Archive for the ‘Big Government’ Category
The bank bail out was not $770 billion (TARP). It was $7.7 TRILLION . . . from the FED’s money printing press
That’s more than half the total size of the U.S. economy
BLOOMBERG: The amount of money the central bank parceled out was surprising even to Gary H. Stern, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis from 1985 to 2009, who says he “wasn’t aware of the magnitude.” It dwarfed the Treasury Department’s better-known $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Add up guarantees and lending limits, and the Fed had committed $7.77 trillion as of March 2009 to rescuing the financial system, more than half the value of everything produced in the U.S. that year.
“TARP at least had some strings attached,” says Brad Miller, a North Carolina Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, referring to the program’s executive-pay ceiling. “With the Fed programs, there was nothing.”
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POLICE STATE: Illinois man faces 75 years in prison for video recording his encounter with cops
DJ PANGBURN-D&T: A 42-year old Illinois man named Michael Allison is facing 75 years in prison for recording video of police. This, of course, just days after the 1st District Court of Appeals upheld the right to record police actions in public in Glik v. Cunniffe.
Michael Allison recorded video of Illinois police visiting his mother’s home to investigate his unregistered
vehicles. Allison recorded the police without their consent while they fined him and impounded his vehicles. Now he faces 75 years in prison for these videos as well as those recorded at a court proceeding related to the case.
And Allison is being prosecuted under archaic laws governing eavesdropping on police. Each of the five counts of eavesdropping would bring him 15 years, as it is a class-one felony in Illinois, which puts Allison’s actions in league with rape.
Of course, police are free to videotape citizens at will.
This has all happened amidst a trend of citizens armed with smart phones recording video and audio of police arrests and encounters. Rochester, New York citizen Emily Good was arrested for videotaping a police arrest outside her home, even though she was on her property (because the officer Mario Masic felt threatened). And, of course, OpenWatch released CopRecorder and OpenWatch Recorder to monitor police encounters.
Cop threatens to shoot motorist in the face during routine traffic stop
Watch cop assault 14-year-old skateboarder for calling him “Dude”
My son calls me “dude” sometimes. But I don’t take it as an insult. It’s just the way kids talk these days. Sometimes I will say: “Pete, probably best not to get in the habit of calling adults ‘dude.’ They might think you’re being disrespectful.”
He’ll then say, “Oh, yeah, sorry Dad. I guess it’s just a habit because that’s what everyone my age calls each other.”
Good thing we had video of this
Without camcorders, we never would have learned about the Rodney King beating
YOUR FRIENDLY GOVERNMENT: Man in critical condition after cops beat him into a coma for riding a bicycle without a light
KRISTV: It’s news no one wants to hear; a family member is in the hospital on life support unable to speak and even worse there are few answers about how it all happened.
That’s exactly what one Aransas Pass family says they are going through.
Martin Garcia Ortiz is in critical condition after an incident allegedly involving Aransas Pass police back on August 10th.
The family and their attorneys say they believe a rogue police officer may be to blame for Ortiz’s severe injuries.
“We want to find out what happened to my uncle. We want him to hurry up and talk to see what he can tell
us,” said Victoria Hernandez, Ortiz’s niece.
48-year-old Martin Garcia Ortiz is a life long Aransas Pass resident, though for the past few weeks he’s been at Spohn Memorial Hospital in Corpus Christi.
On August 10th, Ortiz’s family says he was riding his bicycle home and just a few blocks away something happened to put him in critical condition.
Just before midnight, the family’s attorneys say they believe police tried stopping Ortiz for not having a headlight on his bike. Then, the situation took a dramatic turn when one officer allegedly knocked Ortiz to the ground.
“Either with his vehicle or with his person pushed him over on his bicycle. He fell over to the street,” said Stephen Carriganan, attorney for the family.
Attorneys say Ortiz was knocked from his bike along Cleveland Street. The allegations are only more shocking from there.
They say they believe when Ortiz was already on the ground bleeding the officer got out and punched or kicked him causing even more injuries.
Attorneys say they have evidence that supports their claims, but are holding off on revealing their sources.
We contacted Aransas Pass police department for comment but our calls weren’t returned.
It’s not clear if the officers involved received disciplinary action, but it appears they’re still on duty in the city.
Police are charging Ortiz with public intoxication and resisting arrest.
The family’s attorneys report the police department has told them the dash-cam video from the police unit was- for some reason- unable to record the incident.
Attorneys also say the department hasn’t given them a complete copy of the incident report.
“I can find very little justification. If what we believe is true; if they pushed or ran this guy of the road, whatever they did with their car or their persons. I’d be very surprised if there is any justification for that in a report,” said Chris Gayle, an attorney for the family.
Now, the family and attorneys say they are faced with a lot of unanswered questions about exactly what went on that night, but they’re hopeful they will find the truth.
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BEWARE! If you own a Gibson guitar, you might be a criminal (according to Obama’s wackos at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
BOB BARR-ACJ: Are you a guitar owner? More important, do you own a guitar made by Gibson, one of the most
well-known American guitar manufacturers? If so, listen up; you may be in Uncle Sam’s cross hairs – as a criminal.
Just ask Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitars.
Last week, heavily armed federal agents raided two guitar manufacturing facilities in Tennessee owned by Gibson — one in Nashville, another in Memphis. The feds were not acting on a tip that an al Qaeda cell was holed up in the buildings; or that Mexican drug cartel gangs were lurking inside. It was actually something far more serious; far more serious, that is, to a bunch of federal bureaucrats with nothing better to do.
The raids were carried out because the Department of Justice and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service claim that parts of the iconic guitars manufactured in the plants contained the wrong kind of imported wood. And, although the feds have not made clear to Gibson just what it has done wrong, the government appears also to be claiming the guitar parts might have been exported to the U.S. contrary not to American laws, but to certain domestic laws of the countries exporting the parts to the United States!
Woman holds yard sales to pay for her bone cancer treatments. Government shuts her down.
SALEM KATU: A woman fighting a terminal form of bone cancer is trying to raise money to help pay bills with a few weekend garage sales, but the city of Salem says she’s breaking the law and is shutting her down.
Jan Cline had no idea, but the city of Salem has a clear law that states a person can only have three yard sales a year.
Cline has been selling her stuff in the backyard for a few weekends and said she thought she’d be fine by keeping the sale out of everyone’s way.
“It’s a struggle,” Cline says. “It’s a struggle for me because I’m very independent, used to taking care of myself.”
She’s run businesses and supported herself for years but this summer she was diagnosed with bone cancer.
“It’s a bone marrow cancer that eats through the bones and causes holes in the bones so that just by walking I can break a bone,” she says.
In one day she lost her independence, her ability to work and earn an income that could pay for all those medical bills.
So she decided to sell what she owned. The sale was bringing in several hundred dollars each weekend until one neighbor complained and she got a visit from the city.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry. Rules are rules.’”
HEAVY-HANDED GOVERNMENT: Police shut down girl’s lemonade stand
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Police in Georgia have shut down a lemonade stand run by three girls trying to save up for a trip to a water park, saying they didn’t have a business license or the required permits.
Midway Police Chief Kelly Morningstar says police also didn’t know how the lemonade was made, who made it or what was in it.
The girls had been operating for one day when Morningstar and another officer cruised by.
The girls needed a business license, peddler’s permit and food permit to operate, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day or $180 per year.
One girl, 14-year-old Casity Dixon, says the three had to listen to police and shut down.
The girls are now doing chores and yard work to make money.
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SWAT Team breaks down man’s door . . . over student loans
NEWS 10: A federal education official Wednesday morning offered little information as to why federal agents raided a Stockton man’s home Tuesday.
The resident, Kenneth Wright, does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe why what he thought was a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 in the morning.
“I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers,” Wright said.
As Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts, he said the officers barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.
“He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there,” Wright said.
Food Stamp Nation: 39% more Americans on Food Stamps Since Obama Took Office
Of course, this is exactly what Obama wants, more people dependent on government to live. Meanwhile, the Obama has bought a record number of limos to chauffeur members of his Administration around Washington, DC.
Is this what Americans have become?
Obama is now our King, while American citizens have become his subjects.
He parties it up in the White House, parades around in his monster limo, plays 70 rounds of golf since becoming President, goes on one lavish vacation after another at taxpayer expense, then throws out a few crumbs to his serfs, who have become dependent on him to live.
“Let them eat cake.”
Number of government-owned limos has soared under Obama
IWATCH: Limousines, the very symbol of wealth and excess, are usually the domain of corporate
executives and the rich. But the number of limos owned by Uncle Sam increased by 73 percent during the first two years of the Obama administration, according to an analysis of records by iWatch News.
Most of the increase was recorded in Hillary Clinton’s State Department.
Obama administration officials said most of the increase reflects an enhanced effort to protect diplomats and other government officials in a dangerous world. But a watchdog group says the abundance of limos sends the wrong message in the midst of a budget crisis. The increase in limos comes to light on the heels of an executive order from President Obama last week that charges agencies to increase the fuel efficiency of their fleets.
SCAM: Obama pays GM dealerships $7,500 for each Obama Volt they take
GM dealerships are buying Chevy Volts, reselling them as used cars and then taking $7,500 tax credit.
A tax credit is the government writing you a check.
Obama Volt sales have averaged a dismal425 per month for the first four months of 2011 — even though GM has the capacity to build 17,000 Volts per year and even though the government (that is, the taxpayer) is paying you $7,500 to buy the Volt.
That’s how awful this car is. This is crony capitalism at its worst.
Government Motors Stock Down 22% Since Post-Bailout Public Stock Offering
After much fanfare over its public stock offering last fall and a peak in January of $39.48 per share, General Motors stock has been in a tailspin downward for the last five months months. It closed today at $31.84. Ouch!
President Obama calls the GM bailout one of the big successes of his Presidency.
GM hasn’t been helped with reports of shoddy workmanship from it’s labor union workforce.
For example . . .
Steering wheel falls off Chevy Cruze. Worse than the Yugo?
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Imagine turning your car’s steering wheel, or giving it a
gentle tug, and having it break away from the steering column. Now you’re speeding along holding the suddenly useless wheel.
It sounds like a vision from a cartoon, or every driver’s nightmare. And it happened to at least one driver of a 2011 Chevrolet Cruze compact car last month, and General Motors Corp. is recalling 2,100 of the cars as a result.
While the recall affects a relatively small number of vehicles, it is an unpleasant development for Chevrolet, which has been riding high on the success of its new small car. Chevrolet sold 50,205 Cruzes through the end of March. That’s well short of the 76,821 units Toyota sold of the Cruze’s main rival, the Corolla, but it is ahead of the 37,379 Cobalts Chevy sold in the same period. The Cruze replaced the Cobalt and is supposed to be a departure from that uninspired model.
Here’s the Video
Meanwhile, almost no one wants the electric-powered Obama Volt because it’s very expensive and only has a range of 40 miles per charge. Plus an enormous battery takes up much of the back seat.
Here was my assessment of the “Obama Volt” last summer
Looks like my predictions about the Obama Volt last summer have proven correct.
Reminds me of those old Soviet car factories that produced all those cars they couldn’t sell, or the hilarious Communist-built Yugo.
No doubt, ObamaCare will work something like that. You’ll go into the hospital to get your tonsils removed and come out of surgery missing a leg.
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