AIG Laughs All The Way To The Bank

I'm writing this shortened post in response to the recent AIG exec bonuses. I want to write about this now so that I can make my prediction before Congress or AIG makes their next move. Looking into the future I predict that Congress will do everything in its power just short of actually doing anything. Let us not forget that by passing the 800 trillion dollar "spendulous" bill , we signed on to the notion that saving and rewarding banks bad business decisions was the only way forward. Okay so I've already covered the fact that no one in Congress actually read the bill before voting on it. Had they actually read the bill, they would have noticed an amendment by Sen Chris Dodd (D-Conn) that included an exception for "contractually obligated bonuses agreed on or before Feb. 11, 2009." This loophole gave AIG the legal right to pay out bailout money to company executive's as long as it was before the Feb 11 deadline. Those are the facts that few have actually reported on like i.e. the Mainstream Media. Timothy Geithner, anyone remember him, ya he's the Secretary of the Treasury the guy that didn't pay his taxes for like five years, ya he must have miss calculated this one to. It seems incompetency is running amuck in the Obama administration these days and all fingers should be pointing at the guy who got us in this situation in the first place by signing on to this spendulous bill. Why would anyone want the federal government to take over our health care, school, and banking systems? It seems "government intervention" is exactly the cause of most of our problems these days, and yet there are people out there still campaigning for European socialism in this country.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/recover-aig-bonuses-lawmakers-scramble-undo-protections-approved/

And then the outcry. It seems every politician has there hands up in total disbelief at what AIG did. Investigations, congressional hearings, new legislation, and of course suicide have all been mentioned as possible recourse's for the AIG debacle. I'm not making this up (check this link out) http://news.aol.com/article/grassley-resign-suicide-aig/385096
Here's my take: AIG never should have given any bonuses out in light of our current economic situation, it just doesn't look good. However the federal government allowed this to happen in the first place, so you can't change the rules as the game is being played. AIG shouldn't be forced to give back the money because legally and constitutionally congress can't recover the money, end of discussion. I fear however that they will create new laws or tax codes to go after AIG employees, some of which no longer are employed by the company and are private citizens. I mean its not out of reason to think that the government could physically go into someones bank account and withdraw money. When filing your taxes, do you write a check every time you owe the government money or do you allow them to electronically take it from your account? My point here is that it can be done and that should be cause for concern. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6315900.html

Bottom line is the President screwed the American people by appointing the idiot that is our Treasury Secretary, Congress forgot to read the fine print in the stimulus bill, and at the end of the "yellow brick road" , AIG keeps the money. (Ben)

Tell me what you think?

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Political Expediency Kills

Blogger's Note: Its been over a month since my last post, I apologize for my extreme tardiness and for any inconveniences that I may have caused our readers. But I am back, re energized, reinvigorated, and most importantly I am inspired once again.

I believe that humans can only take so much depressing news before that switch in their heads turns off and they become disinterested and totally removed from the world around them. That was me a month ago today. In the month since my last post (In Global Warming We Trust), we have passed a bloated recovery bill, overhauled our health care system, lifted the ban on human embryonic stem cell research, and passed an appropriations bill riddled with over 8,000 ear-marks. Was a stimulus bill needed at all? , some said yes, some said no, others said wait and see what the markets do. I personally wouldn't have ruled either option out, but I would have made for dam sure that it was absolutely one hundred percent needed before I put the country into a trillion dollar debt with one stroke of my pen. You know what was even more outrageous? Not one member of congress read the bill before voting on it. In the "dark of night" the Democrats "air-raided" the Republicans with a thousand page plus bomb that they called the economic stimulus bill of 2009. The bill itself was over two feet tall and weighed in over ten pounds, testing the wooden frames that held together the congressman's oak desks. When I vote for my representative, I expect that member to read every bill that crosses their desk and I expect them to have their constituency's best interests at heart when they cast their vote. These are elected officials sent to Washington to represent the peoples needs and concerns. So it infuriates me when I hear that no one actually took the time to read the bill because the majority party on capital hill wanted to push through the largest spending bill in American history without any questions asked. Not one Republican in the House voted for it, and only three (soon to be former members of congress) Republican senators, Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania voted for it. Politics as usual is alive and well on capital hill so much for bipartisanship http://www.cnsnews.com/Public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=43478
I know the scientific community was celebrating the Obama victory this year. They are now free to pursue their global warming "theories" and try and convince you that the human population is bad and that we are all to fault. With these so called "breakthroughs in science"they will receive more of our hard earned money through government grants to continue their frivolous research. Just this week President Obama reversed President Bush's policy on federal stem cell research. Before only embryos collected prior to 2001 could be used for research, and there was extensive red tape for scientists to wade through to conduct human cell research. I personally have no problem cloning sheep, frogs, fish, cats and dogs. However serious questions must be asked when the potential for human cloning becomes possible. Never mind the legality question of cloning human embryos, but from one human born from anther human, do we ever want to be forced to have a serious conversation about human cloning. The answer is no! This opens Pandora's box for future "Frankenstein" projects all in the name of scientific research. Curing diseases such as, Parkinson's and diabetes would be a huge step in the right direction, but my challenge to the scientific community would be this, find another way that doesn't involve human stem cells. I mean here's a President that has shown in just his first fifty days of office that political expediency is the way to go, cram it down their throats before they know what hit them. I mean I think there was more planning involved in the invasion of Iraq, than there has been in his first two months of President Obamas Blitzkrieg spending spree.
This last appropriations bill was littered with pork barrel spending that we as tax payers will be paying for , for years to come in the form of higher taxes. Tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans is total bureaucratic spin. These pet projects are nothing more than blackmail when it comes time for their reelections. Republicans are just as much at fault on this issue as the Democrats are. I mean if the country is really as unstable as the President makes it seem , then why in the hell is he championing this bill. Whatever happened to the "Change" in earmark reform that Americans were promised in the campaign. What, did he not think he would actually win the election and have to keep those promises? Where those just words spoken by a very eloquent speaker? I believe they were just that, empty words. His chief of staff Rob Emanuel said this "That's last years business" in regards to THIS YEARS 410 billion dollar federal budget. How do you blame a former president for something when he wasn't even in office. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/01/budget-chief-obama-sign-spending/ Well I really feel for the people who make over 250,000 dollars a year. You guys are going to get it. President Obama has declared war on all rich and business minded people, so look out. I'll be saving the tax debate for another post. There is just way to much information there. Maybe by my next post the President will have drafted our new Nationalized Health Care Plan or maybe it will be the Nationalized Banking System. So many topics to cover.
I'd love to hear your feedback. Until next time.
Ben

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Stop 'Feeling' and Think.

Why does it seem as if things are slowly unraveling?

Could it be that too many of our fellow citizens have decided that morals are just not quite that important? Or maybe that individual accountability is really not that big of a deal? Or could it be that being politically correct is more important than actually having a backbone and stating your own beliefs. God forbid someone might be offended by having a calm, rational debate.

It is time to stop this constant worrying about hurting someone's feelings. Know what you believe, Argue what you believe, and for crying out loud, actually Believe what you Believe.

There is too much 'feeling' out there and not enough common sense thinking.

The government says we should help the poor. It 'feels' good to increase taxes in an effort to help the poor. Well the taxes have now been increased on the employers of the poor, and you start to see more layoffs as the business owner now has to re-evaluate his/her business plan. Not to mention the handouts that are given out at this point. Why work when you can get it for free? And now we see the number of poor actually increase. This happens because there is an abundance of 'feeling' and a lack of 'thinking' on welfare issues.

How about affirmative action: Let's implement this program because it will 'feel' good to help women and minorities. With their effort to fight legitimate discrimination, more discrimination is created, but this time it is against white males or whoever else happens to be affected. Affirmative action discriminates against all of us. This happens because there was and still is a lack of common sense 'thinking' on race issues.

It's called unintended consequences and it occurs after almost everything the government does. Most of the knee-jerk actions that certain members of the political spectrum advocate are for 'feel good' reasons. How often do you hear, "It 'feels' like we should be doing something...and fast." We don't know what to do about the cyclical recession we're in, but we 'feel' like we should do something...$800B later, the 'feeling' is now more of a hard punch in the gut. Now, not only is this our problem, it now belongs to our children and grandchildren as well.

I welcome other examples of too much 'feeling' and not enough calm, rational thinking...

And that's the way I see it. Sphere: Related Content

In "Global Warming" We Trust

Global Warming: Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.

What does that really mean? Well it really depends on who you ask and how they benefit from their own answer. For starters I am not an expert on the matter of climate change, the weather or the impact of "gassy"methane producing cows . However I do have the ability to read and decipher information for myself, and I have come to a few different conclusions on the matter of Global Warming.

They'll call it global warming in the name of science, that's right the scientist themselves stand to make big money if they can dig up enough "scientific data" that supports their "theory". You'll see charts and pages of data only a handful of people can actually interpret, and anyone who tries to refute that data through their own findings will be seen as not being with the program. It doesn't do anyone any good and makes no one any money to go against the status quo, which is that something drastic has to happen to save our planet. Our planet has been around for roughly 4.5 billion years, with the first signs of life around 3.9 billion years, and now new data showing that "homo sapiens" inhabited the earth around 160 thousand years ago.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/03/070314-first-humans.html

Whether you believe their "scientific" data or rely solely on the Bible's interpretation of life, both confirm my point, Humans haven't been around that long in the grand scheme of things. So how is it possible that we think we can change or alter the Earths natural cycles of warming and cooling. Its very naive of us to think that we can play god and reverse time.

I'm all for green technologies and saving energy, but my concern is that the government will overstep their boundaries ( as they usually do) and require that I buy into this hypocrisy that is "global warming". Its not a matter of fact , you have just as many people refuting the alarmist points of view. As a matter of "fact" many of the scientist who initially supported Al Gore's ridiculous claim that CO2 was causing the planet to "have a fever", are now saying just the opposite, that the sun is to blame. CHECK IT OUT ( http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=2158072e-802a-23ad-45f0-274616db87e6 )

So I'm sure there is someone working in their basement right now trying to come up with a way to block the suns warming rays and save all of humanity. We have become so enthralled with living longer and prolonging the inevitable. Every living thing has a beginning and ending , as does our planet earth. Supporting article: ( http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/death_of_earth_000224.html )

So when I hear statistics like, cattle in the U.S. are responsible for 20 percent of U.S. emissions of methane, I have to roll my eyes. What relevance if any does this have to do with anything, in the global scheme of things, when its already being reported that global warming is a farce. Although there seems to be a cult following with environmentalist and grass eating vegans these days, trying to pass every law "under the sun" to conform us to their progressive and anti capitalist ways. But I'm not falling for it, and I just pray that Cong Markey (chairman of house select committee on energy independence and global warming) , Speaker Pelosi and the anointed one Pres Obama, can see Global Warming for what it really is, A LIE !!!!!

The scary thing is despite all the nay Sayers and supporting evidence that global warming is a lie, our Congress continues to use our tax dollars to fund programs that we don't want. Congressional committees are already in place on the House and Senate side:

HOUSE: http://globalwarming.house.gov/

SENATE: http://epw.senate.gov/

I suggest writing your U.S. Senator or Representative discouraging the use of our tax funds to fund scientific pipe dreams of a few progressive globalists. I tried my best to keep on point with this post, but global warming hysteria has a far reaching affect on many different issues in America today. Its a cancer that has spread to all limbs of our government and can only be eradicated with a proper dose of "traditional" thinking and rational thought.

Tell me what you think

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The Hysteria that is "Obama Mania"

I'm sure this will be one of many nobama, I mean Obama posts that I will make. I've spoken about media bias already in regards to the Israel Hamas conflict, but favoritism reared its ugly head again in this past presidential election. Obama Mania encompasses a wide range of cultural and social issues in America today.
"Change", "Change you can believe in", "Yes we can", you probably heard all of these phrases throughout the last two years.......... that's right I said two years! "Change" is coming in the form of a new trillion dollar spending program, a rebirth of the fairness doctrine, an expansion of the federal government like we've never seen before, and of course my favorite the redistribution of wealth. Now you probably were all unaware of these "changes" that the country is about to forgo because the media has had you all drinking the cool aide that was laced with a toxic brew of liberalism and stupidity. You had your blinders on and you were looking ahead to the future but your forgot one important thing, you forgot to look at what Obama as a man stood for, what his principles were, and what he believed in. Never mind the fact that he sat in a church for twenty years listening to Rev. Wright hate on America, and then accuse the U.S. of inventing A.I.D.S to kill black people. (VIDEO) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvL9dLeDcSU&feature=related
No that wasn't grounds for dismissal because Obama was their guy. I noticed a "change" right away in the tone of how the media reported its news about its first ever black democratic presidential nominee. The media won the election for him by reporting on everything from him playing basketball to what music he listened to on his I-Pod. What the HELL does that have to do with running the country. I'm personally more interested about policy and substance when I read the news, especially if its for the top job in America, but that's just me. CNN did a piece the other day about how hard it will be for Obama to give up his Blackberry. I MEAN COME ON !!! The bigger story there is that he won't be able to send emails as easily to his friends like the terrorist Bill Ayers or the slum lord Tony Resko.
(BLACKBERRY)http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html

NEWS ALERT........BREAKING NEWS.............. As reported by CNN and FOXNEWS
Everyone stop what your doing, the Obamas are tearing out the Bowling Alley in the White House and will be replacing it with a basketball court. By the way who pays for that?
Oh and did you know that Obama is a "closet smoker"? Chances are you probably did cause in today's media that's big news. Where have all the Journalists Gone????

If you've formed an opinion or you actually believe in this "Obama Hysteria" let me know, so I can beat you senseless with my words and factual commentary. Thank you for playing. Sphere: Related Content

No More Dashes

African-American...Asian-American...Mexican-American...Chinese-American...Filipino-American...Japanese-American.......

What's with all of these dashes?? Is it so bad to simply call yourself an American? How many 'African'-Americans were born in Africa? How many of those same people would ever even GO to Africa for even a short visit? And Mexican-Americans? Come on...you people left Mexico for a reason...your government cares so much about their fellow citizens that they print and distribute pamphlets on how to enter and stay in the U.S. illegally. Why have a dash? If you're illegal, you are still a Mexican, but if you played by the rules then why not call yourself a plain ole American? Even if you're cleaning toilets for a living you still have a mucho bueno life than you would ever have in Old Mexico. If you left China, you obviously had some sort of an issue with communism and felt the need to give Liberty a try so what is the reasoning for your particular dash? New German immigrants in the 30's and 40's turned right back around and fought their old countrymen who were now Nazi's during WWII and you didn't see those soldiers calling themselves German-Americans while fighting the Nazi-Germans. No, they were Americans and they showed allegiance to the one nation on the globe that offered Liberty. Don't get me wrong...be proud of your heritage but recognize that something made you want to come to "the last best hope of man on earth" and now you are here at the "city upon a hill". Join those of us who call themselves Americans.

My point is that if you are an American, then be an American! The dashes are getting out of hand. I am not an English-American. No! I am an American and there is no where else on God's beautiful earth that I would rather live and raise my family. Let us all remove the dashes and embrace our Republic.

And that's the way I see it. Sphere: Related Content

Letting Journalists Into Gaza

Hello All, this will be my first post of the new year. To start off I generally like to ease my way into issues by stating what the particular news is. This particular post has to do with Israels seeming reluctance to allow journalists into Gaza, as they fight to eradicate Hamas fighters in the Gaza strip. It seems the Israelis are perfectly content fighting the "insurgents" without any outside influence from the international news media. Anderson Cooper and CNN have wrote several pieces about how hard it is to accurately portray the story on the ground when they are not allowed into the war torn region. I'm posting a video link from yesterday, that reiterates the theme here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/06/campbell.brown.gaza/index.html

Now for my take on the issue. It is really hard for me to sympathize with most Media outlets these days primarily because of their skewed view on the realities and challenges that face the world today. Unfortunately we live in a post 9-11 world where terrorists and extreme fundamentalist are attempting to destroy the freedoms and liberties that many in the world enjoy today. The U.S. and Israel have declared Hamas a terrorist organization, however the Jimmy Carters of the world might tend to disagree with the U.S. on this issue. The Media began reporting on the conflict soon after the ceasefire ended. Everyone knew that things were going to come to a head after it ended, and it did. What wasn't reported during the ceasefire was that Hamas had been rocketing Israel almost daily, without any counter offensive by the Israel's. Then the ceasefire ends and Israel begins raining down some serious firepower on Hamas and the Gaza Strip. What is reported next is mixed at best. Collateral damage ensues civilians are killed and the next thing you know Israel is being portrayed as the big bully on the block. Lets be honest Israel isn't seen in the global community as the saving grace to the middle east. In fact it is perceived to be a mirror image of western influence in the region. So when the minority terrorist organization "Hamas" is blown out of Gaza the world outcry is, something has to be done about Israel's aggressiveness. Its kind of like a rumor you hear through the grapevine, you don't actually see it or hear it first hand but it is automatically thought to be true. That is the influence and power Journalists have in shaping minds into believing whatever they want to be true and factual. By not allowing Journalists into Gaza you are able to counter there offensive on you. (i.e. Israel) These journalists are mad as hell and will unleash a firestorm on Israel in the form of negative publishing and one sided attacks. Never mind the fact that Hamas started this whole thing, again. I personally think embedding journalists into the Iraq and Afghanistan wars was a huge mistake, primarily because you can never win in their minds. They only see the negative aspect of war and military operations. Human suffrage I think is what drives the media to print what they do. If one person dies inadvertently the script is flipped and the occupying force is perceived to be the villain in the conflict. NEWS FLASH war is ugly and messy its no walk in the park. I hope Israel continues their blockade of foreign journalists into Gaza it will definitely serve them better in the short run and may just spare them from some of the unfair ridicule that they don't deserve. I'd love to hear from anyone that has formed an opinion on this particular issue, or with the Gaza conflict. Comments and feedback are always welcome

Ben F Sphere: Related Content