A burly union thug stopped his car and waded into a group of peaceful protesters standing on the sidewalk this past Tuesday. The North Carolina Tea Party Patriots were gathered outside the Greensboro office of Rep. Mel Watt (D-N.C.) with their homemade signs opposing further government bailouts. Taking his cue from Obama’s mandate to “get in their face”, labor goon Governor Spencer shoved a woman three times, and slugged her husband in the face when he intervened.
The victim, Nathan Tabor, who is a business owner and head of the Forsyth County Republican Party, voluntarily traveled to police headquarters. Spencer was detained by police, and astonishingly, both Spencer AND Tabor were charged.
The incident was videotaped, and posted on YouTube, but as Big Journalismreports:
The video, which could be used in any possible criminal proceedings, has already been taken down at least once by You Tube for a “terms of service” violation.
We’re inserting a second YouTube posting here, but who knows how long that will last?
Governor Spencer is a union organizer, a socialist and a black liberation activist. Spencer led the Greensboro K-Mart protests of 1995 and mobilized families, communities, and “the Pulpit Forum of Greensboro, a coalition of progressive clergy, to commit acts of civil disobedience.”
Word Worlddescribes Spencer as “a veteran labor organizer.” And in the book The Miner’s Canary, Spencer’s union organizing efforts are described as “Enlisting Race to Resist Hierarchy.”
As Big Governmentnotes, this isn’t the first incident of Obama-inspired union violence against the tea partiers:
Tea Party activists in Tampa and St. Louis were beaten by left wing activists earlier this year. Add Greensboro to that list. This week, a group of local citizens in North Carolina protesting the Financial Reform bill and the Durbin BP Bailout amendment were accosted and then physically attacked by a left-wing activist who blamed George Bush for America’s ills.
We have elected a president who has no class, and now he and his Democratic party cronies are motivating a racially charged class war in our society — all for their own political gain, to keep their “plantation blacks” aroused. Shame on them!
Sixteen percent of Americans are actually out of work, according to Atlanta Federal Reserve chief Dennis Lockhart. That figure compares with the official July jobless rate reported by the government as 9.4 percent.
Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce in Chattanooga, Tennessee on Wednesday, Lockhart explained the discrepancy:
The real US unemployment rate is 16 percent if persons who have dropped out of the labor pool and those working less than they would like are counted, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday.
“If one considers the people who would like a job but have stopped looking — so-called discouraged workers — and those who are working fewer hours than they want, the unemployment rate would move from the official 9.4 percent to 16 percent, said Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart.
Sean Hannity reports:
The situation may be even worse than the estimate by Lockhart, according to our own research. The U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the unemployment rate each month based on interviews with 60,000 households including 110,000 individuals (out of a population of 307,297,404 at the time of this writing). These folk respond to interviews with “2,200 highly trained and experienced Census Bureau employees.”
As a result of a fixed set of questions, the respondents are divided into three groups:
People with jobs are employed.
People who are jobless, looking for jobs, and available for work are unemployed.
People who are neither employed nor unemployed are not in the labor force.
Those “not in the labor force” include all children under sixteen, adults attending school, homemakers, retired persons, those institutionalized in prisons or asylums, and the incapacitated.
Certainly there is wiggle room in estimates extrapolated from small sample size, especially in the hands of politically motivated bureaucrats who are in a position to “massage the data.” Moreover, the survey counts everyone who helped a few hours in a family business without pay as employed. And what even Lockhart has not taken into account is the fact that the census does not distinguish foreigners with legal status and illegal aliens, a demographic that is “in country” specifically for jobs. The percentage of deserving United States citizens who are unemployed is obviously higher than even the 16% figure, when employed aliens are subtracted from the mix.
Add to this these facts:
Our population is on average aging, with the number of retired persons increasing and the proportion of workers decreasing.
Our national debt obligations (to China and others) are growing exponentially from interest owed.
Our national debt is growing in an unpredictable way from the government spending spree into the incalculable trillions.
Productivity and tax revenues are overall declining.
One must conclude that our feckless government has plunged the nation into an almost inescapable downward economic spiral.
The government will have to borrow nearly 50 cents for every dollar it spends this year, exploding the record federal deficit past $1.8 trillion under new White House estimates.
Budget office figures released Monday would add $89 billion to the 2009 red ink — increasing it to more than four times last year’s all-time high as the government hands out billions more than expected for people who have lost jobs and takes in less tax revenue from people and companies making less money.
The unprecedented deficit figures flow from the deep recession, the Wall Street bailout and the cost of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus bill — as well as a seemingly embedded structural imbalance between what the government spends and what it takes in….
In simple terms, the US government will borrow half of what it spends this year and the next! What’s wrong with that? We have never been here before. “Hope and change” is navigating in uncharted waters!
As estimated by CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation, the President’s proposals would add $4.8 trillion to the baseline deficits over the 2010–2019 period.
CBO projects that if those proposals were enacted, the deficit would total $1.8 trillion (13 percent of GDP) in 2009 and $1.4 trillion (10 percent of GDP) in 2010.
It would decline to about 4 percent of GDP by 2012 and remain between 4 percent and 6 percent of GDP through 2019.
How can you sustain that? You can’t!
Something has to give. It won’t be pretty! Get ready for high interest rates and inflation! Also, get ready for those “taxes on the rich” that will somehow hit the middle class!
Listen to British economist and Fox News analyst Stuart Varney explain:
This animated cartoon-style musical revue by Newday’s Walt Handelsman will give you a lighter moment of reprieve from contemplating the horrifying slide into socialism being engineered by the Obama administration:
General Motors is hosting 500 clients at a luxury Arizona spa with taxpayers’ money. The Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa features these amenities:
…two 18-hole Troon-managed golf courses, the Aji Spa, a 17,500 square foot spa with 17 treatment rooms, the Koli Equestrian Center for riding lessons, trail rides and outdoor events, … tennis courts and jogging trails…. …four pools with cascading waterfalls and a 111-foot waterslide modeling the ancient Casa Grande Ruins … [a] 2-1/2 mile replica of the Gila River that meanders through the resort grounds with scenic boat rides to shuttle guests to the Whirlwind Golf Club and nearby Wild Horse Pass Casino…. a 17,376 square foot ballroom and an abundance of scenic outdoor venues.
Some relevant data:
GM took $15.4 billion in bailout money in the past six months, without which it would have failed earlier
What is wrong with this picture? Back on April 20, when he was making nice with public opinion to get bailout favor, GM North America President Troy Clarke said:
In these unprecedented times, GM is reinventing every aspect of our business, including our organizational size and structure, to create a lean and agile company…
Well, not quite “every aspect” as it turns out. GM’s annual “spa days” are beyond the reach of the budget cutting knife. One wonders how the newly jobless auto workers feel, as they spend their summer looking for work, about the fat cats lapping it up in Arizona. Or how the average American taxpayer feels, eating hot dogs on a budget vacation in the family camper, about the opulent poolside barbeques where the big wigs will be feasting.
“Beats” being a relative term of the amount of red ink, of course. Oddly, the New York Times and the AP neglected to mention this rather notable occurance, but BizzyBlog did the work that American journalists apparently won’t — research. For the first time in 80 years, Ford outsold GM, bringing in a topline number of $24.8 billion in sales, against the bailed-out automaker’s $22.4 billion…
At last count, more than 800 tea parties were held around the United States to protest our federal government’s irresponsible spending. Most observers agree that this is the largest spontaneous grassroots movement that has ever occurred in our country. The mainstream media either did not cover the events, or did so sparingly or in a derogatory manner, sealing both their brand as a liberal mouthpiece and their irrelevance.
From St. Paul, Minnesota:
American Daughter editorial writer Steve Haas writes:
There were close to 5000 people at the Minnesota State House to protest the government’s program of taxing and spending. You can see the photos here.
American Daughter editorial writer Allan Erickson was a speaker. He writes:
In our little town of Newberg (population 20,000) we had about 100 people turn out to listen to a couple of speeches and wave flags and banners while motorists blared their horns in support.
Our message was simple and straightforward, a message everyone seemed to support: This is not a Democrat or Republican deal, this is massive citizen activism expressing anger at the federal government especially for their efforts to take all power and concentrate it in Washington….
Allan writes the GOODNESS WORLD LIFE BLOG. Read more of Allan’s post about this rally here. You can read the full text of Allan’s speech here.
From Baltimore, Maryland:
American Daughter contributor Jim Simpson was the keynote speaker. He writes:
I just spoke at Baltimore’s Tea Party. The local ABC affiliate was there but I didn’t see any cameras and they sure didn’t interview me. It was raining hard, and they only organized it about two weeks ago, but there were about 300 people there I would guess and they were stoked! …. I don’t know if anyone else was inspired, but I felt electrified. I have never felt so alive. It was fun.
Originally scheduled for Lake Anne Village Center Plaza, the Tea Pary had to be moved to Baron Cameron Park due to larger than expected turnout, according to organizer John Grigsby. John writes:
Consider that:
It took nearly 200 years before total federal spending topped $1 trillion (in 1987). In 2002, 15 years later, spending exceeded $2 trillion. By most indications, it will have taken less than half that time — seven years — to break the $3 trillion mark. (Source: NTU.org)
Our Federal Government has a $11+ Trillion Debt (Source: NTU.org)
There were 11,610 Federal projects, at a cost of $17.2 billion, in FY 2008, identified as “pork” by Citizens Against Government Waste (Source: 2008 CAGW Pigbook)
They came by the hundreds filling up Niagara Square on this Tax deadline day to say they’re fed with all the taxes they’re paying.
Buffalo organizers are Rus Thompson, whose blog is Albany’s Insanity, Laurie Kostrzewski and Alan Coniglio. Watch the local television coverage of the Buffalo rally:
Over at Free Republic, there is a message thread where folk from all over the country are posting the totals from their tea parties. So far:
Melbourne, Florida – 1000
Boise, Idaho – 2500
Longview, Texas – 1000
Tyler, Texas – 1400
Morristown, New Jersey – 1500 (at 12:30 PM)
Denver, Colorado – 5500
Austin, Texas – 1000 Other reports put Austin between 3k and 5k.
Myrtle Beach, SC – 600 to 800 Correction, the news is saying “thousands”…..that’s a great thing!!!
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – 3000
Local radio in San Antonio estimated the Alamo Plaza crowd at 15,000, 45 minutes before the rally officially began.
Durango, Colorado 250-275
At least 2000 in Fort Collins, Colorado
Duluth Mn – Paper reports 700. I think more like 1000. For one thing people were coming and going the whole time. If you counted the people who spent SOME time there I bet it was more like 1200.
Ocala, FL – 1,000
Madison Wisconsin – 8000 people according to the Capitol Police
Local Nashville TN radio host (WLAC), Steve Gill, … said that those who know these things estimated 10,000.
San Jose CA First Tea Party about 200 from noon-3. There is a second tea party at 5pm.
We just got back from our rally in the state capitol of Washington state (Olympia). We are guessing a couple thousand, maybe three thousand were in attendance. My friend who works at the capitol said they haven’t seen a bigger crowd.
Moscow Idaho 400+ Small town USA
Appleton, Wisconsin is expecting up to 2,000
Flemington NJ Tea Party about 750 in attendance.
Salt Lake City at the Federal Bldg. in the mid 30s and snowing. I originally estimated at least 1000, but I was at the back and to one side. Andyman was more centrally located in the crowd. His estimate is 3000.
I attended one in Eustis FL today… My guess would be about 400 people. Maybe more. And this is a small town.
Carson City, Nevada…radio station reports 2,000.
Bellevue, Washington about 1,000
Grand Rapids, Mich. – I would put the number at 3000 easy, and that may be an undercount. The turnout was huge, with people coming in the whole time.
Philadelphia, PA – I estimated 700 at 1:00p but many people were stopping by for brief periods which suggests that possibly 1,000 atended.
Suburbs of Seattle, WA: Renton approx 100 and Issaquah reports of 200+
Paris, Texas reported at 300-400.
Providence, RI somewhere north of 2000.
Greenville, NC – approx. 200
Palm Desert, CA – guesstimate a good 2000
Jefferson City, MO at the capital. A couple of hundred people at 3:00 when it kicked off
Jacksonville, FL – 1500, the news said 1000 but it sure seemed way more
Santa Rosa California had about 200-300+
Currituck County (NC) Courthouse steps at Noon – 200+
Pasquotank County (NC) Courthouse at 5:30PM – 200+ in windy, cold drizzle.
Santa Ana, CA – At least 1500 40 minutes into a 2 hour event. I am assuming the sum total for the total event to be closer to 3000 or more.
Mobile, AL – 1000
Dockweiler Beach, Los Angeles CA – 2500
Jasper, Indiana – 150
Tucson, AZ reporting 2500 – 3000.
Clarksburg, WV – VA Park from 12:00 – 1:00. Approximately 300 people.
Willoughby, OH – 50-75
Eastlake, OH – 30-50
Bangor, Maine paper states 300 real count around 350 -450
Fort Payne Alabama… 200+ Huge for a small town of less than 13k at midday (when most folks work).
Sacramento, CA; 10-15K
Nashville – 10,000
Cottonwood, Arizona 300 or more one hour rally at Noon
Indianapolis: Around 1,000 on a COLD and blustery afternoon.
Rural Ohio Dairy Hut: 50 people. Think about that and all the small towns everywhere that did this, rain or shine.
Lansing, MI — Park Service at the Capitol reports 5,000.
Memphis, 3000!
2000+ in Las Vegas, Nevada at the corner of Eastern and Sunset from noon till about three.
Hendersonville, Tennessee – 1,500 and they are still arriving
San Antonio says 9000-10,000 in attendance.
Cincinnati, Ohio — ~ 5000
Deland, FL – 500-1000
Alabama rallies:
Montgomery – 500 (WSFA-TV)
Wetumpka – 200
Mobile – 2000
Auburn – 500
Ft. Payne – 250
Florence – no numbers yet
Huntsville – no numbers yet (estimated in the thousands)
Birmingham – tbd.
South East Texas/Beaumont, Tx. at about 5:15 approx 7-800, with more still walking in, Amazing for this area (D)..
Roswell, GA (North Fulton and Friends Tea Party) – local news estimate 300.
Cincinnati, Ohio — ~ 5000
Nauvoo Il. pop 1000. there were between 60 and 70 people in attendance. No broken windows or cars over turned but we did say the pledge of allegiance and sang the national anthem. Just ordinary folks no politicians.
Winchester, VA — 350
Huntington, West Virgina – 100 people.
Chicago, Federal Plaza overflowing, cold and windy, probably 4,000-5,000.
Chicago, Land of Lincoln who freed the slaves and Land of Obama who enslaved the free: 5000 per the lady cop who I asked, estimate.
Estes Park, CO – 300
Roanoke, VA 500-750
Grand Rapids Michigan tea party had at least 3000.
Palm Desert, California – around 2000
Temecula, SoCal – Estimated group size was 1000 people or more.
Eustis, Florida – 1,500
Elko, Nevada – estimate….100
Cleveland, Ohio estimated 5,000 by Channel 8 news.
Wausau, WI – 150-200 people (estimate — could definitely be more people).
Chattanooga, TN. – 800 – 1000. Cold and windy but a great crowd.
Colorado Springs reporting 1,000 tax protesters.
Huntsville, AL – Police estimate 2,300 people
Virginia Beach, VA – 2000
Poplar Bluff, MO – 250-275
Knoxville, TN – I would say conservatively 1,500 – 2,000.
Austin TX. 11:30am Tea Party….1500-2000
Austin TX. 4:00pm-7:00pm Tea Party….?????
Morristown, NJ – 1,000 to 1,200 people, possibly as many as 1,500 to 2,000.
Jacksonville, FL estimating thousands.
Edenton, North Carolina(pop. 5900) – 400 to 500. Weather cool and damp.
Amarillo, Texas – 300 to 400 at the courthouse at noon. There’s another going on now at the main post office.
All over the country, people are posting their Tea Party photos online. Here are some:
Although this was the largest series of demonstrations in our country’s history, it was also the most orderly. There were no incidences of vandalism. Crowds included young and old, Republicans and Democrats and all sorts of independents. Children came with their parents and grandparents. Watching these events unfold all day gives some hope that there is still enough citizen involvement and awareness to save our country.
Updated: How Many People Attended Yesterday’s Tax Day Tea Parties?
From Adam Radman on Friday, April 17, 2009 9:39 AM
ATR is working to compile an accurate number of how many people attended Tax Day Tea Parties yesterday. So far, we’ve tallied up 208 Tea Parties with roughly 271,941 attendees. I encourage anyone who attended a Tea Party yesterday that isn’t include in this post to leave your numbers in the comment section below. This project will be continually updated as best as we can.
An estimated 1 million Americans participated in at least 1,000 tea parties, according to reports by organizers tabulating the nationwide numbers, with documented protests held in 50 states.
All across America on April 15, outraged American taxpayers will protest Barack Hussein Obama’s profligate waste of hundreds of billions of OUR MONEY. There will be marches on city halls, speeches in public forums, and wherever there is a river, a bay, or a harbor there will be a “tea party.” Also on April 15, individual taxpayers will mail bags of tea to the White House.
The idea only got started a month ago, when CNBC reporter Rick Santelli spoke from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday, February 19. Talking about the public wrath over the waste of the so-called “stimulus” money, he called for a “Chicago Tea Party” and the trading floor erupted in cheers (see video). Within days, cities around the country were holding impromptu tea parties.
In San Diego, political activist Chad Peace used MeetUp.com to organize a local group. His announcement quickly drew a large membership:
The Boston Tea Party was an act of direct protest by American Colonists demanding representation in the British Government. They became known as the original patriots.
The San Diego Tea Party of 2009 and Tea Parties all across America will reinvigorate that American and Patriotic spirit; one that demands respect for individual rights and property. As the bailouts spiral out of control, we are forced to fund failed banks. With foreclosures on the rise, we are made the collateral of reckless spending. And, when the bills come due, the IRS knocks on the door of “self-responsibility.”
ENOUGH!
America is the land of opportunity. To succeed AND to Fail. Without consequences, what is our incentive to learn? What is our incentive to produce? On July 4, 2009, those that ask nothing from the government but the protection of our inalienable right to succeed, will gather in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and many other cities across this great nation in an historic act of direct protest.
But Chad did more than just organize San Diego. He formed a political action committee called Political Exploration and Awareness Committee PAC (PEAC PAC) and created a website to coordinate news of tea parties across the country. His website, ReTeaParty.com, is now grassroots central for the tea party movement. There is an interactive map of the United States — you can click on your state and find out what activism is available to you in your own area.
Recently Chad was interviewed by Griff Jenkins of Fox News Channel concerning the bailouts, stimulus and the tea parties popping up all over the country. Here’s a clip:
The organizer is Rus Thompson, a true blue conservative taxpayer advocate active in western New York politics whose ancestors came to America on the Mayflower. Here’s the harbor:
And here’s a map:
Hey, this sounds like a terrific Saturday outing. For our readers who live in western New York, leave an RSVP for Rus in the comments section and make plans to attend. If it is a brisk March day on the waterfront in Buffalo, we recommend that after the tea party you go to Santasiero’s Restaurant on Niagara Street for dinner. My husband used to go there with his parents when he was a kid, and twenty-some years later he and I used to take our kids there for a Saturday night out. That was over forty years ago, and I’m told that the place is still terrific. If you need some convincing, check out this dinner for under $10:
American International Group (AIG), the world’s largest insurance company, purchased favor on Capitol Hill with over $9 million in campaign contributions to federal candidates during the past 20 years. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, received more than $280,000, making AIG his fourth largest contributor. So from the start his perspective for doing his Senate job was tainted. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, got $91,000, making AIG his largest contributor. So much for the other Senate contribution to oversight. So the two senators charged with protecting the public interest were co-opted by the very firm they were supposed to be watching.
Pricey Vacation ($440 thousand)
Then AIG got into trouble, and in mid-September last year the government gave them $85 billion of OUR MONEY. (More was added later, for a total so far of $173.3 billion.) Unchastened by their dismal performance, the AIG employees promptly blew $440,000 of the taxpayer funds on a fancy corporate retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, California.
These funds were spent on Sept. 22, a week after the Federal Reserve extended an $85 billion emergency loan to AIG to keep it from going bankrupt due to insurance liabilities. According to the receipt from the St. Regis, the eight-day company retreat was a lavish one — $139,000 was spent on hotel rooms, while even more money — $147,301 — was spent on banquets. Another $23,380 was spent on undisclosed spa treatments and another $6,939 was spent on golf. A full $9,980 was spent on room service and food and cocktails at the hotel lounge.
Unsanctioned Payments To “Trading Partners” ($120 billion)
Next, AIG distributed over $120 billion of the money intended to improve the economic climate in the United States to other private businesses, banks, and municipalities, both in the US and abroad. European firms Société Générale SA and Deutsche Bank each received nearly $12 billion.
After calls for more transparency, AIG disclosed Sunday that roughly two-thirds of the $173.3 billion in federal aid it received has been paid out to trading partners such as banks and municipalities in the U.S. and abroad…. There are political risks to the disclosures, notably the fact that taxpayer dollars are essentially passing through AIG to make whole private businesses and foreign banks.
Then, as if the political bribery, personal indulgence, and unsanctioned largesse to other agencies were not egregious enough, AIG payed huge bonuses and retention stipends to the very employees who did such a lousy job.
On Sunday, new criticism emerged about $450 million in bonuses paid to employees of AIG’s Financial Products unit, which made a series of bets on credit default swap contracts that drove $40.5 billion in losses last year….
The payments at AIG’s financial-products unit are in addition to $121.5 million in incentive bonuses for 2008 that AIG will start making this month to about 6,400 of its roughly 116,000 employees. Separately, AIG is also making $619 million in retention payments to 4,200 employees.
Together, the three programs could result in roughly $1.2 billion in retention and bonus payments to AIG employees. At least some individual employees are receiving millions of dollars — at the financial-products unit, for instance, seven employees will get more than $3 million for 2008, according to an AIG document.
Troubled insurer American International Group Inc., now 80% owned by U.S. taxpayers, spent the weekend deflecting mounting criticism of how government funds have been funneled to various banks and used to pay employee bonuses at the business unit that almost sank the company.
The inept government agencies that engendered this debacle immediately began scrambling to appear on the side of the just.
SPIN METER: Cue the Washington outrage
For months, the Obama administration and members of Congress have known that insurance giant AIG was getting ready to pay huge bonuses while living off government bailouts. It wasn’t until the money was flowing and news was trickling out to the public that official Washington rose up in anger… Why the sudden furor, just weeks after Barack Obama’s team paid out $30 billion in additional aid to the company?
Speaking with CNN on Tuesday, Senator Christopher Dodd disclaimed knowledge of the bonus loophole in the AIG bailout agreement. But the original draft had contained a clause that prevented the bonus payout, and Dodd had been involved in rewriting it to permit bonuses, a fact which gave the lie to his claims of innocence. When confronted with this discrepancy by CNN reporters on Wednesday, Dodd tried to gloss over his misrepresentation:
In an apparent change of his position, U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd said Wednesday that he was aware of changes in legislation for a loophole that allowed highly controversial bonuses for AIG, the embattled insurance company that has received federal bailout money.
In a live interview on CNN, Dodd said, “I agreed reluctantly. I was changing the amendment because others were insistent.”
Previously, Dodd had said he was not a member of the conference committee that crafted the final version of the highly complicated bill. But he had come under strong fire from Republicans and others as the person who was involved in what CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer had called a “mysterious loophole” in the legislation.
When Blitzer asked Dodd what had changed in his understanding between Tuesday and Wednesday, Dodd replied, “Going back and reviewing it. … I apologize if we had some confusion.”
More interesting than Dodd’s getting caught in his own two-version story is the fact that, in his discomfiture, he blurted out the choice morsel that the “administration” had directed that the bonuses be allowed. So now reporters are frantically “working their sources” to determine whether Dodd meant socialist Obama or tax cheat Geithner.
Likely Casualties
Obama appeared guilty. Instead of facing reporters in Washington, he quickly made a trip to California to appear at a couple of town-hall meetings. There he could be photographed against a backqround of cheering liberals, doing what he does best, spouting campaign rhetoric.
Before leaving, Obama uttered that famous phrase that presidents use just before throwing someone under the bus to cover their own sins:
In response to a reporter’s question, Obama said that he had “complete confidence” in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner….
The total number of registered voters in Connecticut is 2,097,635. The largest group of registered voters in Connecticut is unaffiliated, accounting for 883,274 voters. There are 779,784 registered Democrats and 427,020 registered Republicans.
Dodd Under Fire For Legislation Behind AIG Bonuses
A mini-firestorm exploded Wednesday over U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd’s role in legislation regarding the huge bonuses at AIG, the highly controversial insurance giant that is receiving about $170 billion in federal bailout money….
As Blame Game Deepens, AIG Outrage Could Give GOP Electoral Opening
After two straight electoral drubbings, Republicans finally might have found a path to the soul of the voters: AIG.
The GOP tried to harness taxpayer outrage last month when Congress was debating a stimulus package five times bigger than the first one. But the package passed, and Democrats’ poll numbers only increased.
Voter outrage could be more consolidated this time, following revelations that bailed-out American International Group paid $165 million in bonuses to employees at a rogue financial unit.
Christopher Dodd’s Earlier Sins
Of course, this comes on the heels of the Countrywide loan scandal, in which Dodd refinanced two mortgages with Countrywide under much-lower-than-average rates at the same time he was pushing favorable legislation for them in the Senate.
There’s more. Real estate partners William Kessinger and Edward R. Downe Jr. are friends of Chris Dodd. In 1993 Downe (guilty as sin) was convicted of insider trading and ordered to pay the SEC $11 million. When Dodd found an Irish cottage that he wanted but could not afford in 1994, Kessinger shared the purchase with Dodd, making two-thirds of the down payment. In repayment, Dodd obtained a presidential pardon for Downe from Bill Clinton. Rental covered the mortgage payment, and years later, when the property had appreciated substantially, Dodd refinanced with an Irish bank and payed back Kessinger two-thirds of a much earlier lower appraisal, making a tidy profit. From the Hartford Courant — Dodd’s ‘Cottage’: A Cozy Purchase:
In 2001, Dodd did the favor of a lifetime for his pal, Downe. The veteran senator circumvented the normal Department of Justice vetting process and got Downe a full pardon from President Bill Clinton on his last day in office. Dodd initiated the pardon request and included in his two-page letter to Clinton the tidbit that he speaks to Downe nearly every day.
Barack Hussein Obama has committed 40% of our Gross Domestic Product to government spending. That is socialism.
The researchers at The Patriotic Resistance have put together the following graphic presentation to show the increase in government spending since 1947 as a fraction of the GDP. For the last sixty years, government has represented between fifteen and twenty percent of our nation’s effort. Obama has swiftly taken action to double it during his first two years in office, from 20% GDP to almost 40% GDP:
In a previous article, we described several organizations that are fighting this runaway spending by our out-of-control government. We recommend joining The Patriotic Resistance and lending weight to their voice on Capitol Hill.
You can also sign their petition to stop the spending — go here.
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Union Thug Attacks Tea Party Protesters
From St. Paul, Minnesota:
