Bonfire Of Trvialities

From Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post:
A $14 trillion economy hangs by a thread composed of (a) a comically cynical, pitchfork-wielding Congress, (b) a hopelessly understaffed, stumbling Obama administration, and (c) $165 million.
That's $165 million in bonus money handed out to AIG debt manipulators who may be the only ones who know how to defuse the bomb they themselves built. Now, in the scheme of things, $165 million is a rounding error. It amounts to less than 1/18,500 of the $3.1 trillion federal budget. It's less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the bailout money given to AIG alone. If Bill Gates were to pay these AIG bonuses every year for the next 100 years, he'd still be left with more than half his personal fortune.
For this we are going to poison the well for any further financial rescues, face the prospect of letting AIG go under (which would make the Lehman Brothers collapse look trivial) and risk a run on the entire world financial system?
And there is such a thing as law. The way to break a contract legally is Chapter 11. Short of that, a contract is a contract. The AIG bonuses were agreed to before the government takeover and are perfectly legal. Is the rule now that when public anger is kindled, Congress will summarily cancel contracts?
Even worse are the clever schemes being cooked up in Congress to retrieve the money by means of some retroactive confiscatory tax. The common law is pretty clear about the impermissibility of ex post facto legislation and bills of attainder. They also happen to be specifically prohibited by the Constitution. We're going to overturn that for $165 million?
Nor has the president behaved much better. He, too, has been out there trying to lead the mob. But it's a losing game. His own congressional Democrats will out-demagogue him and heap the blame on the hapless Timothy Geithner.
Geithner has been particularly maladroit in handling this issue. But the reason he didn't give the bonuses much attention is because he's got far better things to do -- namely, work out a rescue plan for a dysfunctional credit system that is holding back any chance of recovery.
It is time for the president to state the obvious: This recession is not caused by excessive executive compensation in government-controlled companies. The economy has been sinking because of a lack of credit, stemming from a general lack of confidence, stemming from the lack of a plan to detoxify the major lending institutions, mainly the banks, which, to paraphrase Willie Sutton, is where the money used to be.
Obama has been strangely passive about this single greatest threat to the country. In his address to Congress and his budget, he's been far more interested in his grand program for reshaping the American social contract in health care, energy and education.
Obama delegates to Geithner plans for a bailout -- and Geithner (thus far) delivers nothing. Obama delegates to Nancy Pelosi and her congressional grandees the writing of all things fiscal -- and gets a $787 billion stimulus package that is a wish list of liberal social spending, followed by a $410 billion omnibus spending bill festooned with pork and political paybacks.

Happy Talk!

Happy talk*, keep talkin' happy talk,

Talk about things you'd like to do.

You got to have a dream,

If you don't have a dream,

How you gonna have a dream come true?

Talk about the moon floatin' in the sky

Lookin' at a lily on the lake;

Talk about a bird learnin' how to fly.

Makin all the music he can make.

Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk,

Talk about things you'd like to do.

You got to have a dream,If you don't have a dream

How you gonna have a dream come true?

If you don't talk happy,

And you never have dream,

Then you'll never have a dream come true!

*with apologies to Rodgers & Hammerstein

House Of Ill Repute

Pope Warns Queen Nancy

From the Catholic News Service:

Pope Benedict XVI met privately with U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, and told her that all Catholics, especially those who are lawmakers, must work to protect human life at every stage.Pelosi, a Catholic Democrat from California, has been criticized by many Catholics for her support for keeping abortion legal.

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death," the Vatican said in a statement about the Feb. 18 meeting.

Natural law and the church's own teaching require "all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development," the statement said.

Pelosi was making an official visit to Italy to meet members of the U.S. military stationed in the country and to discuss common security concerns with Italian government leaders.Her 15-minute meeting with Pope Benedict took place in a small room in the Vatican audience hall after the pope's weekly general audience.

Pelosi and her staff were not immediately available for comment.As a publicly practicing Catholic and a public opponent of efforts to make abortion illegal, Pelosi has come under sharp criticism by some bishops and other Catholics who believe that a politician who supports legalized abortion should not be allowed to receive Communion.

Queen Nancy (be she secular "royalty" or not) has no business approaching the Communion rail until she amends her beliefs and actions.

Queen Nancy Of Rome

Quenn Nancy (aka Nancy Pelosi) has railed against corporate execs and Wall Street types who live expense-account style. Yet, she herself is currently on a taxpayer-funded junket to Italy. And, get this: The Queen (who rules in the super-secular realm of San Francisco) will spend some time with The Pope.

Here's the story from the Catholic News Agency (CNA):

On Monday at noon in Rome, the Vatican’s Press Office confirmed to CNA that Pope Benedict will be receiving U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in an audience at noon on Wednesday. Pelosi, a self-proclaimed "ardent Catholic" who has sparked significant criticism from fellow Catholics in the U.S. for her pro-abortion views, arrived in Italy on Sunday for an eight-day official visit.
After landing at the USAF base in Aviano, she and the American delegation met with the mayor Florence, Leonardo Domenici at the "Palazzo Vecchio" (The Old Palace.)
On Monday, Pelosi began a series of meetings with Italian political authorities at the Quirinale Palace, where she was received by the President of the Italian State, Giorgio Napolitano. She then moved to the nearby Italian Congress for a meeting with the President of the Government, Gianfranco Fini.
Later in the evening, a reception honoring the U.S. delegation will take place at the Library of Montecitorio Palace where Pelosi will deliver the address: "Strong Allies for a Secure Future." On Tuesday, the Speaker of the House will be received by the President of the Council of Ministers, Silvio Berlusconi, at Villa Madama. In the afternoon Pelosi will hold meetings with the Minister of Defense, Ignazio La Russa and the Minister of International Affairs, Franco Frattini.
Although numerous reports have been published either confirming or denying that Pope Benedict would receive Pelosi in an audience, the Holy See’s Press Office confirmed to CNA on Monday at noon Rome time, that the Holy Father will receive the U.S. representative on Wednesday at midday.The press office made clear that the Pope will meet with Pelosi in his capacity as a head of state since the Speaker of the House is the third in line to lead the U.S., should the president and vice president be unable to do so.
The idea of providing Pelosi with a photo-op has disturbed a significant number of U.S. Catholics and pro-life activists.

Queen Nancy's Express

From Matt Drudge:
Rep. John Culberson, TX claims the "stimulus" bill must be urgently voted on today -- because Speaker Nancy Pelosi is leaving at 6:00 PM for an 8 day trip to Europe!
Culberson made the charge on Houston's KSEV radio. Pelosi is hoping to lead a delegation to Europe; there's a meeting with the Pope and an award from an Italian legislative group.
Calls to Pelosi's spokesman went unreturned. In the rushing, Democrats have now broken their promise to have the public see the $790 billion bill for 48 hours before any vote. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) predicted that none of his Senate colleagues would 'have the chance' to read the entire final version of the 1,071-page bill before it comes up for a final vote.

Trouble In Paradise

From Glenn Thrush at Politico:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid played a little high-stakes chicken with each other at the tail end of Wednesday’s shotgun stimulus talks.
It’s not clear who won – or who blinked. According to a half dozen Congressional aides and members, Reid went before the cameras Wednesday to announce a stimulus deal before Pelosi had agreed on all the details of school construction financing.
“It’s ruffled feathers, big time,” said a House Democrat speaking on condition of anonymity. “The speaker went through the roof.”
Added one House Democratic aide: “He tried to roll her and she knew it.” A few minutes after Reid announced the deal, Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) convened a public meeting of the House-Senate conference committee.
It was supposed to be a glorified photo op. But there were no House Democrats in the room – and Inouye hastily announced the meeting would be scrapped pending a Pelosi “briefing” of members on the details. The problem, according to people familiar with the situation, was that Pelosi hadn’t completely signed off on the Senate’s approach to restoring some of the $21 billion in school construction funding. House Democrats are pushing to have school-repair funding listed as a recurring expense; Senate Republicans want such an allocation to be a one-time-only deal.