“But ‘without a clearer explanation’ about parts of the program, ‘it is not possible to exercise meaningful oversight over Treasury’s actions,’ said Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard Law School professor who leads a special congressional oversight panel monitoring the TARP program. Her comments came in a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the bailout program.” (Read more from mcclatchydc.com)

Of course government can’t regulate Wall Street. Instead of giving them our money, just let them fail! The best (only) way to regulate Wall Street, is to expose banks to the consequences of their irresponsibility. The irresponsible/incompetent ones go bankrupt. Instead we’ve taken money from the competent and given it to the incompetent.

“Mr. Summers, the former Treasury secretary and Harvard president who is now the chief economic adviser to President Obama, earned nearly $5.2 million in just the last of his two years at one of the world’s largest funds, according to financial records released Friday by the White House.

Impressive as that might sound, it is all the more considering that Mr. Summers worked there just one day a week.” (Read more from nytimes.com)

The crooks are in charge.

“In the face of a growing number of deaths and cases of HIV linked to drug abuse, the Portuguese government in 2001 tried a new tack to get a handle on the problem—it decriminalized the use and possession of heroin, cocaine, marijuana, LSD and other illicit street drugs. The theory: focusing on treatment and prevention instead of jailing users would decrease the number of deaths and infections.

Five years later, the number of deaths from street drug overdoses dropped from around 400 to 290 annually, and the number of new HIV cases caused by using dirty needles to inject heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances plummeted from nearly 1,400 in 2000 to about 400 in 2006, according to a report released recently by the Cato Institute.” (Read more from sciam.com)

“Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera reported head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, ranked 701st on Forbes’ yearly report of the wealthiest men alive, and worth an estimated $1 billion, today officially thanked United States politicians for making sure that drugs remain illegal. According to one of his closest confidants, he said, ‘I couldn’t have gotten so stinking rich without George Bush, George Bush Jr., Ronald Reagan, even El Presidente Obama, none of them have the cajones to stand up to all the big money that wants to keep this stuff illegal. From the bottom of my heart, I want to say, Gracias amigos, I owe my whole empire to you.’ According to sources in the Mexican government, President Calderon is begging American officials to, in the words of reggae great Peter Tosh, legalize it.” (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)

Excerpted from nytimes.com by mikecann.net: “And with marijuana sales central to the drug trade, Mr. Holder said he was exploring ways to lower the minimum amount required for the federal prosecution of possession cases.”

(See the Prison Population post below)

Yes we can!

Wow! The Partnership for a Drug Free America is sponsored by beer company.

Dear C. Diaz, B. Griffith & E. Gomez: Fuck you.

I like the last part of this speech. It is vain and irresponsible of government to prohibit ships, airline pilots, or citizens from defending themselves. Government has always wanted to be the sole arbiter of force. We must stand up for our right of self-defense.

“A little-known congressional power could help the federal government keep the Somali pirates in check — and possibly do it for a discount price.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a growing number of national security experts are calling on Congress to consider using letters of marque and reprisal, a power written into the Constitution that allows the United States to hire private citizens to keep international waters safe.

Used heavily during the Revolution and the War of 1812, letters of marque serve as official warrants from the government, allowing privateers to seize or destroy enemies, their loot and their vessels in exchange for bounty money.

The letters also require would-be thrill seekers to post a bond promising to abide by international rules of war.” (Read more from politico.com)

Long time readers will know that I am a fan of Bill Moyers, but I humbly disagree with the thesis of this interview with William Black.

I agree that government regulations on Wall Street have been thoroughly, and blatantly scuttled. (Surprise, surprise.) In my humble opinion however, this observation misses the point.

As usual, they speak honestly, but from a certain set of assumption. William Black seems to take for granted that government needs to subsidize bad home loans. Think back to how Presidents Clinton and later Bush W. both bragged about how a record number of American’s “owned” a home.

If government insists on subsidizing bad loans, bailing out incompetent banks, etc., regulation is need. I agree, but that’s a big IF.

In a free market world where banks simply faced the consequences of irresponsibility, there would be self-regulation and investor-led-regulation more stringent than anything government bureaucrats would ever come up with. Irresponsible companies would go bankrupt.

Liberty works, but we need to give it a chance.

Happy Tax Day! Welfare and warfare, baby!

My favorite part comes at about 1:29 – “Tim Geithner is a real smart guy, if he don’t pay his taxes, why the fuck should I?”

If I had to choose between country and freedom, I would choose freedom.

From the governor’s website:

“I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Gov. Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union.”

(Don’t expect to hear about this on ABCNNBBCBS)

On April 7, 2009, the North Dakota House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 59 (HR59) “affirming North Dakota’s sovereignty under the 10th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to demand the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and imposing mandates on the states for purposes not enumerated in the Constitution of the United States.” (Read more from tenthamendmentcenter.com)