It Was Never About Cowboy Diplomacy

The left loved to claim that the European failure to commit more NATO troops to the Afghan operation in support of the US under NATO alliance commitments was the result of President Bush's cowboy diplomacy.

That was always a naive and foolish position, because the Europeans had let their military capabilities slide and simply didn't have the troops to commit, especially for a military operation.

Now, the stark reality is that even President Obama, whom the media portrayed as the great savior of transatlantic relations, can't do any better than President Bush did.

All that Obama has to show for his meetings with European leaders is a couple hundred troops.

Gordon Brown was the only one to offer substantial help. He offered to send several hundred extra British soldiers to provide security during the August election, but even that fell short of the thousands of combat troops that the US was hoping to prise from the Prime Minister.
Related Links

* Alliance for Liberty

* Obama dazzles Europe with campaigning style

* Brown under fire over Afghan troop numbers

Multimedia

* PICTURES: Nato summit

Just two other allies made firm offers of troops. Belgium offered to send 35 military trainers and Spain offered 12. Mr Obama’s host, Nicolas Sarkozy, refused his request.

The derisory response threatened to tarnish Mr Obama’s European tour, which yesterday included a spellbinding performance in Strasbourg in which he offered the world a vision of a future free of nuclear weapons.

Mr Obama – who has pledged 21,000 more troops to combat the growing insurgency and is under pressure from generals to supply up to 10,000 more – used the eve of Nato’s 60th anniversary summit to declare bluntly that it was time for allies to do their share. “Europe should not simply expect the United States to shoulder that burden alone,” he said. “This is a joint problem it requires a joint effort.”

He said that failing to support the US surge would leave Europe open to a fresh terrorist offensive. “It is probably more likely that al-Qaeda would be able to launch a serious terrorist attack on Europe than on the United States because of proximity,” he said.

The presidential charm offensive failed to move fellow Nato countries. President Sarkozy told Mr Obama that France would not be sending reinforcements to bolster its existing force northeast of Kabul.

These troops aren't even for combat roles, but to support and train Afghan troops. They're not going to be used to fight the Taliban and al Qaeda.

NATO's European members ought to be reconsidering their security and defense expenditures, because the failure to send more troops is indicative of a much larger problem. More than 60 years of relying on the US to provide security has atrophied European military capabilities, and now that the US is requesting assistance on a mission that has global and European import, the Europeans are coming up seriously long on rhetoric and short on commitment.

This ISN'T The Death Blow to the Peace Process

Settlements were never the death knell or the stumbling block to a peace agreement between Israel and its enemies. It didn't stop the Israel-Egypt peace process from resulting in a comprehensive peace deal. It didn't stop the Israel-Jordan peace agreement either.

Yet, there are those who think that settlements are the key stumbling block.

According to reports in the Israeli media, the area has been earmarked for development under a secret accord between Binyamin Netanyahu, the new, conservative Israeli Prime Minister, and his ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman.

Better known under its old British mandate name, E1, it is the most controversial development project in the region, one that diplomats and observers warn will trigger the collapse of the weakened Palestinian Authority, or drive it into armed resistance again.

They couldn't be more hopelessly wrong.

Settlements are just housing. They could house anyone. People can, and have, been moved from communities to make way for peace deals.

Israel did that when they abandoned communities in the Sinai as a direct result of the Camp David peace deal.

Israel also removed Israelis living in Gaza communities as part of the Gaza disengagement, leaving Gazans in full control of Gaza for the first time in their history (prior to 1967, Gaza was under Egyptian control and was never part of an independent state).

No, the death blow to the peace process is the Arab and Islamic reaction to Israel's existence. They still seek it's destruction and are unwilling to peacefully coexist with Israel. These are not partners for peace. They are proponents of continuing war against Israel until such time as Israel is destroyed.

Palestinian courts call for the death penalty for Palestinians who sell land to Israelis. Hamas celebrates the murder of an Israeli kid at the hands of a Palestinian axe murderer. Hizbullah and Syria and Iran call for Israel to return the Golan Heights or face war.

No, the construction of a new Israeli community in Jerusalem will be used as an excuse to violence that has been ongoing since Israel came into existence. It will be yet another excuse for rocket attacks and other terror attacks on Israelis. It is, however, not the stumbling block to peace.

Palestinian refusal to accept Israel's existence is the stumbling block. The media and diplomats are always looking at Israel's actions as being stumbling blocks and demand Israeli concessions to spark the peace process, all while ignoring Palestinian attacks and the religious and social and political calls by Palestinian leaders to destroy Israel. It is ingrained in the Palestinian polity that Israel must be destroyed. It is ingrained in the religious and theological underpinning of Hamas that Israel must be destroyed. If it is the religious obligation to destroy Israel, how exactly does that permit such people to make peace with Israel?

It does not.

This has been a conflict that is more than a thousand years in the making, and diplomats wishing away key factors will not bring about peace. Blaming the construction of a community does not address the real source of the conflict. It's time that the diplomats and pundits and media do.

UPDATE:
This is a blow to the peace process. It's another day, and another terrorist attack against Israel.

Several hours after IDF soldiers killed two Palestinian terrorists who were trying to plant a bomb along the Gaza border fence, Border Police forces killed a terrorist who tried to carry out a shooting attack at their base in the Negev on Saturday afternoon.

At approximately 2 p.m. Saturday, a Palestinian woman armed with a rifle arrived at the Border Police base near the Shoket Junction between Beersehba and Arad, and opened fire at the soldiers.

The soldiers returned fire and managed to kill the terrorist. No soldiers were wounded in the incident.

Meanwhile, the UN decided to put a Jewish judge in charge of investigating Israeli "war crimes" in Gaza. Gee, that'll work. Instead of investigating Hamas terrorist war crimes, the evidence of which is abundant, they're going after Israel and hope that putting a Jewish judge will somehow diffuse the fact that it's a witch hunt against Jews. Nice.

Binghamton Massacre; The Day After and Picking Up the Pieces

There are still more questions than answers over why the gunman, Jivery Voong, killed 13 people at the American Civic Association offices in Binghamton, New York.

One person who claims to know the motive is none other than Taliban terrorist leader Baitullah Mehsud. He claims that this was a terrorist attack done at his behest.

U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment about Mehsud's claim, Reuters reported, and one Pakistani security analyst dismissed the claim as a publicity stunt.

Representative Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, told the New York Times that indications are the gunman was an immigrant from Vietnam.

Mehsud's claim comes as a suspected U.S. drone fired two missiles at an alleged militant hide-out Saturday in northwestern Pakistan, killing 13 people.

The U.S. is suspected of carrying out more than three dozen such strikes over the past year in Pakistan near the Afghan border, where militants often launch attacks against U.S. and NATO troops. The drone attacks have caused tension with the Pakistani government, which frequently complains about the U.S. carrying out strikes on its territory.

Let's just say I'm highly skeptical of Mehsud's claim. There's no evidence that Mehsud's group has a reach beyond the Afghan-Pakistani border region. It's far more likely that he's trying to expand the visibility of his group and spread fear.

It's also not the first time that terrorist groups have tried to claim responsibility for the acts of others.

What we do know is that Voong was laid off from IBM the day before and that he apparently had two registered handguns, and a 9mm and a 45 caliber were recovered at the scene, while a rifle case was removed from Voong's residence in Johnson City.

However, the motive for why he chose this particular target remains a mystery.

There are also reports that the police, who arrived on the scene within two minutes, waited an hour before entering the building. I'm not going to question the police actions without more information since they were trying to ascertain a developing situation that may have included a hostage situation.

Condolences and statements from politicians have come in, including statements by President Obama, Vice President Biden, and New York Governor David Paterson. Gov. Paterson's statement, however, takes the prize for being the most historically illiterate, as he states that this is the worst crime in the history of the state.

And now here in Binghamton we probably have the worst tragedy and senseless crime in the history of this state. When are we going to be able to curb the kind of violence that is so fraught and so rapid that we can’t even keep track of the incidents?

Apparently Gov. Paterson forgets the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, or the 1993 WTC bombing, which killed six and wounded more than 1,000 people.

Rick Moran notes that the commentary and punditry surrounding this mass murder could be swapped out for the commentary and punditry from any prior such mass murder. Just how much can be said about seemingly senseless murder.

UPDATE:
Apparently Voong (Wong) didn't like it that people made fun of his limited capacity to speak English, but that still doesn't explain everything:

Jiverly Wong was upset over losing his job at a vacuum plant, didn't like people picking on him for his limited English and once angrily told a co-worker, "America sucks."

It remains unclear exactly why the Vietnamese immigrant strapped on a bulletproof vest, barged in on a citizenship class and killed 13 people and himself, but the police chief says he knows one thing for sure: "He must have been a coward."

Jiverly Wong had apparently been preparing for a gun battle with police but changed course and decided to turn the gun on himself when he heard sirens approaching, Chief Joseph Zikuski said Saturday.

"He had a lot of ammunition on him, so thank God before more lives were lost, he decided to do that," the chief said.

Police and Wong's acquaintances portrayed him as an angry, troubled 41-year-old man who struggled with drugs and job loss and perhaps blamed his adopted country for his troubles. His rampage "was not a surprise" to those who knew him, Zikuski said.

"He felt degraded because people were apparently making fun of his poor English speaking," the chief said.

Wong, who used the alias Jiverly Voong, believed people close to him were making fun of him for his poor English language skills, the chief said.

He was troubled and angry for a long time, so it is possible that his firing from a job at IBM was the precipitating act.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Doled Out Big Buck Bonuses

Where's the outrage over this? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae together issued more than $200 million in bonuses, despite both entities being at the center of the real estate market meltdown and subsequent credit market crisis.

Congress and the Administration were more than willing to plunder those who were entitled to executive compensation and retention pay in the form of bonuses for AIG and other TARP recipients, but they specifically excluded Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, despite the clear problems in management at both entities.

Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plan to pay more than $210 million in bonuses through next year to give workers the incentive to stay in their jobs at the government-controlled companies.

The retention awards for more than 7,600 employees were disclosed in a letter from the companies' regulator released Friday by Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. The companies paid out nearly $51 million last year, are scheduled to make $146 million in payments this year and $13 million in 2010.

"It's hard to see any common sense in management decisions that award hundreds of millions in bonuses when their organizations lost more than $100 billion in a year," Grassley said in a statement. "It's an insult that the bonuses were made with an infusion of cash from taxpayers."

Fannie and Freddie declined to comment on Friday. Fannie had disclosed that it plans to pay four top executives at least $1 million each in retention payments that run through February. Freddie has yet to report on which executives are in line for the awards.

The two companies, hobbled by skyrocketing loan defaults, were seized by regulators last fall and operate under close federal oversight with new chief executives installed by the government. Since the takeover, Fannie Mae has received $15 billion in federal aid, while Freddie Mac has received nearly $45 billion.

If those entities were treated like others receiving bailouts, those executives would be hit with the confiscatory taxes. However, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae get favorable treatment from Congress and the Administration. Something stinks rotten.

Audacious Stupidity by Bill Keller

Bill Keller is the editor of the New York Times. This nitwit has the audacity to claim that the dire fiscal situation of the Times (whose stock price is on life support and the company has most of its value since Keller took over), is in the same ballpark as a campaign to save Darfur refugees.

Leave it to the New York Times editor to make that comparison.

NEW York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller equated the Gray Lady to a PBS pledge drive, claiming readers have offered to donate money to keep the Times alive.

Keller was speaking at Stanford University to dedicate a new building for the campus newspaper -- an event he likened to a "ribbon-cutting" for "a new Pontiac dealership."

The bombastic broadsheet editor went on to equate the keep-the-Times-alive movement to the cause of starving African refugees, saying, "Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause."

Keller said he had little use for Web sites like Google and Drudge Report: "If you're inclined to trust Google as your source for news -- Google yourself."

Keller's comments come as the Times sat down with the Newspaper Guild Wednesday in their first serious bargaining session to figure out how to extract $4.5 million in savings from the newspaper company's unionized workforce.

Well, given the way that newspapers are folding all over the country and that General Motors is on the verge of bankruptcy, Keller's comparison between the opening of the new newspaper and a Pontiac dealership is an apt on. Both aren't likely to survive given the business climate.

Comparing saving the newspaper to the Darfur situation is audacious stupidity, although one notes that for all the talk about saving Darfur refugees, few on the left are willing to put US military power on the line to insure that Darfur refugees are actually saved. It's all so much lip service, and if the Times is relying on the same kind of campaign to save the paper, he's much dumber than he lets on since the money is harder to come by these days.

The Times can't afford its newspaper publishing business, and its value is derived more from one-shot leasing deals for its Manhattan headquarters building than for the revenue derived from selling leftist newsprint.

UPDATE:
Hot Air notes that Keller fired off an email to clarify his statement, and attacks those who read it as a literal equivocation between Darfur and saving newspapers:

“I think it’s pretty obviously a reflection of my mild astonishment at the earnest fervor with which some people have suddenly embraced the cause of saving newspapers,” Keller wrote. “That’s matched only by my mild astonishment at the silly literal-mindedness with which some people read my occasional public comments.”

Funny, but I don't hear too many people calling for newspaper bailouts other than newspaper people themselves. Many bloggers are more than comfortable letting papers die, even if it means they lose the very reporting that provides plenty of blogging fodder.

What's silly is that someone who is supposedly so precise with words as an editor of the New York Times could be so imprecise so as to garner the response he now derides.

Developing: Shooting At Binghamton NY American Civic Ass'n Building; UPDATE: 15 Killed; 26 Injured

Details are still coming in, but a number of people have been shot and dozens of hostages appear to be inside the American Civic Association building in Binghamnton, New York.

Four people left the building with hands on their hands. Police were searching some of them.

Four people have been taken to hospitals. The Binghamton and Broome County SWAT teams are on the scene, along with a negotiator.

The SWAT team is getting ready to re-enter the building. The shooter is still inside, police said.

There were reportedly 41 hostages in the building -- 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room.

Family members of the hostages and victims are gathering at Catholic Charities at 290 Front St. in Binghamton, police said.

At least two ambulances from the scene have arrived at Wilson Regional Medical Center.

Police began staging at Oak and Main Street, the site of the Binghamton High School, shortly after 10:30 a.m. today. Local apartments were evacuated and businesses, such as a nearby nursing home, were placed under lockdown as a precaution.

One male was down with a woman shot in the stomach, according to a police radio. The female victim was a secretary.

Police have since called for 10 ambulances.

Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan, who was at the scene, said there was a hostage situation in the Civic Association building, located at 131 Front St. Ryan said the shooter has a high-powered rifle.

UPDATE:
Two people were removed from the building in handcuffs, and more than two dozen other people remain in the building:

At least four people were shot and dozens of others were being held hostage by a gunman in the Binghamton building.
Advertisement

At least three people have been taken to Wilson Regional Medical Center in Johnson City, one in critical condition, two listed as serious. Another person was taken to Lourdes Hospital in Johnson City.

Both hospitals postponed all elective surgeries and called in extra personnel to staff their emergency rooms.

According to police reports, more than 40 hostages were in the building — 15 in a closet and 26 in the boiler room. Sharp shooters from the Binghamton SWAT team were poised outside the building at 131 Front Street. The Endicott police bomb squad is also at the scene.

Scanner reports just before 1:30 p.m. indicate that police were asking 26 people in the Civic Association to lie on the floor with the hands above their heads.

Not sure I'd read too much into the report of the two people removed in handcuffs since reports generally note a single gunman with a high powered rifle. They may be considering whether he had accomplices. As I've said, this is a developing situation, so the facts and reporting is fluid and subject to change.

The American Civic Association website notes that it provides the following services:

Assists immigrants and refugees with immigration and personal counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification, interpreters, and translators. Fosters cross cultural understanding for the entire community.

Gothamist posts the following grim news:

"The suspect was described as an Asian male in his 20s, between 5-feet 8-inches and 6 feet tall, wearing a bright green nylon jacket and dark-rimmed glasses." A community college professor fluent in Vietnamese was also asked to aid cops in communicating with the shooter.

ABC News reports 13 are dead, 26 wounded. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of those who died or were injured at the hands of the gunman.

UPDATE:
The NY Times reports that the gunman killed himself, and may be among the count of 12-13 people who were killed.

UPDATE:
The official death toll right now stands at 12 people murdered, and the gunman took his own life. He is tentatively identified as Jiverly Voong, also known as Linh Phat Voong.

Right now, there is no motive for why he went on the rampage and took hostages at the Civic Association building.

UPDATE:
15 people were murdered by Voong, who then took his own life. Still unknown is Voong's connection with the building or people involved:

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, said the gunman had recently been let go from IBM in Johnson City and opened fire on a citizenship class.

"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said in a telephone interview. "It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."

Authorities scheduled a news conference for Friday afternoon.

At least 41 people were in the American Civic Association building at the time of the shooting and that citizenship classes had been scheduled Friday at the center, The Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin reported.

The Ticking Tax Time Bomb

All the hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending are going to catch up with taxpayers sooner or later. Politicians always hope it's later - when they're no longer around to take the blame. They always try to push it off on someone else.

President Obama is more than willing to blame President Bush for the fiscal mess he inherited, all while doubling down on the national debt with massive new spending that is unprecedented in American history.

So, who will pay for the mess?

Everyone will.

The CBO baseline cumulative deficit for the Obama 2010-2019 budget is $9.3 trillion. How much additional deficit and debt does Mr. Obama add relative to a do-nothing budget with none of his programs? Mr. Obama's "debt difference" is $4.829 trillion -- i.e., his tax and spending proposals add $4.829 trillion to the CBO do-nothing baseline deficit. The Obama budget also adds $177 billion to the fiscal year 2009 budget. To this must be added the $195 billion of 2009 legislated add-ons (e.g., the stimulus bill) since Mr. Obama's election that were already incorporated in the CBO baseline and the corresponding $1.267 trillion in add-ons for 2010-2019. This brings Mr. Obama's total additional debt to $6.5 trillion, not his claimed $2 trillion reduction. That was mostly a phantom cut from an imagined 10-year continuation of peak Iraq war spending.

The claim to reduce the deficit by half compares this year's immense (mostly inherited) deficit to the projected fiscal year 2013 deficit, the last of his current term. While it is technically correct that the deficit would be less than half this year's engorged level, a do-nothing budget would reduce it by 84%. Compared to do-nothing, Mr. Obama's deficit is more than two and a half times larger in fiscal year 2013. Just his addition to the budget deficit, $459 billion, is bigger than any deficit in the nation's history. And the 2013 deficit is supposed to be after several years of economic recovery, funds are being returned from the financial bailouts, and we are out of Iraq.

Finally, what of the claim not to raise taxes on anyone earning less than $250,000 a year? Even ignoring his large energy taxes, Mr. Obama must reconcile his arithmetic. Every dollar of debt he runs up means that future taxes must be $1 higher in present-value terms. Mr. Obama is going to leave a discounted present-value legacy of $6.5 trillion of additional future taxes, unless he dramatically cuts spending. (With interest the future tax hikes would be much larger later on.) Call it a stealth tax increase or ticking tax time-bomb.

What does $6.5 trillion of additional debt imply for the typical family? If spread evenly over all those paying income taxes (which under Mr. Obama's plan would shrink to a little over 50% of the population), every income-tax paying family would get a tax bill for $163,000. (In 10 years, interest would bring the total to well over a quarter million dollars, if paid all at once. If paid annually over the succeeding 10 years, the tax hike every year would average almost $34,000.) That's in addition to his explicit tax hikes. While the future tax time-bomb is pushed beyond Mr. Obama's budget horizon, and future presidents and Congresses will decide how it will be paid, it is likely to be paid by future income tax hikes as these are general fund deficits.

There is one policy that Congress should act on that will spare millions of taxpayers an added burden. It's something that President Obama called for; it is the indexing of the AMT (alternative minimum tax) to inflation. Every year Congress does a dance to index the AMT to inflation so as to spare hundreds of thousands of middle class taxpayers the indignity of getting hammered by the AMT.

Congress has repeatedly used the AMT to help get other legislation passed, and politicians are smooth operators when it comes to this ploy since they can paint those who oppose the legislation as seeking tax hikes on the middle class. Leadership will attach the AMT indexing provisions to legislation they want passed, regardless of opposition precisely because they know that the AMT needs to be passed. It's cynical, but it works.

Eliminating the annual AMT indexing dance will prevent Congress from holding the AMT hostage and passing still more bad legislation and porkbarrel spending. That can only be a good thing.

Obama's Tax Vaporware Policy

Much like software manufacturers who make all kinds of astounding claims about their software and the release turns out to be a massive disappointment, so too is President Obama's tax policy.

The Senate is taking up one of Obama's pet projects, adjusting the tax rates on the "rich".

During the campaign, Candidate Obama told everyone he wouldn't raise taxes on people making less than $250,000. Well, he's already lied about that since enacting an onerous cigarette tax that hits all American smokers regardless of income level to fund a massive expansion of the S-CHIP health care program. Now, he's pushing for adjusting the tax rates such that those making as little as $104,000 are going to get hammered with tax hikes starting in 2011.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal tax law, is seeking a vote this year on legislation that would increase the income tax rates on some Americans who earn as little as $104,425 per year.

The bill, which Baucus introduced Thursday, would fulfill many of President Barack Obama’s promised tax changes, including making most of the tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush permanent while raising taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 per year.

But those making more than $250,000 per year would not be the only ones to see their taxes go up if Baucus’s bill becomes law.

The proposed legislation would raise the rates on the top two income brackets, from the current levels of 33 percent and 35 percent respectively, to 36 percent and 39.6 percent. The new rates would become effective after 2010.

The increase in the rates for these two brackets will affect all taxpayers who fall into these two brackets regardless of their filing status, according to Heritage Foundation Senior Policy Analyst Curtis Dubay, who reviewed the legislation.

That means some taxpayers earning as little as $104,425—far less than half the $250,000 threshold President Obama set for raising income taxes—would see their income tax rate increased.

Throw in the fact that there's no way that taxing the rich even at confiscatory levels not seen since World War II and thereafter and still balance the budget based on Obama's prodigious spending that the country simply cannot afford, and watch the level at which taxpayers get hit with tax hikes actually wanders down and encompasses many more people who are squarely in the middle class.

Dawkins Versus the Pope

It's the age old issue of whether abstinence or condom usage is the appropriate means of reducing the spread of AIDS. Richard Dawkins, a prominent biologist and an avowed athiest, is more than willing to claim that millions will die as a result of Pope Benedict's stance on condoms:

Richard Dawkins yesterday called the Pope 'stupid' for claiming that condoms have made the Aids epidemic worse.

The outspoken biologist - a prominent atheist - said that Benedict XVI would end up with the blood of millions on his hands if they took his words seriously.

On his first visit to Africa a fortnight ago, the Pope said that Aids was 'a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone, that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem'.

To play Devil's Advocate, one could also make the claim that if people abstained from sexual relations outside marriage, the incidence of AIDS would be lessened.

The real message that should be spread, both by the Church and people like Dawkins is that you need both abstinence and condom usage to reduce the spread of AIDS - preventing the disease from spreading further than it already has in decimating much of Africa. Both policies should be complementary to each other. It's not an either/or all or none solution, but a combination of the two that will help get AIDS under control.

I understand the Pope's position that as Church Doctrine, abstinence is the method to be used because they do not condone extramarital sexual relations. However, even there, the Pope and Church must take into account human frailty and weakness (sins of the flesh), and contemplate something that will ease suffering for millions.

Advocating a policy that is solely based on abstinence or condom usage isn't the right approach. One that stresses the need for abstinence, but one that suggests condom usage should you find yourself in that position, is not unreasonable.

Banks Getting More Leeway on Mark To Market

One of the reasons that the credit markets and lending came to a near standstill last year was the mark-to-market rule that made lending a near impossible proposition because banks found that they were nearly worthless based on the current market values.

Well, the FASB is granting these banks more leeway on the mark-to-market rule, and it should be a catalyst in the stock markets today.

April 2 (Bloomberg) -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board, pressured by U.S. lawmakers and financial companies, voted to relax fair-value rules that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. say don’t work when markets are inactive.

The changes approved today to fair-value, also known as mark-to-market, allow companies to use “significant” judgment in valuing assets to reduce writedowns on certain investments, including mortgage-backed securities. Accounting analysts say the measure, which can be applied to first-quarter results, may boost banks’ net income by 20 percent or more.

Because the banks will have greater leeway in valuing their property portfolios, they will be able to show more money on the books and enable more lending and freeing up the credit markets further.

These Are Partners For Peace?

The Palestinian Authority declares that any Palestinian selling land to Israelis will be subject to the death penalty.

The latest warning was issued on Wednesday by the Chief [Islamic] Judge of the Palestinian Authority, Sheikh Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, who reminded the Palestinians of an existing fatwa [religious decree] than bans them from selling property to Jews.

Sheikh Tamimi's warning came in response to reports that Jewish businessmen from the US had purchased 20 dunams of land from Palestinians on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

Warning the Palestinians against engaging in "suspicious real estate deeds," the religious leader said that according to Islamic teachings it was a "grave sin" to sell houses and lands to Jews.

The Palestinian Authority are the so-called moderates, and they're busy using Islamic law to justify threatening all Palestinians into avoiding any real estate sales to Jews because it would result in the death penalty.

At the same time, Hamas is congratulating a terrorist for butchering a 16-year old Israeli child with an axe and seriously injuring a 7-year old. The Hamas thugs are saying this is a natural result of the occupation. Axe murdering is a natural result of occupation? Really?

The terrorist who carried out the axe attack had lust to kill in his eyes according to an eyewitness who attempted to stop the terrorist from fleeing, but was unsuccessful. Bat Ayin residents have refused to build security fences around their community on the West Bank, despite the terrorist threats. Somehow, I don't think they are going to reconsider, but this does tend to show that building the fences does thwart terror attacks. Residents also blamed Defense Minister Ehud Barak for the attack since he's taken down checkpoints and eased restrictions for Palestinian travel through Israeli territory. They have a point.

Hamas shows no sign of stopping their war with Israel, and consider the smuggling of arms into Gaza a natural right. Well, I hate to break it to Hamas, but Israel has an inalienable right to smash Hamas for every single attack on Israel as a sovereign nation under attack from a regime that seeks it's destruction with every utterance and every act.

Then again, smuggling of arms isn't confined to Hamas. Apparently the Palestinian Authority, which gets much of its arms from the US, Israelis, and the Europeans, has to smuggle weapons in as well, although I think that is more for resale on the black market than as part of the overall effort to destroy Israel.

Meanwhile, Syria and Hizbullah are demanding that Israel give up the Golan Heights, and that it will be in their hands, and it doesn't have to be a peaceful transfer.

"There is no escape from the liberation of the Golan," Assad said in an interview published by the Qatari newspaper A-Sharq. "Either through peace or through war."

"When a citizen loses hope, he turns towards resistance in one form or another," Assad added.

The Syrian president also defiantly defended his country's relationship with Hizbullah, and said that although Israel insists the ties must be severed for peace to materialize, Damascus would continue supporting the group.

"Hizbullah has an issue with Israel and we have the same issue," Assad said in an interview published on Thursday by the Kuwait newspaper a-Sharq. "We therefore support the organization."

"We are speaking about a national organization with a religious agenda that acts in the framework of the Lebanese homeland," he said. "We see here a national party. It is therefore natural that we have a relationship with it."

Syria reiterates that it will continue supporting Hizbullah, which further shows the folly of American foreign policy efforts under the Obama Administration to stop Syria's support for terrorist groups that have American blood on their hands (Hizbullah was behind the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing and numerous other attacks in the region that resulted in American casualties, and Syrian support for Iraqi insurgents had led to the deaths of numerous American soldiers in Iraq).

UPDATE:
Israeli security is engaging in a massive manhunt to capture the terrorist who killed 13 year old Shlomo Nativ and wounded a 7-year-old.

Israeli politicians are blaming new Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for the attack because he picked a right winger for his foreign minister. Sorry, but that doesn't wash. Terrorists have been attacking Israelis for years - regardless of who was in charge. The only people to blame for the attacks are the terrorists and those who support him - the Palestinian terror groups who seek nothing short of Israel's destruction and who revel in the murder of Israeli kids.

UPDATE:
Via the Israeli Consulate Twitter, Iran is standing behind Syria's announcement to support Hizbullah and the efforts to end Israel's control over the Golan Heights. That really isn't anything new given Iran's support to both Hizbullah and Syria.

UPDATE:
Ynet reports that the IDF may have surrounded a home in the West Bank where they think the terrorist is holed up.

Voice of Yankee Stadium Retires

Bob Sheppard, who has been announcing games at Yankee Stadium since the 1950s, is retiring. He had been in ill health and unable to announce games for the past season.

Yet, folks who are still hoping to hear his voice and unmistakable cadence can get to hear it every time that Derek Jeter comes up to bat. Sheppard recorded his introduction for Jeter at Jeter's request.

Now batting.... number two... Derek... Jeter.

Jim Hall, Sheppard's backup, will fill in, but no permanent replacement has been announced by the team as it makes its inauguaral season at the new Yankee Stadium.

Bob announced the last lineup read at the old Stadium, during the pre-game ceremonies closing the Stadium:

Tone Deaf

The Left consistently derided President Bush as incompetent and a cowboy.

President Obama's recent foreign policy exploits are nothing short of embarrassing and tone deaf. First, he gave Prime Minister Gordon Brown a DVD collection that anyone could have picked off of Amazon.com (and which turned out to be for the wrong zone) after Brown gave President Obama a truly memorable and historic keepsake. The Prime Minister gave the President an ornamental pen holder made from the timbers of the Victorian anti-slave ship HMS Gannet and a couple toys from the White House gift shop.

Now, President Obama has graced Queen Elizabeth II with an iPod. The Queen already has one.

Who the heck does Obama think he is? These aren't gifts fit for our closest ally and historic friend.

Throw in the repeated gaffes by Secretary of State Clinton, including the "reset/overcharge button" to Russia's Foreign Minister Lavrov, and we've got ourselves a trend.

The White House has an Office of Protocol, whose job description includes the following:

Under the direction of the Acting Chief of Protocol Gladys Boluda the office is responsible for activities including the planning, hosting, and officiating of ceremonial events for visiting chiefs of state and heads of government, as well as coordinating logistics for the visits; managing Blair House, the President's guesthouse; and overseeing all protocol matters for Presidential or Vice Presidential travel abroad, working alongside the White House.

Apparently, providing embarrassing gifts is now part of the job description.

Once is a mistake. Twice is a coincidence. This is a sickening trend of incompetence.

UPDATE:
Allahpundit is also on the same wavelength regarding the incompetence of the Protocol Office. He wonders when Obama will decide to cut and run from the current batch of employees. Michelle Malkin also weighs in.

UPDATE:
New reports indicate that the White House also provided a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers. That makes the iPod only marginally better as a gift. You can bet that the Queen accepted the gift with grace because to reject the gift would be harmful to US-British relations.

The Storm Is Already Here

The New York Times headlines that storm clouds are gathering for Obama nominations.

Senate Republicans are struggling to adapt to an altered political world when it comes to candidates for federal courts and senior Justice Department posts.

No longer able simply to defend choices made by a fellow Republican, as they did under President George W. Bush, Republicans on the Judiciary Committee have turned into vocal critics of many of President Obama’s legal nominees. They complain that several are committed liberal ideologues, much in the way Democrats complained that Mr. Bush’s choices were committed conservative ideologues.

But so far, facing a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, they have been able to do little beyond briefly delaying confirmation. Now they are weighing whether to use the filibuster — a threat of extended debate, the tool many Republican senators regularly denounced when it was used by Democrats to block some Republican nominees. These are certainly different times.

The current Republican focus is on a pair of nominees: Mr. Obama’s first selection for a federal appeals court seat, David F. Hamilton, and his choice to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department, Dawn Johnsen. (By coincidence, the two are in-laws.)

The New York Times is only noticing this now? How can anyone ignore the multiple nominees who had tax troubles and were forced to withdraw or the ones that were picked and are doing a bangup job (Great Job Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner!).

Of course there are storm clouds gathering. They've been gathering since the moment Obama's vaunted nomination vetting process went off the rails from Day 1. No word on when Obama will fill all the slots at Treasury either.

The problems are only going to mount for the Obama Administration as the GOP finally finds its voice and hits upon tactics that can slow down the Administration's push to impose its will over all aspects of the economy and the legal system with its judicial nominees. Given how the Democrats refused to give due deference to qualified jurists who had a conservative position, the GOP will respond in kind. Nominees will be bottled up and judicial positions will go unfilled, just as they had done during the Bush Administration, except that the Democrats will be able to allow President Obama to provide recess appointees, skirting the GOP efforts.

The GOP's losing hand is due to self-inflicted inability to provide a fiscally responsible position and years of corruption caught up. The Democrats are already there on the corruption front, but are fully in control of the wheels of government. It will take years to fix the mess that the Democrats are piling up.

Geithner and Math Do Not Mix

It should come as no surprise that the tax cheating Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has a math problem. He can't add numbers together to come up with the correct figure. His latest mess? He overestimated the amount of money left in the TARP fund. He claims that the figure is $135 billion.

The General Accounting Office, ABC News, and the Wall Street Journal all say he's off by more than $100 billion. The correct figure is $35 billion.

On “This Week” Sunday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me that there was about $135 billion left in the TARP fund, the government’s financial rescue package. But the Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan federal agency, reports that figure is closer to $32 billion, which is what ABC News and other independent analysts thought.

How is Treasury responding to this? They're claiming that Geithner's figures include estimated paybacks. In other words, they're counting money that might potentially come back to the government as banks repay TARP funds.

That's absolutely insane. That's like saying that my bank account has $1 million in it because I'm counting all the future paychecks I will receive, regardless of how far into the future they may be, and doesn't count any of the payments I must make. It isn't how anyone in their right mind would count and budget, but it's how Geithner and the Treasury Department has operated.

No wonder Geithner and the Administration haven't bothered holding TARP oversight meetings. This clown circus would show just how incompetent Obama's economic team truly is.

London Calling: G20 Protesters Clash With Police

The usual suspects at international financial summits are at it again. The G20 is meeting in London to discuss the financial mess, and the protesters are out in force trying to stop the meetings from proceeding.

The anarchists are busy trying to gum up the works and Gothamist has more.

Of course, whenever these folks riot, it means that businesses suffer the most for it. Storefronts get their windows knocked out, such as this Royal Bank of Scotland branch. Smile for the camera as these thugs knock out the windows. Note that the reflections catch the photographers busy snapping the photos:





The meetings will continue regardless of the anarchists attempts, but the damage has been done to downtown London. These thugs sought to storm the banks and calling for the abolition of money.

Police said at least 23 people were arrested but no serious injuries were reported.

Thousands of anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others jammed into London's financial district for what they called "Financial Fool's Day." The protests were called ahead of Thursday's summit of world leaders, who hope to take concrete steps to resolve the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Protesters attacked the offices of the Royal Bank of Scotland, shouting "These streets, our streets! These banks, our banks!"

Some spray-painted the side of the RBS building with the phrases "class war" and "thieves." Others pushed against columns of riot police who swatted them away with batons.

Demonstrators shouted "Abolish Money!" and clogged streets in the area known as "The City" even as Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President Barack Obama held a news conference elsewhere in the British capital.

UPDATE:
The media couldn't get enough of the violence and anarchists. In fact, they got a front row seat to it. Smile for the cameras indeed.

Bird Brained

The events of US Airways Flight 1549 put the spotlight on the FAA and the potentially deadly consequences of bird strikes on planes. Thousands of bird strikes have been reported in recent years, and yet the FAA now seeks to keep that information secret because it believes that the public can't comprehend what that actually means or the risks involved.

Now, we learn that the Port Authority has been lying about just how many bird strikes have been occuring at area airports. Far from reducing the number of bird strikes in the past couple of years, the number of incidents has risen to nearly 1 per day.

The Post's Bill Sanderson reported the real facts on Monday: Plane-fowl collisions at JFK, Newark and La Guardia shot up 60 percent between 2003 and 2007, the last year for which full data are available.

The latest figure, 361, comes to nearly one bird strike per day.

The PA now says it made a "mistake."

No kidding.

But how much do you want to bet that "mistake" would've never happened if the PA had been paying attention in the first place?

Certainly, the PA had good reason to. Experts say that the country's population of Canada geese -- the most dangerous winged offender -- has grown 400 per cent since 1990.

And while not every bird strike brings down an airplane -- obviously -- many, if not most, of them have the potential to do so. The results could be catastrophic.

Indeed, but for Capt. Chesley Sullenberger's singular skills, they would have surely killed all 155 people aboard his plane.

The geese need to go. Now.

Alas, early signs indicate that the authorities still aren't taking the goose menace seriously.

The authorities aren't taking the problem seriously enough and probably wont until there is a deadly accident. But for Chesley Sullenberger's tremendous flying skills, all aboard his plane could have died from the bird strike.

Are bird strikes completely avoidable? Not in the slightest. However, the Port Authority and the FAA must take better steps to manage the risk, and that means dealing with the overpopulation of Canadian geese in the NYC metro area before they do bring a plane down and the pilot and passengers aren't nearly so lucky. That means culling local populations of Canadian geese and doing a better job of reducing birds in and around the local airports. That's a particularly difficult task at JFK given that it is adjacent to the Gateway National Wildlife Refuge, which is an important stop on the Atlantic Coastal flyway.

It also means more effort to track bird flocks in and around the region to steer planes away from potential danger.

Saving the MTA By Taxing Cabbies and Their Passengers

What's the latest "solution" to fixing the MTA's budget mess? Albany seems to think that a 50 cent surcharge for every yellow cab fare is the solution along with multiple taxes and fees increased that result in less money in the pockets of all New Yorkers, not just the rich:

In the new plan, a 50-cent surcharge will be added to all cab fares and drivers will be paying new fees and charges as well.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance calls the idea unfair, punitive and a sign of how out of touch Albany is with New York City's transit problem. Executive Director Bhairavi Desai says a fee placed on taxi rides to fund the MTA would be a cut in pay for drivers and working New Yorkers.

Included in Paterson's plan: 50-cent surcharge on taxi fares, $2 to $3 surcharge on car registrations, $2 to $3 surcharge on driver's licenses, a car rental surcharge, a hotel occupancy tax surcharge, and a sales tax surcharges in areas serviced by the MTA.

The deal will also incorporate an 8 percent fare and toll hike, down from the 23 - 25 percent hike proposed in the MTA "doomsday" budget.

An 8 percent increase means single-ride bus/subway fares will rise from $2 to $2.25 not $2.50 as proposed by the MTA; a monthly Metro Card fare will rise from $81 to $88 not $103.

It's guaranteed to result in more cabbies going out of business, because more and more people are using credit cards and the transaction fees eat into the take home pay of the cabbies. If they have to eat still more fees, that means that they will be squeezed even further.

Throw in the expected gas price increases that come with the summer driving season, and cabbies wont be able to turn a profit on their shifts at all, because it will all go to costs that are not only outside their control, but which will result in less income collected by the state.

As for the other taxes and fees, people don't have the same visceral reaction because you don't pay the DMV fees every day or see the costs increase as frequently. Commuters getting hammered with mass transit costs rising will see less money in their pockets at the end of the day - far more lost to new taxes than gained under President Obama's stimulus package.

It's once again another instance of the Albany shell game where taxes are imposed to cover for costs elsewhere.

Newark Mayor Booker Announces Pay Cuts and Furloughs

Newark's Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, is doing the job that other politicians aren't doing. Instead of solving his city's fiscal mess with more taxes and increased spending, Booker is actually calling for furloughs and pay cuts. We'll see if he can follow through.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker said Tuesday he will impose 18 days of unpaid furloughs through the end of next year on all full-time employees except for police officers and firefighters, a move expected to save 5 percent of their annual salaries. The salaries of 61 top city staffers, including Booker's own $137,022 annual pay, will be reduced an additional 2 percent.

Booker said the cost-cutting moves are needed to avoid layoffs, sustain the city's comeback and stabilize its budget amid a deep recession that has pushed the city unemployment rate to a 5-year high of 12.5 percent.

``This is a difficult time of sacrifice for our city,'' Booker said. ``We are following our governor's lead by doing what's necessary in this fiscal crisis.''

New Jersey's Civil Service Commission adopted a rule March 25 giving Gov. Jon S. Corzine and local governments emergency power to impose temporary layoffs because of the economic crisis. Corzine wants to save $35 million by forcing state workers to take two days off this spring. He also sought the authority to furlough them for 12 days, one day a month, beginning in July.

Corzine's plans still don't address the fact that the budget is higher than last year and his plans are just so much window dressing.

Across the river, New York Governor David Paterson (D) had called for job cuts and a smaller budget, the media framed it as an austerity budget, and yet the agreed upon budget is 10% higher than last year and there are no job cuts to be seen, but plenty of taxes and fees have been raised.

If Booker can avoid the tax hikes and hold spending in line while maintaining the basic services - including improved police service, then Booker will have succeeded where the other local politicians have failed. I hope he succeeds, because it would show the folly of fiscal irresponsibility that runs rampant around the region and the nation at large.

Call the Bluff

General Motors new CEO Fritz Henderson (the replacement for the now dispatched-at-the-behest-of-President-Obama Jeff Wagoner) now says that the company may face bankruptcy despite the multibillion dollar bailout.

General Motors’s new chief executive told CNBC that filing for Bankruptcy may be the best option for the struggling automaker.

In a taped interview to be aired tonight on NBC Nightly News, Fritz Henderson said that because of greater demands from the Obama administration to restructure, GM is considering the bankruptcy option. The auto giant previously had ruled out such a move, saying it would discourage people from buying GM cars.

Henderson’s comments came after President Obama bluntly rejected turnaround plans by GM and Chrysler and demanded that both companies make fresh concessions in order to get more federal aid.

Henderson, who was GM’s president and chief operating officer, was named the new CEO after the government forced the resignation of CEO Rick Wagoner on Sunday. GM’s board is also being restructured.

Henderson told reporters that the company would still prefer to restructure outside of court, but the level of support Washington is offering would help the company quickly restructure through bankruptcy.

The company has had months to deal with the unions and restructure contracts under the bailout and has failed to accomplish anything. During Wagoner's term, the company shed tens of thousands of jobs and still faces a massive pension and benefits cost that tacks on unsustainable costs of every vehicle.

Henderson says bankruptcy is coming? Is this a threat or a promise, because either way, it is coming. The government wasted billions delaying the inevitable, and we may see billions more wasted to save a company that could not make the tough decisions.

Let them carry through on the threat.

Bankruptcy is the one thing that will save these companies from the structural failures to date, not the wasted tens of billions that the government has thrown at them. President Bush was wrong to start with a bailout, and President Obama was wrong to continue them.

Bankruptcy forces hard choices to be made and allows the companies to get a clean start. The bailouts only delayed the inevitable.

Bad Break

Call me a klutz or just having a run of bad luck, but either way, I have a broken ankle after rolling it while walking home from work last night. I knew it wasn't feeling right even after doing RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation) so I went to the ER this morning and they saw a clear break on the X-ray.

It's going to be a few weeks of hobbling around, but we'll see what the orthopedic doctor has to say about that.

UPDATE:
The orthopedist confirms. It's an avulsion fracture of my distal tibia. RICE is the course of action, and I have a boot to wear for the next couple of weeks.

NJ In Fiscal Crisis; Corzine Set To Extend In-State Tuition to Illegal Aliens

This is the obscene political world in which these open borders Democrats live in. New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine had a panel look into the illegal alien issue, and has concluded that the way to deal with them is to bury their head in the sand and integrate illegal aliens into the towns and cities, including extending these illegal aliens the right to obtain higher education at state schools at the in-state tuition rates.

They're more than willing to tax everyone for their grandiose plans that never seem to live up to their expectations (and would succeed but for the lack of funds), and now are more than willing to grant in-state tuition to illegal aliens at a time when they're pushing tax hikes and other tax and spend programs.

Stop this insanity. These are illegal aliens who would be getting what amounts to a $10,000 subsidy per year over what out-of-state tuition would be at state schools. A New York resident seeking to go to Rutgers couldn't get the in-state tuition rate, but an illegal alien could. United States citizens from outside New Jersey couldn't get the deal that Corzine is offering illegal aliens.

That's money that the state can't afford to give away to its own residents, let alone illegal aliens.

Then, there's the whole issue of extending illegal aliens the privilege of drivers licenses, which are a foundation document on which identity theft can be based and which criminal enterprises will take advantage of. In fact, one of the little known facts about 9/11 is that several of the hijackers on 9/11 obtained fraudulent drivers licenses from state motor vehicles agencies, enabling them to board the airliners that fateful morning. The DHS is not going to sit idly by as New Jersey tries to circumvent the protections put in place after 9/11 to prevent a repeat event, but that's not stopping Corzine's committee from proposing just that.

Where's the Outrage?

Brazil is in the process of building miles of concrete barriers to prevent slums from expanding in and around Rio de Janeiro. The local government there is building concrete walls to prevent sprawling slums from spreading farther into the picturesque hills of this world-famous tourist destination.

Ace helpfully puts together a list of what qualifies as a good wall versus the ones that are bad. Israel's border fences to prevent terrorists from infiltrating Israel to kill Israelis gets all the press these days, except when the media focuses on the US attempts to control its border to prevent Mexican drug gangs from crossing the border and causing mayhem in US cities and communities up and down the border there.

Yet, there's barely a ripple in the media's interest about Brazil's actions to contain the slums of Rio with massive fences. Where's the world's outrage? Where's the shreiks from the human rights groups about the Brazilian regime's move to curtail the movement of its own citizens?

The New York Numbers Game

The new New York state budget is a fiasco and is the exact opposite of a fiscally responsible budget. The budget is billions above the amounts that Gov. David Paterson suggested just four months ago. That budget was svelte and responsible in comparison to the monstrosity that Albany conjured up over the weekend in the dead of night as the troika of Paterson, Speaker Shelly Silver and Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith. This budget is a tax and spend dream, but a nightmare to the taxpayers who will be seeing massive hikes in taxes.

Democratic leaders yesterday released details of a state budget deal that would push spending to a staggering $132 billion next year -- an increase of 10 percent -- while they ask residents to fork over a record-breaking $7.8 billion in taxes and fees.

The huge spending plan is $10.7 billion higher than the bare-bones plan Gov. Paterson released less than four months ago in a call for fiscal austerity.

It comes in the wake of a $4 billion soak-the-rich income-tax hike, the elimination of a $1.5 billion property-tax rebate plan, and $2.3 billion in new and extended business taxes and nuisance fees.

Among other things, the budget would add nickel deposits to bottled water, ratchet up taxes on beer and cigars, and raise income taxes at least 14.5 percent on families making more than $300,000 a year.

But Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) refused to give up even a dime of the notorious $170 million slush fund lawmakers use to dole out grants to favored nonprofits and community groups.

Meanwhile, lawmakers restored about a third of the spending cuts proposed by Paterson. They rolled back 70 percent of the governor's proposed health-care savings, but accepted some reforms in the way the money gets doled out.

They added $405 million in school aid, which Paterson had hoped to cut by $698 million. In all, they made a record $5.2 billion in program cuts.

Paterson said much of the overall spending increase is due to an influx of federal stimulus funds, and he insisted the budget's architects made "tough choices."

First among the tax hikes is the elimination of the STAR property tax relief program.

There were no cuts to services or the state workforce. It never happened. The money will just get doled out differently, but the amounts are going to remain the same or exceed the levels previously set - an increase in spending.

This is a fiscally irresponsible mess and New York taxpayers and voters have no one to blame but themselves for continuing to vote sheep to the Assembly and Senate who accept their paychecks but do nothing more than rubber stamp the leadership's decisions.

The STAR property tax relief program cost $1.5 billion, and the rebate amounts depend on the school district and income level of the taxpayer. Eliminating that tax relief program is a tax hike on all homeowners.

Failing to cut spending means that taxpayers are shouldering an even higher level of spending over which they have absolutely no control. The state is hiking all manner of taxes and fees to accomplish their higher spending levels, which are unsustainable in a recession and will lead to falling short of budget projections. This is a recipe for disaster for the state.

Attempting to hide the fees and taxes among the $2.3 billion in new and extended business taxes and nuisance fees, including new deposit fees for bottled water (additional expenses to businesses to collect and recycle), ratchet up taxes on beer and cigars, and raise income taxes at least 14.5 percent on families making more than $300,000 a year doesn't make this a fiscally responsible budget. It makes for a bloated mess that relies on the one-shot of federal aid to hide the fact that no serious attempt was made to contain spending.

The GOP losses in 2008 in Albany have meant a surge of lobbyist power and control by Democrats over all the apparatus of Albany operations, and this budget is a product of that mess, combined with the corruption and scandal within the Governor's Office and the Comptroller's Office.

You think people are howling now? Just wait until next year when the real bill comes due and there isn't any financial aid available from the federal government to mask the gaping deficit. New York is following California's path to fiscal oblivion with this budget.

So Now Obama Thinks the Automakers Aren't Viable?

Late yesterday word came down that President Obama pretty much fired General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner from his job. Obama did something that the GM shareholders didn't do for eight years, even though Wagoner oversaw declining sales, market share, and lackluster product introductions all because the Administration needed a scalp to claim:

Wagoner, 56, who spent 32 years with GM working all over the world, stepped down effective immediately, the company said in a statement early Monday. He was replaced as CEO by Fritz Henderson, the company's vice chairman and chief operating officer.

GM board member Kent Kresa, a former chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp. (NOC), was named interim chairman and said new directors will make up the majority of GM's board when a new slate is nominated for election at the company's annual meeting in August.

"The board has recognized for some time that the company's restructuring will likely cause a significant change in the stockholders of the company and create the need for new directors with additional skills and experience," Kresa said in a written statement.

GM shares tumbled 86 cents, or 24 percent, to $2.76 in premarket trading Monday. That is down 89 percent from its 52-week high of $24.24 on April 30, 2008.

The management shake-up, according to several industry analysts, shows that the administration is serious about forcing GM to change more quickly and dramatically than it did during Wagoner's nearly nine-year tenure as CEO.

Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of the automotive Web site Edmunds.com, called the move "political theater" to appease an increasingly bailout-weary public.

"American taxpayers are not happy," Anwyl said. "But this way you're able to point to Rick and say he's gone, and that creates an environment where the loans become politically palatable."

By all accounts, Wagoner made progress in fixing GM. While CEO, he cut its U.S. work force from 177,000 to roughly 92,000 today.

The stock market isn't reacting too well to the changes, given the stock price drop this morning.

Replacing Wagoner isn't going to fix GM. Ridding GM of the onerous contracts is a good start, but that means that the company has to go up against the unions, which are one of Obama's biggest backers.

The Administration is giving GM and Chrysler another 60 days to come back with a plan for viability, because he's now realizing what I've been saying for months - these automakers aren't going to last long and reorganization under the Bankruptcy Code is probably the best best for the long term survival of both companies.

Obama seems to think that another 60 days will give Wagoner's successor the time to force the unions to make concessions that will help pave the way to GM fiscal stability. Part of the problem is that when President Bush and now President Obama provided bailouts to the auto industry, it removed any incentives for the automaker or the union to proceed with the tough task of making the drastic and necessary decisions. They have only delayed those decisions, and have thrown billions of taxpayer dollars down that black hole, never to be seen again.

Obama or Bush could have saved GM and/or Chyrsler by ordering both to build thousands of new M1-A2 tanks and uparmored Humvees either directly or via license from General Dynamics not only to replace those that have been worn out through usage in Afghanistan and Iraq, but to restock and enlarge the military's capacity. They chose not to. That would have been cheaper than throwing billions at the automakers whose products aren't selling and which have production costs that exceed those of its competitors. It would have also improved the defense posture of the nation and incorporated the latest technologies and knowledge gained from years of combat in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Instead, Chrysler is getting 30 days and $6 billion to complete a merger/restructuring with Fiat. If that effort fails, expect Chrysler to go the liquidation route.

UPDATE:
And because Obama is busy trying to destroy what remaining value the automakers have with his pronouncements and limiting his options for GM by sending Wagoner packing, he's now creating yet another huge bureaucracy to provide government backing of warranties for GM and Chrysler because those companies may not exist for much longer. These are the kinds of decisions that will not only spell doom for those automakers, but destroys what little residual value those vehicles have on the secondary market.

It also means that Congress will inject itself into the day to day operations of the auto markets - and can determine that warranties offered by foreign automakers are too long, and outlaw them in order for the domestic warranties to remain competitive. This is anti-business any way you cut it, and limits consumer choices even further.

It also does nothing to actually save the US automakers, but expands government power in this arena at a time when we're already seeing just how incompetent it is in handling the fiscal and monetary policy.

UPDATE:
MSNBC is reporting that Fiat and Chrysler have agreed to a deal to combine forces. Let's ignore the fact that Fiat hasn't been in the US market for 20 years and is coming off its own disastrous restructuring that nearly destroyed that company. Now, suddenly Fiat is the savior for Chrysler even after Obama's car task force found the merger wanting in January:

The planned Fiat-Chrysler alliance outlined in January may have been given a "fail" by the U.S. auto task force, but the companies at least can resit the exam in 30 days.

Documents released by the Obama administration show that Chrysler can't survive without merging with Fiat SpA. The U.S. government also has no plans to provide any additional funding to Chrysler unless it links with Fiat.

It's a position, auto industry analysts say, that Fiat isn't likely to pass up. For giving Chrysler access to its small car technology, research and platforms, Fiat would have a quick way to make and deliver its cars in the U.S. without starting from scratch.

Chrysler would benefit by getting access up to $6 billion in federal low-interest loans with the partnership and a way to sell its cars outside North America.

"It makes sense for them," said IHS Global insight analysts Rebecca Lindland. "The appeal here is that it is still cheaper for Fiat to come into the U.S. through Chrysler."

Under tentative terms worked out between the two auto makers, Fiat has agreed to give Chrysler access to technology, platforms and research worth $10 billion. In return, Fiat could take a 35% ownership stake in the company.

Fiat chief Sergio Marchionnne has already met with the Obama Administration's automotive Task Force and has voiced his approval of such a deal. He has also updated the committee on what would be done if Fiat were to partner with the company.

Chrysler CEO Nardelli is trying to keep people interested in buying his company's vehicles, even though people are going to shy away from those manufacturers who might no longer be there in a month's time. Extending warranty information isn't going to help that problem, but that's the tact Obama is taking. That's like using your finger to stop a leak in a dike when water is coming over the top and seeping underneath while turning the ground underneath into quicksand.

Now, Obama is saying that there are going to be painful givebacks? Where is the giveback to the taxpayer who has been taken on a multibillion dollar ride that still sees these same failing companies fail despite the "bailout" for bad business decisions and a refusal of unions to cut costs to be competitive with imports?

What we're witnessing are the death throes of a company that has been run into the ground, and given life support despite the fact that a DNR should have been put in place.

Pakistani Terrorists Take On Police In Lahore

I've been noting for some time now that the government in Islamabad has barely been able to control its country and protect its citizens from the Islamists and Taliban who have gained control over territory far beyond just the frontier provinces. They've been striking at targets including the NATO logistics and supply lines from Peshawar, but today they attacked a police academy in Lahore, killing a significant number of Pakistani police. The number is at least 8 policemen killed, three civilians killed, and that death toll is expected to grow. More than 90 police were injured in the attack and the effort to retake the facility.

Leave it to the AP to conflate the number of police and civilians murdered along with the terrorists who caused the mayhem.

19 die in bloody siege at Pakistan police academy

A group of gunmen attacked a police academy and rampaged through it for hours Monday, throwing grenades, seizing hostages and killing at least eight police and three civilians before being overpowered by Pakistani security forces in armored vehicles and helicopters, authorities said.

Six militants were arrested and eight others died in the eight-hour battle to retake the facility on the outskirts of this city in eastern Pakistan, said Rao Iftikhar, a top government official in Punjab province.

Officials said more than 90 officers were wounded by the attackers, some of whom wore police uniforms.

The highly coordinated attack underscored the threat that militancy poses to the U.S.-allied, nuclear-armed country and prompted Pakistan's top civilian security official to say that militant groups were "destabilizing the country."

The attack on the Manawan Police Training School began as dozens of the officers carried out morning drills. About 700 trainees were inside at the time.

The attacks show a sophistication and ability to infiltrate into secured facilities in order to cause mayhem and carnage.

Hot Air has additional details.

At the same time, a separate attack on Pakistani police resulted in 11 Pakistani policemen captured by Taliban elements in the Khyber tribal agency outside Peshawar. The Taliban surrounded the police outpost, and forced their surrender. That's on top of several other high profile attacks.

The Taliban captured 12 policemen after attacking a police outpost in the Khyber tribal agency in Pakistan's northwest. The atack capped a weekend of violence in the region surrounding Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Northwest Frontier Province.

A Taliban force surrounded the police outpost, disarmed the policemen, and kidnapped them, Rahat Gul, a spokesman for the Khyber administration told Reuters.

"Militants came to the Shin Qamar checkpost before dawn and disarmed our policemen and then bundled them into vehicles," Gul said. "We've launched a search but there's been no progress."

The Taliban have staged two other major attacks in Khyber since March 27. A Taliban suicide bomber detonated in the middle of a packed mosque in the Jamrud district in Pakistan's Khyber agency. More than 70 people have been reported killed and another 125 have been wounded. Several police and military officials were killed in the attack.

The Taliban are launching a significant offensive and the Pakistani government appears ill-prepared to deal with it.

UPDATE:
It really shouldn't come as a surprise that the Pakistanis believe that the Taliban were behind the attack, particularly the group led by Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud has been leading the best trained and most disciplined group of terrorists of the various groups vying for control in the frontier provinces and within Pakistan proper. Mehsud's reach is growing each passing day, and the government seemingly is incapable of doing anything to stop him.

The terrorists stormed the barracks and barricaded themselves in the top floor before blowing themselves up.

Blood-soaked bedding was strewn with blackened body parts in a police barracks in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Monday after the last of the gunmen who stormed the building blew themselves up.

The attackers, armed with grenades and rifles, launched an assault on the police training centre during a morning drill session, shooting down recruits on their dusty parade ground.

They held off police and soldiers for about eight hours before the last three gunmen made a stand on the top floor of the three-storey building. They blew themselves up as security forces launched a final assault, police said.

At least eight recruits were killed and 89 wounded. Four gunmen were killed and three were captured, the government said. Rehman Malik, the Interior Ministry head, said the Pakistani Taliban were suspected of carrying out the attack.

The death toll remains uncertain.

Obamavilles? Shantytowns Pop Up Around Nation?

While some folks don't think that this is a mirage and that some cities have faced this situation for years at a time, it is undeniable that many of these cities have encouraged homelessness and sport unemployment figures that are twice the national average even in good times.

Reports about how these shantytowns have sprung up are creeping into news reports, including the New York Times.

Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns. At his news conference on Tuesday night, President Obama was asked directly about the tent cities and responded by saying that it was “not acceptable for children and families to be without a roof over their heads in a country as wealthy as ours.”

While encampments and street living have always been a part of the landscape in big cities like Los Angeles and New York, these new tent cities have taken root — or grown from smaller enclaves of the homeless as more people lose jobs and housing — in such disparate places as Nashville, Olympia, Wash., and St. Petersburg, Fla.

In Seattle, homeless residents in the city’s 100-person encampment call it Nickelsville, an unflattering reference to the mayor, Greg Nickels. A tent city in Sacramento prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to announce a plan Wednesday to shift the entire 125-person encampment to a nearby fairground. That came after a recent visit by “The Oprah Winfrey Show” set off such a news media stampede that some fed-up homeless people complained of overexposure and said they just wanted to be left alone.

The problem in Fresno is different in that it is both chronic and largely outside the national limelight. Homelessness here has long been fed by the ups and downs in seasonal and subsistence jobs in agriculture, but now the recession has cast a wider net and drawn in hundreds of the newly homeless — from hitchhikers to truck drivers to electricians.

“These are able-bodied folks that did day labor, at minimum wage or better, who were previously able to house themselves based on their income,” said Michael Stoops, the executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, an advocacy group based in Washington.

The surging number of homeless people in Fresno, a city of 500,000 people, has been a surprise. City officials say they have three major encampments near downtown and smaller settlements along two highways. All told, as many 2,000 people are homeless here, according to Gregory Barfield, the city’s homeless prevention and policy manager, who said that drug use, prostitution and violence were all too common in the encampments.

It shouldn't come as a surprise in places like Fresno. The homelessness issue is one that is the result of political choices made by the local governments that encourage homelessness through the economic policies and practices. That speaks volumes over the political choices made by the elected leaders. Increasing the minimum wage has meant that people who were formerly employed in those jobs may now face loss of their jobs because their employers can't afford to pay the higher wages, increased taxes, and maintain the same staffing levels. Higher unemployment rates can be traced to the higher minimum wages.

Gov. Schwarzenegger, instead of taking a zero tolerance approach and demanding that these people be placed in shelters, is setting the stage to making the situation permanent by allowing the group to take up residence on the state fairgrounds. How is that a solution to the problem? He's just shuffling these people around.

Meanwhile, the situation in places like San Francisco and Seattle are the result of government policies that tolerate homelessness and encourage homeless people from other jurisdictions to come. My own experience in Seattle finds that quite a few of these homeless are mentally ill and unstable and need medical care, rather than being on the streets where they can menace people and cause harm to themselves or others (particularly around Pioneer Square). The policies by the local governments are anything but humane and just; they're tolerating lawlessness and do not address the core reasons why these people are on the street in the first place. Unaffordable housing as a result of government policies that restrict construction of housing and pushing to expand lending to those who are incapable of repaying their obligations means that prices rose unnaturally.

It's all about the unintended consequences.

Writing of unintended consequences, there's this: registry requirements for sex offenders that leads those offenders to conclude that going homeless is a way to avoid ostracism and may actually make communities less safe.

Nice.

Greening the White House? Been There. Done That.

On the heels of the second Earth Hour (when the first was such a farce to begin with), the Obama Administration is calling for new green efforts at the White House proper. Been there. Done that. President Bush did far more than any of his predecessors attempted, even when the AP derisively claims that the efforts slowed down during his tenure, even thought they had to admit that the Bush Administration made massive improvements to reducing the White House energy consumption and reduced waste output.

But now, President Obama is calling on White House staff to buy into the idea of switching to greener cleaning options, further energy consumption reductions, and expanding on programs begun by President Bush.

Yet, similar efforts by Congress have fallen by the wayside, even when attempts to use carbon credits to offset usage were purchased (your tax dollars at work!).

In the late 1970s, President Jimmy Carter installed a $30,000 solar water-heating system designed to save $1,000 a year in heating costs. It didn't really work.

"Talk to anyone who worked in the West Wing then, and they would say they washed their hands with cool water," said former chief usher Gary Walters, who spent 37 years at the White House before retiring two years ago.

Those who've been involved in past efforts to make the White House more eco-friendly say that for all that's already been done, there is plenty left to do, given how quickly technology changes.

"It's definitely time to revisit it," said Bill Browning, who helped launch the Clinton-era greening effort in 1993. "The green building movement has evolved quite a bit since then."

Browning, founder of the Terrapin Bright Green consulting firm, said the staff members who manage the White House and its grounds — employees who carry over from one administration to the next — have been "the real champions of greening the White House. They made it their project during the Clinton years and kept it going during the last administration."

For all the enthusiasm about going green, though, there are practical limits. Last year House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., announced a "Green the Capitol" program to zero out the Capitol's carbon impact by December 2008. But this month, the House quietly shelved the project because it couldn't guarantee that Capitol operations were carbon neutral even after purchasing "offsets" that finance projects to reduce greenhouse gases.

Many of the interior systems were completely replaced during the Truman Administration when structural issues forced a massive interior renovation and restoration. Since then, more efficient systems have been routinely installed and new technologies applied.

During George W. Bush's two terms, workers installed three solar systems, including a thermal setup on the pool cabana that heats water for the pool and showers, and photovoltaic panels atop a maintenance shed that supplement the mansion's electrical supply. Bush also made a big push to recycle office paper, although the overall go-green effort lost momentum during his tenure, according to many outside observers.

Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch also incorporates numerous green features, without the ostentatious and fawning by the eco-left, primarily because it's George Bush we're talking about and not Al Gore (whose oversized mansion is an energy hog of the first order).

And while Gore and the other eco-leftists talk quite a bit about how we must go green and reduce our carbon footprint (even while flying around the planet to preach his pseudoscience pablum, I'm already walking the walk. Since that posting was written, I have added a layer of R30 insulation to the attic and installed the new energy efficient garage door I previously wrote about and am now in the process of picking out new entry doors to further tighten up the house. Since I'm buying the entry doors in 2009, I will likely take advantage of the Energy Star credit (30% on cost of doors or windows, up to $1,500 per year).

Taxing Times in New York

It's a done deal. Legislative leaders and Governor David Paterson have figured out their tax and spend plan for the fiscal year, and it's not pretty at all. While folks in other parts of the country might think that people making $250,000 per year are not in the middle class, in New York City and the metro area, it is.

While the state proponents for the taxes call this a millionaire's tax, the fact is that many of those who are going to get slammed by the tax hike are in the middle class - because of the high cost of living in the region.

They're going to get hammered. Hard.

The two-tier tax plan would bring in $4 billion annually, in part by hiking income taxes a stunning 31 percent for all New Yorkers making more than $500,000 a year, the sources said.

A second, slightly lower tier would increase incomes taxes by 14.5 percent for singles earning $250,000 to $500,000 annually and for married and joint filers earning $300,000 to $500,000.

Taxpayers now hit the current top rate of 6.85 percent when their incomes reach $65,000. The Paterson plan would tax top-tier earners at 8.97 percent and second-tier earners at 7.85 percent.

The staggering hike was one of the last elements of a $121 billion spending deal Paterson and legislative leaders forged behind closed doors in a race to make the April 1 budget deadline.

Sources said that other elements of the deal include:

* $6.5 billion in spending cuts;

* $6 billion in federal stimulus money, and

* Numerous other taxes and fees including expanding the deposit law to include plastic water bottles.

Don't buy into the part about the $6.5 billion in spending cuts. If that were truly the case, the state budget would be smaller than previously. With a sleight of hand, the cuts do not exist - particularly because the state is using the federal money to fill that gap. Any cuts are merely for show because the ultimate state budget will remain higher than last year when all dollars are counted.

The state has 200,000 employees. Paterson had claimed that he would cut 8,900 - or less than one half of one percent 4.45% [ed: correction courtesy of Jason Van Steenwyk in the comments] of the state workforce. That raised such hackles with the unions that he's backed down. The unions pulled the strings and Paterson balked, even though he was right to put those jobs down for good. A bloated state workforce is a luxury that the state cannot afford. It hasn't been able to afford the huge state workforce for years, but the costs are now ballooning out of control because revenues simply can't cover the costs hence the tax hikes all over the place.

The state's forecasts for revenue generation will come up short because people will spend even less and those who are hit hardest by the tax hike - many of whom are connected to Wall Street - will contemplate moving out of the state, whether to Connecticut, where the tax rates are significantly less (ranging from 3% to 5%) or even to Pennsylvania, where the rate is 3.07%. New Jersey's current top tax rate is 8.97% and the state is in nearly as bad fiscal shape as New York. However, New Jersey does benefit from having lower overall sales and use tax rate compared with the NYC metro area rates that can top out at just under 10% compared with 7% for New Jersey (or 3.5% for enterprise zones that include Paterson, Elizabeth and Jersey City). There's a huge reason that so many New Yorkers do their shopping in New Jersey; they're coming for the favorable tax rates. New Jersey also benefits from having good transit options to Manhattan, which makes it a favorable option to moving to Connecticut or the more distant Pennsylvania from which commutes could take 3-4 hours each way.

The state's revenue projections will come up short, and not just on the personal income tax revenues. Other state revenues will drop as well as the disposable income of those taxpayers is eroded by the still higher taxes, meaning that sales and use tax revenue will decline, corporate franchise tax revenues will decline, as will other taxes and fees that are generated from the purchasing power from those affected individuals.

The kicker to this situation is that it was done in complete secrecy in back room deals between the the two legislative leaders - Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver, Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, and Gov. Paterson. It's no different than any of the budgets produced in the past decade despite claims that Albany would open up the process and be more inclusive of other legislators.

There's plenty of corruption everywhere you look in Albany and new scandals crop up regularly. In the past two weeks, there were two prominent scandals, one involving the former state tax commissioner, and the other involving aides to former comptroller Alan Hevesi (who himself was ousted on corruption and criminal charges).

And the lack of transparency over the legislative process means that the legislative leaders throw around their weight and determine the issues that will proceed and bottle up those that they oppose, even if members of their caucus want them. Throw in the fact that you have people like Silver working at Weitz and Luxenberg (a very prominent personal injury lawfirm that engages in class action suits on asbestos, tobacco, and other major damages cases), but who refuses to divulge his income from that association despite working with the firm for years and the dysfunction in Albany is far worse than you can imagine.

These are truly taxing times in New York.