Federal budget deficit hits record

WASHINGTON – The federal government began the new budget year with a record deficit of $237.2 billion, reflecting the billions of dollars the government has started to pay out to rescue the financial system.

The Treasury Department says the deficit for the first month in the new budget year was the highest monthly imbalance on record. It was more than four times larger than the October 2007 deficit of $56.8 billion.

The big surge reflected the government spending $115 billion to buy stock in the nation’s largest banks. Those were the first payments made from the $700 billion government rescue program passed by Congress to deal with the most severe financial crisis to hit the country since the 1930s.

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Federal budget deficit hits record

I am going to preface this by saying: I am NOT a Republican nor a Democrat, I am an Independent Conservative.

This nation is in a mess, and I place the blame squarely on George W. Bush, he is, after all, the guy in charge, and as Truman said, “The buck stops here”.

It has happened under his watch, he encouraged the Wall Street bailout, many RINOs supported that bailout, Cornyn and Hutchison from Texas immediately come to mind.

Nearly ALL the Dems in the senate supported it, including Obama, I am NOT pointing at any individual, I am pointing at ALL of them, our elected officials that have taken this nation into a state of Socialism and *We, the People* are paying for it!

Until the voters of this nation stand up to the FREE SPENDING, give it all away politicos in D.C. and force this nation back into a position of fiscal responsibility, and serious conservatism, this is ALL we can expect, from the current and all future administrations.

Sam Donaldson on Economic Socialism

After Ronald Reagan was shot. he joked to his doctors just before the operation that saved his life — “I hope you are all Republicans” — to which the doctors replied, “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.”

Well today, with the possibility of another worldwide financial depression staring us in the face, it turns out our doctors are all socialists. Yes, socialism has now washed over free market capitalism and only a very brave, or foolhardy few would protest.

The federal government has nationalized the banks, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve doors have opened wide and taxpayer money flows faster than quicksilver, and this week, the presidential candidates have each come up with new, immediate relief plans that have the government intervening in a way that costs a lot more money. The candidates have realized, late, but finally, that the economic pain Americans are feeling must be felt now — thank you, Bill Clinton — not next January when one of them becomes president.

And how much would all this government spending cost? Who knows. The estimate of what the federal government has put into place so far is well more than $1 trillion, the next fiscal year’s deficit may be $750 billion or higher.

Yes, some will cry “socialism” but that cry in today’s crowded theater of worried Americans won’t stop this train.

Make no mistake; we are living in a new age. Just as we will never go back to a pre-9/11 security mentality, we will never go back to the free market, deregulated economic policies in the same degree that brought us to this crisis.

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Commentary: Sam Donaldson on Economic Socialism

I have to agree with Sam Donaldson on his commentary. I don’t have a lot of use for the MSM, and anyone that has read my blog more than once or twice knows that, but there are a few in the NEWS business that do still retain a sense of ethics, standards and decency. Sam Donaldson is one of them.

The government has opened up the floodgates, our money is going down the river, and it is being wasted in a gross exhibition of futility in an attempt to save the bad business ventures that brought all of this on in the 1st place.

I am reminded of the old *joke* that goes, ‘Yes, the operation was a success, but the patient died’. We are the patient, and the operation is well under way, and WE are on life support right now. The politicians can wrangle back and forth all they want, the pundits can make all the snide remarks they can come up with, the fact still remains, the USA has been yanked from the capitalist market and thrust into the world of global socialism.

Our Congress and Senate did this, our One World president urged it on, and then he immediately signed it into law. It is MY opinion that ANYONE still supporting any of the lawmakers that voted FOR this debacle, the Socialization of America, is as much an empowerment tool of socialism, and is as much responsible for it as those that touted it, and those that forced it off on the American people.

If you lay with the dogs, you’re going to wake up with fleas.

The Friday Follies

It might seem uncommon for a passenger to be allowed on a plane after grenades are found in his luggage, but the Transportation Security Administration is standing by the procedure after reportedly doing just that on Tuesday.

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Man Allowed to Fly After Grenades Found in Luggage

OK, let me see if I understand this. The guy has 2 grenades. The TSA determines that they are inert. The guy is allowed to fly anyway. The police were never informed. And a Florida Sheriff has the balls to say ‘Barack HUSSEIN Obama’ and he is under investigation for saying it. The inmates are running the asylum!

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - NATO defense ministers Friday authorized their troops in Afghanistan to attack drug barons blamed for pumping up to US$100 million (euro74 million) a year into the coffers of resurgent Taliban fighters.

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NATO agrees on Afghan drug role for military

Remove the poppy from Afghanistan, take out the network that grows and sells it and you effectively KILL the Taliban. No drugs = no money = no Taliban arms. If only it were that simple…

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A spokesman for the group of pirates holding an arms-laden tanker off the coast of Somalia has threatened to blow up the ship in three days if no ransom is paid.

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Threat to blow up hijacked ship off Somalia

I guess being a pirate just isn’t what it used to be. Why haven’t they already been blown out of the water? Yo ho, yo ho, it’s a pirates life for me. Tortuga!

FARGO, N.D. (AP) - Fargo police said two men were arrested for drunken driving in the same vehicle. Police Lt. Pat Claus said an officer pulled over a 23-year-old man early Thursday morning. Claus said while that man was taking a sobriety test, a 24-year-old passenger got behind the wheel and tried to drive off.

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Cops nab pair in same vehicle for drunken driving

I don’t know about you but I think this one needs to be given the *Dumbass of the Week* award.

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street extended its devastating losses Friday, but prices swung sharply as investors scooped up some shares decimated by more than a week of intense and panicked selling. The Dow Jones industrials, down nearly 700 points in the opening minutes of trading, recovered to an advance of more than 100 before turning sharply lower again, and the other major indexes fluctuated widely as well.

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US stocks extend huge losses over credit concerns

Oh but it’s NO big deal, the government has a plan to save us all, they’re going to throw more taxpayer money at it and just buy up Wall Street. President Numbnutz was on TV today telling America how he was going to save us all, we just need to have patience. And here’s what I said yesterday: As long as the federal government attempts to fix all the things it needs to leave alone, and ignores all the things it actually needs to address, it will happen.

House leaders win key converts on bailout bill

WASHINGTON (AP) - Desperate to avoid another market-crushing defeat, House leaders won key converts Thursday to the $700 billion financial industry bailout on the eve of a make-or-break second vote.

President Bush and congressional leaders lobbied furiously for the dozen or so supporters they’d need to reverse Monday’s stunning setback and approve a massive rescue plan designed to stave off national economic disaster.

Anything but reassured, investors sent the Dow Jones industrials plunging another 348 points, suggesting Wall Street is expecting tougher economic times even if the measure is rushed into law. The Federal Reserve reported record emergency lending to banks and investment firms, fresh evidence of the credit troubles squeezing the country.

“A lot of people are watching,” Bush pointed out - as if lawmakers needed reminding - and he argued from the White House that the huge rescue measure was the best chance to calm unnerved financial markets and ease the credit crunch. He was calling dozens of lawmakers, a spokesman said.

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House leaders win key converts on bailout bill

We, The People are being ignored. 75% of the U.S. Senate has ignored the will of the people, we can only hope that the Members of Congress are more attuned to We, The People than our esteemed Senators are.

My Congressman is Mr. Sam Johnson. I really like Sam, he is a great guy over all, and he is a good man.

Sam Johnson returned home to Texas after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 29-years as a highly decorated fighter pilot. He flew combat missions in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars and was a Prisoner of War in Hanoi for nearly seven years.

After his distinguished military career, Johnson started a home-building business from scratch and served in the Texas legislature. In 1991, he embarked on a new mission of service to his country - representing the people of Texas’ Third District in the United States Congress.

A vocal advocate of less government and lower taxes, Johnson sits on the prestigious Ways and Means Committee. Johnson serves as the Ranking Member on the Social Security Subcommittee and is one of the few Members of Congress to have his own plan to strengthen Social Security with personal accounts.

One of a handful of combat veterans in Congress, Johnson has led the charge to stand up for the troops on the ground – regardless of the political posturing in Washington, DC.

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U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson : Serving the 3rd District of Texas

I hope Mr. Sam is paying attention, because as much as I like him, and as much as I admire him, if he votes FOR this now close to $850B bailout BS, I will works as hard as I possibly can to make sure that this is his last term, nice guy or not, Vietnam and Korean war hero be damned, this is about saving America, not the corporate big wheels that are trying to destroy her!

Folks, our elected officials must be fully aware, they work for US, they work for you and me, as in We, The People. It is NOT the other way around, and any Senator or Representative that pawns this BS off on us needs to be fully aware of this fact, they just signed their own termination slip!

From the National Hurricane Center

AT 200 PM EDT…1800Z…THE CENTER OF HURRICANE IKE WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 24.2 NORTH…LONGITUDE 85.8 WEST OR ABOUT 255 MILES… 410 KM…WEST OF KEY WEST FLORIDA AND ABOUT 395 MILES… 640 KM…SOUTH-SOUTHEAST OF THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

IKE IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 8 MPH…13 KM/HR. A TURN BACK TO THE WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION IS EXPECTED LATER TODAY…AND A MOSTLY WEST-NORTHWESTWARD MOTION THROUGH THE CENTRAL GULF OF MEXICO IS EXPECTED OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NOW NEAR 100 MPH…155 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER GUSTS. IKE IS NOW A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. IKE IS EXPECTED TO BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

IKE IS A LARGE TROPICAL CYCLONE. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 80 MILES…130 KM…FROM THE CENTER…AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 205 MILES…335 KM.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT WAS 958 MB…28.29 INCHES> 

For up to the minute reports visit http://www.weather.com/

The Daily Ike: 09-10-08