tagged w/ government oversight
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The U.S. government's increasing reliance on contractors to do work traditionally done by federal employees is fueled by the belief that private industry can deliver services at a lower cost than in-house staff.
But a first-of-its-kind study released today by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) busts that myth by showing that using contractors to perform services actually increases costs to taxpayers.
POGO’s new report is the first to compare the rate that contractors bill the federal government to the salaries and benefits of comparable federal employees. The study found that while federal government salaries are higher than private sector salaries, contractor billing rates average 83 percent more than what it would cost to do the work in-house.The U.S. government's increasing reliance on contractors to do work traditionally... more
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White House Covers Up Menacing Oil “Blob”…VIDEO BP Doesnt Want Seen!!!
by Wayne Madsen
May 19, 2010
In an exclusive for Oilprice.com, the Wayne Madsen Report (WMR) has learned from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sources that U.S. Navy submarines deployed to the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast have detected what amounts to a frozen oil blob from the oil geyser at the destroyed Deep Horizon off-shore oil rig south of Louisiana.
For FUll Story and Click here to See …VIDEO BP Doesnt Want Seen!!!...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/05/20/white-house-covers-up-menacing-oil-blob-video-bp-doesnt-want-seen/White House Covers Up Menacing Oil “Blob”…VIDEO BP Doesnt Want... more
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Well-ll...since you asked, here is just tid-bit from the growing list of felonious acts:
Okay, take off your blinders and rose tinted glasses, kick of your shoes off, get comfortable, read these excerpted reasons, click on the link that follows and get a grip on truth...you know that thing that separates bullshit from fact.!
1) Bailouts
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to spend the taxpayer's money. Without the consent of Congress, the President cannot legally spend taxpayer money.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.
2) Supreme Court
President Obama has expressed his desire to see his Supreme Court nominees embrace "empathy" in their decisions and opinions. Nevermind the the oath that a Justice swears to:
I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''
3) The Czars
The appointment of the many "czars" by the Obama administration are unconstitutional. There's the Car Czar, The Pay Czar, The Great Lakes Czar, a Cyber Czar, a Drug Czar, an Energy Czar, a Health Reform Czar, an Intelligence Czar, and a Tech Czar. The Czar Czar, of course, is Barack Obama. What is Obama's Cabinet members doing these days? They've all been demoted and they know it and there's not a thing they can do about it.
Here's the problem with Czars. They report to no one but Barack Obama. They have far reaching powers and Congress cannot stop a single decision they make. What has happened to our egotistic Congress who has been so willingly hypnotised into giving up their grasp on EVERYTHING? Maybe it's something in the water. So much for checks and balances. Barack Obama reigns.
Even Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator in history, hates the idea of Czar appointments. It's dangerous he says. It gives the president too much power.
4) Government ownership in private business
The seizure of ownership of private business is unconstitutional. The government ownership of GM is unconstitutional. We've beat this horse to the ground. No need to say more.
5) Redistribution of Wealth
Engineering the redistribution of wealth in the GM stock debacle is unconstitutional. I'm not sure I have the latest figures, but nevertheless, it's not good for shareholders who I believe end up with 10 percent of their investment or five cents on the dollar. The government gets 50 percent of the stock, about 87 cents on the dollar. The Unions get 40 percent ownership, plus $10 billion in cash - about 76 cents on the dollar. Doesn't this make you want to throw-up and then find a quiet spot and grieve for our country?
6) Health Care
Obama's health care plan is unconstitutional. The first thing that comes to mind is his plan to pay for his health care plan by taxing the wealthy to pay for it. Redistribution of wealth is unconstitutional in America. Then there's the fact that he plans to put private business out of business to achieve his goal, which is simply power over all of us.
7) Interpreting the Constitution as a "living, breathing" document
The only way to make the Constitution take a breath occasionally is to amend it. The Constitution limits government, and to expand government, that expansion must be appropriate under the document,
That's my six obviously unconstitutional steps taken by President Obama.
We live among idiots, and I guess, we are idiots because if we had the proper sense of outrage, we would sit on the steps of Congress until all of the above are overturned, or Barack Obama is impeached, whichever comes first.Well-ll...since you asked, here is just tid-bit from the growing list of felonious... more
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~ Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama defended government intervention in GM as the auto maker enters Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Under the plan, the government would own 60% of the new GM, but Mr. Obama said auto executives "will call the shots and make the decisions about turning this company around."
(He said the government would refrain from playing a management role in all but the most critical areas.)
Meanwhile, GM Chairman Kent Kresa said he will keep five current members of the board of directors, and said that (the Obama administration has final say on who will fill out the new board.)
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~ So the the GOVERNMENT HAS THE FINAL SAY ?...democracy, socialism, fascism or what?~ Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama defended government intervention in GM as the... more
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The American public is being misled by government officials, politicians, and the Federal Reserve regarding the causes of this crisis and the solutions needed to solve our economic tribulations.
The average American does not know much about the Federal Reserve. The government and the Federal Reserve prefer to operate in the shadows. If the American public understood what their policies have done to their lives, they would be rioting in the streets. Most Americans believe that the Federal Reserve is part of the government. They are wrong. It is a privately held corporation owned by stockholders. The Federal Reserve System is owned by the largest banks in the United States. There are Class A,B, and C shareholders. The owner banks and their shares in the Federal Reserve are a secret. Why is this a secret? It is likely that the biggest banks in the country are the major shareholders. Does this explain why Citicorp, Bank of America and JP Morgan, despite being insolvent, are being propped up by Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner?The American public is being misled by government officials, politicians, and the... more
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A new proposal in Congress is threatening fines and jail time for what it calls "cyberbullying" – communications that include e-mails and text messages that "cause substantial emotional distress."
The vague generalities are included in H.R. 1966 by California Democrat Linda Sanchez and about a dozen co-sponsors.
The plan is labeled the Megan Meier Cyberbullying Prevention Act, after the 13-year-old Meier, whose suicide last year reportedly was prompted by a woman who utilized the MySpace social networking site to send the teen critical messages.
"Sanchez's bill goes way beyond cyberbullying and comes close to making it a federal offense to log onto the Internet or use the telephone," Kravets wrote. "The methods of communication where hostile speech is banned include e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, websites, telephones and text messages."
The bill, which has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, states, "Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both."A new proposal in Congress is threatening fines and jail time for what it calls... more
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A bill calling for the comptroller general of the United States to audit the private Federal Reserve is gaining widespread support in Congress, as 124 representatives have added their names to its growing list of co-sponsors.
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Great.!....Now to get them to read it (should an audit actually be done), would be miraculous, and even more so if they understood it......'cause many of these fine representatives of ours can't even balance their checkbooks.!A bill calling for the comptroller general of the United States to audit the private... more
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Leftist/Jihadist Alliance Update: the lefties at Think Progress posted this video. They think they have caught Congressman Peter King (R-NY) in a "Gotcha" moment on this one, but not unexpectedly, they play fast and loose with the facts. In their post they quote King thusly:
“[Y]ou could say that 80-85 percent of mosques in this country are controlled by Islamic fundamentalists,” he said in 2004.
The impression one might get from this is that King originated this figure -- pulled it out of his hat, made it up. In reality, he is on very firm ground here, but Think Progress doesn't tell you that. The Naqshbandi Sufi Sheikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani said this in a State Department Open Forum on January 7, 1999: “The most dangerous thing that is going on now in these mosques, that has been sent upon these mosques around the United States – like churches they were established by different organizations and that is ok – but the problem with our communities is the extremist ideology. Because they are very active they took over the mosques; and we can say that they took over more than 80% of the mosques that have been established in the US. And there are more than 3000 mosques in the US. So it means that the methodology or ideology of extremist has been spread to 80% of the Muslim population, but not all of them agree with it.”
Kabbani based his statement on personal investigation of 114 American mosques, and never retracted his words, despite enormous pressure from American Muslim advocacy groups. In October 2001 the New York Times reported: “Sheik Kabbani said that he stood by his claim in his State Department speech that 80 percent of American mosques had been taken over by extremists, because of the 114 mosques he first visited in the United States, ‘Ninety of them were mostly exposed, and I say exposed, to extreme or radical ideology,’ based on their speeches, books and board members.”
This estimate has been borne out by more recent studies.
And is there any evidence of jihadist plotting in American mosques? Yes. Yes, there is.
(Video thanks to Andrew Bostom.)
Posted by Robert at April 17, 2009 7:26 AM
Print this entry | Email this entry | Digg this | del.icio.us | Buzz up!Leftist/Jihadist Alliance Update: the lefties at Think Progress posted this video.... more
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Bob Lawless, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said bankruptcies could reach 1.5 million this year and level off at 1.6 million next year _ around the same time economists expect an economic recovery to begin.
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So what does congress think of debt?
http://www.americanissuesproject.org/enough
We don't care? We are going down, and we don't care? ~ WTF, who are you representing, Senator Schumer?Bob Lawless, a professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, said... more
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Welcome to the saga that is the annual vote-a-rama, a marathon of budget amendments, voting, bad food and general disorder.
This year's version debuted Thursday. Curtain closing to be determined.
If there's a better way for Congress to do its most important job _ pass the federal budget _ it's eluded policymakers.
Trouble is, senators sometimes had no idea which amendment they were considering, what it would do or when they were voting on it.
"If we had a vote on my amendment, I missed it," Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said at another point. "Was there a vote?" Conrad said Bennett's amendment had passed unanimously, without a roll call vote.
Fresh from chastising his colleagues for proposing amendments that had no hope of passing and preventing the Senate from progressing through the list, Conrad got back to business and called up several new amendments.
"Oh, we've done this one?" he said to an aide, who nodded. "Well this is good! We are progressing."
Through what, though?
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We voted for these clowns, so now the Senate circus performance begins.Welcome to the saga that is the annual vote-a-rama, a marathon of budget amendments,... more
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The members of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee are not optimistic about a quick turnaround for the U.S. economy.
The group released predictions for 2009-2011 from its January meeting--done to "provide the public with information about their views of likely longer-term economic trends."
The committee members said the economy has gotten worse since October, when their last projection were made, and that recovery from this recession would take longer than previous downturns.
IMAGINE THAT ?
No shit Sherlock, what gave you the first clue?The members of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee are not... more
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A classic example of the sterling leadership qualities of the liberal elite.
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the passage of the $700 billion rescue package, the financial industry will face greater congressional scrutiny in coming weeks and months.
Further-reaching regulation is almost certain. Previously obscure corners of the industry now subject to few rules, such as complex derivatives and hedge funds, could face federal supervision for the first time.
Meanwhile, heavily regulated sectors, such as banking and insurance, are likely to face greater oversight. Even some financial industry groups support federal oversight for the insurance industry, which is now regulated only at the state level.
"Clearly, next year we will have more regulation," said Scott Talbott, a lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, a group of the 100 biggest companies in the industry.
Having passed the bailout bill, Congress is now shifting its attention to its next steps.
"Passing this legislation is only the beginning of our work," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just before the House approved the package.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., the Financial Services Committee chairman, said next year Congress will seek to overhaul housing policy and financial regulation in a legislative effort he likened to the New Deal.
"We were the EMTs rushing to the rescue of an economy that suddenly found itself choking, but now we have to perform more serious reform," Frank said.
The bailout bill, approved by the Senate Wednesday, provides $700 billion to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry.
Hearings that begin Monday will examine the failures of current regulations. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., will hold two hearings on the causes and effects of Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and on the $85 billion bailout of the giant insurer American International Group Inc.
The committee will hold three more hearings this month on hedge funds, credit rating agencies and the role of regulators in the run-up to the crisis.
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has been invited to testify at the third hearing, the committee said.
Meanwhile, the House Agriculture Committee, which has some oversight of commodities and futures trading, plans to hold a hearing this month on a class of derivatives known as credit default swaps. AIG held huge amounts of credit default swaps, which act as insurance against bond defaults. The prospect that AIG wouldn't be able to pay out the swaps was a major reason the government took over the company.WASHINGTON (AP) -- With the passage of the $700 billion rescue package, the financial... more
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BEIJING — China’s leaders scrambled Saturday to contain public dismay over widespread contamination of milk supplies, criticizing local officials for negligence while moving to tamp down criticism of the government’s response.
Officials promised to keep stores supplied with clean milk and set up medical hot lines nationwide to help people cope with one of the worst product safety scandals in years.
Milk and dairy products from 22 companies have been recalled after batches tainted with the industrial chemical melamine sickened more than 6,200 children and left four infants dead from kidney failure.
Trying to shore up public confidence, Premier Wen Jiabao told senior Communist Party members that official misconduct contributed to the milk contamination and earlier product scandals. He demanded they put public safety “at the top of the agenda.”
In a show of concern, Wen’s chief deputy made a highly publicized trip to a dairy region south of Beijing at the center of the scandal, visiting farms, shops and a hospital, where he urged “all-out efforts on medical treatment” for the sick.
The energetic response underscored the deep challenge the crisis poses for the communist leadership. The government has staked its legitimacy in part on competent management of a rapidly developing society, a reputation it hoped would be burnished by last month’s lavish, well-run Beijing Olympics.
But the post-Olympic accolades have been pushed aside, and the scandal is again baring widespread public skepticism about the government’s abilities to get lower level officials to enforce policies and overcome cover-ups of problems.
In the 10 days since the government revealed that Shijiazhuang Sanlu Group sold tainted milk powder and infant formula, sketchy details have exposed one local government cover-up as well as the sale of contaminated milk by China’s biggest dairies, many of them state-owned.
Recalls of Chinese-made dairy products widened Saturday to Japan, which followed the lead of Singapore, while more products were recalled in the self-governing Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau.
Seeking to rein in criticism, propaganda officials ordered newspapers, TV stations and Web sites to mainly use reports from the government’s official Xinhua News Agency, news employees at two publications reported.
Food and product safety scandals have been a feature of Chinese life. Only last year, the government promised to overhaul inspection procedures after exports of medicines, toys and other products that killed and sickend people in the United States.
Also last year, pet food contaminated with melamine killed thousands of pets in North and South America. The dangerous chemical in the pet food was the same as in the milk scandal -- melamine. Used in making plastics, melamine is high in nitrogen, which registers as protein in tests of milk.
Some of the farmers who sell milk to Chinese food companies are thought to have used melamine to disguise watered-down milk.
BEIJING — China’s leaders scrambled Saturday to contain public dismay over... more
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