USA 2009 Q2 Financial Statement

US National Debt per Citizen:	$37k
US Private Debt per Citizen:	$23k
US National Liability per Citizen:	$188k

Source: USDebtClock.org

Sunday Gazebo Concert: Country Felix

This Sunday, the Town of Bethlehem presents "Country Felix" for its weekly summer-time Gazebo Concert Series. The concert is free, goes from 6-8pm, and takes place at the corner of Main Street and Prospect Street.

For more info, refer to: Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce's Events Website

Unconvincing Green Science

Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will be voting on the Energy "Cap & Trade" Bill.

Bloomberg: U.S. House Readies Vote, Obama Pushes For Energy Bill

It seems that the global warming crowd is frantic to pass this bill before the public learns of the price tag and the faulty science. Frankly, it could be one of the most expensive taxes in U.S. History (Warren Buffet calls it a huge, regressive tax). Overseas, skeptics are now openly challenging the science of global warming and finding it wanting. (WSJ: The Climate Change Climate Change)





Update
The House Passed The Energy Cap and Trade Bill, 219-212, even though calls into Congress were overwhelming against it.

Keeping Track?

Total Maximum Federal Government Support:

• Total Support: $13.9 Trillion
• Total Size of Economy: $14.26 Trillion

H.R. 1207 Gains House Majority (Still stuck in Committee):

• Ron Paul's bill, H.R. 1207, also known as the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 or the Audit the Federal Reserve Act, has gained 232 co-sponsors. 218 gives it majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. However, it needs 290 co-sponsor's to override suspension. Sadly, the bill remains pigeon-holed in committee.
• We're pleased to note that NH's Rep. Carol Shea-Porter has become a co-sponsor. How about that other guy from district 2?
• S.604, the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, is the Senate version of H.R. 1207. In a surprise twist, VT's Bernie Sanders is a prime co-sponsor.

Here's Some More Good Legislation:

• H.R. 1146: Get the United States out of the United Nations

In the "Favorites":

• 'Too Big to Fail' Is Bulked Up With Steroids
• Entrepreneurs Will Reinvent GM's Castoffs
  
• The Biggest Mystery in American History
• Life is Destroying the Planet!
• A Refreshing Spin on Cable TV
  
• Borrowing 'Til The Nation Breaks
  
• Ron Paul on Regulatory Overhaul
  
• States Place Bad Bets With Gambling

Selling Ourselves Down the River:

• Chinese Official Urges Buying Gold and U.S. Land
• Thanks Washington!

The Wolfman of Clark's Trading Post, in the WSJ:

• Unemployed Hit the Road to Find Jobs
  

Outraged I tell ya, outraged!

• PETA Wishes Obama Hadn't Swatted That Fly

On the Land of Un-Opportunity:

• The Six-Year Fight to Start a Boston Sightseeing Company
• Federal Intervention Pits 'Gets' vs. 'Get-Nots'
• "Since the onset of the financial crisis nine months ago, the government has become the nation's biggest mortgage lender, guaranteed nearly $3 trillion in money-market mutual-fund assets, commandeered and restructured two car companies, taken equity stakes in nearly 600 banks, lent more than $300 billion to blue-chip companies, supported the life-insurance industry and become a credit source for buyers of cars, tractors and even weapons for hunting."
• Sorry Dr. Krugman, Stimulus Doesn't Stimulate
  
• Stimulus Consists of Fraud and Abuse
  
• Should we be surprised?
• Barney Frank, Car Guy
  

---

On Health Nationalization Legislation:

• What Medicare Wrought: A Doctor's View of Obama's Healthcare Plan
• The incentives/disincentives of "doing to" vs. "doing for"
• Health Bill Estimates Soar, Dems Seek to Trim Bill
• Trying to Cover the Unenthusiastic Uninsured
• Fight Government Encroachment into Healthcare!
• Info on: Protect Patients’ and Physicians’ Privacy Act, HR 2630
• Allows individuals to "opt out" of federal electronic records
  
• And: Coercion is Not Health Care Act, HR 2629
• Forbids the government from mandating individuals purchase health care insurance
  
• Health Reform is All Downside for Most Americans
• Private Health Industry's Time is Up
  
• Bernie ... we thought maybe there was a new you with S.604.
• Obama Tries to Skip the Details
• A Trillion Dollars in Incompetence
  
• ObamaCare Sticker Shock
• Today's guesstimate: $1.6T
• Odds That Legislation Will Pass This Year? 42%
  
• The Week Private Health Care Was Saved?
• Who's Funding the Obamacare Campaign?

An Answer for the Health Care Problem?

• Mr. Burd Goes to Washington

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I Can't Believe the WSJ Published This:

• Imagine Breaking Up The United States
• While we don't want want a breakup of the U.S., the very fact that the WSJ published this shows that ideas like this are creeping into the mainstream. It is very likely that the future is not in the Federal Government, but in a more decentralized arrangement, with the internet modeling the way. Would this be good or bad? Hard to tell. One things for certain, it would more closely resemble what the Constitution permits than anything this country has seen since 1935.
  

The "Center" of Politics No Longer Exists:

• Labour Slumps to Historic Defeat in UK
  

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On Energy Security Act (aka Cap & Trade Tax):

• Expansive Energy Bill Advances in Congress
• Statement on Global Warming Petition Signed by 31,478 Scientists
  

• Oceans Rising Faster, Polar Caps Melting More Than UN Projections of 2007
• Run for your lives!
• Survivalists Act as Energy Fears Grow
• Speaking of running for your life ...
• The Exploding Carbon Tax
• Lobbying Frenzy Begins as House Climate Bill Heads for Floor
• The Cap & Tax Fiction
• "Americans should know that those Members who vote for this climate bill are voting for what is likely to be the biggest tax in American history. Even Democrats can't repeal that reality."
• The House is voting today.
• Naturally, now that the liberals have taken over NH, both NH House reps are for cap & trade.

Our two-cents: The power to tax carbon is the power to tax life itself! With the power to tax, comes the power to destroy.

---

Another Day, Another Benefit Extended:

• Same-Sex Partners of Government Workers to Get Benefits Under Obama Plan
  

David Letterman - Comedian or Political Hatchetman?

• The Letterman-Palin Smackdown
• Palin Gag? Comedy's All in the Mis-Timing
  
• Apologies: How to Say You’re Sorry for an Obscenity
  
• Protesting Letterman
• Sarah Palin Accepts Letterman's Apology

On Taxes:

• Microsoft's CEO Says Tax Would Move Jobs Offshore

Give Us A Break!

• WSJ Publishes Nutty Global Warming Geoengineering Plan
  

On Banking:

• Warren Buffett: Economy Still In Shambles
• States that the Cap & Trade bill will be a very expensive, regressive tax
• Obama Gives Federal Reserve Even More Power
• Surprise, surprise ...
• The Nirvana Fallacy
• Government failed, not the market. Obama's answer? Just like George W. Bush's: more government.
• Questions About Expanding the Federal Reserve's Power
  
• Banking Reform = Status Quo
• BofA's Ken Lewis Loses His Mind to Lawyers
  
• Price/Earnings Ratio
• Lawmakers Ask Fannie, Freddie to Relax Condo Rules
• Barney Frank is at it again already!
• Nine Financial Firms Repay $66.3B In TARP Funds
  
• "JPMorgan, U.S. Bancorp (USB), American Express Co. (AXP), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), BB&T Corp. (BBT) and Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS) also announced plans to buy back the related warrants associated with TARP. Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) didn't address the warrants."
• Three banks that apparently won't be repaying anytime soon: Bank of America, Citigroup and GMAC
• Why Inflation Is So Scary
  

• Gold sold like chocolate from German vending machines

• A Tale of Two Depressions
• Credit Crisis Part Deux
• Have We Reached an Inflection Point in Economics History?
• Graph of Proposed Regulation Changes
  
• Suitcase With $134 Billion Puts Dollar on Edge
• Moody's Warning on California Debt Stuns State
• Stuns? Even we knew it was coming and we're not even in California.
  
• Sorry, Folks, The CRA Really Did Require Crap Lending Standards
• Yes, Congress, the Federal Reserve, etc, are responsible
• Inflation Rates by Country
• Should We Call It "Bernanke-Gate", or "Paulson-Gate"?
• It'll be called Bernanke-Gate. Bernanke is up for renomination, and Obama has been hedging against committing to renominate him. We anticipate that one of Chicago's cronies will be placed as the head of the Fed. God save us.
• Who Owns The Banks, Round Two?

Banking Essays:

• John Lanchester: It's Finished
• In the game of the banksters vs. the taxpayers, guess who always wins?

On Gun Control:

• CIFTA Treaty to Make U.S. Gun Owners Accountable to International Law
  
• Killing the 2nd Amendment by Treaty. Clever.
  
• H.R. 45
• Another attempt at gun control
  

On Heeling the Federal Government:

• Tenth Amendment Center Movement Aims to Giver Power Back to the States

On U.S. Bonds:

• China Sells US Bonds to 'Show Concern'
• Oops, if the Chinese are selling, then who will buy them? No worries, we'll just buy them from ourselves. Problem solved!
• Foreign Demand For US Financial Assets Falls

On Transparency:

• Senator Questions Firing of Three Inspector Generals

Bill Frezza Speaks:

• Chrysler's Bankruptcy Roils the National Hockey League?
  
• Only Moore's Law Can Save Big Pharma
  
• Wither the Dying Newspaper Business?

The Truth is Stranger Than Fiction:

• Gerald Celente: Washington is Wall St and Wall St is Washington

On Housing:

• How I Became an Accidental Slumlord
  

More Articles:

• The Accelerating Push to Criminalize the Right
  
• Ken Starr Backs Sotomayor
  
• Northwestern Mutual Makes First Gold Buy in 152 Years
• Which Republicans Will Run for President in 2012?
• The Sonia Sotomayor You Don't Know
  
• Bulldozing American Cities
  
• Grandmother Tasered at Traffic Stop
  
• Preschool or Not?
  
• D.C.'s Evolving Human Rights Law
  
• The cost of a diverse Naval Academy
• Eddie Bauer Files For Bankruptcy Protection ... Again
• A Coverup at AmeriCorps?
  
• Stimulus Watch: Follow Along As Obama Counts Jobs
• UNH prof arrested after child left in car
• Minn. lawmaker vows not to complete Census

In Summary:

• If you think politicians are trying to completely redefine America this year, you can be forgiven because they are. In summary, the party in power is trying to:

1. Dramatically Increase Taxes
2. Increase Red Tape
3. Increase Centralization of Power
4. Decrease Individual Liberty
   

Senator DeMint on Audit the Fed (HR 1207)


Home Equity Loans and Their Collateral

Mike Huckabee and Jon Stewart Debate Abortion

Part 1 of 3:


Part 2 of 3:


Part 3 of 3:

It Must Be The Kennebunkport Influence ...

WSJ: Maine Cuts Income Taxes on Rich
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571672694839297.html

Father's Day Ideas

In Bethlehem: "Father’s Day Brunch Buffet at Adair Inn – Treat Dad to a harp and bagpipe concert by Jane Wilcox Hively and Jonathan Hively of Mtn. Stream Music. Starts at 11:00 am; cost is $5 or free with purchase of Lupine Festival coupon. Sunday June 21, 2009 noon-3:00pm. $29.95 per person, 603-444-2600, www.adairinn.com. "

More Nearby Ideas:

Low Cost Father's Day Adventures in New Hampshire
by Marcia Passos Duffy
Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-12610-New-England-Travel-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Low-cost-Fathers-Day-adventures-in-New-Hampshire

Inexpensive and Free Events in NH to take Dad to on Father's Day
by Wendy Thomas
Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-9136-Manchester-Frugal-Families-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Inexpensive-and-Free-Events-in-NH-to-take-Dad-to-on-Fathers-Day

Sunday Gazebo Concert: Brothers of Other Mothers

This Sunday, the Town of Bethlehem presents "Brothers of Other Mothers" for its weekly summer-time Gazebo Concert Series. The concert is free, goes from 6-8pm, and takes place at the corner of Main Street and Prospect Street.

For more info, refer to: Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce's Events Website

WSJ: In Maine, Residents Battle Over a Four-Letter Word: 'Squa'

In Maine, Residents Battle Over a Four-Letter Word: 'Squa'
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124528092635325195.html

"For nearly a decade, locals [of Stockton Springs] have been fighting American Indians over the name of a dead-end dirt road."

CR: Burglars Strike Homes in Bethlehem

Burglars Strike Homes in Bethlehem
by Robert Blechl
6/17/2009

http://caledonianrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=145&ArticleID=45820

A New Hampshire Road Trip

Tips from the T-List writes about Bethlehem in:

A New Hampshire Road Trip
http://www.tipsfromthetlist.com/article15293.html

Another Week, Another 100 Billion in New U.S. Debt

About N.H. Politics:

• Same-Sex Legislation is Now Law
  
• Same-Sex Legislation Advanced Via Senate "Rule Violation"
• The Slots Budget Fix
  

In the "Favorites":

• School Choice Is the New Civil Rights Struggle
• Here's a big chance for Republican's to change the rules of the game.
  
• U.S. Treasury Secretary Tells China Their Dollar Assets Are Safe. Student Audience Laughs
• Let's face it. We're only fooling ourselves. It's time to stop this nonsense.
• Car Loses All Four Wheels on Highway
• That takes talent!
• Rand's Atlas Is Shrugging With a Growing Load
• How much longer will he carry the burden?
• Mankiw & Rogoff: Why We Don't Need Economists
  
• Good riddance!
• California Leads Nation to Bond Default Abyss
• "Except for the sales tax, the Obama administration’s plan is to copy California’s policies."
  

Attention All Bond-Holders (including Muni Bonds and Treasury Bonds):

• No Bond Safe From Obama's "Shared-Sacrifice" Plan
• "How far will the administration go in pursuing this new policy, especially if the interests of bondholders again came into conflict with politically favored groups?"
  

About the U.K. MP's:

• Parliament and the Laffer Curve

About the U.S. Debt:

• Leap in U.S. Debt Hits Taxpayers with 12% More Red Ink
• Democrats to Tax Employer Health Care Insurance
• Their conclusion is exactly what they lampooned John McCain for suggesting.

Counting The Cost of an "A-Moral" Society:

• Tennessee Man Tells Child Support Court He Has 21 Children by 11 Different Women
• Like it or not, immorality is a costly drag on society.

On the Lecture Circuit:

• Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Gov't Bailouts Will Make It Worse

About the Supreme Court Nominee:

• Republicans, Let's Play Grown Up
• Pre-Bork, the Senate used to confirm judges nearly unanimously.
  
• What If Sotomayor Were White?
• Lawyers Tag Nominee as 'Terror on the Bench'
• The Sotomayor Rules
• Edict: Discuss her according to her biography, not her qualifications.
• Sotomayor's Most Controversial Decision
  
• Obama, Sotomayor, Ricci and White Male Privilege

About the Gov't Taking Over:

• Obama, Incorporated
  
• Shelby Assails Large Gov't Role in General Motors
• Just Say No to Government Motors and Obamacars
• Obama Is Not Another Lincoln: He's Another Clement Attlee
• What I Learned as a Car Czar

About Political Micro-management:

• Busy NOT Running GM

About DIY Gov't:

• Island DIY: Kauai Residents Don't Wait For State To Repair Road
• Tim O'Reilly calls for: DIY on a Civic Scale
• "When I see a libertarian uprising fixing roads, home-schooling children, picking up the garbage and recycling, replacing streetlights, etc., I'll be ready for the end of government."
  

About Restrained Gov't:

• The Meaning of Federalism
• Minnesota Governor and His Veto Pen
• GOP Should Run Against The Center

On Education:

• Spitting in the Eye of Mainstream Education
• Don't Rush to Get Onboard With Universal Preschool

Is This True?

• Obama to Sell B-2 Bomber Blueprints to China to Pay Off Debt

More Articles:

• The Case for Working With Your Hands
• The Incredible Shrinking Clintons
  
• Pravda: American Capitalism Gone With A Whimper
  
• Virginia County Sues Krispy Kreme Over Ruined Sewer System
• The Cost Conundrum of Medical Care
• It's Time to End the "Age of the Deal"

Justice Department Drops Charges Against New Black Panthers




How Biden Wrecked the Confirmation Process




Is Empathy a Character Quality or a Qualification?




Craig T. Nelson on Responsibility, Representation and Taxes



Robert Rodriguez on Counting the Cost



About Inflation



Why Bankruptcy Now? Why Not Six Months Ago?



By The Way, Who Owns General Motors?