More Power for Fed, More Firings of Inspectors General, NK on 7-4, ACORN and Americorps "Go Way Back"

1) New financial rules: Major changes for big, small WASHINGTON – From simple home loans to Wall Street's most exotic schemes, the government would impose and enforce sweeping new "rules of the road" for the nation's battered financial system under an overhaul proposed Wednesday by President Barack Obama. Aimed at preventing a repeat of the worst economic crisis in seven decades, the changes would begin to reverse a determined campaign pressed in the 1980s by President Ronald Reagan to cut back on federal regulations. What idiot wrote this article? Yeah, that was the reason for the financial crisis - the lack of federal regulations. No, it was forcing loan companies to make loans to people who had no business receiving those loans, and no ability to pay them pack. But I digress… …Dodd, who had been at Obama's side in the East Room of the White House for the announcement, raised questions about one of the plan's key features — giving the Federal Reserve authority over huge, intertwined financial institutions. "There's not a lot of confidence in the Fed at this point," Dodd said. …But the proposal also would do away with a restriction imposed on the Fed in 1999 when Congress lifted Depression-era restrictions that allowed banks to get into securities and insurance businesses. The Fed, as the regulator for the larger financial holding companies, had been prohibited from examining or imposing restrictions on those firms' subsidiaries. Obama's proposal specifically lifts that restriction, giving the Fed the ability to duplicate and even overrule other regulators (emphasis mine). See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090618/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_financial_overhaul 2) ‘45 Million Americans’ — Who Are Those Guys? About 45 million Americans lack health care insurance. Or do they?  A pro-"universal health care" television host recently cited this widely accepted "fact." The number is bogus.  Here's the skinny.  Start with the math. We have 300 million Americans. Subtract the 45 million — 15 percent of us — with no health insurance. That leaves 255 million Americans, or 85 percent, with it. …Nearly half of the 45 million fall in the category of my 26-year-old nephew. He smokes cigarettes, dates, eats out, goes to movies and, like all young people, lives through his cell phone. With a slight change in priorities, he could afford health insurance, the cost of which at his age and health starts at about $100 a month. Take a look at a Reason Foundation video (http://reason.tv/video/show/560.html) of interviews with a bunch of non-health-insured 20-somethings. Millions more can access health care — through SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program), Medicaid or other government programs. But for whatever reason, 11 million people simply refuse to take advantage of them. …So now we're down to the Americans without health insurance on a persistent, long-term basis. This is approximately 10-15 million, a big number to be sure. But does this warrant a government takeover of the entire health care system? See: http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/elder061809.php3 3) Senator asks about firings of watchdogs Removal of 2 inspectors general prompts questions The dispute comes as Grassley, ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, is looking into the abrupt firings within the last week of two other inspectors general one of whom was fired by the White House and the other by the chair of the International Trade Commission. Both inspectors general had investigated sensitive subjects at the time of their firings. Grassley is now concerned about whether a pattern is emerging in which the independence of the government's top watchdogs -- whose jobs were authorized by Congress to look out for waste, fraud and abuse -- is being put at risk. See: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-tc-nw-inspectors-0617-0618jun18,0,5718990.story 3a) AmeriCorps and ACORN Go Way Back The cynical, politically motivated, and apparently illegal firing of AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin shocks the conscience.  I'm not going to examine here the circumstances surrounding the termination of Walpin but I do wish to remind readers that AmeriCorps has long been ripe for abuse.  ACORN took advantage of the federal agency a decade ago. As I wrote previously, ACORN, which is now notorious for its commingling of funds within its network of affiliates, used government resources to promote legislation.  A congressional report noted that there was "apparent cross-over funding between ACORN, a political advocacy group and ACORN Housing Corp. (AHC), a non profit, AmeriCorp [sic] grantee" that is a major affiliate of ACORN.  The government-funded AmeriCorps, which promotes public service, suspended AHC's funding "after it was learned that AHC and ACORN shared office space and equipment and failed to assure that activities and funds were wholly separate."  The report noted that, "AmeriCorps members of AHC raised funds for ACORN, performed voter registration activities, and gave partisan speeches. In one instance, an AmeriCorps member was directed by ACORN staff to assist the [Clinton] White House in preparing a press conference in support of legislation." ("Report on the Activities of the Committee on Economic and Educational Opportunities During the 104th Congress," Report 104-875, January 2, 1997) See: http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/17/americorps-and-acorn-go-way-ba 4) Officials: US tracking suspicious ship from Nkorea WASHINGTON – The U.S. military is tracking a ship from North Korea that may be carrying illicit weapons, the first vessel monitored under tougher new United Nations rules meant to rein in and punish the communist government following a nuclear test, officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he has ordered additional protections for Hawaii just in case North Korea launches a long-range missile over the Pacific Ocean. The suspect ship could become a test case for interception of the North's ships at sea, something the North has said it would consider an act of war. …Gates, speaking at the same news conference, said the Pentagon is concerned about the possibility of a North Korean missile launch "in the direction of Hawaii." Gates told reporters at the Pentagon he has sent the military's ground-based mobile missile system to Hawaii, and positioned a radar system nearby. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is designed to shoot down ballistic missiles in their last stage of flight. "We are in a good position, should it become necessary, to protect Americans and American territory," Gates said. A Japanese newspaper reported Thursday that North Korea might fire its most advanced ballistic missile toward Hawaii around the Fourth of July holiday. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090619/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_nkorea 5) House Armed Services Committee Says No to Missile Defense Interceptors Today, the House Armed Services Committee was marking up the FY 2010 budget for the Defense Department. The liveliest debate was over Congressman Turner’s (R-OH) amendment to re-insert $120 million to fund the remaining 14 ground-based interceptors. For the past several years, the plan was to have 44 interceptors dispersed among California and Alaska bases. As of right now, we have 30. Because the House Armed Services Committee rejected Congressman Turner’s amendment, the Department of Defense will stop any further deployment of the 14 interceptors. Defense Secretary Gates spurred the decision when he said that the current number of interceptors (30) is sufficient to protect against the North Korean threat. The same Secretary Gates who budgeted for and approved the construction of 44 interceptors the year before. See: http://blog.heritage.org/2009/06/16/house-armed-services-committee-says-no-to-missile-defense-interceptors/ 6) GREEN LIGHT FOR A CRACKDOWN OBAMA'S SILENCE FAVORS THE MULLAHS SILENCE is complicity. Our president's refusal to take a forthright moral stand on the side of the Iranian freedom marchers is read in Tehran as a blank check for the current regime.  The fundamentalist junta has begun arresting opposition figures, with regime mouthpieces raising the prospect of the death penalty. Inevitably, there are claims that dissidents have been "hoarding weapons and explosives." Foreign media reps are under house arrest. Cellphone frequencies are jammed. Students are killed and the killings disavowed.  And our president is "troubled," but doesn't believe we should "meddle" in Iran's internal affairs. (Meddling in Israel's domestic affairs is just fine, though. - Emphasis mine)  We just turned our backs on freedom. See: http://www.nypost.com/seven/06182009/postopinion/opedcolumnists/green_light_for_a_crackdown_174811.htm