The Daily Graphic: U.S. Money Base, 1959 – Present
From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Chart 1 is the straight graph. Chart 2 is the same data with periods of recession displayed as grey bars.
Chart 1:
Chart 2:
Transcript: DICK Cheney Interview with CNN’s John King – Cheney Says Obama Choices Create Risk
(Source: CNN)
Aired March 15, 2009 – 09:00 ET
JOHN KING, HOST: I’m John King, and this is our STATE OF THE UNION report for this Sunday, March 15th.
President Obama urges absolute confidence in the struggling economy, but can the country afford his ambitious plans? We’ll ask the former vice president, Dick Cheney, who joins us for his first television interview since leaving office.
Keeping the Blowhards on the Right Honest on Obama and the FDA
A second Sunday in a row working in the yard with WTVN-610 in the background. Between 12 and 3 p.m. on Sundays is a show called the Radio Deli with Dirk Thompson. Thompson is a Libertarian and is actually quite funny. When he’s not on the air he says he spends his week in his “sub-basement, wrapped in tin foil.”
There are a lot of things Dirk could be banging on Washington against but President Barack Obama’s bolstering of the federal Food and Drug Administration isn’t one of them.
Yesterday, Obama delivered his entire weekly address on food safety and the leadership of the FDA. Thompson railed for the final hour of his show today about several things, one of them being “more regulation” by the FDA. I would encourage Mr. Thompson to follow the link above and read what the president said. He didn’t say there were a bunch of new rules being written. The main thing he said was that we will increase the number of inspectors – a number that consumer advocates have said has been woefully inadequate for years.
Here are the three policy points the president made regarding FDA yesterday:
- Close a loophole in regulation which allows some diseased cows into the food supply.
- Modernize the FDA’s laboratories.
- Increase the number of inspectors out there looking for the likes of bad peanut butter and lead-tainted products from China.
Now reasonably, can anyone argue with this?
bin Laden with Nothing to Say Fans the Flames of Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Osama bin Laden is the classic Middle Eastern rhetorical pimp who trots out the extremists’ highest earner when there’s absolutely nothing else to say – Israel. Looking back over Sheikh Osama’s pronouncements through the years, the plight of the Palestinians was not on his radar until he began to use it like a slick American politician as a wedge issue.
From al-Jazeera today, reporting on bin Laden’s latest audio tape:
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, has said in an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera that some Arab leaders were “complicit” with Israel during its offensive in Gaza.
Bin Laden said in the tape aired on Saturday that Arab leaders were “hypocrites”, and that “liberating Jerusalem needed honest Arab leadership” to fight and liberate the Arab people.
“It has become clear that some Arab leaders were complicit with the crusade zionist alliance against our people. These are the leaders that America calls moderate,” bin Laden said.
New York Sends a Message to Idiots On Phones While Driving
From the New York Daily News:
New York City police issued a whopping 9,016 tickets during a 24-hour crackdown on phoning-while-driving.
Department spokesman Paul Browne says that compares to 500 on a typical day. The ticket blitz ended Friday. But the law is still the law. Get caught driving while using a hand held phone and you could be fined $120.
If you can drive with your phone and not be a retard, that would be O.K. But — how many times have you been behind someone going half the speed limit or driving somewhat erratically – you think they’re drunk – but no, just obliviously talking on their phone.
The Daily Graphic: Interactive Map – Where Do Immigrants Settle in U.S. – 1880 – 2000
This is probably the coolest interactive map I’ve found in a week or so. Located at the New York Times website, you can access it by clicking the screen grab below. You will be able to select a part of the world and see where people who were born there and moved to the U.S. settled. When you navigate over to the Times, you’ll find the map is much larger and with controls.
Drones on the Right Can Give It a Rest on Fairness Doctrine
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate passed an amendment on Thursday that would bar regulators from requiring broadcasters to give equal time to all points of view, a ban strongly supported by some Republican lawmakers.
The legislative amendment, sponsored by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina, would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from reimposing the so-called Fairness Doctrine to all broadcasters. It was repealed more than 20 years ago.
Aides to President Barack Obama have said he has no intention of trying to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, but that has not stopped some Republicans from raising the issue.
The Daily Graphic: Regional Look at Drops In Home Values
Click the Graphic for Larger Size
Uhh, Bobby, WTF is the point of this speech?
How about instead of monitoring volcanoes, I’ll just sit here and laugh my ass off at this hokey, pandering speech. You’re not done talking yet, and I’m absolutely sure you lost everyone with the Pee Wee Herman walk to the microphone. And, puhhleassse – those fools during Katrina stopped to call a bureaucrat before they went off on their rescue? Their mistake. WTF, Gov. Jindal?
Full Text: Gov. Bobby Jindal’s Response to President Obama’s Address to Congress
(Source: LA Times) (As Prepared for Delivery)
Good evening. I’m Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana.
Tonight, we witnessed a great moment in the history of our Republic. In the very chamber where Congress once voted to abolish slavery, our first African-American President stepped forward to address the state of our union. With his speech tonight, the President completed a redemptive journey that took our nation from Independence Hall . to Gettysburg . to the lunch counter . and now, finally, the Oval Office.
That Was NOT Pessimism Gov. Jindal
Earlier today, Gov. Bobby was gearing up for his big response to President Obama by saying Obama was pessimistic and his economic plans would lead us to ruin. I wonder if he’s furiously rewriting it now.
Full Text: Ohio House of Representatives, H.B. 1, State of Ohio Operating Budget, as introduced by Rep. Sykes
Click for Full Text of Ohio Budget Bill, As Introduced
WTF: Congress Passes Bill Banning Primates as Pets Even Quicker Than the Bank Bailout
From the Politico and the Humane Society:
WASHINGTON (Feb. 24, 2009) — Eight days after a chimpanzee kept as a pet attacked and critically injured a Connecticut woman, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Captive Primate Safety Act, H.R. 80, introduced by U.S. Reps. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., to stop interstate commerce in primates as pets. The bill passed by a vote of 323 to 95. The bill now moves for consideration to the U.S. Senate, where the effort to pass the legislation is being led by U.S. Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and David Vitter, R-La.
I mean haven’t we always had monkeys as pets? Pirates had monkeys on their ships, in the Great Depression there were monkeys with grind organs, and what about BJ and the Bear? It’s only funny until you lose a face.
Looks Like We Might Have a White House That Cares About Darfur
George Clooney visited with the President and Veep last night on his recent trip to Eastern Chad …
Obama Making Good on Quick Stimulus – Tells Governors Medicaid Help On The Way
President Obama talks to governors earlier today - AP Photo
$15 Billion in Medicaid Budget Relief for states will arrive on Wednesday
Ohio’s Take Over $500 million
Gov. Ted Strickland and the nation’s other governors were told today by President Barack Obama that by the time they get home from their meeting in Washington, D.C., Medicaid relief funds will be available to their states.
Obama said that $15 billion in Medicaid funds will be available to help ease state budgets by Wednesday. Ohio’s amount of relief comes to $500,169,636, according to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.
Medicaid relief was part of the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the so-called economic stimulus bill.
Republicans have said that money to stabilize state budgets, such as Medicaid relief, is not stimulus. However, in many states the largest portion of the budget is related to programs like Medicaid. Small hospitals, doctors and community service providers rely on Medicaid funds in order to provide services. Without Medicaid funding relief, many working poor would have only emergency rooms as a health care option. This is the most expensive care and a deluge of charity cases could break some health care providers. Medicaid relief keeps services viable and ensures hospitals, doctors and community service providers will not have to cut staff.
In part, Obama told the governors today:
By the time most of you get home; money will be waiting to help 20 million vulnerable Americans in your states keep their health care coverage,” he told a gathering of the nation’s governors in the State Dining Room of the White House. “Children with asthma will be able to breathe easier, seniors won’t need to fear losing their doctors, and pregnant women with limited means won’t have to worry about the health of their babies.
