Nightly Ramble:The “Would You Buy a Used Car From This Blog?” Edition

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the sphere; Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble

This is the “Would you buy a used car from this Blog?” edition.  Rmemeber, no down payment and 72 years to pay.

• Our first offering this afternoon is a brand new offering from Jennifer Ruben at Commentary. I’ve said repeatedly that I’m a fan of hers, and this kind of stuff is why.
  

  Eli Lake reports that Chas Freeman is indeed to be investigated by the Inspector General. At issue are his ties the to China National Offshore Oil Corp, in which the Chinese government has a majority stake, and his role as president of the Middle East Policy Council (MEPC), which is in part Saudi-funded. And not surprisingly, the backpedaling has already begun:

  Mr. Freeman has not submitted the financial disclosure forms required of all candidates for senior public positions, according to the general counsel’s office of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

  Nor did Mr. Blair seek the White House’s approval before he announced the appointment of Mr. Freeman, said Mr. Blair’s spokeswoman, Wendy Morigi.

  “The director did not seek the White House’s approval,” Ms. Morigi said. “In addition to his formal background security investigation, we expect that the White House will undertake the typical vetting associated with senior administration assignments.”.

  All the easier to dump him then, perhaps. And how is it possible that a key position was filled without completing these steps? Lake reports: “Three former NIC chairmen and one former vice chairman told The Washington Times that Mr. Freeman’s business ties to China, Saudi Arabia and other nations should be vetted before Mr. Freeman takes his post.” But this was, bizarrely, not done before Freeman was appointed, we are now told.

  Well, of course the fact is that he was vetted… at least so far as the vetting process goes anymore in the White House given the current occupants, who gave us the specticle of the guy appointed to run the IRS being a tax cheat, and so on. I’m quite sure that’s how this one’s going to come out.   How in the world are these folks going to run our economy if the appointment process apparently gives them so much problem?  Of course there’s another angle; The process is giving them so much problem not because they’re trying to get good people into high level positions and failing, but rather because they’re trying to get their cronies in, many of which have questionable backgrounds and connections. Change we can believe in.

• The usually liberal Boston Globe has fionally noticed the bacon is burning, and they’re publicly asking “Will Obama be like Bush on executive power?”  Yeah, well, it’s not like I didn’t call this one.  I told you near on the first of the year that his polices would echo Bush, and in more that just Middle-eastern policy. That of course runs exactly in the opposite direction from what he told us he’d do during the campaign. Karl Rove notes this as well.
  

  .Barack Obama won the presidency in large measure because he presented himself as a demarcation point. The old politics, he said, was based on “spin,” misleading arguments, and an absence of candor. He’d “turn the page” on that style of politics.

  Last week’s presentation of his budget shows that hope was a mirage.

  For example, Mr. Obama didn’t run promising larger deficits — but now is offering record-setting ones. He’ll add $4.9 trillion before his term ends and $7.4 trillion if given a second, doubling the national debt in five years and tripling it in 10. Mr. Obama’s deficits will be much larger than he admits because he relies on rosy economic assumptions and gimmicks that mask spending and debt (like assuming popular new programs he supports won’t be renewed).

  Nor did Mr. Obama run promising more earmarks. Instead, he said he’d reform the earmark culture and “scour the federal budget, line by line, and make meaningful cuts.” Now he wants to wave through a $410 billion omnibus spending bill with about 8,500 earmarks. This is on top of the $787 billion stimulus bill signed into law two weeks ago.

  In every area, this is not the Obama we were told we were going to get.

• Glenn says, today:
  

  .ON PJTV, Michelle Malkin and I talk about Rush Limbaugh, Michael Steele, and the nationwide “tea party” movement. Is the GOP leadership so weak that people have resorted to self-help? Or does this go beyond party?

  Well, look; I’m on record as always having been above party, from day one on this blog. It’s just that I see the Republians in spite of all their faults, as the best tool to move us in the direction we need to go.  And that is away from the socialism being offered by the Democrat Party. I suspect a lot of other people are start, at last, to see this. Now; To the extent that we see some Republicans moving in the same direction as the Democrats, you’ll see me scream. But then again, you’re seeing that in the ran and file, also. Look at the reaction to Steele V Limbaugh, as an example. And trust me, these “Tea parties”  are not just attacking Democrats. Indeed, if the Democrats were to start being conservative and supporting the individual, I’d support THEM. Not that I think there’s a hope in hell of it ever happening, of course.

• And about these tea parties… and yes, I know I’ve spoken to this before… But let’s understand something about this, together, you and I.  I note that going along with this is a sharp rise in gun sales. Are these two situations directly related? I think they are. And I’m not talking armed rebellion, here. But people are looking at government and seeing, as if for the first time, the reality that their freedoms are under threat. They also see the distinct possiblity of mid-sixties style rioting, or worse, once the reality of the trainwreck that is Obama settles in.  Do I consider that armed rebellion is the likley course? No. Do I consider it a wise course? At the moment, no, I don’t. After all, bring in a couple of planes and the whole thing is over, should there ever be such an uprising. But clearly, the possibility of these things is being prepared for by thoe buying arms, and creating an ammo shortage in the doing.  But you know where the biggest change is going to come from… the biggest move to get the federal goverment out of the role of ruler and back to it’s constitutional role as a servant? The individual states. I’ve  sat of late, and watched the States invoking the tenth amendment. As of this writing, 11 have done so, and more are moving that direction.  More than this, even the more liberal state high courts are starting to side with the states as well. Consider the Vermont case we saw on the wire yesterday. I don’t fully know, but it’s starting to look like these battles will be fought state by state. Is this in response to the pressure of the anger I’ve been speaking of these last several days? I think it is.
• Yes, I’ve noted Limbaugh’s debate offer. I’ve not said much because you know Obama will never take him up on it. We know now, as I told you yesterday, that this attack on Limbaugh was a planned event… planned before the election, even, and intended to seperate the Republcan party from their conservative base.  Rush’s response here means it’s put up or shut up time for Obama and his minions… and trust me, he’s going to  slink away into the night, and hope nobody notices.  If there’s a better metephor for this administration than ‘train wreck’ I’ve no idea what it might be.
• Did you see this bit with the AFL-CIO? Can someone please explain to me how they’re getting a pass on this? This is the unions, folks. Your Union dues paid for this nonsense.  It’s no different from those parties in the White House, I guess. Obama gets a pass on them, too.   You do not see a pattern here. These people are not the problem. You can go on about your business.
• According to this survey done by Quinnipiac University, 64% of Americans are of the opinion that the Obama’s mortgage plan is unfair to people who pay their mortgage on time.   So, why, then are his approval numbers so high?  Seems MSNBC has an answer for that; There’s a gap between his personal approval numbers, and the approval numbers for his policies.  I read the numbers as saying Obama’s going to be in real trouble once the honeymoon is over and reality sets in.
• Krauthammer on ‘cap and trade’:
  

  It is an ill disguised tax on the production of carbon. It will be a blow to American industry, particularly in the heartland, to the American economy. Particularly in our economic distress, it makes no sense at all.The only purpose is the reduction of global warming, which in and of itself is speculative. And even if it were not, the fact that India and China are not in on this means that any of our savings on that, which are going to add a huge expense to our economy, will be swallowed up entirely by increased pollution by India and China.

  India this week has said it will not cooperate on a regime of enforced carbon reduction. We will get nowhere on this except really injuring our economy.

  No kidding?  You would be hard pressed to get that thought into the head of Tax cheat in chief  Geithner. Ya know, the more I watch the actions of this administration, the more I’m convinced they simply don’t CARE about the economy, or are active in their seeking to tear it down. It’s rapidly coming to the point where there’s no other logical explaination.