UPDATE!

Administration seeks ways to tame corporate pay
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
Talking tough but stepping gently, the Obama administration rejected direct intervention in corporate pay decisions Wednesday even as officials argued that excessive compensation in the private sector contributed to the nation's financial crisis.
....
The administration has named Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as a "special master" with power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at companies with the biggest injections of public money. Feinberg also would have authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms.

So another czar, a Compensation Czar, czar #19. But notice the article refers to him as a "special master". What??!! Are we going Southern Plantation now?

President Barack Obama is appointing a special master to oversee his corporate slaves on his government plantation.

tidbit-Discrimination and Guns

Senate Bill 96: Sponsor Senator David Vitter (LA)
Amends the Public Health Service Act to include a health care entity's refusal to provide coverage of, or pay for, induced abortions among the bases for which the federal government or any state or local government that receives federal financial assistance may not discriminate against such an entity. Expands the definition of "health care entity" to include a hospital, a provider sponsored organization, a health maintenance organization, a health insurance plan, and any other kind of health care facility, organization, or plan.
We need to support this. It may be the only way Christian doctors and hospitals in business if the Freedom of Choice Act is ever enacted.

H.R. 45: Sponsor Rep. Bobby Rush (IL)
Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009 - Amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act to prohibit a person from possessing a firearm unless that person has been issued a firearm license under this Act or a state system certified under this Act and such license has not been invalidated or revoked. Prescribes license application, issuance, and renewal requirements.

Prohibits transferring or receiving a qualifying firearm unless the recipient presents a valid firearms license, the license is verified, and the dealer records a tracking authorization number. Prescribes firearms transfer reporting and record keeping requirements. Directs the Attorney General to establish and maintain a federal record of sale system.
We need to fight this one and keep a close eye on it. It seems like it invalidates every gun permit in America and force gun owners to reapply under this law's stricter rules. But the scariest part is the "federal record of sale system". Where is the ACLU? Where are all the people who complained about the Patriot Act being intrusive? What happened to the progressive ideal of a right to privacy?

Going to His Headlines

Taxpayers Gamble on General Motors
By Amanda Ruggeri-U.S. News & World Report
I don't even need to read this article to understand its meaning. Taxpayers did not gamble on GM, His Administration is. In fact, His Administration is gambling on GM with our money, the money of our children and our grandchildren. Now, one could say that the taxpayers who voted for Obama are gambling. They apparently made a bad bet with Obama and now we are all in trouble.

Administration to issue new Wall Street pay curbs
By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – An up and coming Wall Street executive might want to hold off on buying that condo in Aspen. The Obama administration is ready to issue broad new guidelines that would rein in pay at financial institutions.

Eager to remove incentives that they say contributed to last year's financial crisis, President Barack Obama's economic team plans to unfurl broad executive pay principles, possibly as early as Wednesday, that put a premium on long-term performance over short-term gain.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke want to give the Fed, which regulates banks, and the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the financial markets, greater powers to guide compensation practices on Wall Street and beyond.
Have you ever heard of the executive branch of our government essentially usurping the power of the legislature by putting caps on bonuses. If a company inappropriately offers a bonus and it doesn't work for them...they deserve to fail. Our government should not make this decision. We can all ooh and aah at how much these guys make and think it's horrible. But it plays into class warfare and envy. If you think that a person getting a massive bonus-by contract (it seems regardless of whether they do good or not) is wrong that is Envy. Besides, a couple hundred million dollars in bonuses is nothing compared to how much these companies (billions and billions) are getting from the government. The government is an enabler.

Another Way To Describe the Newspaper Crisis: The Craigslist Boom
Peter Kafka
More fuel for the “Google (GOOG) didn’t kill newspapers, Craigslist did” meme: A report that says the listings service has seen revenue jump 23% this year and will end up booking $100 million — even as the newspaper classifieds business falls off a cliff.
Oh no. Unconstitutionality Warning! Don't tell His Presidency about the newspaper crisis. He'll appoint a Newspaper Czar. Then he'll start bailing out the newspapers and telling them what they can print (why not he tells GM they have to make tin can cars and can't make SUVs). Oh, wait. He can't do that...First Amendment freedom of the press. Why not Obama, you've usurped "checks and balances" and the legislature why not step all over the First Amendment. A state-run media, one more step toward fascism and Hugo Chavez (see previous posting). But of course, it won't matter to the New York Times, LA Times... and the like, because they are already run by Obamanuts...oh and Newsweek.