Under fire, for dancing

The way I look at it: if you are wearing Kevlar as part of your normal everyday job of representing my country, you are entitled to occasionally blow off steam.

Some of our troops in Afghanistan, performing Lady GaGa's Telephone.

The rumor is that these men are now receiving some criticism for this. I hope that isn't true.

I also hope that Lady GaGa goes over there and performs in person for them. They have a great sense of humor.
Stay safe guys.

Did Barack tell the truth?

When the Blagojevich scandal broke, the White House went into full spin mode about how they were 'investigating' everything, and that they'd let us know right away what they came up with.

Of course, they never found any evidence that the WH did anything wrong. Go figure.
From Time magazine:

This all seemed rather open and shut. Since the press had no information suggesting otherwise, President Obama was allowed to move on from the scandal. But recent testimony in the Blagojevich trial suggests that Craig's report and Obama's effort at transparency failed to tell the entire story.

On Tuesday, an Illinois union leader, Thomas Balanoff, testified that he received a phone call the day before the election from President Obama to discuss Valerie Jarrett and the Senate seat. Balanoff would serve as a go-between, connecting the Obama inner circle to the Blagojevich inner circle.

Remember how there was no one at all, according to the WH, that had any knowledge of any deal? Well, that's if you don't include the president's attempt to get a friend into a senate seat.

This is typical Chicago politics. Which means that its corrupt, for those of you who are not from Chicago.

Health Care Bill makes ERs more crowded

Thus, another fallacy of the health care bill falls to pieces. From USA Today:

People without insurance aren't the ones filling up the nation's emergency rooms. Far from it. The uninsured are no more likely to use ERs than people with private insurance, perhaps because they're wary of huge bills.

The big question for me is:
Why didn't any of the press say this BEFORE the health care bill was passed? This was a huge fallacy that was presented by the president to sell health care. Shouldn't someone have called bullshit on him?

No, the health care bill will not make things cheaper for everyone. In fact, we'll be putting our grandchildren in debt.
Yes, you will be taxed if you do not buy insurance. Its a government mandate.
It will not promote cost savings. Nothing that is mandatory will create savings.

This is a giant boondoggle, and the quicker its killed, the better.

Beck connects Soros to our current oil crisis

I hate conspiracy theories. But this administration gives me pause. Particularly when I see things like this...

Hannity summing up Barack's unemployment incompetence

With guest Newt Gingritch, the two talk about how the stimulus bill was completely ineffective.

CBS completely nails Obama on his commissions

I love how many things the president criticized before he became president.
CBS caught him in this big double standard. Barack established a new financial commission in February. He did this after complaining about the many commissions during the campaign:

"Folks, we don't need a commission to spend a few years and a lot of taxpayer money to tell us what's going on in our economy," he continued. "We don't need a commission to tell us gas prices are high or that you can't pay your bills. We don't need a commission to tell us you're losing your jobs. We don't need a commission to study this crisis, we need a President who will solve it - and that's the kind of President I intend to be."

Congrats to NPR for being the first one to notice this, and CBS for picking it up. That's actual journalism, folks. Research and stuff. Holding politicians accountable for their promises.

Reminder: Obama opposed the surge, then said the impact was 'relatively modest'

From a HotAir report on what Barack said back then.
Barack calling Iraq a disaster, and saying that we are not kicking ass in Iraq. He said there was a modest decline, and that it was unsustainable.

Santelli sums it all up, politely

Okay, maybe not politely.
But he's saying what I've been screaming for about 2 years now, ever since a Democratic congress passed the first TARP:



Thank you, Santelli, for not being polite about it anymore. Since the dumb idiots in office won't listen anymore, maybe you can get the point through.

Barack spent $787 Billion dollars, and then said that he couldn't cut the budget. He passed a health care bill that cost roughly a trillion, and then said that he was going to be a deficit hawk.
C'mon man.
The debt is now 2.5 Trillion more then it was when he came into office.
Stop spending.

Barack's all time gaffes

Recently, someone was telling me about what a lightweight they thought Sarah Palin was.
Of course, I challenged them to bring up examples, and of course, they blanked.

So I decided to give them examples of what a lightweight might say.

With that in mind, here are my favorite Obama gaffes of all time.

Number 6 - Isn't that special:
Barack, on Jay Leno, says that his bowling was like the Special Olympics.

Number 5 - Time to add some stars to that flag


"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Number 4 - A Tribute to the movie "Sixth Sense"


"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes — and I see many of them in the audience here today — our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."


Numger 3 - The tragedy that dwarfed 9/11 in Kansas
Of course, we all missed out on hearing about it, but Barack updated us:



“In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.”

Number 2 - The main problem with the Middle East is, eh, the Middle East?

"The Middle East Is Obviously An Issue That Has Plagued The Region For Centuries"

Number 1 - It might be a challenge, but we will bring greater inefficiency

"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings and inefficiencies to our health care system"

Our president now has the power to kill the internet

I hate when my government outdoes anything that a conspiracy theorist can come up with.

A US Senate committee has approved a wide-ranging cybersecurity bill that some critics have suggested would give the US president the authority to shut down parts of the Internet during a cyberattack.

You can read more about it at the website for Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Watch a drunken whore complain about the prostitute problem

Barack, telling us that "people should learn that lesson about me", that he's actually going to 'call the bluff' of people who want to reduce the deficit.

I want to play the president at Poker.

Where's the golf course?

Not gulf. Golf.
Sometimes when I read something about the president, I want to believe its not true. Like this:

When U.S. President Barack Obama stepped off his helicopter in Huntsville on Friday, the first thing he said was, “You’ve got a lot of golf courses here, don’t you?” Industry Minister Tony Clement told the National Post in an exclusive interview.

I'd like to believe that he's not that dense when it comes to his current image. But I demur.

Of course, he knew.

In Blago's trial, here in Chicago, a witness has said that Obama knew about Blagos attempts to get favors in exchange for Barack's old senate seat.

From the Chicago Sun Times:

"The president understands that the governor would be willing to make the appointment of Valerie Jarrett as long as he gets what he's asked for. . . . The governor gets the Cabinet appointment he's asked for," Harris said, explaining a recorded call.

You see, Obama wanted Valerie Jarret to have that seat. He even passed along a list of 4 senate candidates that he wanted in. Which means, at the very least, that Obama knew that a crime was being committed.
Of course.

What the left said about Patraeus, pre- June 23rd

Before June 23, 2010, this is how the left portrayed General Patreaus:

Think Progress:

Email correspondence from the Pentagon document dump reveals Gen. David Petraeus was “happy to” participate in its “puppet” TV military analyst program in 2005. The “talented” military officer was promoted by President Bush to lieutenant general in 2004, with the public mission of training Iraqi military forces.

MoveOn (via Weasel Zippers) had their ad that portrayed him as General Betray us.

Please, let's not forget the Daily Kos:

Without honor, he is not a soldier but a fraud, a scandal, a dishonest civil servant with a gun. His medals are lies - particularly and especially any medal for "valor".

I invite you to find the way that your favorite liberal website portrayed Patraeus Before June 23rd. You know, before Barack decided that Patraeus was great.

Obama Parkway

Oh man. They are already naming highways after him.

It’s official: An 800-foot stretch of Orlando road is now named “President Barack Obama Parkway.”

The City Council voted Monday to rename a short section of Mission Road between Cason Cove Drive and Conroy Road in Obama’s honor.

This, according to the Orlando Sentinal. The saddest part? Its being paid for with stimulus money, so that some day, some grandfather can tell his grandkid: "You paid for this with money that you haven't even made yet."

Employers: Health care costs to jump

But... I thought that health care was going to be cheaper?
Oh boy.
From AP:

Companies that offer employee health insurance expect another steep jump in medical costs next year, and more will ask workers to share a bigger chunk of the expense, according to a new PricewaterhouseCoopers report.

Strange... that's what all of us Tea Party folks were saying. Huh.

MSNBC twinkie admits to WH talking points

No, not that she read them.
But that she's actually worked on them with the WH???
I'm hoping that at some time, someone comes forward to clarify this. I hope that at that time, it turns out to be much more innocent then it sounds:

Illegals, in Chicago, tied to gangs???

What???
Oh yeah, we all kinda knew that.
From the Sun Times:

Immigration agents and local police departments this week arrested 26 people in eight area communities in a sweep targeting illegal aliens with ties to street gangs.

Hmmm. So some of the people who want to enforce immigration laws may want to do so because of street gangs?
Who would have guessed.

Bush vs. Obama, Katrina vs. BP

According to the public policy center, Bush wins.
Our new Louisiana poll has a lot of data points to show how unhappy voters in the state are with

Barack Obama's handling of the oil spill but one perhaps sums it up better than anything else- a majority of voters there think George W. Bush did a better job with Katrina than Obama's done dealing with the spill.

Oh, hilarious.

50% of voters in the state, even including 31% of Democrats, give Bush higher marks on that question compared to 35% who pick Obama.

Thank you Democrats for at least some consistency.

"Obama Scholar"

Although not as creepy as previous videos of students praising their leader.. its still pretty creepy.

From Eyeblast Tv, via RealClear Politics:

$1.2 BILLION on walking and biking?

Ugh. More waste from a government that is now 90% of its GDP in debt.

From the Telegraph in the UK:

The Obama administration more than doubled spending on cycling and walking initiatives to $1.2 billion (£810 million) last year as it seeks to coax Americans out of their cars.

We are now 13 TRILLION in debt. I bike everywhere. I mean, I covered about 40 miles in one day a week ago. I run about 5 miles a day, 3 days a week during the summer.
I did not need the government to help me do that.
Can we stop pretending like a $1.2 billion dollar program to get people 'out of their cars' is worth it? Please?

Recapping, Obama to date

Dear Democrats,

You guys wore t-shirts with your politician's face on them a little bit more then a year ago.

You guys were THAT PROUD of him, because he told you that he would be out of Gitmo within months, that he'd leave Iraq right away, that he wouldn't use 'unconstitutional' signing statements, that he'd "sunshine" bills for several days online before voting on them, that he would pass a health care bill that would NOT make insurance mandatory (and that would make it cheaper!), and that he would not let careless offsea drilling occur.

We're still in Iraq.
Gitmo is still open.
Unconstitutional signing statements were signed within months of him taking office.
He blew off that sunshining BS right away.
The health care bill will not only make things more expensive, but its mandatory for you to have insurance now.
The #1 recipient of BP contributions (Barack) got rid of a decades old long ban on offshore drilling, and a year and a half into his administration, the worst oil spill ever has occurred.

I'm not writing this because I'm angry at you, or because I wanted the president to do those things. I'm just trying to remind you of how gullible you were for a nice sounding story, and 'hoping' that you won't fall for rhetoric again.

There were enough alarm bells going off with Barack before the election that you should have taken a second look at him. Here we are, a year and a half in, and roughly 44% of voters strongly disapprove of him.

Please, please, please... take a moment before you go to the ballot box the next time. I know you didn't like Bush. But this is the thing: the reason why Republicans liked him is because he did things that Republicans liked.
Can you say the same thing about Barack?
Yes?
Will you please look at that list, above, again?

Flashback, Geitner: The economy is improving

Now, keep in mind when he said this:

"The U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement more quickly than had been expected, while aggressive efforts by policy makers around the world have blunted the risk of a much deeper global recession, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday. "

It was July of 2009.

He also pledged:

"....that stimulus measures would be quickly unwound as soon as the crisis had "definitively receded." President Obama is committed to bringing the deficit down to around 3% of gross domestic product once a recovery is firmly established and to limiting future spending commitments through budget rules, Geithner said. "

Uh huh.

Can we start saying "liar liar pants on fire" yet?

If Obama were a security guard

Picture, for a moment, that Obama was a security guard.

A massive theft occurs under his watch. When it happens, Obama blames the security guard who was fired 15 months ago. He tells us that the former security guard had lax security measures and poor security practices, which is why things were stolen under Barack's guard. He further tells the owner of the stolen goods that he's really going to get tough now. That he's learned from this theft, and he won't get fooled again.

How would you react?

Buy that Cop domain

I hate most traffic laws, because they have nothing to do with safety. Yes, I get why speeding is illegal. -And this guy probably should have just paid the ticket. However, this was a pretty good way to get back.
ABC news reports that this guy went to pay his ticket at the police web site.

When he saw that the site's content had been replaced with a notice saying that the domain name was on the verge of expiring, he saw an opportunity. He waited a few weeks until the name had officially lapsed, and then he pounced.

Beautiful.
He bought the domain.

When Democrats attack!

I want to start by saying that we don't know the whole story.
I don't know who Rep. Bob Etheridge is. I know that he's from North Carolina and that he's a democrat. That's all.
I loved what O'Keefe did, but he gathered a lot of evidence of ACORN workers giving questionable advice before he posted it.

This, on the other hand, might be very selective editing:

A Democratic congressman apologized Monday after video posted online showed him swatting at a video camera and demanding that two men taping him identify themselves.

So naturally, I wanted to see the video for myself.

Wow.
Honestly... there can be a reason why he went off like that. I mean, if they started hitting him or something off camera. Or if they started talking about his personal life, or made fun of his wife. Otherwise, he really has a lot of explaining to do.
He's a congressman. You can't do that to someone who is just asking you questions.

More "unexpected" news

How often does bad news have to be unexpected before it becomes expected? From Bloomberg:

U.S. Hiring Disappoints, Jobless Rate Falls to 9.7%

Yep. After months of bad unemployment news, and more and more spending that created no jobs... its disappointing that the unemployment rate has not gone down.
But here is the kicker:

Private payrolls rose by 41,000, Labor Department figures showed today, trailing the 180,000 gain forecast by economists. Including government workers, employment rose by 431,000, boosted by a jump in hiring of temporary census workers. The jobless rate fell to 9.7 percent from 9.9 percent.

So the vast majority of the jobs created were in the Census... which means that the jobless rate is going to skyrocket this fall.

$18 Million to redesign a website?

My first website was pretty lame. So I took a week and redesigned it.
Now granted, I don't have to integrate searchable databases, create pie charts, or do java scripting. But here is the good news: you can hire a team of people to do that for a few months, and it might even cost you a couple hundred thousand dollars or so.

OR

If you're the government, you can run up a bill of 18 MILLION DOLLARS to do the very same thing.

It's really embarrassing to me that we spend this kind of stupid money every day, and that people do not march on Washington to complain about it.

Jon Stewart on Assquest

Barack is looking for some ass to kick.
Jon Stewart's comments on it.

Social Security going broke in real time

From Business Insider, a chart that should make you kinda frightened. Regarding Social Security, the payouts are starting to exceed the payroll tax that is meant to pay for Social Security benifits for those who are currently receiving them:

These lines were not expected to cross for at least another five years. This is the cost of the protracted recession and the failure of the economy to generate new jobs. The 2008-2009 increase in benefits was at a nosebleed level of 9.5%. That level has collapsed to 3.9% in the 2009-2010 period. This is the result of a “0%” COLA increase for 2010. The flip side is that those receiving checks are getting squeezed as their costs rise and income is stable. In the real world COLA is a joke. As this evolves it will just be a drag on consumption and extend the weak economy.

Ugh. The sad thing is, this is all very accurate. On top of our down economy, SS is actually broke now. Its no longer a theory that SS was a horrible ponzi scheme. Its a reality.

Federal Debt? Its not $13 TRILLION

Just so you know, when Obama entered office, the debt, as of January 16th, 2010, was:

$10,628,881,485,510.23

Right now, according to the article in the Washington Times:

Calculated down to the exact penny, the debt totaled $13,050,826,460,886.97 as of Tuesday, leaping nearly $60 billion since Friday, the previous day for which figures were released.

Thank you Democrats. You irresponsible assholes.
In 16 months, you've added 2.5 Trillion to the debt. And that isn't even including the Health Care mess you have coming our way.

But is it true?

I read that a BP spokesperson had said this quote:

Louisiana isn’t the only place that has shrimp

And something smelled, well, fishy to me about it.

It didn't help that when I googled the phrase, every lefty website in America had it. But when I restricted the hits to "News" websites, only commentary articles appeared from very left leaning organizations stating that it was 'reported' that he said the phrase above.

So I started digging.
Newsweek reported it as 'fact', in an article about the spoofed twitter feed on BP's PR. So I kept digging, and followed Newsweek's link.

Newsweek used a blog as their source. Oooookay. This kinda explains why Newsweek is going out of business. So then I followed the blog, and found this article:

Five years after Katrina, the return of disaster capitalism?

Disaster capitalism?
Pardon, but when you read a quote like that, it should give you pause. It did me. Anyway, if you find a real link to a real story where the PR spokesperson said that, please let me know.

Universal Health Care will never have rationing

Remember when they said that?
Obama is in the process of finding a new guy to put in charge of Medicare, and CNS found an old quote of his:

'The Decision is Not Whether or Not We Will Ration Care--The Decision is Whether We Will Ration Care With Our Eyes Open'

Who didn't see this coming?

The utter double standard of the left

Picture this:

A year into his presidency, George W. Bush announces that he's expanding offshore drilling. His decision removes a ban that spans decades.
In his speech, he tells us:

Under the leadership of Secretary Salazar, we’ll employ new technologies that reduce the impact of oil exploration. We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security. And we’ll be guided not by political ideology, but by scientific evidence.

A couple of months later, an oil rig blows up, killing 17 people.

'Bush' avoids any press conference where questions can be asked about the rig for the first month of the impending crisis. Instead, he issues reassuring messages telling us that the government is taking care of things. On May 3rd, he says:

Your government will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to stop this crisis

In the meantime, it is discovered that 'Bush' has received the most amount of cash from BP of any candidate in the previous election. The candidate recieving the 3rd most amount of cash is a 'Republican' senator from Louisiana.
It is then revealed that president's administration did not inspect the oil rig as it was supposed to. AP, using a Freedom of Information act, discovers that part of the inspection report on the rig seems to be "whited out" without any explanation.

Under pressure from the press, 'Bush' takes questions regarding the oil spill. During his press conference, the president denounces the 'scandalous' relationship between the agencies that regulate the oil industry, and the people who drill for oil. In response to a question about how involved he is, he tells the press that he is "briefed every day" on the progress in the gulf.
When he's asked why the government isn't more involved, he tells the press that the technology of BP is superior to what the government has.

As oil begins to wash ashore, the president goes on vacation. Right before the president leaves, he gets his photo taken with two different sports teams for photo ops. His announced vacation plans are cut short to include a 4 hour visit to the oil slicked coast. While there, he says that 'mistakes are possible...but a lack of urgency about plugging the leak and restoring the region is not'.


As a side note, the president will be skipping the tradition of the president laying a wreath in Arlington on memorial day, with two wars going on overseas.

The president I'm talking about - of course - is not president Bush. However, it begs the question:
What would the reaction be of the left if the president were not named Obama?
Why isn't the left really, really upset at the clear financial connection between the current president and BP?
-And just as importantly, why isn't the left upset that the president is going on vacation during this crisis?

The WH is finally getting blamed for the BP spill

Which only makes sense, since they were the ones who pushed for more drilling. If Barack's name was Cheney, people would be marching down Michigan Avenue with his picture on it with his hands soaked in oil.
From Nola.com:

More than month into the spill -- and with no end in sight -- this past weekend may mark the moment when anger and frustration about the spill overtopped BP and began to splash on the carpet in the Oval Office.

Outside of the really bad pun, Nola.com is very accurate. There finally is some blame being put on the administration for not 'doing enough'. Now I should start here by explaining that I'm not one of those people who blames an administration when anything goes wrong. Further, I literally don't think its the administration's problem. But since they (Barack, etc.) went around blaming Bush for that hurricane in New Orleans, its only fair to blame this administration for not responding to this disaster in a timely manner.

The president's polling is down. Again.

Its happened once again. According to Rasmussen, he president's poll numbers are down.

Overall, 42% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. That is the lowest level of approval yet measured for this president. Fifty-six percent (56%) now disapprove of his performance.

There could be many reasons why his performance numbers continue to plummet, but this could be a big one: the president approved of more drilling just months before a major oil disaster happened in the gulf. Oooops.
Oh, and it gets worse for Mr. Obama. It seems that he was the biggest recipient of BP cash before it happened. According to Open Secrets:

During the 2008 election cycle, individuals and political action committees associated with BP -- a Center for Responsive Politics' "heavy hitter" -- contributed half a million dollars to federal candidates. About 40 percent of these donations went to Democrats. The top recipient of BP-related donations during the 2008 cycle was President Barack Obama himself, who collected $71,000.

You have to hand it to Open Secrets. They are normally associated with exposing financial connections between Republicans and corporations. But they were completely up front about who was taking in money They even give a complete break down here:

Senate	Obama, Barack	$71,051
Senate	McCain, John	$36,649
Senate	Landrieu, Mary L	$16,200
Senate	Stevens, Ted	$10,150
Senate	Begich, Mark	$8,550

Those are the top five. Note that number one is Barack. Number 3 is the representative from the state where oil is coming up on their shore.
Is it any wonder that Barack's numbers are declining? Some democratic regular voters are finally figuring Barack out. It took long enough.

Government payrolls are up

Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds.

At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010.

There is no surer way to bankrupt a country then by spending more money on government benefits while personal income declines. Or, as an economist in the article points out:

The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says.

Grimes is completely correct. As private income goes down, there is less money to fuel government programs. As government programs increase, it becomes harder to get rid of them. Once government programs swallow up more of the GDP, it simply becomes unsustainable.

If the Huffpost didn't leave out facts, they wouldn't print anything

So an acquaintance linked me to this Huffington Post article:

"If the economy produces jobs over the next eight months at the same pace as it did over the past four months, the nation will have created more jobs in 2010 alone than it did over the entire eight years of George W. Bush's presidency."

Something sounded strange about that... so I followed the link to the National Journal, where the article came from:

More jobs might be created this year than during George W. Bush's presidency.

It sounded suspicious to me. So I read the article looking for the magic words "census jobs". The article does not mention them.
That made me curious as to what the job report (listed in the article above) actually said:

Job gains occurred in manufacturing, professional and business services, health care, and leisure and hospitality. Federal government employment also rose, reflecting continued hiring
of temporary workers for Census 2010.

Hmmm. Sounds like the Census is creating a lot of that job surge. Just as I thought.
But I wasn't satisfied with that. Because my friend's friends tried to suggest that Census workers weren't included in the job numbers.
The following is from a PDF that the commerce department sent out in February of 2010:

According to Census Bureau operational plans, the number of hires for temporary 2010 Census jobs is estimated to be about 800,000 during April and May of this year. For several techincal reasons, including the very short term tenure of these jobs, the number of 2010 Census hires will not be fully reflected in either the monthly levels or changes in non-farm employment
reported by the BLS. Based on the experience in the 2000 census, the BLS figures may show the number of temporary census jobs peaking at a level closer to 635,000 in May.

Read that paragraph again. It suggest that a whole lot of jobs might be temporarily created in May. And then the level of jobs will go down again.
Now I just happened to find out recently that the Census kind of, you know, over-hired this year. Which means that they are not only done hiring, but they are trying to figure out what to do with all of their staff.
Which means that in the next two months, we might see another surge of unemployed folks out there. I presume then that the Huffington Post will notice the Census jobs.

Obama calls Tea party members Teabaggers. Gibbs demures.

From Real Clear Politics:

REPORTER: Are you able to get an answer on Fred's question about the teabagger quote, if the President is aware that people are offended?
GIBBS: Again, I have not seen the book. I can't imagine I'm going to ask the President that, but I will -- I will entertain it. I will check.

No word yet on if the reporter ever got his answer. I'm going with 'yeah... the president said it, all while denouncing the incivility of others'

KBR gets no bid contract

Just so that we're clear on this: George Bush is no longer president.

KBR Inc. was selected for a no-bid contract worth as much as $568 million through 2011 for military support services in Iraq, the Army said.

So why is KBR getting the contract?
Well, it could be one of two things:
1) KBR is the most qualified to do the job
2) The current administration, while criticizing the former one, is just as compromised.

Rev. Wright: Obama threw me under the bus

In other headlines, Obama isn't really religious. From AP:

In his strongest language to date about the administration's 2-year-old rift with the Chicago pastor, Wright told a group raising money for African relief that his pleas to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-ravaged Haiti would likely be ignored.

Really? But... its for Haiti? Why would they ignore Wright's words?
Oh yeah...

"I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!" he wrote. "Any advice that I offer is going to be taken as something to be avoided. Please understand that!"

Yep. Of course, it took the president a while to understand that Wright was, you know... offensive. And even then, the president pleaded with us to 'understand' why Wright said the things that he did. But since then, the president has gotten religion. Well, no, not real religion. The kind of religion that reminds you that as a politician, you shouldn't touch racist preachers. Or be seen with them. Or call them your preacher.

How do you 'mispeak' several times about your action in Vietnam?

Blumenthal is an asshat.
So is everyone who didn't call him out on this earlier. Kudos to the New York Times for doing so. It seems that Blumenthal spoke many times about his non-existent service in Vietnam:

There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.

What an asshole.
What a world class asshole. I can't believe that anyone would tell crowd after crowd of veterans about serving in Vietnam when he hadn't. What kind of asshole does that?
Well, the democrat who is trying to take Chris Dodd's vacant seat. That kind of asshole.

More on the White House PR

After the oil rig disaster started, the WH went into full spin mode:

Within hours, it was cranking out a sustained barrage across the broad spectrum of modern media — statements, reports, e-mails, tweets, photos and videos — all punctuated by a high-profile presidential visit to the Gulf followed by an incendiary speech at the White House and a video recap with exclusive behind-the-scenes views of Obama in "West Wing Week," the White House's new online program at www.whitehouse.gov.

When you produce videos, yourself, showing what your politician is doing.... you may very well be the most manufactured president alive.
I wonder if Aaron Sorkin writes this one too?

Here's another article on the new video blog offered by the White House:

Organized chronologically, it's a mishmash of this and that -- the president inspecting factories and farms, talking with people in diners, meeting dignitaries in the Oval Office, making major policy speeches. The blog doesn't break any news. It also doesn't show the president as anything less than presidential in word and deed; each week's video highlights Obama's efforts to address another crisis or major policy issue, such as the government's response to the Gulf Coast oil disaster or his initiative to reform the financial sector.

ugh.
At least the press is offering a little resistance?

News photographers have also been peeved by the White House's practice of barring photojournalists from events and offering its own pictures as a substitute, said Caren Bohan, a Reuters reporter and correspondents' association board member.

It literally pains me to see the press just kind of taking this type of propaganda, and not shouting out about it more often.

What AP didn't find

Parts of the report seemed to be whited out?

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by AP, the agency has released copies of only three inspection reports — those conducted in January, February and April. According to the documents, inspectors spent two hours or less each time they visited the massive rig. Some information appeared to be "whited out," without explanation.

Hmmmm... that sounds suspicious.

Press "Freedom"

There are certain headlines that you can only get in the way, if you try to comment on them:

Press Freedom, Sure. But No Questions.

Kudos to Chip Reid of CBS for pointing it out. It seems that the White House was celebrating the Press Freedom's Act, which is a lot less interesting then it sounds. All it does is tell the State Department that when they issue their annual report on Human Rights, it should include a statement on the Freedom of the Press in that country.

Naturally, the press in this country wanted to use the opportunity to question our president about things like the disaster in the gulf. This isn't one of the president's bright spots. He doesn't know what the hell to say about it, since he was the biggest recipient of donations from BP.
It makes him a little camera shy when it comes to the gulf spill.

It might also be why the WH is pushing back so hard every time the oil spill comes up, and why they want to blame "Republicans" for the spill. (Note: no matter how long the president is in office, whatever happens will always be the fault of Republicans.)
But you won't see the president taking questions anytime soon.

Kagan's paper on Socialism

There are an awful lot of people in the Obama administration that seem to have socialist tendencies.
But when Obama nominated Elena Kagan, who would have guessed that she had written her thesis entitled "To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City 1900-1913", when she attended Princeton?

Doug Ross gives a great 'best of' highlight breakdown of her paper. It is true that there is nothing in her paper that says that socialism is awesome. However, I think that Doug's blog gives you a good idea of how her thesis makes it sound like she's a fan.

Left Coast Rebel does a good job of summarizing what she wrote in one paragraph.

I also love reading her actual editorials. You see, Kagan used to be an editor for her college newspaper. So you can get a feel for what she felt by reading her editorials from the time.
Or you can actually read this editorial that she wrote:

The real contests for Congress and the state legislatures occurred in early September, when the Democratic primary was held. And the people who won those races and who then took the November elections with some 80 per cent of the vote were real Democrats — not the closet Republicans that one sees so often these days but men and women committed to liberal principles and motivated by the ideal of an affirmative and compassionate government.

Gag. Me.
To her credit, she was a dumb college student at the time.

All Kagan, all the time

Just some background research on Elena Kagan, for people who are interested.

The Washington Post is keeping a running index on stories about Kagan, previous stories about her, and her writings.
It includes the official, White House blog video interview with Kagan, that I'm including here in the interest of fair play and propaganda.



Its always nice for the WH to present an interview with their nominee that has been scripted instead of, you know, putting them out there for an actual interview.

Of course, it wasn't that long ago that Obama said that a judicial nominee that has no judicial experience should be subject to extreme scrutiny.

One last piece of interest: John Bonifaz is a little bit of a nut. He wrote a book called "The Case For The Impeachment Of George Bush", and started "After Downing Street"; the organization which believed that the Downing Street memos implicated the Bush administration.
Anyway, Kagan donated cash to his campaign... which might give you some insight into how left leaning she is.

Kagan vs. Miers

I've become curious about how Harriet Miers was covered, as opposed to how Kagan is being covered.
With that in mind, here is my thumbnail research.

You might wonder what Think Progress said about Miers. Well, I did:

Harriet Miers, Bush’s next pick for the Supreme Court, is currently White House Counsel and once served as Bush’s personal lawyer. She has never been a judge.

Now what do you suppose they said about Kagan?

Another criticism conservatives are throwing at Kagan is over the fact that she has never been a judge. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that she was "a surprising choice because she lacks judicial experience." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called her "the least qualified [nominee] in terms of judicial experience in 38 years." Of course, during the Bush administration, these same conservatives were saying that having experiences outside of the judicial monastery were a plus. "[R]ight now you have people who've been federal judges, circuit judges most of their lives, or academicians," said Cornyn in 2005. "And what you see is a lack of grounding in reality and common sense that I think would be very beneficial." Kagan would be in good company. Louis Brandeis, Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, William Rehnquist, and others all served as justices without lower federal court experience. "Of the 111 justices who have served on the Supreme Court, 41 came in without judicial experience."

Hilarious. Now, not being a judge is not a big deal... and how dare Republicans bring it up when they were suggesting that nominees didn't need to be one years ago. (Neglecting to mention that Harriet Miers nomination was shot down.)

What did HuffPo say about Miers? Well, they hated her so very much, that they compared Sarah Palin to her!

As you all probably remember, in 2005, George W. Bush nominated his White House Counsel, Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court despite the fact that she had no judicial experience whatsoever and seemed completely wrong for the part in every other way but her gender.

Wow! That's pretty brutal. Oh wait. Uhmmm... Kagan has no judicial experience whatsoever too. I wonder what HuffPo says about that? Let's start with this interesting primer:

For decades, Republicans have been the party of coordinated talking points and overwhelming organization with respect to judicial nominations.

Really? Huh. Well, I'm glad that the left hadn't all talked about how Miers had no judicial experience then.
Back to HuffPo:

As Darling and others sees it, the message discipline will come with time, mainly because the attacks on Kagan -- both for lacking adequate judicial experience and, more specifically, her decision as Dean of Harvard Law to bar military recruiters from the school's campus (in protest of the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy) -- are natural and effective. Whether one group or several drive them is of secondary importance, so long as they are driven.

Okay... so according to HuffPo, the 'attacks' are 'natural and effective'.
Rather then, you know... true.
Here's another HuffPo article that sidesteps the issue as a Republican attack tactic:

It won't be all about Obama. Kagan's resume has particular areas that Republicans view as vulnerable. Her refusal to allow military recruiters on Harvard's campus (in protest of Don't Ask Don't Tell) is one. The dearth of judicial experience is another.

Uh huh. By the way, that article suggests that opposition to Kagan is just because Republicans hate Obama.


A lot of blogs have used the White House talking point about there being 40 Supreme Court justices that have had no bench experience. In case you were wondering, this list gives the complete run down. You'll note that Renquist was the last one nominated without bench experience, and that it was Nixon who did it in 1972, in the same year that he nominated another man without experience to the bench.
You won't find very many Democrats arguing that Obama is being Nixonian in his nomination.

The New York Times said this about Miers at the time:

Ms. Miers, 60, a longtime confidante of the president's, has never been a judge, and therefore lacks a long history of judicial rulings that could reveal ideological tendencies. Her positions on such ideologically charged issues as abortion and affirmative action are unclear.

Interesting. What did they say about Kagan? The Times starts her bio with all of her other credits:

In settling on Ms. Kagan, the president chose a well-regarded 50-year-old lawyer who served as a staff member in all three branches of government and was the first woman to be dean of Harvard Law School. If confirmed, she would be the youngest member and the third woman on the current court, but the first justice in nearly four decades without any prior judicial experience.

That lack of time on the bench may both help and hurt her confirmation prospects, allowing critics to question whether she is truly qualified while denying them a lengthy judicial paper trail filled with ammunition for attacks. As solicitor general, Ms. Kagan has represented the government before the Supreme Court for the past year, but her own views are to a large extent a matter of supposition.

To their credit, they at least mention that she was never a judge... but they say it might 'help' her nomination.

How to make bad news seem positive

Someone at AP practically went down on the administration in this article:

The economy got what it needed in April: A burst of hiring that added a net 290,000 jobs, the biggest monthly total in four years. It showed employers are gaining confidence as the recovery takes deeper root.

But people who had given up on finding jobs are gaining confidence, too, and are now looking for work. That's why the unemployment rate rose from 9.7 percent to 9.9 percent and will likely go higher.

Now in the world can you report that unemployment is going up to 9.9%, and make it sound like things are getting better?

You need to work for AP in order to do that.

Redacted material seems to connect Obama to Blago

Its been a few days, and this story isn't getting any traction. That bothers me, because the story would seem to connect the president to the scandal with Blagojevich.

Yes, I understand that is exactly what Blago is trying to do. But what the article suggests is that Blago is not entirely wrong... that there were efforts made by the Obama administration to deal with Blago in his effort to sell a senate seat.

I hope the media will follow up on this soon.

The GAO warning us of financial disaster

The GAO isn't exactly a radical organization. They are one of the few parts of government that I tend to trust, because their entire job is to keep an eye on the rest of government.
They recently wrote this, with my emphasis in red:

The economic recession and the federal government’s unprecedented actions intended to stabilize the financial markets and to promote economic recovery have significantly affected the federal government’s financial condition. The resulting substantial investments and increases in liabilities, net operating cost, the unified budget deficit, and debt held by the public are reported in the U.S. government’s consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2009. Because the valuation of these assets and liabilities is based on assumptions and estimates that are inherently subject to substantial uncertainty arising from the uniqueness of certain transactions and the likelihood of future changes in general economic, regulatory, and market conditions, actual results may be materially different from the reported amounts. Further, the ultimate cost of these actions and their impact on the federal government’s financial condition will not be known for some time.
More significantly, the federal government faces long-term challenges resulting from
large and growing structural deficits that are driven primarily by rising health care costs and known demographic trends. This unsustainable path must be addressed soon by policymakers. The longer actions are delayed, the more difficult adjustments are likely to become.

Its really important that we listen to what they are saying. This is the treasury department sending up a flare. Please don't ignore it.

Why is our president such an asshole?

Real Clear Politics has a video from CNN, of Obama saying this.

"I do believe, at a certain point, you've made enough money"

What a complete jag.

More Tea Party Polls

What would happen to the earth if the NY Times suggested that Tea Party members were, you know, smart?

I'm just suggesting that maybe that volcano wasn't about to erupt on its own:

A New York Times/CBS News poll of backers of the emerging Tea Party movement shows that its supporters are more affluent and better educated than the general public.

What?
Better educated?
How'd that happen?

Tea Party members tend to be married more often, retired, and are conservative. They are more likely to vote and own guns. They prefer civil unions over gay marriage. A clear majority like Glenn Beck and GWB. They think that the economy is very bad and getting worse.

76% want congress to work on reducing the deficit.
85% do not believe that the government should require everyone to have health insurance.
88% disapprove of the job that Obama is doing.
91% disapprove of the way that he's handling the economy.
93% disapprove of how he's handling health care.

...and 92% of Tea Party members believe that we are headed towards socialism.

Read the full report. Its pretty comprehensive.

"Proud" taxpayer?

Have you ever been "proud" to pay your car payments?
How about when your mortgage comes due? Do you feel "proud" then?

Say Hello to Gail Collins, who thinks that we need to be "proud" every time we pay taxes:

Paying a lot of taxes should be a badge of honor. It proves you made it into the league of big money-makers, not to mention the fact that you’re supporting the upkeep of the Grand Canyon. If the I.R.S. had been doing its marketing properly, little kids would dream of growing up to become really big taxpayers.

Gail is clearly the type of person who claps every time after signing a check and cheers "Yay!" Her entire column is about how we don't realize how little taxes we are paying, and how if we knew how little we were paying, we'd be happy.

Gail is in that rare, bold category of denial where she should be wearing a helmet. She believes that if she doesn't see the tax, then it doesn't exist or affect her. I'm sure Gail wonders, quietly, what all of those extra charges are on her cell phone bill. Or why she has to pay extra fees on her electric bill. I'm pretty sure she doesn't grasp how many invisible taxes we all pay.

Because if she did... she would be cheering and clapping constantly.

Tea Party Activists, and race

I was at the Tea Party in Chicago.

One of the more fascinating things to me was walking around and listening to what the press was asking Tea Party members. One lady was interviewing a couple when she tried to get them to 'admit' that race was a factor in the protests. She started out by asking them if they thought that race was a factor. They shook their head 'no' and looked confused. The reporter pointed to the crowd around them, and said "look around, you don't think that there is a racial aspect at work here?"

Sidenote: I took journalism classes in college. I know the difference between finding the story and creating one. Finding the story is when you ask the right questions and get to the heart of the matter. Creating a story is when you ask leading questions to get the answer you want, that will match your storyline.
When you create a story, you'll use phrases like "Don't you think..." or "Wouldn't you agree..."
Finding a story involves open ended questions like "What do you think?", or even "Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?"

Anyway, with all of this in mind, I saw this story in Reason, and I had to link to it. Its about the Tea Party and race.

More "extremist" painting

This time, it was former president Clinton trying to do it... making allusions that compared the Tea Party movement with Tim McVeigh:

"What we learned from Oklahoma City is not that we should gag each other or that we should reduce our passion for the positions we hold - but that the words we use really do matter, because there's this vast echo chamber, and they go across space and they fall on the serious and the delirious alike. They fall on the connected and the unhinged alike," he said.

"One of the things that the conservatives have always brought to the table in America is a reminder that no law can replace personal responsibility. And the more power you have and the more influence you have, the more responsibility you have."

Clinton made the remarks at events sponsored by the Center for American Progress Action Fund on the upcoming anniversary of the bombing.

He mentioned the rancorous fight over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Passage of the law elicited threats against some lawmakers.

Words have meaning.
Check.
The more influence you have, the more responsibility you have.
Check.
Of course, you were the same guy who used a 22 year old intern to cheat on his wife when he was President of the United States. I still remember how you let your entire staff call her nutty and tell us that Monica was obsessed with you. That wasn't irresponsible of you in the slightest.
But thanks for reminding us that "words have meaning", guy who the phrase "it all depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is". Because when you used that phrase, it felt to me like you were trying to make sure that words didn't mean anything.

I'm sure that you no longer cheat on your wife, and that you have given your daughter the best example of what kind of a husband she should be looking for.

Look, this is simple: you don't take responsibility lectures from a guy who basically defined irresponsible behavior in the 90s.
There's a simple reason that the left is trying to paint the Tea Party movement as extremist: they are getting clobbered in the polls by the criticism that is hitting the mark.

When the LA Times headlines a story "Myth Busting Polls", and gives the following information:

The Tea Party adherents broke down 28% independent, 17% Democrat and only 57% Republican.

Then you are in trouble. That means that almost a fifth of your base is joining the tea party movement. That's huge. And its why Markos and the president are trying to discredit it.

Markos continues to be an asshat

In the running for asshat of the week, DailyKos founder and rabble rouser Markos Moulitsas. Markos was being interviewed by lord God king asshat and recent defender of everything government, Keith Olbermann, when he said this.

Just a week or two ago, Democrats said that it was Republicans who were throwing around the Hitler comparisons. But this week, there is no doubt that its Democrats who are accusing Republicans of being genocidal.

I guess that post-health-care-bill polling hit that they are taking is getting to them. The only way that democrats know how to react to being called an extremist is to say, "no, you're an extremist!"

The asshat who created "Crash The Tea Party"

I'm completely for counter protesting.

I think when its done well, its one of the finest art forms around. No one in the world has done this better then the Protest Warriors. What they did was brilliant. They would go into left-wing protests with signs that would take their dumb ideas to the logical extreme to show how dumb they were.

Here is a sampling of their signs.
The big thing about Protest Warriors that I loved was that it was always clear who they were. It was brilliant satire, and not at all subtle.

Compare that to Jason Levin.
Jason is a media teacher at Conestoga Middle School in Beaverton. Big surprise there. Jason is the guy who started crashtheteaparty.org
Now as I said, I'm big on counter protesting. But this is what he wanted to do, according to the Fox News story:

Levin has said he would seek to embarrass Tea Partiers by attending their rallies dressed as Adolf Hitler, carrying signs bearing racist, sexist and anti-gay epithets and acting as offensively as possible -- anything short of throwing punches.

Embarrass them how???

Jason, let's just see if I can follow your hypothetical Ralph Wiggum choo-choo train of thought here. You felt so strongly that the Tea Party was racist, sexist, and homophobe, that you wanted to be as offensive as possible to embarrass them...?

But... if they are racist and sexist... why would they be embarrassed?
Wouldn't they just be, you know, happy to see a racist sign? Heck, if they were racist, would you have to bring signs that were racist? Would you have to bring your own signs? Couldn't you just borrow one of theirs?
Its this type of 'logic' that drives me nuts about the left. In absence of racism, the left decided to bring racism along to... paint... the... Tea Party members... as... racist.

Uh huh.
Jason, at any time did you stop to think about what you were doing? Did it ever occur to you that if you needed to bring racist signs, then maybe you were wrong about the Tea Party members? That maybe, possibly, bringing racist signs said more about you then about them?

Congratulations, Jason. You get my asshat award for the week.

Americans prefer Hillary to Barack

You have to lean pretty far left in order to get this to happen. According to the LA Times , via CNN:

And a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll has just revealed that even today Americans like that other Democrat more and dislike that other Democrat less than they do the incumbent Democratic president.

Click here if you want to see the complete breakdown.

Florida doctor 'refuses' Obama patients

I'm writing this to make sure people get the story right.
On the door of his office, Jack Cassell, a urologist, put this sign:

If you voted for Obama, seek urologic care elsewhere. Changes to your healthcare begin right now, not in four years.

The left has since gone nuts about this one doctor putting that sign on his door. So its important to note what the original article said about the doctor:

Cassell told the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday he wasn't questioning patients or refusing care, because that would be unethical.

If you notice that a member of the left calls him names, and accuses him of violating his oath, please point that out to them.

A round up of polls on Health Care and the Tea Party

According to CBS news, most Americans are still against the health care bill:

More Americans now disapprove of the legislation, and many expect their costs to rise and the quality of their care to worsen; few expect the reforms to help them.

I guess when you shove a bill through, it makes people skeptical.

Fifty-three percent of Americans say they disapprove of the new reforms, including 39 percent who say they disapprove strongly. In the days before the bill passed the House, 37 percent said they approved and 48 percent disapproved.

I think this is great. It means that people are paying attention. Now we need to get more people to pay attention.
Most important to me about the poll:

Even though the president and Democratic leaders have repeatedly pointed out that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office called the reform package a deficit-reducer, six in 10 Americans still think the new health care reforms will increase the budget deficit. Just 13 percent think the reforms will decrease the deficit and another 15 percent expect no effect.

I believe that means that pretty much the only people who don't believe that the health care bill will add to the deficit are democrats.
Which would explain this poll by Rasmussen:

Following the passage of the health care bill, 53% now say they trust Republicans on the issue of health care. Thirty-seven percent (37%) place their trust in Democrats.

Again... that just might have something to do with the democrats pushing the bill through so hard. It might also explain why in a generic poll, Republicans have gained considerably:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 47% would vote for their district's Republican congressional candidate, up from 46% last week, while 38% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent, down a point from the previous survey.

The news gets even better.
Gallup recently did a profile to find out who Tea Party members were. They found out that they were more likely to be male, and slightly less likely to be lower income. But then the real news comes out:

In several other respects, however -- their age, educational background, employment status, and race -- Tea Partiers are quite representative of the public at large.

Please go to the Gallup site for their breakdown. Its worth reading if you want to see who Tea Party members are. The most interesting fact for me is that while 40% of the general population has an unfavorable view of Tea Party members, 63% of liberals have an unfavorable opinion.

Finally, the one poll that puts it all in perspective. The best poll, ever, from Rasmussen:

On major issues, 48% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than President Barack Obama. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.

Not surprisingly, Republicans overwhelmingly feel closer to the Tea Party and most Democrats say that their views are more like Obama’s. Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 50% say they’re closer to the Tea Party while 38% side with the President.

This isn't the way that the president thought it would be, I'm certain.

Representative Cleaver refuses to discuss "spitting" incident

You may remember Emanuel Cleaver. He's the representative who claimed that someone spit on him the day that the Democrats shoved the Health Care takeover through the house.

Well, now it appears as though Cleaver doesn't want to talk about the incident.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that they can't find videos of anyone yelling racial epithets?

Howard Dean, on redistributing wealth with health care bill

I don't know what is more frightening. When they deny it, or when they admit it.
Howard Dean admits that the health care bill is about redistributing wealth.

He's a big fucking deal among Democrats

Whenever democrats tell me that we 'narrowly' averted VP Palin, I remind them that we currently have VP Biden.

However, Democrats seem to love having incompetent gaffe-laden people on their side. So much so, that they sell t-shirts with their gaffes on them as fund raising devices.

Health Insurance companies make bad victims

I can't take credit for that statement. Its the theme of an article by Rick Neuman, in a brilliantly written article:

Overall, the profit margin for health insurance companies was a modest 3.4 percent over the past year, according to data provided by Morningstar. That ranks 87th out of 215 industries and slightly above the median of 2.2 percent. By this measure, the most profitable industry over the past year has been beverages, with a 25.9 percent profit margin. Right behind that were healthcare real-estate trusts (firms that are basically the landlords for hospitals and healthcare facilities) and application-software (think Windows). The worst performer was copper, with a profit margin of minus 56.6 percent.

What I love about it is that Rick lets the air out of the whole idea that heatlh insurance companies are robbing us blind compared to other companies.
Unfortunately, this article (written in August of 2009) did not fall neatly into the narrative, so it was blithely ignored by the administration and the democrats following it.

Honest, I love D & D, which is why I posted this

I'm a huge fan of the game Dungeons and Dragons. I lived it from pretty much 15 years of my life.
I also like porn. Really, no kidding.

Anyway, despite that, I still think that this is a bad idea. Getting porn stars to play D&D.

Forget for a second that D&D is only entertaining for those who are playing it. Watching it, is like watching golf on television. Its dull and pointless.

What this idea is missing is the reason why we watch porn stars.
-And it isn't because we think that they are fascinating people.
Having said that, I'd still love to meet Sasha some day.

Paul Krugman makes fun of death panels, then explains why they are needed

I'm sure that if you hear the extended interview, this would make a lot more sense.
Right?

Obama extends Patriot Act/ wiretapping

Its almost comical. From the LA Times:

Three sections of the Patriot Act that stay in force will:

* Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.

* Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

* Permit surveillance against a so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.

This is bipartisanship, right? When he accepts the things that Democrats hated... up until he got into office?

Wouldn't it be weird if Obama broke another promise?

Like if he decided to drill for oil?

No. That wouldn't happen. He wouldn't do something like that.

Oh brother:

On Wednesday morning at Joint Base Andrews Naval Air Facility in Washington, DC, President Obama will announce that his administration will allow the lease sale to go forward for oil and gas exploration 50 miles off of the Virginia coast -- the first new sales of offshore oil and gas in the Atlantic in more than two decades.

Scott Brown: "The Healthcare Fight Is Not Over"

Scott Brown tries to remind the Democrats, gently, how he got elected:

Everywhere I go, people ask me what can be done about this now — after the president has signed it into law, and Nancy Pelosi and others are taking their victory laps.

I don't think he's lying about that. I know that there are a bunch of Republicans in my life who are trying to figure out ways to dodge this craptastic bill. Its what happens when people who hate business try to take over businesses.

Heritage: 10 disasters of Obamacare

This is what the Heritage Foundation is great at... math.
One example:

2. Bending the Cost Curve in the Wrong Direction.
The provisions of the legislation aimed at reducing health care spending are reactionary, addressing the symptoms rather than the root causes of growth in spending.[3] Instead of reducing spending in health care, the bill will increase overall health spending in the U.S. by $222 billion between now and 2019.[4]

Read the full thing. Its full of some common sense.

2/3rd of the US thinks that the health care takeover is too costly

From USA Today:

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say the health care overhaul signed into law last week costs too much and expands the government's role in health care too far, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, underscoring an uphill selling job ahead for President Obama and congressional Democrats.

Apparently, math scores in the US are better then what I thought.

Obama decides to be more confrontational

Because, apparently, he thinks that he hasn't been confrontational enough.
According to the Wall Street Journal:

President Barack Obama, after a year of fitfully searching for compromise, is taking a more aggressive tack with his Republican adversaries, hoping to energize Democratic voters and possibly muscle in some Republican support in Congress.

He tried searching for compromise.
Does anyone remember any point where Obama suggested a middle point that he could meet the Republicans on? Just saying that you want to compromise isn't the same as compromising.

Will health care costs go up?

USA Today asks this question:

The White House has long argued that pilot projects and demonstration programs stuffed into the legislation will produce far more in long-term savings than anyone can promise today. The Congressional Budget Office can't prove much of those savings will materialize, so it doesn't count them in its balance sheets.