Remember when Press Secretary Gibbs said that $8 billion was small but $100 million was a lot?

This video does a great job at showing you how “big” $100 million actually is when you compared it to the whole budget:

Hat Tip: Blue Collar Muse and Stephen Kruiser

I didn’t write anything on Obama’s first 100 days. There were so many people writing about it, I didn’t figure there needed to be one more voice screaming out “IS THIS CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN?”

I did make the effort to list the people in the rightosphere who opined on it though. That should count as something:

• ATR On 100 Days Of Obama’s Failed Fiscal Policies – Townhall
  
• O’Reilly, Cameron and Garrett Evaluate Obama’s First 100 Days – Patriot Room
• Video: The Alternative – Ronald Reagan on Obama’s First 100 Days – Patriot Room
• Video: Newt Gingrich on Obama’s First 100 Days – Change in what we Believe – Patriot Room
• Video: Glenn Beck, Complete with Megaphone, on Obama’s First 100 Days and what’s Next – Patriot Room
• Video: Hannity on Obama’s First 100 Days – Patriot Room
• Videos: Dennis Miller on Obama’s First 100 Days – Patriot Room
  
• Video: Obama’s Lying, Gaffe-filled First 100 Days – Patriot Room

You see why I subscribe to the Patriot Room?  Great coverage!  Here’s more:

• 100 Days: 1,000 Lies by Jim Mc – The Absurd Report
• This is Not Working – American Thinker
• 100 Days of Debt – Gay Patriot
• President ZoBama Celebrates 100 Days! – Pajamas Media
• The “Economics” of Obama’s First 100 Days – Right Wing News
• The First 100 Days (Updated) – Plumb Bob Blog
• The Obameter at the 100 Day Mark – The Liberty Papers
• 100 Days – Don Surber
• Obama’s “First 100 Days” Report Card – Abject Failure – GOPMom
• Obama’s First 100 Days – The Bobo Files (freaky clown alert!)
• Obama’s First 100 Days and Expired Campaign Promises – Fullosseous Flap’s Blog
• First 100 Days – Grouchy Old Cripple (cartoon)
• Obama’s 100 Days of Disappointment, Double Talk and Deception – Flopping Aces
• Obligatory “100 Days” Post – The Jawa Report

Is that enough yet?  No?  Here’s some more then:

• Video: NRSC less than enthused about Obama’s 100 days – Hot Air
• Obama’s 100 Days Pt 1 – Jonah Goldberg @ The Corner
• Obama’s 100 Days Pt 2 – Jonah Goldberg @ The Corner
• 20 Great Moments From Obama’s First 100 Days! – John Hawkins
• 100 Days of the Poser Presidency – Michelle Malkin
• 100 Days, Almost as Many Expired Campaign Promises – Jim Geraghty @ The Campaign Spot
• Obama’s First ’100 Days’ … – Matt Lewis @ Townhall
• IT IS HERE: 100 DAYS – Boortz
• Obama’s 100-Day Power Grab – Gene Healy @ Cato
• How to Lose a Friend in 100 Days – American Thinker

I’m sure there are more.  If you wrote on the first 100 days of the Savior of America, feel free to link it up in the comments.  If there was one that you read and thought was worth mentioning, you can link it up also.

Great cartoon from the Draking Point.  I’m gonna try to remember to post these here from now on.  Great stuff:

The Israelis don’t like the name “swine flu.” It isn’t kosher.

Janet Napolitano and Tom Vilsack don’t like it. It might damage the hog market.

The French don’t want the piggies blamed. They say it has “swine, avian and human virus components.” (Thought they would realize by now that all animals are equal, but pigs are more equal than others.)

Some Muslims like the name swine flu. They think they are immune to it. It also confirms the divinity of the Koran.

Call it the “Six Million Dollar Man vs. Bigfoot Flu” for all I care. Really. What’s really important is preparation.

Bush was prepared for something like this. (Sorry for the MSNBC link.)

How prepared is Obama? Jimmie at the Sundries Shack has the alarming facts:

At this point, you may be wondering why we haven’t seen the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the head of the CDC, or the Surgeon General in front of the cameras yet. Well, that’s because the administration just yesterday got around to swearing in the Secretary of HHS and doesn’t actually have a head of the CDC or Surgeon General.

So we’re left with random Cabinet secretaries telling us that swine flu isn’t really swine flu because bacon isn’t a vector. Nice.

Jimmie has the links, but you’ll have to visit his blog to use them. While you are there, you can sign up for his RSS feed.

Photo Credit:  The Pug’s Father

I was chatting with Fausta Wertz today.  During our talk, I pulled her blog up on my browser and saw this post.  It’s brilliant.  Especially this line:

There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s government.

Please take a look and while you are there, subscribe to her RSS feed.

Do you know how much the government gets in taxes per gallon of gas you pump into your car?  According to CNN, the federal government takes eighteen cents and the states average about twenty-two.  Forty cents of every gallon of gasoline is taxes.

(By the way, here’s a great site to find out what your state tax is on gasoline.)

CNN says later in the article that the oil producers make the most money off a gallon of gas.  While that might be true at the pump, they don’t get to keep that money.  They pay taxes just like the rest of us.  In fact, they get hammered.

In 2008, Exxon caused several thousand heads across America to explode when they announced record first quarter profits of $10.9 billion.  Now consider that in that same quarter, they paid $9.3 billion in taxes.

They paid almost half of what they made in taxes.  Think about that next time you hear a Democrat vilify the oil companies and demand higher taxes.

The fact is that Exxon only makes about seven cents in actual profit, far less than the government, and they pump the oil.

Not content with what they are already looting from us, Democrat Congressman James Oberstar now wants to tax every mile you drive.

Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline.

“Why do we need a pilot program? Why don’t we just phase it in?” said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.

Two things jump out at me in that quote.

First, the technology needed to implement it would have to be part of your car. They aren’t going to trust you to turn in your mileage. They want to know the exact numbers. This would be done by mandating a “black box” for your car.  It’s been discussed before, and with this tax, you can bet it will be mandatory.  Cato’s Jim Harper writes:

There are obvious safety benefits if auto accidents can be dissected in detail, of course. Auto manufacturers, safety groups, and insurers want this information. Police departments want it too.

Already, prosecutors are using information from automobile Black Boxes as evidence against drivers. Last year, one Robert Christmann was convicted in a New York traffic fatality based upon information downloaded from his car’s Black Box.

But car manufacturers aren’t touting the safety benefits of the Black Box like they do so many other improvements on the modern automobile. That is because the Black Box is not a safety feature; it is a surveillance tool — and when drivers learn about it, they are none too happy.

After I commented on Black Boxes in a news story earlier this year, letters poured into my e-mail box. “This is `over the top,’ and a definite infringement on my privacy,” said one outraged car owner. Another wrote, “[T]his is a personal vehicle, I’ve paid for it, paid my taxes, enough said.” From another, simply: “Not on my car.”

Many correspondents wanted to know which cars have Black Boxes so they can determine whether their personal vehicles were, in effect, spying on them.

It would create more bureaucracy in Washington, because they’d need an Office of Mileage Taxation, both on the state and federal level.

Second is the decline in gasoline tax revenues. Gasoline taxes are going down because people are driving less and the cars are more fuel efficient. In May 2008, Americans drove 9.6 billion miles less than in 2007. Plus, the cars are more fuel efficient so less gasoline is needed.

Isn’t that two things Democrats have been promoting for years? Now that it’s happening, they find themselves in a pinch.

The fuel taxes will not be repealed. If they find a way to institute a mileage tax, it will be in addition to, not in the place of, the money you pay at the pump. Because of that, it would increase the price of transporting anything in this country by truck, therefore increasing the consumer’s price of anything transported.

Perhaps the solution lies not in increasing the amount looted from the people, but in increasing the efficiency of road maintenance.  For example, when a tanker fire brought down an interchange near the Bay Bridge in the San Francisco Bay area, it was expected to take months to repair.  However, The Governator offered a $5 million bonus to the company that could get it repaired the fastest.

It was fixed in 26 days, more than a month before the deadline set by the state. 

If this can be done in California, it can be done anywhere.  The answer isn’t more taxation, but more free market.

Photo Credit:  Nelson D.

There is a New York Times/CBS News poll asking people how they feel about President Obama. It found that 96 percent of black Americans approve of his performace, with zero percent disapproving.

Zero.

They couldn’t find one black person to say that they disapproved of how he was doing his job.

I found one:

Republican Congresswoman Marcia Blackburn questioned former Vice President Al Gore on how he would profit from enacting a cap and trade scheme in America. Gore replied, “But every penny that I have made, I have put right into a nonprofit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness of why we have to take on this challenge.”

Here’s the exchange (H/T Moonbattery):

Transcribed:

BLACKBURN: I’ve got an article from October 8th, the New York Times Magazine about a firm called Kleiner Perkins. A capital firm called Kleiner Perkins. Are you aware of that company?

GORE: (LAUGHS) Well yes, I’m a partner at Kleiner Perkins.

BLACKBURN: So you’re a partner at Kleiner Perkins. OK. Now they have invested about a billion dollars in 40 companies that are going to benefit from cap and trade legislation. So is the legislation that we’re discussing here today, is that something you are going to personally benefit from?

GORE: I believe that the transition to a green economy is good for our economy and good for all of us. And I have invested in it. But every penny that I have made, I have put right into a non-profit, the Alliance for Climate Protection, to spread awareness about why we have to take on this challenge. And Congresswoman, if you’re, if you believe the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.

BLACKBURN: I’m not making accusations. I’m asking questions that have been asked of me. And individuals, constituents that were seeking a point of clarity–

GORE: I understand exactly what you’re doing, Congresswoman. Everybody here does.

BLACKBURN: Well, are, you know, are you willing to divest yourself of any profit? Does all of it go to a not-for-profit that is an educational not-for-profit.

GORE: Every penny that I have made has gone to it. Every penny from the movie, from the book, from any investments in renewable energy. I’ve been willing to put my money where my mouth is. Do you think there’s something wrong with being active in business in this country?

First off, he hasn’t. That’s a lie. Let’s walk through this.

In 2000, when Gore left the White House, he was reportedly worth a measly $2 million. Fast forward to today and his net worth is $100 million. So, where did he make the extra $98 million? What has he been doing aside from promoting the Church of Global Warming? He gives speeches, but generally they are on climate change.

Secondly, according to a Bloomberg report (H/T Gateway Pundit), he didn’t give all his profits to non profit organizations:

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore left the White House seven years ago with less than $2 million in assets, including a Virginia home and the family farm in Tennessee. Now he’s making enough to put $35 million in hedge funds and other private partnerships.

Gore invested the money with Capricorn Investment Group LLC, a Palo Alto, California, firm that selects the private funds for clients and invests in makers of environmentally friendly products, according to a Feb. 1 securities filing.

Thirdly, so what if he’s giving all his money to the Alliance for Climate Protection. He’s the chair! He gets a tax write-off for donating that money, and then directs where the money goes. Currently, they are spending $300 million on climate change propaganda to convince the naysayers that they are really at fault for global warming.

Flopping Aces notes a great comment left on Gateway Pundit:

But a “non profit” is not under obligations to spend all its income (donations) nor all of its assets in every fiscal year. It can accumulate and accumulate donations. Non-profits don’t have customers, so you cannot boycott them. They only have self-appointed boards and donors.

In the case of Gore, it appears that the major donor is also on the Board, so it is a self-perpetuating way of funding propaganda, a tax-exempt pool of money from which he can get his expenses reimbursed and have staff members to help him.

So, there is indeed a benefit that Gore gets from these investments.

Indeed, because of the status of the NP, when he gets a distribution from his Kleiner Perkins partnership, because it is a “donation”, he gets the full economic benefit and use of all the money, rather than what would be left over after paying all the taxes on it!

Finally, he’s also chairman of Generation Investment Management, “a London-based investment management firm” that focuses on “green” investments. So, if his efforts at convincing the public about global warming are successful, the investments he makes via Generation will make him and his friends a lot of money. And that’s something few are asking about. Even if Gore gives away billions in profits, are his partners? Or are they benefiting financially from Gore’s testimony?

The Obama Administration sent New York City into a mini panic yesterday, and sent Mayor Bloomberg into a bit of a fit. The White House wanted to update its file photos of Air Force One, so obviously the best thing to do would be to sent the huge jumbo jet to New York so it could fly around the buildings.

Good thinking:

A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.

…

Dominick Caglioti, who works at the Mercantile Exchange, thought the worst as he saw the jets hurtle toward his window just after 10:30 a.m. After learning it was all a photo op, he was furious.

“It’s so stupid because they tell you about every fire drill, but they didn’t tell us about this,” he said.

The planes flew over the Verrazano Bridge, buzzed the left ear Lady Liberty and then continued up the Hudson past Jersey City and then circling back toward Staten Island, federal sources told the Post.

Thousands flooded the streets downtown as buildings called evacuations.

People were less than pleased.

Turns out the NYPD knew about it, but didn’t pass it on. But even if the information had made it to his desk, Mayor Bloomberg says he still would have warned against it:

“Had I known about it I would have called them right away and asked them not to,” he said. “The good news is it was nothing more than an ill considered, badly conceived, insensitive photo op – with the taxpayers’ money.”

He’s right. Watch this video and understand the terror New Yorkers felt by watching Air Force One buzz the city:

Here’s another video of New Yorkers running through the streets while Obama’s jet flies overheard (H/T: Breitbart via Drudge):

I know what the lib apologists are going to say. The White House told the city that they were going to do it. The failure is on the city for not communicating. This isn’t Obama’s fault.

How about judgment? Isn’t it poor judgment to send a jumbo jet to New York for a photo op? Isn’t there a better place for taking pictures? I think that of all the places to send a low flying jet, New York would be pretty low on the list.

I found this video on Blackfive. If you haven’t subscribed to their RSS feed, you should.

This video is a super condensed account of an hour long battle between the 173rd Airborne, 2nd of the 503rd Chosen Company versus the Taliban.