Dear Mahmoud,

Please don't hate me! I'm soooo sorry George Bush was such an asshole. The US is definitely not willing to remove your government, and we don't really care if you sponsor terrorists and keep developing your nukes. Won't you be my friend? Pretty please?

Love,
Barry

The Generational Theft Act of 2009

That's what Michelle Malkin calls the stimulus bill. I think I like this name the best. It really captures the essence of what's happening here -- the current generation literally stealing money from their children. On top of the current $825 billion price tag, the CBO expects the stimulus to incur $347 billion in interest -- over just 10 years.

4.19 billion for ACORN

The bill uses the more generic "Neighborhood Stabilization Activities".

The European Social Welfare State Bill

That's what the corner is calling The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.

It’s easy to go through a huge proposal and find what seem like fairly ridiculous line items, so I’ll focus on as comprehensive a view as I can of the spending. The CBO reviews each Title (basically, spending area) of the bill, and calls out major items within each Title. Here are all the items that I saw them identify as individual programs with more than $10 billion of projected outlays, in the order that they call them out:

• $20.0 billion to increase the maximum benefit under the Supplemental Nutrition Assurance Program (i.e., Food Stamps)
  
• $18.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs
  
• $20.4 billion for programs administered by the Department of health and Human Services
  
• $20.0 billion to renovate elementary and secondary schools
  
• $17.6 billion for Pell grants and other student financial assistance at post-secondary institutions
  
• $29.1 billion for other elementary and secondary educational programs
  
• $30.0 billion for highway construction
  
• $13.1 billion for other transportation programs
  
• $11.2 billion for housing assistance programs administered by HUD
  
• $19.5 billion (minimum, could be higher, as per Title XIII) for education grants to states
  
• $27.1 billion for increase unemployment benefits
  
• $13.3 billion to increase health insurance for unemployed workers
  
• $11.1 billion for “Other Unemployment Compensation”
  
• $20.2 billion for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments to encourage providers to improve healthcare IT
  

What does this sound like to you? It sounds to me like a wish list for the left wing of the Democratic Party.

Read the stimulus

readthestimulus.org provides an indexed search of the stimulus bill (which is currently 1588 pages long), along with some nice charts of the CBO analysis of the bill demonstrating that the vast majority of the outlay occurs after 2009.

9/6/06 Bush address detailing CIA interrogations

In this speech, Bush explains how intelligence gathered from high-profile terrorists led to the capture of more terrorist operatives and helped thwart attacks. Full text here

These are some of the plots that have been stopped because of the information of this vital program. Terrorists held in CIA custody have also provided information that helped stop a planned strike on U.S. Marines at Camp Lemonier in Djibouti -- they were going to use an explosive laden water tanker. They helped stop a planned attack on the U.S. consulate in Karachi using car bombs and motorcycle bombs, and they helped stop a plot to hijack passenger planes and fly them into Heathrow or the Canary Wharf in London.

The most dangerous man ever to occupy the Oval Office

Marc Thiessen responds to the Executive orders on Gitmo and CIA interrogation procedures at the Corner.

A week ago, former Vice President Cheney advised the incoming president to take some time and look carefully at the policies and institutions the Bush administration had put in place to protect the country before following through on campaign pledges to dismantle them. President-elect Obama said on ABC’s This Week: “I think that was pretty good advice, which is I should know what’s going on before we make judgments and that we shouldn’t be making judgments on the basis of incomplete information or campaign rhetoric."

Less than 48 hours after taking office, Obama has begun dismantling those institutions without time for any such review. The CIA program he is effectively shutting down is the reason why America has not been attacked again after 9/11. He has removed the tool that is singularly responsible for stopping al-Qaeda from flying planes into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, Heathrow Airport, and London’s Canary Warf, and blowing up apartment buildings in Chicago, among other plots. It’s not even the end of inauguration week, and Obama is already proving to be the most dangerous man ever to occupy the Oval Office.