#6
Actually, carrying large amounts of cash is evidence of being a drug dealer, the courts have ruled. Thus, your cash can be siezed until you can prove its source. You might say, but wait, the Fourth Amendment protects me: but no. The courts have ruled it's the state vs. your property, not the state vs. you, so your rights don't apply.
All for victory in the War Against Drugs! Twenty years of constant success and still going strong!
#7
$50 will barely cover the tab at the airport bar during a layover (especially if you toss in a couple of those $7 Mickey D hamburgers because you didn't get any food on the plane and even those things are starting to look good).
#8
All cash belongs to the government - just look on it, it says United States of America all over it and almost nevers says your name.
The interpretational contortions the courts have gone through to justify this, McCain-Feingold, Kelo, anything based on the Commerce clause, etc. just boggle the rational mind.
#11
So now not only will TSA target old ladies to check their shoes, they're all over English speaking cooperative well dressed folks with a few bucks in their pocket.
While we can't profile any suspicious folks, no that's not PC. Yeah makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Jan ||
04/04/2009 12:54 Comments ||
Top||
#12
The transformation of America into a third world country continues.
#13
When you travel, you had better carry enough cash to get out of any country quick if it is unstable or otherwise. This is encroaching on the state department as the US citizen abroad that can evacuate him/herself is one less strain on the state department if SHTF. Also people may want to keep money on them seeing what the banks are going through.
#14
Also people may want to keep money on them seeing what the banks are going through.
Posted by newc
When I was a young fellow it was fairly common to hear stories of old folks passing away and cash being found in Mason jars in the barn or hidden away in the house. They had lived through "Bank Holidays", FDR, and the gold grab. Impetuous youth that we were, we all laughed and shook our heads at the time. No laughing matter today however.
Stung over the voting bloc's 2-to-1 support of Obama in November, the senator says to look to the new president for immigration leadership.
John McCain sounds angry and frustrated that, despite the risks he took in pushing immigration reform, Hispanic voters flocked to Democrat Barack Obama in last year's presidential contest. McCain's raw emotions burst forth recently as he heatedly told Hispanic business leaders that they should now look to Obama, not him, to take the lead on immigration.
The meeting in the Capitol's Strom Thurmond Room on March 11 was a Republican effort led by Sens. McCain of Arizona, John Thune of South Dakota, and Mel Martinez of Florida to reach out to Hispanics. But two people who attended the session say they were taken aback by McCain's anger.
Posted by: ed ||
04/04/2009 14:53 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Maybe Lindsey Graham will smooth this over with a Gramnesty Award or something.
#2
He should be upset considering that his support of amnesty cost him the support of most of the conservative wing of the party. He bet wrong and is upset that he lost. I can't think a time I felt less enthusiastic about the man I voted for. He was the Democrat's Republican candidate for president.
#3
it is far better to lose on substance then to win on style, during the campaign mccain displayed neither. I didn't vote for mccain, I voted against barry sotero.
#6
send "Intelligent Republican" Meghan McCain to explain. Should be entertaining at minimum
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/04/2009 20:34 Comments ||
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#7
McCain lost because he couldn't out liberal the liberals. Sucking up the the illegals is just that, bonehead and it cost you more conservative votes (of all races) than you gained through your BS.
Now please go away and let some real conservatives take over.
Summers earned cash last year from firms over which he now has influence
WASHINGTON - Lawrence H. Summers, the top economic adviser to President Obama, earned more than $5 million last year from the hedge fund D. E. Shaw and collected $2.7 million in speaking fees from Wall Street companies that received government bailout money, the White House disclosed Friday in releasing financial information about top officials.
Mr. Summers, the director of the National Economic Council, wields important influence over Mr. Obama's policy decisions for the troubled financial industry, including firms from which he recently received payments. Last year, he reported making 40 paid appearances, including a $135,000 speech to the investment firm Goldman Sachs, in addition to his earnings from the hedge fund, a sector the administration is trying to regulate.
The White House released hundreds of pages of financial disclosure forms, which are required of all West Wing officials. A White House spokesman, Ben LaBolt, said the compensation was not a conflict for Mr. Summers, adding it was not surprising because he was "widely recognized as one of the country's most distinguished economists."
Mr. Summers's role at the White House includes advising Mr. Obama on whether -- and how -- to tighten regulation of hedge funds, which engage in highly sophisticated financial trading that many analysts have said contributed to the economic collapse.
Mr. Summers, a former president of Harvard University, was Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. He appeared before large Wall Street companies like Citigroup ($45,000), J. P. Morgan ($67,500) and the now defunct Lehman Brothers ($67,500), according to his disclosure report. He reported being paid $10,000 for a speaking date at Yale and $90,000 to address an organization of Mexican banks.
While Mr. Obama campaigned on a pledge to restrict lobbyists from working in the White House, a step intended to reduce any influence between the administration and corporations, the ban did not apply to former executives like Mr. Summers, who was not a registered lobbyist. In 2006, he became a managing director of D. E. Shaw, a firm that manages about $30 billion in assets, making it one of the biggest hedge funds in the world.
"Dr. Summers was not an adviser to or an employee of the firms that paid him to speak," Mr. LaBolt said. He added, "Of course, since joining the White House, he has complied with the strictest ethics rules ever required of appointees and will not work on specific matters to which D. E. Shaw is a party for two years."
A review of hundreds of pages of financial disclosure forms on Friday evening offered an extensive portrait of the wealth of top officials in the Obama administration. The forms detail the salaries, bonuses and investments of the president's circle of advisers, many of whom took deep pay cuts from the private sector and sold their companies to work at the White House.
David Axelrod, who was the chief campaign strategist to Mr. Obama and now serves as a senior adviser to the president, reported a salary of $1 million last year from his two consulting firms. Over the next five years, according to his disclosure form, he will get $3 million from the sale of the two firms, which provide media and strategic advice to political clients. He listed assets of about $7 million to $10 million, and reported a long list of Democratic clients and a few corporate concerns, including AT&T and the Exelon Corporation, a nuclear energy company.
The disclosure forms also shed further light on the compensation received by a top Obama aide who previously worked for Citigroup, one of the largest recipients of taxpayer bailout money. The aide, Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, received more than $7.4 million from the company from January 2008 to when he joined the White House this year.
That money included a year-end bonus of $2.25 million for work in 2008, which Citigroup paid him in January. Such bonuses have prompted political controversy in recent months, including sharp criticism from Mr. Obama, who in January branded them as "shameful."
The White House had previously acknowledged that Mr. Froman received such a year-end bonus and said he had decided to give it to charity, but would not say what it was. The administration said Friday that Mr. Froman was working on giving the $2.25 million to a combination of charities related to homelessness and cancer, which took the life of his son this year. More "Change we can believe in." Balance at the link.
According to the accounts of sources inside the room, President Obama told the CEOs exactly what he expects from them, and pushed back forcefully when they attempted to defend Wall Streets legendarily high paying ways.
From the White House, there were five principal attendees:
Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who arrived a few minutes late,
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner,
Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer,
Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and
Director of the National Economic Council Larry Summers.
Uncharacteristically, Summers said almost nothing, and it appeared to one participant as if he had been told to remain silent.
To break the ice, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon offered Geithner a fake check for $25 billion, the amount of TARP money that the company has accepted. Although many of those in the room laughed, Geithner didnt keep the check.
The President entered the room a few minutes later, and made a lap of the table shaking hands and saying hello to the CEOs, several of whom he called by name.
Taking his seat at the table, the president said, "So lets get to it." He spoke for several minutes without notes, giving an overview of the economic situation as he saw it. But the first comment that made an impression on several attendees was on Wall Street salaries and bonuses.
The president spoke of public outrage over the high flying executive lifestyle. "The anger gentlemen, is real," Obama said. Take note, boys and girls, he's said this before, "The anger is real."
He urged pay reform and said rewards must be proportional and balanced, and tied to the health and success of the company.
The president described the financial system as still "fragile," and asked for cooperation from the CEOs. But he also told them he wouldnt shy away from regulatory reform. Obama wrapped up his remarks and threw the conversation open to the table, saying "So, whod like to talk?"
JPMorgans Dimon spoke first. He began by complimenting the president on the economic team hed assembled. And he said his industry needs to explain more directly to the American people that the economic recovery plans are already working. Dimon also insisted that hed like to give the governments TARP money back as soon as practical, and asked the president to "streamline" that process.
But Obama didnt like that idea -- arguing that the system still needs government capital.
The president offered an analogy: "this is like a patient whos on antibiotics," he said. "Maybe the patient starts feeling better after a couple of days, but you dont stop taking the medicine until youve finished the bottle." Returning the money too early, the president argued could send a bad signal.
Several CEOs disagreed, arguing instead that returning TARP money was their patriotic duty, that they didnt need it anymore, and that publicity surrounding the return would send a positive signal of confidence to the markets.
Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis cracked a joke at the expense of his peers whod lavished praise on the administration: "Mr. President," he said, "Im not going to suck up to Geithner and Summers like the other CEOs here have." Lewis also urged the president not to paint all the banks with the same broad brush.
The president argued thats not what the White House was doing. Indeed, earlier the same week, Obama said at a nationally televised news conference, "The rest of us cant afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit,"
As the meeting wound down after nearly an hour and a half, the CEOs hustled out to live television positions on the White House grounds, where many gave interviews to CNBC.
It had been a landmark day in the history of American capitalism. Unbeknownst to the financial executives, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner was also on Pennsylvania Avenue that day, meeting with Obamas auto bailout task force. Although the finance CEOs got a meeting with the president, Wagoner saw only Obamas senior advisor Steven Rattner at the Treasury Department. During the meeting, Rattner demanded Wagoners resignation.
It had been a tough day for CEOs in the nations capital. Now, to that "The Anger is Real." From his Race speech, on a level with Linclon according to the press, delivered on March 18, 2008, source provided by MSNBC
Standing before a row of eight American flags near the building where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Obama urged the nation to break "a racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years.'"
"The anger is real," he said. "It is powerful, and to simply wish it away, to condemn it without understanding its roots, only serves to widen the chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races."
I'm beginning to think, since he never has known a job, he spends his day, when he is in the Oval Office, writing and writing and writing, to get just the words that school children throughout the ages will have to memorize --- He made lots and lots of money with his books..... he's an author, playing at being President.... thus, TOTUS -- his words are his, and his are the best. We're in a heap of trouble.
#2
My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.
Um, no. I like this.
via Redstate.com
So, I guess this leads to the next question, Mr. President. You say that there are pitchforks out there, and maybe there are. But are you really standing between them and the bankers?
Or are you trying to get the bankers to stand between them and you?
#4
We're kicking around interesting ideas for signs for the San Antonio Tea Party. Which will be held in Alamo Plaza, on the 15th, and will have everyone and his brother crammed into the plaza and overflowing into the streets around. Every time we get an estimation of attendance, it doubles, and then doubles the next time. This is all going to be very interesting...
That's the problem with Marxist 'scientific' history. It ignores the real record for its agenda. A later Louis would face his own massive financial crisis.
My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.
Yep, I'm sure Louis XVI said something on those lines to the First Estate and fellow ruling class. When the anger was finally manifested, all those in the ruling institutions and the institutions themselves were swept from the landscape. Maybe Obama needs to give his former peer Senator Dodd a call about whom may or may not be the target of the anger. Once the storm is released, no one is safe.
#8
Sgt. Mom -- I had WOAI on the other day -- Glenn Beck was being interviewed by a local talk show guy, (Pags) and is coming to San Antonio -- doing his TV show then, to the Alamo! That prolly just tripled that number.
#9
Quadrupled, and then quadrupled again, once Glenn Beck decided he wanted to party here; at this point, the schedule starts with his show at 4, then there will be the rally, and speakers, and all. The rest of the committee and I are battening down for next week, when the interest will really kick into high gear. Oddly enough, many of the local Tea Party volunteers are retired or former military.
#11
Does Obama have any clue that the anger is toward the A$$hats who borrowed a few trillion dollars on America's credit card and flushed it down the toilet. Obama likes spending other peoples money so much he won't even take it back when they do not want it!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
