PA U.S. Senator Specter's Switch

Air Force One Jet Buzzes NYC

Related Links:

• Plane Stupid: NYC Major Outraged Over Photo Op
• Obama Orders Review of $329k Air Force Flight Over NYC
  
• 100 Days of Reckless Photo Ops

Is America a Nation of Laws or a Nation of Banks?

In light of last weeks' memo to Congress by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's, it's obvious by now that no one can trust anything said by the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Treasury, and Bank of America's CEO and Board. Jonathan Weil, a Bloomberg columnist, states the case well: One Nation, Under Banks, With Justice for No One.

The story of the Fed forcing Bank of America to takeover Merrill Lynch is collectivist policy-making in plain daylight. For the greater good of society, they assure us, the Merrill Lynch deal had to go through. What about BoA shareholders? Tough luck. Is it not obvious from Cuomo's memo, and Ken Lewis's deposition, that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, former U.S. Treasurer Hank Paulson and current U.S. Treasurer Timothy Geithner, were complicit in achieving a desirable end through coercion which resulted in a violation of securities law? What about CEO Ken Lewis and the Board's agreement to stay mum? Legalities aside, such policies are poison to relationships of trust, which are crucial in credit markets.

Attention Federal Reserve: You can inflate the money supply and infuse fiat money, but you can't inflate and infuse trust.

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More commentaries:

• Paulson's 'Gift' to Lewis Delievered at Gunpoint
• Why Did Ken Lewis Go Along with the Cover-Up?
  
• Lewis Testifies U.S. Urged Silence on Deal.
• Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club - NYT
  
• Emanuel says Obama has '100% Confidence' in Fed Chief Bernanke
• SEC Omission From BoA Talks 'Troubling', Chief Says
  

In Case You Missed It

Here are some points to note from this past week:

• Two H.S. Students Accused of Counterfeiting Money
• Students, please, such activity should only be conducted by professionals.
  
• The Fed is Now Peddling Inflation
• Political Opportunists vs. Technology Innovators
• Reverse Discrimination Lawsuit Heard About New Haven Firefighters
• The Coming of the Fourth American Republic
  
• Drama at GE Shareholder Meeting
• Gee gosh, pray tell, why would anyone be upset by the insightful remarks of neurology expert actress, Janeane Garofalo, and excellent journalism of MSNBC anchor, Keith Olbermann? If protesting runaway spending is racist, then what is making statements like: "It's not about bashing Democrats. It's not about taxes. This is about hating a black man in the White House.", tea party protesters are neurotic and that any women in the Republican party are clearly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
  
• Surely, it's fair to ask: In Time of Victory, Why is the Left So Angry?
• Jack Bauer can't stop 'The Goldman Conspiracy'
• The Quiet Coup
  
• The Case for a Federalism Amendment
• A 2% Inflation Rate?
• Sounds so sensible, until as Paul Volker pointed out, a 2% inflation rate will, over a generation's time, erode half the value of savings.
• Finally: It May Be Time For the Fed to Go Negative
• You call it "negative interest rates", we call it theft. (Hard to believe Mankiw is an economics professor at Harvard!).

What were the tea parties about? Perhaps they were about exactly what the tea party reference implies: taxation without representation.

Earth Day

Are you feeling at a loss on how to go about celebrating Earth Day? Perhaps you should consider the article:

7 Conservative Ways to Celebrate Earth Day

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My personal favorite was suggestion #2. What's yours?

Welcome Home Capt. Phillips

Link: Capt. Phillips Home in Underhill

In Case You Missed It - 4/17

Here are some points to note from this past week:

• A Taxing Philosophy: We're All Collectivists Now
• Politicians Love the Tax Code We Hate
  
• Commentary: Why your taxes could double
  
• Fed's Flood May Leave Democracy Needing A Bailout
• Uncle Sam Won't Make Ends Meet - For First Half of 2009 ... Money In: $986B; Money Out: $1,940B
• With tax credit, consumers give turbines, solar panels a second look
  
• Treasuries Gain After Federal Reserve Buys Government Debt
  
• Bernanke Bet on Keynes Has Meltzer Seeing 1970s-Style Inflation
  
• It's nice know that the Fed is “running a laboratory experiment” on what drives inflation. How do you feel about the stewards of America's money supply treating the situation as an academic exercise, where your wealth is the experimentation material?
  
• The Housing Crisis Isn't A Crisis
  
• Overseas Borrowers Sell Dollar Bonds at Record Yearly Pace
  
• Why Wall Street Has Become Unnecessary - That's right, Wall Street is obsolete! Good thing we just spent thousands of billions of dollars bailing them out!!
  
• Fed Said to Order Banks to Stay Mum on ‘Stress Test’ Results
  
• Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All US Dollars
  
• Chinese Spies May Have Put Chips in US Planes
• Obama's Opiate
  
• Special Report: Global Warming Gloom and Doom Cools Off
  
• Making Sure the Poor Are Always With Us - Bill Frezza
  

'the administration should learn from the example of Alan Greenspan. Even when it intervenes in the economy with the very best of intentions, the government has a way of producing disastrous consequences.' -- Todd Zywicki

Shucks ... now that CNN reporter, Susan Roesgen, pointed out the 400 dollars, who cares about those silly Constitutional liberties?

Tax Day Tea Party

Join your fellow Americans, across the country, to express anger over Congress’s irresponsible and reckless spending habits. Help Congress understand that taxpayers are not deceived by the notion that the American economy can be revived by government simply spending its way out of a recession.

The closest tea party tax protest to Bethlehem is in Plymouth, 3:30 pm - 6:30 pm, on the Plymouth Town Common, across from the Town Hall and the Post Office building.

Others, in NH, can be found here: http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty/new-hampshire/

An Open Thread For Debate and Discussion on Solutions to the Landfill and General Waste Disposal

In the spirit of getting back to civic debate and discussion, I'd like to open a thread for the purpose of finding a solution to the issue of waste disposal in Bethlehem, NH. Waste disposal is a fact of life, and, to understate the matter, has been a major sore point in town politics for years. If you've been itching to get out an idea for solving Bethlehem's landfill dispute and/or the overall waste disposal problem that every town faces, then here's your chance.

Type your comments in the comment field below ...

In Case You Missed It

Here are some points to note from this past week:

• Due to the cover-up of fraud (not incompetence), here comes the red tape. [Let me get this straight, a cover-up of outright fraud is being perpetrated by public officials for the "good" of the public. Therefore, the solution isn't a revelation of the fraud and subsequent insolvency, rather the solution is intrusive regulation into the entire sector so the fraud won't happen again (so they say). All the while, those directly responsible for the fraud escape the consequences. Is that right?]
  
• Moyers asks, “Are you saying that Timothy Geithner, the Secretary of the Treasury, and others in the administration, with the banks, are engaged in a cover up to keep us from knowing what went wrong?”
  
• Black: “Absolutely.”
  
• Meanwhile, we're told we must keep the Federal Reserve independent. (As usual, we're supposed to trust that there's nothing funny going on here. It's time for an audit!)
• Is there hope against the continual expansion of big governmental bureaucracies? New Media vs. Gnostic Bureaucracies
• The Gay Marriage Fantasy - William Murchison
  
• What this, is Obama going it alone? Non, Nein & No Ringing in Obama's Ears
  
• Moody's out with a "Warning on US Municipal Bonds"
• Thomas Sowell on Mind-changing Books and Musings on the Age of Obama
• Do bailouts work? Despite $3T in capital infusions and $13T in guarantees, the World Economy is Falling Faster Than in 1929-30.
• How Bernanke Staged a Revolution
  
• The Fed's Independence Is Threatened by Congress (Boo hoo)
• As if you didn't notice, but here's more about Obama and the Return of Corporatism
• Obama's Ultimate Agenda (Hint: Corporatism is just a side-show)
• James Freeman on Is Silicon Valley a Systemic Risk? (Sec. Geithner seems to think so)
• We're in trouble, just 53% say capitalism is better than socialism
• Are we faced with The End of Philosophy?
• Rethinking Socialism: Were We Ever Really Capitalist? - FOX Business
  
• How to 'Black Swan' Proof the World - Nassim N. Taleb
• Happy Good Friday, and Easter, everyone!
  

'Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”.' -- Nassim N. Taleb - 4/7/2009

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Now, here's Gov. Mark Sanford on why he's rejecting $700M of stimulus cash

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Bottom line, he wanted to use the money to pay down debt, but Obama said no. Sanford is asking what will happen in 24 months when the money runs out? I wish more people were asking these sorts of questions.

Harvard Student Takes On Barney Frank Over Economy

WFXT-TV: It all started with a question: "How much responsibility, if any, do you have for the financial crisis?"

RCP: Harvard Student Takes on Rep. Frank
WFXT-TV: Harvard student takes on Rep. Frank

The exchange is amusing. However, toward the end of the clip, Barney Frank states that he believes in making changes to the Federal Reserve Act of 1932, section 13(3) which provides that "in unusual and exigent circumstances" the [Fed] may authorize any federal reserve bank to discount notes without limit. Rep. Barney Frank stated that he thought the statute was "excessive, and should be changed". Changed to what? Less authority to do whatever they please? That'll be the day!

The Federal Reserve Act of 1932, section 13(3) is the statute that the Federal Reserve Board cited when they authorized taking over AIG with 79.9% equity stake.


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Rep. Frank is a busy guy, because he's also proposing laws to change the financial system. Rep. Frank states, "If only banks made mortgage loans, there would be no crisis".

Gee, let me get this straight. The problem is that mortgages were securitized, and that if only the banks had issued the mortgages, then there wouldn't have been a real estate bust? Therefore, the solution is to create a regulator that can forcefully examine any institutions books and restrict them if they become a "threat" to the financial system? Yeah, that's the ticket!

Has anyone informed Rep. Frank that there were real estate busts prior to this one that were only financed by bank-issued mortgages? Perhaps the problem lies somewhere else, with some other entity that has been around through the past few real estate busts that has a habit of continually expanding credit and then blaming the resulting problems on somebody else (like the private sector)? Nah, couldn't be.

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Here's a interesting story in Forbes about The Banker Who Said No. The regulators didn't appreciate how he ran his business. Good thing he didn't let the regulators and government-endorsed credit agencies "help" him.

Outsiders thought it was Beal who didn't get it. Despite its aversion to credit then, the bank occasionally had to buy mortgages to meet federal low-income-lending requirements. Jonathan Goodman, then head of loan purchases, recalls salesmen from Countrywide laughing at him on the phone when he refused to buy iffy condo paper backed by the two agencies. "Countrywide, Bank of America, Washington Mutual ... every single [mortgage seller] thought we were insane," Goodman says. "They didn't know why we cared. They thought Fannie and Freddie guarantees were as good as Treasuries."

The owner of the bank, Andy Beal, says "Every deal done since 2004 is just stupid."

What is Collectivism

"President Obama has proposed the most significant shift toward collectivism and away from capitalism in the history of our republic"

Senator Tom Coburn - April 4th, 2009

So, what is Collectivism?

Collectivism means the subjugation of the individual to a group—whether to a race, class or state does not matter. Collectivism holds that man must be chained to collective action and collective thought for the sake of what is called “the common good.”

Reader’s Digest, Jan. 1944, 8.

Three Forms of Collectivism:

1. Leninism
2. Rhodesism/Fabianism
3. Fascism/Nazism

Effect of Collectivism:

The state is seen as the solver of all important problems; leads to political corruption, totalitarianism, low productivity and scarcity.

G. Edward Griffin

References on Collectivism:

• Wikipedia on Collectivism
• Capitalism.org on Collectivism
• Ayn Rand Lexicon on Collectivism
• FreedomKeys on Collectivism vs. Individualism
  
• G. Edward Griffin on the Four Models for Social Order
  
• Merriam-Webster on Collectivism

Tom Coburn on the Obama's Budgetary Vision/Blueprint for America

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn wrote an editorial effectively pulling back the curtain of vagueness from President Obama, stating "I believe President Obama has proposed the most significant shift toward collectivism and away from capitalism in the history of our republic. I believe his budget aspires to not merely promote economic recovery but to lay the groundwork for sweeping expansions of government authority in areas like health care, energy and even daily commerce. If handled poorly, I'm concerned this budget could turn our government into the world's largest health care provider, mortgage bank or car dealership, among other things."

Senator Tom Coburn's editoral appeared in RCP, titled: Budget Debate Shows Washington Politicians in Denial.

In Case You Missed It - 4/3/2009

Here are some points to note from this past week:

• A Mea Culpa by the programmer who commoditized the software that enabled Wall Street to ruin itself, and the world's real estate market.
  
• What's this I hear? That Global Warming is a not a great problem with a strong consensus among the scientific community, and that Al Gore is just an opportunist and that (tax-payer financed) James Hansen is just an alarmist? Shucks, I thought this was about scientific evidence and not just ideology-based "values". What are those values again, exactly?
• Missouri has finally ceased distributing a memo that was being circulated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Clearly these citizens were representing a clear and present danger. (yes, that was sarcasm)
• The story of How Iceland Went Crazy.
• In some places, it's not just homeowners that are abandoning their over-leveraged house. The banks are also quietly walking away by simply not foreclosing. Now, some cities are faced with what to do with the abandoned areas.
• Has the finance industry captured the Federal Government? Ron Smith intros: The Most Powerful Oligarchy
• Oh, now they tell us to sell stocks!
  
• Is it capitalism that has failed? Louis Woodhill begs to differ: Sorry, but Capitalism Did Not Fail. Rather, what has failed is Congress's delegation entrusting the Federal Reserve with the stewardship of a unit of monetary value we commoners call the U.S. Dollar. Mr. Woodhill states the idea that the dollar should be a static unit of measurement. What a concept! But, let's be honest, in the face of the current oligarchy, does H.R. 835 have a prayer?
• Hey President Obama! Remember all that talk about transparency? Here's a piece of legislation that actually represents transparency: H.R. 1207. How about helping it get out of committee?
• It's time to follow the money on AIG's bailout.
• The tab for the bailouts now stands at $2.98 Trillion (last year's total collections by the IRS were about $2.8T) and the outstanding guarantees, interventions, etc. stands at $12.8T (last year's GDP was $14T). That works out to "$42,105 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. and 14 times the $899.8 billion of currency in circulation."
• Promises, promises: President Obama signs into law a tax increase affecting all citizens, including those under 250k . (Of course, it's OK because they did it for the kids.)
• On March 26th, former SEC Chairman Richard Breeden testified before the Senate Banking Committee, trashing almost every premise behind Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's bailout plans. Mr. Breeden said: "It won't work to try to assign planning for every potential risk in the economy to a single agency unless we want a centrally planned economy like the old Soviet Union. . . . It is particularly hard for me to see a case that any single group of regulators did such a good job [in anticipating the current crisis] that they deserve becoming the Über Regulator of the country." Mr. Breeden added that the Federal Reserve "should be a central bank, not the world's largest hedge fund." (Nor should the U.S. Treasury, but don't think that won't stop them from creating an Über Regulator anyhow.)
• The Hancock Tower in Boston sells for $660.6 million, 49.2% below it's $1.3 billion sale price in 2006.
• Here's the new strategy for Global World Government.
• Which section of the Constitution authorizes extortion?
  
• How much does Barney Frank think you should make in your job? The Pay for Performance Act of 2009 may have an opinion. (What a great name ... "Son of H.R. 1586", would be more accurate) The bill passed the full House Wednesday evening by a vote of 247 to 171.

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Pop-quiz: What do Barney Frank, Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke have in common? Answer: Harvard

Needed : A Bone Marrow Match

Rodney White of Dalton is in pressing need of a bone marrow transplant. There will be a bone marrow drive on Saturday April 11, 2009 at the Advent Christian Church in Whitefield. It will start around 9:30. It is restricted to people between 18 and 55. They just take a swab from inside your mouth and then it is checked to see if it is a match. You can get questions answered at www.savegiovannisfriends.org

No more Landfill?

From what I hear the Landfill will be closed to Bethlehem Town residents as of May 1, 2009 and will be filled(because it didn't get its berm permit from DES) and closed completely on September 1. Bethlehem is supposed to have a recycling center and transfer station off of Rte 116 ready to go by the beginning of June. In the meantime residents will take their Bethlehem bags ( @ $2.00 a bag) to the Road Department and put in a large dumpster which will be transfered to some other town. I have heard the one abuter of the planned recycling center is not a bit pleased. Is all my info correct?

So Bethlehem will be losing the taxes from the landfill and what will the new trash system cost?Will the town be better off? Will the air be purer and the water cleaner?

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Update: 4/3
AllBusiness.com reported on Jan 9th, "DES denies Bethlehem landfill permit". The article states that: 'The landfill's general manager, Kevin Roy, told the Concord Monitor that the company will likely resubmit an application for expansion. The landfill, with a capacity of 4.5 million cubic yards of waste, is set to close in 2009. The expansion would have allowed it to take in almost 25 percent more and remain open another 10 years.'

111th Congress H.R. 1586 vs The Bill of Attainder of the U.S. Constitution

In a wild-eyed stampede, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1586 to "recapture" bonuses paid to employees of AIG. The Congressional Research Service has issued a report raising serious questions about whether or not it's considered a Bill of Attainder as forbidden in Article I, section 9, clause 3 of the United States Constitution. It makes you wonder, of the 328 House Representatives that voted for H.R. 1586, how many of them have read the Constitution recently? Or, at all?