Stolen from fark.com and used with love whenever TARP comes up. -ww

A few details to note from the report. We are coming to find that these nine financial institutions -- Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, State Street and the Bank of New York Mellon - were chosen not because they needed money, but because of their size and involvement in the financial system. They were big players, and the government wanted control

This is also where Hank Paulson got into some trouble. Recent news articles have reported that Paulson lied to the American public. Okay ... let's first nail down the definition of a lie. A person lies only when they utter a statement that they know to be untrue. Now, Hank Paulson assured us last year that these nine institutions receiving bailout money were healthy and that they were only taking the money for the good of the economy. However, it turns out that this was untrue and federal officials (including Paulson) knew it. The report says, "Senior government officials had affirmative concerns at the time the nine institutions were selected about the health of at least some of those institutions ... The Federal Reserve had concerns over the financial condition of several of these institutions individually and for all of them collectively absent some governmental action. And former Secretary Paulson noted concerns about the outright failure of one of the institutions."

Then the government comes along and tells these institutions that took bailout money ... under the threat of government retribution ... that they must submit to executive compensation restrictions. Restrictions that will only grow and expand with Democrats in charge.

Nice. Bureaucrats don't like what the executives of certain financial institutions are making. The institutions are healthy .. at least healthy enough to weather the downturn. But this doesn't matter to the bureaucrat class. They want something done about the money these people are making. So they gin up some rather dire threats and force these institutions to take government bailout money. Besides, the more people who accept the bailout, the more involved the government seems to be in rescuing the country from financial collapse. Then, as soon as the money is in hand the bureaucrats start setting executive compensation rates. Yeah ... that's the way it's supposed to work, right?

According to a new poll, the United States is the most admired country in the world. And who do we have to thank for that? The star power of Barack Obama and his administration. That is according to the Nation Brand Index.

The US climbed from seventh place last year. Other nations near the top include France, Germany, the UK and Japan.

The found of the NBI just can't believe how quickly the US shot back up to number one, and he assumes this all has to do with Barack Obama: "What's really remarkable is that in all my years studying national reputation, I have never seen any country experience such a dramatic change in its standing as we see for the United States for 2009."

This one is not too hard to figure out. We go back to the Pew Research poll conducted in Europe in 2008. That poll showed that nearly 60% of Europeans wanted the United States to be weaker. They didn't like the US being as strong in economic and worldwide political affairs as we were. Soooooo ... along comes Barack Obama, and at every turn he projects American weakness. He trashes the European missile defense system. He kowtows to Russia's Putin. He absolutely fails to take a strong stance on Iran and their nuclear ambitions. He disengages from Iraq and continues to show indecisiveness in Afghanistan. The shrinks at the sight of Hugo Chavez. He won't meet with the Dalai Lama because it might make the Chinese mad. Weakness at every turn ... just exactly what the respondents to the poll said they wanted! A weaker United States!

So now our popularity in Europe is on the way up! Really tough to figure out why, isn't it?

By the way ... for those of you who think Obama is absolutely right in pulling America back from international strength and leadership: Some country out there is going to dominate the world militarily. Some country is going to dominate the world economically. Many of you don't want the United States to be that country. OK, fine. Then do tell us which country you want to fill that role? No hedging here. Some country is going to dominate ... and if you don't want our country to be the one, which country do you chose?

Maybe the United Nations?

Warren Buffett has decided to get involved in the healthcare debate. The Democrats just love to tout what Buffett has to say, because generally he sways on the side of taxing the tar out of the wealthy. Clearly, this is coal in the fire for Democrats who are currently deciding how to pay for the healthcare dreams and schemes.

In a recent meeting with Senate Democrats, Warren Buffet proclaimed that wealthy Americans need to pay higher taxes. Senator Claire McCaskill quotes Buffett as saying, "He said rich people are not paying enough taxes ... It was interesting to see someone who is such an aggressive capitalist, who believes so much in our capitalist system, saying we've got the scales way too heavily toward people who are very, very wealthy." Interesting indeed, inasmuch as the top 1% of income earners in this country earn about 20% of income while paying about 40% of income taxes. Oh .... and providing a huge chunk of all jobs in the process.

Here's where Buffet starts his con game. He once again touts this line about paying a lower tax rate than some of his company's employees. He actually believes that most Americans are stupid enough to fall for this fakery .. and unfortunately, he's right.

How easy it to expose Buffet's trickery here? This easy: Buffet's employees pay income taxes. Warren Buffet pays capital gains taxes. Capital gains tax rates are lower than income tax rates. Nice trick ... and he can only pull it off because of the economic ignorance of the American people and the willing compliance of the leftist media.

Where does Neal Boortz get all that WONDERFUL material for his show? Well ... here's one secret.

And here's another......

George Will awards the Olympic Gold Medal to Barack Obama ... for narcissism.

An Arab plot against the dollar? More change you can believe in, right?

Here's the "well duhhhhh" column of the day. " Obama Doesn't Seem Ready to Lead."

Apparently Barack Obama was angry with General McChrystal after his speech in London last week about the state of the war in Afghanistan. Yep. The truth hurts, Obama.

Looks like Obama is not going to meet his goal for closing Guantanamo. Gotta find someone to blame now, right?

Calling the Senate healthcare bill the "kill granny" bill may be a bit much, but if you are a senior citizen, take a look at what the Democrats have in store for your Medicare.

At least you can say one thing about this healthcare debate ... more people finally seem to be paying attention. Eh, I doubt it will last long.

Did you know that the federal government is now a major owner of more than 600 US financial institutions and banks, as well as two auto makers, an international insurance conglomerate, and numerous other businesses?

Russia has confirmed that it WILL be helping Iran enrich uranium.

The United Nations has determined that Norway is the best place in the world to live.

An MSNBC host says that Republicans don't care if half the country dies, so long as they "take down Obama." I wouldn't expect anything less from a member of the lamestream media.

Who said this? "We can't just say everybody can go everyplace and do anything they want."

Kevin Hassett has a great column about this political fallacy that the government is going to create all of these "green jobs" and save our economy.

Hey Mr. President! Remember when you ran for office promising an administration of transparency?

The EPA under the Obama administration is giving an ultimatum to businesses: Support the Kerry-Obama climate tax agenda--or we'll punish your utilities and consumers without your vote. How about $500,000 of your tax dollars to "conduct a special resource study to evaluate ways of protecting and interpreting sites related to the civil rights movement in the United States."

Our Health and Human Services Secretary says that everyone can opt out of having an electronic health record included in the federally mandated national electronic-health-record system.

What industry is the SEIU Purple Army after next?