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Selected News For Feb 7 – Feb 13

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items themselves.

If you do post an article, please follow these guidelines as much as possible:

  • In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here.
  • Do not just post a link without noting the source, giving the headline and a brief excerpt from the article.
  • Remember to link to the original source for each item you post.
  • Avoid articles from blogs or hugely popular sites like the Drudge Report, since most people will presumably see such material elsewhere.
  • Any articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted there.
  • Remember to excerpt heavily. Posting less than a third of the article, is a good rule of thumb.

Thank you!

Related Articles:

 

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, February 7th, 2009 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

84 Responses to “Selected News For Feb 7 – Feb 13”

  1. Dave2882
    February 7, 2009 at 4:09 am

    IHT: Obama hopes pay caps will ease anger at Wall Street

    Even the new rules allow companies some leeway. While the rules restrict when stock incentives could be cashed in, they do not place limits on the amount of stock options, which have become the biggest part of many executive compensation packages.

    http://tinyurl.com/bqlhx9

    Sneaky, sneaky

  2. Dave2882
    February 7, 2009 at 4:20 am

    The Dems can’t say they weren’t warned that their ’stimulus’ boondoggle would tank the economy.

    http://tinyurl.com/da3q8o

    Check out this guy’s résumé.

    • Steve
      February 7, 2009 at 10:34 am

      Thanks for posting, Dave. In the future, do try to post the headline and a brief excerpt from the article and note the source, if you have the time.

      Thanks!

  3. Helena
    February 7, 2009 at 10:41 am

    At first I couldn’t figure out the photo, but now I see it’s bees drinking water from a bucket. I guess bees do not live by nectar alone. Very sweet.

    PS – I also loved the bee in the snow recently – in fact – let me commend you on your pictures all the time. They’re always very well chosen and frequently hilarious.

  4. Skul
    February 7, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    The photo gave me a smile.
    I have a large, shallow tray filled with sugar water on the porch right now.
    It’s covered with bees from the hive they built in our squirrel house.
    It’s surprising how fast they can drink it down.

  5. sheehanjihad
    February 8, 2009 at 9:36 am

    an interesting take on the Hamas theft and resale of “humanitarian aide” to Gaza….seems the UN is getting tired of having their supplies stolen and used as leverage to control palistinain civilians. Now they refuse to deliver any more aide until Hamas crosses their heart and hope to die promises to be good.

    HA! At least this time, everyone is using the palestinians for political gain. The Israelis have been telling the UN this for months…..
    http://www.jpost.com/servlet/S.....3304705842

    • Gila Monster
      February 8, 2009 at 10:47 am

      SJ, your link to the J-Post article appears to be broken. I’m not sure if this is the same article you were referring to but I believe it is so here’s a new link.

      http://tinyurl.com/cs46ek

      It is rather hilarious that the UNRWA expects a “promise” from Hamas that they will never ever steal UN relief supplies again, ……bwaahaahaahahahaha!!
      Since which snowy day in the Sinai have those Pali a**hats in the ME ever followed a treaty or kept their so-called “word”?

  6. BillK
    February 8, 2009 at 10:49 am

    Is this good, or bad?

    From a “the GOP must change!” AP:

    New York’s GOP urges Giuliani to help them rebound

    By Michael Gormley

    ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Republicans are completely out of power for the first time in four decades. Democrats rule the executive and legislative branches and hold 26 of the state’s 29 congressional seats.

    On the fringes of this grim political tableau hovers a larger-than-life figure who won worldwide acclaim after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

    Rudy Giuliani, considered the GOP’s best chance for redemption, has a new nickname: Rudy the Savior.

    In a hypothetical contest for governor, a Jan. 27 Marist College poll found 47 percent of New York voters favored the former New York City mayor, compared to 46 percent for incumbent Democratic Gov. David Paterson. Paterson was 10 percentage points ahead in November. And a Siena College poll last week gave Giuliani a 60 percent approval rating _ the best he’s done since March 2007.

    State Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello says he has already talked to Giuliani about running.

    “I’m coming away cautiously optimistic,” Mondello said. “The conversations I’ve had with him, and we’ve had a few, certainly are promising … he would energize the party.”

    Giuliani isn’t talking. He took a sound beating in his run for the GOP’s presidential nomination, and the former mob prosecutor is making millions in his global consulting firm.

    But he doesn’t have to speak on his own behalf.

    “I certainly think there is a groundswell developing among New Yorkers for his kind of leadership in these difficult times,” said Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor to Giuliani. He wouldn’t describe his conversations with Giuliani.

    The math is clear. Giuliani would do well in the suburbs and upstate, like most Republicans do. Unlike most Republicans, he also would grab a big share of vote-rich New York City, thanks mostly to his Sept. 11 leadership. Paterson, on the other hand, is an unelected governor who rose to power after Eliot Spitzer resigned in disgrace in March 2007.

    Giuliani is considering nonpolitical factors as well, including his five-year-old marriage and his growing business, Giuliani Partners, which advises on security and emergency management.

    “But I believe that public service in his soul,” Mondello said. “This stuff gets into your blood.”

    Republicans are looking for signs. This past week, Newsday reported that Giuliani’s wife, Judith, sold property in her hometown of Hazleton, Pa., which could signal Giuliani will always be a New Yorker. And he’s been all over TV, blasting the Illinois governor’s scandal, rebutting Democratic President Barack Obama’s fight against large corporate compensation, opining on Fox News and being featured in a political satire special of “Saturday Night Live.”

    Democrats say Republicans’ focus on Giuliani means they’re out of new ideas.

    “It’s not a surprise they are looking for a savior,” said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester. “They are desperate.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2.....ue,00.html

    I don’t think Giuliani would make a bad Governor, but per usual if the GOP is looking to a relatively liberal Republican like Rudy as the future, we’re condemning ourselves to our own failure.

    Despite her grab for “Stimulus” cash, I still believe the party’s future is better served by Sarah Palin than most any other party notable around today.

    Unless of course Rush or Ann decide to run. :-) :-)

  7. caligirl9
    February 8, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    From Hamptonroads.com, a pair of parents putting blame for bad grades where blame should be—on their son!

    Chesapeake parents take stand over teen’s grades

    How’s this for punishment?

    Trenton O’Neal stood near a light pole at the intersection of Airline Boulevard and Ahoy Drive in Chesapeake for hours on Saturday, a chest-to-trunk poster board of his bad grades dangling from his neck.

    “It sucks,” said Trenton, who apparently got the message. “I don’t want to be out here again. I know that much.”

    His parents, fed up by their son’s lack of effort, conjured up the idea as a way to get through to the 15-year-old Western Branch High School freshman.

    “He hadn’t been trying at all,” said the Rev. Donald General Jr., pastor of Perfecting Saints Church of God in Christ in Virginia Beach. “He’s not even handing in work he does when we supervise him. My wife and I are not going to give up on Tre.”

    General and his wife, Tanyeil, say there is no excuse for lousy grades, especially since they said they both have several academic degrees…

    http://hamptonroads.com/2009/0.....ens-grades

    Congratulations to Trenton’s parents Tanyeil General and the Rev. Donald J. General Jr. for doing the right thing by their boy. If only more parents were willing to work with their children and teachers, and also understand that ultimately any efforts (or lack thereof) are on the kid, think of how much better schools could be! The General family’s answer didn’t cost taxpayers a dime, and the message was pretty darn clear too!

  8. pdsand
    February 9, 2009 at 3:07 am

    I don’t know how this slipped past me, but I caught wind of it on SNL of all places…
    From Yahoo news:
    “Mass. couple who led gay marriage fight to divorce
    Tue Feb 3, 6:12 pm ET

    BOSTON – A lesbian couple who led the fight for gay marriage in Massachusetts has filed for divorce. Julie and Hillary Goodridge were among seven gay couples who filed a lawsuit that led to a court ruling making Massachusetts the first state to legalize same-sex marriages in 2004. The couple became the public face of the debate in the state and married the first day same-sex marriages became legal.

    The divorce case was filed last week in Suffolk Probate and Family Court and was not unexpected. The couple announced they were separating in 2006.

    Messages left for the Goodridges were not immediately returned Tuesday.”

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

    With divorce being the standard by which normal people are supposed to be destroying the institution of marriage, can these people finally be considered to be mocking the institution now?

  9. BillK
    February 9, 2009 at 8:07 am

    Petty? Nah…

    From the Madison, Wisconsin Capital Times:

    Doyle doesn’t sign ‘Reagan Day’ proclamation

    Friday marked the 98th anniversary of former President Ronald Reagan’s birth, the fifth since his death in 2004.

    Almost two-thirds of U.S. governors — both Democrats and Republicans — enacted a proclamation to delegate Feb. 6 as “Ronald Reagan Day.”

    Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle was one of only a handful of governors to deny recognition of the late president, according to the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project based in Washington D.C.

    “By refusing to honor President Reagan, Gov. Jim Doyle has put pusillanimous petty partisanship above patriotism,” said Grover Norquist, chairman of the group, in a press release. “Ronald Reagan was a man loved by the American people and citizens abroad. Ignoring his legacy of leadership ignores the strength and value of freedom and democracy. Gov. Jim Doyle should be ashamed.”

    Seventeen governors (14 Democrats and one Republican) refused to issue a proclamation. Three did not respond.

    The other governors are as follows: Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.; Mike Beebe, D-Ark.; Ruth Ann Minner, D-Del.; Charlie Crist, R-Fla.; Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan.; Martin O’Malley, D-Md.; Deval Patrick, D-Mass.; Jennifer Granholm, D-Mich.; Matt Blunt, R-Mo.; Brian Schweitzer, D-Mont.; Mike Easley, D-N.C.; Jon Corzine, D-N.J.; Ted Strickland, D-Ohio; Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; Mike Rounds, R-S.D.; Tim Kaine, D-Va.

    http://www.madison.com/tct/mad/latest/437408

  10. BillK
    February 9, 2009 at 8:15 am

    Today’s fear-mongering article from the AP:

    The rise and (almost) fall of America’s banks

    By Stevenson Jacobs and Erin McClam

    These days, you can roll up to an ATM at the grocery, the pharmacy, the gas station, the hardware store, the office, even the ballpark. You can check your Bank of America balance on your iPhone. You can text Chase, and Chase will text you back.

    That’s banking today: It has grown from an almost quaint relationship between teller and customer into a massive, dizzyingly interconnected network that touches almost every adult in this country.

    And right now, the federal government — working without a road map, and without a net — is putting together a plan to keep U.S. banks from collapsing.

    Not just to get the banks lending again. To keep them alive.

    The government is expected to announce Monday a plan that analysts expect will include lifting soured mortgage assets off selected banks’ books, possibly along with guarantees against other losses and maybe more direct injections of cash.

    Financial industry experts say it is a matter of choosing the best of several options, none of them very palatable.

    And no one knows for sure what will work because nothing like this has happened in living memory.

    Getting it wrong could trigger a replay of what happened after Lehman Brothers collapsed last fall — the stock market in free fall, seizure of the credit markets, ripples of layoffs. Perhaps even a run on other banks — so many customers rushing to pull out their cash that it would make the bank run in “It’s a Wonderful Life” look like, well, a feel-good holiday movie.

    “The banks are at a terrible junction,” says Robert Reich, a labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. “The bottom is falling out. Almost every area of the credit markets, we’re finding people unable to repay their loans. That means many banks are basically insolvent.”

    “If one big bank implodes,” he says, “the reverberations could be endless.” …

    http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/437118

    So, plan to panic, pull all your money out of banks and hide it under your mattress, etc.

    Didn’t you hear me, I said panic!!!!

    So far, most of the failed banks have been relatively small, many with assets only in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But what would happen if one of the nation’s big banks, the kind that manage hundreds of billions in assets, went down?

    “That would probably cause a complete meltdown of the American financial system,” says Andreas Hauskrecht, an associate professor of money, banking and finance at Indiana University.

    After the financial crisis accelerated last fall, the government increased the limit for the amount of bank deposits it will insure for individual depositors, from $100,000 to $250,000, effective through the end of this year.

    And while few Americans have to worry about keeping anything bigger than that in the bank, the government could eliminate the limit altogether and insure all deposits regardless of size if a huge bank, such as Citigroup or Bank of America, were to fail, says Jim Wilcox, a professor of financial institutions at the University of California at Berkeley.

    No one has ever lost money in an account insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. But no one has ever seen a bank that size go under, and news of a giant bank’s downfall would probably touch off a panic in which even depositors with money in safe banks rush to get it out.

    But there’s a bigger economic problem: Other lenders, which hardly trust everybody these days anyway, would stop trusting anybody. Businesses, unable to borrow money day to day, would fail, with worldwide consequences.

    It doesn’t take an economics degree to realize that would be nothing short of catastrophic for the economy. …

    Of course, we’ve got to take the populist swipe at financial institutions:

    “We’re asking the same people who got us into this mess to get us out. These are the guys who buy airplanes and decorate their offices for a million bucks,” says Bill Seidman, a former chairman of the FDIC who ran the government bailout during the savings and loan crisis.

    Yes, it would be so much better if banks instead paid more than the price of a plane in penalties to not take delivery to “look good.”

    Why hire those silly laborers to remodel offices – it might not look “appropriate.”

    No, we’ll all be fine if we just don’t spend anything, right?

  11. sheehanjihad
    February 9, 2009 at 8:26 am

    An interesting article about the pitfalls of “universal health care” that is being slowly shoved down our throats by the current “sky is falling” administration……

    Health-care resources are not unlimited in any country, even rich ones like Canada and the U.S., and must be rationed either by price or time. When individuals bear no direct responsibility for paying for their care, as in Canada, that care is rationed by waiting.

    Canadians often wait months or even years for necessary care. For some, the status quo has become so dire that they have turned to the courts for recourse. Several cases currently before provincial courts provide studies in what Americans could expect from government-run health insurance.

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

    Yeah, that’s in Canada…can you imagine the wait here in the US? There are more important candidates on the socialist’s agenda…illegal aliens, the perpetual welfare recipients, the members of the socialist democrat party, all minorities, then maybe, perhaps, unless you are too old, you may be put on a waiting list until you die from waiting so long. That is, unless you are working for the administration, or have the money to bribe your way to the front of the line……I shudder to think what they are doing to us.

  12. gipper
    February 9, 2009 at 10:36 am

    From those hard-hitting journalists at the AP, who really know what’s important to report:

    Air Force One: Obama’s new ’spiffy ride’

    By MARK S. SMITH – 3 days ago

    WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — Suffice to say, President Barack Obama likes his new ride.

    “It’s pretty nice,” he told House Democrats Thursday in an after-dinner speech here. “Thank you for giving me a reason to use Air Force One.”

    The president spoke after a 31-minute maiden voyage on the specially outfitted 747 that will be his airborne home and office for the next four years.

    Moments before taking off from Andrews Air Force Base, Obama visited the press cabin in the rear of the plane to show reporters his Air Force crew launch jacket, his name stitched on the breast.

    “What do you think about this spiffy ride?” he asked reporters. “It’s not bad…”

    …Obama was clearly impressed finally to have the full experience.

    The helicopter ride from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base also got the nod. “Very smooth, very impressive,” Obama said, adding that the view is “spectacular…”

    …Departing from the South Lawn, Obama broke from tradition as he boarded Marine One, the presidential helicopter. He seemed to stun the Marine standing at attention by reaching out to shake his hand. The Marine obliged, shaking the president’s hand before returning to a steady salute…

    The article then goes on to describe the first flights of the past three presidents, taking jabs at Reagan, GHWB, and GWB, while describing Clinton as the talkative kind who liked to chat with the press and his aides.

    Also unclear is when the new M&Ms will arrive. Air Force One has long stocked boxes with the presidential seal and facsimile signature. But stewards said those bearing the new president’s signature are still likely months from arriving.

    (This version CORRECTS flight time to 31 minutes in 3rd graf.)

    http://www.google.com/hostedne.....AD965PVC00

    Utterly ridiculous. From fawning stories, to the lack of investigative reporting, to the tossing of soft balls to Obama, the media, in Sean Hannity’s words, died in 2008.

    JohnMG, Liberals Demise, and everyone else from the military: HE REACHED OUT TO SHAKE THE MARINE’S HAND.

    • BannedbytheTaliban
      February 9, 2009 at 2:34 pm

      HE REACHED OUT TO SHAKE THE MARINE’S HAND

      An act the liberal media and the limp wrist supporters of The One will see as being pro-military. It is an egregious faux pas to anyone else who knows better. I can see it know, the NY Times has released a song to go with this great gesture. It goes like this: “put your hand in the hand of the man…..”

    • pdsand
      February 9, 2009 at 2:53 pm

      At least he didn’t have the mendacity to give one of those godawful salutes democrats normally muster up. Although, come to think of it, the handshake is an even bigger fauxpas. Maybe he could have asked the Marine to hold his coat or something.
      Bush always had a badass salute. He threw a strike too, I seem to recall.

    • 1sttofight
      February 9, 2009 at 5:16 pm

      Just wait until he puts on the Spinner Hubcaps and has the interior redone in Fake Lepoard skin fur.

    • JohnMG
      February 9, 2009 at 6:45 pm

      Holding the salute is traditional. My nephew (who just shipped over for the third time) was part of the Presidential Honor Guard and White House detail for GWB. He says Mr. Bush was a class act, and the genuine article.

      I look at what Obama did as a flacid attempt at showing what a regular guy he is. In the process he has also shown a complete and utter lack of dignity and understanding. Our service people show respect for the office of the President regardless of the occupant. But I can assure you that that Marine would much have preferred not to take his hand, an act that diminishes each of their respective roles in the process. He understands that they’re not supposed to be buddies, and that each, in turn, should show respect and deference to the other. Obama, by offering his hand, forced him to step outside the traditional protocol and probably embarrassed (or angered) him, to boot.

      The pretender to the throne isn’t even good at pretending. He’s just a chump child playing at a man’s game. This country deserves better.

  13. BannedbytheTaliban
    February 9, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    More inhumanity from Israel:

    UN to resume aid supplies to Gaza

    The UN has said it will resume aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip after Hamas returned confiscated food aid.

    The UN’s Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) halted aid on Thursday, saying Hamas had taken hundreds of tonnes of aid from shipments of flour and rice.

    An Unrwa spokesman said deliveries were not expected to resume until after Tuesday’s Israeli elections.

    The Gaza Strip is facing a humanitarian crisis following Israel’s recent three-week offensive.

    About half of Gaza’s population is dependent on UN food aid.

    Israel intensified a blockade on the Gaza Strip 19 months ago when Hamas took over the territory.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7879624.stm

    The story quickly gets away from the theiving Hamas terrorist and goes back to blaming Israel. Almost in the same sentance. But the it really gets interesting:

    The agency said it had also been denied permission to bring in 12 lorry-loads of paper to print human rights textbooks, and another five lorries carrying exercise books for 200,000 children.

    HUMAN RIGHTS TEXTBOOKS!!! You have to be kidding. How is this constructive? Leave it to the UN to continue to promulgate the terrorist propaganda/agenda and waste the money of industrialized nations.

  14. spiffyw
    February 9, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    This is so maddening
    Cheney was absolutely right He is a real *&^

    http://www.newsmax.com/insidec.....79761.html
    Leahy Wants ‘Truth Commission’ to Probe Bush
    Monday, February 9, 2009 2:49 PM

    WASHINGTON – A U.S. “truth commission” should probe Bush administration policies including the promotion of war in Iraq, detainee treatment and wiretapping without a warrant, an influential senator proposed on Monday.

    Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called for the commission as way to heal what he called sharp political divides and to prevent future abuses.

    He compared it to other truth commissions, such as one in South Africa that investigated the apartheid era.

    “We need to come to a shared understanding of the failures of the recent past,” Leahy said in a speech to the Georgetown University law school.

    “Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened,” he said. “And we do that to make sure it never happens again,” Leahy said.

    Some Republicans and intelligence officials have resisted any suggestion of broad inquiries into accusations against the Bush administration, saying it would be a distraction or weaken morale in the fight against terrorism.

    Leahy said he had not yet begun to promote the idea with the administration of President Barack Obama or with the Democratically controlled Congress. But he suggested it could be formed by both Congress and the White House, and said the panel must have credibility across the political spectrum.

    Issues to investigate would include the Justice Department’s firings of several U.S. attorneys, which Leahy said may have been motivated by a White House aim to influence elections, policies on the treatment of terrorism suspects and other areas “where (congressional) committees were lied to.”

    This included the war in Iraq, he said. “There were lies told to the American people all the way through.”

    Former President George W. Bush has acknowledged that intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was wrong, but said he never lied to the public about the war.

    Leahy said he wanted the Defense Department investigated for filming Iraq-war protesters, which he said came “shockingly close” to the FBI’s Vietnam War-era Cointelpro operation to investigate domestic war protesters. “We fought a revolution in this country so we could protest the actions of our government,” he said.

    • 1sttofight
      February 9, 2009 at 5:11 pm

      While we are at it Leaky, lets investigate all your classified leaks to the press, shall we?

    • JohnMG
      February 9, 2009 at 9:11 pm

      …. “We fought a revolution in this country so we could protest the actions of our government,” he said…..

      Does this asshat realize just how prescient he may be? He is the very type of person that the first revolution was waged against.

    • proreason
      February 9, 2009 at 9:33 pm

      “Does this asshat realize just how prescient he may be”

      Leahy?

      He hasn’t figured out what the spinny things with the paper stuff next to the toilets are for.

    • oldswimcoach
      February 11, 2009 at 7:17 am

      And when Clinton fired all the US attorneys? Do we investigate that too?

      “Rather than vengeance, we need a fair-minded pursuit of what actually happened,” he said. “And we do that to make sure it never happens again,” Leahy said.

      And if the investigation indicates GW was right, do we still need “to make sure it never happens again”? Love the underlying presumption of guilt. “Ready. Fire! Aim.”

  15. spiffyw
    February 9, 2009 at 8:21 pm

    Ask Rockey .. the feller.. about talking too..

    I’ll bet bammie gives up some secure info real soon
    Probably right after he says ‘Ta’ again .
    I’m watching his scripted show now.
    Unless he is watching the teleprompter he doesn’t say Ta
    I think he means, to the… or too and …

  16. sheehanjihad
    February 9, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    Oh Boy! Fat pig Murtha (Traitor Penn.) has gotten another one of his lobbying firms busted!! I hope he is on the “new fish” menu in cell block D. Or better yet, lets lock him up with his harmless Gitmo terror idols.

    exerpt:
    PMA is the second company with close ties Murtha to be raided by federal agents recently. In January, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service searched the office of Kuchera Industries and Kuchera Defense Systems, as well as the homes of the firms’ founders. The companies reportedly have received over $100 million in earmarks, thanks to Murtha’s efforts.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/.....amp;page=1

    From our pals at the pro socialist ABC to boot! Murtha! Time to borrow a vest from your islam pals!

  17. Arctain
    February 10, 2009 at 12:30 am

    Most of the time, reading the NYTimes for informative journalism is a lesson in futility. Other times, it just makes you retch. Here’s a fetching blog from Judith Warner…

    http://warner.blogs.nytimes.co.....president/

    The other night I dreamt of Barack Obama. He was taking a shower right when I needed to get into the bathroom to shave my legs, and then he was being yelled at by my husband, Max, for smoking in the house. It was not clear whether Max was feeling protective of the president’s health or jealous because of the cigarette.

    …

    There was some daydreaming too, much of it a collective fantasy about the still-hot Obama marriage. “Barack and Michelle Obama look like they have sex. They look like they like having sex,” a Los Angeles woman wrote to me, summing up the comments of many. “Often. With each other. These days when the sexless marriage is such a big celebrity in America (and when first couples are icons of rigid propriety), that’s one interesting mental drama.”

    …

    One woman wrote that when she couldn’t get to sleep at night, she “lay in bed and thought about the Obama girls in their rooms at the White House. I thought about Marian Robinson up on the third floor. And about Barack and Michelle, a couple who clearly have a ‘thing’ for each other, spooning together in bed. It helped me relax.”

    This is some heady stuff, these liberals and their collective dreams about all things Obama – if there ever was a cult of personality, and a willingness to shed all pretense to the contrary, this is it. If ever there was proof that being a liberal is a mental disease, it is borne out in the rantings of the people clinging desperately to the Great Black Hope and his narcissistic need to be loved. Very symbiotic, this relationship. If it weren’t so sickening, dangerous, and down-right mentally disturbing, it would make a great case study in group dynamics.

  18. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 1:26 am

    From a thrilled AP:

    Mexican Drug Violence Spills Over Into U.S.

    EL PASO, Texas — Just as government officials had feared, the drug violence raging in Mexico is spilling over into the United States.

    U.S. authorities are reporting a spike in killings, kidnappings and home invasions connected to Mexico’s murderous cartels. And to some policymakers’ surprise, much of the violence is happening not in towns along the border, where it was assumed the bloodshed would spread, but a considerable distance away, in places such as Phoenix and Atlanta.

    Investigators fear the violence could erupt elsewhere around the country because the Mexican cartels are believed to have set up drug-dealing operations all over the U.S., in such far-flung places as Anchorage, Alaska; Boston; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

    “The violence follows the drugs,” said David Cuthbertson, agent in charge of El Paso’s FBI office.

    The violence takes many forms: Drug customers who owe money are kidnapped until they pay up. Cartel employees who don’t deliver the goods or turn over the profits are disciplined through beatings, kidnappings or worse. And drug smugglers kidnap illegal immigrants in clashes with human smugglers over the use of secret routes from Mexico.

    So far, the violence is nowhere near as grisly as the mayhem in Mexico, which has witnessed beheadings, assassinations of police officers and soldiers, and mass killings in which the bodies were arranged to send a message. But law enforcement officials worry the violence on the U.S. side of the border could escalate.

    “They are capable of doing about anything,” said Rusty Payne, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in Washington. “When you are willing to chop heads off, put them in an ice chest and drop them off at a police precinct, or roll a head into a disco, put beheadings on YouTube as a warning,” very little is off limits.

    In an apartment in Columbiana, Alabama, police found five men with their throats slit in August. They had apparently been tortured with electric shocks before being killed in a murder-for-hire orchestrated by a Mexican drug organization over a drug debt of about $400,000.

    In Phoenix, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of the Mexican border, police have reported a sharp increase in kidnappings and home invasions, with about 350 each year for the last two years, and say the majority were committed at the behest of the Mexican drug gangs. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490185,00.html

    Since we can’t even keep illegal immigrants out of the country, why would we be able to keep out heavily armed illegal immigrants?

    • oldswimcoach
      February 11, 2009 at 7:27 am

      Just an observation, Oklahoma (which just passed immigration legislation making it very difficult for illegal aliens to live and work there) is not mentioned as an area with a concern.

      Could there be a causal link between enforcing immigration law and lower crime? Just wondering…

  19. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 1:31 am

    From Fox News:

    Australian Wildfires Could Fuel ‘Forest Jihad’ Terrorists, Experts Say

    By Joshua Rhett Miller

    Firefighters and homeowners aren’t the only ones keenly watching Australia’s massive wildfires, responsible for killing at least 173 people in the southern part of the continent.

    Terrorism experts suspect Muslim extremists are watching closely, too — and taking note of the devastation.

    While Australian authorities have revealed no evidence linking the wildfires to extremists, terrorism experts say the large death toll, the huge swath of destruction and the massive financial blow to the country are proving to Islamic terrorists that arson can be a highly effective — and simple — tool of holy war.

    In November, an extremist Web site called on Muslims to launch a “forest jihad” in Australia, Europe, Russia and the United States. The posting, which quoted imprisoned Al Qaeda terrorist Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, said setting forest fires was legal under “eye-for-an-eye” Islamic law.

    “Scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels’ forests when they do the same to our lands,” the posting read.

    The author of the posting indicated that Nasar — also known as Abu Musab Al-Suri — was urging terrorists to use sulfuric acid or gasoline to start the fires.

    “Forest fires track well with the latest discussion trends seen in the Al Qaeda forums — easy to do, big impact, low security risk, high media coverage,” said Al Qaeda expert Jarret Brachman.

    “We’ve seen these kinds of appeals for action, be it setting fire to forests in Australia, to creating oil slicks on mountain roads in Europe, to poisoning water supplies and driving buses off bridges in the United States.

    “The fact is that the Al Qaeda ideology is starting to branch out to more of an ‘anyone, anywhere, anytime, anyhow‘ approach.”

    Brachman, author of “Global Jihadism: Theory and Practice,” said “forest jihad” fits well in the growing interest among terrorists to establish “Al Qaeda armies of one.” …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490306,00.html

    To be honest, I’ve thought this for years.

    Every time there are wildfires in California or Colorado it garners non-stop press coverage, so I can think of little more cost-effective than renting a plane and dropping lit flares out the window.

    Why not, when ELF has been using fire as their weapon of choice against ski areas and auto dealers for years?

  20. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 1:44 am

    Ever think if a biological threat enters the US, the CDC will be on the case?

    Not so fast.

    From the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News:

    1st US case of Marburg fever confirmed in Colo.

    WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. — The first U.S. case of Marburg hemorrhagic fever has been confirmed in Colorado, and authorities say the patient – who contracted the rare illness while traveling in Uganda – has since recovered.

    The disease, caused by a virus indigenous to Africa, spreads through contact with infected animals or the bodily fluids of infected humans. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spokesman Dave Daigle said no previous cases have been reported in the United States.

    The patient had traveled to Uganda, visited a python cave in Maramagambo Forest in Queen Elizabeth Park and encountered fruit bats, which can carry the Marburg virus. The Ugandan government closed the cave after a tourist from the Netherlands died from Marburg in July.

    The patient was treated at Lutheran Medical Center in January 2008 and sought follow-up care in July, after learning of the tourist’s death. The patient recovered and his or her identity wasn’t disclosed.

    Pierre Rollin, acting chief of the Special Pathogens Branch of the CDC, said specialized tests of the initial sample taken in January 2008 confirmed the illness in the Colorado patient in December.

    CDC officials said identifying the virus and how a patient contracted it can be difficult. It often depends on the quality of the sample being tested and the timing; samples taken early in the patient’s illness makes identification easier, Rollin said.

    Marburg hemorrhagic fever is extremely rare. The CDC’s Web site counts fewer than 500 confirmed cases since the virus was first recognized in 1967. More than 80 percent of the known cases are fatal. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2.....er,00.html

    So, a case of Marburg is diagnosed in the United States only, oh, about 14 months after the patient checked into a hospital.

    So if, perhaps, someone accidentally or purposefully in an infectious state with the disease were to travel across the United States, the CDC would never even know before thousands of Americans started showing up at ERs hemorrhaging blood from every orifice.

    Don’t you feel safe?

  21. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 1:50 am

    If you hadn’t already heard, from an approving AP:

    Obama Says Iran Diplomacy Possible Within Months

    President says his administration is looking for opportunities to open direct talks with longtime adversary Iran, but that years of mistrust will be hard to overcome.

    WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Monday his administration is looking for opportunities to open direct talks with longtime adversary Iran, but that years of mistrust will be hard to overcome.

    “My national security team is currently reviewing our existing Iran policy, looking at areas where we can have constructive dialogue, where we can directly engage with them,” Obama said. “My expectation is that in the coming months we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table face to face.”

    In his first prime-time news conference as president, Obama repeated campaign pledges to rethink three decades of enmity with Iran, but offered no examples of possible partnership.

    “Now it’s time for Iran to send some signals that it wants to act differently, as well, and recognize that, even as it has some rights as a member of the international community, with those rights come responsibilities.”

    On Afghanistan, Obama said he was reviewing a war strategy that has failed to root out terrorists and insurgents and hinted at a newly narrowed focus that prizes the fight against terrorism over the strengthening of a fragile U.S.-backed democratic government.

    “I’m not going to allow Al Qaeda or (Usama) bin Laden to operate with impunity, planning attacks on the U.S. homeland,” Obama said.

    The most promising areas for cooperation are probably Afghanistan and Iraq, both neighbors of Iran where the United States is fighting wars. Especially in Afghanistan, Iran has a strong interest in containing insurgent violence and the drug trade that threaten to spill over Iran’s borders.

    Obama repeated the usual list of U.S. complaints against Iran, including financial support for alleged Middle East terrorist groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and “bellicose language” directed at U.S. ally Israel. He also said Iran’s nuclear program threatens to rock the Middle East and could set off a new arms race.

    Iran denies it is pursuing a covert weapons program and insists its accelerated nuclear development program is aimed at producing electrical power. Despite broad doubts about the true nature of Iran’s nuclear program, there is no public, irrefutable proof that the Islamic republic is using a legitimate energy program to build an illicit bomb.

    Obama also said his administration is conducting a “thoroughgoing review” of the Afghanistan war and said he does not know how long the reassessment will take.

    “We are going to need more effective coordination of our military efforts, with diplomatic efforts, with development efforts, with more effective coordination with our allies in order for us to be successful,” Obama said.

    He credited “the extraordinary work done by our troops” and diplomatic successes for relative peace and stability in Iraq.

    “You do not see that yet in Afghanistan. They’ve got elections coming up, but effectively the national government seems very detached from what’s going on in the surrounding community,” Obama said.

    That was a marked contrast from former President George W. Bush, who never missed an opportunity to praise the courage and leadership of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a strong Bush ally. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/politic.....le-months/

    Somehow I don’t think these comments will help Obama’s relationship with Karzai, either.

    • gipper
      February 10, 2009 at 10:52 am

      Oh, how sweet! Little Barry wants to play pat-a-cake with Ahmadinejad!

      Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
      Nukes in Iran,
      Make those nukes
      As fast as you can.

      Arm it, launch it,
      And mark it with an “O”,
      Barry was the one
      Who allowed it so.

  22. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 2:07 am

    Your government protecting you.

    From Denver’s KUSA Television:

    Lawmakers defend student suspended over fake guns

    By Kyle Clark

    AURORA – Marie Morrow has found support in likely and unlikely places since it was first reported she is facing expulsion from school for having drill team props.

    The Cherokee Trail High School senior was suspended for 10 days last Thursday after students reported seeing “guns” in her Dodge Durango in the Aurora school’s parking lot. State law mandates expulsion for any student found with a weapon, or a “facsimile” of a weapon on school grounds.

    Morrow shared her story with 9NEWS on Friday. Since then, she says she has seen a deluge of support.

    Several members of the Colorado House and Senate met with Morrow and her family on Monday.

    Sen. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud) plans to introduce legislation to change state law to provide an exception for facsimile weapons being used by military-sponsored youth groups.

    Morrow had the three props, non-operative rifles made of plastic, wood and duct tape, to use at an after-school, off-campus practice with the Douglas County Young Marines, a youth leadership and life skills group.

    “There should be exemptions to this hard-and-fast rule so this type of thing doesn’t happen again,” Lundberg said in a written statement. “I am outraged that a student faces expulsion for participating in a drill team.”

    In addition to her meeting with lawmakers, Morrow has received encouragement and words of support on talk radio, on blogs and from viewers posting on 9NEWS.com.

    “It’s really great to have all this support,” Morrow said on Monday. “It’s just good to know who stands behind you when times get rough.”

    “It will be alright no matter how it turns out,” Morrow added.

    Her 10-day suspension could be extended at an expulsion hearing later this month.

    Cherry Creek Schools suspended Morrow after other students reported seeing guns inside her SUV, which was parked outside school while she was in class.

    The school also called police, who seized the three drill team guns made of wood, plastic and duct tape. Police told Morrow to claim them in time for her after-school drill practice off campus.

    School administrators, however, were less understanding. The guns were declared “authentic representations of genuine weapons,” triggering a mandatory expulsion statute in state law.

    “I have never been in trouble at all,” Morrow said on Friday. She is planning to attend the United States Merchant Marine Academy. “I hadn’t imagined in a million years that anything like this would have happened.”

    Chris Proctor, commanding officer of the Douglas County Young Marines, was rebuffed in his attempt to explain the props to school leaders.

    “There’s no mistaking that these are not real rifles,” Proctor said. “I think somewhere along the line, logic has to take over and they have to be able to make exceptions to the rules.”

    “Marie is one of the best kids that you could ever imagine,” he said.

    “I could see where the school could be freaked out about it,” Morrow said. “But I think there should be some leeway with the law based on situations and realize this is just an honest mistake.”

    “The law doesn’t make any distinction between a genuine weapon and a facsimile,” said Cherry Creek Schools spokeswoman Tustin Amole on Friday.

    Amole says federal and state laws mandate expulsion, and that school districts only have discretion to determine the length of that expulsion.

    Asked who had the discretion to deem the props “dangerous weapons,” Amole said school administrators and police made the decision based on state law that defines a “dangerous weapon” as “a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm.”

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti.....;catid=339

    It’s frightening, as the latter portion is likely true as more and more liberals who have never even seen a firearm judge anything vaguely “gun shaped” to be something that could be “mistaken for an actual firearm.”

    Let’s just say no one without an anti-gun agenda with two brain cells to rub together could mistake her wood, plastic and duct tape drill items as possible firearms.

    • sheehanjihad
      February 11, 2009 at 8:41 am

      It is that bad. A student in our school system was suspended for having a tiny six shooter on her cowboy themed charm bracelet. Yes, you read that right. It was considered a reasonable depiction of a weapon, and under the “zero tolerance” rule, she was suspended for “possession of a possible weapon”. A three eighths inch solid metal charm on a bracelet. Yeah, deadly huh?

    • gipper
      February 11, 2009 at 8:51 am

      Yeah, but was the pistol loaded? (Kidding.)

  23. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 2:11 am

    Awww.

    From a depressed KUSA Television in Denver:

    More couples staying together due to recession

    By Shawn Patrick

    KUSA – During the recession, some divorce attorneys are seeing a drop in cases.

    The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers has seen a decline in the number of divorce cases nationwide. The group reports that 37 percent of members said they have seen a decrease in divorce cases.

    Many middle and low income couples across the country have realized they can’t afford to get a divorce for several reasons. In some cases it could be that spouses can’t sell a home on the market, or it could be that one of them has lost a job.

    Denver divorce attorney Stephen Harhai says couples face additional expenses when they file for divorce, especially when children are involved.

    “You can’t cut the house in two, so you’ve got to do something with it. That might necessitate a sale. You have to try to sell a house, where you have to bring money to the table, that may be impossible for a lot of families,” said Harhai.

    Family therapist Larry Curry says he’s seeing more married couples trying to work out their problems, as opposed to the expensive quick fix.

    “When the economy is strong, people have a faster way of dissolving their relationships. When the economy is very low and people don’t have as much money, they’re back to the basics,” said Curry.

    Divorce attorneys warn that the small drop in divorce cases could be misleading. They say just because financial challenges are keeping couples from divorcing now, doesn’t mean they won’t file for a divorce when their financial situation improves.

    For now, it’s cheaper for some to stay under one roof.

    “You may say, ‘We just can’t afford to do this. We have to find a way to stick it out, do something, to avoid that kind of catastrophic financial consequence,’” said Harhai. …

    http://www.9news.com/news/arti.....;catid=188

    No, not couples working things out instead of getting divorced!!!!

    We obviously need federal “divorce assistance” for these couples…

  24. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 7:15 am

    This got a fair amount of press yesterday, but I didn’t see it mentioned here.

    From the Washington Times:

    16 illegals sue Arizona rancher

    Claim violation of rights as they crossed his land

    By Jerry Seper

    An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.

    Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.

    His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as “the avenue of choice” for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.

    Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett’s wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.

    The lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog.

    Attorneys for the immigrants – five women and 11 men who were trying to cross illegally into the United States – have accused Mr. Barnett of holding the group captive at gunpoint, threatening to turn his dog loose on them and saying he would shoot anyone who tried to escape.

    The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), which also charged that Sheriff Dever did nothing to prevent Mr. Barnett from holding their clients at “gunpoint, yelling obscenities at them and kicking one of the women.”

    In the lawsuit, MALDEF said Mr. Barnett approached the group as the immigrants moved through his property, and that he was carrying a pistol and threatening them in English and Spanish. At one point, it said, Mr. Barnett’s dog barked at several of the women and he yelled at them in Spanish, “My dog is hungry and he’s hungry for buttocks.”

    The lawsuit said he then called his wife and two Border Patrol agents arrived at the site. It also said Mr. Barnett acknowledged that he had turned over 12,000 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol since 1998.

    In March, U.S. District Judge John Roll rejected a motion by Mr. Barnett to have the charges dropped, ruling there was sufficient evidence to allow the matter to be presented to a jury. Mr. Barnett’s attorney, David Hardy, had argued that illegal immigrants did not have the same rights as U.S. citizens.

    Mr. Barnett told The Washington Times in a 2002 interview that he began rounding up illegal immigrants after they started to vandalize his property, northeast of Douglas along Arizona Highway 80. He said the immigrants tore up water pumps, killed calves, destroyed fences and gates, stole trucks and broke into his home.

    Some of his cattle died from ingesting the plastic bottles left behind by the immigrants, he said, adding that he installed a faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank so the immigrants would stop damaging the tank to get water.

    Mr. Barnett said some of the ranch´s established immigrant trails were littered with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil – which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their “clients” to keep them running.

    He said he carried a pistol during his searches for the immigrants and had a rifle in his truck “for protection” against immigrant and drug smugglers, who often are armed. …

    http://washingtontimes.com/new.....a-rancher/

    I’m just waiting for the Obama administration to file a “friend of the plaintiff” brief on this one.

    The sad thing is, given the area, the rancher will likely lose his home, savings and livelihood.

    But that’s OK, they’re just seeking “freedom” and “opportunities.”

    It’s all quite sad:

    “This is my land. I´m the victim here,” Mr. Barnett said. “When someone´s home and loved ones are in jeopardy and the government seemingly can´t do anything about it, I feel justified in taking matters into my own hands. And I always watch my back.”

    • BannedbytheTaliban
      February 10, 2009 at 11:32 am

      Dead men tell no tales.

    • Gila Monster
      February 10, 2009 at 12:56 pm

      The immigrants are represented at trial by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF),

      In case my fellow S & Ler’s out there are wondering who or what MALDEF is, they are the legal front for the race agitators at La Raza.

      http://tinyurl.com/bbk2w8

      They also have close ties to LULAC, the NAACP and, this should come as no surprise to anyone, the ACLU.

      Unfortunately, this ridiculous lawsuit is likely a test case. If these illegal a**hats win this case, we can expect a veritable flood of similarly stupid lawsuits in the southern border states to further inundate our currently strapped legal system.

  25. gipper
    February 10, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    From Fox News via The Huffington Post (huh?):

    Henrietta Hughes: Obama Asked for Help at Town Hall

    President Obama went to Fort Myers, Florida Tuesday to highlight the desperate need for an economic recovery package. Unemployment in the area is up to 10 percent, from 2.3 percent this time in 2006, and the area’s foreclosure rate of 12 percent is the highest in the nation.

    One questioner in particular brought to life the dire situation. “I have an urgent need,” she said, revealing that her family was homeless and needed a place to live. Obama asked for her name — Henrietta Hughes — and told her, “We’re gonna do everything we can to help you … I’ll have my staff talk to you after the town hall.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....65670.html

    The miracle worker has come to town. You have to watch the video at the link. The funniest part is at the end when the woman next to Henrietta mouthes, “I love you, Barack.”

    This is a sick cult.

    • proreason
      February 10, 2009 at 3:47 pm

      someone on S&L may have said this already……The Moron’s trip to Elkhart, Indiana was because that town has the highest unemployment in the country…something like 14-15%.

      Well guess what? The economy of Elkhart is based on the manufacture of motor homes.

      And what political party is doing everything it can to destoy the motor home industry?

    • sheehanjihad
      February 10, 2009 at 3:53 pm

      I live here…I put up with this blind lust everyday. I watched henrietta have his staff talk to her after the show….and thought, hey, I should have been there asking for a handout too~ But then I remember what they did to Joe the Plumber….nah, I will be broke on my feet before I will be rich on my knees.

  26. BillK
    February 10, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    Funny, we hear from AARP on every other issue under the sun, but they’re completely silent on the fact that medical care for their members is going to be severely restricted by The One’s “stimulus plan.”

    From Bloomberg:

    Ruin Your Health With the Obama Stimulus Plan

    A Commentary by Betsy McCaughey

    Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.

    Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.

    Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).

    The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.

    But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”

    Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.

    Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to the HHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)

    What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.

    The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.

    Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.

    Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).

    The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.

    In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision. …

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....zfDxfbwhzs

    So despite the fact that Daschle won’t be head of HHS, his fingerprints are all over how your medical care will be rationed in the very near future.

    But AARP remains silent on the fact that their members’ health care will be denied as either “just aging” or “not cost-effective.”

    So, diagnosed with cancer post-age 65?

    Sorry – you’ve had a good life, start making your final arrangements now.

    AARP has huge “contact Congress” campaigns on issues like prescription drug coverage for the elderly, but condemning many of their members to an early grave?

    That’s apparently A-OK.

  27. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 2:38 am

    Educational tax dollars at work, from the (Madison, WI) Capital Times:

    Dual language immersion program to be offered at Leopold

    Children entering Leopold Elementary School next year will have a chance to participate in a dual language immersion program that is designed to have the students proficient in both English and Spanish by the fifth grade.

    Madison Metropolitan School District officials said the program will be offered for the first time in the 2009-2010 school year, and parents will have an option of choosing either a standard English-only kindergarten program or enrolling students in the dual language program.

    While the program is open to all families living in the Leopold Elementary attendance area, school officials said if there is greater demand than openings, a lottery system will be used to determine which students get into the new program.

    The school system said it is anticipated that when the program is fully implemented in six years, the dual language program at Leopold will be used in 16 of the school’s 44 classrooms. …

    http://www.madison.com/tct/news/437594

    Because being proficient in Spanish will effectively be required to communicate in many areas of the country all too soon.

  28. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 4:45 am

    Warning: religious screed ahead, but not that religion.

    From the San Francisco Chronicle:

    All of science owes debt to Darwin

    By David Perlman

    The shy young naturalist Charles Darwin, who voyaged around the world aboard HMS Beagle and became the bearded sage of rational scientific thought, is having a birthday this week – his 200th – and celebrations have already begun throughout the Bay Area, and indeed on every continent.

    “No one,” says Kevin Padian, a Berkeley biologist and tracker of dinosaur evolution, “has influenced modern thought, modern science, and indeed our modern culture more than Darwin.

    “His influence is everywhere, and science would be impossible without him.”

    Every true scientist at work today is in fact a Darwinian. …

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....15M1VJ.DTL

    I can barely contain my anger at this statement:

    Every true scientist at work today is in fact a Darwinian.

    There are literally millions of true scientists at work in the field today who don’t buy into Darwin’s flawed theories nor into the religious fervor with which anyone who posits even a minor disagreement with Darwin is summarily dismissed as a “right-wing religious nut.”

    Worse, Darwin, or the left’s wholesale defense of him, took science from an arena that observed effects, created a hypothesis and tested theories into the politicized “its OK if we lie as long as we meant well” morass that is called “science” today.

    I love the lies the Chron’s science writer treats as truth, such as:

    “A steady thread of Darwin’s natural selection runs through all our work,” says David Mindell, dean of science and curator of ornithology at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park who studies the evolution of predatory birds – hawks, eagles, falcons and the like. “Darwin has given us the way to see how species change over time, how new species arise – and that fact remains the real focus of all scientists who study evolution.”

    The concepts of natural selection and Darwin’s later parallel discovery of sexual selection operate at all levels of life, and not just among vertebrate animals that reproduce sexually, Mindell says.

    “You can put a culture of bacteria into a laboratory flask, and even though they reproduce by fission, you can see natural selection operating even there – new bacterial species will arise almost instantaneously,” he says.

    Those are not new species. Variants of existing species, yes, new species, no.

    In fact the entire fossil record contains no intermediate specimens in which one species suddenly becomes another.

    Yet the Chron’s science writer throws out just plain editorial “facts” such as:

    Like virtually all scientists today, Padian equates intelligent design with biblical creationism, a view held also by the judge in the Dover case who ruled that intelligent design “is a religious view, a mere re-labeling of creationism, and not a scientific theory.” In Dover, evolution won.

    See, “virtually all.” Those millions of scientists who do not believe Darwin are mere statistical “blips.”

    But hey, the left has been promoting Darwin as the new God for 150 years; why stop now when they’ve been so incredibly successful to date?

    • BannedbytheTaliban
      February 11, 2009 at 9:25 am

      The question that I always have is how come natural selection doesn’t apply to people. For instance, if you can’t hold a job in modern society which enables you to provide the basic necessities such as food, clothes, and shelter, then you are by definition not fit and should be selected against. Instead the liberals spit in Darwin’s face and give these people all they could possibly want at the expense of those who can actually make it on their own. Seems they don’t really believe in natural selection after all and support the un-fit to detriment to all human kind.

  29. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 4:48 am

    It’s always fun to see the left put their principles to work.

    From the San Francisco Chronicle:

    American Apparel done in by ‘magic’

    By Andrew S. Ross

    I swung by the 900 block of San Francisco’s Valencia Street on Monday, where the by now infamous American Apparel Inc. store was planning to open. That was before San Francisco’s Planning Commission gave it a thumbs down last week, largely at the behest of residents who insisted the chain store would spoil what some called the “magic” of the neighborhood.

    Valencia, in the Mission District, has 27 vacant storefronts, Chronicle editorial page writer Caille Millner noted in her column on the subject. Four of them, I discovered, are in the 900 block. Well, six if you count two additional rotting storefronts belonging to La Rondalla, a Mexican restaurant, which, for the past 18 months, has had signs saying it’s “closed for renovation.” This, along with the shabby appearance of much of the block, suggests magic is in short supply. But not, apparently, to at least one Planning Commission member, who told me his “no” vote rested on the L.A. company’s “failure to show that its presence would be ‘necessary or desirable’ as required of businesses seeking (the commission’s permission).”

    Company spokesman Ryan Holiday told me American Apparel had planned to hire up to 15 people at the now-aborted store, each making between $12 and $14 an hour, plus a health plan. That, one might surmise, would make its presence even more “necessary and desirable,” especially these days. Not to mention the ad dollars the company was prepared to spread around neighborhood media. And the fact that the commission’s own staff had given a thumbs up to the project. The upshot: American Apparel says it’s walking away, with some desperately needed business, employment and revenue for the city along with it. But when you live in a cocoon of unreality, as some of the players in this sorry saga do, why worry? …

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....15Q905.DTL

    You’ve got to love San Francisco.

    There’s a great background piece on all this here, including this great quote:

    It’s another through-the-looking-glass moment in San Francisco. They love the product but hate the store solely because there are about 260 of them worldwide. That means it’s a chain and unwelcome under any circumstances.

  30. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 4:56 am

    Just a little more San Francisco fun for you, from the SF Chronicle:

    S.F. burglary victim killed for going to police

    By Jaxon Van Derbeken

    All Myron Edwards wanted was his stolen dog back. He got it – but it ended up costing him his life.

    On Tuesday, San Francisco police arrested a recent parolee in the slaying of the 40-year-old Edwards. They described a tragic chain of events that ended in the recovering addict’s shooting death Saturday afternoon in the Western Addition.

    Those events began Feb. 4, when Edwards’ apartment on Larch Way in the Plaza East public housing development was burglarized. His big-screen television and other valuables were taken. Most important for Edwards, his pit bull puppy, Foxy, was gone.

    Edwards called police, then went to get some cigarettes. On the way back, he was confronted and beaten by as many as 15 suspected members of the Eddy Rock gang, apparently for having gone to authorities, investigators say.

    Police evidence technicians at his apartment saw Edwards after the beating and asked him to make a police report or point out his attackers. He refused, and that might have been the end of it.

    But that evening, members of the police gang task force raided a residence on the 1200 block of Eddy Street. They arrested several suspected Eddy Rock gang members and seized drugs. They also found Edwards’ dog, complete with tag.

    “The gang task force called him and gave him back his dog, but they didn’t have his big screen or the other stuff they had taken,” said Inspector Mike Johnson of the police homicide detail.

    For the next two days, Edwards kept a low profile, figuring the gang might blame him for the police raid that netted his prized dog, investigators say. In fact, police say, the raid had long been planned, and the burglary at Edwards’ apartment had nothing to do with it.

    The management of Plaza East got wind of what happened and offered to move Edwards to a hotel as of Thursday, said police Cmdr. Leroy Lindo. The next day, Edwards went to the Housing Authority offices on Turk Street and sought to relocate. The Housing Authority offered him various options to move out that day, Lindo said.

    But Edwards decided to stay put.

    And the next day, police believe, he tried to resolve the situation on his own.

    Johnson said that on Saturday afternoon, Edwards left his apartment to meet a gang member. In the middle of Eddy and Laguna streets, police say, a gunman fired as many as nine shots, killing him.

    To homicide Inspector Robert Lynch, the reason Edwards died is simple.

    “He got burglarized and called the police,” the inspector said. “He got killed because he called the police.” …

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....15RGDK.DTL

    As Nancy Pelosi likes to say, why wouldn’t we like America to look like San Francisco?

    Though between the story above and this one, she’s trying her best to make that happen.

  31. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 6:26 am

    The law of unintended consequences continues.

    From Bloomberg:

    Congress ‘Killing’ Resort Hotel Business, Tisch Says

    By Erik Holm

    Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) — Lawmakers are “killing” hotels that rely on corporate events by forcing companies that get federal money to scale back on employee trips, said James Tisch, the chief executive officer of Loews Corp.

    “Congress has done a great job of killing the resort hotel business with the way they’ve criticized a number of financial firms for having conferences,” Tisch told analysts today. “I just heard this morning of another investor conference that was canceled by another major investment firm because of fear of being criticized by members of Congress.”

    Lawmakers and regulators have disparaged financial companies for perks and bonuses offered to employees since the U.S. government’s $700 billion rescue plan was announced in October. Firms that received bailout federal money, including Wells Fargo & Co. and American International Group Inc., have canceled employee events at hotels amid the criticism.

    “We suspect there will be a number of attractive hotel properties that are not able to make it through this economic storm,” Tisch said. “We will be looking to see what kind of attractive property acquisitions we can make in this environment.”

    Average fourth-quarter room rates at Loews hotels declined 20 percent to about $215 as occupancy rates fell to 66 percent from 70 percent a year earlier, Loews Chief Financial Officer Peter Keegan said on a conference call today.

    Wells Fargo last week canceled plans for an event for its home-lending unit that had been scheduled to take place at Wynn Resort Ltd.’s hotels. The bank received $25 billion from the U.S. government in October as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program designed to spur lending and save the financial system.

    “The question here is whether Wells Fargo is spending taxpayer money to bankroll Las Vegas junkets,” New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in an e-mailed statement last week. “That is an answer the American people deserve to know because this is their money.”

    Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf defended corporate events that recognize top achievers and decried what he said was “misleading” news coverage.

    In a full-page ad in yesterday’s New York Times, Stumpf said the events serve to honor top bankers, financial advisers, tellers and mortgage salespeople at the second-biggest U.S. home lender.

    “The problem is many media stories on this subject have been deliberately misleading,” Stumpf wrote. “These one-sided stories lead you to believe every employee recognition event is a junket, a boondoggle, a waste, or that it’s for highly-paid executives. Nonsense!” …

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/.....er=finance

    Is anyone surprised?

  32. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 6:31 am

    Yet another in the “Are we supposed to weep?” series, this time from the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

    Immigrants facing job losses cut back on money sent home to families

    Some choose to return to Mexico

    By Lynette Curtis

    Their recent stories are familiar: layoffs, constant financial worries, the struggle to put food on the table for their families.

    But many of the men, waiting in line on a Friday afternoon at the Broncos money-transfer business on East Desert Inn Road haven’t seen the families they are supporting in months or even years.

    “It is for them I am here suffering,” said Antonio Solano, a 48-year-old laborer from Mexico City who last saw his wife and five children in 2005.

    Then Solano teared up.

    “As the kids grow, they don’t even know me,” he said in Spanish.

    Solano and other immigrants who came to the United States for work are dealing with the same dismal economic environment as everybody else, where even manual or day-labor jobs are hard to come by.

    The added difficulty for immigrants such as Solano is deciding at what point it is no longer financially worthwhile to live in a country where their loved ones do not.

    “I am a poor, humble person. I’ll do anything. But if there is no work, I’ll go to Mexico,” said Solano, who recently lost his job painting cars and is working at a car wash, where he makes $5 an hour plus meager tips.

    Solano comes to Broncos on payday every two weeks to wire $250 to his wife. That’s down from the $400 he used to be able to send. Any less and his wife won’t be able to afford enough food for the children, he said.

    There is precious little work in Mexico as well, and none of it pays enough to support his family, Solano said. But if he were to go back, at least he would be with them. …

    http://www.lvrj.com/news/39420992.html

    There are no details on Solano’s legal status, but the article does say:

    Experts blamed both the U.S. recession and a crackdown on illegal immigration for the decrease.

    Undocumented immigrants are more likely to leave the United States than those with legal status, because they might have fewer options and connections here.

    “Those without documents, whose legal statuses are in question, have a greater likelihood of being unemployed or laid off,” Kochhar said. “In Nevada, Hispanics are among the hardest hit because their jobs were concentrated in the construction and hotel industries, and those were the hardest hit.”

    Gee, the criminals are leaving the country.

    Pardon me if I’m not disturbed by the trend.

  33. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 6:36 am

    Uninteded consequences, part two.

    From the AP:

    Mayor: Obama should apologize for Vegas trips remark

    LAS VEGAS — Sin City’s mayor wants President Barack Obama to apologize for saying companies shouldn’t visit Las Vegas on the taxpayer’s dime.

    Oscar Goodman spoke after a regular scheduled meeting with tourism officials where he expressed concern that federal lawmakers might be discouraging travel to the city.

    “What’s a better place, as I say, than for them to come here,” Goodman told KLAS-TV. “And to change their mind and to go someplace else and to cancel — and at the suggestion of the president of the United States — that’s outrageous.” Obama made the remarks Monday during a town hall meeting in Elkhart, Ind., where the president traveled to muster public support for economic stimulus legislation.

    “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime,” Obama said.

    A White House spokesman said it was looking into the mayor’s comments and did not have immediate comment.

    Goodman said Obama’s remarks at the town hall meeting were unwarranted.

    “That’s outrageous, and he owes us an apology,” he said. “He owes us a retraction.” Las Vegas tourism officials worry that increased scrutiny on business travel will discourage meetings and conventions — business that would be crucial for the city already suffering economically.

    The number of visitors to Las Vegas was down 4.4 percent in 2008 compared with a year earlier, and visits in December alone declined nearly 11 percent.

    Late Monday, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it had moved a three-day conference from the Las Vegas Strip to San Francisco amid what the bank called a broad review of its activities. Goldman Sachs has accepted $10 billion in federal bailout funds. …

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....ers-dime-/

    The left will, of course, never admit that “trickle-down” does, in fact, work, and when you force an end to “wasteful spending” the recipients of those dollars will suffer, and the recipients of those dollars are largely lower to middle-class Americans.

    I’ve read more than one reporter snidely referring to putting and end to “CEOs buying their Sub-Zero refrigerators.”

    What about the hundreds of Sub-Zero workers who have been laid off as a result?

    Not a peep about them.

  34. BannedbytheTaliban
    February 11, 2009 at 12:01 pm

    From the BBC:

    Pair held for ‘offending Islam’

    By Subir Bhaumik
    BBC News, Calcutta

    The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of “hurting the religious feelings” of Muslims.

    The Statesman’s editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

    Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK’s Independent daily in its 5 February edition.

    The article was entitled: “Why should I respect these oppressive religions?”

    It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions.

    In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes: “I don’t respect the idea that we should follow a ‘Prophet’ who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn’t follow him.”

    Mr Kumar and Mr Sinha appeared in court on Wednesday and were granted bail.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7883612.stm

    Since when do people have the right to have their ‘feelings’ protected? Of course the article presents a good question based on hard facts. Something that the lefties have a hard time dealing with, i.e. reality. Therefore they counter with something nebulus like ‘feelings’. To bad the ACLU is going to have to miss out on this one.

    Here is a link to the article in question:
    http://tinyurl.com/d8u5ok

  35. proreason
    February 11, 2009 at 7:15 pm

    “Must read” America Thinker article about the Moron:

    Murphy’s Law, the Peter Principle and Barack Obama

    What happens when everything that can go wrong in a person’s character formation does go wrong, and that person continues to be promoted to his level of incompetence?

    President Barack Obama happens.
    …
    Proper character development is the overriding aim of good parents in raising their children. Mature parents, especially those Judeo/Christian parents with faith, believe it sinful to raise a child without strong self-constraint, a well-formed conscience, ingrained humility and an ironclad respect for the rights of others. Children raised thusly become self-supporting adults, honest in their dealings with others and prone to be contributing members of the society at large.

    The world is purely chock full of bad parents, however. Plum chock full.

    Barack Obama was conceived out of wedlock to an eighteen year-old girl, who was herself the product of non-religious, rebellious parents, intent on unraveling the fabric of WASP America. Stanley Ann Dunham met Barack Obama Sr., an already-married African Muslim man, in a Russian language class at the University of Hawaii in her very first year there. According to President Obama’s memoir, his biological father married his mother about three months into the pregnancy, even though he already had a wife and children on his home continent. Hence, very shortly, the father abandoned the new mother and her child to seek his own fortune and yet another wife-to-be at Harvard.

    Bigamists are not known for fidelity, are they?

    The end result of this convoluted beginning of the man who would become President was that his maternal grandparents became his primary caregivers. With the very best of intentions, I’m sure, these white grandparents doted, scraped and groveled to make the little abandoned child’s life as picture-perfect as it could possibly be under the awful circumstances of parental abandonment. This is a recipe for disaster in the area of character development.

    Believing that the child, Barry, needed lots of attention and as few hard knocks as possible, these grandparents proceeded to spoil the ever-living daylights out of the precocious, charismatic, bi-racial child of their only daughter. Through his grandmother’s connections, Barry got a scholarship to the elite Panahou Academy and became one of only five black children in the posh school, where teachers, too, bent over backwards not to offend, not to discipline. For added umph to this already-disastrous formula, Barry’s grandfather made sure the child got lots of father-figure mentoring from a self-proclaimed pedophile and avowed communist, Frank Marshall Davis.

    As a young teenager, surrounded by opportunities for drug abuse and tomfoolery, Barry bragged that he had a deal with his doting grandparents which entailed his being able to do whatever he wanted while they looked the other way and pretended not to notice.
    …
    As President Obama’s school transcripts (all of them, from start to finish!) remain among his stack of unreleased documents, we have no way of knowing how our current President did in school. However, we do know that he was doing drugs, that he was not involved in any demanding athletic program and that he was not otherwise making a big name for himself on campus.
    …
    This was the story hailed by Axelrod as bedrock, middle-class, Kansan upbringing.
    ….
    Then, it was off to Columbia and a shadow existence, which eventually culminated in President Barack Obama, the first African-American President and the first man to ever assume the highest office in the land without one whit of experience other than running for office and beguiling a public begging to be beguiled.
    ….
    Nowhere, at any time during Barack Obama’s near-miraculous rise to power, did he come into contact with anyone that would have demanded a character test.
    ….
    The characters in this President’s closet are too strange for fiction — Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezko, the New Party, Billy Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, Mayor Daly, Rod Blagojevich, George Soros, assorted tax cheats and pay-to-play schemers of every variety. When any sentient person adds it up, he gets a man without principle, someone so enabled in his avoidance of reality about himself that one can only call it Murphy’s Law applied to character development.

    Every single thing that could go wrong has indeed gone wrong.

    From Stage right and Stage left, and from below and above, we see the Peter Principle in all its inglorious dimensions set to wreak havoc upon this entire Country

    In only three weeks’ time, this President has signaled to every terrorist on the planet that we are a sorry, groveling, ashamed Nation ready to come to the diplomatic confessional. He is closing Gitmo within one year, has suspended trials there, and dismissed the charges against the U.S.S. Cole plotter. American penance is coming and it’s coming fast and feebly on its knees. .

    President Obama has just put our money where his mouth is and is using $20.3 million to bring in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, the Hamas-controlled region where folks prefer bomb-making to bread-baking. Instead of helping Israel defeat them, this President brings them here.
    ….
    The new Secretary of Education was in charge of Chicago schools, where more than 500 verified acts of child battering by teachers went unpunished and teacher unions trumped student rights. This Cabinet is shaping up to be worse than Bill Clinton’s and Jimmy Carter’s combined, while President Obama throws cocktail parties with $100/pound steak.

    .President Obama’s definition of bipartisanship: “I won.”

    President Obama’s definition of leadership: “Nancy can handle the details.”.
    …

    The Peter Principle has reached its pinnacle in President Barack Obama.
    …
    .The perfect collision of Murphy’s Law with the Peter Principle has arrived to explode in our faces.

    In the words of Britain’s most eloquent commentator, “America, what have you done?” .

    http://www.americanthinker.com.....ncipl.html

    This is by far the most insightful analysis of The Moron yet published.

    The only detail worth quibbling with is that the author does not recognize that Obamy has been fed, clothed and trained for decades by radicals who have been training him to destroy America.

  36. 1sttofight
    February 11, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Who cares, proreason, Duhbama is going to make my house payment and keep my car full of gas. ;)

    Seriously, I read that piece earlier today and agree, she nailed the messiah, but how many people will read it? For that matter, how many people care as long as their needs are sorta taken care of?

    • proreason
      February 11, 2009 at 7:37 pm

      I’m asking for a raise. I’ve been working here for 4 years, and hey, i’m almost an american you know. I don’t even have a plasma screen in the kitchen yet.

  37. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 11:02 pm

    You know those millions of dollars in the “stimulus” package for the arts?

    Prepare for more things like this.

    From Fox News:

    California Bridge Sculpture Is Literally for the Dogs

    By Nora Zimmett

    Dogs do the darndest things.They poop, they hump and they sniff in all the wrong places.

    And now you can see them do all of the above every time you cross the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 80 in Berkeley, Calif., thanks to the largesse of the taxpayers.

    Artist Scott Donahue of Emeryville, Calif., was paid $196,000 by Berkeley’s public arts program to create two large statues, which feature small, artistic medallions that show dogs doing what dogs do best.

    “Various things,” Donahue said. “Biting each other, chasing each other…. One dog is defecating, two dogs are fornicating.”

    But with the country in a deep recession and California on the verge of bankruptcy, some taxpayers are questioning the money Donahue got for his work. His total budget was $196,000 — 1.5 percent of the total budget for building the pedestrian bridge. And all of it came from taxpayers.

    “During this time of economic crisis and unemployment in California, the amount of money needed for that statue was excessive,” says Oona Eddleman of Los Angeles, whose husband Harry has been looking for work since being laid off from his job a few months back. Though Oona is home on maternity leave, she said she will have no choice but go back to work full-time to support her family.

    Donahue was chosen by the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission — a public agency under the Office of Economic Development — to create sculptures for each end of the pedestrian bridge. His original design included 28-foot statues honoring the history and daily life of the city of Berkeley. What it didn’t show were the tiny reliefs of dogs in not-so-flattering poses at the bottom of one of the statues.

    “I probably had just indications of wildlife in the original application,” Donahue said. “I probably didn’t have the actual poses for all the reliefs.”

    While some citizens are growling at this apparent oversight, Berkeley civic arts coordinator Mary Ann Marker doesn’t seem fazed.

    “You know they’re only 5 inches – the piece is 28 feet,” she says. “They’re just part of the bottom of the base as extra decoration. They are by no means the main thrust of the piece.”

    As for the depictions of the dogs?

    “I think they’re just, you know, natural science. They’re just showing what dogs really do,” said Archana Horsting, executive director of the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley.

    Horsting said Donahue should be applauded for his work because what he accomplished should have cost a lot more. Not only are the two statues 28 feet high, but they were built twice as strong because they are on a bridge. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491284,00.html

    I mean really, it’s only $196,000…

  38. BillK
    February 11, 2009 at 11:10 pm

    Wacky or living by your beliefs?

    A little off-the-wall story from News.com.au:

    Salma Hayek breastfeeds African baby in Sierra Leone

    Salma Hayek was so taken aback by the plight of an African woman in Sierra Leone who was unable to breastfeed her child that the star breastfed the newborn herself.

    The incident was captured on camera by a television crew from US TV show Nightline whom Hayek allowed accompany her on the goodwill trip in September.

    Nightline have aired the footage on their program and YouTube clips have been circulating the internet, prompting a divisive response from bloggers and parenting websites.

    The 42-year-old actress, who was nursing her own daughter Valentina at the time, offered to help when the baby’s mother stopped producing milk.

    “The baby was perfectly healthy, but the mother didn’t have milk. He was very hungry. I was weaning Valentina, but I still had a lot of milk that I was pumping, so I breast-fed the baby.

    “You should have seen his eyes. When he felt the nourishment, he immediately stopped crying,” said Hayek. …

    http://www.news.com.au/enterta.....85,00.html

    Given the usual reasons Hollywood stars make headlines, it’s quite the change.

  39. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 1:41 am

    Unintended consequences part three (I can keep this up all day ;-))

    From a dismissive AP:

    Maligned Private Jets Make Comeback in Ad Campaign

    NEW YORK — Banks got lambasted for their corporate jets after receiving government funds. Congress and the public scourged auto executives for flying their private planes to Washington to beg for money.

    Now Wichita, Kan.-based jet makers Cessna Aircraft Co. and Hawker Beechcraft Inc. are launching marketing campaigns to convince executives not to let their wings be clipped.

    “Timidity didn’t get you this far,” the Cessna ad reads, adding that “true visionaries will continue to fly.”

    Support needs to be given to businesses that have the “good judgment and courage” to use corporate jets not only to survive the current economic downturn but to find ways to turn the economy around, Cessna Chief Executive Jack J. Pelton said.

    “The reality of business aviation is a far cry from the misconception of CEOs flying in large luxurious airplanes,” Pelton said in a statement. “Most of these aircraft are fairly Spartan, designed for business, with a cabin about the size of a minivan or SUV interior.”

    Cessna, a unit of Providence, R.I.-based Textron Inc., has said it will lay off 4,600 workers by the end of March — about 30 percent of its global work force of 15,000 people.

    The company also said last week that it would chop some production employees’ work weeks to just three or four days in an effort to cut costs.

    It said the layoffs and other cost-cutting measures were needed because of the contracting economy, which is forcing customers to cancel or delay orders for new jets. …

    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,491305,00.html

    Also:

    Hawker Beechcraft also cut 2,300 jobs earlier this month, and said more layoffs would be coming. Almost 500 employees were laid off late last year.

    In a letter to workers announcing the layoffs, CEO Jim Schuster said that “the media and some politicians have cast general aviation as a wasteful extravagance instead of a critical business tool and the source of millions of American jobs.”

    Let’s be serious here – the President, Congress and the media just don’t care – it’s never been about jobs and has always been about class warfare.

    To be clear:

    Aviation employs 1.2 million Americans, Cessna said in its release, and adds $150 billion to the economy every year.

    But who needs 1.2 million jobs or $150 billion – the Government can replace that, no problem.

  40. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 2:03 am

    If you hadn’t heard, the Octuplets’ mom is now soliciting direct donations from the public via her new web site, http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com/.

    (All major credit cards accepted, naturally.)

    She admitted she has no income and has no hope for any income until after “she finishes her degree.”

    She also said that she doesn’t feel she’s been selfish at all, as she feels she will be able to afford to raise her children “eventually.”

    Regardless, it’s getting ugly.

    From KTLA Television:

    Report: Octuplets’ Mom in Hiding After Death Threats

    LOS ANGELES — The mother of octuplets has taken her six older children and gone into hiding, according to reports.

    The 33-year-old mother lives with her children at her parents home in Whittier.

    But her publicist says she has moved to an “undisclosed location” because of death threats and hateful phone calls and emails.

    Earlier, Suleman went public with a new Web site, http://www.thenadyasulemanfamily.com, dedicated to her newborn brood of eight.

    The website invites visitors to “meet the octuplets” as well as to donate items, send wishes to the family and even give money directly using a credit card or PayPal.

    Suleman said her family receives no cash from the government and that the $490 in food stamps she receives are “not affiliated with welfare.”

    In addition, Suleman is also reportedly receiving federal assistance for three of her previous six children who are disabled.

    In California, a low-income family can receive Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child. Three children would amount to $2,379.

    http://www.ktla.com/landing_to.....eedID=1198

    • Gila Monster
      February 12, 2009 at 1:50 pm

      A related story BillK, from the “Epiphany Department” of the AP;

      Taxpayers may have to cover octuplet mom’s costs

      Feb. 11, 2009 04:33 PM
      Associated Press

      LOS ANGELES – A big share of the financial burden of raising Nadya Suleman’s 14 children could fall on the shoulders of California’s taxpayers, compounding the public furor in a state already billions of dollars in the red.

      Even before the 33-year-old single, unemployed mother gave birth to octuplets last month, she had been caring for her six other children with the help of $490 a month in food stamps, plus Social Security disability payments for three of the youngsters. The public aid will almost certainly be increased with the new additions to her family.

      Really, no sh*t, ya think..??

      Also, the hospital where the octuplets are expected to spend seven to 12 weeks has requested reimbursement from Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program, for care of the premature babies, according to the Los Angeles Times. The cost has not been disclosed.

      Word of the public assistance has stoked the furor over Suleman’s decision to have so many children by having embryos implanted in her womb.

      “It appears that, in the case of the Suleman family, raising 14 children takes not simply a village but the combined resources of the county, state and federal governments,” Los Angeles Times columnist Tim Rutten wrote in Wednesday’s paper. He called Suleman’s story “grotesque.”

      On the Internet, bloggers rained insults on Suleman, calling her an “idiot,” criticizing her decision to have more children when she couldn’t afford the ones she had, and suggesting she be sterilized.

      “It’s my opinion that a woman’s right to reproduce should be limited to a number which the parents can pay for,” Charles Murray wrote in a letter to the Los Angeles Daily News. “Why should my wife and I, as taxpayers, pay child support for 14 Suleman kids?”

      She was also berated on talk radio, where listeners accused her of manipulating the system and being an irresponsible mother.

      “From the outside you can tell that this woman was playing the system,” host Bryan Suits said on the “Kennedy and Suits” show on KFI-AM. “You’re damn right the state should step in and seize the kids and adopt them out.”

      A call to Suleman’s publicist Mike Furtney was not immediately returned.

      In her only media interviews, Suleman told NBC’s Today she doesn’t consider the public assistance she receives to be welfare and doesn’t intend to remain on it for long.

      Also, a Nadya Suleman Family Web Site has been set up to collect donations for the children. It features pictures of the mother and each octuplet and has instructions for making donations by check or credit card.

      Suleman, whose six older children range in age from 2 to 7, said three of them receive disability payments. She said one is autistic, but she has not disclosed the other youngsters’ disabilities, and refused to say how much they get in payments.

      In California, a low-income family can receive Social Security payments of up to $793 a month for each disabled child. Three children would amount to $2,379.

      The Suleman octuplets’ medical costs have not been disclosed, but in 2006, the average cost for a premature baby’s hospital stay in California was $164,273, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The average cost for just one Caesarean birth in 2006 was $22,762 in California. Eight times that equals $1.3 million.

      For a single mother, the cost of raising 14 children through age 17 ranges from $1.3 million to $2.7 million, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

      Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is struggling to close a $42 billion budget gap by cutting services, declined through a spokesman to comment on the taxpayer costs associated with the octuplets’ delivery and care.

      Suleman received disability payments for an on-the-job back injury during a riot at a state mental hospital, collecting more than $165,000 over nearly a decade before the benefits were discontinued last year.

      Some of the disability money was spent on in vitro fertilizations, which was used for all 14 of her children, Suleman said. Suleman said she also worked double shifts at the mental hospital and saved up for the treatments. She estimated that all her treatments cost $100,000.

      A dozen states, including California, have laws requiring insurance companies to cover infertility treatment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But California does not require insurers to cover in vitro procedures. It’s not clear what type of coverage Suleman has.

      In the NBC interview, Suleman said she will go back to California State University, Fullerton, in the fall to complete her master’s degree in counseling, and will use student loans to support her children. She said she will rely on the school’s daycare center and volunteers.

      http://tinyurl.com/are6yq

      The LA Times columnist quoted above, Tim Rutten, is absolutely correct. This entire travesty is indeed “grotesque”..!!

  41. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 2:15 am

    Hey, Maxine Waters started it, why shouldn’t the LA Times chime in?

    Bankers, Geithner face grillings by lawmakers

    By Maura Reynolds and Jim Puzzanghera

    Their master-of-the-universe status already destroyed by the financial crisis, the leaders of some of the country’s largest banks endured hours of hectoring Wednesday by indignant lawmakers.

    Lined up in alphabetical order at a long table in the austere hearing room of the House Financial Services Committee, the eight chief executives heard panel members blame them for the economy’s trip to the brink of catastrophe.

    The scolder in chief, committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), expressed the frustration shared by many politicians and ordinary Americans — that because of the severity of the economic crisis the government had no choice but to bail out the same banking institutions that helped cause the calamity in the first place.

    “One of the problems we have, gentlemen, is that . . . in an effort to get the credit system functioning, things will be done that will be to the benefit of the institutions over which you preside because there is no alternative,” Frank said. “You need to understand, as I think many of you do, how angry that makes people.” …

    http://www.latimes.com/busines.....0849.story

    If only Frank understood how angry he makes people.

    But then again, he doesn’t care, he doesn’t have an actual job, and once he actually loses an election he will be living high off the hog on the taxpayer’s dime… just the way he accuses bank CEOs of doing.

    Meanwhile, a reasonable question was asked:

    “Have the funds been used to get credit flowing again, not just to financial institutions but to consumers and small businesses?” asked Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.). “How do we know additional TARP money is needed? Who needs it? How much more will be used? . . . Who’s to say that we’re not putting good money after bad?”

    The executives, including the heads of Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, insisted that they had been lending as much as they could.

    “Make no mistake: We are still lending, and we are lending far more because of the TARP,” Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis said.

    “Last quarter alone, we made $22 billion in new loan commitments and $50 billion in mortgages — a total of $72 billion in new loans,” Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf said. “That’s almost three times what the U.S. Treasury invested in Wells Fargo.“…

  42. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 2:45 am

    Boulder, Colorado gets into the act.

    From Denver’s KUSA Television:

    Student wants to change school name to Barack Obama High

    By Jeffrey Wolf

    BOULDER – When 16-year-old Ben Raderstorf first came up with the idea, he admits it seemed a little “out there.” But after some consideration and support, he decided to go for it.

    The Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) says it is considering the junior’s proposal to change the name of Boulder High School to Barack Obama High School.

    “We’re not so much naming it after him, as naming it after the achievement that was his election, for not just minorities, but all Americans,” Raderstorf said.

    But not everyone is on board with changing the school’s name, including other students and the principal.

    “The school really has a really deep special meaning to lots and lots of people, so that name goes right along with it,” Boulder High Principal Bud Jenkins said.

    Jenkins is also a graduate of the school.

    “It’s really an icon of the community. I’m sure if the kids haven’t heard from the vintage Panthers, they’ll hear from the old-time graduates of Boulder High School,” Jenkins said.

    The BVSD says it doesn’t have an opinion on it, but says there is a lengthy process involved in changing the name of a place that belongs to everyone.

    “The name of the school belongs to more than just one student body at any one time, it’s a whole community that owns that name so a whole community needs to be engaged in that discussion,” Briggs Gamblin, BVSD spokesman, said.

    To get the name changed, the BVSD says it is a lengthy process because “the naming of public facilities are often strongly held and deeply felt.”

    The proposal must go through the principal, the assistant superintendent, a screening committee made up of members of the community, school staff and students. Then it goes to the district superintendent who submits it to the Colorado Board of Education.

    The school board’s policy on changing a school name says: “The renaming of a school shall be considered only when district restructuring creates a new school or in other extraordinary circumstances deemed by the Board of Education.”

    Boulder High School was founded in 1875 as a preparatory school for the University of Colorado, making it the first high school in Colorado. That is why it has the slogan: “Still the First.” Boulder High School’s current building was constructed in 1933.

    “There are generations of people living in this community who graduated from here and their children have graduated,” Gamblin said.

    Raderstorf says he understands it will be an uphill battle, but says, to quote Obama, “Yes, we can.” …

    http://www.9news.com/news/loca.....;catid=222

    It’s a cult, pure and simple.

  43. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 10:59 am

    Bet TV stations didn’t see this one coming.

    From Television Week

    FCC Rejects 25% of TV Stations’ Early DTV-Switch Applications

    By Ira Teinowitz

    The Federal Communications Commission late Wednesday rejected, at least temporarily, a quarter of the requests from the 491 TV stations that had asked to switch to digital-only signals on Feb. 17.

    President Barack Obama earlier Wednesday signed legislation pushing back the national switch to June 12 from the original Feb. 17 date. Stations were given the option of applying to stick with the February date.

    The FCC had warned it might reject switches that weren’t in the public interest. In Wednesday night’s action the commission expressed concern about markets where all the major network affiliates were switching early. That would potentially leave viewers who were unprepared for the digital switchover without any source for local TV news or emergency messages.

    The action blocked switches of major stations in Dayton, Ohio; Eugene, Ore.; Billings, Mont.; Lincoln, Neb.; Madison, Wis.; Providence, R.I.; Rockford, Ill.; LaCrosse, Wis.; Charleston, W.Va.; Santa Barbara, Calif.; Sioux City, Iowa; Topeka, Kan.; Wausau, Wis. and Wichita, Kan., among other locations.

    The agency, however, suggested it could let many of the same stations go ahead with switch if at least one major local station would continue to broadcast an analog signal. Other factors considered would be as assessment of whether the analog station had news and public affairs programming and if stations would set up “walk in” centers to help local residents apply for coupons and set up converter boxes that would let analog TVs receive digital signals. The stations were asked to agree to the conditions by Friday if they wanted to go ahead. …

    http://www.tvweek.com/news/200.....dtvswi.php

    So, to recap:

    First the FCC mandates that television stations spend millions of dollars to move to digital television when it won’t bring in penny one of additional revenue because the Government wants to sell the spectrum.

    Then they spend millions of dollars on a handout to people to get converter boxes so they don’t need new television sets because of the change the FCC is forcing on stations.

    Then when the millions of dollars have been spent, a clueless public that has had years to prepare and over a year to apply for converter box coupons claims “they didn’t know” despite FCC mandated crawls on all prime time programming at least once an hour for an entire year.

    Then as the transition date approaches, The Chosen One declares the public “isn’t ready” and extends the date, and the FCC says “we’ll still allow stations to transition early.”

    Then the FCC decides “No, we don’t want to do that, so we’ll force stations to spend millions of dollars to continue to run two transmitters each for an additional four months, and in addition we want television stations to pay for “drop in centers” where clueless members of the public will get instruction on how to hook up converter boxes that they won’t remember once they leave.

    The next step, obviously, will be to require stations to send out engineers to hook up boxes in the home of anyone that asks, provide free antennas, and so on.

    The hundreds of jobs that will be lost at television stations because of the additional costs of all this?

    Dismissed as due to the “Bush recession,” of course.

    I’m sure they’ll be able to find a Government-paid nice construction job somewhere.

    Meanwhile, this smells like an episode of The Sopranos – “If you spend millions of dollars for ‘drop-in centers’ now, we might let you avoid the cost of spending millions of dollars to operate two transmitters until some increasingly indeterminate point in the future.”

    Just wow.

  44. BillK
    February 12, 2009 at 11:32 am

    “Green” economy goes crash (at least until the Government cash rolls in.)

    From the (Denver) Rocky Mountain News:

    Vestas may have to cut jobs, spending in Colorado, U.S. as orders come to standstill

    By Gargi Chakrabarty

    Danish company Vestas is catching some head wind.

    The world’s largest wind-turbine maker on Wednesday said it might reduce jobs and scale back capital spending in Colorado and the United States, unless orders pick up, according to Bloomberg News.

    Vestas CEO Ditlev Engel said orders from the U.S. “came to a standstill” after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September tightened credit for wind energy developers.

    Unless orders pick up, Engel said the company’s 2009 capital spending of $1.56 billion, which includes expanding its manufacturing plants in Colorado, would be trimmed. Vestas plans to spend $680 million and employ 2,450 in Colorado by about 2010.

    Engel declined to say which operations or projects might be reduced or delayed.

    “Right now, we have got to look at the market and say, ‘The bad news is with the recession, people don’t use energy,’ ” said Roby Roberts, Vestas’ vice president of government relations. “So one has to go slow in making a big investment.”

    A perennial presence in recent job fairs around Colorado, Vestas today is holding the line on hiring.

    “We have slowed down all our hiring in the U.S., including Colorado,” Roberts said. “We are only hiring people who are absolutely necessary.”

    Vestas’ commitment to Colorado stands, Roberts added. And the company, based in Randers, Denmark, is going forward with construction work in Brighton and Pueblo.

    It’s the latest example of companies expected to propel Colorado’s new-energy economy being hit by the worldwide economic recession.

    This week, Suncor Energy pulled out of an $80 million project in Grand Junction that would have converted beetle-kill and wood waste into motor fuel. It blamed weak economic conditions and sliding energy prices for the withdrawal. …

    http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....-colorado/

    • proreason
      February 12, 2009 at 2:07 pm

      Who could have imagined that destoying the economy would cause people to stop buying useless alternative energy fantasy machines.

      Obviously the con men who manufacturer the useless devices need a bailout.

      Otherwise, how will they be able to continue funding the corrupt politicians who make their con possible?

    • JohnMG
      February 12, 2009 at 7:05 pm

      Salazar’s gonna fix that little oversight.

  45. proreason
    February 12, 2009 at 6:50 pm

    American Thinker should credit old pro when they steal my themes:

    The Emerging Liberal Oligarchy

    Anyone can make a mistake. But when a parade of Obama administration cabinet picks — Richardson, Daschle, Killefer, and Lynn — turn out to have ethics or tax problems, and are actual lobbyists or lobbyists by any other name, you start to wonder. But why be surprised? You expect stuff like that from today’s Democrats.
    …
    You might think that this just shows that the Obama people are hypocrites, like all politicians. But I think it goes deeper than that; it goes to the fundamental delusion in the world-view of our American liberal elite. Its members don’t really understand that, at the beginning of the 21st century, they now constitute an American aristocracy well on its way to becoming merely America’s ruling oligarchy.
    …
    The liberal aristocracy that once knew itself to be “the best” has become, after half a century of power, merely “the few,” just another cabal of ruthless men and women fighting to keep their hands on the levers of political power.

    Our liberal friends do not yet understand how their years of political and cultural power have corrupted them; they still imagine themselves as plucky outsiders battling for the people against the powerful. There is a word for a misunderstanding of reality like that. The word is “delusion.”
    …
    In 2009 liberals couldn’t wait to get into power and award themselves a trillion dollar bonus.

    Don’t be discouraged! Maybe later they’ll get around to saving the planet, and pave over the nation with solar collectors and wind farms.

    Sic transit gloria mundi.

    http://www.americanthinker.com.....archy.html

    I should start copyrighting myself.

    Pretty soon they will analyze Theresa Kerry’s taxes.

  46. BillK
    February 13, 2009 at 5:08 am

    OK, we know AP’s headlines are, uh, less than truthful, but wow.

    From them:

    Lawmakers say all issues settled in stimulus bill

    By David Espo and Julie Hirschfeld Davis

    Reluctant to call it quits, key lawmakers bargained into overtime Thursday on the $790 billion economic stimulus legislation before reaching final agreement more than 24 hours after first announcing a deal. Lingering controversy over school-modernization money and a scaled-back tax break for businesses forced a delay in final votes on the legislation. But by nightfall, with Democratic leaders eager for final passage by the weekend, all issues were reported settled.

    House leaders announced a vote for Friday, with the Senate to follow later in the day or over the weekend.

    Republicans, lined up to vote against the bill, piled on the scorn. “This is not the smart approach,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader. “The taxpayers of today and tomorrow will be left to clean up the mess.”

    President Barack Obama delivered what has become a daily call for congressional action, this time from the industrial heartland. With approval of the bill, he said in Peoria, Ill., companies “may be able to start growing again. Rather than cutting jobs, they may be able to create them again.”

    He spoke at Caterpillar Inc., the heavy machinery giant that has announced 22,000 layoffs. The president has said in recent days the company has promised to rescind some of them once the stimulus passes, but Chief Executive Jim Owens said there probably would be more layoffs before that can occur.

    At the Capitol and in an atmosphere of uncertainty, provisions were coming to light that had not been included in the original bills that passed the House or Senate — or that differed markedly from earlier versions, or that appeared to brush up against claims of the bill’s supporters that no pet projects known as “earmarks” were included.

    One last-minute addition was a $3.2 billion tax break for General Motors Corp. that would allow the ailing auto giant to use current losses to claim refunds for taxes paid when times were good. GM got a $13.4 billion federal bailout late last year — and is expected to receive more in 2009 — and argued that without the provision, its government-financed turnaround plan could force the company to pay higher taxes.

    The legislation does not mention GM specifically, but the company has been lobbying hard for the provision for months, with help from Michigan’s representatives in Congress. “We wanted to make sure that the restructuring wasn’t counteracted,” said Rep. Sander M. Levin, D-Mich., a supporter of the provision.

    It was not immediately clear why the provision had not been included in the bill that cleared the House several weeks ago.

    Negotiators sweetened another tax break at the last minute, doubling to $1.6 billion a provision that would benefit businesses that buy their own debt at a discount. It was a major priority of business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which argued it would help firms and banks clear debt from their balance sheets and begin to hire workers and lend money to customers. The business group announced its support of the bill, despite the heavy opposition from its customary Republican allies in Congress.

    Another late addition was a quadrupling to $8 billion, at the behest of Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., of money to construct high-speed rail lines. Reid’s office issued a statement noting that a proposed Los Angeles-to-Las Vegas rail could get a big chunk of the money. …

    http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....628S53.DTL

    All issues Really?

    Does that mean the millions for condoms are gone?

    The various pork projects?

    The medical “technology” head?

    No?

    Oh, all Democrat issues.

    Silly me.

    You’ve also got to love that last minute pork to thank Reid.

    But I thought Americans weren’t supposed to go to Las Vegas anymore; I guess it’s OK as long as you’re an individual and want to go by high speed rail.

    They’re shameless.

    I guess they’re not “earmarks” when they’re blatant.

    You’ve also got to love the head of Cat – they will hire some workers back – but only after they lay some more workers off first.

    Even the most clueless American has got to see the smoke in mirrors and that one.

    They just don’t care, because He will save us all.

    • JohnMG
      February 13, 2009 at 8:19 am

      The absurdity of it all!

      Even if you began immediately to read this entire piece of crap legislation, and continued without a break, it would not be possible to finish before NEXT week Friday–much less understand what you had read well enough to cast an informed vote. Why? Well, for one, it hasn’t been completely written yet, and probably won’t be until after the vote.

      There is something cruelly ironic that it should come to the floor on Friday the thirteenth. Ironic, yet weirdly appropriate.

  47. sheehanjihad
    February 13, 2009 at 8:12 am

    Looks like the plastic fantastic is circling the wagons and frantic to buy some time for everyone else who has something to hide before Murtha gets indicted for fraud and bribery! Of course there is no investigation yet….everyone in the House is getting a heads up to cover their asses before Murtha gets thrown under the bus…..

    PELOSI CONCERNED ABOUT MURTHA PROBE:

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are “concerned” by a widening criminal probe that may involve Rep. John P. Murtha, but sources close to the leadership say there’s no move afoot to force him out as chairman of the powerful Defense Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee.

    “We are watching to see what happens,” said a senior House Democratic aide. “At this point, there is nothing for us to do. There is not a clear indication yet that Mr. Murtha has done anything wrong or that the Justice Department is targeting him in any way, so there is no reason to take any action.”
    http://news.yahoo.com/s/politi.....tico/18768

    • JohnMG
      February 13, 2009 at 8:24 am

      …..”There is not a clear indication yet that Mr. Murtha has done anything wrong or that the Justice Department is targeting him in any way, so there is no reason to take any action…..”

      I wonder how this would be received if one were to substitute the name Bush for Murtha?

      Huh? What?……..Nah, I didn’t think so, either.

    • Steve
      February 13, 2009 at 9:53 am

      SJ, please try to follow the guidelines for posting listed at the top of each of these threads.

  48. sheehanjihad
    February 13, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    Hell, I thought I was doing it right….not to sound dumb, but where is my mistake?

    • proreason
      February 13, 2009 at 12:40 pm

      First open the source article in a second browser so you can go back and forth between S&L and the article.

      Come back to this S&L page.

      Click on the blue word “here” which is just below the picture at the top of this S&L page.

      That will send you to the S&L page with the pattern.

      Highlight the pattern lines. Right click and copy them (it doesn’t say anything but it’s in a holding area).

      Use the browser back arrow to return to this S&L page, which is where you want to insert your article.

      Paste what you just copied into the “Your Comment” box. Now you have the pattern to work with.

      Type over the first line with your punchy headline comments.

      Switch to the browser with the article, highlight and copy the article’s headline from the source doc. Come back to the S&L Page and paste it to the second line (don’t touch the brackets).

      Do the same with the body of the article.

      Type over the bottom comments with your punchy ending remarks.

      To bold something in the body of the article, copy and paste the thingee’s before and after what you intend to bold. The thingy with the backslash ends the bold.

      Submit it, and take a look. The first few times, something will have gone wrong, but you can then edit it to correct it. The bolds are the trickiest parts. Remember that the thingee’s have to be in pairs.

      Just writing this down reveals how complicated even simple things can be. Don’t feel bad. That’s just the way it is.

    • Steve
      February 13, 2009 at 1:11 pm

      SJ, you didn’t use the proper formatting. And you didn’t note the source.

  49. sheehanjihad
    February 13, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Thanks Pro! Consider me enlightened SG…sorry for the eff up.

  50. 1sttofight
    February 13, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    I have just one problem with those rules;

    Please eschew articles from blogs or hugely popular sites like Drudge, since most people will presumably see such material elsewhere.

    While that is true, there is no place on Drudge to comment on the articles.

    • Steve
      February 13, 2009 at 1:07 pm

      “Please eschew articles from blogs or hugely popular sites like Drudge, since most people will presumably see such material elsewhere.”

      The reason for this is two-fold.

      First, regarding blogs, all too often the material from them has not been properly fact-checked.

      As for posting articles from hugely popular sites like Drudge, the original idea for the “Selected News” thread was to present news that may have been missed elsewhere.

      We don’t really have the room to post all the news from the week. And items that get aired on big sites will presumably be seen by most of our readers.

      But obviously none of this is carved in stone.

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