Dems, well almost all politicians, have spent the past couple of days railing on AIG about their millions worth of taxpayer-funded bonuses, even going so far to call for a McCarthy-esque naming of names.  We all know it’s been a ruse to keep people focused on the bad, greedy executives receiving massive bonuses instead of the rest of the news.  But what are they diverting from? 

Maybe this:

[A large company] is awarding approximately $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $933.6 million in bonuses on Thursday[.]

This is a perfect example of a non-bailout-funded company actually growing in this time of crisis giving close to 1.7 times last year’s total back to its HOURLY employees.  This is the antithesis of what is going on right now, and it could be used as a great example to hold up for the rest of the companies, right? 

The problem is that the “large company” is Wal-Mart.  That evil, evil Wal-Mart that screws its employees at every turn it gets that chance.  The Dems could never be caught extolling the praises of that company.

Heh, Obama’s Teleprompter has started it’s own blog.  It’s also on twitter. (H/T: Ace)

TOTUS (Rush’s nickname for Teleprompter of the United States) apparently gets cranky when it can’t watch American Idol.    I just hope it doesn’t get angry enough to reveal any national security secrets.

Update: TOTUS now has its own official seal.

Coming from the high-tech industry, this issue is close to my heart.  As Microsoft is laying off 3,000 people, a first in the company history, it received over 1,000 H1-B visas for foreign workers last year.  I guarantee the first ones to go will not be the foreigners.  And their reasoning boggles my mind:

A company spokesman said the option to hire foreign workers is necessary to protecting and increasing Microsoft’s ability to continue providing U.S. workers with jobs.

I’m not quite sure how that works.  The only thing that I can think of is if they can get some of the talent here (which American’s don’t lack), they don’t have to open foreign offices.  But, they still do, so that doesn’t make sense.

My personal experience with this issue is that these companies can pay less for a foreign worker that will often do more. Foreign workers have often come to America to go to school and then are hired at a company and work until they can get a green card.  Before that, these workers are tied to the company — they can’t go anywhere else without a green card. 

One of my friends graduated from an American university with a masters degree.  We were hired at about the same time at the same company, and I only had a bachelors degree at the time.  Her starting salary was still 10% less than mine.  They knew she was stuck at the company, and she felt that if she did anything wrong, she would lose her job.  And that meant going back to her home country. 

I’m OK with some amount of foreign workers here.  I think people who work hard should be allowed to work here and earn a green card after going through the proper channels.  My problem is with companies like Microsoft and Dell petitioning the government for more H1-B visas at the same time workers are being laid off in America.  The “unique talent” argument doesn’t hold water since most of them are educated at the same universities the American workers are.

Update: Hot Air has a post about a similar trend in the illegal labor market.  Illegals are raided and deported, and the wages magically go up.  H1-B visa undercutting, however, is all above board.

Gethner didn’t know about the bonuses until the weekend — or did he?  Obama didn’t know about the bonuses until Timmy told him — or did he?  Dodd didn’t know about the amendment to allow the bonuses in Porkulus — or did he?

But, you will be happy to know, I did find some truth in the midst of all the drama and lying yesterday.  Here’s the quote, spoken by none other than Barney Frank (his emphasis in all caps, mine in bold): 

[A]s to retention, no, I do not think these are the people you want to retain.  The argument is you need to have the people who made the mistakes so they know how to undo them.  Human nature being what it is, I think there’s a lot to be said about having people who were NOT the ones who made the mistakes undo them.  The natural tendency to protect your own mistakes comes into play.

No truer words.  We all need remind ourselves about Rep. Frank’s heartfelt speech during the 2010 election.

Kevin Baker, a disabled Navy veteran, died less than a week after starting his hand-powered bicycle journey from OK to DC.  His journey was to bring attention to H.R. 1034, a resolution to adopt the Honor and Remember flag he was carrying as a permanent symbol of service men and women who never made it home, similar to the POW/MIA flag for those whose fates are unknown.  The flag was designed by the father of a fallen soldier, and Kevin decided to embark upon his journey after hearing about the flag to bring attention to it.  He passed away after suffering a seizure. 

You can read about him and the petition to get the flag adopted nationwide at the link above.  R.I.P., Kevin.

Yes, this really is a picture of my daughter at the blastocyst stage, about 100 cells and five days after fertilization. This is what researchers will destroy, funded in part by taxpayer dollars in the future, in order to come up with a miracle cure for something even though privately funded research has come up with nothing.  Adult stem cell research has shown promise, and it doesn’t destroy anything.  And through that kind of research, you can potentially use your own DNA to create parts you might need one day.  Way to put science first, eh?

Going against the liberal thought, PJ O’Rourke, a cancer patient, slams Obama for his justification of allowing federal funds for embryonic stem cell research.  I say going against liberal thought because liberals think people always vote in their own self interests — got cancer, vote for stem cell research that might cure it; make less than $250,000, vote for the guy that will give you a tax break.  However, some of us actually vote based on principles, something liberals just don’t understand.

So, take a look, Obama.  That’s a picture of my daughter up there, and I would no sooner destroy that to cure my mom of diabetes than destroy her now, as an almost three-year-old, in the same vain.

As Redstate is reporting that Obama is gearing up his propaganda machine against the Republicans again, the GOP needs to get out in front of this mess — especially the House Republicans.  They need to start introducing Obama’s broken or forgotten conservative campaign promises as legislative alternatives.  Rep. Boehner and company need to introduce them one at a time and force Pelosi to show her hand when she doesn’t allow their bills on the calendar. 

The first one that comes to mind is ending capital gains taxes on small businesses.  When Obama introduced his plan today, I didn’t hear one word of it.  I did hear what sounds like him turing the Small Business Administration into another Fannie / Freddie.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t let them chop up the loans and sell derivatives Merrill Lynch who will get them insured by AIG.  Sounds like a recipe for disaster, eh? 

Back to my original point, they also need to introduce legislation to keep the promise that Obama would remove income taxes from seniors who make less than $50,000.  There are also several pro-military promises Obama made that could easily be introduced, such as pay raises.

This way, they aren’t the party of no.  They can sell it as being supportive of Obama while keeping their principles.  The problem is they need to sell it — they had a great alternative to Porkulus, as Redstate points out, but no one knew about it.  To sell this, they need to be on every show, at every microphone, telling the country they have this legislation on the table that are promises Obama made and they are trying to help him keep them.  They can also blame Pelosi for keeping the legislation off the calendar.

I heard of the movement to send teabags to the Representatives and Senators. Apparently, they will not make it through because of the fear of what could actually be in them. 

So, I went to my CafePress shop and made a postcard that can be sent instead.  This is what it says:

Almost 236 years ago, Colonists were discontented with a government thousands of miles away and not in touch with their needs.  They vented those frustrations by throwing 90,000 lbs. of tea into the Boston Harbor.  A great nation was born.

Today, Americans are STILL frustrated with a government that, while closer, is no more in touch than they were back then.

I am sending you this virtual teabag to represent the spirit of those brave Colonists. In that same spirit, thousands of Americans will gather on April 15th to make their voices heard.

Listen.

They come in packages of eight, and you should get them in time to send them off to D.C. if you order them soon. 

See you all at the Tax Day Tea Parties!

Michelle reported on the Judicial Watch release of documents on Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) use of military planes for travel.  She then called foul on the MSM outlets calling this whole thing insignificant. 

This morning on “Cashin’ In,” Wayne Rogers said it costs taxpayers about $30,000 per week to use the military travel.  I couldn’t find that figure anywhere, but I did find an old Jake Tapper article that said the C-32 (the non-stop plane) costs about $22,000 an hour to fly.  At that rate, $30,000 sounds like a low-ball figure, so I’ll use this to point out just how “insignificant” this is.

The bottom 50% of taxpayers, individuals or families who make $30,881 or less (2005 data), pay an average of $483 per year in federal income taxes*.  These are the poor people that Pelosi and her Dem cronies purport to help so often.  To fund her jaunt for one week, it takes one year’s tax money of 62 families.  If she uses the service only half the year, 26 weeks, the total for the year is $780,000, which is one year’s tax money of 1,615 families!

That’s not insignificant.

* I got this figure by taking the numbers from the last line on the first table at the data link.  I took the income taxes paid divided by the number of returns to come up with an average figure.

I was listening to Sean Hannity’s radio show, and he was doing his “Man on the Street” segment.  He spoke to a 21-year-old man who will graduate from college in May.  He wants to be a lawyer.  Sean asked him who he voted for, and he said Obama.  Sean asked him why, and he said, “Because I’m not out on my own yet, so I only care about social issues.”  Sean clarified that this meant gay rights, etc.

This tells us a lot.  Many college students want to be able to do whatever they want and damn the consequences.  That’s why they want to be given a free education, health care, condoms, access to abortion, etc.  Then, they are able to live the lifestyle they want free of responsibility. 

Unfortunately, this is so short-sighted, and he will be the one bearing the economic burden of his choices now.  He will have kids one day and try to protect them from the same things he did in college, and he will find it hard because of where this country has moved to.  And I hope he remembers this moment.

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes often inaccurately attributed to Churchill:

If you’re not liberal when you’re 20, you have no heart. If you’re not conservative when you’re 40, you have no brain.