ledeagenda.com

Yes, I know it’s just barely over two weeks away from the Second American Tea Party. However, my mind needs a break. A brief distraction from the momentary glimpses of sheer panic and oppression that the image of The Messiah brings.

From Ars Technica (by far my favorite site on the web):

Supermassive black holes are often accompanied by two things: an accretion disk of matter in its death throws and a pair of relativistic jets that eject some of this matter in a last-minute pardon prior to its removal from the universe. While black holes are known for capturing every bit of matter or energy that gets too close, it has also been theorized that they will eventually stop growing. It is believed that these two phenomena—matter being devoured at the edge of the disk while being pushed away by the jets—form a sort of self-regulating system that keeps these monsters in check.

…

Through these observations, the pair concludes that these emission lines originate in an accretion disk wind. For a wind to occur, some driving force must exist behind it, giving it a push. The obvious candidate in such a situation would be radiation pressure, but astrophysical calculations show that radiation pressure alone would to insufficient to impart enough momentum to drive this wind. The remaining push can, however, come from X-Ray heating and thermal pressure. Sample calculations confirm that a thermal driving force, assisted by radiation pressure, can successfully produce this mighty wind.

The researchers calculated that the wind is capable of carrying away approximately 10^-8 solar masses worth of material each year. The rate at which the wind drives mass away from the black hole is interesting, because it is approximately the same rate of mass driven away via the relativistic jets. This is doubly interesting because it suggests that the black hole is able to maintain a balance of mass coming in and mass going out, regardless of the mechanism by which mass leaves the system—jet or wind.

The authors conclude by stating that these observations give “a strong indication that like their supermassive counterparts, stellar-mass black holes can regulate their accretion rate by feedback into their environments.” They also reiterate the importance of the finding that the high intensity of the radiation field from the disk is able to re-direct the accretion flow away from the relativistic jet, and into the outward bound wind: “our results point to fundamental new insights into the long-term disk-jet coupling around accreting black holes and hint at tantalizing evidence of the mechanism by which stellar-mass black holes regulate their own growth.” This reassures us that the equations that describe gravity do indeed work at the vastly different length and time scales that exist between stellar mass and supermassive black holes.

Yes, this does mean of course that we can’t “volunteer” Nancy Pelosi for the first manned space mission into a black hole. After all, do we really want her solar wind coming back?

Writing on the Boston Tea Party, Thomas Jefferson wrote:

Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of the day: but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period, and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate and systematical plan of reducing us to slavery.

The Rights Of British America, 1774

If you haven’t read Jefferson’s justification for the Boston Tea Party in awhile, take time to do so now. Reading what our Founders wrote we find that, yes indeed, history does repeat itself. Timely words of wisdom as we once again need to petition our government for a redress of tax grievances.

Our Children will be forced to pay homage to The President, the country under HR1388, the “Serve America Act”. 

From Redstate.com:

And here are just a few of the lowlights in the legislation:

1. The bill will substantially increase the size and reach of an existing federal government program;
2. The bill will burden taxpayers with more than 5 billion tax dollars at a time when we should be cutting back, not spending more;
3. The bill will steer funding and volunteers for public service away from churches, individuals, neighbors, and others who would like to lend a helping hand and toward organizations selected by bureaucrats;
4. The bill is full of vague language and has insufficient safeguards to prevent left-wing special interest groups from using tax dollars to advance their agenda in the name of “community service;”
5. The bill risks politicizing charity and community service by funneling funds and volunteers toward the preferred organizations picked by ideologues;
6. The first 25% of this bill is really education legislation, and should be in an education bill at the state level; and
7. The bill will compound the disincentives created by new limits on federal tax deductions for charitable giving, thereby decreasing the role of families, churches and other local organizations in their communities.

When you look at the details – one realizes that it’s far worse than even that… more along the lines of full-scale indoctrination camps toward Statism. The legislation will, in many circumstances, force our children to participate in charitable activity as part of school – and that activity may well be chosen by or approved by a bureaucrat. The bill causes a federally chartered, Washington-based institution to, essentially, pick priorities and winners and losers in the charitable universe – undoubtedly putting many charities at a significant disadvantage…

None of this even considers the lack of Constitutional basis for such a massive federal intervention into local charities and volunteerism… but when does that ever stop anyone in Washington? And when coupled with the soon-to-be-reduced lower tax deductions for charities, the Obama-Democrat machine is massively shifting the focus of charity from the individual to the State.

As usual, your typical group of unprincipled, spineless Republicans is supporting it – and it’s hard not to forecast swelling numbers given the total eclipse of fortitude among Senate Republicans and the lack of direction from their leadership. Already co-sponsoring the Senate companion (S.277) are Senators Gregg, McCain, Hatch, Cochran, Wicker (MS pork alert!!), and Snowe. And Senator Isakson waxed on about its virtues on the Senate Floor just yesterday… hardly surprising, unfortunately.

This is compulsory national service, a clear advancement of the state and an attempt to legalize politically correct attitudes in free-market service transactions. This isn’t fear-mongering, this bill WILL scrub charities for the goals of societal engineers at the State. Our children will be left will no choice but to succumb to the brainwashing or risk destroying their educational foundation. This bill will all but certainly usher in a thought-police state to narrow us to the social goals mandated by Washington.

The Compulsory National Service is also clearly unconstitutional. Even if parents have to fight the fight, we will win.

This bill is just yet another reason why I consider myself a Libertarian, for as long as the McCain, Rudy, and Arnold types still have a place in the party, our slim ability to block Obama’s socialist legislation in the U.S. Senate is doomed.

Regarding last night’s press conferance:

SOURCE: Reporters were told in advance if president was going to call on them. Senior Administration Officials notified reporters from Stars & Stripes, Univision and other news outlets that they should have question ready. Several reporters moved up in assigned seats as result…

This is report it our-way agenda setting. Sadly, President Bush (and probably many others before him) mastered it first.

Regarding the politically correct agenda:

During President Obama’s second East Room news conference, he took questions from 13 reporters over about an hour — that’s the same as during his first presser on Feb. 9. 

But in quite a departure from the first presser — and White House protocol — Obama skipped over the nation’s top newspapers. Indeed, there were no questions from the NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or USA Today. That might not sit well with the already insecure newspaper industry.

In exchange, Obama opened things up to a wider variety of outlets, including  Spanish-language television, a military news outlet, and black-oriented media. It’s another example of the White House going over the typical Washington press corps “filter.”

Regarding report it our way for access:

The highest-profile moments in the new approach have been well-noted, such as the president giving an interview to progressive radio host Ed Schultz and Obama calling on a reporter from the liberal-leaning Huffington Post at his first news conference.

But those moves are only part of a much larger strategy aimed at communicating directly with audiences the White House believes are more sympathetic to the president’s agenda — and one in which much of the work is being done by Obama’s top advisers.

On the day Obama released his ambitious spending plan, the administration put White House budget director Peter Orszag on a conference call with liberal-leaning writers. Senior administration aides have followed up by promoting the budget to local radio talk shows during morning drive time.

More info:

Lede Agenda: Fake Press Conferances

WSJ: Obama Pre-Screen’s Questions

Newsbusters: Obama’s “Pre-Approved” Press List Getting Notice

A must read article from the Heritage Foundation

A quick summary:

As regards income due to AIG employees, this measure is a punitive one, intended to punish the company’s employees and executives for conduct that Congress and the public believe demonstrates greed and selfishness. This raises serious constitutional concerns. First, it may be tantamount to a bill of attainder, with respect to those individuals, and so prohibited under the Constitution. Second, it could constitute an unlawful taking of property.

But whether or not the measure is legally permissible, it is bad policy because it injects massive uncertainty and risk into compensation agreements at a time when the expense of doing so is likely to be great. This sort of controversy is the inevitable result of government bailouts, which turn private concerns (such as compensation agreements between private parties) into public business, bringing politics to bear where it is likely to do damage. To avoid further entanglement of the federal government and taxpayers in routine business disagreements, Congress and the Obama Administration should reject further bailouts and insist that those already done be unwound in due course.

Mark my words- The Obama Administration and his USAService.org army will next claim we are using Constitutional arguments as our last bastion of “last resort”. 

See also:

Are These Bailouts Consistant With The Constitution?

Are The Bailouts Consistant With Federalist #41?

Me too! Me too!

From WaPo:

As auto sales have plunged, the companies that make parts for makers have shown increasing signs of weakness. While most of the bailout attention has focused on the carmakers, most of the hundreds of thousands of jobs in the U.S. auto industry are created by suppliers.

“The failure of a few key suppliers could have brought the entire industry to its knees,” said Neil De Koker, president of the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, where a third of the membership reported that it would face severe financial distress in the first quarter.

The $5 billion in federal assistance will come out of the $750 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, the financial rescue effort passed by Congress in October. The United States has extended $17.4 billion in loans from that program to General Motors and Chrysler, and those companies have asked for as much as $21.6 billion more.

Wall Street greeted the announcement of help for parts makers as a sign that the administration is likely to continue to aid the automakers. General Motors shares rose more than 8 percent yesterday, and Ford shares gained almost 2 percent.

But the Treasury’s move was criticized by some Republican senators, who said the assistance wrongly extends the scope of the rescue package.

“Regardless of the merits, Treasury’s decision to provide up to $5 billion to auto parts suppliers flies in the face of what they told us they would do in January — provide aid to GM and Chrysler and only for comprehensive restructuring,” said Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee. “The administration needs to work with Congress instead of running the country by executive fiat without checks and balances on the use of taxpayer money.”

I am so FURIOUSLY ANGRY, PISSED OFF, RAGINGLY MAD. Congress has the constitutional responsibility to write bankruptcy laws, not bailouts. I vow never to do business (knowingly) with any entity that has received government bailout monies.

These entities need to fail, need to be put through bankruptcy courts. I do not consent to my tax money being used to bail out private industry. This is rule by fiat. Unless Congress listens to the American people on April 15th, we may well have one of the largest constitutional crises of legitimacy since the Civil War.

Let us hope that the taxpayer’s voice is heard.

Fun. 

Numerous pro-bailout vitrolic comments pending for approval this morning. The Haters, directed by The Messiah, are responding with an army of 12 million strong to “reeducate” me, and the other pro-constitution Americans, on the virtues of the bailouts.

Well guess what, here is some more.

Take that brownshirts!!

You respond in force because you cannot claim the Constitution as your legal basis.

The momentum builds:

“The goal was to get people united, to let people know that they aren’t alone in their feelings on despair,” Feroli said. “We want to speak out against the push toward socialization that we feel is taking place in our country.”

Several speakers addressed the crowd, estimated by Orlando police and event organizers at 4,200, on a variety of topics, including gun rights, freedom of speech, the dangers of communism and, most prevalently, the economy, especially the Obama administration’s bailout plan.

“We have had enough of massive government-driven bailout using our money,” Hedinger said, prompting the crowd to start chanting “U.S.A.” over and over.

The country’s economic woes weighed heavily on attendees, such as Ed Squire, 52, of Winter Springs. Holding a sign that read “Obama — he’s robbin U.S. not Robin Hood,” he said that he was worried about the current rate of government spending.

“There’s absolutely no way as a nation that we can sustain that kind of spending,” Squire said.

Do you see what is happening? The people are uniting against socialism, against the bailouts and against this destructive government growth. We can show them that there are people out there opposed to The Messiah’s self-gratifying government spending programs.

Please join us April 15th for the largest nationwide tax protest ever held. Remember- it’s your money that Obama, Reid and Pelosi are spending. Remember that the debt for this spending bill will be paid- by our children and children’s children.

Wow.

From the Infowar:

A secret report distributed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center lists Ron Paul supporters, libertarians, people who display bumper stickers, people who own gold, or even people who fly a U.S. flag and equates them with radical race hate groups and terrorists. This is merely the latest example in an alarming trend which confirms that law enforcement across the country is being trained that American citizens are a dangerous enemy.

A copy of the MIAC report was sent to us by two Missouri police officers who were concerned by its content.

Perhaps due to the outlandish and shocking nature of the document, some people are still having difficulty believing it is real. Unfortunately, we have confirmed that it’s 100 per cent genuine. We spoke with Capt Hull at the Missouri State Highway Patrol who told us that the MIAC Strategic Report is a part “normal operation for officers” to receive these periodic reports for “safety purposes and to track trends or changes”. Hull added that the report was for the purposes of training their officers.

Anyone still in doubt as to the veracity of the document can call the MIAC toll free at 866-362-6422 and confirm it for themselves.

…

According to the MIAC website, “MIAC is the mechanism to collect incident reports of suspicious activities to be evaluated and analyzed in an effort to identify potential trends or patterns of terrorist or criminal operations within the state of Missouri.”

The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.

The MIAC report does not concentrate on Muslim terrorists, but rather on the so-called “militia movement” and conflates it with supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, Bob Barr, the so-called patriot movement and other political activist organizations opposed to the North American Union and the New World Order.

Don’t believe it? Click on the link to view the publication from the MIAC itself.

What is shocking is that, for the most part, St. Louis serves as the headquarters for the Campaign For Liberty. One would think that having a organization that focuses on constitutionally limited government in your own backyard you would be a little better educated as to the nature intent of the CFL.

But, sadly, we know the real reason for this- they want to crush any dissent from the devious and nefarious growth of government power and authority. The Police State does not want to be reminded that the Constitution limits the Federal Government to 22 enumerated powers. The Treasury Department does not want to be reminded that it alone, not the Federal Reserve, is charged with the printing of our currency. The President does not want to be reminded that the Declaration Of Independence freed us from rule by a King.  

And certainly, the MIAC does not want to be reminded that the Second Amendment specifically protects the right of the individual to own guns AND serve in a militia.

But the Constitution does protect these things. And many, many more.

For those interested in the Freedom Movement, please join us at the Campaign For Liberty, a political movement dedicated to the principals of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a noninterventionist foreign policy, by means of educational and political activity.

If anything, do it just because it makes the politicians squirm. = )