Nightly Ramble: The Park

Welcome one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

• THE GOVERNMENT AND MUSLIMS: Well, folks, it went down as I said it would. Some government mucty-mucks have decided to send this girl back to her death at the hands of her ‘father’.  When this girl’s body shows up, will the government types making this ruling take any of the blame, I wonder?  One wonders how these morons sleep at night. And the thing is, killing his daughter that way is within Sharia law. Pam Gellar has been doing a pretty good job following this stuff.  She notes that the girl’s family is set for deporation shortly. Which means if the girl gets killed, wemay never hear about it and the government types will be thus protected from the ramifications of their ‘ruling’.   Meanwhile, we see they’ve already started down the road toward Sharia Law in Britain. Does anyone not see how this plays out? They’re using our sense of ‘fair play’ against us.  Wake up, western world.
• SPECTER IS TOAST: Both Toomey and Sestak are beating him. Couldn’t happen to a more deserving fellow.
• SPEAKING OF TURNCOAT RINOS: Why are we treating the Snowe Job with any respect whatever? Either get someone in there who will vote for us, or make room for someone who WILL get someone else in there. Explain to me what advantage there is in letting her remain in any position of power whatever.. I say in comments at OTB this monring in response to James Joyner:

  

  James Joyner

  Back when Arlen Specter was a nominal Republican instead of the nominal Democrat he recently became, I opposed having him chair the Judiciary Committee. That wasn’t as punishment -I ‘d have given him another powerful chairmanship — but rather because confirming judges is one of a small handful of issues where party unity truly matters

  The trouble there, James is that without ideological unity, Party unity is impossible.

  And frankly, James, I’m far from convinced that party unity across the continental nation is an impossible task. The Democrats don’t seem to view it that way either, if their actions the last few congresses are of any indication. They’re quite willing willing to twist some arms both publicly and privately to get the votes they need to achieve the agenda…. even when they’re in the minority. Their voters seem quite willing to push ‘mavericks’ off the Democrat reservation.
  (Example… Jim Trafficant’s biggest problem wasn’t a any crime committed, but rather than he ran afoul of the Democrat party Agenda. (If the problem was crimes committed, can somebody please explain to me Charlie Rangel and William Jefferson?)

  What we have as a GOP leadership who refuses to stand up and be counted. And that, not calls and actions toward ideological unity within the party is why the GOP was relegated to minority status a year ago. It’s time for the GOP leadership to develop some spine. Alas, I think the task beyond them.

• WHAT ABOUT COUNTRYWIDE? Tapscott thinks it’s time to probe Countrywide’s dealings with lawmakers. I think he’s right, but I wonder who will get the blame.  Given  we’re talking about Democrats “investigating” here, the “investigation” is likely to place the blame not on corrupt Democrats, but on the business folks trying to get along with Democrats in power.
• INFLATION: Glenn Reynolds makes a good point this monring:
  

  THE DOW’S AT ITS HIGHEST POINT IN A YEAR, but the dollar’s at a 14-month low. If you priced stocks in constant dollars, would they be up?

  Yeah, well, just another thing to come out of Obama’s economic fantasy. Don’t be thinking that because the Dow is above 10K, that things are turning around. They’re not.

• TINGLES BACKTRACKS: I see Matthews has recanted his stated fantasy about killing Rush Limbaugh. Gee, getting a little warm, Chris?
• DEMONS AND WIZARDS, AND THE THIN DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM: I noted this one yesterday on Memeorandum:
  

  Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms.

  The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

  As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies.

  There are a number of reasons I didn’t run this story in yesterday’s Ramble… it was getting too long yesterday, for one thing. But for another that was something that stuck in my craw about the story that I could not quite identify.  Notice, please, that there doesn’t seem to be any mention of such profits being taken by these people being illegal.  It seems to me that this is being brought up surely on moral grounds.  Well, how moral did we expect them to be?  Look at Timothy Geithner himself… an admitted tax cheat.

  It seems to me rather clear, that the press who has been busy for the last two years fawning over all things Obama, is walking a bit of a fine line here.  They want on the one hand to project anyone making lots of money in a free enterprise system as the enemy of the people.  And yet, here’s the treasury Secretary and his troupe of happy minions the raking the stuff in by the bushel… and since they’re being pitched as part of Obama’s ‘hope and change”, they’re kinda limited as to how loudly they can scream about them making money. It’s funny watching them trying to balance these two warring interests.

• KEVIN JENNINGS CALL YOUR OFFICE: Jennings is a name we’re going to be hearing about shortly, along the lines of another Van Jones, I’ll wager.
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