Sandy Koufax or the Last Hurrah of the Golden Horde

I know it's a cheap trick, especially when this is almost all about Republicans. But Sandy Koufax is a victim of our economic collapse. The Hall of Famer was another one of Bernie Madoff's clients. Last spring training, Sandy still threw a fastball over 91mph but as a senior citizen did he get wiped out by Madoff? Where's Mossad when you really need them?

Hapless Harry Reid, relative of a famous horse thief, tells us he has the votes to pass the stimulus package--probably tomorrow. But it was an all Republican day. Lindsey Graham echoed many of our thoughts by saying," We've had enough presidents trying to scare people to make bad decisions." Anyone he have in mind, especially in recent memory. Graham and DeMint,still fighting the civil war, introduced an alternative stimulus package--they eliminated all government spending and substituted a bill solely composed of tax cuts. Meanwhile, the other relative of slaveholders, John McCain demanded that Obama negotiate directly with Republicans because the bill is "bad for the American economy". The De Mint package generated 36 votes and the arithmetic reflects my comments yesterday. The Obama bill will pass with from 3-4 Republicans votes.

De Mint continued this day--his greatest hour-- to table with co-sponsor Jim Imhofe a bill to safely close Gitmo. This bill--they think--prevents Obama from closing Gitmo because it denies funds for transferring any of the detainees. Clever guys! But,alas, as Commander-in-chief he can basically do that without congressional approval.

Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, who has been hired by Congress to oversee the TARP funds, testified that under the Bush Administration the Treasury overpaid for toxic bank deposits to the tune of $78 billion. We have given this matter over to our new Department of Inland Security.

We knew someone had to mention it--the Smoot-Hawley Act. This was invoked by Republicans against the Made In America provisions in the stimulus. Smoot-Hawley, you will recall from high school, was a bill that raised tariffs against imported goods and was said to be one of the triggers of the Great Depression. I don't understand. Obama is not raising any tariffs but government programs using stimulus money would buy American. Even today with the new Depression, the private sector far exceeds the public sector and imports wouldn't be affected at all.

Faith groups are protesting Obama's new faith-based initiatives because they fear--no one has said anything about this--they will have to hire gays and non-religious types if they are to get government aid. This they are protesting is against freedom of religion. The only statement coming from the Obama Administration is that all groups would have to obey the law. As Pat Roberston said when he warned evangelicals from buying into this with Bush,if you receive government money you have to obey its rules. I would just abolish the office.

Now for the Golden Horde. Our captains of industry want to repatriate to this country funds their companies are keeping abroad to avoid taxes. The Republicans proposed that we make a special deal and tax them at a 5%, instead of our effective corporate rate of 25%. This we are told will generate $565 billion in tax reviews. Why not 10% so we can pay for the whole stimulus package ,which wouldn't be necessary if these guys paid their taxes anyway. At the full tax rate, we have American corporations telling Congress that they have salted away abroad the equivalent of $2.825 trillion in taxes because they didn't like our rates, still one of the lowest in the developed world. If you add up the funds sitting overseas from individual and corporate tax dodgers,you're looking at $5 trillion owed the U.S. treasury. Kudos to Cenk at Young Turks for pointing this out. Isn't this what should be called treason? Another case for the Department of Inland Security and the Riders of the Purple Sage.