Vancouver Secrets

The Pelosi Speech That Doomed America

photo credit: Steve Rhodes

Here’s the speech that cost America 1 trillion… Nancy played the politics card and now we pay.

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor this afternoon in support the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Below are her remarks, as prepared:

“Madam Speaker, when was the last time someone asked you for $700 billion?

“It is a number that is staggering, but tells us only the costs of the Bush Administration’s failed economic policies—policies built on budgetary recklessness, on an anything goes mentality, with no regulation, no supervision, and no discipline in the system.

“Democrats believe in the free market, which can and does create jobs, wealth, and capital, but left to its own devices it has created chaos.

“That chaos is the dismal picture painted by Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke a week and a half ago in the Capitol. As they pointed out, we confront a crisis of historic magnitude that has the ability to do serious injury not simply to our economy, but to the American people: not just to Wall Street, but to everyday Americans on Main Street.

“It is our responsibility today, to help avert that catastrophic outcome.

“Let us be clear: This is a crisis caused on Wall Street. But it is a crisis that reaches to Main Street in every city and town of the United States.

“It is a crisis that freezes credit, causes families to lose their homes, cripples small businesses, and makes it harder to find jobs.

“It is a crisis that never had to happen. It is now the duty of every Member of this body to recognize that the failure to act responsibly, with full protections for the American taxpayer, would compound the damage already done to the financial security of millions of American families.

“Over the past several days, we have worked with our Republican colleagues to fashion an alternative to the original plan of the Bush Administration.

Blah, blah, blah…

“With passage of this legislation today, we can begin the difficult job of turning our economy around, of helping those who depend on a growing economy and stable financial institutions for a secure retirement, for the education of their children, for jobs and small business credit.

“Today we must act for those Americans, for Main Street, and we must act now, with the bipartisan spirit of cooperation which allowed us to fashion this legislation.

“This not enough. We are also working to restore our nation’s economic strength by passing a new economic recovery stimulus package—a robust, job creating bill—that will help Americans struggling with high prices, get our economy back on track, and renew the American Dream.

“Today, we will act to avert this crisis, but informed by our experience of the past eight years with the failed economic leadership that has left us left capable of meeting the challenges of the future.

“We choose a different path. In the new year, with a new Congress and a new president, we will break free with a failed past and take America in a New Direction to a better future.”

This is the speech that doomed the US market and is going to bring a world of pain to all of us. All because she had to try to cover the Dems tracks on this mess…

When the Americans come to realize that the Democrats are responsible for creating this mess, and then put the knife into the back of the markets today, they’ll be rewarded.

This wasn’t the time to play kindergarden politics, but Nancy can’t help it – this is the fabric of the Democrats.

Unfortunately, we are now set on a path that is sure to be disastrous to everyone worldwide – thanks to a congress that enjoys about 8% approval.

For more insight into how the Democrats cause this mess – here a good recap..

Obama As Elitist Hailed

Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

Obama’s image is now cemented and this video discusses how Obama’s elitist portrayal is changing things for black Americans.

Layton: Let’s Collapse The Canadian Economy

photo credit

In a move to appeal to the chronically unemployed, single moms, and anyone still grasping onto Karl Marx, Jack Layton has decided that it’s a good idea to increase taxes on companies and to give another $400/month to those with kids.

Although it has initial appeal to those wanting something for free – it amazes me that he would think that Canadians can’t see where their paychecks come from.

Tax a company and immediately that company will need to adjust its cost base – lay off some of those workers.

But that’s OK – we have a great EI program to look after you – and if you have a kid, add another $400 to your monthly income.

Layton should take a day off and read the news… it’s the worst possible time to increase spending or taxes.

We aren’t so easily fooled.

How The Dems Caused A Meltdown

How mainstream banks became predatory lenders.

Here’s a great video outlining how the US got into the collapse of the century.

It’s about 10 minutes, well worth the time if you really want to understand how it came to be.

Coquihalla Tolls No More

photo credit: bRONTE dIGITAL

In a very surprising move, Premier Gordon Campbell announced Friday that the tolls on the Coquihalla Highway will be removed immediately.

The 186-kilometre highway, opened on May 16, 1986, running between Hope and Kamloops. The Coquihalla Connector, opened in 1990, created a route directly to Kelowna.

The route was credited with kickstarting an economic boom in the Okanagan and the rest of B.C.’s Southern Interior at the dawn of Expo 86 by significantly reducing driving time to the Lower Mainland, although it was frequently closed due to heavy snow and avalanches.

With the highway nearly paid for, it was time for the toll booths to come down.

“In 2003, our government passed a policy clearly stating that any infrastructure financed by toll revenue must see the tolls removed upon recovery of construction costs,” said Infrastructure Minister Kevin Falcon.

The ministry said 3.4 million trips are completed on the Coquihalla system each year, including 2.7 million trips by passenger vehicles and 700,000 trips by commercial trucks.

I think this may be a first anywhere – I can’t recall a toll ever being removed. It sets a great precedent for encouraging new road and bridge construction through tolls.

Just in time for the ski season.

Left Wing Speech Police

Another sign that the Dems have lost it – truth squads??

Let’s define truth Barry… yours or ours?

The good news is that the Lissouri Gov. isn’t standing for it.

Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement

JEFFERSON CITY – Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.

“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights.  The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.

“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family.  Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility.  When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts – not a free society.”

You have to wonder what they’ll come up with next.

Funding The Green Party

photo credit: Lili Vieira de Carvalho

By Alina Abbot

One of the big obstacles that the Green Party will face in the next election is that of the strategic voters. Those people who share our values and agree with our policies, but who are swayed by the scare tactics of the big parties that claim “If you don’t vote for us, then THEY will get in!” as they point their fingers at the other big parties.

Here are some arguments to help persuade the strategic voters to cast their vote with the Greens:

1. Casting a vote for one of the big parties tells them that you approve of their policies and political games. You get one valuable vote, something that people around the world are willing to die for. When you use it to support a party you don’t really believe in, they still will make the assumption that you used your valuable vote to support what you believe. “Canadians have spoken!” was the cry heard from many Conservatives after the last election, even though 63.7% of Canadian voters chose someone other than the Conservatives. Every vote cast for the Green Party sends a message that Green values and policies are important. Every vote cast for the Green Party will cause the big parties to raise their eyebrows and think “Hmm, maybe Canadians really DO want something other than our policies!”

2. The parties that receive over 2% of the national vote get $1.75 per vote cast from taxpayers. When you cast a vote for a party, you are not only saying that you approve of their values, but you give them your $1.75 to support their policies and future campaigns. This translated into about $9.4 M for the Conservatives in the last election, and only about $1M for the Green Party. If you support Green values, why not also support them with your tax dollars? Your funding will be available to lobby the government in power to support Green policies, even if your Green Party candidate does not win the seat.

3. The electoral districts (ridings) that receive 10% or more of their local vote receive 50% of their campaign spending back from the taxpayers. This means that your vote not only counts for the present election, but also puts support behind that party for the NEXT election! The Green Party did make it past 10% in some ridings, but most ridings fell short. If the strategic voters had cast their votes with the Greens in the last election, then there would be more funding available in many ridings to get out the all-important message that the Green Party has values that are worth supporting.

4. With the rise of the Green Party in the polls, and the increasing interest in environmental and economic sustainability, it is highly probable that the Green Party will edge out the other parties in a number of ridings in the next election. For some ridings, it will be the choices made by the strategic voters that tip the balance for or against the Greens. For those Canadians who really want to see change in the next election, the best strategy will be to vote Green.

Perhaps the next election will have the big parties waving their fingers at the Green Party candidates, exclaiming, “Vote for us, or else THEY’LL get in!” Hopefully, Canadian voters will hear this, and say, “Really? Then I’M voting GREEN!”

Alina Abbott
Candidate nominee
Chatham-Kent-Essex

Confirms that they know they can’t win, but need to target ridings they can get more than 10% of the vote.

This may explain their non-compete with the Liberals.

Wrecking-ball Harper

photo credit: mrhappy

The Canadian Press now rivals AP as far as yellow journalism.

So bad they didn’t include the writer’s name.

Here’s a heading of one of their articles:

Wrecking-ball Harper accuses Liberals of being anti-Alberta, pro-recession

Plus you have to love the first paragraph:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused the opposition Liberals of cheering for a recession and of attacking Alberta in one of his most incendiary broadsides yet of the election campaign.

You can read the whole thing here.

I wonder who they are cheering for…

FDR Lengthened The Great Depression

photo credit: pingnews.com

One of the new Liberal key talking points is that FDR oversaw the Great Depression – Obama and Biden have repeatedly stated this. The implication is that the left can steer us through this financial crisis.

The truth is that FDR actually extended the great depression by 7 years.

From UCLA:

Two UCLA economists say they have figured out why the Great Depression dragged on for almost 15 years, and they blame a suspect previously thought to be beyond reproach: President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

After scrutinizing Roosevelt’s record for four years, Harold L. Cole and Lee E. Ohanian conclude in a new study that New Deal policies signed into law 71 years ago thwarted economic recovery for seven long years.

“Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump,” said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA’s Department of Economics. “We found that a relapse isn’t likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies.”

Sounds awfully close to what is happening now.

When you hear praise of FDR’s New Deal, be wary.

Substitute Obama for Roosevelt…

From A New Deal
Roosevelt’s Obama’s task in the fall campaign was a relatively simple one: avoid doing anything to alarm the electorate while allowing Hoover’s Bush’s enormous unpopularity to drive voters to the Democrats. He traveled extensively giving speeches filled with sunny generalities; he was perpetually genial; and he continued to criticize Hoover’ Bush for failing to balance the budget and for expanding the bureaucracy. But he only occasionally gave indications of his own increasingly progressive agenda. On one such occasion, at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, he outlined in general terms a new set of government responsibilities: for an “enlightened administration” to help the economy revive, to distribute “wealth and products more equitably,” and to provide “everyone an avenue to possess himself of a portion of that plenty sufficient for his needs, through his own work.”

The rest is history.

When 9/11 Truthers Attack

I just about peed my pants… Stephane Dion’s logic escapes me and common sense.

He uses the Jewish congress as a defense to a Liberal candidate’s anti-semitic views and 9/11.

The Liberal party at its worst. And he lost this one again – got rid of the candidate.

A hat tip to Lepolitico

Economists Warn Another Market Close To Collapse

Economists Warn Anti-Bush Merchandise Market Close To Collapse

You’ve been warned…

Ho-Hum… America’s Largest Bank Failure

photo credit: James Callan

With barely a whimper, WaMu is no more. It also is the largest bank failure in US history.

As they say, it’s not over till it’s over. I’d bet on more to follow in the next couple of weeks.

By the end of 2009, about 100 U.S. banks with collective assets of more than $800 billion will fail, predicts Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics, a Torrance, California-based firm that sells its analysis of FDIC data to investors.

“It’s not going to be Armageddon,” says Mark Vaughan, a financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Virginia and a senior lecturer in economics at Washington University in St. Louis. “But it’s going to be bad.”

From August 2007 to September 2008, banks worldwide wrote down more than $500 billion. Regional banks, by contrast, have waited to write off their bad mortgages, hoping the housing market would improve and defaults would level off.

Instead, they’ve risen.

Unfortunately, we’re only starting to hear the the bad news.

From Yahoo Finance:

Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, was closed by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was named receiver.

The bailout came after the thrift suffered deposit outflows of $16.7 billion since September 15, the OTS said.

“With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business,” the OTS said.

The transaction ends exactly 119 years of independence for Washington Mutual, whose predecessor was incorporated on September 25, 1889.

It also follows more than a week of sale talks in which Washington Mutual attracted interest from several suitors.

Washington Mutual’s roughly $227 billion book of real estate loans put the thrift at the top of the critical list of U.S. lenders, analysts said. More than half of this portfolio was in home equity loans and in adjustable-rate mortgages and subprime mortgages that are now considered risky.

Laugh of The Day Brought To You By The Green Party

photo credit: shapeshift

Priceless stuff.  When you have no chance of being elected you may as well shoot for the stars.

From the Green Party Site

The Green party has the best economic policies to deal with an economic downturn (or crisis). Marc Lee is a Senior Economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and chairs the Progressive Economics Forum: “Most good fiscal policy recommendations have started with the notion of getting money quickly into the hands of those who will spend all of it. In the short-run it would primarily work through EI, but one could also imagine souping up the GST credit, the Canada Child Tax Benefit and Old Age Pensions, not to mention provincial welfare systems.

That’s a great idea – encourage EI and entitlements.

- Fund a national housing program in order to build energy-efficient co-ops and affordable green housing units, and reorient Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation programs in order to provide credit and loan guarantees to non-profit housing organizations and cooperatives for building and restoring quality, energy-efficient housing for seniors, special needs, and low income families.

Sounds like all the makings of a Canadian sub-prime crisis.

- The Green Party commitment to provide massive funds to build public transit and bikeways will have a similar economic effect, a renewal of the economy, jobs, and real change to address climate change seriously. Another win-win-win solution!

With the warmer climate we’ll all be able to bike every day.

- Another Green Party solution to an economic downturn is our Guaranteed Livable Income (GLI) Policy. Poor people, homeless people can not participate in democratic decision making or economic activity when they have to worry where they will sleep at night or where their next meal will come from. The GLI would be set regionally above the poverty line. Combined with free public transit passes, it could eliminate poverty and allow social services to concentrate on problems of mental health and addiction. People would be much better equipped and mobile to participate in the economy and in their democratic responsibilities as citizens.

WOW. A new welfare system to generate voters for the party.

-Our flexible federally funded universal childcare program including workplace child care will also contribute to democratic and economic renewal, making it easier for many working Canadians to use mass transit. These policies demonstrate the comprehensive and ecological (integrated and relational) approach of the Green Party to both economic and democratic renewal.

How does childcare link with public transit? What’s with the economic and democratic renewal through childcare spending…

This all nuts really – and attracts Canadians looking for more handouts.

This from a Ms. May who calls Canadians “stupid”

I’m left wondering how long it will be before Layton drops some of this crap into the NDP platform.

Beware Of The Latest Scam

photo credit: just

Got this in my email today:

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction.

After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Found at Little Green Footballs

Another Lie: Funding Cuts To The Arts

photo credit: kk+

The issue of the day, brought to you by the NDP and Liberals, that’s an outright lie.

From the National Post:

For the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2009, Parliament has voted to spend more than $4 billion on cultural programs, including the CBC, the Canada Arts Council, the National Gallery of Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage. That amount is $660 million or 19.7 per cent more than was spent in fiscal 2006, the last year when the Liberals controlled the purse strings.

Overall program spending during that same period is up 18.6 per cent. In other words, Conservatives have boosted spending on arts programs faster than they have boosted overall government spending.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for example, will receive $1.1 billion from the Tories this year, an increase of $133 million or 13.5 per cent compared to the last year under the Liberals.

Kory Teneycke, the top spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper, explains:

“The public reaction out there – you’d think we’d shut down the arts. That’s not the case,” said Teneycke. “This was not about less money for the arts. It about having government programs that are meeting their objectives. We’re committed to cancelling programs that are boondoggles.”

Now that the issue has been brought to the voter’s attention, it’s about time someone looked into the funding of groups that are questionable at best – and maybe question why arts funding has increased.

Liberal Logic

photo credit: ultra

Watching Stephane Dion on the news today… couldn’t believe his logic.

He blames Harper for the debt problem because he cut the GST. “For people to get benefit of this cut, they needed to spend, and now we have this mess.”

So cutting the GST caused people to overspend… unbelievable.

And all along I thought I was saving money.

More gems..

Speaking to the Georgia Strait:

“Like today when he insulted the artists and when he said that he wants to put the 14-year-old kids in jail for the rest of their lives….And then to increase the number of our people in jail in Canada by 5,000 people and he has not a penny to pay for it. That means that our jails will be more crowded than ever. And when these people will get out of jail, they will be more brutal than ever. The rate of recidivism will go up, and we will not be safer. We know that because it is what happened in some states….And he wants to import it because he is a dangerous ideologue.”

Dione Wishing Harper Would Do The Same

photo credit: Wigwam Jones

A sign that this financial meltdown is very serious…

“John McCain has suspended his campaign effective tomorrow morning and will return to Washington, D.C.

McCain has also requested that the Debate Commission postpone the Foreign Policy debate.

McCain says he must return to the Senate to help work out the details of the “bail-out” legislation. He has asked Senator Barack Obama to follow his lead and return to his duties in the Senate.

In making this decision, McCain states that it appears that the Paulson plan will not pass through the legislature. He states that this issue is an emergency that requires immediate action and it is more important than the Presidential race.

No word yet from the Obama campaign.”

Let’s see what Obama does, and if he will actually return and vote on the package.

“Present” doesn’t count.