Eureka Iron Works

AmSoc

Those of you who have read "1984" will recognize the New English word in the title of this post as a take on "Ingsoc", which was the term for English Socialism in the novel.

Those of you who have read the recent news will agree that we're heading for our 21st Century version of Ingsoc here in America.  Read this:  NRO: Dead End

A handy quote:

"With his “stimulus” package and his quasi-State of the Union address this week, President Obama has made it abundantly clear that he intends to hustle this country into European nanny-state socialism if he can (and just as fast as he can)."

You can see all the parallels to the novel:

- a war with few casualties, but controlled reporting by the media to their template

- continual "crisis" in domestic policy requiring constant government intervention

- intrusion of government into banking, business, health care, education, family life, etc.

- subversion of the electorate through political processes

- a desire for those who work to subsidize those who do not

- exclusivity for government leaders and workers

And I'm wondering when Obama will start smoking "Victory Cigarettes."

"Let’s be clear about this: Though he denies what he [Obama] is about, he is pulling the country dangerously toward a statist dead end."

To summarize, we are heading for a European social state if this does not stop.  I believe it will, but a the cost of significant growth and high deficits for the next 20 years.  Sorry to be gloomy, but the evidence is there.

It's doubleplusungood.

At What Point Do We Change?

It's been a rotten 6 months for the economy and the financial markets.  We've had bank rescues, Porkulus, mortgage schemes, a bunch of liberal regulations and a variety of discordant policy statements foisted upon us, the world, and ultimately those pesky markets.  

Why are the markets important?  Though our new Marxist overlords would disagree, markets drive the future economy by signaling expectations of potential success and failure.  Unrestricted markets are the best indicator of future economic success.  

IBD has some thoughts on this:  Is It Any Wonder The Market Continues To Sink?

"Today, as the market continues to sell off and we plumb 12-year lows, we wish we had a different explanation. But it still looks, as we said four months ago, "like the U.S., which built the mightiest, most prosperous economy the world has ever known, is about to turn its back on the free-enterprise system that made it all possible."

This is bad.  Really bad.  It portends a worse time in the future, and a worse time than would have occurred had the government just stayed out of the way and let the market correct through bankruptcies and other mechanisms. 

So, what's the change?  While Obama and his crew ran on this Hopenchange rhetoric, the question that I would ask is "how bad does it have to get before the DEMOCRATS and other idiots who voted for Obama throw HIM under the bus?"

Just wondering.  

Mayor Peterson

I'm very glad that Joe Peterson is going to be our next Mayor.  He brought a fresh and ethical view to our Council for the last 4 years, and I look forward to his term as Mayor. 

I encourage you to visit his web site and look at his statement.  

Peterson for Mayor Statement

It's very sensible and frankly the kind of thing we need from the City.  We have some significant budget challenges (specifically pensions) and the worsening economy will not help things at all. 

It would also be nice if he gets a Council that has a similar view towards planning, forethought and integrity so we can collectively address these challenges.  Having Jimmy D figger' out what he wants at the donut shop with his buddies is no way to run the city.  

Good luck to Joe.  And more on the election later. 

Obama Takes Out the Wyandotte Power Plant?

Well, as we move further into the gelded age of glory, unicorns, subsidies and obamaworship, we get news that the EPA is considering the regulation of carbon dioxide:  E.P.A. Expected to Regulate Carbon Dioxide

"The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act for the first time to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet, according to top Obama administration officials. The decision, which most likely would play out in stages over a period of months, would have a profound impact on transportation, manufacturing costs and how utilities generate power"

Translation:  we're going to tax folks who burn coal for power based on how much CO2 they emit.  

Depending on how this is done, it could cost Wyandotte ratepayers millions of additional dollars a year.  Dollars that the utility does not have.  If rates are forced much higher, we could become less competitive and have to shut down the plant and buy power from other sources.  It could wreck the business case for our utility.  And building windmills will not solve this problem. 

Oh, and CO2 regulation might impair another local industry on which we all depend:  cars

Aren't you dumbocrats glad you voted for Obama now?  It will be sooooo fun sitting around in the cold and dark, unemployed, waiting for the next shipment of government cheese.

Hopenchange!

Sweet Land Of Subsidy

Anyone remember Doonesbury?  I recall a strip from the early 80s where BD's dad (an oilman) was pleased with getting some government help for his business.  He was singing the refrain "My Country Tis Of Thee, Sweet Land of Subsidy..."

Seems we're back to that point again.  The growth business of 2009 is sucking up to government types for money.  And our elected government types don't give a god damn about those of us who act responsibly, work hard and pay our taxes. 

And to top all that, the Porkulus Law (grrr) is rewarding all the wrong economic and social behaviors.  Bought too big a house?  Get a check.  Made too many crappy cars?  Get a check.  Spent all your state's money?  Get a check.  Had 8 more kids?  Get a check.  

Time to shrug.  

Livin' without the Detroit News and Free Press

I canceled my subscription (of over 20 years) to the News and Freep in January.  I can say at this point that I don't miss the newspaper.  

In recent years, the TV guide was the only thing of value.  Internet news and talk radio supplied most of what I needed to know, supplemented by some FoxNews on TV.   

The newspapers are now a pale shell of themselves, with wire and corporate news stories, a vicious liberal slant and useless editorial pages.  While the Freep has always been unapologetically liberal, the News of 20 years ago offered a reasonable conservative view of things.  They really turned the corner in 2004 when they failed to endorse anyone for the Presidential election.  Dumbasses.  I went from 7 days to sunday only after that one.  

So onto the world of new media.  Perhaps I'll use the money I saved subscribing to some conservative internet news/media providers and hope they grow and prosper. 

Oh, and it's easier to take out the trash each week, too.  Why, I'm a damned environmentalist for saving all those trees!

Porkulus

It's wrong for America, and the world.

They lied about posting the bill on the internet 48 hours prior to voting.

We'll see if Obama post it and waits 5 days before he signs it.

It's full of more government spending, earmarks, favors and payoffs for democrats, lobbyists, tax cheats and everone who gave money to those shysters.

We just have to work and pay taxes, for years, to cover the debt.

As the details come out, I'm sure even you staunch democrats will be horrified at the waste.  

Then again, if you are just a looter taking from those of us who are producing, why would you care?

So don't be surprised if we don't love you for it.  

Oh, I hope Collins and Snowe choke on that Lobster Dinner that Obama bought them.  Specter can take a flying f*** at the moon.  

Canada Pays for Stupid Studies, Too

Our government has its share of stupid budget expendtures for academic studies and research.  Here's a screamer of a conclusion from some of Canada's top researchers:

"Best gas bargains found when oil cost is low"

Duh.  

Will the Wyandotte Anti-War Wackos be out THIS Saturday?

From JAN 22:

Bush is gone.  Obama is President.  

But we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The troops have not come home.  Israel is bombing terrorists and little children might be getting hurt.  

So, will the Wyandotte Anti-War Wackos be out at Oak and Fort Street on Saturday?  Too cold?  No stomach for it anymore?  

Bush is gone.  Cheney is gone.  You can repaint that sign now to say "Obama-Hitler" instead. 

One wonders what will happen to the revolution now.  

I'll make sure to drive by there at noon and report back.  

FEB 7 UPDATE:

On a decent, semi-sunny and 48 degree Saturday I did in fact drive down Fort Street to Oak and observed the Wackos.  All 3 of them.  Still protesting the war, one with a "Stop the Bush War" sign.  It seems that the masses of protesters decided that electing Obama was enough, and stayed away today.  I guess they have faith that their idol and savior will exit Iraq and Afghanistan even though he has said he wants to INCREASE the number of troops in Afghanistan.  Put that in your pipe and smoke it, kids.  It's gonna be a long 4 years.  Perhaps it's time to present another petition before the Wyandotte City Council.  

Pork You

Well, our Congress is on the verge of the initial passage of the pork laden "stimulus" bill that is supposed to save us all from economic disaster.  It is a fraud of the most stupendous magnitude ever to come from Washington.  

Charles Krauthammer does an excellent job of discussing the bill:  The Fierce Urgency of Pork

"It's not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction. 

It's the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus -- and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress's own budget office says won't be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said."

We're really doomed.  What would have been a major recession is now going to be something much worse, with long term impact to our economy and way of life.  

Unless you work in Government or are one of the special interests like ACORN that gets something.  

And the rest of us that work will pay for it.  

Bastards.