Figures on government spending and debt. The government's fiscal year runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.
Total public debt subject to limit Jan. 22.... $ 12,245,872,000,000.00
Statutory debt limit ....$ 12,394,000,000,000.00
Total public debt outstanding Jan. 22 ....$ 12,302,465,000,000.00
Operating balance Jan. 22 ....$ 142,454,000,000.00
Interest fiscal year 2009 ....$ 383,365,000,000.00
Interest fiscal year 2008 ....$ 451,154,000,000.00
Deficit fiscal year 2009 ....$ 1,417,121,000,000.00
Deficit fiscal year 2008 ....$ 454,798,000,000.00
Receipts fiscal year 2009 ....$ 2,104,613,000,000.00
Receipts fiscal year 2008 ....$ 2,523,642,000,000.00
Outlays fiscal year 2009 ....$ 3,521,734,000,000.00
Outlays fiscal year 2008 ....$ 2,978,440,000,000.00
Gold assets in September ....$ 11,041,000,000.00


Bad economy? Obama's or Bush's
Debt increase under Bush in 8 years = $3 trillion

Debt increase under Obama in 1 year = $3.3 trillion

Obama Says 'We Lost Touch'... Didn't Speak 'Directly to American People'...

BUT

Obama's First Year: By The Numbers:
INTERVIEWS: 158
SPEECHES, COMMENTS & REMARKS: 411

GOLF: 29 rounds of golf
• George W. Bush played golf 7 times his first year.

He's getting ready to offer the kids a pony.

I GOT IT!! I GOT IT!!!

I GOT IT!! I got my PERSONALIZED response from Senator Boxer today via email!! I'm thrilled that she personally took the time to write me and tell me how much she appreciates hearing from folks like me! She actually took the time to read what I wrote and then tell me she'll keep MY VIEWS IN MIND when she reviews this and other legislation! (Never mind that more than half of her letter to me was a commercial for her, that's pretty much irrelevant.)

Get ready to wipe tears from your eyes, here's what she had to say:



Dear Mr. Locke:

Thank you for taking the time to write and share your views with me. Your comments will help me continue to represent you and other Californians to the best of my ability. Be assured that I will keep your views in mind as the Senate considers legislation on this or similar issues.

If you would like additional information about my work in the U.S. Senate, I invite you to visit my website, http://boxer.senate.gov. From this site, you can access my statements and press releases about current events and pending legislation, request copies of legislation and government reports, and receive detailed information about the many services that I am privileged to provide for my constituents. You may also wish to visit http://thomas.loc.gov to track current and past federal legislation.

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. I appreciate hearing from you.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
******************

Now, is that special or what?!? By the way, see my earlier post to read what I wrote to this representative.

545

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army &Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Poor Thing

Over the last few months we've had a complete shift in philosophy where I work. I'm not sure if my job is stable, and in this economy we all need to plan, think, execute when necessary and like the Boy Scouts -- Be Prepared.

Congress is playing around with health care benefits, health care insurance, basically health care in general and we don't know how that's going to play out. It is with those two situations I decided to stop procrastinating about some conditions I've developed through the years and get a complete detailing. Oh, it's going to cost me up to $3000 out of pocket but insurance is picking up 80%. That is a blessing and an outstanding benefit of my job.

I had bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosed years ago, and over the last year have had both knees diagnosed with torn menisci. (Then there's the turbinate reduction that didn't work last year so I've got to have that again.) Most of the rehab for these things is to keep moving, otherwise I'm prone to blowing off therapy... "non-compliant" is the term. I'm doing a lot of running around and relaxing while I'm off from work but I'm getting these things done!

Well, yesterday I got a call from the dentist's office that said it's a new year, I can start out with a cleaning! Okey dokey, I got lots of free time so here I go.

I get there and the receptionist is a girl I've become acquainted with since finding their office when I moved to the neighborhood 8 years ago. We've helped each other with projects outside of the office and have a decent relationship apart from the dental chair.

"How're you doing?" she asked me in that heavily Iranian-influenced accent.

"Good, recuperating from a little surgery"

"Oh? What did you have done?"

"Carpal tunnel."

"I have that, too! Does your hand still get numb?"

"Nope" and I held up my hand to show the endoscopic incision of 3/8". She was surprised it was that little and went on to say, "I can't get mine fixed; I can't afford insurance, and there's the deductible."

I told her I thought she definitely could afford insurance. But, if she got insurance, she couldn't drive the BMW that I parked beside. She probably wouldn't have been wearing the new outfit she had on, or she probably wouldn't be living in a condo in Calabasas.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is a pretty good example of what we're dealing with regarding health care insurance. Personally, I don't want to pay her insurance -- but I do like her outfit.

The Mini Ice Age Starts Here

From the UK's Daily Mail (online)

By David Rose


The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists.

Their predictions – based on an analysis of natural cycles in water temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans – challenge some of the global warming orthodoxy’s most deeply cherished beliefs, such as the claim that the North Pole will be free of ice in summer by 2013.

According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007 – and even the most committed global warming activists do not dispute this.

The scientists’ predictions also undermine the standard climate computer models, which assert that the warming of the Earth since 1900 has been driven solely by man-made greenhouse gas emissions and will continue as long as carbon dioxide levels rise.

They say that their research shows that much of the warming was caused by oceanic cycles when they were in a ‘warm mode’ as opposed to the present ‘cold mode’.

This challenge to the widespread view that the planet is on the brink of an irreversible catastrophe is all the greater because the scientists could never be described as global warming ‘deniers’ or sceptics.

However, both main British political parties continue to insist that the world is facing imminent disaster without drastic cuts in CO2.

Last week, as Britain froze, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband maintained in a parliamentary answer that the science of global warming was ‘settled’.

Among the most prominent of the scientists is Professor Mojib Latif, a leading member of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has been pushing the issue of man-made global warming on to the international political agenda since it was formed 22 years ago.

Prof Latif, who leads a research team at the renowned Leibniz Institute at Germany’s Kiel University, has developed new methods for measuring ocean temperatures 3,000ft beneath the surface, where the cooling and warming cycles start.

He and his colleagues predicted the new cooling trend in a paper published in 2008 and warned of it again at an IPCC conference in Geneva last September.

Last night he told The Mail on Sunday: ‘A significant share of the warming we saw from 1980 to 2000 and at earlier periods in the 20th Century was due to these cycles – perhaps as much as 50 per cent.

'They have now gone into reverse, so winters like this one will become much more likely. Summers will also probably be cooler, and all this may well last two decades or longer.

‘The extreme retreats that we have seen in glaciers and sea ice will come to a halt. For the time being, global warming has paused, and there may well be some cooling.’

As Europe, Asia and North America froze last week, conventional wisdom insisted that this was merely a ‘blip’ of no long-term significance.

Though record lows were experienced as far south as Cuba, where the daily maximum on beaches normally used for winter bathing was just 4.5C, the BBC assured viewers that the big chill was merely short-term ‘weather’ that had nothing to do with ‘climate’, which was still warming.

The work of Prof Latif and the other scientists refutes that view.

On the one hand, it is true that the current freeze is the product of the ‘Arctic oscillation’ – a weather pattern that sees the development of huge ‘blocking’ areas of high pressure in northern latitudes, driving polar winds far to the south.

Meteorologists say that this is at its strongest for at least 60 years.

As a result, the jetstream – the high-altitude wind that circles the globe from west to east and normally pushes a series of wet but mild Atlantic lows across Britain – is currently running not over the English Channel but the Strait of Gibraltar.
A composite photograph released last year to highlight the issue of melting ice and global warming

A composite photograph released last year to highlight the issue of melting ice and global warming

However, according to Prof Latif and his colleagues, this in turn relates to much longer-term shifts – what are known as the Pacific and Atlantic ‘multi-decadal oscillations’ (MDOs).

For Europe, the crucial factor here is the temperature of the water in the middle of the North Atlantic, now several degrees below its average when the world was still warming.

But the effects are not confined to the Northern Hemisphere. Prof Anastasios Tsonis, head of the University of Wisconsin Atmospheric Sciences Group, has recently shown that these MDOs move together in a synchronised way across the globe, abruptly flipping the world’s climate from a ‘warm mode’ to a ‘cold mode’ and back again in 20 to 30-year cycles.

'They amount to massive rearrangements in the dominant patterns of the weather,’ he said yesterday, ‘and their shifts explain all the major changes in world temperatures during the 20th and 21st Centuries.

'We have such a change now and can therefore expect 20 or 30 years of cooler temperatures.’

Prof Tsonis said that the period from 1915 to 1940 saw a strong warm mode, reflected in rising temperatures.

But from 1940 until the late Seventies, the last MDO cold-mode era, the world cooled, despite the fact that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere continued to rise.

Many of the consequences of the recent warm mode were also observed 90 years ago.

For example, in 1922, the Washington Post reported that Greenland’s glaciers were fast disappearing, while Arctic seals were ‘finding the water too hot’.

It interviewed a Captain Martin Ingebrigsten, who had been sailing the eastern Arctic for 54 years: ‘He says that he first noted warmer conditions in 1918, and since that time it has gotten steadily warmer.

'Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended into the sea they have entirely disappeared.’

As a result, the shoals of fish that used to live in these waters had vanished, while the sea ice beyond the north coast of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean had melted.

Warm Gulf Stream water was still detectable within a few hundred miles of the Pole.
In contrast, Prof Tsonis said, last week 56 per cent of the surface of the United States was covered by snow.

‘That hasn’t happened for several decades,’ he pointed out. ‘It just isn’t true to say this is a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while.’

He recalled that towards the end of the last cold mode, the world’s media were preoccupied by fears of freezing.

For example, in 1974, a Time magazine cover story predicted ‘Another Ice Age’, saying: ‘Man may be somewhat responsible – as a result of farming and fuel burning [which is] blocking more and more sunlight from reaching and heating the Earth.’

Prof Tsonis said: ‘Perhaps we will see talk of an ice age again by the early 2030s, just as the MDOs shift once more and temperatures begin to rise.’

Like Prof Latif, Prof Tsonis is not a climate change ‘denier’. There is, he said, a measure of additional ‘background’ warming due to human activity and greenhouse gases that runs across the MDO cycles.

'This isn't just a blip. We can expect colder winters for quite a while'

But he added: ‘I do not believe in catastrophe theories. Man-made warming is balanced by the natural cycles, and I do not trust the computer models which state that if CO2 reaches a particular level then temperatures and sea levels will rise by a given amount.

'These models cannot be trusted to predict the weather for a week, yet they are running them to give readings for 100 years.’

Prof Tsonis said that when he published his work in the highly respected journal Geophysical Research Letters, he was deluged with ‘hate emails’.

He added: ‘People were accusing me of wanting to destroy the climate, yet all I’m interested in is the truth.’

He said he also received hate mail from climate change sceptics, accusing him of not going far enough to attack the theory of man-made warming.

The work of Profs Latif, Tsonis and their teams raises a crucial question: If some of the late 20th Century warming was caused not by carbon dioxide but by MDOs, then how much?

Tsonis did not give a figure; Latif suggested it could be anything between ten and 50 per cent.

Other critics of the warming orthodoxy say the role played by MDOs is even greater.

William Gray, emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Colorado State University, said that while he believed there had been some background rise caused by greenhouse gases, the computer models used by advocates of man-made warming had hugely exaggerated their effect.
Dr David Viner stands by his claim that snow will become an 'increasingly rare event'

Dr David Viner stands by his claim that snow will become an 'increasingly rare event'

According to Prof Gray, these distort the way the atmosphere works. ‘Most of the rise in temperature from the Seventies to the Nineties was natural,’ he said. ‘Very little was down to CO2 – in my view, as little as five to ten per cent.’

But last week, die-hard warming advocates were refusing to admit that MDOs were having any impact.

In March 2000, Dr David Viner, then a member of the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit, the body now being investigated over the notorious ‘Warmergate’ leaked emails, said that within a few years snowfall would become ‘a very rare and exciting event’ in Britain, and that ‘children just aren’t going to know what snow is’.

Now the head of a British Council programme with an annual £10 million budget that raises awareness of global warming among young people abroad, Dr Viner last week said he still stood by that prediction: ‘We’ve had three weeks of relatively cold weather, and that doesn’t change anything.

'This winter is just a little cooler than average, and I still think that snow will become an increasingly rare event.’

The longer the cold spell lasts, the harder it may be to persuade the public of that assertion.

*************************************
Here's the best comment, too; full of practical advice and suggestions to combat this impending non-disaster.


So, If cooling is now a crises that will kill us all, we need to build a lot of those evil, dirty coal fired power plants, everyone must drive an evil SUV, it is OK for cows to fart and we must buy the old-fashioned light bulbs without mercury in them. If all this caused global warming then surly it will fix global cooling...but the liberals will say...we must fight global cooling with more laws, regulations and (of course) more taxes.

- Ringmaster76120, Fort Worth, Texas, 11/1/2010 07:59

Dear Senator Ma'am:

I just read remarks by Dianne Feinstein on how she recounts Harry's remarks and apologies of late. You know, the one where he talks about BO's choice of no "negro dialect." (Could that guy be more loony?)

Anyway, here is the text of my latest email to her; and I anxiously await her response:

Hi, Di, my apologies... but I just can't bring myself to displaying total respect for you. I think you are completely out of touch with us regular folk, and are totally beholding to special interests.

I guess you don't expect to hear about political stuff because you've got no category for that. (Nor do you have one for illegal immingration, but that's another letter.)

I just wanted to say Good for you for accepting Harry's apology and are willing to move on! It's great that you didn't politicize it, and nice to know that you're quick to forgive and forget.

Thanks,
Jim Locke

New Ads From John McCain!!!?! WOW!!!

Here is an email I got from John McCain himself, and he even signed it! In it, he "reveals" that President Obama is leading "an extreme, left wing crusade to bankrupt America!!"

***** My Very Own Personal Email From John "I'm Not Angry" McCain *****

My Friend,

I have seen my fair share of battles throughout my years of service to our country. In the Senate, I have waged war against wrong, whether it is today's massive federal spending, government-run health care or violent extremism that threatens our great nation.
President Obama is leading an extreme, left wing crusade to bankrupt America -- leaving the bill with our children and grandchildren. I stand in his way every day in an effort to serve as a voice for the millions of Americans who disagree with the direction he is taking our country. If I get a bruise or two knocking some sense into heads in Washington, so be it. I'll keep fighting for jobs, economic growth and reduced spending as long as I'm in serving in the U.S. Senate.
We're anticipating a competitive reelection race and have launched our first radio ads in Arizona highlighting my efforts to represent our shared values. You can preview the two ads by following this link.
After listening to the ads, I ask that you consider making a generous contribution of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more to help our campaign expand our ad buy. We want all Arizonans to hear these messages and every dollar you generously give today will enable our campaign to continue playing these ads and others like them.
Today, we are engaged in a battle to save jobs, secure our nation's borders and cut the Democrats' out of control spending. The polls show we are in a strong position to win, but in my life I have taken nothing for granted, and that's why we are running an aggressive reelection campaign. I remain committed to winning this campaign, but my greatest strength is my base of supporters and I will only succeed if I have you on board.
Please follow this link to make your immediate donation of any amount up to the $4800 legal limit to my reelection campaign. Your support is a tremendous boost to my ability to continue serving as a voice of reason in Washington. I pledge that I will continue fighting each day to bring economic growth, fiscal sanity and a strong defense to our nation.

My sincere thanks,

John McCain

P.S. Our campaign has just released our first radio ads of my reelection campaign and I want you to be among the first to hear them. Please follow this link to listen to the ads and make a generous contribution of any amount to enable our campaign to expand our ad buy. We want as many people as possible to hear this important message. Thank you.

*****End of Personal Message to Me*****

Thank GOD, John figured that out! Otherwise, we'd have to listen to the same tired bullshit we've heard our entire lives! The same tired bullshit that has NO ROOTS IN TRUTH.
What he's really saying is the same old shit that didn't work before. Before you waste you time looking for and listening to the new "radio ads," don't bother. The ol' pit bull is gnashing his gums, and has the attack sense of an ant defending the driveway from your car. Nothing new here, folks, just the same politician bullshit to keep HIS ass in a cushy job and continue to pretend he knows how to fix this pile of crap called the Federal Government. Why not hammer home the Fannie Mae bonuses, John, and compare them to the AIG bonuses which were not as much? Why not show the Barney Frank and Maxine Waters quotes stating there's no impending disaster in our economy? Hammer home the fact that Barry Obama received a ton of money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for his election? How about raising the talking points of Bill O'Reilly and others who actually talk about real events and not tired cliches? C'mon, John! REALLY, HONESTLY, and TRULY give your political life for the TRUE conservative agenda. Over and over, confront every Democrat; go on all news sources and DEMAND answers.

Regarding health care "reform" or is it health "insurance" reform, or health "cost" reform: open up the borders to allow insurance companies to compete across state lines; true TORT reform; those are two things that will decrease health care costs within a few months.

Spend that 'stimulus money' to deport illegals. I'd happily have my children go in debt to save us from the misery the illegals cause. Besides, we would save money.

END ENTITLEMENTS

ELIMINATE THE POST OFFICE AND PRIVATIZE MAIL SERVICE, DO THE SAME FOR THE TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ADMINISTRATION AND REALLY PROMOTE SMALLER GOVERNMENT

VOUCHERS FOR SUB-PAR SCHOOLS THAT CONTINUE TO GRADUATE STUPID CHILDREN

LESS SPENDING? HOW ABOUT ELIMINATING FULLY HALF OF THE FEDERAL PAYROLL?

HOW ABOUT MAKING LOBBYING ILLEGAL, AND ANY CORPORATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES, YOU KNOW -- REAL ELECTION REFORM!!

TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS

ELIMINATE LIFETIME CUSHY BENEFITS FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES/POLITICIANS

GIVE US THE POWER OF NATIONAL REFERENDUMS!!

John, you're nothing more than the same crap and not even repackaged. Which leads me in the spirit of John McCain to wrap up today's rant:

My Friends,
Congress has an approval rating of 25% today, and more significantly a DISAPPROVAL rate of 69%. Yet over and over for nearly a century we re-elect over 90% of the same clowns every fucking election. Why is that?!? Simple... because we all say "well, it's not MY guy that's the problem, it's YOUR guy... it's the guy in West Virginia... it's the guy from Illinois... it's the guy from Louisiana, etc." My Friends, this is going to shock and awe you but I must say it: "IT'S ALL OF THEM!!"

Let's get rid of all of them, whaddya say?!?

Another Lettler To Brad

Gosh, here I am sending another letter to Brad Sherman when I haven't even given one months' time for a response to the last. Oh well, here it is:


Thank God you Democrats have dispensed with the bullshit talk of working in a 'bipartisan' manner! And you think the country needs to fear Republicans?? Honestly, Brad, this marks the end of our democracy. Your party is working BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IN SECRECY to take over another 20% of our nation's private enterprises, the entire Health Care System. That's millions of jobs, literally billions of dollars today and trillions tomorrow. Honestly, I hope that someone in your office reads this and thinks about it with an open mind. Do we really want the government to take over health care? The same people that run medicare, the post office, the welfare system, and hundreds of other entitlement programs are going to be in charge of our physical well-being. Doesn't that frighten anyone else? What you SHOULD do first is open up in health insurance agency to free market trade -- allow them to cross state lines in the spirit of true competition. THEN you should IMPLEMENT TORT REFORM. Make it so the losers of lawsuits have to pay ALL legal expenses, thus cutting down millions of hours of wasted court time. That would also quickly lead to lower malpractice insurance for physicians, thus lowering health care costs. THEN approach the non-insured by beefing up the VA system which is federal and already in place to take care of them. The health insurance industry was also going along much better when it was NON-PROFIT, too; that's another avenue to attempt before drastically changing our country's future. Or tell me SPECIFICALLY why Congress didn't try those ideas first?