David Letterman to Clinton the vegan: ‘I’m always looking to blame somebody’

I rarely can stomach David Letterman—it’s like watching a tombstone. I remember when he used to be funny. I watch him every now and then if someone interesting is on.

Anyway Letterman had former president Bill Clinton in the chair last night. I watched part of the interview. You can only take so much of this sort of thing when it’s late at night.

The chat  got a little ridiculous when Clinton said the General Motors bailout wasn’t a bailout—it was an “organized restructuring.”

Taxpayers handed over nearly $50 billion for that bailout which, by the way, was not a good deal for taxpayers.

Reason Magazine has a good analysis of the combination of loans, escrow funds and potential additional Dept. of Energy loans.

GM paid taxpayers back, right?

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Cantor says US needs ‘smarter regulations’ not just more

By Kay B. Day

Democrats in Congress, with help from a few Republicans, hope to push through a financial reform bill many conservatives and libertarians are criticizing. [Photo by Kay B. Day]In a conference call with bloggers on Monday, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) said the US needs “smarter regulations” rather than simply a “more regulations” approach. Cantor was responding to a question about new financial regulations put forth by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.)

Cantor and House Deputy Whip Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) held the conference call they described as a discussion of “how federal policies are hurting employers large and small.”

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The peculiar advantage of sharia financing in America, starting with AIG

Could advocacy groups use financial tools to manipulate the US lending market? The group Hizb ut-Tahrir met in Illinois to address a theme 'The Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam.'

AIG enjoyed a mega-bailout courtesy of the US taxpayer, but a lawsuit filed in December 2008 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan addresses a peculiar practice in financing. The lawsuit was filed by Kevin Murray who is represented by legal counsel David Yerushalmi and the Thomas More Law Center (Richard Thompson and Robert Muise). The suit posits a constitutional challenge to that portion of the ‘Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008’ (EESA) that appropriated $40 billion in taxpayer money to fund and financially support the federal government's majority ownership interest in AIG, which allegedly engages in Shariah-based Islamic activities.

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US Treasury mortgage fraud crackdown myriad days late, billions of dollars short

Mortgage foreclosure image from FBI.gov.Warning: this borders on a rant. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner is rattling the government saber, promising to “fight mortgage and foreclosure scams.” Geithner’s declaration comes myriad days and [at least] billions of dollars short. I first brought rampant mortgage fraud to the forefront in July, 2008 following up with a column in September. I cited a letter from Kenneth Kaiser, Assistant Director, the Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI. Kaiser sent the letter to the editor of the L.A. Times after the paper, Kaiser wrote, “implied that if the FBI had made more arrests for mortgage fraud, the crisis could have been averted.” Kaiser’s letter is worth reading, the newspaper’s column isn’t worth your time.

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Thieves stole billions from U.S. economy; happened right under lenders’ and Congress’ nose

The FBI has a whole section on mortgage fraud.I frequently mention the impact of fraud on the US economy and I’ve also pointed readers to the Federal Bureau of Investigation website. You can access a US map, click on your state, and read press releases from the different field offices. If the rest of the government were run as well as the FBI we probably wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in today. As it now stands, the government and lenders screwed the economy up and left it to the FBI to clean up their mess. Here are some stats that will blow your mind.

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On C-Span Gov. Sanford gets tongue lashing, but last laugh on Democratic critic

Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.) is shown at right attending a political event. [Photo SC Governor's website.]Gov. Mark Sanford (R) of South Carolina did a stint on C-Span Wednesday, and one caller from Michigan gave him a tongue lashing. Phoning in on the Democratic line, the woman basically thanked God Michigan has a Democratic governor. She unleashed a stream of criticisms at Sanford for recent budget cuts in the Palmetto State. Sanford responded with the melodious, “Yes, ma’am,” characteristic of those we think of as Southern gentlemen. And then he calmly defended himself by explaining the cuts were necessary and were across the board.

Sanford is categorized as a moderate populist conservative by the website On the Issues. He’s a true fiscal conservative in spirit, and I suspect he does what he can with a state that’s run for a long time on Democratic principles no matter who controls the legislature.

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Congressman Gohmert urges convert rest of bailout into tax holiday for Main Street

Rep. Louie Gohmert (left) hugs Addalyn Thrasher,daughter of fallen Customs and Border Protections officer Clint Thrasher. Thrasher's wife Rachel stands to the right. Clint was honored during National Police Week. [Photo by SPA D.B. Wagner, Customs and Border Protection; Rep. Gohmert website.](Washington, D. C.)--U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.) has a capital idea just in time for Christmas—use the last $350 billion earmarked for the bailout to benefit U.S. taxpayers. Gohmert wants to to put that money towards a tax holiday from both personal income tax and FICA tax for Americans during January and February, 2009. Gohmert’s next statement may garner a number of fans. He stated, "By instating a temporary tax holiday, we could electrify the American economy and provide overwhelming relief to taxpayers, all for less than the cost of the current failed Paulson-Pelosi bailout system. [W]e need to give this money to the people who earned it. I am sick of Washington millionaires trying to decide which of their cronies should get the next wad of taxpayer money…” And that’s not all. Gohmert recently proposed returning all 2008 income taxes to American taxpayers as a solution to boost the ailing economy. He said he believes taxpayers, rather than the government, should be using their hard-earned money to choose the economy's winners and losers.

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