Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

Archives for January 2010

January 28, 2010 By Fausta

Obama’s SotU speech: Why Alito said, “Not true”

From Obama’s speech:

It’s time to put strict limits on the contributions that lobbyists give to candidates for federal office.

With all due deference to separation of powers, last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests –- including foreign corporations –- to spend without limit in our elections. (Applause.) I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. (Applause.) They should be decided by the American people.

Justice Alito mouthed “Not true” to that statement:

Bradley Smith explains why the President is wrong:

Tonight the president engaged in demogoguery of the worst kind, when he claimed that last week’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, “open[ed] the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.”

The president’s statement is false.

The Court held that 2 U.S.C. Section 441a, which prohibits all corporate political spending, is unconstitutional. Foreign nationals, specifically defined to include foreign corporations, are prohibiting from making “a contribution or donation of money or ather thing of value, or to make an express or implied promise to make a contribution or donation, in connection with a Federal, State or local election” under 2 U.S.C. Section 441e, which was not at issue in the case. Foreign corporations are also prohibited, under 2 U.S.C. 441e, from making any contribution or donation to any committee of any political party, and they prohibited from making any “expenditure, independent expenditure, or disbursement for an electioneering communication… .”

This is either blithering ignorance of the law, or demogoguery of the worst kind.

It was certainly unexpected (to borrow a frequently used word) to have a President badmouth a Constitutional decision: Randy Barnett,

In the history of the State of the Union has any President ever called out the Supreme Court by name, and egged on the Congress to jeer a Supreme Court decision, while the Justices were seated politely before him surrounded by hundreds Congressmen? To call upon the Congress to countermand (somehow) by statute a constitutional decision, indeed a decision applying the First Amendment? What can this possibly accomplish besides alienating Justice Kennedy who wrote the opinion being attacked. Contrary to what we heard during the last administration, the Court may certainly be the object of presidential criticism without posing any threat to its independence. But this was a truly shocking lack of decorum and disrespect towards the Supreme Court for which an apology is in order. A new tone indeed.

In that sense, you can call Obama’s speech “historic”.

More discussion on the State of the Union Address with special guest Moe Lane in this morning’s podcast at 11AM Eastern.

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Filed Under: Fausta's blog Tagged With: Citizens United v. FEC, Fausta's blog, Justice Samuel Alito, State of the Union Address, Supreme Court

January 27, 2010 By Fausta

Ready for the SoTU address? Bingo!

Barack Bingo

From Jawa, via Larwyn.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama Tagged With: Fausta's blog, State of the Union Address

January 27, 2010 By Fausta

Those pesky “unexpected” numbers

Today’s headline: New home sales unexpectedly fall in December

Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes fell unexpectedly in December, data showed on Wednesday, the latest indication that the government-led housing recovery might be losing some steam.

The Commerce Department said sales fell 7.6 percent to a 342,000 unit annual rate from an upwardly revised 370,000 units in November. It was the second straight month that new home sales declined.

Last week, jobless claims “unexpectedly” worsened: Jobless Claims in U.S. Unexpectedly Rise on Backlog

More Americans than anticipated filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, reflecting a backlog of applications from the year-end holidays.

Initial jobless claims rose by 36,000 to 482,000 in the week ended Jan. 16, the highest level in two months, from 446,000 the prior week, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington.

Before that, foreclosures rose, also “unexpectedly“.

Considering we’re in a recession, and the Obama administration continues to castigate private business, it’s difficult to ascertain why the above three rose “unexpectedly“. It is to be expected.

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Filed Under: business, economics, economy, housing Tagged With: Fausta's blog, foreclosures, unemployment

January 27, 2010 By Fausta

Venezuela: Two protestors dead, VP quits, more media closings

In today’s podcast at 11AM Eastern,

t1larg.students.afp.gi

The headlines on Venezuela:
Monday:
Venezuela President Chavez orders TV station off the air
Today:
Protests continue in Venezuela following 2 deaths
Venezuela protests France TV closure comments
Chavez’s VP resigns amid protests at Venezuela TV closure
Venezuela’s Chavez Names New Vice President, Defense Minister
And,
Chavez Furiously Backtracking As Venezuela Petro-Economy Deteriorates, via Doug Ross.

Prior posts on RCTV.

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Filed Under: Hugo Chavez, RCTV, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, RCTV

January 27, 2010 By Fausta

Amazongate: Railroaded by Pachauri

Let’s review the series of lies on global warming:

The evidence of tampering within the environmental science community continues to mount.

  • We have learned that the data behind the famous hockey stick graph was altered to hide the decline.
  • The researchers at the CRU used their influence to hijack the peer review process and keep scientists who’s research opposed the view of AGW from publishing in established journals.
  • The Russians have accused climate researchers of cherry-picking Siberian station data which if considered in its entirety does not substantiate the AGW theory.
  • The former Green Peace leader admitted to exaggerating the claims of polar ice cap melt in order to sway public opinion.
  • A Nobel-prize-winning IPCC report has been found to include bogus claims about Himalayan glacier melt and, now, about dire threats to the Amazonian rain forest.
  • IPCC chair Pachauri used this report to secure funding for his institute of research and could now be facing criminal charges.

I could go on about Carbon-billionaire Al Gore and his use of CGI footage from the Day After Tomorrow in his An Inconvenient Truth documentary, but that is old news.

And now another one: Amazongate,

The IPCC claimed that up to 40% of the Amazonian forests were risk from global warming and would likely be replaced by “tropical savannas” if temperatures continued to rise.

This claim is backed up by a scientific-looking reference but on closer investigation turns out to be yet another non-peer reviewed piece of work from the WWF. Indeed the two authors are not even scientists or specialists on the Amazon: one is an Australian policy analyst, the other a freelance journalist for the Guardian and a green activist.

The WWF has yet to provide any scientific evidence that 40% of the Amazon is threatened by climate change — as opposed to the relentless work of loggers and expansion of farms.

Every time I have questioned our politicians about global warming they have fallen back on the mantra that “2,500 scientists can’t be wrong”, referring to the vast numbers supposedly behind the IPCC consensus.

But it is now clear that the majority of those involved in the IPCC process are not scientists at all but politicians, bureaucrats, NGOs and green activists.

May I ask why does the World Wildlife Fund have any credibility on their statements to begin with? It’s an environmental advocacy group whose income depends on scaremongering, not a scientific research institute of any kind, and their work is not peer-reviewed:

The IPCC also made false predictions on the Amazon rain forests, referenced to a non peer-reviewed paper produced by an advocacy group working with the WWF. This time though, the claim made is not even supported by the report and seems to be a complete fabrication.

Head of the IPCC Rajendra Pachauri – who, as Andrew Neil points out is often wrongly described in the media as the world’s leading climate scientist, when he’s actually a railway engineer – sticks to his guns and insists he won’t resign, while we are railroaded.

Video via EU Referendum, which has a great roundup.

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Filed Under: Climate Change, Global Warming Tagged With: Amazonia, Fausta's blog, IPCC, Rajendra Pachauri

January 26, 2010 By Fausta

Jules goes for a walk, the Anchoress rounds up the usual suspects, I do podcasts.

Two great posts by friends I haven’t met yet:
Jules Crittenden goes for a Coffee Stroll With British Regulars

Washington rode into Boston after the British evacuated the city on March 17, 1776, up the very road where I stroll for coffee most days. What a great privilege to be able to share that space even for such a trivial daily pursuit through mundane surroundings.

By the way, Jules reviews 1776 while at it.

The Anchoress is keeping up with the news from Haiti, Updates on Haiti, Kids & Ed, where she concentrates on the orphans.

Go read both.

I’ll be in Rick Moran’s podcast at 8PM Eastern, and on Political Vindication‘s at 9PM Eastern. See you there!

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Filed Under: bloggers, Friends I Haven't Met Yet

January 26, 2010 By Fausta

Obama’s big-whoop-dee-doo spending cuts

Obama to Seek Spending Freeze to Trim Deficits, says the NYTimes.
So!
Is he cutting the proposed second stimulus bill? No.
The Obamacare bill(s)? No.
Medicare? No.
Medicaid? No.
Social Security? No.

But! It’s the symbolism that matters!

But one administration official said that limiting the much smaller discretionary domestic budget would have symbolic value. That spending includes lawmakers’ earmarks for parochial projects, and only when the public believes such perceived waste is being wrung out will they be willing to consider reductions in popular entitlement programs, the official said.

“By helping to create a new atmosphere of fiscal discipline, it can actually also feed into debates over other components of the budget,” the official said, briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity.

We’re awash with bs, folks. Nick Gillespie (via Instapundit) calls out Obama’s Empty Cost-Containment Rhetoric:

Matt Welch already zeroed in some of the more b.s.-laden aspects of President Obama’s Braveheart-level brave pledge to freeze a tiny wafer-thin aspect of federal spending. To use Obamaesque rhetoric: Let’s be clear. This freeze is likely to be as effecfive in curbing spending as cryogenic freezing of Ted Williams’ head was for keeping the Splendid Splinter in good shape for the baseball draft in the year 2525.

Another point to note on Obama’s three-year freeze on discretionary non-defense, non-homeland-security spending: The part of the budget that Obama is chilling is responsible for a whopping one-eighth of annual federal spending. By the prez’s own accounting, the action (which I guarantee won’t hold up anyway) would save at max a whopping $15 billion in fiscal year 2011.

To put that in perspective: The budget em>deficit in 2009 was $1.4 trillion. Which will likely be matched, or nearly matched, in 2010. The budget in 2009 was a hair under $4 trillion and was first figured at around $3.5 trillion for 2010 (expect that to rise, as it normally does).

To talk about possibly trimming $15 billion (and that’s only in foregone increases to whatever is already being spent) on a budget this size is like an already-broke dinner companion foregoing his third appetizer. It’s not gonna help much when the bill comes due.

Betsy came up with the perfect symbol for the symbolic cuts: Obama takes up his tiny hatchet.

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, economics, economy Tagged With: bailout, budget, Fausta's blog, stimulus bill

January 26, 2010 By Fausta

Venezuela’s ties to illegal immigration from Special Interest Countries

Congresswoman Sue Myrick discusses the national security risk posed by Venezuela’s support of allies from Special Interest Countries, such as Iran,

H/t Vlad Tepes.

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Filed Under: illegal immigration, immigration, Iran, terrorism, Venezuela Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Sue Myrick

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