Aw, c’mon, Bill. Why don’t you show everyone our secret handshake while you’re at it?

Yawn.  Bill Clinton…. vast right wing conspiracy… yada yada yada.

Bill Clinton was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether the conspiracy is still there.

He replied: "You bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was because America has changed demographically. But it's as virulent as it was."

Clinton said that this time around, the focus is on Obama and "their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail."

For the record, since you seem intent on exposing our nefarious plot: Our agenda is focusing on the failure of Obama’s agenda.  Since the Big O is indistinguishable from his agenda, I guess that means he has to fail as well.

(Credit: Toon found here)

Michael Moore dances on the grave of GM

Michael Moore has been on a jihad against General Motors for decades, and now his fondest dream is being realized: the dissolution of General Motors as a privately-owned corporation.

In his latest screed, he expresses his "joy" (his word, not mine) at seeing GM get seized unconstitutionally by the federal government.

However, he doesn't think GM's bankruptcy and nationalization should result in a single job loss (at least among union employees). Instead, he thinks that the employees should get right back to work for their new employer. Not building cars with internal combustion engines, mind you, because those are evil. What then? Things like:

• Bullet trains between all of the major cities of the U.S.
• Massive light-rail systems for all large and medium-sized cities in the U.S.
• Energy efficient buses to serve every place not served by the above
• Hybrid and all-electric cars for (steadily declining) use during the transition away from existing vehicles
• Windmills and solar panels!

All of this complete upending of America's transportation infrastructure would, on the taxpayer's dime, be forced on an unwilling public. Moore is completely unsympathetic, though, and even suggests a two-dollar-per-gallon federal gas tax to put automobiles out of the reach of those he pretends to champion.

Moore has been pumping out this kind of bilge for a long time. As recently as last year I would comfort myself with the fact that nobody in power would give him the time of day.

Times are different now, much to America's harm. Not only are there many sympathetic people at the levers of power now, they've shown time and again that they recognize no real boundaries on their power.

President Obama's ingenius plan to get tax cheats to pay up

Scott Ott notes:

Obama Plan Has Already Boosted IRS Tax Collections

(2009-01-31) — In office less than two weeks, President Barack Obama has already increased tax receipts at the U.S. Treasury with an innovative plan to get tax-dodgers to pay up, in full, immediately.

“The president’s plan is simple but ingenious,” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, “He targets wealthy individuals who filed inaccurate tax forms, cheating the government out of tens of thousands of dollars. Then he just nominates them for cabinet positions. They suddenly see the error of their ways, and they cut checks for the full amount owed, plus interest.”

In the month of January alone, Mr. Obama has forced Timothy Geithner, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to cough up $43,000 he owed the IRS, and former Sen. Tom Daschle to pay off his $128,000 tax obligation. Mr. Geithner will put his tax-paying experience to good use, overseeing the IRS as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Daschle hopes his recently-good behavior will garner Senate confirmation as the next Secretary of the Health and Human Services.