Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day: Remember to give thanks


This Memorial Day as we all go about doing what we choose to do, be it shopping, barbeques, mini vacations or a Memorial Day parade. Please remember that your freedom to choose these activities came with a price. Take time to say a prayer of thanks to your God, for all of those service men and women who have secured your freedom through their ultimate sacrifice.

Even better, for those of you who can, follow this advice.

Bill Maher tells us how a black president should handle BP

First, we can add Bill Maher to the growing number of liberals who are not happy with Obama’s handling of the BP oil spill. Maher however, decide to express his unhappiness by letting fly some racial stereotyping. This is how Maher thinks a black president should handle BP. 
HBO's Bill Maher: "I thought when we elected a black president, we were going to get a black president. You know, this [BP oil spill] is where I want a real black president. I want him in a meeting with the BP CEOs, you know, where he lifts up his shirt where you can see the gun in his pants. That's -- (in black man voice) 'we've got a motherfu**ing problem here?' Shoot somebody in the foot." 
Oh, so all black men are supposed to go around with guns in their pants threatening to cap people in the ass, is that it?

Chalk this up as more of that white liberal racism that the so-called "leaders of the black community" ignore or explain away with “nuance”. If a white conservative ever utter such a thing, these so-called "leaders" would be breaking out the torches and pitchforks. But since white liberal Bill Maher said it, all we will hear from them are crickets.


Video h/t: Scared Monkeys

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Drive By Bloggin’


Sorry folks for the limited content over the last few days. Unfortunately, I had to make some very serious deadlines in Real Time.  During the last few days there were several stories I wanted to comment on, but my Real Time obligations kept we away. So, stealing a page from our Lame-Stream Media with their drive by reporting, I am going to do a little drive by bloggin’

Buckle up and here we go.


I still cannot believe what a political blunder this White House/ Sestak job offer is. This administration is all about the political, yet they so easily stepped into such a political mess. I have two thoughts about why this happened. First, I think they allowed the Chicago Way to over take political sensibilities. Second, I think Obama and the gang let their Chicago habits take over, because they have grown too confident in the media’s willingness to cover for them.

Given how the media is feeling a little ignored by Obama and their willingness to show some anger over the BP oil spill, counting on the media at this point maybe a little risky.

What is truly risky is involving Bill Clinton in this mess. The media despite their bad feelings, will try to push this story off the national headlines and allow it to only exist in the Pennsylvania race. Pat Toomey will no doubt keep this scandal alive in his race against Sestak. Bill Clinton, being an ex president, does have the ability to drag this story back to national headlines at anytime, simply by dropping a comment here or there. If the Clintons are still smarting from their loss to Obama, what better way to pay him back than to keep this story alive with a leak or two?



Is this BP covering their ass before Obama arrived or is this BP helping Obama get that perfect photo-op?  I think the media may want to take Sarah Palin’s advice and looking into those BP donations to the Obama campaign. 

Given how terribly wrong this whole spill is going, it is high time we start figuring out who exactly is working for whom?



Both my BS Detector and my Hypocrisy Proximity Alarm both went off with this story. Only the most severe PDS sufferer could buy any of McGinniss’ nonsense. 
Washington Post: When a source told Joe McGinniss that he could rent the house next to Sarah Palin's Wasilla, Alaska, home, the author was sold.
A room at the Best Western, not far away, would have been prohibitively expensive. The landlord of this house, meanwhile, offered it to McGinniss for $1,500 per month after a friend of the author recommended him as a solid alternative to the other people asking about the property.
"She was talking to this mutual friend of ours and said, 'I've got to find someone we're comfortable with,' " McGinniss said Friday evening from the deck of the house -- a deck that became famous after Palin posted a photo of it on Facebook this week. " 'My biggest concern is the Palins' privacy, especially the children.' So this mutual friend said, 'Well, you know, I think you're in luck. Joe McGinniss is going to be coming back here, and you couldn't find a better guy, just the right sort of person to move in and guarantee their privacy.'"
What happened next, said McGinniss, came as a total surprise. He had planned to keep the news off the Internet and tell the Palins himself that he'd be their neighbor as he wrapped up his biography of the former governor.
Riiiiight. We are supposed to believe that old Joe is all innocent and everything.  Meanwhile the creep is really good friends will all of the creepy anti-Palin Alaskan bloggers. 
The Other McCain:  Remember Jesse Griffin, who masqueraded behind the “Gryphen” pseudonym as a vicious anti-Palin blogger and Trig-Truther? And remember how he lost his job at an Alaska elementary school after his identity was revealed and school officials learned how he’d beenpromoting pornography and masturbation on his blog (extreme language warning) while being paid by taxpayers to supervise young children?
Well, guess what? Joe McGinnis is a “huge fan” of Jesse Griffin, as confirmed by none other than . . . Jesse Griffin:
I found the table that our host Phil Munger had reserved for us and sat down with some of his other guests, who I did not know, but who turned out to be fans of both IM and Mudflats. (Oh did I mention that AKM was with me?)
Soon I was introduced to author Joe McGinniss, who is up here researching HIS Sarah Palin book, and who also turned out to be a huge fan of both AKM’s and I. (I swear I will NEVER get used to hearing that.)
 Jesse Griffin, a/k/a “Gryphen,” October 3, 2009

In case you didn’t get the reference, “IM” is Jesse’s “Immoral Minority” blog where he described his ironclad certainty that Sarah Palin’s fifth child “was not conceived in her uterus,” declared how much fun it is to “wank off” to amateur porn, advised youngsters that “your penis will respond more readily” if you practice by “watching porn on your computer.” and told the world that “it brings me joy to work with these children.”
You betcha!
When this porn-blogging Trig-Truther obsessive Palin-hater was forced to resign from Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage  in August 2009, it wasn’t exactly a secret. so why — two months later, in October 2009 – was Joe McGinniss raving about being a “huge fan” of Jesse Griffin’s Immoral Minority blog? Why is McGinniss laughing it up with Griffin at the “celebrity table” all night?
Via: CNN

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Quick notes: Obama’s press conference on the oil spill in the Gulf


Obama held a press conference for the first time since I don’t know when. Basically, he used BP’s, so far successful, top kill method to address the Gulf Oil Spill. The press conference was typical Obama. While accepting blame, Obama also did everything he could to rhetorically pass the buck. 
The American people should know that from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort. As far as I’m concerned, BP is responsible for this horrific disaster, and we will hold them fully accountable on behalf of the United States as well as the people and communities victimized by this tragedy. We will demand that they pay every dime they owe for the damage they’ve done and the painful losses that they’ve caused. And we will continue to take full advantage of the unique technology and expertise they have to help stop this leak. 
This is BS of the first order.  The Federal government was clearly AWOL on this disaster. The Obama administration tried to dump the whole thing in BP’s lap, so that it could stand by and with clean hands and demonize BP for political points. 

Sarah Palin questions this notion of the government being there on day one in her latest Facebook note: 
If the President really was fully focused on this issue from day one, why did it take nine whole days before the administration asked the Department of Defense for help in deploying equipment needed for the extreme depth spill site?
Why was the expert group assembled by Energy Commissioner Steven Chu only set up three weeks after the start of this disaster?
Why was Governor Jindal forced more than a month after the start of the disaster to go on national television to beg for materials needed to tackle the oil spill and for federal approval to build offshore sand barriers that are imperative to protect his state’s coastline?
Why was no mention of the spill made by our President for days on end while Americans waited to hear if he grasped the import of his leadership on this energy issue?
Why have several countries and competent organizations who offered help or expertise in dealing with the spill not even received a response back from the Unified Area Command to this day? 

Obama should have made sure that the fed was playing two roles throughout the spill. The government should have acted as both guardian and facilitator. As a guardian, the government should have kept a close eye on BP’s activities to make sure the nation’s best interests were being served. As a facilitator, the Obama should have been cutting through red tape to expedite both BP’s efforts and the clean up efforts (e.g. Bobby Jindal’s requests).

Here is where Obama does the classic passing of the blame. Of course the blame is passed to the administration’s handy dandy scapegoat the Bush administration (this time through inference). 
In recent months, I’ve spoken about the dangers of too much -- I’ve heard people speaking about the dangers of too much government regulation. And I think we can all acknowledge there have been times in history when the government has overreached. But in this instance, the oil industry’s cozy and sometimes corrupt relationship with government regulators meant little or no regulation at all.
When Secretary Salazar took office, he found a Minerals and Management Service that had been plagued by corruption for years –- this was the agency charged with not only providing permits, but also enforcing laws governing oil drilling. And the corruption was underscored by a recent Inspector General’s report that covered activity which occurred prior to 2007 -- a report that can only be described as appalling. And Secretary Salazar immediately took steps to clean up that corruption. But this oil spill has made clear that more reforms are needed. 
Well with almost a year and a half of this administration, why hasn’t the cozy and corrupt relationship between the oil industry and government regulators ended? If they can identify it, why couldn’t they correct it?

Again Sarah Palin, point out the flaws in this argument:
He suggested today that a “culture of corruption” at the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) was solely the previous administration’s responsibility and that the failure of the inspection system was a failure of that administration. That is false. The MMS has been his responsibility since January 20, 2009. 
The MMS director who resigned today, Elizabeth Birnbaum, was appointed by his administration. And the most recent inspection of the oil rig took place a mere 10 days before the explosion –also very much on his watch, not President Bush’s. 

All in all, this press conference did not do Obama any favors. What Americans are looking for now is action not rhetoric. If Obama wants to escape the Katrina analogy, then he has to make sure he and the administration stays deeply involved in the clean up process. Simply giving his speech and then walking away will not do.

Rest In Peace: Gary Coleman dies at age 42


USA Today: Gary Coleman, the child star of the TV sitcomDiff'rent Strokes, died Friday after suffering an intercranial hemorrhage. He was 42.
Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank says life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m.
Coleman was hospitalized Wednesday after falling and suffering a head injury at his home south of Salt Lake City, according to family members.
For a while, it seemed that Gary Coleman's cherubic face was everywhere, from TV to T-shirts to lunchboxes. [MORE]
I really feel sorry for the way Gary Coleman’s life turned out. No one help the young star prepare for the fate dished out by our disposable culture. Stars who are hot today and yesterday’s news by tomorrow. Unless you are a master of reinventing yourself, obscurity awaits. Coleman’s parents and managers clearly let him down in this regard. Given Coleman’s success during the 1980’s he should have been set for life.  Instead, poor Coleman’s adult life turned out to be a long list of woes.

For all the laughs and good cheer Gary Coleman gave us in his early years, I hope he get his rewards in heaven. Rest in peace Gary.

Via: USA Today 

Friday, May 28, 2010

House votes to allow the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell


The New York Times: WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to let the Defense Department repeal the ban on gay and bisexual people from serving openly in the military, a major step toward dismantling the 1993 law widely known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
The provision would allow military commanders to repeal the ban. The repeal would permit gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military for the first time.
It was adopted as an amendment to the annual Pentagon policy bill, which the House is expected to vote on Friday. The repeal would be allowed 60 days after a Pentagon report is completed on the ramifications of allowing openly gay service members, and military leaders certify that it would not be disruptive. The report is due by Dec. 1.
The House vote was 234 to 194, with 229 Democrats and 5 Republicans in favor, after an emotionally charged debate. Opposed were 168 Republicans and 26 Democrats.
Hot Air names the five Republican votes in favor of the repeal. Oh, and for those who might say libertarians are all about discrimination because of current news, check out the last name on the list.
Hot Air: Update: Still waiting for the roll, which should be available here once it’s up, but the names of the five (not four) GOP defectors are already being reported on Twitter: It’s Djou, Joe Cao (also from a deep blue district), Judy Biggert, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and … Ron Paul.
I don’t have a problem with homosexuals serving in the military. Homosexuals can be every bit the patriot as a heterosexual. Any homosexual willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect and defend our great nation should not be denied the opportunity. That being said, protecting and defending the nation should be their true reason. Hoisting the rainbow flag, as a primary concern should not. We have already seen how political correctness can kill.

I do have to wonder though, with our financial house still in such disarray, why has the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, taken such prominence in Washington’s agenda?  Any thoughts?

Via: Hot Air

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Good News: Top Kill method appears to be working


Here is some much-needed good news concerning the oil spill in the Gulf. 
LA Times: Officials are cautionary but say drilling fluid has blocked oil and gas temporarily. Engineers plan to begin pumping in cement and then will seal the well.
Reporting from Houma, La. —
Engineers have at least temporarily stopped the flow of oil and gas into the Gulf of Mexico from a gushing BP well, the federal government's top oil-spill commander, U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, said Thursday morning.
The "top kill" effort, launched Wednesday afternoon by industry and government engineers, had pumped enough drilling fluid to block oil and gas spewing from the well, Allen said. The pressure from the well was very low, he said, but persisting. The top kill effort is not complete, officials caution.
Once engineers had reduced the well pressure to zero, they were to begin pumping cement into the hole to entomb the well. To help in that effort, he said, engineers also were pumping some debris into the blowout preventer at the top of the well.
As of early Thursday morning, neither government nor BP officials had declared the effort a success yet, pending the completion of the cementing and sealing of the well.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this method proves fully successful.  Now that things are looking like they are getting under control, heads are starting to roll.
Michelle Malkin: News leaking ahead of President Obama’s scheduled 12:45pm Eastern press conference today: the first head has been delivered.
Via AP:
Democratic sources say the Obama administration has fired the head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service in response to blistering criticism over lax oversight of offshore drilling.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity before the official announcement, tell The Associated Press that President Barack Obama will announce the decision Thursday. 
Given how terribly this spill has been handled, I would expect a long list of heads to roll from both BP and the government. Let’s see if Obama will start thinning the herd of incompetents and throw Ken Salazar out the door.

Obama’s Sestak problem is not going away


Joe Sestak isn’t fooling anyone with his half answer about being offered a job to drop out of his race against Specter. All seven Republicans on the Senate Judicial Committee are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint an independent prosecutor to look into the matter. 

We all know that seven Republicans asking anything of this partisan administration won’t amount to a hill of bean. However, liberal voices are starting to questions the White House/ Sestak offer.  Enter Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, who by no stretch of the imagination could be considered anti-Obama, is asking for details into the job offer.
 The White House and Joe Sestak should explain what happened with the alleged job offer, Gov. Ed Rendell said Wednesday before a press conference on Capitol Hill. 
"I actually think the White House and Joe Sestak should be a little more detailed and put this behind them," Rendell said.
He said the issue of whether Sestak was offered a job in the Obama administration to get out of the primary race against Specter isn't on the forefront of voters' minds. But, he acknowledged that it is a distraction that will only linger if not addressed.
Rendell said he is sure nothing illegal went on, noting that such conversations have been "going on for decades."
He predicted that someone at the White House probably told Sestak that if he wanted to do something with his "terrific background in the military" there would likely be a job for him with the administration. But Rendell said he does not believe it was any kind of a bribe to get Sestak out of Specter's way.
Rendell is the latest among a growing list of people that include Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Republican candidate for Senate, Pat Toomey, who are pressuring Sestak to come out and say who offered the job and what it was.
Lefty blogger Greg Sargent from the Plum Line also would like clarification, albeit from the Sestak side of the equation:
Senate Republicans are now calling for a special prosecutor to look intoJoe Sestak's claim that the White House offered him a job in order to drop his primary challenge to Arlen Specter. On the merits, this seems silly: Good government experts say that what Sestak claims took place doesn't seem like a big deal.
But that doesn't change the fact that Sestak has played this too cute by half, and he needs to clean up this mess. He needs to clarify what exactly happened -- even if it's thoroughly uncontroversial. For his own good and for the sake of the Democratic Party.
Sestak let the cat’s head out of the bag. Robert Gibbs confirmed that the cat was peeking out. At this point both sides need to come clean and just say what is what and let the chips fall as the may. The current situation where Sestak says he got a job offer and the administration says yeah but it was legal leaves out way too much detail to end the speculation. Both parties have to come clean or Sestak could go down and Republicans will have something to look into when they get control.

Already Rep. Darryl Issa has raised The Impeachment issue. I would caution Issa on that route. Have you seen the order of succession?

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

“Two Stones” Cristie tells teacher to find a new job is she doesn’t like education budget


How is this for honest and refreshing? New Jersey governor Chris “Two Stones” Christie held a little town hall meeting in a school gymnasium. After the chat, he opened the floor to questions and here is what happened:
But borough teacher Rita Wilson, a Kearny resident, argued that if she were paid $3 an hour for the 30 children in her class, she’d be earning $83,000, and she makes nothing near that.
"You’re getting more than that if you include the cost of your benefits," Christie interrupted.
When Wilson, who has a master’s degree, said she was not being compensated for her education and experience, Christie said:
"Well, you know then that you don’t have to do it." Some in the audience applauded.
Christie said he would not have had to impose cuts to education if the teachers union had agreed to his call for a one-year salary freeze and a 1.5 percent increase in employee benefit contributions.
"Your union said that is the greatest assault on public education in the history of the state," Christie said. "That’s why the union has no credibility, stupid statements like that."
KA-POW! One shot of reality right between the eyes. Those of us in the private sector have long understood that if your pay sucks, you pack your bags for greener pastures. Why has this simple logic escaped public sector employees? Because greedy unions fill their heads with nonsense.

To show you how much nonsense this woman has, here is what she said to reporters after the exchange with Christie:
Surrounded by reporters after she spoke, Wilson said she was shaking from the encounter, and worried she might get in trouble for speaking out.
Get in trouble for speaking out? Oh please! The NJEA will probably make her the new poster child in their war against Cristie.  This is how some union employees think. They believe they are all just scraping by on the salaries they make. Even when they are receiving annual salary increases double that of the private sector, they believe they are the underdogs. Now that we are all going broke, it is time for them to end their delusions. 
 
Oh and to all you Chris Christie 2012 fans; hands off! The big boy is staying right here until 2014!

Via: Hot Air

Token gesture? Obama authorizes 1,200 troops to the border


Could it be that Obama might be seeing the light of day on Arizona’s problems? He has authorized 1,200 National Guard troops to the Arizona border. 
New York Times: LOS ANGELES — President Obama will send up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the Southwest border and seek increased spending on law enforcement there to combat drug smuggling after demands from Republican and Democratic lawmakers that border security be tightened…
The troops will be stationed in the four border states for a year, White House officials said. It is not certain when they will arrive, the officials said.
The troops will join a few hundred members of the Guard already assigned there to help the police hunt for drug smugglers. The additional troops will provide support to law enforcement officers by helping observe and monitor traffic between official border crossings. They will also help analyze trafficking patterns in the hope of intercepting illegal drug shipments…
The soldiers will not directly make arrests of border crossers and smugglers, something they are not trained to do. 
In typical Obama fashion, this is more about appearances than actually fixing the problem. 1,200 National Guard troops on the Arizona border alone might make an impact, but 1,200 troops over four states is not even a spit in the bucket.

At any rate, this token gesture is an acknowledgement that Arizona and Governor Brewer were right along. Now that polls show that Hispanic voters in the west have swung toward Democrats, Obama and the Democrats have less reason to hold their unpopular positions. I am sure they all will be trying to sell themselves as tough on border security after this maneuver.

Obama’s token gesture with the 1,200 troops has prompted Mexico to add their two cents (like we give a damn). 
Regarding the Administration’s decision to send 1,200 National Guard servicemen to the US Southern border, the Government of Mexico trusts that this decision will help to channel additional US resources to enhance efforts to prevent the illegal flows of weapons and bulk cash into Mexico, which provide organized crime with its firepower and its ability to corrupt.
Additionally, the Government of Mexico expects that National Guard personnel will strengthen US operations in the fight against transnational organized crime that operates on both sides of our common border and that it will not, in accordance to its legal obligations, conduct activities directly linked to the enforcement of immigration laws. 
How’s that for chutzpah? Mexico cannot police the outflow from its own border, but is going to dictate how we police ours. I cannot wait until we an a Pro-American president back in the White House who will actually tell Mexico what time it is.

Obama and GOP clash: “He needs to take a Valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans”


It looks like the current GOP might be testing out their backbones for 2011. Obama met with GOP senators today and according to Politico the sparks flew.
President Barack Obama battled with Senate Republicans in a tense closed-door meeting Tuesday, facing tough criticism from his GOP adversaries — including John McCain — on issues ranging from health care to border security.
Senators and other sources inside the meeting described the gathering as “testy” and “direct” — and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) accused Obama of acting two-faced by asking for GOP support on regulatory reform only to push forward with a bill supported mainly by Democrats. Others felt that the meeting may have made already tense relations between the two parties even worse.
“The more he talked, the more he got upset,” Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said. “He needs to take a valium before he comes in and talks to Republicans and just calm down, and don’t take anything so seriously. If you disagree with someone, it doesn’t mean you’re attacking their motives — and he takes it that way and tends then to lecture and then gets upset.”
The White House said that Obama made a plea for bipartisanship on some of the country’s most pressing issues — and he urged Republicans to stand up to their base and compromise with the Democratic Party.
Obama had better grow some thicker skin between now and 2011. If this crop of wishy washy Republicans are getting him upset, then he is in for one hell of a surprise when Republicans like Rubio, West and Phillips get to Washington.



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