Warning: Place all liquids aside and away from your computer when watching the above trailer for Tea Party: The Documentary Film.

Sadly, the above is not a joke. The narration is priceless. And it should come as no surprise that Dick Armey's Freedom Works is assisting in the marketing of the film. Congressman Peter DeFazio warned the other day that without a new focus on jobs and small business from the White House "a faux populist" Republicanism would fill the void come 2010. Well, that's what we have to look forward to, a government of clowns.

On a more serious note, the New York Times reports that with unemployment now in double digits a number of liberal-leaning economists who see "confirmation of their warnings that the $787 billion stimulus package President Obama signed into law last February was way too small" are calling for a second round of fiscal stimulus to spur the economy and create jobs.

The legislation, a variety of economists say, is helping an economy in free fall a year ago to grow again and shed fewer jobs than it otherwise would. Mr. Obama’s promise to “save or create” about 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 is roughly on track, though far more jobs are being saved than created, especially among states and cities using their money to avoid cutting teachers, police officers and other workers.

“It was worth doing — it’s made a difference,” said Nigel Gault, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, a financial forecasting and analysis group based in Lexington, Mass.

Mr. Gault added: “I don’t think it’s right to look at it by saying, ‘Well, the economy is still doing extremely badly, therefore the stimulus didn’t work.’ I’m afraid the answer is, yes, we did badly but we would have done even worse without the stimulus.”

In interviews, a broad range of economists said the White House and Congress were right to structure the package as a mix of tax cuts and spending, rather than just tax cuts as Republicans prefer or just spending as many Democrats do. And it is fortuitous, many say, that the money gets doled out over two years — longer for major construction — considering the probable length of the “jobless recovery” under way as wary employers hold off on new hiring.

But there are criticisms, mainly that the Obama team relied last winter on overly optimistic economic assumptions and oversold the job-creating benefits of the stimulus package.

Optimistic assumptions in turn contributed to producing a package that if anything is too small, analysts say. “The economy was weaker than we thought at the time, so maybe in retrospect we could have used a little bit more and little bit more front-loaded,” said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers, another financial analysis group, in St. Louis.

By 1816, the American Republic began to emerge from the turmoil of the War of 1812, a war that the United States effectively lost though because of the Battle of New Orleans, which actually came after the peace treaty had been signed, many Americans seem to think we won the war. The British burnt Washington to the ground. James Madison had to flee for his life. The US invasion of Canada ended in a hasty retreat. New England threatened succession. And political disputes between North and South over tariffs and slavery were growing ever more bitter.

American elections from 1796 through the Jacksonian Republic were hotly contested. There were no parties in the modern sense. In 1816, the first US political party was still a decade away. But there were factions. Even before the ratification of the US Constitution and the election of George Washington, Americans were divided over the power and role of the Federal government. Two camps arose, the Federalists led by Alexander Hamilton and the Anti-Federalists led by Thomas Jefferson. George Washington largely sided with Hamilton and during the early part of the Republic, the Federalist "party" was ascedant. In 1796, John Adams won the Presidency over Thomas Jefferson and he followed Washington's policies even if he and Hamilton did not exactly see things the same way. Then, as now, there were spirited debates over the power of money in politics. Hamilton's Bank of the United States, a forerunner of today's Federal Reserve, was derided by Jefferson who railed against the power of New York monied interests going as far as calling New York, Hamiltonople. The National Debt, a legacy of the Revolution, was also a hot topic. The National Debt Reduction of 1802 repealed all internal taxes, prohibited the Federal government from taking on any additional debt and aimed to reduce the National Debt through external tariffs.

Politics was a bitter cup of tea during the early Republic; far more acrimonious than they are now in this age of Tea Parties. It serves to remind you that Adams and Jefferson would not speak to each other for over a decade such was the bad blood between them. And in 1800, Aaron Burr would kill Alexander Hamilton in a duel over a political dispute. Politics was not as genteel as Americans today imagine it. In fact, people would cross the street so as to not speak with their political opponents. It even divided families. In 1806, two cousins, both members of the House from Virginia, fought a duel over a salt tax.

Ronald Reagan launched his political career in 1966 in his run for the governorship in California by targeting UC Berkeley's student peace activists, its professors, and, to a great extent, the University of California itself. His oft-repeated mantra was "to clean up the mess at Berkeley." In the end, he destroyed what was one of the great equalizers in California's meritocracy. Under Reagan began our shift from education as a right to education as a privilege for the wealthy or as an investment for the rest of us.

Reagan, who attended a bible college without distinguishing himself, viewed the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley with deep suspicion. In his campaign he vowed to "investigate charges of communism and blatant sexual misbehavior on the Berkeley campus." He proposed deep across budget cuts for the system and cavalierly suggested that Berkeley sell its collections of rare books in the Bancroft Library and hold bake sales in Sproul Plaza. He repeated Milton Friedman's views whenever and wherever he could: "Individuals should bear the costs of investments in themselves and receive the rewards."

"The state should not subsidized intellectual curiosity" declared Reagan when he finally ended a century-long state policy of free tuition in what has long been the nation's crown jewel of public universities. Founded in 1868 as a city of learning, the University of California was free for all. Today tuition runs $9,748 for in-state residents. Total cost runs over $28,000. And it is about to go up significantly effectively ending the American dream for tens of thousands who will be priced out of the nation's largest higher education system. For the 2010-2011 academic year, tuition will rise by 32 percent.

That the state of California is in crisis is by now a well-known fact. Our cupboard is threadbare and the state faces a $20.7 billion dollar deficit over the next 18 months. The implications are stark given the political impasse in the state legislature where a rump Republican minority has decided that it is to their political advantage to hold the state hostage. Nothing will get solved and lives will be ruined.

It's not just the ten flagship campuses of the University of California system that are hurting. It is the entire system.  The state's 110 community colleges are designed to be affordable launchpads to further education, with the assurance that after a two-year foundation, students can land at one of the California State University or University of California campuses. Once they arrive at universities, data shows that transfers are successful, graduating at a slightly higher rate than students who enter as freshmen. But six in ten community college students are unable to graduate largely because cuts have so devastated the system that they can't get the classes they need to complete their associate's degree. California now ranks  39th among states in the percentage of bachelor's degrees awarded to high school graduates.

And as California's educational prowess sinks so does the state overall. Restoring the California Dream does, in fact, mean undoing Reagan.

The House Financial Services Committee approved the Paul-Grayson Amendment by an overwhelming 43-26 vote. The proposal is an amendment to HR 3996, the "Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009″, which is sponsored by Congressman Barney Frank.

The main provisions of the Paul-Grayson amendment include:

- Removes the blanket restrictions on GAO audits of the Federal Reserve.

- Allows audit of every item on the Federal Reserve's balance sheet, all credit facilities, all securities purchase programs, etc.

- Retains limited audit exemption on unreleased transcripts and minutes.

- Sets 180-day time lag before details of Federal Reserve market actions may be released.

- States that nothing in the amendment shall be construed as interference in or dictation of monetary policy by Congress or the GAO.

The Paul-Grayson Amendment drastically increases the power of the government to audit the Federal Reserve, which serves as the Central Bank of the United States that independently sets monetary policy. The Paul-Grayson amendment would give the Government Accountability Office (GAO) much greater ability to audit the Federal Reserve, which has a long history of independence from congressional audits. Paul and Grayson beat out a competing measure offered by Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina who pushed for a less intrusive regulatory environment.

The full bill HR 3996, the "Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009," faces a committee vote after the Thanksgiving Day recess.

Below the fold, a letter from Congressman Paul, Republican of Texas and Congressman Grayson, Democrat of Florida to their colleagues on the House Financial Services Committee outlining their rational for the amendment.

Sarah Palin's Going Rogue book tour is now in its second day of its three week scheduled run. With all the attention in the international, national and local media, it provides a chance to hear her supporters in their own words. I've pulled the direct quotations from these various news sources of the people lining up to get their copy of the book autographed. In looking at the comments of her adoring fans, they seem fall into a few general categories. While there is some overlap between the various comments that I've selected, a few basic themes stand out. Ms. Palin is perceived to be "just plain folks" who is "honest" and "speaks from the heart." She is admired for her Christian beliefs and for adhering to conservative principles and her traditional values. Few pointed to economic issues directly rather social issues seemed to take precedence. I only found one person who admitted to having joined the Tea Party movement. The crowds are generally older but there is a fair number of those in their late teens and early twenties. The overwhelmingly white crowds in both Michigan and Indiana have numbered in the thousands and have had the feel of campaign rally. Indeed, at least in Grand Rapids, the local GOP county chairs made of point of stopping by to introduce themselves to Sarah Palin.

Shares Christian Values

"She's a person of faith, she has a family, she has gone through a lot of the trials and tribulations we have. I'd vote for her in a heartbeat," said Lana Smith, a dispatcher at a bus company who took the day off work and had been waiting in line since 5:30 a.m.

"I believe she's a good, strong person to do the things we need to do in this country," said David Zak, 70, who drove about two hours out of his way on his way from Wisconsin to his home in southeast Michigan to see Palin. "I like her Christian philosophy. I like that she's pro-life. I believe she can do what needs to be done to get ahead."

“She stands for everything I believe. I wear a suit and nylons and pumps to work” while loving nature, said Kim VandeKoppel, who runs a printing business in Grand Rapids, and who also praised Palin’s “Christian beliefs.”

Sarah is Just Like Us

Rachel Baragar, 72, praised Palin's honesty and down-to-earth manner. "She could be your next-door neighbor," said Baragar, wearing a "Palin Power" bumper sticker across her red sweat shirt.

Barbara Kaniewski, 51, of Plainfield Township, Mich., was more unequivocal. "I'm passionate about Sarah Palin," she said. "She wasn't a princess. She cleans her gun the same way I clean my gun."

“She's one of us. She doesn't seem like a Washington elite,” said Denese Crouch, a homemaker who lives outside Grand Rapids, echoing the dominant theme in a canvass of the long line, which was the ease of identifying with Palin. “She seems to figure solutions to problems like I'd do with my own family,” Crouch said.

“I love Sarah Palin. I would love to see her become president,” said Laura Lomik, 19, who had spent a sleepless night outside the Barnes & Noble book shop where the signing took place. “She’s an average, small-town girl, but she’s a very strong woman who’s not afraid to tell it how it is.”

"I think she's more like grass roots, back to the way things used to be. I think we've gotten a little away from that," said Bob Price.

Jerome spent a year in the Peace Corps in this small West African country, apparently riding around on a motorbike and drinking palm wine, or so I am told. Sierra Leone is best known for its brutal decade long civil war that began in 1991 and the illicit diamond trade that fueled the conflict. The movie Blood Diamond starring Leonardo DiCaprio was set in Sierra Leone. The war was brutal even by African standards leaving tens of thousands dead and an internally displaced population of over 2 million people, or one in three Sierra Leoneans. Though the war came to an end in 2002 and despite vast natural resources, the country remains troubled even under a democratically elected government. The problem is one that plagues Africa - corruption and poor governance. The recent Transparency International corruption index ranked Sierra Leone the 146th most corrupt nation in the world on a par with Zimbabwe.

But Sierra Leoneans are all of sudden talking about the state of their country and discussing issues like corruption and governance thanks to a song by one of the country's musical international superstars, Emmerson Bockarie. The song, Yesterday Betteh Pass Tiday, is sung in the creole language Krio that is spoken in Sierra Leone. Translated the song title means "yesterday is better than today". The song has sent shock waves and started debate all over the country because of its frank social commentary and stinging lyrics. It takes direct aim at the country's leadership. It's not often we hear words like "transparency," "anti-corruption" "accountability" or "teachers' salaries" in a song. There's even a shout out to President Obama thanking him for raising the issue of poor governance during his visit to Ghana earlier this year.

Here's a story about the current debate raging in Sierra Leone from All Africa:

The song compares the performance in government of the previous Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) regime and the ruling All Peoples' Congress (APC). Bockarie points out that government in Sierra Leone was bad under the SLPP, but is worse now.

The song highlights corruption, the high cost of living, nepotism, tribalism, poor service delivery, poor government salaries and a static economy, concluding that things have not changed for the better under the new government.

"We identify with this song because Emerson said it all, nothing seems to move," said Sahid Sesay a secondary school teacher in Freetown. He said the government had given a 20 percent increment in salaries, but this had had no impact "simply because all the prices of everything in the market have gone up".

The APC government came to power on a platform of change, and in his inauguration speech President Ernest Bai Koroma announced he and his team would show "zero tolerance on corruption".

Mohamed Turay, a research assistant at the Fourah Bay College in Freetown, said: "I think the government is still yielding in principle to an anti-corruption strategy in order to satisfy requirements for donor funds, without fully implementing it. The commission is still crippled by a lack of political will."

Turay cited the case of Afsatu Kabba, former minister of energy and power, who clearly flouted the procurement rules by giving out a contract to Income Electrix, an independent power provider, for the supply of 25 mega watt (MW) generator whilst there were other favorable companies that would have cost government less and that even when the contract was awarded only 10MW was installed and commissioned.

"But nothing came out of it. She is now sent to head the ministry of fisheries and marine resources. How can we say the government is serious about fighting corruption?" asked Turay.

He also said the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Act directed that public officials, including their spouses and children, were to declare their assets. While the president had declared his, most of the ministers and other public officials had not declared their assets, in spite of the commission.

Can a song change a country? I sure hope so. It's time to attack the culture of gbashi, gbashi that plagues everywhere from Washington to Timbuktu. Listen to it, since it is sung in a English-based creole, you can understand a fair bit of it. Plus it's zouk, one of the world's most infectious musical rhythms. It goes well with palm wine, or so I am told.

The Hill reports that there is a "growing consensus" among the Congressional Progressive Caucus that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should step aside.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Wednesday that he and other liberal House members are becoming increasingly tired of Obama administration economic policies that they say are too focused on maintaining the stability of Wall Street firms and largely ignore "Main Street."

"A growing consensus in the caucus [believe that Geithner should be removed]," DeFazio said on MSNBC this evening, adding that some lawmakers are "considering questions regarding him and other economic advisers."

DeFazio said that lawmakers have not yet drafted a plan to remove Geithner. The lawmaker also took aim at top Obama economic adviser Larry Summers for furthering many of the same policies favored by Geithner.

"We need a new economic team," said DeFazio.

The veteran congressman specifically mentioned last year's bank bailouts and the Geithner's handling of the collapse of insurance giant AIG. At the time, Geithner was head of the New York Fed in the Bush administration.

"We may have to sacrifice just two more jobs to get millions back for Americans," the congressman added.

As Treasury Secretary, Geithner is clearly not up to the task. The report from TARP inspector general Neil Barofsky that details how the New York Fed, then headed by the Geithner, failed to stand up for taxpayers and folded its hand agreeing that AIG's creditors should be paid 100 cents on the dollar for financial instruments worth a fraction of their value. But rather than negotiate and offer to cover fifty or seventy-five percent of policy value, Geithner simply acquiesced.

Appearing on Tuesday on Capitol Hill, Secretary Geithner bemoaned that "the most important thing to understand about this - and this was a tragic failure of our country - is that we came into this crisis without the basic set of tools we needed to contain the damage caused by hugely costly mistakes in parts of our financial system."

Sadly the failure is also yours. In a response to a question by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas earlier this summer demonstrated how oblivious he is to his duties, Geithner demurred that he had never been "a regulator." He's half right. As head of the New York Federal Reserve he had oversight responsibility but he failed to act.

That was then, this is now. Thirteen months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the collapse of the financial industry, the United States has yet to adopt any legislation to change the way it oversees or regulates financial industries. What's he waiting for? Another meltdown?

It's time for Secretary Geithner to step aside.

A few days ago, Doug Hoffman, the Conservative candidate in NY-23 special election retracted his concession after the routine post-election recanvassing of votes across the district showed Democratic Rep. Bill Owens' margin of victory narrowing. He did so at the urging of Fox talk show host Glen Beck and live on his program. The darling of the Tea Party set and endorsed by Sarah Palin, Doug Hoffman originally conceded after trailing Bill Owens by 5,335 votes, but further counts showed him narrowing the gap and trailing by 3,176 votes. A recent count of absentee ballots in three counties showed Hoffman still trailing by 2,951. To reverse the results, Hoffman would need to win 65 percent of the remaining absentee ballots. Not impossible but certainly a tall order.

But Hoffman on his website is now openly claiming that the election was stolen.

As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens.

I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news - - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night - and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County.

On Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week!

Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.

That is why I am writing you today. Recent developments leave me to wonder who is scheming behind closed doors, twisting arms and stealing elections from the voters of NY-23.

I'm sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

A recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026. In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

Let's force them keep this recanvassing active! Let's give this election a chance to end differently!

Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on "chaos" in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

The district's second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I'm now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which the state Board of Elections distributed about 10,200.

The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can't let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy. State Board of Elections Communications Director John Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District.

Now it's time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned. So long as we remain the "land of the free," we MUST ensure every vote is counted. Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime.

When all else fails, blame ACORN and the unions. Last I checked, neither ACORN nor any unions are involved in counting ballots. It's more nonsense from the paranoid right. When conservatives can't explain events, they resort to conspriacy theories that involve "scheming behind closed doors and twisting arms."

That's not sitting well with election officials. Jerry O. Eaton, Jefferson County Republican elections commissioner, called Mr. Hoffman's assertion “absolutely false” adding that No one has touched those ballots or has access to those ballots except board of elections staff - and in a bipartisan manner."

Finally, the Watertown Daily Times reports that "Mr. Hoffman trails Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, by 2,832 votes after 42.6 percent of absentee ballots districtwide were reported Wednesday. Officials are expected to count the 4,262 ballots remaining by Monday."