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Selected News For Jun 13 – Jun 19

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items we might otherwise miss.

Please follow this format for every post –

From the [name of the media outlet ]:

< blockquote > < b > The Headline Indented And In Bold < /b >

The excerpt from the original article, using ellipses… To indicate cuts…

The URL of the source   < /blockquote >

Then post your own comments about the article.

In your posts you should not put any space after the < or before the > HTML tags.

  • Avoid ‘big news’ articles that most people will likely have seen elsewhere.
  • Articles that fit under the topic of a recently posted thread should be put there.
  • Post less than a third of the original article.

Posts of articles that do not follow these guidelines are susceptible to being edited or deleted.

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This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, June 13th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

132 Responses to “Selected News For Jun 13 – Jun 19”

  1. tranquil.night
    June 13, 2009 at 12:17 am

    It’s Time for a New National Anthem

    an op-ed that is so bad it has to be called out, from an always hip and in-touch Michael Kinsley and the Washington Post:

    In the Age of Karaoke, more people (including me) like to join in the singing when they strike up the national anthem at public occasions. No one can stop you, no matter how embarrassed she might be by your obvious lack of talent. It’s always disappointing when you’re invited to stand and enjoy some high school glee club or famous opera singer. But chances are that even the opera singer won’t get it right.

    “The Star-Spangled Banner” is notoriously unsingable. A professor of music, Caldwell Titcomb of Brandeis, pointed out years ago in the New Republic that its melody spans nearly two octaves, when most people are good for one octave, max. The first eight lines are one enormous sentence with subordinate clauses, leaving no really good place to take a breath. There are far too many mandatory leaps off the high board (”. . . what so PROU-dly we hail . . .”).

    The melody is lifted from an old English drinking song. The lyrics are all about bombs and war and bloodshed — and not in a good way.

    I’m sorry, I must intervene. When, pray-tell, is war and bloodshed ever a good thing?

    By the penultimate verse, the song has turned really nasty: “No refuge could save the hireling and slave/From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.” In the first verse — the one we generally sing — there is only one reference to any value commonly associated with America: “land of the free.” By contrast, “home of the brave” is empty bravado. There is nothing in the American myth (let alone reality) to suggest that we are braver than anyone else.

    No, “The Star-Spangled Banner” has got to go. The only question is, What should replace it? Here we have an embarrassment of riches. Let’s review some of the candidates.
    ad_icon

    The unimaginative, easy choice would be “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” a.k.a. “America” — as if applying for the job, since the word “America” isn’t even in it. Case for: The melody is simple, familiar and easy to sing, with a range of less than an octave. The lyrics express American sentiments, by and large, though with no particular flair. Case against: The tune is a rip-off of “God Save the Queen,” and as insipid as the lyrics to boot.

    “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” has a range of one octave exactly, and beautiful, inspiring lyrics. A bit martial, of course, but in reference to our nation’s greatest cause rather than mindless nonsense about rockets and bombs. A bit religious, too, but probably not unconstitutionally so if “one nation, under God,” passes muster in the Pledge of Allegiance. Written by Julia Ward Howe during the Civil War to supply something more wholesome for Union soldiers to sing to the tune of “John Brown’s body lies a-moulderin’ in the grave,” it is already used sometimes at liberal occasions as a substitute for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Even at this late date some Southerners might object. But hey — who won the war?

    The best of the conventional choices would be “America the Beautiful.” Its range is an octave plus one note, with a couple of tricky leaps (”Uh-MARE-i-cah, America”). But the tune is lovely, and the lyrics are eloquent and almost eerily appropriate in their humility. (”Confirm thy soul in self-control/Thy liberty in law.”)

    What about Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”? The lyrics are more enthusiastic than eloquent. There is nothing so wonderful about our oceans being “white with foam.” But it’s a tuneful tune, not only easy to remember but hard to get out of your head. It might seem tough to argue that “God Bless America” is not a religious sentiment, potentially violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment. But the song is so jolly and un-hymn-like that I am confident some professors at our finer law schools could make the case. (You see? That tune just fills you with American optimism and energy.) As this column has pointed out, in our political culture the phrase “God bless America” has come to mean little more than “I’m through with my speech. See you later.”

    Woody Guthrie wrote “This Land Is Your Land” out of annoyance at the popularity of “God Bless America.” The melody has a range of just seven notes, which is hard to beat. The lyrics can be treated as either a generalized appreciation of the American landscape or a more pointed political claim for equality (”This land was made for you and me”). There’s no question which one Guthrie had in mind. He was a communist fellow-traveler. But the song has been absorbed into our culture and is loved even by Republicans who have no idea about its origins.

    How about Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”? A bit dark for a national anthem, I suppose. The Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” (turned by Aaron Copland into a theme in “Appalachian Spring”)? Have I left out your favorite? Nominations are welcome. Anything would be better than those “bombs bursting in air.”

    Just such a great display of the every-day thoughts and workings of your average liberal madman. It’s like reading a teenager’s journal.

    What does the song matter if it’s only sounds and words? I’m just surprised that the obvious choice for him here wasn’t something like “Obama Blessed America”

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 13, 2009 at 8:34 am

      Sounds like he would prefer “Wasting Away Again In Margueritaville”

      “embarrassment of riches”? S’cuse me? I worked for what little I have and not one thing is new.

      Why do liberals always think they speak for the masses? I guess it’s because so many are self-chosen uneducated losers at the bottom of the pay scale.

    • U NO HOO
      June 13, 2009 at 11:28 am

      How about Garrison Keillor’s “Bee Bop A Ree Bop Rhubarb Pie”?

      But one little thing can revive a guy,
      And that is home-made rhubarb pie.
      Serve it up, nice and hot.
      Maybe things aren’t as bad as you thought.

      DUET:
      Mama’s little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
      Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.
      Mama’s little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb,
      Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie.

    • Petronius
      June 13, 2009 at 12:15 pm

      Believe ol’ Petronius will go with Waylon Jennings and “I am a Rebel Soldier.” Yep, I got my anthem.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related

      Or, for you purists out there, how about “Dixie” (battle lyrics)?

      http://www.37thtexas.org/html/DixieLyr.html

    • katmeredith
      June 13, 2009 at 2:58 pm

      He could’ve at least researched the origins of ‘bombs bursting in air’ before he criticized it! The only piece of history anyone bothers to learn about the War of 1812 is that Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner after the siege of Boston. If we get rid of the Star Spangled Banner, no one will bother to learn even that much, although apparently this guy didn’t bother to begin with. Key wrote a poem and Americans voluntarily chose a melody for it and it became a popular song. It was a very democratic process! And the words all have a very patriotic meaning if you bother to pay attention. God save us from the idiots who don’t study history.

    • Barbie
      June 13, 2009 at 3:07 pm

      It’s obvious the libs have already changed the national anthem to their favorite – God d*mn America. They sing it all the time.

    • VMAN
      June 13, 2009 at 6:40 pm

      “But the song has been absorbed into our culture and is loved even by Republicans who have no idea about its origins.” What a condescending twit. Anyone who doesn’t know Guthrie was a Commie bastard must have had their head in the sand. I have a suggestion for an anthem . I don’t have a melody but here are some lyrics I’m kicking around. The United States Of America is the greatest country on the face of the earth. It’s better than all of your piece of crap countries and if you don’t like that stick in your ear. If you live here and don’t think it’s the greatest pack you bags and move to one of those other piece of crap countries. If anyone has a melody suggestion please feel free to post it.

    • Celina
      June 15, 2009 at 10:04 pm

      I am a little surprised the libs haven’t suggested the theme song from Team America: World Police. What could possibly be wrong with that? It’s got the f-word at least a dozen times in it. /sarc

    • Flession
      June 16, 2009 at 5:01 am

      I honestly think America needs to be inspired by “Hope” and “Change” and take that kind of mentality and work with it, so sing along folks!

      Although, to be honest, I hate the G note in our anthem (For the laanndd of the FRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE)
      In fact, yea, I’m on the writer’s side, mostly…I think we are a artistic country and we can do better. Hell, as a song in general, I prefer the USSR anthem over ours. It’s a beautiful and powerful song!
      …granted, it’s all about supporting the Mother Land and how the workers uniting and everything. I dunno, we just need to get some great musicians (NOT Pop Artists and that sort of lot) together and at LEAST change the damn G note!

  2. canary
    June 13, 2009 at 7:11 am

    More findings by OIG Walpin, and Michelle Obama’s possible connection in firing of head chief OIG Walpin over Corportion for National & Community Service (CNCS), and appointing new CEO when it’s Senate’s duty. Recall Michelle Obama’s recent re-locating her WH personal friend and assistant Jackie Norris over to act as Sr. Adivisor over the very CNCS that the fired OIG is over.

    Also, it appears that the CNCS National Council La Raza, which Sonia Sotomayor has strong tie with, may also be under investigation by the same OIG. And it appears mishandling and corruption in funding the RFCUNY items below. And of course there’s ACORN.

    Also, I have been trying to understand the new volunteer program that children on up, get points for volunteer work that add up to recieving little pins (like the girl or boy scouts) but, inspite of their slow building site, I can not find information as to what type of community service must be done, and how it will tracked. But, I think we all know. Also, doesn’t seem to be anything legal binding that community volunteers are garanteed payment towards college, but just a part of Obama’s army.
    Here is the site for the OIG CNCS that Walpin overseers for keeping up with all these programs, audits and reports. But, this may change without an independent OIG over all these orgs. It’s not just Johnsons’s St. HOPE. and La RAZA.

    OIG CNCS audit reports for keeping up with Obama’s federal aids programs.
    http://www.cncsig.gov/AuditReports.html

    Links to more of info below
    http://michellemalkin.com/2009.....-meddling/

    BudSimmons: Obama’s Americorps scandal — and the First Lady’s meddling
    June 12, 2009 —
    Corporation for National Community Service. The corporation runs the AmeriCorps program.

    …Funding for the largest AmeriCorps program – the Teaching Fellows Program, run by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York – is in abeyance pending resolution of widespread problems identified in a recent audit. Although Walpin recommended that funding be curtailed and that previous funds (perhaps as much as $75 million) be repaid to the corporation….

    1. RFCUNY drew down more funds than it was due.
    2. RFCUNY did not follow certain AmeriCorps Provisions.
    3. The supervisory signature on members’ timesheets was not the members’ supervisor, or that of someone with direct knowledge of hours served by the members.
    4. Members did not always record actual service hours on their timesheets.
    5. Some members’ timesheet hours were not accurately recorded in the Corporation’s Web-Based Reporting System.
    6. RFCUNY did not require its members to timely submit their member contracts, forms, and timesheets.
    7. RFCUNY used preprinted member documentation and did not ensure that all member documentation was completed, signed, and dated.
    8. RFCUNY did not maintain documentation to demonstrate that each member’s evaluation complied with AmeriCorps Regulations and the Member Agreement.
    9. RFCUNY did not maintain documentation to demonstrate that members received criminal background checks and that any background checks conducted complied with AmeriCorps Provisions.
    10. RFCUNY entered incorrect member start dates in Corporation systems and in member contracts.
    11. Some members worked beyond their contract-end date.

    Another recent IG report on Americorps waste by open-borders lobbying group, La Raza (”The Race”) spotlighted its failure to complete background checks and institute secure financial controls. And on and on and on.

    Observers believe Norris, whom Obama came to know early in the Iowa caucus campaign, was forced out of the White House so that long-time Obama friend Susan Sher could take over. But those same observers see her appointment as senior adviser to the corporation as an overall win for CNCS, believing that Norris still will have a straight line to the White House.

    CNCS remains without a CEO after the withdrawal last month of Nike vice president Maria Eitel, even before her nomination went to the Senate. Although the corporation’s CEO must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, Michelle Obama reportedly has taken the lead in selecting the nominee.

    … the AmeriCorps inspector general discovered that “not only was AHC created by ACORN, engaged in numerous transactions with one another, and sharing staff and office space — but it utilized the AmeriCorps grant to increase ACORN membership, a violation of federal guidelines.” (ACORN charges membership dues, much as labor unions do; thus, by exploiting AmeriCorps funding to inflate its membership rolls, ACORN used government resources to bring in even more money — money with no restrictions on its political use.)

    And another relevant flashback on Michelle Obama’s interest in government-directed “service,” via IBD last fall:

    Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, “Universal Voluntary Public Service.”

    http://bsimmons.wordpress.com/.....-meddling/

  3. caligirl9
    June 13, 2009 at 11:28 am

    Surprise! Don’t go looking for any of those stimulus jobs … from the SF Chron, the writer Kathleen Pender seems surprised to learn what she’s learned.

    Jobs from the stimulus hard to find

    On Monday, President Obama announced that the $787 billion stimulus act had created or saved 150,000 jobs in its first 100 days and will create or save 600,000 more in the next 100 days.

    Good luck finding them.

    Charlotte Tomic of Miami Beach has been searching in vain for opportunities created by the stimulus act and other federal spending.

    “Is there any work for freelance communicators or marketing professionals? Or is it only for banks or car companies?” she asks. “You would think this would create a lot of government positions, but you don’t know where to look for them. It’s all talk…”

    The White House Web site, http://www.recovery.gov, is full of information on projects around the country receiving federal stimulus funds…

    From this site, you can jump to a site that lists federal jobs available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the official name of the stimulus act).

    On Wednesday, this site listed a grand total of 84 job openings nationwide. Most of them are temporary…

    A summer jobs program is gearing up to hire 125,000 disadvantaged youth, mostly at minimum wage.

    To qualify, applicants must be 14 to 24, living at or below the poverty line and have at least one factor that puts them at risk – such as being pregnant or a parent, a school dropout, a runaway or foster child, an offender or having a physical or learning disability…

    Except for these two examples, it’s hard to find jobs that are being specifically created by the stimulus act.

    The 750,000 jobs Obama spoke of on Monday are derived from the White House’s original estimate that $787 billion in federal spending and tax cuts would increase employment by roughly 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010.

    To date, about 5 percent of stimulus funds have been spent, so it’s reasonable to assume that 150,000 jobs have been created or saved…

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....;type=jobs

    So, how shocked, shocked are you all by this news!

    • proreason
      June 13, 2009 at 12:29 pm

      Sounds to me like Ms Pender will be needing a new job herself soon.

      And what is this? “being pregnant or a parent, a school dropout, a runaway or foster child, an offender or having a physical or learning disability”

      Well you might be able to make a case for the disability requirement, but for the rest of it, the days of law-abiding families seem to have gone the way of all things Republican.

      The path to getting a job now is to be a pregnant runaway drug offender. I’m cetrtainly going to enjoy the free health care I get from them.

    • tranquil.night
      June 13, 2009 at 2:23 pm

      I’m tired and cranky because I’m working two retail jobs (that I’m kissing my boss’ rear to hold onto for dear life) to get myself through school, for which I’m probably going to be losing most of my financial aid next semester because my parents who I asked not to support me make too much money. My state is weeks away from being out of money (again), my president is running around apologizing to the world for the very fundamentals that have given me the strength to make it this far, and he’s telling my peers to give up personal ambition to “help people.”

      But you know what, I’ll die before I let myself feel like a victim, even to this administration. I’ll die before I let one backwards move this false prophet makes affect my disposition or my personal happiness. To free oneself from the chains of the mental and psychological tyranny of others is to discover the true beauty and inspiration in freedom. If only it were so easy as to say one must look at challenges as opportunities rather than problems, it isn’t. It’s something that has to be discovered on one’s own, and doing so is nothing short of discovering the presence of God’s will at work. Because if you find that right answer, you are liberated, there’s no other way to describe it.

      Everything this man does is designed to inhibit that liberation – it’s the exact opposite. It’s designed to control.

    • proreason
      June 13, 2009 at 2:40 pm

      “I’ll die before I let myself feel like a victim”

      That’s a genuinely inspiring thing to say, particularly for a young person.

      And I think you are also exactly correct in saying that all of the actions we see from the Moron’s cabal are designed to control people. They want everyone to be dependent on government….and it’s purely to retain and expand their own power.

      I meet a lot of people who seem to want to be victims and it’s really pretty sad. From a personal perspective, the happiest times of my life have been when I felt I had the most options and the most control. And the unhappiest times have been when I felt that my options were limited. So my opinion is that happiness is more directly related to one’s ability to be independent and self-sufficient than it is to material well-being.

      Keep fighting tn, and keep your confidence in yourself. Someone like yourself is more valuable to society than you know. And also remember there are a lot of things they can’t take away from you.

    • tranquil.night
      June 13, 2009 at 3:11 pm

      Thank you, PR, for the very kind words. I am humbled and honored.

      It is easy and seductive to be a victim. It’s as Rush says, Liberalism is easy, and we know – like it or not – a lot of people don’t see the inherent problem with life being easy. And that’s beautiful to me because it probably means they haven’t seen much of the true face of pain and evil, which says that their parents gave them a life and a world where they didn’t have to see them. That’s the goal of the American dream.

      I won’t get into Liberal psychology except to say that most conservatives realize that most democrats have a misplaced sense of empathy and more simplistic way of viewing complex issues and that it’s conservatives who are typically the ones that are trying to find common ground because we have empathy too. We’re the one’s that try to reach out and try to make bipartisan solutions to otherwise democratic issues while at the same time teach the democrats why certain bounds must be respected: e.g. No Child Left Behind and the (successful) voucher system that was pulled.

      The truth is I think the internet and the New Media have marked the end of the reign of the liberal elite in all facets of life, and that’s just too much for the likes of Soros to handle. It’s one of the reasons why I’m so glad to be home here at S&L, since I know forums of intellectualism like this were rarely found outside the likes of secret societies in the old days. I think we’re approaching the pinnacle of free speech, everything Thomas Jefferson hoped for when he wrote the Declaration. I think this has the power to reach people worldwide. I think Liberals knows this, and I believe that’s why they’ve made 2008 to the popularly apocalyptic 2012 their time to march or die.

      A lot of thoughts, which I know are echoed around the halls of this site. It’s just funny to watch, with more and more articles like the one caligirl posted here, because even though it’s all so backwards right now I truly and honestly believe we’ve already won.

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 13, 2009 at 3:25 pm

      I am shocked that anyone is shocked at this point.

      Also, I am still shocked that liberals back in January thought the huge stimulus was a good idea. Many libs I know who are very bright simply wouldn’t discuss the bill logically, and even when I told them it would haunt them, they scoffed. I can’t figure out why they didn’t expect this — and worse — to result from such an ill-advised bill.

    • caligirl9
      June 14, 2009 at 3:56 pm

      More on “where’s the stimulus money?” from the LA Times.
      Where’s the money? Looks like typical pork spending to me. It’s all about who you know…

      Some projects raise question: Where’s the stimulus?

      It is a six-mile stretch of guardrail near a manufactured lake in a desolate patch of the Oklahoma Panhandle. There’s little reason for anyone to visit. Weeds are overgrown; the lake bed is virtually dry.

      Yet repairing the guardrail is on a list of projects developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to tap into President Obama’s $787-billion economic stimulus program.

      The price tag: more than $1.1 million.

      As Obama moves to accelerate the flow of federal stimulus funds, public officials are voicing concerns that some of the projects being devised are of dubious merit.

      Obama spoke of the stimulus as a mechanism to create jobs, drop money into a struggling economy and reposition the U.S. as a more energy-efficient nation. So far, those goals are proving difficult to meet…

      Obama billed the program not only as a vehicle for new jobs but as seed money for a kind of top-to-bottom transformation. Part of the payoff would be a long-term dividend of new renewable energy sources feeding into “smart” grids that reduce utility costs and rid the atmosphere of dangerous greenhouse gases…

      … Local governments have their own ideas on how it should be spent. And some are making choices that may be at odds with Obama’s vision.

      In Minneapolis, the City Council voted recently to spend $2 million in stimulus funds on a vacant 99-year-old theater that developers want to convert into a center for dance. The project would create about 48 permanent jobs, city documents indicate.

      In the competition for the limited stimulus money, the council awarded less than $300,000 to a company that wants to open a solar-energy-panel manufacturing plant that would create 360 jobs by 2011, according to city records.

      … Federal guidelines say that stimulus money may not go toward “recreational facilities that serve a predominantly higher-income clientele.”

      … Communities get stimulus money largely through automatic formulas, which include such factors as population, or in some cases competitive grants. The federal government reviews applications. Certain projects are banned, including swimming pools, golf courses, zoos, aquariums and casinos.

      … A Rasmussen poll last week showed that only 39% believed that stimulus spending would help the economy, compared with 44% who said it wouldn’t.

      The poll also showed that 45% of respondents believed the stimulus program should be canceled, compared with 36% who wanted to keep it going.

      http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....full.story

      Again, I’m shocked! (not!!!!!)by this display of government waste!

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 14, 2009 at 4:45 pm

      “As Obama moves to accelerate the flow of federal stimulus funds, public officials are voicing concerns that some of the projects being devised are of dubious merit.”

      “Dubious merit” Never saw that coming, in spite of the loud, blaring horn and flashing lights with smoke-trail. Boy Howdy, did that make me fall out. I am still laughing.

      “Obama spoke of the stimulus as a mechanism to create jobs, drop money into a struggling economy and reposition the U.S. as a more energy-efficient nation. So far, those goals are proving difficult to meet…”

      …From the Department of “D’OH!”

      “Obama billed the program not only as a vehicle for new jobs but as seed money for a kind of top-to-bottom transformation. Part of the payoff would be a long-term dividend of new renewable energy sources feeding into “smart” grids that reduce utility costs and rid the atmosphere of dangerous greenhouse gases…”

      Ah, you have to edit to find the key words: Seed Money, Payoff, Dividend. Seed money for pet projects by his supporters, Payoffs for same and dividends at tax time.

      “… Local governments have their own ideas on how it should be spent. And some are making choices that may be at odds with Obama’s vision.”

      Say it ain’t so!

      In Minneapolis, the City Council voted recently to spend $2 million in stimulus funds on a vacant 99-year-old theater that developers want to convert into a center for dance. The project would create about 48 permanent jobs, city documents indicate.

      48 jobs, WOAH….you’d best slow down thar. Shoot. That’s a lot of jobs to fill. After all, 48 is larger than 10 percent national unemployment, right? And who doesn’t like “dance”?

      “In the competition for the limited stimulus money, the council awarded less than $300,000 to a company that wants to open a solar-energy-panel manufacturing plant that would create 360 jobs by 2011, according to city records.”

      And if you give me money like that I will promise that we COULD have a manned mission to the moons of Saturn by 2009. Imagine how many jobs that WOULD create.

      “… Federal guidelines say that stimulus money may not go toward “recreational facilities that serve a predominantly higher-income clientele.” ”

      Dang, there goes my combination golf course/yacht club/RC model airplane field idea. (complete with barbecue)

      ” Certain projects are banned, including swimming pools, golf courses, zoos, aquariums and casinos.”

      …..and my casino idea. How’s a dude supposed to make any money?

      “… A Rasmussen poll last week showed that only 39% believed that stimulus spending would help the economy, compared with 44% who said it wouldn’t.”

      Well, this household poll shows me 100% that says it won’t. My dog, well, he’s a democrat but we get along ok.

      “The poll also showed that 45% of respondents believed the stimulus program should be canceled, compared with 36% who wanted to keep it going.”

      I love polls, but somehow they never ax me anything. Dat Obamma’s da shizzle knowumsayin? He be all dat AN a bag o’ chips. Brutha be all up in it.

    • caligirl9
      June 14, 2009 at 5:04 pm

      I thought you’d enjoy that one. I had to read it twice and pinch myself to make sure I was awake.

      What I took away from this story is … baby steps. The author didn’t do the usual media-type kool aid drinking messiah-loving “but it’s all okay because TOTUS says so!” kind of thing.

      And reporting somewhat negative results regarding one of TOTUS’ “programs” is a step in the right direction, even as tiny as that step may be.

      My Republican housecats do agree with your poll, Rusty. You need to have a talk with your democrat dog. Perhaps he’s just resisting coming over to the right side?

    • canary
      June 15, 2009 at 8:23 pm

      tranquil, I had to do those papers for my oldest son, to show I couldn’t afford his college, really stressed me off, ever giving my SSN to anyone. My daughter didn’t even ask me, she just wrote her parents would not help her and she had no problem.

    • jobeth
      June 17, 2009 at 2:24 pm

      tranquil.night…You hang in there. I had a really tough time in my younger years getting my education,working full time and raising children at the same time all without help from a deadbeat father…but I won’t bore you with my bad choices. The choices were MY fault not society’s. I had to dig myself out of my own bad choices. And like you I refused to be a victim…of myself or of society. I was in control…just like I see in you.

      The point is…preservere. It will happen. Its up to you. Sometimes its really tough, but you know what? You can hold your head up high and know that you beat the naysayers all over the place. And you know it was YOUR hard work that got you where you are going and not Obama and/or his “plans” or “hope”.

      If I had had a dollar for everytime someone told me to go on welfare, I could have lived off that alone! LOL Ignore them and continue on. You are a great American and we need more like you.

    • texaspsue
      June 17, 2009 at 2:40 pm

      “tranquil.night…You hang in there”

      I agree with jobeth. I followed the same path. It’s tough to work your way through College but, when all is said and done you will be a stronger person for it.

  4. U NO HOO
    June 13, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    http://www.usajobs.gov/

    “There are 47,045 U.S. Government job opportunities worldwide”

  5. MinnesotaRush
    June 13, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    o-blah-blah: “Errrrrrrrr .. blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Uhhhhhh .. blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Ahhhhh .. 60 katrillion blah blah blah blah blah. Annnnnd 115 trillion dollars will blah blah blah blah blah blah.”

    • proreason
      June 13, 2009 at 2:07 pm

      lol

    • JohnMG
      June 13, 2009 at 3:45 pm

      ….”o-blah-blah: “Errrrrrrrr .. blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Uhhhhhh .. blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Ahhhhh .. 60 katrillion blah blah blah blah blah. Annnnnd 115 trillion dollars will blah blah blah blah blah blah jobs created or saved.”

  6. 12 Gauge Rage
    June 13, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    Government jobs aren’t so secure either. Because if they were we wouldn’t see the Post Office laying off it’s workers. Like so many other government jobs, somebody in the private sector ( UPS, Fed Ex, etc.) found a way to do it better, make a handsome profit, and actually care about their customers.

    • tranquil.night
      June 13, 2009 at 4:17 pm

      Great point, and those companies need to be regulated into oblivion too because they made their money on the backs of others. In fact, email should be a privilege accessible only in the most emergency of circumstances and all the politique. Handwritten mail is more much elegant and morally superior, it’d free our networks of all those terabytes in spam email, and most importantly – it’d save American jobs.

    • jobeth
      June 17, 2009 at 3:38 pm

      Yep…Government jobs are supposed to be fireproof. Jobs for life. Can’t fire anyone, fat bennies for all…thereby becoming ‘obese”.

      Look what’s happening under Dear Leader. Even the untouchables are ‘touchable” now! Maybe now we can get rid of some of that deadwood…of course most will be “of color” and we will pick up their upkeep somewhere else…ie unemployment, welfare etc. Except then they won’t be working…

      You know only the government can say…we are losing money to email and private companies so we have to RAISE your prices for stamps and curtail services. ????? Now why in the world are they having problems? ummm let me think

      What would happen if a private company took that line?

      Speaking of Fed Ex and UPS…Do some checking up on these two. One is sucking up to Obalmy and one is being “penalized” for not sucking up. I won’t use UPS any more.

  7. 12 Gauge Rage
    June 13, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    Government run enterprises will always put out a shoddy product compared to the private sector. When I was in the military I can’t begin to recall how many times I’d see a fellow service member do a half hearted job and finish it off with the words, ‘that’s good enough for government work.’ Most of these comments came from the higher level supervisors who were supposed to be setting the example. We had a word for such individuals: R.O.A.D. Retired On Active Duty, because like most government workers who’ve been in the system for too long, they just didn’t give a d*mn anymore.

  8. canary
    June 13, 2009 at 11:18 pm

    FoxNews.com: Detainees Freed in Bermuda Say China Worse Than Gitmo

    FOX News spotted the newly freed detainees at a guest cottage complex on the island without security or electronic monitoring, but their attorney said they will have to periodically check in with local police June 13 2009

    The four of the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, released to Bermuda from the Guantanamo Bay prison told FOX News that they are innocent, glad to be free and hold no grudges against the United States for their captivity.

    The men, who range from 31 to 38 years old, also said they think life in China, where they face persecution, is worse than life at Guantanamo.

    With the help of a translator, they said they didn’t know anything about Al Qaeda or Usama bin Laden, despite past allegations that they had aided the terror mastermind’s escape.

    The Uighurs will be eligible for Bermudian passports in the future, but the U.S. has a mechanism in place to block their entry into the U.S. unless the federal government chooses to let them in.

    Their attorney says the Uighurs are determined to stay in Bermuda as part of a guest worker program. There is a provision in that program that in limited circumstances allows guest workers to get Bermudian citizenship.

    However, the transfer of the Uighurs has been criticized not only by U.S. Republican lawmakers but by the governments of the United Kingdom, which controls the territory of Bermuda, and China, which wants the Uighurs returned.

    The Uighurs told FOX News that they plan to make their home in Bermuda, probably working first in some form of manual labor. They also may open a restaurant and look forward to swimming and fishing.

    FOX News’ Catherine Herridge contributed to this report.
    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....-security/

  9. canary
    June 14, 2009 at 12:01 am

    AP: Election battles turn into street fights in Iran
    By Associated Press Writers Anna Johnson And Brian Murphy June 13 2009

    TEHRAN, Iran – Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad clashed with police in the heart of Iran’s capital Saturday, pelting them with rocks and setting fires in the worst unrest in Tehran in a decade. They accused the hard-line president of using fraud to steal election victory from his reformist rival.

    Authorities, too, pushed back with ominous measures apparently seeking to undercut liberal voices: jamming text messages, blocking pro-Mousavi Web sites and Facebook and cutting off mobile phones in Tehran.

    Police stormed the headquarters of Iran’s largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, and arrested several top reformist leaders, said political activists close to the party.

    “I won’t surrender to this manipulation,” said a statement on Mousavi’s Web site.

    The door for possible compromise was closed by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. … in a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a “divine assessment.”

    The U.S. refused to accept Ahmadinejad’s claim of a landslide re-election victory said it was looking into allegations of election fraud.

    U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she hoped the outcome reflects the “genuine will and desire” of Iranian voters.

    Authorities also called foreign journalists with visas to cover the elections, including members of The Associated Press, and told them they should prepare to leave the country. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in the clashes in front Mousavi’s headquarters. Their Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman’s tapes, the station said.

    Oddly, normal life was interspersed with the anger. People continued shopping and stores remained open.

    With the Internet and mobile texting down, some Iranians turned to Twitter to voice their views.

    Brian Murphy reported from Cairo.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....n_election

    • canary
      June 14, 2009 at 12:08 am

      The cutting off of phones and communications reminds me of the possibilty of such dictatorship being done in our own country, when the Obama army is trying to enact the fairness doctrine.

      What also amazes me is the U.S. getting involved in Iran’s issue of possible election fraud, when the U.S. Obamies aren’t doing a darn thing about the voter fraud in the U.S. such as our overseas military, and Democrat cheaters.

  10. Petronius
    June 14, 2009 at 1:39 am

    Wall Street Journal

    BB&T Chair Blasts TARP as ‘Huge Rip-Off’
    12 June 2009
    By JUDITH BURNS

    WASHINGTON — Healthy U.S. banks were strong-armed into participating in a $700 billion federal bailout of ailing financial firms, BB&T Corp. Chairman John Allison said in a speech late Thursday to the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

    BB&T is one of 10 banks poised to return funds received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, a gesture that produced a standing ovation for Allison from the libertarian audience.

    “It was a huge rip-off for us,” said Mr. Allison. He complained that the Winston-Salem bank was paying 9% on federal borrowing “we didn’t want in the first place.” . . .

    . . . Regulators didn’t want weak banks to fail and forced healthy firms to take part in the bailout program as well, an approach he said is at odds with “the American sense of life,” he said.

    Federal policies to expand home ownership to high-risk borrowers, including through government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and inadequate oversight by bank regulators also contributed to the financial debacle, Allison added.

    He rejected the notion that deregulation was a factor, and said that in his view, U.S. financial firms have been “misregulated,” not deregulated. . . .

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....lenews_wsj

    With this speech Allison––a disciple of Ayn Rand––established himself as an important advocate for American free enterprise.

    Allison named Barney Frank and the idea of a “right” to housing as responsible for the mortgage meltdown. He warned that the idea of a “right” to medical care will repeat the same mistake.

    Allison called for a return to the old America where people have a right to the products of their own labor, and blamed the current economic mess on the attitude that “allows people to vote themselves a free lunch.”

    Allison said it will be difficult to recover from the political assault on American free enterprise, “but the fight is not over.” He predicted US bankruptcy within 25 years unless Government spending and borrowing is reined in.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 14, 2009 at 9:12 am

      Allison named Barney Frank and the idea of a “right” to housing as responsible for the mortgage meltdown.

      Give that man a cee-gar!

      This should be shouted from the rooftops but alack, alas, the MSM will scoff and fart about it.

    • proreason
      June 17, 2009 at 3:47 pm

      just noticed this Petro.

      Great article. Thanks for posting.

    • neocon mom
      June 19, 2009 at 1:17 am

      News about bankers commenting about what TARP really entails are definitely in the running for title of “most under-reported by the mainstream media”. The enormity and outrageousness of TARP seem to be in direct proportion to how ignored it is by the MSM.

      Sometimes I wonder though, if it’s just that those pseudojournalist hacks just don’t have the intellectual capacity to write a story about what is really going on. A subject like finance is more concrete than the humanities-heavy curricula favored by most of them, and maybe they are just too far out of their comfort zone with stories about finance and the economy.

  11. canary
    June 14, 2009 at 5:53 am

    AP: Blago guest stars in ‘Rod Blagojevich Superstar’
    Associated Press Writer Rupa Shenoy Sun Jun 14, 2009

    CHICAGO – Standing on a chair with his arms raised as if he were being crucified, ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich opened a comedy show Saturday

    Blagojevich,.. made… appearance on The Second City’s “Rod Blagojevich Superstar.”.. a takeoff of the rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,”..

    A full house cheered as Blagojevich…, appeared on stage.

    “Where were you when I was impeached?” he asked the audience.

    Blagojevich is accused of scheming to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat and using the muscle of the governor’s office to get campaign donations.

    …the …show — …includes an actor portraying U.S. Sen. Roland Burris —

    Blagojevich,..worked in an endorsement of his wife, Patti, a contestant on NBC’s reality show “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!”
    He asked people to vote for her to remain on the show, which asks viewers to decide which quasi-celebrity should leave a Costa Rican jungle.

    NBC had wanted the former governor on the show. But U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel, who is presiding over Blagojevich’s corruption case, refused to let him leave the country, so his wife joined the cast instead.

    “In the tradition of Chicago politics, you can vote ten times,” Blagojevich joked. “Vote early and often.”

    In the show, Patti Blagojevich was portrayed as cutthroat and foul-mouthed. One of the songs was an expletive-laden version of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”

    A grinning Blagojevich had two words. “It’s b——-,” he said.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....9ndWVzdHN0

  12. BillK
    June 14, 2009 at 6:34 am

    How will the Chosen One reduce health care costs?

    By having Medicare pay hospitals even less than the token amounts they already do.

    From the Wall Street Journal:

    Obama Outlines $313 Billion in New Health Cost Cuts

    By Laura Meckler

    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama outlined another $313 billion in cuts to government health care spending over 10 years, largely impacting hospitals, as he hunts additional dollars to pay for expanded coverage for the uninsured.

    Some major health industry groups swiftly criticized the proposal in one of the clearest signs yet that the industry is bristling at White House plans to overhaul the nation’s health system.

    Together with proposals announced earlier, the White House has now proposed nearly $950 billion over a decade in spending cuts and tax increases dedicated to health care expansion. That’s close to the $1 trillion or more that experts believe will be needed for the effort.

    “Any honest accounting must prepare for the fact that health care reform will require additional costs in the short term in order to reduce spending in the long-term,” Mr. Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio address. The additional savings, he said, “will rein in unnecessary spending, and increase efficiency and the quality of care.”

    “These savings will come from commonsense changes,” the president added.

    The new proposals would decrease payments to hospitals and others that provide Medicare services in a variety of ways.

    The effort to put additional cuts on the table could give some political cover to members of Congress looking for ways to pay for the giant health care legislation.

    “We are disappointed to see cuts of this magnitude to hospitals, especially in these tough economic times,” said Alicia Mitchell, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, the industry’s main trade group. The proposed cuts would hurt hospitals that provide intensive, pediatric and trauma care for recipients of Medicare and Medicaid, she said.

    The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents pharmacy benefits managers, responded to the White House proposal by saying “there are several policies that can accomplish this without restricting access to medications or shifting costs onto those who already enjoy drug benefits in private sector plan.”

    The White House suggests the government save $110 billion over 10 years by increasing payments more slowly to hospitals, device manufacturers and others who provide services to Medicare patients. The change would come by adjusting the payment formula to take into account increases in productivity.

    In addition, the president is proposing to reduce subsidies for hospitals that care for the uninsured as the number of uninsured falls. That would generate $106 billion over a decade, the White House said. Payments would be slowed beginning in 2013. By 2019, payments would be 25% of what hospitals had received in 2013, updated for inflation.

    “If more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance,” the president said. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....11927.html

    If you don’t recognize the code words, the way Medicare currently works is that the Government pays a hospital say $100 for an MRI, even if their costs for the procedure are $200.

    Who pays the difference? Why those of us with private health insurance.

    What Mr. Obama is proposing is to drop those payments further.

    It’s really genius.

    Mr. Obama’s plans, coupled with taxes on private health insurance, will make private health plans far too expensive for employers to offer anymore.

    This will force everyone in to the Government’s “public” plan.

    Obama achieves socialized medicine while being able to say he didn’t “force” anything on anyone – it was the greedy employers and private sector that forced people into the Government plan.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 14, 2009 at 9:03 am

      “Any honest accounting must prepare for the fact that health care reform will require additional costs in the short term in order to reduce spending in the long-term,”

      Well, aside from his use of the word “honest”……

      You know, this is so much more of the layered BS that comes with this guy. Arm-around-your-shoulder-knife-at-your-back behavior.

      “Sure, it’ll cost more, but think of the savings” Straight out of the used car sales manual.

      The mind boggles

      Here’s how he saves money, “Look, I just took this brand new twenty dollar bill, and took it from my LEFT pocket..where I keep the money I would use to buy cigarettes, and put it in my RIGHT pocket where I keep the money I use to buy Pepsi’s and stuff. Everyone KNOWS that Pepsi’s are cheaper than cigarettes so, I just saved a bundle. Any honest accounting will show that.”

  13. BillK
    June 14, 2009 at 6:43 am

    An OpEd in the Wall Street Journal warns of what’s coming from the White House on health care:

    Democrats and the Health Tax Taboo

    By Kimberley A. Strassel

    To understand why Sen. Max Baucus has taken so long to release his health-care reform, tune in to Oregon radio. That’s where Mr. Baucus’s fellow Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden, has been flayed by unions for his own reform proposals.

    “The last thing we need is to pay more,” moans a radio ad aired by three labor outfits, including the National Education Association. It excoriates Mr. Wyden for daring to fund his plan with what has become liberal taboo: taxes on existing health-care benefits.

    Mr. Baucus, the Finance Committee chairman who is helping lead the Obama health effort, is still deciding what to include in the bill. But his far bigger headache remains how to pay for this blowout. He and other Democrats have been inching toward the taboo benefits-tax, putting them on a collision course with liberal special interests like unions. Mr. Baucus’s newest solution? A union payoff. …

    The cost estimates for the Democrats’ health-care reform have by now hit $1.5 trillion over a decade. Goodness knows the architects of this beast — which they hope will include a new “public option” health entitlement — have been creative in dreaming up ways to pay for it. In recent months, the administration and Congress have floated ideas to limit tax deductions, penalize soda-pop drinking, tax alcohol, tax salty foods, further raise the price of cigarettes, tax specific companies, charge for carbon, cut Medicare payments, or even implement a national sales tax.

    In each case, Democrats have confronted the bitter reality that the proposed tax is too puny (Dr. Pepper tariffs), too doomed (cap-and-trade revenue), or too politically ugly (a sales tax). Contrast this with the tantalizing reality that requiring Americans to pay taxes on some part of the company health-care benefits they now receive for free could easily raise a half-trillion dollars over a decade. In a choice between a dozen niggling tax fights that could yield uncertain revenue, or a bigger fight over benefits taxes that could yield oodles, Mr. Baucus will take the oodles. …

    http://online.wsj.com/article/.....08203.html

    Now here’s where it gets good:

    The attack against Mr. Wyden was an early shot across the Baucus-Obama bow, and it resonated. Mr. Baucus officially floated his plans for a tax this week, only with a surprising twist: His levy will not apply to union plans, at least for the duration of existing contracts. In other words, Mr. Baucus intends to tax the health-care benefits only of those who didn’t spend a fortune electing Democrats to office. Sen. Ted Kennedy, who is circulating his own health-care reform, has also included provisions that will exempt unions from certain provisions.

    So what the Baucus proposal will effectively say is health care plans that cost more than a certain amount will be taxed by the Government… unless you belong to a Union.

    In a rational America, this would trigger a massive backlash in the streets.

    Instead, it is a payoff to Union leaders and will likely be cited as a way to get people to join Unions – you can see the campaigns now;

    Join the Union and get good health care, or stay independent and be forced into the Federal plan. Your choice.

    Either way, Obama wins.

    Really, this is far from wrong-headed.

    It’s pure genius and ensures changes in the country from which the Republicans will never recover.

    Social Security is a nit compared to any future effort to “reduce peoples’ access to health care.”

  14. proreason
    June 14, 2009 at 11:41 am

    American Thinker proves why the MSM is dead. Guess what? It turns out that Obamy’s grandparents went to a kook left-wing Unitarian school in Hawaii. He went to Sunday school there:

    Obama’s Other Controversial Church

    …As President Obama prepared to commemorate D-Day, the Associated Press dug up old details and photos to write a warm fuzzy story about the WW2 service record of Obama’s maternal grandfather and grand uncle. One could conclude that the actions of these two-nearly 20 years before Obama was born–are the closest Obama ever came to uniformed US military personnel prior to launching his political career.

    But Obama has a much closer military connection-one he has not talked about publicly. Had a reporter asked Obama: “So what were you doing during Bill Ayers’ fugitive days?” An honest answer would be: “I was going to Sunday school at a church which had provided sanctuary to US military deserters.”

    While John McCain was being tortured as a prisoner of war in Hanoi, First Unitarian Church of Honolulu — at which the elementary-age Obama would later attend Sunday school after returning from Indonesia in 1970 or 71 — was sheltering deserters and AWOLs …
    http://www.americanthinker.com.....l_chu.html

    Many more details in the article.

    Quite a shock to learn this now, isn’t it? I know I was certainly convinced that Obamy is steeped in conservative midwestern values. He’s a patriot, right?

    • Steve
      June 14, 2009 at 12:32 pm

      Naturally, Cindy Sheehan has spoken at this church at least once:

      Sheehan: “Put Troops On Iraq’s Borders” | Sweetness & Light
      http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....ith-troops

    • jobeth
      June 17, 2009 at 8:58 am

      Pro,,,don’t forget the Little red church on the hill in Seattle…smack dab in the middle of a conservative neighborhood during her high school days.

      Not to mention the “Anarchy Hall” in Ann’s HS with it’s two ultra leftist teachers. I understand she bit hook line and sinker….but then that’s an understatement.

      I was reading further down in the article and found this quote;

      “”I was not raised in a particularly religious household, as undoubtedly many in the audience were. My father, who returned to Kenya when I was just two, was born Muslim but as an adult became an atheist. My mother, whose parents were non-practicing Baptists and Methodists, was probably one of the most spiritual people and kindest people I’ve ever known, but grew up with a healthy skepticism of organized religion herself. As a consequence, so did I.””

      Guess he’s blaming mom now for his “skepticism”…or as you have suggested his atheism” Always someone else “made him do it” or is responsible for what he does. It’s never him. Never him making a decision on his own and accepting the consequences come what may…like the rest of us have to do.

  15. caligirl9
    June 14, 2009 at 3:05 pm

    Not a news item, but from an e-mail link I received from a very liberal (as left as you can get, La Raza fanatic):

    LaborFest 2009
    July 5 – July 31

    LaborFest 2009 Schedule is up

    This year is the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco General Strike and the West Coast maritime workers strike. The ‘34 strike and maritime strike was an important point in strengthening organized labor and bringing hundreds of thousands of workers into our unions. In commemoration of this significant historical anniversary for San Francisco and Northern California labor, LaborFest will be having many special events including an art exhibition, presentations, a labor jeopardy contest as well as a labor film festival that will include videos of the San Francisco general strike.

    There are also plans for a commemoration march and concert in San Francisco and educational conference.

    LaborFest this year will also be honoring the workers who made the strike, the role of the San Francisco Labor Council and the workers who have build the Bay Area including building the San Francisco Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and the newly constructed Al Zampa Bridge which is the first major bridge named after an iron worker. Labor faces great challenges today as it did 75 years ago and the need to learn about our history, and how we won victories in the past is vital for today.

    http://laborfest.net/index.html

    San Francisco is broke, laying off “government workers” and cutting “services.” There was an article about how many “public servants” in SF earn over $100K a year.
    That stupid city should not be celebrating “labor,” which of course means “unions.” There was a place for unions years ago, before there was so much government regulation “protecting” workers. Unions’ time has passed IMO…
    So how many of you all will be coming out for this “event?” Not me …

    • canary
      June 15, 2009 at 4:57 am

      dang. That’s more like a communist gathering than a union celebration. Wonder if Sodamayor is going. La Raza is corrupt.

    • jobeth
      June 18, 2009 at 1:52 pm

      What the heck is “a labor jeopardy contest “???

  16. Rusty Shackleford
    June 14, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    From FOX News

    ‘She’s With Me’: Obama Writes Girl Absence Note

    GREEN BAY, Wis. — Ten-year-old Kennedy Corpus has a rock-solid excuse for missing the last day of school: a personal note to her teacher from President Barack Obama.

    Her father, John Corpus of Green Bay, stood to ask Obama about health care during the president’s town hall-style meeting at Southwest High School on Thursday. He told Obama that his daughter was missing school to attend the event and that he hoped she didn’t get in trouble.

    “Do you need me to write a note?” Obama asked. The crowd laughed, but the president was serious.

    rest of story:
    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ence-note/

    Last day of school. Doubt any teacher would really notice.

    • JohnMG
      June 14, 2009 at 4:15 pm

      Anybody care to bet this was staged? “Mr president, I’d like to know why you’re having the government take over GM, and my young daughter here (isn’t she cute) just happens to be here with me as a requirement for her civics class, and is collecting data for her senior thesis on global warming and why America is a genuinely mean country that is sooooo racist and is islamic and not Christian and wants to know why them Jews won’t let the reverend Wright talk to you?”

      Obama: “Do you want me to write her a note?”

      No, Mr. President, Mr president, I’d like to know why you’re having the government take over GM, and my young daughter here (isn’t she cute) just happens to be here with me as a requirement for her civics class, and is collecting data for her senior thesis on global warming and why America is a genuinely mean country that is sooooo racist and is islamic and not Christian and wants to know why them Jews won’t let the reverend……….

    • canary
      June 15, 2009 at 5:05 am

      John, Obamba’s obamination of hope he says approx 40% in America are Christians. I found the part where he was baptized, and not for the reasons one get’s baptized. He said he did as a sign he was seeking the truth about God. No Christan says that a reason to be baptized.

    • canary
      June 15, 2009 at 5:06 am

      John, Obamba’s obamination of hope he says approx 40% in America are Christians. I found the part where he was baptized, and not for the reasons one get’s baptized. He said he did as a sign he was seeking the truth about God. No Christan says that a reason to be baptized. He’s a poser

    • Chase
      June 16, 2009 at 4:28 am

      Of course, Obama can usurp the authority of a parent, trump the dad’s authority, and the dad willingly gave it over to his Messiah.

      Who is Obama to excuse someone’s child? If I were the teacher, I would have sent it back to the White House, asking on what authority the note was written, and give the give an unexcused absence (until the father regains his senses, if ever….)

      It does not take a community to raise a child, and some Poseur in the White House would not be a valid signer of a note requesting an absence be excused for someone else’s child.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 18, 2009 at 1:43 pm

      I was more put off by Blammo’s “seriousness” that somehow his writing a note would carry some gravity. The “I won”, “I be’s da pezident” mentality. I don’t think that there has ever been a president, not even Johnson, who is so lacking in humility. And the office is truly a humbling place, if you ask democrats and republicans alike. But not for the “well-spoken” magic negro.

      Dare I say it but his behavior is reminiscent of that which I see from similar types in restaurants and other places where quiet conversation is the norm. The overcompensation for feeling sooooo inadequate.

    • Liberals Demise
      June 18, 2009 at 2:01 pm

      I heard David Letterman asked Obeyme for a note to excuse him to CBS over the Palin bad jokes(?). It never came so David did what Obeyme could never do ……… he stumbled over an apology.

      I’m with JMG ………….. this is a textbook Clinton plant!!

  17. canary
    June 15, 2009 at 3:36 am

    AP: Netanyahu endorses Palestinian independence
    By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer June 14, 2009

    JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed a Palestinian state beside Israel for the first time on Sunday, reversing himself under U.S. pressure but attaching conditions such as having no army that the Palestinians swiftly rejected.

    “Netanyahu’s speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. “We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it.

    Since assuming office in March, Netanyahu has been caught between American demands to begin peace talks with the Palestinians and the constraints of a hardline coalition. On Sunday, he appeared to favor Israel’s all-important relationship with the U.S. at the risk of destabilizing his government.

    Several dozen hard-liners held up posters showing Obama wearing an Arab headdress and shouted slogans against giving up West Bank territory.

    “Our right to form our sovereign state here in the land of Israel stems from one simple fact. The Land of Israel is the birthplace of the Jewish people,” he said.

    Netanyahu has said he fears the West Bank could follow the path of the Gaza Strip — which the Palestinians also claim for their future state. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and Hamas militants now control the area, often firing rockets into southern Israel.

    However, he ruled out a division of Jerusalem, saying, “Israel’s capital will remain united.”

    Hamas ideology does not recognize a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East and the group has sent dozens of suicide bombers into Israel.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....lestinians

    I think this article by the Associated Press is very biased in Palenstine’s favor, but think the signs with U.S. Obama in Arab headress is funny. I do not comprehend Obama’s pressure against Israel, considering his own resentment against America and the West causing other countries to become poor, and better to stay out of their business. Obama is two faced- double talker. Whatever the flavor of the week is.

  18. canary
    June 15, 2009 at 5:18 am

    Al-Qaida financier arrested in Saudi Arabie
    IrishExaminer.com Monday, June 15, 2009

    Al-Qaida financier arrested

    A YEMEN interior ministry official says the biggest and most important financier for the al-Qaida terror network in Yemen and Saudi Arabia has been arrested in the impoverished Arabian peninsula nation.

    Hassan Hussein Bin Alwan, a Saudi national, is to face charges of being involved in forming an armed group in Yemen designed to carry out terrorist attacks and of financing the group’s activities.

    Yemen, the ancestral homeland of Osama bin Laden, had long been a haven for Islamists.
    http://www.irishexaminer.com/w.....PcGj&C

  19. canary
    June 15, 2009 at 5:28 am

    AP: Argentine glacier advances despite global warming
    Associated Press Writer Jeannette Neumann, June 15 2009

    BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina’s Perito Moreno glacier is one of only a few ice fields worldwide that have withstood rising global temperatures.

    Nourished by Andean snowmelt, the glacier constantly grows even as it spawns icebergs the size of apartment buildings into a frigid lake, maintaining a nearly perfect equilibrium since measurements began more than a century ago.

    “We’re not sure why this happens,” said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. “But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....na_glacier

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 18, 2009 at 1:49 pm

      “We’re not sure why this happens,” said Andres Rivera, a glacialist with the Center for Scientific Studies in Valdivia, Chile. “But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change.”

      Woah, woah, WOAH….just hold on thar, trigger.

      First, studying of glaciers is only 100 years old. And you, Rivera (no relation?) have been doing it…oh…a lot shorter than that.

      SoooOOOOOoooo, I must conclude that the data is not valid simply for the size and duration of the sample. The Earth is…what? 4.5 BILLION years old. Ice core samples indicate that the Earth has regular cooling and warming periods….And…until CARS were invented (in the US according to Blammo), these cycles were natural.

      And here we have a glacier that refuses to cooperate with the greenies. I’ll bet they’re just completely annoyed over that. And for the record, I’m fine with that.

    • caligirl9
      June 18, 2009 at 1:53 pm

      Glaciers haven’t yet learned about “climate change.” Therefore, it behaves like glaciers do.

      What a stupid thing for a so-called scientist to say!

  20. canary
    June 15, 2009 at 6:29 am

    AP: STIMULUS WATCH: $25 check may cost you food stamps
    By Associated Press Writer Matt Apuzzo June 15, 2009

    WASHINGTON – When President Barack Obama increased unemployment benefits as part of his economic stimulus, he also made some Americans ineligible for hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps.

    Under the… plan, laid-off workers have seen a $25 weekly bump in their unemployment checks… the law did not raise the income cap for food stamp eligibility, …the extra money has pushed some people over the limit.

    state officials are only now realizing the quirk, a consequence of pushing a $787 billion, 400-page bill through Congress and into law in three weeks.

    Milota said he was told that, without the stimulus money, he would have received about $300 a month in food stamps.

    “We’ve gotten some questions about this…,” said Jean Daniel, a spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, which overseas the food stamp program now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

    … in Iowa recently, officials called Washington, asking what to do.

    Lawmakers crafting the stimulus knew this would become a problem, said Stacy Dean, director of food assistance policy at Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank. They could have headed it off by raising the income tax or declaring that the $25 stimulus checks would not affect food stamp eligibility. Both were expensive options that could have forced states to reprogram their computer systems.

    “People were aware of this but, as you recall, the stimulus was moving along and then it was passed in about a day,” Dean said. “There was not a lot of policy discussion on this.”

    …Milota, who says he leans Republican but voted for Obama.

    Officials in Washington say they’re aware of stories like this.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....x1c3dhdGM-

    • neocon mom
      June 15, 2009 at 9:11 pm

      Ah, the perils of micromanagement surface.

    • JohnMG
      June 15, 2009 at 9:24 pm

      More like the law of unintended consequences. They were aware of the ‘glitch’, so to speak. No surprise there. What they didn’t count on was the people who would be affected. These bureaucrats were counting on those folks being too stupid to realize what had happened, and too timid to raise a stink about it. Personally, I think it’s funny.

      All of Obammy’s li’l babies luv shortnin’ bread, not shortenin’ the breadline.

  21. BillK
    June 15, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    From Television Week, a new and IMHO much more responsible apology from David Letterman regarding the Palin joke.

    Dave: I Take ‘Full Responsibilty’ For ‘Beyond Flawed’ Palin Joke, and I’m Sorry

    By Josef Adalian

    David Letterman is making a full-throated apology for his controversial joke about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter.

    During a taping of tonight’s edition of his CBS “Late Show,” Letterman went much further than his last explanation of the joke, in which he quipped that a baseball player had “knocked up” Palin’s daughter.

    “I told a bad joke,” Letterman said. “I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke.” …

    http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tv.....ibilty.php

    Personally, I think this is reasonable (although it’s doubtful Letterman really means it) and Palin should likely accept it and move on.

    The full transcript, as distributed by CBS publicity:

    “All right, here – I’ve been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week – it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don’t know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There’s no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can’t be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They’re angry at me because they said, ‘How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?’ And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the Governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani…And I really should have made the joke about Rudy…” (audience applauds) “But I didn’t, and now people are getting angry and they’re saying, ‘Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who’s completely innocent, minding her own business,’ and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she’s now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I’m wondering, ‘Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?’ I’ve never made jokes like this as long as we’ve been on the air, 30 long years, and you can’t really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself.

    “And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer ‘Newshour’ – this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, ‘Oh, boy, now I’m beginning to understand what the problem is here. It’s the perception rather than the intent.’ It doesn’t make any difference what my intent was, it’s the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it’s not a very good joke. And I’m certainly – ” (audience applause) “- thank you. Well, my responsibility – I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. That it was misunderstood.” (audience applauds) “Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I’m sorry about it and I’ll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much.” (audience applause)

    • neocon mom
      June 15, 2009 at 9:09 pm

      “Sorry, I really intended to make a joke about your other daughter, Mrs. Palin. Nobody, (especially Mark Shields, my moral compass) would have been so outraged, because it’s okay to make fun of a young mother, I mean, she’s not an easy target, right? And I stand by my comment in which I likened you to a ’slutty flight attendant’ because, well, that one didn’t outrage anyone, in spite of the fact that you are a wife and mother to five children (They all know what an old perv I am.)”

      Maybe Track looks at the headlines, wherever he is deployed, and sees his mom and sisters attacked by some sleazy old man for no apparent reason other than that she attended a Yankees game.

      This is not an apology. It is an insider explanation of how Letterman makes public relations decisions. The explanation only bolsters the case, evidenced by the joke in the first place, that Letterman suffers from the endemic moral depravity of his generation that spawned “the culture wars” as we know them today.

    • JohnMG
      June 15, 2009 at 9:17 pm

      If Letterman didn’t think this would affect him monetarily, he wouldn’t have apologized for anything. His politics are well known, but the thought that he could lose his gig if he remained petulantly un-repentant was more than he could bear. Even with this “apology” he tries to paint himself as a victim of people’s misunderstanding. He’s a putz of the highest order and I hope this episode takes him down.

      But it probably won’t.

    • jobeth
      June 17, 2009 at 2:29 pm

      “my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception”

      Oh…I see, so it was MY fault because I had a ‘wrong” perception to your pure as the driven snow “intent”!

      Thanks for the appology…Not

      In my view that is still no appology.

  22. caligirl9
    June 15, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    From the “Duh, why are you surprised at that reaction?” files.

    From the Associated Press:

    Obama presses doctors to back health care overhaul

    President Barack Obama bluntly told doctors Monday he is against their highest legislative priority — limiting malpractice awards — and earned a smattering of boos from an audience he was here to court for his health care overhaul plans.

    Pushing anew to reshape the nation’s health care delivery system and extend coverage to the millions who don’t have it, Obama went before the annual meeting of the American Medical Association and took on others who take issue with parts of his plan as well.

    Calling them “naysayers,”"fear-mongers” and peddlers of “Trojan horse” falsehoods, Obama warned interest groups, lobbyists and others against using “fear tactics to paint any effort to achieve reform as an attempt to socialize medicine.”

    … GOP Rep. Tom Price of Georgia — a former orthopedic surgeon — reacted preemptively to Obama’s speech by accusing him of seeking a “government takeover” of health care. Speaking to reporters on a conference call organized by the Republican National Committee, Price said a committee that Obama’s administration has established to study the effectiveness of various medical treatments would turn into a “rationing board” to overrule doctors and deny patients care.

    And Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and other Republicans introduced legislation to ban the rationing of care on such a basis.

    … The president traveled to Chicago to talk to the 250,000-physician group in hopes of persuading doctors not to fight him on reform. The nation’s doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president’s proposals. Many are skeptical of his plan to create government-sponsored insurance as an option alongside private coverage.

    They also want limits on jury awards in medical malpractice lawsuits — caps that Democrats, including Obama, have long opposed and Republicans led by former President George W. Bush long pushed for…

    Obama started by sympathizing with doctors “who feel like they are constantly looking over their shoulder for fear of lawsuits” and said he recognizes any health overhaul will be hard to accomplish without changing that. The crowd burst into loud support.

    “Don’t get too excited yet. … Just hold onto your horses here, guys,” Obama said as he prepared to deliver what he knew would be disappointing news.

    “I want to be honest with you. I’m not advocating caps on malpractice awards,” the president said, greeted by a smattering of boos, a remarkable public response to a popular president accustomed to cheering audiences.

    … The president repeated that he is “open” to a mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance. But he said that any plan must address the rising costs of a system he called a “ticking time bomb” for the federal budget.

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....&tsp=1

    How arrogant! But is anyone surprised? I just wish some/most of those physicians would have had the good sense to get up and walk out instead of listening to this crap!

    • canary
      June 16, 2009 at 1:28 am

      Obama has empathy for ambulance chasers.

    • Chase
      June 16, 2009 at 4:46 am

      Obama’s pockets are lined by the ambulance chasers.

      And the people who pursue these cases are not typically hard-working Americans, but rather those who are looking to make hay from what are usually everyday tragedies of life….more of the kind of people likely to vote for, if not contribute to their kind of success.

  23. tranquil.night
    June 15, 2009 at 11:13 pm

    Iranian’s Call for Revolution, Replacement of Grand Ayatollah

    from The American Freedomist:

    The Freedomist has learned from our sources that what is happening in Iran may indeed be the beginnings of a COUP attempt within the ruling Mullah elites themselves and that Khameni’s allegiance to Ahmadinejad is causing a good number of them to consider REMOVING the Supreme Leader himself!

    This possible revolution is NOT directed at Ahmadinejad, it is directed at THE SUPREME LEADER! US News is off base and inaccurate, the People are demanding an END to the rule of the Mulllahs, they want Democracy and seem willing to FIGHT!

    Local sources are reporting via Twitter and opposition websites violence that is being resisted actively by young people who are IN THE THOUSANDS on roof tops singing the old Iranian national anthem, some are reporting from inside buildings that Hezbollah troops, NOT the Iranian police, are conducting clearing operations using civilian vehicles to plow into protestors and randomly shoot anyone on the street.

    It is becoming more apparent that elements of the ruling class and the police and military are not deemed to be reliable, hence the use of foreign Hezbollah fighters to help enforce the edicts of the regime.

    Late on Saturday Mohsen Rezai, a former Revolutionary Guards Chief, sent a letter to the Interior Ministry demanding release of detailed election results. According to opposition websites, “reliable sources from inside the Ministry of Interior” in Tehran gave Mousavi 57.2% of ballots counted, and Ahmadinejad 28%. Rezai won 2.7 million votes, or 7.2%, and Karubi got 2.2 million votes, or 6%, with 1.6% of the 37.4 million votes cast indicating no vote.

    Meanwhile, we have at least three reports from different sources that Rafsanjani called for an emergency meeting of the Majles Khobregan, the Assembly of Experts which could result in an open rift between himself and the present Supreme Leader. Rafsanjani is questioning the certification of the election, according to these reports.

    and circulating via Twitter what appears to be their 7-point manifesto:

    What do we want?

    1. Remove Khamenei from supreme leader
    2. Remove Ahmadinejad because he took it forcefully and unlawfully
    3. Put Ayatollah Monazeri as supreme leader until a review of the constitution is set up
    4. Recognize Mousavi as official president
    5. Let Mousavi rule as the constitution is reformed
    6. Free all political prisoners, immediately
    7. Call off all secret militia and offices

    Best of luck to them.

    • tranquil.night
      June 17, 2009 at 1:31 am

      Update: #2 Ayatollah Montazeri Slams Iranian Election Results, Calls on Military to Refuse Orders

      from McClatchy:

      TEHRAN, Iran — Supporters of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his main rival in the disputed presidential election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, massed in competing rallies Tuesday as the country’s most senior Islamic cleric threw his weight behind opposition charges that Ahmadinejad’s re-election was rigged.

      “No one in their right mind can believe” the official results from Friday’s contest, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri said of the landslide victory claimed by Ahmadinejad. Montazeri accused the regime of handling Mousavi’s charges of fraud and the massive protests of his backers “in the worst way possible.”

      “A government not respecting people’s vote has no religious or political legitimacy,” he declared in comments on his official Web site. “I ask the police and army personals (personnel) not to ’sell their religion,’ and beware that receiving orders will not excuse them before God.”

      continue..

      I have not been able to access Montzeri’s website to confirm these statements.

      I’m sure there is much skepticism over whether the sentiment behind this has been authentic or if it even matters in relevance to the pressing issues like Israel and the nuclear program (considering Montazeri has presided on the council that has overseen both), but whether this turns out to emulate the fall of the Berlin Wall or Tienanmen Square I truly believe that what they’ve done is a complete inspiration. We’ll see what happens..

      The UK Telegraph on the Extraordinary Acts of Peaceful Mousavi Supporters
      (Apologies in advance to Mr. Gilbert if I am posting too much on this topic)

    • canary
      June 19, 2009 at 4:31 am

      Ayatollah Montazeri sounds better than the rest of them.

  24. BillK
    June 16, 2009 at 1:56 am

    From Fox News:

    Cheney: I Hope Panetta Was ‘Misquoted’ in Claiming My Wish for Attack

    Dick Cheney says he wants to know if he heard Leon Panetta correctly.

    After the CIA director apparently told The New Yorker that he thinks the former vice president is crossing his fingers for another attack on America, Cheney said Monday he hopes his “old friend” didn’t really say those words.

    “I hope my old friend Leon was misquoted,” Cheney said, in a written statement to FOX News. “The important thing is whether the Obama administration will continue the policies that have kept us safe for the past eight years.”

    Others were not quite willing to give Panetta the benefit of the doubt, as his politically charged quote stirred controversy on Capitol Hill.

    Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called on Panetta to “retract immediately” his statement, arguing that the director crossed the line.

    “I disagreed with the Cheney policy on interrogation techniques, but never did it cross my mind that Dick Cheney would ever want an attack on the United States of America,” the former GOP presidential candidate told FOX News Monday. “And it’s unfair, and I think that Mr. Panetta should retract, and retract immediately.

    “By the way, I hear morale is not at an all-time high over at the CIA under Mr. Panetta’s leadership,” he said.

    Panetta, a long-time Washington insider with scant intelligence experience, has been caught in the middle of a political war during his first few months on the job. First, he had to deal with morale issues as President Obama cracked down on the rules for detainee interrogations. Then he stepped up to dispute House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s allegation that the CIA misled Congress about the use of “enhanced” interrogation techniques. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....es-attack/

    If you’re not aware of the original quote:

    According to The New Yorker, Panetta said Cheney “smells some blood in the water” on the security issue.

    “It’s almost, a little bit, gallows politics. When you read behind it, it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point. I think that’s dangerous politics,” he said, according to the piece.

    All of Obama’s selections are just such consummate professionals…

    • jobeth
      June 18, 2009 at 10:44 am

      “All of Obama’s selections are just such consummate professionals…”

      The big question is “What kind of professionals!”

  25. BillK
    June 16, 2009 at 1:59 am

    In case you had forgotten, the political witch hunts on the Hill continue.

    From Fox News:

    Miers Deposed By House Panel Looking Into Attorney Firings

    In a low-key session on Capitol Hill, former White House Counsel Harriet Miers was deposed Monday by House Judiciary Committee staffers probing the alleged politicization of the Bush Justice Department.

    Miers testified, behind closed doors, after months of wrangling between Congress and former members of the Bush administration.

    Congress is looking into allegations that the Bush administration went after U.S. attorneys who weren’t on the same political wavelength as the former president — Miers was drawn in because former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asked her to consider implementing a “targeted” system for “removal and replacement” in the Justice Department.

    Initially, Miers refused to appear when the House and Senate Judiciary Committees subpoenaed her and other officials to testify about their role in the firings.

    The House eventually voted to hold Miers and former White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten in contempt of Congress. Despite the contempt citation, both Miers and Bolten still refused to testify, sparking a constitutional standoff between the executive and legislature, co-equal branches of government.

    The House then sued the Bush administration in an effort to force Miers and Bolten to appear.
    In March, Miers and former Bush adviser Karl Rove agreed to testify under oath.

    Miers testified Monday, but it remains unclear when Bolten could be deposed. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....y-firings/

    Keep in mind that the US Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President.

    If you don’t recall from when Janet Reno fired all of them, including attorneys who had been investigating prominent Democrats.

    • JohnMG
      June 16, 2009 at 9:49 am

      Not exactly the same as firing an Inspector General, though, is it? I think that’s supposed to be the job of Congress, NOT the president.

      But then we’re talking the difference between Democrats and Republicans, aren’t we?

    • canary
      June 19, 2009 at 5:03 am

      I

  26. BillK
    June 16, 2009 at 2:12 am

    From Fox News:

    Congress Ready to Pass ‘Cash for Clunkers,’ Despite Criticism

    By William LaJeunesse

    After bailing out banks and brokers, Congress is ready to pass out another billion dollars to those Americans who are still driving their old gas guzzlers.

    Congress is expected to approve the so-called “cash for clunkers” bill this week, under which drivers can trade in their old jalopies for some of the federal government’s cash. Last week, the House approved its version, 298-119.

    To qualify, the trade-in vehicle must get 18 miles per gallon or less, be made between 1984 and 2001, and have been registered to the same owner for at least one year.

    In return, Washington is offering $3,500 for a new car — if it gets at least 4 miles per gallon better mileage. It’ll offer $4,500 if the car gets 10 miles per gallon more or better.

    Car dealers see the proposal as a win for customers stuck with old gas eaters.

    “The marketplace on cars that don’t get very good mileage has certainly taken a hit when gas prices go up … so those cars are worth a little less. This is an incentive for people to get out of them and into something that is a little more fuel efficient,” said car dealer Billy Rinker.

    “If they have a $1,200 trade-in and the government is going to give you $4,500 for your trade-in, that is a big savings for people,” said auto dealer Don Marino. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....criticism/

    One can hardly wait for the new Government-sponsored loan programs that will be needed for lower income individuals and students once the supply of affordable used cars on the market drops to zero.

  27. jobeth
    June 16, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    IMPEACH OBAMA MOVEMENT

    The time is NOW to begin to impeach Obama.

    Visit this site…there is also a petition and the names and adddresses and phone numbers to congress members.

    http://obamaimpeachment.org/aboutus.html

    • caligirl9
      June 16, 2009 at 7:03 pm

      Along these lines, I received a much-forwarded e-mail from my conservative stepdad that said Occidental College had released some of TOTUS’ college records (when he was known as Barry Soetoro), which revealed he attended as a foreign-born student from Indonesia and also received financial aid reserved for foreign-born students.

      Anyone know anything about that?

    • jobeth
      June 16, 2009 at 7:18 pm

      Funny you should mention Obalmy’s background. I’ve been digging around and while some here have most likely seen this on Atlas Shrugs, it’s the first time I have seen it.

      Some of this may be fodder for debate, but still, it answers a LOT of questions on where a lot of Obalmy’s mindset has come from.

      I haven’t read it all yet..I’m in the middle of it right now, but it’s interesting stuff. Even the concept that (while maybe not true.. or.maybe it is true) that his father is actually Malcolm X. There is certainly a marked likeness that makes one question the possibility as opposed to Obama Sr.

      As I said…read with a careful eye but worth the read and it really does show where his “dreams” for America comes from. Scary!

      http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.....ts/page/2/

    • Steve
      June 16, 2009 at 7:29 pm

      “Along these lines, I received a much-forwarded e-mail from my conservative stepdad that said Occidental College had released some of TOTUS’ college records (when he was known as Barry Soetoro), which revealed he attended as a foreign-born student from Indonesia and also received financial aid reserved for foreign-born students.”

      That email is an April Fools hoax:

      snopes.com: Occidental College
      http://www.snopes.com/politics.....dental.asp

    • tranquil.night
      June 16, 2009 at 7:30 pm

      Caligirl – I did a little research on this for you and I found this from worldnetdaily. It’s a pretty up-to-date account of all the education records BHO has yet to make public. It seems that there was a subpoena ordered for the information from Occidental then later squashed by a judge on a motion for appeal. The plaintiff’s lawyer claims Obama’s lawyers threatened to seek legal sanctions if the matter was pursued, and the appeal was granted on the defense that the information was “not relevant anymore” considering the election had passed.

      This is one of those issues I thought sounded a bit far-fetched last year and it’s one that I now wish I had thought more carefully about given what we now have seen out of our dear leader. Thank you for bringing up the email and allowing Steve to confirm it as a hoax.

    • Steve
      June 16, 2009 at 7:31 pm

      “I haven’t read it all yet..I’m in the middle of it right now, but it’s interesting stuff. Even the concept that (while maybe not true.. or.maybe it is true) that his father is actually Malcolm X. There is certainly a marked likeness that makes one question the possibility as opposed to Obama Sr.”

      There is a resemblance, but it’s almost certainly nonsense.

      And we should try to restrict this thread to ‘hard news,’ or it becomes too long and unwieldy.

      Of course this isn’t directed at you personally, Jobeth, but just in general.

    • jobeth
      June 16, 2009 at 8:06 pm

      Thanks Steve.

      I agree with you and wouldn’t have mentioned this site/story at all except I just happened to be reading it. I haven’t had time to follow up on any of these claims so I can’t vouch for any of it. But again…it’s interesting.

      I also wanted anyone who reads the url to keep a watchful eye as to the truth and that is why I I couched the “true vs untrue” in my comment. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean its true…:-D

      I am also a bit cautious of Snopes. Again, I am not certain of its origins. I have “heard” its a lib based site. So I don’t know. I just have a cautious eye of what ever I read…anywhere nowadays.

      So my appologies to the site if I have erred here. It was only meant to be a comment between Caligirl and I. I have her email address so I will confine less than proven comments to that.

      Again…thanks for keeping the site as documented as possible! :-)

    • proreason
      June 16, 2009 at 8:13 pm

      Interesting info, Jobeth.

      There have been theories for a long time that Malcolm X or Frank Davis is the real father.

      The Moron does bear a stiking resemblance in body shape and facial features to Malcolm X and no resemblence at all to his named father. The pictures in the link are thought provoking.

      If someone else was the creatures father, it would also explain what I think is a great mystery…..how did an illigitimate child from a common family who was abandoned by both parents and not exactly worshipped by his middle-class grandparents traipse through life without a bruise, always going to the best schools, living well while working nary a lick in his life.

      The loathesome criminal was well provided for from the time he went to the best private school in Hawaii 35 years ago, and not by his grandparents.

    • Steve
      June 17, 2009 at 9:58 am

      “I am also a bit cautious of Snopes. Again, I am not certain of its origins. I have “heard” its a lib based site. So I don’t know. I just have a cautious eye of what ever I read…anywhere nowadays.”

      I know. Snopes are actually a couple — and, yes, they are lefties. They are also plagiarists:

      S&L Source For Snopes Cindy Sheehan Story | Sweetness & Light
      http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....ade-snopes

      And major creeps.

      “So my appologies to the site if I have erred here. It was only meant to be a comment between Caligirl and I. I have her email address so I will confine less than proven comments to that.”

      No need to apologize!

    • jobeth
      June 17, 2009 at 3:46 pm

      Thanks Steve.

      “They are also plagiarists:”

      I had that happen to me once. I have my family genealogy page and had done an extensive amount of work only to have some dipstick place the info on a web page word for word under her name.

      What she didn’t know is I knew the host of the web page and notified her and it was removed. I had to resort to blocking “copy and paste. I hate plagiarists!

  28. BillK
    June 16, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Milwaukee continues its slide into becoming “Detroit West.”

    From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

    Good Samaritan finds a shocking bit of backlash

    By Jim Stingl

    I had a chance to talk to Anthony Thompson, the cab driver who rushed to the aid of two Milwaukee police officers shot last week after stopping a man for questioning.

    What I had initially wanted to ask him was whether he remembered tattoo artist Tom Aldana at the chaotic shooting scene.

    In an unfortunate sideshow, police at first denied Aldana’s claim that he put his EMT training to use and helped the injured officers. Then they turned 180 degrees and said he had indeed assisted, and they regretted that Aldana was not publicly honored along with Thompson and UPS driver Mike Charbonneau.

    So my reason for reaching Thompson to see if he would back up Aldana’s story had become a moot question. But for the record, Thompson says he does remember Aldana being out there on the sidewalk at 2nd and Walker streets and handing him some gauze to apply to one officer’s wound.

    Thompson and I started talking about what it’s been like for him since he was plucked from obscurity and bestowed with hero status by the police chief and the mayor on television.

    He’s received positive feedback, including congratulations and even a thank-you card from his regular riders. Thompson drives a wheelchair-accessible van for American United Taxi Cab.

    “You get a lot of negative publicity, too,” he said.

    Really? Stopping to help seriously injured police officers has any downside?

    “Some of our people here in Milwaukee don’t like the police too much,” he said.

    There’s been some talk and Internet buzz about why a black man like Thompson would help the police, he said.

    “I just think it’s real ridiculous,” he said, “that we live in a society that criticizes anybody, especially any type of minority, that takes the time to do something positive or help anybody in law enforcement. I’m 30 years old. I’m not 20 years old no more, playing a little street thug anymore. I’m a grown man. I have kids that I have to set an example for. I’m in the community, and I want to give back.

    “Honestly, I’ve done had my runs-ins with the law before, and I’ve come up on the short end of the stick. I’ve been treated bad, and I’ve been profiled before. I’ve had some negative experiences with the police, but that doesn’t mean when you see two people shot in their face that you just keep driving off. What kind of person do you have to be in order to do that?”

    Very well said.

    Thompson has been a little worried about his safety. You never know when someone, say a friend or relative of the shooting suspect, will retaliate, he said.

    But he’s back out there in his cab, working 60 to 70 hours a week. In fact, he returned to work the same day all this happened. Trying to get the horrible images out of his mind, he went to Miller Park that night and caught a couple of fares before heading home for the night.

    “Maybe for one slight second you’re second-guessing and you’re saying was it worth it. Now, I gotta look over my shoulder. I’m hearing from people. Some people are saying I’m going to need bodyguards,” Thompson said.

    He knows that’s nonsense. But he’s feeling that uneasiness that comes with “getting involved.” …

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/m.....09877.html

    This is what our society has come to.

    • Gila Monster
      June 17, 2009 at 10:35 am

      Not being the least bit familiar with Milwaukee and it’s environs, what is the main driving force behind this degradation of community and family values up there? Poverty? Demographics? Chicago thug politics migrating north? General community malaise?

      I have a few friends here in AZ that hail from Wisconsin (Green Bay area) but they don’t say much about it except when rooting for their beloved Packers. They’re fairly conservative by the way.

  29. canary
    June 17, 2009 at 5:19 am

    AP: NKorea warns US of ‘thousand-fold’ military action
    By Associated Press Writer Hyung-jin Kim, June 17 2009

    SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea warned Wednesday of a “thousand-fold” military retaliation against the U.S. and its allies if provoked

    The warning … came hours after President Barack Obama declared North Korea a “grave threat” to the world…

    “If the U.S. and its followers infringe upon our republic’s sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a … merciless military strike,”

    the official Korean Central News Agency, also called Obama “a hypocrite” for advocating a nuclear-free world while making “frantic efforts” to develop new nuclear weapons at home.

    South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo newspaper reported Wednesday that the North has begun withdrawing money from its bank accounts in the Chinese territory of Macau and elsewhere, for fear they would be frozen under the U.N. sanctions.

    Separately, Japan’s Sankei newspaper said Wednesday that the North has been showing signs of preparing two sites —

    South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper also carried a similar report Wednesday, …saying that a special train that carried a long-range missile to the northwestern site has recently moved to the northeastern site.

    The recent moves by North Korea have effectively brought to a halt the so-called six-party talks aimed at giving North Korea fuel and other benefits in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program.

    Obama said the U.S. is more than willing to negotiate with North Korea to bring peace on the Korean peninsula…”But belligerent, provocative behavior that threatens neighbors will be met with significant and serious enforcement of sanctions that are in place,” he said.

    Associated Press writer Shino Yuasa contributed to this report from Tokyo.
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....F3YXJuc3U-

  30. badcrow
    June 17, 2009 at 5:44 am

    Achtung! Prepare der youth for Mandatory “Community Service!” A spiffy op-ed piece on the looming passage of H.R. 1444. For a “Civilian force as powerful and as well funded as the Military.” VE VILL HAVE DER YOUTH, UND VE VILL EDUCATE THEM TO “SERVE” DER COMMUNITY!

    http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12373299

  31. texaspsue
    June 17, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    From Fox News:

    Sen. Ensign Resigns GOP Leadership Post After Admitting Affair
    Nevada Sen. John Ensign is resigning his position as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee after admitting an extramarital affair

    The Republican senator who went public a day earlier about an extramarital affair has resigned his GOP leadership post on Wednesday.

    Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., stepped down as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking GOP position in the Senate, after holding a brief news conference Tuesday to come clean about his affair with a former aide. He is not expected to resign from the Senate.

    Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., confirmed the move Wednesday afternoon.

    “He’s accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman of the policy committee,” the Kentucky senator said.

    Several reasons contributed to Ensign’s decision to step down from his post, according to a Senate GOP leadership aide. They included the likelihood of a persistent media firestorm stemming from his admission Tuesday; growing irritation within the conference regarding other distractions; and the possibility that more damaging information could emerge regarding the affair.

    Sources told FOX News the admission was prompted by a blackmail threat. Two Senate Republican sources close to Ensign said a former employee had asked Ensign for money in what both sources described as a case of “extortion.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....ng-affair/

    I question the timing as he was just bringing up issues about the ACLU. http://ensign.senate.gov/publi.....e45c5d3427

  32. canary
    June 17, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    HealthDay News: Boys May Feel a Genetic Pull Toward Gangs

    WEDNESDAY, June 17 (HealthDay News) — Bad neighborhoods and lack of opportunity are usually blamed for boys joining violent street gangs. But a new study finds that the urge to join gangs might lie, at least in part, in their genes.

    Boys who have a variant of the gene monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) — otherwise known as the “warrior gene” — are not only more likely to be in gangs than boys without the variant, but they tend to be among the most violent members.

    “While gangs typically have been regarded as a sociological phenomenon, our investigation shows that variants of a specific MAOA gene, known as a ‘low-activity 3-repeat allele,’ play a significant role,” the study’s lead author, Kevin M. Beaver, a biosocial criminologist at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, said in a university news release.

    “Previous research has linked low-activity MAOA variants to a wide range of antisocial, even violent, behavior, but our study confirms that these variants can predict gang membership,” Beaver said.

    The study is available in the online edition of Comprehensive Psychiatry.

    For their research, Beaver and his colleagues analyzed DNA and lifestyle data from more than 2,500 teens who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

    The MAOA gene is believed to affect levels of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin that are related to mood and behavior, according to the study. Previous research found that the “warrior gene” is more prevalent in cultures that are typified by warfare and aggression.

    Though the study included both boys and girls, only boys with the MAOA gene variant showed an increased propensity for violence. The gene variant had little impact on the girls, possibly because the MAOA gene is located on the X-chromosome, the researchers said.

    “As a result, males, who have one X-chromosome and one Y-chromosome, possess only one copy of this gene, while females, who have two X-chromosomes, carry two,” Beaver said. “Thus, if a male has an allele (variant) for the MAOA gene that is linked to violence, there isn’t another copy to counteract it. Females, in contrast, have two copies, so even if they have one risk allele, they have another that could compensate for it.”

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20.....owardgangs

    • canary
      June 17, 2009 at 5:32 pm

      can someone pass this to ollah Obamo

    • proreason
      June 17, 2009 at 5:55 pm

      Well then, it’s entirely genetic, isn’t it?

      Nobody is really to blame for anything they do.

      Jails are just cruel containers for people forced by their genome to commit crimes and other atrocities.

      And muslims are genetically predisposed to beheading people and dressing women in burlap bags.

      Thank God we have the perfect President now that we know nobody is ever at fault for anything.

      And now we understand why he never admits his crimes.

      He was forced into them.

  33. wirenut
    June 17, 2009 at 7:53 pm

    Pro, that would explain most politicians then. The dreaded (lieing out of both sides of my mouth to get elected) gene.
    HAW!

  34. gipper
    June 17, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    From the AP:

    Man who lost sense of smell believed Zicam safe

    He was like millions of other consumers who sometimes take vitamins or echinacea, hoping to build up his immunity or ward off a cold. He figured alternative remedies were as safe as a spoonful of honey.

    But that notion washed away with one squirt of a homeopathic cold gel…

    …The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says that people who can’t smell may also miss danger signs in their daily lives like smoke or gas. It moved to force three Zicam products — Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Nasal Swabs and discontinued Swabs in Kids’ Size — off the market Tuesday and told consumers not to take them anymore…

    …Most scientists say homeopathic remedies contain active ingredients in such low concentrations — often 1 part per million or less — that they are usually safe…

    …Richardson, 46, says he used Zicam just once…

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31.....d_and_flu/

    The AP then continues that the only thing Mr. Richardson could still smell was the smell of a class-action lawsuit (just kidding). I wouldn’t post such a seemingly apolitical story, but Zicam is an advertiser for Rush Limbaugh. Zicam has been taken out by the FDA Mr. Obama. GM, another one of Rush’s advertisers, has been taken out by Obama, too. Coincidence?

  35. canary
    June 17, 2009 at 11:26 pm

    The Washington Post: PBS Blesses Old Religious Shows, But Bans the New

    By Paul Farhi Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 17, 2009

    The Public Broadcasting Service agreed yesterday to ban its member stations from airing new religious TV programs, but permitted the handful of stations that already carry “sectarian” shows to continue doing so.

    The vote by PBS’s board was a compromise from a proposed ban on all religious programming. Such a ban would have forced a few stations around the country to give up their PBS affiliation if they continued to broadcast local church services and religious lectures.

    Until now, PBS stations have been required to present programming that is noncommercial, nonpartisan and nonsectarian. But the definition of “nonsectarian” programming was always loosely interpreted, and the rule had never been strictly enforced. PBS began reviewing the definition and application of those rules last year in light of the transition to digital TV and with many stations streaming programs over their Web sites. The definition doesn’t cover journalistic programs about religion or discussion programs that don’t favor a particular religious point of view.

    The vote also means that WHUT, operated by Howard University in the District, won’t be required to drop its telecasts of “Mass for Shut-Ins,” a weekly Catholic Mass that has aired on the station since 1996 and locally in Washington for more than 50 years.

    But, warned by PBS of the upcoming review, WHUT put the program’s producer, the Archdiocese of Washington, on notice that it would drop the program if the PBS board voted to ban religious programs. The archdiocese then made alternative arrangements, negotiating a contract with WDCW (Channel 50) to pick up the half-hour program on Sunday mornings.

    full article
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....03430.html

  36. canary
    June 17, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    Bullet train from Chicago AP: Midwest, Calif. front runners for $8B in rail cash
    By Associated Press Writer Michael Tarm Wed Jun 17, 6:56 pm ET

    CHICAGO – High-speed rail plans in the Midwest and California appear to be front runners in the race for $8 billion in stimulus cash

    California voters last November approved nearly $10 billion in state bonds that could be combined with federal money to build 800 miles of high-speed track. Eight Midwest states have cooperated closely to promote a network, with Chicago as its hub, …

    The FRA’s 68 pages of often technical rules also seek projects that would reduce regional highway and airport congestion and create jobs, especially among lower income Americans.

    Lollygagging states will have to move fast to try to grab a share of the funds, with the FRA guidelines setting a July 10 deadline for pre-applications and an Aug. 24 deadline for most final application papers. The FRA said it intends to release the first round of grants by mid-September.

    Any region can present a long-range plan, but the FRA has highlighted 10 major corridors…

    …..O’Tool… Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., said deadlines coming so quickly one after another will make it impossible to scrutinize the submissions.

    “July and August deadlines is rushing it,” said O’Toole, a longtime critic of such government-backed programs. “It’s hard for me to imagine federal authorities are going to take these analyses seriously. There’s no time for that.”

    President Barack Obama laid out plans in April for high-speed rail he said would help dramatically change the way Americans travel.

    Even advocates concede the $8 billion isn’t nearly enough for a wholesale change in passenger-train service, something that would require hundreds of billions more.

    FRA’s Rae assured a group of about 200 transportation officials who were gathered in Chicago for a rail conference…stimulus cash is just the beginning…

    The California High-Speed Rail Authority has said it hopes to build 800 miles of track for high-speed trains and would ask for federal funds to work on lines between San Francisco and San Jose and Los Angeles and Anaheim.

    Federal Railroad Administration on high-speed rail: http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31

    Midwest Regional Rail Initiative: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/pas.....dwest.html
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....speed_rail

    create jobs among lower-income Americans? This sounds very racist and insulting, as if they are referring to back breaking jobs.

    It’s a must that true American’s get these jobs, because they can count, measure, and read English instructions. We’ve got a construction problem in my neck of the woods. And it’s do to lack of these American skills.

  37. BannedbytheTaliban
    June 18, 2009 at 11:46 am

    Another case of judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.

    From the AP via WRAL Raleigh:

    White US Rep. in black Tenn. district faces fight

    By WOODY BAIRD
    Associated Press Writer

    Posted: Today at 4:55 a.m.

    MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Steve Cohen, a two-term white congressman from a mostly black House district, faces a bruising Democratic primary next year and race again will likely be at the center of the campaign.

    Willie Herenton, the first elected black mayor of Memphis, recently filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for Cohen’s 9th District House seat. Cohen has shrugged off black challengers before, but none with the political savvy and combative style of the 6-foot-6 mayor – a former Golden Gloves boxer who doesn’t shrink easily from a fight.

    …Voters in the August 2010 Democratic primary will face a sensitive question that has dogged Cohen since his first House election in 2006: Should Tennessee’s only majority black district have a black representative in Washington?

    …“It’s not so much that he’s disliked because he’s white, but he’s running in a district that was created to elect an African-American.”

    …In the 2008 primary, he trounced a black lawyer who campaigned heavily on race and produced a TV ad featuring a picture of Cohen and a photo of a hooded Ku Klux Klansman.

    …Herenton has also taken on federal prosecutors he accuses of trying to help his political enemies.

    According to witnesses who have appeared before a federal grand jury now in session, prosecutors have asked about some $90,000 Herenton made in a land deal and $50,000 he reportedly collected from an annual Christmas party financed by well-heeled supporters.

    http://www.wral.com/news/political/story/5381369/

    I have never seen an article filled with such blatant racism. Imagine the outcry had this been a white candidate trying to supplant a black incumbent based solely on the premise of race. Not to mention the challenger is facing federal prosecution for corruption, apparently a prerequisite for enlistment in the DNC these days.

    I am so glad Obama has ushered in the post-racial era.

    • caligirl9
      June 18, 2009 at 9:45 pm

      Impossible! You mean districts are actually created with a predicted outcome in mind?
      Oh the horror!
      (And yes, I think the way district lines are drawn are often too nonsensical … knowing they are drawn that way to make any one group “more important” and another less important and not as likely to be heard at the ballot box. Which is why I always vote for redistricting whenever I can.)

  38. caligirl9
    June 18, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    Not a national story (I apologize for that) but a nice look at how out-of-touch dems can be.
    From the SJ Merc.

    Newsom tells San Jose Rotarians that San Francisco is a model for fixing California
    If you read the national press and listen to the cable pundits, the Golden State is falling into a fiscal abyss, losing its competitive edge and wallowing in dysfunction. In short: It’s clear our best days are behind us.

    But San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom told a Silicon Valley audience Wednesday that he’s heard it all before: back in 1991 when Time magazine pretty much wrote off the state in a cover piece, back in the early part of this decade when the dot-coms went bust. Yet somehow, he said, the state always made a quick comeback.

    “It’s time to start focusing on what’s right with California rather than what’s wrong…”

    Newsom, whose main opponents in the Democratic primary are expected to be state Attorney General Jerry Brown and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, then began laying out an emerging strategy of his young campaign: turning his hometown, often the subject of scorn for its over-the-top politics, into an asset rather than a liability.

    The city has a reputation of leaning so far left that it’s in danger of falling into the Pacific. But Newsom maintained that San Francisco is doing better than most parts of California, with a lower unemployment rate and a healthier business climate. Me here. Huh???

    He also boasted that San Francisco is now the only city in the country with universal health care, which he said provides quality care at an affordable price for tens of thousands of uninsured residents. Even illegal immigrants are included in the plan — a fact he claimed makes pragmatic, if not ideological, sense…

    “I don’t want to spend seven dollars when I can spend one,” Newsom said.
    Newsom said he recently submitted a balanced budget on time that increased funds for the universal health care system, called Healthy San Francisco, and avoided laying off teachers, police officers and firefighters. (He didn’t mention that his proposed budget — which would slash at least $82 million in human services and recreation programs — has triggered street protests and rallies outside City Hall.)

    Earlier this month, Newsom said, the city took the lead in enacting the most comprehensive recycling law in the country when it banned throwing compostable food such as orange peels into the trash…

    Asked after the speech whether he was trying to address the “San Francisco flake factor” head-on, Newsom said: “I feel perfectly fine defending a city that is a rather extraordinary city in an equally extraordinary region.”

    Besides, he said, the city has a long line of politicians it can from be proud of — from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to former Mayor Willie Brown to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/top.....ck_check=1

    Stop laughing! I know people in this Rotary Club and like everything else in that nutcase area, most are raging dems. They probably fed off of every word!

    How out-of-touch can this guy be? It’s easy—he’s an absentee mayor who seems to be on vacation three weeks out of the month, out of town. This is a guy who was married last summer in Montana, and had several city vehicles shipped up there for his use, a la TOTUS.

    I suppose Newsom will be hiring the orange peel squad for recycling enforcement…

    P.S. SF just hired a guy for police chief who is cool with its sanctuary city status …

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 19, 2009 at 8:53 pm

      Caligirl,

      You have GOT to be kidding me! Gavin Newsom thinks SF is the model city for America? A sanctuary city that illegal immigrants don’t even want to go to for refuge, for fear of being propositioned by a drag queen or running afoul of a smelly Grateful Dead entourage.

      This has to be a joke! :)

    • caligirl9
      June 19, 2009 at 9:05 pm

      BP, SF is nearly a Third World country!

      Scary thing is so few California voters have been to SF, so what they see in their mind’s eye is the postcard SF. They don’t see the potholes in the streets, the human excrement on building steps along with the smell of urine in the morning, the panhandling, oh yes and the violence!

      The illegal aliens tend to be MS-13 underaged drug runners/gangstas.

      Seriously, who in their right minds could consider Newsome or Villagrosa viable candidates for California governor?

      (Yes, I know the answer. Dems.)

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 19, 2009 at 9:19 pm

      Well, I can’t throw stones your way, my mayor is Antonio “pinup boy” Villaraigosa. When he’s not busy enabling gang murders or bankrupting the city, he’s busying himself with pretty weather girls from local TV stations. Who do you think can run on the REpublican ticket? I will feel like jumping off a building if Villaraigosa, Newsom, or Ms. Feinstein end up being our “guvnah.” But sadly, I think any Democrat would be better than Arnold. I can take incompetence from a Dem, just not from one of my own.

    • caligirl9
      June 19, 2009 at 9:35 pm

      Our state is such a clusterf***!

      Thus far I would be confident throwing my hat behind Tom Campbell. He’s been stumping in the Bay Area a lot. Unfortunately so much of the Bay Area is of the “government will take care of me,” “I loves that gov’ment check and cheese” entitlement mentality. Even though we’ve got so much high-tech business, IMO so many of those CEOs are liberal to the core. I don’t know if any Republican can get anywhere in the Bay Area—unless the economy remains crappy and the promised “stimulus money” doesn’t benefit the area (thus far, it doesn’t. Except for the proposed high-speed rail thing).

      But honestly, for me any Republican is better than any Democrat.

      Ah-nold held such promise. But the Kennedys wore him down haha!

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 12:14 am

      What do you know about Chuck DeVore? His name came up somewhere. Are there any Latino Republicans who have survived the gauntlet enough to be nominated. At this point I’m not above crass ethnic exploitation if it means getting rid of the Feinstein-Boxer axis of lameness. I think Leslie Sanchez lives in Northern California or has some ties there. She’s a writer/researcher, but she always looks so together on CNN. I’d give a few hundred bucks if someone set up a PAC for her to run in Cali. She’s smart and her book, LOS REPUBLICANOS, is the most on-the-money treatment of the relationship between Republicans and ethnic politics I’ve seen yet. Anything, anything, but another 6 years of a Feinstein clone.

    • caligirl9
      June 20, 2009 at 11:48 am

      BP, I admit that I am not a political animal, especially living up here in dem/lib land.

      Leslie Sanchez looks like she could be a very intriguing candidate for Lt. Governor, and hopefully she would pursue the governorship eventually. Her work on the border security and immigration legislation certainly is an asset in the political climate of this state.

      Not meaning to sound like a bigot, but I can easily support a candidate such as Ms. Sanchez whose attitude is she wants to serve the people—not only “her” people. Nothing bugs me more than a Hispanic candidate (or person in a leadership role) saying “I am going to help people like me.” I worked for one of those—she hired a less qualified Latina for a full-time public relations position simply because she chooses to keep Latinas around her—white people are the devil! Even though she’s American-born, she identifies herself as Salvadoran, and calls El Salvador “home.”

      I mentor a young woman who came to this country at the age of 11 months. Her visa expired, though she did not understand what that meant until she was 15 or 16, when she learned she could not earn a driver’s license or legally hold a job because she could not get a social security number. Nothing unique in her story. Oh, her Spanish sucks. If she found herself in Mexico, she’d be an instant victim.

      When I met her, she’d just survived a fight against lymphoma. She’s in school to become an baccalaureate-prepared RN. If you ask her what she wants to do with her future, she will tell you she wants to give back, to help families and children who went through the same battle as she did. She scoffs at the notion of helping “people like her” only. For her, people are all people. She’s not a LaRaza kook. She doesn’t want California to become North Mexico!

      She attended community college through AB540, the only one in her family to do so. She understood how limited her life was living in the shadows, but she did nothing to draw attention to herself. She has never possessed or used fake documents. She did not drive just in case she got stopped. She refused to conceive and bear an anchor baby or marry a U.S. citizen in order to stay. A great member of the community all around.

      She’s now received her green card, her life is on track, and I’m happy to help her in any way I am able, emotionally and financially when I can.

      I know another young woman, same age, same circumstances, who has false documents (and a job) and drove everywhere without a license. She will tell you that her future goals include “helping people like me (here illegally).” She bugs.

      So I’m not against any Latino/a getting into politics as long as it’s about public service, and remembering that public is of many colors, religions, and nations of origin. Leslie Sanchez certainly fits the bill, doesn’t she? And it seems she has the stomach for politics, too.

      Bill Campbell was in my neck of the woods yesterday. Here’s parts of an article from my local cat box liner, the SJ Mercury.

      Can Tom Campbell upset billionaires running for California governor?

      He was once Silicon Valley’s Golden Boy — David Packard’s hand-picked political star, a tenured Stanford law professor at age 34, a valley congressman by 36. In the decade he served in Congress, he earned the “maverick” label before John McCain made it cool.

      But for all of Tom Campbell’s brains, integrity and fancy degrees, does he have any chance of becoming California’s next governor?

      Many political scientists say it’s clearly an uphill battle for Campbell, who’s running against two Silicon Valley billionaires — former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner — in next June’s Republican primary. Though Campbell has polled surprisingly well so far, pundits say Whitman and Poizner could end up spending $100 million between them in the battle to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger.

      But, most political experts are quick to say, history also says the 56-year-old Campbell could win — particularly since the GOP primary is shaping up to be a three-way, all-Silicon-Valley contest between candidates of similar political views.
      All define themselves as social moderates and fiscal conservatives: pro-choice, pro-education reform and unabashedly pro-business…

      One possible scenario that would work in Campbell’s favor goes something like this:

      The political views of Whitman and Poizner are not widely known. So they may be tempted to inch further and further to the political right to capture as many hard-core conservatives as possible. In doing so, however, they’ll risk alienating the increasingly large number of independents who will be able to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary.

      …Campbell, who was Schwarzenegger’s finance director in 2004-05, also has employed a potentially risky strategy by outlining on his Web site (www.campbell.org) exactly how he’d close the state’s $24 billion deficit.
      Perhaps the most unusual piece is a temporary 32-cent gas hike; he’d use the money to prevent the firing of teachers, an increase in class sizes and elimination of community college courses.

      … Campbell is no doubt influenced by the fact that he has managed to survive in politics despite some unpopular decisions.

      The most noteworthy example was when Campbell — liked by many Democrats for his pro-gun-control, pro-gay-rights views — voted in 1999 to impeach President Bill Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He did so despite opposition in his heavily Democratic district. A constitutional scholar, Campbell argued that if Clinton lied under oath to a federal grand jury, he deserved to be impeached.

      A Field Poll released in early March showed Whitman ahead 21 percent among GOP voters. Campbell trailed slightly with 18 percent, and Poizner was far behind with 7 percent. A Capitol Weekly poll released earlier this month, however, showed Campbell ahead with 17 percent among likely primary voters; Whitman polled 10 percent, Poizner 7 percent…

      http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_12651814

      I know Campbell’s pro-choice, pro-gay rights views may not be popular with most everyone here. But California is a strange place, and for Campbell to have any chance, he must be a bit socially moderate. Honestly, right now what we need is a good fiscal conservative in office, period.

      And face it, pretty much any Republican is a far better option than mayors Newsom, Villagrosa or (former SF mayor) Senator DiFi.

    • caligirl9
      June 20, 2009 at 4:31 pm

      BP, I signed up for updates from Tom Campbell’s campaign and received a reply regarding my concerns about the southern border of our state.
      He is very simpatico with my views regarding services to illegals—medical care for contagious diseases (TB, for example) and school for the kids. No driver’s licenses, no other “benefits.”
      I appreciated his candor and have no reservations supporting his campaign.

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 4:46 pm

      Caligirl9, Thanks for the info on Tom Campbell. Yes, Leslie Sanchez is Republican first, Latina second. If you have a chance to read her book, you’ll like it. She basically points out that Hispanics lose out when we go after Democrats who pander to us. In her book she shows that most Hispanics agree with conservatives on border issues, because they suffer disproportionately from social ills that result from too many illegal immigrants in a community.

      Most Hispanics, as Sanchez points out, support border security and oppose amnesty, but they don’t like being held up as scapegoats either. Sanchez is good b/c she shows how the democrats blow a few comments from Repubs like Tancredo out of proportion.

      I will check out Tom Campbell. I didn’t think of trying to encourage Leslie Sanchez to run for Lt. Governor. I wonder how people can start a buzz about them. Good thinking!

      About Latino politics, you’re right, that too many Hispanic (usually Democrats) public figures try to figure out a way to get our votes by appealing to us as Hispanics, instead of speaking to us as people. On that I agree with Rush Limbaugh. There will always be some La Raza kooks who project their own issues onto white people and blame “gringos” for everything. When they show up in my classes, I take a few months to slowly wear away at them until they learn to let go of their anger and understand that white people face all the issues they face, except for racism. It’s a hard process but I do my best. I’m up against the overwhelming tide in the academy, though, of people inciting Latino students into racial extremism because it boosts enrollments and in some cases fattens their scholarship funds.

    • caligirl9
      June 20, 2009 at 5:02 pm

      We just did start a buzz about Ms. Sanchez. I’ll make sure to write about her on my blog. Just did a little pro-Campbell piece, too.

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 5:34 pm

      Hi, I just saw your blog post on Tom Campbell! He sounds like a good bet! I didn’t realize you were pro-gay rights. That’s the one issue where I’m liberal; I support marriage equality. Though the anti-Prop-8 mobs drove me crazy. I consider gays & lesbians similar to Latinos in one regard: They’re groups with right-wing values that got caught up in the socialist left’s identity politics. Most GLBTs I know want low taxes, fiscal restraint, small government, a strong defense to go after Islamic extremist homophobes. They also seem to love men & women in uniform, which kinda sorta turns into a support for the police & military. Gayborhoods always seem like the most ideally Republican places to live, too — clean, safe, generally well behaved, full of small business owners, and charities that run on private donations.

      I’ve been saying for a long time that all REpubs need to do, to build a permanent majority, is stay true to their basic principles but go easy on wedge issues like gay marriage; i.e., don’t pander to groups like gays & Latinos, but don’t overtly alienate them either, and they’ll come into the tent because they are conservatives at hear.

      I think if McCain & Palin had been more aggressive and exposed Obama’s basic views on budget, defense, and family values more explicitly, while showing how moderate they were on gay rights and Latino issues, they could have won the election. But these are all lessons for the next cycle.

    • caligirl9
      June 20, 2009 at 6:17 pm

      Yep, I believe our party needs to stop trying to legislate things that are very personal—though I must say I am not a fan of second trimester or later abortions for the convenience of the woman! I know there are life-threatening complications of pregnancy (eclampsia is one; the curative treatment for that is delivery, though there are control methods that need to be tried and are often successful) that sometimes have to be remedied in this way, but I have a very strong opinion on how I’d handle it if it were me in that situation, or if I were the nurse in that situation (compassion is the key, carving up fetuses is wrong).

      I’m a law and order type (you’ll really read some interesting stuff by little old me at the Trials and Tribulations blog), and I very much believe that the federal government does need to be involved in some things (defense, roads and highways and other infrastructure) but not others (education—the needs from state-to-state are so different, there is no way a one size fits all approach works here. Best left to the individual states). Also, government is not the teat that nourishes the deadbeats!

      I certainly don’t take abortion lightly but I also know there is a higher power and ultimately He will let each of us know which of our actions in this life are truly heinous enough to keep us out of Heaven.

      I don’t believe anyone chooses to be homosexual either. I grew up around several young men who later came out—I knew they were tormented by having to date girls long before they really understood what was happening to them and who they were. Being gay or lesbian is a difficult path, and I have yet to meet a homosexual who has tried to recruit me.

      I cannot say the same things about Democrats LOL

      I agree with your thoughts on McCain and Palin. Face it, those two are “just plain folk” like all of us here. No special handling, just hard work and dedication to this country. Never a sense of “what’s in it for me?” from either candidate. But that message certainly was lost …

      Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am a bit random and ADD in my thoughts …

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 6:29 pm

      “Yep, I believe our party needs to stop trying to legislate things that are very personal—though I must say I am not a fan of second trimester or later abortions for the convenience of the woman! I know there are life-threatening complications of pregnancy (eclampsia is one; the curative treatment for that is delivery, though there are control methods that need to be tried and are often successful) that sometimes have to be remedied in this way, but I have a very strong opinion on how I’d handle it if it were me in that situation, or if I were the nurse in that situation (compassion is the key, carving up fetuses is wrong).

      I’m a law and order type (you’ll really read some interesting stuff by little old me at the Trials and Tribulations blog), and I very much believe that the federal government does need to be involved in some things (defense, roads and highways and other infrastructure) but not others (education—the needs from state-to-state are so different, there is no way a one size fits all approach works here. Best left to the individual states). Also, government is not the teat that nourishes the deadbeats!

      I certainly don’t take abortion lightly but I also know there is a higher power and ultimately He will let each of us know which of our actions in this life are truly heinous enough to keep us out of Heaven.”

      I’m curious to hear if you have a hard time being ‘moderate.’ I have the good fortune of being a rank-and-file Republican. The Repubs got gross & slimy and profligate about spending — which was why I (confession!) voted for Gore and Kerry after seeing how much spending was promised in W’s 2000 campaign — but in terms of what they are supposed to stand for, I’m almost embarrassed by how perfectly partisan I am. I took a questionnaire and the results indicated that I was more right-wing than 99.4% of the United States population! I’m pro-life, pro-gun, etc, etc. I just don’t mind very much if gays who are already living together feel the need to have a wedding. I also do simple math and figure out that if all the women who got abortions chose to have them, a large number would need to find homes to adopt their babies, and then you have millions of male-male and female-female couples who make loads of money and want to raise kids. So why not save babies from abortion by relaxing about the gay stuff? Other than that one issue, though, I always end up in line with the party platform.

      It seems like being moderate would be harder because people like me must put so much pressure on you and lay such terrible guilt trips to get you to be what we consider ‘loyal.’ Do you ever feel like defecting to the (ahem) “other” party (which shall remain nameless)?

      [I held my nose and voted against George Bush twice, simply because I hated his irresponsible spending. Now after having seen the Democratic regime in action, I realize how good Bush was compared to others!]

    • caligirl9
      June 20, 2009 at 6:54 pm

      Oh yes! I have had my raging Dem friends tell me I’m a closet Dem! But I’m not—I can’t stand the philosophy of tax and spend (irresponsibly) nor can I abide the concept of welfare—taking care of able-bodied people who have made poor life decisions and now expect us to make up for their mistakes by sending them a check every month. A program for this, a program for that—and none of them work!!!!

      I did question my Republican-ness with the Terri Schiavo thing. I was so angry that the government came to a standstill over the very private decision her husband had made. I nearly re-registered, but then decided even when disagreeing with that one issue, I am still more of a Republican than anything else.

      Honestly, a Republican candidate’s stand on abortion or gay rights isn’t enough to turn me off or on. For me, being a Republican means being responsible for myself, and in turn, I can help make my country better. I feel politicians MUST justify the expense of every dime they spend. Personally I’d love to be able to check a box at tax time that directs my funds to things I believe in—a strong, competent and well-outfitted defense, taking care of our veterans, repairing and maintaining infrastructure that benefit many people (none of this special interest crap!), securing the borders, funding medical research. I’m not for giving money to special interest crap like ACORN or the National Endowment for the Arts (if it’s not self-supporting, do we really need it?). I’m really not for socialized medicine either … having worked in health care, I am POSITIVE that government has NO PLACE deciding things for doctors and nurses! There is already too much meddling.

      In my mind, being a Republican means being responsible. My belief in fiscal responsibility is what makes me a Republican. I am not hands-off enough to be a Libertarian—I like having the police around and since I’m not a criminal, I appreciate their visibility.

      I could never be a politician because I did inhale in the 1970s.

  39. caligirl9
    June 18, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    From my local newspaper, the San José Mercury News. I found myself reading this and saying “hell yeah!”

    Victor Davis Hanson: Logic is turned upside down in Age of Obama

    Are you confused by all that has changed since President Barack Obama took office in January? If so, you’re not alone. Perhaps this handy guide to Age of Obama “logic” might be of some assistance.

    1. The budget. Wanting to cut $17 billion from the budget, as President Obama has promised, is proof of financial responsibility. Borrowing $1.84 trillion this year for new programs is “stimulus.” The old phrase “out-of-control spending” is inoperative.

    2. Unemployment. The number of jobs theoretically saved, or created, by new government policies — not the actual percentage of Americans out of work, or the total number of jobs lost — is now the far better indicator of unemployment.

    3. The private sector. Nationalizing much of the auto and financial industries, while regulating executive compensation, is an indication of our new government’s repeatedly stated reluctance to interfere in the private sector.

    4. Race and gender. Not what is said but who says it and about whom reveals racism and sexism. For example, a Hispanic female judge isn’t being offensive if she states that Latinas are inherently better judges than white males.

    5. Random violence. Some assassinations represent larger American pathologies, but others do not. When a crazed lone gunman murders someone outside the Holocaust Museum or shoots an abortion doctor, we should worry
    about growing right-wing and Christian extremism. But when an African-American Muslim convert brags about his murder of a military recruitment officer or an Islamic group plots to kill Jews and blow up a military jet, these are largely isolated incidents without larger relevance.

    6. Terrorism. Acts of terror disappeared about six months ago. Thankfully, we live now in an age where there will be — in the new vocabulary of the Obama administration — only occasional “overseas contingency operations” in which we may be forced to hold a few “detainees.” At the same time, ongoing military tribunals, renditions, wiretaps, phone intercepts and predator-drone assassinations are no longer threats to the Constitution. And just saying you’re going to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay is proof that it is almost closed.

    7. Iraq. The once-despised Iraq war thankfully ended around Jan. 20, 2009, and has now transformed into a noble experiment that is fanning winds of change throughout the Middle East. There will be no need for any more Hollywood cinema exposés of American wartime crimes in Iraq.

    8. The West. Western values and history aren’t apparently that special or unique. As President Obama told the world during his recent speech in Cairo, the Renaissance and Enlightenment were, in fact, fueled by a brilliant Islamic culture, responsible for landmark discoveries in mathematics, science and medicine. Slavery in America ended without violence. Mistreatment of women and religious intolerance in the Middle East have comparable parallels in America.

    9. Media. The media are disinterested and professional observers of the present administration. When television anchormen and senior magazine editors bow to the president, proclaim him a god or feel tingling in the legs when he speaks, it is quite normal.

    10. George W. Bush. Former President Bush did all sorts of bad things to the United States that only now we are learning will take at least eight years to sort out. “Bush did it” for the next decade will continue to explain the growing unemployment rate, the most recent deficit, the new round of tensions with Iran and North Korea, and growing global unrest.

    Once we remember and accept the logic of the above, then almost everything about this Age of Obama begins to make perfect sense.

    Victor Davis Hanson is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution.

    http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_12623197

    I think this sums up how well we all feel. And to think this popped up in the SJ Merc news, as liberal a rag as you can find!

    • canary
      June 19, 2009 at 6:14 am

      Obama wrote prior to election, that Democrats have been trying to pretend they are more religious as a stragedy to compete with the large amount of Christians. He said 40%, because the Christian right influence is powerful.
      Obama uses the term “the Christian right” several times. He does not capitalize “right” He really accents that Christians are the Democrats real competition.

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 12:16 am

      Hanson’s a great columnist. I’m reading his book Who Killed Homer? which isn’t as good as I thought it was going to be, given how well he writes online. He also has a few books on California and immigration that seem a bit too far afield from his expertise in Classics. But I’m being too tough on his books; the truth is he’s a fantastic writer. It’s just that his forte, I think, is the 1500-word essay full of pithy wisdom.

  40. canary
    June 19, 2009 at 5:56 am

    I found this old 2003 GSE report. It talks alot about Fannie Mae Freddie Mac being looked into.
    I also noticed that Senator Grassley who is over the OIG Oversight Committee, and the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficency (not the President of the U.S.) look into firing Inspector Generals. It says “other senators” were also calling for it, and that “Senator Charles Grassley said the IG would not be fired, until a complete thorough investigation would be completed.
    Nothing says the President of the U.S. fires an OIG. That part is approx page 19 after all the Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac stuff is all at the beginning of this GSE report dated 2003. Seems to jump around a lot.
    http://gsereport.com/2003/Apri.....ay%205.pdf

  41. BillK
    June 19, 2009 at 6:21 am

    Some fun propaganda from the ultra far-left Madison, WI Capital Times:

    As folks seek inexpensive things to do, tax hikes may be necessary

    By Mike Ivey

    Here’s one stat that speaks volumes about the local economy.

    Through early May, attendance at the Henry Vilas Zoo was over 130,000 — nearly double the number of visitors from the same period last year.

    Of course, this surge in zoo-going has little to do with the public’s sudden interest in threatened species and everything to do with the fact that a visit to see the animals is free.

    And as the full impact of layoffs, plant closings, furloughs and foreclosures takes hold, more families will find themselves looking for things to do that don’t cost very much.

    It’s all part of the great downsizing.

    Even mainstreamers like David Brooks of the New York Times acknowledged as much in a column this week.

    “A country that had become accustomed to reasonably fast growth and frothy affluence will probably have to adjust to slower growth and less retail fizz,” he writes.

    That’s a gentle way of saying the good times on borrowed money are not coming back. I’m talking the SUVs, the high-end condos, the upscale steak joints and all the rest that came to symbolize the mindless consumption of the greed-is-good era.

    America didn’t get into this mess overnight and it’s going to take more than a couple of months to dig out. Anyone who suggests otherwise is either lying or trying to sell you something –like a book on how to start your own consulting business.

    In the case of elected officials, few in Wisconsin have been willing to lay out the worst-case scenario of declining tax revenues and the service cuts that must inevitably follow.

    But University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher Andy Reschovsky hasn’t been afraid to speak truth to power. In an analysis detailed recently in the Wisconsin State Journal, Reschovsky warned that the Madison Metropolitan School District could see a net cut in aid of $4.1 million, or 4.6 percent, under the current state budget forecast.

    Those cuts could lead to cuts in school programs, teacher layoffs and big increases in property taxes. Reschovsky said Madison schools could be looking to raise property taxes by up to 7 percent next year.

    Researchers with the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance agree with Reschovksy that many school districts in the state could be forced to raise property taxes by 5 to 7 percent or make drastic cuts.

    This may well set up a future showdown between financially strapped taxpayers, many out of work or facing a decline in household income, and public teachers unions. …

    http://www.madison.com/tct/business/455078

    Gee, you think?

    Meanwhile these proponents of “affluenza” have forgotten that The Chosen One was supposed to fix all this.

    I guess we just need to accept things now, because, you know, the mess Bush and Reagan got us into can’t be “fixed overnight…”

    Destroying capitalism and moving America into full-tilt socialism is only the first step, apparently.

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 12:28 am

      Madison is a university town, and the university that’s there is ridiculously left-wing. But I can scout it for you fairly soon, because Mrs. Lopez, aka La Boss (my wife) just got a tenure-track job at nearby Oshkosh, and we’re doomed to being a commuter couple until I find work in Milwaukee or she finds work in LA…

      But the thing that bugs me about this writer’s tone above, is this: Who said greed is good? Who anointed David Brooks as a mainstream conservative? Who do you know that endorses a breezy lifestyle of carefree affluence and reckless consumerism?

      Leftists construct the ultimate Straw Men, the Straw Man on Steroids — this compendium of everything rotten about themselves, which they project outward through fantasy. Someone I know from UW Madison had coffee with me back in January and gave me this basic shtick above, saying, “we’ve had decades of the Republican ‘greed is good’ attitude and now we need a change.” And I say, “huh”? His wealthy Marin County mom helps him out with rent on an apartment overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and he’s jaunted around the world several times over without ever feeling the need to secure a full-time job. Supposedly he’s writing books. Meanwhile, I’ve supported a family of three on one professor’s salary and I live in a tiny 2-BR in the middle of the porn capital of America, the San Fernando Valley. Yet he’s the Dem and I’m the Republican; he’s wasted thousands upon thousands of dollars, while I walk to work to save money on gas, even in LA.

      This whole narrative is so darn phony! The outrage over other people profligate spending is just some neurotic atonement for their own softness of spirit, laziness, and cupidity. If they could just concede that they feel bad about their *own* spending disasters, it wouldn’t be so bad. But inevitably they project contradictory evils onto conservatives: In their fantasy world, we’re both fanatically Christian yet we’re the ones driving air-conditioned SUVs with gun racks on our way to enjoy an overpriced lobster at Sizzler’s, a lap dance, and open house for a new gated community of McMansions.

      So now, in their fantasy world, we have to pay for them to get out of this mess. Only, we can’t, because they have more stuff than we do.

  42. badcrow
    June 19, 2009 at 7:40 pm

    Caught this piece by Michelle Malkin, might be a little long here but an excellent expose’ of the real FLOTUS and the past doings of Obammy’s henchmen…These people say their for the common people, yet they kick them to the curb for profit! Skimming Public monies on the backs of the very minorities they pretend to help!

  43. Eagle334th
    June 19, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    From the USA Today:

    Sotomayor quits club after GOP pressure

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday from an elite all-women’s club after Republicans questioned her participation in it.
    Sotomayor said she resigned from the Belizean Grove to prevent the issue from becoming a distraction in her confirmation hearings.

    In a letter to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the federal appeals court judge said she is convinced that the club does not practice “invidious discrimination” and that her membership in it did not violate judicial ethics.

    But she said she didn’t want questions about it to “distract anyone from my qualifications and record.”

    …

    The Belizean Grove bills itself as women’s answer to the 130-year-old all-male Bohemian Club in California. The club owns a 2,500-acre camping area in northern California called the Grove. Chief Justice Earl Warren belonged to the Bohemian Club beginning in the 1940s, before he joined the court and long before the federal judiciary adopted a code of conduct.

    “The Belizean Grove is a constellation of influential women who are key decision makers in the profit, non-profit and social sectors; who build long term mutually beneficial relationships in order to both take charge of their own destinies and help others to do the same,” the group says on its website. There are about 115 members, the club says.

    …

    http://www.usatoday.com/news/w.....htm?csp=34

    • caligirl9
      June 19, 2009 at 11:52 pm

      Yep, there’s a person who sticks to her convictions!
      Don’t worry, there is plenty of other stuff to distract anyone from her qualifications and record!

    • bronzeprofessor
      June 20, 2009 at 12:31 am

      Oh God, she’s an Obama clone — the chip on her shoulder, the Ivy degrees, the syrupy autobiographical narratives, and now the fake repudiations. Is she going to say she doesn’t know what the ladies in the Belizean Grove said, because she belonged to it for 20 years but didn’t pay attention?

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 20, 2009 at 9:23 pm

      “Republicans questioned her participation in it.”

      Yup, that’s “pressure” alright. Any time a republican asks anyone a question, it’s tantamount to waterboarding. *WHEW*…glad she made it out alive.

      (sarcasm, in case one wondered)

      “she didn’t want questions about it to “distract anyone from my qualifications and record.”

      Can’t be distracted by what isn’t there.

  44. Eagle334th
    June 19, 2009 at 10:43 pm

    From the AP:

    Obama Half Brother Working on Book

    Another Obama relative has a book deal.

    A memoir by George Obama, the president’s half brother and a resident of Huruma, Kenya, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling, although George and Barack Obama — 20 years apart in age — did not grow up together and did not meet as children.

    George is the youngest of the senior Obama’s seven children and was born six months before his father died.

    Little is known about George Obama. The book, tentatively titled “Homeland” and to be written with author-journalist Damien Lewis, will tell of George Obama’s fall into crime and poverty as a teenager and his eventual embrace of community organizing — a passion shared by the president — and of advocacy for the poor, an identification so strong that he chooses to live among them.

    “Even had George Obama not been our President’s half brother, his story is moving and inspirational,” David Rosenthal, Simon & Schuster publisher and executive vice president, said in a statement Sunday. “It is an object lesson in survival, selflessness and courage.”

    …

    Other Obama relatives are working on books, including a half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng; and the brother of first lady Michelle Obama, Craig Robinson. Duke University Press is releasing the doctoral dissertation of the president’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who died in 1995.

    …

    http://news.aol.com/article/ob.....ook/526552

    • caligirl9
      June 19, 2009 at 11:49 pm

      Why should I care and why would I buy any of these books?
      *crickets chirping*

    • canary
      June 20, 2009 at 7:06 pm

      Isn’t Obama’s brother George the one arrested in a UK airport for sexual assualt on a teenage girl, then recently caught with a fake name and passport at another Internationl airport trying to make a trip to the U.S.?

    • Anonymoose
      June 20, 2009 at 8:37 pm

      banhgheadontable……bangheadontable….bangheadontable……..

      Well, I can see what the next “big thing” will be, is telling people you’re a community organizer. It worked for Obamba, why not his distantly connected half brother?

      Nobody knows who George is, he hasn’t done anything significant, but piddling stuff like that didn’t stop Obama from becoming president, so George is bound to have a best seller on his hands.

    • Rusty Shackleford
      June 20, 2009 at 9:19 pm

      You mean to tell me that a village in Kenya is about to lose ANOTHER idiot?

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