservation by declaring himself a Keynesian. Robert Taft and a handful of others kept the flame alive, handing the minority torch off to Goldwater in the 1960s. That was how long it took for the New Deal era to play itself out—which ultimately it did. The Democrats' long dominance bred too much statist thinking, just as Hoover's Republicans had gone too far in favor of a laissez-faire approach to markets. An oversimplistic faith in Keynesianism contributed to decades of government gigantism and Democratic misrule (or as it was known back then, "stagflation"). That in turn led to the counterrevolution that ultimately brought Ronald Reagan to power in 1980, declaring "government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Now two decades of runaway Reaganism—an excess of free-market zeal—have prompted the biggest government intervention since the New Deal. Cue the Keynesians again, and a Democratic resurgence. Responding to this ideological stimuli, the Republicans seem to be rooting around in their closets for their Barry pins.

In his Inaugural Address, Obama proclaimed "an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics." He said he wanted to move beyond "stale political arguments … The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works." That sounded about right to me, at least in terms of dealing with the crisis nature of the times. It is also smart, at this dire moment, to be trying to learn a few lessons from the past. Obviously we don't want to go back to the excesses of the long era of Democratic dominance and overspending—the New Deal-Great Society/Vietnam continuum—but neither can we simply return to the Republican era of Reaganite deregulation (especially of financial markets). It's clear we need to do some serious rethinking of the best ways to make capitalism work, moving beyond both FDR and Reagan.

But reaching a new consensus would require a reassessment of basic premises, and it appears, at least for the moment, that there will be very little of that. The emerging Republican consensus suggests that Bush grew so unpopular because he strayed from, rather than stood behind, the old GOP verities by creating a vast national-security state and giant deficits. Hence the Republicans are flocking to a proposal by the House Republican Study Committee calling for no new government spending at all, and nothing but tax cuts instead. A little over a week after Obama's inauguration, "stale" political arguments again rule the day. So much for the post-partisan era.

The Stimulas Shaped Like a Pig

This massive pacage of PORK does NOTHING to infuse jobs into the system for the first 2 years. It is the largest pork barrel grab of our money the Government has ever tried. It will throw the country into a depresion and the first real big infusion of cash just happens to kick in right before the next midterm elections.

Government caused this collapse by injecting socialism into the capitalist system. Lending money to people who should never have qualified. Now Government is going to FIX the problem by injecting more socialism into the system to fix what the first injection caused.

It's time for Pitchforks and Torches

Obama Stimulus Package Breakdown
January 26, 2009 - 11:16 ET

What is the money being spent on-general breakdown between infrastructure, tax cuts, etc…?

Some highlights of the package, by the numbers:

• $825 billion total (as of 1/15/09)
• $550 billion in new spending, described as thoughtful and carefully targeted priority investments with unprecedented accountability measures built in.
• $275 billion in tax relief ($1,000 tax cut for families, $500 tax cut for individuals through SS payroll deductions)
• $ 90 billion for infrastructure
• $ 87 billion Medicaid aid to states
• $ 79 billion school districts/public colleges to prevent cutbacks
• $ 54 billion to encourage energy production from renewable sources
• $ 41 billion for additional school funding ($14 billion for school modernizations and repairs, $13 billion for Title I, $13 billion for IDEA special education funding, $1 billion for education technology)
• $ 24 billion for "health information technology to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies" and "to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments."
• $ 16 billion for science/technology ($10 billion for science facilities, research, and instrumentation; $6 billion to expand broadband to rural areas)
• $ 15 billion to increase Pell grants by $500
• $ 6 billion for the ambiguous "higher education modernization."

[Source: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]

Here is a further breakdown of the package:

NOTE: The following are highlights of the package; for the full 13-page summary from the Appropriations Committee, click here:

(as of 1/15/09)

Energy
$32 billion: Funding for "smart electricity grid" to reduce waste
$16 billion: Renewable energy tax cuts and a tax credit for research and development on energy-related work, and a multiyear extension of renewable energy production tax credit
$6 billion: Funding to weatherize modest-income homes

Science and Technology
$10 billion: Science facilities
$6 billion: High-speed Internet access for rural and underserved areas

Infrastructure
$30 billion: Transportation projects
$31 billion: Construction and repair of federal buildings and other public infrastructure
$19 billion: Water projects
$10 billion: Rail and mass transit projects

Education
$41 billion: Grants to local school districts
$79 billion: State fiscal relief to prevent cuts in state aid
$21 billion: School modernization ($15.6 billion to increase the Pell grant by $500; $6 billion for higher education modernization)

Health Care
$39 billion: Subsidies to health insurance for unemployed; providing coverage through Medicaid
$87 billion: Help to states with Medicaid
$20 billion: Modernization of health-information technology systems
$4.1 billion: Preventative care

Jobless Benefits
$43 billion for increased unemployment benefits and job training.
$39 billion to support those who lose their jobs by helping them to pay the cost of keeping their employer provided healthcare under COBRA and providing short-term options to be covered by Medicaid.
$20 billion to increase the food stamp benefit by over 13% in order to help defray rising food costs.

Taxes

Individuals:

*$500 per worker, $1,000 per couple tax cut for two years, costing about $140 billion.
*Greater access to the $1,000-per-child tax credit for the working poor.
*Expansion of the earned-income tax credit to include families with three children
*A $2,500 college tuition tax credit.
*Repeal of a requirement that a $7,500 first-time homebuyer tax credit be paid back over time.

Businesses:

*An infusion of cash into money-losing companies by allowing them to claim tax credits on past profits dating back five years instead of two.
*Bonus depreciation for businesses investing in new plants and equipment
*Doubling of the amount small businesses can write off for capital investments and new equipment purchases.
*Allowing businesses to claim a tax credit for hiring disconnected youth and veterans

[Sources: Associated Press: Highlights of Senate economic stimulus plan; January 23, 2009; WSJ: Stimulus Package Unveiled; January 16, 2009; Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009]
When is the money being is going to be spent, and on what?

The government wouldn't be able to spend at least one-fourth of a proposed $825 billion economic stimulus plan until after 2010, according to a preliminary report by the Congressional Business Office that suggests it may take longer than expected to boost the economy. The government would spend about $26 billion of the money this year and $110 billion more next year, the report said. About $103 billion would be spent in 2011, while $53 billion would be spent in 2012 and $63 billion between 2013 and 2019.

• Less than $5 billion of the $30 billion set aside for highway spending would be spent within the next two years, the CBO said.

• Only $26 billion out of $274 billion in infrastructure spending would be delivered into the economy by the Sept. 30 end of the budget year, just 7 percent.

• Just one in seven dollars of a huge $18.5 billion investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy programs would be spent within a year and a half.

• About $907 million of a $6 billion plan to expand broadband access in rural and other underserved areas would be spent by 2011, CBO said.

• Just one-fourth of clean drinking water projects can be completed by October of next year.

• $275 billion worth of tax cuts to 95 percent of filers and a huge infusion of help for state governments is to be distributed into the economy more quickly.

[Note: The CBO's analysis applied only to 40 percent of the overall stimulus bill, and doesn't cover tax cuts or efforts; a CBO report outlining all of its costs is expected in the next week or so.]

• The Obama administration said $3 of every $4 in the package should be spent within 18 months to have maximum impact on jobs and taxpayers; if House or Senate versions of the bill do not spend the money as quickly, the White House will work with lawmakers to achieve the goal of spending 75% of the overall package over the next year and a half.

[Source: AP: Three-quarters of stimulus to go in 18 months; January 22, 2009; Bloomberg News: Much of Stimulus Wont Be Spent Before 2011, CBO Says; January 20, 2009; link]

Who will be spending the money? Will the states be receiving any money to spend, community organizations? Churches?

The economic stimulus plan now moving through Congress would shower billions of federal dollars on state and local governments desperate for cash:

• The House stimulus bill includes an extra $87 billion in federal aid to state Medicaid programs.

• It allots some $120 billion to boost state and city education programs.

• There's $4 billion for state and local anticrime initiatives in the legislation, not to mention $30-plus billion for highways and other infrastructure projects.

• $6.9 billion to help state and local governments make investments that make them more energy efficient and reduce carbon emissions.

• $87 billion to states, increasing through the end of FY 2010 the share of Medicaid costs the Federal government reimburses all states by 4.8 percent, with extra relief tied to rates of unemployment.

• $120 billion to states and school districts to stabilize budgets and prevent tax increases and deep cuts to critical education programs.

Overall, about one-quarter of the entire $825 billion recovery package would be devoted to activities crucial to governors, mayors, and local school boards - making them among the plans biggest beneficiaries.

[Sources: Committee on Appropriations: January 15, 2009; Reuters: Roads, energy, states win in US stimulus plan;15 January 2009; Christian Science Monitor: States to win big in stimulus sweepstakes; House bill allots almost one-quarter of the $825 billion recovery package to states, localities. How will that boost the economy?; January 25, 2009; Link]

MLK

Today We in the US Celebrate a Great Man
The first speech is his most famous, and is 17 min long, the second was his last and is 1 min long.


Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009