Obama Reaches Out to 'Moderate' Pirate Community

After maintaining his silence for two days, President Obama will soon make his first public statement about the pirate attack upon an U.S.-flagged vessel off the Horn of Africa. After several inquiries and a few well-placed bribes, Exurban League has received an early transcript of the President's remarks:

Good evening. As you know, early yesterday, Somali-based pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama, a freighter carrying relief supplies to Kenya. While we do not yet know all the details, the Alabama's crew re-took control of the vessel and forced the pirates off the ship.

Since the pirates are still holding the captain, I have sent FBI negotiators to facilitate his safe and speedy release. I assure his friends and family that I will not stop until this man-made disaster is resolved in a peaceful, tolerant and ecologically- sound manner.Obviously, this incident has raised many concerns among Americans. There have been calls for justice and even violence against the misguided perpetrators. But such an emotional reaction has led to the disparagement of entire groups with which we are unfamiliar.

We have seen this throughout history.For too long, America has been too dismissive of the proud culture and invaluable contributions of the Pirate Community. Whether it is their pioneering work with prosthetics, husbandry of tropical birds or fanciful fashion sense, America owes a deep debt to Pirates.The past eight years have shown a failure to appreciate the historic role of these noble seafarers. Instead of celebrating their entreprenuerial spirit and seeking to partner with them to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.

Some of us wonder if our current Overseas Contingency Operation would even be needed had the last administration not been so quick to label Pirates as "thieves," "terrorists" and worse. Such swashbucklaphobia can lead to tragic results, as we have seen this week.

To address this issue, I have instructed Vice President Joe Biden to create a cabinet-level Czar of Pirate Outreach and Buccaneer Interrelation. In addition, June 1-7 has been designated as Pirate Awareness Week, during which all federal buildings will fly the Jolly Roger and sponsor sensitivity training. Thankfully, my American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will fund free grog and hard tack for all attendees.

Finally, to all pirates listening to international broadcasts, shortwave services and ship-to-shore radio, let me say this:

Ahoy, me regret arr relationship has set sail in a scurvy manner. Arr people share many mutual 'alues and concerns on t' raging main. Perchance, could ye handsomely release the cap'n o' the ship and I assure that no harm will come t' ye or ye hearties. Let us smite t' reset button and launch our seabond on a new pegleg. Savvy?

Godspeed t' ye and t' ye beauties. Aye, me parrot concurs.

Posted by Jon at 4/9/2009 11:15 AM at http://exurbanleague.com/2009/04/09/obama-issues-statement-on-the-pirate-attack.aspx

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RNC Chairman Steele Denied

Not Wanted to Speak at Chicago Tea Party

Don'tGo Movement, April 9, 2009

A few days ago Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele asked to speak at the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party. He was thanked for finally reaching out to the movement but denied to speak.

National Communications Director Juliana Johnson states, "Steele hasn't shown any interest in this movement until now, until the cameras are rolling. We denied his invitation. In addition, this is a nonpartisan event, not an RNC event.

"Eric Odom, Director of the DontGo Movement, said in his letter to Steele's people, "...We're still excited to know that Chairman Steele will be in Chicago and we hope, after knowing that he'll be in the city, that he'll stop by and mingle with the Americans who will be rallying on April 15th. This will also present a fantastic time for Chairman Steele to LISTEN to what we have to say and perhaps gather some thoughts on what the RNC needs to be doing moving forward."

Please go to http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/04/08/rnc-chairman-steel-requests-speaker-spot-at-chicago-tea-party/ to read the full letter.

DontGo Movement will be protesting, along with many other organizations, the fact that government intrusion doesn't work. "A la the 1773 Boston Tea Party, we're fed up with the taxation and the government takeover brought on with the Stimulus Bill and the numerous other bailouts. There's only one proven way to create jobs and that is by cutting income taxes and wasteful spending" said Odom.

Tax Day Tea Parties will be taking place in hundreds of cities throughout America on April 15th and they are expecting a turnout of over 500,000 people. The original batch of Tea Parties, put together in only a few days, occurred in hundreds of cities with tens of thousands of people coming out in support. The main sponsors of the Tea Parties are the DontGo Movement, Smart Girl Politics, and Top Conservatives on Twitter.

For more information on the Tax Day Tea Parties, please go to www.taxdayteaparty.com.

Commentary

What in the hell is wrong with these people!

This is no way to build a movement! I think we should welcome the participation of Michael Steel or any other prominent person who believes that the Obama administration's massive spending program is a misguided policy. Just because Steele did not jump in early is no reason to turn him away. Keeping the movement restricted to the holier than thou and shunning the chairman of the Republican Party is just stupid. We need a broad coalition.

Ms Johnson, if you did not want him to speak, why did you not privately make a polite excuse and decline his offer? Why issue a press release? Why go out of your way to be insulting? Is this about you or the cause?

I think we should have the attitude that if you agree with us, jump on the bandwagon. I am taking the day off from work to attend the Nashville Tea Party. Two or our prominent speakers are local conservative talk show host. I have on occasion disagreed with some of their positions on certain issues and their occasional over-the-top bombastic rhetoric, but I still think they should be speakers at this event. However, I think the Tea Parties should also have more moderate voices as long as they agreed with the goals of this movement. You do not grow a movement by excluding and insulting people who agree with you. That is narrow-minded and petty. I won't be making any contributions to Don't Go but I will be participating in the Tea Party. This grassroots movement is bigger than Don't Go.

Ms Johnson, please stop acting like an egotistical, petty, jerk and apologize and welcome Mr. Steele's participation.

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Congress may give Obama power to shut down the Internet, ignore privacy laws

By Mark Tapscott, Editorial Page Editor Washington Examiner. 4/8/09 11:02 PM

Civil libertarians were aghast when news leaked in 2002 of a Pentagon research program designed to give national security officials advance warning of terrorists attacks by analyzing trillions of bytes of computer data in search of tell-tale activities in everyday life. [full article]

Commentary

The Defence Department's scary sounding Total Information Awareness (TIA) program proposed under President Bush in 2002, following the terrorist attack of 9/11, would have mined internet data to look for patterns that would alert the goverment to possible terrorist threats. The public's alarm over the civil liberties implications of such a program led Congress to kill it in 2002. Now it is back and renamed the Cyber-security Act of 2009.

Civil libertarian who were alarmed and outraged about this program when it was proposed while George W Bush was president are as quiet as a church mouse now that the same program is being proposed but Barack Obama is President. To be fair, I am also hearing a lot more concern about this program from those on the right than I did when the same program was proposed by the Bush administration.

This program is scary no matter who is President. Do you really believe that if government has the authority to monitor and mine Internet traffic for patterns that indicate links to terrorist activity, that they will not use it for other purposes? The temptation to track down pedophiles, drug dealers, counterfeiters and tax cheats will be too great to resist. Then who is going to say that it is inappropriate to use it to monitor "hate groups" or "domestic terrorist." Handing over this kind of power to the government is scary indeed. The government should not be able to read my email, or open my U. S. mail, tap my phone, or search my house without a court order and it doesn't matter if the President is named Bush or Obama.

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The Past and Future of General Motors

By Clayton M. Christensen; Professor, Harvard Business School; The Huffington Post, April 8, 2009 04:26 PM (EST)

Washington has forced General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner to resign as a condition of providing the next injection of capital that GM needs to get back on its feet. Finding a "sacrificial lamb" on whom to tag blame for complicated problems is an important instrument in the toolkit of politicians, because it deflects blame for the nation's economic woes away from their own regulatory lapses, economic mismanagement and coddling to labor unions. We've seen it before and we'll see it again. In this case, however, they have cast aside a remarkable executive who already has presided successfully over many of the most difficult elements of the rescue of General Motors in a way that is rare in the history of business. [full article]

Comment:

For an understanding of how economic competition works and for a real life explanation of Schumpeter’s concept of “creative destruction" please read this article.

To summarize the balance of the article: Wagoner was doing a good job and GM was not mismanaged. GM’s was challenged for its market share by foreign competition but was meeting the challenge. GM was doing a lot of things right. Companies often loose market position and have their ups and downs and it is not necessarily due to poor management.

With Obama having a Nation to manage, does anyone think he also ought to also be selecting the CEO of General Motors, determining what cars they are to build and which plants to close? His adoring fans think he is superman or the messiah and can do it all and will always get it right; I have my doubts. I think he is overreaching and killing the goose that laid the golden egg in the process.

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Nashville Tax Day Tea Party

Party like it is 1776!

When: 12 noon Wednesday, April 15
Where: Downtown Nashville, Legislative Plaza
Who: Everyone who is concerned about high taxes, trillion dollar deficits, and the loss of individual freedom.
Speakers: Radio talk show host Phil Valentine and Steve Gill and other special guests.

Join me at the party! Come one; come all. Bring your family, friends and neighbors and bring your signs and help send a message to Washington! Stop the reckless spending! Stop the power grab!

Here is a facebook page for more information on the Nashville Tax Day Tea Party: Nashville Tax Day Tea Party

Here is a link to the National Tax Day Tea Party: National Tax Day Tea Party

Already confirmed are over 500 Tea Parties around the nation on April 15th. If you live in Tennessee and can’t make it to Nashville, there may be one already planned in your community. If not, it is not too late to plan one.

For the location of the Tea Party closest to you anywhere in America go to the National site above and click on your state.

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Why Tea Parties? The Trillion Dollar Question

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Glen Beck-Wealth Destruction, Government Style

I honestly believe we are headed toward hyperinflation. On Friday the Federal Reserve announced that it would purchase $1,15 trillion in treasury securities. That is, over one trillion dollars will be created out of thin air. We are monetizing the debt. This is what we euphemistically refer to that as “printing money.” I fear we are facing an economic crisis like we have never experienced. This is the start of the process of devaluing the currency. The only way hyperinflation can be avoided is if the stimulus works beyond our most optimistic projections and we have miraculous economic growth.

I hope I am wrong. I hope the stimulus works, but I do not see how it is possible to have sufficient economic growth to absorb all the money being created. It is a big gamble. We are rolling the dice hoping it will work. This 9-minute clip from Glen Beck does a good job of explaining the enormity of the problem we face.

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The Death of GM and the Obama Chilling Effect on Capitalism

by Howie Rich, Thursday, 02 April 2009

The tombstone for General Motors really should have read 1908-2008.

That’s because December 2008 is when the bell finally tolled for GM – when the marketplace determined that a combination of poor management decisions, union pressures and a slumping economy had made the automotive giant’s continued existence mathematically impossible.

Of course, that was also precisely when the administration of former President George W. Bush stepped in with a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler, with further funds contingent on the two companies creating a “path to profitability.”

At the time, a skeptical American public heard talk of all the concessions that were being made by company executives, car dealers and the notoriously inflexible union bosses.

But it was former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson who hinted that this massive infusion of taxpayer cash might be nothing more than the world’s most expensive delaying tactic.

"If the right outcome is reorganization or bankruptcy, then isn't it better to get there through an orderly process where every effort is made to avoid it, and if it can't be avoided, everyone's prepared for it?" Paulson said at the time, comments which were echoed by the Bush White House.

Fast-forward to February 2009, when the “reorganization plans” of Chrysler and GM were unveiled – and shown to be nothing more than requests for even larger taxpayer funded bailouts.

Still, the “tombstone moment” was delayed another month until this week, which has brought us perhaps the most bizarre – and disturbing – chapter in the evolution of the bailout culture that has infected our nation’s capital.

This week, the President of the United States insisted on the removal of a private sector CEO. And once he had been removed, that CEO’s severance package was governed by Treasury Department regulations.

No longer just bailing out companies, the White House is now determining who should run them and what their retirement packages should be.

Not only that, Obama has taken the unprecedented – and unnerving – step of guaranteeing all GM and Chrysler warranties.

Thank about that for a moment, in its ongoing attempts to revive a dying patient, the Obama administration has just put every American taxpayer on the hook for potentially billions in auto repairs!

Obama’s auto task force is also calling the shots on which models GM should produce and sell, and telling Chrysler who to merge with and for how much – all the while holding additional bailout billions over the heads of the two “private” corporations in case they refuse to abide by the government’s wishes.

One pro-free market commentator told me that “Obama might as well have reached into the corporate boardroom and started running that company.”

“That’s exactly what he did,” I said.

Obama’s actions "should send a chill through those who believe in free enterprise,” said Tennessee Senator Bob Corker.

How true.

And yet even as the government is guaranteeing GM’s warranties and providing an undisclosed amount of interim operating cash during this latest two-month reprieve, Obama and his socialist sycophants are pretending that they have administered some “tough love” to the company.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

America should have never taken those first, fateful steps down the road toward our present socialist experiment. And yet $13 trillion later, with the market still in shambles, jobs still on the decline and income levels flatter than pancakes, we’re stuck with an administration that seems hell bent on pushing the envelope of government control as far as it will go.

How bad has it gotten for what’s left of our free market?

Consider this – three months ago language like “socialist sycophants” would have been considered over the top.

Not anymore, though. What used to pass for rhetorical “red meat” among true free market supporters is now putting things mildly.

With each fresh interventionist encroachment, Obama is twisting the knife deeper into the belly of an economic system that founded, built and sustained these United States through generations.

Certainly, based on tens of billions of dollars lost and tens of thousands of jobs lost, Rick Wagoner deserved to be shown the door at GM.

But that should be a decision reserved for GM shareholders.

The fact that such a decision was made unilaterally by the President of the United States – holding the taxpayers’ checkbook in his hand as he made it – runs completely counter to everything this country stands for.

Yesterday’s invisible hand has become today’s iron fist.

We must unclench it, or risk joining our former Cold War adversaries on the ash-heap of history.

The author is the Chairman of Americans for Limited Government.

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Jay Leno's Obama-is-out-of-the-country joke

Yesterday, Barack Obama made his first trip as president to
England. Here is my question: If the President is in England, who's
running General Motors?

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Obama, the nation's CEO

By: Mike Allen and Jim Vande Hei , Politico, March 31, 2009 04:32 AM EST

President Obama, with seven days of unprecedented market intervention capped by Monday’s ultimatum to U.S. automakers, has made one thing emphatically clear: He is the most powerful player in American business today. [full article]

Comment
The President has always been Commander in Chief of the nation's armed forces; now President Obama is grabing power to become Commander in Chief of the nation's economy. This is scary stuff. What's next?

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CORKER: WAGONER FIRING IS A SIDESHOW; WH POWER GRAB SHOULD SEND A CHILL THROUGH THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN FREE ENTERPRISE

March 30, 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), a member of the Senate Banking Committee and lead Republican during Senate negotiations of legislation to aid the domestic auto industry in December, made the following comments today in reaction to President Obama’s announcement on the auto industry.

“Firing Rick Wagoner is a sideshow to distract us from the fact that the administration has no progress to announce today,” said Corker. “The administration is hoping the media and the public will stay focused on Wagoner and fail to notice that negotiations have not progressed since December.

“The administration is pursuing much of what we pushed for in December, but the delay of several months has increased the severity and sent billions of taxpayer dollars down the drain. Now any investment is likely unrecoverable and we are putting more and more jobs at the OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and the supply chain at risk in a politically charged environment.

“With sweeping new power the White House will be deciding which plants will survive and which won't, so in essence, this administration has decided they know better than our courts and our free market process how to deal with these companies.

“It’s been a long time since Washington has seen the kind of kowtowing that’s about to occur among members of Congress trying to curry favor with the administration to keep plants in their states open, and it will be interesting to see if the administration makes these decisions based on a red state and blue state strategy or based on efficiency and capable, skilled workers at each plant. If they use the latter, our GM plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee should do very well.

“This is a major power grab by the White House on the heels of another power grab from Secretary Geithner who asked last week for the freedom to decide on his own which companies are ‘systemically’ important to our country and worthy of taxpayer investment and which are not.

“This is a marked departure from the past, truly breathtaking, and should send a chill through all Americans who believe in free enterprise. I worry that in one fell swoop we’ve lost our moral high ground throughout the global community as it relates to chastising other countries that use strong arm tactics to invade on private property rights.”

Comment
This is an excellent analysis from Corkers office. I have little to add. If you look at the politicalization and the difficulty encountered when trying to close obsolete military bases, you are probably looking at the future of the management of auto production. One major difference however is that Congress has a roll to play in closing of military bases; managing GM will be in the hands of the White House Auto Task Force. The CEO answers to this task force. Do we really want the President deciding which auto plants stay open and which ones close? Do we want the President picking winners and losers? This is a frighting transfer of power from the private sector to the President of the United States. Is this the kind of change people were voting for when they elected Obama? This is unbelievable!

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Jay Leno's Chris Dodd joke

"Hey, you hear about this? Very strange incident at JFK Airport in New York City today. An AIG executive going through security had to empty out all his pockets. You know what fell out? Senator Chris Dodd." --Jay Leno,

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