Looking back on 2008

On this cold an snowy New Years Eve here at the BCP Long Island bureau I thought I take a look back on what got my attention in 2008:

Well let's see there was a writers strike:


William F. Buckley dies

Jeremiah (Wright) was a bullfrog or was he just a good friend of Barack Obama who gave a speech on race in March

In New York City having three kids becomes a status symbol.

Barack Obama pulled some stats out of his butt but, most in the mainstream media never checked him on it.

Tim Russert died

Something was not kosher at a meat packing plant in Iowa and it concerned illegal immigrant workers.

My employer sent me out to Minneapolis to set up communications systems for the Republican convention. Loved that balloon drop


It was bailout mania in September Nancy Pelosi said "The Party is Over" looking back the party had just begun and the money has not stopped flowing since.

Obama downplays his involvement with ACORN and as usual the liberal media does a Sargent Schultz and sees nothing wrong with the connections.

Obama's tax cut plan is a good one

Hope is on the way if today's Washington Post article on how the Obama administration plans to give U.S. taxpayers an immediate tax cut is any indication. What is good to see is that it looks like a very efficient means to get money into the wallets of us taxpayers. Here is the money quote:

"Obama, in the second week of a vacation in Hawaii, continues to work on his economic plan, aides said. He is considering immediate tax cuts of $1,000 for couples and $500 for individuals, which would be delivered through reduced tax withholding from paychecks, a transition aide said. That plan could cost about $140 billion over the next two years, the aide said."

I think this plan is good for a number of reasons because it:

1)Can be implemented fast and with immediate results.

2)Can be implemented multiple times (if needed) without delay.

3)Would eliminate “pork” and costly bureaucratic delivery of checks (from the IRS) since the money will go directly and immediately to U.S. taxpayer’s wallets.

4)Would encourage people to be legally employed and not work “off the books”. Increasing tax revenues that would otherwise be lost.

It's this kind of thinking from the Obama administration that may help the middle class more than any Bush Administration or Pelosi/Reid left leaning Democratic proposals ever did. I say Obama should go for it.

War children is just a shot away....

We dined at a local Indian Restaurant here in northwest DC the other night. I overheard the Indian owner discussing world politics with some customers at another table. It was his view that there would soon be a war between Pakistan and India. This may not qualify as "actionable intelligence" here in Washington. But, you never know.

Christmas Greetings from AIG and the Federal Reserve

This time of year is particularly a dangerous time for us taxpayers. It is a time when those in Washington can slip out bad news but, chances are less people will notice it. The reason for this is because everyone is running around for the Christmas holidays. Even most of the media empties out of this town for the next week or so. Not me. I am looking for the bad news leaked out. I think I found it in today's Washington Post. It concerns AIG and how it was able to get some of those nasty credit default swaps off it's books. Here are the money quotes:"American International Group retired $16 billion in credit default swaps, the contracts that almost caused the company's collapse, after buying the underlying securities with help from the Federal Reserve."

"The fund created by the Fed and AIG to protect the insurer's customers from losses has now purchased collateralized debt obligations with a face value of about $62.1 billion, the firm said in a statement."

"The business guaranteed more than $70 billion in securities created by pools of different kinds of debt, including sub prime mortgages, that plunged in value. The federal government committed $150 billion to bail out AIG and prevent losses at investment banks that bought protection on fixed-income securities from the insurer."

Whoa! AIG only guaranteed $70 billion in securities. But, we taxpayers gave them $85 billion and then another $65 billion in loans? What wrong with this picture?

Merry Christmas: I got yer stimulus right here!

The lobbyist are lining up to get their hands on the next outflow of taxpayer dollars to come out of Washington. It is good to see that their are some people in Washington and I am happy to see that some are Democrats who know that just throwing money out is not the best way to stimulate the economy and be effective. Here is the money quote:"
If we're going to call it a stimulus package, it has to be stimulating and has to be stimulating now. I think there are members of our caucus who are trying to create a Christmas tree out of this," said Rep. Baron P. Hill (Ind.), incoming co-chairman of the Blue Dog Coalition, a caucus of 51 fiscally conservative House Democrats.
The Christmas tree is a good analogy. While it looks pretty for a while in the house. It eventually winds up on the street with all the other trash a symbol of wasted money. Let's hope Dems like Rep. Hill and the Obama administration keep their eye on the money and make sure we taxpayers get the most out of every dollar spent in the "stimulus" bill.

No solace in Solis

President elect Obama has announced Hilda Solis as Secretary of Labor. The daughter of Mexican and Nicaraguan immigrants her past record shows she is very pro union. Here are some of the money quotes:

"Solis is viewed as quite liberal and has sometimes been criticized as inflexible in advancing her causes."

"The business community's concern over the appointment is especially great because of a fight coming up next year over efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, the top priority for labor unions. The measure is designed to boost union membership by having employees sign union cards to form unions instead of holding secret ballot elections."

As a union member nobody asked me whether I am in favor of the "Employee Free Choice Act" which basically does away with a secret ballot in union organizing elections. So workers will be at the mercy of strong arm tactics of Union thugs working for unionization votes. With a secret ballot the wishes of workers are protected. I hope Obama and Hilda Solis understand that.

My car is died and Detriot is not looking too healthy either.

Since 1988 I have been driving a 1986 Mazda subcompact. It was a hatxhback, not flashy but, reliable transportation and very good on gas. One August night in 2007 I was driving it home from the Ronkonkoma train station. I turned a corner and the car died. It cranked fine but, just never started again. Since it had only 66,000 original miles on the odometer I knew it still had some life in it even if the body was starting to show it's age. I was planning on buying a new car anyway but, I thought I try and use it for one more year. I had it towed to my house thinking I would try and revive it. I never did make much progress or really spend much time on it. This week I donated it to a children's charity. It was sad to see it being towed off. I knew it still had a few miles in it. But, the reality is I did not have the time to work on it like I thought I would. I had bought a new car brand new which if my driving remains the same may last me until I die. Only a few months before I had spent $600 for a new muffler system for it to keep it going. It nows looks like that was money that was wasted. Meanwhile in Washington the Federal Government has granted billions of dollars in loans to the big three U.S. car makers to keep them going. I just hope that will not be money that was wasted too.

George Bush's Guava moment

At a press conference in Iraq yesterday President George Bush had two shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist. This reminded me of the time of the time th locals in South America pelted Richard Nixon's limo with Guava fruit back in the fifties when he toured there. While the Iraqi man throwing the shoes had pretty good aim I was pretty impressed with George Bush. He may not have a quick mind but, his reflexes were pretty fast as he avoided being hit.

"Stopping" illegal immigration Mexican style

Perhaps the U.S. Government could learn a thing or two from the Mexican Government on how to find illegal immigrants within a country's borders. Here are the money quotes from the New York Times:

"Between January and September, the National Migration Institute, Mexico’s immigration service, deported 350 Americans, some of them lawbreakers who had finished prison sentences in the country, but others merely travelers who were found to be without proper paperwork.
One of them was the scruffy wanderer in his early 40s who goes by the name Crash, eschews regular employment and racks up stories of his adventures.
“I didn’t know you could be deported from Mexico,” he said, requesting that his full name not be used to avoid running further afoul of the law. “I didn’t know it was possible. Now I know.”
He said he had been riding in the back of a pickup truck from Huatulco, a popular vacation spot in the southern state of Oaxaca, to the resort city of Acapulco several weeks ago when the vehicle approached a checkpoint. The authorities asked Crash for his passport. He did not have one.
He said he was taken away and later found himself in a police lineup. He said he had been told that a woman had been robbed in Acapulco by a blond man with a goatee. Looking at the other men in the lineup, Crash said they could have been his brothers, all of them blond and with goatees.
He was not chosen as the robber but said he was sent to jail nonetheless, which was not an altogether unpleasant experience for Crash. “The cell was better than some of the 300-peso hotel rooms I’ve stayed in,” he said. “The only thing was that it had bars.”
He said he spent about a week there while the American Consulate prepared travel documents for him. When informed that he was going to be deported to the United States, he said he initially could not believe it. “I thought to myself, ‘You’ve got to be kidding. This is a joke. You’re deporting me from Mexico?’ "

See how easily it's done? Perhaps someone at Homeland Security would take note of this.

Obama forgot something

From today's Washington Post:
"On the heels of more grim unemployment news, President-elect Barack Obama yesterday offered the first glimpse of what would be the largest public works program since President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the federal interstate system in the 1950s.
Obama said the massive government spending program he proposes to lift the country out of economic recession will include a renewed effort to make public buildings energy-efficient, rebuild the nation's highways, renovate aging schools and install computers in classrooms, extend high-speed Internet to underserved areas and modernize hospitals by giving them access to electronic medical records."

Seems Obama forgot about one public works project already underway that would not only provide jobs but, would also help secure the nation as well. Hey Obama how about finishing the border fence!

No more Kennedys!

Word of the street that another member of the elites is sniffing around for a government job. This time it's Caroline Kennedy daughter of President John F. Kennedy trying to put her butt down into the soon to be vacant Hillary Clinton Senate seat. ENOUGH already! It's time this country moved on and stop putting anymore Kennedy's into office. Though sometimes the policies they come up like Ted Kennedy's positions on illegal immigration are good for a laugh they tend to hurt middle class taxpayers in the long run. So I say no more Kennedys in government please and while we are at it the same goes for the Bushes.

Death of two liberals

There was a double homicide that occurred just before Thanksgiving near the BCP Washington Bureau that I have been following. It is the the gruesome stabbing death of of Michael and Virginia Spevak. Their death was not on the front page of the liberal papers like the Washington Post and the story has pretty much faded from news coverage in DC. However, it is a cautionary tale of how being too liberal can get a person killed in today's world. Despite the best of intentions. The Spevaks were liberal "community activists" who opened their home to people. One of these people remembered their hospitality and help repay them by allegedly sending killers into their home. Here is the some of the details:


"A young woman who had once stayed overnight at the Chevy Chase home of a couple who were killed there last week led two fellow attackers to the house, according to police charging documents released yesterday after her initial court appearance.

Angela Hernandez, 20, told D.C. homicide detectives that she and two friends were riding in a white Toyota on Nov. 20 when she pointed out the home of Michael Spevak, 68, and his wife Virginia, 67, according to the charging papers. One of her companions said, "Let's rob it," the documents state."

Hernandez is charged with first-degree murder and felony murder, federal prosecutors said.

The Spevaks' bodies were found Saturday in their home in the 5300 block of Belt Road NW. Hernandez, arrested late Wednesday, is the second suspect charged in the killings. On Tuesday, police arrested Piero Fuentes Hernandez, 21, of Capitol Heights in connection with the case. He is not related to Angela Hernandez.

The Spevaks were well-regarded in their neighborhood. Michael Spevak, a psychiatrist, saw patients in the family home. Virginia Spevak devoted time to helping youths in the District's foster care system. It was the Spevaks' commitment to foster care that provided the nexus with their killers, the charging documents allege.

Initially, police said, Hernandez said she knew the names of the people who might have stolen the Toyota Scion but denied any knowledge of the killings. She then admitted that she knew the victims, had visited her friend "Anna," the couple's former foster child, at the Spevak home several times and had spent the night there, although she had not been at the home in two years, according to the charging document.

Eventually, the court document states, Hernandez admitting pointing out the home to her two companions, one of whom was armed with a metal "pole type weapon," the other a gun.

According to the account provided by the charging document, Hernandez said she told Fuentes Hernandez to ring the doorbell and ask for Anna. Hernandez said Michael Spevak opened the door, and her two companions forced their way in and dragged Spevak into the house. Hernandez said she left the house and waited in the Toyota. Minutes later, her two companions came out carrying computers, which they put in the trunk before driving away.

"Fuentes Hernandez told police that he is a member of the MC Gang, or Master Criminals, which is an affiliate of STC, or Street Thug Criminals, according to the charging documents filed in support of his arrest. Hernandez told detectives that she has not been initiated into a gang but has friends who are with the MC Gang, STC, and MS-13, according to charging documents in her case."

Three days after the killings, Hernandez and Fuentes Hernandez posed for photographs in a photo booth, copies of which federal prosecutors attached to the Hernandez charging documents.

A legend above the series of photos proclaims "WANTED For Just About Everything." The two are kissing in one photo and sticking their tongues out in another."

How charming! I wonder if they used any of the money from the home of the Spevaks to take those pictures.