Thursday, June 04, 2009

Barack's Excellent Cairo Adventure

Ole gasbag Barry is sporting a new 'stache, some new bling-bling,  and spouting moral equivalence, but the real laughs are on the sidelines:

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

President Obama used the word "shukran,' which is Arabic for "thank you," in response to a compliment from King Abdullah today. The compliment? "I appreciate that you didn't bring Joe Biden."

A new poll shows Americans have a more negative view of Muslims than they did back in 2002. That's because they never hear about any of the good bombings.

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Obama speech leaked - formally becomes Muslim again!

Looks like Barack Hussein Obama's speech to "the Muslim World" is going to be a real shocker - here's a leaked copy:

(put on fez)

barack-hussein-obama

Salaam Alaikum, brothers!

(wait for gasps, applause)

It gives me great pleasure to be here today in Cairo to offer my personal greetings to the faithful followers of Mohammed around the world and to let you know of a great change in my life.

(wait for murmurs)

When I started my presidential campaign I was a follower of a splinter Christian sect, but was not really happy there and left it. As I gave the matter more thought, I realized that my only true spiritual satisfaction was in my youth as a young Muslim worshipping at the mosque and attending lessons at the madrassa. After consulting with my good friend King Abdullah, Guardian of Mecca and Medina, I soon realized that I needed to formally return to the faith of my fathers as it was the only true path. Therefore today I am announcing that I have returned to the one true faith revealed by Mohammed and illuminated by Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab.

(wait for gasps, applause, standing ovation)

I know that this will necessarily require tremendous changes for me, the country which I rule, and for the world and I wanted to share them with you.

First, my first wife Michelle will adopt the burqa ....

obama-wife-michelle

(wait for standing ovation)

and return with her mother and our children to Chicago where she will supervise the construction of harem quarters at my palace in Hyde Park.

(wait for gasps and giggles)

Second, Sherif Joe Biden will gain the additional titles of Grand Eunuch and Guardian of the Harem and arrange for the construction of a harem wing to the White House Palace in Washington, DC which he will oversee when it is complete.

Third, soon to occupy the White House Harem will be my second and third wives whom I will marry shortly:

(show picture, wait for gasps, applause, whistles)

Obama-wife-Sizzlean-X

My second wife will be Sizzlean X, a Chicago Muslim of devout family  recommended to me by my good friend Supreme Minister and National Representative of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan.

(show picture, wait for gasps, applause, whistles)

Obama-wife-Fatima-Ahmenijhad

My third wife will be Fatima Ahmenijhad, a niece of  another good friend, President: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

(As appropriate interject "She sure got all the looks in that family!")

My good friend King Abdullah is negotiating for a fourth wife from a prominent Palestinian family, but the bride price seems to be a Muslim country currently occupied by some noisy Jews so it may take a while to do a deal.

israel

(wait for boos, catcalls, curses to subside)

However, I am working on it and when it is done the harem will be full up except for the concubines requisite for a man of my exalted position.

(wait for cheers, laughter)

And speaking of my position, I have asked my supporters in Congress to recognize my new faith by changing the title of my office to Sultan as is only appropriate. There will be a host of further actions including aggressive stimulus funding for a building program that will put an endowed mosque in every city above 10,000 in population in the USA as well as a national mosque and shrine to me in Washington DC.

planned-national-mosque

(wait for applause)

This will shortly be followed by sharia law, national dress codes for women and a prohibition on the consumption of alcohol and pork, not to mention the stoning of homosexuals. Also, we will solve the banking and budget deficit crises by banning interest on loans. Even the most recalcitrant of US citizens will soon realize that everything goes better with the Religion of Peace ... one way or another.

(wait for laughter)

The USA is already one of the largest Muslim countries in the world and with these actions, and under my rule will soon become the largest and greatest Defender of the Faith. At which point, I trust, hope, and pray that you will acclaim me as the first Caliph of the Obamayyad Dynasty.

(wait for gasps, then wild applause, standing ovation)

Monday, June 01, 2009

Obama pours taxpayer money into a black hole by founding Government Motors

Government-MotorsYou have to hand it to ole Barry - his only experience with business has been building disastrous public housing projects with taxpayer money, but he has parlayed that experience into getting to play with all the cars and trucks at a real live (if nearly dead) automobile manufacturing company that has been brought low by its greedy unions.

So what do the folks actually footing the bill for Obama's indulgence of his megalomania and the obscene payback to his union supporters think about pouring more money down the black hole ? The latest polls don't print a pretty picture:

Only 21% of voters nationwide support a plan for the government to bail out General Motors as part of a structured bankruptcy plan to keep the troubled auto giant in business.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 67% are opposed to a plan that would provide GM with $50 billion in funding and give the government a 70% ownership interest in the company.

Even when presented with the stark choice between providing government funding or letting GM go out of business, only 32% of voters support the bailout. Most voters (56%) say it would be better to let GM go out of business.

Even more eye-opening are some ancillary questions:

Looking back at the bailout funding already provided, 60% say the auto bailouts were a bad idea. Two-out-of-three believe that most of the bailout money is going to those who caused the economic crisis.

Only 18% say the federal government will do a good job running GM. But they suspect the government will do all it can to help its investment. After taking ownership of GM and Chrysler, 57% expect the government will pass laws and regulations giving those companies unfair advantages over others.

Looks like the little people have their eyes wide open on this one.

Update: One final laugh - read What I Learned as a Car Czar by Romanian Lt. Gen. Ion Pacepa. One of the better passages:

The Trabant originally derived from a well regarded West German car (the DKW) made by Audi, which today produces some of the most prestigious cars in the world. In the hands of the East German government, the unfortunate DKW became a farce of a car. The bureaucrats and the union that ran the Trabant factory made the car smaller and boxier, to give it a more proletarian look. To reduce production costs, they cut down on the size of the original, already small DKW engine, and they replaced the metal body with one made of plastic-covered cardboard. What rolled off the assembly line was a kind of horseless carriage that roared like a lawn mower and polluted the air worse than a whole city block full of big Western cars.

After German reunification, the plucky little "Trabi" that East Germans used to wait 10 years to buy became an embarrassment, and its production was stopped. Germany's junkyards are now piled high with Trabants, which cannot be recycled because burning their plastic-covered cardboard bodies would release poisonous dioxins. German scientists are now trying to develop a bacterium to devour the cardboard-and-plastic body.

Plastic-covered cardboard sounds about right for Barry and his pals.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Here comes the tab for the Obama spending orgy

Bond Vigilantes Confront Obama as Housing Falters

For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president’s attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.

Er, it's not the lightweight in the White House who is getting "punished" for his spendthrift ways - it's us as usual.

The 1.4-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.

“The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit,” said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. “Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever.”

No kidding, Mr. Yardeni, but I think the characterization of these folks as "vigilantes" while catchy, gives what is going on the wrong flavor. They are merely investors, primarily foreign and often governments, who can't be strongarmed like the GM and Chrysler bondholders and are worried about the way the printing presses are running overtime in Washington.

The bond vigilantes are being led by international investors, who own about 51 percent of the $6.36 trillion in marketable Treasuries outstanding, up from 35 percent in 2000, according to data compiled by the Treasury.

“The vigilante group is different this time around,” said Mark MacQueen, a partner and money manager at Austin, Texas- based Sage Advisory Services Ltd., which oversees $7.5 billion. “It’s major foreign creditors. This whole idea that we need to spend our way out of our problems is being questioned.”

MacQueen, who started in the bond business in 1981 at Merrill Lynch, has been selling Treasuries and moving into corporate and inflation-protected debt for the last few months.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said in March that China was “worried” about its $767.9 billion investment and was looking for government assurances that the value of its holdings would be protected.

The nation bought $5.6 billion in bills and sold $964 million in U.S. notes and bonds in February, according to Treasury data released April 15. It was the first time since November that China purchased more securities due in a year or less than longer-maturity debt.

You'd be nuts to buy long term US debt today without an inflation premium (if not a protection mechanism). Looks like inflating away his grotesque deficit isn't going to be an option for ole Mr. Hopey Changey. Still he may try it on the backs of all the average US citizens who aren't savvy or in any position to avoid it. Gee, what would be worse, watching your pension disappear down an inflation black hole or your adjustable rate mortgage spiral into the stratosphere?  How about both?