A Tweet And A Test For Lance

Lance Armstrong returns; cycling comeback starts in Australia January 19, 2009 - Members of the media surround Lance Armstrong and other riders on Sunday in Adelaide, Australia, before the start of the Cancer Council Classic, a prelude to the Tour Down Under. Image Credit: Jamie McDonald / AFP / Getty Images

A Tweet And A Test For Lance

After spending the weekend in Los Angeles participating in a fundraising event in conjunction with NIKE and many trendy young artists at the Motalban Theater called "Stages", Lance Armstrong flew to Nice France to train and catch up with his team. He was there about 36 hours when he launched this Tweet!

A Twitter logged 3-11-2009 12:pm PT:

Sitting down and eating dinner and guess what? Knock knock. Anti-doping control. This is the 23rd one since the comeback.

This is important to note because Lance officially began his comeback about the time Barack Obama took the oath of office to become the President of the United States.

Using January 19, 2009 as the time that the Lance Rides Again Comeback actually started, and today being March 11, 2009 ... that makes it that Lance Armstrong can expect an avarage of one test request per 2.26 days.

Contador Retains Yellow Jersey in Nice - Posted by Astana Cycling | Mar 9, 2009 12: 0 AM PDT - Image Credit: LAF

The next time anyone says that Lance rides dirty remember the above statistic ... Lance Armstrong has the strongest case I've ever heard of to lay claim as the most drug tested athlete on Earth ... and of all time.

In the run up to the 2009 Tour de France, the testing will only become more frequent giving a reason why Mr. Armstrong probably has the best first name ever for this type of intensive scrutinity.

That's right ... LANCE!

Blood test, please, Mr. Armstrong.

Executive Branch Incompetence Crisis - Obama Delivering Obama

Barack Obama administration - This map of Barack Obama administration relationships is interactive. Ctrl-Click to activate (new window), once at the mapsite, click on names to explore and expand. (Requires Java.) - Image Credit: muckety.com

Executive Branch Incompetence Crisis - Obama, Delivering Obama

In the first fifty days of this once promising run of this nation's "First Elected Black President", we are set back on our heels as to how incompetent a government administration and its parts can be.

Where is the "Card Check" process for competence in Government when we need it?

I suppose this is what we can assume to be the norm going forward when we keep voting into office ACORN promoting, Tax increase loving (now with Omnibus $18,584 per household - soon to be upped to $80,000 with the Obama budget proposal), Freedom reducing, Organized Labor supporting, Social Engineering addicted, Government enlarging, Free Enterprise punishing, Judicial Branch lawmaking, Lawyer Class zealots from primarily the Democrat Political Party, with appropriating class Republicans!

Truth is, we have only ourselves to blame ... and boy, are we stupid.

The Government is only a reflection of ourselves and what we are willing to put up with when we set in motion a steady reliance on a central power assistance in our lives without an adherence of standards.

We, at MAXINE, believe this is what we can expect to happen when we see a mission creep of ""Corporate" (both private and public) selfishness.

An assistant shows the mock 'reset' button that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed over to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, March 6, 2009. Clinton handed Lavrov the block with a red button marked "reset" in English and "overload" in Russian, a reference to a speech by new US Vice-President Joe Biden in January signalling that the Obama administration wanted vastly improved ties with Russia. Image Credit: Fabrice Coffrini

This excerpted and edited from Pajamas Media -

A Presidential Crisis of Competence
They (mostly) know not what they’re doing.
March 11, 2009 - by Tom Blumer - BizzyBlog.com via Pajamas Media

Less than two months into this administration, three things are clear.

First, its agenda is every bit as radical as many of us expected and feared.
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That some Obama supporters are surprised is a “tribute” to a media elite that treated decade-plus relationships with radicals Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, and others as “distractions from the real issues,” and to a McCain campaign that refused to treat Obama’s candidacy as the threat that it was, and now is.

Second, despite strong signals that he is guiding the ship of state in the wrong direction, Obama and his administration have largely refused to bow to reality.
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While the markets continue to beg to differ, Obama has been essentially indifferent.

The third clear thing is the one that has apparently blindsided Obama fans the most, but should have been the least unexpected: He and his administration seem not to know what they’re doing. Pick almost any area and you’ll find a trail of incompetence that goes well beyond benign rookie mistakes.

The administration’s nominee vetting record has become a national joke that could take up this entire column.

Then take the economy (please). We knew before the election that Obama doesn’t understand the difference between net worth and income. His statement about “profit-to-earnings ratios” comes from that same well of ignorance.
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Barack Obama has surrounded himself with the likes of tax cheat Tim Geithner, who scares the markets almost every time he opens his mouth. Meanwhile, the new Treasury secretary has somehow managed not to hire 14 key people he needs. Could it be that there is a shortage of qualified people standing in line to be participants in what is shaping up to be the mother of all train wrecks?

Obama, as president-elect, cheered as General Motors and Chrysler received taxpayer bailouts. Apparently neither the incoming nor outgoing administration considered the obvious problem that fewer consumers would buy from the two bailed-out companies either for philosophical or practical reasons (or both).
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Meanwhile, in a laugh-so-you-won’t-cry story, Geithner is heading an administration delegation that will “visit GM’s technical center in Warren, Michigan, to see car and truck models and learn about the technology being developed.” Uh, don’t lenders usually see what’s going on at the borrower’s place before they cut the loan check? Even staunch Democrat Jim Cramer has been forced to conclude that “it’s amateur hour at our darkest moment.”

The administration’s foreign policy crackups may not be as obvious just yet.
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Start with the Russia-Iran missile defense saga. Step one was the overture: “Obama ‘ready to drop shield plans for Russian help on Iran.’” Step two, the backhanded dismissal, followed shortly: “Medvedev rejects Obama missile defense deal.” Step three was the blowback, as noted by Charles Krauthammer: “The Russians have dismissed it. We end up being humiliated. We look weak in front of the Iranians, and we have left the Poles and Czechs out to dry in return for nothing.”

While supposedly making a point that this administration will “reset” relationships throughout the world, the secretary of state’s entourage botched a Russian translation. (Those who cite the alleged decline in goodwill towards the U.S. have yet to explain why France, Canada, Germany, and other countries moved significantly to the right under Bush’s watch.)

Obama recently told the New York Times that the U.S. is not winning the war in Afghanistan and was considering (in the Times’ paraphrase) “reach[ing] out to moderate elements of the Taliban.”
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Obama infuriated the UK last week in more ways than can be counted here. Now we’re supposed to believe that the UK snubs occurred because the poor guy was “too tired,” the same lame excuse that was used to explain away his 10,000-died-in-Kansas gaffe during the presidential campaign.
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Obama, with no previous executive experience, appears to be falling into the same trap as Democrats Clinton and Carter before him: too obsessed with detail and failing to sufficiently delegate.

Incompetents often try to cover up their failures by attacking others and denying the obvious. This explanation would be consistent with the White House’s thin-skinned blasts at CNBC’s Cramer and Rick Santelli, and the president’s stubborn refusal to characterize his “spread the wealth” policies as what they are: socialist.
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One thing we do know: Obama and his peeps [heads should roll] want to be totally in charge of health care. Feeling better now?
Reference Here>>

With the passage of the "Omnibus" spending bill yesterday and the soon to be considered and passed Obama Administration $3.6 Trillion dollar budget proposal ... we may have created a one-party Government that has become - "To Big To Succeed!"

Lance Armstrong Says "Thank You LA" From Stages Event

Lance Armstrong leads approximately 700 cycling enthusiasts through the streets of the East side of Hollywood 2.2 miles to the Montalban Theater and the Stages event. Stages, a global art exhibition and sale event, sponsored by NIKE, provides a new way to support the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) and its LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign. Image Credit: Lance Armstrong via Twitter (2009)

Lance Armstrong Says "Thank You LA" From Stages Event

After Hope Rides Again 2-mile cycling tour in Los Angeles Saturday afternoon, the 7-time Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong declared a new global initiative to combat cancer. Along side Mark Parker, CEO & President of Nike, activist/artist Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee and others, the announcement was made among 700 people in attendance at the Montálban Theatre. To kick-off the event, an official unveiling took place for Shepard Fairey’s latest work, inspired by Lance Armstrong.

Nike Sportswear + Lance Armstrong - "Stages" Touring Art Exhibition Supporting Livestrong from Stephen Wong on Vimeo

"This year, it's about more than winning the race. It's about people coming together to use our talents and abilities for a cause bigger than ourselves and doing everything within our power to help those in their fight to overcome cancer," said Lance Armstrong. "This endeavor will help raise awareness and much needed funds for the foundation and those who need it most, researchers, patients, and their families."

TREK cycle stylized by street/pop artist, KAWS. Lance Tweeted - "OMG. My new Trek Madone that KAWS designed. Wow. Speechless." - Image Credit: Lance Armstrong via Twitter (2009)

The new initiative, titled Stages, is a global art exhibition, of which more than 20 of the world’s most influential contemporary artists will showcase artworks specifically created for the exhibition tour. Some of artists to participate include Shepard Fairey, Damien Hirst, Tom Sachs, Barry McGee, Marc Newson, and more, with the first leg of the tour at Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris on July 16th, 2009. All works will go on sale with proceeds toward Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) in the fight against caner. Other legs on the Stages: Global Art Exhibition include New York, Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles.

To further contribute in the fight against cancer, Nike also announced 2 new athletic wear collections: Hope Rides Again - apparel and footwear collection and Greatest Hits footwear pack, with all proceeds going to LAF.

The extraordinary list of participating artists will also include:
Geoff McFetridge | Raymond Pettibon | José Parlá | Ed Ruscha | KAWS | Christopher Wool | Dzine | Eric White | Barry McGee | Kenny Scharf | Os Gêmeos | Marc Newson | Rosson Crow | Taryn Simon | JR | Yoshitomo Nara | Suejin Chung | Lari Pittman | Aaron Young | Jules de Balincourt | Takashi Murakami

Additional Tweet by Lance Armstrong - "At the end of the event here at the Montalban [Theater, Stages Event]. My boy Ben Harper and Relentless 7 performing. Love him like a brother." Image Credit: Lance Armstrong viw Twitter (2009)

A great time was had by all, starting with Ben Stiller to open and Relentless 7 toward the end!

Next up, it was announced at last night's NIKE event at the Montalban Theater, news of the upcoming “Stages” art show that will debut at GALLERIE EMMANUEL PERROTIN in Paris on July 16th, 2009 during the 2009 Tour de France.

Lance leaves LA, for now ... final Tweet, 6:45 pm PT:

At LAX flying to Europe. Had one of those video/papparazzi dudes here asking dumb questions. Felt bad for the guy, he needs better material.

Additional Photos Of The Nike Sportswear Livestrong Collection>>

For Some Obamaniacs, Chickens Are Roosting

If the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama "Twittered" - Image Credit: DC Examiner/Beeler

For Some Obamaniacs, Chickens Are Roosting

Way back in November 3, 2008, when the net worth of all people who had money in the stock market was worth about 100% more than it is today, many people voted for Barack Obama because he represented a new way. Hope and Change were the bywords of the new insider and euphoria was in the air.

Then the reality of an Obama Presidency hit them smack in the face and in six short weeks he has been in office, the “Chickens Have Come Home To Roost”.

Many good meaning liberal, independent, and moderate voices in the media are now beginning to voice their disappointment in the direction this Presidency is taking our country and they are seeing that the fantasy is a lot better feeling than the reality of this 44th Presidency.

FIASCO - The one word that will describe the 44th Presidency of the United States - Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2008)

This excerpted and edited from Pajamas Media –

‘I’m Maureen Dowd, and I’ve Been Had’
A support group for bitter pundits disappointed in Obama is quickly becoming necessary.
March 4, 2009 - by Jennifer Rubin

They may need a support group before the month is out. They could gather in New York or Washington where many victims reside. The meetings would start: “I’m Maureen [or David]. I’m a duped Barack voter. And I’m mad.”

The ranks indeed are filling with the disaffected and the disappointed — Chris Buckley, Maureen Dowd, David Brooks, David Gergen, and even that gynecological sleuth and blogger Andrew Sullivan.
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Their complaints are varied but expressed with equal amounts of remorse and bitterness. They all have been done wrong by Barack.

Chris Buckley is in mourning over the loss of fiscal sobriety and the sense he has enabled a spend-aholic:

Mr. Obama is proposing among everything else $1 trillion in new entitlements, and entitlement programs never go away, or in the oddly poetic bureaucratic jargon, “sunset.” He is proposing $1.4 trillion in new taxes, an appetite for which was largely whetted by the shameful excesses of American CEO corporate culture. And finally, he has proposed $5 trillion in new debt, one-half the total accumulated national debt in all U.S. history. All in one fell swoop.

He tells us that all this is going to work because the economy is going to be growing by 3.2 percent a year from now. Do you believe that? Would you take out a loan based on that? And in the three years following, he predicts that our economy will grow by 4 percent a year.

Maureen Dowd has multiple complaints. She’s miffed that the post-racial president’s attorney general is playing the race card and she too has had it on the spending and business-as-usual fronts:

In one of his disturbing spells of passivity, President Obama decided not to fight Congress and live up to his own no-earmark pledge from the campaign.
He’s been lecturing us on the need to prune away frills while the economy fizzles. He was slated to make a speech on “wasteful spending” on Wednesday.

“You know, there are times where you can afford to redecorate your house and there are times where you need to focus on rebuilding its foundation,” he said recently about the “hard choices” we must make. Yet he did not ask Congress to sacrifice and make hard choices; he let it do a lot of frivolous redecorating in its budget.
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Team Obama sounds hollow, chanting that “the status quo is not acceptable,” even while conceding that the president is accepting the status quo by signing a budget festooned with pork.

Obama spinners insist it was “a leftover budget.”
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This is the first pork-filled budget from a new president who promised to go through the budget “line by line” and cut pork.
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But given how angry Americans are, watching their future go up in smoke, the bloated bill counts as this year’s business.

It includes $38.4 million of earmarks sponsored or co-sponsored by President Obama’s labor secretary, Hilda Solis; $109 million Hillary Clinton signed on to; and $31.2 million in earmarks sought by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood with colleagues.

(Even Barack Obama was listed as one of the co-sponsors of a $7.7 million pet project for Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions until he got his name taken off last week.)

And then there are the 16 earmarks worth $8.5 million that Emanuel put into the bill when he was a congressman, including money for streets in Chicago suburbs and a Chicago planetarium.

Then there’s David Brooks who like Michael Douglas in Fatal Attraction, sounds like he is quite remorseful to have chosen the wrong date. Looking for a moderate, he wound up with a crazed leftist:

You wouldn’t know it some days, but there are moderates in this country — moderate conservatives, moderate liberals, just plain moderates. We sympathize with a lot of the things that President Obama is trying to do. We like his investments in education and energy innovation. We support health care reform that expands coverage while reducing costs.
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There is evidence of a party swept up in its own revolutionary fervor — caught up in the self-flattering belief that history has called upon it to solve all problems at once.

So programs are piled on top of each other and we wind up with a gargantuan $3.6 trillion budget. We end up with deficits that, when considered realistically, are $1 trillion a year and stretch as far as the eye can see.
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Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice.

And then there’s David Gergen who frets that not enough time is being spent on the economy (oh, that) and too much on an overly ambitious agenda. So he calls for a “course correction.”

Andrew Sullivan, back from his investigative work on the Sarah Palin pregnancy, has now discovered the fiscal conservatives have been had. Alas, his hopes for fiscal sobriety are being washed away in a spending spree worthy of a drunken sailor:

We are being presented with what can only be described as a massive increase in government spending and power with the only fiscal balance being wringing much more money from the successful. The president predicted a tight budget and spending control in his non-SOTU, and he appealed to fiscal conservatives by promising a long-term attack on entitlement spending. I see nothing here yet that fulfills that promise.
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All in all it is one dismayed and bitter group, filled with recriminations and a bit of self-flagellation.

They and the rest of the country are figuring out the bitter truth: Obama bears little resemblance to the moderate and soothing figure who tied up John McCain in knots. He bears even less resemblance to the Agent of Change. Rather he’s pretty much the Chicago pol who went to the Senate to be its most liberal member.

And for the wounded Obama supporters, we can offer just one bit of counsel: you have lots of company. There are trading floors filled with sympathetic souls and businesses filled with stunned executives. They didn’t get what they bargained for either. Just ask Jim Cramer. Oh yes, please do invite him to your sessions when he’s not busy with the “I lost my life’s savings” support group.
Reference Here>>

Even Chris Matthews of MSNBC is loosing that feeling he felt "running up and down his leg" and is taken aback at the level of spending this Presidency is putting forward and his lack of a commitment to a line by line review.

A proposed budget spending $3.6 Trillion dollars against a country that is running a total debt of between $10 and $11 Trillion dollars … a budget that is one-third of what we already owe ourselves and the world may actually begin to kill the chickens we wish to eat!

Our recovery from Obamamania is going to take way more ... than just “Twelve Steps”.

Obama's Empty Suit Advice To Investing In Stocks

Later, while sitting alongside Mr Brown in the Oval Office, Mr Obama said Britain's friendship to the US in Iraq and Afghanistan would not be forgotten. He added: "Great Britain is one of our closest and strongest allies and there is a link and bond there that will not break." The president was speaking after around an hour of talks which were dominated by the economy, with both men agreeing that improvements were needed to the regulation of the global banking system. Image & Video Credit: The Telegraph [click photo to launch]

Obama's Empty Suit Advice To Investing In Stocks

Would you buy a used car from this man?

This was a question asked during the Richard M. Nixon Presidency after it was found out that members of his administration were involved with the break in of the Democrat Party offices at the Watergate office complex in Washington DC. The incident caused Richard M. Nixon to step down in disgrace from the highest office in the land.

Largely on the liberal policies talked about and then implemented by the Barack Obama Administration, personal wealth has shrunk by nearly $3 Trillion dollars, and the stock market has dropped 3,000 points since he was elected on November 3, 2008. The stock market has dropped by 25% alone since Barack Obama assumed power, passed $787 Billion dollar Government expansion and spending bill, and introduced his budget proposal that called for increases in government intrusion into our every day lives totaling about $3 Trillion dollars.

Simply stated, President Barack Obama has passed or proposed spending that surpasses all government spending (when one adds it all up) from the time the first president took office 233 years ago until President Obama was sworn in.

Yesterday, Barack Obama met with the executive leader of England, Gordon Brown. During this meeting, Obama and Brown were in front of reporters and President Barack Obama was asked about the sudden and deep declines in the stock market.

After talking down the economy all during the time he has been waiting to assume the power of the office, then in six short weeks while in office, helps to ramrod through a spending bill and introduce a budget that expands Federal Government spending while penalizing free enterprize and promotes unemployment, Barack Obama decided to dispense some stock investing advice as the markets continued to TANK!

Economy TANKS and Barack Obama looks forward to Wednesday night party nights at the White House. Image Credit: Rush Limbaugh (2009)

This excerpted and edited from a transcript at the Rush Limbaugh radio show -

Obama to Stock Market: Drop Dead
TRANSCRIPT, Rush Limbaugh Show - March 3, 2009

RUSH: I said yesterday there was a CNN commentator out there who said over the weekend that he knows somebody that said Obama's speeches, they're like sex. They're better than sex. I can see how that's true. When Obama speaks, the American people get screwed. This morning in the Oval Office, Obama talking with Gordon Brown. Here is a portion of the conversation.

OBAMA: What I'm looking at is not the day-to-day gyrations of the stock market but the long-term, uh, ability for the United States and the entire world economy, uh, to regain its footing. Uh, and, y-y-you know, the stock market is sort of like a tracking poll in politics. It bobs up and down day to day, uh, and if you spend all your time worrying about that, you're probably going to get long-term strategy wrong.

[NOTE: a tracking poll does not directly relate to the money in one's retirement account or house value]

RUSH: Did you hear that? He said it's a tracking poll! It's like a tracking poll in politics. It's going to bubble up and down; you can't pay attention to tracking polls.

If it's a tracking poll, if that's what it is, you're in the tank, Mr. President. He's not concerned! Three trillion dollars of wealth has vanished since he was elected. The Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 3,000 points. He doesn't care!

He just said we're not looking at it. Day-to-day gyrations? How-about-month-to-month declines. There are no day-to-day gyrations to speak of here. There is just a steady decline. Besides he's gotta worry about the long-term ability, the US and the world economy to regain its footing.

The stock market happens to be where people who have skin in the game are located, and they're getting out. Here's another exchange Obama had with Gordon Brown.

OBAMA: What you're now seeing is profit and -- and earning ratios are -- are starting to to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you've got a long-term perspective on it.

Uhhh, I think that consumer confidence, as they see the American, uh, Recovery and Reinvestment Act taking root, uh, businesses are starting to see opportunities for investment, uh, and potential hiring.

RUSH: Really?

OBAMA: It's not going to happen overnight.

RUSH: No.

OBAMA: And my main message to the American people --

RUSH: Yes?

OBAMA: -- is to just recognize that, um, we dug a very deep hole for ourselves. There were a lot of bad decisions that were made. We are cleaning up that mess. Uh, It's going to be, sort of, uh, full of fits and starts in terms of getting the mess cleaned up, but it's going to get cleaned up.

RUSH: This is Obama distancing himself from his own economy, distancing himself from the failure of his own recovery plan, and dumping it on the Bush administration. We inherited everything! He's going to get away with this for a while, with a lot of Americans.
Reference Here>>

The truth is that many of Barack Obama's economic remedy plans (TARP) are a continuation of what President George W. Bush initiated. The people that President Barack Obama has appointed to fill his administration to carry through with his vision of how we dig ourselves out of the credit crisis are many of the same people Bush relied upon to manage what plans he put into play.

Would you buy a used car from this man?

Still?

Ahhhhh, NO!

Let’s Talk About Failure – Honestly

Rush Limbaugh speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference - Image Credit: MSNBC screen shot

Let’s Talk About Failure – Honestly

Over the weekend, there was a lot of talk about Rush Limbaugh and his stated desire for President Barack Obama to fail. Rahm Emmanual, Chuck Todd, even some recognized figures in the GOP hopped on the bandwagon, tying to make the comment out to be more than the comment really was … a defense of the constitution, free enterprise, and the personal freedom pursuit way of life that America is known for.

To be honest, the current leadership has a few wishes of failure of their own which they pursue but are not up front enough to state as clearly as Rush Limbaugh has in his proclamation.

The Democrat Political Party voted unanimously to saddle the American population to $787 Billion dollars in mostly pure government spending without reading the 1,100 page (up from 700) appropriations bill they passed (this should be unconstitutional). The final version of the bill was released at 11:00 pm ET and by 3:00 pm the very next day the Senate and House of Representatives approved the spending with only three Republican Senators joining 100% of the Congressional Democrats. The Democrats want our economy to fail. The only way to pay for this type of spending is to have the government print more money without any consideration for wealth creation. Democrats are not interested in wealth creation so as a defacto position … they want wealth creation to fail

The Democrat Political Party would want any balanced budget to fail, for with a balanced budget they would not be able to make the Government bigger and thereby, more intrusive into everyone’s life.

Last week, President Barack Obama submitted his budget plan for the next year’s budget and if all of the provisions in the budget were to pass, he would want charitable giving to fail, he would want to have the growth in the value of houses and the housing industry to fail, and he would want his plan to increase taxes on ONLY those who earn $250,000 dollars to fail because of the following:

1) Obama proposes to eliminate tax credits on money that is given by all individuals to charitable causes and churches. Effectively, this is also an increase in taxes to people who earn less than $250,000 dollars (I supposed he lied).

2) He proposes to eliminate or reduce the tax credit for interest paid on any home mortgage … in other words, one has to pay tax on interest paid on the home mortgage loan. This will have the effect of making the house worth less the moment it passes because the house costs more to own … it will basically make a four bedroom house become the value of a three bedroom house. This provision is also an increase in taxes to people who earn less than $250,000 dollars (I supposed he lied, again).

3) Lastly, Barack Obama placed a provision of raising fees and taxes on all energy producing commodities by $634 Billion dollars. So, if someone purchases gas for their car, lights their home with electricity, cooks their food with natural gas, heats their home with heating oil they will pay more for it because the Federal Government through the leadership provided by the Democrat Political Party headed by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid will increase the cost of these goods. Effectively, this is also an increase in taxes to people who earn less than $250,000 dollars. I suppose that Barack Obama just wants our way of life to fail.

Let’s be clear, Democrats that are in office and those who vote for them want to have our stock markets (the DOW is down to 6,813.63 / -249.30 / -3.53% / today at 10:00 am PT alone, and devalued over 50% since Obama was elected), Capitalism, small business, free enterprise, and personal freedom to FAIL!

Barack Obama has passed and proposed more Federal Government spending and socialism in six weeks than has ever been put in place in the 233 years that our country has been in existence.

The Obama Salute - A Social Engineering Orgy ... And We ALL Lose Our Freedom Of Choice! The Government owns what once was a limitless future and has capped opportunity to those who would have benefited from it the most. Image Credit: Bucksright.com


This excerpted and edited from the International Hearld Tribune -

Obama's budget plan sweeps away Reagan ideas
By David Leonhardt - Published: February 27, 2009

The budget that President Barack Obama proposed is nothing less than an attempt to end a three-decade era of economic policy dominated by the ideas of Ronald Reagan and his supporters.

The Obama budget - a bold, even radical departure from recent history, wrapped in bureaucratic formality and statistical tables - would sharply raise taxes on the rich, beyond where Bill Clinton had raised them.
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After Obama spent much of his first five weeks in office responding to the financial crisis, his budget effectively tried to reclaim momentum for the priorities on which he had campaigned.

His efforts would add to a budget deficit already swollen by Bush's policies and the recession, creating the largest deficit, relative to the size of the economy, since World War II. Erasing that deficit will require some tough choices - about further spending cuts and tax increases - that Obama avoided this past week.

But he nonetheless made choices.

He sought to eliminate some corporate subsidies, for health insurers, banks and agricultural companies, that economists have long criticized. He proposed putting a price on carbon, to slow global warming, and then refunding most of the revenue from that program through broad-based tax cuts. He called for roughly $100 billion a year in tax increases on the wealthy - mostly delayed until 2011, when the recession will presumably have ended.
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"The tax code will become more progressive, with relatively higher rates on the rich and relatively lower rates on the middle class and poor," said Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center in Washington.
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The details remain vague, but the budget begins paying for investments that would eventually allow Medicare officials to refuse to pay for medical treatment that does not show evidence of improving health. If successful, that change would vastly reduce the government's long-term budget deficit. It is also likely to bring down private health costs, because insurers typically follow Medicare's lead.
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There are still many outstanding questions about Obama's efforts, starting with whether Congress will pass a budget that looks anything like his. His proposals on health care are likely to meet stiff opposition from some doctors and insurers. Spending more money on financial aid - absent other changes to the education system - may not lift the graduation rate very much. And if the economy remains weak into next year, as many forecasters expect, congressional Republicans will try to blame the affluent for the looming tax increases.

Whatever happens, though, it has been a long time since any president has tried to use his budget to shape the government and the economy quite as much as Obama did on Thursday. On that score, he and Reagan have something in common.
Reference Here>>

If Barack Obama and the Democrat Political Party doesn’t want our existing economy and social structure of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to FAIL in the name of gaining even more oppressive power over our lives, they have a very funny way of showing it through their leadership.

We, at MAXINE, want these folks, and their agenda to FAIL so that the markets turnaround and grow, so that people have confidence in our economic structure again, so that small businesses can hire people because the owners who file personal income taxes of over $250,000 dollars will not be taxed into oblivion, and so that we all can make decisions about where we want to give our charitable contributions without being penalized for our giving.

This is a time in our country that is far worse than the trouble created by our 39th President, Jimmy Carter.

Stimulate This, Jimmy Carter

President Obama after meeting with, from left, National Economic Council Director Lawrence H. Summers, Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.). Image Credit: Bill O'leary/The Washington Post

Stimulate This, Jimmy Carter

The poor economic record of the Carter years ... and in particular, the unusual combination of high inflation and high unemployment ... was an important reason for Carter's loss of popularity and his 1980 defeat.

The 39th President of the United States has nothing on the potential for economic havoc that liberal federal government spending will have once the 44th President, Barack Obama, has his proposed $3.5 to $4 trillion dollar budget approved and placed into action.

The budget proposal released today is coming on the heels of the approval of $787 Billion dollars of tax monies to stimulate our economy ... the largest spending bill ever passed by our leaders in the U.S. Congress in the history of the United States.

Just to try to understand how much money of our citizen supported spending, the Government has approved on our behalf, after hearing that the next budget President Obama wants to have approved may spend about $4 Trillion dollars.

This all becomes a little inconceivable.

Example:

If one was to spend only $1,000,000 (that's one-million dollars) a day and intended to spend this money until one had spent $1,000,000,000,000 (one-trillion dollars), one would not finish until three (3) thousand years from now.

So, TIMES FOUR (4) – that’s a million dollars a day for twelve-thousand years!

There are only three-hundred million (300,000,000) men, women, ... and children who live in the United States – do the math.

The Obama Effect - This chart, showing the utter devastation Obama has wrought on the stock market, is from Investor's Business Daily.

This excerpted and edited from Commentary Magazine -

How Big Is Big?
Jennifer Rubin - 02.25.2009 - 7:07 PM

The spending numbers become meaningless after awhile. This helpful guide puts things in perspective:

$787 billion would buy 4.6 million homes here in the US at the most recent median price of $170,300 for January 2008.

$787 billion would send a check for $2,623 to every man, woman and child in the US.

$787 billion would fund 7.7 million four year scholarships to the average private university in the US at current tuition rates.

$787 billion would fund 30 million full four year scholarships to the nation’s public universities.

$787 billion would buy 27.7 million cars at the average price of an automobile sold last year in the US.

$787 billion would fund four full months of a tax holiday in the US.

This not only helps clarify how much we are spending, but how poorly we are allocating taxpayer dollars. If we actually did a couple of these things there might be broader support even among conservatives for the stimulus or the other spending projects Democrats have in mind. However, who thinks we’re going to get much value or immediate productive economic activity from the $787B?

You have the sense that, if they tried, they couldn’t spend the money in a more inefficient and less productive fashion. And you’d be right. The Democrats’ goal is to expand the public sector and pet liberal projects, not to worry about efficiency and productivity.They’re doing a fine job.
Reference Here>>

Then there is this little budget of $4 Trillion dollars and the claim that it will reduce the deficit by half.

This excerpted and edited from The Washington Post -

In President's Budget Plan, Broad Agenda and a Few Gaps
By Lori Montgomery, Washington Post Staff Writer - Thursday, February 26, 2009

President Obama's spending plan is built on the assumption that lawmakers can resolve some hugely contentious issues -- and it relies on a few well-worn budget tricks.

The request he will deliver to Congress today proposes to provide what administration officials are calling a "down payment" on a major expansion of health care coverage for the uninsured. It identifies $634 billion in tax increases and spending cuts to cover the cost of part of the program, but does not say how the administration hopes to raise the rest of the money -- hundreds of billions of dollars more. "TBD" has been penciled into categories for cost savings and benefit reductions.

Obama's budget also would make permanent a tax cut for the middle class enacted in the recent stimulus package. But to pay for it, the president counts on a big infusion of cash from a politically controversial cap-and-trade system, which would force companies to buy allowances to exceed pollution limits. Even if that plan is approved, some lawmakers have other ideas about how to spend the money.
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"They've painted the worst-case scenario in order to make it as easy as possible to improve on," said Maya MacGuineas, president of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, which champions deficit reduction. “But I'd like to see them go much further in terms of fiscal responsibility in actually closing that deficit gap."
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"It's a bold plan. This is big strokes. This is not a budget about little things," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of the House leadership.
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A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the budget has not been released, said the spending proposal is just a summary of a fleshed-out plan that will be complete in April. In addition, some details were intentionally left out of the document because the president did not want to dictate policy changes to lawmakers.

The health reform proposal, for example, "is the starting point of a conversation with Congress," the official said. "We're not going to go to Congress and say, 'Here's the plan.' We're starting a conversation and saying, 'This is what we want to get done.' "
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The deficit is perhaps the trickiest issue in Obama's spending plan. He has pledged to cut it in half by the end of his first term. Specifically, administration officials say the annual gap between federal spending and tax collections will fall from something north of $1.4 trillion this year -- the highest since World War II -- to $533 billion in 2013.

But Republicans and some budget analysts noted that this highly touted goal is not particularly ambitious: This year's budget deficit is bloated by spending on the stimulus package and various financial-sector bailouts, expenses unlikely to be repeated in future years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently predicted that the deficit could be halved by 2013 merely by winding down the war in Iraq and allowing some of the tax cuts enacted during the Bush administration to expire in 2011, as Obama has proposed. That alone would cut the deficit to $715 billion, according to the CBO.

"It's easy to cut the deficit in half after you've quadrupled it," said Brian Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "The end of the recession, the drawdown of Iraq spending and the end of temporary stimulus spending will by itself cut the deficit in half. He should do more."
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The official defended the administration's figures, saying they accurately represent recent war costs. "It's a change in our policy that is going to bring those costs down," the official said.

But several budget analysts criticized the speech as misleading.

"It's a hollow number," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, who recently withdrew as Obama's nominee to head the Commerce Department. "You're not getting savings if you're assuming spending that isn't actually going to occur."
Reference Here>>

Ahhhh! The benefits of Central Planning ... it took only 12 Five-Year Plans to bring down the Soviet Union. How long will it take to dismantle the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States (many say the freedom train has already left the station).

We, at MAXINE, believe this is Carter's Second Term ... on STEROIDS!!!

Lance Armstrong Dispatches "Syringe Man" On Palomar Mountain

Fans and photographers gather around Lance Armstrong (center, white cap) as he begins his first real competition of the 2009 season at the Amgen Tour of California. Image Credit: Dave Cynkin

Lance Armstrong Dispatches "Syringe Man" On Palomar Mountain

In the final stage of the Tour Of California 2009, Lance Armstrong pulled off a move that I suspect he (or any competitive cyclist) has been wanting to perform since he was taken down by a fan's lanyard grabbing his handlebar on an uphill stage in the sixth of his seven Tour de France wins.

Syringe Man as he was overtaken by the peloton in Stage 8 in the Tour of California. Image Credit: Diabo moderno

An exhibitionist fan dressed up in a black and yellow costume and carrying an apparatus that resembled two syringes on a stick (people have dubbed "Syringe Man"), was running along side of the peloton on snow covered Palomar Mountain. The man was alone and presented a hazard to the riders as they made their way up the mountain as he was alone and looking as if he were running in an unpredictable manner.

The grab! Image Credit: Diabo moderno


Syringe Man in snow bank. Image Credit: Diabo moderno

As the Peloton, led by Lance Armstrong's Astana Cycling Team team mates passed by the fan, Lance Armstrong helped "Syringe Man" out of the way and deposited him in a snowbank at the side of the road - hazard dispatched!

Syringe Man struggles to get up. Image Credit: Diabo moderno

This excerpted and edited from Amgen Tour Of California -

Herbalife Play by Play
Feb. 22, 2009 17:46:41

We saved the best for last at the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. Stage 8 was the Queen's stage, the most difficult of the race. It was a 96.8-mile pedal from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido, which was the first time the race has traveled to San Diego County.

The route included four California Travel & Tourism King of the Mountains climbs, none bigger than the fearsome Palomar Mountain, an above categorization climbs that peaks at 5123 feet, the highest summit ever reached in the Tour.

With two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer (AST) in the leader's tunic, an abundance of attacks were expected in a final effort to claim the yellow jersey. An early break was established, but eventually collapsed on Palomar Mountain where an elite group formed including Leipheimer and his closest rivals – David Zabriskie (GRM) and Michael Rogers (THR).

On the descent four riders formed a new move, which then slimmed down to duo consisting of Frank Schleck (SAX) and Vincenzo Nibali (LIQ). The pair made it over the final KOM climb of the race on the testing Cole Grade and motored towards the finish on the valley floor while the Astana-powered peloton kept the gap close to preserve Leipheimer's overall victory.

After rounding the final corner, Schleck made his move and pulled away for the stage win ahead of Nibali. George Hincapie (THR) won the pack gallop to claim 3rd place for the day.

The top three positions on the General Classification held up:
Leipheimer followed by Zabriskie (36 seconds) and Rogers (45 seconds).

Tonight Leipheimer celebrates his Amgen Tour of California three-peat and his Team Astana toasts the Team victory. After winning back-to-back stages earlier in the week, Mark Cavendish (THR) takes home the Herbalife Sprint jersey. Jason McCartney (SAX) climbed his way to the California Travel & Tourism King of the Mountains title. For the third consecutive year, Robert Gesink (RAB) leaves the Golden State with the Rabobank Best Young Rider jersey in his suitcase.
Reference Here>>

Let The Revolution Begin

Simpsons characters pictured in a mob revolt with tourches. Image Credit: The Simpsons

Let The Revolution Begin

It's ironic that Barack Obama, whose friends were disciples Saul Alinsky, an ardent social revolutionist, becomes president and sparks a revolution toward conservative American Values.

A revolt might be happening already and the signs of this revolt began yesterday. First in Arizona and Second on the floor of the stock exchange when a reporter for CNBC talked with people who work to invest money ... to make money for their clients and themselves.

The wake-up call is startling in that the mainstream media will not report the groundswell of reaction to the demonization of taxpaying, mortgage paying citizens who are cast a losers in this brand new Obamaworld ... Carter's Second Term.

Protests outside of Dobson Elementary School in Mesa, Arizona where President Barack Obama unveiled his mortgage bailout plan. Photo features "Swastika Guy" and "Hammer-and-Sickle Guy" in close proximity to Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin and Sen. Josh Penry. Image Credit: of ProgressNow Colorado

First, this excerpted and edited from the Arizona Republic -

Ask what the country CAN do for you
by E. J. Montini, The Arizona Republic - Feb. 19, 2009 12:00 AM

President Barack Obama came to ground zero in the foreclosure crisis on Wednesday and offered a mix of government assistance and personal responsibility.

To which a lot of folks in Arizona said: "Nice try, but we ain't buying it."

There's no need for a complicated analysis of Obama's speech.

We can sum up what the president said at Dobson High School in Mesa, as well as the reaction of many local residents, by using two quotes. The first is from Obama, the second from a reader of The Republic responding online to the president's remarks.

OBAMA: "So solving this crisis will require more than resources - it will require all of us to take responsibility.

"Government must take responsibility for setting rules of the road that are fair and fairly enforced.

"Banks and lenders must be held accountable for ending the practices that got us into this crisis in the first place.

"Individuals must take responsibility for their own actions.

"And all of us must learn to live within our means again."

READER: "What about stoops like me that still pay their payments on time and live within their means and didn't buy a pool or a Hummer? I deserve something, don't I?"

After all these years, we appear to have decided that John F. Kennedy was wrong and that we CAN ask what our country can do for us.

Or as another reader put it: "We should all just let our houses go and our jobs, then live off the government and let someone else pay for this turkey's 'stimulus'!"

Obama tried to make the case that we're in this mess together.
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One man responding to a blog I wrote for azcentral.com said, "Let's get this country back on track and stop the government from trying to be everything to everybody. The Constitution only guarantees 'life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness.' "

Another added, "So let's see if I understand - all of us who pay our debts and taxes now get to fund the rescue of homeowners who are upside down. Ummm. I can see a tax revolt forming in the near future."
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What might work is appealing to our self-interest.
Reference Here>>

CNBC's Rick Santelli, while broadcasting for “Squawk Box” on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, called for a referendum to see if we want to "subsidize losers' mortgages" or buy cars and houses in foreclosure and "give them to people who might actually prosper down the road." As traders cheered, he went on to say that we should "reward people that can carry the water instead of drink the water." [click-image to launch video] Image Credit: CNBC via lolfed.com

Second, this excerpted and edited from StreetInsider.com -

Rick Santelli - The Rant Heard 'Round the World'
February 19, 2009 12:24 PM EST

The rant heard 'round the world'. The Drudge Report is highlighting CNBC's Rick Santelli's rant on CNBC this morning ripping Obama's mortgage plan:

'The government is promoting bad behavior... do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages... This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage? President Obama are you listening? How about we all stop paying our mortgage! It's a moral hazard'...
Reference Here>>

Video Here

In this 44th Presidency of the United States, people who actually hold a long-term job, invest their money wisely, follow through with their monetary commitments are targeted and become losers (and those who behave in the opposite – Rewarded, with Government money transfer programs).

The economic model for all of this targeted upheaval is found in the principles of Keynesian Economics, a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes. The theory emphasizes the role of demand-side factors, as opposed to supply-side factors, in the determination of aggregate output.

In a nutshell, the value of money is placed not on wealth creation but dollar bill creation. The Government can choose to print the amount of money required to place the economy on a path that the Government feels is the correct path. This is as opposed to a free market determination which recognizes the free will of the consumer and the value of money that is placed in the popularity/supply of an item and the willingness for someone to pay the price someone else is willing to pay.

Even Vladimir Putin is warning the Obama Administration against the downside of a socialist economy stating that it was a “Five Year Plan” central planning Keynesian economic model that brought down the Russian Empire.

Image Credit: The Wall Street Journal Online

Putin Speaks at Davos
The Wall Street Journal - JANUARY 28, 2009, 2:29 P.M. ET

The following text is a transcript of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's speech at the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Good afternoon, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
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Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence is another possible mistake.

True, the state's increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent.

The concentration of surplus assets in the hands of the state is a negative aspect of anti-crisis measures in virtually every nation.

In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state's role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.

Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.

And one more point: anti-crisis measures should not escalate into financial populism and a refusal to implement responsible macroeconomic policies. The unjustified swelling of the budgetary deficit and the accumulation of public debts are just as destructive as adventurous stock-jobbing.
Reference Here>>

CONTEXT QUOTE:

Owners of capital will stimulate the working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable.

The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and the State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism.

Karl Marx, Das Kapital, 1867

An Open Letter To State Senator Abel Maldonado

Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, votes no as the Senate takes up the budget bills Sunday morning without success. Image Credit: Brian Baer/Sacramento Bee

An Open Letter To State Senator Abel Maldonado

Dear California State Senator Abel Maldonado:

Please show a Republican backbone, an Abe Lincoln (the one who abolished slavery - abusive taxes are slavery) backbone, a fiscal backbone, a Magan's Law type of backbone for ALL of the citizens of this fine state.

VOTE NO ON THE STATE BUDGET - NO ON ANY TAX INCREASES.

Thank you for your backbone - Living in Los Angeles, I do not have a Republican State Senator to speak for me ... so you are my only voice.

Regards,
Edmund Jenks
Managing Editor - MAXINE, Oblate Spheroid, Symblogogy
Feature Page Editor/Reporter - NowPublic
Blog Roll - Pajamas Media

"This will get done," Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg [pictured] told Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, who complained that the closed-door meetings were excluding the public. Image Credit: Carl Costas/Sacramento Bee

This excerpted and edited from the Sacramento Bee -

California lawmakers fail to pass budget deal
By Steve Wiegand and Dan Smith - Sacramento Bee - Monday, February 16, 2009

California legislators tried and failed for a second day Sunday to close a $40 billion hole in the state's budget, still one Republican vote short of approving a package that contains $14.3 billion in tax increases.

State Sen. Abel Maldonado, a moderate Republican from Santa Maria, indicated in an interview with The Bee that he was willing to consider casting the decisive vote if he was satisfied with the final version of the tax proposal.

"I'm very concerned with the tax package," said Maldonado, who early Sunday had been quoted as saying he was adamantly opposed to the tax hikes. "We're still working on that. Everything's fluid. I don't like tax increases. … let me just work on the tax issue. I'm working on that. I don't want my state to go off the cliff, OK? I don't want that."

Senate President Pro Tem, Darrell Steinberg, seated, talks with fellow democrats at 5:25 a.m. as they attempt to get the one Republican vote needed to pass the budget plan in the Senate. Behind him from the left, are Senators Mark Leno, D-San Francsico, Christine Kehoe , D-San Diego, Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro and Jenny Oropeza, D-Long Beach. Image Credit: Brian Baer/Sacramento Bee

Legislative leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sought to find a way to persuade Maldonado to vote for the tax bill.
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The Senate adjourned shortly thereafter, with plans to return at 11 a.m. today.

As all sides neared exhaustion, the delay was designed to allow Maldonado more time to mull over his choices.

"This will get done," Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Penn Valley, who complained that the closed-door meetings were excluding the public.
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I wish to God that you could deviate just a little bit," he told Aanestad, "just a little bit from your philosophy, from this endless mantra of no new revenue, no new revenue ever, and be participant and a partner with us in solving this problem."
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The key bills in the package, which has been hung up since Saturday, require two-thirds approval of both the Assembly and the state Senate.

That means at least three Republicans have to vote for those elements with the 51 Democrats in the Assembly, and three Republicans would have to do likewise with the 24 Democrats in the state Senate. Most Republican legislators have taken pledges never to raise taxes, and fear that doing so could lead to their defeat in GOP primaries.

Even so, legislative leaders had said the three GOP Assembly votes were there. The hang-up was that there were only two Republican senators – Senate GOP leader Dave Cogdill of Modesto and Sen. Roy Ashburn of Bakersfield – willing to vote for the package.

Another GOP senator, Dave Cox of Fair Oaks, was widely believed to be the 27th vote, but made it clear Sunday he would vote no.

The budget-balancing aspect of the package takes a three-pronged approach, with $14.3 billion in temporary tax increases, $15.1 billion in spending cuts and $11.4 billion in borrowing.
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The plan also relies on voter approval of five measures at a May 19 special election.

Voters would be asked to OK borrowing money from two voter-created special funds for mental health and children's health programs, changing constitutional language that covers lottery operations and school financing, and creating a spending cap.
Reference Here>>

The latter five measure conditions that require a vote by the public on May 19th are provisions that have been voted on by the citizens before - passing by 70% - and now this group of legislators will be asking all of us to overturn our vote on the use of these monies in the State Budget.

Why don't we all vote to end taxation slavery and get a whole new bunch of legislators who know how NOT to tax and spend.

Weird Joaquin … A Letterman Set Up?

Phoenix caused a flurry recently when he told a camera crew that he was done making films, over acting and planned instead to focus on his music. Attending a Paul Newman tribute, Phoenix's words with met with skepticism and many thought he was joking, but his publicist confirmed his plans to change career paths, saying, "That is what he told me." Wearing dark sunglass, Phoenix actively showed off his message to camera crews on the red carpet premiere of "Che" at the AFI Fest held at The Grauman's Chinese Theatre [November 2, 2008]. Held up to onlookers it read "BYE! GOOD," but message received. Caption & Image Credit: Huffington Post

Weird Joaquin … A Letterman Set Up?

Last night, Joaquin Phoenix sat down to be interviewed by David Letterman on his culture based night-time entertainment show and all David could do in the end is say, “My apologies to Farah Fawcett!”

The reference was meant to place this interview with Joaquin Phoenix as one of the least productive and weird ever to happen with David. He generally expects his interview guests to have a story or two to tell about the “Artistic” project they are on to promote. When Dave asks a question or two, a good guest would be off and running with a few antidotes made a little more interesting by questions from Dave Letterman, himself – that is the template.

Last night, Joaquin Phoenix decided to break the template and become less than engaging. He even has an uncomfortable exchange with Paul Shaffer, gets annoyed at the audience and won't even set up the clip from his movie "Two Lovers." That's before he takes the gum out of his mouth and sticks it to Letterman's desk.

Joaquin Phoenix on David Letterman's Late Night Talk Show [February 11, 2009] ... not talking too much. Click Image To Launch Video.

This appearance was soooooo off of the reservation as it relates to what is expected from a professional actor with the stature of Joaquin Phoenix one suspects that this appearance was, well, a set up.

A normal template style interview, with both parties engaged, would have probably been less interesting and buzz worthy about a love story movie (two people who meet in a New York Subway – how original) than what had actually happened.